Day 11, Jan 12, 2010: Santarem, Brazil

Background

• People use boats to go to Manaus
• Major river confluence:  
• Darker rivers come out of rain forest tannic… acidic, not a lot of mosquitoes
• Resist mixing together: color is cafe con leche and coco cola
• Pearl of the Tapajos
• pop 300K
• dock in town, but 3 mi walk into ctr
• pretty much local shopping
• make flip flops here:  lexus of flip flops abt 8 dollars
• Visit the boats
• Fishermans Plaza is main square
• Hammocks are big thing for sleeping
• Meeting place of ideas
  • issue soy production.  has really soared… pressure on taming the jungle  2003 cargill completed a port for shipping soybean  Cargill failed to complete environmental impact study Greenpeace came in.. Suit.. Cargill given 6 mo for impact statement.   Indigenous managed to block.
  • How to balance need for food with need to preserve the env.
  • Brazil world leader in use of ethonol fuel efficiently produced from sugar cane, not corn
  • All wood is protected and cutting is rigidly controlled
  • By 2011 large farms must by law return 20 per cent of existing land to rain forest.  small farms may replant 20% in bananas or fruit trees. 
  • No cattle or wood product may be harvested and exported from Amazon basin.

The Day

We arrived at the port about 8:30.  Chris got up at 7:15, so we were ready to go by that time.  Since pictures don’t do justice, I took a couple of movies from the ship of the port:

Looking toward the city:

Imbed Movie

Looking the opposite way.  This may or may not be the opposite bank.  The river has many islands. 

Imbed Movie

Note that there is no development! 

Santarem now has a national highway connecting it to the national grid.  However, there is no way other than via the river to get to areas on the opposite bank. 

The Eco Ride did not meet expectations.  It was a bus ride to outside town, where we drive up 400 ft to the new “lay of the land.”  We turned down a one lane road and drove a couple of miles to an area that we learned later was owned by a US expat that was trying to keep his land wild through providing access for nature tours. 

The walk was an hour or so.  We did walk through the forest, but we didn’t see very much: a moth, a couple of lizards, some different kinds of trees, a brazil nut pod, a couple of those blue butterflies- they didn’t land so you didn’t get a good look at them- and some brazilian moonshine.  I will attach a video about the man who owns the place.  He has a couple of blogs that should be interesting.

The walk was not particularly hot.   It was muggy, but not overbearing.  We came back to town and went “downtown” to the Fisherman’s park.  I have some pictures of that.

As described above, it is about a 3 mile walk to downtown.  You should add another third of a mile to get off the pier.  The motor scooters appear to be a viable alternative.  They are everywhere.

HINT:  ATM Machine I wanted to get some reals for tomorrow.  The front desk didn’t know where, but said the agent said there were several just outside the gate.  The short of it:  It is a little less than a 4 mile round trip to the closest one I could find.  From the ship’s pier, walk down the road to the first light.  To the left is the main road to town.  Take that.  The river will be on your left.  Walk for TWO BUS STOPS.  This is over a mile.  After you pass the second bus stop, take the first main street right.  It will be a busy street with a hodge-podge of shops and veggie markets, very typical of Santarem.  It will be the first of these busy streets you will come to.  Go about a half a block to a large supermarket on your right.  All supermarkets I saw were open air.  Most don’t even have lights in them… probably to discourage the bugs.  There are two ATM machines at the left front of the store as you stand looking at the store from the street.  One of them doesn’t appear to take international cash cards; the other has Visa, Cirrus, etc on it.  That’s the one to use.   When you use the machine, insert and remove your card.  The instructions will be subtitled in English.  Hints: -  If you hit a number to enter a value, that number will be in whole reals; that is, the machine automatically adds the cents (two zeros) - After you enter the amount you want, hit the FIN key, which is the green key in the vertical row of keys.

Day 10, Jan 11, 2010, On Amazon River

We woke about 7 to an announcement that we had arrived at the place where the pilot joins the ship and immigration boards.  We are in the river for sure.  We are just up river from the town of Macapa.  The large port city of Belem is on the other side of a very large island, maybe 50 miles away.  We are also south of the equator now.  I’ve got some pictures, but the river is indeed cafe latte color.  I turned on the Magellan and it read 63 feet above sea level!  Let’s say I was 30 feet above the water on deck 5.  It’s hard to image that much water, 33 feet of it, “piled” up between here and the ocean. 

