Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures

At Sea

Posted on March 30, 2022 by patmathews

March 30, 2011

It’s a nice sunny day on the way to Malaga, Spain with the temperature of 64. Seas are a bit rocky so they brought the Country Fair inside. This is a time where many ship departments set up booths and passengers play whatever game they wish to get tickets which are drawn for prizes. The casino always has some simple card game, the chefs usually have spice containers that you need to sniff and identify the spices, the housekeepers have two passengers try to see who can put a pillowcase on the pillow the fastest and so on. Norm went and had fun but didn’t win any prizes. I had a cooking class so I missed it.

Cooking class today was Viva Espana and it was a lot of fun. The instructor, Noelle, made paella all during the class and shared all of the steps in between the recipes we made.

First we made Pan Con Tomate which is one of the typical tapas of Southern Spain.

Next we made Gambas Al Ajillo on Scallion Polenta Cakes. This is a typical dish in Northern Spain and is meant to be picked up and eaten with the hands. It is called pitos and when this type of small dish is eaten, it always has a toothpick in it. The toothpicks are collected and that is how the server knows how to charge for these small appetizers which are chosen by each customer.

In Spain, it is typical to have tapas or pitos during the afternoon and dinner around 10 PM. That for sure would not work for me!

The last dish was Garbanzos Ibericos. Sorry this one came out blurry for some reason. It is chick peas, garlic, jamon and baby spinach.

We ended with Sangria Blanca which the chefs made for us to drink as we ate the paella. I had enough of all of the food for Norm to join me at the end of the class to taste each recipe. The paella and the garbanzo dish contained meat, which I don’t eat, but I was able to taste just the rice in the paella and just the spinach and garbanzos in the last dish. I would make them all at home and could make substitutions in each.

Tonight is the second Oceania Club cocktail party and our entertainer will be Dimitris Dekavallas, a Spanish Guitar Virtuoso.

Posted in At Sea, Food, March, Spring Cruise 2022 | Leave a comment

Funchal (Madeira) Portugal

Posted on March 29, 2022 by patmathews

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

As I wrote, we missed our first time visiting the Azores. So now we are in the Madeira Islands. We were told to expect all kinds of weather – sun, clouds and rain and we had all three depending on what part of the island we were on. The rain was a slight sprinkle at the top of the island.

The island is only 300 miles west of Africa and has a fairly even temperature all year around and is close to a tropical zone. You see lots of types of vegetation, including palm trees. Here is where the island is located.

Our tour today was Monte Village and Botanical Gardens. Our guide was Isabel and she was very good. They provided the portable radio so we could hear her from everywhere.

Some facts about Funchal: The word comes from the Portuguese word for fennel (juncho) which was found in abundance when the founding father, Zarco, first came to the island. It is on the largest island in the Madeira archipelago and is the capital. 250,000 people live on the island and 110,000 live in Funchal itself. Many of the other islands are deserted or are conservation areas. The island is 53 x 17 miles long and wide.

Our bus took us first to the cable car station for a 15 minute ride to the top – Monte Village. The homes and view of the harbor were wonderful in spite of some clouds. The cable car takes you up to 1500 feet.

We visited the mountain village and the church – The Church of Our Lady of Monte. It is a beautiful church and there is a lot of wood in the construction. The island was known for its wood at the time the church was built. The word Madeira means wood in Portuguese.

Here are some photos with the view from the Monte village.

After this visit, we took one of the most unusual rides we have ever had – on wooden toboggans! The origin of the toboggan is from 1850 when the wife of Mr. Gordon, a wealthy resident who lived on top of the mountain, fell off her horse and broke her leg. He had the toboggan built to allow her to descend the mountain safely. After that, most people didn’t have the money to ride in one, so it didn’t become a popular ride until much later. These are hand built wooden toboggans and are operated by trained men who guide the toboggans down a street of about a mile long. It is quite a twisty ride and there are also cars on the street. A license to operate them costs about $25,000 so most of the licenses are handed down in families. Many years ago, these men had to carry the sleds back to the top of the hill after the ride down. Now they are loaded onto a van. For every ride, the men switch sides of the back of the toboggan so that their legs get an equal workout! And today was the first day they could work without masks!

