Live from the Amsterdam - Our Tales of the South Pacific

[arzz]

Day 37 - At Sea

 

We are at sea on a very wet and humid day. Most passengers are finding today to be a breath of fresh air as we have had several port days in a row and the break in routine is quite welcome. At breakfast in the Main Dining Room the water was coming down the windows at the stern in sheets and rivulets and it was still doing that at lunch time. The temperatures are in the high seventies and the humidity feel like it is 110%. Now, at mid afternoon the seas are light gray instead of the ominous dark grays of the morning, and the sky is still cloudy but it is now a bit brighter as they are white clouds and not gray. The Captain said that the weather should improve as the day goes on. At least if it has to rain it is better to do so on sea days rather than during our time in port.

 

Since we are at sea I do not expect much to happen today. There is a mariner's cocktail reception scheduled in the Queen's Lounge this evening to which I suspect the whole ship is invited. I will report on that tomorrow if there is anything worthy of report.

 

The highlight of today so far was trivia - yet it was not entirely a highlight since we are once again bridesmaids.

 

There is one trivia question that came up, however, that I wish we had internet that we could afford to use to search the answer. The question was "in what prison was Rudolph Hess the final prisoner", in other words, when Hess was released they had no other prisoners and did not use the building as a prison again. Our team, and many others, answered "Spandau Prison" - Gene's answer was the "Tower of London" - we thought that Hess essentially closed Spandau when he was released ... but it is also possible that he was incarcerated in England in the Tower of London as he was picked up in England and later sent to serve his term out at Spandau - and as such could have "closed" the Tower of London as a prison.

 

We are curious what the correct answer to this question is (not to change our score as that is clearly over and done with) but curious minds want to know. Is it possible that both answers are correct? Help would be appreciated.

 

In other questions, the cartoon character who was originally going to be called "Egghead" is Elmer Fudd, the Pistal Star in the Milky Way is important because it is the brightest star in the Milky Way, Arnold Swartzeneger (please excuse my spelling) won the Mr. Universe contest in '68, '69, and '70, Willy Nelson wrote the Patsy Cline hit "Crazy", and the game that includes squid, wink and pot is tiddley winks. The island upon which the Statue of Liberty stands is now called "Liberty Island", Harley Davidson is one of two U.S. manufacturers of motorcycles that date back to the depression years (the other is Indian), and Beagles were originally bred to hunt rabbits (not fox as we thought).

 

So there is today.

[Copper10-8]

 

It appears you have a valid case for appeal Arzz ;)

 

Rudolf Hess:

 

Captured:

10 May 1941 Floors Farm, Eaglesham, south of Glasgow, Scotland

 

Detained:

Buchanan Castle, Stirlingshire, Scotland

Tower of London - four days only. Hess was the last state prisoner to be held at the castle

Mytchett Place, Surrey

Maindiff Court Hospital, near Abergavenny, Monmouthshire

Nuremberg, Germany

Spandau Military Prison, Berlin, Germany

Died 17 August 1987 at Spandau after hanging himself

Spandau prison was demolished in 1987 after the death of its last prisoner, Rudolf Hess, to prevent it from becoming a neo-**** shrine

Edited November 8, 2015 by Copper10-8

[chefestelle]

Both answers appear to be correct. I googled it from the perspective of both prison names. There seem to be enough sites that agree he was last in each location

[Wehwalt]

No. The question is simply wrong, and "Spandau Prison" the proper answer. Hess was the last prisoner of state at the Tower of London. He was not the final prisoner, see below.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prisoners_of_the_Tower_of_London

 

He unquestionably was the last prisoner at Spandau. The six others (post WWII) had all been released and in fact were all dead by then.

 

http://www.nndb.com/lists/741/000134339/

 

No quibble can be made about the word "building" as the Tower of London is not a single building. Spandau, as I recall, was a single building (although there were sheds and such, Hess died in one).

 

So you guys gave the correct answer.

Edited November 8, 2015 by Wehwalt

[chefestelle]

Well, you can't beat that! I only trust the wiki sites with real references as this one seems to have. Well done Wehalt. Hope they get an honorary reward!

