Prinsendam 2005 World Tour... it has begun

[Classynfun1]

Smoosh, I'm right there with ya! The way things are going, i'll probably need a travel buddy then too :p

[blackbird71]

Um, have you checked to see if this is allowed on the ship? Bringing in "outside" TP is the major cause of plumbing problems, I'm told.

 

Not a problem on Radisson Seven Seas, they are almost an all inclusive ship. Bring your own or use the included with suite .... :D :D :D You can take on and off they would never take and "hold to the end of the cruise" like some lines would, because the cruise line sales it by the inch ....

[RuthC]

Um, have you checked to see if this is allowed on the ship? Bringing in "outside" TP is the major cause of plumbing problems, I'm told.

Dave, I believe it's meant for sites off the ship. As every woman is aware, not all restrooms are what we're used to.

[dakrewser]

Dave, I believe it's meant for sites off the ship. As every woman is aware, not all restrooms are what we're used to.

 

Ah, you've been to France, then. :rolleyes:

[blackbird71]

Ah, you've been to France, then. :rolleyes:

 

Worse I have been to Russia (HAL Statendam) in 94. :eek::eek: You have never seen bathrooms like the Russian. My favorite Russian story is the vending drink machine in the St. Pete Airport. You have seen coffee machines with the drop down paper cups. Well in the airport they had a vending machine with a steel cup on a chain attached to the machine. You put your money in and pushed a button and into the ss cup your drink came. When you were done, you put the ss cup back in the holder and hit a button and water came out. You swiched(sp) the water around and dumped it. Nice and clean for the nice traveler NOT!!!

[RuthC]

Ah, you've been to France, then. :rolleyes:

er, as a matter of fact, yes. Also there was a "restroom" on American Samoa that was---shall I say---"interesting". Then there were many in South America with an attendant who asked if we wanted toilet paper. IF???:eek:

[TedC]

Many places in this world of ours do not use TP. Have you ever heard the expression in parts of Asia that the left hand is "unclean"?

 

There's a reason for that. And that's the reason I lost 10 pounds in Nepal - I couldn't eat much, except some stuff we brought with us.

 

We always have TP with us on our travels - it's priceless.

[blackbird71]

er, as a matter of fact, yes. Also there was a "restroom" on American Samoa that was---shall I say---"interesting". Then there were many in South America with an attendant who asked if we wanted toilet paper. IF???:eek:

 

Then there is the McDees in Sweden where you tip the bathroom cleaning lady, very clean bathrooms but, no door on the ladies so you could see the legs of the females in the stalls. As for the mens, between each use of a urinal, the cleaning lady would come in an clean it, while I was using the one next to it. :rolleyes:

[emerald777]

I was in Seoul Korea 30 years ago and went to the brand new National Museum. I knew what to expect in the villages, but really thought this new building would be "equipped". Nope, just a hole in the floor and no paper.......Grumpy, we need a new update! We've been reduced to swapping toilet stories!

[Rotterdam]

Back a few years ago in China we were told we would make a rest stop. There was a door for men & a door for women. In we marched to find to find one room with 3 holes dug in the dirt floor! No walls.....never mind about the tp. That was it....all of us marched out & crossed our legs until we got back to the hotel.

[Cristiano]

Wednesday, March 30, 2005 (Chennai):

 

 

Tourist arrivals in Tamil Nadu are rising slowly but steadily. An encouraging sign of the rise has been the number of cruise liners that are docking in Chennai - bringing in hundreds of foreign visitors.

 

Recently, 65O US tourists at the Chennai Port received a traditional welcome.

 

For many it was the first visit to India and a trip they'd dreamt of taking long before the tsunami of December 26.

 

With all fears having been dispelled the visitors were keen to take in all that the country and state has to offer.

 

"People were looking forward to it. They knew from the port lecturer that the areas we are going are not that badly affected so they were definitely looking forward to coming to India," said Irene Gruenwald, Holland America Line

 

The Prinsendam, a nine-storied luxury liner, is the third cruise ship to come to Chennai in 2005. Cruise travel is an area that the Government is trying hard to promote. "

[bepsf]

In Tokyo, I've found everything from the fully-automatic models where no toilet paper is ever needed - a motorized wand drops down and washes you with warm water then a fan blows you dry with warm air - to a simple porcelain basin mounted in the floor surrounded by ceramic tiles of which some on either side are in a different color and arranged in the shape of footprints where one is suggested to place one's feet.

You never know what you're going to get when you walk in the bathroom door - kind of a crapshoot... :cool:

[Starr Mtn]

Thank you very much for your prompt response to our questions. Absolutely enjoying all your posts! Looking forward to next year's World Voyage.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Is this thread running for a Cruise Critic record?

