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A live view from Nieuw Amsterdam on her New Years cruise

Copper10-8

By Copper10-8,
in Holland America Line

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Thebes

Thebes

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I love the "on deck for a cause" and can't wait to do it with the girls in August. Too bad about PG. Doesn't sound worth the extra money anymore.

 

WB Alohapride :) You were gone for a while!

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Copper10-8 "Live from...." Rare

Copper10-8

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Day 7 – 01/05/14; Port Everglades/Ft. Lauderdale, FL. During the night, NADM paralleled the Florida Keys down the Straits of Florida, then made a turn to port and followed a northerly course past Key Biscayne, Miami, until arriving at the sea buoy about a mile off Port Everglades/Ft. Lauderdale where the local pilot was picked up. We then proceeded eastbound into past the breakwater, the condos and into the entrance channel around 0715 hrs. Once we were inside the turning basis, Capt. van Zaane slowly swung her to starboard until we were facing the 17th Street Bridge. He then slowly reversed and backed us into Midport until we were alongside Berth 21. Including us, there were a grand total of eight cruise ships in town today. Our fleet mates, Prinsendam, the elegant explorer, and Eurodam, our sister ship, were at berths #26 and #29, respectively, Royal Princess was at Berth #2, Celebrity Century at Berth #4, the biggie, Allure of the Seas, at Berth #18, Carnival Freedom at Berth #19 and Celebrity Silhouette was at Berth #25.

 

We had the flexibility to leave the ship anytime between 0815 and 0945 hrs under grouping Pink 2 so we walked into the Pinnacle Grill around 0745 hrs for a final breakfast in there. Maria chose the blueberry pancakes and I wound up having the “Uitsmijter” for the last time. We had a 12;50 pm flight from FLL to DFW so, after breakfast, were going to take it easy with plans to disembark around 0945, pick up our bags inside the terminal and clear Customs for the 10 min. can ride to Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Well, that turned out to be a huge mistake! Early on in the voyage, we, along with every other NADM passenger, had been offered the services of “luggage direct”. One of the requirements of that program however, was that we had to be off the ship between 0730 and 0815 and that would have meant spending almost four hours at FLL.

 

So, as we were having breakfast, disembarking for “independents” with their own luggage started and a line formed from the gangway/jetway on Deck 2 past the PG and PG Bar. After they were off, the colors and groups started to be called. The actual process onboard was smooth, although, around 0930, the lines/calling of groups was held up for 10-15 min on orders of CBP because "the lines in the hall were backing up". We disembarked around 0950 hours and, after a short wait at the gangway, picked up our bags inside the terminal. After retrieving our luggage, we proceeded further down the hall” where there were there were two roped off lines and four CBP agents working from their booths at the end of those lines. There was a “U.S. residents” line, the long one, and the other for non-U.S. residents. The "slinky" process to be seen by CBP took approx. 35-40 minutes. That actual process took less than a minute with the agent wishing us a “Welcome Home”.

 

The “fun” started outside where we soon discovered that, if you didn't have the HAL transfer bus, private/your own transportation, or a helicopter, you were in for a challenge, The taxi line which started to the left of Terminal 21, had at least 200+ former NADM pax in it and moved as slow as molasses with one, two, sometimes, three taxis rejoining the line after dropping off pax at Celebrity Silhouette, across the street at Pier 24. After an hour or so in line with very little progress, we started to get seriously concerned about making our 12:50 flight with a 12:20 boarding time, plus still having to check-in bags and go through security at FLL. A guy and his wife behind us attempted, in vain, to stop at least three mini-van drivers who had let off their passengers, however each time, was advised by them that they were not allowed to pick up new passengers at that location. We lucked out when another van driver/entrepreneur came walking down the line offering to take FLL pax there for $11 pp. Nine of us took him up on his offer and piled in the van along with our luggage.

