January 1, 2026 – At Sea – Coast of Mexico – Partly Cloudy – 81F

HAPPY NEW YEAR – I hope

Still up early (what else) to enjoy the first sunrise of the new year (and it was beautiful)

and enjoyed a nice breakfast (inside – a bit cool on the veranda and they don’t open at the same time as the Windows Café.  Continuing my streak with the pancake combo. 

Midmorning, we went to the Discoveries Restaurant for the New Year’s Day Brunch.  

Yes, that is a delicious Bloody Mary to start of 2025 (seems appropriate considering).  I had an omelet with onions, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese.  The omelet was good and even though the place was crowded, we found a table.  This will serve as lunch today. 

I am off today and I am not planning to go to the other two lectures today.  Instead, we are going to be on the open deck – Ellen reading and me, trying to find another book.  I have cleaned out the libraries of my favorite authors and am trying to find a new author to bide me over until my people can write new books.  Tried several options but did not feel the hook so I sent them back to the library.  Oh, and I did get another iconic railing photo.

We had skipped a couple of Chanukah Candle lightings (we simply forgot) but we went yesterday, and tonight, we are back in the Cabaret Lounge for the eighth candle.  The crowd stabilized over the eight days and the attendance was OK.  Rabbi Gans did a good job over the holiday but I think we could have snuck in some new songs. 

Tonight’s buffet in the Windows Café is my favorite one (confirmed by the last cruise), “The Taste of Italy”.  I got to the pasta station first to ensure that no meat got into my pasta and ordered spaghetti with tomato sauce.  The chef made this in a way I’ve never seen before.  The pasta went into the pan and then the tomatoes and onions and then the sauce – no sautéing. There wasn’t enough tomato sauce and some confusion where the sauce was so my pasta was very sauce-light and not nearly as good as the version I had last cruise. And another weird thing: I was first in line and a nice woman was right behind me and she ordered the exact same thing.  The chef added more ingredients to my order to make a double order and then split it into each of our plates.  Also, there was no grated parmesan cheese so the staff tried to crush the flakes into some kind of grated cheese.

I also had the freshly made Caprese Salad along with focaccia with olive oil and balsamic vinegar (really good).  A pretty good cannoli finished off the meal.  A little wonky but still the best of the “Tastes of” options. 

The ship is really smoking to get to Cabo on time.

We went to Taffy Spencer’s Second Show and it was wackier than the first but this time out, I was able to understand about half of what he was saying.  

I’m sure I am not the only one that has trouble with is Welsh brogue.  He did the cut rope trick and even though we said we'd leave any show that did that trick, we stayed.  Mainly, because Taffy is not really a magician but a comic. 

We caught Bob in The Den.  It’s very noisy after the show and you can barely hear what Bob is doing up there. 

The clocks move BACK one hour tonight to put on MST or Cabo San Lucas time.

December 31, 2024 – Acapulco, Mexico – Partly Cloudy – 85F

NEW YEAR'S EVE IN MEXICO

Up early again and saw a very nice sunrise through our porthole.

Acapulco was a late addition to our itinerary when Zihuatanejo was pulled because of criminal activity in the area. We were here in June on Crystal Serenity.  At that time, Acapulco was still trying to get off the ground after being smacked very hard by Hurricane Otis. It was sad to see all the shops boarded up.  I doubt they have made a lot of progress since then.

We are only going to be in Acapulco until 2 PM. 

There was another ship off in the distance.

Another nice breakfast up in the Windows Cafe.  I could see the city and Acapulco Bay.  Very scenic.  It wasn't too crowded because the excursions were all early today and people had eaten and left the Cafe.

There was a lot of law enforcement and military presence at the pier and we were escorted into port by a gunship.  

I watched the ship pull alongside the pier.  We docked at the same place we had the last time we were here.  

From the pier, you could get a good look at Fuerte San Diego. The fort, first built in the early 17th Century was then re-designed and rebuilt in it's current penta-star-shaped configuration in 1780.  Today, it is a historical museum.

After consulting maps and simply checking out the area from the ship, it was clear that there was no reason to get off the ship so we stayed on board and on the open deck.  It was a little warmer than usual but still comfortable. I was able to get a nice panoramic shot of the Bay.

Ellen made a 1 PM appointment with the Beauty Salon to get her hair cut so that was a nice treat for her.

I tried all kinds of things at lunch today but didn’t linger (and no beer) since I had to get to the Cabaret Lounge at 1:30 PM. 

It was, as I expected, a modest turnout – people were just coming back from their excursions or walkabouts in the city and not really eager to sit in the Lounge for an hour listening to me – maybe 40 folks (who knows I wasn’t really counting).  Today’s talk, “Forensic Detectives: Identifying America’s Fallen Heroes”, went very well and ended at the 45 minute mark.  I was followed by Carolyn Harris so she had plenty of time to set up.  A passenger caught me on Deck 5 and told me it was the best talk so far.  How about that. 

The ship pushed a little later than scheduled (maybe some stragglers in Acapulco) and I got some nice shots of the sail away.

We made the smart move and did not go to the Discoveries Restaurant for our 8:45 PM shared table dinner reservation.  It was going to be a zoo. Instead, we went to the Windows Café buffet and found several items to eat such as pastas and salads and cheeses.  We ate on the back deck and it was very nice out there.  Happy New Year head clips were available and we put them on for our "Happy New Year" picture (taken by a server).

Darren is back on with another sing-a-long in The Den at 8:15 PM so we went down at 7:45 PM and every seat in the place was taken.  

We got very lucky when a couple right in front said they were leaving so we now had the best seats in the house.  Darren’s a great singer but tonight the mic was hyper amped and so everything was really loud (even the soft songs). The crowd got into it especially a bunch of women who danced along to the songs. The show ran an hour and Darren had to run and introduce tonight’s show “Amped Up”.  We passed on that show for volume reasons.

We passed on the New Years Eve deck party and instead stayed and listed to Bob on the Keys.  A quieter way to usher in the new year, which of course, we did around 11 PM.  

That’s pretty good for us.

December 30, 2024 – At Sea – Pacific Coast of Mexico – Partly Cloudy – 80F

A little rocky this morning. The waves are as high as our porthole.  

The Windows Café has worked out a good system for me to get my cottage cheese and sour cream in the morning.  The cottage cheese and sour cream are in industrial sized buckets in the fridge underneath the fruit. and the staff seems to know where the buckets are located.  So I just asked someone and boom, they are scooped on to my plate. Followed by the jam and then the pancakes. Perfect timing and delicious food. 

After breakfast and after Ellen got her room service. We got nice seats on the open deck (it is still nice and warm out there), where we spent the morning reading. I am trying to get a new book and it’s harder than I thought.  I have gone through all the books by my universe of authors and I either have to wait for them to write another or find a new author.  Am doing both.

The ship was moving through some fog (not enough for the horns to sound) - 

behind us the the weather looked pretty good.

We went to the Windows Cafe for lunch.  I tried to order the grilled tuna wrap at The Patio but was told by my tall order lady that there was no more tuna on board.  The wrap would now be filled with "white fish" and that could be almost anything.  There is still a lot of cruise to go - so, Beyond Burgers are not the item of choice on the grill.

I am scheduled to deliver a "A Death in Iceland: The Birna Brjansdottir Murder" at 3 PM in the Cabaret Lounge.  I was happy with the turnout considering that all four speakers were on today and I was the last on the schedule.  The talk went well - even though I called her "Birma" a couple of times.  I ended up right on time.  Before my talk, I went to Peter Ranelli's “Ship of Gold” about a salvage operation to retrieve gold coins (US). 

Tonight theme in the Windows Cafe is "The Taste of South America". That usually means a lot of meat and not a lot else.  We had dinner in The Patio – Veggie Lasagna for me and salmon for Ellen.  Deck 9 at dusk is very nice and worth a picture.

After dinner, which was traditionally very slow, we went to The Den to hear Ike (one of the Signature Singers do his first ever solo show – a country set that was very good – Glen Campbell, Willie Nelsen, John Denver, etc. He might do another. I hope.

Tonight’s headliner – Welsh Comedian/Magician Taffy Spencer – he was probably funny but I only understand about 10 percent of what he was saying. I did take a lot of pictures of him being funny.  Here's one.

When we got to the room, Ellen checked out the Insider and told me that I was actually speaking tomorrow right at departure from Acapulco (the worst time for speaker) instead of on January 3.  Schedules are flexible.

December 29, 2024 – Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala – hazy warm – 78

Puerto Quetzal is Guatemala’s largest Pacific Port.  We have been here before but I am curious as to the improvements made to the Tourist Complex, which is right across from where the ship docks.  It is a heavy duty commercial port and the most unattractive port next to Caldera.  At least, Caldera had volcanoes in the distance.

There's some kind of recreation area on a strip of land connected by a bridge.  Couldn't find it on Google Maps.

It's a lazy, hazy day in Guatemala.

The Windows Café opens at 6:30 AM this morning to accommodate guests on early excursions.  I learned my lesson from the last early port and went up at 7:30 AM and found the place relatively empty.  I got my coffee, ordered a single pancake (always get two - maritime law) and cottage cheese and sour cream.  I also had a spoonful of scrambled eggs with feta a spinach.  The breakfast was good.  When I went to get my second cup of coffee, the waiter had cleared my table even though my coffee cup and magazine were still there. I recovered my breakfast and finished it with a new cup of coffee.  These waiters are a little too quick sometimes - I can understand turning tables over but it is best to let people finish their food.

Real time 9:09 AM.

We went off the ship to the Tourist Terminal to see if they had done anything with it since we were here last.  The free Wi-Fi was no longer free and was run by the Margarita Hut.  It was only 10 AM and a little early for a margarita.  We walked through the grounds and took a picture with the Guatemala Sign 

and the big cat in the Tourist Center.  

We picked up some free  advertising Guatemala as well. 

We also visited a Jade store - jade is very big in Guatemala.  A lot of the passengers are going to Antigua, a town up in the mountains - there's a jade museum up there.  In this store, the neatest thing was the menorah at the checkout counter.

We went back to the ship – it was getting hot in a hurry.  

I took a picture of the ship with the idea that I could spot our cabin - we are on the port side about a third of the way to Midships.  Still not sure which one is ours.  

We stayed on the open deck until lunch.  We ate inside because of the humidity and heat.  I had some pizza, some pretty good creamy pasta, a small salad, and a Corona Beer. 

In the past, this port was where a lot of the crew  would have lunch at some local restaurant - (specifically, the Pacific Princess crew on our Bird Flu cruise with Sammy Baker) . While on Deck 5, I did see a lot of crew headed across the bridge.  In fact, on that "Love Boat" cruise, I had some urgent banking to do and did it in that restaurant (where the Wi-Fi used to be free) while watching Sammy e al. chowing down on burgers.  I don't recall seeing the restaurant in our walk around but we didn't cover everywhere.  

Back on the open deck for most of the afternoon and the rest of the time in The Living Room to cool off.

Dinner was challenging tonight. Upstairs it was “Taste of Japan” and in the Dining Room, the pasta was mixed in with seafood.  Our waitress said that the pasta was baked with the seafood so it was not available.  We settle on the veggie option, which was the Polenta. Usually, polenta comes in a bowl with mushrooms but this was fried and cut into triangles.  It was OK.  We then went upstairs to check out the Japanese options.  All I could find was the fried rice, which looked like Spanish Rice, but along with some chive/soy sauce was OK.  A couple of rolls with butter and a decaf (from a tube) rounded out tonight’s dinner.

We waited in the Den for the door of the Cabaret Lounge to open for Darren one-man show.  It turns out that there is only one show tonight and that was at 9 PM.  We stayed in the den listening to Bob Styles and then got our usual seats in the lounge.  We ordered two White Russians. 

I had seen Darren’s Show on the first cruise, but lucky for me, he included some new songs in this set.  He did a great job on “This is the Moment” 

and “The Music of the Night”.

He likes doing Neil Diamond and included "September Morn"

and wrapped it all up with a great version of “Time to Say Goodbye”.  He does have a terrific voice and puts on a great show (he didn’t take a drink of water the whole show).  I was surprised that there wasn’t an overflow crowd at this show like we have seen when Tony, Erik, or Russ have their shows.

It was late and we were tired and we headed for the room.  Thank goodness there is no time change tonight.

Seas are smooth.

December 28, 2024 – At Sea – Pacific Ocean – Beautiful – 80F

Still not acclimated to the new time – up early again. This is the view from our porthole at 5:56 AM (yes, that time is correct).

The best news of this day was that, even though this is a sea day, I am not working.  

Pancakes and eggs this morning – Braulio, the super nice suit in the Windows Café saw the eggs and asked if there was any issue with the cottage cheese and sour cream. I told him I alternate that with eggs. I sat in the very first window seat near the coffee service area at the entrance. I got my own coffee and ordered the pancake and eggs. I got the timing right today. I also had a little bowl of frosted flakes and bran flakes with blueberries.  I was hungry this morning and the breakfast was perfect.  Even better, the Café was not crowded and the screaming lady, that buzzed over here from a Celebrity Ship, was gone and replaced by soft music. Breakfast as it should be on all ships.

Up to date at 9:10 AM CST.

I took my Iced Mocha Latte (a change up from my string of iced Café Americanos) to Deck 5.  The weather today is perfect – low humidity – a breeze – and smooth seas. 

We stayed there until lunch – today was Beyond Burger day – plus a Perino Beer (my first Italian entry on my beer travels).  

We ate inside because the veranda was very warm and there was no breeze.  What I don’t understand about the burger is that for some reason, they again put shredded black cabbage and a dollop of guacamole on the burger (I asked for grilled onions).  The burger was still good (I scrapped the stuff off) as were the onion rings. I also had some nachos with guacamole and salsa (the salsa is starting to go south) but I did like the baked nachos (better than the fried ones).

Some Cherry Gelato finished off the meal.

Back to Deck 5 – there is very little going on today. Chuck is the only speaker working today. Peter stopped by and told me he was scheduled to speak but his talk was taken off the schedule. It's all a mystery to me.

At 2:00 PM, I went to The Den to meet with Donald Harrison, who is a journalist for the San Diego Jewish World paper.  He likes to interview Jewish Speakers on cruise ships.  The interview went until about 3:14 PM and involved questions about my education, my career, my synagogue experiences, and most of all Christopher Columbus.  I shared what I knew about Columbus and I don’t know how Donald will frame that in his article.  It was fun.

Back to Deck 5.  The entertainment tuned out to be dolphins – the first marine life we’ve seen on these cruises.  There were a lot of them but only a few close enough to get a good picture.  You could also hear their vocalizations and it sounded just like you would expect it to sound.  I guess they were talking to each other.  We even saw a Brown Booby sitting on top of a dolphin. The dolphins were difficult to capture on my phone camera but it was quite a show. 

I finished “The Edge” – a little bit of trickery by David Baldacci in eventually revealing the bad guys.  I’ve read a lot of Baldacci books and this one had a different feel – didn’t even read like his other books.  It was OK and I’ll look for more books like this.

Tonight is “Taste of Morocco” in the Windows Café so we opted for The Patio (there was nothing available in the Dining Room either). We both had the salmon – I asked for peppercorns but they weren’t on the fish.  I also shared a baked potato with Ellen and had the corn on the cob (OK but very unusual).  Ellen had the sautéed mushrooms. The dinner was good but it’s a slow pace in that venue.  Darren and his family (I suppose) ate out there as well.  We have not liked the desserts in The Patio so we got some baklava and Greek Donut Holes and had them on the Veranda.

I decided to take a picture at dusk on Deck 5.  It came out nice.

Next stop was The Den.  We passed on the show – encore performance by Emilio Valle.  We were hoping for a little quiet before Bob came on with his set at 8:45 PM but the place was full and a constant chatter was going on.  Also, the loud jazz muzak didn’t help.  Bob did start on time and did a series of instrumentals and then some vocals – you could barely hear him above the noise of the crowd. The noise eventually got to us and we retreated to the room.

December 27, 2024 – Puntarenas, Costa Rica – Mostly Sunny – 86F

I don’t what’s worse – forward and backward time changes – the prevailing wisdom that you gain an hour of sleep is bogus – what you gain is getting up an hour earlier in the morning before anything opens up and then having to wait to go get breakfast.  For me, the process started at 3:30 AM and continued – between little cat naps – until the ship docked. Then the mysterious "docking bangs" started and there was no sleep after that. 

Azamara Onward is docked at the very long pier leading to the town on the sliver of land - Puntarenas (I think the name means "sandy point").  The large body of water is the Bay of Nicoya. It is a beautiful day in Costa Rica.

The Windows Café opened at 6:45 AM this morning because all of the excursions started at 7:45 AM and last most of the day.  The early start is due to the fact that each tour has a very long drive to get to the actual location.  When I got up there at 6:45 AM, the placed was full – I couldn’t find an empty seat in the main area and was lucky to notice the table in the back near the entrance to the Patio.  I lucked out and got the window seat.  I fetched my sour cream and cottage cheese – now contained in two large tubs under the yoghurt selections.  I had those along with pancakes and a spoonful of scrambled eggs.  The coffee, which I get myself (diluted half with hot water in a Go Cup – Café Americano) was good and hot.

We are alongside the Coral Princess, the sister ship to our old bud, the Island Princess. The Coral Princess is currently Princess Cruises' smallest ship (2000 Pax) since it no longer uses the Pacific Princess type ships (ships that are essentially identical to Azamara ships). 

At 10:30 AM, we disembarked and took the very bumpy train/trolley to the security gate.  

Before the trolley got rolling, I took a picture of the village across the Bay.

We have not been here for a while and we wanted to see what they had done to this little strip of Costa Rica.  The first thing I noticed was the new vendor market across the street - Avenida 4 - from the Tourist Information Center.  Note: You have to be careful crossing the streets - the drivers are OK but the curbs and sidewalks are in need of repair and pose a tripping hazard. 

The vendors used to line the walkway adjacent to the beach (now there are virtually none).  Instead, there are many more stalls – caps are now $10 (my last "Pura Vida" cap was $5 - now long gone).  There is so much stuff offered by the vendors - I can't imagine what they will eventually do with the unsold goods.  There are still bars along the beach walkway - "Paseo de los Turistas"- but they are pretty run down - there are facilities there but I wouldn't use them.

Our primary mission was to get free Wi-Fi so that Ellen could download some more books from the library.  The Tourist Office had both A/C and free Wi-Fi so we stayed there for a bit. The facilities in the building were also relatively clean and acceptable.  Ellen was able to get some books despite the process being more complicated than it should have been.

From there, we walked along the beach walkway. We found a fellow Azamara passenger and talk to her for a while – she was 88 and was walking without a cane. I did get a nice picture of both cruise ships through the trees from the beach.

When it got too warm, we went through the security gate – they actually check both Sea Pass Card and ID (just like San Juan does) and sat and waited for the trolley to head back to the ship. After about a half hour, with the trolley just sitting there outside the gate, we decided to walk back to the ship. Also, passengers started to gather in pretty good numbers waiting for the trolley - many of them used canes and walkers.  I did not feel we should take seats from those folks.  It’s a long pier – Ellen counted of about 700 steps – and it has no shade. Ellen sprinted ahead of me and we met up in the ship. 

We had lunch on the hot, but tolerable, Sunset Veranda. Today’s beer was Grolsch – always good – along with grilled Tuna wrap, onion rings, and a small salad. They had some pasta with salmon on the hot bar that was good, as well.

We spent the afternoon on loungers on Deck 5 overlooking the Gulf of Nicoya (a better view than the Coral Princess).  When it got too warm, we went to the Living Room.  We stayed for a bit of trivia and enjoying a Strawberry Daiquiri and a Dirty Banana Daiquiri (chocolate syrup enhanced).  BTW, Trivia happens every day at 4 PM - in port or at sea - big crowd or no crowd.  

We went to the room to rest up before dinner – opted not to go to the Chanukah Candle Lighting tonight.  Just too tired.

There is a special dinner on Deck 9 – The Destination Immersion Dinner – Central America, a special offering featuring locally sourced ingredients.  We didn’t see that working out for us so we checked out the Dining Room Menu.  It turned out to be Taste of England in the Dining Room.  We both ordered Fish and Chips and shared a potato and leak appetizer. The appetizer was good – an upscale knish – and the fish and chips were hot and tasty.  Ellen’s fish had a funny square shape and funny look.  It turned out to be fried tofu and chips. Ellen had told the waitress she was allergic to shellfish; that was entered into the room profile so the kitchen will not serve her that and instead conjured up something from the veggie menu. In this case, tofu.  She explained the difference between shellfish and fish-fish so maybe that won’t happen again.  FYI - Fried Tofu and Chips is not really the same as Fish and Chips.

I did capture some nice sunset pictures while the ship was still docked.

Tonight’s entertainment is drawn from the ship's own talent as has generally been the case on this voyage. Tina the Musical Director and keyboardist along with the Azamara Orchestra will be presenting “Bourbon Street and More” in the Cabaret Lounge. All about New Orleans Jazz.  It sounded OK, and Tina is very good, but we opted for the quiet confines of the Mosaic Cafe for coffee and goodies.

We watched the shops open at around 8 PM so we knew the ship had departed.

We headed to the room early – the time change had done us in.