by Jim Bellomo | Jan 27, 2022 | Photography
After missing our first port (which should have been HAL’s private island, Half Moon Cay) due to weather conditions and not COVID, our first stop became Grand Turk Island. Grand Turk is the Turk part of Turks and Caicos. This was our first time on this island so we had no clue what we were in for.
On past cruises we hardly ever do ship’s shore excursions but using HAL’s Have It All program, we not only received a drinks package, two nights in specialty restaurants and complimentary Wifi but we were able to sign up for some HAL shore excursions for free. With that said, we chose “Charming Grand Turk by Open Air Tram.” This was just one of those overview tours where we would see the island and hear from a guide who would tell us a little about the island, their country and its history.
Sometimes things go wrong on a cruise and you just hope it’s not a big deal. This turned out to be one of those times. We had arrived at the correct time for the afternoon tram ride and after they signed us in they told us that the morning tram group had not come back yet and we would have to wait 15 minutes. No biggie. But the 15 minutes turned into 30 and then almost an hour. The shore excursion team offered us a full refund or we could wait another 15 minutes. In fact the tram never showed up (they might still be there ?). Some people chose to take refunds and headed back to the ship. We had decided to wait the full hour and then take the refund.
But when an open air bus (not our tram) came in after their second tour, the HAL shore excursion people asked the guide if he would take us. We were totally impressed with their efforts and he agreed to tour us around. We were thrilled because he had a higher and larger open air bus than the tram would have been, which made it much easier for me to get the photos I ended up with (that I am thrilled about). The shore excursion manager did her job that day, totally coming through for us. Not only that, when we got back to the ship and checked our accounts we found that she had reimbursed us for the entire tour because it was late and we handled it so well. Going above and beyond—HAL’s service is blowing us away.
Once we got out on the road with our guide Nate we knew we were in a very fun tour. He was hilarious. He had two teenage girls working with him and they took great care of us as we drove all over the island. We learned a lot about Grand Turk and its history (for instance, did you know this where John Glenn landed after his first orbit of the earth?). Nate was also great about stopping for photos. I am going to tell you a little more about Grand Turk in the captions of the photos below. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my pictures on a phone. Please…
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Twin sisters sitting at the pier. Our ship the Nieuw Statendam on the left and her younger sister the Rotterdam on the right
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The port has a wonderful pool area for ship guests only.
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A beautiful beach for ship guests only
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A larger view of the beach
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The sisters again
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The memorial to John Glenn and the Mercury space program
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A beautiful Caribbean church
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Grand Turk was famous for years for its salt which was gathered in the ponds found all over the island.
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Love the color of the sea.
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It’s breathtaking. BTW: The weather has been PERFECT!
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This photo just says Caribbean to me. We found out later that this place is a crew favorite.
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Got this heron shot at about 20 mph.
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There are wild, protected donkeys all over the island.
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Some are very friendly.
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We are at the furthest point from the ship at the lighthouse.
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Just below the lighthouse is this gorgeous view.
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The donkeys were used to haul the salt until the salt industry died out and then they were just left to run free.
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Got some shots from the bus of this stork (I think).
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Very proud of my bird pics here.
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Love this one of the stork landing. Reminds me of the Aflac duck.
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Flamingos love the salt ponds.
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They eat the tiny brine shrimps.
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These last two flamingo pics are almost as good as my flamingo pics from the Galapagos last July.
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This one is my favorite. The reflection just makes. it.
Not sure what more I can tell you about Grand Turk but I will say that this cruise is almost making me like the Caribbean. (For those new to this blog, this has NEVER been one of my favorite places—too warm, not a beach person, etc.) We loved Grand Turk, we had a great day in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic yesterday that I will write about later this afternoon or later this week and the weather has been near perfect. Yes, it has been hot when we are out and about and I think wearing a mask makes it about 10 degrees warmer but I am writing this on a sea day, sitting outside on our verandah. The temperature is 79 degrees Fahrenheit, the seas are flat as a lake and the breeze is awesome. I could get real used to this, really fast. We are already talking with our buddy Seth about doing another Sail with Seth in a warm climate. We will keep you updated in case you want to join us.
One more thing to mention about the Sail with Seth part of our cruise. This morning he arranged a special Coffee with the Captain just for the group and the captain verified that there are 895 passengers on board and a little more than 800 crew members. That means we have almost one crew member per passenger. No wonder the service is so awesome!
