Cruise with Bill & Mary Ann on the Prinsendam's Grand So. America & Antarctica Voyage

[airlink diva]

I'm reading your ongoing cruise adventures with sadness! In a few days the wonderful journey of this 70 day cruise is closed.

Through all of the up and downs and wonderful ports, I've read with eagerness and cruise with you.

For someone who most likey will never take such a cruise, I thank you for taking time out to give the rest of us the journey also.

I can't wait for your next sailing!!!

 

----------------

Now playing: Warren Hill - Low Rider

via FoxyTunes

[RuthC]

I see from the Where's the Fleet thread that HAL is sending your off the ship tomorrow. It will be nice to return home. Tell yourselves that as often as you need to. ;)

Thank you over and over again for taking us along. It's been a great ride. I'll look forward to your next adventure.

[DeepWaterMariner]

Thanks for taking the time to bring us along on your adventure and doing such a terrific job of crafting each episode. Have a happy landing and safe trip home. You have bridged the gap between our last cruise and out next...we leave Friday for Fort Lauderdale and our next cruise adventure.

[earl_m]

Like all cruises they come to an end. I really enjoy reading about your cruise . welcome home!!!!

[WCB]

Report # 74 March 23, 2010 Tuesday Last Day at Sea

 

Well, here we are, on day 70, and on our way back towards Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The weather was surprisingly cooler this morning. We were hoping for a sunny day, but it was not to be. Usually, we are coming back this way later in the spring....like the end of April or early May. This year the normal weather pattern has been way off kilter, so it would be no surprise if Florida is still as cold as when we left there in January.

 

There was an early champagne disembarkation briefing given by Thom, the cruise director. All of the general information that we needed to know about our final day on the ship would be shared with everyone at this assembly. We have been there and done that more than a few times. We knew it would be televised for the rest of the day, so if we think we missed something, we could always watch it later.

 

Following the talk, a scattering of the crew members gave their farewell from the stage. It is always a touching moment, especially being able to give applause to the crew members we seldom see. In particular, the sailors, the mechanics, and the laundry staff deserved the biggest thank you. We have to admit that the nicest surprise on this trip was the handling of the laundry. We feared that once so many passengers qualified for the "complimentary" laundry service, it would be backed up for days. Not so! The turn-around was faster than on last year's world cruise, when we paid big bucks for the service. Again, thanks!

 

We had just one more duffel to pack, and that took some time. This bag had to hold the fan, disassembled and in its box), the wall clock, and the two new plates in large boxes we received last night. It was tricky, but we squeezed it all in. It will be a miracle if the breakables make it home in one piece! We've been lucky with all of the china we brought home on past cruises, so we will have to keep our fingers crossed this time too.

 

There were still some activities happening today, such as jackpot bingo. The one game session jackpot had to be won today, and the $3000. had to go! It would be somebody's lucky day.........

 

We found it unusual, but there was a Grand Show Buffet in the dining room for lunch at noon. Since we had eaten a hearty breakfast, we did not partake. But we did hear from our dinnermates that they did a very good job with the buffet. It was a surprise to us that they went to so much trouble on our last day at sea.

 

Exploration speaker, David Saunders, gave a talk on magical dolphins, namely the killer whale. He also talked about the bottle-nose, harbor, and pink dolphins. While on our walk today, we think we saw one dolphin, but could not be sure. Actually, since we left Barbados, we have seen little wildlife, but we have seen many ships passing by. Most have been cargo ships, but we have seen a few cruise ships as well.

 

Our homework for the day, was filling out surveys, comments, and the custom's form. Colored-coded tags were delivered to our room with a letter stating that we would be called off of the ship by 8:45am, or somewhere in that neighborhood. Our flight is not until 2:15pm, so that should give us plenty of time to get to the airport in Miami early enough.

 

Frank B. gave a lecture on "Being Frightfully British". We think that he practiced this speech on us last night at dinner. He did bring up his English upbringing most of the evening. He always has some amusing stories that involved his brothers.

