January 10, 2013 (Sea Day)

We attended “Good Morning Amsterdam” this morning where the cruise director, Bruce, hosts a morning talk show in the culinary arts center/movie theater every morning. This morning he was discussing the Academy Award nominations and was interviewing one of his staff members, Nikki, who books the entertainment on board. Nikki is also responsible for the daily bulletin, which lists all of the day’s activities, show times, meal times, bar hours and most everything that is happening on board the ship.

The weather today is mostly gray, cloudy and raining, although the temperatures are still near 80 degrees and the humidity is high.

We attended a presentation with Barbara, the Travel Guide, who spoke on what to expect in Lima, Peru. Next is a presentation by the Star Lady Donna Giesler about all of the stars that would be visible from the southern hemisphere. Although astronomy is not something I am particularly interested she was an excellent speaker and made the presentation fun and interesting. After lunch we attended a presentation by Jon Bailey titled Shakespeare on Broadway: “West Side Story” where he took a look at Leonard Bernstein’s musical about gang warfare, family intrigue and young love.

Tonight’s entertainment is a celebrity guest by the name of John Amos with a look back at his life and career. He is probably best known for his acting in television shows like “Good Times”, “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, “The West Wing” and his Emmy award nomination for Best Actor in the mini-series “Roots”. He also was a football player, worked in advertising, wrote copy for television commercials, a comedy writer for the Lohman and Barkley Radio Show and later the Leslie Uggams’ Show. He acted in commercials for Midas Muffler and also acted on stage on “Norman is That You”, “Tough to Get Help” opposite Jack Cassidy as well as his own one man show, “Halley’s Comet”.

January 9, 2013 Transiting the Panama Canal

The Panama Canal, a masterpiece of engineering is considered to be the Eighth Wonder of the World and has shortened the trip around the continent of South America by 7,000 miles. First perceived by King Charles V of Spain, who, in 1523, prompted by Balboa and Cortez, decided to make a survey of the canal area. The survey was completed in 1524, but the enormity of the task disillusioned the Spanish and discouraged any attempts at construction. In 1894 the Gold Rush brought about both the completion of the Panama Railroad across the Isthmus and the development of the West Coast of the United States. After Panama’s independence from Columbia in 1903, Panama and the United States signed a treaty authorizing construction of the Panama Canal. The United States guaranteed Panama’s Independence and, for the sum of $10,000,000, Panama granted the United States power and the authority within the then “Canal Zone”. In addition, the United States agreed to pay an annuity of $250,000 beginning nine years after the ratification of the treaty. This annuity was increased to $430,000 in 1936 and to $1,930,000 in 1955. On May 4, 1904 the United States purchased the rights and properties of the Canal construction from the French Canal Company for $40,000,000. Ten years later, after the loss of over 6,000 lives from Yellow Fever and Cholera, the Panama Canal was completed at a cost of $387,000,000. In 1999, the government of Panama was granted full authority of the enterprise.

The canal transit from the Atlantic to the Pacific took us approximately twelve hours with the exact timing of the lock transits being unknown due to the number of ships transiting on any particular day. The weather was hot and muggy with temperatures in the 90’s and humid. While it is in the rain forest and often rains most every day it was dry for our entire transit. Many of the folks onboard had transited the canal more than once or twice and we even spoke with someone who had transited the canal twelve times. Even so, many people were excited to be out on deck, taking photos and sharing their past transit experiences.

Panama is in the process of adding a new section of canal at both the Atlantic and the Pacific ends to accommodate today’s much larger cargo ships and U.S. battle ships. The canal currently has a capacity of 14,000 vessels transiting annually and when the expansion is complete will be able to double its capacity. The new sections of canal are well under construction and expected to be completed in a couple more years. The new canal sections will include new locks with rolling lock gates rather than swinging lock gates. The current canal will also require dredging to accommodate today’s larger vessel hulls. The canal employs a work force of 9,500 men and women and has invested over $1.5 billion in maintenance and improved infrastructure over the last decade.

The entertainment this evening was a Champion Ballroom Dance couple who performed a variety of South American dances to celebrate our arrival in South America. They were excellent dancers although the show was a bit lackluster. It may have been that they had aged a couple of decades since they were Champion Ballroom Dancers. The husband looked tired the entire show.

