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Live from the Westerdam - Panama Canal Repositioning

TheSecondSister

By TheSecondSister,
in Holland America Line

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Old As Dirt Mom

Old As Dirt Mom

Posted
Posted

ok here's some preliminary research results:

 

They have a lovely selection of ready-made sandwiches in the Lido, AND they will also do the custom-made sandwiches. The ready-made selection changes daily. The tea selection in the Neptune Lounge is Harney and Sons. I will report when I know what tea they serve in the main dining room and Lido.

 

We have the same captain, hotel director, and cruise director as we had in May - Captain Rens Van Eerten, HD Mark Pells, and CD Shane Michaels, so we're in good hands.:)

 

Saturday Vigil Mass is at 5pm.

 

Mariner's reception from 3-4pm in the Crow's Nest.

 

Life boat drill at 4pm. Bon Voyage party at 4:30pm at the Seaview pool.

 

The Neptune lounge concierges will host a reception this evening for suite guests in the NL from 7-8pm. Hors d'oeuvres and a selection of wine/sparkling wine will be offered.

 

Thank you, Sapete, for taking such good care of our cabin:)

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

Posted
Posted
ok here's some preliminary research results:

 

They have a lovely selection of ready-made sandwiches in the Lido, AND they will also do the custom-made sandwiches. The ready-made selection changes daily. The tea selection in the Neptune Lounge is Harney and Sons. I will report when I know what tea they serve in the main dining room and Lido.

 

We have the same captain, hotel director, and cruise director as we had in May - Captain Rens Van Eerten, HD Mark Pells, and CD Shane Michaels, so we're in good hands.:)

 

Saturday Vigil Mass is at 5pm.

 

Mariner's reception from 3-4pm in the Crow's Nest.

 

Life boat drill at 4pm. Bon Voyage party at 4:30pm at the Seaview pool.

 

The Neptune lounge concierges will host a reception this evening for suite guests in the NL from 7-8pm. Hors d'oeuvres and a selection of wine/sparkling wine will be offered.

 

Thank you, Sapete, for taking such good care of our cabin:)

 

your are in good hands indeed with those officers :) Have a great time and thanks for the info on lunch and reception.

 

Now, relax and enjoy :)

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SilvertoGold

SilvertoGold

Posted
Posted
ok here's some preliminary research results:

 

They have a lovely selection of ready-made sandwiches in the Lido, AND they will also do the custom-made sandwiches. The ready-made selection changes daily. The tea selection in the Neptune Lounge is Harney and Sons. I will report when I know what tea they serve in the main dining room and Lido.

 

We have the same captain, hotel director, and cruise director as we had in May - Captain Rens Van Eerten, HD Mark Pells, and CD Shane Michaels, so we're in good hands.:)

 

Saturday Vigil Mass is at 5pm.

 

Mariner's reception from 3-4pm in the Crow's Nest.

 

Life boat drill at 4pm. Bon Voyage party at 4:30pm at the Seaview pool.

 

The Neptune lounge concierges will host a reception this evening for suite guests in the NL from 7-8pm. Hors d'oeuvres and a selection of wine/sparkling wine will be offered.

 

Thank you, Sapete, for taking such good care of our cabin:)

 

A+ for information, making it so much more fun to follow along. Thanks!!

 

Harney and Sons is a fav of ours. Relieved to read that made-to-order sandwiches are still available!

 

Enjoy dinner!

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Old As Dirt Mom

Old As Dirt Mom

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Thanks, Frank; we will look out for Michael and Tim. Actually, all the crew have been great so far. We especially like our dining stewards at table 29 in the upper dining room.

 

Ok, some more observations:

 

Bigelow tea served in dining room (yay!):)

 

We don't have to do the lifeboat drill in either Vancouver tomorrow or in San Diego, because we did it today in Seattle. Yay again!

 

Since more passengers are boarding in Vancouver and San Diego, the ship feels sparsely populated this evening. The Lido was positively calm this afternoon:)

 

Ryan the "on location" guide is a sweetie. He ran up three flights of stairs and back again in three minutes to bring me a deck of playing cards.

 

We like piano player Mike a lot. One of the better ones.

 

I will try to find out who's the chaplain for you, Fr. Himself.

 

The food has been very good so far. See the Second Sister's blog for details.:)

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0bnxshs

0bnxshs

Posted
Posted

Wonderful to relive our trip to the west coast on Westie in April through your perceptive eyes. Thanks for all the effort!

 

As Frank has said, Micheal is a trip. You won't be able to miss him.

 

If you find time, tell Captain Van Eerten/HD Pells that the "Sail Away Gang" (a.k.a. kazu's gang) says hi! We very much enjoyed how well they squired Westie westbound in the spring. :cool:

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TheSecondSister

TheSecondSister

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We opted for a quiet morning, had room service and I'm outside enjoying coffee on our balcony. Not to be contentious, but there's no smell of cigarette smoke, either last night or this morning. I didn't notice any smokers in the casino last night either. As my husband is a smoker, it doesn't bother me, but I know it's been a sour note on CC so I wanted to clear the air ;)

 

We are headed out for a walk around the promenade. All aboard is at 12:30 so there seems to be little point in getting off in a city we love and have visited frequently. My next immediate goal is to search out the vaunted Bloody Mary cart :)

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TheSecondSister

TheSecondSister

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Currently on Oosterdam. Westie was in Vancouver with us, not Noordam. She was scheduled to be in Astoria. She left really early around 12:45pm, tooting of course. Can anyone on board explain the discrepancy?

