As the US Federal government is scheduled to shut down when it runs out of money this Friday, Clay decided last week that it would make a great B-day gift from him to me to take me to DC this week. Good idea and the weather was forecast to be pretty nice for this time of year too. We wanted to go to the National Gallery of Art for their special exhibition of Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting. ( We missed the '95-'96 exhibit due to bad winter weather and the government shutdowns during the Clinton administration. That was a bigger deal than today's in my opinion but never to be duplicated it seems. Oh, well.)
We stayed at a nearby Holiday Inn Washingon - Capitol. It must be fairly new, otherwise I don't know why we haven't always stayed there. It was amazingly conveninetly located and affordable. It was a nice big room with a small fridge and a big hard bed. (The hard bed was the only downside!) We paid a total of $106.88 for the one night in the hotel and we paid $49 for parking in the lot under the hotel. It was worth much more for the convenience of the location less than 2 blocks from the National Gallery.
We left home Saturday morning before Clay's stated goal of 5am. We stopped at a Bob Evans in Richmond about 7:30am. I wanted mush! It was about 40 minutes roundtrip out of our way, but it was for my b-day! It was good.
We got to DC about an hour earlier than we had expected to anyway. We parked the car as we had booked it in advance online independently of the hotel and left our stuff in the trunk. We walked around the Air and Space Museum and across the National Mall to the National Gallery. We entered and got bag checked and picked up a gallery map. We found the exhibit's line entrance back by the restrooms with no line! We used the restrooms, then picked up our exhibition brochure and entered the roped area. There was no waiting in line, but the exhibit space was jam packed. Still, it was better than missing it. We saw everything and were out before we were even expecting to have arrived in DC!
Since we still had hours before we could check in to the HI, we saw more of the National Gallery. We toured the French Impressionists, the Dutch and Flemish galleries, we found the Da Vinci. We still had time to kill and thought about eating. We hit the shops and went to the Cascade Cafe underground and between the 2 gallery buildings. We found it looking for the Gelato Bar which we found but it was looking sparse and picked over. We had a snack and Clay did have gelato. I was fascinated by a light show/moving walkway visible from our seats and we took the passage to the East Building. The light in the underground corridor reminded me of Star Trek engaging warp drive. The building is famous with architecture students/fans and I. M. Pei's name inside on a stone wall was almost rubbed off! Once outside, I pointed out to Clay Pei's 19 degree corner that had also been discolored by people rubbing it. We studied it for a while, at different angles it almost looked like a flat wall, not a building at all. In Clay's photos, it looks like a pyramid. We spent more time studying the building's approachs from outside and below than the art which we mostly skipped. We crossed the National Mall again to visit the National Museum of the American Indian. We had assumed it meant US Native Americans but it covered South America all the way to the Canadian Arctic. It was still interesting. They had an interesting cafe menu, too bad we'd already snacked. There was native people's arts and crafts market on in the atrium. There was a major exhibit about the Inka Road that looked permanent to me. Once again the architecture from the outside was as interesting as the building's contents.
We walked back to the hotel by getting bags x-rayed to pass through the Air & Space Museum. It was after 3pm and check in time by now, so we just stayed in the atrium area and gift shop and came in one side and out the other to avoid walking around the building again. There were a lot of food trucks parked along our path with mostly Mexican and Indian food that smelled good, but it was colder outside than we'd expected and we planned to eat at the hotel.
We got room 337 at the Holiday Inn. Since Clay didn't carry his camera on this quick trip, I am sure he didn't take any photos. It was a large, clean well-appointed room and the only negative for us was the too hard bed. There were 2 restaurants plus a Starbucks at the hotel and we chose the bar & grill option. We were tired, not that hungry and it was convenient and good.
We were early to bed as there was nothing on HBO or any other channel that we wanted to watch on TV. We woke up about 7am the next day. I think we both slept well. I used the Keurig in the room for decaf tea after dinner and 2 cups of coffee in the morning before we left. We stopped at the 2nd Bob Evans we passed in Woodbridge, VA on our way home. It was packed! Too close to DC I guess. It was at the Potomac Mills Outlet Mall exit too. I had mush again and it was 20 cents more and not as good. I still enjoyed it. We got home by 2pm. It is sunny and 65 F here. You'd never know it was December and my birthday is nearly over. I have one last special request. We'll go to El Cuscatleco for pupusas for dinner later. We went to Steak & Shake on my actual birthday. I am still heartbroken that they removed the mocha shake from their menu!
I almost forgot that this year's only supermoon coincided with my birthday weekend. It was spectacular, low and orange as we drove home east from dinner this evening.
Hopefully, Clay will link his cellphone photos later.
Little Bob hits the road
Little Bob hits the road
Sunday, December 3, 2017
Sunday, October 15, 2017
We're Home
Sorry. I guess I just kind of fell out of touch here. We arrived early in Miami. The ship cleared about 15 minutes behind schedule. It was another of those hurry up and get out of here disembarkations. We were sorry to say good bye to our cabin steward Joseph, who has been excellent. We were still outside before our predicted 9am at the curb. Matt & Mom had left Bonita Springs early but that was good as it gave them time to get lost. It was complicated by the fact that O's Sirena was also docked at the Port of Miami. The area around the port and airport is a ridiculous complex of little surface streets that end and begin and are closed for construction or one way. It was crazy. Clay and I had our GOES appointment at 10:30am at MIA. We figured from 9am to 10:30am would be plenty of time. I think it took us almost an hour to cover the 12 miles or so. Anyway, we arrived early and they took us right away. Clay went first. He stood at a counter while I sat in a chair a couple of feet behind him. His interviewer had a very accusatory tone as she questioned him about his visit to Libya for work and then Albania for pleasure. She asked him if he had ever been arrested or charged with anything for any reason at any time, ever ever. I could feel him sweat even though he knew he was innocent. As I have a charge as a minor that ought to have been expunged from my adult record, I was wondering how I would reply. As it turns out the man next to her called be up. He skipped almost directly from friendly chit chat type questions to my photograph and fingerprints. I think it was because his print scanner was dirty but he thought it was my Parkinson's Disease, he had to try 3 times before he got fingerprints that went through. He was so flustered that he just approved me and sent me on my way after that. I cannot imagine why CLT has no appointments for months.
Shortly after we got to Mom's house, I suffered a relapse of the respiratory infection I started this trip with in the Pacific North West. I started coughing, drowning in snot and finally spiked a fever the day we went to Orlando for La Nouba. Yesterday's flights didn't help me feel any better other than arriving back home.
We had a good visit at Mom's. We had a lot of good dinners out. It was great to see Judy who we picked up and dropped off in Sebring on our way to and from Orlando. We stayed at Springhill Suites and though the layout was different than Sumter, we still really liked it. That was the end of our free nights earned from the Marriott chain from our $1800/night Thanksgiving with a Macy's Parade view stay last year. I think we all really enjoyed La Nouba again and it was bittersweet to know the show is ending its run in December.
I thought Clay was being too prissy when he insisted on flying first class home from RSW. I would have rented a car one way but it would have cost as much as the one way first class flights! So, I didn't have a strong argument. In the event, I was so relieved we were in first class. Both flights, RSW to CLT and CLT to RDU were overbooked and every seat was filled. I felt so awful, that any bit of ease or comfort was a mercy. The flights were only 1.5 and .5 hours though so first class still felt like an absurd luxury however happy I was to have it.
So, we're home for a while. We're certainly home until I am recovered from whatever infection I have. I only hope I didn't transmit it to any of our family or friends!
Shortly after we got to Mom's house, I suffered a relapse of the respiratory infection I started this trip with in the Pacific North West. I started coughing, drowning in snot and finally spiked a fever the day we went to Orlando for La Nouba. Yesterday's flights didn't help me feel any better other than arriving back home.
We had a good visit at Mom's. We had a lot of good dinners out. It was great to see Judy who we picked up and dropped off in Sebring on our way to and from Orlando. We stayed at Springhill Suites and though the layout was different than Sumter, we still really liked it. That was the end of our free nights earned from the Marriott chain from our $1800/night Thanksgiving with a Macy's Parade view stay last year. I think we all really enjoyed La Nouba again and it was bittersweet to know the show is ending its run in December.
I thought Clay was being too prissy when he insisted on flying first class home from RSW. I would have rented a car one way but it would have cost as much as the one way first class flights! So, I didn't have a strong argument. In the event, I was so relieved we were in first class. Both flights, RSW to CLT and CLT to RDU were overbooked and every seat was filled. I felt so awful, that any bit of ease or comfort was a mercy. The flights were only 1.5 and .5 hours though so first class still felt like an absurd luxury however happy I was to have it.
So, we're home for a while. We're certainly home until I am recovered from whatever infection I have. I only hope I didn't transmit it to any of our family or friends!
Saturday, October 7, 2017
Sea Day 13 - Straits of Florida
Sometime overnight Nate grew from a tropical storm to a hurricane. We traveled on parallel paths as predicted by the Captain until we turned east at the far western tip of Cuba. Things are much calmer and the ride smoother since just before dawn. I don't know if it was our final time change losing an hour last night or the rain clouds this morning, but when we each woke up to pee this morning it was already past 7am. Usually around 6 to 6:30am there has been light glowing around the balcony curtains indicating it is time to get up. We really weren't ready to wake up in the dark! We could see Cuba off the starboard side most of the morning. It is about 3:30pm now and we have just passed north of Havana. We've been too far off the coast to see land for hours though.
When we got back from Horizons after breakfast our cabin was ready. Our suitcases had been removed from beneath the bed and placed atop the luggage mat. Signal received loud and clear. Pack up and clear off! We were actually ready to pack yesterday and would have if the ship hadn't been dangerously pitching and rolling around. Today was a piece of cake.
We had breakfast and lunch in Terrace. We went to the big screen popcorn movie of Paris Can Wait at 1:30pm. We had never seen it before and enjoyed the revisiting of parts of the south of France we saw in 2015 on one of those 4 consecutive river cruises we took. Tonight I have requested to dine in the GDR for our last meal. There are a couple of dishes I'd like to have again so we'll have at least 4 courses!
We have traveled nearly 5000 miles from San Francisco and are less than 200 miles from Miami. In his noon announcement, the Captain expected to arrive in Miami well in advance of our scheduled 7am time. Since we sailed all day yesterday when we skipped Grand Cayman, I should expect that we will.
I'll assume the rest of the afternoon and evening will be uneventful and post this now. I anything noteworthy happens, I'll post an update.
On to a week in Florida with Mom! Looking forward to it.
When we got back from Horizons after breakfast our cabin was ready. Our suitcases had been removed from beneath the bed and placed atop the luggage mat. Signal received loud and clear. Pack up and clear off! We were actually ready to pack yesterday and would have if the ship hadn't been dangerously pitching and rolling around. Today was a piece of cake.
We had breakfast and lunch in Terrace. We went to the big screen popcorn movie of Paris Can Wait at 1:30pm. We had never seen it before and enjoyed the revisiting of parts of the south of France we saw in 2015 on one of those 4 consecutive river cruises we took. Tonight I have requested to dine in the GDR for our last meal. There are a couple of dishes I'd like to have again so we'll have at least 4 courses!
We have traveled nearly 5000 miles from San Francisco and are less than 200 miles from Miami. In his noon announcement, the Captain expected to arrive in Miami well in advance of our scheduled 7am time. Since we sailed all day yesterday when we skipped Grand Cayman, I should expect that we will.
I'll assume the rest of the afternoon and evening will be uneventful and post this now. I anything noteworthy happens, I'll post an update.
On to a week in Florida with Mom! Looking forward to it.
Friday, October 6, 2017
Sea Day 12 - Not Grand Cayman
We are in some big seas. We felt the turn to approach George Town around 5:30am. By 7am we were mostly still and rocking. Without opening the curtains or turning on the TV, Clay knew we were near land because he could see dozens of wifi networks available. I finally got up and the seas were clearly bigger than at Nicaragua. With binoculars, I could see the huge breakers ashore. I never spotted the tender dock, btw. I decided around 7:20am to dress in sea day clothes and not going ashore clothes assuming if we stayed that I would not tender ashore or that I could change later. About 7:30am, we changed course and started back out to sea. About 7:40am, the Captain's voice came over the cabin speakers to tell us that the swells were 6 to 8 feet at the ship and that the port agent and harbor master had advised him that our scheduled tender pier had been closed due to swells breaking over them. So today ends up a bonus sea day for everyone. The further north we get the bigger the seas get. The Captain advised that he expected it to be worst around 3 to 4 am as we round the western tip of Cuba and to get better as we sailed east away from Nate through the Florida Straits to Miami. The good news is that the big swells are no longer broadside from starboard! In other good news, they issued a new Currents since a port day just became a sea day and the movie Going in Style will be shown on a big screen in Regatta Lounge at 2pm with popcorn.
We received our preliminary invoice and still had $51 of nonrefundable shipboard credit to use or lose. We knew that and have browsed the boutique daily buying things we don't really need. Today I noticed the spa was open as we made our way to Horizons to wait for our cabin to be ready. I told Clay I'd like a bottle of skin toner to replace my last spa visit one that I had used up. It was exactly $50! Mission accomplished! When we got back to the cabin, there was another letter on the door. It was to remind us that time was running out to use or lose our shipboard credit. Clay read it and told me, you're ahead of them.
I haven't written about it but I'd like to give praise where it is due. Our room steward is Joseph. I believe he's from the Philippines but confess I haven't seen his badge closely enough to know. He is the best cabin steward we have had (except for onboard NWP's Crystal Serenity) in all our sailing time. He is timely, efficient and always friendly. He makes an effort to greet us by name when we pass in the hall and drops what he is doing to get to the cabin door before us to open it. He would have been our best steward ever except he wants us to use too much soap. When a bar is about half gone, a new one appears and yesterday with only 2 days left an old one disappeared. I know it shouldn't but that really bothered me. We could have happily finished the cruise with the soap we already had. I guess I am too frugal and picky but Crystal wins and Joseph takes 2nd place. That still makes him an absolutely fantastic cabin steward.
Given the ever growing swells, we've studied the menus and will probably stay downstairs the rest of the day. That will mean lunch and dinner in Grand Dining Room instead of Terrace. We generally prefer the speed and range of choices in Terrace over GDR but you've gotta do what you've gotta do.
At noon, the Captain made an announcement into our cabins again. He said swells had increased to about 13 feet now. He again thought conditions would worsen until between 3 and 4 am when he could turn east and run along the north coast of Cuba for shelter. He pointed out that the swells were no longer from starboard which was helping things be better than they might have been otherwise. He said now the swells were surpassing us from aft and the ship was kind of surfing as the swells passed us. He said that meant Nate was traveling in the same direction but faster than us. He advised care with the soup at lunch. Having now had cold soup, he should have advised against hot coffee. We witnessed a narrow escape in GDR. If it weren't for the 2pm movie, I'd probably just knock myself out with Dramamine and call it a day. I may yet wind up wishing I had.
Since we have Internet now and I don't expect anything noteworthy to occur all day, I'll post this now. If anything newsworthy occurs, I'll come back with an update.
We received our preliminary invoice and still had $51 of nonrefundable shipboard credit to use or lose. We knew that and have browsed the boutique daily buying things we don't really need. Today I noticed the spa was open as we made our way to Horizons to wait for our cabin to be ready. I told Clay I'd like a bottle of skin toner to replace my last spa visit one that I had used up. It was exactly $50! Mission accomplished! When we got back to the cabin, there was another letter on the door. It was to remind us that time was running out to use or lose our shipboard credit. Clay read it and told me, you're ahead of them.
I haven't written about it but I'd like to give praise where it is due. Our room steward is Joseph. I believe he's from the Philippines but confess I haven't seen his badge closely enough to know. He is the best cabin steward we have had (except for onboard NWP's Crystal Serenity) in all our sailing time. He is timely, efficient and always friendly. He makes an effort to greet us by name when we pass in the hall and drops what he is doing to get to the cabin door before us to open it. He would have been our best steward ever except he wants us to use too much soap. When a bar is about half gone, a new one appears and yesterday with only 2 days left an old one disappeared. I know it shouldn't but that really bothered me. We could have happily finished the cruise with the soap we already had. I guess I am too frugal and picky but Crystal wins and Joseph takes 2nd place. That still makes him an absolutely fantastic cabin steward.
Given the ever growing swells, we've studied the menus and will probably stay downstairs the rest of the day. That will mean lunch and dinner in Grand Dining Room instead of Terrace. We generally prefer the speed and range of choices in Terrace over GDR but you've gotta do what you've gotta do.
