I'll today take a day-off from reporting on our Diamond Princess cruise, and instead provide summaries of cruise-related matters of possible interest to you. I saw a   New York Times  article  indicating some concerns about melatonin.   Five years ago I asked my doctor about the effectiveness of melatonin to help me get to sleep.  He seemed encouraging, so I bought a bottle.  Never opened it. Last year, I took a long trip, including a 38-day Norwegian cruise from Seattle to Southampton, followed a couple days later by a 12-day Viking European Christmas River Cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest. On about the 30th day of the Norwegian cruise, I began to have difficulty sleeping.  Why I still don't know.  But zero to two hours sleep/night can totally screw up your system, especially if this goes on for two weeks. I'm sure I would have taken Melatonin if I had brought it with me on the trip. This difficulty continued the full length of Viking cruise. I ...

We were in Phuket as COVID-19 was just getting started in February of 2020.  In fact, WHO had not yet declared this to be a pandemic.  Here is what I said almost six years ago: Phuket is the largest island of Thailand, but also a province and city, including 32 more tinier islands.  The area is slightly less than Molokai, which is slightly smaller than Singapore.  The ocean it faces is the Andaman Sea.  The population is approaching 400,000, although there are an additional 200,000 unregistered migrants, ex-pats and others.  The city is 536 miles south of Bangkok . That disastrous Indian Ocean Earthquake of 2004 brought tsunamis to the west coast of Phuket, where we are staying.  While 5300 were killed in all of Thailand, Phuket reported 250 deaths. Like Hawaii, Phuket gets around 10 million visitors per year.  Caucasian tourism is high, from Europe, Russian and the USA.  We'd guess that 80% of the guests at the Le Meridien is white.  Am...

 We are in the port of Penang.   I mentioned this city in an earlier pos ting. We skipped the tour here because in November of 2022 we did all that from the Regent Seven Seas Explorer.  Here are two photos.   You can read my posting of that day, Was not much to see. My usual noodles, etc,, lunch, After my nap, I decided to walk throughout the ship.  Passed Izumi Onsen on the 15 deck.  This is a real Japanese onsen, but is not free.  Prices vary depending on your passenger status ( suites get lower rates ) and frequency of usage.  Typically $15-$35 per 90-minute session. Stepped outside, and our ship had just departed.  So I took some videos of departure from Penang. Evening cocktails of Margarita in Crooners Bar. Then dinner in the International Dining Room,  I again only had soup and salad combos. The wines were Seghesio Zinfandel and Duckhorn Chardonnay.  First, Yellow Split Pea Soup with the tiniest Waldorf Salad I've e...