Live from ms Zuiderdam (12/13-23 - Panama Canal)

I am going to make an effort to keep up a running journal of our adventures on the ms Zuiderdam (December 13-23 Panama Canal). I will do my best to answer questions or find out information for people if I can. However, due to limited Internet minutes, I don't expect to be on long each day and am unlikely to plow through a lot of posts here. So, the easiest way to contact me is: cruise AT eisinger DOT net.

Pre-Cruise:

We flew from D.C. to Tampa on Friday afternoon. The flight was smooth and reasonably short, and we were happy to arrive in the warmth of Florida. Except that it was a little chilly and a little rainy. No matter, it was certainly not in the 30s, which is what we left. We picked up our rental car and headed to Total Wine. There we picked up a bottle of Merlot and some splits of Asti for Becca for the cruise and a bottle of Pinot Noir for the Cabin Crawl. Next stop, Cracker Barrel. We got lots-o-food, complete with sufficient leftovers for Saturday at lunch. We then headed down to Venice and Becca's grandmother's house. We stopped at a Publix and a Walgreens and picked up some additional necessaries before arriving at Grandma's around 9:15.

On Saturday we went out and picked up some additional supplies and breakfast and then went to see Disney's Princess and the Frog. It was an interesting mix of several animation styles, but perhaps they should have stuck to just a couple. Not the best movie ever, but it was the only one that would fit into our schedule. We went back and had our leftovers for lunch and then had a relaxing day of visitors. We went to bed around 10:30. Of special note, both Becca and I got colds from our 16-month old son, and had rather sore backs/necks at the start of our vacation. Fortunately, we had gone to the chiropractor before leaving and advil and a heating pad were sufficient to fix the back and neck problems. The colds, however, were a little more stubborn.

Day 1 - Embarkation:

We got up at 6:15, got showered, dressed, and packed and headed out at 7:45. We stopped first at a Wachovia ATM, where I got out some last-minute cash and forgot my ATM card. D'oh. Then we headed to the grocery store and got some final provisions before heading to Fort Lauderdale. It was about a 2:45 dirve from Venice to Fort Lauderdale. After spending about 20-30 minutes trying to locate a gas station, we eventually found gas and returned the rental car at FLL. We got a cab and headed to the Port, arriving at 11:30 and got in line. Cab cost $14.90 due to some traffic, and took about 10 minutes to get to the Port.

The outside line moved pretty quickly and we got into the cool A/C. We checked in and were told to wait until our boarding number (16) was called. We sat down and someone came by and announced that numbers 1-11 should be boarding. Then, another employee came by and took our tickets and said that we could just board. So we went over to the boarding area and the guy there said that we had to wait and that no one should have taken our tickets. So we pointed out the guy who had taken our tickets and he went over to talk to him. Meanwhile, we went over to the lady who was at the top of the ramp and explained that soemone had already taken our tickets and she let us go onboard. So we were on the ship by 12:15 and went up to the Lido restaurant and grabbed some food. We had some pizza, roast beef, roast potatoes, and some chocolate moose for dessert.

Next we toured the Spa, put in our raffle tickets, and Becca signed up for a few spa treatments. Then we headed up to the Lido pool and sat in the shade awaiting our cabin. At around 2:15 the announcement came and we headed down to check out our room. We dropped off our carry-ons, checked out the balcony, and replaced the minifridge contents with the wine and Asti we picked up at Total Wine. I also called Wachovia to get a replacement ATM card. Then we headed out to check out the ship. We checked out the first through third decks. There are christmas trees and decorations about the ship and a menorah on at the Front Desk. There was not much of a line at the Front Desk, so we stopped and asked about the 'gifts' our travel agent had sent. They confirmed the ship-board credit and said to call te Front Desk if the rest was not delivered to our room. We headed up to the Crow's Nest and checked out the DVD library and wrote down some movies we were interested in renting.

At 4:15 p.m. we headed down to the lifeboat drill. You no longer have to bring your life jacket with you, which I think is a mistake. People should know how to put their life jackets on, because they have put them on before. In an emergency, there might not be enough time to re-explain it to everyone. We were on the sunny side of the ship, so we had the sun and the sun's reflection bouncing off the water into our faces.

