Blaney Travel Log: Home again, home again

We’re home.

We had a great time on the cruise and we appreciate those who followed along. I wanted to write about a few things that I really didn’t make time to write about while we were cruising.

Our companions, Curt, Mary, Mike and Suzanne were wonderful. We had virtually all of our meals together, shared most of our shore excursions together and spent plenty of happy hours together and we all got along splendidly.

We are grateful that all the bad things that could have happened, didn’t. Things like losing a passport, missing a bus, forgetting pills or rain gear, bodily injury, illnesses, delayed flights, getting lost, getting pick pocketed, losing a wallet or key or having a phone go dead. Nothing bad happened and we are grateful.

Our days were surely filled but never overwhelming. Each day started out with a wonderful breakfast. Think of a a very nice hotel-type breakfast. There was a buffet but we could also order off the menu. Each morning included a shore excursion. Almost all the excursions included some free time to either shop, have a beer or coffee and time to look a round on our own. Almost all of our excursions were included. We chose 3 excursions that we had to pay for. Lunch was sometimes followed by another excursion. Each afternoon we were offered a coffee/tea and dessert time. These were eventually followed by a one hour happy hour (drinks included in the price of the cruise). After 15 minutes of announcements about upcoming events we had dinner. Each night we were given menus which offered three choices each of appetizers, soups, main courses and deserts. Wine flowed easily at dinner and again the wine was included in the price of the cruise. After dinner there was entertainment in a large lounge type hall. A tour of any kind is a great way to make sure you don’t miss any highlights of the city you’re in. Being on a cruise we were also saved from repacking every day.

While of course we were in tourist areas and normally with a local guide, language was never a problem. Many people spoke English and many of them spoke it well. The few times we had to ask a local person a question or get directions, we got by and they seemed to appreciate any effort we made to use their language. One night our cruise director made this joke.

A man from Switzerland came to the US. He approached two young men and said in German “sprichst du deutsch?” The American men looked at him with blank stares. So the Swiss man tried French, “ parles français?” All he got back from the Americans were more blank stares. Next, the Swiss man tries Italian, “parli italiano?” Finally he tries Dutch, “spreek je Engels?” The Americans just looked at him. The Swiss guy finally gives up and walked away.

As the Swiss fellow walked away one of the Americans looked at his friend and says “maybe we should think about learning a second language.” His friend replies, “why, that guy knew four of them and it didn’t do him any good!’ Everybody laughed but sometimes I think there is some arrogance of showing up in someone else’s country without knowing anything about their language. However, to be clear we could easily get by just using English.

Thanks for reading.

Ken and Cathy

Photo of our ship taken off the internet