Monday, July 08, 2013

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 10 & 11

We arrived to the hotel at around 2:30pm or later so we pretty went straight to bed and woke up sort of late and got going just at the very edge of check-out time. We did manage to get a few minutes in the Jacuzzi before we had to leave but we would have liked a bit longer than we got. Apparently someone had already booked the next day on us and we couldn’t do a late checkout though.

From the hotel we took a cab to Daniela’s house and met with her mother and sister. Her brother is traveling to India for vacation right now so he was not home. Oh and of course I got to see Forest again.  They took me to a local buffet restaurant that is apparently in the Guinness Book for having created the largest ceviche ever. At least the chef is anyway.  The food was good even if I am not really a fan of buffet.

After the lunch we went back to the house and watched Puss in Boots in Spanish on TV.  Or Gato en Botas if you wish.  They had not seen it before, but I had so it didn’t really matter that it wasn’t in English to me.  Then Daniela and I went to the mall and had a dessert at the Gelato factory and did some shopping for a couple small things including a pen to write on lock as we put it on a heart in front of the mall.

After the mall it was a taxi to Daniela’s house to pick up my bags and off to the airport.  Of course my flight was delayed and I had an extra hour to wait so fortunately Daniela waited with me until my plane was listed as landed and I knew I would have to get into security and the immigration line before I could board. While we were waiting we had a small pizza from Papa John’s. Oh and I asked her to marry me while we were waiting too.

She said yes.  We don’t fully know how everything is going to work out but it will be time to start all the plans as soon as we can.  Still we are both very happy for the future ahead of us.

I boarded the plane and barely found a place for my backpack. Planes with in seat entertainment have big boxes in the aisle seat foot areas. I would not have been able to fit the bag down there. Unfortunately the seat I had was the only one on the plane that had a two prong headphone jack and they didn’t have an adapter. Fortunately I mostly wanted to and was able to sleep anyway.  The flight did have some serious bumps on it, especially before we reached North America, but we landed uneventfully all the same.

Getting into Newark I was a bit concerned that I would not have enough time to get to my next flight. But surprise, that flight was delayed too. I should have figured it. 3 out of 4 flights being delayed. That’s what I get for a mileage purchased flight I guess.  At least it gave that small amount of buffer that the first flight’s delay had eaten up on me. 

The flight to Boston was quiet and I slept through most all of it. The rest is simple really. I disembarked, got my bag and was picked up by my father and back home by 1pm.

The pictures from day 10 can be found here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 9

We woke up late because we didn’t really have a ton to do except to get the room packed up which we did in pretty short order after getting cleanedup. Went to breakfast in the buffet and took our time there as we were expecting we would just go from breakfast to disembarking. However the ship was late to port and the disembarking process started late and was very slow.  We were picked up at around 3 rather than 1pm we expected to be off the ship.  This meant that the day we expected to have in Cartagena was mostly eaten up and we really only had about 2 hours before we needed to be to the airport for our flight out to Lima.

Our guides picked us up and took us to see the high point over the city which is at a convent but we didn’t enter as there would have been a charge and we were only going to be there for less than 15 minutes. Still we were able to see a good overlook of the city outside the convent. By the way Cartagena used to be loaded with convents back in the day.

 We were then taken to a park with a statue of a pair of shoes where we had to wait for a tour to clear out so  we could get the pictures we wanted. The park is just below the fortress of the walled city as well so there was a nice couple of pictures of that there as well.  Daniela bought a lemon flavored shaved ice there as well.   Then we were taken to a square with a Botero statue we were spent a few minutes and took a couple pictures there and also in the church nearby. On the way there we passed by the house of Gabriel Garcia Marquez  who is one of my all time favorite authors.  A nice unexpected surprise. 

After the square it was to the airport where we checked in and ate at a cafĂ© hastily before we boarded the plane. We had a chicken and pork barbeque type thing with fries. Unfortunately they called us but we were told not to board for some reason then they called us by name over the intercom and we boarded anyway.  It was a bit confusing.   The flight itself was easy. But in Bogota which is a massive airport that is so terribly laid out that it only leads to confusion even if it was our 4th time there. We had to take buses and checkin and checkin again until finally we boarded. That flight was easy too but I slept through most of it.