 

There was an early show for the second seating diners tonight. Justin Miller was the guitar and mandolin wizard entertaining the folks. We opted to visit the Crows Nest one last time, and say goodbye to Gil, the head bartender. The regulars were all up there having a great time singing along with Buddy, the piano man.

 

We missed Margaret and Keith at dinner tonight, because for some reason, they joined Henk and Lucia at their table. They wanted to discuss their Mediterranean/Africa grand voyage in 2011 with them, since they will also be hosting that trip again. And tonight, the waiters had the Baked Alaska parade through the dining room. There are no more sparklers on the dessert. They used small glow wands instead. They are not quite the same, but at least there is no chance of anyone's hair catching on fire. Yes, this has happened in the past, especially with the ladies that used laquer-based hairspray. Who would have imagined that?

 

The evening ended with many good byes and best wishes for safe travels home. Just think, these waiters have to start all over tomorrow with mostly all new guests! We wished our favorite waiters well, and hoped we would see them again on another cruise. Seems we always do!

 

Once we are home, and back to our normal timezone, we shall do a follow-up on our thoughts on this trip. And we will let you know when and how our luggage arrives. Hope it makes it back in better shape than last year's bags did!

 

Bye for now,

 

Mary Ann & Bill

[Flyingfish]

Boy, am I going to miss you guys!!!! Until next time...

[johnlcruise]

Thanks for taking me (us) along on your Most Excellent Adventure. I looked forward to reading your reviews everyday. It always made my day.

[SeaRay48]

Thank you for sharing your cruise with us. You are so nice to bring us along every year on your adventures. Maybe we will meet in the Crows Nest on the 2012 World Cruise, and the drinks will be on me.:)

[CtheW0rld]

thanks for the tremendous effort. it has been a pleasure to read about your trip.

[zoomerica]

What a travelogue! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your trip.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to do this. You provided exceptional information about a variety of experiences.

 

I cannot wait for 2011 WC!

 

Jake

[doncarlos]

great work.....many thanks .............between you folks, paul and maria, and capt. albert we were with you all the way and are now really looking forward to our next prinsendam [ spite we have 2 cruises t'ween now and then ] ta b2b amazon nov/dec 2011.............

[jbhcw]

Thanks again for taking us along..I loved reading your posts..and am still amazed at the longer cruises..which I think I would love to do..but am stressing on being gone from home for 19 days:eek: Safe trip home to you both:)

[AFuncruiser]

Most enjoyable..Many thanks...

Dennis

[jotabecu]

Thanks a zillion!

[BoardwalkBabe]

I can't believe we've reached the end of your journey. Thank you so much for taking us along with you! Your reports were truly wonderful.

[WCB]

Report # 75 March 28, 2010 Sunday Finally Home!

 

Well, here it is Sunday, March 28th, and we have been home for a few days now. The mail has been sorted (nothing missing we think) and all bills have been accounted for. Mandatory grocery shopping was first on the list, along with a welcomed visit with Mom, who will be turning 102 this May.

 

The last day on the Prinsendam was like a whirlwind, thinking back on that day now. We have to say that disembarkation was handled quite well and in a timely manner. Even though our leave time was around 9am, that still left us enough time to enjoy a good breakfast in the dining room one last time. We made sure that we ordered a "stick-to-the-ribs" breakfast with omelettes with ham and bacon, since we knew there would be no airplane food.

 

We said our last goodbyes to the dining room staff, who had been so accommodating during our 70 day cruise. It was also sad to say goodbye to our excellent room stewards, as we left our cabin when our number was called. Firman was all smiles this morning, because he too, was going home. He had been gone for 9 months, so he was really homesick.

 

Our red number 2 tag was checked by the hostess, Ashley, as we scanned our cruise cards for the last time. With all of the people coming and going at the exit, we almost missed Captain Albert and Thom, the cruise director, saying goodbye to us. That was one thing we could depend on with Captain Halle.....he always welcomed the passengers onboard and said goodbye as we left. It was nice to see that Captain Albert kept this tradition alive.

