Month: February 2019

Saturday, February 23, 2019

Well, as I woke up this morning, I’m still in pain. I had purchased a shore excursion to see the sights of Tonga this morning (I learned from my Bora Bora experience) but when the time came to get out of bed and get on with it, I had great difficulty raising myself up from the mattress. Once I was on my feet, I walked around the stateroom a few times to try to measure how I might fare on the excursion. Ultimately, and with great disappointment, I elected to not go. I really didn’t think I could stand any jarring motion as that is the kind of thing that really aggravates my condition.

So, I went back to bed.

A few hours later, I managed to get back out of bed and took a long hot shower. I let the water beat down on the epicenter of my injury for many minutes. In the end, I must confess that I felt somewhat better. I got dressed and went out to the Lido deck to, at least, get a glimpse of Tonga.

I have had a relationship with Tonga for many years. If you look at my email address, it ends in “ifyouwant.to”. The “.to” part of that email address stands for Tonga and it has been because this island nation offered the world access to their Top Level Domain that I could acquire an email address that gathers so many nice comments.

From the Lido deck, aft, I could see that Tonga, unlike Bora Bora, is a very flat place. I could see no mountains. (In Bora Bora, I could see no flat places!) Actually, the view reminded me very much of my visits to Florida.

Tonga is a country made up of islands. 169 islands, to be exact. Some of those islands could be seen lying just offshore of Nuku’alofa (which is the capital of the country.)

From where I was perched on the open-air deck, I could also see that the Tongans had set up a little marketplace on the pier just outside of the ship’s gangway. I decided right then and there that I was not going to come this far and not touch Tongan soil, back pain be damned! So I went down to, at least, take a look at what the vendors were selling and maybe pick up a souvenir.

The impromptu marketplace was strung out along the pier for what I would presume was the length of a city block. The vendors had created little “tents” out of collapsible awnings. Inside those “tents” could be found a variety of handicrafts. The were some beautiful animals carved from wood, some shell jewelry, and lots of the ever-present t-shirts.

I walked to the end of the pier, and then tried to walk into town, but after just a couple of blocks I decided that I was pushing the limits of my aching back. Maybe it would not serve me well to put too much stress on those muscles that were, only an hour ago, just starting to show some signs of healing.

So, I turned around and headed back toward the ship. On this pass, however, I decided to do some serious shopping and find something to help me remember this place and this day and how great it is to be on this trip of a lifetime. And, I found a souvenir that I think will serve me well for years to come. What do you think?

Coming back aboard the Amsterdam, I took a moment to consider some of the other passengers that I saw around me, many of whom were using walkers, canes, and even those “Hoveround” scooter things. Today was my first walk-around in several days, but I was out on the pier today enjoying my recovery. I may recover quickly, or it might take a few days more. In either case, I used that moment to focus on my good fortune. I am so lucky to be as spry as I am (though my spryness is suffering just a bit at the moment) and to know that my temporary disability is just that: temporary. So many others around me will never recover from their disabilities, may God bless them. I have flirted with not being able to walk around properly, and I don’t like it. I may yet face a more permanent disability but for now I feel that I can look trouble in the face and say, “Not today!”

After returning to the ship, I went back out to the Lido deck, aft (also known as the Ocean View Lounge) ands enjoyed a couple of Anchor Brewery’s Liberty Ales and enjoyed the tropical warmth.

I didn’t get to do what I set out to do today, but it was a very good day, nonetheless! My “shore excursion” was very brief but I found a souvenir, chatted with the locals, gave thanks for my improving physical condition, and focused on being in this glorious moment.

Not such a bad day, eh?

Monday, February 18, 2019

Where am I?

What happened today?

Well, I really screwed up today, and that’s just about the whole story. Here’s what I did (and didn’t.)

I got up this morning and prepared myself to go ashore. I hopped on the tender at about 12:30pm. The tender dropped us off at the docks in Vaitape which is the largest settlement in Bora Bora. Once I reached the docks, people were going through a gauntlet of vendors and tour operators and other touring related stuff. I decided to bypass the line and go take this photo of our ship in the bay.

I also bypassed the line of tour operators because I wasn’t planning on taking a tour today. I was planning to find a nice pub with some good wifi and spend the afternoon kicked back and enjoying the wonder of Bora Bora. My decision to do this came about due to two reasons. 1) The costs for any tour offered in Bora Bora was some of the most expensive that I’ve seen so far. Like $250 for a 4 hour jeep ride. 2) The bartender on the ship told me there was a very good watering hole right across the street after you disembark from the tender.

