lets all take a moment and welcome myself to this board. have been on cruise critic for a while and they went south about 24 hours ago.
we just got off the zaandam this past monday. had the pleasure of meeting y2k and his wife while on board. my next sail is 5/19/02 maasdam out of ft laud for a 7 day east carrib cruise. thats it for now. will take the opportunity to post if i think that i can offer any info. thanks for letting me join you folks
I'm kinda occasional here (lurk a lot, post a little), so I'm not the Welcoming Committee. But, welcome to CruiseMates. I, too, am a CruiseCritic regular and a somewhat-regular on Cruise @ddicts, lurker and occasional poster on Cruise2.
Hi and Welcome: You and I seem to be following each other around HAL and the Caribbean. We were on Maasdam three times in the last four months and absolutely love that ship.
But our next cruises are booked on Zaandam.
I sure would appreciate if you could mention who some of the crew abord Zaandam are. Hope some of our friends are there.
Do you know which captain, maitre d' and guest relations manager are aboard?
tom and sail
yes i know your names and postings from "the other board"
the only names that I know are 2 wonderful people in the crows nest that made us feel very comfortable. janice a server and neil the appetizer guy. my wife and the wife of the other couple we were with are both named janis. so whenever we walked into the nest the first thing that we heard is "janis janis"
ask janice to show you how to make a rose out of a paper napkin
Welcome to CruiseMates! I'm sure the CC site will have message boards back some time soon. If you're like most of us, we can't get enough cruise talk to feed our affliction. Surfing helps pass the time between cruises.
Glad u posted to say hello instead of just looking from behind the curtains.. lol
I've been lurking today too, trying to figure out what's the deal with CC? I had to give up my Amsterdam cruise after Sept. 11, but enjoyed it vicariously thru TomC who kept us up to date. Really great postings of what it was like to be on board while the world went crazy.
Anyway, we have booked the Panama Canal Rotterdam for January 26, and after booking, they have now changed the itinerary. I'm disappointed, but understand their erring on the side of caution, so we will "make do" with the new trip! !
Now the ship is going to Aruba and Curacao and I haven't been to either island, so I am sure we will suffer thru!
We have to been to Aruba several times and Curacao twice. Love both ports. You will love the white sand beaches of Aruba and the floating bridge and Dutch houses and shopping in Curacao. We hope to be in Curacao in Feb and we understand that they have a new cruise ship terminal. So we can't give you any information on that.
Curacao has completed upgrading of tourist areas after long months of construction, and IMO, they have done a fine job. The downtown shopping area has new sidewalks and there are lots of shops. It has been cleaned up and the people are friendly and helpful. We felt very safe there.
Sailing out of Curacao in the evening on a HAL shi is wonderful fun. The ships always have that as deck barbeque night, the locals line the harbor's edge and they shoot of fireworks as we sail off. Very festive and fun. I imagine HAL (as Dutch ships departing a Dutch Island) contribute funds to pay for the fireworks. We always enjoy it alot.
Last February, we were on Volendam and Amsterdam was in port the same day. We sailed off together and it was such a beautiful sight for us to view the beautiful Amsterdam all lit up...I imagine they got just as beautiful a sight of Volendam.
Cinder..IMO the change of the itinerary to include Aruba and Curacao is a plus with which you will be well pleased.
I,too feel lost without cruisecritic board. But I have use this site before as well. Hey I am a cruise junkie and if there were other boards with as much info as these two
I would have found it already. We are leaving for 10day southern cruise on Volendam in three weeks. We just got back from ft.lauderdale today for a land visit. If anyone wants info on airport security let me know. You will need to get to
the airport at least 2hrs before your flight if you are leaving from ft. lauderdale to go back home. Long lines.
I am another cruisecritic regular. I have been lurking here on cruisemates for some time and now have also checked out cruise @addicts. Can't read too much about my favorite topic! Our next cruise is on the Rotterdam -- 12/9 roundtrip Canal. Can't wait!
a big welcome
!
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