Travelling to LAX

Thursday, May 18

The hotel shuttle bus took us to SeaTac Airport, and we checked in for our flight to LAX. We were a bit late in departing but it didn't bother us as we had a big lay over in LA before our flight home.

After collecting our bags we walked to the International Terminal and checked in for our Air NZ flight home, which isn't until 10:30pm! However we were able to use the facilities of the Star Alliance lounge which helped the time go quickly, as well as walking around the terminal looking at the shops and getting some exercise before the big flight home!

Seattle - Day 3

Wednesday, May 17

We said goodbye to Danny and his boys, and then Elaine drove us into town and dropped us near the Space Needle. We had some breakfast and then went into the Museum of Pop Culture. There were some special exhibitions on horror movies and science fiction movies, with lots of costumes and models from famous movies of these two genres.

We then moved on to the music side of this museum, with a special area on Jimi Hendrix, Seattle's biggest ever rock star. There was also a great gallery on the development of guitars over the centuries, and how they changed once electricity was readily available. It was fantastic seeing some of the real guitars that different rock stars had used, as well as videos of some of the great American guitar players of the last century.

This museum had lots of interactive displays, some of which were beyond us like "Indie Games"! We weren't as confident as the young kids in attendance who loved the sound booths where they could try different musical instruments, but at least I had a go on the drums!

We walked around the Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens and through the gardens as we headed for the retail area of the city. We couldn't get over how much Seattle is like Melbourne. After lunch we continued our walk and eventually reached the Library where Elaine picked us up. She then drove us to our hotel near the airport in preparation for our flight to LA in the morning.

We've had another great time in Seattle and we look forward to returning as there is still lots to see and do here.

Seattle - Day 2

Tuesday, May 16

We set off this morning with Elaine, surrounded by heavy cloud and steady rain, and drove to the ferry which departs from Edmonds, about 20 minutes from her home. The ferry took us across Puget Sound to Kingston, and from there we had a 45 minute drive to Port Townsend.

The countryside was so green and lush as Seattle has had one of the wettest and cool springs for a long time. This was good for us as all the spring flowers were still in bloom and it was a lovely drive. We arrived in Port Townsend and enjoyed a delicious lunch, and then we set off on foot to explore the town. Its a great place with buildings going back to the late 1800s, and it has a rich maritime history. There were also some lovely shops here as well.

We then drove to a wood worker/designer who Elaine had ordered a table centrepiece from, and it was fascinating seeing the different woods and techniques he uses to create his masterpieces. We were most impressed and thought Elaine had made a really good choice.

 We continued our drive around town, with beautiful homes overlooking the water, and it had a lovely feel to it. We parked back in town and walked around some more before driving back to Kingston to catch the ferry home. We were fortunate as the rain stopped while having lunch and even had some sunshine during the afternoon.

Back at Elaine and Danny's home the new purchase looked fabulous, and Danny prepared a brilliant meal for us, accompanied by top class Washington State wines. It was a very memorable meal and a great way to remember Seattle as our trip is quickly coming to an end!

Seattle, Washington

Monday, May 15

Sadly we finished our cruise today, disembarking in Seattle after 19 fabulous days. We were met by Noelle's cousin Elaine, who dropped us in the city to do some touristy things while she went on to work. The weather was cold and overcast, and we decided to do the Seattle Underground Tour. This was fascinating as it ran through the history of Seattle, which only began in the mid 1800s, and highlighted the problems the young town went through to get established. There were also many amusing stories the guide told us as he lead us around the original streets of Seattle which are now 10-15 feet below the current streets!

After the tour we walked down to Pike Place Market where we had lunch, and then indulged on a Seattle delicacy - donuts with maple syrup icing with bacon bits sprinkled on them. They are delicious, and for a Monday the market was very busy.

We then headed back to the Seattle Public Library where Elaine was to pick us up. We were happy to wait there until she arrived as it was drizzling with rain and cold to us, plus we could use the wifi there!

