We boarded the Holland America cruise ship Rotterdam in the UK for a 55-day voyage to Indonesia, via Portugal, Morocco, Spain, Malta, Greece, Egypt ,Oman, UAE, India, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia finally getting off in Singapore. We passed through the Suez Canal at night due to the dredging of the Canal during the day. We were escorted by an armed military patrol through the pirate infested sea of the Gulf of Aden.

We were once on the Rotterdam sailing through three continents, South America, Africa and Europe. Tri Wiyono the dining room manager remembered us from our trip and we were quite happy to see him again.

He had been at sea for 48 years on board at least 15 HAL vessels including the old Rotterdam. He was on 11 world cruises and 5 continents. His wife, son and daughter live in Jakarta. Read more