Live From the pre cruise Oosterdam

[cruisinjudy]

Ok this one is a little different. I probably won’t keep it up on the ship. I tend to be more of a reader than a writer! And I am frustrated by the slow ship connections.

We are former San Diegans so we are staying in San Diego for a few days before the cruise to see old friends.

We started on Monday by leaving our house near Portland at 1PM to catch the Coast Starlight from Portland to San Diego, a one and a half day trip. Bad start, the train would be late as the engine was having power problems, they would switch engines in Portland before taking off again. We were directed to the Metropolitan lounge for sleeping car passengers to wait for our train.

We were allowed to board while they did the engine switch so we were shown to our bedroom by Lonnie who was to be our steward for our day and a half or so on board. Our accommodations consisted of a room with toilet and shower. It could sleep three cozily!

We finally started on our way at least an hour and a half late, but we were invited to wine tasting in the parlor car hosted by Lonnie. We ended up having four or even more quite generous tastings of different California wines with commentary by Lonnie. A good time was had by all and we enjoyed meeting other sleeping car passengers. Lonnie assured us we could makeup the time we were running late.

We then went to dinner, included in the price for sleeping car dwellers. I had ravioli with chocolate bundt cake for dessert. Not bad. We sat with a widow traveling by herself and we had a delightful time talking.

Then back to our room to read and get our room made up. We had a small upper bunk and a larger lower bunk. I climbed up top as the light was better for reading. I didn’t sleep well, the bed was a little short for me as I am almost six feet tall.

We woke up in Marysville, or did I even sleep at all! Now we are two hours behind. I don’t know what went on during the night but we did sit still here and there.

We succeeded with our showers in the combo toilet shower that suggests you shower while sitting on the toilet! There is another option, you can go downstairs in your pjs and shower in the shared bathrooms. Those showers are normal looking, we checked them out but didn’t actually try them. Then on to breakfast. I had quiche and hash browns. It was pretty good accompanied by good conversation with other passengers.

Back to the room to gaze outside and read. I finished my book today and we experienced many delays. One was a crash between a train in front of us and a car on the tracks. We had to wait for that to be cleared and the tracks checked for safety.

Other delays involved waiting on side tracks while northbound trains passed. And sometimes no explanation.

Lunch, again sitting with other passengers we enjoyed getting to know. I had pizza, forget that one! And I had to remind them that they forgot my salad. I had coffee for dessert. I am sure I said fruit not coffee, oh well!

Back to the room for napping and gazing and reading until wine tasting! Another generously poured wine sampling hosted by Lonnie, who also sampled the grape! Great discussions with fellow sleeping car passengers. Also cheese and crackers.

Dinner at 6:30. I ordered ragout, this was good! And cheesecake for dessert. Good company wit other passengers sitting with us.

Off to sleep for a while as there is no way we would get to LA by 9PM. We were running four hours late. Awakened at 10:00 to the news we were being put off the train in Santa Barbara to be bused to San Diego due to repairs being done in the Chatsworth tunnel. Oh no! Five hours on a bus in the middle of the night. No sleep there! Turns out it was announced on our way to dinner, but we couldn’t hear the announcement!

Arrived San Diego at 3:30 AM and walked to the Holiday Inn by the Bay as it is only a few blocks from the train depot. I had already canceled our Tuesday night room since we wouldn’t be there. We sat in the lobby until someone showed up at the front desk. I went up to ask what would be the earliest we could get into our room. The front desk took pity and we were given a room on the fourth floor of the south tower overlooking the cruise port. Yes! We can watch Oosterdam sail in on Saturday! The room is a nice large king bed room with a balcony.

My husband took a shower and we went to have breakfast. The Elephant and Castle wasn’t open yet, so we went next door to a Hazelwoods on the Bay. This is an order at the counter type restaurant. Cinnamon French toast and sausage wasn’t bad, but the bread was not soaked in the egg long enough.

Then we were off to Enterprise to get our rental car. My husband would be off this morning to the east county to meet with his old breakfast buddies and I would SLEEP! Finally!

For lunch we walked over to Anthony’s by the Sea and I had delicious crab cakes! Tonight I am off to play bunco with my old group!




More later

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Judy, sounds like your vacation is off to a wonderful start. Oh I love Anthony's:) I just wish we lived closer to SD. Continue to enjoy the rest of the week before you board the beautiful MS Oosterdam:cool:

[earl_m]

At least you finally arrive to start your cruise on time

[cruisinjudy]

Well we did plan in a bit of padding for our arrival by starting on Monday!!!!!

[cruisinjudy]

A few more words for today before I am off to my Bunco group.

The weather here in San Diego is picture perfect today!!!!!


We are doing this cruise back to back. The first week we are cruising with friends we have cruised with before. The second week we will be with all new people.

