Saturday 17 August 2013
Day at Sea

Today is the last day at sea before disembarking in Amsterdam on Monday.  So, of course, it’s a good day for packing and getting things ready for the trip home.  The first thing to do is to go through all the “paper” (brochures, tickets, itineraries, souvenirs) I have collected over the past three weeks and decide how much of it I really don’t need.  Since I am travelling with two checked bags and one small carry-on, I don’t think either of the bags will go above the airline weight limits (which, by the way, differ from one airline to another; a useful website for comparing all sorts of add-on airline costs is http://www.exploreflightfees.com).  Business Class on AirBerlin allows two free checked bags under 60 lbs each, but I will have to pay for the second bag on Delta from New York to Tucson.  The first bag is free because I book my flights with a Delta American Express Card; the charge for the second bag is $35—worth every penny not to have to worry about what not to take home.

There is an “International Buffet” in the dining room for lunch and I join my cruise friends for drinks in the Ocean Bar before dinner.  On many evenings the selections for each course at dinner have been so good that I have been tempted to order more than one dish per course.  I have refrained, however, until tonight when three of my favorites appear together on the Appetizer Menu:  escargot baked in garlic-butter sauce, orange shrimp cocktail, and duck paté with caviar.  But in penance I skip the soup and salad.  Main Course is “Surf and Turf,” for which I substitute my usual “Surf and Surf,” with two lobster tails and no steak.  There is a dessert extravaganza scheduled for 10:30 tonight, but to ensure that I’m not hungry, I have just a simple tiramisu for dessert.

Between dinner and the dessert extravaganza, the very talented singers and dancers present their final program, a series of love songs.  They start out formally in tuxedos and cocktail dresses and end in fancy costumes for a finale of Abba songs.

Around the Prinsendam 

 

Sunday 18 August 2013
Zeebrugge, Belgium

I spend the morning in our final port sorting out everything I need for tomorrow’s disembarkation, although I won’t receive my on-board expense bill until later tonight, which includes $11. per day gratuity for the room stewards, dining room stewards, wine steward, and all the unseen hands that make the cruise so pleasant. There is usually a long evaluation form that comes at the same time, but this year Holland America has shifted to sending the forms by email to be filled out in leisure after the cruise is over.

In the afternoon I join a shore excursion that explores the area outside and around the city of Bruges (which I have visited three or four times previously, the last time in August 2011).  The tour begins with a drive through pastoral countryside, passing narrow canals, windmills, and many cows, with a stop in the village of Damme.  After a short walking tour through the town, we pay a visit to Roose’s chocolate factory.  There is a brief demonstration before we are set loose to sample and buy as much chocolate as we like.  Before returning to the Prinsendam we are given a guided tour of Castle van Loppem, still occupied by the descendants of its original owners.

 

Tonight’s farewell dinner concludes with the traditional “Parade of Chefs” serving Baked Alaska desserts.  A new innovation, however, is that the entire contingency of crew members—minus those who are attending to the sailing of the ship—join in the parade around the dining room.  In the past, all passengers have been requested to attend a “Disembarkation Meeting” during the day, at which time crew members appear on stage to bid farewell to those of us leaving the ship (many passengers will remain on the Prinsendam for another two weeks of cruising the Baltic to St Petersburg, Russia).  The new procedure allows passengers to enjoy their day as they wish and to read a memo regarding procedures for leaving the ship in Amsterdam.  I bid farewell to the three gentlemen who have taken care of me in the dining room--the two dining stewards and the wine steward--wth extra cash gratuities.  Although these gratutities are neither expected nor required, on cruises longer than 10 days I feel they are a good way to bid farewell to those who have been my dinner “companions” for two weeks.

Tomorrow the Prinsendam is back in Amsterdam and I am on my way home.

 

 

Friday 16 August 2013
Port St Peter, Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK

After another room service breakfast and an efficient tender ride to shore I am ready for a 10am walking tour through the seafront and commercial sections of Port St Peter, the main city on the Isle of Guernsey, ending at Castle Cornet, part of the island's maritime fortifications.

 

The local guide, a native of Guernsey, has lived here for over 60 years and knows local history and folktales really well.  The Channel Islands were the only parts of Britain occupied by German forces during WWII and there is ample evidence of the enemy's presence all over the islands.  Most of the bunkers and German settlements are along the coastline outside the city, but the residents of Port St Peter retain vivid memories of personal loss and heroism.  Besides guiding the group to a number of monuments dedicated to events of the war along the harbor, our guide also has many photographs and newspaper articles from the time that make those events more real.  As we move away from shore and into the city proper, war memorials give way to modern economic reality and the lure of 21st century shopping.  All the usual brands and stores are here, with the added incentive of tax-free shopping, since the Channel Islands do not contribute to the British tax base and, in fact, issue their own currency (which makes pretty souvenirs but is useless elsewhere in the world).  The tour ends with a visit to Castle Cornet for coffee and raisin cake in the cafe and the shooting of the noonday gun, a daily occurance which is sure to break the eardrums of anyone who gets too close.

All morning we have been beset by misty rain and drizzle and as it gets to be time to leave the Castle, the rain comes down harder.  I really can't complain; as I mentioned in the last blog entry, this is the first real rain since I left New York on the QM2 on 27 July.  Besides, the bad weather gives me the excuse to stop in all the shops on the way back to the tenders and the ship in time for a late lunch of pizza and salad.

Just before dinner the Captain announces that we will spend the night at anchor in the harbor off Port St Peter, instead of departing for Zeebrugge, Belgium (our last port before Amsterdam).  The original scheduled allowed for two nights at sea and arrival in Zeebrugge at 8am on Sunday.  The new schedule means we will spend a peaceful night at anchor and leave Guernsey at 8am on Saturday, still arriving on time in Zeebrugge on Sunday morning.  Because the distance to travel is very short, the Captain would have to reduce the speed of the Prinsendam to 8 knots, which is not good for the efficiency of the engines and frustrating to other ships in the English Channel.  Leaving in the morning will mean travelling at about 15 knots, much better for the engines.

At 7:30pm I join my new friends for a very good martini in the Ocean Bar, followed by dinner (with apologies to SV): a glass of quality French champagne, tomato and salmon carpaccio, tomato  caprese salad, New York strip steak with all the usual accompaniments, and Key Lime Pie.  At 9:30 I attend the finals of "Dancing with the Stars at Sea," a contest running on all Holland America ships throughout 2013.