LAFFNVEGAS Says Aloha LIVE from the MS Oosterdam

[ellbelle]

Thanks for the information about Dr. Pepper being served! My daughter and her boyfriend only drink Dr. Pepper and just yesterday I was thinking what a pain it was going to be to lug some on board. Heaven forbid they would have to drink something else!

[Darlipoo]

Lisa, Thank you for all your insightful postings.

I notice you seem to know the daily menus ahead of time.Are you going down to the dining room and reading them by the door or are they posted on the TV?

 

How is TV reception on sea days? Curious to know if shows are always available or not.

 

Thanks,

Feb. 4, 2012 on the ODAM

Darlene

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Aloha just a quick note from Hilo We are having lunch at the Lava Cafe right near Volcano National Park. It is an amazing sunny day which does not always happen in Hilo.

 

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

[Himself]

Nice to hear about the Tug Boat Welcome and the spraying with water. Aloha! Did you smell the orchids in the teminal. This is the first scent when I get off the ship in Hilo.

 

For all you fine reports I say in the Hawaiian Language: MAHALO!

[erewhon]

Thank you GTVCruiser and Sandi 3667, for replying to my query.

[rajkr74]

Yes, the Big Island is the best island and we have been there many times. Your comments brought a tear to my eye also!

Love your posts and I enjoy pulling up the computer each evening to see what new things your are doing.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Thursday October 27, 2011

Aloha from the MS Oosterdam as we cruise past the Northern point of the Island of Hawaii. The seas are calm, skies are clear and the air is warm and it smells like Hawaii.

We had a lovely night in the Pinnacle for Evening at Le Cirque. The Lobster Salad was perfect so much so Tom had it twice since he did not get the soup, the soup which was a Butternut with Huckleberries was good but different but nothing that I would say OMG that was amazing. But truly that Lobster Salad is very good and Tom and I both had the Chautiaubriand (ok i know I totally butchered the spelling) I had wanted the Sea bass but instead they had Seared Blackened Cod. Tom and I did the Wine Pairing which was good, you received two glasses of wine and an glass of Sparkling which is a Presecco. Of course we all had the Creme Brulee but was a bit dissappointed because it was not nearly as amazing as it was on the Westerdam. All and all it was a great evening and is still worth doing once on every cruise.

Let me say it was a very full first day in the Hawaiin Islands, Sher had rended a car so we took off to see first the Hilo Farmer's Market, next up was the Volcano National Park and Jagger Museum, where we saw the crater and a whole lot of steaming coming out of it. After that we went to a very nice Cafe called the Lava Rock Cafe where we had a great lunch with Maui Onion Rings and then Sher, Bob and I had Loco Moco, then topped it off with Mac Nut Pie. After that we headed over to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory. We made several purchases for bringing home some items ;) Another thing we did is at the cruise terminal building there is a lady that is selling very nice Hawaiin Floral arrangements for just $10.00 that we purchased then picked up when we returned to the ship. Very nice for the cabin especially since we still have never received any type of flowers in our Deluxe Verandah Suite.

Headed back to the airport to return the rental car so we could return to the ship. All and all it was a great day to be on the Big Island with absolutely perfect weather. Tonight is just another picture perfect night, the temps are nice and the skies are clear with lots of stars. Tomorrow is a total long full day in Honolulu. Sher has rented a cal again and this tie we are headed to North Shore and she has mapped out the day for us. Luckliy we have till almost midnight to be back on board the ship.

Well I have to admit I am closing my eyes and almost drifting off to sleep as I write this so I am think I better get ready for bed.

Signing off from the Beautiful and Elegant MS Oosterdam

PS, hope the above makes sense since I had several glasses of wine at dinner I cannot guarantee the spelling and the making sense of what I wrote ;)

 

Mahalo for following my thread :)

[hulamoon]

I am still sorry I cannot show you the north shore, instead we are spending the day with mil in Vegas.:rolleyes:

 

At least if you had to buy your own flowers you got to pick them out. :o

 

Thanks for beautiful reporting.

[kazu]

Lisa - thanks so much for taking us along with you. Glad you got yourself some flowers. I'm surprised there were none in your room! What you got is probably much nicer;) Smooth seas to you and Tom:)

[SilverDollarDoll]

Thanks for the updates, they are great! I am now looking at tours and such when we go in February 2012, so I will love to hear what tours you end up doing. Glad you are having a nice time with calm seas...