I started the malaria pills yesterday.  They are definitely giving me some discomfort:  gut pains, aches, tired.  We’ll see how it goes.  Chris started 4 or 5 days ago, and has been having trouble since. 

Today I’m typing from the lounge, where we are about to watch a cooking demo and tour of the facilities. We have a Portuguese Maitre De.  We have a German chief chef.

The demo was hilarious.  The chef and Maitre de were like Martin and Lewis.  There were lots of snafus because… hmmm, not sure why.  They made the most of it. 

We got underway about noon and I’m up in the front lounge, which gives a good (and air conditioned) view of the river.  Photos don’t do it justice.  I took a movie panorama when we first started, but now the river has narrowed; I should say that we are sailing through multiple islands. 

The landscape is constantly changing, with dark rain clouds here and there, as well as patches of blue.  Obviously, being still in the delta, the landscape is mostly flat, but it looks like the forest comes right to the water’s edge; there’s very little evidence of human habitation, other than an occasional small boat.   You know, I haven’t seen any birds. ???

I worked on genealogy most of the afternoon, taking time off only for the King Neptune ceremony.   It was fun, not nearly as drawn out as the one we had in the Pacific.

Now I’m sitting in the place where the entertainment is, waiting for the show to start.  It’s handy having the computer to keep me occupied.   Chris doesn’t sit with me.  I like sitting near the front.  She like sitting in some straight bar chairs in the back.  I am not comfortable there. 

Day 9, Sun, Jan 10, 2010: At Sea Entering Mouth of Amazon

Up at 7:30.  We had breakfast at the panorama buffet as usual.  On return to our room, I did genealogy until 9:30, when we both attended a lecture by Dr. Richard Detrich, the former preacher and current cruise lecturer and coffee grower. 

Some Notes:

Amazon

• Largest drainage area in the world.  This year rain is late rain… So river is low.  June, July is peak.. 
• Amazon is 120 mi wide in some places  Length 4222 miles.  Longer than Nile by 65 miles
• Amazon’s origin is Peru
• 1.4 billion acres of rainforest.  40% in brazil.  Represents over half of all rainforest in world
• Sq kilo contains 75K trees and 150K species of plants
• 300,000m3 of fresh water enter the Atlantic Ocean each second
• Theodore Roosevelt… Read “The River of Doubt” 
• People plant gardens in boats raised up 10 ft or so.   This is because they will be flooded up to that boat.  This is to cover their food needs during the rainy season floods.
• Francisco de Orellana 1511 1546  1433 jointed Pizarro. 
  • On Rio Negro
  • Saw people don’t have hair… fierce fighters… etc men looked like women… so recalled myth of Amazon and called the river that.

Brazil

• Pop 193.7 million Avg age 28.6 slightly smaller than US
• 74% catholic and 16% prot, but pentacostal and evengelical; expect 60% is prot
• Was a disagreement bet RCs and Prot over use of cross on buildings.  Evang have to use dove on outside to resolve issue.
• Economy is good
• Currency 1 real = approx 68 cents

Does and Don’ts

• Keep hands, fingers, and toes in boat.  A piranha bit is considered more an act of carelessness
• Don’t pee in river.  Small fish will swim up your stream and plant spines in you.
• Be aware of ship restrictions on crafts:  can’t bring onto ship anything that is wood.
  • Hot and humid; dress accordingly
  • take toilet paper
  • buses are best available, but that doesn’t mean great
  • Respect the activity level notifications; ie, if the tour says active that means active
  • Watch where you walk:  pavement uneven
  • It’s an adventure.  It will rain; tours run rain or shine
  • Be a traveler, not a tourist.

He discussed ports of call.  I’ll move that discussion to the appropriate blog day. 

After the lecture we attended the church service.  This got us to about noon. 

After that, I did a lot of housekeeping and worked on these notes. 

