World Cruise - Seven Seas Voyager: Jan.12-May 8, 2009

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Dear Friends,

We are frequently asked about where we have been and where we are going. During 2008, we started writing about our travels so our friends would know where we are when we are away from our office. We are continuing that procedure in 2009 starting with our World Cruise on the Seven Seas Voyager, a special event that will last for four months starting January 12, 2009 and will include special times for us like Valentines’ day, Mary Pat’s birthday, and our 25th Wedding anniversary.

The best way to check our whereabouts is to join us. But if that is not possible, this forum is the next best way is to share our adventures and see our planet through our eyes. We hope you will consider joining us on one of our future voyages, and that you will either call or email us with any questions or comments that you may have.

Until then, we warmly invite you to log onto our forum at any time convenient to you, and post your comments as you read about the voyages we are enjoying so much.

We look forward to seeing you soon, and wish you good health and much happiness in the coming year.

Sincerely,

Jay W. Silberman :)
Cruise Consultants Company

[peggynathan]

See you very soon!

Peggy

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Saturday-Monday, January 10-12, 2009—San Antonio to Los Angeles
Our suitcases were picked up by Luggage Express for delivery to our room on the Voyager on December 30, 2008. Today we leave for Los Angeles, and I cannot believe that another year has already flown by and that it is time for us to start our 2009 World Cruise. In some ways, it seems like it was just yesterday that we got off the ship, but in actuality it was eight months ago. 2008 was a busy year with Mary Pat and me; we were away from home for more than 6 ½ months, and 2009 is starting with another four month voyage around the world.

Our son Todd drove us to the airport this morning for our morning flight to Los Angeles where we would spend the better part of three days at the Ritz Carlton Marina Del Rey at the Regent Seven Seas Council before boarding the Voyager for the world cruise. The council is a group of Regent’s top agencies that is being honored and invited to meet and discuss the current condition of the cruise industry. We are really looking forward to being a part of this council and the meetings.
After a change of planes in Houston, we arrived at LAX in mid afternoon and were immediately met by Regent representatives who greeted us by name and gathered our luggage from the carousel before leading us to our transfer coach where we joined Capt. Dag Dvergastein, master of the Voyager, and several other council members who, like us, had just arrived. It was a quick ride to our hotel, full of conversation on how we all spent 2008. We had a beautiful room at the hotel; large, well appointed, and with a beautiful view of the harbour.
Since our program was not scheduled to start for several hours, we checked out the spa and then walked along the boardwalk admiring the magnificent yachts in the harbor before returning to our room for a quick nap so that we would be alert for the cocktail party and dinner that started at 7pm.
The next two days were busy with a full schedule of meetings as well as some fun activities like the presentations by Jean-Michel Cousteau and international terrorist mediator, Terri Waite, and the awards dinner held at the Beverly Hills hotel featuring the entertainment of Richard (Dick) Sherman, who, along with his brother, was the creator of the music for Mary Poppins, Winnie the Pooh, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Jungle Book, and Winnie the Pooh.

On Monday afternoon, after checking out of the hotel, we gathered our luggage, and were driven to San Pedro, arriving at the pier 30 minutes later. We had no delays in boarding the ship but there was no way to get directly to our room because the second we cleared security, it was as if we had returned home after being away for a year. First, it was not a year, it has only been 8 months, but it was definitely like returning to our family. Elda, Dana, Jamie, Ian, Lynette, and many others who I recognized but whose name I could not recall just jumped into our arms with hugs and shrieks of joy. It was a marvelous homecoming. After lunch and a quick nap, our group got together again for our 6pm cocktail party in the Horizon lounge followed by a seated dinner in the specialtry restaurants. The time went by quickly as we discussed everything from children and grandchildren to our history and the evolution of the industry. Then it was time to head to the Constellation Theater for the special pre-world cruise entertainment program that was exclusively for the full world cruise passengers and the members of the Council. The performers were Frankie Valee and the four seasons. What a spectacular show!! They sang and performed outstanding choreography for close to 1 ½ hours as the audience cheered and danced in the aisles. It was a great start to our world cruise adventure.

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We were up at 7am, ate breakfast in the Lido, and at 8:30am. After saying goodbye to the members of the Council and the Regent executives with whom we had spent the last several days, we were ready to be world cruisers. We met the 16 other passengers who had signed up for the tour to the John P. Getty museum and disembarked the ship for the 45 minute drive to the Getty Museum. This architectural marvel took 10 years to build at a cost of more than $1 billion dollars. Getty passed away before its completion and so never saw the finished project. The grounds with its gardens were as beautiful as the architecture of the buildings. We had several hours to walk through the exhibits and did so until 12:30 when we rejoined the group for the ride back to the Voyager. Back on the ship, we had lunch, and finished just in time for the lifeboat drill after which we did some of the preparatory work of being an Ensemble host. We met with our front desk contact, talked with the concierge who we had met previously on the Mariner, and who will be assisting us throughout the cruise; and introduced ourselves to the travel concierge. About this time, our ship departed the California coastline and headed southwest towards the Society Islands and French Polynesia.

This evening, we had dinner in the Compass Rose restaurant with some close friends that we had spent time with on previous world cruise voyages. We had so much to talk about that we did not leave the restaurant until after 11pm, at which time we returned to the room and fell into bed. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

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LAND HO!
Finally, after six magnificent sea days, we have sighted land. It is the Marquesas Island chain, and this morning we anchor off shore at NUKU HIVA where we will take part in the ship wide excursion to a local site for a min-festival of native dancing, food, and crafts. The weather is pleasantly warm and quite sunny and everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to our first beautiful day ashore. We stayed here until 4pm when we started the 768 nautical mile journey to Papeete, Tahiti. We are scheduled to have a day at sea before arriving there on Thursday, January 22.

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Mary Pat started her day on a treadmill in the gym, while I spent the early morning enjoying the scenic approach into Papeete from our balcony. We docked at 8am; the weather was warm but not hot, and sunny, with a light breeze; perfect for our Ensemble excursion. We met our guests in the Voyager Lounge after which I disembarked to locate our coach. It was easy to find our guide as he and two beautiful Polynesian women were waiting pierside, each carrying an Ensemble sign. After introducing myself, I notified Mary Pat to send the group ashore. Soon thereafter, we were driving through the city as our guide pointed out the high points. After leaving Papeete behind, we took the coastal road along the West Shore to our first stop, a large and beautiful estate, originally built by ROBERT KEABLE, a well known British author of the 1920’s whose books included “Tahiti: Isle of Dreams”. This property is privately owned and does not normally allow visitors, but an exception was made for us. The current owners guided us through the grounds and magnificent gardens and explained the different varieties of trees, bushes, and flowers, after which we were served fresh fruit and juice in a gazebo overlooking the ocean and Tahiti Iti, a sister island. From here, we drove a short distance to the Taiarapu Peninsula for a luncheon buffet at Restaurant du Musee Gauguin. While enjoying the buffet, we were entertained by a group of Tahitian musicians and dancers. Later on, several members of our group, including Mary Pat, participated in the dancing. I took some photos, and a video, showing off her Polynesian dancing skills.

Before reboarding our coach, we walked through the large lagoon fish parks and watched the fish being fed. From there, we drove to the Vaipahi Gardens and Cascade where we took a short stroll through the flower-bedecked pathways. After returning to our coach, the sun started hiding behind some clouds, and it started to rain. While the rain at its heaviest, we arrived at the Mara’a fern grottos where we were to have a short stroll through the flowering gardens to see the main grotto, but the group decided they wanted to stay dry, so our guide discussed what we would have seen and we continued on to the next point of interest.

The rain stopped as quickly as it began so when we arrived at our next stopping point, Marae Arahurahu, the site of an ancient open air temple, the weather had returned to its prettiest of the day. Our guide led us through the temple and valley grounds while relating the history of this ancient structure and the Tikis’ that protect it.

Our final stop on our excursion was the Pointe des Pecheurs, the Museum of Tahiti and her Islands. We toured the museum, while learning the history of the migrations of the Polynesian peoples. Now, it was time to return to the ship. The rush hour traffic was headed away from Tahiti, in the opposite direction from the way we were driving so we did not have any delays returning to the pier, arriving there at 5:30pm.

We were completing our daily reports when we received a call that several our clients were holding poolside seats for us at the “Tahitian Island BBQ under the Polynesian Sky” so we quickly changed and headed for the open deck where it was already crowded with passengers staking out their spots. The BBQ included everything from a full roasted pig, to Tahitian delights and even Tex/Mex selections. I chose the latter. I always choose Tex/Mex when I get the opportunity. There was also a big dessert table that I also found quite tasty despite a nasty look from Mary Pat.

After dinner, we went to the 10:15 local entertainment show that was presenting “O’ Tahiti E”, a dance and rhythm group of 12 handsome and beautiful Tahitians, all of whom put on a great show, with a lot of gyrations. It was a full day with a lot of memories made, and a terrific opening act to this year’s world cruise.

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Our ship stayed overnight in Papeete on Thursday, but left there at 6am Friday for the two hour scenic cruise to Moorea. Upon arrival, a Tahitian group arrived unannounced and played instruments while beautiful pareo clad girls danced “Tahitian style” on the main staircase.

The scenery was spectacular and this was another beautiful day, so it was not difficult deciding to have a quick lunch and then taking the tender ashore. We did not stay long; just visited some of the shops on the pier as well as some stores along the waterfront before purchasing a couple of small gifts and then returning to the ship which lifted anchor at 6pm and headed for our next isle of paradise, Bora Bora, where after after being loyal to stretch class, we quickly changed into our touring clothes and caught the tender to the pier. I cannot believe that the weather is cooperating so well. Last year, it was just one horrible rainy day after another. This year, every day has been perfect; sunny, but not too hot; clear with a gentle breeze. Since we were not on an organized tour, we went to the tour & reception center where we made a call to the new and expensive St. Regis Resort. We asked if we could be permitted to have a site inspection. The resort agreed without a problem and sent a boat to pick us up for the 20 minute ride across the channel to the islands where the hotel was located. We found out that late last year, a film company chartered the entire property for 6 weeks for a movie that will be distributed this summer. That will fill up the resort! Because of the economy, they were not fully occupied so we got to see every variety of accommodations. This is a place that we would love to stay; everything is really top notch, pricey but well worth every bit of it. We really enjoyed our tour of the property and the grounds after which we had lunch in one of the restaurants on the edge of the magnificent emerald lagoon waters. We caught the 2pm transfer back to the public pier and then caught the ship tender back to the Voyager.
This evening, we had reservations for the opening night of the brand new ship concept of “dinner and a show”. Dinner was delicious and the three person show that featured songs from Oscar Hammerstein’s broadway shows was appreciated by everyone. The entertainment onboard the Voyager is so much better than it was last year. The new ownership has done a wonderful transformation of doing things so well and the night was far from over. The regular entertainment tonight featured a wonderful vocalist, DOLORES PARK, whose vocal renditions just added to the excellent performance we had seen earlier this evening. It was a fun day and a lovely evening.

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We were scheduled to anchor off-shore at 8am and go on an island tour. I was really looking forward to going ashore here because it would represent a new port that we could add to our list. But for the second time in two years, we could not get to shore because the swells were so high that Captain Dag did not want to risk injury to any of the guests. Last year, we never even got to see the island. At least this time, we were able to get photos of the island, but I still cannot say I was there because my feet did not touch the land of the island.

The natives living there must really be disappointed because for the second year in a row, they did not get to sell any of their handicrafts. The island actually looks beautiful with high mountains and lots of greenery.

After looking at the island, and recovering the tender that had originally been lowered, we sailed away and the cruise director announced that he was setting up a new schedule of lectures and activities that we took part in.

During the afternoon, I made arrangements to have balloons put on our door for Mary Pat’s birthday tomorrow so that I would not be accused of forgetting this special occasion.

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This was a sea day, and also the day before we were to cross the International Date Line. Since it was also Mary Pat’s birthday, she decided to forego her early morning exercise session. I got up to go to stretch class, but she is passing on that as well, so before leaving the room, I sang my best rendition of happy birthday, and gave her the birthday presents I had brought from home; one from me, another from Todd & Carolyn, and a third from Joe & Jill. As I was leaving our room, I noticed that the door was not decorated with the balloon bouquet that I ordered for her yesterday, so the first order of business was to find someone who could take care of that problem. With the help of the onboard cruise consultant, the general manager, and one of the assistant cruise directors, the problem was corrected and I was redeemed before she noticed the problem. I still had time to attend the stretch class. By the time I returned to the room, there were several birthday cards waiting in our mailbox. We had lunch together, and then returned to our room where the ship had sent her a chocolate birthday cake and two glasses of champagne. I was tired and laid down to take a short nap. By the time I woke up, she had eaten the entire cake. Meanwhile, birthday cards kept coming from other guests and crew members.

We had dinner in the fancy steak house with two couples, both of which also gave her cards, and one of which that gave her a Regent world cruise tee shirt. When it was time for dessert, the waiters brought another birthday cake and sang to her. This time however, the cake was shared with our friends. After dinner, we returned to the room and swore off food for the next couple of days.
As mentioned above, when we went to bed tonight, we passed the International Date Line which meant that we never had Wednesday, January 28. The calendar went directly to Thursday, January 29. Also, our time away from home switched from being 5 hours behind to being 19 hours ahead of the time in San Antonio.

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After two days of beautiful and calm cruising across the South Pacific Ocean, we arrived this morning at the idyllic Bay of Islands. The scenery was spectacular. Our weather remains bright and warm. We spent the morning relaxing, but at 1:45pm, caught the ship’s tender to shore for this year’s first exclusive world cruiser event, Maori Encounter at a Marae.

The Maoris are the indigenous people of New Zealand, having originally arrived from the Marquesas Islands by canoe more than 1,000 years ago. The treaty of Waitangi between the British and leading Maori chiefs that gave sovereignty of New Zealand to the British was signed on February 6, 1840. Our excursion explained Maori history and culture as we visited this authentic and traditional Maori Marae (meeting place).

