Hi all,
We've actually been back for a couple of weeks but -- you know how it is! DH left for Tenerife two days after we got back (since we had some "tenants" coming for the first time and, since they'll be staying in the downstairs apt. for 6 months (yay -- that means we can do even more travelling), we thought one of us should be present when they arrived.) I'm off tomorrow to join him and then we'll stay on the island until just after Christmas. Strange, but this is the first time in months that we've been apart for more than just a few minutes.
The trip to Alaska and following cruise on Diamond Princess were wonderful. We really enjoyed our first Princess cruise -- some things were a bit better than X, most were a little less good. We found the ship to be a little too big for us (OMG - Equinox is even bigger
) and docking and/or tendering took quite some time, especially since the ship needed to be in cargo ports for most of our stops. Of course, the biggest problem with that was that the Chinese authorities simply wanted to be difficult! In the port for Beijing, we sat waiting in the Theater for over 2 hours before the first people were allowed to disembark. That, in turn, shortened many tours. Luckily, that was the one tour we had booked with Princess -- simply because we knew there would be lots of traffic (it was Golden Week in China), and the trip to the Great Wall was over 2 hours each way. It was a phenomenal experience actually standing on the wall -- never thought I'd experience it (and it happened to have been on my birthday!).
In Beijing most of the Brits and many Americans disembarked and then ... a group of about 600 Russians boarded. The atmosphere onboard ship changed drastically and, I'm afraid, not for the better. There was lots of pushing ahead of lines, noise etc. etc. Guess I'm just not a very tolerant person. Sorry.
There was discussion that many people boarding in Beijing from the U.S. were called on the day before leaving home -- some as late as when they were already at the airport -- and offered $$$ (sums of ca. $5,000 were mentioned, but that might have been exaggerated) to give up their cabin and postpone their cruise. Shame they didn't ask us -- for that amount we might just have agreed.
Anyway, it was a fabulous trip and we met many great cruisers. Our week in Bangkok after we disembarked was also fantastic. Months before the trip, we had booked 3 days of tours with Tong (who is rightfully acclaimed on tripadvisor, Fodor's etc.) and spend fascinating days touring together with a wonderful couple from Toronto. Tong is absolutely incredible -- as a person AND as a tour guide.
Well, that almost brings me up to date. We took over 3,5000 pictures and now comes the work of putting all the downloaded ones into albums, choosing which ones to print (for the bragging element
) etc. etc.
Wishing you all a great weekend and can't wait to meet all of you in LESS THAN A YEAR!
Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers
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Sun Deck
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Celebrity Cruise Line
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Celebrity Roll Call
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Equinox
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Equinox Transatlantic, Nov. 5, 2009
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Don't know the timetable for changes, just know they are in the works.
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