January 8, 2013 Cartagena, Columbia

Founded in 1533, Cartagena de Indias gained fame after the mid-16^th century when great fleets stopped annually to take on gold and other products of northern South America for convoy to Spain. The city became a center for the Inquisition and a major slave market. In 1811, the province declared its independence from Spain and years of fighting followed. After falling into Spanish hands from 1815 to 1821, the city was recaptured by patriot forces. In the early national period, Cartagena continued as Columbia’s leading port, but it was handicapped by inadequate connections to the interior of the country. By the 1840’s it had declined in population and commerce. In the 20^th century it experienced renewed growth and is now Columbia’s fifth largest city. The most significant factor in Cartagena’s revitalization was the opening of the petroleum fields in the Rio Magdalena Valley after 1917. Today Cartagena is a sprawling city of 850,000 inhabitants, a bustling  maritime and industrial center.

We shared a taxi into the old walled city with new found friends Patrick and Stephen from Boston. The old walled city is very pedestrian friendly with narrow cobblestone streets. Most of the buildings are two stories with large narrow wooden balconies protruding out over the sidewalks reminiscent of those found in New Orleans. The roofs of the buildings are mostly red clay tile and have a very Spanish look to them.

We visited the Palacio de la Inquisicion, which included quite a collection of torture mechanisms from body stretchers to head choppers.  They also had a unique art exhibition, which included such things as a depiction of the lords supper with Jesus depicted as a woman.  In Spanish, Kent negotiated our entrance under the children’s price, rather than the adult price.  We saved a few Columbian pesos!

The walled city is filled with small shops and restaurants and many street vendors wanting to sell you Panama hats, cups of fresh fruits, Cuban cigars and souvenirs. We walked a portion of the top of the wall surrounding the old town, which gives you a terrific view out over the ocean as well as having a great view of the high rise buildings of the new town. The new portion of town is built on a peninsula with a beach on one side and high-rise building of housing and businesses on the other side.

Back on board the ship we attended a lecture on what we would see as we transit the Panama Canal tomorrow. Tonight’s entertainment is a couple of gentlemen from Germany who put on a show titled “Pianotainment” which includes a variety or dual piano playing. Not only do they play the piano with their hands, but they also used such things as rubber balls. It was very entertaining and they were excellent pianist.

January 7, 2013  (Sea Day)

It was another relaxing day at sea although the seas were a bit rough today. The winds were creating large swells and white caps and the ship was rolling from side to side most of the day. It made it a bit difficult to walk without weaving from side to side. We attended the port talk on our visit to Cartagena, Columbia tomorrow. Met up with the folks from CruiseCritic.com, as well as the first LGBT cocktail party.

Jon Bailey’s lecture today was titled “Mom, Apple Pie & the Fourth of July: The Music Man”. A look back at the musical from the 1950’s set in a Midwest town. What fun to see clips of the musical in its day and to look at the language used in the songs of the musical and how they reflect the feeling of the day.

Dan Ostler continued his lecture on the American effort to build the Panama Canal. A look back at how Theodore Roosevelt wanted to make the dirt fly in Panama and so he did. Between the French and American efforts to get the canal built 40,000 people lost their lives. Today it would be hard to imagine that we could lose that many lives building anything.

Today is our first formal night and we bring out the tuxedos and fancy clothes for the evening. This also means that the selections on the dinner menu are filled with such items as lobster, rack of lamb and filet mignon. There are too many delicious choices to choose from. Tonight’s entertainment was a show titled “Hit Me With a Hot Note” performed by the Amsterdam cast. The show included the music of Jazz and Motown legends Duke Ellington, Nina Simone and Ray Charles.

January 6, 2013  (Sea day)

We had our breakfast in the dining room this morning so I wouldn’t eat too much at the buffet.  That Irish oatmeal and stewed prunes just hit the spot.  Mark got in a little tiff with the waiter due to the temperature of his coffee…luke warm.  Next, he will be sending his salad back because it isn’t cold enough.

The weather today is warm and a bit humid as we walk the deck. Three and a half laps around the ship is one mile. We walked two miles before Kent decided he had earned an ice cream from the ice cream bar.

As we head toward the Panama Canal one lecturer onboard is Dan Ostler who lectured today on the French effort to build the Panama Canal.  Ferdinand De Lessups who had built the Suez Canal makes a failed attempt to build a new canal across Panama. Over budget, significant loss of life from yellow fever, under engineered and with no similarities to the building of the Suez Canal he fails miserably. Mostly financed by shares sold to France’s middle class, the French suffer dramatically.

