Sea Day - Last Day of First Itinerary

Friday, February 28, 2025

After my bout of tummy troubles the night before, I slept well and woke up feeling 100% normal. (Unfortunately “normal” means a sore knee but that’s another story…) The room service meal I had consumed the night before had not caused any type of repeat symptoms. 

In hindsight, the symptoms were so short-lived I’m not sure that what I had was norovirus…or food poisoning…or something else. I don’t want to get graphic, but I only threw up once and then had one small episode of “D”, nothing compared to the horror stories of norovirus that I have heard. Regardless, the whole ordeal only lasted a few hours and then I was fine. I saw no reason to report anything to the ship’s medical department since I needed no type of care. According to my friend, Google, I could remain contagious for up to two weeks if it had been a case of norovirus so staying in my cabin a day or two more wouldn’t have made a difference. 

Bob and Jon had made plans to play pickleball at 7:30 am so I met up with Michelle at the buffet. It is nice to have a designated table now so we don't have to go hunting for each other...and most of the time "our table" was available. Michelle said they had been awake since before 5:30 am when they were awakened by someone outside working on the lifeboat. I guess that is one more reason the obstructed ocean view cabins are cheaper!

The "Eggs Chesapeake Benedict" was offered today so my breakfast was a crab cake and two poached eggs. I'm not sure what egg prices are now but it seems like the ship is economizing by using small sized eggs. The poached eggs I had were some of the tiniest I have ever seen. Michelle also got a fried egg that was very small.

After eating, Michelle and I went to the promenade deck and worked on our NY Times puzzles. I will continue to do the puzzles once I return home but I will sure miss that sea view while I do! The weather on this cruise continues to be perfect and the seas are the calmest we have ever experienced. The midship location of our cabin might be part of the reason, but we have not been rocked to sleep once!

When Bob texted that he and Jon were at the buffet, Michelle and I went up to join them. Nothing on the schedule was of interest so we came back to our cabin and Bob fell asleep watching a movie. I took the time to do a little "sink laundry" but eventually we will send out a bag to have washed. 

Our room, 4060, an obstructed oceanview cabin.

Our towel animal from last night...

It hadn't been too long since the guys had finished their breakfast when Jon called to remind us the "Cake Me Away" was starting soon in the buffet! (Note from the future:  It felt like our days were planned around food, but Bob and I each lost a couple of pounds on the cruise!)

I resisted the temptation to get some cake and instead got a salad and three pieces of sushi. I'm not really a big fan of sushi and know very little about the different types. What I do know is that I really like wasabi and pickled ginger! I did go a little overboard with the wasabi on one piece and it was so strong it made my eyes water!

We had one round left to finish in our Hand & Foot card game so we went to the Crow's Nest where there are nice tables for cards and games. Jon brought a glass of ice and a bottle of grape pop that he had somehow managed to bring onboard the ship. When he opened the bottle it sprayed everywhere and meant that Jon not only had to get himself cleaned up but also the table and the cards he was holding. 

We had just enough time to finish our game before going down to the Rolling Stones Lounge for "Cocktails with Valerie" (the cruise director) and her guests, the members of Island Magic steel drum band. They had performed two different shows on the cruise and were a huge hit with the passengers. Although we had heard about their background when they were on our Panama Canal cruise in 2018, it was still interesting to hear their history again. They brought along the smaller drum in the band so people could see it up close. What makes their music truly amazing is that none of them can read music! Their shows were standing room only which is a testament to how much people love to hear them play! 

Because of their popularity, they have actually formed two separate groups and have long term contracts with Holland America. One group is on the Eurodam and the other on the Rotterdam for entire winter season while the ships are in the Caribbean.

Julian is the founder and leader of Island Magic.

Each day as we walked from our cabin towards the midship elevators, we walked by three cabins that were numbered differently...UP002, UP004, UP006. (Deck 4 was the Upper Promenade, hence the UP on the cabin number.) I looked at the deck plan but all it showed was a blank space. The same empty space was also located on the starboard side of the ship. During our three weeks on the ship we realized that these were entertainer cabins and it was members of Island Magic that were staying near us! A couple of times we met in the hallway and had a chance to greet them.

Location of entertainers' cabins.

