John and Diane's Lucky Number 7

[tennisbeforewine]

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Aqaba, Jordan

Happy Birthday, Jessica!

 

The day began in a particularly happy way:  we called our granddaughter to wish her a happy 13th birthday and congratulate her on becoming a teenager - not that I’m sure that’s something to congratulate someone for.  She told us about taking M & M cookies to her class and then having the privilege of choosing dinner for this evening.  Her  choice was Subway sandwiches!  We were both surprised but decided that it was a healthier choice than some others.  Because it’s a school day, her family celebration will actually be tomorrow evening, with an ice cream cake.  The great thing about it is that, because of her continuing birthday celebration, she gets to have dessert first.  What a great idea.  Then the fun continues into Saturday when she and her parents are going to see Shazam!, the attraction being that Asher Angel, her teenage crush, is in the movie.  No, I hadn’t heard of him before she discovered him either.

 

Today was another day in and around Aqaba, with the added attraction of finding a nail salon for a much-needed pedicure.  It’s always interesting to have a conversation in which you each know about two words in the other’s language (I really don’t know that many words in Arabic) but you can make yourselves understood somehow.  Poor John was soooo patient, sitting in the waiting room editing his photos.  At long last I emerged with lovely trimmed and polished toenails and hunger pangs. which took us back to the ship for lunch.  In some ways I wish we had done more here, including perhaps an overnight trip around the country or a visit to another wadi, but since we’re still somewhat recovering from illness, it was a perfect place to do less than usual.

 

When I walked back to the taco bar (in front of the Dive-In), I looked for some taco chips with the idea of perhaps making some nachos.  To my surprise, in their place were two bowls of regular potato chips.  Somehow I think it might be illegal in a few southwest states to use potato chips to make decent nachos.  That change just called our attention to the absence of several things on board:  many beer brands, pinot grigio, pickled herring, guacamole and several others.  We found out from Monique, whose husband Jimmy is the Piano Bar entertainer, that the ship from which we were supposed to receive supplies had EIGHT containers for us.  There’s a lot of food in eight containers, so our officers and crew are trying to pick up supplies along the way.  As Henk, our Hotel Director, said, “At least we’re not out of toilet paper!”

 

I know a lot of HAL passengers think that a particular captain is the best in the fleet, but those of us on the WC know that it’s really our captain.  How do we know this?  Easy.

There’s a particularly fun-loving group which hangs out in the Crow’s Nest each evening before the 8:00 seating.  One highlight, since the 2016 WC, is the rubber chicken which adorns the bar.  Since it is such a special chicken, it often is dressed interestingly and once in a while someone will squeeze it just to hear it squawk.  (One of the bartenders takes it home to the Philippines between world cruises.)  Well, a few nights ago, someone kidnapped the chicken (oh no!).  The usual people who sit at the bar were quite concerned, as you can imagine.  After a full 24 hours, a ransom note was delivered.  All that was necessary to have the chicken returned was for Captain Jonathan (who is occasionally in the Crow’s Nest at that time - drinking club soda) to perform “The Chicken Dance.”  He did not even hesitate.  The band struck up the tune and Captain Jonathan (and friends) took to the dance floor and clucked up a storm. It was great fun to watch and the captain proved his mettle as well as his sense of humor by participating.

 

Tomorrow is a sea day, followed by transit of the Suez Canal (basically another sea day), taking us into the Mediterranean, and then two more sea days before Naples, our next port.  We can already hear the pizza calling to us.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Congratulations on your granddaughter becoming a teenager.  How nice she is able to celebrate her birthday for a few days with different activities.

 

Glad you didn't do much ashore so that John got more rest from his illness.

 

I would have loved seeing Captain Jonathon doing the chicken dance.

[tennisbeforewine]

Well, surprise, surprise and hooray.  After several emails back and forth with Cruise Critic, which didn't help me, John finally looked and noticed that the URL line said "boards.cruisecritic.uk instead of .com.  Therefore, I put the address in manually (instead of using my bookmark) and they began loading, so you get all 12 photos from our two days in Aqaba.  Maybe I'll try the flowers tomorrow.  Thanks for your patience.  I know I didn't have much.  

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad that John read what the url should be and now you can post pictures again.

 

Wonderful pictures.

