'Twas the Cruise Over Easter - 9 Day Southern Caribbean - March 29 - April 7, 2024

[Haljo1935]

3 hours ago, POA1 said:

From the Crow's Nest -

 

Far forward there are two articulated binoculars.

NICE - I've not seen these on any of the 'dam ships I've been on. I would love them.

Edited April 10 by Haljo1935
Typo

[POA1]

15 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

NICE - I've not seen these on any of the 'dam ships I've been on. I would love them.

They looked very cool, but I did not see anyone using them. In all fairness though, we were in port and I was merely passing through, taking photos.

 

It's entirely possible that Mr. Smee is there during sailing. (Probably with a parrot, on his shoulder, cracking wise.)

 

 

[POA1]

Our Room -

 

We opted for one of the "pointy" category V verandah rooms. This one, 7058 is on the port side of the ship, opposite the PS on deck 7.

 

Room 7058 sits on the foreward bump out, which adds an extra triangular bit to the room.

 

You can see the pointy piece in this picture. The primary difference in the room configuration is that the desk is on the same wall as the sofa.

 

The desk is closest to the balcony doors, which are set at a jaunty 45° angle to the walls.

 

 

The stretch of wall next to the balcony door gives you a nice photo background for taking pre-dinner photos. You can choose either the beige wall or the green curtain, depending on which one looks best with the outfit du jour.

 

 

 

You can see onto the Neptune Suite balconies which neighbor you. As long as you stay behind the partition, you will be blocked from view. (Important for avoiding the poohparazzi.)

 

Looking toward the door from the wall by the balcony.

 

The TV is opposite the bed. Given that we watch the safety briefing and that's about it, the placement did not bother us.

 

Safe, mini fridge, and drawers. Standard glassware and ice bucket set up.

 

Two closets for hanging. Only one could take longer items as shelves in the right closet are fixed and don't fold up.

 

The left closet will hold longer items. It had a nice orange umbrella, which thankfully, we did not need.

 

Full length mirror so you can make sure you are looking sharp before heading out.

 

USB and 120 Volt AC outlets on both sides of the bed.

 

There are a slew of outlets by the desk.

 

I kept an automatic LED night light in one of the outlets. The Rotterdam did not have the auto lights under the closets like the Nieuw Statendam did. Nor did it have the cool light bars in closet on the hanger rod.

 

I also used one of these lights in the bathroom. I'll post a link to them later. They're very handy. I keep a couple in our travel bags.

 

 

I took this in wide angle. The commode is not bizarrely long.(For some odd reason, CC replaced the word I used for taking a photo with asterisks.)

 

 

The shower is spacious. It had good water pressure and did not leak.

 

 

Edited April 12 by POA1

[POA1]

Yes, I am going to send these to HALfacts. This room is not on their excellent photo resource list.

[POA1]

The night lights we carry are only $10 for 6 lights.  They last a long time and they're inexpensive enough that you don't have to fret if you leave one behind.

 

0.5 Watt Night Lights

[BetsyS.]

Thank you! Great idea! Amazon has everything! 😊

[jagger16]

Thank you Brian & Michelle for the time that you take to share all of this information and to include so many pictures. Glad you had a great cruise. Your weather looked perfect.

 

I would love to see pictures of the drinks from the mixology bar from@Huskerchick

 

A couple of random questions . . .

1. Did you get to keep the cordial glass with the cordial of the day? We had to buy the cordial glass in January on Nieuw Statendam as the glass was not included in the beverage package. The drink was.

2. Were you able to get lunch from the lido in the cabana? We were not when we were on Nieuw Statendam. I remember you saying that when you were on in December you still could.

 

Thank you!

[POA1]

16 hours ago, BetsyS. said:

Thank you! Great idea! Amazon has everything! 😊

 

You're welcome!  I have a tendency of forgetting to unplug these from hotel rooms, so the pack of 6 at a low price help to soften the blow when I leave one behind. I bought a pack of 6 in 2022, and I still have 4 left,

[57redbird]

29 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

You're welcome!  I have a tendency of forgetting to unplug these from hotel rooms, so the pack of 6 at a low price help to soften the blow when I leave one behind. I bought a pack of 6 in 2022, and I still have 4 left,

Are they a low light or a bright light?  Thanks....the ones I bought are super bright & very annoying.

[Huskerchick]

5 hours ago, jagger16 said:

Thank you Brian & Michelle for the time that you take to share all of this information and to include so many pictures. Glad you had a great cruise. Your weather looked perfect.

