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Posts Tagged ‘Diamond Princess’

Alaska – on dry land again!

Filed Under : Travel by Pat
May.22,2011


Seward! Gorgeous!

First shore visit since Korea – I was so glad to get off the ship and walk on land again! Seward was just lovely. My first object on going on shore was to send a parcel home. Get rid of some of the stuff not needed for the rest of the trip – including my hair straighteners which don’t operate on 120V. That done, I needed a bank and a coffee. Two old guys in the bank told us about the Mt Marathon race: they set off from the bank, run up the mountain and more or less slide down on their bottoms and then back to the bank. I think it’s something like 1300 feet and the current record is 43 minutes. Trivial pursuits, eh!


We spent a couple of hours in the laundromat, which doubles as a great little cafe with bagels and wifi. Interesting people and lots of tips on what we should do and where we should go. We took off after that for the shops on one of the main streets – lovely craft places, lots of artists in this little town. A bit like Barry really, but with a glacier in the mountains behind. We more or less walked back to the ship, farther than it looked, and saw that part of the town with a beach onto Resurrection Bay and small boats in the harbour. Nice place – worth a future visit.

The view as we sailed out of Seward was glorious – more so because the sky was a threatening, dramatic billow of grey and white clouds, and the setting sun shone on the sea and the mountains behind us. We headed for the ocean again and a channel between islands that would take us to Whittier. After about half an hour up on deck, the cold wind got the better of me and sent me scurrying down to get a hot drink.

On Saturday 21st May we finally disembarked at Whittier, said goodbye to the Diamond Princess and the lovely Luis, passed our unused coffee cards on to a couple sailing on to Vancouver, and set foot in Alaska for the second time (old hands at this…). At breakfast, some of us had seen the arrival of the Green Tortoise bus on the dockside, so we knew we weren’t going to be stranded from now on. Sully, our driver, was waiting as we stumbled out into the car park with bags hanging from all over us. He seems a nice guy, just come back from several months in Antarctica where he was working, and now back doing his summer job, driving Green Tortoise buses again. He’s done San Francisco to Alaska before, but never Alaska to New York. So it’s a first for everyone on the bus. We stowed our large bags under in the hold and found places to sit/lie on the bus for the trip to Anchorage. Sandra and Tony leave us there, and have hitched a ride with us.

The drive to Anchorage from Whittier took us through a tunnel also used by trains. Until a few years ago, Whittier could only be reached by train – one single track from Anchorage. Then they built the road – a very scenic route alongside the coast and ringed with mountains. As the railroad had already blasted a narrow tunnel under a mountain near Whittier, it is also used for the road. But it is single lane only so traffic has to queue up for about 30 minutes to go through while it is being used for the opposite direction. And then both sets of traffic stop for a while so trains can use it. A very economical use of resources!


Our home for two nights, the Spenard International Hostel, is lovely, friendly and full of places to sit and lounge and blog and read. What more do you need? Jen, the manager, made several phone calls to try and find out why my laptop (Asus Eee, Linux) is not connecting to local wifi, and unfortunately was unable to find any answers. The routing supplier’s comment was ‘Oh shoot’ when he heard it was Linux. I was then advised to buy something else.


Today we went into Anchorage for the day, saw a great Sunday market and bought bits and pieces in local shops. Needless to say, I bought bits of jewellery, stones, beads. I feel the need for another box to be sent home.

I had a bit of a deja vu moment. Ben, Victoria and Gordon (if you’re reading this) will recognise part of the story. Well, today, Pat, Linda and Ann and I had a coffee together and went separate ways, planning to meet at 1pm at the Glass Gallery on G Street, and then again at The Snow Goose bar (recommended) at 2pm for lunch. At 1pm, vainly seeking the gallery only to find from locals that it had closed a year ago, I then went straight to the Snow Goose to see if the others had gone on there. It was closed; not due to open till 3pm. No sign of the others. We finally met up by chance about an hour later. This is not the first time this kind of thing has happened. In 1991, Ben, Victoria and I were driving from Vienna in the direction of what had been East Germany in order to meet up with Gordon, who was driving from the Hamburg area. On the phone we arranged to meet at Rathen, a small town on the Elbe river and, as every German town has a church, we arranged to meet there at 3pm on a certain date. Well, we got there and discovered that Rathen was the only German town without a church. Or maybe it was in the other half of the town across the river, reached only by a ferry, for which there was long queue. Luckily the kids happened to see their dad strolling by (not looking in our direction!) having at least ended up on the same side of the river as us.

