On the next Hawaiian Cruise I think that I would use the knowledge of the last one and apply it to the new cruise. What would a do over be like?
Rent Some Cars
Knowing the lay of the land.. or sort of around each of these ports, its seems like the next cruise would increase the circle some more. While some of the ship's excursions are a neat package and there is a degree of safety with the arranged tours, this is not totally necessary for travel in the states... and Hawaii is certainly one of our states. You can rent a car just like you were getting one in Denver or Seattle. Freeways seem to be only an issue in Honolulu. Most of the rental agencies are hooked up to the airports. The airports are not far away (as in taxi) in every port except Maui. We did not see nay planes flying in or out of any area close to our tender spot in the bay of Lahaina, Maui.
Getting on the road with a rental car would seem to be the next step in the progression of the Hawaii tour. It might also get us up and out of the ship a little earlier with a little more time devoted to sight seeing. Rental cars in Hawaii this time of the year (October November) are very reasonable. Sure gas is more expensive there and time factors enter in. You would not see some of the things you would see if you stayed in one place for a week rather then 9 to 12 hours.
With a wheelchair person, a car rental would allow us to go do something else if the attraction was too crowded at the time... we heard that there were 2 hour waits at the Pearl Harbor memorial. When we talking to the actual passengers from the ship they said that they walked right on without a line. The price differential is substantial for gate vs, escorted excursions. The botanical gardens cost 15 dollars plus 5 for the golf carts. Our excursion which got us the 8 miles our there and picked us up and returned us to the ship was 65 dollars each.. the cheapest excursion at Hilo. The more able members of a cruise could use the public transportation to get to and from the ship with a short walk. I saw no public transportation in Kaui or Maui but the other islands had pubic transportation that is great and could save a bundle. If it looked like you were getting a little close to shove off time on the ship, you could call and use a taxi or one from the street. A rental car could eliminate these fears. The only drawback would be getting to the rental spot. There were vans that picked up passengers and took them to the rental counters from the ship. Noteworthy were the budget and enterprise rentals.
Pick the Season
The Christmas season is high season for the islands. All those people are trying to run and hide from the bitter cold in other parts of the world during this time. Our cruise was certainly in the transition period. It wasn't winter yet in Merced. We did miss some windy cool weather especially the second week we were gone. Our yucky weather is usually after the first of the year. We gave up a week of the best weather of the year in Merced.
Since I have been home, I have talked to others that have gone to Hawaii in February and March. They love to see the whales "dance" across the water when they are in Hawaii. That would have been cool to take a whale watching voyage.
Its really great to visit another part of the country without having to speak or translate to another language like we have to do in the Mexican cruises.
Pack Fewer Clothes
Every time I admonish us for bringing so many clothes. In Hawaii everyone is wearing Hawaii shirts all the time. I will certainly bring rain great next time. Mostly its shorts in islands. Long pants feel great the two days going and the two days coming back.
There is plenty of time to do laundry on the ship. Although the laundry mats are steep in cost.. They keep you from having pack 14 of this and 14 of that.
Do Some of the Hawaiian Immersion Events on the Ship
The passengers that have been on this ship before, know that there is a crowd for the lei making and the ukulele lessons. They got there early and claimed the spots. Some active scheming needs to be done to be a part of this part of the ship's programming.
Less Buffet more formal Dinning Room
My daughters learned this early in their voyages. The difference in the meals in the dining room vs the buffet are large. Using a shared table, you get more involved with others that are traveling which in turn make you travel more interesting. Its tempting to go have a snack at the sandwich bar which takes you out of a good meal just a little later that day. You have to be in control of your appetite budget. There are somethings that truly taste better than others. There is no limit on what you can order in the dinning room. Its pretty amazing seeing what is out there. I love Italian antipasti with its great selection of dried hams and salamis with marinated veggies. These are always in abundance on the buffet and a little harder to choose or be selective in the dinning room. Sue is always after the hard rolls.. and cut fruit. The bakeries on these ships are wonderful. They make the hard rolls three times a day and a couple times in the middle of the night. The danish are always great.
No more Full Contact Massage
I always get Sue a deep tissue message on the ship. She had a great one on the Carnival ship. Everyone since that time has either been not enough or as in this case, too much. It took Sue a full day to recover from the one she got on this ship. We should have listened to our daughter Linzi who has taken some instructions in doing it. Sue is just too fragile with too many fibromyalgia issues to take on a ship board massage.
________________________________
Just some thoughts! :) Pat
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Hawaiian Cruise points of interest
Hawaiian Cruise Wrap up Points of Interest and Observations
1. Princess is the best cruise lines in its category for food and service.
2. 14 days is not too long a cruise.
3. Hawaii is a valid cruise destination even if you do not spend your money on a lot of excursions
4. Each Hawaiian island is very different from the others
5. The Hawaiian people we met were friendly and accomadating
6. People in Hawaii wear Hawaiian shirts and clothing all the time
7. There is more that we need to see, but it was so different than my expectations.
8. Fall may not be the best time to go since we missed the whale migration from Alaska
9. Fall is a great time to go as it seemed we had Hawaii to ourselves and our ship mates
10. The free Walmart express was an quick way to get the lay of the land. It was not reliable for meeting an excursion schedule
11. Expect to pay more for what you get on the mainland. Especially in consumer goods. But its what everyone is paying.
12. People are people everywhere. Most people on the ship were very tolerant of the powerchair. Some were not.
13. The movies under the stars is a great concept in warm climates.
14. Hilo Hatties had the largest collections of Hawaiian goods for sale. Walmart had the best prices. Some of the island produced perfumes and soaps could only be purchased at the ABC store.
15. Always bring a tropical rated umbrella on your journeys away from the ship.
16. Its pretty hot in Hawaii.
17. A tropical rainstorm is nothing to sneeze at.
18. Public transportation is great in Honolulu but realize that everyone there also knows about it.
19. Enjoy the diversity of Hawaii. Its different at every turn.
20. Hawaii is not just for the fit and tan. There are lots of ways to enjoy Hawaii that don't require good swimming skills.
21. Its a great place to buy kuku beads and shell beads
22. Don't expect chocolate buffets or midnight seafood extravaganzas on Princess. It does not happen.
23. There is progress in keeping down the smoke in the casinos. There were several no smoking nights and periods where smoking was not allowed in the casino.
24. LA has made huge strides in customer movement to get in and out of the port.
25. Expect to pay a fare in addition to the two fares it took to get on the ship to get off the ship. This comes from the tips, excursions and the photos and drinks you acquire on the ship.
26. The ports themselves are an interesting place to take photographs. You can shoot an unobstructed shot from 9 stories up.
26. The night entertainment is pretty stock on Princess cruises. All the ships in the fleet have the same stage shows. Still its something we do not do at home.. its great.