After disembarking our tender, we transferred to a coach for a 30 minute ride across the New Zealand countryside to the Marae where we were given a traditional Maori welcome with all the protocols observed. After being welcomed into the Marae, the elders explained the significance of the carvings and we were treated to a cultural performance featuring the action songs and dances of the Maori people. We also had the opportunity to walk through the grounds and had a light snack while observing some of the crafts and skills of the people. We left the Marae at 5:30 and arrived back on the ship at 6:15pm.

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The segment passengers left the ship as we went to stretch class. After a quick breakfast, we purchased some New Zealand currency, and then disembarked the ship, walked over to the ferry terminal and purchased a tour of Devonport. This is the resort town on the other side of the 15 minute ferry ride from Auckland.

We enjoyed the ferry ride despite the cloudy skies, but by the time we docked on the other side of the waterway, it was already sunny. After a short walkabout, we boarded a minicoach for the one hour scenic tour. Our first stop was at North Head where we purchased a cookie from two young girls selling baked goods from a basket that they carried over their arm. This stop offered a spectacular view of Cheitenham Beach and a sighting of the America Cup course. We actually saw several of the tall ships practicing for the competition.

From here, we drove to Mt. Victoria for another scenic stop, and drove through past the wealthy residential district and several historical sites as well before returning to town.

Always ready for a meal, we had lunch in a charming open air café before catching the ferry back to Auckland. Two friends from San Antonio were boarding just as we returned to the Voyager, so after exchanging greetings, we walked them through the boarding process, and then invited them to join us for tea and dinner also. It is nice having friends from home join us because it lets us catch up with what is going on in San Antonio.

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Before going to stretch class this morning, we exchanged anniversary cards to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Almost all of our friends and many of the crew knew it was our special day and offered their congratulations. Other than that, it was a normal day at sea with morning lectures and an afternoon watching the Super Bowl.
The evening dress code was formal because the ship was celebrating the welcome aboard party for the 2d segment passengers. We did not attend the party but were dressed in time to meet friends at Signatures for our anniversary dinner. It is interesting that one of the maitre d’s told me that we could not have our dinner there, but the general manager along with the restaurant manager overruled her and made the arrangements for us personally. It was a lovely dinner topped off by a delicious chocolate anniversary cake that they insisted we have despite Mary Pat not wanting to be tempted by a dessert that she enjoys. It was very nice of them to be so accommodating for us, and I appreciate their hospitality a lot. It says a lot for the way Regent takes care of their passengers.

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Our ship docked at 8am on a sunny day that was cool enough for a light jacket. The scenery in Picton is absolutely alpine in nature, similar to Alaska but maybe better because this part of New Zealand has tall fjords, glaciated lakes, and lots of small boats. We had cancelled our morning tour, “farmlands and waterways” in favor of following the blue painted line to town and visiting the local market that was set up because of the visiting cruise ship. After Mary Pat found a treasure that she wanted, we returned to the ship for lunch, and then disembarked again for the special shore event planned by Regent for its world cruisers. We were driven to the Montana Winery for a very nice program starting with a glass of sauvignon blanc and heavy canapés, followed by a tour of the wine making facility. After socializing and learning about the vineyard, we started back to our coach for the ride to our ship, and were each presented with a goody bag filled with a bottle of their reserve wine, a bottle of olive oil, and a mix that could be added to the olive oil for dipping with bread.

The Voyager pulled away from its dock at 6pm, and we quickly got ready for cocktails and dinner with four friends during which we all discussed what a lovely event this had been, and how fantastic the weather has been compared to last year.

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Since the exclusive shipwide event for the passengers did not start until 11am, we had enough time to attend the daily stretch class, during which the Voyager anchored off the shore of this French enclave. The clouds had rolled in and threatened rain so we put on jackets for the first time on this cruise, but they were strictly to protect us from rain and not cool weather. Fortunely, the rain never came and the weather stayed cool but pleasant.

After tendering to shore, we boarded one of the coaches for our “French Day in Akaroa. The event was held at the Akaroa Village Green in a series of tents set up for entertainment, patisserie, Charcuterie, Bistro, and Petite Fours. There was other entertainment being performed in the open so it was like a three ring circus. In addition to all this activity, there were a large number of additional tents that housed shops with locally made handicrafts, jewelry and clothing; I found puau shell sailboat that I could not resist. There was also a caricaturist who spent the day making complimentary sketches of the guests.

This was one of the best events that Regent has done and was enjoyed by everyone. We stayed the entire afternoon and returned to the pier on one of the last coaches, catching the final tender back to the ship. The Voyager lifted its anchor 3pm, and sailed the short distance to Lyttelton, arriving there at 6pm. Many of the passengers went to dinner in town, but we opted to enjoy another evening on the ship and had dinner with a couple from California who are here with their two young children. We obviously found a lot to talk about because we continued talking and eating until 10:30pm, and were the last people to leave the dining room. As a result, we missed any chance of attending the evening entertainment, but had a lovely evening.

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Today’s adventure was the result of one of the ship tours that visited the International Antarctic Centre, built as a result of a joint venture, known as Operation deep freeze, between the U.S.A., New Zealand and Antarctica. There were just 17 passengers that signed up for this tour which gave everyone a lot of room on the coach. Although we had a wonderful cruise to Antarctica last year, that adventure just whetted our appetite for more information about this fantastic part of our planet. This tour did not disappoint us.

The drive to our destination took 30 minutes, and took us through the Lyttelton tunnel and the city of Christchurch. The exhibits in the center include displays depicting life and work on the frozen continent, including experiencing sub-zero conditions in a specially designed blizzard room; a film, “the great White South”; and a Penguin Encounter enclosure where we observed the little blue penguins (also known as fairy penguins) in their marine environment.

The tour also included a ride on a genuine Hagglund All Terrain Snowmobile, used by the U.S. and New Zealand staff for their joint Antarctic programs. The ride was on an outdoor adventure course simulating the Antarctic terrain of steep inclines, glaciated pools of water, and up to 30 degree tilts while climbing and descending various mounds of earth.

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Today’s tour, “Timaru town & country, with steam train” took us through the town’s main street with its Victorian and Edwardian architecture, after which we drove through the very scenic countryside to the town of Pleasant Point where we climbed aboard the fully restored rail cars of the AB699 steam locomotive for a brief ride to the steam railroad museum.

Afterwards, we reboarded our coach for another short ride in the country to the Richard Pearse Memorial, dedicated to his first powered air flight on March 31, 1903. This flight was nine months prior to the flight of the Wright Brothers in the United States.

Our next destination was Geraldine, a small town settled in the 1850’s, and the heart of a prosperous farming area for sheep, cattle, dairy cows and deer. It is also renowned for its artists and is a haven for retirees. We had refreshments in a private home with beautiful gardens and had time to meet and talk with the couple who lived there, before going to the town center where Mary Pat and I visited a shop called the Giant jersey, a shop listed in the Guiness Book of World Records because it is the location of the world’s largest sweater. This shop is also known for a stunning metal tapestry made from two million pieces of steel which is a replica of the Medieval Bayeux tapestry of William the Great’s conquest of Britain. It was created by Michael Linton in a project that took 20 years (1979-1999). Mr. Linton was at the store this afternoon, and I spent some time talking with him about his project.

After this quick visit, we returned to the ship in time for our departure at 2pm. This evening was the opening night of the 2d segment offering of “dinner and a show” for which we had reservations. The special entertainer brought in for this four night performance, by reservation only, was an Australian vocalist, Rhonda Burchmore.

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We were too tired to go to stretch class; in fact for one of a very few times, Mary Pat did not go to the gym at all. I went to breakfast at 9am as our ship was cruising Dusky Sound. The scenery was fantastic. I had lunch just after noon as our ship was cruising Doubtful Sound. The scenery was spectacular. At 4:00pm, after an enrichment lecture on the subject of “who owns the oceans and the Seas” and a cup of tea, our ship was cruising Milford Sound. Rather than continuing to snack, Mary Pat and I roamed the ship to find the perfect place to photograph the spectacularly fantastic scenery. Everywhere we went was crowded with passengers.

The temperature had been cold all day but this afternoon, despite being cloudy, the temperature had warmed to a comfortable level. We joined the crowds and took some great photos.

As we left Milford Sound, we returned to our room to download our treasured pictures and then ate the Italian fare at La Veranda where we discussed the magnificent scenery that we had just experienced. What a great day this had been!

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At 6am, our ship docked at Tasmania, a mere 12 hours after the time we were scheduled to arrive. We were delayed because of the headwinds and 44 foot swells that we had encountered during the last two days.

It was 7am, when the message was loudly broadcasted into our suite announcing a mandatory face-to-face meeting with Australian immigration authorities for all passengers and crew, so we jumped out of bed, into clothes, and proceeded to the constellation theater for the check-in after which we went upstairs for breakfast. We had not signed up for a tour today, so when some friends suggested that we walk around town together, we agreed. Soon thereafter, we all left the ship and got on the complimentary shuttle to the city information center. We had been told to expect temperature of over 100 degrees in Australia, but that was obviously a different part of Australia. The temperature in Hobart was 58 degrees and windy, so we were all wearing jackets.

Our plan was to get the ferry to the Cadbury chocolate factory where we would tour the plant and sample the chocolates. I had visions of Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory dancing in my head, but the vision clouded over when we were told that Cadbury had stopped allowing visits. We now had to proceed with plan #2, a 1 ½ hour double-decker on-off bus tour that took us around the city while the driver described the sights. It was not as good as our dream of the chocolate factory, but we did enjoy the tour.

By now, it was time for lunch, and everyone had been talking about the fist & chips eateries on the pier, so that was our next stop. The girls chose a pub called the Fish Frenzy on the waterfront. I was told that everything was very tasty. I enjoyed my Greek salad very much.

It was still early and our ship was not leaving Hobart until 6:30pm so we walked to the open air Hobart Mall which was very nice, and exceptionally clean. From there, we continued our travels and visited the Salamanca market area. The buildings in this part of town were 1850’s vintage waterfront warehouses that had been converted to galleries, restaurants and cafés. By now, it was time for a snack. The popular choice was ice cream so we returned to the ship and our treat.

The Voyager left on schedule to the sounds of bagpipes played by a group in kilts. Everyone applauded each highland tune and waved as we headed into the Tasman Sea for our 38 hour cruise to Sydney. Everyone is hoping for calmer seas than the ones that brought us to Hobart.

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When we woke up and threw open the drapes, we were treated to the breathtaking view of Circular Quay and the Sydney Opera house because our ship had already docked in Sydney harbor. We had slept through the entire approach. No matter how many times we come to Sydney, we never get tired of the view from our balcony. It is even more meaningful because tonight, we will be in the opera house watching and listening to two operas: Cavalleria Rusticana (by Pietro Mascagni), followed by Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci.

But that is tonight; we still had a full day to explore places we had never seen on previous visits. Therefore, after breakfast, we walked to the Opera House to pick up our tickets for tonight’s performance, and then boarded a ferry to the Taronga Zoological Park, a place we had only heard about but never visited.

After the short ride across the harbor, we rode the cable car to the top of the mountain on which the zoo was built. Now, all of our walking through the zoo would be downhill, and after seeing the exhibits, we would end up on the harbor level where the return ferry would be waiting to take us back to Sydney.

We started with the Australian exhibit, including the new koala habitat, and then visited the areas of the other marsupials before proceeding to the Southern Ocean exhibits, where we watched the seal & sea lion show. This performance was not only entertaining, it was very educational as well, and so much more professionally done than a SeaWorld show at home. There was so much to see and do, but by now, the time had gotten away from us, so we had a quick sandwich in one of the dining areas and headed for the ferry terminal to return to Sydney and our ship so we might be able to relax for a few moments before taking off again for our classical evening entertainment. We ate a sandwich before leaving the ship, and after the half-hour stroll, were in our seats at 7pm. The curtain went up 30 minutes later for Cavalleria Rusticana. There was a thirty minute intermission between the two performances during which I bought each of us an ice cream, after which we the curtain rose for Pagliacci, my favorite of the two operas we were seeing this evening. This was the first time we had seen either of these two operas.
During the intermission, we noticed that it had started to rain, and by the time we left the theater at 10:45pm, it was pouring in earnest. Luckily, Mary Pat had brought an umbrella so we did not get too wet, but she did ruin her shoes which made her unhappy. The walk back to the ship was still pretty, even in the rain. Back on the ship, as we returned to our room, we could see the luggage being placed in the hallways by passengers who were leaving the ship tomorrow morning. We are losing 200 passengers and getting just 100 more as we start the 3d segment of our world cruise tomorrow.
Friday morning started with the segment guests leaving for the airport or their post cruise hotels, after which the newly embarking passengers boarded the ship. It was still raining but it was our final day in Sydney and we wanted to explore more of the area known as “the Rocks”. This is where “the first fleet” of 11 British ships made its landing in January, 1788. First of all, Mary Pat wanted to eat in “Fish on the Rocks”, a restaurant that our friends had found yesterday, after which we strolled through the local markets and the shops as well. We also had dinner plans but cancelled them when it continued to rain the entire day. After several hours of shopping and sightseeing, we returned to the ship and just admired the scenery from our balcony and the observation deck where we sipped cocktails with friends while discussing what we liked best about Sydney, Australia

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After a pleasant day cruising the Bass Strait, we arrived at Melbourne. We have visited this city several times in recent years, so even though the Voyager docked, and cleared customs procedures early this morning, we had a leisurely morning. We attended stretch class and had breakfast before leaving the ship, and traveling to town on the complimentary shuttle. After arriving there, we caught the city tourist trolley, with friends, to the Queen Victoria market, where we spent several hours roaming through the many stalls.

The market included souvenirs from every country that we were going to visit during our world cruise. We could have purchased everything we wanted right there, and saved a lot of time, and probably money too, over the next 2 ½ months, but did not do so. The weather was perfect today, and everyone we talked with was very welcoming; it was an enjoyable day.