[middle-aged mom]

A few more words for today before I am off to my Bunco group.

The weather here in San Diego is picture perfect today!!!!!


We are doikng this cruise back to back. The first week we are cruising with friends we have cruised with before. The second week we will be with all new people.


Judy:

Please pardon my ignorance (I lead a dismally narrow life) but what is "Bunco"? Thanks, and glad you have a two week b2b on Oosterdam to look forward to!:)

Karin

[cruisinjudy]

Bunco is a dice game. We play it mainly to have time to chat and have a great time. I hear other groups are more serious! We have twelve in our group, three tables of four. At each table there are two teams. You take turns tossing the three dice and get points for your tema for three of a kind or Bunco which is three of a kind of the featured number. That gives you 21 points! When the head table reaches 21 everyone switches partners and tables. At the end of the evening the winners get prizes. Different groups do this differently. Some have money prizes and some have purchased prizes. You win as an individual not as a team. It is all very easy and leaves loads of time to talk and eat and laugh!!!!

[middle-aged mom]

Thanks, Judy! Have fun!:)

[localady]

Have a great time Judy!!:D
Look forward to hearing all about your B2B on the O!! You know the bed is going to be much more comfortable and the shower a bit more spacious than the train!!
Have a great week in San Diego!!

[Tinknock50]

What a cool adventure to take before a cruise!

Like to hear more.:)

[OceanFantasys]

Hi Judy we are looking forward to meeting you on the Oosterdam next Saturday.. Keep posting if you can and let us know where you think a good place to meet would be.. Sounds like you are starting out with lots of excitement.. How neat to go to San Diego a week early.. Enjoy your week !!

Rhonda

[Rat]

Hi Judy!
Thanks for sharing your precruise adventure with us. Your train came thru our town........... I could have waved to you. ;) Have a great vacation!

[PTKreuser]

Enjoyed your story immensely Judy. I have a question; Will you be flying home or taking the train again? Jes' wondering. :D

Have a great time catching up with your old cronies. Hope you are taking the time to check our thread as we are all invited to a sailaway party in Mazatlan. Sounds like great fun.

C U Saturday!! :cool:

Vada

[cruisinjudy]

Hi Rat,
How's it going? Long time no see. OK I guess it was just April! I think I waved as we went by....no.... I think I was trying to sleep!

Hi Bag Lady,
Even longer since I saw you, but I do see you on the boards!

Hi Ocean Fantasies, I will see you soon!!!



Had a good time with my Bunco friends in Jamul last night.
They made me promise Iwould let them know whenever I was going to be in San Diego so they could plan to have Bunco!

Ah sleep! I slept like a log last night!! Finally! And awoke to another glorious day in SD!!!!!!!!!! Off to the Elephant and Castle for breakfast today, as soon as I finish my coffee!!

[mrskmirolla]

Judy after reading about your train adventure now I am not sure we should do it. My husband and I live in the San Fernando Valley north of LA and we thought we would take the train from Van Nuys to San Diego but now I am not so sure. We figured the gas and parking and the train was better. We were going to leave at 8:50am and get to San Diego around 12:30 to get to the Ryndam. Do you think this is a good idea??

Kathy

[cruisinjudy]

Kathy,
It is a great idea,.....except......it could be late! It might be doable if you check on things in themorning and keep driving as a possibility. That route doesn't have nearloy the possibilities for delays as coming all the way from Portland. You could check to see if the train is running on time and be ready to drive if necessary. It really is a pleasant way to travel. We took the train from Portland to Seattle for a cruise and reallly enjoyed it.


Lisa,
I think I forgot to acknowledge you as the first responder! Maybe we will be on the sane Oosterdam cruise some day.

Vada Patatah,
Yep! I will be seeing you soon! Be prepared!

Tinknock,
I have read many of your threads, I will certainly try to keep this up and write more.


We had a lovely breakfast at Elephant and CAstle. I had the cinnamon roll French toast requested with plenty of soak time in the egg, and bacon on the side, crisp please! With OJ on ice and coffee. All very good!

Off to sight see today.

[Sailorgirlseattle]

Wow! Thanks for all the details on the train trip! I'm doing the same one from Seattle in March. THIS time I've booked a roommette .. last time, I did coach. I've been wondering how it is with a bed and paid meals. You DEFINITELY need to be patient when you're on "train time" don't ya? :D

[mrskmirolla]

Thank you Judy. We were going to buy our tickets online but I think we should wait until we get to the Van Nuys Station to buy them and be prepared to drive. Not as far for us but it would be nice to take the train.

Have a great trip and may all your water be smooth!

Kathy

[cruisinjudy]

Sailorgirl,
Yes, you really want a roomette! You will enjoy the experience as long as you have patience!