[carri cruiser]

Well, you can't beat that! I only trust the wiki sites with real references as this one seems to have. Well done Wehalt. Hope they get an honorary reward!

 

We often play trivia when we sail, and have found out that the pat answer is always......... Corporate says: (whatever, that is the correct answer, no matter what!

[arzz]

Day 38 - Taiohae (Nuku Hiva) French Polynesia (Marquesas)

 

First a big thank you to Copper 10-8 and all those who helped out with that trivia question. Since today was a port day (no team trivia) I have not yet been able to share this with our cruise director, Gene - we do not expect him to change anything but to be aware that it may not be a good question for the future.

 

Well, for some it was a port day. Sunny and 88, a tender port, and DH had a headache today and really did not feel like going in. If we had docked here we may have made a different decision - I decided to stay with him. We had a lazy day which, at times, is most welcome on a trip like this.

 

I cannot tell you much about the island - only what I could see from the ship - mountains and rocks - green cover though not as jungle like as our last several islands, possibly more arid. The mountains had some rock faces that were eroded and the rock appeared to be in layers like sedimentary rock - but we are not geologists so we are only guessing. There were sail boats in the harbor and we could see a couple of small towns, churches and many homes. If I learn anything interesting about this island tomorrow when I talk to folks who actually went there I will share.

 

This evening our entertainment is (or are?) Marionettes - I peeked in to the early show and there sure enough was a gentleman dressed in black on the stage manipulating a singing marionette. What more can I say? I did not stay to see if it was entertaining or not.

 

From here we have approximately 2834 nautical miles to go between this afternoon and the morning of the 16th when we are to arrive in San Diego. It should be an interesting week.

[arzz]

Day 39 & 40 - At sea and across the equator

 

Ooops! I forgot to post yesterday. It was a sea day. Not much happened other than the wonderful stuff that sea days are made of ... There was the Mariner's Brunch and there was trivia.

 

We skipped the Mariner's brunch in favor of trivia - awards had already been given at the Mariner's Cocktail reception two days earlier - and yesterday was our last gala night so the thought of eating a large lunch and a gala dinner ... well, for me, just too much food so trivia seemed more promising a choice.

 

Since Gene was at the Mariner's Brunch, the trivia was handled by someone else (do not know his name) and there were many, many points involved. For example, he asked for the six official languages of the UN and each language was one point so it became a 6 point question (the languages are English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic for those who are interested). The only member of the cat family who cannot retract its claws is the cheetah. The famous captain whose name is Jonas Grumby and his ship are the "Skipper" from Gilligan's Island and his "ship" (and I do use that term loosely here) is the SS Minnow. The first name of the Phantom from "The Phantom of the Opera" is Eric (which was used only in the original book but not in the theatre productions). Earth's brightest city is Las Vegas - and then there was the ten point bonus question: Name the ten films that starred Tom Hanks in the 1990's that each grossed over a hundred million dollars.

 

Today's trivia was a bit different -- we had to come up with the common English phrases that came about through the origins that Gene read to us. For example: the Indians used to throw purified fatty milk balls at the statues of the Gods in order to gain their favor: "butter someone up". Long ago when people were buried there was concern that they may have been buried prematurely so there was a bell present in each coffin in case the "corpse" woke up: "Saved by the bell". Somehow this type of reasoning was very challenging for our team. We only got about half of them correct. Gene said today's trivia will not count towards our cumulative ratings - and it looks like the prize could be worthwhile for the winners ... on board credit. Now it is going to get really competitive!

 

This morning at 8:58 am (as listed on our certificates) or 8:45 am as shared by the Captain, we crossed the equator. Our position was 0 degrees North and 135 degrees 16.7 minutes West.

 

There was, of course, a King Neptune ceremony held on deck in order to pacify King Neptune. Of course, since we were at the equator, it was hot and sunny. We arrived early enough to get chairs which, at first, seemed like a good idea - however, as we had to sit in the sun and wait for twenty minutes for the ceremony to begin ... well, not the best of plans.

