iflyrc5 Almost Live from the Nieuw Statendam - Feb 2 - Mar 16 (we hope)

[kb4683]

@iflyrc5
 

Have they had the orange night celebration on any of your cruises?

[iflyrc5]

35 minutes ago, kb4683 said:

@iflyrc5
 

Have they had the orange night celebration on any of your cruises?

 

We have not had the Orange Party on the last 2 and I have not heard of any of the cruises having an Orange Party since the restart of cruises.

[rkacruiser]

23 minutes ago, iflyrc5 said:

 

We have not had the Orange Party on the last 2 and I have not heard of any of the cruises having an Orange Party since the restart of cruises.

 

No loss from my experience.  Another idea from Seattle that was "much about little".  

[kb4683]

41 minutes ago, iflyrc5 said:

 

We have not had the Orange Party on the last 2 and I have not heard of any of the cruises having an Orange Party since the restart of cruises.

Thanks, again.  Just wanted to know if I should pack orange shirts for us.  It was rather a big deal on our last cruise. 😄

[Btimmer]

1 hour ago, kb4683 said:

@iflyrc5
 

Have they had the orange night celebration on any of your cruises?

Since the return to cruising, we've spent over 2 months on 3 different HAL ships and there was no orange party.  

[ottahand7]

Just wanted to add a comment to all boarding NS soon the food quality and preparation have been the best I have had on HA. Only hiccups were Pastrami sandwich in NY Deli took 1/2 hour and 2 cold hot dogs from Dive In.  Presentation beautiful also. 

Edited February 25, 2022 by ottahand7

[iflyrc5]

Sea Day #1 - Feb 24 - cloudy - high 70s - windy and lots of motion of the ocean.  Was not able to post this Thursday as the wifi system was down for maintenance from late afternoon until the time I went to bed.  Just a very relaxing sea day.  A couple of changes for this cruise.  We have a new Cruise/travel director named Stephanie.  This is her 3rd contract and is good so far.  They have also restarted the morning "Chats" now called the Morning Chat (since they don't serve coffee).  It is at 0900 in the Encounters Room on the port side of the Crows nest.  Today they talked about the art that is all over the ship.  The company that did it for this ship also did it for the KDam and the Rotterdam VII.  After the chat I did my 45 minutes of deck walking (very windy today), then the gym for some weight machines then some time reading before lunch.  It was rather cloudy and on the cool side and with the motion of the ocean the lido pool was more like the actual ocean so spent the time lounging and reading around the lido pool and then some time on the balcony.  We normally get a window room.  We have not used the balcony very much on the cruise - either very hot and sunny or too windy so will be probably stick with the window in the future.  This was the Silver Gala night with same menu as always.  This cruise they have also added a second show time on the World Stage so they are now 1900 and 2100.  We had a later dinner tonight and I tried to go to the 2100 show (the dancers doing Humanity - I really  like that show) but it was cancelled because of the motion of the ocean was too much for the safety of the dancers - they said it would be rescheduled for later.  We moved to clocks forward 1 hour tonight so lose an hour sleep.  Over all a very relaxing day.  Included a couple more photos from around the ship.

[iflyrc5]

Sea Day #2 - Feb 25 - Sunny - high 70s - not as much wind and not as much motion of the ocean.  After breakfast I went to the Morning Chat and today they had the staff captain, safety officers and a cadet.  The talked about their time at sea and then answered questions.  I asked if SOLAS (safety of life at sea) had requirements for the time it would take to get everyone off the ship - the Staff Capt said the requirement was 60 minutes for this ship.  After the chat I did my 45 minutes of deck walking and then some gym time before lunch.  After lunch with the sun and a little warmer we hit the pool but it was a little cool and lots of wave action.  At 1400 they had Bond movie, No Time to Die, on the big screen so watched that while in the water and sitting along the side.  We still have lots of OBC to spend so booked a catamaran tour with swimming for the stop in St Lucia.  Included a few more photos from around the ship

[Sea42]

1 hour ago, iflyrc5 said:

Today they talked about the art that is all over the ship.

If you have a chance, could you find out if they still offer a self guided tour of the art on the ship? HAL used to have recordings you could listen to as you walked around the ship looking the art. Maybe it's now available thru the app?

[iflyrc5]

1 hour ago, Sea42 said:

If you have a chance, could you find out if they still offer a self guided tour of the art on the ship? HAL used to have recordings you could listen to as you walked around the ship looking the art. Maybe it's now available thru the app?

They don't have an audio tour but you can ask at guest services and they will print out a booklet that identifies much of the artwork and where it is located on the ship.  We did that yesterday.

[Sea42]

7 minutes ago, iflyrc5 said:

They don't have an audio tour but you can ask at guest services and they will print out a booklet that identifies much of the artwork and where it is located on the ship.  We did that yesterday.

Excellent, thanks so much!

[rkacruiser]

4 minutes ago, iflyrc5 said:

t you can ask at guest services and they will print out a booklet that identifies much of the artwork and where it is located on the ship. 

 

Good to know.  Maybe others beside me have commented about the untitled art work on the ship as to "what was the artist thinking when he/she created this "art".  The statue of David with a smartphone--what in the heck is that supposed to mean?  

[idiebabe]

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Good to know.  Maybe others beside me have commented about the untitled art work on the ship as to "what was the artist thinking when he/she created this "art".  The statue of David with a smartphone--what in the heck is that supposed to mean?  