In mid afternoon, with pangs of hunger approaching (we had not eaten in several hours), we decided to return to the ship by taxi. Unfortunately, our driver had just arrived from Somalia and could not find the pier, so he took us to the shuttle stop in town. From there, we boarded the shuttle, returned to the ship, and headed directly for the coffee corner for sandwiches and cookies (great diet!).

We had a late dinner and relaxed the rest of the evening, looking forward to a restful day at sea tomorrow.

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I discovered that the ride from the pier to Adelaide was 50 minutes each way, but that there was a place only 10 minutes from the pier known as Port Adelaide. This little village of just 20,000 people was a historical location with colonial structures that had been preserved; it was also the location of one of the best maritime museums in all of Australia; also, we had spent several days in Adelaide a couple of years ago. For all of these reasons, I decided that Port Adelaide would be the place to visit during our short day in this beautiful part of Australia.

After an extended conversation, the shuttle driver agreed to drop me off where I had decided to go, and he took me to the center of the little town. As I was walking past some of the heritage sites, I saw an old fashioned barber shop with wood barber chairs that had to be more than 100 years old. I really needed a haircut, and had been hesitating to get one on the ship because it would cost $45. I went inside and found not only a place to get a reasonable haircut (US$9), but also a place that provided interesting conversation, plus a lot of information about the town. I also discovered that the barber had a neighbor who was born in San Antonio, TX so it must have been fate that brought me to this shop. After saying goodbye to my new found friends, I walked through the small town taking photos of different buildings while heading toward the maritime museum where I spent several hours. I had to be back on board by 6pm, and therefore had the manager call a taxi for me to take me back to the ship.

I had just enough time to visit some of the shops at the pier before boarding the Voyager and watching the shoreline as we pulled away to start our transit of the Australian Bight, usually a rough passage. Just after getting back to my room, there was a knock at the door. When I opened it, it was Dick & Lana Breakie who had bought me a bottle of sparking shiraz wine as a gift. This particular wine is not exported out of Australia, and I promised to share it with them at dinner.

There was an announcement this evening that the ship’s clocks would be turned back 30 minutes this evening. That leaves us only 16 hours ahead of the time in San Antonio. It is just another indication of how fast this cruise is going by. This was day 35.

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It took two full sea days to get here. The seas, though, were a lot calmer than we had expected which made it a pleasant cruise through the infamous Australian Bight.

This morning, Mary Pat woke me up at 7:15am because thirty minutes from then, we were to meet in the theatre for our 2 ½ hour tour to Torndirrup national park & Whaleworld museum. She advised that it was going to be 80 degrees outside, so I would not need a jacket. She was only slightly wrong about the weather and jacket. Once outside, I found that it was 65 degrees and windy. Other than that, it was a perfect morning.

The national park had breathtaking views of the sea and several natural rock formations where the waves crashed into the shore with tremendous ferocity. The whaling museum was originally an actual whaling station, and our visit offered us a look into how, in its heyday, the Cheynes Beach Whaling Company took up to 850 whales out of the nearby waters for their blubber and meat. Luckily for the whales, this practice was outlawed in 1978.

After our tour of the museum, we drove through the charming city of Albany (population 30,000) on the way back to our ship. This was a short visit, and at noon, we left our moorings and headed for our next port of call, “FreeO” (Fremantle) where we will be tomorrow morning.

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We arrived in FreeO, as the locals call it on a beautiful, and sunny, day. We did not have a scheduled shore excursion, and so just took the shuttle to the downtown South Terrace area where we walked along the Cappuccino Strip with its outdoor café atmosphere.

Fremantle is a charming city with interesting architecture. We found and walked through one of the local markets where we purchased several small souvenirs including a couple of delicious cookies that we could not resist. Continuing our stroll through town, we observed a woman singing at an outdoor market. Her operatic voice was spectacular; I could not believe that someone with her talent would be singing at a market to sell her CD’s. I talked with her for a short time during which she told me that there was just no place for a classical singer to perform these days. After telling her how much I appreciated her voice, I purchased one of her CD’s.

Next, we caught a local trolley to the maritime museum shipwreck gallery where we spent some time exploring the history of some of the ships that visited Western Australia in its early days before deciding that it was time to sample one of the famous fish & chips restaurants along the Swan River and the Indian Ocean. We ate along the waterfront at an open air café, after which we returned to our ship.

This evening we had dinner with one of the Voyager’s enrichment speakers, David Aguilar, and his wife. He is one of the best presenters we have heard, and is also the director of science information and public education programs at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA—the largest astronomical research organization in the world, and they are both very interesting dinner companions. After dinner, we enjoyed the late evening talents of Jerry Vasi, his voice, impressions, and his guitar before calling it a day.

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Yesterday was spent cruising the Indian Ocean, but it was a busy day starting with stretch class, gym activity, four lectures, three meals, two snacks, and a party honoring the Philippine workers on the ship.

There had been a lot of discussion about the fact that the on-board destination lecturer had cautioned us that his scheduled visits by ship, at Exmouth, had been cancelled on 6 of his last 7 attempts because of the rough ocean swells, but we did not have that problem today. The Voyager anchored off shore in calm waters at 10am. This was our first visit to this port, and it was also Captain Dag’s first time here as well.

Since our 2 ½ hour tour, Cape & Canyon Exploration, was not departing until 1:15pm, I started my day with the daily stretch class, and then worked on computer projects and had lunch before Mary Pat boarded the ship’s tender for the 15 minute ride to pierside. After boarding our bus, and driving past the prawn fishery, we drove up the vertical Charles Knife Road, while the coach groaned its objections, to view the stark multi colored gorges. The outside temperature was 107 degrees, so no one really wanted to spend too much time outside of the coach. From here we drove past the Harold Holt Communication Station that is jointly operated by the USA and Australia before heading to another scenic spot, the Vlamingh Head Lighthouse from where we had a birds-eye view of the town and surrounding area. We then returned to our waiting tender and our ship just in time to hear the anchor being raised so we could continue toward our next port of call, Bali.

There had been no time for shopping, which was a good thing since I had spent the balance of my Australian currency in Fremantle a couple of days ago. This evening, we had dinner with Captain Dag, the ship hostess, Amanda, and two other couples. The conversation was lively and interesting.

Before going to bed, we found out that the ship was changing its clocks again at midnight, moving them back another hour. As of tomorrow morning, we will now be 14 hours ahead of time in San Antonio.

[StephMar]

Hi Jay and Mary Pat,

I just got off of the phone with Roger Reinhardt and he wanted me to give Jay a message, "NO COOKIES!" but it seems he is too late! Miss you both!

Stephanie

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Our ship lowered its anchor off Padang Bai Wednesday at noon. We caught one of the early tenders to the pier where our driver was waiting to take us to the Four Seasons Beach Resort at Jimbaran Bay. We have reservations in a waterfront villa for this evening. During the 2 hour ride, we saw some beautiful scenery and also visited Kertha Gosa, a Hindu temple.

The resort was everything we hoped it would be, and we instantly concluded that it was a good decision when we decided to make a reservation to spend the night here. The gardens were lovely and the scenery was spectacular. Also, we had the pleasure of being greeted by a junior hostess who presented each of us with a floral boutonnière. After a welcome cocktail, we were driven to our villa. We were really happy with what we saw when we walked through the gateway: an outdoor fully decorated living/dining area with a bowl of fresh fruit set out for us; an enclosed private garden, fountain and splash pool; a large bedroom with a canopied bed, a lovely dressing area, a bathtub with flowers floating in the water, and three showers, one of which was outside in a separate private garden.

After freshening up, we decided to explore the 35 acres of gardens and honeymoon beaches, and then visited the resort shops, and had an early poolside dinner. We returned to our villa with time to relax before our massage therapists showed up for our 3 hour spa treatments. They were very efficient and set up massage tables in the bedroom. I had requested a package that included a scalp, head and shoulder massage, followed by a full body massage and then a facial. The time just flew by. I couldn’t believe the three hours had gone by when my therapist said she was finished. Mary Pat felt exactly the same. We were both very relaxed and ready for a good night’s sleep.

The following morning was spent laughing and playing in our plunge pool until Mary Pat heard someone talking on the walkway beneath our villa. Luckily they left, and we were able to return to being alone again. All too soon, it was time to get dressed, leave our villa, and start back to the ship. We checked out at noon, and drove back to Padang Bai, stopping to tour the famous Goa Lawah Temple with its bat cave along the way. We got to the pier at 2pm, and boarded the tender for the transfer back to the Voyager.

It seemed like this night away was a dream, but it was also nice to be back in our room on the ship, even though we no longer had the scenic view, or the private plunge pool. We were having a hot dog and ice cream lunch on deck as our ship lifted its anchor and started our three day cruise into the Makassar strait on a heading for Manila, our next port of call.

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This morning before waking up, our ship passed the equator. We will no longer see the Southern Cross Constellation, because we have left the Southern Hemisphere, but will be able to observe the North Star plus Ursa major and Ursa Minor constellations of the northern hemisphere.

After lunch, we celebrated the event with a Country Fair on the open deck. Everyone participated, and prizes were raffled off, but we did not win any of them.

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We were awakened at 7am to the sounds of drums, a lot of drums. We jumped out of bed, flew to the balcony, threw open the draperies, and stepped out where, before our eyes, was the panorama of the city skyline of Manila, and in the foreground were the musicians and the dancers who were performing for us. Right behind them were tents, set up as shops. One of the tents was the tee shirt shop that all of us have been waiting for. Only the Philippinos know how to create tee shirts with the names of the crew and the itinerary of the ship. Before the day was over, the entire inventory of those tee shirts would be sold.

As we watched the faces of our ship’s crew members, we were touched by their tears of joy and happiness. They and their families hugged as kissed each other in greeting; the children jumped with joy into the arms of the parents that they had not seen in months. These children are raised by grandparents, or the spousal partner who stays home with them while the other parent, or parents, leave home to work on our ship so they can earn the money necessary to provide for their families back in the Philippines.

These tears created a strong emotion in us that could only be matched by the tears of sadness and separation that flowed as the sun set that evening, when the Voyager left Manila to continue its world cruise. But it had been a wonderful day for the families who had spent the day with their relatives whose job takes them to so many faraway places. With the memories they created this day, they will hopefully breathe easier until their loved ones return home on their scheduled vacations in the near future.

All of us, the passengers, the officers, and the Philippine crew members stood on deck waving to the families who still remained on the pier to bid goodbye to their loved family members. As our ship pulled out of sight of the mainland, several of our friends on the crew cried on our shoulders before they were able to compose themselves, put on their happy faces, and return to their jobs, secure in the knowledge that they are providing for their families in the best way that they can.

Until they return to their home and country, we will be their families, and we will watch over them and praise them for what they do, because I doubt that many of us would have the strength and the courage to do what they are doing for their children.

I hope that my photos adequately reflect what we saw this day, and the awe and respect that we feel for the Philippine crew members of the Seven Seas Voyager. It was very emotional to be a part of their reunion celebration that was so quickly followed by another separation from their families.

[cruisetour]

You are right about that. tell him i'm sorry about it too.
Jay

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Today started just like other days at sea with stretch class followed by a wonderful enrichment lecture by Robin Hanbury-Tenison, the anthropologist who is also a cousin of the famous poet of the same surname. Today’s subject was a series of books that he has written that he is calling, “seven long rides around the world”. I purchased one of these volumes which describes his adventures as he and his wife, Louella, rode their horses along 1,000 miles of China’s great wall. I also purchased his latest book, “the 70 great journeys in history”.

While he was autographing my purchases, he commented that it would be more profitable for me if he just signed his name and did not personalize them to me because they would have more value that way. It seems that several passengers on the ship have inquired about the great journeys book, but since he only brought one copy, and I was the first to request it, I am getting it. Several other passengers offered to buy it from me at a profit, but I am not interested in selling.

We had already picked up the pilot and were approaching Shanghai, but did not dock at the International cruise terminal (GaoYang Passenger Pier) until 2:45pm. The Chinese immigration and Border control inspection started immediately, and was not completed until 4pm.

At 5:30pm, everyone who had signed up to see the complimentary Chinese Acrobat performance met in the constellation theatre. Soon thereafter, we left the ship to board the coaches for the ride to the Portman Ritz Carlton hotel. Four of our clients who are boarding the Voyager in Shanghai were staying there for their pre-cruise package. As we entered the auditorium, two of them (Joan & Charlie) were there to greet us. Since we had extra tickets, we visited and caught up on what we had been doing since January 10th, and then they stayed for the performance. It was a wonderful show that everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Afterwards, we returned to the ship, finished packing for our private excursion that would leave early tomorrow morning, and went to bed.

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Friday morning, we had breakfast with Dick & Lana, who were joining us on our four night adventure to Hangzhou (pronounced hahng-SHOW) and Nanjing. It was 10am when we disembarked and found our guide waiting for us at the foot of the gangway holding a sign with our names. We drove to the train depot where we boarded the high speed train to Hangzhou. We had 1st class seats, and so were very comfortable. The ride took just 75 minutes. After arriving in Hangzhou, we left the train, and were introduced to our new guide by the one who had accompanied us there, and who would now return to Shanghai. The Hangzhou guide and his helpers took our luggage to the Buick minivan that was waiting for us after which we were driven to the Fuchon Resort where we had reservations for two nights in lake view suites.
This resort is the most exclusive golf and spa resort in mainland China. Conde Nast Traveler has described it as one of the best hotels in the world. After checking in and being taken to our rooms, we set off for our first planned activity. It was a two hour spa session which included eleven different elements, including a full body massage. The therapists were wonderful and very thorough.
We only had a short amount of time after the spa session, and definitely no time to relax or have dinner before the four of us were back in our minivan. We had VIP reservations to see the ‘Impression West Lake’ performance. This fantastic show was created by the Chinese director, Zhang Yimou, who also created the opening ceremony at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and this performance matched that one in every category; but it was better because we saw it in person. The entire show was performed on the surface of West Lake, a body of water where a stage had been installed just one inch below the surface. As a result, it appeared that the 300 actors are all walking on water. The lighting effects were spectacular, and the music was haunting, but beautiful. The theme of the presentation was a touching love story from Chinese History. We were entranced by the presentation and though it lasted for more than 1 ½ hours, it sure did not seem that long.