 

Two long blasts of the ship's horn and the arrival of the Captain and Executive Officers signaled the beginning of the proceedings. If you think we were hot, I can only imagine how Gene, wearing a large white wig and black robes felt, let alone King Neptune and his Queen. There was a large, beautiful, frozen fish mounted on a tray of fruit - it was a somewhat colorful fish that resembled an oversized angel fish. The "doctors and nurses" in their scrubs followed and they took their positions by the tables and large bins of colorful goo. Then came the "prisoners," the "polywogs" representing all departments of the ship and the judging, kissing of fish, gooing, and downing in the "drink" (the lido pool) began. Unfortunately, due to the extreme heat and since we were not being thrown into the drink ourselves (which would have been a pleasant pastime for us by then) - we left, but the party continued. We understand the chef, was treated thoroughly by the whole gang of doctors and nurses before he hit the drink. A good time was had by all.

[Lizzie68]

No worries if you forget to post. It's YOUR vacation, we are just happy to get any reports whenever. I do enjoy your trivia comments, I must say - and I am storing away some of the correct answers for future reference.:D

[arzz]

Day 41 - Still At Sea

 

Another sea day. Unlike yesterday it was overcast and rainy all day. I spent a lot of time on the promenade deck today enjoying the gentle breeze and the warm air. I watched several simultaneous cloudy skies that ranged from almost blue to deep grey with streaks of rain extending down to the several oceans that reflected each of the skies above. The sounds of the water and rain only added to the magical experience.

 

This morning I returned inside only because it was trivia time and to my chagrin discovered that I was quite wet on my right side. Either I was unwittingly sitting under a drippy spot on the promenade deck, or I sat on a cushion that was already wet from the rain. I was so mesmerized by the seas and the skies I had not noticed.

 

Trivia today was attackable and we could have won if we had not overthought two of the questions. The one we really did not know was who owns all of the Hard Rock Cafe franchises - turns out it is the Seminole Indian Tribe - now there is an example of general knowledge trivia?

 

We changed our answer on the common name for sweet wood, lick weed or Spanish jice root from the correct answer of licorice to the incorrect sassparilla. Likewise we blew the bonus by changing the most popular soda today in the world from Diet Coke to Coca Cola. When the stakes get high (on board credit) it does become a different game. Is the fun gone?

 

This afternoon was the Indonesian Crew show. This trip they are doing the crew shows in the afternoon at 3:00 (Yeah! what a great idea - so much better than 11 pm) and each show is being done twice. We all received invitations in our cabin telling us which day to see the show and they check them at the door! Today was my day, and it was the second performance. But - no contest - this was the best crew show I have ever seen on Holland America. The costumes were beautiful, the dances well done, and it was interesting and most entertaining to watch. Bravo for a superb performance by the Amsterdam's Indonesian crew!

 

Now the Filipino Crew show on Friday afternoon must compete with today - the bar has been raised. No pun intended.

 

Late this afternoon the skies though still overcast and cloudy evened out into one sky, and the sea into one sea. In the distance there was a shiny white spot on the water - it was our pure white sun which made an appearance in the last hour before sunset. Ahhh ... sea days.

[arzz]

Day 42 - Half Way Back to San Diego

 

Today, around noon, we passed the halfway point between Nuku Hiva and San Diego (not that we are counting or anything) ... only three more sea days ... I will miss this. I will miss the morning ritual of dressing and looking for those hidden laundry tags that will either embarrass or cause irritation later in the day if not captured. I will miss having my room cleaned, my laundry done, my food served (and even more importantly cooked for me and cleaned up after the meal).

 

Trivia had nothing remarkable to share today - except that we talked ourselves out of a perfect score on each of three questions ... things have gotten much too serious. The tone has changed.

 

The skies were partly cloudy - there was sun early - the temperatures were in the upper seventies with a nice breeze - but by mid afternoon the clouds came and we could see that we were definitely headed away from the good stuff and into the grey stuff. On the promenade I watched the waves break against the hull spraying crystal droplets into the air which filled with rainbows when caught by the sun and spilled into aqua foam at the sea's surface. The seas climbed as the day progressed and the sun and rainbows disappeared. I was still mesmerized as the breakers were now spraying up to the lifeboats.

