World Cruises

Not landing in Falkland Islands

2010-07-08T09:13:00.000-04:00

Conversations on Cruise Critic message board about the bad weather preventing our stopping at either the Falkland Islands or Punta Arenas led me to share these photos. The group trying to stay warm on the deck were all members of the CC group onboard the QE2's final world cruise in 2008. The planes are two tornados of the RAF based on the Islands honoring the QE2 with a flyover.

Tahitian Princess Photos

2009-08-08T11:33:00.005-04:00

Outside cabin

comfortable bed

card room

Tahitian Lounge

Tahitian Lounge (not where the evening shows are)

Pool area

St. Petersburg, Russia

2009-05-27T15:23:00.003-04:00

Viewed from the cabin, a band greeted us.

Our first view of Russia from the ship's open deck.

Helsinki, Finland

2009-05-27T12:41:00.004-04:00

Helsinki Cathedral

Inside the Rock Church

Looking down from the balcony of the Rock Church

The exterior of Temppeliauko Rock Church

Copenhagen, Denmark

2009-05-27T12:13:00.003-04:00

We walked by the Little Mermaid and climbed on the statue of Hans Christian Anderson, touching his hat for good luck.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2009-05-27T12:06:00.003-04:00

I went off on my own in Amsterdam, taking a canal boat ride and then walking back to the ship.

Zeebruggee, Belgium

2009-05-05T04:27:00.002-04:00

Tulips blooming in Bruges

Madonna and Child and nesting bird

The best ports are those that accumulate happy moments, and Zeebruggee had many happy moments. We always like to be able to use the public transportation to get from the port to the center of town. There was a bus shuttle we paid to ride for about 15 minutes to get from the ship to the train station and from there we rode a typical European train 11 minutes to Bruges.

There was a group of seven of us for a while. We walked about 10 minutes from the station, enjoying the architecture, gardens and people as we traveled. Then we reached the chocolate shops, one after another, after another. Such lovely smells and sights! If only I could still eat chocolate! But I do like to look at it.

Soon we came to the church everyone said we had to see. It was an interesting church, but we almost missed the major attraction. There is a Madonna and Child statue by Michelangelo, one of his few works outside of Italy. There is a quality to his work that is difficult to describe, but somehow his work makes the stone come alive.

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch. Most of the group were happy to sit at a sidewalk café, but there was nothing on the menu that appealed to us. Jerry stood up and said he was going back to get a sandwich he had seen in a shop window, so I went with him. Good thing! The bread makes the sandwich and we each had wonderful ones, standing at a counter with a bunch of teenagers.

Then we walked back to the Market Square where we had separated from the group. We saw more teenagers eating Frites, so we stood in line to get a paper container filled with Belgian Fries – not French as one of our friends mistakenly tried to order. We ate the hot, delicious fries standing in the square with more teenagers.

More walking and window shopping along the main street with many other people of all ages. Jerry thought a cup of coffee would be good, so we started looking for a place to get a real café. We saw a charming little shop and vegan eating was forgotten! Jerry had an excellent cup of coffee and I had a pastry that was mostly whipped cream and cherries. It was so good I didn’t even mind feeling sick for a little while – in fact, it was worth it!

As we headed back to the station, we saw a park full of tulips in bloom, another delightful park along a canal with banks lined with white swans, one of which was sitting on her nest. Then Jerry spotted another statue of the Madonna with the bird’s nest.

Back in plenty of time, having eaten our way through Bruges.

Pirates? or not? revised

2009-04-12T08:54:00.001-04:00

This is what I know second hand from a former military person’s eyewitness account. Just before 6 pm on Friday, there were 7 to 12 small, fast craft on two sides of the ship. There were men dressed in black in the boats. The men had fish. The Tahitian Princess altered course and sped up. The boats couldn’t keep up. The Tahitian Princess staff say they were fishing boats. CNN says that pirates lie in wait as fishermen. The passengers say they were pirates.

So what do we think pirates would do? Wave, smile and have fish in their hands until they got close? Or fly a skull and crossbones flag and wave automatic weapons in a menacing way?

Check out our friend's photo.

message for Judy

2009-04-10T23:34:00.002-04:00

Hi Judy

I met your dad and he says hello. He showed me a photo of you and your husband. He is having a good time! You can email me a message for him if you would like to.

Salalah, Oman

2009-04-10T14:58:00.002-04:00

The view of the port from the ship was very unappealing – containers, cargo ships, cranes, sand, rocks, heat, bright sun. We weren’t sure we were even going to get off the ship since everyone had said there was not much to see. But we decided to at least set foot on the shore.

There was a shuttle from the ship gangway to the entrance to the port, a very short, but hot distance away, so we went out to ride it round trip. At the shuttle we met people we knew and decided to bargain for a cab ride to town for the four of us. What bargainers the men of Oman are! Our friend is an excellent negotiator and did the bargaining for the taxi. It took 45 minutes in the heat but we finally reached an agreement and set off on a 3-hour tour with our 20 year-old driver, Naim. The car was wonderfully well air-conditioned and a welcoming respite from the heat each time we returned to it.

We rode along a new divided highway along the coast, past the Hilton Resort on the beach and to the Sultan’s Palace where we got out of the taxi for a photo opportunity and found a busload of people from one of the ship’s tours. Back in the taxi, we rode around the corner to a market, from which we were drawn away from the shops to walk along the beach. The white sand beach was long and inviting with medium sized waves breaking at the shore – and totally empty. I do not know why such a spectacular appearing beach was absolutely empty, but speculate it was the heat of the white sand, possible undertow, creatures living in the water, cultural mores, or a combination of some or all of the above.

Back in the taxi, we visited a mosque, drove through the town center, and renegotiated the fare so we could ride into the mountains. I think we renegotiated right back to the original tour and price we had been offered at the entrance to the port! We are so glad we did though because that was the best part of our tour. Our driver took us out of town, to the mountains with spectacular views of deep ravines and camels, camels everywhere. We followed a herd (?) of wild camels a short distance until they decided it was time to lie down. What a racket they made calling out as they folded their legs and lay down. It was very exciting for us to see camels along the roadside and sometimes to have to stop as they were crossing the road. We also went to Job’s tomb where we saw some kind of weaver birds feeding young in their nests near what is reputed to be the tomb where the Biblical Job is buried.

So all in all, it sounds like we saw a bunch of camels, some rocky and sandy mountains, a tomb, a town and a beach. But it was really much more interesting than it sounds and we enjoyed our brief visit to Oman.

Dubai

2009-04-10T14:53:00.001-04:00

Atlantis Hotel

Dubai, the country that is planning its future. Instead of keeping all of their eggs in one basket and pretending that their oil will last forever, they are turning the country into one of the wonders of the world in hopes that the future will attract an industry of tourism. Much like Las Vegas, out of the desert they are building ultramodern hotels to accommodate thousands and thousands of tourists from around the world. The wealth of sheiks who are behind the frenzy of building is astonishing. Each building is an architectural marvel in its own right, with unique designs, including helicopter pads, lush pool areas, murals on walls and ceilings. The number of buildings under construction is remarkable. But more remarkable than the number of buildings, is what they have done to create more waterfront property. They have taken apart mountains and transported the land to create islands. The islands are set together in the shape of palm trees and a map of the globe. With the construction of the new cruise center underway, more and more tourists will be arriving in Dubai by ship.

Ten of us got two cabs for a tour of the city highlights, stopping at the oceanfront, the Burj Al Arab Hotel (the one that looks like a sail), the Jumeriah Beach Hotel, the Mall of the Emirates to see the ski slope, the Atlantis Hotel, and the soon-to-be tallest building in the world on completion of construction. That was the morning. The group wanted to go to the souk (market) for knock-off clothing, watches, handbags, etc., so we returned in the cab for lunch on the ship.

After lunch, we took the free shuttle to the Dubai Mall, where we wandered through the Gold Souk, and the rest of the brand new and enormous mall. Returning on the shuttle to the ship, we ended our tour of Dubai, a city with promise for the future, but somehow not quite real.

Mumbai

2009-04-10T14:49:00.001-04:00

Leaving the terminal building in Mumbai, we negotiated a cab for three of us for a tour of the city. Just being in the city was experience enough. The movie “Slumdog Millionaire” is set in Mumbai, and it is an excellent glimpse into the sights and sounds of a city of 20 million people, most of whom live in extreme poverty.

Our driver, Ali, took us in an old not air-conditioned taxi to see the most important sights, including Dobhi Ghat, the famous hand-laundry area. Our driver stopped across a divided four-lane road, which we had to cross without any of the heavy traffic ever stopping. We have lived to tell the tale! The laundry area is hard to describe so we rely on the photo to show you how individual workers wash the clothes as a commercial operation. The beating of the clothes against the cement slabs and the bright sun yield astonishingly clean results.

From there, we went to Gandhi’s longtime residence, now a museum. The photo and diorama displays showed the contributions of a great man, not just to India, but to the world.

Then to the Gateway of India, the archway symbol of the country and around the corner to the Taj Hotel, which was bombed last year by terrorists. Much of the hotel has been repaired and the security is extreme. The lobby, the waterfall memorial to those who died in the attack, and the restaurants are luxurious and beautiful. At the restaurant, we enjoyed an excellent four course vegetarian meal, including fabulous Naan garlic bread. The meal was delicious and made us miss our favorite restaurant at home.

We saw the main sights, including the Victoria Terminal, trains with passengers hanging out the door, not because the car is too crowded, but because there is cool, fresh air at the doors. On the way back to the ship, we stopped at a couple of shops so the cab driver could collect a fee for just bringing prospective customers to look.

The poverty looks crushing and overwhelming, begging is common and heartbreaking. People live on the street or in stacked one room hovels barely the size of a reclining person. A little girl who looked just like Latika in the movie clung to me for a few minutes and a little boy who looked just like the one who didn’t escape sang sweetly. It is hard not to give them money, but it isn’t a good idea in the long run.

The streets are crowded with people, bikes, taxis and buses, all making a lot of noise. There are often unpleasant odors. But there is an energy level and spiritedness about the city that is engaging. It is real and exciting.

QE2 Dubai 2009

2009-04-07T00:04:00.003-04:00

When we walked out onto the back deck for breakfast after docking in Dubai, we were greeted by this grand old lady. It is so very sad that this legend will sail no more.

More posts for Mumbai and Dubai later

Port Blair, Andaman Islands

2009-03-29T10:32:00.000-04:00

The Andaman Islands, an archipelago of about 752 islands more than 600 miles east of India, are a Union Territory of India. We docked at Port Blair on Ross Island. Instead of taking the shuttle to town to see the market by foot, four of us opted to hire a cab right at the pier. The driver took us on a 30-minute ride through the center of town, passing the market place. It is hard to describe how crowded the streets were with people, tuktuks (motorized vehicles holding 4 people and a driver), and sacred cows.

After a hair-raising ride over half-paved narrow roads, with the taxi’s horn being the most important safety device, we arrived at the Andaman Island Resort. You must not think resort as you know it. The beach is brown sand, broad, lined with palm trees, and home to sea serpents. Although we didn’t see any of the snakes, the thought of them and the probable bacteria count of the water were enough to keep us cool, dry and safe on land. We sat at a small table, under coconut palms, watching the cows wander the beach, the road, and the water.

Many crew and passengers from the ship joined us at the resort, and we actually had a fine day. The taxi driver returned just as he said he would two hours later and drove us back to the pier and our ship.

Port Kelang, Malaysia

2009-03-29T10:30:00.000-04:00

In Malaysia, we chose not to go on a two hour bus ride from Port Kelang to Kuala Lumpur, a large city with the famous two towers connected with the skybridge. Instead, we rode 20 minutes on the shuttle bus to Klang and a brand new, ultramodern, 5-story shopping center. It was hot and humid outside, and air conditioned and pleasant inside. After checking at 2 opticians, we found on the third floor, one who could repair Jerry’s broken sunglasses while we waited. He was so happy to have new ear pieces and adjustment to the nose piece.

The next stop was a factory outlet store, FOS, where Jerry found a lightweight red and black Tiger Golf shirt. The shirt was the right size – get it? So he bought two identical shirts. Next we had to buy 4 AAA batteries to operate the free FM radios and flashlight we were given in Singapore. The radio was free, but the batteries were $1 each. With very little Malaysian money left, we returned to the ship for lunch. Before we reached the ship though, with our remaining money, Jerry negotiated the purchase of a keychain with a bottle opener and a keychain with nail clippers. What a day for $20 US.

Singapore

2009-03-29T10:27:00.002-04:00

We had planned to repeat last year’s visit to Singapore and ride the hop-on/hop-off bus because it was so enjoyable. But, we decided to change the plan and have a different experience.

The ship this year docked right in town beside a large shopping mall. We walked from the ship directly into the Mall, changed currency and bought a phone card. But it was already late in the Eastern US, so we couldn’t call most of our family. We did talk to some of our children and siblings who we knew would be up late. That finished, we headed off to the train station also right at the Mall. We boarded a very modern, spotless and fast subway to Little India.

On the recommendation of Prat from Cruise Critic roll call, we went right to Komala Restaurant, only to find that it was closed for renovations. Luckily, there was a sign telling us of a temporary location a couple of blocks away and around the corner. We climbed to the second floor of a building and bravely ordered the Indian meal we had been craving. We shared a plate of assorted dishes and each had a masala dosai. Anything we told them we liked, they rushed to kitchen to bring seconds. We rolled out of there stuffed!

Back on the subway, we went to Chinatown, where we had eaten last year and missed a famous Buddhist temple, which is one of the highlights of Singapore and not meant to be missed. We quickly found the Sri Mariamman Hindu Temple and then a couple of blocks away, the Buddhist temple we missed last year. The Buddhist Temple was large and wonderful.

We walked around the shops and stalls, checking out statues, fabrics, jewelry and clothing, but bought nothing. Back to the subway station and the train returning to the ship. Another good day ashore.

Bangkok, Thailand

2009-03-29T10:23:00.002-04:00

We made a good decision canceling our ship’s tour to see Bangkok on our own and booking the Highlights of Bangkok tour. The elevated seating and huge windows of the bus provided a perfect view of the sights as we passed them on our 90-minute ride to the city. Included on our route were Chinatown, The Golden Buddha temple and the Flower Market, where people were buying marigolds, lotus blossoms, roses and other flowers to use as offerings at temples and shrines. We passed such areas on foot in other ports and know the delightful smell of the blossoms.

After the bus ride, we walked through the Grand Palace grounds after making sure that everyone was properly attired with pants to the ankle and no revealing tops. The tour company provides sarongs and pull-on trousers for anyone who is not properly covered. Since the ship had said that only knees had to be covered, many people had to wear sarongs and the guide kept changing his mind about my Capri pants. The Grand Palace is a breath-taking complex of buildings, monuments and temples over several acres set on the river.

One side of the complex is anchored by the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. We removed our shoes and walked through the Temple and saw the 30-inch tall Buddha made from a single piece of jade.

Neither words nor photos can convey the intricacies of the designs or the abundance of gold throughout the complex. It is one of those places that just has to be experienced.

We left there and walked to a pier where we boarded a long boat for a cruise up and down the Chao Phraya River, part of the reason that Bangkok is called the “Venice of the East.” As we left he Palace, the skies turned black, and we heard roars of thunder, certain we would get drenched. But we were lucky and had no rain. We past hundreds of homes built on stilts lining the river banks. We stopped at a temple where the catfish are sacred and cannot be fished, so hundreds of catfish come up to the boat to be fed pieces of bread. Then we went to the beautiful hotel for an outstanding Thai buffet lunch. There we were told that we had missed 60-mile an hour winds and driving rain in a thunderstorm. Lucky us to have been at the Palace before the rain and the hotel after the storm.

We rode back on the bus to the ship, happy to have such a pleasant experience and memories of Bangkok.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia

2009-03-29T10:18:00.004-04:00

Tuk Tuks

The reason you have never heard of this city is that there is nothing to see except streets lined with garbage and tuktuks, motorized bikes pulling a carriages that hold four people. The 90 degree temperature, humidity, dirt, noise, air pollution and smell limited our stay in town to about 30 minutes. We took the shuttle bus from the ship to a Seven/Eleven, walked three blocks down the main street, harassed the entire way by tuktuk drivers and vendors selling postcards and tourist items. We never made it to the missable public open- air market. The quality of air made it difficult to breathe (since I had undiagnosed pneumonia at that point.) We returned to the Seven/Eleven to wait in the a/c for the shuttle bus to arrive for the return ride to the ship.

In fairness, some people hired a tuktuk and went to a good beach, they said.

For us, Sihanoukville will be a lasting memory.

Vietnam

2009-03-18T11:27:00.007-04:00

We were up early in the morning, had breakfast on the ship, and were off on a ship’s tour to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Unlike last year’s visit to Ho Chi Minh City, this time we headed away from the city. We quickly rode out of the area of tall buildings to small towns and rural areas. After an hour and a half on the bus, we arrived at the dock, where we boarded an ancient wooden boat to take us across the river. We passed barges loaded with sand to be used in cement for construction, fishing boats, and floating structures that people live in. Once across the river, we had tea and delicious tropical fruit at an open-air hut with teak tables and chairs. From there, we walked through jungle to a candy factory and sampled outstanding coconut candy, still warm from cooking with a charcoal stove. We saw a bee hive where honey was gathered for sale and then we boarded really ancient small canoes that held 4 passengers and 2 rowers. We had to step very carefully in the center of the boat to keep it from capsizing. We also had to keep our hands off the edge and inside the boat because there were so many boats passing in the narrow passageway between the bamboo and other plants growing along the canal. As soon as we were on board, the Vietnamese woman rowing at the bow, handed me another oar and indicated I should row! So I did. Coolie hat and all. We arrived at the end of the rowing boat ride where a wonderful lunch was awaiting us. We had spring rolls, noodles with bok choy and other vegetables and sticky rice for dessert. We had no problem devouring it all without dropping one grain of rice off our chopsticks. Then it was back on the ancient boat to re-cross the river and return to the bus for the ride back to the ship.

We are both so glad to have the opportunity to return to Vietnam and see a different perspective of the country and its lovely people.

Hong Kong

2009-03-15T06:23:00.003-04:00

This year the Tahitian Princess was docked right in Hong Kong Harbor, right next to the Star Ferry Terminal. We were off the ship and onto a ferry. We went back to the Po Lin Monastery because it was so special for us last year and we were not disappointed. There has been a lot of construction at the village by the Monastery, including a new tram station which could make the trip shorter. We preferred retracing our path, though, so we took the ferry to Lantau and bus number 2 from Mui Wo to the village. Those 2 rides take nearly 2 hours.

Once we arrived at Lantau, the bus was waiting for the 50-minute ride up and down the steep slopes and around corners of the mountain. The narrow roads barely accommodated the passing of one bus in each direction and the edge of the road was the edge of a cliff. We walked through the ongoing construction to the world’s largest bronze seated Buddha. We climbed the 250 steps to the base of the Buddha, walked all around it, and through the museum inside the Buddha. Going down the steps was much easier.

We walked through the Temple and past golden Buddha statues, where people were lighting incense and praying. The Monastery serves lunch family style in a large restaurant, so we purchased a meal ticket and sat down to a fabulous meal. There was so much vegan food that we were unable to finish all they served to us. And we ate with chopsticks and a ceramic Asian spoon. We made a bit of a mess but we did it!

After lunch, we walked back to the Temple, where we heard chanting being broadcast. The monks and others at the service were chanting and drumming. At first we listened on the first floor where the monks were, but then we went upstairs to a large empty room. There was a sound system broadcasting the sounds from below and filling the room with marvelous, reverberating sound. As we headed back to the bus stop, the chanting faded in the background.

While riding on the ferry back, we saw the skyscrapers of Hong Kong silhouetted against the bright sun. From the ferry, we walked to Nathan Road, the 5th Avenue of Hong Kong with 50 % more people crowding the streets and sidewalks. From there we walked back to Ocean Terminal and the Tahitian Princess, but the day was not over.

After dinner, we were on the open decks just in time for the nightly light show, when a dozen of the highest skyscrapers on the Hong Kong side are programmed to flash neon lights and spotlights in changing designs and colors up and down the buildings and into the night sky. What a farewell to a magical city.

Shanghai

2009-03-12T10:07:00.003-04:00

What a great day we had in Shanghai! It helps to have been in a city before and have even a little idea of the basic layout. And it helps even more that the Tahitian Princess was docked right across from The Bund and the ship provided a shuttle through the construction and across the river to the Silk Factory.

We again traveled with another couple who had spent some time in Shanghai and had a pretty good plan in mind for the day. We rode the shuttle to the Silk Factory, where there was a tour guide who and flagged down a taxi to take us to the Mag Lev Station for a ride on the super fast train. The ride to the station took about 30 minutes, as we went past one huge apartment complex after another, each one housing thousands and thousands of people. The city has a population of nearly 20 million people and is still growing. There is construction everywhere of apartment complexes, bridges, highways, high-speed rail lines, and offices.

The train station is quite new and easy to negotiate. Many Chinese speak English and signs in tourist areas are in both Chinese and English, making it easy for us to find the ticket booth and purchase a round trip ticket. There was a train waiting on the platform as we approached so we didn’t even have to wait.

As you can see from the photo, the train reached a speed of 431 kilometers an hour or an amazing 260 miles per hour, faster than a Formula One racing car. The ride was smooth though, with the only sensation of speed being the whizzing past of the light poles.

There was an exciting moment for us though when a concussion shook the train. We hadn’t realized that there was an adjacent track for the train going in the opposite direction. The whoosh of air between the two trains makes a startling sound the first time it happens.

We got off the train at the end at the airport, went upstairs, across to the other side, and down again for the return ride. We had no wait for the return ride either. The ride each way takes about 7 minutes.

Back at the Mag Lev Station we had a couple of minutes of struggle until we just pointed on the map for the taxi driver that we wanted to be taken to Nanjing Road, a broad pedestrian street lined with wonderful stores and restaurants. 1.4 million people walk this street a day, but the scale is such that it doesn’t seem really crowded. We checked out a couple of Chinese restaurants and opted against food too unfamiliar to us. Food like sliced pig ears and some animal’s coddled blood. Definitely not vegan anyway. So, I have to confess that failing to find simple noodles, we ate a veggie pizza at Pizza Hut.