Dr. Detrich said he doesn’t take malaria meds.  He says not many mosquitoes because of the river.  Well, we paid a lot for our med, so I guess I’ll go ahead and start taking it.  Today is the first day.  We are taking Malarone 250/100, whatever that means.  I’ll take it at lunch.  (I ended up taking it for 3 days, but it made me feel so bad I stopped taking it.  I writing this at Manaus, and to this point I have yet to see a mosquito! )

I don’t remember anything else about this particular day. 

Day 8 Sat, January 8, 2010 Devils Island, French Guiana

Background

• 3 islands… called triangle island at first… then called Salvation Islands.  Originally settled by French that evacuated French Guiana after economy collapsed in 1800s.
• Pop of all French Guiana now 221K
• Heavily dependent on France
• There is a space center there.  Good location because of proximity to equator.  Accounts for 25% of GDP.
• Unemployment 20-30%
• Maroons:  ex slaves fled into rainforest around 1848
• French established prison colony- 4 camps on mainland, and one on each of the islands
• The most famous of these are called Devils Island, but that was the smallest of the prisons
• Actually going to Isle Royal, not Devils Island.  This was a large camp.
• Abt 80000 were eventually sent there.  1852-1902. Prisons closed in 1952.
• Have to tendor in.   Very difficult currents, so chances of actually visiting are low… (Why did they advertise…?)
• Hard to walk in: take it slow, very steep slope, take rain gear.  There’s a lighthouse and cemetery of prisoner and guard children. 
• See ruins and monkeys.

Our Experience

We were fortunate!  The possibility of actually getting on the island was talked down.  We were told 50-50.  Well, to make a long story short, it was favorable and we were able to complete make the visit.  On the other hand, you can see why the chances are so low.  The seas around the islands were rough.  The winds were favorable with respect to the anchorage, so it worked.

The island we went is more or less round and we walked around it. 

Warning:  THERE ARE NO RESTROOMS.  The maps indicate a restroom, but that one is closed.  The only restroom is at the small hotel at the top.  The beer isn’t a bad price, so be sure to take $$ and buy a beer and a pee.  Of course, the bushes work for men… it isn’t that jungley, but women would have a problem, as Chris did.

The ship anchored maybe 400 meters from shore. 

Oh, since we are getting a video at the end of the cruise, I’m not going to say much about what we saw.  We took a look at the video from yesterday and it does a good job.  In fact, it helps us understand what we need to see when we go back. 

In our walk around the island’s perimeter we saw those agouti’s, which look like:

It’s strange to me that we didn’t see much else in the way of wildlife other than a gang of monkeys:

There were various structure at the top.  Some were more or less ruins.  Others were in use.  There was a small contingent of families that permanently live on the island.  The breadwinners of the households work at a tracking station for the “space port.” 

Here are a few other pictures: (to be uploaded separately)

Day 6, Jan 7, 2010 Port of Spain, Trinidad

Background from Lectures

• Get rum punch  don’t miss it (unfortunately, we did this pass through)
• capital is Port of Spain, where we will dock.
• Originally a Spanish contact:  Columbus arrives in 1498.  Named after Holy Trinity
• It had a wide open port; Spanish governor lived of bribes
• 1797 and Sir Ralph Abercromby, with fleet of 18 ships, takes Trinidad
• Be sure you know what dollar they are talking about- $TT 1 is $US.15. 
• Taxi is $10.  Walk to town.. right to hyatt, then right to downtown.  You will go to Independence Sq
• Chinese, Portuguese, and India(ns) were brought in as indentured workers. 
• More than 147K Indians brought to Trinidad
• 40% are descendants of Indians
• 38% are african
• The Red House is the Parliament.
• Queens Park Savannah… take cab to get there  Was an old sugar plantation.  North is Royal Botanic Gardens 
• Magnificent 7 are mansions  across from the savannah
• Best tour is Trinidad Highlights and Scenic Drive.Winding drive.
• Stop and get sweets:  Chip Chip.. Coconut and mixed with fresh sugar
• If you like hot and spicy, try Tamarind Balls…  lots of red pepper.
• Maracas Beach.  gorgeous beach.  You should have a “bake and shark”  Get it at Richard’s. 
• Carnival Feb 15-16. 
• Steel pans, calypso, soca, and limbo all started in Trinidad

