How did we arrive at these voyages?

In late 2021 with the pandemic playing havoc with our cruise plans, we finally decided to book a 35-day cruise on Volendam from May 28, 2022 to July 3, 2022. The itinerary would repeat the one we did on Prinsendam in 2015. It started in Rotterdam and included Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, Spitsbergen Norway, and the coast of Norway back to Rotterdam. That was one of our most favorites.

When Sean learned of this, he started thinking of how he could tie in a charter of the Dalmation Coast in Croatia. In March 2022 He told us that he wanted to celebrate my 80th birthday with a one-week charter, including a local captain, to do just that. We were all delighted. The charter would begin the day of our disembarkation from Volendam. I was able to book a flight from Amsterdam to Split where we would join Sean and Shelly on the catamaran. I also booked a flight from Split to home at the end of the charter. 

This was great until early April when Holland America notified us that Volendam had been chartered by the Netherlands government to house 1500 Ukrainian war refugees until July 3 and our cruise was canceled. We had cruise credits from earlier cancellations that HAL required us to use before the end of the year. We also had our booked flight to Split and return flight home to deal with. 

We found our current itinerary on Oosterdam that dovetailed perfectly with the charter, NOW after it. The flight from Amsterdam to Split could not be changed or refunded. We needed to fly from Chicago to Amsterdam arriving on July 3 to board the flight to Split. Our travel consultant, Bonnie, was able to book us on a United flight that accomplished that. SAS refunded the fare for our return flight from Split, and Holland America booked the Flight home from Venice at the end of our cruise. All that was left to do was to get from Split to Venice in order to board the cruise. That was accomplished by flying Austrian Airlines from Split to Vienna for a connection to Venice. We will arrive the night of July 8 and overnight near the airport. On July 9 we will return to the airport for the Holland America transfer to Trieste where Oosterdam will be docked. (Venice is no longer permitting cruise ships to dock there.) We will also have our COVID tests done at the airport because HAL requires a negative test within 1 day of boarding.

Is your head swimming? Mine was. All of this took a lot of time and a lot of stress management. Now I have even more gray hair than I had before March.

But wait, there is even more! The Best Laid Plans... On June 29 Sean called from the Phoenix airport. He and Shelly had just spent a week celebrating Shelly's sister's 50th birthday with a trip to Sedona and the Grand Canyon. He had news and it was not good. SAS pilots are set to go on strike at midnight on July 2. That would leave him and Shelly stranded in Copenhagen where they are scheduled to connect for the flight to Split. Alice and I would be on our own to meet the captain and be the ONLY guests on board. Sean and I both were working on ways around this. We would talk on Thursday, July 1.

Just when you think nothing more could go wrong, the other shoe drops. When Sean called us on Thursday, He told us that he had tested positive for COVID that morning. He was the last of the 5 who went to Phoenix to test positive. That made it impossible for anyone to join us in Split.

Today is Friday. We are waiting for a call from Sean to let us know whether we will sail alone with the captain or scratch the catamaran and spend the week at a hotel. If the charter company grants a voucher for future use, we will go to a hotel. Either outcome works for us. The disappointment is the same either way. Our challenge is to make sure we remain COVID negative. We leave for Split tomorrow no matter what.

THE RESOLUTION:

Alice and I will meet Ivor, the captain, at the boat in Rogoznica on Sunday. We will provision and cruise until Friday. After checking out at the marina, we will return to the Split airport for our flight to Venice.

I am not sure when we will have good internet service after our arrival at the marina, but I will do my best to update this as soon as I am able to transmit. Hope your 4th of July weekend is festive and safe.