Joanandjoe

Royal Caribbean Appoints First Female Captain Royal Caribbean has named a new captain for its Monarch of the Seas -- the first female in the industry to command a major cruise ship! Cruise captainship has long been a male-dominated profession, but Swedish mariner Karin Stahre-Janson has been working her way up to it. She has been with Royal Caribbean in a variety of officer-level roles since 1997; her current position as the commander of Monarch is a promotion from Staff Captain, a title she held onboard Serenade and Majesty. Prior to that, she worked for nine years in cargo shipping, primarily on petroleum and chemical tankers -- another male-dominated industry. Stahre-Janson discovered her love for sailing at the age of 7 when her parents gave her a small boat, and cultivated her passion at sailing camp. While growing up, she also took -- and taught -- sailing lessons and competitively raced tall ships. She graduated from the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden with a bachelor's degree in Nautical Science and obtained an Unlimited Masters License enabling her to command any ship of any size (maybe Genesis is next...). Stahre-Janson already completed a tour of duty onboard Monarch, sailing three- and four-night Baja cruises; she'll resume command in August.

I was surprised to find out a few minutes ago that the first ship on which we sailed, the Freeport, is still in service, and once again going between Florida and Grand Bahama, as the Discovery Sun. The ship was built in 1968, so it's quite old, and has had a lot of names and a lot of uses. According to http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/, here is the history of the ship: Freeport I was built in 1968 by Orenstein-Koppel und Lübecker Machinenbau, Lübeck, for the Miami Terminal Transport Co (Freeport Cruise Line), running between Miami-Freeport. She was renamed Freeport I soon after delivery. In 1973, she was sold to Oy Birka Line Ab, Mariehamn, and renamed Freeport for cruises between Stockholm-Helsinki. Later the same year, Freeport was sold again to Stockholms Rederi AB Svea, for the Trave-Line service Helsingborg-Tuborg (Copenhagen)-Travemünde as Svea Star. In 1976 she was sold to Bremer Schiffahrts for a summer car ferry service between Portland (USA) and Yarmouth (Canada). In winter she was chartered to Commodore Cruise Line for Caribbean cruises. In 1981 she was renamed Caribe Bremen, before being sold to Caribe Bremen, she was sold to Scandinavian World Cruises as the Scandinavian Sun for a Miami-Freeport service. She was chartered to SeaEscape Cruises in 1985, followed by purchase in 1988. In 1992, Scandinavian Sun was sold to Belle Meade Shipping, and renamed Balanga Queen for the Corona Line between Karlskrona-Gdynia. In 1994 Balanga Queen was chartered to Hansatee, Tallinn, Estonia, and used on a Tallink route Tallinn-Helsinki-Tallinn-Travemünde. The same year, she returned to the Caribbean as Discovery Sun for Discovery Cruises. Has anyone taken the day trip on the Discovery Sun? If so, we'd like to know what the ship is like after almost 40 years. It obviously has changed: there are no overnights, so most of what was once cabin space is now devoted to other uses. According to this article, http://web.archive.org/web/20021209054641/...overy_sun_1.htm, the Freeport, as originally built, had 690 cabin berths and a total capacity of 812. Since we count ship size at the nominal capacity, not the full (more than 2 to a room) capacity, we'll add another "under 750" to our ship size post.

On several recent posts, we indicated that our first overnight cruise was on the Freeport, from Florida to Grand Bahama, some time between 1971 to 1973. We were curious about the ship, and found a reference to a great web site on another cruise board. The site is http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/ . It has a lot of ship history, and "post card" pictures of ships, including the former Freeport. Our separate post about the ship in its current incarnation, as the Ft. Lauderdale to Grand Bahama day trip boat, Discovery Sun, will give a bit of the history. Try the web site: you'll like it!

I'm not sure who you disagree with; but I agree that size has a major impact on attitude and ambiance (though dictate might be a bit too strong). I suspect that "party people", which we definitely are not, would lean toward the larger ships. We consider rock climbing walls and wave pools to be big negatives: not the calm, sedate mood we prefer. We go on cruises to unwind.

I was finally able to post this as a poll; so let's close this thread and move our responses to the poll thread.

