The Adventure Begins

Day 1 – Boarding the ship

We’d decided to do the whole HAL pre-cruise routine except for having them book our flights. That meant that we had pre-arranged transport form the airport to the hotel, and from the hotel to the ship. Given the amount of luggage, it turned out to be a very good thing! We’d gotten an instruction letter when we checked in, so following a ride on the SEB (Stupid Exercise Bike) for me, we went down to the HAL desk in the lobby & checked in, then had breakfast at the hotel. At 11:10 we went down and checked out, and at 11:30 boarded the bus to the cruise terminal. We had a very competent HAL tour coordinator who shepherded us with brisk efficiency through the chaos of the Sheraton arrival/departure area – no small feat, it was a total zoo. Very impressive. Our bags had been picked up earlier and would meet us on the ship

Check-in was check in, what can be said about it? It took longer than we wanted it to, although for the most part the lines moved quickly. We were on board by a little after one, and immediately headed to the front desk to do our business – signing up for the ship tour (3 hours!) and a cooking class. Then it was up to our room to drop off our carry-ons, and down to the dining room for the Mariners welcome aboard lunch.

OK, first, our room. We had gotten a stateroom guarantee – that means you’re guaranteed a stateroom in whatever category you pay for. We paid for a lower-end verandah cabin, and were upgraded to a to top-category standard verandah. Then a day or two later they sent an e-mail offering a paid upgrade to the next level of cabin – a verandah suite. Using the Sami Sandage method, we immediately said “sure, we’ll try that”. So we are in what seems to us to be a palatial room – full sized couch, separate desk with a window overlooking the verandah, tons of drawers, large bathroom with two sinks, full size whirlpool tub and separate shower. And the two big upgrades, oversized bath towels that you can actually wrap around yourself and personalized stationery. We feel extremely pampered.

Next, the people. This is our third time on the beautiful Oosterdam. The first time was our Christmas cruise to Mexico, when the ship was pretty much filled to capacity, with 3rd and 4th occupants in many of the rooms. Lots of families, lots of young kids, many teenagers. The ship felt crowded, it was hard to get an exercise machine in the gym or an appointment at the spa or a cooking class or just about anything at all, and the food was mediocre. Then on our Hawaii cruise, the ship was much less full. Very many fewer kids – 20 vs the 200 on the Mexico cruise. The average age on the ship was somewhere between 65-70, and unless you got stuck behind someone with a scooter or a walker, you could go anywhere and do anything. This cruise, unfortunately, seems to be much more like the Mexico cruise, but colder and rainier. Once again the ship is very full, again with some 200 kids, and it’s hard to get places and get appointments. But since we know some tricks (the most important one being sign up early), we’re doing fine.

After lunch we wandered about the ship, reacquainting ourselves with it and looking for familiar faces (none – as near as we can tell, the entire complement of staff and crew, including the entertainers and the spa/fitness center staff – have completely changed). At 3:15 we had lifeboat drill, which had many more references than either of us remembered to tying your life vest straps so that you wouldn’t trip. Many more. Could this be a reference, I wonder, to the Costa Concordia’s captain’s claim that he tripped and fell into a lifeboat? After lifeboat drill our baggage showed up, so we unpacked it. This was much easier in our giant stateroom since we could get past each other, and also because of the many shelves and drawers. Before we left, my friend Rhonda-the-piano-teacher, who has much cruise experience, came over to loan me some warm wraps and give me some advice (stop walking like a man!). One thing she said is that I was supposed to get a mani-ped with bright nail polish and not wear pantyhose. So at 5 I headed up to the spa, where for the next 2 hours Edith did my feet and hands and dished all the “downstairs” dirt on the ship. Turns out she and the other manicurist are the only two people who interact with customers left on the ship since the Hawai’i cruise, and they’re leaving soon. It also turned out she’d done my manicure last time, so we were good friends right off. She told me about all the dramas (there’s so much drama, I feel like I should always have a bag of popcorn, she said) and how it felt working on the ship and we just had a fantastic time. She also told me that the young male cadet (he looked to be about Tim’s age) we’d seen during lifeboat drill was a girl. What???

Next, up to the crow’s nest to hear Matt Murphy, Chris’s replacement. He was very good and we enjoyed listening to him, but couldn’t stay long because we needed to dress for dinner. When we got to the dining room, they led us straight to table 7 – the same orphan’s table we had last cruise! Unfortunately there were only two other people there, cousins, and they were planning on changing their seating to sit with the rest of their group. But we remembered that on the Hawaii cruise we didn’t get assigned to table 7 until the second day, so we’re hoping for more tablemates. Dinner was mediocre at best; I had a completely overcooked veal chop and Dave’s was forgettable also. We’re worried that the food will be the same low quality it was on the Christmas cruise.

After dinner it was time for the welcome aboard show, which was pretty standard stuff except for your cruise director John completely blowing the joke about cruise weight gain – he started with “you come on as cargo” rather than “you come on as passengers”, the finished the usual way, looking confused. But he’ll do fine. One sad thing about Your Lifestylist Louise turning into Your Lifestylist Jeremy is that Jeremy loves Tai Chi, so he does 2 Tai Chi classes a day instead of one Tai Chi and one Zumba. I will miss the Zumba.

Following our usual routine, after the show we headed to the Queen’s Lounge to check out the HalCats. Turns out the singer this time is Lynn, and she is way better than Vivienne ever was. Because of the younger demographic, there was much more freestyle dancing and much less formal ballroom style dancing. It was fun to watch and fun to listen to, and we might need to get out on the floor ourselves.

Then it was bedtime, where we faced our first (and hopefully last) really crushing disappointment of the cruise: No towel animal! We’re hoping that it’s just that it was the first night and the cabin stewards were rushed. We’re trying to take the enjoy-whatever-comes attitude of the Australians we met in Seattle, but no towel animals might be a deal breaker.