JANUARY 14, 2008 San Blas Island

WATCH US GO THROUGH PANAMA CANAL TOMORROW!

Port Talk: We did finally hear this on the TV last night and again the speaker is so enthusiastic and passionate about his topics; that alone persuades many people to go ashore even if they’ve been there before.
SS France: This was Dr. Webers’ topic today and as always, she holds her audience spellbound. And her ability to respond to almost any question with a quick, on target, answer is amazing.
Dinner: We are now comfortable with the table composition and we shifted some seats to give opportunities for new conversations one-on-one. We found out that Yvonne gets sea sick if she isn’t facing the direction of the ship’s path, so we’ll keep a seat open for her on that side of the table. Dave is a 23 yr veteran of the Navy; he and Twyla signed up for this cruise just before Christmas and drove several hundred miles to secure the necessary visas. The wait staff are very pleasant fellows; one fellow will be leaving us in Sydney to go home for vacation and see his wife and children.
Entertainment: The 8 dancers and singers did a great job with the theme of Dance. The program included Broadway worthy skits along with Flamenco and Irish dances. One skit had a woman dressed as a very heavy Brunhilde and the man as Thor in an enormous padded suit. Very funny.
Jan. 14: I got up after 9 and ate breakfast in the buffet before taking a tender to the island. It was the same island we visited last year on the 66 day cruise around So. Amer. This time I spied a health worker (Salud on his cap was a give-away; also he was wearing a khaki uniform and carrying a black bag) and asked him in my broken Spanish if there was a clinic on the island. He was gracious enough to take me there where I met the physician who spoke English. He took me around the clinic and introduced me to the two nurses there, one male and one female. They have a crude surgical area and a delivery room (this room and the pharmacy-the Panamanian government provides the medication) are the only air conditioned rooms I saw). There is a modest laboratory where basic blood work can be done.
One lady was getting an IV in the 3 bed “ward” and she agreed to have her photo taken and she gave me a big smile. There is much health education going on; they are still using the previous food pyramid but I smiled at that since I’ve never understood the current one. Lots of posters about breast feeding—which we saw everywhere. The doctor said some do want to bottlefed. There may have been a miscommunication but I understood him to say they have 300 deliveries a year at this clinic which serves numerous surrounding islands. Overall I’d say they are doing a yoeman’s job with scant resources. The MD stays here for 20 days after which another MD replaces him. I don’t know about the nurses. I felt guilty taking him away from the patients waiting in the reception area.
Technology: While the homes on this island are mud floor thatched huts, and dugout canoes are used for most transport, we are constantly astonished at the technology on these islands and other ‘primitive” areas. We saw a large satellite dish, portable laptop (at the clinic; not connected to wireless; MDs personal property), iPods, TVs, and heard radios all over the place. Cell phones are ubiquitos and some of the ship’s passengers were using theirs to speak with others; one lady seemed to be getting her lab results! There are handwritten signs everywhere and one for the movies was $5; This “Theatre” was a larger thatched hut and you had to bring your own chair it looked like. In one doorway, a woman and several children were watching a kids’ TV show on a TV in a large room; I’m guessing it was a 27” or larger.
So you do see the old with the new. Kids and women are in native dress, engaged in sewing and creating other items to sell. You see very few men and boys and then they are dressed in jeans and shirts and are selling shells or things made by the women.
There were some old, now unused, concrete bldgs but they were moldy and no longer used. The clinic is a cinder block affair and it is used.
As I was getting onto the tender to return to the ship, Ed was just coming off.
Lunch: I joined a table where some folks were traveling together and some were also new. One lady, apparently traveling with her delightful, probably a spry 80+, mother. The daughter was the loquacious one and it was often hard for others to join the monologue. This settled down after a while. Two brothers, probably around 60s and who looked very different, were traveling together and they were fun. Another couple from New Orleans finished out the table. We got around to the obnoxious table mate stories and some of them were quite fun. Apparently one couple has been table hopping each night because they haven’t liked the folks at any previous table. How much you want to bed those tables were relieved they didn’t return either!
The rest of our day: It is now 2:30p and Ed is reading a magazine and I will soon join him. We leave this area to go to the Panama Canal next.
WE BEGIN OUR TREK THROUGH THE PANAMA CANAL AT 7 AM TOMORROW AM (Don’t know if it’s still EST or CST). YOU CAN FOLLOW THE SHIP ON THE WEB CAM or ON THE PANAMA CANAL WEB CAM. We are traveling from East to West through the Canal and I believe we start at Colon. We’ll wave to you if we can.

