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Holly Doyne

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Category Archives: Cruising

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Last Day at Sea

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-05-01 by Holly2022-05-08  

Today was my usual last day of sea for a cruise. I packed early so that I would have the rest of the day free. After thinking about it for oh, about five seconds, I ignored the whole issue of luggage tags in favor of just walking off with my suitcase. Somehow, checking a bag on a plane flight doesn’t bother me, but having my luggage disappear into the maws of the ship perhaps never to emerge again (or to be crushed under other people’s stuff) really bothers me.

I spent a quiet day stitching, then had dinner again at Cagney’s with one of my new cruise friends (her last coupon)  before planning on early to bed.

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and back to Ketchikan

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-30 by Holly2022-04-30 3

I felt like it was another one of those announcements that is phrased as helpful but totally trashes your plans. Like the Pennsylvania Turnpikes “improvements for your safety and connivence” follow by the “no guard rails” sign. In this case NCL gleefully informed us we would be docking at the new WONDERFUL terminal. It is only 7 miles out of town. And, the courtesy bus is free. Right O. Add in riding on a crowded bus, possibly losing 20 minutes each way, what is not to like? Right?  

Part of it is because I have no clue how many of the 800 people on this ship are going to want to take the shuttle bus. We are in town for only about five hours. I am hoping that most folks are either on tour or staying on ship. I also haven’t a clue how the shuttle bus handles scooters, chairs, and walkers. And there are a lot of individuals on this ship with mobility assisting devices.

Now, in case you are wondering why I am grumpy, there is a perfectly fine dock right in the center of the old town which lets us off about 100 meters from a great coffee shop. There is a quilt shop down the street, bookstore two streets over and…. Never mind, you get the whine.  And if I didn’t want to look for some quilt fabric featuring sea otters for a friend, I probably wouldn’t be bothering to head to town at all.

——->-8———–

Well, made it to town. Found fudge, found magnets still on sale for a couple of the crew. Quilt store was open – but found only one panel of fabric that had anything that looked like an otter on it. Picked up two spools of thread I like. As it turns out made in Canada means that it is not easy to find in the US.

Stopped at the bookstore, then headed back to the ship. As it turns out, the bus ride was fine both ways. The drivers were entertaining (and long standing Ketchikan residents). The drive was interesting in terms of seeing something outside the tourist portion of town. And no one is happy about Walmart moving in and putting a number of  mom&pop stores out of business. Interesting perspectives about living somewhere that salmon is a cheap food….

off to relax – tomorrow is a sea day and we dock in Vancouver on Monday. No internet till then…

Posted in Cruising | 3 Replies

Rivers of Ice

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-29 by Holly2022-04-30 1

(Wiki information here)

We sailed all the way to the Marjorie Glacier which is 21 miles long and comes into the fjord at right angles to the Grand Pacific Glacier which clocks in at 35 miles long. As rivers go, that isn’t all that impressive. But as massive sheets of ice grinding slowly and unstoppably forward with a depth at one time that was over 4000 ft … (All this is in Imperials measurements due to them being provided by the park rangers on the tannoy. The park rangers are not shy, pushing a clear message of environmental change and responsibility. I am just not up for converting to real numbers).

My cabin is on the Port side and far forward for which I am more than grateful today. As we slowly drift toward the mountain wall, Majorie Glacier appears more clear. I can see follow her backwards into the mountains as she travels downwards and curves around the peaks. The Grand Pacific Glacier doesn’t have that wonderful blue crystalline front appearance being covered with all the dirt and rocks which it has picked up on its journey toward the fjord.

Mostly what I have are pictures.

On the way up Glacier Bay




.Marjorie Glacier



 



and then the Grand Pacific coming into the end of the bay


which doesn’t look all that exciting.

There were the usual tiny bits of ice floating…

and then we traveled back out on our way to Ketchikan – which included dozens more of small glaciers, some melting snow and amazing scenery.




and, then there is the LongDog Sampler – You Belong to Me which is now ABB – all but Backstitch. Stitched on 16 ct Scroll by BeStitchMe with 4067 Sulky bendable.

