European Christmas Decorations

Posted on December 24, 2025 by LBcruiseshipblogger

tree at a Christmas market in Budapest

Throughout the areas in Europe where Christmas markets flourish, those markets provide a lot of festive decoration for the areas where they reside.

train at a booth at a Christmas market in Würzburg, Germany

Some of them get quite creative.

Nuremberg Christmas Market

Even the market stalls are sometimes festive.

Regensburg, Germany Christmas Market

Nearly every Christmas market had a tree.

Nuremberg Christmas market

A lot of the Christmas markets were next to cathedrals, churches, or chapels.

Vienna Christmas market

Both the cathedrals and the trees tower over the market stalls.

scene at Nuremburg Christmas market

Besides merchant stalls, some markets had stalls or booths completely filled with Christmas scenes.

scene at Passau Christmas market

The Christmas part was a bit more subtle in the scene at Passau.

tree in Amsterdam

When passing through areas not dominated by Christmas markets, most of the lighting was done in white. Lights on trees whether in windows or public places were generally all white.

cafe in Amsterdam

Lights decorating the outsides of buildings also usually had white as the predominate or often only color.

street in Würzburg, Germany

In some areas some of the streets were decorated quite festively with strings of lights and other decorations running from one side to the other all the way down the street.

street in Amsterdam

The street decorations in Amsterdam lit up at night.

festive canal boat in Amsterdam

Even some of the canal boats got into the Christmas spirit in Amsterdam with festive decorations.

tree in Cologne, Germany

Red balls or sometimes other shapes were quite popular in many places – often, but not always on trees.

tree in Bamberg

Tree of red balls at a Christmas market in Bamberg, Germany.

hotel lobby tree in Amsterdam

Christmas trees were of course found in many places.

Ferris wheel entrance in Vienna

Sometimes in the least expected places – like a ride entry in an amusement park.

wiener dog museum in Regensburg

People could buy the ornaments right off of the tree at the gift shop of the wiener dog museum in Regensburg, Germany.

Marksburg Castle gift shop, Germany

We didn’t see a lot of big light displays on buildings, but there were some.

hotel in Copenhagen

Near the end of our European river cruise on Viking Skirner the crew started decorating the ship with trees and other Christmas displays.

decoration on Viking Skirnir

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Mini Suite on Enchanted Princess

Posted on December 19, 2025 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Enchanted Princess in Grand Turk

At close to 300 square feet, a mini suite on Enchanted Princess is much bigger than the standard balcony cabin. There’s a curtain that can be pulled across between the bed and couch areas. That comes in handy if there are more than two people or if one person wants to sleep while the other doesn’t.

mini suite

The living room area is big enough for a full-sized couch. There’s a much larger desk than the one in standard balcony rooms and an extra nightstand by the couch. The room has 2 TV’s, one for the bedroom area and another in the living room part.

bathroom in the mini-suite

The bathroom is bigger than in a standard cabin and has a bathtub.  It had the same bath products as a regular cabin.

bath products include lotion

These included liquid soap and lotion at the sink. The lotion was a nice addition since a lot of ships don’t have that anymore.

bathtub in the mini-suite

The tub could have done better though. It had the awful combined shampoo and conditioner instead of separate ones. At least there was separate bath gel. The tub itself is an upgrade. Standard cabins just have a shower.

open and closed closets

The room has lots of storage space. The enclosed closet by the bathroom is about twice the width of the one in the balcony room. The open one is about the same, pretty spacious in either room. There’s even an extra little catch-all sort of shelf near the door where people can set things when they come in.

magnetic walls come in handy for keeping paperwork organized

There’s lots of wall space to hang things if you bring magnets or magnetic hooks. The walls in the main room are magnetic, but most of the bathroom has something resembling tile covering up the walls, which is not magnetic.

balcony

The balcony is the nearly the same as the one in the balcony room, but a little longer because the room is a bit wider. Just two chairs and a table. No footstools, but there wasn’t really room for them on the rather narrow balcony.

mini-suite with the balcony curtain open

We usually try to book rooms close to the bow so we can watch the flying fish. Our mini-suite was mid-ship. We could still see some flying fish, though not as many as from rooms closer to the bow. The central location near the mid-ship elevators was very convenient for access to anywhere on the ship though.

mini suite with the balcony curtain closed

It’s definitely nice to have the extra space. Well worth the upgrade if you can afford it. Especially since the standard balcony cabins on the Enchanted Princess are smaller than standard balcony cabins on a lot of other cruise lines. Not just that ship, all of the Princess ships I have sailed on had smaller than average staterooms.

For those wishing for even more of an upgrade without going to a full suite some of the mini-suites are designated as reserve collection and come with extra amenities. Most are the same size as the other mini suites, but the ones at the front corners of decks 15 and 16 are extra-large with wrap-around balconies making them pretty close to an actual suite. Also as with any cabin type rooms designated as accessible are generally larger than other rooms of the same type.

a little something extra with the steward’s tip at the end of the cruise

Booking reserve collection comes with some of the perks that normally go to full suites like priority embarkation. These rooms are also entitled to additional perks including a free bottle of wine, premium dining options and reserved theater seating that is not included with the regular mini suites.

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Hits and Misses on Holland America Zaandam

Posted on December 12, 2025 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Zaandam in Vancouver

Hits

Holland America Zaandam had lots of random seating near windows. Well maybe not so random as it’s mostly actually in bars or other venues, but still plenty of places to sit and watch the scenery go by.

crows nest front window seats at night

The Crows Nest lounge is a great place for relaxing by windows. It has full length windows across the front of the ship and lots of places to sit. There’s also a coffee bar in the room, and sometimes there are scheduled activities there.

movie theater

Besides the main theater there is a second small theater with several movie times daily.

