I yesterday thought I ended my cruise series.  However, Part 6 mentioned the December 2023 to May 2024 274-night  Ultimate Global Cruise , with four segments, and one of them interested me, so to quote: May 9 to July 4:  Dubai to Barcelona, middle east treasures and marvels of the Med. Hmmmm.... I wonder if space is still available.  We fly on November 11 to Dubai for a Regent Seven Seas cruise to Singapore. Why not a summer of 2024 cruise from Dubai to Barcelona, as they pay for the business class fare from Honolulu to Dubai, then Barcelona to Honolulu. I thus inquired.   Cabins still available at $352/night with free drinks, wi-fi and tips, but the business class fare is only for those who take the full world option.   If they covered first class from Honolulu to Dubai, then from Barcelona to Honolulu, we'd be inclined to go.  Maybe we can yet work out a deal.  Nah, they won't, so this is one cruise I will miss.   Anyway, the ship Royal Caribbean uses for this ultimate sailin

Well,  Jeff Bezos and his Blue Origin crew safely returned .  However, they only went up, then back, and did not make a global tour. Dr. Anthony Fauci and Senator Rand Paul sparred again today .  Never seen Fauci so authoritative. Senator Paul is an ophthalmologist, but he keeps pushing the Republican party line with no real proof. Still scheduled to board the Island Princess next year on January 19 for a penultimate 111-day global cruise.  This would be my first ship-only around the world adventure. My travel partner and I need to be in Okinawa next Fall for an important gathering, so we thought, what about a final and ultimate world journey beginning in October of 2022?  We could then work in another stop in Dubai to better see that country, a Christmas River Cruise in Europe, the Expo 2023 in Buenos Aires, and back home through North America. Here is a first draft that will be adjusted, for Buenos Aires is not yet included, I've always wanted to return to Mauritius, and there wi

A little more than a year ago I posted on The Best Cruise Disaster Films .  Then a few months later I reinforced that topic .  Titanic was a particularly popular movie, getting 89/69 ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, and was 3 hours and 15 minutes long. If I did my mathematics correctly, there is another cruise production that ran for almost 200 hours.  The Love Boat  had a pilot in 1976, then lasted on television from 1977 to 1986, followed by four 3-hour long specials in 1986, 1987 and 1990.   I bring up this subject because the ship used for the television series was the Pacific Princess, the sister of Island Princess.  But this was not the Island Princess we will be on for our around the world adventure beginning on 19 January 2022.  The first Island Princess began operation in 1972 as the Island Venture.  In 1974 she was sold to P&O's Princess Cruises with the Sea Venture.  They were renamed the Island Princess and Pacific Princess.  Turns out that both ships were used for th

Remember, did you move your clock forward by one hour?  We are now into daylight savings time, and New York is 6 hours ahead of Hawaii.  3 hours for the West Coast.  The time difference between Tokyo and Honolulu is always 5 hours because we remain at standard time. One more point of remembrance.  Wednesday, March 17, is St. Patrick's Day .  There was an actual character named Patrick, who was born British around 460 AD.  However, all you've heard about him is probably false , such as chasing snakes out of Ireland.  He was never canonized. March 17 is a public holiday in Ireland.  However, we do more celebrating in the USA.  In Ireland, they have Dublin Coddle ( right ), a layered dish consisting of bacon, pork sausage and potatoes.  Or Irish Stew, which consists of lamb, potatoes, onions, leeks and carrots.  Here are 18 more Irish dishes . If you subscribe to Music Choice, they are already featuring Irish songs.  If you go to Dublin, the most memorable song is Molly Malone ,