Friday Cat Blogging

A photo from Haleakala a few years back.

 

Cruise Blogging - Day Six

The night before the cruise returned to LA, we obtained our on-board charges statement and found one small charge that was erroneous. The customer next to us at the pursers desk was complaining about his Internet usage charges. He first explained how he wasn't able to get access, then what he had tried to do to get it working.

"So, I went to the help desk. The guy told me I needed to go up to the top deck to be closer to the satellite."

The customer clearly thought this was as silly as we did, so it seems clear that he did not just misunderstand the help desk guy. I wonder how many people this works on?

In any case, we had a great time! This was our first cruise. We hadn't really considered going on a cruise until multiple groups of people we thought would never ever enjoy a cruise came back raving about them. We may be converts now too. Not that we want to give up on the hiking/camping types of vacations, but this was definitely relaxing.

Things we should have brought but didn't:
* sun hat
* zip-up sweatshirt
* a conference lanyard for the cruise card which you always need with you if you want back into your room
* a watch

Cruise Blogging - Day Four

Oops! Skipped a day. Back one day for some images from the walking tour of Mazatlan:

Cruise Blogging - Day Five

We had a great time on the "sail and snorkel" excursion in Cabo San Lucas.



Worst anticipated experience: Not being able to see much due to lack of a prescription snorkel mask. I need to buy one of those.

Best anticipated experience: Seawater, sun, swimming and actually finally feeling like I was on a boat (despite living on one for the previous four days).

Worst unanticipated experience: Getting stung by jellyfish because I could not see them well enough to avoid them. Ouch!

Best unanticipated experience: Bonus whale watching detour before the return to dock.

Honestly, jellyfish aside, this was a really fun tour - the crew was nice, they played a something for everyone mix of pop music, and served drinks freely. And wisely, they served alcohol only after the snorkeling.

. . .

Back in the security line for the tenders to the ship, I said to Dr. H. "You know that woman you were speaking to?"

"Yes?"

"You've spoken to other instances of that woman before."

He thought for a second, "Yes, I have."

I said, "Once she started to talk to you, I thought, 'Oh, here is another one of those slightly older, athletic, married, highly educated, liberal woman with short hair who is going to want to hear all about H's research.'"

"It's true," he said, "At some point I had the feeling that this had all happened before."

Cruise Blogging - Day Three - Overheard

Overheard on the boat, after shore excursions in Puerto Vallarta:

A: Did you go drinking at Senor Frog's?

B: Yeah.

A: Was it pretty cool?

B: Yeah.

A: Yeah, I've heard the one in Meh-ZAT-lann is pretty cool too.

B: Yeah.

Photos from Mazatlan /ˌmɑsɑˈtlɑn/ [mah-sah-tlahn]

Cruise Blogging - Day Two

A few observations from New Year's Eve:

• At least half the women under the age of 28 do not know what "tea length" means.
  
  
• All black or all white outfits work as formal attire if sequins and scarves are involved
  
  
• This is far too many people for me. The more casual, less crowded, less glitzy after-party on deck was more my speed.
  

Cruise Blogging - Day One - Overheard

Overhead on the boat, while waiting in line:

"Never in my life have I seen a line for high tea. Bingo, yes, I can understand that, but for high tea?"

Relaxing and trying out "sunset mode" on my new fabulous digital camera:

Cruise Blogging - Day Zero

I decided not to blog from the cruise. The 50-cents-a-minute wireless charge was an excellent reason to go off-line. Instead, I've been saving up a few quick observations from the cruise for your amusement. And yes, we had an excellent time, thank you!

From the Cruise Answer Book under the heading "Clothing Suggestions":

You should dress for a cruise with Princess the same way you would for any stylish land-based resort.

Note to Princess: This information does not help me.