Home, again.

We have been very busy since getting back to Santa Barbara. I've had two appointments with my wonderful primary care physician, Rick Ponce. On Thursday, he cleaned and dressed the sore, gave me a shot in the butt and enough samples of Bactrim to last 10 days. He also took a culture.

On Friday we went back to see him to have the dressing changed. He decided at that point that it really needed to be lanced to relieve pressure. The worst part of that was the sting from the Lidocaine shot.

I am to see him again on Monday and hope that I will be well on my way to full recovery by then. The next step will be to work on the original problem, the tightness in my right knee.

We had some good news from AAT/Kings, the tour operator in Australia. They are going to refund 80% of what we paid for the land tour. I had intended to get insurance but it had slipped away from me. I was also able to redeposit my miles that we had used for the return flight. United charges a $150.00 per person fee. Still, it was worth it to get the 320,000 miles back.

We have heard from friends who are still onboard Radiance that an outbreak of Norovirus has started. It began with a few people, then dozens and now many more. The standard precautions are being put in effect with the expected changes to services and the whole cruise experience.

All in all, perhaps it wasn't such a bad call to leave the ship in HNL.

A Change of Plans...

This morning we went down to the Medical Center again because my leg was really bothering me during the night. The two doctors were both there and they concurred that I've developed an infection on my right calf. While stopping short of making the decision for us, they STRONGLY suggested that we not continue on.

We will disembark tomorrow and spend one night in Waikiki and fly to LAX on Wednesday getting home on Thursday around noon.

This is a big disappointment to both of us but we know that it is the right decision given the risk involved. There will always be other trips.

Frank and Norm in HNL

I missed Kona!

I just realized that I didn't post from Kona, our first port. We went ashore with Norm pushing me in a wheelchair. Basically our goal was lunch at The Kona Inn and a Mai Tai. Mission accomplished. Bob and Kim joined us and we met their friends Betsy and Bob who will join us on the next cruise.

We stopped in at the old church for a prayer for my brother and for Norm's back. This isn't exactly the way we planed to do this cruise but we are dealing with it with help from crew and friends.

I'm planning on writing a separate review of what it's like to be in a wheel chair and/or using a cane while on a cruise and traveling.

I am having trouble posting pictures from the iPad to the blog. I think I need some tech advice from our friend Scott who will join us for the second cruise.

More later and please excuse the mix up in the order of the posts.

Maui No Ka Oi

"Maui's the Best" and it's lived up to it's reputation. Yesterday we went to the top of Haleakala -- 10,000 feet --and had great views of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on the Big Island 100 miles away. On the way back down the hill we stopped at The Kula Lodge for a late lunch. It's always good, fresh food. I had a turkey and cheese and tomato panini with a wonderful ginger flavored slaw.

We drove through old Wailuku town and up to the Iao Needle which I hadn't been to since I was here years ago with Rick Boyle.

Our last stop was at Long's Drugstore (They have kept the name -- for now -- for a knee brace (It's slowly getting better, some boxed wine and some shrimp chips.)

We had a late dinner on board -- not a problem since 900+ guests were ashore at Luaus, etc. Our wonderful waiter, Andrew, kept bringing us "something for the table".

This morning Norm and Kim and Bob headed back to Lahaina for more shopping. I decided to stay onboard to get caught up on my posts and rest the leg.

I have my last acupuncture appointment for this cruise at 5:00PM which is when we sail for Nawiliwili, Kauai.

We are going to dinner tonight at Chops with Kim and Bob and Karen (A retired Pan Am/United FA and her husband Pete. I had a large, late breakfast so may skip lunch. Maybe

A Tale of a Ukranian Doctor and a Pink Luncheon...

Sunday, 18 September 2011

We are starting to fall into the shipboard routine. We did two rounds of Trivia today. We didn't win either one but met some nice people including a woman who was a teacher at Sarasota High School when Norm was a student there!

The weather is starting to warm up and there were some periods of sunshine today. The seas are also calming down.

10:45PM

Tonight is the second night we turn our clocks back an hour. I figure there will be one more. We had drinks in the DL and then went to dinner. It was Italian Night so we got the "Parade" and "That's Amore" in two languages and "60 accents". I had the garlic tiger shrimp and shared it with Norm who had the Chicken Marsala. The food quality and quantity continue to be good to excellent.

My knee/leg continues to be a problem but it will pass. I'm going to see if I can get in to see Lena tomorrow instead of Tuesday.

Monday, 19 September 2011

I am scheduled to see Lena at 6:00PM tonight.

We did another round of Trivia this morning and got 15 points out of twenty -- one of those was for putting our team name on the paper, though.

We played with two of the Australian couples so had a good time.

I came back to the cabin and Norm is just back with lunch. He brought one of their French Dip beef sandwiches for me and chicken salad for himself.Of the "improvements" they've made to the ship I think The Park Cafe is one of the best. The food we've had was good quality and tasty AND complimentary.

