Zuiderdam

Editor’s note: Today Holland America Line has five ships in Alaska and one on the way: Amsterdam is at Juneau, Ryndam is at Skagway, Statendam is cruising the Inside Passage, Zaandam is cruising Galcier Bay, Zuiderdam is cruising Tracy Arm and Westerdam is en route to Glacier Bay from Seattle. We’ve been saving this post…   read more of “Video: Around…”

We received this nice note from recent guests aboard Zuiderdam. I had written previously that we were expecting a wonderful cruise on Zuiderdam. Well, it surpassed all of our expectations. Never has the service on HAL been more attentive without being obtrusive. Your concierges May and Arve were the best ever, and went out of…   read more of “Accolades for…”

Aboard Zuiderdam Today as we rounded the west point of Cuba we were inspected by the local air patrol unit. After a thorough inspection of the portside bridge wing console we were escorted in the direction of Fort Lauderdale. I do believe Castro is getting a little hawkish. I shot the picture above. The two…   read more of “Captain’s…”

Life on board is a different way of living from what most people experience. We need to learn how to live in a small space, no matter how large the ship may be. Unusual as it is for crew, we cruise consultants have a passenger cabin, albeit an inside one. I was most concerned about…   read more of “Living the Crew…”

Geene, Maasdam’s crew purser, sent in this fun story and photo. Last Thursday the Zuiderdam and Maasdam called in Half Moon Cay together. The crew pursers set up a friendly football game between the ships on the far end of the beach. It was hard work for the players to play on the soft sand…   read more of “Soccer Match on the…”

The Embera Indians were in Panama before Columbus “found” them and started the downfall of their culture. I went on a shore excursion today to Pararu Puru, the village that is the farthest downriver. It is about a two-hour bus ride over potholes with a little road in between. The dugout canoes were waiting for…   read more of “Postcards from the…”

Please note the attachment which shows my husband Carl Bagwell and myself (Nadine) on our first Holland America cruise. I don’t know where the years have gone, except we are still loving and living together and will take our 50th anniversary trip on Holland America. WHAT A WAY TO CELEBRATE!! 🙂 We are as excited…   read more of “We Love Holland…”