Fortunately, the drill did not last too long, so we were soon on our way back to the Explorer's Lounge in the Crow's Nest. We went through the remainder of the DVDs and then sat in the Captain's chairs in the front of the Crow's Nest looking out on the harbor. Becca got a gin and tonic and we hung out there until the ship departed. The Westerdam left a few minutes before we left (at 5:40). Once out of the harbor, we headed down to our cabin.

Our discount booklets and free photo certificate were waiting for us, but no sign of the chocolate-covered strawberries. I figured we would wait to see if they arrived after dinner, otherwise we would check with the Front Desk in the morning. We unpacked our luggage, which had arrived, and got ready for dinner. As we were leaving for dinner I noticed that our daily program for the following day had arrived.

We were doing the Open Dining, which would enable us to eat when we felt like it. We got to the dining room at 6:30 and there were 6 people ahead of us. Within two minutes were seated at a table for ten. Shortly therafter, the rest of the table was filled. The dining room is fairly noisy, so it was not easy to converse with people on the other side of the table. Becca and I chatted with a couple from Texas (sitting next to her), who were quite pleasant. Becca had the antipasto and I had the fruit medley. Mine was really good, Becca's was acceptable. Becca had the tomato soup and Yucatan salad, and I had the Prime Rib. Becca's soup and salad and my Prime Rib were all excellent. For dessert, Becca had the coffee cheesecake and I had pralines and cream ice cream. Yummmm!!

Dinner took about two hours, one of the down sides to a large table. After dinner we headed up to the Crow's Nest and rented Run Fatboy Run for $3, which we saw originally in the theater. We also checked on the Internet access situation. You simply connect and select a plan, much like at hotels. I gave them my coupon from the complimentary discount book we got from our travel agent. We went back to the room and saw that the room steward had not turned down our room yet. The Stewards stopped by (Gaga and Dee) while we were watching Run Fatboy Run and dropped off the chocolates and breakfast room service menu. We placed our breakfast order before going to bed around 10:30.

OK so far only one question... What Raffle Tickets??

Seriously though, I love the Live from ongoing reviews as they happen!!

Thank you so much for doig this!! And do not forget the photos!

Actually I do have 2 more questions... Where is the baby?? And finally, how are the colds doing??

Joanie

Wow! Someone live from Zuiderdam on the exact cruise we're taking this same week next year, December 13, 2010. You did not mention your cabin number. Would appreciate any info about that, as we are booked in I category while our son & his friend are in an MM (both inside).

So looking forward to more posts. Thanks for taking the time to write. Have a wonderful cruise. We are freezing here in Newport News, VA and are so envious. All day today I kept thinking how much fun you must be having on beautiful HMC.

Joanie

Raffle tickets for the spa are sometimes given out in the cruise terminal. They are also given out when you show up to do the gym/spa tours.

OP

Interesting -- we cruised on the Zuiderdam Oct 24th and Nov 3 -- we had to wear our lifejackets to lifeboat drill.

Looking forward to following your "Live" report.

Joanie

 

Raffle tickets for the spa are sometimes given out in the cruise terminal. They are also given out when you show up to do the gym/spa tours.

Thank you for that clarification!! The OP's mention of it was the first I'd heard about a Raffle so...

Joanie

Day 2 - Half Moon Cay:

I am happy to report that the AC worked fine in our room. The bed and pillows are very comfortable. I woke up around 4:30 and due to still having a cold, had problems getting back to sleep. Also, the ship was rocking quite a bit. So I walked out on the balcony for a while. I saw a shooting star, part of the Geminids, and then came back inside. Becca was awake and we ended up sitting out on the balcony for almost an hour with our bathrobes on, watching the stars, sea, islands, and another shooting star. We came back in and took a brief nap before my alarm went off at 6:00. At 6:10, our room service arrived (6:00-6:30 window) and we ate breakfast on the balcony. We had cereal, fruit/melon, and english muffins. Everything was dandy, except the coffee, which Becca reported as horrible. C'est le vie.

