Around the Horn in 80 days.

[Vict0riann]

Glad things are going well, Roy, and I hope your foot heals quickly - you have plenty of walking in your future, I think!

 

I wonder who the Cellar Master is on your cruise?

[DeeniEncinitas]

12 hours ago, rafinmd said:

Day P1, Saturday, January 5, 2019, At sea, MS Prinsendam

I did not set an alarm but was up close to 5AM.  I have a sore spot on my left instep and am babying the foot so I did not do much walking.  I just went up to the Lido for coffee and we were sailing eastbound along the coast of Cuba.  

Sunrise was about 7 and I was just a bit late for it, catching the sun just above the horizon from the deck 8 porch.  I walked a total of 6 times around the ship for a total of 1 ½ miles with 2 of the “laps” being diverted up to deck 9 on the forward outdoor steps and then up the inside steps to the lido, down the aft outside steps and around to the forward entrance.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/dawn0105.jpg

My biggest event of the day was the Cruise Critic meet and greet at 10 in the Crows Nest with about 60 Cruise Critic members as well as Cruise Director Linda Minnikin and Hotel Director Rene Tuinman stopping by.  While we were there I made our final selection of cabins for Sunday’s Cabin Crawl.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/meetgreet1.jpg

I have everything out of my suitcases but am not really unpacked.  My shelves are pretty full of boxes and packing cubes so I’m a bit organized but still have a lot of individual things to stow.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/halfunpacked.jpg

Lunch was largely pizza from the lido.  In the afternoon a guest “ambassador” from Colombia gave a presentation of Santa Marta in the Showroom.  Most of us found her talk a bit disjointed.  

I sent my sports coat out for dry cleaning in the morning.  It came back around dinner time in one of the new blue laundry return bags.  They are quite nice and can be used many times over.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/returnbag.jpg

My first Gala night was also my first night with my new tablemates.  We had agreed to form a table on our Cruise Critic Roll Call and I had met several of them at the Boatyard but a couple of them I had not previously seen.  The 5 of us are at Table 19, a 6-top right at the end of the forward dining room annex right next to the Ocean Bar.  Our waiters are Adnyana and Tinus.   For the first dinner in the dining room I chose the salad, Rack of Lamb, and Strawberry Romanoff.  I had forgotten to take a picture of the desert but did get a couple of cookies in the Lido.  Crystal serves Oatmeal Raisin cookies that are to die for–these are not quite as good but still VERY nice.  The sun was just setting as I arrived at the dining room.

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We had the Captain’s introduction between dinner seatings.  Captain Schuchmann greeted guests at the door and sparkling wine was served (but not a formal toast), and he introduced the senior staff on the Elegant Explorer.

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The featured entertainment was pianist Paul Pappas.  He is a very high energy performer and kind of specializes in long medleys of songs.  He played a little of everything from jazz to rag time to rock to pop and even Clair de Lune by Debussy.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/pappas.jpg

I did some work after the show but did not really accomplish a lot.  I did stop by the Ocean Bar for a Diet Coke but that was the only time I was out of the room.

My parting shot will be about my room.  I had originally booked one of the solo cabins and loved it on the transatlantic but had decided for 80 days I wanted a bath tub.  I spent about 45 minutes in the tub soaking my sore foot.  I’m not sure if it helped with healing or not but it really felt good.  I am delighted that my old room has found a nice new occupant and now very comfortable with the investment made in the room swap.

Roy

 

Hi Roy!!!!!

Just back from our very long Christmas vacation. We were in Maui. This time around I tried not to use my IPAD!!!🙄

sooo happy your on a wonderful journey and enjoyed this am seeing your sunrise while walking and the great pictures! I like your room for one it’s perfect!! Listen I sure hope your foot gets better for you Roy. I remember your Alaska cruise with your great brother and your leg was swollen, hope all is well. So many of you from CC on this cruise and love that Kathi

is on with you! Like your next Voyages you have planed too! Looking forward to more pics and blog. I also like your personal blog that I am following too.

SMOOTH SAILINGS ROY

Denise😊

[aliaschief]

2 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

 

 

I wonder who the Cellar Master is on your cruise?

It was Benjo on our December cruise and he was going to be on the Grand Voyage. A great Celler Master who has a passion for wine.

