LIVE FROM the flagship Rotterdam on the 21-day Eastern Caribbean and 150th Anniversary Transatlantic

[Vict0riann]

20 minutes ago, Mooregre said:

We are having a significant challenge with loud talking and conversation.  We have a connecting room that is causing the issue.  I met with guest services three days ago and another rep last night.  We were told that they were looking at changing our room and have been waiting all afternoon for the issue tio be resolved.  Anyone else having similar challenges on this or other sailings.  It has been a frustrating 9 days.  Thanks in advance.

We have had that problem before, too.  Sorry you are having a frustrating time.  I now avoid connecting rooms like the plague.  But sometimes that is all there is…

[Vict0riann]

2 hours ago, accio_7 said:

Hi Ann, 

 

Having never sailed on HAL before, I have been following your live thread with great interest. (Thank you for sharing your wonderful stories and photos with us!) The food looks incredible, glad to see that my mom and I aren’t the only individuals who enjoy taking pictures of food. 😂

 

How have you been enjoying the entertainment onboard so far? Have you had a chance to meet either Doug Parker from Cruise Radio or Tony from La Lido Loca? I think Tony mentioned that there are media onboard this cruise. 
 

Hope you have a great day! 

I’m afraid we haven’t seen much of the entertainment on board.  I’ve heard good things about the Billboard piano players, and we’ve listened to the Dance Band a few times. Other than those, and a few talks in the World Stage, we’ve stayed away from crowds.  

[Vict0riann]

17 minutes ago, happywandering said:

Would someone be willing to post the current slate of officers? 

The updated list (Master of the ship is Captain Bas van Dreumel).

 

[Ipeeinthepools]

30 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

I’m afraid we haven’t seen much of the entertainment on board.  I’ve heard good things about the Billboard piano players, and we’ve listened to the Dance Band a few times. Other than those, and a few talks in the World Stage, we’ve stayed away from crowds.  

 

Can you tell us who are the piano players?

[Mooregre]

4 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

We have had that problem before, too.  Sorry you are having a frustrating time.  I now avoid connecting rooms like the plague.  But sometimes that is all there is…

It’s been a very frustrating situation.  We continue to work with guest services but they have no available verandas.  They offered to move us to an inside or outside cabin to sleep but our primary challenge is noise between 6:30 am to 10:00 pm each day.  
We had a connecting cabin on the Zaandam with no issues.  Never again! 

[happywandering]

41 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

The updated list (Master of the ship is Captain Bas van Dreumel).

 

Thank you

[Vict0riann]

11 minutes ago, Mooregre said:

It’s been a very frustrating situation.  We continue to work with guest services but they have no available verandas.  They offered to move us to an inside or outside cabin to sleep but our primary challenge is noise between 6:30 am to 10:00 pm each day.  
We had a connecting cabin on the Zaandam with no issues.  Never again! 

Do you know if they have spoken to your noisy  neighbours?  Once on Eurodam, we had a single lady next door who was lonesome, I guess, and maybe a bit deaf, and had the TV on loudly from 5 a.m. until late at night.  We talked to the Front Desk and they said they would ask her to lower the volume, and she did.  What a relief!

[Vict0riann]

25 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

Can you tell us who are the piano players?

I will check.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, Mooregre said:

It’s been a very frustrating situation.  We continue to work with guest services but they have no available verandas.  They offered to move us to an inside or outside cabin to sleep but our primary challenge is noise between 6:30 am to 10:00 pm each day.  
We had a connecting cabin on the Zaandam with no issues.  Never again! 

I've had people singing in the next room for hours, fighting and swearing like they are going to kill each,  loud talking and blaring music off their balcony.  Some people were clearly raised by wolves.  Good luck.

 

[olson99]

3 hours ago, Mooregre said:

We are having a significant challenge with loud talking and conversation.  We have a connecting room that is causing the issue.  I met with guest services three days ago and another rep last night.  We were told that they were looking at changing our room and have been waiting all afternoon for the issue tio be resolved.  Anyone else having similar challenges on this or other sailings.  It has been a frustrating 9 days.  Thanks in advance.

First 5 days in Carribean, just terrible. Had loud TV on 24/7. They left. New people have classical music on until 11 pm every night. Connecting room

[Vict0riann]

2 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

Can you tell us who are the piano players?

We went by the Music Walk after dinner.  A bartender in Billboard said the piano players are Melissa and R.K.  That’s all I got.  Do you know them? The Rolling Stone group were playing and the whole area was crowded.  
 

[Vict0riann]

Dinner this evening in Club Orange on our own, we decided just to have two appetizers and a dessert, as it had been a busy day, food-wise. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ipeeinthepools]

38 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

We went by the Music Walk after dinner.  A bartender in Billboard said the piano players are Melissa and R.K.  That’s all I got.  Do you know them? The Rolling Stone group were playing and the whole area was crowded.  
 

 

Thanks for checking.  We were on in February and K.J. was one of the pianists and he was fantastic.

[MO7]

2 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

We went by the Music Walk after dinner.  A bartender in Billboard said the piano players are Melissa and R.K.  That’s all I got.  Do you know them? The Rolling Stone group were playing and the whole area was crowded.  
 

