5 Days on the Pacific

Editor's Note:  This was all written the morning of Wednesday, September 18, however, technical difficulties followed by user frustration prevented posting until this morning, Thursday, September 19.

He Said . . .

It’s 11 am straight up as I begin my defense of actions on day 1- Google, once again, has let me down - I have lost faith in the AI engine that could be… I’m certain by now that you’ve heard that I “Google” led us on a two mile walking excursion from the Skylink to the Amtrak that I saw was pointing the other way as we stepped off the platform upon arrival, but I “trusted” Google maps and not the signage, those bastards at Google busy mining our lives and when you do have to turn on location services can’t manage to direct you 200 paces from the Skylink to the Wharf train station without sending you the wrong way for a mile and then turning the arrow around 180 degrees and sending you back right where you started, it’s baffling to me how they can get you across the country but can’t manage to get us next door, not across a street, next door without getting lost in the process!!  I hope the NSA got more out of our jaunt than we did, a huge waste of time but it did cement the notion that I should not ever rely on them again with a degree of skepticism in the back of my mind from now on…

Sorry for the rant but I had to let them that they still need to work on their algorithms and quit focusing so much time on the Adware and ignoring all the tracking work they were perfecting.

Other than that little debacle all came off without a hitch, we Uber’d to the airport at 4 am with a really nice woman, Carolyn, that told us she didn’t feel unsafe driving a 4am to 12pm shift up and down 114 and 183; I thought that was a bit dicey but she told us that most of the riders were professional educated folks going to and from the airport and that she had never had any issues, she said she loved it, I wasn’t dissuaded with her response and thought I would never let any woman I loved drive strangers around at 4am, not on my watch, no way!!!  Nonetheless, she was lovely and the time passed quickly both on the way as well as the plane ride to Seattle. I must say the biggest downside to WLS, weight loss surgery, for all you skinny people, is not being able to determine timing of needing to use the facilities, this is now the second time I’ve had to “use” the facilities on a plane. I even loathe the thought but you have to do what you have to do. That brings me to the first question, my wife and I were having a discussion about driving home to “use” our bathroom and she said I don’t understand having to come home to use the bathroom, I said I refuse to sit on a public toilet seat unless it’s an absolute emergency.  And here’s the question, she said women don’t sit down to use the restroom, “they hover” and use the restroom, I didn’t believe her, is that really true do women sit down when they go to the restroom in public? I’m expecting some honesty here, but based on that input I don’t sit down either so it’s not a big deal anymore but I still hate not going home. Sorry for the graphic nature/question but “inquiring minds want to know.''  

On to other more pleasant data points, after our Google bashing we dropped our bags on Amtrak and headed over to Pike Place Market over at the Pier and began the job of the day -- people watching, wow the things you see when you’re observing others and they think no one is watching -- great stuff.  Did a bit of shopping, some very unique items that we didn’t have enough weight available in our bags to acquire coming back from Hawaii, maybe next time we’re in Seattle. We headed over to Athenian for the halibut fish and chips, very good, geez I miss fresh fish!! We headed back to the station and I grabbed a nap after the first 14 hours of the day, Ami was none to happy that we were going to have to hop another train when we got to Vancouver, I knew we were going to be hitting the taxi stand at that very moment.  This was the prelude/build up for the case that she was NOT getting on another train today. That was fine but I didn’t want to concede the point before having the enjoyment of being a pain before relenting… I know, I know, not nice. :) We got to the hotel around 11:30 and checked in, we were asleep before we laid our heads down. That said I did have to mention that the cab driver actually had the nerve to tell us that they leave the streets in somewhat of disrepair because of all the tv and movie shootings that go on in Vancouver, Ami and I both just looked at each other after 18 hours on the road and said, “Now that’s really great that Vancouver has that kind of forethought for the movie industry”, upon arrival at the hotel Ami said “Does he even buy that load?”, we both laughed out loud, we knew we didn’t.  

Early morning we checked out after asking the hotel to deliver our bags to the ship, yes, they are so close that they have a service to deliver your bags to the ship for you!!!  We were impressed until we walked out the front door to go get breakfast, we then got the joke, we were staring at the navigation bridge across the street as we exited the front door of the hotel, they probably just rolled them across the side street while we were eating, I was nonetheless impressed that they performed the service, breakfast was great - although expensive - $28 dollars to share our meal and add an egg, that was CAD though $21 US, not really that bad after the mental currency conversion.  After getting lost one more time during the maze process we were on and at the door to our suite. The VERY biggest sky suite we’ve ever had in our cruising history, I suspect Ami posted a picture, fingers crossed, but it’s huge in comparison.  

