Santa Marta, Columbia

Hello Friends,

  Today Jer is doing the blogging.  You may have noticed that Helen has been doing all the posting on this blog.  I have been busy posting on a blog we are doing for just our grand daughters.  Since we are blogging for two little girlies, it tends to be a bit silly.  Thus, the blog address is top secret :).

  Today we are in Santa Marta, our first stop in Columbia.  Tomorrow we are in Cartagena, and the next day we transit the Panama Canal.  Our ship docked very near the Santa Marta downtown area.

  We took a very short ride on a shuttle to the port gate and then walked into town.  There is a nice walkway along the water from which we had a nice view of our ship.  

  We walked all around the downtown area.  A couple times we found ourselves on streets where we didn't feel comfortable with the surroundings, but overall, we felt very safe here.  The city is very busy, lots of people on the sidewalks and lots of traffic and noise.  We really enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the town.  It was quite warm, the temperatures are starting to go up as we cruise farther south.

  One of the main attractions in the town is the beautiful Santa Marta Cathedral.

  Another attraction is this monument to Simon Bolivar, the liberator of South America.  He died in 1830, but he still lives large in the hearts of South America’s people.

 

  When Helen and I decided to do this blog, we said we would not include many pictures of ourselves.  But today I must share one of me.  I’m doing what I do best, drinking beer.  But I want you to notice the “genuine” red Ray Ban sunglasses that I bought here for $5.  When I cleaned them the first time, the Ray Ban lettering came off the lenses.  What’s up with that?!

  Some of you are asking for more food pictures, so here are a few.  Last night we ate in the ship’s Japanese restaurant, Silk Road.

  The food was fantastic, maybe the best meal we have had so far on the ship.  We started with sushi and sashimi, and it was great!

  Next we had shrimp tempura. so good!

  Seafood ceviche was next.

  Then a warm mushroom salad.

  Finally we finished with lobster stir fry.

  Do you think we had enough to eat?  At least we skipped dessert.  This was a fabulous meal!

  So that is all from Santa Marta.  Tomorrow in Cartagena we have an all day tour, and Helen will be posting about that.  Bye for now.

BigJer and Helen

Another Sea Day

Last night we sailed from Curacao at midnight. We don’t usually stay  up late, but with the Curiously Curacao show, we made it to sail away. It was beautiful to see all the colored lights. Sorry I don’t have a picture.
Today is another relaxing sea day. Jer, as usual was up first. He had breakfast and then brought me some cereal and fruit. We were out on the Promenade Deck walking at 930. We walked for an hour and it was starting to get hot. One side of the deck was in the sun and the other in the shade. The sun side was getting brutal. I don’t know how people get out there in the afternoon. Way too hot for me.
Had a nice lunch in the Lido. They always have a great variety.
Went to a lecture this afternoon about the great ocean liners of the past. Bill Miller is the lecturer and is excellent. The ocean liners of the past were so elegant and were the only way to cross the ocean. Usually they had three classes of accommodations, First, Second , and Third class. When aviation came about, that was the end of the Ocean Liner era. There is only one true ocean liner today, and that is the Queen Mary 2. You don’t cruise on the QM2, you do an ocean crossing. A big difference.
Jer signed up for another spin class this afternoon. Susan, you should be so proud.:)
We are having dinner tonight in one of the other specialty restaurants, Silk Road. It is a Japanese restaurant created by Nobu Matsuhisa. Lots of sushi and sashimi. They have a wonderful Black Cod in Miso sauce. I’m pretty sure that is what I will be having.


Jer’s sunglasses collection.

Curacao

This is a picture of the waterfront from the pontoon bridge. The pontoon bridge is for foot traffic from one side to the other. When boats want to come down the canal the bridge swings sideways to let them by.

Below is a picture of the pontoon bridge all lit up. Curacao is a very colorful place.

We went on a morning ship’s excursion. The first thing we saw were these cool flamingos. When they hatch, they are white and as they get older, they turn pink.

Next stop was the Hota Caves. It was interesting and there were lots of bats flying around. Rock formations were really cool. The rest of the excursion was downright boring so we are starting to rethink the rest of our ship’s excursions. We have quite a few private excursions that Jer has set up. We may have to look into doing more of those.

