Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures

Rangiroa, Tuamotou Islands, French Polynesia

Posted on February 14, 2019 by patmathews

February 14, 2019

Last night we had another terrific fish dinner that was grilled on the outside deck at the Terrace Café. Mario was out getting fresh tuna (which he said you can tell it is good quality by checking the eyes of the fish). The displays of the carved vegetables are also beautiful. And the fruit that was brought on board was a delicious ending to the meal.

Here are my dealer and manager friends in the casino. Sometimes it is a good night at blackjack but it is always fun! Thanks casino team.

First picture is Walter, Shanvia and manager Jennifer. Second picture includes Dushan.

The show last night was Gabe Abelson. He does stand up comedy but also mindreading. He did the comedy show a few days ago and this was the mindreading show. We have also met him around the ship and he astounded us with his abilities. We are still shaking our heads about the things he did – trying to figure it out. He is a former writer for David Letterman and a 5 time Emmy winner. This afternoon he will do a talk about working with Hollywood Legends – the inside confidential scoop. If I really learn any scoops, I will be sure to share them!

Today we arrived in Rangiora about 8. The weather is beautiful and the color of the water just astounding. Here are some shots of our approach.

You can see that we have to come into the bay through the narrow passage – easy to miss this port if the weather is bad.

This is a coral island and known as one of the world’s great dive destinations.

We went into the port via tender again, these islands don’t have docks to accommodate cruise ships, even smallish ones like ours. Musicians and dancers greeted us.

We didn’t have a tour booked but intended to pick up a snorkeling trip and we got one right away. There is a snorkel site called Motu Nui Nui which is accessible by boat. It is known as a natural aquarium and was classified by Captain Cousteau as one of the most beautiful in the world. Just the two of us, the boat captain and his dog were taken to another boat in the snorkel area.

We had a wonderful time. Norm got a new underwater camera (thanks, Doc, for the recommendation!) So I didn’t even bring my Go Pro this time. Our guide fed the fish and they were everywhere around us. I counted at least 15 different species. Unfortunately the two crew didn’t speak English so we didn’t get the names of all of them. But we know angelfish, clown fish, surgeon fish and needlefish for sure. The coral is in good shape – not as colorful as others we have seen but still beautiful.

After our snorkel adventure, we walked to the Pacific side of the island where the current and waves are pretty dangerous for snorkeling. It is beautiful and relaxing here for sure.

Last time we were here we went to the pearl farm and bought a beautiful necklace. The pearls here are the only cultured pearls in the world with so many natural colors. I think of our time here every time I wear it, and I will wear it for our Valentine’s Day dinner this evening in Toscana with Marilyn and Charlie.

This time we enjoyed the natural beauty of this island.

Posted in Excursions, February, South Pacific, World Cruise 3 | 3 Comments

Nuku Hiva, Marquesas, French Polynesia

Posted on February 13, 2019 by patmathews

February 12, 2019

Yesterday I had the second cocktail school with Sebastien. We made the Insignia Colada, the Ker Hawaii and the Mark Sebastien Old Fashioned. I wrote all over the recipes so I won’t picture them here but here are some shots of the class and of the group. At the last class we were each given a cocktail shaker and at this one, we mentioned that we loved the long handled cocktail spoons, so the bar manager gave us one! In the second picture you see Sebastien smoking the ice. I have never seen this before. Not sure I would do this but it was interesting and gave a smoky taste to the old fashioned.

Last night we were invited to dinner with the chief engineer, Nedyalko Tonchev who is from Bulgaria. We call him Ned! There was another couple with us and it happened to be Ned’s birthday. We had a nice dinner, lots of wine, and of course a birthday cake and ice cream.

After dinner we saw the movie The Wife. Glenn Close played a wonderful role.

On February 12, we arrived in Nuku Hiva. Last time we were here, we had such bad weather in the South Pacific that we didn’t get here until it was almost dark, so we didn’t see much. This time we got in by 9 AM. Even though this is the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, it is largely inaccessible by car except for the coastal villages. There are no villages at all on the western side. We were tendered into port on the south side of the island.