Continuing our lazy sea day routine, Michelle and I wanted to get in a little sun by the pool...and the guys decided to join us. It was partly cloudy but that made the temperatures very pleasant.

I left the pool a little earlier than the rest so I had time to shower before dinner. We had reservations for 5:30 the last few nights which seemed to work out well to get us to the theater in time to get a seats for the evening entertainment. 

We gave Jon a hard time because he ordered FOUR appetizers at dinner! 

Tonight's show was Paul Aldrich who was billed as a guitarist and impersonator. He performed a lot of songs from the 1960's but did so with humor. The show wasn't very well attended, probably because many people were using the last evening of the cruise to pack.

Tomorrow we will be part of a group of about 300 passengers who will be "in transit". That usually means a quick walk off the ship and then right back on, but because of intense cleaning that is to take place we will be off from 9:00 am to at least 2:00 pm. In other words, we will be homeless for a big part of the day. Our plan is that Jon will go get his car from a nearby parking garage and then come pick us up. From there...who knows!

Sea Day - Sick Day

 Thursday, February 27, 2025

Around 2:00 am I woke up not feeling great. My first thought was the Asian noodles were the culprit. (I had eaten spicy noodles at lunch AND dinner!) But within a few minutes I realized it wasn't just indigestion and I made a mad dash to the bathroom. It was pretty obvious at that point that this was not just a case of spicy food. 

I grabbed the trash can out of the bathroom and sat on the couch, hoping I would feel better. But that didn't happen. There was no way to be quiet when you are as sick as I was and Bob woke up. We had a spare blanket in the cabin so I spread that over the couch and stayed there for the next couple of hours. I also took a meclizine (Bonine), hoping it would calm the nausea. 

I'm not sure if that did the trick, but I did start to feel a little better and went back to bed and slept the rest of the night. When I woke up, the nausea had left but I needed to make another quick trip into the bathroom for "other" symptoms.

Bob went and met Jon and Michelle for breakfast and I just crawled back into bed. Michelle had a spa appointment for a manicure and pedicure and the guys went and played pickle ball. Bob came and checked on me afterwards and then he and Jon went to the lido to play ping pong.

I slept almost all morning long. I took one more meclazine and also added Imodium this time. Bob sent me a message through the Navigator app while he was eating lunch asking if I needed anything. I requested a can of Diet Coke. I had a headache which I attributed to missing my morning coffee and was hopeful a little caffeine could cure that.

Jon and Michelle went to the military meet-up after lunch (Jon is retired military) and took along the bottles of champagne that each of us had gotten as an apology for not having a mini fridge in our rooms. We knew we wouldn't drink the champagne so Jon made up a couple of random categories to pick winners among the vets to receive the bottles...longest service, earliest entry into the military, etc. 

Bob came back to the room and rested for a bit and then took off for yet more pickleball. I tried starting a couple of different movies on TV but couldn't get interested. Instead I worked on my favorite NY Times puzzles online...Wordle, Connections and Strands. HAL provides access to the NY Times website so I could access the puzzles without having an internet connection.

Bob returned to the room around 3:00 to shower and get ready for "dressy night" in the dining room. It was early, but he had made plans to meet Jon and Michelle for trivia at 4:00. He was ready by 3:30 so announced that he was going up to the Crow's Nest early and go to the watercolor class. 

My tummy had settled down and I was feeling OK (but hungry) so I took a chance and ordered some chicken noodle soup and a sandwich from room service. I ate most of the soup. The club sandwich was delicious but huge along with a massive amount of potato chips (I requested the order without the usual coleslaw.) I put the chips in a ziplock bag to enjoy some other time and ate half of the club sandwich hoping it would not upset my stomach. It tasted so good! Bob returned briefly before dinner and reported that they had a score of 13 out of 17 in their trivia game...better than I would have guessed they could have done!

After having the "do not disturb" sign hanging on the door all morning, I really wanted to have the cabin serviced and get some clean towels but knew I needed to get out of the room. After Bob left for dinner, I packed up my iPad and went down to the promenade deck to get some fresh air. Other than a few walkers, I had the deck to myself. The sea was calm and the sun was setting and it was so beautiful! A few thunderheads off in the distance were billowing into the sky, illuminated by the low angle of the sun.

