As I predicted to some of my friends, my postings on this trip are dependent on the ship’s internet gods. There is no longer a tech person on board so it took me two days to get online with a little help from one of the staff at the front desk.
Today is Tuesday December 4 and my former neighbor Linda and I boarded the ship November 30. Our first port was Key West, then we had a sea day and yesterday we had a very busy day in Havana. What an experience!
My photos haven’t yet been transferred via the cloud from my iPhone to the iPad, so I have no visual record as yet. I’ll be brief and explain what we’ve been doing and hope to send photos as the trip continues..they are uploading now.
Linda and I met at the hotel in Ft Lauderdale, where we both spent the first night at the Pier 66 hotel before getting on the ship. I came from San Francisco and she flew from Las Vegas via her home in Utah .
We boarded the ship the next afternoon. I’ve sailed on the Veendam before. I chose my old room, an inside cabin on the main deck, aft, but we ended up with an upgrade for a bargain price we couldn’t turn down, so we are in one of the Vista suites, room 118, on the ninth floor, veranda deck, close to the aft elevator and stairs, which makes it very convenient. We climb two floors up to the Lido, the casual dining venue, and descend three floors down to the main dining room, and two flights down to the entertainment venues, music and library. It’s all good.
The weather has been wonderful so far though it was quite warm on Key West. We used the hop on hop off bus for our mode of transport there and did most of the tour via the bus, then hopped off at the next to last stop to visit the Hemingway house. When we were finished with our tour, I climbed up the stairs to the top of the lighthouse across the street while Linda spent more time with Hemingway’s cats, then we made our way down to the center of town. Unfortunately my map reading skills need improving, and we went a bit out of the way – not good in the heat of the day. I made another stop to tour the Truman little White House, which I found fascinating.
Now a Florida State monument, Harry spent 174 days here during his presidency recovering from the rigors of his job. All the furniture was original and showed a more relaxed way of life, with the only entertainment being a radio, piano and record player. Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures inside but I hope to show you the beauty of the Truman Annex when my photos come through, where people still live today. It reminds me of some of the “ old fashioned “ military bases, like Hickam AFB, at Pearl Harbor, HI, where my sister and family used to live.
We awoke to the sunrise as we sailed into Havana and took advantage of our veranda to shoot some early morning shots.
Our Havana day was full of activity. We chose to take the Best of Havana tour and were escorted through immigration, money change and customs before embarking on our tour. The HAL staff did a masterful job in getting us all organized and the entire procedure went smoothly. A Visa is required which was given to us at our check in when we were in Florida, and the $75 fee was charged to our room.
Our guide was Liban, a former professor at the University of Havana, specializing in foreign languages; his English was excellent and his knowledge was encyclopedic. He managed to get us through the ins and outs of the tour with minimal discomfort and hassle.
We visited a community project in an old Colonial house and had a demonstration of a rap song and dance led by some very sturdy seniors. It was a great just walking through the streets and seeing the people .
I was surprised at the sheer number of beautifully preserved old American cars from the 50s and 60s in fantastic colors. They were everywhere!
We also visited the Christopher Columbus cemetery, visiting some of the most popular graves and learning about the Cuban funeral customs and costs.
We had a mediocre lunch at a black-and-red-and-pink nightclub venue down the street from the National Hotel. The upside was that we had entertainment of dancers and musicians. I enjoyed this show, but being confined in a black room, even with entertainment, in the middle of a beautiful sunny and not-too-warm day was not to my liking. Maybe if the mashed potatoes had not been so cold, I wouldn’t be so grumpy . This was the only downside of the tour, though. Everything else was well planned and very interesting.
After lunch we went to the top of the hill to visit the fort, do a bit of shopping – cigars, rum, coffee and souvenirs – and got up close and personal with the statue of Jesus. The views of the city were a little disappointing because the sun was in the wrong direction. Our last stop was a walking tour of old Havana, where we saw beautiful buildings and squares.
We started our tour at 9:00 and we were dropped off at the ship terminal at just after er 4:00 pm.
We asked our guide for recommendations for street photography and art and he told us to get a taxi to go to the Callejéia de Hamel, in a residential neighborhood a bit off the beaten path.. We lucked out with an English speaking driver named Michel and a blue and white Bel Air convertible to take us. He picked us up on the street outside the ship terminal. It was pure chance. He drove at breakneck speed through the streets, and we saw blocks that looked like bombed out Beirut or Aleppo. It was quite amazing. Our guide pointed out, however, that the country has a 99% literacy rate and universal health care, from cradle to grave..even the buried is free – unless you want special flowers. The people we spoke to were universally polite and well-educated. It was refreshing not to see billboards, though the population seems to be glued to their cell phones. Internet is not universal but some agencies have websites. Change is inevitable . I’m glad we got there before McDonald’s hasn’t taken over
The Hamel is another community arts project which involves the people in the neighborhood, specializing in art, music and dance we were told to ask for Elias, and Linda wanted to get a small statue of St Barbara for her sister. We were able to take fantastic photos and also go to a modest house in the neighborhood to find her statue. It was a good trip, and Michel the taxi driver found a new contact. He took the tour of the center with us! We all enjoyed the experience.
We were taken back to the terminal and finished off the evening with a cold beer at a sidewalk café at the Plaza San Francisco, where the church that Pope Francis visted on his last tour is located .
It was pleasant debriefing, taking in the air and watching the sky turn pink as the sun set.
We will have two sea days in a row at the end of the trip. We were supposed to land in Cienfuegos tomorrow but the captain just came on the loud speaker to let us know that we have some complications so we will no longer be landing there. We’ll be in Grand Cayman tomorrow. There are always surprises on ship, so we’re considering all the good things : we get to sleep in and we will have more time to enjoy the ship. We are fortunate that this didn’t happen in Havana !
Hope to send pictures soon. Stay tuned!
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Love, love, love your descriptions….
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I look forward to the pics, Karen.