tennisbeforewine

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

At Sea en route to Salaverry, Peru

What a busy day we had yesterday - and a lot of fun, too.  As I mentioned, we had Trivia at 11:45, which is always fun but not fun enough, since we haven’t won yet.  The “prize” procedure is different this year.  In the past, teams who came in first, second or third earned a certain number of “dam dollars” which could later be exchanged for various items like Amazon gift cards, phone chargers, or HAL merchandise.  This year, every person who plays is given a gift card good for 10 cents on Amazon, the idea being that one accumulates enough of these cards to actually get into dollars.  I think we have sixty cents worth now.

After Trivia and a quick lunch, we headed up to the Crow’s Nest for a wine tasting.  As we entered, we were each given a wine glass and the arrangement of tables was explained.  There are three wine packages, conveniently numbered 1, 2, and 3; each of which has 16 wines to choose from.  There were three tables, each representing one of the wine packages and each of its 16 wines.  It turned out to be an excellent way to allow all of us to try any of the wines we wished, as many as 48 if we were so inclined (we weren’t!).  Since we have Package #2, we of course headed to the Package #3 table and I had a generous taste of their quite excellent rose, one of my two favorite wines.  I also like good sparkling wines, since life is too short to drink bad Champagne.  We also sampled a couple of wines from our package that we hadn’t tried and then ended up having one of them last evening with dinner.  

After an hour of wine tasting, a nap would usually be mandatory, but we didn’t give in.  Instead we had outdoor activities to enjoy.  John and Rich went up to the pickleball court , where John made an effort to become mediocre.  When asked when he would join the players that meet every morning in doubles matches, he answered, “When I’m at least mediocre.”  According to Rich, he’s almost there.  While they hit, I threw on my exercise clothes once more and jogged around the Deck 9 track.  It’s not really a proper track, but it says that eleven times around is a mile.  My goal was to jog for half an hour, or about 2-1/2 miles, but the wine made that goal an unreasonable one.  I did get in one mile and then decided to call it a day and try it again tomorrow.  

I was tempted to give in to the urge for a nap, but instead I picked up a book and had a good read.  I knew we’d need to be ready early that evening, so I just uploaded yesterday’s photos and enjoyed the ocean going by.  

The evening’s activities were full of fun.  The late seating dinner folks had their show by the Amsterdam singers and dancers at 6:00, because it was a gala night with a black and silver theme.  There was a Black and Silver ball scheduled for 10:00, making our show much earlier.  After the show ended, we headed up to the Crow’s Nest for our nightly visit with friends, and then at 8:00 we headed for dinner, where we found beautiful black and silver masks at each place.  One of them will go to our granddaughter, who is in love with all things sparkly.  Although there were the usual seven or eight main course choices, everyone at our table ordered either the filet or the rack of lamb.  I was in the lamb category, and it was delicious.  

After dinner it was time to head forward to the ball, which

 was really well attended.  The wooden dance floor in the middle has been covered over by the new carpet in the Queen’s Lounge, and it seems to have provided more room to dance.  It was so much fun!  On our first couple of world cruises, the orchestra played what we used to call “music to snooze to” but this year we have The Station Band which plays really excellent rock and roll.  We danced to everything from “YMCA” to “Old Time Rock and Roll”, which I think is the best dance song ever.

As with all good things, it had to come to an end, so at 11:00 the band played the theme from “Rawhide,” which is their signal that the music is now over.  With smiles and sore feet, we all headed off to bed.  What a great day!

Yes, Catherine Steadman is the author.  John is already 1/4 of the way through and he says it's great. 

Tuesday, January 29, 2019

At Sea en route to Salaverry, Peru

If I haven’t mentioned it before (only several times on past blogs), I LOVE sea days. You don’t have to do anything, and there’s plenty of time to do it.   They’re not for everyone and if you can’t find things to entertain you, you might not enjoy them, but I think they’re just wonderful.  Today, being a typical sea day, has plenty to keep us busy.

The day began as it usually does, with our gym/breakfast/shower routine.  Breakfast was even more fun today because our friend Bob Stimmel, joined us.  Bob is a fellow Methodist from our church in San Luis Obispo, and he’s traveling with the Road Scholar group (formerly Elderhostel).  There are, I believe, 47 of them along with two leaders and a rotating lecturer (great mental picture, isn’t it?).  On sea days they have lecture sessions preparing for the next port, and then on port days they have shore excursions.  Yesterday, for example, they walked a lot through Panama’s Old Town, and then visited the Miraflores Locks with the three million young people. Fortunately for them, they had tickets purchased in advance, so they got right through, but Bob felt the same way about the crowds that we did.