We met a couple of other gay couples onboard today. Fred and Ken from New York, Patrick and Stephen from Boston.

In the afternoon we attended a lecture titled “Another Op’nin’ Another Show: The Broadway Stage – Mirror of our lives” given by Jon Bailey. Mr. Bailey is a well-known conductor, composer and teacher in the field of music, art and architecture. We took a look at how what happens on the Broadway stage reflects and informs the real world we live in.

Our dinner table situation resolved itself. I spotted the couple with the 5^th wheeler heading to the dining room as we were seated in the piano bar before dinner. The Mrs. and I waived to each other but by the time we arrived in the dining room they were not at our table. It appears that they asked to be moved to another table, which was just fine with us.  Now we are four at our table.  Claire and Gord will be great dinner table mates!

Tonight’s entertainment was a comedian by the name of Joe Yannetty, star of stage, screen and television. He was excellent at interacting with the audience and making them a part of the act. His jokes were mostly short quick stories or one-liners. Luckily we were not seated at the front of the theater or we may have been a part of the show.

 We boarded the Amsterdam mid-afternoon and settled into our new home for the next 115 days. Our luggage arrived safely and we found ample room for all of our belongings. We participated in the mandatory fire and evacuation drill before heading out for the sale-away party poolside.  Unfortunately with all of the luggage and supplies that needed to be loaded onto the ship we were ninety minutes late to sail and the sun had already set.  We set out to explore the ship and understand how to navigate the ship. The ship is beautiful with an old world traditional décor throughout. Rich wood paneling, upholstered furniture, traditional paintings and art and fresh flowers throughout the public spaces.  We discover where to find the dining rooms, casino, movie-theater, culinary arts center, library, gym, bars, pools and other public spaces.

Our travel agent sent two lovely bottles of champagne to our room for our bon voyage celebration.  I hope to keep Mark from bathing in it.

We were somewhat apprehensive about our dinner table mates….and rightly so.  As we approached our table (119) we saw two of our four tablemates (a six-top table in all) reading their menus.  They hardly looked up to say “Good Evening!”  But we did get a grunt from them.  I said to Mark, “It’s looking pretty good!”  That was just kidding.

The other two joined us shortly.  This was a couple from Canada.  One was a recently retired pharmacist (Claire, the woman) and the man, Gord, was a retired chemistry teacher.   Claire began talking about socialized medicine in Canada, which triggered something in the gentleman of the first couple.  He proceeded to harang about socialized medicine in the USA, how terrible the government was and how we all were going to Hell in a Hand Basket.  I asked him where he was during the election.  It seems that in October he and his wife drove their 5^th wheeler from north of Akron, Ohio, where they normally live, to the middle of Florida, parked it and voted there, where they live during the winter months.  I asked if he was a cook and he told me about all the wild pig huntin’ and killin’ he did last month.  With so little in common, needless to say we did not talk further about politics (I was afraid he might have brought his gun with him).  We did have a nice conversation about food and he did offer us his menu as ours hadn’t been delivered yet.  Perhaps there is hope for better future dinner conversations, unless they change tables before tonight’s dinner.

We spent the day yesterday with friends. Our hosts Jim amd Phil joined us for lunch with a high school friend of Kent’s from Charleston, Illinois. Jim Meeks and his wife Judy have a home in Boynton Beach, Florida and drove down to Ft. Lauderdale for lunch. After lunch we had a short visit with friends Ed Richards and Warren Kendrick who used to live in San Diego but now split their time between Manhattan and Pompano Beach.

The weather is cloudy and rainy today but our spirits are high and we are excited to get onboard to explore the ship and begin our journey.

We flew from San Diego yesterday to Houston where we had a wonderful lunch visit with our dear friend Anne Paloney. By 11:00pm we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale to spend a few days with friends Jim and Phil before our ships departure on Saturday afternoon.

As I awoke this morning and looked out the window I could not help but notice that the ship we will be sailing on beginning January 5, 2013 was in port. The above photos were taken from our balcony.

Click here for our 2013 World Cruise Itinerary

Here is the itinerary of our world cruise on Holland America’s ms. Amsterdam departing from Ft. Lauderdale on January 5th, 2013. Stop back often to check our progress as we travel the world. We’ll be posting photos and sharing our adventure.