Sail Away Gang - in living Colour - a photo review

[Vict0riann]

Great memories! Thanks for letting us share your photos.:)

[Lizzie68]

Wonderful! I am reliving the cruise through these great photos.:)

[1of4]

Here we go....

 

What a beautiful time we had at The Oasis at Half Moon Cay. The weather was perfect for us 4 white and sun deprived Canadians. I can't imagine a nicer day.

 

 

 

 

There is no water like this at home. DD and DS had a ball! Even a hawksbill sea turtle came up to them and swam around eating sea grass for quite a while. They were amazed and just floated over it. Magical!

 

 

 

 

Thank you to our fellow roll call members who swam with DD and DS. They just loved being in a group!

[DeeniEncinitas]

Here we go....

 

What a beautiful time we had at The Oasis at Half Moon Cay. The weather was perfect for us 4 white and sun deprived Canadians. I can't imagine a nicer day.

 

 

 

 

There is no water like this at home. DD and DS had a ball! Even a hawksbill sea turtle came up to them and swam around eating sea grass for quite a while. They were amazed and just floated over it. Magical!

 

 

 

 

Thank you to our fellow roll call members who swam with DD and DS. They just loved being in a group!

 

Love it!

We were there in March doing it twice B2B and weather was perfect! Your lovely family sure are enjoying themselves! My Favorite little Oasis.

Thank you

Denise😄

[1of4]

Monday April 13 - Sea Day

 

I loved having the balcony. It was a good thing that only my family saw me hump over the sofa bed to get to the verandah...and they were all asleep!

 

It allowed me to take sunrise pictures...like this:

 

 

We had our M&G at 11. It was very well attended and we had a great time meeting everyone we had been talking to via the roll call. Kazu made amazing name tags so we were all set to just put faces to names.

 

DH took DD and DS from Club Hal to attend. Ever wonder what Club Hal or the Loft look like. Well on the Westerdam they look like this: (I got permission to take these pictures)

 

 

 

 

 

[1of4]

One more from Club Hal:

 

 

Now here is the teen area:

 

 

 

 

 

[1of4]

We also had a Pinnacle Grill lunch. Sorry. I only managed two pictures...guess I was hungry!

 

 

 

The Westerdam is the largest HAL ship we have been on so I was still finding my way around. I always bring my camera and my family pretend they don't know me....

 

 

You have to walk through the shops to get to the Vista theatre

 

 

Pinnacle Bar

 

 

Explorer's Lounge:

 

[1of4]

Wednesday April 15: Cartegena

 

You know when you have a picture in your mind about a place? Well I had one for Cartegena and it was smashed to smithereens!

 

I get up early...way too early...at home so I was always awake before the sun. I would climb over the bed dragging my camera with me. Glad I did as the sunrises were spectacular:

 

 

 

 

DS was afraid of contracting Yellow Fever. He has a right to be cautions as he has been hospitalized many times. So instead of stressing him he and I stayed aboard while most others went into town.

 

 

At times I thought we were the only two on the ship!

 

 

[1of4]

I was fascinated by the skyline. I am not a city person, usually prefer natural landscapes but Cartegena really surprised me:

 

 

 

 

There was a cute shopping area at the end of the dock. I only brought my cell phone and I have to transferred most of those pictures yet. There was a mini zoo, or so it seamed. Black swans, flamingos, peacocks (a bit aggressive), parrots and monkeys...

 

 

DS wanted to get a girl in his class a gift. He chose a beautiful blue shawl for her birthday next Thursday.

 

So after we bought DS a Panama Hat and the shawl we made our way back to the Westerdam.

 

 

It was a short port day so we were on our way at 1:00. As we left I saw this fort and a staff member was standing close enough to me to notice me taking pictures. He said he had never seen it before.

 

 

Sorry. Bed time for me as the early morning commute is looming.

[cruiznLYNN]

Really enjoying this review and your photography. It's icing on the cake after the great live thread. Thanks for taking time to do it.

[Lizzie68]

I was really surprised by the cityscape in Cartagena, too. It was nothing like I imagined. But the old town was lovely That little area at the dock had an amazing collection of animals and birds. But oh so hot!

