Aboard the ms Statendam

[DougandEric]

Greg, I don't know for sure if he is on the ship at Christmas but he says he's on ships all the time so there is a good chance.

 

We saw the menu for Le Cirque and won't be attending. None of the items really looked good enough to justify the $39 price without wine or $59 with wine. I didn't want fish or lamb and the beef is served only for 2. If one wants beef and the other fish, you pay another $39 - ain't going to happen.

 

Down day for me. I didn't attend our cooking class this morning but Eric did and enjoyed it. I'll go to the one tomorrow. Throat is better but still have stuffy head and runny nose.

 

Hint for those wanting a tray - go to the Terrace Grill on the taco bar and they have large oval platters. Take that into the Lido. If you order and entree type meal or a daily sandwich, they put it on a large plate.

 

Time to watch sunset and get ready for dinner.

 

Doug

[casavaha]

Are you going into Panama City? Or just into Fuerte Amador?

 

Greg

[CowPrincess]

Time to watch sunset and get ready for dinner

 

That made me smile -- thank you! And thanks for the extensive reporting. Am enjoying it a lot.

[erewhon]

Am enjoying reading your reports,thank you. Brings back memories of our Panama Canal cruise on the Statendam November last year.... 28 fabulous days. :)

[DougandEric]

CowPrincess, thanks - it's one of our favorite parts of a cruise as well.

 

Greg, we're doing the locks tour only.

 

Regarding the Dine with the Chef issue, we spoke to Sal in the PG tonight and he said we were the only 2 to sign up for it! He said that out of every 4 cruises, they do the dinner only once - many people don't want to spend the money. I'm surprised since the similar thing on Princess is standby most of the time.

 

Tonight I tried the lobster mac & cheese. While good, it was enough for two LARGE entrees or 4 starters. Sal said they are talking about offering it as a starter but who knows how long that will take corporate to figure out. It tasted like macaroni cooked in lobster bisque with lots of lobster meat - nothing bad in that at all other than the portion size - I ate only about 1/4 of it if that.

 

Doug

[JandKsVistas]

Cannot believe there was no interest in the Chef's dinner. We should have been on the cruise with you all. I was so looking forward to your review. Hope they offer it on our cruise (leaving FL Dec 10). We were also looking forward to LeCirque, but if the options are as stated we will have the same problem you did. Thanks for taking the time to keep us informed and entertained.

Kathy

[Rebecca J]

Thank you so much for this wonderful blog. We are going on this ship on 3/04/11 for our 35th wedding anniversary and you have gotten me so much more excited about our cruise. This is like a wonderful gift to be able to check in and read more about the ship and experience. Look forward to more. Thanks, Rebecca

[hillside]

Rebecca J

 

Hope to see you on board! I've started a roll call for this cruise, 14 or 28 days. Please join us!

 

Hillsideeast (Brenda & Jim)

[Tredebo]

Hi Doug - I'll add my thanks to the others. I'm thoroughly enjoying your writings. Can you tell us how Statendam herself is treating you please? There has been a bit of scuttlebutt about her and I've got six months to wait.

[tjcox9]

We'll be boarding shortly and wonder if there are any regular happy hours on the Statendam. This does not seem to be consistent throughout the line and since this will be our first time on the Statendam, just wonder if and when they happen.

 

Thanks, and I've enjoyed your trip report and have picked up some helpful info for our upcoming voyage. :)

[DougandEric]

To answer a few of your questions before my regular post:

 

Statendam is fine. I've heard of a couple problems with hot cabins but still don't know where they are. One was from a woman of good sized proportions (the nicest you'll get from me) in line for early dinner at the Lido who complained they weren't feeding us enough! One plumbing problem - again don't know the area but it was being dealt with. Other than that, the public areas tend to be on the cool side, the found runs part of the time, the elevators all work and no smells or other issues I've detected.

 

Happy hours tend to be 4-5PM in the Crows Nest and Ocean Bar - 2 for 1. Also from 5-8PM in MIX. We don't care for MIX in the early part of the evening because the guitar player sings poorly, too loudly for the space and is generally very annoying! Our opinion only. The piano later in the evening is fine.

