The 1st Ever LAFFNVEGAS "LIVE" from the MS Oosterdam Dec 15th -22nd

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Here are a couple of pictures from our CC meet and Greet today:)

[FlorenceItaly]

HI Lisa,

 

Really enjoying your live posts. And, the ring is beautiful!!

 

About High Tea....EVEN Carnival had live music(a harpist and violinist I believe, and maybe one other) last month on the Carnival Spirit. Is this going to be standard from now on or were they just short musicians this cruise? I am just curious if you have heard.

 

 

Marie

[Coral]

Lisa - the funny thing is that last week, I thought the entertainment was EXCELLENT! Though, we had Joel and that was probably most of it. I can say Lance's show is very good and Julie Barr is pretty good. Make sure you go to Lance's show.

 

I liked Rockin Road but did not like the wigs. I did not like the next show which is Tropical. It was one of the worst shows I have seen on ships.

 

BTW - CD David said he had only been on the ship for 3 weeks.

[DesertDiva]

Gee, it's too bad that I'm in a Deluxe Outside Verandah and won't be invited to the Suite reception (or other optional opportunities) to see "Captain van der Hottie! I'll just have to make the best of my opportunities to drool! :D

 

At the Suite reception I reminded the Captain that he has a nick name of Captain van der Hottie he got a big grin out of that one.

[lkmamom]

Hi Lisa, love your reports and LOVE your ring!! Thanks for taking us along on your cruise. I would love to be in the sun right now, it is a freezing 18 degrees here in Ohio with ice and snow. Oh well, it is the Christmas season.:p

We loved David Martin and Jazzy on the Maasdam this summer. David was one of the kindest and personable CDs that we have ever cruised with. David and Jazzy make a super team together, they really complement eachother.

 

Have a fantastic rest of cruise! Keep those reports coming:D

Linda

[sail7seas]

Lisa........ You look like you're really enjoying your chat with HotMan Douglas. SUCH a nice man. Great sense of humor!

 

Keep being as happy as you are in those photos....... You deserve a grand cruise. You do so much to boost others enjoyment and anticipation!!

 

Enjoy every minute aboard.....(and the Pinot Grigio :) )

 

[LolaWiz]

What a great on-board posting!!!

Thank you for the detail. :)

 

Also, I LOVE your new ring. How beautiful!

Have a wonderful rest of the cruise.

[mamaofami]

Beautiful ring, Lisa. Glad you're having such a good cruise. I'm enjoying your posts and glad you took that laptop along.

[Chivalrygirl]

Hiya Lisa

Looks like its a great "Bling" cruise :D What a lucky gal you are :D

 

Sorry I have only just caught up with your thread, been a tad preoccupied with the visitor from DC :D :D Sadly time is going far too quickly, so keeping very busy with him and trying to make the most of the time we have.

 

Just keep on having a great time, I know you will anyway cause you are one of those people who just has a good time regardless anyways.

 

Cheers Val

[stanford's girl]

Love your new ring, Lisa!!! Glad to hear that things are good on "your Oosterdam". I see that the Beverage Manager on board is Walter. We met him on our HAL-o-ween cruise last year and he was very attentive.

[Susie51]

Thanks Lisa for the day-by-day posts and pics. Your ring is gorgeous!

 

Have a great cruise.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Yes, Lisa, the days do have a way of dwindling down to a precious few:) ... I know you'll just enjoy each moment and be happy to be there.

 

Glad the cruise is all you want it to be so far.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

December 17th, 2007

Hola:D from now Cloudy Cabo San Lucas,

Early today it was overcast but with some sun shining thru but by early afternoon what looked like storm clouds were heading our way just ended up being a very cloudy afternoon. Definitely not cold I would say it was in the low 80’s to maybe high 70’s and very comfortable feeling.

