Day 6 LA to Hawaii Cruise January 2013

Day 6  Monday, January 21, 2013 Hilo Day on the Big Island of Hawaii. Presidental Inauguration, Martin Luther King Day
 High Temperature in the high 70s warm breezes
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We rented a car (reserved it first on line) . We were after a full sized SUV kind of vehicle. Base rate was 55 dollars a day. This size of car  makes it so much easier to load and and unload our manual wheelchair. It was advertised as a Jeep Grand Cheerokee- or equivalent . We got the equivalent. It was a light gold Chevy Traverse.Its a modern cross between a SUV and a staionwagon.  It was perfect for our needs. it had a large cargo area which made putting in the manual wheel chair or taking it out a breeze.

We waited at the cruise terminal as the first Dollar and Thrifty mini bus loaded. The second one came and we got on. It was not nearly as crowded as the first . Sue came with me in the shuttle and after some upsaling for insurance costs we got car and the navigational Garmen. It was most remarkable as it had plugged in all the local sights including where we wanted to go.
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 Volcano National Park

I talked Sue into going to the Volcano National Park on the big island about 40 miles South of Hilo. The car quickly hummed up the 4,000+ elevation. The park made Sue feel a bit cold when we got out of the car at this elevation so we bought a long sleeve shirt for her at the park store. We also bought some other science souvenirs. The National Park really knows how to make a perfect gift shop. We also drove over to the Jagger Observatory. It is perched on the edge of the caldera with a drop off of several hundred feet down into the bottom of the cone shape barren sand edge and was monitoring the seismic activity and the gasses. The caldera was putting out a decent amount of smoke the day we were there. Prior to arriving at the observatory, there were several pull outs that highlighted the volcanic tubes which were generating steam somewhat in the middle of the fields. The foliage was pretty stunted from the gasses coming out of the volcano. It was actually heating to cool air (high altitude) to hot and the steam was very visible.

The drive back to Hilo was pleasant. It was neat to see the foliage as Hilo is on the wet side of the island, and all the residents houses had metal roofing. Most of the houses were constructed with revealing area under the house. The houses were constructed on decks so that their was air that passed under the houses.

We made a stop at the Walmart in town to pick up soda and other supplies that are hard to get on the ship.
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The Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Gardens


When we got back to the car with the manual wheelchair, we used the navigation to get through town and it got us turning in the right places to get to the Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Gardens on Onomea Bay.

We got to see more beautiful plants and flowers this time because the sun was out.

Sean learned and practiced the focus first by barely pusing down the triggers than continue to keep pressing down to fire the shot on her cannon pocket camera.  I was taking photos with my Nikon 5100. I hope we got some great orchid shots between us.

I needed to do a lot of pushing to get that manual wheelchair back up the hill. We got up to the little plateau and the gas powered golf cart came down and we loaded on it and it took us up to the top of the hill. We still had plenty of time to do the Garden's gift shop and museum.

We used the navigation to get us back to the car drop off spot after we filled the car with gas in town.

We got checked off by the person working the lot. The shuttle came without much wait for us. The drop off spot was located a ways from the airport slot. We were first taken to from the airport. The shuttle driver when he picked us up said that we needed to drop the car off at this spot in the field not back at the airport kiosk.

When we dropped off the car, the shuttle driver that picked us up to take us back to the ship said that there were 17 more cars left to come back at 4:00. We were all supposed to be on board at 5pm.

It was as great day, and we had more fun than climbing on an excursion bus and getting out of it with 12 to 15 other people.

We both arrived back at the ship totally tired.
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Dinner:

Pats:
Appetizer: artichoke dip on brucetta
Soup: Cold green apple juice cold soup with Granny Smith Apples
Main course: Turf and Surf- Steak with big shrimp
Desert: Pineapple flambe with rum raisin ice cream 

Sue:
Crab quiche from the Piassa
Ham/prosciutto mozzarella cheese pannini

Coconut rolls and a fruit tart roundels

Day 5 LA to Hawaii Cruise January 2013

Day 5 At Sea- Sunday
January 20,2013
Cloudy rain Showers - High 64 Low 61
Sunrise 7:35 Sunset 6:46
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 Our waiter warned us at dinner that we were headed for a really rocky night. He was right. This boat/ship was surfing most of the night. The stabilizers helped some of the side to to side but the swale  the forward and back movement were the largest we had had on this cruise by far.