27. Liquor is not cheap. A stock American beer is about $8.40 including the 15 percent tip. A bottle of wine starts at $30. This however, these would be the prices in a Hyatt or a Hilton bar.
28. The coffee card is a good deal. It works out to be 2 dollars a cappucino.
29. The soda card is a great deal too. At $67 dollars, the unlimited diet coke was available in the cup that was provided with the sale and at any bar when showing your coke sticker on your cruise card.
30. People were willing to talk to others when they sat down to eat or relax along the trip.
31. Don't expect your TV lineup when you are using the stateroom tv. There were only a couple of news feeds (fox and CNBC) ESPN2 and BBC. In the past we had better TV. The close to first run movies on ship and through the stateroom were really pretty good. Most of them were at the pay per view level.
32. Don't expect to have your DSL level speed with the internet on the ship.
33. Buy the internet supplement minute package early.. like the first day or two. You will have more time to use it and getting the price package will be much cheaper than later on the ship. We were happy to hear that we had 250 minutes since we are platinum passengers. Elite members like mom and dad do not have to watch their minutes. The irony is that they don't usually use the service.
36. Look for unique ways to have fun. After all you are on a vacation. You are doing and going places that you would not do at home. So don't expect to have all the same things that you have at home.
37. Get a good table of people to eat with every night. If the first group doesn't fit with you, talk with the Matre dei arrangement can be made.
38. If you don't know what is offered on the menu, ask the waiter.. he or she will often give you an idea. If you don't like it when it comes... order something else. Or order more than one to start with. Our table had people that ordered three entrees regularly and shared it among its ordering couple.
39. Expect European portions at the table. Except on Lobster night.
40. The utilization of the International Cafe and the Piazza as an entertainment venue was new to me and very pleasent.
41. The scholarship at sea is a great program for Princess. The naturalist, the lei making and the ukelele lessons were super parts of the trip even if they were crowded and under supplied.
42. The ceramics program that Sue has loved on previous trips was totally in adequate and inaccessible. This one needs to be redesigned.
43. Getting on and off of this ship was easy even with a powerchair.
44. A person with limited mobility should consider renting a power chair for mobility and independence on this ship.. both for the barriers and the size of the ship.
45. Elevator use was much better on this ship than on others
46. Time changes on this cruise was unbelievable. We had to lose 3 hours going in time zones. We ended up with 2 hours on the way home because of the end of daylight savings. We had three because Mexico is one time zone different than we are by edict. The minute we crossed back into the US it was just 2 hours that had to be adjusted since Hawaii.
47. This was an "older" cruise similar to the Alaskan cruises we have taken. Very few school aged passengers. Very few newlyweds too.
Overall it was a wonderful trip and we would do it again!
1. Princess is the best cruise lines in its category for food and service.
2. 14 days is not too long a cruise.
3. Hawaii is a valid cruise destination even if you do not spend your money on a lot of excursions
4. Each Hawaiian island is very different from the others
5. The Hawaiian people we met were friendly and accomadating
6. People in Hawaii wear Hawaiian shirts and clothing all the time
7. There is more that we need to see, but it was so different than my expectations.
8. Fall may not be the best time to go since we missed the whale migration from Alaska
9. Fall is a great time to go as it seemed we had Hawaii to ourselves and our ship mates
10. The free Walmart express was an quick way to get the lay of the land. It was not reliable for meeting an excursion schedule
11. Expect to pay more for what you get on the mainland. Especially in consumer goods. But its what everyone is paying.
12. People are people everywhere. Most people on the ship were very tolerant of the powerchair. Some were not.
13. The movies under the stars is a great concept in warm climates.
14. Hilo Hatties had the largest collections of Hawaiian goods for sale. Walmart had the best prices. Some of the island produced perfumes and soaps could only be purchased at the ABC store.
15. Always bring a tropical rated umbrella on your journeys away from the ship.
16. Its pretty hot in Hawaii.
17. A tropical rainstorm is nothing to sneeze at.
18. Public transportation is great in Honolulu but realize that everyone there also knows about it.
19. Enjoy the diversity of Hawaii. Its different at every turn.
20. Hawaii is not just for the fit and tan. There are lots of ways to enjoy Hawaii that don't require good swimming skills.
21. Its a great place to buy kuku beads and shell beads
22. Don't expect chocolate buffets or midnight seafood extravaganzas on Princess. It does not happen.
23. There is progress in keeping down the smoke in the casinos. There were several no smoking nights and periods where smoking was not allowed in the casino.
24. LA has made huge strides in customer movement to get in and out of the port.
25. Expect to pay a fare in addition to the two fares it took to get on the ship to get off the ship. This comes from the tips, excursions and the photos and drinks you acquire on the ship.
26. The ports themselves are an interesting place to take photographs. You can shoot an unobstructed shot from 9 stories up.
26. The night entertainment is pretty stock on Princess cruises. All the ships in the fleet have the same stage shows. Still its something we do not do at home.. its great.
27. Liquor is not cheap. A stock American beer is about $8.40 including the 15 percent tip. A bottle of wine starts at $30. This however, these would be the prices in a Hyatt or a Hilton bar.
28. The coffee card is a good deal. It works out to be 2 dollars a cappucino.
29. The soda card is a great deal too. At $67 dollars, the unlimited diet coke was available in the cup that was provided with the sale and at any bar when showing your coke sticker on your cruise card.
30. People were willing to talk to others when they sat down to eat or relax along the trip.
31. Don't expect your TV lineup when you are using the stateroom tv. There were only a couple of news feeds (fox and CNBC) ESPN2 and BBC. In the past we had better TV. The close to first run movies on ship and through the stateroom were really pretty good. Most of them were at the pay per view level.
32. Don't expect to have your DSL level speed with the internet on the ship.
33. Buy the internet supplement minute package early.. like the first day or two. You will have more time to use it and getting the price package will be much cheaper than later on the ship. We were happy to hear that we had 250 minutes since we are platinum passengers. Elite members like mom and dad do not have to watch their minutes. The irony is that they don't usually use the service.
36. Look for unique ways to have fun. After all you are on a vacation. You are doing and going places that you would not do at home. So don't expect to have all the same things that you have at home.
37. Get a good table of people to eat with every night. If the first group doesn't fit with you, talk with the Matre dei arrangement can be made.
38. If you don't know what is offered on the menu, ask the waiter.. he or she will often give you an idea. If you don't like it when it comes... order something else. Or order more than one to start with. Our table had people that ordered three entrees regularly and shared it among its ordering couple.
39. Expect European portions at the table. Except on Lobster night.
40. The utilization of the International Cafe and the Piazza as an entertainment venue was new to me and very pleasent.
41. The scholarship at sea is a great program for Princess. The naturalist, the lei making and the ukelele lessons were super parts of the trip even if they were crowded and under supplied.