We learned the lesson of checking deck plans on our first cruise, to Alaska in 1998, on the old Noordam. We booked a category H stateroom that was on a low deck (supposedly less likely to result in seasickness) near the rear of the ship, with an extra large configuration on the deck plan. We were upgraded to a category D because the line messed up our dinner reservation for early dining, even though we had booked more than a year in advance. Our of curiousity, we went to the cabin we had booked, and were lucky enough to go into the room (because the steward was cleaning it). The engine noise was unbearable! Our originally booked room would have ruined our cruise. Now we avoid anything at the rear of the ship, and anything directly under or over noisy areas or white areas on the deck plan. In particular, since we're earlybirds, we avoid being near the show lounge, casino, and bars. If possible, we book a cabin on a deck that has another passenger deck both above and below our deck.

So far it's as we expected: we're a minority in thinking that the smaller, the better. For us, bigger doesn't equal more things to do, since there's plenty for us to do on the small ships. We've even been on ships with no casinos (which is a plus for us) and no evening entertainment, and found that relaxing. Bigger for us means bigger crowds, more crowded ports, longer walks to do everything, longer lines, usually smaller staterooms. It's all a matter of perspective. For us, smaller means that, by the end of the trip, we've met perhaps half the passengers, and recognize even more than half as being familiar faces. It means that we get to know the crew "up close and personal". We're introverts, but we've gotten very friendly with the cruise directors on the small ships. Not so on the bigger ships. I agree that, to some extent, space ratio is more important than # of PAX. Nonetheless, I think most cruisers have comfort levels, and ours is on the smaller ships. Even though we loved the new Noordam, mostly because we had a suite, we were overwhelmed by its huge size. Everything seemed to be far from everything else. We actually preferred the old Noordam. By today's standards, the 1,918 PAX new Noordam is a medium size ship. The Noordam is the only ship we've sailed on with more than 1,450 PAX; so based on the number categories above (and counting our 1971 one nighter, on the Freeport, which had a capacity of 690): cruises with under 750 PAX five crusies with 750 to 1,500 pax five cruises with 1,500 to 2,250 PAX one cruises with more than 2,250 PAX none

If you live near a port, you'll see lots of ships. I still remember the ships I saw as a kid: Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Normandie, SS. United States, SS. Constitution, Queen of Bermuda, etc. The west side of Manhattan was always crowded with ocean liners.

Let's see if this attempt to post the poll works. I think one needs to click on "close poll form.

The thread on the new, huge ship, Liberty of the Seas, has produced comments ranging from "the bigger, the better" to "Ugh, I would't go near such a monster". This poll asks which size you prefer. Obviously, there are Crazies who like any size, as long as they can cruise on the ship. Which size do you prefer? It's clear from our comments that we prefer small ships. Four of our cruises had 230 (Wind Surf), 295 (Wind Surf), 450 (Regent 7 Seas Navigator), and 130 PAX (Avalon Poetry), and we loved all four small ship sailings. We suspect that we're very much in the minority: why else would the cruise lines build such big ships? (We tried to set this set this up as a poll, with 6 choices, but the poll did not appear. We may need to try again. Jason, can you help? The 6 choices were 3,000 +, 2250-3000, 1500-2250, 750-1500, under 750, and any size is OK.)

Don't blame us: we probably wouldn't cruise on a ship that big on a freebie. We're biased: nearly half of our cruises of more than one night (four out of ten) have been on ships with under 500 PAX, none has been on a ship as large as 2,000 PAX, and we truly enjoy the small ships. That's why we were considering Empress of the North for this spring (see our post on that thread). Thank heaven we didn't book the Empress! We saw Freedom of the Seas last May when we sailed on Zenith (Frredom was on its inaugural visit to the NYC area), and have passed within 100 yards of the Queen Mary when she was docked on the west side, before she moved to Brooklyn. We were impressed, but negatively, by the large size of both ships. Not our cup of tea!

