LAFFNVEGAS LIVE from Zuiderdam first week to Alaska

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Good Evening from the Rockin and Rollin Zuiderdam. We are enjoying quite the ride this evening and hear it is going to get a bit worse. Actually Tom and I are enjoying it. I was not sure how I would do. In all of our 38 cruises we have hardly ever had very many really rough seas except one night and day on the Zuiderdam in 2003 when we had a patch that was 18 - 20 ft swells the kind that the web cam showed splashing on the bow. Not that I think these are bad either but many on the ship do. Although lots of noises and creeks, moans and banging noises. We were having some fun with it in the Dining Room this evening, every time we had a big bump, you would hear this noise from everyone, well Tom starts this thing like on a roller coaster and throws his arms up in the air, well then so did several others in our area of the dining room. We all got a good laugh out of it.

 

Tonight the Main Dining Room redeemed itself. Service was definitely faster, although I stayed with having an Ice Tea but Tom did order a beer. Tonight's menu was quite good. I love Black Mussels and clams so you can guess I had that as an appetizer as well as Potato Leek Soup which was really really good. Then I always hesitate to order salmon because I hate it when it is dry but this was not the alternative but a slightly breaded with dried cherries in the crust on this salmon. It was very good. Tom had the Sliced Beef Tenderloin which he said was also very good.

 

After dinner we headed to the Ocean Bar where today's drink was that drink we had been talking about the Suncicle so of course I had to have one. It is always good people watching as you sit in the Ocean Bar in the atrium area. While it was Formal Optional I think maybe 10% did dress Formal the rest went for the optional. I think especially with the rougher seas that makes it much harder to walk a straight line ;)

 

About 10 minutes to 8 we headed to the Vista Lounge to listen and see the Zuiderdam Singers perform. They are very good and the singer named Lauren I know I have seen before. Which reminds me with the exception of the Hotel Manager and the Guest Relations Manager we have not seen one single crew member we know. :eek: I am actually a bit shocked. The last 4 HAL cruises were crew members all over that we knew or they came up to us remember who we were. But then of the last 4, 2 were on the Westerdam, one on the Nieuw Amsterdam and the other was the Oosterdam.

 

The other thing I wanted to mention was the additional Internet Packages maybe there has always been an option for 1000 minutes for $250.00 and they only did it for longer voyages but this was a first to see this. We had done that 2 week Hawaii cruise last fall so I thought maybe they would have offered something like that then but they did not. Then you figure it was only 6 weeks since we were on the Westerdam. At any rate no I did not buy that big package lol I did check with the Internet Manager and he has made note to forward my remaining minutes to our account for the other cabin on Saturday.

 

Well, I think I will go back to reading, tomorrow is the Indonesian Luncheon and the Wine Tasting of Champagnes and Sparklings.

 

Signing off from the Beautiful and Elegant MS Zuiderdam:)

[fatcat04]

You are sooo killing me with this food talk... my mouth is watering. But please don't stop :p:D

 

Oh and as for "drinks of the day", if you like strawberries and you haven't had one, try the Strawberry Basil Bellisimo. We had one last cruise and man oh man it was good. Then we learned how to make it in the Mixology class. Got the recipe too. So much fun.

 

Sounds like you are having a fun time. Enjoy your luncheon and tasting tomorrow. :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Disembarkation on May 8th was a horror story. US Customs strikes again.

We were delayed getting off, and made our flight by 5 minutes.

 

This happens so often in San Diego.

Fortunenately for us -- we have been on the repositioning cruises where we still continue from on from San Diego. Our last time there we had several foreigners who didn't report to immigration inspite of having their names and cabin number called several times. The ship was finally cleared at 10:40 AM. Many people missed flights.

[kazu]

Lisa - thanks for another great report. Hopefully the ship is not rocking and rolling too much:eek:

[TheCalicoCat]

Sounds exciting. I am so ready for my own AK cruise.

[Candy]

Thanks, Lisa, for your daily commentary. In your many experiences aboard cruise ships, I'm sure you took in stride the confusion in the MDR on the first night. The second night, despite your roller-coaster ride, was back to normal. Like you, I like to sleep during the first few days, and will get to the spa later in the cruise. I hope the ocean cooperates for the duration.

 

[request]Lisa is kind enough to provide us with lengthy nightly reports on various aspects of her cruise. We are all free, even encouraged, to comment on something she did or didn't enjoy, or ask questions that only she can answer. Please, PLEASE quote only that portion of her report to which you are referring. When you quote her entire long post, we have to wade back through the quote to find out what she said. It's also really annoying for those of us who monitor this thread on smartphones.[/request]

[kazu]

Thanks, Lisa, for your daily commentary. In your many experiences aboard cruise ships, I'm sure you took in stride the confusion in the MDR on the first night. The second night, despite your roller-coaster ride, was back to normal. Like you, I like to sleep during the first few days, and will get to the spa later in the cruise. I hope the ocean cooperates for the duration.