 

 

Over 800 posts and coming up the straight for nearly 20,000 viewings,

and they still have a long way to cruise!!!!!!!

[slgjhg]

Hi Grumpy and Slinky,

 

River City Mall is where I found a tailor, recommended by a business associate, who made several items for me in October. I was able to have three fittings, which wouldn't have worked with you schedule but if you return, I would highly recommend her.

 

I loved the Royal Barge Museum, what did you two think?

 

Enjoying your commentary so much. What an undertaking and yet you can see how many people are enjoying it.

 

Look forward to hearing your impressions of India. We only stopped in Mombai and Cochin. At each port I had prearranged tours with LepassagetoIndia. They did an amazing job for us, meeting us at the ship with driver and car. What are your plans?

 

Regards,

 

Shannon

[dougnewmanatsea]

Is this thread running for a Cruise Critic record?

To be honest, I don't know - but it surely must have long ago hit a record on the HAL board anyway... I certainly can't recall a thread this popular here in our little corner of Cruise Critic-land.

[Iggipolka]

You never know what you're going to get when you walk in the bathroom door - kind of a crapshoot... :cool:

 

*snicker* That was really bad.

[Allis154]

In Cuba, most public washrooms in tourist areas don't come with toilet paper. Local ladies stand outside and sell 4 squares for $1 USD.

 

I always take a roll with me where ever I go. You never know when you are going to need it!

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005 March 31, Day 77

 

Oh Good Grief!!! Grumpy doesn't post for a day and his whole thread turns to crap!... His masterful composition is starting to decompose... and then Grumpy get's told that the left hand is unclean... now Ol' grumpy just happens to be left handed and definitely represents, strike that, resents that remark... here he is trying to educate and entertain... OK... one might argue that most of the responses were educational and those that weren't, were entertaining...Oh Well, Grumpy can put up with a little bathroom humor now and then... as long as it stays at a level that doesn't get the thread put into lockdown... or worse... Grumpy would really hate to see this whole thing flushed from the boards...

 

But since the status of facilities seems to be of interest... Grumpy and Slinkie have experienced a wide variety of facilities on this cruise as well as on their honeymoon cruise in the Mediterranean in 2002. Having been in Spain, France, Italy, Malta and Sicily on that trip, Grumpy will never consider those countries to be civilized until they improve their public facilities at least to the level of backwoods America... even the good ol' American outhouse had seats and a Sears, Roebuck catalog... the hole in the floor... no paper unless you bought it or brought your own, was common throughout that area. If there were modern facilities, it was usually a "pay as you go"... make that "before you go"... proposition... and some of those weren't all that modern...

 

Holland America does provide a nice source of portable TP... it's the supply of neatly folded napkins that are in a glass on the tray with your ice bucket and glasses... although Slinkie prefers the other source... the Kleenex dispenser in the lavatory... The small travel packs of Kleenex are pretty popular, too. That is essentially what the stuff in the vending machine is.

 

One of the shopping centers where Grumpy had occasion to check out the facilities had the basin in the floor as described by bepsf, but where to put your feet was left for the user to decide... there was a water valve about a foot above the floor with a 3 foot hose attached... turn on the valve and use the hose to flush everything down the hole... now who wants to pick up the end of the hose to direct it?..

 

As Emerald777 mentioned, the age of the building is no indication of how modern the facilities will be... There are some very old buildings with good facilities and new buildings with poor facilities... Grumpy's philospy is "go with the flow" and consider it as learning about the culture of the country. Probably the funniest one that Grumpy has encountered so far was the restaurant in Bangkok. It was requied that one remove one's shoes before entering the restaurant, so, if you needed to use the bathroom before leaving, you were still barefoot... not to worry, there was a supply of rubbersoled, closed toed house slippers right outside the door to slip into... which Grumpy did. Once inside, he noted that the urinal was one of those "all of the way down to the floor" models and the floor in front was sopping wet... Grumpy also noted that there were guys standing there that had opted not to use the slippers...YEEECH!...

 

Blackbird71... you've got to admit that the Russian vending machine dispensing system went a long way toward eliminating litter... always tradeoffs, aren't there?..

 

Dakrewser is right about the problems caused by flushing non standard TP on the ship... but it isn't known if there has ever been any contrabrand TP confiscated on boarding... put it in your checked luggage just to be safe... and wrap it in foil... it'll show up on the xray as large rolls of film... by the way, there is a notice posted on the vanity in Grumpy's lavatory: "If anything other than our special toilet paper is deposited into your toilet, there is a chance of clogging your toilet and those of many other cabins. Apart from the inconvenience it causes, repairs can be costly. Costs can be passed on to you if it is discovered that objects causing the clog have been intentionally disposed of in you toilet."... so leave the monogramed TP at home...

