LIVE from the Diamond Princess - 35 days Singapore to Vancouver

[Pia1913]

Welcome to Sunday morning in Busan, formerly known as Pusan. I really don’t understand why the letter P has now become a B, but evidently this is what is currently occurring in Korea. Our last visit here was in 2005 when we visited the UN Memorial Cemetery, the final resting place for soldiers and medical personnel who gave their lives during the Korean War.

Yesterday’s departure from Nagasaki was really nice, watching and listening to the high school band. We had a nice wine time sail away from our balcony (all of us), since ours was the only cabin facing the pier in this port. After dinner Mike and I decided to spend the evening in our cabin watching the movie Sarah’s Key.

　

We are only in port today until 2, so we will take the free shuttle into town which they tell us is a 20 minute ride. There are no immigration requirements here, so we should be able to get off quickly.

　

On board today are two afternoon movies at 3:00. MUTS has Three Musketeers and in the theater, “Contraband” starring Mark Wahlberg. Evening entertainment is the production show “Piano Man” in the theater, Rikki Jay again in Explorer’s and “Hugo” on MUTS. We enjoyed Rikki the other night, so will see him again.

　

That’s about it for now. Hopefully this will post, since I’m not enthralled with the current signal which has only partially returned. See you later.

Johnny: will give you details to get to when I get home. Need to conserve minutes now. Just remind me at the end.

[Pam in CA]

We got to Beijing in the middle of a sandstorm, so glad to know it was not smog! Hote Marriott city walls is nice, met lots of princess cruisers--hundreds here--and we are doing princess tours for the next 3 days.

Would love to hear more about the Marriott City Walls and the 3-day tour. I'm doing this a year from now pre-cruise. I'm arriving an extra day before and a few of us are planning to go to the zoo. Were Princess tours offered the day before the 3-day tour package or did you go to the silk market and zoo on your own?

[CMorgan]

[

 

LIVE from the Nagasaki cruise terminal

 

 

 

WHY do they take your temperature? Photo and even fingerprint I can see but are they looking for illnesses?

How did you know to find the mall? Could you give a little directions to find it?

Thanks for your posts and details, we are doing this sailing next April.:)

 

I think it is to make sure people don't have SARS. I was on this cruise last november and we had to have our temperature taken the day before we arrived in Shanghai. It was in the Club Fusion. Everyone had to walk by a scanner.

[mjd]

I'm on the 3-day pre-cruise next year. Research indicates that the two closest Great Wall sections to Beijing are Badaling and Mutianya. The former is supposed to be about 45 minutes from Beijing and the latter an hour.

 

Both sections are supposed to have cable cars to get one (with bad knees and excessive avoirdupois) up to the top of the wall. Or, if not to the top, close to the top.

 

For anyone who took Princess' 3-day pre-cruise this year, to which section of the wall did they take you?

 

Inquiring minds . . .

 

thanks, Mary Jo

[lithlith]

Would love to hear more about the Marriott City Walls and the 3-day tour. I'm doing this a year from now pre-cruise. I'm arriving an extra day before and a few of us are planning to go to the zoo. Were Princess tours offered the day before the 3-day tour package or did you go to the silk market and zoo on your own?

 

We were on the Singapore to Beijing Diamond Princess cruise in March this year. We stayed at the Marriott City Wall at the end of the trip. (However, we did not use Princess to arrange this. We used Marriott points.) It's a nice hotel with only a few minutes walk to the subway. Also the Concierge staff has a great command of the English language.

 

We used the the services of Catherine Lu for a transport the port in Tianjin to Beijing and sightseeing in Beijing (Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Tienanmen Square and Pearl Market). We paid a total of $20USD more than what we would have paid for the Princess transfer and tour to Beijing, we saw more, and it was just the two of us with our own private guide! Our second day in Bejing we used The China Guide to arrange a guide and driver for sightseeing (Beijing Zoo, Summer Palace, Great Wall at Mutianyu, and Olympic Venues). As it being our first time to Beijing, I didn't want to use the same company both days just in case one wasn't very good I didn't want to be stuck with them for another day! Anyway, both worked out fine and I would recommend either company.

