Chat with Deb — Our Great Northern Cruise, Part 2

Departing Boston in fog, rain, and weather

We went on a cruise in July and August of 2023. More background in Part 1:

Chat with Deb—Our Great Northern Cruise, Part 1

VERY severe cautions for embarking passengers; our ship, as seen from our hotel room, “dressed” with signal flags (all photos by author except where noted)

ME: Debster, guess what? We can actually see her from here!

Our hotel room was on the 12th floor, with a view toward the cruiseport terminal. Only there were buildings in between, so I was not sure if we would be able to make out our cruise ship, the Holland America Line (HAL) MS Zaandam, unless she pulled in to just the right spot on Saturday morning. We got lucky.

Just the first of many times, as we found during our cruise.

DEB: So, the flags she’s showing? That’s when she’s “dressed,” right?¹ She looks great!

ME: At least the fifty feet or so we can see from here.

We wheeled our luggage down to the street, got a cab, and drove three blocks to the terminal. Our luggage already had tags with all our cabin information, provided in advance by HAL. We were worried by the cautionary sign in the terminal…