MY FINAL THOUGHTS

April 28, 2011   Boston, MA

Am I actually home?  I sure am and guess what.  Even though I’ve been away 111 days, nothing’s changed.  Jack and Lisa on the channel 4 news are still talking about the same things;  Emily on Greater Boston looks a little older but still asks the same questions.  Whole Foods is still there and the popcorn I made Tuesday night was just as good as ever.  I was concerned that being away so long, I would miss something.  All I missed was a very snowy January/February and the Bruins/Celtics seasons.  Would I do it again?  You bet your ’57 Edsel!

While Gina is all about where we’re going and what we’re seeing, I’m more about ship life.  I read 33 books, 17 fiction and 16 non-fiction.  I simply would not have the time to do that if I were home (the library on the ship was excellent).  The ship’s entertainment, while sometimes lame (Mitzi Gaynor and a washed up Wayne Newton) was also very enjoyable at times, particularly Vegas favorites Ronn Lucas and The Scintas.  But I think what I enjoy the most, now this is really weird, is the new friends among both the passengers and the crew, particularly the crew.  Holland America’s Filipino and Indonesian crew members are so far superior to other cruise lines staff that it isn’t even close.  I would be untruthful to say no tears were shed as the cruise drew to a close.   

The cruise director, Bruce, does an exceptional job.  His daily at sea “Good Morning Amsterdam” (think Oprah) show was standing room only by the end.  Here’s how he handled the dreaded disembarkation talk.  NOBODY goes to these things but for this cruise there was not a seat available.  Thirty minutes before the talk in the main lounge, free mimosas were served while the ship’s photography staff showed a collage of the photos they had taken since day one.  Then when Bruce came to give his talk, the place was full. And by the time the talk was over, literally EVERY member of the crew, from Stateroom attendants to laundry room workers was on the stage with him.  They were all applauding US!!!

I’ll try to paraphrase Bruce’s final words from the Day 110 newsletter.

On January 5, 2011, nearly 2,000 excited guests and dedicated crew embarked on a journey which was to be like no other.  True to its title, “Gems of the World”, the 2011 Grand World Voyage laid out in a spectacular array the gold of Incan Peru;  the turquoise-blue of the South Pacific islands;  the emerald hillsides of New Zealand; the opalesque colors of the Great Barrier reef;  the pearls of the Orient;  the rubies of the rajahs in India; the ancient treasures of the Valley of the Kings;  and the sapphire blue waters of the Mediterranean.  The M/S Amsterdam, our elegant home-away-from-home, is designed to navigate the seven seas in a truly grand style featuring gracious and attentive service, exquisite art and antiques, fragrant flowers, beautiful music, sparkling entertainment and delicious food.  Truth be told, the most precious gems of this 110 day cruise are the people.  Old friendships rekindled; new ones made.  How can we ever forget the faces of the people all over the world in which we were privileged to travel?  Happy, smiling people who welcome us to their country; the wild smiles of the world’s children, eager to be seen with you; and the grateful smiles of those men, women and children who were the beneficiaries of our generosity through donations to the Red Cross (New Zealand and Japan).  When we are home, long after the bags are unpacked and the photos and videos sorted; long after souvenirs and gifts have been delivered, one truly lasting memory will remain.  YOU, our dear guests and cherished friends, are the real GEMS of this Grand World voyage. 

There was more but you can’t make this stuff up - and I believe he was sincere.

We visited 6 continents, 27 countries, 41 ports, 2 canals, had 10 overnights in the same port and traveled 32, 230 nautical miles.  We received 19 gifts, every formal night, ranging from a World Cruise logo wheeled duffle bag (which we both needed) to jigsaw puzzles.  AND, I came back 9 pounds lighter than when I left, not realizing my goal of 10 pounds.  

We’re booked for 2013.  I hope it comes to fruition.

Joe Wagg

Some Final thoughts

April 28,2011

Some final thoughts

Unfortunately in my post  cruise haze, I reversed the last two postings. Madeira  was the last port. Sorry

The questions I ask myself now that I have been home two days is,  did I enjoy it and would I do it again. The answer to the first question is the jury is still out. I am very glad I took advantage of this opportunity however. I loved cruising in the same direction with some of it north or south. it was so interesting to me to see the cultures of these countries merge as a result of the trade routes so long ago.  As you can imagine this is not like any other cruise. You are busy, even with all the sea days. There is a lot going on. The hardest parts were the rudeness of some of the other passengers and the length. Number 2 question answer is probably. Now that I know the ropes it would be easier. In fact Joe booked us on the 2013 sailing. This one goes to the the West coast of Australia and the East coast of Africa, neither of which we have seen.

