Report #11 At Sea Sept 29 BNOTD revisited

116 Umak, Kuril Islands, Russia

122 Diana working the fashion show.

 

 

Sept 30 - At Sea.  For those of you who’ve seen this acronym before please excuse a little digression.  I’m reinstituting the “BNOTD” (Bad News of the Day) protocol because today we got the first installment of BNOTD.  Those of you who are dedicated Weather Channel watchers already know that a typhoon, Jelawat, has been heading north towards Japan.  Unfortunately it is due to arrive in Kushiro at the same time that we are.  It’s expected to create dangerous conditions for being in port so we are not stopping tomorrow and will have another day at sea instead, our ninth in a row.  It will not, however, be a 25-hour day.

 

The seas are calm and the weather is warming so we are in good shape on the ship.  Hakodate is in the southwestern part of Hokkaido so we will sail between the 2 of the Kuril Islands (Russia) into the Sea of Okhorsk and then through the La Perouse Strait into the Sea of Japan.  This will put the Kurils and Hokkaido between us and the typhoon probably saving us from a bumpy day tomorrow, we’ll see.  It’s too bad that we won’t be stopping in Kushiro.  It’s the least touristy city we’ll be seeing in Japan and I was looking forward to using my restaurant Japanese on the locals to see how many I could get to laugh.

 

The entertainer tonight, Dale Kristien, is billed as the ‘star’ of the Phantom of the Opera so I’m going to see Men in Black III.  As I said, I’m not much of a fan of Andy Webber mainly because his stuff is done to death on the ships.  I am a little concerned because most movie franchises are about done by the time they make III.  Beverly Hills Cop III and Lethal Weapon III, for example.  However there are notable exceptions to that rule, Star Wars and Harry Potter come to mind, as well as ‘The Girl’ trilogy (Dragon Tattoo, Fire and Hornet’s Nest, all good.  Actually great for the most part.)  I don’t really have high expectations for MIB III but it should be entertaining.

 

Diana was a model in the ship’s shop fashion show this afternoon.  The fitted her up with about $50,000 worth of diamonds.  It was fun and the guests enjoyed it, I think mainly for the free Champagne. 

 

European Union Note:  I don’t give a rat’s patootie about the EU’s rule on product appellations, but ok to use Champagne in this case because the stuff was actually produced in the proper region of France.  The first time I encountered this issue was in Spain. A Spanish vintner was explaining why in Spain the bubbly is called Cava.  The French filed a complaint with the EU because Spain was calling their sparkling wine champagne.  Of course the EU court being about as misguided and harebrained as our Supreme Court often is, ruled in France’s favor and the Spanish had to find a new name for the product.  Since the wine is stored in caves as it’s maturing they registered the name ‘Cava’, which is cave in Spanish.  I wonder what the Polynesians are going to call the fermented ceremonial drink they refer to as Kava.  Maybe the C to K will be enough or maybe, in a fit of good judgment, the Polynesians will tell the EU to talk to someone who cares about their rulings.

 

For some reason I’m very hungry this afternoon and looking forward to dinner.

 

MIB III was entertaining.  Not bad for the third installment of an aging franchise.

 

Well it had to happen, a night without turning the clocks back an hour.  I’m not sure I can survive a 24-hour day.  How will I fit everything in?

 

Report #11 Sept 29 - Formal Night.

112  Diana and I in the Atrium before the Black and Silver Ball

115  Some of the cruise staff.  The girl next to Diana is Daniella the Tai Chi instructor from Portugal.

 

Sept 29 - At Sea.  After yesterday’s seventh consecutive 25-hour day I’m wondering if we get a ninth today.  We’re heading south so the longitude lines are getting farther and farther apart.  Guess I’ll just have to wait to find out.  Tonight is the Black and Silver Ball, which is their way of saying dress, will be formal for the evening.  That will mean two down and 12 to go.

 

If you’ve been looking at my blog it’s been a mess.  The satellite internet connection has been wild here in the North Pacific.  We sailed so close to several of the Aleutian Islands that I could have hit them with a rock.  Not really but it makes a good story.  I think I have the issues under control but won’t really know until I try to send today’s entry.  I’m going to attach a few photos to see how it winds up on the blog.

 

The Unexpected Boys lead singer is recuperated and they put on a matinée show this afternoon.  Their shtick was corny but their music was very good.  Frankie Valle had some great hits and they covered most of the biggest ones.