JANUARY 13, 2008 on the way to San Blas Is.

Leaving Grand Cayman: It is amazing how quickly the ship replaces the tenders into their storage slots and begins moving out! There was a pirate ship touring folks and it circled around the ship. I recall the one at Big Bear and how much fun that one seemed to be.
Dinner: This experience would be a great scene in a movie. One couple was already at the table when we arrived; they had moved their seats far away from last night’s offender. We also did the same. The last of our 3 couples arrived and grumbled because they were close to the offender’s last position. We murmured a lot about how we would handle his arrival and how long we’d be able to stand him, especially looking forward to 99 more days of him. Not even my attempts at Christian charity helped. I asked Ed if he had mustered up any Christian charity for this fellow and he replied that since he and that fellow were both Jewish, Christian charity didn’t come into play.
So you can imagine how absolutely giddy we were when a new couple arrived with beaming faces and good social skills! We were so gushy and joyful that they must have wondered what they didn’t know about this table. As it turns out, the offender had been at other tables prior to ours and in each instance, everyone at the table requested a new table assignment.
In the instance of our table, the wait staff issued an ultimatum: Either he goes, or I go. We cheered this unusual demonstration of rebellion. The head waiter came over to apologize; unfortunately, the offender is still at a table for which he is responsible! Later the matre d also showed up and apologized.
But it wasn’t over yet. While we were having dessert, the offender arrived backslapping and cheery. It seems they didn’t realize he had been assigned to the “wrong table”. Of course, we didn’t let on that we knew a thing, and ultimately he left after which time we all breathed a sigh of relief and became giddy all over again.
ENTERTAINMENT: Tonight we had David Gold, a comic. He has a rather sad face decorated with a nice smile. His humor is low key, often dry, but never dull. It keeps you on your toes. Lots of double entenders. During his skit, the ships speakers came on asking for the “assessment team” to go to the Pacific Lounge immediately. He speculated a lot on what this meant; so far we haven’t a clue as to what it meant but that Lounge is closed today.
He is also a terrific pianist and will be doing smaller venues around the ship. Some of the passengers saw him on a ship 25 yrs ago and enjoyed him just as much then. Ed and I were laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes.
Photos: We have accumulated all our photos in one place and will make decisions about this batch prior to Sydney. I’m always amazed at what a good job ship’s photographers do. You’d love to get them all (which is the idea of course), but they are not inexpensive and they never give coupons or price breaks later. There are packages which mean that you’ll be accepting an album or scrapbook and worry about how to get it home.
TODAY’S SPEAKERS: I did set the alarm for 8 am but didn’t get out of bed until 9. My body felt like it was anchored in lead. I enjoyed a few fruits with Ed (my breakfast) and got to the lecture about the UN on time.
Carol Bellamy, UN: This lady was appointed by Pres. Clinton to be head of the Peace Corp. Later she was appointed to positions in the UN by two separate Sec’t Gen’ls. She’s an engaging and passionate speaker. We started out with a quiz about the UN. I was able to get a few right—mostly by guessing, but this became the framework for the body of her talk. It’s amazing how much one doesn’t know about the UN. Her candor is fun and her insider’s perspective invaluable. She was straightforward about those agencies she thinks ought to be restructured or eliminated. The Questions and Answers are as interesting as the body of the talk. There is a small but dedicated group of us who attend her lectures. They are repeated on the ship’s TV this afternoon.
Port talk: Alas that was at 9 am so we missed it. However, it will be reshown at noon on another channel on the ship’s TV so we’ll catch it. We’ve been to San Blas Is. before but he includes some cultural anthropology in his talks. More importantly, however, is his unabashed enthusiasm for his topic! He makes everything interesting.