 

We took the subway around ourselves in the evening after our guided tours were done for the day. The subway is super cheap (about $0.30 USD!) and easy to use to get around. We took the subway to the Silk Market and to the Chaoyang Acrobat Show (we booked our tickets through The China Guide ahead of time - and highly recommend the show!).

 

As for shopping, we preferred the Pearl Market over the Silk Market because it was less busy when we were there. However, I got my best deals while out at the Great Wall.

 

My tip for the zoo is to go early. The panda exhibit opens at 8am. We were there at 8 and there were only a few other people around. There is also a subway stop for the zoo.

[Pia1913]

Arriverderci (don’t know the Korean word) Busan. See you again next week. We just left the port, while watching an entertaining sendoff by local singers and dancers. We do have it all on our camcorder.

 

　

We took the 9:00 AM shuttle into town, which was first a stop at a park up a very steep hill. The bus chugged its way up; thought it was going to die. Most people didn’t get off (we included) and continued into town to the stop in front of the Phoenix Hotel. (good place to use the facilities). There is a huge underground shopping area, but this being Sunday only very few stores opened. I wouldn’t recommend it anyway, since it’s obviously an area for locals. No sign of souvenir items at all. I specifically went in search for a Starbucks where we had our coffee and bought an insulated, tall skinny mug; it has warriors on it and says Korea. Walked around for a while, bought a few ancillary items and took the noon shuttle back. This was a short port day, so next week when we return we’ll have a full day to meander about. Not sure if we will go in at all.

　

 

Our friends all took the ship’s tour to the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, a location by the sea at which they navigated around 100 steps to see a huge unusual Buddha. I believe they also visited a 24,000 foot suspension bridge; the longest one in Korea.

　

 

Those who want to know more about Beijing precruise tour with Princess, please wait until Amelia boards on Tuesday and she can give you all the pertinent information. Meanwhile internet went down again and this will stay off line until I can post. A real pain! When I do get to finally log off it charges me for all the minutes it wasn’t on. Now I need to get back 26 minutes. Grrrrrrrrrrrr……….

[Pam in CA]

We were on the Singapore to Beijing Diamond Princess cruise in March this year. We stayed at the Marriott City Wall at the end of the trip. (However, we did not use Princess to arrange this. We used Marriott points.) It's a nice hotel with only a few minutes walk to the subway. Also the Concierge staff has a great command of the English language.

 

We used the the services of Catherine Lu for a transport the port in Tianjin to Beijing and sightseeing in Beijing (Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Tienanmen Square and Pearl Market). We paid a total of $20USD more than what we would have paid for the Princess transfer and tour to Beijing, we saw more, and it was just the two of us with our own private guide! Our second day in Bejing we used The China Guide to arrange a guide and driver for sightseeing (Beijing Zoo, Summer Palace, Great Wall at Mutianyu, and Olympic Venues). As it being our first time to Beijing, I didn't want to use the same company both days just in case one wasn't very good I didn't want to be stuck with them for another day! Anyway, both worked out fine and I would recommend either company.

 

We took the subway around ourselves in the evening after our guided tours were done for the day. The subway is super cheap (about $0.30 USD!) and easy to use to get around. We took the subway to the Silk Market and to the Chaoyang Acrobat Show (we booked our tickets through The China Guide ahead of time - and highly recommend the show!).

 

As for shopping, we preferred the Pearl Market over the Silk Market because it was less busy when we were there. However, I got my best deals while out at the Great Wall.

 

My tip for the zoo is to go early. The panda exhibit opens at 8am. We were there at 8 and there were only a few other people around. There is also a subway stop for the zoo.

Thank you for the helpful info. While not applicable for me, useful for others. Since I'm older and traveling alone, I'm going to mostly stick with Princess hotel, tours and transfers. I've spent some time in Beijing previously but I'm not comfortable going out on my own.

