Chuck was taking advantage of a sea day by sleeping in. I poured his coffee into his Yeti cup as I knew it would stay hot for a long time. After I finished my latte, I went to the gym.
By the time I finished my workout, Chuck was awake and ready to go to the pool. I was surprised we were able to find lounge chairs in the Sea View area. There have already been several announcements about not saving a lounge chair with a towel and usually a sandal or a book, and then leaving it for hours at a time.
If you see a lounge chair that has been unoccupied for 30 minutes (and you are sure the person saving it is not in the pool), you can ask one of the Sea View staff to remove the belongings and use the chair. I have seen more than one altercation about loungers on past cruises. Hopefully, no problems on this one.
I am happy to report that we had a very relaxing day at the pool. The day passed quickly, and it was soon time to get ready for the first dressy night of the cruise.
When we came back to the cabin, we found that the laundry had been returned. HAL’s laundry service is efficient and effective. We use it every cruise.
We went to the main dining room for dinner. We were seated at a table for six and had a very pleasant conversation with the other two couples. Chuck had the prosciutto appetizer and the cracked pepper tenderloin dinner. I had the shrimp cocktail appetizer and the yellow fin sole dinner. We skipped dessert.
After dinner, we decided not to go to the main stage show by the HAL singers and dancers – Hey, Mr. DJ! We’ve seen it before. Chuck wanted to go to the Casino. His name was called for one of the drawings, and he won some casino “free play” money.
I went to the BB King lounge and listened to two sets of their band. They are an okay band. I have liked other BB King bands from other ships better. The lead singer of this one spends a lot of time talking to the audience between songs.
When I got back to the room, I was happy to find a towel animal and chocolates. I was not happy to find a note telling us to set our clocks forward tonight.
When you have a HAL cruise in the Caribbean, you are more than likely going to stop at least once at Carnival Corporation’s Private Island – Half Moon Cay (HMC). It is usually the first port or the last port of the voyage. On this cruise, it is the first port.
We haven’t gone ashore to HMC in quite a few years. We decided to go today and walk the nature trails that we remembered from past visits. We assumed that the trail would go the length of the island which we had never walked before.
After enjoying a large coffee for Chuck and a large vanilla latte for me from the Grand Dutch Cafe, we went to the main dining room for breakfast.
We both decided to order the Express Breakfast – two eggs, choice of meat, and either French Toast or Pancakes. I ordered the one with a pancake. I should have researched my choice before I ordered. It was not one pancake but 3 pancakes – 3 big pancakes on a separate plate from the eggs and bacon. I don’t like to waste food, so I was mortified at the amount. I did the best I could with them.
Once back in the cabin, I got a bag of laundry ready to send out.
Then we went to the stairway that led to the tendering area. Since we are long-time HAL cruisers, we were allowed to go to the tender boat without a ticket. We only had to show our keycard to Security. Otherwise, we would have gone to the BB King Lounge to get a ticket and wait for the number to be called for boarding.
HMC uses a large two-deck open air boat to ferry people from the ship to the island. Much nicer than having to ride in the lifeboats which we have done numerous times at other tender ports.
Carnival Corporation is building a pier at the other end of the island. It will allow larger Carnival ships to come at the island. Tendering 6000 people is just not really feasible. The tentative opening date is early 2026. From what I could see, there were some pylons in the water, a lot of dirt/sand piled up on the island, and some cranes and machinery that did not seem to be in use. I think an opening date of early 2026 is an ambitious goal.
Once we arrived at the island, most people headed directly to the beach which I think is the nicest one I have ever seen. I looked for the signage directing people to the nature trail but could not find it. We headed off on the only path we saw. We soon found the resident chickens.
Chicks in hot pursuit of Mom
The path took us past the volleyball area and the basketball court directly to the food pavilion where they were setting up for the bar-b-que lunch. I was baffled as I knew we had walked a nice trail at other times.
We decided to head back to the ship and on the way, I did see the nature trail sign pointing back toward the pavilion. We turned around and went back past the pavilion and finally saw a small directional sign that said nature trail. I was happy to finally find it.
