Opera at Sea. 8th April

[henri]

Dear Barry,

thanks for (the start of) an OPERA-Transatlantic-review (and for the compliments).

I'm sure the group will add some more now and then.

 

Mike&Carol, glad you'r all oke, and that the Sicilly-Commoro did not kidnap you. ((Because of talking too much, Glowing Amber)).

The tulips are still there. Not much anymory, because on a lot of fields they have allready cut off the flowers. That is better for the bulbs, and the BULBS is where it's all about.

(( I am not an expert, but I try to explane later how it works, .. for now no time)).

Ofcourse the special prepared parks (like http://www.keukenhof.nl/) are still open and full of flowers.

Visiting Holland this weekend ( april 30-may 1 ) will be very busy. It is the Queens-birthday, so there will be more than 1.000.000 people in Amsterdam. And all the towns/villages are celebrating together with the mayors (as representence of the Queen).

 

Henri.

[czechmate]

The drinks are on you!! Which lounge should we meet in?

 

Would it not be great if we could all link up again today.

[henri]

I think around the Spinaker-bar will be a good place, we 'll have a good overview of Le Piscine-ponte !?!

Thank you. I will cheers on all of you.:D

It would be a great pleasure if we could link up.;)

 

For the fancier, I made some time for writing the BULB-story.

How does it work on a bulb(-growing)field.

Between half september and half november the bulbs are planted in the (sandy)ground. Because of the sandy-consistency it is not everywhere possible to grow the bulbs. After the cold winterperiod the bulbs 'know' it is going to be spring and they will get growing. Following their biological clock they will grow for about two months and then flowering. Some bulbflowers grow early (daffodil), some grow later (some tulip-species). The common time for the bulbfields to flowering is between half march and half may.

 

(some extra information: you will understand that when you 'force' them to think it is winter (by putting the bulbs in the fridge for a few days/weeks) in october / november, than you plant them in a non-freezing greenhouse, you will have narcisses, tulips, hyachints during Christmas, because they think it is spring, anyway in the North Hemisphere !!)

 

From the first moment the flowers are blooming, next to the bulbs in the ground will grow (very)small new bulbs. These small new bulbs grow very slowly because of the energy the flower needs from the (master)-bulb. So,..you understand that if you cut off the flower from the flowerstalk, the energy of the (master-)bulb will go to the small new bulbs and they will grow faster.

 

And because it is all about the bulbs (for the flowers itself it is only a very small percentage), and the greater/stronger the bulbs the better flowers in the future (when they are bought by the consumers for their gardens) the better also the price the bulb farmer gets for his bulbs.

 

Futher in time…. when the foliage of the bulbflower is dead, around half june/half july, the bulbs are getting out of the ground, cleaned and sorted. During this time thousends of school-children from 10-18 years work(during their vacation) for the bulb-farmers. So did I !! (a few years ago ??), that’s why I know this.

 

After cleaning and sorting, the greatest part is for selling to the consumers all over the world and the rest (mostly the very best, because of increasing quality/color/size) is stored in halls to dry. Then, when autumn begins, the bulb-farmers begin to plant the bulbs and so the cycle is round!!

 

Nice, bonito ?? :confused:

 

Henri.

[glowing amber]

Happy Birthday Henri, wish we were with you...carol and mike

As for our visit were looking at 5/5 for a few days...and yes we looked at the site.

 

 

Barry, I do not have your e-mail lost in cyper space

 

We want to say hello to everyone , enjoy looking at the photos

and seeing all your smiling faces that are so welcoming.

 

What a fun group , love to all! Carol and Mike

P.S.GINO <WERE ARE YOU?

[varadero]

hello everybody

 

There are already 320 pictures on the website http://gino.slider.be

We will add a few hundred pictures more about our visits.

 

Carol and Mike when do you come over to Belgium, perhaps we can meet you.

 

Greetings

cynthia

[henri]

Dear friends,

Mike&Carol, I am a few days off next weekend (5-8 May). So.... when you come to Holland we could do some things together, like visiting Keukenhof ;)!!

If it suits you, let me know via cruising_henri@wanadoo.nl , so we can make an appointment.

And...... (I'm sure Barry (and friends) read this), so Barry and friends, if it suits you (4 ?) too, let me know. We have a one extra 'cabin' in our house, so some will have to stay in our 'village-hotel', which is typical Dutch and cheap, bed and breakfast. It's just for sleep, we will pick you up in one minuut by car.

This should be very special, allthough I understand it is on very short term.

You all are very welcome, we looking forward to it and try to show you some typical, beautifull, pretty, nice places/things for (again/more) lifelong memories. Maybe going with a rowing-boat through the canals :eek::eek:!!

Greetings/hugs

Henri&Marian.

P.s.1.

