Westerdam Panama Canal April 15, 2011

[cruz chic]

We have been buying things we know we need while we are both working, but in January, we drop back to a sort of strict budget. As long as Doug works, we can still spend!

 

ML

Now that's the way to do it....keep your DH working. Maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to get divorced:D;).

[NoWhiners]

Now that's the way to do it....keep your DH working. Maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to get divorced:D;).

 

Too funny! We only got married a year ago (on a cruise to Alaska, after 26 years together) so he is still pretty open to things!! let's hope retirement doesn't ruin it!! plus, he loves to work, whereas I can think of a million things I would rather do, including a sharp stick in th eye:D

 

ML

[cruz chic]

Too funny! We only got married a year ago (on a cruise to Alaska, after 26 years together) so he is still pretty open to things!! let's hope retirement doesn't ruin it!! plus, he loves to work, whereas I can think of a million things I would rather do, including a sharp stick in th eye:D

 

ML

Wow...that's great. Getting married after 26 years. I don't think I'll be doing it again. I'll take your sharp stick and put it in my eye if I decide to do it again. Some days I could do without working but I do miss the irritation of it all after a while. I tend to get bored when I haven't got a million things going at once.

[NoWhiners]

Wow...that's great. Getting married after 26 years. I don't think I'll be doing it again. I'll take your sharp stick and put it in my eye if I decide to do it again. Some days I could do without working but I do miss the irritation of it all after a while. I tend to get bored when I haven't got a million things going at once.

 

I know what you mean about the irritation and not having a million things to do but i have been finding lately that just the little annoying things that always need to get done each day have been providing all the irritation i need. i think I will miss business trips the most--they were a nice change of pace, once the flying part was over. One last trip the week of Nov 15, then i turn in my corporate credit card!

 

Have a fun weekend--weather here is perfect today but after tomorrow supposed to cool off. Might be done with riding the bicycle to work. I don't ride once it gets below 40F (I could but it takes too many layers of clothes and stops being as much fun).

 

ML

[cruz chic]

I know what you mean about the irritation and not having a million things to do but i have been finding lately that just the little annoying things that always need to get done each day have been providing all the irritation i need. i think I will miss business trips the most--they were a nice change of pace, once the flying part was over. One last trip the week of Nov 15, then i turn in my corporate credit card!

 

Have a fun weekend--weather here is perfect today but after tomorrow supposed to cool off. Might be done with riding the bicycle to work. I don't ride once it gets below 40F (I could but it takes too many layers of clothes and stops being as much fun).

 

ML

I hope you have a good weekend too. It's been quite warm here for us as well but we never did have summer so I guess this is payback. It's supposed to snow on Monday....and I'm not liking that. I hate shoes and socks but I think I'm going to need to start wearing them again. Usually I've put them on long before now. I like to take hard walks at lunch so I don't have to exercise after work. Those days are coming to an end.

 

I just bought my air for this cruise yesterday so I guess I'm going now:D.

[odleka]

HI, We are Bill and Kathy from St Charles, Mo and I found such a great deal for this cruise I couldn't pass it up! This will be our second trip through the canal and we are doing the WB trip this time. We sailed the Noordam earlier this year and really liked the ship. Since the Westerdam is a sister ship we wont have any problems finding our way around. I liked the itinerary due to the ship stops at Astoria where my sister can come to the port for a visit and Victoria where I can see Buchart Gardens. My only disappointment was to get the deal I had to book the 21 day cruise and get off in Vancouver. I tried to see if I could book a 1 day cruise to Seattle to avoid International air charges but the cruise line said no. I would think they would let us pay a couple hundred dollars to keep the room filled for an extra day. My husband plans on retiring in July 2011 so I am shortening the number of work days he will have to endure.:rolleyes: He will only have about 8-9 weeks left when we get back! We are doing a B2B on the Jewel OTS with some friends to celebrate our freedom. I was laid off earlier this year due to my job being outsourced and I haven't been able to find any jobs. I worked in IT and I refuse to work in fast food for minimum wage. I did have enough points for retirement so I will start getting my pension a bit early now that my severence pay has run out. This fills a hole in our schedule as I was going to have to wait 18 months for my next cruise now I have a cruise fix to tide me over until next fall.:D I look forward to meeting everyone.

