HOLLAND AMERICA AMSTERDAM

Our final night in California was at the Residence Inn in Long Beach. I got a great deal at this hotel, likely because it was a 15 minute taxi ride to the San Pedro cruise ship pier, costing an additional $25. It was also located aways from downtown requiring a long walk over a bridge. Oops...could have planned that better! We had a stressful time returning our car rental as the location was closed on Sundays, unbeknownst to me when I booked it. We had no GPS, wifi, or good old-fashioned paper maps so we got lost more than once. Tempers flared and we were both relieved to get rid of the rental, relying on foot power to explore the area.

It was time to cruise on out of here. We had just received notification that we had a free upgrade from an interior cabin to an ocean view so that was good news. Boarding the Holland America Amsterdam was a breeze as we were the only passengers there at 2 o’clock. The big rush had come and gone on board earlier. JS was relaxed and happy, unlike our airport experiences. The ship didn’t depart until 7 pm.Read more