Good Afternoon, 

For some reason I woke up way too early. I got mixed up with the clock, instead of setting it back 1hour , I must have gone forward 1 hour. I decided to get up anyway. When I got to the eating area, there was hardly anybody there, just the odd individual who was having sleeping issues. At least they had the coffee pot going. It was actually a good time for some blog writing. I was all excited that I was up before sunrise and had my camera all ready to go. My luck, it never happened, because the clouds moved in. I was one of the first ones in the breakfast line up and watched people participate in a Tai Chi class while I ate my breakfast poolside. Throughout the day, I did a little gym stuff, upper body to the point I had a hard time lifting my beer glass. Tonight was our first what they call gala night. People generally really dress up for the dinner and  the following gala dance party. The Captain and crew were all present at this event and all dressed up in there finest suites. After a fantastic dinner, we participated for a bid at the party and having some chats with the crew. By 11 PM the party started to wind down a bit and we decided to return to our cabin for the night.

” To travel is to take a journey into yourself “

Cheers

Hi all, another day at sea. The internet connection is still very intermittent, to the point that Carol isn’t able to get on Facebook at all. Don’t worry if she isn’t answering your posts. She is simple not able to respond right now. You must wonder what we do all day to keep ourselves occupied on sea days . If you are the stay active type of person we have the following to name a few, full size gym with a dozen treadmills, spinbike classes, cross trainers, dozen regular bikes and all the weight machines. Tai Chi and stretching classes every morning.Carol likes to walk the outside prominade it is approximate 350 meter around. So you guys see , no excuse not to get up and start moving. When I go to the gym, I take the stairs from my room on the first floor to the gym on the 9th floor, that gets my heart rate up considerably and gets me all warmed up when I get there. Being on the ship during many seadays in a row, we kind of forget what day it is, they have an answer for that too, when we step in the elevator, the rug shows what day of the week it is. Yesterday we participated in a trivia game with the Netherlands as subject and ended up in a shared first place, not bad!We ended the day with dinner up on the back deck and were lucky to just get a glimpse of the sun going down in the north Pacific.

” If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it is lethal”

Cheers

January 10, 2023

Good Morning, today was  the first of eight seadays coming up. Today I participated in some activities events. first of all at 9:00 something called Corn Hole. This ended up something like bean back tosh. The only difference, there is only one hole to get the bag into. I have been told that they call this game wasero or something like that in Cumberland. As this was outside on deck 10, it was quite windy up there. After spending an hour here , I went on for my gym visit for another hour or so. In the afternoon I participated in a game of shuffle board it was also outside on deck 10. This game reminded me a little bit of curling minus the sweepers. Carol usually does her 45 min walk in the morning on the prominade deck outside on deck 3 it runs the full length of the boat. In the afternoon she had signed for a flower arranging class. She came out of there with 2 beautiful arrangements and a Delft blue vase. Well Done Carol!

One funny story she told me, she was teamed up with another Lady, who was farting so loud continuously and wasn’t blinking an eye over it. After a while, Carol started to notice that the teacher wasn’t coming to their table anymore while this was going on. We managed to hook up with Rocky and Joan on the back deck for Happy Hour and Supper. During happy hour, drinks are half price. Just after dinner , we got another one of those wicked tropical rain showers, with the rain coming in sideways dropping like an inch in 15 minutes.

This pretty much were some of the highlights of the day.

” Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all”

By – Hellen Keller

Cheers 

January 9, 2023

Fuerte Amador ( Panama City)
January 9, 2023
Good Day, waking up this morning anchored outside Panama City. We are having breakfast on the back of boat on this beautiful sunny morning looking towards the skyline of the city with all its
tall buildings. Today it’s a national holiday in Panama. Most government businesses, museums and some stores are closed. This is the 3rd time that we visited this place, so we decided to take the shuttle to the nearest mall. It’s a very hot and humid day today.
after walking along the ocean for a while we were in need of a cold beverage. We stopped in a nice small non franchised coffee shop to cool down and enjoy an ice cold soda. After doing more walking and telling eager taxi drivers we didn’t needed their services
we took the shuttle back to the ship. We spent the remaining of the afternoon on the back deck around the pool. At 4:30 there was a sail away party planned. By 3:30 the sky’s got so dark and out of nowhere there was this big bolt of lightning which struck
the antenna on top of our ship. Captain Friso came on the ships intercom and told not to worry, as this happens from time to time. Just as the we sat down for the sail away the sky’s opened up and the rain came in sideways. As our friend Rocky would say, it
was raining crocodile’s and iguanas.Obvious the captain waited till the heavy rain subsided and by 6:00 PMwe set sail
“Do one thing every day that scares you” By – Eleanor Roosevelt 
Cheers 

January 8, 2023

Hi all, today the Panama Canal crossing is on our schedule. Around 6:30 this morning we arrived at the first set of locks on the Atlantic side. These Locks are named the Gatun locks, raising our ship by 30 meter to get us  into Gatun Lake. This man made lake is home to over 100 species of mammals and reptiles and over 500 different birds who live on the many islands and along the lake shores. The next set of locks lowers us 9.3 meter to Miraflores Lake. Thee final set of locks get us into the Pacific ocean. The whole transit through the canal takes a little over 8 hours. During the canal transit we are continuously updated with facts, history and details on the canal over the on-board speaker system.

