Casino etc on the Amsterdam

[NoNoNanette]

No matching t-shirts for this group! :)

 

My first cruise on HAL was the 12/03 voyage of the Volendam last year. There were a handful of us on the Topless Deck. (Enough to justify cocktail service, anyway!).

 

I'm 46.... an old broad.... I was probably the median age. :confused:

 

See you next Tuesday! :D

[calisota]

Somehow I doubt you'll see me on the topless deck, even if I was allowed. This is not a body that should be displayed to the general public. :eek:

 

Greg

[rochelle_s]

From reading your blog I would have never imagined you would have time to write 50,000 words. Did you do that in the cage? Multi-tasking on company time!!

 

I am a little confused...what does a man have to worry about on the topless deck? Have you see the pics on here with the over the shoulder man thong? I do believe from some of the things i have seen on a cruise ship...almost anything goes! LOL I am sure you have no worries!!

[RuthC]

Somehow I doubt you'll see me on the topless deck, even if I was allowed. This is not a body that should be displayed to the general public. :eek:

That happens to all of us, Greg, sometime around the age of four. ;)

[calisota]

Have you see the pics on here with the over the shoulder man thong?

 

I can't help feeling that I should be very glad I haven't seen it.

 

Greg

[rochelle_s]

LOL at that.....you are lucky!

 

FYI.....In my research into my upcoming cruise to Alaska I came across a couple of ads for places that have free WiFi......if you are interested let me know and I will email them to you or post here.

[rochelle_s]

sorry I also meant to mention...lots of museums.....from your blog I saw you have a keen interest there

[calisota]

sorry I also meant to mention...lots of museums.....from your blog I saw you have a keen interest there

 

Love the museums, especially handy for ports that I go back to on a weekly basis.

 

Rochelle, post the free wifi places here, that's the sort of thing that a lot of people would be interested in.

 

Only 4 days before i get on the plane. I probably should start thinking about what I'm going to pack. From the Caribbean to Russia, Australia to Alaska I'm going to have to cover a lot of climates.

 

What's the requirement in Alaska to stay warm, remembering that I live in a tropical environment.

 

Greg

[RuthC]

What's the requirement in Alaska to stay warm, remembering that I live in a tropical environment.

Gloves. Earmuffs (or knit hat). Layer, layer, layer.

In Alaska you must be prepared to go from a cold, cloudy morning to a warm---even hot!---sunny afternoon.

[RevNeal]

Love the museums, especially handy for ports that I go back to on a weekly basis.

 

Rochelle, post the free wifi places here, that's the sort of thing that a lot of people would be interested in.

 

Only 4 days before i get on the plane. I probably should start thinking about what I'm going to pack. From the Caribbean to Russia, Australia to Alaska I'm going to have to cover a lot of climates.

 

What's the requirement in Alaska to stay warm, remembering that I live in a tropical environment.

 

Hey, Greg ... it's the "other" Greg! :)

Cruises with extreme swings in temperatures can be problematic ... it must be far worse for those who work on the vessels for a long period of time. Alaska will range from, early in the season, cold to warm mid-season to back to cold. In the morning and evening it will be very chilly and you'll also see a lot of rain; in the daytime it can be comfortable to even hot (in June and July).

[rochelle_s]

Greg,

 

Will post the info soon on the WiFi spots, probably as a seperate thread, as you said there are probably others who would be interested in this info.

 

As for Alaska...don't forget boots. Hiking ones should be sufficient. I doubt coming from the warm climate you have insulated ones so don't forget some thick socks. Nothing worse than having cold feet. Once you have them it seems to take forever to warm up, your feet and the rest of ya!

Being Canadian I know all about the cold weather and wind chill factors!

[calisota]

I have a feeling that I am going to be taking a variety of clothes with me and probably only using half of them. :(

 

The problem is that I have always lived in tropical or semi tropical places (only seen snow twice and had to make special trips both times) so I have little experience of truly cold conditions. At the moment the temperature here is about 32C or 91F and it's not even summer yet. I'm trying really hard to only take one bag with me, given the space in a cabin, but trying to cover 6 months and a range of conditions is tricky. The last contract was all in the Caribbean so it was easy.

 

The weird thing about me is that I wear jeans and hiking boots all the time, even in the Caribbean. The heat doesn't really worry me and it helps in a lot of cases because I get taken for a local rather than tourist.

 

Greg

[CruisinTexans]

We were on the 2007 world cruise on the Amsterdam. I got to know the cashiers pretty well in the 105 days we were aboard. The good news is that the casinos are closed when in port so you can go ashore in every port if you want. You do work pretty long hours at sea. You may be replacing my favorite cashier who is quitting to work in a land-based casino. He has amassed a lot of lovely things for his home while working on the ships.

 

On the world the casino is pretty dead during the day but at night it could be crowded. A lot of people stopped by on their way to dinner or after or skipped the show to go to the casino. The crowd will be pretty old. I was considered a youngster at 58 but had trouble keeping up with some of the older crowd.

 

We love HAL and the Amsterdam is one of their best ships. Prinsendam is our favorite, probably because we did our first world cruise on her, but maybe because she is smaller and you get to know everyone aboard.

 

Enjoy.

 

CruisinTexans

[rochelle_s]

Oh how I envy you and your warm weather! It's a lovely -7 right now and will get lower overnight.

 

You are used to heat so it doesn't bother you, which also might mean you will feel the cold more.

