The LAFFNVEGAS "LIVE" from the MS Noordam Up To Alaska Thread

[Copper10-8]

John....I am sure Dave will answer......but until then I think Dave was paraphrasing from the same movie you alluded to earlier.:) He wasn't refering to anything you said about boats ,or ships.

\

 

Duh:o .......Got it this time, Sean, thanks for 'splaining!

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Tuesday June 19th 2007

Good Morning Everyone,

I cannot tell you how absolutely beautiful the scenery is today. The Sun is shining, yes some clouds but lots of blue sky. It is so much greener that my previous 2 cruises to Alaska that were both in May. The mountains in the distance have beautiful snow caps to them. Alaska is truly stunning. The seas are so smooth you barely know you are on a ship. Although I did feel some slight movement in the middle of the night but all was very soothing. We have not actually yet entered Glacier Bay National Park and will be later due to the medical evacuation yesterday. YES, life is good while I type this in the Explorer’s Lounge while sipping a Chai Tea latte:) . Also Note to Nathan Sakedad, saw Boris this morning and he said no worry about running out of Pinot Grigio.;)

BTW the word I heard the crew member he had intestinal bleeding but is now resting comfortably in a Vancouver Hospital and will recover.

We did move our clocks back an hour last night so it is currently 10:30 ship’s time. We are taking Middle-aged Mom aka Karin to lunch at the Pinnacle at noon today. Then will hopefully not be to0 late to Marjorie Glacier with having early dining then a cocktail party to attend to in the Explorer’s Lounge at 7:30.

One thing I do want to add is that this ship is an extremely Young crowd. I have not been told the count for children and on embarkation day they seemed to be everywhere and I was a bit worried but to be honest I have barely seen any kids yesterday or today. The ones I did see last night all were dressed wonderfully and extremely well behaved. We saw so many young girls dressed in formal dresses, they were all so cute. We have not seen any elevator races or running of kids up and down the hallway so they all seemed very calm.

Have not spotted any whales, eagles or bears yet today but the day is still early.

Signing off from the Beautiful MS Noordam.

[Tinknock50]

Lisa,

Don't forget to watch for whales as you leave Glacier Bay.....usually a high concentration there.

 

Even after dinner it should be light enough to spot some so step out on deck then.:)

[RetiredMustang]

John....I am sure Dave will answer......but until then I think Dave was paraphrasing from the same movie you alluded to earlier.:) He wasn't refering to anything you said about boats ,or ships.

 

John,

 

Tinknock is correct, I was just quoting the movie: "It's an entirely different kind of flying...altogether." Your quoting the movie got me laughing, and since the subject of ships was on my mind, I thought of a boat being an entirely differerent thing. I certainly never intended to imply that a Teufelhund did not know the difference! (For others -- teufelhund translates as "devil dog," which is what the German soldiers called U.S. Marines in WWI, at Belleau Wood and other places they encountered them).

 

Dave

(Once proclaimed an honorary Devil Dog by my Marines when I was departing from duty as officer in charge of a joint outfit: one of my proudest achievements!)

[Copper10-8]

John,

 

Tinknock is correct, I was just quoting the movie: "It's an entirely different kind of flying...altogether." Your quoting the movie got me laughing, and since the subject of ships was on my mind, I thought of a boat being an entirely differerent thing. I certainly never intended to imply that a Teufelhund did not know the difference! (For others -- teufelhund translates as "devil dog," which is what the German soldiers called U.S. Marines in WWI, at Belleau Wood and other places they encountered them).

 

Dave

(Once proclaimed an honorary Devil Dog by my Marines when I was departing from duty as officer in charge of a joint outfit: one of my proudest achievements!)

 

Sounds good, Sir (from a lowly E-5) ;)

[RuthC]

Of course I need to show you how formally dressed people were right down front at this Captain's Toast.:eek:

 

My apologizes, I do not mean to offend but just showing that this new Captain's Toast does not appear to bring much formalness to formal night.

Ah, but my dear Lisa, you are not the one offending; it is the man who doesn't care to dress properly who is. He doesn't even reach the level of "smart casual". He merely attains the level of "sloppy".

He probably doesn't even know he should be embarrassed.

