* LIVE from the Rotterdam - 30 day Passage to Spain and Western Europe - Mar. 30th*

[kazu]

Internet is too slow. Back later to answer other questions so fire away. I will do so at Madeira at the latest ;)

 

 

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[KerriL]

I will indeed grab a pic or two. Never fear ;)

There is one of her with the florist. Not her best lol.

[KNOT2L82SAIL]

Kazu, your postings are wonderful. Thank you so much for doing this.

I was wondering what the Rotterdam would be like and you are putting me so at ease. I cannot wait to board her for the Voyage of the Vikings.

The photos are awesome. Keep them coming. And all of the activities.... I hope they offer us the tour with the florist. That would be so interesting.

Once again, thank you. :)

[kazu]

There is one of her with the florist. Not her best lol.

 

 

 

She was helping with Bingo today. I asked and introduced myself and she rolled her eyes when I said her mother was watching. LOL.

 

I will get some good pics at the culinary class - I promise.

 

 

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[kazu]

Kazu, your postings are wonderful. Thank you so much for doing this.

 

I was wondering what the Rotterdam would be like and you are putting me so at ease. I cannot wait to board her for the Voyage of the Vikings.

 

The photos are awesome. Keep them coming. And all of the activities.... I hope they offer us the tour with the florist. That would be so interesting.

 

Once again, thank you. :)

 

 

 

I will get to the art tour shortly.

 

The Rotterdam is a beautiful ship. Our bathroom needs some attention at the bottom, but it's just a grout issue. Everything else is fabulous.

 

The crew is really, really good so far - going way past the mile IMO.

 

I think you should be having a fabulous voyage. Of course we only have 7 days in. But, I see no reason for anything to change.

 

Another hour of sleep being lost. Dam.

 

Back later when I have composed and can copy and paste. Let's just say that dinner was WONDERFUL.

 

 

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[kazu]

Mame, our Cellar Master is Raj.

 

He leaves his staff alone as he says they are all outstanding.

 

We lose Rod after the first segment so we will soon find out.

 

Raj emphasized that the surveys at the end of the cruise COUNT and to put in names.

 

And, another origami added to my collection tonight.

 

And, with that I have to sign off. I so wish we had unlimited internet. Cheers 700 nautical miles from Funchal.

 

 

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[KerriL]

She was helping with Bingo today. I asked and introduced myself and she rolled her eyes when I said her mother was watching. LOL.

 

I will get some good pics at the culinary class - I promise.

 

 

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Yup. That's my kid! :hearteyes: She's mortified, I'm sure. Lol

Edited April 7, 2017 by KerriL

[kazu]

Good afternoon from the lovely Rotterdam. It's April 7th and we are about 300 nautical miles from Madeira. And, no internet.

 

The day started out cloudy, cool and a tad drizzly but by the afternoon, the sun had blessed us again and we have a lovely 20 degrees Celsius (about 69 F).

 

The Captain's weather forecast for Madeira is very promising. About the same as it is right now.

 

Yesterday we had our roll call slot pull. Rick (rajkr74) kissed the slot machine good luck for us.

 

 

After our first round we were down about 1/2 our money so could have cashed out and should have by the "rules". However, the entire group agreed we should "go broke or go home". Sadly, we went broke. We had a lot of fun though - so much, that those staying on would like to do it on the second segment, so, we just might.

 

We definitely will NOT play the same machine again though. LOL.

 

A few pics of people just having fun

 

 

 

 

Last night was our Gala Night and dinner was very good. It was off to a great start when our Yum Yum man stopped by our table and added to my origami herd. This time he made me a dog. A pretty appropriate animal for kazu!

 

Here is he is working on his piece of art.

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Last night's dinner was delicious and I do MEAN delicious. The amuse bouche last night was a mint - green pea concoction. Sounds like a strange combination but DH and many others really liked it.

 

 

We both opted for the Oysters Rockefeller. Nicely done too!!!

 

 

I opted for the salad. The raspberry vinaigrette was very nice. POA1, if you are reading, yes, that is a prune on the plate. Not sure why that was done! Let's just say kazu did not eat it.

 

 

 

DH opted for the veal which got two thumbs up

 

 

And I had the prime rib which also was great

 

 

Finished off the dinner with the souffle, which we shared

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

After dinner we headed to the Ocean Bar to meet up with a couple of friends and enjoy Happy, Happy Hour. I really like that there is a happy hour from 9 - 10 pm as it gives those doing Main Dining a chance to have an after dinner drink.

 

Last night we ventured into martini land and everyone enjoyed them very much.

 

 

I discovered another bar menu there as well, so I thought I would post it in case it is of help to anyone out there.

 

 

 

 

Our clocks were going forward another hour last night so, although we were calling it an early evening it was really close to midnight when decided we had best hit the hay.

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

On to today, the 7th.

 

Here is today's When and Where:

 

 

 

The infamous $10 sale was today so I picked up a couple of watches for my port days. If they die or are stolen, it's no biggie. Also noticed that the tshirts seemed nicer than usual so I picked one up for my DS.

 

Today was the medallion ceremony which is always kind of fun. We opted to skip the Mariner's Brunch since we had reservations for lunch at the Pinnacle and, in Kazu's opinion a PG lunch always beats a Mariner's Brunch. Besides 11 am is too early to eat.

 

 

We were joined by friends (new to HAL) and they thoroughly enjoyed the PG lunch.

 

Of course, the crab cakes had to be had

 

 

 

And a couple of us opted for the Pinnacle Burger - it was very, very good. That's the opinion of both of us that had it.

 

 

The Black Cod sandwich

 

 

And the Cioppino - which by the way was NOT salty and very good.