42. The ceramics program that Sue has loved on previous trips was totally in adequate and inaccessible. This one needs to be redesigned.
43. Getting on and off of this ship was easy even with a powerchair.
44. A person with limited mobility should consider renting a power chair for mobility and independence on this ship.. both for the barriers and the size of the ship.
45. Elevator use was much better on this ship than on others
46. Time changes on this cruise was unbelievable. We had to lose 3 hours going in time zones. We ended up with 2 hours on the way home because of the end of daylight savings. We had three because Mexico is one time zone different than we are by edict. The minute we crossed back into the US it was just 2 hours that had to be adjusted since Hawaii.
47. This was an "older" cruise similar to the Alaskan cruises we have taken. Very few school aged passengers. Very few newlyweds too.
Overall it was a wonderful trip and we would do it again!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Day 14 Hawaiian Cruise
_____________________________________
Day 14 Hawaiian Cruise--- Port of Los Angeles
November 9, 2011
_______________________________________
Today's entry is not from the daily journal I wrote while on ship. There was too much to do and the journal was packed as the made preparations for disembarcation... er getting off the ship and heading home. It was written several weeks after the voyage.
We woke up and got ready as requested by 7:30 am.
For those of you who haven't been cruising for a while, there is a new wave of getting many of the people off the ship that do not need to jamming up the exit.
All those people that can leave without using baggage services, can walk off the ship at its earliest time. Most of the people that live close by or did not bring a bag that they could not handle took advantage of this early off. They were off the ship and on the shore around 8:00. This reduces the number of people waiting to get off the ship. On the last cruise, to Mexico, this amounted to almost half of the passengers. The cruise was shorter and most of the passengers were Californians.
There were many people from other countries that need to be checked more carefully than we were as they came into the country to travel on the ship and were headed for more USA adventures or a quick connection to flights at LAX to home. Some of these folks came into to Las Vegas on the way to LA. They all had their own lines to stand in to get back to LA.
Our ship, The Golden Princess, slid into its LA port dock around 6:30. It was interesting to watch the ship recharge its wares and move the passenger luggage in steel cages simultaneously.
Our waiting area was designated by the time and order we were to leave the ship. We were in blue 1. We had no particular need to meet an airline schedule, or make connections with an overnight hotel. Our waiting area was in the plush upscale Italian restaurant on deck 7. This worked out well for us as Sue has a hard time sitting for a period of time and could lounge on the padded seats until our color was called. There were about 35 colors and number categories so that there would not be a bum rush to the gate. Our combination was one of the last.
Our time to leave the ship was announced and we were escorted to the machines that took our cruise card and verified that we were going off the ship.
The Princess port has a two story disembarkation building that our ship utilized. When we left the ship we still had a fairly lengthy wait to get through customs and immigrations and homeland security. We also had to pass the fruit and ag station going into California. Some of the passengers had failed at this spot and a couple of dozen flower leis were on top of the machines. Some ship fruit also was sequested there too.
Some older people that did not need a wheelchair, needed one to wait in the line. Princess employees were right their to get them into the wheel chairs and out of the line. Rightly so, with Sue's power chair, we were not offered this convenience.
When customs forms were filled out and turned in, after all, the ship spent four hours in Mexico, the next job was to find our bags and the extra wheelchair in the barn of the port. The luggage was sorted in the same sequence as the colors and numbers.
Sue had gathered up a porter with a long cart and she had found that most of our bags were near each other. The porter gathered us up and we headed out to the street. He dropped the bags on the curb and we gave him a 20 and I went looking for our expedition. Sue stayed next to our bags with her powerchair.
I found the truck and ran through the parking kiosk with my credit card in hand. $165 for 14 days.
I circled around to the loading area. We opened the back of the truck and threw in the bags. I repositioned the manual wheelchair so that the back of the trunk would go down. when I lowered the lift for the power chair and Sue guided it on.
We were all set to go.
I took the Harbor Blvd freeway to the 110 and since it was about 10:45 we whistled through LA without a slowdown. It was a beautiful day.
We stopped for a burger at Santa Clarita. A lady stopped me because she saw that were both dressed in the Hilo Hatties matching Hawaiian shirts. Together they make quite a statement.
The expedition purred over the grapevine and up interstate 5. We stopped for gas in Los Banos and we were home before dark..
The kitties were very happy to see us! We were happy to see them!.
What a great experience to cruise to Hawaii and back.
Day 14 Hawaiian Cruise--- Port of Los Angeles
November 9, 2011
_______________________________________
Today's entry is not from the daily journal I wrote while on ship. There was too much to do and the journal was packed as the made preparations for disembarcation... er getting off the ship and heading home. It was written several weeks after the voyage.
We woke up and got ready as requested by 7:30 am.
For those of you who haven't been cruising for a while, there is a new wave of getting many of the people off the ship that do not need to jamming up the exit.
All those people that can leave without using baggage services, can walk off the ship at its earliest time. Most of the people that live close by or did not bring a bag that they could not handle took advantage of this early off. They were off the ship and on the shore around 8:00. This reduces the number of people waiting to get off the ship. On the last cruise, to Mexico, this amounted to almost half of the passengers. The cruise was shorter and most of the passengers were Californians.
There were many people from other countries that need to be checked more carefully than we were as they came into the country to travel on the ship and were headed for more USA adventures or a quick connection to flights at LAX to home. Some of these folks came into to Las Vegas on the way to LA. They all had their own lines to stand in to get back to LA.
Our ship, The Golden Princess, slid into its LA port dock around 6:30. It was interesting to watch the ship recharge its wares and move the passenger luggage in steel cages simultaneously.
Our waiting area was designated by the time and order we were to leave the ship. We were in blue 1. We had no particular need to meet an airline schedule, or make connections with an overnight hotel. Our waiting area was in the plush upscale Italian restaurant on deck 7. This worked out well for us as Sue has a hard time sitting for a period of time and could lounge on the padded seats until our color was called. There were about 35 colors and number categories so that there would not be a bum rush to the gate. Our combination was one of the last.
Our time to leave the ship was announced and we were escorted to the machines that took our cruise card and verified that we were going off the ship.
The Princess port has a two story disembarkation building that our ship utilized. When we left the ship we still had a fairly lengthy wait to get through customs and immigrations and homeland security. We also had to pass the fruit and ag station going into California. Some of the passengers had failed at this spot and a couple of dozen flower leis were on top of the machines. Some ship fruit also was sequested there too.
Some older people that did not need a wheelchair, needed one to wait in the line. Princess employees were right their to get them into the wheel chairs and out of the line. Rightly so, with Sue's power chair, we were not offered this convenience.
When customs forms were filled out and turned in, after all, the ship spent four hours in Mexico, the next job was to find our bags and the extra wheelchair in the barn of the port. The luggage was sorted in the same sequence as the colors and numbers.
