ceeceecruiser

If you would stop out on the back deck and ask him about his blog, then let us know. Maybe if enough people ask, he will add a few photos now and again. Know it is a lot of work to do a blog of his quality but do love to 'sail along'.

take us away - will find him and ask.

See you on board -- (boarding in San Diego)

Cynthia & Larry

Great photos of Seattle departure. We're on that same cruise departing from San Diego on Friday.

Thank you for your best wishes for our upcoming 45-day cruise Hawaii/Tahiti cruise aboard the ms Amsterdam. Looking forward to meeting some great Cruise Critic members on board and sharing good times with them.

Cynthia & Larry - ceeceecruiser

Bon Voyage, see you soon.

Safe travels, kakalina. Really looking forward to meeting you. See you next week.

The ms Ryndam and ms Statendam, are being transferred to the P&O Cruises Australia fleet. The ms Statendam is just about to depart Vancouver on its final journey from N. America to Singapore. Each ship will be refurbished and reconfigured to add features tailored for Australian and New Zealand passengers.

I will definitely miss the Statendam! Sorry to see her go.

 

David

I hope that something special will be done at the Port to give her a special farewell. I'm watching it from our deck.

Came across this remarkable 14 minute video taking us around the world on the 2014 Amsterdam 114-day Grand World Voyage. If anyone wants to get the feel for Holland America ships, this is the way to do it.

 

Hats off to a certain CHARLOTTE HOLLAND who put this whole thing together in one grand sweep of a trip of a lifetime video. Tears in my eyes when it was time to say goodby too.

 

 

Thanks to bonvoyagebites for her HAL "foodporn" link that lead to the above RTW video:

http://www.bonvoyagebites.com/2015/06/ms-amsterdam-food-porn/

 

Another winning home video production.

OlsSalt - thank you for posting these two videos. Both are done very well.

Today, Sunday 6 September the MS Statendam was one hour late arriving in Victoria, BC. She helped rescue a fisherman off the coast of Vancouver Island at Tofino, B.C. A fisihing boat capsized and only one fisherman was found in a life raft. The rest of the crew is presumed missing. Willing to bet the loan survivor was very happy to see the Statendam and be rescued by her and her crew. There were good pictures of the ship on the 6:00 PM Vancouver news on Global TV.

Thanks for posting this solocanadian. I was looking for the news items on Global TV's website to share, but it's not there yet. Agree - survivor must have been very happy for his rescue by the ms Statendam. Kudos to the crew. Prayers for the families of those that are missing.

Go no further, go immediately to FranckyFranck Moorea Tours. We just sailed on HAL Statendam, and spent a full day tour with FrankcyFranck and the tour was the very best tour we set up on our entire cruise. His personality was so good, and he made what was my favorite island even better with such a phenomenal tour. He was flexible and the full day tour enabled us all to take it is a very leisure manner. He knows when the larger groups are at a certain location at a certain time, he takes you to the top of Magic Mountain for unforgettable views. I had wondered about the stop at the marmalade gardens but he even made that special and the distillery was unique and entertaining. With a full day tour, you can emphasize any part of the island. We chose to have a nice lunch at a beautiful ocean-side hotel with great food. There were 6 of us on this tour, and we were still talking about FranckyFranck at the end of our cruise, and how special that day had been. You can't go wrong with this gentleman.

ifoundabuddy - how would one get in touch with FrankcyFranck. Does he have a website or an email? Thanks for posting this.

And it appears that the Crown may have a two week drydock and will go from Vancouver to Seattle without passengers. No one say cruises in May.[/QUOT

 

We were just on the Crown last week and told that the ship is going into drydock in Victoria in May.

We are booked on the Crown on a 7 day Pacific Coast cruise in March. We are traveling with friends. I had originally booked two verandah cabins mid-aft on the Baja Deck. The price dropped after final payment and my TA called on my behalf regarding any sort of OBC. Princess would not give any OBC but offered to upgrade both cabins to mini suites which we accepted. We are now on Dolphin Deck (9) forward. I know we will probably feel more movement but I think it is worth it for the larger room and verandah. I am wondering if there is any sort of cover over the verandah and if the lifeboats are visible when looking out from the verandah. I am impressed with Princess so far !!

nutensteve - We are sailing on the Crown 2 weeks today and have a Mini-Suite on the Dolphin Deck. I will post comments to this Thread once we return.

