Singapore, February 1, 2025, the second leg began, and I became the only Distinctive Host for the 28 people who are staying on to, and past, Hong Kong. I had forgotten that we no longer dock at one of my favorite shopping centres in Singapore. It used to be so great. You could buy all sorts of disposable clothing and watches, and cheap, unique souvenirs, an escalator ride down from the ship. It’s now called Marina Bay Cruise Terminal and is a 10 minute walk and 2 MRT rides to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, with its Casino and mall. That’s it in the distance, taken from the beginning of the mercifully covered walkway.

Once I had invested the walk, I could have gone to Chinatown or little India, the botanical gardens or the Jurong Bird park. Singapore’s MRT is clean and efficient, and goes everywhere, just like Hong Kong’s. But my plan was simpler. I had seen all those places. All I wanted was a pedicure and a Dim Sum lunch.
The mall is one of those top-of-the-line ones, with all the famous name brand stores and hardly any clients. It’s a mystery how they survive, but I guess you only have to sell one or two $5000 purses a day. They are lovely, and the “Crazy Rich Asians” can afford them. I wish I could.
The pedicure was about the same price I pay at home in Cours Mont-Royal, and it was excellent. Din Tai Fung, which is a chain, provided the Dim Sum

And I met this lion dance coming down the escalator:

I tapped my VISA card to ride the MRT again and soon was back on board, delivering my first newsletter of the second leg.
We were at sea the next day. I like my new desk in the Atrium near Guest Services. I had two visits. One couple are spending a long day in Hong Kong, and have hired a car and driver for the whole day. Good plan. I told them how to use it just like we used our driver35 years ago. They could visit HKMOA on the Kowloon side, check out the Avenue of the Stars on the way to the Star Ferry and meet the driver on the HK side. You get the best pictures from the Star Ferry. They could take one or three rides on it and use their cell phone’s text feature to meet their driver. Linda likes gardens and Zoos and, if it’s a nice day, wants to see the view from the Peak. I recommended lunch in the Clipper Lounge, in the Mandarin, and shopping in the Lanes. They will have a wonderful day and sleep well on the plane home.
Stuart Gustafson stopped by, to sign up for dinner on the 7th. It turns out he is “America’s International Travel Expert®” and has spoken on the Main Stages of a lot of ships. I’m guessing that means he’s good, and set him up as a Distinctive Speaker. While I was at it, I booked two time slots in the Hudson room and will see who else we have.
At 6:00, I went up to the Crow’s Nest, as promised, and ended up in the singles’ gathering with two of my people, Elmina Davis and Lorraine Aitkin. They had had dinner at five, so I went to dinner with a couple of other singles and spent some time in Billboard Onboard with pianists Megan and Gabe.
On Monday, February 3, we docked in Koh Samui, Thailand. I have fond memories of a Koh Samui vacation in 1990, with Carolyn Eyster and Theresa Benedek, who visited Hong Kong for a couple of weeks. We rented a hut right on the beach and had a wonderful time. Those were the days. It’s not all that much fun doing beach time when you are alone, and verging on decrepit, so I decided to be a food tourist in town.
We had shore tenders that day and they were pretty elegant, with turned wood and open sides. It was a very pleasant ride. Once on shore, I got a map which indicated where there was a concentration of restaurants, facing the ocean, so I headed there. I walked along the restaurant fronts, taking note of what they were serving, getting some exercise and making my choice. I should have left more time for a massage. That wasn’t so clever, but I had got a good bit of work done and that relaxes me as much as a massage. I liked the look of this restaurant, and it’s sole occupant.

You have to wonder why these places aren’t all full. I guess I am not your typical cruiser. I inquired as to the freshness of the offerings, trying to explain I wanted live seafood from their own tanks. I think I got an affirmative but never saw the tanks. What I did see, right next door, was a vacant lot, where a lady was cleaning raw shrimp and across the street, there were fishing boats.

I walked to the end of the road, but nothing held more appeal than Sylly P’s relative’s restaurant. I was hungry, and it was so good, that I ate half of it before I remembered to take a picture for you.

I washed that down with a couple of Singhas and asked for Mango-Sticky Rice for dessert. They didn’t have it, but I had seen a picture of it at another restaurant closer to the pier. Next stop:

And back to the ship for a long bath and a Margarita at sunset. It was a good day.

I met some of my people at Happy Hour, had dinner with them, and we spent an after-hour in the Piano Bar, again.

Tuesday, February 4, we docked in Laem Chabang (Bangkok), Thailand. If it weren’t so polluted, I could spend a couple of weeks in Bangkok, but there’s nothing more for me to see in a day and it’s not worth the two and a half-hour bus ride in and out to see the same temples again. I got more work done and took the free shuttle in to the mall in Laem Chabang. My stewards had told me to eat at the street food stands outside the mall and that was my plan, but there was no seating out there.
The mall, itself, was pretty pathetic, but it was clean as a whistle, and that includes the bathrooms. It had a food court, too, so I decided to check that out. A nice little old Thai man, with a bit of English, volunteered to help me. I ended up with:

And it was all delicious. I hit the Swensen’s for a “sticky, chewy chocolate” ice cream cone and was a happy tourist.
We had a second day in Laem Chabang. All I did on shore was change money. I had taken out too many Thai Baht. I need Vietnamese Dong. That done, I re-boarded and delivered my newsletters. Then I went to dinner and saw Michelle Montuori on the World stage. I had last seen her on Oceania in ’22 with Pat & Mike and Pat & Toby. She wasn’t as good this time, but it might have been because she flew for about two days right up until boarding time. Like can be grueling for these ship’s headliners.
Thursday, February 6, was another port day, this time Sihanoukville, Cambodia. Now this was a day to remember. It started quietly, signing manifest with Janzy, the Group Events Coordinator, and sending it in, clearing email, blogging and like that. I got another Indonesian food recommendation from my stewards. It was at the end of the free shuttle to Independence Square. I, however, had invested $18 in a different shuttle, which I was beginning to have second thoughts about but figured I should check it out. I could always come back and take the free shuttle.
Sihanoukville has changed a lot since the last time I was here in 2019. Then the streets were mostly dirt roads, and the buildings just a few stories high. But there were some cranes in the distance, so building was starting. I didn’t know then, but have since heard, is that what were being built were a bunch of Casinos. The Chinese like to gamble and they like to gamble on other than Chinese soil, for obvious reasons. Since Macau reverted to China in 1999, they have been looking elsewhere and Sihanouk was getting casinos.
On this visit, the infrastructure was in place. We drove on wide, paved roads, no potholes, no cones. There were a lot of highrises and Casinos. There might have been malls, too, but I didn’t see them. The shuttle bus let us off at a lovely beach, with a Casino at one end, and a lot of seaside restaurants, some serving Cambodian food, some Chinese, but none serving at 2:30 in the afternoon. They would start up no earlier than 5:00, and many more like 7:00.
That left me with nothing to do, but Wow had a tuk-tuk and was more than willing to fill my time. The ship had a representative at the shuttle stop, and she was pretty sure it was safe to go off with him, as long as I negotiated the price, first. Wow’s asking price was $US40 and we agreed on $30. I probably gave in too easily, but I am sure he needed the $30 a lot more than I did. He didn’t have much tour guide patter but seemed to understand me and he showed me a wonderful time.

First Wow took me to exactly the kind of market I like, with food and clothing, all jumbled up. I found a couple of outfits I might have bought, if they had had them in a big enough size. This was truly a local, not a tourist, market. I had mentioned I might like some ice cream, so he took me to a 7-Eleven, assuring me that they didn’t have dedicated ice-cream places. I could have sworn we passed two within the next ten minutes, but no matter, my Magnum ice cream bar was delicious and it cost about a third of what it costs at home.

Now that I had a little sustenance, it was time to go exploring. We started by going straight up to the Temple on the Hill. There was hardly anybody there, so I was able to take my time climbing the colorful stairs

To where there was a great view of developing Sihanoukville.

I later found out it was a case of arrested development, though, as many of the developers had failed during COVID and the Chinese gambling tourists weren’t coming in droves, as planned. There are still monkeys in the central mountain park area, and we could visit them, and feed them, from the comfort and safety of the tuk-tuk. Don’t miss the mother and baby in the center of the picture.