 

Bill and I are definitely interested in the wine crawl. I have read through your posts and you all sound like a great group to party with. I organized a wine tasting on the Noordam and the M&G. We had 36 couples sign up for our wine tasting so we split it between 2 suites and had 2 different days. We had several people bring food they obtained from room service and we were able to get a cheese and cracker plate from the concierge. As someone pointed out HAL doesn't do it automatically. The people were easy to work with and if you need any help I am willing to pitch in.

 

We look forward to meeting everyone.

[NoWhiners]

HI, We are Bill and Kathy from St Charles, Mo and I found such a great deal for this cruise I couldn't pass it up! This will be our second trip through the canal and we are doing the WB trip this time. We sailed the Noordam earlier this year and really liked the ship. Since the Westerdam is a sister ship we wont have any problems finding our way around. I liked the itinerary due to the ship stops at Astoria where my sister can come to the port for a visit and Victoria where I can see Buchart Gardens. My only disappointment was to get the deal I had to book the 21 day cruise and get off in Vancouver. I tried to see if I could book a 1 day cruise to Seattle to avoid International air charges but the cruise line said no. I would think they would let us pay a couple hundred dollars to keep the room filled for an extra day. My husband plans on retiring in July 2011 so I am shortening the number of work days he will have to endure.:rolleyes: He will only have about 8-9 weeks left when we get back! We are doing a B2B on the Jewel OTS with some friends to celebrate our freedom. I was laid off earlier this year due to my job being outsourced and I haven't been able to find any jobs. I worked in IT and I refuse to work in fast food for minimum wage. I did have enough points for retirement so I will start getting my pension a bit early now that my severence pay has run out. This fills a hole in our schedule as I was going to have to wait 18 months for my next cruise now I have a cruise fix to tide me over until next fall.:D I look forward to meeting everyone.

 

Bill and I are definitely interested in the wine crawl. I have read through your posts and you all sound like a great group to party with. I organized a wine tasting on the Noordam and the M&G. We had 36 couples sign up for our wine tasting so we split it between 2 suites and had 2 different days. We had several people bring food they obtained from room service and we were able to get a cheese and cracker plate from the concierge. As someone pointed out HAL doesn't do it automatically. The people were easy to work with and if you need any help I am willing to pitch in.

 

We look forward to meeting everyone.

 

Welcome Kathy and Bill

 

Always nice to have new people join, and if you get a good deal, all the better!! I am retiring next month, hubby sometime next year (I hope). I like your plan--cruise not work!!

 

We are getting fairly close, considering the roll call has been going since last February or March!! We will have to figure out the wine crawl. BCIrish will do M&G and I will try and put together a sailaway--any ideas on this?

 

Keep posting and bc will add you to the list!

 

ML

[rajkr74]

Seems that everyone is talking about retiring on this thread. Well let's add my wife joyce to the list. In order to go on this cruise she has to retire on 3-31-11. Her employer won't give her any more vacation days over the 3 weeks she gets each year...so she's going the end of March. We are taking about 25 days on this trip.

I won't go out until mid 2012...I'm having too much fun to retire yet.

rick

[NoWhiners]

Seems that everyone is talking about retiring on this thread. Well let's add my wife joyce to the list. In order to go on this cruise she has to retire on 3-31-11. Her employer won't give her any more vacation days over the 3 weeks she gets each year...so she's going the end of March. We are taking about 25 days on this trip.

I won't go out until mid 2012...I'm having too much fun to retire yet.

rick

 

Rick

 

Congrats to Joyce. too bad that her employer would rather see her leave than give her a few more days off, but that seems to be the way it is these days. Maybe we can all share stories about what we are going to do now that we are retired!

 

25 days is nice.

 

ML

[rajkr74]

Rick

 

Congrats to Joyce. too bad that her employer would rather see her leave than give her a few more days off, but that seems to be the way it is these days. Maybe we can all share stories about what we are going to do now that we are retired!

 

25 days is nice.

 

ML

 

 

It's a lot more complicated with her employer, who placed a moritorium on any vacations during the first 3-4 months of 2011 due to a new in-house computer system training and implimentaion before the cruise date. So since she had 20 yrs. as of Oct. 2010 she decided to walk in March 2011. But she is hoping for partime work after retirement so she is holding her tongue.

