Category Archives: Holland America

Nawiliwili Bus Tour Kauai

The only last-minute tour offered at our port stop in Nawiliwili was a 3-hour tour on the bus that said hop on hop off, but really wasn’t. It ran shuttles to a mall for the first couple hours in port, … Continue reading

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Nawiliwili Kauai Cruise Port, Hawaii

Nawiliwili is just a port. The closest town is called Lihue, about a mile and a half away. The ship docks in a container port that probably has a hard time finding qualified help if our docking experience is even … Continue reading

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Cruising Ducks

Hiding and finding ducks has become a popular pastime on cruise ships. It all started when a 10-year-old girl named Abby brought 50 ducks to hide on a Carnival cruise in 2018. Jeep ducking started in 2020 in Canada. That … Continue reading

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Hilo Volcano and Garden Tour

Looking online for information about Hilo cruise port pre-cruise I didn’t find much other than that it was not in town and that there was supposed to be a free shuttle to Walmart. The advice was to book an excursion … Continue reading

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Hilo, Hawaii Cruise Port

Hilo Cruise Port is on Hawaii’s big island (Hawaii Island) which has 6 volcanos. Some are active and some are not. Only 5 of them are above the surface of the water. The 6th volcano, Mahukona is extinct, submerged 1200 … Continue reading

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Cruise Ship Cabins on Holland America Noordam

Holland America Noordam has all the basic types of cruise ship cabins. These include inside cabins, ocean view cabins, balcony cabins, and suites. Of course there are some variations within each category. Often when booking those variations are only location … Continue reading

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Holland America Noordam

Holland America is known for having mid-size ships. They aren’t tiny expedition vessels, nor are they enormous mega-ships like some other cruise lines have. Holland America’s largest ships are the Pinnacle Class consisting of the Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam, and their … Continue reading

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Westerdam Hits and Misses

Every cruise and every ship has its high points and low points. There are always some things you really love and some things you could do without. Of course which things are hits and which are misses depend entirely on … Continue reading

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Zhujiajao, China’s Canal City

In the port talks on the Holland America Westerdam, the speaker mentioned Suzhou and Zhuiajiao as canal cities near Shanghai with old style Chinese architecture that are places worth going to see. We stayed in Shanghai a few days after … Continue reading

Posted in China, Day Trips, Holland America, Port Cities, Port City Side Trips, Westerdam | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Shanghai River Cruise

After disembarking Holland America Westerdam in Shanghai, we stayed in a hotel near the Bund for a few days to have some time to see the city. The word bund means an embankment or an embanked quay. That definition fits … Continue reading

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