When we got back to Otres Beach, it was still too early to eat, but there were foot massages on offer for $5 and that sounded like a good idea to me. While my feet were being massaged, another lady volunteered to do neck and shoulders, so I had that, too. It was all very nice and relaxing, there by the ocean. If I lived here, I could have it every night. The one doing my feet had enough English to tell me that times were tough now that the Chinese tourists weren’t coming any more, and she blamed COVID.
By the time the ladies were done with me, there were a few patrons in the nearby restaurant and I was pretty hungry. I walked about ten feet and up one stair, sat down and ordered a beer. Life was starting to look pretty good. It got better. A very nice young man, from the next table, came over and asked me, in English, if I needed help with the menu. Since it was written entirely in Cambodian characters, I certainly did. There were pictures, mind you, but they didn’t tell you anything about the sauces. I allowed as I could take some spice and actually liked Chili. We ended up ordering this gorgeous dish of shrimp and squid

And, just to be sure, I also ordered a plate of deep fried squid, like we used to get on Lamma Island, in my Hong Kong days, and some steamed rice. It all came with a side of typically Cambodian sauce. My new friend Pitt put just a little of it on my steamed rice for me to try, before I got too frisky with it. That convinced me I wouldn’t be pouring it all over everything, or even dipping. The dish itself was spicy enough. Look at it carefully and note the abundance of chilli. It was absolutely delicious, but I was also very glad of the deep fried squid, which came with a sweet Thai chili sauce, like we are used to. I munched my way happily through both plates, while Pitt told me where he had learned his English, about his family business, and that he now worked for the government, having been a politician at one point. He wanted a picture with me and I handed my camera to the friend that took it, too. So here we are:

It was getting on to sunset and this beautiful day was winding to a close. Pitou and I exchanged phone numbers and we are still WhatsApping for a bit. I hope we meet again one day. I have his number. I waited until the next day to tell him what his name meant in Quebec and he didn’t know.
Sihanoukville might be a nice place for an extended holiday. Take a look:

Great beach, nice sunset and all these friendly people waiting to provide personal services before dinner. I could easily spend a week here, if I had someone to spend it with. Respectable hotels start around $50/night and there are guest houses from $15/night. There are a couple of $1,000/night resorts, too, but just a couple. It’s a cheap town, and that gorgeous, scrumptious dish at that paradisical restaurant, was $12. Maybe a couple of months.

After four port days, February 7 was a busy sea day. No one came to office hour, so I used it to clear my email. Seven people came to a Distinctive Speakers talk at one o’clock and I called the final count for dinner in to the Maitre d’, releasing 4 seats on a busy night. Since I had eaten early the day before, and am on intermittent fasting, I was pretty hungry and certainly wasn’t going to the Mariners’ Wine Tasting at 2:00pm, tempting as that was. I had a cocktail and dinner to host at six. So I went to the Lido and found myself a brisket slider and a chocolate ice cream cone. That was good. I walked it off with a couple of laps on the Promenade Deck, had a little nap and got into what passes for formal dress on ships these days.
Seven people came to the cocktail party in the Crow’s Nest and eleven people came to dinner. The wine-tasting had taken its toll. The ship had given us two adjacent tables for six and I was able to move between them to see everyone. It was a lovely DV evening. The show was called Tandem and it was the very good Step One Dancers.

So, January 19, 21 and 22, we cruised the Great Barrier Reef. That means sea days with commentary. I am sure the commentary is interesting, but, for me, it just means days to work between Bridge lessons and Duplicate Play. I stopped recording my dinner companions, too, which is a bit of a pity because the dinners are getting to be more and more fun, as I repeat with people I like, and some of my group, who have adopted me. The entertainment on the 19th was The Broadway Boys, only they were different Broadway boys from the ones on the Zuiderdam in 2023. HAL just puts these groups together and they are usually fun and entertaining. On the 20th, it was the Orange Party and I looked in but it didn’t really appeal. On the 21st, however, they had an entertainer I don’t want you to miss, if he comes to your ship. His name is Bradley McCaw and he’s an up and coming Aussie. He plays the piano, sings and races around the whole auditorium at top speed. Not only that, he manages to get us old farts up dancing in the aisles. Remember that name and trust me, while he warms up. It’s well worth it.
January 22nd was our DV shore excursion in Darwin. We had two buses full, one for each host. I don’t know about the other bus, but Deb, the guide on ours, was just fantastic. It’s the off season there. The locals, who have gone off on Christmas holidays, are not all back yet, and it’s the supposedly rainy season. We were lucky. It didn’t, and Deb had plenty of wonderful things to say about life in Darwin. It almost makes one want to pick up stakes and go live there. That’s until one remembers how very remote it is. Mind you, that might be a good thing.
We visited the local gardens, which featured a fascinating tree, complete with fake snake, and some bat watching. Then we went to MAGNT, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territories, which was very well done and eye-opening. The best part of the tour, by far, was lunch at Wharf One. It started with a delicious appetizer, which I could have sworn was ceviche and turned out to be crocodile. I just googled “Crocodile Ceviche” and there is such a thing, so that’s what it was.
Then we learned all about their local fish, Barramundi, otherwise known as Asian Sea Bass, from their local fish farmer, and how to cook it, from the restaurant’s Chef. It was positively delicious. We loved it and the lunch experience, getting to know each other better. I got to know a wonderful Hungarian family with a three year-old.
Back on board, Annie Gong was on the World Stage. I had seen her before, on the 2015 and 2016 HAL world cruises. She’s pretty impressive. Her English has improved a lot, as well as her stage presence. You had to see her dancing with Gage, the Cruise Director, still playing the accordion. Thanks to modern technology, her accordion is now a one-(wo)man-band.
We had two more days at sea before Komodo Island. I gave my talk on Hong Kong on one of them, for those who would be going on, or who just might be interested. Most of the 28 guests staying on to, and past Hong Kong came, and had lots of questions. You know me. I am passionate about Hong Kong and assured them I would make myself available to help personalize their experience. Bradley McCaw was back on stage and we were back dancing in the aisles. I gave Komodo Island a miss, because I had seen the dragons twice before. It turned out to be one of the best things I ever did. It poured down relentlessly, making the tendering operation and its disembarkation at the stone stepped-pier perfectly nasty. There were a lot of wheelchairs pressed into use that day and hundreds of people soaked to the skin on the muddy paths, and in line waiting to tender back. I wrote the previous installment to this in the comfort of my cabin and saw Annie Gong again on the World Stage.
I gave Lembar, Lombok a pass, too, while I worked on my Mumbai tour for November. Cruising for me is sometimes just like home, only it moves around and feeds me effortlessly. I don’t stress when I miss a port. I’d be stressing if my work wasn’t getting done. Now that the Internet aboard is good, I just go along wth business as usual and pick and choose what I do ashore. I had big plans for Bali, where I had hired an old HAL Dining Room Steward, with a tour business, to take a few of us around and out to dinner.
We met Made Seneng, and his wife Dewi right where the ship docked in Denpasar, at the very civilized hour of 9:00am. The nine of us had just piled into Made’s van when the skies opened. It came down in buckets, soon turning the highway into a wading pool, with rivers in the monsoon ditches on either side. It was bad enough for us, but you had to pity the motorcyclists, in their poly ponchos, whizzing through six inches of water, beside us. They were getting somewhere faster than we were, but it looked like a pretty unpleasant, high-risk operation to me.
The rain slowed down long enough for us to stop at a 1000-year old temple, where we donned our sarongs and explored a bit.

