Norwegian Dream
April 18-May 6, 1999

Overview and Sunday April 18th

A transatlantic crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, stopping in European
ports, visiting London for 3 days at the end… all sounds so romantic,
doesn't it? And incredibly expensive… the kind of cruise we'd
always dreamed about, but never really thought we'd ever be able to
afford to take. But through a great deal on a travel auction
website, that's just what we're going to do!

The plan: the kids and I are using frequent flier miles to fly from
Orlando to San Juan, and then back from London to Orlando. We'll do
the entire cruise – the first week at sea, and the second week of
various ports of call. Vic didn't want to take that much time off
work, so he bought an airline ticket to Lisbon, Portugal. He will fly
in there the day before our ship arrives, and stay in a hotel for a
night, then board the ship in the morning and join us for the rest of
the cruise. After the 15-day cruise is over, we will take
transportation to London, spend 2 days there, then all fly home
together. The costs: $1299 for the cabin, $400 for the upgrade
(oceanview), $180 each for port charges, and $350 each to add the
kids - $3117. Retail price: over $9,000! Also, we're using
frequently flyer points for me and the kids, and only $415 for Vic's
airfare. His hotel in Lisbon is $125, and we are using Disney
Vacation Club points for the hotel in London. How could we not go?!

The packing was a project – what kind of weather to expect? Leaving
out of San Juan, I expect warm weather at the beginning… maybe even
shorts, probably bathing suits, even if it's just for the hot tub.
We're going the southern route, with our first stop in Madeira - an
island off the coast of Africa - so how long would it stay warm?
Also, 3 formal nights on the ship, and no shorts in public areas
after 6 p.m. The current weather in Europe showed 45 in London, 55
in Lisbon, but it appeared to be a cold spell. No washers and dryers
on board, but I could pay them to do my laundry. So I packed for a
little of everything, and figured we'd have to do laundry at least
once - probably $100 each time - maybe twice. As it was, I ended up
with 2 large suitcases, 2 smaller ones, and a hanger bag, plus the
laptop, camcorder bag, my backpack, and the kids' rolling suitcases!

Our journey started Saturday afternoon – due to availability of
frequent flyer seats, we flew to Atlanta on Saturday, spent the night
at a hotel there, then flew to San Juan Sunday morning, and took a
$20 taxi ride from the airport to the ship.

Finally, we see the cruise ship! There are 3 in the harbor - Royal
Caribbean, Carnival, and ours - but ours is the biggest. The taxi
let us off at a rather unimpressive door - looked like the loading
dock - and we went into a big building with a couple stands where
they processed our papers, gave us some fruit punch, and took our
picture. Then we carried all our carry-ons out to the gangplank,
where someone stepped forward to help us with the bags, and show us
to the room.

The room is nice – when you walk in, the bathroom is on the left -
stand-up shower no bathtub - and closets on the right. Just past the
bathroom on the left is a very small desk where we put the laptop,
and then the bed with small nightstands on either side. When you
walk past the bottom of the bed, there is a dresser on the right with
a TV on top and a chair, the window is straight ahead with a small
glass table under, and a couch on the left, which pulls out to a bed
at night. The cabin steward actually piles all the furniture on the
glass table to make room for the bed.

We almost left the laptop at home – I had read that there was only a
plug in the bathroom for a small razor, and nothing else, so I called
the cruise line. They checked, and said that there were no other
plugs in the cabin, and nowhere else on the cruise ship to plug it
in – in fact, it wasn't allowed because it would interfere with the
ship's navigation. I didn't quite believe them, so I brought it
anyway, figuring I could always plug it into the outlet in the
bathroom - which after much research I determined to be powerful
enough to charge the laptop - and just charge it there and run it on
batteries in the room.

The kids and I talked about whether or not to visit the city of San
Juan. They have a great fort, El Morro, and nice shopping, and we
were going to be on this ship for a total of 15 days - 8 days until
we even got off again… shouldn't we take advantage of this
opportunity to see some sights? In the end, we decided against it,
because we wanted to just relax. The kids wanted to explore the ship
itself, they were tired from the travel, tired from lack of sleep,
and our bags weren't up yet so we had no shorts…

The bags finally arrived around 4 p.m., after we had explored the
ship a little bit, so I unpacked. I discovered rather quickly that I
had neglected to bring any shorts for Trevor. So now I raced around
trying to find out if he would need them, and if they sold any in the
gift shop on board. I went back to the room - I had left the kids
there with the walkie-talkies, which worked great no matter where I
was on the ship, even on the 12th floor while they were in the cabin
on the 6th – and decided he's got enough to carry him through, even
if I have to wash them every night… When the gift shop opened the
next day, they did have shorts – cotton with "Norwegian Dream" on
them, so I got 2 dark blue and 1 white.

The kids relaxed for a while and I sorted through all the information
in the room and then unpacked. I had a hard time getting it all to
fit. I can't find anything –it's all kind of stuffed in there as
best as I could. I don't know how we're going to fit Vic's clothes
when he arrives!

We weren't terribly hungry - we had nibbled on a lunch buffet on the
pool deck shortly after we got on board - but if we didn't eat now we
wouldn't make it to the Kids Korner for the open house at 8, so we
went to dinner. The ship wasn't scheduled to leave until 10 p.m., so
many weren't on board yet. Therefore it was open seating – no set
time, restaurant or table, so we ate at The Terraces, as we thought
it would be our only chance to have dinner somewhere besides our
appointed table #30 in the Sun Terrace restaurant. Dinner was very
good – Trevor had shrimp cocktail and steak, Alyx had salad, and I
ordered Cream of Cauliflower soup, salad and steak. The kids tried
my soup and absolutely loved it – Alyx had a cup and then a bowl, and
Trevor had a bowl too. Ice cream for dessert…then we went to the
open house at the Kids' Korner.

The two staff members in the kids' club said that there more kids on
this crossing than any they had ever remembered – about a dozen! The
activities are 10 a.m. to noon, 2:30-5, and 8-10 each day, except
when we're in port, and then there are only activities 8-10 p.m.
unless you hire a private babysitter - one of them or another
crewmember. They have video games, arts and crafts activities, they
go swimming, and do treasure hunts and "Where's Waldo" searches
around the ship. Lots of fun stuff to do!

Then we went back to the room. They don't have a movie theatre on
board, but they show movies occasionally in one of the lounges, and
have movies running continuously on a TV in our room. It's the same
schedule every four days, and movies start every 2 hours, and
includes many movies that only left the theatres a couple months ago
and aren't on video yet.

The kids wanted to go on deck to see us leave the port at 10 p.m. and
attend the "Departure Party." It had just rained, so the party was
taken indoors… and after waiting on the top deck for a half hour, we
found out the departure was delayed until midnight, so we went back
to the room and went to bed.

Monday, April 19, 1999

Our first full day on the ship! We woke a little late – I got in the
shower at 8:30. The lifeboat drill was scheduled for 10 a.m., so I
had to wake the kids and rush them to get dressed so we could eat
before the drill. We ate in the Terraces again, and Trevor had a ham
omelet, I had a mushroom omelet, and Alyx had cold cereal. We got
our food at 9:50, so had to eat quickly to rush back to our room and
grab our life jackets, then go to muster station K for the drill.
Our room is the fourth from the back of the ship on the 6th deck, and
there is a set of stairs and a bank of elevators about a half dozen
rooms down towards the bow. We went up the stairs and out the door
to our station, and they checked us off. We brought the lift jackets
back to our room, and ran into our room steward. He explained that
he had pushed Trevor's rubber snake out of the way, but he didn't
want to touch it - I think he was afraid of it - so he didn't put it
away. We promised him we'd keep it hidden from now on! He looked
quite frightened of it!

The Kids Korner opened at 11 this first day, so they were there when
the doors opened. We missed the formal lunchtime – 12 p.m. – so we
grabbed a snack at the pool while the kids swam with their new
friends. They hadn't been swimming long when they asked everyone to
leave the pool, because one of the master chefs was doing an ice
carving – they brought a huge chunk of ice out and put it in the very
shallow edges around the pool, and he used sharp tools to carve an
angel fish that was about 4' high! Then it was 2:30 – time for the
kids to go to the Kids' Korner and me to go to the salon.
Before I left on the cruise, Vic told me to make sure and get a
massage, pedicure… whatever I wanted so that I wasn't stressed by the
time he got there. So I signed up on Sunday for a "Silver Package" –
a seaweed wrap/massage - never did that before - a manicure and
pedicure, and a facial. I'm not excited about the facial – I've had
them done before and wasn't thrilled – but it was cheaper as a
package. The hardest part is they always try and sell you all their
really expensive products too. I also wanted my hair cut because it
was just a little too long…. We scheduled one treatment every other
day while we're at sea.

Anyway, the massage was quite something! I filled out a
questionnaire about the parts of my body that needed the most
attention - stiff neck and back, etc. - and she made up a
personalized mixture of seaweed powder and other things. She rubbed
it all over my legs, belly, back and arms, then wrapped me in a piece
of tin foil and covered me with piles of blankets. While I "baked,"
she did a scalp massage. Then I showered and washed it all off, then
while I was still wet she wrapped me in foil and blankets again, and
massaged my feet. Then I showered again and then she gave me a back,
shoulder and neck massage. By the time she was done, I could hardly
walk. She said the seaweed mixture pulls out the toxins in your body
that slow you down… when you move your arm, your body releases toxins
that create the movement… and you never really get rid of them. She
said after the massage I would feel relaxed, but then I would feel
energized for the next few days. Anyway, I guess I was in there for
almost 2 hours – I came out at 4:30 and got a quick hair cut and blow
dry and got the kids as the center closed at 5.

It was our first formal night – dresses and suits, and portraits.
The kids didn't really want to dress up, so we thought we'd do room
service. But when I called, they said they only had sandwiches. We
hung out in our cabin until 6:30, when we finally decided we'd have
to go in search of food. We had missed our assigned time at 6 at the
Sun Terrace… we could have sat down and eaten in the Bistro – a
supper club alternative – but the kids didn't want to sit. The
maitre d' there, however, informed us that room service would bring
us the dinner menu selection – what they were serving in the dining
rooms – they just didn't tell us that when we called. We checked the
menu, though, and I didn't think the kids would be interested. So we
went up to the pool area where we'd eaten lunch, but there was no
food. Finally, we checked the Sports Bar, where I'd seen a lunch
buffet, and we found food. There was pizza, a cheeseburger – which
looked like it had been there a while – hot dogs, french fries,
salad… we were set. The trays were a little difficult to carry, and I
was concerned they would be dumped before we got back to the room, so
I made them sit there and eat. There were a few others there who had
opted out of formal night…

The kids' activities were 8-10 p.m. again, and Alyx wanted to go, but
Trevor didn't…. so she went alone, and Trevor and I came back and
played together.

Tonight was their first Chocolate Extravaganza of the cruise. It was
scheduled to start at 11:30 p.m. – and the kids wanted to stay up and
attend. So after dinner, we went back to the room. At 11:30 we went
up to the 9th floor to the Four Seasons restaurant. It was the
longest line I've seen on this ship yet! And what a spread! Cakes,
pastries, mousse, fruit dipped in chocolate – dark, milk and white…
there were even a few "buildings" that were painted to look
chocolate, like a miniature Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomph. There
were even ice cream and M&Ms and chocolate sprinkles. We waited our
turn in line, and then sat down and ate. The kids' eyes were bigger
than their stomachs – we really didn't eat much. And when we left,
the line was longer to get in than we had waited in!
Back in the room, we went to bed quickly.

