Hobbit Update

If you haven't heard already, Guillermo del Toro was officially signed to direct The Hobbit and the link movie between it and The Lord of the Rings. Here is the press report on the news: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4496833a1870.html. Peter Jackson will be producing both movies. As Jackson used multiple directors during the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I suspect he'll still have a big part in the films so they should have the same realism and magic that was seen in the Lord of the Rings movies. Also, WETA will be responsible for all the special effects and costumes so there'll be continuity there. Sir Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis have signed up to do their parts in the movies again. (Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4501827a1870.html) McKellen was an awesome Gandalf and it'll be great to see him play the role again. My only complaint about this news is how long I'm going to have to wait for the movies to come out. I believe The Hobbit will come out in 2011 and the follow-on movie in 2012. That's a LONG time. Sigh. Oh well, at least it'll happen. I can't wait to experience the magic of Middle-Earth again.

Hobbit Update

If you haven't heard already, Guillermo del Toro was officially signed to direct the movie version (there was a cartoon version) of The Hobbit and a movie that will link it to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Here is the link to the press article about it: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4496833a1870.html. Peter Jackson will still produce the two movies. Considering that Jackson used multiple directors when he made the Lord of the Rings trilogy, I think the two movies will still have Jackson's imprint on them. Also, Jackson will be very involved in the two scripts I suspect. WETA will be doing the special effects for the movies so there'll be continuity there as well. My only complaint about this news is how LONG I'll have to wait to see the movies. I suspect The Hobbit won't be released until 2011. That's a long time. Still, it'll be awesome to get to experience the magic of Middle-Earth again. I continue to marvel over the Lord of the Rings films. They were so well made. The Hobbit should be equally great.

France Tour

I received some great news from my travel agent Joel Mills at Carlson Wagonlit Travel. The beginning of November of last year, I book the La France tour with Globus. It's an awesome 2 week tour that covers many of the key sights in France. You get to spend 3 days in Paris. You get to visit the famous beaches at Normandy and the American Cemetary. A guide shows you the historic Bayeux Tapestry which depicts the Norman invasion of England. You do a tour of Mont St. Michel. It was said to have been one of inspirations for Minas Tirith in Lord of the Rings. There is a tour of Cannes, the place of the world famous film festival. There is an optional tour of Monte Carlo where you get to see how the jet set live.

However, with the economy tanking, the hefty price of the tour ($3,400 with single supplement) and the weak dollar, I was wondering if the tour would go. I thought people might decide to pass on such an expensive tour. To my delight, that isn't the case. Joel informed me that the tour is fully booked so it's definitely going. Now, I have to wonder what fully booked means i.e. how many people. The Scandanavia tour was fully booked and we had 46 PEOPLE on that tour! It would be a trip if there were that many on the France tour. We'll see. You my faithful readers can look forward to some interesting blog entries and pictures in about 4 and 1/2 months. For me, I'm going to have to start brushing up on my French. It would be nice if I could speak some and read a little. We'll see. Stay tuned for future adventures.

Laser Comb Update

I've been using the laser comb I bought for a week now. It's too early to tell if it's having any effect. I do know that it is annoying using the thing. You have to remember to use it 3 times a week on non-consecutive days. For me, that means using it on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. You also need to time how long you've used the comb. I've never used the stop watch function on my watch much but, I'm using it a lot now. It doesn't do any more good if you use the comb longer than 15 minutes. It's definitely easier to take Propecia vice using the comb. Thankfully, the comb's teeth haven't pulled out too much of my hair. According to the directions, you have to have the comb's teeth touch the scalp so the laser will hit the scalp. In regards to the laser on my scalp, the only effect I've felt is some tingling on parts of my scalp. I don't know if that's a sign the laser is working or not. According to the manual, I should be able to see some benefit in a couple weeks. Stay tuned for more updates.

Restaurant Review

My friend Modestine Baldon works as an assistant manager at the Chik-Fil-A at Corridor Marketplace which is right next to MD-198 close to the MD-295 Baltimore Washington Parkway. I've promised her I would stop by her restaurant and give it some business because of her. Thursday, I got the chance to do so.

I dropped in around 1 p.m. and I was surprised how busy they were. Their parking lot was nearly completely full. They had lines at 4 cash registers. I ordered their 12 nugget combo meal with a large lemonade and large vanilla milkshake.

