Nieuw Amsterdam

[colonialinnkeeper]

I was hoping that you would continue your travelogue.  Thank you for doing this.  It is a wonderful way for me to pour my coffee and have a good read first thing to begin the day!

[richwmn]

Good afternoon.

 

In just a few minutes happy hour will begin in the Ocean Bar. Yesterday was a zoo, and I hope it is better today since the computers will be operating.

 

Menus for tonight are attached.

 

Earlier today we had a general trivia and a music trivia, both were fun and interesting. The ship has been busy, with lots going on. On the schedule for today - Mahjong, Pickelball, Ping Pong, Bridge, Texas Hold'em Tournament, Bingo, and many other things. In the Showroom they are showing Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again. Plenty of things to do.

 

A highlight of the morning was running into a crew member from the Voyage of the Vikings. It was a big surprise to have them come over and say hello at breakfast.

 

I must admit that having the Verandah is nice. Even if I am not out there much, the view out the door is better than the view from an Oceanview Cabin. I had a great sunrise view this morning.

 

Tonight on the Main Stage we will have "The Knights". This is a group listed as doing Elton John, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, and the Beatles. On the last couple of cruises I have had some very good groups doing this type of entertainment, we'll see how this group compares.

 

I hope everyone is having a good week (I am)!

 

Feb26dinner.pdf

Feb26Lidodinner.pdf

[Vic The Parrot]

10 minutes ago, richwmn said:

Good afternoon.

 

In just a few minutes happy hour will begin in the Ocean Bar. Yesterday was a zoo, and I hope it is better today since the computers will be operating.

 

Menus for tonight are attached.

 

Earlier today we had a general trivia and a music trivia, both were fun and interesting. The ship has been busy, with lots going on. On the schedule for today - Mahjong, Pickelball, Ping Pong, Bridge, Texas Hold'em Tournament, Bingo, and many other things. In the Showroom they are showing Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again. Plenty of things to do.

 

A highlight of the morning was running into a crew member from the Voyage of the Vikings. It was a big surprise to have them come over and say hello at breakfast.

 

I must admit that having the Verandah is nice. Even if I am not out there much, the view out the door is better than the view from an Oceanview Cabin. I had a great sunrise view this morning.

 

Tonight on the Main Stage we will have "The Knights". This is a group listed as doing Elton John, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, and the Beatles. On the last couple of cruises I have had some very good groups doing this type of entertainment, we'll see how this group compares.

 

I hope everyone is having a good week (I am)!

 

Feb26dinner.pdf

Feb26Lidodinner.pdf

Oh yeah ... I really don't want to be in your shoes right now. LOL. 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wonderful that you are enjoying your cruise and there is a lot of things to enjoy on a sea day.

 

Hope things go better for Happy Hour.

[richwmn]

Just to update this. I am posting from my Verandah with my laptop tethered to my phone. The ship's internet has basically been off line since around 1pm on Monday in Nassau.

It is a pretty, but overcast, day in San Juan. We are here until 10pm

 

[horseymike]

HI Rich,

  Thanks for all the info about your cruise. Is the Lido Dinner Menu the same every night ?

Hope you have a great time. We are booked on the NA in June for an Alaska cruise out of Vancouver.

All The Best.

Mike

[richwmn]

good evening.

The internet on the ship is still down, so here I am again tethered to my phone. Luckily we are in San Juan and the phone's internet works just fine.

 

Mike, you asked about the Lido Menu. The ones I have from last week on Nieuw Statendam are different. It looks like the ones on Nieuw Amsterdam haven't changed. However, the menu does change each evening. I am used to eating early, so when I go it is generally not crowded.

 

Everything else is going fine. I'll try to do a better trip report Sunday when I am in Fort Lauderdale for the evening.

 

[Copper10-8]

On 2/24/2019 at 2:14 PM, richwmn said:

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

Hotel Director: Jessica M. Schumann

Executive Chef: Thomas Schumann

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

Husband & Wife team (she's in charge of him; makes for excellent dinner conversation ); enjoy your travels on Nieuw A, Rich!

 

[CM1984]

Enjoying this, we will sail on NA in November

[katfer]

Thanks so much...we'll be on this ship in 24 days...can't wait for your next post!  Have you been to BB Kings yet? Looking forward to it...we are from Memphis and enjoy the blues...

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Enjoying your reports.

 

Sorry to hear that the ship is still having Internet problems.

[richwmn]

Well, it's Thursday morning and we docked on time in Charlotte Amalie. Like last week we docked at Havensight and I am told there is one other ship here, a Princess ship.

 

Last night the internet seemed to come back on line, and is still working this morning. So maybe whatever happened has been fixed.

