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Ocean Liner History and Stories from the Sea, Past and Present. With an In Depth focus on Holland America Line

Category: Captain’s Log (page 3 of 127)

Day 4, 2025 Dec. 20: At Sea, sailing towards Madeira.

December 21, 2025 / / 1 Comment

We sailed last night at 18.00 hrs. from Lisbon, slowly moving down the river and as it was dry weather everybody could have a good view  of the “singing” bridge, the Vasco Da Gama statue and Belem Tower. The latter is where the pilot disembarks and that gives the option to speed up to stabelizer speed,  10 – 12 knots, and sail comfortably down the river. Halfway down the estuary the ship started to move again and has continued to do so for the night and the remainder of today.  The ships movement did reduce somewhat by evening as the 2nd (interfering) wave field diminished in influence but it remained wobbly. Tomorrow will not be a problem as  Funchal is located at the South side of the island of Madeira and that is in the lee side of most bad weather. Very light winds are so far forecast for our call and the breakwater is very long and large to keep all the swell out.

Today we had a full day at sea, including the World club gathering (repeater or loyalty party) and a formal night. Cunard runs an excellent lecture program with 3 lecturers so far rotating on this cruise.  Two of them were very good, and one (claiming to do something maritime but only one talk and then talked about Madeira wine) not so good as he read his whole lecture and was not dressed respectfully (no jacket, but a sloppy shirt) towards the audience.

Female Conductor, Mrs. Farnham. started out with directing theatre shows in London and from there progressed to choirs and orchestra’s worldwide.

So we went to  the 2nd & 3rd one. Nbr 2 was a Female Orchestra Conductor, who talked about how to become one, and the trials of making it as a female in a male dominated world.  When she started in 1991, 1.4% of the world’s conductors were female. Now it is up to approx. 5% and she was running classes to get more Ladies in front of the orchestra, instead of in the orchestra. A fascinating world that most people do not know anything about. Next one was a gentleman who had spent his life in Drugs Enforcement and, (this being his 2nd lecture) went from the legal business around the work, to the actual catching of drug smugglers accompanied with what went right and what went wrong stories.

The Christmas market in the Queens Lounge from 10..00 to 12.00. Not exactly very busy, but then the prices were not really “market value”.

Then we had to run to the Queens Lounge were our classical pianist was giving his second recital. This time with works of known composers (Lizt, Handel, Sebelius) but also lesser known composers (Nazareth, Bortkiewicz) and that brought a wonderful experience.  I got somewhat irritated at Housekeeping as they reset the lounge 5 minutes before the recital started (the floor had been cleared earlier for the Christmas Market = a sales effort from the shops and beverage) and continued finishing off after the concert had already started. Their supervisor had poked his nose in when they started but did not stay to ensure that the stewards stopped when the concert started.  Leadership takes a lot of training, even with a White Star program.

The Queens Lounge, still with the open dancefloor space recently vacated by the Christmas Market. Pianist Robert Colville is seen here still practising. Housekeeping moved in 10 minutes before the recital started and all guests were moved to the dance floor. Nothing wrong with that, but why start so late and thus not finish on time ?.

Then time for a soft ice in the Lido and back to the cabin as it was time to write yesterday’s blog.

Time to dress came at 18.00 hrs. as we choose to go to the 2nd party at 18.45 hrs. The first formal night was color themed Black & White, this second one does not have a theme and the third one will be Red & Gold.  So big boss decreed that we should have a different formal outfit for each night and hence for tonight it was blue formal for me blue jacket and blue cumberbund, to match her ladiesships blue dress.

In the grey mists of time Cunard held 3 parties, The Welcome on Board / Captains Intro party, then the World Club party  for the various levels of repeat guests (Gold, platinum, Diamond , achieved at by counting the days) and  also a “Senior Officers party”. When we went on the Queen Anne we found out that these 3 parties had been merged into one. Not nice for those who were looking forward to as many free drinks as possible, but understandable as each time they had to clear the Lido deck (section under the Dome) at 3 pm. in the afternoon to set things up for a party, to much annoyance of those on the sun loungers and/or watching the afternoon movie. If you have to do that 3 times in a 10 day cruise, then you get a lot of un-happy campers.

Wold Club party in the Queens Lounge. See above what a beautiful lounge this is for a party as long as not everybody insists on sitting down. The other 3 Ladies are the World Club loyalty team and they also sell cruises from an office on Deck 2.

World Club party in the Queens Lounge. See 2 pictures higher up, what a beautiful lounge this is for a party as long as not everybody insists on sitting down. Thus this evening we had this combined party again in 2 sittings and with literally everybody coming through the line dressed in Formal. What was nice to see is that more and more men are moving away from the standard black “Penguin Suit” and are starting to experiment with different color jackets. I have about 15  of them in various colors to tune in with my wife’s dress color choice and also because I simply refuse to wear an “undertaker suit” if I am going to a festive formal occasion.

So we had the chance to have a little chat with Captain Sharples, who turned out to be a good conversationist (not always the case, even with cruise ships captains) , then grabbed a drink and moved into the crowd. Those who could stand, did stand, leaving the seats graciously to those who could only sit.  It was irritating again to see that the invited officers were hovering around the front of the dance floor and were waiting for the guests to come over to talk to them, instead of being gracious hosts and mingle in the crowd.  Hence armored with a glass of wine Lesley & I marched over to a trio of junior officers who were “hiding” as far from the guests as possible and gave them a bit of training of how to entertain. They sort of freaked out when they found out my background but with a few stories and some Q&A they started to relax and enjoy themselves.

Then it was time to for Captain’s introduction which went in sequence of: first Chief Engineer ( he who controls the throttle, does control the ship), the Chief Human Resources Officer (all cruise ship companys have been upgrading the status of H.R as the well being of the crew is becoming more and more important), The Hotel Director (the only Lady among the staff), the Staff Captain (who was introduced as captain, to confuse things) and then the Guest Ambassador (who administrates the loyalty system) to introduce the guest on board with the most sailing days. This lady had clocked up 1200+ days since 1991. Her most beloved ship was the Queen Elizabeth 2 but she liked the new Queens as well.  It seems that the older ships, built as Ocean Liners, had a form of character that made them favourites what ever challenges they had when sailing. I still come across HAL guests who remember Rotterdam V (now in Rotterdam) as their favourite  while the new ships  have much better facilities. But they lack character and style. On those older ships, the atmosphere on board dictated how you went about your cruise and how everybody interacted. But those days of ” everyday sea day is a formal day except sundays” are long gone.

When coming down from dinner, we bumped into the Captain and his wife who were going to retrieve their 3 children from the Youth Club. They were also having to deal with the magic of a Youth Club on board. Day 1: they want to go home, Day 2: they will go home when asked, Day 3: they refuse to come out as they are “too busy”, Day 4 and onwards is drama and tantrums near closing time.  (I was once called out as Captain on such an occasion, when the mother in question accused the Youth Director about “brainwashing” her children, as they refused to come out, and neither Security nor the Hotel Director knew how to deal with it.  I managed to talk the kids around (not the mother) by promising a bridge tour with ice cream (which we did anyway each cruise in those days. Then the next day the father threw a tantrum as he wanted a bridge tour as well but could get not one as the (free) tours were fully booked.  ———–Working with people is wonderfull————–  So, we as Captain & family had another chat and I was drawn in to volunteer to take photos with the captain by passing guests.

Then a mysterious bottle popped up in the cabin. Sparking Wine, but why ?? No card, no nothing. Turned out that this was a gift on “repeater day” for those with a higher number of sailing days.

Dinner was a busy affair as a larger number of guests had decided that this was THE night to order A-la-Carte (like we did yesterday with Dover sole) so all the head waiters and the Maitre where in full swing to prepare, Dover Sole, Lamb, Beef Wellington and Chateaubriand at the respective tables. But with being on TOP and have the best trained staff in this Queens Grill of all the restaurants, it all went smoothly without hiccups.

Then we went to the show. Tonight the 4 singers of the cast were giving a performance focusing on Songs of the Movies (James Bond, Abba =the movie etc.) This was advertised in the daily program with having a back up of an 18 piece orchestra (so bascially all the musicians on board) but there were only 9 on stage. Still very good, but why mislead the guests in promising more than you can deliver ?.   The show was very good though. All the other Cast,  Entertainers and family had parked themselves in the front of the stage (in the least occupied seats) and they made enough noise to make the theatre feel completely full.

Tomorrow we are  in Funchal, Madeira. We will dock at the breakwater and with us will be the ms Ventura (P&O cruises) which will be with us in all the next ports. Lesley knows the wife of the Chief Engineer on the Ventura as they were at sea together in the grey mists of time, so she is trying to arrange a meet-up.

Weather for tommorrow: Sunny in the morning, rain possible in the afternoon with maximum temperatures  around 18oC / 64oF.

 

Day 2, 2025 Dec. 18: At Sea.

December 19, 2025 / / 7 Comments

We had indeed a bumpy night, with the ship being “attacked” with swell from 2 sides, creating a sort of swaying movement (the official name is yawning) that no stabelizer can correct. But in the course of the morning the wind started to subside and went down to about 35 knots and the North West swell eased off somewhat.