Also, I failed in my goal not to gain any weight. As of this morning I am 6 pounds heavier. Time to get to work

Gina Wagg

Cadiz, Spain

Cadiz, Spain

April 17,2011

Unfortunately for us, this is Palm Sunday, a very big holiday in Spain. I wanted to go to Seville for the day and knew I could get there by train. We walked about a mile, met other passengers along the way, to what looked like the ticket office for the train station next store. I never saw a train put Joe insisted it was a train station. He bought round trip tickets for us and one other couple. Then someone pointed out to us that this was the bus station and Joe had bought bus tickets.

Going  to Seville by bus was probably the best way. It was clean, efficient and took only 90 mins. So here we are in this big city with no map, a language barrier and no plans with the exception of having lunch somewhere. I like to have a plan and this situation caused to me to have a meltdown, vowing never to be in this situation again. I spied a hotel and we got a map there and headed to the river as our experience with travel has been that usually that is where things are. We started walking as the crowd of families and others started to build. The people were dressed like they were all going to a wedding, even the children. Beautiful expensive shoes and clothes on everyone. Most of the men were wearing ties. As we walked further into the narrow streets with restored buildings and churches, some decorated with ceramic tiles, we saw hundreds of young people forming a possession, dressed in costumes,mainly white with tall cone shaped masks, just like the KKK. We have no idea what these represent. We did see a sign that said this is not the KKK. This town on this day was party central. Hundreds of thousands of them. At one point we were trapped in a very narrow area and lost.

For lunch we had some form of a Paella made with broken spaghetti instead of rice and tapas of ham and cheese with wine and beer, in a fast food kind of place if you can believe it,  called Boston Burger. We were lucky to find a seat anywhere.

When you travel by ship you have a one shot deal to see the area. This was a once a year event and was fascinating, however I think I would have liked a regular day there.

Gina Wagg

Funchal, Maderia Island Portugal

April 19,2011

Funchal,Madeira ,Portugal

This is our last port. Unfortunately, we had only until 3PM there. This seems to always be the case for this lovely place as it takes a long time to get to the mainland from here in either direction. We stopped here 3 years ago on our way to Africa. The island now is more tourist friendly with a new passenger terminal that is basically just a building so far and also there are hop on/hop off busses.

There are flowers everywhere in this temperate climate, the home of Madeira wine. After some heated discussion, Joe and I went on one of the busses. This island is of volcanic origin, so you can imagine the amazing views. I was hoping to get to the other side, but as I found out this time the Island is huge and it would take all day. The bus did take us to a high overlook and a cute fishing village called Camera de Lobos. We got off there for a short look around. We ended up back in the down town area had a not so good hurried lunch before it was time to catch the shuttle back to the ship.

I find it so frustrating to have just a little time in some of these wonderful places. You have to make a decision about what you want to do and without internet access a good part of the time, you rely on information from the ship. Holland gives out very poor maps, so you are looking shoreside for good ones which often times are not available. 

Now, we head southwest  to Ft Lauderdale for the next 6 days  of which 5 of them will be 25 hr days since we crossed the international dateline more than 2 months ago.

Gina Wagg

Cartagena, Spain

CARTAGENA, SPAIN, 16 April 11

Well, another lovely day in another lovely port.  Cartagena is on the south coast of Spain, Mediterranean side.  Old is the word here, dating back to the Carthaginians conquest.  But the real joy for me here was the fact that Holland America’s newest build, Nieuw Amsterdam would be sharing the dock with us.  All Amsterdam passengers were allowed to tour the Nieuw Amsterdam in the morning.  An incredibly beautiful ship with all the new ship bells and whistles.  While many of our fellow guests considered her “too big”, it’s obvious that nobody in the mass market cruise lines will be building any 65,000 ton ships like the Amsterdam anytime in the future.  Holland’s fleet is aging, the Prinsendam being the oldest but in a special category.  The Statendam class ships debuted in 1993, making them close to twenty years old.  Holland’s core market is the senior citizen and they don’t like the ships any larger than what they are now accustomed to.  I’m not sure how this is going to play out over the next ten years but Holland has some serious thinking to do regarding their core customers.

Great pleasure was mine when while onboard the Nieuw Amsterdam I ran into an old friend, Mike Feeney.  He was the Royal Caribbean sales rep back in 1989 when I was with Admiral Cruise Center.  After several cruise line changes he became my district sales manager for Holland until he made an extreme career decision and became an onboard future booking consultant.  This means he and his wife live on Holland ships 8 months a year.  They’ve leased their home in New Hampshire and for all intents and purposes are world vagabonds.  He looks hale and fit and seems to be enjoying his new life style.  

