Getting Settled in for Six Weeks Aboard Holland America's MS Westerdam - Singapore

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Tour Day 103, Cruise Day 1 – I boarded ms Westerdam in Singapore for the 28-Day Far East Discovery & China Explorer Collector cruise to Yokohama (Tokyo), Japan without any glitches and found my home for the next six weeks to be totally satisfactory. At 4:30 PM, there was the standard Sailaway Celebration that happens at the beginning of every cruise and then the standard Welcome Aboard Steak Dinner. I attended the Singles and Solo Travelers Meetup, met two ladies I had not met before and, yes, Martha. Martha and I met at the singles get together aboard ms Noordam between San Diego, California, USA and Auckland, New Zealand in late fall 2023. The singles get together on that cruise was massive by comparative standards. There were 10-12 regular attendees. During our travel–dominated conversations, Martha and I discovered that we both had been aboard ms Volendam on the same cruise to South America and Antarctica in early 2023 but didn’t attend the singles get together regularly, if at all, and had never encountered each other, or at least don’t remember it if we did. That’s a small world! B-U-T, during another conversation, we discovered both of us would be on this cruise. Martha was boarding ms Westerdam two weeks before me, but we would be sailing together for six weeks before we both disembarked in Hong Kong! She would be returning to her home in Toronto, Canada directly while I would be staying in Hong Kong for a few days before continuing on to Seoul, South Korea for a land tour. THAT, my friend, is a very small world!

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Photos

Aboard MS Westerdam
Home, Sweet, Home for the Next Six Weeks

Aboard MS Westerdam
Home, Sweet, Home for the Next Six Weeks

Aboard MS Westerdam
Home, Sweet, Home for the Next Six Weeks

Aboard MS Westerdam
Martha Says Hello

Aboard MS Westerdam
The Wheel Was Within Walking Distance of the Hotel, but Frequent Heavy Rain Kept Me from Making the Trip (I’m Not Even Sure It Was Operating Because of the Rain)

Aboard MS Westerdam
“The Hot Tub Runneth Over” Because of the Heavy Rain

Aboard MS Westerdam
Ships, Ships Everywhere and Not a Port to Call

Aboard MS Westerdam
The Tug Baot Was Actually Tugging, Not Pushing

Aboard MS Westerdam
The Tug Baot Was Actually Tugging, Not Pushing

Aboard MS Westerdam
Goodbye Singapore, I'd Love to Return Someday