Zaandam in Juneau

It’s a small ship so there’s not a huge crowd of people.

pork dinner

We didn’t try any of the specialty restaurants, but the food included in the cruise price was always good.

sale table at one of the ship’s shops

It was the last Alaska cruise of the season so all of the Alaska themed merchandise was 75% off. Not just things that said Alaska on them, but also things like really nice otherwise very expensive raincoats and other warm clothing, wooden Alaskan animal Christmas ornaments for just $3 each, and all sorts of other things. I got a Helly Hanson raincoat for $40 originally selling for $160. That’s a premium outdoor clothing brand. Weather this cruise definitely put our raingear to the test, and it passed with flying colors, where the one I’d brought from home definitely would have leaked.

best dessert of the cruise

The gift shop had ship model Christmas ornaments. Often they only have those around Christmas, and not always even then.

Zaandam Christmas ornament

The app worked better than most of the other lines we’ve been on recently. Most of the features actually worked how they were supposed to most of the time. The chat even alerted people when someone messaged them, which on some ships it doesn’t.

photo of the bowcam channel view in Endicott Arm with people on the upper and lower bows

The open area on the bow on deck 6 was open even when the main bow wasn’t so there was always that one space for an outside forward view.

The crew was friendly and helpful, and the stewards attentive.

main pool on the Lido deck

The ship had a sliding cover over the main lido deck pool and surrounding area. That was quite useful since it was cold and rainy on our cruise so that area was covered rather than out in the rain the whole cruise.

Disembarkation was quick and easy.

the lady in pink was the sole person from the Grand Princess

Some shore excursions were combined with people on Grand Princess so they didn’t have to cancel those excursions if there weren’t enough people from just one ship.

Misses

Smoking was allowed in the casino rather than being limited just to a small area of the open back deck like all of the other Holland America ships we were accustomed to sailing on. It only took one person smoking in the casino to have smoke wafting all the way up the stairs to other decks as well as into other areas on the same deck. Totally blew my image of Holland America. Before this cruise I thought Holland America didn’t allow indoor smoking on any of their ships anymore. I was quite disappointed to find out that after years of non-smoking interiors they started opening up the casinos to smoking on each ship as it went into drydock. One of the main reasons we sailed on Holland America so often was the smoke-free interior.

the casino was open to other areas and allowed smoking which spread around the ship

There are no self-serve guest laundries. There aren’t any on any Holland America ships so that’s not surprising, but I still consider it a miss.

They had the past guest event on boarding day during boarding hours with the notification buried under other paperwork in the cabin where anyone not expecting that would not likely find it before the event was over – those with a late boarding time may not even have boarded the ship until after it was over. On all our previous Holland America cruises they had a special mariner lunch for past guests, but this was just some sort of gathering. I don’t know exactly what because we didn’t find the invitation until the next day.

Disembarkation notices appeared in everyone’s seamail box on the day after we boarded the ship. We hadn’t even been to the first port yet. It felt like they were trying to get rid of us when we had barely got on the ship.

Vista Suite

The room air is the old style tied into a central system rather than individual to each room. You can’t turn it off, just up or down. It shows warm or cold options, but if the ship is on AC you can’t actually ever get warm air, just more or less cold. And it’s pretty noisy at night.

pool in the thermal suite

The thermal suite just has a not very warm hot tub sized mineral pool instead of a nice big warm pool with jets and things like their bigger ships have, but they price it like it was a bigger ship with better features.

dock in Juneau

They cancelled a bunch of shore excursions in Juneau without notifying anyone. Excursions get cancelled for bad weather, not enough participants, or if the excursion provider bails on it, but normally they send out some sort of notification as soon as they know. In Juneau nobody whose excursion got cancelled knew about it until they went out to the meeting place on the dock at the scheduled excursion time to check in for it.

duck in the bottom of a music themed table

There were very few duck hiders on this ship and the majority of other passengers we talked to had no idea it was even a thing. Which is of course not the ship’s fault since that’s something passengers do on their own.

bread lobster decoration at the breakfast buffet

They did not make any fresh gluten free things in the buffet, only re-heating or handing out pre-made stuff. In the dining room if you wanted something as simple as gluten free pancakes at breakfast you had to order it the night before.

sailing past the entrance to Tracy Arm

Tracy Arm was on the itinerary, but we just sailed past it on the way to Juneau with no explanation of why we didn’t go there.

Even though the weather outside was cold, the inside temperature of the ship was very cold like they had AC on the whole time instead of heat. When it’s cold and rainy outside it would be nice if the ship was warm on the inside.

Canada Place

The embarkation line through security at Canada Place was combined with other ships so it was quite long. That’s a port thing rather than a ship thing, but such long lines were unexpected when boarding a small ship. Most of the people in that line were heading to the Grand Princess, which holds nearly twice as many passengers as the Zaandam.

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Nuremberg, Germany

Posted on December 5, 2025 by LBcruiseshipblogger

church in Nuremberg

Nuremberg, Germany

Nuremburg is located on the Rhine-Main-Danube canal. This 106-mile-long canal connects the Main River (a tributary of the Rhine) to the Danube allowing ships to pass between the North Sea and the Black Sea. Now an important waterway allowing river traffic across the continent, construction was finally completed in 1992, nearly 32 years after it started. The population of Nuremburg is over 500,000. Although 90% of its old town was destroyed in WW2, 3 miles of the old city walls still stand with original gateways and watchtowers. Nuremberg has some remaining medieval buildings including half-timbered houses and gothic churches. A 5-day battle there between US troops and German Nazis near the end of WW2 ended with the US capturing the city, followed by the first international war crimes tribunal in history which revealed the extent of German atrocities and resulted in death sentences for some top Nazi officials. On the lighter side, Nuremburg is famous for making toys. It even has a toy museum.

church in Nuremberg

The hottest month is July and the coldest January. Snow can fall between November and March. Winters are cold and summers pleasantly warm. Average temperatures run from winter lows in the upper 20’s F to summer highs in the mid 70’s F. Nuremburg has about 70 rainy days per year with annual precipitation averaging between 25 and 28 inches. Tourist attractions include castles, churches, historical landmarks, tunnels, museums, and a zoo.

