Day 16 – A day at Sea
The day at sea between Oslo and Rotterdam was calm and relaxing, offering time for guests to indulge in the ship's many activities. Highlights of the day included "Chat Times" and "High Tea," both of which drew enthusiastic participation. In the morning, Cruise Director Kimberly hosted a delightful coffee chat, where guests enjoyed an engaging conversation with Staff Captain Karl. The afternoon High Tea was a special, Royal Dutch Tea theme featuring Dutch snacks and treats. And as evening approached, one of the World Stage lecturers joined guests for a lively Cocktail Chat, adding an insightful twist to the day’s social events.
Day 17 – Rotterdam
It was great excitement today for us and our Cruise Specialists guests as we were going on our complimentary tour to Delft. We began with a quick scenic tour of Rotterdam with its serene waterways and bustling city life. A port that we have never been to but hope to return to some day! We were blessed with a beautiful day and a fantastic local guide, Petra. Most of Rotterdam was burned down in WWII, so the buildings are quite new, and the city landscape continues to grow with fabulous innovative designs. Fun fact - it also claims to have the only gold McDonald’s building in the world!
First stop was at the stunning Delft potteries. World famous for its tin-glazed blue and white designs - the very same style used by Holland America on board. This Delftware factory is one of the originals from the 1600s and is the only remaining authentic factory still making and hand painting Delftware, with regular commissions from royalty, presidents and celebrities. A lady that was hand painting a vase said she has been working there for 46 years and it will take her two full days to finish painting the vase. The factory shop was very much enjoyed by us all!
The charming town of Delft is a living museum of Dutch history and culture and the birthplace of one of the great Dutch artists, Johannes Vermeer (his most famous painting is The Girl with the Pearl Earring). It turned out to be the hottest day of our whole cruise, so walking was slow paced. We walked from the bus through the traffic-free town to the restaurant Boterhuis where Cruise Specialists Shore Excursion Manager, Heather Visser, had arranged welcoming beverages and a traditional Dutch snack, Bitterballen.
We were delighted to meet up with an old friend, Philip, who was a Holland America dining room Maître d’ for many years. We had planned for him to meet us, but it was a nice surprise for some of our guests who remembered him.
All too soon, it was time to return to the port where Keith and I took advantage of a quick walking tour of the Holland America Quay to see the travel related sculptures and original Holland America headquarters (now the beautiful Hotel New York).
This evening, we celebrated Holland America’s Dutch heritage with Orange Celebrations on board as we sailed down the Nieuwe Maas River, past the majestic ss Rotterdam and into the sunset towards the English Channel. A stunning day and a very successful tour for our Cruise Specialists guests.
Day 18 – A day at Sea
We had our usual morning coffee chat, and a delightful cocktail party that evening. The cocktail party was very enjoyable as most people are familiar with each other now and enjoyed conversing about the wonderful Delft tour they had enjoyed – so much so that we stayed an extra hour!
During the day, we sailed along the English Channel and very close to our hometown of Exeter in the South West of England. It was strange seeing our little dot on the map getting so close.
Day 19 – Cobh (pronounced “Cove”)
Our first UK port, we began the day with face-to-face immigration. Once that was over, we could easily walk ashore. Cobh is a delightful town with a rich history. It was the last port of call for many of the fated passengers on the Titanic. We toured the Titanic Experience Museum where a guide and a computer-generated officer from Titanic retold the story as we passed through cabins, retracing the steps of the 123 passengers who boarded in Cobh on April 11, 1912. After the tour, we headed to a local pub for an Irish coffee.
We also walked to the beautiful hidden-away gardens of the old Admiralty house behind the cathedral. I would thoroughly recommend all of these sites, and along the route, you get to see the famous row of brightly colored houses known as the “Deck of Cards.” Named this because they are stacked up the hill, and if one fell, they all would!
Day 20 – Dublin
There is Hop-On Hop-Off service very close to the port entrance as well as very good public transport. We chose to walk the mile long harbor walls and along the coast to Killiney and Dalkey. It is about a 7-mile walk along the beautiful coastline with pretty harbors (via Bullock Point where we saw seals in the bay) to Sorrento point which was one of 83 places where huge signs spelling EIRE in the hillside were placed in WWII indicating to approaching planes that they were entering neutral airspace. We came back inland along a historic path called The Metals. This path with metal rails was built in 1817 to transport stones & rocks all the way from quarries in Dalkey to build the massive harbor walls in Dún Laoghaire. It is now a beautiful walk/cycle track to be enjoyed by many.
Day 21 – Belfast
There are so many fantastic things to see and do in Belfast – too numerous to mention them all, but we decided to take a full day tour to see Giant’s Causeway. We were so lucky – it was a fabulous day, both for weather and sights. Only about 1½ hours to drive directly there but we went along the coast road through many towns that we had heard of but never seen. Through County Antrim to Carrickfergus, Whitehead, Larne, Ballygalley, Glenarm, Ballycastle, Bushmills and then the infamous Giant’s Causeway. It is an incredible area of basalt columns, the result of ancient volcanic fissure eruptions that is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Along the way, we saw ancient castles, towns and harbors, beautiful coastlines and quite a few locations and doors made famous by the series, Game of Thrones. We returned the more direct route and even had time for a quick tour through Belfast. An awesome day that has given me a tick in my list of life’s ambitions.
Day 22 – A day at Sea
A relaxing day that was much enjoyed by all after three busy port days in Ireland. We enjoyed talks on Iceland and Greenland, movies about Vikings, games and live music in the bars, and a new Classical Pop Quartet group, The Dutch Tenors, made their debut. We will be in Iceland again soon, stay tuned!
Part 1 of our voyage: Bar Harbor, Sydney, Corner Brook and Red Bay
Part 2 of our voyage: Norway, Greenland & Iceland
Conclusion of our voyage: Iceland, Greenland & Canada
Affectionately,
Susie and Keith, Cruise Specialists Voyage Hosts
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