Westerdam Panama Canal April 15, 2011

[bcirish]

Early retirement is a definite plus!! My goodness you must rank the air miles with all the travel you are doing - I know it sounds like great fun when in actuality it can get very tedious.

I have heard that the balloon thing is quite an experience in more than one way:)

Used to have family up around Saginaw- still have some around Grand Rapids.

HOw is DC right now? WE are headed to VA in May for a family event and then up to DC for a few days - we go a couple times a year and hang out for a few days- never get tired of the area and then possibly over to AC before heading home.

For now will keep all as posted earlier and then do periodic updates as we go along.

 

Our roll call for Feb on Celebrity is really active- quite a group- have cruised with several of them this winter and they post often - am looking forward to that trip too although that is more for the people than the ports. This cruise will be very interesting with lots of new ports for us and we love the longer cruises

later

[NoWhiners]

bc

 

I hate to fly. it was never fun but since 9/11 it is totally stupid (did I mention I design and analyze security systems!!). DC is really perfect right now--supposed to be low 70s tomorrow and Sunday, then rain Monday and Tuesday. I love rain--living in Albuquerque makes you a bit strange about rain. Cherry Blossom festival starts 3/27 thru 4/11 I think. Should be nice--I plan on going the first weekend.

 

Tomorrow may be Smithsonian--too many choices though. 8 months until I retire--need to find enough time at home to talk to financial planners!

 

I can't wait to go on this cruise--where is everyone? Seemed like they were selling cabins pretty fast a few weeks ago.

 

off to bed--very bad day and I want to put it behind me.

 

NoWhiners

[bcirish]

I was just looking at some photos of DC - looks like the mall is a bit crazy right now. I bet all that time on the road gets really tiresome. Hope Michigan warms up before you go there- our weather has be rather up and down- 50's this week but it is a warming trend so that is good.

 

Have you done many cruises? Many of our friends have cruised extensively but probably average 1-2 a year since retirement. One of our favorite land trips was the National Parks in Arizona Nevada and Utah a couple of years ago. I would love to drive back home after this cruise and see that area of the country. Not sure about that - will have to do some research in that area. We have taken the train from Seattle but am thinking I would like to drive this time.

Off to check email and go for a walk.

[NoWhiners]

bc

 

DC was looking pretty good until today--heavy rain. I love it, coming from Albuquerque where we don't get much heavy prolonged rain. Cherry Blossom Festival starts Saturday and I am looking forward to going down to the mall. Looks like it will work out despite the weird winter--cherry blossoms are blooming outside my hotel room window. Weather will get nice again tomorrow afternoon. Your post reminded me that we are going to Michigan in a few weeks and need to start checking weather. looking forward to it, but I sure miss the dogs. I will only be home with them 1 week out of the next 8! Then I hope it calms down. We have 3 camping trips scheduled and we take the dogs, so that might be my chance to make it up to them!!

 

Saw the presidential motorcade barreling down penn Ave on Saturday to get to the Capitol!!

 

off to check Michigan weather. Where is everyone?

[bcirish]

The good news is that the temps are cycling up although it is going to be rather chilly for a few days - we could be in the 70's in about 10 days but do not expect that to last. It is topping out in the 50's now which is better than a few weeks ago but I am ready for warmer weather. Which area are you headed to in Mi?

 

We avoid going that direction in the winter because of the snow belt around southern edge of Lake Michigan - we can have sunshine and they will have snow by the feet - not my kind of living conditions so trips into Michigan can be very weather related. I know that the UP has had a lot of snow this winter- saw something about that on the news recently. Our tulips are coming up and we have daffodils blooming in the yard so that is all a good sign.

[NoWhiners]

getting cold and rainy here again. I don't know what that does to the cherry blossoms. Almost 2 weeks down, 1 to go before I can go home. I can't wait.

 

Been reading about great upgrades for people on these boards (and price hikes!!).

 

tulips coming up means spring is here! right after we come back from Michigan, we will plant our garden! Well, maybe a week later but still should have lots of tomatoes, zukes, and eggplant!

 

off to bed now...

 

are we the only people on this cruise????

[bcirish]

I am beginning to think so but hey we are staying at the top and that is a good thing.

[NoWhiners]

thought I should post something so we can stay near the top and be visible. seems like by now< people should be signing up, given the wait times i had when I called TA!

 

4 days left in DC and I can go home. Tomorrow is Doug's birthday--i hid a present in the house for him. can't wait to send him an email tomorrow and tell him!!

 

No Whiners

[High Seas Texan]

Howdy! My partner and I just got off the Zaandam cruise to Hawaii and we have booked this cruise for next April. We have always wanted to go through the Panama Canal. There were good price options for booking our next cruise while still on board. Just over a year....not too long to plan for a trip of this lenght. So looking forward to sharing the adventure and planning with others doing the same. The Cruise Critics members we met on the Zaandam made thr trip so much more enjoyable! Cheers all!

George

[NoWhiners]

Hi George

 

 

Welcome to the roll call! Glad to see others are signing up. Now it won't just be me and bcirish going back and forth!