Also during breakfast, John and Rich decided to have another pickleball session this morning while I came to my usual spot in the library to write, at the beautiful mosaic-topped marble table near the main internet server, with a stop at the coffee bar along the way for a cappuccino, of course.  Afterwards, we’ll meet at 11:45 for Trivia as long as they haven’t kicked us off the team for forgetting to come on Panama Canal transit day.  That should take us through until 12:15, giving us 45 minutes to have lunch before our wine tasting, which the invitation said is set for 1:00.  In the past we’ve usually skipped the wine tastings since they were set for 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning (waaaay too early for us), but 1:00 seems reasonable, so it will give us a chance to try some of the wines in the three available packages. We’ve chosen Package #2.  

Most of our afternoon is free and may include a nap, but John and Rich will probably hit the pickleball court again and I may try to run a couple of miles on the Deck 9 track.  

Since we just picked up our first Book Club selection (it’s Something in the Water, SJSU Librarian), we’ll have to fight over who gets to read it first.  The meeting to discuss it will be February 9, so I think we’ll both probably have it finished.  According the the blurb on Amazon, it’s quite the page-turner.

One bit I forgot to mention the other day was the heroic actions of our friend Jane.  We were near the end of dinner the other night when I turned around and noticed that an older lady (I should talk!) had tried to stand up from the table but then began to collapse.  Fortunately, her family members supported her and had her sit in a chair.  I called Jane’s attention to the situation and, as a retired nurse who retains her license, she was over there and in charge of the situation in a flash.  Jane spent quite some time calming the woman and assessing the situation while calling for a wheelchair.  The last thing she told the family members was to have their mother (it turned out) looked at by the doctor.  

Afterwards, Jane was asked to write up a summary of the situation for the ship’s physician.  Later, we found out that the lady had been diagnosed with a TIA (small stroke) and that she was medically evacuated from Panama City.  If you have to have a medical emergency, make sure Jane is around.  It worked well for me two years ago on a flight in India when I passed out from dehydration.  She took excellent care of me, made me drink several small bottles of water and had me moved to first class so I could stretch out.  

Whoops - almost time for Trivia.  I’ll leave you with three photos:  my favorite table, the coffee bar, and our first formal night with Henk Mensink, the Hotel Manager, as our host.  See you tomorrow. 

Monday, January 28, 2019

Fuerte Amador for Panama City

If you’re ever planning to travel to Panama City, which is a beautiful place, be sure not to do it when the International Catholic Youth Conference is held here, and especially not in the days after the Pope comes to speak.  This conference is held annually, each year in a different international city, and it attracts as many as several hundred thousand young people who come to share their faith. We found out how crowded that many young people can be.  

We anchored off Panama City last evening, but most people stayed on board until today.  John and I had our usual gym/breakfast/shower routine before jumping on a tender for the port.  Once there, we decided that the best way to have an overall view of Panama City would be to take the Hop-On, Hop-Off (HOHO) bus.  Panama City must really be seen to be believed.  It looks like a slightly scaled down version of Manhattan with high-rise buildings and traffic everywhere.  We’ve been here several times, and each time I think I must have remembered it as bigger than it is, and each time I am proved wrong.

Our goal on the HOHO bus was to get off at Miraflores Locks, the last ones when traversing from the Caribbean to the Pacific.  They have a really interesting visitors’ center, viewing platform and IMAX presentation where we’ve never spent any time before, so we disembarked the bus, only to find out that at least half of the young people here for the conference were waiting in line to get in.  There’s a $20 entrance fee (plus another $15 for the IMAX), but from the length of the line, you’d think they were handing out free IPhones.  We joined the young people in line (thereby increasing the average age by at least 10 years!), and when we had moved about five feet in ten minutes, we decided that this was not the day to see more of Miraflores Locks.  Having made that decision, we only had to wait about an hour for the next HOHO bus, and we enjoyed watching the groups of young people who were happy and positive and really riding on a “high” having seen Pope Francis.  In addition, we hadn’t seen so many nuns in habits since the last time we were in Rome.  If we had to fight huge crowds, it was nice to have them be such happy ones.  