The island was the site for Survivor: Marquesas, the fourth installment of the CBS show. It is a beautiful place.

We were greeted by local musicians and dancers. The women all had these beautiful flower headdresses.

We first walked through the small town of Taiohae, the main town on the island. It is located on the edge of an ancient volcanic crater that collapsed into the sea, forming Taiohae Bay where our ship is anchored. It was a hot and humid day, but we walked all morning. The local people were all welcoming and friendly.

Next we saw the Notre Dame Cathedral. The remains of the 19th century church is just a portion of the stone wall – Norm is standing in front of it, but the 1977 structure is also interesting. All of the stations of the cross and other statues are carved in local woods. Here are just a few of them.

The flowering trees are so beautiful. Norm is pointing to a breadfruit.

We walked up the hill to the Keilkahanui Nuku Hiva Pearl Lodge. This lodge is composed of 20 bungalows and has a spectacular view of the sea and the black sand beach. There is only one employee who speaks English and good thing she was there because she helped me buy my turtle bracelet.

We then walked up to the large sculpture, Tiki Tuhiva, at the top of another hill. It is the highest contemporary structure in the Pacific. The woman tiki is 40 feet high and the warrior is 26 feet high.

There are also many sculptures (notice the anatomy!) on the path leading up to Tiki Tuhiva.

Local fruits to be sent to the ship.

And here I am with one of the people who will later be in the show on the ship.

After we returned to the ship, the group of local performers did a show on the deck – local folkloric show. They were terrific.

And they invited guests up to dance with them. Even Damien got involved although he didn’t take his shirt off!

We always say that when the Captain makes an announcement and it is not noon (his daily announcement time), there is something unusual going on. Today it was that one of the hoists for the lifeboats (which are used as tenders) was malfunctioning and we wouldn’t be leaving on time. We did leave by about 10:30 PM and shouldn’t have a problem reaching our next port.

Dinner was in Polo tonight, and I had the lobster. The waiter removes all the meat from the shells and put mine in a heart as Valentine’s Day is coming!

Posted in Excursions, February, South Pacific, World Cruise 3 | 5 Comments

Crossing the equator and cocktail time

Posted on February 11, 2019 by patmathews

February 10, 2019

Today we crossed the equator – of course, we have crossed it many times, so we are already “shellbacks”. The equator divides the earth into Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere. Here there are 12 hours of day and night throughout the year.

The celebration has been done since the days of the Vikings, some say, and on cruise ships it is definite that the initiation of all Polliwogs (who have never crossed the equator) into the Society of Shellbacks takes place the day we cross the equator.

This begins with a procession of the band, some mermaids, some pirates, a judge and of course, King Neptune and Queen Neptuna.

Here the women of the entertainment team, Stephanie and Sophia, get initiated. The initiation involves kissing the fish and being doused with something. The passengers mostly got ice water but the staff members got raw eggs and pasta. Queen Neptuna was actually our assistant cruise director, Nieks, who had his boobs and wig removed to reveal his disguise!

Mario readies the fish

Norm has been attending the lectures (sometimes I watch the video later) but we did both go to the cocktail master class with Sebastien. Today I also went to the cocktail school where we made two of the drinks from the master class and the Honeymoon dacquiri.

The Martinis bar is ready for our class. Only 8 participants so we get a lot of attention

I am writing this on Monday, February 11. We attended another master class with Sebastien where he made the Honeymoon Daiquiri, Raspberry Ginger and the Spicy Mango Experience. We got to taste the Mango one. I will go to the cocktail school this afternoon too, where we will make 3 new drinks.

Tonight the viewing of Oscar nominated films continues with The Wife. We have dinner scheduled with the chief engineer and will go to the movie after that.

Some single ladies – they dubbed themselves the “naughty ladies” hung some lingerie on one of the wall art exhibits. It didn’t stay there long!

Posted in World Cruise 3 | 2 Comments

At Sea and Charlie’s birthday!

Posted on February 10, 2019 by patmathews

February 9, 2019

We are in our second of 4 days at sea on the way to Nuku Hiva, the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia.

