Month: May 2019

May 14, 2019 – at Sea

Almost home. We are starting to pack. Everyone is starting to say goodbye. We had a great time and glad we did it.

Now it is your turn!

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May 13, 2019 – at Sea

The gym was full of the regulars and our workout was much easier without the ship rolling.

Warmer weather allowed us to sit outside today. A bit windy so we went to the rear of the ship.

We received our time for leaving the ship Thursday. We are with the first group at 8 am. Luggage goes in the hall the night before and we pick it up off the ship and carry it through customs. Some will go with us, some to fed-ex. We then board a shuttle to Miami airport. Our flight is 1:35 pm. A connection on Charlotte makes our arrival time at 5:35 pm.

We are organizing our clothes deciding what goes where.

There is an app for submitting customs forms. I did download it (3 hrs on our ship network). This may make our exit easier.

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May 12, 2019 – at Sea

Much calmer seas today. Grey skies all around but we actually were able to see the sun over head. It is starting to get warmer again as we move farther south.

We had breakfast and went to the gym.

Today is the final day to submit laundry to have it returned in time to pack before we leave the ship. We made sure we submitted all we had.

We had lunch in the main dining room where a nice Mother’s Day brunch was served. Each course was a sampler plate of chef specialties. It was a nice touch and we enjoyed it.

We spent the afternoon out on the deck at the rear of the ship. A bit too windy to sit outside of our room. It was nice to get outside again.

We had dinner in the Pinnacle Grill dining room which is normally an up-charge but was covered by the ship as payment for a few problems we had with the room. It was nice and private. It felt like we were back home having dinner out.

When we returned back to the room for the evening we received the following.

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May 11, 2019 – at Sea

Roughest water on the entire cruise. 20 ft swells made getting around very difficult. Walking through the Lido looked like everyone was at Mystery Hill. The difference was the floor didn’t remain at the same slant very long. This is the first time that things in the room were sliding off of the desk and falling on the floor.

The Captain said that by midnight things would calm down a bit and that tomorrow it would be very calm.

We tried working out in the morning but it was too dangerous. The swells were very unpredictable.

We spent the day watching movies. Laying in bed felt like swinging in a hammock. Nice. Walking around could give you an ill feeling. Yuck.

We planned to have dinner with Bob and Brenda in the dining room. When we arrived, only Bob was there. Seas were making Brenda ill and she passed.

The evening entertainment was pianist Judy Carmichael. She was accompanied by house drummer Graham. It was obvious that that did little rehearsing together as she was speaking to him as she played. He played very well. Her playing couldn’t be questioned but the show was a bit less than exciting. She spoke too much about things the audience had little interest in. The show was early 20C jazz and when she was playing I enjoyed it. She traded 2’s and 4’s with Graham on a few numbers. He was on brushes the entire show. I enjoyed the back and forth solos. Very talented just needs to rethink the show in my opinion.

Tonight we go back to eastern time. We will finish the last of our 25 hour days. Going to miss those. We had 18 of them.…

May 10, 2019 – at Sea

Another day at the gym has convinced me that all of the extra pounds that guests have put on are going with them when they get off the ship. Gym seems to be just as busy as usual.

The Captain announced to today that we are heading into a huge tropical depression. It is so large that we can’t go around it but we are changing course where we hope it will be less severe. This is the worst we have seen. So rough that the life boats above our deck are banging against the ship at times.

Today we were invited to a lunch in the dining room honoring the “mariners”. This is the reward system that Holland America uses. All guests started the cruise with us are at least 3 star mariners. Many are 4 and 5 star mariners. More gifts from HAL and we are wondering what we can actually pack to take with us.

We spent the afternoon watching a movie in our room. It was difficult to do much else with the rough seas.

We had dinner with Bill. We learned that he has done 5 tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and he finished as a Lt. Colonel last working in the pentagon. He has already booked another cruise for next year.

