We left Boston early on the evening of Saturday, July 18 to start our adventure.
This will be the longest cruise Dave and I have ever completed, and we consider it a once in a lifetime kind of trip. The cruise is called: “35-day Legendary Voyage of the Vikings: Solar Eclipse“, and it has quite the interesting itinerary:
Our ship is the Zuiderdam (pronounced “cider-dam”) from the Holland America cruise line. We’ve had a chance over the last day or so to explore the ship and have found it to be smaller than some ships we’ve been on before. However, we really like it. It’s comfortable, easy to get around, and the staff is super friendly.
One cool thing we noticed is the Fincatieri clock in the pool area. There is a Fincantieri shipyard in Sturgeon Bay, WI. We’ve walked and driven by it many times. Of course, this ship was probably in a shipyard in Italy, but it’s interesting to think that it’s the same company.
Yesterday was Sunday, July 19. We awoke in Portland, ME. From the balcony, we could see lovely homes along the coast. In addition, the “most photographed” light house was visible from the ship.
We were able to disembark and wander around Portland for a few hours. It was a pretty, but quiet port—nothing like the touristy, flashy/trashy ports at the stops on a Caribbean cruise. We just wandered around enjoying the fresh sea air and checking out the local stores. The area seems very popular with locals, with fish shops and pubs scattered in the alleyways.
We stopped at a store in a back alley where they sell canvas bags (beach bags, carry on bags, etc.) that are made from retired sail cloth. They were very expensive, but handmade with rope handles. While there were plenty of pubs and restaurants, we decided to head back onto the ship in time for lunch.
I should mention that we have committed to working out every day on the ship. So, prior to embarkation, we made a strong start and hit the gym by 7:15. After some cardio and weights, we proceeded to the pool deck for our first Tai Chi lesson, which we both really liked despite feeling like awkward sumo wrestlers trying to emulate a prima ballerina.
After all the exercise and walking, Sunday afternoon was lazy and relaxing.
Yesterday was a day at sea, moseying up the coast of Canada toward Nova Scotia. For the second day, we were up early at the gym, followed by our second Tai Chi lesson. Since we were at sea, there were significantly more students, but we found spots in the back where we were less likely to be seen.
After eating at least five times the calories we burned, we did attend a very entertaining and informational talk by a retired PHD who worked for NOAA. Afterward, we ate dinner at the buffet and attended the evening show called “Sing”. It was a quartet of young vocalists singing popular tunes and we enjoyed it (except the lame Taylor Swift medley). All in all, it was a lovely day and evening.
You just can’t beat the sunsets from the ship. Next stop…Nova Scotia.