 

This evening is formal and officially the Black and Silver Ball.  HAL often has a Bland and Gold Ball or a Black and White Ball but this is the first Black and Silver I’ve encountered.  Some of the ladies go all out for these things and a portion of the ship’s officers are required to attend to provide dancing partners.  Most seem to enjoy it but traditionally if the ship’s engineering staff is mostly Dutch, not so much.  If their Scots, they seem to love it.  On the other hand, the Dutch captains and navigation staff usually have a great time.  Should be interesting.

 

Dinner on formal night is always interesting.  Usually too many favorites show up and you have to choose between them.  Last formal night I had Beef Wellington, a dish that HAL does particularly well. 

 

Tonight the hits just kept on coming at dinner.  They had ‘Surf & Turf’, a filet mignon with lobster tail, medallions of venison and almond crusted salmon, three excellent choices and only one stomach to put them in.  Delicious once again.  However the crowning glory of the dinner was desert.  They had Lovin’ Spoonful Chocolate Cake.  It’s layers of fudge cream, semi-sweet chocolate genache with just enough dark chocolate cake in between for it to qualify as a cake.  Yikes!!

 

Diana was wearing a jacket she had made from some silk fabric her dad brought back from occupied Japan in 1947.  It has alternating black and sheer stripes and is a gorgeous piece of cloth.  A tailor in Irvine told her exactly what to buy to line it and made her a very nice jacket.

 

Historical Note:  Diana’s dad fought on Iwo Jima and then was sent to China to prepare his Marines for the invasion of Japan.  Fortunately for him and me, Harry dropped first one, and then when the Japanese remained unconvinced, a second A-Bomb that ended WWII in the Pacific.  Had Harry flinched on that decision her dad surely would have been killed, along with thousands of other US soldiers and Marines in the invasion.  Instead he was part of the transition government in Japan.  I grow very weary of all the hand wringing over Harry’s decision to drop the bomb.  It appears to me that if someone comes into your house and absolutely begs to get their butts kicked, they have no room to whine when you accommodate them.

 

The ball was fun.  The poor captain got no break whatsoever.  A constant stream of ladies kept him on the dance floor continuously. 

 

Another hour back tonight for a total count of 8 in a row.  Tomorrow’s the last day at sea before we arrive in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan.

 

Report #10 - Sept 28 At Sea - Mongolians?

Pictures:

100  Mongolian Cookout Veggies

102  Mongolian Cookout Meats

103  The Wok Line, Ready to Eat.

 

Sept 28 - At Sea.  Highlight of the day will be the Mongolian BBQ by the Lido pool for lunch.  You get to gather your veggies and meats, take them to the grill and tell the chef which sauces to mix to wok them.  But that’s for later.

 

The weather is still cool but the winds and waves are down.  Almost no whitecap activity is visible and the tops of the small waves are not throwing any spray.  Winds are probably less than 25-30 knots and the sun is shining brightly.  They’ve opened the outside promenade deck so people can go outside to do their laps.

 

The pastor on board is doing a study on various Psalms during this voyage, always a safe and very rich topic for study.  He and his wife are Canadian and he lapses into the sentence ending ‘eh’ at times.  After listening to him I find that I lapse into it myself, just like I lapse into the North Texas drawl when I’m down there.

 

I’m constantly reminded of how much I like the MS Amsterdam.  Same slimmer, faster hull as the Rotterdam but with the more modern Izopod (sp?) drive.  Much less vibration as the diesel generators can be isolated from the hull as they are only connected to the drive units by electrical wires.  On the Rotterdam the diesels are driving the props via shafts and the torque involved requires that they be fastened securely to the hull that transmits much of the engine vibration through the hull to the rest of the ship.

 

The Mongolian cookout was a big success for me.  After gathering my vegetables and noodles I added a little of each of the meats available, pork, chicken, beef, shrimp and squid.  You present your plate to a chef armed with a wok and he asks which sauces and additions you want.  Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, chopped garlic, sesame oil, and sambal (an Indonesian chili sauce, pretty hot) is my mix with enough sambal to get it to true Mongolian heat.  Delicious.

 

I should have mentioned that in addition to Qi Gong massage and acupressure we are learning the One Thousand Hands Buddha form.  It’s an exercise with 14 mudras (hand positions) that is said to have emotional benefits keeping you calmer and more centered.  Actually, it’s fun whether or not it has any other benefits.  In addition to the Tai Chi it seems to have benefits in the area of flexibility and coordination.  I’ve only been practicing a week and I’m noticing differences already but can’t tell if it’s due to the Tai Chi or Qi Gong.  Bottom line is, it really doesn’t matter.

 

Since we get yet another hour back this evening I decided to do a movie and then the show.  The movie was ‘This Means War’.  Supposed to be 1 hour, 38 minutes but seemed much longer.  Guess I wasn’t having a good time.

