CSI: NA Reloaded (Nieuw Amsterdam 11/30 to 12/14/14)

[POA1]

Brian, I will only post this one time on your thread, because it is imperative I do so before this goes any further.

 

NO WHERE in Crew News's posts or mine did we say there was no purell!!! We stated ONLY that there are no crew members PUSHING anyone to use purell!!

 

Someone twisted our comments and or misread what we posted on my thread "3rd time's the Charm.".

 

Joanie

 

No problem Joanie - I wasn't arguing. I just didn't know where the hand sanitizer stuff came from. I was pretty sure I didn't write about it. I mean, I enjoy my wine and the occasional drink, but I just can't imagine that I would make a black-out drunken post about Purell. :D

[sapper1]

Could I ask you to clarify what the vip waiting area is? I've heard you mention this a few times but I don't understand what this is. Do you mean the second floor? If so, I had no idea it was called this. As far as Purell goes they were a lot more diligent in prior weeks then it appears they are now.

 

Lorene, we were in there too. It was a waiting area for suite passengers and 4 star Mariners. We were at the terminal right beside the parking garage across the street from the terminal we are used to using. I don't recall a separate VIP room at pier 26 so I was surprised to see one here at the terminal across the street.

[Despegue]

There is a huge difference between lines it seems regarding this anti bacterial gel craze...

 

On Aida for example, a line with predominantly buffet ( but very good ones) service, and geared to the German ( and now also Dutch) speaking market, there are dispensers, but no one to push you using it.

 

On Celebrity,man American brand, they really want you to have a squirt...

 

 

NO anti bacterial gel can protect 100% against bacteria and especially not against Virii, including Noro.

ONLY thorough handwashing eliminates germs on your hands.

It is now being agreed in Europe that all these gels are actually counter productive, your natural resistance is destroyed,and it gives people false sense of cleanliness, without washing hands and thus not being clean at all.

 

I use the gel when prompted and when unable to wash my hands, as it is supposed to be. The gels are there as an emergency solution when unable to wash with soap and water, NOT a replacement and certainly NOT Noro countermeasure.

 

Sterilizing and treating the thongs every 20 minutes a very good idea by HAL though.

[POA1]

 

On this Day in History - December 10th - Women are granted the right to vote in Wyoming Territory in 1869. The marks the first women's suffrage in the United States. Despite this, the YWCA still has no catchy, disco party-anthem theme song.

 

This is an information-packed post, featuring not one, but two On Locations: Grand Turk, and San Juan. (It's so jammed with knowledge that we recommend you grab a snack and beverage to tide you over. For those of you in the northern part of the country, grab a hot beverage and wrap yourself in your Snuggie.)

 

Grand Turk - 12/9/2014 - On Location:

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AFhBlko-p5hHzrcCf5B9iknn1EyztdXeMNg/

 

San Juan, PR - 12/10/2014 - On Location

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AFg-anaw5MFFyYCDaCLorPlUm02YKsAEAhk/

 

We're sailing towards Puerto Rico, with an arrival time of one o'clock this afternoon. We have a late departure time, 10:00 PM, so I was expected to see the infamous "tropical casual" rear its ugly head once more. It did not. Instead, we're back to regular smart casual. This bums me out. I figured that the ship is chock full o' Holland America employees, and we could watch them and figure out what the heck "tropical casual" was supposed to look like. Now we'll never know. :confused:

 

We had a relaxing day in Grand Turk yesterday. We had hoped to tour the Salt House Museum*, but the tour is so popular that it sold out months in advance.** Instead, we ambled over to the pool at Margaritaville to visit the Canadian Embassy. (Sapper1 and Shrimpboat123 had each rented a poolside cabana, and we wanted to check them out. They did not have their Canadian flags festooning their cabana porches - a clear violation of protocol - but we managed to find them anyway.)

 

These cabanas are really quite nice, several steps above the ones at Half Moon Cay. They have a small porch, and a little enclosed, air-conditioned living room with upholstered furniture. The price is reasonable, only about $125 for the day. Best of all, each cabana is equipped with a magic button! There's a buzzer you can press to summon your attendant. In addition to the basic attending duties, your cabana person can bring you anything you want from the Margaritaville bar or food menus. You can book the cabanas on line, using the excursions section of the HAL site. Sapper told us that the lower numbered cabanas get all day shade, while the higher numbered ones get sun.

 

*Not even a little bit.

 

**Probably not, but I am making this up, so I don't really know.

 

Coming up next: The Triumphant Return of the Prunes.

[kazu]

Thanks for the info on those cabanas at Grand Turk. They sound really nice. Especially the magic button :D

[Lizzie68]

This thread sure has been sent off-kilter because of comments on another thread and for me is detracting from the daily humour. What a shame - now can we get back to regular programming?

