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LIVE: 11/2 Nieuw Amsterdam transatlantic - TravelingWithTheJones

travelinjones

By travelinjones,
in Holland America Line

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cbr663 Great Review Rare

cbr663

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The Tamarind lunch was never available to book online in advance; only on the ship. It seems that it was dropped several months ago - the staff is redeployed to work in the Lido for breakfast and lunch in addition to their evening duties in the Tamarind.

 

Thanks for the response. I knew that you couldn't book the Tamarind for lunch in advance online. I was trying to book for dinner and every time I would attempt to add it to my cart, I would receive an error message telling me that it was already in the cart. The cart was showing as empty. I ended up calling ship services and they took care of it, although, the person I was speaking with had to tweek something in order to add it.

 

I am also having problems with the on-line check-in, but will leave that to another thread.

 

All to say that I seem to be able to find the bugs in the on-line system. :-)

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travelinjones

travelinjones

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Day 1 of 8 at sea - Saturday, November 7th

 

Sea days have a way of speeding by. This is our first transatlantic cruise since 2007 and we are enjoying the leisurely days at sea. If you have not experienced a transatlantic cruise, here is a little taste of what a day at sea is like:

 

-- We started the day with an extra hour of sleep at the ship's clocks were set back one hour at 2 am. Still, we slept in until about 8:40 am.

 

-- After grabbing a Grande Americano and a mini-chocolate muffin at the Explorations Cafe, we headed to the Queen's Lounge where cruise director Mario interviewed Hotel Director Rene Tuinman during a 'Good Morning Nieuw Amsterdam' session, which was an opportunity for guests to ask questions. One of the first was "why can't the captain speed up the ship so we can still stop at the Azores?"

Mr. Tuinman said the captain made the decision to change the itinerary after consultation with Seattle, weather forecasting services, and the officer's leadership team on board. Because the weather forcast for the Azores was not good, they did not want to risk missing a second port and only having a 2-port stop cruise. And the ship is already sailing near top speed so there was no way to "squeeze" in an extra port once we lost the day in Barcelona. It was either 3 ports with good predicted weather in Spain, or 2 ports in Spain and one "questionable" one in the Azores.

 

While there were many other questions asked and answered about various aspects of the hotel operations, one that might be of interest was regarding the movies on the new IP television system in the staterooms. (Which we are loving, by the way. The system is very similar to an airline entertainment system with a number of movies and television shows that you can watch anytime on demand, even stopping in the middle of a show and returning to it later.)

 

The question was "Why can't I find the movies playing in my cabin the day after they are shown on the big screen like on past Holland America cruises?"

 

The answer was that there are two different licensing packages for movies -- and not all of the movies shown in the theater are available for licensing for the in-stateroom on-demand IP system.

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travelinjones

travelinjones

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Day 1 of 8 at sea - Saturday, November 7th, Continued

 

Next up for us was a lap or two around the deck, followed by another visit to the Explorations Cafe for a coffee, followed by time in our cabin for a little clean-up and organization of various paper and items collected in each port.

 

We both got a few work emails handled, and then headed to lunch in the Main Dining Room.

 

After lunch ended, we walked a couple of times around the deck (the sea was amazingly calm but the sky was a little grey.) The post-lunch walk seemed essentail before heading to the 2pm Navigator's Wine tasting led by Cellmaster Bernie. There was a very large group for the wine-tasting. The ship appears to have many four and five star Mariners on-board, for which this wine tasting was complimentary. (The normal cost is $15 per person.) Wines we sampled included a Torrentes, a California Chardonnay, a Carmenere from Chile and a cabernet sauvignon. Three of the four wines were from South America.

 

At 3 pm, was the first meeting of the book group, and Mrs. Jones was the last to arrive before the group started as she took time to stop for a coffee after trying 4 wines. Most everyone in the book group is enjoying the selected novel.

 

Meanwhile, Mr. Jones enjoyed an afternnoon nap at sea, one of the great pleasures of a transatlantic cruise.

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travelinjones

travelinjones

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Day 1 of 8 at sea - Saturday, November 7th, Continued

 

Tonight was the first formal night of the cruise, with several special activies planned. The first production show, "MARQUEE On the Edge of the Midway" was moved up to 7pm and 9 pm pre-dinner showtimes, as to allow for the Black and White Officers Ball to begin at 10pm.

 

Before we started to get ready for formal night, we headed out for some exercise laps around the promende deck. This sunset lit up the sky with a spectacular view (we tried to embed the photo from our Instagram feed but didn't seem to work in this system.)

