April 25-6 Barcelona

Wednesday 25 Barcelona

We nosed in about 5am. The disembarkation was remarkably stress free – no deadlines to clear the cabin. We chose to wheel our own bags off and had the easiest time. We took a taxi which we had been told would cost about E8 but cost double that because of “Supplementals”. We were  5 hours early for checkin but we found our way to the hostel and happened to have somebody come out just in time for us to pop into the building. A lady in the foyer told us the hostel was on the 1^st floor, which was conveniently open. So we parked on the couch until the staff woke up about 9.30 and until we could get into our dorm. Dorm . . . eeeew!

By then I was ready for a nap while J went exploring, looking for Gaudi architecture.

Casa Mila or La Pedrera

Casa Batilo

Not Gaudi, but beautiful - 1 of 4.  I just love the detail in the architecture.

We went out to get money, had lunch at Subway and wandered down to the port, where Norwegian Epic was still tied up and evidently staying overnight.  Our hostel is very close to the Ramblas, the main pedestrian street of the city. We wandered the length down to the port, enjoying the numerous street artists posing as painted statues and the general ambience.

Chipmonks?  In pet shop on Ramblers

This was cool, especially when he moved and scared passers by

The foreshore was very interesting, including a replica of the first boat to circle the globe in the mid 1600s. The original boat had had to round the Horn and the Cape of Storms at the tips of S America and S Africa respectively. The replica had the luxury of taking the canals instead and had backup engines and all the electronic navigational equipment.

Nao Victoria

Christopher Colombus pointing out to sea

For dinner we lapsed straight back into the Baguette routine and had no difficulty in falling asleep.   

Thursday 26

Slow start about 8.30. Found Stephie on Skype and talked her through testing the power protector switches. She asked Alyssa if she wanted to talk to Granny and she immediately ran off to the computer. When it emitted the distinctive Skype beep she was up on the chair looking for Granny and calling Hello. More baguette for breakfast then we settled into the process of booking places on the ferry to Rome (separate cabins for men and women) and then a room in a B&B waiting for the boat to leave. After lunch (more baguette) we set about trying to organise getting ourselves around Spain while leaving the bulk of the luggage behind. Plan 2 was to stay in Barcelona and find another hostel. This all took some time and we ended up booking 5 days in a nearby hostel, which we discovered when we tried to pop in for a visit does not open until tomorrow. So we will be their first guests. Not ideal but no real choice. Only 5 of the hundreds of hostels had a vacancy for all 5 days, and some of those had horrific reviews.

We walked for about 6 hours in a large loop that took in some of the unique buildings around Barcelona. Wait for the pictures. Finally, we ended up at a Gothic cathedral designed by Gaudi, sitting on the steps listening to a busker playing absolutely beautiful violin music, including several of the Four Seasons pieces by Vivaldi. He was so good we dropped a couple of Euros in his case.

Torre Agbar

Don't know who she is but she sure did shimmer.

What a mammoth!

We knocked up a chicken stirfry, remarking again just how cheap so many food items are here compared to Aus. I tend to use bananas as a litmus test and they were under $2/kg. Delicious mandarins were 99c and 1.5l water 30c. Grog is ridiculously cheap. Who is taking all the money in Aus?

April 21-24 Azores and Cruising to barcelona

Saturday 21 Azores

Lost another hour last night. Brekky then walking the mile as we watched the Azores get closer (actually the island of San Miguel). Very green and very hilly, with sharp drop offs that hint at the volcanic origin. We docked at 10 and went ashore with no formalities or queuing. The Azores are part of Portugal. Ponta Delgada is a pretty little town with smoothly cobbled streets and parks. The whole town has wifi but it was windy outside and lightly dusted with rain. Somebody told us that one of the large buildings had free wifi so we settled there.  J had a bit of a wander round the fort and squares while I ploughed through junkmail.

Very neat little place

It seems Courtney has some more modelling assignments – it will be strange to see her on TV – that’s my role J We have exactly 2 months till we get home, which is a pleasant thought but frightening how fast 7 months have gone. Didn’t have time to scan the news but we have kept an occasional eye on BBC news on the boat.

Back for lunch and afternoon trivia then I shot back to finish emailing and get a fridge magnet. Sailed at 6pm. Watched the island recede from a window near water level in the restaurant. Had intended to go for the shuffleboard tournament but succumbed to the urge for a quiet evening in. Vanessa had excelled herself and left us a monkey hanging from the overhead vent made out of a folded towel.

So cute

So beautiful

22/4

A good sleep that extended through the stretch session.  Brekky benedict then walked the deck until darts/shuffleboard respectively. The darts game just needed a score of 301, not necessarily to end with a double. A couple of us had had a go at closing then the old lady with a limp who had jagged a few random doubles and trebles to get close tottered up, needing 34 to win. To everybody’s astonishment, not least her own, she tossed her first dart into the double 17!! Stunned silence than the men quietly snuck away.

