CoronaCRZR

We are leaving on Fri Apr 4, 2014.

We have a couple celebrating their 30th anniversary.

Could someone tell me when the first formal night is on this trip.

Much appreciated.

Ted

Tim,

I have read many reviews over the years, but yours has been particularly interesting and enjoyable to read. I would search for one of your entries daily.

You have a great way of getting tyour readers included in your adventures.

I really enjoyed the various 'cliffhangers' on some of your posts.

My wife and I are scheduled to do 'YOUR' trip this April on Princess Star and look forward to a similar experience.

I will continue to check your posts so keep on going, and I hope you will be using the future cruise credits, let us know if/when you will be cruising again.

Ted

Copper,

Thanks for the wrap up.

I'm with you, Steak Diane was my favorite. Had it just last April and prepared tableside, just wonderful.... oh well more cut-backs I guess

Ted

Sail, I think you hit the nail on the head.

This is the problem most cruise lines face. In order to fill all berths they create deep discounts to the point that the service and quality as well as quantity of the food will be severely lowered.

Everybody keeps looking for deals and lower fares, but complain when they do not get 5 star service in return.

People who truly want great food & service will need to start paying a bit more and perhaps seek the more luxury lines to get it.

Also me just musing....

Ted

While I'm sorry to hear your disappointment with your Eurodam cruise, I appreciate your sharing your comments with us.

 

I do wonder though if there may not be some nexus between your statement above which I have quoted and the level of food quality and service? When people don't pay much, how much can we hope to receive?

 

When the price is so 'excellent', it is hard for the food to be five star along with the service.

 

Just me musing......

 

My wife and I did this last April.

I was a bit unsure about this as I am not a Horseback rider, but we both enjoyed it very much.

You will be on 2 separate horses, the first one will take you around a short tour of the island, then you will switch horses and take a very short approx. 5 minute ride into the water. Very nice.

Both times you get onto the horse they have benches and stairs to make it very easy to get on the horses.

Riding in the ocean was quite an experience, even though I felt a bit sorry for the horse as you could hear them breath heavily as they labored through the water which was as high as their backs.

Go for it !!

Ted

No horns on IOS

John, you have great writing skills.

Love the way you explain the locale and your experiences.

Ted

Yes ALL balcony rooms on HAL have a balcony over them.

One problem I have with Princess is that many mini suites on their ships are not covered?

Ted

Chief, your 11:00 should be my 8:00PM being on the West Coast. (doable)

Would not want to miss the biggest departure of the year with the Amsterdam leaving on her World Voyage.

Ted

Fincantieri has built cruise ships for HAL, Carnival, Costa, Princess, Disney, P&O and Cunard.

Very true Peter.

Either the particular design has issues or perhaps it is back to proper maintenance??

With the ongoing reoccurring problems it appears HAL is unable to fix the issues. I for one would love to know why that is.

Ted

The root of this problem comes down to either bad maintenance, bad design/build, or just over use of the equipment running 24/7.

One would think the ship should be designed to run 24/7 with high quality equipment from the get go, for many years. I have heard the useful lifespan of a cruise ship is somewhere around 25 years.

The problems on the Zuiderdam certainly do not seem to be isolated to just that HAL ship when it comes to non flushing toilets and flaky A/C.

I have read many reports on other HAL ships with the same issues.

I also know that many of the HAL ships are build by Fincantieri in Italy, with the exception of the Prinsendam.

I wonder if there may be a design problem with these ships regarding A/C & toilet infrastructure.

I visit a number of boards here on other lines, but I must say the HAL board tops the list in customer complaints regarding A/C and non functional toilets.

Proper & timely maintenance is also a big factor in making sure all continues to function well.

When I was on the Zuidy earlier this year I was in SY 6083 and had no issues with the A/C or toilet.:D

I took the behind the scenes tour and was quite surprised to see so many machines broken or being worked on. One guy was buried deep inside one of their main washing machines, I noticed one dryer not operational.

Some pressing equipment had a broken sign on it......:eek:

I guess it may all be about PREventive maintenance.

I can't believe they are unable to get the air conditioners fixed on these

DAM ships.

Pretty bad customer service in my opinion.

I have read in several threads that Elua & Dave Cole (CD) will not

be on the Star past March of 2014 this Hawaii season.:confused:

Can anyone confirm this.

