Friday, March 15, 2024

It's getting to be that time again... Time for another adventure!

 

Well, here it is a Friday night, a week since I arrived home from my wonderful voyages of the Zaandam & Rotterdam.  In three weeks, we will be back at sea, sailing away from Fort Lauderdale on the Oosterdam heading to the Mediterranean… It should be an exciting time, including a two week Overland into Bosnia & Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro.  In addition, when we debark the Oosterdam on June 23rd, we will hang out in Amsterdam for 6 days, visiting friends and new places in the region…  We will sail back to the USA on the Zuiderdam, arriving in Boston on 20 July…  Should be a great adventure!!!

OOSTERDAM

FRI 05APR24 Fort Lauderdale 3pm

SAT 06APR24 At Sea

SUN 07APR24 At Sea

MON 08APR24 At Sea

TUE 09APR24 At Sea

WED 10APR24 At Sea

THU 11APR24 At Sea

FRI 12APR24 Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel Azores, Portugal, 8am 5pm

SAT 13APR24 At Sea

SUN 14APR24 At Sea

MON 15APR24 Cadiz, Spain, 8am 6pm

TUE 16APR24 Malaga, Spain, 8am 6pm

WED 17APR24 Cartagena, Spain, 8am 5pm

THU 18APR24 Alicante, Spain, 8am 4pm

FRI 19APR24 Barcelona, Spain, 7am 3pm

SAT 20APR24 Villefranche-sur-Mer (Nice) France, 12n 6pm

SUN 21APR24 Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy, 7am 5pm

MON 22APR24 Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy, 7am 7pm

TUE 23APR24 Naples (Pompeii/Amalfi), Italy, 7am 5pm

WED 24APR24 Taormina, Italy, 8am 5pm

THU 25APR24 Valletta, Malta, 8am 5pm

FRI 26APR24 At Sea

SAT 27APR Souda (Chania) Greece, 8am 5pm

SUN 28APR Rhodes, Greece, 8am 6pm

MON 29APR Kusadasi (Ephesus) Turkey, 7am 6pm

TUE 30APR Athens, Greece, 7am

OVERLAND Itinerary

April 30 Day 1 Overnight Athens

May 1 Day 2 Fly to Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina

May 2 Day 3 Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina

May 3 Day 4 Kotor, Montenegro

May 4 Day 5 Kotor, Montenegro

May 5 Day 6 Kotor, Montenegro

May 6 Day 7 Tirana, Albania

May 7 Day 8 Tirana, Albania

May 8 Day 9 Skopje, Macedonia

May 9 Day 10 Skopje, Macedonia

May 10 Day 11 Ohrid, Macedonia

May 11 Day 12 Ohrid, Macedonia

May 12 Day 13 Ioannina, Greece

May 13 Day 14 Ioannina, Greece transfer to Athens

May 14 Day 15 Athens, Greece

 OOSTERDAM

TUE 14MAY24 Athens, Greece, 3pm

WED 15MAY24 Rhodes, Greece, 9am 7pm

THU 16MAY24 Alanya, Turkey 8am 5pm

FRI 17MAY24 Limassol, Cyprus 8am 5pm

SAT 18MAY24 At Sea

SUN 19MAY24 Thira (Santorini) Italy, 8am 8pm

MON 20MAY24 Mykonos, 8am 5pm

TUE 21MAY24 Piraeus (Athens) 7am 4pm

WED 22MAY24 Argostoli, Kephalonia, Greece 10am 6pm

THU 23MAY24 Kerkira, Nisos Kerkira (Corfu), Greece 8am 5pm

FRI 24 MAY24 Dubrovnik, Croatia 8am 5pm

SAT 25MAY24 Zadar, Croatia 10am 6pm

SUN 26MAY24 Trieste (Venice) Italy 6am 11:59pm

MON 27MAY24 Rijeka, Croatia 10am 6pm

TUE 28MAY24 Split, Croatia 10am 11pm

WED 29MAY24 Kotor, Montenegro 8am 5pm

THU 30MAY24 At sea

THU 31MAY24 Nafplion, Greece 8am 5pm

SAT 01JUN24 Piraeus (Athens) 7am 3pm

SUN 02JUN24 Katakolon, Greece 8am 4pm

MON 03JUN24 Sarande, Albania 10am 6pm

TUE 04JUN24 At Sea

WED 05JUN24 Valletta, Malta 8am 11pm

THU 06JUN24 Taormina, Italy 8am 4pm

THU 06JUN24 Cruising Straits of Messina, Stromboli Volcanoe

FRI 07JUN24 Naples (Pompeii/Amalfi) Italy 7am 10pm

SAT 08JUN24 Civitavecchia (Rome) Italy 7am 10pm

SUN 09JUN24 Scenic Cruising Bonifacio Strait

SUN 09JUN24 Ajaccio, Corsica, France 10am 6pm

MON 10JUN24 Villefranche-sur-Mer (Nice), France 8am 5pm

TUE 11JUN24 At Sea

WED 12JUN24 Barcelona, Spain 7am 3pm

THU 13JUN24 Marseille (Provence) France 10am 8pm

FRI 14JUN24 Portofino, Italy, 10am 9pm

 SAT 15JUN24 Livorno (Florence/Pisa) Italy 7am 5pm

SUN 16JUN24 Civitavecchia (Rome), 7am 5pm

MON 17JUN24 Messina, Italy, cruising Straits of Messina 1pm 7pm

TUE 18JUN24 Valletta, Malta 8am overnight

WED 19JUN24 Valletta, Malta 4pm

THU 20JUN24 La Goulette (Tunis) Tunisia 7am 4pm

FRI 21JUN24 At Sea

SAT 22JUN24 Nafplion, Greece 1pm 8 pm

SUN 23JUN24 Athens/disembark fly to Amsterdam

MON 24JUN24 Amsterdam

TUE 25JUN24 Amsterdam

WED 26JUN24 Amsterdam

THU 27JUN24 Amsterdam

FRI 28JUN24 Amsterdam

 