Now I think some other readers will be jealous that they cannot participate in this.:confused:

P.s.2. I am not a travel agency.

[Benitad]

But Henri, you are such a wonderful ambassador for the Netherlands ... perhaps you should be a travel agent!

 

Thank you all for sharing your wonderful memories and photographs and rubbing it in:cool: ... it was almost as good as being there with you for the experience. Czechmate, thanks for all your kind words and thoughts and updates ... AND the most excellent critique. Now all I need to do is work out how we can join you all next time!

[Joan of Oz]

Hi Henri & Marian

 

Glad to hear that you two have arrived safely home and your discription of the beautiful Tulips was great. What a wonderful industry the Tulips are for Holland and no wonder it brings so many visitors to see the fields filled with the blooms.

 

We discovered in Istanbul that the Tulip is the National Flower and the parks and gardens were also filled with many varieties. We grow Tulips in Sydney - but it is really too humid for the average gardener to have much success. The colder parts of our state are better.

 

What is the date of your Birthday Henri? Must be close or just been - Happy Birthday from "Down Under".

 

It will be great to catch up with some of the Cruise Critic group and show them your beautiful village.

 

Don't forget - keep in touch - and although we are a long way - you might decide one day to visit Sydney - love to show you our part of the world.

 

Thankyou for your company on the MSC Opera and your kind words.

 

Joan and Neville

[czechmate]

Hi all

 

Just a few lines to keep in touch. We have been in Prague with Greg and Jimmy for the weekend. The weather was fabulous and the weekend went extremely well.

 

GINO - Thank you for getting so many of the pics online. So now people can see us making fools of ourselves!!

 

Henri and Marian - that kind offer sounds great - what a pity that it is necessary to count the days vacation that is available each year!

 

 

Thanks to all who have sent e-mails and we will reply to them. Keep well fabulous people we still think of you all each and every day.

[henri]

Joan (of OZ),

the reason the tulip is Turkey's national flower is that originaly the tulip comes from Turkey. The Dutch took some species home around 1600-1650. It appeared that in the sandy soil around the dunes in Holland they grow very well. During that time (1650) there was also the well known "Tulipmania", comparable with the "ICT-Internet-Hype" of a few years ago. People paid fortunes to get tulips.:p

 

Gino, thanks for publishing the pictures. ((Nota Bene: are the pictures somewhat unsharp because of the decrease of picksels ?? Or is it the quality of my display !)):confused:

 

Barry, it is a pitty indeed that we have to count our vacation-days :eek:.

Hope you had a good weekend !

 

Love and greetings to you all :).

Henri.

[love to cruz]

Good morning all my wonderful Opera friends:

Has anyone heard from Gino recently??

[czechmate]

Carol - lovely lady good morning and the same to the debonair Vic

 

I am waiting for a telephone call from Gino. It is great that he has now managed to put on his website so many of the fantastic photos taken by the members of out group.

 

OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Are we now "Groupies" :-) :-)

 

Working frantically at the moment to get more pics on the "fotki" site!!

[cronestein]

Hello everyone,

 

Tomorrow I informed about the-Prinsendam-,leaving Friday 6 may

from

Lauderdale,this afternoon I booked.

It is my last last last minute booking

I ever made.LONG live the internet.

The transatlantic goes via New York -transatlantic -Med -till Barcelona.

Its a segment from the worldtour from januari.

 

Lucky I had not unpacked all my suitcases ,but there is a lot of work to do.

 

Greetings from Holland ,from a lucky

Eternity

[czechmate]

Eternity

We are happy that you can cruise with some one some where.

 

LUCKY?? We think not.

 

This is MSC board and MSC passengers who say how they are happy and what they enjoy.

[henri]

Dear Eternity, beste Ingrid,

glad you feel so well that you could book another cruise.

This time with Prinsendam.

Marian thinks it is better, because the cabins are larger.

On OPERA it is very narrow, between the bed and the mirror. Perhaps better when one bed is removed, but standard you probably would have problems to move with your 'rollator' on the OPERA.

As you know, all HAL-ships are prepared for worldcruises, so their cabins are all more spacious.

I saw indeed that you allready are 'chatting' on the HAL-board.

Hope you meet the same kind of wondelful people as we did on Transatlantic OPERA. As you understand it could not be better. Friends for life.

Bon Voyage and save home on May 23.

Henri.

[czechmate]

Dear Eternity

Like Henri I wish you a happy cruise.

I should make what I wrote a little clearer. I think you were Unlucky that you were ill and had to cancel your cruise on Opera. I feel sure that you would have enjoyed the company of the many wonderful people.

[cronestein]

I am touched , your reaction its is good to know',you care (sentimental from me)Its a pity I don't meet you.

 

I know Marian is right ,the cabin is large (perhaps an upgrade to balcony)

I jump in a segment from a worldcruise.

