January 20, 2013 (Sea Day)

This mornings Good Morning Amsterdam show included a chat with the onboard florists from Holland who are responsible for a large array of floral arrangements throughout the ship. We attended Barbara’s presentation on “Things to See and Do in Moorea and Bora Bora” for our upcoming stops in a week or so.

David Pasta presented a lecture on the ancient people of Easter Island and why and how they may have carved the giant Moai statues. It was a good background for our visit to Easter Island the next day.

Sandra Millikin presented a lecture on the architecture of the South Pacific, which also included a discussion about how the South Pacific style influenced architecture in the states. Restaurants with tropical themes became popular in the states in the 60’s and 70’s.

There was a large pool party this afternoon with the orchestra playing, food was served and many games were played. The weather was quite warm in the sun but very pleasant in the shade and all had a good time.

The entertainment this evening is a comedy show with a touch of magic performed by Martin Daniels. Kent was lucky enough to be picked out of the audience along with two other gentlemen to be a part of the show. Since Kent is always looking for a reaction he could not resist telling the audience he was a porn star when asked what he had retired from. That brought a roar from the audience and Martin was quick with his jokes that followed. It has allowed Kent to meet a few more folks onboard who have stopped to make a comment on his performance.

January 19, 2013 (Sea Day)

Today was a quiet day of relaxation after two weeks of going, going and going. Most days we are up by 7:00am and do not get to bed at night before 11:00pm at the earliest. There were 64 activities of things to do on the daily bulletin although we did very few. Kent went to the movie theater and saw Barbra Streisand in “Funny Girl” while Mark napped.

People We’ve Met:

Staff—There is Christopher in the sundries shop.  He is from Alaska and has been quite “lucky” meeting people on the ship and off.  He sometimes gives us the scoop on attractive passengers and crew.  There is Pedro, from Chile.  He manages the Jewelry shop and sales events.  He is going to give Kent some Spanish lessons on sea days.   Tom is the techspert on the ship and is quite friendly.  Adele is the Hostess on the ship from South Africa and is fun, especially when we attend the Good Morning, Amsterdam talk show.  Bruce, our gay Cruise Director is also very friendly, but he called Kent “ma’am” yesterday, so Kent isn’t a fan.  Our dining room staff are mostly very helpful and are largely from Indonesia and the Philippines and work around the clock.

Fellow Passengers—We’ll start with the gay ones:  There are Stephen and Patrick.  They live in Boston now and own and run an antique shop in the Jamaica Plaines area and two guesthouses.  Patrick is originally from Ireland.  They have been together 26 years.  Patrick just turned 50.  They will only be on the ship until Auckland.

Ken and Fred are now living in Ft. Lauderdale.  Both were living on Long Island and were married with children, but are now divorced from their wives and have been together 12 years.   Fred was a teacher and Ken was a banker.  They are members of our Cruise Critic group.

Ron and Dave are living between Colorado and Florida and are Republicans.  They seem to know a lot of people from previous cruises.  We plan to hook them up with two German fellows (Allan and Mattias) who want to meet some Republicans (see explanation below).  They are from Stuttgart, Germany and have taken a year off to travel.  They sailed the Queen Mary to NYC, drove across country to San Francisco, Vancouver and back through the lower states to Ft. Lauderdale, then on to South America.  They got on the ship in Lima and plan to travel the world until July 2013.  In all their time in the USA, they had not met Republicans.  After watching the election results during their travels, they are most interested in talking with a Republican to get another point of view.

Jim and Ernie are from Vancouver and have organized a tour on Easter Island for us.  They saw it last year on their 2012 world cruise, but wanted to do it again with the tour guide they had last year.  They recommended that we buy Carnival Cruise stock, as with only 100 shares, you get cabin credits from Holland America….to help pay for your bar bill!

Jan and Jan are two retired librarians from outside Denver.  They love reading and eating cotton candy served before dessert in the Canaletto Italian restaurant on board.

Some singles are Tom, from Lake Como, Italy.  He is doing very will with a painter worker on the ship.  Horace is from Vancouver and is an avid photographer.   Ken is from Detroit and just enjoyed a trip to the Galapagos from Lima and rejoined the ship in General San Martin.

Mature ladies—Maureen lives in Berkeley but is from England.  She runs the craft courses on board and is supplemental ship staff.  Verna is from Canada, but now lives in Hilo, HI and also just returned from the Galapagos.  Charlene, from Chicago, spends the winters usually in Spain, but decided to do her first world cruise this year.  Leslie is from Florida and is one of the most striking and stylish women on board.  She will join us for a tour on Easter Island.