We really should have just gone back to the ship. The lush blooming plants that I remembered were now just scrub bushes. There were no informational signs that described the plants and the island history. Most importantly, there was no shade on the path.
Flowering bushes few and far between
I just have to assume that the storms over the years decimated the vegetation and have not been replaced. I guess they are just concentrating their efforts on the beach area which is not surprising since the beach is definitely the destination for most, if not all, of the passengers.
After taking a photo of the ship from the island, we did head back to the tender area and were soon back on the ship.
Still full from breakfast, we skipped lunch and went to the Sea View area for some pool time. I ordered one of their mocktails – Ginger Mango Splash. I think it is my new favorite poolside drink. I love mango and the ginger gave it a kick. We spent a relaxing afternoon in the sun and pool.
The afternoon passed quickly, and it was soon time to get ready for our dinner reservation at the Italian specialty restaurant – Canaletto. I looked at the special of the day – Espanole of Fresh Fish. I had to look up what “Espanole” meant – just a way of cooking. The fresh fish of the day was mahi mahi which I like, so I ordered it. If it had been grouper, I would have passed. Chuck ordered osso bucco. They gave him an extra-large portion.
Next, Chuck went to the Casino, and I went to the Game of Love Show. There were 3 couples competing. Each couple were married 50+ years. Lots of arguing about the answers given – “No dear, you are not remembering it correctly.” They all got a prize.
We went to the 9:00 show of the comedian Rory Gardiner. He talked a lot about raising kids. Since his audience mainly consisted of people who had kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids – he struggled with his routine. Maybe he’ll find his footing at the next show in a few days.
Chuck went back to the Casino to play cards and hope that his name would be called for the drawings. I went to listen to the last set of the Rolling Stone Lounge band. I got a cookie from the Grand Dutch Cafe and took it back to the room for later. It was not as good as the ones from the Lido. Think I will stick with their Dutch apple pie.
So Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning. If you believe in the groundhog weather prognosticator, we have six more weeks of Winter. I really don’t think South Floridians care what the rodent predicted – it’s 80 degrees this morning in Ft Lauderdale.
Didn’t sleep great last night but I usually don’t in hotels. The free hotel breakfast was decent – serving both hot and cold food choices. I was very pleased with the taste of the all-important coffee. There were a number of guests taking advantage of the meal and seemed happy with it (except the one toddler who showed his distaste for the fruit loops by dumping his bowl on the floor). There’s always a food critic in every crowd.
At 10:45 we went to the lobby to get an Uber to the port. There were six cruise ships in port today. It took about 15 minutes for our Uber to arrive. I knew the traffic to the port would be heavy. It was. Once we got within a mile of the port, we crawled along at a snail’s pace.
However, by the time we reached the gate, we were ready with our passports to show and to answer “No” to their inevitable question “Are you carrying any firearms?”
There are several gated entrances into the port and the informational signage is good, but it never ceases to amaze me to look over at cars at the gates where people are obviously searching for their passports and holding up the queue. Read the signs people, Read.
I also wondered what would happen if someone in the car answered “Yes, I am fully armed.” Nothing good I imagine.
As soon as the Uber driver let us out at our terminal, porters were out in force ready to take our luggage and the tips. Once they had our luggage loaded on the carts, I looked in dismay at the embarkation line that stretched down the sidewalk and around the corner. Started walking toward it when I finally spotted the priority line. It was much shorter. Yay for being a long-time HAL cruiser!
Everything was going smoothly until I reached the point where they scan your passport and match it with your photo in their file. Chuck’s scanner immediately dinged success! My scanner stayed silent and flashed red. My passport and file photo didn’t match. ??? It matched in October but not now? What? – I have a few more wrinkles and I’m now unrecognizable? Rude. They took another photo of me and the passport scanner gave its ding of approval.
Finally on the ship but people were crowding the middle set of elevators that you see when you step onto the ship from the gangway. We walked down the hallway to the back of the ship and took those elevators. No waiting. There is also a bank of elevators in the front of the ship. I bet there wasn’t waiting for those elevators either.
We were assigned cabin 6158. It was not the one we chose. This one had a connecting door to the cabin next door. I’m not a fan of this type of cabin unless I know the person in the other cabin.