Do you read the --storyteller-- Grumpy with his wife Slinky .

on the rollcall Prinsendam?It is quite amusing.

 

We are going to New York,and than the Transatlantic.

 

Its a pity that my sister in law, she lives on 57*street NY is not at home,

also traveling.It was fun to say:I am coming for a coffee.

From her app.you see all the ships coming and going. (36 floor)

 

I had my suitcases not unpacked totally,so a few eveningdresses more,

and I am ready to go.

 

The flight AMS-Detroit---Ford Lauderdale,like you Henri and Marian.

I am traveling bus class with wheelchairass. Thats really a good service(wheelchairass.)So the flight is --easy--

 

I hope that both of you soon see blue skies and gentle waves.

Henri leuk dat je er ook nog even tussen uit gaat ,doe je de groeten aan Marian.

Ze sprong er direct uit bij de foto's een Nedl.gezicht,ja jij ook Henri,niet te missen.

Sorry,czechmate,it was easyer to compliment Marian in Dutch.

 

Mail you as soon as I am home may 23/24

Its time I am going to play with my granddaughter,I take care of her this holiday day.So its -Barbi-time.

bye bye

Eternity -Ingrid

[varadero]

Hello fellow cruisers,

 

Thanks to everybody who send us our support. We will anwer all of your mails in the next few days.

 

But as I told on (the) board, i WILL finish the website...

 

There are now about 550 pictures online (and Henri, they are much better quality now - I had to reduce quality to much due to lack of webspace, but I upgraded my account - I have now about 150 MB available)

 

Still tonight I will add the cruisemovie for you to download (first edition : +/- 20 MB - the next edition : full lenght and about 50 MB)

 

still on the same location : http://gino.slider.be

 

I also implemented a small guestbook where you can leave your comments.

 

We which we were still with you guys, because we had THE time of our life.

 

GINO & CYNTHIA

[mary.g]

Greetings from Vancouver. I really miss the wonderful times we had on board,the fun,laughter,the pampering and most of all,the incredible friends we made during our trip. You are all very special and we will always remember our trip with fond memories of you all. We thoroughly enjoyed the remainder of our trip,5 days to belgrade and 1 night in Munich and London respectively. Munich is a wonderful city and I hope to back some day . Reality hit yesterday at 6.00am when I felt a shake,rattle and roll and realised I was not on the dance floor of thwe Opera but it was in fact my alarm signalling my return to work. I now know the true meaning of day dreaming,I'm becoming quite the expert-I guess it's time to plan the next trip!! Keep in touch,and hopefully we will all be able to sail the high seas together again in the not too distant future. Mary

[henri]

For all the OPERA-lovers, I found a nice drawing.

 

http://www.cruiseweb.nl/images/dwarsdoorsnede/MSCOpera.jpg

 

Henri.

[czechmate]

Mary we are so sorry to read that you too are suffering the trauma and the symptons!!

 

I guess the conclusion must be - Cruising is bad for you!!

 

HUH! I think not ! It was a fantastic wonderful 17 days and you all helped to make it that extra bit special.

 

Gino - thank you for your hard work in getting the pictures out there in cyberland. We are aware that it is not an easy time for you. There are a lot of people very interested and very grateful I can assure you.

Thanks to Pam we also have a few more pictures out on fotki.

MEMORIES!! Those were THE days!!

 

The only cure for PCSD seems to be another cruise - so what about it folks?

Any takers to join us MSC OPERA transatlantic April 2006?

 

Have sent to CruiseCritic a review for inclusion in the Member Review section.

[caviargal]

Mary we are so sorry to read that you too are suffering the trauma and the symptons.

 

 

The only cure for PCSD seems to be another cruise - so what about it folks?

Any takers to join us MSC OPERA transatlantic April 2006?

 

Have sent to CruiseCritic a review for inclusion in the Member Review section.

 

 

I will be turning the big 50 next April and have decided to celebrate with a solo transatlantic cruise. I will be on the Opera soon in the Med and expect to be dazzled! If that is the case, I will see you in April!

[czechmate]

Caviargal - you will be very welcome and we can assure you of fun times.

We will also be delighted to help you celebrate the milestone birthday :-).

 

Remember there are differences between the Med and the Caribbean/Transatlantic. Just one for instance in the Med. Room Service is charged in the Caribbean it is Complimentary.

[Lill]

varadero, thank you so much for sharing your wonderful video!! It was so much fun getting to see the beautiful Opera and a lot of fav crew members! Looks like you all sailed with a very fun group. :D Can't wait for her to return in January and hope to be on the January 14th sailing. :)

[Rotterdam]

Thanks Czechmate - your reviews & other postings brought back many happy memories - I agree with your assessments - hope ti see you onboard oneday!