Yesterday afternoon we exited the Suez canal, and began our journey through the Mediterranean. We have left the desert behind, and its warm temperatures, too. Yesterday’s weather turned windy and cold shortly after we entered the canal. We even experienced a haboob sandstorm which has left the decks and outside surfaces of the ship covered in sand and mud. It has continued colder and breezy today, with everybody donning vests, jackets, long sleeves and long pants. We have our fingers crossed that the weather will hold for us for the next week or so. The weather channel is not too optimistic, but we’ve seen them wrong before.
Now that all of us passengers have been properly trained for three weeks to a schedule of a port day followed by one or two sea days, we’re about to change everything by having nine port days in a row. If you’ve not done much cruising this may not sound like anything too difficult, but it’s the cruise travel equivalent of doing an Olympic triathlon after a training regimen of late nights filled with lots of drinking and sleeping in. A port day usually involves a scramble to cram as many sights as possible into the limited amount of available time, but still be back well before All Aboard time. We’ve learned to pace ourselves, do fewer sights in a more generous time and ‘assume we will return’ someday. But it’s easy to fall into the ‘as long as we’re here let’s see this too’ trap.
I predict very few of our fellow passengers will cross the finish line. Most of them won’t make it three days, much less nine. Fortunately for us, we’re only doing the half triathlon; four days and then we bail out at Rome to rest up for three days before we fly home.
In case you are interested, the triathlon ports are: Malta, Sicily, Naples, Rome, Livorno (Pisa), Monaco, Barcelona, Mallorca and Gibraltar.
But first, we have a practice day in Athens, followed by our last sea day. We plan to revisit some of our favorite sites and restaurants. Hopefully in the sunny Med.
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Friday, March 29, 2019
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal
Thursday night we left Aqaba and did a short reverse back down to the south where Friday morning we rounded the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. It’s pretty narrow here, even before the canal, with Egypt (Africa) on our port side and the Sinai (Asia) on our starboard side.
We reached our anchorage location at the southern entry to the Suez about 5pm, and remained there until the convoy formed up, formalities and payment for the transit was made, and then we seem to have been arranged by size and began to move about 4:30 am on Saturday.
About 17,000 ships go through the Suez each year, and we are told the revenue from this is over 3 billion dollars a year. That works out to over $176,000 per ship. I have a feeling we, as a passenger vessel, pay a bit more.
The canal was built in 1869 by the same fellow who started (but disastrously did not finish) the later Panama Canal. Today the Suez measures 120 miles long, 79 feet deep, and 673 feet wide. The ship is 105 feet wide, but from the deck, it feels like we take up the whole thing.
Thursday night we left Aqaba and did a short reverse back down to the south where Friday morning we rounded the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. It’s pretty narrow here, even before the canal, with Egypt (Africa) on our port side and the Sinai (Asia) on our starboard side.
We reached our anchorage location at the southern entry to the Suez about 5pm, and remained there until the convoy formed up, formalities and payment for the transit was made, and then we seem to have been arranged by size and began to move about 4:30 am on Saturday.
About 17,000 ships go through the Suez each year, and we are told the revenue from this is over 3 billion dollars a year. That works out to over $176,000 per ship. I have a feeling we, as a passenger vessel, pay a bit more.
The canal was built in 1869 by the same fellow who started (but disastrously did not finish) the later Panama Canal. Today the Suez measures 120 miles long, 79 feet deep, and 673 feet wide. The ship is 105 feet wide, but from the deck, it feels like we take up the whole thing.
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Jordan
Aqaba, Jordan
Today we decided to divide and conquer. Tom headed off on a 9 hour trip to Petra, while I went on a shorter 5 hour trip to Wadi Rum. We’ve been given pre-excursion trip information about the pink and yellow sandstone in both Wadi Rum and Petra. Now, we do realize that both are UNESCO heritage sites. But, we have to say, as we often do when visiting some of these amazing international places, the sandstone here is remarkably similar to the red sandstone we can see at Jemez in New Mexico. And the striated sandstone in the Siq is almost identical to the wind and water carved sandstone in Antelope Canyon. Just sayin’—we have some amazing natural topography in the US.
However, the Romans came to the Nabatean crossroads of Petra in the 4th century BC. It was a thriving trading city with an advanced water system that provided water to the city of Petra using narrow channels that can still be seen today. Around 60 AD there was an earthquake which unfortunately disrupted the water flow. Soon after, Petra was abandoned and eventually became an archeology, tourist and filmmaking site. (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade—but no crusading knights, holy grails, or tricky death traps).
Wadi Rum is better known as the area where Lawrence of Arabia lived, and the movie was filmed here as well. This is Bedouin country, and I visited a camp with food, dancing and a wild 4WD ride an hour each way. Pictures to be added later.
I’m able to upload this post on cell service via T-Mobile’s free international data service. Funnily enough, while I’ve just visited Jordan today, my phone has been to Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan. Yep, that’s how close the borders are in this part of the world.
Lots of great pictures to add to this post upon return....
Today we decided to divide and conquer. Tom headed off on a 9 hour trip to Petra, while I went on a shorter 5 hour trip to Wadi Rum. We’ve been given pre-excursion trip information about the pink and yellow sandstone in both Wadi Rum and Petra. Now, we do realize that both are UNESCO heritage sites. But, we have to say, as we often do when visiting some of these amazing international places, the sandstone here is remarkably similar to the red sandstone we can see at Jemez in New Mexico. And the striated sandstone in the Siq is almost identical to the wind and water carved sandstone in Antelope Canyon. Just sayin’—we have some amazing natural topography in the US.
However, the Romans came to the Nabatean crossroads of Petra in the 4th century BC. It was a thriving trading city with an advanced water system that provided water to the city of Petra using narrow channels that can still be seen today. Around 60 AD there was an earthquake which unfortunately disrupted the water flow. Soon after, Petra was abandoned and eventually became an archeology, tourist and filmmaking site. (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade—but no crusading knights, holy grails, or tricky death traps).
Wadi Rum is better known as the area where Lawrence of Arabia lived, and the movie was filmed here as well. This is Bedouin country, and I visited a camp with food, dancing and a wild 4WD ride an hour each way. Pictures to be added later.
