Live from the Westerdam-Join the "Pearls of the Pacific" gang's South Pacific Cruise

[kazu]

Hi Jacqui and Jose!. Hope you are enjoying your trip.

 

 

 

Have you had time to ask the steward for PS7046 if they have the new brown furniture in the living room after drydock? I assume you are in a NS.;)

 

 

 

Thanks :)

 

 

Looks like KK has answered the question. I hadn't had time yet. Been a busy beaver but things are freeing up now ;). I will double check for you if you like. Yes, we are in NS - thanks to our TA for helping us, we got an upsell.

 

It's a big help with the elbow. No crowds for breakfast, more space and less things to accidentally "bump" into.

 

 

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[kazu]

Well, I really fell behind the first two days, didn't I? With the bad embarkation, late luggage and everything else (and meet and greet the next day) I got very discombobulated.

 

If I may, a bit of backtracking......

 

We had our pre-cruise dinner at the Fish Market in San Diego. 26 of us were there (the most they could accommodate in the alcove area).

 

Food was good. Company was great and I think everyone had a good time. Many thanks to SusieKIslandGirl for setting this up.

 

Here are the Pearls of the Pacific roll call that were at the dinner

 

 

 

 

Of course, Kazu just HAD to have oysters. Yum, they were very very good.

 

 

A bit of a story if I may. Here is Jack who attended our sail a way. Jack belongs to TravelingDot. Jack, her DH was stricken with cancer and died very quickly, sadly a few months before the cruise. It was his dying wish that she still go so she is here and has brought Jack with her in spirit and always has him dressed nicely. R.I.P. Jack.

 

A lot of admiration for Dot as I know as much as she has looked forward to this cruise, embarkation day would have been a very tough one.

 

 

I fear this pics will be too big and widen the screen as they are from my camera. I checked my old live thread before we left and couldn't find the app that I saw recommended for re-sizing. There are several options on the App Store for iPad and I have no idea what works well and what doesn't.

 

If anyone has any recommendations, feel free to post and I will buy an app to try to resolve picture sizing problems. Thanks :)

 

 

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[retiredkid]

actually, Kazu...... for me, the pictures are large, legible, and easy on the eyes. My computer screen did not widen nor distort in any way. those oysters look yummy. sending positive thoughts to TravelingDot. Thanks so much for taking the time to share with us.

[HappyMe_]

Hi, following your cruise. Loved the Jack story. He looks in fine form. Your photos are perfect on my iPad. Thanks for taking time to post. Phyllis

 

 

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[kazu]

Here is the On Location from our second day at sea as well as the menus for that evening in the MDR.

 

Boy, oh boy - I have to say that there are lots of activities. Leia making, Hula hula dancing, lecturers - I can't see how anyone can complain really. There has to be something for everyone so far on this sailing. Lecturers are really good IMO. and the hula hula dancing is great. Looks like we have a natural in our midst on our roll call. Sherifa is very good.

 

There is a team of Hawaiin dancers and performers on board. They are staying with us all the way and we are picking up more. They have already done one performance with rave reviews along with the other activities they provide. I believe we shall have some more performances

 

Our ladies teaching the hula to willing passengers:

 

 

Our 2nd day On Location

 

 

 

 

Our menu from the 2nd night and everything was delicious!!!!!

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Our third day we had our first group PG luncheon. It was a set menu, but Eva kindly substituted and added things. I was told it would be regular menu, but she feared serving would lack, so with a bit of flexibility, we got it amended so that hopefully everyone was happy.

 

A little food porn to make your day. (I do remember sometimes - LOL - and I will do my best to get better!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Boy oh boy did I MISS out yesterday. Somehow, for some reason we were gifted a Cellar Master package. It says it's from HAL but I am still scratching my head. So, the good wine tasting was included. Unfortunately, it was scheduled for the same time as our slot pull. So DH asked Gigianne if she would like to be his date and I went to the slot pull. We had lots of fun there as reported but DH said that..

