The United Arab Emirates are said to be moving ahead as they are attempting to stand still. That is Dubai in a nutshell. This Las Vegas on steroids has the biggest, newest, flashiest of everything except for the dancing showgirls. As we approached Port Rashid we could see the tall buildings glowing in the early light of sunrise. The iconic Burj Al Arab, which is modeled after the sail of a dhow, is purportedly the only seven star hotel in the world. The Burj Dubai, the tallest building on earth, is nearing completion. The three Palm developments are manmade islands rising up out of the Persian Gulf. The World project is a group of three hundred offshore islands constructed in the shape of the seven continents and is larger than Manhattan. It will offer the ultimate ... read more

Most people around the world have seen the pictures and read about the situation in Burma. Last September in the midst of a peaceful protest by Burmese monks, there was a extreme response by the military government and the protest marches were harshly brought to an end. Since then many of the monasteries have been closed and severe restrictions have been placed on the monks. The main reason for the protests was that the regime raised the price of fuel by 500% over night. Myanmar, as it is called by the ruling junta, is one of the poorest countries in the world. This increase in fuel prices has devastated the local population. Since mostly only the military have private cars, everyone else is dependent on buses and trains for transit. Many bus companies couldn’t afford to ... read more

We cruised up the Huangpu River into the heart of Shanghai. This booming metropolis is one of our favorite places in Asia and there is so much to do, that we hit the ground running. We got off the ship and tried to hail a taxi. The car stopped and the driver got out and looked at us very sternly. We kept saying “taxi? taxi?” Finally another Chinese man came over and said that the guy was a policeman—not a cab driver. We realized that having a light on the roof of the car didn’t necessarily mean it was a taxi. We sheepishly apologized as we wouldn’t want to upset a local cop and end up getting shanghaied. We decided to just walk to the Bund which is the truly impressive strand along the river. ... read more

Upon leaving Australia we started retracing the path of the Navy in World War II. We crossed the Coral and Solomon Seas to reach Papua New Guinea. This enormous ocean which is sometimes referred to as the “Great Blue” seems to stretch to the ends of the earth. One of the passengers remarked that if this ship had a glass bottom, we would be able to see most of the Japanese Naval Fleet lying on the ocean floor. The battle of the Pacific was one of the epic conflicts in naval history. In 2005 when we cruised much of this same territory, there was a guest lecturer who was a naval historian, and there were many WWII vets cruising as passengers. This year, about the only vets on board are those who enlisted at a very ... read more

After leaving Tahiti we were scheduled to stop in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. There is not a dock there so it is necessary for any visiting ships to drop anchor and take passengers ashore via tender. Still feeling the effects of Cyclone Funa, it was necessary to cancel our visit as it would have been too dangerous to try to get everyone ashore in heavy seas. We have been to Rarotonga and enjoyed it very much as it is like French Polynesia but with a British flavor. Captain Dag said in one of his morning announcements that we have been dogged by low pressure systems since leaving Los Angeles. That’s the luck of the draw. We hope we will encounter a “Pacific High” soon! We crossed the International Date Line which meant there was no ... read more