Itinerary Maps





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 50 - 11/21/22 - At Sea to Sydney, Australia - Day 1

Image
 Overnight we experienced the most motion of the ocean this entire trip.  The Captain had predicted that the Tasman sea would get rough, and he has a great track record for setting expectations.  The coffee chat this morning was with Kees, a Dutch 3rd officer on the Navigation team.  He was once again very interesting to listen to.  He happened to mention that one of the tasks was preparations for stormy weather.  So I asked him, "What are those preparations?"  His reply was to first make sure everything is secured.  And the hotel department probably has the most unsecured items to be accountable for. At 10am we participated in a medallion ceremony where we received our Platinum medallions acknowledging over 700 nights on Holland America.  We certainly didn't have a goal to reach this plateau and the only benefit is that medallion.  The next and final level is the President's club with a threshold of 1400 nights.  We don't expect to...
Read more

Day 45 - 11/16/22 - Napier, NZ

Image
 Napier is a very quaint and charming city that is renown as the art deco capital of the world.  It isn't the biggest collection of art deco, but it is the most compact and varied collection in the world.  It was created after a devastating earthquake in 1931 and following fire.  We were here in 2014 and it was pleasant to return.  One major thing that changed is that passengers can no longer walk from the ship to town and back.  One must take the shuttle bus.  But there were many buses with courteous and helpful drivers. We had booked a vintage car tour with another couple and had the car from 10:30am until noon.  Tony was our driver in a '38 Packard 4 Door sedan with right hand drive.  Tony drove us around town with a stop at the main theatre and a former tobacco company located in an adjoining area.  He was full of history and antidotes and was dressed in period 1930's apparel.  It was fun. After the tour the two couples separate...
Read more

Day 12 - 10/13/22 - At Sea to Samoa - Day 2

 Today's coffee chat was unlike any we've ever experienced before.  Before the host, Rachael, arrived, the guest, Patrick McMahon arrived.  He is a large and imposing fellow from Australia and he immediately captivated the assembled audience and began talking about himself and music.  After Rachael arrived the chat kicked into high gear with lots of stories, short song clips, and more.  Rachael had to depart, but Patrick continued on answering questions and interacting with the audience for another 25 minutes. On the Main Stage Rachael present a brief history of Samoa and Fiji, and she was followed but Neil, the shore excursions manager, who not only offered brief comments about the ship's excursions, but also he offered suggestions for things one might do on one's own.  He talked for nearly an hour which is quite long for this type of presentation. We had a LIDO lunch with Eric and Marilyn before adjourning to the Main Stage for the Ask the Captain 2pm ses...
Read more