From the Oosterdam

[garydm]

We boarded the ship yesterday in Venice for the 12 day cruise. Embarkation check in was a nightmare due to 90% of the passengers (including us) showing up at the same time. I don’t think HAL can do anything to change this! For those arriving after 2 pm or so I don’t think there was any wait. I have always felt HAL handles embarkation better than any cruiseline.

 

The ship and crew so far are great. We had dinner in the Pinnacle last night and it was much better than last year when we were on the ship. Only improvement would be for the multiple waiters to not ask you repeatedly if everything is ok. Lobster is now available each night and it was very good. We had purchased some Italian Sangiovese wine in Venice and brought it with us and paid the corkage. It was excellent. We will do main dining room tonight and then Canelletto tomorrow night. Nice to have this option.

 

We are in an SS in the curve cabin and it is very nice. I can’t understand how HAL has told people it is 20 square feet smaller than other SS cabins. Seems bigger to me. We have been in smaller and larger cabins and this one seems “just right.” I would not hesitate to book it again. Only downside, it is across the hall from a staff access door and it sounds like they bump large carts or something over a metal threshold starting about 5 am. Otherwise very quiet and no noise from the Lido above. My SIL and BIL are further aft and mentioned deck furniture being moved around 11 pm and 6 am above their cabin. Our cabin stewards are Wyan and Alan and they have both introduced themselves and are calling us by name. They slipped in this morning and made up the room in no time. Nice guys.

 

We chatted with Hunky Dory in the Lido this morning and I mentioned his internet fame to which he claimed to be unaware. I forgot my reading glasses and he was trailing after me calling my name. He swears he is the original and only Hunky.

 

We had done 8 days in France prior to arriving in Venice so I had had about my fill of fun shopping with my wife so I begged off going again this morning. Instead, had a nice breakfast in the Lido followed by a cappachino (sp?) in Explorations while I read USA Today in one of the incredibly comfortable Eames chairs.

 

We sail at 2 pm for Debrovnick. If my wife does not make it back in time from shopping I will try and capture her dock run on video!

 

Gary

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for checking in.

 

Hope you will continue with your "Live" thread.

[brucory]

Have a great cruise. I have some friends on this, the last cruise for the Oosterdam in Europe before her transatlantic... Can't wait till she gets to FLL as I will be boarding her. (Though I don't want to wish your cruise away ;))

 

Have a fantastic time and hope to hear more of your reports...

 

:D:D:D

[IRL_Joanie]

.....

 

We chatted with Hunky Dory in the Lido this morning and I mentioned his internet fame to which he claimed to be unaware. I forgot my reading glasses and he was trailing after me calling my name. He swears he is the original and only Hunky.

 

Gary

 

 

LOL He knows his fame!! I mentioned it to him in May 2008:D He acted surprised and pleased then also.

 

Can you ask him please to let us know how his family is?? We are all so worried about them!!

 

Glad you are enjoying the cruise and the ship:)

[garydm]

We asked about his family and they are fine. No damage to his area.

 

Gary

[Chelly]

Hi Garydm, I hope you will continue posting from Ms O. I will be boarding her in Barcelona on Oct 17. Several CC friends from the Roll Call are onboard with you. Do you plan to attend the CC M&G? If so, say Hello to Winemama for me.

C.

[Max2003]

Can you tell us who are the Captain and Cruise Director aboard???

 

Thanks

[schwabby]

Max2003,

 

I just returned from the Oosterdam last night. The Captain is Arjen Van Der Loo and the Cruise Director is Glenn Coenen. The Hotel Manager is Marcella Himmelreich. The cruise was FANTASTIC. I will post more in the next day or two -- just unpacking.

 

Schwabby

[IRL_Joanie]

We asked about his family and they are fine. No damage to his area.

 

Gary

 

 

Gary, THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We who know and literally love Hunky Dory have been so worried!!

 

Can you ask him to answer Candy's email?? She has also been worried since he usually answers her, but has not her this time.

 

Again THANK YOU!!!

