HAL Zuiderdam -- The Unfinished Travelogue

Zuiderdam – Eastern Caribbean - December 12 – 19, 2004

I flew down from DC National to Fort Lauderdale on Spirit Air. Decided
to upgrade to Spirit Plus for just $330 total. A pretty good deal,
although it turned out to be just real estate and not better service,
food, etc. Before boarding I asked the Spirit desk people if they
served a meal, and they said no, so I picked up a few snacks and onboard
they served a big soft pretzel, which was actually quite good.
www.spiritair.com

Friday -- Schubert Resort, Fort Lauderdale

Nice people -- staff and guests. Funky retro design to the place and
rooms. The pool area was nice, with a huge hot tub. Lots of nice
tropical greenery around. Since this is an older property which was
fixed up (looked like an old Motel type thing with exterior walkways to
get to each room like an old Holiday Inn, hence, no smoke alarms so all
smoking needed to be done outside. They provided chairs and little
tables outside every room for this. The pool area was clothing optional
if you wanted, and after going out to dinner at a local Italian place, I
hung out until late in the night around the pool. There really is no
bar, etc., or any other services after 9 pm at the hotel, and some were
smart enough to buy wine and plastic glasses so we made our own fun
basically. Went to a local liquor store in the morning and bought some
Sofia champagne in the little cans, etc. Perfect for smuggling on a
ship:
http://www.niebaum-coppola.com/stati...-de-blancs.htm

They had a decent continental breakfast (and good coffee!) at the hotel,
which I took out to the pool area. This is definitely a place I’d like
to return to for a long weekend. http://www.schubertresort.com/

Saturday – Boarding the Zuiderdam

Check in was very fast. I got there right about noon. Cab driver from
hotel took a nice “back route” through various Fort Lauderdale
neighborhoods, winding along a canal. Nice! I found the suite line, no
thanks to on shore staff…. Presumably working there every week they
would know such things, and instinctively I thought “there must be a
line just for the suites” right? Anyhow, much easier. Didn’t like the
looks of the other line!

Had a bottle of champagne and a coupon for Pinnacle Grill waiting in the
suite from my TA. The suite is quite large! Larger than a sky suite on
the Century class ships, but a bit smaller than the Royal Suites. Huge
huge amount of storage. 3 big closet doors in the main cabin, and then
back by the bathroom another double door closet in the anteroom to the
bathroom. Talked to Mike and Gary and Bob and Mel on the phone and
arranged for 5 pm sailaway champagne party on my balcony. Met some
other folks here and there on the ship. Lido deck buffet ok...had
decent but somewhat sparse salad bar. Not tons of choices but ok. NY
Times (a real one!) delivered to cabin. Got my Neptune lounge key…suite
amenity. The lido buffet has -- Italian, Deli, "Bistro", salad
bar....what they need is "walker" and "non-walker". Live potted plant
in my room! I like that. DVD and CD players. No input jacks to plug
in iPod it looks like. Balcony furniture not in great shape...tables in
terrible shape. The plastic wicker is starting to unravel a bit.
During sailaway party….we conspired to steal furniture from elsewhere on
the ship!

Ship is very purple in places! I do love the carpet (same design almost
everywhere, but in different colors), which I think of as zebra stripes
meet Rorshach test? Some good use of metallic/mirrored surfaces, not so
good in other places. The bizarre seafoam blue polka dot walls. Some
decks broken up into 2 parallel and non-intersecting corridors....disco
on one side, sports bar on the other. Chairs around pool areas seem
inadequate. Demographic on board seems pretty darn old….these
pre-holiday December sailings on any line are a bargain, but I’ve sailed
this same week on other lines and not this old before. Oh well. Later,
piano bar guy Kory cute! Won $75 in casino on roulette on 1st 2
rolls....cashed out.

Plastic jewel thingees wood “veneer” walls in various places. What’s up
with that. Odd torchieres that don't fit atrium area. Atrium very
compact. Pinnacle grill looks nice but seemed fairly empty most times.
The atrium is kind of a dead zone. I do like the grouping of the
disco, sports bar, casino, piano bar all in one place. All nightlife
together in one place. Hot tubs close at 10...boo.

Champagne with the guys was nice. Rearranged balcony furniture. Tables
not in good shape. Odd signs of wear here and there around ship...for
such a new ship. Movies in the Queens Lounge, seems like they do trot
out the HAL popcorn (none for me…low carb!) Decent movies on the TV
channels. Got shoes polished by cabin guy...whose name I missed and it
doesn't seem to be on any materials in the cabin.

Changing the dining tables to be with guys easy enough. Decent table
for 6 near window, although I hate the rectangular tables. Invite to
Captains suite reception. Didn't go. Went to gym instead. Cybex
machines...free weight dumbells only up to 37.5 pounds. Personal
trainer guy cute! Thermal suite area looks decent, but costs more.
Thallasotherapy pool in not very private location. Its columns have a
bit of a trompe l'oeil paint design that reminds me of the interior of
Saint Chapelle in Paris.

Waiter Bazanolo, Maitre'd Ferry, Jude wine steward. Dinner choices --
had the prosciutto ham, no soup, very nice spinach salad, tough black
pepper encrusted sirloin steak, Bob and I spilt the "low carb" chicken
cordon bleu. Presentation was on bed of greens. Plating in general was
much nicer than I remember 5 years ago. Other choices: salmon tartare
appetizer, mussels in wine/garlic broth. Both pronounced good. Basil
tomato soup looked good. Mahi mahi Gary said was good, and pork loin
looked alright. Had some of Mike's pheasant which was quite good.
Ordered a bottle of wine, some Rhone-ish red.

For dessert ordered cappucino (think it’s instant from a machine, like
in the Neptune?) and had some of the chocolate sponge cake which was
good, the panna cotta with banana and pineapple, and the viennese apple
strudle with vanilla ice cream on side. All pretty good. Ok, I didn’t
eat all of these….just a few bites of each.

Pillows and down comforter fluffly. Took a bath after gym to warm
up…cabin was freezing. Took me a day or two before I got the setting
right. Shower stall in marble nice as well, although a bit small.
Could stand to be bigger (aka, for 2!) Vanity area in closet very dark!
Not all that clean....somebody’s leftover makeup on the marble counter
top! Wet washcloth comes out brownish. Ick…have carefully do they
clean these cabins? I always laugh….my cabins are invariably cleaner
after I leave than when I arrive!

Half Moon Cay

Not able to anchor in Half Moon Cay. ? Tender service will be unsafe,
per el capitan. 8:15 am...cancel call to HMC. Forecast is not good.
Strong winds. No Full Moon Cay for me boo hoo! Room service
breakfast...what no special suite menu! Rest of room service menu looks
pretty decent. Wonder if shops will be open now that stop cancelled.
Need to get my cigarettes! Truly windy out there….furniture blowing to
Oz no doubt!

