Wow, what a day. As always, boarding day has proven to be one heck of a long one. It began when we checked out of the hotel around 10:30am, and loaded all of our things into a waiting van that we had arranged to pick us up. Right on time too. The ride to Port Everglades only took a little over 15 minutes, as we seemed to have missed commute traffic.
Our boarding info stated that no one would be checked in before 11am, although when we arrived to Terminal 4, several buses were already there, and dozens of people were giving their bags to the porters. We did the same, and followed the line of people going inside the building. We wondered if there would be a different line for the high day Mariner Society members. Our question was soon answered when one of the greeters looked at us, then showed us her copy of our pictures. She had been waiting for us, and led us right to desk to fill out our health form. From there, we were escorted to an agent, who swiftly checked us in. Only one mistake was made, when she took our new photos, as our pictures got mixed up with each other. Of course, we did not know this until we actually boarded the ship.
Then we were led up an escalator, and seated near the entrance. As we expected, the ship had to have a “zero count” with everyone onboard, before the new guests could be let on. So our actual boarding time was closer to 11:30am. While waiting, we did have the chance to talk with some guests that recognized us. Some have been following our blogs for years now, and were so nice to tell us how much they have enjoyed it. And here we thought we would not know anyone on this cruise. And the same thing happened throughout the rest of the day…..certainly a surprise to both of us.
Our group included the deck 7 suite folks, who were a bit slow with gathering their things, so we can say that we were the first passengers to board the ship today. The security gal at the kiosk said we had to wait until one minute after 11:30am before it would work. That’s when we found out that our photos had been switched. Not a huge problem, but we would need to go to the front desk staff and have the pictures re-done. Truthfully, this is not the first time this has happened to us. And the good news was that we knew every greeter at the entrance on deck 2, making this cruise a very special one.
Since we were the first ones onboard, the front desk staff had no customers. Getting our room keys fixed was easy. Eventually, the line of passengers filled the lobby so our timing could not have been better. And better yet, the keys worked, and we stashed our hand carrys in our room, same one we always have, and took off to get photos of the many changes we found. And there were many…..
In fact, there were so many upgrades, that it might take all 17 days for us to list them all. First thing we saw were new hallway carpets on the lower passenger decks. We are fairly sure that every passenger deck got new carpets…..we will continue our exploring tomorrow to find out. Every public area seems to have upgraded the carpeting as well. Later in the day, after talking to many waiters, wine stewards, and room attendants, we learned that their decks, A & B, also got some most welcomed changes.
The biggest project had to be the new lanai rooms on deck 3. We counted a total of 21 of them, beginning from the atrium back towards the center of the ship. One side had 12 (starboard), and the other side had 9 (port). We were able to get inside one of those rooms to find they were not done yet. The bed had been set on the side wall, and a short desk and couch were added by the window. A flat screen TV was waiting on the bed to be installed on the wall at the foot of the bed. The bathroom had been totally re-done. Gone was all of those small tiles on the walls and floor. The tub was gone, and there was just a walk-in shower with glass doors. The sink area was changed with no wall hairdryer or medicine cabinet. Now there are glass shelves to store things. Not sure if we saw the lower shelf under the sink. And it appeared that there was a keycard device to open the door from the outside deck, solving the problem with getting locked out of your room by accident.
In the Lido Market, we discovered that many of the stations had been switched back from the world cruise set-up. The best improvement had to be the flooring that was changed from half carpet and half tile the length of the counters. Now it is all non-slip flooring that looks like tile, but is not. Much cleaner, and easier to keep that way. The table tops looked different as well. According to our assistant waiter, Dewa, the dishwashers had been replaced in the Lido….separate ones for glasses and dishes.
What was out of sight work, but we learned from crew members, was that the hot water piping had to be replaced. At some point, none of the crew had hot water for some time…..cold showers for everyone. Even the lower decks such as the engine room got upgrades. We are certain that many more things got attention, and as we hear about them, we will let you all know.
We had been handed an invite to the Crow’s Nest for a welcome onboard champagne reception at 1:30pm. Since we usually miss these events, we felt it time to make the attempt to attend. Glad we did since we met the hotel director, who gave us a most wonderful welcome. We have never met him before, even though he has been with HAL for over 15 years. This is his first time on the Amsterdam. Sitting at the bar, we met a very nice couple who happened to be the hosts for Cruise Critic. They reminded us that the meeting would be tomorrow at 10am in the Crow’s Nest. We will be there.
We never did make it to lunch, since the Lido was a mob scene. We worked on putting some of our stuff away, since our one bag we left behind was delivered right away. The mandatory muster drill was held at 3:15pm, followed by the bon voyage sail away festivities on the aft deck 8. Knowing we would be back there as we always are, Brook, Captain Fred Eversen’s lady, joined us for the sail out of the harbor. We have known her for years, ever since she began her career working for Club HAL and Shore Excursions. Captain Fred takes over for Captain Jonathon this time of year, so we have made many re-positioning cruises together. Brook said she will go back to Shore Ex when the ship reaches San Francisco. During the course of our conversation, she told us things we did not know. Such as most all of the workers for the dry dock were from Eastern Europe and Italy. At least 60 of these fellows have remained onboard to continue work that was not completed. Some of that has to be the aft Seaview Pool , as the pool itself has no tile and no water. The existing decking we thought was going to be replaced, had been chemically treated, then sanded smooth. We suspect there will an epoxy treatment done to it, making it less slippery and cooler to naked feet.
We did take the time to eat a few slices of pepperoni pizza from the Lido, as there was not much else left to choose from. Maybe because we were really hungry, it tasted fine. By the way, there was no Mariner lunch today in the dining room. It was closed until dinner time.
By the time we got back to our room, all of the luggage had arrived, so we made use of this time to stash it all. Then we went off to relax in our special chairs outside the Ocean Bar before dinnertime. Our chairs were still there, but the “living room” side had all new upholstery done on that furniture, as well as a new wooden floor added. On the outside of the Ocean Bar side, the chairs around the little tables had been switched to monster-sized chairs. Much more comfortable, but so heavy, they will not be moved far.
On this cruise, we saw no happy hour drink specials, and no live music in the Crow’s Nest. The Ocean Bar has the Ocean Quartet at 7:30, 8:30, and 9:30, the Piano Bar 8pm to close, and the Explorer’s Lounge with Adagio 7, 8, and 9pm.
The show lounge deck 4 had new seating in the center. No more dance floor, now that area is filled with seating all the way to the stage. The name Queen’s Lounge is gone, replaced with Mainstage. New carpeting was added and even new furnishings.
The band here now is called The Ocean Quartet, and they played more jazzy tunes than the previous band. Before we knew it, dinnertime had arrived. So now we entered deck 5 to The Dining Room. No more La Fontaine. Downstairs on deck 4, we noticed a completely new welcome desk in place. Upstairs was the same. Our table for this trip is #81, and the biggest surprise, was that we had Slam, our dinner waiter for two years now. So nice to know he will be taking good care of us for about 17 days, as he knows exactly how we like our food. Ice cold salads, and hot, hot soup. We both ordered salad, soup, and prime rib followed by desserts of yogurt and an ice cream sundae.
The show in the Mainstage (no more Queen’s Lounge) was actually a big screen movie – The Greatest Showman. Too tired for anything else, we made our way to the room and spent a most restful night with the rolling of the ship. Really missed that.
What a day…….glad to be back!
Bill & Mary Ann
Ready to re-board the Amsterdam at Pier 4
This dining room got upgraded furniture
Midship elevators deck 8 got new flooring
Computers in the library are gone from this area
More open look
More or less the same casino