 

[request]Lisa is kind enough to provide us with lengthy nightly reports on various aspects of her cruise. We are all free, even encouraged, to comment on something she did or didn't enjoy, or ask questions that only she can answer. Please, PLEASE quote only that portion of her report to which you are referring. When you quote her entire long post, we have to wade back through the quote to find out what she said. It's also really annoying for those of us who monitor this thread on smartphones.[/request]

 

Candy - is there a place to go where you can figure out how to do this?:confused:

 

I have tried doing just parts of posts and it didn't work well - looked like someone else was posting - so I have reverted back to quoting as I didn't want to assign quotes to the wrong person:confused:

[peaches from georgia]

Candy - is there a place to go where you can figure out how to do this?:confused:

 

I have tried doing just parts of posts and it didn't work well - looked like someone else was posting - so I have reverted back to quoting as I didn't want to assign quotes to the wrong person:confused:

I just hit 'quote' and the whole thing comes up with name of poster, etc. in my reply box. Then I delete the passages/sentences I am not going to refer to in my reply and leave only the part I am replying to. It is annoying to have a long post quoted when only a few sentences are important to your reply.

[kazu]

I just hit 'quote' and the whole thing comes up with name of poster, etc. in my reply box. Then I delete the passages/sentences I am not going to refer to in my reply and leave only the part I am replying to. It is annoying to have a long post quoted when only a few sentences are important to your reply.

 

Thanks Peaches - that's what I was doing and somehow other posters' names appeared with the quote other than the original one. I must have been doing something awful stupid but was advised by another cc member not to play with the quotes;) I'll try it again and see if it works this time.

 

Thanks again:)

[3rdGenCunarder]

Candy - is there a place to go where you can figure out how to do this?:confused:

 

I have tried doing just parts of posts and it didn't work well - looked like someone else was posting - so I have reverted back to quoting as I didn't want to assign quotes to the wrong person:confused:

 

The trick is to be careful of the square brackets that surround the quote and /quote tags. If you accidentally delete any part of those tags and the brackets around them, the quoted text won't be in a quote box.

 

If you aren't sure if you trimmed the text properly, use preview. If it doesn't look right, check the text box below the preview pane to see what happened to the quote /quote tags.

 

I know this sound like gibberish, but if you practice a bit, it will make sense.

[kazu]

The trick is to be careful of the square brackets that surround the quote and /quote tags. If you accidentally delete any part of those tags and the brackets around them, the quoted text won't be in a quote box.

 

If you aren't sure if you trimmed the text properly, use preview. If it doesn't look right, check the text box below the preview pane to see what happened to the quote /quote tags.

 

I know this sound like gibberish, but if you practice a bit, it will make sense.

 

No - it makes perfect sense to me:) I guess I speak gibberish;)

 

Thanks so much Kathy!!! I really appreciate the help. Now to make notes:p

[LAFFNVEGAS]

You are sooo killing me with this food talk... my mouth is watering. But please don't stop :p:D

 

Oh and as for "drinks of the day", if you like strawberries and you haven't had one, try the Strawberry Basil Bellisimo. We had one last cruise and man oh man it was good. Then we learned how to make it in the Mixology class. Got the recipe too. So much fun.

 

Sounds like you are having a fun time. Enjoy your luncheon and tasting tomorrow. :)

The above is today's drink of the day so I will try it, Thanks;)

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Good Morning from the Zuiderdam in the Pacific, where we continued to have a fun ride. Some are complaining, some are laughing. Some like Tom and I are not the least bit bothered. We got in the elevator earlier this morning and one of the Deck Officers was in there and joked we all looked like Charlie Sean staggering :D

 

Captain Turner has done a good job of keeping us up to date and a few minutes ago did announce that in fact we would need to miss Port Angeles in order to be able to arrive in Vancouver On time Saturday morning. I was to meet a friend there but this stuff happens so not a bit deal. We actually like having the extra Sea Day. Plus the Captain said we get a glass of champagne at dinner tonight ;)

 

This morning we decided to grab coffee and a roll up at the Explorations Cafe rather than a big breakfast since we would be having the Indonesian Lunch. If was fun watching the people attempt to walk around the very crowded Crow's Nest.

