Just returned, HAL's ms Rotterdam in the Baltics

I think Jean would be more than happy to bring her Alamo Armadillos.
Sadly, our little critters haven't fared this summer's drought too well.

Cathy,

We've enjoyed some surprisingly good Asian of all varieties, incl. Indian,
on our last cruises on Carnival, Celebrity, and RCI. Celebrity's Indian
lunch buffet in the Med last summer was extensive and really tasty and has
remained a pleasant cruise dining memory for us. The only reason I even got
off on that Indian food jag is I know it can be done, and is routinely being
done, on other lines. I try not to expect the unreasonable!

Diana

"D Ball" wrote in message
...
I think Jean would be more than happy to bring her Alamo Armadillos.
Sadly, our little critters haven't fared this summer's drought too well.


Diana, San Antonio armadillos wear SPURS! Had to get that in with our NBA
Champions right here! ;-D
It has been a hot summer, but I think the temps were the highest while we
were in Alaska..We really do need rain though.
The weatherman keeps promising it, but it never comes to our part of the
city!

It certainly would be fun being part of a Texas group on a cruise,
again..The Grand Princess does port here! We did the Norwegian Sea out of
Houston in March of 2000..it was made up primarily of Texans and what a fun
cruise that was..We could have a Ball this time! Pun intended! ;-)

--Jean

We could have a Ball this time! Pun intended! ;-)

Yes, Jean, we could! What I need to do is huddle you and Becca and all of
our other Texans to extol the virtues of holiday cruising. I know all of the
reasons you can't, won't, don't want to, etc. But I'm telling you, if you
did it just one time, you'd be hooked! The only danger is, once your
extended families figure out (a) you're not cooking, cleaning, shopping,
wrapping, entertaining, etc. for them any more, and (b) you're enjoying
Christmas trees, turkey, gingerbread cookies, worship services, Santa and
all the other trappings of the holidays *while cruising,* they tend to
follow you, LOL. And actually, that's a wonderful thing! We all agree, the
holidays should be a time for focus on family. Unless you're doing a better
job of it than I am, the focus on family gets blurred when we stay at home.
But on a cruise ship, it's easy to keep your eye on the Ball...and on having
a Ball! LOL

Diana,
I think we talked via this group earlier - we were on the following
cruise in the opposite direction - Copenhagen to Rotterdam. This was our
fourth cruise on HAL - third on Rotterdam. We're still in the work force so
a bit younger than the average on the ship. Most of the other cruisers we
met were really interestintg to talk to however.

We found the cruise and shore excursions to be the best and most
interesting we've taken yet. The band in the Crow's nest wasn't the best
dance band we've enountered. But with the long excursions we didn't spend
all nights dancing. Our cabin steward, waiter and the room service staff
were very efficient The cruise director - Susan - seemed particularly
effective in keepingt things moving. We didn't find any deficiencies with
the crew or service. All things considered we're planning on doing Rotterdam
again next year.


Val Kraut

Answered Inline:

"D Ball" wrote in message
...
Hi, Jean,

Nice to hear from you and that you had a great Alaskan trip! Did you write
one of your famous reviews? I did not attempt to catch up on a month's
worth of RTC, but if you did a review, I'll certainly find it in the
Google archives. I imagine we experienced similar climes--refreshing,
wasn't it? Actually, it was too cool for me in Scandanvia. I do not
consider it prime summertime weather when you have to wear a sweater or
jacket all the time. But then again, I am a crazy person who loves our hot
and sticky Texas Gulf Coast climate.

Hi Diane,
I did not write a lengthy review, but answered questions and shared tidbits
with others this time..It was written mostly on July 26th under the thread
*South From Alaska!!!* If you cannot find it, I will be happy to e-mail it
to you...You were probably on your Baltic trip at that time.

Alaska was in the 68-85 degree range, depending as to where you were...not
as hot as last July when we had to go buy some summer clothes in Anchorage
when the temps were in the mid 90's! The weather was perfect this year..the
only real cold we felt was when we were near the glaciers..and then by
afternoon, you could just wear a light jacket out on the deck in the glacier
area because the sun was so warm...When the ship was moving, it was cold but
it was such a nice brisk cold. The only time it was unpleasant to be out on
deck without bundling up was when it was windy. I took many long deep
breaths of that wonderful brisk and clean air! The locals told me that this
and last summer have been unusually warm ones...


