Tuesday, January 28, 2025

January 4, 2025 – At Sea – Coast of Mexico – Mostly Sunny – 61F (yes, 61F).

I really hate time changes but I hate back changes the most – I was up at 3:30 AM, then 5:00 PM or so.  I got some nice pictures of the sepia colored sunrise.














Eventually, it became 7 AM and I got myself ready to go up to the Windows Café. Ellen was up and wanted to go to.  She would meet me there later.

The Café must have opened ahead of its 7:30 AM open time since I got up there about five minutes early and the place was full of passengers eating.  I got the table for two near the Veranda entrance. I had pancakes with cottage cheese (now available at the yoghurt bay); there is no sour cream and I did, indeed have yoghurt on my pancake yesterday.  The scrambled eggs were Ok today.  The view from the Sunset Veranda was great - too bad it's so nippy out there.

Ellen got there when I finished my breakfast – around 8:15 AM or so and looked around for food and wound up with lox she normally orders from Room Service.

From Breakfast, we went to the Living Room – warmer than some parts of the ship.  I went through my talk for today and moved a few slides around.

Up to date – 11:23 AM PST.

We had lunch in the Discoveries Restaurant even though my talk today, “Forensic Detectives: The Search for Jack the Ripper” was at 2 PM.  That’s because they offered a mushroom omelet (for Ellen) and Salmon Teriyaki for me as well as Key Lime Pie for both of us.  I also had a salad with Ranch dressing, which is difficult to find on the two salad bars on board. The lunch service was fast and I had plenty of time to get ready for my talk

The talk generated the best turnout of the cruise – maybe a hundred attendees (again very difficult to determine).  The talk went well, with good audience participation, but ran a bit long (57 minutes long).  Ellen broke down the system quickly as a special presentation about Hawaii (where the ship is going next) was on at 3 PM.










It was too chilly to go outside so we went up to the Living Room, which was almost at a comfortable temperature.  We have been up there for several trivia contests during the cruise – that’s the way the timing works.

There's another ship out there and I figured out it was the NCL Joy by looking up our current position and finding out what ships were near us.










The dinner theme in the Windows Café tonight was “Taste of India”.  So that left The Patio as the only viable option (nothing in the Restaurant).  We both ordered salmon with baked potatoes and sour cream.  I ordered mine well done and Ellen opted for medium well done.  As it turned out, it took three attempts to get her fish right (the first iteration had the sour cream on the fish and no baked potato – my fish was well done and OK but no baked potato).  Ellen’s fish never worked out despite changes in the cooks at the grill.  Decaf coffee (instant) and cookies were dessert.

We passed on the show tonight – “Wanderlust” but we did go to see a bit of Jose, the new ACD, do his set in The Den.  















His voice is different and he’s quite different from his predecessor, Lee.  We might run into him again on a future cruise.

We have a full day of excursions tomorrow so we went to the room. 

Monday, January 27, 2025

January 3, 2025 – At Sea – Off the Coast of Mexico – Mostly Sunny – 80F

Actually got some sleep last night.

It’s a beautiful morning at sea. This is the view at 6:42 AM.

I had my usual breakfast this morning but I didn’t notice until late that instead of sour cream, the nice woman behind the counter gave me plain yoghurt (on some past cruises I have had to explain that sour cream and yoghurt are not the same thing).  It was quite different but OK in the end.  I need to check more carefully.  The pancakes, which were very tough last cruise, have been wonderful every morning.  I really like getting my own hot coffee in a large to-go cup.  Still working through the same New Yorker I started with on this cruise – at a page a day, I hope to finish it before the cruise is over.  I ate inside but I did get a picture off the back deck.

Up to date at 9:29 AM MST.

Not on the schedule today so a full day of quiet and reading.