I’m able to upload this post on cell service via T-Mobile’s free international data service. Funnily enough, while I’ve just visited Jordan today, my phone has been to Saudi Arabia, Israel and Jordan. Yep, that’s how close the borders are in this part of the world.
Lots of great pictures to add to this post upon return....
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Wash Tales
(Monday-Tuesday)
On a cruise this long, it is obviously necessary to do a few loads of laundry. We do get free laundry services from the ship, but some delicates or things you need quickly are best done yourself in the sink or the self service machines onboard.
Today was wash day, so I was first into the self service room down the hall, but certainly not last. As I waited the last few minutes of the spin cycle, half a dozen or so others came and went. A woman in a robe ironing the shorts in order to dry them to be worn that day. A couple from England doing several loads who were very chatty and told me ALL about their adventures across the USA seeing 35 of our 50 states and doing the remaining 15 next year. (Look out all you Midwest states). A Chinese couple who put in a load for four minutes, then stopped the cycle, grabbed everything out of the washer (yes wet) and left. Ohhhhkay.
The other wash to speak of is the wadi. Apparently Arabic for ‘low valley where the rains gather’, aka dry wash to us from the southwest US. Upon returning to the ship yesterday, we heard many comments about how this area is one giant sand bucket. And many of the people were very dismissive of the landscape. I figure the Australians on this trip have just never seen the interior of their own country. Tom and I have seen a very little bit of it, and it is not much different from southern New Mexico, inland California, or Las Vegas, Nevada.
These are pretty lazy sea days for everyone onboard. Lazing by the pool, reading books, meeting up with friends for meals or games or just visiting. Although there are many active folks, too. This is the first time I have seen the shuffleboard courts in use on ship! It seems all the venues have enthusiasts; golf, basketball, the gym, spin classes, lap pools, ping pong tournaments, in addition to the movies, games and lectures. The ship still does not seem crowded except in Horizon Court.
For those of you keeping track of our westerly progress, yesterday at noon we were 406 nautical miles from Salalah, Oman and had entered the Gulf of Aden. Last night we made a slight right turn off the coast by Djibouti, and right at midnight we crossed the narrow passage into the Red Sea. We still have all of Tuesday and Wednesday in the Red Sea on our way up to Aqaba, Jordan where we should arrive on Thursday. Still no pirates, and this morning they removed the guard watches, took down the defensive measures and opened up the aft promenade once again.
On a cruise this long, it is obviously necessary to do a few loads of laundry. We do get free laundry services from the ship, but some delicates or things you need quickly are best done yourself in the sink or the self service machines onboard.
Today was wash day, so I was first into the self service room down the hall, but certainly not last. As I waited the last few minutes of the spin cycle, half a dozen or so others came and went. A woman in a robe ironing the shorts in order to dry them to be worn that day. A couple from England doing several loads who were very chatty and told me ALL about their adventures across the USA seeing 35 of our 50 states and doing the remaining 15 next year. (Look out all you Midwest states). A Chinese couple who put in a load for four minutes, then stopped the cycle, grabbed everything out of the washer (yes wet) and left. Ohhhhkay.
The other wash to speak of is the wadi. Apparently Arabic for ‘low valley where the rains gather’, aka dry wash to us from the southwest US. Upon returning to the ship yesterday, we heard many comments about how this area is one giant sand bucket. And many of the people were very dismissive of the landscape. I figure the Australians on this trip have just never seen the interior of their own country. Tom and I have seen a very little bit of it, and it is not much different from southern New Mexico, inland California, or Las Vegas, Nevada.
These are pretty lazy sea days for everyone onboard. Lazing by the pool, reading books, meeting up with friends for meals or games or just visiting. Although there are many active folks, too. This is the first time I have seen the shuffleboard courts in use on ship! It seems all the venues have enthusiasts; golf, basketball, the gym, spin classes, lap pools, ping pong tournaments, in addition to the movies, games and lectures. The ship still does not seem crowded except in Horizon Court.
For those of you keeping track of our westerly progress, yesterday at noon we were 406 nautical miles from Salalah, Oman and had entered the Gulf of Aden. Last night we made a slight right turn off the coast by Djibouti, and right at midnight we crossed the narrow passage into the Red Sea. We still have all of Tuesday and Wednesday in the Red Sea on our way up to Aqaba, Jordan where we should arrive on Thursday. Still no pirates, and this morning they removed the guard watches, took down the defensive measures and opened up the aft promenade once again.
Monday, March 25, 2019
Graham of Arabia
In lieu of writing much today, I will instead post this picture of TK Graham in front of a frankincense tree. Wearing a bit of native garb. In Arabia. Camels are across the street.
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Salaleh, Oman (Sunday)
Oman
Today was a very quick port stop; only 5 hours including time to get out of the port itself . So...in similar quick fashion...port bus, taxi, frankincense tree, Sultans Palace, shopping for frankincense (Tom bought a new hat), Central Market, camels on the road, back to shuttle bus and onboard by 10:30. Pictures on Facebook. Whew! Expect more in a few days from Jordan.
Today was a very quick port stop; only 5 hours including time to get out of the port itself . So...in similar quick fashion...port bus, taxi, frankincense tree, Sultans Palace, shopping for frankincense (Tom bought a new hat), Central Market, camels on the road, back to shuttle bus and onboard by 10:30. Pictures on Facebook. Whew! Expect more in a few days from Jordan.
Friday, March 22, 2019
Halfway
Today marks the halfway day of our trip; hard to believe. They have also told us the next week or so is iffy for satellite (and thus TV or internet) coverage. Based on what we have now, that means we won’t be hearing any news, or sending and receiving emails much except on port days, of which we only have two until we reach the Mediterranean in a week. I will try and get this posted today (Sat. 23), but we shall see if I am in time to catch the satellite cover.
We left the port of Dubai at a late hour, 11:00 pm, where we picked up 370-ish new passengers and disembarked some 325 prior passengers, including two valuable members of our trivia team. (This morning’s score was a measly 15/20, but we still don’t much care because the fabulous prizes are still Princess logo water bottles. There are the aluminum reusable ones; but we already have enough of these. We hope they run out and have to revert to the magnet clips or flashlights one day).