I’LL CONTINUE TOMORROW I HOPE.

I'll try to post two photos: Margaritaville and Hell.

JAN 12 2008 GRAND CAYMAN

Finishing up yesterday
We heard several speakers and learned from each.
CHILDREN IN CRISIS: The first speaker was Carol Bellamy, who was appointed head of the Peace Corp by Pres. Clinton. Later she was appointed by two different Secretary Generals of the UN to posts. She described the problem of children throughout the world who are victims of (principally) war/violence, disease, and poverty. She made the argument for an emphasis on education, especially for girls. If the girls are being educated, the boys are as well. Many examples documented the importance of educating girls because of it’s impact on the society at large. It was a small audience but all of us were engaged.
HIKING AROUND THE WORLD: The Galapagos. This speaker has hiked almost everywhere. He told us about the experience we will have on the Galapagos and described how these islands were created and provided much demographic information, especially about the growth of the population there and its threat to the ecosystem. He will be talking about Macchu Pichu next.
CAPTAIN’S COCKTAIL PARTY: Most, but not all by any means, are Italian. The fellow who handles the money is V E R Y tall: I’m guessing over 6’7” and he wears modish glasses with a white frame. But, he’s the one that will fork over the $130K USD for us to transit the Panama Canal. They also introduced and brought onto the stage the employee of the month. I thought that was a wonderful gesture and probably well deserved as these folks all work very hard.
FORMAL NIGHT: Ed smartly rented a Tux package so his formal attire is all taken care of and he looked rather spiffy if not a little tired (eventually we’ll get caught up on our sleep!). Mine is more problematic but thanks to the Discovery Shop, I do have an assortment to get me through. The heels didn’t even bother me too much. I must say that I can’t understand how Nancy likes those thigh-high nylons though; I couldn’t wait to take mine off! We had our photos taken when the photographer seemed lonely. She is from Portugal so we discussed Macao with her. She hasn’t been there either; she got on the ship the same time we did. The pictures when we came on the ship are OK. We plan t save all these photos and pick our favorites later.
DINNER: We had gotten a designated table for first seating and met our new table mates. One couple had been seated next to us at the cocktail party and we remarked at our good luck that they were our table mates. The next couple are 85 and 81, and are from Montreal. They are delightful and shared how they still do things together after 50+ yrs of marriage. The wife walked 25 times around the upper deck yesterday; they are avid cross country skiers at home. I was impressed by this for a number of reasons not the least of which is that the wife has a very pronounced curvature of the spine due to osteoporosis. The last person at our table is an older man traveling alone. Clearly he loves being the center of attention and will do whatever it takes to get that. He is rather demanding of the staff and at one point remarked: “I paid a lot for this trip and I want to get good service and I’m telling them so.) The wait staff were gracious but clearly he’s not going to be a favorite of any of us. The husband of the first couple mentioned commented at one point that we should rotate our seats each night so that we all get to know each other. Ed and I chuckled but are very sympathetic to his plight and will join in. I’m not sure about our 80+ y/o couple. Clearly they were relieved not to be sitting next to “him”.
ENTERTAINMENT: Joni Butler was on the Diamond Princess when we were but we missed her performance. She has been nominated for a grammy twice. One of the couples at our table then did not like her. Ed loves these kinds of performances. She was OK but I don’t like singers who scream and there was a certain amount of that. I suspect I’ll be joining Ed for her next performance—just one of the jobs of a wife .
SLEEPING: the beds are comfortable. My hand laundry doesn’t dry out overnight so I finally decided the cabin steward would just have to be exposed to my unmentionables. My compression bras are very thick and I have to keep them ready.
ODDITIES ON THIS SHIP: Newspapers: We’ve finally got it straight: no papers on this cruise per Headquarters. There is CNN and Fox News and the internet so you’re on your own is pretty much what I was told. It’s hard to find papers when you’re only in a town briefly. Internet: We do have some free time because of our Elite status but since we haven’t yet figured out the system here on the ship quite yet. I’m still trying to figure out the WiFi: I have the password (finally) and the user ID but I can’t make it work. I’m feeling very frustrated and sympathize with the technasaureses out there. Speakers: Our favorite speaker from the Diamond Princess is on board and we were looking forward to hearing her old and new lectures on board. The Cruise Director, was not told about her until she showed up on board. It turns out HQ decided not to have her give all of her lectures so she’s not on with us all the way to Syndey. That’s a real shame; she’s terrific. SHOWERING: I told you before that it’s a challenge. A woman in line with us last night said: “there’s only three things you can do in that bathroom: sh_t, shower and shave.” That about sums it up!
NOW FOR GRAND CAYMAN…

