South America Cruise January

   I think that we are packed and just about ready to go. Golden Princess here we come. We found out this week that we were upgraded to a mini-suite. Either the ship is empty or we have a perk for being Elite members! Packing for 14 days at sea was a bit different but we seem to be able to do a better job these days. It is mid summer in South America with very warm temperatures (we hope!)

Our Cruise Stops

We have a 12 hour non stop Toronto to Santiago with a 2 hour time difference. It will certainly be nice to go non stop. We leave at midnight Friday 17 January and arrive at Noon the next day. We go right to the ship from the airport and sail a few hours afterward.

As the maps show we start in Santiago Chile and then head south around Cape Hope , over to the Falkland Islands; a stop in Uruguay and finally an overnight in Buenos Aires.

We have already sailed 220 days plus on Princess (stuck in a rut?) but now that we attained Elite status we can hardly pass up the perks.  The mini bar and free laundry are just a few of the things that go along with the staying with one line. What can be better than a complimentary glass of champagne!

       We will try to post daily (?) if we can.  We always find that sailing is an adventure and this should not be any different. Now if we can just sort out all the different currencies we should have a good time. Plenty of touring to be done in all the ports!

    

8 Day Crossing Part 2 - She Broke The Egg!

   We are in the last day at sea with Whittier less than 12 hours away. Today at breakfast we spotted 3 spouts. People had see whales in the last few days but they were the first for us .The last few days have been spent in much the same routine as before. However, I have taken up the Zumba exercise in full and I am finally getting the hang of it. This is not Zumba gold but regular Zumba. It has a lot of high impact steps which can hurt the knees. As Walter the 27 year old instructor says, do what you can! Last night was the last of our 6 formal nights. We had our photos taken but did not win the free prints.

      After all the ball room dance classes that we have had, we are finally getting the hang of it although when the Asian take to the floor, we fade into he woodwork. They are so graceful and dance with such flare that it is hard to stay on the floor with them. We spent part of the afternoon packing but need to wait until later tonight to finish the job. We don't leave until 8 am tomorrow but need to do the U.S. Immigration exercise at 6:30. Since we are not leaving Anchorage until nearly midnight it will be a long day. We cancelled our transfer to the airport in favour of a small excursion to take up some of the day. However, I imagine come Sunday afternoon, we will be a bit tired. We still have 4 time zones to make up but that will be done in the air.

Our Prize!

      We entered the egg drop contest this cruise. Briefly, you need to drop a raw egg from deck 7 to deck 5 without it breaking. Since we have seen it done before and assisted on an egg drop on our last cruise, it should have been a piece of cake. We used a Vietnamese type hat to hold a coffee cup (it acted like a parachute) and broke the fall with some balloons. It made it safely to the bottom (as did others ) but when Judy went to retrieve the egg to prove that we were winners, the host had turned the container over. Judy had seen the hours of engineering time that had gone into the development of what was probably the best looking egg drop device. The egg came out unscathed but she did not catch it (I should have raced down there to get the glory) and it promptly fell on the deck and smashed! I made my way to the fifth floor but stayed in the background. The good news is that all entrants received the coveted Princess water bottles. At least it was not a key chain. It was a fun exercise.

    This will be the last post from the ship. If we have an exciting day in Anchorage tomorrow, I may attempt to post something. Thanks to all who have sent emails or left messages. We hope you enjoyed reading of our adventuress and seeing the photos of some of the highlights!

CHEERS!

8 Day Crossing Part 1

     It has been 4 full days at sea since we left Yokohama and as of now (Day 5 at sea) we have 3 more after today. Life at sea is not exactly the same as cruising between ports because now you are always just looking forward to another day crossing the Pacific as opposed to resting after a day ashore . Actually we crossed the International Date Line late last night and now we are on the same day as the rest of North America. Interesting part is that we actually had 2 Mondays this week! We are also advancing the clock 1 hour each nigh as we creep back to Alaska. We have another hour time change tonight.

We Won!

      Our days are filled with a few basic activities. Since Yokohama, the ship now has a real Zumba instructor. This is not gold like in Florida but “real Zumba” . It is a very hard workout for nearly 50 minutes. They started offering it twice a day, morning and afternoon. With the time changes and the early start time, Judy barely has time to make it. I usually get my coffee and start about 15 minutes after her. After that it is either ballroom dancing class or line dancing. Actually we rest during line dancing and just dance when the music is on. With all the ballroom sessions we have had, we can almost dance to whatever is playing. The instructor has done 6 basic dances and have kept the moves the same so the only real difference is the beat of the music. Last night we went to one of the venues with the live band and did some practicing! “Brazil” the instructor is probably the best teacher that we have had except for the professional that were on our Panama cruise about 12 cruises ago. The line dancing is forgettable as is to be expected. We also made it to the big indoor pool for a swim today.

