Live! The Grouch on the Prinsendam October 20, 2016 for 30 days.

[whogo]

Monday, November 14, 2016, still sailing towards Ft. Lauderdale

Sailing west at 18 knots at 6:00 AM this morning, position 33°35.17'N, 039°42.92W, can't sleep late with 25 hour days. The deck crew was spraying the promenade deck so thoroughly that I walked inside around the expensive decks, decks nine and ten, wouldn't want to disturb my neighbors in the cheap cabins. The floor makes a satisfying clomping sound as I walk that early and a nice ting sound when I step on the metal thresholds, except for the loose one that makes an even more satisfying twang. Clomp, clomp, clomp, twang, clomp, clomp, clomp.

 

It was a beautiful day for lounging on the promenade deck.

 

Have to compliment Meghan the librarian. She has found a couple of books for me, made some great recommendations. She has helped some seniors with the internet with kind patience. I have heard that she runs an excellent book club. Hate to have Holland America eliminate the position.

 

The Italian buffet lunch was a bigger madhouse than the Indian lunch. Showing up fifteen minutes after opening did not improve things, too many diners in too little time. Waited in line for a while and was handed a plate. I was sixth in line for the salad area, tempted to try a sliver of sausage that a crew member was slicing. After a bit I was fifth in line, then fourth in line, then fifth in line, then sixth in line then fifth in line. The other line was cutting in front of my line to get to the only bowl of lettuce. I gave up on the sausage and salad and headed to the heated trays. Nothing looked good in the trays, the carved pork leg was great. I should give up on these ethnic buffets altogether, nice idea, it doesn't work for me.

 

Lost at afternoon trivia.

 

Read and lounged more on the promenade deck this afternoon. The promenade deck has been blocked off for maybe three days for maintenance work, takes the fun out of walking the deck. Lost at evening trivia. Lamb chops for dinner were a treat with interesting table mates.

 

Skipped the showroom performance, Dance! I'm not a fan of the dancers, would rather listen to a good performer stand before a microphone and sing, the dancing adds nothing.

 

Nightmare today, my skin crawls as I type this. Discovered I had not corrected the way the laundry folded my boxers and wore them inside-out all day long. Ruined the whole day. Makes me feel creepy. Ick, tag on the outside.

[whogo]

Tuesday, November 15, 2016, halfway point

At 6:15 AM we were cruising toward the left of the navigation screen at 18.2 knots, 259°, at 32°51.80'N, 048°12.22'W. We are sailing the shortest distance, a great circle route, note that we sailed slightly north of west as we left Madeira and are now sailing a little south of west.

 

Regret that the halls past Prinsendam's Neptune Suites and Pinnacle Suite do not lend themselves to lap walking. As I left the kitchen tour yesterday I saw that the names and photos of Neptune Suite guests were posted so the staff would know who merited bows. Mariner lunch was held in the dining room today, may attend tomorrow's. Mariners get an extra bingo card for every star on their key card today, quite the benefit if we played.

 

Captain Turner said during his noon update that we were halfway to Ft. Lauderdale. Tuned out cruise director Bruce's commercial announcements.

 

It has been mostly cloudy, spent most of the day reading, sometimes on the promenade deck, sometimes inside. Rain threatened, might have happened. Lost at afternoon trivia and drowned my sorrows at happy hour in the Crow's Nest. Giacomo (if the daily program is correct) provided soft piano and vocals starting at 4:30. Won at evening trivia and dined on prime rib again, I should not eat so much red meat.

 

Rubén Vilagrand presented a good magic/illusion act, the crowd loved him, bigger audiences than I am used to at the 10:00 show. Set our clocks back an hour, thankfully, can't get all my lazing done in 24 hours.

[kazu]

Tuesday, November 15, 2016, halfway point

At 6:15 AM we were cruising toward the left of the navigation screen at 18.2 knots, 259°, at 32°51.80'N, 048°12.22'W. We are sailing the shortest distance, a great circle route, note that we sailed slightly north of west as we left Madeira and are now sailing a little south of west.