Tuesday, April 20, 1999

We have had our first time change - as we cross the ocean, we will
gradually be putting our clocks ahead, an hour at a time. Last night
we had to set our clocks ahead an hour for the first time, so when I
woke the kids at 10:30, it was 9:30 to them. That's the last
midnight buffet we'll attend!

We had breakfast at the buffet near the pool again – Alyx wanted to
go directly to the Kids Korner, so she didn't eat. Trevor had
scrambled eggs and I had cold cereal. Just as we entered the buffet
area, they started taking the food away – it closed at 11, and we had
made it just in time. Then I left Trevor at the Kids Korner too, and
I went to the Shore Excursions desk. I had lots of flyers from the
past 3 days that I needed to sort through – first and most
importantly, they had to know today if we needed transportation from
the dock at Dover, into London. I chose the bus, for $50 per person,
to take us to Victoria Station, and then we'll take a taxi from there
to the hotel. Fun.

I also asked about some of the tours at the other places we'll be…
with the kids, it's hard to do a really long tour. In Madeira, I
will probably just take the shuttle into town, and then wander around
there with them. The crewmember also suggested we take a taxi to a
snowless sled ride, which he thought the kids might enjoy. I'll read
up about it more and decide later. I'll have to choose all the tours
myself if we do any, because they all need to be arranged prior to
Vic coming on board the ship.

I could call him – communication has turned out to be cheaper than I
expected. It's $5.95 per minute if I call home, and it's from the
phone in my cabin. I remember the first cruise Vic and I took in
1990, when Alyx was 10 months old, on Carnival Cruise Lines. We had
to go to a special area where they had phone booths, and then they
would place the call and let you know which phone to pick up, and you
sat in the booth to speak. And I remember the price too – like $25 a
minute! Vic called us yesterday to make sure we had gotten on all
right – we had phoned him from Puerto Rico, but had only gotten his
voice mail.

During the afternoon, I worked on the journal, and the kids went to
the Kids Korner again. Then we discussed dinner, and decided not to
go to the restaurant again – they aren't fond of "Caribbean style
food," which was the night's menu, as much of it tends to be spicy.
We decided maybe we'd eat in the room, or go up on deck for a quick
buffet.

Around 6:20, the phone rang, and it was the maitre d'. He meant to
call the reception desk and ask if there was anyone staying in cabin
6065, because we hadn't been to dinner both nights. He was a little
embarrassed when he realized he had called the room directly, but
when I explained why we hadn't come, he said that they actually do
have a children's menu, and he would send someone down with it so we
could look it over. He also said that food is available through room
service as well. He also said that as long as we were in the dining
room before 7, they would still seat and feed us. The menu arrived
around 6:30, and we were impressed by the selection, so we quickly
dressed and went up.

We were glad we did – the kids' food was good, my food was good, and
the waiters performed for us as well – when they brought out the
flaming dessert, they played some calypso music and all danced around
the restaurant. The kids had fun.

Wednesday, April 21, 1999

I think the kids' internal clocks are all messed up. We went to bed
rather early – relatively speaking – and I thought they'd be up at a
reasonable hour. I was sure we would actually have breakfast in the
restaurant, which runs from 7:30-9:30. I finally woke the kids at
9:30, because I was concerned they wouldn't go to bed until late
again tonight. We missed the sit-down breakfast again… we did the
same thing today as yesterday. They dressed, and Alyx was at the
Kids' Korner shortly after it opened at 10. She skipped breakfast,
and Trevor and I went to the buffet at the pool just outside. He had
eggs and I had cold cereal again. We brought an apple to Alyx.
Yesterday's craft was a sand art tube, today they painted styrofoam
polynesian masks. I went to the library on board and sat and read my
book until I went and got them at noon.

We stopped in one of the lounges and picked up some board games –
Alyx chose Chutes and Ladders, and I chose Clue.

Tonight's dinner theme is "Traditional French" – a little more on the
quiet side. After dinner, Alyx went to the Kids' Korner – of course –
and Trevor decided to stay with me. So we started to get ready for
bed as soon as Alyx came back, but we didn't turn off the lights
until 11:15, which was 12:15 with the time change.

Thursday, April 22, 1999

We did make it to breakfast today, but the kids were really hard to
wake up. But hopefully that will mean a little bit earlier bedtime
tonight.

I have been very impressed by this cruise – it's my fifth cruise, and
definitely my favorite. It's extremely relaxing, lots of pleasant
people – probably because they are mostly older retired couples and
groups. The staff is great, the layout of the ship is big but
comfortable, the number of kids on board is just right – Alyx and
Trevor have someone to play with, but there aren't tons of kids every
where you turn, and the ones that are here seem to be pretty well
behaved. We have chatted with a number of interesting people, from
all over the world. It's nice to have these 7 days at sea to totally
relax, then a day of excursions, another day to relax, 2 days of
excursions, another day to relax, a last day of excursions, a day to
pack, and then to London. None of the itinerary feels overwhelming.

I still have not decided what to do about the shore excursions. The
problem is, very few of the tours would appeal to the kids, as they
are generally long. For example, in Madeira on Monday – where I had
thought to take an organized tour because I will be alone on the
island with the kids, the only port Vic will not be with us – there
is a great Jeep Adventure Safari. But, it's 7 hours long, with heavy
walking, and $98 per person. I just don't see the kids on this
tour. Then there's a tour of a vineyard, high cliffs, and an
embroidery factory for 3 hours. There's a botanical garden tour and
wine tasting for 3.5 hours too. Finally, there's a tour that
includes something they would be interested in – the snowless sled
ride – but the tour itself is 4 hours long, and I can't see them
making it through the whole bus tour and embroidery factory tour.
Our next port after that, on Wednesday, is Lisbon. We'll meet up
with Vic there, and I don't think we'll take a guided tour… the
options are Lisbon Orientation – a 3.5 hour tour of the history of
the city; A tour of homes and palaces on the seaside near the city
for 4 hours; Countryside & Wine Tasting for 4 hours; Lisbon
Promenade, a 3.5 hour walking tour of the main part of the city; and
Fatima and Batalha, a 9 hour tour through interesting major religious
sites outside the city. Hopefully Vic will have found something of
more interest for us to do… I believe there's also an aquarium, and a
combination of that and the major area downtown will probably be all
we'll do. Besides, Vic will probably be anxious to get on board the
ship.

Thursday is Vigo, Spain. Our three options are: Rias Bajas, a 4.5
hour journey which takes you to picturesque seaside villages and a
mussel farm; Santiago de Compostela, a 5 hour trip to one of the most
important places of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages; and Vigo &
Bayona, a 4.5 hour to an old port, fortress, and towers. Tough
choice there.

Saturday is LaRochelle, France. The city tour is 3 hours through the
medieval town; a 4.5 hour tour of Marennes & Brovage Oyster Beds; 9
hours through Saintes/Cognac, visiting 1st century arena, and wine
sampling; and 9 hours through the countryside to a church from the
Middle Ages, the traces of the ramparts of an old castle, and lunch
at a Chateau.

The hard part is, there is no childcare while we are in port. Some
of these tours may be of interest to Vic and I, but not the kids. You
can request a private babysitter – at nearly $10 an hour – but a big
part of the cruise was to introduce the kids to other cultures.
When the kids got back from Kids Korner, we discussed the options
too. They generally leaned toward exploring on our own, not taking
guided tours. I think I have decided, however, to take the 4-hour
guided tour. I must admit I'm not nervous about going on my own with
the 2 kids into town, but the snowless sled ride in Monte sounds
interesting, and I'm not sure how I feel about venturing into the
countryside with just a taxi driver that may or may not speak English
very well. So we'll do the tour, which includes beautiful views of
mountains and ravines, an 18th century church with a crypt and
jeweled image of Our Lady, the snowless sled ride, and an embroidery
factory. There should be enough to keep the kids' interest without
boring them too much. Then when we return to town at 12:30, we can
wander around if we want.

From Alyx:
I really like the cruise. I only like the part at sea, because I
really don't want to get off the cruise ship. I especially like the
Kids Korner, and I met a couple girls my age and we're friends.
Yesterday I made a bracelet, and it's kind of cool, because it was
weaving, and I really like weaving. The weather has been nice, but
the pools have been kind of cold. But the pool where you can go to
the bar is really warm. It's ocean water, so I guess the ocean is
that warm. I dropped my glass lizard once through the crack in the
elevator – it was sad for a little bit, and then the guy at the
restaurant came over and he got it back for me, and that was very
nice of him. One night at midnight we went to a chocolate buffet,
and I really liked it.

From Trevor:
I like shuffleboard, but we haven't played it yet. I like the room
service, and I like all the rooms. I like the Kids Korner a lot –
they have neat video games. You can buy your own captain hat – and
we got one for me. They don't have any bunk beds that pull out of
the ceiling – like on the Disney Cruise Line – but they have couch
beds that pull out of the couch, and it's a really big cushion. I
like the waves in the pool, swimming past the waves. I like the ice
carving that we watched – the chef made an angelfish from a big piece
of ice in the pool. We didn't get a porch, but we have a window in
our cabin. One time in Kids Korner, we did a "Where's Waldo" hunt,
and a scavenger hunt, and we won both times! We won beach balls and
frisbees.

At 2:30, we went to a class on weaving bracelets and Alyx and I each
made one – black with multiple colors. Trevor played with the
strings while we worked. It took quite a while – we didn't finish
until almost 4:30!
Tonight's dinner was semi-formal. Afterwards, Alyx again went to Kids
Korner, and Trevor stayed with me.

Friday, April 23, 1999

We had breakfast in our room today. Last night I called down to room
service for a breakfast menu, which is a card you fill out and leave
on your door at night. They deliver from 6:30 to 9:00 a.m., so I
selected the latest possible delivery time.

I had left the curtains open last night, and the sun woke me at
6:30. Since we had only gone to bed at 11:30, I closed the curtain
and went back to sleep. I was lying in bed awake when the phone rang
at 9, asking if we were ready for our breakfast. I said yes, and the
knock came on the door only a few minutes later. They left the tray
on the bottom of the bed, and then I took a shower. I finally woke
the kids at 9:30 and they ate. It was only cold cereal, yogurt,
muffin, fruit, and hot chocolate. They don't offer eggs, pancakes,
etc., for room service. They didn't rush off to Kids Korner this
morning. At around 11, Trevor decided he wanted to go to the kids
club, so I walked him upstairs. Then I stopped at the tour desk and
put in our reservation for the tour in Madeira, as the deadline to
sign up was today at 12. We were going to go to a lounge and play
Clue while they cleaned our room, but decided that lunch looked good,
so we actually sat down for lunch – our first time. The kids had
macaroni and cheese, and I had English fish and chips.

It occurs to me that I haven't described the layout of the ship in
much detail. We are on the 6th deck, in an outside cabin with a
large window - category A. Our cabin is the 4th from the back of the
ship – nice and quiet. Cabins start on the 4th deck, with very small
portholes – the cabin we were supposed to get before we paid the $400
upgrade price. Other than the medical office, there is nothing on
the 4th, 5th and 6th decks except cabins. On the 7th deck, midship,
is the "lobby," a small area with a reception desk, credit desk –
there is gambling on board – the tour desk, and a concierge desk for
those in Owners Suites. Around the 7th deck is a promenade, with
walking on the left, and jogging on the right, going
counterclockwise. From here you can look at the undersides of the
lifeboats, and it's on this deck that all muster stations for
lifeboats are located. Deck 8 also has just cabins.

Deck 9 has restaurant at the back – The Terraces, lounges through the
middle – including the small library, Four Seasons restaurant in the
center, and cabins in the front. Deck 10 has shops at the back – 5 in
all – then lounges and the casino in the center and the Stardust
Lounge in the front – a large performance area where the shows take
place, which is actually 2 stories high.