 

Posted in Cross-Stitch, Cruising, Travel | 1 Reply

Icy Point Straight

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-28 by Holly2022-04-30  

The last time I was here was well before the pandemic. The ship docked in front of the old Cannery which had been turned into a small, pleasant and walk-through in 10 minutes museum. Today it appeared significantly different. The tribe, the state, and some grants had gone for upgrades including two gondola systems and upgrades to the Cannery. All was finished in fall 2019. And you can just guess how the following two years went. One of the young women proudly told me that she was glad to be able to be working at home this summer between semesters; that they were expecting 250 ships this summer.



I walked the nature trail over to the Cannery meeting only one other person on the ½ mile trail. He was having a wonderful time complete with fancy camera and tripod. We chatted for a few minutes; this trip had been delayed two years for him. But the trees, moss, and sunlight filtering through the canopy was well worth the wait.



The history portion of the Cannery hasn’t changed. But the clean up has been extensive, it now feels open and welcoming. There are obviously the usual number of shops with a variety of goods; cheap magnets and t-shirts through incredible paintings and carved stone art.

 

Underneath the gondola run (green, free, thank you very much!) was a fantastic cross between a par course and the type of jungle gym that would be the envy of any adult school yard. . It would delight any teenager in the world. For that matter, with ladders, elevated walks, short zip-lines, rings, ropes, and balance areas I would have been extremely tempted. If it hadn’t been raining and a bit slippery. And, if I had less brittle bones or a bit less common sense.

 



This evening I finished Death Before Decaf, pattern designed by the WitchyStitcher

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Crawling up the coast

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-26 by Holly2022-04-27

We sailed out of Seattle early last evening to lightly clouded skies and smooth seas. This time the Olympic National Park was on the Port Side and Vancouver Island on the Starboard. 

But mostly it was a lovely sunset

 

 Our first of three Alaskan ports will be on Wednesday. As it is the furthest point on the cruise, we are headed there first and then will work our way back along the coast. The distances are not all that far so it is sailing up the Inside Passage, staying in the middle of the challenge – and just far enough from the shore that there is no cell coverage.

 

I relaxed in the library for most of today and stitched while ignoring all the regular announcements over the tannoy which were mostly by the Cruise Director’s staff attempting to get passengers to attend various events around the ship. As you probably guessed, most of those events, other than Trivia are all revenue generating.

 

Had a lovey chat at supper with the lovely, young HR director who is from Zimbabwe. She talked about the challenges of handling crew both while underway and while in dry dock (both the Jewel and a previous ship). She has been thinking about writing an article for the NCL internal newsletter. Obviously, I encouraged her with the thoughts that others could benefit and, as long as she phrased it in terms of what went right, what additional information would have been good to know ahead of time, and what she learned, others might really appreciate it. None of the other current HR managers on ship have handled more than one dry dock. With the young crews out there, it is rare for anyone headed Into the experience to have survived those 30-180 days before. Bragging doesn’t work, but humbleness and sense of humor does, I shared my experience as a passenger from Rotterdam immediately post the Chaos of the Seas dry dock in the Netherlands as an example of not well handled. She is also the lucky person who arranges for the all crew activities off ship in port. She is building up her database for the summer as the Jewel sails up to Alaska and back.

 

Otherwise, today’s project was “Death before Decaf” by the WitchyStitcher on 16ct whatever from Forbidden Fiber Co. This is a 4200+ stitch pattern (a lot more dense than the last) but I am making progress…. Also a new start on this cruise.

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Sailing into Seattle

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-25 by Holly2022-04-25  

It was earlier than I planned on rising, but the change in both ship movement and sound was obvious. From late in the evening to early this morning we made the slow, comfortable sail  up the inlet between Vancouver Island on the left and Olympia National Park on the right.  Not surprisingly as it became light this morning, the temperatures are cool and the sky overcast.

I had my last look at the skyline as we turned to dock at Pier 66.

Once docked, my balcony looks out over the harbor. At 0700, I don’t see any point in getting off the ship for a couple of hours.

