First leg of the 2020 World Cruise
We'd received back-to-back presenter assignments
to the eastern coast of South America. Beginning on January 4th
with the first leg of the ill-fated World Cruise (They missed
several ports due to bad weather and then they only got to Australia
before they were sent home because of the Covid-19 pandemic) but
everyone was excited on the first leg, which went off without
a hitch. We disembarked in Montevideo, Uruguay and stayed there
in a boutique hotel for 20 days while we waited for the Grand
South America Voyage, which began on Jan 5th and went counterclockwise
around the continent. We sailed from there back to Ft. Lauderdale.
We missed the last two ports because of the pandemic, so that
people from other countries could fly home.
 
Familiar faces at the terminal, Henk, the hotel manager of the
ship, Hamish, the cruise director, Orlando, president of Holland
America (now he's been replaced), 2 president club members, and
Captain Mercer (who has now retired). A party boat passes the
ship in her Ft. Lauderdale dock.
Love the "Welcome Home" banner at the kick off party
for the cruise in Lido pool area. It did feel like home, because
we knew a lot of the passengers and crew. And of course, we'd
been on 3 entire world cruises on the Amsterdam. (Now, HAL has
sold the Amsterdam and three other smaller ships. They have a
new 2,400 passenger ship that was scheduled to be delivered in
mid 2021. We much prefer these 1200 passenger ships for many reasons.)
At each port, the crew hung this banner on the railing, so as
we returned to the ship, we were welcomed home.
 
The Station Band provided the entertainment. Notice the book of
words with no music, because these guys play by ear.
The next day, it was time to work. Here's my introduction. I had
11 presentations scheduled,
but missed a couple of them due to scheduling conflicts.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Roseau, Capital of Dominica
We'd been to this port on our first world cruise
in 2012, so click
here to see what we did back then. That seems sooo long ago.
Approaching our the port at sunrise.
One big difference in our traveling these days is the maps and
bus apps on the tablet.
This day we had plans for a hike, but we needed to catch a collective
bus to the starting point.
 
Scenes and people we saw during our walk to the bus stop.
 
Weed whacking a field next to the main school.
 
Our collective driver and some crops as we began our hike. The
trail was on the map on Dean's tablet.
 
A squash field.
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