Found a nice spot to sit and read my book…up on the top deck above the
spa…where they have the teak chairs. I shady spot (not that there’s sun
right now….) and the ship structure is blocking the wind. I finished
the new David Sedaris book on the plane (not one of his best, but ok
funny), and started in on “Wicked”, the book which became the basis of
the musical currently on Broadway. It’s about the pre-Wizard of Oz life
of Elpheba, the Wicked Witch of the West. I am really enjoying it! She
was just a misunderstood, strong willed girl who happened to be green!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...384700-6032613
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...nce&s=music&n=

In any case, up on this deck they have the best teak lounge chairs
there. The lounge chairs around the pool are the plastic wicker things,
and in the aft pool are those nasty plastic with the stretched plastic
canvas stuff…they don’t have arms. Don’t like ‘em! But the area I
found was in a nook and shaded. Perfect for reading. They also have
this big wooden, almost barrel chairs I guess, but square and not
rounded. The pads on them are comfy and you can sink right down into
them. I guess we could call them crate chairs? They are white washed a
bit, very attractive. They are under some canvas awnings for
shade…which I’m into. Some foot traffic through this area but not much,
just enough to make me look up from my book every now and then. Sat in
the pool area at a table earlier and had the misfortune to sit under one
of the speakers for the piped in music….too loud! There’s only so many
times I need to hear the Beach Boys singing “Kokomo”! Ok, only heard it
once, but you get my point hopefully. Another comment – for a ship this
size (comparable I would think to the M-class Celebrity ships and the
Radiance class RCI ships), there is a serious lack of deck and lounge
chair space. The retractable dome cover for the main pool is a nice
thing (although do you really need it for the Caribbean?) but it makes
the deck above the pool unusable for lounge chairs…and I usually like
the arrangement where folks up on that deck are “part of” the pool area,
and often looking down on the activities, etc. This design leaves just
the area on the same deck as the pool itself for a bar, grill area,
tables to eat at, some lounge chairs, and of course the pool and hot
tubs….really an inadequate amount of space for the # of people on board.
That being said, there is the aft pool area, that is jam packed with
those cheaper lounge chairs, but people seem to be squeezed in like
sardines there. I guess a deck up aft there is some space for lounge
chairs there too. Anyhow, midday I noticed a lot of people looking
around in vain for a place to sit. The aft pool area seems to be a bit
more adult oriented. Oh…fun fact, 97 children on board. A HAL record
no doubt!

Wrote a letter to Pete the cruise director requesting a “Friends of
Dorothy” party to be set up for the gay and lesbian passengers to meet
and greet, blah blah blah. Pete called and left me a message around 5
pm saying it was now company policy out of Seattle, per 6-7 weeks ago
(gosh, right after the presidential election?) that they would not
publicize such meetings for gay people in the daily program. He said he
would be happy to set up a room but we would have to publicize it by
word of mouth. Oh…duh…how might one do that? If we wanted to invite
people we already know we certainly could go ahead and do that now! The
point was to bring people together who might have common interests, like
bridge players, or veterans, both of whom had scheduled events today.
So I went down to the internet café ($.75 a minute!) and composed a
message which I posted on Cruise Critic, Cruisemates and RTC complaining
about this policy. Unless it changes, I definitely will not sail
Holland America again! I have never had a problem arranging such a get
together on Celebrity, RCCL, Princess (although that took some
urging...) One odd note – the daily program hasn’t yet given us the
names of the ship’s top crew and entertainment staff! So I didn’t even
know the CD’s last name and had to address it as just “Pete”. Plus, I
guess HAL doesn’t have Social Hostesses any more? I think a Social
Hostess would “get” this issue much better than some Aussie frat boy
comedian type! Ok, enough stereotypes…I should know better right?

Anyhow, not going to let all that ruin my cruise by any stretch. Had a
little lunch at the Wok station on the Lido Deck. Had some decent
sushi, and some stir fried beef with black beans and garlic which was
actually good. Used chopsticks! No rice, except for inside the sushi
of course! It was a nice light lunch which I enjoyed! A bit later I
was thinking about ice cream…and decided to have the pineapple sorbet in
a waffle cone! (I really just wanted the waffle cone lol!) It was
maybe a bit much, and an hour or two later I had a nasty stomach ache
that lasted until dinner almost. Maybe the sushi, or the unfortunate
combination of sushi and pineapple sorbet? Not planning on trying the
pineapple thing again!

In the afternoon I hit the gym (which is pretty inadequate, but did lat
pull downs, rows, and some curls). They had a spinning class going on
which looked pretty good…but I don’t do cardio lol! Maybe I should walk
around the promenade deck a few times today just to burn a few extra
calories for good measure! After that I went back to the cabin to take
a nap out on the balcony. Very nice. It was while I was napping the CD
left me the voice mail previously mentioned. After my foray to the
internet café to post my message about what happened, I decided to see
if the hot tubs had cleared out…since it was nearing 6 and the retirees
and families who populate first seating would likely to have gone off to
dinner. Yes, success. Ran into Bob from my dining room table so he
joined me in a vacant hot tub in the main pool area. It was actually
rather peaceful. Feeling a bit rebellious after being (1) charged up
about the whole gay thing and (2) not having the chance to go to Half
Moon Cay today we hit the hot tub and I took off my bathing suit under
the water! Ok…there were bubbles in full bubble mode so it’s not like
anyone could see anything, but it was a mildly satisfying bit of
subversiveness on my part! Plus, it just feels better! Love those
jets! Someone’s got to pull HAL kicking and screaming into the 20th
century (giving up hope on the 21st century for now…)

Tonight was again a casual night, so I went back to the room and got
cleaned up and changed. I really over packed! I think I brought 8-9
nice casual shirts to wear, for only 4 casual nights! Hey, you never
know what you might want to wear! One comment about the staggered
seating – HAL now has 2 early seatings, and 2 late. The upper deck of
the dining room goes first at 6 (?) and the lower at 6:30. The upper
deck late seating is at 8, and lower deck is at 8:30, which is my
preference. So far all the gay people I’ve met have been at the 8:30
seating. One thing I always like about a cruise is people watching, but
I haven’t really had the chance to get out of the cabin early and go sit
somewhere to watch people walk by to dinner, although there don’t seem
to be any nice lounges right outside the dining room – like you have on
the M-class Celebrity ships where you can hang out in the Rendezvous
Lounge or the Platinum Club…which both span the width of the ship. This
ship is much more chopped up than that, and the staggered seating would
mean there is less of a crowd going by at any one time. Oh well, maybe
tonight for formal night I’ll get my act together earlier and see what’s
going on. Did I make any comments about the atrium? It really is a
dead zone. I hate the design. Too narrow and enclosed. The Pinnacle
Grill space is a dead zone, the Windstar café area is a dead zone (and
non-smoking, so the staff sure ain’t going to hang out there and give it
some life), so rather than being a great place to people watch (ideally,
the middle of the 3 levels if it had a good lounge you could see people
walking by on all three levels), so I think this space is a total
failure. I think shops are nearby too….so the atrium is almost purely
just a revenue center! How I miss the Cova Café! One of my favorite
hangouts. Anyhow, I’m really sounding negative here….which I don’t mean
too, I really am having a nice relaxing time, sort of.

