and so it begins.....RTW16

[globevest]

cbb....thank you very much for reporting....detailed and delightful.

[cbb]

This is our 3rd day at sea and we're on our way to Togo. We had planned that this port would be a DIY but have decided that we will join an excursion that will show us the highlights of the area. Shipboard credit is paying for this one!!

 

We have had a couple of our passengers in ports that have had items taken from their person so we decided that there was indeed safety in numbers. Both people are fine but are sad that travel has become unsafe.

 

We won't do any DIY until we get to large cities and can do HoHo buses. Since we receive the unlimited internet package with RTW, we can keep up with the news in other countries and know O won't go into any port if it is unsettled situation.

 

Today was the Country Fair in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on the pool deck! Each of the depts set up a table with a "game" one could do and receive a colored ticket for participation and 2 if one won.

 

At the end of the Fair the CD pulled tickets out of a box redeemable for a wide variety of O items: key chains, spa certificates, wine, visors, etc.

 

Housekeeping had 2 people race each other to see who could stuff a pillow into a pillowcase first...some of the men were very deliberate while others used brute force!! Very cute!!

 

Culinary had "name that spice" and tender guys had "tie this knot". I told D that the Boy Scouts had finally paid off!

 

Lectures are very well attended and Dave Smith, the photographer is doing a great job of getting people with cell phone cameras to think about how to compose their pictures and for all of us to use some of the other buttons on our cameras to get better or different shots...good job, Dave!!

 

Artists on board are having a great time at Artists loft, there will be a quilt project, a camera club has started, and an origami class has unfolded in Terraces (sorry, couldn't help myself!)

 

In a couple of days the GM and Captain are hosting a dinner just for the RTW people so that will be nice. We're also getting pins in another party so that will be cool to see the different levels achieved by the passengers.

 

One of the RTW passengers told me yesterday that she's pretty sure she's not getting off in Miami in July but is just going to hide in her cabin and hope no one tells her she has to go home.

 

I haven't gained any weight; hopefully walking for 3 miles early every morning around 6:30 helps but we keep setting the clock forward so that 6:30 comes earlier and earlier! There are several walkers and the gym always looks busy.

 

Gorgeous day, flat seas, sunshine & people are happy! c

[AdvenLee]

Thanks, "cbb" for your wonderful updates on the WC. My husband and I will be joining all on the Sydney to LA segments on May 9 so I look forward to meeting many of you nice people. (We are Holly and Dwight from Virginia and will be in cabin 7054.) Is there a "CC meet and greet" for each segment? Thanks for any info. Holly

[cbb]

holly,

 

there are meet & greets the first sea day of every new segment at 10 in Horizons....see ya there!

[D-Portman]

Are you the Ctrl+Alt+Del inventor???

 

Me?...not so much; Mr. Wonderful?....yep.

 

 

I am sorry that I didn't recognized both of you straight away ... and asked unnecessary questions. You probably wouldn't recognize my name even if I told you ... but you may recall the days when I was a OCA and we did a few excursions together - Israel, May 2011. Cannot recall if Insignia or Regatta. I was planning to create a website providing port information for cruise passengers. Rings the bell????

[cbb]

roy...is that you? What are you doing now?

 

I looked for you on board when we arrived but have Jennifer as OCA.

 

Of course, we remember you...and you also did Ephesus with us and the rest of the hoards! We had dinner with you one night...lovely evening!

 

did you ever do the website for port info? i remember i told you to add info for people with babies and small children since there is nothing like running out of disposable diapers and not knowing where to go....and you agreed!!!

[cbb]

had dinner with the Captain and Denise Flokos and 3 other couples last night. 4 couples are all from Florida! The Flokos....aren't!

 

As wonderful as the Captain is, and he IS wonderful, Denise is fantastic. I want her to move next door to me in Florida!

 

Don & Betsy, Julie & Craig, Robin & Chic and D & I had a great time (yes, I'm speaking for them!) but Chic is not accruing enough O points fast enough so beware....he's looking for any extra points you might have!

 

Everyone at the table last night remarked on how content and happy everyone seems to be, both passengers and staff. I don't know if it is the length of this particular segment or if everyone is just in a sunny mood but we're having a great time....and the Captain seems quite relaxed.

 

It is a good thing when the Captain is relaxed!!

[D-Portman]

roy...is that you? What are you doing now?

 

I looked for you on board when we arrived but have Jennifer as OCA.

 

Of course, we remember you...and you also did Ephesus with us and the rest of the hoards! We had dinner with you one night...lovely evening!