Deck 11 has the Sun Terrace restaurant at the back – this is the one
we're assigned to – the Kids Korner and meeting rooms next, then
doors to the outside where there is a pool and a buffet line for
light breakfasts and lunch. Then there's a wet bar – a pool at the
bar – and hot tubs, the ice cream parlor, and that's as far as you
can go, because the rest of the deck in the front is the upper level
of the Stardust Lounge.

Deck 12 is the top – except for the basketball and shuffleboard on
the Sky Deck. At the rear is the Sports Bar and Grill, with 24 hour
service – where we ate dinner the second night. Then there's a video
arcade, then open to the outside with lots of lounge chairs. At the
rear, you can go inside again to the Spa, Beauty Salon and Workout
area, and also the Observatory Lounge at the very front.

One thing I really like is the location of the restaurants – with the
exception of the Four Seasons, they are all at the rear, with lots
and lots of windows. When we arrive at dinner, the blinds are down
because we're facing the sun. At some point during dinner, the
blinds rise electrically, and we have a wonderful view of the
sunset. It's so nice not to be stuck somewhere in the middle of the
ship, in a room where you can't tell if it's day or night to eat.
I'm so glad we paid the extra money for the large window, too…
sunshine makes such a big difference! And that's what we've had so
far – in the high 70s/low 80s every day, with lots and lots of sun.
Also quite windy too. On deck 7, the same category cabin as this has
the large window also, but it faces the promenade – people are
walking past your window all day long. A category just below this in
price is on deck 8, where your view is obstructed by the lifeboats
hanging outside your window. The Owners Suites are the only rooms
with balconies. Otherwise, the other 2 categories above this have
rooms are just slightly bigger, a slightly larger window and on a
higher deck. We couldn't upgrade that far, though, from the cabin we
had originally purchased on-line.

We relaxed the rest of the day. In the evening, we called Daddy.
He's looking forward to joining us in a few days! Alyx asked him how
soon we're going to take another cruise like this….

I tried to get the kids to bed, but it was hard, because their clocks
are so messed up… we have to set the clocks ahead another hour
tonight, so with the new time change, they didn't actually go to
sleep until almost 1 a.m.

Saturday, April 24, 1999

One full week gone! Already! Hardly seems possible – we're so
relaxed and enjoying ourselves, it seems hard to believe it's been a
week already! I woke up around 9, and didn't wake the kids until
almost 10:45. I didn't mean to wake them – I spent a bit of time
sorting through the dirty clothes and marking the laundry order form,
then was putting the clothes into bags (3 of them).
Our cabin steward is good – he has a lot of work with our cabin, I
think. When we leave in the morning, we put out the "Please make up
room" sign, and it's always done by the time we come back. Same
thing when we leave for dinner, as he knows we're at the 6 p.m.
seating. Just rearranging the kids' bedding is a project – they
sleep on the couch that folds out into a bed, but he has to move the
glass table to the wall, stack the chair on top of it, remove all the
pillows, fold out the bed, and make it with the pillows. He also
takes the bedspread off my bed and puts it under the bed, as well as
vacuuming, bathroom, garbage, etc. I try to keep the toys picked up
so he doesn't have to do that as well.

At our assigned table for lunch and dinner, we always have the same
waiter, busboy, and "wine steward". I'm a little disappointed that I
still have to ask for Trevor's apple juice at every meal – on the
Dolphin cruise we took, the first one with the kids, they had our
drinks sitting there when we arrived for each meal. The girl who is
our "wine steward" also gets us any drinks that cost extra, including
soda, liquor drinks, etc. She's very nice – she uses origami to fold
our bill into funny shapes. Alyx asked her if she could make a
crane, and by the next day she had learned how and gave it to Alyx!
It's a little cooler today – the captain said at 9 a.m. that it was
only 70. I put us all in long pants and short sleeves today, but if
we were outside, I'd probably have long sleeves on with the wind. I
sent all the shorts and warmer clothes out for cleaning anyway, just
in case it gets warmer.

The kids got ice cream at the ice cream parlor – open 2-4 daily – and
brought it down to me – lemon ice cream. They didn't feel like going
back up, so they called and let the counselors know, and stayed down
here with me. Alyx and I played Clue again, and she won.
It was formal night again at dinner, and this time the kids did want
to dress up. We looked quite nice, if I do say so. A photographer
took our picture during dinner, and it will be available after 5 p.m.
tomorrow at the photo shop. I took a picture of the kids in the room
before dinner as well.

We came back to the room after dinner, and Trevor and I put our
pajamas on, and Alyx went to Kids Korner. They were having a big
dance/musical tonight, and I thought about going alone, but I wanted
to get Trevor down early tonight, so I skipped it. We were all ready
for bed by the time Alyx returned – she and the other kids had gone
to the show, and said I would have loved it, as it was really well
done and fun. We set the clocks ahead again tonight an hour, which
makes a total of 4 hours now ahead of home. And we have to set them
ahead another hour tomorrow night!

Sunday, April 25, 1999

Tomorrow is going to be tough – we set our clocks ahead another hour
tonight, and the tour starts at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow in Madeira. The
kids aren't going to the kids program tonight, so that we can all be
in bed really early.

We went to the photo shop to see if they had the pictures from dinner
last night, and they told us not until after 5 p.m. We then went up
to the Observatory Lounge – front of the ship, deck 12 – to get our
passports. They had told us when we boarded that they would keep
them for us the entire cruise, as they would be needed at the various
ports, but evidently we will need them to depart the ship tomorrow in
Madeira, so they have returned them all. We were right next to the
beauty parlor, so Alyx asked if she could have her hair braided.
They did it very quickly – french braid – and didn't charge us! I
told Alyx we would have to bring something up for the girl later.
When we got back to our room, our laundry was back! I thought it
said if it was in by 9 a.m., it would be back by 6 p.m. the next
day. Since they didn't get it until noon yesterday, I thought it
would be tomorrow after 6 p.m., not today! Anyway, the total was
$117 – about what I thought. BUT since 75% of it was kids' clothes,
they took off 50%, and it was only $58! What a nice surprise!
So what have I been doing with all my "free time" while the kids at
the Kids Korner? Well, lately Trevor has been with me more than not,
so I've also been entertaining and playing with him. Otherwise, I
have been working on this journal – 20 pages so far. I've also been
reading, as I had been saving magazines for a couple months to bring
on the cruise – they're a quick read, and you don't have to bring
them back home with you, so you have extra room on the way back
It's 4:30 now, and I just got back from a presentation on future
cruises. I admit, we've got a problem – I believe the kids and I are
hooked. We've taken cruises before, but they've been to just the
Caribbean. Okay, been there, done that… but this cruise has opened
our eyes to a completely new way of travel and exploration. The
cruises that Norwegian has take you practically around the world.

There are Alaskan cruises on ships that only hold 800 people, and
sail right in to the bays where you can see bears and animals right
from the front of the ship. They have Alaskan cruises that travel
through the inland waterways, so there's always land on both sides
and the water is as smooth as glass. They have cruises to Hawaii, to
north of Norway to see the solar eclipse, to south of South America.
There's Australia, the Mediterranean, the British Isles, through
Russian cities. They have one in the fall that spends time in Israel
and the pyramids of Egypt. There are fall foliage tours that go to
New England and Canada. There are multiple itineraries for crossing
the ocean. The neat part is, you stay on the ship, so you don't have
to worry about hotels, restaurants, moving luggage, etc. The service
onboard is first-class, so it's like a guarantee that you're safe and
cared for – pampered and spoiled – while you visit these exotic
locations! What a perfect combination! Norwegian offers a future
booking credit – if you book a future cruise while still on board
this one, you can reserve your cabin for only $25. When you return
home, you give your deposit to your travel agent – all of which is
fully refundable if you cancel within 90 days of departure – and by
booking now you save 30-50% off the brochure price. That could be an
even better deal than we got on-line!

There are quite a variety of ships in the Norwegian Line, as well.
As I mentioned before, their smallest ship holds only 800, and
cruises Alaska in the summer, and the Caribbean in the fall. There
are a variety of sizes in between – including Norwegian Wind, which
is the sister ship, and identical, to the Norwegian Dream. Their
newest ship is the Norwegian Sky, and that starts in August. It
holds 2,000 passengers, and is 70,000 tons – this one is 50,000
tons. It has unique amenities, such as 250 cabins with balconies,
internet access in all rooms, and a 12-story atrium.

The only problem is, cruising is not cheap. Okay, we've paid our
$3100 and we're on board and port charges are taken care of. What
else? Well, water and juice is included with meals, but no drinks.
We're paying $200 for the 4 of us to get to London from Dover at the
end of the cruise. It's $10 per person for launches – round-trip –
at each port. The one tour we're taking is almost $180 for the three
of us. Of course, I didn't need to spend the $220 for the spa
treatments, but I did – and I'm glad of it. I haven't even been in
the casino, so I can't say I'm guilty of blowing money that way,
although Vic hasn't joined us yet… the laundry bill – only $58, but
I'm going to have to do it again before we're done… only $11 in
pictures so far, but I'm sure there will be more… but the biggest
single expense is yet to come – the tipping. At the end of the
cruise, according to the Gratuity Guide, figuring me and the kids at
15 days, and Vic at 5 days, we'll pay the waiter $150, the bus boy
$75, the cabin steward $150, and the maitre d' $75. That's $450 in
tips, and Vic wasn't even with us the entire cruise. But I have to
say, the service has been very good… so I'm not saying they weren't
worth it, it's just a lot of money to come up with at the end.
We decided to skip dinner at the restaurant. We didn't have to dress
up – it was a casual night – but I just sensed the kids needed a
break. Besides, we weren't all that hungry, as the time change is
really messing us up. Around 6:30, we went up to the Sports Bar and
Grill on deck 12, where they serve a buffet of "snacks" during
dinner. Trevor grabbed a hot dog, and Alyx grabbed hot chocolate.
Nice small, quick dinner. Then we went down to deck 10, and picked
up our pictures from last night's dinner – they turned out very
nice. I got the 5x7, 2 wallets, and another 5x7 that had four
smaller pictures of the ship, with our picture inset in the middle –
total $15 for all… without the wallets it was $14, so I figured it
was worth it.

Then we stopped at the 7th deck for reception, so I could ask about
the temperature tomorrow. They said they weren't sure, but that it
would probably be like today – about 70. She made a comment about it
being warm, and I said we were from Florida, and actually quite
chilly! She laughed and said it was warm for her, as she's from
London. It's all relative! We'll dress in layers tomorrow, but I
doubt we'll take our jackets off.

When we got back to our room, there was information about Funchal,
Madeira, on the bed with the Cruise News. I guess I need to get some
Portugese Escudos, as they don't accept American dollars generally.
Besides, Alyx would like to have some for her currency collection.
The foreign currency desk is open at 7 a.m. We have to meet in the
Stardust Lounge at 8:15, and bring our passports, boarding cards, and
tour tickets. Breakfast is from 6-9 a.m. tomorrow. And we have to
set our clocks ahead again tonight. Yes, they'll be tired tomorrow
afternoon!

In general, I have been pleased with the kids program – they have had
a variety of activities, the counselors are great, and the kids have
had fun. But, like the other cruises we've been on – except Disney –
there is no childcare while we're in port or during dinner.
Our tour is 8:30-12:30, and I tend to think the kids will want to
come back to the ship after that, rather than walk around town more.
Lunch is open from 12-2. The Kids Korner is not open until 8 p.m.
tomorrow, so I guess we'll hang out and relax when we get back on
board the ship – everyone has to be back on at 5:30 so the ship can
leave the port on time. The spa is running some "in-port" specials,
and I would have liked to take advantage of them, but again, no
childcare….