The ship shop had a $5 Tshirt sale which attracted a mob of elbowing bargain hunters. We had lunch and then shared a lift with a woman in one of the blue Tshirts. I asked her if she had just bought it and she said yes. J asked what the rest were like and I said . . . “OK but they were mostly in extra large sizes”. It got quiet in there for a while and the doors didn’t open quickly enough.

Look who I got to hang out with.  Dora was also sighted.

Now its time for the music quiz, which is popular  because DJ Fly gives 3 participation points, followed by the daily cumulative trivia. Better still if you win and get 5 points J The progressive trivia was about beers, which we won. The travel and places trivia was a doddle and we went happily off to dinner at the buffet with the rest of the team. The main dining room somehow got flooded and is closed until Barcelona.

Dieter came to the Close Up magic show with us, which was very good, and then we went for dessert. He led us astray with his favourite crepes, which the chef makes for you according to your taste. We each got a HUGE crepe laden with fruit and cream and then with another huge dollop of cream and chocolate on top. Luckily, J tried to inhale hers and went off on a coughing spree so she didn’t finish hers and I ducked out the last bit of mine too.

We bounced back at 11pm for the adult version of the Improv comedy team. Mildly amusing but it has reinforced my conviction that I would never spend money to watch this form of comedy. They come from the Second City school of Improv which has been around for 50 years and produced a handful of people that you would recognise on TV, such as the big salesman Norm from Cheers and Tina Fey.

Monday 23^rd

Struggled up at 9am for brekky and trivia. The participation prizes were available and generally disappointing. The Tshirts were white and lacklustre and nothing else really appealed. We took a bag, a couple of pens, some schtuff and kept half the points for later.

J sat in on the hypnotist’s session on Weight Loss, which is aimed at selling his CDs although he did give them a sample of a relaxation with motivating thoughts. We might just buy one because we haven’t spent the cabin credit yet.

Predictably we won the cumulative trivia and won another  pair of bags, which we can trade for other merchandise. I went up to the gym, which had an excellent view of the passing traffic as we merged into the bottleneck heading towards Gibraltar. We were on the inner edge of the eastbound stream and a procession of ships headed the other way or turned north. They were mostly tankers but the big passenger boat turned out to be Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth.

There is a room behind the bridge with a viewing window and a copy of the navigation screen, including the radar. This has a range of about 100 miles and makes the ships look very close together. You can only see a very few at any one time.

They produced lobster for dinner again, which we ate as we watched the North African coast go by, after which we rushed up to see Gibraltar. We then rugged up and went to the stern to see The Rock recede as the sun set, to the music of Rhapsody in Blue.

 We spent the evening watching a variety of musical acts, including one named “Janine and Reid, love songs”. One final hour to go tonight, leaving us 7 hours behind Perth.

Tuesday 24 Last day at sea

Woke at 6 feeling ready to go but snoozed instead and woke at 9 feeling sluggish. Couldnt face spinach so I just had egg and salmon on a muffin – no yoghourt. Trivia, darts, cancelled service charge fees, darts, lunch, trivia, the crew show (very good). At the end they brought up about 100 crew members, 30 chefs and all the officers and they all sung a song about Norwegian staff working hard to make perfect holidays. No doubt – they were all totally genuine and when the Captain spoke they all beamed with genuine affection and respect. That’s a very good team of 1700 representing 75 countries. Typically, they work 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, every week, for 8 months.

We cashed in our remaining cabin credit, redeemed our participation points, I finally made it to the Total Body Conditioning session and realised just how necessary such exercise is to round off a heap of aerobic training.

The Entertainment Director had invited 28 Aussies to attend free drinks to meet and celebrate Anzac Day (which was current in Aus at the time). About 12 turned up, plus 2 Kiwis from the band. It was an interesting gathering with an unobtrusive Lest We Forget and a minute silence. Quite a few of us have been to Gallipoli. Straight to dinner, where we redeemed J’s champagne voucher and met a pair of right wing Canadians. I suddenly realised that dinner was going very slowly and it was almost time for the raffle draw at the ship shop for people who had spent $50 there today. I left J looking after my half-eaten steak (which had gone when I returned L) and trotted upstairs and along to the jewellery shop.

There were only 20 or so people there but I did notice one man with about 8 red tickets. It was only 8.29 and almost immediately the manager brought in a small bag of matching red ticket stubbs, welcomed everybody, asked if we were keen to win a prize and pulled out a ticket. OK . . who has got ticket 30465 . . . . . (fine so far) . . . . 0 (yes looking good . . if he says 7 we are SOOO INNN) 7!!!!!!!! I did my maniacal cackle and danced up to the front and popped my ticket on the counter. He checked and confirmed we had won. I was standing there thinking hey J has been saying how she is fully ready to go wild with $500 . . . and he says . . hang on I will fetch your prize. He goes behind the desk and comes back with a large bag . . half the size of a suitcase. He unzips it and there are a couple of caps inside on top of a whole heap of schtuff.  Oooh bugger . . its not a $500 voucher its $500 “worth” of merchandise.