Tastes might be different as I absolutely hate the voice of the male pianist. He sounds like Graham Norton on helium to me. It's probably me as they have an audience every night. The Rolling Stone rockband is brilliant however, so I move through the doors every 45 minutes between sets to the BB King, as they are excellent as well.

Edited April 11, 2023 by MO7

[Dismomx5]

7 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

We all ate very little for lunch, only the most delicious morsels.  I went for the fishy things, rollmops, etc., Tony, too and a Dutch meatball.  Pat did have a sandwich, and I don’t think Martha ate anything.  We were preparing for the Dutch tea.  We went to the MDR about 20 minutes early, there was already a queue, but 6 of us did get in fairly quickly.  It was quite tasty, and everything disappeared quickly.  We even asked for, and received, another stand.  There was a mishap during the tea, a passenger choked at a table at the other end of the room, but someone performed the Heimlich maneuver on him, and there was a scurrying of medical people, and all was well.  Everyone clapped!

 

Now on to Happy Hour!  
 

Dutch tea

 

 

 

Is that an almond "butterfly" cookie at the top. When I was on the Koningsdam, I'd go down to the Dutch Café every day to get one, er two. But when we were on the Rotterdam (October and January) I never saw them.

[Overhead Fred]

Went to Cantare tonight at the main stage. I thought they were pretty entertaining. I liked that they did a Prince song. 

 

I haven't checked out everything, but he entertainment seems pretty decent. The two piano players are OK, better than some that I have seen on HAL. The rock band is quite good IMO. BB King seems up to their usual standards. I enjoyed the dance band. Bill Miller's lectures have been fantastic. 

 

On the main stage so far, we have had -

 

Tiny Little Big Band (very good IMO)

Step One (twice)

Eliot Finkel (pianist)

Sid Davis (comedy)

Rebecca Kelly (comedy/singer)

Cantare (twice)

 

[albingirl]

5 hours ago, Mooregre said:

It’s been a very frustrating situation.  We continue to work with guest services but they have no available verandas.  They offered to move us to an inside or outside cabin to sleep but our primary challenge is noise between 6:30 am to 10:00 pm each day.  
We had a connecting cabin on the Zaandam with no issues.  Never again! 

I would take the outside cabin they are willing to give you. Get away from the noise.

[AFNavigator]

10 hours ago, accio_7 said:

Hi Ann, 

 

Having never sailed on HAL before, I have been following your live thread with great interest. (Thank you for sharing your wonderful stories and photos with us!) The food looks incredible, glad to see that my mom and I aren’t the only individuals who enjoy taking pictures of food. 😂

 

How have you been enjoying the entertainment onboard so far? Have you had a chance to meet either Doug Parker from Cruise Radio or Tony from La Lido Loca? I think Tony mentioned that there are media onboard this cruise. 
 

Hope you have a great day! 

Tony from La Lido Loca posted a somber Youtube clip today of yesterday's Titanic remembrance ceremony.  Very nicely done HAL.  I was surprised to hear the captain state that one of HAL's home office staff--i think he said their chief budget officer--was on the Titanic when it went down...he didn't survive.

[Vict0riann]

7 hours ago, Dismomx5 said:

Is that an almond "butterfly" cookie at the top. When I was on the Koningsdam, I'd go down to the Dutch Café every day to get one, er two. But when we were on the Rotterdam (October and January) I never saw them.

I went down to the Dutch Cafe after tea to have a look at the offerings, and yes, those delicious almond cookies were there in a glass container.  I usually just have a coffee there, now I’m afraid I will be tempted to indulge! 

[Vict0riann]

11 hours ago, MO7 said:

Tastes might be different as I absolutely hate the voice of the male pianist. He sounds like Graham Norton on helium to me. It's probably me as they have an audience every night. The Rolling Stone rockband is brilliant however, so I move through the doors every 45 minutes between sets to the BB King, as they are excellent as well.

Talking to a lady in the elevator this morning, she said she liked his voice, also the female piano player had done an amazing opera aria. 

[Vict0riann]

Well , things have certainly changed today.  We must still be on the edge of that weather system, but there are whitecaps, the windows are spattered and people are doing their laps indoors.  Our room is creaking and banging, Tony says theirs, more midships, is not.  It seems we are somewhat north of the Azores.

 

 

 

 

The program for the day.  Plus we have the Mariner reception at 11.

 

 

 

 

[0106]

Is “For the Love of Bread & Baked Goods” @11 a cooking show? Thank you for your live thread.

[Vict0riann]

 

 

Tony’s bar bill from the Throwback Happy Hour the other day, and Martha took a video of our showman bartender.  It’s taking forever to upload the video, so I hope you can see it.

 

Finally!  But it seems to have moved to the top of my post, and I’m afraid to move it!

 

 

 

 

[Vict0riann]

19 minutes ago, 0106 said:

Is “For the Love of Bread & Baked Goods” @11 a cooking show? Thank you for your live thread.

 According to Karlijn’s recent announcement, it’s a lecture on Dutch baking and how it changed the world.

[Dismomx5]

4 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

I went down to the Dutch Cafe after tea to have a look at the offerings, and yes, those delicious almond cookies were there in a glass container.  I usually just have a coffee there, now I’m afraid I will be tempted to indulge! 

Ann, you could say that you are having one for your fellow Canadian.... 😉