?`s and ANNEswers

Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Ponta Delgada

Posted on April 22, 2015

The Azores have never been on my list of “Must Sees,” but given the weather in the North Atlantic I am thrilled that we came here instead of there.  Even though we couldn’t get the ATM to give us Euros and we don’t speak Portuguese, we had a charming visit to Ponta Delgada, the largest city in the Azores with approximately forty-four thousand inhabitants.

Some quick facts gleaned from the flyer the cruise ship distributed:  PD was founded by Portuguese settlers in 1507.  It is nearly half-way between the Americas and Europe, and you better be happy there as one thousand miles of ocean separates you from any other locale.

The sun shone – for the first time in memory – as we left the ship and headed for the central city.  As with other communities surrounded by water (Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Lisbon, even Key West) a giant fortress is one of the first things you see. The one in PD is currently a military museum.

Because we hadn’t been able to book a tour – too many tourists, too few tours on the same day — we strolled the cobblestone streets for a couple hours and assumed we saw the important sites.  Earl’s camera was certainly busy.

Wherever we go, I am always struck by the pride of the local people and their efforts to promote that which makes them unique. Ponta Delgada is literally in the middle of nowhere, and as we returned to the ship it was clear that serenity was its sweetest commodity.

More specifics tomorrow.

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Unsung Heroes

Posted on April 21, 2015

There are 1500 crew members, all trying to please the guests on board the Regal Princess.  I acknowledge some of them here.

Thanks to the crew member who found my sweater and took it to Lost and Found.  It is now back in my possession.

Thanks to the crew member in the laundry who got indelible ink out of Earl’s favorite shirt. Would that person be interested in coming home with us?

Thanks to Adrian, the TV technician, who managed to hook a headset to the flat panel TV in our stateroom so Earl could listen to his beloved Fox News and I wasn’t subjected to it. Adrian doesn’t know what he did to enhance the cruise for both Earl and me.

Thanks to bartendress Wendy, who told me how to order a 007, which is like a double Absolut without the double price.

Thanks to everyone in the International Café.  They all know how to make a latte that rivals the one I get at Martin’s on Tuesdays at home. And at half the price.  Would they want to emigrate too?

I’m sure there will be more kudos to offer, since the staff on the Regal Princess, and all the other cruise ship we’ve been on, is committed to making every passenger wish a command.

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Changing Perspectives

Posted on April 20, 2015

Earl and I took our first cruise in January, 2001.  It was a seven-day adventure to the Caribbean, and I wasn’t particularly enthused about it.  But by the time we disembarked from the Grand Princess a week later, we’d put a deposit on our second cruise.

One of the things that changed my mind back then is captured in the following statement:  “This is the type of vacation we can do when we’re older.  We only have to unpack once, we’re in the same bed every night, and the staff speaks English so we don’t have to point at the menu to order our evening meal.”

I’m not sure which one of us put this together, but it has all turned out to be true.  We’re almost fifteen years down the road. We like staying put on a vacation, and our command of foreign languages hasn’t improved.

There are other things . . .

In the beginning, we were content with traditional dining, which means you go to dinner at the same time every night and sit with the same passengers.  I think the idea is that you get to know a small group of people more intimately, and when you see them around the ship in the coming days you nod. Maybe you even have a cocktail together.

But we no longer take the traditional route.  In fact, we hardly take the alternative – Anytime Dining – either.  Either way, your dinner is an hour and a half event; and we’ve gotten to the point where we don’t want to do that every night.  We’re more content than ever to visit the Buffet and serve ourselves, cafeteria-style. It all comes from the same galleys.

On our early cruises, we usually ordered breakfast in the stateroom as a forced march toward waking up.  Now, we’re prone to sleeping in. We sometimes take naps in the middle of the day too.  And we – actually me – spend less money on incidentals like salon appointments, jewelry, and wine flights.

Do we enjoy it as much?  Absolutely.  It’s just that instead of telling ourselves we can cruise when we’re older, we’re there.

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Hungry Anyone?

Posted on April 19, 2015

I’d always heard that the easiest way to gain five pounds was to take a three-day cruise. The 24-hour buffet, plus three squares a day in the dining rooms, guaranteed success.  The thing is: Who needs to gain five pounds these days?