 

On to my regular post:

We had 2 days at sea after Guatemala and I was not doing with well with my cold/cough. I didn’t go to the cooking class in the morning but Eric did and enjoyed it. After getting up late, I wandered around looking for him. I ran into Noel our wine steward who said he’d be on the lookout as well. I finally found him about 12:15 – after cooking class, you are taken up to the Pinnacle Grill and fed what you cooked with wine. We went to lunch, or at least I ate, then back to the stateroom where I napped and watched movies all afternoon. Eric went out and finished his book but checked on me a couple times.

 

We had drinks in the OB before dinner. While talking to the pianist, he says he plays what people seem to like but apparently they only the same things every night! It’s very repetitive. We asked him for a number of requests, only one of which he could play – “Canadian Sunset”. All the others he either never heard of or didn’t have music for. He said they have over 600 songs available but you’d never know it.

 

We had dinner in the PG, gratis because of the Dinner with the Chef being canceled. It was another formal night and Eric wanted champagne while I wanted red. We decided to get a bottle of each knowing we could cork up what was left. I started with the onion soup (good but different than the first time – less beefy flavor and actually needed salt) and Eric had the shrimp cocktail. Now, I read somewhere on the HAL boards that someone was complaining about the shrimp cocktail in that the shrimp was bay shrimp – could have been the MDR but in the Pinnacle, they huge – 10-15 size. There were four of them. I’ve seen the shrimp cocktails in the MDR and they are what I would call ‘large’ shrimp by supermarket standards and certainly not bay shrimp. I had the lobster mac & cheese and Eric had the black cod with scampi. Now, I knew the lobster mac & cheese would be rich but this was obscene – tasted like the macaroni was cooked in lobster bisque with marscpone cheese added! It was extremely good but the portion could have easily served at least 2 if not 3. There was plenty of lobster in it as well. I could only eat about a quarter of it – anymore and I would have been sick. I suggested to Sal that they should make that an appetizer portion and he said corporate is looking into it but it would take time for that to filter down. My portion could have easily been 4 appetizer portions. Eric’s black cod was excellent and came with 2 scampi – their size was enormous! They were probably 4 to the pound – 3 to 4 ounces each. He ate both and 90% of the cod but had to stop. He had espresso and I had cappuccino but neither of us had dessert.

The next day we had our final cooking class, Indian cuisine. I was still very much under the weather and didn’t want to spread what I had so I went but just observed and took pictures. The chef was Chef Rosario from the Pinnacle and he’s very good and quite funny and easy to work with. The menu was a chicken curry dish, a shrimp dish with cilantro and garlic and purri – Indian flat bread. We also made a dessert with carrots, milk, sugar and cardamom and cinnamon, sort of a carrot pudding – very easy and very tasty.

 

I chatted with everyone while taking pictures and then took pictures with other peoples cameras. We started late because mass was held in the Wajang theater before our class and Eric said the priest overslept! I’m pretty sure that is some kind of sin in the holy C!

 

We ate the results of our labor in the PG then wandered around some more. We found a couple of deck chairs on the port side and sat down to read. There was a pearl seminar at 1PM that Eric wanted to go to and a port talk at 2PM. Eric left me sleeping on deck – I mean reading! - and I eventually made it back to the room around 3PM. My cough was getting worse and I felt poorly. I’d had my flu shot back in August but it apparently didn’t cover this stain. I got similarly sick on our Mexican Rivera cruise on the Oosterdam – must be the Pacific side of Mexico that does it to me!

 

Our shore excursion for the ‘Miliflores Locks at Night’ was to meet in the Showroom at 7:10PM but during his mid day announcement, the captain stated we had run into a headwind most of the night and didn’t make as much headway as we should have. Our arrival time was now expected to be 7PM instead of 6PM. Knowing this and having asked before, we planned to eat in the Lido around 5:45 – they started serving dinner at 5PM tonight. I had the roast turkey that had to be the best example of how NOT to cook turkey – the toughest and driest piece of turkey I’ve ever eaten. We weren’t really hungry but knew we wouldn’t be back on board before 10:30PM at the earliest and probably later. We stopped by the show lounge and got our tour sticker then went back to the room to get our stuff. We arrived well before 7PM but decided to just wait there. We finally were called for our tender around 7:20PM. The ride into port took about 10 minutes then we boarded our bus. We then had to wait about 15 minutes for more people on another tender to arrive before we left.

