Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures

Home… back in Philadelphia

Posted on January 4, 2016 by patmathews

United_States_of_America

January 4

Coming home.

We had to wait a while to disembark this morning but then we got our baggage and proceeded through customs which was really easy. I had prepared a spreadsheet with our purchases and we thought we might need to show receipts or items, but no, they only asked about jewelry and the only thing that was of much value was the pearl necklace and bracelet, so I pointed that out on the spreadsheet, and he waved us through. I think they really are looking for the very expensive stuff.

We were met by a stretch limo (courtesy of Oceania because we were world cruise travelers), and the driver took us to the Hertz rental center where we got an SUV to go up to West Palm Beach to drop off some bags (we will be there in 2 weeks for an ICF Board meeting so it wasn’t worth taking that warm weather stuff home with us). The other 3 were sent by the luggage free service and will arrive in Philadelphia on Wednesday. We didn’t realize we were missing one until we got to the Hertz place. Thankfully Alper, the executive concierge on the ship, had it also shipped to us via luggage free and that one will get here on Thursday. That service was also provided by Oceania and I would highly recommend it. Because of this, we traveled home from Miami after 6 months with just carry on luggage. Amazing!

And now we are back home – it was an uneventful flight. And it is COLD here. I am well and truly spoiled – weather wise as well as now having to cook, clean and do laundry! I said (jokingly, I think) that the first time in a restaurant we would probably walk out without paying! Force of habit. I did go to Trader Joes to buy a few things and the line was the longest I have EVER seen, it wound all around the store! Ah yes, reality bites.

So, next January 6 – 2017, we will do our second world cruise. 180 days – this time traveling west through the Panama Canal and doing Hawaii, French Polynesia, Australia, New Zealand, and lots more. We will go back to some countries and add some new ones, lots to learn and explore. So now begins the planning and the countdown.

Stay tuned, we will keep this site online and add to it when we do our next world cruise (or perhaps before as we travel in 2016.)

As Henry Miller said: “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”

And Hans Christian Anderson: “To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, to gain all while you give, to roam the roads of lands remote, to travel is to live.”

And we saw and learned so much. Thank you for traveling with us. And thanks to Oceania Insignia crew for being such a class act and making our travel so special.

Posted in January, North America, World Cruise 1 | 12 Comments

Key West, Florida

Posted on January 4, 2016 by patmathews

United_States_of_America

January 3

Well, I am writing this post from home in Philadelphia and I cannot believe how much easier it is with fast internet service!

We have spent lots of time in Key West so our day was fun just to walk around and people watch.

Love this sentiment.

They are still very decorated for New Year – 2016

We went to one of our favorite places for lunch, DJ’s Clam Shack and had their amazing lobster roll. I think it is better than the ones in Bar Harbor. It was featured on the series Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

We had a last dinner with good friends Rodney and Candace and Marilyn and Charlie. 2 bottles of champagne and one red wine… oh yes, and there was food.

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We’ve met so many great people and learned so much.

Posted in Food, January, North America, World Cruise 1 | 2 Comments

Cruising the Caribbean Sea

Posted on January 4, 2016 by patmathews

January 2

We had a terrific and emotional day. First, the ship hosted a mimosa party for the world cruise group with lovely food and the mimosas. Andy, our cruise director, composed a song for us, and we were invited to submit 100 words about our journey if we wanted to. I chose to do mine in the “sixwordstories” format and people really liked it. If you don’t know about sixwordstories and want to know more, here is the link:

sixwordstories.net

Started as guests, ended as family.
Tammy and Andy: one dynamic duo.
Our clothes still fit, thanks, Mario.
Mombasa roads, big delay. Who knew?
Celebrating Norm’s birthday in Toscana. Meraviglioso!
Destinations kept us learning and exploring.
Shows: hit or miss. Like life.
Casino staff: win/lose, always fun.
Iwayan, Daisy, Ebner kept us organized.
Fascinating Petra: never been so hot.
Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat, Bagan: amazing.
Cultural color in India. Must return.
Safari magic, chateaus, Emirates Palace, luminaries.
Internet connectivity: an exercise in patience.
Fitness track: it’s boring but effective.
New friends, shared fun, remember always.
World cruise 2017 – see you then!

