Live from the Amsterdam - Our Tales of the South Pacific

[DeeniEncinitas]

Gosh, thanks all!

You know on our Nieuw cruise in March The Mariners lunch was very small as I recalled. DH said maybe another money cutback! Again I enjoyed having a wonderful quiet lunch onboard. The Lido is such a zoo, and enjoyed being away from it on embarkation day.

Again I have my fingers crossed. Funny how we all have certain traditions we do on a cruise!

Thanks again everyone!

PS,

Sorry we got off subject!

I am enjoying this blog.

Denise:)

[arzz]

Yesterday, Day 3 of our adventure, did not really produce anything else worthy of sharing - just a typical sea day. Today is Day 4 and the biggest news today is that the ship's connection with the satellite that brings us our internet has been lost and it is unknown when it will be back up. (We are, after all, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean). We still have most of our TV channels so clearly they come in through a different service but I am not sure when this chapter of our adventure will actually be sent. Please excuse any tardiness.

 

This morning, our second day of long nights and turning the clock back one hour, I awoke to either rain on the windows or water from the cleaning of decks above us. Then there was sun and the realization that the winds had slowed and the seas were smoother. The thermometer spent the day in the mid seventies warmed further by the sun. It was truly wonderful out on deck.

 

In his daily report the Captain assured us by heading slightly north as we have done that we should be able to avoid tropical storm Oho (not sure if I have that name correct) entirely - the Hawaiian islands, however, will not be quite so lucky but it will have passed by the time we arrive.

 

And today we pass the half way point between San Diego and Hilo.

 

Once again we were forced to endure one of those idyllic sea days where we have been served as many meals as we wished, where our laundry was done for us and our room cleaned by the magical elves. Another stab at trivia produced results similar to yesterday's - we have to stop this overthinking business - and we could use someone on our team who actually knows something about sports.

 

Today Kainoa talked about what to do and see in Hilo and Kona as well as continuing his ukulele and hula lessons. DH centered his day, as he does on all sea days, on the scones and cream served at afternoon tea.

 

There was a large rather well attended Oktoberfest at the Lido pool at lunch time and for those who wished there was much celebration of German food and beer.

 

Tonight, after dinner, will be our only big decision of the day - whether to go to see the ventriloquist (Don Bryan) with his "friend" (Noseworthy) or not. Who knows how crazy we will get.

[arzz]

Today is Day 5 - all is well - except for the internet which is still ailing - works sort of - at times - so I am waiting to post until it is reliable so I don't burn through too many minutes.

 

For all of you waiting with bated breath to see how crazy we got last night - we didn't get crazy at all - we skipped the show, and will probably never get to see "Noseworthy". Sorry to disappoint. We are really terribly boring folks.

 

We had another 25 hour day - our third in a row and it is beginning to get to us - we were ready for breakfast a full hour before the dining room opened. We are now on Hawaii time so we will probably be back to normal by tomorrow.

 

This morning, in the Queen's Lounge, Captain Eversen treated us all to a "virtual bridge tour" of the Amsterdam which included much more than the bridge. We also saw photos taken during dry dock of the stabilizers, azipods and the bulbous bow - to create a size reference for these features of the Amsterdam the Captain's girl friend Brooke, (wearing a hard hat, of course) was photographed with each of these components. The Captain's explanations were clear and easy to understand. A well done and enjoyable lecture, and much was learned. The Captain said that talks by the ship's Captains are now to be a regular feature on board Holland America ships - I, for one, think this is a great idea. Don't know if the Captain's agree.

 

DH exercised while I studied the ship with the Captain and a good portion of the ship's complement. We rounded out the morning with a resounding game of trivia where we came in first with 17 of 18 points, and walked away with South Pacific pins. I have to make a big deal of this and obnoxiously brag as this may be the only time in 45 days that this will happen - only time will tell.

 

Tropical storm Oho has now been upgraded to typhoon or hurricane status. The northerly tilt to our course has taken us out of danger but this afternoon we have begun to have some rain. Though the winds are a bit higher again, our ride is still smooth.

