Mike B Landlubber

I successfully booked a solo cruise on MSC last year, my first with them. After having eaten my way across the Atlantic in their MDR, I’d say it was quite a public service for them to not let people book their cruises! But different strokes for different folks… 🙂

2 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Thank you Mike B. These pictures are quite helpful. Looks like that verandah was indeed deeper with more seating options. Was that furniture in place, or did you need to request the loungers? I am surprised to see both. We would definitely enjoy that. 
We are still looking at both options. One is more attractive than the other, with more unvisited ports. We have not sailed HAL in a long time. These two itineraries and another on a different line are our top three choices for next year. 
 

These were taken minutes after I arrived, you can see my carryon and jacket slung by the couch, so HAL already had the loungers in place. 🙂

Sounds like 7149 on the Oosterdam is no longer a top choice for you, but I was in the cabin last month, and thought I would provide these photos. In truth, it is a pretty typical verandah cabin except the verandah is slightly longer than normal. I was very happy with it, no issues except that when I moved in, the toilet flush was a little wonky. I reported it, and it was fixed. I’ve never had a problem with soot in any cabin. As is common for a stern cabin, when we were in port there was often an unsightly ship docked right behind us as in the photo. Not a big deal. The stern location was wonderful for transiting the Panama Canal!

I didn’t request it, but got an admittedly small one on Oosterdam last month.

Just now, Ready2go11 said:

Have you tried the pizza? Oosterdam does not have the dedicated NY Pizza so am curious if the Lido version is any good. 
 

Thanks,

I had pizza for lunch several times, so clearly thought it was okay, but I didn’t think it was great. They tended to have just pepperoni and veggie styles over and over again. Good but not great.

Just now, Wehwalt said:

Mike, thanks for taking us along. Quick question for you. Is the Explorations Cafe the only place you can get specialty coffees in the morning?

Cappuccino and espresso are available in the MDR,if you count those as specialties. That’s the only other place I’m aware of. Speaking of which, here is the MDR menu this morning.

Miscellaneous pictures from around the ship.

They aren’t great photos, but here is a photo of a transfer as being discussed, including a crop to show a little more detail. Of course theses are pretty calm seas. And the ships aren’t solidly docked together as I understand it.

Just now, ChiefMateJRK said:

I've read a good pro-tip is to take a photo of that sign as you exit.  One of these cruises, I will actually remember to do that.

Exactly. A photo on your phone is also a necessity for those parking garage signs that say “you are on level B7” and such.

I took a Nile cruise in 1988, don’t remember the company. I didn’t cruise again till I went on Voyages to Antiquity in 2011!

It took us about nine hours to pass through the Canal yesterday.

With the lock gates closed, our ship is raised. Nine minutes between the two pictures.

The Bridge of the Americas carries the Pan American Highway over the Canal. Once you’ve passed under the bridge you are officially in the Canal.

The ship has a tradition of raising everyone’s arms in the air while passing under the bridge.

Before dawn we were waiting our turn to enter the Canal among other ships.

City of Balboa, pelicans in the foreground

Panama Canal handout

We are in Fuerte Amador, Panama, outside Panama City. Today I took an HAL tour, “Aerial Tram & Ecological Encounter”. We began with a panoramic tour of miscellaneous places, such as graveyard for people buried, trying to dig a failed French canal, and some buildings associated with canal administration and education. We drove out into the wilderness to a national park where we saw nature related things. We went through a building with poison dart frogs, saw some orchids and got a brief necessities stop at a hotel lobby. As you would expect, the highlight of the tour was a tram ride through the jungle. We saw some interesting plants and scenery, but little wildlife on the tram tour. We also got a look at some zipline people who weren’t from the ship. We drove back to the ship and arrived about 2 1/2 hours later than the Tour had been described. I had eaten a good breakfast and didn’t really mind, but some people were hungry or aggravated for other reasons. I felt it was an okay excursion, but not a great one.

Last night for dinner, I chose tuna tiradito as an appetizer. I had no idea what it was, but the waiter assured me the tuna had just been brought on board that day and it was a port to table selection so I gave it a shot. I was surprised by what I got! I expected a cooked tuna steak With accompaniment. I ate it and didn’t love it, but I did finish it. I wasn’t sure if it was sushi which I’m not a huge fan of, or ceviche, which I do like. I’m glad I tried it once, but I doubt I will have it again.
The schnitzel was almost as expected, I would’ve appreciated some gravy. But it was good. Cheese plate was also as expected.
I really like Bailey’s and Kahlúa, but wondered what the creme de menthe would do to them. I didn’t need to worry, the drink to polish things off was excellent.
 

y only venture into Lima was the night time shore excursion. We drove through some of the town for about an hour through traffic without stopping to get to the old town, and walked to the mansion through the old town for about a mile as the guide pointed out a few things. By the end of the dinner it was late and most were fatigued, so we had a short walk to the bus and about a 40 minute drive to ship.

Here is the flyer for tomorrow, a sea day.

Here are some city pictures from my night time excursion into Lima. The big open Plaza of Arms was closed off inpreparation for an Easter event. The large enclosed balconies on the light blue building were a Lima tradition in the old days. They were intended to let the ladies see out without being exposed themselves. The night time excursion left the port as rush hour was getting underway, so we spent a fairamount of time waiting in traffic.

