Saint Tropez, France

Hello everybody,
It has been several days ago since I posted some messages, sorry about that. Since posting my last message a problem has occurred with my computer. It is not possible to get the internet, only the passengers with an Apple can get internet. Why? No idea. Even with copying the address from an apple onto my computer did not do the tric. I am on my last day on board the Star Flyer, now being 75 days in total!
The crew tells me I am now almost part of the crew, I still have to pay though!
Tomorrow will be the day we have to leave the ship. Then all the passengers who boarded the ship in Papeete, Tahiti, will have left! It has been an amazing trip, and to be honest I am sad it is over. I have met so many wonderful people, too many to thank them all for their presence on the ship, their laughs, the shared sadness, the best talent show I have ever been part of, I just don't know where to start. 
Last night we had the last (4th) Captain's dinner, followed by the usual talent show. I sang Sway with me, the song Danny sang specially for me the last time. I love the song and I have been practising with Joszef the last couple of days.Captain Brunon and Mariusz, first mate, both promised to watch and they indeed did. Thank you both for your support. I was shaking (as usual) but got an enormous applaus. Luckily for me there are now 15 travel agents (14 female, good for the crew, and one male, not so interesting for the passengers), they are young and full of energy. They even asked me to do it again! So it must have been not too bad.
There was finally some atmosphere in the Tropical bar, most of the time it has been very quiet indeed, with almost always the same passengers/crew dancing.
Since today is our last day on the ship, it will be a short notice. I am planning to write a final message when I am home. Tomorrow I will stay in a hotel in Nice, followed by my flight back home on Sunday. Hope to be back at home at about one o'clock in the afternoon. Will also download some photo's.
Take care in the meantime and thank you all for you messages.
Till next week.
Ineke

April 22, 2010

April 22, 2010


Well, a lot has happened the last couple of days! I am still on the ship, getting now of in Monaco. Barry, who lives in Portugal talked to his son, and according to him is was very difficult to make any telephone calls, to send emails and that Europe was in total chaos! Since the purser's office could tell me only that Lisbon and Amsterdam were "open", but no info if flights were arriving/leaving, I decided to stay on the ship, instead of perhaps having to spend one or more days at the airport.

According to the info, all hotels were fully booked, there was a train strike planned in France, car rentals run up to a 1000,= € per week, whatelse could I do, but staying on the ship! The crewchange was also cancelled, therefore the Captain and several crewmembers had to stay on the ship as well! Luckily enough I could stay in the same cabin, so after I made my decision, Muslim took out my suitcases.

I got up at five in the morning to witness the arrival into Lisbon harbour. Especially going under the bridge of April 25 was

amazing. It was just high enough for the third mast to pass. Then my adventure started.

Leaving the ship to do some shopping for the crew, I was told the trainstation was in front of the harbouroffice. A very nice, and very helpful Portugese man helped me with buying a ticket. He finally managed to get me a 24 hour ticket for € 4.10! Amazingly cheap. So I took the train to the center of the town. I had a map and could follow all the stations we were passing. Then the train stopped, I asked a young woman if she could tell me where I had to get of to get to the town center. Her English was not that good and I was afraid to miss my train. We were standing outside the train. So I got on again, and to my astonishment the train went back to were I came from! I then decided to first go to Belem, but again I was not clever enough to get out when the Belem station was there. I wanted to go to the monument of Hendrik, which was still quite some distance away, but did I know I had to walk! So instead, I stayed on and got off at the next station. There I had to wait till a train came who would be stopping at Belem, and finally, I arrived! Phhhhhhh.... I visited the monument and crossed the street to the Museum of Archeology, but it was very, very busy, so I decided to take a bus to the center of town.