Monday, April 26, 1999

FUNCHAL, MADEIRA, PORTUGAL – Funchal, the island's capital, lies at
the end of a beautiful bay. Terraces of white houses line the wide-
open slops of the encircling hills whose summits, overlooking the
town, are often wrapped in mist. The remarkable setting which can be
admired from many viewpoints, the gardens with their luxurious
vegetation which surround the quintas and hotels, and Funchal's
geographical position, combine to form a popular city resort
attracting visitors from all over the world. With a population of
100,000 it may sound surprisingly large, but in fact you can walk
across the city center – east to west – in 15-20 minutes. Exploring
inland is not easy on foot, as you will soon find the streets
becoming very steep – nevertheless, walking remains the only
practical way to see the capital with its narrow cobblestone
streets. With the exception of the glorious ocean liners and
picturesque fishing boats, Funchal is very much a working port.
Nearly a third of the population congregates in Funchal, built on
picturesque hills sloping down to a steep bay. You will soon agree
that Madeira, with its magnificent flora for which the island is
renowned, amply justifies its nickname of "God's botanical garden."
Madeira has been described as the island of eternal spring, the
island where summer goes to spend winter. The largest of a group of
five islands – which together form a province of Portugal – Madeira
is set in the Atlantic some 350 miles from North Africa. Portugal
lies 600 miles away. The capital, Funchal, home of one-third of the
island's 300,000 people, is a colorful city of parks and shady
streets. Captain Cook, visiting Madeira in 1768, remarked that the
island was "the recipient of Nature's most liberal gifts." Nature
has been more than liberal with flowers; it has been widely
extravagant. Bougainvillea cascade over ancient walls, mimosa fills
the air with its heady scent, and jacaranda petals carpet the streets
in blue petals. The Madeirans have carefully tended their island
garden. Generations of back breaking efforts have developed
precipitous hills into a series of spectacular terraces watered by
miles of irrigation channels.

The Madeirans are descended from the seafarers, soldiers and fortune-
seekers who passed through the island over the centuries. Madeirans
are firmly wedded to the culture and language of the original
settlers, the Portuguese. Their common characteristics are unfailing
courtesy and deep pride in their paradise island. Madeira was
discovered and claimed for the Portuguese in 1419 by the explorer
Joao Concalves Zarco, whose statue you can see in the main
intersection of Funchal. Because the uninhabited island had at the
time been covered with nearly impenetrable forest, Zarco named it
Madeira, which means "wood" in Portuguese. Legend has it the island
was set on fire by Portuguese and burned for over 7 years. British
colonism evolved following the marriage of Portuguese Princess
Catherine of Branganca to England's King Charles II.

Well, I guess we'll be going to bed real early tonight! We all had a
real hard time falling asleep last night, and our wake-up call was at
7 a.m. this morning. At first Trevor didn't want to wake, but when I
mentioned we were at the island, he jumped out of bed faster than
Christmas morning!

The island of Madeira is very mountainous – the city of Funchal was
where we put into port, and it is all built right at the harbor.
Nearly 1/3 of the 100,000 inhabitants of the island lives in this
area. The homes climb up the mountainside very nearby, and the rest
of the people are scattered in various towns around the rest of the
island.

We left the cabin at 7:45 and went up to the 9th deck, to the Four
Seasons restaurant, where they were serving a buffet breakfast. The
other restaurants were serving breakfast also, but I didn't want to
wait while they cooked it – I knew the buffet would be our fastest
option. Trevor had eggs with sausage – he thought it was ham – Alyx
and I had Frosted Flakes and yogurt. I took some apples and put them
in my backpack in case they were needed, and we went to the Stardust
Lounge to meet the tour group when they announced our tour on the PA
system at nearly 8:15. When we arrived, there was a long line – we
presented our tour tickets and were given bus number cards. Then we
went down the 5 flights of stairs, and waited in the hallways of the
4th deck until the doors opened and it was our turn out. A lot of
people were all leaving at the same time.

We climbed on bus #6 – the kids chose the rear. Trevor sat in the
second to the last row by himself, and Alyx and I sat alone in the
very back. We left the port area, and drove out into the main part
of town. If we weren't on a tour, we could have walked it – 30
minutes – or paid $10 per person round-trip for the shuttle. The
streets were very European – relatively small cars, small streets,
lots of flowers. In fact, in between the two directions of the main
street was a canal, which they were covering with wires and growing
flowers on vines to cover.

After driving through town, we went up into the hills, far up into
the hills, to the area called Monte. The bus had to pass other
busses on the narrow streets at times, and once I thought he was
going to take off the sideview mirror of the other bus, he was so
close. But they have no choice. The bus dropped us off at the
bottom of some stairs, which we climbed to an 18th century white
stucco church of Our Lady of the Mountain. Inside is the tomb of
Emperor Charles I of Austria, who died while in exile in 1922. A
jewel-encrusted image of Our Lady, often credited with miracles, is
in the church. It was beautiful – paintings on the walls and
ceilings, small, but inspiring. Outside the church we had a
beautiful view over the harbor – we took a good picture of our ship.
We then walked down the other side of the church, and took our
snowless sled ride. There were many men and baskets, and everyone
went down at once, one after another. We were last, and they took
out a bigger size basket for us – me, the 2 kids, and a cruise crew
member. The baskets are wicker, with cushion seats. You ride down
the actual streets of town –which meant that from time to time we had
to pull over and let a car go past. Two men ran behind us pulling
the ropes to act as our brakes, and at times running in front of us
to get us moving faster. The scariest part was when one was pulling
harder than the other was, and we were almost skidding down the road
sideways! The roads have been used for this so often they're almost
smooth, so the ride was not bumpy. The tour guide used my camera to
take a picture of us as we started, and then as we came around the
first corner – going rather fast – the photographer from the cruise
ship was there and snapped our picture. They'll be available
tomorrow on board.

At the end of the ride, there were tables of locals selling
merchandise. While we were waiting for the bus to pick us up, we
looked over the souvenirs. Alyx decided to use part of her allowance
money that she had been allowed to use as spending money on this trip
for a doll. It was $12 US – we did not get Portuguese Escudos
because the credit office did not have any. They said American money
was well accepted, which it was. There are 180 Esc. to the American
dollar. Trevor wanted ice cream, which was in a store next to the
tables, and we were just about to get it when the bus pulled up.
They put us back on quickly, and we went to our next stop.
From there, the drive got a little scary – a very thin road carved
into the side of the mountain, only one lane wide. Again, passing
busses on the other side so close you could almost feel the breath of
the passengers in the other bus. The couple in the seats in front of
us must have had a fear of heights, because first she moved away from
the seat at the window on the cliff side, then she couldn't look out
either side, and just turned sideways looking down in the middle. It
wasn't a drive for the weak-hearted!

At the end of this interesting drive, we arrived at another stop for
the bus. We walked from the bus up to an overlook of the Socorridos
ravine – the tour guide described it as a volcanic crater, but I've
seen one of those in Hawaii. This was more like beautiful
mountainous valleys. The walk up to the overlook had railings at
only portions, and it was right on the edge, so I was very nervous
taking the kids up there! And of course, they did their best to try
and scare me, too.

At the gift shop at the end of the walk, where the bus was parked, we
bought post cards and stamps.
Back on the bus, another interesting drive, this time to Pico do
Serrado. The kids wanted to stay on the bus, but the driver assured
us it was a beautiful view. It was pretty – the mountains to the
left, the town and harbor to the right… but we didn't go into the
gift shop and try the Madeira wine.

The tour was advertised for 8:30-12:30, and we had to be back on the
bus at this stop at 12, so I assumed this was our last stop. Wrong.
Evidently the next stop was actually an embroidery shop and markets
downtown for shopping, from which they would depart at 1:00 for the
return trip to the ship. The kids were done – remember, they were
running on practically empty as far as sleep, and the organized tour
thing isn't generally their "cup of tea." So I asked the tour guide
to catch us a cab, and we went back to the ship. I was hungry and
wanted lunch, but the kids were so glad to be back in the room, they
didn't want to leave, so we munched on crackers and cheese in the
room.

At 3:15, Trevor and I went up to the Observatory Lounge on deck 12 to
catch the Bridge Tour – Alyx wasn't interested. Trevor and I got a
good overview of what the bridge looks like, then left. He noticed
they were lowering a lifeboat off the port side, so we tried to find
a place we could watch what they were doing. We ended up in a couple
places we had not been before – the first is the pool that we look at
almost twice a day as we sit in the restaurant and eat – the pool at
the rear of the ship on deck 9. You can actually get to it only from
an exterior staircase and walkway from deck 12. Then we noticed
another set of stairs going down, and it led to a rather shaded area
with pool chairs, again facing rear – smaller than above, but with a
unique feature – two "portholes" through which you can look and see
underwater the people swimming in the pool on the deck above! From
there, we walked down to the Promenade deck, then inside and down to
our cabin. We told Alyx of our new discovery, and took her there to
see it as well. On the way back, we got a close up view of that
lifeboat they were lowering – it's quite large and well protected
from weather!

We came back to the room again, but only for a short stop – the kids
wanted to participate in the "Win, Lose or Draw" game at 4:30. Our
team won – 10 to 8. The kids got NCL koozies, and I got a deck of
cards.

Again back to the room, but we weren't there long when we realized
the ship was leaving the harbor! I grabbed the camera and we rushed
up to the 12th deck to get the best view. After watching for a few
minutes, we decided to go down to dinner, where both kids had chicken
noodle soup, Trevor had steak – he only ate a few bites – Alyx had
peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I had potato soup and veal
parmigiana. Then the kids went to Kids Korner - they managed to
convince me to let them stay there until 10, with the promise that
we'll be in bed as quickly as possible after that. I don't want them
going to bed late and getting up at 10 a.m. again tomorrow. I'd like
to make breakfast again, which ends at 9:30.

While we were at dinner, I told the kids that Daddy was now on his
way – he left Orlando at 2:15, which is 7:15 our time. He will be
landing in Lisbon tomorrow morning at 6:45 a.m.

It took nearly an hour to get past the island of Madeira – we went
around it and saw the back, less populated area. Actually, while I
was typing this – 9:00 p.m. – I looked out the window behind me and
saw another island in the Azores, which the captain said we'd be
passing. The sun set late today – 8:45, so we didn't see the sunset
at dinner. But Alyx still asked the maitre d' to put the blinds up
when the sun went behind the clouds – she asks every night, because
she knows I love to look out the windows.

We really planned the timing on this cruise to take advantage of the
best of both worlds…. When we first got on, the kids were excited
about checking out the ship, playing with other kids… then they just
wanted down time… now that they're looking for a little more
adventure, we're visiting ports, with downtime days in between. I
started out the trip using my "alone time" at the spa… then went to
reading and computer, then taking care of Trevor when he didn't want
to go to Kids Korner. Now Vic is joining us, and I'll enjoy some of
the things I haven't done yet – the evening entertainment, the
casino, and the Bistro – the nice, quiet, romantic dining available
at no additional cost, but with reservations. The night we go to the
Bistro, though, we'll have to find a babysitter for the kids…

At dinner, we were speaking with the couple at the table behind us.
I asked how many other Norwegian Cruises they had taken, and they
said quite a few. Most were to the Caribbean – eastern and western –
but they had also taken the Panama Canal cruise, and a cruise to
Alaska. I asked about the cruise to Alaska, and they said it had been
wonderful, that the kids would love it. I know they would! The
Orlando Science Center recently had an Imax movie called "Alaska,"
which the kids and I saw together – the scenery was beautiful, the
animals were magnificent… someday!