Here's the latest from CNN as of 12:53 p.m. Eastern time. All PAX are safe, and the ship has not sunk. What a checkered history: the ship has run aground at least three times. (CNN) -- All of the passengers aboard a U.S. cruise ship were evacuated early Monday morning after it ran aground off the southeastern coast of Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The U.S. Coast Guard, Alaska state ferries and about 50 volunteer rescue boats removed the 248 passengers aboard the Empress of the North approximately 50 nautical miles (57 miles) from Alaska's capital, Juneau, near Icy Strait and Chatham Strait. The ship was still flooding, but was traveling to Juneau under its own power. Thirty-three of its 75 crew members stayed on board for the trip. An oil tank was breached, but there is no pollution in the water, officials said. Coast Guard spokesman Mark Guillory said the Coast Guard was trying to decide where to send the ship for an investigation into why it hit rocks in the island-dotted Alaska coastal area. Empress of the North was on the second day of a seven-day cruise from Juneau. The National Transportation Safety Board also said it is sending a team to investigate. Dan Miller, a spokesman for the ship's owner, Majestic America cruise lines, said the passengers were being taken to Juneau. The ship had stabilized after taking on water and listing in the chilly 45- to 50-degree Fahrenheit, glacier-fed water. The rescue effort was conducted in rainy conditions with winds blowing at about 17 mph (15 knots). "Not perfect, but manageable," Coast Guard Cmdr. Jeff Carter said of the weather regarding the rescue. There were no reports of casualties or people in the water. Carter said a tug and barge with a capacity of 200 people was sent as well as a cutter, the Liberty, and a helicopter. In March of last year, the same ship, which was built to resemble a Mississippi River paddleboat, slammed into a sandbar while cruising the Columbia River, which separates Oregon and Washington State, according to reports. In that incident, a sister ship, the Queen of the West, pulled alongside and took on the Empress of the North's passengers. The Empress also ran aground in the Columbia River in 2003, the year it made its debut as a cruise ship. That incident was blamed on human error, according to reports.

For us, the difference between this sinking and other sinkings is that we actually considered taking this ship this month, before my office told me I had to take my vacation in April or July. We propably would have gone on Regent rather than Empress of the North, but one never knows.

Sadly, I agree with the Skipper. It's a great idea, but probably just a pipe dream. This isn't the first time NCL has announced it will refurbish the S.S. US. I'll believe it when the line starts taking bookings. Joe

Our must list: Alaska, Canada/New England, Western Med., European River Cruise, Eastern Carib., Western Carib., British Isles, and Norwegian Fjords. We've done the first five, and the last two are ridiculously expensive, and done rarely (usually in the summer, when Joe can't take a vacation). We'll have to wait on those until we retire. The Baltic definitely is NOT on our list: our ancestors went to a lot of trouble to get out of the countries (Germany and Russia) highlighted on that tour, and we have no desire to go there. Unfortunately, there are skads of Baltic cruises, but very few (perhaps two per year per cruise line) to the fjords and/or the British Isles. Actually, our real dream trip is done every year by the Maasdam: US to Copenhagen by way of Greenland, Iceland, the Faroes, Norway, and the Northern British Isles. Since that's a summer cruise, and very expensive, it's likely we'll never take it. It will probably be at least two years before we'll cruise again. We don't like the Caribbean or any other hot places, and we'll wait to do another Alaska cruise until we have the vacation time to do a cruise tour. Car and air vacations for us for awhile! We will continue to hang around with other Crazies, but not as cruisers.

Do all of the above, but also check with your TA. If she's competitive - say no more than 5 to 10 percent extra, it's worth having someone to monitor specials for you and run interference with the cruise line. Example. For our Noordam cruise last 11/25, we wanted a SY balcony cabin. Our TA was $25 per person more than a cruise discounter, and the discounter was offering a wine package. I practically forced Joan to use the TA rather than the discounter, and she was not happy about not having the wine package. About six months later (we booked 15 months in advance), our TA called to ask if we wanted to upgrade to a full suite for $210 more per person. A no brainer--we took it. I doubt that the online discounter would have given us that opportunity. Having a suite made the difference between a great trip and an extraordinary one. Five weeks ago we needed to book a vacation on 2 1/2 weeks notice. The TA found us some good choices, and we booked one (our Dutch tulip river cruise on the Avalon poetry). She got us hotel rooms in Amsterdam, where most hotels were sold out. Even the $25 airplane booking fee was worth it: the fare went up $60 between when she locked in the fare and when we told her to go ahead, and she got the lower fare. We'll certainly keep using her. A reasonable extra charge for a TA can be well worth it.

Gogetter, were you in the Navy? I don't know why else you'd have been in Guam or Diego Garcia.

