Happy Easter!
Saturday April 7, 2012

Since it is after midnight I am saying Happy Easter!  We had a great day at sea today.  We have been giving back an hour every evening and having a hard time sleeping not going to bed until 4ish so we have been sleeping late.  Last night I made sure I was in bed by midnight lights out and had a 7:30am wake up call.  The good news is I am tired tonight and as soon as I finish this I will go to sleep.  We have given back the last hour for a couple of days.  We are now 1 hour behind AZ.  Tomorrow (actually today) we will be docked in Dutch Harbor Alaska.  Everyone is so anxious to get off the ship since we had 7 straight sea days.  The weather is not looking good it might be snowing so we will see what is what tomorrow.  We had a great dinner once again and I tried to post a couple of pictures of Bill and I but the internet is not cooperating so I am tired of waiting.  We went to the lecture about Alaska today but it seems everything else we are too early or too late for.  Bill was positive the show this evening was 9:45 so we rushed through dinner and my banana's foster and got to the galaxy lounge to find out it was 7:45 and we had all this time and didn't go!!!!!  Oh well.  I spoke with Becky later today as we didn't see each other at all today.
So hope you all have a wonderful Easter and I hope the Easter bunny comes to you all.......
Love from Alaska actually the Aleuthian Islands!

A Copy of a picture the ship's photographer took of us with Regis

L to R Standing.  Pat, Kris, Betty
Sitting, Bill, Me, Jack, Elaine

Friday April 6, 2012 the 2nd one
@ sea enroute to Dutch Harbor Alaska

As you know we crossed the International Dateline and got back the day we lost early in this voyage as a result we have just had two Friday April 6.  Today was almost a carbon copy of the last one.

The pictures I posted are pictures I took of pictures the ship's photographer took.  Since I do not have a scanner with me.  The first one was with Regis.
The second one I thought you might like to see the faces to the names of the people I have been mentioning.

I have posted a picture of Becky she does not eat in the Dining Room most nights so it has to be a lunch picture.
Pat's husband Ray was not there as he was sick for almost a week with the flu. Pat and Ray are from outside of Toronto and I just love her she is just too funny.  Kris and Betty are from Texas and just the nicest people, Jack and Elaine are a sweet couple also.  We had so much fun that night.  That was the night we closed the disco!  None of us have recouped yet.
There were a lot of lectures but I had trouble sleeping last night Bill and I watched a movie at 3am so needless to say we slept very late today.  Tomorrow I am having an early wakeup call to get me back on schedule,

I sat with Becky, Betty and Pat in the Bistro and we each had our computers going.  Rick the cruise director walked by and wanted to know if that was our office.  My fellow memoir writing student Barbara came in and reminded me it was time for class to start.  I was instant messaging Melissa on FB and said "Sorry class in session I must go"  I am enjoying the memoir class so much.  After class Bill and I had some cheese and crackers in the Bistro and were headed to the movie but I had a coughing attack so we just headed back to the room to get ready for dinner.

It was open seating this evening as there was a Passover Seder for the Jewish people in Prego.  It was opened to all guests but I didn't want to take a seat from someone who was Jewish so we did not sign up.
We went down to the DR around 8pm and Augusto made sure we were in his section.  Our usual waiter Chetan waited on us as usual a wonderful dinner.  Bill had salmon I had filet mignon,  After Chetan pointed out that the dessert was chocolate.com and I ate it we headed to the special 9:30 show.  We have seen this performer before  He is very talented.  He is a comedian, singer and plays the trumpet and bango/ukele.  It was a great show.  I was going to head to Karaoke but I am tired so after this blog I am hitting the hay,
We put our clocks ahead another hour tonight and then again tomorrow and when we reach Dutch Harbor Easter Sunday we will be 6 hours behind NY now instead of 13 hours ahead!
So to my Jewish friends reading this  Happy Passover.
And to my Christian friends  Happy Easter
I am hearing the weather for Dutch Harbor is almost 100% chance of snow showers.  Should be fun.  All the waiters from warm countries want snow so that they can make snowballs!!!!
Tomorrow is another sea day and I am going to relax AGAIN!!!!!
until tomorrow.... April 6th for the third time?   No just a little humor there to see who is paying attention!

