LIVE Thanksgiving Review Nieuw Statendam Rome -> FLL My First Transatlantic Nov 26 - Dec 10 🦃

[RuthC]

Welcome home! Thanks for the lift. 

[Haljo1935]

3 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

How exciting....we are doing Hawaii for the 1st time Jan 30-Feb 17 out of San Diego....hope you post a link here I'd love to follow!

I will - thanks for asking. It will be interesting to compare "firsts."

[Haljo1935]

On 12/6/2023 at 7:42 AM, js1357 said:

In this day and age, they should be providing ear buds!  I can understand (and have experienced) sound muddling on Princess, but on the Pinnacle class ships, it shouldn't be an issue.  I just got off a TA on the Celebrity Constellation, where they added the outdoor movie venue as an afterthought, and sound was not a problem.  As a recent widow, I find the outdoor movie to be a nice evening option.

Hey @js1357 thought you would appreciate seeing the next scheduled showing on the poolside big screen is a football game. Today...

[Haljo1935]

On 12/9/2023 at 12:03 PM, mawvkysc said:

Wow. No MDR breakfast on this day. 

Coloring and doodle art seem prolific and such a simple excuse for planned shipboard activities. I think a little more variety of crafts would be nice. 

Yeah I agree those aren't the best activities, but they are well attended. I would also like to see some different classes offered.

[pilot]

How was the internet on the crossing?  Did they get Starlink installed?

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, pilot said:

How was the internet on the crossing?  Did they get Starlink installed?

Internet worked fine; only 1 time we had an issue where we could not connect at all. It was short-lived and we did not question or complain about it; we just waited a bit and were able to connect. It was a couple days ago when we were near Bermuda.

[js1357]

2 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Hey @js1357 thought you would appreciate seeing the next scheduled showing on the poolside big screen is a football game. Today...

So maybe it is a sound issue.  If it is, they need to fix it or change the website to exclude movies.

[Haljo1935]

2 minutes ago, js1357 said:

So maybe it is a sound issue.  If it is, they need to fix it or change the website to exclude movies.

Agree.

The screen was recently changed to have a holiday message on it.

[SUESEABE]

Thanks for your reports and pictures. Safe travels home.

[Haljo1935]

3 hours ago, SUESEABE said:

Thanks for your reports and pictures. Safe travels home.

Thanks for following. We finally walked in the front door at 11:15 pm - long day, but we made it!🙄

[Haljo1935]

Working on (well, actual work, lol) getting the remaining pics and thoughts posted, to wrap this up, even though this is a cruise I would like to continue on for a while.

The Cake Me Away event was naturally well attended - and early - so good pictures were hard to get. But you should get an idea of the variety of offerings and how pretty they all looked. Cakes were labeled so they could (in theory) be identified, but the signs were small, the people numerous and the action fast, so I found it easier to just ask what things were. 

For us, the timing was awkward because it started at 11:30 & we had PG lunch at 12:45. Lunch was scheduled earlier, but as soon as I saw the time for Cake Me Away, I moved the lunch to the latest available time.

There was a great assortment  - I asked for half portions & was told it was not possible w/my selections (they were too soft). I got Creme Brule Cake and a Neopolitan (probably not actual name); ate almost all of the Neopolitan (loved the frozen portion) and 2 bites of the Creme Brule (very sweet).

It was well attended by crew as well as pax. CD Bettyann was in line behind me; we exchanged comments about the talent level that creates the awesome food experience. Highly recommend going if you have this on your cruise. For us, it was the last day, mid- morning.

 

 

[Haljo1935]

Misc art pics from various locations throughout the ship. I said I would try going deck to deck, section by section making note of deck # so we'd all know what was where, but it did not happen.😪 Maybe next time...🫣

I would love to do the art scavenger hunt, but seem to always disembark w/o having done it.

I haven't cropped all of these, so apologies for any "extra" stuff. Also the bad angles on some - hard to get some straight on.

Including one of my favorite flower arrangements as I consider it a work of art. Florist is so talented.

And the fanned out Dailies - they're the best representation of my personal art skills, lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is sooooo cool

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Probably not technically ship art, but it was worthy of sharing.

 

There is an incredible amount of unique art on this beautiful ship - so much more than I've posted here and much more on my phone I didn't post. BTW - none of these pictures were taken in the art gallery on deck 2 - I never made it there. 😏 I hope you're able to spend some time exploring and discovering it yourself. Some will reach out and grab you, some is very subtle, so always be looking...and enjoy!!!

Kudos, HAL, for the great job with the art!

[CNSJ]

On 12/4/2023 at 9:11 AM, Beach Basket said:

Mustafa is a fabulous guy! 

Totally agree.  Rode NS in the fall in Eastern Med, and had a few nice discussions with him.  Worked his way up from the bottom. 

[Chrissy6299]

11 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

 

The Cake Me Away event was naturally well attended - and early - so good pictures were hard to get. But you should get an idea of the variety of offerings and how pretty they all looked.

 

 

When The Cake Me Away event was first announced, they also had photos of small servings in shot glass like containers, with things like key lime pie. Did they have anything like that?

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, CNSJ said:

Totally agree.  Rode NS in the fall in Eastern Med, and had a few nice discussions with him.  Worked his way up from the bottom. 

Said he does approx 3 years at a time (drydock to drydock) with a set schedule of months on/off. Definitely knows the business inside out having worked in so many positions. He's a major reason NS is such a great ship!

[Haljo1935]

37 minutes ago, Chrissy6299 said:

 

When The Cake Me Away event was first announced, they also had photos of small servings in shot glass like containers, with things like key lime pie. Did they have anything like that?

I do remember reading there would be the small containers/jars, but did not see any. I got one picture of the other side that had individual servings (rather than whole cakes) that we can look at. I think it looks like the regular servings.

[wdw1972]

22 hours ago, Chrissy6299 said:

 

When The Cake Me Away event was first announced, they also had photos of small servings in shot glass like containers, with things like key lime pie. Did they have anything like that?

I was on the Eurodam during this time and the cakes in a jar appeared there - not necessarily every day (if I recall correctly) and only 1 per day.  They were listed on the Lido lunch menu.  They were pretty big too - definitely a larger portion than the individual plated desserts on the Lido, but I had a quart size ziplock bag and put it in my fridge to finish later.  This is the red velvet cake in a jar.

 

Sue/WDW1972

[oakridger]

3 hours ago, wdw1972 said:

I had a quart size ziplock bag and put it in my fridge to finish later

 

That is my lido desert/cookie strategy too!  😁

[Haljo1935]

11 hours ago, wdw1972 said:

I was on the Eurodam during this time and the cakes in a jar appeared there - not necessarily every day (if I recall correctly) and only 1 per day.  They were listed on the Lido lunch menu.  They were pretty big too - definitely a larger portion than the individual plated desserts on the Lido, but I had a quart size ziplock bag and put it in my fridge to finish later.  This is the red velvet cake in a jar.

 

Sue/WDW1972

Thank you - it's beautiful! We rarely ate lunch in the Lido and expected to see them as part of the Cake Me Away event, so we likely missed them. Glad you were able to snag one.😊