I wheeled it back to the dining room and we had a micro peek inside and pulled out 2 large teddy bears, one of which is a pirate with bird on shoulder who both sing when you squeeze his hand. The rest had to wait until later to be examined. Shit . . this really is exactly what we don’t need . . another suitcase full of junk.

We decided to catch the final show by the camp comic/magician, which we enjoyed most of all. Then it was just a matter of sifting through the extra baggage to decide what to take home and what to donate to the cabin maid.

We really enjoyed this cruise and will look favourably on any Norwegian cruises that are going our way at our price in the future. Having said that, Celebrity are very good too (we cruised on Mercury in NZ in 2007) and we will be boarding them on 5/5 for 13 nights round the Greek islands.

Atlantic crossing 13-20 April

Friday 13^th (aaaargh) Miami Twice

Up early,last brekky and lugged our own kit off the ship. Easy transfer back to hostel. They wouldn’t let us in for 6 hours so we left the bags behind the desk and went wandering, looking for an electric plug adaptor. Walked all over South Miami Beach, found a nice place to have a Sushi buffet for $9.95 that ended up costing $13 after they added tax (which pees us off all the time here) and “automatic gratuity”. What  - service charge for a buffet????? Next we found the Museum of Erotic Art – a huge collection of paintings, sculptures and native artworks, some of it hundreds of years old. The story was that some young fellow asked his mother?????? to go and buy some erotic art for him and she became interested and accumulated this collection.

We took the 25c local bus back, except J felt that she hadn’t REALLY got her money’s worth so she went round again – except that the bus ended at the terminus so she ended up walking home. Meanwhile I was wrestling with the Electronic Cards From Hell – wouldn’t open our dorm, then wouldn’t open the toilets then the dorm again  . . .

Ooooh . . if you get thirsty in Miami, stop off at the local store and get a Gulp of Mountain Dew. This is a plastic cup like you get at Maccas of HJs – just bigger. Or if there are 2 of you and you arer really thirsty get a extra super Gulp or even a Double Gulp. This is 44oz of soda. Small wonder there are so many GROSSLY overweight Americans.

and we wonder why we are overweight....

Most cop cars are the usual black and whites like you see in the movies.  Loved this one.

We managed a pretty good sleep, despite the 4^th dorm resident turning up just as we were turning in.

Saturday 14^th Transatlantic return crossing

I had arranged a SKYPE chat between J and Cass with the girls for 8am. Luckily we woke early so that went off well. We took a taxi back to the cruise terminal soon after 11 and got through the checkin quite quickly, although not quite as easily as the last time.  It seems the ship (Norwegian Epic) is half empty – but the full capacity is 4400!! That is nearly twice the size of the next biggest ship we have ever been on.

They wouldn’t let us in the cabins until 2pm – and closed off all the access doors to the cabin areas just to enforce it. We went up to the buffet, which was good, and stayed up there until about 2. The cabin is very nice.  The shower and toilet are on opposite sides of the entrance, followed by the handbasin. This can all be screened off by a curtain (the partitions are of smoky glass). Then comes the wardrobe opposite a long couch, a huuuuuge bed and the vanity with large tv and what looks like walnut panelled cupboards. Then the balcony, which is a lot deeper than usual. We look out over the top of the lifeboats and our balcony juts out, which puts us in full view of the 7 floors above. We were unlikely to be resorting to nudity anyway – we are on the port side, which will not get sun as we cruise east.

Home for the next 11 days

There are 19 floors all told, although the top two are pretty much taken up with the Posh Club and The Haven, which seem to be the Norwegian equivalent of Cunard’s Princess and Queen’s Grills – little enclaves where the rich and snobbish disport themselves.

We had a boat drill almost immediately. No lifejackets required and we just sat in the theatre while the crew did their thing (I bet THEY get in the boats!). This exactly 100 years to the day since the Titanic went down (during an Atlantic crossing :{

The ship is built around the concept of Freestyle Cruising. So no huge dining rooms or theatres. The emphasis is on a number of alternative venues for eating and entertainment, where and when you want. So there are no fixed meal settings and the Welcome Aboard show was performed in several different locations and televised around the ship. We sat in one of the night clubs where there was a comic magician (very gay like so many of the passengers) and a musical duo which included one of Lionel Richie’s band .  They did Rock the Boat and something else. 