Our course is the red line and you can see that we started in the purple. That is 55 knots of wind.  The light green is about 20 knots. (Courtesy of the British Royal Meterlology Service. at Bracknell)

After breakfast again served by our butler, the ever efficient Ludmilla, we went out to to tell the concierge that the DVD player still had not been fixed. She was convinced that it was, as “the electrician” had been to visit. Obviously she had not absorbed anything of what I told her yesterday. So her phone came out again and  she was going to phone the Butler again. I stopped her and reminded her of what happened yesterday. Then we went back to the cabin to find Ludmilla , who had a solution. From somewhere she had conjured up a “new” DVD player but now with a 110 volt lead that fitted safely in the wall socket. Problem solved and kudo’s to Ludmilla. I will write her a commendation via the “White Star service” recommendation card system.

So what is the morale of this story: if you get flustrated with how long it takes sometimes to get something in the cabin repaired…… this might be why?  This is not just Cunard, it is similar for all companies. Our DVD player repair request went via Ludmilla who speaks -Columbian- English -, to the concierge who speaks -Bosnian- English, to the Front office who speaks -Philippino- English, involved a (Croation ???) Electrician, not even to think about houseleeping and front desk supervisors who might speak other forms of English again.  So they were all beeping each other and delegating from one department to another. Luckily my (retired) stripes still account for something and that kept the pressure up.I think that Ludmilla was able to “surf” on that momentum to find, and was given, an another player. The main thing is that for coming cruises, the DVD player works, if future guests would like to use it. I have done my good deed for the cruise.

Then we went to the library to see how the books were doing. Cunard maintains a very nice section of maritime books and I wanted to see if there was a new one that I did not know about. But no, all 75 were already in my collection. In time honored Cunard tradition all the seats in the library were taken up and mostly occupied by guests who were having their morning nap. There are also 6 internet stations there, who were mainly in use by younger guests (not asleep), with one gentleman working on 4 devices at the same time. (mobile phone, tablet, laptop and the library desk top) That will cost him a fair bit as the internet is not cheap with Cunard. ( $ 28,-  a day if bought by the day for emaiI, facebook and whats app , and $ 22,–if bought for the cruise for one device  = $ 264 for 12 days)   There are also packages for 4 devices and a premium package that includes streaming, voice calling and text but these are much more expensive. Depending on your repeater status you get some money off. We as platinum people received a discount of $ 80,–  The internet is on average very good, except at prime times (09.00 – 10.00 hrs and 15.00 to 17.00 hrs.) when the whole ship checks their email. Thus they still have to do something with the bandwith on board. Maybe they are doing that now as they were installing a new pod outside our cabin door today.

A new thing – fresh from the press – lesley got from her Travel ageant- is that on some cruises Cunard is offering what Holland America has been doing for a while,  a  “Have it All” package, whereby certain things, like the drinks package and the gratutities are included. Both are very expensive with Cunard and thus most guests pay them out of their onboard credit. Or with the gratuities, take them off (long lines at the pursers desk on the first day). So by following in the footsteps of HAL, Cunard will save the guests a lot of aggrevation  and discontent.

The shops sell duty free liquor and the prices are very good. Almost compatible with the English ferries going to the Continent. So we got 2 bottles of Bombay Bramble Gin which is a favourite of Lesley and very hard to get ashore in the UK.  We can pick it up on the day before the cruise ends. What happened to the days when the Duty Free was delivered to the cabins…………………

In the ship dance class was going on again, arts and crafts, shops were open, today they were plugging selected christmas gifts, and the rest of the public rooms were heaving. Everybody had to get out of the cabins for the cabin stewards to service and thus everybody was sitting all over the ship.

At noon time, the captain informed us that with keeping up the speed to 18-20 knots (15 knots required for the next morning) he would be able to arrive late evening in Lisbon to give us all a quiet night. And not having too much swell at the entrance, so he could get in. With the caveat that when he made the turn into estuary of the Tagus river, we all had to sit down as the ship might make some un-expected moves. The ship had to turn through the wind, which might cause the ship to list and then would get the swell on the stern  when sailing into the estuary entrance. That swell angle can  make the ship yawn (“lurch” in land lubber language) He would come back 15 minutes before he was going to make the manuver so we all could be ready.

The grill area by day time.

We like to have lunch in the Queens Grill and the service is very good; but afterwards I have to make an expedition to the Lido restaurant  for a soft ice cream. Most British company’s have soft ice, self serve machines, where you can fill your bowl or cornet to your hearts content, without the “expert interference” of a cook.  It is not good for weight control but Cunard does have the best soft ice on the seven seas. (When compared to Celebrity, Saga, P&O and Azamara) My own beloved company HAL does not even come close as they have frozen yoghert and the machines are quite often not adjusted properly.  Their saving grace is that they have a lot more condiments and sides, than Cunard, a lot of variations you can use to “top up” your ice cream to a real lunch time delight.

Part of the Commodore Club by day time. It is designed to give an Gentleman’s —- ships captains— club feeling with dark woods and ships models at the entrance.

For pre dinner drinks we like to go to the Commodore Club on Deck 10 forward. Last night and this evening it was not overly busy, no doubt courtesy of the moving ship. This is my favourite crowsnest as it is stylish and the service is efficient. Here Cunard has made an improvement. Since the 1990’s (and maybe even before) nibbles (peanuts and crips) were always “on request”. Now they come standard with the drinks; saves us having to remember to ask for it and saves the steward an extra journey to get the bowls when we forgot.

The Commodore Club by night. The grey hair and spectacles gentleman, seen above the railing is one of the two Resident Piano players who play during cocktail hours and also later on in the evening. This gentleman ran a sort of small quiz while playing. Tonight all his tunes had “flower” titles, or another common denominator. After 4 songs the question then was, what linked all four songs played.

While happily enjoying dinner in the Queens Grill, the Captain did come on the tannoy shortly after 20.00 hrs. with the urgent request to remain seated.  Now in Captains language, an “urgent” request is different than an “order”, so I knew it was not going to be that bad. And indeed, we only made one roll of about 3 degrees and had a few “bumps in the stern” and then we were inside. By 20.45 we sailed passed Belem Tower and picked up the pilot at 21.00 hrs.. Then sailed to the berth at Alcantara, swung around and were docked by 22.00 hrs. Giving all the guests and crew (and especially those guests and crew who had their cabins near the bow) a quiet and peaceful night.  Some crew experienced floodings on the lower decks, broken pipes, no doubt due to the movement of the ship, but it was all clean water. But that is life on a cruise ship that is 20 years old, the pipework becomes challenging.

We decided not to go to the show, a Flamenco show, but called it a day. Tomorrow we are not planning to go ashore but to have a good look at the inside of the ship. The weather in Lisbon should be nice, especially later in the day. A bit of rain in the morning, followed by sun shine in the afternoon and temperatures around 14 – 16oC / 57 – 61oF.

 

 

Day 1, 2025 Dec. 17: At Sea.

December 18, 2025 / / 1 Comment

And Yes, it was wobbly during the night but the captain explained at lunch time that he was trying to keep up the speed as much as possible and had been running between 18 to 20 knots at times. This with the intention of getting to Lisbon as early as possible. The earlier he would be, the easier it would to get into the river Tagus, and from there into the shelter to the dock.  He did not explain that there is a low sand bar at the entrance of the river and if the swell gets too high, this swell builds up over the bar. This results in a higher top of a wave but also into a deeper trough which reduces the depth of the fairway considerable. That might mean you cannot go in even when the weather itself allows it. This is very hard to explain to guests without a 30 minute dissertation on it, so I can understand that he kept it neutral.

Captain William Sharples Commander of the ms Queen Victoria

The Captain is William Sharples and is somebody I do not know as he is from the generation after me, (I am getting old……) so I never saw him at the simulator or met him in a port somewhere.  But at least he is trying to communicate and explain what is going on.  So I expect that tonight, if the waves allow, he will speed up again, a bit of inconvinience late at night but will not be as bad as cancelling a port. The local authorities in Lisbon have already announced that if the ship comes in early, they will not come out early, so going ashore will still be at the regular arrival time.

So what are we doing this cruise, Southampton – Lisbon (19 Dec.),  Funchal (21 Dec.),  Santa Cruz de Tenerife (22 Dec.), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (23 Dec.), Arrecife (24 Dec.), At sea (25,26,27 Dec) – Sout- hampton (28 Dec.) As you can see, Christmas and Boxing Day are during the last 3 sea days.

Going back to our cruise.  Breakfast in the cabin  is possible until 10 am. and is setup in the cabin by the Butler. This level cabin, does not have a high table for eating from, so it is set up on the small cocktail table.  But the breakfast came on time and was of good quality.

Our Christmas tree

A most peculiar item arrived in the cabin last night. This seems to be our christmas tree. It is a small fir tree but no baubles nor even a bit of angel hair to make it festive. The cabins, one class up, which are the named suites like Laconia and Carinthia, have a full size tree full with decorations. So  we seem to be entitled to a tree much smaller but without a single decoration………….. The mind boggles.