Here is what they looked like in the old days!

They have specially made boots that last under a year.

And now. It was really fun!

We then went to the botanical gardens which is about 1000 feet above sea level. It was the garden of William Reed and was completed in 1960. We had a wonderful walk through a beautiful garden – we could have spent much longer than an hour here. In one area the founding year and this year are formed in plants and the founder’s name is there too.

After this visit we descended to the town which is right near the port. Some people visited the embroidery factory (they are known for this) but we chose a walk through the market (we always love them). It was a really nice one. They are also known for Madeira wine but we didn’t have any while we were here.

We then chose to walk back to the ship, it was about a mile.

A few things we saw along the way:

The statue is the famous Portuguese soccer player, Cristiano Ronaldo. And the other guy is the one I love. Even when he fools around!

Tomorrow is a day at sea and then we arrive in Malaga, Spain. Our entertainer tonight is a singer, Chris Ritchie who is from the UK.

Posted in Europe, Excursions, March, Spring Cruise 2022 | 3 Comments

Still at sea!

Posted on March 28, 2022 by patmathews

Monday, March 28

But tomorrow we get to our first port, Funchal, in the Azores. I think everyone is eager to get off the ship. We have not heard about any need to be tested, but we do need to bring our proof of vaccination as there will be random checks by the local authorities. Masks are recommended outdoors and as of the date of our sailing, they were mandatory in all indoor areas such as shops and restaurants. I will let you know the actual situation after our visit.

Here on the ship, life remains wonderful. On the night of the 26th it was the most rocky time of the trip. The rocking doesn’t bother either of us, but the rocking and pitching caused our water bottles, which are made of glass – no plastic bottles on this ship, to clank together and fall to the floor. One drawer in our closet actually flew out. This woke us up three different times.

We had the last of our clocks moving forward last night – for this segment, we are 5 hours ahead of NY time right now. On our next segment we will move one more hour forward just for our time in Greece and back again when we get to Croatia. I do have to say that there is a nice slow adjustment vs when you fly and you move the time ahead all at once. So, amazingly, I slept until 9:30 AM this morning! I can’t tell you how very rare that is, I can’t even remember a time. I am usually up at 6 AM or before so even with the slower time change, it does have its effects.

We heard Linda Gentille again last night and I remember now that she is at the NJ Symphony in Cape May in the summer. The last cruise we heard her on – she mentioned that and we decided to go while we are at our shore house in the summer. Of course, we promptly forgot. But this time, we will try to get there sometime this summer. She was amazing again. One of the things she does is take 10 song suggestions from the audience and then she plays them all usually in order backwards. The band is from Ukraine and they are wonderful. The way they play with the guest performers when they have only one rehearsal is wonderful. They get standing ovations when they are introduced.

Tonight’s show will feature the onboard entertainment team with a show called Broadway which I am sure we will enjoy.

I had the culinary class which was called Most Requested Red Ginger. It was wonderful. Here is the fabulously outfitted culinary center and pictures of the dishes we made and ate – along with a dry rose wine.

The culinary center and a display of Asian ingredients used in the recipes.

Our instructor, Noelle, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. She has been teaching on ships for 10 years and is terrific. She demonstrates and then we go back to our stations to make each recipe.

This is the Pomelo Banh Trang Roll with Miang Dipping Sauce. We made 2.

This is the Miso-glazed sea bass which is served just like this in the leaf in the Red Ginger restaurant on board.

All the ingredients for the delicious Lobster Pad Thai. She recommends mise en place which means setting all of your ingredients out before you start cooking.

There are only 12 stations in the center and Noelle said that before COVID, they had 2 guests to a station, which would work well because as you can see from the first picture, there is lots of distance between them now.

The cooking class finished with ice cream that they made right there – it was cardamom ice cream and was just delicious. We got a recipe book with all of the recipes plus two – the Tom Kha Gai soup and the Duck Confit and Watermelon Salad which is a huge hit in Red Ginger. Since I don’t eat meat or poultry any more, I have not tried it but would certainly make it at home for Norm. We also got the recipe for the ice cream and a Soaked Ginger Cake too.