[icat2000]

Thanks for the updates. Another solo traveller on the pre cruise three days with Princess next year. I don't mind venturing out a bit but always nice to have someone to go with you. When I was in Dehli, India travelling alone before my trip started, I meet a Canadian girl at breakfast and we did Red Fort and markets using the subway on are own.

[bcnvcanada]

the Marrriot City wall is a good hotel. You can walk 500 meters to the main Beijing train station. Across the street from the train station is a kfc and in that building, down one floor is a great market. Everything you would need. Walking to the subway is again 500 meters. Very easy to use. One stop to the SilkMarket, again using an underground enterance. I did it several times as a single women. No problems. We used the subway to the Pearl Market, but found the vendors there to be agressive. As for the princess tours. They are okay. Great wall was the Balding. Dr0p not near the cable car. Taxi, are cheap, except when returning to hotel. Metro is easy to use, though can be crowded. Smog is a problem in Beijing, year round.

[ibfern]

Would love to hear more about the Marriott City Walls and the 3-day tour. I'm doing this a year from now pre-cruise. I'm arriving an extra day before and a few of us are planning to go to the zoo. Were Princess tours offered the day before the 3-day tour package or did you go to the silk market and zoo on your own?

 

Hi Pam

 

The Marriott is very nice, they have 3 towers and the rooms are fantastic. We bought ourselves passes to the exec level, nice breakfast in peace, enough food at dinner to call it dinner, free booze, water, sodas, and lots of sweete. Worth 90 a night? Probably not for us be ause we are not drinkers. But wow the people I've met up here, such stories and experiences, makes me happy.

 

We arrived a day earlier than the tours, so glad we did. Ecause it helped with time adjustment. We are on the 3 day tour, and they do have a lot of optional tours as well. We visited to zoom, Lama temple, and decent dinner on an optional tour and it was nice, I can recommend it.

 

We walked to the silk market on our own, it was easy to find but frustrating to negotiate--get your gloves on and dig in for some hard core negotiating. I found similar stuff in the old hutongs, much cheaper because no overhead for street vendors,

 

Pam if I can help you here, just ask! You have always helped me and its myleasure to help you.

[mjd]

Hi Amelia,

 

A friend and I will do the 3-day pre-cruise next year. It looks like the flight we will book arrives in Beijing at 11:30 pm, which will give us a free day in Beijing before the 3-day tours start. With luck, we'll be at the Marriott City Wall around 1:00 am.

 

You mentioned optional tours being available; are they through the hotel or Princess?

 

We'd like to possibly do the zoo and Lama Temple tour that you mentioned but arriving in the early hours are not sure how we would book it.

 

Also, the 90 cost for the executive level at the hotel--is that $90 US or RMB/yuan? Just curious.

 

thanks, Mary Jo

 

quote=ibfern;33560307]

 

snipped

 

We bought ourselves passes to the exec level, nice breakfast in peace, enough food at dinner to call it dinner, free booze, water, sodas, and lots of sweete. Worth 90 a night?

 

snipped

 

We are on the 3 day tour, and they do have a lot of optional tours as well. We visited to zoom, Lama temple, and decent dinner on an optional tour and it was nice, I can recommend it.

 

snipped

 

[Pam in CA]

Hi Amelia,

 

A friend and I will do the 3-day pre-cruise next year. It looks like the flight we will book arrives in Beijing at 11:30 pm, which will give us a free day in Beijing before the 3-day tours start. With luck, we'll be at the Marriott City Wall around 1:00 am.

 

You mentioned optional tours being available; are they through the hotel or Princess?

 

We'd like to possibly do the zoo and Lama Temple tour that you mentioned but arriving in the early hours are not sure how we would book it.

 

Also, the 90 cost for the executive level at the hotel--is that $90 US or RMB/yuan? Just curious.

Thanks for asking these questions. In addition, is that $90 per-person or per room, per day? Or is it $45 per-person?