At noon, the Captain made an announcement into our cabins again. He said swells had increased to about 13 feet now. He again thought conditions would worsen until between 3 and 4 am when he could turn east and run along the north coast of Cuba for shelter. He pointed out that the swells were no longer from starboard which was helping things be better than they might have been otherwise. He said now the swells were surpassing us from aft and the ship was kind of surfing as the swells passed us. He said that meant Nate was traveling in the same direction but faster than us. He advised care with the soup at lunch. Having now had cold soup, he should have advised against hot coffee. We witnessed a narrow escape in GDR. If it weren't for the 2pm movie, I'd probably just knock myself out with Dramamine and call it a day. I may yet wind up wishing I had.
Since we have Internet now and I don't expect anything noteworthy to occur all day, I'll post this now. If anything newsworthy occurs, I'll come back with an update.
Thursday, October 5, 2017
Sea Day 11
This is our next to last scheduled sea day. We have strong wind and waves from the starboard side again. It seems it doesn't matter which direction we are traveling in, the weather is coming from our side. According to the Captain, that and our full tanks are causing us to list to port. That's on top of the rocking, rolling and wobbling. The Captain announced that the tropical depression that he talked about last night grew up overnight and is now Nate. He says it is affecting us and will continue to for the rest of the cruise in all likelihood as we follow it to Florida. He reminded us that it was 6 foot swells tendering into San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua and that tomorrow there are 9 foot swells predicted for Grand Cayman. Tendering to Nicaragua was a nightmare we won't soon forget as it was horrific. We never did hear if independent guests ever got ashore there as the tendering of medical evacuations and excursion guests took precedence. It was 2 hours after clearance before we left and there were several tours to leave after ours so if independent guests did get ashore that day, they didn't have much time there. Clay has already said we should just stay aboard which is what I'm sure happened in Nicaragua. If it hadn't been my 79th country, I wouldn't have tendered that day. If I hadn't been booked on a ship's excursion, I am sure I wouldn't have tendered that day. We've already been to Grand Cayman and have nothing booked there. They could skip it entirely and we'd be happier about it. So, we'll have to wait and see. If he could get to Miami on Sunday with less rough seas, I wish the Captain would just scrub Grand Cayman and do it. I can't believe too many people could be upset as we didn't even have Grand Cayman on the itinerary until after we boarded. It was Key West on Saturday before we boarded. Stay tuned.
The big deal today is brunch buffet in the GDR in place of breakfast and lunch. The string quartet is playing. We didn't go. They kept normal breakfast and lunch in Terrace. We'd prefer dinner in Terrace tonight but it will depend on how much rougher it gets I think. We might have to go to GDR to stay low. Again, we'll see.
We've been watching movies. It hasn't been easy. Regatta has 3 movie channels. Each channel shows 3 movies in a rotation every day. Like today we have not seen and would like to see, Going in Style, but it airs at 5am, 11:30am and 6pm. So we were asleep, at lunch or at dinner when it aired. Out of the available films, a half dozen are in foreign languages, some are documentaries or horror films and we won't watch them. There is a DVD player in our cabin and a list of DVDs. Unfortunately our DVD list and the one at Reception are not the same. We requested Emma and we were given disc 2 of 2 and they don't have disc 1. Then there is the issue of the remote control for the DVD player doesn't work so it gets even trickier. Come on Oceania. At least watching movies in the cabin should be effortless. We've worked to watch about 25 movies onboard.
We have Internet now so I will post this and if anything noteworthy happens later, I'll be back.
The big deal today is brunch buffet in the GDR in place of breakfast and lunch. The string quartet is playing. We didn't go. They kept normal breakfast and lunch in Terrace. We'd prefer dinner in Terrace tonight but it will depend on how much rougher it gets I think. We might have to go to GDR to stay low. Again, we'll see.
We've been watching movies. It hasn't been easy. Regatta has 3 movie channels. Each channel shows 3 movies in a rotation every day. Like today we have not seen and would like to see, Going in Style, but it airs at 5am, 11:30am and 6pm. So we were asleep, at lunch or at dinner when it aired. Out of the available films, a half dozen are in foreign languages, some are documentaries or horror films and we won't watch them. There is a DVD player in our cabin and a list of DVDs. Unfortunately our DVD list and the one at Reception are not the same. We requested Emma and we were given disc 2 of 2 and they don't have disc 1. Then there is the issue of the remote control for the DVD player doesn't work so it gets even trickier. Come on Oceania. At least watching movies in the cabin should be effortless. We've worked to watch about 25 movies onboard.
We have Internet now so I will post this and if anything noteworthy happens later, I'll be back.
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Back to Cartagena, Colombia
photos
We were last here in 2008. There has been a whole lot of highrise construction since then! As we had been here before and had a very comprehensive tour and today's port stop was only 6 hours long, we decided to do something different here. We booked a 90-minute Segway tour of the Historic Old Town. It was a good choice. Once again we were the first ship of the season to arrive here and we got another private tour. The only low point of the day was that we had scheduled a port pickup and return. We arrived early to be sure we could find the pick up point only to be abandoned. Needless to say we were fending off an army of taxis and tour guides while we waited futilely. Clay finally was able to call on his cellphone and the operator, Cesar said he expected us at 1pm but we had no pick up scheduled. Finally between one of the guides who'd been tailing us and Cesar on Clay's phone and a random taxi that appeared we got a ride. The original pick up we'd arranged was $15 per couple in each direction. The taxi drivers were all asking $10 each way, including the one we used. When it was time to pay on our return the price had doubled to $20 each way. When we arrived at the Segway office, Cesar asked to see the emails I had printed out and brought to follow instructions, as Billy the guide had told him about it. Cesar was truly contrite and apologetic and though we were annoyed and hot and bothered we carried on and Cesar took $30 off our $70pp price. So fair enough. What else could we do? The private tour was very nice and their maximum tour size is 10 people. Cesar had a nice pace with lots of stops to get off and hear about what we're seeing. He would have included an inside visit of a church but it was currently closed. It was quieter in Old Town than during our last visit but Cesar assured me it would return to what I remember once tourist season picks up. It was a good day. It was actually too sunny today! It was the first day since Vancouver that we didn't bring some rain. But with all the breaks Cesar had a shady spot with a breeze planned out so it was pleasant.
Everyone was back onboard early and the Captain got the pilot aboard early and we sailed about 30 minutes early. He announced that we would be skirting within 100 nautical miles of tropical depression #16 and we would feel it and should take care tonight and tomorrow. He feels he can avoid the worst of it and promised to keep us posted as to what he would do to avoid it. Tomorrow is a sea day. The next day is our Key West replacement port of Georgetown, Grand Cayman. It is a tender port that we have visited before. So if it winds up being missed we won't mind as we learned about the port replacement after boarding Regatta and have no firm plans made. I'll keep you posted.
photos
We were last here in 2008. There has been a whole lot of highrise construction since then! As we had been here before and had a very comprehensive tour and today's port stop was only 6 hours long, we decided to do something different here. We booked a 90-minute Segway tour of the Historic Old Town. It was a good choice. Once again we were the first ship of the season to arrive here and we got another private tour. The only low point of the day was that we had scheduled a port pickup and return. We arrived early to be sure we could find the pick up point only to be abandoned. Needless to say we were fending off an army of taxis and tour guides while we waited futilely. Clay finally was able to call on his cellphone and the operator, Cesar said he expected us at 1pm but we had no pick up scheduled. Finally between one of the guides who'd been tailing us and Cesar on Clay's phone and a random taxi that appeared we got a ride. The original pick up we'd arranged was $15 per couple in each direction. The taxi drivers were all asking $10 each way, including the one we used. When it was time to pay on our return the price had doubled to $20 each way. When we arrived at the Segway office, Cesar asked to see the emails I had printed out and brought to follow instructions, as Billy the guide had told him about it. Cesar was truly contrite and apologetic and though we were annoyed and hot and bothered we carried on and Cesar took $30 off our $70pp price. So fair enough. What else could we do? The private tour was very nice and their maximum tour size is 10 people. Cesar had a nice pace with lots of stops to get off and hear about what we're seeing. He would have included an inside visit of a church but it was currently closed. It was quieter in Old Town than during our last visit but Cesar assured me it would return to what I remember once tourist season picks up. It was a good day. It was actually too sunny today! It was the first day since Vancouver that we didn't bring some rain. But with all the breaks Cesar had a shady spot with a breeze planned out so it was pleasant.
Everyone was back onboard early and the Captain got the pilot aboard early and we sailed about 30 minutes early. He announced that we would be skirting within 100 nautical miles of tropical depression #16 and we would feel it and should take care tonight and tomorrow. He feels he can avoid the worst of it and promised to keep us posted as to what he would do to avoid it. Tomorrow is a sea day. The next day is our Key West replacement port of Georgetown, Grand Cayman. It is a tender port that we have visited before. So if it winds up being missed we won't mind as we learned about the port replacement after boarding Regatta and have no firm plans made. I'll keep you posted.
photos
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Colon, Panama
photos
We were up with the 6am alarm clock this morning. Breakfast was at 7am in Terrace and it was already pouring rain. We've brought rain every where we've been since Vancouver! Today was the last of our Shore Excursions Group excursions. We had better luck today. We set out from Regatta at 8am for our 9am meeting and pickup since we had no idea how long it would take us. We asked a Panamanian man onboard in front of Destinations Services about how to walk to Arrecifes Restaurant and he told us to go downstairs! Not promising. Clay showed him the Google map on his phone and he agreed it was correct, but it wasn't convincing at that point. We got a few more ominous warnings about walking out as we walked out. As we were approaching the car entry gate security guard a dock worker we'd passed earlier called out to us not to go out that way. He came to us and asked us what we were doing and where we were going. He very kindly walked us back to a little hidden but paved path around the back side of the security building and pointed out the fenced in and covered block-long sidewalk down to a shopping center at the other end of a construction site and the restaurant on the waterfront a block to the left of the end of the covered walkway. He saved us! It was only about a 5 minute walk. We were only harrassed by a shouting taxi driver in the shopping center parking for a block. The Safarick's van was already in the Arrecifes Restaurant parking lot! The couple sitting inside waiting for us was Rita and Antonio. They were a couple of young Canadian expats from Montreal and they are the owners/founders of Safarick's Zoo, an animal rescue facility. (Yes Mom, they both speak Spanish as well as English. Antonio spokek 5 languages!) The name of the 5.5 hour tour we booked today at $131pp was Ruins, Rescue and Beach Combo Tour. We were mostly interested in the ruins when we booked but didn't object to the rest. It turns out that Rescue was the focus and that was fine. Safarick's Zoo is closed on Monday and Tuesday except when a cruise ship is in town and they have tourists like us booked. They said we were their first ship of the season. So, we not only had a private tour but they opened the zoo for our private tour. It was special.
After the zoo, we continued on along the Caribbean coast to Portobello to see the Spanish fort ruins. It was a short break in the rain and we discussed that we had no plans to swim so we didn't mind skipping the beach portion. Also we discussed stopping at a grocery store, an ATM and that there was an important church with a black Christ statue we could see. So, we went in the church and saw the fort ruins and a restored colonial building between as well as Portobello's government buildings. As we didn't need the beach, Antonio asked if we'd like to go for lunch at his favorite restaurant, Captain Jack's. I had not realized lunch was included but we agreed right away anyway. The food was good. Clay got a Balboa beer. It was a beautiful waterfront location and it would probably be really stunning on a sunny day. We were told that on a clear day you could see the ships lined up waiting to enter the Panama Canal, but not today. (BTW, the Captain announced after we started sailing away today that in response to passenger queries he had learned that as part of a frequent customer discount program for Panama Canal transits that Regatta had paid $166,000USD to cross yesterday. Also, BTW, though Panama has a coin-based currency called Balboas, they actually use US Dollars. Hence, Clay's ATM request.) We stopped on the way back to Colon and bought Antonio's favorite coffee which he assures us puts Tim Hortons to shame and Clay got a can of Panama Arctic beer for 54 cents! His best beer deal ashore since Walvis Bay, Namibia.
We had a great day in Panama. Tomorrow we return to Cartagena Colombia for a Segway tour. Dinner tonight in the Grand Dining Room.
photos
We were up with the 6am alarm clock this morning. Breakfast was at 7am in Terrace and it was already pouring rain. We've brought rain every where we've been since Vancouver! Today was the last of our Shore Excursions Group excursions. We had better luck today. We set out from Regatta at 8am for our 9am meeting and pickup since we had no idea how long it would take us. We asked a Panamanian man onboard in front of Destinations Services about how to walk to Arrecifes Restaurant and he told us to go downstairs! Not promising. Clay showed him the Google map on his phone and he agreed it was correct, but it wasn't convincing at that point. We got a few more ominous warnings about walking out as we walked out. As we were approaching the car entry gate security guard a dock worker we'd passed earlier called out to us not to go out that way. He came to us and asked us what we were doing and where we were going. He very kindly walked us back to a little hidden but paved path around the back side of the security building and pointed out the fenced in and covered block-long sidewalk down to a shopping center at the other end of a construction site and the restaurant on the waterfront a block to the left of the end of the covered walkway. He saved us! It was only about a 5 minute walk. We were only harrassed by a shouting taxi driver in the shopping center parking for a block. The Safarick's van was already in the Arrecifes Restaurant parking lot! The couple sitting inside waiting for us was Rita and Antonio. They were a couple of young Canadian expats from Montreal and they are the owners/founders of Safarick's Zoo, an animal rescue facility. (Yes Mom, they both speak Spanish as well as English. Antonio spokek 5 languages!) The name of the 5.5 hour tour we booked today at $131pp was Ruins, Rescue and Beach Combo Tour. We were mostly interested in the ruins when we booked but didn't object to the rest. It turns out that Rescue was the focus and that was fine. Safarick's Zoo is closed on Monday and Tuesday except when a cruise ship is in town and they have tourists like us booked. They said we were their first ship of the season. So, we not only had a private tour but they opened the zoo for our private tour. It was special.
After the zoo, we continued on along the Caribbean coast to Portobello to see the Spanish fort ruins. It was a short break in the rain and we discussed that we had no plans to swim so we didn't mind skipping the beach portion. Also we discussed stopping at a grocery store, an ATM and that there was an important church with a black Christ statue we could see. So, we went in the church and saw the fort ruins and a restored colonial building between as well as Portobello's government buildings. As we didn't need the beach, Antonio asked if we'd like to go for lunch at his favorite restaurant, Captain Jack's. I had not realized lunch was included but we agreed right away anyway. The food was good. Clay got a Balboa beer. It was a beautiful waterfront location and it would probably be really stunning on a sunny day. We were told that on a clear day you could see the ships lined up waiting to enter the Panama Canal, but not today. (BTW, the Captain announced after we started sailing away today that in response to passenger queries he had learned that as part of a frequent customer discount program for Panama Canal transits that Regatta had paid $166,000USD to cross yesterday. Also, BTW, though Panama has a coin-based currency called Balboas, they actually use US Dollars. Hence, Clay's ATM request.) We stopped on the way back to Colon and bought Antonio's favorite coffee which he assures us puts Tim Hortons to shame and Clay got a can of Panama Arctic beer for 54 cents! His best beer deal ashore since Walvis Bay, Namibia.
We had a great day in Panama. Tomorrow we return to Cartagena Colombia for a Segway tour. Dinner tonight in the Grand Dining Room.
photos
Monday, October 2, 2017
Sea Day 10 - Panama Canal Crossing
photos
Last night during dinner Clay suggested that I do laundry after dinner rather than during the Panama Canal. I agreed and we hastened downstairs to find the laundry room completely and miraculously empty about 8pm. It closes at 10pm and they have posted asking no loads be started after 9pm. We got our last load of onboard laundry done with little fuss. The signs say a token will buy 45 minutes of dryer time and last time it did, but tonight it only bought 30 minutes. That meant we had to hang clothes all over the cabin overnight to finish drying. It was better than all day today.
