Bowling on a Cruise Ship

Posted on January 19, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Norwegian Pearl in Cozumel

bowling alley on the Pearl

Modern cruise ships come equipped with a variety of ways to entertain their passengers. Not every ship has everything, but each ship does have quite a lot of choices. Looking at what different ships have to offer provides even more options for things to do during a cruise.

People expect to find things like pools and even waterslides. Norwegian Pearl has something completely different to do- go bowling! The Pearl was the first cruise ship ever to include a bowling alley at sea. Now some other Norwegian ships have them as well, including the Epic – a ship of…well… epic proportions.

bar in the Bliss Ultra Lounge & Night Club

On the Pearl, the bowling alley is located in the Bliss Ultra Lounge and Nightclub. This lounge has just about everything. In addition to the bowling alley it has a bar and dance floor, random beds which for unknown reasons the Pearl has scattered about the ship, and a couple areas that for lack of anything better to call them, we referred to as pimp rooms.

Where’s the harem girls?

The Bliss Ultra Lounge has four bowling lanes, two on each side of the lounge. The nominal fee for bowling includes rental of a pair of bowling shoes. Each bowling lane is completely automated. A television-like screen displays whose turn it is to bowl and keeps score. If anyone bowls a strike or spare a cartoon on the screen celebrates their success.

Norwegian Pearl has brightly colored bowling balls in a variety of sizes

Each set of lanes has a variety of bowling balls to choose from in an array of different sizes and colors. Passengers of all ages can enjoy a trip to the bowling alley. Younger kids may use the optional rails that prevent the ball from rolling into the gutter.

strike one ....in bowling that's a good thing

John bowling on the Pearl

We gave the bowling alley a try on our recent cruise on the Pearl. We’re not expert bowlers, but had a great time anyway. The fact that the people in the adjacent lane did not bowl any better than we did saved us (mainly me) from embarrassment. John did suggest putting up the kiddie rails, but I did manage to keep some balls out of the gutter and even knock down a few pins.

John bowls a strike

Bowling on a ship can be more interesting than bowling on land. A little movement of the ship this way or that could just send your ball right toward the middle of the lane….or into the gutter. Yeah that’s it, motion of the ship. That’s why most of my balls went into the gutter. At least it makes a good excuse!

Does this picture make my butt look fat?

How to Make a Towel Bear

Posted on January 12, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Towel Bear in Carnival Liberty’s Hot & Cool Dance Club

Supplies Needed to Make Towel Bear

1. One Bath Towel

2. One Hand Towel

3. Eyes (bits of felt or paper or googly eyes)

4. Any other desired decorations – tongue, claws, etc.

How to Fold a Towel Bear

How to Fold the Towel Bear Body

roll both ends of bath towel to center

The bear takes the standard body, same as the turtle, pig, or many other towel animals. Lay the bath towel out flat and roll both ends to the center from the short sides.

fold towel in half, rolls to the outside and pull tip ends out of each roll

Fold towel in half with the rolls to the outside. Pull the tips out of the end of each roll. I didn’t get a good picture of this step folding the bear, so I ~~stole~~ borrowed a photo from the cat.

take the tips of one roll in one hand, and the other roll in the other hand

Grasp the two tips that are the ends of one roll in one hand and the two tips that are the ends of the other roll in the other hand.

pull all 4 tips at once until the rolls pull out into the 4 legs of an animal body

Pull all four simultaneously until the rolled towel becomes four legs and a body.

How to Fold the Towel Bear Head

fold hand towel in half crosswise

Fold hand towel in half across the short side.

fold in half again

Fold in half again.

with finger holding down edge, fold corners of towel down the middle

Hold center down with a finger and fold each side down like a triangle.

flip towel over so folded parts of triangles are on the underside

Flip towel to other side and fold the center point over.

fold down center point of triangle

Pick towel up and invert while folding in half.

pick towel up and fold in half while inverting

Shape nose and ears as desired.

shape features as desired

How to Assemble a Towel Bear

place head between leg rolls of body

Place head between leg rolls of body.

bring arm rolls together and pull bear up into sitting position

Bring body up into sitting position. Position legs as desired.

position and decorate as desired

Decorate with eyes and any other embellishments.

