January 30, 2023 – Georgetown, Grand Cayman - Partly Cloudy - 85F

Another quiet night.  Seas were calm as captured via porthole cam.

I was up several time during the night – the night light in the bathroom quit so that complicated things.  I was finally up for good around 6 AM – took a shower and got ready to go up to breakfast.  Ellen had ordered from Room Service, and I was happy to see that the order sheet was gone.

Even though the Windows Café opened 30 minutes early at 7:00 AM, I was able to get my nice seat, and catch a brilliant sunrise.

Today, I opted for waffles, cottage cheese, sour cream, and strawberry jam, and their yummy scrambled eggs.

Georgetown, Grand Cayman is a tender port and I saw the tenders warming up just off the ship.

We found some nice seats out of the sun on the pool deck – the window near us was also open giving us a little breeze, which is hard to come by when at anchor.  As you can see, I was able to get really comfortable.

I was able to get my transfer receipts printed out by Guest Services and I went to see Roy about the reimbursement process.  While I was there, Roy wanted to know whether I could send him some additional titles for the second cruise because he said there were a lot of back to back cruisers.  I sent him three additional titles later via email.

I am continuing to read “The Monkey’s Raincoat” and it is a very interesting read.

We had lunch in Windows back deck.  I ordered a grilled tuna wrap and although it was good, it was different than I remember it – not as seasoned or spicy (I was later told that the spicy sauce was on the side).  I had a nice salad along with that and a Leffe Beer completed the lunch.  Dessert was a rapidly melting and sloppy soft serve.

We are back in our seats on the pool deck – while we were at lunch, our towels were removed and the magazine on the seat was placed on a nearby table. It started to get a bit warm on the pool deck so we retreated to the Living Room.  

We listened in on the Astronomy Trivia hosted by Astrid – I might have tied the winner with 15 correct.

Tonight was “The Taste of Japan” in the Windows Café.  I was expecting some amazing stir fry but the veggie stir fry was bland – they only had one sauce – Soy.  The other option was a hot chili sauce so that was a non-starter.  They also didn't have any noodles, only rice, so stir fried noodles were also unavailable.  I did have the veggie ramen which was also pretty bland.  We might scratch the Japanese Buffet for the next leg.  I did get some very nice pictures of the sunset from the back deck.

We went to The Patio to get some dinner so I wound up with Salmon, a salad, mashed potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, and veggie lasagna.  All in all, the food was OK. The pool deck is light up nicely at night.

We passed on the entertainment tonight – Big Band Music with the Onward Orchestra followed by a late show (9:30 PM) featuring Martin.  Simply too late for us.

We had coffee and some chocolates in the Mosaic Café and then to the room.

I got an email from Roy that I would be doing an additional talk, “The CSI Phenomenon” on February 9, a Sea Day. That makes eight sessions on this cruise.

Lights out at 10:30 AM – seas are a little rocky.

January 29, 2023 – At Sea - Mostly Cloudy - 80F

A quiet night with only an occasional bit of chop.  Onward is in the Caribbean Sea just off the coast of Cuba enroute to Grand Cayman.  Shots of the sea through our porthole ("porthole cam" indicated relatively smooth waters.

Today’s wonderful breakfast in the Windows Cafe consisted of two freshly made pancakes, chocolate syrup, walnuts and two eggs over medium.  Simply yummy.  See for yourself.

It wasn't quite warm enough to eat on the Sunset Veranda but from my excellent window seat, I watched the sunrise.

I brought Ellen just some fruit and hot tea because we went up for a mid-morning snack.  I had the herring (great) and a toasted bagel and coffee.  Ellen had her run of the breakfast buffet.

Today’s second lecture, “The Search for the Unknown Titanic Child” is scheduled for 11:00 AM.  Besides the terrific weather outside, today’s competition is the Special Brunch running from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM.  The turnout was better that the first talk – I am estimating that there were about 200 guests at this talk.  

They were very engaged answering my questions and responding to the stuff on the screen.  I really like the Cabaret Lounge venue because it lets me get closer to the audience (sort of like "Celebrity Central" on Solstice ships.

The talk ran about 53 minutes and a few folks stopped at the podium to chat and share.  Ellen took them out to the hall – I didn’t know that and I went to the room.  I’ll catch those people next talk.