Sue had gathered up a porter with a long cart and she had found that most of our bags were near each other. The porter gathered us up and we headed out to the street. He dropped the bags on the curb and we gave him a 20 and I went looking for our expedition. Sue stayed next to our bags with her powerchair.
I found the truck and ran through the parking kiosk with my credit card in hand. $165 for 14 days.
I circled around to the loading area. We opened the back of the truck and threw in the bags. I repositioned the manual wheelchair so that the back of the trunk would go down. when I lowered the lift for the power chair and Sue guided it on.
We were all set to go.
I took the Harbor Blvd freeway to the 110 and since it was about 10:45 we whistled through LA without a slowdown. It was a beautiful day.
We stopped for a burger at Santa Clarita. A lady stopped me because she saw that were both dressed in the Hilo Hatties matching Hawaiian shirts. Together they make quite a statement.
The expedition purred over the grapevine and up interstate 5. We stopped for gas in Los Banos and we were home before dark..
The kitties were very happy to see us! We were happy to see them!.
What a great experience to cruise to Hawaii and back.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Day 13 Hawaiian Cruise
_________________________________________________
Hawaiian Cruise Day 13- Ensenada Mexico 4pm-7:30pm
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Forecast: Partly cloudy, High 70 F Low 56 F
Sunrise 6:11 Sunset 4:50 pm. Minus one hour from California Time
_______________________________________________________
This morning despite the forecast, the sky is clear and the winds are down. Its not a "shorts and tank top" day but I know that many will be seeking the sunburn bronze today in and around the pools.
The ship seems strangely quiet today. Lots of readers with their books and ribbon lei making going on around the ship.
Most of the readers are into their books. There were only 6 kindles/electronic books noted in the promenade lounges where people often go during the day to read or look for some quite time.
I picked up our DVD collection at the photo booth. 4 DVD's. Two were pro stock like photos taken in Hawaii and our ship. Two other DVDs were produced by the photographic staff for our particular cruise with footage of our crew members . Total cost was $39.00. A bargain and insurance from my perspective.
At lunch, as usual, I went for a shared table. Sitting next to me was a elderly man and his wife. They were not happy with the menu. They grumbled under their breaths about the menu being the worst they had encountered on the ship and almost got up and left. They would have done so if they had not had mobility issues and had paid the physical price to get there. They registered their concerns to the waiter who tried his best to find a choice that would fit their needs. He finally chose a cheese soup with ham . When it came he grumbled that their wasn't much ham in it. His sandwich came, it was a grilled tomato and cheese sandwich. I took one look at it and said that it was too spicy.
I enjoyed the linguini with tomato sauce, broccoli, and fresh peppers. My second entree was the Portuguese stew. It was a thick chippino type soup with smaller pieces of fish related ingredients. I suspect it had as its base the lobster and the shrimp from the night before. It was very tasty but certainly beyond the spice range of the couple next to me. The wife had a "health cup" of sliced fruit for desert. She had a grilled chicken salad for her lunch meal. They were both much more pleasant once they had some food going down. He had 2 scoops of ice cream. The couple from KC had a hamburger and they joined me in ordering peach pie with vanilla ice cream for desert. It also had a dollop of creme fresch to go with the pie.
The Kansas City couple were St. Louis cardinal fans. They were basking in the limelight of their team's World Series victory. They also liked hockey and were fans of the NHL St. Louis Blues as well as their minor league hockey team in KC.. He currently works for Honeywell which has collected and changed and merged a couple of times from the original Bendix. Basically it is a defense industry supplier.
They said that they enjoyed the solitude of the cruise.
I watched the naturalist's power point lecture on the pelicans (brown) and the penipods (sea lions) in the smaller presentation theater. These were animals that could be seen as we headed into the Baja coast.
I first saw land at 1:30 this afternoon. It was a few island off the Baja Coast.
The bay of Ensenada was much larger than I expected. I watched as we picked up the pilot on the south side of the ship and hour away from docking at the port.
Passengers were warned of strange additions being added to alcohol drinks ashore. This changed the idea s of many going ashore fore most of the passengers. Rumors of big weapons etc. also heightened the panic.
A fancy yacht was passing us as we were heading in. It was headed for Fiji.
We did not go ashore, but I had some fun taking photos of the sunset and the shore lights from the top of the ship.
We worked to get all of our stuff back into the bags this night as they needed to be out in the hall before we left for dinner. All that we held back were the items that we needed to get off the ship and check through the customs and immigration.
I got a card and some cash ready for Rosalie who had been so patient in working around our erratic schedule.
Our waiter was teasing us that all they would have for this dinner would be meatloaf. I think that he did that to see the reaction of the passengers.
We had more than that.. but in the fury of getting everything back into the suitcases.. I didn't write it down.
Hawaiian Cruise Day 13- Ensenada Mexico 4pm-7:30pm
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Forecast: Partly cloudy, High 70 F Low 56 F
Sunrise 6:11 Sunset 4:50 pm. Minus one hour from California Time
_______________________________________________________
This morning despite the forecast, the sky is clear and the winds are down. Its not a "shorts and tank top" day but I know that many will be seeking the sunburn bronze today in and around the pools.
The ship seems strangely quiet today. Lots of readers with their books and ribbon lei making going on around the ship.
Most of the readers are into their books. There were only 6 kindles/electronic books noted in the promenade lounges where people often go during the day to read or look for some quite time.
I picked up our DVD collection at the photo booth. 4 DVD's. Two were pro stock like photos taken in Hawaii and our ship. Two other DVDs were produced by the photographic staff for our particular cruise with footage of our crew members . Total cost was $39.00. A bargain and insurance from my perspective.
At lunch, as usual, I went for a shared table. Sitting next to me was a elderly man and his wife. They were not happy with the menu. They grumbled under their breaths about the menu being the worst they had encountered on the ship and almost got up and left. They would have done so if they had not had mobility issues and had paid the physical price to get there. They registered their concerns to the waiter who tried his best to find a choice that would fit their needs. He finally chose a cheese soup with ham . When it came he grumbled that their wasn't much ham in it. His sandwich came, it was a grilled tomato and cheese sandwich. I took one look at it and said that it was too spicy.
I enjoyed the linguini with tomato sauce, broccoli, and fresh peppers. My second entree was the Portuguese stew. It was a thick chippino type soup with smaller pieces of fish related ingredients. I suspect it had as its base the lobster and the shrimp from the night before. It was very tasty but certainly beyond the spice range of the couple next to me. The wife had a "health cup" of sliced fruit for desert. She had a grilled chicken salad for her lunch meal. They were both much more pleasant once they had some food going down. He had 2 scoops of ice cream. The couple from KC had a hamburger and they joined me in ordering peach pie with vanilla ice cream for desert. It also had a dollop of creme fresch to go with the pie.