 

IT WAS THE BEST WINE TASTING HE HAS EVER BEEN TO. He is very impressed with the cellar master. The wines weren't from the Admiral package but really good wines. DH and Gigianne were very impressed. For those that like Ingo (and we are fans), DH said he was much better and more knowledgeable. That says quite a lot.

 

Here is the lovely wine tasting they had...

 

 

If any of you are lucky enough to have this cellar master, grab anything he has on the go. There is a ton of stuff and so far it's all been good.

 

They have a Hawaiin beer tasting as well. Beer really isn't my thing so DH is going to go with sapper1's DH. But the tasting is really intriguing.

 

Here is the menu....

 

 

They also have a real Premier wine tasting with bottles of wine that are $799-$1000 and boy does it sound good. It's $99 per person, but sadly it conflicts with our cabin crawl. Very limited - only 20 people are signed up for it.

 

You will notice that our cellar master does the majority of the wine tastings in the Pinnacle Grill. Very, very nice indeed.

 

Here is the On Location for the day...

 

 

 

 

INTERNET COMMENT - we are about 3/4 the way through the South Pacific - in the middle of nowhere and, I am sitting on my verandah posting these!!!! It takes time to upload the pics but it's not unreasonable IMO and like last year, I am very pleased with the Internet.

 

Well I will have to update more later. It's nearly Bingo time and I have missed two games already. (WHAT!!!! - Kazu miss a bingo game???). Not today.

 

One question Cruise Director Mario - WHY IS BINGO AT THE SAME TIME AS HAPPY HOUR??? That's ok, I'll sacrifice. Back later with more updates from the beautiful, elegant Westerdam :)

 

 

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[Vict0riann]

Off to Happy Hour in the Crows Nest!

[MekesMom]

Advantage to drinking solo at HH. Nice that they take pre-orders but service was still slow. Royal Manhattans worth the wait.

[Vict0riann]

Just a note: before we sailed, I had ordered a fan for our room. The person I had spoken to at Ha AL was a bit offhand, so I asked him for an email confirmation that it would be there,

[Vict0riann]

I've been trying to edit my previous post, but it won't let me. Anyway, the end of the story is that there was no fan in our room, and when I asked our room steward, Rudy, he said he would try to find me one, and if he couldn't, he would give me his personal one. I told him I certainly did not want to deprive him of his room fan! Fortunately, he was able to get a fan for us, and we were happy he didn't have to give us his!

[Scrapnana]

We had our first Bunco game today with six roll call members in attendance. It was fun and I got to meet some people I haven't had a chance to before.

 

Jacqui - I use iResize on my iPads. I resize to about 25-30% and pictures upload much faster. Only downside is that if the viewer wants to enlarge the picture too much it will get blurry. Let me know if you have any questions or want a demo.

[kazu]

I've been trying to edit my previous post, but it won't let me. Anyway, the end of the story is that there was no fan in our room, and when I asked our room steward, Rudy, he said he would try to find me one, and if he couldn't, he would give me his personal one. I told him I certainly did not want to deprive him of his room fan! Fortunately, he was able to get a fan for us, and we were happy he didn't have to give us his!

 

Good news on the fan, Ann. :).

 

Tapatalk doesn't like the length of our title and the only way to edit is to go to regular internet/safari/whatever and edit, sadly.

 

We had our first Bunco game today with six roll call members in attendance. It was fun and I got to meet some people I haven't had a chance to before.

 

Jacqui - I use iResize on my iPads. I resize to about 25-30% and pictures upload much faster. Only downside is that if the viewer wants to enlarge the picture too much it will get blurry. Let me know if you have any questions or want a demo.

 

I missed Bunco, sorry. Suite luncheon threw things off. I did warn Susie I may not make it, thankfully.

 

Thanks for the iResize Kathi. I think if I use the medium on tapatalk options the pics will be ok. So, best for documents and medium for pics. I'll have to wait and see.

 

I'll have to catch up to you - I don't want my pics resized forever. LOL.

