Overhead Fred

We have been to Grand Turk a few times. It is an OK stop, but not particularly exciting. We did the Bajari Beach Club excursion on our first visit in 2015. It was OK but we probably won't do it again. If you squint, you can see our ship (NA) from Bajari Beach - On subsequent stops, we have just wandered around the port area and enjoyed the beach by the pier (while trying to ignore the noise from Margaritaville 😎).

I have been to Ensenada a few times, but only once by ship.

I figured it would be a "Carob Bean" 😁

Maybe something was posted and I missed it, but does anyone have an update on @Scrapnana?

It is for the trip (i.e. room stewards et al.), not the package items. Gratuities on the other items are already included in the HIA package.

Here are the Tamarind special cocktails (courtesy Roger Jett https://rogerjett-photography.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Tamarind-Bar.pdf). I can vouch for them all except the Far East Legacy (but only because I haven't tried it yet!) - COCKTAILS 11 SHISO SOUR Bulleit bourbon, Bulleit rye, sauvignon blanc, sour mix, fresh mango, sisho leaves, dash Angostura Bitters THE WASABI COCKTAIL Momokawa Silver Sake, lychee liqueur, sour mix, agave syrup, orange juice CUCUMBER MOJITO Zacapa 23 rum, agave syrup, fresh lime, orange juice, cucumber THE EMPERORS NECTAR Mandarine Napoleon, apple juice, cinnamon syrup, ginger beer, lemon juice FAR EAST LEGACY Absolut Mandarin, Moonstone Asian Pear sake, St .Germaine, Cointreau, peach purée They also have several different Sakes

Amber Cove was much nicer than I anticipated even though it was overrun with Carnival Mardi Gras passengers! I would be happy to go back.

And

I saw on Bill & Mary Ann's World Voyage thread that Bob @rkacruiser passed away recently. I don't recall if he posted on the Daily, but he certainly contributed much to the HAL forum. Mitzi and I sailed with him on the Niew Statendam a few years ago and meeting up for Happy Hour became a daily tradition. He always had Canadian Club and Sprite if I remember correctly. We continued to stay in touch by occasional emails and talked of cruising together again. Bob will be missed.

Very shocked and saddened to hear about Bob. We only cruised with him once, but spent many happy hours together on the Nieuw Statendam.

I kinda guessed they would mirror the MDR. Thanks for confirming Jacqui!

@kazu - Hi Jacqui! It sounds like your cruise is going pretty well so far and we hope you are enjoying it. I have a quick question. The answer may be somewhere in the 19 pages of this thread (which I read every day) but rather than looking for a needle in the haystack I will ask. Can you remind me what are the breakfast and dinner hours for Club Orange? Thanks and enjoy being snow-free for a few weeks!

We had a very nice Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Niall and Emilee (DS & SO) both were able to come over. Emilee usually goes to Wisconsin to spend the holiday with her family, but the roads and weather were bad enough that she decided to stay in Saint Paul this year. Christmas dinner was our traditional standing rib roast, creamed onions, wild rice pilaf, and broccoli casserole. We added some chicken breast in a creamy mushroom and parmesan sauce for Emilee since she is mostly vegetarian (but chicken and fish is OK). And Yule Log for dessert!

We have been to Key West on HAL twice but it seems questionable that they will be going there in the future. Which, from our point of view, is too bad because we really liked the port. Butterfly Conservatory -

Love Pfeffernusse! My mom always baked them (and tons of other cookies) at Christmas. Mitzi and I have cut way down on the holiday baking as part of watching our carb intake. Now we only do 2 or 3 types of cookies and Pfeffernusse wasn't on this years list. We made Leckerli and Jewish Butter cookies as usual and figured that would be enough. But since we had all the equipment dirty already and there was an interesting "Fruit Cake Cookie" recipe on one of the candied fruit tubs, we decided to give it a try. They were actually pretty good and maybe we'll add them to the rotation!

When traveling by air, we always take a couple of empty plastic bottles and fill them with water after passing through security. Empty Pure Leaf Iced Tea bottles work great because they are quite sturdy and survive top rack dishwashing. Our air travel has been restricted to getting to HAL cruises lately and we bring these plastic bottles onboard in our carry on luggage. We have never (yet) had a problem because of them. We fill them with the dreaded bathroom tap water and keep them in the cabin's mini fridge. Then toss them in our totes when we head out on excursions. One of these days I may spring for a couple of metal or Nalgene bottles for our travels.

Stopped in Cozumel a few times, mostly just wandered around the port area. We did an excursion to Chankanaab in Dec 2015 and found it enjoyable.

The Lido coffee is probably the worst coffee on the ship. However, I have a few cups every morning when breakfasting there and find it acceptable. Perhaps they are going through it fast enough in the morning to avoid that nasty "this coffee has been on the heat for too long a time" taste. Mitzi does not like to eat a big breakfast so I always bring her a coffee and pastry from Explorations or Dutch Cafe (depending on the ship). Then I head to the Lido for bacon, eggs, hash browns, raisin buns and whatever other delights catch my eye. I usually have Congee at least once. I will also try the MDR for breakfast early in the cruise, if the service is good I will return a few times. On the Nieuw Amsterdam in Nov 2021 service was fantastic and we ate several breakfasts there - loved the Full English and the Aloo Masala and Egg Bhurji. In April 2022 on the Nieuw Statendam, the service was pretty spotty and the food was also not quite as good.

We have been to Willemstad twice recently and would gladly go back again! We did a Thanksgiving B2B on the Nieuw Amsterdam last year and took a sunset cruise excursion (plentiful drinks and snacks!). We visited again on the Nieuw Statendam in April '22 (met @sailingdutchy Tony and Martha on the first part of that cruise). We just wandered around town that day and did a little souvenir shopping. I bought a small Christmas ornament at the Delft store and it is proudly hanging on the tree this year - 2021 - 2022-

@Ichiban Nekko Sorry about your bad cruising luck! Hopefully your DH will recover quickly and you can get busy planning a new cruise. Maybe you should join us for the 150th Anniversary TA on the Rotterdam in April!

It has been snowing all day and Saint Paul has declared a snow emergency. People that park on the street need to move their cars around so the streets can get plowed. It doesn't affect us anymore but it was a pain in the a** when we lived in the condo. We are working on the Christmas decorations - tree (fake) is up and the lights are strung, ornaments are next. Pizza is on the menu for tonight since it is $10 Tuesday at Papa Murphy (except that the price has gone up to $10.99). I am pretty sure that cauliflower is not one of their options, but I think we would like it. Now I just have to hope the snow is not too bad for the drive to the pizza shop!