 

We stopped at the canal Administration building which is very interesting and imposing. We then headed to the locks and the viewing center. We went out to the viewing deck to watch a couple of ships going through then into the theater for a 10 minute movie about the construction of and how the canal works. They have a gift shop when you enter – I recommend you hit that first thing – it closed while we were looking at the exhibits. After the movie, we walked through the exhibits – four levels with escalators up to the next. We had about 20 minutes afterwards to watch the locks (no ships this time) before boarding the bus and heading back to the port. We ended up with about 90 minutes at the canal. We then had to wait about 20 minutes for the first tender to start picking up passengers and we didn’t make that one but did the next. We were back onboard at 11:30PM. We were hungry from eating so early. There was a pool party from 10 – 11:30 but it was over by the time we got back. The Lido was empty of food of any kind and it was suggested we call room service. Well, apparently everyone was doing the same thing because after trying for 15 minutes, we gave up and ate some crackers. I think they could have handled this better – perhaps have the sandwich area opened until midnight or have some sandwiches and cookies premade at least. Now, we didn’t starve to death as some would suggest but we were peckish and would have liked something.

 

Panama Canal! We added ‘2 Panama Rolls’ to the card the night before and like magic, they were delivered! Excellent tip from someone on the boards. They are soft, sweet roll with custard in the middle with a mandarin orange segment inside as well. They had granulated sugar and powdered sugar on top. We were told we would enter the first lock at Miliflores at 7:15 approximate. I set the alarm for 6AM with breakfast to be delivered at 6AM – it arrived at 5:40AM. I was awakened at 4:45AM with the anchor being lifted. I stayed up after letting the steward in with the food then got showed and dressed. I turned on the ship camera channel to see where we were. I told Eric he should get up as it looked like we were close. There were people on the bow and it looked like it had rained during the night.

 

We went to the bow and it was indeed wet. To get to the bow, walk to the front of the promenade deck and there are 2 glass enclosed stairways – take the stairs up and there is a door open to the bow (they had signs pointing how to get to the bow). They had coffee and Panama rolls at the top of the stairs for you as well as outside the Crows Nest and on the promenade deck. It was actually cool – mid 70’s. We stayed until we got into the first lock but then it started to rain so we went to the promenade deck. After the first lock, we went to eat breakfast. We were exiting the 2nd lock and heading for the Centennial Bridge when we finished. It was still raining – not pouring but enough. With my cold and cough, I was staying out of it. We ended up in numerous areas (outside the gym forward, promenade, and finally on the aft promenade deck. We got pictures of the bridge as we went under it. It was raining too much get good ones from the open. We were scheduled to be in the Gatun locks about 1:30PM. On the way to the room to change into jeans, we stopped at the sundries shop to buy cough syrup. I didn’t notice the price until I opened the bottle - $14.99 for Vics! Yikes and yowee! I started taking it immediately – I had brought cough drops but they weren’t doing much. We changed into jeans then decided on a light lunch. After lunch, we went to the bow again to watch the entry to the locks but figured we’d have a better view from deck outside the gym – it had stopped raining and was drying up and getting warmer. We got good views from here for the first lock. I then wanted to take pictures of the next lock from inside our room on A-deck since we’d lower below the top of the lock and thought that would be interesting to see – it was! We actually had 2 locks to traverse. By now I was freezing cold (obviously a fever) so I undressed, got into a robe and under the covers. Eric came in shortly afterwards and I fell asleep. He worked on the computer while I napped for about an hour and half. I woke up feeling better but not great by a long shot. I did get dressed for dinner but felt like someone had beat me across the shoulders and back with a board – achy and extremely tired. We went into the OB and had a drink then to the dining room. I was not hungry at all. Eric had a full meal and I had the French onion soup followed by the chicken and corn soup – no bfread, wine or anything else. Eric finished off the champagne from PG the night before. While Eric as waiting for his cheese plate, I excused myself and went immediately to bed. I hadn’t felt this bad in ages. I was asleep with the lights out by 9:30PM. He came in around 11PM but I didn’t hear him.

 

Tomorrow, Cartagena Columbia.

 

Till later!

Doug

[DougandEric]

Let me revise my last post: Happy Hour in MIX is for $3 champagne cocktails only between 5 - 8 PM. Eric will have these sometimes and out bar waiter in OB will go over and get him a refill!

 

The Internet is acting up today - locked me out of the account until I could get Christian the internet guy to free it this afternoon.

 

The weather last night and today leaving Columbia was bumpy - fun for us but some are getting seasick. I don't think it's anything at all but you have to grab the bar in the shower at times!

