St Pete Cruiser

Yes, Volendam now on camera. Holland's oldest and smallest ship, but a great ship nonetheless. Grand Australia in 2024 would be a dream come true. Maybe???

Yes, Enchanted love boat toots. A couple of sour notes, but still nice.

Infinity almost at toot station.

Captain O'Driscoll? really pressing the horn today! Toots galore. I saw Jeff Farschman on camera. Looks like a full capacity cruise, or at least plenty on deck unlike last winter.

I'm hoping for some good sailaway toots from NSDM.

Greetings all. Nice day here, 74 and sunny. Just helped put up our Christmas lights at our condo. It is early, but next Saturday many of us will be busy. Speaking of busy, it is a very busy Saturday in Ft Lauderdale and Miami. Oosterdam went to Miami as there was no room in FTL. Volendam and Nieuw Statendam are there along with five other cruise ships.

A rare visit to the Port of Miami by a Holland America ship. Hope all goes well.

We will be there as well.

It has been a pleasant Sunday here on the west coast of Florida, with sunshine most of the day and a high of 78. Tomorrow should be the same, so I am going to push for a longer bike ride. Pump up the tires and oil the chain. As for me, hopefully coffee and a healthy breakfast will get me going. Recife was a nice port call back in 2017 on the Veendam. One of those cruises a Holland America ship may never repeat: Ft Lauderdale to Rio for Carnival and then up the Amazon to Manaus before returning to Ft Lauderdale. That was an exotic adventure!

The Eurodam's wide promenade deck, complete with "steamer chairs", is becoming a rarer design on cruise ships. Enjoy them while we can. Enjoy Aruba.

Yeah for 5 star! As a loyal Crystal cruiser, I am only a little surprised you are now 5 star on Holland America as well. My favorite benefit is dining at Pinnacle and Tamarind. You will be able to do both each cruise booking number. Tamarind is especially nice on the Pinnacle class ships. We like the oceanview rooms on deck 1 mid ship, too.

Thanks for sharing your pics. I was there on the Veendam in 2017 and it looked the same. We walked from the ship to the opera house with no issues. Took a ships tour on a riverboat to a small community where they put on a native show complete with animals and birds, no snakes thankfully. Brazil can make it difficult for cruise lines to do business there: they wouldn't allow one HAL ship to transfer paper goods to another without taxing the items, according to the captain. Was the bridge across the Amazon built then?

Enjoy your sea day. Hope the Eurodam is up to your expectations, and they treat you right. I expect you will be doing some laps around the promenade deck. Yesterday's turn around was rough on the crew, so I am guessing there may have been some snafus.

Eurodam looking good.

Rotterdam. Eurodam should be right behind.

Rotterdam headed in first followed by Eurodam now.

Nicole has come closer to the Tampa Bay area than originally predicted. Center is about 25 NE of Tampa at 10:30 am, and we are getting rain training in off the Gulf. Winds have been gusty up to 50mph. The Skyway Bridge was closed due to the winds. Rotterdam and Eurodam should be docking soon at Port Everglades. Yeah!

The port camera view looks good. Hopefully both ships will dock soon.

Sorry for you about your storm delay. I have friends aboard the Eurodam who have been enjoying their cruise, at least up to now. Looks like she is doing 8 knots off the north coast of Cuba.

I've been catching up on your posts, but I wish you all the best as one of our favorite Daily posters. I know of your many recent setbacks. You need a great cruise! Thanks for sharing the Oosterdam's TA with us.

I feel like a lurker lately as I haven't been able to sign in. We had an invite to visit friends in Carmel, California that we met on a Holland America cruise. They had a beautiful Neptune suite and we upgraded to verandah with obstructed vision. Guess they felt sorry for us!

When I was on the Wind Surf in May, one of the officers on the bridge told me he came from the Prinsendam. Wind Star was a part of Holland America.

Very familiar pictures as I was there on the Rotterdam, October 2014, as we did the Africa circumnavigation cruise. I agree, along with Petra and Egypt, it was a highlight!

Nieuw Statendam returns to its winter home. Yeah! It is at #19 rather than #26. Wonder why? Celebrity Infinity is in port with NS. Happy Saturday everyone.

Slowly, cruising is returning to normal. No Mariner lunch so far, and test kitchen, and computer classes are gone. We have had welcome aboard cocktails, medallion awards, Orange Party and shared tables return. The first World Cruise since 2020 starts in a couple of months.