We went to Seaport Village today, shopped around and had Ben and Jerry's for lunch!:D Oh yes, we went to Horton Plaza first! Both places have paid parking but if you buy something they will validate your parkng stub. I think it is for three hours at Horton Plaza and two hours at Seaport. You could also walk to either of these places from the pier, especially Seaport Village. Horton Plaza would be a bit of a walk.

Now it is time for a nap.

[PTKreuser]

Rhonda- You haven't checked in our roll call for this cruise yet! I am making name tags for our CruiseCritic gathering. Either let me have your names here, or check in on the Roll Call for HAL. OK? I sure don't want to leave you out!!!

Vada

[cruisinjudy]

Rhonda is going on my second cruise, not the first one.

[catvango]

Judy, What a nice idea to share your pre-cruise experience with us. I want to get to a bookstore for a Spanish phrasebook, and I was thinking of looking at Horton plaza. Please add my voice to those asking for anyone sailing with us 1/27, who hasn't yet, to post to the roll call:) . Warm Regards, Catherine

[cruisinjudy]

Catherine, yes, Horton Plaza would be the place to go for that book.

[PTKreuser]

Well shoot Rhonda! You're on the wrong cruise!!

Maybe we will pass as ships in the night as I am dragged off the ship and you are skipping merrily up the boarding ramp! Bummer! Way too soon to be thinking of our cruise ending!! :o

Vada

[OceanFantasys]

Well shoot Rhonda! You're on the wrong cruise!!

Maybe we will pass as ships in the night as I am dragged off the ship and you are skipping merrily up the boarding ramp! Bummer! Way too soon to be thinking of our cruise ending!! :o

Vada

Lol Vada, that is funny.. We can wave at each other.. Maybe we will meet on another HAL ship soon.

Rhonda

[cruisinjudy]

There goes Vada getting in trouble again, now she is shooting people for being on the wrong cruise!

[cruisinjudy]

There goes Vada getting in trouble again, now she is shooting people for being on the wrong cruise!

[cruisinjudy]

Three time's a charm with the WSOD!!!

[cruznon]

Judy,
Today was a beautiful day in our fair city. LAST week you would have been a bit cold!!!

[Navy_Chief]

Glad your having nice weather out there in SD, wish I was back out there :( , this morning its a balmy 4 degrees here in CT with a wind chill kicking it down to -10 :eek: . Just a note, when I did my "Live From" Noordam thread, I wrote the piece I was posting the night before and posted first thing in the morning using my laptop. Its nice and quiet in the atrium first thing and with a cup of joe, I would just log on, upload the report, note questions from the previous post and log off. I hate dealing with slow connections too :D . Generally, it took about 15 minutes tops to do all that. Have a great cruise, sounds like a good start and I know everyone will be looking forward to reading the reports from "O"

[cruisinjudy]

Cruznon,
I know, my friends told me it was cold down here. I specifically ordered the warm weather for our visit! I do see a layer of clouds out there this morning.

Navy Chief,
Thanks for the tips, I will give it a try!

I woke up to the Carnival Spirit staring in our window!!! We are that close!

Last night we had dinner with East County friends at Black Angus. Salmon is better in the northwest but it will do. We had a great time.

Today is errand day. Taking care of those things that have to be done in San Diego when we visit. This afternoon I head out to Santee for Happy Hour with my teaching friends. Get those margaritas ready!

When my husband went to breakfast with his buddies on Wednesday, one of his buddies gave him a message for the CD. It was from his dad Don McLellan to his son Dan the CD to introduce us. Does anyone know this CD? My husband didn't ask questions, but apparently he is on a trial basis so he is new.

[nana50]

Hi Judy, I'll be cruising with you on the 3rd. Keep the ship in good shape for my husband, me and my sister and brother-in-law. I'm jealous you get to go tomorrow. If you can email once and awhile and arrange a meeting for the small group of CC'ers on the second half of your trip I would be eternally grateful.
Sue

[seniormiss]

Cruznon,
I know, my friends told me it was cold down here. I specifically ordered the warm weather for our visit! I do see a layer of clouds out there this morning.

Navy Chief,
Thanks for the tips, I will give it a try!

I woke up to the Carnival Spirit staring in our window!!! We are that close!

Last night we had dinner with East County friends at Black Angus. Salmon is better in the northwest but it will do. We had a great time.

Today is errand day. Taking care of those things that have to be done in San Diego when we visit. This afternoon I head out to Santee for Happy Hour with my teaching friends. Get those margaritas ready!

When my husband went to breakfast with his buddies on Wednesday, one of his buddies gave him a message for the CD. It was from his dad Don McLellan to his son Dan the CD to introduce us. Does anyone know this CD? My husband didn't ask questions, but apparently he is on a trial basis so he is new.