 

Joanie

[Grandma Rambo]

We boarded the ship yesterday in Venice for the 12 day cruise. Embarkation check in was a nightmare due to 90% of the passengers (including us) showing up at the same time. I don’t think HAL can do anything to change this! For those arriving after 2 pm or so I don’t think there was any wait. I have always felt HAL handles embarkation better than any cruiseline.

 

The ship and crew so far are great. We had dinner in the Pinnacle last night and it was much better than last year when we were on the ship. Only improvement would be for the multiple waiters to not ask you repeatedly if everything is ok. Lobster is now available each night and it was very good. We had purchased some Italian Sangiovese wine in Venice and brought it with us and paid the corkage. It was excellent. We will do main dining room tonight and then Canelletto tomorrow night. Nice to have this option.

 

We are in an SS in the curve cabin and it is very nice. I can’t understand how HAL has told people it is 20 square feet smaller than other SS cabins. Seems bigger to me. We have been in smaller and larger cabins and this one seems “just right.” I would not hesitate to book it again. Only downside, it is across the hall from a staff access door and it sounds like they bump large carts or something over a metal threshold starting about 5 am. Otherwise very quiet and no noise from the Lido above. My SIL and BIL are further aft and mentioned deck furniture being moved around 11 pm and 6 am above their cabin. Our cabin stewards are Wyan and Alan and they have both introduced themselves and are calling us by name. They slipped in this morning and made up the room in no time. Nice guys.

 

We chatted with Hunky Dory in the Lido this morning and I mentioned his internet fame to which he claimed to be unaware. I forgot my reading glasses and he was trailing after me calling my name. He swears he is the original and only Hunky.

 

We had done 8 days in France prior to arriving in Venice so I had had about my fill of fun shopping with my wife so I begged off going again this morning. Instead, had a nice breakfast in the Lido followed by a cappachino (sp?) in Explorations while I read USA Today in one of the incredibly comfortable Eames chairs.

 

We sail at 2 pm for Debrovnick. If my wife does not make it back in time from shopping I will try and capture her dock run on video!

 

Gary

 

Gary, our daughter, son-in-law, and their friends are on your cruise, so it was so nice to hear from someone actually on the boat. It's their 25th anniversary celebration. If you some how run across Linda & Roy, and Carole & Chuck tell them Mom said hi. Chuck will likely be in a Navy officer's dress uniform on formal night. Thanks so much and have a wonderful time.

Jennie

[garydm]

We had a very nice dinner in the MDR last night and plan to dine in Canaletto tonight as it is formal night and we opted not to pack formal clothes.

 

Departing Venice provided a beautiful view of the city even though the weather was a bit hazy with some low clouds/fog shielding the sun. We walked into old town Dubrovnik today and walked the wall. The ship did provide a shuttle at $19 per person. The weather continues to be outstanding (low to mid 70s). We had a great pizza lunch in Dubovnik along with beers and soda. Looked forward to several glasses of iced tea on the return but the Lido was out so switched to lemondade.

 

We continue to enjoy our cabin on the bend even though we get noise from the Lido Restaurant above us starting about 5:45 am. I think we are under the omelette station. Because we did this trip with just carryon bags, we did not bring a corkscrew as we had recalled there always being one in the cabin. No more, and they will not provide you one. They will come to your cabin and open a bottle for you but this takes some time. (Thanks Peter) I forgot to buy one while we were in town. It will give me a shopping purpose tomorrow in Corfu. It appears they have also done away with the fruit basket which is not much of a problem as we are right under the Lido Deck.

 

The crew are universally friendly and helpful with the exception of the guys working the Terrace Grill. After waiting about 5 minutes I finally gave up on the guys ever waiting on me, although I was the only one there. I think they assign the less friendly to this position on all the ships. I really didn't need that cheeseburger anyway.

 

Gary

[alexandria]

Gary,

 

Glad to hear you are enjoying your cruise!

 

Can you tell us which SS cabin you are in with the angle balcony? We've got SS8094 booked for next year which looks like it is under a table area of the Lido...

 

Would you mind taking some cabin and balcony photos and sending them to IRL_Joanie for her website? I'd love to see them!

[Chelly]

Gary, We appreciate your live posts. Thank you for doing this for us who are counting down days until we are onboard.

C.