I got my kindle charged so I am back in business with it. I am reading the book, "The End of the Line: Romney vs Obama 34 days that ...." its about the behind the scenes strategies both presidential candidates used in the final days of the election.

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The Social Worker from Manitoba

I was eating at a prime spot in the buffett. A couple landed at my table., where are you from? Manitoba. What did you do? I was a social worker not a wheat farmer. They had traveled to all parts of Canada and started living in Montreal. I got to share my memories of Expo 67.

They thought that pharma was cheaper in the states. They were pricing a "shingles" shot. It was $250 in Canada with a prescription it was $175 in the US. With a prescription but the US pharmacy wrote the prescription on the spot.

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The First Grade Teacher from outside Nashville

At lunch she was looking for a spot to "land" with per plate full of buffet food. She introduced herself and we talked about 1st graders and articulation. She has 5 grandchildren - had never been to Hawaii and kind of wanted to know where she could get little grass skirts. She had no idea what to get the little boys. I told her about the last time we were in Hilo there was a warehouse right where we came in to port. Lots of little hair clips and silk flower leis and such. She was happy to hear about that. (Sadly when we got to Hilo this port side shopping did not exist.  I think that the warehouse was not safe. We had to walk around the outside of it to get to transportation). I also mentioned that there was a bus to Hio Hatties on each of our stops.

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The 49ers Won! On to the Superbowl

The crowd had gathered in the front of Movies in the Stars to watch the big playoff games. Some were sunbathing and watching while others bought their "bucket of beers" and camped out. The Sun had come out and it was pretty nice around the pool. As you can see from the weather report at the top.. it was not exactly hot.  In the sun the temperature was a few degrees warmer that the 64... put the breeze and the 24 miles an hour that we were traveling worked against the serious Hawaiian stereotype. We were certainly not in the Caribbean.

There was also a big crowd in the Princess Theater with the notable gray/blue haired ladies chearing with their good Southern accents the Atlanta Falcons. They had plenty to cheer about as Atlanta took an early 17 point lead. When I joined the crowd in the theater later, the Atlanta fans had abandoned their favored team and found other things to do on the ship.

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More Ukelele Lessons

I left the game and headed to my place to get my uke lesson along with about 45 others. We learned about minor chords and practiced some alternative fingerings for come chords.
Our teacher teaches with a backup line synthesizer where he can control the beat. I think it drowns out those that have their instruments out of key. Half way through "Under the Boardwalk" he looked down and saw that one of his students was playing the chords to "Amazing Grace." It happens.

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Heirloom Leis

Earlier in the day Sue and I headed over to where they were making heirloom leis. You buy a kit (charged to your ship account) Sue learned to do a popcorn knot in crochet that is essential in make her lei.

The men usually make a kakuie nut lei made with large brown nuts that were originally used to might the night in the tropical islands. The instructors (the ukelele instructor and his wife that taught hula) had big bins of these nuts and other items that could be strung together to make the lei. You gathered up what you think would amount to 25 inches of pattern you designed and strung them up. When you were finished, you brought the lei up to the desk . It was measured and knotted. It was sort of like beading on a huge scale. I made a pretty nice on while Sue worked on her crocheted one.

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Dinner:
Pat's
Appetizer: Lox (smoked salmon, slices with touches of cream spatter) lemon slice and capers
Ravioli- stuffed with ricotta and nutmeg with a soft brown sauce
Main: Veal Scalopini in reduced sauce
Desert: Banana souffle

Sue: Hamburger - Fries from the Grill
Fresh fruit from the buffet... pineapple slices, Apples and  bananas

Day 4 Saturday LA to Hawaii Cruise

Day 4 Saturday, January 19th 2013 At Sea
Weather: Cloudy with rain showers - High 61 Low 56
Sunrise 7:08/ Sunset 6:10
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Today started the progressive ukelele lessons. 300 signed up and 100 showed up for the first class.... or so was the commentary from the teachers. Many that didn't sign up for the progressive classes were there. Two new cords were taught and very quickly integrated into song. My ukelele broke a string last night and luckily I brought a new set to string up... via Amazon. The snark (as suggested my my sister) also came from Amazon. The Harmony uke was given me by my other sister.  Those that didn't have their own are out of luck when it comes to practice as the loaners are put in bins after every lesson. Having your own on board is a great. The Cruise Director and the Hawaiian music master on the ship took turns providing the lessons.  Each instructor provides a different take on the instrument and it is nice to have this variety.
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Reunion in Camp Pendleton

At lunch Sue and I met up with a couple who drove from Michigan to get on the Ship in LA. They had traveled many a frozen snowy road to get to LA in January. They were also facing the same journey back after the cruise. The man's main objective was to meet up with his Marine buddies at their training camp at Camp Pendleton.Camp Pendelton is located just north of San Diego He said that it was nice to drive around and reminise about the base. His wife was making a renewed contact with a friend who lived  El Monte one of the LA cities. So far everything was working out well for both of them.

