Kinda "Live From" - CSI: NA (Nieuw Amsterdam, 11/16-11/23/2014

[mariners]

P0A1, Thank you so much for your detailed thread. We will be on the Nieuw Amsterdam for the first time early next year. This thread has been a perfect introduction to our cruise!

[taxmantoo]

POA1, seems like you are having a great time. I just noticed from your Beverage Events post that the cellar master on your cruise is Tony Irace. Tony and I graduated from the same certified sommelier program at a college in Ottawa, Canada. We were on one of his cruises last February on the Eurodam. He must be replacing Bernardo on the Nieuw Amsterdam for a while.

 

Anyways, if you meet Tony again, please let him know Louis from Ottawa says hello and hopes he will be on the Nieuw Amsterdam in July in the Mediterranean.

[POA1]

POA1, seems like you are having a great time. I just noticed from your Beverage Events post that the cellar master on your cruise is Tony Irace. Tony and I graduated from the same certified sommelier program at a college in Ottawa, Canada. We were on one of his cruises last February on the Eurodam. He must be replacing Bernardo on the Nieuw Amsterdam for a while.

 

Anyways, if you meet Tony again, please let him know Louis from Ottawa says hello and hopes he will be on the Nieuw Amsterdam in July in the Mediterranean.

 

Will do! He's been through the dining room pretty regularly and helped us out with an Ah So when our 2007 Far Niente had its cork crack. (Don't blame us for storage. It was cellared at the winery until last year.)

[POA1]

We attended the medallion presentation ceremony in the Queen's Lounge, where we an roughly 98 other cruisers received our copper 100 day medallions. There were no silver or higher medallions awarded and the person with the most actual sailing days on our voyage has 566. After the ceremony, we attended the Mariner Luncheon where we each received our Eurodam/Nieuw Amsterdam tiles. Lunch was pretty well attended and the lower dining room was nearly full.

 

We found out that Mario Vines, the CD is leaving the ship this weekend in Fort Lauderdale. We haven't met the new cruise director yet.

 

We're traveling in a bit of a rainy belt, so it's not a great day for outdoor activities. They've got the lido pool roof closed and the mood around the ship is pretty subdued. The weather has put a bit of a crimp in my lifelong plans to learn the steel drums. I was hoping that three weeks in pretty close succession would allow me to become of virtuoso, but no dice.

 

A random word on Room Service Breakfast: We've had room service breakfast every day this cruise. When we do our back to back, we'll probably eat in the dining room or the lido with DW's father, so we're taking advantage of the in-room morning meal as much as possible this week. Our orders have been correct every day, and the food has been hot.

 

It's our last formal night this evening, and I haven't seen the menu yet. Because Cruz Chic opted out of wine yesterday, we're a little backed up. That's okay though, we can do our traditional formal night routine: Champagne (Piper-Heidsieck Brut, NV,) white (Saint Clair Family Estate Sauvignon Blanc, 2013,) and red (Mollydooker Velvet Glove Shiraz, 2012.) There's surf & turf on the menu tonight. That usually means that DW will do surf & surf - assuming Maine lobster. I may do that, but basically I'm going to eat whatever lets me drink the most shiraz. (Don't tell anyone.)

[PathfinderEss]

Congratulations on your copper medallion.

Wish I was there to help you with the shiraz, but I promiss not to tell anyone else.:D

[RuthC]

°C x 9/5 + 32 = °F

 

(°F - 32) x 5/9 = °C

Most folks would need a calculator for that, though.

The "Close enough for government work", or "Just tell me if I need a sweater" formula is easier:

(ºC X 2) + 30 = ºF

(ºF - 30) / 2 = ºC

[OVgirl]

Most folks would need a calculator for that, though.

The "Close enough for government work", or "Just tell me if I need a sweater" formula is easier:

(ºC X 2) + 30 = ºF

(ºF - 30) / 2 = ºC

 

Thanks Ruth, like that much better.

[trub]

poa - great review -thanks

 

ruth - easier maths thanks

[freestyling]

Congrats on the copper and thanks for the update on CD and piano bar. Thought you'd save the bubbly for the fish eggs :D

[ger_77]

Please tell Cruiz Chic I did my best to keep the ship in good shape for your sailing, and am glad you all are having a good time.

 

Congrats on the copper medallion; too bad about the pony.:p

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

Gerry

[cruz chic]

Please tell Cruiz Chic I did my best to keep the ship in good shape for your sailing, and am glad you all are having a good time.

 

Congrats on the copper medallion; too bad about the pony.:p

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

Gerry

 

Thank you for that. I haven't posted much because the Internet has been slow and I didn't buy my usual amount of minutes. I think POA has been telling fibs about me an my drinking ability:D. It's been a pleasure having them on the section of my cruise. I've had a lot of fun with mrs. POA shooting this ship in the cabana and generally hanging around with them. The service continues to be excellent and its a pleasure being on the NA.

Edited November 22, 2014 by cruz chic

[Don't spammy]

To the Institute of Cheer Team: During your field work, can you please inquire as to if the House wines on NA are still Santa Carolina Reserva? Thank you for your extensive research.

[POA1]

To the Institute of Cheer Team: During your field work' date=' can you please inquire as to if the House wines on NA are still Santa Carolina Reserva? Thank you for your extensive research.[/quote']

Yes, they are. The exception, at least in still wine, is the Pinot Grigio. That looks to be Zonin.

[Folk Singer]

Tough Field Work but someone has to do it. ;);):D

[POA1]

Congrats on the copper and thanks for the update on CD and piano bar. Thought you'd save the bubbly for the fish eggs :D

We sometimes go with chilled vodka to accompany our caviar. We're eating earlier than usual on this sailing. We may have to double up on caviar on the B2B.