Tuesday, April 27, 1999

Trouble today – there's a high-pressure front north of us, and the
waves were rather large. I believe at one point I heard the captain
say something about 10-12' waves. I could tell in the middle of the
night that we were in some rough water, as I kept having to change my
sleeping position. If I was on my side, I would roll and feel like I
was falling off the bed, so I kept changing to lie on my back or
belly. It got worse after we woke.

We had put our breakfast request on the door last night, and asked
for an 8:30 delivery. That way, the kids could munch on breakfast in
between their showers, and be at Kids Korner at 10. At 8:15, the
phone rang, and room service asked if we were all up yet. I said yes,
even though I was the only one awake, and they brought breakfast down
a few minutes later. Every time I tried to get up, I felt really
sluggish, and extremely nauseous. Our boat is definitely in motion.
Finally, a little before 10, Alyx decided she wanted to go to Kids
Korner. None of our stomachs was up to food, so the kids took
Dramamine then Alyx ran up to the Kids Korner, and I left the room a
few minutes later with Trevor, so the room steward could come in and
make up beds. Our first stop was a quick walk outside on deck 7 – I
thought the fresh air would help us get over the major nauseous
feelings we had. It helped, but Trevor didn't like the cold wind, so
we went inside halfway around the ship. Then we stopped and got our
photo from yesterday – the photographer from the cruise ship was
taking pictures at the first corner in the sled ride, and I knew it
would be a good photo. It was, and even though it was $7.50, I got
it. We brought it up to the Kids Korner to show Alyx and the
counselors.

We went to the medical center later in the afternoon to have Alyx's
ears checked. They did finally pop last night, from the trip up the
mountain yesterday, but she said they were still bothering her. It's
not an ear infection, but the doctor said she had some fluid build-
up, and she'd feel better, especially on the plane on the way home,
if we dried up the fluid, so he gave us some decongestant – Sudafed.
Then we came back to the room and watched a National Geographic
special on Superliners, showing cruise ships dating back to the
1920s. It was done in 1980, before the revival of the cruise
industry, so the entire tone of the special was that we were looking
at a bygone era. Not true – the ships being built today are larger
than those built in the past, and the entire industry is growing
every year. The show "The Love Boat," from the late 1970s, is
credited with reviving the entire industry.

We didn't want to go to dinner tonight, as it was Semi-Formal, and
not one thing on the menu appealed to me. So, around 6:45, we went
up to the 12th deck Sports Bar and Grill for dinner. We had hot dogs
and pizza.

The motion of the ship has been up and down all day – literally. At
times it's like it was last night and this morning – rolling a lot.
At times it was rainy and overcast, cold and a little windy, but the
waves were calmer. It's now almost 8:30, and it's rolling quite a
bit again. We'll all take dramamine before we go to bed tonight.
Tomorrow we'll get off the ship as early as we can, and Vic will have
taken a taxi to the port and be waiting for us. He'll bring his
suitcase on board, and then we'll all go into town exploring. If the
weather is like it was today, I don't know how long we'll be
interested in exploring – highs in the 60s, cold, windy, rainy.
Tomorrow night we have to set our clocks ahead one more hour – the
last time change. We'll be at Vigo at noon the next day – nice
change, as we don't have to get up so early to get off the ship.
Vic is in Lisbon – he arrived this morning at 6:45 a.m. our time. He
was scheduled to check into the Tivoli Lisboa Hotel, at Ave de
Liberdade 185. I made the reservation through Microsoft Expedia, on-
line. We didn't know if they would let him in early, or if he'd have
to drop his bags off at the hotel and wander around until check-in
time. Considering the fact that to him it would be 1:45 a.m. when he
arrived, he was definitely hoping for an early check-in.

I reorganized our things tonight, to try and make room for Vic's
things. I put all the shorts and clothes for warm weather in one of
the suitcases under the bed, and managed to clear 2 entire shelves!
I hope that's enough.

Wednesday, April 28, 1999

LISBON, PORTUGAL – By the river Tagus lies Portugal's beautiful
capital Lisbon. This city has been a cultural center since its
origin, and today Lisbon proudly presents itself as a modern city
with a large touch of ancient history. An earthquake greatly damaged
the city in 1755, and Lisbon has since then been through radical
changes. Particularly charming are the areas of Alfama and Bairro
Alto, with their narrow, twisting streets, attracting artists,
painters and poets, as well as visitors from all over the world.
The origins of Lisbon are unknown, although it may have been
founded – 1200 BC – by the Phoenicians. Developed by the Romans
during the 3rd century BC as Felicitas Julia, it was captured by the
Germanic invaders in the 5th century AD. In the 8th century the city
was taken by the Moors, who called it Lixbuna and held it until 1147,
when it was taken by the Christian Portuguese coming from the north.
In 1256 the seat of government was transferred here from Coimbra.
Lisbon began to grow significantly with the discovery of the sea
route to India and the development of oceanic trade. It became one
of Europe's leading cities and the chief port serving the vast
Portuguese empire. The city declined, however, during the period of
Spanish rule, 1580-1640, over Portugal. During the Napoleonic Wars,
Lisbon was occupied by France, 1807-08, and Britain, 1808-20.

Another rough night – a lot of rolling around in bed. The phone woke
us at 7 – the wake-up call I had placed last night. I could see us
passing land on the port side – the side our window is on. I took a
shower, and woke the kids when I came out. Alyx had been asking me
to wake her at 7, as she wanted to see us pull into port, but I had a
hard time waking her at 7:30. We dressed quickly in the warm clothes
I had laid out last night, and went up to the 9th deck for the buffet
breakfast. From our table, we could see the dock area where
passengers get off and on the ship, and couldn't see Dad yet… we went
downstairs, and ended up waiting until past 8:30, due to some
confusion. There are two places in Lisbon the cruise ships can come
in – the port on the northwest side, where most cruise ships pull in
could be seen while we were pulling in, and the captain said there
were 2 in port now. Then there's the other port area, near the train
station, in the Santa Apollonia area. That's where we docked… but
not where Vic first went. He got in his taxi early enough to be at
the dock waiting at 8 a.m., but the taxi driver went first to the
other cruise ships, then had to come back across town in rush hour
traffic to get to ours.

Vic spent the night in a nice hotel on the main shopping street,
similar to the Champs de Elysees in Paris. He had arrived very early
yesterday morning quite tired, and luckily the hotel let him check in
when he arrived. After a shower and a nap, he wandered around a
little while in the rain, bought some postcards and stamps, and
mailed them. Dinner was a buffet at the hotel, and after dinner, he
went to sleep for the night, trying to adjust to the new time. He
was actually looking out the window when our ship pulled in the
harbor, and he saw us!

Anyway, we brought the bags onto the ship and left them in our room,
We were surprised – they looked at our 3 boarding passes, looked at
Vic's customs form, and let him board – no passport, no ticket,
nothing else! He didn't even keep a copy of the form! I guess we
could have sneaked anyone on board. Then we brought him up to the
9th deck to grab some coffee, and eggs. We stopped at Reception on
deck 7 to show his passport and get a blue boarding card, although he
only needed the boarding card they gave him when we left the ship.
Then we went exploring!

We caught a cab right off the ship to the St. George's Castle –
Castelo de Sao Jorge. It was up on the hillside above the city,
although right in the heart of the city. The castle was constructed
by the Visigoths in the 5th century, the Moors in the 9th century,
and then modified during the reign of Alfonso I. It has since been
turned into a flower garden. The views of the city from up there
were beautiful!

Then we got the kids some ice cream, and walked down to the Lisbon
Cathedral, which was very large and pretty.
From there, we caught a cab to Jeronimo's Monastery, a 16th century
masterpiece and one of the architectural highlights of the city,
built to celebrate the return of Vasco de Gama's discoveries. Across
the street, we could see the unusual architecture in the Monument to
the Discoveries, which was erected in 1960 beside the Tagus River on
the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the Navigator.
Earlier in the day, Trevor had seen the trams, which look like old
cable cars, and wanted to ride them. So we took a taxi to the area
where, according to Vic's map, there was a tourist information
booth. We couldn't find the information, but we found a McDonald's,
and the kids were thrilled to have "normal" food for lunch –
cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets. The shake machine was broken, but
otherwise it tasted pretty much the same as home. Cost was about the
same too, which is surprising – in Paris and Hawaii, it was twice the
price. We also got directions to a booth where we could purchase the
tickets for the tram, figuring we'd ride a few stops, get on another
one going back in the other direction, and then take a taxi to the
ship.

While Vic was waiting in line for the tickets, I took Alyx across the
street to a square with thousands of pigeons. An old woman was
selling dried corn kernels by the bag, and I bought one for $1. The
pigeons were literally eating out of Alyx's hand! Mine too, until I
kept my fist clenched. They were climbing up her arm, landing on her
shoulder, and even on her head! She was in heaven – she said if she
lived in Lisbon, she would visit the square every single day.
It was a little confusing figuring out why we couldn't get on the
first few trams – we think they were ending their route and not
taking any more passengers. Finally, we got on a tram and rode for a
while. Then we got off to catch a tram going back to where we had
gotten on. A bus came by, which Trevor had wanted to ride earlier –
a double-long, nice new style bus – but didn't work. Anyway, I
looked at the map and saw that the bus, #28, looked like it was going
past the port where our ship was docked, so we hopped on that
instead. Sure enough, it dropped us off right at the ship. Worked
out great! We got back on board around 2:15 p.m.

We came back to the cabin and Vic unpacked and put his things away.
We timed the return to the ship perfectly again – just like in
Madeira, shortly after we got back on board, it turned cloudy.
Unlike Madeira, it then rained very hard, and there was even thunder
and lightning. By 3 p.m. when I walked Vic up to the spa, we took
the indoor route so as not to get wet. It's a little after 4:30 now –
we all had to be back on board by 4:30 – and the sun is just
starting to peek out again. It will be pretty weather in which to
leave the port. We actually travel a short way on the Tagus River to
get back out to the ocean.

Evidently, the area we were in yesterday is notorious for bad weather
and rough seas – it's where the water from the Mediterranean comes
past Gibraltar – the north tip of Africa – and goes out to the
Atlantic. The water should be relatively calm the rest of the trip.
Uh, correction – the captain just came over the PA system and said
that we would have some choppy waters tonight. We all just took our
dramamine just in case. The weather tomorrow will be the same as
today – high near 70. We were also warned the water would be as
rough when we cross from Vigo to Dover. Vic says he joined the
cruise at the wrong time!

We pulled out of Lisbon at around 5:45. There is a beautiful
suspension bridge under which we had to pass to get back to the
ocean, and we went up onto deck 12 to watch… then we went down to
dinner. Trevor seemed a little tired this afternoon, but at dinner,
he put his head on his hands and fell asleep! Luckily it was after
the soup course, but he slept right through dinner, so we brought his
peanut butter and jelly sandwich back down with us. When we left the
dining room, Vic carried Trevor out. I said something to our waiter
tonight about the last time change, and he corrected me by saying
that after we leave France, we will again set our clocks back one
hour, as England is on daylight savings time. So, in a few days,
we'll be back on the clock we're on today. Confusing, eh?

Thursday, April 29, 1999

VIGO, SPAIN. Vigo, the most important fishing port in Spain, is also
a large industrial city due to its role as a foreign-trade zone –
canning, shipbuilding, metallurgy, and engineering. Vigo dates back
to Roman times. From the 16th to 18th century, its active commercial
trade with North America – authorized by Charles V in 1529 –
attracted English and Turkish corsairs to its waters. In 1589, Drake
had attacked the harbor and sacked the town. In the 19th century,
modern Vigo was born, rapidly becoming with Corunna one of the
largest cities in Galicia.

