Category: Northern Europe
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First Holland America Cruise: Specialty Dining
For our two specialty restaurant dinners that we had with Have It All, we chose Tamarind for an Asian night and Rudi’s Sel de Mer for seafood. Tamarind is located high on the ship with a beautiful view over the aft. There is also a bar in Tamarind that you…
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First Holland America Cruise: Included Dining
We all know food is subjective. We fully enjoy fresh well-prepared food. We like fancy, does not have to be. We like inventive, does not have to be. It just has to be good. On a cruise, we completely understand that the ship is serving thousands of meals daily and…
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First Holland America Cruise. Part One
After 25 years of exclusively cruising Princess Cruises and over 30+ cruises, we ventured to another line. Why? We have watched as the reasons we fell in love with Princess Cruises slowly slip further and further away. The ship kept getting bigger, the service slimmer, another cost added each voyage…
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A Return to Copenhagen
Our last port of call on this adventure was Copenhagen. We spent a few days here a number of years ago prior to leaving on our first transatlantic cruise. Between that and it being the end of a busy trip, we kept a low profile today. Most large ships dock…
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Glorious Gdansk Poland
Visiting Poland represents two things: first, it’s a country that holds a piece of my family heritage and second, it is the fiftieth country we have visited in our travels. Our ship docked in Gdynia one of the Tri-Cities of this Baltic region (Gdynia, Sopot and Gdansk). Outside of docking…
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Visby, Sweden: City of Roses and Ruins
While known for both its roses and its ruins, being mid-May it was ruins not roses. This UNESCO World Heritage City on Gotland Island is a well preserved Hanseatic city. Visby and Tallinn are both known for maintaining their original medieval city grid planning. Here in Visby there are over…
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Stockholm: A Scandinavian Jewel
The ship’s arrival into Stockholm this morning was a slow sail through the archipelago that lends itself to its magic. If I am being honest, seeing this city has been “on this list” for a quite some time and I could not hide my excitement. As I saw the main…
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Helsinki: the City on the Sea
Today’s port of call is Helsinki, Finland. A drizzly morning turned warm and sunny which is always welcome. The ship docks a ways away from the City Center. We had some Shore Excursion credit so we did a ship sponsored tour. It was a Helsinki Highlights and Finnish Food Tastings…
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Timeless Tallinn
There are many ports of call throughout the Baltics. One that has always lured me is Tallinn, Estonia. The preserved Old Town with its towers, walls, red roofs and colorful buildings. How can you resist? It lies on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, 50 miles south of…
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Warnemunde & Rostock: North Coast of Germany
Our second port of call and first of two in Germany (Kiel is next week). We ported in Warnemunde at the mouth of the Warnow River, hence the name. Described as a seaside resort town, for us it resembled both British resort towns and those we are very familiar with…
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Kalundborg, Denmark
Out first port of call on this cruise is Kalundborg Denmark on Zealand’s northwestern coast. We were informed that this is an unusual stop for Holland America and that the city was prepared to welcome us! We docked 6km from town which necessitated a shuttle bus service although some folks…
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Amsterdam Arrival
So we begin yet another adventure. We arrived in Amsterdam midday today following as uneventful flight and a quick train ride from the airport to the city center arriving at the stunning Amsterdam Centraal. After checking into the INK Hotel, we wondered through the city center including damrak. With a…
Four Good Travels 