Just before it started to pour again, we got back into the van and finished our trip to Ubud and the Monkey Forest. Sure enough, the rain stopped for us again and we were able to visit my relatives in peace. There were hundreds of monkeys to see up close

and this pair, intent on making more:

We had a quick lunch at a suckling pig restaurant, where they were out of the delicious skin, but managed to serve us something different and fascinating anyway. We were in a hurry because of all the time lost in traffic, and the need to get in another meal before all-aboard at 9:30pm. Some of us were more stressed than others. I trusted Made, but no one else had that experience.
Our shopping stop was curtailed, too, resulting in the purchase of a top that could only be described as a minimizer. I’ll be leaving that on board. Surely one of my stewards has a wife who can fit into it, as it does me no favors. I don’t mind. I like to support the local economy, and, traveling in carry-on, I expect to buy and leave along the way, like the threadbare nightshirt, which will stay in HK, and doubtless be cut into rags.
We had four wusses, who wanted to be dropped off at the ship for dinner, for the food, the local show onboard, and not to have to worry about the time. The seven of us, including Made and Devi, continued on to one of the times of our lives. Made took us to Jimbaran Beach, where the sun sets, and the beach is lined with restaurants, to take advantage of it. We ate at a place called the Sea Side Café at a table right on the beach, with the setting sun:

The temperature was perfect, the beer was cold, the food was outstanding, the mariachis serenaded. They were off-key and they would not shut up ‘til they were paid, but that just made it more fun. There was a huge Muslim family party at the restaurant beside us and I later heard from my room stewards that they were at one of the restaurants farther down the beach. We were truly having our fun the way the locals do. Huge thanks to Made for sharing and for serving us our food in the manner to which we have become accustomed on the ship.

We were supposed to stop in Tanjung Priok, the port for Jakarta, but relentless 65-mile-an-hour winds made it impossible and not even safe to stay in the area. The thousand Indonesian family members of the crew, waiting on shore, were disappointed, as were the crew waiting to see them. The captain was practically in tears, when he announced it, and the passengers choked up hearing the announcement. You couldn’t help it. We all get very attached to our always cheerful, hard working stewards. One of mine was lucky. His family had elected to come to Bali, but the other missed his wife, baby, parents and all. You can bet they cried, too. The ship had planned to welcome them aboard, with a party in the Lido, and all. So sad.
But we sailed on. The crew show happened the very next day, but I missed it, not to disappoint my Bridge partner and buddies. That’s a great group, too. I don’t know how my partner put up with me, but we’re still friends and hoping to cruise together again. Syan, the balloon entertainer, entertained again and I spent three nights in the piano bar with Gabe and Megan, who are terrific.

And this came in from my friend Prat Parekh. I am late in passing it on:
We would like to invite various states such as Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts in the east or Washington, Oregon, and California in the west to join Canada and become our 11th+ province.
The benefits of joining Canada include:
• Life expectancy will go up from a world ranking of 48th (USA) to 20th (Canada).
• Education will get better from 31st (USA) to 19th (Canada).
• Math scores will improve from 34th (USA) to 9th (Canada).
• Robberies will go down from 98 per 100,000 population to 62.
• Traffic accident deaths will drop from 12.7 per 100,000 to 5.3.
• You will spend half as much on health care and get better outcomes.
• Poverty in Canada is 1/3 the rate in the USA.
• Although Canada has fewer millionaires, we more fairly distribute wealth (better income equality).
• The minimum wage in Canada is double that in USA.
• and most important you will be happier (Canada ranked 15th, USA 23rd in happiness).
• (We couldn’t find a politeness index, but thank you for reading this)

2025 – Singapore to HK – Golden Triangle – Part 3 – Papua New Guinea to The Great Barrier Reef
We made three stops in Papua New Guinea, Rabaul, the usual one, plus Kiriwana Island and Conflict Islands, which is privately owned. At Rabaul, I took a ship’s tour to see some Mask dances. There was a lot of hot dusty waiting involved and the highlight of the day was the nice bath I took when I got back to my cabin. I fell asleep in it. I did get a couple of decent pictures of the dancing, though. Here’s one:

And the islands really are idyllic.
The next day, January 15, I got a late start due to working on arrangements to join my friends and clients aboard the Volendam in March. It’s all set, I leave Montreal on Tuesday, March 11, arrive in Buenos Aires on the 12th, have dinner with my BA friend, Eilat Jelin, and crash. Next day it’s Afternoon tea at the Alvear palace Hotel with my friends from the ship, who have an overnight. I’ll go back to the ship with them and board. Sounds like a very civilized way to start a cruise. By the time I was ready to board a tender, it was 11am and the last tender back was 2PM. I decided to give Kiriwana a miss, and enjoyed it from Aft on Deck 9, sipping a beer. That’s not the worst part of cruising. I had a very fun dinner with four of our DV people, checked out the “Dance on Deck” and repaired to Billboard Onboard, where I was well entertained by Megan and Gabe’s Dueling Pianos.

January 16, I focused on getting ashore because I had booked a reef snorkeling tour and I wasn’t going to miss that. It was a gorgeous island, what you would call a tropical paradise. There was pretty good snorkelling, right from shore, for free, I was told. Next time, maybe I’ll do that but this time, I had my heart set on the reef experience. It was a pig-hot wait and not all that well-organized, but, in the end, it came out as it should have, and it was wonderful. The reef they took us out to was teeming with fish of all colors and sizes, simply beautiful. Some saw baby sharks. I didn’t need that experience. I was content with the pretty fishies and the giant clam, pointed out by the local who attached himself to me as my protector. I was glad to have him, too. I am seriously out of practice and got way too tired doing what used to be almost nothing. I need to take my snorkel up to our pool and practice swimming. My shower was wonderful, dinner delicious and the Modern Dance company, Step One were fabulous in MOVE! It was their third show, should have been their second. That one turned out to be different because they were missing one dancer to illness. He was back and it was just great.

We were back at sea and playing Bridge on January 17 and I was working on my Hong Kong Presentation, which has now been scheduled for January 23rd. I poked my nose into the Masquerade Ball, but was happier with an early night and my towel elephant:

January 18, we docked in Cairns and I had booked myself onto the Kuranda Scenic Railway Shore Excursion. A bus took us up, through the rainforest, to the town of Kuranda, where we had an hour and a half to explore, shop and eat. I did not dare go into the butterfly or koala gardens, for fear I might miss the train, so I shopped and had an ice cream. I didn’t find anything to buy, except some Q-Tips, nail clippers and a package of M & Ms Peanut. Thay ended up being my lunch on the train, the ice-cream having been breakfast. The train certainly was scenic and very old.

I had a planned dinner that night, Canadian connections, and it was all very nice. The Australian comedian, Gavin Baskerville, was pronounced “rubbish” by the Brits I was sitting with. My word only had 4 letters.
Today we are cruising the Great Barrier Reef, which means there are nice views out the Bridge Room windows, but you can’t see the reef. It’s beneath us, of course. And this is a week old now. It has been a busy one. Report soon come. Enjoy it while I write more.

This is turning out to be very different for me. I am enjoying in a totally different way. I am playing Bridge, going to shows, and getting a lot of work done, mostly on my Mumbai-Singapore Distinctive Voyage in November.
We left off on Tuesday, January 7. The 8th was a Sea Day, so I played Bridge with my great partner, Patricia. The fact that she has been a Bridge Teacher and Director for years, intimidates the hell out of me, but I sure am learning. The instructor, Mike Cochran is very good and a hoot. Much of that which he teaches would only be useful if I had a regular partner, with whom I played at least 4 days week. So, I take my cues from Pat and, ya know, I think I might actually be improving. Our very worst day was a 50% game and we came 2nd N-S once.
I’ve been going to dinner and sitting at a sharing table every night. Most of them have been great, especially last night (13th) when I landed Tom Vassos, the Canadian Astronomer, cosmologist, science advocate and author of The Ultimate Guided Tour of the Universe, and, by all reports, a fascinating Guest Speaker. I am torn between attending his lectures and playing Duplicate, and Bridge wins, but I know I am missing a lot. He brought with him Paul Sutter, cosmologist, award-winning science communicator, NASA advisor, U.S. Cultural Ambassador, and a globally recognized leader in the intersection of art and science. Ya think I had fun? Google these guys and you’ll see.
But you’re not getting the usual today, because my email brought me a very well thought out comment on the state of the world today, that I have to pass on. Just this once.
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien is a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. He was so much more. I have always looked up to him as the voice of reason and he just proved it again. Here are his thoughts today, passed on to me by Joan McGuigan. I actually choked up when I read it, the reaction of a proud Canadian.

