Oosterdam's 2019-2020 New Year's cruise; a photo log and a recap after the fact

[*Miss G*]

Yay!  Another cruise log!  Have a wonderful time and thanks for all the pics!

[Seasick Sailor]

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

Is Erzebet actually from one of the Holland provinces or is she from The Netherlands?

 

Ha, to me it will always be Holland (informal) and the Netherlands (formal) and I was born and raised in the province of Noord-Holland, but I did read about what it is you write 😀🤓 😀 

 

Remember Erzebet Bathory, the serial murderess? Things did not go well for that woman.. but she was Hungarian. I think.

[Seasick Sailor]

Copper, what is your opinion regarding the changes of removing bar and staircase? 

[awhcruiser]

If you are arriving in Maatlan tomorrow expect cloudy and cool weather!

[SilvertoGold]

2 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

As far as I know, it is served once a week at the Asian station in the Lido Market, just didn't realize it was right smack on the first sea day out of San Diego. Almost missed it but my lovely spouse saw it as she walked by so I made a beeline for it post haste. The Krupuk was really good!

Krupuk!  And they looked to be excellently fresh!  Yum!

[Copper10-8]

3 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

Copper, what is your opinion regarding the changes of removing bar and staircase? 

 

During the last several years, that Atrium Bar was hardly ever used and, unlike the other bars, not constantly manned by the Bevg. dept. The only semi-frequent activity I saw/could hear (because they tended to become loud) happening there was a Margarita tasting event. As far as they stairway, it tended to have its share of trip and falls, so I don't believe both will be missed too much

[Copper10-8]

Monday, 30 Oct 2019, arrival at Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico. We obviously had drawn the shortest straw and thus were assigned the No. 3 anchorage. Carnival Panorama got the sweet spot in anchorage No. 1 and Viking Sun got No. 2. There was a fourth ship in port today and that was Royal Princess. Her captain decided to stay on the engines in a position south of anchorage No. 1.

 

 

 

 

 

[Copper10-8]

3 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

 

Remember Erzebet Bathory, the serial murderess? Things did not go well for that woman.. but she was Hungarian. I think.

 

Had to look her up; Hungarian noblewoman/reputed serial killer 

[Seasick Sailor]

3 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Had to look her up; Hungarian noblewoman/reputed serial killer 

 

Let's not mention it to your concierge... 

Beautiful pictures of Cabo. (Edit your date?)

[oakridger]

Hi Copper10-8.  I'm loving the review so far!

 

Here is a burning question that I meant to ask my cabin steward when I was on Oosterdam three weeks ago........why are all the towel animals now blind (no eyes)???  A couple of days mine did have eyes that appeared to be hand drawn with ballpoint pen on paper.  Anything to do with the minimization of paper like the sugar packets?  Poor towel animals made me feel bad when they couldn't see!!!

 

😪

 

~Nancy

[Copper10-8]

11 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

 

Let's not mention it to your concierge... 

Beautiful pictures of Cabo. (Edit your date?)

 

Too late, but thanks a bunch! Brain was obviously elsewhere!

[Copper10-8]

10 minutes ago, oakridger said:

Hi Copper10-8.  I'm loving the review so far!

 

Here is a burning question that I meant to ask my cabin steward when I was on Oosterdam three weeks ago........why are all the towel animals now blind (no eyes)???  A couple of days mine did have eyes that appeared to be hand drawn with ballpoint pen on paper.  Anything to do with the minimization of paper like the sugar packets?  Poor towel animals made me feel bad when they couldn't see!!!

 

😪

 

~Nancy

 

Excellent question Nancy! Will attempt to find an answer for you tomorrow from Housekeeping. Yep, our "night animals" so far, have been "blind" also and yes, no more small packets of Equal, Splenda and Sweet and Low anywhere on the ship. They have been replaced by medium and small size Stevia shakers. A Lido Market Asst. Maitre 'd told us on Saturday that they, the packages, as well as plastic straws have been eliminated as part of a "more friendly environment" campaign

[Copper10-8]

On the way out from breakfast at the Pinnacle Grill, we walked by some of Carnival/HAL Master Chef Rudi Sodamin "food faces" (they have them displayed just outside the manager's podium), a series of eight show plates with each culinary plate portraying a work of art - from food. Wouldn't want to consume a meal from them because those eyes would be constantly staring at you 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bluesplayer]

Lovely photos!!  Enjoy your cruise..  Hope to meet you on the high seas some day over a cup of split pea soup..Dank U..  Tot Ziens

[oakridger]

Thanks Copper, I'll be waiting anxiously to hear about our towel animal friends.  I get it about the plastic straws and even about the sugar packs, but......those little tiny paper eyes??  They must be very easy to incinerate with the other paper trash!