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travelinjones

travelinjones

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Day 1 of 8 at sea - Saturday, November 7th, Continued

 

Dressed for formal night, we headed for a quick pre-dinner cocktail in the Silk Den bar with Bartender Arnold. A pleasant surprise was sushi roll appetizers from the Tamarind served as the bar appetizers.

 

We headed to deck 3 to catch part of the Cirque du Solei-like show from the back of the Showroom balcony. This was the first preformance for the new dancers and singers that just boarded the ship in Barcelona.

 

Dinner in the Master Dining Room was a Gala event with special menus. The large prawn cocktails were fabulous, as was the Tenderloin/shrimp and the Rack of Lamb. The food in the Manhatten Dining Room has been top-notch during our 4 nights of eating there. (We dined at the Tamarind Resturant on the first night of our cruise.)

 

The Officers' Black & White Ball was held in the Queen's Lounge, and the venue was overflowing with elegantly dressed guests. (Not sure why it was not in the larger showroom, but many couldn't get in.) We headed to a quiet corner of the Pinnacle Bar for about an hour, before revisiting the Queen's Lounge. Much of the earlier crowd had left, but it was still a full dance floor as the BB King Blues Club entertainers began their 11:15 pm session.

 

What a night - the younger officers, along with the new cast of singers and dancers and many fun-loving guests danced the night away. We got caught up in the fun on the dance floor. After the show ended, the party continued in the Northern Lights disco.

 

Luckily, clocks were set back again another hour at 2 am.

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cruz chic

cruz chic

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Day 1 of 8 at sea - Saturday, November 7th, Continued

 

Dressed for formal night, we headed for a quick pre-dinner cocktail in the Silk Den bar with Bartender Arnold. A pleasant surprise was sushi roll appetizers from the Tamarind served as the bar appetizers.

 

We headed to deck 3 to catch part of the Cirque du Solei-like show from the back of the Showroom balcony. This was the first preformance for the new dancers and singers that just boarded the ship in Barcelona.

 

Dinner in the Master Dining Room was a Gala event with special menus. The large prawn cocktails were fabulous, as was the Tenderloin/shrimp and the Rack of Lamb. The food in the Manhatten Dining Room has been top-notch during our 4 nights of eating there. (We dined at the Tamarind Resturant on the first night of our cruise.)

 

The Officers' Black & White Ball was held in the Queen's Lounge, and the venue was overflowing with elegantly dressed guests. (Not sure why it was not in the larger showroom, but many couldn't get in.) We headed to a quiet corner of the Pinnacle Bar for about an hour, before revisiting the Queen's Lounge. Much of the earlier crowd had left, but it was still a full dance floor as the BB King Blues Club entertainers began their 11:15 pm session.

 

What a night - the younger officers, along with the new cast of singers and dancers and many fun-loving guests danced the night away. We got caught up in the fun on the dance floor. After the show ended, the party continued in the Northern Lights disco.

 

Luckily, clocks were set back again another hour at 2 am.

 

Was the show called Droom? I rarely go to any shows but that is a good one.

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Copper10-8 "Live from...." Rare

Copper10-8

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Was the show called Droom? I rarely go to any shows but that is a good one.

 

'Droom', definitely a unique one, is a Stiletto Productions (L.A.) show and they (Stiletto) are on their way out with HAL as they're switching to a New York and a London-based production co.

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cruz chic

cruz chic

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The first production show was called

"MARQUEE On the Edge of the Midway"

 

Thx for the info.

 

'Droom', definitely a unique one, is a Stiletto Productions (L.A.) show and they (Stiletto) are on their way out with HAL as they're switching to a New York and a London-based production co.

 

Sorry to hear that but thx for the info.

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travelinjones

travelinjones

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Another noticeable change since our March cruise earlier this year -the sides are in larger bowls for sharing, and our waiter brought our table for 4 a large assortment.

 

Our waiter hinted at coming menu changes but we didn't probe.ImageUploadedByForums1447064937.153565.jpg.6931cad154106304140cadf847013b66.jpg

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cruz chic

cruz chic

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Another noticeable change since our March cruise earlier this year -the sides are in larger bowls for sharing, and our waiter brought our table for 4 a large assortment.

 

Our waiter hinted at coming menu changes but we didn't probe.[ATTACH]367948[/ATTACH]

 

There is actually a thread that KK started about possible changes if you want to check it out.

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jackson bernard

jackson bernard

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Not that it's going to make or break our Pinnacle experience, but I think the new orange coloured china is a bit garish. I always loved the sophistication of the Bulgari dinnerware.

 

 

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

 

 

I agree, but that food looks delicious! I can't wait till Sunday! Haven't been on HAL in a few years but we are surely looking forward to it!

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