sailingdutchy

Good afternoon to all the Dailyites and Thank you to Rich and all the Daily organizers ! We have been a number of times to Rhodes and have toured much of the island and saw a lot of very nice places . Thank you Ann @VictOriann for posting some pictures of the Taverna where we had that lovely lunch in 2021 , in such a beautiful spot ! Today I have chosen a few pictures from the 2014 cruise while on the Eurodam when we went from Rhodes to the Acropolis in Lindos Acropolis of Lindos St Paul’s Bay and near the top where the Acropolis is standing the Cave where the movie the Guns of Navaronne was filmed with Anthony Quinn Climbing to the top of the Acropolis On the side of the path the locals were selling their wares View from near the top onto St Paul’s Bay A little more climbing On our return to the town of Rhodes we visited a very old church and monastery There were dozens and dozens of peacocks all over the property Walking the path , with the stations of the cross , from the church to this huge cross which can be seen from far. Quick visit to see the beautiful Bay and Anthony Quinn Beach Hope I showed a few different photos from what already has been posted today . ......maybe next time I will show some more of the lunch we had with Ann and Pat in 2021 while doing a similar tour ....... Tony 😁

Best post I have read so far besides reading the supposedly actual menu that was posted here . All this guessing and second guessing what is going to happen with Rudi Sodamin where he is going and about his restaurant . Let's be patient , wait and experience also first after the Morimoto Restairant actually opens up , not while they are testing some items from his menu , after that I love to read all peoples opinions ! We have always enjoyed the specialty restaurants and as far as my opinion goes about up charges have you had specialty dining in the larger cities of your country like New York , San Francisco , Vancouver or Toronto ? Where they always fantastic and how much was the bill ? I have and quite often it is higher than the total daily cost on a cruise and I am not just talking of a cruise in an inside cabin .

A very good morning all ! We have also been to Aruba a few times and enjoy roaming around there , went to the butterfly gardens one time made a tour of the island to see the original large Natural Bridge but there also is some good shopping there and there are some very good little restaurants there for lunch . When on the Zuiderdam in January of 2017 we were in port until 11 pm so lots of time to do all of these things had an amazing Red Snapper lunch and after we did some shopping . After it got dark the atmosphere changed a lot we watched a real large and noisy Carnaval Parade it stretched a long way , was extremely loud there were a number of bands and a lot of floats providing drinks to the participants who were singing , dancing with string lights around their bodies and drinking their local and of coarse also the Heineken beer was flowing ......... The local Aruba Beer Balashi Sorry they were all dancing and moving . After we got back on board the Zuiderdam we could see and hear all of the partying still going on in Oranjestad until late that night . We specially love the Southern Caribbean in particular the A B C islands , very nice even climate and the warm connections with The Netherlands which plays a big role in that for us . Hope to be in Aruba again late January when we are on the MS Rotterdam . Tony 😀

Good afternoon / evening all and thank you for the Daily to Rich and all the contributors , I am happy to see it is a busy day on the Daily , we might even get to page 5 or 6 again , with lots and lots of nice pictures if Naples and area . We have been more than 8 times in Naples and I had drafted a complete set of pics from Sorento , Capri , Amalfi , Naples , Pompeii and Heraculeum but when I tried to post them just now they all disappeared ...............Oh well next time ! Vesuvius A few from the Amalfi Coast Have a good evening everybody . Tony 😪

Thanks Graham , hope that Destiny of the Day tomorrow is not Sydney than I better chose the correct city and post them again !

Hahahahahaha …………guess I am a worthy member of AARP now …….of coarse that was Sydney how could I have mixed that up with the beautiful city of Melbourne . That happens when you are eager and rush to post a few pictures . We have been a few days in Melbourne also on a land tour and it has a very different feel than Sydney , so here a few pics of the Port of the day . ( Now I better watch my spelling ….) Finally some wifi outside this restaurant , big question : Where are we ???? Oh yes Melbourne … G’Day Mate …. This was a wonderful street performer , he roped us in ! Statue or real ! Who is that lady ? ….wow …10 years ago ! Wonderful full day walking tour on our own around this nice city …………..( how in the heck could I have mixed that up ?) Tony 😅🤣