Cruzinjudy..when you board tomorrow if you see a handsome couple with the cutest little 3 year old girl you've ever seen getting off the ship its my daughter, son in law and 3 year old granddaughter, tell them to hurry home, I miss them.
My daughter called last night and said they are having an absolutely wonderful time, they love the ship, loved the food and really enjoyed the Pinacle restaurant. They were getting their second massage today.

I do believe you will have better weather, she said it was overcased quite a bit.
Have a great time. I am doing the same cruise March 17.

Jill

[PTKreuser]

Cruznon saidToday was a beautiful day in our fair city. LAST week you would have been a bit cold!!!I told Judy she was bringing the warmer weather. Buttering her up ya know. I'm just hoping she doesn't toss me overboard!! :eek:

Vada

[cruisinjudy]

Our ship has come in! Too bad I forgot the camera connector to my computer! She looks beautiful! The sky has some clouds. I think forecast is for partly cloudy and in the sixties today.

Sue,
I'll see you soon!

Jill,
I'll be watching for that cute little three year old girl and her parents!

Vada,
I don' t need you to give me ideas! Note to self. Watch Vada!

[cruisinjudy]

I had the breakfast burrito at Elelephant and Castle for breakfast. I would recommend it! Yesterday I had the South of the border omelet, or some name like that, and it was very good too!!

Now I need to pack! That is one problem with a precruise stay, we have been messing up our suitcases since Wednesday. At least we were only operating out of our carry ons on the train so the damage isn't complete!

The taxis are pouring into the port and horns are a honking, must be time to disembark. Here we come, well, right after I pack and Jim buys gas for the rental car and Jim goes to Horton Plaza to replace the jacket he lost there some place yesterday and then returns the rental car to Enterprise.

Oh you use the downtown location for Enterprise to be picked up at the pier or at Holiday Inn by the Bay.

By the way, Jim walked to Horton Plaza yesterday while I had the car for errands. He said it took him about ten minutes at a fast clip.

I had a great time at happy hour with my teaching friends last night. They want to know when I will be back for another one!

[cruisinjudy]

I see people crossing the street with their luggage! Where is Jim? I'm ready to go!

[Rat]

Judy, please say hi to your hubby Jim and to Missylou (Karen and Paul) for me! Have a great cruise and will be looking forward to your updates! :)

Ray

[cruisinjudy]

We are anchored in Cabo right now and I seem to have a free internet connection! Must be from one of the hotels on shore! I certainly didn't sign in to anything!

We boarded the ship around noon I think. Very easy and quick!

The SY suite is very nice. We are now officially spoiled and can not go back to a standard verandah!

While walking around the ship Panamaguy discovered that we were not at the same dinner table! So off to the maitre d' to remedy that! We are now seated on lower level amongst the as you wish diners, but we have an assigned table and waiter.

During the first night I awoke with stomach cramps and it went downhill from there. Jim and I were then confined to the cabin for noro virus. We got a letter saying we would be credited $100 each for each day we were confined to quarters for the virus. On longer cruises the rate is $150 each. The nurse visited the cabin with Immodium and Gatorade and Purell. Guest Services and the infirmary checked up on us regularly and made sure we got meals off the menu delivered to the cabin and DVDs.

Once I was without symptoms for 24 hours we were freed from our prison. Gee, glad we are in the SY with gorgeous ocean views and a large balcony!

We chose not to go into Cabo this afternoon as Jim still has a cold and we will be back next week! So we are resting.

Tonight we are invited to the VIP gathering in the Crow's Nest with Captain Mercer and the hotel manager, Mr. Simon DeBoer. We have yet to meet the CD who is the son of Jim's friend.

Hi Rat,
It just occured to me, I don't think the train came through your town as I think we were on the bus by then! Anyway I will tell Missylou hello and Jim says hello!

[cruisinjudy]

Oh a few m ore things.

It is sunny but not too warm here in Cabo.We saw whales off the side of the ship.

We didn't get to go to dinner last night due to confinement in the cabin, but Panamaguy reports that once our waiter, Made, understood that we were steady customers, the service improved tremendously! They know they are not likely to get extra tips from one time visitors to a table, but quite likely from a regular group!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Hi Judy, that is too bad you both got sick. You are lucky you still have yet another week. Sounds like you are making the most of it and now you are on the mends. Say "hi" to Vada for me. I just know the rest of your cruise will be perfect.:)
Take Care!!

[cruisinjudy]

Well it certainly made it easier knowing we had another week! I will tell Vada you said, "Hi"!

[Sailorgirlseattle]

Glad yer feeling better! Being sick on vacation is the worst. I understand skipping Cabo though ... and youv'e got the whole boat to yourselves! Woohoooo!

