Live from the 2020 Grand World Voyage

[Scrapnana]

January 13, 2020

 

Belem, Brazil

 

It’s Summer!  Shortly after midnight we crossed the Equator and left winter behind.  When we next cross into the Northern Hemisphere we will be moving into spring although we will not stay long before heading back into autumn.

 

Before going to bed last night, I did some research about the port.  Although I had been here last year, we actually tendered into Belem not Icoaraci.  The tenders were going to take 20 minutes or so to get into the port and then at least 45 minutes for the shuttle to get into the drop-off point in Belem – Docas Station.  I took an excursion last year that took us to most of the important places in Belem.  I had planned to go to the large market, Ver-o-Peso, although our guide last year mentioned it was someplace where you had to take care and probably should not go alone.  Sherita had walked over there last year and said it was not that great.  I decided it was too much effort for the result and would stay on the ship.  You can give me a big, fat “F” on my tourism skills so far!

 

I worked on my Project Linus blanket for some time and then went down to sit by the pool and read until lunch service opened.  I had not yet tried the taco bar this cruise so today was the perfect day to do so.

 

There were very few people left on the ship and the Lido was practically empty as I walked through to get to the Sea View pool.  I swam and did water aerobics for 75 minutes.  It drizzled for a short time while I was swimming and when I got out it was fairly cloudy so I went back to my cabin to get ready for trivia and dinner.

 

Only Sherita and I were present for trivia so we joined with Janet’s team.  We had 10 out of 15 and the winners had 11.

1.What empire was once ruled by Montezuma II?

2.In what martial arts do the athletes salt the ring?

3.What was the very first Beatles single?

4.What is the primary food source for mosquitoes that do not lay eggs?

5.Which element has the atomic number 4?

6.What oceans border Siberia?

 

I ate with my other table tonight because they were going to have “Game Night” during Main Sitting.  I had another really good cold soup.  I hope they continue throughout the cruise.  Tonight’s had grapes, cucumber, and celery.

 

I went with my “other” tablemates Sherita, Lenny, and Bonita to the show.  It was the singers and dancers “Salsamania”.  I must admit I almost fell asleep a couple of times.

 

After the show I went to the Crow’s Nest for Game Night at 8:30.  About 25 people showed up and we played two games.  In the first game two people tried to come up with the same answer to a question.  We played five rounds and no points were scored.  The second game was called “Dynamic Duos”.  They showed pictures of two people and the players had to name the movie they were in together.  The “Starboard” side team trounced the “Port” team.  The games were over before 9 pm.  I think they could have made it 45 minutes long and played one more game.

If you would like to read my blog post from last year on Belem, here is a link.  https://2019halgv.blogspot.com/2019/03/march-25-2019-belem-brazil-too-much.html

 

At sea tomorrow.

 

 

Trivia

1.Aztec

2.sumo wrestling

3.Love Me Do (team did not believe me)

4.nectar

5.beryllium

6.Pacific, Arctic

 

Smooth sailing until next time!

[Rowsby]

I love sea days.....and if you chose to stay on the ship all 128 days......it would still be an A plus fantastic and amazing cruise......:)

[Scrapnana]

41 minutes ago, Rowsby said:

I love sea days.....and if you chose to stay on the ship all 128 days......it would still be an A plus fantastic and amazing cruise......:)

I agree!  Sea days are the best and "making" a port day into a sea day is like icing on the cake.  

[Krazy Kruizers]

Your cold soups do sound delicious.  I was disappointed when HAL stopped them.

[bay guy]

Are Rodney and Marilyn's friends from Australia on board with you again this year? I can't remember his name but her name was Bev as I recall.

 

Does Nancy Grace have the same assistant working with her this year who was on the 2018 trip? It looks like her projects are really good again this year from the pictures you've posted.

 

Hope you're having a great time.

 

I understand you frustration with photo uploads. That was a constant issue for me in 2018.

[Scrapnana]

8 hours ago, bay guy said:

Are Rodney and Marilyn's friends from Australia on board with you again this year? I can't remember his name but her name was Bev as I recall.

