Prinsendam 2005 World Tour... it has begun

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, Feb 5, Day 23

 

Aloha! from Grumpy and Slinkie. The Prinsendam is now headed due south toward Christmas Island in the Kiribiti chain. This being a sea day, it's a good time to get caught up on the thread. After the rainy day in Hilo, Slinkie and Grumpy were glad to see that Honolulu was mostly clear. They were off the ship by 8:45. Most of the shops in the area around the pier weren't even open yet, so off they headed for the Ala Moana shopping center. It's a pretty good hike, but they figured that they needed the excercize, and Grumpy managed to navigate there without getting lost... Hey, how difficult can it be to go two miles straight up the street... Well, our veteran shoppers managed to prowl around through all four levels of Ala Moana and did find a few things... Grumpy had broken his comb and hadn't been able to find a new one in Mexico or the ship shop... Slinkie hadn't had her favorite Cheez-It snack crackers since she left Naples... another item that doesn't seem to exist in Mexico... so a good old American drug store and grocery store were welcome sights. Grumpy thought he was getting out of there pretty cheap after going through Tiffany's and a lot of other stores without buying anything... but on the way out there was this little jewelry store... and this pair of pearl earrings that was beckoning... , yep, they look a lot better on Slinkie's ears than they did in the display case...

 

Heading back toward the pier is another shopping area. Ward's Plaza, Ward's Country Market, Ward's Warehouse District... Slinkie finally found the outfit she wanted for the Valentines Ball... they had lunch in the food court area, and then continued back toward the pier. All of the shops around the Aloha Tower were open... found a couple of carved Tiki statues (actually made in Hawaii instead of China)... by then Slinkie's poor feet were telling her that they had enough of this nonsense, so back on board and a bit of rest before sailaway...

 

The sailaway bar was set up on lower promenade and they were passing out nice fresh Plumeria leis. Saw more than one person with a surprised look when approached by those two ACD's that Grumpy won't name... but anyway, they go up to these unsuspecting passengers and say "Hey, do you want to get lei'd?"... and you guys thought that this was a bunch of old fogeys...

 

The Prinsendam sailed out of Honolulu on schedule and Slinkie and Grumpy wandered up to the Crow's Nest for a bit after donning their finest Hawaiian outfits. They were very surprised when they were met at the door to the lounge and asked if they preferred the smoking or non-smoking side. That option had not been offered before... not sure if it's a new policy or not.

 

Dinner was the "lobster they didn't serve, makeup night"... it was also time for a new couple to join the group at table 112... a Dutch couple had joined the table in LA, but then moved to a table with other Dutch speaking couples. The other couple, John and Jeannie, that had joined the table in LA are still there, so it was quite a surprise when the new couple that had just got on in Honolulu came in and introduced themselves... "Hi, I'm John and this is my wife Jean"... sure makes remembering names a lot easier... but they probably thought the rest of us were a bit strange when we couldn't keep from laughing when they introduced themselves... The lobster they served to make up for the night they ran out was right up there with the best that Ol' Grumpy has ever tasted! Absolutely superb! It was worth waiting a couple of nights.

 

This morning, Grumpy and Slinkie were having breakfast on the Lido aft deck when a woman came up and asked if they were Grumpy and Slinkie. So now they have met Mrs Morebilge. She posted once early in the thread, but Grumpy didn't realize that she was one of the ones joining the cruise in LA. Welcome aboard, Marilyn. The program showed a meeting of the Red Hatters in the Crow's Nest, so Slinkie headed out to that. Grumpy decided to see what the Cappuccino situation is in the Java Cafe. The Cappuccino machine has been repaired and is back at its rightful place behind the bar! There were plates of goodies on the side bar (including the chocolate covered strwberries). Grumpy had to have a few little tidbits and a Cappuccino in order to accurately report that yes, indeed, there is free Cappuccino with desserts available during the day... well SOMEBODY has to make the sacrifice...

 

On the way back to the cabin, Grumpy ran into CruisinTexans. While talking with them, their acquaintance, PaDutchman, came by, so now Grumpy has met all of the CruiseCritics members known to be onboard except for Alsas and Kapuna. They are still hiding out somewhere... Grumpy is going to try to get the social director to set up a CruiseCritic get together sometime after Capetown. There should be about 10 couples onboard by then...