 

My reverie was interrupted by the deck crew who came out, just before sunset, whisked the cushions and chairs away and brought out large floor scrubbers and small buckets of stuff labeled "Teak Restoration". Even when mesmerized I can take a hint.

 

The seas have continued to climb some, the winds are force 7, and I do believe that we have been having some rain. There is nice motion in the cabin and the seasickness bags are out by the elevators. Well, we are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Should be a good night for sleeping.

[Vict0riann]

You are becoming a poet! :-)

[Windy56]

Day 42 - Half Way Back to San Diego

 

Today, around noon, we passed the halfway point between Nuku Hiva and San Diego (not that we are counting or anything) ... only three more sea days ... I will miss this. I will miss the morning ritual of dressing and looking for those hidden laundry tags that will either embarrass or cause irritation later in the day if not captured. I will miss having my room cleaned, my laundry done, my food served (and even more importantly cooked for me and cleaned up after the meal).

 

Trivia had nothing remarkable to share today - except that we talked ourselves out of a perfect score on each of three questions ... things have gotten much too serious. The tone has changed.

 

The skies were partly cloudy - there was sun early - the temperatures were in the upper seventies with a nice breeze - but by mid afternoon the clouds came and we could see that we were definitely headed away from the good stuff and into the grey stuff. On the promenade I watched the waves break against the hull spraying crystal droplets into the air which filled with rainbows when caught by the sun and spilled into aqua foam at the sea's surface. The seas climbed as the day progressed and the sun and rainbows disappeared. I was still mesmerized as the breakers were now spraying up to the lifeboats.

 

My reverie was interrupted by the deck crew who came out, just before sunset, whisked the cushions and chairs away and brought out large floor scrubbers and small buckets of stuff labeled "Teak Restoration". Even when mesmerized I can take a hint.

 

The seas have continued to climb some, the winds are force 7, and I do believe that we have been having some rain. There is nice motion in the cabin and the seasickness bags are out by the elevators. Well, we are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Should be a good night for sleeping.

 

I have so enjoyed your trip report. Your description of the waves breaking was so evocative and so well written, that I read it several times just to let the words roll off my tongue and see the images in my mind's eye.

 

My husband and I have booked our first Grand World Voyage, departing in January of 2017. The account of your cruise has made me so excited!

 

Thank you for your effort in getting these posts completed. Much enjoyed and much appreciated.

 

Cathy

[Copper10-8]

...........................................................

 

Since Gene was at the Mariner's Brunch, the trivia was handled by someone else (do not know his name) and there were many, many points involved......................................................

 

I'm thinking either Rene, the show host/D.J. (tall Dutch guy with a shaved head) or Mark, the Event Manager (big guy) took the honors

[Scrapnana]

Would someone explain this cumulative trivia thing, please?

[arzz]

Day 43 - At sea and getting tired of rowing

 

Our sea days continue. We are finally less than 1000 miles from San Diego - a mixed blessing. It will be good to go home, but it also means the end of a wonderful voyage.

 

This afternoon we were all stunned by the news of the happenings in Paris and for us, at least, it really has cast a shadow on our mood. Our prayers and thoughts to everyone involved.

 

Copper 10-8, our "guest" trivia host was, indeed, the events manager. Thanks for the input.

 

For us, we do little more on sea days lately than relax, walk the promenade, and play trivia. That is not to say that there is nothing else to do. We still have guest lecturers - one speaking on the stars, another who talks about the oceans and Kainoa, our location guide, who has been sharing stories on Hawaiian and Polynesian history and lore. There are the digital classes, a writing workshop, arts and crafts, dance classes, art auction, on board shops and casino events, fitness classes, bridge and watercolors among the offerings. We also have hula classes, ukulele classes, and Dancing with the Stars. Yet we, still, just float with the seas, mostly.