Viking Skirnir in Nuremberg

Nuremberg River Cruise Port

In Nuremberg Viking Skirnir docked at the side of the Main-Danube Canal in between a lock and a bridge. The other side of the river was all industrial with a lot of metal recycling places. There were lots of other ships docked along the canal too. Ours happened to be right across a path from some recycling bins and garbage cans, which the crew made use of.

lock at the end of the path

From the ship there was a path along the canal where people could walk, but getting into town required a bus ride. We walked down to the lock and back, and up a little hill next to the ship, which was a 4K walk. The ship was about 6k from the old town area.

Nazi structure

Nuremberg Through History Tour

Viking river cruises include a tour at each port. The included tour in Nuremberg was called Nuremberg Through History. It started with a bus ride through town. It went past several of the major Nazi sites from World War 2. One was the infamous Zeppelin Field where Nazi rallies were held. The guide said that youngsters are brought there on field trips and though that part of their history is shameful to them it is important that they all learn about it so it is never repeated.

crumbling remains of Nazi rally grounds

Some of the old Nazi sites are in disrepair and crumbling away. Other buildings are fully intact and have been converted to other uses after removal of any Nazi symbols. One old Nazi building is now a Burger King. In another town the guide said local flags are often displayed on state buildings, but rarely the German flag due to the shame of that part of their country’s history, though we did see German flags displayed in several towns that we visited as well as some we passed by on the ship.

entrance to the castle

After the bus part of the tour people had the option to take a bus directly to the Christmas market or to walk up to a castle and then down to the market. We went with the walk. The castle was not far from the bus stop and had a dry moat around it.

inside the castle grounds

Part of the walls from the original walled city of medieval times remain intact, as does a small portion of the Imperial Castle of Nuremberg, which has stood there for over a thousand years.

Imperial Castle of Nuremberg

Restoration was done to the destroyed parts of the castle to make it look much the way it did before the war. Although the majority of the old town area was destroyed by allied bombs in World War 2, it has been rebuilt to appear like it did before. So it looks like historical buildings, but most of them aren’t really that old.

hill by the castle

From the castle we walked down a fairly steep hill into town.

cobblestone street

Streets in the area were made of cobblestone.

some of the buildings are colorful

There are some colorful buildings.

gingerbread booth at the Christmas market

Nuremberg hosts one of the world’s oldest and best known Christmas Markets having been held there since the 1600’s. It’s called Christkindlesmarkt which translates to Christ Child Market. Gingerbread was quite popular there with many booths selling it. Gingerbread there is like giant soft cookies dipped in various flavored glazes rather than the cakelike treat Americans are familiar with.

Christmas market

The Christmas market was mostly between a fountain that resembled the spire on top of an ornate church and an actual old church that was pretty ornate on the outside.

Christmas market

After just over an hour to spend at the Christmas Market the busses came to return everyone to the ship. Rather than loading people up as they arrived and sending each bus on as it filled they waited until there were enough busses for everyone. People who got to the meeting spot first had to wait a long time out in the cold. The actual bus stop was several blocks away from where we were told to meet, probably to keep early arrivals from sitting on a warm bus instead of standing out in the cold, though people who did go far enough to investigate if those were our busses were allowed on.

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Carnival Splendor, Australia

Posted on December 1, 2025 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Splendor in Sydney, Australia

Carnival Splendor is a unique ship in the Carnival fleet. It started construction intended for Costa, as one of the Concordia class, but before construction was complete it was switched to Carnival and completed with features such as Carnival’s distinctive whale-tail funnel. It has just over 1500 staterooms and holds over 3000 passengers. It was briefly the largest ship in Carnival’s fleet when first completed in 2008, but Carnival Dream with a maximum capacity of over 4000 passengers soon took over that distinction in 2009. The current biggest ship in Carnival’s fleet is the Jubilee which carries over 6000 passengers and entered service in 2023.

stairway art

Carnival Splendor used to be part of the main Carnival fleet from the USA, operating in various different areas. We once took a Caribbean cruise on the Splendor out of Puerto Rico. The Splendor started sailing for Carnival Australia in 2019, after having first gone under some renovations including the addition of waterslides and a waterpark. It last had renovations in 2024, which included Carnival’s new blue hull paint design. Carnival ships used to be all white with a bit of red and blue trim. Inside the ship still has its distinctive pink dots (and donuts) as a major part of its décor, which are unique to just this ship and came from the initial plans for being a Costa ship.

view from the stairway to the waterslides while docked in Noumea

The ship has 13 passenger decks, but ships rarely claim to have a deck 13 so the highest one is dubbed deck 14 and is just outside space at the front of the ship with the mini golf and a walkway with stairs up to the waterslides. There are 5 decks with just cabins, 3 that are all public space and 3 with cabins near the front and public space on the rest of the deck, of which a lot of that is outside. The mini golf never had enough balls for all of the people who wanted to play, and may not have had any by the end of the cruise since it was down from around 6 or 7 the first time we played it to only 2 the second. There were also no beanbags in the big bin marked beanbags next to a rack of cornhole games and a big space to set them out by the last hole of the golf course and no balls in the foosball games in the Red Frog Pub.

Alchemy Bar

Public spaces included a variety of lounges and eateries, the atrium, some bars, a casino, and outside spaces. The promenade deck did not go all the way around the ship so the best space for walking or running was around deck 11, but only early in the morning before it got crowded. There was a tiny top deck track of less than 200 meters so pretty much useless like all of the top deck tracks on cruise ships. It did have a nice gym with a lot of treadmills though. The thermal suite at the spa was pretty good, but not as good as the one on Carnival Luminosa.