Beyond that it’s been a steady diet of eating, exercising, napping, reading a fairly boring book called The Expats and now on to a cruise loaner by Michael Connelly called The Burning Room, which is part of the Bosch series on Amazon Prime - if you haven’t checked it out, give it a try, you’ll be hooked too I suspect.  Only on chapter 8 but it’s picking up steam quickly and all the characters are already developed so it’s just meat, no potatoes as it were…  

Tomorrow we reach Hilo and start our new adventure of beautiful beaches, waterfalls and necking on beaches that have zero footprints on them before we arrive, can’t wait, perhaps more later, for now tata.

She Said . . .

Here we are - last day at sea before we hit Hawaii.

2055 nautical miles from Vancouver

254 nautical miles to Hilo

We are currently traveling at 16 knots.

Water temperature is 79 degrees.

The first two days were wet or just cloudy and a bit chilly.  Then Monday the skies cleared and the temperature was and continues to be absolutely perfect - not to warm and not too chilly.  There is no other word but perfect.

We have spent our days relaxing.  The last two days, we have sat out on our oversized balcony, reading and catching a few rays of sunshine (me more so than Blaise so I don’t burn in Hawaii).

Nothing really of note happening - just the way I like it at sea.  Just relaxation.

Our Days

We wake up, open the curtains to the balcony and watch the water roll by.  We get up and head to breakfast. Blaise has his muesli and hard boiled egg and I have something a little different every day.  This morning it was a made-to-order omelette with onion, bacon, and cheddar. Yesterday it was yogurt and fruit.

Then we find some place to camp out for a few hours and read.  At some point we make our way back to our room and our balcony.  At some point we either catch lunch or tea time for a scone. Then I make it to either the gym or walking track.  Yesterday Blaise and I walked the track together. Then back to our balcony for more lounging and sun bathing (for me anyway).

In the evening, we make our way to the Luminae for dinner.  It is lovely. After that, we go to the casino or walk around on the top floors where there are usually sunbathers during the day but it is oh so quiet in the evenings.

Assessment of the Suite Butler

With our Sky Suite, we get at “butler.”  I am not sure how useful he is. We asked him to book our excursion for Hilo and we ended up on the waiting list for it so we booked our own excursion.  Then yesterday, I decided I would take advantage of a spa special and asked him to schedule a facial for somewhere around 3. He said they only had 5:30 available all day.  That’s too late. He said he could get 3 the next day (today). I told him only if I could take advantage of the special price. He said he would check. A few hours later he came back and said he was able to do that.  So I have a facial at 3 today. All of this is something I could have done on my own. I am not sure what value the butler adds to my experience unless he can pull strings and get me what I want. Yes, I get these are all first-world problems and they make me sound like a spoiled bitch.  My whole point is, I would never pay extra for this service as I do not think it adds value to my experience. We did get some lovely white chocolate cherries the other night though.

The Ocean

I have had several people tell me crossing the Pacific is much rougher than the Atlantic and that there is all kinds of trash floating around the Pacific.  Neither of these have been our experience thus far.

The first day, maybe two were rough.  Nothing extreme that we haven’t experienced before.  The Captain said he increased the speed to get us past some bad weather that was trying to brew up.  Our speed for about a day was 21.5 knots. As of yesterday we were down to 17 knots per hour and today 16 AND there is next to no wind.  That along with the perfect temperature, make the days at sea absolutely lovely.

We have seen three pieces of trash though.  This is three more than we have ever seen in the middle of the ocean on any prior cruise.

Dinner

Dinner has been lovely.  Each night I have gone with the sommelier’s recommendations and I have been pleased with the choices.  Our meals the past few nights:

Sunday

Blaise:  Braised short ribs, cod basquaise, cheese plate

Ami:     Turkey Escarole soup,  veal cannelloni, the only thing I remember from the dessert was the caramel gelato

Monday

Blaise:  Pate de campagne, baked eggplant parmesan, coffee

Ami:  Pate de campagne, veal chop, dark chocolate souffle with vanilla gelato and some sort of creamy vanilla sauce (absolutely worth every single calorie! - best dessert so far)

Tuesday

Blaise:  Ginger crab cake, black sea bass, coffee

Ami: Ginger crab cake, chicken saltimbocca, something for which I can’t remember the name but it was marshmallow, meringue, kiwi sorbet, blueberry ice cream, and berries

What’s Next - Hawaii

Tomorrow

We make it to Hilo on the Big island.  Tomorrow’s high is supposed to be about 87.  We purchased an excursion with our onboard credit involving a hike and waterfalls, I think.  This is what we paid for in the event the one we really want does not open up - the butler put us on the waitlist and if someone else cancels, we are in.