So, after snapping my photo of our ship I headed toward the main street of town to find that pub. When I got to the main road, there was nothing to be found that even remotely resembled a pub. So, I turned left and walked about 3/4 of a mile until I was at the end of town. (Vaitape is a really tiny place.) Along the way I did pass a little café stuck back in a corner of a parking lot and it did have a couple of beer signs. But it was tiny and open-air. I figure the little café could not be the pub that the bartender told me about. So, I turned around and went the other way for about one mile. At that point, I had reached the other end of town. A woman working in a travel agency saw me meandering and came out to help me. She asked me if I was looking for something in particular and I told her I just wanted to find a nice place to sit down and enjoy a cold beer. She then informed me that the only place in town to get a beer (other than the grocery store) was that little corner café.

So, I returned to the café, had a salad and a beer. At that point I had one bottle of the only brand of beer they had in stock, I had been to both edges of town, I had seen it all and there wasn’t anything to see. Confused and dismayed, I returned to the ship.

That evening, I learned from some fellow travelers that, had I stayed in line and run the gauntlet of tour operators, I would have learned about the $5 shuttle bus that runs around the island every 30 minutes. It goes to those postcard-like beaches on the south part of the island and passes by all of the resorts where one can buy a day pass and hang out at the pub, resort style!

I didn’t know that, so I didn’t get to see the best part of Bora Bora, my favorite South Pacific island, so far. Doh!

The island is breathtakingly beautiful, from wherever you stand. or float! We weren’t the only cruise ship in the bay, either. A Windstar cruise ship was there. It’s so much smaller than the Amsterdam yet it looks like it is completely modern, except for those masts! I would love to see that ship in full sail!

So, just as I wrote when I started this post, I repeat: I screwed up! Or perhaps I’ve just laid the foundation for a future trip to Bora Bora when I can hang out for a couple of weeks and get to know the island better. Dunno. Maybe.

I don’t even have a “sail away” photo for you this time as the ship didn’t leave Bora Bora until about 10:30pm. Sorry, I’ll try to do better, else this will wind up being a completely wasted trip around the world!

P.S. The photo at the top of this page shows you what I came back to this evening, hanging in my stateroom. I’m doing what I can to keep that monkey off my back!

Saturday, February 16, 2019

Where am I?

Our ship is docked at Papeete, Tahiti.

What happened today?

It’s a blustery, rainy day on Tahiti. The ship is docked in the harbor and downtown Pape’ete is in clear view. As I look out over the downtown part of the city, I’m just a little disappointed. Perhaps because I’ve only seen Tahiti in the movies or on TV, and as a result I pictured Tahiti, in my mind, to be an pristine island paradise with white sand beaches, beautiful women with flower leis, blue skies, and a cool breeze. This morning I see a crowded downtown, economic depression, no beaches (in view) and it’s overcast, hot, and rainy.

I had paid for a tour for today. It was supposed to show me the wonders of Tahiti. In spite of the rain, I was anxious to go out and see more of the island than this anticlimactic view of the inner city I was faced with at that moment. At about 1:30, I boarded the bus to go see the sites.

Fortunately for us, this was a Saturday and there was not as much traffic as there would have been Monday through Friday, according to our tour guide. She told us that some people who live in the “suburbs” about 36 kilometers outside of the city must expect 90-minute commutes to get to work, then the same deal going home. This news makes me happy that I’m not one of them, not here, nor anyplace else for that matter!

Once we’re outside of the greater Pape’ete area, things start to look more like the Polynesian paradise of the movies. There’s lush growth, I can see the waves breaking over the coral reef far offshore, and the people look as though there are truly living on “island time.”

Our bus stops at a park on Point Vénus. This point of land was originally used by Captain Cook for scientific purposes and is now a beautiful seaside park, though its natural beauty may have been a bit concealed today, owing to the rainy weather.

When Captain James Cook made his second trip to Tahiti in 1769, he had two goals: 1) to witness the transit of Venus, and 2) to find the great southern continent. Cook built a tower that would allow him a good vantage point to observe and study the transit. Once the tower was built and the equipment needed to accomplish the observation was in place, the equipment was stolen, according to our tour guide. Cook and some Tahitians went looking for the equipment, found it, and had it returned to the tower and reinstalled. This was accomplished just a day or two before the predicted transit. On the actual day of the transit, the sky was clouded over and no observation could be made. Cook travelled half way around the world to see this transit and could not see a thing.

By the way, he never found a great southern continent, either.

