sailingdutchy

Good day Rich and Roy , thank you for keeping the Daily going and a special thank you for adding a New Exciting Feature Port of the day that will call up a lot of fond memories to many of us , and we will see lots of nice pictures . 

I have not made it to Qaqortoq , Greenland but got close to it on the Eurodam by visiting Nanortalik , Greenland in 2012 another lovely Port to visit . Greenland one of those places I never expected to be able to put a foot on land . I will wait with my pictures until it is Nanortaliks turn .

Have a great day everybody , Take Care and Stay Safe , get your Jab so we can soon cruise again ! 

Tony 😀

We were in the Port of Greenock on the Prinsendam in May of 2019 and had a wonderful day going to Glasgow on our own with another couple . We walked to the train station (16 mins ) where it was possible to buy a combined ticked for the train and the Hoho bus in Glasgow which was a great deal . Train departed every16 mins to Glasgow central and from there it was a 3 min walk to the Hoho bus .

Had a great tour of the city and stopped off at the very interesting Riverside Museum of Transport and Travel  ( Free ) toured the "Old "  University of Glasgow buildings and museum and of coarse went for a fantastic Fish and Chips with not to forget a glass of Guinness .  Great day was had by all .

1 hour ago, kazu said:

Copying and pasting from an email received from sailingdutchy so I don’t forget to add them 😉 :

 

Aug 1 ,  2021 Premier cruise of the Rotterdam for 21 days     3rd premier cruise in a row  

Mar 31 2022  Oosterdam Collectors cruise from Auckland to Seattle  39 days

Thank you very much for keeping this very nice Future Cruise Listing up to date Jacqui a great place to see what all of our cruise friends are thinking of doing . After all of the Covid lock downs are over it will be so wonderful to meet with cruise friends  and share the pleasure of cruising again . 

Tony 😀

On 2/4/2021 at 1:25 AM, DeeDee Groff said:

 

Brings back memories, Tony, and good ones! 

 

Thank you to all who shared, and let's hope everyone reading this thread will be able to enjoy cruising again in the not-too-distant future--safelly!

 

The FCC I "earned" from the cancelled Westerdam February 1, 2020 voyage has now been applied to the sixth cruise, the previous five having been cancelled--which have earned me even more FCC's!

 

Be well, stay healthy, be safe, and be smart,

Deb

 

 

Hi Deb  @DeeDee Groff, I sincerely hope that once we are all done with this virus and we can cruise again Martha and I can catch up with you somewhere on the high seas and talk about all of our experiences on the Westerdam. 

We keep looking at different cruises to book besides the two we already have made a deposit on but progress with Canadian vaccinations has really slowed down so we are getting a little despondent ! 

If you people down South have some left over send some up North will you , you are getting better and better at it must be the new regime ............. but than I think with Buddy Holly in mind  " That'll Be the Day " ......

My buds and I were great Buddy Holly fans and today that song and that whole LP keeps coming into my head ! ........ and it is " Not Fade Away " 

"Oh Boy ! " ,  thank you for " Listen to Me " , my wife has to " Everyday " 

Tony 😀😀

1 minute ago, Vict0riann said:

Haha!  I guess I'm just a lazy so-and-so! 😄  The sun gets up late here, too...

Good for you Ann , our sun also has been up for a while before yours but at least you have the sun shining there today .

Have a good one ! 

20 hours ago, AllureOfVacation said:

@sailingdutchy thank so much for posting your story. It is so interesting to read different stories. Almost everyone has some more things to tell what happened to them after disembarkation

I am glad the first segment was better!

It must have been an interesting sight when you saw all the masks in the ships terminal in HK the first time.

 

 

Do you remember when the embassies were on board in the dining room? Was it the day before the prime minister came by helicopter?

 

@AllureOfVacationIf I look on the dates that my pics were taken on the iPad the embassies came on board the same day as when the Prime Minister landed onto the pier .

48 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

Good morning, Dailyites, and thanks to Rich, Roy, and the drinks and recipes ladies, for starting the day off right!  Still no vaccine in Canada, but perhaps some will be coming in later this week.  

 

 

 

How come you always get up so late Ann ..........? 

