It's going to be a long day. The phone rang for our wake-up call at 6:45, and we aren't getting home until after midnight, 3 timezones later. That's at least 21 hours, probably more.
At breakfast today, met a woman who had both knees replaced a month ago, and she was walking fine. She has a cane for added security on board the ship, but wasn't using it at home.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Day 14 (Friday, Jan 16): Going North
Today is the last “at sea” day, and also the last “on board the ship” day. I am beginning to suspect that I haven't spent enough time relaxing, since I have twice caught myself thinking that these slow old people in front of me really should get their asses moving. They are walking along and stopping and chatting with people, and generally acting like they don't have anywhere to get in a hurry.
In an attempt to ease us back into the reality of life in Vancouver, the cruise line has arranged for it to be cold (by tropical standards) and raining today. There were a lot of people on deck today, out of the rain and huddled in the towels used as blankets.
In an attempt to ease us back into the reality of life in Vancouver, the cruise line has arranged for it to be cold (by tropical standards) and raining today. There were a lot of people on deck today, out of the rain and huddled in the towels used as blankets.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Day 13 (Thursday, Jan 15):
Today was an “at sea” day. It was also a mostly “asleep” day. We slept until 10:30, had breakfast, and then Robyn went back to sleep. I exercised and read on the deck for a while, and we saw “The Golden Compass”. I've no idea what the big deal about the movie was. It didn't seem to be at all explicitly atheistic. There was a “bad” group in authority (the Magisterium) which could have been an analogue for the church, but it could also have been the DHS or the Mousketeers.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Day 12 (Wednesday, Jan 14): “C” is for Columbia
Oh, my God it is hot here.
We took a walking tour of the old town Cartagena d Indias, saw lots of old buildings and narrow streets with balconies hanging out over the street. On the tour, we paused for 10 minutes to photograph the fort. After the tour was over, we still had a few hours, so we paid a taxi to take us back to the fort so we could spend an hour and a half looking it over. It was mostly walls and ramparts, but it also had a labyrinth of subterranean passages. Dark and narrow, with steep slippery floors in the passages. The passages were used to store ammunition, and also had areas to hide solders to repel sneak attacks.
The ship has a bunch of photographers wandering around taking pictures of people at dinner, around the ship, and they also do formal photo sessions for free. All the pictures are put up on a board for people to find. If you like the photos, you can pay for them, or throw them away if you don't like them. We've got a few nice shots of us on deck. While looking over the photos today, we saw some photos of “James” and 3 of the Arizona students in a formal pose, so clearly he's making some good progress there. And we did get a wrong number call to our cabin: a young woman asking for him, so I think I'll have to retract my comment about him not doing as well as his movie namesake.
Today over martinis I discovered that Jeff from Edmonton is Jeff Turnbull, a SJCBS Edmonton alumni. Many of the Edmonton staff were Selkirk alumni, so he's been conditioned to treat anyone from Selkirk as a god, so I found that amusing for a while, until I decided to burst his bubble by letting him know that everyone has the classic “back in my day” hindsight. He'd been getting a lot of the typical “At Selkirk, we had to hike 10 miles through the snow from the dorms to the dog runs, and it was uphill both ways. We had to do it in only 30 seconds, and we'd get 100 swats if we were more than a few seconds late.” It was a little silly, but also a lot of fun.
We took a walking tour of the old town Cartagena d Indias, saw lots of old buildings and narrow streets with balconies hanging out over the street. On the tour, we paused for 10 minutes to photograph the fort. After the tour was over, we still had a few hours, so we paid a taxi to take us back to the fort so we could spend an hour and a half looking it over. It was mostly walls and ramparts, but it also had a labyrinth of subterranean passages. Dark and narrow, with steep slippery floors in the passages. The passages were used to store ammunition, and also had areas to hide solders to repel sneak attacks.
The ship has a bunch of photographers wandering around taking pictures of people at dinner, around the ship, and they also do formal photo sessions for free. All the pictures are put up on a board for people to find. If you like the photos, you can pay for them, or throw them away if you don't like them. We've got a few nice shots of us on deck. While looking over the photos today, we saw some photos of “James” and 3 of the Arizona students in a formal pose, so clearly he's making some good progress there. And we did get a wrong number call to our cabin: a young woman asking for him, so I think I'll have to retract my comment about him not doing as well as his movie namesake.
Today over martinis I discovered that Jeff from Edmonton is Jeff Turnbull, a SJCBS Edmonton alumni. Many of the Edmonton staff were Selkirk alumni, so he's been conditioned to treat anyone from Selkirk as a god, so I found that amusing for a while, until I decided to burst his bubble by letting him know that everyone has the classic “back in my day” hindsight. He'd been getting a lot of the typical “At Selkirk, we had to hike 10 miles through the snow from the dorms to the dog runs, and it was uphill both ways. We had to do it in only 30 seconds, and we'd get 100 swats if we were more than a few seconds late.” It was a little silly, but also a lot of fun.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Day 11 (Tuesday, Jan 13): Today I have a goal.
I haven't been saving my work after each edit, and managed to run the battery dry so that I lost Sunday and Monday's blog entries. I've tried to reconstruct them from memory, but that's why they are a bit sparse.