 

I would love to see pictures of the drinks from the mixology bar from@Huskerchick

 

A couple of random questions . . .

1. Did you get to keep the cordial glass with the cordial of the day? We had to buy the cordial glass in January on Nieuw Statendam as the glass was not included in the beverage package. The drink was.

2. Were you able to get lunch from the lido in the cabana? We were not when we were on Nieuw Statendam. I remember you saying that when you were on in December you still could.

 

Thank you!

 

B had the Sand Castle and I had the Bees Knees (on the right) and they were both very tasty.

 

 

[mahi mahi]

14 hours ago, 57redbird said:

Are they a low light or a bright light?  Thanks....the ones I bought are super bright & very annoying.

We use a small battery operated candle, enough light to see the “commode” in the middle of the night but not enough for an assault on the retinas.

[POA1]

14 hours ago, 57redbird said:

Are they a low light or a bright light?  Thanks....the ones I bought are super bright & very annoying.

They're fairly bright, so they might not be what you want. I guess the best way to describe them is that they throw enough light that you would not have to turn on the bathroom light.

 

I mean, you're not going to read by their light but you can see things. They'd be too bright for bedside, but they were good for this room and the Vista Suite we had in December. I plugged them in at the desk, which was far enough from the bed not to cause a problem.

 

There is a dimmable version that might be more to your liking. They are 4 for $16.99

 

Dimmable LED Night Lights

 

These are nicer, but exceed my threshold for caring if I leave one behind. (Apparently, that is somewhere more than $2.😁) We have these at home.

 

[POA1]

The Department of Scanning Things will get busy today with the daily programs and the art tour and any other random paperwork I decided to keep, bringing it home in our latest Club Orange tote bag. (Which, as you know, is the highlight of the trip. We now have two. One for Poohby Joe and one for Michelle. I get mine next trip. We did get a 150th Anniversary HAL tote in December, so I guess that's mine.)

[CruisingCleo]

Thank you so much for this review! I will be on my first HAL cruise in 3 weeks, on the Rotterdam. This has given me a wealth of information, p.e. I do not have to bring a non-slip badmath as I will have a shower with a rough tiled floor. And all the ideas for cocktails and wine pairing are wonderful!

[POA1]

Remember how I said that 7 days was too short, and that we preferred 10-14 days, minimum?

 

Well...

 

We're planning a 12 day over Thanksgiving 2025. That seems like a really long time between cruises.

 

So, we booked a 7 day cruise on the Nieuw Statendam over St. Patrick's Day next year.

[wdw1972]

12 minutes ago, POA1 said:

Remember how I said that 7 days was too short, and that we preferred 10-14 days, minimum?

 

Well...

 

We're planning a 12 day over Thanksgiving 2025. That seems like a really long time between cruises.

 

So, we booked a 7 day cruise on the Nieuw Statendam over St. Patrick's Day next year.

Does your 12-day end 11/28/25? If so, I'll be boarding the day you depart - and immediately head to family cabana #8. Good luck with the 7-day Nieuw Statendam. It will be overrun with hundreds of kids - I'll never do that again! The Retreat was the only thing that saved me on that cruise! The Lido pool was literally full of young little heads screaming & shrieking with joy - thankfully barely heard up in the Retreat.

 

Sue/WDW1972

[POA1]

1 hour ago, wdw1972 said:

Does your 12-day end 11/28/25? If so, I'll be boarding the day you depart - and immediately head to family cabana #8. Good luck with the 7-day Nieuw Statendam. It will be overrun with hundreds of kids - I'll never do that again! The Retreat was the only thing that saved me on that cruise! The Lido pool was literally full of young little heads screaming & shrieking with joy - thankfully barely heard up in the Retreat.

 

Sue/WDW1972

I'm not so sure on the kids. Easter is April 20th next year. The school breaks should be clustered in February, around President's Day and in April around Easter.

 

In any case, we'll be in Club Orange and have a Retreat Cabana.

[KAKcruiser]

Was there a Mariner's lunch on this cruise?

[wdw1972]

6 hours ago, POA1 said:

I'm not so sure on the kids. Easter is April 20th next year. The school breaks should be clustered in February, around President's Day and in April around Easter.

 

In any case, we'll be in Club Orange and have a Retreat Cabana.

Unfortunately I think you're mistaken. Relatively few schools are out over President's Day - mainly the Northeast. When my son was growing up in FL, the spring break was not tied to Easter, since the date for Easter varies so widely. My awful Nieuw Statendam experience that was overrun with hundreds of kids was 3/11/23 for 7 nights. Easter was 4/9/23. 