One thing I will salute – the dining room food. My stomach was still
feeling funny by the time I went to dinner, so I was going to take it
easy on the wine and caffeine tonight. I love our wine steward Jude.
Such a nice guy, although kind of slow. Saw him up in the pool area
today selling drinks. Always had a friendly word to say hi. So I
thought of a new trick to keep him from refilling my glass….once he
poured me one glass, I put the cork back in the bottle! Success! They
really do try to drain your bottle asap…so you’ll buy more undoubtedly.
Speaking of heavy drinking….about 3 tables away from us is this blond
woman from South Carolina who is a total loud drunk…I can’t imagine what
her table mates think of her but we can hear her all dinner long. The
night before, during the female comic’s routine, she interrupted it from
a row in the front, and the comic handled it well, but she kept shouting
out! Totally obnoxious! She thought she was being funny. She was
noted in the juggler’s act tonight as well….kind of building a
reputation and not a good one! Thank god we are not closer to her table!

The food I would say in the dining room is much better than 4-5 years
ago when I sailed on the Rotterdam. Much more attractive presentation,
and I would say the bread and salads are kicking Celebrity’s butt right
now (although no bread sticks or flat breads which I love). The butter
is not that good Normandy stuff though. Appetizers have been fairly
strong, soups not strong (had this very grainy Apple Vichyssoise
tonight…tasty but not a good “mouth feel”….the night before Bob had what
we now call the “Blueberry Seed Soup”…you get the picture.) Desserts
have been largely enjoyable but not “fancy” I suppose. Anyhow, tonight
I had the tomato and mozzarella for an appetizer, which is always good
in my book. Some others had the Oysters Rockefeller which they said was
good. I had the notorious apple soup, the salad again was an attractive
mix of greens, goat cheese, toasted pecans, etc. Really the salads are
far better than what Celebrity has been serving up the last few years.
Rather than having the asst waiter serve salad dressing we have been
picking that out while placing our order and it has been coming in an
attractive little ceramic ramekin cup on the side. That works.

Actually, not feeling overwhelmed by “service”….people seem a little bit
spread thin, although our water Bazanolo has met our every need, and
Yudi the asst has reliably gotten me cappuccino for dessert every night.
For the entrée I had the Prime Rib rare, and they brought horseradish
sauce on the side (again in the ramekin cup), and this beef was much
better than the sirloin the night before. The potato was one of those
“just out of the frozen food section” things which horrified me on the
Mercury last summer….half a baked potato which had been partially
scooped out and refilled with potato and some (maybe?) herb and cheese
mixture. It definitely looks like something made off the ship which
they just reheat. Not that I eat potatoes (low carb man!) but does
anyone serve a “real” baked potato anymore…wrapped in foil with sour
cream and butter blah blah blah? I also sampled the Ginger Grilled
Chicken with peaches…which was ok. A bit dry and over cooked.

Oh…one thing I like…they have been delivering the menus to me in my
cabin every day so I can see what’s coming up for dinner! I like that,
and probably as a “public service” I will type them all up and put them
on my web site if I get the energy. Another menu note…they have some
dishes designated as “low carb” and another warning if it is “spicy”,
which means it has some actual flavor.

For dessert, Yudi of course brought me the cappuccino, which isn’t half
bad, and I ordered 3 desserts – the Chocolate Avalanche cake, the Cheese
Cake sampler plate, and the Strawberry and Rhubarb Crisp. Thumbs up to
the chocolate cake and the rhubarb crisp – both were good. The cheese
cake sampler was pretty bland and gummy. Couldn’t tell the difference
in flavor between the 3 samples! On the menu tonight they also noted
the Explorer’s lounge would feature “Tonight’s Flambe”, Bananas Foster,
and the flaming Spanish coffee. Somehow we missed this although I’m
sure we walked right by it! Another off hand comment – I really like
the Rosenthal china they use in the dining room (and for room service!)
which has a dark blue and gold design on the rim, with the HAL logo on
the bigger plates. Very attractive I would say! Might need to collect
a full set lol….

We went to the show tonight….a juggler/comedian. Very cute young guy
and it was a fun show. Afterwards, went to the casino and played a bit
of roulette with some folks I had met earlier in the day.
Again…success! I play $20 every night (my allowance!) and was down to
my last 3 chips….so I put all 3 on the zeroes…and it hit! Gosh, my
luck! So I forget what I got out of that, so I kept my chips on for the
next spin (didn’t hit…) and then cashed out with my $48. So I made $28!
Add that to my $55 in winnings from the night before and I’m doing ok!
I cashed out very early last night too. Probably a good idea to quit
while I’m ahead!

The piano bar space seems to be popular….there was a bit of a country
western theme tonight (and in fact….the CD at the end of the show during
his pep talk asked “how many people like country music” and very few
people clapped…it was almost a “thud”. Hmmm….I’m sure there are more
gay people aboard than people who seemed to like country music….but
maybe that’s just my “blue state” self talking here…is HAL big with the
Nascar crowd?) At around 11 they had some line dancing thing in the
disco which was only somewhat sparsely attended. I do like the
proximity of the casino/disco/piano bar/sports bar. Sensible design,
and the only place on the ship after 11 pm that has any life at all.
Almost everywhere else is totally deserted and they are in fact
vacuuming the carpets at that hour! Shocking almost! My next
contemplated act of subversion – quite possibly hitting the disco
tomorrow night (although…it is formal night, may need to wait until the
next casual night) and taking my shirt off to dance! May need to enlist
some of the male dancers to make a statement lol….we’ll see. Although I
see none of the “upstairs” staff at all at night. After talking to the
2 guys who run the art auction stuff they said they watch TV at
night….hmmmm, possibly emblematic of HAL’s overall problem here at night.

