Transatlantic (Part 1) - July and August 2026

Sharing experiences from a 35 day transatlantic cruise is somewhat challenging. There is a lot of content to consider. We embarked in Boston and this cruise included stops in Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland and then reversed back to Iceland, Greenland, Canada and, finally, a disembarkation in Boston. The original schedule of Holland America’s Zuiderdam included 20 port stops (one was missed due to weather) and 15 at-sea days. During one of the at-sea days, the ship was positioned to observe a total eclipse off of Iceland.

This was our longest cruise, our first on Holland America and, after many years of sailing on ships with 300-900 passenger capacity, a cabin on a 1,900 guest ship.

My plan is to describe highlights of our cruise and some observations about cruising on Holland America’s Zuiderdam. First, a little about our sailing on Holland America.

Holland America’s Zuiderdam

Understanding that we would be on the Zuiderdam for 35 days encouraged us to book a larger “Signature Suite” exterior cabin. This junior suite style cabin has about 380 square feet, with a large sofa, wide balcony and bathroom with two sinks, tub and separate shower. This cabin is among the larger accommodations, except for full-size suites or penthouses. In comparison, a standard exterior cabin is around 200 square feet. Overall, we found our cabin comfortable and well-maintained

Bushnell 10x42 binoculars were available for guests in “Signature Suites” or higher level cabins. These were fine for general purpose viewing, though some guests have reported that their in-cabin binoculars were mis-adjusted or damaged. If bird or sea life observations are important for you, bringing your own binoculars may be best. 

Staffing Ratio One observation was that the Holland America Zuiderdam “front of house” (or guest visible) service staff to guest ratio seemed a little thin. Our room steward indicated he was assigned 32 cabins which seemed high to us. Zuiderdam cabin and dining service staff were very busy -  trying to keep up with many tasks in a timely manner. Particularly on at-sea days, we observed that after guests  departed a breakfast buffet table, the table could remain uncleared for a prolonged time (making finding a clean table difficult for new diners). The limited number of breakfast attendants were trying to dual task - taking and delivering beverage orders as well as clearing and cleaning tables. 

At-Sea Days With 15 at-sea days, there were many opportunities to attend a lecture on history, science and/or cultural themes as well as hands-on activities. Holland America did a great job offering a variety of content for guests. I attended several lectures but also enjoyed reading time and watching videos on my iPad. 

All of our recent cruises have been on ships without interior cabins, We noticed that a high number of interior cabins may lead to seating contention in public spaces. That said, it is understandable that guests in interior cabins look forward to leaving their cabins whenever possible and enjoy seating in larger common areas of the ship. Guests in larger suites can always relax in their cabins or find a comfortable public area location early in the day.

We attended several lectures in the World Stage venue. This three-floor entertainment space was comfortable but tall structural columns hindered stage sighting from several seats. In addition, from third floor seating, a view of the upper and deeper section of the stage was largely obstructed by the structural frame of the stage. Placement of strategically placed video screens could help alleviate stage sighting issues. It is recommended for Holland America’s Vista class ship guests to select theater seats in the first or second floor tiers.

Dining on the Zuiderdam One practice we liked was that buffet selections were generally served by staff rather than guests serving themselves. This seems to help, to some degree, portion management and keeping the buffet area healthy. Meals in the Zuiderdam Dining Room offered a wide variety of selections. Meals were similar to what could be expected from a medium-range hotel restaurant. The meals featuring fish dishes and pasta were some of our favorites. Dining Room service seemed better organized than breakfast and lunch buffet dining. For most evenings, we were seated for dinner at 5pm and our appetizer and main course were served by 5:30pm.  

35 Days and Laundry Due to the extended length of this cruise, many guests were retired (including us) as well as repeat Holland American cruisers (not us). This repeat experience was helpful as many returning Holland America guests qualified for free laundry - a nice benefit as there were no self-service laundry rooms. We enrolled into the optional laundry package ($367 for 35 days) which permitted us to submit one-bag of laundry per day. There was also a “wash and fold” option for guests to submit a single daily filled laundry bag for $40. 

Excursions In general, there were many ship excursion choices at each port. We selected and paid in advance for our ship excursions. Typically, we register for excursions that start between 9 and 10am. We were surprised when checking our excursion times once on board the Zuiderdam, that a few were moved to 8am even though later start times were available. We were able to modify our excursion reservations to later times. A good recommendation is to confirm your excursion start times when you arrive. It is not unusual for individual excursion start times to change and your actual reservation time may not be moved near your original and preferred start time.