Daniela’s friend Marle picked us up with her husband. We dropped most of Daniela’s stuff off to her house then spent the night in a hostel not too far from airport.

The pictures from day 9 are found here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 8

Today we got up early and had breakfast as we entered the port city of Colon, Panama.  After breakfast we were to go to the city without using one of the ship excursions.  When we got to Colon it was very hot and humid and a rainstorm was brewing. It started to rain not long after we exited the ship.  For the next 4 hours it was shoe………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..shopping.  That is all I can describe.

After we were done we found a taxi to carry the gigantic bags back to the ship however we started talking to the driver who was a guy named Vivian Tugwell.  He offered to take us to the canal tourist area so we chose to do that before we returned to the ship.  We agreed and then we had a short bit of traffic before we were on our way to the canal.

At the canal tourist area we were able to climb up onto a platform and watch the locks as they opened and closed and the water levels changed so the boats could be raised or lowered 85 feet to or from a man made fresh water lake that would carry them to locks just before the other ocean. We were on the Atlantic side obviously and we were watching ships being lowered down. The  locks take about 10 minutes to equalize the water level. The large boats are moved from 7am to 4pm or something like that and the smaller boats are allowed to travel through after. The tourism guide person at the site explained the largest ships to go through are Carnival cruise ships.

After we watched the ships moved through it was 4pm and time for the canal tourist area to close so we packed back into the cab and were driven through a moderate amount of traffic back to the ship where we boarded immediately and then dropped off our stuff in the cabin and headed out to have a quick lunch a bit late in the buffet. From there we went back to the room and got cleaned up and dressed and headed out to show a little bit late. It was called Bon Voyage and was a series of sketches including the captain’s wife Greer (who is British) doing a dance routine. We talked to her later on and found out that was how she got started on cruise ships.

After the show we went to dinner. Daniela had the braised oxtail and I had the rabbit which both were excellent.  For started I had a lentil soup and Daniela had an artichoke salad.  The dessert was a selection of cheese for me and a lemon meringue for Daniela.  We chatted with the Colombians for a while then finished eating and headed over to the disco only to find it was dead.  We headed back to the piano bar (Fragata) and the pianist was playing along with a singer. We watched them until they were done then basically headed back to the room and packed our suitcases to be delivered to land and then we chose to call it a night. It was a very long and tiring day.

The pictures from day 8 are found here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 7

Today was a day at sea and we really didn’t get moving until around the afternoon. We spent a lazy morning in the room and then went to the only lunch area that was still open by the time we got out of the room which was the pizzeria up on deck 11.  We ran into Isa from the dolphin excursion and she sat with us and chatted for a while. Bjorn was playing poker and that left Isa wandering around a little bit. He did come by for a few minute while they were on break and had something quick to eat but had to head back to the game quickly.

After Isa left we went outside and sat in by the pool for a while then we headed to the bar with the piano and had a couple drinks until it was almost time for the evening’s show. We went back to the room and got changed and then headed to the Broadway Showroom. The theme was Rock Never Dies and it was all rock music performed by the ship’s entertainment team along with some dancing and a little bit of other performance.  It was a reasonably good show though I think they could have used one more male singer with a lower range than the guy they had for some of the songs.  They did songs from Dire Straits, Queen, Bon Jovi, Guns and Roses, Led Zeppelin and a bunch of others.

As we exited the show we found they had a mini performance right outside the Broadway Showroom with a singer and guitarist. This was in Spanish but was still rock songs.  They built up a large crowd in the lobby area and the singer was quite funny by inserting belching rock sounding versions of some of the dance songs I had heard a bunch of times on the cruise.

After that wrapped up we headed to dinner. We both had cornflake crusted chicken strips for an appetizer and I had the vegetarian dish which was gnocchi and Daniela had pork medallions.  For desser we both had the Torta Santiago. The food was good and I was looking for something light so it worked out.

After dinner we went to the bar with the piano and listened to the pianist play until he was done.  I had a grappa which was actually quite good and Daniela had another glass of wine. Then we headed out for a walk around the ship then we headed back to the room where Daniela almost immediately fell asleep so we called it a night.