Went to bed at midnight (and really had been up to 2 am and later the
last 3 nights, including Ft. Lauderdale…so probably good to turn in
early for a change…)

At Sea

Woke up to a pleasant morning….the clocks got rolled forward last night
so lost an hour. Didn’t put my room service card out so just ordered a
pot of coffee by phone this morning. Sat out on the balcony (god how I
love having this space) and worked on my cruise review! No daily
program was delivered last night or this morning ?…so I’ll have to get
one downstairs, but got the Times fax and all the menus for today, which
I can’t quite figure out. Got the lunch menu, the formal night dinner
menu on a big grand piece of parchment-esque paper, and two dessert
menus on the regular dining room menu paper. Are those for tonight or
not? They don’t seem to be the same thing as what’s on the parchment
paper. So I’m confused! Undoubtedly my cabin steward is confused as
well lol. Anyhow, the coffee is pretty decent and I probably will just
grab a banana from my fruit bowl. Oh…in addition to the champagne in my
suite I got the fruit bowl, the bathrobes look thick (although I never
wear one….I like my Polo jammie bottoms much better) and a nice flower
arrangement which is sitting on the coffee table. This morning I need
to write a follow up note to Pete the CD and go get a daily program.
Trying to resist going to the internet café to see if there’s been any
responses to my messages….I’m loathe at this point to give HAL even
another dime of my money.

Sun is starting to creep onto my balcony now…so maybe I’ll go shave and
get dressed. Trying to avoid the sun more or less this time around, the
whole cancer thing, and it’s just not that important to get tan anymore.
Bought some very nice “sunless” crème that has SPF-15 in it. I think
I’m going this route this time. Just don’t like to get so hot and
sweaty in the sun (which is somewhat boring to me as well….) I’m going
to go sunless and read my book and listen to my music in some shady
place instead. Wish there were better people watching spaces though.
No shade around the aft pool which probably would be calmer than the
main pool and the kiddies and loud piped in music and no where to sit,
blah blah lol.

Went up to the nice place up top with the crate chairs and read there
for a while, then decided to go inside to the Crow’s Nest. They have
these great blue leather chairs that spin and recline….I sunk way back
into one of those and slept for a good 45 minutes…I mean…I was reading
my book of course…. I woke up to the sounds of Prince…they were
teaching a dance class there. So that was ok, but I got up and walked
around a bit and pursued food because I only had coffee and a banana
thus far.

I went to the Lido and snatched a big plate and made a salad, then went
to the grill to throw a hamburger and a bratwurst on top. Salads with
meat, my usual diet. The grill guy was a bit surly. I suppose most
passengers are not nice and pushy and demanding all day, which of
course, I was not. Please and thank you go a long way. After lunch I
grabbed a small cone of the cappuccino soft serve ice cream which was
ok. A little icey actually. Still feeling “energetic”, I wandered
downstairs to see what was happening on the lower decks and discovered
the long curvy couches of the Ocean Bar, smoking side. This space
really is a vomitorium of colors which don’t quite go together. Anyhow,
the couches are comfortable though and I probably slept for another ½
hour. I could see folks out the window on the promenade doing the same
in the teak lounge chairs. Bringing people together in somnolent
splendor, that is what HAL is all about lol.

Starting to get to be late afternoon, so I was thinking about the gym.
Shoulder day – might actually be able to get a decent workout since the
dumbbells I use for that are generally under 37.5 pounds and I could use
the Cybex machine for military presses. Since I was downstairs, I went
over to the Windstar Café and had a grande Mocha, which was pretty darn
good. I had forgotten what good coffee tasted like lol! Although
really the room service coffee and the “cappuccino” in the dining room
haven’t been bad at all. No one hangs out in the Windstar Café, which
is odd. And it’s so bright! The lighting on this ship is really quite
bright day and night. Almost annoying.

The combination of the Windstar Café and the Pinnacle Grill “at the
Odyssey” on deck 3 really creates a “dead zone” in the middle of the
ship. Most hours of the day the Pinnacle is not open (although they
were open for lunch yesterday for $10…might have to think about that for
the next sea day) and I almost never see anyone at the Windstar Café…my
theory (1) who wants to pay for coffee? Apparently not too many people
(although…I’ll note the Cova Café on Celebrity seems to do business…)
and (2) it’s non-smoking. Ok, throw stones at me, but if they allowed
smoking there I’d bet you dollars to donuts the staff would make the
Windstar Café a hangout…and thus populate it from time to time, give it
life, which would in turn attract others. I actually like meeting staff
and it’s little places and times like that when you can do so. Anyhow,
between these things on deck 3 and the various shore excursion and front
desk offices on deck 2….the atrium area really is a massive failure in
terms of people watching, etc. Only the Ocean bar on Deck 4 has any
life in it at all ever.

Anyhow, up to the gym. The South African guy personal trainer was
teaching a step class at the same time, but I had my iPod on to get my
own tunes. Managed to get in a very good workout. One thing I like to
do on shoulder day is take off my shoes and do handstand shoulder
presses against the mirrored wall. I found this a bit more challenging
to do on a moving ship! Today’s hit CD – the “Wicked” cast album. One
song on there which is becoming this week’s theme song “Dancing Through
Life”. I haven’t done any actual dancing (you don’t wanna see that!)
Anyhow, the gym was quite crowded (about 4:30 pm…) people starting to
worry about all those desserts!! The spa people at the front desk seem
nice. The men’s locker room is tiny! Nicely appointed though it seems.
Between sitting upstairs either above the spa or in the Crow’s nest
and going to the gym…they must think I’m in their neighborhood all the time!

Thought about food after the gym….but napping took over! I slept out on
the balcony a bit and woke up to a gorgeous sunset…so I took some
pictures. Very nice. I experimented with the camera and used the
camera to take some pictures of myself. My mom will sure wonder “who
took ‘em”! Ah, the magic of technology. I am very much enjoying this
balcony, but I need to have another party I think! I decided I had
plenty of time to hit the hot tub before having to come back and get
ready for formal night. I walked around and ended up at the aft hot
tubs. It was maybe 6 pm or so….everything you’ve heard about HAL
rolling up the sidewalks early is true…and this was the afternoon! All
of the deck chairs were stacked up already. Is this HAL or the
clientele? I felt like I was almost imposing on the guys working on the
deck…and felt vaguely uncomfortable there. Me in the hot tub, 7-8 asian
guys in industrial jumpsuits working on deck. Not exactly glamorous and
relaxing huh? Could HAL exercise a bit of restraint on this and not
pack it in until 7 or something? The same was the case in the main pool
area – I actually thought maybe they were setting up for a deck party
tonight (which they were not). I guess on formal night of course the
pool area will clear out earlier, but on a ship this size you’d think
there’d be some passengers who want to linger? Guess not! What is
everyone doing, watching movies in their cabin? I recall on many X
cruises the hot tubs being usually popular during this time period, for
that last drink and socializing before dinner, etc. Wish the hot tubs
were open later at night…they do drain them and put the nets over…so no
go. They put the nets over the pool too. Oh well. Since there is so
little night life on the ship it would be nice to hot tub instead
perhaps. Champagne under the stars…what could be better? The main pool
area has the ugliest color combination of teal blue and gold leaf.
Blech! And then there is the polar bear sculpture….didn’t they know
this ship would be in the Caribbean year round? Odd! There are some
very funky torchiere lamps in the pool area that I will have to
photograph – a modern interpretation, perhaps, of plane trees in a
village square in the south of France. Very funky, but um, somewhat out
of place on this ship which doesn’t exactly exude a sophisticated design
sensibility. Lots of this on this ship…the seemingly random placement
of things in a jarring way. Carnivalesque?? Ended up on the balcony
and made myself a drink with the Ricard and a big glass of ice water.
Refreshing! ?

