First time on Holland America Koningsdam.

We had an inside cabin which was very nice.  View towards the entry door.

Looking into the room from the entry door.

Another view looking back toward the entry

Glass door huge shower.

Guess which room it was.

Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas.  An Oasis class ship which is the Longest cruise ship in the world.  The Largest is her sister Symphony of the Seas.

It's 1,188 feet long, 217 feet wide (155 at the waterline) and can hold a max of 6,780 passengers and 2300 crew.

Crown Princess along side in the Carnival dock.  (must have been someone else in the Princess dock)

Celebrity Edge headed out of the port.

Harmony making her way out.

Jump to Half Moon Cay where Volendam is already anchored.  We're going to share the island this day.

A shot of the center pool area while most everyone is ashore.  Like all HAL ships, the roof is retractable. This ship has 2 levels though.

Looking toward Half Moon Cay where a tender is taking people to shore.

On our tender alongside the ship looking back at Volendam

The Koningsdam, our home for 10 days

Sisters hanging together.  The Volendam (right) was actually anchored while the Koningsdam was using using Dynamic positioning.  We had no anchor out.  The automated systems on the ship use GPS, Azipods and Thrusters to maintain the position of the ship.  If just Hovers where you tell it to "Sit, Stay".

The beautiful beach at Half Moon Cay

The crew saw me taking a picture and seized the opportunity to ham it up.

A truer sign was never made.

The brand new Half Moon Clipper. It ferries supplies and workers to and from the island.

Dinner at Tamarind.  Yum

The Dutch Cafe on Koningsdam mid-ship.

The mid-ship atrium

The center elevator area.

The promenade on ships keeps getting smaller and smaller.  No more lounge chairs.  And a little tight in a couple spots even for my daily walks.

Looking the other way

The BB King theater. Really nice place to hang at night for some music.

The main theater on the ship.  The LED screens wrap around you.  Very high tech.

We've arrived in Grand Turk

Sharing the pier with Carnival today

Grand Turk view from the crows nest

And now we've made our way to Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic

Carnival created the Amber Cove cruise port. They did a nice job.  Lots of shops and open area.

Of course the way in and out is thru the Dufry duty free store.

St Philip the Apostle Cathedral is downtown Puerto Plata

Ayuntamiento Municipal (City Government office)

No idea on the building next door to the city office but it's was pretty.  :-)

Another view of St Philip's

Parque Central (town square)

Too bad they're not good eat'en

Another view if the square

Inside St Philip's

Our tour included a visit to the Rancho Don Fernando with Lunch.

In case you can't tell, this was my view at lunch.  The little moocher.

Kitty got lots of samples of our stew type lunch from me and the lady sitting next to me (blue shoes :-)  )

Beautiful gardens at the ranch

A taste of some kind of fruit. 

Senor Bull

Koningsdam waits for us at the pier

The entrance to Amber Cove

View to the left

View to the right and the rentals you can rent for your own private "in-the-water" hut experience

No cruise is complete without towel animals.  Although, cruise lines are more and more beginning to do away with them.  Yet another thing dropping off the total experience to save time, money, etc.

Sunrise at sea headed for Bonaire 

This makes a cruise to Bonaire worth the trip.

Dark choc and Vanills Gelato from Gio's 

Soooooooo Good! 

Do not miss going here if you are ever in Kralendijk on Bonaire. 

Sadly, we left Bonaire and my fav Gelato outside of Italy.  Here we are getting tied up in Curacao 

The cruise port for larger ships on the "outside".  Called the Mega Cruise Terminal.

Smaller ships can tie up inside St Anna Bay, but larger ships go out here.

HAL does the control room and bridge tours while in port.  So we start with the control room.  Here's the display showing the Azipod and generator status.

4 generators listed across the top. Since we're in port, they only have one running for hotel systems and it's running at 56%. 

Cameras in the engine room showing the big diesels that generate electricity to run the ship and propellers.  

More control panels 

The Platform Management System overview screen.   Shows the status of the aft engine room and forward engine room.

Again, you can see in blue, we're running only one engine at 56% (12.3 megawatts) 

More cameras in the engine room 

They also have a camera looking at the funnel gasses. 

Our engineer give us the talk 

Left side 

Wide angle of the entire engine control area 

Right side with all the screens for camera viewing 

On up to the bridge.  This is the main radar display. 