 

The show featured Ronn Lucas, a ventriloquist.  He was funny and had some fairly original patter.  A very enjoyable show.

 

 

 

Pictures

Here’s the pictues

Report #9 Sept 27 - Land Ho!!

An unidentified Aleutian Island slips by my window.

 

Sept 27 - At Sea.  Another day at sea, the 7^th consecutive 25-hour day. I forgot to mention that I've added Qi Gong (pronounced Chee Gong) to my daily schedule at 2PM.  Previously all I knew of Qi Gong is that Tai Chi instructors use it to warm you up and reinforce proper breath control.  Actually, with acupuncture, herbs and meditation it's a branch of Chinese medicine.  Sort of a self-massage, acupressure discipline.  I remembered my first Tai Chi instructor talking about it and when I saw it on the schedule, I decided to try it.  It's actually fun so I've continued.

 

Eastern Medicine Note:  As most of you know I'm not much of a New Age person.  I think most of the newer additions to Eastern beliefs are just so much hot air.  However I do believe that in the long run we will find that everything in the universe is electromagnetical so it is not beyond the reach of logic that our bodies do have electric impulses that control everything from the Krebs cycle to brain activity.  If that's true it is reasonable to believe that if you can affect those impulses you can have an effect on bodily functions.  It's not really religious, it's science.  Things that used to be considered waves, light for example, are now known to be particles, photons.  We like to say that they have the properties of both waves and particles but that's only because we first thought of them as waves.  As science discoverers smaller and smaller particles they are hard to study as they have very short lives and can only be captured by very complex devices.  At that point the Observer Paradox really kicks in and we can't even be sure that the evidence we see of these extremely short-lived particles is truly what they are because as we capture them or make them visible we may in fact be changing their properties.  Some of these particles have many properties that can only be known one at a time.  Not only is the science complicated, just holding the concepts in your mind is complicated.  My simplistic explanation falls very short of the full truth but it does give a flavor of the issues.

 

The short version of all that is that Eastern medicine, while it was mostly incorporated into their religious belief systems, is actually quite independent of religion at its base and  underlying scientific roots that we don't fully understand.  It is not at all inconsistent with Christianity.  At least that's my opinion.

 

When I went down to my room to change for dinner, passing right by my window was one of the Aleutian Islands.  I'll have to figure out which one later, it was not a very big one.  Of course, I had to get out on deck to get a picture.  Winds are about 60 mph and it's definitely not warm.

 

This evening's performer was concert pianist Tomono Kawamura.  Born in Japan and now living in England where she moved to study at the Royal Academy for the Arts.  She was excellent.

 

Another hour back tonight so it's official, one solid week of 25-hour days.

#10 Sept 28 At Sea - Mongolians?

Pictures:
100  Mongolian Cookout Veggies
102  Mongolian Cookout Meats
103  The Wok Line, Ready to Eat.

Sept 28 - At Sea.  Highlight of the day will be the Mongolian BBQ by the Lido pool for lunch.  You get to gather your veggies and meats, take them to the grill and tell the chef which sauces to mix to wok them.  But that's for later.

The weather is still cool but the winds and waves are down.  Almost no whitecap activity is visible and the tops of the small waves are not throwing any spray.  Winds are probably less than 25-30 knots and the sun is shining brightly.  They've opened the outside promenade deck so people can go outside to do their laps.

The pastor on board is doing a study on various Psalms during this voyage, always a safe and very rich topic for study.  He and his wife are Canadian and he lapses into the sentence ending 'eh' at times.  After listening to him I find that I lapse into it myself, just like I lapse into the North Texas drawl when I'm down there.

I'm constantly reminded of how much I like the MS Amsterdam.  Same slimmer, faster hull as the Rotterdam but with the more modern Izopod (sp?) drive.  Much less vibration as the diesel generators can be isolated from the hull as they are only connected to the drive units by electrical wires.  On the Rotterdam the diesels are driving the props via shafts and the torque involved requires that they be fastened securely to the hull that transmits much of the engine vibration through the hull to the rest of the ship.

The Mongolian cookout was a big success for me.  After gathering my vegetables and noodles I added a little of each of the meats available, pork, chicken, beef, shrimp and squid.  You present your plate to a chef armed with a wok and he asks which sauces and additions you want.  Hoisin sauce, soy sauce, chopped garlic, sesame oil, and sambal (an Indonesian chili sauce, pretty hot) is my mix with enough sambal to get it to true Mongolian heat.  Delicious.