7 hours ago, AllureOfVacation said:

 

I just browsed some pictures and found this one, us leaving the ship, shaking hands with Orlando Ashford

 

 

one of many puzzles. It was like yoga for my mind

I sure spend some good time around the puzzle table specially late at night when there was nobody left in the crows nest . It was quite busy there specially on all of our "Extra " Sea days  .

2 hours ago, USN59-79 said:

Sorry for the inverted picture.  I have no idea how to change it once it is inserted into a post.

You probably saw it happened on a few of mine also and I did not want to fool around with them otherwise I might have had to type my whole story all over again .

2 hours ago, kazu said:

Three Canadian Groundhogs have predicted an early spring - Sam (Nova Scotia), Fred (Quebec) and Willie (Ontario).

 

Phil in the United States disagreed and predicted 6 more weeks of winter.

 

Let’s hope the Canadian rodents are right 🤞 

 

 

I know we are right @kazu ! Our glass is always half full ! 😀

So sorry for the upside down pictures , did not know how to correct  that  and was not going to fool around with them because of the length of the post .

Where are we going now was the big question ?????

Here we are leaving Taiwan  it is Feb 5th our next Port we were suppose to visit was Keelung ....... Cancelled ..... everybody changing their plans for tours either on their own or with Holland America ....... as per the Captain we are now going to Ishigaki , Japan on a different day than originally scheduled ...........Cancelled !  Japan will not let us in .........word going around about the Cruise ship in Yokohama with the Covid virus on board ........ What will be the next place or who will accept us to dock and disembark ...... Big negotioations going on between Captain , Seattle , US and Dutch Governments ................the Company is doing everything to please all the passengers  as much as possible with all kind of little extras like an hour  "free drinks " or extra bubbly during dinners , special shows and constantly we are being kept up to date either by mail to the cabin or with more and more announcements over the loudspeakers . 

Most people know the Company is doing their very best for all of us and the crew is being supported by the passengers because we are all in the same boat . The Philippino show , late at night was full and a huge success ! . 

So now it is Feb 10th , the Captain makes another announcement : " After long talks and negotiations we have 2 possibilities "  which after a little while it becomes clear that it will be either Thailand that will let us come in or Cambodia . In the afternoon of Feb 11th we are being escorted by the Thai Navy and instead of doing 5 knots  just floating around ,we are gaining a lot of speed ........ So the talk is we are going to Bangkok and fly home from there and we are celebrating with a couple of drinks at "Happy Hour " ( see pictures ) ........ On TV the BBC is talking about the Pariah Ship looking for a place to go .............suddenly the ship makes a 180 degree turn and the escort disappears in the sunset . Now we are all guessing  if we are going back to Cambodia or where else ??......... 

At last we are being told we are going to Sihanoukville , a large medical team will be coming on board to do testing of temperatures and the people that had been at the doctor the last few days will need to take extra additional tests which are going to be checked in a Phnom Penh  laboratory. We will be divided into smaller groups to disembark and Holland America will be making all arrangements for flights home . 

On the night of Feb 12th there is a wonderful goodbye and farewell party in the showroom from the crew , many are moved to tears , there are speeches and standing ovations which the crew really deserved , they were terrific ! 

Feb 13th Ship is docked in Sihanoukville , in the mail we find out what , where and when  ...... announcement from the Captain the Prime Minister is coming to the pier please welcome him enthusiastically . Most of us had received in our cabins a shawl " Made in Cambodia " as present from the Government ..... The helicopter lands right on the pier in front of us ...........

From the different decks and balconies we are all waving with the shawls .

Busses arrive  on the pier to take the first groups to the airport ...........Flowers are being presented to the Captain and Holland America personnel ..........

It will be one more night for us on board ship . 

On Feb 14th it is our turn to disembark .........on board are reps from US and Canadian  embassies to answer any questions ....... By bus we go to the airport in Sihanoukville to catch a charter flight to Phnom Penh and from there we were suppose to fly to Kuala Lumpur  than to Incheon  S Korea  , Atlanta and finally Toronto to arrive a day and a half or so later ..............