 

I have a couple of Kiwi friends (in Napier/Hastings) they were travelling the world and Canada was one of their stops. They arrived here in the spring (April) and loved it here. They stayed all summer and loved that too. Then autumn rolled around and by November they were packing there bags and heading to the Med. They said it was too bloody cold here!! I still laugh when I recall telling them that winter doesn't even arrive until the end of December!!! I still tease them to this day when we talk on the phone and they make a comment like." It's cold here today."

 

Now you won't be in Alaska in the winter but I think you might find the weather a little cool. Just add those layers and enjoy!

[calisota]

Thanks for that CruisinTexans. Can you remember how many cashiers there were on the Amsterdam? On the Caribbean Princess there was supposed to be 3 plus the Head Cashier but, due to shortstaffing, we only had 2 plus the Head Cashier for most of the 6 months. I wouldn't be surprised if the Amsterdam only has 1 plus the HC.

 

Being able to get off in the ports is certainly one of the perks of the casino and the reason I took the job but I assume that HAL has the same In-Port_manning that princess does so I will be required to stay on board in my share of ports. That is not such a problem when you are doing the same itinerary week after week but the round the world means that i will be missing out on my only opportunity in some ports. :(

 

At 43 I will probably be considered a baby but what is the average age of the casino staff? On Princess it was about 24, making me a father figure.

 

Greg

[calisota]

Oh how I envy you and your warm weather! It's a lovely -7 right now and will get lower overnight.

 

It gets cold here too! In the middle of winter we can expect temperatures as low as 41F overnight.:eek:

 

I've always said that it's easier to warm up than it is to cool down so as long as I take a warm jacket I guess I can buy anything else I need as I go.

 

What are the odds of seeing snow in Alaska in June?

 

Greg

[jtl513]

What are the odds of seeing snow in Alaska in June?

If you mean falling - not too good but not zero. If you mean on the ground - glaciers never go away, and they are (or were) snow!

[calisota]

If you mean falling - not too good but not zero. If you mean on the ground - glaciers never go away, and they are (or were) snow!

 

I was kind of thinking of stuff that I could actually touch and maybe pack into a ball and throw at someone. Sand just doesn't work as well.

 

Greg

[jtl513]

I was kind of thinking of stuff that I could actually touch and maybe pack into a ball and throw at someone. Sand just doesn't work as well.

 

Greg

Take a helicopter excursion to one of the glaciers! You can walk around on the stuff. I don't know if you can make snowballs, because I've never been on a glacier. :(

 

Or, if you want something a lot cheaper there's a couple of glaciers that you can hike to. In Juneau you can take a $6 bus out to Mendenhall and hike up to glacier. Also when/if you're in Seward for a day there's Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park that you can reach by foot (see http://www.nps.gov/kefj/planyourvisit/exit-glacier.htm) after getting to the Park by rental car or taxi/shuttle out of Seward.

 

My DD and DSiL got to (and walked around on) some glacier by rental car out of Anchorage. I'm not sure if it was Exit or something else. I'll ask her. (That was in June, when they were in Anchorage on June 21 for the Midnight Marathon.)

[rochelle_s]

It gets cold here too! In the middle of winter we can expect temperatures as low as 41F overnight.:eek:

 

 

Oh you do sound like my Kiwi friends!!!:p

 

On our last cruise we sailed out of Houston in February. A lot of people from our roll call were staying at the same pre-cruise hotel. It was suggested that we play a bit of a game while there....which consisted of trying to spot our fellow CC'ers based on their descriptions (not physical) and information from the roll call board. Well alll the Canadians found each other.....and it wasn't because of our pasty Canadian winter complexions. We spotted each other easily enough because we were the only ones outside using the pool and hot tub...haha and the temps at the time were low to mid 40's F

 

Do go and walk on that glacier. It's so nice to hear the crunch of snow beneath your feet. Oh and throw your snowballs too!!

[jtl513]

My DD and DSiL got to (and walked around on) some glacier by rental car out of Anchorage. I'm not sure if it was Exit or something else. I'll ask her.

She says she's "pretty sure" it was Exit Glacier, but will have to look it up when she gets home tonight.

[RuthC]

It gets cold here too! In the middle of winter we can expect temperatures as low as 41F overnight.:eek:

Wuss! That's a nice, warm, winter day-time temperature! :D

[calisota]

Being able to make it to a glacier by rental car would be handy because it's the sort of thing that a few casino people can do in a group to save money. I'd just have to trust someone else to do the driving because you crazy people drive on the wrong side of the road. Hiking would be even better because I'm a walker by nature.

 

I was told by someone on my last ship that the casino is dead while the ship is doing "scenic cruising" so i hope to be able to get out with my camera. Can you really see killer whales?

 

Greg

[calisota]

Just a quick update. I am now sitting in a hotel in Miami and will be getting on board tomorrow. I have made the first post of this new contract and now really need to get some sleep. :o

 

Thanks to everyone for your help.

 

Greg

[jtl513]

I was just reading your blog and see that you'll be doing round-trips out of Seattle as far as Glacier Bay. That scratches what I said previously (post #44) about visiting Exit Glacier from Seward! :(

 

Also, I believe I lied to you when I said you could hike up to the ice/snow at Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. I went digging around and found a map (which I can email to you if you'd like) that shows the available trails, and none go as far as the actual ice/snow. :( :o

 

So, it appears to me now that the only way you'll get to be on a glacier will be to take a helicopter ride to one. (Starting at about $350 for us passengers.)