And, yes, we are signed up to do another world cruise in January of 2017, this time going the other direction. More info to come about that.

We also had the usual end of the segment show and festivities – we got to go to that each time but this time it was really emotional. We have loved every minute of this amazing trip and it was hard to imagine it was almost over. At this show, almost all of the staff shows up, comes to the stage, dances with us and then lines the way out of the theater and greets each of us. Lots of tears, laughs and a very special night with a very special group.

Captain Brajcic and Andy Heath, cruise director

Cocktail pianist, Alex

Ambassador Carol with Candace (and mimosa)

General manager Victor with Marilyn and Sharon (and tears)

Norm and Bill Pollock

Mona with both of us

The world cruisers

Anna, internet manager

We will miss this wonderful library!

The last hurrah.. and the captain’s last cruise before retiring

Posted in At Sea, January, North America, World Cruise 1 | 4 Comments

Willemstad, Curacao

Posted on January 1, 2016 by patmathews

Flag_of_Curaçao.svg

December 31

A New Year’s Eve in Curacao. We had originally scheduled a snorkeling excursion and yesterday morning we got a letter in our stateroom saying that the tour operator was doing one snorkel stop instead of two. Well, that didn’t matter too much to us, but later in the day, we got a phone call from destinations saying the tour had been cancelled. There were originally 7 different tours offered here, and it turned out that only one actually happened. We don’t really know why, but some of our friends tried to book their own and didn’t get answers to their calls or emails. Maybe it is a NY Eve thing?

So, we decided to explore the town. We have been here before but did water sports that time, so we enjoyed our time in town.

The Queen Juliana Bridge is one of the first things you see – it soars 185 feet above St. Anna Bay and is one of the world’s tallest bridges. In contrast to that, the Queen Emma Bridge, known locally as the “Swinging Old Lady”,is a floating pontoon bridge built in 1888. It is one of the town’s most recognizable features. It links the Otrobanda and Punda sides of Willemstad across St Annabaai Channel. If it is open to allow ships to pass through, there is a ferry to take people across the Channel. If you are lucky, you might be on the bridge when it opens and you have to hope that there is only one ship to pass.

The waterfront is lined by very beautiful and colorful buildings. Crew on the ship were looking forward to going to the casinos. This one looks closed to me, but the building is interesting.

This one’s for you, Deb!

We shopped first for the bamboo sheets from Cariloha which they ship free. Now that we are close enough to home, we can have them sent to us.

We visited the Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue and Jewish Cultural Historical Museum which was constructed in 1674 and is one of the oldest synagogues in the Western Hemisphere and is the oldest one in continuous use in the Americas. There are about 350 Jewish members of this congregation. It was built by Sephardic Portuguese Jews from Amsterdam and Recife Brazil.

The floor of the synagogue is modeled after the encampment in the Sinai desert where the early Jewish forefathers wandered from Egypt to the promised land – it is a sand floor! Another reason for the sand floor is that after settling in Curacao, the Jewish people had to put sand on the floor of the secret rooms in which they worshipped. The sand helped muffle the sounds during their service. If discovered, they would have suffered lifelong imprisonment, loss of all property and often burning at the stake. The sand on the floor serves as a reminder of the remarkable faith and courage of these Spanish-Portuguese Jews in the face of such terror.

In the museum, there was a tribute to the “yayas” – which means Nanny – that cared for the children of these early settlers. Many emotional tributes to these exceptional women were documented here. I never knew that yaya meant nanny!!

We got to see the floating market where a small fleet of boats arrives from nearby Venezuela with fresh fish and fruit for sale and ties up near the Queen Juliana bridge. Very colorful.