A good idea for all cruisers is to consider excursion alternatives. Sources, such as ToursByLocals, Viator, GoWithGuide and GetYourGuide often have licensed tour guides with similar tours at competitive prices. However, if your return to the ship is after the scheduled departure time, the cruise lines will not wait for guests on private tours.

Upcoming Drydock The Zuiderdam was placed into service in 2002. It is scheduled for revitalization during 2027-2028. Cabins and public spaces reportedly will receive substantial attention. It would be great if the World Stage was also included in this work. For a 24 year old cruise ship, the Zuiderdam was in good shape though some areas, such as exterior automatic door mechanisms and teak promenade decking could benefit from additional attention.

Total Solar Eclipse Viewing Many guests gathered on the fourth deck bow to observe the total solar eclipse. The cloudy weather made viewing difficult and solar glasses were hardly necessary as the sun was obscured. When we reached total solar eclipse, the sky turned as dark as night for about two minutes. It was an amazing experience - even with the clouds.

US to UK, Transatlantic Crossing - 2018

The cruise across the Atlantic started with terrific weather in Ft. Lauderdale and New York City. We disembarked the Pacific Princess in downtown Manhattan - a first for us as we are accustomed to using the Red Hook cruise terminal, in Brooklyn, when embarking or disembarking a cruise ship in New York City.

As our primary destination in New York was the Brooklyn Museum to view the "David Bowie Is" exhibit, we had to take a couple of subway trains from Manhattan to reach our destination. This wasn't an issue for us as we had advance purchased entry tickets that were valid for a single entry anytime during the day.

This exhibit was excellent - viewers could see the early music that influenced Bowie and how he viewed his music within a broader entertainment perspective. Music, props, personal artifacts, clothes were all part of his thoughtful decisions. The exhibit shared some of the wonderfully creative, stylistic and, sometimes, exotic costumes worn by Bowie and created by internationally known designers, such as Alexander McQueen, Hedi Slimane, Issey Miyake, Vivienne Westwood and Kansai Yamamoto. It's no wonder that over 2 million visitors have seen this exhibit as it traveled around the world.

Leaving the museum, we caught the subway to Central Park to view the flowering Dogwood trees. Returning to the cruise ship terminal,  it would be some time before we had an opportunity to walk on land after departing New York. 

As the Pacific Princess sailed out of New York harbor, we headed towards a number of North Atlantic storms. These storms would rock and roll the ship and cause us to miss port stops in St. Pierre et Miquelon, France and both Scrabster and Dundee in Scotland. From New York CIty, we sailed for seven consecutive days on rocky seas until we reached Reykjavik, Iceland. I suspect that half of the ship passengers were drugged to some degree with sea sickness medicine.

Reykjavik, Isafjordur and Akureyri, Iceland
As we approached Iceland, we were entering 20 hours of sunlight. This would expand to 24 hours of sunlight as we sailed further north. Despite the increased hours of daylight, we experienced rain at each Iceland port. 

Reykjavik: We joined a tourist bus to view the "Golden Circle". This all-day excursion took us over 190 miles and, frankly, is one of the most common scenic tourist routes in Reykjavik. The excursion took us to view Pingvellir National Park, Gullfoss Waterfall, Strokkur Geyser and a final stop at Hellisheidavirkjan Power Station. This power station is the largest geothermal power plant in Iceland. Heated water from this plant is piped over 25 miles to Reykjavik, where it is used for commercial and residential hot water.

We didn't get an opportunity to go into town as the tours returned us to the ship with 30 minutes before the ship left the cruise terminal.  We'll be back in Reykjavik next year for a few days and will explore this area on our own.

Isafjordur: We walked through the small downtown area before 10am. Most city center shops open after 10am, so it was a fairly quiet walk. Knowing that we will return to Iceland next year, we visited a local ATM to withdraw some Icelandic Kroner. There weren't many notable sights in town, we walked past the former and new hospital and a couple of small parks.

Stopping by a local grocery store, we purchased a container of Skyr yogurt. Skyr is an Icelandic product that uses a local dairy culture that results in a naturally sweeter yogurt. Thick, like Greek yogurt, Skyr contains more protein that many other yogurts. If you're in Iceland and enjoy a cup of yogurt, be sure to give Skyr a try.