I was up first at 6:15am. We had a detailed schedule and map delivered last night and I didn't want to miss anything. The schedule said the pilot would board at 5:45am, but it was almost an hour later when the boat pulled up beside us. The Currents also said the pilot boat would be delivering locally produced Panamanian souvenirs for sale onboard. About 18 people came on and got back off midway through. A new pilot came on then. The rest of the schedule was pretty accurate. We went through Miraflores locks beside Island Princess. They got held there as we continued on alone through Pedro Miguel locks. We watched as we approached from Terrace during breakfast. Then we moved to Horizons where they were serving breakfast pastries as well as holding the souvenirs sale. Since we never go to tea, it was the most crowded we've seen Horizons. We had seats by the window on the port side. That meant we got to watch an alligator swimming along the shore as we approached the first Miraflores lock. It wasn't huge so I am assuming an alligator but I guess it could have been a crocodile. No photos as Clay didn't carry a camera most of the day. I think I woke him badly or something. He was having an off day before he broke a lower front tooth in the first set of locks. He said it doesn't hurt and he thinks he can wait to go to the dentist at home. Another trip, another broken tooth. He hasn't fallen yet. Knock wood. Later with binoculars from the cabin I watched a sloth as it crossed from one side of the crotch of a tree to the shady side. On a tree top on an island in Gatun Lake with binoculars, I saw a toucan! We're expected to arrive in Colon about 2 hurs ahead of schedule. We have an independent shore excursion booked there for tomorrow as Oceania was very late adding excursions for Colon. We didn't see a list that had anything of interest until we got the booklet onboard on the 19th of September. That was far too late for us to change plans or expect to make plans. So we have the last of our Shore Excursions Group excursions here. Again, I still cannot recommend them. The tour description said the tour departed from the port area. When we got the emailed tickets they said to meet at Arrecifes Restaurant in the port area without any directions other than to ask any port employee so Clay Googled it. On the map, it shows the cruise dock on one side of a peninsula and a mile across on the other edge of the peninsula is an Arrecifes Restaurant. I hope there is more than one and nearer, but I expect that is where we are expected to make our way by 9am tomorrow. If we do arrive early, Clay has proposed a reconnaisance scouting trip before dinner at 6:30pm in Toscana. We'll see.
We are now in the center of the Gatun Locks and near the end of the canal crossing. The canal is much changed since our last visit of 2008 and first of 12/31/2005. The canal expansion happened between 2007 and 2016. There are now addition larger locks at either end. We saw both ends in use though we used to original locks. That got Clay thinking about all the locks in the world and how many we'd used. We came up with Rhine/Main/Danube canal, Seine, Loire, Mississippi, Columbia, St. Lawrence Seaway, Great Lakes, Caledonian canal and Panama canal. It seems like we've been through hundreds of locks. When I Googled it, it seems there are hundreds more we've missed!
So, when I printed the original itinerary we were supposed to be docked in Colon today at 4 pm. When the Captain announced yesterday and this morning that he expected to be 2 hours early, he meant 4 pm since the ship's onboard published itinerary was 6 pm. All day the onboard Panamanian commentator has been talking about passing the breakwater outside Gatun Locks at 4pm. We did. It is 4:30pm and we have been sitting just in sight of said breakwater bobbing and swiveling for a half hour. We passed a huge container port on our way out of the breakwater. We think now that to get to the cruise terminal/dock, we have to go back to the port peninsula and dock on the "outside" so to speak. Clay has phone service for I believe only the 2nd time this trip and he now thinks that the Arrecifes Restaurant where we have to meet out tour tomorrow is only a 6 minute walk. That will make us both happier with Shore Excursions Group. The name of the local provider is Safarick's. We'll see tomorrow. The excursion we picked was a compromise anyway since it had to fit the time allowed and be of interest. It includes ruins, rescue animals and lastly an hour at a beach (weather permitting). I'll let. you know tomorrow. Anyway our arrival time will preclude a trip ashore today as we have a 6:30pm dinner reservation. Speaking of which right now between 4 and 5pm they are having a crepes tea in Terrace. I love crepes but how do people eat this much? We have still never attended a tea but as I just told Clay that would explain the 8pm dinner reservations. I still couldn't eat dinner tonight if I ate crepes between 4 and 5pm.
We are entering a different breakwater so that must protect the cruise port side of the port peninsula. This breakwater was not shown on Clay's phone GPS map but here it is. Good. Now that I've medicated and banded up! It looks like we should be docked and cleared by the 6pm target time. Too late for us to go ashore today.
Julie James, our CD, made the ship's clearance announcement at 5:45pm. She followed with a stern warning that no one should go into Colon as it is an unsafe port town. You have to wonder why it is the sole overnight port Oceania docked at during a 28 day cruise then. Anyway. It opened up and poured as soon as we arrived so she announced that the music and dancing scheduled as the evening entertainment on the top deck was canceled and replaced with a showing of Wonder Woman in Regatta Lounge. Tonight on our bed we each got a certificate of Panama Canal Transit. This is our 3rd time and we can't recall getting one of these before. Nice touch.
photos
Last night during dinner Clay suggested that I do laundry after dinner rather than during the Panama Canal. I agreed and we hastened downstairs to find the laundry room completely and miraculously empty about 8pm. It closes at 10pm and they have posted asking no loads be started after 9pm. We got our last load of onboard laundry done with little fuss. The signs say a token will buy 45 minutes of dryer time and last time it did, but tonight it only bought 30 minutes. That meant we had to hang clothes all over the cabin overnight to finish drying. It was better than all day today.
I was up first at 6:15am. We had a detailed schedule and map delivered last night and I didn't want to miss anything. The schedule said the pilot would board at 5:45am, but it was almost an hour later when the boat pulled up beside us. The Currents also said the pilot boat would be delivering locally produced Panamanian souvenirs for sale onboard. About 18 people came on and got back off midway through. A new pilot came on then. The rest of the schedule was pretty accurate. We went through Miraflores locks beside Island Princess. They got held there as we continued on alone through Pedro Miguel locks. We watched as we approached from Terrace during breakfast. Then we moved to Horizons where they were serving breakfast pastries as well as holding the souvenirs sale. Since we never go to tea, it was the most crowded we've seen Horizons. We had seats by the window on the port side. That meant we got to watch an alligator swimming along the shore as we approached the first Miraflores lock. It wasn't huge so I am assuming an alligator but I guess it could have been a crocodile. No photos as Clay didn't carry a camera most of the day. I think I woke him badly or something. He was having an off day before he broke a lower front tooth in the first set of locks. He said it doesn't hurt and he thinks he can wait to go to the dentist at home. Another trip, another broken tooth. He hasn't fallen yet. Knock wood. Later with binoculars from the cabin I watched a sloth as it crossed from one side of the crotch of a tree to the shady side. On a tree top on an island in Gatun Lake with binoculars, I saw a toucan! We're expected to arrive in Colon about 2 hurs ahead of schedule. We have an independent shore excursion booked there for tomorrow as Oceania was very late adding excursions for Colon. We didn't see a list that had anything of interest until we got the booklet onboard on the 19th of September. That was far too late for us to change plans or expect to make plans. So we have the last of our Shore Excursions Group excursions here. Again, I still cannot recommend them. The tour description said the tour departed from the port area. When we got the emailed tickets they said to meet at Arrecifes Restaurant in the port area without any directions other than to ask any port employee so Clay Googled it. On the map, it shows the cruise dock on one side of a peninsula and a mile across on the other edge of the peninsula is an Arrecifes Restaurant. I hope there is more than one and nearer, but I expect that is where we are expected to make our way by 9am tomorrow. If we do arrive early, Clay has proposed a reconnaisance scouting trip before dinner at 6:30pm in Toscana. We'll see.
We are now in the center of the Gatun Locks and near the end of the canal crossing. The canal is much changed since our last visit of 2008 and first of 12/31/2005. The canal expansion happened between 2007 and 2016. There are now addition larger locks at either end. We saw both ends in use though we used to original locks. That got Clay thinking about all the locks in the world and how many we'd used. We came up with Rhine/Main/Danube canal, Seine, Loire, Mississippi, Columbia, St. Lawrence Seaway, Great Lakes, Caledonian canal and Panama canal. It seems like we've been through hundreds of locks. When I Googled it, it seems there are hundreds more we've missed!
So, when I printed the original itinerary we were supposed to be docked in Colon today at 4 pm. When the Captain announced yesterday and this morning that he expected to be 2 hours early, he meant 4 pm since the ship's onboard published itinerary was 6 pm. All day the onboard Panamanian commentator has been talking about passing the breakwater outside Gatun Locks at 4pm. We did. It is 4:30pm and we have been sitting just in sight of said breakwater bobbing and swiveling for a half hour. We passed a huge container port on our way out of the breakwater. We think now that to get to the cruise terminal/dock, we have to go back to the port peninsula and dock on the "outside" so to speak. Clay has phone service for I believe only the 2nd time this trip and he now thinks that the Arrecifes Restaurant where we have to meet out tour tomorrow is only a 6 minute walk. That will make us both happier with Shore Excursions Group. The name of the local provider is Safarick's. We'll see tomorrow. The excursion we picked was a compromise anyway since it had to fit the time allowed and be of interest. It includes ruins, rescue animals and lastly an hour at a beach (weather permitting). I'll let. you know tomorrow. Anyway our arrival time will preclude a trip ashore today as we have a 6:30pm dinner reservation. Speaking of which right now between 4 and 5pm they are having a crepes tea in Terrace. I love crepes but how do people eat this much? We have still never attended a tea but as I just told Clay that would explain the 8pm dinner reservations. I still couldn't eat dinner tonight if I ate crepes between 4 and 5pm.
We are entering a different breakwater so that must protect the cruise port side of the port peninsula. This breakwater was not shown on Clay's phone GPS map but here it is. Good. Now that I've medicated and banded up! It looks like we should be docked and cleared by the 6pm target time. Too late for us to go ashore today.
Julie James, our CD, made the ship's clearance announcement at 5:45pm. She followed with a stern warning that no one should go into Colon as it is an unsafe port town. You have to wonder why it is the sole overnight port Oceania docked at during a 28 day cruise then. Anyway. It opened up and poured as soon as we arrived so she announced that the music and dancing scheduled as the evening entertainment on the top deck was canceled and replaced with a showing of Wonder Woman in Regatta Lounge. Tonight on our bed we each got a certificate of Panama Canal Transit. This is our 3rd time and we can't recall getting one of these before. Nice touch.
photos
Sunday, October 1, 2017
Sea Day 9
After losing an hour last night, we and most everyone else slept in. That or they were all in line for one of the 4 washers or dryers. Clay has bought 2 more tokens and can't get to the end of the cruise without washing, so we are shooting for tomorrow, the Canal crossing, in the hope that enough people will have theirs done today or it is their first canal crossing and they'll be busy watching. We'll see. Today has been a quiet and lazy day. Even the 10:15 mandatory life boat drill went by quickly due to the fact that the Captain let us leave after mustering and donning life jackets and we didn't have to go outside to the lifeboats. Clay spotted flying fish for the first time today. I had been looking since we left Cabo. We have had some birds with us since we left Cabo San Lucas and today we watching them catching flying fish and eating them. That was new for us seeing anything hunting flying fish. No wonder they have been so scarce and are so rare and small. I saw the weirdest and unexpected thing this afternoon as watching for flying fish. We sailed right past something on the surface. First I thought it was trash, then an injured sea turtle, as it went right under the balcony I could see 2 heads, 2 backs and about 6 flippers. It was a copulating pair of sea turtles!
Internet has been spotty since last night. We have the O Club reception this evening. We have dinner reservations for the last time this cruise at Polo after that. I will try to post this now. If anything else worthh noting occurs, I will post it later.
Internet has been spotty since last night. We have the O Club reception this evening. We have dinner reservations for the last time this cruise at Polo after that. I will try to post this now. If anything else worthh noting occurs, I will post it later.
Saturday, September 30, 2017
Puntarenas, Costa Rica
photos
Pura Vida! Everything is Pura Vida in Costa Rica. Literally, that means pure life. But it is used for a lot more meanings in Costa Rica. We'd heard it before but never had it explained. The guide today said it had been adopted by the nation after a movie. I immediately thought of a movie we'd seen with the phrase used alot, but that was not the film he was talking about but a much earlier Mexican film.
We'd visited here before at this same port. Like before we must have been on a full day excursion because we saw little of the actual port of Puntarenas. We had no recollection of the sail in up the gulf where it sits as a long narrow sand spit. I think we must have arrived and departed in the dark last time. I know we went to Poas volcano and Sarchi last time and had lunch.
Today we met at 9:45am for our San Jose City Tour. It was an hour and 3/4 drive there. We stopped for lunch mid way. It was a good lunch. They had a tree there that we had also seen in Nicaragua and Cuba. It had a sign that read Jicara. The guide in Nicaragua swore they made some beverages from the insides and used the hard outer parts as containers or maracas. In Cuba they said it was inedible as I recall. Today the guide called the fruit a gourd and passed dried ones around that were light and hollow. The guide in Nicaragua got out of the bus and picked one and passed it around and it felt solid and heavy. Interesting. The other interesting thing was both guides talked about gallo pinto, a dish of rice and beans that the people eat 3 meals a day because they are so poor. I think it might have been more of a joke thing here though because we saw it on an art poster at a museum gift shop and on an apron at another souvenir store. Our guide today told us that all of Central America was under Spanish control until September 15, 1821. Somehow we had seen that date in each of the 3 Central American countries we'd visited without anyone making that clear. Also, we visited Antigua, one of 4 capital cities of Guatemala without it ever being explained there that it was the capital of Central America, not of Guatemala. I guess it was a good final tour for us here in that we got a lot more information to put things in context. Based on the bus and the roads, Costa Rica is more prosperous than Nicaragua or Guatemala.
In San Jose, we drove around then parked beside the National Theater, one of the oldest buildings in the capital from 1897. We visited the National Theatre building for about an hour, then waited out a pouring rain since we'd been asked to leave everything except cameras on the buses. It turns out they walk about a block or 2 to get to the Gold Museum after and they have a bag check there the guides were hoping to avoid somehow. I don't know why because each of us still had to go through a metal detector and have umbrellas held. Clay went back to the bus while it rained to retrieve ours but some people bought umbrellas from a street entrepreneur and others ignored instructions and carried everything anyway. It was awkward. They knew it had poured off and on all day. It was not unexpected and they knew about the walk while we didn't. Anyway. A blot on an otherwise good day. We toured the Gold Museum for about an hour too. We stopped midway on the bus ride back for souvenir shopping in a big souvenir store off the highway. We bought more coffee. We learned that Altura on coffee is translated as altitude. I don't know how we failed to get that before since as far as we know all coffee is grown at altitude and not at sea level.
Everyone must have been all aboard long before sundown. We were on bus 6 of our tour, so I believe we were the last bus of the day long tour. We were supposed to be all aboard by 6:30pm and sail at 7pm. But, shortly after we got to the cabin, the ship left at about 6:15pm. I think this was our earliest departure ahead of schedule.
We lost an hour tonight but tomorrow is a welcome sea day. The Captain announced during dinner that we were in for some bad weather. He was speaking during an amazing thunderstorm as we sailed for open ocean. Fingers crossed for some calm seas.
photos
Pura Vida! Everything is Pura Vida in Costa Rica. Literally, that means pure life. But it is used for a lot more meanings in Costa Rica. We'd heard it before but never had it explained. The guide today said it had been adopted by the nation after a movie. I immediately thought of a movie we'd seen with the phrase used alot, but that was not the film he was talking about but a much earlier Mexican film.
We'd visited here before at this same port. Like before we must have been on a full day excursion because we saw little of the actual port of Puntarenas. We had no recollection of the sail in up the gulf where it sits as a long narrow sand spit. I think we must have arrived and departed in the dark last time. I know we went to Poas volcano and Sarchi last time and had lunch.
Today we met at 9:45am for our San Jose City Tour. It was an hour and 3/4 drive there. We stopped for lunch mid way. It was a good lunch. They had a tree there that we had also seen in Nicaragua and Cuba. It had a sign that read Jicara. The guide in Nicaragua swore they made some beverages from the insides and used the hard outer parts as containers or maracas. In Cuba they said it was inedible as I recall. Today the guide called the fruit a gourd and passed dried ones around that were light and hollow. The guide in Nicaragua got out of the bus and picked one and passed it around and it felt solid and heavy. Interesting. The other interesting thing was both guides talked about gallo pinto, a dish of rice and beans that the people eat 3 meals a day because they are so poor. I think it might have been more of a joke thing here though because we saw it on an art poster at a museum gift shop and on an apron at another souvenir store. Our guide today told us that all of Central America was under Spanish control until September 15, 1821. Somehow we had seen that date in each of the 3 Central American countries we'd visited without anyone making that clear. Also, we visited Antigua, one of 4 capital cities of Guatemala without it ever being explained there that it was the capital of Central America, not of Guatemala. I guess it was a good final tour for us here in that we got a lot more information to put things in context. Based on the bus and the roads, Costa Rica is more prosperous than Nicaragua or Guatemala.
