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Skies are black and it’s thundering. Ascent is dropping their lines. NS is next.

Thanks @Cruise Suzy The Captain said we will be departing at 3:45. Sea you then🚢

ValueTrips was no trouble. They took my credit card when I reserved but was not charged until I arrived at the hotel. The hotel shuttle was $15pp, was on the Uber app , it was as going to be $16. A cab pulled up, we said, how much to the port. He said $20 and we hopped in. Now waiting in the terminal. I will be wearing White, my friend Navy Blue. We will be waving to you from our aft balcony at Sailaway. Thank you to everyone who wished me Bon Voyage. @dfishIf I was home, I’d make the butternut squash soup tonight. You all know I like butternut squash🤣

Good Morning from Ft Lauderdale! It’s wonderful to be in warmer weather. We are at Hyatt Place on 10th Avenue, one block off 17th. It is a nice hotel that I booked through ValueTrips because of the price. (There are many pilots and flight attendants at the breakfast bar which I always think is a good sign.). We walked to the Boatyard for dinner last night. Excellent setting next to the intercostal, excellent seafood but a bit pricey. Plan on Ubering to the Nieuw Statendam about 10. I did request a wave for Sailaway. We will be on deck 5 in an aft cabin. Wishing everyone the best possible Sunday.

My DHs Leatherman was confiscated when we boarded. We had one very rough night on the cruise with several slamming closet doors that did not latch properly. We tried towels and tying them shut. All he kept saying was,”If I had my Leatherman , I could fix this problem.” I doubt maintenance would have assisted us at 2 am. We found it amusing that it was returned to us the day before we disembarked. I guess they didn’t think it would cause any harm during the last 24 hours of the cruise. BTW, the blade on his Leatherman is 2.6 inches according to the company literature. The rule on HAL 2.5 inches.

Onboard event services provided us with a room for the three meetings of our book club on a TA in October. We arranged it in advance. You could try these emails.From:<JRudolph@HollandAmerica.com> <TManning@HollandAmerica.com>

Today is Read Across America Dayand Dr Suess’ 120th birthday. Was notified my flight was delayed prior to leaving for the airport. Happy to relax at home instead of the airport. Just another reminder of why it is important to fly the day before the cruise. Wishing everyone the best possible weekend.

Thank you for this lovely thread and all the Bon Voyage wishes! We leave for FLL this morning, Looking forward to sunshine and warmer weather.

We enjoyed the port. We got off the ship and turn left to walk toward the market and avoid the steep hill to the town center. We walked up the hill to the main plaza and the church without nails, one of the UNESCO churches. We walked back down the hill to the stilt houses.Although it was hilly, it was a nice town to walk around. We had a nice lunch of empanadas, local fish and octopus overlooking the harbor, about a 5 minute walk from the ship. We knew it was going to be good when we had to use Google to translate the menu.😊

Gluten free on board? These threads should help: Partial privacy curtain in the cabin between the main bed and fold out couch in a verandah cabin No ‘shows’ in the theatre, just dance ‘acts’, comedians and singers? Always have trivia

The project was carried out within the frame of an unrestricted grant from the National Dairy Council and of the University of Michigan Dow Sustainability Fellowship. "Our findings demonstrate that small targeted substitutions offer a feasible and powerful strategy to achieve significant health and environmental benefits without requiring dramatic dietary shifts." Seriously…on National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day, I was just pointing out that peanut butter is good for you and the planet.

According to a 2021 study by University of Michigan researchers, eating a hot dog shortens your life by 36 minutes while a peanut butter and jelly sandwich adds 33 minutes to your life. A nutritional index published by the School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences in the Nature Food journal ranked 5,800 foods in the United States based on minutes gained or lost of “healthy” life per serving. With “healthy life gains” explained as an increase in “good-quality and disease-free life expectancy.” The Health Nutritional Index reveals that beef, processed meat, pork, lamb, cheese and sugar-based drinks cause the most healthy minutes lost, while nuts, fruits, vegetables and whole grains provide the most healthy minutes gained. @superomaI love the Three Pines series of books! Positive energy to those who need it. Cheers to those celebrating and cruising.