When I entered the bus, you had to keep you ticket in front of a card reader. It gave me a red light, but since I do not speak or read Portuguese, I did not know what to do. At one point I saw a big Papperia, so I got of, since I had to buy ten telephone cards for the crew, living in India and Jamaica. They only had local cards. Then I hopped on the tram, same thing happened when entering the bus, but still could not read of speak Portugese (have no idea how you spell this, sorry), I pretended it was ok. I finally got off in the center of town, only two hours after I left the ship ........ and tried to find some phone cards. No such luck, till I noticed an Indian guy, having a small stall in the middle of town! My guess, the guy would speak English, proved to be right and he sold me some very good cards, but did not have ten. He got out of his stall, asking me to take care of his business (!), and left, leaving the door open. I must have a face people trust, otherwise who would do such a thing. Amazing. So there I stood in front of the stall, instead inside it, taking care of his business, luckily for me no other customer came. Just before he left, a man asked and got 4 caramel toffees. The only time I have seen people buying sweets per piece, was in Jamaica! I then went on to do some other shopping and heard that I could take the metro back to the harbour.

Arriving in the metro station I asked if my card was good for the metro as well! It appeard my card could only be used on the train system!!!!!! Lucky me, I had not been caught. I thought that the harbour were the ship was docked was at the end of the harbour, so I bought a ticket to that station.

Coming out, nowhere there was a ship inside! I then started to walk, but after more than an hour later, I returned to the spot, where I took the metro originally! Not so bright, I must say. I asked in the ferry station where I could find a train station, and again I was very bright. By just looking over my shoulder I should have seen the train station! But, again a black out later, I had no idea at what station I got on the train originally. Luckily the girl knew this, after I told her it was across the harbour. If you run, you can catch this connection, and yes, it will stop at the right station! So I ran. But having bought a lot of toblerone dark chocolate for the crew, a big, big bag of toffee sweets, plus a small painting, some water etc. etc. my bag was quite havy! Luckily the train waited for me and I managed to get on, but more importantly, get off at the right station!!!

When I reached the ship, inspectors were checking the tenders, so I could not get on the ship, since the gangway was underneath. I must say, I thought it was very nice of the inspector to apologize to me, and that it would take not very long before I could join the ship. At that time I was near collapsing. It was a very sunny day in Lisbon, temperatures were up to 22! and coming from a very, very cold crossing, was not such a good experience. I am now suffering from a runny nose, have a cold and am still searching for a woollen hat to put on in the evening, when leaving the harbour.

When I was back on the ship, everybody was in full preparation for the new guests. About 20 have not made it. The latest number is, we have only 63 passengers and some are getting on in the other stops. It was a beautiful sight when we left Lisbon, but it again was very cold. At half past eleven I went to bed, first taking a very hot shower to get warm again, before going to sleep.

Today we arrived in Cadiz (!) according to our cruise director, but to my knowledge we are in Portimao, Portugal. Cadiz will be our next stop. Some passengers left for an excursion, but Ruth and I are off to do some internet work. I have to find a ticket from Monaco to Amsterdam, have to catch up some emails and download my blog stories, so everybody can read them.

Sorry for the big delay, but missing the Azores and being shattered after my shopping trip in Lisbon, I decided not to get off again, and try today in Portimao. Hopefully the Captain is right by telling me it only will be a fifteen minute walk to the Casa Englaca (?) where they seam to offer wifi. I am also planning on downloading some photo's, so you can have a look where I have been up to till today!

Thanks again for reading my blog, please leave your comments if possible. I really appreciate it.

Take care and write to you in another couple of days.

Ineke

April 4 and 5, 2010

April 5, 2010


Sea days have a strange effect on me! If I am totally honest, all days have! My memory is not what it used to be, I find it difficult to remember what I have done the last two days! Old age is getting closer and closer!

What has happened after my last update. At 19.00 hours all the newbies were on the ship, the old newbies are now promoted to oldies, and the real oldies (the ones from Papeete), are called the seniors now. I must admit, I just made this up, nobody knows yet!

The Captain introduced his crew as usual, the only difference this time being that Peter, the senior engineer, left the ship, and has been replaced by somebody from Kroatia, with an unpronouncable name. I'm sorry, have to find out how it sounds, let alone, how you write it!

One very big improvement has taken place in the dining room. No longer rush, rush, down they go at 19.15 to take down the napkins. They might be late for feeding frenzy!

No, instead you can go to dinner at any time you want. Many places left for you to choose from, but the biggest improvement is the noise level! You now can easily understand the person sitting across the table. No more shouting, no more missed jokes. Heaven!