Just now, bfgood2 said:

Mike,

 I would be interested in knowing if HAL is offering a shuttandle from Callao Port to MIraflores and where does it stop? Is there a shuttle to the main gate of the port  what times do these run? Trying to plan our 3 days in port when we're on a similar cuise in November to do some on our own and private tours. Thanks.

I know they had a shuttle from the port, but we have left Lima and I never used it, I did nature-oriented excursions out of town except for the night time trip to the mansion. I know they prohibited walking through the port area on your own and did have some kind of shuttle to get you away from the dock. Sorry I’m not more helpful! I did find this, which is vague but nay help. https://freewalkingtoursperu.com/en/blog/how-to-get-from-callao-port-to-lima/

Just now, Sootey66 said:

You are making my mouth water!! What was the excursion you did in Lima?

I always really enjoy the HAL food! The excursion was in Lima, it was 

Evening City Drive & Dinner at

Casa Aliaga

The meal was good, and it was definitely good to have a change of routine from the MDR and Pinnacle. I am eating in the Italian specialty restaurant tonight, may add a shot or two after! Here are a couple of shots from the mansion interior. 
 

Food and beverage post…..

Cippiono

Escargot bourguignon before and after (I happily ate them all)

Biscuits and gravy

Fruit (whose name I didn’t get) that was part of dessert at the mansion

Entree on an excursion for dinner in a Lima historic mansion

Pisco sour

Baked Alaska

Clothesline bacon

These signs were up in the Dive In bar. I thought the one about tastings and mixology would be of interest to those focused on activities. 

Seals frolicking in rough water. Turn your sound on for the video!

Fishermen, sea lions, penguins, and other birds cope with rough water during an excursion to islands off Lima.

One more batch of Nazca stuff. There is a video where you can hear crew narration. The Pan-American Highway runs right through the figures, and an observation tower has been built to help non-flyers. Other figures here include an upside down dog, a friendly giant, the hummingbird, and a general area shot. And one shot of disembarking the plane.

1 hour ago, Torquer said:

@Mike B LandlubberThanks for the excellent report on the Nazca lines, including the photographic equipment you used.

 

A couple follow-up questions (I'm trying to talk my wife into doing it with me since she is hesitant to fly in small planes).  From the photos, it looks like you had two pilots...is that correct?  Did you feel the plane was relatively new and in good condition?

This is interesting, though it doesn’t give an answer, and actually distresses me a bit: https://www.worldnomads.com/travel-safety/south-america/peru/nasca-lines-of-peru-safety-tips-for-choosing-your-flight

I am retired from a job where one of my duties was environmental risk assessment. What that means here is that I don’t easily get alarmed personally over very unlikely risks…So my views are probably more easy-going than those of most folks. But I’m very aware of the risks of flying in countries outside “nice” countries around the North Atlantic, Japan, and a few other places (and even in the nice countries sometimes). My evaluation beforehand was largely that I viewed HAL as better-qualified than me to judge safety, and I trusted their incentive to avoid accidents and scandal to motivate them to do a good job screening. This may be naive, I know.

To answer your specific question, they had two uniformed guys up front, I assumed both were pilots, but I don’t know that. I didn’t watch during flight, though it appeared one mostly did narration during the actual flight. I assume, but don’t know, that he was capable of taking over if necessary. I’d say the risk of a single pilot becoming so incapacitated during flight that he wouldn’t be able to power his way through a landing that he does routinely several times each day is so low it is one of those “so unlikely I don’t worry about it as an individual” risks that I don’t worry about.

I was thinking about safety as we boarded, as an airplane buff and guy who wants to go back to the ship outside a box, I can’t help it. Things I noticed included that the paint on the outside needed touching up. This was cosmetic, but didn’t please me. I noticed the sheet metal skin seemed a bit uneven in some places. Again it didn’t please me, but I knew these planes are subject to a lot of stress because of the rolls and tight turns involved with tight coverage of a small area. I didn’t think it necessarily indicated the structural soundness of the plane. I’m not sure you’ll be able to see these at the resolution of my uploaded picture.

What greatly reassured me on boarding the plane was seeing that the pilots had a digital instrument panel that appeared new or at least well-maintained. Someone is spending money on this plane. You can see it in one of the photos I posted above. As we went through the flight, I also felt like the pilot(s) were practiced and competent at piloting.

The risk assessor in me reminds me that even an airline that is very unsafe in the aggregate is probably quite safe for one flight if it has been in business for awhile and is financially sound. An airline with a fatal crash rate of one in one thousand flights would be considered appallingly unsafe and quite properly immediately shut down by the FAA. But passengers on 999 out of 1000 flights would have been fine—You’d have a 99.9% chance of being safe from one flight.

My amateur unqualified opinion is that if you use an air service contracted by one of the major cruise lines you will probably be fine. Sorry to run on so long about it!

I just heard from a fellow in a group that booked a much cheaper Nazca flightseeing outside HAL. He reports they flew from an airport a three hour drive away, and barely made the all-aboard despite driving back at breakneck speed. Do as your wallet and blood pressure dictate…