[nana50]

Judy, I've been making my husband and in-laws take "airborne" this week hoping we won't get sick. I'm not too worried about me as I work in an elementary school as a librarian and have a terrific immune system but better safe than sorry. Just a few more daysthen whee!!!

[Rat]

Judy, sorry to hear that you both came down with the virus. That's no way to start a cruise. But I'm glad you're feeling better now. Enjoy your vip gathering tonight with the captain and hotel director.

Amtrak - We're around 10 miles east from the Martinez train stop and 15 miles north from Emeryville stop. I believe that the train runs along our city waterfront passing all those new homes.

Ray

[cruisinjudy]

Rat,
I forgot that you live that far north.Oops!

This was written on Tuesday:
it was nice to be back in the dining room for dinner last night. Most of those at our table had prime rib, done to perfection.

After dinner we went to the VIP party where drinks and appetizers flowed freely. We had just eaten so were not interested in the apps, but partook of the drinks. All types were available. We finally met the captain Jonathan Mercer, the hotel director Simon de Boer and the CD, Dan McLellan, who was expecting us, having been warned by his dad that we were coming. We had a nice talk with the three of them then went with our table mates, fellow CCers Panamaguy and Steve (his screen name escapes me at the moment), and Sue and husband Michael (who never even signed into the thread this time so I can’t remember their screen name either) to find someplace to sit down. Vada ended up moving the party markers to increase the party area!

We awoke at 7:30 this morning and we were already docked in Mazatlan. It was another beautiful day! After breakfast Susan and Michael sat out by the pool and the rest of us took the tram into the port shopping area to visit the shops. We had all been here a number of times before so figured tis would do for today. We returned to the ship for lunch. The afternoon was just relaxing.

This evening catvango is hosting a sail away party in their aft suite before dinner.

[ekeberg]

Hi Judy,
We are taking Amtrak from San Diego to Seattle this summer and we have a roomette do you have any advice for us?

Tell Steve Lynn and John say hello and we hope he is having a great cruise.

Lynn

[cruisinjudy]

Great party in Catvango's aft suite!!!

Wednesday, it must be Puerto Vallarta!

We went into town with Susan and Michael, then back to the ship for lunch. $3 per person each way for the cab. The weather was perfect. We are anchored here. The harbor is still not deep enough by the new pier. They were dredging it.

Catvango is in the finals for the Oosterdam Superstar. they will hold that Friday affternoon in the Vista lounge. This ship no longer has the Great Pretenders. I wonder if any of the ships still do that show.

Thursday at sea.



A few notes:

The cookies are still bad! Too much flour, not enough butter and sugar! I coud give them a recipe!

The fresh squeezed OJ is great! Even better than last cruise!

The ice cream is still wonderful.

No flowers in our cabin.

I still don’ t like baked Alaska. The people at the table next to us were on their appetizer when the baked Alaska parade began!

They are not taking the crumbs off our table before dessert. I wonder if that will change when Oosterdam returns to regular seating next cruise.

Some of the bed pillow are really soft, just the way I like them!

This has been an extremely smooth cruise ocean wise!

I am sure I had more comments, I will add them as I think of them.


To the February 3 cruisers. I didn’t manage to set anything up for a meet and greet since I missed ours due to noro, but I was thinking let’s meet in the Oak room deck ten by the Crow’s nest at 4:45 after the life boat drill. Deck ten is a great place to observe sail away if the weather is nice and the view from the Crow’s nest is great if the weather is not good. If the Oak Room is busy we will meet in the Crow’s nest port side.

[nana50]

Judy, thanks for everything. I will be there on Sat. I'm hoping I can talk my husband and relatives into coming also. The weather is great today and getting better by the minute.

[shakespeare]

Hey Judy...glad you are having a good time. Try not to gloat too much when Vada and Jerry leave the ship today:) Hope you all behaved. Vada and I will have fun talking about you while you are gone.:D

Liz

[PTKreuser]

Jerry and I opted for the express disembarkation for the first time, and it worked perfectly for us! In fact we were on the road and leaving SD by 9AM, home by 11 and unpacked by noon! A real record setter! And soooo nice not to have to fly home. ;)

I hope Judy and Jim's dining arrangements are better for this second half of their cruise. Since we had to take what we could get due to botched dining links, we were seated right in the path of the waiters and the lighting was bad too. We were so far from the windows we hardly knew there were windows in the dining room!!

I sure missed the warm bread pudding on this cruise. You could still get a bowl of it, but you had to request it from the guy that serves icecream, and that usually involved waiting in line. :(

We were treated like royalty by Hotel Mgr., Simon, and besides the VIP party invitations, we had two CruiseCritic gatherings, one with cookies, champagne, bloody Mary's, coffee, etc. etc., and the other they just saved us the room at the Crow's Nest (no treats). So, including the sail away party at catvango's, we had 4 parties in 7 nights! Of course this does not include the Captain's party and the Mariner's party. Whew!