After breakfast, we watched the beginning of Last Holiday (which we brought with us). The DVD player appears to have some issues. It tends to freeze when it reads the outside (beginning) of the disk. Once it gets a ways in, it is fine. It started to rain a little after breakfast, just as we were pulling in toward Half Moon Cay, but only for a few minutes. Becca took a shower and got ready for her hot-stone massage at 8:00. They announced the tenders were ready a little after 8:00. As I sat writing my journal, the chocolate-covered strawberries arrived. An excellent refreshment for Becca upon returning from spa treatment.

Becca returned around 9:30 and reported that she had an excellent hot-stone massage. We took showers and then headed off to do some reading. At around 11:30 we ate lunch in the Lido restaurant, excellent cookies, and then went ashore around 12:30. Tenders were leaving from the A deck, forward. We arrived just as a tender arrived, so as soon as everyone was off we were allowed on and headed in to shore. It took about 15-20 minutes in total to get to Half Moon Cay. We wandered about a bit, checked out the shops, and took some pictures. The weather had turned out well, mostly sunny with some little patchy clouds, about 80 degrees. Then we headed back and caught a tender. There were no real lines and we got right on and waited until the tender filled up and headed back.

After we got back we spent some additional time reading before going to the Putting Challenge in the Northern Lights at 3:00. They split us up into teams of 5-6 people. The people on each team would alternate and hit a golf ball onto a matt with a three by four grid of squares. If the ball landed in a square, the team would win that square and the first team to get three squares in a row would win. My team won, and Becca missed winning for her team by less than half an inch. I won a lovely Holland America luggage tag, which just goes to show that I am better or something.

Next we went to the Vista Lounge for $10,000 Snowball Bingo! Four games, and in the last game if anyone could fill out the whole sheet in 46 draws or less than they would win $10,000. No $10K winners, in fact, it took about 56 draws to get a winner (I was one ball away). The goal remains the same throughout the cruise, but the jackpot goes up by $10,000 each day. Next we headed up to the Crow's Nest for Team Trivia. We met Mary and J.C. from dinner and a couple of others and formed Team Nameless Ones. We ended up getting 13 out of 16+bonus. The winner got 16. Yow! Must have been on the last cruise or something.

After team trivia we headed back to our room and hung out on the balcony for a while and then watched the rest of Last Holiday. We headed down for dinner at 7:00. This turned out to be less than ideal. There were a lot of people there and after a couple of minutes we got to the front of the line and were told that a table of two would be 45 minutes and any other table about 30 minutes. We provided our room number and were told that if we left and came back in 45 minutes we could get a table for 2. So we left.

Becca went back to the room, while I went to check out the casino for our slot pull on the morrow. I figured out the none-too-complex room card put money in, take money out system. In all, I put $50 into the machine and got $60 out, so that all worked to plan. I guess I should have planned to take a lot more out. I returned to the room and read for a little while and then we headed back down to the dining room. We arrived at 7:45 and the lines were even worse. It took about 12 minutes to get to the front of the line. Once there, we were sent to the upper dining room to a table for two.

Becca had the Layered Vegetable Terrine (which turned out to be mostly mushrooms in a disgusting-looking gel), Curried Butternut Squash Soup, and Tortellini with Sun Dried Tomatoes. The terrine, not extra special, the rest, quite good. I was expecting day 2 of the menu I had gotten online, rather than day 3, so I panicked and went with the old standby, Broiled New York Strip Steak. It was most excellent. For dessert, I had the vanilla ice cream and Becca had the coffee eclair. Yummm.

We finished dinner at 9:05, so it was roughtly the same as if we had gotten stuck at a table for 10 at 7:00, except that we only had to endure the seemingly endless chatter from other tables and not from our own. Due to our colds, I could barely talk and Becca was having problems seeing with her left eye. So we passed the time by miming snarky comments.

