February 20, 2025

IGUAZA FALLS, ARGENTINA - Day 1 and 2 due to late flights.

On 2/10 through 2/14 I traveled to Igauzu Falls with friends Lori, Scott and Gary. Lori wanted to celebrate her birthday with a bucket list trip and I was excited she invited me to join in. We decided to splurge and stay at the fancy Gran Melina Hotel located right in the National Park on the edge of the Argentine side of the Falls. Toucan birds greeted us as we enter the National Park from the airport. Scott and Gary joined us on the trip but they stayed in a more modestly priced airbnb in town, about 30 minutes away.

The Hotel Property is stunning! There is only one Hotel in each side of the Falls National Parks. At checkin the Hotel told us to be sure to lock our balcony door to keep the monkeys out, that they were smart and knew how to open the doors when not locked. The monkeys were waiting for us, right outside our balcony door when we got to the room! They were so playful and not shy at all! We were exhausted but couldn't wait to hit the pool!

The only part of the get away that was challenging was the flights we had to take to get there and back. Gusting strong winds delayed our outbound flight from 11am Monday to 11pm, with our connecting 2nd flight, delayed until 4 am on Tuesday, getting us into Iguaza around 6am on Tuesday, basically loosing a day and making us exhausted! On the way back to the ship, our only flight choice was leaving at 3 am giving us another sleepless night. It was brutal but worth it with this group, we shared tons of laughs!

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We napped, chilled, watched the wildlife around the pool and then had some rooftop cocktails at sunset, dinner and an early night.

CORON, PHILIPPINES

By Pat Patrick • May 30, 2026
We are currently docked at the port of CORON , in the Palawan archipelago islands, of the Philippines . While the port itself is nothing special, and the surrounding town is hardly thriving, the people here are amazingly friendly, joyful and so happy to be around! You can see from below, they have a ton of hotels and restaurants but mostly it's their water actives that attract a fair number of tourist. Known for their crystal clear water, dramatic limestone cliffs and powdery white sand beaches. June is the start of the rainy season, but so far the weather has been good.

KOTA KINABALU, SABAH, MALAYSIA

By Pat Patrick • May 25, 2026
We only had about 8 hours of port time in KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia today, due to Port operations. I went out with Delia to see one of the most notable buildings in town, the floating mosque or Masjid Bandaraya. Our GRAB driver actually took our picture when we asked him to wait for us, and then take us to the mall afterwards.

SANTUBONG RIVER, SARAWAK, MALAYSIA

By Pat Patrick • May 23, 2026
MALAYSIA , on BORNEO ISLAND made palm seed oil their biggest export back in 1966 and was the top global exporter until 2008, when Indonesia surpassed them. Sadly, the resulting tropical deforestation has created major habitat losses and population declines for the Borneon Orangutans, Pygmy Elephants and Proboscis Monkeys . Many of us on the ship took tours to see these amazing creatures and I wanted to share some of their amazing photos too.