(left to right) Cliff Ashdown, Glenn Weirick, and Janet Fisher at Cruise Specialists' Gathering.
Yesterday was to have been the day we spent in Petropavlosk, Kamchatka, on the Siberian Peninsula of Russia. But that did not work out, and we are now headed south for our next port of call, Hakodate, Japan. Our Regent Mariner Captain, Phillippe, received an email stating that no foreign ships could be in port today because Russian President Medeved was going to be there. We feel that the actual reason may be that the United States backed Georgia in Russia’s recent confrontation, so they are retaliating where they have the ability to do so. We may never know the true reason for our inability to stop in that Siberian city…but, we go onward nonetheless. Apparently a Princess ship was also denied access last week after sitting in port nine hours. Fortunately for us, we were able to turn south earlier and we hope to have an additional overnight at Hakodate tomorrow evening.
The past five days onboard have been very relaxing. We’ve been able to get completely caught up with our blogs and our picture web site. There have been some fabulous lectures from U.S. Ambassador Sam Hart on our economy; Pritikin specialist, Dr. Barbara Udell; a Japanese lifestyle lecturer, Mary Symons; as well as wonderful quartet, Odessa Strings; pianist Panos Karan, plus others. Jan’s even done some laundry. Our next 2 days at sea should continue to be filled with onboard activities. We’ve been experiencing somewhat bumpy seas, and the southern heading should smooth the waters.
Jan wants to add a bit about Mary Symons: she is a lovely British lady with extensive Japanese travel and living background. One lecture was on Japanese etiquette, another on Ikebana flower arranging, and her upcoming one is on “The Smallest Room” where she will give us guidelines and information on the bathing rituals of the Japanese (we have many guests doing overland excursions to the Onsen Spa), as well as the extremely functional modern toilets of Japan with the many choices of buttons. More details after that lecture!
Last night we ate at Latitudes Restaurant with George and Sherri Burke. To those of you who have cruised on the Mariner before…Latitudes was changed yesterday into a Japanese restaurant (until we reach Osaka). Here’s a photo we took of Ben, Latitudes’ sushi chef creating near our table, along with the Burkes and Franck Galzy, the ship’s Food and Beverage Manager.
This morning was the 2nd segment’s gathering of our Cruise Specialists’ passengers. Jerry showed a slide show of photographs that he took in Seward, Kodiak, and some Petropavlosk pictures from 2004. He will be posting his older shots of Petropavlosk later today as well at http://www.jerryjanice.shutterfly.com/.
Since we have crossed the International Dateline, we are already on Friday, September 26. Tonight the main dining room is being turned into a dinner dance for our formal evening…next: tomorrow we arrive at Okodate, Japan.
The past five days onboard have been very relaxing. We’ve been able to get completely caught up with our blogs and our picture web site. There have been some fabulous lectures from U.S. Ambassador Sam Hart on our economy; Pritikin specialist, Dr. Barbara Udell; a Japanese lifestyle lecturer, Mary Symons; as well as wonderful quartet, Odessa Strings; pianist Panos Karan, plus others. Jan’s even done some laundry. Our next 2 days at sea should continue to be filled with onboard activities. We’ve been experiencing somewhat bumpy seas, and the southern heading should smooth the waters.
Jan wants to add a bit about Mary Symons: she is a lovely British lady with extensive Japanese travel and living background. One lecture was on Japanese etiquette, another on Ikebana flower arranging, and her upcoming one is on “The Smallest Room” where she will give us guidelines and information on the bathing rituals of the Japanese (we have many guests doing overland excursions to the Onsen Spa), as well as the extremely functional modern toilets of Japan with the many choices of buttons. More details after that lecture!
Last night we ate at Latitudes Restaurant with George and Sherri Burke. To those of you who have cruised on the Mariner before…Latitudes was changed yesterday into a Japanese restaurant (until we reach Osaka). Here’s a photo we took of Ben, Latitudes’ sushi chef creating near our table, along with the Burkes and Franck Galzy, the ship’s Food and Beverage Manager.
This morning was the 2nd segment’s gathering of our Cruise Specialists’ passengers. Jerry showed a slide show of photographs that he took in Seward, Kodiak, and some Petropavlosk pictures from 2004. He will be posting his older shots of Petropavlosk later today as well at http://www.jerryjanice.shutterfly.com/.
Since we have crossed the International Dateline, we are already on Friday, September 26. Tonight the main dining room is being turned into a dinner dance for our formal evening…next: tomorrow we arrive at Okodate, Japan.
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