[POA1]

We spent the afternoon relaxing and/or working and then met our friends for a drink at the Lido Pool Bar, home of the oh-so-comfy fish-butt barstools. I'm hoping that Holland America really ups their game with these stools on the Koningsdam. The fish stools have been around since the Zuiderdam, and there has been virtually no improvement in their basic uncomfortability. This is a photo of the stools from the Noordam.

 

 

Other than the fact that the ones on the Nieuw Amsterdam are silver, there's been no attempt to make these stools more painful in over a decade. I'm going to suggest integrated spikes and perhaps an abrasive, sandpaper-like finish when I fill out my guest survey.

 

After that, we headed up to the Crow's Nest and had a drink while we waited for the Happy Hour crowd to file in. My drink of choice is Maker's Mark on the rocks, and it's over the $7 happy hour limit. So I start with my preferred bourbon and then downshift to another bourbon (Wild Turkey, Jim Beam, or Jack Daniels) when happy hour starts. It's always fun to watch the happy hour crowd file in. You get a whole herd of people rushing in, and demanding to be served at 4:00 (or 5:00 or whatever) on the dot. HAL up-staffs the bars for Happy Hours, but it just takes a few orders of the multi-ingredient, sugar-rimmed, frozen blender drinks to jam up the works. Also - and this is a tip that you shouldn't need - there's a list of what the bars serve at every cocktail lounge on the ship. Do not sashay up to the bar at the start of happy hour and ask "What kind of beer do you have?" or "Can you make a 'Toasty Doorbuster?' I had one on at a beach front bar in Waikiki in 1976." There is a special place in Dante's 5th circle for these people.

 

Huskerchick and I went back to our stateroom to change for dinner. (We also napped, but I left that out lest you think us slothful.) We met up with my father -in-law at the Manhattan Dining Room at 8:00 PM and proceded to our table. The MDR opened about 10 minutes late on Sunday, and 5 minutes late on Monday. By Tuesday, it seems that things were back to normal.

 

There's a whole post of food photos coming once we hit Puerto Rico and my phone can sync the Evernote Food stuff, but here's the radio version. DW and her dad started with the Caribbean Island Fritters. They had good texture and I nice kick. I began with the Salmon and Tuna Tartare. It was yummy. For their second course, Huskerchick and DFIL had the Red Beet & Blue Cheese Salad. DW pronounced it a disappointment, saying that she was hoping for more beets and more blue cheese. I had the fritters.

 

DFIL had the salmon for his main course. DW had the brisket. I had the sole. The brisket and the sole were Culinary Concil items, and we figured that Chef Rudi's smiling countenance on the menu would not let us down. We were correct. Both dishes were excellent.

 

Our outstanding waiter, Chandra, directed my lovely bride toward the Peanut Butter Silk Pie. DFIL had the rum cake. He reports that the rum cake is improved over last week's rum cake. It's moister, and has a better texture. In a nod to DSIL who is up in the cold wet Northeast, we got a dish of pistachio ice cream for the table to share.

 

I had the cheese plate. This is when I realized that Chef Rudi's smiling face does not guarantee top to bottom excellence. The cheese plate was billed as: Gorgonzola, Pont-L-Eveque, Fiscalini Cheddar, and Edam. While the blue cheese was probably Gorgonzola, and the Edam was really Edam, there is no way in heck that the cheddar was Fiscalini, or the other cheese was Pont-L-Eveque. I had Brie and Pepper Jack instead. Pont-L-Eveque is a washed rind cheese with very fine holes in it. Fiscalini cheddar is white. Mine cheddar was orange. I would not put Pepper Jack on a cheese plate, because it tends to overpower everything else. That's just me. However, I certainly wouldn't try to pass it off as Fiscalini Cheddar. (The nice people at Fiscalini Farms ought to be pretty peeved.)

 

Of course, no mislabeled cheese plate is complete without prunes. I only wish the photos of dinner were available for this post. When I post them later this afternoon, make sure you check them out. These babies were big, succulent, juicy examples of prunexcellence. I imagine that the cheese guy is in the kitchen, dehydrating fresh plums just for my cheese plate. It's clear that he hates me. I just hope he realizes that I live in Fort Lauderdale. The Nieuw Amsterdam is in port every Sunday for the next few months. I will patiently bide my time....

 

Just in case you think I'm kidding, here's what happened when the room stewards left a towel elephant in our room one night. Pooby Joe thought it was a Heffalump. If you're familiar with the Winnie the Pooh books, you know that Heffalumps and Woozels are Pooh's arch enemies. He quickly dispatched the towel Heffalump.

