Kudos to our team for their recognized excellence of service aboard ms Westerdam. And thank you to Susan and Ed Blake for sharing their experience with us.

We would like to take a moment to commend the crew of the Westerdam, especially those in the dining room for their expert and exceptional service. Our dining steward, Ari Saloko, the assistant steward, Yudi Subiyanto, along with Eddy, Dudi, and Robert. We traveled in October 2012 to the South Pacific, amazing cruise, with these gentlemen. To our surprise they were also on our most recent cruise to the Eastern and Western Caribbean during March. Ari and Yudi remembered our preferences for both food and drink. They even remembered my husband’s request for dessert: 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream with a “little bit” of chocolate sauce. I wish the computer would allow Ari’s accent to come through for “little bit.” These two dining room stewards actually made both of our cruises so enjoyable that now we hope they will be on our next cruise. We are taking the 38 day voyage to the South Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand in October on the Oosterdam. Looking forward to seeing our “family” again, hopefully on the Oosterdam. — Susan and Ed Blake

Ari and Yudi

Topics: Food & Beverage, ms Westerdam, Staff & Crew | No Comments

Guests Jan and Dick Yetke set sail on Prinsendam’s 64-day Grand Mediterranean Voyage in March, and we’ll catch up as quickly as possible. Enjoy the journey with Jan and Dick!

Welcome to the beautiful and very interesting city of Dubrovnik and the Dalmatian Coast!!! We have been here before but are always happy to return to this location!!!

It was a beautiful day!!! We took the complimentary shuttle bus from the pier to the Old Walled City – a very pretty about 20 minute drive. When we arrived at the plaza just outside the entrance to the Old City, it was mobbed with tourists. Crazy!!! Apparently April is a big tourist month for Europeans. Well, we made our way thru the crowds and into the Old City where we had a great walk all around. We went out to the little harbor, called Old Harbor there and walked around the wall there. Then we started winding our way up stairs and thru very narrow little streets, up and up. Oh, when you first enter the old city (you are on the Placa which is a very wide and beautiful street), you pass by a large fountain (Onofrios Fountain) which was built in the 15th-century. The 16-sided fountain’s carved heads spout cascades of water you are free to take.

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Topics: Art, Activities & Entertainment, Cruise Diary, Grand Voyages, Mediterranean, ms Prinsendam | No Comments

Here are a few pictures from our Service Award ceremony and New Hire Chat.

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Topics: ms Rotterdam, Staff & Crew | No Comments

We arrived in Istanbul via the world (it seemed) on May 16, boarded the Noordam on the 17 and finally got to see a little of the city the next day. The ship docked just down from the Galata Tower, a structure built in 528 A.D. It sits atop one of the hills of the city and has a wonderful view of the city and the Bosphorus. The entrance fee is 13 lira or about $60 and of course there is a line to reach the top but it moves quite quickly. If you enjoy views and/or photography take some time to visit.

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Topics: Mediterranean, ms Noordam, Postcards from... | No Comments

Noel Bell, HAL guest and frequent blog contributor, was on Noordam for 21 days and is still sharing photos from his trip. Here is some snapshot taken during his call at Istanbul, Turkey.

A busy Istanbul harbour and cruise terminal on a Saturday afternoon.

Topics: Cruise Diary, Mediterranean, ms Noordam | 1 Comment

During its South Pacific Crossing, the crew of the ms Oosterdam were treated to a tour of Te Puia in Rotorua, New Zealand, where traditional dances were performed for the group.

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Topics: Australia/New Zealand, ms Oosterdam, Shore Excursions, South Pacific, Staff & Crew | No Comments

Guests Jan and Dick Yetke set sail on Prinsendam’s 64-day Grand Mediterranean Voyage in March, and we’ve just received these wonderful posts. We’ll catch up as quickly as possible. Enjoy the journey with Jan and Dick!

We had a very nice relaxing cruise down to Piraeus, the port for Athens, from Istanbul. We arrived in Piraeus at 4 pm. I stayed on the ship, but Dick went out for a short bike ride over to the ferry docks (next to our pier) to check out the ferry schedule to and from the small island nearby called Aegina. We have stopped there in the past on one of our sailing trips and he has always wanted to take our bikes back there when we are docked in Piraeus. Didn’t get to do it last year when we stopped there on the world cruise since there was a ferry strike that day. He got the schedule and was told there would be no strike the next day!!! Yea!!

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Topics: Cruise Diary, Grand Voyages, Mariner Voices, Mediterranean, ms Prinsendam | No Comments

Thanks to Susie and Glenn for sending in some photos from their recent trip to Italy, Greece and Turkey aboard Eurodam.

We have recently returned from our first cruise taking in sites in Italy, Greece and Turkey. Absolutely loved it. The ms Eurodam was excellent and the staff very warm and professional. Highly recommend this cruise line to everyone. The excursions were all fantastic allowing us the opportunity to see so much and experience even more. Our favorite (if it’s possible to choose) was Ephesus. Our stewards were the best. Alim and Jono … Have taken sooooo many pictures of which I will make movie dvd’s after attending the fantastic techspert, Evan’s classes … thank you everyone for making this such a wonderful trip. Definitely not the last. Already thinking about our next … possibly an Alaskan. My pictures vary, one from breakfast on the veranda, Corfu, Greece, Kanoni, Greece with Mouse Island and the ms Eurodam in port. Thank you again for the memories. Susie and Glenn

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Topics: Mediterranean, ms Eurodam, Postcards from..., Shore Excursions | No Comments