I sat on the promenade deck until it was dark and the crew began collecting the chair cushions. By the time I got back to the room, it had been cleaned and there were fresh towels in the bathroom. I was feeling perfectly fine by then and decided to go to the evening show in the theater. Bob, Jon and Michelle were sitting in the very back row and I joined them. The theater was only about half full for the "Hey Mr. DJ" show with the full cast of singers and dancers. Most of the songs they performed were ones I knew but others were totally unknown to me. 

Seeing the others also gave us a chance to discuss plans for "turn around day" in Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday. A notice had been left in our mailbox saying that the ship was going to undergo deep cleaning on that day and any passengers staying on for the next cruise would need to get off the ship by 9 am and not return until 2 pm. The choices for folks like us were to just sit in the terminal for 5 hours, take a free shuttle to a shopping mall or sign up for an overpriced tour from HAL. None of the alternatives were great. Since Jon and Michelle had driven to the port, he suggested that we take his car and find something to do in the Ft. Lauderdale area. That sounded like a good solution so I told Jon he was in charge of the plan PROVIDED he got us back to the port no later than 2:00. After the fiasco at the beginning of the cruise I didn't want to worry about missing the ship!

Bonaire

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

When we booked this cruise I was excited that Bonaire was to be one of the ports included on the itinerary. The first thing I did after making the cruise deposit was to contact Woodwind Snorkel to book a tour. I had done this excursion in 2013 and was amazed at the beautiful coral and abundance of fish and sea life that we saw. One of the best tours ever! I even have a framed photo of a turtle that we saw and used another of my turtle pictures as the photo on my Visa credit card. 

This was an actual photo taken when I snorkeled in Bonaire in 2013.
I used a photo editing program to make it look like it was done in colored pencil.

The Eurodam docked early as Bob and I watched on the bow camera TV station. I was disappointed to see that the ship was at the north pier which meant a longer walk to get to where we would board the catamaran for our snorkel tour. Some sort of cargo ship was docked at the southern pier and it looked like they were unloading sand into big dump trucks to haul off the ship.

This is the ship that was docked at the south pier.

Since we had such an early start we had ordered room service for breakfast. When we filled out the menu Bob filled in that there were two of us ordering and then proceeded to put an ❎in the box next to each item we wanted. For me it was the All American Breakfast which had eggs, sausage, bacon and hashbrown potatoes. I added a piece of toast and some sliced fruit and coffee. Bob ordered a bowl of Raisin Bran. No regular milk was on the menu so he requested soy milk. Also some yogurt and pastries. Luckily I had gotten up before my alarm went off. I had requested the breakfast be delivered around 6:45 but it was 6:25 when we got the knock on the door. I assume we should have specified a number next to each item (rather than the X) because we got double eggs breakfasts, double fruit and double toast. 

We met Jon and Michelle at the end of the gangplank at 7:20 and began the walk to the Divi Flamingo Resort where we would board a catamaran for the tour. The distance was further than I wished we had to walk, but we still made it there before the meeting time of 7:45 am.

There were quite a few people signed up for the tour, including a few from our ship plus others who were staying on the island. When we boarded the catamaran, we had the choice of sitting in the front or the back. They suggested not going inside the cabin because it would be stuffy and make people more prone to sea sickness.

Michelle and I waiting for the tour to begin.

The narrow walkway around the cabin was hard to navigate,
especially when the boat was rocking & rolling!

The four of us headed to the front part of the boat which was no easy feat. The walkway around the cabin was narrow and I was afraid I was going to lose my balance but I made it. Immediately after we left the dock, crew members came around and offered everyone something to drink and then started checking for who would need snorkel equipment. Jon, Michelle and Bob had all of their gear. I had my own mask and snorkel, but asked to borrow a pair of fins. Everyone was divided up into several small groups and assigned to one of the crew members who would lead the group while snorkeling.

Calvin, our group leader

Getting to the first snorkel stop took about 30 minutes of rough sailing. On the way we spotted large schools of flying fish jumping out of the water in unison. It isn't uncommon to see flying fish, but I had never seen so many together! 

