Live(ish) from Westerdam Xmas/NY cruise from Auckland 20Dec22

[sewgood]

5 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

They look like chocolates.

You betcha they are.

HAL still gives out pillow chocolates on their dressy night.

Maybe keep it as a souvenir  😄 as the days of pillow chocolates are fast disappearing.

[MMDown Under]

8 minutes ago, sewgood said:

You betcha they are.

HAL still gives out pillow chocolates on their dressy night.

Maybe keep it as a souvenir  😄 as the days of pillow chocolates are fast disappearing.

I'm just eating a chocolate given to me by my local cafe.  Some nice customs remain. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

My cruise was in 2011.  I'm impressed that they have been doing it so long.  That town has always fascinated me because of its art deco style.  My grandmother's cousin was in that big earthquake, so her fear passed on to me.  

Luckily Napier chose to preserve most of it's unique buildings and they've made a major tourist attraction of it.

[NSWP]

Julie, I am enjoying your progressive reports. Well done and continue to enjoy your 🚢 cruise.

[mooseridge]

Hello from Idaho USA.  Thank you so much for your thread!  So interesting with great information.  We were supposed to do this cruise back before COVID.  We all know how that turned out!

 

We too have cruised Princess & HAL.  HAL is now our favorite.  Even though we always choose a balcony, we love the explorations cafe for the 180 viewing - sail aways & docking is always so interesting!  Sorry about your coffee.  Keep trying!  Tried a drink there?  Sure like sitting there with a drink just chilling out & a great place to meet new friends.  (Princess has no Ex-Cafe & Celebrity is getting rid of theirs) 

 

Also the music!  The Lincoln Center is our favorite but all the different music choices are wonderful.  So hope you get to try them all & let us know what is your favorite.

 

We got back from a Hal cruise in October.  Things are a bit different then before COVID.   Supply issues are such a problem and so many new stewards/crew.  They remain so very willing to serve but many have a lot to learn.  

 

Again, thank you for sharing.  Be safe & enjoy!

 

PS  HIghly recommend these HAL ships, Rotterdam, Neiu Statendam & Koningsdam.  They are slightly bigger but not too big.   So beautiful. 

 

mooseridge

 

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

13 hours ago, NSWP said:

Julie, I am enjoying your progressive reports. Well done and continue to enjoy your 🚢 cruise.

Thanks Les.

[NSWP]

Julie how was the speciality dinner the other night?

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, NSWP said:

Julie how was the speciality dinner the other night?

It was excellent. Breads with dips and olives to start. I had one of the best beef carpaccios ever, then beautifully cooked branzano (sea bass). I chose the orange blossom ricotta tart for dessert. 

 

The wine service wasn't great. We ordered wines to go with our appetisers before the bread and dips arrived. So by the time I started eating my carpaccio I needed another glass of wine. However it never arrived. I was able to change my order to a wine more suitable for the fish and, luckily, it arrived promptly.

 

Canaletto is in the forward starboard side of the buffet but is closed off from the buffet at night and had a much nice ambiance. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

Yesterday we stopped in Picton. We had an excursion credit so chose to do a Wines of Marlborough excursion. It was very good. Beautiful scenery there and back and the driver gave interesting commentaries. We stopped at three wineries, two of which were really interesting and one that wasn't as good a match for our tastes in wine.

 

The first was Forrest Wines. They are making some very unusual wines and it was a pleasure to taste some of them. There was one red in particular, Lagrein, a Northern Italy grape variety, that we had never tried before so we bought a bottle to take home. They also had an excellent riesling and a very interesting light dessert wine, Petit Manseng.

 

The second was Allan Scott winery. Fairly standard mainstream NZ wines. Nice enough but not to our slightly weird tastes.

 

The final winery was Fromm which is an organic winery. They had some lovely wines. It was a toss up whether to buy the Pinot Noir or the Syrah. The Pinot Noir won although it will go into our long term wine fridge for a few years.