 

We won in trivia today but probably not enough or soon enough - cumulative trivia ends tomorrow. For those who asked - on the longer voyages the cruise director usually has some sort of cumulative incentive for the trivia teams. I have seen it done differently on different cruises. What Gene has been doing is this - we had a few sea days to establish our permanent teams - after that time, each day, after the trivia has been scored we turn in our team answer sheets and Gene keeps track of our cumulative scores (basically the sum of all of our daily team scores) and he will gift the team that has the highest total score with some on board credit.

 

Today we continued to answer, as Gene says, the general knowledge questions that he presents. Things like what does the number 8 on the Beaufort wind scale stand for (gale), how many pieces in a chess set (32), what country invaded Russia in 1939 (Finland) and what is the stage name of the grammy and golden globe award winner Robert Allen Zimmerman (Bob Dylan). And today we also had the "general knowledge" question "When a muon decays it emits two nutrinos and ...." (an electron). The only question that we missed was which is the furthest north: Cypress, Sicily or Crete (Sicily) - we had a team disagreement between Cypress and Sicily - too bad the team consensus was not the correct answer.

 

We also enjoyed an Ice Cream Social on the Lido deck this afternoon that came complete with live demonstrations of ice carving. I skipped this one since I am lactose intolerant -grump. And, it was our day to see the Filipino Crew show. They did a fine job full of color, dancing, and culture. Another enjoyable afternoon on the Amsterdam.

[GeorgesGal]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your 'live from'. Found it earlier and read right till this last posting!

 

Now I have to go to HAL's site and find this cruise for next year. What a great way to see the South Pacific without those horrible flights.

 

Thanks for taking all the time for this blog. Wish I had been there in person, but this will have to suffice for the time being!

 

Donna

[Scrapnana]

Thanks for the explanation of the cumulative trivia. That's a nice thing for the CD to do as it makes more work for him.

 

Congratulations on your win!

[arzz]

Day 45 - Trivia Ends and the West Coast is in Sight

 

Another grey day - winds a little lower - but the temperatures are lower too - it is presently 68 degrees and the Captain said it will be cooler than that tomorrow. We were so lucky with our weather in the South Pacific I cannot complain but I will need to be a little bundled up to enjoy the promenade deck today.

 

Trivia today - drumroll - Gene added up the best 14 scores for each team for the cruise and announced the standings going into the game - he said there were only three teams that were really in contention for the first place prize, and our team was the leader - four points ahead.

 

Very nerve racking to know that when we like to just play to have a good time. To increase to the chance element of the game, today's trivia would be scored, and then today's score would be doubled ...

 

To enhance the quality of today's event, Gene ordered champaign be served to all participants (we play at 11:45 am) so an element of inebriation was also added to the atmosphere. Gene then passed out more "South Pacific" pins to anyone who wanted one.

 

Clarence is the name of the angel in "Its a Wonderful Life", The Eiffel Tower is about 1000 feet tall, the Suez canal separates the Mediterranean Sea from the Red Sea, Honshu is the largest island in Japan, Paraguay and Bolivia are the two land locked countries in South America, the elephant is the only land mammal with four knee joints, and the Rubics Cube has 54 sides.

 

Question 15, the last question, was worth 5 points and as best as I can understand it was: "what is the largest amount of currency (he meant in coins) that you can you hold in your hand and still not have change for a dollar?" - the correct answer was $1.19 (three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies) - we sweated that one but did figure it out correctly.

 

And ... I hate to brag, but our team won the on board credit. Whew!

 

Spent the afternoon cleaning out the junk drawer and verifying our preliminary statement followed by "cupcake tea" - an extravagant affair with a wide variety of tasty little cupcake treats offered in a buffet on the way into the dining room - and white, chocolate and strawberry milk was offered to accompany the cakes in addition to tea.

 

Then it was out on the promenade deck where I got involved with my quote acrosticks (a variation of the crossword puzzle) and the sunset and forgot that I wanted to go to the Farewell Reception and Cruise Memories (free wine) in the Queen's Lounge - oops! Its all part of shipboard life.