After dinner we headed to the Queen's Lounge for Name that 70s tune. There were four contestants and the woman on the end had about 200 points more than the three guys combined. It was fairly amusing and went until around 9:30. After the show we got free entries to tomorrow's Snowball Bingo from DJ Mark (who had run both the putting and the Bingo). After that we headed back to our room, which was turned down. We had a notice to turn our clocks ahead one hour and our towel was in the shape of a piece of roadkill, or perhaps it was a stingray. Difficult to tell.

- - - - -

My son is staying with my sister, we pick him up when we go there for Christmas on the 24th. They are in Richmond, 2 hours from D.C. The cats are with my inlaws, we pick them up over New Years.

Room 4149 (Category VD - I was never so happy to have VD!)

Raffle tickets for $500 of spa treatments, given out when you take a tour of the spa day one.

Colds are still going strong!

- Ike

We are very happy with your reviews! Keep them coming. We will be on the Zuidy on Jan 2nd. We are on a VD so it's good to know that they are OK. Have fun!!:):)

I hope your Gaga is not the same steward I had on the Prinsendam last year. He was the worst steward I've ever had. My room was never made up till late afternoon (forget evening service). Worst was when he left my neighbor's cabin open and unattended for over an hour after some kind of spill left a large stain on the carpet.

Day 2 - Half Moon Cay:

 

 

My son is staying with my sister, we pick him up when we go there for Christmas on the 24th. They are in Richmond, 2 hours from D.C. The cats are with my inlaws, we pick them up over New Years.

 

 

Hey, we're one hour from Richmond, heading east!

I'm really enjoying your review as well! We are on the Z on Jan 2 and I am practically addicted to CC and all the info! I should be doing Christmas Cards and baking these evenings but I can't seem to leave the computer chair!! Ha Ha! You are a great writer!

:cool:Hi-What a great report. We'll be doing this cruise Feb.21 and feel we're on the ship with you. Looking forward to your Panama report. Thanks for taking the time to do this. You are a great reporter.Nana Vegas

Day 3 - First Sea Day:

We had a good night's sleep. I woke up at (adjusted time) 5:15 and spent some time unclogging my nose, I'll spare everyone the gory details. I managed to get back to sleep until 7:00, when my alarm went off. Five minutes later, room service arrived (7:00-7:30). We had eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns, melon, and juice. Becca decided to skip the 'coffee' this morning. Maybe it will be good after we go to Costa Rica? Probably not. Becca used some of her Asti to make a mimosa. Much better.

It was really pleasant eating on the balcony. The temperature was good, only a few clouds, mostly on the horizon, we could see Cuba in the distance, and the sun was just coming up on the other side of the ship, making the clouds pink. Or as Homer (Iliad/Odyssey) would say [repeatedly], "Dawn with her rose red fingers." The ship was not rocking nearly as much as the prior morning.

After breakfast we went down to the Promenade Deck and I went running while Becca went walking. There were about a dozen other people walking, so not too crowded. The sun was on the port side, and a bit forward, so we were never heading into the sun, which was nice. The temperature was excellent for outdoor exercise, and I felt really good. Afterwards, we headed back to the cabin and relaxed, waiting for 10:00 when the doctor was available. Becca's left eye was a bit swollen, and we were concerned that her cold, which appeared to have traveled to her eye (thanks son!) may be causing a secondary bacterial infection.

At 10:30 we went down to the doctor's office on A deck. They determined that Becca had pink eye and decided that they would have to amputate Becca's eyes in order to save everyone else on the ship. Well, actually, they just gave her some antibiotic eye drops. The same type we had to give our son. Our son was not a big fan and neither is Becca. Personally, I don't see the problem. You don't hear me whining about the drops stinging. But perhaps that is because I could barely talk. At least my voice was not cracking anymore, but it was not in good shape.

After applying said eye drops, we headed up to the Crow's Nest and did some reading. We also completed the daily quiz, which involved bones. We had checked the lunch menu at the Vista Dining Room and found it wanting, so we went to the Lido instead. I had lamb and roast potatoes (and of course cookies), and Becca had vegetable samosa, derby soup, veggies, and braised beef (and sugar-free vanilla pudding). Everything was yummy. As we were eating, the ship was passing to the south of Haiti. We saw quite a few small boats on the far side of the ship from the island. They appeared to be fishing vessels with 1-3 people in them. Our wake was often much taller than the boats. I took some pictures of them from our cabin.

