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Live Blog (Hopefully) – 02/20/2013 -03/06/2013 – Atlantis Events - HAL Oosterdam

absolutboy20

By absolutboy20,
in Holland America Line

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absolutboy20

absolutboy20

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March 19th

 

Kia Ora!! As I sit here at 11:24PM at night before I board the Oosterdam, I thought I would try my shot at a live blog. I've enjoyed live reports on this site so much in the past as an escape from my 9 to 5 job when I'm not a ship but knowing that someone was having a great cruise. I don't know how much interest this is going to create, but I'm going to try to make it as entertaining as the ones that past cruisers have created.

 

 

First off, I need to mention that this cruise from the title is a full charter, so it most likely will not be same activities/events on board. The cruise is chartered by Atlantis Events, a company that caters to gay men. I probably already lost some readers with the last line.

 

 

The itinerary starts in Auckland (NZ) , Wellington, Akaroa, Dunedin, Melbourne (AUS), and ends in Sydney.

 

 

As this is pre cruise I think I'll try to do this in blocks rather than doing a story format.

 

 

Flight: We originally planned to use Aadvantage American Airlines miles, but even with planning almost a year in advance, this proved close to impossible. As American does not fly to Australia or New Zealand, their code share partner is Qantas. From reading the flier boards similar to CruiseCritic, apparently Qantas is very frugal in releasing seats. I know other people on this trip who had better luck with using United and Delta miles. We ended up purchasing tickets rather than taking chances waiting for seats to be released.

 

 

If you're pretty much coming from anywhere but Australia, get ready for a long flight. Our total travel time from stepping getting on our first flight in San Jose to stepping foot (one person with wet feet more on that later) in our hotel in Auckland : 26 hours. Our itinerary consisted of 2 connections (San Jose – Los Angeles with five hour layover – Brisbane Australia – Auckland). We flew Virgin Australia for the international segment 13.5 hours for the trip to Brisbane, and a little under 3 hours for the flight to Auckland. I chose Virgin Australia over Qantas (Air New Zealand at the time of booking was much more expensive but came down in price closer to departure) as I am a BIG fan of Virgin America. If you're unfamiliar with the airline, it is quite unique in that the food quality, overall ambiance in flight with the interior mood lighting that simulates sunrise/sunsets, and reasonable fares make it very appealing in my book. The flight was nice except for one major flaw, which is the seat cushions do not have enough padding. My derriere was hurting after 3-4 hours in flight, and made it impossible for me to fall asleep on this overnight flight. It came rather frustrating to see my partner at 3:00AM mouth breathing and sleeping comfortably in the seat next to me while I kept trying to find a suitable position.

 

 

Hotel: We are staying at Sofitel Viaduct Harbor, which was formerly a Westin. This is a smaller hotel, but I highly recommend it for its very modern flair, beautiful ponds everywhere in the hotel, some rooms overlooking the harbor floor to ceiling windows, and location which is steps away from a great deal of restaurants. The only negatives I can think of is that the gym is very small, and that the ponds are zero clearance ponds at the entryway where there are no rails or markers to designate there is a water feature. My partner literally stepped out of the airport van transfer, and less than ten steps accidentally fell into one. The hotel was quick to respond in getting towels to dry off, sending their assistant manager up to the room to make sure he was physically ok, and to offer him complimentary next day laundry service.

 

 

Auckland: This is probably now in my top three places where I would love to live. There are roughly 4 million people in New Zealand, and 1.4 million of them live in Auckland. This makes this city very vibrant, active, and very diverse. The harbor is littered with private mega yachts that have full-time crew on board and owners nowhere to be seen.. The area near the harbor and cruise terminal are endless restaurants which all of them offer outdoor dining and different styles of cuisine from Indian/Asian/steakhouses/tapas bars. One thing to note is that there is sticker shock when it comes to dining prices, but one thing to mention is that tax is included in the price listed on the menu. Tipping is also not customary, but you'll find at least in Auckland due to the large number of tourists, that you may or may not see a tip line when you pay by credit card. I was exhausted on the day of our arrival so we pretty much ate out and I was in bed by 8PM.