I should have mentioned that in addition to Qi Gong massage and acupressure we are learning the One Thousand Hands Buddha form.  It's an exercise with 14 mudras (hand positions) that is said to have emotional benefits keeping you calmer and more centered.  Actually, it's fun whether or not it has any other benefits.  In addition to the Tai Chi it seems to have benefits in the area of flexibility and coordination.  I've only been practicing a week and I'm noticing differences already but can't tell if it's due to the Tai Chi or Qi Gong.  Bottom line is, it really doesn't matter.

Since we get yet another hour back this evening I decided to do a movie and then the show.  The movie was 'This Means War'.  Supposed to be 1 hour, 38 minutes but seemed much longer.  Guess I wasn't having a good time.

The show featured Ronn Lucas, a ventriloquist.  He was funny and had some fairly original patter.  A very enjoyable show.

Report #8 Sept 25-At Sea & Sept 26-The Twilight Zone

One of the Lucite incased glass vases in the Queen's Lounge

 

Sept 25 - At Sea.  Another day at sea.  It's very sunny today but cool and windy with intermittent wave action.  Not much in the way of white caps but sometimes a significant swell.  Not really bad for the North Pacific in the Fall.  We're supposed to have a show by the ship's singers and dancers but if the seas continue as they are we might see the singers but dancing would be risky.

 

About half the cocktail tables in the Queen's Lounge, the ship's main showroom, have small glass vases and jars encased in Lucite and lit from below.  The give off a very warm glow, very pleasing when the house lights are down.  Each one is different in color and shape.  Nice touch.

 

Mystery over, show cancelled.  I saw Mission Impossible, Ghost Protocol instead.  The movie was 2 hours, 7 minutes long and didn't seem like it, a sure sign I was enjoying it.  Not a great work of art, but fun.

 

Another hour back so the consecutive 25-hour day count is now at 6.  Those 15 degree longitude lines are really close together up here.

 

Sept 26 – The day that never was.  Today we cross the International Date Line east to west and on a ship that means you skip forward a whole 24 hours, do not pass go, do not collect $200.  Don't worry; we get it back on the way home by living the same day twice.  Last time we did that they showed the movie Groundhog Day for the entire 24 hours.

Report #6 Sept 24-At Sea

The MS Amsterdam's Three-story Astronomical Clock

 

Sept 24 - At Sea.  The seas are much calmer today.  Hardly any motion at all.  We are sailing just south of the Aleutian Island Archipelago.  They like to go north of them as it's shorter but there's a storm brewing in the Bearing Sea so we're staying south to use them as protection against the wave action the storm generates.  We're currently between two storms, just finished passing through one that's weakening and sailing toward another that building.  It looks like there's more bumping along in our future tonight and tomorrow.  It really has been very mild but with the average age of the passengers at about 75-77 there are many mobility challenged folks with us.

 

Had a wine tasting in the main dining room at 11AM today.  They had us sample four selections.  They were all OK but I did like the Robert Mondavi Riesling.  Diana's allergic to wines that have been 'oaked' so most reds are out and many chardonnays.  Riesling, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc are safe as none that I know of are aged in oak barrels. 

 

I usually don't eat desert on the ship unless it's a really good one that's 'knock your socks off' chocolate.  Mostly I get a cheese plate to top off dinner.  They have a cheese named Old Amsterdam onboard.  It a Dutch Edam that's aged for quite a long time in this special cave where a unique bacteria lives.  It has a very firm consistency and the husk that forms during the ageing is almost one-half inch thick.  The flavor is very nutty and the consistency is very creamy except for the husk, which is delicious in it's own right even though it's hard and dry. 

 

Vintner's Note:  I asked the wine manager which of the wines on board would be a good pair for it and he suggested Goenok Cabernet for red and Robert Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc for white.  (These are the type of notes I put in so I can refer to them later when my memory fails.

 

At dinner the first night they gave all the ladies a rose and Diana's has opened nicely. 

 

The ship's atrium has a large Astrological Clock with four faces, World Time, Astrolabe, Celestial Mechanics and Planetarium.  It has a bright blue sun path with constellations chart on the ceiling above it and a carillon at its base.  It's "skeletonized" so you can see the gears both inside the clock and the ones at the base that control the bells. 

 

Chris Michaels performed this evening.  As Monty Python used to say, "And now something very different."  He played 8 different instruments, banjo, guitar, harmonica, saw, bones, turkey baster, his hands (squeezing them to make squeaky notes) and the bagpipes.  The latter he played wearing a flowered lea and grass skirt over his tuxedo and boots.  He said that people complained because he had no costume changes in his act, thus the lea and skirt.  All this interspersed with comic banter, often at his own expense.  Like I said it was different but very enjoyable.

