Greetings from Jamaica, mon!  The final port stop on the first segment of this 21-day cruise finds the Rotterdam docked in the country known for Red Stripe beer, Bob Marley, reggae, and Blue Mountain Coffee.  Bet you thought I was going to put "weed" on that list, didn't you?   We…

Here on Holland America's Rotterdam, we celebrated Halloween at sea as we sailed towards our next port of call, Falmouth, Jamaica.  I'm mid-way through this 21-day cruise which is two cruises back-to-back.  This first segment is a 12-day Panama Canal Sunfarer Cruise which will end on November 3rd when we…

Yesterday, the Rotterdam did a partial transit through the Panama Canal and immediately set our sights on the next port-of-call, Puerto Limon in Costa Rica.  What can I say about Limon... not much.  The ship docks at a spartan, run-down port that makes you instantly ask, "I thought Costa Rica…

The most anticipated day of this 21-day cruise on Holland America's Rotterdam has arrived - the day we do a partial transit of the Panama Canal.  The last time I went through the canal, I was on Holland America's Zuiderdam which was small enough to pass thru the century-old original…

It's now been a full week I've been onboard Holland America's Rotterdam and there are two more to go.  The 7th day of this 21-day Panama Canal Sunfarer Cruise saw us spending a small portion of the day docked in Cartagena, Colombia.  The ship docked around 6:30 am and we…

Following a very long port day in Aruba, Day 6 of this 21-day cruise on Holland America Line's Rotterdam was a sea day and we also had a time change overnight, with clocks being set back one hour.  Depending on the cruise line and destinations, some will use "ship's time"…

Hello from "One Happy Island," Aruba!  To be more exact, Oranjestad, Aruba where we are on the 5th day of this 21-day cruise on Holland America's Rotterdam.  The ship docked around 7:30 am and the gangway was open just before 8:00 am for those who wanted to be one of…

Today I'm talking about sea days, days where there are no port calls just a day spent travelling to the ship's next destination.  The 4th day of this 21-day cruise on Holland America's Rotterdam is the second of two back-to-back sea days as we make our way to Aruba.  The…

Day 3 of this 21-day cruise on Holland America's Rotterdam and we're sailing the first of two back-t0-back sea days as we make our way to Aruba, our second port-of-call and always a fun stop in the Caribbean.  So far the weather has been cooperating, the sea has been flat…

One day into this 21-day Holland America Line cruise to the Panama Canal and the Southern Caribbean we're at our first port-of-call, Half Moon Cay.  East of Miami in the turquoise waters of the Bahamas, Half Moon Cay (also known as Little San Salvador Island) is a 2,400-acre private island,…