LIVE! HAL Oosterdam 1/7-1/29 South America & Antarctica—Let’s Cruise!

[TravelBluebird]

The ship is SO quiet tonight. Window seats available at Ocean Bar. No line for MDR. Quiet Lido.

 

Has a 6am day then 2 port days and another 6am day made everyone exhausted?

That is my guess. I can’t imagine a few 9 foot swells took out all these experienced cruisers!

 

We had another lovely dinner at Caneletto’s. The rack of lamb was divine; I had an appetizer serving of the clam spaghetti—al dente pasta and good clam flavor in the sauce. Well done—I loved it!  This can be such a disappointing dish if not done right. My husband had the veal meatball appetizer and raved about it (with sage).

 

Finished with a simple bacio gelato for me and pistachio gelatto for DH.  

 

Photos tomorrow; they are on my phone which is out of battery for the moment.

 

We have joined all the tired cruisers and have hopped into bed in PJs and are looking for a movie to watch, and its only 8pm!

[Bill B]

It looks like you were throwing darts at the martini sampling menu to try and pick one. 😀

[Hogladyrider]

@TravelBluebird...we enjoy those early evening in PJ's in the cabin nights as well...don't forget room service is available!

[perrysburg]

5 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

The ship is SO quiet tonight. Window seats available at Ocean Bar. No line for MDR. Quiet Lido.

 

Has a 6am day then 2 port days and another 6am day made everyone exhausted?

That is my guess. I can’t imagine a few 9 foot swells took out all these experienced cruisers!

 

We had another lovely dinner at Caneletto’s. The rack of lamb was divine; I had an appetizer serving of the clam spaghetti—al dente pasta and good clam flavor in the sauce. Well done—I loved it!  This can be such a disappointing dish if not done right. My husband had the veal meatball appetizer and raved about it (with sage).

 

Finished with a simple bacio gelato for me and pistachio gelatto for DH.  

 

Photos tomorrow; they are on my phone which is out of battery for the moment.

 

We have joined all the tired cruisers and have hopped into bed in PJs and are looking for a movie to watch, and its only 8pm!

Regarding watching movies in the cabin, I was wondering if there was an Hdmi hookup on the tv ? Or bluetooth on the tv? ( To watch a show downloaded on my computer on the TV screen). Thank you!

[TravelBluebird]

13 hours ago, Bill B said:

It looks like you were throwing darts at the martini sampling menu to try and pick one. 😀

@Bill B LOL. Well SOMEONE was throwing darts at that menu 😂

 

I ended up also trying the Blackberry Martini.  ALSO yum but nothing has beat the Chocolate one so far!

[TravelBluebird]

Good morning all!  Slept in till 7:30.  We fell asleep right after our movie last night 😂

 

We went to MDR for breakfast and found out it was brunch today instead and not opened. So we ran upstairs for coffee.  Russ came down at 9:10 for seats for the captains talk followed by our next lecture.

 

Good thing he came down early—no seats at 9:30!  Pretty soon people will be saving seats at 6am—but truly they need more re-broadcast spots on the ship.

 

Sea is relatively calm this morning!  33 F degrees at 9am.  Overcast.  Photo of sea was last night about 11pm

 

Edited January 16 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

8 hours ago, perrysburg said:

Regarding watching movies in the cabin, I was wondering if there was an Hdmi hookup on the tv ? Or bluetooth on the tv? ( To watch a show downloaded on my computer on the TV screen). Thank you!

@perrysburg  will look at the HDMI and Bluetooth situation when we return to the room 

[TravelBluebird]

13 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

@TravelBluebird...we enjoy those early evening in PJ's in the cabin nights as well...don't forget room service is available!

@Hogladyrider It was fun and relaxing!  We watched the Barbie movie which was hilarious.  And thanks for the Room Service reminder! 💕

[TravelBluebird]

Ok losing internet!   Offf to read more of Endurance (about Shackleton’s expedition) which is on my Kindle

[00649]

On our south pacific cruise last spring they offered the lectures twice daily so everyone could take them in due to high demand.

[0106]

@perrysburg  This thread may provide some insight about TVs.

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

35 minutes ago, 00649 said:

 

On our south pacific cruise last spring they offered the lectures twice daily so everyone could take them in due to high demand.

 

Great news!  All Antarctica lectures will now be broadcast LIVE into staterooms.

 

I will watch the geology one that way this afternoon!  
 

waiting for this lecture next in theater—

[TravelBluebird]

 Captain’s Talk was excellent—he showed us where we will be traveling and gave us the rules.  
 