At 1100, I had even less reason to get off the ship. The outside temp was 10*C (51*F in old money). Today is Monday. For anyone who is a crafter, knitter, spinner, stitcher the follow on is obvious. Seattle is not a small Alaskan town dependent on the tourist trade. All those lovely small stores are open on Saturday. And reopen on Tuesday. Which, obviously is not today. Instead, I stayed in the library, sitting at the table this time and chatted with various people who could actually identify cross-stitch (and that it wasn’t crochet…..).

No other photos today, this has to be posted prior to our 1600 sail out (! not bailout as auto correct would have it). Tomorrow is a sea day. Although we might be close enough to shore to use my phone, I don’t trust AT&T..

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A library!

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-24 by Holly2022-04-25  

I had thought they were all just about gone, except for Holland America which recognizes that people need books,

But the NCL Jewel came out of dry dock this past year and the library remains. Located on Deck 12, there is a card room with more than a half dozen tables next door. I am ignoring the poor ladies who work in the Spa trying desperately to drum up business every time anyone walks by.

But the library, it is a good size room with a dozen plus cozy seating areas. There is a table in the center which, as it appeared today, is the spontaneous morning get together location for any crafters or fiber folk on the ship.

There are three walls of book cabinets containing a variety of hardback books ranging from reference materials through various fiction genres and several languages. The cabinets are locked, glass fronts managed by a staffer who comes in to the desk twice a day to manage book checkouts. As you might suspect, the honor system just doesn’t work under cruise conditions. At least not on most of the ships I have sailed.

I spent the morning quietly stitching in the library, the afternoon enjoying the peace and quiet of my cabin. There are under 900 passengers on the ship. For those who normally travel on small ships, this is a huge number. For those used to the hustle and bustle of large ships, I can sit in one of the lounges and not see anyone for up to 30 minutes. Nice & quiet!

Since NCL gives me meal coupons for the fancy restaurants, I teamed up with another one of the solo travelers to use one last night. We had a pleasant evening; she just retired from the BC Provincial Paramedic service.

Otherwise – my true – new cruise new start…

Nightmare before Coffee from the WitchyStitcher. DMC floss on 16ct  Tumbleweed by ForbiddenFiberCo. Nice addition to my coffee wall? No?

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Past times on NCL

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-23 by Holly2022-04-25  

Since there is no way I am paying the hefty bill that NCL wants for internet – even the low bandwidth kind I decided instead to see how long I have been cruising with them

2011 – NCL Spirit in the Western Caribbean – immediately after Army retirement

N2011 – NCL Star – Alaska

2012 – NCL Jewel – Bahamas etc

2012 – NCL Jade x 2 – Canaries (did the loop twice)

2013 – NCL Jade x 2 – Western Med; Eastern Med (and I still have the lovely leather jacket I bought in Turkey)

2013 – NCL Epic – Eastern Caribbean

2015 – NCL Jade – 21 days of Mediterranean

2015- NCL Escape Transatlantic – Inaugural cruise over Halloween.

2017 – NCL Jewel Mexican Riviera

2017 – NCL Sun – Panama Canal x2

2018 – NCL Bliss – inaugural transatlantic

which sort of counts and 15 cruises and mostly on the older and smaller ships…

and mostly it was reading and knitting as sea day pastimes.

and then I went back to grad school in fall of 2018. And when I was about to be done with that – SARS-COV2 decided to come out and play….

 

 

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Sailing away

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-04-22 by Holly2022-04-22

My ship this time is the NCL Jewel. I went and looked it up and it seems like the last time I sailed on her was in the Med back when Miriam was about 16 (so about 13 years ago).

Boarding is obviously in

San Diego, CA 4:00pm 

Saturday, April 23 At Sea

Sunday, April 24 At Sea

Monday, April 25 Seattle, WA.  7:00am 4:00pm 

Tuesday, April 26 At Sea

Wednesday, April 27 Juneau, AK. 1:00pm 11:59pm 

Thursday, April 28 Icy Strait Point, AK. 9:00am 6:00pm 

Friday, April 29 Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, AK (Cruising)

Saturday, April 30 Ketchikan, AK  8:00am 4:00pm 

Sunday, May 1 At Sea

Monday, May 2 Vancouver, BC, Canada 7:00am 

My flight this morning was fine. Poor George had to get up extra early to drop me off at OAK. The NCL airport crew from LAX was bussed down to meet us at the airport where they finally found the group of us hanging out and waiting.

