Prinsendam 2005 World Tour... it has begun

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam World Tour First Impressions

This is the first page of the log of Slinkie and Grumpy as we begin our trip around the world on the Prinsendam. We left our home in sunny Naples, Fl at 10am for the drive across Alligator Alley to Fort Lauderdale. Grumpy's sister also lives in Naples and was the desiginated chauffeur for the trip. With 6 suitcases, a bag of snorkel gear, 2 computer bags, and a couple of miscellaneous bags we were glad that we have a large sedan with a large trunk. We did not take advantage of the free luggage transfer from home to ship as we didn't have any packing done until just a day before.

Getting to Port Everglades from Naples is very easy. I-595 continues due East when I-75 turns south toward Miami and at the end of I-595 you just continue straight ahead into the port. We pulled up in front of the terminal just before noon and a porter immediately took all of the luggage. Signs posted at several locations stated that tipping was not required, but the porter accepted the tip we offered and seemed very appreciative. We were directed into the the terminal building and were quickly processed through by a very helpful staff. Since we are on the full tour, our passports were retained along with our WHO Yellow Books. A stop for photos for the S&S card and we were onboard and in our cabin by 12:30. It was time to head up to the Lido for lunch. We were impressed with the food quality and variety. OK, I'm going to have to watch myself, I don't want to test the limits of the waistline on all of my slacks and shorts. It's going to be SO easy to over indulge... After lunch, we prowled around the ship for awhile, getting acquainted with all of the places. The shops were still being stocked, cartloads of materials aqnd supplies were being moved around everywhere. Some of the upgrade work was still being done as we were getting ready to sail. Yes, you can tell that the Prinsendam has a few years on her when you look up at the underside of the decks above and see large rust bubbles, but that is to be expected. The Queen's Lounge appears to be newly decorated as do many of the other public areas.

Our cabin, Cat SS number 35, deck 10, starboard, is just forward of the forward elevators. The carpet is already stained in a few places, but everything else is very nice. We have the comfortable Eurotop mattresses. The cabin is about 15 feet across and is quite roomy. The walkin closet is adequate but not overly large for the amount of clothes we brought. The entertainment center consists of a very nice desk, bar, refrigerator, DVD player, 21" flat panel TV and a few storage shelves all built into a dark wood, gold trimmed cabinet. There are two drawers that can be locked and provide medium security for storing laptops and other items that are too big for the safe. A curved sofa that easily seats 4, a cocktail table and an easy chair complete the furnishings on that side of the cabin. On the same side as the bed, there is an L shaped desk/makeup table with large mirror, halo lighted makeup mirror and a 110volt receptacle. The desk on the opposit side of the room only has a European receptacle, so it isn't convenient for my laptop. (Slinkie claimed first dibs on the desk/makeup table area) A converter will be one of the things we look for at our first port stop.

The bathroom is very nice and well stocked. We have the extra wash basin and a very large medicine cabinet, so we don't feel cluttered at all. The first "problem" we encountered was when Slinkie tried to follow the directions for flushing the toilet. The sign on the wall says to push down on the button. The button does depress when you push down, but nothing happens. Me, being the contrary type, decided to see what happens when you do the opposite of what the instructions say. Pulling up instead of pushing down works every time! Our cabin steward, Suki, is very friendly and has been very efficient. We condensed our 6 suitcases into the two large ones, which were just a bit too thick to store under the bed, but Suki took them away to wherever it is that they store them.

Sailaway was delayed about 1/2 hour as there was a truck with 17 pallets of materials and supplies that arrived just minutes before the scheduled departure. RCCL's Enchantment of the Seas was berthed just ahead of us and departed on schedule. We should have been right behind her, but she was long out of sight when we finally left port. The free drinks on the Lido deck were something blue with rum, lime and mint leaves. Hey, they were free! Who cares what they call them.

We had already located our table in the La Fontaine dining room earlier in the day. It is a table for 8 along the outside wall by one of the large windows. We are very pleased with the location. The early dining was running very slow and we weren't seated until after 8:30. We hope that will improve as time goes on. We are seated with 3 couples that are all seasoned world cruisers. 2 of the couples sailed together last year on the world tour and the 3rd couple has done a Princess world cruise. The food was delicious, the service great and our dinner companions are very pleasant. What more could we want. One of our dinner companions had asked during checkin and was told that there are about 300 of us that are doing the full World Tour. The other 450 will depart at various ports, many of them in LA or Hawaii, and be replaced with other cruisers.

Although everything is fine in our cabin, we do hear rumblings of problems in some cabins. Some friends down on main deck say that all of the cabins in that area are sweltering. I don't know how wide spread the problem is but there are some unhappy cruisers already. This morning, we walked past one of the public restrooms on Lido deck and say water starting to run out from under the door and spread quickly across the carpet. We didn't stick around to see how bad the flood was. The forward, starboard elevator, which was working earlier, was stuck on deck 12 from last evening to this morning. It's back in service this afternoon, but an aft elevator is now out. We take the stairs everywhere, so it doesn't bother us, but it seems that they haven't solved all of the elevator problems yet.

This morning, they were replacing tables chairs and lounges on Lido deck. The new chairs are lighter and more surface area than the old green and gold chairs, and were sliding around the deck on the open deck aft of the Lido buffet. The chairs are a bit wider to accomodate the fat a**ed cruisers of today.

By the time we finished dinner, we were in some fairly rough seas and were rolling quite a bit. Not having developed our "sea legs" yet, we were a comical sight as we moved around like a bunch of drunken sailors... well, some of us were drunken sailors, but that wasn't the main factor. We really enjoyed being rocked to sleep by the ocean, though, and both of us slept really well.

In the internet cafe we were told that we would not have wifi access from our cabin, but would have to take our laptops to the library, the internet cafe, the neptune lounge or a couple of other areas. Still being contrary, I booted up the laptop in our cabin found the wifi network and logged in with no problem. Signal strength varies from low to good, but seems solid. Although the network is fine, there is apparently a problem with the satellite link today as we haven't been able to log in since last night. We write everything off line so that we can do a quick cut and paste into a thread when we sign on. We will try to scan the replies and answer questions, but the answers will probably lag a day or two behind.

We are meeting a couple of other cruise critic members in the Crows Nest this afternoon. There is another couple from another board that we just happened to see while waiting for the dining room to open. Slinkie had been exchanging Emails with them and had exchanged pics, so they recognized each other. They will also join us in the Crow's Nest. We will have a second meeting of CC'ers in the Crow's Nest after we pick up the ones joining us in LA. We know of at least 3 more couples that will join us there. Slinkie is already plotting devious ways to separate Grumpy from some of his hard earned money when we get to Georgetown, Grand Caymen, tomorrow. We will post more as we sail along.

Grumpy and Slinkie

[Sage]

Grumpy and Slinkie,

Thank you so much for including us in your world cruise. I have enjoyed reading your first installment and look forward to more. I hope that you have a wonderful cruise.

[grannynurse]

Thank you so much for your great description of your SS cabin. We are considering the Prinsendam for on of her longer European cruises and really appreciate your perspective.

After being on the Rotterdam for 34 days last summer and reluctant to get off, I really envy you on your world cruise.

I am looking forward to traveling vicariously with you, thanks again, so much.
Blessings on your travels,
PS, I love your style!
GN

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005 Page 2

We arrived at Georgetown, Grand Cayman, right on schedule this morning and were just about to anchor when the port authority decided that the seas were going to get too rough for tendering operations and closed the port. Looks like another sea day... probably will be easier on Grumpy's wallet though. We didn't have any shore excursion planned, just shopping, but did have a list of items we had wanted to purchase in port

Our friends down on main deck report that they still have no hot water, but the air conditioning is starting to improve. Everything has been fine in our Verandah deck cabin. If the hot water problems on main deck continue, we may start a shower concession... recoup some of our costs...

We brought our XM satellite boom box along. It's nice to be able to listen to something other than CNNI. I have the antenna taped to the balcony railing and, so far, it works fine as long as we are headed East or South. When headed west, as we were yesterday while cruising past the North Shore of Cuba, the steel deck above blocks the reception. We also have a Garmin V GPS and can check our location. It has built in world map software and we can see the names of some ot the islands we are passing. The Prinsendam does not have a channel on the TV that shows our location so we like being able to find out for ourselves just where in the world we are.

The internet was down all day on our first day at sea, but is working fine today. The speed is better than AOL dialup, but not as good as the cable access that we are used to at home... our other home, that is... People that are using the computers in the internet cafe report that access is very slow. Slinkie and Grumpy both have their laptops with wireless cards. We have one account but can log in from either computer, just not at the same time. I have used hotel networks where we had to swap the wireless card from one computer to the other to log in, but this network doesn't care what equipment we use, just that we have the right username and password.

The dining room was running right on schedule last night. The wait staff seems quite efficient and friendly, but very busy. There have been several from other parts of the dining room that have stopped by our table to greet the two couples that have cruised the Prinsendam World Tour before, but always have to rush off to tend to their tables.

We are impressed with the menu choices and food quality. Last night was prime rib for Grumpy, cajun grouper for Slinkie. Both were quite good. Slinkie thought the grouper would be a bit spicier... she likes blackened... but it was perfectly cooked and very tender. Grumpy couldn't resist the King crab appetizer... should have just told them to keep them coming, nothing else needed... and the bananas Foster dessert. Slinkie seldom does desserts... gotta admire that gal's "won't power". She's determined that there will not be any shrinkage of the clothes during the cruise. Our TA gave us a coupon for a Pinnacle night, and the ship has given us coupons for 4 more, but we haven't used any of them yet.

[Sage]

Grumpy1,

I love reading your postings, and I agree that you have a wonderful style. Thank you again so much for taking us along. I can't wait to hear what happens next. May your cruise be filled with joy and calm seas.

[localady]

Wow, what a great start to a world voyage lived vicariously!!!:D

I am looking forward to each and every installment! So glad you 2 have settled in to your accommodations and hope the seas are a little less rough so you can actually make your next "land day". Looking forward to the next installment!:cool:

P.S. In your "ship wandering" would you check out the newer cabins on the back of the Promenade deck? My question is whether cabin A196 and A197 have windows looking out that back wall. We are booked in one of those cabins this summer and are curious to know. Thanks in advance!

[FlorenceItaly]

What a privilege it is for us to be sharing this journey with you. Thank you.

Marie

[jhannah]

The Prinsendam does not have a channel on the TV that shows our location so we like being able to find out for ourselves just where in the world we are.
Check again. We looked at it regularly on our Mediterranean cruise last September. I'm with you in that I like to keep track of where we are. I've thought about getting a good GPS, but just haven't yet.

Thanks so much for your posts. Makes me feel right at home! We enjoyed our SS cabin on the other side of the ship ... #65. Next August we'll be in #51 for our British Isles cruise. I'm really looking forward to the SOE enhancements. Especially the 21" TV. All we had was a 9" Sony, and it was impossible to read anything on it while reclining in bed.

We'll all be awaiting your next post.

[RuffinReady]

Hello Grumpy1 and Slinkie,

What a wonderful report! You must have done this as a profession in the past (or present). It is very vivid and I feel as though I am living the experience with you vicariously, at least. It looks like you have brought amost everything in the way of needed things (including toys) for this cruise. I would never have thought to bring a GPS, what a great idea. We are looking forward to going on the Prinsendam on May 9th and after your reminder about the food, I am going to have to begin my diet now to prepare for the feast to come. I wonder if they have been able to fix the laundry onboard so that it doesn't "shrink" clothes, that is always a problem for me. Like everyone else, I am looking forward to your reports. Thank you very much.

Ruffin

Bahama Star (long time ago!)
S.S. France (Transatlantic -1965)
S.S Atlantic (Transatlantic, Mediterranean - American Export Lines - 1966)
Europa (Caribbean - 1969 - North German Lloyd)
Statendam (Caribbean - 1975)
Sunward (Bahamas - c. 1980)
Song of America (Caribbean - 1988)
Crown Princess (Alaska - 1999)
Crown Princess (Baltic - 2001)
Royal Princess (B2B to South America - 2001)
Royal Princess (B2B2B; Transatlantic, France, Belgium, Holland; Gt.Britain-2002)
Galaxy (Caribbean - 2003)

Prinsendam (B2B; Transatlantic NYC to Athens – May/June 2005)

http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=4169e1&cdt=2005;05;09;17;00;00&timezone=EST-0500

http://www.escati.com/escati_logo.jpg

[elmorejj]

Thank you so much Grumpy and Slinkie, I know I`m going to have a wonderful time travelling along with you on your world cruise...even if its only in my dreams! Keep them coming....jean :cool:

[WCB]

Hi Slinky and Grumpy,

Enjoyed reading your witty reports so far on the trip. Too bad you had to miss Grand Cayman...lovely place to shop! You have inspired us to start packing so we can join you soon. Sounds like the ship is still catching up on repairs.Are they still upgrading as you are sailing, or is most of it done?
Have fun in Cartagena. Maybe you can check out their emeralds!!
See you soon, Mary Ann and Bill

[cathykb]

I know I am going to enjoy your trip, right along with you. I'm bookmarking this thread, so I can check in with you.

Have a wonderful time!

[RuffinReady]

Grumpy1, I just noted the posting from Mary Ann and Bill. If you were "worried" about Slinkie putting a dent in your wallet shopping in Georgetown, it will really put a hole in it in Cartegena. Emeralds are more expensive than diamonds. BTW, it is my understanding that the round, "brilliant cut", ones are usually the best quality. You might want to check that out as quality in Emeralds varies quite a bit. Happy shopping!

Ruffin

[lizzielady]

Thank you. You do a wonderful job helping us experience this fabulous trip vicariously! My sister and I will be on the Prinsendam in Oct. for the Black Sea trip. We're in SS55-just down the hall from you!

Thanks again--I look forward to every one of your posts.
Carolyn

[dakrewser]

We also have a Garmin V GPS and can check our location. It has built in world map software and we can see the names of some ot the islands we are passing. The Prinsendam does not have a channel on the TV that shows our location so we like being able to find out for ourselves just where in the world we are.

We aleways bring our Garmin along on trips, too. With software on the laptop to sync its signal with a more easily viewable world map. It settles many an argument of the "which island is that?" sort.

Loving your postings, thanks!

[shipcafe]

Grumpy & Slinky,

Wishing you all of the very best for smooth seas, wonderful adventures, and making new friends ...

Steve

[Kapuna]

We are joining your cruise in Honolulu and would be grateful to you if you could kindly share your observations with respect to formal nights .

Specifically I would like to know what proportion of men are actually wearing tuxedos ? Can I get away without one ?

With thanks in advance and Aloha !

[RuthC]

is to take a virtual World Cruise.

Thank you so much for taking us with you. I'm looking forward to sailing along on your adventure. (Strains of We Were Sailing Along On Moonlight Bay are playing in my head.)

[Cruiseoften]

Great thread! We're hoping to travel Prinsendam this fall.

Have you met anyone from the Lower Prom cabins? - seems it's where we will end up......verandha space is all gone.

The two dining rooms - which is preferable do you think.

Looking forward to the next instalment :)

[HeatherInFlorida]

Hi Grumpy and Slinkie! This is so absolutely fantabulous that you're sharing your exploits with all of us. When I saw your thread today I was so excited!!! I didn't know you were going to do this so it's a special treat.

If you think of it, when you write can you post the date you're actually writing? Because I know you might not post until the next day. Iwould love having a feel for where you are timewise. I have to download the itinerary so I can follow along. Sure wish the Prisendam had a Webcam!!!

Thank you so so much for sharing this dream journey with us. It's the only way I'll ever experience it. Love to you bothhttp://cdn-cf.aol.com/se/smi/0201e05b9a/06

[Aussie Gal]

Slinkie and Grumpy,

It is wonderful reading. I can imagine you in your cabin, as we were in SS53 just down the hall from you. In October, we like Vegas Jim could watch on the TV where we were going, so perhaps they haven't turned that channel on yet. I am sure Suki was our steward and if so, he was excellent.

It must be wonderful with a larger TV in the room. You say the carpet has dirty marks already, our carpet was very stained and I thought that they were replacing all the carpets, perhaps they haven't finished the job.

Your descriptions and text are the next best thing to being on a World Cruise, something I can only dream about.

Jennie

[Cristiano]

Hello Grumpy & Slinkie,

my very 1st post and what a better way than to say hello to you two and the vivid images of your prose.


I come from the "Land Down Under" and look forward to seeing the Prinsendam in Sydney and following your journey to our city.


My DW and I are booked on the Prinsendam out of Piraeus on 4th June 2005 and we will be in SS 027 and therefore your description of your cabin and its environment were greatly appreciated.


Having been to Europe over 16 times in the last 20 years and having driven well over 150,000 K's it should be a totally different experience for us and your recount of your journey only but wets our appetite.


We wish you smooth sailing and fair weather and look forward with anticipation to the next chapter.


Cristiano

[RuffinReady]

Aussie Gal, what ship is that you use on your signature?


Ruffin

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Slinkie and Grumpy, Like everyone else I am very appreciative to your posting, it is just another way to cruise thru others in thier posting and a World Cruise WOW:D You have a delightful way of writing and I am really enjoying this.

Thanks

[Aussie Gal]

Ruffin,

The ship on my signature is none other than the Prinsendam. I took this photograph after we had disembarked and we were staying in our hotel in Venice. The next day the ship sailed right past our room and I took it from the window as it sailed up the Lagoon on its way to Dubrovnik and to Athens eventually. In the background you can see the spire of the Bell Tower of San Giorgio Maggiore which is on its own island.

Jennie

[Aussie Gal]

Christiano,

Welcome to the Boards from another Aussie. I am sure you will enjoy reading and gaining knowledge from everyone. The Prinsendam is a lovely ship and we enjoyed our time on her in October sailing from Piraeus via the Black Sea to Venice. If you have any questions regarding her, please ask away.

Jennie

[Cristiano]

Hi Aussie Girl,

thank you for the welcome, greatly appreciated and I have watched with interest your many postings over the last month or so and thank you I will ask.

cheers,

Cristiano.

PS I love Melbourne........

[judytata11]

Love to see posts from people in other countries.....Hope to visit Australia in 1 or 2 years when I retire. Such a long trip!!!!!!

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005 Page 3

Good morning, virtual cruisers, one and all. After a quick scan of the messages and replies to my previous posts, it's time for an update. Thank you all for your comments. We wish we could respond to each post, but we're trying not to use up all 1100 minutes the first week... There's not too much going on... a big empty ocean outside and we're still about 300 NM from Cartegna. Slinkie headed off to the spa this morning to get her hair done (tonight's the first formal night and she wants to look her absolute best... no objections from Grumpy.... We'll report back on the percentages of tuxedo vs suits vs blue jeans and shorts later.

JHannah, we did find the navigation channel, finally. The TV guide showed up last night. Channel 40 is navigation, safety and a little other misc information. It wasn't operating the first day or so, and isn't always up to date. A few minutes ago it said we were still 800 NM from Cartegena; Grumpy's GPS says 300.

We mentioned to Suki yesterday that we would like a deck chair for our verandah. We came back from dinner last night and we have TWO deck chairs. With the two wicker chairs that were there and a small wicker table, we now have a rather full verandah.

We're happy to report that the hot water and A/C problems on the Main Deck seem to have been solved, well maybe not too happy, there goes Grumpy's rent-a-shower money making scheme....he'll think of something else...

Since there have been quite a few requests in the past for information about the aft cabins on Promenade Deck, your intrepid explorers have ventured into tha area to ascertain the facts. The center aft cabins, 198 and 199, have verandahs that are enclosed with smoked glass. You can see into them as you walk by, but it is somewhat dimmed by the smoked glass. The corner cabins, 196 and 197, have verandahs on the side of the ship with a steel wall separating the verandah from the aft deck area. the aft wall of the cabin is a floor to ceiling mirrored glass window. There are drapes to cover them from the inside and they were either completely drawn or the mirrored coating is quite effective as we could not see anything inside the cabins. We'll wander by sometime after dark and see what happens when the lights in the cabin are brighter than the light outside. Most mirrored glass becomes fairly transparent under those conditions. We hope Grumpy doesn't wind up in the brig accused of being a peeping Tom....There are ropes from the rails of the stairs to other railings so that you can't walk through that area, but if you walk down the stairs from the upper Promenade deck you are right there. The ropes keep you from continuing down to the lower Promenade deck, though, so it discourages people from using that route to move up or down between decks. The aft deck seems like a very large area to be "private" for a total of ten cabins. I think that some others do use the area, though.