I had a simple lunch – salad bar (the Ranch Dressing continues to be a winner) and two very small slices of pizza (veggie and Margherita).  I also had a Leffe Beer. This made sense since this was my third meal of the day.

The meal was enhanced by the view from the veranda.

The shady side of open Deck 5 was off limits due to the wind.  The sunny side was perfect, and we found two loungers under a lifeboat, which shielded us from the sun.  It was so bright that it was difficult to read.  I just sort of meditated – did not nod off – and relaxed.  I am reading a new author, Robert Crais, and “The Monkey’s Raincoat”.  The book centers on a private eye, Elvis Cole, in Los Angeles.  Elvis is snarky like Spenser and the book also has a Harry Bosch vibe mostly due to the location detail used by the author.  I’m about 10 percent into it but I planned to finish the book over the next few days.

The ship also differs from other ships in that a bar server asked each person on the open deck if they wanted a drink.  I ordered a strawberry daiquiri which was really good until it was knocked over as we were leaving.  It was a big time cleanup made more complicated by the fact there was broken glass involved. 

We went to the Living Room for a while and listened in on the trivia (Olympics) and then to the room to get ready for dinner.

At 6:30 PM, we went to the Discoveries Restaurant for dinner.  What drew me there was the Baked Halibut (pretty good) and the Potato and Cheese Tatin (very good).  I also had a Cesar Salad (good but too big).  Ellen had the salmon, which was essentially raw, and a Cesar Salad.  When we first sat down, there were few people in our area – we had the last table against the forward wall (our usual seats).  By the time we finished our meal, the place was uncomfortably crowded.  While we ordered dessert (cheesecake – not cold) and Bananas Foster (the bananas were not sautéed) and coffee we decided to eat a little and go.  We are probably not going to stay for dessert next time.

Tonight’s show, “Club Crooner” started at 8:15 PM and by the time we got there, the seats in the back next to the spot operator were already taken.  

We’ll have to get there a little earlier next time.  The Signature Singers and Dancers are good singers, but they are still working on their dancing.  The show was supposed to feature crooners like Michael Buble and Natalie Cole but most of the songs were Sinatra and Bobby Darin.  The vocals, as I said, were pretty good especially the male singer who did our lifeboat drill – he looks like he has had some serious singing/dancing training. The show barely went 30 minutes making it the shortest show we’ve ever seen.  I also feel that the backgrounds – using the fancy screen – could have been more imaginative.  Maybe, they’ll work on that as they tune up the show.  Photos from the show.

"You Were Always on My Mind" Best song in the Show

After the show, we went to the room to settle down.

Lights out at 10:30 PM.

Seas are smooth.

January 28, 2023 – At Sea – Mostly Cloudy – 78F

A smooth and quiet night – don’t really know if we have neighbors.  The other speaker, David, is in this corridor but I don’t know where. 

I got up about 5:30 AM and got ready to go up to breakfast at 7:30 AM, when the Windows Café opens (they open late on all the Azamara Ships). Waffles and pancakes are prepared to order at the window just before you get to the buffet area.  I asked Sarah, the short order cook behind the counter for waffles and she used one of those hotel type waffle makers (ones that take two and half minutes to make a waffle).  I got some scrambled eggs and some cottage cheese and then retrieved my waffles.  I asked one of the servers for sour cream and it came in just a few minutes. The coffee, while in small cups, came hot – I asked for two.  The breakfast was very good and made even better by the small number of people in the Café and the nice table I got against the window. Just check out this masterpiece.

I brought Ellen her breakfast of lox, cream cheese, cucumbers, whitefish, assorted fruit, a roll, and hot tea.  It’s a short walk to the room from Windows.

We both went to David’s talk at 11 AM in the theater about the early days of the Canal.  His great uncle and aunt visited the canal and took pictures and he shared those with the guests. It was an interesting talk and he had a near full house. On the way to the Lounge, I ordered an iced mocha decaf, my signature drink.  This officially started the cruise.

Lunch was in the Windows Café, and I had fresh pasta with veggies and Marinara Sauce prepared for me at the pasta station.  So glad they have a pasta station on this ship.  I had a Greek Salad with that and that was lunch. The Sunset Veranda, as the back deck is called, is a great place for all your meals.  Check out the view.

I got a late start on my talk, “Forensics and History: The Mystery of the Romanovs”, scheduled for 1 PM because bingo ran late.  I set up quickly and got a nice introduction from Roy, the Assistant Cruise Director.  

The AV was great with the screen on this ship even sharper than the one on the Quest.  I also had a good turnout – maybe 200 people (the Theater capacity is difficult to figure out – online, it ranges from 300 to 450) – almost all areas of the theater had people sitting in them and the area right in front of the stage was full.  

I was quite happy with the attendance.  I got a nice round of applause at the end and some positive feedback from passengers.  I think people will be back – no one left the talk before it was over – always a good sign.

We spent a lot of the afternoon in the cabin – we were tired and it was breezy outside.

We were planning to go to dinner in the Discoveries Restaurant but when the menu finally came out, there was nothing for us to eat.  We went upstairs to Windows and there was nothing there either. We did, however, manage to get a selfie and nice couple pictures thanks to a very nice server.

We wound up eating at the Patio, which is an area outside close to the pool.  They have their own menu and a grill to prepare the food.  Ellen had the Salmon and Veggie Lasagna, and I had the Tuna, bake potato with sour cream, corn on the cob, and a salad from their own salad bar.  This was the same menu we had seen before on the Patio, but the food was prepared better and was much tastier and fresher than what we have had in the past on other ships.  A new chef perhaps.  The apple pie was not that great.

We opted not to go to the show tonight – Violinist Jakub Trasak was the performer and we had seen him before and we are not really violin people.

We sat for a while on the open deck – the wind had abated.  

We would have stayed longer but were driven to the room by the diesel fumes wafting across the deck.

January 27, 2023 – Miami, FL – Cloudy – 71F

The room was not too noisy and I actually slept through any noise.  There is a train just across the street and it stops running at around 8 PM.  The landing planes do not make much noise – the only noise is people generated.

I was up at 6 AM and waited until 6:45 AM to go down to breakfast (served from 6:30 – 9:30 AM).  I had two pancakes – produced by an automatic pancake maker in one minute – some oatmeal (a bit watery), an egg white veggie omelet, some scrambled eggs, a toasted bagel, and a cinnamon roll.  I didn’t eat all of that (except for the pancakes).  Overall, the breakfast was good.  The breakfast venue was not crowded and I ate in a little anteroom with a view of the pool.  

At 11:00 AM, we went down to the lobby, checked out, and I called for an Uber.  The driver, Hamlet (yes, Hamlet), in the spiffiest car we’ve yet ridden in for Uber, a BMW with entertainment for each of the backseats (which we didn’t use) and nice piped in music.  The ride took us through downtown Miami – at one point, he took a shortcut through a residential area and then picked up the highway.  We got to the port in about 35-40 minutes.  He drove past the Onward which gave us a chance to get a look at the MSC Divina.  That ship is HUGE and imposing.  He turned around and dropped us at the Azamara Terminal.  The ride cost - $24.41, which included all sorts of extra charges for distance, surge (?), and time.  It seemed excessive since we ran into minimal traffic and the distance was known ahead of time.  Uber may have priced itself out of the market – might use the shuttle at the hotel.

Inside the terminal, we showed people our boarding passes (not scanned). From this initial screening, we passed through security, and then onto some kind of priority check in line (I told them I was a GNT).  She scanned our passports and looked over our vax cards.  She asked us some COVID questions.  She then told us that our cabin had changed to 3027 from 6038.  I looked up cabin 3027 and couldn’t find it on the Onward Deck plans.  Getting a little concerned, I called Jennifer and she explained that these cabins do exist on Deck 3 and are used as regular revenue cabins if the passengers needed them.  She said the square footage was the same as the regular cabins.  We shall see.

We are in the second hour of waiting to board (I can see the ship from the boarding waiting area).

We are scheduled to board at 2:00 PM (about 15 minutes from now).  They did have sweet rolls, etc. and chilled apple juice (?) and water to tide us over until we get to board.  We are in Group 8 so I don’t know long that will be.

Boarding was scheduled to begin at 2 PM and it started right on time.  We did an almost “on the run” lifeboat drill (maybe five minutes) and then went to our cabin on the non-revenue deck 3.  As we passed through areas of the ship we could tell that this was the newest of the Azamara ships and had been refurbed recently.  Public areas looked new and the ship was very clean.  There were just minor differences between Onward and Quest in terms of decor.

Cabin 3027 was a standard passenger cabin with a porthole (we have been in rooms like this before).  It appears that this floor and walkway is basically occupied by entertainers.  This might result in a quieter experience.  You can only get to these rooms from the aft side of the side (the crew quarters are just beyond our door).  The room looked in very good shape and was clean and stocked. 

We dropped off our backpacks and went up to the Windows Café to check out the lunch options.  From the patio area, I got a nice shot of the MSC Divina as well as the Port of Miami.

Lunch wasn’t a typical layout – more like hors d’oeuvres.  I tried the fennel salad; the vegan sliders (either Beyond Meat or Impossible Burgers).  The tastiest item on the menu for me was the baked tortilla chips and superb guacamole and salsa.  I had two helpings of the chips etc. I also had a Carlsberg Beer – I had set up my WiFi and drink package earlier with Guest Services.

After lunch, we went to meet with the Cruise Director, Martin Lawson, a very friendly and supportive Cruise Director.  He looked up my lecture schedule as I did not get a letter in my room.  He always said he would make sure we had a room steward.  We also met Astrid, the Activities Manager and DJ.  Also in the office was the other speaker, anthropologist, David Roberts, who will be giving four lectures on the Panama Canal.   

Ellen had the brilliant suggestion that we check out room 6038 (our original room) to see if our suitcases were there.  And they were – we hauled them back down to 3027.  We also met out steward (so happy we have one) and went over the room and what it needed.  It looks like the room situation will be ironed out.

We hung out in the Living Room for a while – coincidentally the MSC Divina was docked right next to us at the port. I also managed a panorama shot of Miami.

We decided not to go the Dining Room tonight and instead would check out the Windows Café.  That was a good call.  I had a salad from the salad bar (the Ranch Dressing was excellent and the items on the bar were good).  They also had Salmon in Butter and two kinds of potatoes au gratin.  The dinner was really good and the place was quiet and unrushed.  I tried the Chardonnay, which had a bite but was OK.

We went to Mosaic Cafe for after dinner coffee and desserts.  The café is now on the other side of the room and the desserts this evening are all versions of chocolate petit fours.  We had one of each.  Some were better than others.

There is only one show tonight – the “Welcome Aboard” Show at 9:30 PM so we spent time in the Den until the doors opened.  Martin asked me to sit near the front so he could introduce me and I could say a few words about my lecture series. Martin also gave us a breakdown of nationalities on board – along with a smattering of other countries, there were 80 Germans, 100 or so Canadians, and over 230 Americans.  The total number of passengers sailing on this cruise is 513 (capacity is 670) – so about 76 percent.  In addition to the speakers, there are two other “guest entertainers” on board – Watercolor artist Pat Langewis (husband Cor) and a Bridge Instructor. He also introduced Assistant Cruise Director, Roy Ryan, who will manage the day-by-day activities.

The entertainment on this cruise will be provided by the Azamara Orchestra (Tina is the musical director) which has eight members and sounds great.  

The Signature Singers and Dancers will do Production Shows and help run the games on board.  

The show featured each of the Singers and Dancers individually.  Kelty did a version of the "Trolley Song".

They can all sing and then at the end did a few minutes of one of the production shows, “Amped Up”.  

It was an entertaining show and not loud like the Celebrity Edge.

Specialty dancer, Sabrina, and her partner (don't know his name) did a dance number - they are not quite Sasha and Dima.

Also performing was the party band, "East Pearl" - good voices and good instrumentals.

The show ran over an hour and we didn’t get back to our room until 10:45 PM.

It took us a little while to settle down and lights were out at 11:15 PM.

Azamara Onward – Central South America and Mexico – Back to Back – Roundtrip Miami (Callao) – January 27 – February 28, 2023

January 26, 2023 – Travel Day

We are about to go on what would be the longest cruise of our seafaring career – 34 days (to 16 day segments – to and from Callao via Miami.  We are going to be on Azamara Onward, which is the reincarnated Pacific Princess, that we last took transatlantic to Iceland and the UK.  She has been refurbed and we are hoping that new public areas have been spruced up. 

We are on good flights today – UA1930 departs at 10:53 AM (boarding at 10:13 AM) and according to the app is ON TIME.  I scheduled a taxi for 9 AM but because it is snowing lightly, I called the cab and asked him to come 10 minutes early – just in case we run into some traffic due to the visibility.  Ider, our taxi driver, came right on time and took our suitcases down the stairs (not all cabbies do that).  We got to the airport at 9:20 AM and decided to check in using the curbside kiosk.  No charge since we had already purchased the bags (part of our ticket set up).  I used my digital boarding passes since we had nothing to print out and our bags were dropped.  TSA pre-check is off to the left of the counters in Terminal 1 and our time through there went relatively quickly.  The guy in front of me was at his “first rodeo” and kept asking the agents what he needed to put on the belt.  It was my lucky day since I was randomly chosen to participate in the “do I have a bomb” survey.  My hands were swabbed and I never saw what the TSA agent did with the swabs.  I got my stuff off the belt and we were off to our gate.

We are in Concourse C so we crossed under the tarmac – no new age music today – and up the giant escalator.  Our gate, C21, was really close and we settled down. After my last episode with flying and the flu, I am still masking at the airport.

There was a plane there – in spiffy red, white, and blue livery.  It was not typical United colors and it was not a 737-800 and the gate was not very crowded and we were supposed to board soon.  I checked the app and it said we were now at C-23, where, indeed, a 737-800 was being gassed up and deiced.  

We are in Priority Group 2, which doesn’t mean that much since just about everyone is in Group 1 or had special boarding.  We are in sardine seats. 36C and 36D – aisle across – just two rows from the back of the plane.  My knees were touching the seat in front of me.  I usually upgrade to Economy Plus seats but on this flight – and due to corporate greed – the seats were ridiculously pricey. 

We were in the children’s section because there were at least five kids in the two or three rows in our area.  The kid in my row had the window seat and her father was in the middle seat and partially in my seat also.  Noise, screaming, and general annoyance kept me company for the plus three-hour flight.  I basically made it through the whole flight without a bathroom break. Ellen had made delicious egg salad sandwiches for the flight and along with the plane supplied pretzels and Biscott made for a very nice lunch.

The flight itself was smooth enough – we departed about an hour late due to some mechanical issue and the fact that passengers can’t find their seats.  You can tell because they keep looking at their boarding passes and then compare those passes with other passengers to make sure they are in the right seats.  It was a plane full of flying rookies.

We landed in Miami about 15 minutes late, which is a result of the padding they put into flight times.  When we got to the baggage claim – some 3500 steps later – our bags were not on the carousel but in a row of suitcases sitting there.  It’s like they came in on another plane.  I called the hotel for a shuttle pickup and I was told to exit baggage and go across the street to the hotel shuttle stop (number 23) to get our van.  It was a veritable miracle but our shuttle showed up in about five minutes.

The ride to our hotel – Holiday Inn Express and Suites, Miami Airport East – was less than five minutes away.  The hotel is literally across the street from MIA and planes come in right over our hotel as they land.  (NOTE – unleaded gas was $5.99 a gallon at the station next to the hotel). 

We checked in and are in Room 202 – a tad too close to the elevator but with no neighbor on one side. 

We were a bit hungry so we ordered from Fabios Pizza and Caffe – using a menu we found in the hotel lobby.  We ordered a medium mushroom pizza (the smallest they had and it was good once reheated in the microwave), a garden salad with Ranch Dressing (a lot of Romaine Lettuce and sliced tomatoes stuffed into a small clamshell container), and two bottles of water – I didn’t get an itemized bill but the prices had increased significantly from the published menu and the total came to $31.01 (maybe with tax and the delivery charge, that made sense).  The food was delivered to our door and the delivery guy had one of those wireless charge units.

After dinner, we went down to the pool area and sat in the comfy couches outside of the pool proper.  The treat for me was watching the jets come in to MIA – they were landing every 30 seconds on so.  I missed a huge ANA jet but I did capture another pretty big plane.

It started to cool down so we went back to the room.  We are right across the street from MIA so I took two pictures from our room - one early in the evening and one at night.

The third party shuttle to the port of Miami runs $12.00 pp so we will probably take an Uber to the port. 

We are going to need earplugs since the hotel has some noisy guests – lights out at 10:30 PM.