St Pete Cruiser

Ft Lauderdale is currently 79F. Here in St Petersburg, just 75. Ger_77: You won't need your heavy coats.

Just checked in.

Another beautiful day here, sunny and 75 degrees. Our roseate spoonbill was having lunch below our 3rd floor balcony as we were having our lunch today. We have a lot of water birds, but "Rosie" is our favorite. Yesterday's group bike ride was great with 12 of us, all over 60, and we did 18 miles with a rewarding lunch to finish. We should be in Lyttelton, New Zealand, exactly 3 months from today, on March 30, 2023. Today's location is Akaroa, NZ, which is quite a bit further from Christchurch. If there isn't a shuttle service to Christchurch, we see that there is a local bus. Another poster said the locals don't like the cruise ship people to use the local bus, however. For my Prinsendam fans, she is still the ship pictured on the shore excursions for the ports on the Holland America site. If I don't post tomorrow, I'll wish you a Happy New Year with good health and ability for good travel as well!

Good afternoon everyone. Split is a very enjoyable port. We were there back in May on the Wind Surf. Holland America stops there fairly often. We are sunny and 72 today, yeah! Visiting Busch Gardens in Tampa today

Princess Love Boat toots sounding good!

Thanks Volendam! You made up for me missing the NS. She may be old, but she has a good horn!

Ok, I'm ready!

You could have told us you were out shoveling the walk or deicing the car instead, but you had to state printing boarding passes! LOL. Good for you!

The Grand South America is basically the same as it has always been, except now with the R class Volendam instead of the Prinsendam which did it for so many years. The World Cruise is a no Asia itinerary this time. The first time ever with a Vista class ship, Zuiderdam, instead of a R class ship, which was the Amsterdam and before that the Rotterdam. The World Cruise has been done since 2020, which ended due to covid in Perth. With all the future credit guests and pent up demand, wondering how full Zuiderdam will be? Zuider capacity is about 600 more than R class Amsterdam.

I haven't adjusted myself to checking in so early for sailaway. Hopefully, I'll still see Volendam. After a cold Christmas weekend, it is back to mid 60's and sunny now and near 80 this weekend.

Merry Christmas Everyone. My best wishes for all of us, either aboard a BHB or elsewhere! I've yet to do a Christmas cruise, preferring our regular holiday activities. I love our Florida Orchestra, church with candlelight service and being with friends. Salmon is on our dinner list for today's get together, but salmon wellington sounds even better! Would that be a Westminster facility? Oh, and what is today's port...Wellington, New Zealand! Coincidence, I think not.

Several new entrees. I would try the eggplant entree, bucatini caponata. Looks like the everyday steak is replaced by lasagna? Are you at an assigned table upstairs? We like the assigned table, later seating, and often get a table for 4 so we can ask friends to dine with us or be by ourselves. The later seating is more relaxed and the servers more accomodating. Often, a dining room manager/Maitre'd checks on us as well.

I've posted several times before regarding Holland America's history in using Tampa. Forty years ago, some of the executive staff at Holland were not happy with cruising out of Miami, and they moved to both Fort Lauderdale and Tampa as their winter home ports. Actually, Fort Lauderdale first and then Tampa. The Veendam III was the first ship assigned to Tampa in 1982. The new in 1983 Nieuw Amsterdam then began service from Tampa. The 1984 Noordam, the other "N" class ship, was later brought in to replace the Nieuw Amsterdam. After Carnival purchased Holland, they built the "S" class ships and Tampa had the Veendam IV and the Ryndam for many years, with the Veendam doing the 7 day itinerary and the Ryndam doing the 14 day for a few years. The ships sailed full almost all of the time, with Holland bussing guests in from several Florida cities. Tampa built a new cruise terminal which Holland used. As Carnival, followed by Royal Caribbean and NCL came to Tampa with bigger ships, Holland was bumped back to the older smaller terminal as its ship had fewer guests. Holland tried the Oosterdam for one season, 2016, by switching away from weekend sailings to mid week, but the ship did not sail full. The last couple years, the Rotterdam VI was out of Tampa, but back at the smaller terminal which I think was deemed not adequate by corporate. A few foggy days those seasons hurt as well. Foggy mornings in the winter occur in Tampa when warm air mixes with cooler Gulf water, but not as bad as Galveston, Texas or Mobile. Captain Albert knew that he needed to be at the Tampa Bay entrance channel by 2am to beet the low marine layer, or fog. Almost as soon as Holland left Tampa, Celebrity moved in with its Constellation, a ship size wise similar to Oosterdam. Carnival, Royal, and NCL also use ships the size of Holland's vista class in Tampa. Yes, the Skyway bridge does limit the vertical height of ships cruising under it. Living close to Tampa, it would be nice for me to cruise from Tampa rather than Ft Lauderdale. Now, with a smaller fleet, and with Celebrity and the other competitors offering a longer than 7 day cruise out of Tampa, which only Holland use to do, it doesn't look good for them to return.