I don’t think the culinary department on the Regal Princess focusses on this. Rather, it’s more concerned with offering a variety of foods that appeal to the twenty-eight different nationalities that the passengers represent and making sure that everyone – from Americans to Zambians – finds something to eat.

To that end Regal Princess has outdone itself and every other ship in the fleet that Earl and I have been on.

There is the expected buffet and official dining rooms.  But, in addition, this ship has two specialty restaurants – one Italian and the other a steak house – as well as a hot dog stand, a pizza stand, a mini-Italian restaurant, a sushi bar, a cappuccino bar with paninis, and the most incredible pastry aisle. Each morning there is a roving breakfast station.  Today’s fare was Croque Monsieur; yesterday’s was Belgian waffles; the day before was crepes.

I understand that food becomes even more important when you’re crossing the Atlantic and are stuck on a ship for days at a time. And I don’t expect the culinary department to worry about how many calories the guests are consuming.

Still . . . for Earl and me it’s a challenge in self-control. We’ve gone on a dozen Princess cruises, and are proud to say we’ve gained only two ounces total from all of them. This cruise will probably tilt the balance in the other direction.

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Keeping Passengers Happy

Posted on April 18, 2015

We will have been at sea for seven days before we stop at our first port.  Given the change in itinerary, the crew is working hard to keep the passengers entertained and happy.  Happy means fewer complaints.

But what does ‘Happy’ look like? If you look at the list of activities that’s posted daily, I think it’s the equivalent of keeping busy.  For instance, for today there were Sudoku teasers in the library, beginning Tai Chi in one of the venues, the classic movie (which happened to be “Forrest Gump”) on deck 16; Bible study in the Wedding Chapel, morning Zumba fitness in the Piazza, a trivia contest in the Vista Lounge, a foosball competition in the gaming lounge, a line dancing class, various board games competitions, a bridge players get-together, and a demonstration on the making of sushi.

And this was all before 10 AM!

Later in the day there was carpet bowling (bowling on carpet that is harder than it sounds), skeet shooting, more movies, an art auction, charades, lectures on the Ford Motor Company and Improving Posture (not given by the same lecturer), and a free consultation with a physician about your wrinkles.

That got us to 2 PM. There were other activities that filled the time to the dinner hour and still others that went on until midnight.  Tomorrow it will start all over.

Many of these activities are silly, but they are taken seriously by the participants.  The hula hoop contest, for example, is an intense rivalry.  It’s not your hips that win it for you; it’s whether you can roll the hoop and have it fall over so that an empty beer bottle is inside it.  It’s part of the ship-board Olympics, but I doubt any of the events actually will be sanctioned anytime soon by the IOC.

What does this say about the passengers?  Perhaps since they’re on vacation anything goes.  Or maybe it’s fear of boredom.  Or lack of meaningful work to do. Or a lurking frustration about the weather that has kept us all inside.  It’s rather like a giant elementary school where the children can’t go out and must play in the gym instead.

Tomorrow: Food onboard . . . it’s unending!

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Bumpy Ride

Posted on April 17, 2015

Bette Davis once said, “It’s going to be a bumpy ride.” She was referring to a cocktail party, but I’m referring to an announcement from our Captain late last night.

Like a headmaster at a boarding school, he has unexpectedly taken to the air to address his charges for the second time in two days. And, as headmaster of the Regal Princess, his decision binds.

We are not going north to Halifax and then across the North Atlantic Ocean.   Seems there are some severe weather conditions creating high winds and even higher waves. The crossing wouldn’t be pleasant and possibly not safe. And the cruise company’s primary goal is to keep all passengers safe.

Instead we’re heading east through the mid-Atlantic Ocean to avoid the angst of the North Atlantic.  (I’ve been in a boat on the North Atlantic; this seems like a wise decision.)  Currently our next port is the Azores; which is ironic, because when we did a transatlantic cruise in 2013 we had to skip the Azores because of the one hundred year hurricane.

The weather giveth, and the weather taketh away.

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Rocky Start

Posted on April 16, 2015

Yesterday’s embarkation was fraught with problems. I’ll be brief, but you’ll get the idea.

Normally by 11:00 AM, when Earl and I arrived at the ship, yesterday’s passengers are all off the ship. But for whatever reason, the departing guests were slow.

It created a domino effect. Today’s guests wanted to use the elevators, but many were commandeered for the luggage. The guests wanted to see their staterooms, but we were told they wouldn’t be available until 1:00 PM.