 

Regret that the halls past Prinsendam's Neptune Suites and Pinnacle Suite do not lend themselves to lap walking. As I left the kitchen tour yesterday I saw that the names and photos of Neptune Suite guests were posted so the staff would know who merited bows. Mariner lunch was held in the dining room today, may attend tomorrow's. Mariners get an extra bingo card for every star on their key card today, quite the benefit if we played.

 

Captain Turner said during his noon update that we were halfway to Ft. Lauderdale. Tuned out cruise director Bruce's commercial announcements.

 

It has been mostly cloudy, spent most of the day reading, sometimes on the promenade deck, sometimes inside. Rain threatened, might have happened. Lost at afternoon trivia and drowned my sorrows at happy hour in the Crow's Nest. Giacomo (if the daily program is correct) provided soft piano and vocals starting at 4:30. Won at evening trivia and dined on prime rib again, I should not eat so much red meat.

 

Rubén Vilagrand presented a good magic/illusion act, the crowd loved him, bigger audiences than I am used to at the 10:00 show. Set our clocks back an hour, thankfully, can't get all my lazing done in 24 hours.

 

I've never seen the extra bingo cards for the *'s on your card whogo. That's cool (yes, the only time I play bingo is on the ship :o). I could use 5 extra cards, but I would most likely still lose - LOL.

 

Interesting on the photos in the galley. Never heard that before. You are full of interesting info today :D Thanks for taking the time to share. Always fun to follow along with you.

[whogo]

Wednesday, November 16, 2016, still sailing towards Ft. Lauderdale

Cruising more or less toward the left of the navigation screen at 18.2 knots, 255°, at 31°29.08'N, 056°00.63'W at 7:00 AM. Any errors in this latitude and longitude business are for the sake of security and not really errors at all. The sea is quite calm after a few days of rocking.

 

A paranoid woman thought that the mirrors along our deck were two-way for her stewards to spy on her. Her steward denied it. Of course the woman is crazy, they don't spy on anyone using two-way mirrors. It is all done with hidden cameras, much more efficient, one person can monitor many cameras. It is all part of staff cutbacks.

 

Interesting time on the promenade deck this morning. A walker passed by singing, I Could Have Danced All Night. A senior had not quite taken on modern technology, he had a CD player strapped to his hip. Saw another ship this morning and a perfect rainbow preceded a brief shower. Never have my camera at such times, missed photographing the best sunrise of the trip, too.

 

We attended the Mariner Society Lunch in the dining room, were not invited to any awards ceremonies. Captain spoke well and briefly, telling a couple of jokes and saying that he hoped to see us back on the Prinsendam or another HAL ship. The future cruise consultant spoke too long, one word would have been too much, did not appreciate yet another reminder that I could buy something from Holland America. The cruise director offered the toast. The lunch was surprising nice, good food, good service and a quiet spot in the nearly full dining room.I had chicken and white bean soup and trout almondine, followed by a strawberry mille-whatever pastry and a candy plate. Passed another freighter fairly closely.

 

The captain stated in his noon announcement that we were about 2/3 of the way to Ft. Lauderdale and have averaged 18 knots. His lecture of the day was about the Beaufort scale.

 

Tied for first in afternoon trivia winning Windows drawstring nylon bags that might be usable as a backpack if the strings don't bite in too much. Answer of the day was 1946.

 

Crow's Nest happy hour beckoned again at 4:00, I am being led astray by the kind of people my mother warned me about. Lost at evening trivia by a number of points and then ate dinner with foreigners - Dutch and Canadians. I had the English beef with Yorkshire pudding. The five spice shrimp was a popular choice. Brownie hot fudge sundae had a few brownie crumbs, if you looked closely enough.

 

Will attend singing group Bailamos's 10:00 show. All going well, the grouch title leaves me open to charges of misrepresentation.