Anyway, back to Alaska…. while I’d been lost in Anchorage! I’d bumped into a few of the others having a late lunch in a restaurant. They’d been to the tourist information place and were planning to go to a husky sled dog show that evening, so I joined them. There’s a race run in Alaska each year – the Iditarod – and it covers a huge distance – about 1000km or miles – I’ll have to check on that. When they’re not in training, they open their doors to the public so we can see how the dogs (and drivers!) – are trained and looked after. Beautiful dogs! Amazing eyes….. We learnt all about the special talents of the lead dog, and of the dogs who are positioned right at the back and act as brakes – imagine going down a steep hill – they have to pace themselves to make sure the dogs and sled don’t end up in a heap at the bottom. Clever animals.

After the show, we got a lift back to downtown Anchorage and finally got to sit on the deck with a drink at the Snow Goose. Still couldn’t see Mt McKinley though, as it was too cloudy. A nice end to the day. Then a taxi back to the hostel.

Tomorrow we leave the shelter of our hostel for the great outdoors: eight nights camping or sleeping on the bus. Should be fun! At least there are only 17 of us, and Sully makes 18. We will be at Denali National Park, then Chena Hot Springs (!) and Chicken(!!) before crossing the border to Dawson and Whitehorse in Canada. Then more hot springs at Takhini before crossing back to the USA at Haines and taking a ferry to Juneau. Then we have the luxury of a hostel again and maybe a chance to get online again. Who knows!

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Ground Hog Day and other peculiarities

Filed Under : Travel by Pat
May.20,2011


Ground Hog Day should have been Monday 16th May, the day we crossed the International Date Line and repeated a day. But one of the peculiarities of being at sea, and under the direction of the Master Under God, or MUG as the captain is correctly known, is that you can have ship’s time (about 15 minutes different from shore time…?) and can play around with the days because it suits you. Not the passengers, the Captain and Management. And so it was decided that our two repeat days should be Sunday 15th, for administrative reasons (can’t repeat a working day, apparently). The first we knew of it was when we received the Princess Patter (yes, really called that!), the daily newsletter giving us advance warning of all events and jollities on board ship, so you don’t miss that all important quiz or balloon drop or enrichment lecture. The PP for Sunday 15th (Day 1) was followed 24 hour later by the PP for Sunday 15th (Day 2). We asked our steward who confirmed he didn’t get paid double time two days running. Didn’t ever get paid double time actually….

So the following day, Monday 16th (when it finally arrived) brought with it an announcement from the Bridge: we would cross the International Date Line at 13.15, but would only cross latitude 180 later in the day at about 21.00. The reason being that the IDL does not do straight lines, but veers off at angles to include neighbouring islands who don’t want to be a day apart.

By the way, I’m writing this at about midnight, sitting on the toilet. I am sharing a cabin with three others, who I thought were asleep, and not wanting to disturb them with the light from my screen, I removed myself to the ensuite… only to be disturbed by Linda on a nightly ‘comfort’ visit. After both recovering from palpitations and then stifled hysteria, I vacated my post only to find Pat sitting up in bed, giggling. She’s also had the urge to write up a middle-of-the-night blog but I got the toilet first. Linda has now returned to bed and I’m back in the office.

So, what other peculiarities on board? The singing waiter at breakfast who did a powerful rendition of ‘O Sole Mio’; the strange eating habits of people when faced with unlimited food; the fact that the silver Princess vacuum mugs meant for coffee are most likely secretly filled with alcohol, at all times of the day – and who’s to know. The fact that the AA meetings are delicately referred to as ‘Friends of Dr Bob & Bill W. Meeting’; the fact that there is a lift from deck 16 to the Skywalker Bar which I knew nothing about till a couple of hours ago as all those who know keep it a secret. Deliberately and with malice aforethought. But the most beautiful peculiarity of all is seeing a couple of volcanoes which form part of the Aleutian Islands, totally covered in snow and emitting smoke or steam from the summit. So pretty.

We had a farewell dinner tonight for Sandra and Tony, who will be missed. Sandra won 11 games of Arsehole in a row this afternoon, and even after losing another was crowned Finale Champion and had a cocktail bought for her by the abject loser. Not me, by the way. Now that she is departing at Anchorage to fly off to Hawaii (while we cope with the Green Tortoise, sleeping like sardines, no showers and camping at Chicken) we will maybe have a chance of winning. We may bump into her and Tony in Vancouver and New York, so I have my Terracotta Warrior playing cards at the ready in my handbag. Aces at dawn, don’t mess with me.

