Author Archives: Holly

About Holly

fiber person - knitter, spinner, weaver who spent 33 years being a military officer to fund the above. And home. And family. Sewing and quilting projects are also in the stash. After living again in Heidelberg after retiring (finally) from the U.S. Army May 2011, we moved to the US ~ Dec 2015. Something about being over 65 and access to health care. It also might have had to do with finding a buyer for our house. Allegedly this will provide me a home base in the same country as our four adult children, all of whom I adore, so that I can drive them totally insane. Considerations of time to knit down the stash…(right, and if you believe that…) and spin and .... There is now actually enough time to do a bit of consulting, editing. Even more amazing - we have only one household again. As long as everyone understands that I still, 40 years into our marriage, don't do kitchens or bathrooms. For that matter, not being a golden retriever, I don't do slippers or newspapers either. I don’t miss either the military or full-time clinical practice. Limiting my public health/travel med/consulting and lecturing to “when I feel like it” has let me happily spend my pension cruising, stash enhancing (oops), arguing with the DH about where we are going to travel next and book buying. Life is good!

Q – OTS – Moorea

Posted on 2026-10-13 by Holly

Which is still French Polynesia. I looked it up – I have been here a couple of times before. In 2013 I was traveling on a Celebrity ship and we docked in Sydney. I also didn’t have wifi on the … Continue reading →

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Q OTS – Day 17 – Papeete, Tahiti

Posted on 2026-10-12 by Holly

And we docked. There was a bit of a rush to get off the ship. A few sea days in a row seemed to bother some of the passengers. Others of us? Eh, disembarking for the day is fine but … Continue reading →

Posted in Cruising, Travel | 1 Comment

Q OTS – Day 16 – the Port that wasn’t

Posted on 2026-10-11 by Holly

The channel into Raiatea, Society Islands is narrow – you can see the depth distance in the waters. In a ship this size, it takes a lot to feel serious waves, but they were certainly visible right along with the … Continue reading →

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Q OTS – Day 15 – Elevator Critters

Posted on 2026-10-10 by Holly

Not all the elevators, thank goodness. But midship, if you ride the inner elevators, you have the glass bubble facing the central core. which goes up a long, long way. It is the outside elevators – and you never get … Continue reading →

Posted in Cruising | 2 Comments

Q OTS – Day ??? 14?

Posted on 2026-10-09 by Holly

These days are starting to blur together a bit. Which isn’t really fair since we are in a series of sea days, but heck – this is Friday and we were actually on land on Monday, so it isn’t really … Continue reading →

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Q OTS – Day 13

Posted on 2026-10-08 by Holly

AKA the halfway point. It is another sea day with two more to go before we arrive at another anchorage. The two main things of note today – first, we crossed the equator. Not being a complete fool, I stayed … Continue reading →

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Q OTS – Day 12

Posted on 2026-10-07 by Holly

Since this is yet another sea day – punctuated by use of FaceTime, a win by the Valkyries and more stitching on the same project as before (Wisdom from InkCircles) I will start a detour to a discussion of this … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-Stitch, Cruising, Travel | 4 Comments

Q OTS – Day 11

Posted on 2026-10-06 by Holly

It being another quiet day at sea. I attempted to ignore all the noise and events….End result? I wound up heading back to my cabin after early morning coffee. I really appreciate the lounge at 0500. There are only a … Continue reading →

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Q OTS – Day 10

Posted on 2026-10-05 by Holly

We are still in Honolulu. I wandered off the ship at a reasonable time and headed left out the gate and followed along toward Pier 1. Oh – there is another ship here in port – Oceania’s Riviera. Looking her … Continue reading →

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Honolulu – Day 9 of Cruise

Posted on 2026-10-04 by Holly

At this point I have been traveling long enough that I will start adding the cruise day back in the header. Sorry/Not Sorry. and no – this is not what we saw on sail in – but thought it a … Continue reading →

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Tender into Kona

Posted on 2026-10-03 by Holly

Today was our first “real” port stop. I am not counting Catalina which was also a tender port. I attempted to get a picture of the ship – but it was into the sun. Not worth sharing.  But the shore? … Continue reading →

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Waffle Cake

Posted on 2026-10-02 by Holly

My other alternative for naming was going to be “Mixed Feelings.” But it seemed like it would be most fun to start on an upnote. Rather than go for cake (or if I was on NCL, this would most definitely … Continue reading →

Posted in Basketball, Cruising, family, Military | 3 Comments

Treats

Posted on 2026-10-01 by Holly

Travel: What can I say – I am a complete sucker for chocolate covered strawberries… So I helped myself off the evening offerings while in the lounge. The berries were lovely and ripe, the chocolate was dark. Then I came … Continue reading →

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Amenities

Posted on 2026-09-30 by Holly

I look back to my first “long haul” cruise which was a transAtlantic from Genoa to Bueno Aries on MSC back in 2007. I was sailing with a friend and colleague. For various reasons, we both just wanted out of … Continue reading →

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Quantum of the Seas – Cabins #2

Posted on 2026-09-29 by Holly

(re-arranged order …) – Now Ship, Basketball, Cabin. Today was the “Cheers with an Officer” which used to be Meal with an Officer back before Royal became a victim of its own success. Then there might have been 20-40 people, … Continue reading →

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Cabins

Posted on 2026-09-28 by Holly

I should not continue to whine – but seriously – the RCCL home office doesn’t do customer service well or happily. OTOT – both my travel agent and the Concierge on this ship are amazing. Let me review – various … Continue reading →

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Catalina Island

Posted on 2026-09-27 by Holly

Once again (the last time was in 2023) this not-small ship needed to anchor in the harbor and rely on tenders to ferry passengers to shore. Last time I was here, we walked rather extensively around a goodly portion of … Continue reading →

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Bound for Queensland

Posted on 2026-09-26 by Holly

This is the same ship I made the transit on back in 2022, that time sailing from Vancouver.  So here is the route – (actually, neither VTG or Royal have a map on their site…._ and the schedule – Saturday, … Continue reading →

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and it happened again

Posted on 2026-09-25 by Holly

I am not sure why I haven’t learned the following 1) don’t schedule medical appointments on the day you are leaving 2) don’t pre-pay for a checked bag. The second is the important one – I could take my 19″ … Continue reading →

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It was like this when we moved in

Posted on 2026-09-24 by Holly

It was early when he came knocking, pretty not happy from being woken on his day off by the tree crew. After not knowing for weeks when they were coming, it was good to finally have the work done. The … Continue reading →

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