I used small googly eyes, bits of pipe cleaner for claws, and felt for the tongue on this bear.

one towel teddy bear

If you are looking for instructions on how to fold a one-towel teddy bear, click here.

Easy Towel Bear

For an Easy Towel Bear click here.

Although the bear is the last animal from the Carnival Liberty series, I still have more animals to come. Next up is the penguin, inspired by a penguin Rosario, our steward on the Norwegian Pearl, folded for us.

penguin inspired by Norwegian Pearl towel penguin

my towel penguin

For instructions on how to fold a variety of other towel animals, click here for the towel animal page.

Posted in Towel Animals | Tagged cruise, cruise ship towel animals, photos, towel animal instructions, towel art, towel bear, towel origami, travel, video | 11 Comments

Shine On Award

Posted on January 10, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Now and then bloggers like to honor other bloggers whose blogs they enjoy with a variety of different awards.

Kris at The Panama Adventure nominated me for the Shine On award. She also gave me new nominations to the Beautiful Blogger Award and the One Lovely Blog award, but since I’ve already posted blogs on those I’ve just added her link to them on my awards page.

Since I could not find any more info about this award, I’ll just have to speculate as to the meaning of the Shine On Award. Perhaps that the blogs nominated are shining stars in the vast array of available blogs? Sounds good to me!

shineon

The requirements for accepting this award are to share seven new things about yourself. Also to nominate ten other bloggers for this award and alert them to their new award nomination with a comment on their blog. Plus post the award on your blog with a link to the blog that nominated you. And required or not it’s always nice to thank the person who gave you the nomination.

Seven Things to Share

1. I’m going to challenge myself to see if I can find 10 blogs to nominate for this award that I have not previously nominated for other awards.

2. I failed in a search for more information about the Shine On Award.

3. The Panama Adventure is of special interest to me because I personally know someone who moved to Panama.

4. It’s a major challenge trying to come up with something to say here that is interesting enough somebody else might actually want to read it.

5. If I could live anywhere in the world I wanted it would be somewhere in the Caribbean. Or on a cruise ship.

6. When I’m not trying to sleep I can fall asleep with the TV going, lights on, and people around, but when I actually want to sleep any tiny noise or crack of light keeps me awake or wakes me up.

7. No matter how long a cruise is, it is never long enough.

My 10 Nominees for the Shine On Award

These blogs are listed in no particular order. The number they have on the list is completely random, not a ranking.

1. The Other Ginger This is a brand new blog so I know I haven’t nominated it for anything else yet. Written by Amy, who also writes AfternoonPopcornSnack.

2. My Travel Tastes Travel stories and food reviews from all over the world.

3. Lame Adventures I recently discovered this humor blog so I haven’t read all that much of it yet, but so far what I have read is quite funny.

4. Ron Scubadiver’s Wild Life Lots of photos from lots of places.

5. Toemail A fun blog that posts all sorts of pictures people submit – all with toes visible.

6. Russel Ray Photos A photographer with a cat living in San Diego

7. Retireediary by Michael Lai, mostly a travel and photo blog

8. Meg Travels a blog about Meg’s travels, and lots of photos.

9. The Road Less Traveled by Ben and Francoise A nearly brand-new travel blog about interesting places most people never visit.

10. Sarajevo in Pictures photoblog about Sarajevo written by an Aussie.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged blog awards, blogging, blogs, Shine On Award | 11 Comments

Hasbro The Game Show on Carnival Breeze

Posted on January 5, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Carnival Breeze in Malaga, Spain

Just about everyone grew up playing Hasbro games. Now some of those old favorites make a new appearance in life-sized splendor in the new Hasbro The Game Show, one of the Funship 2.0 upgrades available when cruising on Carnival‘s newest ship, the Breeze. These games provide a few lucky people the opportunity to live the games they once played.

