Day One; At Sea

 6 January.

We boarded yesterday about 1400 and went straight to our cabin. Pieces of our luggage had appeared so we began unpacking at once. I explored the ship during this process. Later I will provide more info on the ship, but for now we will just note that she is small, 832 passenger capacity, and 30 years old. She has the feeling of a large yacht and was originally intended for world cruising. Now under her third owner, she has been re-fitted a few times and remains a comfortable and happy ship. The crew is outstanding, typical of Holland America. 

We came up one bag short; the one containing my tux, dinner coat, two sport coats and more dress pants. With 9 formal nights ahead I may have to just stick to my two sport coats that did arrive. (We had shipped luggage from home back in December directly to the cruise line.) Our last voyage “Round the World” on the MS Amsterdam (see www.cwstravelnotes2011.blogspot.com) we had one bag missing which turned up on the Princendam headed for South America, which we got back while in Ecuador. Now we are on on the Princendam, the Amsterdam, having left port ahead of us on its' “Round the World 2013” voyage carrying, I suspect, my tuxedo and heading East for the Med as we head West.

So Saturday went settling in, boat drill, exploring and re-uniting with friends from previous voyages. Sunday was a sea day entering the Gulf of Mexico and leaving the rollers of the Atlantic behind. We passed Cuba close enough to see its mountains. By noon we had made 255 nautical miles. Lunched with friends from the 2011 world voyage, attended a wine tasting, took a nap, then dinner in the Pinnacle.

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