 

Clocks back another hour tonight so the consecutive 25-hour day count is now five.  And there's a distinct possibility that I'll be awake by 3AM.  Ship's moving around a bit tonight but just enough to rock you to sleep.

Report #6 Sept 23-At Sea

Sept 23 - At Sea.  The two hours back on the first two days have me waking up at 5AM and breakfast doesn't open until 6:30AM.  Yikes!  Have to say I could get used to the 25 hour days.  I forgot to mention that they've instituted a new practice on the buffets aboard.  For the first 48 hours the passengers can't touch any serving utensils and no condiments are available on the tables or trays for passenger use.  The condiments are brought out by the crew members in individual packets or dishes by request, even salt and pepper, and the eating utensils are handed out, wrapped in your napkin, by the food service people.  Starting with lunch today you could serve yourself and the napkin wrapped eating tools are on the tables with the salt and pepper shakers and the ketchup, sambal, chili sauce, etc. were back on the trays at strategic places on the serving counters.  Since the transition took place just after 48 hours apparently no one who traveled in those germ incubators, I think you call them airplanes, brought any of the critters aboard with them.  Or at least not enough to reach critical mass.

 

Tonight is our first formal night featuring the Captain's Greeting.  This pre-dinner event used to be the Captain's party, but now it's the Captain's toast.  They still give you free booze so most everyone is happy.  I get a free Diet Coke.  The snacks were excellent.  They tend to pull out all the culinary stops on formal nights.  Various kinds of shrimp, pâté, cheese, salmon tartar, etc. were being circulated by the very friendly Filipino and Indonesian bar and dining room staff. 

 

The Captain introduces the heads of the various departments, thanks us for coming and sends us to dinner.  He did give the official passenger count, 822.  Since they have a crew of 640 something that's a passenger to crew ratio of 1.28:1.  HAL usually shoots for 2 to 2.5:1.  No wonder service is so good and there are almost never any lines for anything.  Besides the full trip, they sold the trip in three distinct segments, Seattle to Singapore, Singapore to Sydney and Sydney to San Diego.  The second segment will have the most passengers but the third will have even less than we have now if everything goes true to form.  Unfortunately the start of each new segment will bring new germ soaked individuals aboard and we'll have to do another 48 hours of detention in the Lido buffet.

 

Tonight's entertainers were the Unexpected Boys.  It's a Frankie Valle tribute group.  Unfortunately the lead singer is under the weather, read that as seasick.  It's been pretty rough last night and most of today.  The three backup singers have been on Broadway and toured so they put together a performance that relied a lot on 'show tunes'.  Fortunately for me they sang some of Frankie Valle's later songs because he sang mostly with his chest voice late in his career.  The under the weather lead singer is the only one who can truly perform in the falsetto voice that characterized most of Frankie's career.  The 'later' songs included my all time Valle favorite, "My Eyes Adored You."  That saved the evening for me.  Perhaps a bit of an explanation is needed for some.

 

Entertainment Critic's Note:  You haven't been reading my blog long if you don't know how I currently feel about 'show tunes'.  Until very recently almost every singer that came aboard a HAL ship did show tunes from Broadway or even worse the West End of London.  I detest Andrew Lloyd Weber and became totally burned out on almost all show related music.  This would seem odd as when I was a lowly college student working at May Co and living on the GI Bill I had season tickets to the light opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in LA.  I guess you can reach a saturation point with anything.

 

Everyone else seemed to enjoy the show so I guess I'm way in the minority on this topic.  One other perk of formal nights is that the pillow chocolates are truffles.  The regular HAL chocolates are good, I'm sure it's Dutch chocolate, but the truffles are extra good.  Yeah!!  Another hour back tonight.  Third 25-hour day in a row.  I guess this far north, we're in spitting distance of the Aleutian Islands, 15 degrees of the earth's surface is not a very long distance. 

Report #5 Sept 22-At Sea

Sept 22 – At Sea.  Today is the first of 8 days at sea.  There are 9 calendar days between now and our arrival at Kushiro on the Island of Hokkaido in Japan but we lose 24 hours when we cross the International Dateline so we only experience 8 of the days.  I don't know how often I'll post during the eight days because most of my sea days follow a set routine.  So unless something unusual happens or something ticks me off and I get into an italics sort of mood I won't bore you with the days activities. 

My typical day at sea starts with breakfast at 7AM followed by Tai Chi at 8AM and then the Protestant Bible study, if they have one, around 9AM.  Our travel host from CSI, Tom Mullen, will have an informal 'chat time' (read that as gripe and whine time) at 11AM and I usually stop by just to give him a break for a few minutes.  Then it's lunch and the afternoon I spend reading or visiting with other passengers. 