G’Day Mates , hope you are are doing fine and survived Thanksgiving and Black Friday ! T’Day its a rest day and debate IF we should book another cruise while the Black Friday sale is winding down . Looking up a few pictures of Melbourne from our New Zealand to Vancouver cruise in 2013 while on the Oosterdam ( If my math is correct we spend 99 days on the Oosterdam so far ! ) Checkin if the Oosty is ready for us the next day …. Getting together with Aussi friends we met on another cruise and go to Bondi Beach Best pictures of this marvellous architectural wonder at the best setting are from the water ! Getting on board the next day Fruit and veggie art And we’re off ….. I will check if I have a few more different ones from another vacation ........ Take care and have a great weekend ! Tony 😁😁

First of all I would like to wish all our Southern neighbours a Happy Thanksgiving , we wish you and your families a wonderful day and an opportunity to count your blessings ! You’re slow we already had our turkey six weeks ago ! I guess because of all of you celebrating and your retailers starting to offer great specials the day after , which is called Black Friday ? so you can get ready for the next retail season , called Christmas and that way the retailers can get rid of extra stuff . That custom has for the last dozen or so years been taken over by our Canadian retailers . It has even spread to Western Europe just the last couple of years , they say Black Friday huhhhhh whats that , ohhh there are specials we’ll take it ! I am just looking at what Holland America has to offer and see if there is another wonderful cruise for the fall of next year at a great price ! Way back in 2011 while on the Rotterdam VI we had a wonderful cruise from R’dam to R’dam to the Baltics and St Petersburg and joined one of the HAL “sticker tours “ to see some beautiful spots in Tallinn . I was trying hard to make a decision about this offer …………too much work , didn’t like the downspout ! The place where they hold their annual International Choir competitions Our very nice , and feisty " redhead " guide gave us a great tour The ancient City Walls Would have loved to visit the other 2 Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania , maybe they will be on a future cruise . Drop the lines and let’s go to St Petersburg , we were so curious to see that amazing place …….. (Guess that is not going to happen for the foreseeable future now ! ) Tony 😆

Sorry I missed that after reading much of your list ! Thank you for that as always !

One thing that I missed today in the Daily is the fact that this day in history the 35th president of the United States was assassinated 60 years ago . I remember very well being in grade 6 and in the afternoon in my school in the Netherlands all the teachers made the announcement . In the Netherlands John F Kennedy as in many of the Western countries in Europe at that time the President was revered and celebrated specially after his famous visit and speech in Berlin . At home after 60 years I still have the very special edition from the Dutch newspapers that were printed and sold . May he RIP . Tony ( I hope this is not seen as a political post ! )

I think it is a little over the top this hoopla closing 4 border crossings and now also closing Buffalo airport for international flights ................ just thinking now what is going to happen as a result of this vehicle crash and my thoughts go back to the lonely shoe bomber which resulted us 22 years later still having to take our shoes off for flights crossing the US border........... Just my own personal opinion. Tony 😒

Thank you @StLouisCruisers making it so easy to replicate and show the pictures of the Daily Destinations my favourite part of being on CC . Today some of my pictures from a wonderful experience and fantastic day in Tauranga / Rotorua while on a tour with Jim Archer . On April 1st 2013 while on the Oosterdam on a cruise from Auckland to Sydney to Hawaii and ending in Vancouver we landed in Tauranga and with a small group we first stopped at one of the beautiful beaches , than went to a Kiwi farm to do some fruit and honey tasting and from there went to Rotorua where we witnessed all of the geothermal activity in the Te Puia Whakarewarewa Valley and to the indigenous Maori Village . The kiwis are grown about 5 or 6 feet off the ground ,they keep the branches tied down for easy picking of the fruit. This is Jim Archer a wonderful guide who is of Maori ancestry. Just try to pronounce this Maori word in one breath .............. This was one of my nicest experiences while on a cruise ! Before we were allowed to enter the Maori Village we , the strange looking people from a different world, had to go through a special ceremony and Jim had made me Chief of about 100 visitors , to meet the Chief of the village . I was guided by an older lady a village elder and I had to convince the real Chief that we had come in Peace . They had first tried to scare me with their spears , loud voices and wild dances. Everybody even DW had to be at least 5 paces behind me and than I had to pick up a small evergreen branch off the ground after which we were than allowed to enter the Community Hall and witness a number of dances and of coarse the Haka and once I had to touched noses with all of the Haka dancers in stocking feet we were all treated to more wonderful performances with smiling dancers doing their ceremonial dances . After the ceremony was over we witnessed and smelled the spewing and bubbling earth activity all around us Before leaving the village we saw the hall where they still make all of the beautiful pieces for their homes , ceremonies and for the tourists . I will never forget this honour Jim bestowed on me and for a long time on that cruise I was called Chief by a number of other guests who toured Rotorua that same day. So I can really recommend Jim Archer for a wonderful day in Tauranga / Rotorua Tony 😍