When we got back on the bus, we decided that instead of getting off in Old Town, we’d just ride it back to the harbor and board the ship in time for lunch.  As we approached Fuerte Amador for the tender, we noticed a lovely restaurant across the parking lot.  Although it was only one story, it somehow reminded me of the old Swiss Family Treehouse at Disneyland.  We still had plenty of time until the last tender - hours, in fact - so we walked across the parking lot and enjoyed a leisurely lunch at Sirena Seafood Restaurant.  The calimari was perfect, and our salads (Greek for John and avocado/chicken for me) were wonderful.  My sangria wasn’t bad either!  

Having returned to the ship, my sangria told me it was time for a nap, so that’s what I did.  We had arranged with our kids to call at 4:45 (1:45 California time), and after waking up, our only challenge was to find a spot on the ship which was quiet enough to have a phone conversation.  Everyone and everything at home is good, so we can relax for another week!  

We were supposed to sail at 5:00, but the captain came on shortly before that and announced that two tour buses had been delayed because of a large traffic accident, so we would, of course, have to wait for them.  Finally, at about 5:50 he came on again and said that the police had escorted the buses around the accident and that the passengers should be on board at about 6:15.  Right now it’s 6:25 and we have just begun to sail.  At sea, you just never know what to expect next.  

Now it’s off for two sea days (hooray!) until we arrive at Salaverry, Peru.  I can’t wait to get my last few bits of cruise paperwork in order and then to be ready for another port.

Sunday, January 27, 2019

The Panama Canal

Did you know that the Panama Canal can be a palindrome? That’s a word or sentence which reads the same forward and backward, like “noon” or “Bob.”  One of my favorite palindromes is “A Man, A Plan, A Canal:  Panama.”  Isn’t that just the coolest thing?  

Anyway, today was the day that we went through the Panama Canal, truly an incredible accomplishment of engineering.  Apparently the Spaniards came up with the idea of bridging the Isthmus of Panama as early as the 16th Century, but it wasn’t attempted until the French tried in 1880.  Lack of funds and the high incidence of tropical disease put paid to that effort, but then the United States carried out the construction, completing it in 1914.  We were fortunate enough to transit the Canal in 2014 to celebrate its 100th anniversary.  If you have a chance to read about the huge numbers involved - the earth moved, the loss of human life (25,000), the concrete poured - you’ll be fascinated.  

We began the day with our first Sunday worship service and an introduction to the interdenominational pastor, Rev. Reid Cooke.  He’s a Canadian and led a well-attended service this morning.  Afterwards, we headed up the Lido to have some breakfast and watch the Canal go by.  

The transit is an all-day activity, involving three sets of locks between the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean.  Most people think that we sail from east to west, but it’s actually north to south (or south to north, depending on which direction you’re sailing).  The oceans are at the same level, but Gatun Lake, in the middle of the Isthmus, is 27 meters  higher, requiring the use of locks, first to raise the ship to the level of the lake and then later to lower it to the level of the Pacific or Caribbean.  When the Canal first opened, the ships were pulled along by mules harnessed to each vessel.  Now, of course, everything is mechanized, but the little machines that pull the ships are still called mules.    

We entered the Canal this morning at about 7:00 and soon entered Gatun Locks, leading us into Gatun Lake.  We sailed through the lake for hours, and loved the many tropical islands surrounding us.  At about 2:00 this afternoon we entered the Culebra Cut, the narrowest part of the Canal.  It does, however, represent about a fifth of the total length of the waterway.  This segment was excavated through rock and limestone from the Central Mountain Range of the Isthmus of Panama.  The amount of rock moved would, according the Canal information, make up 63 pryamids of Egypt.  The Culebra Cut looks a lot like terraced mountains, as I hope you can see in the photos I hope to include.  

After the Cut, we entered the Pedro Miguel Locks, followed quickly by the Miraflores Locks, and then we were very quickly into the Bay of Panama and the Pacific Ocean.  

One of the entertaining things about transiting the Canal is doing it with other ships, and today’s “partner” ship was from Germany and its passengers jammed every possible viewing area.  It was fun to wave back and forth.

In 2016, a new addition to the Canal was added to accommodate larger ships.  It has its own locks and, for the most part, is parallel to the original waterway.  