Next stop for us was the Shanghai Museum, notable for the architecture in addition to the collection of early pottery, bronze artifacts, and paintings. We were all starting to fade by that point and decided to find the Silk Factory and the shuttle back to the ship. We were back on board in time for the acrobatic performance that was a remarkable demonstration of talent and costumes.

As the sun set and the lights of the city came on, we sat near a window for dinner and watched the dinner cruises and billboards on barges pass by. What a beautiful sail away from a fabulous city.

Osaka and Kyoto

2009-03-08T03:40:00.004-04:00

After being in Japan’s second largest city, Osaka, last year and seeing the sights, we decided this year to be brave and ride the bullet train to Kyoto. The ship docked at the same place the QE2 did last year, so we knew to walk just a couple of blocks to the Osakako Station to get the train into the city. Also just like last year, it was cold and raining. We rode the Chuo Line (Green) from stop C11 to Homachi Station (C16) and changed to the Midosuji Line (Red) to stop M13, Shin-Osaka. At that stop, we changed to the JR Shinkansen Express and we purchased round trip tickets to Kyoto on the fast train for a total of 5500 Yen. There were 5 of us traveling together, and all of us knew nothing. We boarded the train and sat in the first empty seats we saw, very comfortable seats and a lovely car, which was nearly empty. When a young man sat next to Jerry, Jerry leaned over and asked me why the man had sat there when the car was so empty. I said I didn’t know. However, when I looked up and saw the sign that said “Reserved,” I had my suspicions. Anyway, ignorance can be bliss when no one challenges you, and we all enjoyed the comfort of reserved seats for all 11 minutes of this leg of the trip. The trip between Osaka and Kyoto takes 90 minutes by highway.

At Kyoto Station we split from our traveling companions who wanted to share a taxi to travel between sights. We went to the Tourist Information Center on the second floor of the station and got information about independent use of the bus system to get around. We purchased a day pass on the bus for 500 Yen each and headed to stop B2 between the station and the Kyoto Tower.

Our first stop off the bus was Nijo Castle, where we were led by an English-speaking tour guide. The large wooden structure with paintings on the wall was built in the 1600s for the Shogun to use to receive nobles and others seeking his favor. His home was in Tokyo as was his family. We exited at the gardens but decided after a few steps it was not worth seeing the dormant gardens in the winter time under rainy skies. We walked out and immediately boarded another bus to the next stop, the Kinkakuji Castle, where we walked around a bit. We made a stop at the Asian style toilet and then went back to the bus stop and another ride.

This time we went to Gion, where there is shopping and many shrines and temples. First, of course, it was “Feed Me! Time.” There was a sign on the sidewalk with a picture of a bowl of noodles, but the shop was filled with fine jewelry and geodes. There was a man in front of the store who looked like an owner, so we pointed to the noodles, and he signaled that we should follow him. We followed him through the shop to an elevator in the rear and he held up 3 fingers, that we should get off at the third floor. To our surprise, there was a modern restaurant, with typical low Japanese tables and chairs. No one spoke English, but they did have a menu in English so I ordered noodles with cooked tofu. After much bowing by the waitress, we were served tea and a fabulous bowl of noodles in miso broth with tofu and scallions. After letting me struggle a bit with the chopsticks, the waitress brought me a ceramic spoon and a metal fork, which I knew what to do with, and a pottery bowl, which I had no idea how to use. So I must have eaten out of the serving bowl, but it was delicious. We walked to the end of the street, where we found a large shrine, which satisfied our curiosity about shrines. Boarding the bus again, we returned to the station and retraced our steps on the bullet train, then the train to the ship. We walked past the largest ferris wheel in the world, located at the gangway of our ship. Back in plenty of time and pleased with ourselves for getting around and seeing the sights on our own.

Another Exciting Sighting

2009-03-07T06:10:00.000-05:00

A short time after we sailed away from the port of Hiroshima and headed into the Inland Sea, the Captain announced over the loudspeaker that just off the starboard side was a submarine of the Japanese Navy. We were having a cup of tea on Deck 9 on the starboard side, so we jumped up to look out the window, There it was, sleek and black, about 300 yards off the Tahitian Princess and sailing in the opposite direction from us. It was said by former military people that the sub was a small one and clearly not nuclear class. We watched as it came along parallel to us and continued watching until it was out of sight. A while later, we encountered the Captain on another deck and thanked him for telling all of us about the submarine. He said that it had been quite an exciting sighting for him as well.

Guam, USA

2009-03-03T18:14:00.002-05:00

The Beach at Tumon Bay

Flags flying on the Tahitian Princess

Friends asked us to join them in renting a mini van from Hertz at Guam. After the pilot was onboard the Tahitian Princess and we had arrived at the dock, it took a while for everyone to clear US Immigration. The ship securely keeps passports most of the time at the Passenger Services Desk on Deck 4, so when it is time to clear immigration onboard, they just take them all to the room chosen for the activity. This time it was the Cabaret Lounge on Deck 5. So we arrived early to wait in line with memories of waiting on the QE2 from about 6:15 am to 9 am. This time the lines moved very quickly for us. Within a very short time of arriving in line, we had received our passports, had them checked by the US staff, given our newly-stamped passports back to the ship, and received our landing card for going ashore.

Our group of 6 people got together in a short time, walked out of the gate area to the waiting 3J Hertz shuttle to be driven to our waiting van. The driver pointed out sights along the ride, such as the beach where US troops landed to reclaim Guam in World War II. We got into the nice, new, well-air-conditioned KIA van and headed off to the first stop: the US Post Office. Many people took advantage of US postage rates to mail home packages to reduce the weight of luggage on the flights home. This Post Office was just like the one in Delray Beach on Military Trail in season, under-staffed and overly busy, which meant it took about an hour to complete everyone’s business. Meanwhile, one of the 6 went on a coffee mission and Jerry and one of the others walked the mile back to Hertz to retrieve the wallet the woman had dropped in the Hertz shuttle.

Once all back together again at the Hertz office we headed off to K-Mart. Many people from the ship were also there stocking up on supplies. We bought some toothpaste, bottled water and most importantly, shorts for Jerry to fit his new size. Shopping completed we headed off to Tumon Bay, an area of upscale high-rise hotels and shops.

The Outrigger Hotel at Tumon Bay was recommended to us at Hertz, so we parked our van in their garage and walked through the Hotel to the beach. Another gorgeous South Pacific beach lay before us. We walked to the Beach Club and used the bathroom to change into our suits. The weather and the water were perfect. The beach is powdery white sand up to the water, where there are a couple of feet of broken coral and rocks to pick a path through, and then shallow, warm, delightful water of the lagoon. Most of the other tourists were Japanese and very young.

After swimming and changing, it was back in the van and a drive past Gucci and all the other shops. We had a little trouble finding the right road, but then we were on our way to Two Lovers Point, where the story is that a Romeo and Juliet pair had jumped to their death over the cliff into the sea rather than be forced into other marriages. It was a pretty spot with a lookout with a view of the bay and the hotels below. The cliff is indeed straight down to the ocean.

Back in the van, past Micronesia Mall (Macy’s is the anchor store), and back to Hertz to pick up a driver to take us to the ship. We had a lovely day for $23 each. The sailaway was especially nice, with balmy breezes and happy passengers talking together as the sunset.
The Top Ten Reasons You Know Guam is the USA

10 Stars and Stripes is flying
9 Vehicle license plates say Guam USA
8 Car makes are Honda, Nissan, Toyota, and Lexus with a few BMWs and one Chevrolet
7 Driving is on the right-hand side of the road
6 The Post Office is understaffed and overcrowded and is running out of mailing supplies.
5 Everything is bi-lingual with Japanese replacing Spanish
4 Currency is US $ but no one has any and everyone is using credit cards
3 Businesses are Kmart, Macys, Burger King, KFC and Mobil
2 The highway is 3 lanes in each direction with a center turn lane
1 It just feels like home.

Exciting Sighting en route to Guam

2009-03-02T03:17:00.000-05:00

What do we do at sea? We went out on Deck 5, where there is a promenade on each side of the ship but not a circular route. We went forward to look at the big splashes the ship made as it went across good sized swells. As we were looking at the sea and spray, we both saw something coming toward the ship. It was dark, slender, and rising above the water about 3 feet. It might have been a periscope. No, that made no sense. It continued to come straight toward the ship and then turned sideways. As it turned sideways, we had a better view of what turned out to be the dorsal fin of a sailfish. Swimming parallel about 50 feet apart, the fish and the Tahitian Princess continued on their separate routes. It is so exciting for us to encounter any marine life and a sighting as unusual as a sailfish was a very special event.

Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

2009-02-27T07:44:00.002-05:00

A local bus at a Mobil Station

Arriving at Rabaul

Before dawn, we sailed into Simpson Harbor, a deep and well -sheltered harbor created about 1400 years ago when the Pacific Ocean filled a caldera following a catastrophic volcanic eruption. We could actually smell the volcano before we could see it. A huge grey plume rose out of the volcano and we could see steam coming from vents all the way down all visible sides of the cone. The sun was just rising as we sailed past the volcano to our dock in the harbor. At 4 degrees south of the equator, Rabaul is hot and humid with lush vegetation covering any of the countryside that wasn’t buried under ashes in the 1994 eruption. That eruption destroyed the town of Rabaul and caused the relocation of the provincial capital from there to Kokopo, about 12 miles away. We were told that in some places the ash is 12 feet deep, however, we were told there were no deaths from the 1994 eruption. What we know is that the ash is everywhere. There have been rains, so there is gray mud at the sides of all of the streets and walkways. When the wind blows, you can see ash flying from the dry areas of the pavement. The ship’s security staff, who have to stand at the gangway all day, were wearing masks to protect them from the airborne ash. We didn’t feel anything but we were very aware of the poor air quality. There is constant threat of eruption and right now the airport is closed because of the density of the ash clouds blowing over the runway.

During World War II, Rabaul had great significance as a Japanese base that included 5 airfields, a seaplane and submarine base, and a large naval facility. At the peak, there were close to 200,000 in the Japanese garrison. Today there remain parts of an extensive tunnel system, bunkers, a war museum, and cemetery as well as other military artifacts providing reminders of a tragic history.

Once we were away from the ship and through the port’s security gate, there were many locals selling handicrafts. Many passengers purchased fine masks for very little money. There were hand made fabric bags, jewelry, carvings, and shells for sale. There were women with toddlers dressed in traditional garb hoping to have tourists photograph them for a dollar.

We walked a block and turned right to head toward the town, with 20 eight-year-old boys tagging along with four couples. I don’t know why they went with us, but they asked if they could follow us and we said yes. This is a really undeveloped country with extensive poverty, many children, and few motorized vehicles. We may have been at the town, but we are not sure. At any rate, we reached a point at which we felt the need to return to the ship.

The children and the adults were slow to smile, but friendly and welcoming, greeting us with cheerful “hellos” whether they were walking or driving by. None of the children wore shoes and many of their shirts were quite torn. The absence of both begging and persistent harassment of us to purchase from them was greatly appreciated. Many of the adults’ teeth showed the red color and large gaps of beetle nut consumption. They chew the nuts with lime juice to get high and the nuts stain their teeth and the lime juice corrodes the enamel.

The poverty was overwhelming for me so I can’t imagine what it is like for them. It is tempting to take money ashore and just hand it out to them, but, of course, that will do nothing positive for them in the long run.

So we sail away past the volcano spewing thick black clouds into the sky and wonder what the future will be for those 20 eight-year-olds.

Cairns, Australia

2009-02-25T02:26:00.002-05:00

On the northeast of the state of Queensland, is the city of Cairns (pronounced more like cans.) The small city sits against the background of mountains easily visited by train from the city to Kuranda and is also a main debarkation point for visits to the Great Barrier Reef. People on the ship took either the train and/or skyrail to Kuranda, or rode a catamaran to the Great Barrier Reef or wandered around the town.

At first we thought that we would take the train to Kuranda, however, one thing lead to another and we missed the train. Of course, neither one of us was intent on taking the trip or we would have gotten to the station on time.

We did exactly what we needed to do. We walked two short blocks from the ship to the center of town, phone cards in hand, found a pay phone in front of a currency exchange and began calling. We talked to all of our children and some other family members as well. We also were able to take care of some business over the telephone too. After we relinquished the phone booth, we walked to a mall, looked around for some clothes, bought none, and walked back to the ship for lunch. Food is so much easier for me on the ship in many places we visit we didn’t even look for something that I could eat.

After lunch we set off again. This time we headed to the post office, a quick walk since we had identified it earlier in the day. The day had been hot and humid and although there were threatening clouds in the morning, we had no showers.

We saw many aborigines around this city, unlike the other Australian cities we have visited. All of the Australians we encountered in the 9 cities we visited over two years were friendly, fun loving, laughing people who couldn’t do enough the make our visit pleasant. We felt welcomed and at home and sadly said good-bye as we sailed away.

Sydney

2009-02-21T02:17:00.001-05:00

Darling Harbor, Sydney, Australia

We woke up about 4:30 AM when the pilot boat arrived just beneath our window, bringing the pilot onboard for the passage to our berth at Darling Harbor. Last year the QE2 was docked the first day at another spot and the second day at Circular Quay. Circular Quay is by far the best spot to be and Darling Harbor is the second best. Since we focused last year on the area around Circular Quay and riding on the Hop On Hop Off bus, this year we walked the Darling Harbor area.

When we first left the ship, we did not find the usual people from the tourism bureau! We just walked off into a small secure area and were on our own to figure out where we were. We had a good map but when you have no starting point on the map, it quickly becomes useless. Fortunately there was someone we knew from the ship being met by Australian friends. They were not from Sydney and had just had a tough time getting oriented so they could at least point us in the right direction. We were actually close to the pedestrian area of Darling Harbor and had no trouble beginning our hike.

And hike we did – from 9 am to 4 pm. Down one side and up the other from the aquarium to the Maritime Museum, stopping in the mall along the way. We bought a phone card and had our usual trouble with a new phone card. In New Zealand we dialed an 800 number and made our call with ease from a pay phone. In Australia, we bought a different brand and could not make it work in spite of reading and re-reading the instructions for 45 minutes. Back at the store where we purchased the card, the sales person checked the steps we followed and finally checked the card on her own cell phone. It worked. Then she asked us if we put in 40 cents. No, we hadn’t since no one told us to. So she went with us to the pay phone. The call really required 50 cents, so if she hadn’t been kind enough to go with us, the saga undoubtedly would have continued. At least she was pleasant and we only had to deal with English. Of course, after all of that we could only speak to answering machines.

It was lunch time so we hiked to Chinatown, visiting Paddy’s Market before eating. Paddy’s is an enormous flea market – two or three times larger than the largest one I have ever seen. We just walked through part of it and went across the street to Chinatown. We walked up and down trying to decide which place would be best for lunch. Jerry decided that we should choose the one with the most Asian customers and that worked perfectly. They brought us way too much food and of course we devoured all of it.

Leaving Chinatown just in time for the free show at the Outback Museum, I felt very pleased with my planning. Until we walked past where the Outback Museum was on the map and found instead a large construction site. Checking with visitor information we were told that the museum had been demolished. We tried to phone our one child who might still be awake at that hour, but no luck once again.

Next stop was the Maritime Museum, an interesting collection of marine artifacts, passenger memorabilia and full size vessels in the harbor. The Museum itself was well air-conditioned, which at that point in the afternoon we really appreciated. Our feet were very tired at that point, so we crossed the pedestrian bridge and returned to the ship where we enjoyed a swim in the pool and a little rest. We didn’t feel like dinner in the dining room because of our huge lunch, so we just ate a little at the Panorama Buffet.

For the Sailaway, at about 10 PM, we joined most of the other passengers on the open decks. From our spot at the railing on Deck 11 (the top), the lighted buildings, including the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, provided a breathtaking farewell from the most beautiful harbor in the world. Probably our last farewell to Sydney and a fine remembrance of a great city.

PS
We didn’t know about it, but after talking to other passengers about their day on shore, I highly recommend buying a day pass that enables travel on buses, trains, ferries and more for the entire day for US$17 a person.

International Dateline

2009-02-11T00:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we crossed the International Dateline. Yesterday for us was February 9, today is Wednesday, February 11 and February 10 never happened. I just posted Rarotonga from my laptop, which is still on Eastern Standard Time. I like to change the time for the post so that it is an accurate reflection of the local time I really publish it. The post didn’t appear, but there was a message that said it would be published in the future at 6:47 p.m. EST. I just edited the time back to EST so it would appear now!

Too much thinking about the International Dateline can lead to confusion.

Rarotonga, Cook Islands

2009-02-10T23:47:00.000-05:00

I have been to paradise - at least for a tourist on a beach. Rarotonga is a place of great natural beauty, a laid back pace, and people who have both external and internal beauty.

It was a ride to get there though! Not only was it a tender port, but also the Captain said that because of the depth of the ocean the ship’s anchor could not be used. Instead the ship’s engines would be used all day to keep her in position. There is also a very strong current around Rarotonga. So the ship was moving, the tender was moving and the swells were moving both the ship and the tender. What a job it was for the crew! But they did their work well. As we were riding in the tender to the dock, the ride was getting so wild, the person driving the tender slowed it way down. I have never been in such a wild ride, ever so briefly.

At the dock, there was a local bus waiting to transport us to the Muri Beach Hotel, where we could enjoy the beach and the amenities of the Hotel. The Hotel is on a lagoon that looks like a Hollywood version of a South Pacific beach. The colors of the water in the lagoon are a couple of shades of incredible turquoise blue. The crystal clear water is no deeper than waist high, so it is possible to walk from one side to the other. At one end of the lagoon there is an island that people kayak to. In one small area of the lagoon the waves break over the reef encircling the island. The sand is fine and white on a broad beach. We swam in the lagoon, watching fish swim around the chunks of coral and then lay on the lounges until we were hot again. I think I saw Dory and Nemo in the coral.

Of course I got hungry and Jerry didn’t, so I went to the bar on a lanai near the pool for lunch while he stayed on the beach. I saw people eating fries, but there were both French Fries and Island Fries on the menu and I didn’t know the difference. The bar tender said that the Island Fries were taro root and other local root vegetables, so that is what I ordered. I also saw someone eating fresh coconut, removing chunks of white meat from a shell, so I ordered a coconut. I watched the bar tender whack off the top of the shell and put a straw in it and bring it to me. The coconut was chilled and nothing is more refreshing than fresh chilled coconut water. I liked all of the different Island Fries except for one, which might have been the taro. After drinking the coconut milk, I asked the waiter to open the coconut for me, which he did. Then even though I ate way too much coconut, it didn’t even make a dent in what was there. I cut up lots of coconut, wrapped the pieces in a napkin and shared it with Jerry and our friends on the beach.

At 2:30 we walked out for the return ride on the local bus, which by the way was a homemade wooden box on a chassis. The seats were benches around the perimeter of the box. The driver sat on a bus driver’s seat resting on the floor of the box in front of a well for the pedals. On the ride to the hotel, the gears ground – a lot. So we walked out of the hotel to the bus only to find it broken down. Oh, oh! Last tender was scheduled to leave shore at 4:30.

No problem! There was a van there and they accepted our tickets and drove us back to town. We could have stayed on the bus and ridden a bit further to the tender dock, but we jumped off at the shopping center and walked around. We looked at Paca’s Pearls, the store we heard about from Paca in Papeete, thinking about buying black pearls. We decided against that purchase and walked to the grocery store for quinine water for Jerry. It was a little far to walk to get to the tender dock, but we kept putting one foot in front of the other and there we were. Of course, there were stalls with people selling black pearls, pareos, and other tourist treasures, so after one last browse we got on the tender and rode back to the ship.

There hasn’t been much development on the island -yet. It looks like the people live simple and happy lives. Their tradition is to bury the dead at home in above ground crypts. Someone told us, front yard for the people they like and back yard for the others.

What a fabulous place for a honeymoon! Or a wedding anniversary celebration. Or any other reason you can think of to visit one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen.

Papeete Tahiti

2009-02-08T17:26:00.001-05:00

Sunset coloring clouds over Moorea

We woke up to the sound of the ship arriving at the dock just outside of our cabin window. Because the water is so deep there is no need for tugs and the ship pulled in under its own power. After our usual breakfasts on the back deck outside the Panorama Buffet, we heard the Captain announce that immigration officials had cleared the ship and passengers could go ashore. We walked down the gangway, onto the dock, and to the main street. It was 8 a.m. and 84 humid degrees. We walked a couple of blocks away from the docks because I was a woman on a mission. Last year, when we were in Papeete, we went to the big market right in downtown, and I saw a large, long, elaborate shell necklace that I really liked. But, I said to myself in 2008 that I would never wear it at home and it cost too much anyway. This year, we walked past the stalls with fabric, produce, fish, meat and flea market merchandise. I thought I knew exactly where the stall was with the necklace that I wanted. And I did. At first, I was disoriented because we entered on the other side of the building from the previous year, but then I became oriented and there it was just as I remembered. My necklace, a year later, and at a very reasonable price. I don’t know why in my memory it was too expensive. Perhaps I did the currency conversion incorrectly; perhaps I had very few Tahitian francs, but in 2009 I had the necklace after a year of thinking about it.

As we wandered through the Hotel de Ville (City Hall), we met a government official who showed us a balcony on the third floor where we had a wonderful view of the city. From there we walked for a couple of hours, looking at the people and shops. We ended up climbing to the fourth floor of a building to a lovely shop where they sold black pearls. I declined Jerry’s offer of a black pearl necklace. How many necklaces do I need? The couple we were walking with decided to take a taxi to a beach and we decided to return to the ship for lunch. (We had a good lunch, but our friends didn’t get to the beach after the cab driver said it would cost US$100 for the ride.)

