Going LIVE on Nieuw Statendam roundtrip Rome ⛲🛵Oct 26-Nov 9: Planes Trains Vespas & Ships w/GOT!!

[Haljo1935]

Hey @BetsyS. I found some Halloween decorations.

Outside MDR deck 3 - the flower arrangement has grown to include gourds. Zoom in to see some carved pumpkins.🎃 

Photo Shop has a different type of carved pumpkin. 🤭

Also found this in the Photo Shop.

This is the best I can do for now; hopefully we'll see more today and I can get some pax doors. Wonder if people will put treats out for people to take? A floating Trick or Treat...

 

There are some Halloween activities:

Halloween trivia at 7pm

Halloween dance to the hits at 10:45pm - who wants in on the pool for how many times "Monster Mash" will be heard?🫣

Drumroll, please - saving the best for last, I give you...Halloween Party at 9:45pm!!!🥳👾

Seems there should have been mention of the party so we could have all come prepared. We've only seen 3 children so far, 1 of which was under a yo in a stroller - hopefully they attend 😉 😳 

[BetsyS.]

Thanks so much for the great pictures and info! Happy Halloween! I'm glad 

HAL has festive decorations and activities.

[BetsyS.]

Congratulations on the Rangers win! 🥂😊 Have a great time in Dubrovnik!

[Haljo1935]

Tonight the Shops was having a sale. I did not set out to actually  go shopping, but was looking for 1 very specific thing - lounge pants. Seems mine did not make it into the suitcase. While I didn't find any, I did find an assortment of things on sale at 25% off, 50% off, B3G1 (buy 3 get 1 free).

All HAL 150th anniversary merchandise is 25% off. The small bears are on keychain clips - suitcase can surely hold 1 girl and 1 boy.🥴

Misc jewelry and Food items are 50% - DDIL will love this olive oil truffle gift set. Every visit to her house results in her having more spices (we always take her several jars), which she thinks is the best thing ever; she loves Penzeys. 

Cigarettes are Buy 3 cartons, Get 1 carton free. DH says the smokes are a GREAT deal - his store sells Newport for $12/pack. That's $120/carton!! At that price, why do people still smoke and who can afford that? 🤯 So, $480 vs $192 is a no brainer if that's your thing.

[Haljo1935]

3 minutes ago, BetsyS. said:

Congratulations on the Rangers win! 🥂😊 Have a great time in Dubrovnik!

YAY - I hadn't heard that yet. With the internet issues, we had not been able to check. Thank you for thinking of us.

Go Rangers!!⚾

[Haljo1935]

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Today's port is Dubrovnik Croatia where we have (of course) a GOT tour booked. DH is very excited! 🙄He may be even more excited for Split Croatia (replaced Olympia) as we hear it has even more GOT stuff. 🫣

Sun is thinking of rising.

Sea is rougher and skies are dark ahead - we are definitely heading into some dreary weather.

[Haljo1935]

Pre-breakfast has arrived. We use the tall coffee cups from the lido; room service uses the short wide ones - coffee cools down too quickly in those.

They sent enough bacon and watermelon for the entire aft section - if we're hosting our neighbors, I need to swap jammies for "public" clothes, lol.

Warning - the grapes 🫒have not been seedless. (Yes, I know those are olives, but the only 🍇 I found were not green.) They look really good, and indeed taste great, but the seeds are a bother. Especially when you don't expect them.🥴

The 🍉 is very juicy, sweet and crisp. The watermelon in the Lido has been a tad mushy, which I do not like. I'm guessing it's because they cube it and toss it in a bowl w/other fruit where it's subjected to frequent stirring. 🤔 The sliced is much better.

Definitely heading into soggy weather. TV forecast still shows rain.

Bur I'm sure we'll have a lovely day in Dubrovnik. 

[Haljo1935]

Good morning, Dubrovnik!!

 

Captain says we got in about 30 min early and got clearance right away. He didn't tell us we have company - hello, Viking Neptune.

Because we're early, first shuttle will go at 10 instead of 10:30. We plan on taking the 10:30 or 11 shuttle; our tour leaves at 12:30.

 

Let's go outside w/DH - that's code for "smoking area here we come."

Tag, you're it! Oh, sorry, not that kind of tag, but we're not even off the ship yet and have already seen graffiti. Sure saw a lot in Rome.

Looking down from deck 9, here's how much of each aft balconies are visible. Not much at all to see of deck 5. I see that question a lot, so I thought I'd just answer it. 😉

Looking back across the deck toward the stack is an interesting view.

And here's NS flag.

 

[Haljo1935]

We're in good company at the bus stop as we wait for the shuttle to take us back to the ship.

City click says it's about 3:20, bus should be here in 10 min.

[Haljo1935]

I will share pictures of our GOT day in Dubrovnik in a bit. For now I offer sunset photos as we wait to leave. Turns out there were 4 ships in port today, so very busy day. 