Today we had two unique events plus an 80th birthday party for our friend Charlie.

Of course, we do love the relaxation of the sea days and always find things to do.

First we always do our one hour walk around the deck. Today it was cloudy and a bit windy, but still a brisk way to start the day.

We had a master class in mixology with Sebastian Houdemon from France. He is a graduate of St. Nazaire’s catering school in France and has worked in France, Spain, Dominican Republic and all around the world for international companies. He is known for creating new cocktails.

Today he made the Oceania Elixir which we got to taste, a Tiki Smoky Old Fashioned and the Insignia Colada. I think the Oceania Elixer is a good one for yaya time at the beach!

Sebastian is on the left with Roberto (food and beverage director) and Leslie, our cruise director.

He will be doing another master class on February 11 and will also do a cocktail school twice during the next couple of sea days. He is also in Martinis bar at night where he makes and serves his special cocktails. I assume he will be departing at one of the upcoming ports so I want to try some more of the cocktails before he leaves.

Then, I went to the new book club gathering. We are going to read The Printmaker’s Daughter. This is a novel about Japan and the discussion is being led by Becky, who lived in Japan. Since we spend more than a week in Japanese ports on this cruise, this book should give us a glimpse of their culture. We were each given a copy of the book and I have started it. Fascinating. We will get together each sea day for discussions.

It was an Asian lunch today in the Terrace Café. Another unfortunate pig was served.

I wanted to play in the blackjack tournament but they didn’t have it today as not enough people showed up. So I played a while at the table with Lalo and Isaac. Lucky me, on the $1 side bet – Jolly Jacks – I got the pair of jack of clubs which paid out at 120:1!! Next time I want it with the dealer’s blackjack which pays $1000:1. Hear that, dealers????

Our friend Graham Denison, the resident artist that we met in 2017 – and bought one of his paintings – arrived with his wife and business partner, Shuna – in Los Angeles. Looking forward to spending some time with him.

This evening Marilyn had arranged a dinner for her husband Charlie’s 80th birthday. It was a nice dinner for 10 – joined by Rodney and Candace, Stephanie and Vic and Joe and Ginny. Here is the invitation and some shots from the dinner.

That cake was delicious, served to us with vanilla ice cream, yum. And all of the waiters came to sing to Charlie. Damien, our general manager, sent a bottle of champagne and Marilyn chose nice wines to accompany the dinner. Happy birthday, Charlie!

Posted in At Sea, February, Food, World Cruise 3 | 2 Comments

Hilo, Hawaii

Posted on February 8, 2019 by patmathews

February 7, 2019

Here is the clock tower and the lights on the hills as we left the Honolulu harbor on Wednesday.

We heard that our executive chef, Mario, had bought some fresh fish in the Honolulu markets so we went to the Terrace Café for dinner. Mario and some of the other chefs were grilling fresh tuna out on the Terrace. And it was delicious. He was also quite proud of the display of the tuna and the opah (moonfish) which is a native Hawaiian fish. We will have the opah on Thursday.

This was our fourth time in Hilo. This time we chose to do a culinary tour. This was conducted by hometourshawaii.com

and it was a great day. Hilo gets a lot of rain, average of 160-280 inches a year. It was cloudy with rain predicted but we didn’t get any at all in the area we traveled. There were two vans with 8 people in each. Our driver/leader/chefs were Lisa on the left and Jen on the right. Jen is talking about her book about living in a yurt for a year.

Our first home is owned by Beverly, a former chip designer in Silicon Valley. She retired here and bought 20 acres of absolutely beautiful land overlooking the ocean. There is no possibility of anyone building to block her view. She designed the home and every room has a view of either the ocean or the mountains and is constructed inside and out of native Hawaiian wood.

Here we are relaxing in the lovely spot.

This view shows our ship in the harbor.

Here’s our breakfast. Pure Kona coffee (costs up to $50/pound). Most coffee labeled Kona has only a small percentage of Kona beans. We could add Bailey’s or Kahlua, cane sugar and whipped cream. We had a small glass of guava juice, banana macadamia bread, chocolate expresso/coffee bread, a taro doughnut – malasada (my favorite) and homemade sausage.