 

While the seas are rough it is a very sunny day but extremely windy which makes it impossible to go outside. I am sure it is quite cool as well. Everything is actually going very well other than the seas, I think any problems that the Zuiderdam had have all been fixed.

 

Signing off from the Beautiful and Elegant MS Zuiderdam:)

[Candy]

Candy - is there a place to go where you can figure out how to do this?:confused:

 

I have tried doing just parts of posts and it didn't work well - looked like someone else was posting - so I have reverted back to quoting as I didn't want to assign quotes to the wrong person:confused:

At the bottom right corner of the message to which you are replying, there are three icons. If you hover over them, they say:

'reply with quote' -

quotes only the message you're replying to

'multi-quote' -

quotes multiple posts

'quick reply' - quotes nothing

Like Peaches, I use the first icon and delete the text that does not apply.

 

HTH

Candy

[kazu]

At the bottom right corner of the message to which you are replying, there are three icons. If you hover over them, they say:

'reply with quote' -

quotes only the message you're replying to

'multi-quote' -

quotes multiple posts

'quick reply' - quotes nothing

Like Peaches, I use the first icon and delete the text that does not apply.

 

HTH

Candy

 

Thanks Candy - I will be trying it again - much appreciated and the patience for those of us who are still struggling at times:D

[3rdGenCunarder]

<snip>

Captain Turner has done a good job of keeping us up to date and a few minutes ago did announce that in fact we would need to miss Port Angeles in order to be able to arrive in Vancouver On time Saturday morning. I was to meet a friend there but this stuff happens so not a bit deal. We actually like having the extra Sea Day. Plus the Captain said we get a glass of champagne at dinner tonight ;)

 

<snip>

 

That glass of bubbly may not cost HAL too much money if a lot of pax skip dinner! :eek:

 

Hope you continue to enjoy the ride!

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Thanks from me also on how to include the quote. I have never been able to figure that out - not enough seek and you shall find in me I guess.

[Himself]

That Pacific can be rough, particularly the ride between California and Vancouver B.C.

 

Please keep up the good reporting and I hope the drink was good.

[CRUZBUDS]

We met a few folks from Vancouver on the 18 day that got off in San Diego. They said they'd rather spend a few days here in our sunshine and fly home than risk a rough sea trip home.

 

Sorry to hear about missing Port Angles. I hope the seas settle down soon!

[sail7seas]

Is that West Coast ride from San Diego often rough?

 

[trophy_23]

If they have to miss Port Angeles to make Vancouver for Sat am, how is the Westerdam ever going to make it for Fri am? They look like they are beside eachother on AIS.

[sunviking90]

If they have to miss Port Angeles to make Vancouver for Sat am, how is the Westerdam ever going to make it for Fri am? They look like they are beside eachother on AIS.

 

We are currently on the Westerdam - reading this thread with a lot of interest as we are experiencing the same rough seas. The Captain has announced that our arrival in Vancouver will now be 6 pm Friday. We are thrilled we get almost another whole day and just need to drive home, but a lot of people are scrambling to change flights, etc. Many on the cruise are from Seattle and trying to arrange travel back home from Vancouver with limited possibilities in the evening.

 

They are letting everyone use the internet for free until tonight to rearrange travel. So of course I'm on my iPad checking out CC. :)

[trophy_23]

We are currently on the Westerdam - reading this thread with a lot of interest as we are experiencing the same rough seas. The Captain has announced that our arrival in Vancouver will now be 6 pm Friday. We are thrilled we get almost another whole day and just need to drive home, but a lot of people are scrambling to change flights, etc. Many on the cruise are from Seattle and trying to arrange travel back home from Vancouver with limited possibilities in the evening.

 

They are letting everyone use the internet for free until tonight to rearrange travel. So of course I'm on my iPad checking out CC. :)

 

Thanks for the update! It's very windy in Vancouver, can't imagine what it is like at sea.

[cruz chic]

Is that West Coast ride from San Diego often rough?

 

I've done it a handful of times and it's alays been rough. The roughest cruise I've had was in that area (30 foot waves)

[3rdGenCunarder]

We are currently on the Westerdam - reading this thread with a lot of interest as we are experiencing the same rough seas. The Captain has announced that our arrival in Vancouver will now be 6 pm Friday. We are thrilled we get almost another whole day and just need to drive home, but a lot of people are scrambling to change flights, etc. Many on the cruise are from Seattle and trying to arrange travel back home from Vancouver with limited possibilities in the evening.

 

They are letting everyone use the internet for free until tonight to rearrange travel. So of course I'm on my iPad checking out CC. :)

 

Good for HAL! This is the kind of customer service that makes passengers go home feeling the cruise line made an effort to be helpful.