 

Tonight is our first "Gala" night. DH has to roll out his suit and I need to roll out that which I brought and hope that it is gala enough for the occasion. I will report later or tomorrow.

 

Gala night was gala. White chair covers, special menu with, actually, more limited selections. We had to order the whole meal in advance (including dessert). After our first course we were given small glasses of a pallette cleanser - watermelon juice. This was not on the menu. I do not recall any live music in the dining room. A nice time was had by all.

 

As usual, we skipped the show. Heard it was rather good but it really wasn't out music.

[arzz]

As we went to bed last night the seas began to kick up a bit. It rained much of the night. Clearly we were experiencing the outer bands of OHO which was upgraded to a category 2. We awoke to rain and winds in the 40 to 50 knot range. This ship is remarkably stabilized and we clearly were not really in the storm itself. As the day progressed the skies cleared and the winds dropped off so we really had a lovely day.

 

DH spent much of the morning in the gym, I spent some of my morning with our location guide Kainoa learning about what to do and how to get around Honolulu. As a senior citizen we can ride the public buses for $1 a ride. Oops - I should have said that seniors can ride for $1 without making any personal admissions. We are not sure yet what we plan to do there.

 

Then, of course, it was team trivia time. Blush. We got a perfect score and another set of HAL South Pacific pins. This could become habit forming and then I would be disappointed when I don't win. But it is really early in the trip. Our team mates all agree that we will not plan on attending trivia on port days (it doesn't count for the cumulative score anyway). Happy to be with a group of folks who put trivia in an appropriate place in the scheme of things.

 

Had lunch on the lido today and I must declare that I really miss the old sandwich bar as that was my normal lunch on sea days - a small sandwich made to my specifications. None of the premade sandwiches appealed at all. No potato chips available. I have been told that they will make any sandwich for me that I want but I do not see any servers near the pre made sandwiches nor are there any of the ingredients and breads for sandwich making out. Sad.

 

The afternoon brought time on the promenade deck, a nap, and a little casino time.

 

Tomorrow is our first port, Hilo. I will be anxious to get out the cell phone and download my email. The internet is still not functioning properly at all. If I go on line I can download my aol account which is not my primary account - I cannot get my primary account at all, I cannot upload any outgoing email and it is VERY slow - even by cruise ship standards - so I haven't even tried to upload any of my trip reports. Hopefully the problem will be fixed tomorrow in Hilo as promised and I can get back to communicating with the rest of the world.

 

If you are reading this, the problem has been addressed.

[arzz]

Day 7 - Tales of the South Pacific 2015

 

Today the miracle that always happens on board happened again. Our small insignificant cruise ship that spent the last five days crossing a large and empty Pacific Ocean somehow, through the miracle of navigation, found the tiny speck on the map known as the big island of Hawaii - and we came into the port at Hilo exactly on time.

 

The sun was shining, the temperatures in the low eighties - what a glorious day!

 

The ship provided us with the usual small cards that have the location of the pier and the contact information for the port agent. They also have a currency conversion chart on them - and today's conversion chart let us know that 20 US$ converts to .... 20 US$ in local currency. Nice to know that.

 

After a leisurely breakfast we walked out on the promenade deck and saw those leaving the ship being presented with flower leis as is the Hawaiian tradition. We returned to the cabin, collected our stuff and set out for an island adventure.

 

By the time we got to the gangway a few minutes later - well, to put it simply, we did not get leied. The flowers were all packed up, the greeters gone. Chalk one up to laziness on our part - on the good side, however, we did not have to spend the day looking like a real tourist wearing flowers.

 

We shared our port today with the Ruby Princess which has about three times the passenger complement of the Amsterdam. Since this is not a "Grand Cruise" there was no shuttle waiting at the pier to take us into town. We were at Pier 3 and had to walk over to Pier 1 where Princess was docked to meet the shuttles to Walmart and the taxis.

