TravelBluebird

I took this photo to say: I’m out on my balcony with my Holland America blanket (2 provided in room for this cruise) and its 55; brisk but pleasant!…

the Crow’s Nest bar has the main coffee shop on the ship! And of course cocktails as well. Here is an example of the coffee menus. And ask away on questions @FLCruiser97!

Thank you so much for the map of our route @NorbertsNiece! And thank you for the warning re the Tai Chi—it is indeed being held on the Lido! We have been briskly walking each morning on the deck 3 outdoor Promenade instead

In the Crow’s Nest this morning with our espresso and cappucino! Pastries available for free with your coffee. We woke up late—so much for Tai Chi but we are on vacation! Slow gently rolling swells this morning, pool water is sloshing

@Heidi13 Thank you—that is a very detailed explanation!

@Torquer absolutely! Lesson learned

@FLCruiser97 On my YouTube channel—it’s in my signature. It’s not posted yet but I’ll put a link here when it’s online

@0106 Thank you about the info on the “Let Us Know” feature—I didn’t know about that! DH is going to report what happened this morning there, and I’m glad to know that avenue is available for any needs AND for complimenting excellent staff! We shall definitely try MDR breakfast AND room service for some early mornings for excursions! As for Tango, we didn’t make it—DH Waz resting and I decided to tape a vlog. I see there will be more opportunities in the events itinerary!

I knew about your cruise, and when various passengers have proposed that the entire “story was made up” so we could wait for the late passengers, I’ve had to set them straight and let them know that this exact same thing has happened before! I was actually happy Oosterdam made it INTO the port in the morning so we didn’t end up having an embarkation like you! I’m so excited about Antarctica and the rest of the cruise! @BSinPNS I hope I can bring some good memories back to you!

We had breakfast in the buffet this morning around 8am, and it was packed. Really hard to get a table. It looked like people had finished their breakfasts and were just hanging around! I had a bagel with lox and some fruit, juice and an ordered espresso. For lunch, we didn’t want to attempt the buffet again, so we had lunch in the MDR. This was amazing! Very nice menu, and we were in and out in 1/2 hour! Not a long wait either (its only 1 hour, 12 to 1). Russ had the cordon bleu burger with fries and bread pudding for desert; I had the tomato and goat cheese tart and vegetarian sandwich (I’m not a vegetarian, but I’m having the tenderloin for dressy night and don’t like beef twice in one day). Really loved the sandwich! Russ enjoyed his burger.

Went to get a seat early at the Captain’s talk, and ended up in for the last half of the ports talk. It was from the excursions department. Had some good information, including how tenders, etc work. Also gave a brief overview of each port. The captain gave an incredibly detailed talk about why we left so late and also why we are missing Port Montt. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this. I have been in situations with missed ports on other lines where there was nearly no communication at all. In short, the Port of San Antonio requires 2 tugs for each ship. So, even though the Oosterdam (and any modern ship) could safely operate in yesterday’s conditions, the tugs cannot. SO, the entire port closes when the tugs cannot operate. This is an ongoing problem with this port; the cruise ships hope someday to get an exemption from this regulations; with their azipods, tugs are unnecessary. The reason we did not leave until 7:15am is that when the port opened back up, cargo ships had priority and got to leave before we could. As for Port Montt, the main problem with the late departure was that there is a bridge being build OVER the channel we take to Port Montt. The Oosterdam can only get under that cable in certain tidal conditions, and the late departure made that impossible. Finally, over 200 of the stranded passengers made it to the ship last night, many between 12am and 3am!—two cancelled planes, one United and one American.

Overall, a nice sea day. Two little glitches—one, I needed an extra pillow, and it took me nearly 24 hours to achieve that, so I only had one last night. I didn’t see my room steward again after he introduced himself. He had left a card but it only has the number for guest services on it if you need something. SO I left a card out that was in the room on my door (it is specifically for needing something—blanket, pillow, ice, etc) in the afternoon. Card was still there in the late evening, so I tried calling guest services four times, but I was on hold for a really long time each time and gave up. Card for pillow was still on my door this morning. Room was made up after lunch, card was gone but still no pillow. I finally called guest services again and the wait was shorter and got the pillow. Other little glitch is that Russ went up to see if he could get me on a Puerto Madryn excursion. It was accomplished (I am going on the Spanish speaking excursion to Puunta Tombo) but in the process, my husband somehow got deleted from an excursion wait list, and the staff member was rude to him in the process.

@wdw1972 One of the joys of looking out a balcony, for me, is a view of the water from your bed or couch. All my views are as such below. I’m a really visual person, and this will bother me every time I look out my window. The second view is just me looking out over my blacony—the white things are in my field of view no matter what. As for photography, it’s a disaster, as mentioned. I am not askin anyting from HAL because of this, BUT I really want them to change the category or make a notation for future travelers.

@FLCruiser97I’ve taped an entire room tour, including all the storage (under bed drawers included) Here is one of the drawers (I am keeping my dirty laundry in this draw in a bag, so it was easy to take out for the photo! I always tape my room tours before I unpack! Overall, the storage in these rooms is wonderful—big 3 part closet, the two big under-bed drawers, room in the little square seat by the desk, 4 little drawers total int he night stands, and over head cabinets over the couch.

I will check out his blog! And I will definitely get to the spa at some point and take pictures for you!

Went to Coffee with Ed our cruise director! Held in the Explorer Lounge. Got to meet @Btimmer and his wife! found out that 250 people (!!) were still in transit to the ship as of 5:30 last night. try to go to the stretch and release class, but it was too crowded. No space. Heading to the Captain’s Talk shortly!

Thank you—I’m going to look into that! Loved all your maps in your blog!

@NorbertsNiece Would love it! what site is it that you use again—it’s fantastic!

such a useful site for all us cruise ship stalkers! 😂

Indeed! I felt the ship move and hopped on outside to watch sail away!

We are on our way!! Wow that is not right re the Internet. Internet in my phone is fine—my iPad keeps dropping the connection. Hope they can solve it for you!

We are on our way!

Russ said “we didn’t move, one of the cargo ships across the way moved” shows you how little I know—I didn’t know those things were even ships! 😂

Ok I’m heading back to sleep—I woke up to take some medication. I hope we are on our way when I wake up again!

Hmm ,,, we have moved slightly? But are quite stationary at the moment. The industrial view out the window is different than last night—