David and Pam Ellard

Back to back, again
January 27th to March 12th, 2000

PART IV - Vision of the Seas

February 28th
Observed more cruise ships coming and going. Went out to dinner at Italian restaurant. Odd having to pay for your meals. Called Ryan and left messages. When there are no cruise ships in port, it sure is a lot quieter around town. Started filling out the next cruise documents. Finished another book. Did laundry today.

February 29th
Called and confirmed our flight at Acapulco, Mexico back to Seattle. Called and confirmed hotel reservations there also. Decided to take a cab to the Plaza de Americas Mall for something to do. Very large mall with about 200 stores. Saw the largest JC Penney store in the world. Saw 7 cruise ships come in to port by late in the day, needless to say, the noise factor rose. One couple we met on the last cruise live in San Juan. Called them to see if they had time for dinner, but could only do at 10:30 pm. Far too late for us. Seems this is a normal time to eat for them. Listened to a live band playing on the street just below our room after dark.

March 1st
Boarded VISON OF THE SEAS. This is the same ship we were onboard at the beginning of our vacation that brought us thru the Panama Canal eastbound. The cabin assigned to us was on deck 3, an inside cabin. Upon checking out of the Wyndham Hotel, they had charged us $95 for phone calls. Some were $15 each, even for a local call. They credited us back the full amount after discussing this with them. Ship was scheduled to leave port at 10:00 pm, but had to wait for passengers that had flights that came in late. Left port at 1:00 am. Muster was re-scheduled for the next day. Was not a problem because the next port of call was only 75 miles away. We assisted other passengers with info and advice. They had never been on a cruise ship before. Because we are Diamond Level members, check in for us is at a special table. There were hundreds of other people are waiting in line for check in. We walked up to the special counter and boarded the ship before them. This cabin is far aft and above the props. Will see if they can move us. Shocked a bar tender when he saw us. He had never seen anyone do 4 cruises in a row before. Sure lots of old people on this cruise. This ship is scheduled to arrive in Seattle on May 15th. Unpacked and sent things out to be cleaned and pressed. Changed our dining room table to a round one. As it turned out, it was the same table we sat at when we were onboard the ship in January. This table is next to the Captain's table in the middle of the room. Rain showers in the morning, hot and muggy. Good thing there is always a breeze here. Again, it seems like thousands of people here either getting on board or getting off the ships.

March 2nd
Arrived at St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. The normal schedule is to arrive at port early in the morning and leave about 6:00 pm that same day. We received a no charge cabin upgrade to the Brahm Suite, number 8000 which is the second largest cabin on the ship just behind the bridge on the port side. Could lean out over the balcony and see into the bridge. Needless to say, we moved into it quickly. The last ship had notified the Head Pursor we were coming onboard. She was from Vancouver, British Columbia. Found a jewelry shop to fix one of Pam's necklaces. This cabin's balcony is twice the size of other balconies on the ship. It will provide an excellent view of the Panama Canal once we get there. Played slots, of course, lost my $20, but was fun. Other couples at our table are very nice. Bonded with them almost immediately. While in port at St. Thomas, I walked the marina docks to look at the huge yachts in port. Very hot, muggy, and no wind in the harbor. Our waiter and assistant waiter for our table are very entertaining. Best waiters we have had.

March 3rd
At sea all of last night, today, and tonight. A formal night for dinner. Invited the other couples from our dining room table to come to our cabin for cocktails before dinner. Had called the Head Pursor to arrange for a small tray of finger food. What came was done by the Head Chef and could have fed 20 people or more. Normally, they charge for this, but they waived it. The other couples were impressed with the size of the cabin. Our cabin had 2 huge TV's. Believe all other cabins have only one small 12 inch TV. Ours had a huge stereo system with surround sound, a wet bar, a bidet, and a jacuzzi tub. Our bathroom alone was bigger than their cabins. Sent e-mails from the Internet Cafe onboard the ship. Finished reading another book. Think I have read about 12 books so far. Been shopping on the ship.
With our Diamond Level status, we get 20 percent discount even off of the duty free prices. Had to fill out the Mexican Entrance form. Odd that they are so picky and want so much information for us to come to Mexico compared to them coming to the USA.

March 4th
Arrived at Willemstad, Curacao. Great view from out of our balcony of the town and shore. Did my 10 fast walking laps around the bridge deck again. Been trying to do this almost everyday to try to get some exercise. Not been drinking enough water on some days and have become dizzy, and sick due to dehydration. You do not realize this until too late. Then, it takes a couple of hours rest and drinking water before you feel better. Stayed onboard the ship all day. Did not go into town or do a tour because we had been here on one of the other cruise ships. Sure a quiet ship when most of the people are on a tour or in town. Stayed up late tonight to go to the 50's and 60's rock and roll dance around the pool. Very nice night with the wind at the stern making it seem like no wind whatsoever. The ship was traveling at the same speed as the wind. The Captain and the Cruise Director came to our cabin for a visit. Doubt if they do this very often.

March 5th
At sea all last night, today, and tonight. Next stop is the Panama Canal tomorrow morning. We got invited to dine with the Captain tonight. I had made suggestions to the Ship's Hostess and other key managers to invite the people at our dining room table also. The other couples thanked us time and time again for this special treat for them. I was glad it worked out this way for them. Enjoying the company of these couples not only at the dining room table, but elsewhere onboard as well.

March 6th
Arrived at the east entrance to the Panama Canal about 6:00 am. We invited our dining room couples to come to our suite to have a panama party while going thru the locks. Went thru several bottle of wine and champagne, most of it donated by the ship. Again, had ordered a food tray. Two huge ones came. Made up a plate and took it to the bridge for the officers to eat. They do not take time to eat because they are to busy. Set clocks back one hour today. Had been 4 hours ahead of home at one time. The Cruise Director had came to our suite earlier in the morning for coffee. Took many photos. Have been buying professional photos of the transit and the ship for our album. It will take all day to transit the Canal depending upon the scheduling of other ships ahead of us.