 

I am attaching the dinner menu from the Main Dining Room for last night. It appears that Nieuw Amsterdam is not changing the Lido menu although there are different items each evening. Nieuw Statendam last week did update the Lido menu, as always different actions on different ships.

 

A difference this week over the last two, the "Where & When" is formatted differently. On Nieuw Statendam we had a 4 fold bulletin, where Nieuw Amsterdam  has the more traditional 3 fold. On NS different categories were grouped together. Almost everything was in the main timeline, while Spa, Bar (Happy Hour, Pub Crawl), and Shop Presentations were separated out. Hard to tell when things conflicted.

 

Another difference between NA & NS, on NS all the entertainment venues are close together. Moving between BB King, Billboard, and Rolling Stone Rock Room was easy, and in fact when focus moved from Billboard to RSRR you could stay in either and hear the music easily. Many times at the end of evening trivia, the host introduced the group in RSRR from Billboard.

 

Tuesday night the stage was handed to "The Knights", a group highlighting the British musicians who have received Knighthood from the Queen. It was a very good, high energy show that kept the attention of the audience. It seems to me that HAL has done better on my last few cruises in this matter. On the Voyage of the Vikings and then the TransAtlantic a group called (I believe) "The Emperors of Soul" performed and were also exceptional. Maybe I have just been on the right cruises!

 

Last night on the Main Stage the BBC Movie "Planet Earth, II" was shown. I didn't go so I can't comment but several people have enjoyed these movies.

 

Having eaten all meals in the Lido, I have enjoyed the setup on both ships but I believe NA is a little bit easier. Nothing I can really put my finger on, but just a feeling. The food has been good, typical for HAL, but I am not a picky eater. The service has been very good.

 

After the messy Happy Hour the other day, it is back to normal so as I suspected it was over crowded because there was nothing else to do. The network problem took the slots out of service, as well as the POS system, the TV, and I'm sure a lot more. I had a nice relaxing time for the last 2 days and had a chance to talk to a bartender that was on previous cruises with me.

 

11 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Hotel Director: Jessica M. Schumann

Executive Chef: Thomas Schumann

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

Husband & Wife team (she's in charge of him; makes for excellent dinner conversation ); enjoy your travels on Nieuw A, Rich!

 

I suspected the same when I saw the same last name and residence. Hope you are doing well, Copper!

 

57 minutes ago, katfer said:

Thanks so much...we'll be on this ship in 24 days...can't wait for your next post!  Have you been to BB Kings yet? Looking forward to it...we are from Memphis and enjoy the blues...

 

The musicians provided by BB King are all very accomplished and the groups as configured are good to excellent. However, if you are looking for true Memphis Blues, you might be disappointed. The groups tend more to Motown and Classic Rock then actual Blues. They do have a good show and are usually high energy.

 

Since the internet seems to be working now, I'll report on tonight's entertainment later.

 

Hope everyone is having a good day!

 

Feb27dinner.pdf

[richwmn]

Well, it's Thursday night and this cruise is drawing to an end. They have posted the menu for tomorrow night already, so I missed the chance to get tonight's. I talked to some people who ate in the MDR tonight and they were unhappy with it.

 

I had a great day in St. Thomas today. I spent the day with an old friend and had a wonderful time. I saw a lot of the island, including some that still needs to be fixed from the hurricanes last year. All in all, St. Thomas is in good shape.

 

Trivia today was good and fun, questions were difficult enough but we got some good scores.

 

The main stage show tonight was a comic named John Wing. His 8pm show was to a packed house and was 40 minutes of fun. He was funny the whole time and put on a good show.

 

Lincoln Center Stage was a quintet that played to a full house. They are also accomplished musicians and while I didn't particularly care for the program of music, I could tell that they were good. They received applause for their efforts. One thing that was interesting, the first number was the piano and a violin. For the second, the violin that played sat to the side and another violin and bass were added to the piano. Then the third number had the full five players.

 

Billboard on Board. Again good musicians playing to a large audience. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. I enjoyed the selections I listened to.

 

BB King had the night off tonight. When I listened to them earlier in the cruise I enjoyed their music. This is typical of the BB King musicians that have been on recent cruises. They also play to a full house.

 

Tomorrow is a sea day and is pretty full. Medal Ceremony and Mariner Lunch takes place in the BB King Blues Club tomorrow and MDR.

 

After that, Half Moon Cay, which I believe we are sharing with Koningsdam followed by Fort Lauderdale.

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Catching up with your wonderful reports.

 

Good to hear that people are enjoying all the different music venues.

[65 Gator]

Hey Dawg...  Do you have access to the latest wine package?  If you have already posted it, I missed it.  Just curious if they have changed since other packages seem to be different...

