flyrobinfly

Here are pictures of the outdoor hot tub and a shot of one of the PS bathrooms from the Eurodam, taken in 2017. Not sure why they're showing up sideways, sorry!

Good day Jacqui,

Please add:

November 24, 2021

Eurodam

11 day Panama Canal Sunfarer

This is our first Thanksgiving cruise, and first Panama Canal cruise. And like many others here, a belated celebrations of lots of things. 🙃

With appreciation,

Robin

DH and I were invited to a lunch and Future Cruise presentation on board Amsterdam in 2018 and we immediately fell in love with her and decided we had to sail her someday. We got the opportunity to do that in 2019 on the coastal portion (Vancouver to San Diego) of the Inca Empires sailing, and enjoyed our few days aboard. We both cried out loud in dismay when we heard her farewell horn from our hotel in San Diego the last evening, knowing our lovely ship was going on without us. We cried again when we learned she was sold. 😥

Here is a picture of her in Monterey, and of the beautiful astrolabe.

Thank you all for the well wishes! Really looking forward to that dose of Vitamin Sea. 😊

HAL did send a similar communication last week to those on my roll call for Friday's sailing on Zuiderdam, so they are on it. From what I understand, the cruise ship group CLIA has taken this approach after the Costa ship had the scare when a passenger became sick. Fortunately it was not the coronavirus.

I'll echo all the thanks for doing this thread and for posting all the excellent resources. We'll be doing the tropical Caribbean itinerary in February and the information you provided is invaluable for planning.

Happy New Year!

On ‎12‎/‎29‎/‎2019 at 5:43 PM, kazu said:

 

Happy to add you.

 

I’d love an escape from winter already so I am bit envious 😉 

I know what you mean, I've been wistfully following all the various live threads and reports and can't wait for some sunshine and warm waters! Plus this sailing happens over our anniversary and we're going to celebrate.

What fun! Could you please add me as follows:

February 8, 2020

Zuiderdam

7 Day Tropical Caribbean

Thanks for doing this.

Hello IrishSmiley, just booked my ROV for our February cruise on Zuiderdam and thought of you. How did your ceremony go? Would you be willing to share, and include pictures if possible?

Our cruise actually happens during our actual anniversary but it's a port day, so I suspect the ROV will be the following day, which is a sea day.

Best wishes,

Robin

I am allergic to alcohol but Ship Services told me it would be an easy swap to a nonalcoholic beverage for the ROV, so that’s an option.

Thank you St. Louis Sal and Sailingdutchy (love the orange tie!) for posting your beautiful photos and to everyone for sharing their experiences. We will be sailing Zuiderdam on our anniversary next year and I am definitely doing this for my husband! 

IrishSmiley, I can't wait to hear about your experience! Have a wonderful cruise and ROV. 🙂

I didn't notice any vent issues or noises during my cruise last month. We were in a verandah stateroom if that helps.

14 hours ago, colbe said:

If you have your computer onboard, go to the HAL Navigator and find the leave a message page. Or you can use the card that is left in the folder on your bed each evening, or you can go to the front desk and ask for a comments card. I always look for positive things to say about the crew to try and balance out the stream of petty complaints that they are subjected to from some passengers.

Thank you so much, Colbe! We're fairly new to cruising so are still figuring things out. We thank our stewards, waiters and other crew members we see in person, but it's nice to know there are options for those behind the scenes such as the laundry workers.

4 hours ago, colbe said:

Don't forget to send a message of thanks to the laundry workers - it makes their day - they generally just get complaints. One cruise last year the head of housekeeping knocked at our cabin door to say thank you for my message. This year one of the front office rang to say that she had passed the message on and that the workers "are going to love getting this message!" 😀

Could you please tell me how to do this? We were so impressed with our laundry on the last cruise and had no idea how to pass on the kudos except in the survey.

5 hours ago, Crew News said:

 

Thanks for the updat.  Looks like my gremlin battles are still going.  The Embarkation and Day 02 should now be fixed.

You have triumphed and the gremlins are eradicated...menus work beautifully now. Thanks!

The embarkation day is fixed but now the Day 2 has gone MIA. Thank you for all your work sharing these great resources with us!

3 hours ago, Crew News said:

Thanks for the notice.  I should not have been combining menus and uploading after midnight.  The Embarkation Day menus are now fixed.  If there is no Mariner-only lunch on Embarkation Day, the menu will probably be the same.

Hi Crew News, Embarkation Day menu is now showing as a broken link. The Day Two menus are still there but the header says "AL Embarkation Day" so not sure what happened.

Thanks for doing this thread, it has been full of good information!

I purchased the $99 package a couple months before our January sailing on Koningsdam and am really glad I did. On the ship it was advertised at $299!

We received our images on a HAL liner shaped USB. We were in hurry and didn't check before disembarking and when we got home realized our HMC excursion photos were missing. I called HAL's Photo Department and they tracked them down and sent them to us, so kudos.

We did the PM bedtime snack in their heated elephant barn. Everyone got carrots to give their favorite elephants. Butch, the male you see in the photo, actually crooked his trunk to say "more" to people who didn't give him enough carrots in his opinion! Afterwards, we had the opportunity to touch the tusks of one of the females.

They do have during the day a couple different elephant encounters, including one where you help give them their bath. You are free to take as many photos and video as you wish, also. 

I found another photo showing some folks getting right up close to meet the elephants. You can barely see their legs but they're there. :)

I have been to the Monterey Zoo and actually overnighted there, which I highly recommend if you can do it...an elephant delivered our breakfast in the morning! The zoo itself is not huge but you can get really close to the animals and there will not be crowds the way there is at a larger place. So if you like a more intimate, low key experience, it's worth it.

For a port day, if you can sign up for an animal encounter it is enjoyable. We did an elephant feeding as well as a large cat feeding. There are several other experiences depending on what is available the day you go. I've attached a couple photos for you to see.

1 hour ago, Crew News said:

At the lowest levels of the crew, the crew seems almost as happy as the crew on the Westerdam and goes out of their way to accommodate every request.  I first noted a sense of "indifference" and/or "aloofness" of the ship's officers (with exceptions of course) on the Zaandam last May in Alaska but this is more evident.

 

Enough of my soap box.  I could care less if any ship officer asks how I am enjoying my cruise but to first-time cruisers, it could be positive action to convince them that HAL is a guest-friendly line.  Guests that feel like they are a VIP boost sales and ultimately my CCL stock value.

DH and I took our very first cruise in April on Westerdam (the Pacific Coastal you organized the meet and greet for, Crew News, but we were among the folks that missed the time/place change that happened because of the Mariner luncheon so didn't get to meet you) and that was one thing that he immediately noticed, and did not like. Regular crew were friendly and professional, but anyone whose uniform got a little fancier couldn't be bothered to even smile or say good morning. We did comment on this on our post cruise surveys, and hopefully HQ will take note. We are sailing on Kdam next month and really hope that will be different. We don't need to be treated like VIPs but basic civilities like acknowledging passengers/customers should be normal.

Bon voyage, Dogstar and Mrs. Dogstar! Looking forward to any reports, photos and tidbits.

I saw that too and thought I'd accidentally entered the Cunard roll call for a half second. Hopefully it'll be fixed.

I would like to know if Nami Sushi will be separate from Tamarind as it is on Nieuw Statendam and if folks can go there to order a la carte sushi independent of the restaurant.

Looking forward to all the reports and photos. We will be on Kdam January 4.

We are doing the horseback ride on HMC in January and I understand they often have a ship photographer getting shots of people riding in the ocean. Are these considered candids that would be included in the photo package?