The Kansas City couple were St. Louis cardinal fans. They were basking in the limelight of their team's World Series victory. They also liked hockey and were fans of the NHL St. Louis Blues as well as their minor league hockey team in KC.. He currently works for Honeywell which has collected and changed and merged a couple of times from the original Bendix. Basically it is a defense industry supplier.
They said that they enjoyed the solitude of the cruise.
I watched the naturalist's power point lecture on the pelicans (brown) and the penipods (sea lions) in the smaller presentation theater. These were animals that could be seen as we headed into the Baja coast.
I first saw land at 1:30 this afternoon. It was a few island off the Baja Coast.
The bay of Ensenada was much larger than I expected. I watched as we picked up the pilot on the south side of the ship and hour away from docking at the port.
Passengers were warned of strange additions being added to alcohol drinks ashore. This changed the idea s of many going ashore fore most of the passengers. Rumors of big weapons etc. also heightened the panic.
A fancy yacht was passing us as we were heading in. It was headed for Fiji.
We did not go ashore, but I had some fun taking photos of the sunset and the shore lights from the top of the ship.
We worked to get all of our stuff back into the bags this night as they needed to be out in the hall before we left for dinner. All that we held back were the items that we needed to get off the ship and check through the customs and immigration.
I got a card and some cash ready for Rosalie who had been so patient in working around our erratic schedule.
Our waiter was teasing us that all they would have for this dinner would be meatloaf. I think that he did that to see the reaction of the passengers.
We had more than that.. but in the fury of getting everything back into the suitcases.. I didn't write it down.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Day 12 Hawaiian Cruise
_________________________________
Day 12 Hawaiian Cruise, Monday, November 7, 2011 Dress: Formal
Weather Forecast: Mostly Cloudy- High 67F Low 56F
Sunrise: 6:49 Sunset: 5:18
___________________________________
Its easy to work the routine from this room for everything except dinner.
We are 35 feet away from the elevators that go all the way to the 5th floor from the 14th.
The 5th deck from this elevator opens to a Hall that leads into the art gallery. This ship has a large quantity of Art that will be put up for auction at times throughout the cruise. Prior to these auctions, these auctions these works of art are hung or displayed in the gallery.
The morning connections to the Piazza is through this art gallery. In the Piazza, is the International cafe with free 24 hour dinning. The internet cafe, a wine cafe doubles as a wifi station for those passengers that have brought their laptops along. A Godiva chocolate store and a tall central ear that exposes the central core of the ship 3 decks of open area. There is also a bar, and thankfully no smoking allowed. Many "outdoor" activities occur in the center. An activity that some people participated in was a group "sing" of some popular songs. Those interested, met and rehearsed a couple of times at sea and then performed in the piazza with a conductor. The chamber quartet would often perform in this area as did the instrumental jazz group. "Street performers" and piano players were scheduled to use its center stage. It was also used as the location for the champagne tower that is the Princess cruise lines signature captain participation event. This central area is much smaller than those on most of the previous ships we have cruised. However there seemed to be much more programed for it use than other ships. It was too small for that art auction . The wait staff for this area as it relates to the only place where you could order a gourmet coffee such as you might get at Starbucks, was very attentive. Most people, just like at Starbucks back at home, were gathering up the coffee to go. They have big "here" coffee cups here for the cappuccino, donuts (small) are there every morning with croissants,yogurts parfaits and breakfast sandwiches. Its really a nice alternative to the buffet and the formal dinning room.
Going to our dining room was a bit difficult. Usually we took the elevator to the 7th deck (the promenade deck, walked through the smoky casino, a piano bar, the piaza central open area, another smaller nightclub venue, the photographer's hall with their kiosk, and finally to the only elevator that would go down to the 6th floor on this deck. This a power chair, this was not that hard to do. If you wanted to do this with a walker, it could be problematic.
Being on Lido deck (deck 14) with a cabin is pretty special. You are only 35 feet from the outside. This was very quiet, and as close as you can get to the the bar for the diet coke, and the hamburger bar. Its a short walk across the deck to the buffet. There is always a buffet line that is open except for the middle of the night. A trip down to the International buffet has food available. A free room service with sandwiches and minimal food is also available from just a phone call.
The sun deck and the spa facilities were located one floor above us.
10:15 Culinary Demo
Our head chef is Scottish. The matre dei for this cruise is Italian. Where there is usually pasta potatoes become an option.
Demo today Salmon cured 48hours with salt and sugar and vodka.. sliced very thin.
Pesto pasta- chef drops some toasted walnuts into the usual mix
Garlic shrimp- olive oil, garlic with shrimp. tossed as they cook with brandy.. set aflame
Black forest gateau- chocolate sponge cake with whipped cream and cherries
11:30 Ship board Naturalist doing Natural Triva (from her talks)
Bonus round questions:
A. Demonstrate the sound/song of the humpback whale (someone in the crowd did)
B. Demonstrate physically the life cycle of a barnacle (no one did so she did on stage)
1)swimming upward 2) attaching to a site with tentacles 3) Feeding using feet to drag food to the mouth area (demonstrated by lying down on the stage and performing the movements)
Throughout the ship there were other activities going on full bore. The people who were getting uekeulalie lessons were rehearsing for their performance. There were also chances to make "woven leis"
The professional photographers were getting into their last chances to photograph people in the "fancy clothes."
I only counted 6 men with tuxedos on the entire ship for this night. All the women on the ship look forward to these nights as it is a chance to get out their fancy clothes and have a "night on the town" without having to worry about alcohol consumption and where we will eat and what we will see after. "Formal" for most men consists of a dress shirt with a tie and a suit like jacket.
Dinner- Formal Lobster Night!
Pat: Chopped cold crab cake with other chopped sea food ingredients (calamari, squid, mussel meat)
Asparagrass in tiny bundles (poached in stock)
Mango cold soup
Lobster and shrimp (the shrimp were just a little smaller than the medium sized lobster)
Beef wellington
Baked Alaska (the waiter parade with lit platters) then divided into individual servings
Sue: Chopped cold crabcake
Mango soup
Lobster
Another song and dance revue played at the major theater venue. It was called the "British Invasion" and featured songs of the Beatles and other tunes of that era.
Costumes from the "Mod" era and stage props included an inflatable captain for the Yellow Submarine . A parade sized mini car with a union jack painted on it was driven on stage for another song.
Our dining schedule had us eating at the 8:15pm serving. The most requested time is the 5:30 seating. This made it pretty late to go the late show after dinner for many of the guests that have this seating. This gets complicated for the people that want to see the show twice as they can sit through the show and maintain their seats. This ship's main theater does not hold enough people so that everyone can sit in there at one time.
