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*Report from the Voyage of the Spammed*

RevNeal

By RevNeal,
in Holland America Line

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Sunshine91

Sunshine91

Posted
Posted
According to my countdown clock on my computer -- 73 days 23 hours 49 minutes. :D

 

Yep, Brian ... it's FAST approaching. :D

 

Then somebody better get himself over to our roll call & get his name on it. Of course, he can be forgiven, since he was so busy these past few weeks having SO much fun in the Aloha State, eating Spam, drinking Wang Wangs, surviving earthquakes, slurping TWO Dole whips, dancing the hula in the Crow's Nest, playing at Waimea Falls with Mary, stealing Ruth's pillow chocolates...... my fingers are getting tired just typing all of this. :D

 

Welcome home, friend. See you in 73. :)

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RevNeal

RevNeal

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Then somebody better get himself over to our roll call & get his name on it. Of course, he can be forgiven, since he was so busy these past few weeks having SO much fun in the Aloha State, eating Spam, drinking Wang Wangs, surviving earthquakes, slurping TWO Dole whips, dancing the hula in the Crow's Nest, playing at Waimea Falls with Mary, stealing Ruth's pillow chocolates...... my fingers are getting tired just typing all of this. :D

 

Welcome home, friend. See you in 73. :)

 

Uh, Susan ... you should really go check the Roll Call board. :D

Already done.

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Sunshine91

Sunshine91

Posted
Posted

Sorry sweetie. My bad. I last checked about 9pm my time when I logged-on & you weren't there yet. Welcome aboard. :)

BTW - Loved the group photo. Loud? Can't imagine what the DR looked like on Hawaiian night (think I feel a migraine coming on :eek: ). Think I counted 24. Was this everyone?

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babyher

babyher

Posted
Posted

Had a great time reading this entire thread.

 

I have never been to Hawaii ....YET :)

 

I had no idea that Spam was such a staple. All this time I was seeing "Voyage of the Spammed " I thought it was a play on words like "Camelot" is "Spamalot".

 

Spam in McDonalds eh?????? *LOL* Who'd a thunk it? :)

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RuthC

RuthC

Posted
Posted
Loved the group photo. Think I counted 24. Was this everyone?

Nope. I haven't taken a good, long look at the picture yet, but I do know that at least one person is missing. She was at the final snowball BINGO (with the amount in the pot can't say I blame her).

What is a Wang Wang?

It's a drink---of the potent variety. Can't say exactly what's in it, but there are several liquors. And a couple of citrus flavors, too. It's good.

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obriendan

obriendan

Posted
Posted

This will not be a complete review, just a few of my scattered opinions of the Voyage of the Spammed.

 

Embarkation: Yes, indeed, as previously reported, it was indeed a mess. With two ships to be taken care of, the people on the dock (not the HAL personnel inside the building!) didn’t seem to have a clue as to what was going on. There was no appropriate signs to direct people to the correct lines. When I carried two bags over from the Holiday Inn to be delivered to the porters, I was directed to an open door at the front of embarkation building marked "Restricted. For authorized use only". After waiting in a line inside this door, I was told that this wasn’t the right line but was allowed to leave my two bags. Upon returning about 11:45 with DW and the rest of the baggage, this door was now closed and locked. At the gate to the left of the building we joined a line that was composed of people trying to check-in to the Oosterdam as well as the Zaandam (for a picture of this double line, see jhannah’s post #84). Only when we had moved about 100 feet in this line was there a door to the embarkation building marked "Zaandam". There was also another line for handing in luggage at the middle of the dock but noone was certain who was supposed to use it. Once we got in the door marked "Zaandam", although the lines were long, they moved quickly and we were onboard in a total of a little over an hour and 10 minutes.

 

Food and Service: We found the food, quality and certainly presentation, to be excellent to outstanding. I enjoyed the Master Chef’s Dinner even though it was a little hokey. It is not very long so really doesn’t interfere with the meal. The dining room staff seemed to be enjoying themselves. Our dining room servers were, as usual, outstanding. Our room steward was also outstanding and very unobtrusive.

 

Culinary Arts Center: This was very popular. The five (I think it was five) cooking demonstrations were performed before standing room only audiences in the Wajang Theater. DW attended a cooking class along with eight others for a $29 fee. They prepared a complete French meal under the direction of the Pinnacle chef in about an hour and a half. DW thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Explorations Café: What a wonderful addition! Comfortable chairs, lots of books and magazines, and a selection of specialty coffees available. Internet access was sometimes excruciatingly slow and, of course, costly. Oh, how I wish they had a way to measure speed of access and could charge accordingly.