[Cruiser Andi]

Thanks for taking the time to put all this together. I'm on this itinerary next year and am looking forward to it.

[erewhon]

I appreciate you taking time to write and post this review, super photos, what a wonderful experience for your children.

[nana51]

I know i was only on for 5 days but I'm surprised I didn't see you and your family. We were in room 4033 and also had early dining at table 40. I had been reading the posts before I got on in San Diego so i knew what you looked like. Next time.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Lots more great pictures.

The Loft has been updated since I took pictures of it many years ago (don't have them any more).

The zoo at Cartagena dock keeps getting bigger each year.

[jimbri]

Great review and photos!

[1of4]

I know i was only on for 5 days but I'm surprised I didn't see you and your family. We were in room 4033 and also had early dining at table 40. I had been reading the posts before I got on in San Diego so i knew what you looked like. Next time.

 

I guess sometimes even a small world is too big! :rolleyes: Very strange as our dining table was #38. Okay, next time is a deal!

[freestyling]

Thanks so much for posting pics..they are fantastic. I always wondered what Club Hal and the Loft looked like so thanks for sharig those as well.

[1of4]

I want to do this well and I have only loaded a few pictures into Shutterfly. So I will save the bulk of the pictures for later today as this day, Thursday April 16, was the reason for the whole cruise: the Panama Canal!

 

After dinner on Wednesday a letter was waiting on our bed with clear instruction on how to manage in the heat. It said to drink water, wear sunscreen, take off patches as they stop people from sweating, etc.

 

The reported time for staring the approach to the canal was 5:30. I was up way earlier but waited for the time...and was too late to get a railing spot. Oh well, I tried my best.

 

First was the construction of the new entrance/exit to the canal:

 

 

The sun was still sleeping.... Good thing it turned out to be a cloudy day as the lack of direct sun made it bearable to stay outside for long periods of time.

 

The tugs were out early to help us on our way:

 

 

 

As DD and I walked around trying to find a place to view the canal, the sun was making an appearance:

 

 

 

 

For a little while we were on the port side of the Observation deck (deck 10) but I really wanted that front view....

 

Edited May 8, 2015 by 1of4

[1of4]

Somebody told me that the decks that are usually locked at the front of the ship (not the bow) were open. So DD and I high tailed it down to deck 7 to see what we could see. Although no railing space was open, we were only one back. I was behind an 11 year old girl who was taking up twice the space she needed as she had her hands clasped on the railing with her elbows pointed out. She was with 4 members of her family and any time I moved she and her mother would exchange eye rolls. She was a perfect brat and would shove her derrière out whenever I reached for a hand hold on the railing.

 

I just ignored her. For the record I was not expecting her to move. She was there first. I just didn't appreciate the attitude.

 

DD is small enough that someone took pity on her and let her slide in front.

 

We left the bow because of similar behavior. One woman got up on the big white box that is near the tip of the bow, beside the flag pole. We would have been able to see if she was not up there. Some others asked her to move but all she did was turn her back so she blocked even more of the view. That is when we left the bow for deck 10.

 

Here we go....

 

Edited May 8, 2015 by 1of4

[Lizzie68]

I guess sometimes even a small world is too big! :rolleyes: Very strange as our dining table was #38. Okay, next time is a deal!

 

Gail, you dining table was #83!!

[1of4]

Gail, you dining table was #83!!

 

Well that makes sense! :rolleyes: No wonder NaNa51 didn't see us. Of course I knew it was 83 but my dyslexic brain really takes over when I am tired.

 

Thanks for catching that Lizzie!!! I need another cruise!!

[ski ww]

We followed the sail away gang daily, enjoyed the write ups & pictures. Looks like things have changed since the last time we sailed on her. Don't know the last time she was in dry dock.

Allan & Marlane

[alibabacruisers]

Thank you for posting your great pictures and the mini-blog! It was great to see pictures of you and your family and it looked like you had a wonderful time!

[Sirdar]

Thank you for posting these great pictures of the ship, destinations and your family. I felt as if I took a mini vacation!:)