In San Jose, we drove around then parked beside the National Theater, one of the oldest buildings in the capital from 1897. We visited the National Theatre building for about an hour, then waited out a pouring rain since we'd been asked to leave everything except cameras on the buses. It turns out they walk about a block or 2 to get to the Gold Museum after and they have a bag check there the guides were hoping to avoid somehow. I don't know why because each of us still had to go through a metal detector and have umbrellas held. Clay went back to the bus while it rained to retrieve ours but some people bought umbrellas from a street entrepreneur and others ignored instructions and carried everything anyway. It was awkward. They knew it had poured off and on all day. It was not unexpected and they knew about the walk while we didn't. Anyway. A blot on an otherwise good day. We toured the Gold Museum for about an hour too. We stopped midway on the bus ride back for souvenir shopping in a big souvenir store off the highway. We bought more coffee. We learned that Altura on coffee is translated as altitude. I don't know how we failed to get that before since as far as we know all coffee is grown at altitude and not at sea level.
Everyone must have been all aboard long before sundown. We were on bus 6 of our tour, so I believe we were the last bus of the day long tour. We were supposed to be all aboard by 6:30pm and sail at 7pm. But, shortly after we got to the cabin, the ship left at about 6:15pm. I think this was our earliest departure ahead of schedule.
We lost an hour tonight but tomorrow is a welcome sea day. The Captain announced during dinner that we were in for some bad weather. He was speaking during an amazing thunderstorm as we sailed for open ocean. Fingers crossed for some calm seas.
photos
Friday, September 29, 2017
Nicaragua
photos
We made it to my 79th country today. It started out looking iffy. We certainly had tender ports scrubbed with conditions that seemed milder than today's did here.
We could have slept in since we wouldn't arrive until 11am but Clay was up before 6am. Breakfast didn't start at Terrace until 7:30am. We sat for over an hour in Horizons and saw a lot of dolphins before we could get back in the cabin.
We arrived at San Juan del Sur an hour early. The first tender was in the water by 10am. The ship was cleared by 11am. The first tour groups called to tender did not leave the ship for about another hour. It was an hour after our tender meeting time before we were called to board our tender. There were at least the 1 meter swells the Captain had warned us about. The good news was that they opened a new dock today with our arrival and it was well-protected and calm arriving ashore. The bad news is that the swells were even bigger when we returned in the dark tonight. The destinations services people promised that no one would have a truncated tour due to our late arrival ashore but that was not true. We were only gone from the ship for 7 hours. Pasted below is our tour description from O's website.
Back To The Past - Granada BY Boat & Carriage (SJS-002)
Port: San Juan Del Sur
Tour Length: Full-Day (Approximately 8 hours)
Tour Description
Cruises Visiting This Port
Spend a full day experiencing the joys of colonial Granada through an informative walking tour, a picturesque boat ride and free time to delve even deeper into its marquee attractions.
After departing from the pier, you will settle in for a leisurely one and three-quarters hour drive north through a gorgeous tropical landscape. This verdant region exemplifies Nicaragua’s nickname, the “Land of Lakes and Volcanoes,” and colonial Granada lies at its heart.
Upon arriving in this historical city on Lake Nicaragua’s northern shore, you will ride through the cobblestone streets in a horse-drawn carriage. It’s a wonderfully traditional mode of transportation, and in time you will arrive at San Francisco Convent, one of Granada’s oldest buildings. Now a cultural center and museum with fine pre-Columbian statues, the convent has been rebuilt several times over ancient catacombs. Your guided visit showcases some of the most important displays and exhibits housed here.
Next, for a different perspective of Granada, you will enjoy an immensely scenic boat ride past several islands that dot massive Lake Nicaragua, the world’s only lake with oceanic marine animals such as sharks and swordfish. An enlightening walking tour of colonial Granada follows, during which you will learn about the city’s turbulent past.
Then, after a traditional Nicaraguan lunch at a nearby hotel, you will have some free time to explore further on your own. The serene central plaza is a wonderful starting point, as there is abundant shopping, extraordinary colonial architecture and inviting tree-shaded benches perfect for people watching. Afterwards, you will rejoin your coach and return to the pier in San Juan del Sur.
Please note: This tour includes approximately 1-hour of easy to moderate guided walking over mostly even surfaces; however, there may be some cobblestone surfaces and a few steps to negotiate. The tour is available to wheelchair guests who have a collapsible wheelchair, are able to make their own way on and off the coach and have an able-bodied companion to assist them. Those with mobility concerns are cautioned to carefully evaluate their personal level of stamina and ability. Light clothing to include a sweater for the coach; sun cap; sunglasses; sunscreen; a bottle of water from the ship; and flat comfortable walking shoes are recommended.
Our tour order was obviously different since we got to Granada around 2pm. We also had an unscheduled stop at Playa La Virgen to a beach viewpoint of twin volcanoes forming an island in Lake Nicaragua. We went directly to lunch. It was good. We bought a bag of coffee there as we'd heard and seen a lot about it and it and pottery were for sale in the hotel/restaurant. It turned out that and the pestering/following horde of street peddlers were our only shopping opportunities as the hour of free time was eliminated at the end of the tour. Clay also had the opportunity to buy a $3 Tona beer at lunch. Clay spent the entire tour without his extra camera lens as when we arrived the guide advised everyone to leave things they didn't want to carry in to lunch locked on the bus. He didn't specify that we would see the bus again until we reloaded it for the drive back to port! So after about 30 minutes at lunch, we walked 4 blocks down the plaza to the museum in the old convent where we spent about another 30 minutes. We crossed the street on exiting to board our horse-drawn carriages for about 40 minutes. We were dropped at Lake Nicaragua and the boat launch where we had about an hour ride among islands. When we got back to the landing, the bus was waiting and we were told that was the end of the tour, they were elimating free time in the Plaza because of late arrival on shore and it was getting dark. It is full dark here by 6pm. We headed back and were onboard by 7pm. The last tender is at 8:30pm for 9pm sailing.
It was a good tour and we were happy that we got to visit Nicaragua. We had a much newer and nicer small bus than the rattletrap we had in Guatemala. The roads were in much better shape. It was clearly a poor place here. Guatemala was much poorer and trashier looking though the guide did not mention poverty in Guatemala. Both guides talked about the problem of criminal gangs in Guatemala coming from El Salvador and Honduras. According to today's guide the Nicaraguan army tightly controls the border and so they don't have the gang problem in southern Central America.
Today was hot and humid with a good deal of rain. Fortunately it didn't rain on us when we were out because we had been told there was no chance of showers today so we took no umbrellas for one and secondly even if we'd taken umbrellas they'd have been in Clay's string pack which spent the entire tour on the bus.
photos
We made it to my 79th country today. It started out looking iffy. We certainly had tender ports scrubbed with conditions that seemed milder than today's did here.
We could have slept in since we wouldn't arrive until 11am but Clay was up before 6am. Breakfast didn't start at Terrace until 7:30am. We sat for over an hour in Horizons and saw a lot of dolphins before we could get back in the cabin.
We arrived at San Juan del Sur an hour early. The first tender was in the water by 10am. The ship was cleared by 11am. The first tour groups called to tender did not leave the ship for about another hour. It was an hour after our tender meeting time before we were called to board our tender. There were at least the 1 meter swells the Captain had warned us about. The good news was that they opened a new dock today with our arrival and it was well-protected and calm arriving ashore. The bad news is that the swells were even bigger when we returned in the dark tonight. The destinations services people promised that no one would have a truncated tour due to our late arrival ashore but that was not true. We were only gone from the ship for 7 hours. Pasted below is our tour description from O's website.
Back To The Past - Granada BY Boat & Carriage (SJS-002)
Port: San Juan Del Sur
Tour Length: Full-Day (Approximately 8 hours)
Tour Description
Cruises Visiting This Port
Spend a full day experiencing the joys of colonial Granada through an informative walking tour, a picturesque boat ride and free time to delve even deeper into its marquee attractions.
After departing from the pier, you will settle in for a leisurely one and three-quarters hour drive north through a gorgeous tropical landscape. This verdant region exemplifies Nicaragua’s nickname, the “Land of Lakes and Volcanoes,” and colonial Granada lies at its heart.
Upon arriving in this historical city on Lake Nicaragua’s northern shore, you will ride through the cobblestone streets in a horse-drawn carriage. It’s a wonderfully traditional mode of transportation, and in time you will arrive at San Francisco Convent, one of Granada’s oldest buildings. Now a cultural center and museum with fine pre-Columbian statues, the convent has been rebuilt several times over ancient catacombs. Your guided visit showcases some of the most important displays and exhibits housed here.
Next, for a different perspective of Granada, you will enjoy an immensely scenic boat ride past several islands that dot massive Lake Nicaragua, the world’s only lake with oceanic marine animals such as sharks and swordfish. An enlightening walking tour of colonial Granada follows, during which you will learn about the city’s turbulent past.
Then, after a traditional Nicaraguan lunch at a nearby hotel, you will have some free time to explore further on your own. The serene central plaza is a wonderful starting point, as there is abundant shopping, extraordinary colonial architecture and inviting tree-shaded benches perfect for people watching. Afterwards, you will rejoin your coach and return to the pier in San Juan del Sur.
Please note: This tour includes approximately 1-hour of easy to moderate guided walking over mostly even surfaces; however, there may be some cobblestone surfaces and a few steps to negotiate. The tour is available to wheelchair guests who have a collapsible wheelchair, are able to make their own way on and off the coach and have an able-bodied companion to assist them. Those with mobility concerns are cautioned to carefully evaluate their personal level of stamina and ability. Light clothing to include a sweater for the coach; sun cap; sunglasses; sunscreen; a bottle of water from the ship; and flat comfortable walking shoes are recommended.
Our tour order was obviously different since we got to Granada around 2pm. We also had an unscheduled stop at Playa La Virgen to a beach viewpoint of twin volcanoes forming an island in Lake Nicaragua. We went directly to lunch. It was good. We bought a bag of coffee there as we'd heard and seen a lot about it and it and pottery were for sale in the hotel/restaurant. It turned out that and the pestering/following horde of street peddlers were our only shopping opportunities as the hour of free time was eliminated at the end of the tour. Clay also had the opportunity to buy a $3 Tona beer at lunch. Clay spent the entire tour without his extra camera lens as when we arrived the guide advised everyone to leave things they didn't want to carry in to lunch locked on the bus. He didn't specify that we would see the bus again until we reloaded it for the drive back to port! So after about 30 minutes at lunch, we walked 4 blocks down the plaza to the museum in the old convent where we spent about another 30 minutes. We crossed the street on exiting to board our horse-drawn carriages for about 40 minutes. We were dropped at Lake Nicaragua and the boat launch where we had about an hour ride among islands. When we got back to the landing, the bus was waiting and we were told that was the end of the tour, they were elimating free time in the Plaza because of late arrival on shore and it was getting dark. It is full dark here by 6pm. We headed back and were onboard by 7pm. The last tender is at 8:30pm for 9pm sailing.
It was a good tour and we were happy that we got to visit Nicaragua. We had a much newer and nicer small bus than the rattletrap we had in Guatemala. The roads were in much better shape. It was clearly a poor place here. Guatemala was much poorer and trashier looking though the guide did not mention poverty in Guatemala. Both guides talked about the problem of criminal gangs in Guatemala coming from El Salvador and Honduras. According to today's guide the Nicaraguan army tightly controls the border and so they don't have the gang problem in southern Central America.
Today was hot and humid with a good deal of rain. Fortunately it didn't rain on us when we were out because we had been told there was no chance of showers today so we took no umbrellas for one and secondly even if we'd taken umbrellas they'd have been in Clay's string pack which spent the entire tour on the bus.
photos
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
photos
The alarm woke us before sunrise this morning. As predicted it was cloudy and rained off and on. Fortunately it never rained on us. Breakfast at Terrace started at 6:30am and we arrived as they opened. We ate a quick breakfast. Back to the cabin to use the bathroom, brush our teeth and pick up our bags and tour tickets. Antigua at a Glance tours met at 7:35am. They went in buses of about 16 passengers each. There were a dozen or more buses. I think I mentioned before that Oceania had a poor tour selection here. One to a macadamia nut farm, one to coffee and one to a safari zoo. The only excursion to Antigua is the one we took and the only promised stop after the 3-4 hour roundtrip drive was to a Jade Factory/Museum/Store. We drove through miles of bananas, coffee and sugar cane. They grow shaded coffee and we bought some at the big stop after they gave out samples. The tour was expanded by 45 minutes after ticketing for free time to eat (or whatever you chose). We got Clay a Gallo cerveza, me a frozen chocolate drink and we shared big meringues and a cinnamon raisin bun. We visited a plaza in front of an old cathedral for that free time. We also had a visit to La Merced Church, the Santa Catalina Arch and 15 minutes of free time. Clay bought another Gallo to take back to the ship. The guide gave us worry dolls, I won a fiber ball and more worry dolls during the ride back. He gave us all maps. The Antigua map does not list Maya Jade as a point of interest, btw. Our impression was that the tour company (and perhaps Oceania) were paid to deliver us for the hour or so visit there. There was enormous shopping area spread around the port entry. We had about 30 minutes to walk through from the bus to the ship. I bought a blouse for $35. It wasn't what I had in mind and it still seemed expensive but it wasn't the $60 they were asking in Mexico.
We tried to go to Waves for lunch but there is only seating for about 30 people there and all the hundred plus just back from Antigua were trying to eat there. There is more seating in Terrace but they weren't seating in there. So we went down to Baristas and ate some cold sandwiches.
We were all aboard on time since I assume there were few if any passengers independently touring here given O's strong warnings against it and the remoteness of the port. The Captain made a warning announcement about the sea swells and the tender conditions tomorrow. I took it as a heads up that the port would be canceled and bypassed. Clay disagreed. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. We booked this cruise for San Francisco sail in and out, Catalina Island (already canceled), Guatemala (not a well scheduled port stop excursion-wise) and Nicaragua. So, if we miss Nicaragua too, I will be sorely disappointed in Oceania. Needless to say, we have not booked a future cruise while onboard.
We'll plan to have dinner at Terrace tonight if it is calm enough otherwise we'll have to endure the menu and slow service in the Grand Dining Room. I'll post this now since I have Internet and I'll assume nothing else noteworthy will happen.
photos
The alarm woke us before sunrise this morning. As predicted it was cloudy and rained off and on. Fortunately it never rained on us. Breakfast at Terrace started at 6:30am and we arrived as they opened. We ate a quick breakfast. Back to the cabin to use the bathroom, brush our teeth and pick up our bags and tour tickets. Antigua at a Glance tours met at 7:35am. They went in buses of about 16 passengers each. There were a dozen or more buses. I think I mentioned before that Oceania had a poor tour selection here. One to a macadamia nut farm, one to coffee and one to a safari zoo. The only excursion to Antigua is the one we took and the only promised stop after the 3-4 hour roundtrip drive was to a Jade Factory/Museum/Store. We drove through miles of bananas, coffee and sugar cane. They grow shaded coffee and we bought some at the big stop after they gave out samples. The tour was expanded by 45 minutes after ticketing for free time to eat (or whatever you chose). We got Clay a Gallo cerveza, me a frozen chocolate drink and we shared big meringues and a cinnamon raisin bun. We visited a plaza in front of an old cathedral for that free time. We also had a visit to La Merced Church, the Santa Catalina Arch and 15 minutes of free time. Clay bought another Gallo to take back to the ship. The guide gave us worry dolls, I won a fiber ball and more worry dolls during the ride back. He gave us all maps. The Antigua map does not list Maya Jade as a point of interest, btw. Our impression was that the tour company (and perhaps Oceania) were paid to deliver us for the hour or so visit there. There was enormous shopping area spread around the port entry. We had about 30 minutes to walk through from the bus to the ship. I bought a blouse for $35. It wasn't what I had in mind and it still seemed expensive but it wasn't the $60 they were asking in Mexico.
We tried to go to Waves for lunch but there is only seating for about 30 people there and all the hundred plus just back from Antigua were trying to eat there. There is more seating in Terrace but they weren't seating in there. So we went down to Baristas and ate some cold sandwiches.
We were all aboard on time since I assume there were few if any passengers independently touring here given O's strong warnings against it and the remoteness of the port. The Captain made a warning announcement about the sea swells and the tender conditions tomorrow. I took it as a heads up that the port would be canceled and bypassed. Clay disagreed. I guess we'll find out tomorrow. We booked this cruise for San Francisco sail in and out, Catalina Island (already canceled), Guatemala (not a well scheduled port stop excursion-wise) and Nicaragua. So, if we miss Nicaragua too, I will be sorely disappointed in Oceania. Needless to say, we have not booked a future cruise while onboard.
