Seniors on the road, the ocean, off the beaten path

December 10, 2024

After four pretty full days in Hawaii, we are now in the middle of a six-day stretch of sea days. From now on the sea days will be mostly single days between ports with just one three-day and one four-day group.

We’ll keep ourselves busy in the ports: a 4x4 “Safari” (their word, not mine!) in Bora Bora; a privately arranged tour in Papeete, Tahiti; and a three-hour “Highlights” tour in Raiatea.

Meanwhile, we’ve been busy with “Port Talks” about upcoming islands and “Conversationalist” talks about a lot of different things, and today, a talk about how to edit photos on our phones in an app called SnapSeed. I don’t have SnapSeed (yet) but it will be interesting to learn. There are also watercolor painting lessons (the art gene skipped from my mother to my daughter) and what I call Stitch ‘n Bitch at our community they call Stitch ‘n Knit here on the ship.

Willie has been travelling around the ship having some new experiences.

Willie tried to drink the champagne meant for Randy!

The smallest of the 14 Trivia teams, the Drinkers, meet with Willie.

Our intrepid Trivia torturers, Jan (Cruise Director) and James (Entertainment Director) meet with Willie to decide what diabolical questions they will ask.

Willie joined me for Tea in the Observation Bar and then supervised the Stitch 'n Knit group that meets there every other day or so.

September 27, 2024

Saguenay, Quebec, Canada

The Saguenay Fjord is one of the oldest in the world, not as spectacular as the fjords of Norway and the South Island of New Zealand, but still beautiful. Or we presume it would be beautiful if it weren’t raining. Again. Still. Slightly better today, however, as it is just drizzling. We have hopes of actually seeing the sun tomorrow. Maybe.

Our tour today covered a very interesting fjord museum, complete with a pretend spaceship tour of the fjord in space, near the surface, and back in time to the formation of the fjord. Ingenious presentation, sitting in a pretend spaceship, looking out the forward “windows.”

Our tour guide is Linda Tremblay-Boise. Tremblay is the most common surname in Saguenay, some 30,000 to 40,000 people with that surname, so many families added a descriptor, like -Boise, to distinguish which family were being talked about! Since boise translates to “woody” or “forested” I don’t know how framboise (raspberry) got named. Even Mr. Google doesn’t know.

Then on to a goat farm (Le Chevrier du Nord/Goatherd of the North) where the goats are not bred for their milk or meat, but for their angora wool. We got to feed them and see the workshop/store where the owner designs and makes clothing (hats, scarves mostly). Since it has been 105 where we live, I didn’t buy anything!

Perhaps the low light of the tour was a pulp museum. Yes, pulp to make paper. But they didn’t make paper, only the pulp. It was also a bicycle museum and that was mildly interesting.

Life on board ship is cruising right along! (Sorry, couldn’t resist!) We have had dinner three nights in the main dining room, called, what else, The Restaurant, at a “hosted” table where the host is one of the staff or officers. All the dinners have been absolutely delightful, starting with our first with Cice, the Assistant Cruise Director, then Marcus, one of the entertainment folks, and last night, the only “formal” night, with Milana, the Education Director on board. She trains all the staff and clearly is doing a fantastic job!

Trivia! I’m not usually a trivia buff but I started on Day Two and we have become a cohesive group of seven (the first day, not including Randy who was playing bridge), then eight the second day (including Randy), and now 10, the max, with a couple one of our members invited. We managed a tie for third the first day but have not placed since. But we laugh a lot and are having a great time. And we haven’t finished last. Yet.

There are some weird questions: What is the only state you can spell using one row on a normal QWERTY keyboard? What is in the center of the Ghana flag? What is the most common color in all the flags of the world? Lots of movie questions which Randy and I suck at and today, I, the docent, didn’t know the collective for spiders (cluster, according to Aimee, the CD) but I looked it up afterwards and I was right according to one source that said it was colony, cluster, or web (my answer).

This is one of our two sea days so lots of talks: on space and on cloud formations. And entertainment including a Liar's Club.

Later I will be joining a group of Stitch & Knit (I pushed for calling it Stitch & Bitch but Aimee (Cruise Director) didn’t like that!). And Randy has a partner for bridge, an Aussie, Jane Costello. Lots of Australians on board, a few of them worried about having been on a goat farm and having to tell the Aussie immigration that they have walked on a goat farm!