When we reached the snorkeling stop near the island Klein Bonaire ("Little Bonaire in Dutch) we made our way to the back of the boat where we put on our snorkel equipment and jumped into the water. The water was fairly deep which made it more difficult to see the coral and fish near the bottom. After not snorkeling for six years, I felt claustrophobic using the mask and snorkel. I managed to keep up with the others in our group but was disappointed in the coral condition. It was not the vibrant coral that I remembered from the last time. 

When we got back on the boat we headed to where we would have the 2nd snorkel stop. On the way the crew came around serving sweet breads and fresh fruit. Michelle and I both decided to stay on the boat at the next stop so Jon and Bob went in without us.

The wind speeds had increased as the morning went on and the ocean swells as well. When everyone was back on the boat, the crew came around serving the hot lunch that was included in the tour. This was an Asian noodle dish which was quite tasty but nearly impossible to eat in the wind. Since we were sitting in the front of the boat, we were taking the full brunt of the wind and every time I tried to take a bite, the noodles would fly off my fork! It was very frustrating but eventually just became funny! I was sitting right in front of the mast and by the time I was finished eating 80% of my meal was stuck to the boat. Dessert was a small piece of chocolate cake that I did manage to get into my mouth.

Noodles were flying everywhere!

When we got back to the dock I showed our group leader my credit card that had the photo of a turtle taken on my previous tour. He admitted things have changed in the last 12 years and that the coral was not in great shape anymore.  😞 We paid for our tour and walked back to the ship.

The Eurodam had a lot of distance to cover to get back to Ft. Lauderdale by Saturday which meant we left Bonaire by 3:00 pm. The guys went to play pickleball and after showering I met up with Michelle in the art center for the "doodles class". The location on deck 11 at the front of the ship made for a great place to watch as the ship sailed away from Bonaire. While we were there the captain made his daily announcement and mentioned that the norovirus cases were diminishing and were down to single digits. That was reassuring and hopefully meant that all of the precautions were paying off.

Kralendijk, Bonaire

When Bob and Jon finished playing pickleball they met us in the Crow's Nest and we played a round of the card game, Hand & Foot before going back to our cabins to get ready for dinner. It was Dutch Night in the dining room but rather than going with the traditional dishes, I ordered Bami Gorang which was a spicy noodle dish (my second plate of Asian noodles for the day!) It was borderline spicy for me, but I ate it and enjoyed it! 

The "Orange Party" was scheduled for later in the evening by the lido pool and many people had donned their orange attire for dinner. (I wish I had taken a photo of the sea of orange clothing in the dining room!)  

The main theater entertainment was the second performance by Island Magic, the steel drum band. This time instead of classical and show tunes, they performed music by popular artists such as John Denver, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, etc. I enjoyed the music, but was tired enough that I had to fight to stay awake.

Cruise director, Valerie, introducing Island Magic

Island Magic...our neighbors on Deck 4! 😉

None of us were interested in attending the Orange Party so instead we played one more hand of our card game and then called it a night. 

Curacao

 Tuesday, February 25, 2025

At the Captain's toast, Captain Eldering had mentioned that he had a special treat for all of the passengers. He said that the Eurodam would be docking right downtown in Willemstad, Curacao. He encouraged everyone to be up by 6:30 am to watch as the ship sailed in.

That sounded like a great idea, but even after going to bed at 9 pm I didn't stir until Bob's alarm went off at 7 am. We turned on the TV to the bow camera channel and sure enough...we were docked right in the center of town next to the floating Queen Emma Bridge. On our first visit to Curacao our ship was docked where the NCL ship in the following photo was located. We had no time after the tour we took on that visit so we had not gotten to see the main part of town.

The NCL ship in the distance is where I assumed we would be docked.
How fun to be right downtown instead!

Bob and Jon were going to scuba dive again and needed to leave by 8:15 so we had to hustle a bit to get to the buffet for breakfast. Today the poached egg special was "Forest Mushroom Benedict". It was an English muffin topped with spinach, mushrooms, a poached egg and hollandaise sauce. That didn't appeal to me so I just had a plain muffin with the poached egg on top. (I decided I needed to limit my intake of hollandaise sauce...eating it every morning for 3 weeks could be disastrous!!) Unfortunately the eggs were barely warm. My coffee was also cold so I can't give very high marks for the breakfast.