Now, the only problem with the story is that this class was at 4 PM and lasted until 6 PM. We had a dinner reservation in the specialty restaurant, Jacques, at 6:30. Of course I was not at all hungry so I had the onion soup and only ate the broth. But it was worth it. Norm had the special of the night, salmon.

Oceania is certainly known for their food and this cruise is no exception. There are a lot of plant based choices and I do love the fish and seafood.

I have done pretty well in the casino and had a second place in the blackjack tournament a couple of days ago.

I mentioned the switch away from plastic water bottles. This began on our 2019 world cruise. They give you a silver bottle that you can fill and take ashore and in the rooms the bottles are tall and made of glass. They refill them with either still or sparkling water every day. And unless you request it, they don’t use any paper straws.

In the Terrace Cafe where we have our breakfasts most mornings, they have always served you most of the foods and now the area around the food that was open and they handed things to you that way, is sealed with plastic wrap and they hand you the food over the very top counter which is hard for some of the shorter staff.

I did my Florence Nightengale thing this morning. As I was doing my morning walk on the outdoor deck, a woman fell right in front of me, hitting her right shoulder. The safety crew member came pretty quickly but wanted to help her up by putting his arm under the right shoulder! I advised against that, and helped her up from the other side, she asked me to walk her off to the library where her husband was. I don’t think she broke anything but she will be sore for sure. After that, they closed the whole deck to clean it even though there was just one slippery area. So I didn’t get my 4 miles in yet, and will go out again later. It is much calmer weather today and the captain says it should remain that way and we should get into port on time tomorrow. Our tour starts at 9.

Tonight is the first of 3 Oceania Club cocktail parties which are held for the Club members (returning guests). There are always a lot of returning guests given the quality and reputation of Oceania. We are asked to arrive 15 minutes early for a meeting with the Captain and the General Manager as we are their most traveled guests on this cruise and will be recognized in the party. We are also invited to the other two. Lots of free drinks await!

Posted in Food, March, Spring Cruise 2022 | 3 Comments

Many days at sea

Posted on March 26, 2022 by patmathews

Posting on Saturday, March 26

Well, I decided enough is enough and it is time for a post. With updates! So we are missing our first port after six sea days which means eight sea days for our crossing. The port is the first of two in the Azores, Ponta Delgada and the captain informed us late yesterday that the weather will be too rocky to get to that port, so we will have two extra days at sea. He has informed us that tomorrow the waves will be smaller but will pick up the next day. 17 foot swells are reported but we don’t mind it, we get rocked to sleep and I can still do dancercise and line dancing. The dancers say the trick is to slightly bend your knees and you get more stability that way.

This rainbow was spotted from our deck walk this morning.

Today we were invited to lunch with the General Manager, Marck Warmenhoven who is from the Hague, Netherlands. We had a great conversation with him and were surprised that it was just the three of us at the table. Apparently we are the most traveled guests on this segment of the cruise.

Here are the previous summaries of the days.

Six sea days in the Atlantic on the way to the Azores. We get the Currents newsletter every day with all of the activities on board. Those of you who have been on cruises, especially on Oceania, this will be familiar. But ship life is interesting on sea days so for my readers who are not familiar, I will write about what goes on when not in port.

There is a coffee chat with needlepoint every morning – they give you a kit and if you finish it, you can get another. For me, not likely! I really have never liked needlepoint, but I DO like the chat part and have met several new friends.

Then there is line dancing – THAT I like! We usually learn a new one or two and practice the others. Our assistant cruise director, Jason, is a hoot and makes it a lot of fun. It is even more fun when the ship shifts side to side just enough to make you lose your balance!

There is a culinary center on board and I didn’t know to sign up ahead of time (we didn’t have this on the small ships) so most of the classes (which are hands on) were filled. I was told to go and hang out in case someone didn’t show up, so I did that, two people didn’t show up and I got to do the first recipe, then they came 23 minutes late and I got kicked out! I think they should have shown up on time, but… I did get to sign up for the Asian one and am on the waiting list for others. It is a beautiful set up.