The new passengers got to do both a muster drill and the anti-piracy drill, and the through passengers like us were able to skip both, as the seafaring rules and regulations only require we drill once every 30 days. Speaking of anti-piracy, we feel very safe. After the spate of incidents a few years back, an international convention was created to combat the pirates, and because multiple governments belong, and share the patrol duties of these waters, there is a much better tracking and monitoring system which allows group communication of what boat is where and which might need watching. We are still rigged for defensive measures, and there is a a watch outside our window from an hour before sunset to an hour past sunrise, all through the night. We’ve seen them checking out the traffic with their night vision binoculars and recording observations by radio and logbook. Similar watch stations are set up around the ship, as well as 24/7 from the bridge. Tom just wants to see a US aircraft carrier come by. Which might be possible out here.
Right now ( Friday )we are still in the Gulf of Oman, having passed back through the straights of Hormuz last night. The capital of Oman, Muscat, is almost off our starboard side at the moment (which is 1:43 Dubai time). We will make a right turn around the corner into the Arabian Sea. It will take us another 40 hours or so to get to Salalah, on the southern coast of Oman, some 600 miles southwest of Muscat, but our total distance by sea will be 969 nautical miles between Dubai and Salalah.
Oman, which we knew nothing about before this trip, has some interesting history. The southern region, known as Dhofar, is the location of Job’s tomb. Yes, that Job, the biblical dude from the Old Testament with the worst luck ever. Except here they pronounce it “Yohb”. The Dhofar is also known for the best frankincense trees, and has a UNESCO world heritage site at Wadi Dawkah near our port with thousands of admittedly scraggly-looking frankincense trees. But remember, back in the day good frankincense was worth more than gold.
There is another UNESCO heritage site nearby, where they have preserved ancient archeological findings, and the Queen of Sheba’s palace is also recorded as having been in this area.
The current Sultan of Oman, Qaboos, has been in power since 1970, and is now 79 years old. He was educated at Sandhurst in England and has both modernized the country during his reign as well as having preserved traditional values and culture. Consequently, foreign oil companies are not as prevalent in Oman and the country (and jobs) remains nearly 80% Omani; unlike Dubai which is 80% expats and only 20% local.
We left the port of Dubai at a late hour, 11:00 pm, where we picked up 370-ish new passengers and disembarked some 325 prior passengers, including two valuable members of our trivia team. (This morning’s score was a measly 15/20, but we still don’t much care because the fabulous prizes are still Princess logo water bottles. There are the aluminum reusable ones; but we already have enough of these. We hope they run out and have to revert to the magnet clips or flashlights one day).
The new passengers got to do both a muster drill and the anti-piracy drill, and the through passengers like us were able to skip both, as the seafaring rules and regulations only require we drill once every 30 days. Speaking of anti-piracy, we feel very safe. After the spate of incidents a few years back, an international convention was created to combat the pirates, and because multiple governments belong, and share the patrol duties of these waters, there is a much better tracking and monitoring system which allows group communication of what boat is where and which might need watching. We are still rigged for defensive measures, and there is a a watch outside our window from an hour before sunset to an hour past sunrise, all through the night. We’ve seen them checking out the traffic with their night vision binoculars and recording observations by radio and logbook. Similar watch stations are set up around the ship, as well as 24/7 from the bridge. Tom just wants to see a US aircraft carrier come by. Which might be possible out here.
Right now ( Friday )we are still in the Gulf of Oman, having passed back through the straights of Hormuz last night. The capital of Oman, Muscat, is almost off our starboard side at the moment (which is 1:43 Dubai time). We will make a right turn around the corner into the Arabian Sea. It will take us another 40 hours or so to get to Salalah, on the southern coast of Oman, some 600 miles southwest of Muscat, but our total distance by sea will be 969 nautical miles between Dubai and Salalah.
Oman, which we knew nothing about before this trip, has some interesting history. The southern region, known as Dhofar, is the location of Job’s tomb. Yes, that Job, the biblical dude from the Old Testament with the worst luck ever. Except here they pronounce it “Yohb”. The Dhofar is also known for the best frankincense trees, and has a UNESCO world heritage site at Wadi Dawkah near our port with thousands of admittedly scraggly-looking frankincense trees. But remember, back in the day good frankincense was worth more than gold.
There is another UNESCO heritage site nearby, where they have preserved ancient archeological findings, and the Queen of Sheba’s palace is also recorded as having been in this area.
The current Sultan of Oman, Qaboos, has been in power since 1970, and is now 79 years old. He was educated at Sandhurst in England and has both modernized the country during his reign as well as having preserved traditional values and culture. Consequently, foreign oil companies are not as prevalent in Oman and the country (and jobs) remains nearly 80% Omani; unlike Dubai which is 80% expats and only 20% local.
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Dubai
We were not quite sure what to expect in Dubai. We had seen the port brochures and looked at the ship excursions. We knew the HOHO bus was $75 which told us this was going to be an expensive city.
Here is what we found. An immaculate, modern terminal shoreside. Uber Black will get you a ride in a new Tesla. Or you can order up Uber Helicopter; about $200/30 minutes. ATM’s issue money in Dirhams, US dollars or gold. Yes, gold mini-ingots. Multiple shopping malls with high-end designer stores, along with huge aquariums, an ice skating rink and an indoor ski slope. The highest building in the world. (Burj Khalifa). The most photographed building in the world (Burj al Arab) and the Palm and World island developments, all reclaimed from the sea.
Mosques are placed every 500 meters so the locals don’t have to go far for their five times a day prayers. Only 20% of the people here are locals, the rest come from other countries. There are no taxes to speak of, so everything has a fee—schools, residency permits, rent, health care, etc. Unless you are a local, then these things are provided by your sheik.
We have definitely transitioned to a different type of climate than we found in our first ports. Today is 71 degrees, not all that humid, although the sky is very hazy. It is much more comfortable walking around.