Judy- Thanks for sending me home with the books you had finished. I have practically done nothing but read since I've gotten home!! Back to work tomorrow though. I'll be thinking of you while I slave away at the salt mines!! :D

Vada

[Tinknock50]

Jerry and I opted for the express disembarkation for the first time, and it worked perfectly for us! In fact we were on the road and leaving SD by 9AM, home by 11 and unpacked by noon! A real record setter! And soooo nice not to have to fly home. ;)

I hope Judy and Jim's dining arrangements are better for this second half of their cruise. Since we had to take what we could get due to botched dining links, we were seated right in the path of the waiters and the lighting was bad too. We were so far from the windows we hardly knew there were windows in the dining room!!

I sure missed the warm bread pudding on this cruise. You could still get a bowl of it, but you had to request it from the guy that serves icecream, and that usually involved waiting in line. :(

We were treated like royalty by Hotel Mgr., Simon, and besides the VIP party invitations, we had two CruiseCritic gatherings, one with cookies, champagne, bloody Mary's, coffee, etc. etc., and the other they just saved us the room at the Crow's Nest (no treats). So, including the sail away party at catvango's, we had 4 parties in 7 nights! Of course this does not include the Captain's party and the Mariner's party. Whew!

Judy- Thanks for sending me home with the books you had finished. I have practically done nothing but read since I've gotten home!! Back to work tomorrow though. I'll be thinking of you while I slave away at the salt mines!! :D

Vada

Welcome back Vada....party girl!

[cruisinjudy]

Saturday

Turn around day went quite smoothly. Our new cards were delivered later in the evening along with an in transit pass. In the morning we needed to be at immigration at 7 AM! OK that wasn’t so cool, but there was nothing to do about it. We had to be there.

We got up fairly early and had breakfast before our appointment. Immigration was very fast and we just showed our passports and went on our way. We just relaxed for a while and walked around and said good bye to our friends who were getting off. Poor souls.

About ten we took off on our own and walked to Horton Plaza. it was about eight blocks I suppose, not a bad walk. Jim needed to buy another book to read so we went to the book store. We wandered around and then went back to the ship for lunch. We had to go through security, but then we just skipped all of the lines and walked back on board where they checked our new key cards and let us board.

The only problem is our friends are gone.

Dining has now reverted to the leisure dining concept that means early seating is started between 5:30 and 6:00. Late dining is between 8:00 and 9:00. We have the table next to the one we had last cruise but it is a different waiter, Sy, and he does clean up the crumbs and show the dessert tray!

Sunday

I went to Pictionary and the kitchen tour today. On the kitchen tour I mentioned that they really need to work on those cookies. The maitre d’ seemed to suggest that they had told the pastry chef, but things didn’t change. I guess that is the way the pastry chef likes them!

I also picked up another book in the library.

So far the shows are the samethis cruise, but we did miss this first song and dance show on the last cruise so we will attend tonight. Last night we watched a video instead of going to the first show.

For dinner Jim and I both had the miso King Salmon.

Monday
Thar she blows! Lots of whales off our verandah this morning. We ordered our breakfast in today. It arrived promptly and accurately!

We arrive in Cabo around noon, but Captain Mercer says it may well be around ten. Dan the CD says it is because the captain has a lead foot.

Someone asked for tips on riding the train. I don’t have the internet open right now so I can’t see who it was, but here are my tips.

1. Be sure to go to the wine tasting. Lots of wine is poured and you meet fellow guests and have a god time.
2. Order food that reheats well.
3. Don’t expect to be on time! Don’t worry. Be happy. Relax and pl;an extra time in your schedule.
4. I don’t know if the schedule still offers this, but if so, it might be a good idea to detrain in Santa Barbara or another of those towns and spend the night, then catch the train that goes directly to San Diego. I don’t think it changes in LA and the arrival time was better the last time I checked on it. I didn’t even think of it this time. We could have visited Santa Barbara friends!
We saw Oceanfantasy but noit Nana50.

[Tinknock50]

Thanks for the ongoing reports!

Sorry to hear the cookie problem is not solved.:(
I was really disappointed in them on the December 9th cruise.
It may seem silly to do, but I would mention it on your comment card.

[localady]

Judy-
Great to hear that you and DH are enjoying your B2B!! :D
I am envious, as you all were so much fun on the Veendam.
So excited to hear that you had whales visiting this morning, I hope to be able to catch a glance of them in March!
Have a great day in Cabo! :cool:

[PTKreuser]

JooDee saidThe only problem is our friends are gone.Awww, you miss us! Isn't that sweet!