This is our cabin 6109, see below, located midships right off the center staircase. So in bad weather (with 5 decks above and 9 decks below) it is about the most stable area of the ship. The bathroom is made up of two sections. A wash basin area with toilet and then a separate area for the shower and the bathtub. Next to it is the walk-in wardrobe.  The wash basin area has a door from the sitting room area to reach the toilet and a door also from the bedroom area.  None of the cabins in Queens Grill class have  a complete separation between the sitting area and the bedroom area; this is only the case with the very top suite.  The entrance has a desk to the left and a small bar with basin to the right. There is a glass storage area and a fridge. With the cabin comes complimentary (standard) drinks, still and sparkling water, and 2 bottles of spirits.  This is refreshed every day by the Butler. It also comes with fresh flowers but for our cabin this has been reduce to a single flower in a cabin. But a long lasting flower. Then there is the option for fresh fruit.  But this is only on request. It is not offered.  So if you ever book a cruise, with this class cabin, check the list of amenities in the Cabin booklet “Voyage Guide” or the Cunard website. (The same goes for  borrowing DVD’s,  see story below, no note in the cabin, so you have to know.  Then the menus for the coming day for the Grills is given to the cabin, so you can scrutinize it at your leisure.  There is a elaborate in- room-service menu but I have not been able to find out if is the same for all cabins or that the availability depends on the cabin class.

Our cabin from a Cunard photo.

Being a sea day meant lectures in the Royal Court Theatre, so we debated to go and see them and then realized that Cunard broadcasts them live and runs a replay on the tv. And, at least today, the lectures from last cruise were also still running on the tv.

So when went for a walk instead. As is similar for most ships, the public rooms are on Deck 3 and 4, apart from the Lido restaurant (deck 9), the kiddies place on Deck 10 and then the Grills on Deck 11.   Between the grill restaurants is a small lounge reserved for Queens & Princess guests with a desk occupied by the concierge. We went to see her, as we had found a challenge in the cabin. The DVD player was not connected. Cunard, at least on the Victoria, has not upgraded their TV system yet. So you cannot see your On Board Account on the tv., nor have an tv entertainment system with a large movie library. A few movies (english, japanese, german, spanish) run as a loop, but not continiously,  and then there are a number of news channels. (Weather depending)  so when the ship came out, a Dvd player was installed and you could get DVD’s from the concierge.

I think that sometime in the past, quite a while ago, a guest took out the adapter (2 pin european to 2 pin American) for own use and did not put it back. Since then the Butler has tried to fix it but did not get anywhere as she ran into onboard “Red Tape”. As that is the same within every company I knew at once what was going on. The Butler is part of Housekeeping, so she called Housekeeping but they do not have adapters as they are kept by the Front Desk / Pursers desk./ Guest services. Housekeeping calls the Pursers office, who says ———- it is your cabin, and thus your problem. And thus nothing happens.

So I went on  a mission to get an adapter. I went to see the concierge, a lovely lady from Bosnian background and explained the conundrum. (11.00 hrs.) She at once called the butler to fix it. I saw the butler after lunch, who of course explained that she could not do anything, she had tried before. So back to the concierge to defend the butler. Now I explained who I was before retirement and also explained what is in the Carnival Safety Management System and directives, e.g. that “adapter control” lies with the Pursers Desk. She went on the phone again. The message delivered must have come through somewhat garbeled as a gentleman from the Pursers Desk showed up with a European extension lead and a adapter from European to English British. 10 for effort, 0 for results.  He left and shortly after, a lady from the front desk showed up, accompanied by the ships electrician to fix the problem.  The electrician looked at the DVD player and said, “you only need a adapter, there is nothing wrong”……………. Yes we knew that. Electrician and Pursers desk Lady disappeared again with the promise to get the right adapter.  When we came back from dinner, there was an adapter on the table, delivered by the Butler. But the story does not end here, so the saga will continue to tomorrow.

Dance Class in the Queens lounge. They show it at the same time on the screen in the lounge so everybody can see the dance team at all times. Topic today was the Cha Cha Cha.

Leaving the cabin, we passed by the Queens Lounge where a dance class was in full swing and then to the shops. The ship has two atriums, the big one in the center From Deck 1 to Deck 3 that is where you come on board, and then there is a small one behind the Royal Court Theatre near the bow. This one goes 2 decks up. On deck 2 there is on portside the casino and on the right side the Golden Lion Pub. One deck up are the  shops all around this open top of the atrium.  The location of these amenities  here is of course on purpose, every day, those guests going to see the show or lecture, will have to walk through one of these two area’s and might thus be tempted to have a closer look.

The staircase in the small atrium with the staircase going up from deck 2 to deck 3 (and going back down as well). If I would get a dollar for each photo taken on these steps, then my wife would be very happy.

I think due to the wobbly weather, the Golden Lion Pub was half empty (normally it is always full, often with people who camp out there all day long) and so we decided on a pub lunch. To our utter amazement Cunard had decided to “re-imagine” the pub lunch with the aim to raise regular pub-grub to a level of cullinary heights. Which heights Mr. Michel Roux, world famous chef, wanted to achieve I do not know apart from the fact that you now have to pay for half of the dishes. Lesley had Fish and Chips with the strangest batter we have ever seen. I decided on the Ploughmans lunch and I think if a regular Ploughman would see it, he would have run out the door, cursing, screaming or sobbing, depending on his philosphical state of mind.   So we will not even dare to go for the paid dishes.  But they have beer on draft, and also Cunard now has its own beers, a pilsener, a ruby amber and a stout. (= a sort of Guiness but not as dense) They offer this also as a Flight of Beer, with 3 small glasses, and charge the price of 1 pint $ 7.50  which is reasonable.  I prefer a Guiness over the Cunard Stout but the Red Amber pale ale is very nice.

A full Queens Lounge for the afternoon recital. Please note the banners hanging from the ceiling in black and white, denoting the colour theme for this formal night.

Then it was time to move from English Culture to the music world and listen to a piano recital in the Queens Lounge.  On the keyboard Maestro Robin Collvill. he advised that he had been around for a while (playing piano for about 70 years) and still learning. We listened to a series of pieces varying from Grieg, to South American Tango and back to French impressionists. Very, very good and soothing to listen to, as could be seen from a number of the grey haired crowd who where revisiting former concerts……………..

Today is the first formal night, called Black and White. The 2nd one is formal- any colour goes and the 3rd one is Red and Gold. Also Cunard, while trying to keep up tradition, is finding it harder to keep the dress code going. Hence we received a special letter from the Captain, asking the guests to conform with the dress code or restrict themselves to the non dress code area’s. ( deck 9 with Lido and Wintergarden, deck 2 with the Golden Lion and the show lounge)  We love dressing up and have brought a different formal outfit for each formal night.  But this being Cunard and a mainly British crowd, (the germans are coming for christmas and new year, but they also dress up) 90% was dressed to the hilt. Even the Golden Lion crowd was predominantly in a Whistle-and-Flute….

Cunard christmas decorations are very nice and in the sb. forward corner of the Queens lounge they have setup a small christmas village.

While the wobbly weather continues during the evening, it will lessen tomorrow morning when we are past Cape Finistere on the North West corner of the Iberian Peninsula, the Commodore Club (Crows Nest on Holland America and Observation Lounge on many other companies) was half empty so we had ample seats to choose from, to listen to the Lady Piano player. And yes, all guests were dressed according to the Captains request.

Then after our usual good dinner in the Queens Grill, we went to the show lounge to see a performance from Aled Jones, This guy used to be a very famous choir boy singer (with 11 Cd’s) and managed after his voice broke to transform into a good classical singer (now up to 42 CD’s). I do not know famous he is in the USA, but he is in the UK, presents classical programs on the Radio and this winter he is also in the musical ELF in London. His show was very good and kept us well entertained. He is transfering in Lisbon to the Queen Anne, so he is keeping his fingers crossed that the Captain’s plan of “running away from the bad weather” is working out. I get the impression that most of the guests on board are repeat guests so with them the need to see Lisbon once again is not so much of an urge.

We will have another wobbly night and by tomorrow the wind is supposed the go down from 50 knots to about 35 knots and the swells should settle as well. At the moment we have two wave systems interferring with each other, which on occasion, causes the ship “to lurch” as stabelizers can only deal with the sideways motion (and are doing that very well)  The Captain will keep the pedal to the metal as much as possible to get into Lisbon before the wave system comes too far down and makes sailing into the Tagus River impossible.

 

Day 0, 2025 Dec. 16: Southampton. Joining the Queen Victoria.

December 17, 2025 / / 6 Comments

My Lord and Master had decided in her infinite wisdom that we were going away for Christmas on a cruise. A combined Christmas and New Years cruise was not possible as we had also booked New Year (3 nights) at our favourite hotel where we have been going for 7 years now, and if we would cancel we cannot get another booking (at least not in the same large room) as the hotel is very popular. It is the only New Years Hotel far and wide that insists on Black Tie for New Years Eve and does not allow bookings for just one evening. Thus you get a sort of community and atmosphere that is “all in the same boat” for 3 days.

The ms Queen Victoria, sister to the ms Queen Elizabeth. They are an enlarged Vista Class of Holland America, what HAL calls the Signature Class. But with the Queens & Princess Grills diningrooms up top, instead of just one restaurant, the lay-out is considerably different.