We had originally planned to have dinner in a nice restaurant after the show, but even though we weren’t tired, we opted to skip the meal and just return to our resort. We got back to the hotel at 11:30pm, and went to the lounge for a nightcap so we could discuss the day’s activities before returning to our rooms for the night.

It was a short night because we met the Dick & Lana at 7:30am for breakfast. Soon thereafter, we were off and running for our full day of sightseeing in this beautiful city, that is referenced in a Chinese proverb that when translated into English says,
“When you want to eat in China, you go to Canton; when you want to shop in China, you go to Shanghai; and when you want to live in China, you go to Hangzhou”.
As we drove around the city, I could see why the proverb is so true. Hangzhou is truly a beautiful city, a paradise of gardens, parks, lakes & rivers, and happy people all enjoying life here. The only downside that we experienced was the traffic where no-one stayed in their lanes, where everyone passed each other on both the left and the right, and where no-one observed any traffic signals so that red lights were of no consequence. Dick and I both decided that there is no way that we would ever consider driving a vehicle here even though they drive on the same side of the street as we do in the United States.

Today’s touring including a private boat cruise of picturesque West Lake; a wonderful lunch at a unique restaurant featuring Shanghai, Southeast Asian and Cantonese dishes; a visit to a beautiful Bonsai garden; and the Longjing (Dragon Well) Tea Plantation where we were treated to a tea ceremony, and could not resist purchasing different varieties of the local green teas after hearing all of the health benefits that are accrued by drinking them.

We returned to our resort at 4:30pm and immediately headed for our next spa sessions which were even better than the ones yesterday. Afterwards, Dick and I had a private conversation about the differences between massage treatments in the United States and China. We had dinner in the “Eastern Dining Room” at the hotel, after which we returned to our rooms to get a good night’s sleep because we are leaving Hangzhou tomorrow and travelling to Nanjing.

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After an early breakfast, we said goodbye to the wonderful staff at our resort in Hangzhou. We each received a gift from the general manager as we climbed into our Buick minivan for the transfer to the train station where we would again board another high speed train that would take us to Nanjing, the Southern capital of China. Today’s ride on the train would take four hours before we arrived at our destination. The time flew by as we powered along at a speed of 200 kph. After arriving, we were introduced to our new guide. He escorted us to our van for the transfer to the Kayumanis (“cinnamon” in Balinese) Nanjing Resort where the four of us had reservations for the best accommodations on the property—adjoining two bedroom private villas with water views.

After check-in, which included a welcome drink and warmed towel to refresh ourselves, we had a quick lunch together in the dining room, and then went to the spa for the 30 minute back and shoulder massage that was included in our package. Afterwards, we had some time to relax and get ready for our tour this evening.

Our guide picked us up at 6pm and took us to a local restaurant where we sampled typical fare for this part of China. After dinner, we walked through one of the local markets and then boarded our private boat for a one hour cruise on the Qin Huai river. This river is a major tributary of the Yangtze River. During our hour on the water, we cruised past riverfront restaurants, bustling flea markets, and lots of shops.

From here, we walked a short distance to the ancient Confucius temple that was built several centuries ago, during the Song Dynasty. Our guide explained the philosophical teachings of this man who shaped all of China’s thinking. After completing our visit through the grounds and outbuildings, we returned to our resort. We were too tired to try out the natural spring hot tub and just went to bed.

Breakfast was delivered to our room at 7:30am. Our guide showed up at 9am to start our full day of sightseeing. First on our agenda was a drive through the city and a visit to Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s mausoleum and gardens. This is a very popular place of pilgrimage among Chinese tourists because he is regarded as the father of Modern China. Everywhere we walked, the plum blossoms were blooming and the scent of the blossoms permeated the air. The mausoleum was placed on the top of a hill so we had a lot of climbing to get there, but the building, and the view of the city beneath us was breathtaking, so the climb was well worth the effort.

From here, while our guide gave us a running commentary on the history of Nanjing, we drove to the Ming Xiaoling Tomb, the final resting place for emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress sMa of the Ming Dynasty. This is one of China’s largest imperial tombs; the 600 year old site is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We had lunch at a local restaurant selected by our guide. There was no English on the menu so we had to select our choices by the pictures of the plated meals, and by the suggestions of our guide. We still had a lot to see and so ate quickly.

After our lunch break, we drove to the presidential palace, one of the most important and elegant sites in the whole of Nanjing. It had been the center for the Chiang Kai-shek nationalist government regime for 20 years. Some parts of the palace were built more than 600 years ago. We walked through several of the ceremonial rooms and offices of the president, before strolling through the gardens, pavilions, and water ponds before reboarding our van to drive to the Nanjing Folklore Museum, where we saw the city’s most important cultural and historical artifacts.

We had one more stop to make, the ancient city wall. We climbed a section of the wall and witnessed the magnificent view of the city from the top. The wall was built by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming Dynasty more than 600 years ago to protect Nanjing from invaders; originally 33.5 km, more than 20km still encircles the ancient city.

Before returning to our resort, we stopped at the Fu Zi Miao flea market, one of the fun venues in Nanjing. There were lots of bargains to be had here, but I resisted except for some cookies that I shared with everyone. We were scheduled to have dinner before returning to the hotel, but opted instead to finish the day by relaxing in the privacy of Dick and Lana’s heated, natural spring, hot tub while sharing a bottle of wine, along with an assortment of crackers and cheese. None of us had any trouble falling asleep after that.

On our next morning, we requested an even earlier breakfast so that we could spend some time in our hot tub, before tossing on a robe and calling for a golf cart to take us to the spa where we had scheduled a two hour massage. After being rubbed, stretched, turned over, and oiled up, we were served a pot of delicious ginger tea. Now it was time to return to our room to get ready to depart for the airport. Before leaving, the general manager met with us and presented us with a departing gift, as he wished us god speed with hopes that we return to Nanjing for another visit soon. We left Kayumanis Resort at noon and drove to the airport where we relaxed in the VIP lounge until time to board our Dragon Air flight for Hong Kong. Our plane departed at 2:15pm.

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Our flight landed at Hong Kong International Airport at 5pm. We quickly went through customs, collecting our luggage, and meeting our guide. While our car drove toward Kowloon, we had to admire the skyline of the city.

We caught a ferry to our ship from the Star Ferry Terminal after which Dick & Lana were taken to the Peninsula hotel. After quickly depositing our luggage in our room and returning our passports to the front desk, we jumped back onto another ferry back to Kowloon where we met Dick & Lana for a dinner featuring Peking duck. From here, we went to the Hong Kong night market for some shopping.

We returned to the pier at 11pm only to discover that we had just missed the ferry back to our ship and that that there was a one hour wait until the next one was scheduled to arrive. However, we were lucky because the Voyager’s general manager arrived at the pier shortly after we did. I think he did, or said, something because shortly thereafter, another ferry magically appeared that took all of us back to our ship.

The next morning, we returned to Kowloon for a final day of shopping with Dick and Lana before having to say goodbye to them. They are heading home from here, while we are continuing with our world cruise. We enjoyed our adventures together, and look forward to sharing more fun times next year.

The day flew by as Mary Pat and Lana shopped first for purses, then for eyeglasses, and finally for fancy pashmina shawls. After a goodbye hug and kiss, we left our friends and joined the ship’s passengers for an evening event at Hong Kong’s Happy Valley race track. Everyone enjoyed the festivities that offered beautiful views of the city, a delicious buffet dinner, and the opportunity to win some money betting on the horses. Unfortunately, I did not pick any winners.

The party was over at 10pm and our ship lifted its anchor as soon as we returned. We stood on our balcony admiring the lights of the city as we left Hong Kong harbour and headed into the South China Sea where we would spend all day tomorrow before arriving in Chan May, Vietnam on Friday.

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Many of the local people still use the former name of this city, Saigon, when they discuss where they live. It is a city on the move with a growing skyline that we have not seen during previous visits. Many people dress in modern clothes and the girls wear lots of silks instead of peasant dress. They also have more cars, and definitely more scooters; there are fewer pedal bicycles. This is definitely a city of contrast and change.

Sunday morning, we hosted the Ensemble Vietnamese Culinary Experience tour to our group. Our guide was waiting for us at the gangway when I went ashore to find him. After signaling Mary Pat to send our passengers ashore, we boarded the coach for a 20 minute drive to the downtown market where we met our chef and his helpers. They guided us through the market place while introducing us to the various ingredients we would be using in our cooking class.

After experiencing the market, we drove to the Vietnam Cookery Center where the chef taught us how to make a delicious dipping sauce, tasty Vietnamese spring rolls, a sweet and sour soup, and how to cook a caramelized sea bass in a clay pot. We each were provided with all of the ingredients and a small stove to prepare the delicacies, and when they were fully cooked, we ate our creations. There was also other food pre-prepared and given to us, so everyone was overeating. I guess that is why you never see a skinny chef.

After lunch, there was a graduation ceremony where everyone received a diploma and a booklet of the recipes that we had used to prepare today’s selections.

After our commencement ceremony, we reboarded our coach and drove to, and toured, the Museum of Vietnamese History. From there, we had the opportunity to take a cyclo ride. This is like a rickshaw on wheels that is pedaled by a local person. The ride took 15 minutes and ended at the Notre Dame Cathedral and the post office. The ride was a little uncomfortable because the streets were full of trucks and motorized scooters that kept whizzing closely around us.

After visiting these buildings, we drove to the Khai Silk store for some last minute shopping before returning to the pier. There were several tents set up on the pier where people continued their shopping until it was time for dinner. We purchased several first run movie DVD’s for $1 each.

Monday morning was unhurried as we did not have a tour. We did catch one of the complimentary shuttles to town. The traffic was much heavier today. The ride to town took more than an hour instead of the 20 minutes that it took yesterday. We walked through the market and found some treasures that we could not resist after which we returned to the ship and had a late lunch. Our ship left Vietnam during tea time, and before the trivia competition started. This evening, was Captain Dag’s farewell cocktail party for the guests who are leaving in Singapore, but everyone attended the cocktail party because the entertainment was performed by members of the crew, who are very professional, and much loved by the passengers on the ship.

Before turning out the lights and going to bed this evening, we moved our clocks forward one hour which returned us to being 13 hours ahead of the time in San Antonio again.

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We said goodbye to Tom and Lourdes at breakfast this morning because they are leaving the ship today and flying back to San Antonio. Afterwards, we, along with our friends, Charlie and Joan, disembarked the ship and spent the day cruising through the cruise terminal, starting with a fish massage. The girls went all the way—having the fish nibbling not just their feet, but also their hands. Charlie and I decided that the “fish foot massage” was enough, and we put our feet into a separate fish pond. Mary Pat and Joan were really enjoying themselves and giggling like two school girls while the fish tickled their toes; Charlie seemed to like the feeling too; I could not stand having fish nibbling on my toes and lasted just 2 minutes after which I got out of the water.

Next, we all agreed to have a reflexology and foot massage, after which we went to a beauty salon where Charlie and I got a haircut, while the girls elected to have a manicure.

Our other activities during the day were visiting the Starbuck store two times, and checking out the shops in the three story mall for anything we could not live without. We reboarded the ship at 4:30pm just as the captain was announcing that it was time to leave Singapore and sail to our next port, Penang, Indonesia.

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We were six hours late getting to Penang because the captain has discovered that the ship has incurred mechanical problems with one of its engines. As a result, we did not arrive at Penang until after 2pm. We anchored off shore, but we were able to board the first tender to shore. After disembarking the tender, we and our friends hired a taxi to take us to an electronics shopping mall for which Penang is famous. As we drove along, none of us could believe how much more beautiful and clean everything was. Everything was so clean and modern. We did not have that impression when we visited here last year.

Our driver wanted to show us some of the sights in Penang until we told him that we had been here several times previously, so he disappointedly took us to the mall where we searched for some software programs for our computers.

We were having dinner on the top level dining room and watching a magnificent sunset as our ship raised its anchor to start the journey to Thailand.

Afterwards, we returned to the room to pack for our trip to Bhutan which starts tomorrow.

Before going to bed, we changed the clocks again, turning them back the one hour that we added on a couple of days ago, so that we are now, for the second time, exactly half way around the world and 12 hours ahead of the time back home.

[cruisetour]

Today, we start an adventure with our friends, Charlie and Joan that has been in the planning for more than a year. We are on our way to visit Bhutan, a land at the top of the world, whose people live in the clouds.

The government of Bhutan is organized as a constitutional monarchy with a two house parliamentary system. Its 650,000 citizens live at an altitude of 7,000-11,000 feet above sea level where snow covered peaks dot the landscape, offering views that are spectacular. It is a country that few visitors have experienced, and we are looking forward to this adventure with great anticipation.

We had expected to leave the ship early this morning, but due to a mechanical problem with one of the Voyager’s pods not operating properly, we did not arrive at Phuket until noon, more than four hours after its anticipated arrival time. This delay made us nervous because it was a long taxi ride to the airport. Finally, with the assistance of the ship’s concierge, we were escorted to the first tender and our adventure was underway. The boat took us to a lovely bare bottomed white sand beach where the sun bathers freely showed off their fully tanned bodies. We did not get to see too much because we were busy arranging our clearances from the Thai immigration officials, after which we hired a taxi to take us to the airport for our flight to Bangkok.

After we arrived in Bangkok and checked in at our hotel, we all agreed to skip dinner and to relax our tense bodies with a luxurious two hour massage at the spa in our hotel before returning to our rooms for a good night’s sleep.