Tuesday, 20 September 2011

I saw Lena again last night and she did some deep tissue massage in addition to the acupuncture. By the time I got back to the cabin it was past 7:00PM so I decided to pass on dinner in the MDR. Norm went to represent us and I ordered a salad, sandwich, dessert and a bottle of Chardonnay from Room Service and watched "Citizen Kane" on TV.

Norm came back with a plate of Beef Stroganoff and a really nice dessert that our wonderful waiter, Andrew, insisted I needed. He was worried about me.

When we woke up I had had some relief during the night from the pain but I decided to cover all the bases with a visit to the Med Center on Deck Two. It is a busy place treating both passengers and crew. I saw the Doctor, who is from Ukraine, and he feels that I have a very small muscle tear. He prescribed a muscle relaxant, a knee brace and rest for a couple of days. I can do that.

Our first "Pink Luncheon" is at Noon today. They have given us -- after much negotiation by Kim -- The Tides Dining Room to use. We will go down at about 11:30AM to help Kim with the arrangements.

2:30PM

We are back from the "Pink Luncheon", which Kim and had a very good time. about twenty people showed out of the thirty who had signed up. Kim had prizes for the most pink worn and it was clear that the winners were Caroline and George from Toronto. He had even dyed his sox pink which is not bad for a veteran of 17 years in the Canadian Professional Soccer League.

Lunch was good as was the conversation. We are doing this again on the second cruise and hope that those of you who are joining us will be there for the fun.

Now I'm going to follow "Doctor's Orders" and elevate my leg out on the balcony. The sea right now is flat as glass and a beautiful shade of blue. Perhaps a nap will also be part of the therapy.

Greetings from Radiance of the Seas!

We had a very easy transfer from the hotel to the ship thanks to Kim who arranged luggage pickup and a van. U.S. immigration and Customs and check-in were easy and after waiting about 20 minutes the cabins were available.

Our E2 balcony is a bit smaller than we are used to but the double sized balcony makes up for that. The ship generally seems to be in very good shape.

We headed to Kim and Bob's aft facing balcony for sail away but Captain Claus came on to tell us that we would not be sailing until about 6:00PM because of delayed fueling and a group of passengers who were delayed.

It was almost 5:00PM, so we headed up to the Diamond Lounge for a drink. Not. Because we were still docked Canadian law only allowed three bars to be open. Because beer, wine, AND cocktails are complimentary in the lounge ours was not open. We finally pulled away at about 6:30PM and had time for a drink before heading down to the Dining Room.

We were seated quickly at a window table for four but it was right next to a very busy service center. We are working on something better for tonight.

The food was quite good but the menus have not changed since or first RCL cruise on Day One. You know it is Day One if it starts with "Vidalia Onion Tart"! I had that, a spinach salad and the pork tenderloin. Low Fat blueberry/peach crumble for dessert.

We saw our old assistant waiter John briefly and he came over to the table to say hello. We also saw Oscar from Peru. It's starting to feel more like the ship we know and like so much.

We both slept well and were waiting for our breakfast. We had requested between 8:30 and 9:00AM. It wasn't until I turned on the TV (Nice new flat screens!) that we realized the clocks had been changed...

We did get our breakfast and enjoyed it and followed it with the Cruise Critic "Meet & Mingle" party. It was not that well attended because many of us didn't get our invitations. I won a nice belt pack.

I came back to the cabin to write this and Kim and Norm are off shopping.

My right knee flared up in Vancouver when Norm and I took a walk down to Canada Place to see the ship. I'm using my collapsible cane and will see the acupuncturist this afternoon for some relief. It will NOT slow me down!

She's here!

According to www.seascanner.com, Radiance of the Seas is docked at Canada Place and waiting for us to board!

Yesterday was pretty easy travel day. Our friend/housesitter, Cary Keogh, dropped us off at the Santa Barbara Airbus and less than two hours later we were at LAX checking in for our Alaska Airlines flight to Vancouver. It was an easy trip through security and a pleasant trip up the coast to Vancouver.

Alaska is having a special promotion this month with free wi-fi on all flights so we kept ourselves amused checking e-mail and the web.

Arrival was early and the immigration and customs procedure was fast, efficient and friendly.

We took an Aerocar shuttle to our hotel, the Marriott Pinnacle, where our cruise friend Bob Duty was waiting in the lobby. We checked in while Bob went looking for Kim.

We were soon in the Concierge Lounge just down from our room on the 25th floor. We had a couple of glasses of wine, lots of good conversation and laughs. The hors d'ouevres served as dinner.

I was up early hoping to see the arrival of Radiance from her last Alaska cruise of the season but she beat me in

We plan to have breakfast in the lounge and then head over to Canada Place around noon. We will go through U.S. Customs and Immigration before we board so we won't need to worry about that when we arrive in Kona.

Stay tuned for more fun!