In order to make it easier to follow we will have each chapter follow in order. That means scrolling down each day to the new chapter but it should be easier to refer to that way.
The latest chapter will be marked with these **
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It was back in 1996, when our cousin, Richard Sherwood, son of my Mothers brother, George Sherwood and his wife Honey, (yes that actually is her legal name) invited us out to Salt Lake City, Utah to help them celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary. So us Weber's thought it would be nice if maybe all of us could get together at that time and have our first Sherwood/Weber family reunion. Everyone thought the idea was great, so brother Carl and wife Elaine invited us to ride along with them to Salt Lake. It was a great family reunion, with most of the Sherwood families in attendance and brother Bob and wife Bernadine from Portland Oregon.
We had such a good time at this reunion it was decided we should do this more
often. Carl's wife Elaine, being a travel agent, hit upon the idea of maybe
we should consider a Sherwood/Weber family cruise. This sounded good to most
of the people, since Elaine said that she could get us good prices for such
a large group. So we agreed upon the Alaskan Cruise in the fall of 1998.
For a report on the Alaskan Cruise go to:
http://www.geocities.com/~billweber/
The Alaskan Cruise was the first cruise for many of us but it was such a delightful cruise, it was decided we should do this again and so Elaine, being a resourful travel agent, suggested a Mexican cruise in early spring of year 2000. That is the cruise we are now going to report to you on starting with our flight to Los Angeles and the full eight days and our return home. Chapter two coming up in the next few days.
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March 3rd 2000
Prior to my Brother Carl being taken ill we had planned on going down to Racine and then going with them to Chicago and taking the plane out of there to Los Angeles. But that was not to be, so our daughter Sue Ann volunteered to take us down. It was felt that since our plane left Chicago at 11:15 Saturday morning it would be better to go part way down on Friday, visit with our daughter Dawn and family at Brooklyn, WI and then go down from that point early Saturday morning. We had a lovely visit with Dawn, Bernard and family and then that evening went on to Janesville where we stayed over nite.
March 4th - 2000
Saturday morning was a cool but sunny morning and we had a nice trip down to Chicago's O'Hara airport. Arrived at our terminal and found our gate and checked in with plenty of time prior to flying out. Sue stayed there with us until our plane, United Airlines, left. We flew out in one of United's newer planes, with more leg room than normal in most planes. This was not the case coming back when we got one of the older planes with cramped leg room.
We had a very nice flight out to Los Angeles, arriving during a very cold rain storm. The temperature was only 55 degrees at time of arrival and talking with Sue later that day she said that the temperature in Wisconsin was in the 60's and was expected to be in the 70 the next day. Anyway, the Sherratan Hotel where we were to be staying overnite, had shuttle busses available that took us from the airport to their hotel which was about a half hour drive from the airport.
Arriving at the hotel, located near the dock where our cruise ship was to sail from we found that many other members of our Sherwood/Weber Family Reunion Cruise had already arrived. We shared a room with our brother Bob and wife Bernadine.
Perhaps what made this cruise most unique was the fact that our Brother Bob and wife Bernadine had received a tax windfall from the state of Oregon and had contacted all of his children and asked them whether they would like the money put aside as their inheritance or whether they would rather spend it on a family cruise. All three chidren and their families choose the cruise. There were three chidren, two spouses, seven grandchildren, ranging in age from 8 months through 11 years plus the two of them.
Not only was this a Sherwood/Weber reunion but also a Robert Weber family reunion.
Also present were four members of the Sherwood family and two friends from their church.
Because of the cold and rainy weather we stayed pretty much in the hotel the rest of the day. Going out to eat that evening at one of the restaruants located on the dock side where we could watch the ships coming and going. It was interesting watching the Pelicans follow the ships and other boats. I did not realize that there were Pelicans in Los Angeles. The food was good. The price was high. But it was a delightful evening with all of us Webers together. The hotels shuttle bus picked us up from the restaurant and took as back to the hotel where we settled in for the nite in anticipation of boarding our cruise ship around noon on Sunday March 5th.
