Nieuw Amsterdam

Vancouver April 11

Today we joined our cruise ship. We checked out of the hotel at 11:00 and got a short cab ride to the ship. The whole check in process and immigration took less than an hour. We boarded the ship and then checked out the various facilities. It's a bit smaller ship than we have been used to but they all are basically the same layout. I will get a photo of the ship someday when we get in a port.

We had lunch, completed the safety video and checked in to our Muster Station. We are now unpacking our clothes before supper and a show.

The staff are very friendly and we have two young men Rudi and Sun from Indonesia looking after us.

Can't seem to upload a photo. I will have to check on the internet service here. Kind of suspect they want you to pay extra to do this little task. :-)

We have a retired priest on board - Fr. Ken Baker of Dayton, Ohio. So got to go to Saturday mass at 5:00pm. There is mass everyday at 8:00am except for days in port when it is 5:00pm. I'll get there next Saturday. Penny, I timed him and he preached 3:53 - Gladys says I should bring him back with us. lol

Had a lovely dinner and now off to a show.

Vancouver April 10

It was nice to get some sleep for sure after yesterday's travel. This morning we went to a little coffee shop for breakfast and then walked down to the pier from the hotel. It was about a 15 minute walk to Canada place. Below there is a few photos from the waterfront. After lunch we are going to Jocelyn's for supper with her family as well as Mark, Amelie & Elliott.

Jocelyn picked us up in the afternoon and gave us a little tour mourned her area. She took us to Lynn Valley where walked a little suspension bridge very popular with tourist and to Deep Cove another quaint touristy area where she rows with a group 5 days a week. There is a very busy little marina there.

We then had a very delicious supper with Jocelyn, her partner Dean, son William and sister Maggie along with Mark, Amelie and Elliott. Dean who is an avid salmon fisherman barbecued some chinook salmon he caught along with some chicken. After a very nice dinner and chat Jocelyn brought us back to the hotel around 9:00. We are getting a little more used to the time difference.

Mark gave us a great insight into the use of AI in society today and the impact it's having. Pretty scary stuff. 

It's 7:40am here now and we leave at around 11:00 to join the ship which is less than 10 minutes by car from our hotel. It's cloudy and 10 C this morning here and is supposed to rain later on.

Gladys with Mark, Amelie and Elliott

Jocelyn & Gladys on the suspension bridge over the gully.

Pretty deep gully with some great scenery.

Photo taken at the lone big rock in the middle of some trees. Popular spot for photos.

Photo by the creek that runs through the gully. Water is crystal clear.

Gladys crossing the bridge.

Deep Cove with the little marina. Very popular area for rowers, kayakers, etc.

Gladys with the Vancouver Harbour in the background.

Canada Place - cruise terminal where we join the ship tomorrow.

Canada Place from a different angle.

This may be where we actually board the ship at Canada Place.

The Vancouver Olympic Cauldron site for the 2010 Olympics. Notice Wayne Gretzky in the photo. We figured Cheryl led us here. :-)

The Olympic Cauldron where the Olympic flame burned.

Vancouver Harbour - sea plane tours here.

Harbour from another view.

Flight Day April 9

St. John's - Calgary - Vancouver

We had a great day travelling to Vancouver. Our flight was a little late leaving St. John's so we arrived in Calgary just in time to walk to the gate to board our flight. We just had enough time to visit the bathroom for the short flight to Vancouver.

Chelsea picked us up at the airport and brought us to our hotel - the Blue Horizon Hotel on Robson Street. It's a nice hotel and we are on the 19th floor. There is a photo from our balcony below.

Once we got settled away we went out to celebrate Chelsea's 24 birthday with her and her boyfriend. She was very happy to see us and we were happy to see her for the first time in about 8 years. She is doing great here and working several jobs while studying for her real estate license. Jacob is in his 2nd year of engineering studies at a local college. He is a very nice young man.

They took us to an Italian restaurant called The Nook and the food was great. I had gnocchi with primodoro sauce while Gladys had a Margaretha pizza. Chelsea had the gnocchi while Jacob had a prosciutto pizza. The food was great and we shared a tiramisu to finish up.

They came back to our room and we chatted until just after 10:00pm as we were pretty much pooped by then. Jacob has school tomorrow while Chelsea has to work.

We are going to dinner at Jocelyn's tomorrow evening and we think Mark, Amelie and Elliott may be joining us there. As well we may get to hook up with Mark sometime during the day. We are looking forward to it.

The weather was great with many people wearing shorts and it's supposed to be that way tomorrow. Not missing home one bit yet! :-)

Cheers

Chelsea the birthday girl.

Selfie at the Nook

View from the hotel balcony.

Vancouver from the plane.