THIS IS THE ONLY THING YOU SHOULD READ TODAY and PASS ON, by Jean Chretien

Today is my 91st birthday.

It’s an opportunity to celebrate with family and friends. To look back on the life I’ve had the privilege to lead. And to reflect on how much this country we all love so much has grown and changed over the course of the nine decades I’ve been on this Earth.

This year, I’ve also decided to give myself a birthday present. I’m going to do something in this article that I don’t do very often anymore, and sound off on a big issue affecting the state of the nation and profoundly bothering me and so many other Canadians: The totally unacceptable insults and unprecedented threats to our very sovereignty from U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.

I have two very clear and simple messages.

To Donald Trump, from one old guy to another: Give your head a shake! What could make you think that Canadians would ever give up the best country in the world – and make no mistake, that is what we are – to join the United States?

I can tell you Canadians prize our independence. We love our country. We have built something here that is the envy of the world – when it comes to compassion, understanding, tolerance and finding a way for people of different backgrounds and faiths to live together in harmony.

We’ve also built a strong social safety net – especially with public health care – that we are very proud of. It’s not perfect, but it’s based on the principle that the most vulnerable among us should be protected.

This may not be the “American Way” or “the Trump Way.” But it is the reality I have witnessed and lived my whole long life.

If you think that threatening and insulting us is going to win us over, you really don’t know a thing about us. You don’t know that when it came to fighting in two world wars for freedom, we signed up – both times – years before your country did. We fought and we sacrificed well beyond our numbers.

We also had the guts to say no to your country when it tried to drag us into a completely unjustified and destabilizing war in Iraq.

We built a nation across the most rugged, challenging geography imaginable. And we did it against the odds.

We may look easy-going. Mild-mannered. But make no mistake, we have spine and toughness.

And that leads me to my second message, to all our leaders, federal and provincial, as well as those who are aspiring to lead our country: Start showing that spine and toughness. That’s what Canadians want to see – what they need to see. It’s called leadership. You need to lead. Canadians are ready to follow.

I know the spirit is there. Ever since Mr. Trump’s attacks, every political party is speaking out in favour of Canada. In fact, it is to my great satisfaction that even the Bloc Québécois is defending Canada.

But you don’t win a hockey game by only playing defence. We all know that even when we satisfy one demand, Mr. Trump will come back with another, bigger demand. That’s not diplomacy; it’s blackmail.

We need another approach – one that will break this cycle.

Mr. Trump has accomplished one thing: He has unified Canadians more than we have been ever before! All leaders across our country have united in resolve to defend Canadian interests.

When I came into office as prime minister, Canada faced a national unity crisis. The threat of Quebec separation was very real. We took action to deal with this existential threat in a manner that made Canadians, including Quebeckers, stronger, more united and even prouder of Canadian values.

Now there is another existential threat. And we once again need to reduce our vulnerability. That is the challenge for this generation of political leaders.

And you won’t accomplish it by using the same old approaches. Just like we did 30 years ago, we need a Plan B for 2025.

Yes, telling the Americans we are their best friends and closest trading partner is good. So is lobbying hard in Washington and the state capitals, pointing out that tariffs will hurt the American economy too. So are retaliatory tariffs – when you are attacked, you have to defend yourself.

But we also have to play offence. Let’s tell Mr. Trump that we too have border issues with the United States. Canada has tough gun control legislation, but illegal guns are pouring in from the U.S. We need to tell him that we expect the United States to act to reduce the number of guns crossing into Canada.

We also want to protect the Arctic. But the United States refuses to recognize the Northwest Passage, insisting that it is an international waterway, even though it flows through the Canadian Arctic as Canadian waters. We need the United States to recognize the Northwest Passage as being Canadian waters.

We also need to reduce Canada’s vulnerability in the first place. We need to be stronger. There are more trade barriers between provinces than between Canada and the United States. Let’s launch a national project to get rid of those barriers! And let’s strengthen the ties that bind this vast nation together through projects such as real national energy grid.

We also have to understand that Mr. Trump isn’t just threatening us; he’s also targeting a growing list of other countries, as well as the European Union itself, and he is just getting started. Canada should quickly convene a meeting of the leaders of Denmark, Panama, Mexico, as well as with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, to formulate a plan for fighting back these threats.

Every time that Mr. Trump opens his mouth, he creates new allies for all of us. So let’s get organized! To fight back against a big, powerful bully, you need strength in numbers.

The whole point is not to wait in dread for Donald Trump’s next blow. It’s to build a country and an international community that can withstand those blows.

Canadians know me. They know I am an optimist. That I am practical. And that I always speak my mind. I made my share of mistakes over a long career, but I never for a moment doubted the decency of my fellow Canadians – or of my political opponents.

The current and future generations of political leaders should remember they are not each other’s enemies – they are opponents. Nobody ever loved the cut-and-thrust of politics more than me, but I always understood that each of us was trying to make a positive contribution to make our community or country a better place.

That spirit is more important now than ever, as we address this new challenge. Our leaders should keep that in mind.

I am 91 today and blessed with good health. I am ready at the ramparts to help defend the independence of our country as I have done all my life.

Vive le Canada!

Traveling on New Year’s Day is supposed to be easy. Maybe not so much with Turkish Air. The flight was cheap and convenient and I paid for it, and my Singapore Hotel, with my RBC Avion points. So far so good, but when I went to check in and see if I could buy an upgrade to Business with money, that option wasn’t there. They wanted more points. If I had more points I would have bought Businss in the first place. So, I called. The agent I landed, was less than useful. He just wasted my time, oh well. When I got to the airport and tried to do the money upgrade, they wanted too much of it.
The plane took off more than an hour late, which caused a bit of angst about the connection in Istanbul, but it went off OK. The Istanbul to Singapore plane was delayed even longer. My aisle seat was occupied by a very large man, who wanted me to take the window, because he was so very large, but his companion was pretty big, too, and I didn’t feature climbing over the two of them as many times as I would have to on a 10-hour flight (after a 9 and a half hour flight and all the waiting). I played the age card and made him take the middle seat. He told me I world regret it. I didn’t. He made me very uncomfortable but the alternative was worse.

I got to Singapore around 10:00 am, on January 3, took a taxi to the Holiday Inn on Clarke Quay, had a nap, and went shopping. When you travel with carry-on, for a long cruise, there are things you need to buy before you board, like scissors and skin-care products. So I did that and went for my Singapore treat.

It was soo good but I didn’t last long after I ate it. I did manage to complain to Fido about the disturbing messages my phone had put out on arriving in Istanbul and Singapore about roaming like home, only for $15/day. I didn’t think so. I already roam with T-Mobile for nothing. The difference this trip is that my new phone has both California and Quebec SIM cards. I asked to be contacted by email because of the time difference but at 9AM the next morning I got a phone call from Rogers, Fido’s master. I was warned I was paying for the call, if you can believe it. That is I was paying for it if I canceled the “Roam like Home”, which I was doing, in a hurry. They will credit me two days, but might charge me three. The Rogers rep had a problem understanding that I didn’t need the service because I have T-Mobile’s. Later in the day, January 4, I was a little smarter and found a way to just turn off the second SIM card, which I should have done in the first place, and will from now on. But for now, I had a ship to board, the Noordam. That went well enough and I was in good time for our meeting with HAL personnel. Due to a great mix-up, I am the second host on this cruise, for the first 28 days, ending up back in Singapore and prime for the last couple of weeks, on to Hong Kong. I am going to be able to relax, take the Bridge lessons, and play Duplicate.
And that’s just what I did the following day, January 5, but just the lesson, as we had our Distinctve Voyages cocktail party that night. Seventy people came. Keith did the talking and I did the checking-in and photography. It was a bit of a madhouse, but a lot of fun. As usual, we have a lot of very nice people in the group. I finished up with two particularly congenial couples.
The singles group was meeting at 6:30 in our venue, so I stayed for that. As always, the ratio of women to men was about 5 to 1. I think there were three men. One of them was a real card. On being introduced, his first words were “Will you marry me?” I rather thought not, but you never know. He’s Welsh, spells “Glenn” with a y.
Then I went to dinner and was matched up with 5 very nice people, two of whom I had eaten with on the Queen Mary 2, last year, and two of whom were Canadians. We liked each other so much we are going to plan to get together again. The entertainment was Rebecca Kelly, a comedienne who sings. She was good and is coming back later as a singer who does comedy. I’ll go,
Keith and I had our office hour, where we sorted out the paperwork resulting from last night’s cocktail party and I made the Bridge lesson, which started right after.
I was claimed as a partner by Patricia, a nice lady from Florida, who had been Bridge Director at her local club. I have to pay attention and pick up my game. The instructor is good. His name is Mike Cochran and he’s a retired lawyer, who taught dancing at night while practicing law. Ya gotta be impressed. The first lesson was on bidding 1 NT with a balanced hand, even with a five-card major. I got to use the bid and ended up in a 4 spade contract, which I made in spite of myself. I took three club tricks, under the delusion that I was playing three no trump and only wised up when I realized my partner was sitting there in agony. Luckily the clubs had split evenly, I switched gears to four spades and made the contract. Patricia will play with me again.
I had dinner with two nice British couples and sneaked into the show, just a minute or two late. It was the Step One Dance Company, doing “Humanity”. I had seen it on the ’23 World, and it was still exceptionally good. The special effects keep getting better and the dancers are great. Glynn slipped in and sat beside me but I gave him the slip while we were talking to the dancers, because I was just too tired.
Today, (don’t faint – I’m up to date), January 6, we are in Puerto Princesa, Philippines. It’s a new port and I had high hopes for it, but when I went out at eleven, I met one of our people who said to not even go to the mall. It was dead and there was nothing to buy. That was sad, but I took her advice and came back here to spend time with you, gentle readers. I’ll want to be playing Bridge tomorrow.

