Ahoy Ashore
Well , my first cruise ship experience is over and I can say with conviction that I'll not do another. There was plenty to do aboard ship besides spending money. I actually got away with zero balance on my shipboard account by eating at all the complimentary buffets and attending the free shows.
The ashore excursions were pitifully short and way to structured to relieve you of money, with vendors and peddlers swarming like flies. I usually found a cantina and sat with a beer while earthling2 and her mom raced through the shops looking at everything they could and buying trinkets and clothing on their way out.
And then off to the beach for a quick dip and beer, before returning to the ship.
The last two days I was sick with a fever and chills along with a headache and was bedridden. I didn't start feeling better until we got back to LA, and by then earthling2 was beginning to show the same symptoms.
All is good now though, likely was something we ate, probably ashore.
Next time we fly and get a room so as to stay awhile and explore more.
So what have I missed?
Thread is open.
Comments
Hola earthling1. The nice thing about such journeys
is that you do miss stuff and you never miss what you missed because, in the end, it's al kaka or kafka, except for rare and random rays of illumination.
Sorry to hear of your illness. Cruise ships seem to be incubators of viruses due to the masses of people in close proximity, many from differing locales. You get some who are carriers of something somewhat mild that is common in their locale, but not in yours, and ... bingo. (It is unlikely that what you got was food borne because you didn't all get it within a few hours of each other.)
welcome back.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Did my best
to stay out on deck away from crowds and had a balcony stateroom which we kept open even at night. Wore my mask a lot, even during the shows. Many people wore masks.
Have to give credit where credit is due, the cruise line provided an army of personnel constantly wiping down and sterilizing everything one could come in contact with.
Service was stellar! We were treated like royalty the whole time.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
My son worked for a year on a cruisehip of Norvegian
Cruise Lines. What can I say, about what he told me (and that left out the real stuff), it is not the most boring job one could work in. To get along with all the guests on the ship can be a challenge.
So just be happy nothing worse happened to you. I took a cruise on the same ship (at anoter time) that lasted six days. The buffets and food in general were awesome, the restaurants on the ship quite expensive but excellent so I never was in one of them. I liked the musical shows. The best thing was the constant wind on deck.
Just saying the crew members they slept in tiny cabins with four to six person a cabin. Well, I guess, many of them liked that and enjoyed some cuddling.
Quake
of earth this morn
6.5 or so, no tsunami likely
rocked the house @0230 or so
empty cupboards, broken glass, freaked out dawgs
on genny power, PGE out from Mackinlyville to
Rio Dell
Happy Solstice Eve Gaiea
way to go on frugality
sucks on the ailment
The knees held up then? Good news
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
6.5 is a big one
It must have been offshore quite a ways. Growing up in LA put me through a number of them, beginning with the Sylmar Quake of 1965.
California.... shake n' bake.
Wasn't really that frugal. Food was outstanding.
Knees did great.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
7.5 miles sw of Ferndale,, so on land.
Ferndale is the Hollister of the North Coast, just won't lie still.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Not.
off the coast a ways just north of cape mendo ten miles down
Haven’t seen any revisions on strength yet
Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .
Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .
If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march
Yeah, a wee bit out to sea after all, My bad. n/t
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Sorry 'bout the damage and power loss. At least
PG&E won't start any fires up there for a few days.
I'd offer some sage advice about the advisability of having glassware in a fault zone, but we've got plenty and we're almost directly atop the Hayward fault. After all, who wants to drink good wine out of Tupperware.
be well and have the best day you can.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
An ode to Ferndale, and the rest of the state too
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I am not a fan of cruise ships.
Even my much preferred riverboat tours are designed to be a money suck and it is best to stray from guided tours whenever possible, so as to avoid the pesky vendors.
Some places are safe to eat anywhere, others are not. I will not eat anything anywhere in central and south America unless a guide says they use purified water to cook and to clean at the restaurant.
Sorry you are sick! While you and your wife probably got your bug from the ship, you could have gotten it at your local post office. Flying is a crap shoot. I haven't flown since Dec. 2019.
Get well. Hope the Modelos were good and cold, and that your swim was fun.
Welcome home!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Good to be home
Had some Pacifico beers too.
And fish tacos, lots of tacos.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
We did one on
the Nile. It was amusing: the vendors would cruise alongside in their little boats and harangue the passengers to buy their wares, pretty much 24/7.
We also learned the traditional lesson all tourists seem to learn when visiting Egypt for the first time. The annual rainfall is zero, so there is only one water source in Egypt- the Nile. Unfortunately, there is also only one sewer in Egypt...
It probably took us a year to get our guts back in order after we came back to the states. But it was certainly amusing.
The Scandahoovian company who builds those layercake flat-bottomed river cruise boats is making *bank*, though. I love this picture, titled "Ship Shipping Ship, Shipping Shipping Ships."
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
I had a Nile Cruise booked, had to cancel.
Later, I went to Morocco, got a taste of the infamous pushy vendors, and after that, I lost all interest in touring Egypt. They ruin it. They were not offensive in the Emirates or Jordan. The Yangtze had that sewer odor, and I hear India, in the Golden Triangle area, also reeks of poop here, pee there. Forget the Taj Mahal. Interestingly, I didn't experience that problem in central America. I was in some very primitive places, too.
So, I am headed to Galveston, will not set foot in the nasty water, will skip local seafood. It will be freezing Thursday and Friday night. A time to go to lounges for live music, from the websites, lots of open space.
Take care!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Clean up required. The walking talking gaff machine
strikes again.
Only this time he was actually telling the truth.
It was never going to happen anyway as the agreement could have been signed long ago if that was actually intended.