During much of this adventure, we were entertained by Rich and Ginni in their Deck 7 suite, both inside and then outside on their large deck.  The eight of us (our table group) managed to set up enough food to feed us for the rest of the week, and enough wine and soft drinks to make us skip The Crow’s Nest this evening.  One of the highlights of our get-together was when Jacques, the Cellar Master, joined us to demonstrate the art of “sabrage,” or removing the top of a bottle of Champagne with a sword.  If you’ve never seen it done, it truly is amazing, and it’s a trick that our friend Jacques loves to demonstrate.  Check it out on YouTube.

After we got everything cleaned up and put away, it was, of course, time for a nap, and since we’d all be skipping The Crow’s Nest, there was no hurry.  This evening we arrive at Fuerte Amador for Panama City, and tenders will begin shuttling folks into the city at about 8:00, with the last tender coming back to the ship at 1:00 AM.  The tenders begin operation again tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM (too early for us), and then will continue throughout the day until 4:30, with departure at 5:00.  We’re not quite sure what we’re doing during the day, but I’m sure it will involve a lot of walking, a couple of cappuccinos, and some free internet.  

It was a great day and such an adventure transiting the Canal.  We’ve done it before

(I think I counted that this was our ninth transit), but it’s always fascinating and we always see something new.  If you’ve never been, put it on your bucket list; it’s well worth it.  

Saturday, January 26, 2019

San Blas Islands, Panama

If you want to visit a place where time stopped with the visits of Columbus, then the San Blas islands are the place to go.  The Kuna people who inhabit the islands are an indigenous group who are believed to have come from Colombia to these small islands around the time the Spanish arrived.  They live like they have for centuries:  fishing and collecting and selling coconuts on the mainland and traveling in dugout wooden boats and living in wooden structures surrounded by bamboo fences.   

This is a matriarchal society, and the women dress in their tradition clothing, including bright head scarves, gold jewelry (including nose rings) and beaded bracelets, wearing colorful blouses and skirts with embroidered mola on them.  The Kuna are best known for the mola, a form of reverse applique quilting by which layers of fabric are stitched together.  The designs may simply be geometric patterns or fish, turtles, birds, and other creatures.  When we were in these islands a few years ago, we purchased four mola, of which my favorite is the nativity scene appliqued in great detail.  Now framed, they hang  proudly in our home. 

The only sad part about the Kuna is that it’s possible to see the changes which are coming - after many hundreds of years.  The young people are more likely to dress in Western clothing than the traditional attire seen on the adults, communication “dishes” are on roofs, and the occasional young (or even older) person is seen with a cell phone.  If you want to see these islands as they have been, you’d better get here in a hurry!

We’ve read opinions of some Cruise Critic readers that the Kuna actually live on the mainland and only come to the island on cruise ship days (about once every two months), but we saw people’s houses and small shops, indicating that while some come to sell their wares, many of the Kuna do live on the island.  Actually, the garbage piles on the end of the island testify to the “lived in” aspect.

Today was officially a port day, but it was really a combination sea day and port day, since we didn’t arrive off the islands until noon, and then had to be back on the ship by 5:30 for a 6:00 sailing.  We had a leisurely lunch on board and didn’t take a tender to the island until about 2:00, returning at close to 3:30.  John and Rich almost immediately went topside to further John’s ability to play pickleball, and as I walked around the ship it seemed that everyone was either still on the island or taking a nap.  It’s pretty empty here.  

Tomorrow is our transit of the Panama Canal, always an adventure and fun to experience.  We’ll enter in the morning, go through three sets of locks, sail Gatun Lake, and exit the Canal in the late afternoon.  

Now for today’s excitement:  I’m going to try to upload five photos of today’s adventure.  Since I write this offline and then upload it to Cruise Critic, I won’t know until I try whether or not my efforts will bear fruit.  Hope so!

Friday, January 25, 2019

Santa Marta, Colombia

We’ve had a busy couple of days!  Last evening was our first gala night (previously called “formal” night) and the Captain’s welcome reception.  It’s always great fun and the complimentary drinks flow freely.  Now if they’d only put some alcohol in them!  

Captain Jonathan welcomed everyone, told us a bit about his background, and then introduced the main officers who are running the ship and taking care of us.  Although the reception for late seating was scheduled at 7:00, I think people began lining up at 6:30 so they can shake the captain’s hand and get a good seat in the Queen’s Lounge.  We already know the captain, so we snuck in the other door and just found an area for our table group to sit.  