Edited January 8, 2019 by aliaschief

[Broon]

Thanks, Roy, for your reports. We were on this cruise, or most of it, one year ago...FLL to BA. It was our most enjoyable, and longest cruise. We still have one more cruise on the PRINSENDAM next spring - our favourite ship. It is nice to see Ruth posting here.  

[erewhon]

19 hours ago, rafinmd said:

You are correct on that.  I'm guessing you have sailed with hem.

 

Roy

 

Yes, we sailed with him on the Volendam, he was very caring  of the passengers,  always around the ship checking everything.

One sea day, he gave an excellent talk about when the ship  was

in dry dock and the challenges associated with having all the work completed on time.

Is his wife also working on board?

Hope  your foot continues to improve.

[kazu]

23 hours ago, rafinmd said:

My parting shot will be about my room.  I had originally booked one of the solo cabins and loved it on the transatlantic but had decided for 80 days I wanted a bath tub.  I spent about 45 minutes in the tub soaking my sore foot.  I’m not sure if it helped with healing or not but it really felt good.  I am delighted that my old room has found a nice new occupant and now very comfortable with the investment made in the room swap.

 

Sorry to hear about the foot, Roy.  Hope the tub does the trick and it is feeling much better.

 

Congrats on the room swap.  Sounds like a very wise investment 😉 

[rafinmd]

Thanks everyone.  That comment about the bag hanging on the door hook had me wondering for a while.  That was the steward's work and the idea of doing that had never occurred to me.

 

Day P2, Sunday, January 6, 2019, At sea, MS Prinsendam

I slept a bit later, until about 5:30.  By the time I got out on deck and rounded the bow the sun was just above the horizon.  I am continuing to nurse my foot and walked the equivalent of about 6 laps or 1.5 miles but about half of it was in conjunction with the cabin crawl.  Part of my morning walk (full bow to stern and back) was delivering the final cabin lists to the host cabins.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/dawn0106.jpg

 

The activities of the day started with a 9AM Interdenominational worship service in the packed Stuyvesant Room.  We have a Protestant chaplain for the Grand Voyage.

That was followed at 10 by the part 1 of the cabin crawl with the cabin hosts making the rounds.  We had 12 cabins running the gambit from an inside to 2 Neptune Suites.  I was so busy and the cabins got a little crowded so in the entire event I only got one photo, the deck of one of the new aft cabins.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/cornerdeck.jpg

After part 1 was completed I met the rest of the crawlers in the Stuyvesant room and escorted them around to the 12 cabins.  As each cabin was visited the owners were free to go on to other activities.  My group reached the last cabin a little after 11:30 and I went down for the last few minutes of Tim Calvert speaking about the Panama Canal.  I was not really there long enough to get much of an impression of him but he will apparently be the primary lecturer for at least the first phase of the voyage.

In his noon update Captain Jeoren indicated we were doing 17.7 knots and needed a little over 18 to make Santa Marta on time.  He said the seas would be picking up, getting to about 4 meters overnight.  He may have been waiting to put an additional engine on line to minimize our time in the choppier seas.  In any case we were walking a bit funny by evening.

In the afternoon EXC Guide Heather had her talk on our first 3 ports, Santa Marta, San Blas, and Panama City.  In the short 20 minutes or so she talked about Santa Marta she had more useful information than the cultural ambassador had provided.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/heather.jpg

Things continue to go well at table 19.  I decided on the salad, pasta dish, and Raspberry tart.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/dishes06.jpg

The featured entertainment was ventroquilist Kenny Byrd.  He was an excellent ventroquilist but to me not such a good showman.  I was actually pretty well wiped out already and dozed through much of the show but didn’t appear to have missed much.  When I returned to my room I was still too sleepy to get much done in the evening.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/byrd.jpg

As my parting shot today I am somewhat sad about the ending of the Baltimore Ravens season.  I am really not a football fan but have a strong impression that they do a lot of good things both on and off the field and are a real asset to Baltimore.  I do not own any team apparel but was wearing my Cape Breton tee shirt in Ravens Purple.  I have had pretty good luck wearing it especially when cruising but this time my luck ran out.  Thanks guys, you did a lot better than appeared likely mid season.

Roy

 

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Heather is an excellent EXC Guide. She was on the Holiday Cruise as well.

[kazu]

Sorry to hear that you still need to nurse the foot, Roy.

 

Hope it is better SOON!

 

You have a great table in the MDR.  Glad things are going well 🙂 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Hope your foot gets better soon.