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It is March 5th 2000, and most of us are up early in anticipation of boarding our Cruise ship which is docked now far from our hotel here in San Pedro. In fact we can see it from our hotel window. It arrived about six oclock this morning and we understand that it will begin unloading the present passenger about nine oclock and will be ready to accept the next group starting shortly after twelve oclock.
The hotel is full of people who will be going on the cruise. In fact some 120 alumni from the University of Florida are going as a sort of class reunion adventure.
As part of our cruise package, we were all given vouchers which entitled us to a continental type breakfast. Buffet style with about anything one would want to eat.
The weather was still rainy and cold, with an occasional break in the clouds. By noon it looked like it might clear although the wind remained strong and the air was still chilly.
As perdicted, the shuttle buses began taking those who were ready to go over to the dockside where the Cruise ship was loading. Those who had gotten there earlier were able to get aboard shortly after twelve thirty. My cousing George Sherwood and I had stayed behind to help with getting my brother Bob and his wife on but their family had managed to get the job done so we were among the last to get on but having been on this same ship on the Alaskan Cruise it was only a matter of a few minutes before we had our suitcases and were in our state room at 2554.
This was an outside room with a nice porthole, twin beds that could be moved together for a queen sized bed if we wished. We choose to leave as they were as it made it easier to get around in the cabin. For those of you who have traveled on Cruise ships, you are familiar with the size of the rooms. The higher up you are on the deck the nicer are your cabins. But so is the price. We took cabins on the 2nd deck as they were very resonable. It really does not make that much difference, as all the ships facilites are open to each and everyone alike whether they bought a $2,000 cabin or a $750.00. Most people spend very little time in their cabins as there is so much going on the ship to do and see. We will go into more detail tomorrow telling about the many activities on the ship as we will be sailing all day without a shore stop anywhere.
The "Rhapsody of Seas" ship is a little over three football fields long, 915 feet, weighs about 76,000 ton. Carries a passenger list of about 2,200 and has a crew of a bit over 700 persons. Its average speed is about 20 miles an hour. It has ten decks and is like a big floating city with almost any thing you could want.
It was about 4:30 Los Angeles time that we set sail for the open seas of the Pacific Ocean. It was still pretty windy and the ship did rock and roll a bit but nothing real bad and we understand that very few people had any problems. A few took motion sickness pills and we heard that a few upchucked but that was only rumors. No real evidence on our part.
Our first meal aboard ship was at six oclock. There are two dinning rooms and also two times of serving. On the Alaskan Cruise we had the main dinning room and the early or six oclock meal. On this Cruise we had the secondary dinning room but still the six oclock meal.
Meals in the dinning rooms are served much on the same order as in most restaurants. You choose from a daily menu, the waiter takes your order and the food is delivered to your place at the table. The tables on this ship are round and seat eight people to the table. It is fantastic how fast the food is made ready and delivered to you considering the number of people eating at one time.
For those that prefer a buffet type of meal there is also what is known as the Windjammer, located on the 9th deck. A lot of guest like that way as it was a bit faster and the variety was perhaps a bit more. But it also meant getting your own food, finding a table and hoping you did not spill anything if the sea was a bit rough.
After dinner, a lot of us went to the Broadway Melodies Theater, where we saw "ON THE EDGE" one of the best Juggling Acts and Comedy that this writer has ever seen.
For those, nite owls, there was all kinds of events going on including gambling at the Casino, dancing in the Centrum and Champagne Terrace, Piano Bar entertainment in the Schooner Bar, Night club dancing, Viking Crown Lounge. Movies in your cabins, food at the windjammer. But we were tired and went to our cabin after the juggling show. Since our cabin was more or less in the middle of the ship we did not get quite the roll that they did on the front and back of the ship. It was just enough to put us to sleep like a babe in a cradle.
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Monday morning - March 6th 2000
After a good nites sleep, we were up fairly early, the ship was still rolling and rocking a bit but not quite as much as it had the nite before.
Thema said she would meet me in the lounge area near the dinning room at about 8:00am so I went on up to deck 10 where I intended to have my morning walk. But the wind was very strong and cold so I opted to go to the exercise room located on the same deck.
It was about seven oclock in the morning but the room was already full of people on or waiting to get on one or the many excersise machines in the room. I did get an excersise bike fairly soon and spent a half an hour pedaling on that.