I think that Statue of David is the most photographed!  🤣

[iflyrc5]

1 minute ago, idiebabe said:

I think that Statue of David is the most photographed!  🤣

If you notice the cell phone in his hand is showing a selfee

 

[idiebabe]

15 minutes ago, iflyrc5 said:

If you notice the cell phone in his hand is showing a selfee

 

I never noticed that when I took his Pic but will check it out when Onboard on the 16th.   Thanks for pointing that out!  Too funny!  😂

 

Do you know how many Passengers will be on for the 16th’s Sailing and if the Upper Level DR will be opened?    Thanks!  😀

 

 

Edited February 26, 2022 by idiebabe

[LewiLewi]

IFLYRC5, Can you do us a favor? We will be on the NS in a few weeks and have booked balcony cabin 5200. It is at the very back of the ship at the stern. We are wondering whether this is a quiet area (no loud engine noise, or vibrations). If you get a chance, can you walk by this cabin and tell us if it is quiet? 

If there is a problem, we will be able to switch to another location before getting on the ship.

Thank you in advance.
 

[iflyrc5]

17 hours ago, LewiLewi said:

IFLYRC5, Can you do us a favor? We will be on the NS in a few weeks and have booked balcony cabin 5200. It is at the very back of the ship at the stern. We are wondering whether this is a quiet area (no loud engine noise, or vibrations). If you get a chance, can you walk by this cabin and tell us if it is quiet? 

If there is a problem, we will be able to switch to another location before getting on the ship.

Thank you in advance.
 

We are in 4178 which is a port side balcony just 3 from the back of the ship on deck 4.   There is a little rumble from the props and in the morning when getting ready for docking you can hear the wine of the capstans that let out and pull in the mooring lines.  It is kind of a little wakeup that hey we are in port.  You also hear it when leaving.  You can also feel the cavitation of the props when the Azipods are being used to docking.   I really don't mind it at all.  We have seemed to have a lot of motion from the ocean the last few weeks - more so than when we have been here in Jan/Feb in the past.

[iflyrc5]

Philipsburg, Sint Maarten - Saturday - Feb 26,  Sunny - mid 80s - winds at 15.  After breakfast our mission was to walk into town and find Barb a replacement pair of sunglasses.  The pair that she got from the Microsoft Windows classes on the the ship several years ago broke so time to get something new.  There were 6 ships in today and we were at the outer pier which made for a little longer walk.  The walk to downtown takes about 20 minutes.  The usual taxi/tour folks were at the gate but a simple no thanks worked fine.  We spent about an hour looking in the various stalls and stores.  The prices ranged from $10  to the hundreds of dollars for the Gucci glasses.  Barb found a blue pair she like for $13.  We got back to the ship a little after noon and were rather warm from the sun and walk so time to break out my BIG mug for some ice tea.  We had a small lunch then shared an 8oz Gelato.  During the first segments we were given a 5 Star discount of 50% off the $2.50 price but today it was full price which is still not bad.  I checked with guest services and was told that as of this cruise the 5 Star discount no longer applies to the Gelato bar.  Ok, not a big deal and the ice cream is good too.  After lunch I finished my third Clive Cussler book so time for a swim in the lido pool.  The water was about the same as yesterday.  We got showers a little early and then attended Mass at 1700 in the Hudson room (not as crowded this cruise).  Then dinner in the MDR and I plan to see the BBC Planet Earth II in Concert at the World Stage at 2100.  Tomorrow we are in St Lucia and will be spending some of our OBC on a ship tour.

[rkacruiser]

22 hours ago, iflyrc5 said:

If you notice the cell phone in his hand is showing a selfee

 

 

I didn't see that.  Again, what in the heck is that supposed to mean? 

[ottahand7]

Did the guy in 5___ever make it onboard? Delayed departure by at least 30 minutes.

 

[iflyrc5]

1 hour ago, ottahand7 said:

Did the guy in 5___ever make it onboard? Delayed departure by at least 30 minutes.

 

Don't know.  

[cccole]

On 2/25/2022 at 6:29 PM, iflyrc5 said:

If you notice the cell phone in his hand is showing a selfee

 

That is an awesome observation.  Would not have noticed David is holding a cell phone.  Thank you so much for the photos and info.  The first photo in post #143 was beautiful.  I would have a hard time not sitting on that beach with an adult beverage in hand.  Cherie

[albingirl]

Great review, thanks!

[LewiLewi]

14 hours ago, iflyrc5 said:

We are in 4178 which is a port side balcony just 3 from the back of the ship on deck 4.   There is a little rumble from the props and in the morning when getting ready for docking you can hear the wine of the capstans that let out and pull in the mooring lines.  It is kind of a little wakeup that hey we are in port.  You also hear it when leaving.  You can also feel the cavitation of the props when the Azipods are being used to docking.   I really don't mind it at all.  We have seemed to have a lot of motion from the ocean the last few weeks - more so than when we have been here in Jan/Feb in the past.

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. Not sure of the “little rumble” from the props. Is that heard all of the time and is it loud enough to be annoying?

[July_Cruiser]

On 2/25/2022 at 9:29 PM, iflyrc5 said:

If you notice the cell phone in his hand is showing a selfee

 

Thanks for all your postings.  Jan has been telling me about your cruises and I thought I would let you know that we miss seeing both of you and enjoy cruising vicariously thru you.

 

Are you still in touch with Bob and Mary from Canada, your travel pals?

 

Ed & Jan