We'll plan to have dinner at Terrace tonight if it is calm enough otherwise we'll have to endure the menu and slow service in the Grand Dining Room. I'll post this now since I have Internet and I'll assume nothing else noteworthy will happen.
photos
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Sea Day 8
We had planned to sleep in this morning, but Clay woke me with the light from his tablet in bed at 6:45am. I got up and shaved my legs. The bathroom is so small, the shower is so small, on these R-class ships that you can't shave your legs in the shower. I use the bathmat, the sink and a towel on the toilet lid. It was tricky because as the Captain said at noon, "we are experiencing some pitching. Hold on." We have been sailing along in sight of the coast of Mexico all day. We have had some of every weather except cold. It has been hot and sunny, foggy and rainy, all with starboard broadside swells. Other than land off the port side and a few ships, there hasn't been much to see. Clay thought he might have seen a sea turtle. We've watched 3 TV movies today. It has been a quiet, lazy day for us. We had breakfast in Terrace and lunch in Terrace. We have dinner reservations at Toscano tonight. We have one more reservation each in Polo and Toscano before the end of the cruise.
A few nights ago, when it first got really warm and clear we went out on the top deck and tried to star gaze. The next night after lights out we went out on our own balcony and had a much better view of stars. The moon has been gradually growing from a tiny sliver. But the real news is that the last time from the balcony, I could swear I'd seen the Southern Cross. I dismissed it as wishful thinking since I didn't think it was visible in the Northern Hemisphere. I was wrong. It is visible south of 25 degrees latitude. Who knew?
Tomorrow we have to set an alarm. Our tour meets at 7:35am. This is for Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.
Ironically the Destinations Service Manager gave her televised port talk about it and said the reason for stopping at this port is to visit Antigua. Unfortunately, Oceania canceled both their all day shore excursions at this port a couple of moths ago. Even though they moved all the tour departure times from 10 am or so to 7:30 am or so, they did not put the full day tours back on offer. We booked the Colonial Antigua at a Glance which was originally a 5 hour tour and they have now altered to a 6 hour tour. I suppose the onboard destinations people had to deal with the customer fallout and that was the best they could do. I am very disappointed that this will constitute my first, and perhaps only, visit Guatemala. Oh well. This will be my 78th country visited.
I will assume that nothing else noteworthy will happen today and post this now.
A few nights ago, when it first got really warm and clear we went out on the top deck and tried to star gaze. The next night after lights out we went out on our own balcony and had a much better view of stars. The moon has been gradually growing from a tiny sliver. But the real news is that the last time from the balcony, I could swear I'd seen the Southern Cross. I dismissed it as wishful thinking since I didn't think it was visible in the Northern Hemisphere. I was wrong. It is visible south of 25 degrees latitude. Who knew?
Tomorrow we have to set an alarm. Our tour meets at 7:35am. This is for Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala.
Ironically the Destinations Service Manager gave her televised port talk about it and said the reason for stopping at this port is to visit Antigua. Unfortunately, Oceania canceled both their all day shore excursions at this port a couple of moths ago. Even though they moved all the tour departure times from 10 am or so to 7:30 am or so, they did not put the full day tours back on offer. We booked the Colonial Antigua at a Glance which was originally a 5 hour tour and they have now altered to a 6 hour tour. I suppose the onboard destinations people had to deal with the customer fallout and that was the best they could do. I am very disappointed that this will constitute my first, and perhaps only, visit Guatemala. Oh well. This will be my 78th country visited.
I will assume that nothing else noteworthy will happen today and post this now.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Acapulco
photos
I was up this morning without Clay waking me so I had a good night's sleep. We had to sail all morning to reach the dock in Acapulco at noon. We were sailing in very calm water within sight of land all morning. We had breakfast in Terrace and sat in Horizons until after 9:30am. We had an early lunch at Waves Grill. It was acclimatization for the heat ahead. Clay had his surf & turf, hold the surf and they gave him double turf. He seemed pleased.
Our O tour today was Historical, Picturesque & Cliff Divers. As we had an excellent day here in 2006 we weren't too worried about missing anything here but it was a pretty good tour. The tour description warned that there were a couple hundred stairs to negotiate between La Quebrada and the Peace Chapel. We still wound up with 2 canes and a walker in our 8-passenger minivan. I guess it was just luck of the draw but it might also have been the law of averages. We started with the cliff divers, then crossed the street from La Mirador to an air conditioned shop where we were provided beverages and restrooms. We reboarded the van for the Flamingo Hotel where we saw the former house of Johnny Weismuller and sat on the seafront terrace for another complimentary beverage. Next we drove around the bay and up through the new expensive homes area of Las Brisas to the Peace Chapel. It was closed for renovations but it was a spectacular sight with great breezes and views. Last stop was the Diego Fort Museum. I don't know what the actual temperature was today but it felt much hotter than the average of upper 80sF. We really only expect it to get hotter from here.
Dinner tonight was Mexican buffet in Terrace. The food was good but service was poor tonight. They seemed seriously understaffed and had several butlers filling in as waitstaff. We don't sail until 9pm tonight so I don't know if they gave a lot of people the night off thinking there wouldn't be a lot of people eating onboard or what. They closed the GDR for lunch today.
We moved the clocks back 1 hour tonight. I assume we'll have to give that hour back before Miami. Tomorrow is a sea day followed by 3 back to back port days. This cruise will be over before we know it! Of course, we filled out our disembarkation form after the first sea day after San Francisco.
photos
I was up this morning without Clay waking me so I had a good night's sleep. We had to sail all morning to reach the dock in Acapulco at noon. We were sailing in very calm water within sight of land all morning. We had breakfast in Terrace and sat in Horizons until after 9:30am. We had an early lunch at Waves Grill. It was acclimatization for the heat ahead. Clay had his surf & turf, hold the surf and they gave him double turf. He seemed pleased.
Our O tour today was Historical, Picturesque & Cliff Divers. As we had an excellent day here in 2006 we weren't too worried about missing anything here but it was a pretty good tour. The tour description warned that there were a couple hundred stairs to negotiate between La Quebrada and the Peace Chapel. We still wound up with 2 canes and a walker in our 8-passenger minivan. I guess it was just luck of the draw but it might also have been the law of averages. We started with the cliff divers, then crossed the street from La Mirador to an air conditioned shop where we were provided beverages and restrooms. We reboarded the van for the Flamingo Hotel where we saw the former house of Johnny Weismuller and sat on the seafront terrace for another complimentary beverage. Next we drove around the bay and up through the new expensive homes area of Las Brisas to the Peace Chapel. It was closed for renovations but it was a spectacular sight with great breezes and views. Last stop was the Diego Fort Museum. I don't know what the actual temperature was today but it felt much hotter than the average of upper 80sF. We really only expect it to get hotter from here.
Dinner tonight was Mexican buffet in Terrace. The food was good but service was poor tonight. They seemed seriously understaffed and had several butlers filling in as waitstaff. We don't sail until 9pm tonight so I don't know if they gave a lot of people the night off thinking there wouldn't be a lot of people eating onboard or what. They closed the GDR for lunch today.
We moved the clocks back 1 hour tonight. I assume we'll have to give that hour back before Miami. Tomorrow is a sea day followed by 3 back to back port days. This cruise will be over before we know it! Of course, we filled out our disembarkation form after the first sea day after San Francisco.
photos
Monday, September 25, 2017
Sea Day 7
I had trouble with the tremor letting me go to sleep again last night and so I was still asleep at 8:30am today when Clay started turning on lights to wake me. If I'd slept much longer we'd have missed breakfast.
The ship has been rocking pretty good all day though as the Captain predicted we skirted TS Pilar. We could see it ahead before sunset last night and it looked scary but it was traveling away from our path. Lucky.
We had breakfast in Terrace. Killed time in Horizons. Had lunch at the Asian buffet in Terrace. We went to the big screen popcorn movie in Regatta Lounge at 1:30pm. Julie James was our CD on Sirena for circle Australia and she did these afternoon sea day movies then too. The last CD on Regatta didn't do them. I can't imagine a good reason not to show the popcorn movies on sea days.
We have a reservation at Polo Grill at 6:30pm. Bad news is that it is aft on deck 10 so we'll really feel the rolling.
I broke the clasp on my diamond pendant necklace the other day. I also recently noted that the front stairwell carpet here is red and the rear stairwell carpet is blue. That is a good way to remember which end of the ship you are in. I don't know if it is true on the other O ships. If it is we can't recall from earlier this year on Sirena.
It has been a quiet and lazy day. Tomorrow mid-day we arrive at Acapulco, our last Mexican port.
The ship has been rocking pretty good all day though as the Captain predicted we skirted TS Pilar. We could see it ahead before sunset last night and it looked scary but it was traveling away from our path. Lucky.
We had breakfast in Terrace. Killed time in Horizons. Had lunch at the Asian buffet in Terrace. We went to the big screen popcorn movie in Regatta Lounge at 1:30pm. Julie James was our CD on Sirena for circle Australia and she did these afternoon sea day movies then too. The last CD on Regatta didn't do them. I can't imagine a good reason not to show the popcorn movies on sea days.
We have a reservation at Polo Grill at 6:30pm. Bad news is that it is aft on deck 10 so we'll really feel the rolling.
I broke the clasp on my diamond pendant necklace the other day. I also recently noted that the front stairwell carpet here is red and the rear stairwell carpet is blue. That is a good way to remember which end of the ship you are in. I don't know if it is true on the other O ships. If it is we can't recall from earlier this year on Sirena.
It has been a quiet and lazy day. Tomorrow mid-day we arrive at Acapulco, our last Mexican port.
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Cabo San Lucas
photos
Today was another return port for us. We have been everywhere before since Astoria. Today's port would have been unrecognizable since our last visit except for El Arco at Land's End. There has been a lot of construction here since 2006. Also there was a lot of recent mud flooding damage still evident from a tropical storm a couple of weeks ago.
We slept in again, or I did. We had breakfast at Terrace. We arrived at anchorage while we were sitting in Horizons waiting to get back in the cabin. We are tendering from the starboard side today. We are in the shade but the port side has the arch view and the view of the tender port. Lunch was not served in time for most of the tours to attend. We had to be in the Regatta Lounge at 12:05 and earlier lunch was Waves Grill at 11:30am. We had snacks from Baristas and I had a frozen coffee from about 11:30 to about noon. We got called to our tender shortly after 12:05pm. We were bus 10. They had a lot more tours here. We went to San Jose del Cabo on the Art District tour. We were 43 people on a bus. Our guide said he had never had more than 24 people on this tour before. We are traveling Oceania style. We started with a beer sampling at Puerto Paraiso mall. It is the 3rd location of Baja Brewing. The other 2 are closed due to mud flood damage and remodeling. They gave 3 very small samples to everyone and 2 slices of pepperoni pizza. We were not told about the pizza before hand or we'd have all worried less about missing lunch. Clay bought me a full-size root beer for $8USD! Nothing was cheap here. I looked at an embroidered Mexican blouse that was about $60USD. Clay has drunk his 4 beers from Vancouver and thought he'd have a chance to buy some here but they weren't selling. I guess because their facility was closed by 8 feet of mud 2 weeks ago. Clay found a convenience store in the mall where he bought 6 Mexican beers for $6USD. A deal! We visited an art gallery at the mall before busing to San Jose. We visited a mission church that is old but not the original there from the 1700s. Then we visited another gallery that specialized in Huichol art. We had about 40 minutes of free time but not much was open because of the storm damage and renovations. We were back onboard by 5pm. Last tender is 5:30pm and sailaway is 6pm.
Last night we got a note that our Guatemala excursion has been increased to 6 hours to allow free time to sightsee or eat in Antigua. Finally a ray of common sense from the excursions department. Originally we had signed up for one of 2 7+hour tours to Antigua. They canceled it and a couple of days later they canceled the 2nd one. This originally 5 hour tour was the last left to Antigua. The remaining tours were a safari zoo, a coffee tour or a macadamia nut tour. The port stop is not long enough to get to any of the Mayan ruins which Guatemala is known for. We are increasingly bothered by this pattern of short, or worse shortened, port stops by Oceania. You look at an itinerary and like it only to find by the time you're booking shore excursions that you can't do what you wanted there.
If the seas aren't too rough, we eat up at Terrace. Fingers crossed. We move the clocks ahead another hour tonight. Good news is tomorrow is a sea day so we can sleep in. Next port is the last in Mexico, Acapulco. This is another return port for us. We toured independently in Acapulco in 2006 and had a great day. This time we'll be on another of our 7 included Oceania tours at $199 or less, The Historical, traditional and picturesque tour. It will go to cliff divers and the fort museum which we've seen before but also to a chapel that we haven't.
The Captain came on the loudspeakers as we were leaving Cabo to let us know that we'd be sailing within 50 nautical miles of TS Pilar and hoped we wouldn't notice. I hope so too. We saw a group of big black dolphins swimming north as we sailed south.
photos
Today was another return port for us. We have been everywhere before since Astoria. Today's port would have been unrecognizable since our last visit except for El Arco at Land's End. There has been a lot of construction here since 2006. Also there was a lot of recent mud flooding damage still evident from a tropical storm a couple of weeks ago.
We slept in again, or I did. We had breakfast at Terrace. We arrived at anchorage while we were sitting in Horizons waiting to get back in the cabin. We are tendering from the starboard side today. We are in the shade but the port side has the arch view and the view of the tender port. Lunch was not served in time for most of the tours to attend. We had to be in the Regatta Lounge at 12:05 and earlier lunch was Waves Grill at 11:30am. We had snacks from Baristas and I had a frozen coffee from about 11:30 to about noon. We got called to our tender shortly after 12:05pm. We were bus 10. They had a lot more tours here. We went to San Jose del Cabo on the Art District tour. We were 43 people on a bus. Our guide said he had never had more than 24 people on this tour before. We are traveling Oceania style. We started with a beer sampling at Puerto Paraiso mall. It is the 3rd location of Baja Brewing. The other 2 are closed due to mud flood damage and remodeling. They gave 3 very small samples to everyone and 2 slices of pepperoni pizza. We were not told about the pizza before hand or we'd have all worried less about missing lunch. Clay bought me a full-size root beer for $8USD! Nothing was cheap here. I looked at an embroidered Mexican blouse that was about $60USD. Clay has drunk his 4 beers from Vancouver and thought he'd have a chance to buy some here but they weren't selling. I guess because their facility was closed by 8 feet of mud 2 weeks ago. Clay found a convenience store in the mall where he bought 6 Mexican beers for $6USD. A deal! We visited an art gallery at the mall before busing to San Jose. We visited a mission church that is old but not the original there from the 1700s. Then we visited another gallery that specialized in Huichol art. We had about 40 minutes of free time but not much was open because of the storm damage and renovations. We were back onboard by 5pm. Last tender is 5:30pm and sailaway is 6pm.
Last night we got a note that our Guatemala excursion has been increased to 6 hours to allow free time to sightsee or eat in Antigua. Finally a ray of common sense from the excursions department. Originally we had signed up for one of 2 7+hour tours to Antigua. They canceled it and a couple of days later they canceled the 2nd one. This originally 5 hour tour was the last left to Antigua. The remaining tours were a safari zoo, a coffee tour or a macadamia nut tour. The port stop is not long enough to get to any of the Mayan ruins which Guatemala is known for. We are increasingly bothered by this pattern of short, or worse shortened, port stops by Oceania. You look at an itinerary and like it only to find by the time you're booking shore excursions that you can't do what you wanted there.
If the seas aren't too rough, we eat up at Terrace. Fingers crossed. We move the clocks ahead another hour tonight. Good news is tomorrow is a sea day so we can sleep in. Next port is the last in Mexico, Acapulco. This is another return port for us. We toured independently in Acapulco in 2006 and had a great day. This time we'll be on another of our 7 included Oceania tours at $199 or less, The Historical, traditional and picturesque tour. It will go to cliff divers and the fort museum which we've seen before but also to a chapel that we haven't.
The Captain came on the loudspeakers as we were leaving Cabo to let us know that we'd be sailing within 50 nautical miles of TS Pilar and hoped we wouldn't notice. I hope so too. We saw a group of big black dolphins swimming north as we sailed south.
photos
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Sea Day 6
By my count this is our 6th sea day though that counts Hubbard Glacier day so some might not. If we couldn't get off the ship, I define it as a sea day. Today is also the half way point of our days aboard until Miami, counting Miami which technically shouldn't count as we'll be off before 9am. Anyway. That's where we are. It looks like the next segment has even more sea days if you count the Panama Canal crossing day which I guess by my definition it is. We like lots of sea days. They're relaxing. So we picked a nice mix. The only bad news is the 3 Central America ports all together with no sea days in between. I am still sad that our days in those ports are so short that we won't really get to see anything of note in Guatemala and Nicaragua. Oh well.
Today was a beautiful day weather-wise and in sailing terms (for those who don't like rough seas). The Captain said in his noon announcement that the weather was like yesterday's but, and I quote, "Thank God the swells are gone." Amen!