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I am not a big gambler. But on this day I won 200 dollars on the 25 cent slot machine on the ship. The ship has very few 25 cent slot machines.  Most of the slot machines in the casino were either 1 dollar slots or penny slots. All are electronic and my guess is that they can change the pay out on a whim.  I walked away from the machine after winning the 200 dollars and cashed in the winnings from the card that also serves as the cabin room key. No coins ever pass hands in the ship's casino. I made up my mind that the 200 dollar won from the 40 dollar investment and have it go for toward a nice ukelele when the ship reached Hawaii.  And it did.

I watched the lecture from the naturalist on the whales of Hawaii. The humpbacks are the primary whales in Hawaii this time of the year.  They have been spotted in Maui on early cruises so we were pretty certain that we would see them when we got to Maui for our whale watching excursion. The nauturalist said that they were around all the island and that we should be looking for them when we were in each of the ports of the Hawaiian islands. Their call could be heard by snorkelers a mile away from the animals.

While I was taking the first ukulele lesson sue had a chance to shop the Princess branded Hawaiian tee shirts... 2 for 20. She also did a buffet lunch. On the deck was the Italian themed lunch items on this day. Fresh mozzarella, and tomatoes were a welcome sight. There were several pasta dishes and some fancy Italian meats that could be used to make a chibata sandwich. It was pretty crowded around the outside lunch but here seemed to be enough for all that wanted it.
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Dinner:
Pat's
Appetizer: Cantaloupe in port wine, set in Martini glasses
Salad: Caesar's Salad 
Main entree: Pork shoulder cut in slices with french fries and lima beans
Desert: Chocolate Brownie with vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce with a toasted almond topping

Sue: Hamburger with Fries at the grill

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Breakfast on the Ship
The full breakfast buffet is ready each morning at 7:00 am. People start going through at 6 am. At my favorites spa choice. museli is put out in a giant iced bowl with a different flavor combination each day. Its base has oats and very thin green apple slice. As add ons to this it could be toasted coconut, walnuts, granola, and then a fruit sauce much looser than jam, it could be peach or raspberry, or apple sauce.
On this ship, the lox varies with a different kind of smoked fish each day. Usually lox are usually salmon. Today the fish was smoked mahi mahi in place of the salmon.

Day 3 Friday, LA to Hawaii Cruise January 18

Day 3 Friday January 18, 2013
Tonight's Dress: Formal
Weather: Partly Cloudy: High 59 Low 50
Sunrise @7:40 Sunset 6:30
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Time Change- one hour back @2:00am between Friday Night and January 18th and Saturday morning January 19th

1)Breakfast@the Horizon Court buffet. I had the recommended homemade muesli with almond slivers and blueberry compote. I had the egg man make me an egg white omelet Denver (with onions, peppers, and ham) a piece of breakfast banger and two links of sausage and two pieces of bacon. 

2) I sat across from a Victoria (Canadian) BC couple from Holland. They had lived 30+years in Victoria BC. Now they "winter" in Arizona. They have a son they visit in Sacramento CA, so they were familiar with the Central Valley. I related to them about how much I had seen Victoria grow since 1962 when we were there for the Worlds Fair in Seattle. Dad picked out Duncan as the place we would pick up our mail along the way. We didn't realize how far Duncan was from Victoria on the island. They have since improved the drive with better roads and its not such a big deal to drive from Victoria to Duncan.
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Andy the ocean Surveyor from Houston
Andy asked if he could sit at my table... sure.
Andy clicked on his hearing aide at the back of his ear.
He worked as an engineer for the oil industry. I asked if he was a geologist..... no but he worked with many geologists. He had retired and had bought 28 acres in Houston and had a house constructed. He liked to do woodworking and he makes small projects to sell. He had a commission to make 5 headboards for a Band B in his small town near Houston. The house was in the process of being renovated. He researched the design to fit into the era of the house. He finished the headboards  and the owner wanted these beautiful cypress wood headboards to be painted white.  That destroyed him. He did not like the production side of it to begin with and felt that the cypress wood should be left in a natural finish. He would rather cast himself as an artisan craftsman. So he makes small pieces and has been successful at selling them in the town stores.

