Cruising to California

[and back]

It seems that every year [pre-Covid] saw us take "the trip of a lifetime." 

Twenty-six of our thirty-five cruises have been on Holland America Line [HAL] and we have spent over six hundred days on the "dam ships."   We have visited more than 110 countries and walked on all seven continents.

This trip started in 2019.  We had booked a similar cruise for March 2020, a voyage from Ft. Lauderdale, through the Panama Canal, to San Diego and then back to Florida.  In November, 2019, D's kidneys tried to murder him and while he was still in the hospital we decided to cancel the Spring cruise as a precaution; it was a good decision as that cruise was aborted before it returned and the passengers off-loaded in Mexico somewhere.

We took our refund and booked a 2021 cruise around Africa.  Once again, Covid changed the face of cruising and that cruise, too, was canceled.

The third time should be the winner.  Using our combined deposits and a credit from HAL for the cancelation last year, we have booked a verandah cabin in the stern of the ms Zuiderdam so we can watch the ship's wake and see where we have been, sheltered from the wind by the bulk of the ship itself.  This is a tremendous change from our usual inside cabin.  Again, the trip of a lifetime, perhaps the last one.

We may never leave the ship when it is port.  That decision will be based on weather and walking conditions, but just being on a HAL ship is reward enough.  The Zuiderdam is new to us and is the twelfth HAL ship we've taken.

On January 16, we will start our 4-week adventure.  This blog is really a diary designed for our family so they know where we are, what we are doing and whether we are still alive.  Feel free to comment if you feel the urge.

Welcome aboard.