Sabin’s on the Sea 2023 - 35-Viking Voyage Begins Day #1

by Nina Sabin - Travel Blog

Today we woke up and felt like little kids, all excited about the adventure ahead of us. We were all giddy inside and couldn’t wait for 2:00 pm to happen and we board the ship.

We said our goodbye’s to Mary, our host, and her adorable dog, Asher. It is amazing in just a couple of days you can feel some comfortable and felt a bit sad saying goodbye.

Once in the car, we set the GPS for our next destination, our friend’s house in Lancaster, MA.

Both John and I can’t imagine how we traveled without using Google maps.

Journeying around with a map just seems barbaric now. We are truly blessed to have technology that can make our lives so much easier.

It is also wonderful to have friends who host us, drive us to and from the port an hour away from their home, and even let us keep our car parked at their home for 35 days.

We can’t be more grateful for the blessed friends we have.

On our way to the port we stopped at a popular Massachusetts outdoor eating establishment, Kimball Farms. The food is from hamburgers to lobster. John had a chicken sandwich and I had a grilled chicken sandwich. The highlight of the place is every sandwich comes with a big piece of watermelon.

Once we saw the port signs we were ecstatic. It took about 20 minutes to get the luggage to the stewards, clear passport control, check boarding passes, and enter the ship. Usually they take pictures when we first get on, but for some reason we seamed to have missed that.

About five days ago, we found out our room was upgraded from the first floor with and ocean window to the fifth floor with a balcony. We don’t know if we received the upgrade due to being frequent Holland America Cruisers or John’s association with gambling partners loyalty points. Either way, we are so excited to have a balcony room.

Once on the ship, it didn’t take us long to remember where everything is, since the Zuiderdam is the ship we took last year on our 50-day French Polynesian Cruise. We even saw the plaque they received when we experienced the Zuiderdam visited Tonga for the first time.

This trip we decided not to do the all you can drink package or the internet package. The internet was pretty spotty and you all get 2G. So my posting will only be on land when we have internet. I will write every day but may not post every day.

John didn’t want to try to meet the 15 drinks a day like last time. I never could consume even close to that many drinks.

We did pay for the laundry package. For one bag it was $35. If we do a bag a week it we would break even. We generally can have four or more bags a week so it was well worth doing the package. We even put one in today on our first day of the cruise. Once we get to the next level of loyalty points, are laundry will be free.

Basically, the first day is to get settled in, go to the muster station so you know where to go incase of an emergency, watch the safety video, and organize you luggage once it arrives to your room.

We took a tour of the spa and saw the upgraded sauna that we are looking forward to using on the sea days.

Our evening finished with dinner at our table. We met our table mates and they seem to be three lovely couples. We will look forward to getting to know them better. One is from South Carolina, one from California but originally from Zimbabwe, and other couple is from Ohio. The man from Zimbabwe introduced himself as Lord Rubert, so we could tell they are going too he fun and interesting people.

Before bed, John was able to get a private 45-minute lesson on Craps from the pit boss. He was so excited and can’t wait to play with real money. He quickly downloaded a book to understand the best odds and payouts, keeping the house advantage to a minimum - no reason to play, unless he can win.

Tomorrow will be our first port in Bar Harbor, Maine.

This is going to be an awesome voyage.

Besides reading our blog you can also follow us on the Marine Traffic App. You can just go to the App Store and download it on your phone. Then type in the Zuiderdam and you can see where we are at on our cruise.