[lithlith]

In regards to the Marriott City Wall in Beijing, if you have status with Marriott's rewards program, then you'll get access to the Executive Lounge at no cost and likely a room upgrade as well. I'm not sure if booking with Princess negates this or not.

This hotel is also frequently reviewed on TripAdvisor.com, which is a great place to learn more about this hotel from people who have stayed there both with and without Princess.

[Bowie MeMe]

Would love to hear more about the Marriott City Walls and the 3-day tour. I'm doing this a year from now pre-cruise. I'm arriving an extra day before and a few of us are planning to go to the zoo. Were Princess tours offered the day before the 3-day tour package or did you go to the silk market and zoo on your own?

 

I'm interested in the Marriott City Walls and the tour also. I wanted to do the tour before the cruise and so am doing it with China Odyssey based on the Princess tour (Oct. 13/20 2012). If anybody does any of the other Marriott hotels in Beijing please comment also. (Marriott family rates are too good to ignore). The Marriott Riverside in Bangkok has been sold! (and I had a reservation and didn't notice:rolleyes:)

[ibfern]

Hi all,

 

We are paying 90 USA for each day we use it, that is per couple so I guess it is 45 pp. we signed up for Princess tours, but there is also a greyhound tour desk, and lots of folks doing private.

 

Try not to visit during labor day holidays, it's actually 3 days long and it is crowded. Very. Our tour was ok, not great because we were rushed around everywhere and given no extra time to wander. Mostly to get back so the people on the optional tours could rest, refresh, and leave again. Our tour this morning was lengthened so we leave at 7:30 am rather than8. Looking at a 3 hour drive to the great wall--no water allowed because no bathroom stop! Next time we will go private!

 

Glad we had an extra day to relax and shop, we walked to the silk market from the hotel, on our own. Prices are higher there because they pay rent, pay about 1/4 what they ask! It's smoggy and we had a sand storm, it's killing my asthma but I'd have to be dead to miss the wall! ;)

 

Gotta go, hope I covered everyone's questions.

[ccrain]

I really enjoyed the reports on the shore excursions. I think I would like to see Shanghai but the off the beaten path seemed good also. CCRAIN could you please ask around to others who went on that tour and see if the problem was your guide or if the tour design was badly timed.

 

Do you think we need face masks for the pollution? I tend to have real problems with allergies and breathing in heat/humidity/pollution. TIA

 

Thanks for these great reports. With many voices you get a very good idea of how the trip is coming along. I am taking notes for Oct. :D

 

According to the bar stewards in Skywalkers, the Diamond was always late leaving Shangai. have not figured out the reason for the time discrepancies yet.

[ccrain]

Once or twice in a cruise we have a perfect day, or near perfect, and today was one of those days.

 

A busy day, but nothing too dramatic or stressful, just a lot of quality time together.

 

We got a good night’s sleep last night and started off in the Atrium having coffee together, her doing soduko and Itouch games, me updating my blog, checking my email and answering some pressing questions from work. Two tall latte’s each and we were ready for Zumba, but not for breakfast. I’d rather work out on an empty stomach anyway. Zumba with Kim was energetic, frenetic, fun, tiring, but infinitely satisfying. Got those endorphins really flowing.

 

After Zumba it was time for a quick bite of lunch. Ship board sushi today. The rice was good, the shrimp and roll fish was all cooked, but not too bad. A nice light lunch.

 

After lunch it was the Paso Doble and Tango class. Hmmm, maybe not so perfect a day after all after walking all over Judy’s feet. We had a slight break watching more of Hutch’s port lecture on Nagasaki (he’s the best port lecturer I’ve ever had) and then back at it for a line dance review class. So far a pretty busy day.

 

Back to the room for a shower, some more port talks, then out to see Kelvin and Matt tape the morning show in the Atrium. That was a lot of fun. Kelvin does a pretty good morning show and Matt plays off him quite well. Not to mention the fact that we are spreading the rumor that Matt is a father, again. He thinks Kelvin is spreading the rumors – well not anymore as we have fessed up to both of them. But it was fun while it lasted.