Today, I decided that I should have a goal. I decided that I should swim in all the pools on board today (at least, all the ones I had access to). Robyn agreed to go on my quest with me, and together we started off at the crack of noon. We had a very grueling day of soaking in all 4 hot tubs, shooting hoops in the pool with a basketball net, and swimming in the “wave” pool. We even tackled the covered pool, which was so heavily chlorinated that I had to get out quickly and wash my eyes. The only two pools I missed were the kiddy pool and the staff only pool on a different deck.
We met a young couple from Edmonton (Jeff and Ruth) in one of the hot tubs, then ran into them in several of the pools as I continued on my quest. Ruth warned us that the martinis at the “Martini bar” are made with 4 oz of alcohol, and Jeff coined the term “hangover day” (to go with “port day” and “sea day”). It seemed appropriate.
Today, I decided that I should have a goal. I decided that I should swim in all the pools on board today (at least, all the ones I had access to). Robyn agreed to go on my quest with me, and together we started off at the crack of noon. We had a very grueling day of soaking in all 4 hot tubs, shooting hoops in the pool with a basketball net, and swimming in the “wave” pool. We even tackled the covered pool, which was so heavily chlorinated that I had to get out quickly and wash my eyes. The only two pools I missed were the kiddy pool and the staff only pool on a different deck.
We met a young couple from Edmonton (Jeff and Ruth) in one of the hot tubs, then ran into them in several of the pools as I continued on my quest. Ruth warned us that the martinis at the “Martini bar” are made with 4 oz of alcohol, and Jeff coined the term “hangover day” (to go with “port day” and “sea day”). It seemed appropriate.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Day 10 (Monday, Jan 12): A Canal: Panama
We took lots of photos through the locks today. I'll probably get around to linking to them here. The Panamanians are are building a new set of locks to the North, to handle even bigger ships. I'm not sure when they are supposed to be finished, but Robyn assumes it is the 100th anniversary, in 2014.
After the locks, we had a 2 hour stop at Cristobal Pier (spelling probably incorrect). We didn't actually get to go off the pier area, but we still managed to do a bit of shopping for tacky tourist souvenirs. I managed to get what I planned to bring back from Panama. We also saw a bunch of aboriginals wearing beads and tattoos, and almost nothing else. They were selling hand-made handicrafts. Robyn really liked a basket-weave cheetah mask, and I got a couple of necklaces. The young man who sold us the mask said it was made by his mother (who was also there), so we got a picture of him, and his mother with the mask.
After the locks, we had a 2 hour stop at Cristobal Pier (spelling probably incorrect). We didn't actually get to go off the pier area, but we still managed to do a bit of shopping for tacky tourist souvenirs. I managed to get what I planned to bring back from Panama. We also saw a bunch of aboriginals wearing beads and tattoos, and almost nothing else. They were selling hand-made handicrafts. Robyn really liked a basket-weave cheetah mask, and I got a couple of necklaces. The young man who sold us the mask said it was made by his mother (who was also there), so we got a picture of him, and his mother with the mask.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Day 9 (Sunday, Jan 11): A Man, a Plan
Robyn is released from her isolation today. We got food, then exercised for quite a while, burning off all the energy pent up from her 48 hour confinement. We are still exercising almost all days, it seems to be helping on not gaining weight.
I finished the book. They did eventually decide to dam the big river, and thereby flood half of the isthmus into a huge lake. Then they're building locks to get up to the lake and back down on the other side. They never did finish the difficult area, it continues to have small slides, and needs to be dredged regularly to this day. However, the canal is basically working exactly as designed 100 years later. We also saw the 60 minute movie summary of the book (by same author), which was showing on the ship's cinema to give everyone background. It had most of the technical information, but not all of the political intrigue.
We did a Champagne and sparkling wine tasting event. We were sat at a table with a couple of 21-ish women (Brittany and Morgan, I think) from Arizona university. They are students in a tourism program, and we learned that they are taking the cruise as part of their studies. There are about 20 people on the cruise from their course, 16 of whom are women.
At dinner today, it appears that our James Bond isn't quite as suave with the women as his namesake is, as he's trying to get advice from Tara for how to successfully hit on one (or more, for all I know) of the girls in the tourism class. Not too surprising, as both Brittany and Morgan were fairly hot, and I assume most of their classmates were, too.
I finished the book. They did eventually decide to dam the big river, and thereby flood half of the isthmus into a huge lake. Then they're building locks to get up to the lake and back down on the other side. They never did finish the difficult area, it continues to have small slides, and needs to be dredged regularly to this day. However, the canal is basically working exactly as designed 100 years later. We also saw the 60 minute movie summary of the book (by same author), which was showing on the ship's cinema to give everyone background. It had most of the technical information, but not all of the political intrigue.
We did a Champagne and sparkling wine tasting event. We were sat at a table with a couple of 21-ish women (Brittany and Morgan, I think) from Arizona university. They are students in a tourism program, and we learned that they are taking the cruise as part of their studies. There are about 20 people on the cruise from their course, 16 of whom are women.