 

did you ever do the website for port info? i remember i told you to add info for people with babies and small children since there is nothing like running out of disposable diapers and not knowing where to go....and you agreed!!!

 

Indeed, it's I. Didn't realized I left such a good impression. Nice to know.

 

It was a marvelous cruise and tremendously enjoyed the tours, dinner and all with both of you. Yes, remember well the chat about cruising with children (your daughter past experience, if I well remember).

 

At the time, I was still toying with the idea of a website and you were very inspiring. Later in 2011, I asked for a 1-year long sabbatical and took off to develop the website. Self-taught HTML, CSS, javascript, PHP ... the all code thing and wrote quite a bit.

 

Had a few glitches on the way - both personal and technical - and had to put the website on standby for a while. But giving up is not in my vocabulary. Last year I managed to get the 'ideal' of a port description with Livorno (all you can imagine but, not YET, dad knows best section). Added Volterra and realizing how long it would take to get 50 pages on each port, simplified all a bit on a couple of Caribbean ports.

 

Cutting a long story short, I am know editing, adding and uploading a load of ports descriptions already written and photographed.

 

Not working full time on ships any longer but still do part-time gigs - allows more free time and pays way better than being stuck onboard for 4 months. Have been on quite a few cruises and ships - 30 in the last 2 years (from The World to Carnival, Disney, HAL and so on).

 

Very nice to know you're enjoying South America - love Recife-Olinda. Will have a look at the itinerary and will send you a few tips. Let me know if you need any info as I've been almost everywhere, repeatedly.

 

MY APOLOGIES to ALL in the thread for the long public-personal updating with fellow cruisers.

[LHT28]

Is it possible to post a photo of the grill station in the Terrace so we can see the location & if it looks like the ones on the O class ships ??

 

Thanks

enjoying your blog

 

Lyn

[buggins0402]

The equator crossing and county fair looked to be great fun...thank you for sharing your wonderful pictures on you blog. You blog has been a pleasurable diversion from the mundane of everyday life here! Can't wait for Africa!

[cbb]

lyn-

we'll post a picture for you on our blog so that you can see where the Terrace grill is located. drdavebradley.blogspot.com

 

just so you know, when you get to the 9th deck enter Terraces from the right or starboard side (left, port side takes you through Waves to Terraces) and as you walk toward the buffet lines the grill is on the left in a window.

 

buggins0402;

Our family tells us we've missed miserable weather in NC and south Fl hasn't looked like its warm and sunny self lately!

 

Today is one of those amazing days where there is fog on the horizon so that when you're walking the track or dining al fresco at Terraces you can't see where the sea and sky meet...awesome!!

 

We've had a notice on the bed that Togo doesn't require a visa for visiting Lome. Our pre-paid visas will be refunded on board through shipboard accounts but the letter does not indicate whether this is a change in Togo's law or a one-time thing for this ship at this time.

 

Many of us are taking some sort of group tour there, either privately or with the ship. Apparently using the shuttle and walking around town is no longer safe.

 

We understand that to take most pictures will require $1US so we've come on board with lots of $1US bills fresh and uncrumpled. Presents for schools are to be given to the teacher only, not to the kids.

 

Any other questions, let me know! Porpoises off starboard today....cool!

[cbb]

lyn,

 

sorry, salt water must have rusted out brain parts. You were asking location of the grill in terraces and i gave you info on the pizza window....I know...dumb on my part. My apologies....

 

drdavebradley.blogspot.com has pictures up now on location of the grill.

 

written description: the grill is right in the center of the hot food section. Wide variety of meats on a display to show you what is being offered for grilling. The orange shirted guy in the blog photo is standing where the grill is.

 

There is also a carving station and a wok station....pizza place remains around the corner!

 

sorry about the crazy lady writing this....she does mean well!

 

in other news: there are 2 pin ceremonies, one last night, one tonight acknowledging the passengers' loyalty and then tonight there is a dinner in Toscana & Polo for RTW.

 

We have the time, date, location and number of our table on the invitation and we've been asked to bring the invitation with us. This seems to be an efficient way to get all 200+ RTWers dining at the same time.

 

Looking forward to dining with new friends! c

[LHT28]

lyn-

we'll post a picture for you on our blog so that you can see where the Terrace grill is located. drdavebradley.blogspot.com

 

just so you know, when you get to the 9th deck enter Terraces from the right or starboard side (left, port side takes you through Waves to Terraces) and as you walk toward the buffet lines the grill is on the left in a window.