Aside from the historical tower (which now serves as the only lighthouse in Tahiti) the beach and park that is now Point Vénus was filled today with Tahitians enjoying the atmosphere, seemingly not at all worried about a little rain. Here are a couple of photos from Point Vénus.

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We left Point Vénus and did about half of our circumnavigation of the island in our tour bus. At some point, we stopped at a botanical park to see some of the native species of flora and fauna.

The park had a gorgeous waterfall, thanks to all of the rain we had been experiencing both today and the night before.

The heat and the rain also keeps many species of tropical plants in bloom for much of the year. Here, in the Tahitian summer, there were many strange and colorful flowers to be found. Pictured below are just a few that caught my attention.

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Lovely flora. But what about the fauna? Well, the number one animal seen everywhere in Tahiti is this one.

Our tour guide explained to us that chickens can be seen everywhere. They are a feral animal on the island. Nobody owns them, and nobody raises them. They just strut around, coming and going as they please following whatever whim might be in their little bird brains. Also, nobody chases them away! It seems as though the chickens are very good at pest control and are especially good at containing the cockroach population. Nobody wants cockroaches, so the chickens are always welcome, whenever they’re around. Even in the botanical garden.

We left the botanical garden with one more planned stop ahead: a dramatic black sand beach. We drove for a few miles and then made a stop at this beach:

The sand here was as black as coal! There’s nobody out on the beach because of the rain, but I walked out a ways to try and snap a quick photo before it started to rain again and I would get wet.

Well, I got wet. Those storms move fast over this island!

After our beach stop the bus took us safely back to the ship. I was very happy that I spent a half day getting to see a more tropical more primitive side of Tahiti. It was certainly an afternoon well spent.

What is it?

Previously I asked your opinion of what this towel animal was:

If you guessed it was a swan, you are absolutely correct!

Here’s today’s identification challenge. What is it:

Enter your answers in the “Replay” area of this page, or send me a message. Let me know you’re out there!

Tomorrow we visit Mo’orea. Hopefully, we’ll have better weather.

G’night!

Thursday, February 14, 2019 and Friday, February 15, 2019

Where am I?

What time is it?

Aboard ship, it’s always easy to know what day it is. For example, yesterday was Valentine’s Day and today…isn’t. Easy peasy. The sun comes up, the sun goes down, and it’s another day!

Knowing what time it is can be a completely different matter.

You may be reading these words from your home or your place of business. Knowing the time of day there is a very uncomplicated thing because you always know what time zone you’re in. Maybe you need to futz with Daylight Saving Time, but even then you only need adjust every timepiece in the place just twice a year.

My (temporary) home is a ship that moves about 400 miles a day. As a result, it is very easy to lose track of what time it is today because the hour changes depending on where we are, or more likely, where we’re going! Let me give you an example.

Look at the following graphic:

If you look carefully at the border between Perú and Chile you’ll notice that there is a two hour time difference between the two countries. That means as you head south from Perú, the moment you cross into Chile the time is two hours later than it used to be just a second ago!

Time zones are, theoretically, 24 evenly spaced slices on the surface of the earth. If this were actually true, however, the slices would run through the middle of countries, dividing them into time zones that might not accurately reflect local, commercial, or political desires of the affected country. So, time zones are altered (or sometimes completely ignored) by some countries in order to reflect the realities of life in that country. The missing time zone between Perú and Chile, again, is a good example of that.

The ship is like a floating country in regards to time zone observation. It has its own time as determined by the captain and crew, and may (or may not) reflect the actual time zone the ship lies in. A good example of this would be when our ship sailed from Lima, Perú, to Arica, Chile. On the map and as mentioned before, the time changes by two hours as soon as you cross the border. On the ship, however, it is easier on the passengers and crew to manage smaller, one-hour changes instead. So, when we left Lima, the ship set its clocks forward by one hour on the first night at sea, then forward again another hour in time to reach Arica and have the ship’s clocks align with the clocks ashore.

On this trip, so far, we have had a number of these one-hour time changes and that is why it has become difficult to know what time it is if one has not been keeping up with the announcements and setting their clocks and watches accordingly. Here is a list of the time changes we’ve experienced on board this ship that were influenced not only by time zones but by the local time at approaching destinations.

