The Bridge Transition between the Sea and the Land of this blog.
So the few weeks between updates turned into a few months, time flies when you are connected dots and making plans. Now that we are back on board one of the beautiful Holland America Ships, the majestic Koningsdam, this is a great time to bridge the gap of some of our future plans.
I write this a few days after leaving our home port of Vancouver and if you are a Facebook friend you will note that this was the absolute worst embarkation ever, two hours from dropping the suitcases off to boarding the ship. I thought the hour and a half embarkation of the 2020 World Cruise was going to be the limit and that was a world cruise after all, so at a hundred plus days visiting so many countries, I thought kind of made sense. Here we are visiting one country and two hours is really unacceptable. Very poor planning by the Port of Vancouver and those who showed up outside their prescribed embarkation times. Right at the get go there should be time checkers reviewing the boarding passes and if they beyond say, ten minutes of your boarding time, then you wait comfortably in a seating waiting area until you are called. This would help all those that have difficulty standing for two hours. I know, I digress once again …
As mentioned, we have been on board a couple days and wow, this is one full ship. 2,600 guests and we used to about 1,000. This means lines everywhere, just must be patient. The ship itself is beautiful, the people, well a diverse crowd is how I would put it. We are thrilled to see Indra on board (Dining Room Manager), we were with him during the Voyage of the Vikings this past summer. Indra got us a great fixed table for dinner, so wonderful.
We are six days crossing the Pacific to the Hawaiian islands, six days visiting the islands then six days back with a stop in Victoria. I will post here as we go on.
The bridge news I mention is that we have purchased a stateroom on wheels, aka, a travel trailer and we will be doing some comprehensive land based tours starting within a week of returning from this cruise. So we are essentially shifting from the surf to the turf as it were.
We picked up our trailer on March 6th and did a 3 week shake down tour of Vancouver Island just before this cruise. Andiamo, her name, is currently sitting with the dealer for some minor fixes before we commence on May 8th. I will include some pics of both this adventure as well as some from our shake down tour.
We invite you to travel along with us as we move from our cruise ship comfort zone over to the unfamiliar road adventure. This next chapter should be interesting and exciting both. We invite you to come along as we continue our travels.
From the Koningsdam in the middle of the Pacific, somewhere… A few pics, hope you enjoy…
Visiting cruise ship friends, Dot and Ed.
At the Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge
Riding the False Creek Ferry over to Granville Island
Oh Boy, the dreaded two hour wait.
On Board.
And we are away…
Our room…
Beautiful World Stage.
Wine tasting.
Our traditional formal night pic
Dutch Cafe
Cheers
Cruise and travel director, Betty Ann
Captain Frits Carsjens
The team
With Indra
On the road again ……M&S
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