RTW 2024 Carefree Travel

The Hawaiian islands sit in the middle of the Pacific tectonic plate. They lie over a hot spot (just like Yellowstone), where magma from deep down pushes to the surface. The hot spot remains in one place while the plate moves NorthEast at the rapid pace of 8cm (3 inches) per year. If you track all this on a map, you'll see that Kauai is the oldest of the islands, formed some 5 million years ago, while the Big Island of Hawaii is still being formed by the eruptions of Mauna Loa and Kilauea. There is also an undersea seafloor volcano, Lohi, some 20+ miles SE of the Big Island, that will eventually become the youngest island in the chain. This means that Kauai has had time to mature, with the resultant greenery - and is known as the Garden Isle. After five long days at sea, with up to 15-foot swells and 45-50mph gusts, it was an absolute pleasure to set foot on dry land. We approached the harbor in Nahwililwili Bay at about 8 am in the morning, with the sun almost due astern of us. We...

Today is our final sea day en route to Nawiliwil, Kauai. It's been a fairly rough passage with heavy seas and strong winds. Strong enough to close the top Deck (#12), which is where the exercise track and most outdoor games are located. That doesn't leave too many options for me to get some exercise as I am most definitely not a gym rat - I like to walk. If you walk a full circuit of the exercise track, including a detour by the pickleball and bocce courts at the back of the ship, it's about 300 yards. Rough calculations and engineering approximations mean 6 full laps to a mile. Even when it is not blowing half a gale, there is still an upwind and a downwind leg that makes balance entertaining.  The back of deck 12 (the stern) contains a full-sized paddle tennis/pickleball court. In addition to having random winds blowing from any direction, there are sporadic blasts from an air conditioning vent across one side of the court. It's very challenging to play. Serving is ha...

  We're continuing to head just south of west into mainly choppy seas. Last night was probably the bounciest night so far - with 10ft (3m) swells and winds up to 45 mph. For all you nautical types, that translates into a Force 8 full gale. As we're in the front end of the boat and on a higher deck, the pitching and rolling are amplified. So far, it hasn't caused us any problems and is a nice way to be rocked to sleep. Rather like a hammock. The really good news is that stepping out onto the pool deck this morning in search of coffee, the air is noticeably warmer. One problem you never have on a cruise ship is starvation. Back on Day 15, I gave an overview of the breakfast options. Today we'll look at lunch. Lunch is served from 11:30 am until people stop getting hungry and they have to set up for dinner. In addition to in-room service, we have 3 options.  The first is the main dining room, Compass Rose. Even for lunch, they retain the white tablecloths and full waiter/w...

We're now on Day 2 of a 5-day haul across the Northeast Pacific on our way to Hawaii. This is a case of resetting expectations. So far, we've had two days of cold (60-65F), windy, and occasionally wet and foggy days. Today, the exercise deck up on 12 is closed as the ship is rolling so much, and we have 30-40 mph gusts. Not what I had envisaged. I'd thought we'd have clear, blue, sunny skies with high temperatures and warm waters. So, that made me decide to learn more about our largest ocean. The Pacific is indeed our largest ocean - weighing in at 64 million sq mi or 165  million km2. Its average depth is 14,000 feet, and its maximum depth is almost 36,000 feet. That's deep enough to bury Mt. Everest with over a mile to spare! In fact, if you were an alien approaching the Earth on your hyperwarp spaceship and came in from the right direction, our planet would appear to be mainly water with a few small islands. That analogy appeals to the geek in me. It covers 1/3 o...

We spent part of Days 1 and Day 2 doing some sightseeing. It's actually been a dozen years since we were downtown and had the chance to walk around. Sadly, whatever you read in the news about the homeless issue is true. There are many more folks struggling (not just in the tourist areas) and many more shuttered-up storefronts. Even the high-volume areas like Fisherman Wharf are looking distinctly run-down and tatty (English - worn, frayed, shabby).  Despite that, we got to see a few sights and get out and about. Here are a few of the highlights. Tony Bennett - who left his heart in San Francisco, actually has a statue outside the Fairmount. Had to grab a shot. On the more cultural side, The Fairmount is where the original United Nations got its start, and the UN was going to have an HQ in SF. Then those cranky Europeans complained about how far they'd have to travel, so everyone settled on New York City as a compromise.  Chinatown. There are close to a dozen "Chinatowns...