We have booked seats for The Blue Men tomorrow night and the magician the night after. There is also an onboard Big Top where they have performances by Cirque Dreams, and a number of comedy club, piano bars etc. It will be interesting. There are 10 speciality restaurants where there is a small cover charge and some of the shows are payable also. We ate dinner in the biggest restaurant, where most of the people were at tables for 2, which is unusual, then went to the trivia quiz and the welcome show, then went back to another restaurant for dessert and coffee. On the way, we picked up Dieter, whom we had met on the cruise to Rio. He was ex-airline and knows all the capital cities and airport codes.

And so to a very comfortable bed.

Sunday 15^th  Mid-Atlantic

It seems we are heading for the Bermuda Triangle! We lost an hour overnight and will have to lose a few more before we reach Barcelona. Didn’t sleep that well – J has a sore throat, which must have some sort of causal relationship with the raucous snoring ;) We didn’t wake until 8.30 – so there went all the plans of early morning gym activity. The gym is huuuuuuuuge. More of that later. It isn’t an easy ship to find your way around and there are none of the huge open areas that you get in the other ships. No multistorey atrium and no extravagant staircases. But there ARE escalators – which we have never seen at sea before.

We started with the morning quiz, put in an hour in the gym – so many machines (about 30 joggers and cross trainers etc in each of 2 rows facing the sea) plus whole areas for Pilates, weights spinning etc. We did light lunch in the buffet, where they have an excellent spread of greenery and other healthy salads.

Afternoon trivia, which was run by the English girl and included about 10 British questions, somewhat to the dissatisfaction of the Yanks. J then did the line dancing, which was a bit cramped for my liking. I had been happy to find that somebody had handed in my new bracelet that had cost me $1.50 in Miami. I missed it last night and collected it from the desk after lunch.

We signed up for the progressive trivia, which accumulates points for the rest of the cruise. We merged with another 4 Yanks, from Maine, who were on a team with Dieter before. They just told us that the team name would be Mainiacs (yuk yuk) which may bode towards the leadership style. Certainly a team of 9 will pose interesting dynamics if there are more than one answer put up.

We again managed 2 courses at dinner (plus coffee) before heading off for the comedy impro act (yeah interesting rather than hilarious). Then we caught the Motown couple performing in the Atrium, which was drawing a big crowd and the inevitable Japanese dancers. We arrived early for The Blue Men Group, which packed the theatre. Very different. Deafening drumming, bright lights, streams of paper ribbons (fire hazard?) paint spraying everywhere, and some drawn out significant pauses. There were a couple of idiots who felt obliged to yell out loud and inane comments or simply the ubiquitous and mindless Wooooooo. Another hour lost tonight.

Monday 16 April

We had the alarm on for stretch at 7.30 but we still woke up at 8.35 again. The sea is smooth as glass (although not quite as flat). There were a number of dolphins next to the boat which we watched briefly during breakfast. There was hardly anybody there for breakfast and we just scuttled downstairs for morning trivia, which was strangely quiet . . . seems there was no time change last night!

We are still enjoying the food. Apart from smoked salmon every day, they even have pre-made Eggs Benedict. And the OJ is the best. And cranberry juice and iced tea and . . .

They have a participation incentive plan combined with trivia winning points – you get a point for being in the trivia or golf putting or walk a mile etc. So we did all those. We do well at trivia but usually finish 2^nd. Today we corrected 2 right answers!

The big progressive quiz started today – what a farce – the topic was airlines so we watched Dieter trot out 20 correct answers after recognising tailplane artwork, including Solomon Islands, Alaska, Air China, Gulf Air etc. The next highest score by the teams of 10 was 13! Some of the other categories will be similar. Oh well.

The boat has an Ice Bar, where the temperature is minus 55F. That’s cold! You have to pay $20 to go in, which might get you a free drink but no thank you anyway. We have to decide whether we want to go and see the aquatic Cirque Dreams for $20, which includes a free dinner. Who needs a free dinner on a cruise ship?

We joined a Swedish couple at music trivia and Dieter came along. Second as usual. They served lobster for dinner, which was interrupted by a detour to Bermuda to drop a seriously ill passenger. We detoured towards the largest island and met the pilot boat offshore. This necessitated entering their territorial waters and therefore closing the casino. Not sure if they closed the shops. The handover took place just before sunset – the pilot boat came alongside but the apparently small swell was causing a big variance and we had to stop almost completely. Eventually they came in again and a lifeboat was lowered almost to water level. Not sure if the patient was in the boat or if they came out through the embarkation door. An old lady was helped across onto the pilot boat, followed by some luggage and then a stretcher was transferred and the pilot boat took off. We had noticed the lifeboats during our morning walk – they hold 297 passengers, which is double the size of the other boats we have been on recently.