If you have a very noisy person in the cabin next door, the conversations, music, TV, etc. will seep through the door area as you lose that part of an insulated wall.
On one Carnival cruise, we heard a guy fight with his girlfriend back home every night over the phone. Each night, he would end the conversation with “It’s over! Go to Hell!” Next night – same thing. Always wondered what happened to them when he got back home.
The cabin that we chose could sleep 3 and the fine print in the ship contract does say that HAL has the right to move you to a comparable or better cabin if you don’t have the maximum number of people in the cabin and they need it for some family that does. We were moved to the same category cabin just down the hall from the one we chose. I could argue until I was blue in the face that getting a connecting room is not comparable, but I would just end up blue in the face and still be in the connecting cabin. I’m just hoping for the best.
We are primarily on this cruise because Chuck got invited to be a participant in this “Ultimate Gaming Cruise.” Since the cruise also coincided with my birthday, we decided to go for it. We were greeted in our room with a bottle of champagne, special lanyards, an invitation to the opening party, and a list of the special activities the casino would be hosting for the 12 days. We were also happy to note that two people we met on an earlier cruise would also be on this cruise.
I was very glad to hear that we were not going to have the traditional muster drill of standing shoulder to shoulder at the lifeboats – especially in the heat and humidity. Every ship has to do one of those types of drills periodically but today was not the day.
After we had our key cards scanned at our muster station and watched the safety video, we decided to avoid the Lido for lunch and just go to the NY Deli and Pizza area one deck above the Lido deck. Good choice. Neither the bar nor the deli area was busy, and we had our sandwiches and beverages quickly. Chuck was even recognized by one of the bar staff who remembered him from an earlier cruise.
After we ate, I went to the dining kiosk and made our specialty restaurant reservations. We then went back to the cabin to see if the luggage had arrived. Nope. No worries – we unpacked the carry-on and the backpacks.
At 3:00, we went to the sailaway party. It was fun with music, food, and beverages. Afterwards, we went back to the cabin to see if the luggage had arrived. Nope. Hmmm. We’ve usually gotten our luggage by sailaway. But I know the ship is sailing full so trying not to worry.
At 4:00, we went to the Casino party with our friends from the previous cruise. It was fun with food, beverages, introductions to the casino staff, and giveaways (our name was not called). Afterwards, we trekked back to the cabin to see if the luggage had arrived. Yay! – my piece of luggage had arrived. Boo! Chuck’s luggage was still missing in action. We got my bag unpacked and stored under the bed.
We played some slots before the Casino became very crowded. Once it did become packed with players (I did mention that this was an Ultimate Gaming Cruise – we weren’t the only ones invited. 😊), we went to the Lido for their “Welcome Aboard” steak dinner.
We typically choose the Lido on the first night as the main dining room always seems disorganized on the first night. I was happy to see the Lido was offering mussels along with the steaks. Chuck also got a steak but did a “hard pass” on the mussels. Just more for me.
We then went to the first set of the band in the Rolling Stone Rock Lounge. They are very good musicians but are more of a show band than a dance band. Maybe we will have better luck with the BB King band.
Once the set was over, Chuck was eager to play cards. I stopped by the Grand Dutch Cafe and got a piece of Dutch apple pie for me and a Bossche Bol (giant chocolate creme puff) for Chuck. I took them both back to the cabin. Yay! His suitcase had arrived. Whew! Once I got it unpacked, I was ready to listen to the waves from the balcony, eat my dessert, and call it a night.
Pumpkin was sleeping peacefully in his cat condo until he heard the bags rolling across the floor at 7:45 a.m. He knew then that it was going to be a bad day for the kitty. His trained staff was leaving. He glared at us from under the bed as we said our good-byes. I take great pains to be sure that the cat sitter has everything he needs to take good care of Pumpkin, including detailed instructions, but I get no credit from Pumpkin – only complete disdain. Sigh.
We battled patchy, dense fog as we drove to the shuttle office. I was happy that there was little traffic. The shuttle left promptly at 9:00. The driver had to deal with more dense fog and had to make one stop along the way to pick up two passengers. We made it to the airport at 11:15. We dropped off our big bags at the curb-side check-in.