There’s definitely healing properties to being in proximity to the ocean and that breeze. There’s something about that Caribbean climate and humidity. —Johnny Depp
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 26, 2022 | Photography
Many of you know that we are long-time cruisers with more than 30+ cruises in our past. And of those, 20+ have been on Celebrity Cruise line ships. While we have sailed on Holland America before (this is our fifth time), I thought their ships were “fine.” Like in, “that place is just fine.” We always liked Celebrity ships better. Until two things happened. First, Celebrity put all their money into the new Edge class of ship and stocked it full of their “revolutionary” infinite verandah staterooms. (To be honest, this is just an outside stateroom with a window that opens and closes…and not always at your discretion). They also made it so that a great deal of the people on the ship had certain areas they could not get into. For instance, the only forward looking spot (to see what’s in front of the ship) on an Edge class vessel if you are not in a suite is…the gym. That’s just wrong. Sailing into Stockholm or through the Panama Canal I can’t even imagine not being able to take pics from around the entire ship.
As I said in the headline, I may now have a new favorite “big” ship. I put those quotes around it because to be honest, this ship is not that big. In October 2019 we sailed on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas which is TWICE as big as the Nieuw Statendam. But let’s talk about why I am loving this ship. BTW: Celebrity Flora in the Galapagos will always be our favorite small ship.
First, the design is better than any I have seen on a HAL ship before. Everything is just beautiful, without a hint of gaudy. The crew and the service have been amazing. Easily an equal to any Celebrity cruise we have taken before. Of course that may be because of our reduced passenger load but as of now, just about every waiter/server/manager/etc. that I have come in contact with more than once…knows my name. Seriously. (BTW: Correction needed. We had been told that there were only 750 or so passengers on board but we found out that there were actually 900. 750 of us departed Fort Lauderdale on Sunday while the other 150 or so were already on board from a previous cruise.)
I have loved all the public rooms we have been in and since I showed you our stateroom yesterday, here’s my shots from around the ship. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
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Starting on Deck 2, this is the theater. It is HUGE and in the round with complete wrap-around screen for the big shows.
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The Main Dining Room which kind of looks like whale bones.
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This venue has two purposes. In the afternoon and the early evening it is the home of the Lincoln Center classical performances…
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And in the evenings it is the home of the B.B. King Blues Club. Our favorite!
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This area is called Billboard Onboard. Dueling pianos, which is a great way to spend time in a very cool bar.
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Same place looking the other way.
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This is Notes, a whiskey, whisky, bourbon and rye tasting bar.
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This is their priciest bottle…that’s per shot! Yikes!
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The full Notes shot
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This is the Pinnacle Grille, HAL’s specialty steakhouse. We are eating there tonight.
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On these plates
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This is Rudy’s Sel de Mer, the ship’s seafood restaurant. We ate there two nights ago and it was AMAZING!
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Love the place settings.
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You can buy them as a set or individually…you can bet one is coming home with us.
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The Ocean Bar, our pre-dinner watering hole
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Club Orange is reserved for suite guests only or you can buy a membership for $50 per person per day. We eat all our breakfasts here and dinner when we are not in a specialty restaurant.
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Club Orange from the outside.
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The main dining room from deck 3.
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They did not have deck 3 open for this cruise since there are so few people on board.
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The Dutch Cafe. They make great food here.
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The main atrium. Only three decks high but quite nice.
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Back to the stage at BB King’s from the deck 3 balcony.
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Up in the gym on deck 9
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The main pool, also on deck 9. It has a sliding roof that can be opened or closed.
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Looking into Canaletto, the Italian specialty restaurant carved out of the buffet
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We are eating here tomorrow night.
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The out door pool on the aft end of the ship.
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This is Tamarind, the ship’s Asian restaurant and sushi bar. Our buddy Seth took us there last night and it was amazing.
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This is the bar outside of Tamarind located at the very top of the ship in the very aft.
Yesterday we were in Grand Turk where I took some pictures that were so good they really surprised me. I did not think there would be anything that great to shoot in Grand Turk—but there was! And today we spent most of the day in the company of our buddy Seth and some of his Sail With Seth group touring Amber Cove and Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. More about that and our visit to Grand Turk tomorrow, because thankfully—we have a SEA DAY and I can get some more photos processed and some more writing done.
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. —Steve Jobs
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 25, 2022 | Photography
Yesterday (it’s Monday right now and will probably be Tuesday before I finish this), we sailed on Holland America’s (HAL) Nieuw Statendam from Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Florida. After two really great nights in our FLL AirBnB we got to board in the first group. We had heard that HAL was being really being a stickler about boarding times due to the pandemic and we were no exception. Our time said noon and at 11:15 I dropped Kathleen, Steve and Jamie off at the port and took our rental car back to the airport. A quick cab ride back and we were ready to board right on time.