Our shows have been good, the theater is large and has comfortable seating. Last night (March 22) we had an Irish comedian, George Casey, who made us laugh out loud! The onboard entertainment team is very talented too and their first show was called Brill and was about the building in NYC in which many songs of the 60s were composed. Think Ronnettes, Shirelles, etc. Norm and I had never heard of the building or that there were so many songs that emerged from it – so even the history was fun and the music took us on the way back machine.

I do play blackjack and enter the tournaments which are held every sea day. Today (March 23) I won! Yay!! Sometimes I play 3 card poker too but I think the way you play that is you place your bets and the casino collects them. It is rare to get a really big win there but it is fun and of course the casino is where I meet people too.

I had a wonderful hot stone massage and went to a ladies pamper party where we got facials. Norm had a massage today too.

All kinds of sport activities here, dancercise, golf putting, shuffleboard, bean bag toss, table tennis, paddle tennis, and croquet to name a few. You get these big O points which you turn in at the end of the cruise for mostly unnecessary items but people make quite a sport of collecting them for some reason. We have 0 big O points.

Norm generally attends the enrichment lectures which are quite good, right now there is a series on oceanography, one about Chelsea and one on iPhones. They have chess, bridge, trivia and of course – bingo. And jewelry demos, wellness lectures, all kinds of other activities.

We were invited to a wine tasting tomorrow and lunch with the general manager on Saturday.

We have not had to be tested for COVID yet and the information we have so far says to disembark at our upcoming ports we need to bring proof of vaccination – we don’t yet know if any will require testing. If they do, we will get complimentary tests on board.

Guess that is all for now. Tonight’s entertainer is a pianist – Linda Gentille. I believe we heard her on another cruise and enjoyed her. If you can find her on YouTube, watch her fingers fly as she plays.

The food is as amazing as we remembered. So far we have had dinner in three of the four specialty restaurants – Toscana, Red Ginger and Jacques. All were excellent and we plan the other one with a good chance we will add a few more reservations. And on the next segment we have reservations for all four as well.

My cooking class will be for the Red Ginger recipes and I got into another waitlisted one, Viva Espana – apparently that will be tapas.

As I mentioned, we had dinner in Red Ginger – it is a favorite and is not on the Insignia – the ship for our world cruises. I had to take pictures of the food.

We were waitlisted for a tour we really wanted to do in Malaga, Spain – Grenada of the Moors and Alhambra. It is one that is non refundable, so we doubted we would get in since probably no one would cancel, but we got word that we can go. I suspect they added more spots but don’t know for sure. I am sure I will have lots of pictures from that, it is on March 31.

Michelle Montouri had a second show and finished with the theme from Titanic – she came out in this outfit.

I got this plaque as a gift (thank you, Bill) and decided to paint it in the artist studio on board. I am pleased with the way it came out. We plan to hang it on our door on our next world cruise in January 2023!

Guess that is all for now, long post but lots of sea day info to cover. Our next port is Funchal in the Azores, on Tuesday.

Posted in At Sea, Food, March, Spring Cruise 2022 | 4 Comments

Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas

Posted on March 21, 2022 by patmathews

March 20, 2022

As I mentioned yesterday, we had a schedule change to Great Stirrup Cay instead of Bermuda. We know that the weather in Europe is likely to be in the 60’s so we went out to the beach today.

We had lovely weather and nice, clear water. They have large tenders here to get you to the island and we were the only ship anchored here. This island is next to Coco Cay where the RCL ships go and there were two huge ships over there. On Great Stirrup we had hundreds of lounge chairs open to us!

Supposedly there was an excursion that was called “swimming with the pigs” but we didn’t sign up for it nor did we see any actual pigs!

There was, however, a tower that I thought was a lighthouse but it was actually used as part of a zip line (I don’t do those either) but a few intrepid people were up there and zipping around! The painting on the tower was done by Guy Harvey.

The covid restrictions have been loosened on the ship and also on this island. The crew are still wearing masks but we are told that as soon as all are boosted they can remove them. They say that will be soon, probably on this cruise. Masks are optional for passengers and some wear them but most do not. This was on the walkway on the island.

After our return from the island, I went to the spa and enjoyed a rest on one of the heated tile loungers. I want one of these at home!