Vigo's setting is outstanding both for beauty and its
maritime advantages. The old town and fishermen's quarters are
unusual; the Alcabre, Sami and Canido sand beaches, south of the town
are very popular. The entrance to the port is through the beautiful
Ria, well worth being on deck to admire.

Today we were rather lazy. With the time change, we didn't wake
until nearly 10:30 this morning. By the time we got up, watched us
come into port, took showers and dressed, we missed breakfast
entirely. We finally got upstairs for lunch around noon – we ate in
the Terraces on deck 9, as it was open seating. Then we went into
Vigo – weather was about the same as yesterday, in the high 60s, and
it felt warmer when we were in the sun, which wasn't often. Our
first stop was to exchange some money, as we had not done that on
board prior to the credit office closing at noon. We stopped in the
Tourism Office to ask, and they referred us to the main street just
past the port building, where there were 3 locations at which we
could exchange money. We also asked about going to Bayona, where the
replica of Christopher Columbus' ship the Pinta could be visited.
She said it was 25 km, and was not sure of the cost. Then we
exchanged money at the bank – the exchange rate is 150 pesetas per
dollar, and we exchange the 6500 Portuguese escudos – worth about
$36 – and $100 American, for a total of 20,000 pesetas. Sounds like
a lot, doesn't it?

Our next challenge was finding a taxi, which we did after about 10
minutes. We asked to be taken to the Castillo del Castro, a castle
ruin on the top of a large hill downtown, which is now a park. There
were pretty views from up there – and nice and peaceful. We walked
around there for a little while, letting the kids lead us. Then we
took another taxi down to the old part of town, as we wanted to visit
the Church of Saint Mary, but it was closed. Actually, by this time,
nearly all the shops downtown were closed – from 1:30 to 4:30 for
siesta. With all the shops closed and not much else to do, we
wandered the streets a little bit.

As we rounded one corner, there was an outdoor cafι, and two of
Alyx's friends from on board the ship were there with their family.
We sat down and ordered 2 hot chocolates, 1 hot croissant with
strawberry – not sure in Spanish what else he said about that, but I
got caliente, for hot, and frescia, for strawberry – and Vic ordered
a "white" coffee – with milk. Right next to us was a shop that sells
ice cream, so we bought ice creams for the kids, including Alyx's
friends, as her family hadn't exchanged money and weren't able to get
them. They chose ice creams that came in plastic containers shaped
like a toucan and a bird with wild pink hair, so they'd have
something to keep. The hot chocolate was incredible – it tasted like
rich chocolate, maybe pudding or a godiva chocolate bar – melted and
slightly thinner, though not much. I drank mine and Alyx's, because
she didn't care for the richness of it. Lucky for me! The croissant
was toasted, and came with strawberry jelly, which was actually quite
good, and we ordered another. Altogether, including tip, we spent
about $17.

From there, we walked toward the ship. One shop was open for
postcards, so we stopped. We were back on the ship around 4, and
came back to the room. Then we went to dinner, which was Spanish
Dinner tonight.

A sad event tonight – they dropped off the luggage tags for when we
leave the ship. I'm surprised they did it on Thursday night, when we
don't depart until Monday morning. Just a little reminder that our
cruise is almost over…

We've been going to bed late at night and waking up late… the time
change has been really tough on us. Of course what's happening this
minute doesn't help – it's 9:00 p.m., and the sun is shining
brightly. For some reason, the sunset is 9:31 tonight, and sunrise
is 7:38 a.m. So we've been letting the kids stay up until Kids
Korner is over at 10, and then getting ready for bed, going to sleep
usually after 11. We have only made it to sit-down breakfast a few
times on this cruise… but other than the difficulties on the days
we're in port, I'm not too concerned… the time doesn't matter much.
On Monday, though, we have to leave the ship to catch our
transportation to London at 8:00 a.m., so that will be an early day…

I had been having some second thoughts about our plans to leave
London. Originally, I had said I wanted to spend 3 days there, so
since we're arriving Monday morning, I booked us to leave on Thursday
morning. Vic, however, wanted to take as little time off as
possible, so since it would be difficult to leave the day after we
arrive in London, I booked his flight out for the day after that.
But the big picture is that he is leaving Wednesday afternoon and I'm
leaving to fly alone with the kids on a very long flight the
following morning. We discussed whether or not to change my flight –
since mine is frequent flier, it's easier to change than his ticket,
which was purchased – but in the end, I guess it's okay the way it is.

I wonder is if the kids would have appreciated the cities we visited
more if we they were older. They were a little bored with the one
tour we took, and we never spent more than a few hours in the city
before they were anxious to get back on board the ship. We have
discussed possibly taking a Jerusalem/Egyptian Pyramid cruise, but I
think the kids would have to be much older to really appreciate it,
and partake in the long "field trips" that such a trip would
involve. But I have fallen in love with the life on the ship – the
rolling motion, the excellent service, the relaxation…. I would do it
again in an instant.Another late night… to bed after 11…

Friday, April 30, 1999

We slept late again! It was rainy and overcast this morning, so they
closed the buffet on the 9th deck, and Vic had to go to the Sports
Bar on the 12th deck, along with what seemed like half the ship. He
just got through the line and had a tray full of food that he
temporarily left to get something he had already passed…. When he
came back to get the tray, it was gone – cleaned up already! So he
had to do it all over again! The kids ate quickly when he came back –
Frosted Flakes, banana, yogurt – then ran to Kids Korner around
10:45. When the kids came back, Vic took them swimming. The rain
had cleared, and it was still chilly, but they went into the heated
pool and then the hot tub. I joined them up there wearing a jacket
that I had gone back to the room to get. After swimming, we played
shuffleboard – the kids won 21 to 20. Then they were hungry again,
so we went to the lunch buffet on the 9th deck – which was open now –
and had pizza and butterfly pasta with alfredo sauce.

After a while, it was time for Kids Korner again, at 2:30. Vic and I
dropped them off there, then Vic wanted to try the Casino. No one
was playing craps, so we bought $20 in quarters, and each played the
slot machines. Vic was doing really well until I ran out of money
and used up all his. Then they announced that it was almost 3:00,
and they were having Jackpot Bingo, plus chances to win a free cruise
for 2. I played 6 cards, and had fun, even though I didn't win
anything. The final game was a Jackpot, with the winner getting the
$2,600 jackpot, so Vic bought me a second group of 6 cards, and then
left me to play all 12. We also had 12 chances for the free cruise,
but didn't win it. Didn't really expect to, but it would have been
nice. I should have played Bingo the other times they had it – I
enjoyed it. There's another game on Sunday, and someone will
definitely win the Jackpot then, so I will probably play.

It feels like the cruise ship is kicking us off already, even though
we still have 2 full days and 3 nights. First it was the luggage
tags on the bed last night, and the embarkation talk scheduled for
this morning – which we didn't attend. This morning they slipped the
bill under the door.

Anyway, tonight was the Captain's Farewell Party and Farewell Dinner –
again, I don't know why they are acting like we don't have 2 more
nights after tonight! It was formal, so we had our portraits taken,
went to a party in the Stardust Lounge, and then had dinner. The
meal that almost everyone ordered was the lobster, and the kids
enjoyed the waiters dancing while bringing out the Baked Alaska for
dessert.

Saturday, May 1, 1999

LA ROCHELLE, FRANCE – Halfway between Les Sables d'Olonne and Royan
is La Rochelle, one of the most important trading and fishing ports
on the Atlantic coast. A lively little town, La Rochelle has
something for everyone – a beautiful beach runs down to the Parc
Charruyer, through which meanders a stream which occasionally forms
pools where swans nest, the old harbour is filled with fishing boats
and surrounded by high towers and the quays are lined with shops,
cafes and bars teaming with activity.

La Rochelle is one of the most interesting ports from an
architectural and historical point of view. La Rochelle was once a
great Protestant stronghold until its defeat by Cardinal Richelieu in
the 16th century, the town is a mixture of 14th century stone work
and 16th century wooden houses and markets. To protect the harbour
at night and in times of war, a chain used to be stretched between
two 14th century stone towers at the harbour entrance, la Tour Saint
Nicholas and la Tour de la Chaine, further along the city wall stands
la Tour de la Lanterne. The latter was once used as a prison and a
lighthouse, but now houses a museum. Being the most important
trading port with Canada, the city suffered a great blow when the
French lost Canada to England. The port of La Pallice was
constructed in 1891 and during WWII the Germans built their submarine
bases in this port, these can still be seen today. The town was
heavily bombed by the Allies during WWII, but has been well restored.

What a beautiful, wonderful, fantastic day! We absolutely LOVED La
Rochelle! I wish every town that we stopped in had been like this
one!

Our day started a little early – the kids woke at 7 as we were
pulling into port. They jumped up and looked out the window, and
then climbed back in bed and fell asleep again. By the time Vic ran
upstairs to exchange the rest of the Spanish Pesetas, and some
American money - $150 in total, giving us almost 900 French francs –
we were all at breakfast, at the Sun Terraces restaurant, by 8:45.
After breakfast, we took Alyx to the medical center, where the doctor
confirmed that her pierced ears were infected, and gave her some
antibiotic pills and ointment. He also said the fluid in her ears
had cleared up nicely, but since we'd be flying at the end of the
week, it was safer to continue giving her the decongestant.
We left the ship around 9:45 – we were going to catch the shuttle,
which was $10 per person round-trip, but decided a taxi was just as
cheap, and would take us directly where we wanted to go first – the
Aquarium. When we got off the ship, the was a tent set up with maps,
souvenir coins, free postcards, and information on local attractions –
our first sign that this was the first tourist-friendly city we had
visited yet. Vic had been told the weather would be overcast, a high
of 56 today… but it seemed warm when we went out, so we had on shirts
and sweaters, but no coats.

We really enjoyed the aquarium – it was small, but very well done.
We saw lionfish, rays, crabs, ribbon eels, sea anemones, sea urchins,
and many, many other fish. Then there was a glass tunnel that led to
a big round aquarium in which there were sharks, sea turtles, and
sawfish. The glass above us gave us a great view! Then there was a
small green room, in which there were turtles.

Then we went outside to have some ice cream and kill some time until
the taxi driver returned for us at 11:30. Alyx had strawberry
sherbet, and Trevor had a chocolate sundae cone. While the kids were
eating, a van pulled up in the small circle in front of the aquarium,
and brought out four robot-looking machines. For 10 francs each –
about $1.65 – the kids drove these things around the circle for about
5 minutes – they didn't go very fast, but the kids loved steering
them around in circles and almost running into things. They loved
them. They each rode their own once, and then they shared another 5-
minute ride just as the taxi driver came back.

We had him take us then to the Natural History Museum, where there
were supposedly mineralogy, paleontology, and other natural exhibits,
but when we arrived, we found out it didn't open until 2 p.m. The
taxi driver had already left us, so we walked through the town. Most
of the shops were closed – hard to tell if it was because today is a
holiday here, May 1st, also known as May Day in Europe, or because it
was "lunch time," when all the shops are closed from 12-2 anyway.
First we came upon a beautiful old church, parts of which dated back
to the 12th century. The paintings, sculptures, woodwork, stone
work…. absolutely incredible. The most amazing part is that it was
all hand done, of course, and it took centuries to build. Vic and I
were discussing it at another church the other day… today we consider
it a long time if it takes 5 years to build something. Back then,
the people who started the church would never see it completed in
their lifetime, nor would their children, or likely their children –
it could take 5 generations to see a church completed. And they
spent their whole lives working on something they would never see
done.