The combo meal consisted of 12 small chicken breast nuggets and an order of waffle fries. I wasn't impressed with the nuggets. They tasted fine but they were SMALL. Considering I paid over $7 for them and the order of waffle fries, I thought I got ripped off there. The waffle fries were good and I'd guess they were a medium size order.

Their vanilla milkshake is reportedly hand spun. Whatever. I thought it was decent milkshake though it could've used some more vanilla flavoring in it.

The lemonade was allegedly fresh squeezed. I thought it was decent also. One thing I did like and I wish I'd known about was the free refills. I would've bought the medium lemonade in that case and skipped the milkshake. Oh well.

If you have kids, you might like this restaurant as they have kids play area and give out free balloons to the kids.

Overall, I wasn't wiped out with the place though it was decent enough. I definitely wouldn't order the chicken nuggets. If you go there, get one of their chicken breast sandwiches instead. Do take advantage of the free refills at the restaurant. One last item of note, all Chik-Fil-As are closed on Sundays. I think it's because the owner is religious. That's what I've heard. Bon Appetit all!

Published

To my total surprise, I will soon have something published that I wrote sort of. As I've mentioned in previous blogs, Globus and their family of tour groups has a website called The Travel Exchange (http://www.exchangetravelstories.com/default.aspx). You can post stories on this website of your adventures on one of their tours. You can also earn Go Points which are redeemable for gift certificates with Amazon and Gift Certificates.Com. When I found out about the site, I decided to tell about my Globus tour of Australia. The tour was absolutely fantastic and really sold me on Globus tours. Because of that tour, I did a tour last year to Scandanavia and will be doing a 2-week tour of France this year. Anyway, to my surprise, I heard from a lady at Globus who informed me they wanted to use an excerpt from one my Australia stories in their eNewsletter. I was delighted. I'm going to be published sort of. I think that's pretty cool. A side result of this is that I've started writing stories for the site about my Scandanavia tour. I hope those stories will turn out as nice as the Australia ones did. We'll see.

Ivy Ridge Townhomes

I checked out the demo townhome at the Ivy Ridge development in Dallastown, PA. I was impressed with it. The townhome is definitely bigger than my current apartment. Also, the townhome had a very nice appearance. On the negative side for me, I found out that York County has the second best schools in Pennsylvania and the people in that county pay for it. My property taxes which include school taxes would be $300 a month. Serious ouch! Since I don't have kids and I don't think I'll be having any soon, this is a big negative. Another negative is the commute. On the drive out, I confirmed that it'll be about an hour and 15 minutes to get to work. One good point of sorts is that it'll be virtually all highway driving so I'll get the best gas milage I can but, it'll still be a long drive (about 73 miles). Figuring 25 miles to the gallon, I'll burn 3 gallons of gas (over $10) each way. I'm getting a lot of 2 hour work days at the Post Office so that would make those days pretty pointless. Also, I've heard the auxiliary route I'd like to get will only be 2 hours each day. I would like to have my own place and stop the rent increases where I live but, I don't know if it would be worth buying at this development. I'll have to weigh the pros and cons some more. We'll see what I decide.

Pictures of Old San Juan

This is a picture of the fortress walls that surrounded Old San Juan. Originally, the walls came right up to the water's edge.

This is a picture of the only surviving gate for Old San Juan. It was through this gate that representatives from a ship would pass through and go to the Governor's palace. There, they would present their proofs that they were on legitimate business with the city. The man on the left was our tour guide Jose who did an awesome job.

This is one of the streets of Old San Juan. If you look at the road, you might be able to make out that it's covered in cobblestones which originally were used as ballast for ships coming out to San Juan.

This is Il Convenuto. It was originally a convent that was converted into a very nice hotel. The building still has fixtures from when it was a convent including things in the walls that held holy water. It's a beautiful hotel and right across the street from the San Juan Cathedral. Our guide Jose did say it was expensive.

This is the cathedral of San Juan. It wasn't very ornate but, it was still a very nice cathedral. Ponce de Leon, the first Governor of Puerto Rico is buried there.