One odd thing to note about the daily program – I haven’t yet seen the
names of the crew and staff printed! How am I supposed to know who
these folks are? In addition to the little note I wrote earlier, I do
like writing notes to various folks – like the food and bev manager if
something has been particularly good in the dining room, always help the
staff to get a good commendation from a guest. Another random thought –
even though booked in this big ass suite…feeling less than pampered
somehow. It’s nice real estate that’s for sure…although…why not a
marble countertop in the bathroom, or marble on the floor? Marble on
the walls only…and no phone! Hmm….the Sky Suites on the Century class
ships, although a bit smaller, are actually more richly appointed…and
the suite/concierge class breakfast cards are much much better. Oh
well, I’ll have to take advantage of the free laundry maybe. I’ll take
my perks wherever I can get them. The Neptune lounge thing is nice
enough, and maybe I should think of things for them to do for me, but
I’d rather have stuff brought right to me, rather than dragging my butt
up to deck 7 to be “swanky”. Hmmm….I want a butler waah! Did I book
the wrong ship? I guess I could have had a sky suite on the Century for
the same price probably. Oh well, I wanted to try something new and
different….I can recite the X menu by heart by now…and the HAL food has
been a pleasant surprise by and large.

Dinner tonight was nice, but missing some of the nice X formal night
touches I like…like the “intermezzo” sorbet thingee. The HAL service
staff in the dining room has the goofy uniforms. Makes me think of the
flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. Whatever happened to a nice
formal wear outfit? Oh, one thing to mention while I’m thinking about
it…we’ve been running a good 4-5 announcements per day. Usually the
Captain comes on at noon, but they have hawked bingo and other
activities. Not piped into the room, but very clear in the hallways and
out on the balcony. Did I whine ? about the balcony furniture yet? Not
in great shape! The tables had some of “teak” design painted in brown
on them…but they are metal. Well they are very badly worn and should be
replaced. The big table is downright gross. The plastic wicker
furniture and coming apart at the seams as well…

Back to dinner…I had the pate (kinda boring), the baked hazelnut brie
(it looked deep fried…french cuisine as interpreted by Fuddruckers??),
the French onion soup, the house salad (still good…all salads have been
good this week) and the filet mignon rare and the rack of lamb which was
overcooked. The rack was only ok—miss those Provencal herbs from X.
For dessert Yudi brought me my cappuccino while I went out to the
Explorers’ Lounge for a smoke. Had a nice conversation with two women
there…one Dutch and one a NY-er. Bob ordered the Crème Brulee, the
chocolate soufflé and the “no sugar added” Tiramisu for me. They were
all good…the most successful dessert order yet. Tonight’s flambee in
the Explorer’s Lounge was Crepes Suzette, but missed that…I think we
darted to the theater after dinner. They’ve been having specialty
martinis on offer at the Explorer’s as well…tonight the Espresso
Martini. Sounded good, but trying hard not to be a total drunk here!
I’m a drinking lightweight.

Oh…the dress code. People seemed largely to honor it…mostly suits and
ties, a healthy compliment of tuxes. Not too many clunkers. The
clunkers would come out later tonight in the casino, etc. And of course
the “young folks” (aka, anyone under 50) often would change into
something casual for the disco. The show was “Under the Boardwalk”. A
nice revolving set, ala Les Miz, which was a boardwalk and “underneath
the boardwalk”. The usual sort of rock and roll songs. No real strong
singers in this bunch yet. I think the main singers largely sang, but
heavy use of click tracks and prerecorded backing vocals. No actual
orchestra in sight, much like the first night’s show. The dancers…they
are doing well enough but they are a chunky bunch to some extent! At 42
I have a better body than these guys! What ever happened to the whole
lithe dancer’s body thing? These folks need to go lighter on the lido
deck buffet! There was this one girl just squeezed into some belly
baring outfits that she just shouldn’t be wearing. Anyhow, other than
all that (I’m sounding like such a body fascist aren’t I?) the show was
enjoyable enough as these things go. I like schlock! The cheesier the
better, spread it on thick. I chuckle and smile my way all the way
through it.

After all that…we hit the casino and peeked in on Kory the piano bar
guy. Kory packs ‘em in! HAL give him a raise. About the only
performer on the ship worth a damn, although the party band is pretty
good too. Kory single handedly makes nightlife happen on this otherwise
dullsville ship. I hit the roulette table, and had my $40 formal night
“allowance”. I was down to my last 3 chips, and threw it all on the
zeroes (so easy to pick out in green on the wheel…) and it hit! So that
was very nice. I started playing even money outside bets and got up
over $100….and hit a few more times to go over $200. So I put $100 chip
on red. The croupier asked if that’s what I really meant to do….uh,
yep, it’s your money buddy not mine! It hit black! You know, black was
my first thought, my gut instinct, should have gone with that…I played
red! Oh well, it’s the only way to win big money. So I cashed out with
my $111 for the night. I have won every night so far! In the short
time I was playing, the guy next to me put down $300 total…and wasn’t
doing well. Where is his wife? ? Anyhow, I’m not crazy like that.

Ok…it’s 11:15, and the carpets are rolling up….active vacuuming in
lounges throughout the ship. This is the new youthful HAL afterall…we
only stay up until 11 instead of the traditional 10 pm! We decided to
hit the sock hop thing going on in the Crow’s Nest. It was sort of
packed! The party band was there and doing well. Aha, we have found
HAL’s demographic. Although largely not baby boomers dancing to the
50’s, etc. I would say older. We sat around for a while then broke for
the night. I walked around to the Lido to grab a couple of (good!)
cookies and then poked around the casino, disco, and piano bar again.
Disco sort of playing rap-ish music. Not very populated. Where do the
fun staff hang out? Off to bed.

St. Thomas

A little rainy this morning, ordered coffee. Taking my time here….think
I will emerge at the “crack of noon” today. Today’s program – some sort
of big barbecue on deck from 6 to 8. Good, I was hoping they’d have a
nice deck party (although….so early!) Everything tonight seems geared
to the early seating or Barbecue people. Does this mean tonight’s
dinner in the dining room sucks? Could this be Dutch night? ? Oh…the
deck party goes after the Barbecue from 8:45 to 11:30 pm….hmmmm, we’ll
see about that! Maybe I can hot tub it? Funs things tonight….the ABBA
hour with Kory….at 9:30 while we’re in late seating dinner! 80’s team
trivia….at 9:45! Ok…the 80’s retro night at the disco starts at 10:15.
We can do that. No real show tonight….the Filipino crew show is at
11. Seen it once….that was plenty. Have to remember I did bring some
DVD movies with me. Could be a Moulin Rouge night! Who does the
scheduling on this ship?

