| 2006
Cruise with Holland America line on the MS Amsterdam |
 |
| Fort Lauderdale to Half Moon Cay to Aruba to Curacao to Panama Canal to Porto Rico and back to Fort lauderdale | |
October 28 to November 9 2006
An 11 day Caribbean cruise with Holland America Line
aboard the MS Amsterdam
| Click on the picture above for more Ft Lauderdale pictures |
| We
boarded the ship
(not the one above) in
Ft Lauderdale.
It just so happened that there was a boat show on in Ft. Lauderdale that weekend and since we arrived one day early, we decided to take a look around, |
| Click on above picture for more ship pictures | Click on above picture for more Half Moon Cay pictures |
| The MS Amsterdam is the Flag
Ship for the Holland America Line, which has a total of 13 ships in the fleet. The ship was built in 2000 and was refurbished 2005:- Tonnage 61,000 tons; 780 ft long; 1,380 passengers; 647 crew; 690 cabins. |
1st. stop
was Half Moon Cay, which is a Holland America's private
island, and is located in the Bahamas, less than 100 miles southeast of Nassau. The beach is great for swimming. There is para sailing, snorkeling and a glass bottom boat outing for looking down at the coral etc. There is a souvenir store, but the beautiful beach is the hi-lite. |
| Click on above picture for more Aruba pictures | Click on above picture for more Aruba pictures |
| 2nd stop
was Aruba, one of three islands off the north coast of Venezuela. This one measures 16 miles long x 5 1/2 miles wide. After visiting Curacao island, our verdict is with Aruba with lots of up-market shopping. Other activities are also available on Aruba including a submarine with large windows for viewing under the sea. |
3rd stop
was the island of Curacao. Here we took an excursion to a private cove and went on a boat where the lower deck level was below the water line. There were lots of windows through which we had an excellent view of the sea bed below....Unfortunately all pictures taken in this port stop were lost. |
C:\Documents and Settings\Ken\My Documents\MY WEBS\web pages\New web pages\2006\Cruise Panama\Cruise Panama 2006.html
| Click on above picture for more Panama Canal pictures | Click on above picture for more Costa Rica pictures |
| After
sailing over night we entered the Panama Canal, our 4th Stop. The Canal connects the Caribbean sea with the pacific ocean. The canal is 48 miles long and much of it consists of Gatun lake 54 feet above sea level. This artificial lake is situated mid-way between the locks on the Caribbean side and the locks on the Pacific side. The locks function to raise the ships 54 feet above sea level so the ships are able to traverse the lake and then at the opposite end lower the ships 54 feet back down to sea level so that they may continue their journey by sea to their next port of call. |
Our 5th Stop was in Costa
Rica in the port of Limon. The Caribbean Coast side of Costa Rica is much flatter and hotter than most of the Pacific Coast, and certainly less developed. This area is home to huge banana and pineapple plantations. We took a bus ride to a banana plantation and returned by rail on an old train resurrected from the dead two years ago for tourism duty only....it was "interesting" |
 Our
next stop - back in Ft Lauderdale and then
home via Air Canada. |
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