The pictures from day 7 are located here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 6

Today we had our excursion starting at 10:15 so we went down to breakfast a little bit after 9am. I think we were late for the excursion meeting point by maybe 5 minutes and there were no announcements over the ships PA to say to be there at all. However when we got to the Broadway Showroom which is the meeting point for the excursions it was completely empty. We ran to reception and they called to the excursions people and fortunately they hadn’t yet left by the time we got outside so we were able to get our tickets and almost immediately board a taxi van to the Dolphin Academy where our excursion in Curacao was to be.  The ride to the facility was maybe half an hour long and we got a small idea of what the island looked like. It was cleaner than Venezuela was at least. We had really nice weather with a lot of sun and a little bit of cloud cover. While we were riding I put sunblock on my face. 

When we arrived they brought us into the Dolphin Academy where we sat in a theater until we signed some safety waiver forms and were separated into our individual types of excursions (encounter or swimming with dolphins).  We had chosen to swim with the dolphins so we got pink armbands to add to our collection.  They sent the various types of groups to individual briefing rooms where we were shown a brief video about dolphins. When that had just barely finished our video when one of the dolphin trainers came to get six people to do the first swim with the dolphins session and we managed to go with a bunch of people who didn’t speak Spanish as their main language.  She took us first to get our flippers and I took a life vest because I am not a strong swimmer.  Then she took us all the way around the entire facility it seemed before we got to a blue platform and a separated pool of the ocean with 2 dolphins in it.

In our group was a couple from the Netherlands who were a French woman and Dutch guy who boarded in Aruba after being there for a friend’s wedding. They didn’t speak any Spanish though apparently Bjorn could understand some.  Also we had a mother and daughter who were Brazilian from Brasilia. They didn’t speak Spanish either, only Portuguese.  We got a quick briefing about how to act in the water then it was in the water immediately and the dolphins came up to us.  We were to swim with our hands to our chest and to only touch the sides of the dolphins and not the face or the tail.  They came up to us and swam around and we got to touch them many times. They are very soft and have smooth skin.  They are gentle creatures also it was obvious, but they could get startled. After a couple minutes the trainer started having the dolphins do tricks with each of us. They can shake hands, kiss you and do spins with you. We would take turns having the dolphins do a trick with each of us then small swimming breaks. The final trick was a ride with the dolphins. Both would swim out to you with your hand signals as the trainer directed for each of the tricks and then you could grab onto each of their dorsal fins and ride them back to the platform.  For some reason the younger dolphin who was still training was afraid of my life vest and they steered in a different direction than they were supposed to for the pictures when I got my ride. They weren’t able to get good pictures so the trainer had me try it again. It took a few attempts and we had to do some extra swimming. The second ride had the same issue where they veered off to my left instead of going to the platform.  The trainer had me stay in the pool and everyone else get out and then I got one final ride that did go right to the platform. She said she wanted the dolphin to do it right so he understood that it was what he should do. She didn’t want him to not do it correctly for proper training.  So I was the fortunate guy who got 3 dolphin rides for the price of one.

After the swimming portion we were brought to some quick showers then into the briefing room where we saw another video about protecting endangered species and wildlife especially dolphins. Then we went into the photo shop and looked at our pictures and decided to buy the whole lot of pictures delivered on a USB drive.  We talked to the others and agreed to share the pictures and they could contribute what they would when we got back to the ship. The pictures are very good quality. I liked them better than the Seatrek pictures.

After the photo shop we also bought some souvenir stuff and then went and had a snack at the snack bar restaurant. I had a hot dog and Daniela had a tuna sandwich. By the time we were getting the food they were just getting ready to start the final dolphin show. We got our food and headed over to the show area right next to the snack bar.  They did a show of probably about 20-25 minutes of dolphins doing trick like flips and spins.  I was able to get a bunch of the tricks on video.  After the show we headed to the taxi and rode back to the ship. We really only had another hour on Curacao and ended up just boarding the ship then going back to the room and drop stuff off.