[barbon2]

Tinknock,

Having done 5 Celebrity cruises and 3 HAL, can tell you that Celebrity does have a "more elegant feel" in general. I feel that the atmosphere on Celebrity is a little more upscale. Now I am not "bashing" HAL here, we are doing the Noordam back to Alaska in Sept., just a comment.

Barbara

[fcorey]

Sounds good, Sir (from a lowly E-5) ;)

 

hmmmm.... Sergeant Copper10-8

 

ok , where's my salute John ;)

[RetiredMustang]

Sounds good, Sir (from a lowly E-5) ;)

 

John

 

Sergeant of Marines is one of the most honored titles I can imagine! (besides, I heard the Sgt. who worked for me just made Master Guns...man, am I old :D )

 

Seriously, come Nov. 10, I will consider it an honor to wish you and all who ever served in the USMC a happy birthday! I've been told there is no such thing as a former Marine -- once a Marine always a Marine.

 

Dave

[cruznon]

I wonder if the "well-dressed" t-shirt attendees would have attended if they had needed to stand in line with those in formal attire to shake the Captain's hand?

Perhaps, they might have anyway--some folks just haven't a clue...

It's sad that there's no reception line. Is this just on the Noordam? Or have others noticed this on other HAL ships? We had the captain's greeting in Feb on the Oosterdam. Another traditionalist here...

[mjs125]

Hi Lisa! Thanks for all the updates. I'm so sorry that the Captain's Champagne Toast was such a disappointment. I loved the formal one with the band and dancing and everything on the Oosterdam last November...does this mean that is gone on all the ships? Maybe someone from HAL will read this and realize that one of their biggest fans is disappointed and rethink things! :)

 

Also I love the pictures paired with the reviews! How are you doing that? Did you bring your own laptop? I thought I read the wifi connection wasn't too fast....is it really pretty good? Just curious!

 

Hope you're having a great time and have spotted some great wildlife!

[OCruisers]

Lisa .... Appreciate your "Live Reports"!

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[Tinknock50]

I wonder if the "well-dressed" t-shirt attendees would have attended if they had needed to stand in line with those in formal attire to shake the Captain's hand?

Perhaps, they might have anyway--some folks just haven't a clue...

It's sad that there's no reception line. Is this just on the Noordam? Or have others noticed this on other HAL ships? We had the captain's greeting in Feb on the Oosterdam. Another traditionalist here...

 

What I find even weirder than that is people who get dressed up in their finest for dinner and then go back to their cabin, take off their formal clothes, get into the shorts and t-shirt and go to the Show Lounge.

 

If I am going to go through the trouble of dressing up, I am going to wear it until I retire. :rolleyes:

 

Besides....even a "looks challenged" person like me looks good in a tux. :)

[Chivalrygirl]

Of course I need to show you how formally dressed people were right down front at this Captain's Toast.:eek:

 

My apologizes, I do not mean to offend but just showing that this new Captain's Toast does not appear to bring much formalness to formal night.

 

I just loved this photo Lisa, I wonder how he would have felt if he realised he was being slung to the lions, or at least on public display :D

[ger_77]

Chivalrygirl: my bet is if he's got enough gumption to dress like that in the front rows (where he was on public display), he doesn't give a rat's rear about what anybody thinks. You can't shame folks like that. Thankfully DH is a "loves to dress in a tux" kind of guy - he feels comfortable in it and looks forward to wearing it all evening. He's passed that on to our son and I'm sure whomever he marries will appreciate it.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[willowoodf]

Lisa:

 

I am getting my cruise fix listening to your posts!!

 

Take good care of 5183 on the Eurodam -- we will be in that room on the cruise right after yours, October 25!

 

Mary

[Copper10-8]

hmmmm.... Sergeant Copper10-8

 

ok , where's my salute John ;)

 

John

 

Sergeant of Marines is one of the most honored titles I can imagine! (besides, I heard the Sgt. who worked for me just made Master Guns...man, am I old :D )

 

Seriously, come Nov. 10, I will consider it an honor to wish you and all who ever served in the USMC a happy birthday! I've been told there is no such thing as a former Marine -- once a Marine always a Marine.

 

Dave

 

Thanks a bunch, gentlemen!