 

Thanks again :)

[teamflames]

It's a very smooth sail :) :). Very pleasantly surprised :)

 

 

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Thanks for responding, I have only done a med cruise so always wonder what a cruise out into the worlds oceans must be like. I would be nervous about sea sickness

[jertom]

 

Here is the On Location for the day...

 

INTERNET COMMENT - we are about 3/4 the way through the South Pacific - in the middle of nowhere and, I am sitting on my verandah posting these!!!! It takes time to upload the pics but it's not unreasonable IMO and like last year, I am very pleased with the Internet.

 

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kazu, the OnLocation photos came out very well. I saved them to my computer to prepare for our similar cruise next year. Thanks!

[1of4]

Just in case the Canadians are missing home (ha) :rolleyes: we are having another snow storm today. No snow clearing equipment as the contracts have ended.:mad:

 

Now doesn't that make you feel good? :D Enjoy your sea day!

[Alberta Quilter]

Just in case the Canadians are missing home (ha) :rolleyes: we are having another snow storm today. No snow clearing equipment as the contracts have ended.:mad:

 

Now doesn't that make you feel good? :D Enjoy your sea day!

 

Oh, my goodness! I am so sorry you're going through that when it's so lovely on this side of the country. Well, it's windy here but quite balmy. I don't dare tell you what the predicted high is for Friday... I know we'll pay for it with a wet, heavy snowfall that will break more trees. I just hope it doesn't happen the day we fly out for our cruise in three weeks!

 

Apologies for the drift; back to regularly scheduled programming! I'm looking forward to more reports of sea days and Hawaiian ports since that's where we're going in three weeks!!

[0bnxshs]

Jacqui, great updates and just makes me blue not being there too. :( (or purple....)

 

Good to see and hear from so many friends. :)

 

Say hi to Ingo for us next you see him! He is quite entertaining! :D

[Krazy Kruizers]

Catching up on all the posts and great food pictures.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Just in case the Canadians are missing home (ha) :rolleyes: we are having another snow storm today. No snow clearing equipment as the contracts have ended.:mad:

 

Now doesn't that make you feel good? :D Enjoy your sea day!

 

That isn't good that the contracts are done. North of us had some ice and yesterday and the salt trucks were out doing their job.

[kazu]

kazu, the OnLocation photos came out very well. I saved them to my computer to prepare for our similar cruise next year. Thanks!

 

 

Glad they are helpful. I will keep posting them, tap a talk permitting. It doesn't like our thread this morning. Grrrrr.

[kazu]

Jacqui, great updates and just makes me blue not being there too. :( (or purple....)

 

Good to see and hear from so many friends. :)

 

Say hi to Ingo for us next you see him! He is quite entertaining! :D

 

Thanks Rich.

 

Wish you were here too!!!!

 

Ingo is not on board the ship. In fact, I heard he is no longer with HAL.

 

Our cellar master is very good. I have never seen such a variety of events before and, they have a listing so you can look it over and decide. It's fabulous.

[kazu]

Just in case the Canadians are missing home (ha) :rolleyes: we are having another snow storm today. No snow clearing equipment as the contracts have ended.:mad:

 

Now doesn't that make you feel good? :D Enjoy your sea day!

 

Oh dear Gail, not good at all.

 

We had snow too, but our plows are still working, thankfully!!!

 

Really sorry we missed a storm (NOT). Hope yours gets cleared up and melts away. DH is summoning me (LOL) for breakfast. Back later

[taxmantoo]

Day 5 - Still no hot water!!! We have had to call Guest Services a few times a day (and night) to advise them of our hot water problem since embarkation. It is intermittent but seems never to be available at dinner time or morning when it is most needed. We are getting really frustrated at having to call the front desk every time we want to wash our hands. The Guest Services Manager refuses to meet with us and keeps advising his staff to tell us everything is fine.

 

Everything else about the cruise is wonderful but this situation is clearly preventing us from "savoring the journey" !!! On the positive side, we have a new favorite friend on board ... the ship's plumber ... He is spending more time in our bathroom more than we are!

[chefestelle]

Oh, that's just horrible! No hot water would not make me happy. Especially since hand washing is key to keeping noro at bay!

 

 

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