 

Once in the terminal, one of us stayed in the porter line, while the other gathered the duffels. This is one part of the cruise experience where people get anxious and testy. They do not always know that there is a line to wait for a porter, who has to load your things to be taken all at once through the custom's checkpoint. We are not sure if this process was discussed at the disembarkation talk or not. But some people demanded to be first, and were annoyed when told to go to the back of the line. It happens on every long cruise. We were not in a hurry, since we had HAL's bus transfer to the Miami airport. They would not leave without us. That is one good thing about getting the complimentary air and transfers. They do WAIT. And this will be the last of this perk, because starting next year, there is no free air or transfer included with the Grand Voyages. Too bad!

 

It only took about 15 minutes for us to secure a porter, and load all four duffels on his hand truck. He asked if we had bodies packed in them!! We said, of course, we were taking our room stewards home!! Yes, the bags were heavy, and we compensated the nice porter well. We breezed through the checkpoint, and then dropped the bags off at the Fed Ex truck right outside the terminal door. If all goes according to schedule, we should see these bags in about 10 days. Once loaded in the back of the truck, we walked to the bus, got on with our hand carrys, then waited. And waited. There were two buses taking folks to the Miami airport, but we were held up because people were taking the wrong HAL dirty gold duffels by accident. Unless you thought to mark them with something different, they all look the same! Smart people put colorful ribbons or bright luggage straps on them, so were able to find them easily in the mess of luggage.

 

Our driver gathered all of the people that had earlier flights, and filled our bus. Some passengers lugged their HAL duffels into the bus, just so they would not lose them. The problem with that, was we could not take one seat each. Many of us had to ride for an hour with our heavy bags on our laps, but we survived! Tablemates Gerry and Gary were also on the same bus. It was nice to spend the extra time chatting with them, getting the chance to know them even better. Gosh, we sure got lucky when they joined our table!

 

We left the terminal by 10am, and the 45 minute ride to the Miami airport went smoothly. The weather was pleasant today, but still on the cool side for Florida this time of year. We did not complain at all, because there was no humidity. Even better, there were no storms from here to California, so the flight should be fine.

 

Checking in at the airport was easy. Way back in January, we had printed our itinerary confirming both flights. The info had a barcode on it that worked at the kiosk. All we had to do was enter our names, and BINGO, our boarding passes were printed. Since we were not checking in luggage, all we had to do was go through the security checkpoint, and we were set. So easy. It was not too busy this morning, so the line went quickly. Our shoes and jackets had to come off, and the computer had to be out of the carrying case. Small toiletries were in the correct size ziplock bags, and placed on top of our carryons. They barely even looked at them as they whizzed through the xray. Guess we passed the drill!

 

Our flight was on time, so we had over three hours to kill. We spent most of the time walking from one end of the terminal to the other, checking out the stores along the way. Nathan's, the hotdog place, was calling our names!! Last year, we were waiting for our flight home, and stopped there for a hotdog and sodas. So it seemed fitting to keep the tradition going one more time! The hotdogs were just as good as we had remembered. The fries were good too, except they seemed more like re-constituted mashed potatoes/turned into large crinkle cut fries. They were quite filling, so we should last until we get back to California.

 

We boarded the plane with no problem, but did not expect what happened next. An unfortunate lady, sitting across from us in the middle section of the plane, had an accident. While trying to assist an elderly man in getting his heavy roll-on bag in the overhead bin, the stewardess let go of the door, and the bag fell right on the lady's head. It took a few seconds before she realized what had happened. That was when she was overcome with tears and sobbing, while feeling for the bump that was surely growing on top of her head! The stewardess ran for a bag of ice, while calling for help. Since you never know the severity of head injuries, the other stewards called for the paramedics at the airport. It seemed to take forever for them to arrive.....probably an eternity for the poor injured lady! Once they arrived, the fellows did a thorough check of her situation, then asked if she wanted to go to the hospital. She insisted that she was OK, and they loaded her up with lots of ice bags. But before we left, the captain came back personally and asked if she wanted to go to a hospital. Again, she said no, just get me home! With that, we were off and up in the air shortly thereafter. The captain was able to make up the lost time, and get us to San Francisco on time. We did notice, that once the other passengers were ready to get their bags from the overhead compartment, the injured lady was on her feet instantly! Can't say we blame her! Luckily, she seemed fine, but would probably have a headache for a few days.