 

Sounds like there are 2 of you from Texas? can you provide the other name and maybe a city?

 

No Whiners

[High Seas Texan]

Howdy NoWhiners and bcirish. I am George and my partner is Rand. We live in Fort Worth, Texas. Rand is retired, but I still am working-in Dallas-so we often identify with Dallas as that is where we spend most of our time. I joke that we live in the suburbs. Chatting with the members of Curise Critics prior to our trip to Hawaii made it all the more fun and special-having people to share the excitement with as it builds closer to sailing time. It was exciting then to meet in person and put the faces with the names. We spent a good deal of time socializing together, which was nice. Although a year from April can seem like a long time off, when it comes down to the actual planning of an extended trip of this nature, it is really not that long to wait. With the Hawaii cruise under our belt now we will be a bit more prepared to plan and arrange for the Panama Canal adventure. I understand from the consultant on board the Zaandam that this will be one of the last cruises through the original Panama Canal. IT seems they are building a new one and will then close this one down for repairs and updates, eventually re-opening it. I am excited we will be going through the original with the 1914 equipment. Oh dear, I seem to be rambling on-forgive. Looking forward to more exchanges.

 

Cheers,

George

[bcirish]

Welcome George and Rand! We are glad to have you join us on our roll call. I will add your names to the list. I was not aware of the info on the canal - makes this trip even more special. Ed and I like the longer cruises and are looking forward to his one. I know what you mean about the boards. We had a great group on our January board - in fact a number of us have booked another cruise for next year together since we had such a good time. We were on the Westerdam - she a favorite ship of ours and we look forward to being on her again.

 

Our winter cruisers this year got together before the cruise and during the cruise including a wine crawl at the beginning of the cruise and another to finish off our wine at the end of the cruise. It was great fun.

 

I guess that is one reason I like Holland America - they are much more civilized about what you bring aboard with you. I imagine we will be bringing another case of wine a couple cases of soda and maybe even a case of water this time- we use it in our room. I get excited just thinking about it even though it is still more than a year away.

Again welcome to our group and look forward to getting to know you on this roll call!

 

BTW we live outside of Chicago but find it easier to just call it Chicago on this board.

[High Seas Texan]

Wine Crawl! Now that sounds fun....perhaps some nibbles added as well! Rand and I had a couple of parties in our cabin on the last cruise. We look forward to sharing the planning process with everyone. Thanks for the welcome!

Cheers,

George

[NoWhiners]

We will be bringing a lot of wine onboard, so the wine crawl is a great idea!! Doug's cousins like to drink wine, so we will buy a bunch to have before and after dinner. they have a verandah cabin and we don't, so that will give us an excuse to go and visit them in theirs!!

 

A year is a long time, but George is right--it will go by fast. Anyone thinking about excursions yet/ We know we wan to do some but no agreement on which ones yet. We are off to Michigan to visit with Carol and John in 2 weeks and this will be a major topic!

 

George--do you and Rand have a cabin assigned yet? We did a guarantee but will be on upper promenade deck at least.

 

Tomorrow is my last day in DC--get to go home on Friday. I didn't even realize it was Easter until late last week!!

 

I'll be back in 2 weeks, then again first week in May but others will be with me, so it will be more fun.

 

No Whiners

[High Seas Texan]

Howdy Friends;

 

We have booked one of the penthouse suites, so we can enjoy that wine crawl on the verandah. We look forward to making this a specail and enjoyable cruise.

Cheers!

George

[bcirish]

And a new Wine crawl is born!!!! We will be flying into Florida for this particular cruise so will be taking advantage of Total Wine which is close to the port and available on line for pre ordering - the only thing that I found is that I would have preferred packing for shipping so I could check it going on to the ship. This winter we drove so we brought our own sturdy packing case and checked a case of wine - not worth it to me to drag it onto the ship myself. Wow - penthouse suite - looks to me like a great place to crawl! ON our cruise to Europe las spring - we took two cases with us - which works out nicely.

 

Finally decent weather here - over 80 today and I am not complaining! I am so ready for no coat weather!

 

With our last crawl - folks ordered from room service and then brought along to the room to share. Others had favorites which they had brought on board with them and they shared that too. The best part of the crawl was having the chance to get the visit with the folks that we had met on the board. We are getting close to a year but know that the time will pass quickly.

 

Seems to far to focus on excursions but find that it is great fun to research and look for possibilities - most of these ports are new to us - we spend more cruise time in Europe - have not been in Mexico except for Cozumel so this will be fun. Supposedly most of the cruises to Panama do not actually pass through the canal so this will be a real treat- SIL has done and really enjoyed-

Take care all and Happy Holidays - be it Easter or Passover!

[High Seas Texan]

bcirish, half the fun of travle is the planning and anticipation. The coming year will pass quickly with all the preparations one must do for a cruise.

 

The wine crawl (tasting) sounds fun. Good thing none of us will be driving! Thanks for the holiday cheer!

George

[rajkr74]

We just booked this cruise but we are doing the B2B on 4-8-10 thru the Caribean first. Staying on board then thru the canal to San Diego. Not sure I am on the right board. Maybe I should be on two boards?

