2012-1-8 Aqua

I haven’t had any luck uploading pictures since we left the hotel but I will try again when I find an Internet café. I decided to swim in the ship’s pool for the first time in my life. The average age on this ship has got to be 75 so I figured the pool would not be full. 

At 9 a.m., there was a water exercise class. The pool isn’t big but since I am tall, I had a section pretty much to myself. The director gave us a pretty good workout. If I remember any of the moves, I will share them with my pool friends when I get home. 

There was a special lunch put on today by the Indonesian crew. It was a little spicy. They have their own chef on board. The carbs they serve are taro and rice. The dessert was banana fritters. Tonight is another formal night. Not our favorite but we dress up and go anyway. 

We have made some friends on board and always have a great discussion at dinner. My favorite couple so far are both physicists from Canada. There are at least two other couples on board who are from Utah. We met one couple from Holiday during the lifeboat drill. He had on a Utah hat. 

After dinner, there is a show in the big lounge. We have seen only the comedian and the Olympic gymnast so far. We went to several lectures about the ports and about the history of the Hawaiian Islands. 

There is a husband and wife lecture team on board. She specializes in astronomy and bird watching--two of my favorites. Her husband lectured today on aircraft carriers and the battle of Pearl Harbor, which Bill really enjoyed. 

Yesterday, we played Team Trivia with another couple. Our team finished in the middle but only because the other couple is from Britain. Most of the questions were about Australia, Canada and hockey. The only question I answered correctly was that Napoleon’s last word on his death bed was “Josephine” but no one believed me so we didn’t write it down.

We are watching the movie, “Like Water for Chocolate”. Yesterday, they played the final “Harry Potter” movie. The day before that was “Super 8”. The only news channel that has been available so far is Fox News, which is badly misnamed as there is very little news. They will probably have thorough coverage of the primary battles, though. We signed up to take an 8 hour tour of the island of Oahu on Tuesday. We will eat lunch at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

2012-1-7 Rocking and Rolling

We are rocking and rolling out here on the Pacific Ocean on
our way to Hawaii. The Captain announced two days of moderate to high pitch and roll. It wasn't bad, though, and we have certainly seen worse. As of today, we are off our seasick pills and patch.

Bill got many chuckles and compliments on his luggage train
Wednesday. It worked like a charm. We rolled out from the Holiday Inn and across the road to the ship with no problems. One person even applauded for him.

We ate lunch on the 8th floor Lido buffet. It was
just what I hoped for—many fruits and vegetables and healthy looking grub.

We sat out on the deck in the stern at 5:30 and watched the
lights of San Diego as we pulled away. Beautiful.

We ate dinner with two women from the Toronto area and a
couple from Michigan who now live in Sun City, Arizona. The wife has some dementia and I think the husband is a little lonely.

Bill has 120 books loaded on his Kindle. I have about 30 but
mine are more recent than his which he downloaded from the Gutenberg project—old books that are out print. I am reading The Last Place You’d Look, which is stories about missing people.

Last night, we went to see the comedian and he was fine. The cruise director suggested the sing along at the piano bar, something we usually do but hadn’t done yet. I asked for the song, “New York, New York”. He said he would play it if some of the ladies agreed to imitate the Rockettes and form a chorus line. So we got up, locked arms and kicked to the music! It was great fun. We should have brought the camera.

2012-1-4 The "Dam" Ships

Holland America ships all end in “dam” so, of course, they are referred to as the Dam ships. The Rotterdam was outside the window when we woke up this morning. It is right across the street so it’s hard to miss. We have a room on the 5th floor overlooking the harbor. Turning to right, there is a sailing ship about a block away.

Three blocks down to the left is the famous WWII ship, the USS Midway. We toured the Midway in 2010. Bill has many memories of San Diego because he went through Navy boot camp here in 1960. He likes to tell the story of the time he missed dinner because he chosen for a handling party for the Midway. He was in a group of sailors who handled the ropes when it tied up to the dock. They were not happy.

One of the sailors on board the Midway got his foot fouled in the rope and was hauled over the side. They talked about dumping him in the water but took mercy on him and let his mates haul him back on board.

Last night, we met many fellow cruisers. I thought they might want to talk politics but no. All of these people are frequent cruisers and many spend most of their time on board. One couple is on their 43rd cruise. They are in their 80’s. They just got off this ship two weeks ago, went home for Christmas and now they are back. They said they used to cruise with a group but they have all died or no longer able to cruise. 

The surf is up big here today which may or may not mean a rough passage. I just put the Transderm patch behind my ear which will help with seasickness. Bill is going with meclizine this time. I think he’s nuts but he says he wants to try going without the patch.

The problem with the patch is that you have to be careful not to touch it. Last time, I touched the patch then touched my eye and my pupil wouldn’t close. I thought I’d had a stroke. The main ingredient is the same one that the eye doctor uses to dilate your eyes. You have to stop using the patch if your pupils blow.

Anyway, the topic last night was Cruise Horror Stories:

• Everyone on their last cruise was terribly sick from Norovirus and they were almost quarantined in Rio.
• The waves were so high that they washed over the deck on the ninth level.
• They got food poisoning from the salads on the Lido deck or maybe from the Indonesian rice dish. 
• The ship was late because a crew member jumped off and they had to rescue him.
• The weather kept everyone on board and they missed the best ports.

The ship’s crew hail from all over the world, but the officers are mostly from Holland. The stewards who clean the rooms are usually Indonesian. Many of the cook staff are Filipinos. Each large contingent puts on a special meal and show highlighting their culture. We have seen some very talented people cleaning around the ship in the daytime and performing at night. It’s way cool.