Date	Set clocks	by	leaving	approaching
2/3	forward	1hr	Lima, Perú
2/4	forward	1hr		Arica, Chile
2/6	back	1hr	Arica, Chile
2/9	back	1hr		Easter Island
2/11	back	1hr	Easter Island
2/12	back	1hr
2/13	back	1hr		Pitcairn Island
2/14	back	1hr	Pitcairn Island
2/15	back	1hr		Papeete, Tahiti

So that is nine time changes in twelve days! Sometimes setting the clock forward, but mostly back. Can you start to see why I’m not always sure what the ship’s time is? In the mornings, one of the first things I do is to consult the ships web portal to see what time is displayed there. Then, I go around and set the time on all of the digital toys that I’ve brought with me. Now, you may be telling yourself, “That’s silly! I’ve driven from Arizona to California and my phone automatically deals with the time zone change for me.” Well, that is very likely true because cellular networks at home send the current local time to everything on their networks, and they do it 24 hours a day. But, here on the ship, even though there is a “Cellular At Sea” cell network, it does not broadcast the ship’s time, so my phone has no clue that the ship’s time has changed. Neither does my iPad, or my computer. So, that’s one of my jobs to do (seemingly) every day shortly after I wake up. 

But, who cares?

Now that I’ve let off some steam about all this clock setting, let me point out some of the advantages of these time zone changes that I’ve experienced, so far.

Since I’m never quite sure when to adjust my clocks (at night before bed or maybe in the morning when I get up?), I’ve started to just go to sleep when I’m tired and get up when I’m through sleeping. This feels more natural to me and because I’m so clock-driven in “real” life (and I’ll bet you are, too) it feels more relaxed to just rely on the sun and forget what the clock might say. 

If one cannot get the clock out of one’s mind, then here is another way to look at all of the “1 hour back” adjustments: it’s like having a 25-hour day, almost every day! What could you accomplish if you had 25-hour days? I’ve been investing that extra hour in my sleep time. I can now sleep for 10 hours, but according to the clocks, I’ve only been asleep for nine! I know that, for the first time in a long time, I feel completely caught up on sleep. I have absolutely no sleep deficit at this time, and it feels amazing!

So, because we are heading generally west, I should still pick up a few more of these 25-hour days, and I’m OK with that even if I have a new clock-setting chore each morning. Still, a big question looms in my mind and I have no idea how it will be resolved:

What happens when I cross the International Date Line?

Company for dinner

A few friends dropped in for dinner last night. This is just one video I took. Over the course of my dinner I saw five large pods of dolphins. Even the wait staff said that they had never seen so much dolphin activity in a single evening. I see dolphins all the time in Puerto Peñasco, but I never get tired of watching their graceful beauty.

Money Report

I’m all set for shopping in Papeete, Moorea, and Bora Bora ‘cause I’ve got some French Polynesian Francs!

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But, that’s a story best left until tomorrow!

G’night!

Wednesday, Feb 13, 2019

Where am I?

So, what’s been happening?

Today has been very interesting in terms of visiting our port of call. This morning, we rolled up to Pitcairn Island, arriving at about 10:30 (so we got to watch as the island appeared on the horizon and slowly grew closer and closer to us.) This is unusual since most of our arrivals are early in the morning, so our approach is in the dark.

More things that make this call different from any other that we’ve made so far include:

• Pitcairn Island has no harbor, so we can’t tie up to a pier
• It also has no tender dock, so we can’t even go ashore
• We’re only scheduled to be here for three hours

So, what’s the plan? We can’t go ashore, but we’re going to be bobbing in the water here for three hours. What gives? The captain says we will be circling part of the island. We can’t even circle the entire island because the ship does not have (and, seemingly, can not obtain) reliable sounding depths of the waters to the south of the island. So, are we in a remote part of the world? You betcha! We’re so remote that the ocean depths here have not been reliably plumbed and, apearantly, it’s not important enough to do so owing to the dearth of marine traffic (which is the only kind of traffic on this island.)

Now, here we are, parked in front of this tiny speck of real estate in an otherwise empty ocean. Why? Why are we here?

History of Pitcairn Island

Have you watched the movie “Mutiny on the Bounty”? The 1962 version of the film stars Marlon Brando, and Richard Harris, among others, and received an Academy Award Best Picture nomination in 1963. It’s a great movie and gives you a (dramatized) account of the events of 1788 on the HM Armed Ship Bounty. It’s the story of some severe differences of opinion between Captain Bly and Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian that ended with the Captain and several other loyalists being cast off from the Bounty in the ship’s boat while Fletcher Christian and the other mutineers sailed away.

Now comes a long story, and I’m going to skip it here for purposes of brevity. If you don’t know the details between the beginning and the end of the mutiny story you should stop reading now and go watch the movie. Go watch it, then come back. Go on. I’ll wait for you here.