Thema was waiting when I got back down to the dinning room lounge area and since no one else from our party had shown up we went on in to eat. We were shown to a table where a young lady was already seated. It seems that she and her husband were on this cruise as a part of his working vacation.
The software company he was working for gave their employess a a part time conference vacation. They were required to attend confernce session each morning for the first few days and then would have the afternoons off for what ever they wished. All cost assumed by their company.
Since this day was to be a full day at sea, (we are scheduled to dock in COBA SAN LUCAS tomorrow morning) it was a day to look the ship over again since our Alaskan cruise.
As my Alaskan report stated, this cruise ship is like a big city afloat on the seas. Almost everything one could want is provided and in great splender. The living cabins come in all differnt sizes and shapes, depending on the amount of money one wishes to spend. However, the rest of the ship, is the same no matter how much money one has to spend. Well not quite. The casino is a place that them with the gold can spend their gold in any amount they want. It is one of the busiest places on the ship when it is not docked. Hundreds of people spend a large part of their day putting in anyting from a quarter up to $100.00 a play at many of the hundreds of machines there.
There are two swimming pools located on the 9th deck. The Windjamer restaurant is also located on the 9th deck. This eating place is open early in the morning, at noon, early evening and again at midnite. The food is served buffet style. Many people prefer it to the more formal dinning room setting.
As mentioned in yesterdays report, there is two evening performances in the Broadway Melodies theater. There is also a couple of evenings when the guests have the opportunity to entertain their fellow travelers with an evening of Karaoke, which is usually held in the "Shall We Dance" lounge. There are also a number of craft classes held during the day time. Bingo, dancing and other entertainment, you name it and it is probably somewhere on the ship.
A new feature on this years cruise was the addition of a computer room. Where twelve computers where made available for the guest to send and receive e-mail and other on line activities.
I used this room briefly everyday to send e-mail messages to our children and receive the same from them. The cost was fifty cents a minute and one could usually receive one e-mail at a cost of fifty cents. However, it was required that one compose their replies on line and I could never get a reply back to our children for less than two dollars and in most cases it ran about four dollars. But that was still cheap compared to the $7.95 cost of a one minute telephone call.
There were many lovely lounges through out all the deck areas. Including a lovely library that had a large collection of books. As well as as condensed versions, via fax, of several newspapers.
Tomorrow, at about 10am we will dock in COBO SAN LUCAS, on the very tip of the Baja pennisula. It will be our first excursions onto Mexican soil. Until then Adious.
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It is Tuesday morning March 7th, and we are nearing Cabo San Lucas, This Mexican city located at very tip of the Baja Peninsula. It was once referred to as “the millionaires sandbox” The water at this point seems a special blue. Reminding us of the blue waters of the Medittrainan, when we were in Italy a couple of years ago.
As we enter the harbor the surrounding area has beautiful craggy rocks protruding up from the ocean floor and the city itself is spread along the seashore and up into the surrounding hills. This is our first stop of three stops of this Cruise. Because of the size of the ship we are not able to dock at the regular docking ports but must drop anchor in the bay and be “tendered ashore” .
I suppose because it was much cheaper then hiring boats to tender us in the ship used it own life boats to take us to the shore and back again. It was quite an experience and kind of fun to have a chance to ride in the life boats that we have seen hanging above the promenade deck on the fifth level.
The life boats took us to the docking, where there were a number of buses lined up to take us on different tours of the city and surrounding country side. We had signed up to take the Coastal Highlights Tour. This was a 3.5 to 4 hour tour and took us not only through parts of the city but way out into the countryside along the coast. A very lovely tour. We visited a lovely hotel set among the hills and overlooking the ocean. Had a complimentary soda at Gigorgio’s restaurant located high on a hill again overlooking the deep blue ocean with the contrast of white sand beaches and dry desert land all around. Except when we drove past some of the famous golfer, Jack Nickalus’s many golf courses he has in this area. Beautiful green oasis against the dry desert of the surrounding landscape. This period from December until June is their dry period but the land greens up from June to December when the rains come.
One of the interesting stops on the tour was at the Cabo San Lucas glass blowing factory where we watched the craftsmen of the trade make a beautiful colored glass turtle in about fifteen minutes. It is interesting how that molten sand can be blown, cut and shaped if one knows what they are doing.
