One thing that I have been doing, that does take time but is very rewarding, is preparing a sheet on each of the cities that we have previously visited for distribution to the members of this year's Cruise Critic group at our Port MeetUps that have been initiated by Brian Krueger, this year's leader. We usually discuss two or three ports at one meeting. People have really enjoyed these informal meetings to discuss any tours that members may have booked independently, to have passengers who have already been to the cities share information on sites to see, and, probably most importantly, to learn how to get into the city independent of a tour and where the closest Walmart is. We often have 60 or more people at these meetings and around 70 at our once-a-segment Cruise Critic Luncheon, where Master Chef Antonio Cortese prepares a special pasta dish as an appetizer for the group. We fill almost the entire center section of the Club Restaurant.
I serve as secretary of the group, and one of my self-appointed duties is to prepare a handout about the ports we have visited either on a world cruise or on an independent vacation. Usually, the handout is an entry from our blog edited to one page. Many of our members have thanked me for them and told me that they have copies made for other people at their dining tables. If anyone had said to me five years ago that I would be advising people on what to see and do in cities around the world, I would have laughed and replied it was a funny joke. I cannot believe how much enjoyment and satisfaction I am receiving from this new advocation.
Another member of Cruise Critic suggested that I might be able to catch up on the blog if I submitted only one entry combining new information on all the cities we have previously visited. So that's what I am doing with several photographs attached from each place. (If you do not know what Cruise Critic is, it is a website at cruisecritic.com. If you are taking a cruise, you should not leave home and start sailing without signing up on it!)
GUAM: Where America's Day Begins and Where We Took a Self-Guided Tour--March 6, 2012
When we had taken a three-hour ship's tour of Guam in 2010, our tour guide told us that he wished we were on a six-hour tour because there were so many more sights to see. One of the members of Cruise Critic who had lived in Guam for three years could not think of anything else we should see. (He could hardly believe Guam had enough sights for a three-hour tour.) So we rented a car with Noemi and Sergio. Here is how our day went.
After taking the ship's shuttle to the Hyatt Hotel at 7:55 a.m. where we picked up our rental car, we headed directly to the Post Office at the Airport because we thought it would be less crowded than the one in town. We were the only people from the ship there but the line was still long. We did not leave the Post Office until 11 a.m. Then we drove to the best spot on our self-guide tour, Two Lovers Point. The two lovers were the daughter of the most powerful Charmaro chief and a Charmaro warrior. Unfortunately, the young woman's father wanted her to marry a Spanish Army Captain and forbade her to see her true love. The two lovers met one night with their plan to flee in a canoe. They heard the Spanish soldiers behind them who were searching for them. To escape, the lovers tied their long shining hair together in a knot and jumped off the cliff into the ocean. To this day, people claim to hear the whispers of the two lovers upon the waves proclaiming their undying love. Visitors leave luggage tags on the railing with hearts and locks. The spectacular view was well worth the $3 per person admission charge.
Other sights we stopped at for photo-ops were Sella Bay Overlook, the Magellan Monument that was an unimpressive green and white pillar, Bear Rock and Inarajan Natural Pond filled with fish for snorkelers. When we returned our car at the Hyatt, we had the pleasure of waiting in a long line with at least half the passengers on the ship for a shuttle to return to the Pacific Princess for our sailaway.
BUSAN,KOREA: Not As Enchanting as Two Years Ago and a Little Bit Shabbier--March 15, 2012
When we visited Busan in 2010, we took the most amazing ship's tour to the Beomeosa Temple and Ja-Gah-Ch'l or Aunties' Market that was established by women peddlers during the Korean War. The handout I produced on that tour inspired other passengers to sign up for it. We decided to visit the Tongdosa Temple and the United Nations National Cemetery. Our tour bus boasted as extravagant a decor as our bus in 2010. Our guide told us to call her Pah (pronounced like "paw"). She explained that the city had decreased in population to almost 3 million after exceeding 4 million because the slow economy is causing people to leave the city.
The most impressive thing about the Tongdosa Temple was its setting. On one side of the gate to the temple was the very urban city of Tongdosa while on the other side was a great forest of pine trees, creating a drastic change from city to forest. The river running in front of the temple created a sense of peach and calm. Neither the buildings or the Buddhas were as impressive as those of Beomeosa Temple. Several couples found a shop that sold souvenirs, and our guide had to go in search of them at the time we were supposed to leave. The rest of the tour, her major goal seemed to be to make up the time we lost and get us back to the ship three hours before we had to be aboard so she did not spend one more minute with us than her contract stated. The lesson I, and all other instructors, need to remember from this experience is that our students do not care why things do not go the way the person in charge planned. They only want to receive your very best effort and everything that they assumed they were promised.