Our tour took us on one of the small boats across the river known as Dubai Creek which separates the two parts of the old and new city. The skyscrapers were not even started until 2000, and the story is the national bird is a crane—the construction kind. Also included was to the Dubai Museum and to the gold souk. Haggling is required, and the intricate detail of the gold work is amazing. We did not buy anything in the limited time there, but we were told 70 tons of gold pass through this souk each year.
I have added picture links below...courtesy of Port Rashid medium speed WiFi...so not sure how long it will take to upload for you.
Here is what we found. An immaculate, modern terminal shoreside. Uber Black will get you a ride in a new Tesla. Or you can order up Uber Helicopter; about $200/30 minutes. ATM’s issue money in Dirhams, US dollars or gold. Yes, gold mini-ingots. Multiple shopping malls with high-end designer stores, along with huge aquariums, an ice skating rink and an indoor ski slope. The highest building in the world. (Burj Khalifa). The most photographed building in the world (Burj al Arab) and the Palm and World island developments, all reclaimed from the sea.
Mosques are placed every 500 meters so the locals don’t have to go far for their five times a day prayers. Only 20% of the people here are locals, the rest come from other countries. There are no taxes to speak of, so everything has a fee—schools, residency permits, rent, health care, etc. Unless you are a local, then these things are provided by your sheik.
We have definitely transitioned to a different type of climate than we found in our first ports. Today is 71 degrees, not all that humid, although the sky is very hazy. It is much more comfortable walking around.
Our tour took us on one of the small boats across the river known as Dubai Creek which separates the two parts of the old and new city. The skyscrapers were not even started until 2000, and the story is the national bird is a crane—the construction kind. Also included was to the Dubai Museum and to the gold souk. Haggling is required, and the intricate detail of the gold work is amazing. We did not buy anything in the limited time there, but we were told 70 tons of gold pass through this souk each year.
I have added picture links below...courtesy of Port Rashid medium speed WiFi...so not sure how long it will take to upload for you.
Monday, March 18, 2019
Bits and Pieces
As we set out for a three day series of sea days (yep, we have a lot of those on this journey; only nine port days out of 27 days), I thought I would make note of some observations that probably are not worthy of a full blog post, but are nonetheless things we have taken note of. So, in no particular order:
We think the tour we had yesterday in India was probably one of the best shore excursions we have ever done. It was long-eight hours-and it became quite hot later in the day, and we would have liked more than one bathroom break, but the visit to the village on the river and the river cruise on the non-motorized poled boat was a real treat. I definitely will have to come back after the trip and add photos to the post.
Speaking of which, it took over 30 minutes to upload that one photo yesterday, so pictures and high-data items are just going to have to wait. I am just thankful we have texting and basic WiFi available.
Today we have a Pirate Drill. Seriously. We are crossing close to Somalia in two days, so we must perform a drill in case of attack. The ship has begun rigging fire hoses, closed off the lower aft open areas with locked metal panels, and posted warning banners usually only seen while docked. We are told we must all return to our cabins and close our curtains and turn off all lights; further details to be given at the time of the drill. So far in 2019 there have only been two piracy attempts, both thwarted and neither on a cruise ship. Both have been near the entry to the Red Sea, which is still several days off.
Tom noticed we have three distinct geographical and climatic destinations on this cruise. The first was Asia-Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and the Indian Ocean. Tropical, lush, hot, humid and green. Now we transition to desert-Dubai, Oman, Petra, the Straights of Hormuz, the Red Sea. Last will come the Mediterranean-Greece, Malta, Sicily, Italy.
Trivia is so popular that that one must arrive early to get a seat in the Club Fusion. The Cruise Director has added further sessions, including some specialized subjects, such as “What was the Verdict?” where teams of twelve must revisit actual legal cases. We got 4of5 cases right. And in tonight’s trivia, called Sherlock Holmes, our team won with 43 out of 45 points on observational, logic and deductive reasoning.
OSHA does not exist in India. We visited two ‘factories’ which were both poorly lit, had crowded and narrow makeshift walkways, had whirling machinery fan-belts which could easily ensnare anyone walking by (no covers or barriers), had cobbled floors with random boards laid over holes and rocks, and generally would never been seen in our country, even in a makeshift garage endeavor. The factories made fine woven cotton cloth and coconut products-oil, coir, and rope. And the workers were happy to have their jobs and welcomed us to their workplaces. You won’t believe the pictures when they get posted.
The ship is full of Australians, and some of them have nearly unintelligible accents. We’ve sat at dinner a few times and had total blank looks on our faces at some of the conversations, which made absolutely no sense to either of us. We just smile and hope the next subject is something we can figure out.
Only Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with green clothing and/or blingy plastic necklaces. The rest of the ship passengers think this is rather odd behavior.
We think the tour we had yesterday in India was probably one of the best shore excursions we have ever done. It was long-eight hours-and it became quite hot later in the day, and we would have liked more than one bathroom break, but the visit to the village on the river and the river cruise on the non-motorized poled boat was a real treat. I definitely will have to come back after the trip and add photos to the post.
Speaking of which, it took over 30 minutes to upload that one photo yesterday, so pictures and high-data items are just going to have to wait. I am just thankful we have texting and basic WiFi available.
Today we have a Pirate Drill. Seriously. We are crossing close to Somalia in two days, so we must perform a drill in case of attack. The ship has begun rigging fire hoses, closed off the lower aft open areas with locked metal panels, and posted warning banners usually only seen while docked. We are told we must all return to our cabins and close our curtains and turn off all lights; further details to be given at the time of the drill. So far in 2019 there have only been two piracy attempts, both thwarted and neither on a cruise ship. Both have been near the entry to the Red Sea, which is still several days off.
Tom noticed we have three distinct geographical and climatic destinations on this cruise. The first was Asia-Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and the Indian Ocean. Tropical, lush, hot, humid and green. Now we transition to desert-Dubai, Oman, Petra, the Straights of Hormuz, the Red Sea. Last will come the Mediterranean-Greece, Malta, Sicily, Italy.
Trivia is so popular that that one must arrive early to get a seat in the Club Fusion. The Cruise Director has added further sessions, including some specialized subjects, such as “What was the Verdict?” where teams of twelve must revisit actual legal cases. We got 4of5 cases right. And in tonight’s trivia, called Sherlock Holmes, our team won with 43 out of 45 points on observational, logic and deductive reasoning.