Dinner was, as usual, at 8:00, and while we knew we’d get an officer, we didn’t know who it was until we arrived.  We were very pleased to welcome Henk Mensink to our table.  He’s the Hotel Manager for the world cruise and has been so for the last 14 of them.  He’s become a friend and all of us enjoy his company, so dinner was quite wonderful.  

Today was our first port, Santa Marta, Colombia.  This is the oldest city in Colombia and the second oldest in South America.   It was the city in which Simon Bolivar died in a villa which is now a national monument.  Because it sits on the Caribbean, the weather is wonderful and the sea is warm and beautiful.   Although it’s been quite a sleepy little city for many decades, in the last ten years it has had a resurgence of tourism because of its beautiful beaches and almost perfect weather.  

There was a shuttle taking us from the ship to the entrance of the port, and from there we were able to just walk and walk and walk.  According to the fitness app on our phones, we walked about three miles down the beach, through the town, out on the pier, and then back to the shuttle bus.  It’s a friendly place, and although there are many peddlers, there’s no one who’s overtly aggressive and they politely take “no” for an answer.  We walked from the port to the marina and then found our favorite thing:  a cafe with cappuccino and wi-fi.  That lasted about a half hour, and part way through we were joined by Jane and Bill who had Coca Cola “sin azucar” (without sugar).  Then it was time to continue, and after we walked to the center of town, Parque Bolivar, and the Cathedral (where Bolivar was originally interred), we found a nice little concrete quay with a rooftop cafe - a great place for lunch.  We shared a veggie-burger, had two beers (John) and a Coca Cola sin azucar (me) - all for the princely sum of $9.00.  Such a deal!

Then it was time to head back to the shuttle and out to the ship, where we found that a small shared veggie burger just wasn’t enough, so John added a salad to his lunch and I found creme caramel (yummmm) to top off our Colombian lunch.  We ran into Rich and Ginni, which resulted in John and Rich headed topside to play pickleball.  John loves playing tennis, so this was really his first introduction into the related sport.  He did say that Rich was a patient teacher, so all was well.  

Tomorrow we anchor off the San Blas islands and tender ashore at about noon.  We’ve been here once before and love the embroidered work they do with three pieces framed and hanging in our home.  It will be good to go back to see if the modern world has made many changes in this seemingly unchanging world.  

P. S.  While John reports and posts photos on Facebook, I’m just learning how to add photos to this blog.  I’m not sure it will work, but I think I’ll try it tomorrow, since the inhabitants of the San Blas islands are quite photogenic. BTW, the blog title is "John and Diane's Lucky Number 7."  I write the text here and John posts a short text with photos on Facebook at "dianeandjohn st john.  

Thursday, January 24, 2019

At Sea en route to Santa Marta, Colombia

Our weather has improved, but the rocking has increased.  If any aboard suffer from seasickness, I really feel for them.  My only concern was holding on while I was showering this morning, a difficult task when washing one’s hair.  

Last evening was another great meeting of friends at the Crow’s Nest and then at dinner.  Without even being asked, the powers that be have created a happy hour (two drinks for only $2.00 extra) from 6:30 to 7:30, so I must admit that we do show up a bit earlier than 7:00, our usual time.  As long as the second round is ordered before 7:30, it fits into the happy hour rules so everyone is, indeed, happy.  

Last evening was the first Queen’s Lounge show, even though I think they now call it “The Main Stage.”  I, however, will continue to refer to it as The Queen’s Lounge, as I’ve been doing since 2008.  The entertainer, Jeff Burghart,  was described as “As seen on Comedy Central and Star Search.”  He is a comedian and impersonator and while John was a bit hesitant about going (he always comments that comedians can be “iffy”), he went anyway and we laughed almost until we cried.  The guy was hysterical!  One thing we noticed, however, was that when he made jokes about TV shows or celebrities, they were people well known to those of us “of a certain age.”  The two young ladies sitting next to us who are ship’s dancers were a little puzzled by some of the references.  When John asked them afterward if they understood the reference to The Carol Burnett show, they said that the name was familiar but beyond that they were puzzled.  