The number of ships sailing from the UK and who do a Christmas-only cruise is very limited and thus the decision was that we were going on the Queen Victoria. Not directly our favourite choice since the double – not so good–  experience on the Queen Anne (see the write ups on this website). However the Queen Victoria has a nice lay-out and as an enlarged Holland America Vista/Signatuture Class ship it is some what smaller (2000 guests) then the Queen Anne (HAL Pinnacle Class but with 500 extra guests). To add to the festive feeling it was decided that we would travel in the Queens Grill and we booked a Penthouse (Q3) which is in the center of the ship. With a cruise going to the Canaries it is not directly a good a idea to have a cabin in the bow or the stern, even while we are better sailors than most of the guests on board. 40 years of wobbly weather training never leaves you. It is the same like swimming or bicycling, the routines always remain with you.

As the trains in england are highly un-reliable to travel if you need to be somewhere on time, we drove down to Southampton the day before. We had an arrangement with the Hilton hotel for a “cruise arrangement”. Stay overnight and then have parking rights for the 12 night cruise. Cost is about 5 pounds a night for the parking and the whole arrangement includes a taxi to and from the ship.

I have stayed a lot in Hilton hotels during my sailing life and I always found the service very good with nice rooms. So we were surpised that the rooms in this Hilton do not have small fridges. We got 2 bottles of still water but they were warm from standing in a warm room for one or more days. Why NO in England ?, but YES in the USA and YES in the Netherlands?  Why will remain most likely a mystery forever. It is even stranger if one takes into account that Hilton Garden Inn, that is one step down from regular Hilton, do have them………………….. The dinner in the in-house restaurant was good and to my delight they had a least 4 different craft beers on tap, so that made the evening.

Thus the next morning we were picked up by the taxi at the arranged time and driven to the ship. Cunard has a priority check inn, for Queens and Princess Grill and Diamond & Platinum level repeaters. It is just that the separation line stops just outside the terminal entrance. Thus if a long line is forming (and it always does, before they open the doors at 11.00) you have to push yourself forward to get to the “priority  ‘line”.  So we did.

A local brass band playing in the Atrium bringing everybody in the Christmas mood. Note the nice Christmas decorations. Cunard is one of the best in the industry for this.

Either Cunard is the most suspicious company there is, or very focussed on support, but our booking paper was checked 6 times before we made it to the jet walkway; and then scanned when coming on board. Boarding started at 11.30 and being first, it went very smooth. Then you are told to go to your muster station first, before you can go to your cabin. (Top cabins were already done, the rest of the cabins by 13.00 hrs.) For us that worked out fine as our station C, is aft of the atrium and so we took the stern lifts to deck 6 and then walked forward. On embarkation day the midships staircases are full with those coming on board and totally focused on doing that. There are bell boys and lift operators to help but it is still chaotic. It seems to only the very experienced cruisers walk forward or aft and take those lifts which are hardly used at all on boarding day.

Cunard staff were standing at the entrance with baskets of chocolate sweets to hand out. A very nice guesture but hardly functional if you are pulling a trolley, still holding your embarkation papers and carrying a coat or a holdall. So guests stopped right in the entrance, to put their papers away, dropped their trolley and then peering with bi focal or tri focal lenses, scrutinized what was on offer and then to pick one or two or three, put away in the pocket and picked up the trolley again. This all to the annoyance of security who tried to get people away from the gangway. With our first flow it was not much of a problem but when the rest of general boarding started it was quite interesting to observe. This was all accompanied by a 4 piece brass band playing in the Atrium with jazzy type of Christmas music. Luckily the atrium is 3 stories high and thus the very loud sound dispersed nicely up into the ship. They were relieved by the in house guitar player and hence there was music during most of the embarkation period,.

A local gospel chair performing in the Queens Lounge. A pity it was such a short performance as they were really good.

Then it was time to go for lunch and get our table assignment for the duration of the cruise. When coming back to the cabin, the first 2 suitcases where there and the Lady Butler Ludmila and Mark the Cabin steward arrived. The cabin includes free drinks, replaced every day, when empty. ….  Then the cabin steward found the 3rd suitcase, so we could unpack everything. This Penthouse sized cabin (Q3) has a walk-in wardrobe with enough storage space for a month or longer. (and then there are 2 more secret drawers under the bed, which on most ships are full with the spare linens of the cabin steward, but not here) So far we are very impressed with both of them, with the professionalism displayed. Lesley then went for the 15.00 hrs. Gospel singing by a choir from the shore side with a performance at 14.00 hrs. and 15.00 hrs. They were very good but only sang for 20 minutes. I do not really understand why Cunard does not try to make it a bit longer, as these groups must be used to 45 minutes sets like all entertainers. We had the same on the Queen Anne maiden voyage when an Invictus – military band played for 15 minutes and then never to be seen again. The mind somewhat boggles.

Cunard, welcome on board for the first night. Real champagne, chocolates and canape’s. 

With the cabin comes a bottle of champagne (real champage, not sprankling wine) as  a welcome on board greeting and then also daily canape’s. In the meantime there was the boatdrill announcements by the captain and then a sailaway message with the obligatory “wash your hands” part. What was new, and I think very good, was that the Captain was requesting guests not to pile into the lifts with too many people, as standing close together is a very good way of passing a flu bug on. Hopefully they will all remember, we certainly will, although we have planned not to use lifts at all this cruise. With making soo many cruises in a bi-monthly cycle, evidence of doing so is growing considerably around the middle;  and we still have a significant number of them to nake in the coming in the future. So daily staircase exercise it will be.

The champagne and camapes served as cocktails in the cabin and this was followed by a very nice dinner in the Queens Grill. Compared to the Queen Anne service was much better, not rushed and with attention to detail, and the head waiters had time to come around for  a little courtesy chat, which is always appreciated. Apart from showing that the crew is friendly it is also an excellent way to find out what is going on and to stop a “challenge” from becoming a “problem”.  The Grills have open sitting and by going in at 19.45 there is ample time to make the 21.45 2nd show. That was a revue show  “Be our Guest” and it was very good. Cunard has not yet entered the stage of LED background lighting yet, so they still had to use some (marginal) props but it came with a 7 piece live orchestra and that is something you do not see very often anymore on the ships.

On departure the Captain had warned that it was going to be a wobbly night with another depression rolling in from the Atlantic. When I checked yesterday it looked like that we could sail southbound away from the area and would have reasonably good weather. (Lets say no more than 5 meter waves). But the ships sailing 1 to 3 days after us are going to have great fun with 30 feet waves rolling into the Channel.  Not nice for Christmas. We will see tomorrow if the weather is following the forecast. One thing is sure, it will be raining all day.

 

2025 Oct. 20; Inverrie to Kingairloch to Oban, Scotland.

October 21, 2025 / / 8 Comments

Today was sightseeing most of the day. Ending up in Kingarloch at 14.00 hrs. until 17.00 hrs and  then a quick joint down Loch Linnhe to the anchorage in Oban. (On the map just under the words Google Maps)

This morning around 07.00 hrs. the ship picked up anchor and sailed south along the magnificent Scottish coast line, dipped in and out Loch Sunartin, went through the Sound of Mull up into Loch Linnhe and into “Loch a Choire” for an afternoon call.

Strontian is an area of outstanding beauty as much of the Highlands are and worthwhile a visit. Certainly on a day as to day with sunshine and no rain. (Photo: unknown source on the internet)

As usual there was wildlife galore, with a very happy naturalist Bryan, as he saw a Minkey Whale that did not directly dive so all wild life lovers had their day already made. Then there was the small diversion into Loch Sunartin which is very scenic. The local claim to fame here is being the “town of Strontium”; real name Strontian and located up the hills just a bit away from the loch. The mineral (on the Perodic Table) named Strontium was discovered here, when people were delving for lead. A village was then built to house the miners needed and this villlage was called Strontian.  It is the only village in the British Isles to have an element named after it. The place is still inhabited with a village store and a school with 30 pupils.

The Glennsanda Super Quary as seen from the water.

Then we went to the Sound of Mull, which is a semi narrow waterway (not that narrow as in “tight”) as I went through it with a 33.000 tons cruise ship) and then one ends up in Loch Linnhe. If one continues straight on, one comes to Oban but if one turns to the North then one can end up in Fort William.  As we did not want to go to Oban yet, we turned to the North and followed to the coast line to “Loch a Choire”, which is a small inlet / fjord on the North shore of Loch Linnhe. While saiing towards it we came by a real blot on the landscape: Europe’s largest aggregate mine at Glennsands. It has been in operation for a long time and its product is a major export item for Scotland. There is still a billion tons of (mainly basalt) aggregate that can be mined so the mine is expected to be there for a fore-seeable time.

Kingairloch bay as seen on a Map by the Government of Scotland. As one can see the fish farm takes up a lot of space in the entrance. But it is a protected bay from any winds but the Easterlies and thus an excellent place for such a venture.

Then the ship made a 90o turn to port and slipped into “Loch a Choire” (there are 5 locations with the same name  in Scotland) and when going in the Captain had to hug the southern shore as in the middle of the waters is an enourmous salmon fish farm. Operated by Norwegians when looking at the flags of the support ships. But a bit deeper in the bay, there was ample space, so the good ship Hebridean Princess dropped the anchor and by 14.30 hrs. the guests started their invasion of the Kingairloch Estate. As many Estates in Scotland nowadays, the land is not longer owned by people of Scottish descend but by foreigners. This Estate is no different, being owned by a couple from Belgium. Luckily  they take their responsibilities seriously and they are busy with restoring parts of the Estate such as boundary walls.