 

 

Heffalump Briefing:

 

 

Cheese guy: Be very careful. When you hear tiny, tiny, plush footsteps, you should quake in fear. We're in the Pinnacle tonight, but tomorrow we're back in the MDR. Send Humboldt Fog and Stilton, and nobody gets hurt.

[POA1]

This thread sure has been sent off-kilter because of comments on another thread and for me is detracting from the daily humour. What a shame - now can we get back to regular programming?

 

Done! :D

[sapper1]

Another service from POA.

I happened to mention that, being from a coastal Maritime city, we were cursed with fog in the summer but that the cruise ship passengers who have never seen it before absolutely love it. My complaint was that it creates a bad hair day by causing fog head. He mentioned that there is a special fog resistant hairspray that I had never heard of and this morning when I checked our mail slot, there was a can waiting for me. Is that service or what?!

 

The first instance was when I mentioned that the six bottles of beer preordered for the cabin does not include a bottle opener. I was told not to bring one as there would be one in the mail slot for us upon boarding and there was!

 

What a guy!!! A very public thank you to POA.

[fishin' musician]

Point of Americas I - It's where we live. I wanted something short, and it was available. In hindsight, I should have picked something better, like "Vice Chancellor of Fun" but POA1 is easy to type. :)

 

Or perhaps, "Fun Chancellor of Vice"?

[Krazy Kruizers]

What they are doing in the lido is switching out the tongs every few minites. Unfortunately there are still pigs that touch food and then not take it. I try to severely limit my exposure to the lido for this reason.

 

 

So do we!!

[POA1]

As promised, the link to last night's dinner photos:

 

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s88/l/AFjZJknDJn1Ev5yYIGuF1bUIIFE6QhePELQA

/

 

On the outside chance that someone from the ship is reading this, we really are having a great trip. I say this because our phone rang shortly after the last post went up. It was the front office, making sure everything was fine.

 

If everything went perfectly smoothly, the Institute would be deprived of humor product raw materials. ;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

POA1 -- Point of Americas 1 -- I like that and wondered what POA stood for.

Loving your review.

[cruz chic]

 

On this Day in History - December 10th - Women are granted the right to vote in Wyoming Territory in 1869. The marks the first women's suffrage in the United States. Despite this, the YWCA still has no catchy, disco party-anthem theme song.

 

This is an information-packed post, featuring not one, but two On Locations: Grand Turk, and San Juan. (It's so jammed with knowledge that we recommend you grab a snack and beverage to tide you over. For those of you in the northern part of the country, grab a hot beverage and wrap yourself in your Snuggie.)

 

Grand Turk - 12/9/2014 - On Location:

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AFhBlko-p5hHzrcCf5B9iknn1EyztdXeMNg/

 

San Juan, PR - 12/10/2014 - On Location

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AFg-anaw5MFFyYCDaCLorPlUm02YKsAEAhk/

 

We're sailing towards Puerto Rico, with an arrival time of one o'clock this afternoon. We have a late departure time, 10:00 PM, so I was expected to see the infamous "tropical casual" rear its ugly head once more. It did not. Instead, we're back to regular smart casual. This bums me out. I figured that the ship is chock full o' Holland America employees, and we could watch them and figure out what the heck "tropical casual" was supposed to look like. Now we'll never know. :confused:

 

We had a relaxing day in Grand Turk yesterday. We had hoped to tour the Salt House Museum*, but the tour is so popular that it sold out months in advance.** Instead, we ambled over to the pool at Margaritaville to visit the Canadian Embassy. (Sapper1 and Shrimpboat123 had each rented a poolside cabana, and we wanted to check them out. They did not have their Canadian flags festooning their cabana porches - a clear violation of protocol - but we managed to find them anyway.)

 

These cabanas are really quite nice, several steps above the ones at Half Moon Cay. They have a small porch, and a little enclosed, air-conditioned living room with upholstered furniture. The price is reasonable, only about $125 for the day. Best of all, each cabana is equipped with a magic button! There's a buzzer you can press to summon your attendant. In addition to the basic attending duties, your cabana person can bring you anything you want from the Margaritaville bar or food menus. You can book the cabanas on line, using the excursions section of the HAL site. Sapper told us that the lower numbered cabanas get all day shade, while the higher numbered ones get sun.

 

*Not even a little bit.

 

**Probably not, but I am making this up, so I don't really know.

 

Coming up next: The Triumphant Return of the Prunes.

 

The question is, did Margarite the kitty make an appearance? I hope it's ok to ask a question.

[Danni3ll3]

As promised, the link to last night's dinner photos:

 

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s88/l/AFjZJknDJn1Ev5yYIGuF1bUIIFE6QhePELQA

/

 

On the outside chance that someone from the ship is reading this, we really are having a great trip. I say this because our phone rang shortly after the last post went up. It was the front office, making sure everything was fine.

