The highlight of Day 9 in Japan was lunch in my hotel room.  Clouds still blocking a view of Mount Fuji.  The Sheraton Yokohama Bay Hotel sits over a large underground shopping mall.  A close-by market supplied chutoro and hirame sashimi and a bento of beef curry over rice.  The hotel provided the hot green tea and cold beer. Our final Club Lounge session was five hours and, below, last breakfast on Day 10. Best croissant I've had in years.  All in all, in consideration of price, this has become our favorite hotel in Japan. Then off to the Oceania Riviera.  Azaleas are in bloom. Approaching our ship.   I've been on more than a dozen cruises, maybe two.  Checking-in almost always involves standing in line, with long waits.   Perhaps an hour or more.  This time, a lot of personnel to get our luggage off the taxi and wheeled to the baggage check area.  Then, maybe a five-minute processing period.  We were on the ship ten...

There are 51 ocean cruise lines and 27 river cruise lines. Cruise lines are either for sea or river, and distinct from passenger lines, which only transport passengers.   Cruise lines provide entertainment, food, tours, etc.   They carried 31.7 million passengers in 2023. 18 million from North America. 7.7 million from Western Europe. 35.7 million total expected in 2024. Other fast-facts. Global economic impact in 2019 = $154.5 billion. 34% of all passengers in the Caribbean and 18% in the Mediterranean. Largest ports in million passengers per year. Miami  5.1 Port Canaveral  4.3 Cozumel  3.9 Port Everglades  3.5 Nassau  3.3 Shanghai  3.3 Barcelona  2.5 Civitacchia  2.4 Pursuing net zero carbon emissions by 2050. 47,000 travel agent members. #1 is Carnival Corporation, operating over 100 ships under this name, plus Holland American, Princess, Seabourn, P&O, Costa Cruises and Aida.  Carries 42% of all cruise passengers,...

Yesterday, Rubik's Cube being 50 years old inspired me to start today with the  Caesar Salad  being a century old.  More specifically, July 4 was not only Independence Day, but also the birthday of this dish. Invented in Tijuana. But this is an Italian salad, invented by Caesar Cardini.  Tijuana then was a bustling international city with bullfights, mobsters, movie stars and the like. The music being blared might have been Al Jolson's  California Here I Come . That day, the restaurant was overwhelmed by holiday travelers, so he and his brother just tossed some olive oil, egg and parmesan over Romaine lettuce.  Perhaps an anchovy. The Caesar demands innovation, and people who later prepared it also added some Worcestershire, or Tabasco or lemon juice, and perhaps bacon, kimchi and anything an adventurous cook might choose. Thus, the endurance of the Caesar Salad. Artificial Intelligence, or AI, invokes fear, utility, the future and a wide variety of emotion...