Live from the Prinsendam - 28 day Azores and Celtic Explorer - May 5th, 2018

[erewhon]

HD is Rene Tuinman. He just got on the ship.

 

Our Captain is Dag Dvergastein

 

Staff Captain is Crag Ravesloot

 

Food & Beverage Mgr. - Ron Houtman

 

And the CD is Linda Minnkin for the first 14 days.

 

Happy to report she has stopped the tootle lee doo.

 

Thank you for your reply.

You are fortunate to have Rene Tuinman as Hotel Director. We have had two Volendam cruises when he was HD.

Is his wife Judy also on board?

 

One cruise, during the afternoon of cruising Fiordland (NZ) he gave a very interesting talk "A Cruise Ship Transformation" about Volendam Dry Dock.

 

Had not seen him mentioned here on CC for ages, pleased to know he is still with HAL.

[kazu]

Thank you for your reply.

You are fortunate to have Rene Tuinman as Hotel Director. We have had two Volendam cruises when he was HD.

Is his wife Judy also on board?

 

One cruise, during the afternoon of cruising Fiordland (NZ) he gave a very interesting talk "A Cruise Ship Transformation" about Volendam Dry Dock.

 

Had not seen him mentioned here on CC for ages, pleased to know he is still with HAL.

 

He did not mention his wife being on board and since he is just starting on the P'dam, I suspect not.

 

He had two days with the person he was taking over from.

 

He is very congenial and said if I look lost just tell me what direction to go in. I chuckled and said the P'dam isn't that big. ;)

 

His first time on her in a very long time. Very nice man and from the way things are going, I'd say he's doing a fine job. Early on in the cruise, I know, but you tend to get a sense.

 

We'll see if my intuition is right in 25/26 days.

[kazu]

I’m glad the seas calmed down Jacqui.

All of your photos are wonderful!! Getting excited about our cruise on her!

What type of camera are you using? Finally today our official remodel is done👍 So here in San Diego it is 4:30 on the 7th and I’m just now getting caught up! When you can I’d love to know how the Ocean Bar was and curious on the shops too!

Thanks Jacqui!

Denise:)

 

I hate to break it to you Denise, but I am no camera techie. My DH has the fancy ones.

 

I am either using my Ipad (for menus, when and where's etc. - unless I left it in my cabin) and my Canon SX710 (whatever that is). I also do pics with the Ipad.

 

Pretty unexciting stuff. When we get to the good ports, DH gives me his card to download to my Ipad and then you will have REALLY good pics ;)

[kazu]

kazu,

 

I have sailed with HD Rene at least 3 times and he is "out and about" as is Captain Dag. Mr. Tuinman runs an excellent Hotel Department; the crew likes him; very personable. Captain Dag has been Master of some of the Seabourn ships and was at Prinsendam's helm during my 2015 Christmas/New Year's Cruise. Also very personable. I think your Senior Management Team is a real winner! And, that in my opinion, will insure a great cruise experience!

 

Based on my short time on board and my interactions with them, I have to agree with you 100%.

 

Just finished dinner in the Pinnacle. YUM. I stand by my statement in the past for sure and Maud's statement - best Pinnacle Grill in the fleet!

 

And, delighted to say, yes, we have a CELLARMASTER dinner. Maud and the Chef have promised a fantastic menu and Vict0riann and we have both signed up.

 

Always happy to have good food and wine. :D

[kazu]

Interesting how they do the time change midday. Hadn’t thought of that.

Hope your DH feels better soon. I feel his pain, my DH is not afflicted either but it is no picnic. Thank goodness for,Meclizine, it is a game changer for me.

Hope for calm seas and sunshine!

 

DH is fine, thanks :d. He made dinner last night, wisely had the chicken thai soup and after a long sleep he had recovered. By tonight he was as right as rain and very much enjoyed his PG dinner :)

[kazu]

Thanks for sharing your Prinsendam cruise with us. I haven't been on her in 8 years, so any pics you care to share will be welcome.

Captain Dag, I think he came over from Seabourne. The Prinsendam may be big to him!

 

Let me know what's of interest for you on the ship, and I am happy to post some pics. I'll choose a port day with wifi to post since tapatalk is only letting me do one pic at a time - GRRRR.

[kazu]

They still have the Ocean Trio! Hurrah!!! And I see a beer tasting!

 

Any word on if they'll do anything to celebrate the Royal Wedding? (Cunard is celebrating, but that's to be expected)

 

Lots of Beverage things going on for sure Kathy. We've signed up for the round the world wine thing. It was really well done last time we were on the P'dam.

 

No word on the wedding yet, but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

Tomorrow is Bermuda and they are bringing on an accomplished steel pan band performer for a Bermuda entertainment and sail a way from 2 - 4pm.

 

We will come back early to definitely catch some of it and give you our impressions. I love it when they do this stuff. It's usually very good.

 

I've missed replying to a few but I will double check on the shops (was there but just for a minute so I want to make sure I am correct before I report).

 

And I will report tomorrow when I can hopefully find wifi that doesn't "tick away by the minute". And get some pics and more reports up.

 

good night from the Elegant Explorer sailing smoothly to Bermuda

[SusieKIslandGirl]

I'd like to add my thanks for all the work put into the live thread. And I really liked the Voyage Planner. Do you think that's something that will be added to most cruises or just the longer ones? Hi to all the 2016 Westerdam gang.

[Traveling Dot]

That's what I mean, Carole. Linda is not using the toodlelee doo so far (and I am happy about that). She is much better this time IMO. At least, so far ;)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

What is a toodlelee doo? :rolleyes::rolleyes:

[innlady1]

What is a toodlelee doo? :rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

 

Their Cruise Director signs off with a “toodle oo.” Or at least she used to do so. It’s quite annoying. She was on one of our Maasdam cruises.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sir PMP]

Thank you for your reply.