 

After the taping, we were pretty hungry and instead of heading to the buffet, went to the Savoy for some French dinner. We really like the dining concept on the Diamond. The four dining rooms seem much more intimate due to the layout. We’ve been in three of the four theme dining rooms and the international for breakfast one morning. But anyway, back to dinner, which was really good. I had two snail appetizers, with extra bread to soak up all that garlic butter goodness. The onion soup and the duck a’lorange. Judy had a snail, pumpkin soup with turnip and the beef medallions with mushroom sauce – and a side of asparagus. The meal was absolutely the best thing we’d eaten since chef’s table. Tasty, perfectly prepared, spiced and seasoned just right, it was really good – capped off by some really creamy, delicious and really bad for you homemade ice cream. Yummy!

 

The band in Explorer’s is Nightwatch. We’ve never sailed with them before. They are an ok R&R band. We’ve had worse, we’ve had better, but we can dance to them and that’s what important. The wheelhouse band, the Moonlighter’s Quartet, is ok when instrumental. I can’t dance when she’s singing – I lose count track and fall all over myself, plus step all over Judy – not a good thing. Dancing in fusion is to canned music and as far as we can tell, there is no dancing in skywalkers. Haven’t made it up there late at night.

 

So after dinner we did some dancing in Explorer’s, then moved to Fusion, then off to bed as we have an 0500 alarm set to go to Nagasaki.

 

See, it wasn’t that exciting, but it was relaxing, satisfying, fun. A very good day at sea…

[ccrain]

We love Japan. We love the food. We love the people, their attitudes, their customs, their courtesies. From the time we stepped on the ANA plane in SFO to fly to Singapore, and got bowed to by the entire staff at the gate (when’s the last time that happened on United?), we were looking forward to visiting Japan – and we weren’t disappointed. We had a great tour and a great send off from Nagasaki. There were no street peddlers, no beggars, no high pressure sales, only big smiles, bows, and waves. An absolute joy to visit…

 

We started the day with a continental breakfast on the balcony as we sailed into the bay. The Mitsubishi ship works have expanded to outside the bridge and several brand new ships could be seen under construction and one brand spanking new tanker ready to sail away. After traveling under the bridge, which according to the Captain, has a whole 30’ clearance to the top of the stack, I noticed several Aegis class ships (I’m pretty sure they are DDG class with SPY-1 radars, a single 5” gun and, with no missile rail visible, I assume a VLS launch system) under construction in the same Mitsubishi yards that spawned the Diamond and Sapphire princess. I wasn’t aware we exported Aegis technology to Japan.

 

Nagasaki is the birth place of the Diamond and the Sapphire. Although we are on the Diamond, the actual hull was originally intended to be the Sapphire, but after the first ship, to be named Diamond, caught fire and was delayed a few months, the other hull, originally to be designated Sapphire, was changed to be the Diamond. Confused?

 

Mike was our tour guide – couldn’t even come close to pronouncing his Japanese name. Older and ageless, but self admittedly retired, we traveled to Shimbura castle in the Southwest corner of the prefecture. About a 2 hour bus trip. Stopped at a little shop on the way and bought some castellan, plum and orange, a Portuguese cake influenced by Japanese bakers since the 1700’s. Having the local currency was very helpful and the girls spoke a little English, but their manager spoke English almost fluently. As we boarded the bus they all came out in the parking lot and bowed as we left. Then the manager went out into the highway and stopped traffic so that the bus could depart. Wow. That’s service! (We are preparing to eat part of the cake this morning in the atrium with coffee preparing for our trip into Busan. Plum and it is absolutely delicious.)