Lisa, enjoying your thread!! Keep having fun! I've got a feeling I'm not going to like that Captain's "champagne toast"

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Tuesday Evening June 19th 2007

All I can say about today is WOW!!!! It was absolutely magnificent day at Glacier Bay. The sun was shining, the water was a beautiful Caribbean Blue and the calving was amazing. For those that have never been to Alaska you truly owe it to yourself to do it at least once. I will post some pictures but in all honestly I did not capture near the beauty and missed taking some of the shots of the calving due to just watching the spectacular viewing. Early into the time of entering Glacier Bay National Park Karin joined us for lunch in the Pinnacle. It was extremely good and the service equally as good. To our surprise our Wine Steward was Roger who had been our Wine Steward last May on the Ryndam. It was so good to see him again and he remembered us right away and even remembered we were drinking our favorite Asti. Even our server remembered us from many years ago. I have been amazed again of how many crew members we have had the pleasure of cruising with before that are here on the Noordam. Timing was perfect today after a leisurely lunch in the Pinnacle we were able to grab our warmer clothes and head out to the bow to get our position to watch Marjorie Glacier. About the time the ship turned was when we head back to our cabin for another great view from our verandah. It was from there that we viewed one of the largest calvings we have ever seen. The sound of white thunder was constant this afternoon and at times very loud. Truly an amazing sight to behold.

Tonight we still had scenic cruising while dining and they took us in close to John Hopkins Glacier while dining. It too was quite beautiful and quite the wonderful scenery for dining. For the menu tonight it was basically Dutch Night with no hats. Although I had the Asian Chicken Salad which was very good.

After dinner we attended the VIP party that was held in the Explorers Lounge. It looked to be very well attended and we spoke with Captain Scott for a while and then talk with the Hotel Manage Rene Tuinman till we were the only ones left. We really liked him, what a friendly gentleman and a definite asset to the Noordam.

Now I am back in our cabin writing my report, when I finish we will head to the Explorations Café and I will post this, then afterward do what we did last night and then head over to the Ocean Bar to listen to some music while enjoying a glass of wine before retiring for the night.

Tomorrow is Juneau and it will be a busy day so I may only report once but hoping for as good of weather that we had today especially for our Whale Excursion.

Also I did want to update you in regard to if I received the additional ship board credit from the mailer I had received and used it to book here on board and the answer is YES. I received that ship board credit as well as the ship board credit for booking while on board. That will be quite nice for the Eurodam cruise Oct 18th 2008.

I have to admit I am a bit exhausted from this amazing scenery day and Tom and I are both a bit sunburned on our faces.

 

Signing off from the Beautiful MS Noordam.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Of course I must also share pictures of Sail's Mariner Bell from out on the Bow, me eating Dutch Pea Soup:D and the Ryndam in front of Marjorie Glacier

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I have so many wonderful photos from today I cannot possibly show them all but here are just a few more.

[cruznon]

Wow Lisa! What great pictures and there's MY Ryndam! In five weeks I'll be there! It looks wonderful! :D

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Peggy, I thought of you when I took many pictures of the Ryndam. When I get home I will post them all.

[Tinknock50]

Lisa,

So happy to hear the weather and the scenery are all cooperating!

 

I am enjoying cruising "with" you and at the same time my excitement toward my September cruise is fueled by your report. Seems you are having the same effect on Peggy.:)

[Copper10-8]

Lisa, how was the "erwten soep" / split pea soup?;)

[SakeDad]

Lisa & Tom...SO GLAD you got to see some great calving! Nothing like it, eh? And I wish I had the split pea soup!:( While the seafood bisque was nice that day I had been tld by all of you how wonderful the split pea was and I was a bit let down...oh well, now I have ANOTHER reason to go back!:rolleyes:

 

QUESTION:Has Vladimir, the 6'7" hairdresser from heaven, left the Noordam yet??? He said he was leaving soon to sail out of Miami. If so can you find out which ship???

 

ALSO...I have alot of pictures of the cast on my website and many of them expressed interest in them but I never had the chance to give them my card or website info, can you please pass that along to any of them you meet (including Sean in the Ocean Bar...fabulous piano player!) THANKS!:D