Dinner was in Jacques, the specialty restaurant named after the executive chef of the cruise line, Jacques Pepin. They only have this one on the larger ships. On our world cruises on the Insignia, they had some items from Jacques on the main dining room menu and they were always excellent. We shared a table with a woman from Manhattan and a couple from Edmonton Canada and had a delightful time. This is the crab salad appetizer and we both had a special fresh caught sea bream for the main course. They were making crepes Suzette for dessert so we had to have that too. Delicious!

Entertainer tonight was a singer – Michelle Montuori. She has a nice voice and is quite funny.

There are about 950 passengers on board – the ship capacity is 1250. Nothing seems crowded and we have met several passengers and quite a few crew members that we know from our previous trips.

Of course I visited the casino and so far, so good.

6 days at sea await and there are plenty of things to do. This ship has a culinary center where you do the actual cooking and then get to eat what you make. I hope to get into some of those classes.

I will post on the sea days if there is something interesting to say, otherwise I will do one larger sea day posting. We arrive in Ponta Delgada (Azores) on March 27. My friend Tori has sent me detailed weather information and maps and confirms that the weather the captain is avoiding near Bermuda is likely to make for a bumpy early part of the Atlantic crossing, so we will see. Thanks, Tori, for keeping us the most up to date with the weather!

Posted in Caribbean, March, Spring Cruise 2022 | 4 Comments

On board!

Posted on March 19, 2022 by patmathews

Adventure is about to begin. We waited about an hour to have our COVID requirements checked and then came onboard the beautiful Marina. Had lunch, did some exploring and are going to a Cruise Critic meet and greet at 4:30.

The first surprise was that we are not going to Bermuda. The weather is the stated reason but since we were not going to be there until Tuesday, we don’t know if that is the only reason. Instead, we are going to Great Stirrup Key in the Bahamas tomorrow. Then we have 6 sea days before we reach the Azores. We are getting $50 each credited to our account since we had to pay a fee to get a Bermuda landing permit.

Here are some pictures of our room and balcony. More fun to come!

Posted in Caribbean, March, Spring Cruise 2022 | 10 Comments

Getting ready to travel again!

Posted on February 14, 2022 by patmathews

Well, it has been a long time with no travel and we are eager to resume travel and blogging. We have a 26 day Oceania cruise booked next month and I will try to remember how to blog again.

The first leg is transatlantic from Miami to Rome. The second is from Rome to Venice.

Even though we have traveled to many places, there are 9 ports on this cruise that we have never visited so we are excited to see them.

And, with any luck, we will do another World Cruise in 2023. We canceled the 2022. We do have many friends who are on it right now and are having fun on a fully vaccinated trip – even with the extensive change in the itinerary.

Fingers crossed that we will remain healthy and start to travel again.

Posted in February, Preparation | 11 Comments

Koblenz, Germany

Posted on November 20, 2019 by patmathews

November 13, 2019

This morning we had a walking tour of Koblenz, which is where the Rhine and the Moselle rivers meet. We were actually docked on the Moselle although when we left we made the turn back onto the Rhine.

At the confluence of the river there is the famous horseback statue of the King of Prussia and first German Emperor Wilhelm I. Our guide shared a lot about the history and was pretty negative about the French influence!

This statue was put up on the wall during one of the many times the town was flooded. People believe that as long as she is watching, floods won’t happen. But they do anyway because of the two rivers meeting here – as you can see with our guide pointing out the river levels at various times of flooding.

We visited several churches and statues. There are parts of the Berlin wall on exhibit here.

Have to have at least one dog photo!

The thumb is an 8 foot tall brass thumb sticking out of the ground, in front of the art museum.

This 35 foot statue chronicles the history of the city from its beginning as a Roman settlement up through World War II.

There are many wonderful squares here and they are setting up for the Christmas markets.

Our guide told us that during the French period between 1794 and 1814 and continuing afterward, a large number of children who were born to French and German parents were named Jean. The popular name later morphed into the Schang per the local dialect and then into Schängel, which became a moniker for the residents of the region.

The most famous Schängel is a statue of a little prankster that periodically spits on unsuspecting tourists from his fountain perch on Willi-Hörter-Platz. The base of the fountain, built in 1941, contains bas reliefs of young boys engaged in other mischief, such as smoking, fighting, and mocking their elders. An inscription identifies the mischievous Schängel as the symbol of the town, and he graces manhole covers all across the town. The spitting feature was not on when we visited because of the coming winter season.