BTW: Before we went I did an early morning photowalk around Fort Lauderdale’s Riverwalk and here’s some pics from that morning. Don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
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Saw these lights on my way downtown and kind of liked the look in the dark.
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I am going to let you guess what this is.
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Loved the overall blue tint to this building
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And this unusual architectural feature
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Don’t know why I like this shot, but I just do. Something about early morning solitary walking?
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The Riverwalk is a great place to walk. Felt totally safe.
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This bridge had a very interesting ramp entrance. I walked it later and it is also used for bikes.
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Loved the art on the side of this building. That mural is over seven stories high.
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This oak grove (according to the sign) was planted during the bicentennial
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This is the Carrie B that we took on a very nice excursion the day before. More on that later when I have those photos done.
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The sky was totally overcast (which makes for very gray photography) until this finally opened up and gave me some decent light.
Our home for the next 10 days
Check-in took less than 15 minutes and would have been faster if you took out all the COVID stuff. As soon as we got on board our rooms were available so we went to drop off our carry on luggage and to unpack those. I am not sure if I mentioned this but originally we had a verandah stateroom on deck six. About two weeks before the cruise we got an e-mail asking if we wanted to upgrade to a Neptune Suite. Neptune Suites are the second highest level of suites on the ship and the cost to upgrade was amazingly reasonable so we grabbed it. The suite is AMAZING! More than 350 square feet (which is big for a cruise ship stateroom, with a monster bathroom and a huge living space. Here’s some pics to show you what we are living in for the next ten (now nine) days and…don’t forget, if you click the first shot, you can then scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping…and PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…
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The view as you walk in from the hallway. On the left are a huge panel of closets, on the right the door to the bathroom.
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The bathroom is HUGE! I truly believe it is larger than our master bath at home. Jetted tub, giant shower and dual sinks.
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King size bed
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To the left of the bed a bunch of storage, a desk and a bar.
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Closeup of the desk. Plenty of room for all my electronics and so many outlets I can’t fill them all.
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The bar area has a full set of glassware and some complimentary and some chargeable beverages. There is a mini-fridge and more storage below.
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Looking from the bed you can see these two comfortable chairs, the couch and the flat screen TV. Lots of free movie choices and it works just like a DVD so you can pick up where you left off.
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The couch is seven feet long and can convert into a King size bed.
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But the bed is very comfortable.
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The door to our verandah is an actual door and not a slider.
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Once outside we have an oversized verandah with two loungers, a table and four chairs.
You always hear folks say, “I don’t need big room or a verandah because I am never it in.” This is true until you get a stateroom/suite like this. Then you are in it because you have everything you need. And on this cruise (and others for awhile) this is the only place we can walk around without our masks on. And because it’s just awesome!
I will drop some photos in my next post of the rest of the ship. Here are some facts about this particular cruise. First, due to COVID there are fewer than 750 cruisers on board. This is on a ship built to hold 3,214 passengers when at full capacity so to say that things feel empty is an understatement. I will say that there are some events (the Blues Club we were in last night) that can get crowded but we are doing our best to stay in our little pod of four.
We were supposed to have six ports of call on this cruise but that got tossed out the window yesterday when we could not land at Half Moon Cay, (HAL’s private island). This was NOT due to COVID but to high winds. Half Moon Cay is a tender port (that means they drop life boats and ferry you in from the ship) and the winds and seas were just too high to put those in the water safely, so we skipped that port. I will give the activity staff high marks because they quickly adjusted and found lots of things for people to do. BTW: If you are a trivia buff, this cruise is for you. I think there is trivia scheduled about every three hours along with lots of other activities.
Still have five ports scheduled and as I type this we are tied up at the pier in Grand Turk. We (the four of us) are going off around noon to do a HAL shore excursion. We got two free with our cruise and this is one of those. Grand Turk will allow us to get off and just wander around.
Tomorrow we are in Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, then a sea day, then we hit Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba in that order, on successive days. Then it’s two sea days and we are back in Fort Lauderdale. So far, everything is going great. More on the ship, the activities and the food in my next post.
The purpose of our lives is to be happy. —Dalai Lama
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 19, 2022 | Uncategorized
Just a quick note tonight. We are at the start of what we hope will be a really great 14 night vacation that we booked to make up for losing our European trip in December. When that trip got cancelled we immediately looked for someplace else to go. We didn’t want Europe because at that point things were going south there pretty quick and we have a big Mediterranean cruise planned for next autumn.