We also drove to a small town that had a beautiful mission church of about two hundred years old. It was a pretty little town, with a lovely unique Mexican gazebo. When we got back to the main part of town some of the members of the tour decided to stay in town and do some shopping. We took the bus back to the “tendering station” and then on back to the ship. It was a long and interesting tour but we were glad to get back to the ship and relax and have a bite to eat.
There were a number of other tours that other people took. Such as Deep Sea Fishing, Sea of Cortez Snorkeling Tour, Lands End Boat and Beach Tour, Lands End Boat and Scenic Drive and the Snorkel and Sail Fiesta tour.
We pulled anchor about 5:30 and the ship headed for Mazatlan, just across the Bay from Cabo San Lucas, but still over about 15 hours of sailing. Scheduled to arrive there the following morning about 8:00 o’clock.
The entertainment at the Broadway Melodies Theater, was a song and dance group “In The Heat Of The Night” A lot of loud music (noise) with scantly dressed women and it still did not keep this writer awake. Being worn out from the tour of the day I slept through about half of the show. Not my kind of entertainment. If I want to see scantily dressed women I can go up to the pool sides and listen to nice calypso music.
After the musical we did go over to the “Shall We Dance Lounge” and watched a parody on, WHO WANTS TO FEEL LIKE A MILLIONAIRE. The were a lot of people who put their name in the hat to participate but very few of them got very far during the questioning period. But it was kind of fun to watch.
Then back to our cabin to rest for the long tour tomorrow at Mazatlin.
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It is a beautiful Wednesday morning, March 8th as our ship moves slowly into the harbor at Mazatlan and for the first time since leaving Wisconsin we have shed our winter coats.
Thema and I had decided to eat with the Sherwoods in the Windjammer restaurant on the ninth deck so we could better observe the docking of our ship at port side. The hills and rock formations reminded us a bit of the city of Cabo San Lucas where we were yesterday but this time we were able to dock near the down town area. Well within walking distance if we wished to. Although there were a number of open air taxi wagons that shuttled us from the boat to the busses up town.
We had an early breakfast as the tour we had decided to take would be leaving about 8:15am. It was a tour thru part of the old and new sections of Mazatlan as well as quite a ways out in the country side. Our tour guide was a charming young Mexican girl who admitted that she had stayed up until 3am that morning as the city finished celebrating the beginning of Ash Wednsday. Her name was, Alma, and she was very fluent in English, easy to understand and keep us amused very well informed as to where we were and the points of interest in that area.
Most of our Sherwood/Weber family group was on this tour and it was the consensus of most of us that this was one of the better tours. The highlight of this tour being the hour or so we spent observing some lovely Mexican dances, with beautiful Mexican women and handsome men. We also had the opportunity to watch what is known as Papantla Fliers. Five Mexican men, dressed in very colorful clothes, climb a sevety five foot high pole where four of them tied ropes around their waists and then fastened to their ankles. Unpon a given signal they fell forward and their ropes unwinding turned the wheel on top which spun them out much on the order of the swing chairs one use to see at county fairs. It is a tradition of many decades for this particular group of Mexicans. After their perfomrance another group of dancers appeard. It is fantastic how the women, are able to make their very beautiful full length dresses fall in rythem with the music. It was indeed a delightful late morning/early afternoon performance.
It was on this tour that we visited a very old but lovely Mexican church. Alma, gave us a bit of an extra tour of the city. Taking us out where we saw a diver dive some 75 or more feet off from a high rock into the rocky sea below. Something like Russian roulette in my book. Also on a high hill or mountain nearby was located one of the highest lighthouses in the world.
It was also in Mazatlin that our tour guide introduced us to the open air taxis that are so prevelant in the city. She called them "pneumonia taxis" since they do not have any windows but are completly open no matter what the weather.
It was a lovely warm, sunny day and we had one grand time. It was nearly two oclock when we got back to the ship. Where again we went up to the Windjammer and had a light lunch.
I went back uptown for a little while after eating and looked around but did not stay too long as all were suppose to be back on board by five oclock. The ship pulled anchor and was on its way to our next port of call, Puerto Vallarta, which we should arrive at early tomorrow morning about 7:00am.
