September 28, 2024

Are we Cursed?

Good thing I have a blog to remember all this pre sail drama! Yesterday I was all packed and ready to walk out door to airport, when we had a late day ship update, called tea time ( like in spill the tea)! Anyhow, even though we FINALLY have all our approvals, paperwork, certifications and insurance we can't launch because we have now where to access SHIP for us residents ! The ship yard of H & W, where we have been this whole time, is currently in bankruptcy or as they call it administration - so there is no staff there and therefore we have no security to allow us access to boat, gangway or pathway. They have to move us to a Cruise Terminal and now that is the off season, there is only one operating and they have commitments through Sunday. The current plan is to move us early Monday morning, board us residents and finally SAIL AWAY! So I again moved my airline ticket to Sunday night to meet them Monday in Belfast!

  • Are we?

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    Are we?

COLONIA, YAP STATE, MICRONESIA

By Patricia Patrick • October 16, 2025
Got to love a place that sells shirts saying " Where the heck is Yap? " Colonia ( population 3,100 ) is the Capital and Harbor town of Yap State ( population 11,600 ) one of four states in the Federated States of Micronesia. We are in the Pacific Ocean or Philippine Sea just north of the equator, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

TERNATE, INDONESIA

By Patricia Patrick • October 13, 2025
Ternate, Indonesia, which is both the name of the city and island, and is part of the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia. It is a port that sees maybe 3 Cruise ships a year. However, they really made an effort to show us the best of what they can offer. It's mainly a Muslim country, and we knew we had to dress discretely, but we knew little else. We didn't have our typical port talk prior, due to a technical issue with the AV equipment. Ben a fellow resident, organized an island tour, with about 8 stops, for 90 of us residents.

CEBU, PHILIPPINES

By Patricia Patrick • October 10, 2025
Cebu greeted our Ship with a big warm welcome, despite having just been rocked by a major Earthquake, days before our arrival. The Minister of Tourism arrived with a motorcade and she proceeded to chat with the residents and thank us, for all our support.