Our tablemates are all friends from previous world (and other) cruises, and since I’ll be mentioning them from time to time, I think I should introduce them (and us).  John and I are from San Luis Obispo, California, retired teachers who love to travel (not a great surprise), stay fit, read, and, for John, play tennis.  Rich and Ginni live near Austin, Texas and are two people with whom we travel beautifully.  Rich is a retired Delta pilot and Ginni is a retired Delta flight attendant and safety instructor.  In literally hundreds of days of travel - world cruises, shorter cruises, safaris, Indian overlands, and visits to each other’s homes, we have never had a cross word.  What a rare friendship.  

Bill and Jane are originally from Syracuse, New York, and now live near Charlotte, North Carolina.  Bill was in retail and Jane is a retired nurse, and we’ve done world cruises as well as shorter ones with them.  Bill and I constantly harrass each other, and we’d have it no other way.  Jane’s nursing abilities have been called upon more than once, the most memorable being on an Indian airplane when, suffering from dehydration (even though I didn’t know it), I passed out, luckily straight back onto the aisle.  She woke me up and took care of me and I do love her for her care.

Leslie and Handler are also from Texas, just outside of San Antonio.  They’ve been cruising for years and it seems that they’re at sea about six months a year.  In fact, they’ll be installed into President’s Club on this cruise.  Leslie is one of the funniest people I know and, being from Texas, lives up to the stereotype by being a straight shooter.  If she’s angry with you, you’ll know it and know why!  Handler is a gentleman of the old school, and while his cane slows him down a bit now, he is such a kind and thoughtful man that everybody just loves him.

So there’s our table.  We’re very lucky to be friends with all these folks and look forward to lots of cruises with them in the future.

Wednesday, January 23

The Old Bahamas Strait between

   Cuba and The Bahamas

We’re on!  The adventure has begun and we’re so happy to be on board.  Yesterday flew by, from hurrying to get our luggage ready to be sent to the ship to the short drive there, and even waiting for almost an hour to check in.  The irony was that we were  divided into two groups:  1, 2, and 3 star Mariners on one side and 4 and 5 star Mariners on the other, with the idea of giving the 4 and 5 folks a faster check in.  Well, that didn’t work out.  The lower star area had shorter lines the entire time we waited.  Oh well, we were able to  greet cruise friends in line and chat about how we’d spent the last year.

Once on the ship, we headed to our room, hoping that our luggage would be there, ready to be opened and put away.  Sadly, that didn’t happen, so we just headed up to the Lido to have some lunch and stayed to enjoy the complimentary wine and Champagne being served around the Lido pool.  When we returned to our cabin, the two smaller bags with which we had flown to Ft. Lauderdale were waiting, so we unloaded them and put a few things away.  The four large (some would say huge) bags came, one at a time, throughout the afternoon and evening, the last one arriving about 6:30.  

We were scheduled to sail at 9:15, so the sailaway party was scheduled from 8:30 until 10:00 around the Lido pool, with music (the Station Band is great!) and open bars.  Unfortunately for those of us who dine at 8:00, we had two choices:  eat at the Lido instead of the dining room or skip the party.  Since it was our first night at our table, we decided to try to accomplish both a late dinner and a bit of a party.  We finished most of our meal by 9:20 or 9:30, so we skipped dessert and headed up to join the party.  It was a great time, and The Y.M.C.A. has never been so much fun to dance!  In addition, we were able to visit with friends we hadn’t seen earlier in the day, and a good time was had by all.

Today was fairly quiet and relaxing.  According to Captain Jonathan Mercer, we’re sailing through the edge of the storm hitting the southeast United States, so while it is about 78 degrees, the rain has been frequent and it’s been a perfect day to finish putting away our clothes and take a nap.  As is usual on the first few days of a WC, the gym was packed this morning, but we managed to find machines to make us sweat before breakfast.  In a few days, however, the crowds will give up on their New Year’s resolutions and we’ll have a much less crowded gym.

We also began playing Trivia today and for the first time ever, we began without a team.  Our usual team members aren’t sailing this year, so we just showed up and found ourselves a new team with people who will no doubt become new friends.  We had a decent score, but not the highest.  I do think we learned a bit more about how to work as a team, and I’m sure we’ll do even better tomorrow.  

We’re settled in and feeling right at home on our old friend, the Amsterdam.  Can’t wait to see what the next 113 days brings. 