We went to the entertainment at the Broadway Melody Theatre but was a bit disapponted with the evening comedian, John Wing, he was a poor example of a commedian in my book. The Jugglers also were back for part of the evening. That to my wife Thema and I was the saving grace of that evening.
We retired early, well early on this cruise ship, being in bed by about 11:00pm. Tomorrow is our last day to walk on Mexican soil from this cruise ship. So far it has been a real fun time.
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March 9th 2000
How fast time flies when you are having fun. This is our last day to get off the cruise ship to tour and see another city in western Mexico. Our ship arrived early this morning at Puertro Vallarta, at what appears from the ship, to be another lovely Mexican city. Again since this is the dry season in this area the skies are clear, the weather warm and it looks like another great day for a tour around the city.
There were five tours being offered: Golf, Snorkling, Horseback riding, Swiming and Lounging on the Beach and Puerto Vallarta City Tour. We opted for the later and had a very delighful 3 hour tour in and around the city. The city supposidly has the longest beach in the world. Is a pretty city with fancy hotels and other tourist attractions. The kind of city one associates with Mexican and Spanish cities. Red tiled roofs, balconies over flowing with beautiful flowers and cobble stone and more cobble stone streets. We visited a lovely old Catholic church. Drove past the a former home of Rock Hutson sitting high above the city. Located just down the mountain side from the Hutson house was the hideway that Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor had when the both of them were married to some one else.
It is in this city that a lot of the wealth of the world has come and build elaborate homes, hotels and other tourist attractions. We drove through an area that at one time belong to many fisherman in the area but was bought up by some investers. The fisherman were given a choice of whether they wanted the money or to have it used for beautiful new homes in the area. They opt for the money, preferring to live in their small, in many cases, thached roof homes instead of fancy stone and mortar homes of the rich that dot the country side in this area.
So what did they do with their money, bought fancy cars, big television sets with sattalite dishes mounted in every yard or on their roofs. They still wanted to be fisherman and live a part of their native heritage and not be swept up in rush to commercialize their community. It is quite a contrast to see their humble homes among the mansions of the wealthy Mexicans and foreigners.
There are still a lot of thached roofs in this area, not only on the Mexican homes but even some of the posh hotels have thatched roofs. The thatch comes from using palm tree leaves and one would think it would easily tear off in high winds. But it does not seem to be the case and we learned that the aveage thatched roof last five years or more. However the majority of homes and business in the area use tile roofing.
We had about a half hour in town for shopping and it was here that we were able to buy some lovely small gifts made of Mexican leather. There was also a pretty good sized shopping area about a five minute walk from where our ship was docked. It was a great day but somewhat sad day as it was our last day before heading back north to Los Angeles and then boarding the plane for home. However, it would be a two day trip back to Los Angeles.
The ship pulled anchor at 5:00 oclock and headed back north. We relaxed in the centruum, visiting and listing to concert music by a live orchestra, and took time to look at some of the many pictues that had been taken on the trip by many ship photogrphers, they seem to be everywhere asking you to pose for a picture here and a pictue there.
We skipped the Wave Review Presentation at the Theater as it was the same singers and dancers of a few nites ago where it tooks us a day to get our hearing back (just kidding) but they were a way to loud that first nite. Some said that it was not quite so loud this time.
On our return to Los Angeles, I will try and bring you up to date on our Sherwood/Weber reunion members, who came from all across the United States: from New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Utah, Oregon and Washington State to share in this lovely vacation aboard the Cruise ship "Rapsody Of The Seas" If you are interested in what they have to offer they have a WEB page at:
So until tomorrow: Adious Amigos.
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March 9th 2000
We left Pureto Vallarta, yesterday afternoon about five oclock and are headed northwest along the Baja Penisula toward Los-Angeles. It was lovely sailing last nite and this morning the Pacific Ocean is calm and beatiful.
After breakfast, Thema went to a crafts demonstration and Homer Sherwood and I walked around the deck a few times and then got us some sun deck chairs and sat around the pool in the warm sun. The air was already getting cooler than it had been for the past two days.