 

Entertainment: The entertainment was only average IMHO. Didn’t much care for the piano player. His routine was very slowly paced and only short bits of pieces were played. The cast production shows were very good.

 

Ports: We had lots of sea days, which I really like. But perhaps there were a few too many because Kona was called because of earthquake . The earthquake anxiety was relieved with late morning and early afternoon wang wangs!:D We rented a car in Hilo, Honolulu, and Maui. It’s really the way to go in order to see more and pay less! The Cruise Critic group luau at Germaine’s and the all day trip to the north coast of Oahu with our gracious hosts, Mary (AlohaPride) and Keaka, were the highlights of our shore excursions.

 

Disembarkation: This was the complete opposite of the embarkation. We set a world’s record: From the time we left the ship until we were through security at the airport was less than 30 minutes. The baggage was reclaimed in a matter of minutes, and are cab driver must have gotten his training in NYC.

 

The CC Group: Traveling with a great group of other CC’ers truly made this cruise special. We all had a ready-made group of friends aboard. We thoroughly enjoyed several meals together, two shore excursions, and several happy nights in the Crow’s Nest. What a great group!

 

Enough already. This almost qualifies as a review!:)

 

Thw winning towel animal:

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obriendan

obriendan

Posted
Posted

The "What we must forget" picture was of a delicious ribeye steak dinner. The sauce may seem to make it look sad, but it was excellent! For the next several weeks I must forget these 5000 calorie days in order to reduce excess poundage:( .

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Blackneto

Blackneto

Posted
Posted
The "What we must forget" picture was of a delicious ribeye steak dinner. The sauce may seem to make it look sad, but it was excellent! For the next several weeks I must forget these 5000 calorie days in order to reduce excess poundage:( .

 

I'm glad it tasted good.

but that was a sorry looking ribeye man.

 

I agree with you on forgetting the 5k calorie days though.

 

We had a mock cruise dinner with the kids on monday night with 5 courses to let the kids know what we enjoyed in sept.

we made them dress up and everything.

It reminded me of all the good food that we got to eat and not have to prepare and serve.

 

Spring 08 can't come soon enough for our next voyage.

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CCCM

CCCM

Posted
Posted

Just read through everything finally. We heard about the earthquake while on the Westerdam. My first thoughts were for all of you. On a cruise worried about other cruisers.

 

Glad you all had a great time!

 

Ruth, I didn't eat my chocolate most nights and have a stack of about 10 or so on my kitchen table. Think I might put them on DH's pillow tonight as a joke.

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Mary Ellen

Mary Ellen

Posted
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I'm at last checking in that Karl & I made it home safely on Sunday. However, I started getting the 'sniffles' on the plane and by the time Karl got home from work on Tuesday, he rushed me to the Dr. as I was having trouble breathing. Obviously I'm still alive - and breathing much better now, so as Karl is home today because of the blizzard, we've been enjoying finally viewing the phenomenol job Dan did putting together the CD he made for the Spamdammers. Dan, we sure hope that you and Barbara are considering Antarctica with us!! :D

 

My mother asked me what my favorite part of our vacation was. Without a doubt it was the wonderful group we had from the CC. Thank you everyone.

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obriendan

obriendan

Posted
Posted

Mary Ellen,

 

Thank you so much for your comment! Your compliment is why I enjoy doing these CD's.

 

Sorry to hear your are under the weather. Hope you are having a speedy recovery.

 

Snow!? Blizzard!? We had to turn on the air conditioner this afternoon.:D

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fcorey

fcorey

Posted
Posted
Mary Ellen,

 

Thank you so much for your comment! Your compliment is why I enjoy doing these CD's.

 

Sorry to hear your are under the weather. Hope you are having a speedy recovery.

 

Snow!? Blizzard!? We had to turn on the air conditioner this afternoon.:D

 

obriendan, thanks for looking us up on the Saturday morning before your cruise. It was very nice to meet you. No need for A/C up here in New Hampshire, I am currently waiting for the first snow flakes any day now

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obriendan

obriendan

Posted
Posted
obriendan, thanks for looking us up on the Saturday morning before your cruise. It was very nice to meet you. No need for A/C up here in New Hampshire, I am currently waiting for the first snow flakes any day now

 

I enjoyed meeting with you. I've also enjoyed reading your informative posts about the Oosterdam pod issue on another thread.

 

Snow flakes (?). Are they some kind of breakfast cereal?:D

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LAFFNVEGAS "Live from...." Rare

LAFFNVEGAS

Posted
Posted

Richard, I just want to say WOW and thank you:) Those are some great pictures.Tom and I both looked at them together. We really enjoyed seeing so many of inside the Zaandam since we will be on board in just 19 days. While it will not be Hawaii, it will be Acapolco:)

Thanks again

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