You are fortunate to have Rene Tuinman as Hotel Director. We have had two Volendam cruises when he was HD.

Is his wife Judy also on board?

 

One cruise, during the afternoon of cruising Fiordland (NZ) he gave a very interesting talk "A Cruise Ship Transformation" about Volendam Dry Dock.

 

Had not seen him mentioned here on CC for ages, pleased to know he is still with HAL.

 

Wow, you got the best on board...

[jgw321]

Wish we had as active a roll call for our September and October prinsendam trip

 

How many posts have you got? I have four on one of mine, all by me.!

[jgw321]

Linda is not using the toodlelee doo so far (and I am happy about that).

 

We had a female CD on a Fred Oulsen cruise once that had a distinctive signature. I can't remember now what it was, but not only some of the passengers but quite a few of the crew were imitating it.

[jgw321]

I am no camera techie. ... Canon SX710 (whatever that is)

 

It is a Canon compact. Most compacts nowadays from the main camera suppliers (Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Olympus, etc) do a pretty good job. If you just want snaps without too much hassle this is what you need. If you want to be a serious creative amateur photographer then you need an SLR but these can be heavy (particularly with extra lenses) so on holiday some people go for a bridge camera (between the two) or a mirror-less micro 4/3. Don't worry about any of this, your compact is the right camera for you.

 

I have a tutorial for beginners at http://sturnidae.com/beg/begin.htm. It won't turn you into a good photographer, you need to join a camera club and do lots of practice at least for that, but it can start you on the road if you want to take it, or leave you with your compact as a happy competent beginner, but with some understanding. At least that was my intention when I wrote it.

 

We had several people at our camera club who had decent cameras but no idea what to do with them. The idea was to give them enough insight to decide if they wanted to grow int an enthusiastic amateur or remain as a competent beginner.

[jgw321]

Let me know what's of interest for you on the ship, and I am happy to post some pics.

 

That reminds me, how is the scavanger hunt going, or is that on the next sea leg?

[jgw321]

I have brought the Bermuda web cam up now ready to see you come in. It is still dark, but there are a couple of big stonkers on the pier out by the naval place. One is Norwegian lines and the other one of the something of the seas thingies. See you soon?

[jgw321]

It is still dark but Prinsendam is steaming along south of the Island. It always seems strange that they go all the way round the Island instead of making for the entrance via the west coast. Must be some shallow water or dangerous reefs there perhaps.

[jgw321]

It is light now and the Prinsendam is making her way back along the northern shore. Enjoy your breakfasts. Grandeur of the Seas is the first ship and Norwegian Dawn the second.

[ski ww]

Just watched the Prinsendam sail into port, have a great day.

Allan

[Crazy For Cats]

The Prinsendam looks nice sailing past the other two ships. Looks like a beautiful day in Bermuda.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[jgw321]

Just seen her go past at 7:04. The web cam is on pan with no one manning it so no zooms. A lot of wind noise on the mic but no toots. Unfortunately the web cam was panning left, the opposite way to the way the Prinsendam was going, so I only got the one shot, and then not all of her. By the time the camera had panned back she was gone and hidden behind Norwegian Dawn. We did get a second shot of her in the distance on her way back to Hamilton.

 

addendum: Carol manged to find the St George's web cam just before she disappeared.

Edited May 8, 2018 by jgw321
added 3rd image

[Divi]

We were on the Prinsendam for our second cruise. A beautiful ship and I love being able to picture it all.

At that time, Capt. Albert was the only captain in the fleet doing a blog. He said it only took him a few minutes to do each post.

Jacqui , thanks for taking us along and thanks to everyone for their comments and pictures.

Deen

[3rdGenCunarder]

It is still dark but Prinsendam is steaming along south of the Island. It always seems strange that they go all the way round the Island instead of making for the entrance via the west coast. Must be some shallow water or dangerous reefs there perhaps.

 

Yes, it's the reefs. The upside is you do get a nice look at beautiful Bermuda. (The downside is you sometimes can't get through. Our Bermuda stop on a Princess cruise was cancelled because it was too windy for us to safely get through the channel.

 

Kazu, so glad to see the word SMOOTHLY in your post! Have a great day in Bermuda!

 

jgw, I agree with your camera comments. I'd rather see someone with a point and shoot they know how to use than a high-end SLR with all the bells and whistles that they don't understand.

[kazu]

Yes, it's the reefs. The upside is you do get a nice look at beautiful Bermuda. (The downside is you sometimes can't get through. Our Bermuda stop on a Princess cruise was cancelled because it was too windy for us to safely get through the channel.

 

Kazu, so glad to see the word SMOOTHLY in your post! Have a great day in Bermuda!

 

jgw, I agree with your camera comments. I'd rather see someone with a point and shoot they know how to use than a high-end SLR with all the bells and whistles that they don't understand.

 

We are in Bermuda and surprisingly the starboard side is facing town. So we lucked out with lovely sights when we awoke. :D

 

Kathy "your" room was freeezing last night even though I jacked the heat up, so I went to report and hopefully, it will be all fixed tonight and you will be all set when you board in Dover. Other than that, the room is lovely.

[kazu]

Just seen her go past at 7:04. The web cam is on pan with no one manning it so no zooms. A lot of wind noise on the mic but no toots. Unfortunately the web cam was panning left, the opposite way to the way the Prinsendam was going, so I only got the one shot, and then not all of her. By the time the camera had panned back she was gone and hidden behind Norwegian Dawn. We did get a second shot of her in the distance on her way back to Hamilton.

 

addendum: Carol manged to find the St George's web cam just before she disappeared.

 

 

Thank you :D