We arrived at the port and were checked in. They let the first batch of us on ship at about noon; I promptly headed up to Deck 12 and found a lovely veg curry with rice and plenty of lemonade along with salad and fruit. The buffet is all self help. Being the first through the line isn’t an issue. If I don’t want to do that – I am probably going to be doing a lot of take away from a couple of location.

When the cabins opened at 1330 I had a lovely surprise. This is not the Oceanview cabin I had booked. Instead I am in a balcony cabin on Deck 8!

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Last Day Cruise Blues

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-03-31 by Holly2022-03-31  

It is not that I really mind that this wonderful cruise is coming to an end. It is just that getting through this particular day can be a pain.

The seas are rough, I need to pack, and trying to check in for my flight is absolutely insane.

In order – rough seas – I can live with. I don’t usually get sea sick. Haven’t so far this cruise and not expecting to have any issues this last night. But the bobbing and weaving around makes it a bit challenging occasionally to navigate across the cabin, much less ensure that I have all the small, rolly-things under control and tucked into the correct pocket. I am thinking that I may wind up going with the toss the suckers in and sort-em-out when I get home. I have acquired almost nothing on the trip, having lost the taste for souvenirs a number of years ago after trying to figure out exactly WHAT I was going to do with all those fridge magnets. I don’t scrapbook. I am also taking home less than I brought. The two puzzles will remain here on the ship and I am tossing my sandals as they have reached the end of their life expectancy.

The checking in process is what is driving me nuts. It took 10 minutes for the United site to load. I have no interest in using the app since I won’t be on line in the terminal unless there is free wi-fi. In any case, I have hard copy documents + pictures. So I finally, after about 10 tries (no, the slider on the side doesn’t move the form up – it closed the pop-up). Slow learner here – after trying several things – using the down arrow worked after clicking somewhere – anywhere inside the pop-up border, I  was able to upload my documents. But no, that is nowhere near enough! I then had to manually enter all the data on my immunizations.

And, after all of that – the site tells me it is “processing” whatever the H that means. But I can’t go any further in the process for the moment. I wonder if the process needs human eyes or counseling to process….

Ah well. Not much else accomplished today. I am tired and need some sleep!

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No transfer

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-03-30 by Holly2022-03-30  

Late yesterday afternoon, a very apologetic young woman from Shore Excursions called to explain that I didn’t have a transfer to the airport in Lisbon, even though one had been booked.; Obviously, I was confused. I had booked the transfer and actually pre-paid long before the cruise.

Ok, not exactly long, but more than 3 weeks ago.

Anyway, apparently I am the only person who has booked the group transfer. Obviously the contractor on the Lisbon end doesn’t want to run the transfer for one passenger (at less than half the price of a “personal” transfer. I didn’t see anything in the description that said “minimum of X number of passengers for the fair to be valid” or any other disclaimer.  Now, I know where we are docking. I know how to take the Metro. I also know that we dock about 0700 and my flight  is scheduled to leave at 1220. I might complain, and certainly will ask for a refund. Realistically, I am going to have to spring for a taxi. I do want to get back and am not willing to risk missing the flight.

—————— >–8 ——-

This is my final day at sea but for one. The ship’s dude who took over my favorite table in the upstairs lounge in order to sell cruises is finally starting to do a decent business. Several of the lovely people I have met will also be on the return voyage next fall. The fact that it docks (at least for the moment) in Miami is an advantage that I hope I don’t lose. It is so much easier to get a flight home from there. 