We had plenty of time to relax, enjoy the serene setting and chat with Beverly and the other cruisers before moving on to the next house.

Here is a blown up version of the chip she designed. The actual chip is on the right of the picture – very small.

We moved on to the second house, a bed and breakfast called The Palms Cliff House Inn (which, by the way, is for sale). On the way, our driver/guide Lisa gave us some information about Hilo and the Big Island of Hawaii. There are no snakes here, also no squirrels, skunks or raccoons. They do have rats which came from some of the ships originally, and they introduced mongoose to catch the rats. Unfortunately one is nocturnal and the other is not so they actually co-exist quite well. Another unintended consequence of human intervention!

We didn’t meet the owners of this beautiful place, but we did meet their 4 and 6 year old granddaughters who just couldn’t stay away even though they were told to. They were proud to say that they were wearing their bathing suits!

This place was just built in 1995 and made to look like a Victorian residence – a style that is popular here. Again, the views from the large lanai are spectacular.

This is the large kahili, a feathered staff used in processions with former Hawaiian royalty. They were up to 30 feet high. In Hawaiian culture if you stepped on the king’s shadow you were killed immediately.

These are handcrafted hats – beautiful displays of many handicrafts in this B & B.

So what did we have to eat here? It was lunch.The chips are made on the island with potatoes imported from Idaho! They were really good. There was chicken macadamia salad in a papaya and an organic green salad with pineapple and pita chips and a sesame ginger vinaigrette dressing. We had passion fruit iced tea to drink.

Then it was on to the last house for dessert. This home also has a beautiful view. It is a 5300 square foot home with just Bernie, his wife and his dog Morgan living there. The beach just below his house is a big surfing destination and we enjoyed watching them while eating our dessert.

Here we had a bread pudding, a coconut macaroon, lilikoi (passion fruit) mousse, apple banana, fresh pineapple and this fruit called rambutan. The part you eat is inside that fuzzy stuff and it is much like lychee.

Norm and Jim have a chat.

On our way back to the ship we saw the beautiful African tulip trees, a monkey pod tree and also this small lighthouse which has marks for the height of the water in the two major tsunamis in 1946 and 1960.

During the tsunamis the railroad tracks were completely demolished and that was the end of the sugar cane industry here since there was no way to transport the sugar cane. Beverly’s house stands on former sugar cane fields and you still see some growing along some of the roads here.

Speaking of roads, there was a lot of work being done and the road is only one lane each way. Their law is that 100 cars pass each way with a flagman stopping the opposite traffic. Needless to say that delays the trip.

It was a wonderful day with just the small group, the great guides, the homes and the fabulous views and the food.

Later we went to the Terrace for the opah fish and again, we were not disappointed.

I am writing this on Friday – we had a “welcome home” party for fellow traveler Sukey at 11 today – we met her on the 2015 world cruise. She broke her leg in Mexico, got back on the ship, was seen by the ship doctor and one in Mexico, left the ship in Los Angeles for surgery and came back in Honolulu to finish the world cruise with us. What better place to recuperate.

The party had free flowing mimosas and bloody marys as well as delicious appetizers.

Norm and Karen with GM Damien. He says we will do anything for a party!

Posted in Excursions, February, Food, World Cruise 3 | 1 Comment

Honolulu, Hawaii

Posted on February 6, 2019 by patmathews

February 6, 2019

Heading out of the Nawiliwili harbor last night.

Forgot to mention that the chief export of Kauai is…. wait for it… bottled water! And that the Wailua Falls are known as the shrimp falls. Kids used to go to the falls and catch shrimp for dinner. These days there are fewer of the shrimp going over the falls. Also last night the Terrace Cafe had a delicious Asian dinner in celebration of the New Year, the year of the pig. And yes, they had a whole roasted pig. Seems a bit harsh if you ask me. I didn’t have that, but I had wonderful noodles, etc.