Next stop was the casino to verify the operation of the slot machines in advance of the slot pull. After that, we headed up to the Crow's Nest for our CC M+G. There were about 15-20 CC-ers and three ship's officers (Beverages, Customer Relations, and Social). Becca and I got to talking to the Customer Relations director (Robin) who informed us about the identity of the island we were passing and noted that the ship had to slow down because of the fishermen, who could not move out of the way fast enough. We chatted for a little while with Janet (Pudding 1 . . . or was it Pudding 2?). We also discovered that Cruisinetta was the one wiping the floor with the gentlemen at the Northern Lights the previous evening at Name that 70's tune. My wife recognized her immediately. Thanks to Cruisinetta for putting the M+G together!

We chatted with Rodger (Rodger24X7), Barb (SuitePrincess), and Bob and Emily (clampram), and decided to do a mini cabin crawl. Bob and Emily upsold to Rodger and Barb's Aft SC after Rodger and Barb upsold to the penthouse. So we saw those two suites and we showed off our VD. Let me tell you, they were pretty impressed with my VD. Suite privileges are nice, but until you experience the intimacy of a cabin like ours it is tough going back to your whirlpool, fresh flowers, and personalized service.

At 2:00 I got to the casino for the slot pull. We each put $15 into a lovely Wheel of Fortune $1 machine and took 5 pulls with maximum coins ($3) on each pull. I started off and won a total of $18 with my $15. It went downhill from there. We won a total of $36, which we split $7 each and used a single pull for $1 to lose the final credit. On the plus side, after everyone left I put $15 in the other Wheel of Fortune machine and won $100 on the first pull, which worked for me.

I headed back to the room, picked up Becca, and we headed to the Crow's Nest for Team Trivia. We met up with Mary and J.C. and managed to get six of the sixteen available points. The questions were not really in our main areas of knowledge. The winning team only got 10 right, so apparently no one really liked the questions. After trivia, Becca headed back to the room to put a hot compress on her eyes and relax, while I went to check on the morning's daily quiz answers and make use of the lovely $20,000 snowball bingo tickets we got the previous night. Sadly, as evidenced by the fact that I am writing this rather than bathing in a tub of cash, I didn't win.

After bingo, we headed up to the penthouse for a non-Formal dinner with Rodger, Barb, Bob, and Emily. They had many excellent boxes of wine, hors d'oeuvres, and more room than our first apartment. We had an excellent dinner (day2 menu) in their dinning room and I made excellent use of their guest bathroom. We left around 8:00 so that Becca could inflict additional eye drops on herself and I could rest my poor vocal chords.

Just before 9:00 we headed over to the Northern Lights for more free Bingo tickets and Name that 70s Song contest. We met up with the Pudding clan, and we ended up joining up with one of their two teams (Trans-Pond Puddings). We got 14 out of 15 right but missed the bonus song. The other Pudding team (Disco Ducks) ended up in a three-way tie for first and won the tie-breaker and two bottles of champagne.

We headed back to our room, where we found our towel folded into a monkey. We stuffed all of our dirty clothes into our laundry sack, placed our breakfast order, and watched the beginning of The Ref (another holiday film we brought) while I worked on my journal. We went to bed around 11:00.

- - - - -

drtee: I think it probably is. Not stellar service, but we don't require so very much. :rolleyes:

- Ike

OP

 

Interesting -- we cruised on the Zuiderdam Oct 24th and Nov 3 -- we had to wear our lifejackets to lifeboat drill.

 

Looking forward to following your "Live" report.

KK - we had to wear them for the 11/23 sailing too.

This is great, thank you so much!! Hard to wait for day 4:)

Joanie

Thanks so much for taking time away from your cruise to post. I don't know that I would be this generous with my time. So thank you, thank you.