Using CLEAR and TSA-precheck, we were at the front of the security line quickly. Usually either Chuck or I have one of our carry-ons go through the “naughty” line. This time, we both had a bag. His backpack and my roll-on were both flagged. However, neither bag was opened when it reached the TSA person. He just handed them to us. Okay. On we go to the gate.
Once we got to our gate, we decided to have a Wendy’s lunch. Note – the airport Wendy’s does not offer the special “Biggie Bag” menu option. The fries were cold too. Pitiful. Dave would have been disappointed in that franchise.
We were supposed to board at 1:15 and leave at 2:00. Our plane was at the gate. At 12:30, we got notified that we were missing our flight crew. The flight crew that was on our plane had ended their shift and were leaving. Our flight would be getting a crew coming from Boston. That plane had not yet landed. Since having a flight crew is pretty important, we settled in to wait. They arrived at our gate at 2:00 to cheers from the waiting crowd. We were soon allowed to board, and we finally took off at a little after 3:00.
Chuck started a movie but I just listened to music and kept reading my book. I hate starting a movie on flights that are less than 3 hours. I didn’t see any series I wanted to watch either.
Once we landed and got our luggage, an Uber Comfort took us to the Hyatt Place Plantation. I thought I had messed up by choosing Comfort over XL when I saw the Tesla that pulled up. I didn’t think it was going to be big enough for the luggage. However, the driver was able to get the big bags in the trunk but the carry-on, he had to put in his front seat. The ride was very nice but I need to stick to Uber XL when we have luggage.
This Hyatt Place is not the one I normally choose in Ft. Lauderdale, but it was much less expensive than the Dania Beach one this time. I was even able to use Hyatt points. The accommodations were fine but there are very little food choices within walking distance from this location. We ended up at a KFC down the block. It was surprisingly good. The Colonel would have been proud.
Once we were back to the hotel, we got our bags tagged for tomorrow and settled in for some TV time. No hurry to get up as we don’t plan to leave the hotel until check-out time at 11:00.
So when is a good time for a water line to break in your yard?
Never. Never is the correct answer.
And it is definitely not at 4:50 p.m. on a Friday evening before you leave for a 12-day cruise.
I had finished putting a load of laundry into the dryer. I walked into the kitchen to rinse some dishes before loading the dishwasher. Turn the hot water handle. No water. Turn the cold water handle. No water. The clothes I had put in the dryer had been wet. What gives?
I tried each faucet in the house. No water. Maybe some work is being done in the area. I text a couple of our neighbors – “Do you have water?” Both responses – “Yes”. Oh no. It’s just us.
Chuck is playing a video game- blissfully unaware of our situation and the panic that is building up inside me. I’m about to spoil that bliss big time.
After he gets over the initial shock of what I am saying to him, he goes outside to find a big pool of water bubbling up near an outdoor faucet in the front of the house.
We are fortunate to have very good neighbors.
One of the neighbors who I sent a text came over to help. He and Chuck got the water turned off at the street and started digging around the spigot area. I started making a mental list of things to do to cancel the cruise since there was no way a plumbing company was going to come out on a Friday evening in the dark and we couldn’t leave the house with no water.
But before I could make the first call, our neighbor said “don’t cancel your cruise. I’m going to be in town next week. Either I can fix it myself this weekend or, if it looks like too big of a job, I can get the plumbing company out here on Monday.”
As I said, we have very good neighbors.
He let us fill a big bucket with water for flushing. I had a gallon of distilled water for handwashing. I had a pitcher of filtered water for the coffee maker. I had bottled water for drinking and to leave for the cat sitter to give Pumpkin until the water was turned back on.
So after all the drama of the evening had died down, I took a deep breath and rechecked my packing lists. I think we are good to go.
Needless to say, 2024 was full of challenges for us. However, ever the optimist, we believe that 2025 is going to be better. So until we are told otherwise, we are going to continue to travel as much as possible.
We will start this year with a 12-day partial Panama Canal cruise. It is a very similar route to the one we took in 2018 – coincidentally – the first one we took after a serious health scare that year. The full-transit from Ft. Lauderdale to Seattle that we tried to take in 2024 was cancelled before it got started.