 

Heavens! Tomorrow we have to pack!

[chefestelle]

Congrats! What a great way to finish the cruise trivia!

[Mrs. Walkinman]

I'm so glad you won the cumulative trivia!

 

How much credit did each of you win?

[Scrapnana]

Congratulations on your trivia win and a great prize! (I get excited when we win a free drink!)

[lazey1]

Thank you for posting this "live from". I had to cancel this cruise and reading your dailys brightened my days so many times.

[arzz]

Day 45 - the REAL Day 45

 

Sorry, I numbered yesterday's blog incorrectly.

 

Its all over except for the packing - well, except for DH's packing - he never wants to start that too early. Sometime before midnight, I guess.

 

This morning the humidity had dropped quite a bit overnight - it is now only 68% and the noon temperature is only 64 degrees ... but we have more sun than clouds today so far so it is a nice day to finish a voyage.

 

Some comments:

 

Most everything has been done perfectly this trip. Our cabin stewards Ukiss and Andi never missed a beat - we had no special requests because everything was always done right. Kudos to them.

 

Our service in the dining room this trip was absolutely superb - we eat at 8pm fixed dining and we were always done by 9:15 at the latest without feeling one bit rushed. Our waiters Ali and Sidan were incredible in keeping the meal going properly, remembering all of our personal preferences and providing service in keeping with our expectations of excellent service on Holland America.

 

Dining room breakfast (our preference) was also always perfect. Ade saw to it that we were able to sit quietly at a table for two and enjoy our daily Times Digest every day - Yitno delivered our favorite sweet rolls every morning without asking and always with a smile.

 

The ship seems to be in very decent shape for the most part - if you look hard you might find some carpet that is a little worn here and there but you have to look hard to find these things. The beds in our cabin had new mattresses since the last time we were aboard last winter and they were much appreciated. I got many nights of great sleep. Our cabin was also in great repair, not one issue there either.

 

On our last trip on the Amsterdam in December we had issues in our cabin and with the ship. No such issues at all this trip.

 

As usual the crew is constantly cleaning, maintaining, repairing, revarnishing, etc to keep the ship in the good condition that we all wish to see.

 

Kudos to the crew and staff that made this possible.

 

I wish to repeat a special thank you to the tender crew in Neiafu Vava'u Tonga who worked so hard, so patiently and so gently in the heat to help passengers get on and off the tenders when the tides and the height of the tender dock were nowhere close to being in agreement.

 

There are only two points that I could wish to make:

 

First point, I have already beaten to death but boy do I miss the custom sandwich bar at lunch. It is great that there is always sushi, stir fry, oriental noodle soups, a varied hot line, pizza and pasta and a salad bar among other choices - but especially on a long cruise like this I do miss a simple, custom sandwich for the simple, small lunch. The pre made sandwiches just do not do it for me. They are too large and not to my taste.

 

Second point is a little picky - but the account statements for this cruise were divided into segments (though our credit cards will not be charged until tomorrow when we leave the ship) - at each segment we were presented with a statement to check for errors - we had to report the errors by 6 pm the day received in order to make corrections ... and each time we received a statement it was a port day - in one port we were to be in port overnight that day - not a great time to look at the details of statements to find those errors. I do have to say, however, we found no errors this trip.

 

A third point, but it is personal. I started this cruise as a 4 star mariner with 487 cruise day credits. I know the general policy is to award changes in star status at the end of the cruise. Since this was a very long cruise I had hoped that after two weeks I might be able to get my star status upgraded to five star so that we could take advantage of a couple of free Pinnacle Grill dinners and the internet minutes. About two weeks in I inquired at the front desk. They looked me up and immediately replied, rather surprised, that I had 487 days when I started the cruise but then told me that my status could not be upgraded until the end of the cruise - and this morning we finally received our five star pins.

 

I will post this now - at mid afternoon while I can still use my internet minutes. If anything else comes up I will post more later.

[Stratheden]

Thank you for your reports. I have really enjoyed sailing along with you.

 

I do hope you have mentioned on your 'in room' cards that you miss the sandwich bar.