“Life’s more painless, when you’re brainless.” Dancing through life,
like that song. We’ll take that approach today. My only plan in St.
Thomas, shopping. Need to run by Cartier to say hi to Miss Marven
Lynch, my pal. Was thinking about buying my Dad a digital camera for
Christmas. He would like one, but will take a year to make up his mind
if left to his own devices. We are docked over at Crown Bay…wonder if
they do this every week? Which is, aka, in the middle of nowhere. No
Havensight shopping binge. I wonder if French Town is right near by
here? I have heard there are good restaurants there. Maybe worth a
look after my downtown foray. Parked next to us is this big mother of a
yacht! The biggest yacht I have ever seen. It could be a little cruise
ship in another life. Lovely teak furniture in the back. Hmmm, will
have to look on the back of it to see what it’s called.

Looking in the mirror….this sunless tanning crème thing is a bit spotty!
I need to be a little more careful! Glad I didn’t put it on my face!
A tad orangey, but not bad. With a little natural color it will be
groovy. I’m darker than Michael Jackson without a tan anyhow and I pick
up color easily, just not too into sweating it out in the sun this time.
Thinking more and more about skin cancer as I get older though! Did a
good job around my bathing suit though…nice lines! And the suit is
black so it won’t change color with this crème. Noticed I was turning
the wash cloth yellow last night…eeegads! Hmmm, better look at my
clothes from yesterday! Better come out in the wash! A year in the gym
has paid off….noticing a fair amount of morbid obesity amongst the
younger folks on this ship. Not me! “Forty isn’t fatal”. Indeed.
Dancing through life.

Getting off the ship at the “crack of noon”. Have never docked in Crown
Bay before. Seems like in the middle of nowhere, but having been in St.
Thomas many times, no problemo. Got one of the open air cab things
after running into Bob downstairs who was also getting off the ship, and
we went downtown. Had a mission of stopping by Cartier to say hello,
try on a few watches, and then look for a digital camera for dad.

Went to Cartier and saw the girls, but didn’t buy anything. Was
thinking about the new “love” bracelet, but they didn’t have one in a
man’s size yet. I still lust after getting the Pasha chronograph watch.
That is a beauty. So I headed down the street and popped in the Royal
Caribbean store to look at digital cameras. Not a huge number, and the
place was packed, so I kept going. Went over to Little Switzerland on
the main drag to look around. Several familiar faces from past visits.
Was helped by a nice lady, Jan, while I looked at the Baume and
Mercier watches….there is this one that I have looked at several times
over the years, “Hampton”, which has a very clean art deco-ish face
design. http://images.ashford.com/ash/p10688b.jpg Sold! Ok…I’m so
easy. I figured it would be nice to have another metal band watch so I
could wear something other than the Roadster to the gym. Kept walking
around a bit, but then grabbed a cab (almost to myself!) and headed back
to Crown Bay.

Lazy afternoon…a bit of the gym, some hot tubbing. They were, at least
purposefully for a change, clearing out the main pool area late in the
afternoon to prepare for the deck party and barbecue to be held tonight,
so I hit the aft hot tubs instead. Might have grabbed a raspberry soft
serve on the way… ? Weird scheduling tonight – which was subject to a
lot of comments at our table tonight…everything seemed geared to this
barbecue thing (which was 6 – 8 pm) and some things some of us wanted to
do were scheduled in such a way late seating of folks could not do them.
8 pm, the movie “Troy”. The ABBA hour at the piano bar with Kory…9:30
pm. 80’s Theme Trivia in the Disco with Jay the DJ…9:45 pm. What idiot
put this program together? At least the last 2 things – demographically
– and most especially so on this ship, SHOUT late seating people….aka,
the younger folks on board. Younger, of course, being a euphemism for
30-50. So, we didn’t get to do any of those things since we all went to
late seating instead of the barbecue. DUMB! Some nights they would
repeat the piano bar program (that Kory works so hard!) and have one for
early seating, and the same program for late. But not tonight! DUH!
Oh well.

I have really been getting into my book “Wicked”, and am finally plowing
through it at a good pace. Spent some time tonight as well on the
balcony which is just wonderful, and poured myself a Ricard with a tall
ice water. The remants of the little cold I was fighting earlier in the
week seem to be gone.

Dinner was actually good again tonight. Jude the sommelier is the
sweetest! Keep seeing him up in the pool area and I happened to have a
can of Diet Coke in my hand (intending to go back up a deck, and I
didn’t want to lug around a glass) and I happened to run into Bob, so I
sat down at a table for a while. Jude comes over with a tall glass of
ice for my soda! He’s one of the few examples on board of service that
anticipates your needs that I have encountered. Usually, especially in
the pool area, the bar people are simply pests who ask you if you want a
drink approximately every 5 minutes. That has really gotten annoying!
Although, I love Tina a bar waitress up in the pool area – what a
sweetheart! Anyhow, as it turns out, I didn’t want a glass, but it was
so nice of Jude to think of that. Drink hawking though….the worst I
have ever seen on any ship. Totally obnoxious at times!

Back to dinner. Had the Chicken Satay and the country pate. The Satay
was great, the pate nothing special. Had the three berry minestrone for
soup…which was good, but again had seeds in it (strange with all the old
people on board they don’t strain these things better!) Had the house
salad (again, the salads are good – very attractive presentation, nice
greens, etc…) and the breads varied. I’d have to honestly say the
breads and salads are better than X, with this one provisio….the
dressings on X can be a bit more interesting and X has those nice bread
sticks and flat breads at times. HAL’s dressing seem to be somewhat
pedestrian, and probably out of a bottle, not made on ship.

Have noted the whole “comfort food” entrée phenomena on every night’s
menu. Tonight’s is pot roast. Haven’t had one yet. I guess folks on
Cruise Critic and elsewhere have gotten whipped up about this. There
are generally 7 entrees per night…so what’s the big deal? For the
entrée I ordered the Duck a l’Orange, which I love to get since I would
never make it at home. It was pretty good, although the skin was gummy
rather than a nice baked to a crisp. Our table also ordered one serving
of the Nasi Goreng Rijsttafel to share. It was decent. For dessert,
Yudi is a very reliable cappuccino man….always there waiting for me when
I return from my smoke. Have met some nice folks during my smoke break
in the room off the Explorer’s Lounge that is smoking. Smoker’s from
around the world unite lol! In an ideal world…would be nice to have my
dessert and cappuccino in that nicely paneled room. Actually, the
Explorer’s Lounge is one of very few attractively designed rooms on this
entire ship.