 

Now to the questions that are starting to pile up...

 

Venicecruiser, (Claudia) we do know some people in the O/S Main deck cabins but haven't been in one yet. One person said the closet was "big enough to hold a card game in there"... I'll try to get some dimensions. They are actually bigger than the SS closets, which measure 3ft by 7ft... Yes, Grumpy brought his tape measure... there are high and low rods on one end, floor to ceiling shelves on the other end, an 18" deep shelf the full length of the closet, and a 5-1/2ft long rod under the shelf.

 

Ziggy7, Ol' Grumpy has been known to pull a leg now and then, but his reporting about the absence of Super Bowl coverage was not not one of those times... Apparently there are copyright and NFL permission problems involved with doing a tape replay (as suggested by JaniceB), but the communications staff is working to see if anything can be worked out... we'll know tomorrow. The idea that LocalLady had for lobster and drinks and snacks sounds great... Let's see... big screen TV on the aft Lido... one Helluva tailgate party!...

 

Jennie, your description of the smaller dining room and the extra traffic through it left out one item: The spiral staircase that comes down from the Explorer's Lounge into the middle of the room. Slinkie and Grumpy always go from fore to aft on the ship on another deck instead of going through that dining room, but there are a lot of cruisers that are not that considerate...

 

Bepsf, on sea days, the program lists "gifts of love distribution" at 3:00 pm in the Explorer's Lounge. That's the ones knitting things that will be distributed in Capetown... now Grumpy's sister could probably knit up a bushel of stuff before Capetown, but Ol' Grumpy won't be partaking in that activity...

 

Brian, Grumpy passed on your greetings to Johnny I... of course he's reading this thread himself, now, so he'll pick up any comments directed his way... other than mrssbi telling him to behave himself... he'll swear he never saw that message...

 

RuthC, you're right about the things that people complain about... Grumpy's been reading these boards for 6 months now, so nothing surprises him anymore... but there was one the other day that came close... Steve Simao was answering questions about the 2006 World Cruise and mentioned that it was highly unlikely that the lowest categories would be oversold to the extent that they have been in the past, so upgrades were not to be counted on. He also said they would not be selling M gaurantees which usually got upgraded before, so if you book an M you will most likely be in an M. One "gentleman' was quite vociferous about wanting to pay for an M, but not wanting to be in an M... Hello... can you spell "greedy"?

 

Ruffin, Grumpy sort of wondered if he should have declared some purchases in LA, but he didn't think of it soon enough to look up the rules... there may be something about the length of time required to "reset the clock" or something like that... Grumpy looked up that information in 2002 before his Mediterranean honeymoon cruise with Slinkie, but neglected to check it out this time.

 

And, no, Grumpy is not a professional writer... but if any cruise line out there would like to put his talents to work in exchange for room and board... balcony cabin or above, thank you... he can be bought...

 

Actually, Grumpy is absolutely flabbergasted by the amount of interest that the journal has created and wishes to say "Mahalo" to all that are reading and posting questions and comments. There's a rumor that the captain is now aware of the thread... so maybe Grumpy should mind his P's and Q's... yeah, right, that's likely to happen...

 

So far, internet has been available, even on the days between LA and Honolulu when broadcast satellite was not. It will be interesting to see how well it works the rest of the way.

 

Time to get this on the net and see what other questions there are.

 

Grumpy and Slinkie...

 

Aloha

 

[Aussie Gal]

We have just experienced the worst weather that has ever been recorded in Melbourne for over 140 years. In fact since records were first kept!

 

We had first of all our coldest February day on Wednesday - 12C winter temp -when normally the average is 25C and secondly we had the largest rainfall ever in a day, over 5 inches plus gale force winds which brought down so many trees, cut power to over 200,000 homes and lost sand from beaches and a pier broke up.

 

Our Spirit of Tasmania, a car ferry between Tasmania and Melbourne had to return to Melbourne after 3 hours with broken windows etc as the seas were so dangerous. No wonder the that the Voyager returned to Sydney. By the way Sydney and Brisbane also experienced huge storms, but not up to the ones we had here.

 

Jennie

[TedC]

Grumpy,

 

Just because you're not getting paid (except by adulation) doesn't mean you're an "unprofessional" writer!