Of course you can do it if you have to. Imagine taking a two week tour with Avalon's parent company, Globus, with one suitcase and no chance to do wash clothing because you're in a different hotel each night. Even tougher! What you need is a drip dry wardrobe. We Crazies can do anything that's cruise related if we try hard enough.

OK, here are my countries visited: North America: US, Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Bahamas Central America and Caribbean: Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Cayman Islands, St. Martin/Sint Maartin, Dominica (NOT Dominican Republic!), Barbados, U.S. VI, British VI. Europe and North Africa: Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Ireland, England, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Vatican City, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Morocco While it's hard to tell from the map, at least Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Morocco, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, and some of the islands aren't shown in red. Joe. (Joan has been to all listed countries except Italy, Gibraltar, Switzerland, and Germany) Oops, forgot Puerto Rico

One river cruise does not make us experts, but we seem to be among the first on this board to take a European river cruise. It's a very different experience from an ocean cruise, but interesting and enjoyable.

Title<] :: 04-15-07 Author<] :: Joanandjoe Category<] :: Avalon Poetry Information<] :: [*]A once in a lifetime experience, Very different from an ocean cruise (land always in sight, only one suitcase allowed, food only at meal times), but quite wonderful. Description<] :: Northern Europe Avalon Poetry Review By Joanandjoe (first person references are by Joan) Date: 4/15/07, 7 days Itinerary: The Netherlands and Belgium – Tulip Time River Cruise Ratings (scale of 1 to 5+): Overall 4 Dining 4 Public rooms 3 Cabins 4 Entertainment 3 Spa and Fitness: Not rated (there are some machines and a whirlpool, but the main exercise is walking) Family & children Not rated Shore excursions 5 Embarkation 5 Service 3+ (dining room 3, other 4+) Rates 5 (expensive) Value 4 (expensive, but you get a lot) PACKING: WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ONLY ONE SUITCASE??? It took me five times longer to pack one suitcase than two or three. I found instant-dry underwear, solid color interlock knits, and black and white blouses and tops. Every thing HAD to match EVERYTHING else, two long dresses and a shiny shawl were my complete “dressy†wardrobe, and that was more than adequate. I fell in love with the concept of traveling lightly: When I returned home, I bought more interlock knits in solid colors, and donated some “travel†clothes I packed but never wore. I resolved to travel with ONE suitcase for the rest of my life. CHECK-IN: Instead of having a check-in at the ship, we met the Tour Director, Mr. Hendrik Jan Dadema, at a hotel in Central Amsterdam. That was extremely convenient. Although the meeting time was at 3:30, we walked over to the hotel, which was three blocks from our hotel, around 10 a.m. Our bags were left with the cruise line, so we didn’t have to worry about them. We immediately joined up for a big bargain: a bus tour of Amsterdam, with admission to the Van Gogh Museum included, for $29. Since the museum admission was 10 Euros (about $14), that meant that an informative tour was only $15 in excess of the cost of the museum admission. More on this excursion under excursions. We got back to the meeting place at around 12:30 p.m. to find that no lunch was being provided. Bummer. We went back to touring Amsterdam on our own, based on the highlights of the bus tour, and had only a light lunch because we assumed there would be abundant food when we got to the ship. BIG MISTAKE: the ship does NOT feed you when you come onboard. At 3:35 we were bussed to the ship, and were handed our room key when we arrived at around 4. There was no other paper work: we could give our credit card whenever it was convenient. Great check-in, and our luggage was waiting in our room. However, there was no food to be had, other than peanuts in the bar, until dinner at 7:30. We were very, very hungry by the time dinner was served; possibly the first time we’ve ever been hungry on a ship. THE SHIP: A river cruiser must be able to fit through the locks on the rivers and canals on which it cruises. Therefore, the Poetry was the same size and shape as all other river cruisers and all freighters on the Rhine, Main, and Danube Rivers: 426 feet long, perhaps 42 feet wide. Sort of pencil shaped. It has four decks: a sky deck where people sit in the sum (and where there’s almost no shade), and three decks with cabins. The upper two cabin decks, including our stateroom on the top passenger deck (Royal Deck) have “French balconiesâ€Â: large openable windows with about 6 inches of balcony space. Just enough to air out your room or take in the view. There is one bar (which also serves as the community room), one restaurant, two small sitting areas where they put out fruit and water, and a small indoor fitness room with a whirlpool. In short, not the large number of special areas that you find on an ocean ship, but adequate for 176 passengers. Our cruise had 135 passengers. Everything is clean and bright, and there actually is some attempt at décor (which, we’re told, is unusual for a river ship). Quite a comfortable place for this type of cruise. The crew seems to be constantly cleaning and we enjoyed two turn-downs a day. DRESS CODE: Very casual. Jackets and long dresses were never required, and only on the Captain’s night were those items suggested. Since the ship restricts luggage to one suitcase (!) and a small carryon, leave your fancy duds at home. In fact, pack and re-pack with less each time. THE STATEROOM: At 170 square feet, smaller than we’re used to, but very large for a European river cruiser. It’s