We watched a number of bands around the ship and they ran a Deal or No Deal game as well. We finished off at the comedy/magician’s show. The couple from Nevada waved us down to join them in the front row. They had gone down there because they thought Dieter wanted to sit there, but when he came he refused to sit up there. He can be very shy sometimes. The show was quite good – simple tricks with a lot of Dame Edna patter and a lot of camping it up.

Tonight we really are losing an hour.

Tuesday 17 April

What a morning. Despite losing the hour, we were in the gym by 7, joining in the stretch and relax class at 7.30, eating highly deserved eggs benedict with delicious chilled OJ at 8.00, walked a couple of miles on the track next to the lifeboats on the windward side, which was a bit damp, won the morning trivia, played shuffleboard which was dry but WINDY – 3 of us had to shove the heavy door open. We so sucked at shuffleboard but we won a tick on our cards anyway. Similarly for darts (C) and napkin folding (J). Then there was a trivia session in the dining room- the questions were all about Norwegian Cruise Line, which was really a bit of free advertising, but the prizes were good. Dieter won (and is becoming infamous) and has offered to share his prize dinner in the Bistro restaurant with us J, J won one of the other prizes and scored a bottle of champagne. So now we are showering and heading for lunch.

The morning quiz was interesting. We should have scored 19 but the question about the famous ship in Pirates of the Caribbean had us guessing. We started with the Black Pearl but then switched to the Flying Dutchman, which is more famous. Uh uhhhhhhh. So we ended up in a 3 way tie. Unusually, the host decided to go for tiebreakers. Everyone got the first question and the second one “which river is closest to Balmoral” had to be the first correct answer shouted out. Almost immediately, Dieter pops out with “Dee”, which was correct. How the hell would a German know that? Not that we are complaining.

We cleaned up the afternoon cumulative trivia, again with full points 21/21 famous faces. Just to complete the perfect day, we ran away with the evening trivia too. We took in the Classical Graffiti act in the evening – string quartet playing highly energised and comedic classical music. This ended a hectic and highly successful day. We even managed an afternoon nap.

Wednesday 18

No afternoon nap today, although I did manage to get some laundry done. Stretch, eggs benedict, walk some miles, won shuffleboard!!, darts, Big salad lunch, we won tri-bond with the Maine couple (20/20) full marks 40/40 for the cumulative trivia (famous landmarks – Dieter HAS been everywhere – the rest of the teams are beyond looking desperate) Won evening trivia (tied) . Went to watch the a capella Motown group (hmmm) gym and legends in concert (tribute to Elvis, Madonna (pant) and Steve Tyler (no I hadn’t either). About to lose another hour. The days are just rolling by.

Thursday 19 Mid atlantic

The repeated time changes finally caught up with us. We woke at 9.10 and went straight to breakfast and the trivia. Thence to darts which was interesting. The game today was first to 301 exactly – no need to end with a double. J was a reluctant starter and only joined to earn a point. I threw some lucky trebles and shot to a big lead over the field of 20 odd. I ended up needing to hit 20 to win. First dart straight into the 60, which I had been aiming at until then but had not hit. Next turn I hit the 1 and was left with 19. Third turn, while everyone else caught up, I hit the 38 and went bust again. Meanwhile J had some good turns and needed 19 as well. But somebody else needing 28 hit 8 and 20 and won.

We watched part of a movie about Rembrandt, lunched and turned up for the progressive trivia. The rules specified that if any team withdrew their points would be allocated to another team chosen by drawing lots. I guess it is designed to keep the contest open if any one team is dominating, as we have. We only scored 17/20 today on the movie section, thereby losing our first points. One other team inherited the 13 points from the team that quit and the American woman just kept on being petulant and brattish, which embarrassed the rest of us and probably increased the risk of another team quitting and making their points available.

Almost immediately there was the evening trivia, which we won again then dinner and we went to watch a second performance by the improvisation comics. They were pretty good but the art form does not really produce thigh slapping humour. I got into the gym for the first time while J who wasn’t feeling too good had a bit of a nap. By 11 she was up to going to see the hypnotist, who was entertaining. He is running a lose weight seminar tomorrow. We just gave up the 4^th hour and getting up might be tricky tomorrow.

Friday 20

Not that bad actually. J wasn’t that swish but I made stretch and we both walked (sedately) after brekky. Really getting quite addicted to Eggs Benedict. We did shuffleboard/darts respectively, quiz, lunch, music quiz (won)  then declared early afternoon rest before the big quiz. Album covers  - we did well with probably our weakest area, staying 11 clear of the pack. Won the evening trivia then tried the other restaurant in the Atrium – same menu just different locale and slightly quicker and less formal.

Raided the shops for the jewellery special, watched the sunset at the back to the tune of the 1812 overture – must try it in the spa when its warmer. Passenger talent show in the Atrium.