One difference this year from 2018 is that we are sailing on the Holland America (HAL) Rotterdam VII, the newest Pinnacle Class ship. Because of its size, we will be using the newer, larger canal locks that were completed in 2016. I was fascinated going through the old locks in 2018. It’ll be interesting to compare the different experiences.
We are also looking forward to some warm weather. The many days of below-freezing temperatures here have gotten on our last nerve. I promise I won’t even complain about the humidity wreaking havoc on my hair if we can just get some warmth.
No snorkeling this trip but we do have three tours scheduled – one in Aruba, one in Colombia, and one in Costa Rica. Fingers crossed that the weather is nice for each one of them.
So now is the time to finish packing our bags, gather our documents, and make our way to Florida for the first adventure of the new year.
The Caribbean season is almost over for the Holland America line. Their ships will start transitioning to Alaska, Europe, and New England very soon. About this same time last year, we took our first transitioning trip on the Zaandam from Ft. Lauderdale to Montreal.
This year we are taking the Eurodam as she transitions from Ft. Lauderdale to Seattle for her Alaska season. This is our second trip on the Eurodam. The last time we sailed her was 2011 and at the time it was the largest ship we had ever sailed. In today’s cruising world, it is considered mid-size (2100 passengers).
We will be visiting several new ports on this trip along with some repeats. I am especially interested in being able to transverse the entire Panama Canal. In 2018, we did a partial Panama Canal cruise – go through the locks, stay in Gatun Lake for a while, come back out the same way. I think the Eurodam is small enough to still go through the old locks, but I could be wrong. We might be using the new locks. Either way it will still be interesting.
Packing for this trip, like so many others, will be a challenge as we will need summer clothes for the Central America and Mexico stops and warmer clothes for the San Francisco to Seattle portion. Still trying to win the battle of over-packing. Maybe this trip we’ll get it just right. Hope springs eternal.
We got up at 7:00 and I went for my last latte. Sad. We went to the Lido for some breakfast at 8:00 and as expected, it was crowded. A more subdued crowd than on the first day.
We were still expected to get into Ft. Lauderdale at 10:00. I started seeing a lot of high rises ahead on the coastline. I assumed it was Miami. Since we have always gotten to Ft. Lauderdale by 7:00, I had never seen the coast coming in like this on the ship.
We got back to the room and started the waiting process. Holland America always lets you stay in the room if you wish instead of having to go to public areas to wait like other cruise lines have asked us. However, they made several announcements about waiting in the public areas and not crowding the hallways or gangway area. They never mentioned being able to stay in the stateroom although it was in the printed material that we received.
We chose to stay in the room until 10:30 and then we went to the Casino to wait as it was near the gangway. We were finally let off the ship at 11:30.
We found our bags and made it through Customs with very little effort. Got a taxi back to the hotel to get our car. We were on the road home at noon.
It was another great trip. Our next planned trip is in June. However, Chuck received a nice casino offer but he has to sail before May 13th to use it. So, who knows? Maybe a quick trip to the Caribbean in April?
Captain: Wouter Van Hoogdalem Hotel Director: Ron Bontenbal Cruise Director: Sabine van Leuken
Officers and Crew: 170 and 606 Nationalities of Crew: 41 Average Speed: 17.8 knots Miles Traveled: 3269 Miles
Good-bye Zuiderdam. Hope to sail you again some day.
Got up at 8:00 again. Could see that today was going to be cloudier than yesterday which was fine with me since I would not be taking the time to soak up the sun. Since we were on no deadline, we had breakfast in the dining room. Then we did our 2 miles around the ship.
We decided to go to the presentation “Ask the Captain.” It is an opportunity for him to talk about life on the bridge and answer guest questions. We knew it would be crowded as people are wanting to know more about the azipod situation. The presentation was very interesting. He showed pictures of the bridge and talked about the roles of the different ship officers. He had his chief engineer talk in-depth about the azipod but the result was still “they are not sure of the root cause of the problem and wouldn’t know until they could take it apart in Ft. Lauderdale.” He also talked about his career and his life in Holland. He said would probably be on the Zuiderdam one more year and then would move to a different HAL ship.