[shrimp56]

Enjoying your report immensely!

[whogo]

Thursday, November17, 2016, sailing towards a Saturday arrival in Ft. Lauderdale

Thanks for all the kind words.

 

Our 6:45 AM position was 29°40.20'N, 064°56.68'W. The decks weree closed off. The reported apparent windspeed was 50 knots, don't know if that is accurate. Seas increased overnight, feel more motion, the sick sacks are not out yet.

 

A broken yolk in my over easy eggs boded ill. I watched my step.

 

There is a guy's table in the Lido early mornings, on a rotating basis two or three or four men sit and drink coffee and solve the world's problems, much like what happens at guy's tables throughout the planet. In direct contravention of tradition, a woman or two occasionally joins the guy's table. The dynamics change immediately. The guy's table becomes a lady's table, and only female voices are heard. Don't know what has become of society when women don't recognize a guy's table as such and leave it alone.

 

Save the planet! I saved on water and other precious resources by using my hand towel as a bath towel and using the same one for three days. After the election I switched to using two bath towels per day.

 

For the first time ever I recognize the captain, don't know how it happened, and I think I can recognize the hotel director, if he stays in uniform.

 

I was quoted a price of $25 (pus tip?) for a haircut. Would be reasonable if I had more hair or thought a better haircut would improve my looks. I will get my haircut at home.

 

We were listing to port this morning. The captain explained that the wind had shifted 180° and he would shift ballast to level us up. I did my part by moving to starboard. Big crew drill, simulated fire on deck 5 and things progressed until almost all the crew reported to their muster stations. I think they do such musters every month, but was not interested enough to ask the q&a officer stationed near the front desk.

 

At the beginning of the cruise half of my boxers were coming back from the laundry inside-out and I mistakenly wore a pair inside-out once. Inspected all my boxers as returned by the laundry and they are all right side-out. The laundry workers must be reading this blog.

 

Won at afternoon trivia by a couple of points, wide variety of expertise on the team. Good fun, were awarded Windows luggage tags.

 

The price of a euro has dropped by a nickel, my leaving Europe must have panicked the currency markets. We spent a lot on unlimited laundry, but only needed to fill a bag two days out of three. Let the neighbors fill our bag at a 10% discount, made $18 back every third day.

 

Tied for first at evening trivia, won more luggage tags. Dined on surf and turf. Will skip tonight's performance, have already seen the UK pop show Atlantic Crossing. The Prinsendam singers and dancers don't do the songs the way the Rolling Stones did.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Have been catching up on your reports this morning.

Love them.

[0bnxshs]

Bring 'er safely into port tomorrow morning Grouch! We'll be needing 'er for our trip to the Amazon later in the day. :D

 

Thanks for all the laughs and details. You do a great job!

[Happily@Sea]

I never knew the Prinsendam was such a miserable ship, she sure has gone downhill since last May. ;)

 

You would have 'loved' last May out of drydock, all the 'new' carpet scruff everywhere, the giant waves just north of the Azores and the heavy fog coming into Zeebrugge, Belgium. [Plus the train strikes so prevalent in France at that time. If you didn't have a Paris tour arranged in LeHavre - you could not get to Paris on your own.]

 

Thank you for the very entertaining report. Good luck finding something to grouch about on your next cruise. :D

[porrah]

Dear Grouch,

I appreciated your reports and sense of humour. I love going to trivia, and shared your pain when you lost.

Only one more posting I guess, then you are home and I will be going through Grouch withdrawal.

Thank you.

[Skipper's Mom]

Thanks, Grouch, for your entertaining reports. We love the P-dam!

 

Sent from my XT1064 using Forums mobile app

[cdenni2]

Oh how we shall miss the daily Grouch report! Time to yell at the neighborhood kids again! Looking forward to your future cruises.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[St Pete Cruiser]

Dear Grouch,

Loved your comment about the wash cloth for 3 days vs 2 bath towels daily since the election. Next week the ice age will return, too!