Our recent transatlantic voyage on Carnival Breeze included three episodes of Hasbro The Game Show. We entered the theater to find the stage transformed into a giant game show set. Anyone sitting in the lower level of the theater may get an opportunity to play, those seated in the balcony can merely observe.

John Heald as game show host

First things first, the host must choose some contestants. John Heald, the cruise director on our transatlantic voyage, hosted the show, announcing at the very start that it was his first time acting as a game show host. Special lighting effects divided the theater into blue and red sides, shining blue or red light on each half of the audience. From the side in the blue light, members of the blue team were chosen, from the red side the red team formed.

wanna-be contestants try to attract attention to get chosen

John Heald asked questions alternately from one side to the other. Many people knew the answer. The key to getting chosen required getting his attention. On the first question a large women ran down the aisle, knocking him down where they both landed in a heap. Afraid of the consequences of not letting her play, she became a contestant, no answer required.

On subsequent questions people found ways to attract his attention until he had four members on each team. Those people played the first game offered that show. For the second game, a repeat of the contestant-choosing questions found eight new people. Neither of us played in the first show, but in the second episode my husband John got picked to answer a question by shining a light over himself. It did make him stand out in the audience of a relatively dark theater.

Did we get the right order that the colors flashed in?

Simon Flash contestants try to line up in the correct sequence

They have a variety of games gone wild so each episode can have some different games. Simon Flash involves people wearing large colored cubes that light up in four different colors and the first team to arrange themselves in the correct order of which the lights flashed for them wins. They had several turns at it, each time the lights flashed faster and the team who lined up quickest the most times won.

Hasbro Connect 4 Basketball

Connect 4 involved throwing a basketball into a giant connect 4 board. The object of course is to get four of your team’s color in a row, but of the teams we watched playing that game one of them struggled just to get a ball into the game board at all. The other team won easily.

John pushes the giant sorry game piece in Sorry Sliders

John played in Sorry Sliders, where each contestant got a chance to slide a very large sorry-style game piece onto a target area for varying amounts of points. His team won that game.

Operation Sam Dunk game

The last game we saw, called Operation Sam Dunk, resembled a cross between operation and skee-ball. Sam, the unfortunate character from the operation game, now appears larger than life on an apparatus resembling a skee-ball table. Instead of the usual circular target areas this game has separate holes for a variety of body parts worth differing amounts of points. Given a time limit, each team rolled the ball one after the other as many times as they could in relay fashion before time’s up. The highest collective team score won.

contestants line up to pick their Monopoly cards

After playing their game, members of the winning team choose cards inspired by monopoly game pieces. The four from the first game sit in winner’s row, the front row next to the stage which has seats reserved just for them. After the winners of the second game get their cards then all eight winning contestants insert their cards one by one into a giant monopoly cash machine and the card that registers the highest amount of monopoly money determines the winner. All players got prizes of some sort involving Hasbro games, the winner of the monopoly money of course receiving the largest prize.

the giant Monopoly money bank determines the winner of the game

We missed the third episode, but had quite a lot of fun at the two we attended. I would definitely recommend this activity for anyone sailing on a Carnival ship that offers it. Our ship had this as an afternoon activity on several of the sea days. Being a transatlantic cruise we had a lot of sea days, which we love.

Posted in Breeze, Carnival, Shipboard Life | Tagged Carnival Breeze, cruise, funship 2.0, game show, giant game pieces, Hasbro The Game Show, photos, sea days | 9 Comments

Best Shore Excursions

Posted on January 1, 2013 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Happy New Year to Everyone

On New Year’s Day people tend to both look forward to the future and backward to reflect upon the past. Since I don’t have my next cruise planned yet, I’ll stick mainly to reflections on past blogs in this post.

Excellent Shore Excursions

I’ve been on a lot of great shore excursions on the cruises I’ve taken. Here’s a few highlights of some of my favorites.