I am starting to believe
Biden has a bigger ego than Trump.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
spent way too many years on the water to consider it a vakay
being a captive audience does not do the free spirit much good either.
difference between - I was paid to go boating .. whereas to pay is a different
kinda kettle of frisks. Glad you landed with only a stomach bug. And you
didn't go surfing in a tsunami!
thanks for sharing!
Smooth sailing
all the way, Doc. Took a little mini cruise on a Trimaran. Was fun.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Yeah, little hobies are a blast
bigger ships, not so much
Rented a Hobie decades ago
on the beach in Acapulco. Boat owner asked if I knew how to sail one and I admitted no.
But he said no problemo, he'll teach me, and off we went. He showed me how to adjust speed with tightening/loosening the sail, changing direction/tacking (duck your head). About 100 yards out he jumped overboard and swam back to shore, leaving the two of us with our mouths agape.
Gotta admit though, with an onshore breeze what could go wrong? We had a blast going back and forth and racing from one end of the bay to the other.
Hobies are a blast.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Apropos:
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Prisons are for the little guys. Corrupt officials and war
mongers are free as a bird.
Heh, at large indeed
galloway has an interesting take on affairs
seems the bigger the crime, the less chance of doing time
steal a piece of gum, you might get shot
steal a million pensions and you get promoted
disappear a trillion magic coins - aw shucks, just
having fun. weird. kill, starve, poison and infect half the
world - call it freedom and there is no punishment.
skip a payment, lose your house.
This is what amerikkka has devolved into
These cops outta be thrown in jail
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
feeding cats is a crime?
like feeding the homeless
just can't allow this breakdown in moral policing methods
next thing you know, feeding yourself without a license will
be punishable by starvation. Who trains these cops anyway?
"Who trains these cops anyway?"
The same motherfuckers performing "ethnic cleansing" in the Near East, that's who.
This, Is. INSANE.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Yes, it is quite extraordinarily cruel and stupid
If granny goes to jail for feeding cats, there has been a big hole shot thru the
criminal justice system. Filling the void are cranked up cops seeing any kind of
resistance as a serious punishable crime. Your answer to the question of training
is right on. I know from whence this BS is perpetrated. But being an elder female
in suburban US is not quite the same as being a Palestine in the West Bank. Or a
Russian speaking jew in Ukraine, or a gypsy in Germany? In this case, the criminal
is the cop. The cat feeder is only a witness to the degradation of justice.
I'm surprised
that the cops didn't suddenly develop a debilitating fear for their lives, and simply blow the old ladies away. Old ladies can be very dangerous, especially when armed with humane cat traps. I'm amazed that the cops can even get out of bed, what with all that danger they face every day.
They should have a National Cop Day where cops can just go blow away whoever they like, to work through all that stress. Oh, wait a minute- we already do. It's called "Tuesday".
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
The State was trying to revoke my client's
probation this afternoon, and I read aloud the Galloway tweet. Just as a mood setter for the hearing. Must have worked. Judge denied the revocation and maintained my guy's probation!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Big-boat cruises
are an acquired taste. The big cruise ships are horrific, jammed full of people who (by and large) shouldn't be out in public. The food is generally not particularly good, the buffets bring their own risks, and the shows are really only there for people who haven't ever made it to a major metropolitan areas to see a real show in a real theater. And there's always one absurdly coked-up happy person called a "cruise director" who will be on the PA 5 times an hour telling you how you could be having *more* fun. Shut up, shut UP, SHUT UP.... Agh.
For me, big-ship cruising is all about getting a good cabin with a balcony, finding a seat in the back corner of the nearest nice bar with a barkeep who is up for chatting, and making the most of the unlimited booze plan while people-watching and sleeping the rest of the time. Ports-of-call? If it is a place I want to be, I sure as hell don't go there by cruise ship. I never leave the boat. The fact of the matter is that if they had good bars in Wal-Marts, you could have much the same people-watching experience without even having to travel to a coast.
I was in Charlotte Amalie in the USVI when the Embarassment of the Seas (or whatever) pulled in and disgorged 8,000 prototypical Wal-Mart customers into the largely defenseless town. Tragic. Oh, the humanity. Not a fan.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Yeah, I know now.
Heh. It was on my bucket list.
Seriously reviewing said list now.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
The last cruise I went on
had "family" as its destination. I haven't spent much (read- *any*) time with them in the last 40 or so years. We cruised up to Alaska somewhere, and found some quiet places on board to have some good quality intense family time, with someone else bringing the drinks and the food. I seldom left our cabin except for the planned-in family times, avoided the bulk of the crowds like the plague (which they pretty much were), and slept as much as I could (at the time, we were still recovering from the March fire).
It was fine. It was very much like getting booked to attend a winter conference in Troy, NY, hosted at an aging hotel that is perfectly adequate for the needs. Okay restaurant onsite, the food's all Sysco but you knew it going in, no reason to leave the hotel to explore the city (I mean: Troy?). Not great, not terrible- just fine. That was admittedly a very low bar, but the cruise met all the requirements of adequately sustaining life for my remaining family members for the duration of the trip. Fine.
Gotta tellya, though, I'd pay double if they'd just let you back over that cruise director putz in the parking lot a couple of times after disembarking. BumBump, screech. BumBump, screech. BumBump, screech. Ahhh.
Note to the humor-impaired: This Was Snark. No actual violence was advocated, nor any cruise directors harmed, in the making of the above snark. But, having said all that, I'm sure as hell glad that I don't have to have Christmas dinner with one.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
The State Department never rests. It continues to wack
the hornet's nest!
Hi Humphrey
Thank you for reporting on current events and keeping readers informed. I appreciate the digging you do.
Hi earthling
It sounds like you made the best of a limited experience. Sorry about the bug you caught, and hope you are your wife feel better soon.