[whogo]

Friday, November 16, 2017, sailing toward a Saturday arrival in Ft. Lauderdale

The library smelled like an ashtray when I checked the navigation screen this morning. Our 6:00 AM position was 27°22.04'N, 072°36.59'W sailing at 18 knots 249°. Weather improved, promenade deck was open, warm and pleasant outside.

 

First breakfast early in the Lido followed by second breakfast in the dining room. For the first time in many cruises Mrs. Whogo joined me for breakfast there, she is a Lido breakfast person. Always fun to see which errors will be made with orders around the table. Returned to the cabin and found the luggage mats out. In denial about the cruise ending, I read on the promenade deck and in the library. The promenade deck and the library have been important parts of my cruises, hate to think that Holland America would eliminate either of them.

 

Showed up late to the Indonesian and Filipino lunch buffet in the dining room and found the lines barely tolerable, better than the earlier buffets. Ended up with mixed grill, all meat except for a some green beans. Chicken satay and pork belly are the only names I remember, had a couple of beef stew like dishes. Assume all dishes are milder than on their home turf.

 

Won more Windows luggage tags at afternoon trivia, had a team with a great range of expertise and they were nice people to boot. Some trivia answers may help you on future cruises: Cabaret, Africa, 1948, 1980, 1997, envelope, humerus, same upside down, China, 6, 1922, Dolly Parton, Antonio Vivaldi, Statue of Liberty, Total Recall, Tiger Wood, Transylvania, one, Rin Tin Tin, Christine, Cardinal, Michael Jordan, France, 1930's, China, China, Igor Stravinsky, Felix Mendelssohn, Japan, Colonel Hugh Pickering, Mercury, Copenhagen, fox, basil, Marilyn Monroe, caffeine, fireworks, Quebec, 1950's, Los Angeles, China, Elephant, Brown, Stevie Wonder, chicken, Cameroon, rubies, John Lennon.

 

Everyone has been nice on the cruise, great bunch of cruisers, with open seating and Cruise Critic meet ups we have met a much of them. Attacked the packing problem more diligently and went back to reading.

 

The captain treated us to drinks from 7:00 to 8:00 to make up for the construction nuisances. It was only a minor nuisance to me to have the promenade deck partially blocked off, don't know of other disturbances. I had a free beer in the Ocean Bar. The Station Band drew dancers to the dance floor. Big, well-behaved crowd for the free drinks.

 

Prime rib again? Had it once again in the dining room, beautifully cooked. Wild mushroom soup was also good. A noisier crowd arrived after eight, I think some of them had more than a couple free drinks. Minor packing left to do, it is all over but the shouting. Great cruise, this will go down as one of the best.

[PhoenixCruiser]

Sad to see the cruise ending. Thanks for taking us along!

 

###

[SilvertoGold]

Whogo:

 

I will miss your posts horribly. Quick, book the next cruise!

 

Fun, clever, well-written, hilarious, informative are just a few of the adjectives that come to mind.

 

Isn't it nice to have "one of the best"? Glad you had such a good time, as we have had, reading your thread.

[kazu]

Ahh shoot, the cruise is coming to an end. Means your fantastic live thread is too. So enjoyable.

 

It's been a joy to read and hopefully there may be a post or two more.

 

Safe travels Whogo and thank you for taking us along.

[Vict0riann]

Sitting in Fort Lauderdale airport waiting for our flight home, I've been reading all about what we did on our cruise. What a hoot! I have to say I was a bit disconcerted by the inside-out underwear, too, and also my bras came back fastened up! I suppose that may be a logical way to put them I the wash so they don't get tangled up, but I had difficulty unfastening them! Maybe they went through some sort of press that squished the hooks...