JavaBlue coffee bar

One long hallway on deck 5 had both a coffee bar and a juice bar that also sold coffee. Those both had long lines some mornings. The casino was on that deck as well as the piano bar, the alchemy bar, and the El Morrocco lounge at the back where a lot of games and activities were held.

duck depot – a duck every time

Deck 5 also had some of the shops and a very large arcade with its most popular machine – the duck depot where anyone who didn’t come prepared with ducks to hide could always get some.

dining room ceiling decor

Free food was available in the dining room or buffet. The ship has 2 dining rooms, the gold pearl and the black pearl. Ceiling decor that is supposed to be oysters with pearls looks more like fried eggs in the gold pearl and eyes in the black pearl. Some people see it as boobs, but nobody looks up there and thinks oysters.

naked toilet man – still in the elevator

Years ago when we first sailed on the Splendor we found a quite unique picture in an elevator, which we considered inappropriate yet entertaining elevator art and dubbed Naked Toilet Man. This is a mosaic style painting where the naked man on a toilet is most noticeable if you are standing in the elevator bay when the door opens to an empty elevator. Before the cruise we asked some Aussies we know who had recently sailed on the ship if it was still there and they said it was so we went looking for it and found it. I won’t say which elevator it is in so anyone else sailing on the ship can go on the hunt for it and have the reward of finding it for themselves.

cabin 1114

We had a spa balcony cabin on deck 11 where there is just a small row of cabins on each side of the ship. These are conveniently located steps away from the spa and gym, and with a door right out into the waterpark at the end of the hall. It’s also not far from that door to cut through the waterpark and take a stairway down to the Lido pool area, beyond which lies the buffet. If you take elevators really anything is pretty easy to get to, but we mostly took stairs so if you’re on the lower decks it’s a lot of flights to get back up to deck 11.

looking down on the atrium from many decks above

The best thing about sailing out of Australia on any cruise ship is that Australia does not allow any indoor smoking so no matter what cruise line you sail with the interior of the ship remains smoke-free. If only all of the other countries would follow suit – or at least keep it contained in a fully enclosed room where it wouldn’t spread throughout the ship like Princess used to. There are also no daily gratuities charged to passenger accounts when sailing from Australia because the full price is included in the cruise fare, another thing that would be nice if it was done everywhere. The Splendor currently sails from Sydney, but the cruises aren’t all repeats of one another. The one we took went to New Caledonia and Vanuatu, but the next sailing went to New Zealand.

Lido deck and waterslides at night

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Food on Holland America Oosterdam Antarctic Cruise

Posted on November 28, 2025 by LBcruiseshipblogger

parmesan crusted chicken

Food is always a big part of cruising. There are a lot of consistencies when sailing on the same line from one cruise to another, but even on the same ship there will be some differences whether due to the itinerary, the current head chef, or changes made by the cruiseline. Often all three. Some chefs are just better than others, some meals are itinerary specific, and cruiselines like to switch things around sometimes.

this chef never made gluten free pie crust

Differences in chefs are especially noticeable when requesting special diets. Gluten free for instance, sometimes they just send out food with no sauces or any other sort of topping and have maybe one thing available for dessert that is the same every day. Other times you get a gluten free version that is pretty much the same as whatever the regular one is. Some of them can make some pretty impressive desserts with something different every night too. Others not so much. The best we ever had was on Symphony of the Seas when ships first started sailing right after covid and there was hardly anyone onboard. The chef on that ship made different special desserts every night that were both gluten and dairy free. He even made a gluten and dairy free Grand Marnier soufflé and it was fantastic. The next year we went on Wonder of the Seas and the chef on that ship did not make any gluten free desserts. There we were told even simple gluten free desserts were impossible for them to make. One extreme to the other on similar ships both from Royal Caribbean, a line which normally has a gluten free section in the buffet, but on Wonder it did not.

pastry squares

Our cruise to Antarctica for the most part had different pastries at breakfast than what are the usual standard on cruise ships. The were denser, not as soft, flakey, or good as the usual ones. They also had a little blob of filling in the center on top rather than having filling inside of the entire pastry. They did still have normal croissants and pains au chocolate, which were better than the new type of pastry. It may be that the regular ones aren’t available in South America rather than that the cruiseline made changes. Some of the usual sort did appear at the very end of the cruise after a port where they onloaded new supplies.

serving soup in the dining room

On Holland America the main food onboard is the free food options at the main dining room, which is open every day for breakfast and dinner and on sea days at lunch and the buffet which serves breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a late-night snack daily. Breakfast is same menu every day. Dinner has some things that are the same every day and some that change from day to day in both the dining room and at the lido buffet. The lunch menu also varies, but the buffet has some everyday items then too.

duck starter in the dining room

Free food is also available at the dive-in poolside burger grill which is open noon to 6, and a taco bar next to the dive in. There are also sometimes free pastries or cookies available at the Crow’s Nest bar, but the drinks there cost extra. Premium eateries on the Oosterdam are the Pinnacle Grill which serves breakfast and lunch at an extra cost, and Canaletto which serves Italian food at dinner for a fee in a reserved section of the Lido buffet.

nachos from the taco bar

At the Dive-In you don’t have to order the burgers specified on the menu. You can add or subtract toppings or change the patty to one offered in a different burger like if you want chicken instead of beef. They also have the option of substituting beyond meat patties and gluten free buns for what’s on the menu. Food is free there, but milkshakes cost extra.