The new chairs have been removed from the aft Lido deck and the old green and gold chairs returned. It must have been too much work trying to keep the new chairs somewhere close to the tables on the aft deck.The area surrounding the Lido pool, which is protected from the wind, does have the new chairs, matching chaise lounges and new tables.

We continue to be impressed by the staff. The Maitre' d is now greeting us by name. The wait staff is so very friendly and courteous. But then they don't know ol' Grumpy that well yet...

We met a couple in the Crow's Nest lounge yesterday. Married 52 years, both in their mid eighties. They have been on 6 world cruises, and have over 800 days on HAL. Her comment was "This is our nursing home." Way to go!

The XM satellite radio lost reception sometime during the night, so it appears that the coverage from the satellite cuts off somewhere south of Jamaica and the Dominican Republic areas. East and West Caribbean is OK, but southern isn't.

We hope to be able to start posting about shore excursions one of these days... but we did get a letter from the captain apologizing for the missed port and informing us that we will be reimbursed for the $13.22 port charge...now we can have another drink or two in the Crow's Nest...and we did get a complimentary glass of champagne with dinner last night... maybe they figure that if they can keep us drunk we won't notice a missed port here and there...

For those that just have to know about children on board, so far we have seen one...a really cute little blond princess that is about 5 or 6 years old. She just happens to be the captain's daughter.... other than her, most of the passengers have passed the half century mark... lot's that are waaaay past...

Time to post this and head off to eat... again... seems like we do a lot of that ....

Grumpy and Slinkie

[shipcafe]

Grumpy & Slinkie :

Be sure to tell Sr. ACD "JohnnyI" that I say "hello" as well as cruise staff member Jennifer Killian!

Steve

[elmorejj]

Grumpy and Slinkie, could you please post the names of the Captain, Hotel Manager and Food and Beverage Manager..thanks...jean :cool:

[shmabbies]

Dear Grumpy & Slinkie,

Count me in as another voracious devourer of your information on Prinsendam, as we will be sailing on her on September 20! I too am interested in your research on those aft promenade cabins as we are booked into AA193. While my questions don't pertain to those very rear cabins (196, 197, 198, 199), possibly when you continue your further research on them, you might scope out the hallway where 193 is located, and report any possible noise and smoke issues from Explorer's Lounge, especially in the evening hours. Also, if you observe or hear of any water/electric/?? issues that have plagued other parts of the ship also plaguing this part, we'd really appreciate it. Perhaps your lost revenue from selling hot water & showers can be made up by your private detective duties for the rest of us! Thank you so much for your research and your thoroughly enjoyable reports!

[RuffinReady]

Hello Grumpy1, Please tell us where they located the Culinary Arts Center, is it in the movie theater? Thanks again for your yeoman work in reporting to us.

Regards, Ruffin

[localady]

Hello Grumpy and Slinkie!

THANK YOU so much for being our "peeping Tom" (peeping Grumpy?)!!! You finally answered the question that I've had for over a year. I do appreciate your sleuthing for us very very much!:cool: Hope you enjoy your first formal night!

P.S. Grumpy- I have a hard time believing you are "Grumpy", you seem to have such a lovely view on life!:)

[Ziggy7]

Thanks for sharing with us !!! I'm in virtual heaven!:)

[alsas]

We will be joining you on the 29th. Jan.and counting the days. Your daily journal is making it very very exciting for us. We have been on the Prinsendam twice before once from Sydney to Hong Kong and then Hong Kong to Fort Lauderdale and this time ALL THE WAY!. Captain Gunderson and his beautiful wife Lisa certainly do have a princess of a daughter her name is Isabelle. Last year Isabelle tried to teach me to swim,she does not know it yet but she will still be teaching me to swim!. The friends we have made on this ship from stern to bowe staff and passengers are wonderful. Thank you again for your updates.

[RuthC]

Hi, Grumpy. I know how fast those minutes can add up, so I'm very thankful for your posts. Imagine how many pages/replies/views this thread can get to in the course of a World Cruise!

Please say "Hi" to Jennifer for me (and thanks to Shipcafe for noting she is cruise staff for this voyage). She's a doll.

Also, if you should happen to stop in the Crow's Nest and spend some time some evening, would you report on who is playing in there?
I heard that last year Vangie was doing the honors. If she's back please give her my regards, too. I haven't seen her since the final voyage of the ss Rotterdam, so she may not remember me, but I remember her quite well.

[Cruising Jake]

Grumpy, thank you so much for your graciousness in including me (and everyone else) in your virtual world cruise. I never thought I would be doing one and now I am (at least by email).

Grumpy and Slinky, have a great time and enjoy this trip which is assuredly one of life's greatest treats. Calm seas, blue skies, good friends, tasty food and memorable travels.

[RuffinReady]

Aussie Gal,

I should have know that it was the Prinsendam, she sure has a sharply raked bow. She looks like a race horse :) I am glad you told me about the tower, I thought that it a strange appendage for the top of a ship ;) My DW and I visited Venice during a land tour sometime ago. It is one of the most beautiful cities I have visited.

Regards,

Ruffin

[Aussie Gal]

Grumpy,

You will love Captain Gundersen when you get to know him. He is such a personable Captain and guess what, he is married to an Aussie girl from Sydney, so he has to be really special!

Is the Maitre'D the lovely French man Stephane? He was also very personable and obliging. If I remember the Social Hostess was Sheri and she was another crew member with a great personality. They seem to have wonderful staff on that ship.

Please keep the diary coming. I feel that I am with you on the ship as you tell us about your day to day activities. I am so glad you got the lounge, but two would make the balcony very crowded!

Jennie

[DFD1]

Grumpy1 and Slinkie: Thanks so much. Great reading! I'm sitting here tonight with 11 degree temperature outside. Freezing!....but I'm curising with you every mile reading your report. Please keep it up. You'll help us all get through the winter.

Thanks again. Have a wonderful time.

[LFL]

Grumpy, My husband and I will also be joining you in L.A. Could you please tell me the name of the band playing in the Ocean Bar? I am hoping they are one of our favorites.

Thanks

[Bill S]

Slinkie & Grumpy: thanks very much for your great posts! We will be sailing on the Prinsendam this coming July, so I have been paying attention to your posts! I'm an XM user as well, and it was interesting to learn how far south and east the coverage is. Hope your fun continues undiminished !

[Traveller1]

Thank you so much Grumpy & Slinkie--we are following along avidly.One day maybe we might get there too !
Best wishes and lots of fun to you both-we do appreciate the time this all takes.

[WCB]

Hi Grumpy,
How are your minutes for e-mailing holding up? We also purchased the 1100 iminutes, and hope we don't use it all in one week!!!
Happy Sailing, Mary Ann and Bill

[Sail With Me]

Grumpy and Slinkie,

We are sooooo jealous of your world cruise. We have been on 99 cruises but never on a cruise around the world. We are sailing on the Prinsendam to the British Isles in August and are enjoying sailing around the world with you through your wonderful posts. We are in S18 and jnow we will love the ship.

Have a safe and wonderful journey and thank you for allowing all of us to sail with you!!!!!!

Karen and Bob

[Marianne]

Thanks Slinkie & Grumpy. We are joining you in Capetown. Another couple we know is also boarding then also. Would love to rendevouz at that time with the CC'ers. We sailed last year from Sydney to Singapore. Can't wait to board Apr 14th. Until then, we will be reading your adventures with bated breath!!!
Marianne

[PADutchman]

Hi Grumpy,
I found your posts thru Mary Ann and Bill. I have appreciated your info on the WC as we will also be joining you in LA with them. I have been following with great interest the engineering problems on main deck as that is where we will be living for 97 days. Glad to hear the A/C is working, cold showers I can stand. I am new to this forum but your posts have provoked me to join. Thanks! See you on Jan 29. Rod

[KiwiIan]

Hi, great to read news of your "Around the World" tour. Are you visiting New Zealand as well. If you are coming to Tauranga it would be great to be able to assit with any of your on shore tours if you do not want to take the ships offerings.

[Brandis]

I also enjoy to read your posts. We were on Prinsendam for the Transatlantic in November and fell in love with her. Our next cruise in July will also be with her. (Iceland / Ireland).

Suki was our cabin attendant in Suite 001. He also brought us a second lounge chair for the verandah and was always very friendly and helfpful!

Please say hi to him from Marc and Walter, maybe he remembers us.

How does the Gym area look? We were told that it was also being remodeled during drydock. And has the ugly astroturf on deck 12 been replaced by teak?

Marc

[Ziggy7]

ok silly question time! How long is this world cruise and how long are you going to be on it ???? :)

[HeatherInFlorida]

Ziggy, not to butt in (you know would never do that:o ) but if I have it right Grumpy and Slinkie do not return until MAY 6!!!!!!

[Margie_Lady]

The world cruise ends May 9 in New York

[Morebilge]

Dear Grumpy & Slinkie:

Our first post, thanks to you. Hear there might be a party in the offing and we never say no. Have read the HAL board for over a year and on the whole enjoy the comments. We also are joining the WC in LA for 96 days. Friends on the 2004 WC hated it so much, we did not hear anything but negatives. It took all our fortitude to continue with our plans. Thanks to your observations so far, we feel vindicated. Keep up the good work - perhaps a supporting fund should be set up to help defray your internet costs! :D

[Ziggy7]

Ziggy, not to butt in (you know would never do that:o ) but if I have it right Grumpy and Slinkie do not return until MAY 6!!!!!!

Wow !!!!

[jhannah]

Maybe they're trying out the "Retirement Home at Sea" concept! :D

[travelingmcmahans]

This is fun! You're living one of my dreams... thank you for sharing it with us. :)

[JaniceB]

Thank you for sharing your world cruise with us. If I never get to experience one myself, I will have enjoyed reading about yours.
Have a wonderful journey!

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005 Jan 17.

Well, Slinkie and Grumpy's floating home finally found land today. Cartagena was bathed in sunshine when the Prinsendam docked at about 7:30am. We had made plans with a couple that we met through another online board which shall remain nameless.... that we would just go into the Old City area for a couple of hours and do a little sightseeing. Well, anyway, Ol' grumpy thought he had everything all figured out... all those emerald stores that were on the shopping map were in the mall a few miles away from old town, so as long as we stay in Old Town Grumpy's wallet is pretty safe... we'll find a few small trinkets... well, let me tell you, that Slinkie Girl must have gotten up pretty early, 'cause she was way ahead of Ol' Grumpy this time... we get off the shuttle bus down by the Naval Museum and along comes this guide and he says follow him and he'll show us the Old Town and take us to the local emerald factory store... well, Slinkie Girl's beautiful green eyes were sparkling brighter than any emerald ever did... and off we went. Saw the cathedral and government buildings and that place where they used to barbecue the heretics... and then the emerald shop. Well, we walked through... some nice loose stones... prices seemed a little high... the mounted stones didn't seem to have as nice settings as they should... Slinkie didn't see anything she liked and we walked out. Now before Grumpy could get to feeling too smug we turn the corner and here's a whole street full of shops... all of them selling emeralds. Well our guide herds us into the first one, and Grumpy starts looking at some of the mounted stones in 18K gold... and he looks over at Slinkie and he knows she's likin' what she sees... Well seeing as how today is their 29 month wedding anniversary.... Slinkie now has an Emerald ring, matching earrings, matching pendant on a nice gold chain, all Marquis cut set in 18K gold... Grumpy finally figured out just how well Slinkie had snookered him when she said "But I really don't have any clothes that properly show off emeralds..." Me thinks there's another shopping trip in grumpy's future to rectify that little problem...

We were berthed next to another ship in Carnival family, the Aida Aura. Shes a little smaller than Prinsendam. The Aura was there when we docked. The passengers were mostly German it seemed. A large group of them have their bicycles on the ship with them and set off to see the sights by bike. I hope they all made it back alive... the way the natives drive around there... STOP signs say PARE, which I think translates to something like "if there's a vehicle in the intersection that's bigger than you, you should consider stopping. Otherwise keep right on going..." We left just a few minutes ahead of Aura, but a few minutes outside of the shipping channel she passed us up. Well, I guess Captain Gunderson didn't take to kindly to that, cause next thing we know, Prinsendam is back in the lead and last we checked, Aura is eatin' our disel fumes for dinner. Slinkie likes the paint job on Aura's hull. Big red lips that wrap around the bow.. a big eye with a wavy eyebrow trailing back. BTW, when we left there was a large pile of old comforters stacked on the dock. They've been picking them up and replacing them with the new duvet's and coverlets and disposed of the unwanted stuff there in Cartagena.

There were some fairly good swells during the night that did a nice job of rocking us to sleep.

Prinsendam 2005 Jan 18.

This morning our intrepid adventurers were awakened at about 6am to the sound of a small but powerful boat alongside and right below our cabin. Propping open the eyelids, and wandering out on the verandah, they got to watch the transfer of the panama canal pilots and the staff that sets up tables with Panamanian souvenirs on the Lido Deck. After a quick breakfast, Grumpy gathered up the camera, memory cards and spare batteries and found a nice spot on the bow of deck 10, just below the bridge. This being the first time through the locks for Slinkie and Grumpy, they didn't want to miss anything. Slinkie enjoyed the beauty of the area, the pelicans and frigate birds, and kept looking for Tarpon to jump. Grumpy was more fascinated with the mechanical workings of the locks and the feat of engineering that accomplished the construction.

We're sitting at anchor for a short while in Gatun Lake, so I'll try to get a post written and answer a few questions before we head for the next set of locks. I've worked out a method where I log on, open a page on cruise critic, select all 25 messages and paste them into Word, and do the same for another page if needed. After posting the current log, which is cut and paste from wordpad, I can log off and read at my liesure. Really conserves the minutes that way. Slinkie does the same when checking and sending email, so we've only consumed about an hour of our 18.3 hours so far. But thanks to Morebilge for the suggestion that everyone chip in buy us more time... I know this group is generous enough that we'll soon have enough minutes to stay on 24/7....

First thing, Slinkie and Grumpy want to say that we're so pleased at the response to our attempts at describing our voyage. Your comments and questions are very much appreciated. They also want to say Hi to all of those that are joining us on the other segments. I think Slinkie had arranged for a 4p gathering in the Crow's Nest on the 31st for those boarding in LA. I think I've counted 6 or 7 couples that are joining the cruise there, one in Hawaii and 2 or 3 in Capetown. I haven't even looked at the roll call to see if there are others. The more the merrier.

Kiwilan, we'll be in Tauranga on Feb 16. We don't have plans made yet, so we're open to suggestions on the best things to see and do from 8a to 7:30p

Now to the loooong list of questions...

First formal night... there seemed to be a few more men in suits than in tux or white dinner jacket, but we didn't see any shorts, jeans or tank tops... Of course Grumpy was decked out in his black tux to meet the captain and get his picture taken with the Dazzling Slinkie in her sparkly blue outfit... Dayum!... that girl looks fine!...

Ruffin, yes, the culinary arts is held in the Wajang

RuthC, Randall Powell, from Dallas is tickling the ivories in the Crow's Nest. Pretty good... not fantastic...

Jennie, Stephan is still the Maitre D and Sheri is still the social hostess

Lenora, the band in the Ocean Bar is "The Station Band"... haven't checked them out yet, so can't comment on them...

Marc, Ol' Grumpy, being the type that avoids anything resembling work, hasn't done more than a quick glance at the gym but will try to updat you later. Deck 12 still has green astroturf, but it looks pretty new. Probably no teak scheduled in the near future.

Jean, by now you know that the captain is Halle Gundersen. The Hotel Manager is Fekko Ebens. I can't find the name of the Beverage Manager right now, but as long as they don't run out of beverages Grumpy isn't too concerned about the name that goes with that title... we'll try to find out, though...

CruiseOften, We really can't say which dining room is better as we have only been in the aft dining room. We're at table 112, Port Side and pleased with the location.

Steve, I haven't crossed paths with JohnnyI or Jennifer yet, but will keep you in mind and say Hi when we do..

Shemabbies, I don't think you have anything to worry about in cabin 193 as far as smoke or noise is concerned. The cabins on the Prinsendam, unlike those on many cruise ships, are very quiet with little sound coming in from the hallway (or next door). There is a speaker in the hallway outside our cabin and we do not hear any of the announcements unless we open the cabin door. The music in the Explorer lounge is very mellow, piano and strings music played by "Rosario Strings". They are located well inside the lounge with the stairwell and public restrooms at their back. There are only a couple of tables aft of them toward the door that opens into the foyer closest to your cabin. Although there is a slight oder of smoke inside the lounge, I did not smell anything in the foyer or in the hallway outside cabin 193.

Well, Grumpy and his beautiful and sexy sidekick did go wandering through the aft area on the Promenade Deck late last evening and didn't get arrested... Oh the things we do just to keep this group informed... They keep the lights on in that area, at least they were at 10p, and the back walls of 196 and 197 had absolutely no light showing through from inside the cabin. I wonder if those glass walls may have been paneled over on the inside... I thought there would be a little light, but absolutely nothing. 198 and 199, which face aft, had their curtains closed, but there was some light showing through. About four feet of the glass on those cabins is outside of the smoked glass enclosed verandah and very visable to anyone one that deck... so anyone in those cabins, keep in mind the old adage about "People who live in glass houses... shouldn't.... "

We're underway and cruising through the Gatun Lake, so time to post this and get back to relaxing on the verandah with Slinkie.

[dakrewser]

You're going to have to change your boardname to "Mellow1", I think!


Looks like we'll both be in Puerta Villarta next Wednesday - keep your eye out for me (we'll probably cross paths in a jewelry shop!)

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Note to Slinkie, You Done Good Girl;) Those Emeralds were just waiting for you:D
Grumpy, Thanks so much for the tip about copying the pages on CC to read off line. I plan to take my lap top on our March 13th cruise and figured I would buy the $100.00 package but maybe doing it that way I could get away with less minutes:) I also plan to report daily but heavens my report won't be near as exciting since it is only the Western Caribbean. I have the locks web cam up and will keep checking to see whne you are going thru.

Are you docking in San Diego, if so what day?

Thanks again for your posting and letting us do a Virtual Cruise with you.:p

[localady]

Thanks for your continued sleuthing!!!!

What a luck girl Slinkie is with those lovely emeralds and a man who obviously adores her!!!!

Safe seas and have a margarita for us! As they say, when in Rome.......:cool:

[dakrewser]

Are you docking in San Diego, if so what day?


They'll be in LA on the 29th, the same day we're in SD on the O'dam. Actually, we're both in PV on the 26th, then both sail north over the next two days - maybe we could get a tennis match going from sports deck to sports deck!

-dave

[Cruising Jake]

Wow, emeralds for your 29th month anniversary. My 35 year anniversary is this May. I need to have DH read this thread. Slinkie, you go girl. Grumpy, well done!

[RuthC]

Posting pictures of the Panama Canal would be good. :)

Posting pictures of the emeralds would be better! ;)

Posting pictures of Slinkie wearing her new outfits with the new emeralds would be best!! :D

Thanks for the info about the piano player. Have never run into him on a cruise.
And please remember me to Jennifer whenyou run into her, too.

[Margie_Lady]

The Prinsendam can be seen on the Pama,a Canal webcams now

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

[FlorenceItaly]

How exciting. Thanks so much for posting the link :).

Marie

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Margie, You beat me to it, she is in the Miraflores locks right now..


Hi Grumpy, Hi Slinkie,

[jhannah]

Grumpy1 -- Emeralds? Gold? Multiple pieces? Methinks thou hast set the bar very high for the rest of us!:eek:
Sounds like a great trip so far. Thanks for keeping us updated.

[Margie_Lady]

I try to follow my daughter (ACD Jennifer) by watching for webcams in various ports. Slinky and Grumpy, thanks so much for your journal. Add a Hi to Jen from Mum and Dad as well as those from Shipcafe and RuthC.

[obriendan]

Wonderful reports! Oh! how I wish I could take such a cruise (DW thinks 21 day cruises are long enough!).

[DFD1]

Bravo, Grumpy1! Great fun reading your reports. Very generous of you to share this incredible adventure with us.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Grumpy, all I can say is you're going to have to change your name when you get back in town!!! Grumpy is just not fitting you these days. Emeralds and compliments and wow!!

I am so enjoying your diary. Written so beautifully, it almost takes me away like a Calgon bath.

I've not a question in the world. I'm just looking forward to more. Keep enjoying and savoring every moment of this idyllic adventure. And thank you for caring enough to share it with us. Best to Slinkie!!!:)

[Cuttle]

I just wrote a message and then lost it somewhere. I hope this doesn't appear as a duplicate.

I have been following the Prinsendam world cruise log and find it fascinating. Thank you Grumpy and Skimpie.