 

Enjoy you last couple of days...

 

 

[richwmn]

2 minutes ago, 65 Gator said:

Hey Dawg...  Do you have access to the latest wine package?  If you have already posted it, I missed it.  Just curious if they have changed since other packages seem to be different...

 

Enjoy you last couple of days...

 

 

I'll see what I can find. Bet it changes before June!

[65 Gator]

12 hours ago, richwmn said:

I'll see what I can find. Bet it changes before June!

I got the listing from SKIWW and it is what I wanted.  I read on another thread that they were told that they could NOT take the leftover wine bottle back to their cabin.  I have never heard of such BS...  If you think about it, ask a wine steward if that is some kind of new policy...

Have a Happy...

[richwmn]

3 hours ago, 65 Gator said:

I got the listing from SKIWW and it is what I wanted.  I read on another thread that they were told that they could NOT take the leftover wine bottle back to their cabin.  I have never heard of such BS...  If you think about it, ask a wine steward if that is some kind of new policy...

Have a Happy...

I just had a very nice conversation with the Tamarind Manager, who was also Pinnacle Grill Manager on VoV. She told me that she was unaware of any such policy change. She also checked with the Beverage Manager to be sure. You are still free to take your leftover wine to your cabin or anywhere else on the ship that you choose.

 

Edited March 2, 2019 by richwmn

[65 Gator]

7 minutes ago, richwmn said:

I just had a very nice conversation with the Tamarind Manager, who was also Pinnacle Grill Manager on VoV. She told me that she was unaware of any such policy change. She also checked with the Beverage Manager to be sure. You are still free to take your leftover wine to your cabin or anywhere else on the ship that you choose.

 

Thanks Dawg...  

[terrydtx]

Richwmn, I have enjoyed following your cruise this week and posting of the MDR menus.

 

If you are not aware there has been a very long thread this week about HAL's testing of charging $10 to passengers ordering a second entrée in the MDR. You Ship and cruise was one of the 4 HAL ships testing  this, if you noticed the extra charge was printed at the bottom of your daily menus. Did you or anyone you noticed order a second entrée and actually get charged the $10? There are some CC members who do not believe that HAL is actually doing this and are wanting proof from an actual passenger who experienced this extra charge.

 

Thank you for any input.

 

 

[richwmn]

28 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Richwmn, I have enjoyed following your cruise this week and posting of the MDR menus.

 

If you are not aware there has been a very long thread this week about HAL's testing of charging $10 to passengers ordering a second entrée in the MDR. You Ship and cruise was one of the 4 HAL ships testing  this, if you noticed the extra charge was printed at the bottom of your daily menus. Did you or anyone you noticed order a second entrée and actually get charged the $10? There are some CC members who do not believe that HAL is actually doing this and are wanting proof from an actual passenger who experienced this extra charge.

 

Thank you for any input.

 

 

I have contributed to the other thread as well. I don't generally eat in the MDR so I have not personally seen this, nor as anyone that I have talked to mentioned it. I have seen the notice on the menus.

[Jareds_mommytoo]

I have enjoyed your updates. Thank you. 

[richwmn]

Saturday night and another cruise is about to end. I'd like to say that my bags are packed, but those who know me would fall over laughing.

 

We had a beautiful day for Half Moon Cay today, and it was very nice on ship as well. Plenty of things to do, and the staff was wonderful. In about an hour the comic and magician will perform their final show and I guess the cruise will be officially over. We will arrive at Pier 26 tomorrow morning, a half mile or so (walking) from Pier 19 where we left.

 

I am attaching the menus from last night and tonight. As I mentioned before, unfortunately they have not been updating the Lido Menu online and I was surprised to see that they posted that same menu outside the Lido each evening. I am sure that the Lido had a variety of items over the week, just as Nieuw Statendam for the two weeks prior.

 

Entertainment has been good, and it has been nice to see several crew members from previous cruises aboard. It is always nice to have someone come up and say hello.

 

Tomorrow a friend from Fort Lauderdale will pick me up and we will have a nice visit. Monday afternoon I will take the short flight back to Atlanta and be home Monday evening. Time to pick up the countdown for the next cruise. I appreciate all the kind words about my posts for the last three weeks. Stay safe until next time.

 

Rich

 

Mar01dinner.pdf

Mar02dinner.pdf

[LF23]

I’ll miss your posts. Safe travels. 

[Cruising-along]

45 minutes ago, richwmn said:

I'd like to say that my bags are packed, but those who know me would fall over laughing.

But you always get it done, no need to change now!  🤣

Have a safe trip home, Rich and thanks for "bringing us along!"