Today we arrived in Honolulu early – 7 AM. We have been here 3 times before and have seen most of the sights so we decided to venture out to try to get a whale watching trip. One of the security people told us where to find them and also that if we show our Medicare cards we could travel on the buses all day for $2! We planned to walk but it was a good tip. An even better tip was to definitely NOT jaywalk because if caught it would be a $130 fine. Each. So we followed the law all day.

Honolulu harbor on arrival

We found a tour and it was going to go out at 10 AM. So we had about 45 minutes. We found a Starbucks and updated our devices with their fast Wi-fi.

Here’s our boat for the whale watching.

After just a short time out, we came upon a whole pod of dolphins. Some were doing tricks near our boat!

Our captain was Alex. He said they haven’t been seeing so many dolphins lately so we were lucky.

But will we see whales? Just a short while later, we saw the spouts! All told we had three different sightings. Alex said that these humpback whales are about 45 feet long. They spend about 6 months of the year in these waters where they have their babies. The rest of the year they are in Alaska. During their time here, they do not eat at all even though they feed their babies. Then in Alaska they feed all the time – on krill which is their preferred food.

We also got some nice shots of the shore, including Waikiki Beach and the hills beyond.

We also saw sea turtles both at sea and near the boats and some fish near the boats.

We asked Alex for a lunch place near the docks and he recommended Wahoo for the fish tacos. Excellent!

We did a lot of walking, did a bit of shopping to get a couple of items we needed and the local chocolate for our cabin staff and butler.

Then back to the ship. Tonight they are showing Bohemian Rhapsody. We haven’t seen it yet so we are looking forward to that.

Tomorrow we are headed to Hilo.

Posted in Excursions, February, Food, World Cruise 3 | 1 Comment

Nawiliwili, Kauai, Hawaii

Posted on February 6, 2019 by patmathews

February 5, 2019

We were so excited when the pilot boarded the ship this morning so we knew we were going in to Kauai. This is not a tender port as we thought and the day was not too windy or choppy, so we docked easily and were welcomed by Hawaiian music and dancers.

Here is what we saw when we approached land. There are beautiful ocean cliffs, beaches and over 10,000 waterfalls.

This is a beautiful island, the northernmost island in the Hawaiian Group. It is known as the “Garden Island”. It is the oldest of the large Hawaiian Islands and is the top of an enormous volcano rising from the ocean floor. It is well known for all of the movies that were filmed here. These include Jurassic Park, Blue Hawaii, The Descendants, Raiders of the Lost Ark, South Pacific, Donovan’s Reef and Lilo and Stitch.

In Hawaii, a rain shower is called a “blessing” and we encountered several of them during our day here. This island can get up to 1000 inches of rain a year. There are 11 of the 13 weather/climate zones here, the big island has all 13. 96% of the vegetation on the island is introduced, not native.

I arranged a private tour for 7 of us – Rodney and Candace, Marilyn and Charlie and Jim Beach joined us. It was a photography tour that took us to many wonderful sights on the island. Matt was our van driver and guide and he was terrific. He was actually born outside of Philadelphia and lived there until his teens. He has lived in many places in the world since then. The company I used was hawaiianphotos.net – highly recommend them if you travel here.

Our first stop was at the Wailua Falls. These falls drop 80 feet into the rainforest below the Wailua River. They are best known for the opening credits in the television show Fantasy Island. We saw many kayakers on the river too.

All during the day, Matt gave us photography tips and I learned a lot. Rodney has amazing equipment so I can’t wait to see all of his shots.

Here are some of the other beautiful sights we saw here. Matt especially focused on how to take good landscape shots. My new iPhone does pretty well and I used some of his tips. See what you think!

We passed by the Coco Palms resort where Elvis Presley stayed during the filming of Blue Hawaii. Unfortunately it is in ruins now and has been purchased by Hyatt – the renovation project is stalled because of land use protests.

We visited the beach where Gilligan’s Island was filmed – when their boat first shipwrecks the crew and passengers.

And here are some more shots of this gorgeous place.

Many of the plants are really invasive. One is the sea hibiscus which has wood fibers so strong they were used instead of rope. Matt showed us that the fibers would cut your hands before they would break. Now those trees are taking over the landscape.