 

If everything went perfectly smoothly, the Institute would be deprived of humor product raw materials. ;)

 

Your "prunes" look an awful lot like medjool dates. Are you sure they were prunes?

 

By the way, I am enjoying your posts. We are booked on the NA next June so looking forward to it.

[cruz chic]

As promised, the link to last night's dinner photos:

 

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s88/l/AFjZJknDJn1Ev5yYIGuF1bUIIFE6QhePELQA

/

 

On the outside chance that someone from the ship is reading this, we really are having a great trip. I say this because our phone rang shortly after the last post went up. It was the front office, making sure everything was fine.

 

If everything went perfectly smoothly, the Institute would be deprived of humor product raw materials. ;)

 

Oh that's funny:D. How the heck did I miss that pie? The menu once again looks different from mine. I don't remember that sole at all. I would have likely ordered it.

[kazu]

Your "prunes" look an awful lot like medjool dates. Are you sure they were prunes?

 

By the way, I am enjoying your posts. We are booked on the NA next June so looking forward to it.

 

They do look like dates - DH would be happy with that.

 

could be the lighting.

 

OK, POA1, the Institute of Cheer has to confirm if these are prunes or dates - you might have to take a bite:D:p

[POA1]

Your "prunes" look an awful lot like medjool dates. Are you sure they were prunes?

 

By the way, I am enjoying your posts. We are booked on the NA next June so looking forward to it.

 

Nope. They were prunes. It's a little hard to tell because I didn't use a flash. It's bad enough being the annoying people taking photos of their food. We don't want to be the annoying people taking pictures of their food using a flash.:rolleyes:

[POA1]

The question is, did Margarite the kitty make an appearance? I hope it's ok to ask a question.

 

There was a little puppy - more of a young dog really. I didn't see a kitty, but there may have been one later in the day.

[pamelabrown53]

cruz chic, peanut butter pie is to die for...looks like what my partner's niece serves at Thanksgiving. If you're a cook, locate a recipe. I'd like to recommend chocolate graham cracker crust! Decadent in a good way!

[POA1]

Oh that's funny:D. How the heck did I miss that pie? The menu once again looks different from mine. I don't remember that sole at all. I would have likely ordered it.

 

The pie was MONEY. DW joked that she could eat a whole pie, and Chandra offered to get more for her. She declined, but around midnight, when we got home from the bars, that piece of pie would have been a mighty fine way to end the evening.

 

Chandra is going home after this cruise. He said to tell you hello. He's a really great server and it's a shame that some of you who are traveling on the Nieuw Amsterdam in the near future won't get to have him. He's really good. Again, not just cruise ship good, but fine dining on land good.

[POA1]

We went up to El Morro, the fort at the head of the island, and toured it. It's multiple levels and there's quite a lot to see. We're walking back through Old San Juan and should make it back to the ship in a bit.

 

We strongly considered taking a taxi to the San Juan Ritz Carlton for their frozen mojitos. They're the best we've ever had. They also have a drink that's a mojito topped with Champagne. Some of our restaurant friends "stole" the recipe and they serve it as an "Old Cuban" at their bar. Sadly, DFIL doesn't seem to think that a taxi "excursion" for a drink is a good idea. (DW is adopted. She thinks it would be an awesome idea.)

[kazu]

Nope. They were prunes. It's a little hard to tell because I didn't use a flash. It's bad enough being the annoying people taking photos of their food. We don't want to be the annoying people taking pictures of their food using a flash.:rolleyes:

 

Bummer. I was hoping that it was something better. What in heaven's name is the fascination with the prunes?

[POA1]

Bummer. I was hoping that it was something better. What in heaven's name is the fascination with the prunes?

I am beginning to think it's personal. I don't know what I ever did to the cheese guy, but it must be something pretty bad. ;) I don't know if anyone else is getting prunes, or it's just me. The smart people ordered the peanut butter silk pie last night. It was really good.

[cruz chic]

The pie was MONEY. DW joked that she could eat a whole pie, and Chandra offered to get more for her. She declined, but around midnight, when we got home from the bars, that piece of pie would have been a mighty fine way to end the evening.

 

Chandra is going home after this cruise. He said to tell you hello. He's a really great server and it's a shame that some of you who are traveling on the Nieuw Amsterdam in the near future won't get to have him. He's really good. Again, not just cruise ship good, but fine dining on land good.

 

Tell him hello as well. I'm glad he's going home. He is very good. I'm wondering if that pie was as good as the ice cream pie I (and maybe Huskerchick) had. I think it was espresso something pie.