When I went to see the British invasion show, all the seats left in the entire theater were standing room only. After about half way through, some people had had enough and there was room for us to sit.
Overall this is not that big a deal.
Day 12 Hawaiian Cruise, Monday, November 7, 2011 Dress: Formal
Weather Forecast: Mostly Cloudy- High 67F Low 56F
Sunrise: 6:49 Sunset: 5:18
___________________________________
Its easy to work the routine from this room for everything except dinner.
We are 35 feet away from the elevators that go all the way to the 5th floor from the 14th.
The 5th deck from this elevator opens to a Hall that leads into the art gallery. This ship has a large quantity of Art that will be put up for auction at times throughout the cruise. Prior to these auctions, these auctions these works of art are hung or displayed in the gallery.
The morning connections to the Piazza is through this art gallery. In the Piazza, is the International cafe with free 24 hour dinning. The internet cafe, a wine cafe doubles as a wifi station for those passengers that have brought their laptops along. A Godiva chocolate store and a tall central ear that exposes the central core of the ship 3 decks of open area. There is also a bar, and thankfully no smoking allowed. Many "outdoor" activities occur in the center. An activity that some people participated in was a group "sing" of some popular songs. Those interested, met and rehearsed a couple of times at sea and then performed in the piazza with a conductor. The chamber quartet would often perform in this area as did the instrumental jazz group. "Street performers" and piano players were scheduled to use its center stage. It was also used as the location for the champagne tower that is the Princess cruise lines signature captain participation event. This central area is much smaller than those on most of the previous ships we have cruised. However there seemed to be much more programed for it use than other ships. It was too small for that art auction . The wait staff for this area as it relates to the only place where you could order a gourmet coffee such as you might get at Starbucks, was very attentive. Most people, just like at Starbucks back at home, were gathering up the coffee to go. They have big "here" coffee cups here for the cappuccino, donuts (small) are there every morning with croissants,yogurts parfaits and breakfast sandwiches. Its really a nice alternative to the buffet and the formal dinning room.
Going to our dining room was a bit difficult. Usually we took the elevator to the 7th deck (the promenade deck, walked through the smoky casino, a piano bar, the piaza central open area, another smaller nightclub venue, the photographer's hall with their kiosk, and finally to the only elevator that would go down to the 6th floor on this deck. This a power chair, this was not that hard to do. If you wanted to do this with a walker, it could be problematic.
Being on Lido deck (deck 14) with a cabin is pretty special. You are only 35 feet from the outside. This was very quiet, and as close as you can get to the the bar for the diet coke, and the hamburger bar. Its a short walk across the deck to the buffet. There is always a buffet line that is open except for the middle of the night. A trip down to the International buffet has food available. A free room service with sandwiches and minimal food is also available from just a phone call.
The sun deck and the spa facilities were located one floor above us.
10:15 Culinary Demo
Our head chef is Scottish. The matre dei for this cruise is Italian. Where there is usually pasta potatoes become an option.
Demo today Salmon cured 48hours with salt and sugar and vodka.. sliced very thin.
Pesto pasta- chef drops some toasted walnuts into the usual mix
Garlic shrimp- olive oil, garlic with shrimp. tossed as they cook with brandy.. set aflame
Black forest gateau- chocolate sponge cake with whipped cream and cherries
11:30 Ship board Naturalist doing Natural Triva (from her talks)
Bonus round questions:
A. Demonstrate the sound/song of the humpback whale (someone in the crowd did)
B. Demonstrate physically the life cycle of a barnacle (no one did so she did on stage)
1)swimming upward 2) attaching to a site with tentacles 3) Feeding using feet to drag food to the mouth area (demonstrated by lying down on the stage and performing the movements)
Throughout the ship there were other activities going on full bore. The people who were getting uekeulalie lessons were rehearsing for their performance. There were also chances to make "woven leis"
The professional photographers were getting into their last chances to photograph people in the "fancy clothes."
I only counted 6 men with tuxedos on the entire ship for this night. All the women on the ship look forward to these nights as it is a chance to get out their fancy clothes and have a "night on the town" without having to worry about alcohol consumption and where we will eat and what we will see after. "Formal" for most men consists of a dress shirt with a tie and a suit like jacket.
Dinner- Formal Lobster Night!
Pat: Chopped cold crab cake with other chopped sea food ingredients (calamari, squid, mussel meat)
Asparagrass in tiny bundles (poached in stock)
Mango cold soup
Lobster and shrimp (the shrimp were just a little smaller than the medium sized lobster)
Beef wellington
Baked Alaska (the waiter parade with lit platters) then divided into individual servings
Sue: Chopped cold crabcake
Mango soup
Lobster
Another song and dance revue played at the major theater venue. It was called the "British Invasion" and featured songs of the Beatles and other tunes of that era.
Costumes from the "Mod" era and stage props included an inflatable captain for the Yellow Submarine . A parade sized mini car with a union jack painted on it was driven on stage for another song.
Our dining schedule had us eating at the 8:15pm serving. The most requested time is the 5:30 seating. This made it pretty late to go the late show after dinner for many of the guests that have this seating. This gets complicated for the people that want to see the show twice as they can sit through the show and maintain their seats. This ship's main theater does not hold enough people so that everyone can sit in there at one time.
When I went to see the British invasion show, all the seats left in the entire theater were standing room only. After about half way through, some people had had enough and there was room for us to sit.
Overall this is not that big a deal.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Day 11 Hawaiian Cruise
_______________________________________
Day 11, Hawaiian Cruise November 6, 2011
Weather: partly cloudy High 72 Low 60
Sunrie 7:20 Sunset 5:30
________________________________________
Today started out and continued to be a pretty dreary day at sea. There is lots of wind outside.
The LasVegas Company Fixer
The 84 year old approached me at coffee this morning. He has been "collecting life stories this trip and mostly relating his own. He has been "working the piazza" in the morning for most of the trip. Today was my turn.
I had watched him approach other and he diffidently had the gift of gab. I overheard that he had connections in Escondido. Escondido was one of the childhood homes of my dad. So when he approached me for some conversation, I asked him, "How is the man from Escondido doing today?"
He was a little taken back that I knew that, but it only changed his patter a little.
He had good mobility but had that long hound dog look that many years in the world of accountancy could give you.
He said that his job was to turn companies around. He claimed to be very successful at it.
He talked through his bushy eye brows. He introduced himself as "Chuck." I had overheard his story before at least three times with various people seated in the piazza. He took the Piazza as a center of the town literally. He agreed that he had lived in Escondido, a town just north of San Diego California for a large part of his life. He only recently, in the last three years had moved to Las Vegas. He moved there because California was taxing him to death. He owned or used to own numerous parcels of land including one that was about 1200 feet above sea level. It had no electricity or water. He brought in a railroad generator and drilled his own well. When they came to "provide" him with electricity, his power bill went up. They would make him pay for the water that he had drilled. He won a lawsuit that showed that he was out of their water district, so he could use his own well without having to pay an entity.