Laser Comb

I used the laser comb I bought Tuesday for the first time yesterday. It was interesting using the thing. You have ensure the laser light hits your scalp and you have to give it enough time to have some effect. The operating instructions state you are the make sure the teeth in the comb touch the scalp. You also brush against the hair so the light will reach the scalp. In order for the light to have enough time to do any good, the comb has a timer. It beeps every 4 seconds telling you to move the comb 1/2 inch. You'll work through your hair front to back and right to left in an imaginery grid. By working the grid, you hit every spot on the top of your head. Once you've completed the grid, you start all over again. You keeping combing for between 10 and 15 minutes. If you do it any longer than 15 minutes, it doesn't do any additional good. I used the stop watch on my watch so I could time myself as far as the overall time. The whole procedure is a bit tedious but, if it helps me grow new hair, I'll be happy. Supposedly, if the comb works, I'll see some kind of results in a couple weeks. I'll report on if I see any results or not.

Dr. Ballon

I got to see Dr. Jonathan Ballon today. He's the hair restoration surgeon at Medical Hair Restoration's Bethesda office in Washington D.C. I had to see him to get my Propecia prescription renewed. The prescription is only good for 1 year. I don't know why it doesn't stay good longer. Also, I wanted to buy a laser comb from him. His office treated me really well my previous visit and I was grateful. I know I'm not one of their usual high profile clients.

In regards to the laser comb, I found out that you must use it 3 non-consecutive days for 10 to 15 minutes each time every week. You have to have the teeth of the comb touch your scalp so the laser reaches your scalp. If the laser doesn't reach your scalp, it won't work. As I understand it, what the laser does is break up the male hormone DHT in the scalp. The less DHT you have in your scalp, the more hair you'll have. Using the comb more than 3 days won't have any increased effect according to Dr. Ballon. As I previously blogged, the comb is supposedly between 30% and 90% effective. I guess they haven't been able to come up with a definite percentage like they have with Propecia. Dr. Ballon showed me one example where the comb did work. It did make a very noticeable difference. We'll see how it does on my head. Cost wise, the comb cost me $577. The comb will reportedly last for 15 years.

Concerning Propecia, I have found this drug to work. According to the folks at Dr. Ballon's office, Propecia is 90% effective in stopping any further hair loss. However, it won't cause any NEW hair growth. Propecia is also EXPENSIVE. A 3 month supply of it costs me $178.37 at Costco. According to Dr. Ballon, Merck & Co. is offering a $25 rebate for those who get a 90 day supply of the drug. According to the Merck website, the $25 rebate will be good till June 30, 2008. I hope they continue it after that.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Women and children are prohibited from taking Propecia and pregnant women should avoid all contact with Propecia as it supposedly can be absorbed through the skin.

Laurel Tavern

I decided to stop by the Laurel Tavern and buy some donuts today. While there, I found out they are now open on Sundays from 6 a.m. till 5 p.m. That means, they are open 7 days a week now. Their donut selection remains fair from what I saw though remember I stopped in there today around 1:30 p.m. They may have sold a lot of donuts earlier. I don't know. Their mini-burger prices haven't changed and remain pricey in my opinion. Bon Appetit all!

Travel/Geography Game

Purely by accident, I found out http://www.tripadvisor.com/ has a travel/geography game called World Challenge. You have to locate on a map various cities throughout the world (in some cases the map doesn't show the city and country as they are too small for the map so you have to click in the vicinity of where the city would be located) or in a certain part of the world such as Canada or Europe. You have less than 15 seconds to guess each one. The game has 12 levels with each level getting progressively harder. If you manage to score in the top 20, you get to be in the top 20 list where everyone gets to see your score, the level you reached (always level 12 if you want to be in the top 20) and your travel IQ Your travel IQ can be any where between 0 and 200. When you've finished playing you can save your score and see how you did in relation to others that played the game Ex. my best score was 570,037; level 12 with a travel IQ of 155. That put me at 1,674 on the list. My mind boggles at the folks that have scored 670,000 plus in this game. It is seriously hard and challenging. It'll definitely help you learn geography

My Cabin

I had to lighten this picture so you could see my cabin as it faced the balcony. The cabin had a good size bed, tv set, couch, drawers and bath room. I thought the shower was small though.






This shows the small couch, tv set, drawers and entrance to the bathroom.









This shows the view from the balcony. I really enjoyed watching as we came into or left port. The next time I go on a cruise, I will definitely get a balcony.

