OBX-Cruisers

HAL certainly did allow unlimited quantities of wine onboard before the recent policy change.

One of our early cruises was on the Zaandam in 2008 and our dining partners were older than us in their late 70s and they had brought on 4 bottles of wine.

THOSE were GALLON bottles!!!...........but then that was a 15 RT from San Diego to Hawaii.

Probably a "good" 2007 vintage I would imagine but we didn't get any to comment.

As for Xraying baggage.............NCL and Celebrity have been our worst experience with an NCL crewman finding a bottle of water in my bag and actually opening the sealed bottle and smelling it. Celebrity recetly held one of our bags on 1/2013 because they found a pair of scissors in the bag that my wife uses for crafts...........they CONFISCATED the scissors and I could only get them back if I waited in line at Ft. Lauderdale upon return............I like Celebrity but that was INSANE...the steak knives in the dining room are a lot more lethal than those scissors.

To continue, yes, there's pretty much something all day. In the afternoon, usually around 4, afternoon tea foods are put out -- little sandwiches, cakes, etc. Then around 5 there's sushi.

First there's early breakfast in the Ocean View Cafe (buffet) from 7AM to 10AM and late breakfast until 11:30AM...30 minutes to breath until lunch starts at 12:00........then there are those sandwiches, pasta and pizza stations......not to mention the fruit and salad bar that remains open until almost dinner time. Sushi at 5:30-9:30 with dinner servings from 6:00-9:30 and a "chef's late night collection from 10:00-1:30AM with small sandwiches, pastries, cookiesk pasta and pizza remain open well into the evening..............then of course there is the all day free ice cream or soft serve in the buffet from noon to 9:30, free pastries at El Bacchio, 2 for 1 gelato starting around 5:30................and that doesn't even count the hamburgers and hot dogs at the Mast Grill from 11:30-6 PM......and these are mostly all the FREE choices

I can just hear my mother now:

" I can't eat anything, there is JUST TOO MUCH FOOD"

This seems to be a bit of a secret because we did not discover this during a 12 day cruise on the Silhouette and only learned about it on CC.

For lunch in the AQ spa cafe, you can ask for salmon, tuna, chicken or pork and they will custom grill it for you and bring it to your table.

On our last X cruise in February on the Eclipse, I usually had the salmon cooked medium and it was fantastic.

One More: One night we decided to eat dinner in the buffet and were flabbergasted to see that they custom carve and cook a variety of meat(s) that are beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. The lamb chops were unbelievably good and much less (i.e., $0) than the $45 each we would have paid in Tuscan or Murano

Guess you would have to order the Filet of Escargot with those guys/gals (they are both you know);)

How about those huge snails that are invading Miami - they'd make quite a meal.

 

Oops Karen - I see you beat me to it.

Love the comment about the huge wild Escargot in FL...:D.

But this situation is RCI- company wide as we had none on the Allure in October and this was true on the Eclipse in February..........we were also told about the shortage and they were substituting bay scallops made in the same way on the Allure but nada on the Eclipse

I wonder what is happening on Holland America and other lines owned by Carnival................Anyone know if they have a shortage???

Ship: Eclipse

Cabin: 3124

Deck: 3

Class:

Location: Starboard

Bed: Near window

Quiet: No

Problems with this cabin: There was a metallic scraping sound coming from below for most of the trip that escalated to mechanical pounding noises that were very disturbing.

Recommendation: Pick a cabin more forward on this deck as our friends up the hall did not report any noises despite being closer to the Atrium.

Eldodans.............thanks for the directions and pictures........will be leaving for Bermuda next week and plan to take the ferry to St. Georges on our first day there.

First cruise.. asking a guy in the elevator where the "libido" deck was... meant LIDO LOL I got the weirdest look...

That is likely the space on Deck 9 3/4!!:rolleyes:

Thanks Sandi, wish I could help in some way. Great job and a real asset to all of us. Waiting for your report to tack on a trip on the Solstice after we disembark from the Eurodam in Ft. Lauderdale.

Many many thanks for your hard work. I am waiting to make reservations on the Solstice until after I see your next spreadsheet........any time soon?

Best wishes

Ron

John: This thread and your work is spectacular. How many times can we all say thank you for your historical contributions.

For my wife and I, our first cruise and one that hooked us completely was on the beautiful Maasdam in 2006 (late starters I guess). We have been on her a total of 3 times since then and can't wait to see her again after drydock.

Thank you one more time.

We have been on the Maasdam in 2006 (lower promenade) and 2008 and 2009 (Main Deck). No AC problems in 2006 except our cabin 363 was right next to exit door that had a defective closing damper and it slammed VERY loudly whenever anyone went out. I had to complain to desk 3 times that this is dangerous because force could easily take off an arm etc............Fixed after 3 days.

AC issues are a valid concern on the Maasdam and the thermostats in the room have little to no functional effect on the temperature. On our last cruise in 2009 a report that our room was too hot was initially addressed by someone coming in while we were away to turn down the setting............no effect. After a second call things got better for a while but room never got below 75 degrees and we lived with it. I saw when doors were opened that many of the Interior cabins had fans. Our OV room was on the starboard side and we needed to keep drapes closed to keep out some of the sun so I suggest going for a Port side cabin.