My Treo rang at 8 am this morning and there was great sunshine and ocean outside. I got ready and went up to the buffet while Ed finished getting ready. A huge man and his lovely wife invited me to sit at their table. What fun they are! Jim and Diane, both younger than us by 5-8 yrs. I was reminded of our friend Allen Field who often says: “I can’t stand old people.” Because we discussed the rare few who give aging a bad name. We later saw them on the tender after they had gone snorkeling on the other side of the island.
TAKE A TENDER: I confess I recall very little about Grand Cayman from our previous trip. We hooked up with a lovely lady who gave us and about 8 other people, a 2 hour tour. We were all more than a little annoyed because she delayed our departure to wait for another woman’s husband to reappear! Things started off very shaky as a result but we had a nice time in the end. We stopped at the governor’s house and walked on 7 mile beach.
So civilized. The Governor is appointed by the Queen as this is a British colony. He remains for 4 years after which time he may never return to the island again unless it is by invitation of the Queen. This is to prevent cronyism and corruption. Fifty-six British police are brought in to join the local constabulary so laws are enforced. Prince Charles, and I presume Camilla, are due to arrive tomorrow. We are so sorry to have missed them.
After the beach, we went to Hell. Yes, you read it right. There is a Hell here and we sent the kids and Mom postcards as mementos. The fellow who owns the shop there dresses with devil’s horns and a cape. And Nancy they have their wild celebrations here when pirates come in for a bacchanal at the end of October to the beginning of November.
We’ve been to Hell once before, in Norway.
TURTLES: We stopped beside the turtle farm. Poor things: you could see their flippers trying to crawl across each other to freedom. They are bred here to create new types and to provide food for the locals who love turtle meat. They are not allowed (5 yrs in jail) to eat the free turtles here. The farm must free a certain percentage of it’s crop each year to ensure a vigorous turtle population here.
Now comes (almost) the best part! We marched over to Jimmy Buffet’s MARGARITAVILLE where we ordered a Mango Big Rita (and later a refill). Now I have no idea what I’ll do with this enormous “bong” glass they give you but it’s washed out and on display in our ca bin. We had lunch: Ed jerk chicken which he devoured like a starving man, and my House salad. Everything here is delicious.
There is a water slide and pool for kids and parents as a part of the restaurant and store complex and the families and kids were a delight to watch.
Thanks to my handy dandy WiFi finder, I discovered that we had a signal. We managed to find an unsecured net connection and were able to clean out some emails. It died out before I got my emails sent out but Ed had better luck. At least I got my blog posted.
PHONES: We both have signals on our Treos and though it’s the same account, we always have different carriers (go figure!). We tried making some phone calls unsuccessfully and even had no luck with a stationary pay phone. So it wasn’t meant to be. But we did get text messages.
BACK ON SHIP. We met Jim and Diane again on the tender. They said there was an awful downpour on the side of the island where they went snorkeling. We didn’t even have a hint of rain and this island is not that big! The weather is so marvelous it is seductive.
So now I’m trying to connect via WiFi and I can’t make my password and user ID work. I’m not alone. Some other fellow in the library (one of the hot spots) has also been having trouble and he called me over to help him. Poor guy—as if I knew. We didn’t figure it out but made a pact to share our success and how we did it, later!
Ed is looking over a Barbara Ehrenreich (sp) book and musing over the quiz in the library today. I’m off to see if we can make a connection…..finally.