 

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Last night we had dinner at Prego, Italian specialty restaurant

This is the wonderful carpaccio that I had, paper this slices of beef with capers, olive oil. balsamic vinegar and grated cheese. It was yummy!!!

 

Jer had the Osso Buco, a beautifully braised veal shank. It was outstanding.

Tonight they had an event called Curios Curacao. On World Cruises they will do different special events and this was the first one. A lot of singing and dancing and audience participation. 

Sea Day

 

Today is another leisurely sea day.

We were able to watch the NFL Playoff games last night. They showed the Packers-Seahawks game in the Galaxy Lounge and the Colts-Patriots game was shown in the Stardust Club. Can’t believe the Seahawks pulled it off!!!!

Entertainment on board has been terrific. Last night there was a comedian in the Galaxy lounge. He was hilarious. Everyone was commenting today how much they enjoyed him. 

Today we are just kicking back. I did some laundry this morning and Jer went to a lecture on the Panama Canal. Dr. Jay Wolff was the lecturer who Jer really enjoys. He was on one of our transatlantic crossings a couple of years ago so it was nice to see him again.

Tonight we are having dinner in one of the specialty restaurants. Prego is the Italian restaurant on board. They have a wonderful carpaccio that I am looking forward to. Jer is looking forward to the sea bass.

The seas have been really calm….very little movement. It is quite warm and sunny, but we did get our walk in on the promenade deck. Jer is playing paddle tennis while I chill out in the air-conditioning and write. At 4pm Jer is off to a spin class and I think I will have a glass of wine:).

Santo Domingo

Today we are in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.. We have been here before and didn’t have much planned for the day.  We have heard that there are some really nice all inclusive resorts here. 

We did take the shuttle into town and found and internet cafe. We were able to text friends and family. 

Had a coffee and beer in town and after a good walk are now back on the ship. Will be watching some football later.

Getting My Groove On

Jer is always up before I am. He was off to the gym and then back to collect me for breakfast. Had a leisurely morning and then an early lunch.

Crystal has some of the best lectures at sea. We went to one this afternoon about Cunard’s Queens….Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria. It was really interesting as we have been on the Queen Mary2. We loved our crossing on the QM2 and it was wonderful to hear how these cruise ships evolved. At one point Cunard was about to go out of business, but Carnival Corp. came along and bought them out. 

Just to let you know a little about the demographics of this cruise, we are about the youngest on here. Most of the guests have been on multiple world cruises. Had lunch with one lady that has been on 12 world cruises. We often hear couples talk about how long they have been married…..most over 50 years. 

We talked to one lady that has done many, many cruises. She was on a world cruise 5 years ago when her husband passed away on the cruise. She said she and her husband had a pact that if anything happened to either one of them, the other one would continue on the cruise. She said that she was at first criticized by some, but in the end, they realized she had done the right thing. Jer and I have made that pact, too :).

This afternoon we did get out on the Promenade Deck and walked for five miles. At this rate we may be able keep up with food and alcohol consumption.

We have been really enjoying the Crystal Dining Room. The food and service have been outstanding.

 

Love how the walls are metal so we can bring our magnets and post everything. The girlies made us the cherries from Traverse City and the Nana and Grandpa figures so we could bring them with us. World Cruise calendar below so we know where we are going.

 

First Sea Day

Kind of a laid back do nothing day. I pretty much chilled out and Jer pretty much couldn’t sit still. It has been a whirlwind several days so I needed a day just to relax.

Got all of our unpacking done. Holy Cow, where did all this stuff come from.  I did find room for everything. I brought along an under bed shoe storage for my 20 pairs of shoes. Now tell me this, why in the world would I need that many shoes? Jer says I have the shoe gene like most women so I had to pack all those shoes. So far I have worn 6 pair. I am pretty sure I will wear them all.

Tonight was Black Tie Optional for dinner. Jer dressed up in his tuxedo and looked very handsome.  Most people do dress to the nines and it it makes for a great evening.  Dinner was yummy lobster with all the trimmings. The evening entertainment was music of Billy Joel in the Galaxy Theater. It was great.