Bow Cam:

Aft Cam:

From our balcony:

Edited October 31, 2023 by Haljo1935
Remove duplicate pic

[IntrepidFromDC]

On 10/30/2023 at 2:48 AM, Haljo1935 said:

Today is a sea day, headed to our first port Dubrovnik. When I first looked at the map, I thought ports had been rearranged and we were heading for Messina. I had thought we were going around Sicily; never read that, just assumed. This is why we don't make assumptions.

Then I zoomed in and realized we're going between Messina and Villa San Giovanni. I hope I get to see that, looks like it would be a pretty passage. 

 

Keep a sharp lookout for Scylla and Charybdis as you pass through the Messina Strait!!!  Make Homer proud.

[Haljo1935]

Daily Dubrovnik Croatia 

And here's today - Corfu Greece

[BetsyS.]

Congratulations on the Rangers win! Score was 11-7. 🥂😊  Have fun in Greece!

[Haljo1935]

11 minutes ago, BetsyS. said:

Congratulations on the Rangers win! Score was 11-7. 🥂😊  Have fun in Greece!

YAY and thank you! 🥳🥂Heard Garcia was out injured which is not good. 😪 Did he get injured during that game or game 3?

I'm running out of nails to bite...⚾

[Haljo1935]

Lost an hour last night as clocks went ahead. I believe this is our only port requiring a time change, which is another reason to celebrate (Rangers win being the first - thank you @BetsyS.).

Today is Corfu Greece 🇬🇷; should arrive in less than 2 hours.

Will our 4x4 excursion be canceled? Forecast is rain, 71° and 73% humidity. 

Last night was forecasted for rain, but it was only cloudy, so 🤞 

[BetsyS.]

Garcia was removed from game 3 on Monday with a moderate left oblique strain. Garcia couldn't swing properly and was replaced ahead of game 4, along with game 3 starter Max Scherzer, who left Monday's game with back spasms.

[Haljo1935]

In theater waiting for our excursion number to be called. They're about halfway through. 

[BetsyS.]

Congratulations on the Rangers win!  🥂😊  They did it!!  Score was 5-0. When the Rangers get back to Texas, there will be huge crowds waiting for them at the airport!  Have a great day in Albania!

[Haljo1935]

24 minutes ago, BetsyS. said:

Congratulations on the Rangers win!  🥂😊  They did it!!  Score was 5-0. When the Rangers get back to Texas, there will be huge crowds waiting for them at the airport!  Have a great day in Albania!

OMG!! Thanks for starting my day with fabulous news!! My dad was an avid Rangers fan - he logged the score of every game and would be thrilled to know his neighbors have the ultimate title. We used to watch the fireworks at The Ballpark (old Rangers stadium) from his porch, he lived so close. 

Great news ⚾and great memories. ❤️

[Mary229]

[Haljo1935]

Today we're in Sarande Albania; it's a tender port. We popped over from Corfu last night and spent the night hanging out before getting clearance to tender over this morning. We got our hour back and should not have any more time changes.

Weather started rough in the wee hours, but turned out to be another beautiful day.

View from the tender on return trip.

Current view from balcony as we wait for sail away.

I will post pictures and thoughts  from today's experience a bit later.

[Haljo1935]

Today is a sea day, so I hope to get caught up on posts and pictures.

Stopped by GS to get a billing error sorted out - once again HAL did the right thing and resolved the issue on first visit w/no escalation needed. Yes, it would be better if we could have a cruise free of errors, but they're going to happen; it's how they're handled that matters.🤔

So, while there, I saw the sign and stand of luggage tags 😪 telling us it's time to plan for ending the cruise.😓 

We took yellow 6 which we will trade for yellow 4.

Then when we got back to our cabin, we were greeted by this:

Canceled the Italian wine tasting as we didn't know there was a charge - we only want to sit through free wine tasting.

Passed through the Lido; they had beautiful fruit on display.

[Haljo1935]

18 hours ago, Mary229 said:

DH said "I had to go to Albania 🇦🇱 for the Rangers to get a pennant!" I said, "I'm willing to take one for the team - let's get them a few more and book Mediterranean cruises every Oct."

[Haljo1935]

On 10/30/2023 at 10:57 AM, Haljo1935 said:

When I left you, I was off to find DH for breakfast. As you probably know, what I found was Stromboli (99% positive that's correct) blowing her stack and clean laundry on my bed. Oh happy day!! 🥳This is why I love HAL - take me to beautiful locations to see stunning sites while ensuring I do it in clean clothes 🤭

Updating the post that did not include photos.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Haljo1935
Typo

[Haljo1935]

Good morning, Sea Day!

Not sure this helps me much in knowing where I am🫣

But this really helps - sometimes I need "the big picture."

Sun is trying to rise on a cloudy ⛅ morning as we head toward Split (Trogir) Croatia.

Looks like the rain has once again been taken out of the forecast - I'm liking the trend...

Today was supposed to be Katakolon  (Olympia). Instead, we'll spend the day at sea and tomorrow will be another GOT day in Split. We will do our best to include 🍷 lol.

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by Haljo1935
Remove pic