An awesome trip into San Francisco for the morning. We passed under the Golden Gate Bridge at about 8 am, with no fog and full sunlight (a bit cold, 52F, but I'll take that!). For the engineering geeks, it finished construction in 1937, just after the Bay Bridge. It held the titles of longest and tallest suspension bridge until 1967 and 1994, respectively. Its main span is 4200 feet (1280m), and its height is just under 750 ft (227m). The bridge connects the city to Marin County. For decades, SF residents had dreamed of a direct connection to its northern neighbors, so when construction started in 1933 in the heart of the Great Depression, construction crews jumped at the opportunity for steady work. Sadly, 11 workers died during the construction. including 10 when a scaffold fell through the safety netting. Amazingly, 2 other workers survived by jumping as the scaffold fell and becoming entangled in the torn netting!  We also passed by Alcatraz, giving us a spectacular view of the...

Yesterday we were back on the US mainland, visiting San Diego. We were told earlier in the week that *everyone* would have to get off the boat for a face-to-face inspection by the US Customs & Border Patrol. No big deal for us, and it turned out to be a 20-second meeting. However, it was incredibly difficult for a few of the mobility-restricted guests, as there were two steep ramps to traverse and apparently no wheelchairs. Not a great way to treat your citizens. We had an atypical San Diego day - with the weather being in the mid-50s and rainy/windy. I feel all that talk about the great climate of SD, and how it's always sunny is total BS. Maybe I'm a Rain God, but 90% of the times I've visited San Diego, it's rained. Hard. Before leaving the boat, we decided to download some Netflix and Prime movies and shows over cellular. You can't do that on the boat as the WiFi is really slow, and they firewall out streaming streaming services. It was a lesson in the power...

I woke up around 5 am this morning and decided to tour the ship when everyone else was asleep. Except, of course, there were about a dozen early birds just like me. Nothing opens on the boat until 6:30 am, although you can always get a hot drink and a cookie from one of the various machines scattered around the boat.  So today, we’ll look at the options for breakfast. It turns out there are FIVE, proving that no one ever starves on a cruise ship. 1. Room Service . Order what you want, and they’ll deliver it. You can complete a form, hang it on your door, and wham! Breakfast appears at whatever time you choose. 2. Compass Rose . The main dining room on Deck 5. The traditional white tablecloths. Order from a fairly standard menu with waiter service. About 80% of the menu is standard day-to-day, with 20% changing. The main drawback – is it’s slow. Like, really slow. 3. Coffee Connections . My favourite. Opening at 6:30 am, although usually a bit earlier, you can get a barista-ma...

  Day 14 - Two entries for now as I was late on Puerto Vallarta. Today (Friday, January 19th), we stopped in Cabo San Lucas, a town at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. We moored offshore in the deep harbour, and had to take a tender into the incredibly busy marina. Two things immediately hit you as you dock in that marina - one is the smell of the seals, and the second, the realization that this is a finely tuned machine designed to suck dollars and pesos from tourists.  At the marina, the tour guide marches us over to a large catamaran for the  first  part of the day's excursion. Narem, our guide, insisted that we pair up and walk two-by-two behind him. It felt like I was nine years old back in primary school. The cat took us on a short round-trip up to the Lands End rocks and the iconic arch. We passed Lovers Beach and Divorce Beach on the way. They are two sides of the same beach which border the Pacific and Sea Of Cortez waters. Locals also say ...

  After a number of cultural and historical tours, we decided it was time to have a really fun day, so we signed up for a luxury catamaran cruise of Banderas Bay. The bay is a protected area, facing West, and mainly shielded from the elements, so it was the proverbial smooth sailing. We walked off the boat, went around the corner, and immediately boarded the cat. Easy! In effect, we left a big boat and climbed onto a smaller one.  We sailed out of the docking area for the Mariner and straight into Bay. It offers a great view of the coastline of Puerto Vallarta - mainly hotels, shops and condos. We'd been sailing for about ten minutes when the dolphins and whales appeared. And for the next hour, we just had a marvelous display of the local sea life. The dolphins were playful and kept pace with the boat, while the whales seemed to be fighting and posing by slapping their flippers onto the water. The Bay is 3,000 feet deep in places and 26 miles across, making it the largest bay...

Day 10 World Cruise. Today, we visited Guatemala, another new country for both of us. The quick summary is Volcanos, Mayans, Coffee, trash, and unfinished concrete buildings. We arrived at Puerto Quetzal on the southern Pacific side of the country. It's a large and impressive port. There are thousands of containers waiting to be loaded and unloaded, including a few hundred Chiquita Banana containers. Guatemala is right in the middle of Central America, bordering Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. The Pacific coastline is fairly extensive, and it has just a sliver on the Caribbean side. It's split by two sizable mountain ranges, one continuing as the start of the Andes through the Southern American continent. There are 33 volcanoes, 3 of which are currently active. Fun. Even now, some 400+ years after the fall of the Mayan culture, over 45% of the population identify themselves as Mayan, and there is a strong sense of national pride about that. The schools teach children...