8 June 2019 Lørdag It was 55*f, cloudy & very windy at 0700. Cruise er ferdig (the cruise is completed). No more choices to make.
Slideshow Link
We received our breakfast in cabin & ate. Then we waited until 0830 for our disembarkation & bus to AMS Schiphol Airport. Then we disembarked Rotterdam VI for the last time (she was sold during the 2020 Coronavirus disastrous cruise season).
Our trip home is to JFK New York on a KLM 787-9 at 1430 CEST, then a Delta regional CRJ900 at 1943 EDT to Jacksonville. A good bus ride, light load, swift trip to AMS. But AMS is a zoo on this Saturday morning. People everywhere.
Checked in and went to the KLM lounge, which is huge, with sparse selections compared with others we're familiar with. But ok. The wi-fi was very good; I uploaded a full update to my trip diary and got up to date with that. We'd asked for assistance to the gate for D and it was given. But the gate was the closest one to the lounge so it really wasn't needed.
Boarding began a few minutes early. Our seat assignments got screwed up somehow but a kind soul moved so we could sit together. We were seated and given a small glass of something deplorable. Then we were told departing would be late. AMS has only been able to use one departure runway due to the rain and high winds. Big backlog of flights. At 1545 we were told the tower advised the the captain that engine start time might be around 1630 - two hours late. Shortly after that, drinks and snacks were offered - the sort of thing you'd get just after takeoff. The cheese cubes were excellent Gouda.
In our gate, no phone service was available and the wifi not yet started so we were incommunicado, unable to voice our frustration to anyone. We found out later that there's no wifi tonight due to some misconnection with the satellite. Hmm…
At 1618 we pushed back. At 1634, wheels up. The cabin windows gradually went opaque as we climbed - no window shades. At 1652 we passed 33,000', 559 mph and leveled off at 36,000 a few minutes later. The cabin crew began meal service.
They started with a tray of salad, bread with oil, and large pasta shells filled with shrimp & salmon mousse that was not to my taste. Good french Sauvignon Blanc. Cute little wooden shoe salt-and-pepper shakers. The napkin had a buttonhole to attach to my shirt - nice touch - and it saved my new white polo shirt.
The seasonal Dutch dish of white asparagus, scrambled eggs, ham, and spinach was very tasty. Did I mention that the french Rigal Original Sauvignon Blanc 2018 was quite good?
The dessert round was a set of little sweet tartlets, tea, and port (Taylor's Late Bottled Vintage Port 2013, no less). The water for tea was not warm enough, but that's probably a safety concern. A small chocolate piece made to look like a Dutch house was the last bit.
All said, this was a very good meal.
The outlook at 1900 CEST is that we will arrive at 2330 CEST / 1730 EDT or so. We're a little west of Iceland. Then I was able to take a short nap, perhaps two hours. I woke up as the plane crossed the Labrador coastline near Goose Bay.
Shortly afterward the lights came up and the face-cloths were passed. The lighting in this 787 is odd. The lights went off again. Then they came up again, with the ceiling lights full white and the sidewall lights some orange shade. The windows are an opaque dark blue.
A snack was served, which I passed on. Too much food over the last 17 days.
The Steward described the connection process in Terminal 4 to a Delta flight. He was quite wrong.
We got off the plane after much taxi-ing at close to 1800 EDT (2400 CEST). We trotted as fast as we could through baggage claim and C&I. But then we were dumped into a recheck-luggage place, then made to go through security again. When finally through that it was around 1900. We hiked the B gate wing to B55 and lined up for our plane. Crowded regional-jet wing.
The flight then was delayed due to the lack of a captain. One showed up a half-hour later and we started out. When we got into the line of planes waiting for takeoff, we were number 23. There must have been some padding in the schedule because we were only a half-hour late at JAX. Our priority luggage was the last out, we got the rental car, and arrived at home just after midnight EDT - 24 hours after departure.
Slideshow Link
We received our breakfast in cabin & ate. Then we waited until 0830 for our disembarkation & bus to AMS Schiphol Airport. Then we disembarked Rotterdam VI for the last time (she was sold during the 2020 Coronavirus disastrous cruise season).
Our trip home is to JFK New York on a KLM 787-9 at 1430 CEST, then a Delta regional CRJ900 at 1943 EDT to Jacksonville. A good bus ride, light load, swift trip to AMS. But AMS is a zoo on this Saturday morning. People everywhere.
Checked in and went to the KLM lounge, which is huge, with sparse selections compared with others we're familiar with. But ok. The wi-fi was very good; I uploaded a full update to my trip diary and got up to date with that. We'd asked for assistance to the gate for D and it was given. But the gate was the closest one to the lounge so it really wasn't needed.
Boarding began a few minutes early. Our seat assignments got screwed up somehow but a kind soul moved so we could sit together. We were seated and given a small glass of something deplorable. Then we were told departing would be late. AMS has only been able to use one departure runway due to the rain and high winds. Big backlog of flights. At 1545 we were told the tower advised the the captain that engine start time might be around 1630 - two hours late. Shortly after that, drinks and snacks were offered - the sort of thing you'd get just after takeoff. The cheese cubes were excellent Gouda.
In our gate, no phone service was available and the wifi not yet started so we were incommunicado, unable to voice our frustration to anyone. We found out later that there's no wifi tonight due to some misconnection with the satellite. Hmm…
At 1618 we pushed back. At 1634, wheels up. The cabin windows gradually went opaque as we climbed - no window shades. At 1652 we passed 33,000', 559 mph and leveled off at 36,000 a few minutes later. The cabin crew began meal service.
They started with a tray of salad, bread with oil, and large pasta shells filled with shrimp & salmon mousse that was not to my taste. Good french Sauvignon Blanc. Cute little wooden shoe salt-and-pepper shakers. The napkin had a buttonhole to attach to my shirt - nice touch - and it saved my new white polo shirt.
The seasonal Dutch dish of white asparagus, scrambled eggs, ham, and spinach was very tasty. Did I mention that the french Rigal Original Sauvignon Blanc 2018 was quite good?
The dessert round was a set of little sweet tartlets, tea, and port (Taylor's Late Bottled Vintage Port 2013, no less). The water for tea was not warm enough, but that's probably a safety concern. A small chocolate piece made to look like a Dutch house was the last bit.
All said, this was a very good meal.
The outlook at 1900 CEST is that we will arrive at 2330 CEST / 1730 EDT or so. We're a little west of Iceland. Then I was able to take a short nap, perhaps two hours. I woke up as the plane crossed the Labrador coastline near Goose Bay.
Shortly afterward the lights came up and the face-cloths were passed. The lighting in this 787 is odd. The lights went off again. Then they came up again, with the ceiling lights full white and the sidewall lights some orange shade. The windows are an opaque dark blue.
A snack was served, which I passed on. Too much food over the last 17 days.
The Steward described the connection process in Terminal 4 to a Delta flight. He was quite wrong.
We got off the plane after much taxi-ing at close to 1800 EDT (2400 CEST). We trotted as fast as we could through baggage claim and C&I. But then we were dumped into a recheck-luggage place, then made to go through security again. When finally through that it was around 1900. We hiked the B gate wing to B55 and lined up for our plane. Crowded regional-jet wing.
The flight then was delayed due to the lack of a captain. One showed up a half-hour later and we started out. When we got into the line of planes waiting for takeoff, we were number 23. There must have been some padding in the schedule because we were only a half-hour late at JAX. Our priority luggage was the last out, we got the rental car, and arrived at home just after midnight EDT - 24 hours after departure.