The evening entertainment was the Amsterdam singers and dancers. They did a show featuring tunes done by Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra among others. Great show once again.…

May 9, 2019 – at Sea

We expected more people at the gym before we arrive in Florida trying to work off the extra pounds but I don’t think that has happened. We did hear about one guest who brought 3 different sets of trousers in increasing waist size. Thinking ahead!

We have pulled out all of the suitcases from under our bed and have started to pack. We have 2 suitcases to check, 2 to carry on, 2 backpacks, 2 suitcases to ship and 2 containers to ship. The consumable items have been replaced with gifts we have received and purchases we have made.

Not many are showing up for team trivia. Not sure why this is. Doolin did the trivia today. He has more reasonable questions than Hamish does. One of the questions had to with a musical that contained the song Mr. Cellophane. I recognized the name of the tune but couldn’t match it to the name of the musical.

We have made dinner plans with the guests that we enjoy being with for the final nights of the cruise. Many of the guests we have dined with have already made deposits on another cruise.…

May 8, 2019 – at Sea

The complete map. All heads in place.

Last night we experienced very rough seas as expected. We did breakfast and then hit the gym. A few minutes after we arrived, a member of the security showed us a photo of a woman and asked if we had seen her recently. We didn’t recognize her. She proceeded to ask everyone in the gym. I told Terri that there are only two places she could be. In someone else’s room or in the ocean.

Soon we heard security asking the missing woman to call guest services. A little while later, the same message. The captain then announced that a guest was missing and we were turning around to retrace our route. There is not chance that we left her in Ireland because ID cards are scanned when each person gets on and off. This meant she went overboard but that was never mentioned. Where and when was a mystery.

It was 9:50 am when we turned around. The sky was beginning to clear and now the sun was on the starboard side of the ship. We were heading back into the storm and to rougher water.

We did group trivia but the mood was less than jovial. Fred and Debbie couldn’t make trivia and Brian and Janet were not there. The two of started and another stray member joined us and Janet did show up by question 4. When Hamish struggles to pronounce words we know that the question is going to be very difficult. How long did it take to build 1 meter of the train tunnel in Flam? How many head hair sprouts is a human baby born with? We managed to answer only 4 correctly.

Captain Mercer did not do his usual location and meteorological data announcement at 12:20 pm. Hamish did do his usual announcement about what is happening on the ship. No other info shared.

Captain Mercer made an announcement a bit after 1 pm and said that we were about 4 hours away from the last location of the missing guest. She was last on the ship on 1:25 am and the ship authorities were notified that she was missing at 7:50 am. He was also keeping track of timing back to Ft. Lauderdale and the amount of fuel on board. He was working with the Maritime authorities in Ireland, and the UK.

The seas continued to get rougher as we traveled back to the northeast. A few hours passed and the Captain announced that we had been released by the maritime authorities and that he was turning the ship back toward Florida. He did say that by the time we arrived to the search area it would be getting dark, weather is bad, and it would be dangerous for his crew to go out on a fast rescue boat to search.

We received this after dinner.

Many assumptions have to be made since a lot is missing from this letter. One has to assume that she went into the ocean. Since the ship’s crew knew the location and time it must have been on camera. No extra safety warnings were given to guests about staying off balconies or decks during bad weather. Not all guests have balconies but we know that she was on the 7th floor and all of those rooms do. I did a bit of research on people going overboard on cruise ships. It is not as uncommon as I might have thought. Since the staff gave the guests no indication of foul play and the lack of increased safety warnings, one has to assume this was an intentional act.

The evening entertainment was a performance of The Runaway Kids. Lead, rhythm, bass guitars with drummer. They all sang hits from the 50s and 60s. They weren’t bad but just lacked a bit of experience. This was their first performance on the Amsterdam. I’m sure they will be back as the crowd enjoyed them. The lead guitarist was the star and had the most talent.

I hope you have enjoyed following this blog. I may continue to write until we get home but there are no other stops planned until we arrive in Florida.…

May 7, 2019 – Bantry, Ireland

We arrived at 8 am and were in no hurry to get tender tickets as we had to meet customs for the VAT refund. We learned that the front desk would take care of the stamp for us and we left on the next tender. We arrived in Bantry about 10 am and headed right for the Sheepshead trail.