 

Going leisurely this morning, but not leisurely enough was a mistake. The Ruby Princess had disgorged much of its huge passenger complement and they were all on the pier waiting for taxis or the shuttle. The lines were long, the sun hot --- so we went with plan 2, we decided to walk into town. Once we left the port it did not take long for an independent tour operator to approach us and offer us a reasonably priced tour. We immediately accepted as this was a much better option than a two and a half mile walk into town. We shared a van with a couple of very nice folks from the Princess ship.

 

Together we drove through town and were shown the city highlights - then out to Wai'anuenue (Rainbow) Falls, Akaka Falls, a spot to look for sea turtles (which provided DH a view and also some very wet shoes and socks - I saw it coming and hung back - whew!), a black sand beach and other treats for the eye. Our guide, Robert, was well versed in local flora and fauna and provided a pleasant day. About half way through the tour we had a rest stop at a local farm shop where we enjoyed fruit smoothies (in lieu of lunch) made with their locally grown fruit. If anyone wants Robert's contact information, I will share. He did an excellent job.

 

Our original intent was to finish our day at Walmart where we would buy school supplies for the school on Fanning Island - but frankly we were too hot and tired by the end of the trip to wish to do this today. I am sure we will have other opportunities at Kona or Honolulu to make our purchases.

 

Back on the ship our second magical event of the day occurred. We showered, cooled off, did as much as we could manage of the Thursday puzzle in the Times Digest ... and though quite hungry, we almost forgot to go to dinner! It was a quarter to eight when we realized that it was meal time. We did make it to dinner on time but I can tell you that no damage at all would have been done if we had, in fact, missed it.

 

After dinner I tried the ship's wi-fi again -- five minutes and could get no email at all, and I could not get on line on Cruise Critic. It isn't fixed so I really don't know when this will get posted.

[cccole]

Hooray, you're back. I am so enjoying your positive outlook and sense of adventure. I plan to combine your detailed descriptions with Jeff's photos. Thank you for taking the time to let us cruise with you. Cherie

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

So glad to read your cumulative posts. I was beginning to worry.

[retiredkid]

thanks so much for the updates.

[bra1nchild]

Two quick [inside] questions --

 

Is Hurricane Oto related to Mr. Otah?

 

Did DH lose his glasses this time?

[Windy56]

Great trip review. I am enjoying your writing style. You made a reference to there not being a shuttle bus at the dock. We will be on the HAL 2017 Grand World Voyage. Will there be a shuttle bus at each port?

[scopewest]

Enjoying your review, thanks for taking the time to post!

[tommui987]

We walked away with South Pacific pins.

 

Welcome to our part of the world. Always interested in how people see us - next Friday we head to the other part of the world and let the Europeans view us!

 

Too bad HAL doesn't give you North Pacific pins - as that's where Hawaii is located! :-)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for the updates.

I figured you were having Internet problems.

[arzz]

Day 8 - Maui, Hawaii

 

This morning we were due at an anchorage for Lahaina, Maui at 7:00 am. With the window curtains open, as I lay in bed, I could hear and see the tenders being lowered. With no special plans for the day, just the intent to go into town and browse, maybe catch lunch, we were in no hurry.

 

We went to the dining room for a leisurely breakfast. Lahaina does not have a protected port, and though the seas looked calm we could see the horizon slowly rising and falling a significant amount as we enjoyed our meal.

 

Next it was out to the promenade deck to look at the tender operation. We could see the large swells washing up over the tender platform. Someone who had been watching longer than we were said "your feet are going to get wet" I am going to bring alternate shoes. They were only tendering from one side of the ship and the process was very slow. By 10:30 or 11 am they were calling tender numbers in the mid-twenties and we saw folks with tickets numbered in the thirties.

 

We went out to watch again and saw the boat doorways bobbing 2 or 3 feet above - then below the tender platform. We decided that as sweet as Maui is, it wasn't worth it for us to do the trip. The temperatures were near 90 and those tenders get really hot.

 

Not long after that the ship suspended outgoing tender operations and only brought tenders back to the ship. Most of the ship's complement, however, was in port and enjoying themselves.