We climbed up on the fort sea wall and enjoyed the view, and noted the shops that have the original stone, coral and salt walls and ceilings. Very unique.

And we saw another iguana!

It was a noisy day – all day – as the local people celebrated New Year’s Eve. They line the streets with a kind of red paper, then they use gunpowder to create fire and explosions. There is a lot of noise and smoke, and sometimes blocks at a time are involved.

After a fun day, we had dinner with Candace and Rodney in Toscana and then went to the show – Jade Milian and Samuel E. They performed a couple of nights ago in a tribute to Whitney Houston (Jade’s voice and appearance are remarkably like her), and tonight’s show was “soul classics”. It didn’t start until 10:15, so after that we went to Horizons for the NY Eve celebration. Dancing, champagne, noisemakers, hats…and the Captain did the countdown to 2016. Fun evening and a great way to ring in 2016.

Rodney and Candace

Mona and Ennis

My favorrite casino staff!

Posted in December, North America, World Cruise 1 | 3 Comments

St. Georges, Grenada

Posted on December 29, 2015 by patmathews

Grenada

December 29

#2 Son Mark’s birthday! #29. Happy birthday, Mark.

Grenada is said to be one of the most picturesque ports in the Caribbean. And we agree. The harbor is shaped like a horseshoe.It is rainy season here and everything is lush and green, the towns have some beautiful colonial architecture and the island is filled with spice trees.

As we came into port and then as we ate our breakfast, we had some brief showers and a beautiful double rainbow occurred. Unfortunately neither of us had our phones or cameras with us! But we took it as a birthday tribute to Mark. We had a couple of brief showers before we left but the day turned out to be beautiful.

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Our excursion today was a clear bottom kayak trip. Our driver, Peter, picked us up at the pier and drove us to the Grand Mal Bay next to the Sunset View restaurant on the island’s west coast. We had a safety briefing and then we kayaked over the Grand Mal coral reefs and down to Cherry Hill, then we turned around to Molinere Bay. There is an underwater sculpture garden and many divers and snorkelers come from around the world to see it. We could look right down through the clear bottom of the kayaks!

We saw a lot of varieties of coral, fish and the incredible sculptures. And we saw a young girl snorkeler who had on a mermaid tail instead of the flippers. Unfortunately we didn’t get that picture!

Here are some shots of the adventure. When you see us looking down, we are gazing at the underwater magic through the clear bottom of the kayak. Great idea and we really enjoyed this view. We love snorkeling too, but this was unique for us.

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When we came back to the beach we had to paddle around a big tanker and the winds and waves made it a good workout. Luckily, there was a delicious rum punch with fresh island nutmeg grated on top of it, and fresh island fruits waiting for us.

We collected lots of sea glass on the beach, and I met a man who was swimming with his wife and daughter. He asked where I was from and I told him, he said he was from NJ. I asked him where, and he said Toms River, which is just north of where our beach house is. I mentioned that, and what a surprise when he said he went to the police academy with our new chief of police in Harvey Cedars. You can’t make this stuff up – the world is THAT SMALL!

Peter picked us up and we went on a tour of the island before coming back to the ship.

Yes, they have Shop Rite here too!

Riviera is here in port with us again!

Fishing boat

Market Square

St. George’s Anglican Church

Saying welcome, but for us it is goodbye to Grenada

And, here is our view before we left. A beautiful place and a fun day.

Posted in December, Excursions, North America, World Cruise 1 | 3 Comments

Pointe-A-Pitre, Guadeloupe

Posted on December 28, 2015 by patmathews

Martinique

December 28

Guadeloupe is in the same category as Martinique, it is an overseas region and department of France. It has two main island districts, Basse Terre Island and Grand Terre. Point-A-Pitre is at the junction of the two districts. It is the largest city and economic capital.

We had small bursts of rain all day, lasting about 5 minutes each. Those who went to the rainforest experienced lots of heavy rain, in town we just had the small bursts. We started the day with a lovely rainbow that we saw while having our breakfast. Nice way to start the day!

