Holland America Transatlantic Cruise In 14-Days
I’m going to make an effort to keep this short and uncomplicated. It could be a little boring to hear a story about spending thirteen nights on the same ship and visiting only three different ports before arriving at our destination. Therefore, here it is… in a nutshell: 14 days spent traversing the Atlantic Ocean on Holland America‘s Koningsdam ship.
If you’ve been reading my blog for any significant period of time, you already know that I’m terrified of heights and have no desire to fly. The yearly journeys I take to Europe are contingent on the transatlantic repositioning schedules of cruise lines or the Queen Mary 2 crossing.
Because April only offered a limited number of cruise options, and because Queen Mary 2 was away on a circumnavigation, I decided to sail on Holland America’s newest ship, the Koningsdam. We were going to sail all the way from Ft. Lauderdale to Rome, making stops in three different ports along the way.
A cruise diary entry describing a 13-night journey would consist of the same things over and over again for a total of ten days spent at sea and three port stops along the way to Rome, as I described earlier. Onboard events would include a plethora of trivia competitions, enrichment lectures that covered topics like as Spanish history and Caribbean pirates, and sales presentations complete with giveaways for the company’s products. In addition, for a little price, attendees could sample a variety of alcoholic beverages and wines.
Evenings were filled with entertainment on the ship’s main stage, which featured productions by Holland America’s own performers, comedians, a juggler, classical music artists, and a visual and audio spectacular called “Frozen Earth Live,” which was produced in conjunction with BBC Earth.
Ponta Delgada, which is located in the Azores, was bright and sunny when we arrived there after spending the first six days at sea. This location serves as a kind of halfway point between Fort Lauderdale and the Straights of Gibraltar and the point at which we enter the Mediterranean Sea.
What kinds of things may one do while at Ponta Delgada? Either not much or quite a lot. It depends. Due to the fact that we did not dock in a location from where it was possible to walk to the city centre, a specialised shuttle bus ran in both directions between the ship and the location where the city walk and waterfront promenade began. That was the way that I decided to spend the day. On the other hand, if you are more daring, you might like to do a shore trip that takes you to crater lake as well as a pineapple farm. Several years ago, I carried out these activities.
I’ve visited this port on three separate occasions and participated in two different shore excursions each time. The first option was a basic walking tour of the city followed by some free time. My second time visiting the town of San Miguel, which is located on the island of Ponta Delgada, I decided to go on the excursion to the sulphur springs, pineapple farm, and picturesque drive (see photo above.) As you can see, this winding road trip offers jaw-dropping vistas at every turn, living up to its name as a “white-knuckle” experience by climbing high into the surrounding volcanic mountain environment.
But during this visit, I only stayed in town for an hour, and it was plenty of time to see everything. The weather was lovely, but as is typical on tropical islands that are dominated by volcanoes (think of the Caribbean), unexpected bad weather can pop up at any time. As I made my way back to the bus stop for my shuttle, I noticed that dark clouds were gathering in the distance behind the city. Just as we were getting close to the ship, there was a violent downpour, which was followed by a massive wind, and then the sun came out again.
Back on board at five o’clock, and we sailed out for another two days at sea, en route to passage between Tangiers, Africa, and British Gibraltar, across the narrow Straits of Gibraltar after midnight. In the wee hours of the morning, we arrived in Europe.
