Any news from the Amsterdam?

[DeeniEncinitas]

Back on topic😊

Congratulations to Captain Jonathan Mercer on his retirement!! HAL had a wonderful Captain who believed inHolland America Lines and has done a wonderful job!

What a fantastic send off for him!

Godspeed.

Denise😊

[StLouisCruisers]

5 minutes ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

Yes, there were some inappropriate comments.

 

And there is still the same inappropriate comment listed on here.  Yet those of us who wished there was a better way to express our disapproval had our comments deleted.  

[StLouisCruisers]

2 minutes ago, DeeniEncinitas said:

Back on topic😊

Congratulations to Captain Jonathan Mercer on his retirement!! HAL had a wonderful Captain who believed inHolland America Lines and has done a wonderful job!

What a fantastic send off for him!

Godspeed.

Denise😊

 

I agree with you completely.

[cruzingnut]

35 minutes ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

Yes, there were some inappropriate comments.

 

Not that I saw....or wrote.  Did someone report something?  I've been on here for years...never had a problem.  Stupid to have one now on something was not inappropriate.  If whomever did it would contact me, I would love that.

 

 

[cruzingnut]

32 minutes ago, StLouisCruisers said:

 

And there is still the same inappropriate comment listed on here.  Yet those of us who wished there was a better way to express our disapproval had our comments deleted.  

 

So, yeah, someone basically trashes the Captain and I ask if we can just be happy that he's retired and mine gets deleted and not the "trashing" one?  Sorry, normally I don't get "into" things...but this is ridiculous.  And wrong.

[cruzingnut]

39 minutes ago, DeeniEncinitas said:

Back on topic😊

Congratulations to Captain Jonathan Mercer on his retirement!! HAL had a wonderful Captain who believed inHolland America Lines and has done a wonderful job!

What a fantastic send off for him!

Godspeed.

Denise😊

 

We was a great Captain.  There were times when we weren't going to be able to get into places and he would get us to our next stop early.  One time was (I think) Cook Island and he got us into Auckland the night before we were supposed to be there.  That was great, having an evening there!  One day isn't enough.  Another time we weren't going to be able to get into 2 places (Again, Cook I think and also Niue) so we went to Tonga early getting in the night before.  I'm sure that he could have just puttered along but he decided to get us more time in other ports. 

 

I'm looking forward to his next/last installment on his blog. 

[1ANGELCAT]

1 hour ago, cruzingnut said:

 

Not that I saw....or wrote.  Did someone report something?  I've been on here for years...never had a problem.  Stupid to have one now on something was not inappropriate.  If whomever did it would contact me, I would love that.

 

 

It was not your comment that was  inappropriate. 

[cruzingnut]

10 minutes ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

It was not your comment that was  inappropriate. 

 

ok, thank you..now I know why mine went away...cause the other one was in my post.  I feel better now...thanks again.

 

[KirkNC]

Got our 50% cash refund today so we have received both our FCC and cash refund for the WC.  Now just looking for our expense check and our luggage.  

[Horizon chaser 1957]

We now have all our refunds and our FCC from the World Cruise! HAL no longer owes us a dime!
Our luggage is still on board, and will stay there until they find a place that lets them dock. I don’t think they do luggage by tenders, and I certainly wouldn’t want them to!

[Storylady]

Theresa, DRM Wine Steward, received her notifications that she has tested negative for the virus. So she should be repatriated soon. So far no news from her friends, including Josephine (DRM Receptionist).

 

Philip Stolte has been biking 50 miles for the past several days. Got lost today. But eventually made his way home.

 

 

[Sir PMP]

35 minutes ago, Storylady said:

Theresa, DRM Wine Steward, received her notifications that she has tested negative for the virus. So she should be repatriated soon. So far no news from her friends, including Josephine (DRM Receptionist).

 

Philip Stolte has been biking 50 miles for the past several days. Got lost today. But eventually made his way home.

 

 

Philip is from Delft, they always get lost when biking...

[cruzingnut]

1 hour ago, Sir PMP said:

Philip is from Delft, they always get lost when biking...

 

When I teased him about it, he said since it's such a small country, he can only get so lost, lol!

[Copper10-8]

On 5/27/2020 at 5:28 AM, michaelfl said:

what do you want to "celebrate" ? he has done nothing but fulfilling his duties as the captain of a passenger ship.......even under exceptional circumstances. i have had him on 4 world cruises - and yes - he has always done what was expected from a captain, looking after his passengers and his crew. period.

 

 

He's done a hell of a lot more than "just being a captain" I'll give you just two examples:

 

Oct 1997 Hurricane "Pauline" off Acapulco

 

Jan 2016 The tender 9 incident off Avatiu, Rarotonga, Cook Islands

 

Look them up  

[Copper10-8]

On 5/28/2020 at 2:24 PM, Sir PMP said:

Philip is from Delft, they always get lost when biking...

 

Does that mean he's mostly blue, Meneer het Haagse Hopje? 

[Cruise Suzy]

HAL crew members not mentioned, but here's an article about those being repatriated and quarantined in Manila

 

https://my.xfinity.com/articles/news-general/20200530/AS--Virus-Outbreak-Philippines-Quarantine-Gridlock-2c12

Edited May 30, 2020 by Cruise Suzy

[Sir PMP]

3 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

HAL crew members not mentioned, but here's an article about those being repatriated and quarantined in Manila

 

https://my.xfinity.com/articles/news-general/20200530/AS--Virus-Outbreak-Philippines-Quarantine-Gridlock-2c12

This must be tough for them, it should be over soon..