We stand in line in front of the counter for the plane to KL ........standing there for at least 2  hours , nobody there to check any of us in ......... there will be NO flight to Kuala Lumpur supposedly the day before a lady in the first group had the virus  so NOBODY  could go to Malaysia .........  there are busses being called in to take people from the airport to a Hotel where HAL will take care of us and new arrangements are being made ............In the Departure Hall there are the embassy people and a few reps from Holland A .  sitting behind tables working the phones .......our good friend Deb said lets stand in line Tony see what they can do for us ........ so we stand in line for at least another hour or so  ( see picture from Dutch newspaper )  and we are being helped by Sidney ( hope I have her name right ) from HAL who asked the three of us where do you need to go ........ after some 15 minutes talking to airlines she gave us our new arrangements  and to make a very long story short , we received great Premium Economy Seats for a much better flight to S Korea and than direct to Toronto after a 10 hour layover , we are forever grateful to Sidney.............. Great arrangement specially if I compare those with people that went to the hotel and were there for a few more days ., some days you were allowed to go out other days not .  

This was a cruise to remember , family and friends were quite worried about us but we had a great time , made some very nice friends and have a story to tell for a long , long time ............ Thank you Holland America and a special Thank You to Deb for your help and your friendship ! 

Sorry it is such a long story , tried to keep it as short as possible , but hope you all got the feeling of being on the Westerdam in Asia  on the Phantom Cruise ship .............! 

Few more pictures :

Tony 

15 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

Captain Werner Timmers has been announced as master of the Rotterdam.  He is such a nice man, I'm sure we will have a great time on the premier voyage!

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/blog/ships/ms-rotterdam/holland-america-line-names-captain-werner-timmers-master-of-rotterdam/

Last time when we were on the Koningsdam with you Ann and Pat , Captain Timmers spend so much of his time day in day out in the public and had Q and A sessions . That was so nice ! 

1 hour ago, VermeulT said:

posted on HAL's facebook page...

"We are excited to announce that Captain Werner Timmers has been named the master of Rotterdam! He has been with Holland America Line for nearly 40 years, and we are honored to have him at the helm. Get to know him this week with a "Meet the Master" series on our stories!"

Great news , he is one of the best ! 

Thank you @AllureOfVacation for you posting about your adventure on the Westerdam , loved your write up and pictures and also @USN59-79 for what you experienced  after leaving Sihanoukville .

Like @bobpatj , our good friend  @DeeDee , Jan and Dave and many others we started that cruise in Singapore on Jan 16th , 2020 when the Westerdam came fresh out of the dry dock so she was all Spick and Span ready for another couple of years carrying all of us across the many Oceans . The first 12 days went off without a hitch and had some wonderful tours in Thailand , Cambodia and Vietnam with small groups of friends and had a wonderful time , there really was not a cloud in the sky !

Once we reached Halong Bay we received word that we would only be 1 day in Hong Kong instead of a stay over , we were told due to possible riots in the city .  When we landed in HK we just went into the terminal to get some excellent wifi and noticed that all the people who were coming on board ship for the next segment of the cruise were all wearing masks something we had not experienced until that point , it was now Feb 1st and we started  all of a sudden hearing a lot about the Covid - 19 virus on mainland China .

Next the captain set course towards Manilla a day where a very large portion of the crew had been looking forward to so they could meet their families and give them all the presents they bought for them for Christmas and the New Year . When we hit the Philippines  International waters in the middle of the night the captain was told we were not allowed to dock in Manilla so instead we than went for an extra day to Kaohsiung , Taiwan which we spend by going on a local bus to a beautiful large Mall to browse around because the next day I had booked a small bus for our group to go to the amazing Buddha Centre and see some other sights . 

So we got up early  and have breakfast to go on shore and I noticed it was really quiet on shoreside and saw  that all of the Entrances were blocked off  with guards .............another "  Very Important Message "  to all cabins from the Captain which we really we started  to get used to and for the next couple of weeks we would say to each other when he came on the radio Oh Oh what are we doing now and where are we going now .............. 

( I will first like to share some pictures from these first couple of weeks from tours and our time on board ship and will come back in a little bit with the " End of our Story "  )

Tony 😀

3 hours ago, rafinmd said:

How does that compare with the entry to Amsterdam?

 

Roy

@rafinmd

Locks at  IJmuiden ( to Amsterdam )  in 2012  . Right now they are enlarging the locks which should have been completed but they ran into some complications , stuff happens below the waterline ! 

