We arrived yesterday to the Cook Islands. A very pretty island but small.Rarotonga was first settled by Polynesians, likely from the Society Islands (modern-day Tahiti) around 800–1000 AD. The island became a hub within the vast Polynesian triangle, with strong connections to other Pacific islands. The traditional Māori culture of the Cook Islands, including language,…
Before I get Popeete, I want to tell you about a fun outing we had several days ago. On January 25th there was an unusual planet alignment of 6 planets. The ship had anyone interested go up to the “Retreat” area of the ship, 11th floor forward. They turned off most of the lights on…
I hadn’t planned on blogging during our sea days but in the middle we stopped at a very interesting Island, called Pitcairn. Our day started off with a wonderful sunrise and Nana and I played our daily game of Jubilations (same as horse but with more letters). Jubilations is what we call you (our grandchildren).…
Our first stop on our cruise is Georgetown in the Cayman Islands. The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory, meaning it is under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United Kingdom (UK) but governs itself in most matters. We had to use tenders to go ashore but here they used bigger local boats which…
Our last full day on the ship., It has been a great cruise. We love Holland America. The cruise has been great, the ship reliable, and the friends fantastic. More than 500 vessels go through it every single day to get from the North Sea to the Atlantic and from the United Kingdom to continental…
Another sea day rounding the corner of France getting ready to head up the English Channel. Nana went swimming again in the pool with Wolfgang. The ship was rolling a lot and there were other people in the pool so Nana and Wolfgang did not get too much swimming in. Nana and I took our…
Today we arrived at Northern Spain. Our excursion today took us to Santiago de Compostela. This translates to “James field of stars”. This is where the tomb of St. James, the apostle is buried. The cathedral here was built on the tomb of St. James. We arrived here from Gibraltor and previously the Canary Islands,…
Another relaxing sea day. Nana started her day with a competitive swim with Wolfgang. Nana did bridge both in the morning and afternoon. Papa was the fill in but wasn’t needed so he was able to get a lot of programming done. I heard back from someone at the JMRI (Model Train Program) group who…
Today we were in Gibraltar, this is our second visit to Gibraltar. It has changed so much since our first visit. The city has grown a lot and it seems the war caves have we visited on our first trip have changed a lot to. It looks like they’re adding a lot more displays, but…
Today was a sea day. Very nice and relaxing. We attended the Mariners Award Reception today. Last time we received our Silver Medallion for 300 sea days, this time we watched other people receive their award. It was very interesting. We were told there were 900 4 star and 5 star mariners on the ship…
papa carney 