ZUIDERDAM

SAT 29JUN24 Amsterdam 3pm

SUN 30JUN24 At Sea

MON 01JUL24 Alesund, Norway 9am 5pm

TUE 02JUL24 At Sea

WED 03JUL24 Akureyri, Iceland 10am 6pm

THU 04JUL24 Isafjordur, Iceland 8am 5pm

FRI 05JUL24 Reykjavik, Iceland Overnight 8am

SAT 06JUL24 Reykjavik, Iceland 7pm dep

SUN 07JUL24 Grundarfjordur Iceland 7am 5pm

MON 08JUL24 At Sea

TUE 09JUL24 Cruising Prince Christian Sound

WED 10JUL24 Qaqortoq, Greenland 8am 5pm

THU 11JUL 24 Nanortalik, Greenland 8am 5pm

FRI 12JUL24 At Sea

SAT 13JUL24 St. Anthony, Newfoundland 8am 5pm

SUN 14JUL24 St. John’s, Newfoundland 10am 8pm

MON 15JUL24 At Sea

TUE 16JUL24 Charlottetown, PEI 8am 5pm

WED 17JUL24 Sydney, Nova Scotia 8am 4pm

THU 18JUL24 Halifax, Nova Scotia 8am 5pm

FRI  19JUL24 Bar Harbor, Maine 9am 7pm

SAT 20JUL Debark ship in Boston, Mass 7am



Friday, February 16, 2024

Rotterdam 2024, Fort Lauderdale....

What a wonderful day here in Fort Lauderdale!  Today was marked with a bit of sadness as Captain Werner Timmers brought his ship, Rotterdam, in for the last time.  He will be moving to the Nieuw Statendam after a well-deserved vacation.  The Rotterdam family will greatly miss him… Speaking of vacations, I decided that today was a good time to take a three-week vacation…  Many of you are thinking, “that’s all he does!” But what I’m talking about is taking my last three weeks on the Rotterdam and relaxing with my friends and enjoying the sun…  I’m taking a three-week hiatus from doing my blog.  It takes a lot of time and energy and I think I’ll give it a rest until we set sail April 5th to the Mediterranean…   It should be fun, lots of great ports still ahead like Aruba, Curacao and the Panama Canal…  Not sure how I’ll react to putting the big camera away, kinda like a crack addict in recovery… Today, also brought our wonderful friends Laura & her sister Bernice from Cape Breton Nova Scotia back onboard and one of our favorites, Claes de Groot, the Guest Relations Manager….  Looking forward to a fun, relaxing three weeks on the Rotterdam…


























Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Rotterdam 2024, George Town, Grand Cayman...

Happy Valentine’s Day. Busy day in Grand Cayman, four ships in town including the Zaandam that we did not notice hiding behind the Carnival Horizon. Last evening we decided to not go ashore…turned out to be good decision with a possible 13,000 passengers invading Georgetown. In addition, all shore bound tenders were suspended late morning due to the swells. Our day on the ship was spent lounging in the sun. Sea day tomorrow and back to Fort Lauderdale. Sending best wishes and congratulations to my niece Ali and her husband Jay on the birth of their second daughter yesterday.

























 

Monday, February 12, 2024

Rotterdam 2024, Puerto Limon, Costa Rica...

Because of staying up late for Super Bowl, I did not intend to take sail in photos this morning, especially with an 0730 arrival.... I went out on the deck around 0730 and lo and behold, I realized we were late arriving into Puerto Limon and was able to capture quite a few photos. It was a sunny, hot and humid when we got off the ship. A couple of iguanas were sunning themselves along the pier. Being creatures of habit, we went first to Balvanero Vargas Park and spotted the sloths in the trees. After walking through the park, we followed the sea wall around the waterfront and took some photos. We walked to the pedestrian mall and wanted to visit the municipal market but it was still closed. Next, we made our way to the new Sacred Heart Cathedral, with its modernist spire and design. The church was open and the interior is very modern but a stunning design. The lighting inside the church was really not very good. We circled the block to see the original church that has since been abandoned. Although, rundown Puerto Limon does have some interesting architecture and colorful open air market places. It is our normal routine to scour the markets for hot chiles for the Indonesian crew…we managed to buy 2 kilos of Habaneros today! The crew will be happy tonight to have fresh sambal for dinner!  We also found some street art on the walls of the Big Boy Stadium. On our way back to the ship we made a second stop at Vargas Park to see the sloths. Back on the ship, we relaxed in the sun…the heat index was around 96F. We packed it up early today in the sun as tonight we have been invited to the Tamarind Restaurant for a ribbon cutting ceremony for the launch of the new Morimoto dining experience.