We will be on Apr 4 and was hoping to have them on our cruise as well.

Got this from Wikipedia regarding the Uitsmijter:

An uitsmijter is a dish consisting of two or three fried eggs, sunny-side up. One version is fried together with ham and cheese (uitsmijter ham en kaas) or bacon and cheese (uitsmijter spek en kaas). Another version is placed on buttered bread over a generous slice of cold meat, e.g., cooked beef or ham, and usually garnished with a dill pickle. It is a common lunch dish served in many cafés, lunch rooms and canteens in the Netherlands. Uitsmijter literally means "thrower-out", and it is also the Dutch word for a "bouncer". The Dutch name of this fried egg dish probably refers more to the fact that it is quickly made ("thrown out of the kitchen" so to speak) than to the similarly named doorman

John, what a great live from. Love it!

Enjoy them Oliebollen and I wish you 'een goed & gezond 2014':)

Have a great Trip.

Looking forward to all your reports.

Ted

I think this may be the best quote in the article:

"Carnival's court filing says the contract that passengers agree to when they buy a ticket "makes absolutely no guarantee for safe passage, a seaworthy vessel, adequate and wholesome food, and sanitary and safe living conditions.":eek:

I guess, all the people who say they expect working toilets & A/C need

to read this....

Ted

Andrea, please do not stop posting. It is always hard to post a somewhat negative review on the HAL board and people like OlsSalt (one of HAL's greatest cheerleaders) will tell you HAL is the greatest and downgrade your experience.

Take their comments with a grain of SALT.....

I think I'm learning never post any comments on cruise critic unless you want to be beaten up or called negative. It's sad. Nothing in life is black and white or all good and all bad. My mistake was saying my cruise wasn't good. Certain aspects of my cruise were not good and I might have enjoyed a different cruise better, in this case only. But I find joy and fun in every part of life even when everything isn't as it should be. Will probably stop posting here because the mean people ruin it for all the nice people. Unfortunately mean comments hurt.

Looks like the remaining RCI ships are off to Europe...

smaller ship, smaller toots....

Yes they do have cooking demonstrations on board by one of the kitchen staff.

When we were on, I attended a few where they showed you how they make their lobster salad and another which highlited the Le Cirque Crème Brule.

It will be noted in your daily compass when and where they hold it.

You also will receive a printed copy of each recipe they are preparing, and you will get a chance to sample when they are done.

There is NO cost for this.

Wife & I enjoyed it.

Have never sailed on HAL and notice there is an area on the ship's map designated Culinary Arts Center. Do they have cooking demonstrations on the Zuiderdam, and, if so, how does one find out when they are scheduled and sign up? What kind of demonstrations to they have?

I think Lou & Dave are on automatic....

Thanks Bill & Mary Ann for yet another great daily log of your trip.

Look forward to continue reading about your travels on the Amsterdam next January.

Enjoy your World Cruise, I know I will, vicariously through your reports.

I wonder if they re-cycle the chocolates if you don't eat them.

On our last cruise the wrapping looked as if the chocolate had melted a bit.

Then when we opened it, the chocolate had a lot of white colors in them.:eek:

We did not eat them.

Westom, thanks for the follow up. I must agree with you. Again if most powersupplies for the various eclectronic equipment we take on board can handle anything between 85VAC - 265VAC I find a powersurge device not needed,(or definite overkill) as I do not think a power surge greater than 265VAC will occur on a ship.

Most failures are manufacturing defects. We saw a classic example. Counterfeit electrolyte in electrolytic capacitors caused electronics failures years later. It is rather amazing that electronics work at all sine ce any of thousands of parts or transistors can cause the entire device to fail.

 

Many failures get blamed on myths. For example one turned off their computer after months of continuous operation. He blamed power cycling for damage. Then I did the analysis. A pullup resistor for the bootstrap circuit probably failed weeks or months earlier. Its only function is power during power up. IOW that resistor failed due to too many hours of operation. A manufacturing defect weeks ago means it would not power up. Its owner immediately blamed power cycling (on speculation) rather than a defectively manufactured resistor.

 

Most failures are manufacturing defects. Speculation (somehow declared as knowledge) often blames failure on surges or power cycling.