JaneRetired

Started reading this 81 page page-turner while reading your "dad on a cruise" live in mid August. Oh my, what a lovely writer you are! I also share a love of books as a retired science educator, and in my 30's my then partner's hobby was writing British literary travel itineraries. I was lucky to have a month of vacation back then (in the 80's and 90's) and we spent whole months doing Thomas Hardy Society walks in southern England, Robert Burns, Dickens, Walter Scott, tours in our itineraries. From John O'Groats to Lands End. Barcelona based "Shadow of the Wind" author Carlos Luiz Zafrón has a walking tour at the end of the book, and I went there after a cruise with 3 friends who had read the book.That was so much fun, tho I'm also an introvert. Went to Iceland this year on a solo land trip (with a group) and my theme was Icelandic saga locations. Been reading Icelandic sagas and old Scot and Old English poetry for over 50 years. Reading and visiting placenames is rewarding! Travel based on literature is a wonderful. The Thomas Hardy Society had walking tour pamphlets based on all the books, and you can find that plus Icelandic Saga based tours in the internet. Maybe here on CC too but I haven't looked. Now back to the dad trip. Thank you for such a wonderful live report!

Late very late to this party, reading the "dad is on a cruise" blog today. And love your writing style, saw your previous live posts. I was in Iceland on a 7 day LAND trip in May this year - 2 nights before and 1 night after in NYC aka Brookland, 4 nights in Iceland (Gate1 trip). My hotel had an photo exhibit, and one of the pieces was on loan from the Phallological Museum #IFKYK

Harbor Seal Pilates!

Ahhhh <3. We spent a week before a 2019 Kobe/Kamchatka/Kodiak cruise kicking off our first year of retirement. The Bullet train to Tokyo and Kyoto from Osaka were mindblowing and bucket list worthy! Thanks for the trip down memory lane 🙂 The family photos are just adorable, too!!

My dad was campus minister at UNT (then NTSU) late 50's to mid 60's. When I visit Denton - 2022 most recent, and drive by our two parsonage homes, I always go to the UNT Jazz Lab band concerts, named for the hour of the day the lab is held. Holy smokes, amazing amazing musicians. As a kid we went went to Pat Boone's restaurant every Sunday, probably the only restaurant outing for a poor minister's family. I still saw stores and theatres downtown I remember as a grade 2-7 year old kid in 2022 ❤️

Thank you for a wonderful review, and a wonderful sampler of this ship. When you first posted pictures of the Venezia atrium, I had a wave of nostalgia for both Venice's real Piazza S. Marco - St. Mark's Square, and surprisingly Las Vegas's Venetian Grand Canal Shopping and restaurant area on both sides of the canal. I just loved the atrium's lay out and the overhead blue sky with clouds. And having so recently enjoyed the "canal" in Vegas, after many years away, just made the ship's features resonate for me. Your own solo journey at a sad time seemed a little cathartic, meant in the nicest way.

Thank you for your live take on your cruise. Your writing is beautiful, your joy on the White Pass railroad excursion was lovely to read, and your cruise was an important personal milestone which I am thankful you shared with us. It brought back nice family memories for me! Good luck with the non-cruise parts of your life -- the job, the other things. And congrats and good luck to the grad and the teen you are helping in so many wonderful ways. There is no special keychain for being a great mom, but you earned it. Thank you!

@KmomChicago, I was removing things from our old car before trading it in a few days ago, and I found our two White Pass -Yukon Route 2009 ball caps in a mesh pocket. Brought back very fond memories of our first cruise. My mom and dad organized The Alaska cruise it for all their children (5) and all the grandchildren. I got a small balcony room, mostly so they could sit out and view the glaciers, everyone else got inside rooms. They were 80 and 82, and both died in the past year at 93 and 95. We all rode the railroad, and you just brought back a very fond memory for me <3.

3. Honey comes from clover, a plant. Pistachios or walnuts come from trees and are high in protein and healthy fats. The nuts, honey, and phyllo pastry used to make baklava provide a rich source of essential nutrients, including protein, fiber, and healthy fats. Additionally, baklava may help to improve heart health, boost energy levels, aid digestion, help with weight loss and brain function ( that part from google). Also one piece is very yummy!

@KmomChicago. I love Chicago! I was born at Presbyterian Hospital in the early 1950's, and our first home was 840 W Belden Avenue in the (now) McCormick Row House District. Back then, these houses were housing for McCormick Presbyterian Seminary students. The professors lived in the larger end units, and students in the others. I was too young to remember anything, but I have lovely photos from the house, the Chapel, which is now a music venue on DePaul University campus.I visited last year, paying homage also to my dad's first churches in Donnelson, and 3 other small rural churches nearby. He was a student M-Th, and minister Fri-Sun. I visited our homes /parsosnages last year after my dad died at 95. ❤️ Chicago will always be my favorite city!

Conundrum costs about $20 per bottle in my local California grocery stores (Vons/Safeway/Ralphs) and about $25 per bottle at Bevmo. It's fine as a inexpensive grocery store wine.

Ahh, Loma Prieta! I worked in the Bank Of America HQ building 1978-1995 and had left work to take the Golden Gate Ferry home that day, walking under the Embarcadero Freeway overpass about an hour before the earthquake damaged it. Although I have been on the ferry during other earthquakes, I was off and driving home, when it felt like my car was having car trouble. After the Bay Bridge collapse, the ferries all over the bay area were pulled into service to get commuters to and from work. I got home and the only damage I could find was a vase fell onto the carpet and didn't break. My now hubby was at the Giants/Oakland A's world series game with his then wife. I like to think of the ferry commute as a mini cruise twice a day! It certainly was the love boat! 🙂

#phrasing

CC should award your luggage an award! A Luggie? My inner 7th grader started chuckling as I wrote that!

Sweet! My amazing dad died at 95 in April this year. I started rereading his "Connections" memoir when triggered by your posts about UNT. It took me on a delightful wormhole dive from 2nd grade at Stonewall Jackson Elementary, near UNT, to being outed on the cover of the Denton newspaper as part of a girl tomboy group taking over a boys treehouse in elementary school at Woodrow Wilson elementary, where the principal Sammy Spratt walked with a paddle named "Red Rider"- painted red with big holes in it, for more pain. Yes, teachers, in the 60's kids got beaten by teachers and principals. Dad went on to get Doctorate in Ministry from San Francisco Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1977 at 50. He performed marriages for me TWICE! My first cruise (Princess) was on his idea, The was hired as a minister on many cruises, and he suggested all our family, kids, spouses, grands to one. Princess cruise to Alaska from nearby our home in San Francisco. Easy on them in 2009. I upgraded my first cruise room to a tiny balcony so they could sit out and see the glaciers, without walking up to see it on deck.. Dad made everyone, even the grands, carry a bottle of wine onboard! What a lovely memory. He and my mom cruised alot as a minister before, neighbor was was a TA. That first cruise was first for all of us except mom and dad. ❤️

While a minister at NTSU (now UNT) my preacher dad got his Masters of Theology (Social Ethics) at Perkins Seminary, a branch of SMU. Graduated in 1963 with 4 kids one on the way! ❤️

Thanks @TxTeach79 for the links to all your other cruise live reports. I lived in Denton TX in the late 50's and early '60's and my dad was the campus minister at then NTSU and TWU, 🙂 1959-1965, when we moved to California. I attended Stonewall Jackson Elementary, Woodrow Wilson Elementary when it opened in 1960, and Denton Jr High. Your pictures of UNT brought back fond memories. I visited Denton in 2019 and attended several evening band class concerts. Princess was my first cruise (Alaska) line. 🙂

Lovely live post! Loved your research, posts and wonderful way of sharing with all of us! One of my favorite CC reports! TYVVM

@Jamman54! Thank you and Patti for your tandem review! I love the repartee between you two, the humor in the posts, and I think by posting after a port-intensive cruise, you benefit from spur of the moment posts, and have the time to enjoy yourselves, and to reflect, research and recover once back home. You both have created an amazing story that current and lurking cruisers will appreciate. I've read a couple of your cruise reports, and, now, I want to go to husband daycare!

And the best performance by a suitcase goes to Paul's Luggage. Best writer @TxTeach79, best supporting writer @HelloItsMeB. Best location assistance graphics: Airtags. Best locations not really helping: LHR and BCN. Airline support not provided: BA. Happy ending and what a magnificent live report! Thank you!

We had a feral mama cat bring her 4 grey kittens over our fence 12 years ago. We named them the greyscale kittens. We captured them, got them spayed, found homes for 2 babies and invited 2 indoors.

Thank you for the photo essay and great captions of the Azores, complete with a quiz! So many TA's cancel the Azores due to the weather, as mine did in April 2022 - Regent Miami-Barcelona, so we armchair sailors got be right there with you! I had 24 hour refueling celebration at Lajes Field on the Azorean island of Terceria after a 10 day NASA/USAF Multi-Instrument aircraft mission to study the 1999 Leonid Meteor Storm flying from Tel Aviv to Terceria. I was really looking forward to that stop last year, but at least we crossed the Mid Atlantic Ridge. This entire post is one of the very best on CC! Thanks! 🙂

All over Los Angeles where I live. Don't park your car or anything under them. Pretty but messy!

We stopped in Aomori on Seabourn Sojourn Kobe...Kamchatka... Vancouver. I search out soba noodles when I travel, and found green seaweed Okinawan soba noodles at a huge shopping mall, with dozens of food stands very near the cruise terminal. Great walking city!!

We were there April 2022, and the groundskeeper pointed out one of the mousers on patrol around the pool. One of the cats (who are very welcome and work hard) snatched a goldfish from this pool while we were there ate it under the manicured shrubs 🙂