Our Experience

Our tour was mid-day.  I had an hour so I walked into town early in the morning.  What a change since I was here last, some 15 years ago!  Then it was a a few several story buildings but mostly a ramshackle downtown.  Now, thanks in part to government spending for a series of hemispheric and world-wide meetings, and thanks in part to rising gas and oil revenues, there were many new high rise buildings.  The most conspicuous was a new hotel and convention complex, built for the dignitaries, and the twin towers of a government complex.  (In fact, I think it is a key observation that the biggest buildings in any of the towns we visited were government buildings.) 

Here’s another picture from the road leading over the mountains.  The Royal Princess can be seen just to the right of the larger buildings.  Well maybe you can see it. 

I really enjoyed that walk.  I went down the main boulevard of town, which was nice, and then went to the left toward the parks.  I visited a park, saw a church and the Red House (The Parliament) and visited the national library.  This is the Red House, which is under renovation. 

Our tour was a bus tour that drove past the city’s highlights and then went to the House of Angostura distillery, which makes a variety of famous Trinidadian spirits, including the famous “Bitters.” 

The tour part went to some of the places I had walked to and it went to the new performing arts center.  I don’t think I got a good shot of that, but it is brand new, made of stainless steel, and looks like the Sydney Opera House. 

We went past the Magnificent 7, but they are mainly tourist hype. 

Then we drove into the mountains to the distillery, The House of Angostura.  We toured the room where the Bitters is made.  The Bitters is made of a number of spices and plant derivatives.  It’s ingredients are a trade secret.  However, the order was of cloves and/or nutmeg (probably the latter, since I think cloves is from the far east, not indigenous to Venezuela).  It also had a citrus element and something very close to vanilla.  It probably also contains ginger.  When they have ground all the ingredients together, water and alcohol (44.7%) to make the final product, which is then aged for a few months.  The result is delicious and is supposed to cure all kinds of stomach ailments. 

It is used as a flavoring in other drinks and in cooking.  It is not meant to be drunk straight. 

Angostura makes many other spirits.  A picture of their product line:

When we got back to the ship we didn’t have time to go out again.  Too bad.  Well, we’ll catch other sights when we return.

Day 5, Wed, January 6, 2010, St. Lucia

Lecture on St. Lucia

French for a long time and finally Brit in 1814

Capital is Castries, which, at 60K people, is a pretty big town

Francis Le Clerc, a pirate was first European.  Used Pigeon island to hid for piracy

Sugar was a established as a main crop. St Lucia became epicenter of rum and sugar

Many Africans brought in for sugar work.  Slavery abolished in 1834.

In 1979 St. Lucia became an independent country, member of Commonwealth

Regulated taxi fare

Reduit Beach is great 20 minute drive $20 each way.

Day at Jungle Reef Beach is a great tour.

The Day

We arrived without event.  The harbor was crowded with 2 large and 1 medium sized cruise ships. 

The weather was partly cloudy, with warm temps.We had a 9:15 tour- snorkeling.  Well, we got to the “holding area” and waited.  And waited.  At 10:45 the person in charge finally said that anyone that wanted to could get their money back.  We decided to stick it out and 5 minutes later the boat showed up between the ships.   We finally left on our snorkeling adventure at about 11:15.  We went down the coast toward the Petons, but didn’t actually get to a place where you could see them.  We pulled in to what was an area crowded with tourist boats. 

I snorkeled about an hour and 15.  Not even good snorkeling.  Some fish and plants.  I did see a squid- first I’ve seen.  It was about 4 inches long and translucent.  There were some schools of the usual fish, but nothing impressive.  The water bordered on a kinda rock wall, and the waves created bubbles that limited visibility.  In all, not a good tour. 

We stopped at Montego Bay (?)on the way back.  I took some pictures, below.  Just interesting.

I walked around town for a while after Chris went back to the room.  I found it interesting.  In fact, there is a large market, perhaps 6 blocks square, near the ship.  That is an exploration. 

In general, since the ship docks close to everything, there’s no need to worry about WCs. 