The guys had booked their dive through "The Dive Bus" and had been put in touch with another guy on the ship who was also diving. The three of them met and shared a taxi to the dive shop. Here is Bob with a report on his dive:

Our diving experience was quite fun and surprising. We had dived in Aruba the day before, so the jitters were past us. Jon and I had both settled in again to BCD, weights, tank, and all the correct procedures. We are good partners in the water. We did 2 shore dives, both right across the road from the shop. We literally walked across the road in all our gear to step into the water. The house reef was first, and we had lots of great sea life to enjoy. The second, called Car Pile, I was nervous about. It’s billed as a pile of junk dumped in the water to attract sea life. Really? We were quite surprised at how grown over it was, the fascinating structure of large steel wheels and beams, and lots of great sea life and coral. We came out really surprised how fun that was. I had dived in Aruba and Bonaire previously, so I’m glad to now have seen a little bit of Curacao.

Michelle and I took off on foot to find a Starbucks where she could hopefully find another collector's mug. Using Google maps we walked along the waterfront until we came to the Rif Fort which had been converted into a shopping center.

Michelle stopped in one of the shops and bought a Curacao t-shirt. Just outside the walls of the fort we found the Starbucks and SCORE...they  had the mug she was looking for. We each bought a coffee which we enjoyed inside in the air-conditioning. On the way back to the ship we stopped off and on in a few shops and also went down one of the side streets window shopping. My knee wasn't happy about the walk, but I managed by going slow.

We were back on the ship around 11:00. Crew guys were still grinding on the grates outside my cabin window so Michelle and I went down to the promenade deck and sat facing the main part of the city of Willemstad...so pretty! By noon we decided not to wait on the guys and ordered pizzas through the Navigator app. We went to our usual table in the buffet and waited to get an alert that the pizzas were ready. We finished eating and the guys still hadn't returned so we went back to our cabins. A nap was sounding nice, but the workers were making so much noise that any sleep was out of the question. 

I learned to keep the curtains closed when I was changing clothes because you never knew if someone was right outside the window!

Cabin #4060. Even with the occasional work being done outside our cabin,
I appreciated having the large window that let in lots of light.

I like that most of HAL's cabins have couches or loveseats.
I used the adjustable table as my "office space" when working on my blog.

It wasn't long until Bob did come back and I went to sit with him in the buffet while he ate. Jon also joined us. I didn't stick around long because a lady sitting nearby was coughing like crazy. Drinks were still being filled by the crew so I had them fill my large insulated mug with ice water and then added a sugar-free lemonade packet when I got back to the room.

Bob, Jon and Michelle got off the ship to do a little exploring but I decided the couple of miles I had walked in the morning was all my knee was going to take. I putzed around the cabin getting my backpack organized for tomorrow's snorkeling excursion, watched some news on TV and updated my blog notes. Bob texted me a few times while they were out and said it was very hot which convinced me I had made the right decision by not going.

Just beyond where the Eurodam was docked was the Queen Juliana bridge, 185 feet above the water.

Jon & Michelle crossing the Queen Emma floating bridge.

When they returned, Bob called and made dinner reservations for 5:30 pm and when it was time, we met Jon and Michelle in the dining room. Bob, Michelle and I all ordered the wiener schnitzel and the piece of meat was MASSIVE! None of us were able to finish. And anytime lamb is on the menu, that is what Jon orders...just as he did tonight.

So good...but so big! The rest of the meal is hiding under the piece of meat!

Between the main course and dessert, I had Bob run outside to the promenade deck to get a photo of the painted buildings along the waterfront being illuminated by the setting sun. After we finished we all went out and saw the floating bridge lit up and being opened as a large ship sailed by. 

When the bridge is open (as it is in this photo) a ferry was available to cross the river.

The evening entertainment was pianist Juan Pablo. His show combined his excellent piano playing with a little humor. With his heavy accent I missed a few of the jokes and I think I was getting tired enough that I didn't enjoy the show as much as I might have normally.

No mention was made of playing cards (I think everyone was tired!) and we parted ways with Jon and Michelle right after the show. Bob and I decided tomorrow would be a room service breakfast day so we got the menu filled out. We rarely order room service so we hoped we filled it out correctly before hanging it on our door handle in the hallway. After getting things organized that we would need for snorkeling tomorrow in Bonaire, we hit the hay.