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

[TravelBluebird]

We got on our privately arranged van to the port at about 9:30. A little confusion because there were 3 private vans and some were working on old van assignments, but it all worked out.

 

The HAL arranged buses leaving from hotel starting at 9:45 to 11am

 

 

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

We are in the termina!

 

Very industrial port!  Passenger terminal is green warehouse building.

 

Very easy procedure—clearly marked tent for baggage drop off.  You get a number as you enter the building for boarding.  We have been here about an hour. That are on number 5 we are group 8.  No one seems to care what the boarding time on your pass is, but this is ver organized!
 

There is limited seating to wait but we snagged one seat.  Got coffee at the coffee shop—cappuccino blech very sweet.

[TravelBluebird]

 

 

 

 

Edited January 7 by TravelBluebird

[Big Dawg CC]

6 hours ago, oakridger said:

@TravelBluebird when I was reading about the Andes tour it sounded just like what I would like to do next time I'm in Santiago.  Then you mentioned the road switchbacks and that stopped me in my tracks because I get horribly carsick if I'm not driving!  Even on flat straight roads.  Maybe meclazine would solve the problem as I really would love to see the Andes.  

 

Has anyone experienced such a bus tour and used meclazine or similar medication?

 

~Nancy

My wife and I did this same tour January 2023.  My wife is very prone to car sickness and she did take meclazine in advance.  She did fine.

 

My recollection is that the hairpins were not terribly sharp or severe.  Just to compare, we had much worse, for example, on the Road to Hana in Maui.

Edited January 7 by Big Dawg CC

[TravelBluebird]

Evidently some passengers have been stranded in Panama due to the grounding of the 737 MAX 9 planes.  Horrible situation

[TravelBluebird]

Group 8 was called.  Quick check of passports, your photo taken, then quick security—they didn’t even pay down my metal knee.

 

We are on the bus off to the ship!

[FLCruiser97]

OK. Just read the 3 previous pages of your journey @TravelBluebird.

Following your adventure as we will be on the Oosterdam this Spring on the TA to Greece. Just finished following @NorbertsNiecejourney. Very informative. Bon Voyage!

[TravelBluebird]

Ok got to the ship as I was putting up my bus and WE’RE AT THE SHIP photos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 7 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

3 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

Evidently some passengers have been stranded in Panama due to the grounding of the 737 MAX 9 planes.  Horrible situation

 

I now know of at least 2 couples who were caught up in this—HAL is aware of the situation. they are trying to get to Port Montt to catch the ship. Hoping they make it OK!

[TravelBluebird]

Once we got on our board, we went to our rooms.

 

Our room is 4123, a perfectly nice balcony room.  EXCEPT! There are these hideous white things in the view from our balcony.  Will make photography from the balcony nearly impossible for me, since I shoot with wide-angle lenses for scenic. I guess will be OK for telephoto wildlife.

 

Do these things go down?? I did not see this anywhere online when I chose this room—hard to believe this is a VA balcony with these things in the view; more like an obstructed view balcony.  The balcony is a large one, but that hardly makes up for the white metal things across front of balcony.

 

Makes me sad I did NOT take the mobility disabled room that was offered to me when I got the upgrade. That is what I get for trying to do a good deed.

 

 

 

Edited January 7 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

3 hours ago, FLCruiser97 said:

OK. Just read the 3 previous pages of your journey @TravelBluebird.

Following your adventure as we will be on the Oosterdam this Spring on the TA to Greece. Just finished following @NorbertsNiecejourney. Very informative. Bon Voyage!

 

Nice to have you along @FLCruiser97!  Let me know if you have any questions about the ship! And thank you!

[TravelBluebird]

When we got to the room, I immediately filmed a room tour which I’ll post on YT later on, and of course I’ll also post some room photos on here.

 

We went up to the Lido Marketplace buffet for lunch. Very nice! I loved the salad station where you could have a Cobb Salad, a turkey salad, an Asian salad with tuna (what I picked) or a make your own creation.  For desert I had the chocolate panna cotta; loved it—not too sweet, the way I like it!  Russ had empanadas.

 

We then were first in line for Muster (reporting to your muster stations tarted at 2pm). We beat the crowd, and did a little ship exploration after. LOVE the librarty, and we took out several books, including “The Ship Beneath The Ice” about the discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance. We laughed at some of the other books available (see below).  Lovely selection of books; wish there were more seats to quietly read IN the library though.

 

Then we got to our room and all our luggage was there!  We were totally unpacked by 3:30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 7 by TravelBluebird

[TravelBluebird]

The buffet offerings were very nice, and to our tastes! Sushi, Indian food, Thai food. Nice selection of deserts. No buffet photos today; had too much we wanted to get done before our sail away party at 4:30!

 

Gosh that is a small casino!  That is coming from someone used to the casinos on the larger ships.  