We noticed that the lunch menu contained both a Greek Salad and the Pad Thai with Peanut Sauce I had and really loved early in the cruise.  We went to the Discoveries Restaurant and got a window seat (we requested one not next to anyone (still some concern over COVID and the flu).  I ordered two orders of the terrific Greek Salad and it was fabulous with lots of onions and feta cheese.  I also ordered two orders of the Pad Thai and, as has happened so many times before, this dish was totally different.  It had fried tofu (OK), different kinds of veggies (sort of OK) but the big issue was that it was very light on Peanut Sauce, which is my favorite part of the dish.  I was tempted to ask for more sauce but didn’t.  Overall it was OK but not the spectacular dish it was the first time around.  I also had the carrot cake with pineapple cream cheese – sort of OK. We did have a nice view at lunch - balancing things out. The ocean looked like a lake today.

We spent the afternoon in the Living Room.  It is getting cold outside and Deck 5 is not hospitable (I was out there for a few minutes and found it too windy and cold).  I do have a new book (“Gun Metal Gray” – a Gray Man novel – I liked the Netflix Gray Man movie). 

At 5 PM, we went to Shabbat Services in the Windows Café (not a great venue as they were setting up for dinner and it was noisy).  The service was short and the turnout small.  Rabbi Gans has done a very good job with the Chanukah and Shabbat services. 

The ship is at glacier temp so we had to dress differently for dinner – I am going with a sweater (I was wearing my Eddie Bauer windbreaker earlier).  Tonight is “Taste of France” or Pas de manger – we went through the buffet and I tried the Veggies au Gratin and the Quiche and they were OK.  Not a lot on the buffet for us but we still didn’t starve.

We went to The Den to be ready to get into the Cabaret Lounge to see tonight’s headliner – Amanda Poulson doing her show “Epic”.  We got good seats.  We last saw Amanda when she was one of the vocalists in the troupe on Azamara Quest on November 2017 in Gibraltar. Since then, she has served as a Cruise Director for Azamara and then transitioned into other types of singing engagements.  She is a terrific vocalist and is instantly likeable.
















Tonight, she sang “Sound of Music” (she said it was the one musical she has not been in),

 “The Man I Love” (her mother’s favorite song); “Over The Rainbow” (Daddy’s favorite song); “Don’t Cry for me, Argentina” (she played Eva Peron in a production of Evita); 

“The Stars and the Moon” by Songs for a New World and written by Jason Robert Brown; “Let it Go” with a wonderful video mashup with her niece; 

on video, she did the last part of “Defying Gravity” and hit the last note; she finished up with a magnificent version of “Time to Say Goodbye”.  It was a wonderful show.  Again, probably the best pure vocalist I have seen on a ship. 

After the show, we took in Bob’s set in The Den.  It was noisy again but he was entertaining.

When it got too noisy, we went to the room. The ship is Arctic but the room is cozy.

The clocks go back an hour to put us on San Diego Time – PST.

Seas are smooth.

Sunday, January 26, 2025

January 2, 2025 – Cabo San Lucas – Most Sunny – Comfortable – 78F

I coped better with the time change this time out but still got up about an hour too early.  I was rewarded with a nice sunrise shot from the porthole.

The ship is still really moving to make her arrival time.

Fortunately, the Windows Café opened at 7 AM this morning so the wait to go up was minimal.  I don’t know why the early start because we are tendering today and it takes time to get the tenders in the water and get rolling.  As usual, a wonderful (and consistent) breakfast.

I ate inside – cool outside – and got a nice view of the scenic sail in.  It was a bit hazy outside but still nice.

We dropped anchor very near the famed Los Arcos rock formations. 














There are four ships here today: Viking Sky (which has been sailing parallel to us) – 930 passengers; 

Carnival Panorama – a big ship with 4000 passengers; 

Carnival Firenze (a former Costa Ship – still has the Costa Stack – and picked up by Carnival in early 2024 – it’s a hybrid Carnival/Costa Ship – 4100 passengers.  It even says, "Sail Italian Style" on the side of the ship.

These ships, if everyone got off in Cabo would add about 10,000 people to the population.

The tender process was now operating 

and about 10;30 AM, we went to Deck 3 to hop on a tender.  There was a super long line on the stairs of people waiting for the next boat. The line moved a bit and then we were told that it would be about 18 minutes for the next shuttle. I checked with the security folks and they said that Onward was operating three tenders today and the long waits are due to traffic in the bay.

We finally boarded the tender for the short ride into town.  Got some nice shots of Onward from the tender.

The traffic was indeed scary (check out the number of boats close to our tender and how fast they are going). 



The Viking Sky was using its lifeboats as tenders while the Panorama was using Cabo Tenders, a local business, to ferry people back and forth.  Not sure what the Firenze was doing but I think it was also using local tenders.  When we got to the tender dock, every mooring was occupied with either lifeboats or local tenders. Ships moving in the bay were perilously close to each other and we were sailing the wake of several other boats as we made our way into Cabo.

The crowds at the pier were the biggest we have ever seen.  Apparently, a large percentage of the ship’s passengers decided to go ashore.  

We decided to not go on the boardwalk – solid humanity – but rather take the street behind the stores - Paseo de la Marina - and parallel to the boardwalk.  This reduced the amount of foot traffic significantly.  We got to the hotel where the Tequila Shop, the Beauty Massage Spa, the fish, and Cabo Sign are and checked out a couple of other spas (for cleanliness and ambience and price) before circling back to the Beauty Spa, a known quantity and a place we have been to several times in the past.  I was a little surprised,
with all the people in town today, that they had openings for us.

We both had very nice massages (Ellen really liked hers) ($40 plus $5 tip).

From there, we walked back toward the pier on the boardwalk. This gave me a chance to get a picture of the Cabo City Sign

the Tequila Store (with a “Cabo Supports Israel” sign), 

the Cabo Fish

and shots of the harbor and marina. 

We were in the shortest line at the pier (the line for the Panorama was as long as the pier) but still had to wait for the tender. Our tender pilot took several tries to pull alongside the pier.  Finally, we were on our way back arriving at the ship at 2:20 PM.  On the way back, I sat next to the woman who takes the Patio Orders at lunch and she said the Patio would be open but the buffet was going to close.

We hustled to the buffet as it was closing – Ellen got some food but all could get was focaccia and oil and vinegar.  I ordered a Beyond Burger at the Patio and had that with a Stella.  It was good. I finally got a burger without the shredded cabbage on top.

I watched the Carnival Panorama leave early.  We have had some really short days in Cabo in the past.

The superyacht, Palladium, is anchored in Cabo Bay.  The yacht is worth $200 Million.

As the sun was setting, I got even more dramatic shots of Los Arcos.

Tonight is the White Nights Party so we cleaned up and, instead of dealing with the lines at the deck buffet (where it was unlikely we would find anything we could eat), we went to the Discoveries Restaurant.  Ellen had asked the Hostess to see if I could get the Halibut without ham and shellfish.  The best part of the meal was the Portobello Mushroom (fried) and the thin but tasty Gazpacho.  I have had a lot of halibut and I was sure that my fish was something else.  We’ll get something at the Party for dessert.

We went to Deck 10 and found that there were no open tables.  Fantastic Beats were vibrating the deck with their amped up music.  One of the servers found us three chairs, two to sit on and one to hold our dessert.  Ellen tried a lot of things but I mainly stuck with the Crepes Suzette with Grand Marnier and ice cream. 

It was a nice clear night and you could see the Moon and Venus above the Cabo skyline.

Our two companions are still here, the Carnival Firenze

and the Viking Sky.

At 8 PM Darrin and the Signature Singers took over and went through their mostly familiar song list.  Even so, they did a great job on the songs.  Darrin introduced the new Assistant Cruise Director (didn’t get his name) who will be taking over for Lee who is going on vacation.  The new guy can really sing and dance and he should be a nice addition to Onward. 












We were wearing windbreakers because it was actually cold.  We stayed for the March of the Staff 

and some more songs and then it got too cold so we went to the room.

Two good things – I am off tomorrow and there is no time change tonight. 

The ship departed at 10 PM on her two-day journey to San Diego.  The engines are a little louder but the seas are smooth.