After lunch we hurried back to the shopping area to buy postcards in one of the shops and then to the Post Office to write and mail them. The sailaway provided a lot of excitement for us all. When we reached Deck 10 and the best view of the port from the open deck, we saw thick, black smoke billowing from a four-story building that was occupied by a car dealer. The emergency vehicles had trouble getting through the rush hour traffic, but finally were able to reach the fire and steam water onto the building. We watched as the fire gained the upper hand and flames poured out of blown out windows and the roof. Eventually the water was aimed at each ascending floor, extinguishing the fire from the bottom to the top of the building. It was the largest fire most of us had ever seen.

As we sailed away, the Captain took us very close to the shore for a long look at Tahiti. We stayed up on deck for about half an hour because he said we would also be able to sail very close to Moorea, which we visited last year. The sun was setting and there were both clouds and mist over Moorea, but it still looked beautiful.

Two days by sea and we will be in Rarotonga, the capital of the Cook Islands

Pitcairn Island

2009-02-03T14:41:00.000-05:00

What a remarkable day we had! We traveled across hundreds of miles of ocean without seeing anything but an albatross, sea birds, and flying fish. And then, in the morning, I walked to the other side of the ship and there in front of us was a very small island (about 18 square miles), bright green and brown in the sunlight. How beautiful it must have looked to the men of the Bounty when it appeared on the horizon before them. Very few ships even today make a visit here.

Tahitian Princess is too large to be able to get close enough to the rugged shoreline to dock at Pitcairn Island. The Island is not large enough to have over 600 people from a cruise ship tramping around it without damage to the infrastructure. So like other ships like ours, we had been scheduled to embark residents of Pitcairn who would give us presentations about the history and life today on Pitcairn and bring their arts, crafts, and artifacts onboard so we could purchase mementos of our visit. But, because of the number of cases of the GI bug onboard, the Mayor of Pitcairn told the Captain that he could not risk introducing illness to their small and isolated community by having contact between us. Given the remote location I am sure it was a wise decision, but we were all disappointed not to have the opportunity to meet the people from Pitcairn and learn about their island first hand.

I was especially disappointed because a Pitcairn reader of my blog, Dave, and I had exchanged emails. He knew the Tahitian Princess was scheduled to check in there and told me that we would be able to meet.

Although no one would come on board, arrangements were made for a few Pitcairn residents to come to the TP’s pontoon and load supplies onto one of their longboats. We were standing at the railing on Deck 5 just above the boat from the Island watching supplies being transferred. Cases of eggs, milk, sacks of potatoes, and other foods were taken off the TP and loaded onto the small boat. I watched wondering if one of the men could be Dave. Then, when the work was done, one man looked up and called my name. I was so excited to think that I was meeting in person someone I am acquainted with at such remote location. Dave called out to me that he had given the Captain a gift for me, and many people on the ship began talking about us. Who is Sharon? Who is Dave? What is the gift? How do they know each other?

JJ, the Cruise Director, and Frankie, the Assistant Cruise Director, talked about the mystery on the daily TV show. Our friends onboard kept pointing out to people who I am and telling them a bit of the story. Michael, the Bridge Instructor, told the class the story. In addition to the gift for me, there was a gift for the Captain for bringing our ship closer to shore than any ship our size and a video about the Pitcairn. The video was shown over the television and is going to be repeated.

So, Dave, a public thank you for your thoughtful gift to me, two lovely King of the Night flowers (one night blooms) and a bottle of Tautama Gold Pure Honey, produced and bottled on Pitcairn Island.

Easter Island

2009-01-31T18:52:00.002-05:00

Easter Island is a tender port, that is, we do not dock there, but anchor off shore and use the ship’s tenders to get ashore. Should the time ever come that we abandon ship (not likely), the tenders will be our lifeboats. When used as tenders, most of the boats hold 120 people and as lifeboats, 150. I read new notices on the tenders this time. At the bottom of the instructions about tying up together and rationing water, it says something like this: “Remember no one is a survivor until rescued. Maintain all survival strategies even after rescue craft are in the area.”

This morning, Captain Ravera had to make an important decision. There were large swells that impacted passengers’ ability to get on and off the tenders. Happily for the passengers, the Captain decided that the swells were manageable so we were able to go ashore. What that meant for the crew on the tenders was much more work.

To disembark, we go to Deck 3, forward, through the security checkpoint and walk down narrow metal stairs on the outside of the ship to a floating pontoon. The tender is tied up to the pontoon and the engines and rudder of the tender keep it pressed against the pontoon. With large swells, both the ship and the pontoon are rising and falling with the water, swinging today about 4 feet above and four feet below the pontoon. As each passenger is ready to board, crew members hold onto the passenger’s upper arms and time the rising and falling so that the passenger lifts a foot off the pontoon and onto the tender when both are level. Hundreds of times. The crew is really cautious and take on their authoritative “I am in charge here” voices telling us to remain seated and exit only one row at a time. The return was more difficult for us. We watched as one person nearly fell backward onto the tender, but was caught by the crew. Many passengers have mobility issues so the crew really works hard to get us all safely on and off the ship. I have great confidence in their ability, and it is easy to just let them have complete control of moving between the two craft.

Since Jerry and I were on Easter Island last year, we decided to spend our time walking around the town of Hanga Roa, about a mile from the dock used by the tenders. Last year was very dry, a fact I remember because my Cole Hahn walking shoes were permanently stained by all of the red dust of Easter Island. This year, it had rained the day before we arrived and there was red mud everywhere. Most of the roads were paved, so we didn’t spend too much time in the puddles and the mud.

We passed some pretty houses with nice gardens, a tenting campground, the Hotel Hanga Roa reconstruction project, some Moai, a swimming lagoon, and surfers riding waves back to shore. Small children and families were swimming in the lagoon behind a volcanic rock seawall. We turned right to head up the main shopping area, passed the post office and fire station, and purchased a small souvenir Moai. We wandered in and out of several art galleries and shops, none of which were air conditioned, so it was cooler outside in the breeze than inside. At the top of the street, at a pretty little church we turned left and checked out the local grocery store. We are so spoiled with the abundance and quality of food and produce that we take for granted. Our last stop before turning around was the Artisans Center, which was filled with many local arts and crafts.

We headed back over the same route, spending about 3 hours walking by the time we were back at the dock and the tender to return to the ship.

We finally had another formal night and I wore my cobalt blue dress and Jerry wore his tuxedo.

Days at Sea

2009-01-28T18:38:00.000-05:00

Second full day at sea today en route to Easter Island. The weather has been perfect: warm, bright sun, soft breezes, and a few passing clouds. We are both suntanned and relaxed. Unfortunately, the Internet connection is quite slow, so I don’t know how long it will be before you actually read this.

There has been seen gastrointestinal illness on board the ship – enough cases that we are at Code Red and have many protocols in place for containing the outbreak. For instance, the crew is now using a stronger antimicrobial cleaner on a stepped up schedule. The rolls, butter, salt, etc. are no longer on the dinner table, but are served to us one at a time by the wait staff. At the buffet, we no longer serve ourselves, but ask the staff to put our selections our plates for us. The tea, coffee, and water station at the buffet is no longer self-serve, rather is poured for us by staff. The restrictions put an increased burden on the staff, who not only have to serve more food, but also have stricter requirements for handling linens, etc. And of course, some of them have also been sick, so the well ones must be required to absorb additional work duties for those on quarantine.

One of the ill passengers was Jerry. He went to the Medical Center and was given an antibiotic (Cipro), electrolytes powder to dissolve in water, and Imodium. He was also put on cabin quarantine for 48 hours and limited to a special menu from room service, which included clear soup, toast, baked potato, and jello. He tried to order a tuna fish sandwich, but was told that he was on a restricted diet and could not have one. Our regular cabin steward no longer cleaned the cabin or turned down the bed. A specially trained member of the crew in a haz-mat jump suit took over during the quarantine period. The carpets were not vacuumed, perhaps to avoid spreading the disease from cabin to cabin. Frequent reminders were given to passengers about hand washing, and a liquid that smells like pure alcohol replaced the dispensers at the entrances to public rooms. This is a very serious matter on the ship and all of the efforts by everyone onboard have begun to pay off. The number of cases is now heading down.

Captain Ravera has been visible and communicated information to us on a daily basis. He is a charming man and appears to be a fine leader. At least his management style is one that I admire: management by walking around. The man is everywhere! He has a friendly greeting for everyone and is gracious speaking to passengers and answering our questions about the most mundane matters. His pride in the ship is evident and he often expresses his appreciation to the crew for their excellent performances.

We have been outdoors on the open decks many of the daytime hours from breakfast on the back deck to watching the sunset from the recliners on Deck 5. Today we went to bridge lesson in the morning in the Steakhouse and played bridge with another couple for about an hour in the afternoon. I returned my library book and borrowed another one, but I really have very little time to read with all of the lectures, lessons, meals, sun-tanning, walking, shows, chatting with people, and eating. There is so much to do it is hard to find time for a nap!

Continued the day before Easter Island

Our last of sea days before we reach Easter Island. We have busy days at sea. We have been sleeping late for some reason, getting up with barely enough time for breakfast before we go to bridge lessons. After the lesson, we go to a lecture in the Cabaret Lounge. Today’s was “Easter Island Giant Moai Statues” given by Dr. Jim Rowe and very informative. Then we play bridge in the shade on the pool deck with a very nice couple for about 2 hours before we have to stop for lunch. Lunch is barely finished when it is time for another lecture. Today’s was the third one by Les Evans, formerly a pilot on the Concorde for British Airways. He talked about the technical and unique aspects of the Concorde. Then quick change into swimsuits for sun and swim at the pool. Now it is already time to shower and dress for dinner.

Callao/Lima

2009-01-24T16:51:00.001-05:00

We have had a day and a half docked at Callao, the port for Lima. The dock is about a 45-minute bus ride into the center of the city of Lima. Although Callao and Lima used to be separated, they have now merged into a metropolis of 8 million people. That is a huge and busy city to navigate in such a short visit.

The port itself is an active container port, which cannot be walked at all. That meant one kind of a shuttle or another once we were off the ship. The docks are home to an incredible number of sea birds, mostly sea gulls. I have no way of estimating their numbers, but there are hundreds of containers on the docks covered wing to wing with birds. I don’t know if there are thousands, tens of thousands or more. Let me just say that one of the enduring memories of this port will be the pervasive stench of their droppings.

There was a free shuttle from the ship to the port’s gate, where taxis could be hired for tours or transportation to sights. Princess offered a very inexpensive ($5 per person each way) shuttle service from the dock to a Marriott Hotel in Miraflores, a lovely neighborhood on cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. The shuttle bus ride itself became a tour as we rode through neighborhood after neighborhood of varying economic levels, mostly poor. Since it almost NEVER rains here, everything is very dry and the vegetation is sparse except where people make the effort to garden. The houses all have open, unroofed areas so certain are the people living in them that it will not rain. The streets are paved, highways fast, but congested. Like the port, Miraflores is on the ocean, so much of the ride was along the beaches. Some of the beaches are used even though instead of sand, they are covered with black stones. Many young people are surfing and body surfing the waves.

The shuttle dropped us off in front of H Stern, the jewelry store, no coincidence there. The jewelry was all Inca and Peruvian motifs. Across the street there is a mall overlooking the ocean at the bottom of the cliff. The mall is built into the cliff and barely visible from the Marriott. There is a Starbuck’s, restaurants, jewelry stores, and clothing shops. There was also a desk for city tours that turned out to be the bargain of the port. However, we didn’t discover it; friends told us about it back on the ship.

We visited the Artisans Marketplace, admired several items, but in the end decided not to buy anything. Less to carry is always good. It was hard to resist the alpaca sweaters, but we so seldom wear sweaters in Florida it doesn’t make sense to purchase them.

We went back to the ship for lunch on the shuttle and after lunch watched a movie in the lounge. The daily paper, The Patter, said it was a Russell Crowe movie, which it was not. It was, I believe, The Women, a film that has not one male character on the screen. After dinner we went to the folkloric show, performed by a troupe from Lima. They sang and danced a variety of traditional pieces wearing some fantastic costumes, with clever use of so many bright primary colors.

Today we were in port until only 12:30 which wasn’t really enough time to travel on our own back to the city, so we enjoyed a day on board, mostly by the pool.

By the way, we have not as yet changed our clocks. Look at a map of the world if you, like us, think that is strange.

Panama Canal

2009-01-19T09:35:00.002-05:00

We went through the Canal with the Queen Victoria.

We are in our cabin and using the WIFI which has been pretty fast most of the time. Right now we just went through the Pedro Miguel Locks and are heading toward the Miraflores Locks, both of which have webcams. You can probably google those terms and find links to each one. The Queen Victoria has been just ahead of us all day passing through the canal in the same direction as we are going. You can see the canal at any time because of the webcams at both the Miraflores Locks and the San Miguel Locks.

It has been a perfect day for transiting the canal, there have been some clouds that have kept the temperature comfortable most of the day. We entered the first lock before 9 am Whenever the full sun is out, we really feel the heat and the humidity. What an accomplishment it was for the Panama Canal to have been built so brilliantly so early in the 20th century.

Sea Day

2009-01-17T22:19:00.000-05:00

Here we are onboard the Tahitian Princess. The ship is lovely, smaller than we are used to and quite different inside from most cruise ships we have sailed on. The interior décor is very traditional with dark wood, draperies, paintings, and artifacts that are reminiscent of an era long past. Our cabin is a nice size with space for all of the stuff that we brought with us. That is after the cabin steward lifted the bed legs onto towels to make it possible to store the suitcases under the beds and use them as drawers. All of the built in storage units are dark wood and the floor to ceiling mirror is framed in the same dark wood. There is a recessed picture window with both sheers and heavy drapes. I had been concerned that I would lose the dark cave effect of the inside cabin, but the draperies block out nearly all of the light making it barely possible to tell when the sun has risen.

The beds are very comfortable with the perfect weight comforter in a duvet and feather pillows for sleeping and a heavy bedspread for daytime. Right now I am sitting on the love seat in the cabin using the laptop on my lap. Jerry is lying on the bed and watching CNN on the television. There have been some small problems that the crew has remedied for us.

The skies have been overcast and the seas a little rocky right from the beginning. Because of the winds, the Captain made the decision about tendering in to Georgetown, Grand Cayman at the very last minute after the ship was at anchor. It turned out to be the perfect decision. We have been on tenders when we were tossed around a lot, but not this time.

We were on the first tender going ashore after the passengers on the ship’s tours were delivered to shore, so we had a nice long day in the port. We wore bathing suits under our clothes and headed to the beach. My guidebook gave instructions for getting to the public bus near the public library and we had no trouble walking directly to it. The bus was actually a 9 passenger van which dropped us off at the Public Beach on Seven Mile Beach for US $2.50 each.

Since it was early, the beach was nearly empty when we arrived. White sandbox sand slopes down to a cordoned off swimming area in the Caribbean blue water. We spread out our ship’s towels and soaked up the warmth of the sun. (Between the a/c and the overcast skies, we had been cold on the ship.) After a while we went down to the water, ouched our way across a little coral patch and dove into the water as soon as it was deep enough. At first, the water felt cold, but as soon as we were all wet, it was perfect. So we had a little swim and float and returned to the towels to dry off.

Because, of course, I had to eat lunch. We packed up our things and walked along the beach headed toward Gateway of India, a restaurant on the road back to the cruise ship terminals. We walked along the beach for about 45 minutes and arrived at a path to walk from the beach back to the road. While the beaches in the Cayman Islands are all the public, the access routes are not. Fortunately, there are many places between properties that are labeled for public access. We sat on a stone wall beside a lizard who seemed to be saying that the wall was his territory and he was not about to give it up just because we wanted to use it to put our shoes on. In a parking lot we saw an iguana/lizard at least two feet long, so I guess the critters are well fed and secure.

We easily found the restaurant, asked the cost of the buffet lunch and had a great meal. When we told the owner we were vegans, he made a dish of channa dal for us because there were only two vegetarian dishes on the buffet. It was so good! Then the server brought the check. Stupid us! We had not engaged our travel brains as yet. The price quoted was Cayman Island dollars, of course, since we were in the Cayman Islands, but we thought they were US dollars. We had no idea what the exchange rate was, but it turns out that a CI dollar is US$1.25. We never take much money ashore, especially to a beach, so when our $12 each lunch quickly turned into $36 with dessert, currency exchange and whatever, and we were left with very little cash. The change was CI $2.50 which at that point was useless to us. Lacking the money to pay for another bus ride, we had to walk all the way back to the ship. I had a nervous eye on my watch, giving us until 4 pm before I would begin to look for a way to get to the docks without enough money to pay for a ride. But by 4 pm we were at the terminal where the tenders were operating. We stepped into the nearest tourist trap and spent CI$2.24 on postcards, boarded the tender and returned to the ship.

Today I have bandaids on my toes that rubbed together and blistered on our long walk. Now hopefully our travel brains are fully engaged and we will be smarter about currencies and exchange rates.

Tahitian Princess 00, Huahini FP

2009-01-13T08:28:00.001-05:00

Tahitian Princess 00, Huahini FP
Originally uploaded by ericcrofton

Tomorrow this will be our home!

Cobalt Blue Dresses

2009-01-11T12:02:00.002-05:00

Someone started a discussion about Marc Jacobs on the Cruise Critic QE2 2008 World Cruise roll call and before you knew what had happened, we were all out shopping for cobalt blue dresses. Several times during the voyage we had nights of the cobalt blue dress and didn't we look smashing? I am taking my cobalt blue dress on the Tahitian Princess but I will miss the group every time I wear the dress.

Bags are packed

2009-01-11T09:59:00.001-05:00

Three large suitcases, one garment bag, two rolling carry-ons, a computer bag/briefcase, leather carry-on and one canvas bag full of paperwork and books are now lined up in the guest bedroom. In addition, we will take a carton packed with a four month supply of toiletries and cosmetics and my handbag. The bags are all a couple of pounds under the airline's 50 pound weight limit for checked baggage and 26 pounds for carry-ons. Not all of the bags will be on the flights home since we will use up or leave behind the paperwork, books, and any remaining toiletries.

Much to my surprise we were able to fit everything into the bags. In fact, we still have too much stuff and clothing. Of course, if we had to fly to the port as well as home again, we would have had to pack differently. I would have had to be much more selective about the clothing to pack. But, lucky us, our neighbor will pick us up in the morning and 35 minutes later we will be at the port.

Now the question is what will we forget. One of us always forgets something important. For the QE2 WC, we forgot to pack scissors and a comb for me to use to cut Jerry's hair. We spent half a day in Montevideo comparison shopping for scissors! That half a day is best forgotten. When we went on a cruise to Alaska from our home in Florida, Jerry went without a jacket! Fortunately we arrived in Seattle the day before and went immediately to a shopping center where he bought a winter jacket. I forgot the garment bag on one trip on land and just got along without it. We arrived in Quebec in the summer with two teenagers and no raingear or jackets for the cold rain we encountered. Misery! We went to our lake house and left the cooler full of food on the kitchen table and since it would spoil and stink, Jerry had to turn around and make the trip there and back - another half day best forgotten.

Maybe this time we will not forget anything. I have never had such a good packing checklist to work with.

