St Pete Cruiser

Me too! Must be frustrating for the marine crew. My PTZ keeps needing to be refreshed. Last week it cut out just as the NS started to toot.

Apex in position to toot.

I hope to see both leave.

I'm impressed! I missed out on the Maasdam's 21 day cruise in 2019, and it seemed like Holland was never going to try something like this again. President Gus Antorcha did say HAL would return to one of its strengths, i.e, the longer exotic itineraries many of us like. The fare, nearly $200 pp per day inside, is pretty dear for us. Of course, final payment is a long way off. Love Ruth's comment, something to stay healthy for!

Great pics. I am surprised our senior ship of the fleet is doing 22 knots. That is full speed ahead with all 4 engines firing unless I am mistaken. That will ruin the fuel budget. I hope you have enjoyed the Volendam and the Amazon adventure.

Good Monday everyone. Another beautiful day here in St Petersburg. Biked downtown along the waterfront and came across my Christmas present. The super yacht is the Double Down, a 216 foot beauty that is here at our port. She is for sale for $44M. Truth be told, I'd rather be in a Holland America suite or maybe a Seabourn which I've never tried.

Close up now on our ship. Stand by for tooting.

NSDM toot. Should be close behind.

Apex backing out now.

Good Saturday morning everyone. Up early to do our Front Runners walk along the downtown waterfront here in St Petersburg. The weather has been just about perfect with sunshine, 78F highs and 65F lows and humidity under control. I bought a new (to me) bike from a friend who has decided to move to Portugal after living most of his life in Florida. Tonight is Florida Orchestra's Tchaikovsky concert, so should be a full day. Will try to watch N. Statendam sailaway, too. Read with interest that Viking's newest ship suffered damage and a fatality a few days ago in the Drake Passage enroute to Antartica. Oosterdam will be down there later this month. I've only done the cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, which was great. Enjoy your day wherever your life takes you today. Warm wishes especially for our northern friends.

I started cruising with some of the older ships that had been sold off by the larger lines, so in 1991 we tried Princess and were wowed by a new ship with a balcony! After a couple more Princess cruises, went with Holland America because of a great itinerary. The ship, the old Noordam, was frankly, not as attractive as the newer Princess, but after 14 days we were won over by the crew and the way that Holland delivered their product. None of the lines have been exempt from cutbacks, except maybe the most premium/expensive. I hope you will like Holland America if you choose to try one, especially a longer voyage.

Sounds like a great cruise for an Englishman in November. Not being very familiar with the P&O fleet, your ship looks just like a Princess ship of that era. Being part of Carnival, I understand how that works. Did you find out the breakdown in where the guests onboard were from?

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I was on the Nieuw Statendam back in June when I became quite ill. The medical staff did a blood test, a urine test and an X-ray and called the hospital in Kiel, Germany, where I was sent with a perforated appendix. Be thankful for your husbands care and don't give up! I sure am!

We stopped at Fortaleza in Feb 2017 on the Veendam. Read Roy's post and his pics. Yes, it did have the new cruise port terminal in 2017 and was a good stop for us.

@StLouisCruisersAltar Do Chao is a most difficult tender port! Sounds similar to the set up Veendam had in 2017 when the river was flooding there. I think we bought two cold bottled beers when we needed a refreshing break and that was all. All in the adventure of the Amazon.

Stay with the N Statendam! Great ship.

@StLouisCruisersThanks for the blue bubble lesion!

I was on the Rotterdam's Africa cruise the same year as Roy did this segment of the world cruise. I think a world cruise has an "upgraded menu" over even a long regular cruise like ours was. Agreed, today's menus are not as extensive as 10 years ago.

Odyssey completing todays sailaway now.

Yes!

Early and long toots.

NA backing into the 'runway' to takeoff. Sun being blocked by a cloud so camera looks much better.

I'm not sure I like Beyond's horn. It sounds too much like get out of my way, or as you say grumble.

Beyond should be tooting/tootling along soon. NA next? I missed them yesterday.

Could you post a picture of Ryan, your cruise director? We had an on location/port lecturer on the Zaandam, Ryan, from Buenos Aires back to San Diego in 2016 who was excellent.