This morning we slept in till about 8:30 got up and grabbed some nibbles from the Neptune to take out on the Verandah. We headed into town, not sure if it was because there were two ships here, the other is the Carnival Elation (yes that is the ship Tom and I are planning to go on in June;) but only because HAL has no ships in Mexico during the summer:( and we are getting a bit burned out on Alaska) or because we are so close to Christmas but the street vendors were out in full force today. They also seemed far more persistent but for those that have been to Jamaica this is extremely mild. We have been coming to Cabo 2 or 3 times a year via cruise ships since 2004 and we have really seen this town grow. We have also seen where the prices keep getting higher and there really are no bargains here. You are really better to purchase things like jewelry in Mazatlan. I had hoped to buy some makeup at this store that I remembered carried Estee Lauder products. Well, unfortunately they did not carry the liquid foundation I had wanted but it was actually more expensive that I can buy at Macy’s at home. This store use to have some good pricing of items, even the Swarovski Crystal items looked to be more expensive. We stopped by the Lobster House because for the Yum Yum Man Cruise several were thinking of going there for lunch. To be truthful I was not the least bit impressed with what I saw on the menu. I will not get into pricing here but let’s just say that I can get a lobster for less in Las Vegas. We ended up going over to our old stand by Cabo Wabo. They too have changed their menu and did not have near the offerings for lunch they use to have so I asked for the dinner menu. I ended up having a Lobster Burrito, while Tom had these HUGE Jumbo Coconut Shrimp. The lunch was great but let’s just say I am now writing this on the back end of a few large Margarita’s. I hate afternoon hangovers.:o :eek: On our way back from Cabo Wabo we did stop into Nick-San Japanese restaurant to check it out. It looks great and I think it will be a lot of fun during the February Yum Yum Man cruise. Tom does not care to eat Sushi, Sashimi and drink Sake like I do. I have always felt that eating Sushi is more fun with friend. It is just not the same eating it by yourself. Tom had offered that we could have gone there today but it will be a lot more fun in just 8 weeks sharing Sushi with friends. We then came back to the cabin about 2:30 where I proceeded to take a nap. It is now 5:40 and I am not in the least bit hungry so tonight is the BBQ near the Lido Pool starting right now so I think that is what we will end up doing. That way I really do not have to eat very much. Tonight at 7:30 is also the VIP Party outside near the Crow’s Nest so we will go up there but I am questioning if I will drink very much.

I did call home to our son and everything is fine on the home front, which is always good to hear. I have caught brief news information that many parts of the US were having lots of terrible weather and snow. It is hard to imagine as beautifully warm that it is here. The warm temps here in Cabo felt so good. The other thing that has been so odd is that the seas are so calm, OMG you would have no idea you are on a ship.

Well, I am going to sign off for right now and write more later because Pedro aka Tom is getting antsy and wants to head up to the BBQ so I will write more and post this later.

Later Monday night.

We are now back at our cabin, Tom is relaxing and I am writing this report. It is a little after 9 and we have decided to just call it a night. We went to the BBQ and I had just a small amount of food and Tom was able to fill up on things he liked. We sat in the Lido rather than out by the Lido pool. My friend Julie came by with Ely the Shop Manager so they sat down with us for their dinner which was nice to enjoy talking with them over dinner. Ely use to work for the shops on Carnival so we talked about the Carnival line compared to HAL. It was then time to head to the VIP Party, it was a very nice party not overly crowded. There looked to be a lot of Mariners with high number of days at the party. (You can usually tell by the husband is wearing their silver or gold Mariner Pin) We spend a good portion of the time talking to Douglas Hernandez, the next thing we knew everyone was gone and we were the last ones standing there.

One thing I want to mention while I am thinking about it, in recent cruises there seems to be less and less announcements. We did not even hear announcements this morning about coming into Cabo. We had noticed this when we were on the Noordam as well.

I guess I will stop writing for tonight so I can post this. I will include a few pictures.

Signing off from the Always Beautiful MS Oosterdam.

 

[ugminer]

Thanks Lisa, you're taking me back to fond memories. Didit was also our server along with his last partner Dedi. Tell him the table in the corner with the guy who had a hollow leg sends our best wishes.

Let's see. since you like jewelry, be careful of Milano's. They had some luscious fire opal. I know I couldn't say no,(course I didn't try to hard):D lol

Looking forward to tomorrows post Deb

[Northshorecruisers]

Lisa,

 

The posts are great and I'm really enjoying taking this trip with you!

How was the food on the BBQ? When we sail in October, our Cabo night will be our friends 7th wedding anniversary and we're trying to decide what we will do for dinner. We're already doing the Pinnicle on sailaway because it will be our 5th anniversary that night. What were they serving in the DR last night?

Looking forward to hearing about Mazatlan!

 

Deb

[GmaPajama]

Thanks for doing this Live From, Lisa. I feel like I'm right there with you.

I really enjoy seeing it all through your eyes.

[martini cruiser]

We have not met, but I feel like I know you from your great posts.

I'll be on the Oosterdam Jan 12th and was wondering about the weather on the 1st sea day from San Diego to Cabo.

 

I did this itineray on the Star Princess 4 /5 yrs ago and it was chilly that 1st day, too cool to sit by the pool soaking up the rays. I remember wearing a sweatshirt when I sat on the verandah. This time we ( 15 of us) have aft facing cabins on deck 8, I hope that will reduce the wind and keep it warmer.

 

Thanks, in advance,

 

Marini Cruiser

[scottydawg]

we did stop into Nick-San Japanese restaurant to check it out.

Nick-San is one of my favorite Sushi restaurants anywhere on the planet! Great stuff!!!

[hammybee]

Thank you Lisa for sharing your vacation with us, especially those of us, who have a lot of snow.

 

 

I look forward to this, every morning.

[RuthC]

Lisa, I'm sitting here in a cold house, the sun is getting lower in the sky, and there is icy snow as far as my eye can see. There's been no melting of the residue of the two storms of the last few days.

And I'm reading about you cavorting in the warmth of your Oosterdam cruise.

