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Granny's 2008 Adventure

GrannyLorr

By GrannyLorr,
in Seabourn Cruise Line

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GrannyLorr

GrannyLorr

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January 15th.

Poor old granny was starting to feel unloved and unwanted….we had been on board for so long, and not one invitation to a Hosted table? Whoever is in the suite next to us have had a lot of invitations on their door, in fact we even contemplated stealing some of theirs! Well it seems “they” have noticed we are here now and we have received two in two days…….first one we had to decline as we had the Cruise Critic Dinner, but we have accepted for tonight. There were only 6 of us at the CC dinner as Tony and Trevor had gone off to Machu Picchu. There was “Auntie Anne”, Michigan David and of course old Granny, plus our other halves. We had a lovely night in “2”, and the theme was “Steak House”. Tomorrow night is Indian Spice Market again, we couldn’t get a reservation last time, but have already booked for tomorrow. Seems the Indian food is very very popular.

Poor Michigan David seemed to have a lot of trouble understanding Johns accent….but then a lot of people do!

But I am getting ahead of myself again…….

Our Trivia Team is going up and down….from second top to second bottom…NEVER top and NEVER bottom. On our last sea day, during trivia in the Constellation Lounge, the ships horn blasted a few times. We all raced to the windows to see what was happening…..4 small boats were cutting across in front of us. Eric climbed under the piano….all 8 feet 10 of him! He said he would conduct the rest of trivia from under there. Some people went outside to wave to the boats, I thought that was rather silly….thinking about the last time small boats got too close to the Spirit! All I could think about was “bugger, I haven’t got my camera”….I wanted to be as famous as Norm! Anyway nothing happened….I did hear later that the “ear splitting” device they used on the Spirit to upset the pirates, had been readied just in case…….but that was second hand information so I’m not sure if that really happened or not.

John has given some expert medical advice to an English passenger who with his fair skin fell asleep in the Equatorial sun!! Not really a very good idea. He looked like a cross between an over ripe tomato and a lobster. John told him that the best cure was to smear vegemite on it….the yeast draws the burn out….we haven’t seen him since!

We had our Crossing the Equator Ceremony……..King Neptune was one of the Guest Lecturers and guess who his wife was? Even taller with high heels on! Not bad legs on Eric either! However he does need to learn how to sit in a slightly more lady like position! People were “zooming in”…..bet there are a few ~interesting~ photos! The “victims” who were all found GUILTY were two of the Stewardesses and one of the Bar Waitresses….none had seen the ceremony before so had no idea what was going to happen to them! One of our friends had been to the fish market the day before with the Chef and they had looked for a very ugly fish but couldn’t find one, so got a rather smelly one instead. Don’t think the girls were too thrilled at having to kiss the dead smelly fish. John of course had to tell one of the girls that it was probably better than a few she had kissed before anyway!! I would hate to be one of the poor deck boys with all the mess they had to clean up after the “operations” etc….there were body parts everywhere. I’m not sure exactly which body parts look like ham and bacon though? We have now collected a Panama Canal Certificate and an Equator Certificate….will get another one when we get around the other side. At least we aren’t pollywogs; the next will be the third Equator crossing for us.

The weather has actually been quite kind to us. I was expecting it to be much hotter than it is, but most days has been under 30C….think that’s around 85 F or so? I don’t have time to do the math. (or the brainpower)

Yesterday, Monday, we arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador. The hardest part of the tour was getting off the ship! The gangplank was attached to Deck 5, but the high tide was in, so we had to abseil down!! It wasn’t easy for someone with short legs let me tell you! The gangplank was almost vertical. Then some bright spark decided to change it to Deck 4 for an almost level exit….of course we were all off by then, including a lady on crutches and one in a wheel chair. We just did a tour called “Guayaquil Introduction” . It was quite good, saw all the places we were supposed to see, but the Cathedral was closed. There was a lot of walking, but all on flat ground so wasn’t a problem….even our friend who is on crutches did every inch of the tour. The first place we went to was “Iguana Park”….there were dozens of them…..all perched in the trees, huge monsters. Apparently they come down in the afternoon; I would have liked to see that.

We went to the waterfront area and there were a few handicraft shops. A few of the men bought Panama hats but John couldn’t make up his mind so missed out. I bought a shawl in the Iguana Park, really beautiful bright colours….we were told to “bargain”….but how can you bargain when an item is only $4 and the average wage is only $200 a month? We paid the $4………Now I wish I had bought a few of them.

We also went to the Botanical Gardens, which were lovely, but none of the plants were foreign or unusual to us….just the same old stuff we have in our backyard. We were taken to a restaurant in the gardens for a drink and fresh fruit…..we certainly needed a drink by then.

At one stage we passed by the Cemetery….it is huge and called White City….massive mausoleums etc. Right near it is the flower market, boy would I have liked to stop there! Then we saw 2 funerals heading for the Cemetery. Of course most of these people are quite poor, so hearses or cars aren’t used….they carry the casket however far they have to go. There was a funeral on either side of the road as we drove by, lines of people by the hundreds following.

Back to the ship and we were presented with little panama hats to pin on our shirts, and beautiful roses. The panama hat came in very handy as Granny spilt her lunch and the hat was transferred to the stain so she didn’t have to change before going out again!

We raced up for lunch. Then a quick clean up and we were off again for the “Exclusive Seabourn Experience”. This time we were taken just out of the City to an Historic Park. There were birds, monkeys, iguanas and all sorts of animals for us to see. There was also a sloth…..my one ambition in these parts is to see a sloth…..all I could see was his claws.

The Mayor was there to welcome us, then we had a Folkloric Dance group perform for us. I really enjoyed that……except that at the end John was dragged up to dance….he is getting to be quite a performer!

I was disappointed that we hadn’t been told we would be served a lot of food and drink. If we had been aware we wouldn’t have had lunch. I think we were told there would be canapés, but there was much more than that and hardly anyone was eating. There were waiters everywhere, and warming trays full of food, I felt really bad that we were all saying “no thanks” to the food. What a terrible waste. I hope the waiters were allowed to take it home. As we were leaving we were all presented with an Ecuadorian doll. It was a lovely afternoon. On the way back to the buses, some people were selling Panama hats from the back of their car…….John didn’t hesitate this time, and on checking with a friend later, found it was the same brand he had purchased in town and paid double what John did….so we got a bargain!!

Finally arrived back at the ship and the crew were there to welcome us home with cocktails, cold towels and the band playing……I will post some pictures when I resize them.

Today (Tuesday) we have had a lovely lazy day and I think I have just about caught up with all my news. The ships horn has been blowing all day, we have been in a lot of fog. Every time I hear the horn I get excited and grab my camera……looks like Norm is going to be the only famous photographer in CC. We are sailing down the coast of Peru, mostly calm seas, but every so often we get a bit of swell.

Boatman….your wish is my command. Tomorrow I will ask for a “small” serving of hash with my lamb chops, and post my expert Aussie opinion.

Terra Firma….how nice of you. Are you asking us to move in with you when we get home? Of course that way we will be able to save quicker for our next cruise! I will expect the same style of service I am getting now though.

Well time to go get ready for dinner……again……have been very good and only gone to afternoon tea twice!!

So until next time

Bye from Granny.

Marja....terrafirma is just my son!! he only posts when I go missing!

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cands

cands

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Posted

Thanks for the latest update, Lorraine.

 

Chris has the same problem with his accent! I keep telling him to slow down and to try and say each word separately!;)

 

I'd love to read in detail how your Indian meal goes. Its sounds like something special to look forward to.

 

Cheers,

Steve.

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Seabourn-nail

Seabourn-nail

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Lorraine,

First of all thank you, thank you for your lovely posts and the pictures! Every day I look forward to seeing them. It keeps me in the Seabourn mood. I even redid my Seabourn nail yesterday!

And thank you for answering the "terrafirma" question. I think your son could check on you more often as I noticed this was only his second post! I feel like a CC detective, checking how many times a person posts, but sometimes you see a name that you don't recognize and then I'm curious enough "to check their CC history"!

Continue to have the time of your life once more!

Best regards to you and John.

Marja

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terrafirma

terrafirma

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Detective Seabourne-nail.. job well done .. I have in fact only posted twice. CC even held my password for 2 yrs .. :)

Each time I have asked GrannyLorr what pressies she was buying on her cruises and so far I have received a big nothing.!!

The only thing I get from GrannyLorr's trips is a lower Inheritance. :mad:

 

GrannyLorr about you moving in .. "When you shout me a trip on a "Seabourn Yacht" I'll let you move in !! :D

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Jane Pond

Jane Pond

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Granny,

 

Love the updates and wish I was onboard now. It's frightfully chilly here in Philly. I have tried to remind Westmount and Margate that we will be called front and center to meet you all at Michigan Dave's roll call on the 24th. Hopefully, we'll meet at Sail-Away.

 

Speaking of Restaurant 2, do you know who that chef is? Is Willy the Head Chef?

 

And, strong tea is a good antidotef for sunburn, and perhaps more available than Vegemite.

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GrannyLorr

GrannyLorr

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OK…..this morning we went to the Restaurant for breakfast. I ordered my usual Swedish Pancakes with ligonberries…to be followed by eggs benedict, with a SMALL serving of hash on the side. I told our waiter Alex I had to write a report on Seabourn Hash. When he raised his eyebrows and screwed up his nose, I got the impression that he wasn’t too keen on hash…….but I mentioned it was for scientific purposes, and I was prepared to suffer in the name of science.

The Swedish pancakes were delicious. The orange juice was delicious……and my cup of tea was fine.

My eggs benedict looked great, but the vision was spoiled by a lump of what resembled “Pal”……to those not aware of Australian pet food, Pal is a popular brand of canned dog food. Well not really all that popular, my dog won’t eat it! Anyway research must continue so I put the smallest amount I could manage onto my fork………ummm what can I say? As I have no idea what it is supposed to taste like anyway, I couldn’t tell if it was a good or bad version of hash. I will say that it must be an acquired taste, and I doubt that I will order it again. I did repeat the taste test a couple of times, I suppose you could get used to it………if you were desperate.

Tomorrow’s breakfast I will go back to lamb chops!

We attended our FIRST, Hosted Table last night and were seated at the Captains table….he wasn’t there, must have been up doing a spot of driving! Of course on that table you get the better flower arrangements and candles. 4 of the other guests were people we have become friends with so it was a lovely night. The Host was one of the Guest Lecturers and his wife, a lovely couple and perfect hosts. I was seated next to him, and was a bit nervous that he might ask me which lecture I preferred……we hadn’t been to any of them!

Tonight is the third Formal night, but we have finally been able to reserve a table for the Indian Spice dinner in “2” so will go to that instead. There have only been two dress codes the whole cruise, either Formal or Elegant Casual…….are there usually more than that? I can’t remember from the last cruise.

Captain Dexter makes an announcement every day at Noon, telling us where we are, what the sea conditions and weather are like etc etc…..yesterday he reported that they had seen a whale. Captain Dexter also always puts in an appearance at Trivia, at which time Eric calls for Security. One of our team members asked the Captain which way the whale was swimming and he immediately did an impersonation of a swimming whale….he is a funny man! I haven’t been in any trouble for a while now….so looks like I can keep reporting for a while yet.

Apart from trivia today, we will be having a nice relaxing day, and will be all ready for our first Port in Peru tomorrow, then another the following day. We went to a Port Talk this morning and I got quite excited about a trip in Arica, Chile…….lots of alpacas and llamas in the slideshow……until they mentioned that the bus would be followed by a van carrying oxygen and other medical stuff. Also advised that anyone with heart or breathing problems give the trip a miss. Looks like I’m not going to see a sloth or an alpaca!! Maybe I will find some alpaca wool in a market somewhere……now I’m thinking I should have continued with the Spanish lessons!

As a few of the guests have gone off to Machu Picchu, the main trivia contest has been suspended, but we have had a 2 day contest for the remaining passengers. Our team has become Commonwealth Plus 2 Minus 4. We have just had our final competition and WE WON!! We were about in the middle of the comp so bet all our points on the final answer, everyone else was much more conservative and only bet half or even less. The ladies prize was a Seabourn black leather glasses case and the men won a money clip…..

Well I think that’s about all I can think of for today

So until next time

Bye from GrannyLorr

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ITravelNow

ITravelNow

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Lorraine...as I was enjoying your photos of Costa Rica and the coffee plantation tour I spotted James and his family at lunch. I was thinking about them today because they left the Legend yesterday are flying home - he's going to Oz and his mum and grandmother are headed to the UK - what a small world - did you meet them on the tour by any chance - such lovely friends!

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Seabourn-nail

Seabourn-nail

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Lorraine,

Nice photo's of your John. He is kind of like my husband, beard, big, but my husband is not as outgoing I would think. For sure he wouldn't dance with all these lovely girls.

This brings me to the following question from one granny to another. Would you ask your husband or anybody else to make a nice photo of you and would you share that one with us? While we are enjoying your posts almost daily, it would be nice to see what the lady looks like!

Marja

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jgn

jgn

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Posted
Lorraine,

Nice photo's of your John. He is kind of like my husband, beard, big, but my husband is not as outgoing I would think. For sure he wouldn't dance with all these lovely girls.

This brings me to the following question from one granny to another. Would you ask your husband or anybody else to make a nice photo of you and would you share that one with us? While we are enjoying your posts almost daily, it would be nice to see what the lady looks like!

Marja

Amen, Marja

 

Jean

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westmount

westmount

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The threads have been great, but its time to start packing and go to the real show. Its 10 below here with a wonderful little 40 mile/hour wind, so Santiago is looking really good right now. Haven't had a drink since New Years, to clean the system out before the hardship awaiting us. Anyway, I'm going to check out if there really is a Granny, and I'll let you know once on the ship.

Westmount

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