Average Temperatures in Ports

2009-01-08T09:43:00.003-05:00

For the day we will be in each port, these are the average highs and lows:

Ft Lauderdale 72/53
Grand Cayman 80/74
Panama Canal 84/76
Quito (Manta) 86/72
Lima (Callao) 79/68
Easter Island 78/70
Papeete 89/72
Rarotonga 84/76
International Dateline 85/76
Auckland 73/62
Burnie 64/55
Sydney 79/66
Brisbane 84/70
Cairns 88/75
Rabaul 88/74
Guam 85/76
Osaka 54/39
Hiroshima 54/40
Inchon 46/35
Shanghai 53/42
Hong Kong 71/63
Ho Chi Minh City 92/76
Sihanoukville 100/75
Singapore 88/77
Kuala Lumpur 91/74
Mumbai 90/77
Dubai 93/72
Salalah Oman 88/75
Luxor 93/65
Port Said 71/63
Athens (Piraeus) 66/52
Sorrento/Capri 64/48
Rome (civitavecchia) 63/47
Cannes 61/49
Barcelona 62/47
Gibraltar 66/56
Lisbon 65/51
Cork 55/43
Paris/LeHavre (Normandy) 56/51
Dover 61/44
Zeebrugge 50/49
Amsterdam 61/46
Copenhagen 60/45
Helsinki 59/41
St Petersburg 60/44
Tallinn 57/42
Stockholm 60/41

Voyage Itinerary

2009-01-08T09:22:00.003-05:00

This is the Tahitian Princess itinerary

Jan 14 2009 FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA 05:30PM
Jan 15 2009 AT SEA
Jan 16 2009 GRAND CAYMAN, 10:00AM 06:00PM
Jan 17 2009 AT SEA
Jan 18 2009 PANAMA CANAL, PANAMA 07:00AM 04:30PM
Jan 19 2009 AT SEA
Jan 20 2009 MANTA, ECUADOR 06:00AM 07:00PM
Jan 21 2009 AT SEA
Jan 22 2009 AT SEA
Jan 23 2009 LIMA (CALLAO), PERU 07:00AM OVERNIGHT
Jan 24 2009 LIMA (CALLAO), PERU 01:00PM
Jan 25 2009 AT SEA
Jan 26 2009 AT SEA
Jan 27 2009 AT SEA
Jan 28 2009 AT SEA
Jan 29 2009 EASTER ISLAND 09:00AM 06:00PM
Jan 30 2009 AT SEA
Jan 31 2009 AT SEA
Feb 01 2009 PITCAIRN ISLAND SCENIC CRUISING
Feb 02 2009 AT SEA
Feb 03 2009 AT SEA
Feb 04 2009 PAPEETE, TAHITI 08:00AM 05:00PM
Feb 05 2009 AT SEA
Feb 06 2009 RAROTONGA, COOK ISLANDS 08:00AM 05:00PM
Feb 07 2009 AT SEA
Feb 08 2009 AT SEA
Feb 09 2009 CROSS INTERNATIONAL DATELINE -1 day
Feb 11 2009 AT SEA
Feb 12 2009 AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND 07:00AM 10:00PM
Feb 13 2009 AT SEA
Feb 14 2009 AT SEA
Feb 15 2009 AT SEA
Feb 16 2009 AT SEA
Feb 17 2009 BURNIE, TASMANIA 08:00AM 06:00PM
Feb 18 2009 AT SEA
Feb 19 2009 SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA 07:00AM 10:00PM
Feb 20 2009 AT SEA
Feb 21 2009 BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA 08:00AM 06:00PM
Feb 22 2009 AT SEA
Feb 23 2009 AT SEA
Feb 24 2009 CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA 07:00AM 06:00PM
Feb 25 2009 AT SEA
Feb 26 2009 AT SEA
Feb 27 2009 RABAUL, PAPUA/NEW GUINEA 07:00AM 02:00PM
Feb 28 2009 AT SEA
Mar 01 2009 AT SEA
Mar 02 2009 GUAM 12:00PM 07:00PM
Mar 03 2009 AT SEA
Mar 04 2009 AT SEA
Mar 05 2009 AT SEA
Mar 06 2009 OSAKA, JAPAN 08:00AM 08:00PM
Mar 07 2009 HIROSHIMA, JAPAN 09:00AM 05:00PM
Mar 08 2009 AT SEA
Mar 09 2009 INCHON, KOREA 08:00AM 05:00PM
Mar 10 2009 AT SEA
Mar 11 2009 SHANGHAI, CHINA 07:00AM 06:00PM
Mar 12 2009 AT SEA
Mar 13 2009 AT SEA
Mar 14 2009 HONG KONG, CHINA 07:00AM 08:00PM
Mar 15 2009 AT SEA
Mar 16 2009 AT SEA
Mar 17 2009 HO CHI MINH CIT, VIETNAM 08:00AM 04:30PM
Mar 18 2009 AT SEA
Mar 19 2009 SIHANOUKVILLE 08:00AM 06:00PM
Mar 20 2009 AT SEA
Mar 21 2009 BANGKOK, THAILAND 07:00AM 07:00PM
Mar 22 2009 AT SEA
Mar 23 2009 AT SEA
Mar 24 2009 SINGAPORE 07:00AM 05:00PM
Mar 25 2009 KUALA LUMPUR, MAL AYSIA 07:00AM 06:00PM
Mar 26 2009 AT SEA
Mar 27 2009 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, IN 12:00PM 07:00PM
Mar 28 2009 AT SEA
Mar 29 2009 AT SEA
Mar 30 2009 AT SEA
Mar 31 2009 AT SEA
Apr 01 2009 BOMBAY, INDIA 07:00AM 10:00PM
Apr 02 2009 AT SEA
Apr 03 2009 AT SEA
Apr 04 2009 AT SEA
Apr 05 2009 DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 07:00AM 08:00PM
Apr 06 2009 AT SEA
Apr 07 2009 AT SEA
Apr 08 2009 SALALAH, OMAN 07:00AM 05:00PM
Apr 09 2009 AT SEA
Apr 10 2009 AT SEA
Apr 11 2009 AT SEA
Apr 12 2009 AT SEA
Apr 13 2009 LUXOR/KARNAK (SAFAGA), EGYPT 06:00AM 10:00PM
Apr 14 2009 AT SEA
Apr 15 2009 SUEZ CANAL, EGYPT 01:00AM 05:00PM
Apr 16 2009 PORT SAID, EGYPT 07:00AM 08:00PM
Apr 17 2009 AT SEA
Apr 18 2009 ATHENS (PIRAEUS), GREECE 09:00AM 06:00PM
Apr 19 2009 AT SEA
Apr 20 2009 NAPLES/CAPRI (SORRENTO), ITALY 08:00AM 06:00PM
Apr 21 2009 ROME (CIVITAVECCHIA), ITALY 07:00AM 06:30PM
Apr 22 2009 CANNES, FRANCE 09:00AM 06:00PM
Apr 23 2009 BARCELONA, SPAIN 12:00PM 11:00PM
Apr 24 2009 AT SEA
Apr 25 2009 GIBRALTAR, GREAT BRITAIN 07:00AM 01:00PM
Apr 26 2009 LISBON, PORTUGAL 10:00AM 06:00PM
Apr 27 2009 AT SEA
Apr 28 2009 AT SEA
Apr 29 2009 COBH, IRELAND 08:00AM 06:00PM
Apr 30 2009 AT SEA
May 01 2009 PARIS (LE HAVRE), FRANCE 07:00AM 07:00PM
May 02 2009 LONDON (DOVER), ENGLAND 07:00AM 05:00PM
May 03 2009 PARIS (LE HAVRE), FRANCE 07:00AM 06:30PM
May 04 2009 ZEEBRUGGE, BELGIUM 08:00AM 06:00PM
May 05 2009 AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS 09:00AM 05:00PM
May 06 2009 AT SEA
May 07 2009 COPENHAGEN, DENMARK 07:00AM 05:00PM
May 08 2009 AT SEA
May 09 2009 HELSINKI, FINLAND 08:00AM 05:00PM
May 10 2009 ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA 07:00AM 09:00PM
May 11 2009 TALLINN, ESTONIA 09:00AM 03:00PM
May 12 2009 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN 07:00AM

Bridge Cams

2009-01-08T08:37:00.005-05:00

Like the other ships we have traveled on, Tahitian Princess has a bridge cam pointed toward the bow of the ship. You can watch our progress at this url.

This is the view this morning where she is going through the Panama Canal, which we will do on January 18, traveling from north to south.

Packing Checklist List

2009-01-03T14:01:00.001-05:00

It is really time to be packing for this adventure. This is the checklist I am working with to pack everything we think we will need that we will be able to fit into the baggage we can take for free on the airplane.

Paperwork packet
_____cruise tickets
_____copies: passports, insurance cards
_____credit card numbers list
_____credit card company phone numbers

Stuff
_____ business cards
_____ credit card(s)
_____ keys (car, house)
_____ money
_____foreign currencies
_____ passports, driver’s licenses

Electronics
_____ laptop, powercord, case
_____iPod, accessories
_____Nintendo, cord, cards
_____power bar
_____cell phone, charger
_____ camera, charging unit
_____ memory cards
_____ portable drive

First Aid Kit
_____ Deet spray
_____ Tylenol
_____ Imodium AD
_____ Band-Aids
_____ Benadryl pills, cream
_____ Itch eraser
_____ Bonine, bands
_____ Cough drops/Cold tablets
_____ nail kit
_____ thermometer
_____ triple antibiotic cream
_____ z-pack

Toiletries - His
_____ after-shave
_____ deodorant
_____ hairspray
_____ prescription meds
_____ mouthwash
_____ razors
_____ toothbrush
_____ toothpaste
_____ dental floss
_____ scissors, comb

Toiletries - Hers
_____ combs/brushes
_____ deodorant
_____ eyeglasses/eyeglass case
_____ hair spray
_____ make-up
_____ moisturizers
_____ nail kit
_____ Q-Tips
_____ razors
_____ toothbrush
_____ toothpaste
_____ dental floss
______mouthwash

Her Stuff
_____ athletic socks
_____ socks
_____ belts
_____ blouses
_____ sweaters
_____ bras (regular, sports)
_____ hat/sun visor
_____ Capri pants
_____ slacks, cold weather
_____ slacks, hot weather
_____ sleepwear, slippers
_____ panties
_____ pantyhose
_____ sandals
_____ shorts
_____ sneakers
_____ formal, semi-formal
_____formal wear lingerie
_____ swim shoes
_____ swimsuits
_____ cover-ups
_____ tank tops/t-shirts
_____ workout clothes
_____jewelry, watches, case

His Stuff
_____ athletic socks
_____ casual slacks
_____ dark socks
_____ belts
_____ ties
_____ sleepwear
_____ loafers
_____ athletic shoes/walking shoes
_____ polo shirts
_____ sandals
_____ shorts
_____ swim trunks
_____ T-shirts/tank tops
_____workout clothes
_____ sportcoats
_____ dress shirt
_____ underwear
_____ tuxedo
_____ tuxedo accessories
_____ dress slacks
_____ formal shoes
_____jewelry, watches, case

Miscellaneous Stuff
_____binoculars
_____ envelope (legal size) for receipts
_____ envelope for photos
_____ flashlights, pocket-size
_____ highlighters
_____ kleenex (purse pack)
_____ laundry bag
_____ lint roller
_____ on-shore tote bag
_____ pens
_____ Post-It notes
_____ power bar
_____ rain ponchos, umbrellas
_____ sewing kit (w/safety pins)
_____ sunglasses
_____Playing Cards
_____Duct Tape
_____Swiss Army Knife
_____Zip Lock Bags (different sizes)
_____Folding tote bag/Back Pack

National Poinsettia Day

2008-12-12T14:26:00.000-05:00

Wikipedia says that December 12 is National Poinsettia Day in the United States. Since the poinsettia is one of my favorite symbols of the holiday season, I decided to mark the occasion with an off topic post . Two years ago I received a poinsettia plant as a gift and when the holidays had passed, we found a place in our garden on the side of the house. Last year I took this photo and used it for our holiday cards.

When we lived in upstate New York, I often kept holiday poinsettia plants for more than one season. We had the perfect spot for growing them indoors, a living room full of natural daylight. We so seldom used the room that the darkness of winter nights was not disturbed by artificial lighting. The darkness told the poinsettias it was time to bloom again and they did spectacularly.

It was much easier in Florida with Mother Nature doing the watering and providing just the right amount of sunlight and darkness for the plants to thrive.

You can see that we do not cruise to get away from the winter weather.

New friends/Old friends

2008-12-11T11:58:00.000-05:00

One of the most rewarding aspects of a long voyage like a world cruise is the people you can meet both in ports and on board your ship. On board the ship it is possible to really form relationships with both passengers and crew. Thanks to email it is also possible to maintain a connection to those cruising friends living continents away. I count myself as truly blessed to be in touch with people on 5 continents who we met on cruises over the years. (So far, not Asia or Antarctica.)

Some tips for those international contacts

1. Go prepared to give people your information and to keep theirs where you can find it after you return home. We have inexpensive business cards printed at an online company, of which you can find many by googling "free business cards." They are not really free, of course, but you pay only shipping. You do not need any online skills to order these cards. The sites themselves are very user friendly and anyone with a computer and a credit card can do it. This time we did step it up a bit and uploaded a photo of us taken on a formal night which is included on the card. An alternative to or supplement to the business cards would be address labels that you can stick on cards or notes.

2. Take some little note paper or cards for leaving messages or invitations for fellow passengers.

3. Use the contact information right away before you can lose it.

4. Keep in touch the way you do with your other friends so you can be part of each others' lives.

5. Send them your cruise plans. Maybe they will join you on the cruise or be able to meet you in a port in their country.

And that is something we are looking forward to on our next voyage! No, more than look forward to. Eagerly anticipate is closer to our real feelings. We have plans to meet quite a few cruise ship friends in ports the Tahitian Princess will visit.

Time to sail again

2008-12-06T11:28:00.000-05:00

Who would have thought that we would be doing another world cruise this soon? We both wanted to do one again because the first one was so fabulous, but we thought a year or two at least would pass. But, life intervened and here we are booked to leave in just a few weeks.

This time we are sailing on the Tahitian Princess with our most traveled cruise line. We do get many nice perks for being in their Elite status and we have always enjoyed our cruises with Princess. At about 30,000 tons and carrying 670 passengers, TP is the smallest cruise ship we have sailed on. In fact, about half the tonnage of the QE2.

The itinerary includes about 50% ports that will be new to us. Of the remaining 50%, there are very few, maybe only one, we do not look forward to revisiting. And that one would be- Ho Chi Minh City. We just might stay on the ship for that one. If you want to know why, check this post.

In addition to the full world cruise, we are staying onboard for the extension that includes Brussels, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Tallinn and St. Petersburg. We have long wanted to visit St. Petersburg, so the extension is a wonderful bonus for us. We have been only to Amsterdam and Copenhagen on that segment of the cruise and look forward to returning to those great cities.

Before we booked, we sent our passports off the State Department for renewal. Luckily for us, the State Department is operating efficiently and our passport package arrived about 3 weeks from the date we mailed it. And, our contacts with the customer service people at State were incredible. In a time when every customer service contact is a nightmare, the State Dept. people were friendly, cheerful, pleasant, spoke clearly and gave us good news.

Now we are tracking the progress of our visas at the visa service. We need to acquire passports through the service for only China and India. Australia is an electronic document easily acquired online by self-service and the remaining visas will be acquired by Princess and charged to our onboard account.

Although no shots are required this time, we did just return to the County Public Health Clinic Travel unit for the last shot in our Hepatitis A series. We are now fully immunized for the standard travel package.

Next task will be planning the packing. New challenges this time include the need to fly back from Stockholm bringing airline baggage restrictions into play. Last time, we traveled round trip Fort Lauderdale and the QE2 had a baggage room and baggage master. We were able to take 9 suitcases between us with no problem or additional fees. This time we can take without additional fees 4 checked bags weighing no more than 50 pounds each and the usual carryons. The good news is that there are not anywhere near as many formal nights eliminating at least one suitcase.

The end

2008-05-12T09:06:00.000-04:00

It has been over a month now since we arrived back in Port Everglades and it has taken me all of this time to sort out the voyage in my mind. At first I was very sad. People would say, “Aren’t you glad to be home?” or “ There’s no place like home.” Most of the people are just being nice and don’t really want to know the complexity of all of my feelings about the ending of this unbelievable experience. I just said, “Yes, there is no place like home” because that is certainly the truth. Truth or not, it isn’t always the place I want to be. Where I want to be is back on board the QE2 going to exciting ports, experiencing more days at sea just feeling the ocean under the ship and watching the waves and occasional whales pass by. I learned why people go on annual world cruises.

I think I am in mourning for the loss of my new friends. There is something special about friends made onboard ships. Perhaps it is because you think you will never see each other again, and so you open up and really connect. I continue to think of them often and miss seeing their happy faces, playing games with them, having long discussions about economics, the state of the world, longevity and aging, women’s role in the world, what’s for dinner and taking more cruises.

A couple of people back in my real life recognized right away that we would be missing the daily adrenaline rush from the new ports, new people, and constant entertainment. I miss the cruise director, not the person, although he was a nice man who performed his duties well. I miss each night having his list of hourly activities slipped under my door to keep me busy, challenged, informed, entertained.

I miss not having to take care of the daily chores of living. I liked having my bed made with clean sheets and showering with clean towels that I dropped on the floor. I liked not having to plan menus and grocery shop. I liked getting up from meals and walking away from the table to rush off to the next fun thing. I liked having so many people to talk to about shared interests and differences. I liked visiting exotic places around the world and I liked living at sea. But I don’t like the economics of how that happens on the backs of so many other people from poor countries. My comment that it would be more fair if we switched roles every two weeks with the crew was ignored as too preposterous to even be acknowledged .

Planning this trip I knew we would see interesting ports, but I did not really know what it would be like to be away from home with the two of us living in a space about the size of our bathroom at home. We took a leap of faith that it would be enjoyable and rewarding and it was.

I also planned to do some inner exploration and think about what I want to do with the rest of my life, to find some answers to the big questions. I did the inner exploration and the thinking and what I found were more questions.

I have a renewed appreciation for the many good things about life in the United States. I was so surprised at the interest around the world in who will be our next president. Nearly every person we spoke with about the election wants Barack Obama in the belief that he will make the promise of America closer to a reality. They believe that the US president still impacts the quality of their lives and they want peace and economic stability and believe that Obama is the person who can make it happen.

I have returned home changed and still the same. I have a better sense of the size of the planet and the locations of continents and cities. I saw the differences between people and the ways we are all exactly the same all over the globe.

I want to do it again – and we will, someday…

180 degreees

2008-04-27T11:35:00.000-04:00

We have been home for a couple of weeks or so and I will write more about that later. For now, I was reviewing the blogs I wrote and discovered at least this one that was not posted.

We just had a three day weekend, two Saturdays and today, Easter Sunday. On the westbound voyage in February, we crossed the International Dateline and lost a day. On our first Saturday, March 22, we crossed the Dateline eastbound and gained a day which meant that we had Saturday, March 22 again. All of the onboard paperwork, like the Daily Programme and invitations to cocktail parties, had a notation beside the date whether it was for the first or second March 22.

For our young readers: the International Dateline is the point opposite the Prime Meridian at Greenwich, England (0 degrees longitude) at which adding 12 hours and subtracting 12 hours meet, thus creating a 24 hour change with the date east of the line being a day earlier than the date west of the line. The time is moved forward one hour for every 15 degrees of longitude, so traveling eastward roundtrip to Greenwich, you would finish a full day ahead on the calendar. So the International Dateline was created to correct the situation.

The dateline problem was first identified on Magellan’s expedition during the first circumnavigation of the globe (1519-1522). During the voyage the crew had kept meticulous records to track the hours and days that had passed and arrived on land in Europe certain of the date. To their surprise, their date was different from the date on land. Now we know to change the days as we pass by.

Some people on board had a problem with this since the Sunday happened to be Easter Sunday. It troubled them that there were more than 3 days between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The rest of us just had a good time having 2 Saturdays this week and one more day at sea.

It being Easter Sunday, we received a visit from the Easter bunny.

We have been taking bridge lessons each sea day from an excellent teacher who just happens to live in Fort Lauderdale. After her lesson, we play bridge for about an hour with two of our friends. Our game is really improving. In addition, several afternoons we have played games of bridge with one of the couples at our dinner table. The teacher assured us at the beginning that if we attended all of her lectures, we would be good bridge players by the end of the voyage. We will see.

We had hoped to spend time out on the open decks during the afternoon, but the clouds came in and it has been raining. Another sea day tomorrow and then Honolulu on Tuesday. The dinner on shore for the passengers on the full world cruise will be held at the Honolulu Convention Center. There will be over 800 people at the dinner, which is supposed to be quite elegant. I saved the black and white formal dress I bought at Barbara Katz for this special event. My formal wear has been getting a real workout and some of it will be quite worn out by the end of this trip.

We arrive in Maui on Wednesday and then head back out to sea on the way to Los Angeles.

The day before Panama Canal

2008-04-04T13:05:00.000-04:00

This morning the air is warm and humid, the seas are calm and the sunshine is bright. It is our second day at sea since Acapulco and tomorrow we are scheduled for our Panama Canal transit. I am sitting in the Boardroom, the space reserved for passengers on the full world cruise, watching dolphins and flying fish pass by. There have been a few birds as well, but too small and far away for me to identify. After my morning oatmeal and baked apple, I walked on the deck for a while. Well, I started to walk and then I met Veronica, then Judy, then Grace, so we did more talking than walking. Jerry stayed in bed longer this morning and we will meet again at the bridge lesson.

I am happy to say that the QE2 once again has soy cheese. We ran out a long time ago and it was a staple of our diet. We must have eaten their entire supply by ourselves. At any rate, I had not expected they would have any again before our disembarkation, so it was a pleasant surprise on top of our Greek salad when it was placed before us at dinner last night.

There was a woman injured during the boarding of the tenders in Acapulco in fairly calm seas. A swell appeared, catching everyone off guard, and the woman’s leg was trapped between the tender and the boarding pontoon. There was a lot of blood and people thought she had broken her leg. Today the story is that her leg was not broken, only cut. It just underscores the wisdom of canceling those tender ports when there were 50 foot waves.

Richard Dreyfuss has been onboard for a few days as a guest celebrity and lecturer. He has been walking around the decks like any other passenger, except that more people know who he is. “Jaws” was shown in the theater yesterday and then Mr. Dreyfuss talked about making the movie, his career and his plans for the future. Last night Jerry and I ran into him outside the Yacht Club. Jerry started a conversation with him and he was most gracious speaking to us for several minutes.

We expect to have a busy day at sea with two cocktails parties to attend at the same time tonight. And it is Cruise Critics’ cobalt blue gown parade.

Maui

2008-03-27T21:54:00.000-04:00

second of two today

Exhausted! By the time we woke up after our big evening in Honolulu, breakfast in the dining room was over, so we ate in the Lido. We were in no hurry anyway and were just looking forward to the relaxing day in Maui because “Maui no ka oi” or Maui is the best.

Before we even left the ship, we were enthralled by a whale and her calf swimming right near the ship throughout the day. We watched the two swim slowly together blowing spouts of water and a couple of times flipping a tail. The Captain said he had never seen so many whales in a port in all his years at sea. It is always exciting to have even a glimpse of these giant mammals of the ocean and to have one nearby for so long was wonderful.

Taking our time we had a pleasant 15-minute tender ride to the pier where we headed off for a stroll through Lahaina, the former whaling port on the island, now a tourist spot. We wandered through some shops, stopped at the post office, made some phone calls, and boarded a bus to Kaanapali Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. We rode the bus to Whalers’ Village, a shopping mall adjacent to the beach. Jerry headed right to the large towel on the sand and I headed to the restaurant for lunch. After lunch, we spent our time swimming and sunbathing. The water was clear and cooler than I expected but welcome in the 90 degree temperature of the air.

Since the ship was to sail at 6 p.m. and all aboard was at 5:30 and we were more than 30 minutes away and the bus left once an hour, we reluctantly left the beach at 3 p.m. to board the bus back to Lahaina and the tender back to the ship. After showering and getting dressed for dinner, we returned to the top deck to wave good-bye to the whales and Lahaina. Sitting at the dinner table, I had a perfect view of the sunset and one more green flash. A show in the Grand Lounge featuring two young men singing Beatles music was a perfect ending to our stay in the Hawaiian islands.

Honolulu

2008-03-27T21:53:00.000-04:00

first of two today

After six days at sea from Osaka, we both woke up at 5 a.m. without a wake-up call anxious to see the arrival in Honolulu. It was still dark when we went to the top deck, where it was a beautiful tropical morning with a light breeze blowing across the bow. On the horizon, the lights of Honolulu grew brighter and larger as we approached. The city was just waking up, with light traffic on the highways and lights in the high buildings just starting to come on. There were clouds hanging above the mountains, but the city itself was clear as the sun rose. We watched as tugs gently pushed the QE2 towards the pier and the terminal building. As a 40-year old ship, the QE2 does not have the side thrusters of the newer cruise ships. She is however the fastest merchant ship at sea, easily maintaining a speed of 28 knots for days. We were soon joined at the pier by the gorgeous Diamond Princess and although she is one of the newest ships in the Princess fleet, the QE2 can go faster in reverse than she can go forward.