They have a yellow flower that changes color three times in the day and then falls off. Another grows in its place.

We had lunch at a very traditional Hawaiian food truck – the food was delicious!

The beaches are really spectacular, and I know that the photos cannot capture it all. We did see several children and some surfers but for the most part the beaches were uninhabited.

This is a red faced cardinal – beautiful.

This is an Australian Ironwood tree.

As I mentioned, there were short rain showers during the day which didn’t slow us down a bit, in fact, we did get a rainbow picture and some really nice cloud photos in the mountains.

There is a tree here that guides fool tourists with – the fruit looks a bit like a pineapple, but those don’t grow on trees! We weren’t fooled.

There are chickens and roosters everywhere! And most t-shirts you see or other souvenirs have chickens on them.

And nene, the Hawaiian goose.

They grow a lot of taro here. They grow it in water like rice is grown which Matt says serves as an herbicide as no other invasive species bothers it.

Here’s some photos of us and the group!

It was a terrific day and we look forward to returning to this island. Now on to Honolulu tomorrow.

Posted in Excursions, February, World Cruise 3 | 3 Comments

Super Bowl Sunday on the high seas

Posted on February 4, 2019 by patmathews

February 3, 2019

Last night was a performance of Gatsby by the entertainment team – we also saw it on the first leg, but most of this team is leaving us in Sydney, so it is their last performance of this show. Really well done. Here is the cast with fellow passengers Jim Beach and Bob Brown.

Photo credit: Bob Brown posted on Cruise Critic site

We have been on ships during the Super Bowl before, so we knew not to expect the commercials, but others were disappointed since that is the only reason they watch the game. Outside the US, they usually show the same ESPN commercials.

We entered the beautifully decorated Insignia Lounge on the Patriots side. One side was decorated for the Rams, the other for the Patriots. And both the food and drinks were plentiful. They had wings, hamburgers, hot dogs, chili, baked potatoes with fixings, guacamole and chips, pizza, popcorn, potato chips, pretzels, veggies and dip, cheese platters, etc.

Norm in his Eagles regalia. Maybe next year?

On the dessert side, there was a fabulous cake and chocolate Super Bowl trophy in chocolate with LIII along side. There were brownies and all kinds of assorted cupcakes too.

That football in the middle is solid (delicious) chocolate, and the green grass is coconut. Yum.

The waiters had their t-shirts and sunglasses on and were having a great time.

In the matter of the football pool….. friends Isaac, Lalo and Dariella are on this cruise (part of the “usual suspects” gambling buddies from a previous trip) – and Dariella and Lalo got off in Los Angeles and will rejoin in Honolulu thus avoiding the 5 day Pacific crossing. As Isaac was purchasing his squares on the board for the Super Bowl Pool, he told me to choose the 5 for Dariella so she would blame me when she lost.

Well, here is what happened. I did choose her five, and later my two. The prizes were $100 at the end of the first quarter, $300 at the end of the half, $500 at the end of the third quarter and $700 at the end of the game. It was based on the last number of the scores at that time. Here is the board.

With the score 3-3, 13-3, Dariella won the last 3 !!! for a payout of $1500. I don’t think she will be mad at me for choosing her squares! And, of course, I didn’t win anything.

Congratulations, Dariella. See you for hugs and high fives when we reach Honolulu.

Photo courtesy of Dariella’s facebook page!

I am posting this on Monday, 2/4. We are about 200 nautical miles from Kauai and the seas are pretty calm, it is sunny and beautiful. The captain announced that we have a medical emergency on board and the Coast Guard will be landing a helicopter on the ship around 3 PM for an evacuation. I don’t know which passenger, but wishing for good outcomes.

Tomorrow – hopefully we will get into Kauai. I found out we are docked, not tendering in so that should be good. Can’t wait to experience it as we keep hearing how beautiful it is.

Posted in At Sea, February, Food, World Cruise 3 | 1 Comment

So what do you do on board when you have 5 days at sea between Los Angeles and Hawaii??