We went to the buffet and had a dessert for lunch since we already ate at the snack bar.  Then we sat outside near the pool for a while and I read. I had taken way too much sun because in all the rush of the rest of the day I had forgotten to put sunblock on anywhere but my face and my shoulders became really burned. So while Daniela wanted to stay in the sun I went to the room and showered and got dressed. We had arranged to meet the other people from the swim in the piano bar at 6 to swap the photos. I chose to get Daniela at the pool and bring her with me for this.  Fortunately Bjorn and Isa had a laptop and Raissa had bought a USB drive with only a couple pictures on it so we let Bjorn copy the pictures to his laptop then we copied them to Raissa’s drive.  We all stayed and talked for quite a while before we realized it was past 8 and Daniela still had to shower before we went to see the show in the Broadway Showroom.

So we went back to the room and Daniela got cleaned up then we rushed up to the show which was a comic show of mostly mime comedy so it didn’t matter if you understood Spanish or not. They did acrobatics and juggling. It was the first time I saw a guy do tricks on a pole like exotic dancers use. Fortunately it was not a sexual thing but just acrobatics. They pulled people from the audience for some of the sketches. 

After the show we went to dinner at our restaurant and I had a shish kebab with a bean ragout and Israeli couscous.  Daniela started with the Chicken Voldostana but since it had mushrooms she decided to get what I had. Both of us had the cream of cauliflower and blue cheese soup to start.  I had vanilla ice cream and she had a chocolate mousse cake for dessert.  We both had red wine.  The food was excellent and I am sure I would have liked her chicken dish since mushrooms don’t bother me but I am glad I got what I ordered. The meat was medium rare and very tasty.

After dinner we walked around deck 7 to front of the ship and just stayed out there in the dark watching the stars for a long while. The front of the ship was not lit up much and it made for spectacular viewing of the stars in the ocean darkness.

After that we went back to the piano bar and Daniela had a tea and I had a hot chocolate then we headed back to the room and called it a night.

I will say the dolphins swim was the best excursion we’ve done the cruise by far and I would recommend it to anyone. It was spectacular.

My pictures from day 6 are located here.


The Dolpin Academy pictures are here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 5

We woke up a little bit too late to get cleaned up and get a proper breakfast so we had to run over to the Broadway room to get checked in for our excursion to La Guira and Caracas.  The boat really hadn’t docked yet before they asked us to be there but I guess it is because there is a lot of traffic and the time is a little tight. After we checked in Daniela did have time to run up to the breakfast buffet and grab a couple things for us to eat on the bus.

Our trip was a tour of the city and then a ride up to the top of a mountain on a cable car or teleferico in Spanish.  The guide was a local Venezuelan named Esperanza who spoke good English and apparently does most of her tours to German customers so also speaks German.   This tour however was entirely in Spanish except for the few things she said for me when she had a chance. The start was a longish ride to Caracas on the bus. The ride was mostly long due to traffic. They don’t have to pay more than a dollar to fill up a car in Venezuela due to the subsidized wealth sharing of Chavez’s system so there are a lot of cars and motorcycles on the road. There is a lot of poverty to be seen right at the start of the excursion. As we got further in the buildings and areas did get nicer but still there was a significant amount of trash on the streets and the sidewalks and a general run down kind of look all around.  The buildings right near the port look like stacks of concrete blocks on top of each other but at least painted different colors.

Our first stop was at what is basically the main square of Caracas which is basically a giant tribute to Simon Bolivar and several other war heroes who helped win independence from Spain for Venezuela as well as several other South American countries. So there were fountains and statues and giant monuments.  This leads up to the military parade grounds, a big part of Chavez’s theme.  They kept his body there in state for a long time after he died.  Chavez renamed the nation the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and tried to liken himself to Bolivar which I am fairly certain was a significant stretch or such a self serving ego maniac.  There are tributes to Chavez all over the city and it is best not to voice any opinions about the way Venezuela is run if you aren’t from there.

After the main square we headed back the way we came some, again through traffic to the cable car station. There we were able to get on the first car along with Esperanza who was nice enough to say a few things in English for me on the 20 minute ride that goes up over 2000 meters. There were some significant drops during the ride and a couple areas where the car is over very open air and you could hear the wind and feel it sort of pushing the car.  The last stretch is a very large chasm followed by a very steep incline into the terminal.