Even though most of us had enjoyed the excursions onto mainland of Mexico I must admit that it was nice just to relax around the pool in the sunshine and enjoy the gentle rocking of the ship.
But as I promised you yesterday, this was the day I was going to sort of give you a profile of the 22 members that made up our Shewood/Weber family reunion.
Perhaps we should start with the youngest member of our group. Rose Weber, 8 month old daughter of Jim and Beth Weber. She was never lacking for someone to take and hold here and although she preferred being with her parents. She did enjoy getting passed around among family members as long as she could see or hear her parents.
Next we had 5 yr old Kristin, a real little doll, who would and sit and talk with you almost like a adult, using her hands and arms to express “the boat was so long, well maybe just a bit longer” during dinner the first nite she sat across the table from Thema and I and carried on a lively conversation. In fact she talked more than she ate. What a sweetheart. Then there was, Valorie about 7 years old, Michelle 8 years old and Felecia going on 9 years. Beautiful girls all of them and their Mother, Beth had made or gotten dresses of similar design and color so that it was easy for her to keep track of them in a crowd. Jim and Beth are from 65 Feavams Bridge Rd. Amherst - New Hampshire. Jim is a software programmer for a large company in that area. Their family came the longest distance to be on this Cruise. James is the son Robert & Bernadine Weber and the youngest child in the family. Having two older sisters.
The two ten year old twin daughters. Ashleigh and Bethany Kurt and Kathy, Looser where the next youngest. Although their parents were not as young as their Aunt Venca, we will talk about them now and then go to Venca next.
Kurt is a retired Coast Guard Officer. Is now going to school for Horticulture and landscaping work. Kathy is employed part time at a children’s help center. The family lives at: 10717 Sand Point Way NE - Seattle - Washington 98125
Then we have Venca who is a couple years younger than her sister Kathy and a few years older than her brother James. Venca, is a supervisory officer in a bank in Portland, Oregon This is her second cruise with the reunion group. She lives with her parents, Robert & Bernadine Weber at: 9333 SE 129th Ave. Portland Oregon 97236
The next people age wise I think were Jean and George Sherwood who live at: 3288 E. Elgin Dr. Salt Lake City - Utah 84109. A lovely place right at the foot of the mountains and do they every have a nice apricot tree in their back yard. Both are retired and do volunteer work for the US Forestry Service during the tourist season at Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming.
Then there is Homer & Betty Sherwood who live at: 1768 E. 3990 S. Salt Lake City - Utah 84124. They too are retired and went to work first as volunteers in Yellowstone and they liked it so much they sort of talked George & Jean on joining them. So if any of you will be going to Yellowstone this summer, give the Sherwoods a call and they will do their best to make your stay at Yellowstone Park a memorable occasion.
The next couple age wise was my brother Robert and wife Bernadine. It was through their generosity that all of their family was on this cruise.
It seems some years ago the state of Oregon overcharged tax wise a number of its residents, among which were the Bob Webers. That overcharge with interest was enough to provide a memorable vacation to them and every one of the children and grandchildren. It is a trip that the family will long remember and which not only was it memorable to their family it will be to all of us who where there with them.
As far as I could determine, Thema and I were the next age wise on the Cruise, this our second cruise on the Rhapsody. Both of us are retired and tired trying to keep up with all the things one does when the are RETIRED. Thema is a retired teacher and I am a retired, farmer, photographer, and real-estate agent. Still have not retired from gardening. Our address is: Bill & Thema Weber 27434 Killdeer Ave Wilton, Wisconsin 54670
Also along on the trip was a Ruth Weber, (no relation) a friend of Betty and Homer Sherwoods. She is a couple of years older than I am and her husband who is now deceased was also named Bill Weber. Ruth lives at: 625 S. State Street, Preston Utah - 83263
Vie Johnson, also a friend of the Betty & Homer Sherwood. The oldest person of our group but still full of vim and vigor. Her address is: 3844 S. Mitchell Cove, Apt 10, Salt Lake City, Utah - 84115. This was the second Sherwood/Weber reunion cruise for both the Sherwood families Brother Bob and Bernadine, Thema and I and Ruth Weber.