Welcome back! Now, Pitcairn island is where Fletcher Christian, several of the mutineers, and some Tahitian natives ended their search for a place where they might avoid detection and arrest by the British Navy who were patrolling this part of the South Pacific looking for them. As it turns out, Pitcairn was a good choice as a hideout! Why? Because even though the British navy knew about the existence of Pitcairn Island, all of their charts had it located 300 miles away from its actual position. No GPS in those days. 

In order to stay hidden from the British (and to prevent any of the mutineers from leaving the island and reporting where the other mutineers were hiding) the HMS Bounty was burned and sunk in what is now Bounty Bay on Pitcairn Island, in front of what is now Adamstown.

And today, 230+ years later, we are here at Pitcairn island, anchored near the underwater wreck of the HMS Bounty. The real deal! In a way, it’s like visiting a movie set except that this movie set is a historical reality!

Pitcairn Island in the present

There are still some decendants of the mutineers living on Pitcairn Island, but not many. The entire population of the island is considered to be about 34 people, according to one of the islanders who delivered a presentation to us. The population has been shrinking for about 20 years now, and there is some concern that Pitcairn Island will soon cease to be a viable settlement.

Even among those that do not plan to leave the island, there are challenges. For example, the electrical power on the island comes from a diesel generator that only runs during daylight hours. It feeds a small electrical distribution system to bring power to the homes in Adamstown. Sounds pretty normal for island living, except that there is only one man who runs, maintains, and understands how to power up this little place and he is 67 years old! I did not hear of any contingency plans.

We’re being boarded!

Since we cannot go ashore, a longboat full of islanders came out to greet us and to bring handmade crafts, postcards, stamps, and t-shirts directly to us. 

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With the help of the crew of the Amsterdam, an outdoor market was set up around the pool area on the Lido deck, and it was an instant hit. I’ve never seen this many passengers at one time on the Lido (mid-ship) since this cruise started and it was a Pitcairn Island souvenir feeding frenzy! Honestly, trying to work my way through the crowd to get to the customs officer was like swimming through frenzied piranhas after somebody innocently placed their bleeding wound in the water just to wash it out. 😏

I was looking for the customs officer because I wanted to get my passport endorsed with the official Pitcairn Island immigration stamp. (And, I got that stamp!) Along the way to the immigration desk I stopped to look at some of the crafts being offered. There were lots of things made from wood including some pieces that would have made excellent candy or appetizer serving plates. One table selling such plates was being operated by a husband and wife islander team whose last name was Christian. I had a hundred questions running through my head, but the shopper-piranhas were too much for me and I simply moved on.

And, the bar staff was kept busy as you can well imagine. Shopping in the tropical sun is thirsty work, but the bar staff (dressed in appropriate costumes to celebrate the day) kept cold drinks coming hand over fist. I know because I watched them for as long as it takes to consume two Anchor Brewery Liberty Ales. (In Matt Danger Tolle time, that’s about 10 minutes.)

In about 3-and-a-half hours time, it was all over. Everybody had whatever souvenirs they wanted (or acquired before they were all gone!) The outdoor market was disassembled, all of the displaced tables and chairs were relocated back to their original position and, “presto!”, everything was back to the way it normally is.

As the islanders boarded their longboat and headed back to their island, the passengers on the Amsterdam prepared to party. As has been a tradition throughout this cruise, we had a sail-away party with happy hour drinks, even though it was only 3:30 in the afternoon! Well, it’s not as if I have to go to work tomorrow, so why not?

All in all, it was a marvelous day spent: 

• interacting with a very large percentage of the population of Pitcairn Island (14 islanders!)
• shopping in a Filene’s Basement-style manner
• enjoying a mid-afternoon happy hour that lead to a lengthy evening of imbibing

Cheers!

http://youtu.be/ir6Hb5xqBIs

What is it?

Ok, the previous towel animal to be offered for your analysis was this one:

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And most of you guessed correctly that it was the NBC peacock!

So, here’s a new one for you. You may need to use a little more imagination than you did last time. Add your guess via the “Reply” area at the bottom of this post, and forgive my photography.

Next, we sail for two days and then arrive in Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia. So, if you don’t hear from me over the next couple of days, you can probably find me at the bar.

G’night!

Monday, February 11, 2019

Where am I?

So, here’s what’s on my mind

This evening while returning to my stateroom to freshen up for dinner I found this letter in my mail drop. It has to do with that mess of events that led to some very unhappy passengers while we were at Easter Island.

