Adventure traveler and Dutch TV personality Charlotte Van Hoorn was on board Zaandam for an Alaska cruise and will be sharing her adventure with us.

What fun to cheer on our own friend as she breezed through the tryouts for Dancing with the Stars: At Sea with her signature favorite, the Waltz. Paired with the professional dancer aboard I had just watched on Noordam in the Caribbean in March, I knew she had a good shot to make the finals. Since the TV finals just finished, we were all enjoying hearing about her practice routines and we turned out to support her bid to go on in the competition between the ships of the fleet’s contestants. A real addition for HAL to satisfy those who enjoy dancing. Meanwhile, our gang enjoyed the disco, live music and watching the pros at different times during the voyage.

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Topics: Alaska, Cruise Diary, ms Zaandam, Videos | | No Comments

Adventure traveler and Dutch TV personality Charlotte Van Hoorn was on board Zaandam for an Alaska cruise and will be sharing her adventure with us.

No one who took the Dog Sledding on the Mendenhall Glacier by Helicopter tour wanted to leave the ice field … There is taking a ride behind sled dogs, calling to mind Capt. Preston of the Yukon on B&W tv, then there was this … Starting with suiting up at the helicopter hanger for glacier trekking, we then watched a safety briefing about the helicopter before climbing aboard (4 plus the pilot – all with good viewing and earphones). We were piloted directly above the Mendenhall Glacier and followed it up the valley below the rim of the sidewalls, it was breathtaking. Our pilot described many glacial and geologic features and we took pictures like mad. Later we strained to spot the camp, all in white, and the 200 dogs summering on the ice field for their continued Ididarod training pulling dead weight like us!

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Topics: Alaska, Cruise Diary, ms Zaandam, Shore Excursions, Videos | | 1 Comment

Adventure traveler and Dutch TV personality Charlotte Van Hoorn was on board Zaandam for an Alaska cruise and will be sharing her adventure with us.

All agreed, this was the complete package…On board, on shore, on the water in small craft, in the sky, in smaller aircraft and even by dogsled…this cruise was the perfect HAL choice for a group of first timers and seasoned Mariner Society members. Beyond my usual “relax with the ship’s premium wine tasting amenity after snorkelling or a cultural visit ashore” routine, my goal was to experience the pricey, but peak experiences offered in the Special Collection of HAL excursions. To enjoy the ship’s  On Location programming as well, I chose to sail both up and back the itinerary to fit in the Encore and Wonders of the World tours. A revisit to a port meant spending the day entirely differently, although most of my chums left in Seward to explore with the Land Tour options.

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Topics: Alaska, Cruise Diary, ms Zaandam, Shore Excursions, Videos | | 1 Comment

Guest Lynda Gavigan Halttunen and her husband Don sent us several great posts from their 30-day South Pacific cruise on Westerdam. Enjoy “cruising” with them!

We arrived in Papeete, Tahiti, at 9:00 p.m. We sat on the top deck and watched the “sail-in.” We over-nighted on the dock, but didn’t go into town until the following morning. I bought a few souvenirs/gifts at the open-air market. The vanilla beans were $42! I loved that everyone spoke French and that the town/island had a very French sea-side feel. We returned to the ship for an early sailaway.

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Topics: Cruise Diary, ms Westerdam, South Pacific | | No Comments

Five-Star Mariners 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!

Because we had to skip Horta in the Azores, the captain got permission for us to go to Bermuda the afternoon ahead of our schedule and dock overnight there. We were all excited about that! We arrived and were docked by about 4 p.m. It was a beautiful sail in as usual — with the turquoise water all around us. Note the photo of the wake.

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Topics: Cruise Diary, Grand Voyages, Mariner Voices, ms Prinsendam | | 1 Comment

Five-Star Mariners 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!

Horta is the chief town and seaport of the island of Faial, also known as Fayal, Portugal, one of the Azores, in the Atlantic Ocean. It was named Faial (Portuguese for ‘beech wood’) because of the abundance at that time (15th Century) of wax myrtle, mistaken for beech by the Portuguese. Faial is mountainous, rising to 3,000 feet above sea level, and is 14 miles long by 10 miles wide. Fishing, cattle, and farming are the principal occupations. Basket weaving, carving (from the white pith of the fig tree), and lace making (from agave thread) are widely done. Faial is the smallest of the three ‘Triangle Islands’ and an easy island to visit and get around. It has one of the main airports in the Azores and there are several ferries every day to Pico from Horta. When the first transatlantic cables were laid, Horta was the central communication station and many cable company offices were located here.

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

Five-Star Mariners 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!

Now headed back across the Atlantic with just a few stops left. Today we docked in Ponta Delgada, Azores. This is a beautiful island that’s got a very nice town in it.

We signed up for and took the ship’s tour: Whale and Dolphin Safari. This was a three-and-a-half-hour tour out on a Zodiac with 12 seats, two-by-two, facing forward. What an adventure it was!

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Topics: Cruise Diary, Europe, Grand Voyages, Mariner Voices, ms Prinsendam, Shore Excursions | | No Comments

Guest Lynda Gavigan Halttunen and her husband Don sent us several great posts from their 30-day South Pacific cruise on Westerdam. Enjoy “cruising” with them!

Today we stopped in Bora Bora for two days! The morning sun rising over the mountain was spectacular. The first day we took the local $5 shuttle bus to the beach and had lunch at Bloody Mary’s restaurant. A man on the ship from Seattle — Joe — chatted with us and told us that he had participated in building the restaurant with sand floors. His wife is from Moorea.

The moon over the sea in the early mooning was beautiful. This is where they filmed an episode of “Amazing Race.” The hut shaped hotels over the water cost over $1000/night. The second day we somewhat successfully were able to check e-mail at the Aloha Café.

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Topics: Cruise Diary, ms Westerdam, Postcards from..., South Pacific | | 1 Comment