Cave Tubing in Belize with cavetubing.com

Cave Tubing In Belize

One of the most unique activities ever, my Cave Tubing adventure in Belize remains one of my best shore excursion memories. I’ve never seen this guided float through a cave on an innertube offered anywhere else.

staghorn coral at the Great Barrier Reef

Snorkeling

Sailboat Snorkel Excursion to Tintamarre

I love to snorkel. While the best snorkeling of my life was at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, I’ve had a lot of fun snorkeling on shore excursions in the Caribbean as well.

One of the best was the Golden Eagle Catamaran Sail and Snorkel on St. Maarten that went out to the nearby island of Tintamarre.

We had another unique and excellent shore excursion on Grand Cayman, where we snorkeled over the USS Kittiwake, the only US Military ship ever sold to a foreign government for use as an artificial reef.

snorkeling at the Kittiwake, Grand Cayman

USS Kittiwake Wreck and Reef Snorkel Excursion

Other Great Excursions

Temple of the Frescoes at Tulum

We can’t snorkel in every port and we do have fun doing other things sometimes. In Cozumel we visited the Mayan Ruins of Tulum, and learned that the Mayans never predicted the end of the earth like so many people thought they did. Just as we replace our calendars every year, theirs eventually ran out – meaning only time to reset the calendar!

the train snakes up the mountain near Skagway

In Skagway, Alaska we rode the White Pass and Yukon Railway. This narrow-gauge railroad was originally built to get would-be gold miners from the port to the gold, but now serves as the most popular excursion in Skagway.

Jamaican Bobsled Roller Coaster

I’m looking forward to writing about the great times we had at our port stops on our most recent transatlantic and Caribbean cruises, and to all the ports I’ll visit in the future. The port stops on our most recent cruise included Ocho Rios Jamaica where we had tons of fun riding the Jamaican Bobsled roller coaster at Mystic Mountain.

Awesome Local Adventures

Traveling allows people to see all sorts of things around the world that they don’t see in their own backyard. Not all trips take people far from home though, and most areas have a lot to see so people can have some great trips close to home as well. I’ve taken some wonderful vacations that did not involve traveling a long distance from home.

pack mules on the trail with Icicle Outfitters

I had the opportunity to take a pack trip into a wilderness area, something I recommend to anyone who loves to ride horses and see beautiful scenery.

White water rafting, Leavenworth to Cashmere

White Water Rafting the Wenatchee River with Alpine Adventures

A white water raft trip provides a fun day with some exciting times and any Twilight fan would enjoy a Twilight Tour in Forks.

Jacob and Edward at the treaty line, Team Forks Twilight Tour

No reflection of my blog would be complete without mentioning towel animals. Here’s one coming up on a future blog – the penguin.

towel penguin

Posted in Randoms, Shore Excursions | Tagged blog, new year, pack trip, photo, shore excursion, snorkel, train, travel, Tulum, Twilight, white water raft | 12 Comments

Accommodations on the Norwegian Pearl

Posted on December 29, 2012 by LBcruiseshipblogger

cruise ship at anchor, Georgetown Grand Cayman

Norwegian Pearl anchored near Grand Cayman

Like any large cruise ship, the Norwegian Pearl has a variety of stateroom categories based on what passengers are willing to pay when choosing their cruise ship accommodations. Budget-minded travelers pick a basic inside cabin. Even among the same sort of rooms prices vary according to the location cabins within the ship.

Inside Cabin on Norwegian Pearl

Passengers who would like to see outside, or at least have some natural light without breaking the bank can book a porthole or window room with an obstructed view. These rooms offer a bit more space than the inside rooms. Rooms with unobstructed views come with a higher price for the better view. Cruise ships all price the rooms this way.

porthole room with drop down bunk on wall

ocean view cabin

Some people would like not to just see the outdoors, but to have a bit of outdoor space to call their own. Balconies come in quite handy not just as a private place to sit, but also as a place to find great photo ops at odd times of the day (such as sunrises). They also come in handy as a place to put wet things when returning from the beach or pool. The showers do have a small clothesline for that as well.