I have as much laundry done as I am going to do. I just need to sort through everything and see what, if anything, doesn’t need to make the trip back to the US. I have my transport to the airport organized – the ship will reimburse me my prepaid transfer and their agent will ensure that I get a cab to the airport. After thinking about it – I am electing not to do either a train or the Metro. Just trying to keep my exposure to crowds down to the minimum. It is also why I am back to wearing either an M-95 or double masking on ship. I just don’t need the hassle of getting infected, popping positive, bringing home a dread disease, or landing in the hospital. Frankly, if I have made it through the last two years without picking up COVID, I don’t want to do it now. I’ll keep my masks right along with my grey hair – thank you very much.

The crew talent show is tonight and I will actually stay up to watch it. There are several crew members who I think are more talented than the actual performing staff – but what do I know? 

I finished Flower Bot and stitched a few more coffee beans along with finally fixing the area in the Long Dog. I am moving on to the camels, excuse me – dromedaries – and the final cats. And yes, there are two humped camels in Egypt. Imported – not initially native. 

My final file has finished downloading and I can switch from phone to computer and get this off to you before my last 50 minutes of lousy connection expire….

 

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Lanzarote

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-03-29 by Holly2022-03-29  

We docked today at a reasonable time. Even more important, we docked at the pier closest to the city which put the ship on the walkable side of the port.  It was the other side last November when we port called here necessitating a bus ride as the sidewalks ended at the freeway entrance. Not so this time. We could walk out if not interested in the shuttle bus, striding past the closed information center before arriving at a set of well tended cafes and clothing shops.

You can see our pier clearly on the map along with the second pier toward the edge.

I strolled along following the City Center signs, past several roundabouts –

all of which seemed to have something or other to do with boats and/or fishing.

Considering that this port call was arranged on only a few days’ notice, the ship managed to come up with access to some of the standard tours (ride a camel & see a volcano; wine; bus around the island; hike across a lava field). I am thinking that these are essentially the same type of tours that were offered when I was first here in 2012.

I stopped at La Playa – source of cheap, schlocky tourist goods –

because: Hello? Flamingo!

Found the toy store I remembered from the last time and picked up a couple of jigsaw puzzles, then wandered back to the ship.

The passenger decks are 4/5/6. The eight or so cabins that are on Deck 3 are technically not in use. Since I am not the only one who originally booked one of those cabins, we are assuming that they are being held for isolation, quarantine, or treatment in the case of an outbreak on ship. Failing that – some of the senior crew might just have better digs for the crossing.  As the ship is sailing no where near full, I suspect also that it is just easier not to have to assign crew to clean 1 or 2 cabins separate from the rest.

I didn’t spend all that much time off ship. None of the Canary Islands are COVID free and I saw way too many ship’s passengers not wearing masks off ship. So I will be back to masked for the duration of the trip when out of my cabin and will probably choose dinner out at the grill or use room service a lot. I have no intention of getting stuck in Portugal for a length of time rather than be on my flight on the 1st….

and I am so not discussing the almost 200 stitches I had to pick back out of the LongDog sampler..

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Shower Laundry

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-03-28 by Holly2022-03-29

There are always choices to be made when packing for a cruise (or any vacation for that matter). You can bring enough clothes along for the entire time. This is not an unreasonable choice if, perhaps, you are going to be gone for a short period of time or have no limit on your amount of luggage. You can bring along enough choices for a limited portion of your trip, then use outside sources to provide you laundry service. (And here I will discount the choice of buying and tossing clothing as the trip progresses as a lazy and fiscally less than sound option). All of which leaves me the final choice of doing one’s own laundry.

Today was that day. Now, I didn’t pack for tropical climes. Mostly the weather has been the same temperature that I would have experienced at home. So – long sleeves, long pants and everything that is wash/drip dry.  Well, everything but my jeans which I consider airplane wear. I may/maynot bother with them. The alternative is paying the tariff to send them through the ships laundry. Past experience has informed this choice – I am not interested in wearing damp jeans when getting off the ship and I do not want to spend 15-30 minutes with a hair dryer to get all the seams and pockets dry. If I had any sense, I have would washed them right away and it would have been an issue.

Back to shower laundry. Drop on the shower floor, step on it a bit. Use a bit of soap, body wash or shampoo to get clean. Rise, hang up. Move it around several times a day, removing the items as they dry. An alternative for extended trips is the Scrubba, a really neat device I was introduced to years ago. I have taken mine on extended trips (India and Africa).

