Today was the only sea day of this cruise. It was a bit windy, and the sea was slightly rough, but I hardly felt anything on the ship. This has been the smoothest cruise I have ever been on. Hardly any movement. Didn’t feel like we were on a ship at all.

I attended a couple of presentations today. One was about the behind the scenes onboard Holland America ships, engine room, galley, bridge, etc. The other presentation was about the history of Holland America.

Rainy morning in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. We went on an excursion to Anne of Green Gables house. Stopped at a small fishing town, and lobster lunch on the way back.

As we sailed into Sydney this morning, we were allowed to go out on the bow.

From Sydney, we took an excursion to the Fortress of Louisbourg.

Today’s port was Halifax. We took an excursion to Peggy’s Cove in the morning, then walked around Halifax on our own in the afternoon.

Peggy’s Cove:

Halifax:

Halifax Citadel:

Sunset:

Today’s port was Bar Harbor, Maine. We did a small group excursion to Arcadia National Park. There were 12 people in the group, and we took a mini bus. It was so much better than a giant tour bus!

After the tour, we just walked around Bar Harbor and had a lobster roll ❤️

We arrived in Boston yesterday day and boarded Holland America Zuiderdam today.

This is our first time on Zuiderdam, but it’s pretty much identical to Westerdam, so we settled in right away.

Out next cruise is less than a week away!

7-Day Canada & New England Discovery abord Holland America Zuiderdam
8/26 – 9/2/2023

It’s a bit early for fall colors, and according to the weather report, it’s going to rain most of the time, but we’ll still have fun!

While sailing through Beagle Channel this morning, they offered the tour of the engine control room.

We arrived at Ushuaia around noon today. They said they’d have the tenders out to take us ashore, but that didn’t happen until around 5 pm. There was an event going on at 6:30 pm, so we didn’t bother with the tenders.

While eating our dinner, the ship actually docked, so after dinner, we went out for a stroll. Not much to see here, and most shops were closed since it’s Sunday, so no souvenir shopping. Just snapped a few pictures and went back to the ship.

We’re disembarking tomorrow morning, so we had to pack and put our luggage out on the hallway by 11 pm tonight…

Today was the Drake Passage crossing. It was pretty rough, but it was mostly pitching, so I don’t think the stabilizers would’ve made much difference.

This afternoon, they opened the bridge for tour.

It’s now the evening of Jan. 14. We are out of the Drake Passage now and expected to arrive Ushuaia tomorrow. They said they’d have tenders out to take us to Ushuaia to look around.

Today, we made our last stop in Antarctica at Elephant Island. Due to the weather, the planned Zodiac tour was canceled, but we saw Cape Valentine and Point Wild from the ship.

After that, we left Antarctica and started our way back to Ushuaia.