After breakfast at 6 a.m., we joined a queue so the US customs and immigration people could see the passport and ship’s id for each passenger, all 1800 of us. Once the queue began to move, it moved quickly but the entire process took well over an hour. Finally, the ship was cleared. As people began to disembark, each one received a lovely orchid lei. We were down the gangway and aboard the free shuttle bus to Hilo Hattie’s, a store specializing in Hawaiian clothing, jewelry and souvenirs. From there we walked to K-Mart for toothpaste, a phone card, fresh batteries and playing cards. From K-Mart, we walked back to Hilo Hatties, where we tried unsuccessfully to use the pay phone. I think our families are never in their homes. We took a different shuttle from there to Maui Divers, a jewelry store, where we saw a really interesting video about coral mining and jewelry making. We toured the area where they design and produce the jewelry, including where they give the final polish to the gold pieces under a powerful exhaust system, recovering hundreds of thousands dollars worth of gold a year.

By this time, you know who needed food. We boarded the Maui Divers shuttle and were fortunate enough to get the same driver, who was already a friend of Jerry’s, of course. They discussed politics, economics and restaurants. At first the driver suggested The Cheesecake Factory but we said no, no, something more Hawaiian. He dropped us off at the door of his recommendation, Fatty’s Chinese Restaurant, consisting of a take-out counter and 6 stools at a bar surrounding the food preparation area. The cook prepared each dish individually in a huge wok. When we got there it was very crowded and we got the last two seats at the bar. The vegetable fried rice was fabulous.

We crossed the street and walked to ocean and Waikiki Beach where thousands of people were surfing the breakers, swimming, sunning, playing and having fun in the sun and water. Back onto the shuttle and a sight-seeing tour of the downtown area, we were soon on board the ship again in time to dress for the World Cruise Dinner held at the Honolulu Convention Center for passengers on the full world cruise. Buses were waiting at the gangway at 5:45 for a tour of historic Honolulu narrated by a guide accompanied by recorded Hawaiian music. Soon we were at the Convention Center circular entrance and being greeted by torch bearing men in traditional Polynesian costume and by a couple dozen adorable little girls also in traditional costume. They presented us with more leis to wear throughout the evening over our formal clothes. We had to ascend two double floor escalators to the roof-top garden and the cocktail hour under the stars. Miss Hawaii and other lovely people stood on pedestals around the garden for informal photos with guests. We were entertained with hula dancers and traditional music while we enjoyed champagne, cocktails and delicious hors d’ouvres.

We were led by the entertainers to the ballroom for dinner and dancing and more entertainment. Lucky us! We sat at table number 2, right next to both the stage and the dance floor. Captain David Perkins and the President of Cunard, Carol Marlowe, sat on the opposite side of the room at table number 1. The room was spectacularly decorated, the entertainment non-stop, and the food outstanding. Even the vegan food was outstanding! We had vegetables wrapped in puff pastry with a wonderful light tomato sauce.

After five hours, at least one of which we were dancing, it was time to return to the bus and the ship. We were still wide awake and wired so we joined some friends at the midnight buffet and enjoyed a plate of fruit.

Vietnam

2008-03-24T18:43:00.000-04:00

Ho Chi Minh City

Our day in Ho Chi Minh City was such an exhausting day that it took us many days to be able to talk about it. Our ship’s tour, Ho Chi Minh City on Your Own, was supposed to leave at 8 a.m., right after breakfast. We were scheduled to drive to the city with a comfort stop on the way, have a brief tour on the bus of the most important buildings, and then be on our own until time to board the bus for the return ride to Vung Tau, where the ship was docked. In fact, the ship never received clearance from the Vietnamese government for passengers to disembark until 10 a.m. Because of the 2 ½ hour ride from the port of Vung Tau to the city it was at best going to be a very, very long day and now we had a 2 hour delay before we even boarded the bus.

The bus was nearly new and very comfortable and we had an English speaking guide on the bus to provide commentary along the route. One nerve-racking part of the ride was the large number of bicycles and motorbikes competing with the buses and cars for the same spaces on the highway. They did not use a bike lane because there was no bike lane. The driver drove with one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand on the horn and sometimes one foot on the brake. You cannot imagine the traffic on a narrow highway and the stress of the constant horn blowing and breaking unless you have been there. At any rate, we did pass through typical third world country landscape and housing. When we reached the comfort stop, the driver at first drove past the entrance to the small shopping center. He then had to go to a roundabout, reverse directions, travel on a limited access side road to make a u-turn in too narrow a space to get to the entrance again, dodging bikes, people, cars, scooters as he went.

The shopping center consisted of little stores, a McDonald’s and a grocery store with a turnstyle to limit entrance even though no one was in the store. The toilet facilities were adequate as long as you didn’t have trouble using the Asian toilet on the floor. As we returned to the bus, we were beset by local peddlers and beggars who tenaciously tried to separate us from our dollars. Postcards, t-shirts, and other tourist trash didn’t tempt us.

The closer we got to the city, the heavier the traffic became and the more Vietnamese we saw wearing face- masks and scarves to cover as much of their faces as they could because of the dust and air pollution. By the time we arrived it was way past lunchtime. Oh,oh! You know who needed a meal. We drove by the former US Embassy famous for the night-time helicopter removal of the last of the personnel at the end of the war. The guide showed us their other important sights. And then, we were on our own and searching for a restaurant. We found one the guide recommended in a small upscale hotel with a quaint dining room where we sat at a table for two by the front window. We had a tasty typical Vietnamese meal of noodles and vegetables and set off again on foot to see the city. First stop, a market that covered one square block with 3 foot aisles and merchandise displayed on 3-foot wide tables on both sides of the aisle. The air was humid, filled with the exhaust of the thousands of vehicles, and there were awful smells. It was a very short visit through the market.

Walking back to one of the main streets over flat sidewalks, we were both very short of breath. All along the way, there were shops and street hawkers trying to sell us something. In retrospect, there were a couple of things we might have bought, but we were so much overwhelmed by the mass of humanity, we just said no, no, no to everything.

We returned to an area near our drop-off point, stopping at the famous Rex Hotel, from which the US press corps made all of their broadcasts during the war. It is still a very prestigious hotel with hostesses greeting people at the door, a gambling casino on the mezzanine, elegant stores beyond the lobby, including Cartier. We sat in seats by window watching for a while with others waiting like us to leave. We strolled through a park to the other hotel where we once again joined our guide and fellow passengers to wait to board the bus.

On the trip back we would both have liked nothing better than to sleep, but no luck with rush hour traffic now added to the misery. Did my head ever ache. We did have another comfort stop at the side of the road, but we passed this time and stayed on the bus. Beggars and hawkers did their best to sell us some of their junk without their even boarding the bus. Finally back at the ship, we said been there, done that and were on to find a dinner in the Lido since we were too late for the dining room. What a day!

Osaka, Japan

2008-03-20T02:38:00.000-04:00

Japanese Immigration and Customs staff were with us after the stop at Shanghai to take care of the paperwork onboard while we were at sea. They were very efficient. They gathered forms for customs, immigration and health information. They digitally photographed and fingerprinted us, and used a thermograph of some kind to take everyone’s temperature. They really want to make sure that everyone is healthy when they land in Japan.

At 8:30 we disembarked in Osaka, met three friends and walked a short distance to the nearest subway station, Osakako. We had exchanged a few Yen and acquired a full color map of the subway system at the Information Center at the port and were ready to set off. At the Osakako subway station an employee who spoke no English showed us how to work the ticket machine and said we needed tickets for 230 Yen to reach our stop in the heart of the city. At our stop at Tanimachi4-chome we put our tickets into the machine to exit and red lights flashed and bells rang. When another employee came over to us, he said we owed another 40 yen apiece because we had walked underground to the next station on the line without realizing it! So we paid our money – about 40 cents – and were able to exit.

A few minutes walk took us to Osaka Castle Museum, our destination point. On the way, the overcast skies let loose the rain so we stopped and all put on our raingear. At the Castle, we paid the entrance fee of 600 Yen (about $6) each, once again using the machine to make our purchase. An elevator took us to the top floor observation deck, where we had 360 degree view of the moats surrounding the Castle and the city beyond. We were able to see the huge ferris wheel beside the ship’s berth, a baseball field, and the buildings of the city in spite of the rain. From there, we worked our way down through 7 floors of exhibits showing the construction of the Castle, the customs and battles of the era.

It was time for coffee. We found a Japanese version of Starbucks, copied right down to the names of the drinks, so Jerry had no trouble ordering his beloved Americano latte. We stood out not only because of our appearance and dress, but also because we talked and laughed out loud. It was incredibly quiet in the coffee shop and on the streets. On the main street with all the automobiles, you could hear a pin drop. It took a little while to figure out that one reason for the silence was that the automobiles were so quiet, maybe they were electric. Anyway, there were no sounds of horns blowing, no muffler noise, no pollution, no people talking, no music playing. It was as if all five of us had gone deaf.

Our mission then was to find a restaurant before returning to the ship. We looked in vain, finding Chinese restaurants, Japanese restaurants serving raw fish, cooked fish-heads and food we didn’t recognize, and coffee shops. I wanted noodles! By that time we were at the subway station and ready for the return trip. Once again we needed help with the ticket machine. We asked a man at the ticket booth for help and he said, “You go” and motioned to the ticket machines. So we obeyed thinking that wasn’t much help. Then, a little door opened up in the middle of a wall and he leaned out and helped us make our purchases right at the machines. After we put the tickets in the turnstyle, he came out of the ticket booth and walked us to a map to show us the way through the station to a different level and the Chuo line green train to get back to the Osakako station and the port.

On the subway train, a three-year-old in a stroller boarded with his parents. They parked the stroller right beside us and the child couldn’t take his eyes off of us The child didn’t even blink, just looked until we all got off the train. Jerry says he never saw people quite like us. Off the train, we resumed our mission to find a restaurant for lunch. Finally we found one. We walked in and saw a family eating exactly what I wanted: soba noodles, soup, and rice with vegetables. It was a very small place, so we think the owner was the server. After we were seated, I said I wanted the dish that the woman at the next table was eating. Jerry said “Two.” And the others added 3, 4, 5. The server said 1. We said 5. She said 1. We looked at each other and she spoke in Japanese to the other customer who said to us in English, “Last one.” I was tempted to let them watch me eat it, but we left and had lunch on the ship. Bummer.

In the subway, there were posters with pictures of the QE2 and words in Japanese. My guess was that like the other ports it was to give directions to the port and for selling boat rides and such for the local people to view our ship when we sailed away. For a while before we sailed, there were many people on balconies in the 5-story building adjacent on to the pier. We were walking around the ship and looked out the large window at the people looking in at us. Jerry started waving to different groups of people. First he waved to three women, who imitated whatever wave he did so we know they were waving back at him. Then he waved to a child about 4 years old who was so excited he started to jump up and down and Jerry copied him jumping up and down. They walked across the balcony and Jerry walked to different windows of the ship, waving and laughing together with the little boy. The Pied Piper transcends nationality, attracting children around the globe.

On the water side, there were sightseeing boats filled with people taking pictures of us taking pictures of them. It is exciting to make contact with individuals without a common language.

We sailed at 6 and had our usual formal dinner and evening. We went to bed by 10:30 and at 12:30 a.m., we began intermittent waking up because we were being bounced around quite a lot. This noon, the Captain made his daily announcement and said that during the night we had sailed into an unreported low pressure area and had experienced 80 mile an hour winds or force 11 to 12 on the Beaufort scale. The ship was bouncing a lot, but we didn’t think that there was such a storm outside. One of our dinner table companions told us at bridge lessons that his water carafe had fallen over on top of him and he slept the rest of the night in a wet bed! The Captain told us to remember the old adage, “one hand for you, and one for the ship” and hang on to railings as we walked about the ship today. There has been some movement of the ship today, but nothing to take note of and certainly nothing like the spray that was reaching 3 levels above our deck during the night. All of the water splashed out of the indoor swimming pool located in the exercise area on Deck 7, two decks below us.

Update on fatalities: so far 14 people have died onboard and 2 of them were given burials at sea. There were people having coffee one morning at the Pavillion Restaurant on One Deck and observed several of the ship’s officers conducting a brief ceremony for one of the burials.

Shanghai

2008-03-18T18:37:00.000-04:00

The second of 2 posts today

We don’t usually take one of the ship’s tours, but with our berth an hour away from this city of 16 million people whose primary language is in an alphabet we can’t read, we decided we would. It turned out to be a good decision. The tour bus picked us up at the ship. The tour guide was a young, unmarried man who told us all about his family, including mother, father, auntie, and their customs and traditions. It was interesting and informative to hear about their culture. Not far away is the city of Chung King, a city of 32 million people, which ballooned in population with the relocation of factory workers from Shanghai. Close to 50 million people in just these 2 cities.

Our first stop was downtown Shanghai in front of the Jin Mao Building and Oriental Pearl Tower, their television tower. Just about every city now seems to have a tower for observation from a high perspective. Jin Mao is a tall building, 88 stories high, which was the largest building in Asia until Dubai beat them by more than 10 floors. So now they are building another skyscraper that will be 110 floors. The lower floors are usually banks and shops, middle floors are hotels and restaurants, top floors are offices.

After that the next stop was The Bund, which is the elegant riverfront promenade, lined with lovely 19th century buildings. The river carries an enormous number of vessels of all kinds, many container ships on a very busy waterway.

There is surprisingly a Chinatown in a city in China. When the Europeans first began trading, there were established zones, American, British, French and of course, Chinese. The Chinese section became known as Chinatown. The Old Town stop included a walk through the narrow, winding streets lined with shops (a Starbucks) and a temple.

The Children’s Palace, is an after school center run by the government for economically disadvantaged children 3 to 7 years old. The school emphasizes the arts and provides one-on-one training on musical instruments, in dance, and visual arts in an attempt to make up for the time and resources that more affluent parents put into extra lessons for their children. In appearance, the school could be a day care center in the US except for the language. Cute little kids entertained us playing the piano, violin, zither, cello. One child was very much like one of our grandchildren with a twinkle in his eye as he leapt off the stage to shake hands with gusto with each of the many tourists in the audience.

At the Jade Buddha Temple we climbed flights of stairs to see two statues carved out of one large piece of white jade. Quite nice pieces. In the tea house we sampled 4 varieties of tea, some good, some bad depending on individual taste. Each of the teas was supposed to be good for various ailments, such as insomnia, headache, and cancer.

At lunch time, they took us to the 14th floor of the Jin Jiang Hotel, which opened in 1929 and is now the only 5 star hotel in Shanghai. It is the hotel where in 1972 President Nixon and Premier Zhou Enlai signed the papers to re-establish US-China relations. We sat at large round tables, with a turntable in the center for passing around the various dishes. We enjoyed corn soup, dumplings, rice, Tsin-tao beer, spinach, and an assortment of Asian dishes unknown to us, but very tasty.

Then back to the pier and our ship.

Melbourne

2008-03-18T18:35:00.000-04:00

The first of two posts today, Tuesday, March 18

The morning of February 29 we were off the ship and walking to the end of the pier right after 9:30. Melbourne is a city with an incredible public transportation system, so we took full advantage of it. At the terminal at the pier, we purchased all day transportation passes for $6.50 Aus and that was the only money we spent on transportation for an entire day of getting around the city. We got on the 109 tram at the end of the pier and rode into the city center. The trams are mostly new, very clean, safe, quiet and abundant. They run on train tracks and are powered by electric wires overhead. They are very easy to figure out, and whenever we had trouble we just asked people nearby and they helped us.

At city center we switched to the free city center shuttle tram that runs a loop around the downtown area, with stops at major attractions and shopping areas. We rode that about half way around the loop and got off at the stop closest to the Victoria Market, the largest outdoor market in the southern hemisphere. It is an amazing complex of buildings and semi-open structures housing over 1000 vendors selling everything – organic produce, doughnuts, fabulous cheeses, meats, prepared foods, and stuff of all kinds. The variety and abundance of food was mouth-watering. After wandering through the stalls for a while, we headed off on foot to find Chinatown and lunch. We got turned around a couple of times, but managed to find the area of streets with Chinese lettering on all of the store signs and the perfect restaurant – Post Deng. It was named for Deng Xiao Ping to recognize his love of food and his making Szechwan food popular. Jerry had hot and sour soup and vegetables with rice and I had steamed vegetable dumplings and vegetables with rice. We chose the restaurant because it wasn’t glitzy and it was very crowded. It turned out to be an award winning restaurant and the food tasted like it.

From there we walked back to a stop where we could board a number 16 tram to St. Kilda, a popular seaside suburb, on another part of the bay from where the ship was docked. There is a lovely beach and a very new complex of spas and indoor swimming pools. We wandered a bit there and went into a restaurant for a cup of tea. In addition to the tea we shared an excellent nougat candy with cherries and pistachio nuts in it. Back on the number 16 tram, we rode it until we reached Royal Botanical Gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance, a monument honoring Australians who died in wars. More wandering through the gardens until nearly 5 p.m. when we decided it was enough for one day and we headed back to the ship. We weren’t sure which way to go, so we asked a man walking past and he said we needed to board the number 8 tram, the same as he was. We sat with him on the ride and shared a few minutes of interesting conversation.

We left the number 8 tram at Federation Square and walked a few blocks across the city in rush hour traffic, with commuters mostly on foot and trams until we reached a stop where we could board the number 109 back to the ship after a fun-filled day in another Australian port.

Hong Kong

2008-03-15T21:45:00.000-04:00

(We have had very unstable satellite access for quite a while now. They tell us it should soon improve. Everything else is still fabulous. We have had a change of port in April. We will go to Cartagena, Columbia instead of Puerto Moin, Costa Rica. They told us it is because it is a port in which we must anchor and use the tenders to get to shore. In Puerto Moin it is often difficult to use the tenders and right now they are experiencing very strong easterly swells making tender use even more difficult. The change doesn’t matter to us.)

We sailed into another busy container port on the island of Kowloon. There was a foggy mist covering the tops of the tall skyscrapers and mountains and we weren’t really sure where Central Hong Kong was from the QE2’s berth. As soon as the ship was cleared by local officials, we were down the gangway and off the ship to find out. The ship provided a free shuttle for us through the canyons of containers stacked 7 high and into Central Kowloon. We had plans with friends to go to the island of Lantau, but first we had to get to Hong Kong. We had no Hong Kong dollars, but the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbor to Hong Kong was free for senior citizens and took 8 minutes.

Then we set about finding a place to exchange our money because we knew everything wouldn’t be free. We were 10 feet from where the ferry to Mui Wo on Lantau would leave, but we couldn’t pay for a ticket. We were told that there was an HSBC across a footbridge over a large highway and into a mall, so we set off to find the bank. Finally we found it, only to be told that we would be charged about 12% to change money since we didn’t have an account in the US with HSBC. Our friend went to an ATM and changed enough money for all of us to use, so we found our way back through the levels of the mall to the footbridge and the ferry pier. The Hong Kong ferries are amazing! Each day they move thousands of people among the islands of Hong Kong. Some of the ferries are hydrofoils, some double decker, some old, some new. But all of them that we saw were clean and punctual.

We paid our half-price senior citizen fee for the 50-minute ride to Lantau, twice the size of Hong Kong Island and the largest island. Hong Kong Island has a population of 1.4 million while Lantau has about 84,000. We had been told to take the number 2 public bus when we got off the ferry and it was there waiting when we arrived. But, no one told us we would need to pay exact fare. So the six of us traveling together for the day, pooled our Hong Kong Dollars and managed to come close enough to the fare to not mind overspending a bit. The bus ride! The guidebook describes it this way, “The bus hurtles around hair-raising curves and up and down through lush countryside – not for the faint of heart.” Well, I was there anyway, faint heart and all! We went up and down and around hairpin turns for about 45 minutes and we were indeed hurtling. There were sheer drop-offs, the roadway went across dams, and in two places, the road was single lane. On the way up the mountain, I thought the lane closure was for construction, but coming back down, I saw that there had been huge rockslides that filled half the road. The construction was to try to remove the boulders and create a retaining wall for the cliff remaining beside the road. It was an exciting ride, but Jerry managed to take a nap on the return trip.

Lantau is a popular destination in part because of the Giant Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery. Both are on a plateau at an elevation of 2,421 feet – high enough for ear popping getting there. The Buddha is enormous, more than 98 feet tall and built only about 15 years ago. Adjacent to the Buddha is the Po Lin Monastery, famous for vegetarian lunches served family style in a plain dining hall. The food was excellent and abundant although we didn’t know what some of the dishes were. There is a large temple with an ornate interior that contains three bronze statues of The Buddha. We went to the temple after lunch and were wandering around just in time to witness the monks doing their afternoon chanting and bell ringing. What a treat that was for us. The smell of incense filled the interior of the temple and the surrounding area.

We went back to the bus stop for the number 2 bus to reverse our route and get back to the ship. A bus was there as we approached and we tried to board, but the driver waved us away. Why did he not let us on?? We had to line up on an island within a special area, then he picked us up. Again the fiddling around pooling our small Hong Kong dollars to get the exact fare – close enough.

Back on the ferry, only this time we were on a fast hydrofoil. It took us only about 20 minutes to return on this fast ferry. When we arrived in Hong Kong, we walked back to the huge mall where Jerry treated all 6 of us to a Starbucks! It is everywhere and just as delicious everywhere. One of our friends had broken his glasses so in the mall we found a Lenscrafters, they are everywhere! After purchasing glasses, we walked back to the footbridge, were amazed at the display of colored lights on all of the skyscrapers in the growing darkness. A beautiful sight.

Back again on the free ferry to Kowloon where after a short walk, shuttle buses were waiting to return us to the ship. We arrived back, had dinner at the Lido, and the ship left at 10 pm. Watching the ship sail away from Kowloon past the bright lights of Hong Kong was another spectacular display.