At dinner today, it appears that our James Bond isn't quite as suave with the women as his namesake is, as he's trying to get advice from Tara for how to successfully hit on one (or more, for all I know) of the girls in the tourism class. Not too surprising, as both Brittany and Morgan were fairly hot, and I assume most of their classmates were, too.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Day 8 (Saturday, Jan 10): The Bitter Taste of Freedom
Today is the day I am granted my freedom, as my 24 hour isolation draws to a close. Sadly, Robyn is locked up for another 24 hours, so I must explore Costa Rica on my own. The ship docks in a small resort village hours away from anything interesting (all of the available tours are 7 or 8 hours long). We've already decided not to take any tours here, so there isn't much disappointment that Robyn is unable to go ashore. Some, of course, but not much. I went ashore, purchased postcards and the obligatory fridge magnet, and took a bunch of photos. All the photos
We've got a rule about bad jokes: no more than once per day. Every time I see land, I yell (or say loudly) “Land ho!”, and Robyn replies “Who you calling a 'ho'”? It wasn't funny the first time we did it. It is getting less funny every day. Eventually, one of us is going to break. Either I'll say “Hey Robyn, the shore is visible now”, or she'll reply to my “Land Ho!” with “Oh good, we'll be docking soon.” But until that happens, the painful joke continues. Oh, and we are not allowed to mention icebergs or the Titanic. It's best that way. Beached whale references, particularly when I take off my shirt, are still OK.
Today's room service adventure: we ordered cold cereal, coffee, hot chocolate, and toasted brown bread. The bread was white bread, but lightly toasted so as to be vaguely brown. I appreciate the effort to fake it, but it was not brown bread. We did get the cereal, even Raisin Bran and Corn Flakes as we asked for. Although we didn't specify it, they were smart enough to include milk with it. Then we realized that they were not smart enough to provide bowls for the cereal, nor cups for the coffee and hot chocolate. I called room service to ask for two cups and two bowls. About 5 minutes after calling, I realized that we also didn't have spoons. I decided not to call them again, and see if they could extrapolate. Fortunately, the bowls came with soup spoons, and the cups came with teaspoons.
To prepare myself for the trip through the Panama Canal, I've been reading a book on the history of the building of the canal. It is a fascinating read, as there was a lot of political and entrepreneurial intrigue needed. At the turn of the century, they believed that any engineering feat was possible, as long as they could apply enough money and manpower to the problem. However, getting the money (billions of late 1800 and early 1900 dollars) and getting everyone on the same plan was the real challenge. I'm at the point in the book where they are serious about making it a lock canal (not a sea level one), and one of the engineering team is the same person who built the canal and locks at the Soo. Until the Panama canal, they were the biggest and most complex lock structure in the world, and the guy who built the Soo locks was the world expert in large lock systems. I didn't expect a home-town reference.
In case you're wondering, here is the story of the Panama Canal so far:
We've got a rule about bad jokes: no more than once per day. Every time I see land, I yell (or say loudly) “Land ho!”, and Robyn replies “Who you calling a 'ho'”? It wasn't funny the first time we did it. It is getting less funny every day. Eventually, one of us is going to break. Either I'll say “Hey Robyn, the shore is visible now”, or she'll reply to my “Land Ho!” with “Oh good, we'll be docking soon.” But until that happens, the painful joke continues. Oh, and we are not allowed to mention icebergs or the Titanic. It's best that way. Beached whale references, particularly when I take off my shirt, are still OK.
Today's room service adventure: we ordered cold cereal, coffee, hot chocolate, and toasted brown bread. The bread was white bread, but lightly toasted so as to be vaguely brown. I appreciate the effort to fake it, but it was not brown bread. We did get the cereal, even Raisin Bran and Corn Flakes as we asked for. Although we didn't specify it, they were smart enough to include milk with it. Then we realized that they were not smart enough to provide bowls for the cereal, nor cups for the coffee and hot chocolate. I called room service to ask for two cups and two bowls. About 5 minutes after calling, I realized that we also didn't have spoons. I decided not to call them again, and see if they could extrapolate. Fortunately, the bowls came with soup spoons, and the cups came with teaspoons.
To prepare myself for the trip through the Panama Canal, I've been reading a book on the history of the building of the canal. It is a fascinating read, as there was a lot of political and entrepreneurial intrigue needed. At the turn of the century, they believed that any engineering feat was possible, as long as they could apply enough money and manpower to the problem. However, getting the money (billions of late 1800 and early 1900 dollars) and getting everyone on the same plan was the real challenge. I'm at the point in the book where they are serious about making it a lock canal (not a sea level one), and one of the engineering team is the same person who built the canal and locks at the Soo. Until the Panama canal, they were the biggest and most complex lock structure in the world, and the guy who built the Soo locks was the world expert in large lock systems. I didn't expect a home-town reference.
In case you're wondering, here is the story of the Panama Canal so far:
- The French guy who built the Suez Canal decides that he can do better, and tackles Panama.
- The engineers say he needs a lock canal, but he decides to build a sea-level one (because he feels those are better). He refuses to allow reality to spoil his dream.
- Vast sums of money are spent on the canal, and many people die of Yellow fever and malaria. Eventually the company runs out of money, and the investors lose everything. Many people lose their life savings. There's a huge scandal and businesspeople go to jail. Politicians manage to dodge serious repercussions.
- The American government (Roosevelt) decides they need a canal. They nearly decide to build it in Nicaragua, but eventually decide to buy the failed French effort and finish it.