This is one of the 2 little tender boats (stowed on the bow when not in use) that ferry the guests ashore. Each can take 10 and thus all guests can be ashore in a total of 4 runs., or about 20 minutes.

What else is there to do? Well one can climb up the mountain and then slide down the mountain again. Walk around the Estate and oggle at the Main House (from a distance as it is occupied) and there is a small church somewhere up the hill. Another call for nature lovers as there was a lof of deer around. I had hoped for a Castle today, as we had done birds (St. Kilda), Raasay (distilerry and nature),  Stornoway (history and shopping), Gairloch (nature), Inverrie (nature and pub), so basically all that was missing was a Castle. But no such luck, today it was more nature.

The Captain conducting the bridge tour. On this ship it is always done by the Captain and, contrary to many main stream cruise companies, it is free of charge.

This morning while in Loch Linhe we had a bridge tour, where the Captain explained how all the old stuff from 1964 worked (original engines, steering wheel and engine telegraphs) and all the modern additional equipment, such as Radars with chart overlay. Course plotters, auto pilots and a plenthora of communication equipment.

The original 1964 steering wheel. It has been modified (front side} so it is now also connected to a modern autopilot.

For me it was like going back to 1981 – 1986 when sailing on the steamships ss Statendam (IV) and ss Rotterdam (V) where everything was also done via the ships telegraphs with the engine room. Here the communication is with a engineer who locally operates the diesel engines with only a response delay of 3 or 4 seconds. In my early days, with steam, it could take up to 2 minutes before the requested  steam pressure/ revolutions were there as promised.

The original telegraphs are still in use. With the signal going down to the E.R where it is acknowlegd by an engineer before he then adjusts the speed/revolutions  as requested. The two boxes here on the bridge wing, contain the bow thruster handle, the rudder handle and the speed and wind indication.

The bridge tour lasted a good hour as Captain Heaton is very enthousiastic and also very proud of his little ship. He is now in his 24th. year of sailing on it. Once the “mere amateurs”  had departed I had a chance to discuss with him what of the all stuff was still good (everything) what of the new stuff was good (not much, but compulsory) and the intricasies of handling a ship like the Hebredian Princess. I already had had an (rather alcoholic) session with him in  the lounge late evening during the first formal night. Here we had put the world to right and discussed the reasons why we both did not work in an office.  He is now 30+ years at sea, while I have clocled 42 years, but if his enthouisiam indicates anything, he will get to the 40 years without much of a challenge.

This evening we had our last formal night, with the traditional presentation of the Haggis, which was spoken to (By reciting Robert Burns famous poem) by the Captain in his best scottish.  The Captain had dropped the hook around 1800 hrs. in Oban bay, so we could have a quiet formal dinner and night.  Tommorrow morning we will shift from the anchorage to the dock around 08.00 hrs. and then disembarkation starts around 08.30. I have first to collect my car, load the luggage, and then drive 5 hrs. to Newcastle for an overnight followed by the next day with another 5 hrs. to get home.

Weather for tomorrow, rain, totally overcast with temperatures around 09oC / 48oF. It looks like it that Autumn is finally coming to Scotland.

As usual the final blog with the verdict will come in a few days, when I am home and have arranged my thoughts.

 

2025 Sep. 27 Azamara Cruise. Final Review and Verdict.

October 7, 2025 / / 4 Comments

We made it safely home from the Fusina cruise terminal as we had booked our own transport. The ship offered transport (to be bought separately) to the airport by coach which did work quite well.  (At least we saw them all back in the Airport). It was just interesting to see how the local ground staff managed to change something so simple as boarding a coach into a mass of confusion; including blocking the exit to the outside for those not involved.

We had organised our own transport. Azamara does offer direct transfers from the airport to the ship  but not a pick up from a hotel after an overnight.   A good job we did so, as our flight got moved at the last minute due to a strike of klm ground staff so we did not arrive at our hotel until midnight the night before our cruise.  Then it is better to get your own transport directly to the terminal yourself.

Our verdicts in a nut shell: (and this is the personal opinion of me and my wife)

Azamara Website is not good at all

Shoreside Customer service is  not good either. It was very hard to get answers out of them when phoning. Everybody blamed it on the split up from RCI, but that is were Management Leadership steps in and ensures that the transfer is smooth and painless.

Shipboard service is very good; up to excellent as long as it does not has to do with shore side. It seems that the hands of Guest Relations are tied when trying to deal with issues on board generated by the shore side. It seems that they can not even correct the letters sent to the cabins on boarding day.

The Glare:  100%.

For those who do not know what this is: as long as I have been in a management position on the ships, I have tried to improve the friendliness of my crew members. (It takes 17 muscles to smile and 30 to frown ……..so why don’t you smile…..) I do this by gazing straight into a officers or crew members eyes when I meet them and note the reaction. I have continued to this during all the cruises (From the captain downwards) that my wife and I are now making. It is not fool proof but it gives a pretty good idea of how friendly a ship/company in principle is. All companies claim to be friendly but it does not always work out in real life. Especially officers (often very Senior) do not seem to get  the message all the time.

So I am very happy to note and very impressed that the Azamara Onward Scored 100%. During the whole 9 days I did not meet a single person on board (Including Sr. Officers and Engineers) who did not smile or did not greet.   VERY IMPRESSED and kudo’s to the whole on board team. Because of this (and the Greek itinerary of small ports coming up in 2027) we have booked another cruise  on the Azamara Onward.

Details:

What is wrong with company and website ? Well it gave the wrong information at the time of booking. If you do that as part of the booking process, it becomes proof of what is booked and what you are entitled to. It still advised things that had already changed on board. When we tried to find out details about where the ship was docked and how certain things  worked, the person who answered the phone, just read back what was listed on the website.

Because of the promises on the website we paid for a  higher level cabin, to get extra perks/amenities. Only to only find out, when boarding, that these were not provided anymore.

Based on the website write up, we decided to book a Verandah Plus cabin instead of a regular Verandah. Deck 8 forward  (there are 4 of them, 2 on the portside and 2 on the starboard side)

This came with: as listed on the website.

Priority Boarding ——————  We were not on the priority boarding list

Newspaper in cabin (*) …………………..  Discontinued

Flowers in the cabin………………………..  Discontinued

Spirits in the cabin (**)……………………   Not defined what we would get

Bathrobe and slippers (***) ……………………   No slippers. We got them after we complained to housekeeping

Fruit in the cabin…………………………….   Seemed to have changed to on request.

(*) this was also still on the welcome letter in the cabin but they had stopped that at least 2 months before.

(**) we were expecting a bottle each. But you get one per cabin. Some cabins have 4 beds, you pay for four people but still only get one bottle. Except for the four top suites, there it is 2 bottles. (When looking at You Tube, there was a video from post Covid when it was still 3 bottles.)  In principle I do not even know why they bother as most spirits are included in the basic Drinks Included “complimentary” package. But if you provide/ advertise a perk, you have to do it right.

Very confusing directions to get Fusina. All information says: go to a Ro-Ro terminal but the important part that is omitted is that once you come close to the entrance you have to keep to the righthand side and security will direct you through a not-used ferry gate to a side road going to the Terminal. Once through, you get the first sign saying “cruises”.  Luckily most taxi’s know it but there was a couple who had rented a car themselves and ended up in the queue of the boarding/ticketing lane for a ferry and could not get out anymore.

The website is very unclear of what the “complimentary” drinks include. Hence I published the on board listing on one of the days write ups. We had the premium package included as part of our booking but we really did not need it. So we would not have been very happy if we had bought it (At $ 31.95 a day a person) and then would have realized that we did not need it. We spoke to a Canadian couple who were rather pi……d off because of this. (Then they tried to upgrade to the Ultimate package $ 39.95 a day, just to make it worthwhile. So they expected that they could just pay the difference of $ 8,– a day. No, they had to pay the full price so they would each be paying $ 31.95 + $ 39.95 a day………………….)

The cabin (8800) had been in someway converted in 2022 and they had forgotten to install 2 ceiling spotlights above the mirror. The asst. housekeeper was really startled about it but found a desk lamp somewhere in a locker that we could use. Good and appreciated gesture but it should not be necessary. Housekeeping was going to try to get the Electricians to put 2 ceiling lightspots in. If it works, then future ladies sitting behind the desk can be grateful to us when putting on their make up.

Other Observation & Suggestions for improvement:

*Guest Services. We had a meeting with both the Concierge and the Guest Relations Manager  about the discrepancies between the Azamara Website & perks and although they felt very sorry for us, nothing was done. We did not request anything, we will take it up with the office, but it would have been nice to have seen a token of concern. Holland America (5 star) does chocolate covered strawberries, Celeystial (3 star) does flowers etc.etc. But Azamara which hovers somewhere between 4 and 6 star, only smiles.

*Tender service. It was very bad in Hvar. This was a 4 tender distance and only 2 tenders were in operation causing (during our return to the ship) 50 guests to sit and wait in a hot tender. The other 2 tenders were housed.  I hope that will be better next cruise when each of the ports we visit, will be a tender port.

Special compliments to the Food &Beverage Manager Laze, the Exe Chef and the Lido Sous Chef who actively walked around the Lido  restaurant (Windows Cafe) to talk to the guests.

Final note: There are 3 drinks packages available.

