twangster

I know some folks are trying to judge timing for departures.  

From Chops I’ve been watching the forklifts busy moving luggage carts on the pier.  

We seem to be around 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

The last luggage tag not pictured here has an estimated time of 9am.   I’m betting they’ll call the last group early.  

6:59am luggage tag one is ready shoreside.   

That’s suites and pinnacle typically.  

Last night I enjoyed the Schooner Bar with Harrison Smart until late.  I wasn’t so inclined to wake up at 2am to see the lock transit in the dark.  I’m hoping it won’t be raining tonight when we depart.  
 

Forecast says zero percent chance of precipitation after 4pm.  We’ll see.  

Day One - Amsterdam

We’re back!

Even before they announced self assist could leave I noticed people with luggage leaving.  

Showered and finished packing then down to Chops for the suites & pinnacle breakfast.  It starts at 6:30am today.  

Self assisters going through the obstacle rope course.  

6:16am they announced self-assist can leave.  

7 hours ago, andreasfcb said:

 

Well if 10k people perform regular speedtests like you, they need to install 1000 Starlink antennas. Probably not very practical. 😂

Oasis class use 18 starlink modems versus the 8 on Radiance class. 
 

That’s an aggregate of over 5Gbps of throughout.  
 

Where I work we routinely have over 10,000 wireless clients that don’t consume that much bandwidth.  Plus we have a lot more streaming occurring.  
 

They can handle it.  
 

12 minutes ago, andreasfcb said:

 

Obviously Starlink helps a lot, but I have to say that the newer ships had amazing internet even before Starlink was installed.

 

I cruised on Harmony of the Seas in 2016 and I was able to make video calls without any issues. But on older ships I was barely able to load a simple website.

…and yet older ships now blow newer ship out of the water, at least as internet goes.  
 

I distributed some of my excess chocolate acquisitions to some crew members.  They were very appreciative.  Should’ve acquired more.  Many deserving crew on board.  

Parade of Nations, 8:15pm, Centrum

848 crew from 60 nations.  

Just when you think you’ve seen some beautiful places on earth this thread reminds you there are so many more beautiful places to see.  
 

Thanks to all who have post here.  

Day 15 cruise compass

JW May 15 day 15 cruisecompass.pdf

Getting ready to depart Zeeburgge.  
 

Captain indicated we’ll go through the lock at 2:15am for a 6am arrival into Amsterdam.   

Zeebrugge is a busy sea port.  Here is a timelapse.

I managed to get just over 4 miles in so I think I've earned some whiskey filled chocolate.

I may have become a little out of control in the chocolate factory, but I have another two weeks on board, so...

Checking out that chocolate factory I saw earlier.  It's close to the cruise terminal.

Sugar free sections:

All sorts of interesting chocolate shapes and sizes.  

Despite the cool temperatures some ice cream was in order.

Taking the free shuttle to the gate of the cruise terminal.

The cruise terminal:

Walked the wrong way initially.

Chocolate factory outlet near the cruise terminal.

Information on the day pass for the transit system.  There is a grocery store here where you can buy the pass and also any water or soda you wish.

I didn't have a destination in mind, I just walked.

A tribute to the Manitoba Dragoons.

The area is largely industrial with a lot of trucking or transportation.  Sidewalks were great for walking though, just not a lot to see.

The light rail train.

Eventually I made it to a residential area.

This area is clearly a beach resort type town but given it's off season everything was closed.

A Carnival ship arrived in port.  Oh wait...

At this point a light rain started and the clouds looked like it could become more than a light rain so I packed my good camera away, donned my rain coat and started making my way back. 

25 minutes ago, Sinders99 said:

@twangster if it's not too much trouble I'd love to hear what happens on your change over day between cruises.

Hubby and I are doing B2B cruises on Jewel in June & July for a total of 25 nights. We've never sailed B2B before so it's completely new to us. We'd love to stay onboard on changeover day to book our dining (as we have the unlimited dining plan for our second cruise) but then after we've got that out of the way we'd like to go ashore and maybe do some laundry and explore Amsterdam a little more before reboarding before sail away. We just don't know what to expect or if going ashore is even going to be an option.

When I came back on board today a letter for consecutive cruisers was on my door.

My allocated time to visit the theater and be checked in for my next cruise is 8:30am.  

I'm moving cabins but just down the hall.  As it turns out my cabin attendant will be the same.  He has advised me to leave everything that is in the closet on hangers as is and he will move swap the hangers between cabins.  Everything else gets packed in my suitcase.  

15 hours ago, LAKaye said:

 

Hello to Twangster !

Thank you so very much for taking us along with you on this wonderful journey.

 

I too am a lover of the Deck 7 forward rooms on the Radiance class ships.

Looking at your photos, I am curious to see that your balcony and the balconies aft of you have a solid- or plain-colored Bolidt brand deck surface, but the balconies forward of yours appear to have a teak or teak-look surface.

Is that what I'm seeing?

 

Being a cruise nerd, I find this interesting.  

 

Thank you 🙏🏻

Leslie

I waited until we made it to a port to check this out.  

As near as I can tell only the two cabins forward of my cabin have the extra treatment on their balcony.  

Starboard balconies don’t appear to have any.  
 

On the port side only two have it.  
 

The cabin immediately forward of mine has a raised deck approximately 1cm high while the cabin forward of it has the teak like pattern painted on the surface without the raised bit.  
 

That leads me to think it was some sort of repair.  

The ship hasn't yet provided departure information for those leaving tomorrow.  There are these notes in the cruise compass:

Last night I noticed they added some excursions for today.   Given this was a port recently added to the itinerary these were not offered initially.

I haven't booked a ship excursion for today.

Day Fifthteen - Bruges (Zeebrugge), Belgium

The fact that so many sites are including "world's largest cruise ship" automatically make them click bait.

The size of the ship has no relevance to mental state of the passengers it carries.  Large or small ship, an attempt to takes one's life is a larger concern compared to the size of the ship.  

1 hour ago, Laurie JJ said:

Really enjoying your report Twangster. We are looking forward to our upcoming trip on Jewel in July to Norway. This will be our first time on a Radiance class ship and are excited to try out a smaller ship. Do you know if there are hot water kettles in the balcony cabins?  Tea on the balcony in Norway sounds nice!

My balcony cabin does not have a kettle.

Starlink in heavy rain, in a packed Centrum.