On our way to the United Nations Memorial Cemetery, our tour guide told us that Korea had been engaged in a civil war from 1950 to 1953. We remember it as the Korean War. But most of us are unsure of what the definite outcome of that war was. John Renninger, a lecturer told us that Americans have the tendency to think that all revolutions and civil wars end up like our own. However, ours are the exceptions. Almost 60 years later, our guide said that the relationship with North Korea "is not good." She traveled with a tourist group to North Korea. The majority of the group members were in their 60s and 70s and had relative there they wanted to see but were not permitted to talk to them.
At the United Nations Memorial Cemetery, our guide gave us a brief lecture at the tombs of the U.S. soldiers, offered us no brochures, failed to tell us what we could see and gave us only 20 minutes before we were to return to the bus. We accidentally discovered the Memorabilia Hall and Memorial Service Hall but failed to view the Wall of Remembrance (similar to the Vietnam War Monument in Washington, D.C., the UN Forces Monument and the Unknown Soldiers Pathway. We should have spent at least one hour at this magnificent memorial with a guide who ensured we tour the entire cemetery and its buildings and structures.
One thing our tour guide was enthusiastic about was the Aunties Fish Market, which was not on our tour agenda. Several of us asked her if the bus could drop us off there and we would take the ship's shuttle bus back to the Pacific Princess. However, she said that was not possible. So as soon as we arrived at the port gate, a significant number of us jumped off the tour bus and onto the shuttle bus for a brief visit to photograph the colorful, live and unusual fish there. Another lesson to learn from our guide's reaction is that even if one is asked to do something not exciting to that person and would rather be doing something else (providing a tour of the Aunties Market), it is important to do the best possible job in any task assigned.
I did purchase souvenirs for my cousins Kim and Munro and their daughter Emma, who was born in Korea and adopted by them. These items marked "Made in Korea" were actually bought in Korea.
PHUKET: Thailand's Favorite Resort Getaway--March 31
Unless one knows what we experienced the two days before, it is hard to comprehend how excited we were to meet up with the ship that morning and how tired we were. We had taken an independent tour to Angkor Wat, which was fantastic until the day that we were to meet the ship in Singapore on March 29. We missed our connection in Kuala Lumpur that day, discovered that the Lost Cost Carrier Terminal there was the worst airport in the world, could not get a reservation at the only hotel within 40 miles, spent the night sitting up in uncomfortable chairs in the Luxury Lounge of the terminal for a special rate of $110, got up at 5 a.m. to catch our plane to Phuket that did not leave until 7:30 a.m. and then spent that day and night at a five-star resort on the bay several miles from where the Pacific Princess would dock the next day. Yes, this was a living nightmare with a happy but costly ending. Our travel tip for you is to never fly the friendly (?) skies of AirAsia.
The stories that must have circulated around the ship about us failing to reboard in Singapore were probably even more interesting than our actual adventures. I do promise to write blog entries about Angkor Wat and our unbelievable journey to Phuket. As tired as we still were on Tuesday morning, we would have been happy to stay at the Cape Panwa Hotel until check-out time because we had swum in only two of its five pools, had the hotel keep our luggage and take the hotel's shuttle bus into the village if we had not signed up for an independent snorkeling tour to Pee Pee Island with Lannie and Marsha. So we met our party after they debarked the ship at 7:30 a.m. Oh, for a few hours additional sleep!
Barb, from Toledo, Ohio, described this tour the best--it started out slow but it got much better. Ken and I appreciated the slow start because we were not really awake. It took us about an hour to sail to the island. Then we had the opportunity to snorkel twice in stunningly beautiful waters, take photographs of the monkeys on the island and enjoy a beautiful buffet lunch on the beach before returning to the ship. There we discovered just how much laundry we had from our incredible adventure.
CHENNAI, INDIA: A Tour That Is Best Forgotten--April 3, 2012
To be totally honest, we have never visited Chennai. We only changed planes at the airport (on outstanding Kingfisher Air) when we were on our way to the Taj Mahal and India's Golden Triangle last year. However, our independent tour in Chennai so bad that it does not deserve a separate entry. All of us on the tour want to forget it. We were definitely taken advantage of by being underwhelmed and overcharged. Probably the most blatant example of our misuse was when our tour guide took us to a money exchanger where we received the worst exchange rate of anyone else on the Pacific Princess. Then our tour guide went back in the money changer's office after we had finished our transactions. No one on the tour doubted that she was receiving a kickback.