1.  Complimentary package (everybody gets this)

2. Premium package ($31.95 a day a person)

3. Ultimate pacakage ($39.95 a day a person)

We had the 2nd level included with our cruise booking. But we found that what was included “complimentary” was more than enough. We used the package only a few times, when Lesley wanted a Bombay Saphire Gin instead of the basic gins.  So in our opinion it is not worthwhile to buy the two top tiers of the drinks package unless you want to have a upscale gin, whisky or cognac each evening. For the average drinker there  is more than enough varation in beers, cocktails, wines and soft drinks available.

Our next cruise with Azamara is to the Greek Islands and we hope that by that time the Head Office has sorted out their communication problems and we can trust their website.

 

 

2026 Sep. 26; Fusina, Italy.

September 27, 2025 / / 5 Comments

Last night we crossed the northern part of the Adriatic Sea and arrived this morning at 0900 at the cruise terminal. We docked at the Cruise Dock, which is not that usual, because when there are 2 cruise ships in port, the smallest one is bumped to the other side, which is technically the Ro-Ro dock. There seems to be a gate in between but I have not been able to ascertain that the small terminal of Fusina services both ships or that a Marquee is rigged up, and/or if one has to go through the confusion of the Ro-Ro terminal.  But we were back right opposite the cruise terminal building from where we will go back home tomorrow.

Internet photo with two cruise ships in. Here we see the Explora I, which is bigger alongside the terminal and the Azamara Onward is banned to what is normally a Ro-Ro ferry dock. The authorities in the enthusiasm in 2022, assigned 4 docks to the cruise terminal but 3 of them are really the Ro-Ro docks. Quay Abbruzzo ( the real terminal), Quay Umbria, Quay Toscana and Quay Marche.

Today is thus really the day to visit Venice. Which can be by taxi (65 euros) or renting a car and it takes about 40 minutes to the Plaza Maritima and from there you can walk into town. Then you can also through the ship book a shuttle that takes you directly into Venice. So while Fusina is a nice terminal it is not that greatly located but as long as the 30,000 ton rule exist for all the “Venice cruise ships”,  there is not much that can be done. There were two other cruise ships in port, the L’Austral which is 10,700 tons in size and thus could dock in downtown Venice  and the other one is the Norwegian Luna, 156.300 tons and that one docked in Marghera which is the industrial port and also where the Fincantieri shipyard is located.  The Viking Jupiter we saw yesterday in Sibenik is today and tomorrow in Chioggia further to the south and that is almost an hour taxi drive to Venice.

The good old days, when there were no limits and cruise business was booming. Four ships at these two terminals and 2 more ships to the left at the other pier not on the photo. so 6 in port altogether/

Today about half of our guests went ashore and the rest made it  a quiet day on board. Not a bad idea as by 11am it was poring down and I do not know if those going ashore had a rain coat with them. Nobody I saw leaving carried an umbrella so they might have gotten wet. Some of the Australian and American guests on board made this cruise a part of a larger holiday period. Makes sense as flying from Australia (26 hrs. with 7 hr. stop in Malaysia or Singapore) or 12 hrs from the US west coast is not really worthwhile for just a seven day cruise. So some had made a river cruise and some were city hopping. (see Paris in 3 days, Europe in 7 days …….. etc.)

What is the problem? The Lido where all the ships have to sail through is not that wide and if a ship would not make the turn for what ever reason (technical or human) then it would hit the old port. And most likely at this point where the fairway makes a turn. The port tried to alleviate this with a safety tugboat forward and one aft but a large ship at 10 knots is not that easily stopped. This is the ms Koningsdam of HAL which measures just under 100.000 tons, when this was still the maximum size allowed pre Covid.

We also decided to stay on board as the transfer was not cheap, rain was expected and with at least 4000 passengers on top of the regular visitros would call for another busy day in Venice. Plus there is the additional 5 euro’s Venice Admission Tax, and all together it makes it not cheap just to go ashore with the intention to just go for a walk. And we have been here many, many times. Plus there is the conundrum that we had to pack. The ship has advised that they want all the suitcases out tonight by 21.30, so there is also not the option to pack after the show. Hence we packed this afternoon and it gave me the chance to take some more photos of the interior.

Our Cruise Director Linda Love from Melton Mombray in England. She started out as a dancer and then moved up the ranks to Cruise Director. During Covid she worked in a Garden Center. Unfortunately Azamara has done away with flowers in the cabins, otherwise they would have had an expert on board with extra pay

This morning we had the weekly safety drill of the ship at 10.am and this time there was a crew cabin on fire ,but it seems to have been extinguished to the satisfaction of everybody. Also it has been crew change over day. We saw the first group coming and leaving in Kotor and today and tomorrow there will be a steady stream of crew pulling and pushing suitcases both today and tomorrow. Today the Captains changed and tomorrow it will be the Cruise Director. There are 2 Captains for each ship and I assume also 2 Cruise Directors. We saw the  the Cruise Directors show from last night today on the tv.  All shows are recorded and shown in the cabins. So nothing about this nonsense we see on other ships about no recording etc. At the end of the show, which was very good, all the cast streamed onto the stage with flowers, champagne and compliments.  Hopefully the captain did not see it, as his goodbye during Captains introductions was much more muted.

Yesterday during lunch Lesley had asked if there would be any Spaghetti Bolognaise during the cruise and today in Italy, here it was. Unfortunately bolognaise divided over the penne  and the spaghetti with the con Vongole). But the sous chef popped up again ad combined the two items in one Spaghetti Bolognaise without any fuss. It was a quiet moment in the Windows Restaurant (Lido), so he had time, but still it is a good example of how the crew is focussed on the delivery of the cruise product.

We are flying tomorrow from Venice via Amsterdam to Norwich, with 5 hours overlay in Amsterdam. but at least our suitcases will make it.  As usual I will post my review and verdict in a few days, where I bundle all my observations, complain (=constructive suggestions) or praise. You will get a ping, but otherwise please look mid week. In the mean time, a few photos of “The Den”. We spent a few nights having cocktails  and after dinner drinks there. Nice place with a good piano player.

The Den. The bar tenders, only two, as it was a quiet moment. (Not very usual in the evening)

Apart from the free booze, the main attraction is the entertainment in the evening. Either the Resident piano player (also plays accordion) or a visiting performance by one of the Cast entertainers. All nice and very social.

The Resident piano player, He was really there but his seat was rather low, so he was hard to see.

XXX

 

 

 

 

 

2025 Sep. 25; Sibenik, Croatia.

September 26, 2025 / / 4 Comments

Today we are in the small, but old town of Sibenik, located about half way between Split and Zadar.  For this the captain had to make some speed  as he had to sail outside the islands to the North of Dubrovnik and then re-enter again as Sibenik is located Inland.

By 8 am, we were at the pilot station in the Sibenski Kanal and then sailed into a (fairly) narrow channel called the Pasmanski Kanal. The Croatians use the name Kanal for a waterway between 2 islands but it is not a “Canal” in the English sense of the word as a canal has locks at either side (like the Panama Canal) but more of a channel or a fairway with land at either side. So we sailed in the Pasmanski Channel which was very scenic. I can understand why the Romans, Greeks and the Venetians were excited about this space, as one Fort (located at the entrance) can keep any fleet away from coming close. You are then forced to land troops and the mountain ridges and crevices do not make that easy.

The Fortress of St. Nikolas. This defense point is one of a series of Venetiian Forts located along the islands to protect Sibenik and the surrounding area. It is open to the public via boat tours and seems to be under renovation as there was a large pile of big stones stored at the other side.

Sailing in, is about a mile and not unlike the more narrow part of the Panama Canal. The ship had two pilots on board, one on the bridge to guide the ship and the other at the stern to see if it made the turn safely. Once through you end up in a large body of water with the  old city of Sibelink perched against the hill side. The whole of the old town is now given over to tourist shops, restaurants and holiday apartments. On each side, outside the city walls, is the new city which is built on the more flatter parts of the land.

The sail through. The Azamara Onward is not the biggest ship that goes through. When we came to the anchorage we saw that the Viking Jupiter (1000 guests 60,000 tons) had come through as well and was docked at the main terminal.

It is a very sheltered anchorage and during the day our ship barely drifted around on the anchor. This gave for a very scenic view of the city which in the old days was protected from inland invasions by several big forts. Apart from that the old town has 16 (!) old churches on what I think is barely a quare mile and several palaces as the Venetians knew how to live well. So we went ashore by tender. This was a 2 tender distance and 2 tenders were in  use, with this time the waiting times for the tenders being not so long as Security was wise enough not to stick to 30 minute departures but worked more on the “demand and supply” method. I complained about the bad tender service in Havr (a 4 tender distance with only 3 and after 1300 only 2 tenders going) so maybe somebody listened.

The view of the old town from the ship.  The fortress of St. Michael is towering above the town on top of the hill and there are two more of them nearby. To the right the cupola of the Cathedral  of St. James is clearly visible.

We had plans to find the “main” shopping street but there is not really one in the old town. Each row of houses is on a different level so leaving the boulevard along the water means climbing 10 or 15 steps, finding a small square surrounded by houses/and maybe a shop and then another 10 to 15 steps to the next level. Getting that way to the top, the Fortress of St. Michael, is about 300 steep steps in small increments. But you can take a taxi.  The only larger square is in front of the Cathedral (yes another one) of St. James is about 20 steps above boulevard level. But then one does need some space to get processions lined up and you do need a location where the local magistrates can address the population. Now it was filled with several tour groups from the Viking Jupiter and Tui- tourists as TUI has a resort nearby.

