As we were in line to check in, Joanne from the front desk (the person who helped us so much in getting home last October) came running around and gave us wonderful welcome hugs, some of the other staff checking in other guests all kind of stopped and watched this unusual event. Let's just say check in was a breeze.
We arrived to our room to find a bouquet of flowers fit for a hotel lobby along with a bottle of Champagne and not the usual sparking wine they give away at functions but a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, nice. The note said it all "Welcome Home", signed by Henk and Christel Mensink and Shiv, the Head of Housekeeping. Yes, we are on our home away from home here. There are many things about cruising and cruising with Holland America that work for us, yes it is the itineraries, yes it is the size of ships, yes it is the quality of ships but above all is the people, both crew and guests that keep us coming back. The crew from the most senior of officers to the housekeeping crew that seem to really know and care for us. From our warm embraces from Henk (Hotel Director), Christel (Guest Services Manager), Shiv (Head of Housekeeping) and Tom (Dining Room Manager), Barbara (Travel Guide) all the way through to Angoro (Dining Room Steward) to Enrica (Beverage Server), to Dimas (the yum yum man) to Andri (Cabin Steward). Andri was our Cabin Steward from the past Grand Voyage, worried when we did not show up in Hong Kong. He was so relieved to see us. I know I am missing a few off this list but I think you get the idea.
On the guest side, well let's just say that there are many familiar faces, Jeff and Joy of course, who caught a rumor that we may be coming aboard, Ted and Ingrid, wonderful friends from past cruises, Carol Anne and Stone (they say hello to you, Leslee and Bob), Ken and Kathy, Dolly of course and Jeff Farschman and others that we know along also many familiar faces. We are guessing that there are a certain number of people that do these longer cruises and only on ships of this size therefore to run into the same people is quite possible. Anyway as you can see from reading this we are well take care of as we continue our travels to these incredible locations around this crazy, wonderful world.
Today after a wonderful breakfast, we only took a quick trip back to our favorite store at the V&A Waterfront, the African Trading Post and bought a bunch more stuff, note to ask Brent to make sure he brings the van when picking us up when we arrive back in Vancouver. Beautiful sail away from Cape Town as I write this looking out over the ocean, actually the cross between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, yes that is the Cape of Good Hope there on my right. What a wonderful world... We hope you continue along with us, here are some pictures of the past few days...
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