balcony cabin

mini-suite

Guests who want not only more space, but also more luxury can book a suite. The Pearl has some really sweet suites, each one bigger and fancier than the last. An option that families or two or more couples traveling together might want to consider rather than booking separate rooms is booking a suite together. When booking more than two guests in the same room you often get a discount on the price for all of the extra people and many of the suites sleep up to 6 or even 8 guests. The Garden Villa has over 4000 square feet, bigger than most people’s homes. The suites come with a lot of extras, but the price may be less booking separate or connecting staterooms.

suite on Norwegian Pearl

Booking one of the suites on Norwegian creates the opportunity for a very special vacation. The pampering starts before you even board the ship. At the check-in area in the port you bypass the crowds and enter the room marked VIP. There enjoy refreshments while waiting for your ship card. If it isn’t time to board the ship yet, you then wait in a special VIP area away from the crowd. Once the ship gets cleared, the VIPs board first. On board they take the VIP group to a special lounge where you meet the concierge available to suite guests and find out about the special daily breakfast and lunch program for VIPs. Then enjoy an embarkation lunch at the steak house while other passengers eat at the buffet.

extra bedroom in 2-bedroom villa has couch that folds down to bed, drop down bed on wall, and private bathroom with shower

living room area of 2 bedroom villa

master bedroom of 2 bedroom villa

It doesn’t end there. VIP’s get priority boarding on tenders whenever the ship stops at a tender port. The mini-suites are located on the highest deck with regular staterooms, and don’t include the VIP privlidges. The Pearl has some smaller penthouse suites on the lower decks as well. The suites on the pearl get much bigger and fancier than that once you pass through the locked door into the exclusive suite area on the upper decks. Guests in the bigger suites also have butler service. Some suites on the Pearl have hot tubs. Suites may also come with private areas of the sundeck with hammocks.

indoor pool and hot tub with couches draped in harem fashion

Another amenity for suite guests in the Haven area includes an indoor pool and hot tub with furnishings reminiscent of something out of a harem, and a private buffet. Privacy for suite guests is insured as other passengers can’t even get through the locked door into the suite area. They can’t get to the suites by elevator either as it requires the use of a key card to get to the higher decks where the suites are located.

deck 15 has just 2 rooms, the Black Pearl and Golden Pearl, or Owner;s Suites

another view of the over 1000 square foot Pearl suite

Regardless of the chosen accommodations, whether inside room, suite, or anything in between, all passengers can take advantage services of a Norwegian personal cruise consultant to help with all their booking needs.

bathroom of the Garden Villa Suite

Living room of Garden Villa suite. This suite sleeps 8 and has a grand piano

The advantage of working with a Personal Cruise Consultant direct from Norwegian Cruise Line rather than online travel sites or a travel agent is a promise of excellent customized service in planning your Freestyle Vacation. Cruise consultants build a relationship with guests that includes finding answers to all your questions even if it means taking their time to research the answer for you. As a complimentary “Live” extension of the web site, your Personal Cruise Consultant can advise you of new itineraries, unadvertised specials and promotions, and make sure the cabin selected fits your personal needs. You rate is also protected by the “Best Price Guarantee.” These highly trained consultants represent only Norwegian Cruise Line, giving them the most in-depth knowledge of their products which they love to share with guests!

suite area private sundeck

If you are considering a cruise with NCL, you can contact Personal Cruise Consultant Kimberley Bennett at: 1.877.416.9722 ext. 4478, Direct Line: 954.514.4478, or klbennett@ncl.com. She will be happy to help you with all your cruising needs.

Norwegian Pearl goes all out for suite guests

hammocks on private sundeck for suite guests

Cabins on other cruise ships: Arcadia, Breeze, Breeze odd cabins, Divina, Ecstasy, Infinity, Legend, Liberty, Ruby Princess, Splendor, Veendam, Westerdam, Wilderness Adventurer

For a complete list of blogs about cabins see My Cruise Stories Ships and Cabins page.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2012

Posted in Norwegian, Pearl, Shipboard Life | Tagged cruise, cruise consultant, cruise ship, cruise ship cabins, Norwegian Pearl, photos, stateroom, suite, travel | 10 Comments

Easy Chocolate Pistachio Cream Pie

Posted on December 25, 2012 by LBcruiseshipblogger

chocolate pistachio pie in coconut graham cracker pie shell

Chocolate Pistachio Cream Pie

Everyone’s heard the phrase Easy as Pie, right? Of course not all pies are all that easy to make. Apple pie, for instance, takes quite some time just to core and peel all the apples. This pie however really is simple to make, yet fancy enough to serve to guests.

