kochleffel

The talk show was actually a video call, but if anyone had told me that it was Jerry Springer I would probably have believed it.

For the second day in a row, people in the next cabin seem to be watching TV on their balcony with the volume cranked up high. Yesterday it was cartoons; today it sounds like a daytime talk show.

Alpha Kappa Alpha, founded in 1908 at Howard University, was the first college sorority of African American women. Many other schools now have chapters and AKA has been an important force in education, anti-poverty initiatives, and health, especially in the rural South. Vice-President Kamala Harris is a member.

The American robin of the Northeast is classed as migratory--its scientific name is Turdus migratorius, migratory thrush--but its winter range and breeding range substantially overlap. There is reason to think that it is becoming less migratory.

Maybe it should be called a Macduff section.

I meant to post this earlier. It was distributed on the day after embarkation. If you found luggage outside your door that wasn’t yours, would you just bring it in and keep it?

@Nickelpenny I believe that Queen Margrethe chose today because it’s the anniversary of her accession.

I see that squash has pushed its way into lasagna 😞 . This morning I slept too late for MDR breakfast and so got a croissant and coffee at Two70, not that would have wanted a full breakfast anyway. We’re at St. Kitts; I cancelled a tour booking with Thenford Grey.

In that vein, there are a lot of sunburned Australians on this cruise. Why would a person come all the way from Australia to get sunburned?

Except when I was forced to be in the sun, such as summer camp, I did stay out of it.

I’m pretty sure that this is just the beginning of a cold. I went back to bed after breakfast and slept until 11:00, then dressed again and went to the espresso bar so that my steward could have access to the room. After that I had a light lunch in Two70 and read in my room. I’m conflicted about dinner. I would consider room service, except that the MDR hosts would think that I was miffed about the mixup last night. I had asked to be seated at the same stations every night, and last night they couldn’t do it. Apparently the British theme drew a lot of people away from the Windjammer, although there were enough other two-tops. They fell all over themselves apologizing, and later one even followed me to the elevator to apologize some more. I mentioned before that there were complaints on CC about the new menus and small portions. I haven’t seen that they are smaller than in 2019 or 2022, and the portions of some of the theme items have been huge.

It seems that back home in upstate NY is warmer today than most of the country: 42° F.

Docked at St. John’s, Antigua, along with the Marella Discovery and the P&O Arvia. I just cancelled a tour with Lawrence of Antigua because I feel ill: slight fever, bronchial inflammation. Covid self-test is negative.

Someone at the neighboring table has ordered the butternut squash curry.

I enjoyed St. Maarten but I don’t really see the point. As far as I can tell, iguanas (photo posted earlier) are the only natural resource, and as there is very little demand for them, the economy is entirely dependent on tourism, much of it at the extreme luxury end. I have heard that St Maarten has the cheapest duty-free liquor. I had booked a tour with no beach stop but ended up having one anyway. I spent it drinking; my fellow drinkers were all from the P&O Arvia, docked next to us, and were worked up from a tiff with one of the servers (and possibly with having to pay in either euros or dollars, not pounds). The other cruise ships in port were the Norwegian Viva and the Jewel of the Seas. And I don’t know what to think about a place where the airport is an essential stop, although I did like seeing the private jets taking off. The attraction was supposed to be the commercial jets that were landing, of which the largest was an Air France A330.

When I moved to Los Angeles in 2001, I applied for a California driver’s license and surrendered my other one, receiving a receipt for both the old license and the California license application. This is good enough for a traffic stop, but when I needed photo identification in a bank, I used my passport. A nitwit employee told me that United States passports were not valid in California. That bank has since gone out of business.

I posted Sitka pix the last time it was the port. It's English night in the MDR: fish and chips, chicken pie, roast beef. But the Indian dish is butternut squash curry.

After not seeing elephants roaming around Greece, I wasn't looking for them on St. Thomas.

Yes. Our tour driver assured us that he wasn't crazy.

Cleared to go ashore. The captain has just warned us that cars in the USVI drive on the left.

I can do it, at least most days. I don’t promise not to add commentary.

This itinerary is costing RCI a lot in fuel. The captain said on Sunday that all engines would have to run full on to reach Puerto Plata by yesterday morning, and yesterday that it would be the same to reach St. Thomas today—and we don’t expect to dock until 11:30. But it’s then a shorter distance to St Maarten. I’m at the Vintages wine bar, which is one of the few quiet places on the ship even when it’s open, which is not yet. A waiter from Jamie’s is roaming around, trying to get people to make reservations for tonight. The menu looks like an Americanized version of Italian food; maybe that’s what passengers want? The Italian restaurants on NCL get complaints because the menus are too authentic.

Does the phrase “a three-hour tour” ring a bell? It’s from the Gilligan’s Island theme. My tour today was supposed to be three hours but lasted five and a half: delayed start because an MSC ship was docking next to us, waits at every stop because of congestion, you name it. And most of it was boring. (Remember that it wasn’t my original choice.)