Jump to content

Digital Workshop on the Noordam


innlady1

Recommended Posts

On the second half of our recent B2B, HAL introduced the Digital Workshop on the Noordam. It is located on Deck 2 Aft, between the Explorers Lounge and the Vista Dining Room.

 

It was supposed to "open" for the 1/23 cruise, the instructors were ready to go, but couldn't find the new Sony laptops. Turns out, they were delivered to the Vista Lounge and sat there until someone discovered them!

 

They had two instructors, Jeremy who came over from the Westerdam and Greg, the person who will be on the Noordam until May. I believe Jeremy was there to implement the program and going forward there will be just one instructor.

 

There were six seminars/sessions given throughout the day and evening, more on sea days than days we were in port, of course. "Insert Photo Here: Getting Your Photos Out of the Digital Camera and Into the Computer," "Your Away-From-Home Movie: Turn Your Cruise Photos and Videos Into an Enhanced Slideshow," etc. Interspersed with these were one hour time slots called Techspert Time (one-on-one help).

 

Fred and I did all of them, and Fred went to several of the Techspert Time sessions as well.

 

The room has 12 computers: three at each of the four sofas. Two large screen TV monitors for the instructors to use for their instructions. It was very well attended; we always got there early so that we would have a computer to use.

 

Apparently all of it has been donated by Microsoft, and the programs they use for photo download are free Windows programs. Can't remember the name...I haven't unpacked all of that yet!

 

The furniture is very uncomfortable. I don't know what the "decorator" was thinking when he/she designed this space. Especially with the older demographics on HAL. I have a feeling it will be replaced with more ergonomically correct furnishings soon!

 

IMG_4429.jpg

IMG_4422.jpg

IMG_4428.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This looks and sounds great. Is HAL going to introduce this feature to all the ships in her fleet? I feel confident on my computer but you never know what little tricks you may learn from a pro or others sitting beside you. I would be willing to give up some of my deck relaxation time to attend a few of these classes. Colakid

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This looks and sounds great. Is HAL going to introduce this feature to all the ships in her fleet? I feel confident on my computer but you never know what little tricks you may learn from a pro or others sitting beside you. I would be willing to give up some of my deck relaxation time to attend a few of these classes. Colakid

 

I would assume so.

 

I wonder if the Eurodam has it already since that's a new ship? Although I don't remember anyone who has been on her mentioning it.

 

One thing I learned was how to photoshop unwanted stuff out of photos. I have never been able to do that on my own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sheila, that sounds like a great program. I'm going to have to look for that when we are on the Noordam next year. Thanks for sharing that with all of us.

 

It was great, Bev. Too bad they couldn't find the laptops until after the Good Nuts cruise.

 

Did you notice Fred's orange "Good Nuts" shirt? ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sheila, that sounds like a great program. I'm going to have to look for that when we are on the Noordam next year. Thanks for sharing that with all of us.

 

They are rolling this program out on all the ships. Apparently Micosoft is paying for it. We just had it on the Zaandam, and I really enjoyed the classes.

Chris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Eurodam does have this. We went to the classes on the Inaugural cruise in July. You had to get there early to get a computer as they filled up fast. It was very popular. We were disappointed when they didn't have it up and running for the January 23 Good Nuts Cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Totally free! You use Microsoft internet service and not the internet time you may have purchased from the ship to upload pictures and work on a personal web/blog page. You are learning how to use Windows Live - a free windows program. I did this on the Eurodam in August and it was great! The only downside was not enough computers (especially on sea days) so you had to get there early.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did the MS Windows Live Photo Gallery workshop on the Westerdam and generally enjoyed it. Can't remember who our instructor was but I did catch him in a few errors -- he was off in his description of what the Rule of Thirds is. But he was personable, and great at helping people with the glitches they encountered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did the MS Windows Live Photo Gallery workshop on the Westerdam and generally enjoyed it. Can't remember who our instructor was but I did catch him in a few errors -- he was off in his description of what the Rule of Thirds is. But he was personable, and great at helping people with the glitches they encountered.

 

Perhaps his name was Jeremy? Jeremy was on the Noordam, seemingly to train Greg. Reference was made to the Westerdam, so I put 2 + 2 together and surmised that Jeremy was te Digital Workshop guy on the Westerdam.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder if the Eurodam has it already since that's a new ship? Although I don't remember anyone who has been on her mentioning it.

 

Yes, Eurodam had it on the Inaugural - it took the place of one of the meeting rooms down on Deck 2.

 

The sofas are Danish sleeper sofas - I thought it was strange that they chose daybeds to furnish the rooms:

f_11943.jpg

http://www.dwr.com/product/furniture/living/sleepers/twilight-sleep-sofa-black-frame.do?sortby=ourPicks

 

I think one of the reasons that we didn't say much about it on the inaugural is 1) we were too busy with the ports and parties, and 2) many of us are Mac users (Which require very little tutoring - Apa just got a MacBook after years w/ a PC and he loves it!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brian.....Those are the very same sofas revealed on the Noordam on the 2/2 cruise....following our Good Nuts cruise. Sooooooooooo uncomfortable. Not to mention the fact that it was difficult extracting most of the pax out of those sofas once the seminar was over!

 

I so enjoyed meeting you on the Good Nuts cruise. Nana and Apa raised a very, very fine son....if we'd had a son (in addition to our two daughters!), we'd feel blessed to have one just like you (guess I'm repeating myself...I told you that on the cruise! ;)).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I so enjoyed meeting you on the Good Nuts cruise. Nana and Apa raised a very, very fine son....if we'd had a son (in addition to our two daughters!), we'd feel blessed to have one just like you (guess I'm repeating myself...I told you that on the cruise! ;)).

 

Sheila--

 

Thanks so much for your kind words - It was so good to cruise w/ you and Fred and hope that we can do it again before too long.

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sheila, is that you in the left hand corner of the screen, working on your new HP mini? What size is the screen?

 

Does anyone know if photoshop is the same as Picasa?

Photoshop and Picasa perform the some of the same functions, but are not the same program. Photoshop is an Adobe product that has several versions, from a low end consumer product to a very high end professional product with many more features. In addition to these two programs, there is a large pool of other programs that fit somewhere between the consumer and pro versions. Most cameras come with software that performs the same functions and there are others available both for free and purchase. To some degree Photoshop has become a generic term (like Xerox) to describe all such programs, not just the one from Adobe.

Since Microsoft is providing the computers, internet time, and instructor for these classes, it is more likely that they are only discussing the Microsoft Live program for photo editing, not specifically Photoshop.

 

Rich

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...