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Thursday, November 29

 

Margaret here.  I think the Vision is the smallest ship we’ve cruised on.  The deck plans are somewhat different, with the main, common area being several decks tall.  There is live music everywhere, not all to my liking, but fun and great to listen to. 

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We found our cabin, on deck 2, to be quite a bit smaller than what we’ve had before.  And we are very close to the water.  The sea was rough and the ship rocked a bit more than we expected. 

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Our luggage had not yet been delivered, so we unpacked our carry-ons and headed out to explore our new surroundings.  I really like the layout of this ship.  It’s much more relaxed, with many more places to sit and listen to music.  As with other ships, the crew is very friendly and helpful. 

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At about 5 o’clock we made our way back to our stateroom, found our luggage waiting for us, and unpacked.  Then we took off in search of a gin and tonic (not at all hard to find) and listened to music again.  We shared a dinner table with a couple from Australia and a couple from northern California.  We fell asleep before 10:00 and didn’t wake up until 9:30.  I think it was the rocking of the ship, it just put us right to sleep.

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Friday, November 30, 2018

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We attended a presentation from the Shore Excursions staff about sites in Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, and Guatemala.  Then back to the room to blog and nap.  …zzzzzz…….

 

 

Monday, December 3, 2018 

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Mike here.  Speaking of napping … I just woke up Margaret and she is guilting me into blogging, and it looks like I have to cover several days. 

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Saturday was Cabo and Margaret had arranged another round of “get Mike to snorkel, he’ll like it”.  But fate intervened and we were not able to get off the ship in a timely manner and had to cancel the snorkeling.  If you’re not on a ship-sponsored excursion, then you go to the back of the line to get tendered ashore. 

 

But we still went ashore walked, window shopped, had some great beer and tacos and met friends from Chicago, John and Kim, for a drink.  They had just started a week’s vacation in Cabo.  Nice to see familiar faces.  Don’t know if we will seek out Cabo on a future trip.

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Sunday was Puerto Vallarta and a ship-sponsored excursion to tour the town and go to a tequila distillery, Hacienda Dona Engracia.  Our tour guide, Raul, knew his way around his audience and of the several stops on tour we stopped at the distillery first.  After a too brief explanation of the tequila process, they got us into the tasting room and we sampled 6 very tasty versions.  They made a point of telling us that what we were drinking was 100% pure blue agave tequila and that 100% agave is not sold outside of Mexico.  I have to admit it did not taste like what I remember tequila tasted like.  We bought a small 3-pack sampler to bring home but resisted buying more.  The grappa distillery we toured in Italy was a much better experience in every way but the grappa tour did give us an insight into the tequila factory.  Like grappa, they discard the acetone and methanol distillates and keep the ethanol.  The stops in the town were interesting and Margaret would like to come back and explore the town.  Sunday was the feast day for our lady of Guadalupe and there were crowds heading into the church.

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Monday is the first of two sea days and we are just lazing around and catching up.

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Margaret here.  I just woke up, and now Mike is taking his nap.  Yeah, life is rough.  I don’t have much to add to Mike’s blog.  But, just to explain my photo captions on the tequila distillery, the methyl alcohol and ethyl acetate is what the Italians called the “head” because it rises to the top of the liquid.   the “tail” contains acedic acid because it sits at the bottom.  The “heart” is the good stuff in the middle.

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To be fair, we did exercise some today.  I woke up this morning feeling like I needed to move, so we went up to deck 9 and power-walked the track for about 30 minutes.  That was all we could take.  The wind was crazy strong and made walking quite difficult.  We got a quick bite to eat, then attended a pretty lame lecture on Aztecs.  Mike wanted to watch a movie and I headed back to the room to blog – well, upload photos and then nap.

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Tomorrow should be more of the same, without blogging unless we do something other than relax.

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Wednesday, December 5, 2018

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Mike Here.  Today was Guatemala.  We were scheduled in port for 10 hours.  Figuring 30 min to get off the ship and last boarding 30 min before sailing left us 9 hours to roam.  Our tour was to the last city built by the Mayans,  Iximche. The city was built in 1470s and destroyed by the Spanish 50 years later.  A  6 hour bus ride left us 3 hours to tour the site, eat lunch and bano breaks.  No shopping time on this tour.  One reason the bus trip took so long is that the only road to Iximche is at the base of one of the most active volcanos appropriately named the Fire Volcano, El Fuego.   Six months ago Fuego erupted and the lava flow wiped out two villages and blocked the road and all the water drainage channels.  The villages have been abandoned but the road and water drainage is being reconstructed.  Our bus moved slowly through the bumps and construction equipment. 