Cabin:  Our cabin is about 200 square feet.  We were happy that we could put all of our clothes away in the closets.  We have a sofa, chair and cocktail table, along with a desk/makeup table/chest of drawers.  The bathroom is adequate and we don’t think it is too small.  We have a window and someone comes to clean it everyday!

Laundry:  We purchased the unlimited laundry package for the entire 4-month cruise for $600.  We have been on the ship for two weeks and we have submitted about $170+ worth of laundry.  So we think the laundry package was a good deal.

The entertainer this evening was a comedian and impressionist by the name of Scott Record. He had an incredible talent for impersonating famous singers from Frank Sinatra, Elvis Pressley and Michael Jackson to Roy Orbison. He was very funny and entertaining.

It was a formal night for dinner, which also meant that we would have a gift awaiting us when we returned to our cabin after dinner and the show. On this night the gift was a digital picture frame which you can load your photos into and they will create a slide show with the photos rotating.

January 18, 2013 (Sea Day)

David Pasta’s lecture today was titled: “The Most Dangerous Volcanoes on the Earth Rim and the Pacific Ocean” where he discussed deadly stratovolcanoes of the Pacific stretching 20,000 miles along the western and eastern continents as well as the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Something not to give much thought to because we have little control over volcanoes even though they can be devastating and often give little or no notice prior to erupting.

Sandra Millikin lectured on: “Strange Buildings” where she showed slides of weird and wonderful buildings around the world. Some built by famous architects like Gaudi while others were built by unique owners and builders to promote a business or satisfy a whim.

High Tea was served this afternoon with a selection of mini cupcakes in addition to the normal scones, sweet treats, cucumber sandwiches and the like. Six of the gay boys attended the tea.  On her way out, an older lady (93 years old) stopped to ask “where all the ladies were?”  One of our six said:  “Well, we could tell you we are priests, but we’re not…we’re Gay!”  Although that surprised her, she seemed content with the answer and moved on.  They also served chocolate and strawberry milk to wash down the cupcakes, which was a first.

There was an afternoon piano concert by piano virtuoso Nadia Zaitsev who played a variety of classical music. She was excellent and very enjoyable.

The show this evening was call “Vocalize” and was performed by the Amsterdam singers and dancers. The show had a mix of Jazz and Blues standards. The cast has many costume changes and the show is very physically demanding with one musical number after the next.

January 17, 2013 (Sea Day)

We have a new lecturer speaking on the subject of architecture. Sandra Millikin is an American who has lived in England for over 40 years. Educated at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and at the Courtauld Institute in London. She was the assistant curator at the Royal Institute of British Architects Drawings collection and a contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Her lecture today is on “Architecture As I See It” where she gave insight into what architecture is and how it might differ from a building. She encouraged us to look for architecture and how to appreciate it.

Another new speaker by the name of Dr. David Pasta joined us as well. David is an Energy Geoscientist educated at UCLA where he received his B.S., M.S. in Geology and a Ph.D. in Geophysics. He did his doctoral dissertation on Plate Tectonics. His lecture today was titled: “Journey to the Center of the Earth and Back Again” where he discussed how earthquakes, tsunami’s and earthquakes affect the earth as well as how the continents were formed over millions of years and what they might look light in millions of more years. The lecture was somewhat interesting but not sure how useful.

The entertainment on this night was a group called “AbbaFab” who performed the music of Abba with the Amsterdam orchestra accompanying them. The two girls had good voices and it was an entertaining evening.

January 16, 2013 General San Martin, Peru

The landscape here is extremely barren due to the lack of rainfall in this portion of Peru. Annually they have no rainfall at all with the exception of El Nino years when they might have a shower or two. The soil is a reddish brown in color and very sandy. When the wind blows the sand creates smooth sandy hills.

On this day we drive from the ship through the town of Pisco on the coast and then inland through the barren landscape to the ruins of Tambo Colorado. Here we explored a well-preserved adobe and stone structure, built atop an ancient fortress of the pre-Inca culture of Chincha. It was once a grain depository, administrative and military center of the Inca Pachacutec in the 15^th century. It is also believed that they used this site to worship the sun, as well as study astronomy and everything related to agriculture. This site is still the best-preserved artifact of the Incan civilization along the Peruvian coast. The site was located along a river and is well preserved considering it was built more than 500 years ago. We were able to walk through the quarters where the royalty and their families, soldiers, common people and virgins lived. There were rooms including storage rooms, bedrooms, baths for bathing with sunken tubs, as well as a lookout tower for the soldiers. Some 2,000 people are believed to have resided here until the Spanish invaded the country.