 

Agree between Club Orange and the Retreat you'll miss the worst of it. Walking through the Lido Pool area was something we avoided. We didn't have any issues in specialty dining, which is what we mostly do - other than one night in Canaletto when these absolute horrors (with parents who let them literally RUN wild and stomp like elephants (twins approx 8-10 years old) were running screeching through the Lido Marketplace while mom & dad ignored the behavior. One of my travel companions ran into them a few different times and finally spoke up when they nearly knocked over some of the more traditional elderly HAL passengers, telling the kids to STOP that. It was sad that the parents were so ignorant. From that point we've sworn off the 7-night Caribbean cruises since HAL seems intent on running this kids sail free crap and we've shifted our March cruising to February since March seems to be the peak month for spring breaks.

 

Oh, another lovely experience was waiting for a show in the World Stage. Multi-family group a few rows ahead of us let the kids slam the seat bottoms up & down, hard enough to make noise. The parents just sat there playing on their phones, letting their little darlings behave inappropriately. 

 

Good luck!

Sue/WDW1972

[POA1]

10 hours ago, KAKcruiser said:

Was there a Mariner's lunch on this cruise?

Excellent question! I don't know off the top of my head, but I am going to be scanning all the daily programs later today, so I'll check. We usually make a Pinnacle Grill lunch reservation for the day the lunch would be held, so I wasn't paying attention to see if there was one.

[bajae]

5 hours ago, wdw1972 said:

Unfortunately I think you're mistaken. Relatively few schools are out over President's Day - mainly the Northeast. When my son was growing up in FL, the spring break was not tied to Easter, since the date for Easter varies so widely. My awful Nieuw Statendam experience that was overrun with hundreds of kids was 3/11/23 for 7 nights. Easter was 4/9/23. 

 

I agree. Spring break for the school district in my area always falls in the middle of March. 

[0106]

14 minutes ago, POA1 said:

I don’t know off the top of my head, but I am going to be scanning all the daily programs later today, so I'll check

I have never seen a Mariner’s lunch in the Daily program.  On the Rotterdam TA (15 days) in October and the Oosterdam SA & Antartica (22 days)  in February, we received invitations in our mailbox.

 

@POA1Thanks for this thread, especially the pictures of the”pointy” room.  Did it feel more spacious?

[BetsyS.]

I think the reason that the Mariner's lunch is not in the Daily program is because it's not for everyone - it's for 3* or 4* and up. It's nice that they put the invitations in the mailbox.

[POA1]

1 hour ago, 0106 said:

I have never seen a Mariner’s lunch in the Daily program.  On the Rotterdam TA (15 days) in October and the Oosterdam SA & Antartica (22 days)  in February, we received invitations in our mailbox.

 

@POA1Thanks for this thread, especially the pictures of the”pointy” room.  Did it feel more spacious?

I don't recall a Mariner's Lunch invitation, but I will check with the boss and see if I missed it.

 

We liked the room for what may seem like a silly reason:  The sofa and desk are not opposite each other. They're on the same wall. That means that the little square table ("Bashing Knees Since 2016!") did not get in the way as much.I can see the appeal of the various flavors of bump-out rooms, particularly the ones with the enormous balconies.  A good friend of ours had one of those on the Rotterdam and it gives you a huge amount of outdoor space.  Easily enough for the band to set up and still leave room for the dance floor.*

 

We selected the forward one because it's closer to the Retreat Cabana area and we spend a fair amount of time there.

 

*Making that up.  Unless you had an accordionist, there would be very little room for dancing,

[POA1]

7 hours ago, wdw1972 said:

Unfortunately I think you're mistaken. Relatively few schools are out over President's Day - mainly the Northeast. When my son was growing up in FL, the spring break was not tied to Easter, since the date for Easter varies so widely.

 

Having grown up in the Northeast, I did make the assumption about February & Easter.

 

We were most concerned about the Big 3 school districts in Southern Florida: Palm Beach County, Broward County, and Miami-Dade.  They're all on break the week after our cruise.  I think Martin County is the closest that has "our week" for break.

 

Up in Central Florida, Orange & Osceola Counties are off ob break over Patty's Day.  I am hoping those lovely people and their wonderful children will gravitate toward Port Canaveral.  (In case you're reading this, parents: Parking by Port Everglades is really expensive and hard to come by.  We had to buy a condo down here over 20 years ago - just to have a place to park!  There. That should do it.  😉)