Considering

Last week, the primary carrier agreed to buy a new townhome in Dallastown, Pennsylvania. She told me her townhome cost around $140,000 (this is half what a place in Maryland would cost you) and it's really nice. Her mortgage payments are going to be under $1,000 a month. The only drawback she's going to have is the commute to the Post Office. She calls it 1 hour but Mapquest calls it 1 and 1/2 hours. Barring the commute, her new place sounded like a really good deal. For me, my rent is going to go up sometime this summer to over $1,500 a month and I'm not living in the most expensive apartments in town. There are apartments just down the street from where I live that are between $200 and $400 more a month.

Another appealing aspect of living in Pennsylvania is they don't tax military retirement pay. Maryland does. That would save me probably around $2,000 a year in state taxes.

I plan to drive out to the new development and see how the drive is. Also, I want to find out if there are any military bases along the drive. I like being able to use the base Commissary and base clinic. I don't like the prospect of a 2 hour drive to get to the closest base. We'll see what works out. For now, I'm considering the option. It would be nice to have my own place and to save money on taxes. We'll see what works out.

Size of Adventure of the Seas

I hope this picture will give you some idea how BIG the Adventure of the Seas was. Length wise, the ship was 1,040 feet long. Width, it was 154 and 1/5 feet. They didn't give the height though the surface part of the ship had to be over 4 stories high. Here is another picture that might give you an idea how big the ship was.

You can see building is 2 stories high and the ship towers over it. Lastly, here is a picture of ship taken from high on a high in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

That should give you some idea just how big the Adventure of the Seas was. In my next set of pictures, I'll show how my cabin looked and some of the things they had on the ship.

Free Rice

I promised secret agent Emily (http://agentemily.blogspot.com/) that I would mention the Free Rice website (http://www.freerice.com/index.php) on my blog. I saw it on her site, checked it out and I was impressed with it. The site helps raise rice to feed needy people all over the world. How it does is pretty interesting. Advertisers on the site agree to pay for 20 grains of rice for every right answer someone answers with its vocabulary quiz. The rice is donated to the U.N. World Food Program. The vocabulary database for the quiz contains thousands of words which are placed in 55 levels of difficulty. When you get 3 answers right in a row, the program takes you to the next level of difficulty. If you get an answer wrong, you drop down to the next lower level. The program is a great way for a person to increase their vocabulary while helping others at the same time. I've played their vocabulary quiz a number of times now and I've found it very challenging. If you like challenging word games and would like to help feed the hungry at the same time, check out the link above and try it.

St. Thomas

We pulled into our last port of call. Charlotte Amalie was very hilly. It was the hilliest of any of the places we’d visited. The ship smoothly pulled into the cruise ship pier. Harvey and I had a nice breakfast, grabbed our cameras and took an elevator down to deck 1. By now, the procedure was old hat. We’d hand the security office our SeaPass’s which he/she would scan and we’d disembark. Then, we looked for someone with a sign listing whatever activity we planned to do. In this case, it was Blackbeard’s castle and shopping. An old gentleman met us who directed us to an open taxi. It was an interesting contraption as it had a number of bench like seats and no doors except for the driver’s compartment.

Once everyone was on board, we handed in our vouchers to Rupert our driver and set off. Just as we were getting ready to leave the pier area, Rupert got called back as some late arrivals showed up. So, we went back and got them. Then, we proceeded to drive up some of the hills surrounding Charlotte Amalie. It was an interesting drive.

The hills were very tropical and pretty. They gave great views of the town’s harbor. Driving to the other side of the hills, we saw great views of Magen’s Bay which was stunning. At one of our stops, we could see all of Charlotte Amalie’s harbor and found out that the Noordam (see St. Maarten blog entry) had followed us. It was tied up at the pier on the opposite side of town. Our driver/guide Rupert told us some of the history of the place as well as some of the other islands. There are 3 islands that form the U.S. Virgin Islands. They are St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. From our stop, we could easily see St. John. People from St. Thomas would take a ferry over there for a nice stroll along the beach and to relax. From there, we could also see Blackbeard’s Castle. Blackbeard didn’t own the tower. Someone recommended they name it after a pirate as it would presumably help the island draw tourists. They did and it worked. They have another tower named after Bluebeard.