After visiting the ruins we visited a large hacienda and farm where they grow tangerines, macadamia nuts, green asparagus and many varieties of grapes. The grapes are used to produce the liquor called Pisco and is used to make the Pisco sour. Behind the family residence we enjoyed roasted macadamia nuts and potato appetizers before having a buffet lunch. A men’s musical group along with a women’s dance troupe in vibrantly colored dresses performed local dances during the lunch. The buffet included asparagus and mixed vegetables, stewed beef, rice, lima bean salad and potatoes with cheese sauce.  Dessert was a napoleon like cake with a chocolate caramel sauce and fresh fruit with honey.

On the farm there was also a small weaving factory where we could see how some of the local textiles are made. They also had a small showroom where you could purchase the local textiles made into purses, scarves and clothing items. Pisco was available for tasting with most people thinking it tasted more like rubbing alcohol. A small group of musicians was performing local music and selling CD’s.

Tonight’s entertainment is a comedian by the name Jack Mayberry who has performed on the Tonight Show more than twenty times. Even so he was not that funny.

January 15, 2013 Callao, Peru (Lima)

Traffic Circle in Lima, Peru

Our second day in Lima included an archeological tour where we visited the National Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology, with Peru’s largest collection of artifacts from pre-Hispanic cultures. The museum is housed in an old stately colonial mansion that was once the home of Viceroy Joaquin de la Pezuela and the leaders of the struggle for independence, Jose de San Martin and Simon Bolivar. We saw many stone sculptures, ceramics and pottery from Peru’s past 1,500 years of history.   However, there was not one stone-carved or pottery penis, which was an important part of their worship ritual.  Must be those conservatives running the show.

Our next stop was a visit to Huaca Huallamarca, located in the district of San Isidro. This was an oracle center that functioned for 1,200 years, up until the Spanish Conquest of Peru. This imposing monument is located in the center of a beautiful older residential community where Lima’s who’s who live. This two-story tall mound of adobe clay bricks has a steep ramp on one side leading to the top of the mound. Within the mound archaeologists have unearthed mummies, one of which is on display with other ancient objects in an adjacent museum. The mummies were found encased within an egg-like wicker basket casing, in the fetal position as compared to laying flat like we think of many mummies.

We also drove by the Huaca Pucllana, which is another similar style archaeological center that was active between the 5^th and 8^th centuries AD. They are currently excavating and restoring this site.

As we sail away from Callao it is obvious that the sea is a very different color in the port area for some reason. The water is a very light green color and has an opaque look to it rather than a clear appearance. For many miles out of the port and into the sea we are surrounded by millions of jelly fish of all sizes. They ranged in color from white to reddish brown to multi-colored. They are only a few feet apart from each other and they could be seen around the ship for as far as the eye could see. I have never seen anything like this.

The entertainment this evening is a guitarist by the name of Fabio Zini.

January 14, 2013 Callao, Peru (Lima)

The city of Lima was founded in 1535 by the Spanish Conquistador Francisco Pizarro. At the height of the Viceroyalty, virtually all goods produced in Peru, Argentina and Bolivia were carried over the Andes by mule to Callao, to be shipped to Panama, carried overland to the Atlantic and then transported to Spain via Cuba. The large port of Callao is approximately a one-hour drive from the city center of Lima. Lima is a huge city with approximately ten million inhabitants; nearly one third of Peru’s population lives in Lima. Eight percent of the population is of Chinese ancestry and thus you see many Chinese restaurants.

During the 1980’s Lima suffered from terrible safety concerns as the Sunshine Path terrorists came from the countryside into Lima to protest the rich and the way the government was running the country. The violence was so severe that it was unsafe for people to be out in the streets and they began to wall in their homes and add tall wrought iron fences, many with electrical fencing atop them to feel safe in their own homes. While it is much safer today, many of these walls and electrical fences still exist today.

Some parts of town are filled with graffiti and do not look particularly well kept, while other parts of town are clean and the homes are beautiful. You see homes that are very traditional in style such as colonial, Spanish, and English Tudor mixed with modern and any style in between. Many streets are lined with high-rise condos and apartments to accommodate the enormous number of people in the City.