 

INDYCAL - your name caught my attention. Are you also from Indiana?

When in February are you cruising....we are on the 4th. Would be nice to know there is another Hoosier along side.

[Himself]

Have a great day in Honolulu

[jmk22574]

Thanks for taking the time to post updates, Lisa. Even though I'm more of an "Alaskan" girl, I think Hawaii looks like a great cruise too. FYI....just saw on Joel's FB page that he is en route to Hawaii to board the Oosterdam. Enjoy! :)

 

Jill

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Thanks for taking the time to post updates, Lisa. Even though I'm more of an "Alaskan" girl, I think Hawaii looks like a great cruise too. FYI....just saw on Joel's FB page that he is en route to Hawaii to board the Oosterdam. Enjoy! :)

 

Jill

 

Yes he and Bonnie left Vegas this morning and will get in around noon Hawaii time. Looking forward to catching up with them later.

 

Aloha!!!

We just enjoy a lovely room service breakfast out on the verandah. The Aloha Clock Tower is right next to us. It is a beautiful 75 degrees. Well it is about 8:10 so I better finish getting ready. The CD just announced we will receive a lei today as we disembark the Oosterdam.

 

Today we are heading to North Shore with Sher and Bob. Should be fun. Hulamoon too bad we are just missing each other. I did see you were taken care of ;)

 

Signing off from the Beautiful MS Oosterdam

 

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

[Chivalrygirl]

Hiya friend, you are bringing back warm and fuzzie memories. I doubt I will ever get back there again, so thanks for sharing with me :) xxx

Really enjoyed your FB post also :)

[keep on cruising]

Thanks Lisa for the great updates. I really appreciate them since we will be in Hawaii next week on the Zaandam.

 

By the way, I was looking at the suite amenities and they no longer list flowers for the suite. I wonder if they eliminated that perk?

[big green]

Thanks Lisa for the great updates. I really appreciate them since we will be in Hawaii next week on the Zaandam.

 

By the way, I was looking at the suite amenities and they no longer list flowers for the suite. I wonder if they eliminated that perk?

 

I checked HALs website today and it is on their web site--flowers

for superior, deluxe and pent house cabins. look at staterooms --check superior

thus deluxe and penthouse get everything inlulded superior plus more.

http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-vacation-onboard/Staterooms.action

 

Big green

[audrey]

Lisa I am so enjoying your report and I had to run downstairs to tell DH about them now having dr pepper on board we will be sailing next June on the 14 day cruise to Alaska and I was going to have to be bring dr pepper along also.

[kreemmer]

About 1 we headed up to the Lido, of course we knew it would be busy but OMG it was packed. come to find out the Main Dining Room was not open for lunch today??? Main Dining Room not open on a Sea Day, to be that seemed strange so of course all 2000+ people were trying to eat in one place.

 

Hi Lisa,

 

I am too on this sailing. I also thought the MDR was closed on Monday but it was not. The hours just weren't listed in The Explorer . We ate there.

 

We are having a wonderful cruise. Many coincidences...we have aft cabin ( deck 7) and table 18 for dinner although late seating which we much prefer. 7:45 is perfect time for us.

 

Just docked in Kauai and it looks beautiful! Enjoy.

 

Kathy

[sail7seas]

<snip>

 

 

We are having a wonderful cruise. Many coincidences...we have aft cabin ( deck 7) and table 18 for dinner although late seating which we much prefer. 7:45 is perfect time for us.

 

Just docked in Kauai and it looks beautiful! Enjoy.

 

Kathy

 

 

 

That's unusual, Kathy.

We always have Main Upper Traditional Dining at 8:00. I wonder why Oosterdam has it fifteen minutes earlier.

 

 

Hope you are having a great time.

Enjoy. :)

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Friday October 28th, 2011

Aloha from Honolulu, Hawaii on the MS Oosterdam docked at pier 10.