[schwabby]

Gary,

 

We were on the Oosterday last week and we had a fruit basket in our cabin when we arrived and they kept it full all week. Just ask your cabin steward -- they are available.

 

Schwabby

[garydm]

Thursday

 

In Corfu today. We did one of the ship tours and it was pretty disappointing. Bus after bus of us at each stop and the tour guide spent much of her time talking on her cell phone. The highlight was the free half hour downtown before returning to the ship. The weather continues to be fantastic. We have been departing each port about 20-30 minutes prior to the scheduled departure so you best not be late!

 

Had dinner last night in Canaletto. We had reserved a table for the four of us and they placed us at an eight person table with no one else there. Ever try to talk across that large a table with four people. We said we would wait for an appropriate table and surprisingly one appeared. Took 20 minutes for our wine to be opened and for the waiter to show, but after that it was great. The service was wonderful as was the food. And, then we discovered they have their own wine list-all Italian and all $22. A far better wine list than the overpriced, subpar stuff in the MDR and Pinnacle. Whoever did this list should be put in charge of HAL’s beverage department.

 

My wife continues to rave about the food and says it is the best on our 100 or so days on HAL. I reminded her of a couple of Statendam trips where the food was so good, but she maintains this is better. The service in the MDR is excellent and we have not had to wait for a table despite no reservation and having open seating for dinner. My wife had a salmon dish tonight and I had the osso bucco.

 

Per request, I asked the Hunk Man about Candy and he said he had responded to her email the night before. I have the impression that he is kept busy maintaining contact with his groupies despite his “aw shucks” demeanor. We have not run into assorted other friends and relatives.

 

We really like the “ bend cabin” on deck 8. It has a lot of room and the double sink bathroom works well. And, it is the one and the same 8094. You will really like it.

 

Gary

[garydm]

Sunday-At Sea

 

We are at sea between Santorini and Catania. On Thursday and Friday we took ship tours and both were better than the first one. The tour yesterday on Santorini was well planned without 12 busses arriving at each stop at the same time. They varied the stops and one included a winery that poured various wines in good amounts at no charge. The bus was to return to the dock used for the tours but there was an option to get off in Thira and return to the ship on your own and at your own cost. We opted for this and stayed in Thira for dinner and had a nice one on a patio overlooking the sea and the Oosterdam. Surprisingly, we were the only ones to do this from our bus. We did order a liter of local white wine from Santos Winery at dinner and it was so good we ordered another half liter (there were four of us). By the time we returned to the ship there was no line for the tram and immediate boarding on the tender.

 

There was a Cruise Critic get together this morning in the Crow’s Nest. I went up but it was so packed with people, I did not stay. We have met a number of the folks already and have privately booked tours with several.

 

The Oosterdam staff continues to do a very good job in managing the masses. We did have a semi-panic situation yesterday in the Lido. Many, including us, had tours that began at noon and the program showed the Lido opening at 11 am, a wise thing to do. It seems someone might not have told the Lido staff about the early opening and it did not open until 11:20, and then only partially. We observed on man, reaching under the screened off food area and actually grabbing a handful of lettuce from the salad bowl with his bare hands. Probably had not eaten in 45 minutes or so.

 

Despite what one might hear, I think every cabin we have ever had under the Lido Deck has noise from above. We are under a carpeted area and we hear quite a bit of noise from above but it only bothers us early morning when we are trying to sleep. I have gotten so good at sound recognition that I think I can recognize which cleaning bucket they are using. As I mentioned earlier, the SS cabins are very nice and quite roomy. Our cabin seems to be in good shape, although I must confess I have not checked the grout behind the toilet as I read on CC someone did a few weeks ago. The only maintenance issue is a bit soiled carpet and this must be a challenge for the crew to keep up with some of the sloppy guests. I don’t know if it is unique to our bending balcony cabin, but we get periodically (unannounced) drenchings from above on the balcony. I learned not to leave my book out there for a couple of minutes. We have gotten pretty good at rushing out and retrieving the cushions out of the water and standing them up to dry.

 

I used the laundry by the bag and it came back in about 24 hours-very impressive. As always, an excellent job on the clothes.

 

Off to the Lido for lunch and a 1 pm movie, if we can get a seat.