After the church, we walked into a town square, and found the
farmers' market! What fun! We saw all kinds of fresh fruit and
vegetables – bought some strawberries. Then we saw all kinds of
fish – whole fish, crabs, shrimp, oysters – we bought some shrimp.
We saw bread stands, pastry stands, flower stands, and egg stands –
Alyx saw some chicken, duck, and goose eggs. There was also a
building that had more stands, and there we saw fresh dairy products,
including lots of cheeses, meats, more fish, more pastries… it was
such fun to look at!

As we continued through the city streets, we found a sidewalk cafι,
and sat down for lunch. Vic and I split an American burger, Trevor
had chicken nuggets, and Alyx didn't eat anything. I also had a
salad, which was very good. Then we went into the harbor area, and
saw a lot of craft items for sale. Alyx was particularly intrigued
with the jewelry made from pieces of glass around which wires were
wrapped to create jewelry. We took pictures so she could make her
own at home. There were also some nice paintings on display.
Then we went to the two towers that used to protect the harbor. We
walked along the stone wall, overlooking the harbor, which was very
picturesque. The kids and Vic had already taken off their sweaters,
because it had become quite warm, but I was wearing a turtleneck
shirt under my sweater. I took my short-sleeve shirt that Vic had
carried in the backpack, and went to the public restroom to change.
The cost was 1.50 francs, or about 25’. Then we came across the
public beach, where people were sunbathing, swimming, and flying
kites. As we continued along the wall, it ended at the street – Vic
was guiding us by a map we got as we came off the ship – and we were
in a beautiful park. Right at the beginning of the park was a
small "zoo," where we saw ducks, swans, and other birds, deer,
peacocks, and small horses. Alyx even saw a duck egg at the bottom
of a tree, and would have stayed there all day just looking at it, if
she couldn't take it home with her, that is. There were also the
cutest "bicycles" that the kids rode. They looked like a jockey cart
and horse, like at the flat track, but they were powered by pedals
and wheels. The kids hung onto the reins to pull the wheels and
steer, and they rode along a straight long oval-shaped path. Trevor
loved it! He was a bit of a crazy driver, of course. Alyx had a lot
of fun too…

Then we walked through the rest of the park – quite a long distance.
Along the canal, over hills covered with tiny white and yellow
daisies, under bridges… it was a beautiful walk. Then Vic led us to
a hotel, where they called for a taxi for us. While we were waiting,
Vic ordered a "lemonade," which turned out to be a 7-Up type drink
with lemons in it, and chocolate milk for Trevor. It was about 4:45,
and we had to be back on the ship at 5:30 for the 6:00 sailing. We
filled out our postcards very quickly, and Vic brought them up to
mail. He got there about 5:30, and they sold him the stamps, but
said it was too late to mail them from there. Vic ran back down to
our deck, 6, where the gangway was today, and found someone there, an
officer of some sort, that was willing to take them and mail them for
us.

Vic and the kids were rather warm, so they all dressed in their
bathing suits, and ran upstairs to swim. I didn't go, because they
didn't leave until almost 5:30, and we had to be dressed and to
dinner by 6. So I stayed and got myself dressed, and pulled out the
kids' clothes, so that we could move quickly once they got back.
At 6:00, we pulled out of port. They must not get many cruise ships –
it was the first time Norwegian Cruise Lines sailed into this port.
The tent that the Chamber of Commerce had at the ship when we got off
was very generous, and the people in town were genuinely friendly.
We had to pull into a fishing port, quite a way out of town, and to
pull the gangway up, they used a container crane. When we left,
there were easily a couple hundred people from town who had come down
to the port to watch us leave. They were kept back behind gates
until we were actually not connected to the port any longer, then
they streamed up to the edge of the dock to wave good-bye. A
tugboat, police boat, and quite a few pleasure boats also came
alongside to say good-bye. A wonderful day!

Vic and the kids came down a few minutes after 6, and we hurriedly
got them changed. The dress code tonight was "smart casual" – pant
suits or dresses for the ladies, sports jacket for the men. Trevor
wore a Nautica shirt and tan pants, Alyx wore her favorite white lace
dress again, I wore a blouse and black pants, and Vic wore a nice
casual shirt and pants – he didn't want to get dressed up. And most
of the men in the restaurant weren't dressed up anyway. It was
International Night, and there were a variety of menu options from
different countries. I chose the German vegetable beef soup, and the
French Duck a l'orange. We didn't have dessert, because tonight is
another chocolate buffet at 11:30 p.m., and Alyx wants us to go.
We set our clocks ahead tonight – maybe we'll actually make it to the
interdenominational church service tomorrow. Even if the kids don't
get up, they can stay with Vic and I'll go anyway. I really want to
go.

I can't believe it – our last day tomorrow! I can't believe how sad
I am to have the cruise end! You'd think I'd be anxious to get off
after 2 weeks on board! But we're definitely hooked – we'll be
keeping an eye on internet websites for cruise deals from now on.
With our ability to travel at the last minute, we should be able to
find deals like this one.

After dinner, we stopped at the photo shop, and bought one of the
pictures from dinner last night – the formal picture won't be done
until tomorrow. We also bought a book of photos of the cruise – the
ship itself, the restaurants and lounges… but most interestingly, the
pictures of the ship during its renovation, when they cut the ship in
half and added 130 feet to the center of the ship. It looks to Vic
and I that they added the area in the middle where the Four Seasons
restaurant is on the 9th deck, which would also be where the
reception area is on the 7th deck, the casino on the 10th deck, and
the hot tubs, wet bar and ice cream parlor on the 11th deck. They
did the same thing with the sister ship, the Norwegian Wind, so the
pictures show the before and after – the two ships next to each
other, one already having been expanded and one not, so you can see
easily where the center went in. You can also see the 3 pieces
floating independently in the water – great pictures.

Kids Korner ended at 10, and we went up to the Chocoholic Buffet
around 11:30. It was better this time, I think – there was more
there I liked. Either that or I took more, knowing I wouldn't like
everything, so I could try a lot of different things. There was a
coconut cake with chocolate that was very good, and a chocolate cake
too… but the rest were okay. Vic and Trevor even managed to stay up
for it.

Sunday, May 2, 1999

Kids Korner started at 10, but they didn't make it there until after
10:30 a.m. I went to play Bingo at 10:30, so I left them with Daddy
to dress. There was a jackpot round worth over $3500, so I thought
I'd give it a try. I didn't win, of course.
In the afternoon, we went photo gallery on deck 10, where they had
our formal pictures from last night. We chose one 8x10, although
there were a few I would have liked – Trevor looked so cute in all of
them!

There has been a map on the wall outside the elevator on deck 9 aft
all through the cruise, showing our path of crossing. It has been
replaced by a map of the British Isles and France, showing the cities
they will be visiting next. They go back to La Rochelle, Bordeaux,
then north in the British Isles, then back down to Cherbourg and Le
Havre – Paris – France. I think it's a 10-day cruise. What I
wouldn't give to stay on board! The one thing that has been
difficult on the cruise, however, is the space. It's hard to find
things anymore, because things are piled on top of each other, hidden
under the bed…

And now, the time I have been dreading – packing. I started packing
before dinner, but wasn't done before 6, so we left the suitcases on
the bed and went upstairs. Last dinner – tip night. We gave out the
envelopes to everyone… I finished packing just about 9, which was
when Kids Korner ended tonight. I went up and got the kids, so I
could give Clint and Lisa a little token of our appreciation. Then
we went to sleep, knowing we'd have an early morning tomorrow.
The distance from La Rochelle to Dover is actually not that long, so
we have been going very slowly all day. The weather was chilly, and
the fog was incredible. When I was in the Observatory Lounge for the
church service this morning, the fog was so dense I couldn't see what
was beyond the front of the ship. Anyway, since we're going so
slowly, there isn't much "rocking" motion – I really miss the feeling
of being rocked to sleep.

Monday, May 3, 1999

Good-bye Norwegian Dream!

We woke early…. I had set a wake-up call for 6:15, but they started
ship-wide announcements of the transfer departures at 6, and since it
was broadcast in all the cabins, I guess that's what time everyone
woke up. We got up, showered, packed the rest of our things into the
overnight bag we had kept, and went up for breakfast. We thought
there was a buffet in the Four Seasons again, but there wasn't, so we
went up to the Sun Terrace, our usual restaurant, for breakfast.
They even let us sit at our usual table, #30, with our own server.
Just as we were leaving the restaurant, we heard an announcement for
a group of transfers. It was almost 7:55, and ours was due to be
announced at 8. We walked outside on the 11th deck and over to the
Owners Suites, where Vic asked if we could look at one. There was
one already vacated and clean, so we got to look – very nice! When
you walk in, there is a LARGE closet on the right, and then the
sitting room is straight ahead, with lots of windows. I mean, it's
still small spaces, but definitely larger than ours. There was a
small couch, table, chair, TV and stereo. On the left was the
entrance to the bedroom and then around again to the bathroom, which
then led to the entrance again. I think they cost about double what
our cabin cost.

Anyway, we went from there back to our cabin to wait for the
announcement for Dark Blue, the transportation to Victoria Station,
the nearest location they were transporting people to in London by
our hotel. When we got into the room, at about 8:08, I called
Reception, just to make sure that the announcement they made 15
minutes before wasn't for Dark Blue. Reception said no, dark blue
had not yet been called. We were surprised, as we were supposed to
be called at 8, so we waited. Around 8:12, we heard an
announcement, "Last call for those holding Dark Blue tags." We ran
quickly down the hall – luckily they were departing from our deck –
and found out we were the last ones to leave the ship for dark blue.
Everyone else was already on the bus, having had their passports
stamped, gone down the long, long, long gangway, claimed their
luggage, and gotten on board the bus. So, we managed to run through
most of that – it was easy to find our bags since they were the only
ones sitting there… they had to squeeze our bags in because we had a
lot and the baggage areas had already been filled, and got quickly
onto the bus. It wasn't until the bus pulled out that Vic realized
he hadn't tipped the porter because of all the confusion – we felt
bad.

I thought I had been told at one point that it was a one-hour bus
ride to Victoria Station, but the bus driver told us almost 2 hours.
Vic's cold by now was really bad, so he fell asleep pretty quickly.
It took a little under 2 hours, and we drove through beautiful
countryside. There were a lot of fields that were covered with some
sort of yellow flower that was very colorful.

I was surprised there were no highways or express way into the city,
but we drove for quite some time through downtown to get to Victoria
Station. There we gathered up all our bags from off 2 different
buses, and Vic found us a cab. Of course, we had been assured by the
cruise line that we could exchange money in town, as their desk had
run out of British Pounds, but since we were getting right into the
cab, we weren't sure how to pay for it. The driver said he didn't
take dollars, but Vic said he'd run into the hotel and exchange some
money, then run out and pay the cab, and the driver said that was
fine. The cab was large – the driver in the front, on the right side
of course. Behind him there is a wall with windows, and then a lot
of floor space, and a small chair that folds down. The bench is in
the back, and a small trunk. We put some bags in the front left,
some on the floor in front of us, some in the trunk, and Trevor sat
on my lap. I thought we might have to take two taxis, but we did it!
Our hotel is the Royal Garden Hotel, on Kensington High Street, in
the Kensington area of London, the far west. It overlooks Kensington
Gardens, which used to be part of Kensington Palace, where royals,
including Princess Margaret, have apartments and currently reside.
It was 11 a.m. when we arrived at the hotel, and we were pleasantly
surprised to be able to check-in right away. Our room is #415, at
the end of the hallway, overlooking the park and Kensington Palace.
I had seen pictures in their brochure, in the Disney Vacation Club
information – since we used our Disney Vacation Club points to stay
here, we booked it through them – and on the Internet, and the rooms
looked very small. I warned Vic that the room would be small, in
fact I wasn't sure where we would put all the suitcases, and maybe we
could leave the ones we wouldn't need in London in some type of
storage. Disney Vacation Club told me that they wouldn't book more
than 3 people in the room, so they had advised me to book 2 rooms. I
didn't want to pay that much, so we agreed we'd fit into the one room
somehow. Besides, it had to be bigger than the cabin on the ship
that we'd just spent 2 weeks in, right?