8-12 april A short cruise round the Bahamas

Sunday 8 Flying Spirit

We woke in time and the taxi arrived 15 minutes early. J had done a fine job of packing, weighing, and measuring and we were feeling as confident as we could be about the luggage. I carried my heavy coat with the fleece attached and the pockets stuffed with fridge magnets. Reminiscent of my father flying to Africa in 1957 with his carpenter’s tools stuffed in the pockets of his greatcoat.

The first thing we saw at the airport was a checkpoint where they weighed all the hold luggage – ours was just fine. They were distracted while we weighed the cabin bags and missed my innocent looking backpack, which weighed over 7kg. There were steel frames meant for testing the size of hand luggage but nobody pushed us into checking ours so we didn’t.

Checkin went smoothly, and we remembered to tell them to direct the luggage to Fort Lauderdale because we were not using the onward flight to Orlando. We forgot to ask for seats on the right hand side in the hope of seeing the Andes, but it was murky and we might have flown out at sea anyway. We were surprised to see that Miami is actually west of Lima – we had always thought that S America is right under the USA – in fact it is a long way to the East.

The 5 hour flight passed smoothly enough, although the seats were pretty close together. We got through immigration easily enough and the man even put the stamp over a few others. The bags were waiting and we jumped into a shared shuttle bus which took us to the hostel on South Miami beach via Miami airport and the downtown area, where we got stuck in dense traffic coming out of the Miami Heat stadium.

The hostel was expecting us and the man reassured us that the area was very safe and sent us off for a stroll along the beachfront. It was reminiscent of Clark Quay in Singapore - heaps of very classy restaurants serving steak and seafood. Pretty well packed with people. Very smart sporty cars and generally an upmarket location. We found a pizza restaurant and had chunks of veggie pizza. We haven’t eaten much in a few weeks.

And so back to the hostel, where we had the upper bunks in a 4 bed dorm (yaay).

Monday 9 April Miami (Once)

A noisy night with some hearty snoring. The hostel was full and the only mens loo upstairs was out of service. They were cleaning downstairs L Luckily there was a facility in the lobby. We booked another night for the 13^th, without great enthusiasm, ate the lacklustre breakfast, which ran out early, largely due to the appearance of about 20 Hollanders who unpacked their luggage in the foyer and started getting changed.

We walked down to the southern point of the island, from where we could see the cruise ships docked in what is effectively a huge lagoon between the downtown area and a fringe of coastal islands. There are a scattering of islands in the lagoon, one of which houses big boats. There were some spectacularly opulent apartment blocks overlooking the heads and the seaward side of the island was clustered with high rises rather like Surfers Paradise.

We got onto the white powdery sand and walked a few blocks north. By then it was time to pack up and catch a taxi. The checkin process was the easiest yet. We scarcely had to wait at all – pretty much checked our luggage where the taxi dropped us, walked 100 metres and then went straight up to someone who issued us with cruise cards. The only forms we filled in were health declarations (we sooo lied). And then it was straight aboard – we took our hand luggage up to the buffet because the cabins were not available for another 15 minutes. Lunch was good – one of the better looking buffets we have seen.

We unpacked the big bags with some interest. Some of the stuff has been round the world and not yet worn. My suit was fairly well pressed and actually closed very comfortably. I had some idea that I might have lost weight and this seemed to be confirmed by Anna’s scales, although we were mainly concerned by the weight of the luggage.

The lifeboat drill was good – only one language and no need to bother with lifejackets. They squeezed us up against the wall next to a lifeboat, made a simple announcement and then let us get on with our holiday. We stood up top while we sailed out through the heads and out of the channel.

We ended up selecting the set dinner times and shared a 6 seat table with a couple from Minnesota. He is a retired air traffic controller. Dinner was good, if you don’t mind a “medium” steak that runs red. The desserts were a bit special and the main courses excited the juices. The evening show had a quick appearance by the song and dance squad (lacklustre) and an American comedian, who was very good. He did a couple of impressions, including De Niro, which had the crowd in stitches just with the facial expression even before he made a sound.

Our cabin was good – a good sized squarish window. The boat is 20 years old but was refurbished a couple of years ago. It will do us very nicely for 4 nights.

Tuesday 10 Nassau

We cruised in before 7. Breakfast did not disappoint then we went up for a look. It was already quite warm and the harbour surroundings were very tropical palm/ green/ lush.  The beach stretching away to Cable Beach was shiny white, which showed through the water as pale turquoise. The area immediately outside the harbour is an extended area of jewellery retailers. It seems Americans go cruising primarily to buy diamonds and exotic stones from Tanzania and Columbia.  If you see it and you love it . . Buy It! We just did the circuit with the maps and coupons given out by the ship’s shopping consultant (all the jewellers pay to go on the recommended list). We collected a handful of free charms and gemstones, bought a fridge magnet and a cap, replaced our stash of US dollars from an ATM, and went back for lunch.

How quaint.  Policeman in portable hut in front of the hmmm Parliament or Court.  Can't remember.