 

1:15 Update-Unable to get a seat even arriving 20 minutes early. The seats look very comfortable but the capacity of the small theater is an issue. It would seem it only has about 35 chairs on a ship of what –1800? We will try later in the day but not optimistic.

 

Regarding other CC often talked about items:

 

1. No bad smells anywhere.

2. All rest rooms appear operative.

3. No trays in Lido but does not present any big problem.

4. Pinnacle Grill is good and seems very popular. It is Sunday and the next open reservation was not until Wednesday night.

5. Probably more smokers on this cruise than any other we have been on but there are large areas set out for them on the decks with ashtrays so it is no huge deal. Like many others, I would prefer a smoke free environment, particularly the area around my verandah.

 

Gary

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for checking in.

[magandab]

Because we did this trip with just carryon bags, we did not bring a corkscrew as we had recalled there always being one in the cabin. No more, and they will not provide you one. They will come to your cabin and open a bottle for you but this takes some time. (Thanks Peter) I forgot to buy one while we were in town. It will give me a shopping purpose tomorrow in Corfu. It appears they have also done away with the fruit basket which is not much of a problem as we are right under the Lido Deck.

 

Gary

 

When I was on the Oosterdam in September, our cabin steward brought us a corkscrew and left it with us for the entire cruise AND our fruit basket was kept full for the entire 12 days. Hmmmmmmm

[garydm]

A rocking and rolling morning on our final stretch to Barcelona today. Expected to dock at 5 pm. We plan to stay a couple extra days in Barcelona and then head back home.

 

I did have a question on clearing US Customs. We are returning Barcelona-CDG-SLC-Sacramento so I assume we clear in SLC. Do we have to retrieve our luggage (if we check it) go thru customs and then recheck it, or does it just go on thru? We only have one hour between connections.

 

We have been very fortunate with the weather. Thus far we have been in Europe for about 3 weeks and the weather has been in the 70s and clear, with the exception of yesterday morning when it started out a bit chilly at Cinque Terre but then it warmed up later.

 

On Wednesday in Rome, we had a small Mercedes van and guide/driver for the six of us. We used Rudy who you will find mentioned on the Ports of Call board. He was very good and had great equipment. He got into places I could not believe a vehicle could navigate. Yesterday we joined two other couples-the fourth cancelled a couple days before-for a trip to Cinque Terre. It was very nice and they provided a local guide who was great.

 

We had dinner in the MDR last night and it was formal (optional) which seemed to work well. I had the veal chop and it was outstanding. My wife had the lobster and we were pleased to find them serving real lobster in this venue as they do in Pinnacle. I did not order it as I expected the little things they have served on other cruises that look more like a large shrimp.

 

It seems to be getting rougher which renders my typing even more problematic so I will sign off.

 

Later on Friday Update: Seas were very rough for about 5 hours and then smoothed out as we came upon Barcelona. The front desk was doing big business in green apples, crackers, and meclazine. We are on deck 8 and the seas and the sea spray were so high that our whole glass areas are covered in salt. The crew will have a big challenge tomorrow getting them all cleaned for the new passengers in addition to those staying onboard to Fort Lauderdale.

 

We had dinner in Pinnacle Grill tonight, our last night on board. We had dined there on our first night and it had been very good. Tonight was quite disappointing. Service was slow and disjointed. We were the first customers there and were seated at a nice table by one of the waiters-no manager evident. Multiple wine stewards came by asking for wine orders and the waitress seemed very nice but not up to the task. For example, telling us that our entrees would be right out when we had not yet had our salads-this, after waiting an hour. At the end of dinner the manager came by and did not say anything, but just stood there and finally said something about the service not being real good. We confirmed that with him. He tried to explain that it was just this table that was a problem but we did not understand the message. If it is jinxed or something why seat us there? The veal chop I had last night in the MDR was so good I decided to go for a replay in Pinnacle. The MDR product was far superior. Oh, yeah, you can have any kind of ice cream you want for dessert as long as it is vanilla.

 

All in all a very nice cruise on a very nice ship with a bunch of staff who try real hard and most of the time really deliver.

 

Gary

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for the reports.

 

Have a safe trip home.