We were talking about possible canceling the cruise so she could continue to work, but the IRAs and 401ks are doing better this year so I said get OUT to keep her sanity.

Rick

[legalslave]

Hi Bill & Kathy, thought I would pop into your thread as I am originally from Belleville, IL, not far from you at all. We are on the last 5 days of your cruise and will be boarding in San Diego. Hope we get a chance to meet you as well as the others on this thread who will still be on board.

 

Diane

[odleka]

Hi Diane, We would love to get together for lunch and/or a drink on the way up the coast. We are doing the 21 day cruise and getting off in Vancouver. My husband grew up in the Marissa/New Athens area so he is very familiar with the area.

[odleka]

For our wine tasting we divided everyone into 2 groups as we had so many people and 2 days. We used our suite and another couple who had a SA suite. If everyone had attended we would have overwhelmed the 2 cabins. People delivered the wine early to the 2 cabins the day of the wine tasting and our steward provided us a larger wine bucket that was capable of holding 4-5 bottles of white or sparkling wines. A few peope from the first group came after the first hour or 2. Everyone had to bring 1-2 bottles for tasting. Some talked about their wine and why it is so special. We had someone there that played a guitar that circulated between the 2 cabins. It really came off pretty well. We did track who wanted to attend the wine tasting on the roll call so we had a solid number on who planned on attending and had everyone re-verify at the meet and greet. You can't use a public area as they want to charge a corkage fee for each bottle. Suite passengers can get a cheese and fruit plate if you give the concierge a heads up request. Others did bring food they ordered from Room Service. We will be in 5190 which is an aft balcony. It has lots of balcony space and the cabin is sizable. I am hoping to move up to deck 7 if an aft balcony opens up there. I would be willing to volunteer my cabin for the tasting. It was a great way to have more in depth conversations with many of the people I talked with on the roll call forum.

[legalslave]

Kathy, sounds like a good idea. Maybe our small group boarding in San Diego could get together with your group for a cocktail hour on one of the sea days. I don't have a clue as to you or your husband's age to find out if I know him. I am 62 and graduated from Notre Dame in Belleville in 1966. Some of my classmates were from New Athens. No one on our cruise has any idea of a cabin as we could only book GTY. What we get will depend on what is available after they stop taking bookings for your cruise. I'm not a fan of GTY but it's the only way we could book. We booked SZ GTY, as did our good friends whom we are sailing with. Booked GTY only once before and was not happy with the SS location. I am Diane & my husband is Mike.

 

Diane

[NoWhiners]

It's a lot more complicated with her employer, who placed a moritorium on any vacations during the first 3-4 months of 2011 due to a new in-house computer system training and implimentaion before the cruise date. So since she had 20 yrs. as of Oct. 2010 she decided to walk in March 2011. But she is hoping for partime work after retirement so she is holding her tongue.

We were talking about possible canceling the cruise so she could continue to work, but the IRAs and 401ks are doing better this year so I said get OUT to keep her sanity.

Rick

 

 

What a nice guy!! Always good to have spouse's support (or push!) when considering retirement. Doug has been pretty supportive of my decision too, although there is always some uncertainty. We have done our analysis and had 2 professionals do it too, and we all came to the same conclusion--retire! Doug is hoping to follow within a year and then the real fun can begin.

 

Happy to hear you didn't cancel.

 

 

ML

[NoWhiners]

I would be willing to volunteer my cabin for the tasting. It was a great way to have more in depth conversations with many of the people I talked with on the roll call forum.

 

Great ideas on the wine crawl and thanks for offering your cabin. Ours will be an OV, so not nearly big enough. George and Rand have the PH and have offered theirs up as well. I guess after the first of the year, we can start planning better? With the holidays coming, I suspect many of us will have a little less time to chat on CC, but maybe not. Plus, we want to allow for all those last-minute bookers so we can include as many as we can!

 

Starting to get excited about this cruise. We are spending Thanksgiving with some of Doug's cousins who are going with us, and hoping to recruit another one during the visit. We are bringing the DVD of The Man, The Plan, The canal (or whatever its called!) to show everyone and hoping that will encourage them to sign up. And, we have the suspense of final cabin assignment to look forward to. We booked an OV guarantee and we are waiting for the wheel to stop spinning (and hope the upgrade fairy lends a hand).

