St Pete Cruiser

Many of us would like to hear about your experiences on our old Ryndam. I had read that the MDR has been completely refigured as well as some other substantial changes.

Our Sunshine Skyway Bridge has 180 feet clearance over the channel. The Carnival Legend has sailed under it as has the Oosterdam.

We sailed in and out of NYC IN 2006 on the Maasdam's spring reposition cruise and loved it! I remember walking to Times Square from Pier 88. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity and several other lines use Cape Liberty, NJ, which entails a more difficult transfer into the city. Red Hook in Brooklyn is better, but still not like walking off into Manhattan. There is a free way to sail by the Statue of Liberty; the Staten Island ferry!

Happy Saturday everyone. We enjoyed Shucked last night. Not serious theater, but it is very much a fun and laughable performance. New York was very busy last night and we enjoyed our 4 days there. Nice to visit, but I don't want to live there. As we left this morning I could see two cruise ships anchored just inside the Verrazano Bridge. Not tendering it appeared. It is the Seven Seas Mariner and a big Norwegian ship. Looks like SS Mariner hurried into NYC as it was completing a transatlantic ahead of Hurricane Lee arriving a day early.

Good morning everyone. We are enjoying a 4 day stay in NYC, returning to St Petersburg tomorrow. We have tickets for Shucked tonight, $40 each, that we got using Broadway lottery. It is sunny and low 60's here which is great for walking about the city. For the most part, the city looks good and is very busy. My best to Kazu and others in the path of Lee.

Good evening from St Petersburg. Norway is a favorite. Honningsvag is certainly an intetesting port and Nordkapp a tourist destination for Europeans in particular. We liked the little museum with the historic views including how the Germans had come there for many years even before WWII. It was cold (45F) and rainy on our day there in July, but we thought no worse than suffering the heat at home. If you haven't been to Norway, GO!

Wow, I wasn't familiar with this section. Looking on the map, it is south of Venice and north of Englewood. Englewood is about 70 miles south of St Petersburg, where we had minimal wind damage and mostly just low lying flooding.

Please count me as safe, lucky and thankful! I am close to the intracoastal waterway here in St Petersburg. We actually needed the rain, but no winds or flooding. Our community was spared, although others were not as fortunate. Our pond at our condo looking full again.

Enjoy your complimentary dinners at Pinnacle, Tamarind and Canaletto! We lost the special cooking class with aprons benefit after covid.

The longer cruises, 14 day and longer, still find a fair number of us with sport coat or more. Also, those of us who dine at the assigned MDR have higher numbers of dressed up diners.

Thanks. I think we are good.

As we say in the south, "Why Angelcat, Bless Your Heart". Thanks for thinking of us! It looks like the worst will be quite a distance offshore from Pinellas/St Petersburg, but we may get some higher tides causing flooding. Last year, we had booked the Carnival Paradise the week that Ian hit. We were very lucky as we had a nice cruise and even had two bonus days as the port of Tampa closed preventing our return. Poor Ft Myers got hit so severely, they are still rebuilding and recovering.

Lenda, We know you have been on many cruises and you could certainly write a book on your experiences, but with all due respect, I don't think you were on the Rotterdam IV. The Rotterdam IV was built in 1908 and scrapped in 1940!!! Did you mean the Rotterdam VI, the sixth Holland America ship to be named Rotterdam which was built in 1997 and is still sailing? The current Rotterdam is the VII, the Pinnacle class and newest ship in the fleet.

Good afternoon from hot and sunny St Petersburg. With today's destination port in Greenland, Qaqortog, being familiar to those of us who have done the Voyage of the Viking and some similar itineraries, there is something new coming. If you are looking for more Greenland, Holland America has one scheduled for June 29, 2025, that does FIVE(5) ports in Greenland. In addition to Nanortalik, the Nieuw Statendam will be going to Nuuk and 3 others that I don't think we have ever been to. Maybe the Prinsendam did? It is 28 days RT from Rotterdam with insides $4700 and verandahs $6100. Yes, I know, not so good for those of us in North America. Those prices should beat the smaller expidition sailings. Tender required for all the Greenland ports. I'm hoping with the Nieuw Staendam's capacity, I'll be able to get a good fare. Enjoy your day wherever you are.

Yes, the Oosterdam was changed to Miami last year when it returned from Europe and was on its way to South America. I'm guessing Ft Lauderdale was overbooked with ships for the Zaandam to be moved to Miami.

I see a pattern developing here! Do you pick your August cruise for the itinerary or the ship? Have you reached PC level yet? Thanks for sharing with us.

Zuiderdam schedule for after its world cruise is missing, except for Voyage of the Vikings.

The 28 day Arctic Circle Crossing on June 29 caught my attention. Maybe they rushed it to the schedule, but there are 4 ports/places where it shows tender stops in Greenland without naming a port. I believe this would be a first for Holland America to have new stops in Greenland. Nieuw Statendam is the ship; maybe they should have scheduled a smaller ship for this? Yes, sadly, I don't see Gerainger or Flam. Amsterdam and Copenhagen seem to be nixed in favor of Dover/Rotterdam as departure ports.

,Good morning from St Petersburg where it is still mid summer, i.e., hot and humid with a high percentage of rain. The usual thunderstorms have been fewer so far and they are the only natural cooling effect we get this time of year. Willemstad, Curacao, is a favorite Caribbean port of mine. There have been plenty of great pics already, so I'll just add my first experience: As Sophia Petrello (Golden Girls) would have said: Picture it. 1992. A young man from Florida wanted to try a cruise to a more distant island than he could get to in 7 days from a Florida port. He scans the Sunday newspaper for a deal, yes newspaper!, and finds one. A 7 day cruise with a flight from Tampa to Montego Bay, Jamaica, where he embarked the SS Oceanbreeze, of the Dauphin Cruise Line. An inside room for $699 with air included! The itinerary included Willemstad. The good ship Oceanbreeze, all 23,000 tons of her, entered the channel and sailed under the high bridge at Curacao into the inner harbour where she turned and then sailed back under the bridge and docked just short of the Queen Emma swinging bridge. The Oceanbreeze had open decks and deck chairs. When I moved on to Holland America 10 years later, I found those deck chairs that I loved. Our Pinnacle class ships are so superior in so many ways to that little Oceanbreeze, but with the exception of those wooden deck chairs. I intend to cherish those deck chairs on the R, Vista and Signature class ships when i can. Enjoy your Thursday wherever you may be.

We are pleased to see a version of the Lincoln Center return. How did it sound in the World Stage?

Your alternative dinner, and maybe you clarified earlier, was what would be one of the Rotterdam's last cruises with Holland America Line. Were you aboard?

Hopefully the sun will appear in Akureyri today as it is a beautiful area. The sail away is very enjoyable with sunshine. Look for the hearts on the red lights in Akureyri. We would like to trade you some of our heat for your cool!

Good to hear this. We understand Presty, from the Zuiderdam World Cruise, is one of the MDR mangers. Also Rudi Solomin was recently onboard. The Stat has great itineraries as it doesn't repeat very often, making it ideal for longer back to back cruising. We know at least one man who has been onboard since Ft Lauderdale.

Is the Zaandam's cruise director doing coffee chats with various members of the staff on sea days? We look forward to those on longer cruises which yours certainly is. On our last cruise, we got to hear from the deck officers, engine room officers, chefs and food and beverage as well as many of the entertainment staff.

Phoenix Riesen seems to take very good care of their ships. I hope our Prinsendam is still doing well. She is 35 now.