 

We had a quiet lunch up in the lido - an unusual experience this cruise.

 

At dinner we started to collect tender stories - folks who bobbed in crowded boats for 45 and 50 minutes - a staff member who went into shore and it took her close to an hour and a half to return.

 

Though sadly we did not see Maui - it was still a very pleasant day on board. We finished the day by actually attending the show - a comedian who wrote for both Letterman and Leno - it was a stand up routine that he punctuated with some very entertaining mentalist tricks. Decent show, but very poorly attended.

 

Tomorrow we will be in Nawiliwili, Kauai

[arzz]

Day 9 - Nawiliwili, Kauai, Hawaii

 

Our weather was terrific today - nicely warm but not too hot. At breakfast we sat by the window on the port side of the dining room and got to watch the Amsterdam maneuver into the protected harbor and over to our dock. It was quite something to see for someone like me who has trouble parallel parking our car. We came through the not so large entrance to the harbor and then the Captain had to negotiate a sharp "s" curve between buoys and rocky sea walls. Not a lot of extra space. I would suspect that in a significant wind this port would be a total "no go". A large "bravo" for the dexterity of the good ship Amsterdam, the captain and our local pilot. The real question of the morning , however, is how did the large Ruby Princess which arrived before us made it safely to her berth?

 

Our plan for the day was a Holland America tour titled "Hollywood Hawaii - Movies and Waterfalls". We spent the day in and out of a small air conditioned bus designed to hold a maximum of 25 (we were 17 today) that was equipped with a large flat screen TV at the front. Our guide shared with us clips of lots and lots of films that were made or partially made in Kauai as we motored to see as many locations as possible. We saw the large, famous, vista from the movie "South Pacific" and the beach at Moloaa Bay where the pilot of "Gilligan's Island" was filmed (the actual show was done in a studio in California and the wrecked "Minnow" was shipped from the beach in Kauai to California) - this same beach was used in several scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean among other movies. We saw Wailua Falls which appear in many movies but most familiarly in a fantastic shot taken from a helicopter shown at the beginning of Fantasy Island.

 

We went to the Coco Palms Resort (or what once was the Coco Palms - it was destroyed by a hurricane in 1992 and never rebuilt). Elvis Presley made three films here (most notably Blue Hawaii with its rather famous marriage scene at the end). Elvis was also a frequent visitor at the resort. Some say they saw him today.

 

We saw sights that have been used to represent the South Pacific, South America, Africa, Australia, etc in films. Harrison Ford filmed here in "7 days, 6 nights" and the Indiana Jones movies. Both "King Kong" remake movies were shot here - "Hook", "George of the Jungle", "Donovan's Reef" ... and the list just goes on and on. Disney shot scenes here for the Lilo and Stitch movies that were later animated. All four Jurassic Park films were made here.

 

Our six hour tour day was very camp and lots of fun. It was spectacular to watch a clip of an old movie and then, almost immediately view the same vista in person. Kauai is a beautiful island and is less developed than the other Hawaiian islands. It does not even have a road that circumnavigates the whole island.

 

DH and I were last here in 1974 - at that time we stayed at a campground that was inland where it rained all the time. During our visit we went to Waimea Canyon and we hiked the first two miles or so on the trail at the Nepali Coast to the first beach. As I recall most of the trail is through the rain forest, past waterfalls and along the bitter edge of tall, steep slopes and the trail surface is covered with wet, slippery, red dirt. For most folks the red dirt was underfoot. For me it was under a different portion of my anatomy as I did most of the trail on my rear end because I was so scared. Today we found out that this trail is the number one most dangerous hiking trail in the U.S. Good thing I didn't know that then.

 

Sail away today was pleasant with delightful breezes, pork spring rolls, a stunning orange and deep pink sunset over the mountains and we got to watch the Ruby Princess leave. She was successful as were we.

 

Tomorrow we arrive at Honolulu for a two day stay.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great reporting.

We had the same thing happen in Lahaina. We got in but had a terrible tender ride back to the ship and then all tendering was stopped for a few hours.