I was watching the Panama Canal web cam as the Prinsendam approached the Miraflores Locks and was very disappointed that they didn't show her in the locks.

The same thing happened to us on the Panamerica cruise on the Statendam in October. I had taken a shore excursion from Amador the day before we were to transit the canal and visited the Miraflores Visitor Center. I talked to the people there and asked them about the web cam and how they changed the angle etc. I told them we were transiting the next day and coming back the day after and they said they would try to adjust the web cam accordingly. Friends and family were logged on the the web cam and they didn't even show us in the locks at all, the same as today on the Prinsendam. It was very disappointing. Sometimes they show ships going through with close ups and lots of detail. Oh well, best laid plans.. :mad:

It would be nice if Holland America would get web cams on their ships.

I look forward to the next episode of the log. It is so interesting. Keep up the good work for we poor souls here on dry land. Thanks again Grumpy and Slinkie

Cuttle

[Sail With Me]

Hi Grumpy and Slinkie,

Enjoy those emeralds...sounds fabulous!!! What a great guy you caught, not only a world cruise but jewels as well.

Can you check out the S Suites for us and let us know if S018 is a good location and what the Neptune Lounge is like. We are sailing the Windmnills and Waterford voyage in August.

Also, on January 29th., our friend Chef James Boyce comes on board as the guest chef in the Culinary Arts program. He is a terrific young chef and would you please tell him hi from Karen and Bob.

Enjoy every minute of your voyage.

[mick70]

Grumpy & Slinkie:

Thank for sharing with us. I have a favor to ask, If you should meet two very nice ladies(mother and daughter) who are from Canada, Nanaimo B.C. I think and making the whole trip. Tell them Hi from the Guy who was in seat 2B on the flight from Columbus to Atlanta the day they where flying to meet the ship in FLL.

Thanks

[mrssbi]

Love your trip reports. Have a great time - keep posting. We all want to see pix of the emeralds...

[ekerr19]

Grumpy & Slinkie, Thanks so much for sharing your voyage with us! It is our dream one day as well. We actually got the brochure for the 2006 World Voyage in the mail yesterday and I thought of the two of you!

[mp17706]

Like so many other people I am enjoying your postings- when we did ours I sent weekly postings to friends and family. We are considering next year's WC and would like to hear your comments about the daily programs on sea days. Especially interested in lectures, entertainment and duplicate bridge. Many thanks.

[Bill S]

Slinkie & Grumpy: thanks for all the good info, especially on the aft cabins-we have reserved cabin A196 or A197 for our Baltic cruise in July. (I can't keep them straight yet-localady/DW have one and we have the other-I will get this sorted out before we embark!) Your report has quenched our curiosity about the aft wall for the time being.

Randall Powell was the "piano man" on our SA cruiseon the Amsterdam last year and we grew to like him more as the cruise progressed.

Glad you made it through Cartagena safe and sound!

[GrammyPL]

Slinkie and Grumpy - I am so glad you are enjoying your cruise. We were on the Amazon 28 Day cruise in Nov and Dec on the Prinsendam and loved the ship. I hope Hostess Sheri got married. She was leaving after our cruise to get married and was to come back for your cruise. The rest of the crew must have been on vacation when were had our cruise. We had a different Captian, Hotel Manager and Maitr d Hotel then you do. Penny

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, January 19

Good afternoon, gang. Slinkie and Grumpy here to educate and entertain... OK, as you can tell, we've seen way to many of the "infomercials" in the Queen's Lounge...starting to sound like them...well, anyway, we made it through the canal yesterday, and were clear of the last lock just after 5p. After the port boat came up and picked up the Panama Canal navigation and line handling crew, ( our Verandah is directly above the bulkhead that they open to make water taxi transfers) another boat came alongside and as we cruised along at about 10 knots they kept pace with us and transferred about 500 boxes of provisions. As soon as they pulled away, another boat pulled alongside and transferred about a dozen boxes that were labeled as fresh flowers. A third boat came alongside and picked up one person. We then continued on into the sunset without further interruption... I hope someone remembered to close the door after the last guy left...

Grumpy has been enjoying the ice cream and cookie bar in the Lido... Chocolate chip... Macadamia nut... raisin... a few others that he hasn't tried yet... a couple of scoops of ice cream... todays choice was black cherry... and a shot of the cherry liquer to top it off... and that was AFTER he had stuffed himself on crab legs, assorted cheeses, fruits, roasted vegetables with feta cheese... all of that was just from the appetizer table. He never got to the main courses...

Today is a sea day and the first time change day. It seemed strange to wake up at 6 and find that it's daylight out there... We're cruising the Golfo Dulce off the coast of costa Rica today. Slinkie has been complaining that we haven't seen any fish in the beautiful blue waters... well, she got her wish today, with a pair of propoises or dolphins (OK, Grumpy is not an expert on sea mammals) that were running along side for about 15 minutes... Just about had to keep that girl from jumpin' in to join them...With the time lag on the shutter on his digital camera, Grumpy has about 50 pictures of water and maybe one or two with a critter above water. There's still a lot to be said for a 35mm manual release camera... Tomorrow we'll be in port in Puntarenas and prepare to do battle with the mosquitos and any other predators that we encounter on the tropical mangrove river cruise... We brought some 30% DEET towelettes with us instead of spray. We'll see how well they work.

Today's featured educational program was an infomercial for Emeralds. Of course, they just happened to pick up a couple of Columbian Emerald dealers and their wares in Cartagena and these were being offered at an amazing 50% off... well, Slinkie and Grumpy weent, got educated, drank their free champagne and looked at their offerings. Grumpy's feeling pretty good about the baubles he bought for his sweetheart in Cartagena after comparing to the onboard offerings... he didn't pick up anthing more... lot's of time to find more things as we circle the globe.

We've received a few pillow gifts... of course we're saving all of the chocolates for RuthC.....yeah, sure we are... We've received a Holland America white canvas tote bag, a leather ID and credit card wallet embossed with the HAL logo and "MS Prinsendam Grand World Voyage 2005", for each of us and a beautiful bound calendar/notebook and pen, similarly embossed, for each of us. Keep them coming, HAL.. we can be bribed...

In response to Jean's question, the food and beverage manager is Joe Cheng.

It looks like there are some changes in cabin classifications coming next year. We have the brochure for the 2006 World Tour and see that the first eight and last four cabins on the Verandah deck have been changed to Cat SY from Cat SS. They are still listed as Superior Verandah Suites, but the SY's are about $5 pp per day cheaper. The aft facing cabins 198 and 199 will be SY instead of SS and the corner cabins 196 and 197 will be AA instead of A. The remaining cabins in the 190 series will go from AA to AB. upper Promenade, which was all Cat A will have some AA fore and aft with 104 and 105 becoming AB. The difference between an A and AA looks like about $10 pp per day, and from AA to AB the difference is about $5. It looks like they are trying to get a slight premium for midships cabins.

Dave, we'll look for you in Puerto Vallarta. Gee, we thought you would be sampling the fine vintage beverages at Carlos and Charlies instead of jewelry shopping...

LaffNVegas, we don't stop in San Diego. We'll be in LA on the 29th and then on to Hawaii.

Ruth C and all of the others asking about pics, I'll probably wait until the sea days after we depart LA and upload some to an Ofoto site.

Karen and Bob, we'll make it a point to attend a session of the culinary arts program and say Hi to James Boyce. Slinkie's been avoiding those... doesn't want to be reminded that there will come a day when she might have to do some cooking to keep Grumpy from getting grumpier...

Mick 70, we'll keep an eye out for the mother/daughter from Nanaimo, BC.

I lost the screen name of the person asking about S018, but that will be an excellent cabin. Even though it is just across the hall from the elevators, there is virtually no noise coming into the cabin... besides, the elevators probably won't be working... (just kidding, they've been working fine, it's the sliding doors from the LIDO to the aft outside seating that have been having problems)... You'll be straight down the hall from the Neptune and just steps away from the door to Lido deck pool area. Now, Ol' Grumpy didn't spring for Cat S priveleges, so he's gonna have to find someone to invite him in to see the Neptune and check out the ambience. "Course Slinkie Girl would probably have a better chance of getting an invite... but they'll work on it...

Well, that should be enough for now...

NotSoGrumpy and Slinkie

[localady]

Grumpy-

You are not alone with the digital picture lag issue. When we were in Alaska and I got many many pictures of water after the whales had jumped! Someone suggested that I try the "action" or "sports" setting on my camera. I did and it was a bit better, actually got some nice shots! Not sure if your camera has a simular setting, but you might check to see if it does.

Thanks for the update! Enjoy Puntasarenas tomorrow!:cool:

[RuffinReady]

Grumpy1,

Well, one of the good things about that digital camera is the ability to view and delete unwanted pictures. You can also load them onto your portable PC and see them in 17" color!

When I bought my new Canon recently I purchased a high-speed memory card. It is a SanDisk Ultra II which is a very fast memory. It reduces the shuttle lag when you are taking a rapid sequence of pictures. You might consider picking up one if you happen to pass a photo shop one day. The Ultra II has a minimum write speed of 9 megabytes per second and a minimum read speed of 10 megabytes per second which is a whole lot faster than the standard flash memory cards.

I am looking forward to your photos when you have the chance to upload to Ofoto someday.

Regards and happy sailing to you and Slinkie.

Ruffin

[Meg]

Hello Grumpy and Slinkie,

I just want to thank you so so much for this fantastic on-line journal of your trip! A world cruise is a dream we want to fullfill someday - so till we do, we are just going to live vivariously through you! Again, thanks!!!! Meg

[Cruising Jake]

Grumpy, I was telling DH about your voyage (hint, hint). He asked how you keep from gaining weight since you will be on a ship for so long. Do you have to alter your eating habits OR are you one of those people who eat very healthy on a cruise anyway?

[louiskam]

Jake, my trick is to pretend I were the judge at the Iron Chefs contest.... to view, taste and appreciate my dishes leisurely. And in the buffet, I use the same approach to get the salad/soup first and make seperate trip for small portion of the main course and dessert. It worked very well for us.

[RuthC]

... of course we're saving all of the chocolates for RuthC.....yeah, sure we are...
Oh, you don't have to save them all. Half for you/half for me is fine. :D

I'm enjoying each and every post. Thank you, again, for bringing us along. It's the next best thing to being there!

[dakrewser]

Dave, we'll look for you in Puerto Vallarta. Gee, we thought you would be sampling the fine vintage beverages at Carlos and Charlies instead of jewelry shopping...

While the DW would enjoy sipping 'ritas at Carlos & Charlies that's now the second priority. She's just remembered that Mexico, silver and Turquoise form an ideal equation. :)

We can spend Thursday & Friday racing up the coast (along with some Princess boat, I believe)...

-dave

[njmoms]

Fabulous posts, Grumpy. Can't wait for the next one each time.

In case anyone hasn't seen it, here's a link to a pic of the Aida Aura. Pretty spiffy!

http://www.kreuzfahrt-sonne.de/AASchiffsdatenbank/Seetours/Aida_Aura/aida_aura_bilder.htm

[Marianne]

Am glad you enjoyed Cartagena, as we did. We found very beautiful emeralds there also, and bought a necklace. Price-wise we paid probably 1/4th to 1/3rd the price one would pay here in the states or Europe. The emeralds are set in 18K and I wear them on formal evenings. If Slinkie wears her emeralds, I will see them a mile away, and we can visit and talk about emerald buying in Cartagena. Also about creating a wardrobe for the emeralds. Must find a cruise that will stop there again.
See you all in Capetown.
Marianne

[divinggirl]

The main reason ships berth at this port as it is the closest to the City of Rotorua, world famous for its thernal and volcanis activity. It is also an important city for the Maori, the idiginous people of NZ.

So what do is suggest, an hours drive to Rotorua through beautiful NZ country takes you through Te Puke [the home of KiwiFrui]. You can visit a whole range of various thermal sites [geysers, mud pools, acid lakes etc] take a mud bath, have a lekeside spa. Visit the eruption sites of 1886 and 2001!!!! Take in an authentic Maori cultural performance. Do a Farm show [quite a laugh] Visit wineries, do some adventure stuff [jet boating, grade 6 white water rafting, ZORB [i'll explain if you want]

You can easily fill a whole day. Then theres all the stuff here in tauranga, or over towards the west at Waitomo [glow worm caves]


I wholeheartedly agree with this itinerary--when we visitied NZ last Feb we had such a fantastic time in Rotorua! Zorbing is not to be missed, we also did a "Swoop" at the Agrodome, and the thermal pools and spa treatments are wonderful. Just my $.02, I do not think you would regret making the trip. Happy cruising as well!

Nikki

[TedC]

G and S,

Thanks for taking us along on your fabulous journey!

About your stop in New Zealand near Rotorua: New Zealand is one of the best places we've been. We especially liked the South Island and its beautiful pristine lakes and mountains. And the people are the best.

If you've been to Yellowstone, you probably won't be bowled over by the geysers at Rotorua. It's an interesting place, but depending on your interests, I'd opt for the jet boating ( a real thrill) and white water rafting.

Whatever you do, I think you'll love New Zealand.

Thanks again for taking us along, it's a real treat.

[kryos]

Wonderful reports! Oh! how I wish I could take such a cruise (DW thinks 21 day cruises are long enough!).
Yes, I too wanted to drop a note to thank both Grumpie and Slinkie for taking us along on your world cruise. I've always dreamed of a world cruise, but due to work schedules won't be able to do it for many, many years to come. Your reports allow me to travel vicariously through you and I thank you for that.

Blue skies and smooth sailing!

--rita

[wowzo]

Every night from now to May, I'll have to be on the laptop. Wonderful journey - thanks for sharing and in such a humorus way.


One suggestion, if I may, please start a new thread every once in a while (ie - part 2 , part 3, etc) Might be easier for you and us at the same time. Thanks.

"Sea" ya soon, MaryAnn (West Palm) BTW - it's cold here now !!

[RuthC]

Actually, wowzo, I find that when I post daily on long cruises it's easier to keep it in one thread. I can sign on, easily get to my last post, read everything that has been added since---and all in one place!---then post my new entry.

Answering the new posts gets delayed because it is on a time lag, but the answers are also on that one same thread when they are entered.

After I'm home and the last entry has gotten old I print it out as a journal. I love going back and re-reading them once in a while.

[Sage]

Grumpy and Slinkie,

Thank you for taking us along on your World Cruise. We have been thinking about a World Cruise of our own and would appreciate some advice. How long did you plan before you booked, and are there any tips you could pass along concerning packing for this kind of a cruise? Thanks.:D

[HeatherInFlorida]

Here's my 2 cents. Please just keep it on one thread because it doesn't matter how long it is. We all know what to look for and it keeps popping up on my "subscriptions".

When you get home, Grumpy and Slinkie, you can actually print the entire thread! Great as a momento!

[DFD1]

Thank you again, Grumpy1; Please keep it one thread. What a remarkable record it will be! Very best to you and Slinkie.

[Sail With Me]

Hi Not So Grumpy and Slinkie,

Thanks for another great informative letter. We think you should publish them when you return from your voyage. Thanks also for saying hi to Chef Boyce for us. We were also the ones who asked about S018 as that is where we are on August 23rd.

We are so thrilled with your letters we took the big step and booked the 2006 World Cruise today. It will be our way to celebrate the fact that we each turn 60 in 2006. Our kids think we are spending their inheritance....oh well!! After putting three through college and graduate school, we figured it was our turn.

We wish we were with you so that we could have the pleasure of meeting you, but perhaps you will join us next year!

Have a fabulous time and savor each and every moment because it is a voyage of a lifetime.

Karen and Bob

[Aussie Gal]

Slinkie and Grumpy,

My computer died on Tuesday so have had to come to the local library to read your wonderful reports. I had missed two days but have now caught up. I do envy you your wonderful emeralds Slinkie, they are my favourite stone.

I look forward so much to your wonderful travelogue. You sound as though you are having the best time ever. Keep up the good work and hopefully I will have a computer at home within a few days. I feel as though I have lost my right arm. Whatever did we do without computers.

Jennie

[RevNeal]

This is just wonderful! Thank you for taking us all on the World Cruise with you!!!!! It is one of my dreams to take the World Cruise ... and, who knows, perhaps it will happen in about 30 or so years! But, long before 2035, I can join y'all on your adventure! Have GREAT cruise, and I'll look forward to reading your reports!

[shipcafe]

Hi There,

Given today's news in regard to P & O's cancellation of the 'Aurora' World Voyage, I am definitely happy that you're on board with HAL and having a magnificent voyage already!

Bon Voyage ~

Steve

[photonut4]

Just out of curiosity I checked this cruise to look at the itinerary and cost. I found it interesting that it cost $7000.00 more to board in HI than it does in LA, and you are on the ship for 9 less days. Doesn't make much sense to me. Thoroughly enjoying reading his updates. Thank you Grumpy.

[Slinkiecat]

Prinsendam 2005, Jan 21

%&^%$%$*(*&!!!!... Maybe Grumpy spoke too soon when he signed his last post "NotSoGrumpy"... Dayum computer anyway... it decided to lock up... display did all sorts of wierd things and blanked out... no response to any commands... shut it down, reboot, blank screen, no hard drive activity... tried a paper clip hard reset, started to come up and then went wierd and froze up again. Walked out on the balcony and cogitated a bit... came back in the cabin and saw water running from under the bathroom door and across the carpet. After a quick phone call to the desk, Our intrepid travellers had enough company to hold a pretty good sized party... plumbers, housekeeping people various others... two big vacuums... something came through the pipe and stuck in the flush valve so the water kept coming in to the toilet after it had flushed. After they cleaned up the mess, they shampooed the whole room and now there's another piece of furniture... a dehumidifier... sharing the cabin.

Slinkie headed up to get her hair done for formal night tonight, so Grumpy decided to have another go at the laptop. After a couple of failed attempts, he finally found out, quite by accident, that he held the computer a certain way, and did the paperclip reset he could get it to boot. Very carefully putting it back on the desk with a wedge under the right front corner, it works just fine. Grumpy knows that fix isn't likely to last forever, so he quickly copied the photo file for the cruise and his marvelous manuscript off to a memory card and transferred them to Slinkie's laptop. Guess he'd better back up everything to the portable hard drive before he tries anything else...

Yesterday was a visit to Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Slinkie and Grumpy didn't have to be ready for a tour until 10:30a, so they walked into town and all the way across town to the shopping district... took about 10 minutes... and picked up some essentials... acouple of bottles of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon for Slinkie, (4) 20oz cokes to go with Grumpy's Bacardi Gold... now how do you suppose that got in his cabin?... an alarm clock with a lighted face, a power strip... spent a total of 9000 Colones ($18.20). They passed alot of Joyeras, but it seems that most of the stuff was 10K gold and didn't look too appealing... besides Grumpy doesn't want Slinkie to get the impression she's going to get some baubles in every port... they've still got more tha 40 left to go...

The tour de jour was a bus ride South to a river that empties into the ocean. After a quick lunch and some Salsa music, they were on the boat and cruising up and down the river. They saw a few dozen crocodiles, some Iguanas, other varieties of lizards and dozens of bird varieties including Red Macaws, Boatbilled Blue Herons, Great Blue Herons, all sorts of Egrets and lots of others. All in all, it was pretty educational.

Entertainment has been pretty good. Tonight will be the first production by the stage show cast. Every night so far has been a different act, soloists, magician, comedian, violin virtuoso... no wonder ther are only 732 passengers and 5 70 staff and crew... there's a lot of entertainers taking up space.

GrannyPL, Sheri did get married... 4 days before the cruise... so she and her new husband are cruising.... ON SEPARATE SHIPS!... Dayum, that just aint, right, somehow!

Wowzo, RuthC summed up quite well why everything is staying in one thread. It would really eat up minutes to jump around from thread to thread and pick up posts that straggle in on one after another has been started, so please bear with us... or as we see in a lot of posts, bare with us... but we wont go there...

Marianne, Slinkie is looking forward to meeting you and comparing emeralds and ideas.. see you in Capetown.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions for things to see and do in NZ. We'll be working on that in a week or so.

Someone asked about planning and packing... planning before booking was less than 24 hours. Saw the brochure, checked out the various internet agencies for pricing, and booked it! Naw, Ol' Grumpy isn't impulsive.... Packing, well that involves going through the closet and picking out about 75% of whats there.. going shopping for more stuff... finding more luggage to hold it all... not difficult at all...

Well, time to get ready so Grumpy can show off the gorgeous Slinkie on the 2nd formal night... he's got his best pair of jeans ready to go....