[tennisbeforewine]

Saturday, April 12, 2019

Transiting the Suez Canal, Egypt

 

I know that many people have a transit of the Panama Canal on their “bucket list,” but as far as I know, not many feel the same about the Suez Canal - and for a very good reason.  In Panama, there are tropical trees and flowers, locks to watch fill and empty, and even the occasional monkey in a tree.  Suez, however, has none of that.  We’ve often joked with friends about it, asking, “Is your cabin on the green side or the brown side?”  Brown is sand, while green is the irrigated side.  Actually, the history of the canal is far more interesting than the canal itself.  

 

Because the water level between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea is almost the same, there is no need for locks, so we just enter at one end, sail past the Sinai Peninsula (brown) on one side and the green trees, crops, and settlements on the other side.  The first time we sailed through the Canal was in 2008 and we were pretty excited about it.  I don’t know if we thought we’d see pyramids or what, but whatever it was, we would have been sorely disappointed if we hadn’t planned a BYOB party on Deck 6 aft, with food provided by our officer and crew friends.  There was eating, drinking, dancing, and waving to the military encampments and small children on the “green” side, so it was quite a lovely day.

 

Today, because of the most recent time change, we woke at 5:00 to see our trusty vessel entering the canal, followed by two German cruise ships, Aida and Mein Schiff, as well as a whole string of cargo ships.  Since it was so early, we just went back to bed and slept until 7:00, when our day actually began.  Ships actually pass in both directions in parts of the canal, so during breakfast we came to a halt to let a line of southbound ships go past.  When we came to The Bitter Lake, both lanes were in action, so it was entertaining to watch the variety of ships that sailed past.

 

At lunch, we ate on Deck 8 aft so as to watch the “green” side, since our cabin is on the starboard, or “brown” side.  Our friends Leslie and Handler said that, in 2015, they purposely booked a port side cabin so as to enjoy the best view from their verandah, and then it turned out that we sailed the canal at night, in the dark.  The best laid plans, and all that.

 

The highlight this afternoon was Rich and Ginni’s Suez Canal party, and we decided that even though both our cabins are on the starboard, or “brown” side, a party would be a good idea.  The fact that they have a suite, of course, means that they have the responsibility of hosting, something that we made clear before we ever left home (JK).  In addition to the eight of us from our dining table, they invited Bob, our friend from home, Greg and Heo, our Aussie buddies, Karen Mercer, the captain’s wife, and Edmond and Josephine - he’s the beverage manager and Josephine is the downstairs hostess in the Main Dining Room.  It was a good time for all of us, with not only BYOB, but also BYOS(Snacks) as well as those provided by the concierge in the Neptune Lounge.  Basically we could have had twice the number of guests and still had plenty of food.  We met at 2:00 and caught the end of the Canal, finding that the outside temperature dropped more than ten degrees as we left the Suez and entered the Mediterranean.  No more swimsuit days, I’m afraid.  It was a lovely get together and we’re anxious to do it again.  

 

Tonight we’re all going to Sel de Mer for dinner (oh no, more food).  On the larger ships, this restaurant is a regular choice for dinner, but on the smaller ships, like ours, it’s just a “pop-up” which opens for two nights a couple of times through the WC.  We loved it on the Koningsdam, so we’re looking forward to this experience too.  

 

Now it’s two sea days until Naples, time to store up energy for the mad experience of all those European ports.  

[Krazy Kruizers]

Love reading about the Suez canal.

 

 Glad you all got to enjoy the viewing while having a party.

 

Sorry that swimwear time is just about over for a while.

 

Naples -- love that port

 

Great pictures.

[tennisbeforewine]

Sunday, April 14, 2019

At Sea en route to Naples, Italy

 

Since it’s Palm Sunday, the day began (after the gym and a shower) with a crowded church service in the Queen’s Lounge.  A group of folks have organized themselves into a choir and did a wonderful job with a hymn which featured a beautiful soprano solo.  Palm fronds were even handed out at the end of the service, and ours sits proudly in a vase atop our refrigerator. 

 

I guess that now we’ve entered the Mediterranean, the wonderful warm weather of the cruise is at an end.  For the first time, the temperature spent the early part of the day in the 50’s, and the only really warm place is around the Lido pool - as long as they don’t keep the roof open.  I’ll now have to dig out my tops with sleeves and probably even forego the shorts which I’ve been wearing on board most of the cruise.

 

Last evening was a “pop-up” version of the Sel de Mer restaurant which we originally enjoyed on the Koningsdam, where we celebrated one of my birthdays a few years ago.  All eight of us from our table had dinner together, and the menu seemed to be the same as in the regular Sel de Mer restaurants.  At our table, everyone ordered just one of three main courses from the menu:  the steak frites, the lamb chops, or the Dover sole.  Good reviews were had by everyone, with Bill saying that this was the best meal he had had so far on the ship.  After delivering a plate with olives, tapenade, ratatouille, pesto, and other delights, they brought us an amuse bouche of a single jumbo shrimp (oxymoron, anyone?) in a very tasty sauce.  These came accompanied by a warm baguette for each two diners, and that was one of my favorite parts of the meal.

 

For a starter, John had the salade nicoise, which featured good-sized slices of seared tuna and had my favorite dressing which the French call moutarde vinaigrette.  Strangely enough, when we’re in France, bottles of that dressing are my only souvenirs.  I had a bowl of boullabaisse, which featured a delicious tomato-based broth with a bounty of shellfish and other seafood.  

 

John ordered the steak frites, and his steak came perfectly medium and was about two inches thick, accompanied by hot, crispy fries fresh off the stove.  Of those who had the steak, not a one of them could finish it.  I had ordered the Dover sole, and our thoughtful waiter performed almost a work of art removing the fish from the bone tableside.  

 

You’d think this would be enough food, but no, of course not.  Next came dessert, and the two most popular items were the vanilla souffle with mixed berry compote at the bottom and profiteroles, John’s favorite dessert in the whole world.  Since it’s still Lent, I had a really delicious fruit plate, and I was the only one who could finish her dessert.  Finally there appeared in front of us shiny metal “trees” which held a collection of various small chocolates and strawberries.  After all that food, they went almost untouched.  

 

Overall, it was a lovely dining experience, and sharing it with friends made it even better.  Just thinking of it makes me feel full all over again.  

 

 

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Your Sel de Mer dinner sounds wonderful.  I know that my DH would have gone for the Dover Sole -- he loves it.  I would have gone for the lamb chops.

 

Those trees of small chocolates and strawberries sounds very different -- nice treat.

[myjillian]

On 4/12/2019 at 5:24 AM, tennisbeforewine said:

Well, surprise, surprise and hooray.  After several emails back and forth with Cruise Critic, which didn't help me, John finally looked and noticed that the URL line said "boards.cruisecritic.uk instead of .com.  Therefore, I put the address in manually (instead of using my bookmark) and they began loading, so you get all 12 photos from our two days in Aqaba.  Maybe I'll try the flowers tomorrow.  Thanks for your patience.  I know I didn't have much.  

beautiful...thank you for sharing

[tennisbeforewine]

Monday, April 15, 2019

At Sea en route to Naples, Italy

 

We’ve arrived at THAT part of the cruise.  Crew members are cleaning and polishing everything in sight, uniforms are sparkling white, and you can see yourself in the brass fittings.  Yes, the bigwigs are coming on board.  Once during each world cruise, the President of HAL, Orlando Ashford, the Mariner Society director, Gerald Bornhoft, and the CEO of Carnival Cruises, Arnold Donald, come on board to “show their appreciation” to those of us who are on the WC. 

 

This visit includes several activities.  There is a Q & A session in the Queen’s Lounge, a President’s Club dinner for those Mariners with more than 1400 days, a luncheon for those with more than 900 days, and a “grand event.”  These grand events have been, for the most part, pretty darned memorable.  Our first, in 2008, took place in a dry cistern in Istanbul, complete with food, drink, belly dancers, and the American ambassador.  Subsequent events have included dinner at the library in Ephesus with a symphony orchestra, a paddlewheel ship bult in the midships Lido pool, a full-blown safari camp, complete with sand everywhere and a broken-down jeep, and a few others.  You can see that they pull out all the stops.  This year, as I mentioned earlier, will be after-hours dessert and drinks in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, which most of us are really lookiing forward to.  

 

Our shortages continue, with hope of rescue in Barcelona.  Last evening we spoke to our friend Jacques, the Cellar Master, about the shortages of wine.  He’s almost going crazy, since so many of the wines were supposed to be uploaded earlier and we’ve run out of many of them.  He swears that if they don’t appear in Barcelona, he’ll just have to return to South Africa, since there’s no need for a cellar master when there’s no wine.

In addtion, we’re out of popcorn, tortilla chips, orange juice, blueberries, and vanila soft serve ice cream, among other things.  I know that no one on the ship is in danger of starvation (far from it!), but it’s the little things that seem to bug people.  When I checked the taco bar yesterday afternoon, I found out that instead of the potato chips which had replaced the taco chips, someone in the kitchen had taken it upon himself to make fresh tortilla chips - and they were a whole lot better than the ones we’re out of.  Ah well, the trials and tribulations of world cruise passengers.

 

Even though we haven’t been attending as many shows as usual for one reason or another, last evening we went to see the comedian, Kevin Devane.  Now I’ve found that comedians are about 50 - 50 on whether I like them or not, but he was great.  Even 

though we laughed for 45 minutes, I still can’t remember any of his jokes.  Tonight is the ship’s singers and dancers, always a show that we attend.  One of the singers has had to be replaced until Barcelona because she flew home to Ireland to donate bone marrow to an ill nephew.  What a wonderful, selfless thing to do.  

 

This morning we noticed that our usual morning deck attendant, Dickie, was absent for the second day, so we asked one of the other young men where he was.  We were told at first that he was sick, but then we found out that he has a hernia and will be disembarked in Barcelona to fly home to Indonesia for surgery.  Our good thoughts and prayers will fly with him.

 

Tonight is another Gala Night, and our friend Edmond, the Beverage Manager, will be our officer.  We do enjoy his company, and he seems to enjoy ours, so I’m sure a good time will be had by all.

[Krazy Kruizers]

You do have a lot of activities to look forward to.

 

Hopefully you will get supplies in Barcelona -- maybe even some in Naples??

 

Sorry to hear about one crew member having to go home for a hernia operation.  Wonderful that another is going home to donate bone marrow for nephew.

 

Enjoying your reports.

[tennisbeforewine]

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Naples, Italy

 

We do love visiting Naples, or Napoli, as it is in Italian.  It’s a beautiful and historical city which sits on the blue Mediterranean at the foot of Mt. Vesuvius, the villain in the story of Pompeii so many years ago.  Probably a third of the ship’s passengers were off to Pompeii, a few to Herculaneum, its sister city in tragedy, and others to Sorrento or the Amalfi Coast.  

 

John and I, on the other hand, have other goals in this marvelous city.  The first is to find a table at a cute little cafe up the hill from the ship to enjoy a cappuccino and a crema, an Italian creation that I love.  It’s a croissant filled with custard that just melts in the mouth.  After enjoying that lovely little Italian treat, we began our walk, which, according to our IPhone app, totaled 3.6 miles today.  We began by walking in the beautiful Piazza Trieste e Trento, an enormous square bordered by 18th Century buildings.  Then we found our way to our favorite pedestrian street which is frequented by Neapolitans for the wonderful shopping.  There are brick and mortar stores all along, with small side streets containing small outdoor markets.  We found a cute multi-colored sequin covered backpack/purse for our sequin-loving granddaughter and then found Easter dinner table treats for our friends.  

 

It’s so much fun just walking and looking.  We saw the puppet man, who had his marionette dancing to a tune that was playing on his tape player.  We wandered into a bakery and saw the absolutely beautiful display of Italian pastries.  We looked up side streets that beckoned us with their colorful flags and shops.  It truly is a great walking city.  

 

After a couple of hours of wandering, it was time for the main event:  pizza.  We have a favorite pizzeria/restaurant one street up from the pedestrian shopping street.  Its full name is Antica Trattoria e Pizzeria da Peppino; we discovered it two years ago and were excited to be able to go back.  As we walked in, we saw two things:  our previous table was available and three friends from the ship were already there.  They weren’t just anyone; it was the Pinnacle manager Tina, the Pinnacle chef Joseph, and our friend Hazel.  We figured if it was good enough for them, it must be a good choice.

 

Our salad, shared wood-fired pizza and beverages (red wine for me and an Aperol Spritz for John) really hit the spot.  We’d learned last time NOT to order a pizza for each of us, and this time we didn’t quite finish the one we shared.  Dessert was a little glass of limoncello each, and by then we were quite full.  Of course that didn’t stop John from having a gelato as we continued our walk after lunch.  An hour’s walk, however, convinced us it was time to return to the ship for a bit of afternoon siesta (I know, that’s Spanish, not Italian), and that’s exactly what we did.  Before napping, however, we had a wonderful chat with our former exchange “daughter” Giorgia, who lives in Bologna.  She has recently completed medical school and is now studying for an exam which will decide whether she will have a place in a five-year internship somewhere in Italy.  Since she always does remarkably well on tests, we have great faith that she’ll succeed.  

 

What a wonderful port this is.  In the past we’ve visited Pompeii, Herculaneum, Sorrento, Capri, and the Amalfi Coast (although not while on the ship), and two years ago we went to the Museo Archeologica Nazionale, which features many objects from Pompeii.  We probably would have returned there today, but it’s Tuesday and the museum is closed each week on that day.  We would have liked to have stayed another day, but that wasn’t to be.  

 

* * * *

 

Last evening, for our Gala dinner, our friend Edmond was to host our table, but because of a conflict with a President’s Club event, he was unable to do so.  Instead, our host was Harry, the ship’s First Officer.  That means that the only officers above him are the Staff Captain and the Captain.  He’s a lovely (and very tall) Dutchman with a great sense of humor.  As usual, we talked and laughed and had a wonderful time.  Tonight, however, we’re still so full that we’re having a discussion about whether to skip the dining room and just go to the Lido.  We’ll see.  

 

P. S.  I’m again having the photo posting problem that I thought we’d solved.  If you see photos, it worked.  If not, we’ll just keep trying.  

[Fairport]

Loving your posts.  That mall looks very similar to the Galleria in Milan.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Yes, I can see the pictures which are great -- love the pastry shop.

 

We also love Naples and spent several days there many years ago on a land vacation.  So many places to go and see.

 

How wonderful to find Pinnacle staff at your favorite table in your favorite restaurant.

[tennisbeforewine]

Regarding the Galleria in Milan, this shopping area is also called The Galleria.  

Also, a note to Krazy Kruizers - thanks for your always positive comments.  Comments always make me want to continue to write.  Also, thanks to everyone who reads my posts.  It's very encouraging to see so many people reading and looking at the photos.  We're so very lucky to be doing what we're doing and we love sharing with others, both here and on Facebook.

Edited April 17, 2019 by tennisbeforewine
corrected spelling

[tennisbeforewine]

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

At Sea en route to Barcelona, Spain

 

The shortages continue.  While it isn’t going to affect anyone’s waistline (I wish it would affect miine), there are a few new items on the list.  Yesterday Ginni ordered a Dive-In burger and then asked for some catsup for her fries.  She was then informed that there was absolutely no catsup on the ship.  The Lido manager, Hanse, even went downstairs to look and reported that, indeed, there was no catsup to be had.  Unwilling to take anyone’s word for it, last evening at dinner Ginni asked Indy, our waiter about the situation.  Shortly thereafter, Indy showed up with a small bowl of the actual product and, since you’d think he was talking about gold, said that he would hide it and keep it available for her.  

 

In addition to the elusive catsup, two other unavailable products are grits (can you believe it?) and Reisling wine (in addition to the Pinot Grigio which disappeared a couple of weeks ago.  Edmond, however, was able to find a small supply of beer in Naples, so John and Rich are happy.  The great Spanish hope at this point is that Barcelona will be the “promised land,” as far as supplies are concerned.  Since we missed our eight containers of supplies, we expect to have at least twelve there, and I’m sure they will spend all day loading them on board.  Heck, maybe they’ll even get blueberries!

 

Currently we’re sailing between the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, with small pods of dolphins accompanying us.  The seas are flat, the air is cool, and the skies are clear. That, of course, means that pickleball will be in full swing this afternoon, and the boys are ever so happy.  

 

I have Book Club this afternoon, and we’ll be discussing the first half of Tara Road by Maeve Binchy.  I’d read it many years ago, but it all seemed new to me this time around.  I’d recommend it as a beach or vacation book if you’re interested in it.  We’ll get to the second part in about two weeks, and then I think Book Club will be officially over.  So sad.  

 

As of tomorrow we’re down to four weeks until Ft. Lauderdale, and we’ve heard people already talking about packing.  However, we’ll have another two weeks before San Francisco, and then it’s home - and we have to begin making our own bed and changing the toilet paper rolls.  Such a sacrifice!  

 

[ozcruizer]

40 minutes ago, tennisbeforewine said:

Regarding the Galleria in Milan, this shopping area is also called The Galleria.  

Also, a note to Krazy Kruizers - thanks for your always positive comments.  Comments always make me want to continue to write.  Also, thanks to everyone who reads my posts.  It's very encouraging to see so many people reading and looking at the photos.  We're so very lucky to be doing what we're doing and we love sharing with others, both here and on Facebook.

I too love your posts and am always on the lookout for new ones.  We love Italy and have seen quite a lot of it, both on land tours and a Med cruise.  Loving your photos too.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad that the "boys" will be able to resume their pickleball games.

 

We had an incident on the Westerdam several years concerning the book club-- it was a 21 day cruise.  It started out fine, but on about day 5 or 6, the person in charge asked everyone to write a review of the first 3 chapters.  People had 2 days to do this which happened to be port days.  Needless to say that only a couple of people showed up with their reports.  We stayed in the back ground just to see what would happen.  That was the end of that book club for the cruise.

 

Speaking of supplies -- I think it was around 2001 when we did a 21 day Fall repositioning cruise from Seattle to Fy Lauderdale -- on the Amsterdam.  The longshoremen were on strike and agreed to only take luggage off and onto the ship.  No supplies.  They were still on strike when we got to San Francisco and LA -- thus no supplies.  The only thing that came onto the ship was the Noro virus in LA which back then they did not know how to control it.  We went down the coast and through the canal and supplies were really getting low.  Alcohol was low.  Back then people were able to buy alcohol for their cabins at the shops.  Thankfully we did so we still had a cocktail each day before dinner.  When we got to Curacao the CDC came on board because the Noro was so bad.  Each passenger was given a packet of questions to fill out about where you ate each meal -- on or off the ship -- and exactly what all you ate.  They thought it was some kind of food poisoning.  Thankfully I saved all the menus.  DH  handed me his packet and left for the gym while I had to fill both out.  Good thing I had a good memory back then.  People weren't even asked to stay in their cabins when they were sick.  Dinners had even less to offer -- strange items like veal on top of pasta.  A list of the few wines that were left were given to us each night at dinner with a discount. Back then Carnival Corporation did not have reliable contacts in Mexico where the ship could have picked up supplies and they were afraid to send the container trucks down to a Mexican port.  The Amsterdam did got stocked up in Ft Lauderdale and did 2 more cruises with the Noro still not under control.  HAL had to cancel a couple of cruises (over thanksgiving) to give the ship a really deep cleaning -- a lot of unhappy people.

 

Hopefully you all will get supplies in Barcelona.

[farawaygal]

We hear there is a guest with 2 dogs on deck 6? Any truth to that rumor...service dogs or is HAL pet friendly now?

[tennisbeforewine]

Thanks for your comments.  I can't imagine what would happen if that were today.  I think there would be general rebellion!  John's brother had norovirus on a cruise to Cuba last fall (another cruise line) and he was down and out for a couple of weeks.  Nasty stuff.

 

Regarding the dogs, I had heard the same thing from one of my Trivia partners today.  I'll investigate and get more information to you.  

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

I am wondering are passengers generally accepting of the lack of certain food and beverage items. I would think paying what they do for a World Cruise and not getting the total benefits might be a little upsetting or more. I know "Ship Happens" but wonder what the general consensus is among the passengers. Or maybe some don't even know.

 

Hope the drop shipments arrive in Barcelona. 

 

As always, I love following along with you.

[tennisbeforewine]

Regarding the dogs, what I've heard is that two new passengers have two small "service dogs."  He has recently had open heart surgery and he "needs" these two dogs for support. 

 

Regarding the shortages, I think most people are just shrugging their shoulders and being fairly understanding about the situation.  Today I also realized that we've run out of blue cheese.  We'll discover how things are after the new supplies are unloaded tomorrow.  We can only hope for the best.

Edited April 17, 2019 by tennisbeforewine
too much information

[Krazy Kruizers]

Praying that you get some decent supplies.

[whogo]

John and Diane, I won't reply to all your posts, I want to assure you that I look forward to your post every day, read every word, and enjoy the photos. I appreciate your diligence in posting so regularly. I am envious of your itinerary, how well you do ports, and your writing style.

 

On 4/12/2019 at 4:24 AM, tennisbeforewine said:

Well, surprise, surprise and hooray.  After several emails back and forth with Cruise Critic, which didn't help me, John finally looked and noticed that the URL line said "boards.cruisecritic.uk instead of .com.

I will bet that this is what caused be posting headaches a couple of cruises ago.

[tennisbeforewine]

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Barcelona, Spain

 

Oh no, we’ve run out of bacon, but there is hope.  Twinkle, the Assistant Beverage Manager, told us that they expected between eight and twelve containers to arrive, but as we disembarked the ship, we saw even more than that.  Containers and their disgorged contents were everywhere and were being uploaded through not one, but two openings in the side of the ship (I should know what they’re called, but I don’t.)  We left the ship at about 9:30, having arrived an hour late, and when we returned at about 3:00, they were STILL putting supplies aboard.  What a happy sight!

 

Barcelona is one of our favorite cities, and this year our main disappointment is that we’re not staying overnight as we have in the past.  We love the energy of the place, the friendliness of the people, the amazing Gaudi buildings, and the sheer walkability of it all.

 

Two years ago, nine of us (Susie and Woody, Bill and Jane, Rich and Ginni, John and I, and our guest chef friend George Geary) found a wonderful little restaurant in a scenic  square off Las Ramblas, the lovely walking (and driving) street in the center of Barcelona. We tried to describe its exact location, and everyone was pretty sure they remembered, but just to be sure, John researched until he found that it was Cafe Rossini in the Placa (Catalan spelling for Plaza) Reial.  We agreed to meet at 1:00, and John said he’d wait at the entry to the placa in case anyone got lost.  

 

After making sure we knew exactly where it was, we continued up Las Ramblas in search of a Starbucks, since we knew the location of one that had plenty of seating.  Before we found it, however, we found a tiny little Starbucks, so we decided to utilize that one.  Serendipitously, we looked out the back window of the cafe and saw that it sat right in front of La Boqueria, the world’s best food and produce market.  This had been our next stop, so we were more than pleased to find ourselves right in its front yard.

 

La Boqueria covers a few acres and has merchants selling everything from fruit to fish to paper-thin sliced ham to beef to wine - well, you get the picture.  There are a few lovely cafes where you can have breakfast, lunch, or just a snack.  A few locals were just having coffee, wine, or a beer for breakfast, but most were enjoying an assortment of food that put my salivary glands in high gear.   Atop glass counters were platters of grilled artichokes and cones of sliced chorizo and ham.  I don’t think we’ve ever been to Barcelona without a visit there and usually a snack along the way.  

 

After our visit, we hiked to the top of Las Ramblas, walked around the square, took some photos of an Antonio Gaudi building, and took a pass on visiting Barcelona’s largest department store, El Cortes Ingles.  By then it was time to walk down the street to meet our friends for lunch.  The restaurant lived up to our memories.  The orders ranged from pizza to pasta to John’s and my choice of four tapas:  garlic shrimp, patatas bravas (chunks of cooked potato in a delicious sauce), sliced Manchego cheese, and bruschetta.  We washed it down with two pitchers of sangria, one made with red wine and one with Cava, a sparkling Spanish white wine.  What a wonderful meal!

 

We spent more time after lunch walking the back streets off Las Ramblas, where we found the City Hall, dozens of cute little shops, and passed the Picasso Museum, which we’d visited two years ago.  If you’re a fan, you really shouldn’t miss this museum which contains more of the master’s works of art than any other.

 

Then it was time to take the shuttle back to the ship and prepare for THE PARTY.  HAL’s president, Orlando Ashford, along with his wife and son, as well as Carnival Corporation’s CEO, Arnold Donald boarded yesterday and, to celebrate HAL’s 146th anniversary, there was a tapas party on the midships Lido deck with complimentary wine, beer, and soft drinks.  I am constantly amused by what happens when the message “Free Liquor” is published.  It was jam packed, of course.  We’ve done enough of these to know we have to get there early - almost an hour  - to get a spot where eight or ten of us can sit together.  The Station Band (my favorite) provided good dance music, and when “Hot, Hot, Hot” was played, there was a conga line around the pool.  We chatted with friends, danced, ate some very tasty tapas, and had some pretty good sangria.  All in all, the party was a success and a good time was had by all - even though some of them won’t be able to remember it tomorrow.

 

Between lunch and tapas, we really weren’t ready for dinner in the dining room, so we just went to the dining room where John had a chicken pot pie and I drank a glass of water.  The evening ended with a performance by an English tenor, so by 9:00 we had eaten all we wanted, gone to a show, and were done for the night.  Overall, it was a wonderful day.