Friday

We have another stop on the big island and purchased an excursion in which we visit a coffee plantation and do some other things.

Saturday and Sunday

We are overnight in Maui where we have rented a car.  More on that later, I am sure.

That about sums it up. Bye for now.

Seattle and Vancouver

She Said

We made it on the ship! 

Blaise may or may not participate in the blogging this trip or perhaps intermittently.  Right now he is fighting day 2 of his first-day-of-vacation headache. It is usually gone by day 2 but not this time.

Overview of Trip

I haven’t really talked much about this trip so before I get into what is going on, here is an overview:

Thursday, September 12: Fly from D/FW to Seattle

Spend the day in Seattle

Take a train at 7 PM to Vancouver

Arrive in Vancouver at 11 PM

Friday, September 13: Embark Celebrity Solstice for a 10-Night cruise to Hawaii

Saturday, September 14: At Sea

Sunday, September 15: At Sea

Monday, September 16: At Sea

Tuesday, September 17: At Sea

Wednesday, September 18: At Sea

Thursday, September 19: Hilo, Hawaii (The Big Island)

Friday, September 20: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii (The Big Island)

Saturday, September 21: Lahaina, Hawaii (Maui)

Sunday, September 22: Lahaina, Hawaii (Maui)

Monday, September 23: Honolulu, Hawall (Oahu)

We get off the ship here

Tuesday, September 24: Oahu

Wednesday, September 25: Oahu

Thursday, September 26: Oahu

Friday, September 27: Oahu

Saturday, September 28: Oahu

Sunday, September 29: Leave Oahu

Monday, September 30: Arrive home

An aside - As I write this, I sit in the Sky Lounge listening to music trivia thinking if I had Suzanne Hogg or Dana Manry with me, we would win this shit - every time!

Thursday

Our flight left at 6:20 a.m.  The day before the flight Blaise was convinced we could park the car at some TexRail parking lot near the airport for free.  He swore Brandon told him about that. My solution was Uber but $26ish was too hefty a price for my retired recently extremely money-conscious husband.  I told him if he could confirm our car would not be towed from the TexRail parking lot we could do that, otherwise, we were going to schedule an Uber. Really?  Who is going to let you park your car for 2.5 weeks in a parking lot for free? I got home from the office Wednesday to find that he could NOT guarantee our car would still be in the lot without ticket or tow.  Uber it was.

Carolyn, our 4 AM Uber driver was lovely.  It was an extremely clean black Cadillac with comfy leather seats.

Made it to Seattle around 8:30 am.  Found our luggage even without a single sign or announcement regarding which carousel to go to.  There were about 100 of us wandering around trying to figure out which carousel they were going to pop out of.  By the time we figured it out, all the luggage had already been pulled off the carousel and were lined up on the floor.

We then took the train to a station near the King Street Station where we were to catch the Amtrak to Vancouver later that day.  The plan was to check our bags and then wander around downtown Seattle all day.

We got off the train from the airport with all our luggage - 2 nearly 50 pound bags, my purse, and a carry on. We went up the escalator to the street level.  Blaise has GPS/Google open on his phone to get us to the Amtrak station. We see a sign on the street with an arrow and the words ”Amtrak Station.” I suggest we follow the sign but Blaise is insistent that Google is not sending us that way, it is the opposite direction and we need to follow Google.  I’m not too keen on this but having only 2 hours of sleep the night before, I am more compliant than I should have been.

So we head off in the opposite direction of the arrow.  Quite literally. Uphill. And we walk. And we walk some more.  15 minutes into this effort of pack mules, I say, “It should not be this far!”  You see, I had looked all of this up before we left and it appeared, the walk should have been 5 minutes or less.  Blaise said, well it said it was 0.9 miles from the train station we just left to King Street Station, where we were going.  I was stunned! I told him there is no way that could be the case and that it was not that far. He said we go up and turn on 16th Avenue.  I look at the upcoming intersection - 10th Avenue. What?! I said “No way!” He tried to encourage me by telling me every cross street was an even number so it was only 3 blocks up.  Let me remind you, we are still walking up hill with 50 pound bags. I am beyond not happy.