OSHA does not exist in India. We visited two ‘factories’ which were both poorly lit, had crowded and narrow makeshift walkways, had whirling machinery fan-belts which could easily ensnare anyone walking by (no covers or barriers), had cobbled floors with random boards laid over holes and rocks, and generally would never been seen in our country, even in a makeshift garage endeavor. The factories made fine woven cotton cloth and coconut products-oil, coir, and rope. And the workers were happy to have their jobs and welcomed us to their workplaces. You won’t believe the pictures when they get posted.
The ship is full of Australians, and some of them have nearly unintelligible accents. We’ve sat at dinner a few times and had total blank looks on our faces at some of the conversations, which made absolutely no sense to either of us. We just smile and hope the next subject is something we can figure out.
Only Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with green clothing and/or blingy plastic necklaces. The rest of the ship passengers think this is rather odd behavior.
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Kerala, India
We had been informed that the immigration process here in India would be long and arduous. We had also been warned that this was going to be the hottest and most uncomfortable day of all of our ports. As it turns out, The immigration process went fairly smoothly, even though we have to have seven different documents with us, and we are not allowed to fold any of them, including the one that we have to keep and return to get back on the ship.
The day started out rather comfortable, it was not humid and not yet hot and there was a slight breeze. I have posted several pictures on Facebook, and will have to come back here after the trip a
nd try and post a few photos of our day. It was truly a wonderful, relaxing, and enjoyable couple of hours on the Kerala River.
The day started out rather comfortable, it was not humid and not yet hot and there was a slight breeze. I have posted several pictures on Facebook, and will have to come back here after the trip a
nd try and post a few photos of our day. It was truly a wonderful, relaxing, and enjoyable couple of hours on the Kerala River.Friday, March 15, 2019
Sri Lanka
I started a blog entry for yesterday, shortly before we heard about the terrible attacks in Christchurch. That took all the fun out of things. It was especially sobering as we drove past the Red Mosque and others in Colombo, Sri Lanka later yesterday morning as the families were heading in for their prayers. One young mother saw our tour bus and she and her baby waved at us.
March 15
Tom first wants me to point out to everyone that it’s the Ides of March. Watch your back Caesar’s. (I suppose it will be remembered for multiple reasons, now)
Today we are visiting the capital city Colombo in Sri Lanka. Our port guide has told us:
“Sri Lanka conjures up the exotic and the mysterious. Once known as Ceylon, the island boasts a fantastic landscape that ranges from primeval rain forest to the bustling modern streets of Colombo, the capital. A visitor to Sri Lanka has a wealth of options. Relax on some of the world's finest beaches. Explore the temples, halls and palaces of the last Sinhalese kingdom at Kandy. Or take a guided tour of an elephant orphanage. Colombo also offers an array of charms, from the Royal Botanic Gardens, once a royal pleasure garden, to the Pettah Bazaar, where vendors hawk everything under the sun. Colombo and Sri Lanka were shaped by Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and European influences. Colombo also serves as a gateway for Overland Adventures to India.”
Colombo is rapidly growing, The Chinese have heavily invested in this area. They have even spent about US$15 billion to reclaim several acres of land along the western shore. There are now high-rises and growing infrastructure. The people here, the Sinhalese, are very proud of their culture and are doing a lot to promote tourism.
Well, we’re glad we visited, we got some great visuals, but I am not sure there is much here yet to make me want to return. The people are very nice, but the smog, the traffic, the constant noise are grating.
However, in the elevator on the way to dinner, we met a nice German couple, who had visited here 20 years ago as backpacking college kids and they told us it was so exciting and amazing to see the growth, and that all the different cultures get along so well. That reminded us that the Sri Lanka Civil War only ended 10 years ago. We had passed by a couple of older buildings that had been pockmarked with bullet holes, but there was very little evidence of a major decade long war in evidence now. Sometimes that half-empty glass is really half-full.
Thursday, March 14, 2019
Time Spent at Sea
Sea days are some of our favorite times aboard ship. There’s no place you have to be at any specific time, and you can just do as you please. Some days that means a lot of lectures, trivia, or port information. And sometimes it just means taking a nap or watching a movie or lingering over a nice meal with new friends.
We’ve had two sea days since Thailand, and thus far we’ve attended five trivia events (winning one and a bottle of champagne), gone to one lecture on Picasso, watched three port lectures since we’ve not been to these ports, attended two production shows, met a lot of wonderful people at lunches and dinners and generally relaxed. We’ve seen a bit of news about Brexit votes and university admission scandals.
Time changes have been almost a daily occurrence as we sail west, but on some days it is a half hour, others an hour. And we hear Kathmandu time zone is yet another 15 minutes difference. We’re only on that for a short bit, so ship time is skipping it altogether.
Today finds us on Sri Lanka Time, which is one of the half-hour-off zones. So when it’s 6:35 pm in Albuquerque, it is 6:05 am the next morning in Sri Lanka. According to my pill box it’s Thursday, and my now multi-lingual, French and English watch agrees.
We’ve had two sea days since Thailand, and thus far we’ve attended five trivia events (winning one and a bottle of champagne), gone to one lecture on Picasso, watched three port lectures since we’ve not been to these ports, attended two production shows, met a lot of wonderful people at lunches and dinners and generally relaxed. We’ve seen a bit of news about Brexit votes and university admission scandals.
Time changes have been almost a daily occurrence as we sail west, but on some days it is a half hour, others an hour. And we hear Kathmandu time zone is yet another 15 minutes difference. We’re only on that for a short bit, so ship time is skipping it altogether.
Today finds us on Sri Lanka Time, which is one of the half-hour-off zones. So when it’s 6:35 pm in Albuquerque, it is 6:05 am the next morning in Sri Lanka. According to my pill box it’s Thursday, and my now multi-lingual, French and English watch agrees.