This clock on the Mittelrheinisches Museum is a unique feature. As the clock strikes the half hour, the man’s red tongue sticks out at the passersby. This is the face of highway robber baron Johann von Kobem who was beheaded in 1536. Now he gets his revenge on the townspeople every half hour. We saw it at 10:30 AM. Local legend says that if you see him sticking his tongue out, it will bring you luck. His eyes seem to follow you too!

It was another interesting and charming town with lots of history.

Tonight, we had the Captain’s dinner. We had cocktails and appetizers in the lounge first, with an introduction of all the staff on the ship, followed by a delicious dinner. The photos are of the captain and Gabor and Jessie, our concierge and cruise director. Jessie even wrote a poem for us and read it during the cocktail hour. I loved the napkin folding with the paper bow tie.

Tonight we sail for Cologne and we will leave the ship at 6:30 AM to travel to the Dusseldorf airport for our flight back home.

What a wonderful experience we had – seeing so many places we had not visited before and sailing on this beautiful river boat.

Posted in Europe, Europe trip and river cruise, Excursions, November | Leave a comment

Rhine Gorge and Boppard, Germany

Posted on November 20, 2019 by patmathews

November 12, 2019

The trip through the Rhine Gorge was just beautiful. It was cold, so I stayed mostly in the lounge. Some of the pictures are through the windows so there are some light reflections, but Norm was outside some of the time and got better ones. Jessie gave us this map of the various castles and other buildings we will see and she narrated our trip through the Gorge.

We passed the Lorelei (Loreley) Statue which is a memorial for a young woman and her ghost which are claimed to have lured sailors to their death on the rocks. It was pretty far from the ship so hard to see. Good thing there was the blue flag to alert us! Jessie played the song as we passed it.

We arrived in Boppard and had a walk through this very small but charming town.

After dinner, we sailed for Koblenz which will be our last stop before we leave the ship in Cologne.

Posted in Europe, Europe trip and river cruise, November | Leave a comment

Rudesheim, Germany

Posted on November 20, 2019 by patmathews

November 11 and 12, 2019

We arrived in Rudesheim in the evening of November 11 and we had the opportunity for a late stroll into town. Our destination was the Drosselgasse, the tiny street that is the heart of the historic center. It is a narrow traffic free street in the old town. It was originally built in the 15th century to allow boat owners to move items from the river to their homes in the town. It is now home to taverns, gardens and restaurants.

It was a bit drizzly but we found a restaurant/bar open. A group from a Viking cruise was there having a great time with the band. We had the famous Rudeshimer Caffe which is made with their Asbach German Brandy which is flambeed, coffee added and topped with whipped cream. Yum!

The next day, November 12, I went on the town tour and the walk and discovery outing and Norm chose the train ride to the Siegfried’s Mechanisches Musikkabinet which is a mechanical music museum that’s home to a superb collection of 350 intricate antique musical instruments and musical boxes from all over the world. Many are still in full working order. The exhibits are from four centuries. Norm found it fascinating!

Here are some of his pictures:

My tour was a 5 mile walk to the Niederwald monument and temple. We passed lots of vineyards which have flourished since the 14th century. This is the heart of Riesling country and the terraced vineyards are truly beautiful.

The Niederwald monument is a 12.5 meter high statue of Germania, symbolizing the “guard of the Rhine”. It is a tribute to the establishment of the German Empire immediately after the Franco-Prussian war.

We had a walk through the town too, and saw the streets and restaurants we visited last night.

Love the mailboxes!

This afternoon we will sail through the Rhine Gorge. It is a World Heritage site and Jessie will narrate as we pass through the gorge and observe the many castles. Later we will be in Boppard and will have time to see this small town on the looping s-bend of the Rhine.

Posted in Europe, Europe trip and river cruise, Excursions, Food, November | Leave a comment

Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures

At Sea

Funchal (Madeira) Portugal

Still at sea!

Many days at sea

Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas

On board!

Getting ready to travel again!

Koblenz, Germany

Rhine Gorge and Boppard, Germany

Rudesheim, Germany

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