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

There is a TON of storage in the room!  We each had a large checked suitcase, plus a smaller suitcase for our larger coats and hiking boots, and everything found a place,  Only.complaint is a couple small drawers for small items would really be nice. Lots of hanging space, and we made one of the hanging closets into shelving for pants, shirts folded etc. 

 

I put the majority of y camera equipment in the seat by the desk (it opens up for storage). The shelves over the couch are very high and useless to me since I can’t reach high enough to keep them open. Ah well!

 

Room and closet photos later—I’m off to the sail away party!

[TravelBluebird]

Oh wait,,, first, look at these two books that were in the library!  Seriously, what is HAL exactly saying here? 😂

 

 

[0106]

1 hour ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

Our room is 4123, a perfectly nice balcony room.  EXCEPT! There are these hideous white things in the view from our balcony.

If you decide to cruise HAL in the future, there is an excellent website called Halfacts https://halfacts.com/vista-class/4123-noordam/  The obstructions are clearly visible in the pictures that are posted there.

 

1 hour ago, TravelBluebird said:

LOVE the librarty, and we took out several books, including “The Ship Beneath The Ice” about the discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance.

The "Ship Beneath The Ice"  is excellent.  I have read several books about Antarctica in preparation for my cruise at the end of the month.  I also enjoyed "Madhouse at the End of the World"  the story of the Belgica which sailed to Antarctica 17 years before the Endurance. I read one book at a time; when I finish it, I return it to the library and take another book. 

 

Bon voyage.  Wishing you fair winds and following seas.

 

 

[TravelBluebird]

The captain just broke into dinner, and has announced that the port of San Antonio is closed due to High winds additionally, we are waiting for some passengers who have been delayed I. getting to the ship, evidently a large amount, so we will be missing our first port which is Port Montt and we will be having two straight sea days instead.

We now won’t set sail till 4am

 

we will be missing a lovely excursion but we understand that  this can happen in this part of the world.

 

More info to folliw

Edited January 7 by TravelBluebird

[Hogladyrider]

1 hour ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

Gosh that is a small casino!  That is coming from someone used to the casinos on the larger ships.  

 

 

Remember this ship 2000 passengers vs excess of 4000 passengers on the bigger ships sailing the Caribbean.

Totally different cruise vibe!

I'll take improved food any day over any casino...just saying!

[TravelBluebird]

So it’s 2 things causing the delay—closed port due to high winds AND enough delayed passengers that the captain wants to wait for them.

 

He says he will explain his decision in an 1-am talk tomorrow.

 

No idea if the passengers stranded in Panama are already in their way to Port  Mont—I hope not and that they can make the ship here now with the delay.

 

[TravelBluebird]

11am for captains talk

Edited January 7 by TravelBluebird

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

Once we got on our board, we went to our rooms.

 

Our room is 4123, a perfectly nice balcony room.  EXCEPT! There are these hideous white things in the view from our balcony.  Will make photography from the balcony nearly impossible for me, since I shoot with wide-angle lenses for scenic. I guess will be OK for telephoto wildlife.

 

Do these things go down?? I did not see this anywhere online when I chose this room—hard to believe this is a VA balcony with these things in the view; more like an obstructed view balcony.  The balcony is a large one, but that hardly makes up for the white metal things across front of balcony.

 

Makes me sad I did NOT take the mobility disabled room that was offered to me when I got the upgrade. That is what I get for trying to do a good deed.

 

 

 

 

These are part of the liferaft boarding station, which is immediately below your cabin. They are shown on ship photos I have seen previously. Being immediately aft of the lifeboats that cabin is definitely a restricted view balcony.

[TravelBluebird]

Dinner was quite good—started with the Shrimp Jabanero Cocktail.  Big shrimp—actually not spicy at all (I do like spicy foods).  Russ had the Sweet tomatoes & mozzarella (good!).  We also had the Chicjen, Ham & Parmesean Croquette ( excellent spice!)

 

Our mains were  the Seared Hake (Russ lived the mussels & clams but felt it needed another flavor—maybe citrus. I LOVED the Grilled Miso Glazed Salmon— the glaze really brought the flavor of the salmon out!

for dessert I couldn’t pass up banana, crisp with vanilla ice cream. More a crumble, than a crisp, it was warm and delicious and I do prefer crumbles to crisps!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 7 by TravelBluebird

[NorbertsNiece]

Gosh what a start to your cruise! Safe travels x

 

PS. Don't forget the drawers under the bed!

Edited January 7 by NorbertsNiece

[TravelBluebird]

11 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

These are part of the liferaft boarding station, which is immediately below your cabin. They are shown on ship photos I have seen previously. Being immediately aft of the lifeboats that cabin is definitely a restricted view balcony.

Well

it clearly says VA category on both my confirmation and online, which is not an obstructed category 

[TravelBluebird]

2 minutes ago, NorbertsNiece said:

Gosh what a start to your cruise! Safe travels x

Thank you! ❤️  Have to be flexible when you cruise for sure!