We decided to stay on land today after two days of snorkeling. Sandra and Bob did go on the ship excursion for snorkeling and said it was just OK, but a highlight was seeing baby sea turtles hatch! Darm, missed it!

We did have a nice day exploring the town. There are a lot of homes in the French creole style here, some in really beautiful condition and others that need rehabbing. Norm observed that if someone put some real money into the town, it would really be spectacular. As it was, we had an enjoyable day exploring.

We started at the Marche Covert, a spice market that seemed to have every kind of spice I have ever heard of. I can only speak a little French and when they talk fast, I can’t understand most of it. We didn’t buy any spices but if we wanted to take them home, the prices (in Euros) were really good.

We went to the Eglise St-Pierre et Saint-Paul which is a lovely church known for its colorful exterior as well as the forest of girders inside, designed to help it survive earthquakes.

We explored the Place de la Victoire, the city park with palm treees and a sandbox tree supposedly planted by Victor Hugues, a late 18th century dictator who used the square for beheadings by guillotine.

We shopped at La Darse, the market at the old inner harbor adjacent to the park. The people are really nice, no begging here and the city is pretty clean.

Here’s one of several shoemakers we saw along the streets.

And, yes, Norm got a haircut here in Guadeloupe.

This cute young lady was in the barbershop with her mom.

And, Star Wars is playing at this theater!

We visited the Grotto at the Church of Lourdes de Massabielle.

Conch shells for sale, some may still have a living animal.

We had another rainbow as we sailed away enroute to Grenada!

Posted in December, World Cruise 1 | Leave a comment

Fort de France, Martinique

Posted on December 27, 2015 by patmathews

Martinique

December 27

I don’t know whether to call Martinique part of North America (as the other Caribbean islands are) or Europe because it is officially part of France! So I will leave the category off entirely. Geographically, of course, it is part of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea, and it is also one of the regions of France. French is the official language and the currency is the Euro.

We went on another snorkeling adventure today, two spots in the Fort de France Bay – the Bat Cave and Anse Dufour beach area.

The weather was perfect and we set off in the boat with our fellow passengers. There were about 30 of us. The first stop was the Bat Cave. The entrance to the cave is a steep cliff wall that plummets into the sea. The water is a beautiful blue color. We snorkeled in the area until everyone was in the water, then our guide swam ahead of us and led us into the cave. There are 3 species of bats in the cave and they eat a LOT of mosquitos. We could see them hanging from the top of the cave. What was most interesting about this stop was the whole ecological system here. The bat excrement actually helps the orange coral to form on the rocks. It is very soft and kind of like a flower that closes and opens when you touch it. That coral turns out to be a perfect breeding place for the tropical fish, so there were thousands of very small and colorful fish in this area. There are small blue crabs on the walls of the cave and I saw many starfish in among the coral too. Very unusual and interesting spot.

We then went to the second snorkeling spot which had lots of beautiful coral, all kinds of formations, and many species of fish too. We had about 45 minutes of snorkeling here. Then we returned to the boat where we had the ever present rum punch.

Sandra and Bob

Peter and Carol

Debbie and Michael

When we got back, after showering and late lunch, I did a bit of shopping near the port. Martinique is 90% Roman Catholic and it is Sunday, so the shops in town and lots of the landmarks were closed. We were here a number of years ago and did see most of them, so it was fine.

Our home away from home. And bad snorkeling hair!

Another Oceania ship, the Riviera, is here today too and it is fun watching the crew have happy reunions with their friends on the other ship. It is bigger than ours (1200 passengers vs 650 on ours).

Insignia in the foreground, Riviera in background

Late in the afternoon this group of drummers and dancers marched up between our ships and performed for about an hour.

On to another French island, Guadeloupe, tomorrow.