After our tour of the hills around St. Thomas was done, Rupert dropped us off at Blackbeard’s castle. Here, another guide would take over. Unfortunately, I forget his name. He told us more of the pirates the island was famous for. They had a number of metal statues of the more famous ones including Blackbeard, Mary Read, Calico Jack and Captain Jack Avery who was a dead ringer for Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He also showed us a number of old buildings and why they were built the way they were. It was a fascinating tour. At the end, he dropped us off at the shopping area of Charlotte Amalie. It was then that my next ordeal began. What gift was I going to get my step-mom Kay?

I’d promised I get her something. However, I figured if I bought her a t-shirt. I’d be dead meat. She suggested some kind of fabric but I didn’t see any bolts of it. The shops were filled with touristy stuff like jewelry, especially jewelry. I did see some lace like stuff but, it didn’t wipe me out. Another problem was funds. I needed to get some dollars. Finally, I found a bank with an ATM. It was First Bank and they only charged $2 to use their ATM. I felt like saying Nyaah at the cruise ship with their $5.50 ATM charge.

The only idea for a good gift I could come up with was getting her a real silver Spanish coin. It went with the Caribbean theme and it would be a cool gift. Where to get one though? I didn’t want one that was set as jewelry. I wanted just a basic coin.

Another concern was Harvey. While I was prepared to explore far and wide through Charlotte Amalie, Harvey wasn’t. Harvey has had a hip replacement and doesn’t care to do tons of walking. I wanted to find something for Kay within a reasonable amount of time so I wouldn’t drag him all over the place.

I think it was Harvey who spotted S.O.S. Antiques. We walked in and they had unadorned Spanish silver coins. Cool! I looked at the various ones. Then, a saleslady came over and we started talking prices. Uh oh! Real Spanish silver coins aren’t cheap. The cheapest one cost $299! I had second thoughts about getting this for my step-mom and might’ve gotten her something else except I couldn’t think of anything else to get her. I remembered I didn’t buy her a Christmas present so maybe I could make this a combined present. That made the cost somewhat more reasonable. After speaking further with the saleslady, I settled on a class 4 coin which you could see the coat of arms on and a cross on the other side. It came with a certificate of authenticity verifying that it came from the wreck of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha. I thought it was pretty cool. Interestingly, since the coin was over 100 years old (and then some), it was free of any U.S. duty. The store put a slip informing Customs of the coin’s age and the law exempting antiques that are over 100 years from duty.

Finally, I had my present for Kay. I had dollars and I had stamps to mail postcards with. I bought 10 stamps at a Post Office I found when I first started walking through the shopping area. It was interesting to see the Post Office there. It had the U.S. Postal markings but, it was different.

Harvey and I looked for a way back to the ship. To our delight, an open taxi like the one we used to see the hills and harbors of St. Thomas came by and asked if we needed a ride to the pier. We asked how much. He said $10. We hopped in. As we made our way to the pier, the driver picked up a couple more fares. We also passed a Hooters restaurant which reminded me of my brother Hank who is something of a playboy. See previous blogs about the Hooters calendar I absolutely must buy him every year.

We arrived back at the pier, skipped the tourist shops there and walked back to the ship. The ship was loading supplies. It was interesting to see all the booze the ship needed for its passengers.

While walking around, we’d noticed some dark clouds. Luck was with us. It didn’t start raining until we were on-board the ship and having lunch at the Windjammer Café. It ended up being a nice little downpour. I suspected we’d depart on time this time since folks weren’t going to want to stay out in that.

Later, Harvey and I knocked back a couple brews one last time before dinner. Tomorrow, we’d arrive back in San Juan and the cruise would be over. It had been a nice cruise and a learning experience. I felt certain the next cruise would go smoother. I’d already begun looking at Royal Caribbean 2009 Caribbean cruises. I found one cruise that would be ideal. The only problem was they didn’t list cruise dates for late April and May 2009 in the brochure. I’d have to keep an eye out to see if they offered that cruise on the Adventure of the Seas. After comparing Royal Caribbean’s bigger and smaller cruise ships, I preferred the bigger ones because they have more to do. Also, I wanted to try a suite next time if it wasn’t too expensive. It would be nice to have more room and a larger shower. I really enjoyed having a balcony so I could watch as we departed from or pulled into port. The next cruise, I’d make sure I had a balcony again.

