Day 01 - Thursday, July 10, 2003 - Monument to Seattle EARLY, TOO EARLY! We woke up on our own, without the alarm around 2 AM and finally at 2:30 we got up and got ourselves ready to go. We took our time and the cats were wondering why they were woken up so early. Once we fed them, they were pleased. We left the house at 3:25 and the trip up I-25 to Denver was so easy. I had the ...
Read Day 1!
Day 2 - Friday, July 11, 2003 - Seattle to Boston As the four of us had an early flight to Boston, we were up at 5:30 AM. The night had been cool and our sleep was very sound and refreshing. Just before I got into the shower, Susan brought me a cup of Starbucks French Roast - what a way to wake up! By 6:15 we were ready to leave and took our suitcase to the driveway to await the ...
Read Day 2!
Day 03 - Saturday, July 12, 2003 - Boston & At Sea We got up at 7:15 and met Bob and Susan at the coffee shop downstairs. We had a bagel, Starbucks coffee and chatted. Gennie went to the shop next door and found a Maine quarter (P) for her collection. We had a map of Boston so we set off on our morning excursion. We saw that the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal within walking ...
Read Day 3!
Day 04 - Sunday, July 13, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea Just as the alarm went off at 7 AM we heard the ship’s horn give one loud blast. I looked out the window, then got up and walked outside in the verandah and saw the dense fog. One could hardly see the ocean directly below us. And it was cool. On the ship’s TV channel it said it was 54 degrees and we have gone 315 nautical ...
Read Day 4!
Day 05 - Monday, July 14, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea & St. Pierre, French Territory Another hour lost overnight so we are now two hours ahead of New York and the Eastern Daylight Time. This makes for short nights. We usually go to bed around 11 so with the time change it makes it midnight. And we only have 23 hour days. We were up at 7 AM and could not see any anything as we ...
Read Day 5!
Day 06 - Tuesday, July 15, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea & St. Johns, Newfoundland The ship entered the Narrows to St. John’s at 6:30 and there to greet us was the scenic Fort Amherst Lighthouse. It was something to see such a large ship go through such a small opening (90 meters). It is the place where in WW II the Germans tried to torpedo the area to block the port. Just after ...
Read Day 6!
Day 07 - Wednesday, July 16, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea Another time change. Last night we made up the 30 minutes we had picked up when we entered St. John’s. Now we are 2 hours ahead of New York. The TV showed us that the ocean temperature was 45 degrees and the air was not much better - 50. The ocean is still very tranquil with no real wave action at all. What is interesting ...
Read Day 7!
Day 08 - Thursday, July 17, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea & Qaqortoq, Greenland Late morning wake-up – 8 AM. We took our time getting ready, puttered around and then at 9 AM we went to breakfast. I ate a bagel also as we knew we would not be eating lunch as we would be onshore. At 9:30 we returned to our room and got the computer to send a few notes and for Gennie to do her ...
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Day 09 - Friday, July 18, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea & Prince Christian Sound, Greenland The alarm went off at 7:30 and we got up at 8:30 - we are becoming real slackers! We stepped outside in our veranda and it was a cold morning. Around 45 degrees and lifting fog. After a shower we went up to the Lido and had a typical breakfast for us. Juice, fruit, coffee, oatmeal, and ...
Read Day 9!
Day 10 - Saturday, July 19, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea Another day without CNN, New York Times, and INTERNET. There have been grumbles about the aspects of the cruise that are not professional. When I went to the Front Desk to inquire about some maps for Iceland, people were being rude to the staff for their inability to provide this service, now for 3 days. They also reflected ...
Read Day 10!
Day 11 – Sunday, July 20, 2003 – ms Rotterdam – At Sea & Reykjavik, Iceland We were in the port at Reykjavik, Iceland when we got up at 7:15. This is the most northern most capital in the world. They have 170,000 people of their 266,000 people living in the capital. There is a heavy overcast but we see sunshine poking through the clouds to the north. The temperature is nice - mid ...
Read Day 11!
Day 12 – Monday, July 21, 2003 – ms Rotterdam – At Sea We saw several Dolphins last night at about 10:00 PM - they are enjoying this late sun also! We made a bet at dinner that we might have to change times again, and wouldn’t you know it we did! We had a great night’s sleep, even when the wind began to blow and the ship began to toss. About 3 AM the ship began to rock much ...
Read Day 12!
Day 13 – Tuesday, July 22, 2003 – ms Rotterdam – At Sea & Oban, Scotland AT 5 AM I looked out our verandah door and saw the ship entering the Oban Harbor and the HEAVY fog with a good mist. By 6:45 when the alarm went off it was still very wet outside. The ship is anchored about a mile from the city out in the mouth of the bay. We will have to take a Tender to the docks and from ...
Read Day 13!
Day 14 - Wednesday, July 23, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea & Belfast, N. Ireland We woke up (6:15) just as the ship entered Belfast Harbor. It is the biggest port since we left Boston. We returned from breakfast to grab our backpacks and go to the Queen’s Lounge to join our tour to the Giant’s Causeway & Antrim Coast. We waited only a few moments and we were the second group ...
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Day 15 - Thursday, July 24, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea & Cobh, Ireland A good night’s sleep does wonders. We were up at 6:30 and ready for breakfast at 7:15. We had just spoken to Bob and Susan and they had been able to get a spot on the Blarney Castle and Woolen Mills trip with us. We were in the Queens Lounge at 8 AM and we were told to go right away to the gangway and get ...
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Day 16 - Friday, July 25, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea What a night! We had gone to bed with winds in GALE force and waves between 12-18 feet. The boat rocked a bit during the night but both Gennie and I slept well. We got up at 7 AM, looked out our verandah door and all we saw was a heavy fog and a steady rain. We showered, had our breakfast and then waited for Bob and Susan ...
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Day 17 - Saturday, July 26, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea & Le Havre, France As we entered Le Havre, we lost another hour. It was another short night as the alarm went off at 6 AM so we could be off the ship by 7:15. We showered, had our usual breakfast and then met Susan and Bob at 7:15 as we walked to the gangway and got off the ship. There was an information booth right on ...
Read Day 17!
Day 18 - Sunday, July 27, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea & Dover, England Early morning again - at 6 AM the alarm went off and we were on the go. We looked out the window and saw the White Cliffs of Dover right outside the ship. We had the usual fruit, coffee and orange juice breakfast and then returned to our room to do the ship's survey of their service, food, accommodations ...
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Day 19 - Monday, July 28, 2003 - ms Rotterdam - At Sea & Rotterdam & Amsterdam, Netherlands A stressful day. We were up at 6:30 after a night of tossing and turning. Part of it due to Holland America’s policy that they want people out of their room by 8 AM and that we have to start boarding buses at 6:30. They told us that we needed to be ready at 6:30 even though we were not ...
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Day 20 - Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - Amsterdam, Netherlands to Monument, CO We had a good night at the Crown Plaza City Center, sleeping until 8 AM. Very soft bed but we were tired after a good bit of walking all day on Monday. We got all of our luggage organized, locked with plastic straps, and ready to go for when we returned to the room. I went downstairs to check with the ...
Read Day 20!