Random thoughts from the sea
Day 124 +2, 2025 Grand World Voyage Saturday, May 10, 2025; Plano, Texas. When I woke up last night, I tried to remember whether today would be a port day and, if so, what port. Sadly, I eventually realized I was in a Plano hotel room, not still at sea.
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Days 116-122, 2025 Grand World Voyage Wednesday to Tuesday, April 20-May 6, 2025; At Sea and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Our last port sunset of the cruise was a stunner, adding to the awe, beauty and even nostalgia of this 124-day cruise. As we leave San Juan, Puerto Rico, we
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Days 114-115, 2025 Grand World Voyage Monday and Tuesday, April 28-29, 2025; Lisbon, Portugal, and Tangier, Morocco. We were so excited to meet up in Barcelona with the Volendam, on its own grand pole-to-pole voyage, that we didn’t notice that both ships would meet up again just a few days
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Day 112, 2025 Grand World Voyage Saturday, April 26, 2025; Alicante, Spain. I stood – simply entranced — for half an hour, watching couples come together for a set of fast-paced swing to music from a portable sound box. Some obviously were couples, but others perhaps strangers drawn together by
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Day 111, 2025 Grand World Voyage Friday, April 25, 2025; Barcelona, Spain. After all the partying and visiting yesterday between the passengers and crews of the Zuiderdam and Volendam, today we got around to actually seeing Barcelona. My sisters Eloise and Elaine, with friends Jett, Kelly and Jolanda from the
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Day 110, 2025 Grand World Voyage Thursday, April 24, 2025; Barcelona, Spain. Holland America exceeded my expectations with an amazing party and drone show tonight in Barcelona. I admit that early on I had my doubts about the Grand Meetup 2025, when Holland America’s Zuiderdam and Volendam – each on
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Days 108-109, 2025 Grand World Voyage Tuesday and Wednesday, April 22-23, 2025; Civitavecchia/Rome and Olbia, Sardinia, Italy. The news of the death of Pope Francis on Monday left an air of uncertainty on the Zuiderdam, as we arrived in Civitavecchia early Tuesday morning. This is the port for Rome, which
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Day 107, 2025 Grand World Voyage Monday, April 21, 2025; Naples, Italy. Boy, was Naples a wonderful surprise today! After spending my first visit here in 2007 going to Pompeii, four years later I ventured into Naples itself. It’s easy to do on foot, as the cruise pier is in
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Day 105, 2025 Grand World Voyage Saturday, April 19, 2025; Piraeus/Athens, Greece. I had one goal today in Athens – to discover the small bakery I visited with my friend Deb last fall on a walking food tour. It was our first stop, and we sampled the most delicious ring-shaped
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Day 104, 2025 Grand World Voyage Friday, April 18, 2025; Kusadasi, Turkey. I last toured Ephesus, near the Turkish harbor of Kusadasi, in 2007. While you might think such a historic site of ruins dating back more than 2,000 years wouldn’t change much in 18 years, it was well worth
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