Grumpy and Slinkie

[localady]

G & S-
Sorry to hear that the cybergods are plaguing you!:eek: Hope the new item of furniture will leave soon and that the plumbing will behave itself!:rolleyes: Where will you be next?? Margaritas for all I believe.:D

[GrammyPL]

I know Sheri was gettting married but I didn't know she and hubby were on different ships. What a bummer. Penny

[CruisinTexans]

I sent a power strip and lighted alarm clock with our shipped luggage. Can you all think of anything else like this that I might have forgotten that we will need? Did they give you plenty of hangers? We have many, many clothes.

Looking forward to seeing you on the 31st.

Leslie & Handler

[Aussie Gal]

Grumpy,

I am thrilled that Sheri got married though it is a shame she and her husband are separated. She is a lovely girl, very friendly and she is a great asset to HAL.

I can feel for you with your computer as mine packed up this week but thankfully it is fixed and working well again. My new ambition in life is to go on a World Cruise (thanks to you both for the idea) which I mentioned to my poor DH today who rolled his eyes as usual wondering what the next travel idea that was coming from my head. Perhaps within the next ten years we will manage to do one but certainly not on a P&0 ship. Those poor passengers having their cruise cancelled!

Jennie

[snowcat]

Hi Grumpy and Slinkie! I am really enjoying reading about your trip! Last weekend it was -40 F in northern Minnesota (I kid you not) and this weekend we are in the midst of a winter storm with 8" of snow to come. Needless to say, this lovely weather has made me all the more interested in following your cruise and wishing I was there! Have a great trip!

[PADutchman]

I sent a power strip and lighted alarm clock with our shipped luggage. Can you all think of anything else like this that I might have forgotten that we will need? Did they give you plenty of hangers? We have many, many clothes.

Looking forward to seeing you on the 31st.

Leslie & Handler

Hi, Since the cabins have a 110 and 220 outlet, I take a European type plug adaptor with me to use the 220 outlet. Almost all modern battery chargers will automatically sense and switch between 110 and 220. I can plug my digital camera, computer or Video camera battery charger into the 220 no problem. My electric razor also does this. It's easy to check. Just look on the charger or device for the notation 110/220v (some say 110-120/220-240) or refer to the device's manual under current to see if yours will do this.


One other thing to consider, if the alarm clock is a plug in type and not battery you may occasionally have to reset the time as the ship's current often runs on the same voltage but different cycles than US current. Don't want to be too technical but this will cause your clock to run fast or slow, sometimes by quite a bit. The cycles of the current affect how fast the AC motor armature will spin thus making the clock run fast or slow. I have never been on the Prinzendam, but I have observed this phenomenon on other ships in the HAL inventory.

See you in LA,
Rod

[RuffinReady]

Grumpy1, Question below,


One other thing to consider, if the alarm clock is a plug in type and not battery you may occasionally have to reset the time as the ship's current often runs on the same voltage but different cycles than US current.

Do the cabins on Prinsendam have alarm clocks?

Thanks for the wonderful reports.

Ruffin

[lipoppop]

Grunpy and Slinkie you have been lighting up my life, and that from a jaded New Yorker.

As I looked up from my keyboard I saw the snow begin to fall. We are going to be blessed with one or two feet. Do you want me to save some for you when you return in May?

Please check cabin ss052 for us and tell the current tenants to keep it clean for us when the Princendam calls on New York in May. If they leave any half empty/full wine or whiskey bottles in the cabin they will be appreciated.

We await your next post and I am guessing that this thread will set a record for length.

Continue to have favorable winds and calm seas.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Oh poor Grumpy!!! There's something to be said for an old portable Underwood. Lots of folks won't get that;) .

Slinkie, good to hear from you! This diary is so much fun. So glad you're keeping one thread. Hope both your computers keep you going throughout your amazing journey.

Mostly, how I envy you NZ. My parents visited there twice and loved it so that had my Dad not gotten cancer they were going to move there. Someday, hopefully, we'll get there too.

[sandydownunder]

Greetings from Downunder Slinkie & Grumpy,
Reading the account of your World Tour with interest. Thankyou.
Can you say hello to our musician friend Larry (bald, 60+) who plays the flute and saxaphone in the Prinsendam Orchestra? Tell him we received his letter and are disappointed you are not coming to Brisbane, but enjoy Sydney on Feb 20th.

Sandra & Peter

[cruisinjudy]

grumpy and Slinkie,
I am really enjoying your world cruise! Of course I could enjoy it even more if we were there too! Anyway, this is great fun until I can figure out how we could do it!

[Cristiano]

Hi Slinkie & Grumpy,

just home from two nights in Sydney's Stamford Hotel at Circular Quay overlooking Sydney Harbour Bridge and the port where you will be docking. Even though our own home is only 15 minutes away we like to stay in town every few months. My DW comment was we should have stayed when the Prinsendam sails in on the 20th February.

So one way or the other we will there to see her come in and then set sail.

You will love our city and our Harbour is second to none and if you need some information on what you should do please e-mail me and hopefully I can give you some guidance.

Your log of your voyage is simply wonderful and hopefully you may be able to post some pictures soon.

Keep on sailing,

Cristiano. :)

[Marianne]

RuffinReady -- I don't recall any alarm clocks on the Prinsendam. We were in a verandah room, no clocks at all in the room. I just take an alarm clock that uses an AA battery. An electric alarm clock tends to run slow when plugged into the current used on the ship.
Marianne

[Brandis]

No alarm clock in the Prinsendam suites either. But they have an automated wake-up call service which worked well for us. You can set the time for one call only or specify it as daily. So you just have to set it once and it will call you every day at the same time. But of course you can change the time again or turn it off any time....

Marc

[kryos]

RuffinReady -- I don't recall any alarm clocks on the Prinsendam. We were in a verandah room, no clocks at all in the room. I just take an alarm clock that uses an AA battery. An electric alarm clock tends to run slow when plugged into the current used on the ship.
Marianne
I do the same thing. I just returned from a Princess cruise last week, and I bought myself a cheap travel alarm that uses two AAA batteries. Worked fine for me and I didn't even bother with the automated wake-up service. I just used the travel alarm which goes off with a progressively more "urgent" tone until you shut it off. It never failed to wake me from the deepest sleep.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[WCB]

Hi Slinkie and Grumpy,

We just finished packing for the luggage service today We packed everything including the kitchen sink!
Enjoy reading your posts! You have had quite a number of experiences already! Don't the bathrooms have drains in the floor?
Looking forward to meeting you guys!

Getting excited,
Bill and Mary Ann

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, Jan 24

Well, Hello, gang... Grumpy and Slinkie are back again for an update... internet access has been spotty for the last few days... the computer is connected to the wireless hub with good strength, but then the login page won't open. This afternoon it's working better and Grumpy was able to get in long enough to read the messages that had accumulated, but then lost the connection when he tried to open another page and do his cut and paste. This update will rely on Grumpy's not too reliable memory for some of the comments and questions. One interesting thing is that everytime the Prinsendam is in port, another unencrypted wireless network shows up. Called Tsunami, it's apparently used to link the laptops with the card readers at the top of the gangway with the mainframe in the purser's office. It's surprising that the hub and cards would not be encrypted.

Anyway, your virtual tour guides are making their way up the western Mexican coast. After leaving Costa Rica, the next stop was the small town of Santa Cruz, Huatulco. Arrival was scheduled for 1p but the Prinsendam was at the dock just about noon. There were no other ships in port. Slinkie and Grumpy opted for a two hour catamaran cruise of five of the bays in the area. The area is pretty new to tourism and really wants to become a player in the game. There is quite a bit of construction going on, but they are trying to do things in a very controlled and eco- friendly manner. All sewage is treated and the reclaimed water is used for irrigation of the landscaping, which is a first for Mexico. There is some shopping right near the pier, so Slinkie found the day to be worthwhile. The prices seemed to be pretty high on some items, very cheap on others. Everything is negotiable, though. Slinkie ended up with a pair of gold dangling interlocked hoop earrings that Grumpy still thinks he paid a little too much for... but they're nice... and Slinkie's happy... so...

Slinkie and Grumpy skipped the dining room that evening, so they missed Dutch night. The fare in the Lido was pretty much the same, Dover Sole, and several other choices, but Grumpy was not feeling well and stayed with simple fare.

The next stop up the coast was Acapulco. The Celebrity Mercury was in port ahead of the Prinsendam. Both ships tied up at the dock. The Oceana Regatta came in right behind and anchored out. Slinkie and Grumpy are both fighting off nasty headcolds... they think courtesy of a table mate that was hacking away the first night at dinner, or another couple at the table that was there the first night and missed the next four because they were ill. Not knowing how well they would hold up to any strenuous tours, they opted for a walk around the port area. As usual, the cab drivers and guides were pretty agressive, but not like Cartagena. Prices in the back street shops were pretty reasonable. Jewelry was mostly 10k gold or Silver. Slinky didn't add to her collection. There was a Mexican barbecue on the Lido, and the ship was in port until midnight, so the dining room was very empty. Two tables for 8 each had a total of five for second seating at dinner. The infamous meatloaf was one of the features, but Slinky and Grumpy both decided to go with the crablegs instead.... Very good!! Oh, by the way, the ship was positioned just right in port so that the XM antenna on the balcony railing was receiving a good signal. So nice to hear Fox News instead of CNNI! The Prinsendam has been carrying all of the NFL playoff games, so we did get to see the Eagles soar and the Pats kick the crap out of Pittsburgh...

The stop today is Zihuatanejo... the first tender port. The Mercury was in port at anchor just ahead of Prinsendam. There are thousands of little shops within a half mile or so of the dock. Number one item on the shopping list was something similar to NyQuil. One of the many pharmacias had something close, so hopefully, the chest congestion that is setting in can be cleared up pretty quick. Tonight is the first of the theme nights. it is listed as Aztec Night, but the recommendation is informal, Aztec or Mexican dress. Slinkie found a skirt and blouse, she liked, Grumpy got a shirt with embroidered design, nothing fancy, but more appropriate than anything hanging in the closet. Slinkie has been looking for a nice polished Abalone shell and found one she liked in a shell shop close to the pier.

There have been a few comments here on the board about the wakeup call service on the telephone system on board. Very nice, except when someone forgets to adjust for a time zone change. The first change was just after leaving Panama, so there was ample opportunity to adjust the system before Costa Rica. There were tours scheduled as early as 7:15a, so a lot of people set wakeup calls for 5:30. 42 cabins got wakeup calls at 4:30a because the system was still running on EST! Can't beat you own alarm clock.

Earlier this afternoon, all elevators were out of service.There were quite a few people with a long walk up the stairs from deck 4, which is the tender deck. The only other persistant problem seems to be the two sliding doors from the Lido to the aft deck. Quite often only one is working, sometimes neither one and they prop them open.

WCB, I'm glad someone thought to include the kitchen sink... everyone always says they brought everything except... should make a nice conversation piece...

Floor drains in a bathroom... now that would seem to be a good idea... no, there are none...

CruisinTexans, there are lots of hangers. We brought quite a few, just in case, but we've got lots of extras.

PA Dutchman, they have the Euro/US plug adapter for sale in the onboard shop for about $7. I picked one up for the plug by the entertainment center. There are outlets in the bathrooms that accept either style plug and a switch above to select 110/220V. The plug by the desk/makeup vanity is 110v only.

lilipop, I'll bet you wish you were in 052 on the Prinsendam now instead of in the NY snow...

Sandydownunder, we've noted that your friend Larry is quite talented, switching between flute, clarinet and saxophone. We've been impressed with the versatility of the Prinsendam orchestra.

Yes, Heather, the old Underwoods were probably more reliable than these plastic keyboards, but I'm scratchin' my noggin trying to figure out how to interface one to the internet... actually, I never owned an Underwood, but did have a real nice Smith-Corona portable that I got in a pawn shop for $20 in 1960.

We're headed on up the coast to Manzanillo now. time to post and run.

Slinkie and Grumpy

[RuthC]

Keep remembering that old rule of thumb:
When Slinkie's happy, Grumpy's happy. (Or at least stands a fighting chance. ;) )

Thanks for keeping in touch.

[Sailboater]

Can you give a brief review of the catamaran excursion in Huatalco? We are considering it on our spring Repo cruise.

Really enjoying your trip. Hope you can shed that cold quickly and be back to your usual selves shortly.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Grumpy, that would be the only drawback with an Underwood or a Smith Corona:D . You could write a diary, but we wouldn't see it until June!!!;)

So sorry you both got sick right off the bat! What a nuisance! You should have brought Airbourne or Zicam with you to ward it off. Maybe next time. In my younger days I used to swear getting smashed on a really fine Scotch would nip a cold in the bud. The doctor used to tell me to gargle it, but I thought that was a waste of good whiskey.

I continue to love reading your posts. I love the way you write and I honestly do feel that I'm tagging along in some small way.

Feel better soon so you can really enjoy!

[DFD1]

Grumpy1 and Slinkie....GET WELL QUICK!

[txcomo]

Slinkie & Grumpie,
I am enjoying your posts immensely. My parents will be joining your cruise in Honolulu. I am a bit disheartened to hear about the water problems on the Main Deck. Yes, that is of course the deck they will be on. I have opted NOT to tell them prior to their sail date. :| Maybe the problems will be resolved by then.

Nonetheless, I will keep abreast of how the cruise is going along by your posts as my parents aren't as technologically savvy as you two!

Thanks for taking the time to post.
Concerned Daughter in Denver

[lipoppop]

Grumpy and Slinkie,

CHICKEN SOUP will cure you, especially if the waiter is about 70 years old and has his thumb in the bowl. Don't argue with him either.

Maybe you can send an e-mail to Katz' delicatessen here in New York and they can forward a jar to your next port. Howefver I suggest you ask the maire d' if there is an equivalent Filipino or Indonesian recipe.

Keep the postings comming; they help melt the snow.

[RuffinReady]

Hello Grumpy1

I note with interest your comment as follows:

"One interesting thing is that everytime the Prinsendam is in port, another unencrypted wireless network shows up. Called Tsunami, it's apparently used to link the laptops with the card readers at the top of the gangway with the mainframe in the purser's office. It's surprising that the hub and cards would not be encrypted."

This goes back to a thread where I commented on the security problems of unencrypted wireless communications. They can be intercepted by any device within the range of the transmitter, which you can think of as a sphere. It is a shame that a dedicated network is not encrypted as that technology is easily available.

I recognize that you are aware of the threat. So I hope that your cruisemates who are using their own laptops are also careful not to transmit their credit card and brokerage account numbers.

Thanks again for your very interesting comments as you go along on your world journey.

Ruffin

[RuffinReady]

Hello Grumpy1 again,

I also noted your comment regarding the elevators as follows:

"Earlier this afternoon, all elevators were out of service.There were quite a few people with a long walk up the stairs from deck 4, which is the tender deck."

Again, picking up on a message by another CC'er, I am curious if there are any handicapped people onboard. If so, have you noticed how they got about when all of the elevators where out of service? Did the crew help? People who use walkers and wheelchairs would be trapped under these circumstances without substantial assistance.

I know that those of us who enjoy mobility understand that those who are handicapped also want to enjoy some quality of life. While they may be limited in shore activities they still may be able to take tour bus rides. I realize that losing all of the elevators on a cruise ship is most unusual.

I am sure that your observations, if any, would be appreciated by readers who are handicapped, or who have loved ones with disabilities and would like to cruise.

Regards again, and keep your great reviews coming.

Ruffin

[mango14217]

Grumpy and Slinkie GET WELL FAST

Glad your cruise is going great Allways wanted to take a world cruise so I'm reading every word of yours.

[PADutchman]

Grumpy and Slinkie,

Thanks for the info on the outlets and the wi-fi. Seems like they would be better at that. I've been on the Volendam and Noordam with my laptop and the system was working all the time except when the ship's connection to shore was down. Hope they get some parts and fix it in LA. Be seeing you soon.

Rod

[trubey]

Hello Grumpy1 again,

I also noted your comment regarding the elevators as follows:

"Earlier this afternoon, all elevators were out of service.There were quite a few people with a long walk up the stairs from deck 4, which is the tender deck."

Again, picking up on a message by another CC'er, I am curious if there are any handicapped people onboard. If so, have you noticed how they got about when all of the elevators where out of service? Did the crew help? People who use walkers and wheelchairs would be trapped under these circumstances without substantial assistance.
Ruffin

(Hi Ruffin)

Wifely and I were discussing this earlier, as I am somewhat mobility challenged: and we surmised there are MANY service elevators to be brought into service when necessary. Does anybody know for sure?

Lane

[Sail With Me]

Hi Grumpy and Slinkie,

Hope you are both feeling better. We are cruise agents and have just received approval from HAL to tour the Prinsendam when she arrives in Los Angeles on Saturday the 29th. We are especially excited as we will be sailing on her August 23 and it will give us a chance to check things out.

We will board at 11:30 am, so if you are around we would love to say hi. We could meet at the Crow's Nest or wherever is convenient for the two of you. If you are going to be on an excursion then of course we understand.

Hope to see you soon!

Karen and Bob

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, January 25

Hello again to our faithful readers. We're glad to report that Slinkie and Grumpy are feeling much better... Thanks to everyone for your good wishes.. Still a little cough, but nothing that's slowing them down... Lipopop, there is usually chicken soup in some form or another available, but the curative powers may not be the same as that prepared by a loving New York Jewish mama...

Heather, I'm with you... good Scotch is to be consumed, not gargled... there's a couple of mini bottles of Johnny Walker Red in the fridge, maybe Grumpy will try that if the chicken soup and rum treatments are insufficient... He can report with a pretty good degree of certainty that the farmacias in mexico do not carry Nyquil... and that's been his old standby treatment for years. Might pick some up in LA or Hawaii... then it certainly wouldn't be needed again.

Ruffin The elevator problem was apparently corrected pretty quickly... There are quite a few mobility challenged pax on board...Grumpy included after too many of those rum and cokes... We see several pax that use scooters, wheelchairs, walkers and canes. I don't recall seeing any of the wheelchair or scooter pax on shore, but there are quite a few that have some difficulity with the steps on the gangway. The Prinsendam has 2 elevators forward and two aft, and the wait is normally pretty short. There are service elevators midship and I'm sure that they get used in an emergency to help avoid a crisis. Today, all elevators and both of the problem doors seem to be behaving... I keep recalling that "Shame on HAL" thread from a few weeks ago where the OP insisted that everything would have been perfect for her Holiday cruise if they had put this old tub in drydock before her cruise instead of after... and berated Grumpy for stating that there would likely still would have been problems... I think Ol' Grumpy was right on that one...

This morning we docked in Manzanillo. It's a huge commercial shipping port and there are huge stacks of freight containers and lots of cranes there. We docked on one side of an L-shaped pier and shortly after, the Carnival Spirit docked on the other leg of the pier. We had a good view of her from the verandah. The Mercury was at another pier about a half mile away. There was a free shuttle bus from the pier to the center of town, and most of the shopping is close to that point. The shops didn't seem as nice as the ones in some of the other towns and there didn't seem to be much in the way of quality jewelry. It's really more of a shipping town instead of a tourist town. Slinkie found a few things for souvenirs... Grumpy's wallet didn't get hit too hard at all.

Grumpy glanced at the Daily Program and realized that they hadn't been to afternoon tea yet. Off to the Crow's Nest they went. After selecting a tea from the many choices and being served with a teapot of hot water, it was time for the "light refresments". First was a tray of cookies... same ones that are served daily at the Lido ice cream bar...OK, is that all there is? Not on your life! Next came the tray with the Chocolate covered strawberries and various little desserts... followed by another tray with shrimp on crackers and other appetizers... could have made a meal right there... and all to the music provided by Rosario Strings (piano, violin and string bass) Grumpy made a note to try to get to one of the high teas, or Tea Dansant as it is called. Along toward sunset they set sail up the cost toward Puerto Vallarta.

Well, Grumpy, the great detective, finally got some good solid information about cabins 196 and 197. At dinner tonight, Grumpy had a chance to talk to the tablemate that was missing for the first 4 days... he mentioned being on Deck 8 and it clicked in grumpy's brain that there are only 10 cabins on 8... all of them aft. Grumpy asked "is that one of one ninty series cabins?" Evan said "yes, it's the corner cabin at the end of the hallway on the casino side." Voila! that's 196! So Grumpy explained that there have been questions about the configuration of that cabin and wanted to know about the rear curved wall. It is floor to ceiling glass, it has a sheer curtain that can be pulled across as well as a full drapery. The aft deck stays lit, so the one way treatment on the windows is pretty effective even after dark, if they drapes haven't been drawn. Grumpy has been invited to stop by and take some pictures... He 's still working on an invite to the Neptune, though...