Also scheduled to be on the trip with us were my brother Carl and wife Elaine, but he was taken ill on Jan 27th and they had to cancel. It was a great disappoint for them and all of us. Especially to Elaine, who was the travel agent that had set up and did most to the planning for the trip. Carl & Elaine live at: 5528 Cambridge Lane Racine, WI - 53406.
This evening the entertainment in the Broadway Melodies Theater was a comedian, Kelly Monteith, and as far as this writer is concerned one of the better. He keep his audience in almost continuous laughter. In fact one of our cousin had to leave because he was getting a pain in his side from laughing so much.
Tomorrow is Saturday, our last day on the trip. Perhaps I can summarize then some of may thoughts and feeling concerning this cruise and cruises in general. So until tomorrow. Adios Amigos
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It was nearly eight years ago when are daughter and family had been up to visit us for the weekend and it was time for them to be going back to their home near Madison, that their daughter, Kelsie, who will soon be a teenager, said, “there are no good good-byes” as she hugged and kissed us good bye.
I often think of that saying when one leaves friends and relatives. This was the case with a lot of people aboard the Cruise Ship Rhapsody. Not only did we feel sad leaving our relatives, we were also sad to be leaving all those who had helped make our trip such a delightful adventure and to those who had came into our lives these past seven days.
Why is it that we live in a community for thirty or forty years and when we pack up to go on a vacation we do not stop by and say farewell to the person who has repaired our car all these years, or the waiter or waitress at the restaurant who has served us more often than the waiters on the cruise ship or others who have come in and helped us through when times were a bit rough?
But put us on a Cruise Ship for seven days and we give, the steward that has taken care of our room, the waiter who has seen to it that we have had the best service possible and other who have helped make our stay aboard the ship such a delight. We give them extra thanks, an extra tip for their services and oft times a special handshake or even a hug.
As we head north to Los Angeles, the coastline of the Baja peninsula can be seen faintly on our right and the air is definitely cooler and the wind stronger. In fact this last day aboard many of those out on the open deck were again wearing jackets and sweaters.
This was the day for packing ones suitcases. Especially if you were not going to carry them with you. They had to be placed in the hallways before midnite tonite in order that they could be loaded and ready to take off the ship when it docked early Sunday morning.
We attended the theater again this last nite. Largely because there was a program, by the Cruise Program directors, John and Katrina Blair, featuring a tribute to Neil Diamond. A favorite singer of our family. They were pretty good but then they were followed by comedian ,John Wing, who as I said earlier was not my kind of comedian.
This was our second time on a Cruise, having taken the Alaskan Cruise a couple of years ago. As I said at that time and will again repeat. I find it one of the most relaxing vacations that I personally have taken and we have traveled a lot in our life time.
It is a sort of like the Garden of Eden before Adam & Eve got booted out. Almost everything one would want is provided. The only thing that bothered me on this cruise and on the Alaskan cruise, was that although I do not have any figures on this that my observation was that of the 2,000 or more guest aboard. Ninety percent or more were white caucasians and those who waited and served us were ninety percent from the dark skinned races. Not that there is fundamentally anything wrong with having such people employed in this kind of work as it does give them a chance to better their situation in the countries they come from. However, it is a sad commentary on our world of the past and present that somehow relegates and associates the superiority of the white Caucasians over their colored fellow beings. It is hard to explain, but I have, what I think must have been the feeling of many people during the days of slavery. Where, even in cases where the slaves were not mistreated physically, they were seldom entitled to the same opportunities and advantages that their masters and providers were.
To make my point, take for example what happens when we are about to leave the ship. We are given a memorandum that says, it is customary to tip those who have served you during this trip with (X) number of dollars. This is followed by the statement that this is not a required amount only a suggestion.
Now in all my years in business, I never, to my knowledge received what we refer to as a “tip” neither did I solicit a “tip” as the cruise ship does for (some) of their workers. I have no remembrance of being solicited for a tip on either of these cruise ship for a tip for the Captain. Making the help aboard a cruise ship, subject to “tipping” in order to make them provide acceptable service, and not the rest of those envolved is discriminatory.