4 renditions of flourless chocolate cake

Special diets can order meals ahead in the dining room. Mostly they do a good job, but sometimes they aren’t accurate. No salt meals sometimes came salted and requesting small portions often came with larger portions than people who didn’t. They weren’t very good at gluten free desserts. Mostly anything involving cake was just some sort of rendition of their standard flourless chocolate cake and anything involving pie meant a bowl of the filling served pudding-like with no crust. Once they made what was supposed to be pecan pie with a chocolate cake bottom that wasn’t the flourless one which proved they can actually make a gluten free cake or something that resembles a slice of pie, but that was the only time they ever did anything like that. It was the best gluten free dessert of the entire cruise and I didn’t get a picture of it.

this is what you get when ordering gluten free pie

If you have more than one person on a special diet, make sure they give you separate papers to request it on. They tried making us use one paper with person A and person B the first night, but the result was if both people ordered the same thing we got one serving. And one of those happened to be that pie that was the one and only really good gluten free dessert that they made during the entire cruise so we had to share one little piece. They can accommodate special diets at anytime dining, but it works out better with a set time and table so you always have the same waitstaff who know what your needs are.

afternoon tea

Afternoon tea is available in the dining room. People are seated with random other people in the order they enter the room. Waiters pour tea for everyone and little stands of goodies are placed on each table for people to eat what they want from them. Tables with more people get more stands of goodies. There are tea sandwiches on the bottom, scones in the middle, and sweets on top. None of that was gluten free.

hot drink and pastry at the Crow’s Nest

Some things to drink are available at the Lido 24 hours a day. Pastries are available at the buffet earlier than when the rest of the buffet opens. There’s just one coffee bar in the Crows Nest for specialty hot drinks available at any time of day, but the Pinnacle Bar serves coffee in the morning.

Mariner Lunch

Sometimes there are special food events. There’s normally a Mariner Lunch at some point during any Holland America cruise. This is a special lunch in the dining room where anyone who has previously sailed with Holland America is invited. So everyone who is not on their first cruise with Holland America. The menu on this cruise had several starters to choose from, 3 mains, and everyone got the same dessert. Starters were soup, salad, or shrimp and mains were beef, fish, or vegetarian.

all kinds of cakes

One day they had an event called Cake Me Away with one station full of cakes in the Lido buffet at lunchtime. For about the first 15 minutes after lunch started they had had the cake station roped off so people could take photos of all the cakes before they started serving them. It wasn’t too crowded then, but once it opened it was a madhouse with people crowding the entire area anywhere near that station.

mini cupcakes at the chocolate surprise

On the same evening of the day with the cakes they had their chocolate surprise event. Since this was a long cruise with a lot of sea days it seemed like pretty poor planning to have both of their special dessert events on the same day. Especially since they also had a Carnival games event that very same afternoon featuring popcorn along with the games. The chocolate surprise evening is when groups of kitchen crew bring out trays of various chocolate goodies and pass them out to whoever is in the area. Finding the door where they come out with the trays is a better way to score a variety of options then hanging out where the cruise director says to be. The lounge where he said to wait on this cruise was quite a ways away from where the people with trays came out. After about 10 or 15 minutes past when the event was supposed to start a couple people with trays finally made it to that lounge. I figured it would be the same with other items so went down the hall in the direction they came from, past another lounge full of people, and on to a nondescript door in the wall where I happened to see the next batch come out. Waiting by that door was the place to be. Each time it opened a group of about 15 or so came out, all with trays of the same thing. Later another group would come out with something different. There weren’t a lot of batches of different things on this cruise, maybe 5 or 6 items. Chocolate options that I saw were mini cupcakes, chocolate with what looked like peanuts dusted in cocoa powder, white chocolate rice krispie bites, and chocolate covered cheerios. Those looked like chocolate covered raisins, but the people with the trays said they were cheerios. That was the last thing to come out and apparently not very popular because unlike the other items where people returned with empty trays, this group came back with a lot left.

too much chicken

Dinners in the dining room (and lunches too) have 3 courses with starters, mains, and desserts. Sometimes the starter portions are just a bite or two and sometimes a lot more. Mains are often way too much food. Regular desserts are generally a small portion, but for some reason they made the gluten free ones way too big. Even when asking for small portions I was usually served way too much.

breakfast breads at the buffet

Food on Holland America is generally pretty good and the Oosterdam met expectations.

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Thanksgiving on Viking Skirnir

Posted on November 27, 2025 by LBcruiseshipblogger

roast turkey

We weren’t sure if Thanksgiving would be celebrated or not on our Viking cruise since it is a European cruise line in Europe where that’s not even a holiday. Many of the passengers on our cruise were from the USA, with Australia second in number. Thanksgiving is not a thing in Australia any more than it is in Europe, but they did have Thanksgiving dinner food on the menu along with other options.

one of many Christmas markets in Vienna

We happened to be in Vienna on Thanksgiving so we spent the morning touring through the city. Vienna has lots of historic buildings and beautiful old churches. It also had an abundance of Christmas markets.

The menus each night on the Viking ship include a few options they serve every day, a selection of local foods from wherever we happen to be, and some items served just for that night. The one night only things served on Thanksgiving were items usually served on Thanksgiving in the USA – or in Canada because they celebrate Thanksgiving too, but not on the same day. Theirs is in October.

potato soup

The Thanksgiving offerings included corn fritters for the starter, which is not something I would associate with Thanksgiving, but maybe some people do. Or they just had to have something and thought that sounded American. The Austrian option for the starter was potato soup by a very foreign sounding name since it was in German. The soup is what everyone at our table ordered.

turkey dinner

The main course included turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and green beans, so a pretty typical Thanksgiving dinner menu. Everyone at our table ordered that including the two Aussies (Australians, not Austrians). The Austrian option was a trio of dumplings. Austria and Australia are two very different countries, but some people must mix them up because there was a lot of merchandise like t-shirts and hats and things in Austrian gift shops proclaiming that there are no kangaroos in Austria.

Sachertorte

For dessert the Thanksgiving selection was pumpkin pie while the Austrian one was Sachertorte, an Austrian chocolate cake. I ordered the Sachertorte and everyone else got the pie. The torte was delicious, very moist and fudgy. They all thought the pie had too much nutmeg. I might have liked it though. I like nutmeg.

pumpkin pie

A full roast giant turkey sat at the station in the middle of the dining room where they set up the buffet during breakfast, but it was turkey roll on the plates they initially served. Later during the meal when people were getting pretty full they brought around a plate of fresh carved turkey from that roast so people did get to try a little of it. I’m guessing that they don’t have oven space for more than one turkey and that isn’t enough for everyone because that is the only thing that makes sense for serving turkey roll as the main course and tidbits from the actual turkey later.

