Sailing East: One Adventure Ends as Another Begins

Day 3, 2023 North Atlantic Adventure

Sunday, May 14, 2023; At Sea, Atlantic Ocean.

We’re back in the Atlantic Ocean – this time with sunrises over our bow. I’m still on Holland America’s Zuiderdam for another nine weeks, headed for Northern Europe before heading back to Boston via Iceland, Greenland and Canada.

A recap for those who are new to the blog: Last Friday, the 128-day Holland America Grand World Voyage ended, and all but about 20 of us left the ship. My sisters Eloise and Elaine were among those who headed home. I’m staying on board for another 71 days, making a total journey of 199 days – my longest voyage to date. This journey strings together four cruises, which are combined into two segments on these maps. (Note that the ports of Ny-Alesund and Longyearbyen have been canceled; instead we will go to the North Cape of Norway.)

Several of the ports will be repeats from the last few weeks, but others will be new. And some I missed while my fractured kneecap was healing. First, we have six days at sea before arriving back in the Azores. For me it’s a time of reflection about how I spend my cruise day routine. On the world cruise I kept up fairly well with blog posts, but fell sorely behind in my watercolor sketchbooks. I just finished the second book, on Africa, but have barely started the third one on Europe.

Going forward, I am committing myself to sketching on site, which means going directly to ink (skipping a pencil sketch) and probably spending much less time on painting. The problem with learning new techniques from world cruise watercolor instructor Deb Arts is that I toiled over each painting as I practiced them. I’ll see if I can incorporate some painting improvement while keeping the sketchbook timely.

Back in Fort Lauderdale on Friday, after saying goodbye to my sisters, I left the ship for a much-anticipated shopping excursion in Fort Lauderdale with my friends Ian and Megan. As we walked down the gangway, the ship’s officers bid us goodbye. We said “see you in a few hours!”

We passed over provisions about to be loaded and the thousands of pieces of luggage destined for shipment back home. Somewhere in there is one bag of mine.

Our first stop was the Apple Store at the Galleria Mall, where the nice staff replaced my iPhone case for free, as it hadn’t lasted even a year. I also used the store’s fast WiFi to update apps and download a few Netflix and PBS Passport shows to binge-watch during this crossing.

Then on to Macy’s to replace my worn-out sandals and my used-up eyeliner. At the MAC makeup counter, I ran into Christel Mensick from the ship. The former guest services manager on the world cruises, this time she sailed with her husband Henk, the hotel manager, who juist temporarily left for a corporate meeting but will return in the Azores. It just proved my sister Elaine’s axiom that “we sail halfway around the world and run into people we know.” Of course, those people were fellow passengers (except for my high school friend whom I saw briefly in Scotland).

When I took the tumble in the Canary Islands, I also bent my eyeglasses, so after the mall we stopped by Warby Parker where they fixed them right up for me. After a lunch of burgers and tacos, we returned to a full ship, now with 500 more passengers. The sail-away on the Lido deck was full of excited passengers waiting in line for drinks as we left Fort Lauderdale.

It will take some time for the staff to adjust to the full ship. The first night some friends waited 40 minutes to be seated in the main dining room. Fortunately, I had worked with hostess Josephine (the best!) to reserve a table so we were seated promptly.

My biggest disappointment to date (and a minor one at that) has been the elimination of 4 p.m. happy hour in the Crow’s Nest. The 50-percent-off drink special now is only offered in the Ocean Bar and Billboard Lounge. After waiting 20 minutes to buy a drink in the packed bar, I gave up. And then talked to Edmond, the beverage manager (and Josephine’s husband) about expanding it to the Crow’s Nest. We’ll see how that goes. I’m just happy to be continuing the journey!