We had a wonderful time on the Island of Oahu. Tom and I have been here a couple of times before the first was in 1985 and the second was in 1995. All of the other times we came to the Islands we were mostly on the Big Island or Maui. Oddly in the two times previous we had never seen the North Shore or basically anything other than Honolulu and Waikiki area. It was really a lot of fun to see the more quiet parts of the island. We then stopped and had lunch at a little road side place called Shrimp Shack that is more on the East end of the island. Tom, Sher and Bob had Coconut Shrimp and I had Crab cakes. They were really good. Then we continued heading North then East. We saw Turtle Bay Resort and of course the big waves of the North Shore area. We Then stopped at Matsumoto's in Haleiwa near Waialua Bay for some Shaved Ice with Ice Cream. They were very tasty, I had a banana, blueberry and raspberry flavored one :) After that we headed on and found the Dole Pinapple Plantation/Gardens and shops. Which was kind of a fun place to stop.

We got back to the ship around 5:40 after a very full day. We were alreay late for dinner so figured we would try going to the Ship's Luau which was being held at the aft pool area. They actually did a very nice job with a real pig, mahi mahi, chicken. And all the other Luau foods. They even had Mai Tai's and Lava Flows in Pineapples to drink that were pretty tasty. The hard part was finding a place to sit so we headed inside with our plates to eat in the Lido.

All in all it was a pretty good full day on the island of Oahu.

Tomorrow is Kauai and a friend is meeting us and Tom and I plan to spend the day on the beach area of the Marriott which is not far from the pier.

Tonight marks our halfway point of the cruise and we can do the "I don't have to pack Dance" :D This would be the point in a normal 7 day cruise that we are packing and extremely sad.

I think I will sign off for now since I want to go out to the verandah and enjoy the view.

Signing off from the Beautiful and Elegant MS Oosterdam in Honolulu, Hawaii.

________________________________________________________________________________

　

Aloha and Good Morning as the Oosterdam is nearing Kauai. This morning appears to be a bit darker with a lot more clouds as we approach the island.

Last night I of course had problems getting ship wi-fi and any of the others I could get were password secured, finally the ships worked for a very short period of time and of course I could not get into CC. I figured there was a problem with CC since I also could not use Tappatalk on my phone for CC,

Just in the last few minutes it has started to clear up more and the sun has come thru the clouds.

We decided against Room Service this morning and will probably go down to the Pinnacle although we are munching on Macadamia nuts :) There is a particular kind that we really like that are harder tofind and I have only seen in Hawaii. They are from Mac Farms and we like the Unsalted All natural. The nuts nuts are much larger than Mauna Lua brand and they are whole nuts.

Well time to grab some more pictures of the Oosterdam's approach into Kauaii, then I will post this.

Signing off from the Beautiful MS Oosterdam.

　

　

　

[ASIWISH]

The first time I ever saw a cruise ship (up close) was sitting on the beach at the Kauai Marriott... after that, I HAD to go on one...

 

Wow, this brings back such great memories!!!! Have fun... and if you have a chance, grab a burger at Bubba's (4 Kuhio Highway, Kapaa, HI)... it will change your life! It's a Kauai institution...

[solocanadian]

That's unusual, Kathy.

We always have Main Upper Traditional Dining at 8:00. I wonder why Oosterdam has it fifteen minutes earlier.

 

 

Hope you are having a great time.

Enjoy. :)

 

Same time on April/May cruise on the "O". No reason given & I didn't ask since I kind of like 7:45.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Same time on April/May cruise on the "O". No reason given & I didn't ask since I kind of like 7:45.

 

I admit we were surprised as well only when we did a few Alaska cruises out of Vancouver several years ago were the dining times earlier.

 

BTW when I took a shower this morning I found I had new shampoo. It was great to finally have shampoo that did run thru my fingers.

 

I had to laugh one of the first things I heard this morning was cock-a-doodle-doo. Of course only in Kauai :)

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[LAFFNVEGAS]

Just had a great lunch at Duke's Kauai at the Marriot. It is beautiful sunny afternoon. We have been so fortunate with great weather. I enjoyed some very good ahi sashimi and Tom had a chedder burger. And we both enjoyed a couple of Blue Hawaii's

Time to go see what else we can find :)

 

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[aliaschief]

Just had a great lunch at Duke's Kauai at the Marriot. It is beautiful sunny afternoon. We have been so fortunate with great weather. I enjoyed some very good ahi sashimi and Tom had a chedder burger. And we both enjoyed a couple of Blue Hawaii's

Time to go see what else we can find :)

 

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

 

Lisa and Tom, We are envious, because our Kauai "Grass Shack" is right down the road. Got to wait until May but glad you are enjoying our favorite island and home away from home. Mahalo.