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It was early in the morning when the hotel shuttle took us to the airport for our flight to Paro, Bhutan. Paro is the ONLY airport in the entire country of Bhutan so all travelers start their visit there. The four hour flight took us past some beautiful scenery including a view of Mount Everest. The descent into Bhutan was interesting to say the least as we did several sharp turns to avoid the mountains that block the way to the airport. At one point, I was sure that one of the wings was almost touching the side of one of the mountains, but our pilot obviously knew what he was doing and we landed safely and smoothly.
Our first souvenir was the airline magazine. It gave us a wonderful introduction to what we were about to experience. Bhutan has 20 provinces and six different ethnic groups; the people who make this land their home call it “the land of the Thundering dragon”; and the country is also known as the Himalayan kingdom in the sky. Its highest peak is a mere 500 feet less than mighty Mount Everest, but no one is allowed to climb the snow covered peaks of Bhutan because their Buddhist faith teaches them that their gods live at the top of their mountains and the gods are not to be disturbed.

Our guide and driver were waiting for us as we cleared immigration procedures, and after introductions, we drove along the newly built scenic highway to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. During the drive, we really enjoyed the spectacular mountain views and peaceful countryside.

Our hotel was the Tashi Taj, one of the finest luxury hotels in Bhutan. Our sightseeing started immediately, and over the three days and two nights that we spent in the capital, we visited the dzongs (forts), the monasteries and nunneries, the temples, and the memorial Stupa built in memory of the 3d king. We drove past the foreign embassies, ministries, and the Royal Palace.

There have been five kings in the history of Bhutan, the latest of which celebrated his coronation in November 2008. The Bhutanese revere their kings, and ascribe godly powers to them. This year, the monarchy is celebrating 100 years of peaceful and happy rule over its subjects, and just last year, the king converted the country from an absolute monarchy to a democratic constitutional monarchy with a two house parliamentary government.

We also did our share of shopping at both the farmer’s market and the handicraft market. One of our special activities was visiting the Takin reserve. This animal, the national animal of Bhutan, has the head of a goat and the body of a cow. It is found in no other country and is sacred to the Bhutanese. A favorite sightseeing experience was the drive up the Himalayas to an altitude of 10,500 feet above sea level where, in addition to seeing a beautiful temple built in honor of the kings of Bhutan, we had a spectacular view of the eastern Himalayas.

One of the things that I never anticipated in preparing for this exotic experience was the number of steps that I would be climbing. In order to survive in their environment, the Bhutanese must be part mountain goat because all of the historical sites, forts and temples are built half way, or more, up the mountainside. You either are trekking straight up or straight down mountains, hills, paths, or occasionally a sidewalk. Sometimes it takes three or more hours to get to the site that you are looking for.

To get to your destination, there is not just a ramp; there are steps, huge steps that sometimes had me crawling from one level to another. With my short legs, I had a hard time going from step to step, but it was even more difficult descending from level to level. I teased our guide by saying that if someone visited Bhutan from another planet, they would think that the Bhutanese are giants based on the height of the steps to get anywhere; and it was not just the steps going to the civic and holy sites; even while shopping in town, the sidewalks along the main streets changed levels frequently.

Before leaving Thimphu, and returning to Paro, on Monday, we visited the national painting and wood carving school, the folk heritage museum, and a primary school. We had the opportunity to visit with the children, ages 4 through 10, who attended the school. All of these children spoke perfect, totally understandable, American accented English. It was totally amazing to me that a small country half way across the world from the USA requires their entire population, whether they be 3 years old or 93 years old, to speak English, and that English is their first language even though there is a Bhutanese language, that they use as a second language.

I do not understand the reasons why the United States of America has no ambassador, embassy, or consular office anywhere in this country, despite the fact that:
• Bhutan is located at an important crossroad between China, India, Tibet, and Nepal;
• this is a democracy;
• Bhutan controls the water flowing from their major rivers into India;
• the people living here are totally conversant in our language;
• they were very interested in the election of President Obama and are knowledgeable about his policies,
• Bhutan appears to have an excellent record on human rights,
• they enjoy more tourism from Americans than from any other nation in the world, and that several of their major hotels price their rooms and amenities in USA currency.

I sure hope we change that policy soon and cement what could be, and should be, a very friendly and helpful relationship.

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Monday afternoon, we said goodbye to Thimphu and returned to Paro where we spent two nights at the spectacular, six star, Uma Paro resort. Everywhere at the resort, we were greeted by staff with a smile and a “will do” attitude.

We continued exploring local forts and temples dating as far back in history as the 7th century AD. One of the local sights that we wanted to learn more about was the overwhelming display of phalluses. They were everywhere; painted on homes, schools, license plates, stores, almost everywhere we looked. Hesitatingly, we asked our guide about them. He told us that the tradition of displaying a phallus began centuries ago to drive away evil spirits, and that he was certain that Bhutan is the only phallic nation in the world. It is treated as a symbol of good luck, but with the increase of Western tourists, some people are removing the symbol from their homes because it is being noticed in a range of emotions from gentle bemusement to stark horror.

On Tuesday evening, after returning from sightseeing, we had a spa appointment to experience a Bhutanese hot stone bath and massage treatment with local therapists. The treatment we received here, and the ambiance in which it was delivered, was outstanding.

On March 24th, we had plans to visit Ha, a 3rd province in Bhutan. This was not to be because on that morning, we received an email notification from the Seven Seas Voyager that the problems with the propulsion system that they were experiencing when we left the ship had not been corrected.

As a result, the ship had changed its itinerary and would not be in Mumbai as scheduled. This is where we had planned to meet the ship on March 26. Mumbai was eliminated and the ship would be in docked Cochin, India on March 25. The Voyager was going to leave there at 6pm, after which it would have five sea days before arriving in Dubai on March 31.

Our predicament was that in order for us to get back to our ship, we had to cancel our flights as well as our hotel accommodations in Mumbai and find a routing to get us to Cochin in time to board the ship. If this were not possible, we would not be able to return to the Voyager until March 31 in Dubai. We forfeited the money that we had already paid for the airfare and the Mumbai hotel and started searching for a way to rejoin the ship.

We could not leave Bhutan until March 25th because there are only two flights that leave the country each day and both of them had already departed by the time we received the information about the change in itinerary.

We spenta frustrating day trying to come up with an itinerary that would get us to our ship in time. We were able to get to Chennai through Calcutta, but that would still leave us one hour, by plane, away from our required destination. Joan had been in contact with an Indian friend who told her about a local airline, operating out of Chennai that had a scheduled flight arriving in Cochin at 5:00 pm tomorrow. He made reservations for us, in our names, on this flight, and also contacted a friend who lived in Chennai to meet us at the airport and drive us to the pier where we could board our ship.

This schedule required perfect timing, no weather problems, no delays and no cancelled flights, but we had no other chance of getting back to the Voyager. We repaid our friend for the money he had laid out for us, and started praying that everything would work out so that we would be able to rejoin our ship.

The morning of March 25 arrived and at 7am, we started our pilgrimage back to our vessel. Our guide whisked us through the departure procedures and the first of our three flights left right on schedule. Luckily, the other two flights also took off and landed on time so that we were in Cochin at 5pm. Our driver was waiting for us as we picked our luggage from the carrousel. Now there was only one element left, but it was the most dangerous of them all—the automobile ride through the city to the pier. It was most definitely akin to “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride”. What we knew, but found out all over again was that Indian drivers are like no other drivers in the world. They do not respond to traffic signals, lane markings, other vehicles, motorcycles or pedestrians. Their only way of driving is by using their horns to announce their intention to go headlong onto the side of the street where they face oncoming traffic heading right for them. As we got closer, we sent messages via email to the ship. The captain and general manager had wanted to leave Cochin at 6pm, but had given us a little leeway to account for the local traffic. It took what seemed a lifetime to get to the pier without killing someone or being killed by some other wild driver, but we arrived there at 6:30pm. The ship was still there waiting for us. There was just one more problem. Getting past the armed Indian military who did not want to allow us onto the pier. This was finally negotiated and we were permitted to walk the last 500 steps to the gangway, wheeling our luggage behind us. Finally on board our ship, we just looked at each other in amazement that we had made it. We toasted each other, and our good fortune, over a glass of champagne as the ship lifted the gangway and got ready to sail into the night.

It had been a wonderful trip, but it was good to be home!

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Regent notified the passengers that the problem they are encountering with the propulsion system is still unresolved, but that they are hoping the issue will be settled during the inspection they have scheduled while the Voyager is docked in Dubai. Meanwhile, because of the forced elimination of our visit to Mumbai and Abu Dhabi, the amount paid by the passengers attributable to this segment is being refunded in full. Further, if the next segment between Dubai and Istanbul is altered, there will be a further compensation adjustment equal to 50% of the cost of that segment as well.

An announcement was made that the President of Regent, Mark Conroy, is flying to Dubai to meet the ship and to assist in any way possible. This gesture was well accepted by almost everyone, but everyone, crew and passengers, is still hoping that the engine problem will be resolved and that no further price adjustments will be necessary. There are a couple of hotheads who are still complaining but just a handful.

Meanwhile, the cruise staff is doing everything in their power to keep the passengers happy. There were shipwide parties and events each day, and even a special buffet in the lobby area, served by Captain Dag himself and his officers as well.

The real negative that we are feeling is that Father Jim, the Roman Catholic Chaplain on board has been taken to the infirmary with internal bleeding from a previous surgery. The doctor told me that he is a “high risk” but they are doing everything to stabilize him until we get to Dubai where he will be transferred to a hospital there for immediate surgery. This problem makes everything else minimal in comparison. I am doing what I can to assist his partner, Father Tony, while Jim is hospitalized including packing their suitcases for the transfer once we arrive in Dubai.

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We arrived in Dubai late in the evening of March 30. This was also the evening when our friend, Father Jim, the Roman Catholic chaplain, was transferred to American Hospital for surgery to correct internal bleeding in his stomach. The surgery took place on Tuesday and as of this writing, he was in recovery feeling much better.

Tuesday morning, at noon, Mary Pat and I, along with Charlie & Joan Davis and Sam & Phyllis Pierson left the Voyager to spend the night at Emirates Al Maha, the famous Dubai desert resort and spa. Our 16 passenger van was waiting for us, so off we went for the one hour drive to the 250 acre luxury resort. We drove through Dubai with all of its high rise buildings, and from there along the Arabian Desert until we entered the compound of the resort. After registering, we had a five course delicious luncheon before being taken to our individual tented villas.

The accommodations were beautiful with gorgeous views of the desert. There were easels with sketch pads and multi colored pencils so that we could draw the desert scenery from our private balconies where we could look past the infinity edged pools to see the wild gazelles and oryxes as they bounded along the desert landscape.

The first activity on our agenda was a fabulous spa treatment called the ancient Rasoul Ritual described to be as romantic as a spa experience can get. It is particularly suited for couples in the privacy of a Rasoul steam chamber; the experience combined light, heat, warm aromatic steam, and the applying of material-rich clay over every part of each other’s body, in an exotic enclosed environment, after which we enjoyed a 90 minute full body massage.

Afterwards, we were so relaxed that we should have just returned to our room, but we had also signed up for a ride into the desert for “sundowners”, a name that means cocktails at sunset in the open air. The weather was perfect, and the view was breathtaking. Sam and Phyllis decided that they would rather ride a camel than being driven to the site in an automobile. We had to laugh as they told us of the experience. There is no doubt that they will choose to ride in a car the next time they have a choice.

After the sun set, we returned to the resort, but were so tired that we opted to be driven directly to our villa and to have our dinner brought to us there, rather than to eat in the restaurant. We could barely wait until we had finished eating so we could crawl into our massive extra-king sized bed and crawl under the covers.
Wednesday morning came early as we had to be in the lobby at 6am for our nature walk. We drove out into the desert with our guide and Oscar, a huge pet desert owl, where we investigated tracks of various hoofed animals who live on the preserve, and learned about the bird life of the Arabian Desert. After an hour that passed very quickly, we returned to the resort for breakfast and then headed to the spa where everyone was scheduled for another treatment. Afterwards, we packed our overnight cases and called for a cart to take us to the main office where we checked out and boarded our private van for the one hour transfer back to Dubai Port and our ship.

During the transfer, Joan received an email from the ship that notified us that the ship’s propulsion problem was not able to be repaired as hoped. As a result, there had been an announcement that the ship was amending its itinerary to allow it to arrive in Rome on April 19. That port would mark the end of the world cruise and all passengers would disembark and fly directly back to the United States, spend some time in Europe before flying home, or join the Mariner on its Asian itinerary. Since today was April 1, we thought that this was an April Fool joke, but quickly found out that it was not a joke at all. Regent had agreed to absorb the cost of flights back to the United States or to the Seven Seas Mariner, but many of the passengers on the ship were still disappointed with the alternatives available to them. After some extensive soul searching, we decided that our best option would be to be transferred to the Mariner. I met with Mark Conroy, the president of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, and Michael, the general manager. They agreed to fly us in business class, along with Charlie and Joan, from Rome to Hong Kong, and also to provide hotel arrangements for two nights at the Hong Kong Intercontinental hotel because the Mariner would not arrive there until April 23rd. We would remain on the ship until May 20 when the ship would arrive in Seward, Alaska where flights would be arranged to get us home.

Mark Conroy and Robin Lindsey from Regent’s home office, along with Captain Dag and Michael, worked well into the night and for several days thereafter to arrange continuing transportation for all of the passengers to wherever they wanted to go. Most passengers appreciated their efforts, but there were some that never did understand that they were doing everything in their power to make everyone as happy as possible. Some of these problem customers got very belligerent, but the officers and crew continued to work hard to satisfy everyone they could. Many of the passengers chose to get off the ship before we left Dubai so that by the time we steamed away from there, our passenger count reduced to 410. I think that there were more than 460 passengers when we arrived there yesterday. More passengers were set to leave the ship in the next couple of days when we would be visiting Fujairah and Muscat.

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The Voyager docked in Fujairah at 8am but we did not get up until 10am because we were still tired from our active excursion yesterday as well as the stress of the decision making that had to be done yesterday. We were not on tour today, but took the shuttle to town and walked through the shopping center for a few necessities before returning to the pier.