Where you drive the ship. 

View out the port front. 

Looking dead ahead from the drivers seat 

Looking across the bridge from the starboard side 

Out on the starboard side bridge wing.  You can see all the say down the sides of the ship 

The starboard side control area.  You can "drive" the ship from either bridge wing or the main area front and center. 

View down under the bridge wing 

Hey, look who's driving the ship 

Notice just a tiny joy stick and some fancy mice for driving.  No steering wheel. 

The cheese chair. 

Ok there IS a wheel, but it really doesn't get used. 

Here's the port side bridge wing. 

Looking back down the port side. 

Ships tour finished for today. Onward into town and the iconic brightly colored buildings of Willemstad, Curacao.

The Queen Emma floading bridge goes across St Anna Bay and joins the Punda and Otrobanda quarters of Willemstad.

Wider shot also showing the vehicle bridge further up the bay.

Walking across the Queen Emma bridge.

It sits on Pontoons and is hinged at one end.  At the opposite end, it "unlatches" and two diesel engines turn propellers that cause the whole bridge to pivot on the hinges side until it lays flat against the shoreline when open. 

The Koningsdam just peaking out above the cruise port area. 

Can you guess where we're at? 

Better shot of the St Anna Bay area and vehicle bridge. 

First stop of our tour which took us to 3 different eateries to sample local food. 

A blurry image of the Queen Emma bridge as night approaches. 

More animals Du Towel. 

Here we are at our next stop... Oranjestad Aruba.

Looking forward at the airport (can't see if well from here) and the exit from the cruise docks.  There is a reef area to the right and just a relatively small exit as you can see. 

Sammich of the day 

Day two of the ships tour. They split it across 2 days this time.

Not a great shot but this is the back of some of the wrap around screens in the main theater.  

More electronics to keep the show moving.  On the monitor is the shot of the America's test kitchen. 

Dressing room 

Not a lot of room for a bunch of ladies to get dressed. 

Back stage. You can see the stringers and the "v" shape of the hull. 

View from the stage looking back at the audience 

The big LED screens with the test kitchen background up. 

The island used to demonstrate recipies.  Keep in mind this all needs to get taken back stage and stowed when other shows are going on. 

The screens, and lighting that come out of the ceiling for stage shows. 

Main control board 

The view from the control area 

And you thought YOU had a lot of laundry to do. 

Gigundo dryers 

Big washer 

Another view of the washers 

Men working at the press and fold machine 

Smaller washers 

I believe it is for safety to know where people are at, all the employees in the laundry must place their batches in these racks to show if they are in or out of the laundry area. 

We're a couple decks below the waterline here. 

Since we're below the water line, these are the water tight doors. There are 2 sets down by the laundry area.  One of the doors is closed at all times.  Walk thru one, wait for it to close, then the other opens. 

The tagging machine used when you send laundry in to be washed 

Towels all ready to go 

More towels 

And more towels 

Bed linens  

You guessed it, MORE towels 

The tailor Shoppe where they make and alter uniforms. 

Looking down "I-95". The central hallway down by store rooms, etc. 

The crew dining and lounge area 

Foosball table over by the porthole 

The bar and area where the crew can use workstations to access the internet. 

Baggage carts waiting for turnaround days. 

Frozen stores. These rooms are all packed full at the beginning of a cruise.

Again, this room is packed to the ceiling at the beginning of a cruise 

Meat anyone 

Just a few eggs remaining 

Some beverages 

Some Adult beverages 

Our assistant cruise director showing us her favorite Glenfiddich scotch.

Beer anyone 

How about some wine 

They also have rooms just for thawing fish. 

Bakery busy making breads 

The all important but not very glamorous waste area. 

A door you don't want to have to use 

I think this was a glass crusher but not sure 

Shreader 

Waste gets sorted at these tables. 

The top of the food waste "kettle". One of a couple I believe.  Goes down below here an entire deck. 

Back to the kitchen and the dishwashing area. 

Lots and lots of coffee 

Pictures of how all the food is supposed to look when plated. 

Back to the main theater.  

Wide angle shot.  

Bacon bacon bacon.  Appetizer at the Pinnacle Grill

Forgot a picture of my crab cake BEFORE digging in. 

Main entre for the evening 

The whole gang from our ships tour.  Bridge officer left, our Cruise Director right, and schmo's that paid a bunch for a ships tour in the middle.