Bill and I dressed for the around the world cocktail party

Augusto wearing Bill's Australian hat

Augusto wearing my Rice Paddy hat

Friday April 6, 2012

@ sea enroute to Dutch Harbor Alaska

For those of you who don’t read today is the first of two exact days.  We will have another Friday April 6, 2012 tomorow.

We had a great sea day and it was much calmer today.  Bill felt better between the food the other evening and the rough seas he was not feeling well.  But today he was back to himself.

There was a 5pm production show called Across the Pond.  I think this is my favorite.  It is about the British Invasion in the 60s and the music is great especially the Beatles!  After the production show was a classical pianist.  I did not make it as I had to change.

At 7:45 there was an around the world cocktail party and guests were asked to wear any clothing, hats, jewelry you bought in one of the ports of call.  Bill wore his new Australian hat as well as his belt.  I wore a shirt from China(bought actually in Nordstrom’s)  My elephant bag I bought in Bali, elephant necklace, bought in Serarang and a rice paddy hat from Vietnam.  It was so much fun.  One man should have won the prize he had on a cloth mask that they wear all over Vietnam, Hong kong and China!!!!

For dinner tonight Augusto made us Tortellini Carbonara with proscuitto, peas and cream sauce it was sensational!  I am back in the cabin Bill went for his cigar and I have a lot of rewrites to do on my memoirs!

Tomorrow will be the second Friday April 6th! The movie Groundhog Day comes to mind.

Good night and God BLess

Japanese Cherry Blossom

April 5, 2012

@ sea enroute to Dutch Harbor Alaska

Wanted to post another picture of the Japanse Cherry Blossom as this weekend is Easter and Passover.

Today was another great sea day.  It was still choppy and rainy.  It got better during the night and then a couple of times it was as if we hit a speed bump going very fast.  I slept incredibly.  Bill not so good.  He was not feeling well today,  not sure if it was his meal last night as he did mix a lot of different things.  Augusto made us his special Caesar Salad then he had wild boar goulash and halibut. Or maybe it was the rocking of the ship.  Anyway he stayed in bed almost all day.

I was out and about.  Sat with Pat thank goodness her husband Ray is feeling better and up and about, Betty and Kris for awhile.  Then I worked on my memoirs.  I didn't feel like going to the lectures so I wrote instead.  Then Becky and I had lunch and after that I had my memoir writing class.  By this time Bill was feeling better and he met the gang in the Bistro for a light snack.  It was still rocking so everything that would be held on the top two floors was cancelled the food and tea was moved to the dining room.  Dancing was moved to the cove and trivia was moved to Stardust.  They even made it a casual night instead of informal.  Didn't want the women wearing heels and having a problem.

We were invited to a cocktail party in the captain's quarters but they are going to reschedule that also.

Bill decided he didn't want to go down for dinner and I was comfy watching a movie so we ordered in.  I had the roast chicken from the DR menu and Bill just loves their turkey club.

So it was great now I am ready for bed.   It is after midnight and it is Friday April 6th the first one.  We will then have April 6th a second time as we will cross the international date line and not be a whole day ahead of you guys anymore.

We had to give back another hour tonight I think this makes 4.  I know we will continue this to Dutch Harbor actually giving back 2 hours in one day!!!!!!

We will be in Dutch Harbor on Easter Sunday!

So from the not too stormy seas I bid you all a good night!

Wednesday April 4, 2012
@sea enroute to Dutch Harbor, Alaska


Today was day 2 of our 7 sea days.  There is always so much to do on sea days.  Today Bill and I slept in between closing down the Pulse Disco the other night and giving back an hour each night we were exhausted.  So we slept late and loved it.  We had a small bite to eat in the Bistro with Becky, then I had to meet Joe Kita to discuss my memoir writing.  I am a little stuck don't know if I should end it here or keep going.  We got that straightened out and he told me that I have a natural ability to write to keep going.  After that I went back up to the Bistro and sat with Betty, Becky and Pat for a little while.  It has been rocking and rollin all day.  Rick came on the speaker and advised everyone that all activities scheduled in Palm Court have been moved to Stardust Club and afternoon tea would be held in the Dining Room.  Bill went up to the Palm court to read but it was so noisy with all the wind he soon found me in the Bistro with my computer working on my memoirs.  We had a great lunch and headed to the Cove to see Nikki to sign up for a  cruise next year.  We then played three games of backgammon.  