 

 

 

 

 

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[DeeniEncinitas]

Goodmorning Jacque from sunny San Diego!!!!

Soooo enjoying your reports! Love all the pics! Just finished getting caught up with my coffee this am.

Have an awesome cruise!

Looking forward to your trip to my fav place PARIS!!!!

Denise:)

[PJLoveToTravel]

Jacqui

 

How do you get the tile of the Rotterdam?

[fancy234]

Everyone looks great and enjoying the martini bar!! Such a beautiful fun ship !

Tell mom we are getting great updates from you so not to worry about calling from land! Alls good here!

Olivia

 

 

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[Krazy Kruizers]

Just getting caught up.

Looks like you all are having a great time and the food pictures are wonderful.

[rkacruiser]

Jacqui

 

How do you get the tile of the Rotterdam?

 

Not Jacqui to be sure, but the tiles are distributed during the Mariner's Brunch.

[PJLoveToTravel]

Not Jacqui to be sure, but the tiles are distributed during the Mariner's Brunch.

 

 

Thank you

[kazu]

Just got wifi in Madeira - at lunch with our group.

 

I think we have a bunch of hungry people. LOL

 

 

We are in the mountains at a restaurant about to eat the typical food for the area. Yum.

 

Here is the When and Where for today.

 

 

 

Our tour left at 8:45 am so there wasn't much time to post.

 

Looks like our cab doesn't have wifi >sigh<, But hopefully I will find some when our tour is over.

 

Otherwise, it will be the ship later to bring things up to date.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[kazu]

Oh we had the local bread - a Funchal specialty - yummy - with garlic and oil. Really delicious.

 

 

On the menu, their specially cooked beef on a skewer, fresh salads, fries and a number of us are trying their local beer which is VERY good.

 

 

Our meat is simmering tempting us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Skipper's Mom]

Oh we had the local bread - a Funchal specialty - yummy - with garlic and oil. Really delicious.

 

 

On the menu, their specially cooked beef on a skewer, fresh salads, fries and a number of us are trying their local beer which is VERY good.

 

 

Our meat is simmering tempting us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jacqui, looks like the restaurant we were at when we cruised on the Riviera with you and G&G.

 

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[MaxeyMom]

A group of us on CC have Daniel scheduled for October. Please let us know where you explored on Madiera. The espatadas looked really yummy!

[Tampa Girl]

Great shots above so I won't add any. Easy to pick out Kazu & Rick!!

 

For those of us who have not been them - which ones are they?

[MVPinBoynton]

Oh my, I shouldn't have started reading this thread. We are finally going to cruise on HAL again, Zaandam to Antarctica in January; and now I am even more anxious to get on a HAL ship again. Everything looks so nice and I am getting hungrier with each food pic. Thanks so much for sharing your cruise with us. Have a most enjoyable cruise. We have been to most of the ports you are going to before and thoroughly enjoyed them. Wish we were cruising with you too.

[Bostonjetset]

JUST GOT INTERNET BACK. - don't know how long it will hold so I better get cracking!!!!

 

It's still April 2nd, but we have lost internet. Hit the infamous "dead zone".

 

So, I'm not sure when you will see this but I am going to try to keep up to date.

 

We had our roll call wine tasting today and I think everyone had a good time. We had some "big" prizes for the most popular wine. (Don't take the "big" too literally). Great group of people and a lot of fun.

 

Between what I collected and the hors d'hoeuvres that HAL gave us, we had enough munchies to help absorb the wine.

 

Our munchies:

 

 

And, I even got to bingo.

 

I didn't win but jcw0313 did - YAY.

 

Stryker joined us at our table at the Retreat and it turns out he smokes! He says most piano bar players do. He can't figure out where this rumour that smoking hurts your voice comes from. LOL - he says since he exercises his voice every night he thinks that makes a difference. He even has one if his voice feels wrong on a break and then he says it works great. Go figure.

 

He is getting off with us on April 29th and then taking a couple of months off. After that he is on the Veendam, so anyone on that ship is in for a huge treat.

 

He warned us to get there early tonight and I groaned since we are on Main Seating. He laughed and said the DRM is giving him a hard time as some people want to get served faster to get a seat.

 

 

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Thanks for the wonderful review and all the pictures!! I see you are having a great time!!

I had a couple good conversations with Stryker out in the "smoker's area" when he was the piano player on our Westerdam sailing last September. He's a very nice guy. Does he still have those wild piano-key glasses? Too fun!

[Bostonjetset]

Good afternoon from the lovely Rotterdam. It's April 7th and we are about 300 nautical miles from Madeira. And, no internet.

 

The day started out cloudy, cool and a tad drizzly but by the afternoon, the sun had blessed us again and we have a lovely 20 degrees Celsius (about 69 F).

 

The Captain's weather forecast for Madeira is very promising. About the same as it is right now.

 

Yesterday we had our roll call slot pull. Rick (rajkr74) kissed the slot machine good luck for us.

 

 

After our first round we were down about 1/2 our money so could have cashed out and should have by the "rules". However, the entire group agreed we should "go broke or go home". Sadly, we went broke. We had a lot of fun though - so much, that those staying on would like to do it on the second segment, so, we just might.

 

We definitely will NOT play the same machine again though. LOL.

 

A few pics of people just having fun

 

 

 

 

Last night was our Gala Night and dinner was very good. It was off to a great start when our Yum Yum man stopped by our table and added to my origami herd. This time he made me a dog. A pretty appropriate animal for kazu!

 

Here is he is working on his piece of art.

 

 

 

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Oh I see the YumYum Man's livery has changed from red to white. I'm loving the old-school hat with the name spelled out though. Such an adorable touch. These young men are always some of the most delightful and friendly crew members on the ship; truly one of those special HAL touches.