Thank you all for keeping this post updated, never knew one could do this. It's such a great idea with the state of our Canadian $ these days.. Just phoned Princess Celebrations' line and booked $1,000 OBC - $1,100 CAD funds.

arzz - I am so enjoying your posts re the Uniworld 18-day China tour. We enjoyed this same tour that left Beijing on Oct. 12 - we returned home this Wednesday. I was so impressed with Uniworld's attention to detail throughout the entire trip. Our guide, Zhang, was with us from Beijing to Shenzhen, where we crossed the border from Mainland China to Hong Kong. A Uniworld guide met us at Shenzhen airport and accompanied us to the hotel in Hong Kong.

You must be on the Yangtze at the moment and enjoying every minute. On our trip, Internet connection was very spotty and weak while aboard. Looking forward to your review of the Yangtze, Guilin and Hong Kong.

Cynthia

Thank you so much, Kazu, for doing this.

Amsterdam - 02 Oct 15 - 45-Day Tales of the South Pacific

ceeceecruiser

So sorry about your wife, but glad she's "on the mend". Along with other posters, when we were younger we never purchased cancellation/travel interruption/or even personal medical insurance -- and I worked in the Tourism sector.

Last May we had the best three week tour of Tuscany and Portugal booked with a 7-day river cruise in Portugal. Day 2 (Wed) - Our first walking tour in Florence to see "David", I wasn't watching where I was walking, there was a missing cobblestone in the road and my left foot sank into it.

Ambulance; Police; Florence Hospital - what a nightmare. But thankfully, we had purchased great insurance and on Friday we flew home; I had ankle surgery on Sunday.

We're convinced travel insurance is the way to go.

Cynthia

We're staying at The Continental as well in September and this is just the information I was looking for.

Will keep checking back for review of the hotel.

Thanks, everyone

Cynthia

At last count there will be 120 passengers from Phil Hoffmann Travel of Adelaide, South Australia on the NIEUW AMSTERDAM on the Mediterranean Magic 24 day cruise departing Barcelona on 23 September. Do not worry as the group is a hosted group they will enjoy a couple of cocktail parties during the 24 days and will not be 'taking-over' any facilities onboard during the cruise. Participants will be doing their individual ''thing'' onshore. Over the last two years, Phil Hoffmann Travel in Adelaide, has been the biggest seller of HAL cruises in Australia and has a very large number of passengers spread over the 20 and 24 day Meditteranean cruises and the Baltic Scandinavia cruises for the 2012 season. The cruise on the 23 September will be hosted by Phil Hoffmann and his wife, Allison and are two of the most respected people in the travel industry in South Australia. He will not be hard to miss and if you see him on the cruise pop up and say hello. Us Aussies enjoy our cruising as it is one of the best holidays for meeting new friends.

Look forward to seeing you onboard.

Oops, not enough caffeine yet. My previous post should have been directed to "Big Gordo" and not "Big Gordon"..............sorry.

Cynthia

At last count there will be 120 passengers from Phil Hoffmann Travel of Adelaide, South Australia on the NIEUW AMSTERDAM on the Mediterranean Magic 24 day cruise departing Barcelona on 23 September. Do not worry as the group is a hosted group they will enjoy a couple of cocktail parties during the 24 days and will not be 'taking-over' any facilities onboard during the cruise. Participants will be doing their individual ''thing'' onshore. Over the last two years, Phil Hoffmann Travel in Adelaide, has been the biggest seller of HAL cruises in Australia and has a very large number of passengers spread over the 20 and 24 day Meditteranean cruises and the Baltic Scandinavia cruises for the 2012 season. The cruise on the 23 September will be hosted by Phil Hoffmann and his wife, Allison and are two of the most respected people in the travel industry in South Australia. He will not be hard to miss and if you see him on the cruise pop up and say hello. Us Aussies enjoy our cruising as it is one of the best holidays for meeting new friends.

Look forward to seeing you onboard.

Big Gordon - thanks for the info re the Aussie group aboard the Mediterranean Magic 24-day cruise. It is always so much fun when Aussies cruise. Looking forward to it.

Cynthia