We then went to see photos and see if there were anymore that we liked.  We headed back to the cabin and Bill watched a dvd and I rested.  We did miss the entertainment tonight as it was at 7pm.  I actually hate when it is early because it is a rush to get there.  We had dinner at the usual time of 8:30 but then after dinner there is no show. Augusto made us his Caesar Salad and Bill had wild boar goulash with a side of the halibut.  I had the Veal Pizziola it was excellent.
 Bill headed for the cigar lounge and since I didn't want to go to the Avenue by myself, and I am tired, I headed back up to the cabin to work on this blog.


We must give back another hour tonight and I hear we must give back 6 or 7 before we reach Dutch Harbor  Tonight is number 3.  I loved when we were gaining I hate giving them back!!!!!!


Tomorrow we are invited to cocktails at the Captain's Quarters as this is the final leg of the world cruise.  Friday we are having a cocktail party to wear anything pertinent to where we have been.  I must think about this!!!!!  Bill did buy himself a hat in Australia I am not wearing my new cocktail dress or suit so I must see what I can do!!!!
We will be crossing the International Dateline again in  a few days, this time instead of losing a day we will have April 6th twice.  Kinda like the movie Groundhog day!


Another great day on Crystal. Again I can't believe how fast this is going!
So good night and God Bless.
We have sailed from Hong Kong to Osaka 3257 nautical miles and 3746 land miles
So far we have a total of  17,992 nautical miles and 20,720 land miles.....
We are now 9 hours ahead of NY

Could not resist this was on the bathroom wall in the Shinto Temple in Japan

Couldn't  resist.  They need instructions on how to use a western toilet!!!!!!!

Tuesday April 3, 2012
@ sea

Yesterday was a sea day and since I used it to update the blog from Japan I didn't post.  We had a great day with lots to do.  Last evening was the Captain's Welcome party and since we are only less than 500 passengers they had one welcome party but opened the bars and lounges for free cocktails from 5:15 till 8:30 and then served complimentary white and red wine with dinner.  I believe that they are trying out the all inclusive as it will be in effect 2 cruises from now.

We met Betty, Kris, Pat, Elaine and Jack down in the Cove and sat with them and had a couple of cocktails well I had Bill had soda.  They are on open seating so they invited us to dine with them.  Augusto had a roasted chicken made for me last night and when we entered the dining room I just told Leo where we would be.  The chicken was so delicious that Pat gave her lobster to Betty and ate some of the chicken.  We had a lot of laughs and went to the Avenue Saloon after.  I switched to water we then went to Pulse for Karaoke and wound up closing it at 1:30am.  Today I was really tired and had a headache.  Must be the low pressure!!!!!!

We held "court" in the Bistro again, Pat, Becky, Bill, and I and Betty and Kris came by.  We discussed dinner tonight and we had reservations for Prego so we just changed the amount of people.
I had my memoir writing class and at the end of last segment one of my chapters were read.  Today Joe discussed what we could learn from the 4 stories that were read.

Poor Ray is still not well and Becky did not join us as she is feeling poorly with a cold!  So the five of us had a great dinner and laughs.  WE all were exhausted from last night so we decided to call it an early night.  Plus the fact that we have to give back an hour every evening.  So we came back "home"  Bill is watching a dvd and I am updating this blog.  Before dinner we attended a World Cruise Block Party in the Captain's quarters, Vice, Captain's quarters and Hotel Director's quarters.  He one was set up with drinks, canapes and coustomed people to have your picture taken with.  It was a nice stroll through the Serenity Gardens.  The walls were all covered with beautiful pictures of flowers.

I can not believe how fast this World Cruise is going.  Not sure if I mentioned it.  There is a low pressure over Siberia and 30-50 foot waves there so the Captain has decided to go a different route and we will not be stopping in Siberia.  We are enroute to Dutch Harbor Alaska.
Tonight it has gotten a little choppy.  You feel it more when you are on the 11th floor with the captain.  But it is a nice gentle rocking I should sleep well tonight!