Overall it was a good dinner. It was nice to have a Thanksgiving dinner even though we were in a country far from home that doesn’t actually celebrate that holiday. While a full serving of actual roast turkey would have been better than turkey roll I’m guessing they did what they could and it was nice that they made the effort. As far as I know none of the crew were American or even Canadian.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2025
Posted in Cruise Food, Europe, Skirnir, Viking | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Aruba by Land and Sea

Posted on November 21, 2025 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Casibari Rock Formation

Aruba

Aruba’s motto is One Happy Island. There are lots of beaches on the 70-square-mile island. The country is an autonomous member of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Prior to 1986 it was part of the Netherlands Antillies, but gained partial independence and is now self-governing. Aruba has a dry arid climate with mostly warm sunny weather year-round. Annual rainfall is about 15-18 inches per year.

Aruba Cruise Port

Ships dock at the Aruba Cruise Terminal in the capital city of Oranjestad. There are 3 docks. Usually there are no more than 3 ships docked at the same time, though the port has capacity for 5. There are some shopping booths at the port which may or may not be open. It’s a short walk into town from the dock. There’s a free trolley that runs to town on a continuous loop for those who would rather not walk. There will likely be taxis available at the port for taxi tours or to take passengers to a beach.

Casibari Rock Formations on the Aruba by Land and Sea tour

Excursions offered in Aruba on Nieuw Amsterdam included Atlantis Submarine, certified scuba dive, off-road 4-wheel drive adventure, 4×4 to natural pool for swim & snorkel, snorkel & beach, sailing & snorkel, hidden gems of Aruba, Aruba by land & sea, natural wonders of Aruba, Kukoo Island Discovery & beach (Kukoo is the name of the bus, not another island), Aruba walk & taste, eagle beach express, discover scuba diving, colors of Aruba, and Aruba town & countryside

semi-sub

Aruba by Land and Sea

For our port stop in Aruba on Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam we booked a shore excursion through the ship called Aruba by Land and Sea.

Ship’s Information About the Tour

Information provided by Holland America for booking this excursion said a ride on the Seaworld Explorer semi-sub provides views of the wreck of the German freighter Antilla and the land portion of the tour visits the Casibari Rock Formations and the Baby Natural Bridge. The tour was said to explore the full beauty of Aruba on a tour that takes you around the island and under the sea.

The Seaworld Explorer is a semi-sub which does not fully submerge. View the ocean from the hull of the vessel 5 feet under the surface of the water. Must be able to descend 10 steps into the vessel. View amazing sealife and the Caribbean’s largest shipwreck through large clear windows.

Return to shore for a panoramic drive to the California Lighthouse where you can admire the magnificent view of the crashing waves of the windward coast and tranquil waters of the leeward shore. From here continue to the awesome Casibari Rock Formations and climb the rock gardens to the highest boulder. You will then visit the Baby Natural Bridge – a bridge of rock formed by the wind and the sea. Finally keep an eye out for the gold mill ruins at Boca Mahos en route back to Oranjestad, Aruba’s capital.

stairway up the rock

The Actual Tour

The Aruba by Land and Sea tour started out meeting in front of the port building shortly after the ship docked. It was early in the morning so there weren’t any lines to get off the ship. Nothing was open yet so the only people who had any reason to leave were those with early tours. After checking everyone in and getting on the bus we headed to our first destination at the Casibari Rock Formation. This little rock mountain and surrounding rock garden reminded me of the Baths at Virgin Gorda, but without the pools. It looked a lot like batholiths, but actually consisted of tonalite boulders. Tonalite is an intrusive igneous rock, meaning it forms from magma that cools slowly beneath the Earth’s surface. These are often a component of batholiths, but batholiths which are also formed from slowly cooled magma form deeper in the earth and contain other types of rock. Tonalite forms from one magma intrusion whereas batholiths form slowly over millions of years and combine multiple intrusions. Both surface through tectonic uplift and erosion. Batholiths cover a larger area above and below the surface.

you have to go through this hole in the rock

There is a stairway up to the top of the Casibari Rock Formation. At one point people have to duck down and go through a hole in the rocks. The guide warned us to keep our heads down, but the rock got some people anyway because as you approach the end of the tunnel the overhanging rock is just a bit lower than what you are already ducking for, right about the spot where you think you’re just about out and people are more likely to start lifting their heads up rather than ducking down farther. Plus if you are already ducking down you’re more likely looking down than up and may not see that lower hanging bit of rock.

people on top of the rocks

At the top of the rock hill there’s a sort of flat spot. It’s not level, but not so steep as the hill either. Kind of a little bit of ups, downs, and uneven spots in what would otherwise be a somewhat flat, but slanted hilltop with fantastic views all the way around.

view of Hooiberg and someone coming up the down stairway

It’s not the only high spot in mostly flat Aruba. From the top you can see Hooiberg, a conical volcanic hill that is Aruba’s second highest point at 541 feet (165 meters) above sea level. Though it is a volcanic formation, Hooiberg is not active. There are no active volcanoes in Aruba. The highest point is called Mt. Jamonta which stands 620 feet high.

dogs don’t read signs

A different and more direct stairway takes people back down. Near the bottom of that there’s another stairway leading up a lower little rock hill. The surrounding area has gardens and pathways and more giant rocks. There were a couple dogs there who apparently didn’t see the no dogs sign before they came in. They didn’t belong to anyone, just stray dogs who came in on their own.

pathway to more rocks at Casibari Rock Formations

Though the place was fairly small, there was more to explore there than we had time to see on a brief stop on a cruise ship excursion.

a smaller rock formation

Whenever the bus was traveling the guide, who was a wealth of local knowledge, told us all about island history and lots of information about things we passed by as well of things we went to see. His local knowledge version of island history passed down through the generations differs from official versions where the names of the original inhabitants’ tribes are either lumped together under a different name or left out altogether and there are inaccuracies in the official version of interactions between the original local tribes. Official versions are from the view of invading Europeans whereas the islander’s version comes from their ancestors’ side of the story.

collapsed natural bridge

The next stop brought us to a natural bridge. The island has others, but she said this was the only one currently accessible by motor vehicles. There used to be two in that spot, but the larger one has collapsed and now just looks like enormous rocks lying on the beach.