 

 

On our second day, I had booked the Hop On/Hop Off Bus tour which stops at a total at about 15 stops to see the sights of Auckland. We did hop off at the Auckland Museum which is a very good place to get the history of the native Maori civilization and contributions of the Kiwis, another stop at a street filled with numerous restaurants (sorry too tired to get off of the bed), and the Auckland Skytower.

 

 

We finished off the night with another fantastic meal at the harbor, and walking over to watch the Cunard Queen Victoria leave port at 9PM. Tomorrow is boarding day with the Queen Elizabeth in port at the same time. Embarkation time scheduled for around 1PM.

 

 

Let me know if there's anything on board that someone wants me to look at and I'll try my best to respond.

 

 

Time to turn off the tv and hit the sack.

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0bnxshs

0bnxshs

Posted
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March 19th

...<SNIP>

 

And I always thought New Zealand is only a 1 day ahead of us here in the US.... :D:p

 

Looking forward to reading your entries. We did a similar itinerary a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed! Hope you do too. :cool:

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jbhcw

jbhcw

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Have a great cruise:):):) I had the opportunity to fly to australia to visit brother and family many years ago but chickened out because of the long long flight:eek:

 

Enjoy the Oosterdam...sailed her out of San Diego a few years ago:)

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RuthC

RuthC

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I'm looking forward to reading this. I've been to the ports, so your posts will bring back memories (they already have). I am especially looking forward to posts about life on board your charter.

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

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bradpole

bradpole

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Thanks for posting!!! Looking forward to reading about your cruise. We love the Oosterdam!

 

Another poster is getting ready to write a review of his RSVP cruise, so it will be interesting to see if there are differences with Atlantis. Have you or your partner done their charters before?

 

I'm also wanting to read the live postings about the Atlantis Charter. I was also on last week's RSVP charter of the Eurodam. Although Atlantis Events owns RSVP Vacations they are run as different companies. I've always been curious just how different the two experiences are onboard.

 

To the OP, have a great cruise!

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absolutboy20

absolutboy20

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Day 1 – 02/20/2013 – Embarkation Day

 

 

Note to self, do not type a live blog at 11:00PM at night after a couple of Absolut dry martini's with two olives as the grammar and being able to tell the month goes out the door. Having said that, I have already opened the complimentary champagne bottle so this report may not be any better. I am currently sitting on our balcony in stateroom 7073, and it is a little past 4PM. We just concluded our muster drill and they are continuing to load the ship as we speak with luggage and supplies. Here are some details regarding our Atlantis Cruise:

 

 

General Info: Captain: Arjen Van Der Loo. Hotel Director: Edwin Brunink. Ship: 1900 passengers. When we booked this cruise one-year ago, we were originally wait listed. However, as time for payments came around, passengers began canceling as I believe they realized how expensive this trip was going to be from the US.

 

 

Embarkation: We arrived at port around 11:30AM and walked from the Sofitel with our luggage. It is a fairly easy walk taking about 10 minutes. The port terminal is unique in Auckland in that the Queen's Pier is a combination of a port terminal, Hilton hotel which normally has ocean views but now blocked by the Oosterdam, (I'm currently looking across at the hotel at a couple sitting on their balcony smoking), and private condos or apartments. The ground floor is all restaurants. As the cruise terminal is not strictly dedicated for the cruise ship, the embarkation line when we arrived overflowed onto the street. Our embarkation took roughly 30 minutes but in general was smooth.

 

 

Ship Walk-Around: The Oosterdam IMHO and I do not know if it's due to the recent drydock, but the carpets in the lobby all seem to be in better condition than when I was on the NA back in February 2012. The wicker furniture I am currently sitting on in the balcony seem new with good padding on the cushions. There are areas where you see exterior paint peeling/cracking, but in general I think it is in great shape. The ships décor I think is better than the NA. I had felt that sometimes the decor on that ship was part 70's and “Danger Will Robinson” came together to on board. No offense for those who find the NA attractive.