- The country of Columbia (which the state of Panama is part of) gets greedy and wants too much money for a treaty allowing the USA to build the canal. The state of Panama, realizing the canal was more important to them than it was to the rest of Columbia, decides to secede from Columbia. The USA, in a blatantly illegal and sadly trend-setting move, encourages and enables the revolution. Roosevelt (foreshadowing future presidents) responds to criticism of the illegality of the move by saying the canal needed to be built, and the end justifies the means (and says it well before the end has been realized).
- It is really, really, hard. Claims of “mission complete” prove to be premature (OK, “mission complete” is from a different American fiasco, not Panama. But it turns into a quagmire, and public opinion goes against the effort.)
- They conclude that a sea-level canal would be impossible, and they are going to build one with locks, and flood half of the Panamanian isthmus.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Day 7 (Friday, January 9): Quarantine
Today is an at sea day. In a (possibly misguided) effort to experience the full cruise experience, Robyn is sick today. So, we are in quarantine now. Robyn's sentence is for 48 hours after the last symptom, mine is for 24 hours, at which point I have to prove I'm not sick. If this were our honeymoon and we were both still 25, this would not be a problem at all. As it stands now, we'll probably be a little bit bored. But not much.
Captain's noon announcement is at 12:03 today. There was an earthquake in San Jose, Costa Rica. It won't affect the port we're going to be entering. He repeated the sickness warning, but this time didn't give a number.
Room service is expanded: we get to order off both the 24 hour room service menu, and (if we are ordering around dinner time), off the main dining room menu as well. So there is a lot of choice. And they never seem to deliver what we ask for, so it is always an adventure to see what we end up getting.
There are a bunch of pay-per-view movies available, and while we are in isolation, they are free. But we've been amusing ourselves other ways, and haven't watched a movie yet. Maybe tomorrow.
Captain's noon announcement is at 12:03 today. There was an earthquake in San Jose, Costa Rica. It won't affect the port we're going to be entering. He repeated the sickness warning, but this time didn't give a number.
Room service is expanded: we get to order off both the 24 hour room service menu, and (if we are ordering around dinner time), off the main dining room menu as well. So there is a lot of choice. And they never seem to deliver what we ask for, so it is always an adventure to see what we end up getting.
There are a bunch of pay-per-view movies available, and while we are in isolation, they are free. But we've been amusing ourselves other ways, and haven't watched a movie yet. Maybe tomorrow.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Day 6 (Thursday, January 8): Look at all the fish!
Today was a port day, in Huatulco.
We have already paid for a snorkeling tour here today, so we're going to do it (even though Robyn isn't feeling 100%). Robyn was a bit cold, but managed. We both enjoyed it. We saw: red fish, blue fish, big blue fish, small blue fish; yellow fish with blue stripes. Grey fish with electric blue dots (Robyn's favourite). Blue fish with a yellow stripe (Wade's favorite); coral; a huge school of fish going past us; it was like a traffic intersection and we had to merge with the traffic. We saw lots of different coral, long pointy fish, short colourful fish. At one point our guide had us all swim single file into a cave, which was pretty cool. No fish in the cave, but lots of fun floating all packed together and being gently pushed about by the waves.
One of the snorkelers had a waterproof digital camera. Very nice. It looks just like any other digital camera (the usual buttons and knobs), but it is 100% shock and waterproof. She took it in the ocean with her to photograph the fish. I think I might just want one.
The Quarantine continues. Today's announcement says a “small number” of passengers, and then mentions 400. I wonder how many it will be tomorrow? There are up to 1800 people on board. Robyn is not feeling well, but it does not seem to match the symptoms we should look out for, she's just tired. While Robyn rested, I worked on disinfecting my gastro-intestinal tract with several strong mojitos, and did some wildlife watching while reading by the pool. I was a little unsteady on my feet getting back to the cabin, and this time it wasn't entirely the rocking of the ship to blame.
Robyn says:
We have already paid for a snorkeling tour here today, so we're going to do it (even though Robyn isn't feeling 100%). Robyn was a bit cold, but managed. We both enjoyed it. We saw: red fish, blue fish, big blue fish, small blue fish; yellow fish with blue stripes. Grey fish with electric blue dots (Robyn's favourite). Blue fish with a yellow stripe (Wade's favorite); coral; a huge school of fish going past us; it was like a traffic intersection and we had to merge with the traffic. We saw lots of different coral, long pointy fish, short colourful fish. At one point our guide had us all swim single file into a cave, which was pretty cool. No fish in the cave, but lots of fun floating all packed together and being gently pushed about by the waves.
One of the snorkelers had a waterproof digital camera. Very nice. It looks just like any other digital camera (the usual buttons and knobs), but it is 100% shock and waterproof. She took it in the ocean with her to photograph the fish. I think I might just want one.
The Quarantine continues. Today's announcement says a “small number” of passengers, and then mentions 400. I wonder how many it will be tomorrow? There are up to 1800 people on board. Robyn is not feeling well, but it does not seem to match the symptoms we should look out for, she's just tired. While Robyn rested, I worked on disinfecting my gastro-intestinal tract with several strong mojitos, and did some wildlife watching while reading by the pool. I was a little unsteady on my feet getting back to the cabin, and this time it wasn't entirely the rocking of the ship to blame.
Robyn says:
- black fish with electric blue spots
- big conga line of fish
- big densely packed school of mostly blue with yellow stripe fish
- holes in the coral full of fish
- long fish with yellow stripes
- colourful rock fish
- we went into a cave, and the waves put us up and down.