We moved the clocks forward an hour last night so got a short night's sleep. We slept in and went to Terrace for breakfast after 8am. There were very few people there so I guess everyone was off to a late start. We spent an hour or more sitting up front in Horizons. Saw nothing, absolutely nothing, but sea and sky. Brianna had gotten in new cosmetic sized needlepoint kits and I got one. I may have done this pattern before as it seems familiar. I don't think it matters. We rewatched a movie in the cabin before lunch. We went back to Waves Grill for another outdoor lunch. They were having an Italian Buffet in Terrace and Italian theme in GDR. Clay wanted the Surf N Turf sandwich. We recall Waves serving a steak sandwich but now there is surf & turf. He didn't like the ratio of lobster to steak. He took the lobster off and ate it separately. Now he says he'll order it again without the surf and double turf. I don't know when he plans to do that. I don't love Waves and we are not booking a future cruise with Oceania. We'll see.
I took a long nap this afternoon. Clay went to use the treadmill in the gym. He said he immediately saw 2 whales blows. He sat on the balcony with binoculars and studied the ocean for more but no luck. It has been days since we have seen any sign of sea life other than the sea lions at Ensenada and sea birds. It can be hard to imagine the vast stretches of ocean are teeming with life when for days and miles we see nothing.
Tonight we have reservations at Toscana. That is why we were avoiding the restaurants at lunch so as not to eat pasta all day. I will assume nothing else noteworthy will happen and post this now. I am sure that Clay has no photos today.
Today was a beautiful day weather-wise and in sailing terms (for those who don't like rough seas). The Captain said in his noon announcement that the weather was like yesterday's but, and I quote, "Thank God the swells are gone." Amen!
We moved the clocks forward an hour last night so got a short night's sleep. We slept in and went to Terrace for breakfast after 8am. There were very few people there so I guess everyone was off to a late start. We spent an hour or more sitting up front in Horizons. Saw nothing, absolutely nothing, but sea and sky. Brianna had gotten in new cosmetic sized needlepoint kits and I got one. I may have done this pattern before as it seems familiar. I don't think it matters. We rewatched a movie in the cabin before lunch. We went back to Waves Grill for another outdoor lunch. They were having an Italian Buffet in Terrace and Italian theme in GDR. Clay wanted the Surf N Turf sandwich. We recall Waves serving a steak sandwich but now there is surf & turf. He didn't like the ratio of lobster to steak. He took the lobster off and ate it separately. Now he says he'll order it again without the surf and double turf. I don't know when he plans to do that. I don't love Waves and we are not booking a future cruise with Oceania. We'll see.
I took a long nap this afternoon. Clay went to use the treadmill in the gym. He said he immediately saw 2 whales blows. He sat on the balcony with binoculars and studied the ocean for more but no luck. It has been days since we have seen any sign of sea life other than the sea lions at Ensenada and sea birds. It can be hard to imagine the vast stretches of ocean are teeming with life when for days and miles we see nothing.
Tonight we have reservations at Toscana. That is why we were avoiding the restaurants at lunch so as not to eat pasta all day. I will assume nothing else noteworthy will happen and post this now. I am sure that Clay has no photos today.
Friday, September 22, 2017
Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
photos
We had an early start today. Terrace started serving breakfast at 7am. We got there around 8am. We left Regatta around 8:45am. We were to meet Cali-Baja/Shore Excursions at 9:15am ashore past 2 security booths. We were not sure how long it would take so we got there at 9am. They were already there waiting with their bus so we got to wait out of the sun and sitting down. We were their only 2 Oceania passengers. Celebrity Imagination was docked here today too and they had about 40. Bad news/good news was that there was room for us because the date on our tickets from Shore Excursions was August 22! I know what happened. We had booked a Catalina Island excursion with them that I had to call and cancel when O changed the port to Ensenada. Then I couldn't book the Calafia Valley Wine Tour to replace it because Shore Excursions didn't have Ensenada in their system yet so I had to call back again. The rep I spoke with twice canceled one and booked the other but I think the date I called was August 22 and I didn't notice when a week or so later the e-ticket arrived in email that the tour date was wrong. As I say, bad news, but the good news was that they could take us anyway. Still not impressed enough with Shore Excursions Group to recommend them. I can recommend Cali-Baja tours for working with us and for their tour but I don't think they have a website so I am not sure you can book directly with them.
We drove about an hour north of Ensenada to Calafia Valley. We visited 2 wineries. The first was beautiful and had a lot of character and great food. It was La Casa de Dona Lupe. You could choose any of their wines to have 4 samples. We didn't like any of the wine. We bought Mexican Altura coffee and vanilla there! The 2nd winery was the largest in Mexico, L. A. Cetto. They provided a formal guided tour of their winery. It was interesting as they were receiving truckloads of grapes and unloading and crushing them while we were there. It was very sterile and industrial. They provided 2 white and 2 red samples, but they picked them not us. They also had olive oil, olives and bread and cheese. Ordinarily they stop on the way back for tacos if everyone agrees. We agreed but had to be all aboard about 2 hours before the Carnival crowd. We agreed to the stop as long as we would be back by 3:30pm our all aboard time. We ran into a wreck with a long traffic backup just outside town so no tacos for anyone. They dropped most of the bus off in town before returning us and a few remaining Carnival people to the port. Port security came on the bus and checked every cruisecard and photo ID before letting the bus in. It was still quicker than walking. There was a big building right beside the ship with all the souvenir shopping you'd have needed. Ensenada port is all new since we were last here and it looked like they'd built a nice waterfront walkway from the port to the giant Mexican flag where at mid-day they had dancing fountains running and lots of horse carriages waiting for sightseers. It looked nicer than we remembered. Downtown this afternoon looked like Spring Break though. We were happy with our trip to Calafia Valley. It was a scenic drive.
We ate outdoors at Waves Grill for the first time this cruise when we got back aboard. The pool deck was more full than we can ever remember seeing one on any ship we've ever sailed! It looked like most of the passengers had stayed aboard today. O only ran 5 tours here today.
No special plans for dinner tonight. If it isn't too rough we'll go to Terrace. If it is I guess it will be Grand Dining Room. Fingers crossed for calm seas. Tomorrow is a sea day and promises to be lazy.
Talked to Mom today and she got her power back on shortly after we spoke from San Francisco on the 20th. She was very pleased by that and moved right back home. She was happy to have been back home for the last 2 nights.
photos
We had an early start today. Terrace started serving breakfast at 7am. We got there around 8am. We left Regatta around 8:45am. We were to meet Cali-Baja/Shore Excursions at 9:15am ashore past 2 security booths. We were not sure how long it would take so we got there at 9am. They were already there waiting with their bus so we got to wait out of the sun and sitting down. We were their only 2 Oceania passengers. Celebrity Imagination was docked here today too and they had about 40. Bad news/good news was that there was room for us because the date on our tickets from Shore Excursions was August 22! I know what happened. We had booked a Catalina Island excursion with them that I had to call and cancel when O changed the port to Ensenada. Then I couldn't book the Calafia Valley Wine Tour to replace it because Shore Excursions didn't have Ensenada in their system yet so I had to call back again. The rep I spoke with twice canceled one and booked the other but I think the date I called was August 22 and I didn't notice when a week or so later the e-ticket arrived in email that the tour date was wrong. As I say, bad news, but the good news was that they could take us anyway. Still not impressed enough with Shore Excursions Group to recommend them. I can recommend Cali-Baja tours for working with us and for their tour but I don't think they have a website so I am not sure you can book directly with them.
We drove about an hour north of Ensenada to Calafia Valley. We visited 2 wineries. The first was beautiful and had a lot of character and great food. It was La Casa de Dona Lupe. You could choose any of their wines to have 4 samples. We didn't like any of the wine. We bought Mexican Altura coffee and vanilla there! The 2nd winery was the largest in Mexico, L. A. Cetto. They provided a formal guided tour of their winery. It was interesting as they were receiving truckloads of grapes and unloading and crushing them while we were there. It was very sterile and industrial. They provided 2 white and 2 red samples, but they picked them not us. They also had olive oil, olives and bread and cheese. Ordinarily they stop on the way back for tacos if everyone agrees. We agreed but had to be all aboard about 2 hours before the Carnival crowd. We agreed to the stop as long as we would be back by 3:30pm our all aboard time. We ran into a wreck with a long traffic backup just outside town so no tacos for anyone. They dropped most of the bus off in town before returning us and a few remaining Carnival people to the port. Port security came on the bus and checked every cruisecard and photo ID before letting the bus in. It was still quicker than walking. There was a big building right beside the ship with all the souvenir shopping you'd have needed. Ensenada port is all new since we were last here and it looked like they'd built a nice waterfront walkway from the port to the giant Mexican flag where at mid-day they had dancing fountains running and lots of horse carriages waiting for sightseers. It looked nicer than we remembered. Downtown this afternoon looked like Spring Break though. We were happy with our trip to Calafia Valley. It was a scenic drive.
We ate outdoors at Waves Grill for the first time this cruise when we got back aboard. The pool deck was more full than we can ever remember seeing one on any ship we've ever sailed! It looked like most of the passengers had stayed aboard today. O only ran 5 tours here today.
No special plans for dinner tonight. If it isn't too rough we'll go to Terrace. If it is I guess it will be Grand Dining Room. Fingers crossed for calm seas. Tomorrow is a sea day and promises to be lazy.
Talked to Mom today and she got her power back on shortly after we spoke from San Francisco on the 20th. She was very pleased by that and moved right back home. She was happy to have been back home for the last 2 nights.
photos
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Sea Day
Seas have been rough enough that you never forget you are on a ship at sea. I guess for some that is a good thing, but honestly I'd rather be able to forget. We slept well and I slept longer than Clay. We had no where to be and nothing to do so it didn't matter.
We had breakfast up in Terrace. There was definitely some kitchen turnover as well as quite a few new servers in addition to all the new passengers. I think the number of passengers on the extended trip Vancouver to Miami must be small.
We killed time in Horizons waiting to get back in the cabin. We walked across the pool deck! First time the weather has been suitable and there were already people on pool loungers. I got a new small needlepoint kit. Brianna says she has new cosmetic cases on order so I will hope for one before the cruise ends.
We went up to Terrace for the Mexican buffet lunch. It appeared to be a repeat of last cruise's but it was a failure. The panini presses they used last time to make burritos were not working. The tortillas were close but the meat and bean fillings were around the corner. The 2 girls that made burritos last cruise were just screwed. It must be new chefs.
We watched TV movies and Clay spent a lot of time in the sun on the balcony. They have free drinks this evening for an hour or so due to the Captain's welcome reception. We have 6:30pm reservations at Polo Grill. I'll assume it will be the same and nothing to report.
Tomorrow is Ensenada and we have an independent wine tour. We'll see. I still haven't had a satisfactory response to my complaint about Victoria from Shore Excursions Group. They delayed long enough that we were not able to cancel any upcoming excursions booked with them. We'll keep our fingers crossed that what happened in Victoria was an anomaly.
We had breakfast up in Terrace. There was definitely some kitchen turnover as well as quite a few new servers in addition to all the new passengers. I think the number of passengers on the extended trip Vancouver to Miami must be small.
We killed time in Horizons waiting to get back in the cabin. We walked across the pool deck! First time the weather has been suitable and there were already people on pool loungers. I got a new small needlepoint kit. Brianna says she has new cosmetic cases on order so I will hope for one before the cruise ends.
We went up to Terrace for the Mexican buffet lunch. It appeared to be a repeat of last cruise's but it was a failure. The panini presses they used last time to make burritos were not working. The tortillas were close but the meat and bean fillings were around the corner. The 2 girls that made burritos last cruise were just screwed. It must be new chefs.
We watched TV movies and Clay spent a lot of time in the sun on the balcony. They have free drinks this evening for an hour or so due to the Captain's welcome reception. We have 6:30pm reservations at Polo Grill. I'll assume it will be the same and nothing to report.
Tomorrow is Ensenada and we have an independent wine tour. We'll see. I still haven't had a satisfactory response to my complaint about Victoria from Shore Excursions Group. They delayed long enough that we were not able to cancel any upcoming excursions booked with them. We'll keep our fingers crossed that what happened in Victoria was an anomaly.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
San Francisco, CA
photos
Last night we got a sheet with the first cruise's mileage. 2815 Nautical miles from Vancouver through Alaska to San Francisco.
We arrived under the Golden Gate Bridge before sunrise but we didn't get docked or cleared until after our scheduled 7am time. They requested everyone be out of their cabins by 8am and stopped serving breakfast at 8:30am. It was pretty rushed and they had everyone disembarked by 9am.
We were off on about the same schedule. We crossed Embarcadero before calling Uber because there were about 100 people waiting right outside and maybe double that at the taxi line. Our ride came across the street within 5 minutes and charged us about $25 for the ride to the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. It was a nice drive and convenient but double what the estimate was an hour earlier when Clay first checked. He said it was because no shared rides were available after 9am. We got to the WDFM a half hour early and sat on the porch to get out of the mist as we waited until 10am. I talked to Mom on the phone during that time and learned that she is still without power. She also informed us that Aggie, a family friend, had died this morning. She will be missed and our thoughts are with her and her family.
We enjoyed the Walt Disney Family Museum. It was $25 for me and $20 for Clay. I would rank it a must do for any Disney fans. The back of the building near the end of the tour is all glass and would have been a fantastic Golden Gate view but it was in a cloud most of the day. The cloud was especially dense while we were at WDFM! We called Uber again when we were done around 12:30pm. We took a shorter ride (and cheaper) to Ghiradelli Square. We shared a tall chocolate & marshmallow sundae. We bought some chocoalte. We walked down Beach St. to the Fishermans Wharf In n Out and shared a burger. We walked down Beach to Jones and caught the next trolley to Pier 27/Sansome St. It was $2.75 for me and $1.65 for Clay. One of the trolley cars we saw in the morningn on that E/F track had El Paso/Juarez on it. The Uber driver said San Francisco had bought and restored trolley cars from all over to run here. Those trolleys were long gone when we lived in El Paso, but how cool.
We were back onboard in time for the mandatory life boat drill at 4:15pm which was nearly over by theh time 4:30pm all aboard happened. I am not sure who scheduled that. We got seats up front in Horizons for the sail out. Clay went down and asked and learned that our Concierge Level keycard affords us entry to the forward facing private spa terrace so he was happy to get photos there during sailaway. You have to go through the Canyon Ranch Spa and through the gender appropriate dressing rooms to get out there.
We have a new cruise director now, Julie James. We enjoyed her earlier this year on Sirena on Circle Australia. That's it for now. Off to dinner in Terrace I think.
photos
Last night we got a sheet with the first cruise's mileage. 2815 Nautical miles from Vancouver through Alaska to San Francisco.
We arrived under the Golden Gate Bridge before sunrise but we didn't get docked or cleared until after our scheduled 7am time. They requested everyone be out of their cabins by 8am and stopped serving breakfast at 8:30am. It was pretty rushed and they had everyone disembarked by 9am.
We were off on about the same schedule. We crossed Embarcadero before calling Uber because there were about 100 people waiting right outside and maybe double that at the taxi line. Our ride came across the street within 5 minutes and charged us about $25 for the ride to the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. It was a nice drive and convenient but double what the estimate was an hour earlier when Clay first checked. He said it was because no shared rides were available after 9am. We got to the WDFM a half hour early and sat on the porch to get out of the mist as we waited until 10am. I talked to Mom on the phone during that time and learned that she is still without power. She also informed us that Aggie, a family friend, had died this morning. She will be missed and our thoughts are with her and her family.
We enjoyed the Walt Disney Family Museum. It was $25 for me and $20 for Clay. I would rank it a must do for any Disney fans. The back of the building near the end of the tour is all glass and would have been a fantastic Golden Gate view but it was in a cloud most of the day. The cloud was especially dense while we were at WDFM! We called Uber again when we were done around 12:30pm. We took a shorter ride (and cheaper) to Ghiradelli Square. We shared a tall chocolate & marshmallow sundae. We bought some chocoalte. We walked down Beach St. to the Fishermans Wharf In n Out and shared a burger. We walked down Beach to Jones and caught the next trolley to Pier 27/Sansome St. It was $2.75 for me and $1.65 for Clay. One of the trolley cars we saw in the morningn on that E/F track had El Paso/Juarez on it. The Uber driver said San Francisco had bought and restored trolley cars from all over to run here. Those trolleys were long gone when we lived in El Paso, but how cool.
We were back onboard in time for the mandatory life boat drill at 4:15pm which was nearly over by theh time 4:30pm all aboard happened. I am not sure who scheduled that. We got seats up front in Horizons for the sail out. Clay went down and asked and learned that our Concierge Level keycard affords us entry to the forward facing private spa terrace so he was happy to get photos there during sailaway. You have to go through the Canyon Ranch Spa and through the gender appropriate dressing rooms to get out there.