Ladders to get over barbed wire.

Rain was threatening and the grass was very wet already. We decided to stick to the road when we could.

We walked out on the trail 4.5 miles and decided not to push our luck with the weather and we turned around.

Bantry was a typical little village in Ireland.

We had a drink at Lucey’s Pub and enjoyed our 42nd and final stop.

Captain Mercer announced after everyone was on board that we were heading for Ft. Lauderdale, 3600 miles away. A storm was moving in from the west and we will be moving southeast. “3 to 4 meter swells, nothing we haven’t seen before on this trip”. He also said we should be through it in 24 hrs or so.…

May 6, 2019 – Cork, Ireland

Cork is another city we have visited on another trip. Ian did another morning of sail in commentary.

Our port was in Cobh and we had shuttles busses to Cork.

We left the ship at 10 am and were dropped off in front of city hall.

Today we would walk around and see some of the sights we missed our first time here. It was about 12 years ago and we stayed at a bed and breakfast. Location not available in the memory bank.

Interesting name.

St. Anne’s Church in the Shandon district.

We passed on visiting the Butter Museum

St. Peter and Paul’s Church. Mid 18C

Holy Trinity

A pub on every block.

St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral

The Church was closed when we arrived but would open in 45 minutes. We decided to hang around and wait. The online guide I was using said that the views from the top are spectacular. 5€ each when it did open.

We learned after we entered that the tower was not open for visitors. I wanted a refund.

We stopped in an old pub across the street. It was formerly a pharmacy. Bottles and other paraphernalia from the former business line the walls.

We headed back to the shuttle at 4 pm or so and headed back to the ship.

Information about our last stop was in the “Where and When” after dinner. Bantry is a tender port. We arrive at 8 am. VAT refunds take place at 9:30 am on board. Last tender is at 4 pm. We had planned to do a major hike on the Sheepshead trail but our time now is very limited.

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May 5, 2019 – Dublin, Ireland

Another port with a slow sail in. Ian on the mic and muffins for the taking. We finally arrived at port and were allowed to leave the ship at 10 am. This was a working container port and we would be taken into the city center by shuttle bus.

We have been to Dublin twice before and decided this would the city to get some boxes to ship home and of course get the VAT refund. We went up to the Lido and made a few sandwiches to take with us. I went to the front desk to ask a question about a notice we received about shipping things home. The young lady who helped me was the same one who told me Ireland is not a part of the EU. She said she had information for me about the VAT refund. She handed me a piece of paper that had two locations on it. One was at the airport, the other in town. No mention of the EU.

We rode the shuttle in and we were dropped off near Merrion Square. I did some research before we left and found a place that handles GlobalBlue. This is one of the many third parties that handle VAT refunds. We decided to go to this place first. While walking we realized that Dublin and Belfast were very similar. More so than I guessed they would be.

We arrived at the exchange/refund/tourist information center. When I asked about VAT and GlobalBlue I was told they do handle that. Hurrah! However, not on Sunday and not tomorrow. Holiday. You will have to go to the airport, he said. Since we aren’t flying I asked if customs was before security. Yes it is, was his response. He said the store across the river might have more information.

I did a quick Uber check. £40 one way. About 100 usd. We took the bridge back over the River Liffey and went to the souvenir shop that may have more information. We went in the basement and spoke to a young lady. They don’t handle GlobalBlue. She also said customs is after security in the airport and it said so on one of the forms. I asked if she had a customs stamp. This is all we need. The rest could be done by mail. She does not.

We decided to go to the place the young lady on the ship gave me.

The walk was not too far but they couldn’t help us. “Around the corner”, was the response. We went around the corner. No. We went back and the fine gentlemen that told us to go around the corner let me use the phone to call GlobalBlue. The gentlemen I spoke to on the phone said I can do it all online. “Without a customs stamp”, I asked. “Yes”, was his response. I thanked him and we left.