- Water colder over sand than over coral.
- Puffer fish. One being harassed by the guide, two not.
- The boat captain was really good at his job, seeing what we were doing and being ready to help exactly when needed.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Day 5 (Wednesday, Jan 7): The Dread Pirate Drake
Today we spent in Acapulco, just walking about. The city is very noisy, and a bit smelly. There were a bunch of cars with loudspeakers on top, running some kind of commercial. The Spanish was streaming by a bit too quickly to understand what it was all about, but it was clearly annoying.
After our first walk-about, we went to the museum, which is in an old fort right next to the cruise ship pier. It had a really good display of the local history (and there is a lot, since Acapulco was basically the gateway to the Pacific, so all Spanish ships trading with Asia went through there. The fort itself is fascinating, built as a pentagon, with sentry posts and cannon on the roof (accessible by a ramp), and a moat (with drawbridge and portcullis). The indoor displays were in Spanish, with most having an understandable (although sometimes humorouusly poor) English translation. It was interesting to see an entire section on “English Pirates”, and Francis Drake as the worst of the bunch. I guess it all depends on your perspective.
While wandering, we found an “expensive things” store. There were shiny motorcycles, dishwashers, and really big televisions. My first thought was that's a strange mix of things to sell in the same store, but there is a strong theme: stuff that almost nobody in Mexico can afford.
We have amassed a collection of postcards by now, so we need stamps. We asked a bunch of people where we could buy some “estampa”. They did understand what Robyn wanted (good for her), but mostly didn't know where to buy them, or in some cases gave us confusing directions. Finally we were intercepted by a nice man who we are sure works for Acapulco's tourism office (he had some sort of ID around his neck), and he took us to the post office. It was inside a government building with no useful signs in front, so we would never have found it ourselves. He chatted nicely (in excellent English) with us, and helped Robyn on her pronunciation of Spanish as we walked there. Once there, he translated our request for stamps to the teller, and made sure we got the right kind at the correct price. He didn't want any kind of tip. Clearly the city is worried about their reputation, and wants to make sure that tourists have a good time and don't get ripped off.
I twisted my ankle today. I do this on most of my vacations, it is sort of a tradition. Oddly enough, it was my right ankle, where it is usually the left ankle that twists. It was better after a bit of ice, so I'm not too worried. All of my ankle physiotherapy seems to have helped: even if it didn't prevent the twist, it made is heal much quicker.
Some comments from Robyn:
After we were back on board, the captain came on the PA to talk about the medical problem. He says that “a small number” of guests are sick, and that we should wash our hands and use the hand sanitizers offered. He mentions 200 passengers are affected. He mentions special processes to stop the spread of germs, one of which is that we cannot touch anything around the food area. This means there is a plastic-gloved worker stationed at each drink area, and if you want a cup of coffee, he will pour it for you. Basically, nothing is self-serve anymore. Not too bad, since there are enough people for them to pull it off. On our way back from dinner, we see a cabin door on our deck with a seal across it, indicating (we assume) that cabin is quarantined. The rumour is that there are a lot on decks 2,3,4 and a few on 8 (our deck).
We're still fine, so we went to the “sock hop” party. It was loud, lame, and didn't seem to have any 50s music (did the 50's do conga lines?). We left after a few minutes.
After our first walk-about, we went to the museum, which is in an old fort right next to the cruise ship pier. It had a really good display of the local history (and there is a lot, since Acapulco was basically the gateway to the Pacific, so all Spanish ships trading with Asia went through there. The fort itself is fascinating, built as a pentagon, with sentry posts and cannon on the roof (accessible by a ramp), and a moat (with drawbridge and portcullis). The indoor displays were in Spanish, with most having an understandable (although sometimes humorouusly poor) English translation. It was interesting to see an entire section on “English Pirates”, and Francis Drake as the worst of the bunch. I guess it all depends on your perspective.
While wandering, we found an “expensive things” store. There were shiny motorcycles, dishwashers, and really big televisions. My first thought was that's a strange mix of things to sell in the same store, but there is a strong theme: stuff that almost nobody in Mexico can afford.
We have amassed a collection of postcards by now, so we need stamps. We asked a bunch of people where we could buy some “estampa”. They did understand what Robyn wanted (good for her), but mostly didn't know where to buy them, or in some cases gave us confusing directions. Finally we were intercepted by a nice man who we are sure works for Acapulco's tourism office (he had some sort of ID around his neck), and he took us to the post office. It was inside a government building with no useful signs in front, so we would never have found it ourselves. He chatted nicely (in excellent English) with us, and helped Robyn on her pronunciation of Spanish as we walked there. Once there, he translated our request for stamps to the teller, and made sure we got the right kind at the correct price. He didn't want any kind of tip. Clearly the city is worried about their reputation, and wants to make sure that tourists have a good time and don't get ripped off.
I twisted my ankle today. I do this on most of my vacations, it is sort of a tradition. Oddly enough, it was my right ankle, where it is usually the left ankle that twists. It was better after a bit of ice, so I'm not too worried. All of my ankle physiotherapy seems to have helped: even if it didn't prevent the twist, it made is heal much quicker.
Some comments from Robyn:
- traffic was not as bad as Paris
- no snow on the sidewalks
- we saw a pothole about the size of a Volkswagen bug.