 

ML

[cruz chic]

We booked an OV guarantee and we are waiting for the wheel to stop spinning (and hope the upgrade fairy lends a hand).

 

ML

Me too. It will be interesting to see what we get. I guess it won't be the Penthouse:D.

[ski ww]

Anybody been following the adventure of Carnival's Splender ?Happened to us once on Princess out of Seattle to Hawaii. In the middle of the night everything went dead for a couple of hours. A few of us that noticed got up and roamed the decks for awhile and then went back to bed. They fixed what ever the problem once and carried on. In the morning most of the passenagers didn't even know that any thing happened. Mind you big difference between a couple of hours and a couple of days. They should have a lot of great stories to tell.:eek::eek:

 

Allan & Marlane

[cruz chic]

Anybody been following the adventure of Carnival's Splender ?Happened to us once on Princess out of Seattle to Hawaii. In the middle of the night everything went dead for a couple of hours. A few of us that noticed got up and roamed the decks for awhile and then went back to bed. They fixed what ever the problem once and carried on. In the morning most of the passenagers didn't even know that any thing happened. Mind you big difference between a couple of hours and a couple of days. They should have a lot of great stories to tell.:eek::eek:

 

Allan & Marlane

I've had a few fires....lights going off....alarms going off in my cruising "career" but nothing that ended up being serious. I hope nothing like this ever happens to me.

[NoWhiners]

Me too. It will be interesting to see what we get. I guess it won't be the Penthouse:D.

 

Hi lorekauf

 

I thought the same thing when I read that George and Rand had booked it;)

Actually, we will be happy with the fully obstructed cabin we booked--I just want to be able to have some natural light and tell if it is raining. An unobstructed is about the most I expect to actually have a chance of us getting. Family members going have balconies and one has a suite (SY?), so we will have access to their balconies.

 

Saw your post on the other thread about having to be in open dining. All 10 of us did this too, so after you meet us and if we pass inspection(!), you are welcome to eat with us. We are also going to try Canaletto and if we like it, will do it a couple of times. Almost everyone has decided to avoid formal night in MDR...

 

Mary Lynn

[cruz chic]

Hi lorekauf

 

I thought the same thing when I read that George and Rand had booked it;)

Actually, we will be happy with the fully obstructed cabin we booked--I just want to be able to have some natural light and tell if it is raining. An unobstructed is about the most I expect to actually have a chance of us getting. Family members going have balconies and one has a suite (SY?), so we will have access to their balconies.

 

Saw your post on the other thread about having to be in open dining. All 10 of us did this too, so after you meet us and if we pass inspection(!), you are welcome to eat with us. We are also going to try Canaletto and if we like it, will do it a couple of times. Almost everyone has decided to avoid formal night in MDR...

 

Mary Lynn

Yeah....I'm a little worried about the open but I thought it would be nice to go when I feel like going for dinner instead of when I have to. I'm hoping for a sunny day when we go thru the Canal and if it is they are going to have to pry me off the open deck. The Panama Canal is SO amazing to me. I have such a connection with that part of the world and I have no idea why. I'd love to take you up on your offer to dine with you. You sound like an awesome person and I'm sure your "peeps" are too. I've eaten in Canaletto on both the Oosterdam and the Ryndam and I can't say that I'm blown away with it. It was ok....but nothing special. It is a nice way to spend a formal night. I really don't mind dressing up for formal night although I do hate pantihose:D:rolleyes: and I won't go without them.

 

Looks like we are it the same "boat" with the pick of rooms. I've got an H guarentee as well. I've moved up from and Inside cabin to an outside this year so I feel I'm doing ok. It's so nice to see what the weather is like without having to get dressed and go outside. I can hardly wait until I have my balcony in Dec. I'm sure it will be a one and only time. Princess had a promotion to book a balcony for the same price as an oceanview so I cancelled the Caribbean cruise I had booked on HAL and went with the Balcony. It works better with my deadlines at work and doesn't eat up a lot of my vacation. My assignment with Princess is a cabin over the wake so I'm pumped about that.

