Thursday, April 30, 2015

On the Way Home – April 29, 2015

On the Way Home – April 29, 2015
We awoke at 5:00 am on our way into Port Everglades, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We dressed and headed up to the Windjammer buffet for an early breakfast.
John & Donna at final formal dinner
We felt fortunate that we had not had one rainy day out of the fifteen days of rain – even in the rain forests during the rainy season. We had an inside cabin and so had no idea what the outside weather was.  As soon as we reached deck 9 and could see out the windows, we discovered that our ship was in the middle of a magnificent display of lightning, along with booming thunder.
As with many tropical storms, this was over within the hour and we thumped and bumped our over packed suitcases down the staircases, since the elevators were full.  Customs was a breeze.  Port
Everglades, as usual, runs an efficient operation and we were soon at Ft. Lauderdale airport.  Our careful packing had paid off.  We weighed both pieces of luggage and found one to be a few pounds over the maximum of fifty and the other a few pounds under.  A few adjustments of items, and we made it!
Delta provided us excellent service on both legs of our trip. (Ft. Lauderdale-Detroit and Detroit-Seattle) and we arrived back at Sea-Tac a few minutes early.
This has been a wonderful trip.  Everything went as planned.  Ourpresentati0ons were very well received, in fact, we felt like celebrities.
Now, back to unpacking, paying bills and enjoying the flowers, sunshine and wonderfully fresh air of our Pacific Northwest home.
A special thanks to our agent, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, the airlines and the hundreds of  new friends we made during this memorable voyage.

John and Donna Mollan
Lacey, Washington
USA


Monday, April 27, 2015

Just Cruising Along

Day 9 –April 22 – Costa Rica – 50 Shades of Green

Bienvenidos
Today’s port of call was Puntarenas, located on the Pacific Coast of the country.  Costa Rica as a well-earned reputation as an ecotopia.  They disbanded their armed forces in 1948. Literacy is very near 100%. Everyone who wants to work can get a job.  This year, Costa Rica plans to abandon their use of fossil fuels entirely, with the exception of that used for transportation. 
Donna searching for souvenirs
As close as we can calculate, this is our sixth visit to the country and our third trip to Puntarenas, a port city of about 100,000.  We decided not to take any shore excursions and just took a walk into town.  We managed to find a restaurant with Internet and sent our blogs and checked our email.  We planned to return to the same supermarket we had visited four years ago.  Amazingly, after dodging the busy traffic and watching for holes in the sidewalk in the city, we walked right to it.  John even remembered the aisle the coffee was stored.  We bought two different brands of local coffee beans to take home for ourselves and Kari and Jim.
On our way to Panama
We returned to the ship and spent the afternoon relaxing.  We even went swimming in the ship’s pool. We have been astounded by the hundreds of positive comments we have been receiving from the passengers onboard the Legend of the Seas.  Whether we are dining, in port or just walking down the passageways, people are stopping us to let us know how much our presentations add to their cruise experience J.
Hasta maňana.





Day 10 –April 24 – at sea



relaxing on deck

Art Deco onboard
This being a sea day, we gave another presentation.  As opposed to our other programs, which had been scheduled for noon, this lecture was scheduled for 10:00 am.  The subject was the Panama Canal and all 800 seats in the theater were filled and there was standing room only! Everyone wanted to learn as much as they could before our arrival and transit through the canal tomorrow. Our show was also video-taped and broadcast throughout the day on the stateroom TV’s for those who were unable to attend in person. The praise from both the passengers and the staff just keeps rolling in.  We are looking forward to the canal transit tomorrow and are trying to decide on a good place on deck to view it.
Hasta maňana.





Day 11 –April 24 – Panama Canal Transit
Sunrise over the Pacific!
This is our fifth trip to the Panama Canal and we never cease to be excited about it.  We awoke at 4:15 and went out in the dark warm and windy morning to the promenade deck to stake out a couple of lounges for the day through the canal. We have found that this is the best deck to be on as has an unobstructed view. We went up and got coffee and then proceeded to watch the lights of the many ships lining up for the canal. We answered a lot of questions all morning, prior to our entrance to the canal, as we moved around the ship. We began our transit at about 8 am and we were glad that the ship had taken an expert on board to narrate the whole experience for the guests so we didn’t have to speak J.
a rare Pacific sunrise
We returned to our stateroom for a few minutes during the morning and noticed that we had a voice mail on our phone. It was our cruise staff coordinator inviting us, on behalf of the cruise director, to join in an exclusive party open to only a small number of guests. He wanted us to attend party and answer questions for these guests from noon on. We felt honored to do this as we usually don’t get invited to private functions on the ship. It was a lovely catered event with food and an open bar on a private deck at the stern of the ship. We spent the remainder of the day there answering questions and enjoying the fancy transport through the canal. The day was excellent and the canal was as interesting as always. We exited the canal and slowly moved around near our port for tomorrow, Colon, Panama. Moving from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans! The evening show was two young comedians and we enjoyed it immensely.