Posted in December, Excursions, World Cruise 1 | Leave a comment

Bridgetown, Barbados

Posted on December 27, 2015 by patmathews

Barbados

December 26

We had a nice Christmas Day aboard the ship. I did get to sit on Santa’s lap and I told him all about ICF!

We had dinner with Marilyn and Charlie and saw another wonderful show by 4 Ever.

Here are some pictures of some of our chefs after a cooking demo.

Executive Chef – Mario

And look at what I finished in art class.. my sock monkey! I named her Singe (French for monkey) because I made her in French West Africa!

Barbados has a British influence. Bridgetown is the capital and largest city. It was established by the British in 1628. It is well known as the home of Mount Gay Rum! We have been to Barbados a couple of times in the past and decided to spend the time snorkeling.

Today we chartered a catamaran with 10 of our friends – all world cruisers. We went to two snorkeling spots. The first was to snorkel with the turtles, but there were no turtles to be found. We did see one from the boat. The second snorkeling spot was a good one, though. Lots of nice fish and coral. We also had a great time with the rum punch!

I gave up trying to use my iphone under water, I will need a better system next time. I waste too much time fiddling with it and I miss the beauty of the experience. So now I am going for the experience. The heck with the pictures. Although Sandra and Bob both do a good job with their equipment so I am sure they will share some pics.

Great time!

Norm, Marilyn, the other Marilyn and Don

Mona and Ennis

Rodney and Charlie

Hoisting the sail

Candace

Don with Sandra

As if the punch didnt have enough rum!

Whats that in my punch?

Its been a rough day!

Our final stop!

Posted in December, Excursions, North America, World Cruise 1 | 2 Comments

Cruising the Atlantic Ocean

Posted on December 24, 2015 by patmathews

December 24

What is Christmas like on a cruise ship crossing the Atlantic?

ID-100120217 Image courtesy of Idea go at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Lots going on for sure. We are getting cards and presents from some of our new friends. They have assembled a choir that will perform tonight. Andy performed with his guitar in the upper lobby, playing and singing his favorites. The band and the string quartet play all types of music and do have some holiday songs in the mix. The Sunday service was a reading of the Christmas biblical story with the appropriate carols. There has been carol singing in Martini’s bar (and yes, there are martinis/wine involved). Yesterday they gave out a booklet with the words to 29 different Christmas songs. Alex (the Insignia pianist) was at the piano and Tammy (the social hostess) led the singing. She took requests. The most fun one was the 12 Days of Christmas where each table took one of the days. What a riot!

Eric from the destinations team hands out the songs

They showed the movie “White Christmas” in the Insignia lounge – which was fun to watch again, and I mentioned before that on the stateroom TV they are showing all of the famous Christmas/holiday movies on one channel, with the fireplace and songs on another.

Tonight there is a Christmas Eve show with the guest performers, the entertainment team, the choir and it will be followed by midnight mass with communion (there is a priest on this leg, apparently).

The Christmas cookies continue to appear and all of the favorites are there. Yesterday they brought out sugar cookies with sprinkles. Those pastry chefs are busy.

There was a gala teatime yesterday and the culinary team outdid themselves with both the food and the decorations.

And, of course the auction for the benefit of the crew welfare fund is tomorrow as well as probably many other surprises.

Who knows if Santa will be too busy surfing to find the Insignia! We are having a wonderful holiday here. It may look like it is all about the food (which is out of this world for sure) but for us it is savoring the last days of a magical journey.

From “our” ship to your homes and hearts, our best wishes for the happiest of holidays and a 2016 that makes your dreams come true!

Posted in At Sea, December, Food, World Cruise 1 | 6 Comments

Mindelo, Cape Verde

Posted on December 22, 2015 by patmathews

Cape_Verde

December 21

Day 167. I usually don’t refer to the “day” of the 180 day adventure, but sadly, we are winding down, less than 2 weeks left. Funny, in the past I have thought a 2 week vacation was long! But this feels like home and it will be sad to leave.