This is the end of the main square outside the Cathedral.  The people standing here are listening to their tour guide via their bla-bla box and it seems something  exciting about the roof is being explained. Behind them, the next set of steps up to the next small street of houses.

We tried a few of the small streets on the various levels and then walked back along the boulevard where some of the very expensive yachts were docked. It was interesting to see how the owners or guests (most of these yachts are out for charter if the owners are not on board) were going ashore. Of course at that level of luxury you do not order an Uber, Bolt or regular taxi, no, 3 porsche SUV’s were used to whisk them away.  I wonder if your life becomes really boring if you can afford anything you want and there is nothing left to long for.

The ms Azamara Onward at anchor in the bay. The gap just of the left of the ship is the channel through which we came in and would leave.

By 12.30 hrs. we were back on board and in the Lido, the Windows Cafe, and here we had our next interesing exchange with the crew. It looked to me that the food on display did not change very much from day to day. Not that this is unusual but normally when you are on a 5* to 6* ship you see a bit more variation. So we asked the waitress, who felt  very uncomfortable about the question and was going to pass the message on. No less then 5 minutes later a sous chef popped up with the question if anything was wrong.  No that was not the issue, it was just a genuine question out of interest. Then came the explanation that about 90% is standard / the same every day but depending on the port, or sea area, they change one or two stations to local speciality dish. With Croatia this seemed to be a little bit more difficult so it was sort of limited to one fish dish. But they had 3 new flavors of ice cream for the day and a different selection of cheese. (which is quite an extensive selection, bigger than on many other much larger ships) And with me being “Jan Kaas or John Cheese” from Holland I had absolutly no problem with this.

Departure, all on board at 16.00 hrs., was slightly delayed due to two guests who missed the last tender. Luckily the tender was still in the water and could return after the ships agent spotted them at the now deserted tender dock.  Most companies have the policy that they pay the Agent to stay behind for an hour or so, when guests are missing and then get them back on board in the next port.

One of the two holes in the wall. A relic from World War II.

When sailng out through the Kanal/channel we could see the other side of the shore line and here the rock formation is a little bit higher. Because of the location, the Germans dug a tunnel into the rock during WWII so their torpedo boats could sail in and out of Sibeniks harbour while the  sea mine barrier in the channel could be left untouched. The in/out entrance and the out/in entrance together are called locally “Hitlers eyes”.  It was in use for quite a while after the war but with the collapse of Yuguslavia the navy left the base behind. (In the back of the island there are still a lot of Nissen Huts and other military facilities visible).

A view inside. The entrance is blocked off for boats but pedestrians can walk through via the pathway on the side. ( Photo courtesy: Camera Obscura Website)

Evening entertainment started early today. One of the castmembers, Linda Fitzgerald gave her own show at 17.30 in the Cabaret Show Lounge. She is from Irish decent and sang a number of songs which influenced her career. She studied in London and joined the cruise ships in 2016. Not a bad move as the days that you “had to make Broadway” are gone as the entertainment on the ships is as good and sometimes of an even higher standard.

A very good show by one of the talented cast of the ship.

Then it was off to dinner in the dining room where as usual the food was pleasant and the service friendly. Next stop was “The Den” where another cast performer was given a solo performance. Now it was “Richie” an American from New Jersey who had two Master degrees in modern music/musicals. So he sang for 45 minute some of the well known and not so well known songs from various Broadway shows. Again very good. Then we had the option to go to the main show in the Cabaret Lounge by the Cruise Director Emily Love. Again a very talented singer with a very powerful voice as we had heard  during the White Night. But as we knew that we could see her show on the TV tomorrow we decided that we had enough culture for one evening and called it a day.

Tomorrow we are in Fusina for an overnight stay. This port, where we boarded, is about 30 minutes by car and 45 minutes by Vaparetto from Venice. So those who wanted to see Venice could buy tickets for transfers. Weather tomorrow: Overcast with a chance of showers and temperatures around 21oC / 70oF.  We should be docking around 09.00 hrs. so we will be able to gorge ourselves on the wonderful skyline of the Mestra  industrial area. (see day 1)

2025 Sept. 24, Dubrovnik; Croatia.

September 25, 2025 / / 2 Comments

It is only 110 miles from Kotor to Dubrovnik so a slow speed run all the way.

Today we are in Dubrovnik also in Dalmatia and Croatia but at an another location than planned. We were supposed to anchor in downtown but last night the captain came on the tannoy and advised that there was a frontal system expected to come over Dubrovnik in the course of today and that would make anchoring in downtown dangerous. So the ship would instead dock at Gruz, which is the commercial harbour  of Dubrovnik, and a shuttlebus would be provided to take everybody to downtown. A decision I fully concur with but it requires a little explanantion.

The downtown anchorage of Dubrovnik. You have to drop anchor in the only section that is free of underwater cables called Lokrumski Prolaz.

Being at anchor in Dubrovnik is great for the guests as it is a very scenic tender ride sailing to the tender dock with the ancient city towering above you. It is not that great for a captain as the water is about 90 meters deep so a lot of chain has to be paid out to even reach the sea bottom and then the sea bottom is mainly stone so the anchor itself does not dig in very well. A bit of wind and the anchor starts dragging and the ship goes with it.

In all my years of coming here with my own ship, I never had the chance to anchor here in the first place as the anchorage was always booked/blocked by the Costa Line cruise ships. They even put the very large ships there. And not seldom there was a cry later in the day when the wind picked up and the anchors dragged. A lot of uncouth Italian could then be heard over the VHF working channels but they kept doing it.

This is the nautical map of Gruz. The commerical port of Dubrovnik. The ships dock at the pier with all the black dots under the yellow circle. That yellow circle basically indicates that you should not block that area as A. there is a lot of traffic coming through and B. on occasion the Bora wind comes funneling down the river canyon in front of the dock.

So we always docked at Gruz which has a very nice cruise ship dock (for 2 big ones or 3 small ones) and then it is a 15 minute bus shuttle to the North Gate of Dubrovnik old town. This is a very sheltered port and nearly always open to the ships. Sometimes you have to wait for a few hours until the Bora wind stops blowing. That is a wind that forms on the Hungarians plains and then picks up velocity when coming down the river gorges. I had that myself a few times but normally the pilot gets advance warning and we waited outside until approx. 11 am or so until the wind eased off.

Today no Bora and thus we were arlongside by 09.00 hrs. behind us was the Mariella Explorer which is an old Chandris / Celebrity ship owned by Tui and sailing for the English market. Yesterday we had the Mein Schiff 6, also from Tui but sailing for the German Market.  We decided not to be bothered with taking the shuttle as we have been here many times and Her Ladyship had no intention of getting wet. Luckily for the guests the rain did not come through until 17.00 hrs. and by that time it was cocktail time anyway.

So I used today to have a walk around the ship tp take some photos. I will post a few each day. The resemblance with the ms Prinsendam is striking although the Renaissance Class of ships were all built some 12 years later. But the Royal Viking Sun was a trendsetter, mainly due to the fact that the company let the ship be designed by the guests who travelled with Royal Viking and not a President with “a vision” surrounded by a group of V.P’s and Directors who all had to say yes in order to get a good appraisal by the end of the year and their $5,– a day salary increase. I have an very extensive history about the Prinsendam II under the ships subdirectory on the website which explains the why.  But when walking around I saw   small RVS design touches that were similar everywhere.

The R Three as the Pacific Princess. Looking amazingly good with a white hull.

The ms Azamara Onward was built in 1999 in France as the R Three for Renaissance cruises as part of  a series of 8. They did not have names as such, only numbers, as the company said that nobody remembered the name of a ship that they had sailed on anyway, only the company product.  Renaissance went bankcrupt after 9/11 in 2001 as they had been paying off their building loans with the cash flow generated during the cruises. With air travel coming to a near standstill and a heavy reliance on the American market, the bookings dried up and that was it. Several other companies snapped up some of this fleet of handy little ships, great for intense -small- port cruises.  The R 3 or R Three went to Princess Cruises and became the Pacific Princess for cruises to the islands in the South Pacific. In 2021 the P.P. was sold to Azamara Cruises and after some refurbishment renamed into Azamara Onwards.  She has a tonnage of 30,277 grt. A length of 180.00 metes and a width of 25.5 meters. There are 4 main engines connected to 2 propellors giving a speed of 18 knots. She carries between 670 and 688 guests in lower beds and 826 when all sofa’s and couches are filled. (Although it might now be less as the company seems to have been tinkering with the size of the sofa’s) And there is the crew capacity of 373. If I understood  the captain correctly, the current number of crew on board is 343.

Deck 11 top deck with sun deck loungers.

There are 11 decks and the highest one is the roof above the Living Room, which is like a Crowsnest (HAL), or Commodore Club (Cunard). Here there are stretchers behind a glass wall to keep the wind away and a steward to take drinks orders.  Then on the deck below is the “Living Room”. which is one of the 3 main public rooms on board. (The other two being the show Lounge = Cabaret lounge, and the night club = The Den)

The “Living Room” with the photo taken from the fwd. port side, next to the bandstand (located between the dancefloor and the front windows)  looking aft.