I'm really enjoying your review as well! We are on the Z on Jan 2 and I am practically addicted to CC and all the info! I should be doing Christmas Cards and baking these evenings but I can't seem to leave the computer chair!! Ha Ha! You are a great writer!

I'm going 1/12 and am also addicted.

Thanks for sharing.

We were on this cruise last week (Dec. 3-13). Tell the casino dealers Sheila says hi. It is fun reading your review. We were in 7082--deluxe suite. I don't know that I thought the upgrades were worth it. I'd probably go for a veranda room to save $$. We did the "Canal Experience" in Panama and the Tortugeous Canal boats in Costa Rica--really enjoyed both of them. Have fun--I still feel like I am on the ship, dizzy and swaying!

Hey Ike,

I'm really enjoying your report. We'll be just two doors aft of your cabin in March. How do you like your location?

Thanks,

Ward

Day 4 - Aruba:

I woke up at 6:30 and spent some time coughing and blowing my nose. My cold seems to be getting better and I am hopeful that it will be mostly gone by the time we reach Curacao tomorrow. It appeared that the sun was contemplating rising as well, but from the other side of the ship, so I wandered out with my camera in hopes of capturing this elusive beast. I got some nice pictures of the ship, including holiday decorations, but the sun was coming up behind a rather large cloud bank and once again eluded my photographic grasp.

I returned to the room, where Becca was just waking up. She put on a hot compress after announcing that her eyes were not crusted shut. Always a good sign! Breakfast arrived at 8:15 (8:00-8:30). I had cereal and a bagel, and Becca had eggs and a bagel. Becca went with tea that we purloined from the penthouse. Actually, Rodger offered us some packets, but purloined is a better verb. The tea was good, certainly as compared to the coffee.

After breakfast we went up to the hot tubs in the covered section of the Lido pool. The water was warm, but not hot, and the jets were cold. It was still pleasant. On our way back to the room, we stopped at the dinner reservations station outside of the Lido restaurant but were told that there were no tables for two or four available. Given my limited ability to speak, this seemed sub-optimal. So we figured that we would just take our luck and show up.

We showered and headed up to the Crow's Nest for Team Trivia. Unfortunately, due to someone who shall remain nameless (me), we were about 5 minutes late and they had already started. We looked around for Mary and J.C., but they were not there. So we headed down to the Explorer Lounge for a while and read. At 10:40 we went to the Vista Lounge and used our free bingo cards from the night before.

We dropped off our stuff in the room, which had been made up, and found that we had a message from Rodger and Barb. They had offered use of their Early Fixed Seating table for two if they were not using it. The message was that they were eating at the Pinnacle Grill and to call if we wanted their table. I called back and indicated that their table would be much appreciated. Next, we headed up to the Lido for lunch. One interesting phenomena of note, Bob and Emily had mentioned that when they ate one of the pieces of fruit in their room, the following day two pieces replaced it. To test this, I had eaten a banana the previous day and sure enough, two appeared as if by magic to replace it. I was not sure that I wanted to allow the fruit to reproduce out of control, so I did not eat anymore, just in case.

The Lido lunch was good, as always. I had fish and chips (and, you guessed it, cookies!) but I have no idea what Becca had as she finished it while I was waiting for my Fish and Chips. We saw Mary and J.C. at lunch and they had mistakenly showed up at 10:30 rather than 10:00 for team trivia. D'oh! We arrived in Aruba during lunch. We went back to our cabin and got our stuff ready and went ashore.

We got a taxi and had him take us to a liquor store, a pharmacy, Eagle Beach, and the Hard Rock Cafe. We went first to a supermarket and picked up half of the items on our liquor list at a decent price. At the pharmacy we picked up some cough syrup. At Eagle Beach we took a few pictures of the iconic tree by the water, including a picture for our first trip postcard. At the Hard Rock I got a t-shirt, but they did not have the shirt Becca wanted in her size. We got back to the dock exactly an hour later.

We reboarded the ship and dropped off our purchases in our room. We also found a note from Rodger and Barb that we could take to the dining room in order to make use of their table. We made it to the Queen's Lounge just in time to catch the 2:30 showing of Up, which we had seen in the theater. When we got back from the movie I edited one of the pictures of us next to the tree and added some text and we sent off our postcards. Then we got ready for dinner.