First, I want to post a picture sent to me by a fellow cruiser. This is one where the children at the school in Gambia were delightedly looking at their pictures on my iphone.

Another funny story – one of the women on this excursion saw me using the selfie stick (which I used mostly NOT for selfies, but it was convenient to hold the iphone that way). She thought I must have been very vain, taking all those selfies. As I was taking a picture at lunch, she asked me about it and told me what she thought. She never had an iphone or a selfie stick so was then quite interested!

We have had 2 evenings of really great entertainment on board. Mike Sterling was the first one – he is a singer that has performed in London’s West End – over 1000 performances as the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera and also as Valjean in Les Miserables. What a wonderful performance.

Last night we had a group called 4ever, a group that is like Il Divo. Two of the men are from Spain, one from Italy and one from Uruguay. They were just spectacular. Luckily we will hear both again before they leave the ship in Barbados.

Tonight they are showing the movie “White Christmas” and there are lots of other Christmas celebrations coming up.

Well, I entered my first ever Texas hold ’em tournament. I watched a few and was encouraged by all the men to enter (you read that right, no women have entered). So I lost in the very first round. I had a Queen high flush and another guy kept betting, so I stayed in and it took all my chips. Turned out he had an ace high flush. Will I enter again? We’ll see! In both blackjack and poker tournaments, you just pay the $35 entry fee so that’s all the money that is at risk. I don’t know that I’d play using real money vs just the entry fee!

So now on to Cape Verde. It was a delightful surprise. The town of Mindelo was about a one mile walk from the pier, so we walked to town and explored. The official language here is Portuguese and there are also 2 Creole dialects and so far citizens have not come to a consensus on which should predominate.

Here’s how we were greeted!

Water is a real problem here on the island. In fact after the island was discovered in 1462, it remained practically uninhabited and was used only as a cattle pasture due to the lack of water. Now their economy is based on commerce and services not agriculture due to the same issues. This is a volcanic island with some high points. The climate here is really beautiful, average 74 degrees all year round. It felt breezy and wonderful today.

A small island off the coast of Cape Verde – from our balcony

First we visited the Mercado de Paixe, the local fish market, near Praia de Bote where the boats come in. You don’t see a lot of tourists here, but you do see the fishermen bring their catch to market, and lots of different fish for sale. It was the cleanest fish market we have seen on our trip. And yes, Mario bought fresh tuna for dinner.

Tuna for dinner!

Next we went to the Praca Estrela marketplace where the West African merchants display wares ranging from handmade crafts to fine jewelry. And just across the street, the colorful fruit and vegetable market is a busy place. We met a man whose brother lives in Brooklyn and he gave us each a necklace with the shell they consider to be good luck – which he had made. We bought a coconut shell necklace from him.

We saw the Governor’s Palace and loved the cobblestone streets, colonial buildings, cafes, etc. The people were friendly and didn’t follow us around like in Senegal. Some vendors would take American dollars but it took a bit of convincing. They like euros or their local Cape Verde Escudo. Luckily I have my iphone currency converter which showed that one dollar is about 101 of their dollars.

For my yaya friends!

Their idea of Santa?

In the garden outside the Governor’s Palace

Liceu Ludgero Lima

Governor’s Palace

Before heading back to the ship, we stopped to listen to a concert that was being held the central square. Then we had a refreshment break at a cafe where Norm had a very strong coffee. They like it strong here. Oh, and they had free wifi so there were a lot of crew members there too. All in all, a very pleasant way to leave Africa.

Posted in Africa, December, World Cruise 1 | 4 Comments

Pat and Norm's World Cruises and other adventures

Home… back in Philadelphia

Key West, Florida

Cruising the Caribbean Sea

Willemstad, Curacao

St. Georges, Grenada

Pointe-A-Pitre, Guadeloupe

Fort de France, Martinique

Bridgetown, Barbados

Cruising the Atlantic Ocean

Mindelo, Cape Verde

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