St Pete Cruiser

Several of my more favorite captains are over at Seabourne, including Captain Bart. With the cost cutting measures, I'm not expecting to see Captain Albert return. He is a wealth of information! Copper John, who posts here, is also a Holland America ex employee who knows a lot of history.

Good evening sailaway addicts.

Yes, here we go! Saved the best for last.

I didn't hear anything from Enchanted.

Thanks, Copper John, for starting our day and daily oh so early! Punte del Este looks to be a nice port call. I have been to Montevideo. We are driving a condo neighbor to Tampa airport this morning as she will be flying to Buenos Aires to board a NCL ship doing Antarctica. The NCL Star, which is two years older than Oosterdam, and about the same size. The Star carries about 400 more guests and does not have the covered mid ship pool area, which makes it near useless in cold weather cruising. Does my partiality show? She told me a couple of weeks ago, she would have preferred Holland America, but her cruise mate liked NCL because of the price. I might have joined them, too, as an inside for the 14 day cruise was $699! Probably a big port fee plus of course the air, so not as great a deal as it may seem. NCL does Antartica RT from BA, where as HAL does it between Chile and BA as a 21 day cruise, so of course it is a lot more. What would you choose?

Great. Hope my web cam stays on today.

I'm here, too. It is a beautiful, sunny, warm (80F) day here in St Petersburg. Cold front coming tonight to bring temps back down to only 70F. Hope to see our two BHB's leave before an early dinner out with friends.

Was the Rotterdam supposed to go to Bon Aire originally? I see it now scheduled for Grand Caymen. Bon Aire is only taking 1 ship a day as of Jan 1st.

Good Monday morning all. Looks like the fleet is mostly at sea today. Our friends onboard Koningsdam should enjoy Hilo. We are dog and house sitting for friends in nearby Gulfport. They have a Shar Pei. Yesterday was a concert many of you would enjoy as well as your parents or grandparents: Glen Miller Orchestra at the Mahaffey. My parents, who grew up in the 30's and married in 1941, especially loved those wonderful tunes. Moonlight Serenade, Tuxedo Junction, Chattanooga Choochoo, Pennsylvania 6 5000 and finished with In The Mood. They do all the moves, too. Great commentary as well.

Missed NS. We are dog and house sitting, and their internet connection seems worse than mine. I use the local cable company and our friends use Amazon Silk. It hasn't been good for sailaway, that is for sure.

The webcam cut out before I got to hear Apex. Hoping it stays on now for NS.

Thanks for sharing your adventures. I did this cruise in reverse in 2016 on the Zaandam, and it was wonderful.

Yes, Volendam to do Canada/ New England 2024 along with the Zuiderdam. The initial release is missing some of the dates. Bar Harbor is still on some of the itineraries despite the voters decision to keep cruise ships from debarking more than 1000 guests a day. Looks like the merchants are suing to keep the ships and shoppers coming.

On this 4 day cruise there was. We left late from Miami and arrived in Nassau the next morning, spending the day until 6PM. We then went very slowly to Ocean Cay, the MSC port just south of Bimini, arriving about 1PM and staying there overnight until 6PM the last day of the cruise. We were the first ship back in Miami. There was a light show and a beach party that evening, but then the guests were directed back to the ship and the gates were locked until 8am when the island reopened. The island was a commercial sand mine and has been filled in with a dock and channel. Our MSC ship, the Divina, backed into the dock with obviously shallow water nearby. I thought it would be challenging to do so with a strong north or south wind against the broadside of the ship, and I was right as the very next cruise was unable to dock after a strong front came through with north winds.

Martin Luther King parade warm ups downtown this morning. My volunteer lunch from the theater was chicken marsala! accompanied by asparagus and mashed potatoes, all very appreciated.

Silent departure for Harmony. Boo. Hiss.

Reflection with loud and strong toots as well.

Eurodam almost in position for the sailaway toots.

Yes, here she comes from behind the building.

Did I miss NS?

Another sunny day, but cool with mid and low 60's here and Ft Lauderdale. Would love some of this cool dry air come summer. Beyond usually good for some deep toots. Where are the older Celebrity ships?

Extra long toots!

NS getting close now. More little sailboats along side.

It is much cooler here today and in Ft Lauderdale, but blue skies and sun. We tried MSC this week for the first time, Divina, 4 days out of Miami. My first time sailing out of Miami since 1999 on the SS Norway!

Just returned from MSC Divina 4 day cruise. If our experience is typical, they still have a lot of work to do. Maybe because announcements are done in 6 languages, no communication from officers or staff with the exception of the cruise director's basic agenda. They saved a great deal of fuel by staying close to Miami on our cruise. Their private island is just below Bimini, 65 miles from Miami. The buffet consists of a lot of cheap carbs. You have to look hard to find the more nutritious items. Most people seemed to have taken the drink package, which results in some very "over served" behavior.