It is going to be COLD—negative Fahrenheit cold with wind chill.

 

There were a couple photos from the trip that @NorbertsNiece was on!

[NorbertsNiece]

50 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

Great news!  All Antarctica lectures will now be broadcast LIVE into staterooms.

 

I will watch the geology one that way this afternoon!  
 

waiting for this lecture next in theater—

This is terrific news. 👏👏👏

[Hogladyrider]

@TravelBluebird  question for you or any others on this sailing.

 

Internal ship temperature, is it comfortable?  Usually I am freezing walking around the interior of a ship due to AC.  However your cruise is a bit different in that you have wind and freezing temps outside, is the heat on inside the ship?

[TravelBluebird]

 Captain’s Talk was excellent—he showed us where we will be traveling and gave us the rules.  
 

It is going to be COLD—negative Fahrenheit cold with wind chill.

 

There were a couple photos from the trip that @NorbertsNiece was on!

 

You  can see Oosterdam from Palmer Station here—behind the penguins! 

[TravelBluebird]

8 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

ebird  question for you or any others on this sailing.

 

Internal ship temperature, is it comfortable?  Usually I am freezing walking around the interior of a ship due to AC.  However your cruise is a bit different in that you have wind and freezing temps outside, is the heat on inside the ship?

very comfortable but chilly on Deck 3 Promenade with doors opening and closing to outside.  I wear a thermal under my shirts inside—great for deck 3 and also lido pool which is cool—I’m. Little warm in theater or in Lifo Marketplce—

[TravelBluebird]

11 hours ago, perrysburg said:

Regarding watching movies in the cabin, I was wondering if there was an Hdmi hookup on the tv ? Or bluetooth on the tv? ( To watch a show downloaded on my computer on the TV screen). Thank you!

 

@perrysburg No visible HDMI port.

 

When I looked on bluetooth for connectible devices, this is what I saw:

 

 

 

 

Edited January 16 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

Had a delicious brunch in MDR.

 

Currently watching the next lecture—on discovery history of Antarctica—in stateroom!

 

 

[caneable]

3 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

Great news!  All Antarctica lectures will now be broadcast LIVE into staterooms.

 

I will watch the geology one that way this afternoon!  
 

waiting for this lecture next in theater—

Excellent. I’m not concerned to ask questions just want the gen on what’s to be expected.

Steve

[Torquer]

13 hours ago, perrysburg said:

Regarding watching movies in the cabin, I was wondering if there was an Hdmi hookup on the tv ? Or bluetooth on the tv? ( To watch a show downloaded on my computer on the TV screen). Thank you!

This topic has been discussed many times on the general HAL forum.  Here is one good discussion which talks about chromecast, but the general topic is more about how to use the HDMI ports:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2977566-how-to-get-your-chromecast-connected-and-streaming-on-hal-rotterdam/#comment-66533558

[TravelBluebird]

2 hours ago, caneable said:

Excellent. I’m not concerned to ask questions just want the gen on what’s to be expected.

Steve

 

Actually, no questions at the lectures; they are going to hold separate question and answer sessions and take questions in “Antarctica Central” which is a room off of the Crow’s Nest where the experts will sometimes be along with maps, charts, etc.

 

DH feels a cold is coming on. We have mostly stayed in the room this afternoon, with me running out to take photos of ICEBERGS and taping further installments of my vlogging series. I have 4 taped so far, but only 2. up due to internet issues. I hope I can get some more downloaded while I’m on board

 

We will dine alone tonight and see how he is doing. I hope it is a minor cold (just a stuffy nose so far) and I hope I don’t catch it. 

 

The icebergs are so impressive!  The iceberg photos are all from my phone; I have even closer shots from my Nikon. No editing of any kind to these photos—you can’t improve on Mother Nature!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 16 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

We did the afternoon lecture in the room. That worked perfectly.

 

The lecture was actually about Antarctic Exploration.  I love history; it was quite good. SO many books I want to read about Antarctica now.

 

Sometimes I double post—that seems to be happening when the internet is slow; apologies.

 

 

 

Edited January 16 by TravelBluebird

[Hogladyrider]

@TravelBluebird pump him full of vitamin C

[0106]

1 hour ago, TravelBluebird said:

We will dine alone tonight and see how he is doing.

You can order room service from the MDR menu as soon as it opens.

 

I hope your DH just has a cold.  Thank you for your consideration of your fellow passengers.

 

Your iceberg pictures are amazing!