The transits goes at a slow pace as the speed of the ships is regulated. During the transit it is a good time to put your feet up and try to spot any Crocs on the lake shores. A few facts about the canal, it took 10 years to build the canal. In 2016 an expansion more than doubled the capacity of the canal. This allowed ships with over 13998 containers to pass through the canal. After taking in the passage of the canal for most of the day we anchored on the outskirts of Panama City around 5:30 PM. The night view from the boat towards Panama City is very scenic.

” Travel is… Getting to know yourself by facing new experiences”

by – Sofie Couwenberg.

Cheers

January 7, 2023

Hallo, today we anchored in Puerto Limon a port city on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. Today we didn’t ventured off on any site seeing tours. We walked of the ship through a maze of vendors trying to sell us anything from coffee and sigars to a variety of handmade products. We ended up  walking through a nice city park adjacent to the ocean. Inside the park there were several younger individuals offering to help us spot wildlife in the treetops.We managed to spot a couple of large owls and a mamma and baby sloth in the trees.

Obviously the wildlife spotter kindly asked for a tip for his services. After walking around for a few hours we stopped in a small cafe for a cold beverage. Listening to the local vendors and small cafe workers, they all thankt us profusely for visiting. Sometimes we forget the impact on these poor people when the cruise ships stopped operating during Covid 

During the rest of the afternoon I laid low, as I developed a bit of a head cold.We closed the day off with dinner outside on the back deck.

Cheers

January 7,2023

Today we are at sea cruising from Jamaica to Puerto Limon ( Costa Rica). We started with a mandatory Covid test. Currently we are required to where masks when walking around inside the ship. On the outside decks and in bars or restaurants we can take the mask off. Later on it was revealed that we had to continue on doing this for another 3 days. Sea days are great for blog writing and going to the gym.Also today was our first Gala night, this means dressing up for the dining room. Gala nights usually come ones a month on these longer cruises.After dinner we took in a dance show before calling’r the night.

Cheers

January 5, 2023

Hi all, this morning around 9:00 AM we pulled in the port of Fulmouth. Today Carol had signed us up for a tour called native Jamaica. After we made it onto the bus, we departed towards Montego Bay, a well known Reggae and Tourist town with its beautiful beaches. After passing through Montego Bay we headed for the countryside over a very winding and bumpy road. After being tossed in our seats we pulled up the to a small private school. There were about 20 students, I would say in ages from 5-7 years old. Carol was in her element, being a retired grade 1 teacher. She really enjoyed talking to the teacher. We were allowed to walk through the classroom and talk to the kids. The kids sang a few songs for us on departure. Our next stop was at a small plantation run by a Jamaican Canadian. They were growing a variety of exotic fruits and and there was also an assortment of chickens and roosters. The roosters just would not shut up, not sure what was up with them. We were served a very nice Jamaican lunch accompanied by a Red Stripe beer. After lunch we got back on the bumpy bus towards Montego Bay. Our next stop was a 300 year old Anglican Church, the oldest on Jamaica. The traffic on the streets of Montego Bay is kind of chaotic. It sounds like everyone is honking their horns all the time. After our church visit we headed back to Fulmouth to embark back onto the boat. After the late big lunch we decided to go for a nice big salad for dinner. We have a scheduled sea day tomorrow.

Cheers

January 3, 2023

Hi all, today we’re back in Fort Lauderdale , the end of the 5 day warm up New Year’s cruise. There are probably a few hundred of us who are staying on board for the World Cruise. After the majority of the passengers left the ship this morning the return passengers were lead of the ship into the embarkation hall and through customs. There was a little bit of panic and some delay, because 1 passenger was un accounted for. After waiting around for half an hour they found him, an older gentleman still sound a sleep with his ear plugs in. After we were let back on board we were joined by all the new incoming guests. Included in the new guests were our friends Rocky and Joan from Vancouver Island. In the afternoon all of us gathered on the back deck for a 5: 00 sail away celebration with a free glass of champagne courtesy of HAL. I forgot to mention yesterday we were tested for Covid, a mandatory test for everyone who stayed on board. Carol and I were negative, I heard that they had to put a few people in lock up for 6 days as they tested positive. We ended up closing the night out with a nice dinner with our friends.

Cheers

January 2, 2023

Good Day, After a day and night of cruising on calm seas we woke up offshore from HalfMoon Cay. This is a private Island owned by the Holland America Line. Half Moon Cay is also known by the name Little Salvador Island. The island is 2400 acres in size. 2% of the island is used for tourism, mainly the beach area. The remaining area is mainly trees and bushes. There is also a large bird sangurary on the island. There is nobody living on the Island. The beach is shaped like a cresent moon.

In order to get to shore we had to make use of a tender boat due to the shallow waters. The beach is one of the nicest I ever seen, the sand is like flour. Carol and I decided to take advantage of this by making a beach day out of it. We went swimming in the turquoise coloured water and hang out on the beach. We were offered a barbeque lunch by the cruise line and some cold beveridges. By 3pm we returned back to the main ship. One site note, all the food to put on the barbeque meal and drinks had to be transported from the main ship and afterwards taken back to the ship. (a big job for 1500+ gast)

Tomorrow morning the gast who were doing the 5 day New Years cruise are leaving the ship. After our dinner and a few cocktails we called’r the night.

Cheers