 

~Nancy

Edited December 31, 2019 by oakridger

[Seasick Sailor]

Copper, do you know who the maitre d is in the Pinnacle?

[canadianbear]

8 minutes ago, oakridger said:

Thanks Copper, I'll be waiting anxiously to hear about our towel animal friends.  I get it about the plastic straws and even about the sugar packs, but......those little tiny paper eyes??  They must be very easy to incinerate with the other paper trash!

 

~Nancy

Me too.  I found it odd most of the time no eyes.  They used to just reuse them.   Hope it doesn’t mean one day there will be no towel animals-I enjoy seeing them (except the scary monkey!!) 

[Seasick Sailor]

Just now, canadianbear said:

Me too.  I found it odd most of the time no eyes.  They used to just reuse them.   Hope it doesn’t mean one day there will be no towel animals-I enjoy seeing them (except the scary monkey!!) 

 

Monkey WAS scary! My sweet husband woke up one morning to an eyeball stuck on his cheek. THAT was scary!

[Copper10-8]

6 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

Copper, do you know who the maitre d is in the Pinnacle?

 

He's a young gentleman from Romania, I believe by the name of Koray Pamukcu. His PG crew love him!

[Copper10-8]

First to arrive off Cabo this morning and assigned the No. 2 anchorage was Viking Sun, the fourth in a series of 930-passenger cruise ships built by Fincantieri for Viking Ocean Cruises. She joined the club in September 2017. Oosterdam's staff captain Adam wisely rented some of the local "Cabo tenders" to assist his own tenders with the morning (pax) rush off the ship, and the PM traffic back to Oostie. This is one of them, Cabo Tender 11. Their captains handle them like race cars. Oosterdam tender 15 making the approach back to one of the two port side tender platforms, while tender 14 is outbound to the Cabo Marina

 

 

 

 

[Copper10-8]

Some time after our arrival, Princess Cruises' Royal Princess, the lead vessel of an eventual six-ship Royal class, joining Princess in June 2013, showed up from our hometown of the City of the Angels (San Pedro) and moved to a position south of the famous Los Arcos rock formation. There is no anchorage there however, the alternative is the No. 4 anchorage which is located somewhere near Acapulco in Guerrero State, so her captain decided to stay on his engines and tender from there.

 

And, sure enough a little more time went by and Carnival Panorama, a (Carnival) Vista-class cruise ship and currently the largest ship in the Carnival fleet, the 27th Carnival vessel, and the cruise line's current flagship, made an appearance. She is home ported in Los Angeles' second cruise port, Long Beach, and because she will be a very regular visitor to Cabo and the largest of the four in port today (4,000 pax), she got the prime spot, the No. 1 anchorage, She's on her maiden voyage and only arrived in Long Beach on 08 Dec from her Fincantieri builders yard in Italy

 

Last pic is a radar shot of Cabo's three regular anchorages and the location where Royal Princess spent the majority of the day today

 

 

 

 

 

[crystalspin]

13 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

The very nice gingerbread village display in the Deck 1 Atrium, complete with working train. Oosterdam is one of the four Vistas which had her Atrium Bar, the "Olive Pit," and her Deck 1 to Deck 2 Atrium stairwell removed during her most recent dry-dock

What will that real estate be used for when the gingerbread is gone???

[crystalspin]

I read the explanation (or rationalization) and it is true, I never liked *using* those stairs, but they looked lovely.

 

Truth to tell, I never noticed the Atrium Bar. Was is already gone from the Zuiderdam last April?

[jimbri]

Great photos.  Enjoy!

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Towel animal eyes - back in October on the Zuiderdam, the Head of Housekeeping told us in a coffee chat, that the plastic eyes were no longer allowed. It was mentioned that other cruise lines use paper for the eyes and she said, she was aware of that and would look into using them. The reason why the plastic eyes were no longer allowed was not clear to me.