March 7th
Now out in the Pacific Ocean. It is not as blue as the Caribbean Ocean. The seas were very flat and calm with not a whitecap in sight. Weather near 90 degrees, cloudy, and with very dark clouds scattered around. Just off of the starboard side of the ship between the coastline and our ship, saw 2 huge waterspouts develop out of almost black clouds. The ship has been changing directions to avoid these dark clouds, but still had heavy rain now and then. We are heading Northeast. Was invited to tour the kitchen onboard the ship. Amazing how so much food can be prepared each day. Saw 4 soup cooking machines that were 100 gallons each. They make their own bread and pastries each day. They prepare food 24 hours a day. Think they said they had almost 100 chefs and about 400 people to assist them. Sent e-mails to Ryan and others. Went to the Crown and Anchor Society Party, which is only for the people who have done 12 cruises before. It make one wonder how onboard the ship, they can have over 40 different nationalities working happily together, but in the real world they can't.

March 8th
Arrived at Puntarenas (Caldera Bay), Costa Rica and tied up to a very small dock at 4:00 am. Only the middle of the ship was against the dock. The bow and stern lines were tied to concrete posts sticking out of the water hundreds of feet in front and behind the ship. The ship has to arrive and depart at high tide because it is very shallow in this large bay. When the bow and stern thrusters are activated, huge clouds of sand are swept up. The bow thrusters have 5000 horsepower. At the dock, there is only 6 feet of water under the hull. At certain times of the year, the ship can not go into this port because the tides are not high enough. The Pacific Ocean at certain times of the year has a 22-foot tide and at the same time, the Caribbean only has about 8 inches of tidal difference. We set our clocks back 1 hour tonight. The Ship's Hostess decided not to have a Diamond Level party because there was only 10 member couples onboard. Instead, they sent out 2 bottles of wine to each couple. We walked down the long dock to shore and thru the security gate and did some shopping on shore. This is not a pretty harbor. The water and small waves at the shore was brown and not clear. On each ship, they have two evening shows; an early and then a later one depending upon the time you are eating dinner. If you are on the early seating, you are supposed to go to the early show. The cruise ships do this because they can not seat all of the passengers at one time nor in the show auditorium. It got to be a problem because those on the late seating would go to the early show and also save seats for their friends. Getting a seat for us became a hassle. Looking around in the auditorium noticed many older people asleep in their seats during the show while we sat on the stair steps. Bet we saw 100 people in wheel chairs. As part of the cruise package, a bus tour of San Juan was included at the end of the cruise. We decided to sign up for this tour because we learned earlier that we needed to delay our arrival at the hotel until later in the day. For some unknown reason, check out time is 3:00 pm when normally it is noon or 1:00 pm. This turned out to be a mistake. While in port, many people took tours that required them to be gone most of the day. We stayed on the ship. Sure was quiet with no one around.

March 9th
At sea again all last night, today, and during the night. Tonight is a formal night. The majority of the passengers do take the time to dress up nicely. However, to some people, it means changing into fresh socks. In the early morning, I noticed that the ship's normal background noise and motion had stopped. Found out later they had to shut down the engines to replace a huge sea water pump. Less than an hour later, we were underway. We have been having breakfast served to us on the balcony. I finished another book. Good thing they have a nice sized library onboard. Played slots and won $100, kept it. We had portrait photos taken and decided to buy them.

March 10th
We have been sleeping very well with calm seas, our balcony door open, and enjoying the sounds of the waves. Surprisingly, received our 4th Millenium sculpture and other gifts from the cruise ship. Now, had to figure out how to get all of these things back to Seattle. With the help from the Pursor, we obtain a strong cardboard box and wrapped up the fragile items with our dirty clothing. We will check it in with our other luggage on the airline and hope it makes it OK. At the end of each cruise, you tip various people such as your waiters, your room steward, your wine steward, the headwaiter, etc for their services. This averages about $3.50 per day, per person. Of course, we tipped our favorite bartenders. We picked up the video taped they cruise line does on each cruise that we had ordered at the beginning of the cruise. This is the last night onboard. We packed up and put our luggage outside our cabin door. We will disembark the ship tomorrow morning.

March 11th
We arrived in Acapulco, Mexico very early in the morning. We did not even wake up when the ship was docking. We left the ship and boarded the bus for a tour around the city. We saw many new things, but it stopped so many times at places to let people off to shop, we were getting a little irritated. We went to an area where cliff divers put on a show. Amazing the way they climb the cliffs and dive into the sea. We were ready to get off of this bus, but we still had to wait for our room to be ready at the hotel. We met the same couples who were at our dinning room table for a last night dinner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel overlooking the bay. It was great food and great companionship. They are staying for another 5 days, then the 3 couples are all going home to Virginia. We are going back to Seattle tomorrow. It was a sad departure for all of the couples we had met. Seems like we had been family for years. We exchanged e-mail addresses.

March 12th
Instead of the free shuttle offered to take us to the airport, we took a cab instead. It is much easier and not so hectic as you wait and wait for others to get on the shuttle. We had enough of old people taking 30 minutes to do a 3-minute thing. We were very glad to be out of Mexico. We had a nice flight home, only 6 hours in the air this time and very smooth arriving at 7:00 pm in Seattle, still in shorts. Doug Hicks picked us up at the airport. We went to the 13 Coins restaurant for about an hour to meet Doug's girl friend that was performing there and then back to our condo.

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