also laid out much better than our similar size room on the Zenith, and the French balcony with openable window adds to the feeling of spaciousness. It still felt tiny compared to our Noordam suite, but that’s not a fair comparison. The rooms are compact, but well-laid out. Even the suites have only a shower, although the whirlpool is NOT scalding hot and could soothe your tired feet. The bed was very comfortable, but the pillows were way too soft. There was adequate storage room for two people for a week. The triangular shower was OK for medium size people, but might be difficult for a large person. Laundry was outrageously priced (around $7 for a pair of pants) but properly and nicely done. There is no dry cleaning. A pair of socks cost 1.50 euros to clean, so pack instant-dry items when possible. My wife did a few loads of wash in the sink, a messy and time-consuming process. STAFF: Mostly Eastern European (about 75 percent from two countries, Slovakia and Hungary), and very friendly. Service other than in dining room was efficient and so well done as to be invisible. B plus or A minus. Dining room service was spotty: sometimes prompt, but sometimes we felt we were being ignored. C plus or B minus. To be fair, half of the passengers were from one group (55 women and 9 men from Tennessee), and the staff seemed to attend to the group first. The staff preferred to serve each course all at once, so service was pretty even for everyone. We didn’t feel pampered in the dining room, in spite of the unlimited wine (HIC!) offered at dinner. Suggested tips are about double the suggested amount for ocean ships: 3 Euros per person per day for the cruise director, 12 Euros per person per day for everyone else. That’s about $21 per person per day, compared to $10.50 on HAL or Celebrity. You can charge tips on your shipboard account. Note, however, that the cruise director has a separate account (in dollars) from the shipboard account (in Euros), so you’ll probably end up giving his tip in cash. CRUISE DIRECTOR: The cruise director, Hendrik Dadema (aka Heinje†on the “critical†board), was knowledgeable and quite a live wire. His function was a bit different that that of a large cruise ship cruise director, since he didn’t organize games or act as MC for large scale entertainment. Instead, he made sure that people knew what was in store for the next day, led PAX toward the tour buses (often crossing through another ship), and was available to give information when needed. That may not sound like much; but actually he was quite effective. We found him intelligent and personable, as well as informative. He really “blossomed†during the tulip talk. (You had to be there!). An intelligent extrovert who led most of our talks, and a wealth of information. He helped us with our luggage, consoled me about the lack of bargains and was right about the difficulty of finding Batik. On the rare occasions you found him with just a few people, he revealed a knowledge of world affairs almost as accurate as Joe’s. Everyone brightened up when he walked into the room. MONEY EXCHANGE: We didn’t exchange any dollars for Euros, but the rates seem to be fair: a bank rate, plus a clearly stated surcharge.. The ship will cash dollar travelers checks at no charge. PORT TALKS: On some days, the cruise director gave us information about the places we’d visit and the options available. One was expected to know a little about the areas we visited. The Avalon’s own choice of tours were included in the price of the cruise, and were well attended. WEATHER: The weather couldn’t have been nicer. For our nine days in Europe (with the middle seven days on the ship), the first three days had a high of about 75 and a low of about 60. The rest of the time we had highs around 65, lows 45 to 50. Sunny or partly cloudy all the time, with no rain (while the folks back home had 8 to 10 inches of rain due to a Nor’easter). THE ITINERARY AND EXCURSIONS: Since most excursions were including in the price, we’ll cover itinerary and excursions in one section of this review. General comments on excursions: The excursions were conducted by knowledgeable, energetic guides in excellent English. Each guide was an individual, and all but the Arnheim guide charmed us. In some places, the ship was docked close enough to the city for the walking tour to start at the dock; in other cases, we were bused to the tour. Arnhem and Keukenhof involved buses to one or two locations; every other tour involved substantial walking. In most areas, the tours did give you time to explore options on your own. MOBILITY is a MUST for Avalon travelers. If you can’t climb stairs, walk for 90 minutes, or travel for two hours without using the bathroom, you’re going to have trouble on the Avalon. My heart went out to some of the people with canes, who exhausted themselves keeping up with our guides. The ship does not have any elevators. In most areas, the tours did give you time to explore options on your own. MOBILITY is a MUST for Avalon travelers. If you can’t climb stairs, walk for 90 minutes, or travel for two hours without using the bathroom, you’re going to have trouble on the Avalon. My heart went out to some of the people with canes, who exhausted themselves keeping up with our guides. The ship does not have any elevators or handicap rooms. Sunday: Amsterdam. This was embarkation day. We did take the optional Amsterdam city tour, with museum, as described above. It was also possible to take an afternoon tour to a folkloric city, with transportation directly to the ship. Monday: Arnhem, Dordrecht, and Kinderdijk. Avalon should rethink the trip to Arnhem. Visiting a WW II museum and cemetery is not everyone’s first choice. I was moved by the simple dignity of the cemetery, but the rest of the tour left me cold. Arnhem boasts an open-air museum and a folk museum, which we would have preferred. We would have been better off skipping the tour. The ship sailed to Dordrecht during lunch. We took a bus tour to Kinderdijk, a scenic windmill town. Touristy and pretty, Kinderdijk gave us an appreciation of what the Netherlands would have been without dikes and windmills: under water. “G-d made the world, but the Dutch made the Netherlands.