While it is mid-January we still see many Christmas trees in homes windows and the public parks and businesses still have holiday decorations up. We even saw a Santa Claus in the main square.

Taxicabs are unregulated which allows anyone who would like to call themselves a taxi can put a sign on their car and charge any amount that the traffic will bear.  Buses and bus routes are privately owned and most anyone can get a job driving a bus. They stop to pick up people anywhere along the bus route and charge whatever they can get. At the end of the day the bus driver is required to share the fares with the owner of the bus.

On this day we visited the main square in downtown, which is beautifully landscaped and maintained. On the square is the Government Palace, Town Hall, Cathedral of Lima and the bishop’s palace. The Cathedral is very large and beautiful with an ornate altar including a statue of Christ carved from ivory, huge vaulted ceiling, mosaics, stained glass windows and many elaborate side altars. The crypt of Francisco Pizarro is here as well.

Another stop was the Convent of San Francisco, considered to be the most important religious monument in Lima, built in 1542 in Baroque style and consecrated in 1673. Included here are carved wooden ceilings, many original oil paintings including one of the last supper with a round table, murals, statuary and a lovely church.

A newer section of town called Miraflores is a newer section of town built over the last 40 years along the coast. This is the more touristy section of town with many of the hotels, restaurants and shops located here. Starbucks, KFC, Pappa John’s, Domino’s and many more familiar establishments can be found here. There is also an Inca Craft Market, which sells all types of local handicraft items such as silver, textiles, sweaters, leather goods, paintings and more.  Kent used his Spanish to inquire about buying me a pair of Alpaca under panties.  There are many large buildings with one stall after the next, many of them selling the exact same merchandise.

Meanwhile back at the ship, we enjoyed a Gaucho barbecue prepared poolside for our dinner. They had grilled chicken, lamb chops, sausage, pork, steak and shrimp accompanied by corn on the cob, salads, vegetables, baked potatoes and many desserts. The food was excellent.

A local entertainment group by the name of Inkamerica was onboard to provide the night’s show. The culture, colors and sounds of Peru were expressed through dance and music. They were an excellent dance troupe in beautiful Peruvian dress showing us their native dances from the mountains, jungle and coastal regions. They were accompanied by a group of local musicians. The entire ensemble was extremely well rehearsed and synchronized making for an enjoyable evening.

January 13, 2013 (Sea Day)

On this day we took in a cooking class where we learned how to make a lobster salad and a crème brulee from the Le Cirque restaurant in Manhattan and served onboard the ship in the specialty restaurant called The Pinnacle.

We took a tour of the kitchen on board the ship where 96 crew members prepare all the meals throughout the ship. On a weekly basis guests consume 8,500lbs of meat, 3,814lbs of poultry, 1,875lbs of fish and 2,575lbs of seafood. They also use 18,000 eggs, 750lbs of sugar, 2,850lbs of flour and 4,750lbs of potatoes. It is amazing to see how a kitchen of this magnitude operates not to mention the dishwashing areas and bakery where all of the fresh breads and desserts are made.

Speaker Jon Bailey finished up his series on musicals with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “South Pacific”. Jon tried to show how this again was a reflection of the times. The musical shows us how we perceive those who are different than ourselves and how we think of them. All these old show tunes make Kent weepy.

We had dinner in the Italian Specialty restaurant with several friends. Included with the dinner was a large dinner plate of pink cotton candy that arrived at the table between the entrée and the dessert course. The food was excellent and the portions were very large. Luckily the scale in the gym has not been working when we are at sea and the ship is in motion. Hopefully the damage is not too bad yet. The entertainment this night was a variety show featuring the comedian Joe Yannetty and the violinist Alwyn Wright who both had performed earlier in the week.

January 12, 2013 (Sea Day)

Today was a fairly quiet sea day but the time just seemed to fly by. We have not been sitting around bored wondering what to do next. We try to do a walk around the deck each day to burn a few calories. The temperature was much cooler today and the humidity was much lower making for a much more pleasant day out on deck.

Travel guide, Barbara, discussed what to see and do in the port of General San Martin coming up in a few days. Jon Bailey’s presentation was on the musical “Fiddler on the Roof” where he explores a father’s need to honor tradition and still respect his teenage kids. He also discussed how the Jewish life came to the stage. Barbara Geisler spoke and showed photos taken from both the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope.