Prinsendam 2005, January 26

Slinkie and Grumpy were awake before sunrise this morning, just as the Prinsendam was sliding into her berth in Puerto Vallarta. Their starboard side cabin was facing west, looking out of the port toward the ocean. There was a nice view of the yacht harbor to the north and the mountain range beyond was catching the first light of dawn. Heading on up to the Lido for breakfast, it seemed that the best plan was to watch the sun come up over the mountains to the east from the port side. And what a glorious sight... the sun peeking through the clouds above the mountain tops... illuminating the splendor and beauty of...Walmart and Sam's Club... across the way from the ship... that's progress for you...

Looking out across the harbor, they watched as the Carnival Pride turned around and backed into a berth that formed an L with our berth. Dayum, that is a BIG boat! No sooner was the Pride in the harbor but another ship came in. With no more berths available she anchored out. Grumpy could see it was HAL, but could't read the name until he grabbed his field glasses. It was the Oosterdam.

Slinkie must be fully recovered as she was in high gear shopping mode. She drug poor Grumpy off the ship and over to the shops along the pier before they were even open! That was probably part of her plan because by the time the stores opened she knew right where the good stuff was hiding... she's sporting a new Tanzanite ring, earrings, pendant and bracelet, now, after some haggling over the prices... also found a nice 2ct fire Opal ring... beautiful shades of red green and blue, that was pretty reasonable... Got to keep the economy going, you know...and keep our Slinkie Girl happy....

After lunch, the non stop shopping duo set off to explore the underbelly of society... yep, they went to Sam's club and Walmart... found a couple of bottles of Chilean Merlot... Concha y Toro reservado, 2004... Slinkie proclaims it to be good... Grumpy's staying with his Bacardi and Coke. They are inspecting bags, but not very carefully, when returning to the ship. They spot the bottles in the Xray scanner, peek in and ask if it's wine, but don't dig deep. There were some bottles of liquer being held for final debarkation, but probably some getting through.

Sailaway was interesting. It seemed to take a long time to manuver away from the dock, get clear of the Pride and head out to sea past the anchored Oosterdam. Slinkie and Grumpy headed up to Deck 12 forward where they had a good view in all directions. They suddenly realized that the ship was turning hard to port just after passing the Oosterdam on the port side. Captain Gundersen was at the controls on the port wing of the bridge and proceeded to run a full circle around the Oosterdam, just a hundred yards or so away. As Prinsendam crossed the O's bow, we could see the officers on their bridge looking across at us. Then began the "dueling foghorns". Three long blasts form P answered by 3 from O.. a long and short blast, answered the same, a couple of other exchanges and we continued on out. Maybe the captain was telling them that we will not only circle the globe, but we can run circles around them, too. Grumpy didn't have his camera with him so missed an opportunity to get some fantastic pictures of the O.

We have been informed that Homeland security is requiring ALL passengers to disembark for passport inspection at the Long Beach terminal. No one will be allowed to reboard until the clearance procedures have been completed. Also the majority of the Indonesian crew members will have to meet with Homeland Security as part of the entry/exit regulation system, which may slow down the cleaning of the cabins. Priority will be given to cleaning the cabins needed for the new arriving passengers, then the rest of us will get cabins cleaned. It will be interesting to see if we sail ontime Saturday.

Txcomo, I don't think you parents will have anything to worry about on main deck. The hot water problems were solved by the end of the third day and the airconditioning has been fine from all reports that I've heard.

Elevators and Lido doors continue working fine today.

WCB, CruisinTexans, Alsas and PaDutchman... we're on our way up the coast. See you in a few days.

Slinkie and Grumpy

[Grumpy1]

AtSeaDaze, I'm not sure you will be able to board that early with the Homeland Security stuff that we were just informed about. I'll have my cell phone on. I'll pass on the number later.
Grumpy

[watchdiva]

Dear Grumpy and Slinkie: I have been following your cruise and want to thank you SO much for your daily posts. DH has been hearing about your trip for days now; the other night he said "hmm, maybe when we retire we could do something like that"...

Thank you again for sharing your trip with those of us who are currently NOT on a ship. I look forward to each and everyone of your posts.

Lin

[Aussie Gal]

Slinkie and Grumpy,

I look forward each day to reading your daily summary on board the Prinsendam. I feel as though I am on board with you and of course I can imagine exactly where you are describing. Captain Gundersen did a similar thing with the Prinsendam when we were in Santorini last year. The horns of both ships were blowing and it was quite fun.

Please make sure that Slinkie leaves some room for the wonderful Opals that you can buy in Sydney. Especially the Black and the lovely Boulder Opals. Also our beautiful pink Argyl diamonds.

Jennie
Jennie

[louiskam]

DW & I will be occupying #196 for 2 weeks on our June 16 sailing from Rome to Amsterdam and judging from the huge verandah and extra bathroom space shown on the brochure, no wonder your dining guests can hide-out there for so long. Glad to hear you both are back in shape. But for pre-caution, we find the "Airbourne" do work well on us. (Louis)

[alsas]

Thank you on behalf of all your readers for allowing your journey to be shared. Sandra and I are also thankful that you allowed to start our journey early.We would love to meet you in the crows nest to buy you both drinks. (WE know you have spent way to much already.) How about after life boat drill or if you have time you could change the time via e mail when.I feel very brave that I am even attempting to scribe any words.Your skills are fantastic.We look forward to meeting you.Allan......Alsas Happy Sailing

[Cruiseoften]

Grumpy/Slinkie

Thank you for answering about the dining rooms. We're following along, enjoying every moment.

Friends who have been in both say their preference was for the smaller, as long as you were not too close to the staircase up to the Explorers Lounge.

I'd just love to be on board.


Looking forward to all your future posts. :)

[localady]

Glumpy1-
Thank you for your absolutely fantabulous sleuthing Grumpy1!!:D Does your dinner mate in Rm. 196, appear to enjoy the extra space or are their down sides? Thank you for an explanation, it makes sense now! Any pictures would be above and beyond the call of duty! Have fun port-side in the San Pedro area. All of the coast really doesn't look like that:eek:
Glad to hear you 2 are feeling better, now you can relax and feel better as you settle in to the rhythm of the "at sea" days in the Pacific!
Safe seas and blue skies. :cool:

[Sail With Me]

AtSeaDaze, I'm not sure you will be able to board that early with the Homeland Security stuff that we were just informed about. I'll have my cell phone on. I'll pass on the number later.
Grumpy

Hi Grumpy,

If you do not want to post your cell phone on Cruise Critic, please send it to me at karenjburnham@hotmail.com Hope to see you Saturday. Oh, by the way, with all of those new gorgeous jewels Slinkie has, in case you want to share, Bob said to tell you I am up for adoption....Slinkie, wear everything in the very best of health. If you are gong to Mazatlan, have lunch at the Shrimp Factory. Order #1 and it will be enough for the two of you. Six different type of shrimp and all delicious.

Thanks!

Karen

[CruisinTexans]

Glad to hear you all are feeling better. I shipped a whole box of over-the-counter medicines to the ship, just in case. As a matter of fact, I shipped so much stuff (10 boxes), Handler is worried there won't be enough room in the cabin for all the "stuff" and us too. We did the transatlantic in November to check to ship out and it looked like there was quite a bit of storage. We were in a regular cabin though and only looked at the SS cabin of a couple we met at the bar. It looked so good we upgraded. We may be storing stuff on the balcony.

Our flight gets to LA at 8:00 something in the morning Saturday, so it sounds like we will have a long wait before boarding.

Looking forward to joining you.

Leslie & Handler

[andre2p]

On a side note ... I find it quite amazing that they inspect for bottles of liquor on re-boarding. After paying tens of thousands of dollars for such a wonderful cruise, I expetcted HAL to be more lenient. :cool:

Thanks Grumpy and Slinkie for your posts! :)

AC

[Brandis]

Grumpy, there shouldn't be a problem to have a look at the Neptune's Lounge. They ususally don't mind non-suite guest for a quick look-around...

In case Rich is the concierge, say Hi from Marc and Walter from Switzerland.

Marc

[Cuttle]

Hi Grumpy and Slinkie,

What a fantastic account of your trip so far. I was with you all the way up the west coast. Knew where you docked or anchored etc. Brought back lots of memories from several cruises going that way. In the Fall we were docked in Puerto Vallarta with the Diamond Princess beside us and we (the Statendam) looked like a toy ship.


Sounds like there will be some delays in LA., but maybe things will go smoothly.
I eagerly await your posts as you make everyone feel they are on board with you. Don't I wish! Take care.

[shipcafe]

What an exciting sail away !!

[Esme]

Great review, Grumpy and Slinkie - it's seems like we are all there sailing with you.

"As Prinsendam crossed the O's bow, we could see the officers on their bridge looking across at us. Then began the "dueling foghorns". Three long blasts form P answered by 3 from O.. a long and short blast, answered the same, a couple of other exchanges"

They do have their fun don't they. This happened when we were leaving Nassau with one of the Disney ships. Their "song" is "When you Wish upon a Star" and the Officers on their Bridge would play their tune, then we would come back with a couple of blasts, and on it went. It was a lot of fun. :D

[JaniceB]

"Sailaway was interesting. It seemed to take a long time to manuver away from the dock, get clear of the Pride and head out to sea past the anchored Oosterdam. Slinkie and Grumpy headed up to Deck 12 forward where they had a good view in all directions. They suddenly realized that the ship was turning hard to port just after passing the Oosterdam on the port side. Captain Gundersen was at the controls on the port wing of the bridge and proceeded to run a full circle around the Oosterdam, just a hundred yards or so away. As Prinsendam crossed the O's bow, we could see the officers on their bridge looking across at us. Then began the "dueling foghorns". Three long blasts form P answered by 3 from O.. a long and short blast, answered the same, a couple of other exchanges and we continued on out. Maybe the captain was telling them that we will not only circle the globe, but we can run circles around them, too. Grumpy didn't have his camera with him so missed an opportunity to get some fantastic pictures of the O."
This sounds like so much fun. We live near the water and we like to cruise beside the big freighters in smaller boats. Sometimes they wave at us, but I have never heard them blow their horn.
Thank you again for sharing your journey with us.

[LizB1]

Really enjoying your reviews and can't wait until the 29th when the "real" WC begins from LA. There will be lots of folks joinging you then, I am sure, including the dentist and his wife who were on our Rotterdam 2001 World Cruise with us.

[Mariner05]

Dear Grumpi:
My wife and I will be joining you on the Prinsendam from Capetown to New York City. We board the ship in Capetown after a safari in Botsana and Victoria Falls. We are looking forward to meeting you. We do not have our cabin assignment as yet because we are joining you later in the cruise. I read your account carefully because it is our first time on the ship. We are Hal cruisers and have been on most ships. LOU

[jbhcw]

Have been lurking on the HAL board for a while, but your thread has brought me out of hiding! We will be doing our first HAL in November on the Massdam. Just wanted to thank you both for breaking the doldrums of winter and work. The tales of your travels are wonderful and I feel like I'm on the ship with you, Don't I wish! Again thanks and keep writing!.

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, January 27

Last night was another time change night... our explorers are now on Mountain Standard time.... Love those 25 hour days... usually means an extra hour of sleep. Grumpy was awake about daybreak and opened the cabin curtains to see what was happening outside. He was surprised to see that the ship was headed northwest, straight for land. Since the normal course should take the ship past the southern end of the Baja Peninsula, Grumpy guessed that was the area we were in, but grabbed his trusty GPS to see what was going on. The Prinsendam was headed straight into Cabo San Lucas, about 12 miles ahead. Heading up to the Lido for breakfast, Slinkie and Grumpy found a table with a view on the aft Lido deck. Looking forward, the ship was still on course to sail straight into the harbor. About then, Captain Gundersen come on the squawk box to let us know that he thought we might enjoy seeing the resort area coastline, so he was going to go into the harbor, turn around and then follow the coastline. Frank Buckingham, the fountain of knowledge that gives the port lectures and the talks from the bridge, came on to tell us that we should keep close watch, there were often whales in the area and if we were very lucky we might spot one... Too late, Frank, everyone on the aft Lido was already along the Starboard rail watching several whales spouting and breaching... by the time Frank finished his announcement, we were past them.

The Diamond Princess was anchored in the harbor at Cabo San Lucas. We sailed in close, stopped, swung to our Port side and slowly left the harbor. We continued Southwest around the magnificent rock formations that are at the tip of the harbor. We were close enough to see a couple of seals on one of the rocks. There must have been more, judging by the amount of barking we could hear. The Captain tells us we will pass through a whale and dolphin area later in the day. Our Slinkie is absolutely fascinated by the various aquatic creatures, so she's looking forward to that part of our sea day.

Well, we never saw anymore whales or dolphins today. Seas were a little rough and it was a little cool for spending time on the balcony. As soon as we rounded the corner of the Baja Peninsula and headed north, we could tell we had encountered the north to south flow of the California currents. The temperature dropped about 10 degrees.

Tonight is another formal night... Slinkie, as usual, looks fantastic in her Teal outfit... Grumpy opted for the offwhite dinner jacket. Dinner, as usual, was fantastic. Prawn cocktail, oysters Rockefeller ( Grumpy went for both) along with several other choices, Lobster tail or filet mignon or rabbit cacciatore and other choices... they sure do keep our adventurers well fed...

The entertainment was provided by Mark Newsome displaying his piano and vocal talents. He claims to be a well known Welsh singer... even did a few songs made famous by another Welsh singer... but there weren't any ladies throwing underwear onstage like there is at Tom Jones concerts... he'll be back tomorrow night in concert with the Harmonica Aces, who were featured the night before, but Slinkie and Grumpy skipped that one.

Off to dreamland for another time change night...

Slinkie and Grumpy



Prinsendam 2005, Jan 28

OK... where did this COLD weather come from? We're still along the Baja Peninsula where it's supposed to be warm! It's only in the 60's out there. Yeh, I know, there's a bunch of you ready to hand us some cheese to go with the whine... Well, anyway, it's a pretty nice day otherwise... seas are rolling a little, but not too bad.

We really appreciate all of the nice comments about our journal. The feedback and questions make it enjoyable doing it.

Alsas, the Crow's Nest after Lifeboat Drill sounds good. Grumpy never has been one to turn down a free drink. It will be our pleasure to meet you and your DW. We're still planning to meet the ones boarding in LA on the 31st at 4pm in the Crow's Nest. First round is on Grumpy. We're in Cabin 35 if anyone needs to get in touch.

Mariner05 and AtSeaDaze, how about Friday, April 15, 4:30p in the Crow's Nest? It should be pretty quiet in there then.

LocalLady and Louiskam, our tablemates report that they are very happy with 196. They had friends that had stayed in it before and had seen it on a previous cruise. They had a chance to get that one and jumped on it. We'll ask Evan and Darline not to trash the place too badly...

Cruiseoften, some of our tablemates have been in the smaller dining room and feel that it is a little quieter, but there are more people wandering through. On balance, they prefer the large dining room, but I'm sure others would prefer the small one.

Aussie Gal, Slinkie has already received the Official Guide to Sydney Shopping from an online friend and has been reading all about the black opals, boulder opals, crystal opals and all of the color variations... now you don't think she would be doing all that research if she weren't planning to do some serious shopping, do you?

Watchdiva, we hope you and DH do get a chance to take this or a similar voyage when you retire... but you'll have to sign a "Hold Harmless" that says that Slinkie and Grumpy are not responsible for any damage to your kids inheritance that may result from reading this....

Someone asked about the catamaran in Huatulco... sorry, but I couldn't find the name of the poster... it was pretty much an infomercial for the area, asking everyone to tell their friends how great the area is and to come back for a visit. There were free drinks and fruit, the guide did give us a lot of interesting information and answered a lot of questions from the passengers about the area, so we did enjoy it. The area was just starting to take off before 9/11 and took a big hit for a few years, but seems to be on the verge of booming again. There is a large National Park area with beautiful beaches for those wanting to do some camping, and several resorts in all price ranges for those wanting to be pampered. The Catamaran trip gives a good overview of it all.

AtSeaDaze, since we have to get off the ship and don't know how soon we can get back on, we signed up for the LA bus tour, 4 1/2 hours worth... not sure what time we will leave or what time we will be back... we may miss each other in LA, but we'll certainly meet up after Capetown. We may even be able to meet on shore before we reboard. Cell phone is (216)577-8401.

I'm going to try to attach a picture of Grumpy and Slinkie when I send this. Hope it works... don't want to spend too much time playing with it.

Slinkie and Grumpy

[LizB1]

Great picture Slinkie and Grumpy...but you don't look grumpy to me!!

Have a ball and keep us up-to-date on all that is going on. We will be reliving our 2001 WC as you get near to NZ and Australia.

[GrammyPL]

You both look great and happy in your formal picture. I love reading about your trip. I know you are having a wonderful time - now that you feel better. Slinkie---you are going to need a truck to take home all your new jewlery. Penny

[localady]

Prinsendam 2005, January 27

LocalLady and Louiskam, our tablemates report that they are very happy with 196. They had friends that had stayed in it before and had seen it on a previous cruise. They had a chance to get that one and jumped on it. We'll ask Evan and Darline not to trash the place too badly...



What a very lovely picture of you and Slinkie! ;)

It's been pretty cool here in California lately, but in a few days you all will be sailing into more tropical locales once again! Thank you again for the information on 196, makes me even more excited for our Baltic trip (if that were possible!) And of course I appreciate Evan and Darline's offer.:D

Continued safe seas and blue skies!

[Aussie Gal]

Thanks so much for letting us see that lovely photo of both of you. What a handsome couple you make. It is always nice to know what people look like when corresponding.

If you have any queries regarding which excursion to take when you come to Geelong, please do not hesitate to ask as I know Victoria backwards and I will be able to help. If you come up to Melbourne for the day, please let me know as I could show you around.

Jennie

[louiskam]

Slinkie and Grumpy, you two are wonderful!!!!!!1

[RuthC]

And a photo showing the emeralds will be posted---when? :confused:
That one doesn't need to be posed so much as set to show all the jewels to their best advantage. ;)

Seriously, it's a lovely picture---Liz is right: Grumpy doesn't look grumpy (but Slinky does look a bit, well, slinky;) ).
Loving your posts. Please, keep 'em coming. :D

[Cruising_Gator]

Grumpy and Slinkie,

Thanks for the great running commentary. I have a coffee question for you (since I am on the Prinsendam in July).

Is there a charge for cappuccino in the Java Bar? If so, is there another place to get a free cappuccino during the day? My wife and I fell in love with the cappuccino machine on the Rotterdam Lido 5 years ago.

Thanks again for all the Prinsendam information. And y'all look too good to actually be eating anything on the cruise. I hope I can learn restraint.

[Aussie Gal]

Cruising Gator,

We were on the Prinsendam in October and unless they have removed the Java Bar in dry dock a couple of weeks ago, capuccinos and lattes etc are gratis. These are served to you by a waiter. There are also delicious biscuits to eat with them.

Jennie

[mango14217]

I'm keeping up with your world cruise I feel like I'm traveling along.
Slinkie keep shopping.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Great picture, Thanks again for posting, I am so enjoying your daily reports:)

[Sail With Me]

Grumpy and Slinkie,

Your picture is beautiful! Thanks for sharing. I think you have us confused with smeone else. We are only coming onboard tomorrow for a TA ship visit. Not sailing with you unfortunately. Thanks for your cell phone number though, we will try calling you before we leave the ship to see if you are there. We have been in contact with Chef Boyce and are meeting him onboard tomorrow as that is when he arrives as guest chef all the way to Hawaii.

Thanks for your wonderful day by day of your world cruise. We are sailing the Prinsendam August 23 and are also booked on the 2006 World Cruise. Our kids constantly tell us we are sending their inheritance, so now we can blame it on you two.....

We wish you another Bon Voyage tomorrow evening. Enjoy your day in the CIty of Angeles. Hopefully we will meet the two of you tomorrow.

Karen and Bob

[EddiesToys]

Hello Grumpy & Slinkie

Carol and I were on the Prinsendam on her maiden voyage up the Amazon Dec 2004. That Aft elevator stopped short of the 12th with a very nervous lady who patiently waited to be extracted. Staff inserted a chair for her comfort while they designed her excape. Everyone knows that the Prinsendam is HALs oldest ship. "Stuff" happens with age... just look in a mirror! In all, the Amazon trip was fantastic thanks to a great staff, Capt Hans and his wife, and our mavelous fellow adventurers. Dolly was with us, and I understand she's with you all too. She all but lives on HAL.

Have a great trip, and thanks for sharing it with us landlubbers!