He has always worked hard he claimed. He was sent to rescue a jewelry company based out of Chicago that was losing 800,000 dollars a year. He turned it around by paying the employees much more than then the prevailing rates and firing the ones that were poor employees. He also reduced the market prices sold by them by a third and underbid the competitors. The company turned around to be making $28 million. They refused to give him his bonus on this turn around because they felt that the turn around was a fluke. Two more years later it was still doing that kind of business.
He wanted to pay his secretary a big raise. The company wouldn't do it because she was "union."
He has a bad taste in his mouth regarding unions. He said that he is a "conservative" not a Republican.
He also stated that he was behind the idea for Costco. He knows the president of costco by first name and also the owner of its older competitor, Price Club, He had someone try to sell him a 2 dollar coffee cup that he could sell for 3 dollars. He found out that the company had a warehouse in San Francisco. He called them knowing that they were paying a lot for warehouse space for all of the cups. He said that he would pay 39 cents for all they had. He sold them in his stores for two for a dollar. He had two railroad cars full of these cups that he warehoused in Texas in stead of San Francisco. He took an 18 percent profit from the transaction and shared the idea with the founder of Costco. Costco moved into that kind of sales and the rest is history.
He went on about his connection with Jimmy Carter and Clinton.."Two of the worst " presidents outside of Obama.. yada yada Yada.
He said that when Jerry Brown, the current governor of California, father was governor, he vowed to never build a freeway in San Diego because he disliked the mayor and the politics of the area. The next governor did.
_____________________
Hard Working Mexican
I met a miner on the ship. He was in his early 50's and short.. about 5 feet one inch. He said that he lived in Chico California. His wife was a RN .
He worked with crews that drilled underground to build utility lines and other infrastructures. His maid job was material removal. He ran a small train with rails that took the soil out form where they were digging.
He had done farm labor but realized that to get his kids though schools he needed more money.
Work pretty much stopped for him in 2008. He had to return to the farms. He was making good money but not as much as working the tunnels. He worked planting almond and other trees in orchards around Chico and Stockton and Lodi.
His kids are both gown now. He is proud that his daughter is working up the corporate ladder in CVR pharmacy . They told her that she had to get trained as a pharmacy tech to be a daily manager and eventually a district manager of about 40 stores.
The son had a college education too. He went on to study to become a computer engineer. He is working for a private corporation near China Lake in Southern California.
_________________
He and his wife and her mother had chosen this cruise because all of his current jobs were completed . The last one as a miner took 3 years . He could not take time off during that time.
The was a sea day. The football game (being Sunday) were sparse. The Green Bay Packers fans and the San Diego Fans got their wish of coverage on the big casino tv. The Green Bay Packers caem through which delighted the vocal crowd. I am sure that if there was a rallying song the Green Bay Packers fans would have broken into song.
In the afternoon I watched the movie "Super 8". It would be available on Netflicks about 20 days later. It was shown in the stardust theater.
Dinner: Italian themed
Pat: antipasto seafood mix, mussels, calamari ,
parma ham and cantaloupe
veal scallopine
snow crabs (legs cut in half lengthwise
Tiramisu
Zabaglione ice cream
Sue: zippy peach soup
snow crab legs
lemon sorbet
I watched the movie "The Help" up in the other big venue stage.. the vista lounge. Its a powerful movie about prejudice in the 60's with the black people that were the "help" to the rich white people of Jackson Mississippi.
Day 11, Hawaiian Cruise November 6, 2011
Weather: partly cloudy High 72 Low 60
Sunrie 7:20 Sunset 5:30
________________________________________
Today started out and continued to be a pretty dreary day at sea. There is lots of wind outside.
The LasVegas Company Fixer
The 84 year old approached me at coffee this morning. He has been "collecting life stories this trip and mostly relating his own. He has been "working the piazza" in the morning for most of the trip. Today was my turn.
I had watched him approach other and he diffidently had the gift of gab. I overheard that he had connections in Escondido. Escondido was one of the childhood homes of my dad. So when he approached me for some conversation, I asked him, "How is the man from Escondido doing today?"
He was a little taken back that I knew that, but it only changed his patter a little.
He had good mobility but had that long hound dog look that many years in the world of accountancy could give you.
He said that his job was to turn companies around. He claimed to be very successful at it.
He talked through his bushy eye brows. He introduced himself as "Chuck." I had overheard his story before at least three times with various people seated in the piazza. He took the Piazza as a center of the town literally. He agreed that he had lived in Escondido, a town just north of San Diego California for a large part of his life. He only recently, in the last three years had moved to Las Vegas. He moved there because California was taxing him to death. He owned or used to own numerous parcels of land including one that was about 1200 feet above sea level. It had no electricity or water. He brought in a railroad generator and drilled his own well. When they came to "provide" him with electricity, his power bill went up. They would make him pay for the water that he had drilled. He won a lawsuit that showed that he was out of their water district, so he could use his own well without having to pay an entity.
He has always worked hard he claimed. He was sent to rescue a jewelry company based out of Chicago that was losing 800,000 dollars a year. He turned it around by paying the employees much more than then the prevailing rates and firing the ones that were poor employees. He also reduced the market prices sold by them by a third and underbid the competitors. The company turned around to be making $28 million. They refused to give him his bonus on this turn around because they felt that the turn around was a fluke. Two more years later it was still doing that kind of business.
He wanted to pay his secretary a big raise. The company wouldn't do it because she was "union."
He has a bad taste in his mouth regarding unions. He said that he is a "conservative" not a Republican.
He also stated that he was behind the idea for Costco. He knows the president of costco by first name and also the owner of its older competitor, Price Club, He had someone try to sell him a 2 dollar coffee cup that he could sell for 3 dollars. He found out that the company had a warehouse in San Francisco. He called them knowing that they were paying a lot for warehouse space for all of the cups. He said that he would pay 39 cents for all they had. He sold them in his stores for two for a dollar. He had two railroad cars full of these cups that he warehoused in Texas in stead of San Francisco. He took an 18 percent profit from the transaction and shared the idea with the founder of Costco. Costco moved into that kind of sales and the rest is history.
He went on about his connection with Jimmy Carter and Clinton.."Two of the worst " presidents outside of Obama.. yada yada Yada.
He said that when Jerry Brown, the current governor of California, father was governor, he vowed to never build a freeway in San Diego because he disliked the mayor and the politics of the area. The next governor did.
_____________________
Hard Working Mexican
I met a miner on the ship. He was in his early 50's and short.. about 5 feet one inch. He said that he lived in Chico California. His wife was a RN .