Ashdad tour Part 2 . It was quite a warm day and we had already done a lot of walking so after a drive towards the Dead Sea we stopped for a snack and drink before we took a “ dive “ into the sea . Here you can see the sea in the distance The date palm farms It is not easy walking into the sea because of all the very uneven seafloor you can't see under the water but once in it was wonderful what an experience .! I have to admit , I am not a swimmer , but I was so happy to float on my back for minutes without doing anything . DW got some very , very salty water in her eyes ( yes she was warned …....) so she went quick to the showers . XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I am sorry to do this to you but the speedo and bikini pictures I have on file did not make it through the Censor ! XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Our Israeli guide , Ital , who had done an awesome job all day but did not talk about the settlements we saw in Palestinian territory nor about the places where the Palestinians are still able to live .............. Tony 😄 OK Ann @VictOriann you can look now you are safe !

We had a fantastic cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean , Greece , Albania , Italy , Cyprus , Israel , Malta , Spain, Portugal and after that all the way back to Ft Lauderdale on the beautiful Prinsendam in Oct / Nov 2016 . Our good friends Ann @VictOriann , with DH Pat and their DD had organized a wonderful tour to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea from Ashdad. It was a very long but amazing day one we will always remember , towards the end of the day floating in the Dead Sea healed us all . Thank you all for your beautiful pictures and the descriptions hope you like some of these , today without too many comments . An amazing day and wonderful tour we saw so much history and religion in just a few hours after that we went to the Dead Sea but I will show some pictures in a separate post . ( they will have to go through the censor board first ! 😄😄 ) Tony 😄😄

Hello Daily Friends , Martha and I are starting to get our land legs back and are slowly catching up with what is happening at home . We have enjoyed our cruise on the Oosterdam very much in company of our very good friends Ann and Pat after we reached Barcelona and with another number of wonderful new CC cruise friends from Canada and the US I hope to show a few nice pictures over time from this cruise . Too bad we missed a number of Ports that we had been looking forward to due to a couple of large storms in the Mediterranean and also on the Atlantis Ocean . The crew on the Oosterdam was fantastic , we had a number of crew friends on board that we met over the years that we have cruised with Holland America as long ago as when we cruised on the Prinsendam, the Zaandam and the Eurodam on one of her first cruises in 2009. I am very late today showing a few pictures of Argostoli because Sailing Dutchy had to watch the Flying Dutchman Max Verstappen last night win the Las Vegas Grand Prix until 3:30 in the morning , yes there was of coarse an amazing lot of show coming from Las Vegas but there was also very good sport during the race and our guy won again! Just quickly a few of our pictures from when we were in Argostoli in October of 2022 when the port was a last minute replacement due to the weather and we could not land in Mykonos. Martha stayed on board while I went out to explore a little of the town Martha was all rested up when I arrived back on board and she took me to the Pinnacle ……….! Good to be back catching up with the Daily and slowly getting ready for Christmas and our next cruise in January . ( there is going to be frost tonight ……but the sun is still shining ! ) Tony 😄😄

While on the Oosterdam we had the "New" form of the Lincoln Center a travelling quintet going from ship to ship, ( piano , cello , violin , classic and electric guitar and flute / clarinet / sax player ) that performed for us on the main stage for a couple of nights and because we had rough weather and missed some ports they also treated us to 3 afternoon performances in the usual Lincoln Center corner , on deck 2 with 2 or 3 of these 5 players. They played new programs specially arranged and adapted for these 5 instruments , they were excellent and received standing ovations from a full house . We were told that 34 different compositions from the old classical pieces up to the more modern compositions have been studied in so far for these special HAL Lincoln Center concerts . We hope that there are a number of these groups doing the rounds on the 9 HAL ships so we finally get some more impressive entertainment at night ! Tony😄

Father , just leave the hotel when you are ready at about 11:00 or say 11:15 and go to the port and embark , nobody will stop you and you will be on board ship before you know it . We have done that ever since they started giving us specific boarding times and never had any problems. Enjoy your cruise !