[POA1]

To my Canadian metric conversion friends: My college major was engineering. I've been working in English and metric units for decades. I was just trying to be funny, and apparently failing in a most epic fashion. I figured that it would be obvious when I was mixing in the temperature conversion and the distances... Anyway, we're in Key West today. That means real units, like God & the Queen intended. :D

[POA1]

Here is the On Location from 11/21. This was for the second sea day and formal night.

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AFiJCv3iqTxD_abQ4J1WgnjsYaEwvET8dVQ/

[superoma]

POA, for your PDF documents, are you using an app on an iPad or iPhone to create them? I don't imagine you took a scanner with you.

 

For the record, I loved your metric/us measures "joke". I am enjoying your reports immensely.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[POA1]

POA, for your PDF documents, are you using an app on an iPad or iPhone to create them? I don't imagine you took a scanner with you.

 

For the record, I loved your metric/us measures "joke". I am enjoying your reports immensely.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Imagine it! I have a VuPoint Magic Wand handheld scanner. They're only about $42 nowadays. Here's a link to the one I have on Amazon.

 

http://amzn.to/1z8GTU6

 

 

It scans at up to 900 dpi, and can make PDFs on the fly.

 

I scan everything at 300 dpi to JPEG files. I use one of my graphics/photo editing programs to straighten and crop the images. The images are a little wavy if the scanner moves while I am scanning. That's totally the fault of the operator (me.) If I am using it on a flat, non-bobbing-on-the-high-seas surface, like my desk at home, it's much better. Of course, if I were at home or my office, I'd use a flat bed scanner instead. The Magic Wand is only about 10 inches long x 1.2" high x 1" wide. (That's 10 cm x 3 cm x 2.5 cm for my Canadian pals.) ;) It's portable and it lives in my computer bag.

 

Once I have the images scanned and cropped, I use the full version of Acrobat Professional to create the PDF, perform the OCR (optical character recognition,) and compress the PDF to a smaller size. The PDFs are still pretty big though, because I wanted them to be readable.

[fishin' musician]

POA1, like many, I'm thoroughly enjoying the info, yuks, and your style. My hope is that you will indulge your fans on at least the eastern leg of your b to b! Thanks

 

Oh, and it is my understanding that the pony program was discontinued due to space constraints on the lower stable deck (deck 2). It seems the high demand for fresh beef, pork and poultry simply squeezed them out. :(

[POA1]

Here is the menu from last night, which was our second formal night.

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AFiGvVx0nAxK3rZ79fqMzBzmeYc15Yy-234/

 

A note on the menus: There's always a supplemental dessert menu with the fruit crisp of the day, the everyday desserts and the cheese plate selections. That's not something that they deliver to the Neptune Suites, so I don't have scans of them. (Special thanks to Cruz Chic for the daily menus.)

 

A note on the note on the menus: Each day's cheese selection is listed on the supplemental dessert menu. There are four cheeses each day. However....Your actual cheeses may not be even remotely close to what's listed. Last night, two of the selections were supposed to be Stilton and Humboldt Fog. While there was a blue cheese, it definitely wasn't Stilton - and none of the cheeses ever came within a mile of a goat.

[Shellback801]

POA1' date=' like many, I'm thoroughly enjoying the info, yuks, and your style. My hope is that you will indulge your fans on at least the eastern leg of your b to b! Thanks [/quote']

 

Count us among the fans, though my working theory that he is Dave Barry took another hit today.

[POA1]

POA1' date=' like many, I'm thoroughly enjoying the info, yuks, and your style. My hope is that you will indulge your fans on at least the eastern leg of your b to b! Thanks

 

Oh, and it is my understanding that the pony program was discontinued due to space constraints on the lower stable deck (deck 2). It seems the high demand for fresh beef, pork and poultry simply squeezed them out. :([/quote']

 

Thanks for the pony clarification. While we are saddened, we completely understand. I figured it was a long shot with all the turkeys that they've got to keep down on the barn deck - at least until next Thursday.

 

Not to worry. We're planning a full report on the B2B. And, since we are actually doing excursions and stuff, there might be something of genuine interest to write about. :D

Edited November 22, 2014 by POA1
Just felt that the post was calling out for a smiley face at the end.

[POA1]

Here's the Key West "On Location" for you:

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AFgnmV-SdXtHnI0pLx0JUNn8-GqvncnL8FQ/

[POA1]

 

On this day in history -- Today we're celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the presentation of TV Host Mr. Fred Rogers' iconic sweater to Smithsonian Institution. In honor of the occasion, the evening's dress code is Cardigans. People still complain, citing the fact that they wore sweaters their whole work life and they're retired now and going to wear whatever they darn well please and it's the 21st century. So there!

 

Actually, the second formal night was even dressier than the first. Quite frankly, this is probably the dressiest cruise we've been on in a decade. I know that there was some pretty heavy last minute discounting on this cruise, so maybe people put the savings into their clothing budgets.

 

As you know, we received our medallions yesterday. We're so darn excited that I even wore mine to bed with my jammies. (Pyjamas in the Canadian metric system.)

 

 

We did manage to see a full set in the Piano Bar last night. Jeremey was doing Billy Joel and Elton John last night, or as the nice lady behind us at dinner called it, "Billy John Night." The Piano Bar was packed and everyone had a great time. (I didn't actually do a poll, so it is possible that the one grumpy looking gentleman in the back was not having a good time. But we've seen him around the ship and he always looks like a sourpuss.) So Piano Bar devotees -- We think you're in good shape.

 

We also caught the show "Garage Band." It was very well received by a pretty packed house. We ended the night at the B.B. King show.(Love them!)

 

Time to head out to Key West. There's a chocolate dipped, Key Lime pie on a stick that is our quest today.