Otherwise, this was another quiet day of stitching, audiobooks, some reading. Ended the evening with a nice dinner at Candles (but no, did not eat outside, the wind was blowing more than I wanted to deal with.)

Otherwise?


lovely lemon possets

 

seriously decorated lattes.

and 300 meters used of Sulky 4067 so far on the Long Dog

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Dark and Stormy night

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-03-27 by Holly2022-03-27 1

and our brief flirtation with lovely weather has disappeared. Yesterday, during most of the day the weather was bright, breezy and cork-in-a-shaken bottle. There was a short time when it was reasonably fine to be out on deck. The rest of the time? The crew battened down most moveable objects and people were navigating the corridors via the drunken sailor walk.

Me? As you might expect, I spent the day chatting with various people in the lounge hearing more tales about family members stranded at the start of the pandemic.  The stories are interesting. More than one has a family member they haven’t seen in several years due to resistance of that member to get immunized.

Ah, well The only thing I can keep chanting is “You can’t regulate common sense and you can’t cure stupid.”

So I am continuing to work on one or more of the cross-stitch projects I brought along, take a few naps and listen here and there to interesting conversations.

I continue to make progress on the LongDog (You Belong to Me aka the Egyptian one). I will say that negative space objects are less my joy than positive ones (see goats vs birds). I just went past 70% so I think I am safe in thinking I will have this finished this year. Finishing out the bottom of both pyramids will mean that I have completed 8 full pages + part of the 9th.

And then there is the Galactic Dragon Puzzle

which is only 500 pieces but took various contributors a couple of days. It is all whimsy pieces of stars, inserts and sharp angles.  After looking through the remaining puzzles, I may well hit a toy store in Accerife. None of the ones left appeal to me.

I think we may have one time zone change left, but it should be after we leave the Canaries. Hoping for better weather tomorrow, but one never knows!

 

 

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Taking the opportunity

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-03-26 by Holly2022-03-25

Since it seems to be working today – to upload a couple of photos!

First – the Yacht Club Lounge

sort of as overall –

and the usual location where I hang out.

Early in the morning (obviously) for both of the above pictures as well as the Star Grill set up which isn’t opening till lunch.

with areas to eat that are both sheltered from the sun and out of the wind while still enjoying the outdoors.

(In case you are wondering, yes these are similar to the photos that I posted last December). But thought it might be fun to put them up again.

I am not on-line today (leaving myself the opportunity to be logged on early in the morning on departure day to avoid paying a whole day free for just an hour. I miss my free Wifi on Royal.).

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If I could

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-03-25 by Holly2022-03-25  

I might well consider the cruise line’s offer. If I didn’t have other things that I would rather be doing. And if the ship was going somewhere I hadn’t been before. And this would comply with a number of additional reminders from Ron: – don’t fly in on the day of the cruise; don’t let the ship leave if your luggage isn’t in your cabin; cross pack if you have a partner. And I would add – check around you so that you don’t leave a bag behind in your transportation to the ship. )

Anyway – Windstar apparently has more than half of the current passengers heading off in Lisbon and less than a dozen boarding. They have offered an incredibly reasonable price for anyone who wants to extend their cruise through the next Lisbon-Lisbon leg. Unfortunately, that extension no longer includes Morocco. So it would be Gibraltar and several of the Canary Islands. They haven’t figured out that waiving the single supplement would probably get several of the other solo travelers to stay. This crossing had a significantly reduced single supplement. (what is better? charging a solo passenger double? Or having an empty cabin which translates into no passenger, no daily service charge and lack of work for the staff….)

But I have (I think) a number of things scheduled for the first 10 days of April….don’t I????

And, in any case there are plenty of things that I need to do around the house before I take off again. Staying would be just delaying the return flight home….

What else? Oh, I have found that if I have my phone on the network I can’t airdrop photos to the computer. If I have the computer on the network, the phone can still manage to airdrop photos. Go figure!

And, on the stitching front – I actually managed to get a couple of photos to upload. Even clicking on them, they won’t embiggen much as serious reduction was the only way to convince the server that I didn’t want to spend hours on uploading.

