After eight sea days we arrived at Ponta Delgada, Azores, May 9. It was great to see land again! In the late morning the tour operator took us on a site inspection of some of the main sites. After leaving Ponta Delgada, we drove up to the view point from where we had a stunning view over the Sete Cidades crater lake. We then drove down into the crater and through the little village of Sete Cidades. Afterwards we drove towards the coast and stopped at the Vista del Rei viewpoint for some magnificent views of the coastline before driving back to Ponta Delgada. Back in town we finished our visit with a traditional Portuguese beef dish, called beef Acasa.

If you want to see more of my images, please go to www.marcovanbel.com

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Topics: Europe, ms Nieuw Amsterdam, Postcards from..., Trans-Atlantic | | No Comments

Thanks to HAL Facebook fan Judy Isphording for sending us a great photo of her parents during their last trans-Atlantic cruise.

My Mom and Dad introduced me to cruises and Holland America in 2006. We went on a wonderful trans-Atlantic cruise at that time. I loved it and have been hooked ever since. We recently came back from a South American cruise and in 2014 we will be going to Alaska on our favorite cruise line!

Judy Isphording’s parents photographed in Italy during the family’s trans-Atlantic cruise in 2006.

Topics: Europe, Holidays, Trans-Atlantic | | No Comments

Saturday, May 4, at 6:50 p.m. (UTC-2), Nieuw Amsterdam received a call from the U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center at Norfolk, Va., regarding a mayday signal it had received from sailing yacht Embla, which was disabled and adrift. Nieuw Amsterdam immediately diverted from its course and arrived on the scene at 9 p.m. local time.

The ship then initiated rescue of the sailboat’s crew, two males aged 29 and 61. The men were taken aboard Nieuw Amsterdam following a security check and provided food and accommodations. They will disembark in the next port of call at the Azores.

When it received the call, Nieuw Amsterdam was approximately 600 miles east of Bermuda on its trans-Atlantic crossing to Europe, and sailing yacht Embla was approximately 35 nautical miles south-southwest of the cruise ship, according to the Coast Guard. Nieuw Amsterdam is expected to arrive at Horta, Azores, Wednesday, May 8, on schedule.

Thanks for Nieuw Amsterdam’s hotel director Marco van Belleghem for the photos.

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Topics: Good Deeds, ms Nieuw Amsterdam, Trans-Atlantic | | 17 Comments

Special thanks to HAL guest James Ogden for sharing this touching story with our blog.

My great grandparents were the first generation of my family to sail with Holland America Line, in the 1950′s. They sailed with HAL four times between 1954 and 1960, on transatlantic voyages, between various cities in Europe and New York. My great grandfather was an engineer and had annual conferences and meetings to attend in Europe, and he and my great grandmother sailed both ways across the ocean as often as possible, even after jet aircraft started to become more popular. My great grandfather was born before airplanes and cars had been invented and was not particularly comfortable with flying. He always said he did not like it because if something broke, you could not simply stop and fix it! Sailing across the ocean gave him and my great grandmother several days to relax and enjoy the ocean too.

The first voyage my great grandparents took on Holland America Line was on the Noordam, from Rotterdam to New York. They departed Rotterdam on October 23, 1954, at 3:00pm, and arrived in Hoboken, NJ, on November 1, 1954, at 9:00pm. This is their most documented voyage on HAL. We have several photographs from that voyage, as well as some early videos. The videos do not have sound, but are quite interesting all the same. We also have a telegram sent by them, from the ship, to my grandparents, who would be picking them up upon arrival in New York, advising them of a change in the arrival time, due to rough seas. There are also several journal entries about the voyage, and some postcards and playing cards they got while on the ship. These are the actual pages out of the photo albums they made after the trip, including the handwritten captions.

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Topics: HAL History, ms Nieuw Amsterdam, ms Noordam, ms Statendam, ms Westerdam, Trans-Atlantic | | No Comments

Here’s a crazy discovery. My mother found this from her voyage to the U.S. in 1953. Kinda cool. She sailed from Rotterdam to Hoboken. She was a little girl in Germany in WWII and some relatives in Kansas took her in. Pretty cool. – Sam Slishman

Topics: HAL History, Trans-Atlantic | | No Comments

Noel Bell, HAL guest and frequent blog contributor, sailed aboard Rotterdam from Piraeus, Greece, to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Here is a special highlights video he created from his Ancient Discoveries voyage. Enjoy!

Here is the video from my Rotterdam 12-day Ancient Discoveries cruise visiting Athens, Piraeus, Rhodes and Gythios in Greece, The Pyramids of Egypt, Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee and Nazareth in Israel, Ephasus, Turkey and Rome, Italy. Come along for the cruise … but don’t hit the Lido too much! – Noel Bell, HAL blog contributor

Topics: Mediterranean, ms Rotterdam, Trans-Atlantic, Videos | | No Comments

Special thanks to Noel Bell, a HAL guest and frequent blog contributor, for sharing these videos taken while cruising on Rotterdam’s 12-day Ancient Discoveries cruise in October 2011 and Rotterdam’s Spanish Charms 15-day voyage in November 2011.

As promised, here are the completed video highlights of the recent 27 day cruise featuring the back-to-back Ancient Discoveries (12 days) and the Spanish Charms (15 days) from Piraeus, Greece to Fort Lauderdale. We hope blog fans will enjoy traveling with us. From Summer here in Australia, we wish you, the HAL team and your families a wonderful Christmas and an excellent 2012. – Noel Bell, HAL Mariner and blog contributor

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Topics: Mariner Voices, Mediterranean, ms Rotterdam, Trans-Atlantic, Videos | | 2 Comments

During the Atlantic crossing a family inquired if it was possible to christen their daughter on board as the parents and child lived in the Middle East while the grandparents lived in Australia and this was the first time they had all been together since the child’s birth. We immediately said yes and that we’d be delighted to host the event. In keeping with maritime tradition, the bell was polished and a frame was made to invert the bell to make a font. Another guest and well-known member of cruise critic, Reverend Neil, offered his services to christen the child. So on November 9th Miss Madeleine Amber Lobb Seaton was christened on board ms Noordam. Following tradition, her name was stamped, together with the date, on the inside of the bell. When researching the history and the tradition of using the ship’s bell as a font we also discovered that traditionally the bugler cleaned the whistle and the cook cleaned the bell. The Executive Chef wasn’t very impressed with that tradition!

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Topics: Captain's Log, ms Noordam, Trans-Atlantic | | 16 Comments