The rest of it........

We are home now and it's much easier to upload photo's and write about the rest of our trip!  Onboard ship I had just a few minutes each day to be on the internet due to the expense, time allotted, and time to think!


Following Nuka Hiva we had 6 wonderful, lazy, busy, glorious days at sea and we made the most of every one of the them...  Following are various candid shots that I had not had time to post before.....  I've tried to give a full caption to each one so you can follow along and experience some of our fun days on board the Rotterdam for 30 fabulous days.....

Taken in the main dining room one evening at dinner by our server..  We had chosen "open dining" versus the set times of either 5:00 or 8:00.... We usually went down to the dining room about 6:30 and thanks to the dining room manager he seen that we always had the same table

These are our servers....Butu on the left from Bali, and Matha Adi from Indonesia 

We were greeted each night by both of them, pulling our chairs out for seating and 

laying napkins in our lap.   They brought the menu's and changed the sliver after each course. 

Each course was served on time and hot or cold as it needed to be.  Dressings and

Sauces were poured for us, water glasses and coffee cups were kept filled.

They gave impeccable service and gave dining a whole new experience for us. 

This is Fernando our wine steward....He was excellent and very knowledgable.

We enjoyed learning from him and he knew his business!  

One of dinner meals a "filet of beef wellington", with 

an accompanying vegetable melee, and garlic mashed potatoes.

Every meal we had was delicious and beautifully plated and served.

Though you can't see any of us very well this is our table at one of the special luncheons with the captain for "suite guests only".   I chose this picture so you could see the sea and what a beautiful place it was to dine at any time.  The Captain was introduced and seated at the table across from us shortly after

This picture was taken.

 This is Jim and our Concierge Jennifer

Her office was located in the Neptune lounge

and she was such a help when there was anything

We needed to ask about.  She is a real sweety.

This is a picture of the Neptune lounge, throughout the day

 they set out wonderful little canape's for snacking.. 

 It had a large library table in it, lots of DVD movies 

to choose from, a good selection of books 

or CD's that we could take back to our room.   

Jim is standing back at Jennifer's desk asking

 about a tour location the next day.

Jim had requested a behind the scenes tour of the belly of the ship and engine room and the concierge said she would see what she could do.   Near the end of the cruise on our return to San Diego, there was a note left in our mail box that a time had been arranged for the requested tour and would Jim please meet a member of the crew at the front desk the following morning.   Jim and a few other guys were taken below for a show and tell of all the ship's workings....  He throughly enjoyed it.  Below are some of the pictures he took.

Diesel Electric Engine

Main control room

Engine room Lathe, Jim had a nice visit with the machinists

Ventilation tube and in the background you can see

one of the large drive shafts.....

I almost forgot to post pictures of our room!  It was so nice I could live in there forever....Deck #7, Deluxe Veranda Suite #7029 Below is just as we found it when we walked in. 

 I am standing beside the door.  The big double doors go out to the veranda

Below is looking from the bed to the couch area

The next picture is standing by the veranda doors looking towards the dressing room

They had laid a nice leather luggage pad on the bed for unpacking our suitcases

This is a picture of our bar.... we were given fresh fruit every day, replace as it was eaten

There is a mini refrigerator and liquor cabinet underneath

 This is the bottle of Champagne on ice waiting on us when we got there

Here is a picture of the dressing room, the mirrors are on the closet doors

The separate bathroom with tub/shower is on the left.

The coffee table with a glass of wine and some special bottled water given to us as a gift

This is a shot from one end of our veranda to the other....we laid on the lounge chairs a lot

You can see that the railing is plexiglass so you could still see the water when sitting or lying

 This is from the other end of the veranda....we ate breakfast out here in the mornings

This is a bowl of flowers kept on our coffee table, you can see a white orchid and a white rose.

They were changed just about every 5 days

For my girls - Mom did get brave enough

to wear almost everything you picked out for me....

even the glitter top!  (and I did get complements on it)

After we left Hawaii on our way south, our donation

group got together for a "work day" to sort all of 

the items brought for Fanning Island...

Donna and I filling bags for Fanning Island

Faye & Ken & Jim waiting on the Nurse on Fanning Island

Mary & Donna, one of the fun friends I met

At the pool the day of the equator crossing ceremony

Another formal night and another funny self portrait

Jim ready for dinner

Mary ready for dinner

And a beautiful evening at sea

I was lucky enough to hit the jackpot on a 

"quick hit" casino slot machine.....

How Fun!  Everyone came running over, the bells & whistles went off and all the 

casino hosts gathered around to congratulate me....

I won two thousand sixty one dollars and forty four cents!

Our night at the old Lahaina Luau

Formal night

caught in the elevator

Our luggage in the hall waiting to be picked up

the night before debarkation

I caught this rainbow off the veranda on our return a few nights before we hit San Diego

What a perfect ending to a perfect trip.....

Thank you all for your comments and attention to the entries on this blog.  I've had a lot of fun going back over all the pictures and hope I gave you a good sample of some of the wonderful things

we seen and did..

I brought some of the South Pacific home with me 

and it will remain forever in my heart.