We arrived at 5:25 and waited in line for the doors to open. We got to our table and explained to Faizel, the waiter, that Rodger and Barb had given us use of their table and showed him the note. We had a very nice dinner. We were on day4 of the menu, as we were supposed to be, so perhaps they just mixed up days 2 and 3? Only time will tell. I had the Braised Beef Pot Roast, and Becca had the Rustic Home-made Lasagna, as well as a few starters. Dinner took a little over an hour.

After dinner I headed back ashore to take a few night photographs while Becca stayed in the cabin and read her book. It took me about 30 minutes to get a few nice pictures and then I came back. We watched the end of the Ref and then I worked on my journal. I went to bed around 10:10. Big day tomorrow!

- - - - -

Half Hitch: So far our location has been great. I like Level 4 because it comes out farther than the others and is close to all of the stuff on decks 2-3. We usually take the elevators if we are heading up to the Crow's Nest or Lido, otherwise it is all stairs.

- Ike

Hi Ike- I'm curious about the evening entertainment-you don't mention it at all. Do you not go to the nightclub? Have you heard anything about any of the shows. Thanks again for your posts.

Conjunctivitis in the hot tub. Great.

Day 5 - Curacao:

I woke up around 5:30 and my nose was not already stuffed up, which seemed promising. This was especially true as we had run out of tissues in the bathroom . . . again. Man, Holland America is making nothing on us with all of their tissue expenditures! When I went to the bathroom, I discovered another box of tissues on the shelf below the sink, so I broke open box number 3! Room service arrived at 6:20 (6:00-6:30), but with a different waiter. We had breakfast in bed, as it was still pretty dark outside. I had cereal and toast, Becca had cereal and yogurt. She went with the tea again, using additional purloined packets.

After breakfast I went for a run while Becca took a shower. My legs did not feel too good, and I did not want to push them as I was planning to do a lot of water treading during the afternoon's Dolphin Swim, so I did not run far at all. We were just pulling into Willemstad as I got back to the room, so I took a few harbor pictures. I saw the pontoon bridge, which was opened to let us through, and the pretty, pastel-colored shops along the waterfront. Down a side canal was the floating market, which seems to be about as much a 'floating' market as riverboat casinos are 'riverboats.'

I was in Curacao for a total solar eclipse about 13 years ago, but I do not really remember Willemstad. I do, however, remember the oil refineries right outside of town. Lovely! At 7:45, Becca headed up to the Spa for her 8:00 facial. I decided that it would be very nice of me to take a shower, which is what I did after working on my journal.

Becca returned around 9:30, all pampered. We disembarked and headed into town to see if we could locate the remaining alcoholic items on our shopping list. We crossed the pontoon bridge and wandered through the shops on the other side. People must buy a lot of jewelry when they are on cruises, because there were a ton of jewelry stores. We only found a couple of stores that sold alcohol but fortunately the first one had a good price on our sole remaining item, so all was good.

We also stopped in a pastechi shop . . . cleverly named Pastechi House. Becca had a couple of pastechi and I had a chocolate milk shake. Mmmmmm. The pastechi were little folded-over pasteries with filling, like cheese, pizza, ham and cheese, salmon, etc. It was clear that this was going to be a good shop because it had the word Pastechi on the sign, as well as a picture of a pastechi with a smile on it! I also got a disposable underwater camera for taking pictures during the dolphin swim. We took some pictures of the town and then headed back to the ship.

We went back to our room and dropped off our stuff and then headed up to the Lido at 11:30 for lunch. I had some pork, rotisserie chicken, and roast potatoes. Becca had some pizza. All was good. The dessert was a bit of a disappointment. I took some chocolate cake, which turned out to be black forest cake. Ewwww. And Becca tried a couple of different puddings which turned out to be sub-standard. Fortunately, I had cookies as a backup. After lunch we returned to our room, which was being made up. We waited about 5 minutes and they finished it up. We also got our laundry back from the day before.