      We usually spend some time having tea in the lobby bar. We find 2 empty chairs (they are grouped in fours), sit down and chat with whoever is there. Sometimes we have morning tea with our dinner companions. It is nice not sitting next to that post during dinner as we did on the first part of the cruise. We now have dinner with 2 other couples, one from Ontario, one from California. 2 nights

Formal Night Attire

ago was a formal night with the Captain's Circle Party. We won the bottle of champagne after saying we never win anything. We saved the bottle for our table so we could all celebrate. My name was also pulled for the question of the day. I won a photo of the Great Wall and a $1 coupon for the casino. Big deal. Gone are the days of winning a free drink! However with 2 wins in a row behind us we have entered the egg drop contest. We will see what happens on Friday.

    The Captain was on the PA system today with a special announcement. We immediately thought that “Nor-virus” was back. However he said that he had altered course last night and is headed for one of the Aleutian Islands to land a passenger who has a serious medical problem. There are only 300 people on the island but it has a WW 2 age landing strip. They will offload the passenger to a boat and then air evac him(?) to Anchorage. We have been steaming at around 21 knots (top speed for this ship) since last night. The transfer will occur around 11 PM tonight. He will make his scheduled arrival time in Whittier. My comment was that the Tour office will be open soon with a special tour of the island! Escape Completely the Princess way. I was just commentating today that a stop sometime would be nice! The seas remain moderate to rough but the ship has been very stable. Currently the white caps are still out there (5C temperature) but not as many as earlier in the day.

Sharing Our Chanmpagne

     We seem to have cut down on how often we eat although we do enjoy that part. Missing breakfast and trying to limit the between snacks is now the pattern. That is not as bad as hitting the food wall and not eating anything (except desserts). Glad to see the Red Wings won. Sorry for the Leafs!   

Yokohama – Tokyo

       We were up before 6 yesterday as we had a tour of Tokyo booked and the departure time was 7:00 am. We were off the ship shortly after docking at 7 and on our was for a half day tour of Tokyo. We were actually docked in Yokohama which is about 20 kilometres from Tokyo. We booked the City Drive and Tokyo Tower tour because it was the only effective way to get to Tokyo. The port lecturer who had been giving excellent advice suggested that a tour here was the best thing because of the distances involved and what there was to see. Basically we drove to Tokyo which on this Friday morning took about an hour and drove around the 'sites' of the city before stopping at the Tokyo tower. We hit all the highlights such as the Emperor's Palace, Parliament buildings, shopping districts, etc. However the tour was and all drive tour without any stops. It is not a very effective way to see any city although we can say we saw it.

   

Tokyo Radio Tower

 The Tokyo tower was a little more interesting. It looks looks a bit like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It is an all steel structure with the main observation deck at about 150 meters. There were about 6 buses from the ship there as well as numerous school tours. They did not need to push us into the elevators but they came close to that. The views at the top were good but the smog was very much in evidence. We had a much more pleasant experience in Osaka. After that we basically drove back to the ship.

    After a quick lunch we were out walking the area near the port. The cruise terminal area is very well done with parks, shopping, a Chinatown, etc. all close by. We walked to the Silk Museum which displayed how silk is produced. There were some English titles. Then it was off to Chinatown (yea Chinatown in Japan) for a walk through. It was jammed with people. Finally we walked along a concourse where an old (1930's) cruise ship is docked. It carried many famous people between Yokohama and Seattle

1930's Cruise Ship

Washington. The park area was also preparing for a triathlon . We recognized that from the one that they have held in Clearwater Beach. By then we were getting tired so we headed back to the ship, stopping at the “Shopper's of Japan” to by a bottle of wine for the trip to Alaska. Finally we walked on the cruise terminal top which is a very unique structure. Judy found something that she wanted to buy but we were “15 cents” short so we made like the Amazing Race and found someone to give us what we needed. Picking the right couple to ask was the hard part.

