We throughly enjoyed the cruise through the Panama Canal in 2009, so much so that we are cruising again in 2011, this time to Alaska. Our blog will be at http://stimsoncruises.blogspot.com
The entries for the rest of this blog are at http://harryandmargaret.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Pictures..Pictures...Pictures...Pictures
We put trip photos in the Picasa web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/harry.stimson/
There are many more in the collection. Those 4GB cards are easy to fill.
There are many more in the collection. Those 4GB cards are easy to fill.
Monday, February 2, 2009
February 2, 2009 - Animoto
There is a short Animoto of our trip at http://bit.ly/16Hkap Lots of pics are missing but we'll post them somewhere else . Animoto cut off the pics of the cliff divers in Acapulco so we'll add a couple of those shots above. [A slower paced Animoto that shows just the first few days of the cruise is at http://bit.ly/Jc3l ]
Friday, January 30, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Vancouver
Back in Vancouver on January 28th [late in the day].
Now our journeys include the twice-daily visits to the hospital where Dad is situated for assessment before placement in a care facility. Needless to say, our vacation is over.
Today, Harry is helping Jan assemble a new bedroom set. He tried to hide the toolkit but it didn't work :)
We'll post links to cruise pics in the next blog entry.
Back in Vancouver on January 28th [late in the day].
Now our journeys include the twice-daily visits to the hospital where Dad is situated for assessment before placement in a care facility. Needless to say, our vacation is over.
Today, Harry is helping Jan assemble a new bedroom set. He tried to hide the toolkit but it didn't work :)
We'll post links to cruise pics in the next blog entry.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
January 27th, 2009 - Mexico
Ports in Mexico
We stopped at four ports in Mexico.
Puerto Chiapas, the first of those on our trip, is a new stop for cruise ships. The port is being developed to become a modern and spacious place for cruise ships. Lively local ethnic entertainers welcomed us on arrival and danced for our departure. We chose to stay aboard at Chiapas as only one excursion appealed to us---a visit to the Izapa ruins-and that tour was completely booked. Those who went gave mixed reviews, mainly pointing out that it will get better as the area welcomes more visitors who will help bring more prosperity. We enjoyed our day on the ship. Even when a ship is in port there is a lot going on onboard. [Margaret read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and Harry read more of Paris 1919]
Huatulco our second stop was our favorite of the four Mexican ports. We'd like to visit there again. It's a nice blend between the modern and old Mexico without the litter. We walked by port shops and stalls to the residential area west of the docks just to get a feel for Huatulco. When we were returning toward the ship to catch a cab to see La Crucecita, the old town, we bumped into a Canadian from Kelowna who lives here during the winter. He said there are quite a few other Canadians around.
We spent a couple of hours in La Crucecita, the old, traditional part of Huatulco, where we had a delicious Mexican lunch and strolled around. We visited a weaving shop with several weavers at work outside the shop. We sat in the town square watching the locals, many of them who had just retrieved their uniformed children from school. Our taxi driver, Steve came back to return us to the docks. This trip is the first time an Oceania ship has stopped at Huatulco.
In Acapulco, our British friend, Emma hired a guide we had read about on the Internet, Rosie Diaz Hernadez, who drove six of us around for a six hour tour. Highlights included the cliff divers and a long beautiful tiled wall mural by Diego Rivera as well as several climbs to great views. Lunch at a small hidden away restaurant, La Casa de Tere was excellent. We thought Acapulco was generally a crazy-busy and grungy place, but Rosie provided us with a thoroughly entertaining day. Having a local guide and a small group like we had on this and two other occasions made a big difference to our level of enjoyment and understanding of the place.
When we arrived at Cabo, the ship anchored rather than docked so they provided a tender that holds about 100 people to take us to the dock, a short distance away. The tenders go back and forth to and from the pier every half hour. Again we went on our own, walking along the shore and through the shopping district for a couple of hours. Cabo seems like a tourist trap. A highlight at this spot was the lovely harbour that was visited by a whale in the early part of the day. We saw it from the restaurant deck. Harry saw at least five others while he walked on the track on the upper deck.
Last Day
Today is our last full day on the ship. We got up later than usual because we went to the Salute, a celebration of music and self congratulation by ship staff. Admittedly, they are a super bunch. After breakfast, Harry went for a workout in the Fitness Room and Margaret went to Harry Chittick's talk on Hollywood Scandals, the second in a lecture series that might sound like fluff but actually revealed a lot about the American judicial system :) Harry C, the media man is a master researcher and engaging speaker.