Tomorrow I will be meeting with Joe to go over my memoirs.  I am still writing and not sure where to stop or keep going.  Will update you on that when I know!
Good night and God Bless.

Golden Palace Temple

Bride and Groom at Temple

Osaka/Kyoto
Sunday April 1. 2012


Yesterday we were in Osaka and we were going to the Aquarium but it was raining so hard that all the Japanese people were there with their children and the line was so long we went back to the ship.  First we went to the mall in the terminal. Surprise thee was a Subway, and a Claire's.  Today we took a tour to Kyoto.  It was a great all day tour.  We went to a castle, the Golden palace Buddhist temple and then a Shinto Temple where we saw a few bride and grooms and some girls dressed in their kimonos.


It was a great great day.  I am surprised that Kyoto was such a large city.  It use to be the capitol.  The Castle that we saw was a Shogun castle that they turned over to the emporer.  Yesterday was a better day it was not raining.  It was cold but at least the sun was shinning.


We were able to get free wifi in the terminal but it closed at 7pm and didn't open again until 8am and we were already on our tour.


All in all I did enjoy Japan. Bein yesterday was Sunday every where we went was quite crowded.  The Japanese people do not yield or merge well.  At the Castle I just couldn't walk any more so I went and sat inside and a Japanese women came over and we had a lovely conversation.  She did not speak English and I don't speak Japanese but we were able to communicate  that she had knee and hip problems as well as I do.   She gave me a hug and wave when I left.  On our way out there were all these little boy and girls and we think that they were Boy scouts/Girl scouts they were singing and asking for money. Bill went over and gave them a yen and they gave him a feather.


I would love to come back to Japan someday and see Tokyo.  I will eat in McDonald's!!!!!  Keep your Fish!!!!   Two and half days in Japan and we saw only one (1) Z and one billboard advertising the GTR.  Amazing!  Lots of different Nissan's here but mostly Toyotas, Sususki.  Did see a Ferrari!  One Z and I couldn't get the picture from the bus!

Friday, March 30, 2012

@ sea enroute to Osaka, Japan

Today was a great day at sea.  I was not feeling well last night my asthma still kicking up.  I had a bad coughing attack at dinner so I passed on dessert and we headed up to the  Stardust for The Liar’s Club.  If you don’t know what this is.  It is a game where there are 4 contestants and they each give a definition of a word (nobody has ever heard of) and your team must pick out the one who is telling the truth.  We first saw this in 2010 on the Panama Canal cruise and it was hysterical.  Well last night did not disappoint.  The panel consisted of Mark Merchant, ventriloqiust, Ken Reese, Lecturer, Rabbi Morrie, and actor Jim Brochu.  It was so funny and entertaining we all laughed so much it was great.  Got to sleep at a reasonable time so I awoke this am early and watched the Morning show with Rick and Elise.  Did not win a trivia prize today.  After the morning show we went to the Bistro for a light breakfast.  Bill headed into Photographer Neil Liefer’s lecture on baseball greats and their pictures and I met up with Becky.  We discussed the tours we took yesterday and upcoming tours.  After Bill’s lecture he found us still at the same spot in the Bistro.  Bill went back to the cabin for a rest and I went to take care of some tours for our visit to Osaka.  At 1:30 our friend Jim Brochu was giving a lecture on Ethel Merman so Bill and I went to that and at 2:30 we had the final memoir writing class of this segment where one of my chapters was read!

Tomorrow March 31 is the end of the this segment (4th segment of the world cruise)  It is also the start of the 5th and final segment of the World Cruise and I can not believe how fast this is going!  As I write this we have just docked in Osaka but do not have internet we are not allowed to use the satalitte transmission. We are in Osaka tomorrow 3/31, Sunday 4/1 but will still be in Japanese waters until 4/2.  Tomorrow Debbie from shore excursions is leaving the ship.  Becky is celebrating a big birthday early May in fact the WC was a gift to herself.  So I invited Debbie, Jalena from shore excursions and Becky to meet Bill and I for cocktails pre dinner in the Palm court.  Debbie and Jalena ordered a cake so it was very nice. Even made Becky cry!  As I sit here writing this I realize once again just how lucky I am.  Even on the open seas I am surrounded by good people.  Tomorrow we are going to check out the Aquarium in Osaka it is suppose to be the biggest in the world and our friend Joe and Esther were here 4 years ago and said it was great.  The next day we have a tour to Kyoto!