The ship is not full, a little less than 900 on a ship that holds 1,400) so things are pretty laid back in all the venues.  I was somewhat skeptical of Tai Chi because it's being done by one of the 'lifestyle' people on board rather than a full time Tai Chi instructor.  My skepticism proved to be unwarranted as she was very good indeed.  Robert, the Master from Australia, is the only instructor that was better.  Her name is Daniela and she's from Portugal, which gave me a chance to use what little Portuguese I learned mostly from visiting Brazil.

I may do some things in the afternoon and while they may vary they're usually not interesting enough to send any details.  I will comment on the entertainment in the evenings mainly so I record their names and my thoughts for when they perform in the future.

This evening, in true HAL fashion, we were reassigned to a table upstairs in the dining room, way at the front and a long way from any service prep areas.  It was perfect for Diana and therefore made us very happy.  I had a huge pork chop with veggies.  Delicious!

Tonight's performers were J. Neal and Liane, a magician and his assistant.  I should warn those of you who don't know that I am not a big fan of jugglers, mimes or magicians on cruise ships.  Comedy magicians are sometimes great and often good but serious magic for showrooms, not close-up style illusions, requires more elaborate equipment than one can reasonably expect to get to and on the ship.  That's where magicians fall short.  Jugglers and mimes I don't care for because jugglers suffer from serious space restrictions and mimes, well lets just say, leave it to the French to invent the world's most irritating art form.  That being said, J. Neal was watchable but uninspired.

Report #4 Leaving Seattle

Sept 21 – Seattle, Washington.  This is truly weird.  Both Diana and I woke up at 4AM and were so totally awake that we got up, put the finishing touches on our carry-on bags and went to breakfast at 7AM.  Breakfast in the Doubletree has been very good, they have a buffet but you can order an omelet from the kitchen with the buffet.  This morning was no exception.

 

After breakfast we went back to our room and Diana reorganized her carry-on baggage for the fifth time.  At 8AM the bellman picked up our large suitcases for delivery to the ship and we were left to ourselves until 10AM when we went down to the ballroom to await our bus.  We were only there a few minutes when our hostess announced that our "carriage awaits" and off we went.

 

The ship is docked at pier 91, on the other side of Puget Sound so the driver took us along the waterfront to get through Seattle.  Traffic is so unpredictable on the freeways here that he prefers not to use them much of the time.  Because the topology is so rugged and there's so much water to work around, most freeways here are only two lanes each way.  If someone screws up the entire roadway can be blocked.  There are so many bridges and interchanges to navigate that traffic is almost always bad, rush hour is terrible and starts just after 3PM.  This would be one of those cities where you would want to live as close to work as possible.  Certainly they way I always thought when we lived in SoCal.

 

The drive was uneventful and since it was near the water, very scenic.  The driver provided a humorous and interesting commentary about the area and the sights that made the trip seem very short indeed.

 

We entered the cruise terminal in a very light rain and proceeded to check in for our ID pictures and room keys.  They had a person assigned to make sure we had visas for China in our passports.  No visa, no trip.  It's just that simple.  We do need visas for other countries on the trip but they can be acquired through the ship a much less painless process that filling out the 4-page Chinese visa application and then sending your passport off hoping that you'll get it back.

 

They also have you fill out a health questionnaire.  Things like "Have you or anyone in your party vomited in the last 48 hours?"  Once when the SARS scare was on in China they actually took everyone's temperature before you could board the ship.  They don't do that currently but they still ask about 7-8 health related questions.

 

After getting our room keys we had to wait about 25 minutes before the ship was available for boarding.  It was only about 11:15AM when they let us start boarding, very early indeed.  Normally if you board before 1PM you have to go have lunch with your carry-on luggage because the rooms are not yet ready for the newcomers.  Not this time.  The rooms were ready for occupancy.  Being that early none of our luggage was in the room when we arrived.  In less than half an hour we had all four of the items we shipped and our two hotel suitcases piled around our room. 

 

I am a dedicated unpacker and had all my luggage empty and the contents stowed away before dinner time.  I'm currently in the Queen's Lounge typing and as far as I know Diana still has her two suitcases to unpack.

 

Dinner was very good but our table is not suitable.  With Diana's hearing challenges we need a table at the edge of the room and not close to any service area.  Too much noise in the center of the room.  The dining room manager promised to make a suitable change.  During dinner we said farewell to Seattle after 4 great days.