Monday, March 11, 2019
Phuket, Thailand
Phuket (poo-KET)
“Hailed as the "Pearl of the Andaman Sea," this island off Thailand's long southern coast boasts a colorful history. A crossroads for trade, Phuket has been a melting pot of Thai, Malay, Chinese and Western influences. Its importance over the past 500 years stemmed from the island's natural resources, which include tin, hardwoods and rubber. In the past half-century, Phuket has enjoyed wide popularity as one of the premier travel destinations in Southeast Asia. Travelers are drawn to the island's beaches, crystalline waters, and dramatic, forested hills.”—Princess Patter
Today we arrived at Phuket Island, Thailand. It is tropical, lush, crowded, and a bit exotic. We decided to head to the Elephant Safari. It was a lo more interactive than what we might see at a US zoo, with lots of touching, petting, feeding of bananas, and the obligatory ride. We’re glad to have done it, but once was enough to check that box. I attempted to add one picture to this post, but it would not go through. I’ve put several more on Facebook.
My Watch Speaks French
This will require a bit of explanation. I don’t usually wear a watch, but on cruise ships, which have all sorts of time zone changes and which often don’t match the actual time zone of the geographic location, one can get into trouble using a phone or e-device to know the time. So that’s why I need a watch onboard.
Except I was always forgetting to pull the stem out once home...and the next time I went to get the watch, it needed batteries or ran out of juice halfway through the cruise. A couple of cruises ago my friend Jackie bought a watch onboard that is light powered. Sun, light bulb, anything. I figure that’s the sort of watch I need. Also, the first day or so onboard the shops have an extra 10% discount on purchases, plus the 10% we get for being frequent cruisers, so with those sorts of incentives, plus a comparison of costs on Amazon, I had decided that my souvenir on this cruise would be a cruise watch if the price was sort of competitive.
Long story short, Andrei from Romania was happy to make his first sale of the cruise, and I have my souvenir. Andrei adjusted the watch for me, and when I looked more closely at at this morning , I noticed the day/date function was in French, telling me today is Lundi. Or maybe it is Spanish or Italian, because all it really says is “LUN”.
The rest of the day was spent meeting the Cruise Critic group, learning a bit about our first port of call, Phuket, Thailand (which I shall try and share with you tomorrow), exploring the ship and catching up on lost sleep.
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Off we go
We’re on our way...settled into the room, met our fabulous cabin steward, unpacked the suitcases, and reacquainted ourselves with this ship.
This is our favorite of the princess ships. It has very wide promenades that hold a full-size lounger and there is one deck less of passengers which is 500 people. And tonight, we remembered to find the coupon in the coupon book and got our two-for-one specialty dinner at Sabatini‘s restaurant on the ship. We both ate way too much food, but it was truly a delicious dinner, and we did not have to fight through confused crowds at the dining room trying to figure out where they were supposed to go to eat.
It’s now 6:30 am and we both have had 8 hours of sleep—lightweights both of us.
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Getting On
Getting On With Things
Today’s post will be fairly short—it’s probably my last chance to upload several pictures at a time, even though they get posted in random order. Future posts will have to be limited because of the slow upload speeds.
Poor Tom came down with a chest cold yesterday. The timing is about right for having caught it on the plane. We stocked up on cold remedies at the pharmacy in the adjacent shopping mall, he went to bed yesterday about 7:30 pm and slept for 12 hours.
We argued about how much activity he should expend today and I lost. So we headed out after breakfast to the Gardens by the Bay, a tremendous botanical garden here in Singapore. Today was the opening of their Cherry Blossom festival exhibition which we wanted to catch. Many of the trees were just starting to bloom, we imagine it will be just spectacular in a few more days. Some of the other exhibits included LEGO models of the plants in that display.
After that, we headed over to the Singapore Flyer. It’s the giant Ferris wheel the same size as the London Eye. Tom was really interested in riding it, so we did. It was the middle of the day, so not crowded, and we had the whole car to ourselves. Some of the pictures below were taken from the Flyer, if you look close at the one of the city skyline you can see our hotel on the ride side of the picture—two reddish brick buildings, the one on the left is our hotel on the river at Clarke Quay.
After a late lunch/early dinner at a Thai place across the river, we came back to the hotel to pack up and re-organize for boarding the Sapphire Princess tomorrow. Somewhere in the middle of that Tom fell asleep and dozed until past dinner time, so when he woke up, he brushed his teeth and went back to bed. The alarm is set for 7:30 so he’ll get another good nights sleep and hopefully get rid of this cold quickly.
Thursday, March 7, 2019
We Sold The Patio
We Sold The Patio...
Friday 3/8. The phone rang at 4:00 this morning. It was Santa Clarita calling, corporate headquarters of Princess Cruises. Did they have a deal for us.
Have you ever wondered what happens when a cruise line over sells their available rooms? Well, just as with the airlines, they have to make offers to people in order to get them to take a different flight/cruise. We have known about these oversell situations for many years, as the Internet bulletin boards are full of stories, and we have received similar offers in the past to forego our cruise but were not interested in giving up the vacation and/or we were traveling with others.
Except in this case, we don’t have to give up the vacation; we received the email on Thursday asking for volunteers to give up their balcony and sail instead in an inside cabin. The offer is that you get a full refund of your paid fare and thus cruise for free if you switch. We considered the offer and said what the heck and called the yield management office and said we would be interested. Michelle called us back at noon Thursday (California time— still 4 am for us) to cut the deal. She gave us a midship, unobstructed ocean view instead of an inside, too. So in essence, we sold our patio.
But we’re still taking the cruise, we still have all our original onboard credit, and we still have everything except the patio. Oh, and we have a bit of money to put back into the travel bank.
Remember yesterday’s post about real estate prices here in Singapore? That lovely little apartment in Marina Bay... the one that costs about $1800 per square foot in a 99 year lease? That works out to 5 cents per square foot per day. Our hotel room is costing us about $1 per square foot per day. We sold the patio for $3.50 per square foot per day. Crazy, yes? 😁
For the rest of today’s adventures, after we managed to fall back asleep, we got up late again, had another large breakfast followed by a day spent on the HOHO bus. There are seven routes through Singapore, but we managed to decide on just two routes. Just sitting still in the heat brings on a massive sticky feeling, so the breeze from the bus was delightful, even if I had to hang on to my hat.
The HOHO took us by all the big tourist areas, and it was fun to see the old classic buildings adjacent to, or incorporated into, the modern glass high rises. And the abundant and lush plant life and orchids are everywhere.