He was excited to go see one of his friends that was lecturing this morning. He was also an ocean surveyor His friend's topic was, "Who fired the first shots at Pearl Harbor?"His claim is that the mini 2 man Japanese subs fired the first shots . The lecturer was instrumental in the dive survey that found midge sub A that was hit in the conning tower before the invasion of the aerial bombers. I sat in on the lecture in the big theater and joined about 300 other passengers as we watched the power point and movie snippets about the Pearl Harbor attack.
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Sue and I went down the elevator to the Plaza again. Sue liked the small portions served. She ordered an asparagus quiche which they heated up for her. I had a bowl of albondigas... meatball soup.

The seating is pretty hard to come by as it seems that many others have discovered this place. So people are sort of combined together in order to get seating to have a cup of Starbucks like coffee or a small bite. The also have a chance to learn from each other in the process.
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The Couple from Alberta Canada 

She married the guy from Arkansas that was completely blind. He looked a whole lot like Kenny Rogers with the complete gray beard and round face. He was a social worker -regulation writer in South Dakota at the time. His regulations shut down the South Dakota governor's daughter's nursing home because it was so out of compliance, and sent all of the patients out to other homes in Rapid City. The Governor got his revenge by firing him. The regulation writer  asked him why? The Governor said he was blind so  how could he do his work? Thanks, the guy said and he was out on full disability.  

He came under the regulation that he had written. As part of his rehab plan, he wrote that he had to "work in bands". He returned to being a successful drummer that he was before going to school to become a social worker. He and his wife bought an RV and traveled roaming around the country playing for some pretty famous bands. He said that is a voracious audio book reader.

They told us of the time they were camping in the desert and he had the audio book up and playing loudly. Right beside him a road runner stood perched, watching inquisitively his every move. He was not aware of it until his wife said.. don't move. She ran in and got a camera to take a photo of the road runner observing the strange people.

They traveled throughout Europe. The man had arranged a wonderful night in Venice for his sweet wife, down to getting a fancy room, a gondola reserved, when they were about to go through the night she turned to him and said,"This place smells like shit."  He said... it did.
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 At dinner I asked the more senior couple what they did when they did in their working life. They replied that they hadn't always lived in Palm Springs. They used to live in Washington state in the Tri cities in Eastern Washington. She was a nuclear technician making Zicronioum tubes and loading the pellets . He was a nuclear physicist. She said that he was more of a math guy than she was. She took her real estate license test and half way through it she was concerned because it required math with using a calculator. She passed. He is a golfer... more so earlier in life. While on board we celebrated her 75th birthday.  She grew up in the Dolger homes near Westlake in Daly City very near where I grew up years later in South San Francisco.  Her favorite restaurant... Original Joes.

Pat's Dinner:
Shreaded salad with stillton cheese mouse (we all got Stilton on the side because it was the kind of blue cheese that was made near where our Brit table mates were from) It was some pretty neat cheese.
Asparagus soup
Leg of Lamb
Creme Bruuelle
Bananas Foster
Macroons and almond cookies

Sue's Dinner
French Onion Soup
1/2 ceasar's salad (made at the table)
Beef Bratwurst with sauerkraut
Sue left the table before the main course--- Bratwurst was after the dinner----
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Ukelele  Lessons 
I went to the ukelele sample lesson with my uke (my sister Kelly had given me one years ago) It could not hold a note .. the strings were too old. I brought a new set with me and finally got some tone from it after I strung it up. I signed up for the progressive lessons---- every day at 11:15 on days that we were at sea. We met at the same place, the wrap around bar that was next to the fancy Italian dinner restaurant.