 

He got us to FLL in ten minutes and we checked in our bags curbside with an AA porter. Security inside was a non-event and went very quick. We arrived at our gate along with what seemed like a million other passengers trying to get home after the holidays. The winter storms in the Mid and North-East didn’t help. Our AA flight started boarding at 12:30 and we were wheels up around 1:10 in our Boeing 737-823 from 10L, taking off eastbound with a nice view of Port Everglades. We arrived at DFW in 3 hrs, had a 2 hr lay-over, and then got in an AA 757-223 for the 3 hr flt to LAX. AA Baggage claim there turned out to be a complete zoo with hundreds of bags without owners lined up at the head of the carousels, no doubt also as a result of the completely messed up air traffic situation elsewhere. After getting two out of three bags, we took a cab home. The lone lost bag was waiting for us on Monday on our return to LAX. And that’s all she wrote

 

Pic is a look at NADM’s return to Port Everglades, about to enter the breakwater, on January 5, 2014, taken from the in-cabin TV.

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AlohaPride

AlohaPride

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How are my three personal shopping assistants doing? ;)

 

Their father let them stay up way past their bed time last night (while I got in a 10 mile run), so this morning was "interesting." The littlest two are now napping and lady H is about to have her violin lesson. :) Every time they meet someone new they talk about "Uncle John" and the big ship we are taking to Alaska. ROFL Their excitement is infectious.

 

Waiting with baited breath to see where you'll be in August ;)

Edited by AlohaPride
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Copper10-8 "Live from...." Rare

Copper10-8

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Their father let them stay up way past their bed time last night (while I got in a 10 mile run), so this morning was "interesting." The littlest two are now napping and lady H is about to have her violin lesson. :) Every time they meet someone new they talk about "Uncle John" and the big ship we are taking to Alaska. ROFL Their excitement is infectious.

 

Waiting with baited breath to see where you'll be in August ;)

 

Tell them I said hi please :)

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Dancing Queen40

Dancing Queen40

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We were on the same cruise - a very good, accurate review of events - except you forgot to mention the storm which started when we left Costa Maya and didn't stop until we reached Miami! From reading some of the negative reviews on the members review section, you would not think they were on the same cruise! The NA is a beautiful ship.

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Copper10-8 "Live from...." Rare

Copper10-8

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We were on the same cruise - a very good, accurate review of events - except you forgot to mention the storm which started when we left Costa Maya and didn't stop until we reached Miami! From reading some of the negative reviews on the members review section, you would not think they were on the same cruise! The NA is a beautiful ship.

 

Thanks and yes, the weather front that came down the Gulf of Mexico and was with us all of the next day. From reading elsewhere, it seems Ryndam, with us in Costa Maya for part of the day, got the worst of it on her way back to Tampa.

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Alphen "Live from...." Rare

Alphen

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Only just now managed to read your live review during your NADM new Year’s cruise (we were on ours, so no time to read it live) and enjoyed it very much. Thought that only Rotterdam was providing typical Dutch snacks at the Terrace Grill (still can’t figure out for the life of me why somebody would want a “snack” with all of the outstanding other choices one has).

 

On Rotterdam we discovered they had “miniature shuffle board” as they called it, at Lido mid pool, which we know as “sjoelen”. I assume Rotterdam is the only ship that has this, since I have not seen it on my previous visits to Noordam and Eurodam?

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Copper10-8 "Live from...." Rare

Copper10-8

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Only just now managed to read your live review during your NADM new Year’s cruise (we were on ours, so no time to read it live) and enjoyed it very much. Thought that only Rotterdam was providing typical Dutch snacks at the Terrace Grill (still can’t figure out for the life of me why somebody would want a “snack” with all of the outstanding other choices one has).

 

On Rotterdam we discovered they had “miniature shuffle board” as they called it, at Lido mid pool, which we know as “sjoelen”. I assume Rotterdam is the only ship that has this, since I have not seen it on my previous visits to Noordam and Eurodam?

 

I've never seen a "Sjoelbak" on a HAL ship; haven't played that game since I was a snot nose growing up in Holland ;) Yeah, those Sate Ayam at the Terrace Grill on NADM were a big surprise! Hope it spreads to the other ships!

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