Gotta love the hair/hat and the shirt.

A big after-lunch nap accompanied by half watching The War Horse and the new movie about MaggieThatcher, which was very interesting. Panic when we discovered it was 6.38 and dinner had started without us! We just cleaned up, donned our smart clothes and redirected to the buffet and then straight to the Captain’s cocktail party. We inhaled two drinks each and then sneaked out to the trivia quiz, which we WON, although it must be said that our team had most of the participants.

The production show was hmmm weak. They went through the motions but did not inspire. Certainly not the classical elegance of Cunard or the raw explosive impact of MSC. On the way out, we paused in the casino, where J won a prize for naming the actor with  most performances as 007 (Roger Moore). She got a few gambling tokens and a voucher for an airbrushing tattoo (wait for the pic). We took a chance and plugged the laptop into the shaver socket – as you can see it worked.

Wednesday 11 Coco Cay

We woke to the roar of anchors being lowered right next to our room. We have moored just off Coco Cay, a rather grim looking atoll thingy which belongs to Royal Caribbean. There is another ship moored some distance away and a third seems to be approaching.

We had salmon for brekky, which is always a good start. The queue for the transfer boat was very long so we went to the gym instead. We put in a good hour, which was our first session this year. Imagine our alarm to then find that the buffet was closed! They had a beach bbq on the island instead. So we went to the dining room, which was a good outcome. The food really is a notch better than average here.

We were half the passenger complement of the 250 seat tender boat. It only took 5 minutes to get to the island, which was a pleasant place to spend a day. There were lots if water sports, snorkelling beaches, adventure structures in the water, bars and seating places. It only took 15 minutes to walk around and a similar time to stroll through the straw market with the usual T-shirts etc. We got onto the next boat back.

J went for her free tattoo – a pair of dolphins outlining a heart shape. This on her left ankle. She joined a bunch of Poms for the (American) TV  theme music quiz – and won!!!  Came back with a very good RC money belt.

We made it to dinner with the New Jersey couple. The food was very good again. We went on to the evening show – a very good juggler. We filled in time watching “60 seconds or less” and then back to the theatre for the marriage game – usual questions . . usual answers (just in American accent).

Thursday 12  Key West

The southernmost point of the continental USA. Joined to Florida by a 100 mile causeway. We watched the approach to the dock and saw the tail end of a very large dolphin or more likely an orca disappearing under the bay. We have to do immigration today, which is a waste of an otherwise good day. Later – they were generous enough to leave cards in all the cabins apologising for the delay and offering a free cocktail. This is a good cruiseline.

Key West is a pleasant touristy kind of place. I left J at Ripley’s Believe it or Not museum, where you have to get to the front of the queue before you find out how much it is going to cost to get in (believe it or not). Irritating! The only internet place I found didn’t support wifi so I couldn’t get the blog up but it is always good to get no emails from anybody (in a sense) and scan through the non-news items.

Two headed rabbit and pig.  Were several more as well.  eww

We came back for lunch then returned separately to town. I browsed in a desultory manner, not really wanting to fill up the luggage with any more schtuff. J walked to the “end of the road” at the southernmost point and then wondered why she did J

This was reward for a very long walk on a pretty hot day.

This guy was sitting on a tombstone in the cemetery that is on Passover Lane.

Sponge man!

Then Tarpin fish were HUGE.  Many of them in the marina area.  We went looking for manatees which frequent the shallows but had to make do with the fish.

Dinner caught us totally by surprise again. This time it was 6.45 when the room steward came knocking. We decided to front for dinner, and were very happy to have done so – nothing fancy but they certainly cooked it well. A sensibly small starter of scallops on risotto, cooked beautifully, hearty lamb shanks that absolutely fell off the bone, and a light fluffy tiramisu. Attentive but not demanding waiters and finally they all gathered and sang O Sole Mio for the guests, including the impossibly high note at the end. They repeated the point that the dining room staff represent 45 countries (no Italians) and yet they all work together (in English) to produce such good results. I think it is largely the warm and accommodating nature of the Indonesians (Balinese) and the Fillippinos and their solid work ethics. They don’t seem to have any prima donnas with huge egos.

We really enjoyed our Royal Caribbean experience and look forward to sailing with them again, hopefully on a longer cruise next time.

7/4 Packing

Headed off to town with instructions on which bus to catch.  Then we were told at bus stop that was the wrong bus - shared taxi with 2 young women who offered to share the ride. Took a long time crawling through some dingy neighbourhoods but we got there. Found our way to Simon Bolivar Square (well its a change from San Martin). A fascinating private tour through the adjacent Museum of the Spanish Inquisition - Peru was their centre of operations for South America. Apparently they only executed 32 people in 250 years. One wonders how many of them might simply have been delusional rather than heretical. We walked through the underground dungeons - No frills! They also had waxwork exhibits depicting various acts of unkindness perpetrated on the unwilling. The guide said they did not consider the Indians to have souls and they could therefore not be accused of heresy.