There is even a bit of history and trivia in the narration provided. Favorite nugget learned on this trip: The Five Foot Way was a building code requirement for all construction to include a five foot wide covered walkway or veranda on the street side of all buildings. The code intended that this space was for pedestrians. The shopowners and stalls had other ideas, however, and the space soon became extended storage, shop displays, even rented out as living quarters. The situation went back and forth, but still today you will find random mini shops set up in the five foot way portion of buildings in Singapore. Sorta like selling the patio space, come to think of it.
Fine Dining and Further Explorations
Thursday March 7
We checked in to the hotel at 2 am. After a few solid hours of sleep and much appreciated horizontal time, we awoke just before sunrise which is 7:15. We then fortified ourselves at the ginormous breakfast buffet at the hotel and headed out to explore Chinatown. First stop was the grocery store where we could not read most of the packaging, but we did find genuine Bird Nests for drinking, and not just dried seaweed but grilled dried seaweed for eating. Since we were still full we passed on these delicacies, but I will include pictures below.
Next on our list was to find the Hawker Chan Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodle stall. Hawker stalls are about 10 feet wide, and look sort of like the food court at your local mall but more crowded. Collectively they sell a wide variety of meals, but each stall specializes in one type dish. Hawker Chan, as you might guess, serves his recipe of soya sauce chicken with rice or noodles. What makes his so special is that he was awarded a Michelin Star for his restaurant meal a few years back. (If you don’t know about Michelin stars, go rent or download or stream ‘The Hundred Foot Journey’ immediately. Fun movie with a backstory about chefs vying for Michelin recognition.) But back to Mr. Chan. He sells his meal for $6.00 SD, which is about $4.20 US. So now I can say I have eaten at a Michelin starred restaurant. And yes, it was very tasty chicken, although eating with just chopsticks and a spoon was a big challenge. The chicken was easier to handle than the noodles. There is no way to eat the noodles except by slurping them up.
After lunch we wandered through and past a bazillion more shops selling a lot of things but which were completely unidentifiable to us. We would stand in front of some and try to guess. Is this an herbal pharmacy? A spice shop? “What do you think this bin is full of? Looks like freeze dried rocks.” We could have played Animal Vegetable Mineral all day long and been wrong every time.
By this time it was getting hot and sunny, and still very humid, and I was dripping wet and in need of another shower. Tom wandered around a few more shopping malls and ethnic grocery stores before returning for his third shower of the day.
My body still thought it was on New Mexico time, which was around 1 am and it wanted a nap. We awoke around an hour before sunset (7:15) and went downstairs and across the road to Clarke Quay which is quite the hopping place after dark. Clarke Quay sits alongside the Singapore River, which is historically where the merchant vessels pulled up to the banks to trade their wares from around the world. And where international goods are exchanged, so is the money. This area, once full of shophouses, warehouses, dock workers, and nearly wall-to-wall bumboats plying up and down the river is now a restaurant and nightclub hotspot, but it has kept the facades of the old shophouses in respect of their history. Behind the shophouses/restaurants rise the modern and lofty skyscrapers of the world financial banks located here in Singapore. We took a sunset cruise on the river taxis up and down the river past these areas and into the Marina Bay.
Marina Bay was not here 22 years ago when we last visited. In that time Singapore has created reclaimed land from the oceanfront, and built an entire new district called Marina Bay, home to the instantly recognized Marina Bay Sands hotel and the Gardens By the Bay. Along with several thousands more luxury apartments. The apartments are running about $2500 per square FOOT, which is only about $1800 US. Of course that is also for a 99 year leasehold, so you don’t actually hold title to your 750 sq ft 2 bedroom 2 bath property that you ‘bought’ for 1.8 million dollars (1.3 US). Crazy Rich Asians here, but they have killer views and bank vault grade security.
One quirky little thing I noticed walking back from dinner tonight...You know how cities all are starting to have those rental bikes and rental scooters everywhere? Singapore has those already, but one thing I had not seen before is they have rental Umbrella kiosks! First 24 hours free, all done via your smartphone.
I will attempt to upload some pictures now...not sure how many will get inserted, or where, and they certainly won’t load in the order I put them and you might have to guess what some of them are supposed to be about...but they should all have something to do with today’s blog post, lol.
We checked in to the hotel at 2 am. After a few solid hours of sleep and much appreciated horizontal time, we awoke just before sunrise which is 7:15. We then fortified ourselves at the ginormous breakfast buffet at the hotel and headed out to explore Chinatown. First stop was the grocery store where we could not read most of the packaging, but we did find genuine Bird Nests for drinking, and not just dried seaweed but grilled dried seaweed for eating. Since we were still full we passed on these delicacies, but I will include pictures below.
Next on our list was to find the Hawker Chan Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodle stall. Hawker stalls are about 10 feet wide, and look sort of like the food court at your local mall but more crowded. Collectively they sell a wide variety of meals, but each stall specializes in one type dish. Hawker Chan, as you might guess, serves his recipe of soya sauce chicken with rice or noodles. What makes his so special is that he was awarded a Michelin Star for his restaurant meal a few years back. (If you don’t know about Michelin stars, go rent or download or stream ‘The Hundred Foot Journey’ immediately. Fun movie with a backstory about chefs vying for Michelin recognition.) But back to Mr. Chan. He sells his meal for $6.00 SD, which is about $4.20 US. So now I can say I have eaten at a Michelin starred restaurant. And yes, it was very tasty chicken, although eating with just chopsticks and a spoon was a big challenge. The chicken was easier to handle than the noodles. There is no way to eat the noodles except by slurping them up.
After lunch we wandered through and past a bazillion more shops selling a lot of things but which were completely unidentifiable to us. We would stand in front of some and try to guess. Is this an herbal pharmacy? A spice shop? “What do you think this bin is full of? Looks like freeze dried rocks.” We could have played Animal Vegetable Mineral all day long and been wrong every time.
By this time it was getting hot and sunny, and still very humid, and I was dripping wet and in need of another shower. Tom wandered around a few more shopping malls and ethnic grocery stores before returning for his third shower of the day.