Day 4, Tuesday, Jan 5, 2010, St. Barths

Background

• Tendor location; can be difficult and may have to cancel
• St Barths is small:  8.1 sq miles
• We are going to capital, Gustavia, tendered to town center
• pop 8.5k
• Currency is Euro $1 = .69 Euro
• Very expensive island, playground of rich and famous
• Ruled by France and England at various times, then given to Sweden (1784-1878), then back to France, which has control today
• Taxis 80 euros / hr for 2 people
• Don’t take photos of locals without permission
• French pirate:  Daniel Montbars (1645-1707.. aka Montbars the Exterminator   Will see references to him around island.
• Sea shells can’t be taken off island
• Resorts:  Nikki Beach… The “in” hot sexy beach resort.  All the celebs go.  Port agent likes to go to Nikki beach and hang out with celebs.  Peter Higbee wrote an email to the beach owner and the reply was that we could visit beach free.  So… you can go.  If they challenge you, say Peter Higbee said it is OK. 
• All beaches public and free

Our Experience

We arrived as another cruise ship was leaving.  Rumor, afterwards confirmed, said it was leaving because it could not tender in.  Our captain announced that we were maneuvering the ship to attempt to provide enough cover from the wind (from southeast) to launch and recover our tenders.  He estimated the chance of success at 50-50.  Well, we came out on the good side and were in port by about 11ish.  The ride over wasn’t all that rough. 

Before we left I had looked at the options on the Internet.  The most common activity was to rent a motorbike or car and see the island.  You could stop at the beaches, etc.  I didn’t think Chris would go for the motorbike and I started the process of renting a car.  The price was about $70 plus taxes and fees.  However, the commentaries described the traffic situation as chaotic.  I didn’t think Chris would manage that well. 

I thought about using a taxi to get to one or more of the beaches, but the cost would have been high and I wasn’t sure how we could arrange a pickup.  (In retrospect, I think the process is to be dropped off at Nikki beach, since there is a resort there.)

I investigate a bicycling alternative, but the one email I got back said that the company was out of business.  So… my plan was to find a local snorkel outfit once we landed- there were several on the internet. 

Since we arrived at 11 and the last shuttle left about 4 I guess I was glad I didn’t rent a car for the day or plan anything else.  I tried to find a snorkel company and didn’t find one in the immediate neighborhood- that is, I couldn’t see any.  We walked downtown, in the direction of the sign that said “tourist information” but couldn’t find the tourist information.  So we retraced our steps back to the ship tender landing area. 

On the way, I saw a diving/sports shop and went in.  French is the primary language there, and while I waited I heard no spoken English.  I waited until I could talk to the proprietor.  I started in French, but found the gentleman could speak some English.  He said there was a snorkel place right next to the the tender landing area.  In fact, he actually walked us over to where it was.  There was no sign.  He said there was a boat, the Blue something or another, and that they had apparently left and would be back for an afternoon run. 

So we had some decisions to make.  Chris was already tired and complaining, so I told her to wait and I would try to find the tourist information place.  After asking a few people I was given what turned out to be the right directions.  It was not well marked.  Here’s where it is:  From the tender dock, go to the right.  You’ll go through a long parking lot.  Turn right at the first street you come to.  The building is the last one on the right, next to the pier.  There is a very small sign sticking out from the building, partly hidden by a vine.  You’ll notice a large women’s restroom to the right of the door. 

The office is not well staffed:  one person.  If two ships had been in port, it would have been overwhelmed. 

The person was not fluent in English, so questions had to be kept simple.  I found a handout that included diving and snorkeling places.  She indicated those that had offices and those that did not, such as the one we had just visited.  But she couldn’t give me directions on where they were.  She said to call, but didn’t volunteer to make the calls for me.  On the way back to the dock, where Chris was waiting, I couldn’t find a local phone.

Chris and I talked it over.  She wanted to walk to a beach we had seen coming in, but, to make a long story short, there was no way to walk there.  After some debate, we decided to take a cab to the other side of the bay, where I could see a diving insignia on a building.  The minimum taxi fare, so we were told, was $15 US (10 euro).  We paid it and were off on the mile or so ride to the other side.  We learned first hand the traffic problem… all traffic seems to funnel to one point.  Anyway, we got there. 