In the afternoon, we traveled by bus to Bolungarvik Church. Bolungarvik is one of Iceland's oldest fishing village. We visited the Osvar Maritime Museum. Located on the bay, this museum recreates the fishing village from the 19th century. Docents in period fisherman dress describe life in the village, with replica fishing boat, a small house and fish drying and work sheds.

Our final stop was the Seljadalsfoss waterfall. Located on the outskirts of town, the glacier fed waterfall provides a clean water source for local residents of Isafjorder.

Akureyri:  I arranged a six person mini-van tour operated by Taxi17. The owner of Taxi17 was our guide for the day. This six hour tour started with a driving tour of the original downtown area and the new downtown port area. Leaving the city, we headed for Godafoss Waterfall. Being a rather nimble tour group, we visit the waterfall from both riverbanks. If you can do this, you can see two very different perspectives of the waterfall.

Once again, we experienced moderate to heavy rain during this tour. This reduced our walking time and we tended to duck in and out of the mini-van.  After viewing the waterfall, we continued on to Lake Myvatn. While many visit this area to watch birdlife and volcanic formations, you have to do this while small flies or midges swarm your face. Forewarned, I brought along and used a net that covered my hat and face. Our driver told us that you don't swat the flies as that encourages them to swarm.  Without a mask, you are cautious with talking and having your mouth open - unless you want some additional protein.

We stopped at several other volcanic formations, bubbling steam vents and a natural cave pool. As you view the below photos, you might come across some areas used for "Game of Thrones". As the driving tour ended and we made our way to Akureyri, the sun came out. We asked our Taxi17 guide to drop us off at the city botanical Lystigardur Akureyrar gardens and walked through the garden and a brief stop at the modern architecture Lutheran Church as we made our way to the cruise ship terminal. If you find yourself in Iceland and in need of a tour guide, we really enjoyed our Taxi17 day trip and the local and regional knowledge of our driver/guide. We recommend that you consider this company for professional guide services. 

Flies in the Car!

Belfast, Northern Ireland  
Leaving Akureyri, the Captain of the Pacific Princess announced the presence another North Atlantic storm. To avoid this storm, the Pacific Princess altered its course, which meant missing both Scrabster and Dundee ports but added Belfast, Northern Ireland. Once in port, we participated in a rainy walking tour of historic Belfast. Starting our walk in the rain, we viewed St. Anne's Cathedral, St. Patrick's Church, Clifton House, the first Presbyterian Church and the very old Kelly's Cellar Pub (established 1720). With redevelopment progress, there is no actual historic area but more of a walk past historic buildings.  After the historic walk, we stopped for lunch at the upstairs cafe in the Linen History Library. After lunch, we walked over to St. George's public market. You can find fresh produce, bakery items, seafood and meats, as well as some local souvenirs and foods. City Hall is right next door to the Linen Library and this was our last stop for a city led tour of City Hall.

Dover, United Kingdom
With fog shrouded views of the white cliffs of Dover, the Pacific Princess arrived into port around 6am. This was a turnover day as about 500 Pacific Princess passengers disembarked and were replaced with new passengers looking forward to the next cruise to Norway. 

We spent the day at Dover Castle. The expansive castle grounds are also home to two WWII facilities - an underground hospital and underground administrative warren. Between these two facilities, there are four miles of underground tunnels. Tours are available for both hospital (20 minutes) and administrative areas (60 minutes). We easily spent about four hours just touring the many structures (non-WWII) on the grounds of Dover Castle. As we had to be on board the Pacific Princess for the departure to Norwegian ports, we decided to tour the underground hospitals and administrative areas when the Pacific Princess returned to Dover at the end of the Norway cruise.

Summary
This 2018 transatlantic cruise was very different from our 2015 Atlantic Ocean crossings. During the latter, the seas were relatively calm and weather generally sunny and warm. Both transatlantic trips were during the same time of year. Perhaps these ocean and weather changes are further support of continuing climate change.

Cruising on the Pacific Princess - 2018

We just returned from a six week trip, our longest time of being away from home. The timing worked out well for us as contractors started a ten-week kitchen remodel during our absence. No need to live through the initial noise and dust of removing cabinets and replacing appliances. If you’ve been reading this blog, you might wonder why we’re updating the kitchen of a new house – but that’s another story for another time.