He worked with crews that drilled underground to build utility lines and other infrastructures. His maid job was material removal. He ran a small train with rails that took the soil out form where they were digging.
He had done farm labor but realized that to get his kids though schools he needed more money.
Work pretty much stopped for him in 2008. He had to return to the farms. He was making good money but not as much as working the tunnels. He worked planting almond and other trees in orchards around Chico and Stockton and Lodi.
His kids are both gown now. He is proud that his daughter is working up the corporate ladder in CVR pharmacy . They told her that she had to get trained as a pharmacy tech to be a daily manager and eventually a district manager of about 40 stores.
The son had a college education too. He went on to study to become a computer engineer. He is working for a private corporation near China Lake in Southern California.
_________________
He and his wife and her mother had chosen this cruise because all of his current jobs were completed . The last one as a miner took 3 years . He could not take time off during that time.
The was a sea day. The football game (being Sunday) were sparse. The Green Bay Packers fans and the San Diego Fans got their wish of coverage on the big casino tv. The Green Bay Packers caem through which delighted the vocal crowd. I am sure that if there was a rallying song the Green Bay Packers fans would have broken into song.
In the afternoon I watched the movie "Super 8". It would be available on Netflicks about 20 days later. It was shown in the stardust theater.
Dinner: Italian themed
Pat: antipasto seafood mix, mussels, calamari ,
parma ham and cantaloupe
veal scallopine
snow crabs (legs cut in half lengthwise
Tiramisu
Zabaglione ice cream
Sue: zippy peach soup
snow crab legs
lemon sorbet
I watched the movie "The Help" up in the other big venue stage.. the vista lounge. Its a powerful movie about prejudice in the 60's with the black people that were the "help" to the rich white people of Jackson Mississippi.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Day 10 Hawiaan Cruise
_______________________________________
Day 10 Hawaiian Cruise Saturday, November 5, 2011
_________________________________________
I Checked the mail-email- messages sent and received. I bought a new coffee card to get me through the cruise. I did laundry on Deck 5. Later I found about three others all around the ship, and some were even closer. $2.00 wash $2.00 dry and $1.00 for soap. I had read that I needed quarters for the laundry from some nice people that blogged their trip on the web. No one was using the two washers or dryers that were in this compartment early in the morning. I watched the "coin" man come and get the money out of the machines and haul it away in a little cart. He was on his last cruise before he was off. He was pretty happy that there would not be any more coin collections on this cruise. The laundry was just down the hall from the art gallery and the piazza center. It still made it easy to get the clothes going and go get a coffee while they whirled and spun. We just needed a little bit of laundry done from this or that to make the one more formal night happen.
I got Sue up and we headed to do ceramics. Its one of the things that Sue liked to do when we were on the Alaskan Princess voyages. On this ship its a closed one table kind of thing. The table was sitting in one floor above us perched out above the indoor pool. Sue accidentally bumped a sun chair with an older lady in it. She got pretty upset . I informed the lady that she was way in to the passage space area with her chair and we couldn't get by without a bump. She said at least you could have said excuse me.
Sue was pretty upset about the lack of access to the event and the whole attempt.
She ate a quick scoop of shrimp slaw from the international cafe and headed back to the room.
I took her back and then had lunch in the dinning room.
I met a family from Madison Wisconsin. In conversation I found out that the mad worked for CUNA- now retired three years. There was also a couple from Nebraska and one from Ohio.
I got to talk health care plans with the insurance man. His office was union covered and he negotiated their contracts. Just as he was retiring, their company pulled their retiree health care package.
He had to go outside to get a $10,000 deductible policy,
He asked me what I thought we should get into at the end of the health care issue. I said a single payer plan.
I watched some college football (we got ESPN2 on the room TVs) Iowa beat Michigan in the last moments of teh game. I heard reported that Stanford had beaten Oregon State.
I did some more painting in the room. Sue did more reading with the books we bought in Kaui and some that people had donated to the pile in the library (paperbacks). We donated a half a dozen too that we had already read.
I completed the rainbow over Lahaina Maui that was scanned and inserted in a previous entry.
Dinner: Sue Hamburger and fries at the outdoor stand
Pat: Hawaiian fruits and macadamia nuts
Leg of lamb
Prime Rib
Chocolate Brandy Cake
Banana brioche bread pudding with caramel sauce
Day 10 Hawaiian Cruise Saturday, November 5, 2011
_________________________________________
I Checked the mail-email- messages sent and received. I bought a new coffee card to get me through the cruise. I did laundry on Deck 5. Later I found about three others all around the ship, and some were even closer. $2.00 wash $2.00 dry and $1.00 for soap. I had read that I needed quarters for the laundry from some nice people that blogged their trip on the web. No one was using the two washers or dryers that were in this compartment early in the morning. I watched the "coin" man come and get the money out of the machines and haul it away in a little cart. He was on his last cruise before he was off. He was pretty happy that there would not be any more coin collections on this cruise. The laundry was just down the hall from the art gallery and the piazza center. It still made it easy to get the clothes going and go get a coffee while they whirled and spun. We just needed a little bit of laundry done from this or that to make the one more formal night happen.
I got Sue up and we headed to do ceramics. Its one of the things that Sue liked to do when we were on the Alaskan Princess voyages. On this ship its a closed one table kind of thing. The table was sitting in one floor above us perched out above the indoor pool. Sue accidentally bumped a sun chair with an older lady in it. She got pretty upset . I informed the lady that she was way in to the passage space area with her chair and we couldn't get by without a bump. She said at least you could have said excuse me.
Sue was pretty upset about the lack of access to the event and the whole attempt.
She ate a quick scoop of shrimp slaw from the international cafe and headed back to the room.
I took her back and then had lunch in the dinning room.
I met a family from Madison Wisconsin. In conversation I found out that the mad worked for CUNA- now retired three years. There was also a couple from Nebraska and one from Ohio.
I got to talk health care plans with the insurance man. His office was union covered and he negotiated their contracts. Just as he was retiring, their company pulled their retiree health care package.
He had to go outside to get a $10,000 deductible policy,
He asked me what I thought we should get into at the end of the health care issue. I said a single payer plan.
I watched some college football (we got ESPN2 on the room TVs) Iowa beat Michigan in the last moments of teh game. I heard reported that Stanford had beaten Oregon State.
I did some more painting in the room. Sue did more reading with the books we bought in Kaui and some that people had donated to the pile in the library (paperbacks). We donated a half a dozen too that we had already read.
I completed the rainbow over Lahaina Maui that was scanned and inserted in a previous entry.
Dinner: Sue Hamburger and fries at the outdoor stand
Pat: Hawaiian fruits and macadamia nuts
Leg of lamb
Prime Rib
Chocolate Brandy Cake
Banana brioche bread pudding with caramel sauce
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