This is a place to return to.
Hong Kong

Hobart, Tasmania

2008-03-09T01:36:00.000-05:00

The second port in Australia was the small city of Hobart on the island of Tasmania. We disembarked at 9:30 after breakfast and took a free shuttle bus into the center of town, where they dropped us off at the tourist information office.

So once again the doomed glasses gave us a mission. This time it wasn’t my fault, but one of the plastic nosepieces had broken and needed repair. The tourist office directed us to an optician where we dropped off the glasses and picked them up after our stop at the Post Office where we mailed some postcards.

We walked around the newer pedestrian mall, strolled through a park with a monument and statue, sat in a square with modern restaurants and shops watching storm clouds gather and pass without our getting rained on. As we walked back to the shuttle bus, a young businessman in a nice car pulled alongside us and started a conversation. We couldn’t imagine what he could be intending to try to sell us. To our surprise, he only wanted to talk with people from the QE2 about the ship. He was fascinated by her. He arrived in Hobart at 6 a.m. to watch her sail in to the port. What a love between Aussies and the QE2. We told him what a grand ship she still is and he told us how fortunate we are to be onboard and how envious he was. He said he had purchased a lottery ticket just to win enough for the voyage, but it wasn’t a winner. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie – Oy, Oy, Oy!

We returned on the shuttle bus to the ship in time to be in the Grand Lounge for the Hobart Police Pipeband. There were several musicians dressed in kilts playing bagpipes, big drums and snare drums. What a show and a farewell to Hobart and Tasmania.

Sydney

2008-03-08T02:05:00.000-05:00

(We were too busy to write anything while in Australia, so these ports will be out of order. Now you will have our last and first ports.)

Leaving Auckland, we sailed one day on the South Pacific Ocean and then one day on The Tasman Sea before entering the magnificent Sydney Harbor. It has to be the most beautiful in the world, capped by the stunning Opera House. It was barely dawn when we were greeted by helicopters, water cannon, a flotilla of small boats, kayakers, and people on the shore. We sailed past the swimming club where there were already people swimming laps as the sun flashed brilliantly off the glass on the skyscrapers. TV cameras were on the shore and in the helicopters overhead to capture our arrival. The Queen Victoria arrived ahead of us and had taken the best berth, so we were pushed and pulled by tugs into a secondary spot, which was still close enough to the sights to be fun.

After docking and breakfast we took the free shuttle to the center of the city, determined to find a place to buy both phonecards and pay phones to call our families. We were successful, but it wasn’t easy. It is always hard to figure out how technology works in other countries and Australia was no exception. The phone ate the first card so we had to buy a second one. While I was at the store making the purchase, Jerry found someone who had an iron grip and was able to pull the card from the phone. So we then had plenty of minutes on 2 cards and had a wonderful time throughout our stay in Australia making calls to family.

We rode the hop-on hop-off Explorer bus all morning covering the route of the downtown city area – casino, Queen Victoria Mall, gardens with palm trees, the State Library, churches with ringing bells. We passed Darling Harbor with the Maritime Museum, aquarium, and shops. After lunch back on the ship, we walked the long, long way to get back on the Explorer Bus, rode to the Train Station, and switched to the other route for a ride out to the suburbs and Bondi Beach, famous for white sand covered with people and large waves filled with surfers on their boards. At the beach, the bus stopped for 10 minutes so we were able to walk along the sand, see the surf and take a few pictures. Along the way we passed hordes of fans in their team shirts, cheering madly on their way to football games at the stadium. They were very intense, shouting cheers and waving to all of us on the double decker bus. We drove in and around Fox Studio where they shoot films.

The welcome we received in the morning paled in comparison to the fanfare surrounding the departure of Queen Victoria and the QE2 moving from the first berth to the one right by the Opera House where the QV had been. There were an estimated 400,000 people on the shores and a hundred small boats to witness the only time the Queens had ever passed going in opposite directions. The turnout was evidence of the great love people throughout our travels have for the ship.

The second day in Sydney we walked near the ship to get a close look at the Opera House inside and out and the area called the Rocks where there are many tourists, historic buildings and stores. We are able to restock Jerry’s bar in the cabin with quinine water for vodka and tonic with a piece of lime. Late in the afternoon, the QE2’s sailaway was hailed with more crowds of people lining the shore, on rooftops, and boats. As we sailed away, there was a blast of her magnificent horn, one not to be confused with the paltry tweet of any other vessel. It was a magnificent sight for the QE2’s final departure from Sydney, never to return again. There was again an array of boats, planes, and people eager to cheer the much-loved vessel out of the harbor.

Freemantle and Perth

2008-03-05T19:54:00.000-05:00

Freemantle is the port city for Perth, the capital of Western Australia. All we did in Freemantle was walk to the station to catch the train to Perth and stop in the Coles Supermarket on our return to the ship. However, our sailaway from Freemantle was another spectacular event with people lining the docks, the jetties, and every available spot on the shore to wave good-bye as QE2 sailed from Australia for the very last time. Most of the Australians were waving flags both on the shore and on the ship. There was a good-sized band playing music on the pier, including the Australian national anthem. The Aussies have a tradition of a cheer. One group of people shouts “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” and another group responds, “Oy, oy, oy.” Someone told us that it started at the Olympics at some sport, but I don’t know if that is true. Whatever the source, it is a perfect representation of what I have seen of the Australian spirit and it is great fun to listen to them do it. You may be able to see that I have fallen in love with Australians. They are relaxed, genuine, high-spirited, kind, friendly and any number of other admirable qualities. Many of them will be leaving the ship in Singapore which is closer to WA than Sydney is. I will miss them. As we sailed away, there were water cannons and a flotilla of small boats of all kinds, as well as some good-sized yachts that saw us out of the channel.

As the sun set, there were many people remaining on the open decks and the horizon did us the favor of showing us a green flash. While it was not an impressive one, it was observed by many who had never seen the green flash before. I have lost count of how many I have seen now, but this time Jerry also added one more to his count. We stayed on deck with another couple as the sky grew darker and the stars came out. The woman we were with knew astronomy and she showed us our first view of the Southern Cross, the constellation visible only from the Southern Hemisphere which functions somewhat like the North Star. She showed us how the use two fingers to measure three widths of the constellation across the sky, drop a line to the horizon and have a close approximation to the true south direction.

Now that I have covered the night, I will get back to the day. From the Freemantle train station, we boarded the inexpensive, clean, safe, prompt, quiet reliable train into the city of Perth. In Perth, there are extensive FREE bus routes, so we jumped on the Blue Cat for a quick ride to the ferry terminal. But, at the first stop, there was a Maoz Vegetarian restaurant. We were quite late in getting docked, clearance from local authorities, and off the ship, so it was almost noon and we hopped off. We first discovered this restaurant on Las Ramblas in Barcelona and then in Boynton Beach about 15 minutes from our house. (In Boynton the name is now Fala and it is in the strip mall in front of Home Depot.) The restaurants serve Belgian chips (steak fries) and falafels with pita and a huge salad bar with fresh chopped vegetables, sauces, pickles, olives. We stuffed ourselves for $10 each including a bottle of water and unlimited visits to the salad bar.

Back on the Blue Cat we rode the few stops to the pier and purchased a ticket for the ferry to South Perth and the zoo. That was also a short and inexpensive ride. A few blocks of walking and we were at the zoo. That would not have been inexpensive except that it was Wednesday and on Wednesdays adults enter for half price. We had to visit the zoo because we have not seen any of the animals typical of Australia anywhere along the way. The zoo is a modern one with authentic habitats created for the animals. We did finally see many birds, penguins, crocodiles, emus, kangaroos, koalas, wombats. In fact, many of the people who paid to go on tours did not see kangaroos because they are a bit like deer in upstate New York. The kangaroos come out at dawn and dusk so the people on the tours were told that they were at a spot where in a few hours there would be 55 kangaroos. So we saw some kangaroos with joeys taking their daytime siesta. Our dinner table companions from Perth say that you never see a kangaroo when you want to, only when you don’t want to like in the dark in front of your car. It was a very warm and humid day with full sunshine so we enjoyed ourselves at the zoo and walking around the city.

Back on the Blue Cat, we rode to the stop for the train terminal, purchased tickets, found the correct track and rode back to Freemantle in about 25 minutes. As we left the train station in Freemantle, we walked to the Coles Supermarket – the long way. We couldn’t find the entrance until we had walked three sides of the building! But then we were able to make our purchases: tonic water to go with the limes and vodka in our cabin, a pencil sharpener, pencils and erasers. I have become addicted to Sudoku in the daily USA Times we get each day onboard and wore out the one pencil I brought on the cruise.

So back to the QE2 and farewell to Australia.

Decks and dancing

2008-02-29T21:45:00.001-05:00

My son sent us an aerial photo from the BBC website of the QE2 leaving Sydney the other day. He said “Here they are!” and we were – along with 1500 other people who appear as tiny specks on the open decks watching the helicopters, tugs, police boats and other small boats seeing us out to sea. If you can find the photo, you will have a good view of the decks I have been mentioning. From the left side of the picture (aft on the ship), the first deck is Deck 1 with deck chairs, Jacuzzis, the swimming pool and out of sight, the Pavillion, where they serve coffee and a light breakfast in the morning and French fries, burgers and hot dogs during the day. The next deck, the Quarter Deck, is barely visible but there are some tables and chairs outside and the Lido buffet inside. The next deck with the blue deck chairs is the Upper Deck, which is entered through the Yacht Club, which has its own story I will tell you below. Then Boat Deck, which has not only the lifeboats, but the shuffleboard, paddle tennis, basketball court, and so on in addition to the walking track all around the deck. Finally, there are two separate looking splotches of blue which are really on a single deck, the Sun Deck, where we have sat in the sun, and the Funnel Deck Bar, where we sometimes have sat for tea outdoors. Then the QE2’s distinctive red and black funnel. And now you know your way around important parts of the ship.

The Yacht Club is a bar, meeting space, and easy access to the outdoors. During the day, there are lectures there or a pianist playing background music. At night, there are often invitation-only cocktail parties or open parties with a Caribbean-type band playing dance music. Jerry and I rarely dance, but we like to have a dance or two on each cruise, so we went to the Yacht Club for one, quiet, romantic dance. Just as that dance was ending, Thomas and Michelle from the Cruise Directors office came in and said no one could leave the dance floor because they were having a twist contest. I tried to leave, but they protested, so I decided to be a good sport about it. There were a few couples on the dance floor with us. Thomas said that everyone should leave the dance floor except the three couples who had been tapped by him or Michelle. Once again I tried to leave, but we had been “tapped” so we had to stay. We ended up dancing three dances to twist music – I can’t say we danced the twist and those of you who have seen me dance will know what I mean. So by applause the audience was to choose the winning couple. We were couple number one – no applause, no surprise. Couple number 2 received a little polite applause and couple number 3 received a nice round of applause. Thomas and Michelle said we were all winners and gave each couple a split of champagne. Back in the cabin to document the event, we took a photo we took of ourselves with the bottle of champagne won in a dance contest! Now, I can say, we have done it all.

Auckland to Sydney

2008-02-26T00:26:00.001-05:00

Leaving Auckland, we sailed one day on the South Pacific Ocean and then one day on The Tasman Sea, known for its rough waters. This time was no exception. There were airplane style throw-up bags at all of the elevators, although we never saw anyone who used or needed one. And, good news, I didn’t need one either.

There was a question and answer program in the Grand Lounge the other day with the QE2’s Master and Captain, Ian McNaught. To illustrate how well the QE2 handles the waves and weather, he told about the time there was a wave measured at 96 feet that broke over the bridge and they just sailed on. (Look at a photo of the ship. The bridge is the part high up on the ship that sticks out on both sides.) That is about the size of the wave in The Perfect Storm, by the way. Here in our cabin in steerage, we hardly feel any movement at all. Just a gentle rocking every once in a while, like being in a hammock that puts you to sleep instead of waking you up. We love this ship. I wish we had known about her sooner!

The Captain also told a good story about taking the QE2 into a berth in New York City. They expected the berth to be empty to accommodate her at around 70,000 tons, but as they turned the corner, they could see that there were already two container (or tanker) ships in the berth. A ship this size does not change directions or stop immediately, so there was essentially nothing they could do. The ship first bounced off the German ship and then off the Japanese ship with no damage to any ship. The Captain said that he went immediately to apologize to the Captains, first to the German ship and then to the Japanese ship. The German Captain was gracious and accepted the apology. Captain McNaught said that he was concerned about apologizing to the Japanese Captain because they are known to be very serious about their ships. The Japanese Captain also graciously accepted the apology, saying “It is an honor for our ship to have been kissed by a queen.”

We are often in the Grand Lounge or the Theater on sea days for lectures or movies. A usual sea day begins with our waking up at leisure and dressing for the day. Breakfast at the Mauretania Restaurant begins at 8 am, so we are usually there about the time it opens. Then we go to a lecture about upcoming ports or other entertaining topics, such as the Captain’s Q&A. At 10:30, we have to be at the bridge lesson for an hour. That leaves an hour to wander, sit outdoors, talk with friends, check email or whatever until we are back in the Mauretania or Lido for lunch. Lunch is leisurely unless we have something special planned. Today Jerry did the laundry and I have been writing on the computer in the cabin. If we hadn’t had a plate of French fries at the Pavillion after lunch (!), we would be getting ready to go to tea in the Queen’s Room. Jerry has tea and I have hot water. There are cucumber and other sandwiches and several kinds of pastries. At the beginning of the cruise I tried eating scones just because they are so delicious, although not vegan, but my body said NO, so I stopped. So we will finish the laundry, sit outside on the deck for a while and then dress for the formal dinner in the Mauretania tonight. After dinner we will go to the show in the Grand Lounge where comedians, musicians, and others entertain us for an hour or so. And then, we head to the cabin, watch a little television and get a good night’s rest for another day at sea or in port.

Auckland

2008-02-26T00:25:00.001-05:00

Auckland

What a beautiful place! We loved this city. We walked off the ship with four of our friends and got on the hop-on/hop-off Explorer Bus at the Ferry Terminal about two blocks from the ship. The first stop was Kelly Tarltons Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World where I finally saw some penguins, granted not in the wild, but in very authentic conditions. At Tarltons, we rode in Snow-cats on a track through an environment that is matched to the length of daylight, temperature, and other conditions duplicating Antarctica. The penguins, of several varieties, were free to be penguins and roam about a fairly large area as we rode by encased in our vehicle for their protection. The underwater part was like the aquarium in NJ near Philly where the people stand on a moving walkway through clear tubes with marine life swimming beside and above them. We saw sharks, stingrays, and many varieties of fish, including lobsters, eels, and cousins of Nemo and Dory from the Disney movie.

We rode past several stops because it was lunchtime! We went to Parnell Village, New Zealand’s oldest suburb, with its Victorian buildings, art galleries, restaurants, boutiques and tourists as well as locals. We enjoyed our vegetable sushi lunch, including a delicious tofu-wrapped rice dish I forget the name of while sitting in an outdoor courtyard in front of a lovely fountain.

After lunch we made a stop at one of the shops, an optician. Once again my doomed glasses needed attention. This was the same pair that I dropped from the Boat Deck to the roof of a structure below a few days earlier. This time I had bent one of the earpieces so much that it was impossible to have anything in focus. A nice man there said they might break, but he would try. Since I had nothing to lose at that point, I said please give it a try. They were quickly back on my face and working perfectly. Next, I was admiring the pastries and desserts in a patisserie and decided to buy one for each couple to share as a dessert. It was a fabulous bar made of oatmeal, pistachio nuts, cashews, peanuts, raisins and a wonderful honey. I have been thinking about it ever since!

Back on the bus, we rode around the circuit to the Auckland Museum and wandered through the collection of Maori artifacts and exhibits. The collection is impressive and has to be seen to be appreciated, so after I return home, I will put photos where everyone can view them on the web. Although it was a wonderful museum, we quickly reached our museum-saturation point and went outside to get on the satellite bus route out to the suburbs. We stopped at Mt Eden, Auckland’s highest point, for stunning 360 degree views of the city and a view down into the remains of the volcanic crater. The driver on the satellite bus wanted to talk so we had a fabulous discussion about Auckland and the US and traveling. What a pleasure it was to talk with him.

And so we were back on board and sailed away from another wonderful port.

Tonga

2008-02-21T23:55:00.000-05:00

Tonga is hard to describe. We had to anchor offshore and take a ship’s tender (lifeboat) to the dock, but this time there was easy access to the harbor and there were many tenders from the ship transporting passengers and crew to the port. There were small shuttle buses waiting to transport us into the town where we walked through a food and craft market. The food was different and interesting for us to see. They had some of the typical vegetables and fruits, but the staple of their culture is a root like taro. The roots were enormous, maybe 5 feet long. To cook them, people took them home and roasted them whole in a fire pit. I think the taste would be something like sweet potato.

Many of the men were dressed in traditional skirts and not for the tourists. We saw police uniforms for men that were skirts and shirts. The people there are really friendly and happy even though they have few material goods. Or maybe because they have few material goods and an otherwise wonderful life.

While waiting for our little shuttle bus to return us to the tenders, we were outside a craft store where Jerry insisted that I buy a flower sculpted on a shell and made into a pendant. Although I didn’t really want it, we bought it with all of the money I had taken ashore. When we left the store there was a man on the sidewalk who asked what we bought in the store. Jerry showed it to him and the man asked how much we paid. The pendant was priced at $150, so Jerry thought we did well to get it for $16 until the man said in the market we could have bought all we wanted for $5 each. Jerry was so bummed.

On the return bus ride to the dock, we drove past the King of Tonga’s palace and the cemetery. In the cemetery they put the deceased’s most treasured possessions at the grave, which included several magnificent appliquéd quilts at several graves. The quilts were stunning and I suppose as useful there as anywhere but it pains me to see them slowly disintegrating in the hot sun and rain instead of being preserved. But, we did get to enjoy seeing them and we wouldn’t have if they had been in a drawer somewhere.

We had delicious Indian dinner the next night in the Lido buffet with fabulous rice and lentil dal. We look forward to the Indian Dinners, which they have each segment, so there will be a few more of them.

The best part of our dinner meal in the Mauretania Dining Room is the salad. We alternate among 3 of them. A vegan Caeser salad, a Greek salad with chopped peppers, onions, tomatoes, black olives, cucumbers, and soy cheese chunks. The third one is a julienned peppers, carrots, onions, lettuce, tomatoes with a marinated walnut dressing. All fabulous and the soy cheese is better than any we can get at home.

Tahiti and Moorea

2008-02-18T02:11:00.000-05:00

The mystique of Tahiti as an exotic island paradise is well deserved. What a delightful place it is and what a fine day we had while the QE2 was docked in Papeete, the main city on the island of Tahiti. Fletcher Christian and the mutineers of The Bounty returned to Tahiti for the women they took with them to Pitcairn Island. There is some question whether the women went willingly or not, but at any rate, the people who came on board at Pitcairn were the descendents of that group.

QE2 docked in an area very nice for a port. We were only one short block from the main shopping area where we wandered through a produce and flower market and fabric stores. Oh, the fabric stores! They were filled with luscious Polynesian florals in all of the colors of the rainbow. It was so difficult not to buy some, but there is not space for one more yard of fabric in my quilting stash. There were also some fabulous shell necklaces that I was very tempted to buy. However, they were very large and I can’t imagine that once away from Polynesia they would be a part of my wardrobe even in Florida.

We walked with two other couples from the ship to the next dock to buy tickets for the fast ferry to Moorea, a neighboring island. It was the scheduled time for the ferry to depart so some of us went to the gangway to see if we could slow boarding down enough for the Jerry and Tony to purchase tickets. We couldn’t slow it down, but they were waiting for everyone to board anyway. We had a smooth 30-minute ride between the islands, first on the open back deck and then inside as the rain began.

Ah, the rain. The lush vegetation isn’t there because the island is a desert. The little rain storm ended quickly and we all began walking to the nearest beach, about 45 minutes away. We were walking along in single file down a two-lane paved road with quite a bit of traffic for a little island. We watched as the gray clouds and the rain moved lower down the hills until we were in a deluge. But, it was warm and we were dressed in swimsuits, so what was the difference. We were walking by houses the local people live in and enjoying being in such an exotic place.

As we turned a curve and walked down a hill, we came to the Soffitel Resort – google it! We walked to the bar across the driveway and asked the uniformed guard if it would be possible for us to have lunch there. He checked with the person in the guardhouse nearby and said it would be possible, so we walked to this posh resort, soaking wet. There was a server in the restaurant who said that we would be welcome to have the buffet lunch since there would be no lunch in the formal dining room. She said it cost 8400 Polynesian Francs and thought that was about $12 US. She checked and said that wasn’t quite the exchange rate- it was actually $116 US each for a buffet lunch.

The rain had stopped again, so we said thank you so much, climbed over their little stonewall to their private beach, walked across their beach to the adjacent public beach and settled in. As I looked back, I could see one of the staff members cleaning the highly polished rosewood floor where we had left a little trail of watery footprints. At the far end of the public beach there were toilets, an outdoor shower and a restaurant in a little house. The six of us sat outdoors under a beach umbrella at a little round white picnic table and enjoyed a wonderful lunch of French fries, vegetable panini, and apple-peach Hi-C for $54 US. So the six of us had a delightful lunch for less than half of what one of us would have paid at the resort. After lunch we swam in the calm, spectacularly clear and shallow water for a while. Then we took turns changing to street clothes while semi-wrapped in a ship’s towel – a bit too European for me, but I can learn.

Jerry and I decided it was time to catch the fast ferry back and set off on our own when once again we were trudging in a deluge with the ship’s towels over our heads and shoulders. Jerry said not to worry that as soon as we got off the beach road onto the highway we would get a ride or a taxi would stop. The first car to pass us on the highway stopped, and three teenagers crammed us into their little car with them. They were so nice! They took us to the ferry, dropped us off and continued on their way.

As we waited for the ferry, they cut open a fresh coconut for us and instead of afternoon tea, we sipped the cold coconut milk through two straws. What a great time we are having! The ferry ride back was once again fast and smooth in spite of the rain shower and we watched sea birds flying overhead from the inside of the ferry where we were comfortable and drying out.