It’s that time again, time to decorate the hallway of my apartment building, this year with Dollar store stuffed animals. Time to be stuffed to the gills, but no longer ever hung over. I remember the parties, now. Time to count my blessings, and be stressed out by too much to do, which is just the way I like it. Time to mourn: This year we lost Leona Biddle, who fell off a ladder, Chris Wendlandt, Ernie Scalberg, with whom I’ll never be able to travel enough nor drink enough wine, my cousin, Bobby Megan, Pam’s mother Maggie Ip, and Dave Godwin, friend since 1965, when I joined IBM. Too many.
I finally had the kind of year I had envisioned when I moved back to Montreal. It started in May, after I got off the Queen Mary 2, where I spent the winter. I made some great new friends and it wasn’t a bad way to spend the winter, but I was glad to get back home to a Montreal summer.
If you missed my blogs, you can read all the back issues on http://www.helenmegan.com I am not going to repeat myself. This applies to the September trip, too.
That meant a lot of dinners with friends, outdoors as much as possible, the R.St.L.Y.C. on Friday nights, the downtown terrasses, and some friends’ back yards. The nights are long and balmy and just magic. Susan and Jenny Sidorchuk finally came to share some of it, and I found an Opera at Place des Arts to take her to. The summer was full of Fringe Festival, Jazz Festival, Circus Festival, outdoor plays and operas. You name it, we did it and most of it was very, very good. I’ve made a bunch of lovely new friends playing Bridge at McGill’s Faculty Club and we kept it going with one table at my apartment all summer.
Andrea Fairchild and I made a girls’ trip to see friends in P.E.I. and Halifax, and some fossils at Joggins. We were well received and had a wonderful time. I got back just in time to finally host Val and Dave Lasker in Montreal. I needed to get some hosting in before I went to impose on them again in October. We did the restaurant terrasses, too, and saw Cirque du Soleil, under the big top, in the Port of Montreal, which is their home base.
The next cruise was Vancouver to Tokyo, on SilverSea, no less. Andrea Terni came along as my co-host and to have a little tour of Japan at the end. We got to sail with Serge and Barbara Rand, and it was about time. They have been great clients.
Our tour of Japan was pretty good, but the last time I want to do an itinerary that involves a new hotel most nights, and not enough planned meals. I just don’t have it in me to run around all day and then sit down with a hotel concierge to plan dinner every night.
We parted company in Narita, with Andrea flying back to Montreal, and yours truly to San Francisco to spend three weeks with my good American friends. Despite coming down with a little COVID cold on my 80th birthday, it was a very good trip. I managed to see almost everyone and only infected one dear, dear friend. She forgave me. Thank God, and her.
Air Canada did me no favors on the trip home. I was to be back in Montreal in the early afternoon of October 23, in time for some McGill Homecoming events. United finally delivered me at 9:00am the next morning. I had a bath and a nap and made it to my luncheon. Then I had another nap and went to see Sugar Sammy in a special homecoming production that night. Woof.
In a couple of days, I had recovered and was back at work, and a very busy fall it has been on all fronts. When Carolyn Bloom decided she wanted to do my Mumbai to Singapore Distinctive Voyage next November, and Celebrity had its Black Friday sale on, the price she got was so good, I just had to share it. So I sent out an email to all my clients, and the next thing I knew, I had sold 7 cabins. This was in the space of three days. I was working like I did back in my 40s. I’’s nice to know I can still do it, but I wouldn’t want to sustain that pace. I am working with an Indian tour supplier, that I met in San Francisco in 2018, and we are very close to having a fabulous pre-cruise for the group. All meals are being organized and, even though I am going to have to put up with some vegetarian ones, they look fabulous. It’s going to be the ultimate old farts, tour, because we might as well admit it and celebrate it. Yes, you can still add yourselves to the group. You know where to find me.
I’m off to Singapore on January 1, to co-host a Singapore to Hong Kong, by way, of Australia, cruise, on Holland America’s Noordam. We have more than 100 guests to host. When we land in HK on February 16, I plan to stay a couple of weeks, coming home February 27. Then, on March 13, I’ll be joining my three cabins on the Volendam. They are on a 133-day Pole-to-Pole, and I am joining for Buenos Aires to Barcelona. I want to sail the Amazon and I want to play with my best cruise buddies, again. I’ll be back in Montreal mid-May for the summer again. Come play with me.

And this is a typical Quebec “Buche de Noel” that I got to share in last night.
With best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year
Love and Purrs,

Helen and Robbie

I finally got so caught up that I played Bridge on the sea day of Thursday, September 30.  Andrea has been playing all along.  It’s a nice group, I wish I had had more free time.  One of my couples won again, which is very nice.  We had dinner in the main dining room, with the Rands, and went to see trumpeter Nathan Samuelson again.  There were more people, without the competing 6:30 show, but still not nearly enough.  The people don’t know what they are missing.

The next day, Friday, September 27, we docked n Kushiro, Japan.  After all those sea days, it was nice to be getting off.  Our tour wasn’t until the afternoon, so I worked some and was ready to get off at one.  Our first stop was the Tancho Crane Reserve.  The Japanese Red-crowned Crane is a seriously endangered, species, but not as seriously endangered as it was earlier this century.  They were down to triple digits.  This reserve is one of the few places in the world where their population is increasing.  I wasn’t nuts about the way they were exhibited, though and had to do quite a bit of PhotoShopping to get rid of the chain link fence:

Yes, I know, he’s still behind a fence, the fences were two deep.  Their wings are clipped, too.  All they are meant to do is breed.  But this group are saving a species, so they need to put up with it. 

Then we went to a tower outside Kushiro and looked out at a wildlife park, where we saw a lot of trees, and there were doubtless bears, but they were doubtless beneath the foliage.  Next stop, Kushiro City Museum, where we went up to its observatory to look at the city and down to the ground floor, where there was a lot of stuffed wildlife, some of it very well done.  Many of the animals were similar to ours, as the continents were once joined before all the Pacific Rim volcanic activity.  Back on board, Kushiro sent us a brass marching band, and we could see it from our own balcony:

They were very good.  It was about the only night we could do it, so we had the Rands over to our suite at 6:00pm to drink the free champagne we had found in our fridge.  Our butler kindly provided ample snacks, plus a cheese plate, and another bottle of bubbly.  Here we are:

The girls, at least.  Serge took the picture.  On to dinner and another great “Broadway” show from our singers and dancers.

Saturday, September 28, meant another port, another bus, another very nice Japanese guide with a very thick accent.  They seem to use retired professors a lot for this work in Japan.  First we went to the Goryokaku Tower.  It’s by the star-shaped ruins of an old fortress, now beautiful gardens.