We were very pleased when we opened the door and discovered a much
bigger room than we expected. On the right is a closet, big enough
to hold all our luggage. The bathroom is on the left. Straight
ahead is the main room, with a couch and chair on the left, and 2
twin beds, a desk, and dresser on the right. Definitely bigger than
our cabin! And we overlook the park!

The kids weren't anxious to leave again yet, so we hung out in the
room for a short time – I unpacked, the kids played with their toys
and checked out the TV. Then we went out to explore, see some
sights, and have lunch. We walked out of the hotel – dressed warmly,
as we were told to expect highs of around 61, and headed toward the
nearest Underground, or subway, station. As we walked along the
streets, we realized it was already past 61, and we all took off our
jackets. By the end of the day, it had to have hit a high in the mid
70s – we were warm!

As we walked along the streets, we saw a lot of store names familiar
to us – Laura Ashley, Levi, etc. We passed a camera store and went
in to get camera batteries – and walked out about $40 poorer, just
for 2 batteries. We were almost to the underground station when we
passed a McDonald's. Everyone was hungry, and it was certainly the
easiest thing in site, so we decided to eat there. We ordered our
food and ate in their dining room in the basement.

The entrance to the underground was through a small shopping area,
and we were passing a pharmacy, so Vic went in to get some cold
medicine. Then we bought our one-day tickets for the underground,
and went on. We took the train one stop, then transferred to another
train for 6 stops, and got off close to the British Museum. Alyx was
really looking forward to it – they had quite a collection of
mummies, including one of a cat. We had to walk a few blocks, and
stopped in a gift shop on the way. Alyx got a key chain that
says "London," Trevor got a key chain of a double-decker bus, and I
got a bunch of postcards. They were funny postcards – one showed
small pictures of a bunch of famous London sites, and appeared to
have written on them notes from us from our trip, like "got arrested
here" at the photo of the changing of the guards at Buckingham
Palace, etc. The other postcard was a photo of Buckingham Palace,
and again writing saying "My hotel room is here." Vic sent a bunch
of those to people at work.

We walked into the Museum, and there was a sign saying that the mummy
collection was closed because of construction and expansion in that
area. Alyx almost cried – she had been so excited. But we went up
to the Egyptian area anyway, and saw a number of statues,
sarcophaguses, weapons, jewelry, and hieroglyphics. We could see the
area where the Egyptian Mummies were – they had curtains across the
entrance to the room. Vic put Alyx on his shoulders, and she could
look over the curtains and see the mummies – she took pictures too.
She felt better.

We went from there into the early Roman-Britain area, and saw
the "Lindow Man" – a 25-year-old man who had been killed apparently
in a religious ceremony, probably Druid, over 3,000 years ago, had
then been dumped into a bog. The chemicals and lack of sunlight had
preserved his body, and 15 years ago his foot was found in the bog.
Archaeologists were called in to excavate, and they found the upper
torso, including head, chest and arms, intact. You could still see
the hair on the top of his head and face, where he had a beard and
mustache, but the chemicals in the bog had bleached it. The skin
looked almost leather-like in color and texture. Alyx had read about
him in some of her Mummy books when we did the unit study on Mummies
last year.

Then we went down the stairs, heading to the section on Egyptian
sculpture, but Alyx sidetracked us and led us into the Oriental
Collection. I told her some of the history of China, and related
things there to things I had seen while in China in 1982. Then we
went to the Egyptian Sculpture area, where we saw more sarcophaguses,
and a large statue of Ramses II. We talked about what happened to
end the reign of the Pharaohs in Egypt, and how civilizations end and
change and evolve.

The kids were tired from walking, so we went outside and got some
lemonade, or lemon squash, and sat down for a few minutes. Then we
walked back to the underground and rode back to the area of our
hotel. We stopped at a little shop and picked up some drinks, and
Vic picked up a menu from a Chinese restaurant, which we later
ordered from, and Vic went to pick up. We ate the Chinese food in
our room – it was good, even though their selections and names are a
little different from home. For example, they didn't have lo mein,
so I ordered fried noodles, thinking they were probably the same.
They were similar, but much thinner and not as soft. Actually, the
kids liked them better! The chickens with vegetables in white sauce
was really good, especially the broccoli which even Alyx loved, but
the portions were really small, so it didn't go far. But the prices
weren't shy - $40 for 3 soups, one small order of chicken with
vegetables, one small order of egg fried rice, and one small order of
fried noodles with bean sprouts. Everything in this city is so
expensive! Even the ride on the subway was $15 for the 4 of us.
We have large windows in the room, and decided to leave the drapes
open so the sun would wake us up.

Tuesday, May 4, 1999

The hotel offers a continental breakfast buffet, and it is free for
two people per room. The cost would have been 13.5 pounds, or $24
per person – ridiculous for cold cereal, juice, pastries and fruit!
It was half that for Alyx, but Trevor got a ham omelet, so his was
$15.75. The service was terrible – the girl kept acting like we were
bothering her. And since it was a buffet, we really weren't asking
for much! Vic didn't leave much of a tip.

Trevor really wanted to ride the double-decker buses today, since we
did the underground yesterday, so we were going to take the bus to
Buckingham Palace, to see the changing of the guard, at 11:30 – it
was 10:30 when we walked out of the hotel. But the greeter at the
door said there was no direct bus, which it would be difficult, so we
decided to go to the Tower of London instead. I got us pretty close
on the bus, and then we took a cab the rest of the way, rather than
figure out another bus, since the maps for that aren't as easy as the
underground maps. Another inexpensive stop - $52 for us to get into
the Tower of London.

The Tower of London included parts of what used to be the royal
castle, quite some time ago. We first visited the area that was the
royal residence of Edward I, in 1300. The first room was left as
they found it, and the other rooms were renovated. It was
interesting to see what they go through to renovate historical
buildings – they use the clues of the buildings themselves, including
the differences in the age of materials in the buildings, plus
artistic information, such as paintings that took place in the
historical location, and comparative information about what other
historical places looked like in the same time period. So the room
that we first saw included portions of the original royal residence
in the 1300s, plus many renovations and improvements, and even
wallpaper on one section of the wall that was only done about 10
years before it became a museum.

Then we went into the White Tower, which at one time was the tallest
structure in London. There were displays of weapons, armor,
paintings, architecture, etc. It was a long, but interesting tour.
Then we went across to the building that holds the Crown Jewels.
There video presentations on the way in, showing the jewels as they
have appeared in various works of art, and the coronation of the
current queen, Queen Elizabeth II. The jewels themselves were
magnificent – they claim that the largest diamond in the world is in
one of the scepters. I thought the largest was the Hope Diamond, in
Washington, but I must be wrong… I'll look it up.

When we went outside, we saw where some of the beheadings took place
in history, and we discussed some of what might lead kings or queens
to be killed. We also discussed the 2 princes who disappeared in the
Tower and were believed to have been killed by their uncle, who later
became King Richard II. Their skeletons were found in the foundation
of the White Tower hundreds of years later.

We left the Tower of London and walked down by the Thames River, to a
restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately the service wasn't any better
there – we ended up complaining to the manager, who in turn tried to
justify all the things the waitress had done. Anyway, the potato
soup was good. I ordered "lemonade" to drink, which turned out to be
the very sweet Sprite – they do have Sprite here, but it is
definitely different, – much sweeter, and lemonier!

After our lunch break, which was longer than we expected, we walked
over the Tower Bridge. It would have been nice to walk on the top,
high part, but you have to climb 300 steps to get there, and Vic,
with his cold, and the kids weren't up to it, so we walked along the
same level as the cars. On the other side, we walked over to the HMS
Belfast, a battleship from WWII that is now a museum. We spent quite
a bit of time exploring and climbing all around the ship. By the
time we were done, it was 4:30, and all the museums were closing for
the day, so we found a taxi to go back to the hotel. On the way, Vic
asked the driver to drive past Big Ben, so we could see it. He
actually stopped on a bridge right next to it, and the kids got out
and Vic took their picture in front of it and the House of Commons.
When we got back to the hotel, we talked about us going back with
Vic, especially now that Trevor's sick, because if he really has what
Vic does, we won't be doing anything tomorrow anyway. We called
Delta and found out we could do it if we wanted to, so we discussed
what we would be missing by going home tomorrow (a day early). What
we had planned on doing was Westminster Abbey, the changing of the
guard at Buckingham Palace, maybe Madam Tussaud's wax museum, and
Harrods. Vic was leaving at 10:30 from the hotel, and everything
closes at 5, so with lunch, we were giving up 5 hours of
sightseeing. And on Thursday, to catch a 10 a.m. flight from
Gatwick, we would have to leave the hotel at 7 a.m. anyway, so it
would have been very difficult. So, we called Delta and changed our
flights.

We are now confirmed to leave tomorrow at 1:35 p.m. from Gatwick,
arriving in Atlanta at 5:35, a 3 hour layover there, and arriving in
Orlando at 9:40 p.m.

I'm sorry that we'll miss some big sights, but I'm not heartbroken.
We've seen a lot of wonderful sights in the last couple weeks, and
I'm positive we'll be back in London at some point. It's such an
expensive city, too, that I feel guilty spending all the money we've
spent – cabs are $20 every time we hop in, even the bus this morning
was $14, and then we paid the cab after that too… I would have liked
to have seen Harrods, but I doubt I would have bought anything. And
I guess after 18 nights away from home so far, I'm kind of anxious to
get back home…

Alyx and Vic went out for a walk, because Alyx wanted to see
Kensington Gardens before she left, as she said it looked like a
pretty park. When they returned from their walk, they brought pizza
with them.

Wednesday, May 5, 1999

After breakfast, we still had some time to kill… the flight is at
1:35 p.m. So we went outside, found it rather chilly and we hadn't
dressed warmly for this travel day, and we got a cab. We figured
we'd check out a bookstore down the street. Then we walked back to
the hotel, got our bags, and caught a cab to Victoria Station.
I guess there is no direct route via roads to Gatwick Airport, so
they have these trains available from Victoria Station that are
express to the airport. They are cheaper than a cab – 28 pounds
instead of 55 – and take 1/3 the time, as the cab would have taken
1.5 hours, we were told. There was someone there to help us get the
bags on the train, we paid by credit card on the train, were served
beverages and snacks –at a cost, of course – and we were there in 30
minutes. When we got off, we had to wait for someone to help with
bags, but then he took us all the way through the terminal to the
Delta counter, where we checked in.

When we were done with all this, it was 11:30. We stopped at a
newsstand and got a magazine and newspaper, so we went into the
international departure area, and had Burger King for lunch – not my
choice.

It was a long flight – 8.5 hours of flying time. I forgot to order
the kids' meals for the flight – I realized that when we checked in
for the flight.

We got home at nearly midnight, or 5 a.m. to us. I was surprised how
odd it felt coming home – like we were gone for a very long time.
The weather is going to be mid-90s today…