After dinner, I went back to my cabin and packed. I also reviewed the departure procedures the ship staff had left in the cabin. Before I crashed, I put the color coded luggage tags on my two pieces of check-in luggage and left them outside my cabin. Ship staff would pick up the bags and leave them in the Customs area the next morning.

St. Maarten

I looked forward to playing the proper tourist. Unlike Aruba and Curacao, I wouldn’t be rushing off to go diving in St. Maarten. After having a filling breakfast at the Windjammer Café, Harvey and I took an elevator down to deck 1, had our SeaPasses scanned and departed the ship. We looked for and found the person holding the sign saying deep sea fishing. Once the entire group of 12 got together, he gave us some bad news. The second fishing boat had broken down. They found a replacement but it would be 30 minutes before he arrived. He needed 6 volunteers to go in the later boat. I didn’t care to wait and said so. Luckily for me and Harvey, they got enough volunteers for the second boat.

The man herded us to the spot where we could board taxis. He told the taxi driver where to take us. He told us that the boat captain would drop us off at the cruise ship pier after the fishing. The taxi ride was a short one. We arrived at a marina that had a number of fishing boats. A lady guided us to ours. It was the Natalie Kate which was owned and operated by Captain Paul (last name unknown). Captain Paul told us the boat’s previous owner had named the boat after his daughter. Captain Paul for whatever reasons didn’t change it.

The boat had spaces for 5 rod and reels as well as a seat where whoever got a hit could battle the fish. After Captain Paul explained where the bathroom was, drinks were and that the guest cabin was air conditioned, we departed. We didn’t have to go far out from St. Maarten before we got to start fishing. Captain Paul used outriggers for 4 of the rods so presumably their lines wouldn’t get tangled with each other. Then, he informed us to look for birds. Where seabirds were feeding, there you find big fish feeding also. So, I began looking for seabirds.

After about 30 or 40 minutes we found one and sure enough, we got a massive hit on one of the rods. It was the smallest rod with the lightest line. Captain Paul cursed a bit over that. I helped push the youngest member of our group a kid of maybe 12 or 13 into the command chair. The kid wasn’t strong enough at times to battle the fish so Captain Paul helped him. It would take over 20 minutes before the fish was landed. It was a Mahi Mahi which weighed over 17 pounds and was around 4 feet long. It was an impressive fish. We didn’t know it but that would be the only fish we’d catch the whole time we were out.

Everyone got excited after that fish and looked forward to catching more. However, luck wasn’t with us. We looked every where for birds and saw only a few single ones barring some that were following a fishing boat. Captain Paul tried a number of different areas without any success. Our time out ran out and we had to head in. I know I was very disappointed. I’d paid $200 and didn’t get to catch anything. I thought this stunk.

As previously mentioned, we were told that we would be dropped off at the cruise ship pier. Captain Paul said on our way in he never dropped anyone off there. He said we’d have to take a taxi back and I got the impression he wasn’t going to pay for it. I didn’t bring any money with me because I didn’t think I was going to need any. The folks running this fishing trip were responsible for getting us to the fishing boat and back. Harvey asked how far it was to the cruise ship pier. We were told it was a little over a mile. We looked at each other and started walking. By the time we got to the pier, we were both royally steamed. We checked out some of the souvenir shops at the pier, looked at the Noordam which was also in pier and re-boarded our boat. I was so disgusted over what had happened that I decided not to see anymore of St. Maarten. Instead, I had some lunch and waited for us to depart. When departure time came, I watched as the ship maneuvered away from the pier and set sail for Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. I looked forward to seeing St. Thomas as I’d be able to access the internet from my laptop and could get some more dollars from an ATM there. I hoped things would be nicer there than they had in St. Maarten. Stay tuned.

2nd Day at Sea

What to do? It was my second full day at sea. I’d explored the ship and I knew what it offered as far as activities. I decided to check the Cruise Compass. The Cruise Compass was a newsletter the ship puts out daily. It listed all the special activities the ship had that day. I saw that Captain Nyseter was going to do a Captain’s Corner, there was going to be a Singles trivia game, a bingo game where the prize was a free cruise and a t-shirt sale. I decided to do all of those.