We decided to have lunch and sat out on a bench in front of the Irish Whiskey Museum. We decided we would take a tour afterward. There was another ship in port and Dublin was starting to get busy.

We went in, booked a tour, and waited for the tour to start with a couple of Irish Coffees. Coffee, Powers Irish Whiskey, cream and chocolate powder on top. This is the original recipe.

We began the tour. Fiond gave the tour. Since this place wasn’t a distillery and represented no single company, he could talk about all Irish whiskey.

He gave a great tour and talked about how Ireland made 60% of the Whiskey in the world in the 1800s. I knew that Scotland had that title today but I didn’t remember why. It had to do with a distillation process that was many times faster that the Irish thought cheapened the whisky. Scotland capitalized on this process and was able to produce as much whiskey in a week that Ireland could produce in 9 months. This was the end of most distilleries in Ireland. Several thousand down to 5 today.

After the tour we sampled 5 different types.

Fiond reinforced what I had already know about distilled spirits. Most, if not all of the flavor comes after the distillation process. Irish whiskey is also aged in Bourbon barrels purchased from the US. 3 years and one day is the minimum. Why one day? It is one more day than the Scottish minimum of three days. The age of the whiskey is a better indicator of price than quality or flavor. Single malt has little to do with taste or quality. It just means it came from the same malting process.

We did our sampling. I prefer Bourbon but I did enjoy sampling these.

After out tour we decided to find some boxes and tape for shipping. This was a bit difficult on a Sunday but we did find a place and decided to buy two large plastic bins. HAL will cover shipping of 4 boxes/suitcases with no weight limit. American Air has a 50Ib limit. I think we have this part figured out.

We boarded the shuttle and went back to the ship. We had dinner aboard and returned to our rooms rather exhausted. I read this in the “When and Where” booklet for tomorrow.

Alice captured my reaction.

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May 4, 2019 – Belfast, Northern Ireland, The United Kingdom

We began with our cruise in to Belfast at 8 am. Ian was in the Crow’s Nest on his microphone.

We arrived in Belfast at 10 am. A working port, we needed to take a shuttle bus to the center of town. We were on our own and did a walking tour of some of the sites.

City Hall was our first stop and was right across the Belfast visitor center where the shuttle dropped us off.

Ulster Concert Hall. Built in 1859

The Europa Hotel has the reputation of the most bombed hotel in the world. 28 bomb attacks during “The Troubles”.

The Grand Opera House – 1895

Belfast Metropolitan College

St. Mary’s Church – 1784

Belfast Central Library 1838

St. Anne’s Cathedral

Royal Ulster Rifles Museum

Albert Memorial Clock – 1869

The Big Fish – 1999

Beacon of Hope – 2007

We finished out tour and had some lunch in here.

We then walked to St. Georges Market

We then decided to do a 10 stop pub crawl. On a slow day that would be tough complete. It was Saturday and would be tough. Our first stop was Laverys.

We sat at the bar and chatted it up with a few guys preparing for the Belfast Marathon on Sunday morning. Each had a Guinness in their hand. We were surprised at the Irish prepare for a marathon. The pub was close to full with folks watching the soccer match.

The Five Points was next. This place was nice but empty.

The Crown Bar was next. Absolutely packed. We barely made it from one end to the other. No place to sit or even stand.

We walked around the corner and found and entrance to the second floor where the dining room was.

Interesting drink.

Bob and Brenda came up for dinner just as we were finishing. We chatted for a while and then we were off to the next stop. Robinson’s.

We entered Fibber Magee’s and half way through it connected to Robinsons. The place was packed with people.

We made it through the crowd and went on our way to Kelly’s Cellar.

After I took a photo of this chap he asked where we were from.

He handed me one of his pint’s and then went into the bar to buy Terri a drink.

We thanked him but he really wasn’t interested in chatting. He did say this was the best pub in Belfast.

Next stop. Maddens.