 

Margaret is our resident Mayan expert and I will let her talk about the new things we found out about the site and the Mayans in general.  Since we were on an official ship tour we had no worries about getting back to the ship on time.  However, as we retraced our route back to the ship and passed through the destroyed villages and construction, we noticed that Fuego was sending an eruption plume up into the air, “keep driving!”.  Margaret has a picture of Fuego as went up to the site and several on our way back to the ship.  We had an enjoyable and educational day with a very good our guide and arrived back at the ship exactly on time for last boarding.

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After we got cleaned up we attended a show on board featuring a gaucho cowboy.  It had a gaucho cowboy doing balls on rope and magic tricks.  It took a great deal of expertise and was as lame as it sounds.  Margaret says it was entertaining.

 

Margaret here.  Yes, it was a long bus ride.  But well worth it.  Our guide was very informative and spoke very good English.  The Iximche site was less than I expected, but a very interesting part of Mayan history.  Being one of the last Mayan sites to be established, there were not as many buildings.  And they had not been built-over.  The Mayans would add outer layers to the building every 20 years.  And every 52 years, they would re-build.  You will see this in the photos.

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I was curious about schools, as our guide told us that more than half the population was under the age of 15.  The government has free and mandatory education, but it funds only the cost of the school buildings and teachers’ salaries.  So, families must pay a tuition to cover other costs.  And since people are so poor, that often does not happen.  Children in lower grades attend school (if they can) in the morning, older ones in the afternoon, and some in the evening.  Adults can attend in the evening too.  Our guide had been a pre-school teacher and had as many as 64 four-year-olds in her class.  Unfortunately, this was not unusual. 

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The primary products are coffee, sugar cane and bananas. This was evident as we docked in a working port and were restricted to walking directly from the ship to our tour bus. 

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Friday, December 7, 2018

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Margaret here.  Today we docked at Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  And I’ve got lots to tell about our tours there.  But, I just realized that we’ve not said much about life on board ship.  We had two sea days before docking in Guatemala, and one sea day before Costa Rica. 

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The Vision is a smaller ship than others we’ve been on.  There are about 1,900 passengers.  It’s about 20 years old and holds much of the style from earlier days.  We like it.  Our stateroom is small, but the bathroom has been updated.  However, the sink is too small to wash out even underwear.  So we have opted to send our clothes to the ship's laundry.  I like this idea.   

 

I may have said before that the main central area of the ship is called the Centrum and it’s several decks tall, beginning on deck 4.  There is a library, a computer area, and (of course) a future cruise sales office.  There is a long hallway lined with shops leading from the main Centrum area to the theater which is called “Masquerade”.  We have attended several lectures there about what to see and expect in the ports.

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There is music of varying kinds scheduled throughout the day.  The main dining room is two decks, and we usually have dinner there, sharing a table with others.  Because there are about 700 people who are Diamond level and above, one of the larger dance venues has been assigned to be the “Diamond Lounge”, where those of us who qualify can lounge, get free appetizers and drinks and listen to live music from 4:30 to 8:00.  It’s also open for continental breakfast and coffee in the morning.  On deck 9 is the food court, Windjammer.  The food is not bad, but it’s so easy to overload that we try to avoid it.

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We’ve attended some pretty good shows, and one a little off-beat (The Argentinian Cowboy).  The Vision of the Seas Dancers performed a medley of little-known Broadway tunes.  The Schooner Bar has a piano and there often is a pianist/crooner entertaining. 

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On previous cruises, we did not spend much time near or in the pool.  I think this was largely because it was so crowded. We don’t have the crowds here, so we’ve been able to lounge by one of the pools (there are two) and take an occasional dip.  One day the sea was pretty choppy, and those of us in the pool were rolling from end to end like a wave.  We all actually enjoyed it.

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Costa Rica.  We like learning how things are made, so we booked a tour to a coffee plantation not realizing it was 5,000 feet above sea level.  So, it was another long bus ride up a steep and winding narrow road.  You will probably get more info by looking at our photos, but here’s a short summary. 

