Author: donhall930

                        The largest recorded earthquake (in modern times?) was here in Chile on May 22, 1960, which was rated a 9.5, and it lasted for an incredible 10 minutes! Since then, almost every year has had an earthquake, and they are all registered at over a 7.0! So why was I surprised to find a string of volcanos down here just inside the coast?

                        Because I never put two and two together to come up with an 8.5! Of course volcanoes and earthquakes are related! Don’t worry, I am not going to launch into another diatribe of Mr. Plate Tectonics and his Friends, I’ve bored you all enough with that while on the World Cruise. But nevertheless, here we are in one of the most “active” regions on the planet.

                        Since we were basically clueless to just about everything having to do with Chile, we chose Excursions that sounded like fun. So, Volcanoes, Waterfalls, and Lunch! sounded just right.

                        We pulled into Puerto Montt, a small city on an inland bay that served as our starting point. This was the first of (too) many Ports where we will need to use the Tenders to get back and forth from the dock to the ship. We were strategic members of the illustrious Red 12 (stickered) group. This was a popular activity because we found out that there were groups from Red 9 all the way through to Red 13 who all had the same itinerary, thankfully on different buses!

The competition was fierce between all of us as the drivers maneuvered themselves around jockeying for position, trying their best to have their respective Group arrive at the destinations first (assuring themselves of good tips!) We were highly successful in this endeavor as Francisco (our driver) managed to squeeze through impossible opportunities on the highway and we only needed to knock two of the other buses off the road.  One ended up in a ravine but thankfully all passengers escaped with only minor injuries. On the plus side, we were able to snag their desserts from lunch since they were all at the hospital.

                        Our first stop was the Osorno Volcano which resembles either Mt. Fuji or Mt Kilimanjaro depending on whether you favor Japan or Tanzania. It has that classical conical volcano shape to it, see photo!

                        Osorno has an elevation of 8,701 feet and because of its location in the Lake Region, the surrounding area is rather flat assuring those around it with a 360-degree view. It is still considered one of the more active volcanoes in the Southern Andes with the last eruption happening in 1869. But the previous 300 years had it erupting eleven times helping it attain that ranking. Today Mt. Osorno is a popular skiing mountain as there is snow on its higher levels twelve months out of the year. Hiking and regular sightseeing round out the reasons for the rest of us to come here. The views are spectacular as to the south you can see right into the backbone of the southern Andes.

                        On the other side of it however, you can see Mt. Calbuco which last erupted in 2015. No one was hurt, but it was quite spectacular as Chloe (our guide) was present and snapped a photo of it that she shared with all of us. This event was totally by surprise and illustrates the unpredictability of our ever-changing tectonic activity. I was lucky and found this one on the internet and it resembles Chloe’s almost exactly.

                        Our next stop was to get us even closer to Mt. Calbuco as the Petrohue River winds its way around its base and is quite spectacular in its color, clarity, and nature. Waterfalls abound and this entire area is accessible to most folks as it is now one the regions favorite Parks.

                                    Back in the mid/late 1800’s the Chilean government passed a curious law entitled the Law of Selective Immigration and its goal was to encourage immigrants of a medium social/high class cultural development to colonize areas of Chile, one of which was this local Lake Region. The results were that they had small towns and the like resembling areas such as Bavaria and the Black Forest in all aspects, including traditions, architecture, and industries. Today there are about 20,000 folks in Chile that still speak German and there are German schools and publications in these regions.

                                    Puerto Varas is one of the towns in the Lake Region sitting on the shores of a huge (215,000 acres) lake, Lake Llanquihue (pronounced yzan-kew-ee according to the Magic Translate Person inside Google). I suspect that it, and the town, would have more German-sounding names if the immigration had preceded the already established town and area!

Our lunch was at the Buena Vista Hotel which lived up to its name as it was directly on the shore of the lake with Mt. Osorno sitting firmly on the horizon. The entire town had a European feel to it, particularly the buildings which resembled chalets and the like.

                        We were informed before we left the ship in the morning that the last Tender would depart the Town Dock at 4:00pm as the ship was to sail shortly thereafter. When we were on the bus Chloe asked when the last boat back to the ship was and she was told 4:00 pm to which she replied, “Good, we will leave Puerto Varas at 3:30, it takes a half hour to make that distance.”

            That would be fine if everything else was equal but (here it comes!) all of the other Excursions did exactly the same thing!

Oops! this is not good!

When we arrived at the dock there were probably close to 2000 passengers in line waiting for the Tenders.

            It was 3:59 pm.

Oops – Oops!!

There is no way to transport 2000 people, 150 at a time, across a half-mile of water in less than one minute! It would take the Starship Enterprise and a very quick-thinking Mr. Scott longer than that to beam everyone aboard in time!

Oops-Oops -Oops!!!

…. ah… forget about it! They can’t leave with that many of us still on shore…. Very, very bad press would be someone’s legacy!

So, gradually we all made it back to the ship and as the last tender was being hoisted up and into its berth, the Captain put the petal to the metal (so to speak) gunned the throttles and burned rubber all the way out of the harbor.

            The townsfolks thought that the volcano had erupted once more as the smoke from our getaway is still hanging there.

                                    It is a fact that the coldest temperature ever recorded is on the East Antarctic Plateau and that temperature is a whopping minus 144 degrees Fahrenheit!

                                    So why in the name of all that’s freezer-burned are you traveling down that way at this time of year? It’s almost Christmas, it’s snowing here, and the days are getting shorter and shorter!

                                    I’m glad you asked that Mr. Popsicle!

                        Remember, everything down here is reversed! The Winter in the Southern Hemisphere starts on June 21^st, and the summer starts on December 21^st! Which means that our brains are going kerflooey with trying to wrap themselves around the fact that we usually associate DecemBrrrrr……… with COLD! But here we are only a few days away from what is usually the shortest daylight day of the year, and now we’re experiencing another Longest Day! (We already had ours back in June, so this is quite the treat, and we feel very selfish that we get TWO of these days this year!)

                        By the time that we round Cape Horn at a latitude 56 degrees SOUTH latitude (the equivalent spot up north is Copenhagen, Denmark and Omsk, Russia) so you can see that as far south as we are, there’s still plenty of distance to cover before we’d hit the South Pole.

Now, to give you a bit of perspective…. the tip of Cape Horn is as far away from the South Pole as NYC is from San Francisco! But….. the Drake Passage is only around 600 miles wide, so in theory, Cape Horn is only 600 miles from the nearest part of Antarctica which makes it a little easier for “Explorer” type passenger ships to bring fare-paying Adventure Passengers to Antarctica! (I am trying to convince the Captain to blow off the rest of the Itinerary and take us there so that we can ‘March with the Penguins’!

                        I can see the headlines now…… 3500 travelers stranded at the bottom of the world after crazed passenger hijacks the Majestic Princess in order to “get to Antarctica!”

                        My daughter Lorelyn once told me that one of her criteria for deciding whether to do something (or not!) was how was it going to read in the morning papers…..

Hmm….maybe we could just do a “drive-by”?

By the time that you read this we will have experienced our Longest Daylight Day. It was yesterday and we had an excursion to some volcanoes and waterfalls in Puerto Varas, Chile. To give you a brief preview all I will say is that it was Magnificent(!) and that that particular Post is just waiting to be written, all of the photos have been assembled and are just itching to be shown…… soon!

            It was still daylight when I went to bed last night and it’s almost daylight now, so I’d better get a move on here… in the immortal words of John Wayne,

 “C’mon boys, we’re burnin’ daylight!”

And as much of that as we have, I don’t want to waste one little minute!

The Captain deserves a Standing Ovation for his close quarters maneuvering yesterday. We were in San Antonio Chile, which is the Port for Santiago, Chile’s capital and largest city. This was (as usual) a Container Port and was busy as such.

A few days ago, there was a segment of “Crew Call” with the Captain which was held in the theater because of its popularity. He explained a lot about being at Sea and other aspects of his job and its duties. There was a Q & A at the end. During this time, we learned that he prefers to back into a berth (if he is allowed) and that he, in fact, does bring the Ship in and out of Port.

The “pilot” comes on board right before entering the administrative zone of a harbor and is there strictly to assist in the safe navigation of the harbor. The Pilot knows the local waters, and any of the dangers, both recent and permanent, that lay submerged under the water. The Captain retains full command of his vessel at all times. He can choose to override any of the “suggestions” that the Pilot may have, but he or she best be sure because if they are wrong, and have gone against the Pilot’s recommendations, and it results in an issue, they can kiss their careers goodbye.

There is only one place in the world where a Captain relinquishes command of his vessel and that is for a Panama Canal Transit. And after seeing what this encompasses on our World Cruise, you can understand the highly technical nature of this maneuvering demands an experienced Canal Navigator in charge.

On to yesterday!

We were berthed as far into Port as is possible, bow in, which means that we needed either to turn around or back out. Remember the Captain prefers to back in, so that he doesn’t have to back out.

Well, as things would have it, another big container ship came in behind us during the day which kind of sandwiched us in between them and the front of the berth (land) in front of us. (See diagram) The rest of this scenario will play out mainly with photos. I needed to run back and forth, port to starboard in order to try and capture the finesse needed to extricate the ship from its berth. All of this was accomplished without the assistance of tugboats although they were wisely standing by in case of emergency.

On with the process!

I hope that you have enjoyed this blow-by-blow description of our efforts to get underway safely. It was quite an experience to be on board, and it demonstrated the seafaring ability of our Captain and his crew very nicely.

                        I am probably the least qualified to address you on the next subject of our Port Excursion/Tour that we had in San Antonio, Chile.

 And that subject is Wine Tasting.

I am far more qualified on addressing the better qualities of a good glass of milk than I am on a bad glass of wine.

But Princess did not offer an Excursion to a local Dairy Farm for Milk Tasting……. consequently, here I am. Glinda always said that “It is always best to start at the beginning” …. so, hang onto your screwcaps ‘cuz here we go……….

Along time ago, in a vineyard far, far, away……

 The Greeks brought some form of winemaking to southern France in the 6th century BC. The Romans added their two denarii when it was still called Gaul, a little later the Monks chanted in, adding their expertise since they owned the best vineyards until the French Revolution when they were confiscated (along with the ones that the Nobility owned). Fast-forward to sometime in the 19^th century and the Bordeaux Classification, which is considered the start of modern winemaking and classification system.

The End.

                        Can I get an Amen(!)?

Being able to identify, comment on, and really put forth an informed opinion on a glass of wine has always been a secret desire of mine.

                                                Really Donny? You don’t even like wine!

                                                Yea, I know. I was just pullin’ your cork!

                                                I couldn’t give two snifters about it but I’m the one writing this thing! Nonetheless, I do have a hefty respect for the folks that are truly informed and can perceive a nuanced hint of loamy vanilla/peachy earth from a taste of a 2018 Domaine Vigneau-Chevreau with their eyes closed. That particular wine was not what we had on the wine tasting. We had three samplings of a fine winemaker in Chile, Matetic Vineyards. We sampled a Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, and a Pinot Noir. I started this report with the French because it was them that really got this industry growing….  😊

                                    But much to their chagrin, (watch the movie “Bottle Shock” 2008, Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman, and Chris Pine…..it’s a hoot and it’s a true story!) the rest of the world chimed in and said, “Hey! We’ve got some great soil and climate too! And we’re not snobby either! People will buy our stuff just to piss you off!”

                                    And the rest is history….. and a lot of wine! The world beat a path to the other really good regions for winemaking and lo and behold, just about anyone can have a vineyard! (Results are not guaranteed and may vary, you should check with your local vintner to be sure….. ) But, yup, here we were in the foothills outside of San Antonio, Chile which just happens to be on the same latitude (but South) as Napa Valley in California! What a ka-winky-dink! And…… their stuff is good too!

                                    Now, let’s be honest here, I have no idea if it is good or not, but all of those Wine Experts over at Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, and SOMM Magazines have all declared that several of the Chilean wines rank right up there with some of the best in the world. Including the French. So there we were, all forty of us, getting schnozzed on, and listening to an impressive talk on wines, how and what affects their ….. well, everything! And how this particular vineyard works Nature into the process and produces over 400,000 bottles of wine a year!

                        Having, or not having, the appropriate knowledge of wines and the intricate procedures that go into their formative developments does not take anything away from the fact that just the miniscule tweaking of any of these factors can alter a wine and either ruin it, or maybe make it better(?) or in fact, result in an entirely new taste of a particular varietal.

                        Hey Donny! You almost sound like you know something!

                        Nope….. it’s just common sense.

                        If you take anything that is organic in nature and alter the factors that make it what it is, it stands to reason that you will probably affect the end outcome. I guess that this is the fascinating aspect of winemaking that rings true whether you like wine or not….. and it’s these nuances that make this industry and its productions fun for that aficionado, connoisseur, or whatever you want to call a wine enthusiast.

                        In the case of the growers in Chile, they are blessed with a good climate, some incredible soils, and a European influence that dates back to the Colonial Period. Plus, they are in the Southern Hemisphere which has its season reversed from the Northern Hemisphere which means that if you are well-to-do European Baron (or Baroness!) and want an Estate to travel to when it’s cold up North…… you get where this is going.

                        So now you are probably wondering if these tastings were any good. According to my own sommelier, Madam Paula, they were very nice. Nice enough to acquire two bottles and hopefully sneak back into the USA. This is another aspect of this Wine Thing that is fascinating…… buying the wines that you taste when visiting the Winery. First, you have to pay for the wines at a “tasting”. Then when it’s all over they escort you to the Retail Place, and you get to buy (again) the wines that you just tasted.

Brilliant!

                                    To me, that’s like paying for a Ford Factory Tour, they let you handle a few parts, maybe an alternator, a brake caliper, and some lug nuts, and then they bring you to a showroom where they dump you so that you can buy a few cars or trucks to take home with you!

                                                            Only kidding!

                                                            It was fun participating with those forty new best friends from the Ship, Paula did like the wines, and even though I am usually the Designated Driver, the Bus Driver refused to let me drive back to the Ship informing me that he had seen me with my three samples of the Vino…..

                                    So, to get my revenge, I led everyone on the bus in a raucous rendition of “99 Bottles of Wine on the Wall”…. 

                                                Until….. we arrived back at the Ship where I was promptly slapped into the Brig and put on a diet of milk and cookies and was told I would stay there until I behaved better.

Glinda was in the next cell.

I’m gonna be bad for a long time.

                        Not sure where to start with this one. I think that this port was tossed in “just because”.  They did have a spot for us to dock so I’m confident that they have a semi-permanent Cruise Ship presence there. But I’m not sure what the draw is. I need to be careful here and not come across the way that I’m afraid of sounding……. like some snobby travelers.

                        The town is La Serena, and it is as nice a big/little town as you’ll find anywhere. Large central plaza, local cathedral, good sized market, and friendly people. If we had had more time here it would have been the perfect town to spend a day in trying that “immersion” technique, but we really only had a half day here as “All Aboard” was around 1:30pm. We needed to leave by then to make our next Port, that of San Antonio (not Texas!) for the city of Santiago, Chile. In San Antonio we will end the first “Voyage” or “segment” of the larger 51-day full voyage. So about 800 passengers are disembarking here and about 1200 new souls will be boarding. This “leg” will go for about three weeks and disembark in either Rio de Janeiro or Buenos Aires, I’m not sure which one. But it allows people to take a smaller voyage without signing up for the whole thing. In this case, this voyage is particularly interesting for locals as they can board the ship on one side of the continent and disembark on the other, not needing a long-distance flight to get back home.

            Anyway, back to why we may have called in La Serena.

                                                My Theory:

                                    I’ve tried to understand how Cruise Lines even stay in business as the expense side of the ledger is prohibitively large (in my un-informed opinion). One of the decisions that need to be made when planning a Cruise Ship voyage is a very important one….. which Ports will be called at.

                                    While this may seem to be kind of fundamental, there are a lot of factors that need to be weighed in. Some Ports are a must have, some are tossed in to help fill in some time and I suspect that our last one, La Serena, was one of those. From what we’ve experienced there seems to be a 50/50 ratio utilized i.e. 51-day voyage equals about a twenty+ schedule of Ports, or like the World Cruise, 111-days equaled 50+ ports of call. Other mitigating factors:

• Availability …… Don’s Cruise Line wants to pull into Friendlytown, on the island of St. Chocolate on February 14^th but they find that there are already three other ships in Port that day and that is the capacity of their Cruise Dock. They can check if the Port will allow them to Tender in, but that is unpopular with the passengers and the Port may, in fact, have a limit on how many “Invaders” they allow in Port at a time.
• Cost …… All Ports are not created equal and there are costs associated with docking. A Port does not invest quadrillions into special docks, tugboats, Immigration Personnel, etc. without expecting a return on their investment. I think we can be reasonably assured that it costs more to pull into a larger, more popular Port like NYC, than it does to pull into Friendlytown. How much that difference is I have no idea, but the fact remains is that there are costs involved into pulling into a Port.

Pulling into La Serena, which would seem to be on the less expensive side, allowed the Line to add another Port of Call onto the 51-day Cruise even though we only spent a few hours there.

Just a theory.

                                    Our excursion for the day was “La Serena on Your Own” or in other words, a Bus Ride into, and back out of, Town. We expected to get on the Bus, be dropped off, and told what time we needed to be back at the pick-up point. What we received was much more and in fact, the kid that was “in charge” of us “made” the trip in our opinion.

                                    Matias is a History Teacher by trade and that teacher thing came roaring out the minute he picked up the busses microphone. We were peppered with facts, figures, anecdotes, and helpful information on the way in and even had a song (he played a local stringed instrument akin to a ukulele) on the way back to the ship. In the meantime, we had the choice of being “On our Own” or just following him to the Museum and then the Market. We were then expected to wander back to the pickup spot that was conveniently directly down the avenue from the Market. No chance of getting lost!

                                    The Market was a good size, many Tourist Shops all selling the same goods and the “pestering sales pitch” was thankfully at a minimum. The museum was local and had quite a few indigenous examples of former civilizations including a Moai from Easter Island. I’m sure that you’ve seen examples of these in photos. I’ve always wanted to experience a real one, so we took this opportunity to see it. Easter Island would have been fantastic but that will have to wait for one of those “Expedition-type” cruises!

                        The “Yellow 12” stickered group was well-behaved and quite punctual as we left our pick-up point directly at 12:30, our appointed time and the ride back to the ship went quickly as we did not have the mornings traffic like we had on the way in.

                        So, that was our Port for the day, La Serena lived up to its name as we experienced nothing that wasn’t serene in nature and when travelling, maybe that is the goal!

Our stop in Paracas, Peru was one perfect example of having something fall into your lap and being more than pleasantly surprised. The Traveller in all of us has heard about many of the places that we’ve all visited over the years. It’s these better-known places that whet your appetite for travel…… they actually get us off the couch and get us going…… and it’s then that we find that the side-trip becomes the most memorable!

                        When we booked this Cruise, the object was to spend another 51 days at sea, go around Cape Horn in a hurricane, and see some sights along the way. Peru has been just delightful, our day with Sandra in Lima was perfect…. then we sailed into Paracas.

                                    Where?

                                    Paracas!

                                    Where??

              You know…. Paracas….down in the Pisco Province!

            Oh…. right…. Ok…. that Paracas…. Got it!……. Where???

            I recommend a map at this point…. Go ahead…..I’ll wait.

                        Just an overnights sail southward brings us to the tiny little village of Paracas whose population quadruples when a Cruise Ship pulls into their little Container Port. At this point the obvious question is why Paracas. It’s not a great location…. it’s right on the edge of the Atacama Desert which runs from Chile up to Peru and is one of the driest places on the planet.

Remember Lima with less than a half inch of rain per year?

Well, Lima looks like Noah used it as his home port when compared to Paracas!

Paracas is the gateway to the Ballestas Islands and the Paracas National Reserve. There is also an offshore fuel transfer station and a fish processing plant, mainly for fish oils and the like.

                        We had another outstanding Tours by Locals, this time with Karina. She was to show us all around this area, again sans crowded buses. We were picked up right at the Ship because just recently the Tour Guides were allowed access to this smaller Port instead of the fiasco like Lima where we needed to take the Shuttle out of the Port and into town. From our Port we headed around the bay and arrived in Paracas, whose sole existence seems to rely on a lot of folks coming here to play. There is an extensive desert playground suited for dune buggies and the like and the Islas Ballestas can only be seen by boat (no landing there, it’s part of the Reserve). This is by far the most popular activity to do judging by the multitudes of boats loaded with about thirty (or so) curious passengers…. and there were probably about twenty-five of those boats plying the waters between the village and the Islands, about seven miles away. Each boat makes several trips a day.

                        I watched these boats depart with umpteen-plus passengers each fighting for the coveted “outside, on the rail position” for best viewings and decided we could do better. I asked Karina to find out how much it would cost to have our own boat. This is where that VCF (Value vs Cost Factor) comes into play. Getting a boat that normally holds a “boatload” of passengers and going out with only three aboard is going to cost extra…… but, when the captain’s sole mission is to get these three passengers into spots that he wouldn’t bring an entire boat into, and the fact that we had every “outside, on the rail” seat entirely to ourselves… well, I’m just going to let the photos speak for themselves and let you be the judges as to if it was worth it or not!

                        Karina was quite happy and thrilled because she had never taken a private boat out to the Islands! The village sits on a large bay and the Islands are outside the bay about four miles offshore. The ride through the bay, and past the Majestic Princess, was quite smooth.  We stopped at a navigation buoy that had several sea lions sunbathing on it.

Our next Point of Interest was on our way out into the ocean. There, up on a great sloping dune, sat what is locally known as the “Candelabra”. This ancient etching is believed to be about a thousand years old and barely anything is known or verified about it. (Think of the Nazca Lines only over here.) It measures 120 meters by 80 meters and the furrows are several feet deep. After that point, the ride became a little rough 😊until we approached the group of several islands where both we, and the waves, slowed down a bit.

                        These islands have been the home to countless species of birds for thousands of years. I can’t imagine how much guano was harvested by the lucky first guy who came upon them! Now that harvest occurs every seven years and is coordinated by the Peruvian government, the old equipment is still being used to this day and is highly visible.

                        The waters in and around these rocks and islands is quite tumultuous and it was then when I appreciated the fact that Christian (our Captain) had made us all don life vests soon after we left the dock. Christian deftly maneuvered his boat in and around small coves and passageways getting us as close as he dared to the little critters that inhabit this archipelago.

The ride back to the dock took about thirty minutes and by then the winds had picked up a little more. I felt sorry for the multitude of passengers that were still waiting on the docks to board their boats for the outbound voyage. Those would be the last boats of the day as it just gets too rough in the afternoon for anyone to venture out safely.

            Still rocking, we did our best to walk back to our Land Vehicle and drive to our next stop, a very local, family-run enterprise of textile weavers, makers, and jewelry artisans. We were given a very complete synopsis of both textile and jewelry making, complete with great examples of each step along the way. This is the part where I wish that we had lots of room for “Items for Purchasing” because what we were shown was just incredible stuff, and I would have procured many a piece if it were possible. (I did make one little purchase!)

                        After bidding adios to our new artist friends we drove out of town and into the desert. Maybe that deserves a better explanation. The town is in the desert, and we drove out past where the town just stops, the desert was there all along!

                        The Atacama Desert is the driest non-polar desert on earth and even though we are in what is considered the fringe of the Atacama, it was still really dry! This is evidenced by the evident evidence namely the evident lack of evident evidence.

Got it?

Read: There’s nothing there.

Unless you consider that nothing is a thing then there is something there, but not an evident something.

Got that?

Here are the photos for proof.

                        The weirdest part of this is that the ocean is right there!

                        Right next to this water-starved desert!

It is quite bizarre.

Karina took us to all of the important desert places, all within the Reserve, and explained the history and science behind everything that we saw. From the Plate Tectonics to the Paleozoic fossils and on to the make-up of the different local sands, she gave a great understanding of what marvels of geology and geography that are at work here.

                        We were deposited back at our Ship in plenty of time to get a snack before dinner. Hey! ……..we never stopped for lunch…. Too much to do and see!

                                    Hopefully you can get the sense that we really enjoyed Peru, it is definitely one of the friendliest places that we’ve had the pleasure to visit and have the chance to get to know someone!

                                    Ok, guess which city is the largest (in population) in the Americas and no fair looking it up!

                                    Which one is it?

                                    X ?  

Try again! (Sound of Buzzer going off)

                                    How about XXXXX?

                                       Nope!

                                    Ok, here’s my last guess.. XXXXXXXXX?

                                     Wrong again Ms. Population Nerd!

            Did anyone guess São Paulo in Brazil?

                                   I know that I did not!

            So, if they’re first, who slammed into second place?

                                    Yes, our City of the Day, which is our destination and Port for two days, Lima, Peru.

                                    I never would have guessed that either! The numbers are in and depending on how recent the census is that’s being used, Central and South America take most of the top spots. In fact the top 15 Cities by Population in the Americas has 11 of those positions filled by Central and South American cities.

Who woulda thunk that!

            We had our first Tours by Locals outing yesterday courtesy of Sandra, our local TBL Guide. Yesterday was a bit of an ordeal as Lima has no Cruise Terminal and uses its Container Port to dock visiting Cruise Ships. That is fine until it is time to disembark and visit the city (which is what Cruise Ships do!). No one is allowed in or out of the Port unless “escorted” which means busses need to be used to get folks back and forth and that doesn’t mean just to the Port Gate (It’s in a section of town that could be considered ‘undesirable’) it means that the busses must drive about an hour further into downtown and deposit passengers in a central location. All well and good until you take a look at the traffic! Yikes! I thought that NYC and LA were bad! Nope! They’re a walk in the park compared to Lima!

                        Anyway, we were ready for anything. The Ship does an excellent job of directing the items that are within its control so when the announcement the previous day said that the “First Come/First Served” Tickets for the Shuttle Busses would become available at 6am the next day we (the collective “we” …. Paula stayed in the room to guard the pillows) made sure that we got there in plenty of time to obtain tickets for Bus #1 as we had a Tour to get to. We had no idea how long it would take to traverse the city, but we were told it could be an extra hour and a half! So, getting Bus #1 became imperative if we were to be on time for our 9:30 am Tour start.

                                    Unfortunately I was a little late in getting to the spot on the Ship where the tickets were to be distributed and found that I was only 2^nd in line….. missed 1st by about 9 minutes!  Anyway, Tonya (my new Line Friend) and I spent the next hour and a half waiting until 6am to procure our valuable tickets and informing all of the latecomers that the line started HERE, meaning we were FIRST!

                                    Unfortunately (?) (again) we were informed that everything was running early, and that Bus#1 would be ready to leave soon (!) ….. which means that Paula needed to be informed of our new time parameters and status. It was now around 6:05 am and we were quite sure (the day before) that the buses would not be ready until around 7am…..oops!

                                    At this point you would ask …… “What’s the big deal if you miss Bus #1….. just get on the next one!” …. That would be fine except we were informed that if you missed your original Bus then you needed to start the process over, get back on the Ticket Line and procure a ticket for the next one available and there was no telling when that one would be for.

                                    As Yoda would say… “Successful we were…” and we did get on Bus #1 shortly thereafter. The Bus made its way towards the Port exit along with 14 billion of the 15 billion cars and trucks that are around here. As you may surmise, when trying to get somewhere on time in a foreign port where you are at the mercy of EVERYONE, the BTH Ratio (Bad Things Happening) expands exponentially until it no longer matters because you’re dead in the water anyway. There was a massive traffic jam at the Exit/Entrance to the Port and no one did anything about it except honk a lot of horns. Our Bus Driver must have had a Special Relationship with He who Walks on Water, because somehow we managed to extricate ourselves and at least start to exit the Port. Now all we had to do was navigate the normal (very bad) traffic in the city proper. More Blessings were offered up and somehow or other we managed to get to the Indian Market about two (2!) hours before our scheduled meeting time. We concluded that it was better than two hours late, and the fact that Bus #2 (who left ten minutes after we did) arrived at the Indian Market over 2 hours after we did!) illustrating the fact that the normal Traffic Timelines did not apply here in Lima.

                                    Unfortunately, (3^rd time) this meant that we needed to cool our heels on a bench for that time as most of the stalls in the Market were not open yet. And besides, how many Trinket Shops can one visit before you just go SRM? But here are some pics of the wares that were available!

                                                Fortunately, (Yay! Finally!) we were rescued by Sandra, (our TBL Guide) who quickly whisked us away in our very own Minivan driven by Victor whose driving skills could have qualified him for either Formula 1 or NASCAR, both of which he could have won.

                                    Lima is a friendly city. The vibe is energetic without being raucous. Since we were able to let Sir Victor handle the driving, we were able to admire all of the sights that Sandra pointed out on our way to the first stop of the day. Before we get to that, I should say that Lima is a city that requires far more than one day to fully appreciate. I guess that can be said for most large, international cities and Lima is no different. Sandra did an excellent job of helping us see a cross section of her city which she knew like the back of her own hand. That first stop happened to be a great place to start because it was the perfect place to learn the history and back-culture of the peoples of the past, who are now the peoples of the present. Huaca Pucllana is one of the most interesting archaeological sites that we’ve seen anywhere, and the crazy part is that it’s smack dab in the middle of the city!

As large as this site is, it has been determined that it radiates from this spot, an additional five, fifteen, and forty city blocks in three directions, which makes it quite grand in scope. And it pre-dates the Inca civilization by hundreds of years! Huaca Pucllana’s main pyramid measures about 5400 square yards at the base and around 80’ high and consists of an innumerable amount of adobe bricks.

The crazy part is the amount of rain (or lack thereof) this area gets per year, and you need water in order to make adobe (mud). Here again, poor Lima comes in a close second. This time to Cairo, Egypt as the second driest desert city in the world. Lima’s annual precipitation averages a drop over half an inch per year! It is so inconsequential that there are no storm drains, gutters, or anything like that. Even roofs are used more for shelter from the sun rather than rain. Luckily Lima has three rivers that flow out of the Andes that provide enough water for its 11,000,000+ people.

                                    From there we went a bit more towards the city center. Lima has a main street that has been turned into a pedestrian walk. Union Street is lined with all of the shops and restaurants, etc. that you can think of. It was still early in the day, before 11am when most places here open. Their business hours are from 11am to 11pm.

                                    As mentioned briefly (with respect to Huaca Pucllana and earthquakes) one of the dividing time period markers is the earthquake of 1746 (magnitude 9.0, with an accompanying tsunami of about 80’). There are a few buildings that survived that event and are the only pre-colonization buildings still standing. These are quite evident as they have been granted a special status by the Peruvian government’s Department of Really Old Stuff.

                                    Lunch was had at a great little place, courtyard, a nice Peruvian place with a traditional Peruvian menu, et al. Paula was the brave one, having ceviche (fish) which they say is “cooked” in lime juice, but we all know that it’s really “raw”……

                                                I had some beef.

                                                We had a great time with Sandra getting a chance to talk and compare lifestyles and showing family photos. Sandra brought us to a little place to get some Peruvian coffee and she bought us some Peruvian chocolate!

After lunch and a visit to another historic area of Lima we walked and found Victor and our ride. He mastered his way through cross town traffic until we reached the ocean and the base of Morro Solar, a significant “mountain” right on the coast. A very, very narrow and twisty road led us to the top and some stunning views.

I must admit that one day is far too short a time to master an area. Sandra did a wonderful job in giving us the highlights of both the culture and history of Peru and she was an absolute pleasure to spend a day with. Maybe we can just be happy that we were able to spend a day with someone from Lima who loves and cares enough about her city to show it off to a couple of strangers. 😊

                        A lot of you have been pestering me to explain to you the difference between a Cruise Ship and an Ocean Liner.

                                    Really Donny? Just how many have pestered you?

                        Hmmm, let me think….actually, to be honest, I’ve only had a few queries about this subject.

                                    Just a few? Can’t you be a little more specific?

                        Well, now that I think of it……in reality, absolutely no one has been remotely interested in finding out this vital information.

                                    Really Don?…. No one?….So what you’re saying is that  not even ONE of us has hinted at this subject?

                        Well…. Ummm….. Yea,….but….. but….I can only assume that it is because you didn’t even know that there was a difference between the two! And now that I’ve told you that…..

Aren’t you even remotely interested in finding out?

                                    (sound of crickets chirping)

                        Well all righty then! The crickets want to know, so here we go! The rest of you may tag along if you’d like, but you’ll need to keep up ‘cuz crickets are pretty smart!

                        It may be easiest just to make the following  statement….

“All Ocean Liners can be Cruise Ships, but all Cruise Ships cannot be Ocean Liners.”

            Ok! That’s it class! Thanks for attending, see you next time!

                        Hey! Wait just a wave-soaked minute there! That’s all we get? No in depth, no one cares, mundane, analysis? What happens if we’re on ‘Jeopardy’ and this category comes up? We’ll all look like fools! Please don’t dismiss us just yet…. tell us more!

                        Well….OK…. If you insist….

                        Let’s take that last part first, ‘All Cruise Ships cannot be Ocean Liners.’ That is because that they are built differently and have a few other fundamental differences. For example…..

                                    First, the hull design on a Cruise Ship is designed for more tranquil seas and shallower waters. The top sides are a little different also. In most Liners you will find that the Bridge is located a bit further behind the bow while on a Cruise Ship the Bridge is located further forward, with very little distance between the bow and where the superstructure begins. This is because an Ocean Liner needs that Bridge further back and proportionally higher for when it encounters inclement weather, mostly in Trans-Atlantic crossings. Now let’s add in another significant difference and that is the thickness of the steel used in the making of the hull. Since a Liner needs to be able to withstand the rigors of constant ocean crossings, especially in the North Atlantic, the hull is made of steel that is an inch (or so) thick. A Cruise Ship, on the other hand, does not need to be built to those standards as they rarely experience that kind of use. So, their hulls are built with steel that is around ¾ of an inch thick. Plenty safe for an occasional “Re-Positioning Cruise” that would have the Cruise Ship move from Europe in the Summer to the Caribbean in the Winter, but this is only occasionally done, not the norm.

                                    Now, having said that, Cruise Ships are perfectly safe when it comes to being in a sizeable storm, there is nothing unsafe about them. It is just that an Ocean Liner is better designed to minimize the effects of that storm and keep up a headway that is significantly faster than a Cruise Ship.

                                    Let’s touch on that topic for a second. The designed cruising speed of a Cruise Ship is somewhere in the 19 to 21 knots range, whilst on an Ocean Liner, that cruising speed can be in excess of 30 knots. This is because an Ocean Liner is designed (and expected) to be able to maintain a tight schedule when it come to those Trans-Atlantic crossings.

                                    So that fact alone brings us to another important difference between the two, Power. The Ocean Liner has significantly larger (read powerful) engines to get her moving and then maintain those higher speeds. It doesn’t mean that an Ocean Liner can’t cruise at lower speeds, in fact, they accomplish this very nicely, when they are acting as “Cruise Ships.”

It’s just that when you need to ring the Engine Room for ‘Full Speed Ahead’, they can ‘pour on the coals’ (old term 😊…..there is no more coal on board, as a matter of fact, even the QE II was converted from steam turbines to a diesel-electric configuration back in 1987) and either maintain headway nicely because of her hull design or maneuver herself and quickly stay out of harm’s (a storm?) way.

Another hidden (below the waterline) fact is the draught of an Ocean Liner is significantly more than that of a Cruise Ship. The latter is designed to draw about 27’ of water and the former is closer to 34’. This is all part of the design as a ship that sits lower in the water is inherently more stable than one that sits higher. This also is one of the reasons for the higher power needs of a Liner.

Take a look at the four images below. The ship that we are presently on will be a good example as she is practically the same size as the QM2, so the renderings match up nicely.

Note where the small black arrows are pointing. These are their respective Bridge locations. Note the shorter distance between the bow and the Bridge on the Majestic as compared to the same area on the QM2. Also note the respective heights above the water that the lifeboats are located. On a Cruise Ship, in calmer waters, the lifeboats can be at a relatively lower level. On an Ocean Liner, with the possibility of higher seas, the lifeboats are stored at a higher level on the ship.

Just for fun I’ve added a few renderings of the QEII and the Queen Mary, both designed with the older traditional Ocean Liner parameters. This includes the staterooms being mostly below the superstructure and the other spaces, dining. etc. located above decks. There was no such thing as a Balcony Room. By the time the QM2 was designed in 2001, balconies were a ‘must’, so Cunard incorporated these and still managed to keep the classic ‘lines’ of a proper Ocean Liner intact.

Nowadays, when we speak of Ocean Liners, there is really only one purpose-built Ocean Liner left in service. She is Cunard’s Queen Mary 2. I say ‘purpose built’ because Cunard knew that the venerable older Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) was needing to be replaced, and they made the gutsy decision not to abandon the traditional Ocean Liner Trans-Atlantic Service and design and build a new ship that retained that history, its customs, and the functions of a traditional liner. They hired Stephen Payne, a British Naval Architect, to design a new ship from the keel up, to fulfill this particular need. (More on that later.)

I was fortunate enough to be on the QM2 in 2007 when she was only three years old. The Cruise embarked from NYC for an 11-Day Cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. Now, this was an example of an Ocean Liner being used as a Cruise Ship. Cunard’s Trans-Atlantic schedule runs only from April through December for all the right reasons…. When a Trans-Atlantic Crossing is nowadays primarily a voyage of pleasure rather than transportation, no one in their right mind would choose to undertake this during the North Atlantic ‘s stormy season.

Well, maybe most people……. 😊

Anyway, this Cruise was a bit more opulent than a normal Cruise only because it was on Cunard. This Line tries its best to hold on to some of the more traditional ways of traveling by ship. I remember looking at the Brochure the months before we embarked, lots of folks standing around in tuxedos and gowns. I felt like I was seeing stills from Downton Abbey, and this suited me just fine! Out I went and garnered a brand-new wardrobe vowing to myself that I was not going to come across as some country bumpkin that belonged down in the Engine Room! Brooks Brothers stock shot up for a week or so as I procured item after item and as Embarkation Day rolled around, I felt quite secure in my decisions.

                        Hah!

                        Did I ever get sucked in!

                        I think that Cunard and Brooks Brothers colluded in trying to foist a purported higher lifestyle scenario upon me. Upon boarding I found out that the vast majority of folks aboard were enrolled in the same Class as me, Brittania Class. Cunard is one of the few Lines that as a regular practice, employ a “Class”  version of Service.  The highest is the Queen’s Grille, then the Princess Grille, and finally, the Britannia Class. The previous two are mainly Suites and the like, the Britannia Class is the regular balcony-type stateroom and has their meals in the Brittania Dining Room.

                                    So…… was I a tad over dressed at times?

Not really, but I was one of the better dressed passengers as I found out that, even though there was classic British Service especially in the two Grille Classes, that regular folks like me and you can be aboard and not feel so hoity-toity!

                        That’s all well and good Donny, but what in the name of St. Snobby does that have to do with the difference between an Ocean Liner and a Cruise Ship?

I’m glad you asked that Sir Landlubber!

The answer is that the next difference is the Travelling Classes, definitely distinctive from a Cruise Ship, but as I found out (much to the future chagrin of Brooks Brothers) that if you would like to experience the wonders of a great ship, the Queen Mary 2, go ahead! Brittania Class is really no more expensive than a regular cabin on a regular Cruise Line and no one stood around in their Tuxedos and Ball Gowns!

Here’s a fun story about the QEII and the QM2.

Note the difference in the way that their respective names are written, and that reason is for a specific purpose. Back in 1967 when the Queen Elizabeth the Second was christened the honor obviously fell to the current Queen at the time, Elizabeth the Second. But here’s the rub….. the Ship was not specifically supposed to be named after her. It was just supposed to be a second ship named the Queen Elizabeth. But when the Queen swung the bottle of Champagne across the bow she said. “I christen thee Queen Elizabeth the Second” (her own name).  Now, no one really knows if this was done intentionally 😊 or was it just a slip-up but there is a definite difference (ask a Brit!) between the two and Cunard, (the savvy businesspeople that they are) decided not to call out the Queen on it and just subtly morphed the name to Queen Elizabeth the Second or the QEII.

            Fast-forward to 2004 and the launching of the Queen Mary 2. We all know that there is an existing Queen Mary, and she has been secured in Long Beach California since 1967. Recalling the slight mix-up (?) that occurred back in the day at the christening of the QEII, the officials made it perfectly clear that the name of the new ship was to be the Queen Mary 2, a huge difference than it being named the Queen Mary the Second.

                                    Hence the spelling difference!

But we still all affectionally dub them the QEII and the QM2…. Sounds the same, but……

Now for the last story of the day…. (I promise!)

            Earlier I mentioned that the QM2 was designed by the British Naval Architect, Stephen Payne. I was aboard the QEII in 2008 when she sailed her last Trans-Atlantic crossing before being permanently berthed in Dubai. Stephen Payne was fittingly aboard as a lecturer and relayed this story to us. Stepen was enamored with ocean liners ever since he was a young lad in the early/mid 1960’s. He had seen the Queen Mary, the S.S. United States, and had visited the QEII one time when she was in port in Southampton. Stepen was an avid watcher of the British children’s program, Blue Peter, which holds the distinction of being the longest running children’s program in the world. It started broadcasting in1958 and is still going strong. Blue Peter has a kind of news hour/information/how-to format obviously tailored for children. When the original ex-Queen Elizabeth burned in Hong Cong harbor in 1972, the Program ran a segment on her and concluded their broadcast with the statement that “there will be nothing like her ever built again.”

                        Ok, I think that you know where this is going….

Young Stephen took this personally, disagreed with the Program and with the help of one of his teachers, wrote a letter to Blue Peter dissenting with their opinion and not only would the world see another great liner built, but he, in fact, would be the one to design and build her. They wrote back congratulating him for his beliefs but cautioned him not to get his hopes up.

                        Thirty years later Stephen Payne was presented with an official apology from Blue Peter.

Today there is only one Ocean Liner left in service, Stephen Payne’s and Cunard’s  Queen Mary 2. Unlike liners of old, QM2 does not compete with aircraft for passengers – but maintains a mode of transport that appeals to people wishing to reconnect with a slower and classic pace of the past.

                   Tuxedos optional.

Well, that concludes today’s lesson. If you’ve gotten this far you are truly a patient and indulging person, and I thank you.

The crickets thank you too!

                                    We really had no idea of what to expect yesterday when we went on our Outing in Panama. We had been here before but only passed through the Panama Canal when we transited from the Caribbean to the Pacific. What we did know was that we were going to a village peopled by “natives” and were going to have lunch there. We were hoping that we were not going to be the lunch! Remember the old cartoons where the Pith-helmeted explorers were deposited in that giant cauldron of water?  Well, after our boat ride in the alligator infested waters and being eyed up by the circling vultures overhead, we were quite relived to be greeted by a very enthusiastic party of the Emberà people who did NOT look that hungry!

What we did receive was a full-fledged encounter with an indigenous tribe of an ethnic grouping of folks that have been here for many, many, years dating back to the pre-European days. When compared to other populations, their number is quite small, less than a 100,000 spread between Northwestern Columbia and Eastern Panama. This particular village had about 35 families and 120 inhabitants.

                                    So, when I say that we visited the Emberà people and your first response is, “You visited who?”  you will be forgiven because that was ours also. I will have to admit that when confronted with situations such as this, my “What is Reality vs What is ‘Put On’ for Tourists” radar goes crazy. That’s when the ‘learning’ kicks in.     

                                    The village that we visited can only be accessed by water. There are no roads going through the rain forest/jungle and while we were not terribly far from what we would term as “civilization”, you could tell that this is exactly where these people lived and worked. This band of Emberà is closely related to the other four villages that lie on this stretch of the Rio Chagres, a small tributary that eventually flows into a larger lake, one we’ve all heard of, Gatun Lake, the one from which all of the waters that feed the Panama Canal come from. We were met at the roadside  ‘Landing” by a group of the villagers whose job it was to ferry us up the river to their Village.

We were deposited in very long thoroughly authentic dugout canoes made from some very sizable trees. The adze marks were very visible on the inside of these canoes and some modern-day materials were used when a crack needed to be taken care of, long, thin strips of aluminum were carefully tacked down all over the insides of the boats. The trip up/down the river did last much more than ten minutes, but you could see that the river was the only source of local transportation.

The Emberà have not shunned everything that modern civilization has to offer. It was explained to us that no…. they do not dress like this (you’ll see) all the time. This style of traditional clothing is reserved for special occasions and for visitors like us. To say that they were friendly would be an understatement. It felt as if the smiles were genuine, they all seemed happy enough, we watched little kids playing and being chased by parents trying to get them to wear their best formal wear. Maybe this is where the question of authenticity arises…. How much of this was a “show” put on for the “White Tourists” vs how much was it a representation of their daily lives. I suspect that until we have the opportunity to actually spend several days with the Emberà, we may never really know.

            But the signs of too much modernization were not evident. There was a single solar panel for some power and there was a satellite dish on top of the school’s roof, but after that they seemed content with trying their best to live the life of their predecessors as close to the land and water as possible.

            It was relayed to us that their school goes up to the sixth grade and after that, if they wanted, they need to travel wider for an education. The teacher comes in Monday through Friday and then leaves for the weekend. If they marry outside of their people, then they are not welcome to live with their own anymore. It did not seem to be anything vindictive; it was just a choice that could be made. Visits were allowed, just living amongst them was not.

It could definitely be surmised that they keep to their ways and shun off-village employment just by seeing the crafts/artwork that they make. Their colorful woven baskets, which require the stripping of plant materials and dyeing them, were crafted into the most beautiful baskets that we’ve seen. And they are for sale of course.

Here’s where another sign of non-modernization comes to light. As I said, the baskets are for sale. They price them according to how may days it takes them to make one. So, a 35-day basket becomes $35.00. It seemed rather inexpensive because the handiwork was magnificent. But here’s the rub. Cash only. Not that this presents a problem except in today’s reality of Cruises, where everything is pre-paid on board or with that “medallion” I’ve told you about, there is no need to carry any cash except to hand out as ‘tips’ to our guides on outings such as this. So, we had between us about twenty dollars, ten of which were already tagged for our guide and driver. They would have made a proverbial killing if they had some satellite plan for a credit card machine!

But they didn’t.

I can only guess that this is a choice (?) because they had no reason not to know that this technology is available.

We were allowed to wander around after our introduction to Emberà life given by the guy who seemed to be there “Brand Ambassador”. A speech by their ‘Chief” was to come a little later. When we roamed, we could go anywhere except their private homes.

Afterwards, fresh fruits, water, and some cooked fish (Tilapia) were served to us in traditional palm wrappings. This was all followed by an exhibition of traditional dances and music and then a Rumba in which they cajoled the visitors to join in. I felt the need to inspect the dirt outside the venue at this point but returned so that I could photograph Paula engaged in the ritual merry making.

            It was not explained until after the dance that all of the participants were now members of the Emberà and would need to be staying in the village.

            I’m sure Paula will be comfortable there.

            They eat fish and vegetables.

I remember thinking of dire consequences when cell phones became mainstream and how their effect may affect the staid, laid-back lifestyle of Days at Sea on a Cruise. I envisioned loud talking passengers, convinced that they were the only ones aboard, having raucous Facebook conversations with friends and family back on the mainland, thus disturbing that sphere of solitude that had, at one time, enveloped a ship at sea.

                        I was wrong.

                        Nobody does this.

                        I have to admit that now that I am retired and my phone is not blowing up every day with Important Calls, that I enjoy all of the other benefits of keeping my phone with me. I am CONSTANTLY looking up things that I want to know more about, I derive intense pleasure from deleting unwanted emails and the like, and I do enjoy random communications with my friends, kids, and grandkids. Yes, my oldest grandchild, Andy, who calls me on an almost daily basis while I’m home, thinks nothing of picking up his phone and calling me to fill me in on the latest tool that he has procured for his future Aviation Mechanic’s toolbox. This was particularly amusing on the World Cruise because sometimes the time difference was incredibly substantial!

                        So, now all of this (and more!) is available to anyone that cruises, particularly on Princess. I cannot speak to other Cruise Lines as I have not had any recent experience on them that would be germane to this issue. Princess has developed (along with a big tech company I am sure) some rather effective technology in this area. The system uses a combination of both high and low orbit satellites to stay connected and the service is rather good! I probably use this more than most because I routinely upload/download significant photo files that are used for this Blog and for our annual photo-remembrance books that I put together. The service is particularly effective during the early morning hours that I do most of the processing because everyone else is asleep and even though the bandwidth is quite substantial at all times, it is particularly ample when no one else is using it!

            In the previous paragraph I mentioned that there was Even More than all of the usual applications of a cell phone available to us. This again, is a Princess application and it’s really quite nifty!

            Practically everything that one can accomplish running around the ship, can now be done via this Princess App on a phone, for example:

                        I want to order an Umbrella Drink and piece of Chocolate Cake and have it delivered to me whilst sitting (in the shade) by the pool. All I need to do is open the App scroll to Service, choose my items and click the selection that is already there (my Princess Medallion which is hanging around my neck has me located already – more on that in a minute.) then click:

Deliver to Lido Deck, Poolside, Starboard, Aft

            The server gathers my items, walks to the poolside that I am located on, zeros in for further preciseness, (then looks at his device which has my ID Photo on it) and delivers said Important Snack to me!

            But how did he find you Donny?

I’m glad you asked that Sherlock!

This is one of the best parts of this procedure. Every Princess ship has been retrofitted (the newer ones have obviously had this installed at birth) with a system that can pinpoint a person’s location kind of like GPS does in your car. All around the ship there are ‘sensors’ that look like smoke alarms. They are spaced out accordingly and with great precision, can ‘locate’ a person easily. This feature is available to any passenger on board to help them find a person (that has agreed to be found) that they are seeking.

                        For example:

            Paula is finished with playing Bridge in the Library with her new-found Bridge Mates and is seeking Donny who said that he would be “around somewhere” when she got finished. Paula gets her phone out, opens the Princess App, chooses “Shipmates” and picks Don from the list of others (who agreed to be ‘found’) and sees that he is again, down by the International Café on Deck 5, where the Good Snacks are located. Paula hastily bolts for his location before he secretly gobbles down yet another Chocolate Delicacy. Paula finds Donny but alas, it is too late to save the Snack from being devoured.

            There is also serious side to this technological advancement and that has to do with safety. Let’s say for example there needs to be a time when all hands need to be evacuated. Now all the Bridge needs to do is scan the ship and find if anyone is still left anywhere on board. They can obviously track the whereabouts of the passengers and instead of waiting for checklists to be completed, can hurry this procedure along with this newly incorporated technology.

This is also used when going ashore and returning. We simply place our Medallions on a ‘Detector Pad’, and it logs us either ‘Out’ or when returning, back ‘In’. These little devices are also used in the Shops on board for charging our accounts and even ashore with participating Local Vendors (which also give us a discount)

            Another cool aspect of this is when you approach let’s say, the Bar. The server glances down at one his large Order Enty Pads that are strategically stationed around, sees us walk up, glances down at his pad where our ID photos popup, and can say, “Hello Sir Donald and Madam Paula, what can I get for you today?” You get instant recognition with random folks that would not necessarily know your name!

There is a myriad of other information available also, Ship’s Daily Activities, the Itinerary for the voyage, checking Bookings for Shore Excursions, examining your Folio Account of transactions aboard, and going back to those Ship’s Activities (which number close to 150 every day) you can ‘bookmark’ any of them and create a Personal Activity List that is quite convenient to scan and use to remind you of what it was, and when it was, that you wanted to attend!

            So Donny, what happens if I don’t want to use my phone, iPad, or whatever, what do I do then, just ramble about, hoping to stumble into something I’d like to attend?

Once again Debbie Downer, I’m glad that you asked that!

Positioned all around the Ship are these very large Information Panels that contain everything that you may want, or need, to know without having to use any other Devices. And by the way, one need not purchase an Internet Plan if you do not want to. The Princess App works just by getting on to the local Princess Ship’s Wi-Fi which is free to use with that App.

So, Phone or No Phone, you can see that there is no hinderance either way. Now that I’ve written this I am sure that sometime today I will be subjected to that raucous Facetime issue that I’ve been dreading for years…. but if this proves true, I can also rest assured that, by the Law of Averages, it will be years until I have to endure the next one. At that time, I will retreat to the International Café and drown my sorrows in a Snack of Magnificentness.