12.30.18 Holland America Rotterdam

Our cruise had a bit of a late start. Fog closed the port of Tampa. Our boarding time shifted from 1 pm to 9:30 pm. We were on board around 10:30 pm.

We had a late night snack as the buffet and a cocktail and headed to bed.

New Year's Eve - We were supposed to go to Key West, but that was cancelled and we spent the night in Tampa. We got room service breakfast and worked for the morning. Muster drill was at 10 am and we set sail at 11 am. We had lunch at Dive In Burgers.  

Then, Glenn worked and I went up to the Crow's Nest to enjoy the view heading under the bridge.

 Glenn joined me for happy hour. We also went to Sip and Savor. Each evening, the sommelier team explains two wines that pair well with an appetizer for $5/glass.

For dinner, we went to the Pinnacle Grill for their special 5 course menu. The food was good. My favorite was the tiger shrimp appetizer. 

The deck was rocking for the New Year's Eve deck party. The cruise director was the DJ. We rang in New Year's in our favorite way - at sea. 

New Year's Day - We started the day with Dungeness Crab Eggs Benedict in the dining room. We also attended an America's Test kitchen cooking demonstration. It was the best cooking demonstration we have attended. We really enjoyed how Odette included the science behind why the recipes worked.

We enjoyed afternoon trivia and then went to hear the classical music quarter play. They were very good. We also listened to the Ocean Trio - bass, guitar and piano. We are missing a house band.  We enjoyed Sip and  Savor at Mixx and then went to Pinnacle Grill for dinner. We were disappointed with the Alaskan Crab Legs but the crab cake appetizer was delicious.

January 2nd

We anchored off the coast of Trujillo, Honduras. We tendered ashore in a very hot life boat. The excursion we took - Taste of Trujillo was great! We took a walking tour of the town square and the remains of the fort. 

We visited a craft co-op and then to Christopher Columbus resort for a dance presentation and taste of local foods. It was so good! Glenn, of course, was picked. 

We came back and joined our happy hour/trivia crowd. We headed to the dining room for dinner. We were pleasantly surprised by no wait at 8 pm and had a nice dinner. We ended the evening listening to the piano player.

January 3rd
Our first time to Guatemala! We took an excursion to a village up the river that has a non-profit school for middle and high school. The ride was bouncy. The scenery was beautiful. People live along the river with no access to roads. You have own a boat to get around. In recent years, wealthy people have been building homes . Many families use a hose off the side of a cliff for their water. The school recently got some solar panels so they gave some electricity. We had a great whole fish for lunch. 

After the excursion, we met up with our happy hour/trivia friends, visited Sip and Savior and then went to the pop up at the Pinnacle Grill - Sel de Mer. We had the seafood tower, escargot, Dover sole, branzino and the best souffle I've ever had.

January 4th
This was a work day so we spent most of the day in our cabin. The ship was docked in Costa Maya. We went to the buffet for lunch and breakfast. We finished work in time for happy hour/trivia. Dinner was the main dining room again. This time we had a little bit of a wait. Dinner was okay. We went to bed early.

January 5th
Our last Sea Day. We went to the Ask the Captain presentation. We were surprised how many passengers had questions about the engines. We met up with our happy hour friends. We invited Paul and Marilyn to dinner. We had a great laugh over all our travel stories. 

We had a great cruise.