Elaine and Danny's house is really nice, and as he is a chef we had a delicious meal and some nice wines to go with it. We had a great night catching up with Elaine again and getting to know Danny and his 2 boys who are staying with them this week.

It seems funny being off the ship after 2 cruises but we have to adjust as it won't be long and we'll be home again!

Vancouver, Canada

Sunday, May 14

It was raining and cold when we left the ship this morning, so we found a cafe and hit wifi for a while. The skies were clearing so we walked to the Pacific Centre Mall and checked out the shops - it was another one of those "it could be anywhere in the world" malls that we've been to in many different cities.

The sun came out and we enjoyed walking around looking at all the lovely spring flowers that were blooming, and the trees that were just starting to bud. We saw some nice old buildings around the downtown area and near Canada Place, and enjoyed our short time in Vancouver.

Another 2 Days at Sea

Friday-Saturday, May 12-13

As we left San Francisco the seas got rougher and we've had 2 days of rocking and rolling, with a number of people sick from what we overheard from other passengers, and for the first time on a cruise ship we even saw sick bags provided in the lift wells!

However we did see whales not far from the ship as they make their way to Alaska for the summer there - it's always exciting seeing these beautiful creatures so close and in their natural environment!

For us we continued to relax and read, slept, ate, walked, chatted with friends and were entertained by the variety of shows and talks provided on the ship.

San Francisco

Thursday, May 11

We were up early to watch us sail under the Golden Gate Bridge, past Fisherman's Wharf and into San Francisco. We had to clear US Customs but they know us pretty well by now so that wasn't a problem! We had already booked our tickets to visit Alcatraz today so we just had to walk a few blocks from our dock to Pier 27 where the ferries to Alcatraz depart from.

We enjoyed a coffee and doughnut, and wifi of course while we waited for our 11:30 ferry. The "Rock" as Alcatraz is known is only about a mile offshore, so the ferry journey was about 15 minutes. We were greeted with a short talk by a Ranger, as the island is now a National Park. Then it was into one of the old buildings where a video was shown detailing its history etc. and we found this really interesting.

Next was the walk up the hill to where the cell block was located - talk about location location, and the great views, but it made the prisoners here realise how close freedom was but they couldn't reach it! The walk was equivalent to climbing 14 stories, so it was good that we have been doing lots of walking and using the stairs on the ship!

We picked up an audio guide to walk us through the cells and to describe what it was like being both a prisoner and a guard here. The narration was done by ex prisoners and ex guards and it was very well done. Some of the stories were amazing, and seeing the 5ft x 9ft x 7ft cells and the daily routine made you realise how tough it would have been as a prisoner. There were escape attempts, and a battle after one attempt when a number of guards and prisoners were killed. We thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent exploring this incredible piece of real estate and its history, but we were glad we were going back to our cabin on the ship at the end of the day!

On our way to do some retail therapy we had a late bite of lunch, and went back to the ship via Fisherman's Wharf, which we had explored on our last trip here 3 years ago.

Our ship departed at 11pm so we had the most fantastic view of San Fran as we sailed away from this city by the bay, back under the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Pacific Ocean as we headed north for Vancouver, with another 2 Days at Sea coming up!

Two More Days at Sea

Tuesday-Wednesday, May 9-10

It was more of the same as we relaxed and read, slept, ate, walked, chatted with friends and were entertained by numerous talks and shows, as well as watching some movies.

The weather has got cooler as we head north, so we're out of shorts and t-shirts and into warmer clothes!

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Monday, May 8

It was cool when we docked this morning, but the sun was out and the views of Cabo from the ship were fabulous. We had to be tendered to shore, and then set off on our own walking tour. This place is very party oriented, with lots of shops and markets, and again lots of vendors bugging us to buy from them! We did indulge in some retail therapy and enjoyed meeting some of the locals. We also chilled out over a couple of Bloody Mary's and some tacos at a little cafe, and of course caught up on wifi!

