Btimmer

At first blush, the internet speeds are better than I've seen in a long time. I have the surf package (middle). This is a Starlink equipped ship.

Celebration cake and first Lido dinner.

It'll be in my blog .

Yup, he remembered us and I'm sure we will chat more.

We're now 2.5 hours behind the scheduled departure. The engine vibrations are pulsing through the ship so departure must be soon. We had our swiftest embarkation ever! It was under 5 minutes. I'll write about it in tonight's blog. Our Hotel General Manager is our favorite from many cruise days on the Volendam. Our C&T Director is also a favorite. Its been blazing hot today and I definitely prefer my view from the air conditioned comfort of the Crow's Nest. The ship was having problems with the internet (shocking I know), so I don't know when my updates will start after I lose cell service (which is spectacular). our hotel general manager

Today we made it to FLL and have a nice room at the Rodeway Inn & Suites for the next 3 days. Dinner tonight at the 84 Sports bar was amazing. Greater detail is in my blog at https://timmer2023gsa.blogspot.com

Julia was our guide this summer as well.

We were quite pleased with our Princess travel accommodations. We really like the Princess Lodge dining options over the McKinley Lodge. options. Thanks for following along on our grandchildrens' adventures. Those were truly special and probably not repeatable.

Then there were the open BBQ's around the LIDO pool.

We had a terrific hostess in the Canaletto on the Zuiderdam that transformed our experience so much there that we ate there 4 times in the month were onboard. A year later we were on the Westerdam and she greeted me by name in the MDR and after dinner I asked her how she remembered my name. Her response, "Don't you remember the Canaletto on the Zuiderdam?" She was terrific once again.

Nice reporting and pics. We were able to do the Denali in 2022 with a granddaughter and with a grandson in 2023. In 2022 we rode south on HAL train cars and in 2023 we rode north on Princess train cars even though we we were on HAL trips. We ate one meal at the Subway but enjoyed most of our meals at the Princess Lodge area which we found much more accessible.

We've done the Double and the Triple Denali and we definitely prefer the Triple Denali for all the reasons stated above.

We board in less than 2 weeks for the Grand SA for almost 3 months. Look up my "BTimmer's Almost Live GSA" thread on this board for current information. We sailed on it once before from Valparaiso to BA via Antartica in 2017 and were quite satisfied with it.

Here's a typical list. I customize it for each trip we take. If it's a motorcycle trip, I add more motorcycle oriented items. Many of these items on this list are very unique to my (our) needs. As we travel very frequently, I have a pretty good mental check list and the paper one is just a backup. We pretty much just travel with a backpack and a small rolling suitcase. For the GSA, we'll likely bring unfilled larger rolling suitcases so we have room for souvenirs. Done Number To Do xx 1 Stop Mail (sometimes we don't) xx 2 Stop Paper XX 3 Get $500US Money; 255 Euros & Pounds NA 4 Pay Property Taxes xx 5 Travel folder with shore excursion data & printed itinerary spreadsheets & cruise documents xx 6 Check on VISA requirements xx 7 Small Camera and Batteries xx 8 Large zoom Camera & batteries xx 9 Small tripod xx 10 Kindle Fire & cable xx 11 Laptop & cable xx 12 Finish online check in & complete any online ship purchases NA 13 Arrange for ride to airport xx 14 DJI Action Camera, Battery, & Cord 15 Download books onto Fire 16 Water Off 17 Water Heater Off xx 18 Battery Tender on Wing xx 19 Battery Tender on ST xx 20 Battery Tender on WR xx 21 Locks on Garage Doors xx 22 Power off on Upper Garage Door xx 23 Passport xx 24 Wallet xx 25 Vest xx 26 Tape xx 27 Portable battery for phone xx 28 Extra SD cards xx 29 1 110v power cords xx 30 CPAP xx 31 Handi Floss xx 32 Utility bags (2 chargers) na 33 Binoculars xx 34 Stickers xx 35 Business cards xx 36 List for airline flights na 37 Call Chase Bank na 38 Call BofA xx 39 Online Schwab NA 40 Call Citibank NA 41 Wire money to Schwab xx 42 Mow Lawn na 43 Blow off Roof

In two weeks we're off again on the Zaandam to do the Grand South America cruise. Most of my "to do" items are done. I'll be posting updates here along with pictures and doing one of my regular daily written blogs (link to come later). Feel free to ask questions and I'll try to answer. This will be our first "Grand" HAL cruise and we've seen much of the destination ports except for Rio and we've been on the Zaandam to Antarctica previously. We're looking forward to a nice cruise.

The Volendam is scheduled for a dry dock in October, 2024 just before the FLL to Israel RT cruise starting 11/9/24.

We sailed the last westbound transatlantic on the Ryndam to FLL. We were also able to sail the final voyage of the Statendam from Seattle to Singapore.

We went to Germany last week, and they still stamp you in and out at the airport.

We've done Alaska cruises a number of times. In Skagway, we found a really cool thing to do is to go up to the Musher Camp (booked independently) and take a ride behind a dog sled team. The camp has the dogs there in the summer to pull tourists around in order to keep them in shape for their normal winter activity. It's a real Alaska adventure type excursion. One must be mobile and able to walk up stairs into the Unimog transport vehicle. Our grandkids totally loved this excursion.

Party City in the US has lots of Orange items.

Yes, it was fabulous!

We didn't expect it then and definitely don't expect it now. But one can dream!

IMHO, reduced deposits are not a deal. What is a real deal for me is a reduced price, refundable deposit cruise on a nice itinerary.

We've done many Alaska cruises. For the White Pass & Yukon railway, book the type of trip that you want as soon as it becomes available. For the Lumberjack show, we booked it onboard the Noordam this past July as an event only. It actually was a pretty cool show and worth seeing. In Skagway, I highly recommend the sled dog and musher camp excursion. We booked it independently both in 2022 and 2023 and it fills fast.

Day of sailing upgrades do happen. When we took our Amazon River cruise on the Volendam in 2019, we received our key cards in the FLL cruise terminal at check in. When we got to the gangway security check point, those cards would not work, and we had to go to guest services. There, we were given new key cards for a window cabin in place of our booked interior cabin. It was a nice upgrade for 30 days. For the final 14 days, we had to return to an interior cabin, but that was okay as we typically travel in inside cabins and are quite comfortable with them.