 

 

Cabin:The rooms were ready upon embarkation. Our luggage arrived about two hours after we got on board. In general I think the room is also in good condition. I believe the sofa and the furniture inside seem to be older, but I don't see any tears/stains. My only pet peeve is that the nozzle for the faucets in the bathroom are too short, and my hands keep bumping into the basin every time I wash my hands. If that's the only gripe I can come up with, I can't complain.

 

 

Spa Appointments and Specialty Restaurant Booking: All of these options which are bookable on a regular cruise in advance are blocked off by Atlantis Events until embarkation day or day of dining. Suite guests are able to book up to three advance specialty restaurant reservations, and all others are required to make reservations the day of dining. Le Cirque experience is being offered this time around, as it was not offered on my previous cruise. The reasoning behind not allowing advance bookings is apparently on the larger ships such as RCI's Allure of the Seas, many specialty restaurants were booked well in advance and paid for, and tables went unoccupied.. My partner loves the spa, and after embarkation we went straight to the spa to make all of his appointments for the trip. The line for booking spa appointments wrapped around the main stairwell. He also signed up for a 4-day boot camp which should be interesting.

 

 

Dining: The charter has open dining for the MDR and there are no formal nights. The dining hours are as follows for today:

 

 

Vista Dining Room: 6:30PM – 10:00PM

Pinnacle Grill: 6:00PM – 10:30PM * Reservations suggested

Canaletto: 6:00PM – 10:30PM * Reservations suggested

Lido Restaurant: Dinner: 6:00PM – 9:00PM. Late Night: 1:00AM – 4:00AM

 

 

Entertainment: I wish I could post a video from the ship if it offered high speed internet, but the Lido pool (the one with the retractable roof) on an Atlantis charter at night is used as a dance area. With that, they bring in their own sound system, lighting including lasers/strobes, and fog machines. This is probably very different compared to a normal cruises. There are three DJ's being brought aboard. On embarkation day, the lighting technicians are very busy in installing the system for the next day. Atlantis has it's own cruise director Malcolm, who is highly entertaining and the main CD that works alongside Oosterdam's CD. Tonight's main entertainment are as follows:

 

 

8:30PM /10:30PM– Jonathon Hellyer in the Dame Edna Experience

I have never seen his performance live but he does amazing impersonations including Dame Edna and other famous celebrities. Great singer.

10:00PM – Shauna Jensen in Queen's Lounge (Don't know much about her)

11:00PM – Atlantis Piano Bar featuring Darren Mapes Piano Bar (Same as above)

11:00PM – Welcome Party with DJ Wayne G in Northern Lights

Typical dance club scene for those who want to start partying on day one. That will most likely not be me.

11:00PM – Matt Yee's Outrageous Gay Cabaret – Ocean Bar

Great entertainer who leads the crowd in sing-along's of pop music while making guests get on stage with him to perform. I have heard he does entertainment on regular cruises as well so you may have heard of him.

 

 

Well it is now around 4:55PM, and the sounds of the forklifts has definitely quieted down, so we must be close to leaving the port. Tomorrow is a sea day going around a White Island, an active volcano I believe. After watching the sail-away from our stateroom, we plan on going up to the Lido for the sail-away party, MDR dining, watch Jonathan Hellyer's performance as well as Matt Yee's. Until next time!

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absolutboy20

absolutboy20

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I just wanted to post a quick reply and say thank you to those who find this live thread interesting, as it keep me motivated in continuing to update, and the great picture of the ship!! I also wanted to say that the sail-away from Auckland is going to be a moment I am going to remember for a lifetime. As the Oosterdam pulled away, an armada of 12 sailboats/motor yachts/boats followed alongside for a good fifteen minutes as we moved away from Auckland with rainbow flags and horns blaring. It was truly a very emotional moment for me for complete strangers to be giving such an amazing bon voyage. I wish I could post pictures, but the internet onboard is exactly how I remember it, frustratingly SLOW and keeps shutting down.

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