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your posts.

 

Keith

[snookymom]

Thanks for taking "us" along with you.

[arzz]

Day 10 - First of two days in Honolulu

 

It has been hot in Hawaii this year. Many days in the '90's which is most unusual - and today was no exception in terms of the weather. It was very hot and very humid with temperatures in the nineties as opposed to the norm of 70's to mid 80's.

 

Last time we were in Honolulu on the Amsterdam (2008) we docked by the Aloha tower - today we were at Pier 2 - a bit of a hike from the Aloha Tower area. Last time we rented a car and drove to the North Shore - DH did some body surfing which did not go entirely well. So as not to embarrass him too much I will not repeat the story. Suffice it to say this year we are not renting a car here or driving to the North Shore. Maybe next trip.

 

Having port time in Honolulu, however, is kind of like having a reprieve from our packing errors. Don't tell anyone but DH packed for a 45 day trip to the South Pacific and took only one pair of shorts. So today we were in the big city and we had the opportunity to rectify his packing mistake. We went to the Ala Moana shopping mall. Anchored with Nordstrom's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale's - why it was just like being at home in the Chicago area. Well, almost.

 

The mall is multilevel and there was nothing that we were able to detect in the signage to let us know at any time what level we were on. Even when we went up to the big mall maps there was no "you are here" sign. At least none that we were able to discern. Because of Hawaii's historically mild weather the mall is sort of indoor/outdoor so today it was very hot. Nevertheless our Mall IQ and our personal desire not to be pegged as tourists got us through the shopping experience. We even found the Walmart that is one block away and managed to purchase some supplies for the school on Fanning Island.

 

Shopping was followed by lunch in a wonderful Japanese restaurant, then back to the ship. It was important to get back before 3:00 or after 4:00 as the ship was having preventative maintenance to its stabilizers and electrical systems today and they needed to turn the ship in order to work on the stabilizers on both sides. Far be it from me to complain about any work needed to keep our stabilizers in good condition. The electrical work was fairly simple for the passengers as it only affected the elevators for five minute periods a few times during the day.

 

We made it back to the ship a little before 3:00 where we cooled off our wilted selves in the air conditioned comfort of the Amsterdam.

 

There was a Hawaiian luau BBQ this evening on the Lido deck - we passed. Even after dark our air here is still thick, humid and hot. Tonight's show was presented by a group from Maui and called the "Drums of Polynesia".

 

When we returned to our cabin after dinner we found the huge hanging monkey towel animal dangling from the air handler in the center of the cabin ceiling. Though it is an outstanding piece of towel art (this one even has a tongue that sticks out and is wearing a flower behind its ear) - it will still scare the c-----p out of me tonight after the lights are off. It will be moved shortly.

 

Tonight we sleep with the cabin drapes closed tightly. Our cabin faced the water this morning when we docked - now our starboard side cabin faces the pier. I wonder if I will sleep as well tonight without the motion of the ship.

[surfcitygirl]

Never knew the Coco Palms was destroyed. Went there in the eighties and it was a gorgeous resort. Sad that it wasn't rebuilt. It was located in what had been a royal palm grove.

[Stratheden]

Thank you so much for your report i am really enjoying it and I love your writing style.

[retiredkid]

Enjoying. Thanks for the update.

[SilvertoGold]

In all our cruising we have never experienced a turn around of the ship for maintenance like this in Honolulu. Appreciate it that you added this tidbit!

 

Really delightful posts.

Thanks so much for your efforts: much appreciated!!

Edited October 12, 2015 by SilvertoGold

[gbolton]

Never knew the Coco Palms was destroyed. Went there in the eighties and it was a gorgeous resort. Sad that it wasn't rebuilt. It was located in what had been a royal palm grove.

 

It wasn't destroyed as much as run down, pigeons living in it etc. Very sad too see the state it is in. Someone with lots of money could restore it - there is some talk that someone will do that one day.

[Copper10-8]

Enjoy reading your reports! Have fun in Kona and on Tabuaeran; they'll be singing on the tender dock for you there