On the sample lesson people lined up to borrow a ukelele as the ship had about 40 to loan for the free lessons.
On the first lesson poor Tom Dooley got trotted out and so did the whole world---- the 2 chord medley--- c and g7. He added pearly shells c7 and f. 75 people got a short lesson . Some of us, about 25 signed up for the progressive lessons (also free)
I learned the tuning notes....Good Cats Eat Ants

Day 2 Hawaiian Cruise From LA

Day 2 Thursday January 17, 2013 Weather: Partly Cloudy High 58 Low 50 Sunrise 7:12 am Sunset 5:50 pm 

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Teachers are Travelers 

Breakfast at 7:45 in the dining hall was with a add up table.  They add a table for two to a table of four and seat six people at it. Two couples were seated and I  became the 5th. No others were seated at the table.  The other participants were two couples. One lady was was a 6th grade teacher from Columbus, Ohio. The other couple were also retired teachers, were from Pittsburgh (Outside of the city). I mentioned that I had relatives that lived on the Ohio side of Pittsburgh. They said that they lived on that side too. When I mentioned Darlington, they said that it was closer to Pittsburgh than they were. She had taught 7th and 8th grade and enjoyed the enthusiasm that this age showed. The other lady said that that was the season that she retired . Too much for a 6th grade teacher that was suddenly recast as an eighth grade instructor.

The conversation then rolled into previous cruises they each had been on.

They both loved the New England one. On had traveled up and stayed a period of time there in their motorhome. Nova Scotia was wonderful for a month. This couple also did a Fort Lauderdale to the Baltic curise that lasted 28 days. The other couple had done a European river cruise... which they had enjoyed.

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After breakfast I sat in the big theater and listened two two lectures on Hawaii.  One was on the geology, the other was on the features of the big island.

We have a car reserved for Hawaii at Hilo. It should be fun to get out and drive some of this island. Sue is looking forward to going back to the "rain forest" the Botanical Gardens on the big island of Hawaii.

Making Orchid Leis... a free program 

I finally got Sue up and she agree to the orchid lei making class.  They only let 50 people each day for three days take the class. 90 people got in line 15 minutes early to get a ticket.  One per person. Some people did not get tickets. Some got tickets for other than the first day. An older guy came up to me and asked me if I wanted his ticket. I guess he thought that he would stand in line and get a ticket not knowing what he was standing in line for. Once he got the ticket he realized it was not something that he wanted to do. Sure, I took his ticket. So Sue and I both had tickets to the first lei class. The  ship's program staff passed out the first 50 to the people that would do the class on the 2nd day when they finished with those that got it on the first day.  Likewise on the 3rd day the third set of 50 tickets were passed out.  All tickets were passed out on that one line on the one time.  The first time we took the Hawaiian cruise I didn't realize that with so many people on the ship it is worth your time to stand in line for the programing events provided.

The first day of the class was this first day at sea.  Sue was pretty tired from the big day before, but she got dressed and made it down to the class. There were 10 men and 40 women that took this class. We waited at the fancy pay extra restaurant (Italian) as that was where the classes were held.

At each place on the tables was a pile of purple/pink waxy orchids and a bin with green star beads, one inch star beads, and a long needle that has a hook at the end.

Steps in Making the Lei

1) The stem end of all the flowers need to be removed... pinched off
2) The needle gets threaded through the flower, and 4 green star spacer beads and a one inch straw pieces are also threaded on to they 14 each needle with a hook on it.
3)The needle is hooked through the string (not threaded) and the string is pulled through the items that are threaded on the needle.
When enough flowers, beads and straws are loaded on the string, the lei is tied off and ready to wear. All 50 people were successful- some a little more than others. Some had difficultly with the string fraying. Some had to "backfill" on the other side from where they started to complete the loop.
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After we finished the class, Sue headed back to our home cabin for some afternoon shut eye. Earlier in the day I had Sue sign up for her free 250 minutes of internet time. I left my card on the table and when I returned to the internet cafe, it was not there.

The hotel office on the 6th deck made me a new one and even transferred my coke card to it.... The $57 dollars on the casino account... I had made 17 dollars since it was issued, was transferred back on it too.  Thankfully. I started it with $40.

So far the ocean has been very calm for us. As the captain in his noon report each day said, "The oceans are slight."

Sue's back continues to hurt. She opted out of dinner. I thought of mom as the prized dinner entree was lamb shanks. 

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 Pat's Dinner:
Apppitizer: Bay scallops and shrimp
Soup: Pear Mango with a mint leaf
Main entree: lamb shanks, with brown potatoes, brussel sprouts and zuchinni
Desert: key lime pie

Sue's Dinner:
Hamburger with extra pickles and mustard

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Sue wanted a table where her power chair would not cause people to have to move their chairs in order for her to get out. So far we have not accomplished this assignment.