 

The trip was about 2 hours through various fishing villages, farms, along the coast. Very interesting and ancient land. The farm plots have concrete walls, some rock walls, and concrete irrigation ditches along the perimeters. This land has been farmed for millennia. I knew Japan was mountainous, but not this much. The Shimbura castle is near a recently active volcano that erupted in 1970 and killed several persons. The pyroclastic flow track went through the center of this sea coast village and buried/destroyed many houses, several of which are on display at a local monument that we also saw.

 

The castle tour was followed by a tour of the nearby Samurai village. Most of the cottages are occupied, but a few were left vacant for tourists. A lot of young Japanese tourists were in the area including one family with two cute little girls wading in the water course that flows down the center of the street. (Giggling little girls in Japanese sounds the same as giggling in English.) The architecture, the yards and the grounds were all very interesting. People watching the locals reacting to us were even more interesting. We got all kinds of pictures of the locals and they go all kinds of pictures of us.

 

After the castle, we went to lunch. And finally, a not too westernized lunch. We had a soup with seafood and a fantastic broth, sashimi of two different fishes, some egg, seaweed and poached fish. Braised pork belly and rice. It was the best meal of any excursion on any trip we’ve ever had – and we had time to enjoy it. After lunch we went downstairs, did a little shopping, found the required fridge magnet, saw a kombu farm and then off to the volcano park.

 

The park preserves the houses as they were buried, except for one was moved into its final place during construction of the park. Everyone had been evacuated from the houses. The 1970 eruption was not as drastic as the 1700 eruption that almost destroyed the town, slid into the bay and killed several hundred on the other side by the landslide induced tsunami.

 

The lunch alone made this excursion worth every penny, but the sights were interesting as well and we had a really good time.

 

Sailaway from Nagasaki was great. A school band played as we left and several hundred people showed up to cheer us as we left. Kind of poignant since the Diamond, and Sapphire, were both built across the bay from the cruise terminal at the Mitsubishi ship works. The captain let loose with more than the usual ship’s whistles, which really got the crowd going. (The Diamond will not be back until next fall.) The trip back under the bridge was pretty spectacular from the upper decks and several dozen people were on hand to see us go under.

 

Hands down, our favorite port. We are really looking forward to Sapporo next week before crossing heading to Alaska.

[ccrain]

How would you like to live next to a complete nutcase, a military dictatorship and a starving population with nuclear weapons? Two things were apparent in S Korea; they are very nervous about the North and they love Americans. We had a great excursion with Lee, or Mr. Lee. We were nervous because our ticket said ‘student guide with limited english’. This was not the case as Mr. Lee was pretty fluent in English.

 

Since the ship was only in port for 7 hours, the excursion was a half day excursion to one of the local temples and then to the fish market. The temple was beautiful, but with lots of steep stairs, so beware of this excursion for the mobility limited. Nestled in the side of a hill, they call them mountains, we come from Colorado, they are hills, the temple complex is a series of Buddhist pagoda type buildings and statuary, with one temple being rebuilt. (They use pine for the carved figures, which surprised me as I thought they would use a hardwood.) Since it was Sunday, there were a lot of worshippers, not because they worship on Sunday, but a lot of people had the day off! So we pretty much stayed out of the temples and out of the worshippers way. But it was an enjoyable start to the day.

 

Then we went to the fish market. Both live fish and dried fish market, as well as the food stalls along the waterfront near the fish market. We’ve seen these things on various travel shows, but never actually have visited one. It was a pretty interesting experience as every type of seafood, whether it crawls, walks, swims or slithers, was on display for sale – live or dried. Hundreds of vendors with thousands of fresh tasty treats, with water flowing everywhere, it was quite a unique sight. We go back to Busan on Friday for a full day stay and we plan to spend more time downtown and possibly purchase some fresh fish. They will clean it and cook it in the restaurant upstairs.

 

The food stalls were full of fresh fish being fried, poached and served. Lots of soups, stews, some pancakey looking stuff, the air was filled with the smell of roasting meats. Again, we’ve seen this kind of thing on TV, but never experienced it before. It was really, really neat and we will be back on Friday to see more.