 

The one negative about this 10am to 3pm excursion was that no food was provided. The bus driver had over-priced chips and nuts for sale (his boss's idea). Surely it would be easy enough to get a local catering company, or even one of the wineries, to make up little boxes of cheese and crackers to hand out.

 

However our lovely bus driver saved the day. We ended up with enough time to visit the local hand made chocolate store. After a couple of samples we felt better and a quick zoom around the store resulted in a good supply of chocolate and a slightly battered credit card. Apparently we broke a record too - the driver gave us 20 minutes there and all 43 of us were back onboard within 15 minutes laden with choccies. We are now enjoying a seasonal treat of festive chocolate mince tarts. OMG! I wanna visit Marlborough every year just before Christmas. Pastry mince tarts just don't cut it any more! 🤣

[OzKiwiJJ]

Last night we finally went to a show. The times are a bit awkward for us as we have the late 7:45pm dinner sitting. The shows are 7pm and 9pmm and, so far, we've rarely left the Dining Room much before 10pm. So early show it had to be!

 

It was a group called Cantarè. Four guys who are amazing singers and who cover popular songs with excellent harmony. We missed the first show which was apparently based around movie themes. Their second show was based on songs performed by groups. They are regulars on Holland America.

 

Tonight there is a special Christmas show at 10pm so hopefully we'll be able to get seats. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

Today we're in Lyttelton. We had a slow start and a lazy breakfast in the buffet. Unfortunately this was punctuated by crew training alarms (ouch, my poor ears!).

 

Lyttelton is another working port so shuttles are required to get off the wharf. There were two types of shuttle - free shuttles to the i-Site in Lyttelton, just at one side of the main street, and shuttles to Christchurch at a cost. Tickets for the Christchurch shuttles had to be purchased at a booth on the wharf. I forgot to note how much they were, I'll see if I can find it out later.

 

We chose to just go into Lyttelton. The main street, which luckily runs parallel to the shore so is flat, was closed for a huge market. There was some delicious produce on offer but, sadly, not much we could take back to Australis. We found a cafe for a decent coffee then swapped over to the local pub for lunch. We were lucky to get a table overlooking the harbour. It wasn't shaded so I had to make a quick run to the local chemist to buy some sunscreen as I'd forgotten ours again. Now I have a nice little purse-sized tube.

 

We had delicious fish and chips for lunch. I'm not sure what the fish was, probably local cod. Very nice indeed. 

 

We headed back to the ship after lunch. The port security guy told the bus driver that a pod of orcas had been spotted in the harbour but by the time we got up on deck there was no sign of them. We're sitting up by the Seaview Pool, aft of the buffet, at the moment. It's very pleasant under the shaded sections. Unfortunately the side with the best views over the harbour today is the smoking section. 😪

 

Oh well, it must be time to wander into the buffet for an ice-cream. Will their chocolate ice-cream be as nice as the Princess one? Stay tuned ...

 

[MMDown Under]

8 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Today we're in Lyttelton. We had a slow start and a lazy breakfast in the buffet. Unfortunately this was punctuated by crew training alarms (ouch, my poor ears!).

 

Lyttelton is another working port so shuttles are required to get off the wharf. There were two types of shuttle - free shuttles to the i-Site in Lyttelton, just at one side of the main street, and shuttles to Christchurch at a cost. Tickets for the Christchurch shuttles had to be purchased at a booth on the wharf. I forgot to note how much they were, I'll see if I can find it out later.

 

We chose to just go into Lyttelton. The main street, which luckily runs parallel to the shore so is flat, was closed for a huge market. There was some delicious produce on offer but, sadly, not much we could take back to Australis. We found a cafe for a decent coffee then swapped over to the local pub for lunch. We were lucky to get a table overlooking the harbour. It wasn't shaded so I had to make a quick run to the local chemist to buy some sunscreen as I'd forgotten ours again. Now I have a nice little purse-sized tube.