We have a new cruise director now, Julie James. We enjoyed her earlier this year on Sirena on Circle Australia. That's it for now. Off to dinner in Terrace I think.
photos
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Sailing the Pacific Ocean
The seas overnight were just as rough as the Captain promised. We made quick work of our dinner on deck 10 aft at Toscano and went to bed early as advised. We were told the worst would be between 9pm and midnight. About 8:30pm, I took a Dramamine to knock myself out and when I woke up about 12:30am it was not as rough. It has continued pretty rough all day though. At noon, the Captain announced he'd be making a slight turn east about 4pm and instead of the wind and swells hitting us broadside, they should be more from behind us and the sideways movement would be reduced for the front to back rocking. He also says since he has been speeding to escape the conditions that we'll get to San Francisco hours earlier than expected. I think he said Pilot station by 4am and under the Golden Gate bridge by 5am. Since it will still be dark then, I guess we'll miss the sail into San Francisco. He predicted no rain tomorrow so we'll hope for a good sailaway at 5pm.
Since it is a rough sea day, we slept in today. The plan for me is to stay low in the ship all day. We had breakfast in the GDR on deck 5. After breakfast, we returned to the Destinations Services desk as requested and learned that we had been booked on the only Guatemala excursion left uncanceled to Antigua. Antigua at a glance will actually be 30 minutes of free time to get a glance at Antigua. It is a 90 minute drive each way with a visit to a jade factory. I still have no idea why O canceled the 2 full day tours there and neither did the woman at the desk. It is what it is but I don't give Oceania any credit for spending 5 hours in Guatemala when they sold the cruise originally as having 8 hours there. In other news, she told us she would deliver our excursion tickets tomorrow, but she had a package already prepared to be delivered regarding all available excursions after San Francisco. She said she could just give it to us if we'd like. We took it. I found a surprise inside the tour booklet. Originally, at the end of the cruise we had 2 sea days followed by Key West and Miami disembarkation. Now we have a sea day followed by Georgetown, Grand Cayman then a sea day then Miami. That makes sense but the first sheet in the package was title Additional & Adjusted Tour Descriptions and it had no mention of the schedule or port changes. We aren't impacted as we had made no firm plans for Key West and understand why we can't go there now. We've also been to Georgetown, Grand Cayman before and so we're making no firm plans for this visit. The excursion cancellation being resolved now we know we have only the original $200 shipboard credit available which we had planned to use to pay for the Guatemala excursion. That meant Clay went shopping at the boutique today. They have been putting their end of Alaska season merchandise out in the hallway on sale on sea days. Today Clay bought an Alaska fleece jacket for about $30 or half off. We have invested $8 in laundry tokens and a bit more than that for Clay's Alaskan Beer one night. The credit is nonrefundable so we either spend it or lose it. We'll see.
We went to lunch in GDR and hated it. Service is slow and frequently unpleasant. None of our food came as described on the menu. This is why we'd just prefer to eat at Terrace buffet on Oceania to avoid the hassles and surprises and to save our time. But, I think we'll still have dinner in GDR tonight unless it gets a lot calmer sailing that the Captain predicted.
We've laid low all day and watched a couple of movies on TV. The ride did smooth out a bit after 4pm or so as predicted. We'll still probably eat dinner in the GDR. I see 3 courses I can eat on the menu.
Tomorrow San Francisco. We plan to Uber to the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. Anything else will depend on time and how we're feeling.
Monday, September 18, 2017
Return to Astoria, OR
photos
We spent a couple of days and a night here during/around a Cruise West Columbia & Snake Rivers cruise and road trip less than a decade ago. So, like Sitka we had seen and done most of what there is to see and do. There is a Fort Stevens outside of town that we missed last time so we had booked O's excursion there today but it was canceled. We planned to buy a local transit pass described on Astoria's tourism/cruise visitor website but they did not charge today. Route 11 ran complimentary. That was nice but also reasonable since it only stops right downtown and at the Maritime Museum and the ship. It rained pretty much all day and it turns out they don't run the waterfront trolley in the rain. So it was mostly walking for us. We took the free shuttle to downtown and then walked all the way out to 39th Street and Rogue Ale. I wanted to see the sea lions and once we heard them, we kept walking. By then, we were only .32 miles from Rogue Ale so we kept walking while it wasn't raining and we ate lunch there and it was good. Clay had halibut fish & chips which was good. I had a cup of chili and a root beer float, both good. Along the way we missed the worst of the morning rain taking a grand tour of the Liberty Theater which we had not been inside before. We were in and out of the mostly thrift and antique shops along Commercial St. We bought some chocolates at one shop. I took a hard fall today. Fortunately in muddy grass so it was mostly a soft landing and I just skirted the raspberry brambles. The wind took my umbrella and I chased it. I fully understand now that not only are my dancing days over, but also my fast walking and running days. I caught the umbrella by stepping on it, sliding and then falling on top of it. So, no matter how this ended the umbrella was a loss. I should have just let it go but that would have been terrible littering so I went after it. I am a little scraped up, hands and arms and will probably have some bruises but I am OK. I bought a new tiny umbrella at the Maritime Museum as we waited for the shuttle bus back to Regatta. We got back to the ship around 4pm and saw 3 available washers in the laundry room. By the time we returned, there was only 1 left but I squished 2 loads worth in there without separating colors and whites. It turned out fine, no harm done. Dryers take twice as long as washers so that is a problem. I just took all our clothes out when our 30 minutes on high was up and now we have laundry hung all over the cabin. The captain has just announced that the weather is really bad in our onward path and to be very careful as we leave the Columbia River and sail south on the open Pacific Ocean. He was talking about 13 swells like they were 30 foot swells. Clay says it is because he said the big swells and high winds were going to hit us broadside on the starboard side. He told us on the starboard side to positively keep our balcony doors shut! In other bad news, we have dinner reservations at 6:30pm (a half hour after sailing at Toscana on deck 10 aft. At least it is on the port side.
Last night we had dinner at Polo. I love the fruit jellies they give there. Tonight in Toscana I love the selection of olive oils and balsamic vinegars they give with bread. It is the only time I eat bread onboard. I will try to get online and post now.
We spent a couple of days and a night here during/around a Cruise West Columbia & Snake Rivers cruise and road trip less than a decade ago. So, like Sitka we had seen and done most of what there is to see and do. There is a Fort Stevens outside of town that we missed last time so we had booked O's excursion there today but it was canceled. We planned to buy a local transit pass described on Astoria's tourism/cruise visitor website but they did not charge today. Route 11 ran complimentary. That was nice but also reasonable since it only stops right downtown and at the Maritime Museum and the ship. It rained pretty much all day and it turns out they don't run the waterfront trolley in the rain. So it was mostly walking for us. We took the free shuttle to downtown and then walked all the way out to 39th Street and Rogue Ale. I wanted to see the sea lions and once we heard them, we kept walking. By then, we were only .32 miles from Rogue Ale so we kept walking while it wasn't raining and we ate lunch there and it was good. Clay had halibut fish & chips which was good. I had a cup of chili and a root beer float, both good. Along the way we missed the worst of the morning rain taking a grand tour of the Liberty Theater which we had not been inside before. We were in and out of the mostly thrift and antique shops along Commercial St. We bought some chocolates at one shop. I took a hard fall today. Fortunately in muddy grass so it was mostly a soft landing and I just skirted the raspberry brambles. The wind took my umbrella and I chased it. I fully understand now that not only are my dancing days over, but also my fast walking and running days. I caught the umbrella by stepping on it, sliding and then falling on top of it. So, no matter how this ended the umbrella was a loss. I should have just let it go but that would have been terrible littering so I went after it. I am a little scraped up, hands and arms and will probably have some bruises but I am OK. I bought a new tiny umbrella at the Maritime Museum as we waited for the shuttle bus back to Regatta. We got back to the ship around 4pm and saw 3 available washers in the laundry room. By the time we returned, there was only 1 left but I squished 2 loads worth in there without separating colors and whites. It turned out fine, no harm done. Dryers take twice as long as washers so that is a problem. I just took all our clothes out when our 30 minutes on high was up and now we have laundry hung all over the cabin. The captain has just announced that the weather is really bad in our onward path and to be very careful as we leave the Columbia River and sail south on the open Pacific Ocean. He was talking about 13 swells like they were 30 foot swells. Clay says it is because he said the big swells and high winds were going to hit us broadside on the starboard side. He told us on the starboard side to positively keep our balcony doors shut! In other bad news, we have dinner reservations at 6:30pm (a half hour after sailing at Toscana on deck 10 aft. At least it is on the port side.
Last night we had dinner at Polo. I love the fruit jellies they give there. Tonight in Toscana I love the selection of olive oils and balsamic vinegars they give with bread. It is the only time I eat bread onboard. I will try to get online and post now.
Victoria, British Columbia
photos
We lost an hour by changing the clocks last night. On top of that I couldn't stop the tremor to fall asleep last night so it was a bad, short night for me. It was 7:15am and time to get up before I was ready. I spotted a lot of humpback whales as soon as I opened the curtains, so there was that. Yesterday, I forgot to say that my fever had broken so I must be on the mend. I am feeling a lot better.
We both agreed that we had not enjoyed the protracted breakfast we had in the GDR yesterday so today we went back up to Terrace buffet. Better. We spent an hour or more in Horizons waiting to get back in the cabin. We learned that we would be a half hour or so late arriving to Victorica. Our instructions from Shore Excursions Group said we should allow 20 minutes to walk to CVS Tours kiosk outside Customs and to arrive at least 10 minutes before our 1:30pm start time. So, we should still be fine. When we arrived we found that CVS Tours was not at the cruise pier and would NOT come. We were instructed to come to the kiosk outside the Empress Hotel downtown. This is not what we paid for. We missed the first complimentary shuttle bus and the 2nd one. We made the 3rd one that left at 1:20pm when no one from CVS had arrived. We got to the Empress Hotel and the CVS Tours kiosk by 1:30pm. There we learned that the Castle Tour & City Sightseeing we had booked departs from that spot daily at 10am and 2pm. They charge $40CAD pp. We paid Shore Excursions Group $59USD pp. Clearly we are not pleased. We have 2 other tours booked through Shore Excursions Group. They need to do a lot better job for us to be able to recommend them. We cannot recommend them in Victoria. We chose them based on our TA's recommendation, btw. The tour was fine in any event and after some confrontation and argument, it was agreed the bus driver would return us to the pier. As predicted it started raining as we docked and the sun came out at 5:45pm as we prepared to sail away at 6pm. Victoria is the capital of British Columbia. It was a pretty and historic city. We saw mile 0 of the Trans Canada Highway and have ideas for a future road trip.
We had dinner tonight at Polo and it was better than last time. This time we had a little whale watching since we were on the side and not over the ship's wake at the back.
Tomorrow is our return to the US and Astoria, OR. We've been warned in writing and verbally about re-entering the US tomorrow so we don't expect it to be a timely arrival. Also, Oceania has always sold this cruise as Astoria being a docked port, but the Port of Astoria has shown it as a tender port from the beginning, so we'll see how much time we wind up with there. Rain is predicted again. They need the rain out here so we don't feel too bad about it. Our ship's tour here was canceled. We had spent about 3 days and 1 night here previously so we don't have any plans other than wandering. If it is really raining, that may be abandoned too. We'll see. Last news is that the pilot for Astoria will be delivered by helicopter about 6:15am tomorrow in case the noise wakes us up. We've had that happen at one other port at least and it usually promises drama and a rough arrival. That's why they don't arrive by pilot boat!
photos
We lost an hour by changing the clocks last night. On top of that I couldn't stop the tremor to fall asleep last night so it was a bad, short night for me. It was 7:15am and time to get up before I was ready. I spotted a lot of humpback whales as soon as I opened the curtains, so there was that. Yesterday, I forgot to say that my fever had broken so I must be on the mend. I am feeling a lot better.
We both agreed that we had not enjoyed the protracted breakfast we had in the GDR yesterday so today we went back up to Terrace buffet. Better. We spent an hour or more in Horizons waiting to get back in the cabin. We learned that we would be a half hour or so late arriving to Victorica. Our instructions from Shore Excursions Group said we should allow 20 minutes to walk to CVS Tours kiosk outside Customs and to arrive at least 10 minutes before our 1:30pm start time. So, we should still be fine. When we arrived we found that CVS Tours was not at the cruise pier and would NOT come. We were instructed to come to the kiosk outside the Empress Hotel downtown. This is not what we paid for. We missed the first complimentary shuttle bus and the 2nd one. We made the 3rd one that left at 1:20pm when no one from CVS had arrived. We got to the Empress Hotel and the CVS Tours kiosk by 1:30pm. There we learned that the Castle Tour & City Sightseeing we had booked departs from that spot daily at 10am and 2pm. They charge $40CAD pp. We paid Shore Excursions Group $59USD pp. Clearly we are not pleased. We have 2 other tours booked through Shore Excursions Group. They need to do a lot better job for us to be able to recommend them. We cannot recommend them in Victoria. We chose them based on our TA's recommendation, btw. The tour was fine in any event and after some confrontation and argument, it was agreed the bus driver would return us to the pier. As predicted it started raining as we docked and the sun came out at 5:45pm as we prepared to sail away at 6pm. Victoria is the capital of British Columbia. It was a pretty and historic city. We saw mile 0 of the Trans Canada Highway and have ideas for a future road trip.
We had dinner tonight at Polo and it was better than last time. This time we had a little whale watching since we were on the side and not over the ship's wake at the back.
Tomorrow is our return to the US and Astoria, OR. We've been warned in writing and verbally about re-entering the US tomorrow so we don't expect it to be a timely arrival. Also, Oceania has always sold this cruise as Astoria being a docked port, but the Port of Astoria has shown it as a tender port from the beginning, so we'll see how much time we wind up with there. Rain is predicted again. They need the rain out here so we don't feel too bad about it. Our ship's tour here was canceled. We had spent about 3 days and 1 night here previously so we don't have any plans other than wandering. If it is really raining, that may be abandoned too. We'll see. Last news is that the pilot for Astoria will be delivered by helicopter about 6:15am tomorrow in case the noise wakes us up. We've had that happen at one other port at least and it usually promises drama and a rough arrival. That's why they don't arrive by pilot boat!
photos
Saturday, September 16, 2017
Cruising the Outside Passage
There was land visible on the port side until about 1pm, but we are on the starboard side. So we only saw it when we were out of the cabin. That said there was some rolling, but not too rough seas all day. I saw a lone puffin struggling mightily to escape the ship's wake when I first opened the curtains this morning. Clay saw a school of porpoises and later we both saw 2 porpoises out the cabin door. The sun shone most of the day and visibility was good but not much to see. We watched multiple movies. I picked up another needlepoint kit.
We had breakfast downstairs today since it is Saturday and a sea day. We really don't like to spend that long getting a meal and still prefer Terrace buffet. On Sirena, the GDR turned into Jacques Cafe or Bistro at noon, so we went today for lunch. The menu outside was not the Jacques we remember from earlier this year on Sirena so we went back upstairs to Terrace. Terrace has an Alaskan Fish & Chips and Beer dinner tonight so that is what we plan. I'll hope for a pasta or stir fry I can eat. Hopefully Clay will enjoy it. He is in the gym on the treadmill now.
That's about it. It has been an easy, lazy sea day. Tomorrow we should be in Victoria, BC from noon to 6pm. We have booked an independent excursion through Shore Excursions Group from 1:30pm that lasts 3.5 hours and visits Victoria Castle with City Sightseeing. It is predicted to rain the entire time of our visit. We'll dress accordingly and hope for the best. I'll post now and assume nothing else noteworthy happens today.
We had breakfast downstairs today since it is Saturday and a sea day. We really don't like to spend that long getting a meal and still prefer Terrace buffet. On Sirena, the GDR turned into Jacques Cafe or Bistro at noon, so we went today for lunch. The menu outside was not the Jacques we remember from earlier this year on Sirena so we went back upstairs to Terrace. Terrace has an Alaskan Fish & Chips and Beer dinner tonight so that is what we plan. I'll hope for a pasta or stir fry I can eat. Hopefully Clay will enjoy it. He is in the gym on the treadmill now.
That's about it. It has been an easy, lazy sea day. Tomorrow we should be in Victoria, BC from noon to 6pm. We have booked an independent excursion through Shore Excursions Group from 1:30pm that lasts 3.5 hours and visits Victoria Castle with City Sightseeing. It is predicted to rain the entire time of our visit. We'll dress accordingly and hope for the best. I'll post now and assume nothing else noteworthy happens today.