This evening, because the world cruise is being cut short, we hosted our final Ensemble cocktail party and talked about our excursion tomorrow in Muscat. During dinner with the Piersons’ and the Davis’, we talked about the fun we shared in Dubai. It was an early evening because we are meeting with our group tomorrow morning for the tour of Muscat.

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We were in Muscat, the capital of Oman. Our group gathered at 8:15am. The Voyager had already been cleared when I disembarked onto Mina Qaboos (the Omani port) to find our guide, who was right on schedule. After calling back to Mary Pat and having our passengers meet me shoreside, we boarded our coach and drove directly to Muttrah Souk for our shopping experience at the market known for its silver-crafts, perfumes, and general souvenirs.

After a 45 minute walkthrough, we left the souk and drove to the Grand Mosque, the most exquisite mosque in Oman, after which we made our way to the private home that is the location of the Bait Adam Museum. Friday is a holiday for believers of Islam, and the museum is normally closed on holy days. It was open today as an exclusive event for us. After introductions, the head of the family and owner of the home, along with his two small children, proudly showed us his collections of currency, paintings, photographs, and guns. Before leaving, we had a cup of Arabic coffee and dates, the traditional welcome to guests in Arab homes.

From here, we drove to one of the palaces of Sultan Qaboos and were permitted to take photos of the exterior of the buildings and grounds before driving to the Al Bustan Palace, a six-star luxury hotel owned by the Sultan. This hotel is the epitome of elegance, and is located between the rugged mountains of the interior and the azure waters of the gulf of Oman. We had an Omani style buffet luncheon of world class cuisine before reboarding our coach and returning to our waiting ship.

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Saturday was spent cruising the Arabian Sea. During the morning, we had a security briefing to make us aware of the precautions that were being taken to protect the passengers, crew and the vessel, and we were later informed that we would be part of a convoy of ships until we are clear of the danger area. During the rest of the day, the passengers spent a lot of time watching, with great interest, as various security precautions, including powerful audio blasters, were put into place to deter any intrusion into our space. However, the highlight of the day was getting to see a huge pod of dolphins playing in the water alongside the ship.

On Sunday, the Voyager entered the Gulf of Aden. We spent three days and nights transiting this dangerous part of the open seas, under the supervision and careful observations around the clock by security personnel furnished by allied coalition forces. During the transit, a British naval commander was assigned to our ship along with Israeli security forces and a host of other trained anti-piracy personnel. We also spotted a French warship and several military helicopters swooping down to investigate all small crafts in the area. Our security forces were stationed on the open decks looking in all directions for approaching crafts of any type that could be a danger to us. During the time that we were safely transiting the gulf of Aden, six ships were hijacked by pirates, one of which was a U.S. cargo ship, the Maersk Alabama. This ship was under the command of Captain Richard Phillips, who was captured by Somalian pirates as his ship escaped the highjacking. Soon after the announcement of this kidnapping, the United States sent several warships into the area with orders that no potential action was being taken off the table to rescue this American officer.

Wednesday, we finally finished our transit of the Gulf of Aden and reached the Red Sea, where we continued to cruise until Saturday morning when we arrived in Safaga, Egypt.

During these seven sea days, we continued to listen to the marvelous enrichment presentations of archeologist and historian, Dr. Jean-Pierre Isbouts; Leader of the United Kingdom anti-piracy team for the Middle East and African Horn, Commander David Bancroft; Destination Specialist, John Tabutt-McCarthy; and Middle East Institute Scholar, Journalist and Author, Thomas W. Lippman.

In addition, the cruise staff worked overtime entertaining the passengers with special events in addition to the normal scheduled entertainment, including a block party social hour; a cookie bake-off competition; an “officers got talent” show; recently released motion picture presentations; and several additional evening entertainment options

Also during this period, we received the flight and hotel schedule for our transfer to Hong Kong where we are to board the Seven Seas Mariner. We were also notified that we were invited to participate in an overnight excursion Saturday to Luxor as guests of Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

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The Voyager arrived in Safaga as the sun rose over the desert. The Egyptian authorities cleared the ship and by 8:30am, most of the passengers had boarded their coaches for the 3 hour ride to Luxor with its temples and tombs, and the Valley of the Kings. We were among them and looking forward to a repeat visit of the history of the New Kingdom, the 18th-20th dynasties of Pharaonic Egypt.

During the ride, we saw the rich farmland that borders the Nile, and also the sand dunes, the towns and the people who live along our route. A lovely lunch was waiting for us at the Sonesta St. George hotel when we arrived in Luxor. We spent the night there in 2006, the first time that we visited Luxor. We ate quickly so we would have the maximum time for sightseeing. Our first tour was at the Temple of Karnak, the heart of the cult of the god, Amun where construction started during the middle kingdom about 2,000 BCE. It took over 2,000 years to complete the work on the Temple.

From Karnak, there is an avenue of the Sphinxes that originally went all the way to the Temple of Luxor, with its magnificent columns of Amenhotep III and a colossus of Ramses II, the pharaoh who confronted Moses when he demanded that Ramses “let my people go”. Luxor Temple was originally built during the reign of Amenophis III and expanded by Ramses II.

Following our visit to Luxor Temple, we were hot and tired, so gratefully drove to the Hilton Luxor for check-in, and had tea, juice, cookies and pastries on the terrace before returning to our room for a shower and a change of clothes from the damp & dusty ones that we had been wearing while touring Karnak and Luxor. Our room was lovely and had a nice view over the Nile River with all of the boats going from Cairo down to Aswan and Abu Simbel.

Our day of touring was not over however. As the sun set, we departed the hotel for a 45 minute drive to the lighted Medinat Habu Temple where we were treated to a Pharaoh Gala Dinner with service and entertainment by staff dressed in costumes of the ancients. There was also a chamber orchestra playing while we ate. After dinner, we returned to our hotel and a good night’s sleep.

Everyone had a wakeup call at 6:30am because, after breakfast, we had an early departure to the West Bank of the Nile and the Valley of the Kings, located in the foothills of the Gourma Mountains. I was happy that we had an early departure because the day would be at its coolest during the time we were touring. More than 60 tombs of three dynasties of pharaohs and noblemen have been found in this valley, the most famous of which was the tomb of King Tut discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter. We had time to visit just 3 tombs, and the ones that I picked were Ramses IV, King Tut, and Setnakht.

During the drive back to our hotel, we visited several other sites, including Queen Hatshepsut’s Temple, Medinat Habu Temple where we had dinner the previous evening, and the 75 foot high, 1,000 ton Colossi of Memnon.

We had a nice luncheon at our hotel before departing for the three hour ride back to Safaga, and our ship, arriving within an hour of our departure. Again, the first thing I did after returning to our room on the ship was to pile all of my sandy, dusty, clothes in a pile for washing, and jump into the shower.

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Most of the ship’s passengers went to Petra for the day, while others who were leaving the ship went to Cairo. We have already been to both of those beautiful exotic places several times, and we were still very tired from our overland trip to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings so we opted to take a 3 ½ hour tour of Aqaba. This is the only Jordanian city with access to the sea, and from the waterfront, you can clearly see the port city of Eilat in Israel, as well as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

We visited the 14th century Aqaba Fort and its museum, the Queen Noor Foundation, and the Aqaba Gate where we took in a “magic carpet ride” movie of the Jordanian Experience. From there, we drove to the city center where we had some shopping time before returning to the pier and our ship in time for lunch.

This was our last port of call on this year’s world cruise. After leaving here, we will spend one day cruising the Red Sea, and then transit the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea. From there, the Voyager will head directly for Rome, Italy where we will disembark and fly to Hong Kong to meet the Seven Seas Mariner.

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It has been four sea days reaching Civitavecchia since leaving Aqaba and going through the Suez canal because of the low speed possibilities of the ships pod engine.
This morning, we left the Seven Seas Voyager because of its engine problems and started a new adventure. We are returning to Hong Kong, one of our favorite cities, where we will join the Seven Seas Mariner on its ring of fire voyage. During our time on the vessel, we will return to China, and then proceed to Japan, Siberia (a new port of call for us), and Alaska.

Eighteen people were travelling with us to our new ship as we hugged, kissed, and said goodbye to as many crew members as we could find, before boarding our coach for the one hour drive to Leonardo Di Vinci airport. We arrived too early to check our luggage, but no one complained about having to wait for the counter to open for us. The thing that was a problem was the fact that our plane was expected to be 2 hours late; as a result, there would have to be pinpoint arrangements in London for us to connect with the flight to Hong Kong. If we missed that flight, there would be an additional 6 hour wait until the next flight, and we would not be assured of business class seating on the alternative flight.

Our British Airways flight from Rome took off even later than we expected, but made it to London on time only because of good weather and a decent tailwind. We made the connection with our continuing flight only because British Air had arranged for staff meet us, and personally escort us through immigration, customs and a change of terminals.

It was a 12 hour flight from London to Hong Kong, in addition to the 3 hour previous flight from Rome. The new Boeing 747-400 was a different configuration that we have ever flown on previously. Our club seats faced each other. At night, they made up into totally flat beds, very comfortable for sleeping. Our personal television sets showed 20 different motion pictures, several of which I was interested in. However, there was only time to watch three: Australia, Bolt, and Easy Virtue. I enjoyed all of them, and even had time to catch up on some sleep.

Our body clocks are all messed up. We started the day 7 hours ahead of the time in San Antonio. When we arrived in London, we moved our clocks back one hour, local time was now just 6 hours ahead of the time at home. After leaving London, we were advised that the local time in Hong Kong was 7 hours ahead of the time in London, so when we landed there, we were 13 hours ahead of the time in San Antonio. We were totally confused as to when we should take our pills, and hoped we would be able to figure it out after our plane landed, which we did at 1:30pm Hong Kong time.

Regent personnel met us after we cleared immigration and collected our luggage. They took us to the Kowloon Shangri La hotel where the cruise line had arranged for overnight accommodations since the Mariner will not arrive until tomorrow. It was time to start our shopping frenzy!

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After a good night’s sleep, breakfast, and some power shopping, we headed for the Seven Seas Mariner, docked at Ocean Terminal. We were greeted like long-lost friends with welcoming banners and a band rather than refugees from a ship in trouble. The first passengers that we saw as we boarded were the Welden family. After checking into our room, and quickly unpacking, we returned to town and continued our activities of shopping, eating, and visiting reflexology parlors for foot, back & shoulder massages.

As soon as we got aboard, we started running into old friends from previous year world cruises, and also crew members that we have met during our past cruises on Regent ships. Being here is definitely like a homecoming. Even before we arrived, there were special cocktail parties arranged for passengers arriving from the Voyager, and we had dinner invitations from several of the officers including our friend, Frank Galza, the F&B director that we spent so much time with during Joan and Charlies wedding as well as during our Fall 2008 transpacific cruise on this ship.

We had three beautiful days in Hong Kong before the Mariner left Friday evening, at 11pm.

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We had two badly needed days of relaxation at sea before picking up our pilot early Monday morning and navigating the Huangpu River, finally docking at the Shanghai International Cruise Terminal. Shanghai has been on the world cruise itinerary for each of the last four years, but during those visits, we utilized the city strictly as a starting point for visits to other interesting and beautiful Chinese cities, including Guilin, Yangshuo, Kunming, Lijiang, Hangzhou, and Nanjing. This time, we are going to spend the entire time exploring the city’s parks, gardens, and shopping spots.

Monday started with a loudspeaker broadcast into our rooms that woke us with the announcement that Chinese Immigration authorities, in the person of two pretty girls in military uniform, were onboard. Their responsibility was to personally see all of the passengers, and to present them with Chinese landing cards.

As soon as the ship was cleared, we disembarked with Joan & Charlie Davis, and got a taxi that took us to the Shanghai ShiLiuPu Cloth Market, one of two local apparel markets, to start our two days of searching for treasures. Taxis in Shanghai are extremely inexpensive. The 20 minute ride cost 15 yuan (US$2.50).

We walked through the three story building, looking at the many tailoring and clothing accessory shops, checking prices in several of them, and purchasing a few items before leaving, checking our map to see where we were, and then walking through some of the back streets and alleys of Shanghai to the Yuyuan Garden and Old Town area.

This garden was built in 1577 AD as the private garden for the royal families of the Ming and Qing dynasties. There are more than 40 different ancient rock gardens, pools, pavilions, terraces and towers in the garden. The Old Town is composed of a series of buildings, most of which have been converted into shops and restaurants.

Since it was close to lunch time, we decided to find a nice looking steamed dumpling and bun restaurant. Dumplings are a favorite meal selection for Chinese people. The particular restaurant that we chose offered a selection of more than 100 varieties of dumplings on its menu, some of which did not sound very tasty to me, but obviously are favorites among the locals. However, I found some vegetarian items that were quite tasty.

After eating our fill, we continued to stroll through the Old Town, and continued our shopping. The shops in this area had such a wide variety of local handicrafts that everything we have ever purchased in China was available here, including the complete catalog for the ceramic figurines that we had purchased from the Hong Kong Spa several days ago. But the prices were even better here. We could not resist the lower pricing, so each of us bought another figurine, not really knowing how we would get them home or what we would do with them after we got there. Mary Pat and I also bought another suitcase to pack all of the additional things that we have acquired. After a fun afternoon enjoying the sights, the sounds, and the people, we caught a taxi back to our ship, arriving in time for dinner which we enjoyed while discussing our day and our purchases.

We spent Tuesday morning relaxing, while also watching the traffic on the Huangpu River. The river is always active, but I have never seen it like this. There had to be several hundred barges and ships going in all directions at the same time. They were carrying coal, timber, landfill and all sorts of sealed containers heading both into the city and out to sea. It was a highway on the water. After an early lunch, we left the ship and headed for Taobao City, the biggest and best known “knock-off” market in Shanghai. Joan & Charlie went off in a different direction today.