At least I have your reports to keep me warm! :D Thanks.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Hola from Mazatlan:D

I am sitting here in the internet cafe that is at the pier. That way it saves me on minutes I have left on the ship.

 

Surprisingly today is quite cool here in Mazatlan, I am guessing low 60's and the breeze is very cool even though it is sunny. We were told it was even colder here last week. The weather forecast was to be in the 80's but it is definitely far from that.

We are the only ship in port today that I could see and although we have been to Mazatlan many times the hawkers and peddlers are the worst I have ever seen here. In the past you could just walk by and tell them NO but the persistence is at a level I have not seen here in Mexico and actaully worse than in Cabo. Tom and I were discussing this over lunch and we wonder if it has to do the the US economy and less US tourist spending money.

At the pier the shopping Ambassors from the ship give you these coupons for a free taxi to the Golden Zone, we figured why not but a word to the wise none of the Taxi drivers wanted to take them, they claim Rip off Internations oops did I say that:D I meant Diamonds Internations would not pay them. I was about to just get in a regular taxi and pay when I driver came up said he would take us as long as we tipped him well:rolleyes: hmmm not sure what he meant but we went any way. Of course we were dropped off a D.I. and they did pay the taxi driver and I tipped him 4 bucks. We went into D.I. did my walk around looked at a tiny pair of earrings that when they told me the sale price was $1180.00 I said pesos he said no US dollars I started to laugh. I am telling you these earrings you could easily buy at Zales for $299.00 I am amazed they sell anything but they must to have so many stores all over. We then went walking around a few shops, I had some last minute Christmas shopping I wanted to do for a bank rep. I knew what I wanted to buy I found it in a store but the price again was high than I thought it should have been so we continued on. I later found exactly what I wanted and was able to get the price Iwanted as well. As we came out of this little center the lady in the original store came over to us and said she could now sell to us for the price we wanted. :eek: Sorry too late.

We then headed over to Ponchos our favorite lunch spot in Mazatlan. The view is always great as is the food IMO so we enjoyed a relaxing lunch with me having another Margarita and Tom his Nigro Medero Beer and some yummy chicken and cheese enchiladas. After wards we headed to the jewelry store where we know the owner, he had told us he would be out of the country for a family wedding. When we walked ian the shop they got a kick out of the fact that I knew their owner was in Lebanon for a family wedding. Of course they still wanted to sell me something but to be truthful after my purchase on the ship my buying was done:o We grabbed one of the buggy taxi's (right now I fogot what they call them) and headed back to the pier. We stopped and purchased cigars for my aisstant at work and our son. Tom has headed back to the ship and I am now typing away here.

Tonight's dinner looks to be that of when they had Dutch Night. We will enjoy a fine bottle of Pinot Grigio ;)

Signing off from just outside the ship in Mazatlan

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Lisa,

 

The posts are great and I'm really enjoying taking this trip with you!

How was the food on the BBQ? When we sail in October, our Cabo night will be our friends 7th wedding anniversary and we're trying to decide what we will do for dinner. We're already doing the Pinnicle on sailaway because it will be our 5th anniversary that night. What were they serving in the DR last night?

Looking forward to hearing about Mazatlan!

 

Deb

 

Deb, personally I do not care for the BBQon HAL it is just alright but others think it is great but since I was not at all hungry last night it was OK for me to just get a little bit and some fruit. Right off hand I do not remember what was on the menu, they are back at the cabin.

 

We have not met, but I feel like I know you from your great posts.

I'll be on the Oosterdam Jan 12th and was wondering about the weather on the 1st sea day from San Diego to Cabo.

 

I did this itineray on the Star Princess 4 /5 yrs ago and it was chilly that 1st day, too cool to sit by the pool soaking up the rays. I remember wearing a sweatshirt when I sat on the verandah. This time we ( 15 of us) have aft facing cabins on deck 8, I hope that will reduce the wind and keep it warmer.

 

Thanks, in advance,

 

Marini Cruiser

 

Yiu just never know about the weather, it was actually very nice and in the mid 70's on Sunday our first sea day. It was warmer then that it is today here in town. Yet I will say most of the time it is usually cold that first sea day. My guess is it could be quite cold in January and would plan for that and if you get very nice warm weather that think of it as a gift. Usually the best sea day is on Thursday.

[magictam]

Lisa

Thank you for sharing all the details. I can imagine that I'm there with you.

 

I so can't wait for the Yum Yum cruise. :D

[localady]

Lisa-

Sorry to hear about the chilly day, perhaps it will be nicer in February.;) :D

 

I sure hope so as we plan to head to Stone Island that day and have a beach day.:rolleyes:

 

Enjoy Dutch night or International Night or whatever they are calling it! I had the Nasi Goreng last cruise and it was quite good.:cool:

[kakalina]

Lisa: LOve keeping up with you vicariously, thanks. Your lunch sound wonderful. We haven't tried them but will next time. May tomorrow be warm and sunny for you!