The table we were assigned to was really a good one for the people. An educator couple in Sp Ed from the UK . Deb is a program specialist and David is a woodshop teacher. The other couple are from the Palm Springs area . They live on a golf course and love it.

Friday (tomorrow) is the first dress up night. Sue has promised to do dinner... then again she love to put on the bling.

I caught a little of the night's entertainment, a ventriloquist that has appeared on the Letterman show. She (the dummy) offered to sing.  She said that she was originally one of the Spice Girls.....Ok... the old spice girl......

The movie under the stars tonight had people bundled up in red tartan blankets.... "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" with Judy Dench.

It has been a great cruise so far.
Fruit was delivered to our cabin while we were out..
2 oranges, 2 pears, and 2 kiwis

We went to bed without much swale in the ship... the ship endeavored to make up for lost time at the dock... Full speed ahead!

Hawaiian Cruise 2013 Getting to Long Beach

Pre Day... Journey to Long Beach for the Night before the Hawaiian Cruise. January 15,2013 and Embarkation, on the Golden Princess

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We left Merced at 3pm on Tuesday. Our trip to Long Beach was unadventful except for the prospect of the grapevine pass at night. Construction is still on going by the Getty Museum on the 405. Our destination was our usual Holiday Inn. This Holiday Inn is located away about 8 blocks from the beach on Atlantic Blvd. and closest to St. Mary's Hospital.

Our room was waiting and we crashed for the night at 10pm.

Wednesday morning arrived and we had a phone message from the ship informing us that because of the bad weather, the ship would be late arriving to San Pedro. The message told us that our deck, would be loading at 2:45pm instead of the usual 11:30-1:00.

I discovered that the heel to my shes were coming loose from the rubber sole. We used the extra time to hunt down a Walmart and get a pair to depart. It was in Carson, about 6 miles down the major freeway from Long Beach. We used the Iphone navigation to for location. At first we were looking for a Famous Foot ware Store, but the one that was listed apparently had gone out of business and was replaced by some other more lucrative store. LA by Iphone navigation is a real trip.

I bought a pair of Dr. Schools gel athletic shoes for $29 dollars and we picked up a bunch of other items we had forgotten to pick up before we left.

We had stashed our bags in the Expedition and had to make some minor changes from our overnight bag that was to stay in the truck while we cruised with two bags and the manual wheelchair that we took along. All this rearragement occurred in the Walmart parking lot. We must have been a sight to the onlookers.

The Santa Monica Freeway took us back to the 110 and San Pedro, the location of our ship and home for the next two weeks, the Golden Princess.

I dropped off the bags on the curb and Sue got a porter to get the bags on the racks to go in. I found a parking place relatively near the ship. All the prep work that had been done on the computer back at home had been done including boarding passes We showed our passports and rolled right on. It was the least stressful embarkation we had ever had on any ship.  No lines, no problem with the ship board elevators . We were in our room at 3:20. with all of our bags beating us to the room with the exception of the one that held two 12 packs of soda. It arrived after the muster. Wonderful.

Since the Concordia accident in Italy, all ships are stressing their muster drills. The captain came over the public address system while we were all at the muster station and talked for 8and half minutes. Our muster station along with all the people in wheel chairs and many more is the casino on deck 7. Our cabin in on the Lido deck, deck 14.  This year we had no trouble getting down to our muster station deck with life jackets in hand . We had an issue trying to get back up to our rooms after the muster. All the passengers want to use the elevators to move up or down to their rooms.... all at once. In the meantime, bags and other luggage items are still coming up to the rooms and the power for only so many elevators at once is problematic.

We waited 45 minutes to get Sue into an elevator. I used the stairs and climbed the 6 decks of stairs we both arrived at the cabin at the same time.

Usually muster drills are held when the ship heads out to sea. Not this time. The ship was clearly in port and and would be there for 2 more hours as darkness fell on the city, and San Pedro and the Terminal Island became lit with its evening lights. This sort of put a damper on the "sail away" party luau as people had already eaten and were back into their cabins getting clothes put away and meeting their room stewards. Our steward is Adul. He was happy to see us. We explained that we needed the egg crate and rubber pad under Sue's side of the bed each time. He said that he had done it before so not to worry.

It was really good to be in the same cabin again. We had been in the same cabin on the same ship  a year and a piece ago. When we went to Hawaii in October/November 2011. The artwork in the cabin had not changed.