So I am making steady progress on the LongDog Sampler (>62%)

Started as my airport/airplane and cruise stitching – The words are done, now all I have to do is finish the ring of coffee beans. (Forbidden Fiber Co)

And finally – this is my start on the March Quaker by Heart in Hand. It isn’t hard, not very complex, and only three colors. So I am counting this one as my “new Cruise, new start.” Given that I want to finish up the Coffee, and the Long Dog keeps calling me – I probably won’t get it finished before the end of the cruise.

 

 

 

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A more southern route

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-03-24 by Holly2022-03-24 1

I usually ignore most “information” meetings on ship. If anything is said that is important – it will show up in my cabin in writing. Otherwise, it is just rumors. I had figured out, from looking at the map charting our progress that we were significantly south of the original planned route. If this meant smoother seas – I think it is absolutely great. While it would have been wonderful to stop at Horta (a new to me port), safety and smooth sailing are much more important considerations.

The seas have grown smoother day by day and I am no longer seeing bursts of spray up as high as my rather large porthole. Is it still called a porthole when 2 meters wide and 1.4 meters high? Inquiring minds and all of that. Anyway – looking out from my cabin on Deck 4, I am not used to seeing significant spray this high.

In fact there is enough improvement that the Star Grill on Deck 8 was open for dinner night before last and again for lunch today. Last night was the “official evening BBQ” which I most graciously skipped in favor of room service.

Anyway, because of the route change, we will be stopping in the Canaries – at Lanzarote as a matter of fact. On Tuesday. (the original Azores stop would have been Monday.)  George & I wandered around Arricife last fall. Specifically, we didn’t go up to volcanos. take camel rides, or tour the country side with fellow passengers. I did a bit of that last decade (grin) when I first had a port call here. Sitting with some fellow passengers at lunch, my contribution to the discussion revolved about gracefully bowing out of a shared taxi or van in favor of heading into one of the large markets and buying chocolate bars…

I have been having a lovely time chatting with other fellow passengers – including a couple from Mainz, Beth from Tennessee (yes, I guessed her location even before she gave me the information), and a few more stitchers and knitters.

Not much else to report – the internet remains glacial and uploading photos is potentially  possible only at night (and since I am facing another time zone change, perhaps I shall try early in the morning.)

 

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Time Zones

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-03-23 by Holly2022-03-23  

It is now Wednesday – and what should be 0600. From an intellectual point of view, no problems. From a physical point of view? Let’s see – three hours change from California to Miami involving the red-eye and an extremely short night. Then the fleeing of an hour two days ago – getting up was not so bad. This morning? I am claiming that I am not really interested in a time zone change and going back to sleep. Loss of five hours on the physical clock right now feels like a lot more than that on the biological one. Up to this point, I have always preferred the gradual change but now I am starting to wonder about just having the change and getting it over with. But then, traveling by ship is so much nicer than airplane, and certainly, in this case MUCH cheaper than a business class ticket.

Yesterday was another lovely quiet day and I have the same planned for today. I haven’t figured out a good time to hit the gym when there isn’t anyone else in there as it is a rather small space.  Pictures still aren’t willing to upload. Ugh.

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Puzzles & Passengers

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-03-22 by Holly2022-03-22  

Practically speaking – I am going to have to upload photos to the server at

  1. dinner time
  2. middle of the night

 

as other options just aren’t going to be possible. As I mentioned, this is the same ship with the minimal connectivity that I sailed on last fall. I can understand it from the ship’s point of view. With 103 paying passengers, even if everyone on board bought the full package, the income wouldn’t cover the amount of bandwidth needed. And, given the particular brand of passenger, many of them don’t understand about getting off-line when not actively using wifi – much less shutting off their dozens of irrelevant apps while on limited services.

So, starting tomorrow, I will provide direct links the day after to any photos that I actually manage to get uploaded.

There are a variety of passengers. Perhaps about a dozen of us traveling solo. Several couples using the ship for their twice annual migration (England, Belgium & Portugal being the destinations I have heard so far). A reasonable mix of passengers who have been on Windstar before and new-to-the-line passengers.