Hi Jacqui! Jonathan and I are also on the Koningsdam 24-Day Baja Peninsula & Circle Hawaii Collector from January 4-28,2025. Thanks for all you do on CC. Tina

I’m a fan of David Bowie, "I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise I won't bore you." is the actual quote. Often misquoted, this was Bowie's announcement at his 50th birthday gig at New York's Madison Square Gardens on 9 January 1997. He was talking about the direction his music would take in the future.

I think that you started a very interesting and useful thread Mic. I have Club Orange on my cruise departing Sunday but I am committed to visiting the MDR at least once strictly for comparison purposes.

@ralfrick It is was available on my recently disembarked Oosterdam cruise and is available on my Nieuw Statendam cruise next week (not that I am interested).

The time to complain is immediately, not after the fact on a social media site. I would have spoken to the dining room manager and followed up using the Let Is Know feature of the Navigator App, including checking the box that I wanted to be contacted. I agree. Two nights, Anytime diners were seated next to us. The first couple ordered their steaks medium rare. When they were served, they complained to each other that the steaks weren’t rare (I heard them order medium rare) but continued to eat them. When the server came to check on them, they told him the steaks weren’t rare. He offered to replace them. They declined but continued to complain after he walked away making for a very unpleasant dining experience for us. Another night, the man ordered a nonalcoholic Heineken. The beverage server came to the table with a nonalcoholic Coors saying there was no Heineken. He berated her, I thought she was going to cry. She said she would find some for him. She was gone about 15 minutes and said she had checked all the bars but none was available. He said he had it earlier on the ship, this argument continued until the manager had to intervene. Another unpleasant dining experience created by a passenger. I would have escalated this situation to the Food & Beverage manager if the maitre d couldn’t correct the problem. The original question @MicCanberra ask was, “Was it just our cruise/ ship, or is it occurring fleet wide?, is it cost cutting having less staff doing more?” I believe the problem is less staff doing more. But, I believe the staff is doing their best. And that professional service is improving with each cruise. I had a good experience on the Oosterdam. I am boarding the Nieuw Statendam on Sunday for two weeks. I will compare my service in dining rooms of the two ships when I return.

@Sharon in AZI never saw a B52 on a HAL menu but made plenty of them when I was a bartender in the 80s. In case anyone is interested, it is a layered drink with equal parts of three alcohols: Kahlua, Bailey’s Irish Cream and Grand Marnier.Also, I remember it being named after the band, not the bomber. However, if you have more than one you may be “bombed” Thanks to all the regular posters. Positive thoughts to those who need them. Cheers to those celebrating and cruising.

Our waiter entered our drink orders into a computer. A beverage server delivered them to our table, not our waiter. It was the same two people every night for 22 days. We got to know them too and wherever we saw them on the ship they greeted us by name.

@MicCanberra I’m sorry the you had inconsistent experiences in the MDR. My experience was totally different but I had fixed seating. Since I didn’t spend much time talking about the dining room service on my LIVE thread, I thought I would take a few minutes to make my comments here. We had a wonderful table for two in the third floor dining room. We were seated by the Assistant Dining room manager on the first night, I believe her name was Dina. Every night she greeted us by name and stopped by our table to check that everything was ok. One night she noticed my wine glass was empty and a new glass of wine appeared within minutes. When she saw us in the MDR for breakfast, she always stopped by to speak to us. One day I requested an extra napkin, she got it herself instead of asking a server to get it for us. I feel like our relationship with her improved all of our MDR experiences. Our server Arief and his assistant Rov were outstanding. After the first night, they knew our likes and dislikes. We would sit down and put our key cards on the table. They would immediately appear to ask for our drink order. After a few nights, they realized we drank the same thing every night and our drinks were always there within five minutes of being seated. They knew not to bring the bread basket, that I wanted extra vegetables, that we wouldn’t order dessert until we finished eating, that I drank tea every night after dinner. I believe our relationship with them improved our experience, particularly on a longer cruise. They had 2 tables of eight, 2 tables of four and a table for two. As a former server, that is a lot of people to serve when they are all seated at the same time. We began to arrive 15 minutes after the assigned seating time to avoid the initial rush and they seemed grateful. One of the tables for eight was 4 adults and 4 children; the children were well mannered and cute but required additional attention. We found the food to be good to very good. It was served hot and in a timely fashion. We were usually in the dining room for about 1.5 hours. One of the reasons we choose fixed dining is so we can build relationships with the staff. I feel this enhances our onboard experience. When we do not have fixed dining, we ask to be seated in the same section with the same servers for every meal. I have been on 6 HAL cruises since the pandemic The staffing and service has improved on every cruise. I believe we are almost back to pre pandemic levels. I hope that your negative experience in the MDR is not what you remember the most about our wonderful cruise. This is what I will remember most…

