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Oceans and Seas » Atlantic » Sargasso Sea November 3rd 2015

Still cloudy! Went for breafast and then decided to ask for refunds on our Vibe passes as we had heard quite a few people had done this due to the weather. Guest services lady very obliging, in fact later that day we received a note to say all vibe passengers had been refunded but were still welcome to use the facility should the weather improve. Took the vibe refund money and some of Alex's casino winnings and booked day passes for the spa for the rest of the cruise, a really luxurious facility with amazing views from the comfy recliners, saunas, steam rooms, pool, hot tubs and a snow room! Now on a couple of ocassions people have mistaken Alex for someone else, during this cruise. I am beginning to think he is leading some kind ... read more

Oceans and Seas » Atlantic November 3rd 2015

Some folks don’t like “Sea Days”, some folks do but if you do a Transatlantic you’d better make sure you like them. Luckily we do. We had fairly smooth sailing through the night, especially when compared to our approach to the Azores. We were supposed to do our trans-Atlantic crossing on the Nieuw Amsterdam when we booked this cruise nearly two years ago. Last January we were informed that that final leg of our cruise had been cancelled. Sharon supposed it was because Holland America had gotten a charter to remain in the Mediterranean. We learned however that they had instead decided to remain in the Mediterranean for two additional one-week cruises. This is probably a mistake that they won’t make again. We learned that the Nieuw Amsterdam was forced to remain at sea instead of ... read more

Oceans and Seas » Atlantic » Sargasso Sea November 2nd 2015

So far the weather has been pretty poor, grey days with wind and rain on some days, so have't been able to make use of our vibe passes. Today started a little brighter, we were rather confused with time changes so totally missed breakfast (not necessarily a bad thing). Had a game of basketball (i won again) the dec ded to brave the ropes course, now this is hard to explain, you have to actually see it but it is a huge intricate network of ropes, ladders, tightropes, balance beams, zip lines and allsorts of apparatus including a 'plank' which you walk out on over the sea, as well as a zipline which whizzes you out over the ocean. You are of course strapped into a harness for all of this but it is still pretty ... read more

Oceans and Seas » Atlantic » Atlantis November 2nd 2015

Geo: 34.765, 32.411In yesterday's daily ship bulletin, The Herald, there was an announcement that the Cowboys game would be carried on the ship's satellite TV. They listed it at 9:15 p.m. Sunday, but they miscalculated the time difference. It was the later afternoon game which would have started at 2:15 at home, but a nine-hour time difference here meant it started at 11:15. Phil stayed up for the whole disappointing game.(This program requires a city to be named in the location field. We weren't really in Cyprus, but it seems to be the closest location I can find that the program will accept. We simply sailed nearby.)... read more
Wake from the Ship Below Our Balcony

Oceans and Seas » Atlantic » Atlantis October 31st 2015

Geo: -18.3212, -155.2So it's Halloween and a sea day too. Up early and a light breakfast as usual, I head for the library to load pictures for the blog while Mom runs errands. Karen goes to the main desk for change and then her favorite pastime, laundry. I skip lectures today and begin organizing the blogs. I now have six that need completion in some way or another, mostly pictures, and then they need to be synced with the website and sent. That last part requires Internet, hopefully with a higher speed than usual. I have a little over 300 minutes of Internet time left out of the 1000 minutes I purchased upon boarding for $250. I think it will work out since we have another week of activities and then the final week consisting of ... read more
All Dressed Up at the Dinner
Some Decorations around the Ship for Halloween.
Here's Betty!

Oceans and Seas » Atlantic October 30th 2015

The seas had worsened during the night and we experienced the gambit of pitch, roll and yaw in our forward berth. More than a couple times could we hear the sea crashing into the sides of our vessel, we would hear the bow plunging into the sea after a swell and then the white spray by our window. Occasionally the spray would hit our balcony and fourth deck window. Sharon made her way to mass. When she returned I was finishing up one blog entry and we went up to the Dining Room for breakfast. I felt like the eggs Benedict, again, and Sharon had her American Breakfast. I made a point to add the potato cakes with my plate; and, again the dining room steward corrected that to hashed browns. Two others at our table ... read more

Oceans and Seas » Atlantic October 29th 2015

Today was not the first day that we enjoyed an extra hour thanks to the time zones that we are zipping across. And it’s not as in the Mediterranean where you both gain and lose the time as you go and then come back again. Here we are going west. The Captain had informed us that now that we’ve left the sanctuary of the Mediterranean that we would be exposed to the more robust seas of the Atlantic. We could expect the waves and swells to be increasing over the next 48 hours where we should anticipate seas reaching 20 feet… not quite the 45 foot seas that Sharon experienced off of the Falklands. Sharon went to mass and I worked some on the blog. When she returned we decided to start this sea day with ... read more

Oceans and Seas » Atlantic » Atlantis October 29th 2015

Geo: 13.8941, -60.9686This morning we docked in Castries the main town on the island country of St Lucia. We disembarked about 8-30am and walked in to the centre of the town along the waterfront. It was another warm, humid day with a threat of rain but the few small showers which fell dissipated quickly. The main square is named after Derek Walcott, a Nobel Prize winning poet who was born here. Within the square is his bust and another of the first black man to win a Nobel Prize both born in this small island, The second was for Economics. The other main feature of the square is the massive 400 year old tree which dominates one corner. We went into the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, a large imposing church which takes up one whole ... read more
Fishermen and their catch
The 400 year old tree
 Inside the Cathedral

Oceans and Seas » Atlantic » Atlantis October 29th 2015

Geo: -20.0229, -165.241Now to try to catch up on the blog. First off, I manage to send off two days before the Internet dies so that's that. I'll continue writing and processing pictures. I see Kainoa is talking about island activities so, after breakfast, I go down to the 10am lecture a little late and follow up with Melvyn Foster's continuing story of the history of cruise ships, this time concentrating on the early 20th century vessels. Mom is down having fun again doing the laundry. I can't fight it. I guess it's just cheap entertainment for her. I return to the library and when she completes her chores, she meets me and we have a salad in the Lido, then out by the pool where I continue my work. Sitting poolside in the 80F weather ... read more
At the Laundry Again. Hey, She Likes It!
Listening to Melvyn on History of Cruise Ships.

Oceans and Seas » Atlantic » Atlantis October 28th 2015

Geo: 17.0817, -61.8077After six days at sea the sight of land was welcome. I hadseen the first signs on Tuesday afternoon as I walked my laps around the deckas two birds, I think they were boobies, circled the ship. We went to breakfastat 7-30am and could see through the window the coast of Antigua as we met thepilot and then were taken in to dock. We went on deck to watch. The captainseemed to enjoy the crowd watching as he manoeuvred the ship faultlessly intothe wharf. We waited on board for a while to allow the crush of departees todisseminate but there was still a crowd when we got to the gangplank. It was asunny warm day and there were plenty of people to welcome passengers. Archwaysof balloons greeted us as the many taxi drivers, vying ... read more
The captain steers us in
The Cathedral towers over the skyline
Approaching the anchorage




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