The last two cities we have been in are small and made of very boring looking apartment buildings and even more boring houses. It finally dawned on me: There were no trees. There were park lands here and there, but the residential areas were pretty baren, with  featureless houses, and no trees.  Not moving to Northern Japan any time soon.  The cars were cute and came in interesting colors, though. And what was really interesting was the food!  Morning market next stop, just in time for lunch. 

When the guide released us for half an hour, I immediately asked where I could have a bowl of rice with sashimi on it.  He led us out of the market to a street facing restaurant on its perimeter, where we were able to get this:

It was just wonderful, possibly the freshest raw fish I have ever had.  The salmon roe were a challenge for my chopsticks, but just bursting with texture and flavour.  Oh, yum.  Well worth breaking my fast for. 

Next we traveled a ropeway for a spectacular view of the harbour and our ship:

We had dinner in Atlantide and I had a bit more yummy foie gras as my appetizer.  The show was violinist, Jakub Trasak, and he was very easy to listen to. 

Monday, September 29, we hit the Morning Market, in Miykao,  first thing, and I was eating sashimi at 10:30am.  Andrea couldn’t face it at that hour.  It was a lot more complicated too.  There wasn’t time for a sit-down meal.  All we could do was buy the treats, in sample sized portions, and eat them as we walked around.  If I thought picking up salmon roe was hard, when it had rice under it, it was a lot harder out of a tiny dish.  Still perfectly wonderful, though, as was the tuna and squid.  Our guide explained that the only squid that should be eaten raw is still brown.  Once it has gone white, it’s not good enough. 

But when it’s brown, it’s wonderful raw.  The bus moved on to a place, whose name I forgot but which took a direct hit from the 2011 Tsunami.  A “family” of rocks survived it, which the locals now call male rock, female rock and baby rock.  We actually saw a hotel, still standing, but with its two lower floors blown out.  Its iron girders still supported a couple of upper floors.  Yes, thankfully, it had been evacuated and no one was hurt.  The only presumed death was that of an old gent, who refused to be evacuated and just let himself be taken by the sea, to join his wife who had died 15 years before.  There was a little beach there and Andrea got her toes in the water, but no swim.  The “sand” was composed of 2-3 inch sharp flat rocks.  I bought some Japanese crackers in the shop, which were hard as rocks and tasteless.  To each his own.  Mine is chocolate. 

When we got back to the ship, There were food trucks and souvenir vendors on the pier.  Christine from N.Z. had bought six octopus balls with cheese and green onions(sic) mayonnaise.  She shared, and they were surprisingly good.  Another thing I now eat.  But I had to board.  I had a newsletter to get out.  The ship had thrown us another curve, having a Motown show at 6:00pm featuring our beloved singers and dancers.  Needless to say, our cocktail was sparsely attended, but we had some lovely dinner company.  I used the newsletter to provide some useful Japanese phrases, cut and pasted from Google.

Tuesday, September 30, was our last day at Sea.  Serge Rand joined me at the Hospitality Desk to use my computer to do his comment card and to talk about his next cruise.  A couple of people stopped to say “thank you” and “goodbye” and I got hugs from J.P., the Cruise Director and Matias, the Bar Manager.  Then I went back to the cabin to pack.  It really was time to go.  One last happy hour and dinner with the Rands, and it was over ‘til we meet again.

It was Friday, September and I had no trouble finding J.P.  His office is right next to the Front Desk and he pops in and out of it all the time.  A quick glance at the ship’s schedule told me when to haunt the area.  He’s a very approachable guy and was very willing to facilitate my requests.  Next thing I knew, I was writing Newsletter 3, which follows today.   I had a great entertainer coming to dinner one night and the Cruise Director himself on another.  I had Engine Control Room tours on offer, too.  We had six days at sea.  You do what you can do.  The Cocktail party was a bit of a bust with only eight people attending but there were twelve for dinner with Douglas Ladnier and that was a great success.  I was at the table he wasn’t at, but the guests got along so famously, it didn’t matter.  Best of all, he agreed to come to our next dinner, so they could have time with him.  It’s all good, as was our after-dinner entertainer, Antonio Salci.

Another day at sea on September and office hour has been sparsely attended, mostly just chit chat and not too much of that.  Today, I had Serge Rand join me and we settled on what flights the Rands would want for their 37-day Panama Canal cruise, Fort Lauderdale to Vancouver.  Then, since SilverSea were doing the air, I begged a free phone call to SilverSky and booked the flights from Silver Nova’s reception desk. 

The ship did something curious today.  They scheduled a production show before dinner and a Headline entertainer afterwards.  I wouldn’t have done that, but I suppose it had its merits.  It gave the people who go to bed early a chance to actually see a show.  No one but Serge and Barbara came to our Happy Hour, so we all left at 6:30 to see the production show, which was very good, as usual.  Then we had a nice dinner in the main dining room and went to see Nathan Samuelson at 9:30pm.  I was glad we did.  The attendance was embarrassing.  We felt so sorry for Nathan, who actually put on a very good show.  He’s Canadian, too, grew up in Edmonton. 

It was Sunday, September 22, so time for something a bit special.  SilverSea charges way too much for its specialty dining.  It was $80pp at Kaiseki, their Japanese restaurant, for dinner.  I still wanted to try it, and after what Andrea paid for her $10,000 cruise, which was nothing at all, she was willing to spring for it, for both of us.  Then I offered to pay for the Rands, since they are clients, and the Canadian government would partner with me in paying for it.  Off we went, for our special dinner.  The service was way too slow, considering there were only two tables of four in the entire restaurant.  I’m sure they would blame it on Barbara’s foie gras, but that isn’t fair, as the other restaurants have no trouble supplying it in a timely manner.  We finally had to tell them we wanted to go to the 9:30pm show and would they please get us out by then.  They did, but we had to skip dessert, which, luckily, is never the best part of a Japanese dinner.  But the edamame and chawanmushi were delicious, as were the sashimi and tempura.  Our main course was wagyu beef and lobster tail, and there was nothing to fault there either. 

We had to get to the show, because it was Douglas Ladnier again and we wouldn’t miss him for the world.

Monday, September 23, we crossed the International Dateline and the day did not exist for us, but we sure have been enjoying the extra hour of sleep every night. 

So the next day was Tuesday, September 24 and we were still at sea.  We had two Engine Control Room Tours today, eight guests each, and we have another tomorrow.  I sent the first eight off alone because we see a lot of them every day.  I accompanied the afternoon group.  It was interesting and informative, but, despite the fact that I have a degree in Chemistry, it was over my head.  It’s a new ship and almost completely powered by electricity, which the ship makes from liquid natural gas.  Google LNG to get your own lesson.

This was the second “Formal Optional” evening on board, and we had been invited to the Guest Relations Manager and Staff Engineer’s table at the Venetian Society dinner.  We didn’t know how we rated.  One of my couples had been invited to the Captain’s table and that was easy to explain.  They are in a suite the size of my apartment, but us? 

We cleaned up as best we could.  I had brought along the April Cornell soutane that I bought in Montreal about 30 years ago.  It’s the dress Ulla Brown wants, when I am done with it.  She’ll have to outlive me to get it. It’s one of the most useful pieces of clothing I own.  Thanks to the clergy, it never goes out of style.  Add a nice bright scarf and I’m done.  This one was fake Versace, silk with imitation gold thread. 

There were only six people at the table and, lo and behold, the other two were the Rands.  It was a delightful meal in La Terrazza, washed down with Sicilian wine, from the vintner, Colosi, a very good white and a delightful Nero d’Avola.  I couldn’t resist asking how the four of us got invited and it had everything to do with the Rands’ number of days at sea with SilverSea.  Andrea and I were only added to the table, because we eat with the Rands pretty much every night, and SilverSea knew their valued Venetian Society members would be comfortable with us.  Wow.

There was no show that night, just a big party in the Panorama Lounge, with the singers and dancers.  I am told it went on past one in the morning and we didn’t even go.  We were well sated, as we were. 