We were having a good time roaming through these three floors of souvenir shops. I purchased pretty glass necklaces that promised health, happiness and harmony to the wearer for Mary Pat, Joan, and Mary Welden. We were in one of the other shops when, all of a sudden, we ran into Charles Welden. It seems that the family had intended to spend the day in Old Town, but changed their mind along the way and reversed direction to join us at the market. We spent the rest of the day with the four of them laughing and having a lot of fun while finding even more souvenirs to take home for our family and friends. Again, the day got away from us. We were enjoying ourselves so much that we did not get back to the ship until after 6pm.

This evening, we had dinner with all of our Shanghai shopping buddies while comparing notes on where we had gone, what we had done, and how much we had purchased. We went to bed early, just in case we wanted to spend the early morning hours on Wednesday doing some more last minute sightseeing and shopping.

However, when morning came, we were still too tired. As a result, we didn’t get out of bed until after 11:30am. By this time, the Mariner ship had already lifted its gangway and left Shanghai. After getting dressed, we went upstairs to have lunch on deck, while we watched the river traffic continue its commerce. Soon, we were out into open water and heading for Xingang, Tianjin, and Beijing where we would arrive after a day when we would be cruising through the Yellow Sea.

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While enjoying a sea day yesterday, I spent a lot of time writing and receiving emails on the internet because Japan requires that the ship disconnect from the satellite for security reasons. We are being told that the reason for this is that Japan is trying to protect themselves from pornographic correspondence. For sure, that is the furthest thing from the minds of these passengers. However, because of this regulation, we will not have access to emails or any other internet sites while in territorial Japanese waters during the next week.

The highlight of the segment occurred last night. It was a classical performance by Heather Clancy, the entertainment hostess. She sang arias from Carmen, La Traviata, and Turandot, among others, and she was outstanding. After the performance, everyone gave her a well earned standing ovation.

We finally arrived in Nagasaki at 1pm, while eating lunch. Upon arrival, the ship broadcast that everyone had to appear in the constellation theater for a health check by Japanese officials. There is a big worry about swine flu, in addition to the normal security check where customs requires fingerprints of everyone entering the country. The check went quickly and we were soon cleared for disembarking.

Today is our ensemble tour, and the group of 19, including us assembled at 1:45pm. The name of our guide was Akiko. She explained her name, translated in English, meant “autumn girl”. She was born in the autumn (in Japanese “aki”) and the word “ko” means girl. Most girls in Japan have names that end in ‘ko”.
During the tour, she taught us other Japanese words that we could learn quickly, like k-neesh’ e-wah (good afternoon) and Ari-gah’toe (thank you)

We also learned that Nagasaki did not open to foreign trade until 1571AD and at that time was the only entry point for western culture to enter in Japan. One of the highlights on the tour was our visit to Dejima, originally a small artificial island where Dutch traders maintained an outpost during the 218 years in which they were Japan’s only link to the west. Land reclamation has now connected that piece of land with the mainland. After watching an explanatory movie of the creation on this area, we walked through the site known as the Dejima Wharf that has now been converted to a charming collection of restaurants bars, and galleries.

The tour was a good one, but the weather was not. It rained heavily, and everyone got soaking wet despite having raincoats and umbrellas. It was especially uncomfortable when we were walking through the Nagasaki Peace Park. The park is just a few minutes away from the epicenter of the atomic bomb blast of August 9, 1945.

When we entered the park, we saw a TV crew setting up to interview visitors from the Seven Seas Mariner. I happened to be one of the people that they selected. I would have loved to see the broadcast of the rain dripping off my head as I told them what a wonderful time we were having in Japan.

The most dominant sculpture in the park is a 30 foot tall Peace Statue of a man with one arm pointing to the sky indicating peace, and the other pointing to the epicenter of the bomb blast. There were many other beautiful fountains and sculptures in the park that have been donated, in the name of peace, by artists and countries all around the world.

After each stopping point, we would swim back to our coach and continue to the next point of interest. Our final stop, in full view of the port area, was at the Café St. Andrew where we were served cocktails and light canapés while a three piece combo entertained us with their music. We returned to the ship in time for dinner after which we enjoyed an evening of entertainment starting with a Broadway production show and continuing with a cabaret “joke night” before calling it a day. The rain never did stop coming down.

Our ship left Nagasaki at 11pm and headed for the Van Deimen Strait where we would cruise for a day before arriving in Osaka on Wednesday.

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Our ship arrived in Osaka Wednesday morning before we were out of bed. Finally up and about, we took the ship’s shuttle to downtown Osaka, and trekked a mile along the ever-popular and ever-congested covered walking street, Shinsaibashi-suji. The shopping area lived up to its reputation as throngs of people literally pushed us along from one shop to another. Interestingly enough, the Japanese are very organized and each direction of traffic was on the same side of the sidewalk as it would have been if there had been automobiles travelling along rather than people. The constant crush of shoppers made Mary Pat distraught about the crowds of people being so close to her so to get away from them, we slid into one of the glamorous department stores and rode the escalator up to the 12th floor where we looked at some expensive items that we could have bought in China for a fraction of the price being charged in Japan. Everything is so much more expensive here, but everything is packaged more beautifully and displayed more professionally.

After several hours of exploring the stores and the shops, we took the shuttle back to the pier and reboarded our ship. We were pretty tired but had not spent any of our local money. After changing into nicer clothes, we joined the full “ring of fire” cruise passengers for a cocktail party at the Osaka aquarium.

This aquarium is one of the largest in the world and has eight floors of exhibits including one tank containing a pair of whale sharks, the largest species of fish in the world. . I took several photographs hoping to get a good picture of the whale sharks but they are so large that it was difficult to get their entire body in the picture.

An assortment of heavy hors d’oeuvres accompanied the wide selection of wines and liquors that were served; we filled up on the offerings. However, as the party was ending, Mark Conroy, the president of Regent Seven Seas Cruises asked if we wanted to join him for dinner, which we did. We ate again, but not too much. The conversation was so brisk, and time consuming, that we actually were the last people to leave the dining room.

The following morning, the Welden family called to ask if we wanted to ride the Ferris wheel with them. We did and shared a compartment with Mary and Kathleen on what Japan calls the largest Ferris wheel in the world. The ride around took 20 minutes, and on a clear day gives the rider a magnificent view of the surrounding countryside and waterways. But today was another day of rain, drizzle and sleet, so we did not get to see too much of the scenery. Afterwards, we split up and walked through the mall at the ship terminal before returning to the ship for lunch.

As the sun was setting, we said goodbye to Osaka, and had dinner with Joan, Charlie and Franck Galzy, the food and beverage manager, who is leaving the ship in Tokyo. Hopefully, we would have an internet connection for a few hours this evening because we should be outside the territorial limits of Japan. We do not arrive in Tokyo until 4pm tomorrow afternoon

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After a leisurely morning at sea, we picked up our Tokyo pilot and approached the capital of Japan, finally docking at Tokyo Port at 4pm as scheduled. Regent had arranged a ship wide event for this evening at Happo-en, Tokyo’s most venerable Japanese garden dating back to the late 17th century. The property was originally owned by the Tokugawa shoguns in the early Edo period. During the period of the Meiji emperors, it was the site of the palatial residence.

It took 20 minutes by coach to get to the event. After arriving, we walked through an imposing front gate to get to the Kochuan, formerly the main structure of the residence, but in recent times, it has been converted into a banquet facility. Before settling in to enjoy the food and entertainment that was going to be held there, we walked through a portion of the formal garden, with its large stone lanterns, historical relics and its thirteen story stone pagoda. I especially enjoyed the pathway exhibition of the 200 year old Bonsai living art, and being able to look into the Kahoan (historic teahouse) set among its magnificent blooming cherry blossoms. The garden also included a water arbor and pond that had been created by damming up a shallow lake; it now is a secluded paradise for brightly colored carp and waterfowl.

Happo-en actually means “a garden of eight views” but I think there were a lot more than that because the views were spectacular no matter which direction I was facing.

It was hard to leave the garden, but after some time, we did return to the restaurant which was now set up with more than 50 food stations offering everything from Kobe steak to sushi and tempura, plus a magnificent dessert bar. The staffing included a number of geishas, dressed in beautiful kimonos, who strolled through the restaurant and visited with the guests.

While we ate our way through the various food offerings, we enjoyed the entertainment that was performed by Japanese musicians, and even a Kabuki performance.

There were also two artists in an adjoining room offering us complimentary Japanese calligraphy of our names and caricatures of ourselves; the men as shoguns and the women as geishas. These were very nice mementos of a pleasant evening; in addition, as the guests left the party to return to the ship, they were presented with Japanese hand painted fans portraying traditional Japanese figures.

This party was one of the finest Regent events that we have ever attended, and it was difficult to find anyone who did not enjoy the event as we discussed the activities of the evening with other passengers on our coach while returning to our ship.

The following morning, we were up early so we could get to downtown Tokyo before the stores opened. We wanted to see and be part of the opening ceremony at the Ginza Mitsukoshi department store where a red carpet was laid out to welcome the crowd of customers who had shown up to be on hand as the business day started; all of the store managers were lined up and showed their respect for the customers by bowing to them as they entered the store. This is a daily Japanese ritual and really makes everyone feel special.

Once we were in the store, we took the escalator to the top and worked our way down to the main floor again. We were shocked at the prices which seem so expensive after the time we spent in China. From here, we walked along the boulevard to see some more of Ginza, and the downtown area. We spent time at the covered shopping street, and then stopped at a Starbucks for a quick sandwich and something to drink, before continuing our hike to the Tokyo station where we hoped to find more reasonably priced tourist shops. What we found was that everything in Japan is very expensive.

Since we wanted to be back on the ship for the official welcome ceremony, we headed back to the shuttle stop. It was lucky that there were maps on every street corner, because we used them to find the most direct route. We did make one more stop, this time for an ice cream treat, after which we completed the short distance left to go and boarded the shuttle back to our ship.

At 3:30pm, we attended the welcome ceremony and exchange of gifts between the Tokyo Port & tourism authorities and the Mariners’ senior staff in the observation lounge. The ship received a gorgeous decoration that I wished would be displayed in an appropriate place, but this was not to be. The general manager sold the decoration to Joan and Charlie. At least, I know that they will provide a place of honor for this beautiful memory of our visit to Japan.

We were relaxing at 5pm when the Mariner left Tokyo and started its journey towards Siberia.

There was an Ensemble cocktail party at 6pm after which we went to dinner with some friends. I did not go to bed until the early morning hours because the internet was going to be reinstated after we got outside of the Japanese 12 mile limit. There were a lot of accumulated emails to respond to so I was up and on line until I got through all of them.

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We were on the Mariner last year when it visited Sendai; during that visit, we toured the surrounding area and spent no time in the city itself. Today was going to be a short visit with only two hours to explore the city, so Charlie, Joan and the two of us took the complimentary city shuttle to the Sendai station and used this opportunity to explore the city centre. After getting off the shuttle, we went directly to the beautifully decorated, and covered, walking street to see if there were any souvenirs that interested us.

Today was a holiday in Japan; it was mothers’ day and the streets were full of shoppers of all ages.

During our walk, we came across a parade of karate students that must have represented every dojo in Sendai. The marchers, and the students, were not only children, but also their parents and grandparents, all of whom obviously enjoyed this activity together. They were also having a good time taking part in the mothers’ day parade.

All too soon, it was time to return to our ship, and no sooner did we get back onboard than the Mariner left this part of Japan. I was really tired, but only had time for a quick nap. All too soon, Mary Pat woke me up with instructions to get into my tuxedo for our dinner with the executive concierge. Dinner was pleasant enough, and afterwards, the ship hosted its first country & western show.

It was important that we be there because the master of ceremonies announced that Charles Welden was going to celebrate his 70th birthday tomorrow after which everyone sang “happy birthday” to him. The show was great and enjoyed by everyone. But I think the most fun was watching Charles enjoy his pre-birthday party. He was treated like a celebrity and was surrounded by all of the singers and dancers. Before returning to our room for the evening, we counted down the clock to midnight so that we could start his 70th birthday together.

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Our day started with another welcome ceremony. This time it was with the city officials from Hakodate and included an exchange of gifts. When the ceremony was over, Mary Pat and I quickly took the shuttle to the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse. We did not want to waste any time because this was another day that only allowed us a few hours to explore anything we wanted to see.

Luckily, we had visited this port last year when we were on the Mariner, and had toured the countryside and the surrounding area at that time; but during that visit, we did not have the time to see “the Kanemori Warehouse, the five historical buildings that was the first commercial warehouse in Hakodate”.

The buildings date back to 1859 when this city was one of just five international trading ports of Japan, along with Nagasaki and Yokohama. Today, they remain as one of the symbols of the Hakodate bay area that is still a reminder of the early days of the shipping industry. They still house the shops that sell most of the products of Japan , be it food, clothing, household goods, and even toys. After spending our limited time walking from building to building, and looking at some of the shops, we returned to our ship, and sailed away at 5pm.

This evening was Charles Welden’s surprise birthday party; no one had told him about the party and he thought that he was just having dinner with us and Charlie and Joan Davis. He was totally surprised. It was a very nice evening.

After having six consecutive days exploring four beautiful Japanese cities, everyone is ready for a couple of sea days where we can sleep late, relax, and catch our breath.

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Today, the ship moved the clocks forward three different times. Each time it was done, the change was for 60 minutes. We have never had this experience before, and it confused everyone.

Our first time change was at 2am. This was no problem at all. We just got up an hour later, and started our day when we would normally be finishing breakfast.

The trouble started when we had the 2d change. It was at 2pm just as we were finishing our lunch. The announcement by the cruise director was “the ship’s casino will be giving away money between 2-3pm”; however, his announcement went on to say that it was now 3pm, and all of the ship’s clocks had been advanced one hour. In that instant, our day had become shorter by 60 minutes. Even worse was the fact that we had not yet left the dining room, but that teatime was starting in just 15 minutes.

The final time change came at midnight when another announcement advised the passengers that the ship’s clocks were advanced another hour.

The result of these three changes was that during this one day, we went from being 15 hours ahead of the time in San Antonio to being 18 hours ahead of the time at home. Our 24 day had elapsed in a time span of 21 actual hours.