My body still thought it was on New Mexico time, which was around 1 am and it wanted a nap. We awoke around an hour before sunset (7:15) and went downstairs and across the road to Clarke Quay which is quite the hopping place after dark. Clarke Quay sits alongside the Singapore River, which is historically where the merchant vessels pulled up to the banks to trade their wares from around the world. And where international goods are exchanged, so is the money. This area, once full of shophouses, warehouses, dock workers, and nearly wall-to-wall bumboats plying up and down the river is now a restaurant and nightclub hotspot, but it has kept the facades of the old shophouses in respect of their history. Behind the shophouses/restaurants rise the modern and lofty skyscrapers of the world financial banks located here in Singapore. We took a sunset cruise on the river taxis up and down the river past these areas and into the Marina Bay.
Marina Bay was not here 22 years ago when we last visited. In that time Singapore has created reclaimed land from the oceanfront, and built an entire new district called Marina Bay, home to the instantly recognized Marina Bay Sands hotel and the Gardens By the Bay. Along with several thousands more luxury apartments. The apartments are running about $2500 per square FOOT, which is only about $1800 US. Of course that is also for a 99 year leasehold, so you don’t actually hold title to your 750 sq ft 2 bedroom 2 bath property that you ‘bought’ for 1.8 million dollars (1.3 US). Crazy Rich Asians here, but they have killer views and bank vault grade security.
One quirky little thing I noticed walking back from dinner tonight...You know how cities all are starting to have those rental bikes and rental scooters everywhere? Singapore has those already, but one thing I had not seen before is they have rental Umbrella kiosks! First 24 hours free, all done via your smartphone.
I will attempt to upload some pictures now...not sure how many will get inserted, or where, and they certainly won’t load in the order I put them and you might have to guess what some of them are supposed to be about...but they should all have something to do with today’s blog post, lol.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Singapore!
It feels great to be back here in Singapore after 22 years. Some things look the same, and others bear no resemblance to how we remembered it.
But first, let me back up a bit and tell you a little about
Yesterday, about the time you were waking up (well, all except Cindy and Shirley who were still wide awake at 2 and 3 in the morning because that’s when they sent me emails) Tom and I were headed to the airport and boarding plane number 1 of 3. The flight to Dallas was uneventful, but the gate agent tried to tell me I could not check my bags all the way through to Singapore because ‘of how whoever booked your ticket did it’. She told me I had to recheck them in Chicago. Now, I know it was early, but we don’t fly into Chicago on our way to Singapore via Tokyo. She was looking at our return leg for over a month from now. Then she printed and reprinted our tickets, gave Tom two tickets to Tokyo, me one ticket to Singapore from Tokyo, but no ticket from Dallas to Tokyo. It all got sorted out eventually, but we were not sure she had much of a clue as to what she was supposed to be doing. ‘Eventually’ included a bag check all the way to Singapore for both of us.
About the time you were having lunch, we were boarding plane #2 of 3. About the time you had dinner we were still on that plane. When you went to bed, we were still on that plane. I watched ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Green Book’, ‘Will You Ever Forgive Me’ and ‘A Star is Born’, ate two meals and one snack and never slept but tried very hard to do so until my gluteus refused to take another minute in that seat. And about the time you woke up on Wednesday morning, we had finally landed in Tokyo after 14 hours on that plane and our backsides were ever so happy to be out of the seats. We couldn’t bear to tell them they faced another 7 hours on plane # 3 of 3 for our flight to Singapore.
And these were the roomier seats provided by Japan Airlines, with extra width and pitch over the US legacy carriers. Note to anyone flying to Asia, if JAL flies that route, book’em. And they codeshare with American.
We landed in Singapore in the early hours of their Thursday, which was around lunchtime Wednesday for you. I think. Because frankly, we were so tired of airplane sitting by then we were just happy to see our bags, zip through immigration and customs in Singapore— still the fastest and friendliest in the world in our opinion—and grab a taxi to the hotel where we will be attemptingto fool our bodies into sleeping through for a few hours.
I am going to close for now, but will add one picture from our hotel window view. Well, actually one picture twice because I am still having trouble with the photo editor part of this program 😂
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Monday, March 4, 2019
Organized Chaos
We are at that point in the packing process that things are getting just a little chaotic. But it is organized chaos. The suitcases are completely packed, the carry-on bags are 90% packed, and we only have those last-minute day-of-trip sort of things to add. The charger cables, the cell phone, the boarding pass for the airlines, the pill box, the toiletry kit.
Add to that, we are busily cleaning house. We prefer to return to a completely clean house after a vacation, it softens the blow of having to do your own cooking and cleaning to not have to start in right away. As a consequence, we have both things to be thrown away and things to be put out so as to absolutely not forget them, taking up the same space on the countertops. All the while, we are trying to clean around them.
I just spent five minutes looking all over the house for the Blue Stuff spray. That’s the one used on mirrors and glass surfaces. It is supposed to reside in the carryall box where all the cleaning supplies are kept. But I just couldn’t find it.
It was hiding from me. Underneath the blue cleaning cloth.
Yep, that’s the sort of day we are going through. The plane leaves very early tomorrow morning, we are heading out this afternoon to an airport hotel so as to be ready to get checked in early and through security. I’ll be back in a few days for our first travel update, after our 28 hours of travel to Singapore and a few hours rest.
Add to that, we are busily cleaning house. We prefer to return to a completely clean house after a vacation, it softens the blow of having to do your own cooking and cleaning to not have to start in right away. As a consequence, we have both things to be thrown away and things to be put out so as to absolutely not forget them, taking up the same space on the countertops. All the while, we are trying to clean around them.
I just spent five minutes looking all over the house for the Blue Stuff spray. That’s the one used on mirrors and glass surfaces. It is supposed to reside in the carryall box where all the cleaning supplies are kept. But I just couldn’t find it.
It was hiding from me. Underneath the blue cleaning cloth.
Yep, that’s the sort of day we are going through. The plane leaves very early tomorrow morning, we are heading out this afternoon to an airport hotel so as to be ready to get checked in early and through security. I’ll be back in a few days for our first travel update, after our 28 hours of travel to Singapore and a few hours rest.
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