Gosh, you would think they could find you a better table than there in the dark! Hopefully you have better lighting at your new one. How about your dining companions? Please don't tell me you like them better than last week's!! :p

I forgot your shows are the exact same. I think I would see the fantastic juggler again just because he put on an awesome show!

You do still have Bambang as your cabin steward, right? What a great guy. I made a manequin sort of person out of my clothing, hat and sunglasses and put it on the sofa so he would think someone was in our room when he came to turn down the bed the night before our last. He got a big kick out of that. I told him it was a thank you for all the towel animals he made for us. :D

Wish we were there! Work is a bummer, but it does pay for cruises!!

Vada

[wizard-of-roz]

Loved reading about your "O" B2B....We'll be on her in April and it's so much fun reading about what to look forward to....

We've done the train to San Diego before. But hated "shlepping" the bags. We live in L.A. so the drive to SD is not too bad! We plan on driving down a day before, stay at the Holdiay Inn...relax and then board the following morning. This way we get to extend our vacation a bit.

When it comes to cookies; we bring our own. I have never found really good chocholate chip cookies, except on NCL and it's not worth re-booking just for the cookies! I don't know why some cruselines can't get this right? :rolleyes:

Question: On the B2B (we'll be doing one in November), can you stay on the ship? Do you have to disembark? I would appreciate details on how this works?



Thanks,
Roz

[cruznon]

The cookie issue is interesting. How difficult is it to make yummy cookies???

(Must say that Celebrity cookies are great!!!!)

Maybe the pastry chef on the Oosterdam hasn't eaten the cookies he makes.

[cruisinjudy]

HI everyone,
I don't seem to be having much luck with email. I can't send, but I can read.

We got off the ship on the turn around, but I don't believe it was necessary. I think you can just go and chek out your old card at the gangway and check in your new. Or maybe you could do it at the front desk. I will see if it tells on our paper.

We are in Puerto Vallarta, docked! Something about the Carnival Ship had to miss the port or something. I have no details!

The weather has been beautiful and the seas have been calm.

We have had lots of fun with our tablemates. The table itself is very similar to last time. Don't know why we couldn't have had a better table, but our waiter is great.

We had a bottle of champagne delivered to our room from Captain \mercer and Hotel manager Simon deBoer. We had it sent to our table.

Time to go shop!

[cruisinjudy]

Thursday

I tried to get on CC today but with no luck. I tried to send email today but no luck. All I managed to do was download email. i will save this until I can send it.

We ordered room service again so we could have breakfast on our balcony. Before it arrived I did go up to the lido for my fresh squeezed OJ!

When we checked our mailbox this morning, we had three invitations. One was the standard Mariner’s reception that will be held this morning. One was from hotel Manager Simon deBoer inviting us to lunch. The last one was also from Simon inviting us to a cocktail party at 7PM in the oak room. We had scheduled lunch in The Pinnacle for today, a gift from our TA, so we went down to see if we could change that. Yes, we can go to the Pinnacle tomorrow.

After arranging the change in our lunch schedule I went to the future cruise consultant and put down the hundred dollar deposit on an unspecified cruise for the future. Then it was on to Pictionary. Our team won, but no prizes for these games. Trivia wins prizes and you can trade Dam dollars for prizes. You win Dam Dollars for participating and or winning the more active activities such as ping pong and quoits.

It was now time to get ready for lunch. At lunch we discovered that the champagne, cocktail party and lunch are all because we are back to back passengers! There were seven B2B passengers this cruise. We were also joined by the culinary operations manager Stephan Schuetz.

Our lunch was delightful! it was a special menu just for lunches like this. And two kinds of wine were poured. Jim and I both chose the fillet mignon which was perfect. For dessert I chose the three flavor creme brulee that they serve in the Pinnacle Grill. Guess what! I had no room for dinner!

The dining schedule of upstairs being traditional and downstairs being as you wish dining is scheduled to go to all ships eventually. The new tiles were mentioned briefly but we never got back to that, just that they are bigger. They are working to do more for the repeat passengers.

Lunch lasted for almost two hours with a lot of discussion. I did talk to Stephan, the cuinary operations manaer. We discussed the cookies! I think he said he will try to improve the recipe. I offered to give him a recipe but I guess someone already did that several cruises ago and got many chocolate chip cookies delivered to her cabin! Stephan says he will speak to his mother about a cookie recipe! He also lamented that all this food he was responsible for and we were all concerned with COOKIES! He just doesn’t understand!

Dinner was the usual goodbye dinner with the white covered chairs, surf and turf, and baked Alaska. I ate a little but wasn’t too interested after lunch. After dinner there was just enough time to show up at the cocktail party in the Oak Room. This one was again for back to back passengers and another group, probably suites. I talked to the other B2Bs and some people from Rochester, where my sister lives.