Chocolate Pistachio Cream Pie

Baked Graham Cracker Coconut Pie Crust

Coconut Graham Cracker Crust

14 Graham Cracker Squares (7 whole graham crackers)

1 cup flaked coconut

1/4 cup melted butter

Turn the graham crackers into crumbs. A rolling pin works great for that, but use whatever method you prefer. Mix the graham cracker crumbs with the coconut and melted butter in a bowl. Pour into a 9 inch pie pan and press into the bottom and sides until it turns from a mountain into a pie-pan shape. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees c) for 8 minutes.

Chocolate and Pistachio pudding

Chocolate & Pistachio Filling

Chocolate Filling

1 large box (5.9 oz/167g) chocolate fudge instant pudding

2 cups cold milk

Pistachio Filling

1 small box (3.4oz/96g) pistachio instant pudding

1 1/3 cups cold milk

While the pie crust bakes, mix each pudding separately in its own bowl. The milk is less than the package will call for to make pudding because the filling needs to be thicker for pie. Put the puddings in the refrigerator to chill while the pie crust cools once it comes out of the oven. For a firmer pie filling, use the pudding mix that requires cooking instead of the instant, but still reduce the amount of milk added.

Put Chocolate Pudding into Pie Shell

After everything has cooled/chilled for 20-30 minutes, scoop the chocolate filling into the pie crust and spread it evenly around. Put it in the refrigerator to chill.

Spoon the pistachio pudding over the chocolate

About 15 minutes later take the pie back out and spoon the pistachio pudding in blobs all over the top. Cover as much surface area as possible to reduce the amount of spreading needed and keep the two pudding flavors from getting mixed together. Spread the top bits of the blobs together to make it evenly distributed around the whole pie. Chill before serving.

Garnish Pie With Grated Dark Chocolate

To garnish, grate dark chocolate over the pie. For a fancier slice of pie to serve to guests, wait to garnish until serving. Top each piece individually with whipped cream, then grate the dark chocolate on it. If desired add a few shelled pistachios and a small piece of dark chocolate.

Slice of Chocolate Pistachio Cream Pie Garnished with Grated Dark Chocolate

Merry Christmas from My Cruise Stories and the towel grinch

Posted in recipes | Tagged chocolate, coconut pie crust, cooking, dessert, easy recipes, pie, pudding pie | 5 Comments

One Night in Barcelona

Posted on December 22, 2012 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Hotel del Mar, Barcelona Spain

Our transatlantic cruise for the new Carnival Breeze’s maiden voyage to America began in Barcelona, Spain. While we would have liked more time to explore the area, we had just one night in Barcelona.

Graveyard chiseled into solid rock on hillside in Barcelona

On our cab ride to the hotel we saw a where the graves had all been dug into solid rock on a nearly vertical surface. The tombs and crosses covering the entire face of the cliff sparkled in the sunshine.

beach on the Mediterranean Sea near our hotel in Barcelona

We flew into Spain via Germany on Lufthansa. Our first plane left early, our second plane left late. We had just a couple hours of daylight to walk around the area near the Hotel del Mar where we spent the night not far from the cruise ship docks. Walking toward the water, we saw a sign that said Barceloneta, which is the name of the neighborhood where we stayed.

tiny truck in Barcelona

How many clowns can Spaniards fit into one of these?

tiny car

The area had all sorts of interesting transportation. We saw one little mini-truck parked at the curb plugged into a solar charging station. Other little mini-trucks bustled around making deliveries. Many people had tiny cars as well, some only big enough to squeeze in 1or 2 people.