Tuesday, January 22 - Day Zero

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

It’s here!  The day which has been driving us crazy for a couple of months has arrived and whatever we forgot or did wrong  - well, it’s just too late to worry about it.  We have a great two-day stay at the Pier 66 Hotel, and yesterday the sun actually came out for a couple of hours, so I guess I’ll have to apologize to the Ft.Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce.  We sat by the pool and enjoyed the weather until the black clouds came back and the temperature took a nose dive.  Today, however, it feels like Hawaii.  Right now (at 9:47 AM) it’s 71 degrees with a bit more wind than I’d like, but I do like the tropical feel of it.

One of the best things about beginning the WC is meeting with all our old cruise friends as they check into the hotel.  We hug and kiss and exchange information about what’s been going on and talk about how much we were all looking forward to the cruise.  Then last evening we had a wonderful gala dinner at Mezzaluna, not too far from the hotel.

The open bar was a popular place and the dinner choices were great.

This morning it was pretty busy, getting everything re-packed, getting checked out, and now waiting for the 10:30 bus to the ship.  Our luggage is taken care of and we’re really looking forward to getting everything put away in our cabin before the sailaway party begins and we get to see all our other cruise friends.  

So . . . this is a short post, but it’s my last chance to use free hotel internet.  Now we’re off to the ship.  See you soon.

Monday, January 21, 2019 - 0 minus 1 day

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Why in the world is it always cold when we fly to Ft. Lauderdale to board a world cruise?  I do realize that if you’re in the Northeast and it’s 10 below, you think the temperatures here (low of 45, high of 68) are balmy for January, but c’mon folks, that’s cold for us.  Of our seven world cruises, two have sailed from the West Coast, but five from Ft. Lauderdale and each and every one of them has been cold.  We always optimistically bring a swimsuit to lounge around the hotel pool, but we’ve never once been able to use  it.  One time we even came three days early to drive down to Key West for New Year’s Eve, thinking that since it was even further south that it would be warm.  Wrong!  One afternoon of sun and then two days of cold wind and rain.  I don’t know whether the Ft. Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce is stretching the truth about their winter temperatures or if it’s just us.  If it’s the latter, I hope we can board the ship before the C of C kicks us out of the city.

Our flight yesterday was fairly normal, except for a bit of turbulence at the beginning and the end of our 5-1/2 hours.  Fortunately, it was non-stop, so it was just sit down, eat pretzels, and wait for landing.  Our friend Bob Stimmel, a retired United Methodist minister, is also on our cruise with a group called Road Scholars, formerly Elderhostel, and we all came on the same flight.  We know we’ll be seeing him a lot on the cruise.

We didn’t arrive until about 9:30, and by the time we collected our luggage, flagged a taxi, and arrived at the hotel for check-in, it was after 10:00.  Fortunately, our friends Jane and Bill had told us to call them whenever we got in, so we all met with hugs and kisses and headed for the hotel bar, where we closed it down and then stayed until midnight just catching up.  

This morning was somewhat of a typical cruise day, except that we didn’t get up until 8:00 - incredibly late for us!  We headed for the gym, then to one of the restaurants for breakfast and then stayed and chatted with Bill and Mary Ann Barry before heading back to our room for showers and to get ready for a one-mile walk to the nearest Publix for a few last-minute items.  I understand that Publix is next to Total Wine, where in the old days we would have bought a couple of cases of wine to take on board, but now the rules have changed.  We may only take one bottle each on board; more than that and we’d have to pay an $18.00 corkage fee - probably more than the wine itself cost!  

We’re looking forward to a leisurely day, a long walk, catching up with Shannon, our cruise agent at Cruise and Travel Agents, and then a wonderful Italian dinner with all the rest of the C & TA group this evening.  Tomorrow’s boarding, and we can’t wait!

Saturday, January 19 - Zero minus 3 days

Auburn, California

If you think you go nuts trying to get ready for a trip on the last night before travel, try it in the dark!  Our lights went out at about 5:30 and didn't go back on again until 12:30 AM.  By then, of course, we had long retired, but John woke up enough to go around turning off lights.  The after effects, however, made posting impossible, since our cable/internet provider had "suffered an interruption of service" and although the recording promised we would receive a phone call telling us when the problem was solved, we're still waiting for that call - and I'm pretty sure whatever caused the problem has now been fixed.  