After sailing away and having dinner, we ended another day on the open decks enjoying the fresh air and the balmy breezes under the constellation The Southern Cross.

Easter Island

2008-02-12T23:21:00.000-05:00

After much techno-stress, I am back online. There were several problems. The most important one being that the woman who helps in the Computer Learning Center ate something on shore in Valparaiso that made her sick for several days. The other important one being that my mind seems to be disengaged most of the time! At any rate, it appears that at least everything electronic is now finally working the way it is supposed to. (Be sure to see Valparaiso which I intend to post at the same time as this.)

By the way, I have really enjoyed the little compass on my new watch. I keep looking at it to see what direction the ship is going and a couple of times, I have used it to get oriented when we are wandering about on shore.

The sea days have been terrific as always. The ship has a very homey-feel about it and I have never felt crowded onboard. Well, except when waiting for the tenders at Easter Island.

Belonging to Chile, Easter Island, known in the local language as Rapa Nui, is 2500 miles from South America and another 1200 miles to the next nearest spot, Pitcairn Island. Easter Island is only 45 square miles and has a population of 3000, many of whom work for the government or military. The island was formed by three main volcanoes, now extinct.

The QE2 arrived early in the morning, we had breakfast as usual and then waited for our turn to board the tender to get to shore. The approach to the port village of Hanga Roa is narrow and with very large rocks on each side of the channel. It is so narrow that only one tender can be in the channel at one time, so with about 70 people in each tender, you can imagine that it was quite a process to get a good percentage of our 1800 passengers onto shore. We usually go on our own on shore, but on Easter Island, we thought it would be a good idea to go on the ship’s tour to have a knowledgeable English-speaking guide. Our tour was fabulous. The guide was a young man from Scotland who has lived on the island off and on over about 5 years. We understood his English and he knew a lot about the island, the culture of the people and about the moai.

We traveled over unpaved and very dusty roads in a non-air-conditioned van to our first stop, Rano Kau, one of the island’s 3 calderas in which there is a freshwater lake. Then on to Orongo Village, a restored ceremonial village on top of the rim of the crater. The homes there are thought to postdate the moai. This village is the focal point of the Birdman Cult, in which the strongest of the tribes competed each year for the leadership of the tribes. Our final stop was at Ahu Akivi, where there are 7 restored moai. As the civilization supporting the moai collapsed, all of the moai were toppled over, so all standing moai have been restored. My most memorable image of Easter Island, however, is a Polynesian couple, dressed in ceremonial costume dancing together. Wait until you see that photo!

After the tour, we road through the town back to the pier and the tenders. We passed an enormous runway that was built by the US as an emergency landing site for the space shuttle program. Although it has never been used by the shuttle program, it does get used by commercial airlines bringing tourists to the island. The wait for the tenders was mostly in the hot sun, temperatures felt like about 85 degrees. The ship had put up a large awning to provide some shade and brought water for us to drink, but with no toilet facilities until we returned to the ship, I had only a few sips of water. We returned happy, hot and dusty.

There is another cocktail party tonight. Three nights ago, we were invited to the Captain’s Cocktail Party on the open Funnel Deck. It was a spectacular evening, with the sun just setting, a warm breeze blowing and the sea gently rocking the ship. Everyone looked wonderful, including me in my cobalt blue dress and Jerry in his tux. The next night was a large cocktail party in the Queen’s Room for all of the people who had just become Gold Members of the World Club, Cunard’s loyalty program. We just became Gold and love our new 4 hours of free Internet time to use before the port of Singapore, when we will get 4 more hours. Last night there was no party, but we needed to sleep anyway. And tonight there is a cocktail party in the Yacht Club sponsored by the Hotel Manager. We have dressed for so many formal nights, I am beginning to wonder if my clothes will be worn out by the end of the cruise. I have sent my white dressy jacket to be dry-cleaned, which to my surprise will cost about the same as at home. The laundry service is another pricing scale altogether, so the launderette was quite busy today when we once again did 2 loads of clothes. As one woman said, she wasn’t about to pay $2.50 to have one pair of her husband’s tighty-whiteys laundered.

Tonight when we go to bed, we turn the clock back 2 hours. Right now we are at the same time as Florida so this will begin our westward travel and repeated moving the clock and then crossing the International Dateline in a few days. Tomorrow we have an unscheduled stop – Pitcairn Island, made famous by the Mutiny on the Bounty. We will go close enough to have a couple dozen locals come aboard to talk to us about their island as the ship circumnavigates Pitcairn a couple of time. That is the plan right now.

Valparaiso

2008-02-12T23:20:00.000-05:00

Valparaiso

Valparaiso, on the west coast of central Chile, has a population of about 150,000 people. It is on a huge bay surrounded by 45 hills, filled with ravines, plunging down to the ocean. The streets and houses go nearly to the very top of the hills though, so getting from the port to the top on a bus is an adventure in itself.

Before the opening of the Panama Canal, it was one of the busiest ports in the eastern Pacific Ocean, and today it continues to be a very active port. Where we were docked we were surrounded by mountains of containers stacked 5 high. It is such a busy and active port that we could not walk from the ship to the terminal but had to ride shuttle buses to assure our safety through the stacks of containers and the forklifts constantly moving among them. There were even officials directing traffic so the forklifts, buses, and tractor-trailers coming and going with containers and people could negotiate the many turns in and out in the midst of the activity.

Once again the terminal offered telephone connections world-wide so we did our best to talk to all of our children. Mostly they were not answering, in part because of the 2-hour time difference! Work does interfere with everything. Right now we are at sea for the second day after Valparaiso and only one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time.

We were docked all day so in the morning we walked around the area straight up Avenue Argentina, where we walked past a Jumbo Supermarket and then on to a fabulous produce market. There were stalls after stalls of local produce, tomatoes, peppers, squash. The frisse was huge and fresh and the corn was the largest I have ever seen anywhere. The corn was about 14 inches long and about four or five inches in diameter – it might be corn for grinding rather than eating off the cob as we do at home. There was also a stall for cheese, one for candy, a sweet pastry stand. Then at the end of the market the vegetable stalls ended and a flea market started. At the flea market, there were people selling shoes, clothing, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies, electronics, housewares and books. There were mainly locals in the market doing their shopping for produce so there was not much conversation given my limited Spanish. The locals brought lightweight woven bags to fill with their purchases – not a plastic bag in sight.

We also saw the National Congress Headquarters (not in session so the building was locked up tightly.) We wandered to Plaza Italia where they were all set up for a Brisco tournament. I am not sure how to spell the word, but it is an Italian game. There were many people walking around the streets and many, many public buses.

All of the walking brought us to lunchtime, so we went back to the ship for lunch and to make plans for the afternoon. In most terminals there are people from the government’s tourism office who give accurate information and advice for visitors trying to get around on their own. They supplied us with maps and bus numbers and their stop locations and we set off on our own. First we went back up Avenue Argentina to Avenue Brazil to catch bus number 216 – and there one was just waiting for us to board. We road the non-air-conditioned bus with very worn leather seats around 9 kilometers to Vina del Mar, Chile’s “Garden of the Sea”, a luxurious resort town. Everywhere we went people were smiling and friendly to us and eager to help us in spite of my lack of ability to communicate very well in their language. We rode the bus with women with children and men who appeared to be commuting.

Very different from the working city of Valparaiso, Vina is set on a gorgeous beach lined with 5-story apartment houses, restaurants, a casino, horse-drawn carriages and many young people on holiday or enjoying an afternoon on a beach. We wandered along the beach, past the casino, along the waterways, over bridges. Our mouths watered as we looked in the windows of pastry shops, an Arab restaurant selling falafels. We reached the next bus stop and boarded #612 for the ride back to Valparaiso, along Avenue Argentina where we had walked earlier, and then up the narrow streets to La Sebastiana, a home once owned by Pablo Neruda, the Chilean Nobel Prize Winner for literature. Neruda, a poet, lived in the city and remodeled the house, which is today a museum. The balcony offers a great view of the city and coincidentally the QE2 at the pier.

Back to the bus stop and a bus down the narrow, twisty streets to return to the terminal and the ship in time for the final boarding before sailing on. On the ride down the hill, the narrow street seemed to be at the edge of the cliff and caused me to have a few anxious moments until I remembered that the driver travels the route repeatedly day after day, always arriving back home in time for dinner. We felt very safe the entire time, although there were warnings about taking the minimum ashore, keeping cameras out of sight, and being alert for pick-pockets.

Our grand adventure on shore cost us about $7 for all of the bus rides and $1 for a telephone call. Our favorite kind of port. Now we have three days at sea before reaching Easter Island, where once again we will tender and have a 50-50 chance of being able to go ashore.

Glasses nearly lost

2008-02-10T19:12:00.000-05:00

We were sailing into Tonga and I was taking photos on the Boat deck in the bow of the ship. I leaned over to try to take a photo of a gold medallion on the wall underneath us. As you know, women’s clothes have very few pockets, the sun was very bright and I was wearing sunglasses, so I hung my regular glasses on my shirt, something I NEVER do. You have guessed it, for sure. I watched my glasses fall. Luck was with me, however, they fell onto a roof of the deck below us – not into the ocean. Also, we were already anchored and there was no wind. Things were looking really good.

We asked one of the officers lowering tenders to take passengers ashore and he said to go to the Purser’s Office. On a ship, the Purser’s Office is the main contact point for passengers, sort like a hotel reception desk, concierge, ombudsman, bank. There we spoke to a woman who seemed to understand the decks we were describing. She said we should go to breakfast and return to get them from her. So we went to breakfast, and in passing told the Maitre D, Phil, our story. He said he knew exactly where they were and he could access the area from a door behind the dining room. He returned and said he could see them, but not reach them. We returned to the Purser’s Office and the woman said they weren’t there. We told her that Phil had seen them but couldn’t reach them. She said, “Well, if he can’t reach them, how do you expect me to?” We pleaded with her to call Phil and have him tell her where they were.

Doubting that she would follow through we went back to ask Phil to help us. When we got to his desk, he was on the phone with her. Still doubtful about getting her help, Jerry returned to the Boat Deck to look for help there. He found a woman named Sherman who cleaned bathrooms and she did the smart thing. She went with Jerry to see the glasses. Then she came in and telephoned her supervisor. We have no idea how many supervisors it took, but within a few minutes the Day Head Housekeeper came and went with Jerry to see where the glasses were. It was really a simple thing. Even with my fear of heights, I could have retrieved them if I had had a ladder. The Day Head Housekeeper said it was no problem and he would have them for us very quickly.

Within half an hour, the cabin phone rang and it was the Purser’s Office to say they had my glasses as if they had done anything to get them!

At sea bound for Valparaiso, Chile

2008-02-05T08:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we were up early for our tour in Punta Arenas to see the penguins. The ship had arrived and was anchored a bit off the coast so we would be using tenders to get ashore. We had our usual breakfasts in the Mauretania Dining Room and then checked in at the Grand Lounge for the tour. We had our #4 stickers on to identify which group we would travel with.

The Captain came on the loudspeaker and said he was very sorry but we would not be cleared for Punta Arenas. The Chilean officials said that their policy was that no tenders could operate if the winds were over 30 miles per hour. We were already having gusts of 35 mph and the forecast, once again, was for increasing winds expected to reach 50 miles an hour in the mid-afternoon when many passengers would be returning to the ship. So, this time it wasn’t the Captain’s decision, but the result was still cancellation of the call at Punta Arenas. Everyone was very disappointed because this was the last port this voyage to see penguins in the wild, but everyone also chooses to be safe. The winds did indeed pick up as forecast with higher seas as well. As we rocked a bit in our more than 70,000 ton vessel, I was very happy not to be bouncing about in a tender.

The good news was that with our change of schedule we would be cruising through the Straits of Magellan in daylight instead of in darkness. For more than 10 hours we cruised through the fairly wide straits with high rocky terrain on the islands on both sides of the ship. There were a few hanging glaciers and snow-capped higher peaks in the background. The light made beautiful patterns of golden browns and greens on the rocks and vegetation and we saw one spectacular very low complete rainbow arc in the mist. There appeared to be very few trees. Once again albatross accompanied us. Earlier I went to the library to see if I could find the poem about someone killing an albatross. I thought that it was Coleridge, and so it was in “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.”

The ship had the satellite feed for the Super Bowl. It was aired in both one of the bars (for smokers – many Europeans still smoke. Fortunately for the rest of us, the smoking sections are small.) and in the Theater on a very large screen. I enjoyed the evening by myself, but I think it was the wrong Super Bowl to decide to miss! Everyone has been talking about what a fabulous game it was and everyone seems to be glad that the Giants won the game.

We are in the cabin right now, and later plan on attending one of the lectures, going to lunch in the dining room (usually we have lunch in the Lido on Upper Deck for buffet), exercising in the fitness center, having tea in the Queen’s Room on the Quarter Deck, followed by getting dressed for dinner and a show in the Grand Lounge and the Putting on the Ritz Ball back in the Queen’s Room. I plan to wear my heavily sequined top and long dark skirt and Jerry will wear his tuxedo with matching black and white patterned cummerbund and bowtie. There is a grand buffet in the Lido at midnight and they said to bring cameras, but we have only twice stayed awake long enough to get to a midnight buffet on all of our cruises. Don’t expect to see photos of that! Counting a swimsuit and sleepwear I will have changed clothes 6 times by the time I go to bed tonight!

Day before Valparaiso (February 5, 2008)

It wasn’t until the Cruise Director, Warren Smith, mentioned last night at the show in the Grand Lounge that today would be our sixth day at sea that I realized the cumulative effect of canceling two ports. This now matches our longest scheduled number of consecutive days at sea from Osaka to Honolulu.

We did go to both the Ritz Ball, where we actually danced a few times, and to the Grand Buffet in the Lido where I took many photos of the ice carvings, food sculptures, and artful desserts. We ate a plate of berries, melons, pineapple and called it a night.

Falkland Islands to Cape Horn

2008-02-02T13:01:00.000-05:00

We have heard that ships visiting the Falkland Islands have a fifty-fifty chance of getting to them because the seas and winds are often too strong for the comfort and safety of passengers on the tenders. We fell into the category of the 50% who didn’t get there. The Captain announced that in the interest of our safety he was canceling the call in Stanley in the Falklands. It would have been QE2’s last stop there and the islanders had made extensive preparations for our visit, but safety must always be the first consideration. While there was much disappointment about missing both the penguins and the history of the British war there, we all thanked him for keeping us safe. As one passenger said, perhaps the penguins will get the cookies made for all of us by the people of Stanley. That is travel on the oceans. One never really is sure what will happen. We have an illusion that we have so much control over the environment, but in reality we are still very much dependent on Mother Nature’s good graces.

Later in the day, the Captain announced that indeed the weather had become even worse in the Falklands as predicted, with 50-foot waves and 60 mile an hour winds. Thank you, Captain, that is one experience I did nicely without! So it was another sea day, our roughest day so far on this cruise, but not the roughest seas we have experienced. We were rocked to sleep very pleasantly.

We were supposed to go into the Beagle Channel, dock briefly to get written permission from the Chilean government about 2 a.m. to enter their waters and then continue to Cape Horn. But, the seas were so rough that the government advised the Captain to turnaround without entering the channel and head back out to sea. Of course, we never knew it sound asleep as we all were. (We did however notice when we woke up that we were sailing into the rising sun, rather than the opposite direction.) The Chileans emailed their written permission for the rest of our travels in the area and we stayed out at sea until we reached Horn Island.

Since we had extra time from missing the day’s call at Stanley, we had time to completely circumnavigate Horn Island, very rocky, treeless, rising to nearly 1400 feet. The desolate landscape has a kind of beauty, at least from our vantage point on the lovely QE2. We were so fortunate in the change in the weather. We experienced calm seas, warm summer sunshine bringing temperatures to the high 40s or perhaps low 50s and a lovely couple of hours just enjoying being on the open decks at latitude 59 degrees south. At noon, we were directly south of Cape Horn, a promontory on Horn Island in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, the southern most point of South America. Cape Horn extends into the Drake Passage, the Antarctic strait connecting the South Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is famous for storms, strong currents, high winds, and icebergs, but not today.

Now we head back to the east and then northwest as we make our way to the Straits of Magellan and on to Punta Arenas, Chile tomorrow and another chance to see the penguins. Fortunately, I read that we should book tours in both Stanley and Punta Arenas since both are often cancelled because of the weather. We are hopeful that the weather will allow us to make the call at Punta Arenas.

Montevideo overnight

2008-02-01T09:28:00.001-05:00

Our group, Yanella, our tour guide is in the front, wearing a black suit.

Yanella providing us so much good information on the tour.

The first day in Montevideo we walked and walked for miles. We were in search of scissors so I could cut Jerry’s hair and we found a pair for only $5 in a one room sort of department store. We walked to all of the sights in the section called the Old City, taking photos as we went. (I haven’t tried to upload a photo yet because I think it could use up too many of my minutes, but maybe soon I will try.) I tried on a magnificent multi-toned leather jacket, with the designer right there in the shop. But, I remembered where I live and the small number of days when I would be able to actually wear a leather jacket. We phoned home and talked to our kids – if you didn’t talk to us, you weren’t home and we didn’t use minutes talking to the answering machine.

As we were heading to the telephone place, we were stopped by a fellow passenger returning from a private tour of the city. He had such a wonderful time he wanted to share the tour guide’s name with someone who might be able to take a tour the next day. Since we were in port overnight and had until 2 pm the next day, we were definitely interested. Later we returned to the phone place to call the guide, but neither we nor the attendant working at the phone place could get the number to work. So we walked outside and saw a maroon van which was the color of the recommended guide’s van. I said “Hey, you never know” and asked the woman in the van if her name was Shanela – of course, it was! So we arranged to have the tour the next morning and set about getting another 8 people to share the $150 expense with us. Next morning we met our group of 7 plus us (close enough) and set off on a marvelous tour which took over 3 hours, which passed like a flash. Shanela was great, bubbly personality, knowledgeable. Best of all she had lived for 8 years in New Jersey so she not only spoke excellent English, she also understood we wanted just enough history to understand the significance of what we were seeing, but not a lesson in Uruguayan history.

The city looks very European, part old and part modern. We felt safe, but there was a strong presence of police wearing yellow straps (like Safety patrol) which said Policia Turistica. I guess they were there in large numbers because there was a ship in port. We walked through a huge restaurant near the port renowned for barbeque. For a few minutes I considered eating some. The beef, chicken, sausage, pork were cooked on huge racks over wood fires, creating a fabulous odor that made my mouth water. We walked to all of the squares and photographed monuments and statues, the original gate to the city, the oldest building, their statue of liberty, monuments to gauchos who are very important in their culture. What a great city it is.

The port of Montevideo is on a river over 2 hours from the ocean, so at 2 pm we set sail again and enjoyed the slow cruise down the river to the sea.

We have seen the waterspouts of a pod of whales swimming by, as well as a few of their backs just breaking the surface of the water and the smallest glimpse of a tail fin. We saw albatross this morning in large numbers. And I left the Grand Lounge comedy performance early to see the sunset because I had a feeling I would see the green flash again. There were no clouds on the horizon at first, but then there were a few. I said “no, no, no” and blew a puff of air – which worked ;) and the clouds vanished. I was watching the reflection in a mirror so I could see when the sun was nearly gone without hurting my eyes looking directly at it. Just before the sun dropped out of sight, I turned to the window and there for an instant was the phosphorescent lime green splash of color – my third sighting of the green flash and all from ships at sea. (Google green flash because it is a really interesting optical phenomenon.)

Rio!!

2008-01-28T17:50:00.001-05:00

Rio was a great port for us, thanks to H. Stern (the jewelers) and Suzanne and Glenn, our friends who have lived there for over 30 years. Stern provided a car, driver and an English speaking guide to show us some of the city. We went to Corcovado, where the statue of Christ is, intending to go up, but all three times we were there, it was too much in the clouds We saw the main neighborhoods of the city, the beaches, and Stern’s wonderful collection of gems at their museum/ factory/ store at Ipanema.

Suzanne and Glenn picked us up at the store and we walked and walked. They took us to the top floor of a shopping mall with an observation deck and a wonderful view of the bay, Sugarloaf and the beaches. We sat there for a while enjoying their company and a beer. We saw the fort and had a fabulous lunch at Vegan Vegan, a restaurant Suzanne and Glenn found in the Botafogo neighborhood. We ate a vegan version of Feijoda, the Brazilian national dish with black beans, brown rice and a side of kale and grated cassava. The meal began with a shot glass filled with a fantastic non-alcoholic version of a popular drink made from ginger. At the Hotel Copacabana Palace, we walked through the elegant lobby, around the swimming pool and then used the marble rest rooms. All very, very posh.

Back at Ipanema, we saw thousands of people getting ready for a big parade for Carnaval, a week early. I guess the party frenzy builds up too much to wait a week. Anyway there were thousands of happy people, loud music, some costumes, and a real party atmosphere.

On the way back to the ship, we had a perfect, cloudless view of the statue on Corcovado and one more ride around the lagoon. Since we weren’t scheduled to sail until 11 p.m., the evening entertainment was a performance by a Samba group from Rio. What a party that was, with incredible feathered and beaded costumes, gorgeous young bodies, and such an energy level. That kept us awake long enough to see the sailaway and to say good bye to a great city!

January 25 At sea

2008-01-25T11:49:00.000-05:00

At Sea on route to Rio

What have we been so busy doing? Time just goes so quickly, and that is surprisingly true of days at sea. We seem to never have enough days at sea to tire of them. So after Barbados we had a total of four days at sea, then the port of Salvador, and now one more sea day before we reach Rio on Saturday.

On the open decks we enjoyed the sea air and the sunshine and took a couple of naps. We saw large numbers of Blue-faced Boobies, birds that look something like gulls, but are more interesting. They like to coast on some kind of air current in the trough of the waves, and then, all of a sudden, they take a deep dive after some fish. I kept hearing the shark in “Looking for Nemo” as he said, “I’m having fish for dinner.” The graceful and elegant birds followed the ship for hours one day, often looking as if they were going to fly right into the window we were watching from before veering off – maybe they were playing. We were about 20 miles off the coast of Brazil so they are able travel great distances.

