3rd time's the Charm

[IRL_Joanie]

Joanie, I want to thank you for all of your posts; I don't care if you're pink, green, blue or striped, whether you smoke or not, if you choose to fly/walk/drive/roll to and from your cruises, and whether or not you dress for formal nights. I simply appreciate all the input you have here on the boards.

 

I wish you a Merry Christmas, and good health and happiness, and more cruises in the New Year!

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

 

Thank You so much!! This means a lot coming from you, a CC member I hold in the highest regard:)

 

Joanie

[frankc98376]

Joanie, I want to thank you for all of your posts; I don't care if you're pink, green, blue or striped, whether you smoke or not, if you choose to fly/walk/drive/roll to and from your cruises, and whether or not you dress for formal nights. I simply appreciate all the input you have here on the boards.

 

I wish you a Merry Christmas, and good health and happiness, and more cruises in the New Year!

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

 

I could not have said it better if I tried! Merry Christmas Joanie and Roger and thank you for taking us with you!

 

We WILL sail together at some point and I'm sure will keep the back row of deck 5 on a beautiful "Vistadam" laughing!!!!

[regnig]

Joanie I also concur with what ger_77 said. The information I got off your original web site about HAL ships was invaluable in helping us book our 1st HAL cruise and getting the right veranda stateroom. The details you provide were a blessing. We all cruise for different reasons and partake in different activities on board. That is why there are so many different options. My Christmas wish for you is that you will be able to take many many more cruises.

 

Merry Christmas to All!

[chrispb]

Sorry Chris, it was removed shortly after posting it:( Apparently it was not related to ON BOARD a HAL ship and therefore ...... I am afraid to post it here in my thread for the same reason:(

 

Joanie

 

 

Thanks Joanie, I spotted some posts had been removed but didn't imagine it would be your "news".

 

Have a good Christmas:)

[PathfinderEss]

Joanie, I want to thank you for all of your posts; I don't care if you're pink, green, blue or striped, whether you smoke or not, if you choose to fly/walk/drive/roll to and from your cruises, and whether or not you dress for formal nights. I simply appreciate all the input you have here on the boards.

 

I wish you a Merry Christmas, and good health and happiness, and more cruises in the New Year!

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

 

Wow, what an awesome post. Thanks ger_77 for putting into words how alot of us feel about Joanie and her wonderful DH, Crew News.

 

Merry Christmas to you both.

[LSEA]

I simply appreciate all the input you have here on the boards.

 

 

This! I always look forward to your opinions and experiences Joanie. You are a treasure on this board. Best Christmas and New Year wishes to you and your family.

[Himself]

It is funny Joannie. THE N.A. is probably my favorite and I have been on all except the Prisendam

[RMLincoln]

Merry Christmas to all and especially happy to see that Joanie and DH had a grand time on their NA cruise and made it home ok.

 

Peace and Blessings, m--

[Crew News]

We arrived home safely with Joanie's rental oxygen concentrator having battery power to spare.

 

A special thanks to POA1 for the sail-away photos. The unlimited internet package was great for our second week BUT with lots of college kids on board, the downloading of sail-away pictures was nearly impossible. With the even SLOWER speed in the La Quinta (post-cruise) Hotel, today was my first chance to see my flag waving. With Topaz and Photoshop deblurring filters, I should be able to make them appear that they were taken using a tripod-mounted camera. I did notice one aft-cabin passenger waving their HAL bathrobe over the railing.

As for the cruise, a number of the regular NA staff returned after receiving a week's furlough so that the corporate staff could demonstrate their prowess to the new CEO (CD, Culinary Operations Manager, Hotel Manager, etc.).

 

Our post cruise hotel, La Quinta, was overrun with screaming kids spending a pre-cruise night before their holiday cruises. Both Celebrity and HAL (Noordam) used the L Quinta for their pre-cruise passengers. I'm sure the ships' crews will be sorely tested to maintain any semblance of order with the La Quinta bunch aboard.

 

There were a lot of NA ship's crew to thank on the final survey to include the fastest ship laundry in my HAL cruising memory. Out at 5:30 and returned before 10:00 AM. Our two Room Stewards, Suparta and Effie, were excellent in seeing to all of our needs. Joyce in the Neptune Lounge could not have been more pleasant and effective. Since I did not try any of the Neptune Lounge snacks, I cannot comment on them.

 

The cruise was exhilarating yet relaxing. We established many new friendships; met lots of CC lurkers; scanned every possible bar and menu; were delighted with Fort Lauderdale TSA's efficient processing; and discovered our luggage arrived on the same flight home. My free souvenir Noordam calendars were well received by both those who visited our stateroom and several special crew members. In addition, I lost two pounds with sensible dining that included after-dinner dessert (half). Who could ask for more from a cruise?

 

Our homeward Southwest Airlines flights were fully booked and weather-delayed. Many passengers chuckled as a boarding passenger asked the Flight Attendants where seat B31 could be found. Our male flight attendant, wearing a Santa hat and red-light flashing glasses, entertained the kids with his Sesame Street sock puppet and also sang Christmas carols over the intercom to the captive passengers.

 

Traveling during the school vacation period, our sleep attempts were disturbed by young kids' screeches that seemed to echo from the forward seats to the rear seats.

 

I am busy getting my fresh menu collection ready for posting and working on shipboard images for a potential review.

 

Thanks for all of the good wishes posted on this thread.

 

We look forward to meeting new friends, CC members, and great crew on the Noordam in May and on the Eurodam's special Southern Caribbean cruise in November.

Edited December 25, 2014 by Crew News

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks Crew News for the update. Glad you and Joanie got home with no complications except for some screaming kids.