Now we're ensconced in our rental house in Auburn, a beautiful old redwood structure built in 1910 as a boarding house/brothel.  Doncha just love history.  I asked about the sinks in each of the four upstairs bedrooms and found out more than I really wanted to know.  Auburn was the first Gold Rush town in California, founded in 1848, and I learned from a plaque in the post office this morning that this was the first post office in California and that the volunteer fire department was the first in the U. S. after Boston.  It's a beautiful little town in the Sierra foothills with wonderful history and great restaurants; you might want to spend a few days here sometime.  Come in the spring or the fall; the summer is too hot and the winter is too cold.  (This is from someone who lives in Central California near the ocean where 45 degrees is a really, really cold winter day). 

Tomorrow we'll be up and at 'em early and hopefully in the car and headed for San Francisco Airport by 7:30.  We'll do a drive-by stop at our kids' home with a duffel full of cold weather clothes (more about that later) and then head to SFO, hoping to get there in time for the two-hour security line - even in the TSA pre-check line.  Fortunately we have United Club passes, so we're hoping to spend some time in there before our flight is called for 1:15 departure.  It's the only United non-stop flight from SFO to Ft. Lauderdale, so we really, really can't miss it.  

We should arrive in Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow at 9:35 PM (EST) and I imagine the next post (zero minus 2 days) will be written in the hotel bar there while catching up with our cruise friends from around the country.  We are SO excited.  See you then.

Ger_77 - You're more than welcome to "friend" us on Facebook.  Are you Mary?

If so, we'll respond.  For the record, however, you don't have to join FB; you just have to type in our FB user name:  dianeandjohn st john.  

Thursday, January 17, 2019

San Luis Obispo, CA

It’s zero minus 5 days and here I am typing in the dark.  For the last day or so, California has had a series of “killer” storms, last night being the worst for us.  It wasn’t so much the rain as the wind, and John spent hours today cleaning up the debris which had been blown hither and yon while I sweated over the washer and dryer trying to get everything ready for the last two bags. Now that the rain is only a sprinkle and the wind has given up, the power has decided to go out.  Go figure!

On the 11th, Fed Ex showed up to collect our four bags (two each), so we only need one small bag each for two days in Auburn CA with our kids and then two days in Ft. Lauderdale, where I really hope I get to use the shorts and sleeveless shirts!  Cruise and Travel Experts are treating us to a wonderful (it always is) dinner and a night at the Pier 66 Hotel before we sail off into the sunset.

Getting ready for an adventure like a 4-1/2 month cruise is always a struggle.  Why 4-1/2 months?  Because at the end of the world cruise, we’re going to stay on the ship and sail back through the canal, disembarking in San Francisco to return home to San Luis Obispo.  For the last couple of world cruises, we’ve had our “adopted son” Jonathan living with us, so we just packed up and flew off to Ft. Lauderdale.  Now, however, Jon has flown the coop, and not wanting our home to remain empty for several months, we’ve rented it to a lovely couple who have moved here from Colorado and want to check out the possibilities before buying a house.  Since they’ll be here until May 31, we’re taking the opportunity to add two weeks onto our WC.

We’re pretty darned excited about this one.  We’ll have two overland tours and they will be very different from each other.  The first overland is a result of a “pinky swear” agreement between John and our daughter Courtney that we wouldn’t be gone for a full four months.  The result is that we’ll fly from Papeete to San Francisco, rent a car, and spend a week with “the kids” before rejoining the cruise in Auckland.  I know, I know.  It doesn’t really make a lot of sense, but it does keep the family happy and we’re happy to do it.  Fortunately, we have lots and lots of miles, so the cost isn’t a problem.

Our second overland, with our good friends Rich and Ginni, is one we’re really looking forward to.  On our second day in Singapore, we’ll fly to New Delhi, spend the night, and then continue on to Darjeeling, Nepal, and Bhutan, finishing up at the Taj Mahal in Agra before rejoining the ship in Muscat, Oman.   Our wonderful Indian travel agent, Ajay (who has arranged India trips for us since 2008), has put together another amaziing overland in the foothills of the Himalayas to experience places and people we’ve never encountered before.

So . . . if you’d like, please travel along with us.  I’ll be trying to post a photo or two on my blog and John will, as usual, have a Facebook post with even more photos.  Our FB address is dianeandjohn st john, so we’d be happy to have you join us on either format.

We’re really excited about our seventh world cruise, and we’d love to have you follow along with us. 

This is another test!