     Sail away with Japanese drum entertainment was very well

Fire boat Display

done. There was also a fire boat on display as well. At night, we

took in the show with a guitar playing comedian. He was among the more entertaining acts that I liked. Finally before dinner, we did line dancing. When we walked into Club Fusion the song was 2 Black Cadillacs. It is a current line dancing song. I found out that the tech had downloaded the music I gave him the night before. As a result there were plenty of songs that we knew the steps. After dinner it was early to bed as we were tired from the long day. We also lost an hour sleep last night. We are starting to get back what we gained/lost? When we travelled west a few weeks ago.

Osaka On Our Own

     We originally had a tour booked for Osaka. But we cancelled it so that we could venture out on our own . We were docked right in the city about 2 blocks from a subway station and used it to visit the city. In all it is a wonderful city that is extremely easy to navigate. The people are very helpful and in one case a businessman on a bike stopped and walked us to where we could see what we wanted. A young woman gave her seat to Judy on one of the subway lines!

 

View From The Top

 
 Once you understand how the ticket machines works it was a piece of cake. They have English menus and there is a person at each machine to walk you through buying the right ticket. It really was an easy way to see many things without having to get on a tour bus. As someone said this has become a cruise of temples! It seems that every tour since we have been aboard has gone to a temple of some type. Our first destination was the Umeda building. It is a twin tower building about 40 stories high with an observation deck on top. The interesting thing is that the last 4 get to the last few stories and the observation deck, you must take an

Esculator

escalator that crosses to the other tower. The deck is above both buildings offering wonderful views of the city. To get down you take the escalator for one side to another before descending in the glass outside elevator. A very nice building. Best thing is that offered a 'senior' discount!

We then took the train to a downtown upscale shopping district called Shinsaibashi. This was not Viet Nam or Korea. We did not see more than a few vendors that had good out on the street. We eventually came to the octopus balls district. These are a piece of octopus in a ball or dough and who knows what else covered with a shredded vegetable and smothered in some type of sauce. We ordered one to try and ended up with an order of 8! We were getting hungry by then so no worries. Only problem was that it is an 'acquired

Octupus Balls

taste' which neither of us had. I finished them but that is enough of what the locals “octopus balls'! After that we headed to our next stop on the tour.

     The ship was docked next to a world class aquarium. It was on our list! They did offer a 'senior discount'! What a great country. It was well presented. The theme was the Pacific Ring of Fire and all the exhibits came from around the Pacific Ocean. They had displays from North and South America, Antarctica, New Zealand, Japan, etc. You start at the top floor and wander down the ramps. The centre section is a massive tank filled with all types of fish! It was probably over a kilometre in length by the time we got to the bottom. The

Jellyfish

distance is marked on the floor.

Our last stop was the massive ferris wheel next to the ship. We have been to the Eye in London but this looked taller although the pods were smaller. It also afforded very nice views of the city. As we made our way around it stopped, started, stopped again, etc. Now I am not the best in a high free swinging basket but this thing is suppose to be continually moving. Turns out as we came to the bottom, we noticed a may working on the main drive area. Just what I needed. At night the wheel is lit up for a very nice photo opportunity. Since we did not leave until nearly 8 pm, we had some very nice views of it from our balcony.

      We were back on the ship for the official welcoming ceremony. After the speeches they had a man and a woman playing what looked like a Japanese banjo. We needed to understand the culture a little better because all the music sounded the same and went of forever and ever. Before dinner they had a line dance favourites hour where they played ship line dances. However, brought my thumb drive with songs on it so we were able to do some other dances. There were only a few people there and other people knew some different dances so it was at least an attempt to keep up our skills. I know we are getting rusty. Because of the radio communication blackout we were only able to connect today.

Busan Walk Around

       Last night was a formal night and the Captain's welcome aboard party. We went to an early production show that we had not seen before and then we went to the champagne waterfall which they now do on the Captain's welcome aboard party as opposed to the final night. I think it is because

A Stop In A Park

they can sell more photos this way. We must have been in the right place because the waiter kept coming by and filling our glasses!

Today we had a full visit to Busan South Korea. Having been here less than a week ago we decided to just go into the city by shuttle and walk around. Our first stop was Yongdusan Park which is just above the main shopping area. This time the bus stopped and we did now have to use the escalator. The day was nice and warm with sunny skies for most of the day so the photos are better. Buddha's birthday was last weekend and the park was decorated with large paper figures. Always nice to get some of the local flavour.