On Wednesday, September 25, still at sea, it was time for another Cocktail Pary, and another Newsletter.   I wanted to drive traffic to the cocktail party.  Sixteen people came to the party, which had been moved to Dolce Vita.

 We all had to chase it a bit because I had misunderstood a conversation I had had with the Bar manager a few days ago.  We had been chatting informally about moving our cocktail party for variety, but I didn’t realize it had been done.  No one seemed to mind the extra little walk, Douglas Ladnier joined us, and it all went very smoothly.  The eight people who had originally signed up for dinner in La Terrazza were treated to the affable presence of our favorite singer aboard, and it was a very nice evening. 

To give the entertainers a rest, after last-night’s blowout, they had “Liars’ Club” on the main stage, and it was hysterical, due largely to the unlikely addition of one of the dance hosts.  You had to be there to hear what he did with “hornito”.  You can google that, too, and guess.  Clue: he was right.

Sunday, September 15 was a bad weather day, so I decided to stay on the ship and get caught up with my work.  Andrea went whale watching, a thing I had done in 2017 with Joan Westgate and JoAnn Dery.  It was good but I prefer to remember it on the better weather day.  Andrea returned underwhelmed.  She did see some whales but she wasn’t sure they were worth all the effort on the nasty day. 

I had some client work to do.  I had two cabins waitlisted on my 43-day Singapore to Hong Kong cruise and the waitlist had cleared for the very nice price of about $12,000, all in, all done, with a single person in the cabin.  To my chagrin, neither of my singles found a way to commit to 43 days, though, and I had to cancel them.  Anybody else want to come on that with me, now that we know the price?  Those were for one person, alone in the cabin, ocean view.  A couple won’t be much more.  It looks like a bargain to me, and you all know what I can show you in Hong Kong, by now.  Chinese New Year will be over by the time we get there and everything will be open and vibrating.  Enough with that commercial.

I churned through the paperwork on my computer, saw the ship’s personnel that I needed to see and had tea at 4:00pm in The Arts Café.  I like that place, and so does almost everyone else.  It’s always lively.  They serve croissants and such for breakfast, add more substantial contents to the croissants and call it lunch, then finger sandwiches, scones, and desserts for afternoon tea.  The Arts Café specializes in tea, so there is a lot of choice and it comes in a proper teapot.  My 4PM breakfast is either 2 finger sandwiches or a cheese plate, 2 mini-scones, a dessert and a pot of tea.  Very civilized.

We have drinks and dinner with Serge and Barbara Rand , pretty much every night.  They have been buying SilverSea cruises from me for many years, but SilverSea just joined Distinctive Voyages recently and this is the first time our schedules have managed to mesh.  It’s great.  Serge is an accountant by trade and is convinced SilverSea is the best bargain at sea.  It sure is very nice, indeed.  We met in the Panorama lounge, to try it out because it had been suggested to me for my Happy Hours and I had published same in my first newsletter, so we had to try it out.  It was great. The band was playing but we could sit far enough away to hear ourselves talk.

We also tried S.A.L.T. kitchen that night and it worked for us, too.  Barbara is in the enviable position of needing to gain some weight, so she has a standing order for foie-gras poelé every night.  That’s the diet I want to be on.  I’ll be having it tomorrow night.  Anyone can, but you have to order it the night before, if you don’t want it every night.  I forgot to mention I had had caviar a couple of nights ago.  You can order that any night.  Life is very hard here.  We weren’t sailing until 10:30pm, so we had a local show the “Alaskan String Band” a family operation, complete with terrific slides on the big screen behind them. 

On Monday, September 16th, Andrea and I had booked the Skagway City Streetcar tour. It reminded me of when Kathy Stefano was doing “Mr. Toad’s Tours” in San Francisco.  I could have pictured Kathy doing this one, too.  Our guide, Anna, was a kick.  She was dressed in period costume and had, or put on, a husky, saloon, tobacco ravaged drawl.  It was plenty loud, even without a mike, and she sure knew her stuff.  The Skagway “trams” are the oldest fleet of sightseeing buses in the USA.  Skagway/Haines is the only place in Alaska with roads out.  You can drive 24 kilometers to Canada, a very remote part of Canada, mind you.  People do it.  There are RV parks and people do drive up here for a pretty unique holiday.  Of course, some people live in the RVs year-round, but I would imagine they are expensive to heat in the winter.  If you don’t use a road, it’s four days to Washington on a ferry. 

It’s warmer than you would think.  Skagway is an ice-free, deep-water port.  We get worse weather in winter in Montreal.  During the gold rush, there were 120 men here for every woman.  At this point there are 800 year-round residents, but 1.2 million tourists come through, most of them on cruise ships.  A lot of the RV people come up to work in the service industries.  It costs them $700 to park the RV.

We met the Rands for cocktails, in the Panorama Lounge, again, but this time the ship had “Name that Tune” in the middle of it and we fled to the piano lounge, “La Dolce Vita”, to hear ourselves think.  I’ll be moving our Happy Hours.  We had dinner in “Atlantide”, the main dining room.  I had foie gras poelé and it was wonderful, oink.

The next day, September 17, we, and the Rands, took the Sitka walking tour, which was interesting and informative, and not very taxing.  Mind you, I pay dearly, the next day, for all the standing.  My left ankle is a mess, thanks to having stood on it for more than 50 years, favouring my right knee.  And old habits die hard.  Even now when my mind knows it will pay if I stand on it, my body seems not to, and I just go ahead and do myself in. 

When the United States purchased Alaska from Russia; the actual transfer ceremony occurred on October 18, 1867, Canada having refused the Russians’ offer to sell to it first.  Our government has been dumb since its inception.  In its defense, it was a tad busy in 1867, setting itself up.  We definitely should have bought Alaska, though.  The place is still sparsely inhabited, rich as it is.  People get paid to live there.  I would love a check from the government every year, instead of giving it half of my net income, which is the case, where I am now.

This lovely old building is the Sitka Pioneer Home and you can still go live there if you have been a resident of Sitka for a few years prior to needing to,  Hmmm. 

Again, our guide was a permanent resident, who knew all these things and the walk was interesting.  What the place lacked, were a few nice terrasses to enjoy fish ‘n chips and a beer in the sunlight.  I think that is probably because we were getting a lot more sunlight than was normal, in these parts.  After Juneau’s rainy day, we have had nothing but glorious sunshine. 

We poked around the shops a bit and I want to take some credit for the glorious sunshine.  I bought a can of waterproofing stuff and sprayed all of our outerwear.  I had found out that my raincoat was anything but, one night when I got soaked to the skin on the way to Sakura, which is one block over and one block down from my apartment.   Now that it is waterproof again, I haven’t needed it.  Good investment.

We had another very nice dinner with the Rands at Atlantide and were well entertained by the SilverSea Singers and Dancers in “Dance on Fire”.  This troupe gives more performances than any I have seen on any other ship, and that’s saying a lot, with my cruise history.  I have over 1,000 days at sea. 

Finally, Wednesday, September 18 was a sea day, after three days in port.  It was time to write a newsletter.  I had plenty to say.  Happy Hours had to be moved, and it had dawned on me that I could have more official cocktail parties, as drinks are free on board here anyway.  All I have to do is pay a few tips and, if Distinctive Voyages doesn’t pick those up, I can do it myself.  I had also tee’d up a couple more dinners together.  So, I put all that together and wrote Newsletter No 2.  I distributed it myself since Andrea is now playing Duplicate Bridge in the afternoons.  That’s the thing I’d like to do, if I ever stop working and blogging.  One of these days, I will.  Deliveries are short and easy on this ship, as there is only one aisle on each deck, which makes them half the work, and my ankle actively likes walking on a moving ship, even after a day like yesterday.  It seems to fix it.  Eight people came for cocktails and we met another six in the show after, where we have taken to sitting together.  Tonight’s entertainer was Douglas Ladnier, a male vocalist, who had spent a long time on Broadway and knew well how to sing and entertain.  We liked him a lot. 

Thursday, September 19, we were in Kdiak.  There was a “Self-Guided Wildlife Walking Tour” on offer, and Andrea and I decided to take it.  I figured I would do better on that and Andrea could range farther if she wanted to.  It was a beautiful day and the trail was easy.  Like much of Alaska, it’s a rain forest.  Just look at the moss on these trees. 