Tomorrow (actually today…) at 09.15 we have a date with U.S. Customs downstairs in the Santa Fe restaurant. After which we can go ashore at Seward and try walking on dry land again after days and days at sea. I have a bag full of stuff to send home in order to make room in my luggage for more purchases, so first stop in Seward will be the Post Office. Second stop will be a bank as I need US $$$. Third stop a pharmacy to see if I can get codeine… rumour has it you can’t get it without prescription in the U.S. We disembark at Whittier the next day (tomorrow already) and then after a couple of days in Anchorage we’re off to Denali National Park.

I have been giving a lot of thought to the first trip I made round the world in 1969, making some comparisons with this one, and having a right old sentimental memory trip. The thing that sparked this off was being told this evening that we will make a stop in Anchorage at a supermarket for outdoor stuff so that those who don’t yet have sleeping bags can purchase them. The name of the store is ‘Fred Myers’. Those familiar with the story of Poor Cold Fred will need no explanations. For anyone else, I will relate the sad tale at a slightly later date. I guess enough time has passed (42 years) for me to go public at long last.

It’s 01.36, the ship is lurching madly and I’m sliding off the toilet seat so am going back to bed.

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Just Cruisin’ Baby…

Filed Under : Travel by Pat
May.13,2011

Friday 13th!

This is the post without any pictures because it’s all about the people on the boat, and I have no wish to be taken to court. Actually, I will eventually put some in, of the ship’s interior. But no people. And certainly not the man with three teeth.

First there’s the Ozbus lot – a great bunch who in varying degrees love the cruise or are bored rigid after 8 days…Some are throwing themselves wholeheartedly into every activity, others, like me, are hiding a bit and making the most of the space available on this ship before living at close quarters again for the remainder of the journey from Anchorage to New York. And we will be at close quarters when we sleep shoulder to shoulder on the Green Tortoise bus.

Then the passengers, average age 64 apparently, but I feel immeasurably younger than most on board. The younger Ozbussers on our trip are indeed the youngest on board, apart from sightings of about four children (I’ve seen two). It’s no doubt a lovely life for those retirees who have the funds, just going from cruise to cruise. Someone uncharitably motioned towards all the blanketed forms lying on loungers by the pool and uttered the words ‘floating retirement home’. But as these elderly people make up the bulk of the passengers, and it’s not school holiday time, the entertainment on board is geared accordingly and as a result not really catering for the younger (in age and at heart) passengers. Mind you, on formal nights, they do scrub up well: the long skirts/dresses, the red cummerbunds and bow ties, the flashing jewels – and that was just the man with the diamond (?) encrusted belt. The photographers have a field day, posing people at the foot of the stairs: ‘Madam, place your hand on your husband’s heart and look into his eyes’, and then charging them a fortune next day when they are all displayed in the photo gallery. I should mention at this point that I shared a lift one evening with two couples and a single man. They were sparkling, groomed to perfection and sweetly perfumed. I was in my black and turquoise bathing suit, modestly semi-covered by Victoria’s borrowed pink and yellow sarong and wearing flip-flops. I commented on being underdressed and how lucky they were I wasn’t on my way back from the hot tub, sopping wet and smelling of chlorine.

And finally the crew, divided into 3 groups: the front of house waiters etc. and our lovely cabin steward Luis; the captain and his Mates who are driving the ship and exist only through the loudspeakers; the entertainment crew who are driven by the Hi-de-hi culture that used to be the preserve of Butlins and the like.

So where do I put myself? Well, I’m not in love with cruising as such. I think it’s by far the best, most comfortable and pleasant way to get from Beijing to Anchorage (failing an outright invitation to get on a motorbike with Charlie Boorman). As my good friend Linda says: ‘As a holiday destination it sucks.’ Having said that, I am not bored. I read my Kindle – currently the John Locke novels about Donovan Creed, an assassin who has me longing to change career and counteract all the good I have done in the world up to now; I have a coffee package which entitles me to 15 REAL coffees as well as free house coffee (filter) and hot chocolate whenever I want – and there’s a nice coffee lounge to relax in;

I can plug in my laptop almost anywhere – especially in the Skywalker Nightclub which tends to be sadly attended by the younger Ozbus crowd, vainly looking for new young people to drink and dance with. Sadly none forthcoming. With like-minded friends I have played two games from the library collection; I have been in the swimming pool and the hot tub – the latter even on a foggy, windy day when my shoes nearly blew away; I have walked round deck 16 several times but round deck 7 not quite. I will accomplish that before the end of the trip – following literally in Pat C’s footsteps!