Unlike last fall, there are a number of serious puzzle junkies on the ship. I brought along a couple of puzzles to contribute (one a duplicate and one that just doesn’t appeal to me).  The 1000 piece Whimsy puzzle of Mt Rainer was immediately picked up by a Brit ex-pat who is now in the Denver area. He was familiar with Liberty Puzzles and was delighted to be introduced to a new manufacture of wooden puzzles. There are several puzzles that are new to me from last fall, but the rest I remember seeing completed.  No matter what time I hit the lounge, someone seems to be working on a puzzle.

The large table we used has been taken over by the “cruise consultant” who is attempting to sell both future cruises and port tours. Considering that we may not even get our stop in Horta… it is going to be interesting to watch him. I mind only because it is the table with both 110 & 220 power points on top for easy access.

What else? Looks like specialty dining is going to be limited due to the low number of passengers. Can’t say that I blame the ship, since having more venues open when no extra revenue is generated makes no sense.

There is at least one knitter on the ship; says she is on the sock-a-day plan. Two stitchers are working on mixed media additions to large, square pillow coverings (the kind that are 2/20$ on Amazon). unzip, turn inside out, take out the three side seams and you now effectively have a blank canvas on which to stitch….

Me? I have been working on my Long Dog (now 62% complete) and “Life Happens, Coffee Helps” from Forbidden Fiber Co.

We have detoured ~170 nautical miles south of the original plan in an effort to avoid  predicted high seas and storms.

We will see!

(currently GMT-4)

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Lost Luggage

Holly Doyne Posted on 2022-03-21 by Holly2022-03-22 1

No, not me. Again, not me. I have everything I started out with. So far I have met three people whose luggage didn’t make the ship.  

The first is a retired engineering type from Vancouver who was caught in the  1 March additional requirement by St Maarten for obtaining a pre-authorization certification for entry.  Apparently, I have one of the few travel agents who made the extra effort to ensure that I knew about the requirement.  In fact, my agent both phoned me and sent me an email complete with the link so that I could comply.  Even so, at this point I always double check entry requirements before leaving home. He, and several others on his first flight were lucky enough to manage getting through the St Maarten website  and getting an email back while waiting to check in. But he said it was a run for the gate;  his luggage didn’t make the flight. Not all airlines fly in everyday. As a result, he spent all of Friday dealing with the mess and repeating dozens of times that luggage arrival on Sunday would do him no good.  His luggage will be shipped back to family in Vancouver. And he was smart enough to do some minimal shopping before getting on the ship. The ship is providing him free laundry.

The second passenger’s luggage didn’t arrive on ship. By the time she realized that it wasn’t on, we had sailed. Her luggage, for whatever reason, was loaded onto the Seaborne ship that was also departing on Saturday. She picked up some clothes from the Ship’s boutique. Since she and her husband are staying in Portugal, her luggage will be sent to her there.

The last person, so far, is probably the one who is going to have the most challenge. First caught in the “you don’t have pre-authorization trap” the airline personnel in Portland Maine helped her through the process. She managed to lave a couple of bags in the taxi that brought her to the pier. More importantly – her son, who was suppose to meet her at the connecting airport was unable to get his authorization in time and didn’t make St Maarten’s at all – much less the ship. My best guess is that she is in here late 80s and hasn’t traveled by herself for a long time. 

I have learned a couple of lessons through observation if you are going to a foreign [to you] port to board a ship :

  1.  you need to check country requirements personally to make sure that there isn’t a problem
  2. use a good agent or book your flights through the cruise line. Flight failure, etc puts the burden on the cruise line to get you to the port
  3. It might cost more, but cruise line transfers are more likely to get all of your luggage to your ship than random hotels or taxis.
  4. carrying at least one change of clothes along with documents and meds in your carryon is a really good idea.
  5. and last but not least – fly with a regularly scheduled airline so that there is a chance that your bags, should they be separated from you, might actually make it to port. The airline with daily flights is a good idea. That budget one which offers flight only 2-3 days a week? Not so much.

 

 

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