18 Day Hawaiian Cruise

April 11 - 29, 2026

We are hoping to get away from this long winter for a while and enjoy a bit of warmth. Hopefully by the time we return spring will be here.

I will attempt to update here regularly with some highlights from our trip and to keep you all posted. 

Our trip got off to an inauspicious start as we got as far as the Witless Bay turnoff when I realized that I had left my computer, Gladys's iPad and some other stuff at home. After some great work, calls and cooperation from Jim, Linden and Gerard the laptop was on it's way to town and we were on our way to Marystown. We met Gerard at Dunn's River and did the exchange. We got in St. John's around 6:30 last evening none the worse for wear but a bit tired. I guess we can attribute it to growing old and forgetful on my part. :-)

At least now I can update this once in a while.

Day 1 April 11 -  Vancouver

Day 2 - 6  At Sea

Day 7 - Kona, Hawaii

Da7 8 - Kahului, Maui

Day 9 -  Honolulu, Hawaii

Day 10 -  Honolulu, Hawaii

Day 11 -  Nawiliwili, Kauai, Hawaii

Day 12  -  Hilo, Hawaii

Day 13 - 17 - At Sea

Day 18 April 29 Vancouver

Pat's 80th Birthday Celebration

This past summer our eldest brother, Pat turned 80 on July 18. To celebrate this momentous occasion many of his family planned a little get together in Marystown to toast the first of our siblings to reach that great age. Quite a few family came back to Newfoundland to visit at the time including Junior from Chapleau, Ontario, Kevin & Diane as well as their son, Cory as well as Cory's 2 boys, Eli and Isaac from Moncton.  Gerard and Kathi came from their new home in Osoyoos, British Columbia and they brought with them their Granddaughter, Ophelia who was a delight to have around. Ophelia is Gerard's son Aaron & Sonja's 5 year old daughter who lives in Calgary.

Pat's special friend Jackie as well as his daughter, Pamela and son Colin along with Colin's daughter Hope and her baby Kaiden came to celebrate with us too. Many of Pat's friends came by to wish him a happy birthday as well. His first cousins Maureen 7 her husband George from Petite Forte as well as Bernie & her husband Ron from Allan's Island came along as well.

His birthday was Friday July 18 so we celebrated with an open house in the afternoon at the Lions Club which was well attended. We followed that up with a little get together at Barry's after supper. On Saturday we attended mass for mom, dad and our sister Pamela at Sacred Heart Church at 4:00pm followed by a lovely dinner at Wong's Palace Restaurant. After dinner everyone came to my house for a chat and a sociable drink. 

Terry King and Gayanne cooked a fantastic Blue Goose fish & chip dinner on Sunday afternoon for a large group of us. We finished up on Monday with duck stew and lasagna at our place.

All in all it was a great celebration for a great guy. Pat has been the glue of the Stacey family for years and he continues to stay in contact with all of us. We hope you have many years of good health, brother.

Below are some photos taken from that lovely weekend. My apologies for being late in getting them posted.

Cheers

 

Birthday Cake with TTC Bus

 

Birthday Boy With a Toast

 

Pat & Jackie

 

Pamela, Hope, Kaiden, Pat, Colin

 

Pamela & Pat

 

Hope, Kaiden, Pat, Colin

 

Siblings: L to R: Kevin, Gerard, Junior Pat, Barry, Joan, Bernadette - Ophelia in front.

 Stacey Clan including front L to R: Diane, Eli, Isaac, Anderson, Ophelia, Isabella and Cory.

Pat with Junior on the left and Kevin on the right.

 

Barry, Pat, Gladys

 

Joan, Pat, Reuben

 

Terry King, Pat, Gayanne

 

Pat with Neil

 

Ron Strickland, Pat, Bernie

 

George Power, Pat, Maureen

 

Lloyd Smith, Pat - old trucking buddies from years ago.

 

Pat with Mary Jo Stacey

 

Pat with Reggie Hillier

   

 Pat with Reuben

 

Pat with Eric Ayers from Lamaline

 

Roy Shea from Lamaline along with Pat and Bill Hynes

 

Norbert Brake, Pat and Barb.

 

Table 1 at Wongs Restaurant

 

Table 2 at Wongs Restaurant

 

Table 3 at Wongs Restaurant

 

Gladys with nephew, Tyler who came from St. John's for Sunday's dinner at Terry Kings.

 

Terry Kings

 

Dinner served at Terry's.

 

L to R: Terry King, Kevin, Junior having a chat.

 

Drinking at Toast to Pat - L to R: Pat, Ray Drake, Terry King, Reuben, Kevin

 

Relaxing at Barry's - Pat with Diane, Kevin and Cory.