 

We did this Panama cruise on the Westerdam last year from Ft. Laud. to Seattle. We had a great time and after getting off the ship said we'd do it again in a heartbeat! Well guess what...here we are.

 

We even got struck in the "swine flu" controversy last year as we came to the Mexico boarder. Well they canceled the 4 Mex. stops turned around and went back south to Nicaragua and Gautemala. They never missed a beat with this change of plans. The staff were great and we never experianced anything but good things on board. I think you will enjoy it.

 

The Westerdam was great and very similair to the Zuiderdam which we took on our first ever cruise in 2007. We took it to Alaska from Vancouver BC for 7 days. We were very comfortable with the Westerdam last year since we knew the layout of the Zuiderdam. We did not get lost the first hour like we did in 2007 on the Ziderdam.

[bcirish]

We actually are using the other roll call which was started before this one - it is connected to this thread - welcome aboard - looks like you will have everything set up by the time the rest of us join you.

Welcome aboard your insights from your past experience will be great!

 

BTW - here is a link to the other roll call -

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1140840

[rajkr74]

I'm going to "cut & paste" what I wrote on the other the other thread to get up to speed with all of you on this thread:

 

We just booked this cruise but we are doing the B2B on 4-8-10 thru the Caribbean first. Staying on board then thru the canal to San Diego. Not sure I am on the right board. Maybe I should be on two boards?

 

We did this Panama cruise on the Westerdam last year from Ft. Laud. to Seattle. We had a great time and after getting off the ship said we'd do it again in a heartbeat! Well guess what...here we are.

 

We even got struck in the "swine flu" controversy last year as we came to the Mexico boarder. Well they canceled the 4 Mex. stops turned around and went back south to Nicaragua and Guatemala. They never missed a beat with this change of plans. The staff were great and we never experianced anything but good things on board. I think you will enjoy it.

 

The Westerdam was great and very similar to the Zuiderdam which we took on our first ever cruise in 2007. We took it to Alaska from Vancouver BC for 7 days. We were very comfortable with the Westerdam last year since we knew the layout of the Zuiderdam. We did not get lost the first hour like we did in 2007 on the Ziderdam.

__________________

[High Seas Texan]

Welcome RAJKR74! And the numbers grow. The next year will pass quickly as we prepare for our journey on this exciting voyage. We are so looking forward to it.

George

[rajkr74]

Hi George,

Having been on a Panama cruise (only our 2nd full cruise) we are feeling more comfortable going into this cruise next year. We will be more than welcome to answer any questions all of you might have from what to were, excursions that we took.

 

Here is our picture pages on the website that we created via Microsoft Digital Classroom while on the Westerdam last year. It was pretty cool to learn some more digital techniques while on board.

 

panama cruise 2009

 

When you pull this page you will see a whole bunch of thumbnail pictures. Click on the tab for "Slideshow" in the upper left. This will display those pictures in a larger size with a nice formatted border. When you are done with this slide show you can click on the "album" tab in the top left and it will take you back to the thumbmails. Once back there there are two other albums-folders "Friends on cruise" and "Westerdam food". Click one of those albums and you can see more pictures.

 

We took a camera each night to dinner and shot photos of the food. We even have them labeled. The food was great as you will see.

 

We shot over 3,000 pictures on the 21 day cruise. My wife with her large Nikon camera and me with a back up smaller Nikon. I love and hate digital, love it that we don't buy film anymore and hate it since it took months to go thru the shots.

 

Let us know of any questions and it's great to talk(write) to all of you prior to the trip.

 

Rick

 

[NoWhiners]

George--no wonder we couldn"t get the penthousde--you beat us to it!!:D

 

Wine crawl has me thirsty...

 

Rick--welcome aboard. I am going to check out your pictures next.

 

Holiday greetings to all,

Mary Lynn

[High Seas Texan]

Rick, welcome! Thanks for your pictures from the Panama Canal Cruise. This must be great since you are doing it again. Makes me more excited to see the pics. Any advice on shore excursions...what to do, what to pass on? This coming year will go fast in preparations. We look forward to chatting and meeting up on the ship.

Regards,

George

[rajkr74]

We will put together a list of the excursions we and our friends did along with info on Puerto Vallarta since we have a time share there. We won't do any in PV. We plan to walk one block south of the cruise ship dock and sit by our pool at our time share. We were in PV in Feb. for two weeks and we have been there 4 times on past vacations. We have done a number of excursions in PV and can match them up with what Holland will offer. We also have pictures of some of those excursions present year and past years.

 

The others we have will be in Aruba, Costa Rica, Guatamala and Nicaruaga. We can give you some info for San Diego. However, that is were we will get off. Oh, I forgot Astoria OR, which is 2 1/2 hrs from our home. We will match up those excursions also.

 

We have looked at some of the excursions for this cruise and I think Holland doesn't have all of them listed at present. We noticed a few that are missing that were there last year. Not sure if they will or will not be added.

 

We have a lot more Panama Canal pictures if your are interested? We saw a lot of the construction and dredging going on. The transit thru the canal was the highlight of our trip. We can post them to another album and link them for viewing.

 

Rick