It has been just a week since we disembarked the Zuiderdam in Ft. Lauderdale. We are still working our way back to reality - even though, some days, we would rather not.

After having spent four glorious days in Venice we arrived at the cruise terminal to unbelievably long lines for check-in. This was not a good way to begin our voyage but, as it turns out, it was definitely the worst part of the whole trip.

We have done a fair amount of cruising and love life on board and were not disappointed. As we have come to expect on HAL ships, the crew was phenomenal. They work so very hard and really got put to the test this time because of the arrival of the "norovirus". The ship was on "code red" for most of the trip and this certainly led to a few inconveniences for all of us but it meant extra work for all of the crew - which they did and still continued to smile! Read more