If you recall my previous post, there were problems associated with getting people on and off of the tenders. Those problems slowed the process way down. And on the surface, the math for how long it took to load a tender and how many people wanted to go ashore did not equate to everybody being happy. Some win and some lose. It’s the luck of the draw, right? First come, first served. It’s only fair. (OK, I’m now out of cliches.)

But, there’s more to this story, and the situation is slightly more complex than it might seem on the surface. When I showed up for my shore excursion, there were already people who had been waiting hours to go ashore. Yet my group was called before those who had been waiting for a very long time. I got to go ashore, some others who queue up earlier did not. Was I just lucky? Well, it should be clear to all of you that I’ve been very lucky for most of my life, but I don’t think luck had much to do with me getting ashore while others waited (im)patiently and never made it.

Why would that happen? I have every reason to believe its all about the Benjamins.

Shore tours – Second party vs. Third party tours

The way I see it, you have three options for what you do when you go ashore.

The first option is to wing it! Be adventurous and blaze a trail of your own. Just get off and walk around, or do some planning and then hire a cab to take you to the places you’re interested in. This can be fun and it’s likely to be the cheapest option when you go ashore. If you’re looking to save money, you can certainly accomplish that this way.

Another option is to book a tour with a third party. Essentially, this is what the cruise ships do: they book with local tour conductors who meet their standards. The cruise ship handles all of the bookings then pays the local company. Passengers who are willing to spend some time doing research about their ports of call can often find those same tours conducted by the same operators for 10% to 50% off the cruise ship price. This option allows passengers in this category to enjoy the same experiences as other passengers who booked through the cruise ship company, but save some money in doing so. Same experience, less money! Sounds great.

Then, there is the opportunity to book directly through the cruise line. This is the most expensive option because the tour conductors still get the amount they need, but the cruise line adds a premium so they can make money on the tours as well! So, why would anybody ever book through the cruise line if you get the same tour as those who went directly to the third party and paid less? What do you get for that premium?

Well, for one, you get a guarantee that if your tour does not return you to the ship by the time the ship is scheduled to depart, the ship will wait for you to arrive. You only get this guarantee if you book through the ship line.

Personally, I have seen situations where passengers with third party bookings arrive late to the port only to watch their cruise ship steam off toward the horizon.

In contrast, on this cruise, a few people on a cruise-sponsored shore excursion were trapped in Fuerte Amador in horrible traffic resulting from a fatal accident. In this case, the ship waited for them because that’s one of the things you get (a guarantee) when you book through the ship.

In the case of the Easter Island fiasco, the other side of that same coin appeared for the first time in my experience, and that is where a passenger is given priority departure and guaranteed reboarding. If you book your tour through the ship (or even before you sail) the ship has a financial interest in you taking that tour. If your tour is cancelled, you get a full refund and the ship makes no money on you. Multiply that by a couple of hundred people and the captain has a decision to make: if time constraints will not allow everybody to go ashore that desires to do so, who do we let go? The decision is between those people who have chosen to do their shore excursion via one of the first two methods I mentioned and who have likely been waiting in line for hours to leave the ship, or the ones who have paid money to go ashore, money that the cruise line will need to refund if they don’t go?

Before you decide which is the right decision for the captain to make, keep in mind that cruise ships are here to make money for the cruise line and the captain is an employee of that cruise line. I think you have the complete picture now. And for the travelers that decided to “go it on their own,” well as they say, you pays your money and you takes your chances.

What to do?

Personally, on this cruise, I have a mix of second party (the cruise line) and third party (dealing directly with the vender) shore excursions lined up. For Easter Island, I booked with the cruise line and that turned out to be a solid, if slightly more expensive, investment. Why did I do that? Because, for me, Easter Island was very important as a place to stop and look around. It was important enough that I was willing to pay extra to book with the cruise line as a form of insurance. In this case, that insurance paid off!

In other places, like my approaching visit to Cairns, Australia, I’ve taken a more casual approach. I’ve booked a Segway tour that starts a couple of hours after we are to dock, and ends many hours before we are to depart. Any slack time will be used to explore town on foot. Plus, if the whole experience were not to happen, the amount of money that I’d be out is a burden I think I can bear.

What would you do? Save money? Operate with a guarantee? A little of both?

In any case, this incident of disappointed travelers drives home the benefits of planning one’s trip well in advance, giving oneself time to do the required research, and asking oneself about the importance (vs. the cost) of future plans at each port of call.

That’s it for today. No photos. Just dribble.