Baby Natural Bridge

The small one, which is actually quite large, is still intact, though she said the collapse of the larger one weakened it putting it that much closer to its own eventual collapse. The water pooling under it was full of seaweed.

stacked rocks

There were multiple piles of rocks all over the area where tourists come and build rock stacks. According to our guide, two of three species of lizard native to the island have gone extinct because they lay their eggs under the rocks and when people pick those rocks up to stack them all of the eggs blow away. So don’t be the tourist that stacks rocks without being aware of the environment and any harm that it might cause. This isn’t the only place where rock stacking tourists damage the environment.

transport boat to the semi-sub

After the first two land stops the bus brought us to a pier where a boat picked us up to take us out to the semi-sub. This one was run by Atlantis, the same company who has the Atlantis subs, which are actual submarines that dive down deep into the water. Semi-subs have a top portion that stays above the water and a below-water-level window-lined chamber passengers descend into to view fish and whatever else is under the water through the windows. The submarine tour in Aruba cost a lot more than the one we took on the semi-sub.

a piece of the shipwreck

Unfortunately the destination for the semi-sub on this tour was the wreck of the German freighter Antilla, which I have already seen twice on snorkel excursions on previous trips to Aruba. There are other wrecks in the area as well as reefs. This is biggest wreck. It would be nice to see something different, but I always end up at the same one. At least the semi-sub went to a different part of the wreck than where the snorkel boats go.

fish ID chart in the semi-sub

The water was pretty hazy so there wasn’t a clear view of anything that didn’t come right up to the window. It also didn’t help that maneuvering the vessel meant an explosion of a cloud of bubbles from a little propeller on one side or the other that looked much like the sort of portable fan people use to cool their homes and we were sitting at windows right next to them. The little propellers were even in little cages that looked just like the ones around a free-standing fan.

snuba people exploring the wreck

The wreck is 80 feet long and in pieces so you can never see all of it at once. The people getting the best view were the scuba divers and also some people doing snuba, which is sort of a combination of scuba and snorkeling. They have a hose going to a surface air supply rather than carrying a tank on their back like scuba divers or getting air from just above the water’s surface through a tube like snorkelers. Our ship did not offer snuba, but they likely came from one of the many hotels near the dock where we boarded the boat that took us out to the semi-sub.

fish outside of the semi-sub

There were lots of fish near the wreck and sponges growing on it. Also lots of people snorkeling, though they were in a slightly different area of the wreck than the semi-sub. The divers and snuba people came closer since they were at or near the bottom rather than on the surface. The snuba people would need to watch for boats though since their air is surface supplied. They did not get close enough for the semi-sub to interfere with their equipment.

snorkeler from the semi-sub crew diving under the water

One snorkeler did come close, but he was from the semi-sub crew, giving people something to see with his antics and feeding the fish so a bunch would come close to our windows. Some blue tangs had already come up to the window, but he brought in schools of snappers and sergeant majors as well as some other fish. He was able to free-dive all the way to the bottom with just a snorkel where you can only get air at the surface. Apparently he could hold his breath for a long time since he stayed down there quite awhile.

Near the end of our time in the semi-sub a turtle swam close enough for us to see it. It was clearly visible, but a bit too distant for cameras or phones to get a decent photo of it. Then our time there was over and we had to take the ladder-like stairs back to the surface and wait for the boat to arrive and return us to shore.

California Lighthouse

The last stop on the tour was the California Lighthouse. It was not named after a place, but rather after a ship called California that sunk there before it had a lighthouse to warn it away. Of course, the ship could have been named for a place. Like many lighthouses in earlier times a lighthouse keeper had to man it, but it’s automated now. The former keeper’s house got turned into a restaurant. There was also a food bus next to the lighthouse.

Lighthouse Keeper’s house turned restaurant

People can climb to the top, but we only had 15 minutes at that stop and you have to pay to climb it so we just took photos from the ground. We saw lots of birds landing on cactus there, pecking at it so it must be a food source for them. A couple tiny lizards ran from a barren rocky area into some groundcover vegetation to hide. There were not any stacks of rocks in that area. Probably too much cactus for people to look for any rocks they can stack, much to the benefit of the lizards or perhaps that species might die out as well.

birds by the lighthouse

It was very windy at the lighthouse with enough sand blowing around to turn the air the color of sand. Our guide said people can order a meal at the top of the lighthouse. It comes from the restaurant in the keeper’s house so the server has to walk all the way from the restaurant to the lighthouse and then up all the stairs to the top to get the food there.

We did not have to show our ship cards when embarking or disembarking the vessel this cruise, they just scanned our faces. We still needed the cards for room keys, onboard purchases, and to get through security at the ports though. One lady fell asleep on the bus on the way back and then when the port security guy came onboard it took her forever to find her card after someone woke her up so we sat at the gate for a very long time when otherwise it would have just been quickly hold up the cards so the security guy can see them and be on our way.