Cartagena itself is a tourist’s dream.  Traffic-free streets, plenty of shopping, sidewalk cafes and street performers.  The streets are paved in marble, the buildings look like a set for some movie about the crusades and prices are affordable.  We went off the beaten track a little bit, as we are wont to do, and found a small grocery store where we purchased a 2 litre bottle of Cola light without caffeine for .40 Euro.  A 750 ml bottle of red table wine, not too bad either, was 1 Euro.  A great day in a very enjoyable port.

Joe Wagg

Port for Rome

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy  14 April 11

Here in this summer resort for the Romans, street life is very active in the mornings before the 2 PM siesta so common throughout the Latin countries.  A huge open air market dominates the upper portion of the main pedestrian street and it was surprising how busy it was there at 11 AM.  Fresh fish, cheeses, cold cuts, bread and really good looking produce, not to mention the adjacent flea market selling K-Mart like quality clothing, hardware, etc.  The thought occurred to buy some bread, cold cuts and cheese along with a small bottle of wine and bring them back to the ship for lunch but the overwhelming attraction of another real pizza was the deciding lunch factor.

Probably 60% of the ship went to Rome for the day.  How can you not like Rome?  The ship offered outrageously priced tours plus a transfer only for $94.00.  Some people opted to take the train for 13 Euro round trip which is what we would have done had we been so inclined.  We’d never seen Civitavecchia before so the time was spent here wandering the streets and finding a lunch spot.  One huge problem here and probably throughout Italy is that EVERYONE smokes.  We went into one cafe where the proprietor was concurrently making a cappuccino and lighting his cigarette.  Sidewalks are littered with cigarette butts and, quite frankly, at close proximation, these folks stink of old smoke in their clothes.

The town itself is pleasant enough even though the season has yet to begin.  There is a lovely promenade walk along the oceanfront that is currently under construction (although nobody was constructing on a Thursday), a pedestrian zone/shopping area with some upscale and not so upscale shops but a minimal amount of outdoor, sit-down cafes so common in other parts of Italy.  We could not find a place to have coffee on our second trip to town in the afternoon, other than sitting next to chain smokers.  Lunch consisted of a pizza at double the cost of the Herculaneum pizzas, a very fine tossed salad and local beer and wine.

Gina and I were discussing this morning our favorite parts of this odyssey.  We both came to the conclusion that eating the local foods in a local setting tops the list.  It doesn’t matter if it’s Sydney, Papua New Guinea or Safaga, Egypt.  You can only see so many ruins, cathedrals and botanical gardens before they all run together.  People and food give the best flavor even if they smoke.

They’ve just announced the 2013 World Cruise and it looks like something I’d be interested in doing.  Anyone want to come along????

Joe Wagg  

Naples,Italy

Naples, Italy    12-13 April 2011

In the words of the immortal Victor Herbert’s (?) Italian Street Song -” Ah my heart belongs in Napoli” -  As a cruise port, there are so many things to do here that even two days, as we had, only touches the surface.  Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Ischia, Pompeii, Herculaneum, museums, pizza and more pizza.  I think this is our third trip here and on the other two trips we did not really see the city proper, venturing out to the tourist areas of Amalfi Coast, Positano, Ischia and Pompeii.  This time we decided to stay closer to the city.

Day one was sunny and bright, an ideal day for visiting Herculaneum, along with Pompeii a victim of the 79 AD Mount Vesuvius eruption.  At Pompeii, people were buried in the ash and really didn’t have a chance.  At Herculaneum, the city was buried in a slow moving mud, allowing residents the opportunity to flee.  As a result, structures are in a much better state of preservation at Herculaneum.  Some of the frescoes still remain on the walls of the homes and their colors are amazing.  Excavation here was first begun in 1736 and continues to this date.  While Pompeii is certainly better known, I enjoyed Herculaneum better and would recommend it over Pompeii if you could only do one.  On the way back to the train station to return to Naples, we stopped for a very enjoyable pizza at a tiny cafe.  Since the pizza was only 3 Euros, we figured they would be individual sized and so ordered two.  Big mistake!  Two full size (12”?) pizzas arrived which we knew we could not finish.  Wrong again!  Ate them both along with two beers and a jug of wine for 15 Euros.

Day two dawned overcast with spotty rain showers.  Undaunted, we put on our rain gear and commenced the 45 minute walk to the Archaeological Museum.  Just a few sprinkles along the way to the museum which was free for some unknown reason (as was Herculaneum).  The rooms we visited were artifacts that had been removed from Pompeii and Herculaneum plus some statues from the Farnese Palace.  A poorly organized museum with very little security and no air quality.  Reminded me of St. Petersburg.  We got drenched on the walk back which meant no second pizzas.

Off to Civitavecchia for Rome tomorrow.

Joe Wagg