 

Thanks for the photos Cynthia

Not sure how someone could miss the grill station :D

We will be on Regatta in April so looking forward to seeing the changes

 

Enjoy

 

Lyn

[cbb]

the grill has become one of my new favorite things. D was suffering from mal de mer and nothing appealed to him until he spotted the chicken breast to be grilled. That and a baked potato was perfect.

 

Just yesterday I had grilled chicken for lunch cut up onto my salad greens, etc....yum!!! I know this will be a shock for some people, but sometimes one can just eat too well on an O ship!!!

[LHT28]

I know this will be a shock for some people, but sometimes one can just eat too well on an O ship!!!

That is so true

I have to pace myself on longer cruises ;)

sometimes you just want a simple sandwich or a bowl of soup

 

Enjoy the cruise

 

Lyn

[hondorner]

Cynthia (CBB) and David receiving their Platinum pins at the Oceania Club party on Insignia tonight.

 

[cbb]

don

 

wow, what a great surprise this morning! Thank you so much for posting the picture! D immedately save it.

 

betsy is a great photographer. Lighting not the best and she still pulled it off....good job!!

 

have fun on your tour with sukey this morning! We're taking a 4 hr shorex so we won't be gone all day as you are.

 

I won't be at trivia today--schedule conflict--but will tomorrow!

 

thanks again....as i keep telling you....you 2 are awesome!!! c

[LHT28]

Very nice photo of you both

[cbb]

Wined AND dined last night

 

There were over 500 repeat cruisers on this segment so they had to divide the awarding of pins into 2 groups, the 2nd one was last night pin ceremony with the Captain paying the bar tab.

 

Immediately after the pin ceremony we went to a RTW exclusive dinner. There were so many of us that we again had to be divided into both speciality restaurants.

 

We ate with Victor, the General Manager and had a great time. He is a warm and funny dinner companion and he told us that there are several more RTW exclusive dinners planned for us....YAY!!! I'm there!

[RachelG]

Very nice picture!

[hondorner]

betsy is a great photographer. Lighting not the best and she still pulled it off....good job!!

With a low-res phone camera! She is good with that gadget; that's why I passed the camera to her.

 

We had a great time on Sukey's tour in Togo; 25 passenger bus with 15 on board, drove to a river bordering Togoville, then crossed the river in rickety wooden boats, poled across about 3/8 mile. Walked through the village, visited the "cathedral" that is the target of pilgrimages ever since an image of the Virgin Mary was seen in the river. Because of shallow water the boats could not reach shore, so several husky fellows waded out, reached in and carried us ahore. We were also carried back to the boats when we returned. Of course, each carry cost us "dollah".

 

We then traveled to the African Art Museum, which had carvings, statues and furniture from all over Africa, then to the National Museum, which frankly was a bit of a bore. Next, to the Fetish Market -- which was definitely not our cup of tea, although others seemed fascinated. We returned to the bus almost immediately. Finally, we visited the largest central market area, where everything -- and I mean everything -- is available in streetside kiosks spreading over several blocks. Unfortunately we had to follow our guide or become hopelessly lost (they moved our buses), and he moved too quickly for us to linger and shop. Betsy will get her African fabric in some future port, perhaps tomorrow in Benin when we do it all over again in a small group with Sukey.

[buggins0402]

Thanks for the Africa update! Looking forward to the pictures on each of your blogs.

[RachelG]

If you are going to Ghana, that is the place to get fabric. My son bought quite a bit when he was there working for a NGO

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[hondorner]

If you are going to Ghana, that is the place to get fabric. My son bought quite a bit when he was there working for a NGO

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Nope, not this Cruise, someone suggested Mozambique. Betsy did buy a large African dress today, thy she'll wear a couple of times on board, then cut up for quilt squares. It was less cost than the equivalent fabric.

[cbb]

don,

 

did you see Ganvie Village on stilts today? For me, it was one of the best excursions I've ever done with O. I absolutely loved it...a great photography outing as well as just waving at fellow human beings in boats of all different descriptions!

 

D says between us we took about 1K pix today. As i type he is busily going through our photos. Part of the reason was we set our cameras for "machine gun" so we could take lots of pictures out of the bus hoping to get one great one. Dave Smith, photo lecturer says it is the correct thing to do...take many to get one.

 

Within the village there was a small store that had fabric. I did not price it since i didn't see anything i wanted, but the tags indicated that they were made in Africa....not China and some of it was great.

 

I'm in hopes i can, like betsy, find some in Capetown. We have leisure time there but i know you're off on adventures out of Capetown. We should be able to find some in Indonesia, especially the batik which i really want.

 

hope you had a great time with sukey today. missed you at trivia....one off again today!