We arrived into Rotterdam on Saturday, August 22, 2026, to disembark off the ship — greeted by a wonderful double rainbow off our deck as if the trip wanted to send us off in style.

Leaving is always so sad, but we will be back. Disembarking today was a lot easier than our last visit to Rotterdam, where we stood in long lines for immigration. This time, no passport check required.

We took an Uber to our hotel, the DoubleTree, and were even allowed up to the top floor for panoramic views over the city.

Frans and Sharmila. Our friends from the World Cruise 2025 — actually our neighbors next door for four months — spent time with us during our two-day stay in Rotterdam. They live in a city close by in the Netherlands, and they picked us up late that morning at our hotel. Together we took the Waterbus, the “boat bus,” from Rotterdam to Dordrecht, with some lovely river views along the way.

Dordrecht. We had lunch on the river, then a walking tour through this beautifully historic city. Every kind of shipped goods used to come through Dordrecht, and each product had its own dedicated dock — here’s the old peat dock, now just a quiet street. From there, a boat trip wound us through the Dordrecht canals, past centuries of history at every turn.

We wrapped up the day at the Grote Kerk, the great church in town that was originally Catholic before it was stripped and converted during the Reformation in the 1500s — one of many Dutch churches that changed hands in that turbulent century.

We took the boat bus back to Rotterdam and had dinner at Hotel New York, the former Holland America Line headquarters, where emigrants once spent the night before boarding ships bound for a new life in America.

Sunday morning. We started with Catholic Mass at Eendrachtskapel, Rotterdam’s oldest active Catholic church and an easy walk from the DoubleTree. It was an English Mass, and the pews were full of college students and young people.

Delfshaven. Frans and Sharmila picked us up at the church, and we took the tram to Delfshaven. There we visited the Pilgrim Fathers’ Church, from where the Pilgrims first set sail in 1620 before joining the Mayflower in England. Frans was wonderful with the history of it all.

After that, we stopped by an old windmill — Nana kept finding flowers along the way.

Then to a brown pub, where I tried jenever, the classic Dutch spirit.

We walked past a fruit bowl sculpture where you could see your own reflection in the side. Looks like every other stop on this trip was for a drink or a Dutch delicacy — this one was for poffertjes.

Markthal and beyond. We wandered through Markthal, the striking indoor market hall, and even found a favorite of the grandkids — a Thomas the Tank Engine, a nice nod to Cecilia and Isaac. From there, on to the famous Cube Houses, tilted at their odd angle since the 1970s.

Walking through the city, we came across a surf pool where locals were testing their luck riding man-made waves right in the middle of Rotterdam.

We finished the day with dinner at a local Vietnamese restaurant by a park with live music playing.

Thanks to Frans and Sharmila, we saw parts of the Netherlands we never would have found on a cruise excursion, and we just had a great time hanging out with them.

Tomorrow we fly back to Peachtree City. My wrap-up post for this cruise will be the final one in the series — coming tomorrow.