Eddie Murphy

[Mariner05]

Dear Grumpy and Slink:
Great picture of the two of you. Hope you both have a great time and keep things in shape for our boarding. We have noted the date and time in the Crows nest and will see you then. Marianne and Leo are boarding in Capetown as well and will be with us. Keep your information coming we are getting all excited about this trip. We cruised the rest last year and will be looking forward to the Capetown segment this year., thanks for your informative and humorous sharing. I look forward to your entries every day. LOU

[longtimecruiser]

What a nice picture of both of you. I'm enjoying traveling on the World Cruise with you. I would love to take that cruise someday. I have a question. Are you seeing any cavair on the World Cruise? Was just wondering as it has disappeared from the menu on 14 day cruises.

[RuthC]

Dolly's on board? Please, when you see her, say "hello" from her '03 trans-Atlantic roommate.
She's a delight. She's got more than a couple of years on me, but stayed out playing longer than I did!

[Cruising Jake]

Grumpy and Slinkie, you both look amazing. My question: how will you stay that way with all the good food available on a cruise? Seriously, have you had to adapt your normal "cruise feeding schedule" for this world cruise. (I usually eat, or taste anyway, a bit more than normal on a cruise because I want to enjoy all the delicious meals.)

[Sail With Me]

Hi Grumpy and Slinkie,

Sorry we did not make contact with you today, but we were thrilled with the Prinsendam. We actually spent the day with Chef Boyce and his wife and left right at 4 pm when they said we had to go. We think the ship looks great and loved the Captain and crew who we met.

We are looking forward to our August 23 "Windmills and Waterford" voyage, and of course our 2006 World Cruise. We were able to see our Suite, the Neptune Lounge, have lunch, etc. and had a pleasant surprise to see Tiffany our Concierge from the Ryndam now on the Prinsendam.

It was a great day and we were sorry that we had to leave the ship. Have a wonderful continuation of your cruise on the Prinsendam and keep those fabulous letters coming.

Karen and Bob

[crusinggranny]

Hello Grumpy & Slinkie

Carol and I were on the Prinsendam on her maiden voyage up the Amazon Dec 2004. That Aft elevator stopped short of the 12th with a very nervous lady who patiently waited to be extracted. Staff inserted a chair for her comfort while they designed her excape. Everyone knows that the Prinsendam is HALs oldest ship. "Stuff" happens with age... just look in a mirror! In all, the Amazon trip was fantastic thanks to a great staff, Capt Hans and his wife, and our mavelous fellow adventurers. Dolly was with us, and I understand she's with you all too. She all but lives on HAL.

Have a great trip, and thanks for sharing it with us landlubbers!

Eddie Murphy

I am wondering about your Amazon Cruise. My husband and I are booked for the Nov/Dec 05. Did you R/T from Ft. Lauderdale?

How die the ship ride on the Atlantic? It can be rough when it is calm if the ship does not have the stablizers.

Our last few cruises have been on the big ship like the Princess Grand and RCC Mariner of the Seas. How does the Prisendam compare to the old Neiu Amsterdam? Size,?We sailed that one a couple of times.

BJ

[Pudgesmom]

Grumpy and Slinky,

I am so enjoying your travelogue, and you were about to fall off the bottom of page 1. Can't wait for the next installment.

Thanks so much for sharing with us!

Beth

[Traveller1]

Dear Grumpy & Slinkie. enjoying yr travelogue SO much and the picture of you both was such a pleasure to see. Thank you very much for your unselfish sharing of it all. You both look great !

[lipoppop]

Dear Grumpy and Slinkie,

Out of curiousity what are you doing about:

1. filing income tax
2. mail
3. watching the house

I am in the midst of cancelling my 32 day cruise because we cannot get away in November for that long so I REALLY envy you both. If things don't get better they will call me by one of your two names and since I am overweight it will not be Slinkie.

Keep enjoying the cruise. Keep wel and keep up the posts.

[Cruiseoften]

I'm so glad that this is being maintained as one thread - I just record the message number I last read and go from there. I truly appreciate your answering my questions.

Slinkie, :) your insurance broker is going to love you when you add all those baubles to your policy :D :eek: he's probably reading this and contemplating his commission right now! :)

As for the alarm clock for folks about to travel - battery powered is the way to go - it's easily changed and works for afternoon nap 'wake-ups'
on sea days- just remember to buy extra batteries at your next port of call!

Now, a 'just curious' question, how many Bingo games are there?

Any comments on Alternative (Pinnicale) Dining?

How frequently do you have Boat Drill?

At what size table are you dining?

Smooth Sailing!

[dakrewser]

Slinkie and Grumpy were awake before sunrise this morning, just as the Prinsendam was sliding into her berth in Puerto Vallarta.
Sailaway was interesting. It seemed to take a long time to manuver away from the dock, get clear of the Pride and head out to sea past the anchored Oosterdam. Slinkie and Grumpy headed up to Deck 12 forward where they had a good view in all directions. They suddenly realized that the ship was turning hard to port just after passing the Oosterdam on the port side. Captain Gundersen was at the controls on the port wing of the bridge and proceeded to run a full circle around the Oosterdam, just a hundred yards or so away.

WE were in town, finishing a late lunch at Mickey's No-Name Cafe (great BBQ) and saw the P'dam leaving then swing around the O'dam. From that distance and angle we thought that something was being transferred (perhaps a passenger who got on the wrong boat). But when we asked the captain that night (we were both at the same party), he was just as surprised by the manuever as we (and you) were!

-dave

[BuckeyeGal1956]

Hi all,

When they were in Long Beach docked next to the Queen Mary, Grumpy called to check on things at home.

In response to the question about mail, etc., I'm the chauffeur, mail-getter, check-mailer, house-checker, etc., etc. He did file for an extension on the Income Tax.

I visited them last April here in Naples and fell in love with the place--as they did. So, after I left they found a condo a couple of miles from them which I bought (sight unseen--just his pictures), sold my house in Iowa, and became a Florida resident in October.

Grumpy is quite handy and got me well on the way to some extensive remodeling which he'll finish up next fall ... "payment" for all those chores I'm doing now! My payment to them was an occasional dinner out someplace. Slinky enjoys not having to cook, and practically every restaurant around here has blackened grouper--even if it's not on the menu.

Slinky and I are both jewelry hounds--I have a magnificent amythest purchased in Rio which I had mounted in a ring. Also two raw opals from Australia which were cut and polished. They're now in a pendant, ring and earrings. My emerald pinkie ring will probably look pretty tame compared to the new ones she bought. If he feels more "payment" is necessary for the house-checking chores, I could use a pair of emerald-cut sapphire earrings! Lost one of mine ...

Slinky won't have any trouble maintaining her svelte figure...but methinks Grumpy is going to have to do more than look at the gym. He does enjoy food! And I doubt that the waistband of that tux he bought has elastic at the sides.

Enjoy "meeting" all of you and reading your comments.

Like most of you, I'm just vicariously enjoying their cruise. I put the itinerary into an Excel spreadsheet so I can keep track of where they are, ports of call, etc.

[localady]

lynnaldo-
Thanks for the update!
Seems like a perfect arrangement to me. Unless you had family or very close friends near by, it would be difficult to take a cruise like this. You are wonderful to do this for Slinkie and Grumpy!:cool:

[Mary Ellen]

DH and I are enjoying the World Cruise -- even if it is vicariously. Too bad it won't add the days to our Mariner status. :D

For Cruiseoften (and others) - if you've read to the last post on the thread on your previous visit, just click on the little box with the check mark on the left side of the thread title on the main HAL forum. This will take you to the first new post since you last read the thread.

Grumpy1 and Slinky - THANK YOU for letting us tag along too. Years ago on a Royal Viking ship we had some of the entertainers at our table. They had done a WC or two, so we asked them about how the passengers could sail that long and still fit in their clothes. We thought maybe passengers brought a few different sizes :rolleyes: They said that usually the first 2 weeks passengers eat in 'cruise mode' (everything! :eek: ) After that they tend to return to a more normal style of dining. Whatever you do - ENJOY!

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, Jan 30

"Sailing, sailing, over the bounding main" and it really has been bounding since we left LA... everyone bouncing off the walls... really rocks you to sleep once you manage to stagger back to your cabin...and it's still chilly. Today is the first day of the cruise that Slinkie and Grumpy have not gone out on the open aft Lido deck for breakfast. They didn't see anyone else out there this morning either. Well, by the time they get to Hawaii things should be starting to improve...

The forced debarkstion in LA went pretty smooth... one hitch that slowed things a bit was a requirement that everyone fill out a customs declaration in the terminal after leaving the ship. Passengers that were departing the ship for good at LA probably had their forms filled out ahead of time, but apparently no one was expecting it for those that would be getting back on. Since Slinkie wasn't wearing any of her new trinkets, they could honestly say that they were bringing NO foreign purchases into the country. The agent checking passports scanned Grumpy's and wanted to know if he lived somewhere other than Florida. Grumpy said that he does have an Ohio home... the agent asked "how about London, England?" Hmm... looks like there's a Grumpy on one of those federal lists... Grumpy told him he'd never been there, though, and the agent seemed satisfied that Slinkie and Grumpy were harmless and allowed them to continue on. It was close to 11a when they finally boarded the bus for the LA tour.

The LA tour should have been interesting, but having a tour guide that speaks with a heavy European accent and that presents the history of America and the area from a very warped perspective really made it a fiasco. Did you know that the sole purpose of celebrating Thanksgiving is to thank and honor the American Indian? Did you know that our elementary schools are so understaffed that if a teacher takes off for a day, a volunteer parent babysits the class and reads stories thus depriving our children of a good education in the elementary years. But we do have excellent high schools and universities... The tour included several stops of 10 to 30 minutes, including one of exactly 10 minutes on Rodeo Drive... now Grumpy and several other husbands were pleased that the stop wasn't any longer... Dayum, that place could do serious damage to the retirement funds if Slinkie had been able to get inside of Van Cleef and Arppels...The stop at the Farmer's Market area was OK.. the bus stopped right outside of World Market and Slinkie loves to prowl the wine selections there... she's got 3 more Merlot choices now... so it wasn't a totally wasted trip. The bus was back at the port about 4p and our LA tourists had just enough time to get back to the cabin and stash the wine before the lifeboat drill.

Karen and Bob, sorry that we weren't able to meet you. We'll be looking for you comments about you impressions of the Prinsendam.

Slinkie and Grumpy didn't get up to the Crow's Nest until about 45 minutes after sailaway and missed meeting with Alsas. They'll probably cross paths later, though.

GrannyPL, you'll be happy to know that Sheri's DH is on board with her... I think the CD was trying to have some fun with her when he said something about separate ships early in the cruise. Grumpy was talking with her at sailaway and got the correct info firsthand.

Grumpy and Slinkie haven't met Dolly yet, but it's been confirmed that she is on board. The HAL corporate employee that confirmed it says that she is either number 1 or 2 in total number of days sailed on HAL. Grumpy will definitely say hi from RuthC when he does meet her.

longtimecruiser, cavier has been on the menu at least twice, and it's been in the appetizer section in the Lido at least once. We're sorry to hear that it's not on some of the ships. The Prinsendam is supposed to have a menu that is a little more upscale than the other ships. Slinkie and Grumpy can't make a first hand comparison, since they are first time HAL cruisers, but they sure haven't heard any complaints about the menu and have no complaints themselves... well, OK, there have been two times that Slinkie got a dish that was overcooked, (tuna and lobster). She should have sent it back, but didn't.

CruisingJake, Slinkie really doesn't change her eating habbits much. Her normal day is a breakfast of cereal, fruit, toast and coffee. She has eliminated the toast. Lunch for her is usually pretty light and that hasn't changed. Moe fruit, some vegetables, perhaps a smoked salmon appetizer, and a nonfat ice cream for dessert. Since she is at the late dinner and is used to an early dinner at home, she's been swiping a bag of popcorn from the Wajang and will have a handful late afternoon. She usually skips the soup at dinner and avoids high fat choices. She eats lots of seafood, very little beef. In spite of the teasing of her tablemates, she has not tried any of the desserts. Grumpy can attest that the desserts are very good... She had a husband that had bypass surgery and learned to eat healthy years ago and the habits are pretty well ingrained. Grumpy is not watching his diet as much as he should, but tries to keep the portions small. So far, all of the clothes still fit...

Cruising Gator, Slinkie and Grumpy do not drink coffe after breakfast as a normal rule, and Slinkie does not like Cappuccino, so they haven't really checked out that item. The Java Bar is still there, just off the explorer's lounge, but there is no Cappuccino machine visable. It may be behind the curtain, though. There are always pastries and chocolates on the counter. Some of their tablemates have ordered Cappuccio after dinner so it's available.

Aussie Gal, there was a note distributed yesterday that says the Prinsendam will port in Melbourne instead of Geelong. The timetable, 23Feb, 7a to 6p is unchanged from the original schedule. We would enjoy meeting you while there if you schedule permits. We haven't scheduled any tours, as yet, for that area.

Well Grumpy can report with certainty that this thread is being followed by at least one HAL corporate lurker. The director of future long cruise planning and marketing is onboard for a few days to get feedback and comments that will help him in planning itenerary and deciding Perks in the various categories. He called Grumpy last night and said he would like to meet him and Slinkie and had been following the thread. They had an open seat at their table last night , so he joined them for dinner. Let's see now... what do we suggest.... all inclusive drinks? Tips included in the price? Lobster every night? (with cavier, of course) and a max price of $100pp/day? And we haven't even started on iteneraries yet...

In the "it's a small world" department, Slinkie and Grumpy sat down at lunch today witha couple that had gotten on in LA. After a bit of chit chat Grumpy and Marsha found that they had grown up about 14 miles apart in NW Ohio. A few more comparisons and checking to see if they had any friends in common, it turned out that one of Grumpy's classmates and good friend of Grumpy's first wife is Marsha's aunt. She may also be related by marriage to Grumpy's first wife but couldn't be certain.

Time to get this posted... oh, thanks for all of the comments about the picture.... that Slinkie Girl does have a way of bringing out the best in Ol' Grumpy.

[Sage]

Thank you so much for allowing us to tag along on your cruise. DH and I have so enjoyed each new addition. In fact, DH is now saying we should look into a world cruise. Thank you. :D :D

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, Jan 31

Just a quick note... the wireless network wouldn't connect to the internet yesterday, so the last update didn't get posted until this morning. Nice to see Sis (Lynnaldo) posting to the thread... Hmmm, from her comments maybe Grumpy had better find something a little nicer than the T-shirt and shot glass that he had planned to get her...

Cruiseoften, there is one bingo session, snowball jackpot, every day at 4p in the Queen's Lounge. Slinkie and Grumpy haven't been to the Pinnacle Grill yet but plan to do that after we leave Hawaii. The cruise is divided into 4 segments so there will be a lifeboat drill at sailaway on each segment at least. We haven't seen any thing about any others that will be held. Slinkie and Grumpy are at a table for 8, main dining room, late seating. It's table 112 for those that have a seating chart, Starboard side, next to the windows, 4 tables back from the galley entrance for those that don't have the chart. Pretty good location.

They are holding a crew emergency drill this morning... simulated fire in the engine room... at least we HOPE it's simulated...

Lipopop, we're really sorry to hear about having to cancel your cruise... You're entitled to be grumpy for a few days... Heck, the real Grumpy will even waive his usual royalty fee for copyright use... Hope you can get things worked out and find a way to get on a cruise.

Will get this on the board now..

Slinkie and Grumpy

[Cruising Jake]

Grumpy and Slinkie, thanks for answering my question about eating. I don't know if I could be so good - I love sweets and bread. Post more pictures if you can, perhaps in different ports. And, of course, all of us ladies want to see the sparkling somethings that Slinkie is accumulating, thanks to Grumpy.

[localady]

Prinsendam 2005, Jan 30



The LA tour should have been interesting, but having a tour guide that speaks with a heavy European accent and that presents the history of America and the area from a very warped perspective really made it a fiasco. Did you know that the sole purpose of celebrating Thanksgiving is to thank and honor the American Indian? Did you know that our elementary schools are so understaffed that if a teacher takes off for a day, a volunteer parent babysits the class and reads stories thus depriving our children of a good education in the elementary years. But we do have excellent high schools and universities...

Hey Grumpy our schools here in California are bad, but not that bad! You know they say CA is the state of fruits and nuts, seems you got a taste of the local flavor.:eek:

Well Grumpy can report with certainty that this thread is being followed by at least one HAL corporate lurker. The director of future long cruise planning and marketing is onboard for a few days to get feedback and comments that will help him in planning itenerary and deciding Perks in the various categories. He called Grumpy last night and said he would like to meet him and Slinkie and had been following the thread. They had an open seat at their table last night , so he joined them for dinner. Let's see now... what do we suggest.... all inclusive drinks? Tips included in the price? Lobster every night? (with cavier, of course) and a max price of $100pp/day? And we haven't even started on iteneraries yet...


Seems like a perfect time to learn a great deal. :D I wouldn't say all inclusive alcoholic drinks as I don't drink enough to justify me paying for someone elses alcohol....but surely water and sodas as an enticement in the Suites. We are thrilled with the Australia/ NZ intineraries and are anxious to see the offered shore excursions. Also what really is the scoop on the Prinsendam? :eek:

Our best to both you and Slinkie! We will think thoughts of warm days and calm seas!!:)

[bepsf]

Hey Grumpy our schools here in California are bad, but not that bad! You know they say CA is the state of fruits and nuts, seems you got a taste of the local flavor.:eek:

Maybe that's the tour guide's way of keeping folks from deciding to move to California:D

Enjoying the Play-by-Play, G&S! And if you can bend the HAL rep's ear, ask them to give all SS's the suite/concierge amenities...

[Aussie Gal]

Slinkie and Grumpy,

I would love to show you around our beautiful city. Would you drop me a line at
jennielynton@yahoo.com.au

We can take it from there!

Jennie

[Cuttle]

Hi Grumpy and Slinkie,



I hope the rocking and rolling to Hawaii is now smooth sailing. We were on the Amsterdam from Seattle in April and the sea days were pretty well the same R&R. Very relaxing though if the rocking wasn't a problem. Someone mentioned caviar. On the 21 day Panamerica cruise on the Statendam in October I never did find caviar on the menu. Maybe I missed it, or maybe, as someone has stated, they only have it on certain cruises now.

Maybe I missed a post - who is the Cruise Director? and what type of activities are offered (besides the inevitable Bingo!) on sea days.

Enjoy the sea days and Hawaii.

[jhannah]

I also am enjoying your travelogue. Thanks for taking the time to post. Smashing picture! Enjoy your sea days to Hawaii.

[Traveller1]

Hi Lynnaldo-great to hear from your side too. Thanks for a very humourous note.
Grumpy & Slinkie,if you ever have a spare moment,please say hello to our friends Lynn & Buddy--the ship's dentist--they just arrived on Saturday and they are marvellous dancers as well as being very friendly folk.
Thanks a million for all of this--we just LOVE your notes.
Wendy & Al

[CDRMark]

Your wonderful commentary has us contemplating the NY to Barcelona leg.....
thank you for sharing!
Cheers
MarkB

[GrammyPL]

Grumpy and Slinkie - I was so glad to hear that Hostess Shari had her new Hubby on board. When she left the Prinsendam after the Amazon Cruise she had not even bought her wedding dress. I just love that she never stops smiling. Penny

[crusinggranny]

Grumpy. You sure do not sound too Grumpy to me. Thank you so very much for your postings. I feel as if I am there on the ship. Maybe by the time you are on your way back home, I will know the ship well enough to really enjoy our Nov. Trip to the amazon.

I have stated before the concern about how the ship rides in rough waters.
We have been sailing the larger ships like the Mariner of the Seas and have not sailed the smaller ships in a few years. So naturally I am worried that I may get seasick. Oh, how awful that would be. A sure way to spoil a good trip. We will be on her for 26 days. Never sailed more than fourteen days, so this will be a new experience.

Do you have your laundry done by the ship? Do your own? Have you heard if the Prisendam is really being sold? I hope not until after we have our cruise.

Again thank you for all the wonderful information and you look wonderful together. I loved pictures.

BJ

[Brandis]

Grumpy,

is the Cruise Director Bruce Skudder?

Marc

[jhannah]

So naturally I am worried that I may get seasick. Oh, how awful that would be.
Get some meclizine (generic for Bonine.) It works well for most people. You take it just once per day, and it's a more non-drowsy formula.

[Margie_Lady]

The cruise director is Garry, and I think his last name is Walker - not 100% sure of that. DD Jennifer is an ACD on board and just refers to him by his first name.