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The countryside is really beautiful, green and lush.  The quality of life seems to be much better than Guatemala.  The coffee facility we visited is a cooperative, processing beans from local farmers and packaging and distributing them to avoid middlemen.  We were shown what the beans look like as they mature and as they go through the culling and roasting processes.  We had a lesson in how to make coffee their way.  Be sure to look at the photos to see how they pour the coffee into cloth filters. Then we went to a factory that makes ox carts.  These carts were once used to carry the beans from the mountain to the docks and are now part of the cultural heritage of Costa Rica.  The factory is about 100 years old and still makes carts using the same technology – a water wheel.  No electricity needed.  The original owner developed a better way to make wheels for the carts, and you can see this in the photos.  We had a nice lunch there, and got back to the ship just a few minutes before setting sail again.

After showering, we were both pooped, so we got a quick bite to eat at the Windjammer and crashed.

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Saturday, December 8, 2018

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Margaret here.  This is a sea day.  Mike, as usual, was up and about early.  He went to a lecture on the Panama Canal and I slept in.  Later we attended a lecture on Cartagena, had some lunch, played cards, and took a dip in the pool.  We went to the Masquerade Theater to see a juggler/comedian who was pretty good.  Then dinner, and now blogging and gearing up for tomorrow’s big event:  moving through the Panama Canal.

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Sunday, December 9, 2018

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Mike here.  Today was a long 7+ hour day outside watching our transit through the Canal.  Our ship, like many ships, is built as a PanaMax, meaning it just fits inside the 100 year old locks.  Panama recently built a newer set of locks that will take one larger ship at a time but those are not viewable from the older locks.  We occasionally see a larger ship floating above the treetops in the distance.  Sunday seems a slow day for traffic.  My expectation was more like a toll booth lane with ships stacked up waiting to go through.

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We found a good vantage point at the bow and stayed there off and on during the transit, big hats and sunscreen were our friends.  Taking the advice from the ship’s staff we moved to get side and aft views of the locks.  Since the ship barely fits in the lock, we have side views from the 5th deck that put us at eyelevel to the lock equipment momentarily as we then move up and down.  The clearance is so tight that we actually bumped and rubbed into one lock.  Our ship fills our lock but the adjacent lock held a tugboat, a small single-masted ship and a 4-masted sailing cruise ship all at the same time.  The best view was after the final descent into the Atlantic and we saw the full stepping stones of lock levels from the back of the boat.  That’s when you see visual confirmation that you were 81 feet higher just a short time previously.  We have a port day coming up in Colon Panama and rather than going directly there we rode out some higher waves all night long, we were rocking and rolling.

 

Monday, December 10, 2018

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Margaret here.  Mike pretty much told the story of going through the Canal.  It is amazing.  I admire the engineers who designed it. 

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Today we docked in Colon, Panama.  There really isn’t much to do or see here.  There is a huge duty-free shopping mall and lots of rubble that looks like a war zone.  We were told that the government is tearing down old buildings in the hopes that new businesses will come…. 

 

There didn’t seem to be any interesting excursions offered by Royal Caribbean, so we had booked one through our travel agent.  We were instructed to meet up with the tour at 8:45, and we did.  Others had been told 8:30 and one couple (who thought they were early) had been told 9:00.  Then there was confusion about what excursion we all were on.  Turns out that the bus, a 12-person bus, was taking 8 people to one tour, and 4 to another.  So we all settled in to a 45-minute ride in crazy traffic. 

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The first group was taken to a resort where they waited for an hour before getting on a cable car up the mountain.  Supposedly they were to see birds and other wildlife and have a great view of the canal.  We and another couple then were taken to a small boat pier and climbed on a small motor boat.  You have to see the photos to appreciate this.  Our tour guide was not particularly articulate, so we were wondering just what to expect. It certainly did not seem to be what the brochure said.  And it wasn’t. It was a nice boat ride, but the experience with Embera natives was less than advertised.  The tribe was a group of about 50 people who live just as their ancestors did hundreds of years ago.  One member of the tribe gave us a brief history of the tribe, which was translated by our tour guide.  They had come from Nicaragua in the mid-1900s.  He said that they had taught jungle training to the Americans, that they use herbs from local bushes and trees to treat illnesses.   There are several Embera tribes in the area and this particular one is the Woonaan tribe.  They fish and raise chickens but are not allowed to hunt.  They sell handmade crafts to tourists.  I saw a nice woven plate that I liked, but they wouldn’t bargain down the $25 price tag.  I bought it anyway.  To kill time, the guide took us on a boat ride around Lake Gatun before going back to pick up the others.