pedicabs by the beach in Barcelona

older style pedicabs near a main road

Pedal power ruled with all sorts of crazy vehicles people could get rides in. We also saw places to rent bikes or scooters. Some of the policia (cops) even rode scooters. They probably need the tiny trucks and cars to fit down the very narrow streets in some areas. People just did not plan for modern vehicles when they built many of the area’s buildings centuries ago.

skyride

If we had more time we could have taken a hop-on hop-off double decker bus tour around the city and seen a lot more, but we did not have enough time to complete the tour before they closed for the night. We could see a sky ride going and walked to it just to find it full for the day and about to close so we didn’t get to ride that either.

cafe next to the boardwalk on the beach

Many little outdoor cafes lined the street, some with fancy silver set out at the tables and patrons dressed in nice clothes. Others sold burgers or ice cream and did not have customers dressed in their finery.

fire-breathing dragon sandcastle

A boardwalk ran along the edge of the beautiful beach, with sidewalk cafes every hundred feet or so. A bike path also passed by the beach as well as along the road we had initially walked down on. The beggers in Barcelona have gotten quite creative. Although we did not make it to see any real castles, walking along the beach we saw all sorts of fancy sand castles, even a fire breathing dragon. Each of the sculptors had a box sitting beside the path for passers-by to throw coins in.

old building

The neighborhood we stayed in did have some old buildings with interesting architecture. We set out without our jackets in the sunshine. We hadn’t gone far before feeling a bit of a breeze as we neared the water. As the sun dropped lower in the sky the chill of night began to set in. Spain in November turned out not so warm as we expected.

A Very Brief History of Barcelona

Barcelona’s history goes back centuries, with the area occupied over a couple hundred years BC. Various invaders over the eons brought in the influence of their own cultures, still seen in the architecture of the old buildings remaining today. Power of the ruling class came and went over time and periodically plagues, wars, or invaders decimated the economy and sometimes the population. Currently Barcelona is the second most populous city in Spain and the capitol of the Catalonia region. Three quarters of the Catalans and an eighth of the general population of Spain call the greater Barcelona region home.

Boardwalk along the beach

Things to Do In Barcelona

Barcelona has a lot of attractions. Its most famous landmarks include the Sargrada Familia church and the monastery at Montserrat.

Some of Carnival’s tours in Barcelona include transfers to or from the ship for passengers boarding or disembarking there.

Posted in Breeze, Carnival, Europe | Tagged Barcelona, photos, Spain, transatlantic cruise, travel | 6 Comments

2012 Blog Of The Year Award

Posted on December 21, 2012 by LBcruiseshipblogger

To commemorate the past year in blogging, The Thought Palette has created a Blog of the Year 2012 award. Thank you to Nicole of NMNPHX for nominating my blog.

Blog of the Year Award 1 star jpeg

The complete rules and details of this award are available at The Thought Palette, along with a series of badges with one to six stars. Add a star for each nomination you receive up to six.

The ‘rules’ for this award are simple:

1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award

2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.

3 Please include a link back to this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award – http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)

4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them

5 You can now also join our Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience

6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…

My Nominations

First, I’m going to return the nomination back to NMNPHX because that’s the most awarding blog I know. Nicole even has her own spotlight award she awards to other blogs each month, so I think she deserves another star.

I’m also nominating Our Adventure in Croatia. Most people never even think about Croatia, or possibly don’t even know it exists. In this blog, read all about the adventures of a couple who bought a vacation home there. In the process learn all about a different country. It opened my eyes to a new place to consider visiting someday.

Cindy Knoke of The Leisurely Life is a retiree living in a place she calls the Holler where she has wildlife cams. She writes about a variety of things and posts some nice photos. She also receives a nomination.

