VMax1700

Good afternoon from AMS Schiphol airport. We disembarked NSDM at 7.15 this morning and met our tour bus.  We had a slightly delayed tour departure as two pax did not arrive.  The guide announced that they were in isolation on the ship! 😱

We took a tour to Keukenhof and then to the airport.

Here is where the ship was docked this morning...

and here is a pic of Keukenhof...

After lunch we came back to the stateroom and there was a message from the front desk reminding us that we still had unused non refundable obc.

Nice touch!

Today's Daily

PDF files for the last days menus

lunch_menu_07.pdf

north_europe_dr_menu_10_reformat.pdf

m14-day14-_lido_lunch_north_europe.pdf

m14-day14-_lido_dinner_north_europe.pdf

day_7_lido_late_snack (1).pdf

Today's menus

MDR Lunch on another sea day. (Again a different file name so could be a different menu!)

MDR Dinner

Lido lunch

Lido dinnet

Lido late snack

I must confess to foresaking bread pudding on our last day and bingeing on chocolate cake and strawberry ice cream.

Today in Lido was Cake Away.  It was mentioned on the Daily.

Saturday4th May at sea English Cannel/North Sea

May the fourth be with you!

Here is our position a short time ago

as you can see we really are cruising...... a full 9 knts of speed.

We had a great Canaletto dinner last night with Tony, Martha, Fred  and Mitzi.

Our server Joan (pronounced Jo Ann - isn't that a smart way to get oldies to remember your name? 😉) was top notch.  Nothing was too much trouble for her....she got us cocktails from Tamarind and even arranged a main course of risotto only for Ellen, as nothing else on the menu appealed to her.  Joan is leaving NSDM but will return in a few months in her new position in Pinnacle Grill.

We started with a full house of small plates (that is the advantage of being a table for 6) and extra shrimp and extra meatballs were automatically put on the table.  Shaing a salad can be fun, but overall there was plenty for everyone.

(I forgot to take photos!) 🙄

For mains we selected some from the menu and some from off menu.

Spaghetti Bolognese (off menu)

Risotto (off menu)

Lobster with spaghetti ($19 upcharge)

The lobster was excellent.

Following a "fruity" Let us Know message it is now working again onboard NSDM 😉

You could not make this up!

Today it is not working on the ship.

It is linking to the moap page, so nothing!

15 hours ago, 0106 said:

No but…After what happened on the recent Oosterdam cruise with Park West, it would probably be good if @VMax1700 added to the list he keeps for HAL charters 

It was added to the list on the last update.

Good morning from Nieuw Statendam, currently off the south coast of England and sailing towards Rotterdam.

Out last day onboard 😭😭

1 hour ago, bigbeergut said:

Perhaps they expect someone from England to use an EU site.  Perhaps there are regulations and costs that are specific to England

There is an actual UK website based on UK £ Sterling currency and the protections afforded to those who book travel in the UK.

Today's Lido lunchtime specials.

27 minutes ago, Rosiecheeks500 said:

Like many other posters on here, I wanted to add my thanks for your really interesting and straightforward posts, VMax. I always look forward to reading your updates.  

 

Me, my husband and my son are excited to be embarking in Rotterdam on 5 May.  

 

HAL is very much our preferred line (5 Star mariners) and we are trying desperately to stick with them through what we feel (hope?!) is a transitional period of entertainment and guest experience.  Lincoln Centre was a real loss for us, but we remain hopeful this will be replaced with some other classical music onboard.  Have you enjoyed the evening shows?  Step One was of a very high standard but for us, some updates were (over)due to keep things fresh.  

 

It was a real shame to read that the embarkation was a bit clunky.  We are flying to Schipol on Saturday afternoon and then catching the HAL transfer to Rotterdam on Sunday morning.  Here's hoping things go more smoothly this time around.  

 

Thanks also for the umbrella tip - now packed! 

 

Enjoy your last days onboard, and safe travel home. 

Rosemary

 

I am excited for you! You will enjoy the ship.

We only made it to three evening shows, the comedian Dian Cordean, who was good, Flamenco Passion that was below average and'All That' which was singing and dancing and poor.  I spent the 45 minutes trying to decide if they were lip synching or not, but lost interest even in that.  However, "due to popular demand" they are back tonight.  So, what do I know? 🙄😁

The slow boarding was beyond HAL's remit.  A protest leading to delays, but poor real time information from Rotterdam cruise terminal staff lead to confusion and delays.

1 hour ago, POA1 said:

Thank you for taking us along! Sorry that your sailing is nearing its end.

That makes three of us! 😉

Here is today's Daily

Tonight we are eating in Canaletto with Tony @sailingdutchy and Fred @Overhead Fred and Martha and Mitzi so is the menu......

And the file is here

canaletto_menu_summer_2023_v2_-new.pdf

The files for today's menus

lunch_menu_06.pdf

gold_gala_menu_2024.pdf

m13-day13-_lido_lunch_north_europe.pdf

m13-day13-_lido_dinner_north_europe.pdf

day_6_lido_late_snack (1).pdf

Today's menus

A sea day so mdr lunch. Menu file name is different so perhaps a slight change to the menu.

MDR Lunch

MDR Dinner gold gala menu

LIdo Lunch

Lido Dinner

Lido Late night snack

Friday 3rd May, at sea on Bay of Biscay and Englush Channe

it is a calm, pleasant spring morning on the ship.  Such a shame that we will be evicted in less than 48 hours.😪

UK etc is present on the list. It is Reino Unido

Just a fyi as you are heading to northern Europe.

No umbellas in verandah stateroom and I didn't see any HAL umbrellas in evidence on a very rainy day.

Suggest you bring small telescopic umbrella with you.

Currently on Nieuw Statendam, which sails to Baltics next week and there are no umbrellas in stateroom and there were none at gangway.

Bring your own collapsible one.