Saturday, 27 May 2023
Dover, England

This is the final port the Zuiderdam visits before Rotterdam tomorrow, where I disembark. Many passengers are remaining on board for the next two weeks as the ship sails north into the Baltic Sea. But I will be heading to London for four days (and then on to Paris and the Avalon river cruise). So it may be a day or two before I get on with the blog.

For now, it's back to

Thursday, 25 May 2023
Torquay, England

I enjoy a late morning today as the ship doesn’t drop anchor until 10am. Tenders take passengers across Torbay to Torquay on the English Riviera. While the words “English” and “Riviera” may sound strange together, the Torbay area in southwest England has a resort atmosphere and a mild climate—palm trees grow naturally and there is rarely a frost. However, no one speaks French and fish & chips is the daily fare rather than crepes and croissants.

Unfortunately it’s a rather chaotic and frustrating morning because the HAL Navigator App does not have the correct information. Yet every HAL employee on board continues to tell us we must do everything on the app. First, the Navigator states that the Dining Room will be open for breakfast at 7:30am. But when I arrive at 7:35 I am told it does not open until 8am. The Navigator also tells me I should pick up my excursion sticker--necessary for boarding the coach--in the World Stage (as with all the previous excursions), but when I get there I am told to take a tender to shore and my ticket will be checked there and I will receive the correct sticker. However, when I get off the tender, I cannot find a HAL excursion person for almost an hour. When I do find her, she tells me she has no stickers; I should have gotten one on board. This means I do not have a coach assignment and am stuck in the last bus at the last minute.

But the 11 o'clock tour finally starts out at 11:30 for the short ride from Torquay to its sister city on the bay, Paignton. Here we board a vintage steam train for a 20-minute ride that will take us around the bay to the end of the line at Kingswear.

Then it's a short ferry ride across the River Dart to another medieval town, Dartmouth, which sits close to the mouth of the river into the sea. Dartmouth is also the home of the Britannia Royal Naval College, a military institution attended by all the British royals.

We have about one hour of free time to wander the small town and to have lunch. I choose a friendly local spot off the main street. 

Then we all board another boat for a one-hour trip up and down the Dart River. The boat tour brings us back to Kingswear, where we catch the train for Paignton, for the bus to Torquay, for the tender back to the Zuiderdam.

I leave you all with one last message from Dartmouth: