Legend 11/2006 Crossing Travelogue

[norm2002]

Just dashing to get ready for the 10 hour tour of Casablanca and Rabat but, as Paul requested, here's a few pictures.

The ship is berthed in Cadiz.

 

A street scene in Cadiz.

 

Last night was the Welcome Reception. As always, the Captain was very complimentary about the crew. This time he thought he would show us how many Officers it takes to change a lightbulb.

 

They tell us there is a 100% chance of rain today and it already looks very wet out!!

[LaPaloma]

Thank you so much for passing on our hellos with love Paul! Continue to enjoy!

 

Norm...loved the picture as always, and sure wish that we were with you on this one..just keep those pirates in line. Lola

[LaPaloma]

Just noticed Steiner is back on board--I wonder if he will be moving with Capt G.A. or staying on board?--he is an old friend, going back to our days on the Sea Goddess--he also drove the "chase car" when Capt. did his 36 hour bike ride in Norway. Don

[norm2002]

Just a few pics from the visit to the Mosque of King Hassan the Second - third third largest mosque in the world after Mecca and Medina.

 

The reflection of one of the Merano glass chandeliers in the marbe floor

 

And two final images from the mosque

 

 

[hoya68]

PeaSea8ch:

 

Thank you for the well wishes. We both love cruising and our last cruise was on the Sea Dream. We are looking forward to the Legend tremendously and chose Seabourn because of its great reputation, the itinerary, and the fact that we wanted to "dress up" on our honeymoon. I will bring a laptop and look forward to looking at your links and your future reports.

 

Stephen

[ITravelNow]

Paul,

 

Can you tell me how passengers with their own computers (with wifi) are charged for internet use - do you still purchase a package? Can you give me an idea of charges?

 

Thanks for your help - I'll be boarding the Legend in December and trying to decide if I should bring my laptop.

[PeaSea8ch]

Yes, I set my alarm and was on time for the tour departure to Rabat. Rabat, home to the King of Morocco, is an educated, diplomatic city where many of the country’s major governmental buildings and universities are situated. The almost 8 hour tour went at a leisurely pace and included an all-inclusive Moroccan feast of regional specialties at the lovely Meridian Royal Mansour Hotel which was excellent. I met and sat next to Lunar Lady Sira for lunch.

 

After returning to the ship, I needed some exercise after sitting for nearly 7 hours so I did about an hour of deck walking and then was time to get ready for dinner. Tonight I was the guest of Spa Manager Clair and Boutique Manager Bozica at Restaurant 2 Bistro. This was not a “tastings” night. We were at a table for five and the conversation, dinner and service were excellent. Gael really took good care of us!

 

I personally feasted on escargot a la bourguignonne, baked onion soup with herb crouton and gruyere cheese, pan seared sea bream nicoise with tomato-lemon confit, olive oil laced potatoes and artichokes. I finished the meal with roasted peaches topped with frozen yogurt and almond brittle.

 

Tonight the Flambé under the stars and Movies under the stars were rained out. Flambé under the stars will be rescheduled later in the cruise and Movies under the stars was moved indoors to the KOL. The movie “Casablanca” was sentimentally being shown in Casablanca (we did not sail until 11:00 pm).

 

Thank you Norm for the pictures from Cadiz and the Mosque. My Freeze Frame shots are below:

 

 

Mausoleum Dome

 

 

Mausoleum Guard

 

 

Yacht Marina Under Construction

 

 

Casablanca Sunset

 

On a Seabourn Yacht, life is good.

[blackbird71]

Another good report thanks.

 

Note to Norm2002 about half the time your pictures just show up as white space. PeaSea8ch pictures always show up.

 

I am looking forward to the next installment :):)

 

Blackbird

Sure glad he marked his reservation for no hosted tables.

[PeaSea8ch]

Ok, it is again time to answer the mail. Again, thank you all for your replies with advice, kind words and encouragement! Now on to your specific questions:

 

Blackbird: “Seabourn-nail” has the Seabourn logo painted on her left thumbnail. While we were discussing it, the Captain just happened to come by with his camera and took a picture of her thumb. The Captain has posted the picture on his website.

 

Click on the following link to http://www.captain-ga.com and click on "Last uploads." Scroll from there to find the picture. Out-of-focus in the background but definitely on the job is bartender extraordinaire Sasha.

 

Hoya68: Stephen, click on the following link which takes you to a post I did a while ago on the Panama Canal which includes links to the PC webcams.

 

7473073

 

Enjoy! And I hope that you and your bride find that Seabourn could be your home at sea.

 

ITravelNow: Margo, yes you will need to purchase a service package which can be used for the computers in the computer center, your Wi-Fi equipped laptop or both. The rates are in US$ for the hours of service provided. ½ - 13.50, 1 – 24.95, 2 – 47.95, 4 – 89.95, 8 – 167.95, 16 – 287.95, 32 – 479.95.

[CeeJay11]

We are cruising along today from Casablanca - last night. The weather is absolutely perfect. As the Captain said - the water is as flat as the kitchen floor, and the temp. in the mid-70's. Its blissful!!

The food and service are as amazing as ever.

Dan, you wanted to know about the crew and who was onboard. Well, where can I start??? Dariasz (now known as Darek) is here, and Magic, and Anthony, and Sasha (whose wife Monica is expecting in January), and Luca, Zoltan and Andrea, Slavek, Kevin, so many. And the 2nd Officer Rune Iversen (who has been on all our Legend cruises). Eric is here, of course, with 2 new Cruise Directors. We haven't seen them entertain yet but the little preview we saw the first night was very good.

Dan, we miss you. I know you want to know about trivia. Well, Geir's Gang is in first place after the first day! Never has Eric seen so many people turn up for trivia. The room was jammed!! Its going to be very competitive. He also said that if anyone cheats they will be disqualified (he's such a spoiled sport - hehehehe) and all the questions will be different than before. Very challenging to say the least. The first question was worth 25 pts. and had a 4-part answer. Eric says hi.

We have a team of 12 and we are sporting beautiful new "Geir's Gang" buttons with crossed toers on them. (Guess who's toes??)

On we go - more fun - and will try to post later.

CeeJay & Wally

[Host Dan]

CeeJay11,

I am GREEN with envy!!! I will be sure to concentrate at 5AM (if thats possible) and send you all of my trivia knowledge! Who would cheat anyway... Eric.... ;) (Maybe Daneite et al?)

When you see any of the Romanian crew, say "Boona-Zuh-ia" to them. (Not spelled correctly, just sounding it out) That means "Good day", or "Boona-Sera" meaning "Good Evening" or "Mool-tzoo-MESK" (heavy on the "SK") meaning "Thank you". You will REALLY turn heads!! I had so much fun "speaking" Romanian with the crew last cruise!

 

HAVE FUN and keep us posted!!!!

 

Paul,

I cannot thank you enough for providing us with your detailed Travelogue. I love the photos.. Keep em coming!!! :) :)

 

GOOD LUCK Geirs Gang!!

 

Host Dan

[norm2002]

GOOD LUCK Geirs Gang!!

Host Dan

 

And from me too! Hope this show up ok.

[PeaSea8ch]

Thank you so much CeeJay11 for your post as it gave me a breather. The only embellishment I have to offer is that this is probably the most well-attended crossing Trivia Tournament ever on Seabourn! After the fact, I counted 30 deck chairs that had to be brought in to the MSL to handle the overload. As we sail closer to FLL, the US Coast Guard fire regulations may require a venue change to the KOL to allow faster evacuation in case of a fire or other emergency.

 

Thank you Norm for the team support and the picture! I hope there are high-tech theft deterrent systems installed on the Bridge to prevent any bear or lion nappings. ;)

 

A few pictures I took today:

 

 

Sunrise At Sea 11/8/06

 

 

Sunset At Sea 11/8/06 #1

 

 

Sunset At Sea 11/8/06 #2

 

We will be in port the next three days where I am doing all-day shore excursions so my posts may be a little tardy. My photo image sharing site is giving me fits by taking forever to upload and resize my photos for inclusion into CC Posts or getting cryptic error messages after 20 minutes "web page not found." Grrrr. This site has burned up my package time faster than I can consume a crème brulee en parade! :mad: But they WILL get posted!!

 

On a Seabourn Yacht, life is good.

[LaPaloma]

The pictures are all terriffic...makes us very nostalgic! Capt. G.A. Bear cracked me up! I didn't see any crossed "toers" though!

[blackbird71]

Paul,

I use Photoshop Elements to resize my pictures before uploading them. Remind me of the type of laptop (PC/Mac) you have and I will look around for a resizer for you.

 

Have a wonderful time ashore... :) Got my suite assignment 113 ;) Life is good.

 

edited to add just found this picture of Norm and LOL from Cap. G-A site

 

 

"This is a Dream Image and of course with Norm behind the camera! What a beautiful day in the Atlantic Ocean today." - Cap G-A

 

http://www.captain-ga.com/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=0

[CruisinMatt]

30 deck chairs had to be brought in??? Why not just hold Trivia in the Showroom??

[norm2002]

Lanzerote today. Not very exciting so here's a few pictures of the preparation for the Welcome Home.

 

 

 

 

 

[norm2002]

One more from the Welcome Home

[norm2002]

And one from the morning in Lanzerote

[DisneyJen]

Thanks Norm... Is that rum punch they served?

[LaPaloma]

You are killing us..we want to go HOME!

[CruisinMatt]

I can only see a few of the pictures, not sure why. Norm did you opt out of the complimentary excursion?

[PeaSea8ch]

Paul,

I use Photoshop Elements to resize my pictures before uploading them. Remind me of the type of laptop (PC/Mac) you have and I will look around for a resizer for you.

Thanks, blackbird! I am using a Mac PowerBook G4 with 1.67 GHz, 512 MB RAM runing OS 10.4.8. I tried the full version of Photoshop and was not happy with the results. I am resizing 2 - 4 MB photos (for future projection on a screen with a digital projector) to the maximum size allowed by CC.

[norm2002]

I didn't go on th Exclusively Seabourn trip which is how I got the pictures yersterday. It was champagne most people took when they returned.

 

As one or two people are having problems with my pictures, I will leave them on http://www.pbase.com/norm2002/legend and will only post any more there. Also will save on connection time. So far I haven't put any captions there but I will post here when there are more on the website. Hopefully, these will be visible to all.

 

Went to the market with Jochem and Ioan this morning and will try to post some pictures of that later today.

[blackbird71]

Question Norm, who is the girl with the flute. Is she part of the enterainment staff or reg staff.

 

Bookmarked your journal thanks.

 

PeaSea8ch: I "save for Web" my pictures I upload for here which sometimes I am not totally happy with the results but makes for faster downloads for dialup users.