This was on the Eurodam .

Terminal in Amsterdam  and some apartment buildings  and some scenery half way through the canal .

Thank you once more @richwmn and @rafinmd for the Daily .  I will keep on reading .

Our Province of Ontario is going today in a more restrictive lock down .

I noticed that this is one of the first days that none of the "DAM " ships are moving they are all at anchor .

Take care everybody a few more months of this .

Good Day Daylyites . We have been doing quite a bit of Travel Challenges with our family and friends on an other website to pass the time  but I have been keeping a close eye on CC of coarse and have been thinking a lot of the wonderful crews that have now been at sea for months and months without being able to go ashore , wander around or do their personal shopping . 

Today I would like to share a number of pictures of a fantastic tour we had with the Chief Engineer of one of the ships ( think I should not divulge that ) down under in the heart of the ship the place that it makes it all tick .  We were with six of us 5 Electrical and Mechanical engineers and one Civil. 

Everything was incredibly clean but it was quite noisy . An amazing experience . 

I have also been thinking of all the wonderful Hotel Staff , most of whom are now at home maybe doing other jobs or waiting and hoping like us to soon be able to get on board again .................

3 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

 

 One more Roy 🙂

 

Team USA shutting out Team Canada 2-0 (Canada's first defeat after six consecutive wins!) and winning the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship. Awesome job!

 

Congratulations @Copper10-8 from a Canadian . We watched all the teams play last night and liked all  of the well deserved wins . 

Another "lurker " here reporting !  Thank you again Rich , Roy and the many contributors for keeping the Daily going . As noted before I keep reading this post almost daily enjoy the stories from some of our cruise friends we have met on different cruises  and the  looking at the many beautiful pictures . 
I am also most interested of where the HAL ships are .

Our thoughts today are with our family and friends and this day in particular with all of the crews at sea away from their families . We wish you all a Happy New Year , bless you all and be safe . 

A toast to all of you ! 

DW made a favorite Dutch treat  , Oliebollen  ! 

Love the  many pictures of the Antarctica cruises , one of our favourite cruises so here a couple of mine .

Merry Christmas to all of you on the Daily !  Thank you again Rich and Roy and the many contributors for keeping the Daily going , I read quite often your postings , yes I am one of those lurkers , it is my morning paper ! 

Had computer problems with this site but it seems to be solved from the looks of it . But I am very late tonight .

 We had a very nice evening tonight with our two boys and our granddaughters with a delicious charcutery board , cheese fondue and a chocolat fondue as desert and than exchanged some presents so on Christmas Day we can enjoy Christmas in peace and quiet with DW mom .

Best wishes for all , Take Care and Stay Safe .

Tony 

Couple of pictures from the Premier Cruise of the Nieuw Statendam 

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Thanks for the memories! We had to leave a carrot (for Sinterklaas' white horse) in front of the fireplace/heater at night. "Pepernoten" (pepper nuts) On Dec 5th, our parents arranged with one of the neighbors to pounce on our door to let us know Sinterklaas had arrived. Great memories!

Love your pictures @Copper10-8 and Yes so many good memories . Yes wooden shoe with straw and a large carrot for  Sint's horse , and a drink for Sinterklaas and his helpers . 

Pictures look so 50 's , are these yours ?  Where is little Jan  (John ) 

Thank you Rich and thank you Roy and the many Dailyites for keeping this Post going day in day out . I am always happy to read the many stories and see the pictures as part of my " Morning Paper " .

Today I saw that people are getting in the mood of Santa Claus so I like to post a few things that takes me back to my roots in The Netherlands one of the countries where the REAL Santa is celebrated  on December 5th and 6th depending of in which country you lived : Saint Nicholas of Myra . 

When I was young we never received presents on Christmas Day  ( Feast of the Nativity ) that was only a day to celebrate the birth of Jesus .

But if we had been good all year we would have received our presents on the eve of Saint Nicholas Day  (Dec 5th )

I shall not give you with all of the details of Saint Nicholas  ( or Sinterklaas in Dutch )  but you can read about some of those in Wikipedia where the customs are well explained even the transformation from Saint Nicholas to Santa Claus .

Just wanted to tell you that in our youth our BIG day was December 5th ................. Coming up soon !