It was a confused pack of passengers who went to bed that night and although we had a full night’s sleep, it was an exhausted group of people who did not wake up for breakfast the following morning. I guess that this is a form of jet-lag, but am not 100% sure. What I am sure about is that this has never happened to us before, and that it was a different kind of experience.

When we were told that there would be another 60 minute time change on the evening of May 13, everyone shook their head in disbelief.

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The good news is that we did not have to advance our clocks to a different time zone today. The bad news is that we are living in a time warp where, at present, we are 19 hours ahead of central daylight time.

We just dropped anchor alongside Petropavlovsk, the capital city in the Kamchatka Peninsula, very close to Siberia, 5,600 miles from Moscow, but only 1,300 miles away from the Aleutian Islands. When we climbed out of bed this morning and got ready for our Ensemble tour, in a place that we have never visited before, we were on the far-eastern side of Asia in a deserted part of the world where the temperature was 35 degrees, the wind was blowing at 35 miles per hour, the snow was coming down in a blizzard, and the visibility was zero.

After looking out of our window, we put on four layers of clothing, grabbed our hats and gloves, and headed for the open tender that took us to shore. After a short ride, we disembarked and climbed up a ramp to the level of the shore. I noticed that I was smiling through clenched teeth that were chattering.

We spent the day in Petropavlovsk, a former submarine base area of the Soviet Union. Believe it or not 300,000 people live here. I have no idea why they live here because there is nothing to do but eat borscht and fish, neither of which I enjoy. However, they do get to ski year round in some of the volcano calderas, of which there are many, because this is an active earthquake zone.

The temperature during most of the year is 10 degrees below zero, but our guide told us that the snow disappears no later than May 14 each year. Obviously, someone cannot read the calendar because the today’s date was May 14th, and everywhere I looked, the snow was waist high.

Having said all of this, I loved every part of this stop except the bone-chilling weather. The scenery was breathtaking, the people were very friendly, and the girls were absolutely beautiful. This opinion was concurred to by all of the women who were in our group—the girls here have beautiful faces, beautiful hair, beautiful bodies, and are just gorgeous. I actually took 197 pictures during our 5 hour visit and could have taken more, but I was selective.

Our tour took us to an overlook that was completed clouded in, but yielded great close-up photographs in the falling snow. From here, we went to a restaurant whose name in English would be Pectopah, where an award winning chef prepared our meal in front of us. From my standpoint, there was nothing that I liked about the food, but the presentation was wonderful. Afterwards, an award winning troupe of Russian singers and dancers put on a wonderful show. Some of the renditions involved our dancing with them, and I was selected for a Russian version of “spin the bottle”. I won a kiss from my partner.

After our lunch and the completion of the entertainment, we returned to our bus. The snow had stopped and we drove through the town. Because it was May 14, it was a local holiday and the townspeople were out in force. One of the ways they celebrate this day is for everyone to carry a spade and dig themselves out of the last remnants of fallen snow. We saw many people shoveling snow banks together believing, or at least hoping, that this act would result in the end of winter, but they would have to be shoveling for weeks before all the snow on the ground would finally disappear.

Before returning to our ship, we stopped in a shop at the pier to check out the souvenirs. I found a couple of items that had my name on them, one of which was a souvenir pin celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of Kamchatka in 1740. After a few last minute photographs, we returned to our ship at 3:30pm and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the view from there. We lifted anchor at 6pm and started our eastbound transit of the Pacific Ocean as we headed toward the Aleutian Islands four days away.

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The 48 hour day can only occur in two places on earth, one of them is in the Northern Hemisphere and the other is in the Southern Hemisphere; and it can only happen if you are crossing the Pacific Ocean from West to East (Eastbound).

In the Northern Pacific, it occurs when you have left Asia and are beyond the half way point towards North or South America; in the Southern Pacific, it occurs when you have passed French Polynesia and are part way to the west coast of North or South America.

In our case, we had left the Kamchatka Peninsula on the evening of May 14 cruising due East into the Pacific Ocean. On the 2d day out, May 16 sometime during that late evening, we passed the imaginary point that represents the International Date Line.

As a result of crossing that line, and at that magic moment, the May 16 that we had been enjoying where the time on our ship had been 21 hours ahead of Central Daylight Time, and also where, except for three hours, we were one day ahead of the date at home, came to an end. The time on our ship was instantaneously converted to being 3 hours behind Central Daylight Time and we were now magically transported to living the same day as friends and relatives were living at home. We were going to have a second May 16th to enjoy in full.

This was the very first time that we had crossed the International Date Line on a ship cruising the Pacific Ocean in an eastbound direction. The change from one day to another, and living the same day for 48 hours, is a difficult concept to accept. If it is confusing for people who are in the midst of the changeover, I can fully understand how impossible it must be for friends and relatives at home to understand the concept, but I hope my explanation clears things up, at least a little. In this special instance, we did relish this day of our life for 48 hours.

Crossing the International Date Line on May 16 gave us several special events to celebrate—one of them was the 52nd birthday of Felice Patruno, the Captain of the Seven Seas Mariner. He was the only person on the ship whose birthday fell on the 48 hour day that was May 16. As a result, the officers and crew planned a surprise birthday party for him and arranged for all of the world cruise/full ring of fire passengers to be in the Star’s nightclub to sing happy birthday to him. Unfortunately, he was very busy and it was difficult to get him to leave his office. Finally, he yielded to pressure and followed Elsa, the social hostess, to handle a situation that required his attention. When he finally arrived at the nightclub and saw all the passengers there, he could not hide his tears. He took the microphone and thanked everyone for making this such a happy birthday for him, and also thanked his officers, the crew, and the passengers for making this voyage so special to him. All of us knew he meant every word because he could not dry his eyes as he spoke to us.

Another special event occurred before dinner on the second May 16th; this was the white elephant auction for the benefit of the “crew welfare fund”. Because all of the proceeds went to the crew who has been so good to us through this entire voyager, the passengers who participated paid no attention to the value of what was being auctioned. The auctioned items were bought strictly to thank the crew for the love, and the memories, that they gave us during the cruise. It was a lot of fun as we competed with each other for Radisson room numbers, signed tee shirts and aprons, signed weather charts. One of the best items was Captain Patruno’s uniform that was eventually purchased by Joan & Charlie. Now, each of us has a uniform from a Regent Captain. We are planning that both of us will bring them with us on next year’s world cruise and wear them when we have dinner with Captain Dag.

After the auction, we had dinner with Mary Ann and Jimbo Todd. He never got to celebrate his birthday this year because the Mariner lost that particular day when it crossed the International Date Line going westbound two months ago. When that happened, Jim & Mary Ann made a decision that they would celebrate his birthday on the day that the ship would regain that day during its eastbound crossing. That day was today.

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At 7am, we were awakened by an announcement that U.S. customs officials were requiring all passengers to present themselves for clearance. We jumped into our clothes and hustled to the Constellation Theater where we had our passports stamped, after which we went to breakfast since we were already up and about.

I made plans with Charles, Mary, and the kids to take the 10am shuttle from Dutch Harbor, where our ship is docked, to Unalaska, a onetime Aleut village.

We are 800 miles southwest of Anchorage in the heart of the Aleutian Islands along the “ring of fire”. The area is called that because of the frequent volcanic activity that occurs in this part of the Pacific Rim.

The Aleutian’s lured Russian explorers to Alaska during the 1700s and really boomed when ships that were headed for the Nome gold fields stopped here.

One of the sad notes about the history of Dutch Harbor and Unalaska occurred when the area was pummeled by more than 100 bombs dropped from Japanese zeros during World War II. It was the only attack by the Japanese on American soil other than the one that rained destruction on Pearl Harbour.

The shuttles today were actually two of the town’s school buses. The scheduled itinerary provided for five different stops that would give us a varied look at the town, including a museum, a mall, a memorial to the brave souls who died or were injured in the attack by the Japanese Empire, and a drive through the residential area. We started our tour at the “mall”, a two story warehouse with a single shop that had opened today, despite the fact that it was Sunday. It was there that we noticed that “the eagle(s) had landed”. There were hundreds of our national bird sporting their beautiful white heads, and we got some great photos of our national bird.

As we were trying to decide what to do next, a van drove up with a sign in the window that indicated that it was from the Grand Aleutian Hotel. This 90 room hostelry was the only hotel in town. Ronald, the driver, rolled down his window and asked if we needed any help; Mary spoke up and told him that our shuttle would not arrive for 45 more minutes and asked if he could take us to see the residential part of Unalaska. She explained that we were told that it was a 45 minute walk to get to that part of town, and that she would be glad to compensate him for his time and his assistance. Ronald said that he was doing something for the hotel but that he would be glad to extend us some Alaskan hospitality and show us around. His coworker, Michael, jumped out and opened the door and the six of us climbed in.

Michael was not much of a talker but we were able to discover that Ronald was a full time employee of the hotel and lived there as well. Michael lived in one of the “couples” dormitories and had arrived to work with the fishing fleet, but took a temporary job with the hotel because the work was easier than being on one of the boats.

The first people to live at this part of the Aleutians were the Unangans, who called this place “Ounalashka” meaning “near the Peninsula”. The name stuck, became Americanized and was changed to Unalaska.

We never did find out what their jobs were, but did discover that they had not been to the residential part of Unalaska many times during their time here. The ride by automobile was 15 minutes and the roads were broken and frequently unpaved. It would have been a long walk in pretty cool weather. One of my highlights today was seeing the Russian Orthodox Church with its magnificent icons.

After touring around for close to an hour, Ronald said that he had to get back on the job. He suggested that we see the hotel and offered to drive us there. We agreed since it was already time for lunch, so we headed back to town and enjoyed a delicious Sunday buffet brunch. After devouring more than my share of desserts, I told Charles and Mary that I was ready to return to the ship. They stayed and went through the gift shop. I thought it would take me 20 minutes to get back to the Mariner. However, 30 minutes later, I was still walking along, when all of a sudden, Ronald drove up in the van. The Weldens were there, and he suggested that I also get in which I did. He had offered to take them on another tour that would include a drive up the mountain to see the bombed out area of Unalaska. There were still remnants of Armed Forces bunkers, Quonset huts and barracks along with the bombed out remains of the buildings that formerly stood there. The site is now a monument to the horrors of war, and nothing, even the rubble remaining after the attack, has been removed from the site during the last 67 years.
The drive to the top of the mountain was hair raising to say the least, but we made it without any problems. Unfortunately, the day was very cloudy, and what could have been a magnificent view was not there. Ronald and Michael returned us to our ship at 2pm so that they could get back to work.

The Mariner left Dutch Harbor early this evening as we were enjoying cocktails in Joan and Charley’s suite along with 40 other people that they had invited for the sail away.

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Today was the final sea day of our world cruise. I have mixed feelings about the world cruise being over because I really enjoy being on a ship, but I sure miss being with our children and grandchildren. I can’t wait to see them again, catch up on what they have been doing, and showing them this report of what we have seen and where we have been.

My first job of the day was to go the infirmary and see the doctor about getting Mary Pat something to relieve her constant cough. The doctor asked why she did not come herself and I told him that it was because he was not as important as a beauty shop appointment which no self respecting woman would ever miss. He laughed, nodded his agreement, and said that his wife would say the same thing. Even though the rules required a visit by the patient, he agreed to sell me his last bottle of cough syrup for her.

The day flew by as we started our packing for the trip home. We were going to ship four more suitcases back to San Antonio and keep one with us. After lunch and a visit with friends where we discussed getting together on the 2010 world cruise, we attended the Broadway tea party for full world cruise/ ring of fire passengers. It was a fun event with a wide selection of pastries, and a Broadway Show production featuring the Regent singers and dancers.
After the party, we completed our packing and put the luggage that was being shipped in the hallway to be picked up and processed. We dressed for our final world cruise formal evening of dinner with the security officer, the environmental officer, and a cruise line official visiting from Fort Lauderdale.

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This is our last full day of this world cruise, which sets a record for the longest number of consecutive days that we have ever been gone from San Antonio. We have already been away for 127 days, and we will not be home until the total number of days away equals 135. I do not want to be away this long, at one time, ever again. During my entire life, the most consecutive days I was ever away from home was when I was in the US Army, and this cruise ranks as the 2nd longest.

With that in mind, I have to say that this was one of the most beautiful days we have spent on this trip. The weather is beautiful, the sun is shining, and the scenery is breathtaking. In addition, the port offers several interesting things to do. We took the shuttle to town and explored the city sights and several of its museums. We also visited the headquarters for the crab festival which starts on Saturday and purchased a commemorative tee shirt.

We returned to our ship in early afternoon because the final trivia game was scheduled for 4:30pm and I wanted to say goodbye to my team. We had made plans to have cocktails with Elsa, the social hostess, before dinner, and were invited to a farewell Indian curry banquet by Peter and Yasuko Newton.

Tomorrow, we arrive in Seward and have a private van reserved to take Joan, Charlie and us to Anchorage for the flight to San Francisco. With the exception of the length of the time away, I must say that this has been a wonderful adventure made up of new places, new friends, and two different ships. Also, I am glad that we were able to share Charles Welden’s 70th birthday party, and that we are now going to share in Joan and Charlies 1st wedding anniversary. It will be hard to duplicate what we have experienced during these four months.

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Charles, Mary, and Nicky joined us for a farewell breakfast, which we appreciated. They are very dear friends, were the first to great us when we arrived a month ago, and are the last to say goodbye as we head for home.

Joan, Charlie, Mary Pat and I disembarked and met our driver for the ride to Anchorage and our flight to San Francisco with a stopover in Seattle. The scenery along the way was breathtaking to say the least, and everything went according to schedule. The weather was perfect and there were no delays.

We are definitely looking forward to seeing everyone next year on the 2010 Regent World Cruise, and hopefully duplicating the wonderful times that we experienced this year, but without having to change ships midway through the voyage. But, even with that problem, the world cruise was memorable and wonderful.