 

Does Nancy Grace have the same assistant working with her this year who was on the 2018 trip? It looks like her projects are really good again this year from the pictures you've posted.

 

Hope you're having a great time.

 

I understand you frustration with photo uploads. That was a constant issue for me in 2018.

I think you are referring to Cynthia and Rob.  They are not onboard, unfortunately.

 

Nancy has a friend with her (Cathy) whose daughter is married to Nancy's son.  Evidently she was on with Nancy on the 2019 GWV.  Nancy has the best ideas and from what I can see, there are only a couple of crafts that are close to the same as 2018.

 

The only good part of the photo uploads is that HAL offered an unlimited internet package so you don't see dollar signs floating in front of your eyes as the minutes pass while you are attempting an upload.

[Scrapnana]

January 14, 2020

 

At Sea

 

Two Judys, Sherita, and I were at knitting.  Sherita and I left at about 11:20 for trivia.  Trivia was really hard.  The winning team had 9 out of 15 – we only had 6.

1.How many pounds of candy is sold in the U.S. each Halloween – 300 million, 90 million, or 600 million pounds?

2.What is the chemical element “azote” now known as ?

3.Who was the first explorer to reach the North Pole?

4.What is Nike’s signature symbol called?

5.What is the fear of bees known as?

6.What boxer holds the record for the most career knock-outs?

 

As has become my habit, I worked on the Project Linus blanket in my cabin before heading to the Lido for lunch at 1 pm.

 

We had a simple craft today.  We attached a piece of Velcro to an eyeglass cleaner cloth. 

 

I read for awhile before changing in to swim clothes and heading to the Crow’s Nest for afternoon trivia.  We had a sixth join us (Margaret does not play in the afternoon) but I did not get her name.  We had 9 out of 15 and the winners had 14.

1.What is the capital of Pakistan?

2.What letter can be found on a violin?

3.What kind of wood is traditionally used to make a didgeridoo?

4.In what novel did Hannibal Lecter make his first appearance?

5.Which country produces the most pasta in the world?

6.What is the mathematical sequence of numbers where each number is the sum of the two previous ones?

7.What is the only South American country that has English as its official language?

 

I went straight to the Sea View Pool after trivia.  The pools were open but the water was sloshing around and I am not a strong enough swimmer to do laps in that.  Instead I did a modified lap that likely took more energy than regular ones.  I swam for a half hour.

 

Listened to Diane in the Piano Bar before dinner.  People are getting to the dining room earlier and earlier.  I left the Piano Bar at 7:50.  It is about a two-minute walk to my table.  Most of the tables I passed on the way had already had food served!  It was Brazilian night and some of the dishes were Brazilian favorites.  We were each given a feather boa upon arrival in the dining room.  They were molting badly and there was a trail of feathers from the dining room to the Mainstage.

 

The show was “multi-instrumentalist” Mark Donoghue.  Tonight he played only the violin, piano, and harmonica because two of his suitcases did not get to Belem yesterday.  I am fairly certain I have seen him before on a ship.  He was very good.

 

When I returned to my cabin there was a note that our stop at Benoa, Bali had been extended to an overnight call.  This will allow the Indonesian crew more time to visit with families and friends.

 

Another day at sea tomorrow.

 

Morning trivia

1.600 million

2.nitrogen

3.Perry

4.swoosh

5.melissophobia (from the Greek) - apiphobia is from the Latin and is also correct although it was not counted for trivia – of course, that was our answer

6.Archie Moore (who??????)

 

Afternoon trivia

1.Islamabad

2. F

3.eucalyptus

4.The Red Dragon

5.USA

6.Fibonacci

7.Guyana

 

 

Smooth sailing until next time!

[Krazy Kruizers]

It sounds like people want to go to the 9:30 shows thus they are showing up early for dinner so that they can have dessert.