This place had a buzzer that you had to ring before you could get in. Reminded me of the Kociuszko Democratic Club in Hamtramck where I was a member back in the 70s. Terri said it was similar to the Ukrainian Club in Rossford, OH where she grew up. This place was quite cozy but we decided we had enough. Good effort at hitting all 10 but it was getting late. We headed back to the shuttle and then to the ship.

Evening entertainment was Kaitlyn Carr. Kaitlyn is from Scotland and did a performance of local Celtic music. She played the Irish tin whistle and the Celtic flute. Great performance.…

May 3, 2019 – Isle of Skye, Scotland

Today is a tender port. There is a chance that the ocean will be tough rough to allow tendering operations or that it will begin and then cancelled as was done at Easter Island.

UK customs demand a “face to face” with passport in hand for all guests on board. We were assigned to group 10 and this was to begin at 7 am.

Tendering tickets are scheduled to be handed out at 7 am also. I am always up early so we decided that I would check things out at 5:30 am. I did and 5 people were already in line. The pool area in the Lido was quite cold so I went and put on some warm clothes and sat and read the paper in line. Terri came up after breakfast opened and brought me breakfast. We sat together until 7 am and the line then began to move. The line was very long by this time. The 5 people in front of me were given tender tickets with the number 15. I received tender 16. This is an attempt to provide a sense of legitimacy. The tenders hold 150 people. Anyone who booked a HAL trip will be going on the first few tenders and need no tender ticket and they will call tender 15 first. We went back to the room and had to wait for group 10 to be called for the immigration process. When we were finally called the process went quickly. One officer checked the picture on the passport with the holder. We waited back in the room for the tender call. We finally got aboard about 8:45 am and took the 20 minute ride to the port.

Today we had no tour. We wanted to see the Talisker distillery and two castles. We hired a taxi and were off to the distillery. Don was our driver and he was born and raised on the island. We arrived at the distillery shorty after they opened at 9:30. Next tour was at 11:30 so we purchased tickets and got back in the taxi. Off to Dunvegan Castle.

Dunvegan Castle is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland. The ancestral home of the Chiefs of Clan MacLeod for 800 years.

We have been through castles before but never did one have furnishings in it from more modern times. We spent some time visiting here and then went back to the distillery.

Our guide took us through the process of making scotch. Not much of a mystery. Barley, water, yeast. 72 hours of fermentation and then distillation. The barley is soaked in water and allowed to germinate. This is the malting process. This opens up the barley. It is dried by using heat from burning peat. This may impart some flavor onto the barley. The barley is crushed, strained to give a 60% grain, 20% husk, and 10% flour mixture. Using straight barley would produce dough. The mixture has yeast and water added to it and then is put in vats for the 72 fermentation process.

After distillation the mixture would be high in alcohol and absent of flavor. The aging and flavoring process takes care of this. The small barrels are actually previously used bourbon barrels from the USA. Federal law states only one use per barrel in the US. No such law in Scotland. The larger barrels were previous used for port wine in Spain. These barrels give the Scotch a darker color. There is Scotch that is aged, and Scotch that is flavored. This where the different distilleries give the unique flavor of their product.

We did a sampling after the tour. I prefer bourbon from Kentucky and the tasting did little for me. Terri enjoyed it. Nothing we can’t get at home. We went back to our taxi and Don took us to Eilean Donan Castle. Along the way we took some photos.

This castle made an appearance in many films. James Bond drove his Aston Martin in the film the World is Not Enough and it was also featured in Skyfall.

We enjoyed our visit to this castle and had Don take us back to town. We did manage to get something to eat and drink in Portree but most of the pubs were not open yet. We got on the tender about 4:30 and went back to the ship.

We spent the evening watching the movie The Bucket List. Two terminally ill men decide to create at list of things to see and do and complete it before they “kick the bucket”. Many of the things they saw have already been checked off on our list!…

May 2, 2019 – at Sea

Today the sea was very rough, it was raining and it was cold. The gym had the usual number of people in it. Terri predicts that it will be packed after our last stop as people try to lose all of the weight they have gained from the non-stop eating. We have 8 sea days across the Atlantic. What do you think? Will it be packed?