Locks are closing





a beautiful day on deck

entering the locks

crossing the continent

Day 12-April 25th-Panama City
We had decided to only buy excursions in two ports on this trip and the Caribbean port of Colon was one of them. We have been in the canal on 5 different cruises but have never been to the capital in Panama City so we bought tickets for a day trip to the big city. Panama City is divided in three separate sections, one being the old ancient city which was destroyed by the pirates and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We also toured the restored second Panama City which was th-18th century section. Unfortunately, our guide didn’t relay very much information so we were not able to gain much from this tour. We had hoped for more details but she didn’t add too much to the excursion. The third section was the modern large city with many high sky scrapers. It is the financial part of the city and we see that Panama is doing very well financially.




New-Orleans-style facades dominate the historic city.

We got back to the ship by mid afternoon and relaxed on deck until the evening show and dinner. The restrictions on food handling have finally been lifted in the Windjammer buffet after a few weeks of dealing with norovirus on the ship so we decided to eat there tonight and not have to dress up for dinner. The show was great as the ship’s orchestra each got the opportunity to solo and show their immense talents. On to South America tomorrow.


Day 13-April 26th-Cartagena, Colombia South America

the hotel zone

Colombian flag tops the old city walls

enjoying the public beach



Cartagena's Plaza Mayor
This was our second time in Cartagena, Colombia and we wanted to learn more about this country and the city so we booked a ship tour for the day. We decided that the ‘hop-on, hop-off’ tour bus would fit our needs so we could visit areas where we wanted but found that staying on the bus was much better as we had a great tour guide who explained so much about the modern city and provided an excellent walking tour of the ancient walled city. We were surprised at the huge amount of building going on in the modern city and the enormous amount of sky scrapers we encountered in Cartagena. Since our last trip here a few years ago, the city has grown tremendously. The walking tour of the old walled city lasted for a couple of hours and we learned a number of things from the guide. The temperature and humidity were both very high so we decided to stay with the bus and the guide and not venture out in this steamy city on our own. This was a far superior tour today than the one in Panama for about half the price!
We came back to the ship and spent time on deck enjoying a nice breeze from the ocean before showering and dressing for the early show and late dinner. We enjoyed the entertainment from the a-Capella quartet that sang tonight.
We have enjoyed all of the many ports of call on this cruise and look forward our last two days on board and presenting our final two shows on Monday and Tuesday. If the comments that we keep hearing from the guests are any indication, we should have huge crowds attending again. We have had between 300-800 guests at each of our shows and that is definitely a record for us. Two days at sea and then disembarkation and home again on Wednesday.







Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Guatemala

Day 7-8  April 20-21- Puerto Quetzal
The Adventures Continues
Monday found us docking in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. We arrived early in the morning and we had a full day in port since there were so many excursions planned for the guests. We had oriented the guests for two days before with our arrival as to what they might have the opportunity to see and do and the history of the Maya people. All of our shows are held in the main theater and the attendance has been at least 400+ at each presentation. We continue to receive thanks and many accolades from everyone who attends. We had thought that given the time that we were scheduled would surely mean a small crowd each day, but that has not been the case as the room has been packed for our noon shows every day and the guests have been happy to go to lunch afterwards.
Once the excursions had boarded their buses, we decided to go over the shopping area at the other dock to search for a few things that we wanted to buy and to read our e-mail and post our blog. We had not been to this port for a few years and were pleasantly surprised to see how much the shopping area had grown. We found a small outside bar offering free WiFi so we purchased a couple of drinks and proceeded to check our email. We then did some shopping and found a number of items that we in search of. After spending 11 days in Guatemala last fall, we knew what we wanted to purchase and just how much to offer for each.
We returned to the ship and had a nice lunch with the bridge director, Barbara and her husband George, and the art instructor, Paula and her husband Gary. We shared stories about working on board ships and had lots of laughs at our common experiences.
The ship was very empty as most of the guests were on trips that they had purchased so we decided to take in a swim in the pool. We just about had to ourselves and it felt so good on this hot and sticky day with temperatures approaching 90 degrees!
While laying by the pool the huge movie screen showed the movie, “Gravity” so we saw it for the second time but this time on the wide screen. It was much better to see than our little TV screen where we first saw this movie. In the evening we went to the live stage show and saw a comedian/ juggler and remembered why we usually don’t attend juggling shows on stage.
the country of Costa Rica. It was again very well attended and we spent much of the rest of the day enjoying the relaxation of a leisurely on-deck day.  We had guests stopping to tell us how much they enjoyed Tuesday was at sea so it meant that we were again scheduled to present one of our 7 shows. This one covered this show so it made us feel very good.
We attended the early show which was a major production show presented by the ship’s very talented singers and dancers. The show was dedicated to famous entertainers from the UK and we enjoyed it very much.
Tomorrow will be a day in the port city of Punteranas, Costa Rica. We had not signed up for a ground tour but instead plan to walk  into town and maybe go swimming in the ocean if there is a good beach near our ship.
Hasta manana.