 

Doug

[CowPrincess]

Doug, still enjoying your reports! Thanks for taking the time, especially given how ill you are. Hope you get better soon, and are able to enjoy the rest of the cruise.

[MightyQuinn]

Bummer that Dine with the Chef was canceled. But at least you got a nice PG dinner out of the deal. I'm with you on the Lobster Mac & Cheese. It would be better served as a small appetizer since it's really OTT as an entree. Your Indian cooking class sounds fab. When you're back, I'd love if you could post the recipe for the Carrot Pudding dessert. I'm a sucker for anything with cardamom & it sounds yummy! Stay well & continue to enjoy your cruise.

[casavaha]

Doug: If you have time, I would like to hear more about Antigua.

 

Thanks,

 

Greg

[DougandEric]

Tuesday, 12-7-2010 – Cartagena Columbia

 

I’d warned Eric I probably would not go on the tour we purchased. I awoke when the steward brought in breakfast around 7AM. While feeling better, I wasn’t going off the ship today. We had received a notice two days before that our arrival in Cartagena would be at 8:30 instead of 10AM and our departure would be 3PM instead of 4PM. As it turned out, we didn’t actually make port until 9:30-ish. Eric went to the Showroom to wait for his tour and I dressed and had breakfast. The tour times were changed to conform to the arrival time but in reality it would have been best to just leave them the same since arrived late. The showroom was packed and people were sitting on the stairs to deck 3 and backed up in the halls – you’d think they’d been a prisoner on the ship! They made an announcement to clear the areas and they’d let everyone know when we were cleared to disembark.

 

Jewel of the Seas was in port with us today. Eric said he didn’t notice it when he left for his tour and since it’s so huge, I don’t know how you could miss it but…. After breakfast, I went to the Crows Nest and typed up my report from yesterday. It occurred to me that a RCCL ship was due to be in port with us so I walked over to the port side and sure enough, it was there. Either Eric didn’t see it (completely possible!) or it arrived after we did (also completely possible). I was unable to get on the internet because it kept saying my account was already logged in (scared me to think I was accumulating minutes since yesterday afternoon!). I tried several times and then went to the Explorations to check on a computer there with the same results. The librarian said the internet manager would be on duty at 4PM and that she had a friend to who had the same issue yesterday. Also, unless you are actively using the internet, it disconnects you after 3 minutes idle time.

 

By now it was time to think about lunch but I wanted to see if Eric would get aboard before then. I went to promenade deck and watched the tour busses coming and going to the JOS. Regardless of the passenger demographic on HAL, RCCL has its share of older, infirm passengers as well – as do most lines I think. About 1PM I decided he wouldn’t be back so I headed up to the Lido for lunch. After lunch, I went back out on deck and noticed some busses coming back to our ship. JOS had taken in the main gangway was getting ready to depart soon. After awhile, a series of busses pulled up and Eric got off one. Just as he got off, JOS dropped lines and started to back out (we had been positioned stern first so we only had to go forward – I think this was part of the issue getting us alongside this morning as there was a freighter next to us). I went down to the gangway to wait and wait I did – I waited and waited and waited. I went to the room to see if he’d been there and he hadn’t. I finally figured out he went to the little shops at the port entrance to buy something after getting off the bus. I waited in the room and he soon came in – he’d bought some more coffee as gifts as well as taken pictures of JOS leaving (he had the camera). We went to lunch then he changed into shorts. The captain made an announcement that we were underway so we went to the bow to watch. The captain is not a heavy whistle blower – too bad! JOS has a great deep whistle as do all RCCL ships.

 

We went back to the cabin to get books and sit on the promenade deck to read. It was windy but it was going to be rough again and water was blowing over the railing so we went in. It was now time to see Christian in the internet center to see about my account. The internet was acting up but he finally kicked me out of the system and I was able to get back in again. Back to the room to read and get ready for dinner.

 

We went to Canaletto again and I passed on the antipasto this time. We both had the same soups and I had the lasagna this time and Eric had the pasta with shellfish. His was very good but mine was incredibly salty so I could only eat about a third of it. We finished off the bottle of Pinot Noir from the PG the other night. I had the lemon crème (scary when ‘cream’ is spelled with all e’s) and it wasn’t bad but not the greatest thing I ever eaten. Eric had an assortment of gelatos. We went and listened to the Adagio Strings in the Explorers lounge until they took a break then went to bed.