 

Enjoying your reports and pictures.

[St Pete Cruiser]

Hi Roy,

 

Thanks for sharing your Grand Voyage with us.  We hope Prinsendam, at the ripe old age of 31, proves to be delightful for you and all aboard.  I was surprised Orlando Ashford was there at embarkation.  In years past, sometimes the Grand World and the Grand South America left the same day and that brought Stein Cruise to Ft Lauderdale as well as Gerald Bernhoft of the Mariner Society.  Best wishes and enjoy.

[DeeniEncinitas]

Good morning Roy!

enjoyed your report this am over coffee.

liked as always your 🌅 sunrise photo.

I hope your foot will heal and get better quickly so you can enjoy all the walking that you love so much. Love this journey your on! Wish we could of done all of SA

on our last cruise. Take care Roy, and 

enjoy your SAIL!!!

Denise😊

[rafinmd]

Thank you everyone.  We are now arriving at the San Blas Islands.  I can definitely hear the anchor lowering from my forward deck 5 cabin.

 

We are due here in one hour.  Captain says we will be surveying our tender route in the meantime.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Day P3, Monday, January 7, 2019, Santa Marta, Colombia

I slept far later than I planned and missed the sunrise.  This is my third visit to Santa Marta after having visited on the Crystal Symphony in 2016 and 2018.  In 2016 I visited Tayrona National Park and in 2018 did what was primarily a city tour.  This time I chose not to take a tour but just walked around the city a bit.  

Santa Marta is very definitely an industrial port.  The dock used by cruise ships also serves as a coal loading dock with a huge conveyer system ending in a chute next to our bow.  There were no coal operations today but on a previous visit truck loads of coal were being creating huge clouds of coal dust partially controlled by regular passes of a water truck.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/coal.jpg

We were cleared to get off at 8 but I stayed onboard until 9.  As I left EXC Guide Heather was handing out maps from the tourist authority.  We could not walk away from the ship but required to use a shuttle service to the port gate.

I started my walk armed with 3 maps, the one Heather gave us, the one from the HAL packet, and a port brochure from my last visit on the Crystal Symphony.  That proved to be the most useful of the 3 but I traced my walk on the one Heather gave out.

A walkway (Paseo de Bastidas) runs along the ocean from the port gate.  There is a small boat area, a statue of Rodrigo de Bastidas (town founder) and finally a relatively decent beach but the walkway itself as well as much of the town seems worn out.

I walked along the Paseo for most of the extent of the old city turning inland at Calle 20, just before arriving at the city aquarium and the modern part of the city.  A couple blocks inland I passed the Palace of Justice and across the street walked through Sweetheart’s park.  The Palace of Justice is recently restored and beautiful although it’s a bit hard to see because of trees in the area.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/sweetheart.jpg

After walking inland for about 5 blocks I made another left turn towards the Cathedral.  I took another jog further inland for what my Crystal map indicated was the Teatro Santa Marta.  All I saw was an excavation site as it appears the Teatro is being completely rebuilt.   The Cathedral itself sits on a large square and is quite nice inside.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/cathedral2.jpg

There are 2 quite nice Catholic churches close together in the center of town.  The second one is San Francisco de Asis (I assume St. Francis of Assisi).  

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/francisco1.jpg

Another major attraction in town is the Museo Tayrona or Custom House.  It has a collection of gold.  The sign indicates it is closed Mondays but was open (Not sure if it always opens for cruise ships or I happened to stop by when one of the ships tours was there) but I walked right in.  I returned to the port gate about 11.  A statue of the Virgin Mary sits on a hill overlooking the port as seen from the right side of the shuttle bus.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/virginmarysm.jpg

I had not yet been to the DiveIn but stopped there for fries for my lunch.  The port is pretty busy.  Two container ships had been docked across the harbor from us at lunch time but by the time we left they had been replaced by a huge boxy car carrier.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/neighbors.jpg

All aboard was 4:30 and Captain Jeroen reported all were here a few minutes before that.  I went up to my sailaway perch on deck 13 overlooking the bridge wing and we singled up (Pulled in all lines except 1 forward and 1 aft) by 4:45.  The forklift to remove the gangway was on the way to do the job when the gangway ramp was opened and a man came running on board.  We found out a couple minutes later that a crew member had fallen ill and the situation was being evaluated while an ambulance was coming.  It looked like a substantial wait so I went down to my cabin to prepare for dinner.  I did see the ambulance from my porthole and saw the gangway being removed just before 5:30.  As I went up to the dining room I stepped briefly onto the Lower Promenade deck and we had just left the berth.