My last nomination goes to sharechair, who keeps readers informed about new things in the technological world with Everyday Technology for Everyday Folks.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged award, blog, blog awards, blog of the year | 8 Comments

It’s All About the Pearl

Posted on December 15, 2012 by LBcruiseshipblogger

Norwegian Pearl and Holland America Rhyndam

Ships in Ketchikan, my original photo of the Pearl

It all started with a random picture. An Alaskan wilderness small-ship cruise I once took on the Safari Quest ended in Ketchikan on a beautiful sunny fall day. Strolling through town, camera in hand, I just happened to glance at the cruise ship dock and thought a couple ships sitting there looked picture perfect. So I took the perfect picture. Perfect for me anyway. I had just started writing this cruise ship blog, and the photo I took that day of the Norwegian Pearl and Holland America Rhyndam ended up as the banner on the top of my blog. Norwegian has such colorful ships and the Pearl is an especially pretty one. Very photogenic too. Cut from that photo, the Pearl is also my profile picture on facebook and wordpress gravatar.

At the time I had never sailed on either ship. I had sailed with both Holland America (on the Oosterdam) and Norwegian (on the Sun) at that point, but never the Pearl or the Rhyndam.

Norwegian Pearl

About a year ago we spotted the Pearl in Grand Cayman while cruising on Carnival Liberty. Quite excited to spot my banner ship I took pictures of course, but none turned out as nice as my original one from Ketchikan. On this year’s cruise the Pearl stopped in Grand Cayman along with Carnival Magic, Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam, Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas, and the Coral Princess.

Pearl at Great Stirrup Cay

The Coral Princess looked tiny in the Caribbean next to so many larger ships and the Pearl, which is bigger than the Sun, was not one of the bigger ships in the area either. Quite a change from the cruise I took in Alaska on the Sun where we often spotted the Coral Princess in port where it and the Sun seemed like the biggest ships there at that time. Funny thing about that trip, it turns out the current captain on the Pearl was also the captain of the Sun when I sailed on it.

Pearl in Jamaica

Shortly after last year’s trip, John booked us for the trip we took this fall. We started with a transatlantic on Carnival’s Breeze, a ship so new it was not even built yet at the time we planned our trip. He figured we’d already be in Miami at the end of that cruise so we might as well spend a week cruising around the Caribbean. We love Caribbean cruises. We booked on the Jewel. I thought at least it was a sister ship to the Pearl so I would get some idea of the design of it on the inside, though the decor varies even among sister ships.

Pearl in Jamaica

After a couple months or so we got a notification from Norwegian that our trip had gotten switched from the Jewel to the Pearl. I felt quite elated at that news, finally a chance to sail on the ship that has graced the banner of my blog since nearly the beginning of its existence. (The blog’s existence that is, the Pearl launched in 2006.)

fish carpet in halls between staterooms

Norwegian Pearl is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. Ornate ceilings and fancy decorated walls give way to brightly colored whimsical carpets. In the hallways to the passenger rooms tropical fish adorn the carpets. The areas near elevators have plain blue, making them quite easy to spot from down the hall due to the lack of fish.

Throughout the ship as one public space gives way to another, the décor changes, never leaving any doubt as to where one area ends and another begins even when walking through a line of three bars in a row. Each area has its own carpet, most brightly colored and decorated with cheerful patterns.

It’s not just the ship that makes a cruise on the Pearl special. The very friendly crew seem quite happy with their jobs and more than willing to do whatever they can to give passengers a wonderful vacation. The ship gets top ratings on health inspections and safety too.

Pearl Model in Bridge Viewing Room

The Pearl had something I have not seen on ships I sailed on previously. Just behind the bridge it has a viewing room with windows into the bridge so any passenger can come and watch the bridge crew at work whenever they want. That room also contained a large size model of the Pearl.

Norwegian Pearl Christmas Tree Ornament

At the gift shop I got my own tiny ship. A Christmas ornament Pearl to add to my collection of cruise ship Christmas tree ornaments. I try to get an ornament of each ship that I sail on. I’m missing both the Holland America ships though. I don’t know whether Holland America doesn’t have them, or if they were just out of them on both the Oosterdam and the Westerdam when I took those cruises.

Posted in Norwegian, Pearl | Tagged cruise ship, cruise ship Christmas ornament, Norwegian Pearl, photos, travel | 12 Comments

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