[localady]

Judy-
Great to hear you had such a lovely cruise!!:D It sounds like the B2B'ers were treated very nicely!! We've done B2B's and received invites to the cocktail party, but wow, the lunch sounded awesome!:D
Counting the days till we step onboard!;)

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Judy, sound like this week was a much healthier week:) Your reports are making me wish that the 5 weeks we have to wait would fly by much quicker. I could almost hear Stephen being amazed that we are so concerned about cookies:D He is such a nice person, kinda of a big teddy bear with a big smile.

I am sure you hate to see this last day on board end. It was sure great talking to you those 2 Saturdays and thankfully the SD Web Cam problem looks to be fixed. Have a good trip back to the Northern part of Cali.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Lost In space posts again:eek:

[PTKreuser]

Judy-
This is me, green with envy of that wonderful lunch! :D

Enjoy the last of the warm weather. Our weatherman predicts rain for Saturday evening into Sunday.
As for Portland, Mon & Tues are predicted to have rain and a high of 50 degrees. That's as far in advance as WeatherUnderground posts.

Liz and I will be glad to have you back at home, able to email us and give us a bad time like always. No one to pick on with you gone. :p

Vada

[cruisinjudy]

They finally forced us to get off the ship so we are sitting in the Holiday Inn. Room won't be ready until 3:00-standard response! Jim took off for Horton Plaza again! I was not interested, think I will go to Coronado.

Everything went smoothly last night and this morning. We sat with table mates Marge and Bob at breakfast and said last good byes.

We have an early train to catch tomorrow morning. I will give train reports after we return home on Monday afternoon.

[localady]

Judy-
Have a safe trip home!! We are getting pretty soggy here in the Sacramento Valley right now, but hopefully it will clear by the time you make it this far. I will wave to you if you are coming through Roseville via Amtrak!! Have a great train trip home!:D
Kinda sad for you to watch the 'O' depart tonight, it always kinda tugs at my heart strings when I watch 'our' ship leave the Harbour after our cruise without me.:cool:

[cruisinjudy]

Thanks, baglady!
We just watched our Oosterdam sail into the sunset and we did indeed shed a tear!

We went to Coronado on the ferry today and ate lunch at Peohe's. Then we sailed back and waited another hour or so for our room. At 3:00 it was finaly ready.

We are not hungry yet but will eventually go out and get some dinner. Then up about 4:30 tomorrow to get to the train. Hope the TV check out works tomorrow morning. It didn't before the cruise.

I will look for Roseville on our way home on the train. i don't remember if we went through there, but if we do I will wave.

Vada,
You will soon be picking on me via email again. Home soon!

Lisa,
Great talking to you both times! I am sure you will love your anniversary cruise and boarding your Oosterdam again.

[nana50]

Judy sorry again I missed you on the cruise. We ate lunch at the Pinnacle Friday also. I loved the food but was unipressed with the service. I noticed other people getting better service so it may have been our waiter. Or Suma and Freddy in the Vista Lounge spoiled for anyone else.

[cruisinjudy]

Nana,
We were by the window at 12:00 in Pinnacle on Friday!

[cruisinjudy]

We are home, and there is no fresh squeezed OJ here! And a lot of other things missing too!

On Saturday we took the ferry over to Coronado and ate lunch at Peohe's. We had a great lunch. Then back to get into our room at 3PM. The room seems smaller this time. We were not hungry for dinner so we went to Hazelwoods Cafe for a light snack before they closed at 7PM. And early to bed as we have to get up and to the train station by 5:30 or so.

The bed was hard and so were the pillows. Let us back on the ship!

In the morning we checked out by using the TV and loaded up all of our luggage and toted it to the train station. Good thing the rain held off for a while! It is about three blocks to the station.

The train going back to Portland was on time for a while, but then started losing time to the freight trains, who have priority on the tracks since they own them! However this time we went through the scenic areas in the daylight. Much nicer traveling. We went along the coast of California and through the Cascades. All very pretty!

Food was pretty much the same. We talked with one couple who had been traveling around the US by train for a month. I would really get tired of the food!

We ended up in Portland about three hours late. Don't take the train if you need to be somewhere on time!

Hi to Cheryl and Lorraine and Marge if you find this!

[nana50]

Judy we were by the window at 12:30 on Friday, hmmmn. There was 4 of us. Two ships passing in the night. An apt expression in this case.
Sue

[cruisinjudy]

Sue,
There was just the two of us and we were on the right side when facing the windows.

[cruisinjudy]

Sue,
There were just the two of us and we were on the right side when facing the windows.

[nana50]

I'm not sure. They're was a couple across the aisle, but to the left of us were a couple and to the right of us also. Oh well, next time for sure. This will not be our last cruise.