I ordered the Strawberry Short Cake (pretty good!), the Rustic Pear
Galette (very good!) and the Chocolate Profiteroles, which were “no
sugar added”. Profiteroles are just about my favorite dessert on earth.
A little cream puff, some cream inside of course, and then dripping
with melted dark chocolate sauce on the outside. Actually, one needn’t
make this with too much sugar to make it good, and it was pretty tasty!

Since I’ve already ranted and raved about tonight’s program….what did we
do? Oh, we did not go to the Phillipino crew show at 11….although the
bar staff at the Piano bar was closest to the theater and you could tell
they were all excited. I do think it’s a nice idea they do this. I
went to go play roulette….and lost my $20 allowance in no time! Boo
hoo! Oh well, it’s entertainment. Decided to hang out with Bob and hit
the piano bar to watch Kory play. That kid is damn talented, and
handsome to boot. He should definitely be doing bigger and better
things than playing on a cruise ship. Very flexible in his playing, and
he has a great singing voice which can be serious, pop, rock, or just
outright a good mimic of various singers and styles. So we hung out
there for quite a while. Other than the disco, which is often on life
support, the piano bar is the only place that is still alive after 12:30
pm. I think I left about 1:30.

Tomorrow’s daily program…delivered with an advertising sheet for various
ship specials….one chilling phrase – “Cruise Lottery Tickets”….what’s
next, generic cigarettes and 40 ounce malt liquor bottles littering the
hallways?

Tortola

Very pleasant morning out on the balcony with my coffee, and my book. I
was getting in a very “why bother getting off the ship” mood today.
Totally transfixed by the book and enjoying it immensely. Glinda’s
studying sorcery, and Elpheba is coming out of her (green) shell. I got
all lathered up with my sunless tanning lotion and pulled the wicker
chair and ottoman over to the side balcony (which on it’s own is one of
the largest balconies I’ve ever had) and curled up with the book and
sunglasses. My cabin steward Mastur seems to want to get his job done,
so I went out in the hall and let him know it was no problem cleaning my
room now while I was in the balcony, and in a flash he was apparently
done. Didn’t even hear him come and go. Would be nice to have a butler
though. Not feeling all that pampered here, although I like the
poinsetta plant they brought by. In the height of supreme laziness, I
started getting hungry around 12:30, having had only coffee and a banana
thus far, so I ordered lunch off the dining room lunch menu. The salad
was very nice, had the roasted peach soup which was good, and the
Canadian burger, but skipped the bun and fries. Ordered the no sugar
added Napolean as well which was pretty good. Took a nap at one
point…even docked this ship seems to have a rattle/shake to it, at least
here in the back of the ship. Almost distracting while napping. A bit
of a rumble up and down…hmmm..

More bizarre scheduling again tonight. The “Zuiderdam Superstar”
competition was at 9:30 pm…might have been smart to schedule that at
7:30 or 7:45 so both seatings could see it? Then 70’s music trivia in
the disco at 9:45….DUH! Anyhow, I finally motivated and left my cabin
probably around 3 pm. Didn’t feel an ounce of guilt about not getting
off the ship. Tortola looked nice (from afar!) and some friends I met
on board said they went to the Baths in Virgin Gorda but it was a long
tiring day. I don’t do tiring! Anyhow, I spent some time up top in
those crate chairs with the great pads, and then hit the Windstar Café
(I am their only patron apparently) and got a delicious mocha, checked
my e-mail a bit, and then hit the gym pretty late, around 5 pm. Oh, one
note about all things coffee….the “Java Corner” down by the internet
café..which I think is where one gets free coffee drinks. It appears it
is never actually open, ever. I have yet to see it open. Hmmm…. In
the Windstar café they make Belgian waffles all day…which smell nice,
but I have yet to see someone buy one! So either the staff is getting
fat off them, or they are throwing them out every hour…what a disaster.

The gym is a struggle as always, given the somewhat sparse nature of the
equipment, so I have to get creative. It is chest and triceps day, so I
can use the Cybex machines to do bench presses and flyes. Do some
dumbbell work, but really the top limit of 37.5 pounds is too low for
me. Decided to put two steps together and get some dumbbells and do
some elevated push ups as well. Oh well, can’t expect a great workout
but managing to keep the cruise food calorie damage to a minimum I hope.

My daily routine was running later than normal here, but I still wanted
to hit the hot tubs. Aft seemed a bit desolate, so went to the main
pool, hopped in, and it was maybe a bit too hot and muggy in there.
They had closed up the roof since we were at sea again. So I decided to
sit down in the pool overflow area (the “beach) which is tiled…the pool
is definitely over filled, and little waves would crash all around as
the ship swayed back and forth. It was actually nice. I could do some
stretching as I sat in several inches of water. The water was cold
after the hot tub though and took some getting used to! Then down to
the cabin to get ready for “informal” night. Dress code pretty much
followed I would say…although, I did my own creative informal….a nice
pair of black Kenneth Cole slacks, a lightweight heather gray Polo
sweater, etc. Ok, so not jacket and tie, but it looked dressier than a
casual night, and was very comfortable.

For dinner I had the Carpaccio of Beef Tenderloin (sliced way too
thin…disintegrated on my fork while trying to pick it up), so I placed
an order for the Thai Spring Roll, which was delicious. Had the
Gazpacho of yellow and red cherry tomatoes which was chunky and good,
and the house salad. For entrée I had the NY Strip rare, which was
definitely rare but a little tough. The beef has been a bit hit or
miss, but prepared to order…I like my beef with a lot of “moo” still in
it! I also ordered the venison as well, which I only took several bites
of. I was very hungry early in the dinner and ate several rolls that
were covered with nuts and things like that….yummy.

For dessert….the Warm Chocolate Truffle, which was to die for. Probably
the best dessert this week. So good….could have had two, if I wasn’t
already also having the Pecan Pavlova, which was a bit of crème on top
of a baked meringue base. That was also quite good, and then also the
no sugar added Forest Berry Tart, which was only so so. Everyone at the
table agreed the Chocolate Truffle thing was a big hit. The flambé in
the Explorer’s Lounge tonight was Peach Melba….but we didn’t stop.
Hmmmm….do need to stop one of these days.

Went to the show. Some magician/illusionist type thing. Not too good!
Went to the roulette table…very depressing. $20 gone in no time.
Friend Mark was raking it in tonight for a while and had a very healthy
stack o’chips! Decided to hit the piano bar with Bob and hang out.
Kory was still doing the Elvis hour. The piano bar is a weird little
room. Kory could draw a crowd in a bigger venue. Lots of poles in the
way. Bright bright lighting. Watching Kory is half the fun…what a
sense of humor. Definitely the best entertainer on the ship, no
contest. Ended up staying there until almost 2 am!