 

You've set an extremely high standard for others who may let us tag along on their adventures.

 

Thank you!

[Cruising_Gator]

Grumpy,

Greatly appreciate your hands-on research of the free cappuccino for me. It's just one of those little touches that add to the cruise and make fun memories. Really looking forward to my first trip on the Prinsendam in July (and celebrating a 25th anniversay).

My DW has also been enjoying your posts, but may be getting ideas from your shopping trips. You're setting a high standard for the rest of us husbands with all your jewel purchases.

[crusinggranny]

Grumpy, Haven't heard anything about the ice cream. Do they still have the ice cream parlor where you can go anytime of day and get real ice cream and put any and everything on it but the kitchen sink. That is one place on HAL that my husband always loves to visit.

 

Thank you for your postings, I have really enjoyed them and look for them everyday. I hope that you will be able to continue postings all the way through your trip.

 

Best wishes to you and Slinkie, I feel as if I know you and am enjoying this cruise with you.

 

BJ

[Cristiano]

Hi Blackbird

 

glad you loved our beautiful harbour (not many like it), I see it almost everyday and still wonder at its magic as I cross the bridge or even approach it from the North side.

 

As a developer I have renovated several apartments with Sydney Harbour views and believe me it is very difficult to keep your eye on the work and not on the harbour.

 

Shame that you missed Melbourne though it is a wonderful city and has some fantastic sights.

 

Enjoy the rest of you trip, wish I was on the same cruise with my DW, maybe next time,

 

Cristiano.

[localady]

Grumpy and Slinkie-

Hope the skies are blue and seas calm for your voyage south! Have you both settled into a routine on board by now?

It surely sounds like you all are being treated wonderfully, the chocolate dipped strawberries at the Java Cafe clued me into that! Make sure you save a couple of those for RuthC, she'll be very appreciative.;) :)

Best regards to you both!

[Sail With Me]

Grumpy and Slinkie,

 

Thanks for a wonderful update. Our virtual voyage just keeps getting better. Grumpy, you write beautifully and think you need to publish this diary when you are done. I am sure the Captain is enjoying it as much as we are.

 

Hope you are able to watch the Super Bowl today! Enjoy you next port and lets hear all about those Australian Opals Slinkie!!!

 

Karen and Bob

[HeatherInFlorida]

Hi Grumpy and Slinkie! No wonder you're becoming so famous (or infamous as the case may be:) ) ... this diary is amazing and it's no surprise to me if indeed your Captain is enjoying it, too. And you're barely under way! Can you imagine how many followers you'll have in another month or two? You'll have the entire staff in Seattle logging on just to read the latest developments in the voyage of Slinkie and Grumpy.

 

Keep up the good work. I look forward to your every post.

[Traveller1]

Hi Grumpy & Slinkie--we reiterate what heatherin florida has said--we check several times a day to see if youve written--great job there--it's so exciting to read what's happening & in such a readable,easy style.! Many,many thanks.

Thanks Aussie girl also for weather report in Melbourne--we have friends there and have visited that gorgeous city.

[Welshapple]

Hello there, Grumpy and Slinkie:

 

We too have been enjoying your posts and looking forward to your continued reports. HAL should donate some internet time when your initial subscription runs out.

A couple of questions:

1. You really seem to enjoy your lobster (when it's available). Is it actually 'Lobster' or, as is often the case on cruises, 'Lobster Tails'? If the latter, do they tell you where they are from. e.g. South Africa?

2. Would you mind asking if they carry Aquavit at the bar.

 

Thanks, and as we are booked in cabin A196 next November, any further info you can get from your tablemate on one of these cabins would be very much appreciated as well. Hope you continue to enjoy your voyage.

[RuthC]

So, you're on your way to Christmas Island! Just remember, if the question of which ocean is Christmas Island in comes up in trivia, the answer is---the Indian Ocean! :rolleyes: I'm not kidding! Must be two of 'em. (I checked the last time I got it wrong.)

 

When I was at (the Pacific) Christmas Island we weren't able to get the tenders ashore due to rough seas; hope you do make it. The scenic cruising we were left with was very pretty, indeed.

The visit had been preceded by a great Christmas party out in deck. Santa arrived and everything! (No, it wasn't December; it was Christmas Island.;) )

Is it going to be a straight shot from Hawaii to Kiribati? That's one long string of sea days!