 

Howdy neighbor on the Oosterdam. I think the itinerary changed from its original format to accommodate a private charter October 14-17 out of Ft. Lauderdale, but that must have happened before we booked this cruise in May. When we booked, our itinerary was already set to leave Vancouver today around 1 p.m. I think (though don't quote me) that the Noordam already left for Hawaii and Australia.

 

Glad you could hear the Captain tooting his way under the Lions Gate Bridge :) It's a lot of fun!

 

(Pics of the Oosterdam and our departure on our blog - http://twocruisingsisters.wordpress.com/)

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cxc362

cxc362

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Posted
I'm enjoying following your journey. We will be on the Westerdam in November, so it's nice to get a preview of what's happening on the ship. Thank you for taking the time to do it!

 

Ditto as we'll be on her soon as well.

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Old As Dirt Mom

Old As Dirt Mom

Posted
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The cruise is going great, but lest you think we are 100% HAL cheerleaders, I am going to interject an acrimonious note here. Please feel free to skip, as in the total scheme of things it is minor and petty, and we have already moved on with an easy solution:)

 

The On Location daily program listed breakfast served from 8am to 9:30am in the Vista main dining room this morning. The Pinnacle Grill breakfast for suite guests corresponds with the main dining room schedule. So we showed up at 9:15am at the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast, at which point we were informed by an immaculately groomed and lovely young lady that breakfast was no longer being served. I mentioned that the daily program indicated otherwise. She called someone on the phone and was told that breakfast was being served on sea days from 7:30 to 9am. Too bad so sad, no breakfast.:confused::(

 

So I went to speak with the concierges in the Neptune lounge, and sure enough, because of the new repositioning itinerary, the current breakfast hours for sea days is now indeed 8am to 9:30am. But after all our running around, the Pinnacle Grill was by now closed for breakfast. The manager there was not aware of the changed schedule as the crew had been doing 7 day Alaska trips for several months. Apparently change is hard.

 

So we hightailed it to the main Vista dining room, where we got in by the skin of our teeth, and the staff were happy to accommodate us. Conclusion: As the breakfast menus in the Pinnacle Gill and the MDR are identical, and the MDR staff have their act together, from now on we will enjoy our breakfasts there and dispense with the Pinnacle Grill.

 

The Neptune lounge concierges were very apologetic, but you only have one chance to make a good first impression, and the PG flunked. End of tirade, my tiny violin concert is done. Sorry to play a discordant note.

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frankc98376

frankc98376

Posted
Posted (edited)
The cruise is going great, but lest you think we are 100% HAL cheerleaders, I am going to interject an acrimonious note here. Please feel free to skip, as in the total scheme of things it is minor and petty, and we have already moved on with an easy solution:)

 

The On Location daily program listed breakfast served from 8am to 9:30am in the Vista main dining room this morning. The Pinnacle Grill breakfast for suite guests corresponds with the main dining room schedule. So we showed up at 9:15am at the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast, at which point we were informed by an immaculately groomed and lovely young lady that breakfast was no longer being served. I mentioned that the daily program indicated otherwise. She called someone on the phone and was told that breakfast was being served on sea days from 7:30 to 9am. Too bad so sad, no breakfast.:confused::(

 

So I went to speak with the concierges in the Neptune lounge, and sure enough, because of the new repositioning itinerary, the current breakfast hours for sea days is now indeed 8am to 9:30am. But after all our running around, the Pinnacle Grill was by now closed for breakfast. The manager there was not aware of the changed schedule as the crew had been doing 7 day Alaska trips for several months. Apparently change is hard.

 

So we hightailed it to the main Vista dining room, where we got in by the skin of our teeth, and the staff were happy to accommodate us. Conclusion: As the breakfast menus in the Pinnacle Gill and the MDR are identical, and the MDR staff have their act together, from now on we will enjoy our breakfasts there and dispense with the Pinnacle Grill.

 

The Neptune lounge concierges were very apologetic, but you only have one chance to make a good first impression, and the PG flunked. End of tirade, my tiny violin concert is done. Sorry to play a discordant note.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if you get a card in your suite with an apology and a bottle of wine or a lunch offer. In my experience the Concierges are very thorough with follow through and passing on to higher ups any dissatisfaction. Hmm... goes right along with the old joke about calling 3 different people in Seattle office and getting three completely different answers to a question. So many companies fall short in the communications department.

Edited by frankc98376
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SilvertoGold

SilvertoGold

Posted
Posted
I wouldn't be surprised if you get a card in your suite with an apology and a bottle of wine or a lunch offer. In my experience the Concierges are very thorough with follow through and passing on to higher ups any dissatisfaction. Hmm... goes right along with the old joke about calling 3 different people in Seattle office and getting three completely different answers to a question. So many companies fall short in the communications department.

 

Agree with this post completely! This type of thing is actually quite common on HAL. The message doesn't get through smoothly sometimes.

 

I wonder who the Pinnacle Manager is? HAL has had a lot of very good ones lately!

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ger_77

ger_77

Posted
Posted

I'm thoroughly enjoying your posts and the blog as well. No need to apologize for reporting if things aren't up to par; rarely is there a cruise (or other vacation experience) where everything is 100%. Keep up the good work ladies, and just in case you need some help, I'm not using my liver much for the next two weeks, so if you need an extra to fall back on, feel free!

 

Smooth Sailing ! :) :) :)

Gerry

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