†Fascinating. When we got back, there was still about an hour to walk around Dordrecht, a very pretty town. Tuesday. Antwerp. I felt a bit bushed after 90 minutes of power-walking through Antwerp; but it was a lovely walking tour, and we went back to the city in the afternoon . Most people took the extra cost side trip to Brussels, and came back exhausted. It is NOT worth going to a major city such as Brussels for just two or three hours. We came back to the ship around 4 p.m., exhilarated from our trip to the Rubens House and an art museum, and had the ship virtually to ourselves. Wednesday. Ghent. Another terrific, but exhausting, power walk, this time a substantial bus ride from the ship. Terrific. In the afternoon, we were two of the four people on the ship not taking the optional ()extra cost) excursion to Bruges, which we had visited before. We opted to relax around the ship and do some shopping, and I picked up some bargains in (of all things) a household goods store. Based on the comments we heard, the other PAX enjoyed Bruges much more than Brussels. Thursday. A fascinating day. In the morning we had a walking tour around small, but pretty, Middleburg, then went to the Delta works, This was the massive project to close some of the outlets to the North Sea, while having flood gates, which are normally open, for one environmentally sensitive arm of the sea. Absolutely fascinating. We then sailed to a small, but pretty, town, Veere. There was no excursion here, but we were two blocks from the town. I stayed on board to rest, while Joe walked around, bought some ice cream, and almost bought some jewelry. All in all, a lovely day. Friday. We docked at Rotterdam, and had another interesting power walk. This city is worth a whole day or more, not just a half day. In the afternoon, it was time for: THE TULIPS: YES! They are JUST that beautiful, and deservedly crowded. They were almost worth the two-hour bus trip to the Keukenhof gardens each way in heavy traffic. We were frequently reminded that this is a COMMERCIAL enterprise. Each grower had their own “patchâ€Â, where they displayed their best blooms. Lovely, but lacking the themed areas one would find at, say, Longwood Gardens. Maps cost three euros, but some tours gave a simpler version of the official map for free. I took a picture of two map-sellers in costume, and it is one of the best I’ve ever taken. The Avalon offered an option of an all-day stay at Keukenhof, and it was sold out. Saturday. Winding down, but still active. In the morning, we docked at Volendam. I walked around the city, and got some of the bargains described under shopping. Joe took the tour to Edam, another walking tour with some free time (but not enough). He was about to buy some cheese, but the line was too long, so her ran back to the bus. We arrived back in Amsterdam in the afternoon, and took the included canal boat tour, which was given by the guide we had on day one for our Amsterdam tour. Relaxing and nice, and our final excursion. After 5 p.m., we had free time. After dinner, about half the people on the cruise took the walking tour of the Amsterdam red light district. No thanks! On Sunday, we disembarked the ship, and went to a hotel in Amsterdam. We flew home on Monday. SHOPPING: PRICY: The best bargains for the quality were the sale items at the Van Gogh Museum store. The high quality and “get rid of it†sale prices meant you could find some unique gifts at normal prices. Elsewhere, I managed to find t-shirts at 4 for 10 euros, but when the euro buys 1.4 dollars, you’re going to feel the pinch. Joe bought a tulip tie for 11 Euros, and it was much admired when he got home. I confess – I made cheese sandwiches at the unlimited breakfast to supplement lunch. We ate two Rijstafels in Amsterdam because we didn’t want to pay 8 euros for a hamburger. FOOD AND WINE: Each dinner had choice of three entrees: meat (4 nights pork, 1 night each for beef, veal, and chicken), fish, and vegetarian. Dinners leaned heavily to fish and pork, and we don’t eat pork. The chef could work wonders with fish, and I’ll remember his Veal with Spaetzel for a long time. The final night, the fish looked awful (A RARE EXCEPTION!) and the captain graciously substituted chicken. You could always substitute chicken or salmon for a main dish. Breakfast and Lunch were buffet-style, often excellent. However, for sandwich lovers, there were sandwich ingredients (meat and fish) and breakfast but not at lunch. Odd. The free wine was mostly German and Austrian, and very high quality. There was a “Happy Hour†with reduced-price drinks an hour before dinner. We ate my cheese sandwiches during the long gap between lunch (served at noon) and dinner served mostly at 7:30, twice at 7). ENTERTAINMENT: Make your own. Sascha played the keyboard in the lounge, a trio came in briefly one night, and other talks related to the excursions. There was a lovely trio one night, briefly. RIVER CRUISING COMPARED WITH OCEAN CRUISING: River cruises don’t involve seasickness, dressing up, paying for wine with dinner, or elaborate on-board shopping or art auctions. We found ourselves busy with excursions for most of the day, and the scenery was lovely. Ocean cruising offered more food, more often, cost less, offered internet access, and had more elaborate entertainment. AMSTERDAM: An open-minded city with great history and museums. We found it expensive, entertaining, and Jewish. We quickly learned to supplement lunch with cheese sandwiches from the breakfast buffet, to travel by tram, and ask for Senior Citizens’ Discounts. OVERALL: A once-in-lifetime vacation… View Review