 

Finally A Hat

     As we walked around the streets we found many sock vendors and Judy decided to buy some Nike sport socks at about $2 a pair. In Tamps they are at least $4 on sale. We then walked though the 'cheap' market stall area. Judy found a collapsible straw hat that she liked. She had been looking for one for a few ports now. Of course she found one but the wanted $15 for it. ( Remember the “same” hat for $68 at the friendship store in Dahlain!) I offered them $10 but they shook their head. They let us walk away. Judy really liked the hat so we went back. The price was now $18. We walked away again. There are plenty of vendor stalls in the area. It runs for alley way after alley way. Do you think that we could find a stinking hat vendor. We finally stumbled (I said I knew it was there!) and 3 or 4 hat sellers all in the same location. Judy got the hat for $14!

Save Me!

   

Mussels Anyone

 We made our way back to the Lotte Department store and went to the top

for better views of the city. The views were much better because of the day. We rode the escalator all the way to the bottom level where we again found the wine store. By this time we were getting hungry so we stopped and bought a large steamed pork and vegetable filled dumpling. We ordered the hot and it was! Later we did stop and get a soft serve – 2 for about $1 at MacDonald. I did a quick tour of the fish market just to take some pictures. We finally returned to the ship. We had a very nice day in Busan.  Happy Birthday to Pauline!

     We are headed to Japan for the next 2 ports before heading across the Pacific. Japanese authorities do not allow radio communications so the internet will be down for periods of time as we sail in and out of their territory. Tomorrow is a sea day before Osaka. We will doing our own thing as we will be right in town and have a good idea of how to navigate the subway system.

Ashore in Dalian

Along Russian Street

            After the over night sail from Tianjin, we arrived early this morning in Dalian. The effects of the climb to the top of the Great Wall seems to be lingering more than I expected! Dalian is the third largest port in China and an area that has seen many different cultures occupy the region. There is a Japanese influence from an occupation and a very strong past Russian Influence. A port shuttle was provided to the Friendship store (where else?) located in the main square of the city. The city itself was redesigned by the Russians. It has a series of large hexagonal squares with wide avenues connecting them. The city has a very nice modern feel to it. It was a very nice place to walk around. It did have its share of street venders but nothing like Shanghai or Viet Nam. We had 2 basic objectives for the day and managed to finish one of them.

Farmer's Market

      Our first destination was Russia Street. It is so named because all the buildings were built during the Russian occupation. It looked like what you would see in St Petersburg. Most of the buildings have been refurbished and are very neat looking. They are now occupied by upscale businesses. Along the street were many vendors all selling the same items. We could not figure out why there were so many binoculars for sale. They were everywhere. As we wandered, we found the farmer's market. It was your typical market selling fruits vegetables, meats and bakery products in a very run down area just off Russia Street. They knew that we were not going to buy anything so it was nice just to walk through without people constantly trying to get your attention. We ended up buying some very tasty almond cookies.

Upscale Shopping

      We then headed to the upscale pedestrian area to see what was in there. More street vendors but not packed and overflowing. We were not looking for anything special so we just did the wander thing on our way to the second planned location. First we did find Friendship Square, one of those places that reminds you of Zhongshan Square, the largest in the city. We wanted to get to People's Square because they have Chinese Kite flying at that park. We went as far as the Princess map outlines but the destination was beyond the map. We even asked some students at an English Language School to help us out but not having a map did not help. Later we stopped at a Tourist Information Booth (English spoken here) but they said that they only have maps in Chinese. Go figure on that one! So we wandered back to Victory Square where we found a huge shopping complex associated with a department store. We started at the top and came across Tom's World, a full floor amusement arcade. It was jammed with kids!

      As we made our way back down we passed the camera section. I can now admit that I lost my

Tom"s World

camera case with my extra cards and battery somewhere in Shanghai! Am I glad I can download the photos we take every night. Anyway I wanted to get a case for convenience and we found one. The Chinese girl did not speak English but if you ask the price, they use a calculator and show you the numbers. I think it was cheaper and of better quality than the one I had from Blacks. I could not find a 'Made in China” tag on it. Since we had some money left over, I now have a new bag.

       From there it was a stop at a KFC for a soft serve (about $0.60 each) before heading back to the Friendship store. We decided to have a look inside. Many people from the ship were in that store as it was the main drop

Victory Square

point for the tours – the so called shopping free time. They had plenty of staff but I did not see one Chinese shopper there. The prices were outrageous! Judy tried on a basic collapsible sun hat. They wanted nearly $70.00 for it. No way was not exactly what Judy said! We were back at the ship in time for afternoon tea. We are currently in the Yellow Sea headed back to Busan tomorrow where we will simple take the shuttle in walk around and pick up some more wine!