aliaschief

IMO and experience it’s not that standards have dropped but the availability of products has. New and in some case shortages of crew also have impacted the industry. Winery and distilleries having problems attaining glass bottling. Poor winery growing year resulting in shortages of champagne, plus population drank it up in the pandemic, causing shortages. Many times, post pandemic it’s not the cruise lines problem that you can’t get a favorite product. it’s the company struggling to keep up supply and demand and shipping delays. A cruise line can only serve what they receive. Here in CC we have seen that entire pallets of fresh veggies being rejected as not acceptable. Not a business you can always run to local grocery store and stock up. Recent cruises I couldn’t get Crown Royal on a cruise and river cruise. The crew reply was no matter how many times we order just can’t get it. However, it is onboard the cruise I’m presently on. 👏🏻👏🏻 Web site issues according to IT friends probably could have been addressed and fixed before implementing but I yield to patience and understanding as we have almost two hundred days of booked days on Azamara. Frustrating yes. Confidence overrides.

Finally, some positive news.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

It’s the dry season and as soon as May rains come the trees will turn green with new foliage. More pictures on tomorrow’s Daily. Walking around in 93 and humid heat warrants a second shower.

We are just arriving in Huatulco, Mexico. First impression is it looks dry or maybe new foliage has not sprouted on trees yet. We’ll see.

Good morning everyone. Better to be under the weather then under the ground. Between Mucinex, Day Quill and Afrin Spray I’m feeling better or maybe it was the wee dram of whisky! Not sneezing, coughing so I believe I will go on today’s excursion. A walking food tour! We chose sleep last night over going to see Boy Band Evolution in main showroom. Tonight Tom Hanks A Man Called Otto is playing twice in showroom. Last night was Orange Night and I believe we saw more folks dressed in some form of orange clothing then ever before. We’ll be headed for breakfast in the Pinnacle. Will probably be a lite meal in order to keep room for food tour. Thanks for putting me on Care List but I can be removed. Thanks everyone and have a great Hump Day!

After my open heart aortic valve surgery it was important to get those lungs working. Start at short distances and work your way up.

Sounds like some encouraging news Roy. Are you back to your morning walks yet?

Joyan de Ceren Mayan ruins in El Salvador. Occupied around Year 1,000 and discovered in1990’s. Volcanoes in area buried the settlement and it was discovered when a farmer was plowing. The Pompeii of Mayan culture. Even though there were many artifacts intact it appears The Mayans escaped. The orange fruit pod is cashew and yields only two nuts. The fruit itself is juicy. I didn’t realize cashews came from a tree. upon our return to ship the El Salvador’s Naval Band performed.

Last night Canaletto Chef’s dinner. We thought we would have a choice between fish and fillet. The fillet was perfect but I was too stuffed to even come close to finishing it. Very nice meal just too many courses.

Good morning from Guatemala. Not going on the excursion today as I have a head cold.😩 Tested negative for Covid so I will isolate for the day and not spread my germs! We did attend the Canelleto Chefs dinner last night and it was very good but way too much food. We chose a table for two when I felt cold symptoms coming on. I’ll be posting some food porn later as I’m on my I-Pad and photos from phone have not transferred over. We’ll also post some pics from yesterday’s visit to Mayan ruins in El Salvador. The poverty in these Central American Countries is troubling and sad to see. El Salvador is now one of the safest countries after they declared the gangs terrorist and built a 40,000 capacity prison. Pretty easy to identify as most of the gang members were tattooed from head to toe. The government gathered them up incarcerated them and threw away the key. Thanks for the reports and post. Sniffles! Bruce

Bon Voyage!🛳️🍾

Good morning. Will soon be arriving in El Salvador where we are booked on a Hal excursion to visit some Mayan ruins. @Mr. Boston Sorry to hear you have lost your brother. Prayers and sympathies to you and your family. We dined in the Pinnacle last night and walked away stuffed. Tonight is the Canelleto Chef’s dinner. On sea days they have been having a movie in the main Showroom. Not much time this morning. Need to get ready, have a coffee and a light nosh in the Neptune. We have been to today’s port also on the Maasdam. Thanks for the report and have a great week. Bruce

Roy, Last two days any picture you post all I get is a tiny square with a question mark in it. I get all the other posted pics?

Here in America most businesses don’t accept Canadian dollars and the same usually applies in Canada for US dollar. Most businesses accept credit cards but you may acquire an out of country transaction fee. There are credit cards available that don’t charge transaction fees. Get the Uber app and it can be set up that by using Uber taxi service it’s automatically charged to the credit card you selected on your Uber app. Don’t have a smartphone you can always go to a bank pre cruise and order some Canadian money in advance or use ATM in Canada.

We have a beautiful stowaway on our Verandha hitching a ride to El Salvador.

Good morning! Just got up and looking forward to another day at sea as we sail for El Salvador. Yesterday’s tour in Costa Rica was way too long. Left at 11:00 AM got back to ship at 8:00 PM. The included lunch did not occur to 3:00 PM. The church made of eggs was basically a cinder block type of church and they used eggs to fortify the cement because of the many earthquakes. Then a super long haul to the coffee plantation which had beautiful grounds and a nice lunch. The next stop was Botanical Gardens which we arrived at five minutes before sunset! Not our best tour. If folks are unhappy where they live in US or Canada they should witness the homes in Costa Rica with barred windows and doors with walls surrounding houses topped off with concertina wire. Sad. When we got back to the ship we immediately went to New York Pizza for dinner. Afterward stopped by Billboard and listened to male and female singer’s and pianist. They are probably the best I’ve heard at any Billboard and maybe it’s because they are a couple or some type of relationship and our attuned with each other. Then we headed for Showroom to watch concert pianist Hyperion Knight perform. Fantastic pianist who we have seen several times on Hal ships. Tonight is an Illusionist so we may enjoy another venue. That’s it for this morning. Thanks to all who keep the Daily moving and interesting. Have a great Sunday. Bruce

I Phone 13.

Long tour day. Left at 11:00 AM got back at 8:00 PM.!😳

Bon Voyage!🍾🛳️

A great dining experience. Thanks for sharing.

Good Morning, We don’t arrive to Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica until 11:00 AM and all aboard is 10:00 PM. We are on a sightseeing tour where we visit a coffee plantation, a church made of eggs which we are anticipating, a sit down lunch and botanical garden. I have a correction from a previous statement I made. Nami Sushi is not half price for five star Mariners. We were told that by a fellow cruiser and it wasn’t the case. We kind of questioned that because of past dining but just want to clear that up, Tamarind yes but not Nami Sushi. Dined in MDR last night and it was another fine dining experience. We will be anxious to hear if any of our crew won any of the raffles or bingo games last night. The crew event was held in show room. I was in a public bathroom and an attendant was cleaning. I thanked him for keeping the rest room clean and handed him a dollar and said buy yourself a raffle ticket. He was so appreciative and said “thank you so much, no one has ever done that for me.” in case you didn’t see the picture of our sunset last night I will post again this morning. It was a beauty. Haven’t had time to read the Daily post yet but hopefully everyone and their baggage got to Florida and they have a great cruise. We met fellow CC member@Kurt and his wife last night. Nice couple. Thanks to enjoy your Saturday. Bruce

Just too beautiful not to share. Goodnight.

Flew 50,000 miles last year. A couple of minor delays but no cancellations. Fares have increased. Whether we have no control over. Booking travel on a Tuesday sometimes helps but like everything else we either pay or don’t go. I’m sure if one Google’s how to fly cheaper a multitude of sites will appear.

What a nightmare some of you have had to go through in order to go on what should be a wonderful cruise experience. I do pray all works out. You can feel the buzz amongst the crew as they have their big Raffle Night. Evidently Hal provides the prizes and some are not too shabby. Macintosh Lap Top, new Samsung phone, Nintendo game etc. They work so hard and so deserve such an evening. Seems weird posting, knowing many of you are through dinner and settling in for the night. Will get weirder as we travel further West. Have a great weekend. Bruce

At our loyal Mariners reception I met and enjoyed talking to one of our own CC member. A former fighter pilot so we had a good conversation. @TomCruise