 

We had delicious fish and chips for lunch. I'm not sure what the fish was, probably local cod. Very nice indeed. 

 

We headed back to the ship after lunch. The port security guy told the bus driver that a pod of orcas had been spotted in the harbour but by the time we got up on deck there was no sign of them. We're sitting up by the Seaview Pool, aft of the buffet, at the moment. It's very pleasant under the shaded sections. Unfortunately the side with the best views over the harbour today is the smoking section. 😪

 

Oh well, it must be time to wander into the buffet for an ice-cream. Will their chocolate ice-cream be as nice as the Princess one? Stay tuned ...

 

Sounds like a perfect port day.  

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, MMDown Under said:

Sounds like a perfect port day.  

Almost, apart from the crew drill. 

 

It's warmer than I expected today but will probably start to cool off soon. The spa pools are popular but not many people are braving the main pool. I did see one person get into it

 There was no loud shriek so it must be heated!

 

Princess wins on chocolate ice cream, although the HAL one was quite nice.

[SilvertoGold]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It was excellent. Breads with dips and olives to start. I had one of the best beef carpaccios ever, then beautifully cooked branzano (sea bass). I chose the orange blossom ricotta tart for dessert. 

 

The wine service wasn't great. We ordered wines to go with our appetisers before the bread and dips arrived. So by the time I started eating my carpaccio I needed another glass of wine. However it never arrived. I was able to change my order to a wine more suitable for the fish and, luckily, it arrived promptly.

 

Canaletto is in the forward starboard side of the buffet but is closed off from the buffet at night and had a much nice ambiance. 

Glad things turned out well for this meal. Enjoyed your course by course descriptions. Must try the carpaccio next time. Thanks

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Almost, apart from the crew drill. 

 

It's warmer than I expected today but will probably start to cool off soon. The spa pools are popular but not many people are braving the main pool. I did see one person get into it

 There was no loud shriek so it must be heated!

 

Princess wins on chocolate ice cream, although the HAL one was quite nice.

I'll always remember to not underestimate NZ sun.  We all got burnt at Hot Water Beach having fun!  Good idea to buy another tube of sunscreen!

[SilvertoGold]

20 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Today we're in Lyttelton. We had a slow start and a lazy breakfast in the buffet. Unfortunately this was punctuated by crew training alarms (ouch, my poor ears!).

 

Lyttelton is another working port so shuttles are required to get off the wharf. There were two types of shuttle - free shuttles to the i-Site in Lyttelton, just at one side of the main street, and shuttles to Christchurch at a cost. Tickets for the Christchurch shuttles had to be purchased at a booth on the wharf. I forgot to note how much they were, I'll see if I can find it out later.

 

We chose to just go into Lyttelton. The main street, which luckily runs parallel to the shore so is flat, was closed for a huge market. There was some delicious produce on offer but, sadly, not much we could take back to Australis. We found a cafe for a decent coffee then swapped over to the local pub for lunch. We were lucky to get a table overlooking the harbour. It wasn't shaded so I had to make a quick run to the local chemist to buy some sunscreen as I'd forgotten ours again. Now I have a nice little purse-sized tube.

 

We had delicious fish and chips for lunch. I'm not sure what the fish was, probably local cod. Very nice indeed. 

 

We headed back to the ship after lunch. The port security guy told the bus driver that a pod of orcas had been spotted in the harbour but by the time we got up on deck there was no sign of them. We're sitting up by the Seaview Pool, aft of the buffet, at the moment. It's very pleasant under the shaded sections. Unfortunately the side with the best views over the harbour today is the smoking section. 😪

 

Oh well, it must be time to wander into the buffet for an ice-cream. Will their chocolate ice-cream be as nice as the Princess one? Stay tuned ...

 

Julie: you are making my note-taking so easy, with fantastic info! Much appreciated! 

Is the ship much decorated?  HAL generally does a lovely job of trees, gingerbread houses, etc.  Merry Christmas to you both.  

