Day 102 Georgetown, Grand Cayman Happy New Year!

We arrived at anchorage outside Georgetown, Grand Cayman around 0700 this morning. I got ashore early and did a couple of errands (sunglasses repaired and black coral ring shined up) and was still the first one at the beach at Royal Palms. It was an absolute perfect day in my personal paradise. Grand Cayman is truly one of my absolute favorite places. After returning back to the ship I continued to enjoy the sun until Sail Away…. Wonderful Day!!!!!! What a way to start the New Year’s celebration. To top it off the Captain & his wife gave me a rum cake (a personal addiction for me). What a day!

Day 101 At Sea

Today was an excellent start for my second hundred days. The weather was nice and sunny all day. It was very windy but when you get out to the pool before everyone else you can find the calm spot if there is one. Today the spot out of the wind was deck 9 port side just above the pool area. A side benefit was getting away from all the kids. I was impressed that when I got out to the pool deck this morning an inspection was underway on all the deck chairs. Apparently someone read my blog or it’s a huge coincidence. It’s a nice thought but it won’t fix the basic problem. I wish someone would have read my Day 14 blog and taken some action back then to resolve the problem. I’m afraid we’ll just have to continue with these chairs during the World Voyage. I am getting very excited about the World Voyage beginning next Friday….. Yeah! A lot of new crew members will get onboard Friday, old friends... great! A number of really super crew members will also be getting off Friday and going on vacation, they’ll be missed. Tomorrow we go to one of my favorite places, Grand Cayman. It’s a bit of a short day so I’m not sure what I’ll do. Hopefully, it’ll be a great day!

Day 100 Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

Well can you imagine that…. 100 days already. It doesn’t seem like more than 96. Time can be very deceiving! Today we arrived very early into Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. The town here isn’t much, very run down and dilapidated. This is more of a launching point for Eco-Tourism excursions. I have done a few and they generally can be very good. Today I decided to just go into the town in the morning since we kept having waves of torrential rains. That actually happens in the tropical rainforest regions from time to time…. Not sure why. The morning was on and off with the rain showers and I actually went into town twice just for photos. I even took several of a sloth in a tree but he (or she) wouldn’t cooperate for the great portrait shot.
Let’s talk about the first 100 days for a moment. Holland America gets an “A+” for the food, service and itinerary. I can’t say enough great things about the staff…. The ship is ,in my opinion kept up exceptionally well. My cabin is great… just right. Their performance generally is just tremendous! Holland America on the other hand gets an “F” for the aft deck chairs because they are extremely uncomfortable, bad for people with back conditions and fall apart constantly. There is nothing like seeing an elderly passenger struggle to get the chair put back together just in the end to give up in frustration. I have personally helped countless people put chairs together but should I have to???? I think not! Their other failing grade comes in the “high speed” internet arena because they promise a lot and deliver very little. I don’t need to tell them that. Despite all their advertising to the contrary they know the internet service is poor. I hate to say this but poor performance in the end just means more revenue for HAL. The only other negative during the first 100 days was not feeling very welcome by the Captain and his senior staff. The Captain wouldn’t even say hello as I passed him during the day. He never once uttered my name. I found this unlike and other experience I’ve had on long stays on ships. The first Captain (and staff) gave the impression that if you weren’t in a suite or Dutch that you really didn’t matter. In this day of cost cutting in business to improve margins it is important to remember that it costs absolutely nothing to be polite and to make your customers feel that they are welcome and important to you. This feeling of being unwelcome changed immediately when Captain Edward van Zaane took command. I was warmly greeted and had a nice chat the first day. I have had the opportunity to chat with the Captain and his lovely wife Apollonia on a couple of other occasions. Nice people! That being said, I still think Holland America is great. They just need some honest feedback occasionally to understand where they are falling short. I have truly loved my first 100 days. I especially liked my visits in Japan & China, and amazing adventure. Next Friday I sail away from Ft. Lauderdale on the 2008 World Voyage…. Can’t wait for the second half of my sailing adventure.

Day 99 Panama Canal & Colon Panama

Today we started a Panama Canal transit bright (OK, not really bright) and early. It was going to be a day with rain off and on. When you think about how Gatun Lake loses 52 million gallons of water for each ship that transits the canal you know they get a lot of rain to keep it going. My plan of laying out in the sun as we transited the canal came apart like a cheap watch. I went ahead and watched the transit and once again took quite a few photos. People got off (tender) in Gatun Lake for shore excursions after we transited the three Gatun Locks. We anchored there until 11:30 when we turned around and headed back through the Gatun Locks on our way to Colon, Panama. We arrived in Colon around 3:00 to pick up the people on shore excursions and to give the people onboard a chance to go ashore. I went ashore for a while and checked out the shops and then it was back to the ship. Colon Panama has little to offer….

Note: More and more photos are being left off the blog because this "high speed " internet aboard the ms Amsterdam is anything but..... They keep advertising High Speed Internet... amazing

Day 98 At Sea

I went out early this morning and believed that it would be a day for staying inside. The weather looked like we were going to get some of the rainy season weather. It was quite amazing how quickly it turned around. It turned out to be one of the most pleasant days. Around 11:00 this morning we encountered a dramatic change in water color along distinct lines. It reminded me of the “meeting of the waters” in the Amazon. I suspected it came from river outflows and sure enough it was. This color change can be attributed to the flow of the Rio Magdalena into the sea from Columbia. Very dramatic! I have finally succumbed to be in close proximity to a lot of sick passengers. I am in the 3 day of a miserable cold. It’s not bad enough to keep me inside….
Looking forward, I may decide to stay onboard for the majority of the rest of the cruise. Here’s my take, first Puerto Limon, been there done that and it’s a dump. If you aren’t going out into the rainforest or cruising the Tortuguero Canals or Sarapiqui River there isn’t much there. I’ve see the sights of bio-diversity and as impressive as they are I done feel like repeating them. Secondly, Cozumel…. 8 ships and we are tendering, I don’t think so…. So that leaves Roatan (beach day) and Grand Cayman. In Grand Cayman we are tendering with 4 ships in port. Since this is one of my favorite places I will probably go ashore but it’s no slam dunk. That leaves a lot of time on the pool deck, we’ll see. There is just about a week left for the World Voyage…. I’m getting excited and I’m sure Allan & Sandra are getting very excited. In less than a week they’ll be flying to Ft. Lauderdale, can’t wait….

Day 97 Willemstad Curacao

We arrived this morning bright and early into Curacao, one of the most picturesque and colorful places around. I decided that today I would go into town and explore a bit and look at the shops. The beaches here are OK but not the best in the world. I figured a few hours of exploring and the rest of the day set aside for relaxation and bronzing…. Nothing like a good plan! We also had another ship joining use here, the magnificent Queen Mary 2…. A lovely sight! It was a really nice relaxing day.

Day 96 Christmas in Bonaire

Merry Christmas! I gave myself a nice present this morning and went snorkeling in Bonaire, one of the really great snorkeling spots. I headed out this morning on the boat “Sea Cow” which is about the 4th time. I believe Whitey & Deb (aka Mrs. Whitey) and I took the Sea Cow to a resort in search of a beach. I remember it well. I even swan to the adjacent resort in search of diet coke (found it). Anyway, I got in some great snorkeling at Klein Bonaire & offshore of Bonaire itself. Marvelous! After I got back I went into town and was amazed that many of the shops were indeed open. Bonaire only has a population of 15,000 and when a cruise ship comes a calling it’s time to make some money. I had a wonderful day even though I do miss having Christmas with family and friends. So to all of you out there, Merry Christmas! As a present I included way too many photos…..