Live Heading to the Zuiderdam for August 11 Sailing

Just back from all day in Stockholm. Misty rain most of the day till around 2pm then it actually got nice. Walked around Gamal Stan, the old town.... didn't tour there yet. We have free tour Saturday of town but today we did the Stockholm

Food Tour. It was lots of fun. Met lots of nice folks from all over. Johanna did a great job as our guide. We started in the main business district which is NOT the old town. We then took a subway a few stops and walked around a very nice neighborhood and tried several very local restaurants, bakeries, cheese shops, food halls, chocolate stores etc etc. lots of fun. Sitting on my bed and finally the sun is out. I hunk tonight we are skipping dinner. Maybe hit up the late buffet.

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Last night did late dinner in the main dining room. We ate light but of course had dessert. I had apple pie and DW had mango-blueberry crisp. Last night show was a magic show and mime act. It was ok. Today in Stockholm it rained again. No I take that back. It poured this morning. We took our time going into town. We had a free walking tour booked. Walked through the central business district. By the time the tour ended 90 minutes it had finally stopped raining. We walked around for a little bit but took a cab back to the ship.

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The other night we ate in the Pinnacle Grill. DW had the Halibut with shrimp scampi and I had the.bone in rib eye. We share 3 desserts!!!! Don't worry we didn't finish it all. Last night was gala night. We sat at a table by our selves for the first time. We are doing any time dining for the first time. Have to say we are really liking it. But last night we were hungry and didn't want to wait for them to fill the table so we told them we would

Join an existing table

Or take our own. DW had 2 lobster tales no steak and I had seabass and lobster tail. We even shared dessert. The HA singers and dancers put on a great production show. At 945 the waiters brought a chocolate surprise to deck 2 piano bar, casino, BBKing etc. nice surprise and the chocolates were excellent. The food on his ship has definitely been better hem most others. Did I mention hat yesterday we had the Mariners brunch? Just over 2k passengers on board and over 1600 are mariners. Says something when you have so many returning customers. Do day we docked in a port where we did a day trip to Berlin with 2 other couples we met on cruise critic. We had a driver ( Bernie) pick us up at 7 am and drive us he 2 hrs to beeline where we met our guide Jeremy Minsberg , The Berlin Expert. Jeremy is an American Jew living in Berlin for

The last 17 years. Big we got a lot in in a short time. Great tour. Really enjoyed seeing and hearing about Berlin. Not something or someplace I ever though I would go in my lifetime. Currently on the Autobahn heading back to our ship where we will eat dinner in the main dining room. Tomorrow Copenhagen.

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Thanks for your travel review - brings back great memories of our trip! Loved garden picture from Catherine's Palace

Loving your reports.

Floridatourist - did you have Visas or only passports?

Continuing to enjoy your reports. Thanks very much for taking the time to provide us highlights of your vacation!

Floridatourist - did you have Visas or only passports?

Passports. That's all you need everywhere but Russia. Russia the tour group supply a blanket visa. That is the only way off the ship unless you buy your own visa for $400. I don't know anyone that bought their own visa.

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Spent the day yesterday walking Copenhagen. It was the first time ever in all the times we have cruised HA that a free shuttle was offered. But it was done by the city not HA. That is probably my biggest complaint about HA. THey always dock the furthest away and never offer free or some none at all transportation into town from the port even when the port is far. But In Typical HA fashion the information supplied on board was different than what actually happened. We board the free shuttle to go to the little mermaid statue. From there we planned to take a cab further into town since it is still a long walk from there and we had planned on a walking tour later. But the bus actually went all the way into town to the M*****++ Nord dept store. Sorry can't recall the name. Sorry time

To disembark. Will finish from the airport

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Waiting for my last flight Boston to Orlando. So as I was saying the shuttle took us all the way into town. If I had actually wanted Togo to the little mermaid I would have been upset since it is a pretty long walk from center of town. Transportation shuttles is something we think HA does rather poorly. But they did well on the airport shuttle. But I'll get to that shortly. So yesterday we ended up walking in town for a while. Had lunch at a little cafe we found the first day before the cruise. Then walked all around. Had planned on doing a free walking tour but changed our minds. Got a snack at the department store. They had heaven on a stick. They had a pop-up store from Magnum bars where they they take the ice cream and dip it in a chocolate of your choice and put on top 3 of about 12 different toppings then drizzle more chocolate on it. YUM!!!! After that we made our way to the HA shuttle stop to catch the waiting bus. Perfect timing. We showered and dress for a quick dinner in the dinning room. Then off to the piano bar to visit friends we had made along the way and say our good byes.

For transfer to the airport we had read about some horrors on getting taxis to the airport so we opted for the HA shuttle $38pp. Because we had an 1145 flight HA put us in group one and we got off the ship around 715. As did about 4 bus loads. When the bus drove around the building I saw a line of folks waiting for taxis and only 1 taxi available. Very glad we opted for the bus. HA bus took us to a tent at the airport where our bags were waiting and carts were available for free to help. In the airport things were very confusing. KLM had very small signs shared with Air France. The line in side was very long and security very strict. They want every thing out of your backpack pretty much. They even caught my little bottle of eye drops. From CPH we flew to AMS where you have to go through border control but then delta makes everyone go through a document check at gate D1 for allowing you to your departure gate. With a 90 minute schedule Departure from Amsterdam we got to the gate and boarding was in process already. Then we landed in Boston where global entry was quick, luggage slow, re-drop off of your bags fast and security lines long. We are. Ow sitting on the plane waiting to take off for Orlando. In the morning I will write one more post withover all feelings and thoughts of our cruise.

Sent from my iPhone using Forumssunrise from onboard the Zuiderdam on our last morning in Copenhagen.

Welcome home to Florida.

Enjoyed following you and the Zuiderdam. We are doing the 11 day Panama Canal in Nov.

I noticed your are from Winter Park. We are New Smyrna Beach. Our daughter owns the store Synergy on Park Avenue. Small world.

Louise

Welcome home to Florida.

Enjoyed following you and the Zuiderdam. We are doing the 11 day Panama Canal in Nov.

I noticed your are from Winter Park. We are New Smyrna Beach. Our daughter owns the store Synergy on Park Avenue. Small world.

Louise

Have shopped there many times. My DW is retired but works part time on the avenue

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Now that I have been home a few days and caught up on my sleep I can give a final comment.

We loved this cruise. It took us to a part of the world we never thought we would travel to. HA is a great line to cruise with. Better then most yet still affordable as far as cruises go. The have great service, friendly staff, and great food. All things that we enjoy. There are some things they could do better but no matter what line you cruise with, there are always things not to your liking. You just have to pick and chose. The Zuiderdam is a perfect size ship in my opinion. We had just over 2k passengers. 1600 mariners. Says something when so many are repeat customers. Since we sailed last year on the Oosterdam last year (sister ship) we know what the remodeled Zuiderdam will look like after its dry dock later his year. It will be amazing. It was tired looking now but still elegant. The basic verandah cabins are roomy and lots of storage. I am not an interior cabin person. We had a signature suite on the Oosterdam but now we don't see a need for the suite. Room service was excellent. Speciality dining a nice change and main dining excellent. We would sail on the Zuiderdam again with out question. We have booked the Kongisdam next year leaving Amsterdam to Scotland, Norway, Iceland and back to Amsterdam. We are very excited.

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Thank you so much for this live thread. DH and I have really enjoyed following along. We have not traveled outside the US very much and I was apprehensive about a HA cruise we have scheduled for next year that includes this itinerary and an England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland cruise, beforehand. You have caused me to really look forward to it. :D