2008 Eastbound Panama Canal Cruise

Departing San Diego on Dec 7 and at sea on Dec 8

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We were in room 7014. It was a real nice big room. We originally had booked a smaller room one deck lower but about a week before the cruise, the travel agent called and asked if we wanted to upgrade for a few hundred dollars. We jumped at the chance.

Sally's sister, Mary, took us to the Cruise Terminal on the San Diego Harbor. We checked in, had our photos taken for ID and checked our bags to be taken aboard the Rotterdam. Mary double checked for us that the luggage was going on the right ship because the Zaandam was also in port.

From Sally's trip log:

7 Dec 08  Mary dropped us off at the port. We boarded the ship and found our beautiful, large suite. We were introduced to Ruly and Rizal who would be taking care of us for the cruise. We found out that they were from Indonesia. Mark and I went exploring the ship. We decided to go to the casual dining room for dinner as we were not up to dressing up for the formal dining room. The casual dining room had the same food as the formal, but was served cafeteria style. That evening we went to the entertainment, that was singing and dancing. Mark was not feeling well, so he went back to the room after just a couple of songs. I gave him a Dramamine and he said that did the trick. I was not able to fall asleep until 3:00 AM, getting used to the movement of the ship.

8 Dec 08  Our breakfast was delivered at 8:00 AM as we had prearranged. We dragged ourselves out of bed. We went to a talk about the optional excursions, followed by a history lesson regarding the Aztecs and when Cortez arrived. We spent much of the day still trying to "rest up." We dressed all up for "formal" dinner tonight. Mark in his black suit and I in my "cocktail" dress. Wow! We weren't even this dressed up for our wedding!


When we first walked into the room, the bed was covered in paperwork.
King size bed.

There was a refrigerator and safe in the cabinet.

Bathroom with vacuum operated toilet.

Dressing area.

Sofa and a couple of chairs.

Our balcony had a small table with chairs and two reclining deck chairs.

San Diego from our balcony before we departed.

The Star of India.

The ship had a bow camera which showed where the ship was pointed. Since we were still docked it shows downtown San Diego.
This bow camera was the butt of many jokes by the comedians who entertained us. You can imagine that, at sea, this is not very interesting to watch.

Before we left the berth, the ship conducted an emergency lifeboat drill.

Mark paid close attention because he can't swim.

This was our lifeboat station.

To help us "old folks" remember what day it was, the carpet in each elevator was changed daily.

Here is the other ship that was docked at the Cruise Terminal. It is the Zaandam, also operated by Holland America Lines. The Zaandam was going to Hawaii. We later learned that 5 pieces of luggage were mistakenly loaded on the Zaandam instead of our boat.

The Aft Pool. This one was adults only.

On our first sea day, we attended the formal dinner. We only did this twice, opting for the casual buffet most of the time.

 Go to Dec 9 Cabo San Lucas

This site prepared and maintained by Mark DiVecchio

email :  markd@silogic.com

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