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We'll wait and see whether we want to go on a ship even bigger than the Noordam (but not by much). At least it's not a huge monster like the newly ordered Celebrity ships, which we wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. 2,800+ PAX ships are not for us, but we might be able to take 2,000. As for decor, it sounds colder and more acsetic than the current HAL decor, and neither of us likes gray very much. We might or might not try the new ships. We were pleasantly surprised by Noordam, but we still felt that the ship was gigantic. One thing we do have an opinion on, sight unseen, is the name, Eurodam. Ugh! Why not stick to the HAL tradition of place names, such as Edam (aka the big cheese). There were several "dam" good names that HAL used in the past; but they chose this ugly generic name, Eurodam, instead. What's next: Asiadam? DamCarnival? To each his own taste, I guess.

Thanks, everyone. Things have calmed down a bit. We got our hot water back yesterday, at a cost that was more than round trip airfare for two to Amsterdam. We're almost over our jet lag, and have started to write our review of the cruise. A River cruise certainly is different from an ocean cruise. Food (other than fruit and 4 p.m. pastries) is only available at meal times, there's very little entertainment, and the ships and cabins are small. On the other hand, you're never out of sight of land on both sides of the ship, waters are calm, and wine and most excursions are included. It's very enjoyable, and a good change of pace. In the past five years, we've had nine vacations: 7 cruise vacations (including our last 4 and 6 of our last 7 vacations) with 8 cruises (B-2-B Med., Dutch, Bermuda, Eastern Carib., Western Carib., and two Canada/New England), one car trip (NYS and Ontario), and one plane trip without a cruise (Copenhagen). We're overdue for something other than a cruise, so our fall, 2007 vacation, if we have one (which is 50-50 at best), will be a car or airplane trip. We're cruised out for now. (Yes, that really is possible.)