We get up past 14th Avenue and I ask him exactly what he put into Google.  He looks and says “Amtrak King Street.” I said no, you can’t say that - the proper name of the station is King Street Station and the word Amtrak is NOT anywhere in the name.  He changes it, and lo and behold, it takes us back the way we came.

At this point, I am worried about blisters forming on my hands from the handles on the luggage.  I suggest an Uber. He says we’ll be fine because we will be walking downhill now. We stand there for a few minutes (not speaking)  so I can recover my breath (I have asthma, you know) and because I am using great restraint. I say OK, we’ll head back but I reserve the right to call an Uber at any time.

We make it back to our original train station where I suggest, AGAIN, we follow the sign because he is still questioning the sign’s veracity.  This time he concedes. We walk past the train station we left, at this point probably 45 minutes to an hour earlier, and what do we find directly behind that train station?  A building with a big sign on the top saying “King Street Station.” Did I mention directly behind the train station we left an hour earlier? Blaise and I didn’t talk much for a while after that.

The elusive King Street Station

After checking our bags with Amtrak, I decided I could either have a shitty day being pissed off about this debacle or put it behind me and enjoy the day.  I choose the latter. After a 10-minute rest at the very lovely King Street Station, we headed out to find Pike Place Market and some lunch. While the walk there was about a mile, it was rather lovely not carrying luggage.

We wandered around the market for a while then stopped and ate at a place called Athenian in the market.  We wanted to share some fish and chips. We had our choice of cod, salmon, or halibut. We chose halibut. It was absolutely delicious.  The tarter sauce was probably the best I have ever had and the fish was fresh, just as you would expect in Seattle.

View at Lunch

We wandered around the market for a while longer.  We purchased fresh figs and lavender shortbread cookies.  I could have purchased so much more but after lugging that luggage all over the place, I wasn’t too keen on carrying even more stuff around.

We wandered back to King Street Station, making some stops here and there at various stores.  We were both pretty tired after having little sleep the night before and from the ridiculous schlep from earlier in the day so we just relaxed for a bit before we had to get on the train to Vancouver.

Ceiling of the beautifully restored King Street Station in Seattle

Built in 1904-06, it was purchased by the City of Seattle for $10 in 2008, and finally restored to its former grandeur in 2013.

Train to Vancouver

The train ride was 4 hours long and fairly uneventful.  We ate in the bistro car. I had clam chowder and Blaise just had coffee.  I thought I might be able to sleep a bit because the seats were pretty comfortable but that didn’t happen. So I broke it to Blaise we were not going with our original plan of getting off the train, walking to another train station, getting on another train, getting off that train and then walking to the hotel.  I had already done the research and the cab ride was about $13 from the train station to the hotel. He whined a bit. I reminded him he was retired and I was working and I had determined I can afford the $13 cab ride as opposed to schlepping all that luggage at 11:30 at night in the dark in a city with which we are not that familiar. 

After we made it through customs and passport control, we walked out and the taxi stand was right there.  Ten minutes and $9.75 later, we were checking into the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, ready for a good night’s sleep.

The Hotel and Friday Morning

The hotel was lovely.  When we checked in, the guy said if we were catching the cruise ship the next day, as long as we called them by 11 AM, a bellman would pick up our luggage from our room and deliver it to the cruise ship free of charge.  After the day we had, I was in!

View from Window of Hotel in Vancouver

The bed was comfortable and sleep was easy!  At 10:50 the next morning, the bellman picked up our luggage and we headed out to find breakfast.  When we walked out of the front door of the hotel, we discovered why the free luggage delivery - the front of the cruise ship was staring us in the face.

View of the Celebrity Solstice as we walked out of the hotel

We had a lovely breakfast at a place called Scuzzi, a small mom and pop place serving lots of Mediterranean fare and a few other things.  They had the fluffiest scrambled eggs I think I have ever had. They were delicious. Their menu said their lasagna was world famous. I am a sucker for a good lasagna (not the kind absolutely smothered in sauce) so maybe the next time we go.  The place seemed to have a bunch of regulars - a couple times while we were there someone walked in and the owner, dressed in a suit vest, no tie, and a fedora, told them “We have your table ready.”

While at breakfast, Blaise asked me if I packed his Kindle. Crap!  I did not. Yes, I do all the packing. I am particular about it and it is easier for me to simply do it all than argue and carry on about how Blaise packs.