[Crew News]

I have updated both the HAL Specialty menus (dining, beverage, and Room Service) and the Nieuw Amsterdam regular dining (Lido and MDR lunch/dinner/late snack) menus on my website under the HAL Menus tab:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/

 

In addition, I have added the On Locations (daily activities) for both the Eastern and Wester Caribbean 7-day cruises under the Travel tab.

[headhunterke]

Thank you so much for your updates. As many here on CC, I once met you on a N.A. cruise as well and you guys were so passionate about cruising words can hardly describe the feeling.

I'm happy to read you had a great time. I hope one day we'll meet eachother again aboard a damship, but for now, I had an awesome time reading through all these posts and to be honest, I can't remember the last time I've read 16 full pages on a board :-)

 

I hope everyone here had a warm Christmas and the new year may bring lots of cruises (but most important good health)

 

headhunterke

[IRL_Joanie]

Just discovered a WOW!! Factor from our last week aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam, 14-21 December 2014.

 

Let me preface to say that while I know HAL is trying to bring in the younger generation of new passengers, while still catering to its older ones, Roger and I noticed that this week had more young adults aboard than normal. And these were not the typical yung adults we see on board many of the other lines, the ones who are out for a good party or two, but instead are well dressed, respectful and a pleasure to be around:)

 

On to that WOW!! Factor, which I discovered via my Facebook page and a mutual friend I discovered there were 82 young adults along with some not so young ones from "Center for Youth Evangelism" who were definitely on a "Cruise With a Mission"!!

 

I wish to commend these youngens for what they do and to be able to say that I was honored to have the chance to cruise with them as they went about their mission to help others in need!!

 

Well done All!! Well Done!!!

 

To see what they were able to accomplish in just 7 days from a HAL Cruise Ship you can read and see here: http://www.cye.org/cwm/trips/2014

 

Joanie

[LandlockedColorado]

A heart-warming "WOW"; I also checked out their web site. Thanks for sharing.

 

LC

[regnig]

Joanie that really is a WOW, thanks for sharing! I was thrilled to see that they got to relax and enjoy some "fun" time at HMC.

 

I wonder if Glen (POA1) knows that Poohby Joe could have had someone of his "kind" to hang out with. Take a look at

http://cyephoto.smugmug.com/Events/CWM/2014/i-S2R7V5Q

[IRL_Joanie]

Joanie that really is a WOW, thanks for sharing! I was thrilled to see that they got to relax and enjoy some "fun" time at HMC.

 

I wonder if Glen (POA1) knows that Poohby Joe could have had someone of his "kind" to hang out with. Take a look at

 

Always happy to share with y'all:)

 

Brian, POA1 was ashore in his condo when we left on the 14th so Poohby Joe would have been ashore also:D

 

Joanie

[POA1]

Joanie that really is a WOW, thanks for sharing! I was thrilled to see that they got to relax and enjoy some "fun" time at HMC.

 

I wonder if Glen (POA1) knows that Poohby Joe could have had someone of his "kind" to hang out with. Take a look at

I think that "travel monkeys" are pretty big in 2014. We saw someone with one on our mid November trip and two different people with them in December. While Poohby loves to travel, he very rarely appears in public. (There's a fine line between 'funny' and 'sad' which we try not to cross. ;) )

[Crew News]

With Joanie snoring in the background, I'm left to giving my thoughts of the day.

 

Only two chocolate purses arrived for dinner in the stateroom. I was able to get pictures of mine but Joanie's disappeared in the blink of an eye. Will post pictures of the purse when we return home.

 

More later.

 

As promised, here is a picture of the second chocolate purse we received from the Ms Nieuw Amsterdam Pastry Chef:

 

 

The first chocolate purse was consumed with a total disregard for digitally capturing the moment.

Edited December 28, 2014 by Crew News

[Crew News]

Here is the new dessert added to the new Pinnacle Grill menu:

 

 

IMHO It was very good.

Edited December 29, 2014 by Crew News

[Crew News]

Here is a photograph of the new Colorado Rack of Lamb. The bowls to the right of the picture contained shredded lamb shoulder meat while the bowl on the plate contained aus jus.

 

 

The two preparation methods of the lamb were quite flavorful.

 

Here is the new strawberry pavlova before the strawberry consomme was poured over the dessert.

 

 

Joanie raved about this new dessert.

[Huskerchick]

Yum! Thanks for sharing your pictures. I love lamb and will certainly try it next time we are aboard.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[erewhon]

Crew News,

 

I hope you and Joanie had a very happy Christmas.

 

Thank you for posting the photos, good to be reminded of the yummy Chocolate Purse.:)

[IRL_Joanie]

As promised, here is a picture of the second chocolate purse we received from the Ms Nieuw Amsterdam Pastry Chef:

 

 

The first chocolate purse was consumed with a total disregard for digitally capturing the moment.

 

And it was worth the scowls you gave me as I ate it:) I think you were just jealous that I was not having to watch what I ate and could savor that wonderful chocolate ganash in the filo dough that just melted in my mouth:D:D

 

Joanie

[PathfinderEss]

Wow, you made me hungry with all the foodie pictures. Yummy looking, I take your word that they were great. Thanks for posting them.

[sapper1]

And it was worth the scowls you gave me as I ate it:) I think you were just jealous that I was not having to watch what I ate and could savor that wonderful chocolate ganash in the filo dough that just melted in my mouth:D:D

 

Joanie

 

It looks lovely. I have never tried ganache but do love things done up in phyllo. I don't have the patience to work with phyllo myself so I take the opportunity to try it when out. Next cruise-------- :)