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[shrimp56]

Sitting in Fort Lauderdale airport waiting for our flight home, I've been reading all about what we did on our cruise. What a hoot! I have to say I was a bit disconcerted by the inside-out underwear, too, and also my bras came back fastened up! I suppose that may be a logical way to put them I the wash so they don't get tangled up, but I had difficulty unfastening them! Maybe they went through some sort of press that squished the hooks...

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Yep, they squish the hooks. Back to washing them in the sink. Looking forward to your report:)

 

Will miss you grouch.

[pv girl]

Loved reading about your adventures and wishing you and the lovely Mrs. Whogo a safe trip home - maybe some snow waiting to be shoveled.

[Lizzie68]

One of the most entertaining threads I've read. Would love to sail with the Grouch and Mrs. Whogo one day.:D

[whogo]

Saturday, November 19, 2016, Ft. Lauderdale

Took a last few laps of the warm, windy promenade last night, saw ship lights and lights from the Bahamas, we were approaching civilization. Judging from what I have seen on this trip, there is no sea life in the middle of the Atlantic. Finally saw a seabird yesterday.

 

Set the big bags outside the room and I hoped I kept everything I would need in the cabin.

 

At 5:00 AM this morning our position was 26°05.12'N, 080°06.84W traveling 0 knots as we were tied up at the dock in Ft. Lauderdale. I have to travel another 10° west to make it to home. Never saw what the breakfast hours would be, the full Lido opened at 6:00 AM, I had my usual.

 

Shipboard internet continues to be fast for me, I bought too many minutes. It took me just a couple of minutes to copy and paste these posts and check email, 100 minutes would have been plenty. They may deliberately slow loading of the free NY Times and Holland America websites.

 

Chester (my room steward's pseudonym, remember?) stripped the bed at 7:15. I saw that the mattress was bagged in what might be a Gore-Tex like material and covered with a couple of layers of felt. Lester (as I call the other steward to protect the innocent) also came in. Turns out that my ocean view window has been permanently sealed and my room does not have a heated towel bar. Future cruisers will want to avoid this cabin. Chester and Lester did a great job, the room was cleaned well in a timely manner, laundry sent out at night was delivered with the next morning's cleaning, did not pay for expedited service.

 

This was day 30 of our second Prinsendam cruise and I finally figured out the light switches. There is master switch which controls power to some of the light switches in the room, those by the window and in the closet. The master switch is a three-way switch with it partner above the bed by the bathroom. With one hour left before debarkation I could turn off and on all the lights in the room with limited aggravation.

 

With a 5:00 flight and no better idea I signed up for the Everglades airboat ride and airport transfer.

 

"Your tour includes a half-hour airboat ride into this vast wilderness. Birds, fish and other animals inhabit this curious corner of the country.

 

"After your airboat ride, take a tour of the reptile exhibit. You will see the notorious Everglades alligator and other creatures that call Florida home at the endangered species exhibit -- you may even be lucky enough to see the rare Florida panther. Re-board your coach and transfer to the airport."

 

What the excursion description did not mention was the half hour wait at the curb for the bus to load Eurodam passengers. They got to board the bus immediately, we cooled our heels waiting. I am not good at cooling my heels, was sorely vexed and heated. Loved this part of the excursion description "you may even be lucky enough to see the rare Florida panther." No luck involved at all, two of them were right there in their cage. That makes two excursions that will receive scathing reviews from me, hope Holland America does not refuse to print them.

 

Baggage drop lines snaked out the doors of the airport, spent about an hour in line. The logjam cleared shortly after. We had TSA recheck, not sure why, we don't qualify as old folks. Honest. Flights were on time and we arrived to find our house still handing.

 

Prinsendam still has the old Holland America feel to her. It was a great cruise. If I were capable of gushing over the ship, crew, and ports, I would.

[rafinmd]

Welcome home.

 

Roy

[easyboy]

Enjoyed following your live updates. Thanks.

[sos1720]

I was on this cruise with The Grouch and we met briefly at the CC meetup. I enjoyed his accurate descriptions of the cruise. We're back home and glad The Grouch made it back safely.