FIRST DAY ON THE SEA
I attended the port talk about Grand Cayman and the speaker is a fellow with a British accent. He is so genuinely enthralled with all the sites he discussed that you want to run to the tour desk and schedule them all! We do not have a formal tour tomorrow; we are in port for 8 hrs and it is a small island. Other than the diet Coke run, we don’t have any specific plans but I have lots of ideas to fill our time. We should get a lot of walking in.
We still have to get our internet arrangements made. This has been frustrating. It seems that between Ed and I and the length of the trip we have several hundred minutes of free internet. However, for the blog, photos, and for any secure transactions, we want to use our laptop for secure transactions. It seems the internet person, who also teaches all the classes on computers, is hung up with folks who can’t seem to “get it” and keep asking the same questions the party standing right next to them just asked. Obviously, I had little patience for this – there was a group of us waiting patiently in our own queue; but those who just walked up and began asking questions were the ones who got time. Several of us were annoyed by this.
There is open seating for lunch and there were two other couples. We enjoyed the two from Cincinatti (my Ohio friend will appreciate this). The serving sizes are modest and beautifully presented. This is nice because you don’t feel so guilty enjoying various dishes.

I’ll ADD MORE LATER. Found free wifi at Margaritaville on Grand Cayman!

WE’RE OFF! January 11, 2008

Leaving Home
The decision was made to stay at a hotel near LAX because we had such an early flight. It was a good news, bad news idea but the main advantage was that it meant absolutely all the packing would be done well before we needed to be at the gate for the plane. We cleared out some of the food in the freezer for supper and then got a shuttle to the Radisson. We got into bed about 10:30 – we both think we slept some but certainly not as we would have wished. And thank goodness we set our Palm for the alarm because our wake up call never came.
So at 4:40a we are outside waiting for the hotel shuttle to American Airlines along with 3 other hardy souls (you notice I didn’t label any of us “early risers”!) The lines were long; it’s astonishing how many other souls were there for early flights as well. We’ve seen worse but the increased security seems to require that we learn of another new requirement. It almost feels like you’re undressing for your annual physical exam.
The plane rose over the Pacific Ocean and then turned back toward the coast for the easterly route. This was around 6:30 am and gave me a great view of the sunrise over the So. Cal. Mountains. I did get a photo and if it’s a good one, I’ll try to upload later.
Many mountains across the US were dusted with confectioner’s sugar snow tops. Since we were on a southerly route (El Paso was one of the cities along the way), this was a little surprising. We hit the usual turbulence over the Texas plains and enjoyed watching the Florida coastline as we made it to Ft. Lauderdale.
All of our luggage arrived on time and the Princess folks greeted us by name (we were the last of their charges to shepherd for the day) and we were off to the ship; the pier is only about 15 min from the airport).
Small world department: As we were waiting in line to check-in, a couple came up to us. They recognized us from the Prinsendam. They were also on that Roller Coaster ride around South America. We laughed about how much fun it had been and even more fun to see people’s reactions when you tell them about the experience (and we didn’t have to lie a bit!).
This trip is also available as a 1/3 segment, so we may still run into some other fellow travelers on the seas.
One of our favorite lecturers: You may recall how much we enjoyed Drs. Bradley and Sarah Weber from the Diamond Princess. They are the multitalented couple who gave several lectures on the history of navigation and Great ocean liners of the world. We saw them last night; we had known they were going to be on this ship lecturing. We’ll probably go to the lectures again; I have my notes from the last lectures; we’ll see how good I was at catching all the tidbits Sarah threw out. They will be with us until Australia and so there will be several lectures we have not yet heard.
The padre: We ran into the priest who will be with us on this cruise—at least for part of it. He is from an Oregon parish but is originally from County Mayo – it wasn’t hard to figure out he wasn’t a native as soon as we greeted each other. The Princess Patter, the daily newsletter we get, says: “Holy Catholic Mass” (is there another kind?) will be celebrated by Father Austin Cribbin. He will be leading the Protestant services also.
So far, there is no rabbi, so the Patter asks for the assistance of passengers to conduct the service.
The ship: PACIFIC PRINCESS