We have also walked quite a bit on both the open decks and up and down the stairways. Today we went to the exercise room. The first challenge was getting there since it is at one of those elevator/stairways that connect only a few floors. So we have to first find the right corridor to get to the proper stairway before we can get to Deck 6, Stairway C. The fitness room is quite well equipped with exercise machines. Jerry uses the treadmill and the weight machines. I still don’t like treadmills, so I use the weight machines and the free weights. There is also an indoor pool that I plan to make use of for water aerobics – as much of the routine as I can remember from home.

Salvador, what can I say? We had hoped to go on our own to a beach, and the staff provided us with information on which beach would be the best for us to visit, as well as which beaches to avoid. BUT, there were so many warnings about how dangerous both Salvador and Rio are that we decided to be sensible and not go off on our own. We took advantage of the free shuttle provided by the jeweler H. Stern to go to the heart of the historic area. We looked in their store and I, of course, found an exquisite necklace. It was a rainbow of all of the colors of the non-precious Brazilian stones – spectacular. I would not only have to have more money to purchase it, I would have to create an entirely new life for wearing it.

We wandered around a bit and heard what sounded like firecrackers or gunfire. Happily, it turned out to be firecrackers drawing attention to a demonstration for either better treatment for the handicapped or better healthcare. Foreign languages always seem to leave lots of room for multiple interpretation. The demonstration created quite a traffic jam in spite of the efforts of large numbers of police or military. We couldn’t decide which uniforms were for the military and which for the police.

There is apparently a very nice area of the city with lovely gardens and huge homes. We were in the port and the old part of town though so we mostly saw extreme poverty. There were many people trying to sell bottled water and handmade necklaces. One man tied a yellow ribbon with words printed on it around my wrist and said something about good luck and three wishes. I speak very little Spanish and no Portugese so I wasn’t exactly sure what it was about, but he seemed sincere and kind. Shortly after that, I think I got my first wish fulfilled and the van arrived at H. Stern to return us to the QE2.

We made our first visit to the launderette on board, which is free, unlike on the cruise ships we have been on. It is a pleasant little space with about a dozen washers with dryers stacked on top, with an adjoining room equipped with about 6 or 8 ironing boards and irons. It worked quite well except that the washers take about 20-25 minutes and the dryers take at least 60 minutes, so you can see how quickly a backlog of wet clothes and cranky people develops. At any rate, our timing was excellent and we were out of there is just under 2 hours. Boy! Do we know how to have fun!

So now we have another day at sea. The Maitre D’ arranged for us to have what Jerry has been craving: a burger, of sorts. It was quite tasty actually – a soy and potato “burger” on a roll with lettuce, tomato, onion slices and veggie cheddar cheese. You may not go yum, but we certainly did.

And now we are off to the theater to see the film “Underdog” with James Belushi and others. Two hours for that and it will be tea time, followed by dressing for another formal night, dinner will be followed by a show in the Grand Lounge with Duo Yalba. I never heard of him either but he is proclaimed as having mastered over 40 instruments and most musical styles. And then if we are still awake will be the Carnival Ball in the Queens Room with a dance band.

Tomorrow, Rio

January 20

2008-01-20T12:42:00.001-05:00

At sea, day one after Barbados

Barbados was a great port for us. We went by taxi through the city of Georgetown to the beach called Boatyard Beach, actually we went to the quiet part of the beach adjacent to The Boatyard. The beach was broad on a curved bay with fine white sand like a brand new bag just opened for a sandbox. The warm turquoise water was perfect for swimming – which we did every few minutes to cool off.

The clothes that I decided I had to have the day before we left home turned out to be perfect for going to a beach. I just wore the nylon brown pants over my bathing suit with a yellow t-shirt, my Christmas gift yellow water shoes from Land’s End and my old yellow straw hat.

After the beach we went to The Grand Lounge for the Barbadian performers who came onboard for an hour to entertain us. The Queen of Limbo was amazing – she limboed under a flaming bar about 6 inches from the floor – and she wasn’t a tiny little person. After dinner. we saw the movie Fracture again last night and understood it better than the first time we saw it.

The days pass quickly. Before we know it, we have to dash off for something. Like right now because it is time for lunch.

Second day at sea on route to Barbados

2008-01-18T14:16:00.000-05:00

Another fine day. We have discovered classic teak deck chairs on Boat Deck. I hate to say it, but you know the kind I mean - just like you saw in the movie Titanic. They are so comfortable that we take our afternoon snooze there before going to Afternoon Tea in the Queen’s Room. The sun would be much too hot without the delightful breeze. I am not sure how much is the wind and how much is the air moving because we are going close to 30 knots or both. (A knot is one nautical mile per hour. A nautical mile is 6080.2 feet). Whatever the source, it is delightful.

Last night we advanced the clock one hour so we are moving east as we head for Brazil after Barbados.

Our vegan dinners and breakfasts have been quite good. Breakfast is easy. Dinner works well since they provide us with a vegetarian menu and the next days menu. From that the Maitre d’ or his assistant create meals for us. So far, we have been having trouble getting something we can eat for lunch other than vegetables. The vegetables taste good, but there is a repetitive aspect which will send us foraging for other food before long.

I survived major techno-stress as I watched half of our one hour Internet package vanish as I figured out how to compose offline without following my plan of using my Apple account to read and compose mail. So I am now connected to the world again. The techno-stress has abated.

20 hours 11 minutes 11 seconds

2008-01-15T19:25:00.000-05:00

After all of these months of planning and talking about the World Cruise, tomorrow is the day we board the QE2 at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. Months ago I made a countdown calendar with post-it notes so we could tear one off each day. In the beginning, the days passed slowly, but as the sailing date approached, time went faster and faster. The past week felt like about 10 minutes. Today, we began the day with laughter, which is always a good thing. Jerry is always up before me, so he plastered the wall from the bedroom to the kitchen with big numeral “1” and words saying “one”.

Friends are transporting us in their van, so we have no transportation worries getting to the port. Our travel agent, a really great one, had arranged transportation through his company for us as a perk of being on the World Cruise. But when he said we would be limited to 2 bags each just like the airlines, we decided to make our own arrangements.

We are taking way too much, but we have about 79 formal and semi-formal nights and we like to dress for them. Also, on every cruise I have found that there are one or two outfits that I wear all of the time. So far I have not discovered the secret to selecting those outfits before I get on board. Perhaps each ship has a certain character of its own, or the group of passengers on board is an influence. It is difficult to predict ahead of time whether the ship’s public rooms or our cabin will be overheated or overchilled. And I have to admit it, I can be a real cream puff when it comes to that kind of comfort. So we are traveling with 4 large bags, 3 garment bags, two medium-sized bags with wheels and my briefcase/computer case which will also function as my handbag. We will keep the briefcase holding the computer and the medium bags with us since they contain a 90-day supply of medications (worth a small fortune) and my electronic toys. I could not possibly get along for three months without my toys.

How all of this will fit into the cabin will be an amazing tale I am sure.

Our neighbors are getting together to wish us a bon voyage, which is also a good thing. We will get to tell them all good-bye in person and we will get food. I did an excellent job of using up the food in the refrigerator, freezer, and the pantry. Too good a job – there is almost nothing left to eat now except a couple of bananas, three tomatoes, one bagel, 4 limes and half a vegan chocolate cake.

Ships' positions

2008-01-10T08:35:00.000-05:00

Since February 2007 I have been following the message boards on Cruise Critic
I have mostly been reading, but from time to time I have posted questions of my own. The whole experience has enriched my voyage already. I have gotten to know several people (virtually) and look forward to meeting the rest of the group at the gatherings planned on board. The people on the message board, CCers, come from all over the world. There are people from Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and all over the US. It has been fun to "hear" the differences in our English language. One I really like is that in Australia, slang for a gossip is stickybeak. As in, "She is such a stickybeak!"

One thing I just discovered today is a site that tracks ships just like some of the flight trackers. It is actually more than that and provides ship positions and weather. Sail WX will show you once or twice on most days the location of the QE2. If you really know your latitude and longitude, you can just look at the map and see where the ship is. If you are like the rest of us, you will want to zoom out until you see a familiar looking landmass to use to orient yourself.

Right now you can see that the QE2 is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on the way from Southampton to New York City. The stop after NYC will of course be in Fort Lauderdale at Port Everglades for us. Actually, it is a port of call for the cruise and there will be other people boarding. Nevertheless, I still think of it as the ship making a stop to pick us up.

There are other interesting pages on the SailWX website but so far I haven't been able to bring up any maps showing wave heights. I won't need to do that on board of course, I will just see how difficult it is to walk on deck.

One other way to keep track of people on a cruise are the webcams on ships. For the QE2, go to the Cunard website, click on our ships, then Queen Elizabeth 2, then bridge web cams. On the newer ships they have some webcams pointed toward public areas and it is possible to arrange a time and wave. But as you can see when you look at the QE2 webcam, if you see me waving, I am in BIG trouble.

Almost time

2008-01-06T18:40:00.000-05:00

The QE2 sails in 11 days from Fort Lauderdale for the 2008 World Cruise. I thought I had everything under control, but that was an illusion. My to-do list grows daily instead of shrinking. I know we will manage to complete every important task before we sail, but right now I am hysterical on the inside. Not to worry though until I am also hysterical on the outside!

Once on board the ship I plan to post at least a short message here most days to keep in touch with family and friends. So this is a test of sorts to see how it goes.

Land Cruisers

2007-06-22T11:28:00.001-04:00

Top right: Hiking in the Connestee Falls community. Top left: At the trail head on one of the community trails

Next photo: Near the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Pisgah Forest. Looking Glass Falls, from a roadway lookout.

What excitement!

2007-06-10T15:22:00.000-04:00

We have made our second payment for the cruise and now have only one more payment in the fall. Time is rushing and the sail date keeps getting closer and our excitement grows. We are excited about being on the QE2. Rumor has it that she will not be sailing much longer for Cunard. She is an older ship and still grand, but Cunard has brought out both the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Victoria which appear to be giving the grand old dame much competition. My less than expert opinion is based on the status of a search for Cunard World Cruise on Vacations To Go. The Victoria is pretty much sold out and the QE2 is not. So with that evidence, I quickly buy into the rumors about the QE2 not sailing indefinitely. The rumors make it that much more exciting to be on board a legend while she is still sailing.

We are also excited about the itinerary since neither of us has been to most of the places we will visit. Not only the ports are exciting on the itinerary though. We are also excited about the days at sea. We have been only 5 consecutive days at sea so far on transatlantic crossings, and that was not too many, in fact, it was not enough. The longest stretch of sea days will be the 6 days from Osaka to Honolulu which we expect to enjoy as usual just sitting in a comfortable chair and watching the ocean pass by. For those of you who do not sail, it is not boring. It is delightfully relaxing, like nothing else I have ever done.

Six sea days is the longest uninterrupted stretch, but most of February will be 2 and 3 days at sea interrupted by a day in a port. Overall the cruise is very well planned to provide a variety of sea days and port experiences.

And finally, I am excited by the prospect of 85 sunsets and the possibility of once again seeing the green flash. As you will see if you read of the scientific information, the green flash is a real phenomenon with explanations relating to optics and physics that are over my head. But, it is not necessary to understand it to be excited to see it. I have twice seen a green flash. Once was when we were sailing past Cuba and another time on board a ship somewhere in the Caribbean. Both times that I saw it, the green flash looked something like it does in this photo and this photo.

Always thinking about it

2007-06-03T08:03:00.000-04:00

With over 7 months to go, we are doing much more planning now. I have begun to research the ports we will visit and with so many that alone will take some time. I had decided to do the research in order of the stops we will make, so Barbados is first and finished. In Barbados we will find public transportation and visit a beach for the day.

My plan was to research the ports in order, but that worked a short time. Online, of course, I can research them in any order I choose to, but the books I reserve at the library will arrive in the order they arrive. And Easter Island has arrived. I guess I will just have to be flexible!

I am also participating in the message boards at Cruise Critic. The posts there have been quite helpful because so many of the participants have been on many QE2 cruises before. One of the suggestions they made was to check out the deck plans on another website. The deck plans on the Cunard site are quite small and hard to read. The plans on Deluxe Cruises website are very helpful, including square footage for most of the QE2 cabins.

And, of course, my abiding interest is in the clothes and what everyone else is planning to take with them. I found out on the last cruise that I really don't have enough clothes! And with 50 formal nights (that's what the message board says!), I definitely do not have enough formal clothes. So I plan to get to some stores this week and do some serious buying.

I am still not-buying-it in 2007. (See my other blog if you don't know what I mean.) Cruise clothes was a category on my allowable list of buying because we had already booked the QE2 World Cruise and I knew I really needed to have more clothing to take with me.

Barcelona

2007-05-30T13:37:00.000-04:00

We arrived in Barcelona from Alicante and were off the Voyager of the Seas by 9 am. It didn't matter though because the Hotel Continental Barcelona on Las Ramblas is frequently booked by cruise ship passengers. The Hotel has a secure baggage storage room, so we stowed our luggage, had a quick breakfast at the Hotel's 24 hour free buffet and headed off.

The Bus Turistic was perfect for us. We bought the pass and boarded just around the corner from our hotel on Placa Catalunya. We rode on the upper deck, enjoying the great view of the city. We saw Park Guell, Gaudi's unfinished garden city, Montjuic, and the rest of the sights along the bus route.

For lunch we had vegetarian paella at a little restaurant just west of Las Ramblas and got right back on the bus. Dinner was looking bleak as we walked up and down Las Ramblas in search of food without animal products. Just as we had decided it was going to be back to the 24 hour breakfast buffet at the hotel, we spotted Maoz Vegetarian. We had fabulous falafel sandwiches with wonderful salad toppings and splurged on Belgian chips (French Fries). The splurge being the calories, not the cost. There are not many of these restaurants in the world, but we discovered one about 10 miles from our house and have eaten there twice since returning home.

This amazing work by Gaudi in the photo above was the only place I had my camera! I took twenty photos at Sagrada Familia which I uploaded to Kodak Gallery. If you really want to see them send me your email address and I will send you an invitation so you can view them. I can't seem to find an easy way to upload that many photos here.

This is the last post for the 2007 cruise. Future posts will be about planning for the 2008 QE2 World Cruise.

Alicante Spain

2007-05-24T16:01:00.000-04:00

Alicante is a beautiful city on the east coast of Spain, one quite popular with European tourists for obvious reasons. It is usually sunny, has a wide and tree canopied boulevard for strolling and shopping. With a population of 340,000, it is a place that can provide everything necessary, yet retains the charm of a seaside town.

The top photo is a sand sculpture with the artist in the shade on the right side of the picture.

The lower photo is a little playground area that I would love to share with my grandchildren.

Alicante is definitely a place I would like to return to. Click the link below to see all of my Alicante photos.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=98z172gf.7a82o65v&x=0&y=-6pdkkq

On board

2007-05-13T08:21:00.000-04:00

If you cruise, you also have had your cabin inhabited by strange animals - the handiwork of the cabin steward. We had several cute ones, but I keep forgetting to take photos. This was a practice/learning experience for the big cruise next year, and one learning has been that I have to take my camera with me and use it!

The Voyager of the Seas has a enormous indoor mall - The Royal Promenade. At first, I said that was the last place on the ship that I wanted to be, but then we were increasingly attracted to it. Seattle's Best Coffee was one big reason. Each morning before going to breakfast,we would stop at the Cafe so Jerry could have a cup of really good coffee. Plain coffee is free; if you want the Starbucks' type fancy coffees, they have those for about what you pay on shore at home.

With cool and windy weather, we were drawn to the space by the warmth, the glitz, the buzz of the people. We even shopped - once. Jerry found a bargain of a treasure to bring home as our memory of the trip - a dolphin, sea turtle, fish and coral in a sculpture reminiscent of Weyland's marine pieces.

This was also the perfect place for meeting people - which we did many times. With the calm seas that we had, it was impossible to remember that we were aboard a ship. I guess that is the idea from marketing to try to attract a younger audience. But we are young at heart and we loved it.

Voyager of the Seas in Bermuda

2007-05-07T10:25:00.000-04:00

The Voyager of the Seas docked at King's Wharf in Bermuda, where we boarded this ferry and rode about 15 minutes to Hamilton. Along the way we passed spectacular houses sitting on hillsides overlooking this gorgeous bay. But, for Floridians, Bermuda does not a beach vacation make. It is way too cold to consider getting into water!

Hamilton's shopping area was charming. We browsed through a few stores, but this is my year of not-buying-it. And we didn't buy a thing.

The water was a beautiful color even when there was not really a beach in view.

After returning by the ferry to King's Wharf, we walked along the quay back to the ship. The color of this fish enchanted me. I took about a dozen pictures of this one fish. And of course, they all look pretty much the same.

Booked and excited

2007-03-16T16:46:00.000-04:00

The brochure from Cunard arrived in the mail in January 2007 at precisely the right moment because when Jerry and I saw the itinerary, both of us agreed this is a cruise for us. It is the cruise of a lifetime for us, that is for sure. It arrived just after we had a conversation about where else in the world we would like to travel and I said I would like to see Australia without flying. And here it is - 6 ports in Australia and no plane flight.

It is still 9 months off but I think about it often. I wonder what it will be like to travel for nearly 3 months. I wonder what it will be like to be 6 days at sea between Osaka and Honolulu. I wonder what the seas around the Horn will be (remember Master and Commander? those were real seas.) I wonder what I will wear! Of course I wonder what I will wear; I always concern myself with clothes way too much.

I have been following Brittany's interesting blog of the QE2 2007 World Cruise. This year has been a true circumnavigation, a different itinerary from 2008. Brittany and her husband have been so diligent and thorough in describing all of the ports they have seen and some of the life onboard the ship. Thank you, Brittany and Malcolm, for your hard work and sharing of information.

I don't expect to be posting much this soon ahead of the cruise. However, we are going on the Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas for the transatlantic crossing leaving next week, so I plan to practice posting on that. We were excited when we booked that 12 day cruise, but I have to confess that the thought of the World Cruise has put a damper on our enthusiasm for this next cruise.

A look at the map and itinerary will explain our feelings.

January 2008
16 Wed Fort Lauderdale, Florida 7:00 am - 5:00 pm
17 Thu Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
18 Fri Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
19 Sat Bridgetown, Barbados 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
20 Sun Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
21 Mon Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
22 Tue Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
23 Wed Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
24 Thu Salvador da Bahia, Brazil 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
25 Fri Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
26 Sat Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 7:00 am - 11:00 pm
27 Sun Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
28 Mon Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
29 Tue Montevideo, Uruguay Arrive 8:00 am
30 Wed Montevideo, Uruguay Depart 2:00 pm
31 Thu Cruising the Atlantic Ocean
February 2008
1 Fri Port Stanley, Falkland Islands 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
2 Sat Cruising Cape Horn
3 Sun Punta Arenas, Chile 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
4 Mon Cruising the Pacific Ocean
5 Tue Cruising the Pacific Ocean
6 Wed Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile 7:00 am - 7:00 pm
7 Thu Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
8 Fri Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
9 Sat Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
10 Sun Easter Island, Chile 7:00 am - 6:00 pm
11 Mon Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
12 Tue Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
13 Wed Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
14 Thu Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
15 Fri Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
16 Sat Cross International Dateline - Lost Day
17 Sun Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
18 Mon Nuku'alofa, Tonga 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
19 Tue Cruising the Pacific Ocean
20 Wed Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
21 Thu Auckland, New Zealand 8:00 am - 10:00 pm
22 Fri Cruising the South Pacific Ocean
23 Sat Cruising the Tasman Sea
24 Sun Sydney, Australia Arrive 7:00 am
25 Mon Sydney, Australia Depart 6:00 pm
26 Tue Cruising the Tasman Sea
27 Wed Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
28 Thu Cruising the Bass Strait
29 Fri Melbourne, Australia 7:00 am - 11:59 pm
March 2008
1 Sat Cruising the Great Australian Bight
2 Sun Adelaide, Australia 7:00 am - 5:00 pm
3 Mon Cruising the Great Australian Bight
4 Tue Albany, Australia 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
5 Wed Fremantle (Perth), Australia 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
6 Thu Cruising the Indian Ocean
7 Fri Cruising the Indian Ocean
8 Sat Cruising the Indian Ocean
9 Sun Cruising the Java Sea
10 Mon Singapore 7:00 am - 6:00 pm
11 Tue Cruising the South China Sea
12 Wed Ho Chi Minh City (Vung Tau), Vietnam 7:00 am - 7:00 pm
13 Thu Cruising the South China Sea
14 Fri Hong Kong 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
15 Sat Cruising the South China Sea
16 Sun Cruising the East China Sea
17 Mon Shanghai, China 7:00 am - 7:00 pm
18 Tue Cruising the Pacific Ocean
19 Wed Osaka (for Kyoto), Japan 7:00 am - 6:00 pm
20 Thu Cruising the Pacific Ocean
21 Fri Cruising the Pacific Ocean
22 Sat Cross International Dateline - Gain Day
22 Sat Cruising the Pacific Ocean
23 Sun Cruising the Pacific Ocean
24 Mon Cruising the Pacific Ocean
25 Tue Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii Arrive 8:00 am
26 Wed Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii Depart 1:00 am
26 Wed Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii 8:00 am - 6:00 pm
27 Thu Cruising the Pacific Ocean
28 Fri Cruising the Pacific Ocean
29 Sat Cruising the Pacific Ocean
30 Sun Los Angeles, California 7:00 am - 5:00 pm
31 Mon Cruising the Pacific Ocean
April 2008
1 Tue Cruising the Pacific Ocean
2 Wed Acapulco, Mexico 7:00 am - 5:00 pm
3 Thu Cruising the Pacific Ocean
4 Fri Cruising the Pacific Ocean
5 Sat Cristobal, Panama 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm
5 Sat Transit the Panama Canal
6 Sun Puerto Moin, Costa Rica 7:00 am - 7:00 pm
7 Mon Cruising the Caribbean Sea
8 Tue Montego Bay, Jamaica 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
9 Wed Cruising the Straits of Florida
10 Thu Fort Lauderdale, Florida 7:00 am - 5:00 pm