Friday, September 15, 2017
Return to Sitka
photos
We slept in again and were already docked at Old Sitka dock about 7 miles from town. Oceania provided a half-hourly complimentary shuttle to and from the Centennial Center. It wasn't quite as bad or time consuming as tendering. We were here from 7am to 4pm but since we're so far from town the last shuttle was at 3pm and we sailed a bit before 4pm.
We spent about 4 days in Sitka around our Alaskan Dream cruise and only had one thing left undone/unseen here. The Fortress of the Bear. We took the shuttle, caught the blue line of The Ride public bus and went out to the last stop at Gary Paxton Industrial Park. From there you walk uphill on Sawmill Creek Rd. about 100 yards or less than 10 minutes and cross the road around the bend from Silver Bay Seafood Processing to Fortress of the Bear. The fare was $1 each way for Clay and $2 each way for me. The only downside of public transit is that it only runs once an hour but we had a timetable for the stops I had printed from online and it was accurate and we never really waited. We did barely make the return bus that we walked back down to Whale Park to catch. I'd have been happy spending an hour there exploring and whale watching but I guess Clay wanted lunch.
So we caught the 9:45am bus out and paid our $10pp to enter the Fortress of the Bear. They house rescued bears and had 4 brown bears and 3 black bears that we saw. It turns out we had seen both types in the wild on our last visit to SE Alaska. Since we had seen and the bus driver pointed out that there were humpback whales in Silver Bay/Sawmill Cove, I really wanted to stop at Whale Park. It is a point of land that is a whale watching park. I had thought about stopping on the way out but didn't want to pay extra bus fare in a day pass so we didn't. When the bus driver pointed out the whales on our approach after I had pointed one out and we saw the distance and mostly downhill walk we decided to leave the bears pretty quickly and walked along the waterfront back to Whale Park. We spotted a female bald eagle as close as we've ever seen one in the wild. As we approached the first parking lot/photo spot we heard a big noise and it was a prodigious humpback exhale! We'd been watching for 20 minutes and had only seen seals/sea lions. We saw maybe a half dozen humpbacks breaching/breathing and maybe 4 tails all told. We also saw one or more big seals/sea lions catching and thrashing and eating big salmon. It was very dramatic and very close to us ashore. We did not see any whales near Whale Park but we didn't enter the park to look or linger as we caught the bus as it arrived at 12:09pm.
We had lunch at BayView Pub. We had eaten there the last time we were in Sitka too. We shared a BLT with fries and a carnitas taco plate with chips. Not very Alaskan, but Clay had an Alaskan Amber Ale. It was all very good with great harbor views. We walked up and down the main street and did some final Alaskan shopping. It appeared that St. Michael's was closed for restoration. In any event we never saw it with eagles atop the crosses this visit which seemed sad but we also did not have any rain today so a good trade off I suppose.
We caught the shuttle back about 2:15pm. We walked through the shops at the dock then used their Internet to Skype a call to Mom. The power is still out at her house after Hurricane Irma. The good news is that Mom & Matt both had no flooding or house damage in the storm. Matt got his electric back after about 3 days and Mom relocated over there for now. She has been advised by her power provider that they expect to restore power by 22nd. Fingers crossed for sooner. But they got by Irma pretty lucky.
Things I love about Oceania. The Illy frozen coffee and the daily caneles at Baristas. But is that enough?
Destination Services reopens today at 5pm. Since we slept in we missed them this morning. We will either try to replace our canceled Astoria excursion with one in Guatemala or with the $100 pp nonrefundable shipboard credit assuming it is good past San Francisco onward to Miami. If they won't do either, I guess we're just out of luck. Back and they say won't know until the 19th if we can book a Guatemala excursion to Antigua. If not, they will apply the $100 pp shipboard credit then.
We have dinner at 6:30pm at Toscana. I will go ahead and try to post this now assuming nothing else of note will happen today.
Internet was down for a while. Back now and it looks like we may be in for a rough outside passage southbound. Tomorrow is a sea day. Sunday is Victoria, BC.
photos
We slept in again and were already docked at Old Sitka dock about 7 miles from town. Oceania provided a half-hourly complimentary shuttle to and from the Centennial Center. It wasn't quite as bad or time consuming as tendering. We were here from 7am to 4pm but since we're so far from town the last shuttle was at 3pm and we sailed a bit before 4pm.
We spent about 4 days in Sitka around our Alaskan Dream cruise and only had one thing left undone/unseen here. The Fortress of the Bear. We took the shuttle, caught the blue line of The Ride public bus and went out to the last stop at Gary Paxton Industrial Park. From there you walk uphill on Sawmill Creek Rd. about 100 yards or less than 10 minutes and cross the road around the bend from Silver Bay Seafood Processing to Fortress of the Bear. The fare was $1 each way for Clay and $2 each way for me. The only downside of public transit is that it only runs once an hour but we had a timetable for the stops I had printed from online and it was accurate and we never really waited. We did barely make the return bus that we walked back down to Whale Park to catch. I'd have been happy spending an hour there exploring and whale watching but I guess Clay wanted lunch.
So we caught the 9:45am bus out and paid our $10pp to enter the Fortress of the Bear. They house rescued bears and had 4 brown bears and 3 black bears that we saw. It turns out we had seen both types in the wild on our last visit to SE Alaska. Since we had seen and the bus driver pointed out that there were humpback whales in Silver Bay/Sawmill Cove, I really wanted to stop at Whale Park. It is a point of land that is a whale watching park. I had thought about stopping on the way out but didn't want to pay extra bus fare in a day pass so we didn't. When the bus driver pointed out the whales on our approach after I had pointed one out and we saw the distance and mostly downhill walk we decided to leave the bears pretty quickly and walked along the waterfront back to Whale Park. We spotted a female bald eagle as close as we've ever seen one in the wild. As we approached the first parking lot/photo spot we heard a big noise and it was a prodigious humpback exhale! We'd been watching for 20 minutes and had only seen seals/sea lions. We saw maybe a half dozen humpbacks breaching/breathing and maybe 4 tails all told. We also saw one or more big seals/sea lions catching and thrashing and eating big salmon. It was very dramatic and very close to us ashore. We did not see any whales near Whale Park but we didn't enter the park to look or linger as we caught the bus as it arrived at 12:09pm.
We had lunch at BayView Pub. We had eaten there the last time we were in Sitka too. We shared a BLT with fries and a carnitas taco plate with chips. Not very Alaskan, but Clay had an Alaskan Amber Ale. It was all very good with great harbor views. We walked up and down the main street and did some final Alaskan shopping. It appeared that St. Michael's was closed for restoration. In any event we never saw it with eagles atop the crosses this visit which seemed sad but we also did not have any rain today so a good trade off I suppose.
We caught the shuttle back about 2:15pm. We walked through the shops at the dock then used their Internet to Skype a call to Mom. The power is still out at her house after Hurricane Irma. The good news is that Mom & Matt both had no flooding or house damage in the storm. Matt got his electric back after about 3 days and Mom relocated over there for now. She has been advised by her power provider that they expect to restore power by 22nd. Fingers crossed for sooner. But they got by Irma pretty lucky.
Things I love about Oceania. The Illy frozen coffee and the daily caneles at Baristas. But is that enough?
Destination Services reopens today at 5pm. Since we slept in we missed them this morning. We will either try to replace our canceled Astoria excursion with one in Guatemala or with the $100 pp nonrefundable shipboard credit assuming it is good past San Francisco onward to Miami. If they won't do either, I guess we're just out of luck. Back and they say won't know until the 19th if we can book a Guatemala excursion to Antigua. If not, they will apply the $100 pp shipboard credit then.
We have dinner at 6:30pm at Toscana. I will go ahead and try to post this now assuming nothing else of note will happen today.
Internet was down for a while. Back now and it looks like we may be in for a rough outside passage southbound. Tomorrow is a sea day. Sunday is Victoria, BC.
photos
Hubbard Glacier
photos
We slept later today since it was essentially a sea day. Clay saw a school of something jumping/rolling by the ship when I was in the shower. We saw some more from Horizons Lounge while we sailed through more fog. We arrived at the bay to Hubbard Glacier around noon. We were probably in front of it from about 1 to 3pm. We had a good port side view from Terrace Cafe and went down to our starboard cabin just as they were turning the ship to face on that side. I had forgotten how loud glaciers are!
At 5:45pm in Regatta Lounge they had the past passengers reception. There were more people at that than at the Captain's Welcome Reception! They said they had invited almost 400 Oceania Club members which impressive for a ship that only holds a little over 600.
We got a letter today inviting us to Alcatraz & Saulsalito excursion on turnaround day in San Francisco for $209. We will stay with our original independent plans. We also got a letter telling us that they had canceled the 3rd of our 3 included excursions on this segment. They offered us another Astoria excursion or $100 pp nonrefundable shipboard credit. We'd like that if we can use it after San Francisco but it isn't clear they will. We'll have to go to Destination Services tomorrow sometime I guess.
I had a new favorite dessert that neither of us remember seeing on Oceania before. We'd have remembered! I had a vanilla and raspberry vacherin. Clay wasn't sure since we didn't know what it was but I figured I liked to 2 flavors in the name and I ordered the petit four tray to be sure. The vacherin was a disk of vanilla ice cream topped by a disk of raspberry sorbet topped by a hard meringue disk and surrounded and garnished by meringue bits garnished with fresh raspberries. I loved it. It seemed like the kind of dessert the Aussies would have loved but we didn't see this dessert earlier this year on Sirena doing the circumnavigation. Go figure. The menus have been very similiar otherwise.
It was a pretty good day in SE Alaska. Now we are southbound. Tomorrow is a return to Sitka.
photos
We slept later today since it was essentially a sea day. Clay saw a school of something jumping/rolling by the ship when I was in the shower. We saw some more from Horizons Lounge while we sailed through more fog. We arrived at the bay to Hubbard Glacier around noon. We were probably in front of it from about 1 to 3pm. We had a good port side view from Terrace Cafe and went down to our starboard cabin just as they were turning the ship to face on that side. I had forgotten how loud glaciers are!
At 5:45pm in Regatta Lounge they had the past passengers reception. There were more people at that than at the Captain's Welcome Reception! They said they had invited almost 400 Oceania Club members which impressive for a ship that only holds a little over 600.
We got a letter today inviting us to Alcatraz & Saulsalito excursion on turnaround day in San Francisco for $209. We will stay with our original independent plans. We also got a letter telling us that they had canceled the 3rd of our 3 included excursions on this segment. They offered us another Astoria excursion or $100 pp nonrefundable shipboard credit. We'd like that if we can use it after San Francisco but it isn't clear they will. We'll have to go to Destination Services tomorrow sometime I guess.
I had a new favorite dessert that neither of us remember seeing on Oceania before. We'd have remembered! I had a vanilla and raspberry vacherin. Clay wasn't sure since we didn't know what it was but I figured I liked to 2 flavors in the name and I ordered the petit four tray to be sure. The vacherin was a disk of vanilla ice cream topped by a disk of raspberry sorbet topped by a hard meringue disk and surrounded and garnished by meringue bits garnished with fresh raspberries. I loved it. It seemed like the kind of dessert the Aussies would have loved but we didn't see this dessert earlier this year on Sirena doing the circumnavigation. Go figure. The menus have been very similiar otherwise.
It was a pretty good day in SE Alaska. Now we are southbound. Tomorrow is a return to Sitka.
photos
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Juneau, AK
photos
I had a bad night but never noticed the Captain’s promised
hour of rough seas. I woke to the fog horn constantly blaring, drowning in
yellow snot and with a fever.
Not a great day. We had such an excellent trip to SE Alaska
with Alaskan Dream Cruise that any mainstream line would fare poorly in comparison.
But, Oceania seems like they are trying to do poorly or else they care about
something else like profit over customer satisfaction.
Our day was to begin here at 11am today. That was true well
before final payment. It was sold and scheduled as a docked port from day one
to the day we arrived onboard. If you looked at the destinations brochure or
your tour tickets that day, you learned then that we are tendering in Juneau.
There were 2 ships here when we arrived and a 3rd was docked before
we left. That left plenty of dock space for us as the smallest ship, but
presumably it was cheaper to tender. Then there is O’s Regatta Lounge wait for
a tender ticket policy. It took us about an hour to get ashore this morning. Which
gave us plenty of time to meet our 12:55pm tour but little else. On the way back
we arrived to a tender just casting off and were asked to step aside and leave
a path as the next arriving tender had a medical emergency on it to be removed
to an ambulance. That tender went back without any passengers on it. We waited
longer for the original tender to tie up and prepare for us. We waited almost
an hour from the moment we walked up to under way. If there was an emergency,
then why didn’t Regatta drop a dedicated tender to handle it instead of letting
100 people stand in the cold for an hour? The tendering when there was dock space
was slap in the face enough, but then in an emergency to not think first of the
passengers. Unbelievable.
We got off to a bad start when we left to room at 7am to
find breakfast didn’t begin until 7:30am. Then our cabin didn’t get serviced
even though we stayed out until 9am. I wanted to watch Kong:Skull Island on TV
since we had missed it. So we changed the service sign and stayed in until
10:45am when tendering was announced thereby missing the end of the movie anyway.
We had set and watched the fog shifting from Horizons Lounge for over an hour
after breakfast.
It was cold all day today. It was supposed to reach 60F but
the sun never burned through. We had another O included tour here. It was
Flavors of Juneau. We went to Mendenhall Glacier for an hour. Since we had gone
to the waterfall last trip we walked up to the Visitor’s center and watched the
18-minute film. We had about 10 minutes left over to walk to the bear viewing
area where we had seen a couple of red salmon last time as well as a baby
porcupine. Nothing today. We did see several bald eagles today though. Next we
had an hour long cooking demo of salmon and blueberries served with local
Chardonnay. Finally, 20 minutes to visit Alaskan Brewing for 3 tastings. Clay had
all of both of ours and liked all but the Smoked Porter.
Back aboard now and Clay is ready for dinner. I need to save this and get changed. I will post now and assume I find nothing else to
complain about the rest of the evening.
photos
photos
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Ketchikan
photos
When I woke up and looked out a little after 6am, the skies were clear with a rosy glow and I could see a long way. By the time we got to breakfast and nearing Ketchikan we were inside a cloud with almost zero visibility. Originally rain was forecast but the newest predictions this morning were for no rain. I didn't believe and wore raingear thus guaranteeing a bright sunny day. It was one of the warmest days all summer per locals and a rare rainfree day. They said they'd had 45 inches of rain this summer. They said the salmon spawn started about a week and a half ago. We saw thousands!
We walked a self-guided tour that I had printed from online, but we picked up a better copy at the Visitor's Info center.There were 3 ships in town today. We were the last to arrive and the last to leave. It was divided into 2 walks. We first did the one in the old town since it was closest to our dock. It was also the more interesting and scenic and accurate one. We stopped for a break at New York Cafe where we had a chicken kabob lunch with salad, pita and hummus for $15 that we shared. It was delicious. Clay had a 4 beer flight for $8 and he hated all of them. We walked until it was time for our Duck Tour at 1:55pm. Ketchikan is the 4th largest city in Alaska!
We have a 6:30pm dinner reservation tonight at Polo. I will post this now as I am hopeful that dinner will not be comment worthy.
We had a mandatory disembarkation form due back by noon tomorrow for San Francisco! I don't understand short cruises! This was after embarkation day, sea day 1 and first port stop and they want you to get ready to get off.
photos
When I woke up and looked out a little after 6am, the skies were clear with a rosy glow and I could see a long way. By the time we got to breakfast and nearing Ketchikan we were inside a cloud with almost zero visibility. Originally rain was forecast but the newest predictions this morning were for no rain. I didn't believe and wore raingear thus guaranteeing a bright sunny day. It was one of the warmest days all summer per locals and a rare rainfree day. They said they'd had 45 inches of rain this summer. They said the salmon spawn started about a week and a half ago. We saw thousands!
We walked a self-guided tour that I had printed from online, but we picked up a better copy at the Visitor's Info center.There were 3 ships in town today. We were the last to arrive and the last to leave. It was divided into 2 walks. We first did the one in the old town since it was closest to our dock. It was also the more interesting and scenic and accurate one. We stopped for a break at New York Cafe where we had a chicken kabob lunch with salad, pita and hummus for $15 that we shared. It was delicious. Clay had a 4 beer flight for $8 and he hated all of them. We walked until it was time for our Duck Tour at 1:55pm. Ketchikan is the 4th largest city in Alaska!
We have a 6:30pm dinner reservation tonight at Polo. I will post this now as I am hopeful that dinner will not be comment worthy.
We had a mandatory disembarkation form due back by noon tomorrow for San Francisco! I don't understand short cruises! This was after embarkation day, sea day 1 and first port stop and they want you to get ready to get off.
photos
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)