496and706

I think of Cruise Critic when I'm on board and I see a robe-wearer. I'm on the look-out for people using flippers in the pool. :cool:

Oh, I could give you a very embarrassing list of our mis-conceptions on our first HAL cruise thanks to my Father in law and Mother in law...

FIL and MIL are now 4 star Mariners, and my husband and I are still trying to convince them that... room service is free, DVD rentals are free, the Lido is available for dinner, the MDR is available for breakfast... a soda card can be used for cola, not just soda water... the list goes on.

By the way, my MIL thinks that the Captain stands at the MDR entrance every night just to greet our family and sometimes he comes to our table to say hello. She even calls him "Captain" whenever she sees him.

My in laws don't own a computer and still can't grasp the idea that I can show them pictures on my monitor that I didn't take with my camera. Sailaways live on the internet is such a foreign concept that I can't even start to explain without both of them wanting to know how that can be done without a film crew in Ft. Lauderdale standing beside the white trucks. How could they possibly see one person standing on the rear deck from the top of a hotel at least a mile away, etc...

I love my in laws, but sometimes I have to just stop trying to explain CC and the internet. :D

Does anyone know who the current captain is on the Noordam?

(We chose this cruise instead of the Panama Canal on the Zuiderdam due to AC issues on the Z'dam.)

Just spoke to our TA (see signature) and she has had a very busy weekend booking numerous clients. So now I get to watch the next ship we are going on as it leaves the port today.

See you all later this afternoon!!

Thank you for the quick responses. Lou and Dave have a list of 25 ships on various webcams today.

Do the blue squares deceive me or are there 8 ships in port today?

Hi everyone! My husband is making a pot of beef vegetable soup.

Bon voyage!!

"Easier to get flights to Jamaica" and this from a Canadian poster??? Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how many flights leave out of Toronto for Cuba every single day? Holguin, Habana, Santiago, Cienfuegos? Every day!

If I based my reviews on comments overheard from other guests, I would never have been on the second HAL cruise after our Zaandam Alaska.

I'm sorry, but this has to be said... We heard a lot of Australian and Canadian accents on the Alaska cruise and everyone seemed thrilled. BUT the Americans were constantly complaining and seemed to be very unhappy about almost anything. We had a broken lifeboat after the muster drill and that delayed our departure from Vancouver... one American guy was very loud and verbal about that. He was "gonna sue" blah, blah, blah... Later in the same cruise, we had to skip Tracy Arm. Same loud American... He was "gonna sue" blah, blah, blah... How did I know he was American? The accent was Texan. Plus he thought it was necessary to mention that he was from Texas to almost everyone he had a conversation with. Did I mention he was loud?

So when I overhear complaints, I listen to see if I can identify the accent. Coming in and out of Tampa on the Ryndam even though not much can be done if the inspections slow down the embarkation, everyone in that very long line was complaining. That didn't ruin the cruise for me or send me to a different cruise line AFTER I get to my next Mariner level.

What's that phrase about "money talks, bu.. sh.. walks." If you were truly unhappy, you should leave now, not after you achieve your next star level.

Rick really did a great presentation on Hemingway. We told him he really had to get to Cuba someday. :D

Do you have any pictures of any of the ship's Christmas décor? I would love to know how the sleigh is coming along in the atrium. When we got off, they only had the frame up and the plywood parts of the gingerbread houses with interior lighting in place.

Great pictures! Reminders of dinners and desserts... and breakfasts... Yummy looking.

Oh, and for the record my kitchen and dining room table are both solid wood. A white linen table cloth with matching napkins are used for the dining room table when we have company. We have wooden "placemats" on the kitchen table where my husband and I eat when we don't have company.

We truly enjoy and appreciate the tablecloths and cloth napkins. I don't think we have ever gone to the Lido for dinner.

That actually looks like a massively large pinball game with miniature people placed inside. Look at the 4 big bumpers in the middle. Where is the big silver ball? Ding, ding, ding!!

"Server not found"

The webcam is showing it.

My husband and I discovered that the only way to get cold water was to turn the tap (lever style) all the way to the right (cold) and don't have your hands under the water when it first comes out. Sometimes it started very hot and took a while to cool down.

It's lovely to have hot water instantly if you want hot water. Not that we ever tried it, but I'm sure that someone could brew a hot cup of tea with the water that came out if the lever was all the way to the left.

We did this on the turnaround day of our B2B collector's cruise on the Noordam in November 2012. I didn't want to do it and my husband insisted. It turned out to be a blast. Learning about the Sawgrass was interesting. Even the bus ride was okay.

South side.

I overheard that 2 dancers got fired on the night before the ship docked in Tampa on Dec. 1/13. Something to do with getting drunk. Maybe they didn't have enough time to get new dancers to the ship.

The "comedian" on both of the cruises was probably the most disgusting and downright bad entertainer that my father in law, my husband and I have ever seen/heard. (Very insulting. A lot of people got up and left.)

Also... there were 3 shows every night with only 1 of the time slots having the upper balcony open. (8 pm I think)

Also informed that the early seating was the busier one. Most likely due to what looked to me like an older crowd on this ship. Smaller ship meaning less distance to travel to get around. That is why my inlaws stay with the smaller ships now, as my father in law finds the walk from mid ship to the dining room very difficult.

My husband and I were on the same cruise near the forward elevators on deck 5 (Main deck) and had no problems with a/c.

We had a smell of varnish in our room one morning and my dh called the front desk right away. Someone in the brown coveralls came within moments and took a sniff, left the room and came back in less than 10 minutes with a blower. We were told that it would have to run for 1 hour. When we came back to our cabin just over an hour later (we went for breakfast) the blower was gone, and there was a plate of treats and a note of apology from the front desk. They followed up at least twice in the next 2 days, including someone from the front desk coming to our room to ask how the odor problem was.

We froze for the entire 21 days and nights. My husband likes to crank the a/c.

My inlaws were just above us on 6 and they had no problems with their a/c.

We almost missed Grand Cayman last week. In Costa Maya, Captain Timmers used the side thrusters to keep us pushed up against the dock.

I won't be getting off the ship in Samana again. It wasn't a bad island to bypass, believe me. Very poor place with aggressive locals.

I'm certain that if anyone from the head office reads this, they will be very happy. So far it looks like nobody will fit any room stewards into their baggage. :D

The last time I spoke to Mama Lou was during the black Friday watch sale on board, and she had a pile of watches that she was buying for her grandkids. That was 9 days ago.

A flight to Miami could have been to get her to Ft. Lauderdale. I didn't have a massive internet package, and therefore didn't have much time when I posted the original post in the thread and not time to research if it was a Ft. L. departure.

I did see a pic that someone posted, and she was partly recognizable by the red floral hair decoration. She had it on every day.

She was on deck 5 forward on the port side. No balconies. Possibly an inside cabin as I always saw a lot of crew gathering around a door at the forward end of our hallway.

Also saw a reserved seat in the Lido in the late afternoons and then saw her sitting there with various staff hovering and talking. She sure brought a lot of smiles (more than usual if that's possible) to whatever crew or staff were around her.

Mama Lou is headed to Miami tomorrow to get on the Maasdam (?) I think. I couldn't find a roll call for this, so I'm taking a guess at the ship.

She just celebrated 10,000 days a few days ago.

Just thought I would give her fans the heads up.

We had rough seas coming up to Tampa yesterday. Leftovers from a storm are still affecting us.

We are delayed leaving today because we need to finish fueling up and the Norwegian (?) needs to move before we can.