After we were back on board, the captain came on the PA to talk about the medical problem. He says that “a small number” of guests are sick, and that we should wash our hands and use the hand sanitizers offered. He mentions 200 passengers are affected. He mentions special processes to stop the spread of germs, one of which is that we cannot touch anything around the food area. This means there is a plastic-gloved worker stationed at each drink area, and if you want a cup of coffee, he will pour it for you. Basically, nothing is self-serve anymore. Not too bad, since there are enough people for them to pull it off. On our way back from dinner, we see a cabin door on our deck with a seal across it, indicating (we assume) that cabin is quarantined. The rumour is that there are a lot on decks 2,3,4 and a few on 8 (our deck).
We're still fine, so we went to the “sock hop” party. It was loud, lame, and didn't seem to have any 50s music (did the 50's do conga lines?). We left after a few minutes.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Day 4 (Tuesday Jan 6): Tablemates
Today is another at sea day. There's lots more food to eat. We both managed two workouts in the gym, and I hope it helps.
Dinner is assigned seating, and our dining companions for the cruise are: Rod, Rob and Heloise, Tera and Andrew.
Rod (a.k.a James Bond) is from England. We don't know exactly what he does for a living (he seemed to steer the conversation away when we mentioned professions). All we know is that he keeps fit, and has been working 13 months straight on something stressful, so he needed a good break. He is taking two cruises back-to-back – at the end of this cruise he will disembark, move two piers down, and get on a Holland America cruise of the Mediterranean.
Rob and Heloise are from Victoria, so they are almost neighbors. They are also experienced cruisers, and they do a lot of RV-ing, both in their own around North America, and they've rented one to cruise Europe. They are nice folk. Like many retirees, they are busier now than they were when working. They have been taking care of an elderly relative, and needed a break, so they took this cruise.
Tera and Andrew are Australian, and like most Australians, they are world travelers. This is Andrew's first time in North America, but they have both done quite a bit of travel in Asia.
Robyn is bored with the books she brought. Fortunately, there is a library full of cheap cruise-ship type paperbacks, and she's found more to read.
Today there has been some discussion of illness on board. The staff says they are doing lots of extra cleaning and sanitizing, and asking everyone to be extra careful with hand washing. I hope it doesn't turn into something serious.
Dinner is assigned seating, and our dining companions for the cruise are: Rod, Rob and Heloise, Tera and Andrew.
Rod (a.k.a James Bond) is from England. We don't know exactly what he does for a living (he seemed to steer the conversation away when we mentioned professions). All we know is that he keeps fit, and has been working 13 months straight on something stressful, so he needed a good break. He is taking two cruises back-to-back – at the end of this cruise he will disembark, move two piers down, and get on a Holland America cruise of the Mediterranean.
Rob and Heloise are from Victoria, so they are almost neighbors. They are also experienced cruisers, and they do a lot of RV-ing, both in their own around North America, and they've rented one to cruise Europe. They are nice folk. Like many retirees, they are busier now than they were when working. They have been taking care of an elderly relative, and needed a break, so they took this cruise.
Tera and Andrew are Australian, and like most Australians, they are world travelers. This is Andrew's first time in North America, but they have both done quite a bit of travel in Asia.
Robyn is bored with the books she brought. Fortunately, there is a library full of cheap cruise-ship type paperbacks, and she's found more to read.
Today there has been some discussion of illness on board. The staff says they are doing lots of extra cleaning and sanitizing, and asking everyone to be extra careful with hand washing. I hope it doesn't turn into something serious.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Day 3 (Monday, Jan 5): Whoa means Stop; Click-click Means Go
Today we spent in Cabo San Lucas. This is a tiny town whose sole purpose in life is to suck money out of cruse ship passengers. It is at the tip of the Baja peninsula. I don't even think it has road access to elsewhere in Mexico. There isn't a pier large enough for our ship, so we dropped anchor in the harbor and had to take a tender to shore. The trip to shore was uneventful, but on the way back the tender crashed through an uncommonly large wave, sending a huge wall of water down through the open hatch in the ceiling. Robyn and I were sitting away from the blast zone, so we stayed dry, but we had an excellent view of our fellow passengers getting completely soaked. They weren't happy.
We had arranged a horseback riding excursion for today. Once on shore, we found the correct bus, and were relieved to find it air conditioned and driven by a sane man. The bus went to a stereotypical Mexican ranch. It had a couple of lazy dogs lying in the dust. It had an abandoned truck. It had a rooster crowing, and goats and hens wandering around. There was “cartoon cactus” all around (the same kind as you see in Road Runner cartoons). All us turistas were given the safety talk (“Don't walk behind the horse, they might kick; don't get off by yourself, you may get caught in the stirrup and stepped on.”), we were assigned our horses and in moments we were off. It was a nice tame single-file walk, and the horses knew exactly where to go, so it didn't matter if we could ride or not. Wade managed to convince his horse to stop and go on command, but the horse generally decided on the direction to ride in. It was an acceptable compromise.
As we rode along the beach, we saw a bunch (“school'?) of skates flying above the waves. I didn't know they did that, but apparently they do. We later found a postcard with a good picture of it, I'll try to remember to scan it and put the picture here before we mail the card. We also saw lots of birds, some most probably boobies. And we saw a couple of dogs, but they were the ones from the ranch that came with us for a walk.
