sailingdutchy

@maggie777 Yes this is normal the stockholders have to vote at the annual meeting at the end of April I believe if for the next year they will still give the shareholders OBC is still on . So the earliest you can apply is in May 2023 .

It does not help skipping a year celebrating Ann @VictOriann, the teller of the times you keep going around the sun keeps going up anyways !

So sorry I am late to the party today . We were watching La Vuelta a Espana a grand bicycle race through Spain this morning and one of our favourite riders Primoz Roglic from Slovenia from our favourite team Jumbo Visma , yes from the Netherlands ,won ! Seventeen more days to ride for the overall victory! First of all let me wish our dear friend Ann @VictOriann with whom we have cruised a good number of times to many corners of the world a Happy Birthday with many happy returns . I was going to call her last evening just after midnight local time to be one of the first to congratulate her because our time zone is three hours ahead but than thought better of it and left that for her dear husband Pat to do early this morning . Happy Birthday Ann from Martha and Tony , have a wonderful day ! You must have wondered when you woke up this morning what the heck was going on …….......sorry about spoiling to keep your secret , at least I did not tell them your age , I would never do that to a lady friend ! Tony 😍😍

Pssssttttt ! Tomorrow it is Ann’s @VictOriann Birthday !

Best wishes to Rich @richwmn on his Birthday , we hope you are having a wonderful day and will have another great trip around the sun in the coming year ! Thank you Rich also for keeping the Fleet Report and the Daily going that so many are looking forward to each and everyday ! Cheers Tony

Thanks very much Jacqui @kazu for keeping up this Bon Voyage List . With these short 5 day cruises before and after the Special " 150th Anniversary of Holland America Line " cruise it makes it hard for you to keep up because there are so many variations possible adding the 5 days before or the 5 or 10 days after . So we are doing both the 5 days before and 10 days after . The 10 days after I call "North Sea - Scandinavia and Scotland " Greetings , Tony

And NO there is no part 3 ..... Have a great day everybody ! Until next time , Take Care and Stay Safe ! Tony 😍

and Part 2 of this wonderful day we had in Semarang ! Return to the Port of Semarang from the Borobudur . Because of the very busy traffic between the Port and the Temple we still had the Police with us to direct everybody over and make way for us . We made a nice stop along the road for some refreshments , a Wayang puppet show and than went to the train museum to catch our ride through the countryside towards Semarang Time for a delicious cup of Soto Ayam ( Indonesian Chicken Noodle Soup ) served up around the Lido Pool What a wonderful day had in Semarang , Indonesia Tony 😄

Wow 2 days in a row posting pictures !!! Must have nothing better to do ......... it's raining today . I noticed there were no pictures of tours from Semarang so will do a replay from last year for those new to the "Fleet Report and Daily " We had the pleasure while on the Volendam cruising from Sydney, Australia to Singapore to land in Semarang , Indonesia on Dec. 5th 2015 and have an incredible tour with Holland America to the Borobudur a day we will not forget . The day started off beautifully with a huge reception of about 3 large drum bands performing a great musical show and than give honours and flowers for our captain Jeroen Baijens and the first officers . With the help of the Tourist Police who with howling sirens and 4 policemen waving their arms to the sides to move over the very busy traffic to the sides of the roads sometimes almost into the ditch so our bus could drive fast through the middle of the road . A very exciting ride just to get to the Borobudur ! This was not just a short run it took if I remember well over an hour , I can still hear the sirens ........ A friendly wave when we arrived at the Borobudur , job well done guys ! We had to put on our sarongs while I wore my newly purchased Bali shirt to go onto the temple grounds . ( Temp 33 C or 92 F ) DW thought these young ladies wanted her to take their picture but she was pulled in to the group to have a picture taken with them ! Climbing higher and higher up the temple . Will follow up in a separate post with pictures of our return to the port including the train ride . Tony

We have had 3 cruises between October 2021 and April /May this year and have not received an email from HAL with the "Welcome Back " offer for any of these 3 week cruises which we always received prior to the Covid pause .

Hi Jacqui , I was waiting for the dust to settle after the Rotterdam schedule was totally changed between March 29, 2023 and April 29, 2023 to accommodate the 150th Anniversary of Holland America Line . Martha and I will be doing the B2B2B from March 28th for 5 days FtL to FtL , than April 3 to April 19 Anniversary Cruise FtL - Rotterdam and 10 ( 2x5 ) days April 19 - 29 R'dam - Norway - Scotland - Amsterdam BTW So there is no Rotterdam April 8 cruise anymore nor will there be a April 15th Rotterdam cruise anymore . We are also in contact with Ann @VictOriann and they will also do March 29 B2B2B until April 24 ( so not including Scotland ) Hope I explained it right otherwise please send me an email Take care , be well ! Tony