No shopping for Slinkie! :(

[Aussie Gal]

Ruth,

 

The other Christmas Island is very close to Australia in the Indian Ocean. In fact I think it is a protecterate of ours. My son used to be a stamp collector and we used to get the Christmas and Coco Island stamps regularly.:)

 

Jennie

[KathieKata]

Great reading! Thanks for taking the time to post your wonderful cruise!

[RuthC]

Thanks, Jennie, I know that now---too late for the trivia answer, though. Last time I got it wrong I was so furious that I marched straight to the big globe near the library (on the Rotterdam). Sure 'nuff---there was a second Christmas Island big as life in the Indian Ocean. And the one in the Pacific too!

Now, I knew I'd been to that one---and on a HAL ship at that!

 

Perhaps the one in the Pacific has a different official name? :confused:

(er, did you say "Coco" Island? close enough! :D )

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, Feb 6, Day 24

 

Good Morning from the middle of nowhere!... that's what the navigation channel has to say about the Prinsendam's location... keeping that channel up-to-date doesn't seem to be a high priority... right now... Time and Date, N/A... location, N/A... temp... N/A... Grumpy is sure glad he has his own GPS. Right now they are about 350 miles from Christmas Island, cruising along at 20 knots in fairly calm seas. Sometime during the night the satellite dish lost contact with CNN and ESPN... Grumpy thouight it would, as there were a few "sparkles" in the picture late last night.

 

The daily program had an article about the satellite coverage, the equipment onboard, and the problems of maintaining contact. It stated that they are doing everything possible to bring "quality programming" to our staterooms. A couple of articles further down, the Superbowl coverage article states that they are still hoping to show the superbowl in the Queen's Lounge at 1p. Regardless of coverage, there will be a tailgate party... Tailgate?... Hello... the Queen's Lounge is on the wrong end of the ship for a tailgate party... with hamburgers, hot dogs, popcorn, nachos with cheese and special pricing on Buckets of Beer... No mention of lobster, though... Oh, well...

 

The Chief Navigational Officer gave a nice talk this morning about the transformation from the Seaborne Sun to the Prinsendam. The lead time from planning to drydock was about 14 months. He had lots of stories about the things that had to be taken into consideration in the planning, things that didn't go as planned, and foul ups like welding the logo on the funnel facing the wrong way...since Grumpy has been involved in a lot of rennovation and retrofit projects, he found the talk very informative.

 

There's a talk scheduled for this afternoon in the Crow's Nest on the GPS navigational system... If there is Superbowl coverage, Ol' Grumpy knows all he needs to know about GPS... No Superbowl and Grumpy will continue his education... will report on the results later...

 

Now Grumpy's thinking ACD Johnny I must be in the doghouse... the daily program lists the bingo this afternoon with "Special Guest Caller, Johnny I"... Don't know what he's being punished for, but isn't calling bingo about as low on the list as you can get??

 

Almost time to check out the tailgate party, so we'll post this if the internet is working...

 

Grumpy and Slinkie

 

[Sage]

Grumpy and Slinkie,

 

I can't thank you enough for sharing your experience with us. We are really enjoying every word. DH is now seriously considering a world cruise.Thanks.:D :D :D

[Cristiano]

Hi GP1 & Slinkie,

 

great daily reports....makes us wish we were on board now....don't forget we live in Sydney......and if you want any help or advise please feel free to ask.....I would only be too happy to help.....

 

 

Cristiano.

[Cruising Jake]

I am so excited about my virtual world cruise. Thanks again.

 

 

P.S. Slinkie, you go girl with those jewels.

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, Feb 6, update

 

HOT DAYUM! How about those Patriots!!! That had to be the best super bowl we never watched! The "tailgate on the wrong end of the ship" party went pretty good, but the best they could do for coverage was a connection via internet to NFL. COM. There was no audio feed, the engineers were even looking around to see if anyone was carrying audio on a bootleg site... nothing, anywhere. They projected the NFL.Com site onto the screen in the Queen's Lounge. The page showed all of the stats and a scoreboard, description of each play and a football field with the ball position, line of scrimmage and first down lines shown... UNFORTUNATELY... the image projected was so blurry that it was almost impossible to read anything... The senior ACD, Steve Gayda, took his microphone and went into Fekko's office where he could actually see the computer screen and did a play by play... As far as sportscasting goes... don't give up your day job, Steve... besides he was rooting for the Eagles, so we weren't always sure he was giving us the straight story on what was going on...