Two Days at Sea

Saturday-Sunday, May 6-7

As our last port was in Mexico the ship picked up a folkloric group who have started to immerse us in the Mexican culture. This consists of a noon performance of songs and dancing in their colourful national costumes, followed by basic Spanish lessons at 2pm. There have also been talks by the location guide on the Mayans and Aztecs, as well as other talks and presentations to attend such as preparing Mexican meals.

Of course there has been sleeping, eating, walking and reading, as well as just lying on a deck chair in the sun! We've also met some nice people on this cruise and so there is always someone to chat to. As I've said before, we love days at sea!

Tonight's show was a tribute band to Buddy Holly and the Crickets called "The Rave-Ons", and they were fabulous. They certainly had the packed theatre bopping along to the fantastic music of Buddy Holly from the 1950s.

Huatulco, Mexico

Friday, May 5

After a night of thunderstorms, heavy rain and strong winds, which made the sea quite rough (although we slept well), we arrived in Huatulco around 1pm. We had a lazy morning attending a talk on the Mayans, and then a walk around the deck until a quick lunch before going ashore.

The port has mainly jewellery and souvenir shops for a couple of streets and that's all, and then the restaurants and cafes line the beach which is either side of where the ships dock. We walked around checking out what was on offer before settling for a beer and some wifi time. Then it was back to the ship to get changed into our bathers before heading to the beach. The water was warm and clear and very refreshing, and cooled us down as it was quite humid today.

Back on board we had a late dinner and a quiet night before our departure at 11pm, but it was another very enjoyable day.

Antigua, Guatemala

Thursday, May 4

We docked in Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala, but we didn't spend any time in this port town as we had booked an excursion to Antigua, about 90 minutes drive away. It was overcast as we left at 8:30am, but as we started to climb into the hills it became greyer and rain began to fall. We hadn't planned on this, and as we climbed higher it got even more misty so that the peaks of the volcanic mountain ranges were obscured.

When we arrived in Antigua it looked cold, but as soon as we stepped out of the bus we knew we would be ok in what we had on. In fact there was very little humidity here, which made a nice change from our recent stops. We had to transfer from a big coach to smaller buses, as Antigua is a UNESCO World Heritage site with lots of small cobble stoned streets, so the big coaches aren't allowed in the old town.

As we set off on our own for over 3 hours to explore this town, we were amazed at the friendliness of the locals, as well as the lovely old colonial buildings. The place has so much character, as it was founded in 1502 and served as the seat of government for over 200 years. However it was destroyed by a series of earthquakes in 1773, and left a lot of the old churches in ruins which are still visible today.

As we walked along the streets we were again harassed by vendors wanting to sell us their locally made goods, but they were nice and accepted a firm "no thank you". We visited a Jade museum and factory (one of many in town), but spent longer at the very interesting and tasty chocolate museum! From there we visited the San Pedro church before moving onto the San Jose Cathedral. This Cathedral looked over the Central Park, which was abuzz with people and colourful street vendors all going about their business under some beautiful big old shade trees. The Park was surrounded by colonnaded buildings and the whole setting was magical under the now sunny skies.

After making some purchases we set off to see the Santa Catalina Arch, which lead us to the Santa Catalina church. This was one of the nicest looking churches we've seen, with amazing columns, statues, mouldings and relief decorations in white contrasting against the butter yellow render of the building. 

We were running out of time, so we stopped for a local beer while we caught up on wifi. It was then a quick walk back to the meeting point where we were transferred to the bigger coach for the journey back to the ship. It was one of the best tours we've had, and there is plenty more to see and do in Antigua when we return some time in the future.

Leon, Nicaragua

Wednesday, May 3

We arrived at the port of Corinto in Nicaragua about 9am, so it wasn't too early a start for us today. We wanted to visit Leon, one of the previous capitals of this country, which is known for its colonial buildings and Cathedral.