Death was by 2 methods, burnt at the stake or this strangling chair.  There is a wheel behind it to tighten the rope.

Torture.  If the victims shoulders survived the first lift.  It was done again with a 50kilo weight tied to his feet.

50 - 200 lashes were inflicted

The rack

The same premises served as a venue to hear charges under the civil administration and the Catholic Inquisition. It later became the senate building and the court room became the Senate Chamber.

We found the Plaza Del Armas and the Governor's palace next door. The police enjoyed my Bolivian soccer shirt.

Main square with Governors palace

Not sure what this building was but it was the most ornately carved - beautiful

We then made the crucial error of lending an ear to a group of scouts who were looking for someone to sing a song with them. There were little knots of them scattered all round the square and as soon as we showed the least modicum of interest (guess who?), the whole mob swarmed us. It turned out that the "song" was simply a series of names of a kangaroo (go figure) Superman and John Travolta. We totally delighted then by doing the kangaroo hop and the Travolta finger and I was only a moment away from my Man of Steel impersonation. We quit while we were ahead.

Our scout group finishing up their outing

We found a taxi quite easily and were astonished how quickly we got home. This was partly the result of access to the freeway, although the taxi lacked seat belts and speedometer. It was a slightly nervous ride. We bought a few snacks for the plane and attacked the pressing issue of packing, weighing and measuring. In short, we are ok on all counts, after cutting a chunk out of the thick plastic base to reduce the height of the biggest bag. this also bodes well for the final flights back from Paris, of which we still have no details. (Air Asia is no longer flying the Europe to Asia legs - so they are seeking to replace our flights)

6/4 Good Friday

I woke at 3am and went browsing through the laptop . . suddenly a small box opened up and it said " Warren says Hi Dad". The nicest treat I could have imagined. I realised that what I have really been missing is to sit with him on the beachfront at Doddy's with cappucinos and a Florentine. We had a nice chat and its a pity I cant stay up till 1.10am tomorrow to "watch" the Eagles game with him.

We arose at 8.30, to find that Anna wasnt up yet and the house was full of Americans. 4 of them arrived at 2am and went into the dorm we had last week. We now have a self-contained unit matrimoniale. We hd a slow walk through the empty part of town but found the Wong supermarket was open, so we bought a few bits for lunch.

Mid-evening there was a gradually-increasing noise and we realised a parade was approaching the house. It turned out to be an Easter parade, with a couple of hundred people quietly walking around the streets, most of them with shielded candles.  They stopped a few doors down and did some kind of performance and then continued along in front of us.  There was a car supporting some sort of sound system, with a full keyboard in the back seat and that was followed by 'Jesus' carrying his cross between 2 Roman soldiers. They stopped at the next corner and did another little performance.  Anna said they had come from a nearby church and that this type of parade would be happening all over Lima today (Good Friday).  She said that there would have been a 'proper' cruxifiction on Cerro St Cristobel (hill in Nth Lima) at some time today.  Glad I have not witnessed that.

It had a nice feel to it and we didnt need to ask ourselves the obvious question. We are so choked with Political Correctness driven by the Multiculturalism we never asked for that we dare not be ourselves for fear of "outraging" the migrants who have brought their own hate-filled ideas with them.

5/4 back to Lima

Woke in room 301 (again) of our new hotel and noticed there is a cruise ship in the bay.Turns out to be the Veendam. Plus people had been packing in all night for the Easter break. We walked along the beach to the train station and the restaurants were all jampacked - have been quite empty till today.

Spot the dog.......

Can you see it?  look on the roof.  You see a lot of dogs living on the roof of houses in S.America.  This one was especially cute.

Between Paracas and Lima it is sand dunes.  Can't understand why these shanty villages are here.

The usual panoramicas on the bus - 4 hours passed sooo easily. We guided the taxi driver to the hostel with fluent Spanish. Dragged the stored luggage upstairs -  what a pleasure it had been to live out of one small backpack each.

We both felt tatty and needed a small lie down. There is nobody else here. Then we paraded off to the internet shop to print all the tickets. 3 cruise tickets, one hostel ticket for Miami and our US visa exemptin certificates. That all went swingingly well and cost us something like $2. We collected money and stocked up at a tiny general store. Lovely people - no attempt to jack up prices and so helpful. Bought a monstrous mango for 60c.

There had been a new Greek chap here when we first arrived but he left soon after. He had beeen robbed on day 1 in Lima and lost a heap of cash. He just wanted to get out of the country - which he said was irrational and he would regret not going to Machu Picchu, but he just needed to get away - post traumatic shock. We really have been very lucky with security. Its so easy to get done.