They gave us a map, showing the main trails, which park vehicles drove on, and the side paths which went out to the cliffs.  We only had an hour and twenty minutes to walk, though, and after we spent half an hour of that in a WWII bunker than contained interesting things, like a Willys Jeep, and an old telephone switchboard that still worked, there wasn’t much time for deviation.  I stayed on the straight and wide and got back to the bus with 10 minutes to spare and Andrea went off-road and just made it.  As far as wild life went, I saw a squirrel.  

SilverSea hadn’t been having Sailway parties up to now, but they did have one for leaving Alaska, before 5 or 6 days at sea.  The ship sailed at 4pm.  Andrea got up there early, but I needed to line my stomach at the Arts Café, as I wasn’t sure there would be enough hors d’oeuvres to make breakfast for me.  By the time I got there I could tell it had been a good party, but it was thinning out.  That meant I got to dance with the crew and that wasn’t a bad thing.  It meant I got to renew my nodding acquaintance with singer Ryann, from South Africa.  He’s gorgeous.  I was able to ask him if they ever came out to have dinner with the passengers, and would he like to join a group of us one night?  He would.  Be still my heart.  All I had to do was work with J.P., the Cruise Director, and it would happen. 

We had cocktails with the Rands in the Observation Lounge to check it out and it was just fine.  Then we had dinner in La Terrazza, which continues to mystify us, as it’s largely empty, but oh, so protected, when you go to book.  Anyway, it was pretty good, and certainly bountiful.  The show that night showcased the talents of another of the cast singers, Lelo Ramasimong, also from South Africa, and a real powerhouse of a voice.  It was my lucky night, too, as sitting right behind me was Douglas Ladnier, the heart throb from the night before.  I asked him if he would join our gang for dinner one night, too, and got the same delightful answer.  I’ll be stalking J.P. in the morning to set up the dinners.  I went to bed happy, looking forward to an extra hour of sleep.  Life is good.

It was a good thing I packed on Sunday, because I worked until 1:45am, with no stop for dinner.   I just made another egg, peanut butter and milk shake and had it at my desk around 9pm.  I am glad I can still work like that when I have to, but it’s not all that much fun.  I turned out my light at 2:30am and was up again at six to catch my plane to Vancouver.  They had a business class breakfast for sale for $17.95 and I was in a preferred seat in economy, so I hoped they would have one for me, but no such luck.  I had a bowl of not very good oatmeal. I was starving by the time I got off the plane.  

My good friend, Pat Harrold, picked me up, settled me in to their apartment in Yaletown and we went out searching for lunch.  It was after 4pm EST by then.  I had a super fried chicken and jalapeno sandwich, and a nap until 6pm PT, when we watched the debate.   

Then we went out to dinner.  We found a nearby Taiwanese restaurant.  It was interesting and quite good, especially the beer:

You had to love the presentation.  The food was pretty good too.  Here’s Pat, enjoying.

By the time we had walked the kilometer or so back, I was ready for bed again and slept well and soundly, with the window open to the downtown traffic. 

I got up when I woke up, which was none too early, and set about making my Welcome Packets for the cruise.  It’s not a trivial operation.  Distinctive Voyages sends me nice cardboard folders and letterhead and links to assorted files.  I do a mail merge with my manifest and print up four pages to be stuffed into the folders.  This time there were 22 of them for a total of 44 people.  My apologies to all the Vancouver friends I never even called.  It’s a good thing we saw each other last year, because this was just a work stop.  Pat and I did get to Granville Island by ferry and enjoyed some very eclectic food at Tap & Barrel, like good tourists.  It helped that the ferry to the island was a very short walk from the apartment.  

September 12 was boarding day.  Andrea Terni, my co-host this cruise, had arrived in Vancouver the night before and we elected not to bother trying to meet up, but just to board.  Paul drove me to the dock, less than 10 minutes from the apartment, around one-thirty.  SilverSea was ready for me in the person of Oleksandr, the Front Desk guy assigned to my case.  We had soon matched our manifests, and I was able to report back to DV that all was as we had expected it to be and I had cabin numbers for everyone, including the guarantee status suites.  Andrea and I had one of those, and our ship came in.  It turned out to be a Medallion Suite, with a separate living room and my desk in the hall.  We have both a tub and a shower, a separate bedroom, free premium WiFi and free laundry.  It’s probably about 500 sq.ft. with its balcony, which I wish we could use, but it’s chilly.

Andrea delivered the packets, and I phoned all the cabins.  We had had a change in our expected shore excursion date and the new one was in Ketchikan – the day after tomorrow.  SilverSea’s shore excursion desk wanted to know tonight, who was coming to ours and who was taking a ship’s tour.  A free shore excursion is no big deal on SilverSea, as they have plenty of those on offer to all passengers, as well as some pretty good tours with a smaller uptick.  But everybody needed to know the numbers, our tour operator and SilverSea’s. 

I couldn’t reach everyone, of course, but promised to have the info as soon as I could next morning.  For maybe the first time ever, we made it to dinner in time to eat and see the show.  It was a sampler production show and the sample told us that the singers and dancers are very good.  We’ll be going to all their shows. 

Having our shore excursion in the first port makes for a real scramble the first and only day at sea.  That was September 13.  I had to get a newsletter out as fast as I could and be on the phone even before my 11am official office hour.  That was almost a disruption to my shore excursion verification activities, as there is no phone at the desk.  Ten people came by though, so there were that many, whose shore excursion plans I knew.  By the end of the afternoon, both the shore excursion department and I knew which end was up, after all, and I was able to email the count to Project Expedition.  I hope I never again have our shore excursion in the first port, on the second day.  It’s way too stressful. 

All that communication worked to drive people to our Welcome Reception, though, and 33 out of 44 people were present in the Observation Lounge at 5:00PM.  SilverSea had set it up well, in a nice big circle and it was easy to talk to all the guests and get a little info on everyone.  It’s a very nice group.  Our cocktail reception led right into the Captain’s Welcome Reception, and I invited anyone who wished to join us for dinner, afterwards, to please do.

Six people did.  It was a lively dinner in Atlantide with the Rands, Pherwanis, and Mitchells.  Atlantide is the Main dining room, where the food is delicious, the attention, solicitous, and the china, absolutely gorgeous.

We were late for the show, which was Marc Paul, a mentalist.  It was just as well.

September 14, the day of our shore excursion in Ketchikan, Alaska, came around soon enough and we were up at six.  It was a good, punctual group and we were dockside at 8:15am.  We were met there and escorted our bus, and our Driver-Guide, Thomas.  He looked like a typical Alaskan, a big teddy bear of a guy.  Thomas is married to a Tlingit, so he understands the culture.  Despite the competition from SilverSea’s free tours, we had a respectable 21 out of 44 on ours.  It did not disappoint.  First we went to the clan Eagle-Bear house for a traditional ceremonial dance:

Then Thomas took us out to the Saxman Totem Park and explained the difference between poles that honor and poles that shame.

And what happens to totem poles when they rot and fall over.  There is much respect.  It was a lovely setting

But the best was yet to come.  Our crab feast was fabulous.  We arrived to four flavours of Mimosas, or you could just drink champagne.  Then came more wine to accompany a most delicious crab and brie casserole, with all kinds of salads and breads, and a nice spicy salmon dip, too.  We all thought that was it, and then, they brought out the crab.  It was Dungeness Crab, too, the best.  It came with a short lecture on how to eat this west coast delicacy.  I thought I knew, after 25 years in Northern California, but even I learned a lot.  And was it good!   Just when we thought we couldn’t manage another bite, out come the cheesecakes.  Oh, my.  I did not get one single ghost of a complaint about this tour. 

We were back on board in the early afternoon as the ship sailed for Juneau at 2:30PM.  After a nice little nap, Andrea and I had dinner in the Italian Restaurant “La Terrazza” without reservations, but were put on warning that we would only get that indulgence once and would have to book next time.  It was very good food, so we will.  The singers and dancers were on board again at 9:30pm, with a new production show.  Wonderful.  We enjoyed the show and slept very well.