So even though I can’t publish this Good night and God bless.

We were told there was free internet in the terminal but people are returning from shore and saying it is not working!!!!!

statutes at porcelain museum unfortunately not for sale

Peace statute in Peace Park

Cherry blossom in bloom

In front of Atomic Bomb museum

Part of our lunch

Atomic Bomb Museum

Our lunch

Our lunch, Thank God for the strawberry and orange slice

Arita, Japan Porcelain factory

Nagasaki, Japan

March 29, 2012

Our tour today was a trip to the countryside where porcelain is made.  We headed to the town of Arita where all the porcelain is made.  We were supposed to go to a Kiln, museum, lunch and then shopping for porcelain.  It was called China on the park and Arita.  Well some man on the bus started to complain that he wanted to go to Peace park and the Atomic bomb museum.  I purposely did not book a tour there because I had no interest in seeing the atomic bomb museum.   Well the tour guide called and changed the whole tour.  So we went to the kiln for 20 minutes instead of the original 45.  It was very interesting.  People sitting with their legs crossed on the floor hand painting the pottery and making it.  Very uncomfortable position it looks like. The museum we were only there 10 minutes they had porcelain dating back to the 16th century we could not watch the movie as there was no time. We were taken to an authentic Japense restaurant for lunch where we had to take our shoes off.  They did put up tables but the floor was covered with bamboo and the Japense people usually eat sitting on the floor.  It looked lovely.  Everyone had their own ceramic box of food.  Well here we go I opened the box and the only thing I recogonized was a shrimp whose eyes were staring at me,  Something else looked like squid or octopus.  Everything was SEAFOOD.  There was a small dish inside with a strawberry and 2 slices of orange.  Yeah there’s my lunch.  There was a smaller box that contained shasami (sp) and then for dessert TOFU.... We then  headed the 1 1/2 hours back to Nagasaki to go to the Atomic bomb museum and Peace park. We drove 1 1/2 hours and we spent 1 1/2 hours there.

Now I am not a happy camper.  The lunch was all seafood and unidentifiable objects.  So  NO SHOPPING AND NO LUNCH... We were suppose to be back at the ship at 4:00pm but didn’t get back until after 4:30 and I had a 4:45 appt to have my hair colored and cut!!!!! By the time I walked through the terminal and got to the Spa it is now almost 5pm. Thank goodness DJ was still able to take me. Not my day.

The porcelain that we ran through was beautiful and I would have loved to have been able to pick up something.  Our tour guide was great and tried to appease everyone.  The Peace park was very nice the atomic bomb museum, although it was exremely moving, they conveniently left out why we dropped the bomb.  No mention of Pearl Harbor at all.... It was very moving but I didn’t want to deal with death and destruction on vacation.  I had seen enough so I went and sat outside as the weather was glorious today  high 50s maybe it even warmed up to low 60s.  Bill and most of them went down to what they call ground zero!  I enjoyed the cherry blossoms and sun outside the museum.

There were children dressed in kimonos who came aboard and danced for us at 4pm but since we were still on the tour I missed it.  Becky did get some pictures for us. 

As the ship started to pull away from the dock the high school band was there playing and people were all lined up waving at us. They had signs saying “See you next time in Nagasaki”.  I was watching from the hair salon while DJ mixed my color!  I waited a week for this appointment and I was not cancelling it! So far the Japanese people have been very friendly and we even learned a little Japense.  Of course I can’t write it using their characters on here but this is the saying

ICHIGO ICHIE

It means Treasure every encounter because it might never recur!

Except for the idiot man on the bus and I do mean idiot he had on a long sleeve collarless green T-shirt with a wild yellow tie just hanging around his neck it was a lovely day in the countryside of Nagasaki.  Beautiful, lush and green when you get out of the city!

On to the next port of call in Japan.  Osaka

have been trying to upload pictures for over 2 hours.  will have to wait until tomorrow.  I am going to bed good night............