Good morning all and thank you for the Daily , we are waiting for our dear friends to come on board …………..

@0106 we have already done a dozen days on the Oosterdam , she is in fine shape for an older ship , captain RENs van Eerten is very funny and the crew is excellent . The brand new library is due to get opened up tomorrow , the room itself is a little smaller than the library on the Rotterdam but there are lots of brand new books being placed on the shelves . They also changed the captains corner of the crows nest , with lots of tables and chairs , I believe to be able to have the painting classes . Hope they do not disturb us with the loud video commentary for that class while we are relaxing or doing our puzzles in the crows nest . BTW , Holland seems to have banned all jigsaw puzzles other than the one brand I do not really like to work on . I also noticed that tonight’s entertainment on the main stage has Lincoln Center Presents “seasons” but will have to go there first before I can comment on that . We are missing of coarse the Grand Dutch Cafe and the Tamarind . So far there have not been any special dinners other than a nice Seafood Boil in the Lido Tony

Wow , thank you Rich for putting me on the Front page , we are just relaxing on board the Oosterdam in Livorno and taking it easy after a wonderful day yesterday in Civitavecchia . We had a lovely tour in the morning with one other couple and our guide Rudolf and at 12:30 went to his nice medieval town of Vitrella where we met up with his wife Susanna who had another tour group , we have toured with Susanna previously for about five times and it was a nice surprise to meet up with her again . After a welcoming glass of sparkling wine our two hosts had arranged a private concert in an old Palacio with a wonderful soprano accompanied by maestro Luigi on piano , she moved us to tears with a few wonderful Puccini arias and some Neapolitan popular songs .A wonderful concert we will not easily forget and it was well received by a standing ovation . We than were seated in the next room on a large decorated table where we had a delicious four coarse lunch prepared by a couple of ladies from the village with our hosts and the opera company members. For the last few years we have always looked forward to land in Civitavecchia and visit our good friends and wonderful guides to go out into the country and experience life with the locals in some amazing places . Will show some pictures next time when Destination of the Day is Civitavecchia again . have a wonderful weekend everybody . Tony 😍

A day late but Martha and I wish you for the coming year another wonderful ride around the sun . Our very best wishes ! We missed out today visiting Kotor , Montenegro due to heavy wind blasts and rain so the captain is taking it easy now getting to Naples and promised us to circle Stromboli tomorrow but doubt very much there will be anything to see this time . We will be trying the Special Seafood Boil dinner in the Lido tonight ……… Take care everybody greetings from the Oosterdam Tony

Finally been able to read the Daily News again after purchasing the wifi , did not know how much the price had increased for that even for a 5* Mariner ………$250 for about 23 days ? Thank you everybody for the good wishes for us traveling to Europe . Our flight was great direct from Toronto to Athens and DW and I had each 4 seats available because the plane only had 68 people on board less than 25 % occupancy . Weather is great and we are steaming right now towards Kotor , Montenegro after a couple of nice days in Greece and Turkey . Found a few CC active readers and lurkers to fill Tony’s Tours ! Greetings and Best Wishes Tony

Yes we always do Ann ...........what post are we on now ?

Seems to me you are right awake now Ann , glad somebody is keeping eye on things ! Almost ready to start driving to TO airport ..............See you in Barcelona ! Tony 😄

A big Thank You to all the contributors of the “ Fleet Report and Daily “ , I should be doing other things but have to look up some nice pictures of Victoria , British Columbia the home of our dear friends Ann and Pat @Vict0riann First a few pics from 2017 when we were on the Zaandam from Santiago to Vancouver where our friends disembarked of coarse so they did not have to take the ferry back and they invited us to their home and also for a wonderful dinner at the “club “ in the yacht harbour . And now a few pictures from 2007 when we did a Alaska cruise on the Zaandam ( yes she is getting old ) and took the ferry after the cruise to visit the amazing Butchard Gardens . Wow ………..who are those young people ……... Back to rearrange my suitcase ….. Thank you all for the Bon Voyage , looking forward to be on the Oosterdam again and the Mediterranean . We'll meet you in Barcelona Ann and Pat ! Have a wonderful weekend everybody ! Tony 😍😍