Posted on February 2, 2019 by patmathews

February 2, 2019

Well, you win a blackjack tournament, you have a hot stone massage, you make leather bracelets (all Pat), you do two wine tastings, (both Norm), you see a few shows, you get an autograph from a “tiny plunger”, you have two Around the World special gatherings, you have a fabulous super bowl party (tomorrow) and join the betting pool, you read, you sit on the balcony and soak up the sun, you make greeting cards, you participate in the mural project, you walk the track for exercise, you hang out with friends.. and you feel so privileged to be able to do all of this.

The brown leather bracelet

Here are a couple of pictures from walks on the deck. We got drizzled on at first but the rainbow was worth it!

We had a gathering for around the world guests in Horizons yesterday – lots of drinks and good conversations. Then the Captain’s cocktail party, followed by dinner with Marilyn and Charlie. Then we saw the comedian and magician Jon Armstrong who was pretty great – look up his trick with “tiny plunger” online. We had to get Tiny Plunger’s autograph. Magic for sure.

Today we had another ATW gathering called Italian Pearls and French Bubbles and the chefs outdid themselves. So many delicious things to sample and all the drinks you might want. I loved the kir royales.

Chef Mario with the wonderful creations

Me and Damien, the General Manager

Ricardo, Executive ATW concierge

Marilyn with Rene, Carol and Kristina

Our intrepid cruise director, Leslie

Tonight we will have dinner in the Polo grill and tomorrow, Super Bowl will be shown at 2:30 here with the betting pool and all the typical Super Bowl foods and drinks followed by dinner with the ATW ambassadors, Tricia and Steve.

Norm takes a snooze

Then one more day until Kauai. The seas have been choppy but they are settling down a bit and we do hope we will be able to get into Kauai.

AND we watch hundreds of dolphins jumping. Unfortunately I cannot load the video on the ship. Will try if I get fast wi-if in Hawaii. What a sight!

Posted in At Sea, February, World Cruise 3 | 4 Comments

Port of Los Angeles

Posted on January 31, 2019 by patmathews

January 30, 2019

Technically, this port is in San Pedro. I spent some time with Mary, a worker here, who has lived here for all her life – 69 years. And she says she can tell who is from here because they pronounce the place correctly. San Pee dro vs San Paa dro. This is because it was settled by the Portuguese not the Spanish.

Since we came here from Mexico, the customs authorities require what is called a zero count – that means everyone must get off the ship and go through customs, even if they are not planning to go anywhere off the ship. This applies to crew too. So you can imagine the lines at customs just for the passengers who get to do it first. And not all of the booths were open either. Took over an hour.

Marilyn and I had nail appointments at 10 and we actually just made it – took a cab from the port. After that we bought wine, and returned to the ship for lunch. Norm went on the shuttle to Long Beach where he took some pictures and did some errands. These are of the lighthouse with the Queen Mary in the background, the post office and the Breakers hotel.

After lunch, I went back into the terminal for fast wi-fi to back up my devices and download the update for iPhone and iPad. It was like watching paint dry. The wi-fi is faster than the ship but still pretty slow. Took a couple of hours.

Here are some of the shots from the ship – of the port and of the massive amount of supplies they were loading. There was also a diver inspecting the bottom of the ship!

This is a huge container port, hard to describe the number of ships and containers here.

Well, it was the end of our time with friends Pam and Tom. We had a great time with them on board, hope you don’t freeze back in PA! Miss you already.

Greeting Graham and Shuna – the artist who painted our lovely Portofino painting in 2017 – and is the resident artist for the next 3 months – as well many others arriving here in Los Angeles, the last boarding point for the Around the World guests. There will be a reception for all of us tomorrow night.

And the good news – the package Adam sent arrived, and my Amazon order did too! Yay for US ports. Now I have a device to use so that I can move my pictures from the iPhone to my computer and compose my blogs in a much easier way!

We have 5 days at sea until we get to Hawaii. Lots of things going on here, including a big Super Bowl party on Sunday. On the ship we will see it at 2:30.

Posted in January, North America, World Cruise 3 | Leave a comment