Embarkation

We made it.  At the time of this writing, I am sitting on our outside cabin deck as we sail south along the Chilean coastline on Holland America’s Zaandam.  It is our first “Cruise” and while we have a bit to learn, we have settled into onboard life with ease.

View From Our Room

We enjoyed our one night stay at the Patio Ferreira B&B in Cartagena.  It was run by two couples and sits on a hill overlooking the town's beach.  We enjoyed hearing about the area from our hostess, Belinda. Her English was very good. She had worked as an interpreter earlier in her life.  The neighborhood houses date back to the early 1900's.

Cartagena's Main Beach

Like the Neighbourhood, It Has Seen Better Days

On the morning of November 19, we called a taxi to transfer us a short journey to the cruise ship terminal in the port city of San Antonio. We had been told by seasoned “cruisers” to be prepared for long line-ups as we boarded the ship.  Our experience proved nothing like that.  We arrived at 12:30PM for a 1PM  boarding time.  We were immediately met by a young woman who whisked our bags away.  Every 50 meters thereafter we were met by a smiling Holland America employee directing us to the registration desk.  We arrived and almost immediately we were at the registration desk.

We had a small snag at registration.  Cruise ships are incredibly diligent in making sure no personal alcohol gets on board.  I suddenly remembered that the two bottles of wine we were allowed, were not in our carry-on. We had left it in our luggage. The young attendant told us the bags would be searched and our two bottles of wine would be destroyed.  We had quickly accepted the fact since it was our error when a more senior official came over and interceded.  Since we had just dropped off our bags she made an immediate call.  Sure enough, the wine was left in our suitcases and delivered to our room.  All is good except personal wine is not allowed in the room.  Now we have to keep it hidden from our room attendant or face an $18 US charge each for corkage fees.

The Zaandam is not a huge ship with only around 1500 passengers.  Our room is on the port-side on the sixth floor (out of 8) and at the stern of the ship.  Our ventures up to the pointy end suggest that we have a much more comfortable ride at the round end rather than the pointy end.  We have been traveling at around 17 knots in 9-foot swells.  We rock gently but you often have to hold on to the handrails when descending the stairs.  No seasickness yet but tomorrow we face 13-foot swells.  We may have to break out the seasick pills and wristbands.

Home For The Next Two Weeks

Pushed Away From The Dock

The clientele on the ship is largely older than ourselves.  So far we have kept our own company but we will meet others in the days ahead.

The ship has a very large group of French citizens, easily the largest contingent on the ship.  Despite the problems that can arise when one group is so large in terms of going to dinner, waiting for shows, etc. it hasn’t been a problem excluding a small dust-up I had with a French group leader as he tried to budge one of his own in the dinner line.  I only gave way when the poor old guy pointed a finger at his leader and said, “He likes to think he is the boss” and then rolled his eyes with a smirk.

We are still exploring the ship’s possibilities but have already eaten in two of the five dining areas.  Deborah is determined that we try them all.  We are going to have a lot of walking on the Lido deck if I am to fit into my clothes at the end of the two weeks. 

We have bought the wine package.  They hold on to the bottles and pour you glasses as required.  Cocktails and beers can be purchased at any time, anywhere.

We will have been at sea for 36 hours before we reach our first port of call.  We will anchor in the bay at Puerto Montt, Chile.  We will arrive at 8 am and take tenders to shore to explore, before returning by 5 pm.  We have decided that the ship's tours are too expensive so we will be using local buses and taxis.

We don't know when this post will be published.  The Internet can be spotty.