It was another nice dinner at table 19.  I went for the Caesar salad, strip loin steak, and pineapple crisp.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/dishes07.jpg

The featured entertainment was Carl Strong, billed as a comedian.  He was once one of Gladys Knight’s Pips and actually spent about 2/3 of his time singing.  As far as I could tell his material had little to do with that faze of his life and I wasn’t very impressed.  What little comedy he did was very good but overall I was not impressed with the show.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/strong.jpg

My parting shot will be a wish for a successful and quick recovery for the crew member evacuated in Santa Marta.

Roy

 

[Vict0riann]

19 hours ago, aliaschief said:

It was Benjo on our December cruise and he was going to be on the Grand Voyage. A great Celler Master who has a passion for wine.

 

Thanks, Chief.    Is that a Dutch name?

[DeeniEncinitas]

Roy looks like you had good weather on your walk!! The Cathedral photo inside looked nice. How many laps around the promenade does it take for 1 mile?  I sure hope the crew member will be fine who became ill!  Is something going around on the ship like Norvo? We had a lot of that on our partial SA cruise last March.

Thankyou for taking the time to posts.

Denise😊

[aliaschief]

13 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

 

Thanks, Chief.    Is that a Dutch name?

 

13 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

 

Thanks, Chief.    Is that a Dutch name?

I believe he is Filipino.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Another wonderful report.

 

The churches are quite lovely in Santa Marta.

 

Love the pictures.

[rafinmd]

1 hour ago, DeeniEncinitas said:

Roy looks like you had good weather on your walk!! The Cathedral photo inside looked nice. How many laps around the promenade does it take for 1 mile?  I sure hope the crew member will be fine who became ill!  Is something going around on the ship like Norvo? We had a lot of that on our partial SA cruise last March.

Thankyou for taking the time to posts.

Denise😊

It's 4 laps to a mile.  Something could be going around the ship although I doubt it and have heard nothing to indicate that there was.

 

I learned at dinner that the crew member evacuated was the fitness director.  He was diagnosed with appendicitis. 

 

Roy

[DeeniEncinitas]

1 minute ago, rafinmd said:

It's 4 laps to a mile.  Something could be going around the ship although I doubt it and have heard nothing to indicate that there was.

 

I learned at dinner that the crew member evacuated was the fitness director.  He was diagnosed with appendicitis. 

 

Roy

Wow you know I was thinking of that with the ambulance. Thanks for your reply Roy!

look forward to your next blog. Really love reading your journeys.

Take care Roy,

sincerely

Denise😊

[rafinmd]

If anyone has thoughts of watching the Prinsendam's final Panama Canal transit on the webcams, the tentative schedule is:

 

Gatun locks - 6:30 to 8AM

Miguel lock 12:55 to 1:30PM

Miraflores lock:  2-3PM

 

All Eastern Standard time.

 

Roy

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks Roy for letting us know that the crew member who was evacuated from the ship was the fitness director with appendicitis.

[Krazy Kruizers]

33 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

If anyone has thoughts of watching the Prinsendam's final Panama Canal transit on the webcams, the tentative schedule is:

 

Gatun locks - 6:30 to 8AM

Miguel lock 12:55 to 1:30PM

Miraflores lock:  2-3PM

 

All Eastern Standard time.

 

Roy

 

 

Good to have this information!!

[Vict0riann]

Maybe Kathi will be out on "her deck".

[cruzingnut]

15 hours ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

Hi Roy,

 

Thanks for sharing your Grand Voyage with us.  We hope Prinsendam, at the ripe old age of 31, proves to be delightful for you and all aboard.  I was surprised Orlando Ashford was there at embarkation.  In years past, sometimes the Grand World and the Grand South America left the same day and that brought Stein Cruise to Ft Lauderdale as well as Gerald Bernhoft of the Mariner Society.  Best wishes and enjoy.

 

I'm hoping that Roy will let us know what happens with Orlando and Gerald on the ship.  I had heard that at least Orlando was on (P'Dam) in Northern Europe at one point to see (scuttlebutt had it) what people liked about small ship sailing.  I only hope he likes it and the seas are calm (heard he has had mal de mer ). 

 

Linda R.