mawvkysc

Suzanne O Davis was the main show tonight. She has a great personality and interesting info and banter between songs. Somehow I just didn’t get into her singing. Maybe it was her arrangements of the songs. 
 

I wish the shows were scheduled so that we could see one before late seating. I’ve seen that done  before. The only entertainment we can enjoy before dinner is 3rd Ave West. After dinner its already late. We’ve never done buffet for dinner on a cruise but maybe it’s worth a try. 

Dinner service is getting better but we do see that the other serving teams are more efficient. 
 

Clam chowder had a nice amount of tender clams in it. Not too rich either.
 

The arugula  farro salad was tasty but just has a few leafs of arugula. If you’re wanting greens go

for the Caesar salad. 

The cod was delicious. Mild, flaky yet moist. 
 

Hubby had his favorite Red Velvet Cake ever. The no sugar added almond cake was very good too. You wouldn’t know it was nsa. It’s very moist and has a nice texture. 
 

We have been enjoying the World Up Close presentations. Daniel is excellent at presenting them. For those that cruise a lot on HAL I’m sure it’s not something you’d see again though.

I’m doing a slow and steady gin tasting. So far my favorite is  The Gallery Bar’s  version of a gimlet. It was super refreshing and tangy, I believe it had some yuzu in it. I’ve tried The Bee’s Knees (good) but liked the Dutch 150 better. I’ll report back as I try more gin cocktails. 
 

We both enjoyed a spa treatment today. I got the seaweed wrap and found out that  I am  so pretty, look like a celebrity and have amazing eyes.(The masseuse was buttering me up for a tip) That kind of put me off but then she gave me a really great massage, including hot stones and spent a lot of extra time. I expected to get a bit warmer while I was wrapped up than I did. 
 

Random thoughts:

The art is lovely. 

MDR design is great. There are smaller levels within each floor. So everyone has a good view of the windows. 

We had Rinto as a server for MDR breakfast. So good! Mentioned him in the app. 
 

The Mushroom Benedict had salty spinach. Reminded me of canned spinach. Passionfruit yogurt was good but mango? fruit is what stood out. Passionfruit was just a smidge. 
 

Did a mile on the promenade. No cushions on the steamer chairs today. Must be due to wind

Flowers are showing up 

4 minutes ago, Ileneilene123 said:

He said you cannot add the AARP gift card until you’ve used your other OBC and show outstanding charges? Or, did I misunderstand? Thx 

Yes. (I think I have non refundable OBC. May make a difference )

9 minutes ago, 0106 said:

@mawvkyscThank you for this wonderful live thread.
 

Did the flower arranging activity allow you to create your own and take it with you?

 

I am happy to see cooking demonstrations and guest speakers on the Daily.  Enjoy your sea days!

Thanks. No hands on with the florist, just three demos. He did say that he taught a hands on class during the World Cruise.  

Day 3

We haven’t set the clocks ahead yet 

Some pics from yesterday Dressy Night we got a towel animal. 

@Mtn2Sea They told me something similar today. The front desk rep even said that the computer wouldn’t let him do it until I had a balance. He also said this was a recent change. 

2 hours ago, Liao said:

I am ohsoclose to booking my first Cruise on HAL Oosterdam 15 day TA.  I was super excited when I heard about their music walk and especially the Lincoln Center venue, so that’s a bummer.  It’s a long TA so Im thinking won’t be very many kids, there were VERY few on my Celebrity TA.  What say you HAL veterans?  

I’m on a Zuiderdam right now for a TA. I’ve seen 7 kids so far. The Rolling Stone lounge band is incredible. Haven’t done Billboard much yet but it was packed when we passed by tonight. There was just one piano player, not two. 

I attended the flower arranging demo and learned a lot. 
The florist explained that there are not a lot of arrangements out yet as he just started working on them, but that they would be showing up all over. He said pre-pandemic there would be around 800 arrangements now there are around 300. 
 

I was a little late to the meet and greet but was glad to meet up with some that we had made plans with. Thanks to Jodi for organizing it. 

In the afternoon they added more loungers to the lido pool area. I made sure to thank them in the Let Us Know part of the app. 
 

Sorry I forgot to get menu photos. It was a dressy night. 
 

We had a shrimp cocktail with some melon in it. 👍 Hubby raved about the tenderloin and shrimp.  It was very tender and the best he’s ever had. I loved the oxtail pasta. So tender and tasty (no bones). The pasta almost seemed like homemade. Crème Brûlée ok. 
 

Daniel said the Zuiderdam  Singers and Dancers stayed on board from the World Cruise. They leave after this sailing. They had learned 18 shows for the WC and were performing their favorites on this one. They were very talented singer and dancers. Tonight was Sock Hop. It’s nice to have a live band backing them. 
 

We caught two songs of the Rolling Stone Lounge band. They were absolutely incredible!!  Can’t wait to see more of them. They’ve only been together for around 3 weeks. 

Random thoughts:

Interior temperatures have been not too hot or cold! 

I’ve seen at least 7 children and a smattering of 20somethings. 

I found out you can’t add gift card money to your shipboard account until you actually have a balance. Right now we have a negative balance due to OBC. 

It’s super nice being able to get in a hotub when you want. I’m so used to hot tub hogs who spend the whole day in the hot tub drinking. 

13 hours ago, cunnorl said:

 I see that Daniel is your Cruise Director. We thought he was great. He is very engaging and very funny. Enjoy !

I realized tonight as he  was talking that I saw him interviewed on someone’s YouTube channel once. 

The weather has been great. It’s 75 degrees. There are a few people in both  pools. I will try it soon.

I  think it’s odd that there are so few lounge chairs by the main pool. Just one row. The rest is tables and chairs. Lots of tables. Other enclosed lido pool areas I’ve been to have comfy chairs and loungers along the windows. 

Dive-In fries were very good 👍. The burger was moist but lacked flavor. I will try a hot dog next time. 

Look where we are and I just saw two butterflies. 
 

Captain Friso is a good communicator. I like that. 
The cruise director is Daniel. 
 

The walking culture is amazing! We just did a lap. Love the promenade deck and chairs. 

Day 2: 

We slept well. Breakfast in MDR. Had the congee. I was excited to try this as I had it in the lido on RC once and really liked it. This version is a one and done for me. I’ll move on to try the Indian breakfast another day. 
 

Just a very slight sway to the ship. We hope to get some bigger swells at some point. 
 

This is weird. The app just told me we had an 8:00 am reservation for breakfast today. It’s 9:00 and we ate at 7:30. 🤪 It also appears that we can make MDR reservations but we have fixed dining

Notice the difference between the app info and the paper guide in the room. 

May 12. Sea Day 

Embarkation Day Planner

1 hour ago, Divi said:

If you have the HIA package, ask for a double when you order your wine at dinner. No worries then if your server doesn’t come back frequently. 

Thanks. I may even do that in a bar on the way to dinner. It seems like it would simplify the table service. 

Someone asked for library pictures. There is also a leave a book/take a book section. 

I’ll try to do better with the menus 🙃 

The crab salad and tomato mozzarella starters were very good. The bread so far has been excellent. French Onion soup was a no go for me. Too sweet and the cheese wasn’t hot and bubbly. 
 

The haddock was quite good and the pork medallions as well! The berry tart got a thumbs up and the sundae was meh! 
 

Late seating makes us sluggish so we looked at the library and went to the cabin. 
 

I’ll post daily planners soon.