 

But, hey, the food was good, the beer was cheap ($2 domestic, $3 import)... wait a minute, we're in the middle of nowhere... it's ALL imported... $1 canned soda... so all in all it wasn't too bad... Kudos to the cruise staff for doing the best job possible, given the circumstances... They are a great bunch. One guy did voice a sentiment shared by many of us... "I can't believe I just spent 4 hours sitting here watching a line move around on a blurry screen"...

 

Well, Slinkie and Grumpy are happy, so all's well with the world.

 

Thanks to all that passed along info regarding the storm in the Melbourne area... sure glad we aren't there right now... Jennie, you've got a lot of cleaning up to do to make it all presentable by the 23rd... By the way, the training ship, Explorer, that got sideways to a 40 ft wave up in the Aluetian Islands area a couple of weeks ago was anchored in Honolulu while we were there. We did not see any damage, but heard that there was some.

 

Cruisinggranny, sorry we forgot to mention the ice cream. Slinkie and Grumpy are well acquainted with it, as they visit it almost every day. Slinkie can always find a fat free or low fat ice cream or frozen yogurt to put the finishing touch on her lunch and Grumpy can load up on cookies, whatever ice cream looks good and a shot of flavored brandy to top it off. It's actually part of the Lido on the Prinsendam, Starboard side, all the way aft. Open from 11:30 to 5p and 6 to 8p

 

Trulli, they are lobster tails. we haven't been informed as to their origins, but they sure are good! Grumpy will have to find out about the Aquavit for you...

 

RuthC, it's only 2 sea days from Honolulu to Christmas Island... but don't tell Slinkie she can't go shopping... she'll hit the shops on board just to prove you wrong... They've got all of those black pearls from Maui Divers on display right now... and Slinkie doesn't own any black pearls...yet... so don't go giving her any challanges...

 

That's enough for now...

 

Grumpy and Slinkie... getting downright warm as they get near the equator.

 

[crusinggranny]

Thanks, you make my husband very happy. He is a bigger ice cream freak than me.

I was raised on ice cream. My dad thought that dessert was not dessert without the ice cream, whether it was on jello or pie made no difference to him. Plus as a kid, I remember going down in the basement to the freezer which had a least three flavors in 2 1/2 gal. cans to dish up for dad and of course I always had a "couple" of spoonfuls while dishing up his bowl.

 

Our family motto? "Ice cream who screams for ice cream?"

 

Again thank you for your wonderful postings, I look two or three times a day to see if you have posted yet.

 

I am really looking forward to our trip on this ship in November/December.

 

You and Slinkie continue to enjoy your trip and keep us posted.

 

BJ

[Ziggy7]

Grumpy and Slinkie,

We are so glad you atleast got to see the superbowl, when we were watching it you both were on our minds hoping by some miracle you were watching it! See miracles do happen even if they have no sound and blury vision :) Again thanks for sharing your cruise with us, its been a dream to us!:)

[DFD1]

Hello, G & S: I've just this moment returned from a week away. It's after one o'clock in the morning here, but I had to check in to see how things are going with you before turning in tonight.

 

I hope you know how much we all are enjoying your trip!!! Thanks again for sharing with us.

 

Now, off to bed. Stay safe.

[Cuttle]

I am sure watching whatever you could see of the Superbowl in the Queen's Lounge will be an experience to remember. Did they REALLY serve hamburgers?, as mentioned in your first posting about the tailgate party, in the Queens Lounge?

 

You will be just about at the equator and will be moving from "winter" in the north to "summer" in the S. Hemisphere. When do you cross the Internatioinal Date Line? All of a sudden you will have lost a day.

 

Like everyone else I check several times a day to see if you have posted your daily journal. It is so very interesting. Thank you.

[Cuttle]

I just had a silly trivia thought since posting about you crossing the equator. Maybe someone reading this thread will have an answer. In the N. Hemisphere water goes down the drain clockwise, in the S,. Hemisphere it goes down anti-clockwise. What happens on a cruise ship as you go from the N to the S.?