It’s the smallest ship we’ve been on for a cruise: 353 crew for a little over 600 passengers. You immediately notice it as the hallways are barely wide enough for one person and the stairwells are similar. But architectural features are very elegant. Though it was built in 1999, it reminds me of a Delta Steamship inside. The atrium, which is 2 stories high, has a Poseidon like alabaster ceiling with these elegant staircases and old Master type paintings on the wall.
Our room feels small after the Diamond Princess last month but we did manage to find space for the contents of our 6 pieces of luggage that’s not counting our roll aboard, back packs and fanny packs we each manage. Unlike the Royal Princess extended trip, they do not store your empty luggage for you. Yeech! We were really planning on that! So we managed to secret most of it under the bed but there are two big pieces we have stacked in front of the door to the adjoining cabin; they are out of our way and handy enough that we put our back-up supplies in one and we can pitch other things into it to save.
I did manage to create a corner for all of our electronics (I’ll spare you the details but we could open a Radio Shack like store on our own!). We crammed almost all of our clothing into the closet but it was a challenge. There is a small refrigerator so we plan to stock up on Diet Cokes on Grand Cayman; the prices on the ship are highway robbery.
The bathroom: Well it’s almost misrepresentation to call it that. It reminds me of the bathroom I had when Nancy was an infant. We lived in a 23 foot trailer and the shower was literally right over the commode. This one is slightly better but don’t plan on bending down to pick up a fallen object: your behind will punch the door open.
The balcony: This is such a luxury. Last night leaving Ft. Lauderdale at sunset, it was especially appreciated. Later we took a break from unpacking and it was dark outside with a crescent moon over Miami and a Carnival ship lit up in the distance. The word “balmy” was made to describe the weather, slight breeze, ocean with just slight waves. Just marvelous.
Dining: Yesterday one had a feeling that things weren’t quite organized yet (this applied to many things, not just dining). We are on second seating which doesn’t work well for us. We thought about doing another venue for the evening (we hadn’t eaten since the sandwich from LAX) but the Steakhouse and the Italian Diner were not open and the buffet wasn’t ready at 6:15p. So we did go to our assigned table for dinner. This was a table for 8 but only one other couple was there, a pleasant couple who lived in Denver for many years but is now retired to Phoenix. The husband used to be a tax fraud investigator for Colorado so there were fun war stories to be told. The wife had been a grant manager for a foundation.
We have asked for first seating but we have no idea of our chances. Ed checked the web before we left and it had us as #7 on the list to change; the ship has us as #11 (what’s wrong with this picture?).
Entertainment: Last night was a get acquainted with the ship and staff evening. There was a comic/magician who was OK if you like adolescent focused entertainers. I don’t mean to be too hard on him but magic isn’t my thing, though Ed loves it. The dancers are high energy, talented young people. Tonight’s singer is one who was on the Diamond Princess. We missed her there and were told we didn’t miss anything sooo I don’t know if we’ll go to hear her tonight.
We fell into bed and both had some “challenges” getting to sleep. I suspect after tonight, we’ll be in sync with the routine. One of my neighbors remarked that you don’t have as much trouble adjusting to the time changes as you go west because you’re always gaining an extra hour each day; of course, we also lose a day as we cross the international date line in the Pacific.
Differences we notice: Clearly there is adequate staff but with a smaller ship, there aren’t as many extras (I’ll call them extras even though it’s easy to get used to them). The library is very large and comfortable with a nice selection of reading material. The Purser’s desk personnel told me there was no newspaper (on the Diamond, we were told we had to ask for it. In the past, it was automatically delivered to you each day). There is a sign in the library about the papers and leaving them for the other passengers to enjoy. They get a FAX of the paper and that is what’s put out for reading. There is also a WiFi area there and some writing area. Quiet, comfortable, serene.
The spa: I made an appointment for my hair in a month, but I didn’t see other services such as manicures and waxing advertised. They do have the usual massages, wrinkle removal, anti-aging services though. The fitness gym is quite nice, good sized and with a lot of equipment. They offer yoga, aerobics and such. The photo shop is a large closet really but they do a nice job. There is also a kiosk where you can print off your own digital photos from your camera.