[RuthC]

12 hours ago, Scrapnana said:

When I returned to my cabin there was a note that our stop at Benoa, Bali had been extended to an overnight call.  This will allow the Indonesian crew more time to visit with families and friends.

That is wonderful for them! I'm pleased you reported that. 

[DeeniEncinitas]

Got caught up this morning Kathi with your reports!! Funny I got 5 trivia questions right? For me that’s a record! LOL. Believe it or not Archie Moore used to live in San Diego!! My husband said as a kid when he was growing up where he lived Archie Moore had a house down the street!! A long time ago LOL!

Have a wonderful day and thank you for taking the time to report.

 

Denise😊

[puppycanducruise]

I just got caught up on your wonderful reports.

Glad I'm not on your trivia team, you're doing much better than I am.

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

[Vict0riann]

Great that you will have an overnight in Benoa.  I'm sure the Indonesian crew are excited about it.

 

I hope that feather boa is just chicken feathers dyed green!  I remember last year, my thought was that with all those gorgeous feather costumes the dancers were wearing, it wasn't surprising that we saw so few birds up the Amazon.

[RBB]

15 hours ago, Scrapnana said:

When I returned to my cabin there was a note that our stop at Benoa, Bali had been extended to an overnight call.  This will allow the Indonesian crew more time to visit with families and friends.

 

     That should be nice.  Bali is a neverendingly interesting place.  Has another port been sacrificed for this?

 

Rick

[Scrapnana]

10 hours ago, DeeniEncinitas said:

Got caught up this morning Kathi with your reports!! Funny I got 5 trivia questions right? For me that’s a record! LOL. Believe it or not Archie Moore used to live in San Diego!! My husband said as a kid when he was growing up where he lived Archie Moore had a house down the street!! A long time ago LOL!

Have a wonderful day and thank you for taking the time to report.

 

Denise😊

I'm glad to know people have heard of him.  Most of the people playing were looking quizzically at each other (just like we were).  Congratulations on your right answers!

[Scrapnana]

7 hours ago, RBB said:

     That should be nice.  Bali is a neverendingly interesting place.  Has another port been sacrificed for this?

 

Rick

There does not appear to have been.  We were supposed to have one sea day between Benoa and Surabaya, Indonesia.  It looks like we will make it in less time. 

[Scrapnana]

January 15, 2020

 

At Sea

 

All five of us were at knitting and I was finally able to get a picture of the three Judys.  We discussed what was available in Buenos Aires (yarn wise).

 

Only five of us for trivia (Diana was not there).  We had 11 out of 15 but the winners had 12.

1.The U.S. flag has more (50) stars than any other.  Which country comes in second with 27 stars?

2.Who holds the record for the most NASCAR wins?

3.Which character in Monty Python and the Holy Grail continually insists, “It’s just a flesh wound.”

4.The English word “guitar” is borrowed from which language?

5.How much was the most money ever paid for a cow at auction – $67,000, $1.3 million, or $950,000?

6.Which animal undertakes the world’s longest migration each year?

 

Worked on my Project Linus blanket which I should finish by Saturday.

 

In Arts & Crafts we made a decorative cover for post-it notes.

 

I sat in the sun and had my afternoon ice cream for about 30 minutes.  Then I went to the Excursions office to ask a question about a tour in Valparaiso.  There were two excursions which were similar but very different in price.  The lady explained the difference and I booked it.  Right across from the office, Glenn-Michael (the lead EXC guide) was answering questions.  I wanted to know if he was going to have an Aussie sing-a-long on Australia Day as he did in 2018.  He said a decision has not yet been made.

 

Five of us were present for afternoon trivia and we asked a man sitting by himself to join us.  Again, I did not get his name.  We had 12 out of 16 and the winners had 14.

1.What Frenchman approved a stagecoach tunnel between France and England in 1802?

2.What river is mentioned in John Denver’s “Country Roads”?

3.Where would you be if you had a case of the Mercedes Bends?  (Yes, that is spelled correctly.)

4.What was the first TV western in color?

5.Who played the “I” in the “King and I”?  For another point who played Anna in the remake?

6.What is always the total of four vertical faces of a die?

 

Because we have been traveling east but with no time change, today’s sunset was 30 minutes earlier than yesterday.  Therefore, I did not have time to swim before dark after trivia.  Instead I did some research on yarn stores in Punta del Este and Montevideo.

 

Instead of going to the Piano Bar, I went to dinner at 7:45 and there were already quite a few people in the dining room.  We had a special menu prepared by the HAL Culinary Council.

 

The entertainment was an opera singer.  I did not go.

 

Recife, Brazil tomorrow and I am going to get off the ship!

 

Morning trivia

1.Brazil

2.Richard Petty

3.the Black Knight

4.Spanish

5.$1.3 million

6.arctic tern (bird was accepted)

Afternoon trivia

1.Napoleon

2.Shenandoah

3.Hotel California

4.Bonanza

5.Deborah Kerr – remake, Jodie Foster

6.14

 

Smooth sailing until next time!

[MamaFej]

I'll be following along. as PapaFej's aunt and uncle are on board. They don't do Cruise Critic, but it's nice to see where they are, even when we haven't heard from them in a while.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Can't believe that you are nearly done with your Linus blanket.

 

 

[DeeniEncinitas]

12 hours ago, Scrapnana said:

January 15, 2020

 

 

 

At Sea

 

 

 

All five of us were at knitting and I was finally able to get a picture of the three Judys.  We discussed what was available in Buenos Aires (yarn wise).

 

 

 

Only five of us for trivia (Diana was not there).  We had 11 out of 15 but the winners had 12.

 

1.The U.S. flag has more (50) stars than any other.  Which country comes in second with 27 stars?

 

2.Who holds the record for the most NASCAR wins?

 

3.Which character in Monty Python and the Holy Grail continually insists, “It’s just a flesh wound.”

 

4.The English word “guitar” is borrowed from which language?

 

5.How much was the most money ever paid for a cow at auction – $67,000, $1.3 million, or $950,000?

 

6.Which animal undertakes the world’s longest migration each year?

 

 

 

Worked on my Project Linus blanket which I should finish by Saturday.

 

 

 

In Arts & Crafts we made a decorative cover for post-it notes.

 

 

 

I sat in the sun and had my afternoon ice cream for about 30 minutes.  Then I went to the Excursions office to ask a question about a tour in Valparaiso.  There were two excursions which were similar but very different in price.  The lady explained the difference and I booked it.  Right across from the office, Glenn-Michael (the lead EXC guide) was answering questions.  I wanted to know if he was going to have an Aussie sing-a-long on Australia Day as he did in 2018.  He said a decision has not yet been made.

 

 

 

Five of us were present for afternoon trivia and we asked a man sitting by himself to join us.  Again, I did not get his name.  We had 12 out of 16 and the winners had 14.

 

1.What Frenchman approved a stagecoach tunnel between France and England in 1802?

 

2.What river is mentioned in John Denver’s “Country Roads”?

 

3.Where would you be if you had a case of the Mercedes Bends?  (Yes, that is spelled correctly.)

 

4.What was the first TV western in color?

 

5.Who played the “I” in the “King and I”?  For another point who played Anna in the remake?

 

6.What is always the total of four vertical faces of a die?

 

 

 

Because we have been traveling east but with no time change, today’s sunset was 30 minutes earlier than yesterday.  Therefore, I did not have time to swim before dark after trivia.  Instead I did some research on yarn stores in Punta del Este and Montevideo.

 

 

 

Instead of going to the Piano Bar, I went to dinner at 7:45 and there were already quite a few people in the dining room.  We had a special menu prepared by the HAL Culinary Council.

 

 

 

The entertainment was an opera singer.  I did not go.

 

 

 

Recife, Brazil tomorrow and I am going to get off the ship!

 

 

 

Morning trivia

 

1.Brazil

 

2.Richard Petty

 

3.the Black Knight

 

4.Spanish

 

5.$1.3 million

 

6.arctic tern (bird was accepted)

 

Afternoon trivia

 

1.Napoleon

 

2.Shenandoah

 

3.Hotel California

 

4.Bonanza

 

5.Deborah Kerr – remake, Jodie Foster

 

6.14

 

 

 

Smooth sailing until next time!

Have a great time in Recife tomorrow! Enjoy the beach or finding some yarn stores👍
Denise😊

PS only 4 correct answers for me on Trivia but it is fun learning!

Denise😊

[Scrapnana]

January 16, 2020

 

Recife, Brazil

 

My original plan was to leave the ship by 10:00 to go to Casa da Cultura.  This is a city where we were discouraged from walking around except in large groups but there was a free shuttle to the former prison which now houses craft items in the former cells.  I was here last year on the South American cruise.

 

I woke up at about 8:50 and about twenty minutes later Sherita called and said her plans had changed and did I want to go around 9:30. I said yes (I always lay out everything I need for the next day so I am ready to go quickly. This was a habit I started when I was still working.) and quickly got ready and met her down by the gangway on Deck A.

 

In Recife you must take a shuttle to the terminal and then walk through the terminal to catch your transportation for the city.  There is now a money exchange in the terminal so it is not as empty as last year.  Once again there was a band playing and a lady dancing in the terminal to welcome us.

 

The city did not look much different from last year nor did the Casa da Cultura.  I was hoping to find a dress similar to the one I bought last year (which I now use for a pool cover-up) but there was nothing different.  I did buy two little things that came to just under US$9.

 

We were back on the ship by 12:30. I changed into my bathing suit and went to the Lido for lunch.

 

When I got to the pool, Sherita was already in and we talked for about 20 minutes and when she left the pool, I swam my laps.  After 75 minutes in the pool I sat in the sun for half an hour.   I was glad I swam when I did because there were about ten people in the pool when I left.

 

I had decided to eat early with my other table because there was a game of Scattegories this evening at 8:30 (in the middle of Main Sitting) so after the pool I got ready for dinner before Trivia.

 

Only Diana, Sherita, and I were present on our team.  We had 11 out of 17 and the winning team had all 17.

1.What company’s logo is a bird named Larry?

2.What type of whale is the heaviest to every exist?

3.What do these words have in common – peep, noon, kayak, dad, and racecar?

4.What is the only country in South America whose name begins and ends with the same letter?

5.Which fictional character keeps a marmalade sandwich under his hat in case of an emergency?

6.Which letter comes next in this sequence – O T T F F S S?

7.Order these flights from longest to shortest – New York City to Hong Kong. Barcelona to Copenhagen, London to Dubai, Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.

 

Sherita and I went to dinner from trivia.  After dinner Billy, our server, said we would lose another hour tonight.  I thought we had not changed time zones in Brazil last year so I was confused. Turns out someone made a mistake – we do not have a time change.  Hamish repeatedly reminded us that there was no change both before and after the show.   The show tonight was the Amsterdam Entertainers in “That’s Life” with songs from swing and jazz.

 

Scattegories was in the Crow’s Nest and we had four teams competing.  I played with a group of people I did not know.  We came in last.

 

When I returned to my cabin there was a note reminding us not to change our clocks.

 

At sea tomorrow on our way to Rio.

 

Trivia

1.Twitter

2.blue whale

3.they are palindromes

4.Argentina

5.Paddington Bear

6.E (the letters represent one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight)

7. longest is NYC to Hong Kong, then London to Dubai, then Barcelona to Copenhagen, and the shortest is Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.

 

Smooth sailing until next time!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Love the report and pictures.

 

I remember Recife all too well.  It was so hot and humid that DH and several other people had their movie and regular cameras "fry" on them.  The film inside them fried up.  Thankfully I had another camera that was all right and we did get pictures.

[travelnap]

Kathi, they finally asked some trivia questions I knew.  I actually knew 5 out of the 7.  Usually I am lucky to get two right out of the five questions.  I feel good until tomorrow's trivia when I will probably go back to my usual 2 or 3.  Hope you are having a great time on the cruise.

[Happily@Sea]

5 minutes ago, travelnap said:

Kathi, they finally asked some trivia questions I knew.  I actually knew 5 out of the 7.  Usually I am lucky to get two right out of the five questions.  I feel good until tomorrow's trivia when I will probably go back to my usual 2 or 3.  Hope you are having a great time on the cruise.

 

I finally got a few more than usual, but can not claim 2 or 3 every day - out of the normal 12 questions. 😞

 

[Scrapnana]

January 17, 2020

 

At Sea

 

As usual, my morning began with knitting in the Crow’s Nest.  Bonnie, who was on the 2018 GWV, joined us for the first time.  We discussed our Buenos Aires field trip to Av.Raul Scalabrini Ortiz next week.

 

All were present for morning trivia but that did not help our score.  We only had 7 out of 15 and the winners had 12.

1.What is the world’s third largest market for beer?

2.Who was Norm’s wife on Cheers?

3.Who invented Arabic numerals?

4.The alcoholic beverage “poteen” comes from which country?

5.What color was Green Lantern’s weakness?

6.From what movie did Duran Duran get their name?

 

I almost finished my Project Linus blanket before lunch but will have it finished for tomorrow. I will work on it after I finish today’s blog entry.

 

There was a good Indian menu in the Lido which I enjoyed for lunch.

 

In arts & crafts we decorated a notebook for keeping papers from the cruise.  Sherita and I sat afterwards and she worked on uploading pictures and I worked on checking opening hours for the yarn shops in Buenos Aires.  Luckily, we are there on Friday because they close early on Saturdays and are not open at all on Sunday.

 

We did not do much better with afternoon trivia, only having 14 out of 21. Winners had 19.

1.What was the first war that graduates of West Point fought in?

2.What was the biggest city in the US when the first census was taken in 1790?

3.What sport uses plugs and leaders?

4.What newsperson married Maury Povich?

5.Which African country was the setting for the books “Out of Africa” and “The Green Hills of Africa”?

6.What TV show lost Jim Carrey when he became involved in movies? (today happens to be his birthday)

7.Which president made George H. W. Bush CIA director?

8.What is the most frequently chosen dog name that begins with the letter “L”?

9.(worth 2 points) What was the name of Sherlock Holmes landlady?

 

I have taken to walking back to my cabin after trivia on the outside deck (much more interesting than a corridor of doors).  Today I stood and watched the ocean for about 15 minutes since once again there was not enough time to swim before it got dark.   It was beautiful out on deck without too much wind and the temperature had cooled down since it was near sunset. 

 

Tonight was our third Gala Night and the theme was “Gold, Glitz, and Gleam” which the “When & Where” (the daily program) described as “a great night to shine for wealth, grandeur, and prosperity.”  The dining room was decorated with gold accents.  We had a special menu and I had the surf and turf as usual.  Before that, though, I had another cold soup which is now my favorite so far.  It was a chilled strawberry bisque and was as good as a milkshake.  There was some talk on Cruise Critic today that the cold soups had mostly disappeared on the non-grand voyages.  The general agreement was that HAL needs to keep the cold soups on all cruises.

 

After dinner I went to see the pianist, Tim Abel.  He played a little of everything – rock, ragtime, classical, and boogie-woogie.  I think I have seen him before.

 

When I returned to my cabin there was another pillow gift.  It was an external power bank that can charge three devices at the same time.

 

One more day at sea before Rio.

 

 

 

Morning trivia

1.Brazil

2.Vera

3.Indians

4.Ireland

5.yellow

6.Barbarella (thanks, Betsy, or I would not have known the answer)

 

Afternoon trivia

1.War of 1812

2.Philadelphia

3.fishing

4.Connie Chung

5.Kenya

6.In Living Color

7.Ford

8.Lady

9.Mrs. Hudson

 

Smooth sailing until next time!

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for the reports.

Glad to hear about the chilled soups - sounds delicious.