I have used the launderette twice; I have attended ‘Enrichment Lectures’ on volcanoes, the people of Japan and the people of Russia. I have had some lovely food. And drink, including the alcohol-free cocktails. I have also watched an outdoor movie from a poolside lounger, swaddled in three blankets and still frozen stiff as the Arctic breezes gently howled across the deck.

And now the things that haven’t thrilled me…
Karaoke: apart from our valiant Andy who sang a Coldplay song – ‘Shiver – all the rest were quivery-quaky renditions of ‘Que sera, sera’ by a Doris Day look-alike (more of her later), ‘Love is a many splendoured thing’, also quivery-quaky by an octogenarian and sweetly dedicated to his wife, who sang something oddly off-key back at him in return. There were about three more in the same vein then they all had a second go, except Andy as time ran out.
Blankety-Blank: this followed on from the Karaoke and curiosity kept me in my seat. It was dire, never to be repeated. Enough said.
Trivia Quiz: not too bad, could have been more enjoyable if we hadn’t been exhorted to forever put up our hands if we were enjoying it…or not enjoying it. And if the quizmistress hadn’t insisted on spelling words like ‘beer’, ‘cider’ and ‘coke’. And if she had done a little less hi-de-hi stuff and cajoling of us oldies.

Among the other stuff I haven’t tried yet – Bingo, casino, anti-aging skin-care seminar (too late surely?), LGBT Get-together, tap-dancing sessions. And the enrichment lectures given by someone who worked in the space industry and who in his golden years gets a free cruise for himself and his wife (look-alike Doris Day) by lecturing every other day and answering questions from the audience, translated into American by the said Doris Day.

But there’s still a week to go!

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Busan – Jewel in the Sea of Japan

Filed Under : Travel by Pat
May.10,2011


My first ashore trip, having been too lazy at Dalian and not in the mood on account of the rain at Qingdao. Busan was on the original itinerary, but was changed by the cruise company after Christmas due to friction between North and South Korea. At that point, Nagasaki was substituted but after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, we reverted back to Korea. With an additional stop at Seward in Alaska, a day before disembarking at Whittier.


Apparently Busan was the scene of massive fighting in about 1953 – but you’d never know it now. It’s a busy, thriving city, stretching for miles along the coast and bordered inland by mountains that look picturesque from all angles. Four of us took the shuttle bus from the ship to the Phoenix Hotel, our drop off point downtown. We had a student doing his first day as guide on the bus; he had a little trouble pronouncing certain words and raised a laugh with his ‘Penis Hotel’. Pat C, being more charitable than the rest of us, took him aside for a quiet word to ensure he didn’t spend the rest of the day as a figure of hilarity amongst shuttle customers. She felt he didn’t know what ‘penis’ meant anyway, so no harm would have been done. And more people would have been able to report this in their blogs…. Anyway, we were deposited outside the hotel, paid a quick visit to Starbucks to get water, visited a beauty shop with a beautiful shop assistant to get more wet wipes (staples on a trip like this!)then looked for the local city tour bus we’d seen advertised. With half an hour to kill, we explored the area around the fish market – some seriously strange fish here. Some of them looked really unappetising, almost poisonous. Surely you’re not meant to eat bulbous orange fish with blue tinged spikes? Doesn’t nature make them like that to warn you off?

Although the city is swamped in signs – you could be killed if they all fell down – they are partly in English, so Busan seems a lot easier to get around in. Quite a relief really, after Russia and China; you don’t appreciate roman letters until you’re in a part of the world that doesn’t use them! You can get seriously lost if you can’t read the signs!

Busan is a beautiful city and the tour we were on – more than 1.5 hours – took us through the main city and out to Gwangalli Beach which you can see in the top picture (reminded me bizarrely of Bondi Beach…same shops and cafes..) and further on to Haeundae Beach, full of luxury hotels and apartments and expensive boats. Everything was so clean and attractive – if the exchange rate were favourable it would be a great place to live, or spend a few months of each year. I’m thinking about it. We returned to the city via the amazing Gwangan Bridge, which just floats across the bay in an ethereal sort of way, in the mist which descended from the mountains now and again. Apparently at night it is magical, with over 100,000 lights twinkling along its length. Finally, before reaching the bus station and getting a taxi back to the International Cruise Terminal, we passed the city Arboretum and the UN Memorial Cemetery, where there are graves of many allied servicemen who died between 1950-53.