The journey started with a transatlantic crossing on the Pacific Princess. The Pacific is the smallest vessel in the Princess fleet, carrying about 700 passengers. The first portion of the trip started in Ft Lauderdale and the original itinerary included stops in New York City, Iceland (Reykjavik, Isafjordur and Aukereyri), Scotland (Scrabster and Dundee), with a disembarkation in Dover. The transatlantic portion of this cruise was rocked by high sea swells and winds that reached up to 50 mile per hour. Instead of disembarking in Dover, we continued on the Pacific Princess, with plans to visit several Norwegian ports, including Alesund, Bergen, Flaam, Geiranger, Hellesyit , Honningsvag, Longyearbyen, Stavanger, Tromso and Trondheim with a final return to Dover. After our final disembarkation in Dover, our plan was to rent a car for a visit through southeastern United Kingdom before catching a return flight from Gatwick to Oakland, California.

Since this trip was fairly long, I’m planing to share the details of the trip via four blog entries. This entry will focus on the Pacific Princess. The second entry will describe the Ft. Lauderdale to Dover transatlantic crossing. The third blog entry will describe the Dover round trip cruise to Norwegian ports. The final and fourth posting will share information and tips from our driving day trips.

What’s It Like to Sail on the Pacific Princess?
Being a small vessel, the Pacific has only 11 decks, is 592 feet long and has 338 guest cabins. In comparison, the larger and newer Majestic Princess is 1,083 feet long, has 19 decks for 1,780 guest cabins. With a smaller size, we found it is much easier to reach different areas of the ship. For example, from our eighth deck cabin, we could walk up to the ninth deck buffet and fitness area (an  interesting juxtaposition) or down to the fifth deck to a small theater, restaurant, retail shops, casino and larger public areas. We could also take the stairs or elevators up to the large forward Pacific Lounge and cozy aft library, both on the tenth deck. Despite the smaller size, the Pacific has all the typical Princess amenities, such as pool, Internet room and WiFi, golf practice area, shuffleboard, laundromat, library, fitness center, specialty restaurants, open deck grill, pizza offerings and spa – but each are a little on the smaller size. If you’ve been a guest on the larger Princess ships, some of the dining offerings on larger ships aren’t offer on the Pacific Princess. This includes a wine bar, Alfredo’s Pizza parlor, International Café and soft ice cream counter.

As I walked around the halls of different deck, I noted that the noise, from perhaps from the HVAC equipment, was most prominent behind the rear most stairway between the seventh and eight decks, around cabins 7090-7093 and 8050-8053. If you’re considering a trip on the Pacific Princess, I recommend not selecting a cabin in these locations to avoid the possibility of having this noise filter into your cabin.

Entertainment
Production shows, musical entertainment and recently released movies were presented in the Pacific’s Cabaret Theater. Enrichment lectures discussing cultural themes were also available. The theater seats were not typical theater fixed seating but individual seats. The slope of the theater floor was minimal and, thus, it could be difficult to see a movie screen or stage area if you found yourself sitting behind a taller person. My shorter wife said the height of the seats prevented her feet from touching the ground when seated. Not very comfortable if you’re sitting for some time.

As we were on “back-to-back” cruises, it was not unusual to have movies and production shows repeated from one cruise to the other. There’s only a limited number of movies and shows available to add to the schedule.

Did We Go Hungry?
The Pacific has a main dining room, the Club Restaurant, and, on alternative nights, opens either the Italian Sabatini Restaurant or the Sterling Steakhouse. The Club Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is a Panorama Buffet that provides dining and snacks during most of the day, with the exceptions of 11-11:30am and 4-4:30pm, when the buffet is closed for changeover to lunch and dinner. The buffet closes at 11pm rather than offering a 24x7 schedule.

Pacific Princess Interior and Cabin
What does the interior of the Pacific Princess look like? The Pacific Princess has more of an older traditional ship interior décor that reflects its earlier construction era. Originally placed into service by Renaissance Cruises in 1999, Princess added the vessel to its fleet in 2003. The Pacific Princess has an abundance of dark stained wood veneers in public spaces and cabins that you rarely see in newer ships. In fact, you’ll find three non-functional fireplaces on board the Pacific that add to the ambience of early cruising.