So one of the first people we asked for advice was our good friend Seth Wayne. Long time readers of these posts may remember that Seth used to be a meteorologist in Seattle and we met him on Twitter because of our mutual love of cruising. He also had a travel show on KOMO radio and I was often one of his guests to talk travel. Two years ago, Seth left his job at KOMO-TV as the morning weather guy and became the Director of Communications and Brand Ambassador for Holland America (HAL) cruise line. Since then (minus the pandemic) he has been on a HAL ship. From time to time he does a special Sail with Seth cruise where he is on the ship with a group of folks and there are all kinds of additional activities that he runs for the group. So I called to ask him when the next one was…and he said, “Hey, come with me to the Southern Caribbean on January 23rd!”
So even though I am NOT a fan of the Caribbean, because it was Seth and because we hadn’t been anyplace since our July trip to the Galapagos (which is forever for us) we jumped on it. And then came Omicron. So for the last two weeks we have been following all the news to see what was going on with the virus and cruising.
Yes, we have heard all the CDC stuff about cruising but I still totally believe that being on a cruise ship is by far the safest way to travel. Sure you can drive, but eventually you have to stop and eat or sleep. You could fly but when you do, you have no idea if the person next to or in front of or behind you is vaccinated or willing to keep their mask on correctly for your entire flight. But when you cruise, you know that every person on board has been fully vaccinated and wears a mask except when eating or drinking. Not only that but you can’t board without a negative COVID test whether you are vaccinated or not.
So last Saturday we went and got ourselves a Kaiser PCR test to be sure we were safe to fly south. We passed with a NEGATIVE result (which is kind of weird…to say that it’s a bad thing to be POSITIVE) and then we quarantined at home (no market trips, no restaurants, etc.) until this morning when we were picked up by Century Car Service and whisked off to SEA-TAC airport for our flight to Fort Lauderdale. I would love to say that everything went perfectly and it almost did except for the one hour delay to replace a knob in the cockpit But we finally got here and we even had time for a quick dinner at the hotel before I ran back to the airport to pick my brother Steve and my sister-in-law Jamie who are back traveling with us again. (They haven’t gotten to go anyplace since we came home from Ireland in June 2019) And now I am sitting in bed at the Le Meridien Hotel in Dania Point, FL writing this post.
Our cruise does not sail until Sunday and between now and then we are going down to Key West tomorrow, then back up to Wellington to have dinner with our buddies Mike and Cathy and then an AirBnB back here in Fort Lauderdale so we can do another COVID test before we sail on Sunday.
The big message here is to get ready for some more photos and posts as we spend the next two weeks out and about in Florida and the Caribbean.
In the Caribbean the temperature never changes, the sun just goes down. —Kris Marshall
by Jim Bellomo | Dec 6, 2019 | Uncategorized
Well, Seth and I have recorded our last Adventures Await radio show. And you don’t have to wait to hear it. It’s at the bottom of this page. And since I recorded the show on my iPhone, there are no commercials, weather or newscasts. We just talk for about 25 minutes about travel (funny that an hour radio show without commercials, weather, newscasts and traffic is only around 25 minutes).
First, an explanation about why this is our last show together. That’s because on the morning KOMO-TV news today Seth announced he was leaving KOMO. That’s sad for us who watch him every day. One of my favorite thing is to carry on texting conversations with Seth while he is on the air in the morning. I know that if I send him a text, he will read it on the next commercial break. And I know that he is probably only going to be getting texts from me because it’s 4:30 am and I am riding my indoor bike. We have had many early morning conversations like this.
Seth is leaving KOMO to become the Director of Communications for Holland America Cruise Line (HAL). In that role he will be cruising…A LOT! But he says we can still text to stay in touch but I won’t know if he’s available like I do now between weather updates because I won’t be able to see him on TV ?. But we (Kathleen and I) are thrilled for him. I will certainly miss seeing him and doing the show with him.
Our last show was super. It was my fifth time on the show and Seth let me choose the topic so I said let’s do the Top 5 Things we have talked about on the first four shows I have joined him on the radio. You will have to listen to the show to find out what they are but suffice it to say, it’s not anything you haven’t heard he…or I mention before.
By the way, if you would rather hear it with all the music, weather, news and commercials, etc. you can do that on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 pm on KOMO radio AM 1000 here in Seattle or on KOMO Radio 1000 on Tune-in online.
Here’s the show—there are three shows on the page. The latest one is at the bottom of the list: CLICK HERE! I can’t tell you how much I have enjoyed doing these shows with Seth. He is a good friend, one of our favorite people and maybe the only person who loves talking about travel as much as I do.
A man’s friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.—Charles Darwin