The Captain’s Corner was the chance for passengers to meet Captain Nyseter, learn about ship operations and ask any questions they might have. First, Captain Nyseter told the audience about himself, how he made Captain and how long he’d been with Royal Caribbean. Captain Nyseter worked his way up from the very lowest ranks to that of Captain. He’s been with Royal Caribbean for over 16 years now. Then, he introduced Chief Engineer Tormod Isaksen and Environmental Officer (name forgotten) who told about themselves. Engineer Isaksen was responsible for all the engines on boards and the desalinization plant. The environmental officer was responsible for ensuring the ship met all environmental regulations. He also made sure that all types of waste were properly disposed of. The ship created a lot of it with over 3,600 passengers.

When the ship was in cruise mode, it used 2 engines and maintained a speed of 13 knots (14 or 15 mph). Top speed for the ship was 23 knots. The ship’s draft i.e. the part that was underwater was a surprising 29 feet. When you see how high the ship goes up above water (at least 70 or 80 feet), it’s surprising that there is so little ship underwater. During the question and answer session, Chief Engineer Isaksen said at top speed the ship burned 20,000 gallons of fuel a day. The ship carried over 1 million gallons of fuel. The ship made all its fresh water through its own desalinization plant. There are engines in the front of the ship that enable it to push away or pull to a pier. At the rear of the ship are engine pods that can be rotated enabling the ship to push to or away from a pier. The ship has 4 stabilizers which come out when the ship is at sea enabling a smoother ride. The ship can tilt up to 45 degrees and still recover. The worst situation Captain Nyseter was ever in on a ship was during a hurricane induced storm which caused visibility to be zero. The ship rocked a bit too but otherwise life carried on. If someone went overboard, the ship could stop in approximately 3 ship lengths and go back for them. Captain Nyseter said he’d had one person go overboard though he wouldn’t illuminate the cause of the incident. It was during the question and answer session that I learned of the new class of ship that Royal Caribbean will be coming out with. It’s called the Genesis Class and will be able to accommodate 5,400 passengers. Currently, the largest class ship Royal Caribbean has is the Liberty class which can hold over 4,000 passengers. The Adventure of the Seas was of the Voyager Class which will be their third largest class once the first Genesis Class ship is finished in 2009. With crew, the Genesis Class ships will have over 7,500 people on board. They will be literally floating towns.

I found the Captain’s Corner really interesting. It was also neat to get to meet Captain Nyseter. He was very friendly and likable. I didn’t envy him his job. He has to efficiently manage a ship that is over 100 feet long and over 130 feet wide. He has an international crew of over 1,200. He has to keep an eye on ship, restaurant, hotel and shop operations. He also has to keep on eye on the passengers on board, no small task considering we had 3,689 this cruise alone. It is a huge task. From what I saw, he does a great job of it. I hope I get to cruise on another ship he commands.

After having some lunch, I went in search of the peekaboo bridge. The peekaboo bridge is a spot on the ship where a passenger can look into the ship’s bridge and see its workings. They have a display board that identifies the equipment on the bridge. The seats that the captain can use to control the ship look like something from a jet. There is a radar screen that shows everything around the ship, how far from the ship it is and if it’s another ship whether their paths will cross. They have another screen that shows the ship’s position, the planned course and how close they are to the planned course. At sea, the ship in on autopilot though there is at least 1 officer on watch at all times to keep an eye on things. In the event of a computer failure, the ship carries paper maps, pencils to chart courses and sextants so they can figure out where their position is. It was really interesting.

I’m a big fan of trivia. I like learning things even if the knowledge isn’t terribly important. I saw on the Cruise Compass that they had a single traveler’s trivia game. It turned out it was organized an Australian lady named Jacarda who hailed from Melbourne. After the game, I told her I’d visited there and proved by telling of her of the some of the sights there. The game itself was fun and to my surprise, I won. My prizes were a Royal Caribbean pen and leather luggage tag. Ok, they weren’t the most exciting prizes but, I was still delighted to win.

The ship advertised a t-shirt sail in the Cruise Compass. I wanted a t-shirt from the cruise so I decided to check it out. Little did I know how fierce some people on board could be when it came to shopping. It seems that some folks go on cruises for the bargains that can be had in the various ports. They are on the prowl for a bargain. The ship was promising as much as 50 percent off on t-shirts and other items. Those were magical words to such avid shoppers. I was surprised by the crowd at the tables. One lady refused to make any room so I had to reach around her and grab t-shirts and see if I could find my size. Eventually, I found 3 t-shirts which I liked as well as a nice looking white fleece jacket. To my annoyance, the last night of the cruise, they discounted the t-shirts even further. Still, I got some nice t-shirts which I’ll wear showing that I was on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Lady luck wasn’t with me when I played bingo for a free cruise. You had to fill in an X on your playing card in order to win. Cards weren’t cheap going at $15 a piece with a free card thrown in if you bought 3. I managed to get down to 3 numbers of one of my cards before an unknown lady won it. Damn!