It has been a while since I have posted on the Fleet Report and Daily but I do look very often at the location of the Fleet ! Thank you very much for that Rich @richwmn and also thanks for other daily contributors specially Roy , Debbie and many others that will keep this going . I could not resist posting a few pictures of our experience on Sao Miguel , we have been there half a dozen times and have Rui Medeiros a wonderful local guide there who have taking us all over the Island so I have tons of pictures but just give you a peak of what we experienced on Sunday April 24 , ’22 the first Sunday after Easter which is a very special day in the town of Furnas when the priest goes through the main streets of the town to give Communion to the sick who are unable to leave the house . The town was closed off to traffic at noon and the people started decorating the streets where the large procession would be held . Rui took us first to a local cheese factory for a great cup of coffee and a cheese tasting Furnas is a small village located in the cauldron of an ancient volcano where also the volcanic activity is still very close to the surface , where the water is bubbling up and you can smell the sulphur . Close to noon time the locals started working very patiently on the path for the priest to walk through town . No more traffic into town . This would be one of the houses where the priest would go in to give Communion to the sick see the path to the home and special decorations on the balcony Meanwhile at the main church in town the locals are getting ready for the procession The Harmony slowly approached the church and the Angels came down ready to accompany the priest . At that point we had to leave in a hurry because of a sudden thunderstorm which was too bad but this picture gives you an idea of what was going to happen After the rain subsided we toured some more in and around this special town . We once had a complete lunch that was cooked in the ground , it was was prepared in one big pot in layers , potatoes , vegetables , meat and sausages very early in the morning covered up with sand and dug up around noon to be taken to Tony's restaurant . ( No not mine ) View from Lake Furnas with our wonderful guide Rui Ribeira dos Caldeiroes Natural Park , Nordeste Ribeira Grande I had asked Rui to take us to a nice restaurant for a supper where a lot of the locals eat so he took us to Cais 20 from where we could see that our ship the Nieuw Statendam was still there while the “Old Rotterdam VI “ was getting ready to leave Dinner was so wonderful and fresh just from the sea , something we can not get at home , delish !!! Octopus , shrimp, oysters you name it and a great bottle of wine ! You can see Rui is one of Martha’s favourite guides and I am not jealous because he is also one of my favourites ! So we are always looking to go back to Ponta Delgada This was our most recent day on Sao Miguel , from Ponta Delgada , the Azores there were many more ..................but I will stop here ! Tony 😍

Thank you very much @1ANGELCAT much appreciated !

Thank you very much for that , we love to have breakfast in the Pinnacle ! Any idea about CO price on Vista Class would it be the same as on the Pinnacle Class ships ? Much appreciated @boze9999, Tony

We have purchased Club Orange a couple of times on the Nieuw Statendam and really enjoyed it , specially the Breakfasts in the special CO Room , the price was quite reasonable and we received a nice upgrade on top of that. We will be on the Oosterdam in September , we are 5 star mariners and do not go very often to the dining room but mostly to Specialty Restaurants . Is the price for CO different on the Vista Class ships and what would be advantage for us to purchase CO. My second question is , what is the phone number for Ships Inventory to ask for prices of upgrades . Thank you , Tony

Hi Jacqui , Thank you very much for keeping this Future Cruise Listing up to date , it's always great to see who else will be on the cruises that we are booked and also where our cruise friends are going . Please add us to the Oosterdam cruise for Sep 16 , 2022 for 24 days " Mediterranean Tapestry & Adriatic Dream " Tony and Martha

To add a little more history about the celebration song @StLouisCruisers the tune and meaning of this song are from the original Dutch song " Lang zal ze leven " ( Long may she or he live ...) and because Indonesia was once called the Dutch Indies (1816 - 1948 ) the people in Indonesia have taken over this tune and set it to words in Bahasa . So I always sing it together with the crew but than in Dutch and add at the end of the song : " hip , hip, Hoera ! 3x "........ Tony

Bon Voyage everybody , have a wonderful Cruise !

Dear Jacqui @kazu, over the last year especially I have often thought back of the wonderful cruise on the Prinsendam in company of you Jose and a great number of other friends having dinners together on board ship at the Captains table in the Pinnacle and doing a large number of tours in your company , we had such a wonderful time . I remember in particular that on our tour from Dover to Canterbury we bumped into your group and I said my goodbye to Jose . That was 2019 ..........and yes I have thought also of this tour in Guernsey and have this picture in mind . Than this year after following closely your postings on CC and always thinking back about this lovely man we were again with Andrea on tour the day after I heard of the passing of Jose in a very small medieval town in France we lit a candle together and said our prayers for him ............ We wish you all the strength and peace , please take care ! Tony and Martha

Bon Voyage Ann and Pat @Vict0riann , safe travels and have a great time !

@*Miss G*The cruise you are doing in October is celebrating the 150th anniversary of a ship from a still to be formed company made the original TransAtlantic voyage from Rotterdam to New York . Maiden voyage of Rotterdam. What this new changed itinerary is all about is the celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the date this company was established on April 18 , 1873 as Nederlandsche - Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij ( Netherlands-American Steamship Company ) In Rotterdam The companies first ship was called Rotterdam (1872 ) and the ship we will be going on is Rotterdam VII. Myself I had been wondering why this big milestone was not being celebrated until this announcement today and I look forward to and hope it will be a very special cruise and I also hope that the wonderful historian of Holland America Captain Albert will be on board and will make his amazing presentations ! Tony 😁

Have a good rest Colin @VMax1700 glad you had another nice cruise . Thank you very much for all the info about the Oosterdam and some of the ports . We are starting to get ready for our September cruise on her . Take care Tony

What's is that Ann @Vict0riann , NO WAY , my pal Pat without shorts I can not believe that !!!!!! He must have told you that in a weak moment ! I was going to add a number of pictures with Pat on tour when we cruised together ......... I better not . Tony 😁.

The evening meals in the CO were always very nice in our experience , the food is hot and almost always nicely plated because of the lack of sommeliers in the dining room , in CO it is almost never is a problem to get your glass filled or bottle brought to your table . We went quite often to the specialty restaurants for Chefs Dinners in the Pinnacle or the Canaletto and also the Gala dinner plus we really enjoy the Tamarind . But we never skipped a breakfast in CO except for one day when we had to tour quite early . For that reason alone we found CO on the Pinnacle Class ships worthwhile .