So what do most people do in a situation like this?  Once they get an elevator, they head for the buffet and another major traffic jam.

Usually Sail-Away, that point where you pull up anchor and move away from the dock, is around 5 PM.  But we were scheduled for 4 PM.  Which means the lifeboat drill had to be accomplished before then.  Which means all passengers needed to be on board before then.

Which means there were less than five hours to get everyone, and everyone’s luggage, as well as food and fuel, on board.

And so it went.  We managed to leave at 4 PM and pull into the channel at Ft. Lauderdale that leads to the Atlantic Ocean.  But for some reason we turned south toward Cuba instead of north toward Canada. I’m sure I’m not the only one who noticed.

It was unusual to hear the Captain come on the loud speaker so soon after leaving the port.  But he explained that we were turning around because one passenger had a medical emergency that required his being taken off the ship.

But here we are about twenty-four hours later and things are being to look like “Cruise Normal.”  Everyone has found the proper stateroom, unpacked, and hopefully had a good night’s sleep. We’re off to Halifax.

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Bon Voyage

Posted on April 13, 2015

Earl and I leave in the morning for a three week cruise that takes us south to Ft. Lauderdale to board the ship, then north to Halifax, Canada (Don’t ask why. I don’t know.), and then across the North Atlantic to Europe. It’s the first long trip we’ve been on together since the fall of 2013. And it’s the first I’ve been on since leaving the work force.

I cite these dates, because I’m noticing a marked difference in my preparation for this trip over previous ones. I’m more relaxed, less anxious.  More organized and less concerned about forgetting something.

At the same time, preparations have taken longer.  Maybe because I’m older.  Or perhaps because work always expands to fill the time allotted for it.  And I allotted almost a week to get ready.

I’ve noticed the small things too: remember lip balm; forget your flippers (This isn’t the Caribbean!); remember layered clothing; forget shorts and sandals (Repeat, this isn’t the Caribbean!); remember a raincoat; forget sunscreen (Well, maybe not.) because the weather where we’re going will be chillier than the weather that we’re leaving.

No matter. Our ultimate goal is to visit the beaches of Normandy, something we’d planned to do in late 2013.  That year, we’d made it to England and were within striking distance of the northern French coast.  But a hurricane prevented us from leaving Southampton, and we had to return home without seeing D-Day’s historical site. Which is why we’re trying it again. The rest of the trip is really gravy.

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ATM

Posted on April 4, 2015

I needed money: For a Starbucks, some greeting cards, and other sundries.  So I drove my little car to the local ATM and prepared to go through the standard process.  Insert ATM card, provide PIN number, tell the machine the amount you want, what account to take it from, and that you want a receipt.

It was while I waited for the money and the receipt that I noticed the sign: “Audio assistance available for the visually impaired.”

This seems like an oxymoron.  It was, after all, a drive-up ATM.  And if the driver needed assistance to read the screen what was he or she doing behind the wheel in the first place?

Maybe a passenger in the car was visually impaired but needed money.  Then wouldn’t the driver have been able to help? Maybe there are people with licenses who can’t read or understand computers.  But wouldn’t it be more logical for that person to go inside the bank erected next to the ATM machine?

The only thing I can even imagine is that this ATM machine is hit directly for a few hours each day by the sun.  The glare makes the screen unreadable. I know; I’ve been there.  So perhaps that’s when audio assistance is helpful.

Something to ponder . . .

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Curly

Posted on April 2, 2015

I’m sure I’ve written somewhere along the way that I’ve been growing my hair longer.  It’s almost to my shoulders, even though most people my age wouldn’t go there.

Still, since August 2012, I’ve been trying to eliminate all the layers on my head while my stylist has secretly tried to keep them.  It’s been an ongoing discussion.  However, I’ve finally gotten my hair all the same length, and now I wanted it permed. She wasn’t happy about that either. (What is it about hair stylists that they think they own your hair?)

In fact, my last visit was supposed to be about a perm, but she talked me out of it.  Went for color instead. It looked fine, but I still wanted to look like that female character in the “Dilbert” comic strip who has a pyramid for a hair-do.

So today I actually brought in the comic strip, showed it to A, and we went from there.  I can only assume she understood I would not be denied. Less than two hours later, I left with what I wanted.  Of course, I’ll tire of it and want something else down the road.  But for now, I’m thrilled to be curly.

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