I get on the phone and find a bookstore about 3 blocks from there, even though Blaise swore there was no way there would be a bookstore anywhere near us since they are damn near obsolete.  McCloud’s Bookstore was quite a place. We were greeted with “Can I direct you to a particular pile?” Piles of books. Everywhere. At one point, Blaise knocked down a pile of books with the bag he was carrying (our small carryon bookbag)  and the guy behind the counter recommended he keep behind the counter to avoid additional book tumbles. I guess it might have disrupted their organization of the books. This guy clearly did not know my husband. There was zero chance Blaise was handing that bag to anyone he didn’t know.

Blaise found a book - The Expats by Chris Pavone.  Glory Be! It was not a technical book. Maybe he truly IS retired.  We purchased it and we were on our way.

McCloud's Bookstore

On the Boat

We embarked the ship around 1:30ish.  It was a rather smooth process. The only complaint is the signage was not really great so we did wander a bit after we checked in looking for security and the way to ship.

Our cabin was quite a surprise.  We splurged for a Sky Suite this time since we were going to be at sea for 5 days.  It is the biggest cabin on a ship we have ever had! We booked this cruise through Online Vacations and one of the reasons we got a good deal on it is because we did not get to select the cabin number.  I was nervous about it, but now I think perhaps they should pick the cabin every time. It is on the corner on the back of the boat and it seems bigger than the Sky Suites we have had before (only twice - also got a good price on those).  The cabin is very secluded. You have to use your card key to get in one door that leads to an alcove with only the doors to two cabins. Then you use your card key to get into your room.

Our cabin

Our balcony

Perks for this Cruise

We really did get a good deal on this one.  We have unlimited free internet, prepaid gratuities, the premium drink package, and $1500 onboard credit.  With all those free perks, I am not sure what we will use the onboard credit for but we’ll find something I am sure.  We used it to purchase 2 excursions. We are renting a car in Maui so we don’t need to purchase one there. Having done that, we still have about $1,000 left of onboard credit.

Dinner

Suite folks have their own restaurant - The Luminae if they choose to use it, and that is where we ate last night.  Our amuse bouche was a ham and cheese croquette with aioli. Blaise had the pork belly for appetizer and turbot (fish) for his entre’.  I had the burrata with pesto and crostini for appetizer. My entree was a mouth-watering filet mignon, medium rare, and dessert was a chocolate ganache tart.  Very delicious. Blaise did not have his typical cheese plate for dessert. Just coffee.

Today (Saturday, September 14)

Today is wet and rainy.  Sea is a bit rough, but not too bad.  We are still in the Sky Lounge watching the sea ahead and listening to one of the better performers I have heard on a cruise ship.  He has a great voice! Just him and his guitar.

Not sure we will have much to blog about in the next few days.  I hope all is well with you. We are finally entering the relaxed zone.

Blaise is still fighting his first day vacation headache on day 2.  No blog from him today. You just get me.

She Said . . .

Only one more full day on the cruise ship after today.  It is always sad to see an enjoyable vacation come to an end.

Last Three Sea Days

The last 3 days at sea (Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday) were quite relaxing.  However on Monday evening before we went for dinner, the captain of the boat came over the loudspeaker in every room of the ship, including the cabins.  I don’t know about other cruise ships, but that has never happened on Celebrity and certainly hasn’t this Azamara cruise either. So we knew it was not good.

The Captain told us there was a medical situation with a “very special person” on the ship so he was increasing the speed to full capacity so we could get to Agadir and a hospital Tuesday evening rather than Wednesday morning - about 12 hours early.  He went on to say he was not worried about fuel consumption because the doctor on the ship said the person in need of medical help, needed to get to Agadir as soon as possible.

Upon looking at channel 14 (the channel where you get the “you are here” information, the camera view at the front of the boat, weather, and our travel particulars) earlier in the day,  Blaise and I had noticed the speed had increased greatly to nearly 20 knots.

That evening and all day yesterday, there seemed to be a sense of urgency with the speed of the ship.  I do not know what was wrong with the guy but I certainly hope he is OK.

Yesterday, we stumbled upon a Q&A with the chief engineer in one of the bars and he was asked why a helicopter wasn’t sent to the boat to pick up the person.  He said they don’t like to send helicopters to ships on the ocean because of the dangerous maneuvering that must occur to get the person in the helicopter (which doesn’t land but rather sends a basket down to get the person).  The doctor on the ship felt if we could get to Agadir earlier, that would be the best option to assist the person. We couldn’t stop at some place closer because 1) they do not have the hospital facilities for the person and 2) we would miss our other ports.

I do wonder what was wrong with the person that 12 hours would make the difference.  Not being a doctor, I would not know.