Becca took a nap while I worked on my journal. At 1:00 we headed out to catch a taxi to the aquarium. We got a taxi right at the end of the peir and it took 15 minutes, and $20, to get to the aquarium. We checked in and looked around the shops. Becca found a stuffed-animal dolphin magnet, to add to her collection of travel magnets, and we found a little stuffed-animal dolphin that had good heft for our son. This is because we show our love for our son by purchasing stuffed animals for him, while he shows his love for us by giving us his cold before we go on vacation.

At 2:15 we headed in for our briefing, in which they explained how to interact with the dolphins, and how not to interact with the dolphins. Then, one of the trainers came in and explained things. Next, we went outside and put on our flippers, split into groups of 6, and entered the water. We swam over to where the trainer was sitting with the dolphins and she would tell us what to do and we would do it, and the dolphins would do their thing. We shook flippers, received a kiss, had them sing, spin, and splash us, we swam with them, petted them, and rode on their dorsal fins. We had a really good time.

When we were done, we watched a short bit about saving the oceans, and then changed out of our swimsuits. We checked out the video of our swim, but did not feel inclined to buy it. It was 3:30, so we only had an hour to get back. So we purchased the two items we had picked out earlier and then caught a cab back to the ship. We arrived back at 3:50 and re-boarded the Zuiderdam. When we got to our cabin, we found that the divider on our balcony was open and would not remain closed, so we called the front desk. We also had a message from Rodger inviting us to the sequel to not-so-Formal night dinner in the penthouse. I left a message back accepting said invitation.

We decided to go to the hot tubs before team trivia, so we changed back into our bathing suits, which were still wet, ewwwwww. We got up to the pool and all of the hot tubs were in use. So we decided to eat at the Terrace Grill, from which we both got cheeseburgers and fries. They were out of lemonade in the Lido, for shame, so I had water and Becca had iced tea. I went in search of dessert and left Becca with instructions to occupy any hot tub that happened to become available in my absence. I got a few cookies and a piece of berry pie and returned to find that Becca had secured us a hot tub. It was quite a bit warmer than last time. I assume that it takes them a bit of time to warm up and we got there just as they were opening last time.

We enjoyed our soak and dessert and headed back down to change in time for Team Trivia. We got to the Crow's Nest on time this time and formed an impromptu trivia team, aptly named Trivia Challenged. These questions were much better and we got 14 out of 17 (+ bonus). Sadly, two teams got 15 and they duked it out for towels and a Dam shirt. We headed back to our room, where I worked on my journal. A pair of repair people came by to fix the divider on our balcony. However, it was a problem with the lock, so they had to notify the locksmith.

At 6:40 we headed to the Screening Room for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (#6), which we had also seen in the theater upon its original release. It was fortunate that we got there when we did as it is not a large room and it ended up completely full. They had popcorn and Becca went to the Ocean Bar and picked up some water for me and some Sprite for herself. The movie was good, although it was difficult to see some of the darker portions due to light from the emergency exit sign and doorway.

After the movie we headed up to the Sports deck in the hopes of seeing some stars. However, because the wind was behind us, the smoke form the ship was blowing ahead of the ship. In addition, there were a fair number of lights on up there, so it was hard to see. On the way back to the cabin we stopped in the Lido and grabbed some ice cream and other desserts. Yumm.

We returned to our cabin to find our towel in the shape of a mollusk of some kind. We placed our breakfast order and went to bed around 10:50.

- - - - -

Nana Vegas - We are not big on nighttime entertainment I'm afraid, so I don't really have any first-hand knowledge other than the name-that-tune shows.

drtree - Becca was on antibiotics for 24 hours prior to going in the hottub and thus not contagious.

- Ike

IkeEsq... We really appreciate the details, but how in the world do you find time to attend EVERY activity on the ship (if you can keep track of them with that confusing Daily Program) and STILL find time to write a lengthy daily review? Do you sleep?

Zuiderdam is my favorite ship, and I'd love to be in your deck shoes right now (but without the pinkeye).