Cornelis “Cees” Kloppenburg and his wife Yvon are reprising their role as cruise diarists, this time on board Ryndam. They will be sending in cruise diaries throughout the duration of their time on board. We’re glad to have them back!

Late Monday morning we boarded Ryndam for a 21-day cruise. In this new series of cruise diaries, we will show you all the life on board and the places we will visit. Our first port call was at Palermo, after having one full day at sea. The boarding process went very smoothly and fast. Boarding our plane in Rotterdam to entering our stateroom on board Ryndam took all of four and a half hours. It’s a well coordinated job from the Holland America Line staff to have the guest staterooms ready before noon. And when you even manage to have the suitcases delivered another half an hour later you deserve a “pluim” as we say in Holland. With welcome aboard champagne, let the good life start!

Welcome to Barcelona!

Enough counters to check-in very fast.

Welcome aboard champagne! We will toast to Ryndam and its entire crew.

The HALCats playing their first notes of this cruise on the Lido deck.