VMax1700

A few people have been surprised by the Captains most recent announcement regarding South Queensferry (Edinburgh) tomorrow and Saturday. First, we are using ships tenders and not the larger local tender service. Secondly, although we are overnighting at South Queensferry (many cruisers are going to the Tatoo in Edinburgh) the tender service will not operate between 2am and 7 am on Saturday morning. Thirdly, he expects that the tender service may be affected by tidal and sea conditions when moored. I would think a few uneasy cruisers today.

I really enjoyed it. For the 9.30 performance the venue was about 75% full. It was an attentive and appreciative audience. Perhaps many who had not previously attended the small venue. I know that I very rarely went to the old version as it was quite crowded but not great for background hubub. The World Stage background was black with only the Lincoln Centre Present logo showing. If I was to suggest an improvement (in my eyes) it would be to have three cameras on the artistes, one left of stage, one right of stage and one central, with the images shown on the wrap round screens. We were sitting to right of stage and could view the strings but only the back of head of guitar and woodwind. Minor problem I know.

Very good, A full sound from only 5 instruments. To me the guitar was surplus to requirements but perhaps there will be more guitar pickin in the Americana set 😉

The title of the thread is misleading! Yes the aft section is closed for staff only, but the rest of Deck 11 is accessible to use running track or fitness equipment or anything else you care to do. Also to say that the aft of deck 11 is the only place to is the only place on the aft of the ship were you have an unobstructed view from port to starboard-side to take pictures is stretching it a bit. The complete Sea Pool area of deck 9 extends much further than Deck 11. Although you may have to negotiate a lot of people, it does have better views. Also deck 11 is so windy that it tends to be the least inhabited place on the ship.

IF we are currently onboard and wish to book another cruise with some family members are we able to get the Onboard booking deal for the additional rooms or is it limited to just the room for those on the current sailing? We will need 4 rooms (maybe 5) and it would be very nice if we could all benefit!

What is the difference between a tip and a gratuity?? OP, the daily gratuity will be billed to your onboard account. They are not mandatory. You are free (though not guilt free) to adjust or remove them. (This will start another debate, but even HAL say that you may do it). If you remove or adjust the daily gratuity then any cash tips that you hand out onboard will be pooled for all staff. Drinks have an 18% gratuity automatically added so no necessity to tip additionally. If you have a drinks package then the drinks tips are included. You do have the option of pre paying the daily gratuity through your HAL account or your TA.

And today's bread pudding and other delicacies....

This evenings fruit crisp about 1 yard wide!

Tonight was Lincoln Center Presents........ We went to the 9.30 performance. There were 5 musicians - :Piano, Violin, Cello, Guitar and woodwind (flute/clarinet). There are 35 brand new arrangements for HAL in conjunction with Lincoln Center. Tonight's show was named 'Classical Remix' and the pieces performed were: Mozart - Overture Marriage of Figaro, Strauss - Blue Danube Waltz JS Bach - Air from Suite no 3 in D maj. (Air on the g string) Joseph Bologne (Chevalier de St Georges) - Allegro from Symphony no 5 Pastorella Bizet - Carmen Habanera Chopin - Nocturne E flat maj. Beethoven - Symphony no 3 Eroica, 1st Movement Rossini - Barber of Seville Overture. Friday night is the first performance of 'Americana'.

Day 8 Greenock Menus 2nd Dressy Night m10-day10-_lido_lunch_north_europe_2023.pdf m10-day10-_lido_dinner_north_europe_voyage (1).pdf blue_gala_-word-edited.pdf

Day 8 Greenock Daily Program

Here is the current onboard flyer for booking future cruises.

I did overlook an event yesterday morning when I had a bit of a melt down and threw a major strop at one of Lido chefs and a management type in white shirt and lots of gold on her epaulette. It was 9am and the Lido was busy, so they decided to close one side of the Lido and direct everyone to the Starboard side, which remained open. The station which serves the 'English Breakfast' (I only eat back bacon and not that streaky stuff) also prepares the crepes individually and has a nice selection of fruits, was staffed by one person who was working very hard to try to keep up with demand. But the line just got longer. Whereupon I notice the two individuals standing chatting against the barrier. "Guys" says I, "This is crazy and no way to run a service business. I am sure you have reasons for closing one side during the busy hour, but you need to increase the staff levels on the open side to deal with the increased volume of customers". "There is one guy there trying to deal with a long line and other requirement". The response was "Sir, we only have one crepe machine there!" I let rip with a "People are looking for more than just crepes and that guy is under serious pressure. He needs help". Chef then went behind the screen and started serving. Was I wrong? It just seems to me that if you close one side then double the number of people will pass throught the open side. Not increasing the staff level on the open side is asking for long lines.

I have seen fruit pies and fruit crisps but not a true cobbler (no base or sides but only a pastry topping )

In Angelsey the spoken language is Welsh. It was interesting to hear them speaking. Although only 60 miles from Dublin the Welsh that was spoken was unlike Irish Gaelic. Apparantly the town was named as a publicity stunt and its meaning is: St Mary's Church in the Hollow of the White Hazel near a Rapid Whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio near the Red Cave.

If you believe you are entitled to the early booking OBC then the only way that I have found to check the 'Release Date' of a cruise is to look for the Press Release which announced the Location and Season e.g. Alaska 2024. It won't give an precise release date but a good approximation. https://www.carnivalcorp.com/media-center/news-releases?b0360944_field_nir_news_category[value][]=4081&b0360944_year[value]=_none&op=Filter&b0360944_widget_id=b0360944&form_build_id=form-e7c5RpmgxTdXkr4jzv5GctJf46kj3UmCLVkJ45b30gw&form_id=widget_form_base

Presuming it really is Dublin Port and not Dun Laoghaire, which is a tender port, then I really doubt that pax will be able to board/disembark 24 hours a day. Excerpt from Dublin Port website. Continuous access would require round the clock shuttle bus, which is unlikely. Cruise ships have the facility to dock at berth’s 30, 33 and 37 in Alexandra Basin, passengers will disembark/board in Alexandra Quay East and West. This is a restricted operational working area. Due to health and safety reasons passengers are not permitted to exit this area on foot, a shuttle bus is provided to bring passengers to No. 2 Branch Road where they can exit the port safely on foot or avail of taxi services on site. The nearest Luas Red Line Tram stop is located at the Point village, approximately a 17 min walk (1.4km) from No. 2 Branch Road. https://www.dublinport.ie/tofrom/cruise-liners/

Day 7 Menus Lido Lunch Lido Dinner MDR Dinner m7-day7-_lido_lunch_north_europe_2023.pdf m7-day7-_lido_dinner_north_europe_voyage.pdf m7-day7-_mdr_north_europe_2023.pdf

Day 7 Daily Progam Holyhead.

Day 7 Holyhead Tuesday Pronounced Holly head! This was on the front cover of the Daily Program for today. Holland America tour buses were pulled up at the bottom of the gangway whereas all others were required to take the free shuttle to the cruise terminal to meet their private tours/taxis etc. Holyhead is a very busy ferry port with numerous ferries running to various ports in Ireland. this is the Irish Ferries 'Ulysses' doing a quick 180 before reversing into its dock. Before heading down to our meeting place at the world stage we went to Dutch cafe for a quick latte. We were greeted by a smiling Captain Eric who was enjoying a bowl of Dutch Pea Soup! Today was the second of our 'cheap' tours thanks to HIA. We went to Caernarfon Castle which was the location for the investiture of the now King Charles as Prince of Wales on 1st July 1969. The drive there was pretty uninspiring. A lot of flat agricultural land a few sheep some horses and a lot of cattle. The Anglesey Agricultural Show was being held today and tomorrow near to Holyhead, but we didn't even meet much traffic. (I will just mention here that there were no priority bus tickets for the port shuttle bus, but there was not much of a wait for those that needed them). Some views of the castle On the way back to the ship we stopped at that village with the unpronouceable name of 58 letters. An interesting enough day, but I would not feel the need to rush back!

I have a pdf of the full listing but as it is personalised it has some information that I would rather not post to a public forum. Do you have a generic email address I could send it to?

Day 6 menus m6-day6-_lido_lunch_north_europe_2023.pdf m6-day6-_lido_dinner_north_europe_voyage.pdf m6-day6-_mdr_north_europe_2023.pdf

Day 6 Daily Progam (Douglas IoM, Monday) Although Cantare was listed for tonight, it was actually comedian Chas Burnett, with a different show to his first one. We found it very entertaining though some may have found it a little risque. (we went to the 9.30 show which was definitely aimed at an adult audience)

Another strange thing today was that the last tender was at 5.30pm but we did not sail until 9.45 pm (it is only 70 nautical miles to our next port). In his evening briefing Captain Eric said that they would be recovering the tenders, closing the tender platform and would sail around 8pm. If such a late departure was planned, then why was last tender at 5.30?

Day 6 Douglas IoM. Douglas and the Isle of Man has many memories for me, both happy and sad. As a kid my parents would have brought us to Douglas on the ferry from Belfast and a couple of times by plane on a DC3 or a Handley Page Dart Herald. We stayed in what was called a 'Private Hotel' which was basically a guest house that was licenced to sell alcohol to residents. They would have been over 4 or 5 storeys with 15 to 20 bedrooms, and shared 'facilities' on each landing. Meals supplied would be breakfast and High Tea. We stayed numerous times in a private hotel called 'Chequers' on Broadway and I believe it was located around here: I was always interested in motorcycles and motorcycle racing (it is a national obsession in N. Ireland) and in later years visited numerous times for the Isle of Man TT races, which are held in early June. In fact, 48 years ago Ellen & I had our honeymoon in the Isle of Man for the TT races. In those days she was as much into the bikes as I was. We went a bit upmarket for the honeymoon and stayed at the Douglas Bay Hotel which was where a lot of the factory teams and top riders would stay. In those days true professionalism had not permeated the sporting arena (specially bike racing) and the guys were still crazy and human and prepared to enjoy themselves and have fun. The Douglas Bay hotel burnt to the ground in 1988 and was rebuilt as an office block. Some parts of Douglas still remain, almost as I remember them.....The horse drawn trams, the railway to Laxey Wheel, the mist on Snaefell and we did find a shop selling Manx Kippers and another one selling clotted cream fudge and traditional sea side rock. So all in all it was a day of mixed emotions. The good memories of seeing things almost as they had been and the sadder memories of good friends lost doing what they loved (racing). I should mention that the tendering 'process' was a disaster. They were still calling tickets at 11.45 am which was 3hrs 45 mins after the scheduled starting time. I would have expected free tendering within two hours. According to local sources the Nieuw Statendam was setting a record for the number of cruise ship visitors in a day.