 

A side note – when walking through the local market in Puerto Chiappas (if you do the tour we did), you will see live iguanas in baskets with their legs hobbled so they can’t go too far. I know some consider them pets in the States but they are a food sources elsewhere in the world so be aware. One did make a valiant attempt to get away but was caught again.

 

Greg, Antigua – I’m not sure what you want to know but it’s filled with very narrow streets that are all cobblestone so walking on them is not the most comfortable but they do have sidewalks. There are churches or monasteries or nunneries or cloisters on each and every block. I believe the layout of the city was done in an 8 by 8 grid (64 blocks). There is still lots of damage to buildings and churches from an earthquake some years back – you can see that at the church at the hotel we went to.

 

An internet tip – most of you probably know this already but here it is anyway. If you are using your ISP’s web mail access to your email account, you can spend lots of time while writing a reply. Figure out which emails you need/want to reply to then disconnect. Use Wordpad, Word, Notepad, whatever to type up your reply or replies then connect again to the internet, log into your email account and click reply on the first message. Switch back over to notepad and highlight the text of your reply, select Edit/Copy then switch to you email message and do a paste. Your connect time will be so much less if you are not composing online. Go to the next message and repeat. Also, I’ve found some sites don’t seem to work well and you end up losing what you typed (CruiseCritic is one such site as well as Road Runner email!). I now follow the same steps above in case there is a problem to save the text so I can paste it in again if the first time fails – and it usually does! You can make 30 minutes of time stretch a lot further this way.

[Floridiana]

Doug,

 

Thanks for your great report. I am wondering which tour Eric had booked in Cartagena. We are still unsure whether we should take a guided or unguided tour.

[casavaha]

Doug: Thanks for the info. How was the jade musuem in Antigua?

 

Having been to Cartegena before, we will get a taxi in the port to take us

downtown. You will never see everything in the short time we have.

 

I like to mingle with the locals. I don't want to be with alot of tourists.

 

Greg

[slimknyzer]

Doug and Eric: It is probably too late to write this but I am interested in transport

from the dock in Puerto Quatzel to Antigua. If you get any cards, prices etc. it would

be appreciated.

 

Glad you are enjoying the OB. Are the HALcats playing at the aft pool or on Lido Deck?

 

Enjoying your posts.

 

Greg

 

Hi, We were on the previous voyage on Statendam. We took the "Antigua On Your Own" tour and it was well worth it! About 1 1/2 hours by bus past the beautiful "Active" Volcano (it spewed an ash could when we were there a few weeks ago). Once in Antigua, we visited Jades, S.A. The foreman of Jades, S.A. (John Mann) gave a presentation on board during our trip and we saw him at the factory in Antigua. He quickly pointed out a very nice, knowledgeable, and dependable guide for hire. $10 for four hours. Absolutely well worth the price. We visited seveeral historic locations, and had a marvelous lunch in a courtyard near Jades, S.A. (where the bus drops you off and picks you up). It was a delightful day. There were four in our group. We bought really great coffee right at Jades, S.A. and, of course, we bought Mayan Jade.

 

Hope this gives you a bit of information you needed. Cheers, Slim.

[DougandEric]

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

 

Floridiana, Eric took the tour called Scenes of Cartagena with less shopping. He enjoyed it. You will have some shopping time and there are vendors everywhere to buy from. He bought some coffee on the tour then more back at the pier shops.

 

We are not terribly adventurous souls so tend to take ships tours unless we’ve been somewhere before and feel confident in going it on our own. My greatest nightmare is to miss the ship because of taking an independent tour and getting stuck somewhere. Some friends we met did hire a taxi in Cartagena and the four of them did a four hour tour for $10 or $15 each, I believe. They thought it was well worth it and enjoyed it.

 

Today is a very down day for us. Slept in late, didn’t eat breakfast, walked the decks, read outside, did some souvenir shopping. The day was about 80 F but it was windy and cloudy and some spray made it to the promenade deck which made reading there less than optimal. We had an early lunch (whole suckling pig on the carving board today) then back to the room where I spent all afternoon reading. Eric went to a chocolate tasting and trivia thingy at the Culinary Arts Center at 3PM then came back.

