Yea, checked with Holland America last night and they have posted our cabin assignment. We got a nice location, right of the Atrium on the Main Deck. It's also just down the passageway from the self serve laundry which we anticipate using quite a bit during this cruise.
The packing continues, with one suitcase down and weighing in at 42 pounds. It looks like we actually may accomplish our goal of three suitcases! I had to breakout my extra camera bag however. Taking along the video camera with enough tapes for the trip (it's a really old one that uses Hi8 tapes, but still works just fine), and not wanting to overload my backpack necessitated the second bag. So I also left some of the accessories out of the backpack and put them into the second bag to lighten my load a bit. I'm not sure what I will do for our next cruise. That is a 63 day Australian/New Zealand roundtrip out of Los Angeles. Having to fly there, packing will be even harder than this time.
I stopped by the bank yesterday and picked up our Euro's for the trip so it appears everything is on track. We are looking forward to getting away for a while.
Until later, Cheers all!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
18 Days to go!
The excitement is building around our house as we start laying out things to pack. We always do this. We put out everything that we think we will need, and then start putting stuff back. We work off of each other by telling each other "do you really think you need that?".
By the time we are done, we usually put back around 50% of what we first put out. We also use our previous cruise experiences by looking back at what we took with us and what we never wore or used. This really helps us keep the baggage down.
We are still waiting for our cabin assignment. We normally book a guarantee cabin and take our chances on location. We have only booked a specific cabin once, on our last cruise, the Voyage of the Vikings.
For a 50 day cruise like this one, overall cost was a deciding factor for us, so we booked an oceanview guarantee. Hopefully we will get our assignment soon although our last Caribbean cruise we didn't find out until the night before departure.
We will be arriving in Ft Lauderdale a couple of days early and spending some time at Butterfly World, Flamingo Gardens and Wildlife Sanctuary, and doing an all day Everglades tour with Ecosafari. I will post my opinion of these afterwords.
Depending on the state of Internet access I will also try to post a daily note about things going on aboard ship, and my thoughts about the ship itself.
Until later,
Cheers!
By the time we are done, we usually put back around 50% of what we first put out. We also use our previous cruise experiences by looking back at what we took with us and what we never wore or used. This really helps us keep the baggage down.
We are still waiting for our cabin assignment. We normally book a guarantee cabin and take our chances on location. We have only booked a specific cabin once, on our last cruise, the Voyage of the Vikings.
For a 50 day cruise like this one, overall cost was a deciding factor for us, so we booked an oceanview guarantee. Hopefully we will get our assignment soon although our last Caribbean cruise we didn't find out until the night before departure.
We will be arriving in Ft Lauderdale a couple of days early and spending some time at Butterfly World, Flamingo Gardens and Wildlife Sanctuary, and doing an all day Everglades tour with Ecosafari. I will post my opinion of these afterwords.
Depending on the state of Internet access I will also try to post a daily note about things going on aboard ship, and my thoughts about the ship itself.
Until later,
Cheers!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Prinsendam Grand Med and Black Sea Voyage March 2009
February 8
We are at 28 days and counting before we board Amtrak to Ft. Lauderdale. We are going down a couple of days early to see a few sights while there prior to boarding on the 11th for our 50 day cruise. This will be our first ever train ride, and we splurged on a roomette for the trip as it takes about 27 hours. Thus we can get a good nights rest on the way down and be ready to play tourist upon arrival! Our plans are to go to Butterfly World and Flamingo World on the 9th, and take an Everglade tour on the 10th.
For those who may not know about this cruise, we will be visiting the following ports during the cruise:
Gustavia St. Barts
Castires, St. Lucia
Tenerife, Canary Islands
Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Gibraltar
Cartagena, Spain
Barcelona
Marseille, France
Monte Carlo
Livorno/Florence, Italy
Rome
Naples
Athens
Istanbul
Varna, Bulgaria
Sevastopol, Ukraine
Ephesus
Santorini
Valletta, Malta
Cadiz, Spain
Lisbon
Ponta Delgada
Hamilton Bermuda
New York City
We are very excited about the cruise and are really looking forward to visiting all of these ports. We have a lot of private tours set up, and will be doing some ports on our own.
My plan is to post here right after leaving each port and provide our impressions of what we saw and an evaluation of the private tours. I have that you will enjoy reading about our cruise and if there is anything specific that you would like to see mentioned, don't hesitate to ask and I will try to accommodate your request.
Until later,
Cheers!
We are at 28 days and counting before we board Amtrak to Ft. Lauderdale. We are going down a couple of days early to see a few sights while there prior to boarding on the 11th for our 50 day cruise. This will be our first ever train ride, and we splurged on a roomette for the trip as it takes about 27 hours. Thus we can get a good nights rest on the way down and be ready to play tourist upon arrival! Our plans are to go to Butterfly World and Flamingo World on the 9th, and take an Everglade tour on the 10th.
For those who may not know about this cruise, we will be visiting the following ports during the cruise:
Gustavia St. Barts
Castires, St. Lucia
Tenerife, Canary Islands
Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Gibraltar
Cartagena, Spain
Barcelona
Marseille, France
Monte Carlo
Livorno/Florence, Italy
Rome
Naples
Athens
Istanbul
Varna, Bulgaria
Sevastopol, Ukraine
Ephesus
Santorini
Valletta, Malta
Cadiz, Spain
Lisbon
Ponta Delgada
Hamilton Bermuda
New York City
We are very excited about the cruise and are really looking forward to visiting all of these ports. We have a lot of private tours set up, and will be doing some ports on our own.
My plan is to post here right after leaving each port and provide our impressions of what we saw and an evaluation of the private tours. I have that you will enjoy reading about our cruise and if there is anything specific that you would like to see mentioned, don't hesitate to ask and I will try to accommodate your request.
Until later,
Cheers!
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