Our tour left at 10am, driving through the town of Corinto on our way to our first stop. We passed mainly fields of sugar cane and corn, with processing plants for the sugar cane dotted along the road. In the distance we could see some of the volcanoes that Nicaragua is famous for, as it has 27 within its borders!

Before reaching Leon we stopped at the San Jacinto Bubbling Mud Pots, where our guide Eddy led us on a walk around this geothermal area of bubbling mud pots and hot springs. We were besieged by children ranging in age from about 4 to 14, either begging or wanting to sell us some pottery or mud from the area. We had been told not to encourage them by giving them money, as schooling is free in Nicaragua and that's where they should have been.

We finally reached Leon, and were impressed with this university town as we made our way to the Park of Heroes and Martyrs. The park was filled with school children, as it was after 12pm and school operates in 2 shifts - 7am to 12pm, and 1pm to 5pm, so it was "changeover" time. We made our way to the Cathedral at the end of the park, and Eddy took us inside to show us its treasures. This is the largest Cathedral in Central America, and it was very nice inside, painted in cream and white, and with reliefs set in grey with charcoal borders. The effect was cooling and visually different to other Cathedrals we have visited.

While some in our group chose to climb to the roof of the Cathedral we set off to find a cold drink and some wifi, and found a local cafe that had a lot of atmosphere and the local beer we tried went down very well. We checked out the market stalls before returning to the coach for the return trip to the ship. 

We arrived about 3pm, and agreed that from what we saw we would be happy to return to Nicaragua to discover more of this country and its friendly people.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Tuesday, May 2

During the night as we sailed from the Panama Canal to Costa Rica we were awoken by a massive thunderstorm with amazing lightning, loud thunder and pouring rain. We were glad we were tucked up in bed!

On arrival in Puntarenas it was very overcast, still warm but without the humidity. We walked from the ship along the shoreline past lots of market stalls that had been set up. The sand was black as Costa Rica is a volcanic area, with 3 volcanoes in this Central American country, but it was too misty to see them today.

We did some shopping, then stopped at a cafe for a beer while we caught up on wifi, as we've been away for a week without access to it! On our return to the ship for lunch we passed the old cathedral which was built in 1902.

After lunch we walked in the opposite direction and strolled along the tourist walk beside the beach, passing the park and aquarium on our way.

Day at Sea

Monday, May 1

Another lazy, enjoyable day at sea where we got to sleep in, walk around the deck, read a book, attend a presentation by the Captain, and take in a show by a group called Island Magic, who were the best steel band we've seen. We also got to see 2 pods of dolphins jumping out of the water and surfing the ships waves, with the second lot right beside the ship and we were directly above them. There was also the need to eat some lovely food and just enjoy ourselves, which is why we love cruising so much!

The Panama Canal

Sunday, April 30

At 6am this morning the pilot came aboard to guide our ship through the Panama Canal. A narrator also boarded and his commentary began at 6:40, which woke us up! It was very interesting so we got dressed and went out on deck to see this engineering marvel first hand. The ship had opened the doors to the bow so we were able to get to the very front of the ship to observe proceedings. The crew were set up there with juice, coffee and Panama rolls for breakfast, which was very nice.

The first set of locks we arrived at were the Gatun Locks, which took nearly 2 hours to get through. Clearing these locks put us in the Gatun Lake, which is huge and took us nearly 5 hours before we reached the Pedro Miguel Locks. These locks took less than an hour to get through, then it was about 45 minutes before we reached the Miraflores Locks, which took about an hour to get through. At each set of locks it was the same procedure - line the ship up straight, connect to the mules (mini trains that keep the ship in line), enter the lock, be raised or lowered to the height of the next level, and then the reverse before exiting the lock! 