My husband drinks Buffalo Trace which was available at every bar on the Oosterdam last month. He was excited to see the single barrel BT on the Ocean Bar menu and eager to try it. When he ordered it he was told they did not have it in stock. Without giving a direct answer, the bartender seemed to imply that it had never been in stock.🤷‍♀️

@ralfrickI've noted that we can order room service off the MDR menu during dinner's 1st hour. Is this true of any other meals, specifically breakfast? Yes, here’s the standard room service menu: https://rogerjett-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Room-Service-Pinnacle-and-S-class-ship-2023-24.pdf Here’s the breakfast menu you can hang on the door the night before: https://rogerjett-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Breakfast-Card-2024-1.pdf I’ve written in additional items and it has never been a problem. You can always call room service in the am too. I've noted the policy prohibiting bringing beverages & plastic bottles on board, including energy drinks. Any idea if this applies to small energy shots about the size of a motel shampoo bottle & made of a similar material, different than the plastic in beverage bottles? Never tried but I can’t imagine it being a problem. None of the discussions of gala nights or MDR dress codes mention shoes. My options will be hiking shoes or hiking boots; any issue? Alaskan cruises are somewhat more casual, even on dressy nights. Hiking shoes will be fine. If we've had dinner elsewhere or in port, but the MDR has an appealing dessert, is it considered bad form to take up space for dessert only (after the peak dining time, of course)? The desserts in the Lido buffet will be the same as the MDR Is unlimited laundry per cabin or per person? Per cabin I've noted that bags we carry onto the ship ourselves must fit into the scanner; can one assume that anything that can be carried onto an airplane will fit? Yes I'm fully aware that bringing cannabis onboard is strictly forbidden; that is not what I am asking. But we will be indulging prior to sailing and in the ports, and will therefore possibly have a pipe, rolling papers, lighters, or other smoking implements; are any of these likely be an issue? Pipes, rolling papers and lighters are allowed. Be sure pipe does not contain any marijuana reside. Not sure what you mean by other smoking implements. Our bus from Anchorage arrives in Whittier at 3:30, which seems close when considering the advice to arrive early. On the other hand, this looks fairly standard among the shuttle companies in Alaska, and taking passengers to the ports seems to be the core of their business model, so I shouldn't worry, right? Has the bus from Anchorage been arranged by HAL? If so, I wouldn’t worry. Finally, covid restrictions like masks, vaccine records, et al are not an issue at this time, correct? No Covid restrictions. Alaska is beautiful. Enjoy!

BB Kings is now Rolling Stones Rock Room. On most ships the dual (not dueling) pianos have been replaced by one piano player. Both venues were excellent on my recently disembarked Oosterdam cruise.

Let’s Eat Right Day is celebrated on the birthday of Adelle Davis, a popular writer and lecturer on food and health on the early 20th century. I try to follow this advice for healthier diet, “If something has a whole list of ingredients that you cannot pronounce, it should not make it into your shopping cart." ―Amy Leigh Mercree Positive thoughts to those who need them. Cheers to those celebrating and cruising.