We found the Library a convenient place to read and for WiFi access. It’s location just above the tenth deck buffet allowed us to easily grab a cookie and beverage to accompany our library visit.

We resided in a mid-forward located mini suite cabin for our trip. This cabin category is one size smaller than the larger Pacific full-suites. Besides having greater floor space than just balcony or inside category cabins, the the cabin has a full bath-tub and shower combination. This category cabin has more floor and balcony square footage than than the mini suites on the newer Princess ships. However, the length of the sofa (full bed length) and TV screen size in our cabin were both smaller than what we’ve had on other similar category Princess cabins. This made lounging in the cabin somewhat less satisfying. It was challenging to stretch out on the sofa lengthwise and watchany movies in our cabin on the small 21 inch TV screen.

One common issue for all Pacific Princess’ cabins is the old-style hairdryer. These units generate very low heat and air flow and, thus, aren’t very effective. The dryers weren’t an issue for us as we don’t have very long hair. It may be that the ship’s power system can’t tolerate a large number of hairdryers that demand greater electricity use. When we checked in for the cruise, we were asked not to use our multiple electrical outlet extension even though it did not have a surge protection function. We are aware that most cruise ship electrical systems are incompatible with surge protection devices.


Riding the Waves
During the transatlantic crossing, we ran into rough seas over several days, perhaps 12 to 16 foot sea swell and winds around 45 to 50 knots.  Pacific Princess was tossed around a bit – even with its two stabilizers – by the high winds and sea swells. The newer and larger Princess ships, such as the Majestic, have four stabilizers which may better reduce ship movement due to high winds. On the other hand, the larger ships are likely to be even more susceptible to pitching from high winds. As a general observation, the Pacific Princess seemed to noticeably pitch when buffeted by winds over 25 knots across its decks. The Captain altered our course to directly avoid rougher seas and reduced ship speed to diminish weather related ship movement.
 
Summary
Overall, we found the Pacific Princess to be comfortable except during very rough weather. The vessel had all the comfort features and services we enjoyed. Cabin stewards and service staff were always attentive and courteous, which always makes a great voyage experience.. If we missed anything by being on a smaller vessel, we found that we appreciated the additional day and evening entertainment and activity offerings and additional and larger places to gather (and dine) as a couple or small group that only a larger Princess ship can offer. We’ll likely travel on the Pacific Princess in the future but only to visit ports that cater to smaller ships and perhaps with a minimal number of at-sea days.

We docked along side a Viking Ocean ship in Stavanger that hosts around 1,000 guests. This all balconey ship looked interesting to us and we may take a look at the Viking brochures to learn more about Viking Ocean itineraries.

UK Travel Article, Part 1

An overview of my Spring 2015 six-week UK trip can be found in the June 2016 print and online versions of International Travel News. This overview is split into two parts, with the second part to appear next month. All three of my published articles, including the most recent, can be read via the above 'articles' tab.

Writer's Cut: My original 7,000 word submission on UK travel contained additional side trip details. This content was removed from the published material in order to keep each of the two articles within a more manageable word count of 2,500 or less. Examples of eliminated information include a discussion on Blarney Castle, Glastonbury Castle, Nunney Castle, Avebury, Bowood House, Sudeley Castle, Broadway Tower and Blenheim Palace.

If you're interested in reading the original submission, containing additional travel detail, please visit this link.

Bruges, May 8, 2015

Below are a few photos from our day trip to Bruges. We started at 8am, with a walk around the canals and streets of the city. After a canal boat excursion, lunch and a stop at the Chocolatier Dumon in Simon Stevinsquare, our day visit ended with a Belgium Waffle topped with strawberries and whipped cream. 

If you've seen the movie, "In Bruges," with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, you might recognize some of the locations.

© 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, B. Masuoka

© 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

Onthaalkerk Spire in Background, © 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

Fidel, In Window of  

Côté Canal - Huyze Hertberge

 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

City Hall. © 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

Belfort Tower, © 2015, R. Ono

McDonalds in Bruges, © 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

't Zwart Huis Pub (The Black House), © 2015, R. Ono

© 2015, R. Ono

The Madonna of Bruges by Michelangelo, © 2015, R. Ono

Not Everyone Is Thrilled to See the Madonna, © 2015, R. Ono