Baltic Adventure - Day 14

Frankie & Delmer -- lunchtime in the Westerdam dining room

Monday, July 5: Cruising the North Sea.

This was the final day of our cruise -- a day to pack luggage and kick back for a while. It was also the day to say our "farewells" to the staff and crew of the Westerdam. Many of crew are from developing countries in Southeast Asia who work very long hours for very little money. It's more money than they could earn at home, but by western standards it's not much. Since tips for the crew are automatically added to your room charges by Holland America, Debra and I brought with us several boxes of California chocolates as a little extra "thank you" for our cabin boy and the dining room staff.

The dress code at dinner was casual on our final night in the Westerdam dining room. Mom and Dad arranged for Deb and I to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversay a few days early. It was a fitting celebration for our last night on the cruise.

Before going to bed, we had to make sure all our luggage was packed and sitting in the hallway outside our cabin. During the night everyone's luggage would be transferred to a holding area below and then moved off the ship into the awaiting passenger terminal in Harwich, England, for our arrival the next morning.