[Storylady]

8 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

HAL crew members not mentioned, but here's an article about those being repatriated and quarantined in Manila

 

https://my.xfinity.com/articles/news-general/20200530/AS--Virus-Outbreak-Philippines-Quarantine-Gridlock-2c12

Yesterday Theresa posted a live video feed of one tender with what looked like hardly any crew inside traveling to the port in Manila. Wish you could have heard the screams of joy as they approached the dock and the buses. It looked like there were about three, maybe four tenders from the Amsterdam delivering crew to Manila. They must have been keeping social distancing in side. Presty said the day before 65 Filipino crew  departed. Amsterdam is still in Manila Bay so it looks like they still have to wait until everyone has departed.
 

I believe, I had read that they were using hotels for quarantining the Filipino crew, but later decided to use the cruise ships for the 14 day quarantine. So hopefully, the staff that just left will indeed go directly home. 

[slotl]

1 hour ago, Storylady said:

Yesterday Theresa posted a live video feed of one tender with what looked like hardly any crew inside traveling to the port in Manila. Wish you could have heard the screams of joy as they approached the dock and the buses. It looked like there were about three, maybe four tenders from the Amsterdam delivering crew to Manila. They must have been keeping social distancing in side. Presty said the day before 65 Filipino crew  departed. Amsterdam is still in Manila Bay so it looks like they still have to wait until everyone has departed.
 

I believe, I had read that they were using hotels for quarantining the Filipino crew, but later decided to use the cruise ships for the 14 day quarantine. So hopefully, the staff that just left will indeed go directly home. 

this is the message that I got from my waiter from last year's world cruise.  Slam is currently on the Eurodam and this is his message: 

 We have 500 filipino..480 already dis embark..start on may 22nd,still about 20 left...but the regulation is we cannot go to Iondonesia until all filipino crew all disembark... More than 20 days we wait for the swab test result for all the filipino crew...in indonesia the swab test result only 7 days....its very2 slow...

[Copper10-8]

From Amsterdam's crew - "salamat" = "thank you" in Tagalog - with a p/a announcement from her captain, Jonathan Mercer, towards the end

 

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Copper10-8

[rkacruiser]

59 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

From Amsterdam's crew - "salamat" = "thank you" in Tagalog - with a p/a announcement from her captain, Jonathan Mercer, towards the end

 

 

 

What the crew members of all of the ships that have had to experience with so long periods of quarantine in a variety of places in order for them to get to their homes has been inhumane.  It's encouraging to see these videos that have been posted by these good people who are more restricted by what they can do than "We, the People".  God Bless Them!

 

 

[Storylady]

2 hours ago, slotl said:

this is the message that I got from my waiter from last year's world cruise.  Slam is currently on the Eurodam and this is his message: 

 We have 500 filipino..480 already dis embark..start on may 22nd,still about 20 left...but the regulation is we cannot go to Iondonesia until all filipino crew all disembark... More than 20 days we wait for the swab test result for all the filipino crew...in indonesia the swab test result only 7 days....its very2 slow...

The Eurodam was one of the first ships in Manila Bay. Just got a message from Jarrie, the barista on the Amsterdam. She said she hasn’t gotten here swab results yet. So not everyone is off the Amsterdam either.

[Storylady]

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

What the crew members of all of the ships that have had to experience with so long periods of quarantine in a variety of places in order for them to get to their homes has been inhumane.  It's encouraging to see these videos that have been posted by these good people who are more restricted by what they can do than "We, the People".  God Bless Them!

 

 

The video was made by Angel before the Filipino crew went into quarantine. Since then, they have been housed in veranda cabins and isolated from each other. Holland America gave them books to read. Suggested websites for free books and also free WI-FI. 
 

Duterte demanded the quarantine results be expedited, but there are still lots like too many ships to count in Manila Bay!

Edited May 31, 2020 by Storylady

[Copper10-8]

23 minutes ago, Storylady said:

The Eurodam was one of the first ships in Manila Bay. Just got a message from Jarrie, the barista on the Amsterdam. She said she hasn’t gotten here swab results yet. So not everyone is off the Amsterdam either.

 

A heads up; not every crew member, incl. Indonesians and Filipinos, will be getting off Amsterdam since they are needed in the Deck Dept (sailors, quartermasters/helmsmen, boatmen, security, crew doc, etc.), Technical Dept. (machinists, wipers, etc.). Hotel Dept. (cooks, admin, etc.) and other Depts until the ship reaches her layup location and goes to a minimum required skeleton crew  

Edited May 31, 2020 by Copper10-8

[Storylady]

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

A heads up; not every crew member, incl. Indonesians and Filipinos, will be getting off Amsterdam since they are needed in the Deck Dept (sailors, quartermasters/helmsmen, boatmen, security, crew doc, etc.), Technical Dept. (machinists, wipers, etc.). Hotel Dept. (cooks, admin, etc.) and other Depts until the ship reaches her layup location and goes to a minimum required skeleton crew  

You are correct. Presty has stayed behind as have several other Filipino and Indonesian crew members. The ones who stayed were the ones who had the most months left on their contracts from what Presty said. Also the ones most needed to take care of the ship. He didn’t say how many. He did say, he would go home, but not for quite awhile. And I believe Henk Minsink and Crystal are still onboard.