We have to pack today so that they can store our luggage for disembarkation tomorrow in the morning. They are extremely well organized on this ship.
It's a chillier day on the deck, about 60 F, 20 C. We had breakfast on the back deck but will probably have lunch inside if the wind doesn't abate.
This has been a completely positive experience and we're thinking about the next one [maybe the Baltic, maybe the Mediterranean, maybe Asia]. Listening to our more experienced dinner companions [including a couple who have been around the world eleven times] on several evenings, we've concluded that we picked the best cruise line.
January 28th - Canada
We'll be spending this day returning to Vancouver from LA. Margaret's father has been admitted to the hospital requiring that we stay in Vancouver rather than exploring more of BC and Washington. We'll post the pictures when we get to Vancouver. Our ship connection is slow and costs $.70/minute.
We stopped at four ports in Mexico.
Puerto Chiapas, the first of those on our trip, is a new stop for cruise ships. The port is being developed to become a modern and spacious place for cruise ships. Lively local ethnic entertainers welcomed us on arrival and danced for our departure. We chose to stay aboard at Chiapas as only one excursion appealed to us---a visit to the Izapa ruins-and that tour was completely booked. Those who went gave mixed reviews, mainly pointing out that it will get better as the area welcomes more visitors who will help bring more prosperity. We enjoyed our day on the ship. Even when a ship is in port there is a lot going on onboard. [Margaret read The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and Harry read more of Paris 1919]
Huatulco our second stop was our favorite of the four Mexican ports. We'd like to visit there again. It's a nice blend between the modern and old Mexico without the litter. We walked by port shops and stalls to the residential area west of the docks just to get a feel for Huatulco. When we were returning toward the ship to catch a cab to see La Crucecita, the old town, we bumped into a Canadian from Kelowna who lives here during the winter. He said there are quite a few other Canadians around.
We spent a couple of hours in La Crucecita, the old, traditional part of Huatulco, where we had a delicious Mexican lunch and strolled around. We visited a weaving shop with several weavers at work outside the shop. We sat in the town square watching the locals, many of them who had just retrieved their uniformed children from school. Our taxi driver, Steve came back to return us to the docks. This trip is the first time an Oceania ship has stopped at Huatulco.
In Acapulco, our British friend, Emma hired a guide we had read about on the Internet, Rosie Diaz Hernadez, who drove six of us around for a six hour tour. Highlights included the cliff divers and a long beautiful tiled wall mural by Diego Rivera as well as several climbs to great views. Lunch at a small hidden away restaurant, La Casa de Tere was excellent. We thought Acapulco was generally a crazy-busy and grungy place, but Rosie provided us with a thoroughly entertaining day. Having a local guide and a small group like we had on this and two other occasions made a big difference to our level of enjoyment and understanding of the place.
When we arrived at Cabo, the ship anchored rather than docked so they provided a tender that holds about 100 people to take us to the dock, a short distance away. The tenders go back and forth to and from the pier every half hour. Again we went on our own, walking along the shore and through the shopping district for a couple of hours. Cabo seems like a tourist trap. A highlight at this spot was the lovely harbour that was visited by a whale in the early part of the day. We saw it from the restaurant deck. Harry saw at least five others while he walked on the track on the upper deck.
Last Day
Today is our last full day on the ship. We got up later than usual because we went to the Salute, a celebration of music and self congratulation by ship staff. Admittedly, they are a super bunch. After breakfast, Harry went for a workout in the Fitness Room and Margaret went to Harry Chittick's talk on Hollywood Scandals, the second in a lecture series that might sound like fluff but actually revealed a lot about the American judicial system :) Harry C, the media man is a master researcher and engaging speaker.
We have to pack today so that they can store our luggage for disembarkation tomorrow in the morning. They are extremely well organized on this ship.
It's a chillier day on the deck, about 60 F, 20 C. We had breakfast on the back deck but will probably have lunch inside if the wind doesn't abate.
This has been a completely positive experience and we're thinking about the next one [maybe the Baltic, maybe the Mediterranean, maybe Asia]. Listening to our more experienced dinner companions [including a couple who have been around the world eleven times] on several evenings, we've concluded that we picked the best cruise line.
January 28th - Canada
We'll be spending this day returning to Vancouver from LA. Margaret's father has been admitted to the hospital requiring that we stay in Vancouver rather than exploring more of BC and Washington. We'll post the pictures when we get to Vancouver. Our ship connection is slow and costs $.70/minute.
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