[RuffinReady]

Grumpy1

Is debarkation on the port or starboard side of the ship, or does it vary?
Thanks again for all of your wonderful reviews. I am really looking forward to seeing a picture of Slinkie wearing her emeralds :)

Ruffin

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, February 1

Are we there yet??... Seems like we've been sailing forever... actually it's approaching 3 days since we left LA, 1-1/2 to go. The ship is now below the Tropic of Cancer so we're officially in tropic waters again. The seas have flattened out some, but still a nice gentle roll... there were a few strong rolls last night about 11p just as the late show was letting out of the Queen's Lounge. Made navigating back to the cabin a little more interesting, though. I think one gentleman fell on the forward stairway, between deck 8 and 9 about that time.. the "bright star" page went out throughout the ship. We could see the gentleman on the stairs and he appeared conscious, but some ship staff were with him and didn't want him to move... we hope he's OK, but haven't heard anything.

Assistant Cruise Director Johnny I stopped Slinkie and Grumpy on the way to dinner last night... seems his mother is reading this thread and forwarded the picture to him and he recognized them... Grumpy thinks he was looking for assurance that "what happens on the Prinsendam, stays on the Prinsendam"... rest assured, if Johnny wants to tell his mom about all those things he does onboard, that's his business... Ol' Grumpy won't say a word that would get him in any trouble... but he's keeping an eye Johnny's shenagians... teaching line dancing... stuff like that... getting pretty wild, don't you think?

Then this morning it happened again. This time it was ACD Jennifer. Her mom, Margie_Lady sent her the pic... Don't worry, mom, she's behaving herself... well most of the time...

Cuttle, the cruise director is Gary Walker. That's the way it is spelled in the directory, some others have spelled it differently, but that should be the official spelling. That also answers Marc's question. No, it isn't Bruce Skudder. As far as other Sea Day activities... well there's a couple of watercolor classes... lectures.. bridge lessons... dance classes... board games... culinary arts classes... Tai Chi classes... team trivia... scavenger hunt... and Slinkie's all time favorite... drum roll, please... Napkin Folding! Always something challenging going on.

Last night was another formal night and Captain's Gala. There is now an official photo of Slinkie with Emeralds and Ol' Grumpy has run it through the scanner... don't know if they'll show up very well in the size picture that can be posted here... maybe if Grumpy gets edited out of the picture... Menu included surf and turf, coq au vin, and several other excellent entrees.. escargot and caviar were among the appetizers.

Ruffin, about your question if debarkation is Port or Starboard... the answer is... yes. Haven't seen them use the bow or stern yet, but both sides have been used. Starboard seems to be most common, so far.

Traveller1, Grumpy is hoping he doesn't meet your friend the dentist on a professional basis, (one of his tablemates did, though), but will say "Hi" if paths cross.

OK, everyone seems to want to know about the future of the Prinsendam. Steve Simao, world cruise marketing manager, addressed that question in a chat with the social hostess session yesterday and in a History of Holland America talk in the Queen's lounge this morning. Although he never came flat out and said that the Prinsendam is or is not for sale... we all know that everything is for sale if the price is right... he did say that the schedule for 2006, with Prinsendam World Cruise, is set, being actively sold and it would be a very difficult task to substitute another ship or cancel the world tour. This year it sold out completely, there are over 400 already booked for next year. There have been millions invested in the upgrades. However, his success in marketing the world cruise could also lead to a demand for a larger ship in the future. But then a larger ship would have to be weighed against the ability to do ports of call that larger ships cannot do and the possible loss of loyal cruisers if a different ship were substituted. There are several on board that sailed the Prinsendam when she was the Royal Viking Sun and later, the Seabourn Sun. Would they move to a larger ship? The plans for 2007 are being developed now, but nothing is set in stone, so it is possible a different ship could do that tour, but right now the Prinsendam is still in the plans...

LocalLady, according to the 2006 World Cruise brochure, in suite soft drinks and bottled water will be complimentary to all SS cabins and above. Also Complimentary dry cleaning, pressing and laundry services. Also free USA today or International Herald Tribune. Right now, all we get is a New York Times digest... 8 pages, 8-1/2 x 11.

Bepsf, There doesn't seem to be any additional perks for the S categories, but Neptune Lounge/ concierge, binoculars and umbrellas, priority tender boarding, etc are not in the cards for SS in the near future.

Cruisinggranny, Slinkie and Grumpy have sent out the laundry twice so far and everything has come back clean.. shirts and pants on hangers, everything else neatly folded. Some passengers have said they had to send some items back to be pressed again, though. The ship has a good ride, but we've only encountered 12 ft seas so far. It bobs and rolls, but no worse than Grumpy has encountered on other larger ships. Coming out of LA, there were a few, including crew, that got seasick, but not very many. That's one of those things that is pretty hard to predict. Probably just the right combination of pitch and roll frequency, orientation of beds, etc could induce seasickness in just about anyone. Grumpy knew an ablebodied seaman years ago that had sailed ocean freighters all over the world. The only time he ever got seasick was on an ore freighter on the great lakes. Go figure...

Mark B, just accept the fact that you're hooked and book the cruise... you cannot resist... you're eylids are getting very heavy... you will forward a 10% fee to Grumpy's retirement fund... The Red Baron scores another hit...

A few days ago, Slinkie saw a meeting of Red Hatters listed in the daily program. There were 8 that showed up, including our Slinkie. Apparently, it was just a shot in the dark.. the social hostess didn't know if there were any on board or not, but was pleased with the turnout and will probably schedule another meeting. Slinkie hadn't planned on anything like that, but had purchased a purple skirt that she wore on Mexican/Aztec night and had a red top and scarf, so she was all set. (except for the red hat). Well, her tresses have a hint of red, so that should work in place of a hat...

The official count from the captain is that there are 701 passengers, of which about 570 are making the full trip. 24 cabins were removed from passenger inventory to accomodate entertainers and other special staff. There are also quite a few single cruisers, so the total passenger count is well below the listed official maximum passenger capacity.

Time to get this on the board, will try to attach The Pic. Nope too large, will have to edit it down.

Slinkie and Grumpy

[localady]

Grumpy and Slinkie-

I hope by tomorrow morning you are back into warm weather! Thanks so much for answering our questions so well! We sure are really enjoying this cruise, vicariously being on the trip! Make sure you have a Mai-Tai while you are in the Hawaiian Islands for us! :D

Aloha!!:cool:

[louiskam]

Have fun in Hilo and Honolulu too.

[venicecruiser]

Very much enjoying following your posts!

Do any of your tablemates/shipboard acquaintances have standard outside cabins? I'm curious about closet size/storage space in the outside cabins on Main Deck. I'm considering a cruise on Prinsendam and would appreciate any cabin info you could post. Also, are there 4 dinner seatings or just two?

Thanks again!

Claudia

[BuckeyeGal1956]

Not having anything pressing to do this morning, scanned the HAL thread listings. Grumpy & Slinkie's diary is by far the most popular current one. As of this writing it had been "hit" 3,286 times. Only the question about how old you are had more.

Guess there's a lot of us vicarious cruisers out there.

Looking forward to one last phone call from Hawaii ...

Grumpy's Sis

[HeatherInFlorida]

Hi Slinkie and Grumpy! I was away for several days and just had to play catch-up on your amazing tour of the seven seas. First, Grumpy, you do know what's in Nyquil, don't you??? Of course you like it!!! It's almost all alcohol:D ... so that Scotch might work for you just as well.

Slinkie, you should save your pennies for the U.S. economy and not pour all those hard earned $$$ into the Mexican economy;) .

So happy to see the picture of the 2 of you ... what an amazing, wonderful couple you make! Thank you for that. Just adds that much more to these diaries. Thanks again for the journey.

[crusinggranny]

Thank you Grumpy and Slinkie for your words of wisdom and for the exciting postings. Makes me want the days to go by even faster until Thanksgiving Day when we will be boarding the Prisendam.

Wish you were sailing with us. You sound like a lot of fun.

BJ

[mrssbi]

Abslutely love reading your posts - so informative - by the way this is Johnny I's mom.......keep an eye on him (ya right)....Have a blast......

[blackbird71]

a Grumpy kick back to page 1 :D

[louiskam]

Claudia, in my upcoming 06/16 sailing, my TA says there are two dinner seatings: 6:00 & 8:15.

[Aussie Gal]

On the Prinsendam, there are only two seatings for dinner because of the way the dining room is configured. The times are 6pm and 8.15pm.

There are actually two dining rooms, connected by a large vestibule where the lifts and stairs are situated.

The smaller room runs also into the Ocean Bar at one end, whereas the larger room just runs off the large vestibule. If I had a choice, I would choose the larger one which has big windows that look out onto the deck on both sides, (it is the full width of the ship at the stern) whereas the smaller dining room looks out on to the deck but is narrow and is only down one side of the ship.

Jennie

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, Feb 2

OK, gang, The Ol' Grump is going to get VERY Grumpy now... Just read the daily program... little note buried on the back page... "Due to the ship's position on Feb 6, 2 days from Honolulu and 1 day from Christmas Island, Kiribati, it is highly unlikely that we will be able to receive satellite coverage of the Superbowl." Now what sort of ^$$^&**(^%# idiot plans a cruise that takes several hundred Americans into no man's land on Superbowl Sunday? HAL knew when they planned this cruise that this was going to happen! Grumpy's inside mole tells Grumpy that at least one high ranking officer has expressed similar sentiments...Shame on HAL! If Seattle was playing, they would have stayed in satellite range. WE WANT OUR FOOTBALL! (of course we could be placated a little bit with a $500 shipboard credit... or 50% off next year's cruise) Everybody needs to Email HAL and let them know what you think about this deplorable situation! We've got satellites that can read a license plate anywhere in the world and they can't get the Superbowl to us... IT JUST AIN'T RIGHT!

(OK, before anyone flames poor ol" Grumpy, the preceeding, although based on actual circumstances, is a satire of the many threads that have been posted about the ruined vacations, etc, and you know Ol' Grumpy has to stir the pot once in a while)

And then to top it off, they ran out of lobster! Slinkie and Grumpy were at a table for 8 and everyone had ordered the lobster. When they realized they were short, they picked that table to inform of the bad news so that everyone would get a late entree together... After threatening to make the waiter walk the plank, evryone picked a new entree. Slinkie says the salmon was delicious, Grumpy was quite pleased with the wild pheasant. A few of the others made do with the filet mignon... but it just wasn't lobster!

Slinkie and Grumpy met up with CruisinTexans and WCB in the Crow's Nest the other night. They were hoping that Alsas and PaDutchman would be there also, but it was a good get together. It's really nice to meet face to face with people that you've been talking to on the 'net and we're looking forward to meeting with the ones that are joining us along the way.

There was a nice bio of CD Gary Walker in today's Daily Program. He hails from England, was activities director for land based resorts and started working at sea in 1991. He joined HAL in 1994 and has been on all of the ships. He was CD on 4 successive world cruises on the Rotterdam and Amsterdam. For the last two years he has been sailing on the Vista ships and has been involved in the construction of the Oosterdam and Westerdam. He now lives in Windemere, FL. Probably quite a few of you that have sailed with him before.

Tonight was the Black and White Officer's Ball. Grumpy even went to the beauty salon and got his hair all trimmed up... thought about going the whole cut, color and curl route, but stopped at cut. When they greeted the captain at the start of the ball, he made the mistake of asking how everything was. Grumpy said everything was fine except for running out of lobster. The captain looked surprised and then turned to Fekko Ebbens, the hotel manager, chuckeled and said that was the one to complain to... What happened to "the buck stops here"? Slinkie and Grumpy put in their appearance on the dance floor and at the end of the number they were right next to the captain. Slinkie was just about to grab him for the next dance but another lady got to him first. Slinkie knows who the important people on the ship are, though, so she snagged the head chef and then started working her way through the staff... Grumpy got to dance with ACD Jennifer and ACD Emily and a couple of other lovely young ladies... Fortunately they were wearing their steel toed dancing shoes, so no permanent damage resulted... The captain promised Slinkie that he would dance with her at the Valentines Ball. Tonight is also a time change night so the ball can go on for an extra hour... or Grumpy can get an extra hour's sleep... or... naw, we're not goin' there... Well, actually they ended up in the Crow's Nest for the next hour with Slinkie dancing to the 50's rock tunes that Randall Powell was playing and singing. Grumpy sat out that session... old war wounds aching and all that sort of stuff, you know...

It hasn't been mentioned before, but there are special prices on beer, wines and liquer for in room consumption on the world cruise. A sixpack of beer is $15.00 for domestic, $15.80 for imports. The 187ml bottles of wine that normally sell for $5.75 are 4 for $15.75. 750ml Bacardi white or gold is $9.50, Jim Beam or Finlandia vodka is $11.50, Seagrams VO or Seagrams 7 is $13.75, Chivaz Regal is $28.95. Of course, Grumpy wouldn't drink anything less than the Remy Martin XO for $95.00. Yeah, right! There are 45 labels to chose from. The ubiquitous 15% service charge applies... Drinks in the lounges are $5.00 for call brand mixed drinks, $4.50 for house wines, more for select wines. Not too bad..

Prinsendam 2005, Feb 3

LAND HO!!! After aimlessly wandering the high seas for weeks, (OK, days) Slinkie and Grumpy awoke this morning to find that there was land on the horizon visable through the overcast and light rain. The Prinsendam was actually ahead of schedule so the captain slowed down and everyone was treated to some whale watching time. Slinkie is now a happy girl... she's been watching and waiting since she left Ft. Lauderdale for a glimpse of a whale. She got to see lots of them this morning. They were off the ship about 12:30 and after getting lei'd as is the Hawaiian custom, they got on a Robert's Tour bus to go up to the volcano crater, circle around it, visit an orchid farm, visit the village that was destroyed in 1982 by the lava flow, and back to the ship. It was rainy the whole time, but still a good tour. Slinky and Grumpy have flown over the volcano and the snowcapped mountain peak to the north on a previous visit, so the ground tour was something different for them. Grumpy has been on Robert's Tours on other islands in the past and has always enjoyed them.

Our travellers are now back aboard and will be sailing for Honolulu shortly. Since Slinkie didn't get to do any shopping today... and they've done most of the Honolulu attractions before, tomorrow is a shopping day... time to polish up the plastic... it's going to get a workout...

Time to post...

Slinkie and Grumpy

[Aussie Gal]

Slinkie and Grumpy,

Keep it coming. It is great to read and hear the latest news from the Prinsendam. You are gradually getting closer to our shores.

Jennie

[Sail With Me]

Hi Grumpy and Slinkie,

Sorry to hear that you will miss the Super Bowl but we would trade places with you in a minute. Watching the Super Bowl and eating chips and dip somehow pales in comparison to being n the Prinsendam World Cruise.

Looking forward to hearing about Slinkie's latest purchases in Honolulu. Did you get to see or hear Chef Boyce this week?

Aloha!

Karen and Bob

[Ziggy7]

Ok are you saying your really are not going to get to see the supebowl or are you just pulling our leg :)

[JaniceB]

Maybe HAL could get a tape of the superbowl to the ship and you could make it a movie night. Just don't read the sports section of any paper, if you want the score to be a surprise.

[LizB1]

I am not surprised that you won't have the Super Bowl coverage because of the satellite positioning. When we were on the 2001 WC it seemed to me we were not within satellite range more often than we were. As I remember it, it was generally in the Pacific Ocean area too.

What I am surprised about is that they ran out of lobsters!! Shame on Fekko and the F&B Mgr. Knowing Fekko as well as I do I am sure he was very embarrassed...glad you let him know.

Take care and have a wonderful cruise. There is no experience quite like the World Cruise, believe me. It is one we will never forget.

[localady]

ALOHA!
Hope the weather has cleared a bit, but I bet even with the rain it was 70+F!! Makes the rain a bit more tolerable IMHO! (Getting lei'd doesn't hurt either!) :cool:

I think the idea about having a "Superbowl" night or afternoon is a winner. Granted you may be delayed, but I am sure there are many on the cruise who would enjoy it, even after the fact! Maybe they could make it free nachos, lobster tails and beer for all!!;)

As always, safe seas and blue skies to you both!

[RuffinReady]

Grumpy1,
U.S. Customs issue. I wonder whether a traveller can fill out a customs declaration at each American port for part of their previous purchases elsewhere so that when they arrive at their final stop home their duties are reduced. Also, I think that American Somoa is a "duty free" port like St. Thomas and also has higher limits on purchase made there. Maybe some members will post comments on this note with useful information for everyone on customs matters.

Happy sailing.

Ruffin

[RuffinReady]

Grumpy1,
Your postings are so articulate that I wonder if you are a professional writer. What say you?

Ruffin

[RuthC]

Too bad about missing the Super Bowl, Grumpie. The Patriots won. ;)
(You heard it here first!)


The last time I did the Circle Hawaii cruise there was a Q & A session with the higher ranking officers. I couldn't believe the anger from some passengers that we were out of satellite range for a portion of the cruise---and therefore not able to get CNN or televised sports. As if unpopulated areas of the Pacific should still be serviced by a satellite! And it was HAL's fault that it wasn't!


Will you be able to get Internet service when you are out of TV satellite range? When I sail in areas north of the Arctic Circle we lose service. I write up a little something for CC, go to post, and nothing. :eek:

[Ziggy7]

Grumpy1,
U.S. Customs issue. I wonder whether a traveller can fill out a customs declaration at each American port for part of their previous purchases elsewhere so that when they arrive at their final stop home their duties are reduced. Also, I think that American Somoa is a "duty free" port like St. Thomas and also has higher limits on purchase made there. Maybe some members will post comments on this note with useful information for everyone on customs matters.

Happy sailing.

RuffinGood question! :)

[bepsf]

Grumpy1,
U.S. Customs issue. I wonder whether a traveller can fill out a customs declaration at each American port for part of their previous purchases elsewhere so that when they arrive at their final stop home their duties are reduced. Also, I think that American Somoa is a "duty free" port like St. Thomas and also has higher limits on purchase made there. Maybe some members will post comments on this note with useful information for everyone on customs matters.

Happy sailing.

Ruffin

My understanding is that travelers can ship a certain dollar amount home per day duty-free (is it $400/day?) and bring a certain amount into the country per-person ($750/pp?) though one cannot do a cumulative deal (ie: send $1200/worth home and call it 3 days worth)


Does anyone else know for sure?



G&S - Thanks for the updates! Here's hoping they brought aboard lots more lobster in Hawaii!!!;)


BTW - Are the little lady knitters club aboard again this year? I understand that they spend all their days in the Explorer's Lounge knitting scarves, hats, mittens, etc. for orphan children somewhere on the route?


When you see Johnny again, tell him that Brian in San Francisco says "Hello":D

[blackbird71]

The Radisson Seven Seas Voyager is ahead of the Prinsendam, so a fYI from a poster on it and an addition comment.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=131801

post 1

We have someone on the cruise that posts a lot.
"PETLOVER" and she said it was a wild ride.
Heavy rain and very strong winds.
Employees had to go in early to clean up broken dishes etc...

post 2

They missed Melbourne and I think one other port. They said gale force winds up to 100 MPH and swells up to 40 feet. Captain Dag, turned the ship around and headed for Sydney!

[blackbird71]

YIPES petlover just posted this.
petlover (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/member.php?u=1475) http://boards.cruisecritic.com/images/statusicon/user_offline.gif vbmenu_register("postmenu_2949160", true);
Cool Cruiser
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Southern California
Posts: 153


http://boards.cruisecritic.com/images/icons/icon1.gif
Yes, this is correct. There are several of us "regulars" that are currently on the Voyager. We had to abort port stops in Philip Island (where we were to see the Penguin Parade) and Melbourne. Instead Capt. Dag made the correct call and we came straight to Sydney. Thank goodness...it got worse after we changed course! Melbourne had the worst storm they've had in over 100 years. Several nights ago on our way to Philip Island we had a rough night with over 100 mph winds and 40 ft. swells. There was a lot of damage within the ship including broken dishes and glasses in La Veranda and unfortunately the baby grand piano in the Horizon lounge collapsed and broke. Luckily, we have a lower deck midship cabin and there was no damage or breakage...just lots of things falling off the vanity. It was a WILD ride for sure.

La Veranda reopened that evening and the ship is all ship shape again. Luckily, no structural damage to the ship. It worked out fine for us because it gave us 4 days in Sydney....the most gorgeous harbor I've ever seen!
__________________

[CDRMark]

Blackbird: Possibly my favorite aircraft of all time. Aurora cannot compete.