 

The evening show was mainly the cruise director introducing himself and the various combos that perform in the lounges nightly.  The string trio is from Hungary and is the best that we've heard on HAL ships, very accomplished.  On embarkation day they only have one show and it's poorly attended as everyone is tired from a long day of travel and time zone changes.

 

All in all, one of the easiest embardation days on record.

Report #3 - SeaTac, WA

Sept 20 - SeaTac, WA.  I turned in the Buick this AM and was a little sorry to see it go.  After a week I have become accustomed to it's little quirks and enjoyed driving it a lot.  Tonight is the Cruise Specialists dinner and party.  Tomorrow they take us to the ship.  It's been a challenge to redistribute Diana's heavy items to all my bags but it seems to have worked out.  I'm glad my large bag was not this heavy for all the hotel stops we made coming north.  The hotel and ship people will handle it until it gets to our cabin so I'm off the hook for that.

The party and dinner were very nice.  Lots of CSI and HAL officers and employees were there to mix and mingle.  I don't usually look forward to embarkation day but since CSI is taking care of all the details, this one should be easy.  The only cruising event that's less fun than embarkation day is disembarkation day.  All the hassles of embarkation with out the pleasure of looking forward to the cruise.  I'm telling you, sometimes my ability to find the dark lining in the silver cloud amazes even me.

Internet Users Note:  From now on I'll be on the ship's satellite system, not exactly the least expensive ISP you'll ever encounter, but it makes up for it by being very slow as well.  Yikes, the double whammy.  I prepay a large package of minutes that holds the cost down a little but if I paid the same price at home my monthly Internet bill would be at least $1,000 instead of the $35 Charter charges for very high speed.  The only thing worse than paying a high price for shipboard Internet is if it were free.  The bandwidth is only so wide and when everyone is online the system is much slower than the old 56k dial-up. 

I only go online late at night and early in the morning when I can get most of the speed for myself.  And that turns out to be a bit slower than DSL and a whole lot slower than cable.  What happens is, the first person online gets all the speed available.  When the second person logs on the speed is cut in half and so on until the 300th person gets on and you are getting only 1/300 of the maximum speed.  If it slows down that much when it's a bit expensive, imagine how slow it would be if all the knuckleheads on board were online all the time if it was free.  Frankly, it would be unusable.  Princess experimented with free Internet and they found that kids in the Internet Lounge were texting other kids in the Internet lounge and everyone was complaining about how slow it was.

In every post-cruise evaluation I write I comment that the Internet should never be free I don't care how many Mariner days someone has.  I like to use it and would really prefer that it be useable.

This is your first example of my italics rants.  A fairly mild one but you get the drift of how they can go.  It was provoked when I heard some knot heads lobbying HAL employees to make the Internet free.  I guess if you don't really understand the technology you can ask for stupid stuff.  Just look what some people are asking our government to provide.  They forget that to give something to someone the government first has to take it away from someone who earned it.  If a private citizen does that they call it fraud, embezzlement or theft.  The government calls it 'taxes'.

Ah, I feel better.  Don't you?

Report #2 - SeaTac, WA

Thought you might like to see Diana and Betty with a statue honoring the first woman to graduate from OSU in 1870, Alice E. Biddle.


Addendum to Sept 18 - SeaTac, WA.

  We went clean up shopping in the afternoon.  Now that we've been on the road a few days we've discovered that we didn't bring some things we like to have so we visited Target, REI and a few other places to fill in the gaps. 

In the evening we visited some long-term friends that left Irvine for the Northwest many years ago, Martin and Sue.  Diana was the AWANA leader for their daughter, Liz.  It was great to see them and catch up on family and friends.  A wonderful home cooked dinner made the evening that much more special.  A great evening with good people.  

Sept 19 - SeaTac, WA.  Today we are going to redistribute the weight of our carry-on luggage.  Diana wound up with way too many heavy items in her bag and I'm trading her for some of the light items in my bag.  Actually, mostly I'm taking stuff from her, as I never fully stuff any bag I'm taking with me.  The remainder of our luggage, both shipped and from the hotel will show up on our room when we're on the ship.  At least that's the theory.  I have to say that it's worked well for us every time. 

Tonight we're having dinner with a friend, Heather, we met while aboard ship quite a few years ago.  She used to work for HAL in the Shorex Dept. but when she got married and wanted to start a family she took a job with our travel agent.  Her husband, Eric, also works for HAL but his duties have taken him out of town for a few days.  We're looking forward to meeting her son, Thijs, this evening. 