We did spend some money in the European Union and would like to get our VAT back. I asked Ian a week back when I was leaving the ship and he said check upstairs with the EXC (excursions) desk. I checked with them today and they had no idea what I was talking about. Niran made a call and kept saying UK instead of EU. He didn’t know what the EU was or what a VAT was. We left.

Later on, when I was less frustrated, I went to the front desk and asked about the VAT refund. The desk attendant said she had no information on that yet.

There are times where a customs officials will come on board, check your items, and give a refund provided you have the receipts and paperwork. Other times it happens at the port station.

I pressed her for more and she went in the back to check (with whom, I don’t know). She came back out and said Ireland is not in the EU so there is no way to get the VAT refund. Huh? We are making two stops in the UK. I know that Brexit hasn’t happened yet. We have three stops in Ireland. Was there an Irexit that I don’t know about? If we were flying out of the EU, it would happen right at the airport. The VAT forms we have will be sent by mail but we must have a stamp from a customs official verifying that the merchandise has left the country. This is supposed to happen at our last stop in the EU. More to follow….

We are starting to think about packing and shipping. The ship stewards will pick up anything we want and take it to a luggage storage facility off of the ship. When we leave the ship we go get all of our luggage and boxes and go through customs. After customs, we take the boxes and luggage we want shipped home to fedex and the rest we take with us to the airport.

Just 4 of us at team trivia today. Atomic number of Tin? 1024 GB = ? The young boy’s name in the Jungle Book?

We had lunch with Brian and Sandy. They have already put a deposit on another cruise. We are going back to what we did prior to this cruise. We will alternate years planning a vacation. I am up next year.

We had dinner in the main dining room and sat next to a couple that wanted to share how many cruises they have been on (about 40) and how nothing is like it used to be. Everything was better back when they started cruising in the early 90s. They just boarded in Amsterdam and will ride back to Ft. Lauderdale.

The entertainment was a trio of dancers called the Tap Chaps. They are from Dublin and put on a good show. The stage floor really wasn’t the best surface for tapping but they made it work. They sang a few numbers but their strength was really the dance. They called on three people from the audience and tried to teach them a routine. If the people could remember their own names I would have been impressed. No chance they could remember any moves they were taught. Hilarious.

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May 1, 2019 – Flåm, Norway

Ian took the mic at 6:30 am as we started our cruise through the Fiords. It was strange seeing snow after all these months.

We had a tour scheduled at 11:00 am and went out to the tour place to see how we should dress. The population of Flåm is 350.

Out tour was a 16 passenger boat to take us out to the Nærøwfjord. The tour company would supply a one piece suit that doubled as a floatation device, hat, goggles, inflatable life vest, and gloves. It was about 50 and sunny. We visited the little town, and then went back to the ship to get ready.

This is the gear we put on.

I took a lot of GoPro video of the trip and was able to capture these photos.

The Nærøwfjord is a UNESCO world heritage site because it is “untouched” and looks like it did centuries ago.

Our guide stopped every so often to give a story about what we were seeing.

We did a zig zag pattern all along the fjord to get closeup with all of the waterfalls. We saw hundreds. Along the way we saw homes and some abandoned farms. Its hard to imagine farming along the fjord but that is what people did. Fishing is tough to do as the water is very brackish for a good part of the year and does not contain many fish.

This farm raised sheep to make unique brown cheese.

We were out on the water for about 2.5 hours. The wind did kick up on the way back and we were glad we had the protective suits on.

We decided to do a hike up to a waterfall after the ride.

Our ship in the lower left corner.

Another great day. All aboard 5:30 and the Captain Mercer launched the ship soon after to beat a coming storm. Ian did more commentary on the way out.

Last sea day tomorrow before we do the 8 day journey across the Atlantic. Isle of Skye in Scotland, Belfast in Northern Ireland, Dublin, Cork, and Bantry, Ireland will consume Friday through Tuesday.…