 

They did run a free shuttle from the port to the Phoenix Hotel and had a money exchange bank set up on the dock alongside the ship. A small stand of various souvenirs were there as well. And they ran constant entertainment on a little stage with a variety of local dancers and musicians playing and dancing to local music. The kids on the drums were the best with one little girl just really getting into beating the drum. Pleasure to watch.

 

Today is an at-sea day prior to arriving at Tienjen and our 0600 meeting to go to the great wall. An early morning, that’s for sure.

[DonahCBrown]

Nagasaki was an ‘on our own’ port. We got tram tickets at the terminal, cash from the 7-11 a couple of blocks away, and headed out to explore. First stop was for the cable car up the mountain above the city. After a couple of false starts, we found the right underpass and walked up to the park area where the cable car departed from and waited for Tina and Ken to go up and walk around on the top, then we made our way back to the tram line and went to the Peace Park, with all the beautiful and touching sculptures from all over the world. We elected not to do the Atomic Bomb Museum, having done the one in Hiroshima, and left Tina and Ken to their explorations while we returned to the tram line and a stop at a large shopping center and then on to the Suwa Shinto Shrine, which is located at the top of a long steep set of steps. Dennis went up on his own as my ankle wasn’t up to it, and he said it was completely worth it, and took lots of pictures. At that point I wasn’t feeling all that great so we went back to the ship, and I rested up and then we joined Pia and Mike to watch the local school kids who presented a brass band concert for our sail away.

 

As Diamond Princess and Sapphire Princess were built in Nagsaki, the people always turn out to greet the ships on arrival -there were lots of people on the bridge shouting in welcome when we arrived and departed- and to say farewell on departure. We could see people gathered at a variety of points up the hillside waving and watching our departure.

 

The next stop was Busan (or Pusan) South Korea, on this leg, for half a day – and we will return in a few more days for a full day stop. We elected to do the half day tour to the Sea Serpent Temple, about 90 minutes out of town on the sea coast. Lots of walking, but a beautiful setting and well worth the effort. On the way back into town we stopped at the APEC House – a very modern structure built in 2005 for the APEC conference, in a lovely park on Camellia Island. I suspect it is included on tours such as this as a way for the city to pay off the cost of construction, as our guide said it gets very little other use. There really wasn’t all that much to it, although the setting was lovely.

 

Today is the last sea day for this leg, with our ‘turnaround day’ tomorrow in Beijing and all of us heading in different directions – Pia and Mike and Dennis and I will be doing a private tour to Tianjin, Tina and Ken will do a Princess Great Wall tour, and Gloria and Lew are off to the Great Wall on a private tour with some other roll call members.

[Pia1913]

Good Monday morning, the last day of the first leg of this 35 day cruise. So many different countries in just a little over two weeks. Most of the CC folks are staying on until Vancouver; I personally know only 2 couples who are disembarking in Beijing.

　

 

As planned , saw Rikki Jay last night; funny and wacky as ever. Really enjoy his shows. We also didn’t make it to the dining room, all eight of us. Decided to forgo the lobster and not be formal.

　

 

On board today are lots of sales; gotta move that merchandise. Out with the old; in with the new. Wonder what they have in store to show us; those of us staying on. We number approx. 700. There’s a diamond and exotic gemstone sale; 4 hours only. Better hurry or all the diamonds will disappear. Today also features a culinary show followed by ship’s galley tour, a veggie carving demo, a meet the cast backstage tour and the navigational chart auction. MUTS has the movie “We Bought a Zoo” in the afternoon, and “Johnny English Reborn” at 8:00 PM.

 

　

Afternoon movie in the theater is “J. Edgar” and the evening will again feature Lovena Fox. :rolleyes: No comment.

 

　

These are the highlights dujour, as most folks will be packing. So happy not to be among them. Catch you later; internet permitting. I have minutes remaining, but unfortunately they won’t roll over.

 

 

Gym done; breakfast is calling. Not too loudly. :) See you later.