We enjoyed this excursion. It was a different view of the wreck than from snorkeling and I hadn’t seen any of the land sites that we went to before. My sister hadn’t even been to Aruba before so everything was new to her.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2025
Posted in Caribbean, Holland America, Nieuw Amsterdam, Ports of Call, Shore Excursions | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Vava’u Tonga Cruise Port

Posted on November 14, 2025 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Noordam and tenders at Vava’u

Neiafu, Vava’u Tonga

Neiafu is the second largest city in Tonga with a population around 4000 people. It is located in the island archipelago of Vava’u, which encompasses about 50 islands in the north of the Kingdom of Tonga and a population of around 14,000. The area is popular for water sports and whale watching. Its sheltered waters make one of the best sailing spots in the south pacific. The average daily temperature is 79 degrees F, with annual average rainfall of about 83 inches. Currency is the Tongan Pa’anga. One Tongan Pa’anga is worth about 40 cents on the US dollar.

tenders at the dock

Vava’u is a tender port. The distance from ship to shore by tender was a bit farther than the previous tender ports on this cruise. The water wasn’t as rough as some of the other tender ports though so the journey from ship to shore was pretty smooth even though it seemed as if the tender drivers from our ship needed quite a lot more practice, especially when it came to docking.

shore excursion meeting place

Near to where people disembarked the tenders there was a long narrow shelter where people stood with numbered paddles waiting for guests with shore excursions. From there people getting off the tenders could find the person with the number matching the one on the sticker they’d been given on the ship when checking in for their excursion. Once the entire excursion group checked in the person with the paddle led them to their transport, whether that was a bus at the port or a boat at a dock down the road a bit.

buildings at the port

It rather looked as if it’s either hard to find a car in good condition, or there aren’t any places on the island that do body work, or maybe most of the people just can’t afford a good car. The majority of the vehicles that went by looked as if they had been in a wreck or had gotten quite old and worn out. Nearly all of them had dents, missing windows or other bits of the car, or just looked rather banged up. The busses looked pretty ancient too. They did announce onboard that anyone going on a bus tour could expect neither air conditioning nor bathrooms on the bus. Bathrooms are rare in shore excursion busses in most places, but they are often equipped with AC, which more often than not they have turned up way too high.

dancers at the port

The port had a number of craft booths set up as well as a couple shady areas for people to sit and listen to a band play and/or watch some native dancers.

fruit market near to the port

Early in the morning there were locals out with signs for last minute tours, but once their vehicles filled they were gone so the tours were only available to people who got off the ship early enough to get there before they were full.

bar near the port

Tendering off the ship took a long time for anyone without a shore excursion or an early tender ticket. The queue for the line to catch a tender back took nearly an hour in the early afternoon when shore excursions started to return.

building where the band played

We saw someone on a scooter zip down outside the fence around the port area and then try to come into the middle of the tender line through an opening in the fence by a bathroom, but she was turned away from the line so she went into one of the little shelters to listen to the music instead. Having previously seen this same person yell at both the ship’s official photographer and crew members who were actually part of a show out by the back pool to get out of her way because they were blocking her view we knew she was quite the entitled person and were happy to see her not get her way that time. At the show both the photographer and the crew people had moved for her.

line for a return tender

Excursions offered from the ship at this port included several snorkel options and several land and beach tours. In the afternoon the line to get on a tender and return to the ship ran all the way from the tenders to one of the buildings, then made a right angle and headed on outside of the gate into the port.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2025
Posted in Holland America, Noordam, Pacific Ocean & Islands, Ports of Call | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Grand Turk Beach Day at the Port

Posted on November 7, 2025 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Enchanted Princess at the dock in Grand Turk

Grand Turk is the largest and capitol island of the Turks and Caicos, a British overseas territory. Divers come to the island for spectacular wall dives on its nearly 7000 foot wall. Tourist attractions on Grand Turk include an 1852 lighthouse, 1823 church, a salt museum, and Cockburn Town. Feral donkeys roam the island, descendants of those who once worked the salt ponds.

shops at the Grand Turk cruise port

Cruise ships dock right at a nice sandy beach. You have to go through a duty-free shop to get to shore. Only people from the cruise ships can go through the door on the dock side of the duty-free store. You have to have your ship ID to pass through security there. The port has some of the usual cruise port shops, some other shops, and a crafts market.

swim-up bar in Margaritaville

The most popular hangout is Margaritaville, which has a pretty extensive shallow pool with swim-up bar. There’s also an indoor bar there where people can get drinks without getting wet.

space exhibit at the port

The port has a little historical exhibit with space stuff from the 1962 apollo splashdown there after John Glen became the first American to orbit the earth.

whale statue

There’s also a whale statue on the beach. Most people pose briefly for photos with it then go someplace else, but the guy in the picture stood there obliviously forever so I gave up on him ever leaving and took a photo anyway.

whale statue and Enchanted Princess

The whale statue is conveniently located where you can get pictures of it with the ship in the background. When we went back to the statue later the guy had finally left.

flowrider

The port has a flowrider, which people can go on for a price.

last minute tour booth

The port area also has a taxi stand where people can get island tours or taxis. Tram tours are available there too.

things to do at the beach

The chairs on the beach on the far side of the dock from the main beach were free, but all of the ones on the main beach had a charge to use. There are a lot of little beach bars along the beach just beyond the cruise port area, each with its own set of chairs. A sign at the edge of the first one advertises all sorts of things people can do for fun. They all cost money of course. Other bars down the beach also have chairs available and stuff to do.

fish at Grand Turk

It’s free to put a towel on the beach to sit on, and to swim in the roped-off area allowed for swimming. If you have your own gear you can snorkel there for free too. If not you can rent it at the beach. There’s not much in the way of coral, just tiny bits here and there. There is a lot of rocky structure though, and fish like structure. Near shore the fish are small, but out deeper they get bigger. The biggest ones are out beyond the area where people are allowed to go.

fish

On our visit to Grand Turk on the Enchanted Princess we hung out at the beach, which turned out to have the best snorkeling of that trip. The water was nice and clear there so the fish were easily visible. The next time we went to Grand Turk on the Nieuw Amsterdam there were some trampoline things in what had previously been the best snorkeling area so the snorkeling then was pretty limited. On the plus side there were more free beach chairs that visit, but all of them were out in the sun.

Margaritaville pool

It’s a good port for people who just want to get off the ship and hang out. The beach is right there for anyone wanting a beach day, or the pool at Margaritaville for anyone who prefers pools. Plus with shopping, bars, and restaurants it has stuff to do for people who don’t want to get wet.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2025
Posted in Caribbean, Enchanted Princess, Ports of Call, Princess | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments