Our introduction to our Grand Voyage was completed with our last port in North America at Long Beach, CA. We were docked right next to the Queen Mary which is now a hotel and tourist attraction. Our last opportunity to shop at American prices was there, so we, along with many others, took the free shuttle from the dock into Long Beach. The port lecturer reminded that we ought to have beach shoes, so we congregated with other from our ship in the shoe department at Walmart. There was little choice at the end of the season, but I checked three other nearby stores and finally found something acceptable at one, so we considered our mission accomplished.
By the time we returned to the ship, the Los Angeles arrivals, numbering about 550, were boarding and giving the ship its nearly full compliment of guests. At dinner we met our new dinner companions, couples from Texas and Florida. The latter had originally lived in Rye, New York, in the southeastern part of the state. They had heard of Hamburg and she had graduated from Syracuse University! That made 1/3 of our table Orangemen!
We set sail across the Pacific a little after 5 PM on September 30 and will be at sea for six consecutive days before reaching the sparsely populated island Marquesas Islands on October 7. Some friends have commented that they feared boredom with so many days at sea. Just as an indication of our first day, October 1, here is a sampling of activities. We had breakfast served in the dining room. I had the time to walk the outside deck 8 times which is slightly more than 2 miles before attending a lecture from the shore excursions department at 10. We remained for the interesting Meteorological professor who began a series of lectures on astronomy. Today he described the appearance of the sky in the Southern Hemisphere. We had to leave early to attend a reception at noon to meet the captain for those who are in our stateroom category. At two, we went to the movie The Proposal, which neither of us had seen. After an afternoon break of about an hour and a half, we went to dinner followed by the evening entertainment which varies each day. Yesterday’s was done by the ship’s cast, a group of young entertainers who put on a show of music and dance which cruisers always enjoy.
We followed with interest the selection of the host city for the 2016 Olympics this morning. Unlike a lot of Chicagoans, we both were hoping that Chicago could beat out Rio for the games. We knew that Rio was the favorite and that South America had never hosted them so it was a fairly long shot. However, it came as a surprise to have Chicago eliminated first. We haven’t heard much analysis, but we are guessing that local opposition to hosting the games was heard in addition to awareness of Chicago’s reputation for political corruption and the national publicity on the killings of school students. Chicago is a magnificent city with so much to offer, but in addition to the sentimentality for selection of a South American city for the first time, these were difficult issues to overcome.
We've heard about the devastation in American Samoa caused by the earthquake and tsunami. We're scheduled to go there on the 17th. Needless to say, the ship has been in contact with the authorities there and will not stop unless it's safe to do so. We'll keep you posted!
Chuck
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