 

Some ramblings: If they are still there, they have some chocolate cookies with pink M&M’s in them that are very good. The Dutch Chocolate Extravaganza is tonight at 10:30PM poolside. Snails are on the MDR menu this evening. We’re going to PG for the last time this evening. It’s been a bumpy ride all day but that’s fine with us. I saw someone in a cabin further down the hall from us get a fan delivered. My guess is that the A/C issues are more midships but that’s just a guess – ours is still fine, in fact, it’s set almost to the hottest setting and it’s comfortable – but then we don’t like it freezing cold anyway. There are no art auctions on this cruise – they do have an ‘artist in residence’ but other than some of her paintings, no regular auctions like they have on Princess (ParkWest – but then there was the scandal and lawsuits so I don’t know the status of them – didn’t care for them at all anyway). This has to be the oldest crowd on any HAL cruise we’ve ever experienced. There are younger people and a handful of kids but the demographic is so much older this time. The bars are dead by 10PM – they’re hardly active at 7PM when we’re in there. I’m sure the sales in all areas are way down this cruise. Today was also the Mariner brunch but declined the invitation this time – perhaps we’ll get our tile this evening when our room is made up. We’ve had several calls to find out if room service was delivered on time and accurate – we’ve never had a problem or complained so I assume this is either just proactive checking or there are some people who are complaining.

 

Time to get ready for the last formal night. We bought red and white carnations in San Diego at Ralphs and a Wonder Vase that’s performed fine this trip. The red carnations are still holding up but on their last legs – make sure to change the water and use the packet of preservative. It’s easy to make boutonnieres – just cut the flowers to size, wrap some floral tape around the stems and pin it on – we have a little kit for this. Alstrumeria (spelling?) is another flower that will hold up well, looks good and is readily available In supermarkets – we buy them every 2 weeks when shopping and they usually last 2 weeks at home.

 

Doug

[cruz chic]

Some ramblings: If they are still there, they have some chocolate cookies with pink M&M’s in them that are very good.

Those cookies are good:D, they had them on the Ryndam too.

 

Good to hear that the Statendam has some of the issues addressed. Too bad the A/C can't be solved. I'm enjoying your thread. The Panama Canal is my favorite cruise.

[durangoscots]

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

 

Floridiana, Eric took the tour called Scenes of Cartagena with less shopping. He enjoyed it. You will have some shopping time and there are vendors everywhere to buy from. He bought some coffee on the tour then more back at the pier shops.

 

Doug

 

 

I did this tour last year... also from the Statendam, and really liked it... saw plenty and did not spend too long in shops. There were a few people who had not read the tour description and wanted longer in the shops.... we did leave one couple behind on the tour after the guide found them and let them know we were leaving. They took taxi back to the ship and were irate that we had so little time for shopping which they felt was very important. Why they took that tour I don't know. We certainly saw plenty of the sights but that day it was hot!!!

 

Loved the Statendam and would love to do the canel again sometime.

 

Susan

[DougandEric]

Well, the cruise is over and we are back home. The last day at sea turned cool as we approached Florida. We were packed in under an hour and I still took several things I never wore!

 

I won the final bingo game but not the $100,000 but did win $368! It helped offset our 5 page statement. This was the only time I played and the only time I've ever won at it!

 

Overall, this was a great cruise. It was a much older passenger demographic than previous HAL cruises but I wasn't looking for excitement - just rest. Although I got sick, I won't hold that against HAL! I personally found the food in the MDR to be not quite as good as other cruises but the food in the Pinnacle was excellent on all visits (4). The cooking classes and Culinary Arts demonstrations were most enjoyable. We've got several recipes we plan to try, especially the fajitas and Indian cuisine.

 

The Ocean Bar was packed on the last night - where were these people all the other 13 nights? We met some wonderful people on the cruise and would love to sail again with any of them. We did buy 2 future cruise deposits so we'll be back. We have one with Princess as well but I'd like to try Celebrity soon.

 

I hope all those that boarded this morning are having a wonderful time so far - I love the excitement of boarding and planning in general. Say HI to Florence and Dexter in the OB and Noel the wine steward in the dining room - just mention 'Douglas Jeffrey' and he'll know who you're talking about!

 

Feel free to post about how things are going on so the rest of us can enjoy your cruise as you do!

 

Doug

[Floridiana]

Thank you for this delightful report. We'll take this cruise in April 2011.

[hillside]

Thanks again! I've enjoyed your posts. Glad you are safely home and I hope you are feeling a lot better.