I really love most all of the other features of the Maasdam but I have posted in my cruise reviews that basic problems with AC and elevators need to be taken care of before the next refurbishment in 2011.

I believe HAL will permit a one-time switch either from open to fixed or vice versa ... they will not allow passengers to alternate between dining options, open for a night or two then fixed for a night and back to open for a couple of nights.

 

You are correct that HAL will allow a one time and permanent switch between the two dining styles.

 

I accidentally happened upon this thread and can contribute that I HAVE experienced both dining styles: AWYL dining has the advantage of a semi-flexible schedule (you still must have reservations); however, you CAN show up and take your chances for an open seat if you do not make reservations........thus, explaining the "waiting in line folks".

 

AWYL it dining has advantages of new dining partners every night and meeting many different people.......unless you want to team up with some chosen partners and reserve or show up together. But, it has the disadvantage, in my humble opinion, of not having the same waiters that in the case of HAL usually remember your preferences after day one for the rest of the cruise..........Love those guys!!!

 

Fixed dining has the advantage of getting to know your dining partners much better than the transient meetings at AWYL dining. It has the advantage of the same waiters. However, both of these could be disadvantages if you are assigned less than optimum partners and/or waiters. We have NEVER had either of those possibilities happen in our 8 cruises to date..........then we might make use of the one time switch however!!

IRL Joannie: On your link for the Maasdam you have Deck 4 Labeled as A Deck. A deck is Deck 1, Main Deck is Deck 2 not Deck 1; Lower Promenade is Deck 3 (not listed) and Deck 4 the Promenade Deck and Deck 5 Upper Promenade have no cabins.

We will be on the Maasdam for the 3rd time in October and I can get you a picture of the Ocean View cabins on Deck 2 Main Deck and perhaps a few more if I can talk people into it.

Copper:

You seem to be in the know about who is the CD on various cruises. Do you know who might be on the Maasdam on the Oct. 23rd cruise? I hope it is not Susannah if that tells you something about my least favorite.

Our favorite of all time was Doug Dunnell (Maasdam 2006), an opera trained musician who had the best show staff of all of our 7 cruises (so far and more to come). Russ Bralley (Zaandam 2007 15 day) was also very good but I think that cruise was his last with HAL. They gave him a very meager staff and he was great about showing up at everything often alone. I was surprised to see we have had some of those mentioned by others including Drew and Jason.......neither were memorable compared to others in our past.

After many years of trying to get me to go on a cruise, my wife was finally successful when we retired and found that we would be spending the December holiday period alone in Kitty Hawk, NC where we just moved and knew few people. I found a great price on an 11 day cruise on the Maasdam from Norfolk (its last roundtrip from that port as we found out).

Being our first cruise I was always up early, wandered the ship like an awestruck new traveler (which I was) and attended all of the events. On this late afternoon day we were leaving Puerto Rico in the evening and I wanted to get some departing pictures of Fort El Morro as we were leaving. As I stood at the stern I heard a lot of shouting and cheering from the pool deck above and remembered that there were going to be pool games shortly after we departed.

Going up a deck or two I saw that the games had reached the finale stage and they were having a team "Best Belly Flop Contest". Again, as my first cruise experience with this I was quite entertained as the audience judged the contestants by holding up from 0 to 10 fingers. One very petite young lady, from whom we expected little, jumped in and made a tremendous splash and received a "10". Finally, a much larger young lady, from whom the audience expected a lot, jumped in a created a feeble splash that received a score of "4"....................however............upon leaving the pool, the top of her two piece bathing suit separated from one of her upper parts (noted as fruits by some on this thread but referred to as "puppies" by our much wiser and more experienced dining partners) left their enclosure. WELL, no one noticed! Except me standing there with my camera and wondering if I was seeing what I was seeing.

About then the young woman noticed that something had become unbalanced on her chest wardrobe and tried to adjust the situation which promptly led to the other puppy leaving its enclosure with both now in clear view to all.................who then began noticing what I had seen, camera all the time at the ready. The audience who was very dedicated to accuracy in scoring Promptly reversed their initial score and awarded a "10".

Well you may have guessed why there is no picture to back up this story.........but I did get some nice pictures of fort El Morro if you care to see them.

This was my first cruise in December of 2006 and we are now booked on the Maasdam in October; out 8th cruise! I know a good cruise ship when I see it and am expecting a replay.

Ron

Can't help with suggesting beaches although we did see several pretty ones on our tour. I highly recommend the island tour on this beautiful island and rather than purchase one from the ship, go on land where you can get one of the locals and there are many choices (the further up the street you walk the cheaper the tour suddenly becomes and $15-$20 pp is typical). This was probably the best island tour we ever took but be prepared for those twisting (putting it mildly) roads! You may want to consider this alternative and beach on one of the other islands