But what to do to mark this time? How about ticks off the bucket list? That would be: cross another major ocean by ship and a cruise on Holland America's smallest vessel, the Prinsendam. Well! And so it happens....Fort Lauderdale to Amsterdam in May. Across the Atlantic we go!
As packing commences, Skipper and Sparky watch carefully. The rolling duffles come out, piece by piece the clothing goes in....some comes out, the zippers zip up.
It's strange to be leaving the dogs at home. But, home they are and happy to be there. They will hang out with Rob for the next three weeks.
We are off on the morning ferry and manage to get through Seattle, to the airport, drop the car, through baggage check and then clear security....each step "without a hitch." Amazing! This leaves us at the inner central hub of SeaTac airport with two hours to spare! We know nephew Andrew is also traveling through SaeTac today, so just in case, I try a call on my cell phone. Bingo! We are actually only a few 100 yards apart. We share some lunch and have 45 minutes to talk before we fly off in different directions. When does that ever happen?!
Our afternoon - evening - night flight from Seattle to Florida, via Atlanta is smooth.
We have 31 minutes to make a plane change in Atlanta. This is a huge airport and we arrive at the furthest gate "out" the concourse. A fellow traveler who knows the airport well, kindly offers to guide us from E to A via our fast moving feet, an escalator, several swift turns, an underground train, two more turns and to our relief, we arrive just as boarding is about to finish.
Then, at 1:22 in the morning it's a taxi ride to the hotel as I remind myself it's really only 10:30p.m.at home, so why am I so tired?
To be fair, there is SO much to do to leave on a trip, I wonder how we even managed to actually get off. Yet, here we are. Saturday, May 6th and we board The Prinsendam at 1 p.m.
Yes, that is a ukulele on Steve's back! How could we leave them behind?
Now to explore The Prinsendam! From bow to stern she is only 669 feet long. There are 835 passengers and 499 crew. Everything resembles the other HAL ships we have traveled on, but in a miniature version.
We find the library to be really cozy and inviting.
The pool in the stern has a nice, miniature hot tub.
The promenade deck takes 10 laps to get in a mile, compared to 4 laps on the other ships.
Packing passengers under the assigned lifeboat for the mandatory drill proves a challenge on decks that are narrower. The crew member in command of our lifeboat is Mario and he makes sure we remember his name by offering man opportunities with "call and response" from his captive audience!
The rest of the afternoon is spend watching the Saturday boating traffic at Port Everglades as we await or 23:00 hours sailing time.
We have never left a port so late at night, but we manage to be awake and watching as the pilot boat pulls alongside after we clear the harbor, and the pilot leaps aboard. A few others we watching as well as a cheer went up from the ship!
The U.S. slips away from view in our stern wake. Now, two sea days until we arrive in Bermuda.
Time to watch the water, big and empty as far as you can see. Time to read my newest book, Driving Miss Norma! Time to play the ukulele! Time to go to morning exercise and stretch class and add a few laps around the deck aiming for those 10,000 steps. Time to go to fantastic lectures offered by the Speaker at Sea Series: yesterday Crisis in the Caribbean 66 Million Years Ago (geology)and today, The Origin of Whales. Time to learn about our first port of call. Hamilton, Bermuda. Time to hang out at the piano bar for good music and watch the dance troupe provide some amazing dance and song. Time to have some lovely dinners that I did not shop for, help create or clean up. Time to....write this blogpost!
Here's a chocolate martini for Lynn....it's all her fault...forcing me into having one on our Alaska cruise last summer!
Might as well check out our lifeboat on the way back to the cabin.
Time to say goodnight!
Our first goodnight towel animal....manta ray? ....saying "Sweet Swims.....no wait...Sweet Dreams!"
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