After the horses, we had a couple of hours to walk around town, shopping. Robyn found a blanket that she liked, and was told $30. She said she liked it, but not that much. Shopkeeper asked how much she was willing to pay. She said $20. Shopkeeper suggested $27, then $25. We weren't interested. Shopkeeper tried to show us other blankets, we didn't like them. We left. As we were leaving the store, he said “OK, $20.”. Robyn wins.
We had arranged a horseback riding excursion for today. Once on shore, we found the correct bus, and were relieved to find it air conditioned and driven by a sane man. The bus went to a stereotypical Mexican ranch. It had a couple of lazy dogs lying in the dust. It had an abandoned truck. It had a rooster crowing, and goats and hens wandering around. There was “cartoon cactus” all around (the same kind as you see in Road Runner cartoons). All us turistas were given the safety talk (“Don't walk behind the horse, they might kick; don't get off by yourself, you may get caught in the stirrup and stepped on.”), we were assigned our horses and in moments we were off. It was a nice tame single-file walk, and the horses knew exactly where to go, so it didn't matter if we could ride or not. Wade managed to convince his horse to stop and go on command, but the horse generally decided on the direction to ride in. It was an acceptable compromise.
As we rode along the beach, we saw a bunch (“school'?) of skates flying above the waves. I didn't know they did that, but apparently they do. We later found a postcard with a good picture of it, I'll try to remember to scan it and put the picture here before we mail the card. We also saw lots of birds, some most probably boobies. And we saw a couple of dogs, but they were the ones from the ranch that came with us for a walk.
After the horses, we had a couple of hours to walk around town, shopping. Robyn found a blanket that she liked, and was told $30. She said she liked it, but not that much. Shopkeeper asked how much she was willing to pay. She said $20. Shopkeeper suggested $27, then $25. We weren't interested. Shopkeeper tried to show us other blankets, we didn't like them. We left. As we were leaving the store, he said “OK, $20.”. Robyn wins.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Day 2 (Sunday, Jan 4): At least it isn't snowing
Today is our first “at sea” day. These are the days you are supposed to spend lazing on the deck by the pool, sipping an iced drink, and getting a sunburn. It is about 15 ºC, and raining lightly. Happy that it isn't snowing, we get deck towels to use as blankets, and spend some time on deck.
Rhys, our room attendant, fixed our bed problem the first day by simply fastening the two single beds together to produce something that looks queen sized, and put new sheets and blankets on. It is surprisingly comfortable, although there is a noticeable ridge in the middle. At least we are not in hammocks or bunk beds, as some shipboard clichés expect.
Today is the first formal evening of the cruise, which introduces the one thing that everyone says about a cruise ship: there is a lot of food. Room service is available 24 hours a day. Early breakfast starts at 6:30am, and there is food available at all hours in various locations on board until midnight, with an inexplicable gap between 11:30 and noon. All food, as well as water, coffee, tea, iced tea and juice are included in the fare. Alcoholic and carbonated drinks are extra. Beer and mixed drinks are between $5 and $7, wine ranges from $8 per glass for cheap to $(I don't want to know) per bottle for good wine. There is an extensive wine cellar on board.
The food ranges from passable to really good. The pizza and pasta bar is half-decent (specifically, the pasta is decent). The burgers, hot dogs and chicken wings by the pool are not bad. The food at the real restaurant for the evening dinners has been quite good. The breakfast and lunch buffets are as good as buffets can be expected to be. Room service provided a tasty sandwich, cheese and fruit platter. Although there is food available almost anywhere and at all times, the portions are reasonably small. This is good, because since you are eating all the time, you don't want each meal to be big. And if you're really hungry, there's nothing wrong with getting a second or more helping.
As I prepared for this first formal evening of the cruise, my electric razor finally died. I had to shave with a cheap disposable razor that I had in the bottom of my toiletry case for just such an emergency, and normal hand soap instead of shaving cream. I looked like an extra from a horror movie. Eventually I got the bleeding to stop and didn't get any bloodstains on my shirt, but I probably didn't make a good impression on the other guests. Or maybe they didn't even notice.
As part of the shipboard entertainment, there was a naturalist (the kind that studies nature, not the kind that wanders around au natural) who gave a lecture today. It was interesting, showing us some of the wildlife we might see, talking about the oceanic geography etc. One of the species of birds we are likely to see is the booby, so I've been on the lookout for boobies ever since. I expect to see more once the weather warms up a bit.
Rhys, our room attendant, fixed our bed problem the first day by simply fastening the two single beds together to produce something that looks queen sized, and put new sheets and blankets on. It is surprisingly comfortable, although there is a noticeable ridge in the middle. At least we are not in hammocks or bunk beds, as some shipboard clichés expect.
Today is the first formal evening of the cruise, which introduces the one thing that everyone says about a cruise ship: there is a lot of food. Room service is available 24 hours a day. Early breakfast starts at 6:30am, and there is food available at all hours in various locations on board until midnight, with an inexplicable gap between 11:30 and noon. All food, as well as water, coffee, tea, iced tea and juice are included in the fare. Alcoholic and carbonated drinks are extra. Beer and mixed drinks are between $5 and $7, wine ranges from $8 per glass for cheap to $(I don't want to know) per bottle for good wine. There is an extensive wine cellar on board.