Monday, April 20, 2015

Day 4 - Puerto Vallarta

Day 4, - Friday, April 17, 2015
Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Puerto Vallarta was our second and final stop in Mexico.  We can’t count how many times we have been here, but we always enjoy this classic Mexican tourist city.  PV is located on the Pacific coast of Mexico about 200 miles south of Mazatlán.  It is famous for its warm, semi-tropical weather, beautiful beaches and classic red-roofed building, many of which are perched on the side of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range.
Our arrival was scheduled for noon and we took a leisurely breakfast in the dining room at about 8:30, much later than our customary dining time.  As usual, many of the passengers on the ship were on deck 10 watching the difficult parking job that the captain has navigating the Legend of the Seas into this snug harbor.  We now understand how the captains earn their keep.
The sanitation standards are tighter that we have ever witnessed before.  There is no self-service at the buffet in the Windjammer and there are no salt shakers are on the table.  Each time you enter or exit an event or meal, crew members are there to dispense Purell. Everyone on the ship is really doing their best.
As soon as we were free to depart, we disembarked to a nearby internet café where we posted our latest blog entries and checked our email.  Internet, of a sorts, is available on the ship, but it is slow, unreliable and expensive and we, as well as most of the crew and many of the guests, prefer to wait until we can get a shore-side connection.
The port of PV about five miles north of the Central Business District, so we chose to ride the city’s public buses, something we normally do here.  The fare was 7 pesos each, about 50 cents US. The ride is reliable, the drivers are skillful, the buses are rickety and the suspensions must have been originally installed in the days of the Conestoga wagons. Combine that with cobblestone streets and you can imagine the seat and spine massage we got by the time we reached downtown.
The Central Business District takes up a long strip parallel to the Malecon, or waterfront promenade.  The city has made many improvements to this area since our last visit two years ago.  It is clean and safe and has a multitude of places to eat, drink and purchase tourist goods. We spent several hours walking and made no significant purchases.  One difference we noticed was that there were fewer tourists than in previous years.
Our bus ride back to the ship was similar to the inbound ride.  There were a few items of note.  At one red light, our driver took time to send a text.  Soon after that, a young man boarded the bus carrying a plastic guitar and began serenading the passengers on the bus for tips.  Neither his voice of playing showed a promise of going to Nashville.  We have seen this type of activity on Puerto Vallarta’s buses during previous visits and no one seemed to pay much attention.
We arrived back to the ship by 4:30 and had a little time to relax in our rooms before dinner.  We have been very pleased with the quality of the meals and the service onboard the Legend.  WE have also learned to limit our intake of calories to that our dress clothes will still fit us by the end of the day.
Dinner was up to it usual high standards.  The evening show feathered a former member of the Lettermen.  He was not just an excellent singer, but was a real showman.
WE then took a romantic walk around the outside decks and tried some night shots on our smart phone to share with our friends from back home.
We checked our pedometer on our smart phone at the end of the day and found that we had exceeded 5 miles today, even though we weren’t wearing the pedometer at all times.
Hasta manana!

Day 5-6  
These two sea days were a time for the passengers to relax, but a time for us to work, as we normally only give our presentations on days we are not in port. We were up early to rehearse our show, but had time to relax on deck before our noon show.
We were unsure how many guests would attend a show that would conflict with their lunch time, but were pleased that the main show lounge was over half filled.  Our lecture, Guatemala, Land of Eternal Spring, turned out to be a real hit.  We received very positive responses from dozens of guests whenever we left our rooms and felt like real celebrities.
We relaxed and read on the deck and enjoyed the amazingly calm blue Pacific the rest of the day. Following a scrumptious dinner of roast chicken breast, we skipped the evening show and spent our time strolling the outside decks, enjoying the tropical breezes as we passed the lights of Acapulco in the distant northern horizon.
Sunday dawned another exquisite day.  There was little motion on the ocean and the morning skies were friendly.  We were warmly greeted by our tablemates at breakfast as if we were somebody important, even though we don’t regard ourselves that way.
We had enough time to rehearse for today’s lecture, Mayas and Mesoamerica, and were very pleased at the turnout for our noon show.  Apparently, it was worth some people’s time to wait an hour to eat!  The response from the audience was enthusiastic and we really felt that the many hours we have spent researching and developing the programs had paid off.
While lounging on the Promenade Deck with our books, we were surprised to see a very large school of dolphins, playfully following the ship for ten or fifteen minutes.  This was a much smaller variety of dolphin that we are normally see.  Some were mothers being followed by their babies.  What a treat!
Prior to dinner, we attended the evening show, which featured a talented pianist, Elliott Finkel, who entertained the audience with a variety of music.
Another perfect day.
Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala tomorrow.




