The final day onboard Holland America Line's ms Noordam started out with a bit of excitement. As I mentioned in yesterday's report, the captain came on the ship's public address system looking for volunteers willing to donate O- blood to a passenger in need of a transfusion. About an hour…

We're into the final 48 hours of this Southern Caribbean cruise on the Holland America Line ship ms Noordam. Day 9 is the first of two sea days as we make our way back to Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. [caption id="attachment_63082" align="aligncenter" width="2448"] One of the best views…

As far as the Dutch “ABC Islands” are concerned, the ms Noordam has stopped in “B” (Bonaire), “C” (Curacao) and today we're in “A” - Aruba! [caption id="attachment_63040" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] No stop in Aruba would be complete without stopping for a selfie![/caption] We arrived in the Paardenbaai Bay in Oranjestad,…

Day 7 aboard the Holland America Line cruise ship ms Noordam and we found ourselves docked in Willemstad, Curacao, the place known for the blue liquor that we love to consume in a refreshing alcoholic beverage. [caption id="attachment_62980" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Yours truly in Curacao with the Holland America Noordam in…

Day 6 aboard Holland America Line's ms Noordam has come and gone and there are four days left to this incredible journey through the Southern Caribbean. After spending a day at sea, we arrived in the first of the Dutch “ABC Islands” - Bonaire. The “A” stands for Aruba which…

The only thing better than a day at sea... is... well, there is so such thing! Day 5 onboard Holland America Line's ms Noordam saw us spending a leisure day cruising the Caribbean sea en route to our next port-of-call, Bonaire – a small Dutch island off the coast of…

I gained four pounds. You may be saying to yourself, “oh poor you, what do you expect being on a cruise?” Well, if you do the math, that comes out to a pound per day. Being that this is a ten-day cruise, I'm going to come off the ship ten...…

As I stood in the bacon line this morning I wasn't prepared for what would happen just seconds after several pieces of the crispy pig and a scoop of scrambled egg substitute would be presented to me. Taking three steps to my left where I would pick up a bagel…

One of the hardest things to do when it comes to writing these daily reports from a ship is not finding subjects to write about, but actually getting them online. Here on Holland America Line's ms Noordam, the satellite Internet connection is giving me worse heartburn than an extra spicy…

It's time once again to hop onboard a Holland America Line ship and head out on another adventure, this time to the southern Caribbean on the 2006-built ms Noordam. Over the next ten days, I'll be visiting the line's private island, Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk, Samana in the Dominican…