Whether they are room stewards, dinning room waiters or whatever, they should be provided with a decent wage. If they perform outstanding service and those receiving such service feel like providing them with a bit of extra cash, that should be their decision. No way should the cruise personnel or travel agents solicit “TIPS”
I am going to make my position known to this Rhapsody Cruise Line, even though it is owned by a Norwegian company. I like the cruises but I feel that the 90% colored help could be better treated by giving them a decent wage and if necessary charging all passenger that extra to provide them with that wage instead of pretending this is what your cruise is going to cost and then adding another couple hundred dollars in tips once the cruise is completed.
But enough of that for now. It certainly was a lovely trip. I may take another Cruise but before I go I certainly am going to look into what the policy of that Cruise line is regarding “tips and why they are necessary.
Tomorrow morning we dock in San Pedro, a suburb of Los Angeles, we will have a shuttle bus which was included in our hotel cost to take us directly from the cruise ship to our airplane. Which at present is set to leave shortly after noon. We expect to be at the airport before noon.
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It was early Sunday morning, March 12th, and I had gotten up to go to the bathroom when I notice harbor lights shinning through our porthole window. We had arrived in Los Angeles. It was quite a spectacular entry as the loading cranes and bridges where silhouetted against bright harbor lites.
Although it was early, Thema and I decided to get dressed and pack our few remaining articles in our suitcases. We had only two carry on suitcases and an overnite bag. so we did not leave them in the hallway the nite before to have them delivered to the dock.
We went up and had an early breakfast as on the instruction sheet, “AS YOU DEPART, that we were given yesterday evening it stated “Departure will commence once we have received clearance from the United States Authorities and your baggage has been of-loaded from the ship.
The evening before we had all been given baggage tags. These tags were color coded and indicated the order in which the passengers would disembark from the ship. The white and blue tags, were issued to handicap and people needing to make early contact with their transportation service and had to leave immeadiatly.
Disembarkation began shortly after nine o’clock, and proceeded at a fairly steady and orderly fashion. We had brown coded tags, but were also among those that had carry off baggage so we were about midway in the disembarkation process.
It was a lovely and fairly warm day, what a difference than a week ago when we boarded this ship with cold rain and gusty wind. Once off the ship we were directed to where the shuttle busses where that would take us to the Los Angeles airport and our United Airlines terminal. This was about a 25 minute ride, and I do not mean at 25 miles an hour either. Those buses zip right along. We arrived at the airport shortly before eleven o’clock. Was informed that our flight which had been scheduled for departure at 1:45pm had been delayed until 2:30pm. However, the ticket agent said that if we wished that she would put us on the list for standby on a plane that was then loading and would be leaving in 20 minutes. Our names were called some fifteen minutes later and we were soon aboard the plane. This was one of the older planes of United and they still had the cramped seats with very little leg room. But so what, we now were a couple of hours ahead of our schedule instead of behind.
We were soon airborne, when the pilot came on and informed us that there was considerable turbulence over the Denver area so that they were going to try to fly above it by going to 37,000 feet. They normally fly in that area between 30,000 and 35,000 feet. We noticed some turbulence as we climbed but once we got up to the desired height it rode as smooth as glass all the way into Chicago. We had not been in the air more than a half hour when we were served lunch and a hearty lunch it was. The aisles on the plane were very narrow and made it some what difficult to meet and pass people in the aisles as they went back and forth to the bathrooms located between 1st and coach and then in the far rear of the plane.
This was a non-stop and very fast flight, just a bit over 3 hrs and 15 minutes. We arrived in Chicago about three hours ahead of our schedule. Which turned out to be a bummer as we did not have the phone number of the girls that our daughter was staying at so we tried to phone one of the girls mothers who lived in Tomah, but she was not home, (leaned later she was on vacation) so even though we got there earlier we did not get picked up until our scheduled flight was to have arrived, which was about 8:pm Chicago time. We stayed overnite with our daughters friends, Jodi and Karen and had a delightful evening visiting.
The rest of the story can be found on the WEB page I set up to report on the condition of my brother after he had brain surgery for a tumor on February 7th, 2000 and although still in the hospital is getting along fine and expects to be able to go home on or before April 11th 2000. To go to that WEB page click below. http://www.geocities.com/~billweber/ekw
Thanks for reading the whole article.
Bill Weber - Author