Thanks for understanding my comments, as I hate to sound like a
complainer.

Not at all, you did not come off sounding that way...You were candid...never
is anything totally perfect, the little flaws make the good times even
better! ;-)

You know we always have a great time and feel strongly that travel is the
best education we can give our kids. Speaking of which, they had more fun
on the Dam ship that we old folks did! There weren't a lot of kids on that
cruise, of course, but our teen daughter hit it off with several other
teens from the outset. One At Sea day mid-cruise, she and a young man
surprised us by putting together a lunch for the parents (us) and his
grandparents (who had taken him on the trip). What a neat experience! We
were traveling with our son's best friend/family, so the boys were set,
plus there was a handful of other delightful kids in that tween/young teen
age group. The controversial SOE installation of an enhanced teen "hang
out" resulted in two absolutely fabulous spaces for young people to enjoy
on this ship, one an up top thatched roof sort of deck nook complete with
hot tub appropriately called Oasis and the other a stylish inside space.

That was neat! Kids can make a cruise so much fun while at the same time
they are getting an education that they could never get just in a classroom
alone..They can actually visualize later, what they are studying through
actual experience...We had a family cruise on our 50th anniversary and it
was one of our most enjoyable ones...I hope to take our grandchildren again
once we can get our schedules together..The children's area was very nice on
the Ryndam also..they had a waterfall pool with a fort structure of some
sort..I did not enter..I obeyed the *No Adults* sign at the entrance! ;-)

So are you and Ed doing this season's version of the Sleazy or MOAGC or
GGC or all three??!

I'm afraid the addiction is one that we cannot overcome, Diana...(as if we
would even try) ;-) We hopefully are going on all four...I just finished
making hotel and air reservations (ouch!) for the MSC Opera (GGC2006) and
the Millenium
(MOAGC2) in January and February and put a deposit on the Crown Princess for
SGC2006, the Carnival Spirit Group for Hawaii in 2007 and will have to get
busy to make reservations for the Sleazy3 that George just announced! That
is one hoot of a cruise, Diana...sailing from New Orleans during Halloween,
after spending a couple days in NOLA, pre-cruise! We had such a blast last
year...Why don't you join us on a couple of them, Diana? They are such fun
and we'd finally get to meet! Jeff C. mentioned tonight that he was going
to try to make the MSC Opera on the GGC2006 cruise...MSC will be a new
experience for us...come with us!

We did have that unexpectedly positive first Carnival experience in June
(okay, so I was one of those Carnival snobs 'til I tried it!), so I am
guessing we'll give them another try for our next cruise.

Our experiences on Carnival have been positive and I thought that the last
two Carnival ships had the best food of any cruise line that we had taken..I
enjoy variety in ship sizes ( I prefer the smaller size) the option of
different cruise lines and it has gotten that after 30+ cruises, I don't
concern myself too much with the itinerary.. I do think the Mediterranean
and Alaska are my favorites..As long as we are on a ship at sea, I am happy!

Please consider joining us on our group cruises and let me know if you have
trouble finding my Alaska thread.

--Jean


Diana

Hi, Val, yes, of course, I remember with you in advance, and I am delighted
to hear you had such a good time. I had forgotten you were a Rotterdam
repeater. Based on the one back-to-back cruise we've done, I can well
imagine the benefits of returning to a familiar ship, staff and crew,
especially on a ship that small.

Two of the people highlights on our voyage were Dr. Jay Wolff, who gave
three lectures on Russian history (and maybe led some shore excursions?),
and showtime vocalist Jane Webster. Both were committed to doing several
cruises--were they still on board during your trip?

So what itinerary are you considering for the next one?! The Rotterdam sure
makes some interesting voyages.

Best,

Diana


All things considered we're planning on doing Rotterdam again next year.