At Sea

We seemed to be moving pretty quick today…need to turn on the tv.
Furniture has blown around out on the balcony. I suppose we have quite
a distance to make in one day here going from Tortola to Nassau? Can’t
imagine it’s too pleasant out there on the top decks today…aft pool area
might be ok if the superstructure of the ship is blocking some of the
wind. Wonder if they have the roof closed on the main pool area. I
would think an open roof there today would “catch” a lot of wind. Hmmm…
Not that I’ve motivated to get out of the cabin yet! Ordered my
coffee, had the banana, and thinking of getting cleaned up. There is a
brunch with the Captain at 12:30 pm in the Crow’s Nest, so would have to
put on long pants for that. This morning was the disembarkation talk
with champagne, but haven’t been to one of those since my first cruise.
Also the Mariner Society reception at 11:45 am in the Vista Lounge. I
don’t think I get a medallion of any color yet, so probably will skip
that. Of course, probably won’t book this line again so what’s the
point! Still smarting over the Friends of Dorothy party issue. Oh…on
that score, checked the internet yesterday and someone on Cruise Critic
had thoughtfully e-mailed Holland America in Seattle after I had posted
my original note. They got a response with HAL’s policy on publicizing
passenger group activities in daily program. In short, they no longer
will be publicizing FOD parties or any other passenger generated
event….although one wonders how many or what type of requests they
receive…and of course, they are still putting such things as the Friends
of Bill W, veterans, service club, singles and solos, and bridge player
notices in the program…..so why are they allowed? Sounds pretty fishy
to me. Oh well, as Marcy Simms says on the TV commercials…”an educated
consumer is our best customer” and I will damn well take my $$
elsewhere! Wondering if I should bring this issue up at the brunch with
the Captain? Maybe if Mike and Gary are going to the brunch I could go
with them and bring it up?

And this is where my travelogue ends. I just simply lost interest in
continuing lol!

All and all, I did get 7 days of relaxation and some pretty good meals
-- in fact, I think HAL's food was much better than 5 years ago. I
genuinely think this is a fairly jarringly ugly ship. Lots of
unnecessary ornamentation, some colors one wonders why they were put
together etc. Service a bit hit or miss at times, could be not enough
staff, especially in dining room. Suite amenities a mixed bag really.
Nightlife, forget about it. Oh well. Glad I tried HAL again, but not
likely to repeat it unless it’s a unique itinerary that I really want to
experience. I wouldn’t sail this line for the ship itself.

Copyright 2005, Jeff Coudriet

It happens lol! But I managed to write down some of my memories and
thoughts and that will have to do! Took VERY few pictures of this ship.
Didn't want to crack my lens lol!

Jeff



Karen Segboer wrote:
Jeff Coudriet wrote:


And this is where my travelogue ends. I just simply lost interest in
continuing lol!


That's happened a few times in my own personal travel journal,
Jeff ;-)

Nice write-up, though. I enjoyed the read.

Karen


http://www.cupcaked.com ®
(...and leave off the "potatoes" to e-mail)

Nope! Design wise...I would say it's a mess! Very few areas I would
describe as attractive, although, hey tastes may differ.

Jeff



Karen Segboer wrote:
Jeff Coudriet wrote:


It happens lol! But I managed to write down some of my memories and
thoughts and that will have to do! Took VERY few pictures of this ship.
Didn't want to crack my lens lol!


Wow, 'didn't think much of the ship, eh? ;-)

Karen



http://www.cupcaked.com ®
(...and leave off the "potatoes" to e-mail)

I'm glad that it was not just me, the whole time we were on the Ziderdam,
we kept saying that the Maasdam was so much nicer. IMHO, HAL really dropped
the ball with this ship. Seems that they could not decide if the ship was
going to be HAL or Carnival.
"Karen Segboer" wrote in message
...

I'm not surprised. I've heard pretty much the same thing from
discerning ship-goers.

Jeff Coudriet wrote:

Nope! Design wise...I would say it's a mess! Very few areas I would
describe as attractive, although, hey tastes may differ.

Jeff

Karen Segboer wrote:
Jeff Coudriet wrote:


It happens lol! But I managed to write down some of my memories and
thoughts and that will have to do! Took VERY few pictures of this
ship.
Didn't want to crack my lens lol!


Wow, 'didn't think much of the ship, eh? ;-)

Karen



http://www.cupcaked.com ®
(...and leave off the "potatoes" to e-mail)

I returned Sunday from a cruise on the Westerdam. In discussions with the
Hotel Manager, he said that the Zuiderdam interiors are going to be redone,
because of opinions (complaints) voiced by HAL repeaters.

Whether what he said is fact is open to speculation G

--
Regards,
Kuki
Features Editor
http://www.cruisemates.com
"George Howarth" wrote in message
news:7udQd.21949$ya6.9187@trndny01...
I'm glad that it was not just me, the whole time we were on the Ziderdam,
we kept saying that the Maasdam was so much nicer. IMHO, HAL really
dropped
the ball with this ship. Seems that they could not decide if the ship was
going to be HAL or Carnival.
"Karen Segboer" wrote in message
...

I'm not surprised. I've heard pretty much the same thing from
discerning ship-goers.

Jeff Coudriet wrote:

Nope! Design wise...I would say it's a mess! Very few areas I would
describe as attractive, although, hey tastes may differ.

Jeff

Karen Segboer wrote:
Jeff Coudriet wrote:


It happens lol! But I managed to write down some of my memories and
thoughts and that will have to do! Took VERY few pictures of this
ship.
Didn't want to crack my lens lol!


Wow, 'didn't think much of the ship, eh? ;-)

Karen



http://www.cupcaked.com ®
(...and leave off the "potatoes" to e-mail)

Interesting! I did think it was just plain ugly, although some
attractive areas (Explorer's Lounge) and I liked the sports bar decor
actually, although hardly anyone in there mostly.

Jeff


kuki wrote:
I returned Sunday from a cruise on the Westerdam. In discussions with the
Hotel Manager, he said that the Zuiderdam interiors are going to be redone,
because of opinions (complaints) voiced by HAL repeaters.

Whether what he said is fact is open to speculation G

Interesting! I did think it was just plain ugly, although some
attractive areas (Explorer's Lounge) and I liked the sports bar decor
actually, although hardly anyone in there mostly.

Jeff


kuki wrote:
I returned Sunday from a cruise on the Westerdam. In discussions with the
Hotel Manager, he said that the Zuiderdam interiors are going to be redone,
because of opinions (complaints) voiced by HAL repeaters.

Whether what he said is fact is open to speculation G