Thanks to Prinsendam’s human resources manager Angel George for sharing with us the accomplishments garnered by his team’s charitable efforts on their Grand Mediterranean Voyage.

When arriving at our port of call in Hamilton, Bermuda, on May 14, the Prinsendam crew under the direction of Culinary Art Center Host Annette Gonzalez had the privilege of visiting Tomorrow’s Voices, Bermuda’s autism intervention center. During her visit, Annette and Cruise Director Gene Young had the pleasure of touring the school, meeting the staff and children and presenting the proceeds of the onboard silent auction to Co-founder Ms. Thea Furbert.

Prinsendam’s Annette Gonzalez, right, along with a local volunteer, plays with a child at Hamilton, Bermuda–based Tomorrow’s Voices, the island’s autism intervention center.

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

What a beautiful, warm, calm watered and sunny day it was in Sorrento!!! The Captain had really called it correctly and we were so happy about that. Tendering was not a problem at all today. Of course, tours go out from here to Amalfi Coast drive, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Capri. All these are great places. We highly recommend them when you come to Sorrento!!!

Dick was so happy! A typical day on Prinsendam, just sitting on our balcony in the sunshine, anchored off of Sorrento and feeding the seagulls. The seagulls were on the balcony rail within arms length, squawking at him, demanding more food. He was listening to the Sunday morning church bells, eating chocolate marzipan pastries, and drinking coffee. He was also was solving an EVIL rated Sudoko puzzle. We had a glorious afternoon.

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Five-Star Mariners Jan and Dick Yetke set sail on Prinsendam’s 64-day Grand Mediterranean Voyage in March, and we’re catching up as quickly as possible. Enjoy the journey with Jan and Dick!

So, today is our second day in Venice. First thing is we have to return the car by about 10 am. No problem getting the car out of the lot and driving to the Hertz place to return the car. Then we were off on a water taxi (principal mode of transportation in Venice) from Piazzale Roma to St. Mark’s Square – our main destination goal for today for walking around and shopping!!! Bells chime, pigeons (some brave souls let the birds land on them!) and violins play – welcome to Piazza San Marco.

For some unknown reason, April apparently is “spring break”, holiday, season for Italians. The place was very, very crowded and we were very surprised. It wasn’t even summer season. Note the crowds in our photos. Also, take note of the platforms stacked up around St. Mark’s Square. These are laid out all over the area when it is flooded, which it does more than 35 times per year (4 times the number in 1970). We have been there when we were walking up on these platforms above water. Dick couldn’t take the crowds and therefore was not in the mood to go in and out of stores with me. But I wanted to shop! So, he went back to the ship. Therefore, I was free to buy what I wanted!! Hmmm – got some nice things!!! Anyway, I had a wonderful time and interestingly enough, after a couple hours, the crowds seemed to disperse. Don’t know where they went but they were no longer all crammed into St. Mark’s Square.

Water Ferry

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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!

It was a great day in Venice and we had a beautiful sail in! Venice is situated on 120 islands formed by 177 canals in the lagoon between the mouths of the Po and Piave rivers, at the northern extremity of the Adriatic Sea. Because of its role as a naval power and commercial center, the city is known as the “Queen of the Adriatic.” The islands on which the city is built are connected by about 400 bridges.

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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!

This country and port were a first for us, and for most of the passengers on this ship for that matter. It was a beautiful, great stop! We all loved it!

The local people were very friendly and welcoming. And because we are on this fairly small ship, as cruise ships go these days, we were able to dock right downtown! Awesome! I have also included a map photo showing our route into the town/harbor. Very unique we think.

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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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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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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!

Istanbul is a wonderful city to visit! We have been here several times in the past, including staying here for a few nights prior to a cruise once. We have always enjoyed it.

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