LIVE from the Prinsendam - 24 day Med Rivieras & River Explorer - please join us

[HomeLover]

Captain Dag has been puddle jumping all over S.E. Asia for several weeks now.

[Vict0riann]

Welcome on board, Jacqui and Jose!   You're lucky to still have Linda on board as your CD, she was great on the "Grand", also, please give our regards to Rifki, the Lido and Canaletto Manager!  He was an old friend for us when we boarded, and took really good care of us.    If he organizes some special Canaletto dinners, they were a wonderful change, but possibly were just for the Grand SA.  

 

We had some of the German company on board for our sailing, and while we were on they were having all the stairway railings sanded.  I must say, it was a good thing, as they had been rather sticky when we first boarded.  We also heard about some of their plans for changes.  

[kazu]

46 minutes ago, drowelf said:

Thats really nice to see. I don't remember seeing something like that before. Is it new? Was it in that big stack of stuff you find on your bed when you first arrive in the cabin?

 

We had our Mariner lunch at Renee's table back in August and he mentioned that he would be on board for our portion of the cruise. Good to know that he kept to his plans. 

 

 

I think it’s relatively new.  We had one of these last year on the Prinsendam but it was the first time I’ve seen it.

 

I like it as it has highlights of things,

 

I already have the key ones booked 😄 

[kazu]

14 minutes ago, HomeLover said:

Captain Dag has been puddle jumping all over S.E. Asia for several weeks now.

 

What ship is he on? 

[HomeLover]

He hasn’t been, he has been flying from city to city revisiting old friend and old haunts.

[kazu]

3 minutes ago, HomeLover said:

He hasn’t been, he has been flying from city to city revisiting old friend and old haunts.

 

Thanks 🙂 

[kazu]

1 hour ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

Don't like the idea that the Germans are on the ship already and starting to change a few times and measure other things to be replaced.

 

It’s not really that bad KK,

 

But to give you an idea, there are little things that we notice.

 

The railings on the Prinsendam for the stairways were light and bright.

 

 

Here is the new colour:

 

 

Dingy. (To me) and dark and actually quite rough so far.  I’m sure by July 1st, they will be lovely but I much preferred the original. 😉 

[HomeLover]

Kazu,  

you are welcome.  That is one of the reasons I switched cruises at the last minute.. I had already done the North Cape Cruise, and without Dag, I didn’t HAVE to be on the last cruise.  We also had a strange group on CC, so I joined  the 4/24.  I am glad I did!  Friendlier group, an itinerary I haven’t done before, with the opportunity to stay over in London with a minimum of fuss.  

Cant wait to be onboard again before too many changes are made.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

49 minutes ago, RuthC said:

Representatives of the new owners were aboard during my Sept. '18 cruise, measuring things, and taking lots of notes. They were unobtrusive, and plans did need to be made for any renovations they plan to make. That's fine.
But making the changes in advance, especially when there are passengers sailing, can change the atmosphere and also interfere with the enjoyment of the current cruise.

At least it is HAL staff & crew, with the great service provided on the Elegant Explorer.

 

Yes, we were told that the Prinsendam was owned by the new company since 7/1/18 and that HAL leased it back for the last year.

[kazu]

Wifi is not being kind to me right now but let’s try this - here is the When and Where from our embarkation day:

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

And, here is the When and Where from today:

 

At home it would have taken seconds to upload - not here 😉 

 

Good thing I am on unlimited and not by the minute 😉 

 

 

 

[kazu]

Here is last night’s menu.

 

DH ordered the salmon from the everyday menu.  Had I known the presentation, I would have taken a food porn pic.  It was very different and well presented.

 

He said it was delish.  I’ll bring the camera tonight but I hate taking standard food porn pics 😉 

 

Dinner was quite good last night (I had the rainbow trout).

 

Here is the menu:  

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

And tonight’s menu -

 

I think we can all guess what Kazu will have in the appetizers - escargots 😉 

 

[kazu]

A little bit of food porn to keep the food porn Addicts happy,

Went to the Crow’s Nest at Happy Hour and yummy, yummy appetizers along with the standard peanuts.

 

[DeeniEncinitas]

Thanks Jacqui for the updates and menus! Your forgiven no photo of Jose’s salmon! LOL

I just appreciate you doing this!

Hope the Germans do their best to not get in the way of your cruise.

Denise😊

[DeeniEncinitas]

1 minute ago, kazu said:

A little bit of food porn to keep the food porn Addicts happy,

Went to the Crow’s Nest at Happy Hour and yummy, yummy appetizers along with the standard peanuts.

 

That is a nice presentation up in crows nest for happy hour👍

Denise😊

[kazu]

I am so lucky.  HELENPSL has read enough of my posts to know I like flowers and she and her DH sent me this lovely bouquet for our room.

 

Isn’t it pretty?

 

 

 

Thank you Helen and Angelo.  It is absolutely gorgeous ❤️ 

[woodworker&knitter]

We were on the Rotterdam last year where HAL vendors were riping out the hot tubs while we were cruising. 

[kazu]

2 minutes ago, DeeniEncinitas said:

That is a nice presentation up in crows nest for happy hour👍

Denise😊

This ship does a nice job of it in the Crow’s Nest 🙂 

 

Every day is something different.  I’ll have to keep my eye out for the Spanish stuff for DH if we aren’t going.

 

After all it’s a long walk to the Crow’s Nest. 😉😉 😄 

[Vict0riann]

The appetizers are in the Ocean Bar for Happy Hour, too, also goldfish, if you ask for them...

[*Miss G*]

What beautiful flowers, and how thoughtful!  I have to say that I do like the new color of the bannisters.  And now I am hungry and jealous because I can’t just have someone bring me food.  LOL

[Happily@Sea]

3 hours ago, kazu said:

Here is the Voyage Planner for this segment

 

I like this for “planning” purposes 😉 

 

 

Isn't that great to have on the first day. 😄

[Happily@Sea]

2 hours ago, drowelf said:

Thats really nice to see. I don't remember seeing something like that before. Is it new? Was it in that big stack of stuff you find on your bed when you first arrive in the cabin?

 

We had our Mariner lunch at Renee's table back in August and he mentioned that he would be on board for our portion of the cruise. Good to know that he kept to his plans. 

 

It's on the back of the officers' picture page - on stiff paper - a single sheet by itself.

Edited April 13, 2019 by Happily@Sea

[puppycanducruise]

Beautiful flowers.

Enjoy.

[kazu]

What a glorious time we had last night.

 

A simply fabulous dinner.  The escargots were the best I have had on land and sea that I can recall.  I totally confess to having two servings of them. 😉 The tenderloin was as tender as tender could be. 

 

I will post that pic shortly once I get on land where they upload faster. 😉 

 

For those worried about singers and dancers disappearing, they haven’t left this little ship yet.  

 

Us?  We headed to the Crow’s Nest to snatch a happy hour wine (found one I really like).  With happy hour prices the $15 glass only costs $17 for two.  We basked in the music of Tim at the piano (quite good) and then took the long walk down the hall to relax and then savoured the remainder in the room before we hit the hay 😄 

 

We are in Cadiz today.  DH has full permission to sleep in as it’s Palm Sunday here so not much will be open.  We plan on just enjoying the city and savouring some flavour before the Flamenco show this afternoon with 39 of our roll call members.