Each of the crew has a family at home that they are supporting. Many of them are the  heroes of their families and it is a real pleasure to get acquainted with them. It’s also enchanting to hear a man in the kitchen singing like Frank Sinatra.

2012-1-3 We're here!

We just landed in San Diego and are waiting for our room to be ready at the Holiday Inn On the Bay. The Rotterdam will pull up right across the street about 7 a.m. tomorrow. Bill is pretty tired. He decided that his computer needed to be updated about 2:30 this morning. So, he crawled to the other room and back so he wouldn't wake me up. What a guy! The only problem was that I woke up anyway. So, I am almost as tired as he is. We have already met two other couples. One from Denver and one from Vermont.

2012-1-1 Looking Forward to Fanning Island

Most people don't know it but they have seen Fanning Island. It was the setting for the backgrounds of the TV show, Gilligan's Island. The arrow points to the location in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Population: 4000

Location: Draw a line from Santiago Chile to Shanghai China, then draw one from Sydney Australia to San Francisco. Make a microscopic dot where they cross. That is Fanning Island. Few ships visit there. From the island, they see container ships going back and forth from China from time to time but not many ships visit here. 

In 1997, they had one working tractor, 3 working motor scooters, one small flat bed truck, about 100 bicycles for the 300 families totaling about 1,900 people.

Today (2012)  is not much different. There are no working tractors, 5 flat bed trucks, 20 motor scooters, 270 working bicycles and the population has increases to about 4000.

There is still no telephone, no Internet, no electricity, no hospital, and they are often out of imported food basics. Compared to the West there is nothing. But, compared to rest of Kiribati, Fanning is the richest island with golden cash flow of cruise ship money. Communication is by unreliable radio, costing $1 a minute in country, and $6 a minute overseas. The radio often does not work, or when the radio does the other island’s radio is broken. Telegrams are 17 cents a word locally including comas question marks and full stop. (period)

"If you are planning to visit: If you like you can bring some thing to share with the people: Your surplus can meet their most important needs.
-Please NO SUGARY CANDIES, the dental hygiene is generally poor and this adds to making smiling faces into toothless faces. Bring tooth paste and tooth brushes instead.

-Medical supplies for use in the 4 small island clinics are very much needed. Band-aids, cleaning solutions, hand soaps, wound care items and all other health care needs are most needed and important. Treating infections and health matters are a matter of life or death. 
-Educational materials and school supplies are great items to bring and donate
-New or used tennis/sports shoes that can be used by our local soccer team."

They often play soccer and volleyball with ship crew and passengers on ship day. The larger & wider the better because some have described their feet as wide-fat-flat “Flintstone type Feet” from going barefoot.

-Vegetable seeds such as cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, cucumbers, corn, melons, egg plant, green onions, and others that do well in a hot humid climate are welcome.
-Used eye glasses: prescription, reading, magnifiers. 
-Don't bring anything that requires batteries. 
-Pencils are more useful than pens.

I made a stupid mistake that I am ashamed to admit. I bought small toys for the children but I didn't give the toys to the teacher as requested. Instead I decided to give out the toys to the children directly. That caused fighting to break out. The teachers can hand out the toys as rewards which is much better than the way I did it. 

2012-1-1 Packing Toys and Pills

We are packing for two (2!) 30 day cruises back to back out of San Diego. We will visit Hawaii and the south seas then return to home port. A day later we will hop down the coast to Peru and back again. 

It's certainly the longest cruise we have ever taken and probably the longest period we will ever be away from home.

We have no pets and our children are all grown.  

We needed someone to keep an eye on our condo. Thankfully, we just got a new neighbor, Karma, who lives next door. She agreed to check it for us. 

We took a short cruise in 1992 and then another one in 1996. That first Caribbean cruise was on the S.S. Norway which was the former ocean liner, the France. The trip is a celebration for my husband's 50th birthday. The second one was for my 50th.  

The Norway was a gorgeous ship with a beautiful promenade and two pools. Our room was dinky and nothing to write home about but the ship was very nice. 

I chose a room that was in the center of the ship on a lower deck. That's usually the best place for avoiding seasickness.

We decided to start cruising again in 2009 because there was a huge sale on cruises. No one could afford to go because of the collapse of the worldwide economy.

We are taking four suitcases. Two of them hold our clothes. One is full of pills that we need and a bunch of pills that we might need. One is full of junk food and toys for children. 

You might wonder why we need a whole suitcase full of pills. I have everything in there, including Tamiflu, because two years ago there was a flu scare. I think I have every possible eventuality covered. I even have some stuff to stick our caps back on our teeth in case they fall off in Bora, Bora. 

Also, we each have a set of clothes that we soaked in Permethrin, an insecticide made of chrysanthemums that wards off all insects. This is the only insecticide that is acceptable to an Indian tribe called the Embara that we plan to visit in Panama. 

The toys are for the children on Fanning Island. People living there have no electricity and only a few vehicles. Holland America ships visit twice a year. The crew and passengers get an assessment of their needs and we all contribute to bring them needed supplies. The toys are just a bonus.

2010-7-17 Sitka, Alaska

 

We arrived in Sitka at 8 am and left at 5 pm.

Bill is at the beginning of the Sitka National Historical Park. We saw the gorgeous scenery and a plethora of totem poles throughout the park. 

"The park's visitor center and trails contain several different types of poles:

• House posts, which were carved as support poles of Tlingit and Haida houses;
• Frontal poles, which were placed against or near the front of a house; and
• Detached poles, which were place anywhere in or near villages.

They generally convey the ancestry (crest poles) or history (history poles) of a particular clan, folklore or real-life experiences (legend poles), or commemorate a person of importance (memorial/mortuary poles)."

We also went to see the Russian Orthodox church.