 

OK! Enough already... let's restore some semblence of decency to this... yeah, sure... that's likely to happen...

 

Day 76 was spent in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The port is a very busy commercial operation... multiple ships being loaded and unloaded... constant movement of cargo containers... incessant beep beeping of the warning bells on the cranes, forklifts, and yard tractors. A high chain link fence separates the cargo port from the passenger dock. There is a line of tin roofed, open front stalls on the passenger dock side of the fence and the vendors were busing stocking them with their wares as the Prinsendam was docking. The usual assortments of carvings, painted masks, fabric, clothing, postcards other souvenirs were in abundance from multiple vendors. There were also four vendors that were "branch offices" of jewellry stores that were headquartered in town. Although there was a large assortment of gemstones and jewellry, Slinkie didn't care for the styles that were displayed and the craftsmanship was not too great. There were many loose stones available. Large Topaz in yellow, golden and blue were in abundance. There was also a pretty good assortment of Amethyst. There wasn't as much available in Sapphire as expected, though, and most of what was available was fairly light in color or uneven color and small... less than one caret... After prowling through all of the shops, Slinkie selected a carved wooden turtle and a couple of small wooden elephants as souvenirs and a half dozen post cards to send to a few friends and relatives that don't use Email...

 

There was no shuttle bus into town, but there was an abundance of cabs... actual enclosed, air conditioned minivans... available for hire at the gate. Slinkie and Grumpy settled on one with a driver that spoke reasonable English and hired him to show them around for a couple of hours... He showed them all of the usual tourist places... mosques, temples, museums, embassies, etc. and, of course, knew where the best places to shop were located... make that the places that treat him best for bringing in pigeons..er, customers... There was a stop at a handicrafts market that had a lot of the same things that were on the dock but much larger assortments. Slinkie found some embroidered throw pillow covers that were begging to be liberated and also a really cute bobblehead elephant carved from coconut shells... He's now residing beside her computer.. get's along just fine with the mouse in spite of what you may have heard about elephants fearing mice... and gets lots of attention from Slinkie... so far, all of the purchases, including those at the pier, totalled less than $30USD... but then the jewellry store was next... uh oh, Grumpy can feel that credit card getting warm... usually a bad sign... Ol' Grumpy treated his Slinkie to a deep blue oval shaped Sapphire ring with small white Sapphires surrounding the center stone... Add a gold and sapphire bracelet and it was time to head back to the ship for lunch.

 

After lunch, Slinkie and Grumpy had the cabbie drop them off somewhere down on Galle Rd and they set off on foot to explore the shops. Galle Rd has miles of stores ranging from stalls to large department stores. After stopping in several places, the earrings that match the ring were located and, after much haggling, were purchased. As Slinkie and Grumpy were leaving, one of the Prinsendam tour buses pulled up and the horde of shoppers descended on the same store... Continuing down the street, Slinkie and Grumpy came to a building that was the closest thing they've seen to a shopping center they've seen for a while. Slinkie found a pair of black strappy 2" heels that she wanted to supplement a pair that she brought along, but she is always afraid will break a strap one of these days... really expensive, too... $999.90 Rupiah... got change back from $11USD...

 

They decided to take a tuk-tuk cab back to the ship... no, they aren't any safer or less harrowing an experience than in Chennai, but they're actually fun! There is supposed to be some sort of law of physics about two objects not being able to occupy the same space at the same time, but they must use different physics here... Grumpy could swear there were several time that 48 inch wide cab went through a space that was less than 36 inches wide without touching anything... must be some sort of force fields at work... Dakrewser, is there any Penn State research on this??... Back at the port, that cabbie did not have clearance papers to enter the port, but there were tuk-tuks waiting inside to take passengers the rest of the way to the ship. About the time that Slinkie and Grumpy returned to the ship, the skies, which had been overcast most of the day decided to bestow some liquid sunshine on the area. Since it was getting late in the afternoon, there were a couple of vendors that closed up shop, took their wares and left. Their neighbors quickly moved their outside displays into the vacant spaces and the other vendors pulled out plastic to cover their outside displays. It continued raining, sometimes quite hard, with thunder and lightning in abundance, right up until time for sailaway at 10p.