Later I talked Sue into taking the elevator to the International cafe in the center of the ship. She enjoyed the shrimp salad, the tapioca pudding, and the whole wheat bagel with tuna fish salad. To get to the plaza it was very easy from our cabin. Our cabin  is close to the elevators that take passengers to the plaza deck which is deck 5.  On deck 5 we walk through the art gallery and arrive at the central part of the ship that has wine tastings, the computer lab, library, the international cafe, and the the light shaft to the sky. It also houses the coffee bar with service. The International cafe is supposed to be open 24/7. It is much more relaxed because the chefs serve you rather than you helping yourself as is the Lido buffet on the first evening.  The menu is smaller and has more class.

It was all we needed after the crazy day of excitement of getting on the ship. 

The ship finally eased away from the dock and headed out to sea.

The Pipe fitter From Indiana

The first night on board, the Movie on Board had not started yet but a handful of us were eating pizza under the walkway just 30 feet from our cabin on Lido deck. A man introduced himself to me and we started the conversation. We went trough the usual topics. He was a big Peyton Manning fan. He was happy to see that he was doing well in Denver. He thought that Andrew Luck, the new quarterback from Stanford was doing well but needed some years to be able to read the defenses. He worked (now retired) for some food factories in the Indiana. He helped put together the condiment factory that made packs for mustard, ketchup, and others. His greatest claim to fame was working in the factory that was the major competitor to fiddle faddle (candy coated popcorn).

He was traveling with his brother who has spina bifida. This impacts his travel since his 55 year old brother cannot travel in the air. His 50 year old girl friend had a stroke when she was 29. She has ll her facilities except for short term memory and form constancy.

He was interested like most of the passengers on this trip as to when it was going to get warm. I answered as best I knew from the reviews of this trip. The usual rule of thumb is that 2 1/2 days from port the seas and the air usually get warmer. It is still very cool outside and he was shocked that the in the evening it was not particularly comfortable.

He went on about how the German farmers are in Indiana and how they are reluctant to change. As a student of history, he forwarded the opinion that how the allies were able to defeat the Germans in WWII. The ability of the American soldier to adapt to the changing conditions when the net barrier was superior to the German one way with persistent thinking.

I asked his last name it was Stanz. It was German. His German father had married a gal from Sicily. I asked him if he had ever been to Italy. He responded no, I cannot travel that far with my brother.

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We finally got all the clothes put away, I set up my machine and our changers for electronics. I knew that I needed to bring a long extension cord as there are very few electrical plugs in the rooms. The nearest one for my CPAP machine was 20 feet to the head of the bed.

Travelog Diary- Introduction- Port of LA Round Trip

My wife and I once again gathered up our life and headed for two weeks at sea on the Princess Cruise to Hawaii. This literary ramble of the trip taken at the end of January, 2013 comes from a diary that I wrote while on the ship and immediately after.

A bit of disclaimer is in order. As with much of my writing it is as my wife characterizes it a bit verbose and somewhat over explained it reaches some strange large proportions when reporting the events on the ship and off. If long Christmas family letters turn you off.  By all means skip this blog streak as I turned two weeks of this travel into 90 plus pages of journal, the source work for this blog ramble. My hope is that later this year I will work up the salient parts of this ramble and make it into an artist's journal with illustrations of the high points.

There are a couple of landmarks and definitions in this ramble. Every night I wrote what I choose to eat for dinner and what Sue choose. She is a tidy eater that always eats significantly less on the road that at home because it upsets her stomach somewhat to eat food not prepared as she would like. I am a bit of a foodie and enjoy that chance to try out foods that I would not get at home.  So it is unfair to characterize the contrasts between the two nightly meals. Also in this ramble is a header that basically tracks the day of the week, the dress of the day, the high and low temperatures and the sunrise and sunset times. These were predictive and updated daily and published in the daily newspaper called the Princess Patter. They were fairly accurate of the days temperature and weather conditions. Passengers of the ship used them to plan their activities for the day.  Each day was different.

One of my favorite activities on the ship is to get some people into conversation.  I collected these into parts of this ramble.  Many of the times I did not get a name or take the time to write down a description of their body types or the clothing that they wore.  This is probably the main distinction between this kind of writing and real writing.

The ship because of cruise length offered plenty of time to contemplate the diversity of the world.  At times this ramble gets a bit caught up in this philosophical play.

I hope that you will enjoy reading this ramble and somehow get an appreciation for ship life aboard the Golden Princess.