Now there is a happy Captain! I knew Oprah was on the Nieuw Statendam, but was this on the Rotterdam? With Carnival continuing to lose money, $1.6 billion in the 3rd quarter, there will be more cost savings measures. As a fan of Captain Albert and his blogs, I can understand the company not bringing him back just to be a lecturer.

Eurodam's horn didn't sound good first and third toot. Second was ok. Merry Christmas everyone!

Some new ports or old ports that they haven't been stopping at. Bermuda is back on a few TA's as well as Port Said and Alexandria, Egypt, Taormina, Italy, Ajjaccio, Corsica to name a few. Looks like you have to book HIA package to get crew appreciation and early bonus OBC.

Prayers for all our posters who are experiencing sadness at this otherwise joyous time of year. Did everyone get their Seasons greetings from Holland America? I especially liked Gus Antorcha's note ending in Proost! Happy Halidays card celebrating the 150th anniversary. A few more warm days here before a very cold (for us) Christmas weekend. I can't imagine how cold our Canadian and northern friends are experiencing now. Sydney, our location of the day, has long been on my bucket list. We are excited to finally have it scheduled on our Noordam adventure this coming spring. Final payment is Christmas Day! Some warm Caribbean pics from last winter:

Couldn't get the PTZ to stay on today. Frustrating.

Almost nobody has open decks at the stern like this anymore!

Good camera action on Apex so far. With the cloudy skies, it is easier to see the ships today. Hope PTZ doesn't lock up.

Happy Penultimate Saturday before Christmas. I went to Roy's English class refresher. It has been a busy and good week here in the Sunshine City. Several longer bike rides on sunny and warm days. Some pool time as well. Thursday's Coffee Concert finished with the Nutcracker Suite, always a crowd favorite. A storm blew through during the concert as we wondered if it was the kettle drums we heard, or the storm muffled on the roof of the Mahaffey Theater. I'm glad to see the Volendam in Ft Lauderdale and plan to watch sailaway later. Hope Kazu is boarding the Koningsdam in San Diego today. Friends from the east coast of Florida are enticing us to join them on a MSC cruise out of Miami next month. None of us have ever been on MSC. Some of my dear Holland America friends refer to it as Miserable Shipping Company, with horror stories to back it up. How bad could it be? Maybe I should try it? We were so fortunate to have 4 weeks onboard Nieuw Statendam and Rotterdam last winter when fares and service were wonderful. If you haven't checked, prices are up and the dam ships are full again.

Now, if only the webcam doesn't freeze or stop working.

Yes, I just connected and was very surprised I missed the NA. The webcam seems to have a new operator as well.

Cam not following the Eurodam.

Pool roof looks closed? It is 76 here in St Petersburg and 80 in Ft Lauderdale. Eurodam looks almost small after Regal Princess, but I do prefer her size. Friends on Regal a couple of weeks ago said it was hard to negotiate some decks as they didn't continue, somewhat like our S class didn't go from dining room to the forward.