At the top we had 1 and  half hours to get around and see what was going on up there. Esperanza changed some money to Bolivars for us because the area doesn’t take US dollars or anything else. We spent the first 45 minutes getting a Pepito Especial at a small food stand. The line was handled poorly as you first had to wait to pay and the hand them your receipt to get them to make the food. It was very crowded as several cruises and tours were up at the top of the mountain at that time. In any event the meal was a mixture of pork, beef, bacon, ham, cheese and vegetables on a roll with some fries thrown on top. It was quite good though I am not sure it was worth the hassle for all of it. By the time we were done we didn’t really have a ton of time but we walked up to the top of the area which had a moderately steep incline and bought a bag of coconut cookies that were quite good. We also watched a group of Jehovah’s Witness teens play a game that involved being able to slap the hands of the other contestants without getting both of your own slapped. Each person could move one at a time. It was kind of amusing to watch and the kid that won was fairly quick and sneaky.   

After the top we had to pretty much head back to the terminal and ride back down then eventually pile back into the bus where we again waded through traffic back to the boat terminal. At the terminal they had a few souvenir stands and we looked shopped for a little bit before returning to the ship. Inside the ship we got changed quickly and headed to the Jacuzzi at the pool area and stuffed our way in and stayed there for quite a while (I am sure more than an hour). Then when we were done we went back to the room and relaxed and ended up missing dinner by accident. Even the buffets were closed.  So we just went out and played one game of bingo before deciding to go to the bar where the piano player is and listened to them until they were done for the night. Then we went to Cyan disco and danced for a few songs before calling it a night.


The pictures from day 5 are found here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 4

We woke up with enough time to get a hurried breakfast buffet upstairs before we had to get to the meeting point to disembark for our Aruban excursion. We were going to De Palm Island where we would also do a “Seatrek” which was an underwater dive with an air helmet.  The boat docked at 7am and our excursion started at 9:30. We were lined up where we were put on a bus and driven to a ferry to De Palm Island.  The bus ride was maybe 20 minutes and the ferry ride was 5 minutes across to the island. We were given a short explanation of the surroundings. There was a water park and a snorkeling area as well as a restaurant and snack bar.  Also there were several other things you could do for extra money.  Since we were doing the Seatrek we didn’t really get to go too far before we had to go to the shop for our briefing so we basically visited the gift shop quickly then got something to drink quickly first.

In the briefing they explained how the dive would go. That we would climb down a ladder and had to adjust to the pressure as we did. That we would be on a walkway and we had to keep our hand on a rail at all times. We also were told to stay upright or the helmet would fill with water. So no looking down. They did 2 briefings one in English and one in Spanish. We took the English one. We then found we were in the second group which would start in half an hour so we really just went quickly to drop our stuff in a locker before we went back to the diving area to watch the first group go and see what the process was like. I will admit I was a bit nervous about it. I am not a swimmer. I know this didn’t involve swimming but I really haven’t been underwater before. When the first group finished most people looked really happy about it though so it was encouraging. 

Daniela and I were first in the group to go down because we were there the earliest. They start you down the ladder and then put the helmet on your shoulders and you go into the water. The helmet weighs 75 pounds to help keep you underwater. It also pushes through 3 times more oxygen than you would typically get.  They wanted us to stop every two rungs on the ladder until we adjusted to the pressure then continue on. The depth of the dive was 25 feet or so.  They have sunk a few vehicles to create reefs for the sea life to live in. There is a bus, 2 planes and hybrid submarine (a boat with a deep bottom with glass windows in it). They feed the fish while they are down there so they swarm around you.  Some of the fish nibbled at the divers. Especially at Daniela a few times (she is so sweet!).  Obviously they can only point at things underwater but they take you around and show you stuff and they take your picture with underwater cameras. I have an underwater camera but they wouldn’t let me use it. It was an incredible experience. I obviously have done nothing like it before and I would greatly recommend it.  After the walk around you climb back up the ladder and you are done.

After the dive we went over to relax and just a few minutes into that a couple of salsa dance instructors came and performed a quick class on salsa and meringue dancing. We participated in the show and I tried my best to do the steps.  I learned a lot but I am having a hard time processing it all.

After the salsa lessons we ate lunch at the buffet restaurant. I had rice and vegetables with fried fish sticks and Daniela had salad and potatoes and rice and barbeque chicken.  By the time we finished lunch there was time enough to gather our stuff and get dressed again then we had to take the ferry back across to the main island then a bus back to downtown. There we got off in the shopping region and wandered around for a while and stopped off and had a quick Balashi beer at The Paddock right near the water. The waiter there was very friendly and we put a signed dollar up on their wall before we left. We did a little more walking around town then headed to the ship.

After we boarded we relaxed for a while then went to dinner where this time our table was not only us and met 2 couples from Colombia who were very nice. I had a potato and chorizo soup for starter  followed by a linguini with eggplants and Daniela had a shrimp appetizer and grilled salmon for the main. We both had strawberry cheesecake for dessert.

After dinner we headed up to the 11th deck and visited the carnival party and danced for a while before I turned in for the night being exhausted. Daniela followed a little bit later.


The pictures from day 4 are here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 3

Today was a day at sea so we really didn’t have to do a ton of stuff and chose to stay in the room recovering from the long travel till fairly late before we ever got out.  First we walked around the deck a little bit and scouted out the ship. Then we went to lunch which was a buffet but was reasonable. I tried most everything on the counter and I had a nameless beer which is our only beer choice here.    From there we did a bit more walking around the ship.  After that we went back down to the room and got changed for going to the pool.   We spent a short of amount of time at the pool but it was very windy. After a bit we had to get back to the room and hurriedly get ready for the Captain’s presentation show and then finally the dinner. We missed the first chance to get our picture with the captain but managed to get it on the second. Then we went to dinner.

At dinner Daniela had shrimp pasta and I had beef medallions.  Both were good. I had the beef consommĂ© to start off and Daniela had a cappuccino of mushrooms.  Then for dessert she had a pineapple and ice cream dessert and I just had chocolate ice cream.  We each had red wine with the dinner.  From there we walked around the ship a bit then found the Cyan Disco.  We sat there for a little while then moved around to see what was happening anywhere else but it turned out that there really wasn’t much going on.  So we went back to Cyan for a while then finished up the night and headed back to the room for some sleep.

The pictures from day 3 are found here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 2

We got to the airport probably around 3:15 for a 5am flight to Bogota. Clearing the various lines was a little slower going than I would have preferred but we got in to the gate and it wasn’t long before boarding. The flight was mostly full and we basically slept through the majority of the flight except for the breakfast they provided. I was exhausted from the full day of travel with no real sleep.

Landing in Bogota we had to get off the plane then over to our connection which involved a shuttle bus then rescreening security but all the same even with the slightly late departure and arrival of the previous plane we made it before they started boarding.  The flight to Cartagena was short and we still slept through most if it also.  After deplaning we were trying to find a taxi when the company that Daniela considered hiring was there waiting for us so we decided to use them anyway. It was raining out a bit but not serious downpours. We were taken to Cartagena downtown where we walked around and looked for a bit before finding Juan del Mar to have lunch. We really hadn’t eaten much at that point. It was a bit expensive but very good. We both had fish which was a white fish. The waiter said it was a sea bass of some sort. I had mine Mediterranean style and she had hers Moroccan style. We both had a couple of Club Colombia beers as well.  From there we had just enough time to get lost for a little bit then find our way back to the meeting place where our ride would take us to the cruise terminal.

The cruise terminal was a giant line and the people organizing it screwed it up so that the specific spot in the line we were in was basically screwed into an extra 45 minutes at least of waiting. All the same once they got us into the actual line we got through and the processing wasn’t terrible. Still we got to the line at about 3:30 and we didn’t actually get on the boat until about 6:30 or later.  From there my suitcase was already at the room and we got settled in and Daniela’s arrived a few minutes later.

We had to participate in the new passenger safety drill which meant taking our life vests up to deck 9. We are on deck 2 in room 2030.  The climb up the stairs and the base exhaustion all added up that I was dozing off while they were explaining things in both Spanish and English.  We stayed around for a few minutes to watch the mooring lines be pulled in and tidied up then I was just too tired and headed back to the room.  Daniela stayed out and watched for a bit then went to see a tribute to ABBA show that she said was ok before she came back to the room and also went to sleep.

The pictures for day 2 are located here.

South Caribbean Cruise Summer 2013 Day 1

Today started out with a ride to the airport by my Dad.  We tried to take route 1 but there was a head on collision in the center of Middleton on 114 and we had to turn around and head to 93 by way of 125 instead.  114 was backed up almost as far as Sharpner’s Pond Road.  With the detour we probably lost about 20 minutes and by the time we got to the route 28 exit it was fairly slow traffic until the lower deck of 93.  Still we made it to the airport by 7:30 and we left at 6:30 so that wasn’t too bad.

My flight was supposed to depart for Newark at 10:00 but apparently there was a crew problem for the plane in Chicago and it didn’t leave until at least an hour after it was supposed to and we had an updated time of 11:15 departure. That arrival would still give me around 2 hours for the connection to my Lima flight in Newark so as long as it wasn’t too much later than they said there really wasn’t a reason to panic.  I saw one of my students from the class that ended the day before just after security in the airport but he was flying Delta and I was on United.  I bought a muffin and some coffee at the Dunkin Donuts in the terminal (terminal A for the United Newark flights) then sat at the gate and listened to the flight crew tell stories about their previous passengers because they sat next to me while we were waiting for the flight to arrive.

The flight was about 1 hour and 20 minutes late to depart after all was said and done.  United apparently has started sorting their boarding into boarding group gate lines. Of course since I lost my status by not flying United in a while I was stuck at the last group. I had to put my backpack in an overhead several rows away from me but with the 737-800 aisle seats there isn’t enough room to put it underneath the seat in front of you. The flight itself was less than an hour and uneventful if a bit bumpy on the way down.   They had in seat entertainment but even on such a short flight they wanted you to pay $5.99 which is not likely to happen.   I nodded off for a bit and then when they announced the bumpy air coming into the landing I just waited it out. As I said it wasn’t really too bad.  Fortunately the gates weren’t too far apart though the gate changed from the one printed on the ticket. I was able to get to the gate area in Newark fairly quickly and there was still around half an hour till boarding time according to the ticket. I chose not to have lunch even though it was basically that time and ate one of the snacks I bought in Boston.  From there it was a short wait until the boarding for the approximately 8 hour flight to Lima.

The flight to Lima itself was mostly uneventful but the boarding was probably one of the worst plane boarding experiences I have ever encountered. They started boarding 3 times. The first two they stopped because apparently catering was still being filled on the plane.  There was a couple with kids who got in an argument with the lady taking the tickets for boarding which delayed things a couple of times. Finally we all were able to get on board but we departed at least half an hour late.  I watched the movies Parker, Wreckit Ralph and Chinese Zodiac 12.  Parker was a Jason Statham action flick. It was ok.  Jennifer Lopez was a costar.  Wreckit Ralph was an animated movie by Disney that was based on a fake video game.  It was cute and I enjoyed it.  Chinese Zodiac 12 was a very recent Jackie Chan movie.  It was funny and made in Hong Kong or China so he could actually do all his own stunts.  I ate the meal because I didn’t get a chance for anything real in Newark. It was beef with mashed potatoes.  We landed basically on time. The immigration line was a pain in the butt especially because they opened a new line after I already passed a chance to get into it. All the same it wasn’t that bad. I was just behind the person who got the red light for customs inspection then it was just finding Daniela in the airport. I had to wait a short time as she had her brother drive and that took a little bit more time than normal.  They picked me up and we went to her house where we dropped off the stuff then Daniela and I went out for pizza at a restaurant not too far from her house.  The dough for the pizza was more like regular bread which was odd but it wasn’t bad. We shared a bottle of wine from Peru as well.  Then we went back to her house and relaxed until it was time to get to the airport for our flight.

The pictures from Day 1 can be found here.