Friday, April 17, 2015

Days 1-3

Day One (April 14, 2015)—The Adventure Begins on the Legend of the Seas
Alaska Airlines Boeing 737
We drove from our home in Lacey to  SEA-TAC  and even at the early 5:30 time, there was still rush hour to contend with. Luckily our flight was not until 8:30 so we had enough time to get the car parked and take the shuttle to the airport in plenty of time.
Legend of the Seas in San Diego harbor
The flight to San Diego was easy and we arrived at the ship with a lot of time before boarding. Unfortunately, there had been some medical issues on the ship’s cruise a few days before arriving in SD so the whole ship had to be scrubbed from port to starboard and bow to stern so no one was allowed to board until around 3:00. We were happy to finally get on board and to get into our stateroom.  The ship was a little late at embarking but the captain put on the “steam” and we were on our way south.








Day Two (Apr 15)—Show Time with the Mollans Begins 
Our first show was scheduled at 9:00 am so we didn’t expect many guests to show up in the big show lounge since many of the guests were probably sleeping late or doing their income tax at the last minute. J  We were pleasantly surprised to see the big turn out as over half of the seats in this main theater were filled. Today’s    show was an introduction to travel in Mexico and the audience was very attentive and many of them stopped us afterwards to thank us for the information that we presented.  Both of us have always said that these kind of positive comments are what we prepare so long and hard for that is our ‘pay’.
This was the first formal night so dressed in our finery for dinner. That evening we first attended the Captain’s champagne reception and then went to the see the headliner show in the same venue that we had lectured earlier that day. This was a very talented ventriloquist, something that we usually don’t care to see so we were pleasantly surprised at this talent. Some of the material was outdated but his skill made up for that.

Day Three (Apr 16)-Land’s End - Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
We arrived in Cabo San Lucas in late morning so we had time to relax for a few hours and enjoy the warm sunshine on deck until after lunch. Since this is tendering port without a pier for us to tie up to, it took a while to get the day excursions off ship first. We went into town and were happy to see how Cabo has come back from the devastating hurricane that they encountered  a year ago. The buildings are rebuilt and there are new shops everywhere. The streets which in the past were broken concrete and brick have been repaved and the town has a clean new look to it. We found a bar with free WiFi  so we were able to email and Skype to Kari just for the price of a beer and a diet coke. We walked about 3 miles around the city and found a few items that we were looking for including another Mexican sun to add to our huge collection purchased from each trip to Mexico.
We took the tender back and rested and dressed for dinner and then attended

 the first of the ship’s production shows in the evening. It was a great day with temperatures around 80 degrees with a nice sea breeze blowing all day. Off the Puerto Vallarta tomorrow, the only other Mexican port of the 8 that we will be in for this 15 day cruise. Each day at sea we are scheduled to present a different show so we have many more to present for the guests.



1/4 mile walking track on sports Deck




Monday, April 13, 2015

Panama Canal Here We Come!!

We are getting packed and instructing the house/cat sitter how to live successfully with Ocho as we leave on our next adventure on Tuesday, April 14th. We will be flying to San Diego to board Royal Caribbean's lovely Legend of the Seas for another exciting 15 day trip through the Panama Canal.

The canal is always one of the most interesting days for us. We will again be working on board presenting seven different shows. We have been busy preparing these shows and hope the guests enjoy them as much as we enjoyed writing and producing them.

We will be visiting two ports in Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala and Colombia before disembarking in Florida on the 29th.

Watch for our blog postings and photos when we can get a good email connection. Hope you enjoy traveling along with us.

Our next adventure will be an exciting cruise from England to Iceland with 3 ports in Norway and  a stop in the Faroe Islands. Before we start working on the ship, we will first spend two weeks in Paris, Amsterdam and Belguim before boarding the ship. We would love to have you join us on this trip in person or as bloggers. This trip is in July so keep that in mind for this summer.