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Then we drove another 30 minutes to the Miraflores visitor center.  We were shown a rather uninformative movie about the canal, and then walked up the tower.  There were no ships going through, but I got some good photos.  There is a museum with exhibits and photos that made the trip worthwhile.  There was a well-done exhibit on the bugs that live in the jungle.  I’m so glad I didn’t see that until the end of our trip.  I do not like bugs, and there are hundreds of them in the jungle.  Maybe Constance would like to visit here…

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We arrived back at the ship just a few minutes before they closed the doors.

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There was a fairly good comedian/entertainer that evening, then dinner, then Mike finally won at Skippo.

 

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

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Margaret here.  Today is CARTAGENA!  This is one place I’ve been wanting to see.  And it was pretty cool.  We chose to take the hop-on, hop-off bus tour and this one offered more than most.  They seem to have this tour guide business down here.  Good thing, because there were four cruise ships docked today.  We were escorted to a huge bus/shuttle to take us to the first stop on the route.  We had a real live guide, Manny, who lead us through the old town.  This took about 90 minutes.  Then hop on the bus to the next stop, the San Felipe Castle.  We bought tickets that included an audio guide and explored the castle, which was built in the 1500s and has great history.  Back on the bus again for a 90-minute ride around the city.  I was a bit surprised that one of the stops on the route is a McDonald’s.  We arrived back at the first stop with enough time to go back into the old city and shop at Hard Rock Café.  As usual, I found a cool t-shirt but Mike did not.

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Back at the ship we showered and headed straight to the bar for two tall, double gin and tonics.  Our favorite band was playing in the Centrum, and we enjoyed listening to them.  We actually danced some.  I had slip-on shoes that went flying off my feet when we did the “kick”.  Those who were watching us were quite entertained.

Since we chose “My Time Dining” we do not need to have reservations for dinner in the main dining room.  So that evening was just like the others for us, except that we were seated at a table for six with only two other ladies from Louisiana.  After almost 30 minutes, we had not seen a waiter, so we walked out to go to the Windjammer.  The hostess stopped me and asked for my cabin number. She seemed concerned.  The manager of the dining room called us later that evening and apologized.  But we were still miffed.

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Wednesday, December 12, 2018

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Margaret here.  I spent the better part of the morning transferring photos and uploading them to Google.  Mike brought me breakfast.  We had lunch in the main dining room, which we had not done before.  It was nice because we learned that there was a wine tasting at 3:15 that afternoon.  Naturally, we signed up for it.  And we were not disappointed.  Five wines from the US, France, New Zealand, and Chile.  I liked the French Chardonnay the best.  Will have to see if we can get it at Binny’s.

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Back at the room, Mike got on the computer and I took a nap.  Today is Formal Attire, so we got dressed up (I put on my TrueGault Nasrin shoes) and headed off to the Diamond Lounge for cocktails and appetizers.  Then we stopped at the Schooner Bar, where there was a pretty good pianist.  We had dinner reservations at the Chops Grill, which is an upscale restaurant with an additional price tag.  On previous cruises, we’ve had really good steaks there. And we were not disappointed.  Our waitress talked us into ordering dessert (rich, gooey chocolate cake, berries, and ice cream) and as she was serving it, the restaurant manager came to our table to personally apologize for last evening’s mishap.  He gave us 30 percent off of our dinner.  We think that was pretty nice.

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Thursday, December 13, 2018

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Margaret here.   I spent the morning finishing up the photos and blog.  Mike brought be breakfast again.  Then he took off to scout around.  Today we look forward to several events on the ship.  You may not hear from us again until after we return to Chicago on the 18th.  I probably won’t take time to blog while in New Orleans. We arrive there on the 15th, will fly home on the 18th.

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Mike here.  Today was the Captains corner where we ask questions about the ship.  The captain told us that he decided to switch to cruise ships from commercial tankers after being 3 days without hot food and rolling 30 degrees from side to side in the Bay of Biscay and watching a cruise ship serenely sailing by.  Today is lobster night and it should be interesting, we have low expectations from previous cruises.  Guests have been promising the Thriller dance for many days and I've seen them practicing in the central atrium.  Today is the day for the final production,  could be great or a train wreck.

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Ciao Tutti!

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