It was nice to sleep in this morning. Last night our cabin steward brought us two milk chocolate candies, leaving them with today’s “Where & When” document today’s basic information, letting us know that it will be casual dining this evening and that the high temperature today will be 49˚ Fahrenheit as well as a list of activities for the day. This schedule has not always jived with the online “Happening on Board” which is supposed to mirror the published list of events delivered to our rooms. This has not always been the case. Since we were in Dublin, they’ve been alternating two milk chocolates one evening and two dark chocolate the next; which, has made Sharon much happier. I think that she was convinced that I’d made a special arrangement with Haysim and Intan (our ... read more

I’m up early again, working on the blog ahead of the alarm that we’ve set. Things aren’t looking all that good outside, and I think that we are both concerned about being able to get into the harbor for tendering today. We head up to the Lido and grab our typical “Tour Day” breakfast. After four weeks on board the Rotterdam we seem to be hitting our stride. Maybe a 2020 World Tour isn’t such a far-fetched idea after all. The fog horn blared. As we eat pool side we begin to notice some small breaks in the fog, and then some daylight above, and before we were done eating we could see Akureyri, and we had arrived. There were a ton of people waiting to go on the “Jewels of Iceland” tour. Probably many tons ... read more

People have all sorts of reasons for going on cruises, especially longer cruises. Sharon and I wanted to know whether we were suited for spending multiple weeks at sea, possibly considering a longer cruise than this, and now we’re committed. We haven’t even finished this one yet and we’ve already got three cruises planned through 2020. And that last one’s a doozy… 128 days! Sharon was off to the Hudson Room for Sunday Mass, wondering why in the world they didn’t choose the larger Wajang Theatre. The house was packed to capacity. Sharon had warned me that it might run a bit longer than usual, and it’s probably good that it did because it was already 8:20 when I took a break from the blog to check the time. Okay, I had to rush. Father Roman ... read more

Our morning arrival in Greenock finds us a stone’s throw from Glasgow. Normal dining operations on the Rotterdam have returned and it appears that we won’t be returning to Boston under the “Code Red” conditions that resulted soon after our embarkation from there. We grabbed our normal “Tour Day” fare from the Lido, and it went quicker now that we were back to serving ourselves. It was nice to have salt and pepper back on the tables, and not needing to walk halfway across the Lido to track down a set of tableware. We have another All-Day tour that will likely not get us back in time for Trivia. The Showroom was packed with others waiting for tours to be announced. We were in the third wave off the Rotterdam filling busses 6 and 7 headed ... read more

Today we have a long day. To start, we have an early “All-Day” private tour and when we get back, it’s off to an evening of Irish food and entertainment that is sure to keep us in high spirits… in more way than one! I grabbed my deli-sandwich (which I put together myself) and Sharon had one simple request… a waffle with chocolate chips. The steward apologized, saying, “Sorry, no chocolate chips today! But I have these… even better! He then proceeded to pour what Sharon’s mom would call “Chocolate Jimmies” in a heaping mound atop her waffle. You and I might call them chocolate sprinkles. Either way, they looked like a million tiny ants. As I reached the table where Sharon had set down her plate, she was just staring at her waffle, “What am ... read more