 

Since we only had our carryons, we decided to try the airbus from the terminal to the Bart Station. That sure was easy. We had a short walk from the gate and up an escalator to the small shuttle that went to the end of the line for Bart (Bay Area Rapid Transit). We got seats in the train, and had a hour's ride to the Walnut Creek station. It was nice not to have to worry about commute traffic, which can be bad this time of day (around 6pm). The train did fill up with the downtown stops, but emptied out at the Oakland stops.

 

We walked from the Walnut Creek station to one of our favorite restaurants, several blocks away. We could tell it was still spring, because the wind was very cool, and some of the trees were in bloom. We had a nice meal, then called our son to get a ride home. By 8:45pm, he drove up, and got us home by 9:30pm or so. Even though it was dark, we could tell that we had gotten significant rainfall since we had left in January. The hillsides were green, thick with healthy grass and weeds. Unfortunately, so were the weeds around the house! Our work will be cut out for us in the coming weeks!

 

Despite all of that, it was good to be home, and will enjoy re-living our experiences on the Prinsendam, especially the magic of seeing Antarctica. It exceeded our expectations, beyond what we could have ever imagined!!

 

We would like to thank everyone for their generous compliments during this cruise. It was a pleasure for us to share our thoughts on this cruise, good and not so good. When we get our duffels back, we will let you all know how they arrived, that is in one piece or not! And we will also include our final thoughts in regards to what makes a cruise Grand or not.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

[mrsltg]

Thank you, Bill and Mary Ann, for another wonderful trip! Welcome home, and enjoy the weeding...

[snookymom]

Thanks again & wish "Mom" happy birthday for us.:D

[LadyFurn]

Thank you so much! I have enjoyed it all, both good and bad! And mom is 102!! Wow!

[baroness51]

Thanks so much, where are you off to next? Can hardly wait. Love your post so much.

[OldCodger73]

Thanks Bill and Mary Ann for taking the time to take us along on your cruise through your fine writing. I've enjoyed this thread.

 

Am I correct, that although you really enjoyed the cruise, reading between the lines it seems that this cruise was more of a Less Than Grand Cruise than a Grand Cruise due the uncompleted dry dock work, some onboard heating and cooling issues and a cutback in staffing?

 

Looking forward to reading about your next cruise.

[John Cruise]

Really enjoyed reading your thoughts.

Thanks so much for taking the time and also the cost.

Without your blog our day will have a loss.

A decision to book is now a coin toss.

Look forward to your final comments and thouhts

Just like the Prinsendam, you both rock.

 

John Cruise

[janmcn]

Looking at a 45-day cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Amsterdam next May on the Prinsendam...BUT having heard "your stories" I'm wondering if we really want to commit to this long a voyage on it. Good itinerary though!

 

What are your thoughts about it all...room choices? Any suggestions there after having become quite familiar with its layout. Outside or Verandah...no suites in the budget for it...:(

 

Thanks.

We really enjoyed your wonderful descriptions! It's made us consider the same voyage...but not next year.

[Hflors]

Bill & Mary Ann- I loved reading your adventures on my lunch break every day. Now my lunch doesn't seem as bright as during your trip. :( Do you have any final thoughts on the cruise/ship?

 

Thanks again fro bringing us along for the "ride".

 

Helen

[ncgolferette]

Thank you so much for sharing your voyage on the Prinsendam with us!!!

Do you have any information on the new aft balconies?? We have one booked on the TA for May 2011. Again, thanks so much for sharing your adventure.