[lovevacadays]

Once or twice in a cruise we have a perfect day, or near perfect, and today was one of those days.

 

A busy day, but nothing too dramatic or stressful, just a lot of quality time together.

 

We got a good night’s sleep last night and started off in the Atrium having coffee together, her doing soduko and Itouch games, me updating my blog, checking my email and answering some pressing questions from work. Two tall latte’s each and we were ready for Zumba, but not for breakfast. I’d rather work out on an empty stomach anyway. Zumba with Kim was energetic, frenetic, fun, tiring, but infinitely satisfying. Got those endorphins really flowing.

 

After Zumba it was time for a quick bite of lunch. Ship board sushi today. The rice was good, the shrimp and roll fish was all cooked, but not too bad. A nice light lunch.

 

After lunch it was the Paso Doble and Tango class. Hmmm, maybe not so perfect a day after all after walking all over Judy’s feet. We had a slight break watching more of Hutch’s port lecture on Nagasaki (he’s the best port lecturer I’ve ever had) and then back at it for a line dance review class. So far a pretty busy day.

 

Back to the room for a shower, some more port talks, then out to see Kelvin and Matt tape the morning show in the Atrium. That was a lot of fun. Kelvin does a pretty good morning show and Matt plays off him quite well. Not to mention the fact that we are spreading the rumor that Matt is a father, again. He thinks Kelvin is spreading the rumors – well not anymore as we have fessed up to both of them. But it was fun while it lasted.

 

After the taping, we were pretty hungry and instead of heading to the buffet, went to the Savoy for some French dinner. We really like the dining concept on the Diamond. The four dining rooms seem much more intimate due to the layout. We’ve been in three of the four theme dining rooms and the international for breakfast one morning. But anyway, back to dinner, which was really good. I had two snail appetizers, with extra bread to soak up all that garlic butter goodness. The onion soup and the duck a’lorange. Judy had a snail, pumpkin soup with turnip and the beef medallions with mushroom sauce – and a side of asparagus. The meal was absolutely the best thing we’d eaten since chef’s table. Tasty, perfectly prepared, spiced and seasoned just right, it was really good – capped off by some really creamy, delicious and really bad for you homemade ice cream. Yummy!

 

The band in Explorer’s is Nightwatch. We’ve never sailed with them before. They are an ok R&R band. We’ve had worse, we’ve had better, but we can dance to them and that’s what important. The wheelhouse band, the Moonlighter’s Quartet, is ok when instrumental. I can’t dance when she’s singing – I lose count track and fall all over myself, plus step all over Judy – not a good thing. Dancing in fusion is to canned music and as far as we can tell, there is no dancing in skywalkers. Haven’t made it up there late at night.

 

So after dinner we did some dancing in Explorer’s, then moved to Fusion, then off to bed as we have an 0500 alarm set to go to Nagasaki.

 

See, it wasn’t that exciting, but it was relaxing, satisfying, fun. A very good day at sea…

 

Sounds like a wonderful day. Days on a cruise are always wonderful but there are those days that surpass wonderful and stay with you. They can be on land or at sea.

 

Enjoy your cruise

[Dorinda]

Hi Pia - hi Donna!

 

Don't foget to do the "No Packing Day Dance" today!:)

And enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

Cheers - Dee

[Pia1913]

Just popping in because the internet is working and I have a bit of news. We learned today that Piano Man will be retired permanently from the entire fleet, and a new show, Born to be Wild will be entering the production line shortly. Here on the Diamond, the entire cast will be leaving in Busan Friday, May 4th, and the new team will be rehearsing and doing two shows during the duration of our cruise.

　

Remember how hot it was? Past tense. We are freezing. Couldn’t even go out on the balcony for 2 seconds. Also, we have been fogged in all day; horn tooting every few minutes.

　

That’s it for now. Will check in again later or early in the AM. We (Donna and our spouses) have a private Tianjin all day tour.

 

Hi Dee :D

[highheel girl]