[NoWhiners]

Yeah....I'm a little worried about the open but I thought it would be nice to go when I feel like going for dinner instead of when I have to. I'm hoping for a sunny day when we go thru the Canal and if it is they are going to have to pry me off the open deck. The Panama Canal is SO amazing to me. I have such a connection with that part of the world and I have no idea why. I'd love to take you up on your offer to dine with you. You sound like an awesome person and I'm sure your "peeps" are too. I've eaten in Canaletto on both the Oosterdam and the Ryndam and I can't say that I'm blown away with it. It was ok....but nothing special. It is a nice way to spend a formal night. I really don't mind dressing up for formal night although I do hate pantihose:D:rolleyes: and I won't go without them.

 

Looks like we are it the same "boat" with the pick of rooms. I've got an H guarentee as well. I've moved up from and Inside cabin to an outside this year so I feel I'm doing ok. It's so nice to see what the weather is like without having to get dressed and go outside. I can hardly wait until I have my balcony in Dec. I'm sure it will be a one and only time. Princess had a promotion to book a balcony for the same price as an oceanview so I cancelled the Caribbean cruise I had booked on HAL and went with the Balcony. It works better with my deadlines at work and doesn't eat up a lot of my vacation. My assignment with Princess is a cabin over the wake so I'm pumped about that.

 

We got tired of having to run around to meet the MDR dining schedule, so decided to try open. We will try making a reservation and just showing up and see how it goes. This is our first time through the canal, so we are really looking forward to it. Plus, this will be longest cruise ever for us, so another first! Heard similar things to what you are saying about Canaletto but I think other members of our group will like it. I think we may also just have a quiet meal in our cabin one night--sometimes we get tired of all the rushing around.

 

I totally agree about panty hose--hate them but have to wear them;)!

 

This is our first time to go with a guarantee. We picked a GG--I have no idea how a GG compares to an H. I don't really get all the HAL categories--seems to me there are really only 4--inside, outside, balcony, suites. Maybe someone can explain to me why they need so many sub-categories!! I like having a balcony but we decided to save the money for excursions (and wine!), although I am so annoyed about not honoring my pre-purchased old wine card< we will bring more of our own. Will still buy theirs, just not as much:p

 

My last business trip this week, then a week of vacation for Thanksgiving. Then about 11 more working days until I go on vacation and then retire!! Can't wait...

 

ML

[cruz chic]

We got tired of having to run around to meet the MDR dining schedule, so decided to try open. We will try making a reservation and just showing up and see how it goes. This is our first time through the canal, so we are really looking forward to it. Plus, this will be longest cruise ever for us, so another first! Heard similar things to what you are saying about Canaletto but I think other members of our group will like it. I think we may also just have a quiet meal in our cabin one night--sometimes we get tired of all the rushing around.

 

I totally agree about panty hose--hate them but have to wear them;)!

 

This is our first time to go with a guarantee. We picked a GG--I have no idea how a GG compares to an H. I don't really get all the HAL categories--seems to me there are really only 4--inside, outside, balcony, suites. Maybe someone can explain to me why they need so many sub-categories!! I like having a balcony but we decided to save the money for excursions (and wine!), although I am so annoyed about not honoring my pre-purchased old wine card< we will bring more of our own. Will still buy theirs, just not as much:p

 

My last business trip this week, then a week of vacation for Thanksgiving. Then about 11 more working days until I go on vacation and then retire!! Can't wait...

 

ML

Hal likes to have a million different categories so they can keep charging more every tiny step you go up. I've looked at the deck plans and for the life of me I don't see much difference btw an H and a GG. I assume the location must be better for you.

 

I think you should try Canaletto. I didn't think I'd go back after the Oosterdam as it wasn't that great but I knew I was going to be late from an excursion on the Ryndam so I booked ahead for Caneletto. They always seem to be surprised to see me when I get there so I think they are disorganized. That is one of HALs downfalls IMO but then I'm uber organized...so maybe it's just me.

 

I've been to the Canal 5 times before. Since I was young and learned about it in school it was always my dream to go there. My parents didn't have 2 nickles to rub together when we grew up so "fancy" vacations just didn't happen. Now that I make a decent living...vacations are a top priority for me. I hope you love the Canal as much as I do but I've met several people who think it's boring. It still floors me that people could feel that way.