So, the ship: this was the first time I’d been off it and able to view it from land properly. Quite an amazing sight, so huge – and from the right angle a bit predatory! Like a shark. I have to say, after exploring most of it, that my favourite spot on board is still the stern open area, with a small swimming pool, splash pool and three hot tubs. It also tends to be quite empty, perhaps because of the ‘breeze’! But you get fantastic views and a feeling you’re alone on the ship. A nice place to go if you want to avoid the other 2,799 people on board. Or thereabouts.

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Day 1 aboard – non-visit to Dalian

Filed Under : Travel by Pat
May.7,2011


How lazy can you get! People left the ship in droves to go ashore at Dalian but I decided to chill out for the day and stay put on the ship, using the relative emptiness to explore and get my blog text up to date. It turned out to be a very good choice – I had the reading room with its many sockets to myself for a while and was able to people-watch and listen in to interesting conversations. Like those I overheard in the ‘future cruises’ booth right next to me: ‘My wife and I want to do Australia – nothing less than 30 or 40 days – watcha got?’ As far as I know, the ships on this line dock at Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Sydney, so not much time on day excursions to ‘do’ Australia. There are a lot of people doing this leg from Beijing to Alaska, who have been on board since Singapore. One woman I spoke to has had sea-sickness since Singapore, but loves the cruise!


Also in the reading room: a table with a jigsaw laid out, free for anyone to walk by and do for a time if they wish. I pointed it out to Douglas and he found three pieces. I found none. It’s actually a lovely place to hang out if you just want to drink a coffee in peace and listen to music. It’s just off the central atrium where they regularly have string quartets and pianists playing. I try very hard not to think of the musicians playing on as the Titanic went down…. Next door to the reading room is the library, with a fair selection of books and board games. Not a bad set up.


After lunch, I decided to check out the pools. The two main ones were rather crowded round the edge, but then I found the little one right at the stern and had a dip, did my aqua-physio knee exercises and then fell asleep on a lounger till after 3. Woke up to a very hot left shoulder and leg and fairly cool elsewhere. Great sea breezes! A woman had meanwhile taken the lounger next to me and I couldn’t help admire her lovely toenails…a deep raspberry shade with delicate white flowers on her big toenails. If only I didn’t have such misshapen nails, quite deformed really after having nailbed cauterised… Enough of that! I love being at the stern, watching the wake disappear into the distance. It’s very peaceful, and you can forget the many, many hundreds of people on board. But I guess people will discover this little gem eventually and paradise will be invaded.


As I knew we were departing Dalian at about 4.30 I started checking out the best place to take photos from; on the way I explored the top decks, the Sanctuary (Ciaran and Jonny waving from a spa pool), the conservatory, coffee by a pool, and finally, the highest point I could reach in the open air to take photos. Wonderful views all around and a good vantage point to spot wandering Ozbus people. All 3 of them.


Outside the arms of the harbour I could see lots of large and small boats at anchor in the Yellow Sea, probably waiting for us to leave so they’d have some space to dock! Such a huge ship to manoeuvre, really impressive to watch it all. Bumped into Ciaran and we had an ice-cream – just because you can! This could become a daily habit.

There’s a chart showing our journey from Beijing to thee point where we steam between the Japanese islands – before heading for open sea for the remainder of the cruise. Such a pity we can’t visit Japan; we didn’t get clearance due to the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.

A little later I met up with Pat and Linda and we had a meal in Horizon before watching an open air film at Movies Under the Stars. We settled on some loungers before realising they were wet…so moved, and with three blankets apiece settled down for the evening. Bitterly cold! Next time I’ll do a trial run of my goose-down-filled sleeping bag! But, the film was good (The Dilemma) and we were brought warm cookies and milk. We also raised a few laughs from people walking by – three mummies in a row. Hot coffee afterwards in the warmth before bed. A great life!

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May 6th – joining the good ship ‘Diamond Princess’!

Filed Under : Travel by Pat
May.6,2011


Next phase of the Ozbus trip! We all left the King’s Joy Hotel in Beijing, laden with our original bags and backpacks and with a few more if we’d bought a lot along the way. We made good time to the sea terminal and said goodbye to Pete and Gary who’d come to see us off. After that it was a bit of a wait till we could check in and embark. Those who did the online check-in didn’t get through any quicker than those of us who didn’t bother! And then we were on a glass covered plank onto the ship (at a great height so I kept my eyes on the head in front). What a massive boat! Our cabin is not bad, fairly roomy – until you squeeze four people in and lower the two upper bunks. But a great wardrobe and bathroom area. We were directed to the foodcourt on Deck 14 – so up we went and I got the best salad since somewhere in Europe. This promises to be a nice break from the trip so far!

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