As a result, the wind across the ship along with the cloudy skies and cooler temperatures, made sitting outside on the deck yesterday, too chilly to handle.

Blaise and I both continued to read our respective books during the sea days.  Yesterday I watched the “Top Chef” like demonstration between the cruise director and the hotel manager.  The hotel manager was the straight guy to the cruise director’s goofball antics.

On Monday while I was on the treadmill and after all these years of taking cruises, I saw a very large fish (perhaps) the size of a shark jump out of the water as he was swimming the direction of the boat.  Then I started seeing a bunch of them swimming around just below the surface or with their dorsal fins sticking out of the water. I have no idea what they were. They did not appear big enough to be an orca whale but they were black on top and white on the bottom.  It was wonderful! I had wished Blaise was there to see them too. It was the highlight of our days at sea for me.

Also on Monday, we walked passed the woman I suspect to be my CivPro professor and I hear her say “Fort Worth” as she is talking to some people.  OK, this is weird. I tell Blaise, I really think she IS Professor Penrose. Why else would she mention Fort Worth? Now this is really bugging me!  AND I am convinced it is her. I also start thinking I should ask her the next time I see her but later talk myself out of it - I am not sure she would want to be bothered by a former student while on vacation.  I still can’t understand why she would be on a 17-day cruise in the middle of a law school semester.

Agadir, Morocco

We arrived in Agadir during dinner Tuesday night.  After dinner, we walked onto Deck 5 to find the ambulance there waiting at the pier for the guy with medical issues.  We stood there for a bit and watched the spectacle. We go back in to get a drink and because I felt a bit uncomfortable watching it like it was a show given that I was the “show” 2 ½ years ago in Australia when I broke my nose and was kicked of the ship.  Then we went back out to the deck and found the guy being wheeled to the ambulance in a wheelchair while I assume the person to be his wife stands by the ambulance with all their luggage. This brought on a conversation between Blaise and me about our similar experience in Brisbane, Australia.  What a mess that day was! (Side note - if you have never heard the story, you can read about it in our blog from October of 2016.)

We chose not to get off the boat that evening because we were told all the shops were closed and the only thing open were restaurants.  Well, we just ate, so that was not helpful.

The next day (Wednesday, April  3) we had booked an excursion through the cruise line (mainly because I did not have the time to do adequate research about Agadir) for a highlights tour of the city.

Agadir was completely destroyed in an earthquake in 1960, including the kasbah that overlooked the city.  And no, I have not yet stopped singing “Rock the Kasbah” from 80’s music fame.

We visited the remains of said kasbah and I think we pretty much rocked it.  It was on top of a very dry mountain speckled with low brush. The views were spectacular of the crescent-shaped beach.

Agadir has been virtually rebuilt, however, they cannot rebuild the kasbah until the passage of at least 100 years as it was a burial ground and Islam prevents rebuilding on such ground for 100 years.

It was a drab overcast day.  It looked like rain would fall at any moment.  Our guide told us it had not rained there in months so they were hoping for rain.  And it did - it sprinkled on us while were driving around in the big bus.

The tour group was big and several people with the group had ambulatory issues.  This made the day drag on a bit too much for Blaise and me.

In addition to the visit to the kasbah, we also visited a Berber museum.  The berbers were originally nomadic people who have lived in this part of the world for thousands of years.  There are still a great many berbers in the area. It was interesting to see how they lived.

Our last visit was to a souk (an outdoor market)  This market was much cleaner and less cramped than the market we experienced in Salvador on our not-so-photographic tour.  Our guide had us (probably 30-40 of us) wander around following him for a while before giving us our own time to shop. Having no local currency, we merely browsed.

Back on the boat, we had a lovely dinner as the seas tossed us back and forth.   It was the worst time on the boat as far as rockiness of the ocean we had on this cruise.  It was bad enough, they had barf bags hanging on the stair railings on every deck by the elevators.  We have never seen that before.

At dinner Blaise had his standard French onion soup and a fish and scallops.  I had fried mozzarella balls, Ceasar salad and fettuccine alfredo. I opted for no dessert because I didn’t see anything that sounded good to me.  So we went upstairs to the buffet to see what they had for dessert. I didn’t like much there either, so I got some gelato with chocolate sauce. So much for the diet.

Before the boat took off for Casablanca, the Captain’s announcement told us the guy who got off the boat the night before, although he is doing OK, needs long term care and would not rejoin the ship. He also told us another guest had to leave the ship for medical reasons.  I hope they are OK.