The place has on the starboard side a section bordered off for puzzles and games and opposite on the portside a similar section acting as a library with about a 100 hard cover books. (There are another 20 books downstairs in “the Den” for cooking and travelling). This place opens at 14.30 in the afternoon and then also offers nibbles for those who missed lunch. These nibbles / tapas continue through cocktail and evening time. Music is there from the early evening onwards and there are also on occasion small shows.  It normally closes around midnight.

The portside of the Atlas Bar, for people who do not want to sit at the bar.

Behind the Living Room is the outside deck looking down on Deck 9 with the swimming pool. It offers a jogging track around the open well. Opposite, under the funnel is a space called “The Atlas Bar”. This used to be a multple purpose room called the “The Drawing Room”. Since some time Azamara is experimenting with this space on all the old R ships. Here on the Azamara Onward they have installed a cocktail bar, called The Atlas Bar. This is for high end cocktails. (If they are included in your “Ultimade Drinks Package) then it is all free, otherwise you just pay the going rate. They do not do beer or the simple mixes like I to drink, so a place that is lost to me, but it is well designed and hopefully it will work. Sofar, but this is a 7 day port intensive cruise, it has been very quiet.

The Bar side of the Atlas Bar.

More interiors tomorrow.

Then here in Dubrovnik we were supposed to have an “Amazing Night”. A special outing in line with the upscale cruise experience of Azamara. Well things have been watered down. While on the ship it was announced that instead of going ashore and having this “amazing experience” shore side in an amazing location, the local show would come on board. Well that saves them on paying for a shoreside venue and local drinks as board it is included anyway. In the end it turned out it was no more special than a local folkoristic show which most company’s do once a cruise. A good show, but nothing out of the ordinary that would have made it an “Amazing Night”. So we felt a littlebit let down, same as we were in the beginning of the cruise, when we found out that we did not get what was promised us during booking.

Lateron we went to “The Den” were one of the cast members was performing Country & Western. The place was full to capacity. He was very good and, being from Texas USA, was able to sing with the right “country accent”.  The crowd was very appreciative, caused apart from recognizing his talent, also that a lot of the guests had also been busy with recognizing Johnny Walker and friends.

Tomorrow we are in Sibenik, also Croatia, and a much smaller port. Still an imporant city in the Venetian Empire of the 16th. century. The approach to the town, located behind a long island, is through a narrow channel so I have to be out of bed by 08.00 to see this.  It rained most of the evening in Dubrovnik but tommorrow it is going to be sunny again  with temperatures around 25oC  or  77oF. Although there is a dock, we are tendering, so I assume there is another cruise ship in port with us,

 

 

2025 Sept. 23; Kotor, Montenegro.

September 24, 2025 / / 3 Comments

Today we are in Kotor, Montenegro which is located at the end of a fjord.  From the pilot station, where we arrived at 08.00 it is a 2 hour sailing time to the dock. And it is a very scenic route so we had breakfast on the balcony and watched Montenegro float by.

The fjord has one narrow part where you have a nice view at the local villages. Fully in line with local tradition they built on this very scenic spot a church. I suppose it is a way to stop people arguing who has to right to build a house there. This little place is called Kamenari and provides a ferry service to the other side of the fjord.

The ship had made a lot of noise about the fact that this country is not (yet) in the European Union and thus everybody was warned multiple times that the global roaming on their phones might not work and that one could incur considerable costs. For the North Americans who had packages for Europe, they had to find out if their “Europe” package was the whole of Europe or only for the countries included in the European Union. I never have worries here as my Lord and Master can quote each England package and tariff out there by heart and I am reminded every day whether my phone package works, does not work or where it is subject to expensive tariffs.

For the large ships (Mein Schiff carries about 3000 guests) it is a long tender distance. The area of houses you can see in the photo is the modern part of Kotor where most people live and which has the larger bars, restaurants and shops. The Mein Schiff tender is the brown box at the dock.

There was another ship in port, the Mein Schiff 6, belonging to the German Operator Tui but as she was much too big to dock, she had to anchor quite far out and ran a 6 tender service to the pier where we were docked. Big tender as well, with two big entry doors, so the 300 person capacity could embark or disembark very fast. The pier can handle ships up to about 220 meters length and that normally means nothing over 60.000 tons or 1400 pax. Thus for these little ports it makes sense to come in with a smaller ship. It did not deter the Germans from marching ashore in large numbers and the small old town was full to capacity with 3000 of them, tourists coming for a day tour or staying in Montenegro and about 600 of us.

Old Kotor is a walled city with a moat at the sea side and snuggled against the mountain at the other side. A number of years ago the City decided (see the blue canopy to the left) to put in a under ground crossing  with escalators for tourists to get to the old town. There were too many car accidents. The Kotorians are very friendly people but once they drive a car , there is a certain disrespect for the rest of the world that also might be using the road. And of course there is always a number of pedestrians who just cross the street with paying attention to any traffic at all. Together a potential mix to keep the emergency services busy. Now accidents have been reduced to tourists falling down the escalator.

The old town has been completely taken over by souvenir shops, small restaurants and the upper floors of the houses are now all apartments for rent. I did not see many locals living there but they must be making a lot of money from the apartments and shop rents. We just went for a walk, bought another soup spoon and avoided the more expensive goods. There were a lot less jewerly shops than in the other ports but they had been replaced by leather shops. Also ceramics were more prominent. All in all better quality than we have seen before. But the nicer ceramics were the large hand painted plates and how do you get them home ?The problem is that with the United Kingdom out of the European Union, the postal charges are quite considerable. The Ottoman (turks) were in the area for a long time and this considerably influenced the merchandise in the shops as well. Hence the leather, ceramics but also very nice turkish lamps. Which look a bit like Tiffany lamps but are much more detailed.

The wall or ramparts as they are called locally, leading to the top of the protecting mountain San Giovanni. Above the top of the photo on the rim of the moutain is another fortress, serving as a look-out and early defense against intruders.

Most of the old town defences and buildings are from the Venetians days when the City State of Venice controlled much of the Mediteranean and established a very large trading network. They built or improved the city walls and also the ramparts going all the way up the montain. If you want to walk them it is 1350 steps to the top. Maybe ok in the winter but not on a summers day like this.

Kotor Square with Bell Tower. I had to wait a considerable time before the square was somewhat cleared for a photo as it was a very touristy day,

Because the city is walled, you always end back up in the middle of the town which has an open square, overlooked by the Clock tower of the 15th. century. It still rings the hours. More to the back is the Tryphon Cathedral (yes yet again another cathedral with a bishop) that is even older. After looking at so much culture it was time to go back on board. We decided to skip lunch as we had a heavy evening coming, “white night”.  This is a signature event of Azamara and we had heard good reports about it and if the buffet was comparable to the Balkan Buffet of a few days ago, we would have nothing to complain about. It runs for  the whole evening and the ships crew sets up tables and chairs around the pool, on pool level and deck 10 above  (running track). Everybody is encouraged to dress up in white. About 90% of the guests were completely  in white and the rest in a variation of white. A few guests had not gotten the memo and showed up in other colors. Here crowd control set in, with “Negative Vibes” and they quickly left the scene to go to the dining room)

Table set-up. Those who are “in the know” arrived early to beat the quickly forming line for the food,

18.15 White Night warm up with DJ Symz (barbed wire techno music)

18.30 Buffet opens  (Guests start to line up)

19.00 Get the party started with SensAsia (4 piece band with singer)

20.00 Special Event Crew Waves (crew parade)20.15 Azamara Presents…. The White Night party (Cruise Director, full cast and showband)

21.45 White night After party with SensAsia

10.45 White Night After Party with D.J Symz.

We were dressed accordingly and I was one of the very few gents who wore white shoes (courtesy of my sailing days and in normal life hard to buy)  and it was a great party. The setup was perfect with the SensAsia band providing entertainment during dinner. Then most of the crew marched in, waving flags to say thank you (for paying their salaries) accompanied by some wise words of the captain. Then it was dancing time and the band & performers & C.D sang and danced for 90 minutes straight. The dance floor was full and each castmember and also the C.D could showcase their individual talents. Compared to this, Holland America’s Orange party, is a VERY poor relation. This how a deck party should be ran and the entertainers clearly loved it as they could show off their talents. And most entertainers are at their best when they are not hemmed in by corporate restraints.  So they went for it here, while making sure that the music remained dance music and the crowd could hop, swing and disco.  This was very good………… very very good.

The buffet being prepared. Similar to the “Balkan night” but with more variations in meat and a spaghetti station.

The line up for the buffet.

The crew is coming out, everybody waves their napkins.

The crew assembly and flags at the ready.

With drinks included it is not so difficult to get a conga line going.

The ship sailed at 22.00 and it was a very scenic sail-a-way though the fjord with the lights of the small vilages on the mountains twinkling at either side.  Tomorrow we are in Dubrovnik and we were supposed to drop anchor under the walls of the old town. However the weather, with rain storms and wind gusts, is not looking that great so the captain wisely decided to dock at Gruz which is the commercial port at the other side of Dubrovnik. The ship will lay on a shuttle bus service to the entrance of the old town but now from the land side. Weather for tomorrow: partly cloudy with rain and thunder storms expected later in the day. Tl 25oC / 75oF.

As can be clearly seen from this photo, sea air does shrink a men’s T-shir.t

 

 

 

 

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