The food ranges from passable to really good. The pizza and pasta bar is half-decent (specifically, the pasta is decent). The burgers, hot dogs and chicken wings by the pool are not bad. The food at the real restaurant for the evening dinners has been quite good. The breakfast and lunch buffets are as good as buffets can be expected to be. Room service provided a tasty sandwich, cheese and fruit platter. Although there is food available almost anywhere and at all times, the portions are reasonably small. This is good, because since you are eating all the time, you don't want each meal to be big. And if you're really hungry, there's nothing wrong with getting a second or more helping.
As I prepared for this first formal evening of the cruise, my electric razor finally died. I had to shave with a cheap disposable razor that I had in the bottom of my toiletry case for just such an emergency, and normal hand soap instead of shaving cream. I looked like an extra from a horror movie. Eventually I got the bleeding to stop and didn't get any bloodstains on my shirt, but I probably didn't make a good impression on the other guests. Or maybe they didn't even notice.
As part of the shipboard entertainment, there was a naturalist (the kind that studies nature, not the kind that wanders around au natural) who gave a lecture today. It was interesting, showing us some of the wildlife we might see, talking about the oceanic geography etc. One of the species of birds we are likely to see is the booby, so I've been on the lookout for boobies ever since. I expect to see more once the weather warms up a bit.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Day 1 (Saturday, Jan 3): Arrival
The direct flight from Vancouver to San Diego was to arrive at 12:40, and we had to be on the ship by 16:00 or so. We were assured that it was about a 10 minute taxi ride from airport to pier, so this seemed like a good idea. However, when I planned the trip,I was not expecting the very special Vancouver December of 2008. Vancouver had unprecedented snowfall, icy roads, and airport delays. It was snowing a bit in Vancouver on the day we were to depart, but that wasn't a major problem. The major problem was the fact that the plane we needed to take to San Diego had to come to Vancouver from Saskatoon, and it hadn't occurred to Air Canada that the weather in Saskatoon in December might be less than ideal. Our plane was late arriving in Vancouver airport. As we waited (and waited, and waited) for our flight which was supposed to leave at 9:30, we calculated that as long as we took off by noon we would make it. We finally left at 11:30. This did give us enough time in San Diego to reach the ship and get checked in, but not with much time to spare.
Our welcome aboard the ship was great. On shore, they took our luggage, processed our travel documents, passports and that stuff, gave us our magic “everything card”, then sent us to the ship. Upon boarding, they scanned the card and took our photo for security purposes as our card was scanned (that was the third time we were photographed, but the other two were just trying to sell us portraits). Then they gave us a glass of champagne and a steward showed us to our cabin. There was a line for the elevators, so the steward suggested that we'd take the stairs instead. More on this later. The cabin was spacious by European hotel standards, and way bigger than the cabins you see in war movies, but not overly large. We had two single beds, but as the cabin attendant showed up, we asked him to fix it, and he did.
The ship departed on schedule at 6:00, accompanied by a low rumble of engine noise and a bit of ship movement. Robyn and Wade both started to feel a bit light-headed and unstable on our feet, almost as if we were drunk or sick. It only took a moment or two to realize that we weren't drunk: the floor was actually moving. Having realized that, it was much easier to deal with.
The ship has decks 4 to 12 (with some exterior access to deck 13). There is capacity for 1800 or so people. There are lineups for elevators. We quickly decided that we would not use the elevators, both to save time and to get some much needed additional exercise.
Our welcome aboard the ship was great. On shore, they took our luggage, processed our travel documents, passports and that stuff, gave us our magic “everything card”, then sent us to the ship. Upon boarding, they scanned the card and took our photo for security purposes as our card was scanned (that was the third time we were photographed, but the other two were just trying to sell us portraits). Then they gave us a glass of champagne and a steward showed us to our cabin. There was a line for the elevators, so the steward suggested that we'd take the stairs instead. More on this later. The cabin was spacious by European hotel standards, and way bigger than the cabins you see in war movies, but not overly large. We had two single beds, but as the cabin attendant showed up, we asked him to fix it, and he did.
The ship departed on schedule at 6:00, accompanied by a low rumble of engine noise and a bit of ship movement. Robyn and Wade both started to feel a bit light-headed and unstable on our feet, almost as if we were drunk or sick. It only took a moment or two to realize that we weren't drunk: the floor was actually moving. Having realized that, it was much easier to deal with.
The ship has decks 4 to 12 (with some exterior access to deck 13). There is capacity for 1800 or so people. There are lineups for elevators. We quickly decided that we would not use the elevators, both to save time and to get some much needed additional exercise.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Wade and Robyn are going on a cruise
Robyn and I are going on a 14-day cruise from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale, through the Panama Canal. Actually, we've already done the cruise, since I'm creating this blog entry in the Fort Lauderdale airport terminal, waiting for our flight home.
However, I have carefully created a bunch of blog entries, which I will be uploading and posting one per day now, so it will look like daily updates, just two weeks late. Kind of like a Reality TV show, where they make you think you are seeing everything as it happens, but it actually goes on TV months after the events have happened.
However, I have carefully created a bunch of blog entries, which I will be uploading and posting one per day now, so it will look like daily updates, just two weeks late. Kind of like a Reality TV show, where they make you think you are seeing everything as it happens, but it actually goes on TV months after the events have happened.
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