Another day at sea

We’ve done only one other back to back cruise where we went to the same places. The first time was a cruise around Hawaii on the Pride of America. It was great fun but about day 10 of the 14 day cruise, we were ready to return home. We are now in day 4 of a 16 day cruise; or day 20 of 32, and we’re still looking forward to what is coming up next. Of course, what is coming up next is Hong Kong and that’s just a fascinating place. We have 2 more days to explore this world class city and we won’t even begin to run out of things to do. From there we’ll stop in Vietnam where we have 2 new shore excursions planned there.

We have wonderful table-mates on this leg of the cruise. Claudia and John from Minnesota, and Dave and Kay from Colorado, and their son Carl, who is living in Bangkok right now. We also have 2 great waiters, Larry and Romeo. Since food is a big deal on a ship, it's great to eat with such a neat set of folks.

Yesterday we were in Keelung, Taiwan…and we had great plans to explore the port city, as we explored Taipei a few days ago. After a rocky night, we sailed into Keelung under a rainstorm. Exploring without an umbrella in the rain is not my idea of fun, so we did something few cruisers do…we stayed on the boat. Ocean Princess is not a huge boat, less than 1000 people, pax and crew, so when most of the pax went ashore; we had what seemed like a yacht to ourselves. What a treat that is! I went to the spa and splurged on a full body massage, facial, and all that entails. After 2 hours of pure pleasure I was ready to meet whatever the day had to offer. The pax started to return about 3 PM and our yacht became a ship again. It had to happen. (BTW, pax is short for passenger in ship parlance.)

I’ve been remiss in sending out birthday greetings. Please accept my apologies Teresa, Debra, George and Aunt Dorothy. Happy Birthday to you!