Roll Call HAL Nieuw Amsterdam 11/24/13 Thanksgiving

Three gay couples from Sacramento going to the Eastern Carib for Thanksgiving. Hoping to meet new LGBT friends onboard.....see you at "Friends of Dorothy" !....or whatever they call it on Holland America....

I just booked this cruise! Coming from Seattle, but I grew up in Rio Vista and still have family in Sacramento.

Welcome Aboard solocruiserfrwa ! Will look forward to meeting you. Our group has grown larger....two women now in our group. Don't think they are "family" members, though.....but a lot of fun. See you in November!

hi folks, add two more! My partner Kevin and I (Richard) are going to be on this cruise. We are taking Mom along for a different kind of Thanksgiving celebration.

Looking forward to meeting you all.

My partner and I are also booked on this cruise, are doing the back to back Nov 24 thru Dec 8th. Looking forward to meeting you all. This will be our first 14 day cruise, our second on the N. Amsterdam and our 14th on HAL.

A little over 30 days and counting down.

Ken and Micah

The countdown has begun at our house. Already talking about what to pack and the ever-recurring question: "should we take our own snorkeling gear?". We have dragged it along on previous Caribbean cruises and then found the weather not conducive to clear water snorkeling. And then, of course, what to wear......I won't even go there.

Our group of 8 will find you all on the first evening at the LGBT gathering. (Maybe Ken and Micah, who are such experienced HAL cruisers can let us know where to look for it....is it announced in the daily onboard schedule? or do we need to go in search of a sign posted somewhere that will direct us to it?)

FYI to all of you: we are regular visitors to the ****************** website which provides a handy chat site for LGBT people going on the same cruise.

See you in 3 weeks!

I think HAL has a listing in the daily calendar for Friends of Dorothy gatherings, although I can't be certain. I've been on other lines where they gave a message board with note cards and you can start your own gathering.

We could always pick a time and place to meet the first day if everyone wants.

After taking way too many clothes on my last cruise in Hawaii, I'm hoping to go minimal (in number of items!!) and plan to have laundry done on board. My luggage is always overweight at the airport as well, so I'm forcing myself to take the smaller suitcase.

Looking forward to meeting everyone on a few weeks!!

Jami

Howdy all

We always look forward to meeting people at the LGBT get together. On the last few HAL cruises they have been renamed LGBT or GLBT they have been in the Crows nest, and have been around 5pm. Each ship is different as the cruise director figures out the schedule. We try and go to as many as possible, depending on shore excursions and dinner reservations.

Jami, I have seen you on the HAL Roll call page as well, Are you planning to going to that meet & greet?

Depending on what is going on, we normally are up in the Crows Nest for sail away. So if there is nothing set up on the first day schedule you can find us up there.

We fly down from Seattle on Thursday the 21st and are staying 2 nights in FLL before the cruise.

We are also going to try and pack as light as possible, doing a suite so we will be using the laundry service as much as possible, have to save some bag space to bring some rum back home with us. :D

See you all soon.. Safe travels from your home port to the cruise port.

Ken and Micah

Ken/Micah,

I see that Cathy is making a list, but I don't think I've seen anything formally set up. Royal is good at holding a Meet and Greet for CC members, but I've not seen it done on HAL, so we may be on our own. I met these two guys from South Carolina on a Royal cruise, and one of them kept the list going and then set up a bunch of fun group events like a cabin crawl, slot pull and gift exchange. It was exhausting to plan and keep track of everything, don't know how he did it!!

I'm coming in Friday night, flying all day on Alaska (it's a direct flight, though---the only one I could find from Seattle, but I got it for $5 and 55K miles, so that seemed to be a bonus), staying near the promenade, I think. Can never remember which hotel I booked, a Hilton or Hyatt or Sheraton.

Will definitely look for you in the Crows Nest on sail away.

Smfguy, CC blocks out names of other sites when you post about them, so we can't see the site you're on the chats with. I found you guys on the one that starts with Meet, is that the one? I couldn't find an active chat there though.

Anyway, time is ticking and this cruise will be here before we know it!

Jami,

We are at the Sheraton FLL, chose it for the free ride to the port. :)

I use to be on another site, but it never seemed busy, I only use CC now.

If the other roll call does a meet and greet we will show up. I am also on the

Dec 1st Roll Call as we will be on that cruise as well, not really seeing much progress in a meet and greet as well.

Hope we have a good group at the LGBT socials, they are always hit an miss on Holland, but have met some nice people we still stay in touch with on Facebook.

I am ready to start packing, I check every day for our room assignment. :)

Ken/Micah

Hi folks, My partner and I were on Haulover Beach today, soaking up the sun and commenting that in just over two weeks we will boarding the Nieuw Amsterdam. Despite living right in south Florida, about ten miles from the cruise ship terminal, we are still looking forward to being aboard, meeting people and enjoying a bit of pampering and fun. We have cruised many times before, most recently in February 2013 on the Eurodam and December 2012 on Celebrity Silhoutte, 15 day transatlantic.

This time, just to make a Carribean cruise a bit different we have also booked a cabin for my partner's mother. we are all guarantee so we dont have cabin assignments yet. Kevin and I (Richard) should be assigned verandah and "mom" is interior.

See you all soon.

Richard(and Kevin)

Richard and Kevin,

Welcome to the group, hope you have a great cruise. The Eurodam is on my list of HAL ships I would like to cruise on. I am kinda of a Hal junkie, we are trying to cruise on there Vista class ships, and there Signature class ships. Also looking forward to the new Pinnacle Class ship coming out in 2016.