 

After dinner, Slinkie and Grumpy went out on the lower promenade to see why Prinsendam had not yet left the dock. The gangway to deck 5 had been stowed, but the one to deck four was still out, and the ship still had lines tied to the dock. About 10:10p CD Gary came on the horn to ask that if miss so and so and mr such and such in cabin whatever were on board, please call the front desk. For about the next 20 minutes there were people entering and leaving the ship and finally the deck 4 gangway was stowed, the lines cast off and the Prinsendam eased away from her berth. Since the request for the missing couple to call the desk was only made once, Grumpy assumes they made it back on board and all is well. Some of the tours ran into problems during the day... one 7 1/2 hour tour became a 10 1/2 hour tour... no, Shore Excursions didn't charge them for the extra hours... and buses were straggling in well into the evening.

 

Right now, the Prinsendam is passing through the Maldives, north of Male` on the way to Victoria in the Seychelles... why does that old tounge twister... she sells sea shells by the seashore... keep running through grumpy's head?.. maybe it should be ... she sells sea shells by the Seychelles seashore... The Prinsendam will be there on Sunday, so it looks like more of a sight seeing and relaxing day instead of a shopping day. Meanwhile, tonight is an informal night, followed by a formal "Farewell to Taj" theme night tomorrow with Indian dinner menu and crossing the equator on Saturday... Then this thread can swirl down the drain in the opposite direction...

 

Rotterdam... no, the environmental laws don't allow sea burials anymore... the dead eggs probably wound up on the salad bar where they were ceremoniously plopped on the plates of hungry passengers... lovely ceremony indeed...

 

atseadaze... favorite port... that would definitely be Ft Lauderdale... that is Slinkie and Grumpy's portal to all of the new and amazing places... favorite part of the world... that's going to require a lot more comparison time... now if HAL comes through with a free cruise it would broaden the database... About keeping from gaining weight... neither Slinkie nor Grumpy has stepped on a scale since leaving home... they'll let you know after they get back whether or not they were successful... Planning and preparing for the cruise... that's probably best left for a followup report after returning... Margie Lady had some good remarks about planning for the ports... ACD Jen is better organized than Grumpy in that regard... she isn't your stereotypical blonde, that's for sure... wait a minute... as of last week she isn't blonde anymore...

 

OK, that's enough for today...

 

Grumpy and Slinkie... headed west, southwest for the tropical islands...

 

[JaniceB]

Grumpy1,

 

I am laughing so hard I am crying. The worst part is I am at work. Everyone is wondering what is wrong. I hope you have smooth sailing to your next destination. I really enjoy reading your posts.

[blackbird71]

Blackbird71... you've got to admit that the Russian vending machine dispensing system went a long way toward eliminating litter... always tradeoffs, aren't there?..

 

Tell that to the 90lb 4'10" HAL nurse with a 200+lb 6'4" HAL ADC laying on top of her, about the tradeoffs of not everybody really needing seatbelts on Aeroflot during takeoffs . :p:p

 

 

This mornings Grumpy post has to be the best so far. :D:D Me thinks HAL should have Grumpy for a standup comedy show one night on this cruise.

[dakrewser]

Grumpy -

 

Since most objects are made up of mostly empty space with a few atoms surrounding it to give it structure, you might thing it possible for two of them to "share" the same position. Alas, there are other forces at work as is nicely explained by M. Casco & Assoc. at this web site which, as far as I know, is unconnected with Pennsylvania's land grant college but is, at least, located in East Stroudsburg, PA. Some might consider that Western New Jersey, but there's nasty people everywhere these days....

 

:) -dave

[venicecruiser]

Always enjoy your updates, Grumpy! Slinkie will have quite the jewelry collection when you return home.........

 

I had an email from a friend who is a guest entertainer on cruiseships from time to time. She told me that she is leaving tomorrow for two weeks on a HAL ship. She lives in the UK and I'm wondering if she's headed for Prinsendam. Just a guess as she didn't say which ship. If you get a new entertainer onboard named Mandy Muden, please say hello to her. Thanks!

 

Claudia

[Cuttle]

Hi Grumpy and Slinkie:

 

Great posts as always. I have been off line for a week and today had to play catch up from post #750. Better than reading a book. The "troops" did get a little off topic being bored, waiting for your next post, but your last post from Sri Lanka was the best. Your descriptions of life in India and Sri Lanka just makes one feel they are there. My DH was in Colombo, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1949 and enjoyed your very descriptive post, although obviously, he couldn't relate to any of it.

 

As always, waiting for your next post. Thank you, thank you.

[Cruising Jake]

Thanks again for your posts. I love reading them. Your humor, exploits, descriptions and events are wonderful.

 

Please, at the end of your cruise, post a complete list of all Slinkie's jewelry purchases so we ladies can drool and ooh-and-ah appropriately.