Cheers
Markb

[blackbird71]

Aurora what Aurora hehehehehe:rolleyes:

In my humble opinion, it was a failure, the AF killed the blackbird but a number of years later "NASA" started flying it. IMHO they never got the engines working on it.

[CDRMark]

Blackbird was a gem that worked way close to the edge of the technology, weepy leaky and all. It was a gem of an asset. And gorgeous too.
Cheers
MarkB

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, Feb 5, Day 23

Aloha! from Grumpy and Slinkie. The Prinsendam is now headed due south toward Christmas Island in the Kiribiti chain. This being a sea day, it's a good time to get caught up on the thread. After the rainy day in Hilo, Slinkie and Grumpy were glad to see that Honolulu was mostly clear. They were off the ship by 8:45. Most of the shops in the area around the pier weren't even open yet, so off they headed for the Ala Moana shopping center. It's a pretty good hike, but they figured that they needed the excercize, and Grumpy managed to navigate there without getting lost... Hey, how difficult can it be to go two miles straight up the street... Well, our veteran shoppers managed to prowl around through all four levels of Ala Moana and did find a few things... Grumpy had broken his comb and hadn't been able to find a new one in Mexico or the ship shop... Slinkie hadn't had her favorite Cheez-It snack crackers since she left Naples... another item that doesn't seem to exist in Mexico... so a good old American drug store and grocery store were welcome sights. Grumpy thought he was getting out of there pretty cheap after going through Tiffany's and a lot of other stores without buying anything... but on the way out there was this little jewelry store... and this pair of pearl earrings that was beckoning... , yep, they look a lot better on Slinkie's ears than they did in the display case...

Heading back toward the pier is another shopping area. Ward's Plaza, Ward's Country Market, Ward's Warehouse District... Slinkie finally found the outfit she wanted for the Valentines Ball... they had lunch in the food court area, and then continued back toward the pier. All of the shops around the Aloha Tower were open... found a couple of carved Tiki statues (actually made in Hawaii instead of China)... by then Slinkie's poor feet were telling her that they had enough of this nonsense, so back on board and a bit of rest before sailaway...

The sailaway bar was set up on lower promenade and they were passing out nice fresh Plumeria leis. Saw more than one person with a surprised look when approached by those two ACD's that Grumpy won't name... but anyway, they go up to these unsuspecting passengers and say "Hey, do you want to get lei'd?"... and you guys thought that this was a bunch of old fogeys...

The Prinsendam sailed out of Honolulu on schedule and Slinkie and Grumpy wandered up to the Crow's Nest for a bit after donning their finest Hawaiian outfits. They were very surprised when they were met at the door to the lounge and asked if they preferred the smoking or non-smoking side. That option had not been offered before... not sure if it's a new policy or not.

Dinner was the "lobster they didn't serve, makeup night"... it was also time for a new couple to join the group at table 112... a Dutch couple had joined the table in LA, but then moved to a table with other Dutch speaking couples. The other couple, John and Jeannie, that had joined the table in LA are still there, so it was quite a surprise when the new couple that had just got on in Honolulu came in and introduced themselves... "Hi, I'm John and this is my wife Jean"... sure makes remembering names a lot easier... but they probably thought the rest of us were a bit strange when we couldn't keep from laughing when they introduced themselves... The lobster they served to make up for the night they ran out was right up there with the best that Ol' Grumpy has ever tasted! Absolutely superb! It was worth waiting a couple of nights.

This morning, Grumpy and Slinkie were having breakfast on the Lido aft deck when a woman came up and asked if they were Grumpy and Slinkie. So now they have met Mrs Morebilge. She posted once early in the thread, but Grumpy didn't realize that she was one of the ones joining the cruise in LA. Welcome aboard, Marilyn. The program showed a meeting of the Red Hatters in the Crow's Nest, so Slinkie headed out to that. Grumpy decided to see what the Cappuccino situation is in the Java Cafe. The Cappuccino machine has been repaired and is back at its rightful place behind the bar! There were plates of goodies on the side bar (including the chocolate covered strwberries). Grumpy had to have a few little tidbits and a Cappuccino in order to accurately report that yes, indeed, there is free Cappuccino with desserts available during the day... well SOMEBODY has to make the sacrifice...

On the way back to the cabin, Grumpy ran into CruisinTexans. While talking with them, their acquaintance, PaDutchman, came by, so now Grumpy has met all of the CruiseCritics members known to be onboard except for Alsas and Kapuna. They are still hiding out somewhere... Grumpy is going to try to get the social director to set up a CruiseCritic get together sometime after Capetown. There should be about 10 couples onboard by then...

Now to the questions that are starting to pile up...

Venicecruiser, (Claudia) we do know some people in the O/S Main deck cabins but haven't been in one yet. One person said the closet was "big enough to hold a card game in there"... I'll try to get some dimensions. They are actually bigger than the SS closets, which measure 3ft by 7ft... Yes, Grumpy brought his tape measure... there are high and low rods on one end, floor to ceiling shelves on the other end, an 18" deep shelf the full length of the closet, and a 5-1/2ft long rod under the shelf.

Ziggy7, Ol' Grumpy has been known to pull a leg now and then, but his reporting about the absence of Super Bowl coverage was not not one of those times... Apparently there are copyright and NFL permission problems involved with doing a tape replay (as suggested by JaniceB), but the communications staff is working to see if anything can be worked out... we'll know tomorrow. The idea that LocalLady had for lobster and drinks and snacks sounds great... Let's see... big screen TV on the aft Lido... one Helluva tailgate party!...

Jennie, your description of the smaller dining room and the extra traffic through it left out one item: The spiral staircase that comes down from the Explorer's Lounge into the middle of the room. Slinkie and Grumpy always go from fore to aft on the ship on another deck instead of going through that dining room, but there are a lot of cruisers that are not that considerate...

Bepsf, on sea days, the program lists "gifts of love distribution" at 3:00 pm in the Explorer's Lounge. That's the ones knitting things that will be distributed in Capetown... now Grumpy's sister could probably knit up a bushel of stuff before Capetown, but Ol' Grumpy won't be partaking in that activity...

Brian, Grumpy passed on your greetings to Johnny I... of course he's reading this thread himself, now, so he'll pick up any comments directed his way... other than mrssbi telling him to behave himself... he'll swear he never saw that message...

RuthC, you're right about the things that people complain about... Grumpy's been reading these boards for 6 months now, so nothing surprises him anymore... but there was one the other day that came close... Steve Simao was answering questions about the 2006 World Cruise and mentioned that it was highly unlikely that the lowest categories would be oversold to the extent that they have been in the past, so upgrades were not to be counted on. He also said they would not be selling M gaurantees which usually got upgraded before, so if you book an M you will most likely be in an M. One "gentleman' was quite vociferous about wanting to pay for an M, but not wanting to be in an M... Hello... can you spell "greedy"?

Ruffin, Grumpy sort of wondered if he should have declared some purchases in LA, but he didn't think of it soon enough to look up the rules... there may be something about the length of time required to "reset the clock" or something like that... Grumpy looked up that information in 2002 before his Mediterranean honeymoon cruise with Slinkie, but neglected to check it out this time.

And, no, Grumpy is not a professional writer... but if any cruise line out there would like to put his talents to work in exchange for room and board... balcony cabin or above, thank you... he can be bought...

Actually, Grumpy is absolutely flabbergasted by the amount of interest that the journal has created and wishes to say "Mahalo" to all that are reading and posting questions and comments. There's a rumor that the captain is now aware of the thread... so maybe Grumpy should mind his P's and Q's... yeah, right, that's likely to happen...

So far, internet has been available, even on the days between LA and Honolulu when broadcast satellite was not. It will be interesting to see how well it works the rest of the way.

Time to get this on the net and see what other questions there are.

Grumpy and Slinkie...

Aloha

[Aussie Gal]

We have just experienced the worst weather that has ever been recorded in Melbourne for over 140 years. In fact since records were first kept!

We had first of all our coldest February day on Wednesday - 12C winter temp -when normally the average is 25C and secondly we had the largest rainfall ever in a day, over 5 inches plus gale force winds which brought down so many trees, cut power to over 200,000 homes and lost sand from beaches and a pier broke up.

Our Spirit of Tasmania, a car ferry between Tasmania and Melbourne had to return to Melbourne after 3 hours with broken windows etc as the seas were so dangerous. No wonder the that the Voyager returned to Sydney. By the way Sydney and Brisbane also experienced huge storms, but not up to the ones we had here.

Jennie

[TedC]

Grumpy,

Just because you're not getting paid (except by adulation) doesn't mean you're an "unprofessional" writer!

You've set an extremely high standard for others who may let us tag along on their adventures.

Thank you!

[Cruising_Gator]

Grumpy,
Greatly appreciate your hands-on research of the free cappuccino for me. It's just one of those little touches that add to the cruise and make fun memories. Really looking forward to my first trip on the Prinsendam in July (and celebrating a 25th anniversay).
My DW has also been enjoying your posts, but may be getting ideas from your shopping trips. You're setting a high standard for the rest of us husbands with all your jewel purchases.

[crusinggranny]

Grumpy, Haven't heard anything about the ice cream. Do they still have the ice cream parlor where you can go anytime of day and get real ice cream and put any and everything on it but the kitchen sink. That is one place on HAL that my husband always loves to visit.

Thank you for your postings, I have really enjoyed them and look for them everyday. I hope that you will be able to continue postings all the way through your trip.

Best wishes to you and Slinkie, I feel as if I know you and am enjoying this cruise with you.

BJ

[Cristiano]

Hi Blackbird

glad you loved our beautiful harbour (not many like it), I see it almost everyday and still wonder at its magic as I cross the bridge or even approach it from the North side.

As a developer I have renovated several apartments with Sydney Harbour views and believe me it is very difficult to keep your eye on the work and not on the harbour.

Shame that you missed Melbourne though it is a wonderful city and has some fantastic sights.

Enjoy the rest of you trip, wish I was on the same cruise with my DW, maybe next time,

Cristiano.

[localady]

Grumpy and Slinkie-

Hope the skies are blue and seas calm for your voyage south! Have you both settled into a routine on board by now?

It surely sounds like you all are being treated wonderfully, the chocolate dipped strawberries at the Java Cafe clued me into that! Make sure you save a couple of those for RuthC, she'll be very appreciative.;) :)

Best regards to you both!

[Sail With Me]

Grumpy and Slinkie,

Thanks for a wonderful update. Our virtual voyage just keeps getting better. Grumpy, you write beautifully and think you need to publish this diary when you are done. I am sure the Captain is enjoying it as much as we are.

Hope you are able to watch the Super Bowl today! Enjoy you next port and lets hear all about those Australian Opals Slinkie!!!

Karen and Bob

[HeatherInFlorida]

Hi Grumpy and Slinkie! No wonder you're becoming so famous (or infamous as the case may be:) ) ... this diary is amazing and it's no surprise to me if indeed your Captain is enjoying it, too. And you're barely under way! Can you imagine how many followers you'll have in another month or two? You'll have the entire staff in Seattle logging on just to read the latest developments in the voyage of Slinkie and Grumpy.

Keep up the good work. I look forward to your every post.

[Traveller1]

Hi Grumpy & Slinkie--we reiterate what heatherin florida has said--we check several times a day to see if youve written--great job there--it's so exciting to read what's happening & in such a readable,easy style.! Many,many thanks.
Thanks Aussie girl also for weather report in Melbourne--we have friends there and have visited that gorgeous city.

[Trulli]

Hello there, Grumpy and Slinkie:

We too have been enjoying your posts and looking forward to your continued reports. HAL should donate some internet time when your initial subscription runs out.
A couple of questions:
1. You really seem to enjoy your lobster (when it's available). Is it actually 'Lobster' or, as is often the case on cruises, 'Lobster Tails'? If the latter, do they tell you where they are from. e.g. South Africa?
2. Would you mind asking if they carry Aquavit at the bar.

Thanks, and as we are booked in cabin A196 next November, any further info you can get from your tablemate on one of these cabins would be very much appreciated as well. Hope you continue to enjoy your voyage.

[RuthC]

So, you're on your way to Christmas Island! Just remember, if the question of which ocean is Christmas Island in comes up in trivia, the answer is---the Indian Ocean! :rolleyes: I'm not kidding! Must be two of 'em. (I checked the last time I got it wrong.)

When I was at (the Pacific) Christmas Island we weren't able to get the tenders ashore due to rough seas; hope you do make it. The scenic cruising we were left with was very pretty, indeed.
The visit had been preceded by a great Christmas party out in deck. Santa arrived and everything! (No, it wasn't December; it was Christmas Island.;) )

Is it going to be a straight shot from Hawaii to Kiribati? That's one long string of sea days!
No shopping for Slinkie! :(

[Aussie Gal]

Ruth,

The other Christmas Island is very close to Australia in the Indian Ocean. In fact I think it is a protecterate of ours. My son used to be a stamp collector and we used to get the Christmas and Coco Island stamps regularly.:)

Jennie

[KathieKata]

Great reading! Thanks for taking the time to post your wonderful cruise!

[RuthC]

Thanks, Jennie, I know that now---too late for the trivia answer, though. Last time I got it wrong I was so furious that I marched straight to the big globe near the library (on the Rotterdam). Sure 'nuff---there was a second Christmas Island big as life in the Indian Ocean. And the one in the Pacific too!
Now, I knew I'd been to that one---and on a HAL ship at that!


Perhaps the one in the Pacific has a different official name? :confused:

(er, did you say "Coco" Island? close enough! :D )

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, Feb 6, Day 24

Good Morning from the middle of nowhere!... that's what the navigation channel has to say about the Prinsendam's location... keeping that channel up-to-date doesn't seem to be a high priority... right now... Time and Date, N/A... location, N/A... temp... N/A... Grumpy is sure glad he has his own GPS. Right now they are about 350 miles from Christmas Island, cruising along at 20 knots in fairly calm seas. Sometime during the night the satellite dish lost contact with CNN and ESPN... Grumpy thouight it would, as there were a few "sparkles" in the picture late last night.

The daily program had an article about the satellite coverage, the equipment onboard, and the problems of maintaining contact. It stated that they are doing everything possible to bring "quality programming" to our staterooms. A couple of articles further down, the Superbowl coverage article states that they are still hoping to show the superbowl in the Queen's Lounge at 1p. Regardless of coverage, there will be a tailgate party... Tailgate?... Hello... the Queen's Lounge is on the wrong end of the ship for a tailgate party... with hamburgers, hot dogs, popcorn, nachos with cheese and special pricing on Buckets of Beer... No mention of lobster, though... Oh, well...

The Chief Navigational Officer gave a nice talk this morning about the transformation from the Seaborne Sun to the Prinsendam. The lead time from planning to drydock was about 14 months. He had lots of stories about the things that had to be taken into consideration in the planning, things that didn't go as planned, and foul ups like welding the logo on the funnel facing the wrong way...since Grumpy has been involved in a lot of rennovation and retrofit projects, he found the talk very informative.

There's a talk scheduled for this afternoon in the Crow's Nest on the GPS navigational system... If there is Superbowl coverage, Ol' Grumpy knows all he needs to know about GPS... No Superbowl and Grumpy will continue his education... will report on the results later...

Now Grumpy's thinking ACD Johnny I must be in the doghouse... the daily program lists the bingo this afternoon with "Special Guest Caller, Johnny I"... Don't know what he's being punished for, but isn't calling bingo about as low on the list as you can get??

Almost time to check out the tailgate party, so we'll post this if the internet is working...

Grumpy and Slinkie

[Sage]

Grumpy and Slinkie,

I can't thank you enough for sharing your experience with us. We are really enjoying every word. DH is now seriously considering a world cruise.Thanks.:D :D :D

[Cristiano]

Hi GP1 & Slinkie,

great daily reports....makes us wish we were on board now....don't forget we live in Sydney......and if you want any help or advise please feel free to ask.....I would only be too happy to help.....


Cristiano.

[Cruising Jake]

I am so excited about my virtual world cruise. Thanks again.


P.S. Slinkie, you go girl with those jewels.

[Grumpy1]

Prinsendam 2005, Feb 6, update

HOT DAYUM! How about those Patriots!!! That had to be the best super bowl we never watched! The "tailgate on the wrong end of the ship" party went pretty good, but the best they could do for coverage was a connection via internet to NFL. COM. There was no audio feed, the engineers were even looking around to see if anyone was carrying audio on a bootleg site... nothing, anywhere. They projected the NFL.Com site onto the screen in the Queen's Lounge. The page showed all of the stats and a scoreboard, description of each play and a football field with the ball position, line of scrimmage and first down lines shown... UNFORTUNATELY... the image projected was so blurry that it was almost impossible to read anything... The senior ACD, Steve Gayda, took his microphone and went into Fekko's office where he could actually see the computer screen and did a play by play... As far as sportscasting goes... don't give up your day job, Steve... besides he was rooting for the Eagles, so we weren't always sure he was giving us the straight story on what was going on...

But, hey, the food was good, the beer was cheap ($2 domestic, $3 import)... wait a minute, we're in the middle of nowhere... it's ALL imported... $1 canned soda... so all in all it wasn't too bad... Kudos to the cruise staff for doing the best job possible, given the circumstances... They are a great bunch. One guy did voice a sentiment shared by many of us... "I can't believe I just spent 4 hours sitting here watching a line move around on a blurry screen"...

Well, Slinkie and Grumpy are happy, so all's well with the world.

Thanks to all that passed along info regarding the storm in the Melbourne area... sure glad we aren't there right now... Jennie, you've got a lot of cleaning up to do to make it all presentable by the 23rd... By the way, the training ship, Explorer, that got sideways to a 40 ft wave up in the Aluetian Islands area a couple of weeks ago was anchored in Honolulu while we were there. We did not see any damage, but heard that there was some.

Cruisinggranny, sorry we forgot to mention the ice cream. Slinkie and Grumpy are well acquainted with it, as they visit it almost every day. Slinkie can always find a fat free or low fat ice cream or frozen yogurt to put the finishing touch on her lunch and Grumpy can load up on cookies, whatever ice cream looks good and a shot of flavored brandy to top it off. It's actually part of the Lido on the Prinsendam, Starboard side, all the way aft. Open from 11:30 to 5p and 6 to 8p

Trulli, they are lobster tails. we haven't been informed as to their origins, but they sure are good! Grumpy will have to find out about the Aquavit for you...

RuthC, it's only 2 sea days from Honolulu to Christmas Island... but don't tell Slinkie she can't go shopping... she'll hit the shops on board just to prove you wrong... They've got all of those black pearls from Maui Divers on display right now... and Slinkie doesn't own any black pearls...yet... so don't go giving her any challanges...

That's enough for now...

Grumpy and Slinkie... getting downright warm as they get near the equator.

[crusinggranny]

Thanks, you make my husband very happy. He is a bigger ice cream freak than me.
I was raised on ice cream. My dad thought that dessert was not dessert without the ice cream, whether it was on jello or pie made no difference to him. Plus as a kid, I remember going down in the basement to the freezer which had a least three flavors in 2 1/2 gal. cans to dish up for dad and of course I always had a "couple" of spoonfuls while dishing up his bowl.

Our family motto? "Ice cream who screams for ice cream?"

Again thank you for your wonderful postings, I look two or three times a day to see if you have posted yet.

I am really looking forward to our trip on this ship in November/December.

You and Slinkie continue to enjoy your trip and keep us posted.

BJ

[Ziggy7]

Grumpy and Slinkie,
We are so glad you atleast got to see the superbowl, when we were watching it you both were on our minds hoping by some miracle you were watching it! See miracles do happen even if they have no sound and blury vision :) Again thanks for sharing your cruise with us, its been a dream to us!:)

[DFD1]

Hello, G & S: I've just this moment returned from a week away. It's after one o'clock in the morning here, but I had to check in to see how things are going with you before turning in tonight.

I hope you know how much we all are enjoying your trip!!! Thanks again for sharing with us.

Now, off to bed. Stay safe.

[Cuttle]

I am sure watching whatever you could see of the Superbowl in the Queen's Lounge will be an experience to remember. Did they REALLY serve hamburgers?, as mentioned in your first posting about the tailgate party, in the Queens Lounge?

You will be just about at the equator and will be moving from "winter" in the north to "summer" in the S. Hemisphere. When do you cross the Internatioinal Date Line? All of a sudden you will have lost a day.

Like everyone else I check several times a day to see if you have posted your daily journal. It is so very interesting. Thank you.

[Cuttle]

I just had a silly trivia thought since posting about you crossing the equator. Maybe someone reading this thread will have an answer. In the N. Hemisphere water goes down the drain clockwise, in the S,. Hemisphere it goes down anti-clockwise. What happens on a cruise ship as you go from the N to the S.?