After the bingo game, Harvey and I had a couple beers at the Promenade Café. It was a nice way to relax before dinner and discuss plans for tomorrow. Tomorrow, we’d go deep sea fishing out of Philipsburg, St. Maarten. Deep sea fishing can be very exciting with the big reels, big rods and BIG fish. I went a couple times with my step-grandfather and I really wanted to try it again. I looked forward excitedly to my next adventure. Stay tuned for my deep sea fishing adventure in St. Maarten.

Curacao

It was another hectic morning. I discovered the hard way that the early bird breakfast at the Windjammer is a continental breakfast. I hate those. Continental breakfast is two words meaning starve. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to wait for them to put out the regular breakfast items. I rushed back to my cabin, grabbed my diving gear and did the same routine again. Luckily, this would be the last time I’d go diving on this cruise so I wouldn’t have to mess with security again over my dive knives.

A guy named Jeremiah was waiting for the dive group at the pier. I forget what his nationality was but, he told me was married to a Dutch girl and had worked at a dive spot in Egypt before coming to Curacao. He’d travelled a good bit of the world. He seemed pretty cool. Once everyone had arrived, Jeremiah directed us to some taxis which would take us to Ocean Encounters. The drive was interesting as we got to see a bit of Willemstad.

Once we arrived at Ocean Encounter’s dive shop, we started setting up your gear or were issued gear if we rented it. Then, we received a briefing on how things were going to work. We were going to do a beach entry. Once we were in shallow water, we’d slip our fins on then, we’d work our way out to the dive point. Once there, we’d let the air out of our BCDs and descend down to the reef. If someone hit the halfway point on their air, they’d let the leader know and they’d head back with the leader’s assistant. The rest would carry on until it was time to turn back.

We made our way out to the beach. I waded into the water and promptly had problems getting my fins on. Then, I put air in my BCD and swam with the rest of the group to the dive site. While swimming out there, I swallowed damn salt water again. That stuff is nasty. I ended coughing some of it up when we got to the dive site. Thankfully, once I started breathing through my respirator, I was fine.

The reef itself was impressive with a large variety of coral and fish life. Visibility was outstanding at 65 feet plus. The reef wall supposedly descended down to 350 feet though the deepest I went was 62 feet on the first dive and 63 on the second. I didn’t have any problems equalizing on the first dive but I did on the 2nd to my great annoyance. I tried to overcompensate and ended up giving myself a bloody nose. I was frustrated with my left ear and pretty certain I had an ear infection.

In regards to Ocean Encounter and their people, I was very pleased with them. I thought they really tried to ensure we had some nice dives. The only thing I would do differently is make sure I go out on a boat vice doing a beach entry. Boat entries are loads easier.

After we returned or packed up our gear, we got back into the taxis that brought us to Ocean Encounter’s and returned to our ship. I grabbed some lunch and decided to stay on board. It looked like it might be a long walk to some shops in town. It turned out I was wrong. There is an easy walk to a number of shops and the remains of one of the old forts.

Departure time was 4:30 p.m. Apparently, some people thought that meant they could return at 4:35, 4:40 and two ladies even showed up at 4:45. They got royally razzed by those of us who were stuck waiting for them. They also got lucky Captain Nyseter didn’t depart. If he had, they would’ve had to fly to St. Maarten at their own expense to rejoin the ship.

I chatted with my friend Harvey and found out what he’d been up. I watched as we sailed east along the coast of Curacao. I decided to see one of the shows the ship out on in the Lyric Theater. It was called “Can’t Stop the Rock.” It featured music from films from the past 40 years. It turned out to be a nice production. I wouldn’t have paid money to see it but it was fun to watch and something to do. Afterwards, I had a nice dinner at the Windjammer. Later, our ship Adventure of the Seas changed tack and sailed northeast to St. Maarten. We would be at sea for an entire day. Stay tuned.