JAPAN | Sunday, 4 Aug 2019 | Views [274]
KOCHI MAY HAVE THE WORST PORT YET. To make up for its industrial impersonality and isolation, the town provides free shuttle buses for the 12 kilometer trip into town. It is still another mile walk from the shuttle stop through the ... Read more >
JAPAN | Saturday, 3 Aug 2019 | Views [262]
THE PORT AT TAKAMATSU WAS A PLEASANT EXCEPTION. The ferry dock is adjacent to the cruise terminal and the harbor has a park-like feel, with the Takamatsu Castle as a centerpiece. Japan is currently experiencing a heat-wave — like everyplace ... Read more >
JAPAN | Friday, 2 Aug 2019 | Views [167]
CRUISE TRAVEL HAS ONE BIG PROBLEM — PORTS. While some ports-of-call are purpose designed for cruise lines, others are commercial seaports where cruise ships are tolerated. Maasdam, being one of the smaller cruise ships, can dock at ... Read more >
JAPAN | Tuesday, 30 Jul 2019 | Photo Gallery
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JAPAN | Monday, 29 Jul 2019 | Views [216]
FOR NEARLY 36 HOURS WE SLITHERED THROUGH FOG, accompanied every two minutes — as required by maritime law — by a blast on the Maasdam’s horn. Gloomy though it was, Connie completed her daily 6-miles trudge on deck. She ... Read more >
RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Friday, 26 Jul 2019 | Photo Gallery
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RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Friday, 26 Jul 2019 | Views [184]
EVEN OUR “TRAVEL AND CRUISE DIRECTOR, LANCE” — as he refers to himself — found Petropavlovsk a mouthful to pronounce. It begins to make sense when one realizes the city is named for Peter and Paul — not the saints ... Read more >
USA | Wednesday, 24 Jul 2019 | Views [195]
VIETNAM VETERANS OFTEN BEMOAN THE LACK of fanfare upon their return to the “Land of the Big PX.” And I guess I’m no exception. I returned from Vietnam on 24 July 1969, 50 years ago yesterday and, damn it, I deserved a celebratory ... Read more >
USA | Sunday, 21 Jul 2019 | Views [181]
THE BERING SEA WASN’T MUCH ROUGHER than the Gulf of Alaska and Maasdam took it in stride. In order to make our ETA in Nome, 36 hours due north of Dutch Harbor, Captain Jutten upped our speed to 18 knots and, judging by the spray on deck, ... Read more >
USA | Friday, 19 Jul 2019 | Views [192]
AS THE PUFFIN SHUFFLES, IT’S ABOUT 700 MILES from Kodiak to Unalaska and Dutch Harbor, a fishing port best known from the TV show, Deadliest Catch. Wizard, Northwestern and the other crab fishing boats weren’t in when the Maasdam docked ... Read more >
USA | Wednesday, 17 Jul 2019 | Views [228]
A WHILE AFTER WE LEFT SITKA ON MONDAY EVENING, Connie and I watched as the harbor pilot Cirque du Soleil-ed from the Maasdam’s rope ladder onto the launch that would return him to port. His isn’t a job to envy in heavy seas. ... Read more >
USA | Monday, 15 Jul 2019 | Views [235]
WE WERE AWAKENED AT 4AM BY THE BLARING of the Maasdam’s emergency alarm. No, we hadn’t collided with an iceberg Titanic -style, rather a smoke alarm detected an electrical overload. The captain reassured us that the crew had ... Read more >
USA | Sunday, 14 Jul 2019 | Views [228]
THE CAPTAIN DID A WONDERFUL JOB OF PARALLEL parking in Ketchikan, squeezing the Maasdam between the Celebrity and Carnival ships, while another, smaller, cruise ship is anchored offshore. It isn’t yet 8AM and we can see hoards from the ... Read more >
USA | Saturday, 13 Jul 2019 | Photo Gallery
Cruising Alaska, Russia and Japan
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USA | Saturday, 13 Jul 2019 | Views [213]
WE ARE GETTING PRETTY COMFORTABLE USING UBER. As simple as the ap is, it’s still a little foreign to old farts like me. But we successfully took Uber from Seattle’s Union Station to SeaTac, where we rented a car, then drove to ... Read more >
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