Turns out that all the diving boats were out.  We asked a person who was in the know, and he said that, basically, we were out of luck.  The Blue boat was the one we could have possibly taken, but it had hours of 9, 11, 2.  We had just missed the 11 when we arrived and we could not take the 2, since the last tender left at 4.  He recommended we go to Shell Beach.  He showed us how to get there.  It was a 10 minute walk, at Chris’s walking pace, to get there.  It is more or less a five minute walk from the end of the bay. 

The beach is covered with shells.  It is rocky and within 10 feet of the start of the water, it fell off to an undetermined depth, so deep that, when I snorkeled, I couldn’t see the bottom, given the sand stirred up by the waves.  I assume that the waves were a little higher than normal, because the wind blew directly into the beach.  The undertow was treacherous.  Since the beach was mostly shells, falling meant cuts on anything that hit the beach.  Chris got cuts in several places and a man’s back got bloodied. 

Chris didn’t want to go snorkeling and spent the time searching for shells and glass.  She also found a bone that looked to be part of a human leg (thigh) bone. With my snorkel equipment, I could limit the risk of falling and was able to move in and out of the beach fairly easily.  We spent about an hour there:  I snorkeled and saw NOTHING; just floated and swam… good exercise. 

We walked back toward town.  Along the way, I noticed a stone stairway up a hill and started climbing to explore.  Chris didn’t want to go, saying it was probably private property and she didn’t want to climb stairs.  When I got about three quarters of the way up, I found a clock tower of some historic importance and a church.  The view of the harbor was superb.   I persuaded Chris to come up and she enjoyed the view.  I took some photos, which follow. 

We went back into town and slowly worked our way back to the tender dock, stopping at points of interest along the way.

Chris didn’t want to wait until the last tender, so we got on one about 3:30. 

We lifted anchors (the anchoring was a complicated array to hold the boat steady and shelter the tender operation) and were away about 4:30. 

Pictures will be attached when I have more bandwidth.

Day 2, Sunday, January 3, 2010: First Day at Sea

This was an orientation day.  We went to a short church service.  The cruise director, Peter Roberts, led it.  He’s not a pastor and he read neutral morality tales. 

A picture of Peter: 

After lunch we went a lecture on the first 3 ports.  Most of the notes I’ve embedded in later day blog entries.  Here’s some of the spare notes:

The presenter was a pastor for 30 years in Cal.  He now lives in Panama; has a coffee farm; It has a perfect spring-like weather, 80 high in day, 60 at night.  Has a desk, there 3-5.

He started with history.  The main cast of characters are Spain and England.  Columbus got only as close to N. America as San Salvador, Dominican Republic. 

He went on to describe, in generalities, the history and points of interest for the first three islands.  I’ve included appropriate points in the blog entries for those visits.

This trip is not going to be all trivia and bridge.  However, I did joint a trivia team and we won.  I got a high quality tote bag.  That was nice. 

Most of my “free time” is spent:

• Reading.  The first book I got from the library is “The Mayflower”  It is about the people, the voyage, and the first hundred years after the landing.  The theme is the relationship between the Pilgrims, Puritans, and Indians. 
• Genealogy.  I am labeling all the pictures, census pages, registration cards, and ship’s records I’ve collected.  When they are loaded from Ancestry.com, they are labelled by number.  That doesn’t do any good in understanding what the image or pdf file is and who is in it.  I have hundreds, so it is going to take a long time.
• I am cleaning up the records, such as resolving the conflicting information, adding missing people etc.  (I’m writing this late in the voyage and I find that I’ve added over 500 people.) 
• Practicing barbershop
• Yoga and elliptical (but not as often as I would like)

The gym facilities are much nicer than at the time of the R2.  There is an exercise room and many more machines.  The room is better than in the larger ships on which we have had experience, since it is on a high deck in the front, with glass windows giving us a panoramic view.