See you all soon, 16ish days and counting down.

Ken & Micah

Our first HAL cruise was on the Masdamn, a lovely classic ship. After that we managed to travel on the Westerdamn twicethe Zuiderdamn, the Oosterdamn and then the Eurodam. Each of the ships has its own special ambiance, all have been good for us. We also enjoy Celebrity ships.

Richard

I think I've only been on the Zaandam (twice to Alaska, once in 2005 and again on 2012--the second time I tried the land combination and spent 3 days in Denali, which was beautiful) and perhaps the Westerdam for an overnight repositioning from Vancouver to Seattle. Not sure about the second one, I wasn't on it long enough to remember!!

Definitely looking forward to seeing the Nieuw Amsterdam. I've enjoyed time on Royal Caribbean, and have been on a few Carnival and NCL cruises (the Hawaii island cruise on NCL is fun if you haven't had a chance to go on land) but prefer HAL and RCI. I need to try Princess abc Celebrity one of these times.

The rain has come to the area and traffic is a nightmare along with it. Two weeks and counting to start this getaway!!

Jami

Jami,

Hal is my favorite, we have not done RCL, but have been on Princess and enjoyed our experience. My first cruise was on the Amsterdam. Loved cruising right away. Since we live in Seatlle we have cruised Alaska 5 times. What is your favorite cruise destination?

Ken

I would say that so far my best experience has been on an 11-day Mediterranean cruise from Venice to Lisbon three years ago this month. I met some great friends and saw wonderful European history. I'll likely take another one soon---and we're trying to get another reunion cruise together in 2014. I doubt I'll go to Mexico again, and this will be my third trip to the Caribbean. Is like to go to NE/Canada again, that us nice in September to see the fall colors (although we've had a great month of turning leaves ourselves this past month!!).

All good destinations, On our bucket list is the Med, Panama Canal, and Eastern Canada. We have done Mexico twice, it was fun, but I like the different islands of the Caribbean better.

I would also like to do Australia sometime. 9 days until we fly out.

But who's counting.

:)

Ken

Does anyone have specific shore excursions planned (ship tours or otherwise)? I've been procrastinating making decisions, hope I don't regret that! In other news, HAL sent me an upgrade option today. I'm in a Verandah Spa Suite, and I don't think I had to pay the full 200% single supplement as I typically see. But the upgrade is an additional $300/pp, or $600 for me... Not sure it's worth it for a few more sq ft in a different class of suite. Thinking I'll pass.

We are in an SC Guar, still no room assignment yet, but know we are getting close.

We have planned 4 meals in the Tamarind, 1 dinner in the Pinnacle Grill as for shore excursions we have pre-booked all of them via HAL. Still have not ventured to arrange one via another source.

Grand Turk - Cockburn Town & National Museum

San Juan - History & Cuisine of San Juan on Foot

St. Thomas - Peaks, Panoramas, Pirates and Plunder

First stop in Half Moon Cay we are planning a spa day.

FLL - Land & Sea Excursion

Second stop in Half Moon Cay - We are looking at doing something, have not decided yet.

Georgetown - A taste of Cayman

Cozumel - Chicken Itza

Key West - Ghosts & Gravestones

On board for the first leg, we will be at each of the wine tastings, we don't drink much so, we like to do these cause they are fun and cheap.

On the second leg we are going to do all the Mixology classes. That will be the bulk of what we spend on for alcohol. Plus if they do a pub crawl.

Any down time, will be on our verandah.. Have never down the ship tour of the kitchen on any of the pay ship tours. Just will depend on what is going on.

12 more days. :)

Ken

Does anyone know where the Niuew A will dock in St. Thomas? We had planned to take a taxi to the Red Hook Ferry and travel to St John on our own (have done this numerous times before) to go snorkeling at Trunk Bay and then hang out in Cruz Bay. But somewhere I read that we may be docking at Crown Bay on St. Thomas which requires a longer taxi ride to Red Hook. I'm wondering if it will significantly shorten our time on St. John because we will have to take a later ferry over there. We always allow at least an hour after the ferry's scheduled return to make it back to the ship.

The alternative is to buy one of the ship's shore excursions that go to St John, but both seem to be only snorkeling trips and not include any time in town (Cruz Bay). Any suggestions?

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I looked up the ports, but was not able to find the exact port in St. Thomas. Maybe your travel agent or calling HAL would get you the info.

Just got our room assignment, 3 more days until we fly out.

Ken

Wow, Ken, you guys have it all going on with the excursion planning. I have zero planned. That could be a good thing or a bad thing! The history of SJ on foot sounds interesting. Who knows, I'm going to wing it. Definitely need to decompress from a stressful few months at work. See you all soon! One more day (and it's a throwaway, going to a seminar in Seattle all day) then off to FLL first thing Friday. Safe travels to everyone!!

Jami

My partner and I will be sailing on this cruise! So excited to spend Thanksgiving in a different way than usual. Hope to meet you all on board!

At the airport in Seattle! So looking forward to much warmer temperatures this week.

At the airport in Seattle! So looking forward to much warmer temperatures this week.

Hope you had a good flight, we got in at 9am Eastern and was able to get into the hotel early. Relaxing this evening and may rent a car tomorrow to look around. Going to have dinner in the hotel restaurant tonight.

:) It is over cast, but so much warmer then home.