Join Pete and Judy on their FIRST World Cruise on the Amsterdam

[whogo]

Where am I?

 

The Pineapple Grill.

[Lizzie68]

Correct...no art auctions...

 

Well, that alone would make it worth booking a World Cruise.:D:D

[brainyblonde]

Please say Hi to Rich and Brigette from the Brainyblondes. They are on the first leg and use the tag line, HALfanatics. Great couple!

[vino100]

We were on the Reventazon river. The El Carmen section. We had zero experience rafting. First time. I would call this pretty mild. You had to be able to wade in knee deep water or slippery rocks to climb into the raft....not hard but....not for mobility limited either. It was fun....bring a towel and wear water shoes....bring a swims suit....there is a place to change....you WILL get very wet...

 

Thanks for the quick reply. Just the info I was looking for. We have no mobility issues so I'm going to book the trip .

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Very competitive Baggo game in progress

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Where am I?

 

 

Outside the Pinnacle Grill

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Outside the Pinnacle Grill

 

 

No correct answer. Outside the Lido

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Where am I?

 

[cruz chic]

Where am I?

 

 

Dive in

[The-Inside-Cabin]

I am pretty sure they are different. I would not want to pay an extra $50 pp for the same menu.

 

Here's a follow up question, do you get Mariner discounts on the theme nights? I would guess yes.

 

I have learned there is not discount for the special dinners. $79 for all - no discounts...

 

James Bond Menu Attached

James Bond Menu001.pdf

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Dive in

 

Correct

[cruz chic]

I have learned there is not discount for the special dinners. $79 for all - no discounts...

 

James Bond Menu Attached

 

Thx for posting. That doesn't tempt me at all.

[cccole]

Absolutely love your posts and love that you are now letting viewers participate in the "Where Am I?" For many of us who would love to do the WC you only encourage us. Thank you sooooo much. Your post re the meeting for veterans on board brought a smile to my face thinking of all the "stories" that were being shared. What fun. In that regard...do you ever compare your Navy cruises to a leisure cruise? Thank you again for bringing us along. Cherie

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Where would you find this on the Amsterdam?

 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Clear, bright blue skies contrasted with the deep blue Pacific as we continued our westward push toward Nuku Hiva. Good food is one of the joys of cruising and there is not much better than a delicious breakfast delivered to your room. We enjoy a leisurely start to our day and Holland America’s room service breakfast is outstanding and unmatched by any other mass market line. Breakfast arrived precisely on time, as usual and the weather was perfect so we decided to enjoy our breakfast on our deck. Even on a “normal” (non Grand Voyage) you can write pretty much anything on the breakfast menu card and it will be delivered with a smile. But on a Grand World Voyage, the expanded menu card makes ordering all than much easier. The tray is delivered with a small vase with real flowers, a nice selection of jams in small jars with the plates sitting on heavy metal serving plates to keep the food warm as it makes the journey from the kitchen to your room.

 

 

Good Morning Amsterdam opened with the announcement of the winner of the Cabin Stewards towel folding competition. Azed, from Indonesia was the clear winner, with over 300 votes cast. Azed will get to choose a shore excursion of his choice as his prize. His creation was a giant lobster, much bigger than the ones you may find in your room some evening. The main guests were the dancers who entertained the guests the previous evening. Gene always does a wonderful interview and hearing the performers expand on their backgrounds in an informal setting is a real treat and makes this event a must see event for me.

 

I am slowly collecting Grand Dollars – with a bank of $32 accumulated so far. I attended the Baggo competition today held next to the pool. Baggo is a game called Cornhole in some parts of the USA, Two teams separated by about 30 feet toss bean bags onto a inclined board with a hole cut out at one end. The first team to toss 10 bean bags into the hole wins. It took 30 minutes for one team to win collecting the winners prize of $3 Grand Dollars with the losing team getting a single dollar. Gene told me afterwards that there will be a Grand Dollar redemption event prior to Sydney and to give you a sense of the Grand Dollars’ value – you can trade $5000 Grand Dollars for $100 USD in shipboard credit which means each Grand Dollar is worth 2 cents.

 

The weather was beautiful today and I spent some time wandering around the open decks and checking out the walkers on deck 3. A lot of outside activity everywhere. I am pleased to report that there is no evidence of people reserving deck chairs and there were always empty chairs available by the pool whenever I happened by.

 

Today was Sunday and they created a wonderful Sunday Brunch buffet in the lower (deck 4) dining room. The presentation was very nice and while I was too full eat, it was fun to check out the offerings.