Once again, a wonderful home-cooked meal and Thijs is a little charmer.  Big smile and three dimples, one chin and each cheek.  Shy at first but warmed up quickly.  You never know with 2-year-olds.  When Diana started to read one of his books for him, he practically crawled up into her lap.  He loves books and I have to say that's a very good sign of a successful future adult.  We were sorry not to meet Eric but look forward to visiting with them again.

Report #1 SeaTac, Washington

Hi again,  Here's the last couple of days.

Sept 17 - Corvallis, OR.  Spent a nice day driving through the tree-covered mountains of NoCal and Oregon.  We arrived in Corvallis in the late afternoon and spent the evening with our friend Betty and her mom, Dorothy.  They fixed us an excellent dinner that included a new fruit for me, papaya-cantaloupe.  It tastes a little like regular cantaloupe but has a definite tropical fruit flavor.  Absolutely delicious, as was the rest of the dinner.

Sept 18 - SeaTac, WA.  After breakfast out with Betty and her mom we went shopping for some items that Diana and I needed for the trip.  Betty, an OSU alum, gave us a short tour of the campus and Diana and I both bought some Beaver gear.  Gotta love that snarling beaver. 

We left about one o'clock for SeaTac and our hotel near the airport.  Our travel agent, Cruise Specialists, is putting us up here and hosting a dinner and party on the evening before we sail.  I don't know how many clients they have on the cruise, but usually there are a hundred or more.

The Buick is growing on me.  I prefer smaller cars, better turning radius and generally easier to park, but it's certainly comfortable and easy to drive.  It handles well in corners and doesn't wonder on the highway at high speed.  The suspension is not stiff but definitely sticks to the road and has no noticeable under or oversteer, even under stress.  It's the first 'steer-by-wire' car I've ever driven.  The steering wheel is not connected to the front tires by any mechanical device.  It uses electricity and a computer to turn the wheels and yet the system manages to provide enough 'road feel' to allow the driver to sense the road surface and how the tires are gripping.  Pretty impressive.  Probably should have put this in italics but news reports of the Occupy idiots up here has me so irritated that if I start an italics section it might go on for pages.  What a bunch of fools.  With that, I'll let the subject go.

Italics Warning and Sept 16

Hi again,  Traditionally I send this warning with my first post.  I forgot this time so here it is.  -Rod

Sept 16 - Corvallis, WA.  Well, it turns out the Buick is a nice car to drive, I certainly like all the gadgets, rear-view TV camera, ventilated seats, etc. but the gas mileage is not very good. 

I forgot to send out my "Italics" warning so here it is.  Anything in my journal that is written in italics is not particularly travel related and may be totally politically incorrect.  Usually they are rants about some truly inane behavior or situation I observed that I wanted to remember.  When no one else was reading my journal I didn't bother to do this but I wanted to give the reader a chance to avoid being offended by my admittedly somewhat cynical, impatient and irritable view of some things.  If you enjoy political correctness or are somewhat thin-skinned please skip over anything you see written in italics, usually prefaced by something like Author's Note:.  Sometimes they are just something I want to remember that I think might be boring to others.  These paragraphs will be titled, Architectural Note: or Geographical Note:.  Generally, notes with this title are safe to read but not necessarily interesting.  In Europe my knowledge of architecture and my love of symbolism in the construction of religious buildings can lead to some lengthy notes.  The traditions and symbols of the Orient are not as well known to me so there probably won't be much in that area on which to comment.

The Journey Begins

Hi everyone,

Hope this note finds you well.

The first in a string of reports from the road.  Once again, please email me if you would rather just follow the blog at http://rl2012pacific.blogspot.com/  The email is sent as a group so it's not trouble.  I didn't attach any pictures but I usually send some.  I use Photoshop to make them smaller.  On the blog, if you click on them you get a larger version.

Take care,

Rod

Sept 14 – Well, the packing is almost done.  FedEx picked up most of our luggage today and our bags going with us are 99% ready.  Tomorrow we head for Seattle where we join the ship.  Even when I'm going someplace fun I don't enjoy packing at all.  When I was traveling for business it was awful. 

I picked up our Buick Lacrosse at John Wayne yesterday.  Actually I didn't want a full-size car but since it has Washington state license plates they gave it to me to send it home.  I asked if they were paying me for the service and they just laughed.  Actually they did pay me in a way.  Usually a one-week rental on a mid-size car is $200 more than I paid for this rental.  Since the Lacrosse is a full-sized, luxury car I don't know what it usually costs.  Also, Hertz is usually one of the more expensive companies.  I used Kayak.com to find the car and noticed that the companies that are usually less expensive when I rent in Texas were all higher than Hertz in SoCal.