 

My longest cruise was a cruise to the western part of South America. It was simply amazing and I shared that cruise with some amazing friends. I'll always remember it but it was WAY too long.....26 days. I'll never be able to get that much time off work again (so many days in a row) so I don't think I'll be doing it again. This cruise at 16 seems to be the perfect amount for me.

 

That sucks about the wine card. I used to by them myself and they were a good deal. I've gotten to buying wine packages now and since I'm now a 4 star (as of my completion of the Ryndam cruise) they are a reasonable price. Hal charges a stupid high price for their wine. If I could carry it....I'd be bringing some on too. Having 2 suitcases, a carry on and a purse is about as much as I can handle.

 

That's so great that you are nearly at the end of your working career. Won't be long for you now!

[rajkr74]

This is our first time to go with a guarantee. We picked a GG--I have no idea how a GG compares to an H. I don't really get all the HAL categories--seems to me there are really only 4--inside, outside, balcony, suites. Maybe someone can explain to me why they need so many sub-categories!! I like having a balcony but we decided to save the money for excursions (and wine!), although I am so annoyed about not honoring my pre-purchased old wine card< we will bring more of our own. Will still buy theirs, just not as much:p

 

 

ML

 

 

We are back from Hawaii...darn.

ML,

 

Our first cruise we had an HH cabin that looked over one of the front lifeboats. The lifeboats are not as tall as the tenders and you can see over them a little better than the tenders. The OV on H, HH, GG's do not allow you to see the promanade deck below and are obstructed by the lifeboat or the tenders. I think all of these categories are the same except whether they are looking at a tender or a lifeboat and how far away from midship they are located.

 

On our Panama cruise last year we had a G room that looked between the lifeboat supports. It allowed us to see down to the Promanade deck below. But you saw all the lifeboat supports. Here's a picture of that cabin:

 

http://cid-07afc87cdf2f6dca.photos.live.com/self.aspx/Panama%20cruise%202009/DSC%5E_6955.jpg

 

 

Here is a picture of Our HH cabin looking over a lifeboat:

 

http://cid-07afc87cdf2f6dca.photos.live.com/self.aspx/2007%20Alaska%20cruise/DSC%5E_0633.JPG

 

 

Either way the OV cabins on the upper promande have floor to ceiling windows with lots of light which is what I like.

 

With a GG Guarantee you could get upgraded to a G then to outside cabins on the Main deck (C, D, DD, E & F) before you go to a verandah for an upgrade.

 

We have liked the rooms on the Upper Promanade deck so that we have always picked a specific cabin so we don't get bumped somewhere were we don't want to be.

 

Rick

[cruz chic]

We are back from Hawaii...darn.

 

ML,

 

Our first cruise we had an HH cabin that looked over one of the front lifeboats. The lifeboats are not as tall as the tenders and you can see over them a little better than the tenders. The OV on H, HH, GG's do not allow you to see the promanade deck below and are obstructed by the lifeboat or the tenders. I think all of these categories are the same except whether they are looking at a tender or a lifeboat and how far away from midship they are located.

 

On our Panama cruise last year we had a G room that looked between the lifeboat supports. It allowed us to see down to the Promanade deck below. But you saw all the lifeboat supports. Here's a picture of that cabin:

 

http://cid-07afc87cdf2f6dca.photos.live.com/self.aspx/Panama%20cruise%202009/DSC%5E_6955.jpg

 

 

Here is a picture of Our HH cabin looking over a lifeboat:

 

http://cid-07afc87cdf2f6dca.photos.live.com/self.aspx/2007%20Alaska%20cruise/DSC%5E_0633.JPG

 

 

Either way the OV cabins on the upper promande have floor to ceiling windows with lots of light which is what I like.

 

With a GG Guarantee you could get upgraded to a G then to outside cabins on the Main deck (C, D, DD, E & F) before you go to a verandah for an upgrade.

 

We have liked the rooms on the Upper Promanade deck so that we have always picked a specific cabin so we don't get bumped somewhere were we don't want to be.

 

Rick

Thx for the info and pics on these cabins. One thing I want to mention is that people need to keep their curtains closed at night. I was walking on the deck one night on the Oosterdam and happened to look up. There was a dude lying on the bed with no shirt on. Luckily that's all I saw:D. Don't know if people are aware that you are in plain view.