Casablanca, Morocco

We arrived in Casablanca around 8:30 this morning.  Today we had a walking tour of the city through the cruise ship.

On a side note, we have talked about doing more research before upcoming cruises so we can do our own private tours, allowing us to do what we want at our own pace.

As we were waiting in the cabaret lounge with many other passengers for our cruise ship excursion to start, Blaise pointed out that “Professor Penrose” was there also.  Then someone hollers out “Meg!” I look up and there she is, responding to the person calling out “Meg.” Wanna guess what Prof. Penrose’s first name is? What are the odds?  The HR Director on the boat retired from American Airlines and now works for Azamara. I had seen “Prof. Penrose” with her a couple time during the cruise, which further supported my thought that this was indeed who I thought it was given that AA’s headquarters is Fort Worth.  It is still doubtful I will say anything to her. She should have the opportunity to enjoy her vacation without my bothering her.

Meanwhile, we continue to see “Bosch” around the ship.

Our walking tour today involved a stroll down their main drag (which is now the street their new tram travels down) from the United Nations Square about a mile.  The early to mid 20th century art deco architecture created by the French, when Morocco was a French colony, was on display in what they call a live outdoor art deco museum.

From there we hopped on the small coach to the French Medina (means city) of Casablanca where we strolled through an outdoor market area including a fish market and olive market.  Oh, the olives! I have never seen so many olives. We learned there are not different kinds of olive trees that grow the different kinds of olives. The olives we eat are in various stages of ripeness with green being the least ripe and black being the most ripe.

We visited a Moroccan music museum where we got to look at a some beautiful historic Moroccan musical instruments, sip some delicious Moroccan hot tea (green tea with mint), taste some Moroccan and French pastries and sweets, and hear some beautiful Moroccan Allousse (sp.) and Berber music.  The love of the music of the amateur musicians was infectious. It was lovely.

After a walk from their Administrative Square back to the United Nations Square, we did a bit of shopping when I bought a couple of postcards for my nieces and some Argan oil for myself.  So you know, Argan oil in Morocco is much cheaper than what I buy at home.

The End

The end of our vacation is almost here.  Today upon return to our cabin we received our debarkation instructions and luggage tags.  Ugh! It has been a wonderful time and I hate to see it end. But if a vacation didn’t end, they are nothing special and something you don’t really get excited about.

While my diet has gone out the window in recent days, I will note neither Blaise nor I have taken the elevators the entirety of our time on this ship.

We will see y’all soon!

Friday Morning Update

The rough seas continue.  Last night, the Captain, for the second time on this cruise used the intercom in all rooms, including the cabins.  He explained to us the seas were going to be particularly rough once we left port and got out to see. He had altered the course some to hug the coast once we reached the European coastline of Portugal.

Again, after dinner the barf bags were hanging on the ends of the stair railings on each floor outside the elevators.  While the sea is the roughest we have seen on this cruise and possibly ever, I find it comforting which probably makes no sense to those prone to sea sickness.

This morning at breakfast, there were very few people, which is not the norm.  Granted we were about 30 minutes later than usual, but it was unusually slow. Either people are waking up later today or they can’t stomach food at this point.

We ate as we usually do at breakfast and our stomachs seem fine, despite the barf bag sitting behind our stateroom number as we left our room.

No Deck 5 lounging today - too windy, cold, and wet.  The spray of the waves is even hitting our balcony on Deck 7.  So today we sit in the “Living Room” at the front of the ship on Deck 10.  If you have ever been on Celebrity ships, this is equivalent to their Sky Lounge only a bit quieter and their chaise lounges at the very front of the boat are more comfy.

Later today, we will back and prepare to leave the boat.  While I will miss our vacation time, I will be glad to see friends and family again.

He Said . . .

Well I’m laying in bed after dinner and attempting to recall everything that’s happened during our time at sea and our ports in Morocco but let me give it a try…

Sea days are normally quite laid back with a considerable amount of time given to catching up on all the reading we haven’t done since our last cruise and this trip is no exception.  I’m still reading Oracle and Ami is knee deep in some 600+ page book that she tells me is too “descriptive” so she finds herself skipping some of the reading; I wondered why read it if you’re going to skip info but I certainly get it, some of these authors get sooooo carried away with the adjectives that it becomes monotonous.  She’s at 70% complete and I admire her commitment to finishing it up; especially since she brought it last year and never cracked it open.