Val Kraut

Please consider joining us on our group cruises and let me know if you
have trouble finding my Alaska thread.

Hi, Jean, thanks for the heads up on how to locate your Alaska comments. I
know I will enjoy reading about your trip. Alaska remains our entire
family's #1 favorite cruise trip experience!

Wow! That's wild you are doing all 4! What a joy. I'd love to make one of
the group cruises, and yes, I'll admit, the Sleazy is most attractive
because we love NOLA, but we don't have any easy solutions for the extended
child care required. I just want y'all to keep the tradition going, as we
only have 6 more years of these pesky kids til we can join you! (You know I
am kidding. I have to...I am very emotional this school year with my
"babies" entering HS and JHS!)

Take care,

Diana

On Mon, 8 Aug 2005 13:36:11 -0500, "D Ball"
wrote:

We did have that unexpectedly positive first Carnival experience in June
(okay, so I was one of those Carnival snobs 'til I tried it!), so I am
guessing we'll give them another try for our next cruise.

Diana


Hi Diana,

We were on the July 2nd sailing of the Rotterdam from Copenhagen to
Rotterdam. Your comments are right on the money!

We found the cruise to be lacking in energy. The blackjack dealers
told me that the Rotterdam's Mediterranean sailings in June were
hopping til 4AM and that the atmosphere was more festive in general.
In the Baltics, the Rotterdam was like a cemetery at midnight. This
wasn't a problem for us though really because the ports were the focus
for this cruise. Interesting thing is that we found our Noordam Med
cruise last October had a much older demographic but the people were
in general more lively. I'm not so sure that age is the issue.

We also loved the Signature Of Excellence enhancements and our steward
was the best we'd ever had. Yours wasn't Hermanto by chance was it?
But we have quibbles here and there...such as why did we have to pay
$4 for a load of laundry when it was complimentary on the NCL Dawn and
Noordam?

andrew.



Carnival Tropicale 1982
NCL Dawn 2004
HAL Noordam 2004
Rotterdam 2005

Hi, Andrew,

Nice to hear from you. I had been wondering what your take on the cruise
was...glad to know it wasn't just me! Of course, we had a great trip in any
event, and like you said, I didn't mean we were up for an all out party
boat. That was one exhausting trip. I thought it was more tiring than the
Med, because at least there, we had a nice sprinkling of beach and other "no
brainer" days. Here, there was something we felt compelled to "sightsee" in
almost every port. I really do need to prepare our port reports. That
wouldn't take too long...and I like to preserve those memories/data. As I
asked Val Kraut, who sailed after us, were Dr. Jay Wolff (lecturer) and/or
Jane Webster (vocalist) on your cruise? We thought they were extremely
gifted people in their respective fields, were terrific at working with a
crowd and overall added a lot to the cruise.

Did you try that 3 card poker game? Never seen it before. We definitely
spent more time (and money!) in the casino than usual because there wasn't
much else to do.

Well, I didn't know to be bothered by the laundry charge--I've never been on
a ship where it was free! I loved the heck out of that laundry facility.
I've never seen one so large and with so many machines (of decent quality,
to boot).

No, our steward was Ricardo. Definitely the best ever.

So what's up next for you?

Diana

Hi Diana,

We were on the July 2nd sailing of the Rotterdam from Copenhagen to
Rotterdam. Your comments are right on the money!

We found the cruise to be lacking in energy. The blackjack dealers
told me that the Rotterdam's Mediterranean sailings in June were
hopping til 4AM and that the atmosphere was more festive in general.
In the Baltics, the Rotterdam was like a cemetery at midnight. This
wasn't a problem for us though really because the ports were the focus
for this cruise. Interesting thing is that we found our Noordam Med
cruise last October had a much older demographic but the people were
in general more lively. I'm not so sure that age is the issue.

We also loved the Signature Of Excellence enhancements and our steward
was the best we'd ever had. Yours wasn't Hermanto by chance was it?
But we have quibbles here and there...such as why did we have to pay
$4 for a load of laundry when it was complimentary on the NCL Dawn and
Noordam?

andrew.
Rotterdam 2005