 

Our Ukelele class has merged into a single long class. Our instructor is wonderful and he is providing a fascinating inside to music theory and the structure of music from Rock and Roll to Do-Wop.

 

The final day of our 4 part craft series completed today with the construction of earrings from the wall paper beads we made a few days ago.

 

I discovered a wonderful Ramen Noodle station near the Pool entrance to the Lido Restaurant. This looks like a small push cart that serves hot ramen noodles along with hard boiled eggs, beef or chicken and other fixins. It was very good and will become a part of my regular food rotation.

 

This evening entertainment started with the gameshow : Call My Bluff. The Events Manager, Mark, was joined by Gene and Comedian Kermet on stage in the Queens Lounge. Show Host Erin proceeded to read an obscure word and gave each of the 3 “contestants” an opportunity to tell a long winded and sometimes humorous definition of the word. The audience would vote by applause as to which person was telling the truth. There were 4 rounds and the audience only guessed correctly once. Three of the words were: Squakyhole, Zumbooruck and Impignorate. It was silly but very entertaining.

 

Dinner was joy as always – service remains perfect – food excellent. We were joined this evening by the ships Doctor, Laura, and her husband, Chas, for the second time. We learned he is an amateur magician and he entertained us over dessert with some amazing sleight of hand. He made some lighted balls appear and disappear as you can see in the accompanying photograph.

 

Tonight’s entertainer was Sarah Chandler, the saxophone player we enjoyed dinner with a few nights ago. Her performance was outstanding and received a standing ovation. She played an Alto Sax, a Soprano Sax and the flute and wore an amazing gold sequin dress.

 

 

I have included a copy of the menu for the special “James Bond” Themed Pinnacle Dinner. There was a $79 surcharge that included wine – but was not discounted as is normal for other Pinnacle Dinners based on Mariner status. A copy of the menu is on the blog under Daily Activities along with the On Location Guide where you can read about all the events – and there are many – that I didn’t attend or discuss here.

 

More pictures on the blog http://www.theinsidecabin.com

[NanaJPB]

Lido Pool bears

[The-Inside-Cabin]

Absolutely love your posts and love that you are now letting viewers participate in the "Where Am I?" For many of us who would love to do the WC you only encourage us. Thank you sooooo much. Your post re the meeting for veterans on board brought a smile to my face thinking of all the "stories" that were being shared. What fun. In that regard...do you ever compare your Navy cruises to a leisure cruise? Thank you again for bringing us along. Cherie

 

 

An expanded post comparing USN to leisure cruises coming soon

[KirkNC]

I have learned there is not discount for the special dinners. $79 for all - no discounts...

 

James Bond Menu Attached

 

Thanks for the menu! To bad on the discounts. While the menu looked good, I am not sure it is $79 good.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Where would you find this on the Amsterdam?

 

 

At the mid-ship pool

[The-Inside-Cabin]

The Bear is at the mid deck pool - Correct..

[shrimp56]

The Pineapple Grill.

Nope. The Lido Grill.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

The Bear is at the mid deck pool - Correct..

 

Here are the pictures of the bears near the pool.

 

The second picture shows a bell. Where am I?

[Airnocker]

"A shipbuilding contest was announced and I think I was the first person to sign up. We have until February 9th to build our creation. I will post the rules on the blog and will accept any tips from previous participants. While discussing this with contest with the knitting group, we learned there was a minor scandal on the 2006 world cruise when the daughter of a crew member allegedly received preferential scoring on her teams entry much to the chagrin of others."

 

Hi Pete&Judi

It feels like we're cruising with you. Thanks.

We participated in the shipbuilding contest held during the 2015 Voyage of the Vikings. The ship was to be "viking boat" themed with the operative words being size matters. Our whole MDR table participated in the building, and had a lot of fun doing so. Nepotism reigned. Our ship was far away the best looking and second in size. We were judged third. The Club Hal boat was given first place, another very large, rather unattractive boat, that must have been half the pool length, second. If you're in it for real competition I'd suggest seeing if any in-house boats will be entering. If you're interested, I'll email you pics and construction details. ehouston1 at cox dot net.

Eric

[albi]

Ships bell front of the ship

[Scrapnana]

Pete and Judy,

 

I am loving reading your thorough, up-beat, "having a wonderful time" reports. Your enthusiasm is catching. Two weeks of reading your reports and I am already making plans for my next world cruise!

 

Hope the rest of the cruise is as great as the start and thanks for taking us along.

 

Kathi