The theme for formal dinner this evening was black and silver. The entire dining room was decorated from top to bottom. Every table and chair in the dining room had a slip cover in black or white, fabric was hanging from the two story dining room ceiling and black and silver party decorations were extensively hung from every possible surface in the dining room. The dinner menu included lobsters, filet mignon, rack of veal and other delectable items.

After dinner instead of a show there was a Black and Silver Ball in the Queen’s Lounge, which is the main showroom. The room was transformed similar to the dining room with all black and silver décor, and a large dance floor in the middle of the room. The orchestra was playing dancing music, the men mostly in tuxedos and the ladies dressed to the nine’s in black and silver made for a festive evening.

Each night when you return to your cabin you discover your bed turned down, a chocolate on your pillow and a note from the captain wishing you a pleasant nights sleep. Many nights you also find atop your bed a delightful animal created by your cabin steward from towels. We have had a lobster, elephant, dinosaur and a puppy so far. On formal night you each have an added surprise as there is a gift awaiting you on your bed as well. The first formal night we received purple colored Holland America travel bags suitable for taking ashore with a towel, umbrella, sunscreen, etc., along with an emergency medical kit and ID card holder.  On this night we each received a set of luggage tags and a beautiful journal for documenting your world cruise adventure.

January 11, 2012 Manta, Ecuador

Manta is an important port for fishing and tuna processing. The harbor is filled with large tuna fishing vessels. We were docked next to one that had just returned from a couple of months at sea catching tuna. The vessel had caught and froze at sea over 16,000 pounds of tuna. Our ships captain exchanged a few pizzas for some tuna fresh from the ocean.

Manta has existed since pre-Columbian times and is the fifth largest city in Ecuador with a population of 225,000 inhabitants. Once a small trading port for the Mantas and the Incans, today it has a booming economy in tuna fishing, tourism and chemical products ranging from cleaning supplies to oils and margarine. Manta is also known throughout Ecuador for its superb seafood and unique variations of preparations. In 1735, Charles Marie de la Condamin landed in Manta leading the French expedition to measure the location of the equator.

The town of Manta has been used by the U.S. Air Force in conjunction with Ecuador for supporting anti-narcotics military operations and for carrying out surveillance flights in a strategic warfare program against Columbian drug trafficking cartels. It also serves as a geographical lookout point for the United States for any war craft headed north from the Middle East and Asia. A regular stop for US Navy warships, Manta proves to be of importance for its location and for the respite it offers the military with its beauty and pristine wilderness.

We and our friends, Patrick and Stephen, were picked up at the port by Andre Pilco, an international student that we had mentored at San Diego State University in 2006. Andre’s family owns a salt mine in the town of Salinas about a three hour drive south of Manta. Andre drove us to a nearby town of Montecristi, now famous throughout the world for weaving the original and official Panama hat. With a population of 15,000 this small town still creates the finest straw hats in the world out of the fronds of the Toquilla Palm. Other parts of the world have attempted to grow this variety of palm but have not been successful in replicating the fine quality of fronds that are grown in this region of the world. Many small hat shops line the streets where you can see people weaving and selling these famous hats. Also very popular are brightly colored hammocks for relaxing under a tree in the heat of the afternoon sun. This region still closes for several hours in the afternoon for lunch and a nap before returning to work.

There is a small town square with a beautiful Catholic church in town. Atop the hill overlooking the city with views of the coastline stands a recently constructed convention center. The center includes a museum and mausoleum to Jose Eloy Alfaro Delgado who was president of the country from 1895 to 1912 and was born in the town of Montecristi. Alfaro was a champion of liberalism. He stripped the church of power, legalized marriage and divorce and established freedom of speech and religion. In 1912 he was murdered and burned by a conservative mob in the town of Quito. The locals seem to be proud of the liberal ideas for Alfaro and have created a beautiful museum and large mausoleum in his honor.

We then headed back to Manta to a small beach side restaurant where we had a delicious Ecuadorean lunch:  ceviche, seafood stew with pureed plantains and peanuts for the gravy, rice with a variety of seafood and thinly sliced and baked plantains. Blended fresh fruit juice drinks with a bit of sugar and water are everywhere. Everyone enjoyed the lunch and it was great to catch up with Andre.

Onboard ship we enjoyed another dinner in the dining room followed by a wonderful performance by violinist Alwyn Wright. She can play most any style of music on the violin and she did it effortlessly. She was accompanied by the ship’s orchestra when she was not performing solo. Alwyn is from Los Angeles and has performed at David Foster’s wedding, Barbra Streisand’s party, Josh Groban’s tour and Paul McCartney’s latest album.