Day 1 Sat Jan 2, 2010: Embarkation

This was embarkation day.  We stayed at the Fairfield Inn on Griffin Rd, southwest of the Ft. Lauderdale Airport. It was nice enough, brand new, but the older and supposedly cheaper Springhill Suites in Charlotte was better:

• Nicer room.. or rooms.  The Springhill Suites room had a bedroom, a sitting room, a small kitchen, and a nice bathroom, with separate toilet room. 
• The Fairfield Inn room was just large enough for 2 queen beds.  The bathroom was on the small side, and did not have a separate toilet room. 

We went over to the Bass sports store again.  Chris returned the swim goggles I got her the day before.  She has trouble with mask sizes:  they were too big.  I got one that covered only the eyes, not the nose and was made for women.  She wanted the nose covered and didn’t want to use a nose clip.  Anyway, she found a youth size that seemed to work.  

We took the shuttle to the port.  It cost $16.  I thought it was supposed to be free?  I guess things have changed.  It was bedlam at the hotel.  The lobby and sidewalks outside the hotel were completely covered with people and luggage.  I guess there were five or more ships leaving today, including that biggest one from the Royal Caribbean line.  (In fact, our departure was delayed several hours because we had to wait for the larger ships to depart.  That decision was interesting because we just had to proceed directly out from our berth:  no turn around or other maneuver required.  The others had to at least back out to the center of the port and turn 90 degrees to exit.)

Once at the port, there was no wait at all.  I guess that’s the difference between a small ship and a large ship, . 

Our room is on deck 6 is near the front stairway, room 6030.  It has a window with a partly obstructed view; there is a small red jet craft kind of in the way. 

However, it’s not a bother at all and I thing I would stay in this room even if I have the opportunity to upgrade to either an unobstructed view or a balcony.  It is very handy to everything.  We do have to watch it when opening the door to make sure the person inside is decent.  With the arrangement of the mirrors, you can see right in to the bathroom!  Some pics:

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When we got our ID cards, we discovered we had obtained first seating.  We had been rather far down on the wait list.  We soon found that all the couple save one had second seating and were on a wait list.  It was as if they created a table for us.  ?? 

There were 5 couples at the table, which would make conversation among all difficult anyway.  But the real problem is that it was at the back of the dining area, in a corner.  The vibration and associated noise was terrible when the ship was at cruising speed.  I couldn’t hear much of the conversation.  The vibration was uncomfortable and, at times, nauseating.  Unfortunately, we enjoyed the group and probably didn’t have an option anyway, since the seating was full. 

Our other dining options were the buffet and the fancy eating venues, of which there were two.  There is a cover charge of $15 or $20 each at those venues.  I can’t see the value in that, compared to the dining room.

The buffet had a limited menu in the evening.  It wasn’t a buffet, but sit down.  I’ll let you know how it is if we try it.  Others have said it isn’t as good as the dining, even though they have table clothes, etc. 

Coffee:  we learned early on that the coffee in the dining area was not good.  The coffee in the buffet was good, as least to Chris’s taste.  (I have cream and sugar, so I can tolerate all kinds of coffee except “weak.”)  We also learned that the ship sells  premium coffee.  This is ground coffee like you get at a coffee shop.  The price ranges from $1 for 12 ounces plain on up to above $3 for a fancy 16 ounce coffee.  A “coffee card” is offered that costs something like $24.  You get a little price break with the card. 

The cast for the shows is really terrific.  They are all young and the dancing is very athletic.  We learned that the cast not only does the show, they also run many of the passenger get- togethers, games, etc.  Double workload.  They just have time to sleep, eat, and exercise.  No social life. 

We got to know 3 of the cast, Ann(ie), Ryan, and Jade.  Here’s a picture of Chris with Jade. 

There’s a story behind this.  Both Jade and her husband Ryan- I need a picture of him, were in the Regal Princess cast! I recognized her and Chris recognized him.  Ha!  At the time, I think they were either friends or engaged.  Anyway, her parents got on the ship in New Zealand and sailed with us to Sydney.  Ryan is from Sydney.   They are both very talented. 

In the evening, we participated in a scavenger hunt to get stamps in various departments around the ship.  At 10 there was a raffle.  Chris won a video of the entire cruise!  So this blog will be complimented by a “professional” video.