What surprises me though is the weather. Just after leaving Sint Maarten, and not Sint Marteen as they keep on writing on the info board, the weather changed quite a bit. Gone is the humidity, which of course is a blessing, but now we have a lot of wind. The airconditioning is still blazing at full force though, so this morning I heard the first coughs already. I turned down my airco unit in the cabin till next to nothing, but my cabin is still cold. When I when to the bridge to say my usual goodnights to the watch, I was wearing my windbreaker!

Whenever you look at the passengers, the way they dress goes from one extreme to another. There is one passenger on the ship who insists on wearing a woollen hat and a jacket all day and evening, even though we had not left Sint Maarten, and then there is my person. Whenever possible, I take of my clothes and sit in the sun (wearing a bathing suit, so not to offend the other passengers!). I have no idea how much sun I will get, being back in the Netherlands, so I make the most of it. I even managed to get a sunburn in my face! This happened when I was walking in Cartagena. Strange, after being in the sun for 6 weeks, still getting a sunburn. So my face is looking great! My skin is peeling, and where the new skin appears, it looks kind of pink! So it is just if I have freckles all over my face.

Patrick and Kathryn, I have given your letter to Colin and Suzanna, who happened to sit at the table next to mine. Ross, I have met Avril, she indeed is quite a character.

I was sitting on my own heaving lunch. First Avril asked if she could join, she would like to catch up with me, she had not seen me in ages! Very difficult when you are only two days on the ship, but alas. Then Margaret turned up, steaming from both ears. She seamingly has prepared a letter to the Monaco office with a complaint about an excursion, which turned out to be only a drop off at the airport in Sint Maarten. They charges € 37,= for that! She wanted € 20,= back! After she got settled, Elspeth joined us, then a lady who I only recognise with her hat (she was not wearing it in the dining room of course), have no idea what her name is, she did not say one word, which was not too bad, because Avril took charge and told Elspeth to shut up, when she was talking! At that point, I decided to go for a desert, and told the ladies, I expected they would have settled their arguments upon my return! My goodness, what a nest full of hens.

They luckily did and we ended the lunch in a better atmosphere. I told Avril she would not be able to do the same trick with me! She fully agreed that would not possible, so I will keep my fingers crossed. I have already decided, if she forgets her words, just to get up and walk away. Will keep you informed.

Again there are some very intelligent passengers on the ship, carrying a GPS, and checking every move the Captain and his crew are making! To me, they look like persons who cannot and will not delegate anything! They must have total control.

Why question the Captain and his crew. Everybody makes mistakes, that is human, but what is the fun in telling them they could do a better job! And based on what, that they have their own sailing boat, or motor yacht, whatever, I even suspect some passengers have to use the oars to get forward. To me, it looks very rude, the more so, since they are passengers and the Captain and his Crew always have to be polite and give an answer. Brrrrrr...........

Yesterday it was Easter Sunday. Claus organised a service again, which the crew higly appreciates. When I was having breakfast, the coloured Easter eggs were brought in by Kemik. It was a lovely sight. I then and there decided I would be the Easter Bunny on the ship! So I made a bunny tale from paper napkins and asked Daniel, one of the waiters, to attach it to my shirt. It was quite a tale! Upstairs, having my daily dosis (one cup of coffee), I made some ears out of paper napkins and stuck them inside my visorband. It looked real funny! When the Captain and the officers finished their daily meeting, they walked straight to me, so there was no way avoiding my bunny tale. We all had a good laugh!

Just before he would start the introduction of his crew, he saw me, still wearing my outfit. He started laughing and said there was a nice bunny on the ship!

When I came to my cabin there was a nice plate with a chocolate bunny figure, an Easter egg, some coloured eggs and cookies. Nice touch.

Went to bed after twelve. Up at seven, get my morning tea and went to the bridge to say hello to Mariusz, the first officer.

Again this is a kind of garbeled message, sorry about that. That is the way my brain is working though!

Thank you for leaving messages in my mailbox. Have not answered any of them, since I was sitting on a concrete floor, and after 1 1/2 hour my bum was sore. Hope to find some Wifi in the Azores though. Till then, take care and leave your messages. Thanks.

Ineke

Message for Claudia

Claudia,
I wish you all the luck in the world. Go for it girl!!!!!!!
You had it coming.
Take care and keep me informed. Thumbs up for next Wednesday. Touch wood.
Ineke