This way the ships can travel from the Caribbean/Atlantic Ocean side over the 85 feet (26 metres) above sea level of the continental divide before being "lowered" to sea level again on the Pacific Ocean side near Panama City (or the reverse direction). The Canal is 80 kilometres long and we didn't exit it until about 5pm, so it was nearly 11 hours to transit through this amazing piece of engineering. Newer, bigger locks were started in 2007 and completed in 2016, so the really big ships use these locks - we could see why when you saw about a foot or two clearance on either side of our ship! Nearly 30,000 people died constructing the original Canal, and when you see the amount of earth and rock moved to build it, and the set up of the locks, it really was an amazing feat but came at a huge human cost.

We had an early dinner and we're amazed at the skyline of Panama City as we passed it - it looked like Hong Kong's skyline! There is obviously a lot of wealth in Panama City as a result of the Canal and the number of ships that go through it each day. We loved transiting the Canal and it was a highlight of the trip.

Cartagena, Colombia

Saturday, April 29

The ship was only spending 6 hours in Cartagena, so we had to be up early to get off the ship and start exploring this fascinating city. It's history goes back to the 16th Century when the Spanish were in charge, and to keep the British and other countries at bay they built some great forts here. The wealth generated by the gold, emeralds and coffee found in Colombia were shipped through this port, so its always been a key port with lots of lovely buildings established here.

Today we were travelling with Harry and Martha Jane, a Canadian couple we've met on this cruise. We negotiated a tour and rounded up 6 other people to keep the cost down! Our first stop was the fort of San Sebastián where we had great views towards Bocagrande, or the new town. Next was the fort of San Felipe, which is one of the most impressive forts we have seen. It even resisted a huge siege by the British in 1741 despite the British having a massive number of men and ships try to take it.

Then it was into the old town, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, surrounded by massive stone walls, but filled with beautiful old buildings, cathedrals, squares and shops. We wandered around this area with our guide Carmen for nearly an hour, which in the heat and humidity was a good effort! There were lots of hawkers and colourful buskers trying to relieve us of some US dollars, but we didn't need what they were offering. In part of the old wall where they used to store provisions called the dungeons, these have now been converted to tasteful artisan shops with lots of souvenirs on offer.

At the cruise ship terminal there was a free zoo to walk through, with all sorts of very colourful birds including macaws and flamingoes, as well as some little monkeys! We thought this was the best cruise terminal we had been too! We were happy to get back on board and cool down with a shower, and then it was a quiet afternoon before the night's activities begin.

Embarkation and 2 Days at Sea

Wednesday - Friday, April 26-28

Embarkation went smoothly, although we were a bit early and we didn't start boarding until 12pm. This gave us time to drop our carry on bags in the cabin and then enjoy a light lunch in the dining room. We returned to our cabin but found both key cards wouldn't work - as we waited in line at the front desk we found it was a common problem with a lot of people due to a computer glitch! As we've been on a number of cruises on this class of ship we didn't have any problems finding our way around and it felt like being at home! Dinner was followed by a short preview show of the entertainment on board, then we had an early night.

We love our days at sea, especially when they are at the start of a cruise, and we have 2 days to take it easy before our first port of call. We slept late, had a small brunch and then attended a talk on our first 2 parts of call. We chatted with some people we met yesterday before going to the afternoon tea. Today was the King of Holland's birthday so it was themed in orange, even the cakes had orange icing! The ship was decorated with tulips (paper ones) which looked really good on mass. We met some fellow Aussies at our table who were really nice, and organised to have dinner with them to continue our conversation!

After tonight's Dutch themed dinner we went to the show, which again was very good and the theatre on the Amsterdam is the lovely old style and very cosy, which we really like. As we change time zones overnight we get to wind our watches back an hour - a bonus for us!

Today we attended some talks on some future ports of call and learned more about the Central American countries we'll be visiting. There was also time for a walk around the deck as well as some reading time by the pool. Tonight was a Gala night so we got to dress up in our better clothes and enjoyed a lovely meal - again! The show featured the singers and dancers, who were very good and it was a great way to finish the day.