Edited December 24, 2022 by SilvertoGold

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, SilvertoGold said:

Julie: you are making my note-taking so easy, with fantastic info! Much appreciated! 

Is the ship much decorated?  HAL generally does a lovely job of trees, gingerbread houses, etc.  Merry Christmas to you both.  

Yes, there are lovely decorations all over the ship. I've been meaning to get some photos of the Atrium ones. I'll try to get organised to do that tonight.

 

I forgot to mention that Picton was a working port too. The ship docks at the timber shipping wharf and free shuttles are provided into the town. It's a beautiful place, very small. I recommend doing a boat trip on the sound although you'll also see it as the ship sails in and out so you might want to do something different.

[SilvertoGold]

4 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yes, there are lovely decorations all over the ship. I've been meaning to get some photos of the Atrium ones. I'll try to get organised to do that tonight.

 

I forgot to mention that Picton was a working port too. The ship docks at the timber shipping wharf and free shuttles are provided into the town. It's a beautiful place, very small. I recommend doing a boat trip on the sound although you'll also see it as the ship sails in and out so you might want to do something different.

Photos would be great!  The boat trip sounds good, I'll research it. Thanks for this suggestion.

[boeckli]

I don't want to steal Julie's thunder 🙂 but here are some shots I took the day the chefs put the display together back on Dec. 4

 

 

The guy behind the display (without the hat) is German Exec Chef Thomas Schumann who was very hands-on during the installation.

 

The finished product 🎅

 

 

 

These were found at the Lido buffet the next day.

Edited December 24, 2022 by boeckli

[boeckli]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Last night we finally went to a show. The times are a bit awkward for us as we have the late 7:45pm dinner sitting. The shows are 7pm and 9pmm and, so far, we've rarely left the Dining Room much before 10pm. So early show it had to be!

 

It was a group called Cantarè. Four guys who are amazing singers and who cover popular songs with excellent harmony. We missed the first show which was apparently based around movie themes. Their second show was based on songs performed by groups. They are regulars on Holland America.

 

Tonight there is a special Christmas show at 10pm so hopefully we'll be able to get seats. 

 

Glad to hear you also had Cantaré. I thought they were absolutely fabulous. I missed their second show. Later in the cruise CD Chris did a "meet the performers" with them in the BB KIng lounge, very interesting and a lot of fun.

[OzKiwiJJ]

The Lyttelton - Christchurch shuttle was NZ $20 one way, NZ $35 round trip.

[boeckli]

Is Lyttelton worth a walk-around etc.?

[mr walker]

Julie, your day in Lyttelton sounds like a 'it's a tough gig, but someone's gotta do it' scenario. Helpful to read your comments on Lyttelton, as we will have our first visit there in March (Ovation OTS) & likely we will just take a look around there as we've visited ChCh a number of times. Cafe, pub.... all sounds fine 🙂

Enjoy Christmas at Sea tomorrow.

[sewgood]

20 minutes ago, boeckli said:

Later in the cruise CD Chris did a "meet the performers" with them in the BB KIng lounge, very interesting and a lot of fun.

I loved this too, it was interesting to hear how they started their careers especially the guy from Liverpool who at five years old was entranced by a musical.

I felt for the singer from Ukraine who has a wife and children. I didn't dare ask where they were, all I could do was wish him and Ukraine all the best from all of us.

[MMDown Under]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Yes, there are lovely decorations all over the ship. I've been meaning to get some photos of the Atrium ones. I'll try to get organised to do that tonight.

 

I forgot to mention that Picton was a working port too. The ship docks at the timber shipping wharf and free shuttles are provided into the town. It's a beautiful place, very small. I recommend doing a boat trip on the sound although you'll also see it as the ship sails in and out so you might want to do something different.

I've always wanted to visit Picton.  We crossed on  the ferry from the North Island then drove around the west coast.  Could we have visited en route without knowing?