After my eclipse post several people asked where we were when we took the pictures. I gave a general answer but yesterday the chief navigation officer came up to the “Crow’s Nest” and marked on a paper chart exactly where … Continue reading Eclipse Redux
…are probably no worse than American lawyers but right now I am not happy with them. We had wanted to go snorkeling in Cabo St. Lucas, but the tour operator told us that there was an age limit of 75. … Continue reading Mexican Lawyers…
Unlike Fort Lauderdale where the cruise terminals are in a port zone or Miami where they are on Dodge Island, or even New York where ships now leave from Red Hook in Brooklyn, San Diego’s pier is downtown, right at … Continue reading San Diego Sailout
I was too excited to sleep. Would the cloudy weather forecast for Mazatlan hold? Would the weather be the same out at sea? Would I miss an eclipse again? At about 5 AM, in order not to disturb Suzi with … Continue reading Eclipse Bookends
I am jumping this post in the queue because I think it will interest you more than our sail our or my post on Cabo. Those are coming. It’s an odd cruise when the climax comes on day three of … Continue reading Solar Eclipse!
And more LEDs than either. The Gas Lamp quarter is an entertainment and restaurant district in San Diego. It’s close to the convention center and ballpark with a number of Victorian era buildings. One brochure says it’s noted for it’s … Continue reading More Neon than Gas lamps…
The Extension of the Pacific Coast highway beyond Vancouver is Alaska Airlines’ “Milk Run.” (Ok there is the State Ferry but the Governor has line item vetoed it to the extent that it hardly counts.) Except during the three months … Continue reading It Always Starts With the Milk Run.
Holland America calls it the Koningsdam Eclipse Cruise but I like to think of it as an elaborate repositioning cruise to get Koningsdam from San Diego where it did Hawaii and Mexico to Vancouver where it will originate Alaska Cruises. … Continue reading The Great Koningsdam Solar Eclipse and Repositioning Cruise.
It was a remarkably smooth transatlantic crossing, The biggest seas we took were 3 meters, and that only for a short time. The first three days we had sunshine and, riding with the North Atlantic Drift, following seas, as well … Continue reading Crossing Coda
This post is mostly pictures of the QM2. Just a few notes. In the elevator lobbies Cunard has produced several museum style interpretive placards that depict the history of trans-Atlantic crossings. The midship display on our cabin deck dealt with … Continue reading A QM2 Photo Gallery
When I traveled on Furness (A little younger than Liam) and the United States Line (a little older than Liam) with my grandfather I don’t remember much of an organized kid’s program. We could play shuffle board, quoits (you can … Continue reading Crossing With Kids
This is Suzi’s family letter. With her permission I am posting it to give you her take on the voyage. She says she is not posting pics but I have added a few that I took that illustrate the point. … Continue reading Suzi’s Letter
White Star Service on Cunard includes the use of tea bags. My grandfather, an old White Star man, would not have approved. A proper teapot with a strainer is the way he made tea. Sometimes he would use a tea … Continue reading White Star Service
The traditional mariners’ service was clearly Anglican. The alter cloth was the British Red Ensign, the nation’s merchant marine flag with the Union Flag in the upper left corner of a red field. It was billed as a “traditional maritime … Continue reading O God Our Help in Ages Past
(July 21, 2023) I was wrong. Initially I thought Brooklyn was a terrible place to sail from. You don’t go up the Hudson, see midtown, and get the views that an ocean liner is supposed to get. But the view … Continue reading I Sail with a Sprit
I had used UBER before. Once while staying with a friend in Maryland, she used her UBER app to get me to the airport. It seemed a bit apocalyptic when a message popped up on her screen “Jesus is coming … Continue reading Rich Learns about Uber
I suppose we could Keansburg, New Jersey a pre port of Call. On the 20th we went to Brick, New Jersey for a cousins’ reunion at the Tuscany restaurant, the scene of several earlier reunions. The 6 surviving first cousins, … Continue reading A Poor Man’s Asbury Park
The kids arrived in Newark on Wednesday afternoon excited about getting on the ship. But we were not getting on the ship until Friday but there is plenty in Jersey to keep them interested. First off I had to explain … Continue reading Meetup in Jersey.
In Mid-July it costs less to travel to the United Kingdom in an ‘enclosed’ balcony room on the Queen Mary 2 than it does to spend the same number of nights in an Anchorage hotel (Fairfield, Marriott’s low-end brand) and … Continue reading A 21st Century Crossing — QM2
A crossing is not a cruise, I know that, but where else do I file these blog posts? Crossings were the main way folks got to Europe before 1958. That year more people crossed the Atlantic by air than by … Continue reading Crossings
We arrived in Cobh (The Cove of Cork) four days before the SS America sailed. Most Irish immigrants immigrating in the 19th century sailed from this port when it was called Queenstown. Grandpa was tired after a summer traveling around … Continue reading Double Crossings, Westbound.
I laugh looking at the picture now. In 1961 my grandfather and I were heading for Europe on the SS United States, the “Big U”. Our luggage was checked and would meet us in our stateroom. Grandpa was carrying his … Continue reading Double Crossings, Eastbound.
When I was little grandma and grandpa took me on excursions. Our favorite was our annual trip on the “Liberty Bell.” It was an excursion boat that left Exchange Place in Jersey City, called at Manhattan and sailed past Coney … Continue reading My Inauspicious First Cruise, 1957.
This is the hardest post to write. I mentioned COVID fogged brain in my last post. I missed the final dinner, although they brought a delicious Beef Wellington to my stateroom. I also missed the final slide show and farewell … Continue reading The COVID Coda