I am ready to sail again--not to Norway in July as I indicated at the end of my cruise to Southeast Asia--but to the Mediterranean in April and May. In fact I leave from Tucson one week from today. This is the first time I have travelled on such short notice, but Holland America made an offer that I simply could not refuse.
I was able to arrange complicated but amazingly low-cost transportation as well. On Sunday morning I fly free from Tucson to Minneapolis to Toronto on Delta (using frequent flyer mileage ). Then on Sunday evening I fly business class overnight, non-stop Toronto to Rome on Air Canada, arriving on Monday morning. My return flights take the same route in reverse. I sail on the ms Zuiderdam from the port of Rome on Tuesday, 14 April, and return to Rome (and Tucson) on 6 May.
The Zuiderdam carries about 1900 passengers and was christened in 2002. I have not sailed on her previously, but she is sister ship to the Oosterdam on which Will and I sailed to Alaska in 2008. Since she is fully booked I won't be getting any upgrades from my current oceanview stateroom. But the stateroom is well-located midship--and I probably won't spend much time in it anyway.
I have travelled to some of these ports previously, back in the 1990s and on a Cunard cruise in 2010, but there are still many new adventures awaiting me.
As usual, I will try to post as often as possible and with as many photos as possible, but every cruise and every ship has different wifi availability. It was very fast on the Volendam in Asia, but that is no guarantee for the Zuiderdam in Europe.
| Day | Date | Port | Arrive | Depart |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 14 Apr 2015 | Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy | 04:00 PM | |
| 1 | 15 Apr 2015 | Cruising Strait of Messina | ||
| Messina, Italy | Noon | 08:00 PM | ||
| 2 | 16 Apr 2015 | Valletta, Malta | 08:00 AM | 05:00 PM |
| 3 | 17 Apr 2015 | At Sea | ||
| 4 | 18 Apr 2015 | Argostoli, Cephalonia, Greece | 08:00 AM | 05:00 PM |
| 5 | 19 Apr 2015 | Kerkira, Nisos Kerkira (Corfu), Greece | 08:00 AM | 04:00 PM |
| 6 | 20 Apr 2015 | Dubrovnik, Croatia | 10:00 AM | 11:59 PM |
| 7 | 21 Apr 2015 | Kotor, Montenegro | 08:00 AM | 06:00 PM |
| 8 | 22 Apr 2015 | Korcula, Croatia | 08:00 AM | 05:00 PM |
| 9 | 23 Apr 2015 | Split, Croatia | 08:00 AM | 05:00 PM |
| 10 | 24 Apr 2015 | Venice, Italy | Noon | |
| 11 | 25 Apr 2015 | Venice, Italy | 04:00 PM | |
| 12 | 26 Apr 2015 | At Sea | ||
| 13 | 27 Apr 2015 | Katakolon (Olympia), Greece | 10:00 AM | 06:00 PM |
| 14 | 28 Apr 2015 | Nafplion, Greece | 08:00 AM | 04:00 PM |
| 15 | 29 Apr 2015 | Piraeus (Athens), Greece | 08:00 AM | 06:00 PM |
| 16 | 30 Apr 2015 | Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey | 07:00 AM | 07:00 PM |
| 17 | 01 May 2015 | Mykonos, Greece | 08:00 AM | 05:00 PM |
| 18 | 02 May 2015 | Rhodes, Greece | 08:00 AM | 06:00 PM |
| 19 | 03 May 2015 | Thira (Santorini), Greece | 08:00 AM | 05:00 PM |
| 20 | 04 May 2015 | At Sea | ||
| 21 | 05 May 2015 | Naples (Pompeii), Italy | 08:00 AM | 06:00 PM |
| 22 | 06 May 2015 | Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy | 07:00 AM |
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