So the excitement for our sea days began as we were within 24 hours of Agadir, the captain came over the intercom and told us that we had a medical emergency and needed to get a guest to the hospital “as soon as possible” and we were going to speed up to maximum speed and get there 12 hours early, that’s 8pm vs 8am the next day!!  So we proverbially “floored” it. Fortunately the seas were quite calm and we were doing 18 to 19 knots, that’s really moving on the water considering the size of the ship. My thought was of the financial implications and I wondered if the cruise line was going to present a bill for the additional fuel to the poor sick guy. I’m sure they got one from medical but hopefully not for the fuel as well.  About 9pm we were cleared by customs and the paramedics made their way on board and brought the guy down the gangway and began loading him into the ambulance. There was of course a ton of people all gawking at him over the railing and I hearkened back to our own misadventure of getting thrown off the ship a few years ago; if you haven’t ever read that blog it’s worth the 30 minutes you’re going to have to give up to see what a crazy adventure that was, but we did get Tim-Tams out of it so it was ALMOST a net-net win - NOT!!!  The following day the captain told us that not only did this guy have to stay in the hospital and wouldn’t be returning; additionally overnight someone else got sick and had to go to the hospital as well. I thought wow I hope we get all of our traveling done before we end up in their states.

So Agadir, we took an excursion to hit the highlights and I was summarily hugely disappointed with where and what we did.  First they took us to the kasbah up on the hilltop, hopefully AJ put out a couple of pics, it’s a beautiful view. The downside is the the kasbah was destroyed during an earthquake in 1960 and there are only a very few ruins left of it, although the locals are all up there selling pictures with, as well as rides on, camels; snake pictures too!!  I AM DEATHLY AFRAID OF ALL SNAKES; I’m color blind I can’t tell poisonous from non-poison so I have to assume they are all deadly. Anyway, this guy with a snake around his neck really had me moving the other direction and he kept heading toward us. I was not having it!!! Secondarily, I don’t believe in riding animals traditionally wild animals, camels, elephants, water buffalo, all out from my perspective.  Then it was off to a municipal museum with everything written in Arabic, Berber and French, too bad I couldn’t get more out of it. Great jewelry but I didn’t get any reference points beyond that. After that we went to the souk (market), it was huge (not Canton huge) but this one is everyday and not just once a month!! It was enlightening and I really enjoyed seeing how the locals shopped, both for food as well as goods.  That portion of the excursion I really enjoyed, the rest was a non-starter from my perspective and Ami and I decided that from here on out we should just look for private tours for two that we secure outside the cruise lines going forward.

Our last stop before we get booted off the boat, Casablanca …

I was looking so forward to this stop. I really started looking at this cruise and taking a chance on Azamara, just so I could go to Casablanca.  I wasn’t disappointed, we took a walking tour excursion having something to do with some bizarre named musical museum called - I think it’s called Andelouse (sp?) Moroccan music.  We saw a huge amount of architecture, one of the King’s palaces and the French Medina (city). In comparison to the walking photography tour we took this guy really knew his stuff. He knew all about the architecture, build dates, as well the architects that built all of these buildings while Morocco was under French rule from 1912 to 1957; they did a lot of building before allowing them their independence and walking away.  I enjoyed it immensely; even the music which for me was to be the worst part of the excursion, it wasn’t at all. Really was well done and I appreciated how well he knew the material of the excursion, it was a pleasant change from what we had been subjected to on this cruise.

So tomorrow we get to Lisbon and get ready to get thrown off the boat and return to the real world; I’m personally torn because I love the time with Ami learning as well as observing new cultures and potentially expanding ones world views but I also miss things at home too.  Not sure why but I miss our norm; the new house I need to get back to, Brandon and our weekend breakfast locale to name just a few. I can’t wait to get back to Sumatran coffee and the internet (without having to find a wifi).

All that said I booked this trip with Casablanca being the reason, when it was over Casablanca was playing second fiddle to Rio.  I would go back there in a minute, if I don’t ever get back to Casablanca and Morocco I won’t mind, it didn’t warrant a return from my perspective; Rio we’ll be back!!!

It is expected to take 2 days to get home with an overnight in MIA before we return via Austin the following day.  I sure hope we aren’t in the middle section, I thought we had an A/B to ourselves, I hope that’s the case, at least to Philly, the rest I’m indifferent to, fingers crossed.  Not sure if this is the last post for this cruise or not, if so we’ll provide the last leg when we see everyone at home, if we have a layover or something bizarre occurs we’ll put out a final entry, in either case be well - health is happiness!!  Until then….