To be fair, we did drive by Marina Beach, the second longest beach in the world, and toured the Tomb of Doubting Thomas and the National Museum where we saw beautiful bronze statues of the Hindu god. On the negative side, we stopped at a silk shop where the crepe silk top that I purchased was really polyester, did not see a dance performance for which we had paid because the students were taking an exam when we arrived, and did not stop at the Government Museum (we also paid the entrance fee) because our guide said it was not impressive but learned from other passengers who toured it that it had much to offer. All we seemed to do was drive back and forth along the same roads in incredible traffic jams. On our drive back to the port, our guide had the audacity to say that she wished we could stay longer in Chennai because there is so much to see. This tour made me want to auction off our 10-year visa to visit India to the highest visitor.
It seems that the best ship tours were the ones that took tours outside the city to different temples. We should mention the tour guide on one of the buses that went to Kanchipuram, the "golden city of 1,000 temples," who received many negative reviews. She had the passengers on her bus take off their shoes three blocks before the major temple and walk barefooted on hot pavement and rocky roads to the temple. Parts of India really need to get their acts together and treat visitors properly.
MUMBAI, INDIA: Mumbai Magic is as Magical as Ever--April 7, 2012
While this is the third time that we have visited Mumbai, our tour deserves a separate entry, which I will write eventually. Mumbai Magic provided us with an outstanding customized tour that showed us the contrasts of the city. The tour started with a stop at the Sassoon Docks, where the smell of fish overwhelmed us both with smell and sight. Then we traveled to Bandra, the wealthiest section of the city with its old money; Bandra, the "Queen of the Suburbs" with its new money; and Dharavi, Asia's largest slum that breaks any stereotypical depictions one has of the poor. This is the slum in which scenes for the Academy-Award winning movie, Slum Dog Millionaire, were shot. I am writing an article about Dharavi that I hope a newspaper or magazine will publish. Do any of you have any suggestions for publication to which I should submit the article?
DUBAI: Third Time's the Charm--April 12-13, 2012
The first time we visited Dubai, we were overwhelmed on a wonderful tour by how ostentatious and over the top the city was. The second time, we took the hop-on, hop-off bus and experienced a sandstorm. Dubai would not be our first choice for an overnight stay, but our two days in the city where everything is bigger, better, taller and faster were fantastic.
At 3:30 p.m. on the day we arrived in the city, we boarded our four-wheel drive vehicle for a drive into the desert to a simulated Bedouin village. Driving sideways on the sand dunes is an experience we will never forget. Activities at the village included sand boarding, camel riding, a typical Middle Eastern buffet dinner and a belly dancer from Egypt. The camel that I rode tried to help me lose five pounds from each cheek of my derriere by biting the pounds off. Thankfully, he was wearing a muzzle.
The second day, we were signed up for the ship's tour to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, with it observation deck on the 124th floor. We had tried unsuccessfully to book our own "journey to the top" to learn that all of the tours had been sold out. We learned from our tour guide that Dubai experienced a record-number of cruise ships the day we visited so we knew the cruise ships had purchased all the tickets. When the bus stopped at the Mall of the Emirates where we could watch the people at Ski Dubai, our tour guide informed us that we had to be back on the bus at 10:50 a.m. to make our 11:30 time for our ride to the top. Everyone was on the bus on time except one couple whom we learned were always late. It shocked me that the passengers who had traveled with this couple on previous tours started to shout that we should leave without them so we did not miss the main attraction of our tour. David, the choir director who was our escort, ran back into the mall and saw the pair on the top floor trying to find their way out. When they boarded the bus, the other passengers actually booed. The couple was never late again that day.
So off the bus raced to the parking lot for the tower, which is the translation for Burj. We made it to the entrance at exactly 11:30. Then wove around in a long line until clearing security at 11:55. Then we waited in another long line until 12:30 p.m. to take the one-minute ride in the elevator. While we could not feel that we were moving at a high rate of speed, my ears popped at about the 100th floor. Once we reached the observation terrace, we were treated to 360 degree sweeping views of all of Dubai. The desert actually starts right after the buildings end. Then we waited in another long line to take the elevator down. The major attraction on this floor after the views was an ATM that offered "Gold to Go." Our tour guide had informed us that the entire experience usually takes one hour but our trip to and from the top took two.
Once we were all back on the bus, our guide gave us a mini-tour of major tourist attractions in Dubai with stops to take all the appropriate photographs. This guide and tour exceeded all expectations!
NOTE: Attached are pictures from Guam, Busan, Phuket and Dubai.