He had a good sense of humor. Most people had general questions about ships and being a Captain. One woman who spoke only Dutch asked him about only having announcements in English even though HAL is a Dutch origin shipping line (we know this because the Captain translated for us). She apparently didn’t like his answer as we could tell she continued to scold him. He finally told her we had to move on with other questions. I noticed that the cruise director (who also spoke Dutch) was talking with her after the presentation.
After having lunch, it was time to start the packing process. We would be placing the 2 large bags out in the hallway before midnight and would keep the two small suitcases to roll off with us tomorrow morning. I watched the movie “Ant Man and the Wasp” while packing the suitcases. Chuck always offers to help but it is usually easier for me just to do it by myself.
I like the fact that I am packing mostly clean clothes to bring home. Today was the last day to get laundry returned and my last load got here this afternoon. I did have a dirty clothes bag for today’s clothes.
We got our new paperwork indicating that our disembarkation time for tomorrow will be approximately 11:15 barring any unforeseen issues. Our original paperwork had us disembarking at 8:15.
Was finished before the movie was over. Afterwards, I read for a while and then got cleaned up for dinner. We had dinner with two women that we have seen most nights at the BB King nightclub. They are mother and daughter from Louisiana. I had the Dover sole and a salad. The sole was okay but it had to be de-boned by the waiter. I prefer the filets. Chuck had beef tips. I should have had that dish too.
We skipped the main entertainment tonight – Dave Burleigh, an impressionist. I have seen him on other ships. He is okay. We could hear people laughing. We spent the evening at the first 2 sets of the BB King show. Chuck played his last time at the Casino.
The Lido and the main dining room will be open for breakfast tomorrow as well as the coffee bar. I assume room service is also available although they did not announce it. I set the alarm for 7:00. No towel animal tonight. The monkey is still hanging on the hangar. The bags are out in the hallway.
I woke up around 2:00 a.m. and felt a weird motion of the ship. Felt like riding a train, a back and forth motion, instead of the usual rocking side to side or up and down. Made me a little nauseous but I have taken my Bonine faithfully so I didn’t get sick.
Woke up around 8:00 with the new time change. It was a gorgeous day with bright blue skies and a nice breeze. I knew I would be spending the majority of the day in a deck chair soaking up the sun. But first, latte from the coffee bar, breakfast in the Lido and two miles around the ship. Had a surprise as I was leaving the room, the Canadian couple who are the good dancers have the room right next to us. I was surprised I hadn’t seen them before. I guess are schedules have just been different.
During the day, we found out what was making that weird motion. The Captain made the announcement that the one of the azipods were not functioning at full capacity. The azipod is the thruster which allows the ship to move forward, backward, and side to side. Long story short – the ship has to move slower than predicted so we are not going to get to port at 7:00 on Wednesday. They are now predicting that we will get there at 10:00. If we continue at a fast pace, the azipod might stop completely and then we could be in a mess. The Captain said that Guest Services was prepared to help people make different flight arrangements if needed.
If we had a flight on Wednesday, I would be distressed. However, since we are driving, we just won’t get as far up the road as we had planned. There was definitely a long line at Guest Services for people who were needing help with flight changes or other issues. Glad I didn’t have to be in that line.
Chuck swam in the pool for a while but I did not get in. I enjoyed my book, the sun, and the breeze.
For the evening, it was time to get dressed up for the last gala night. We had dinner with one of the couples that we had met at dinner on a previous night. They were from Detroit and were retired educators. Enjoyed the conversation very much. We all had the filet mignon and lobster tail for the main meal. Chuck and I both had shrimp cocktail as the appetizer. Still skipping dessert. Well, Chuck has always skipped dessert. I have had ice cream a few times.
We enjoyed another night at BB King and the mainstage show. It was a show featuring the Zuiderdam singers and dancers in a production called “Off the Charts.” It featured music and dancing from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. I think it was the best of the three productions during the cruise.
Tomorrow is the last sea day so that will mean packing up our stuff and saying good-bye to the nice people we have met this trip. No need to set the alarm. Tonight’s towel animal is a monkey hanging from a hangar.
