A lot of "No's"

 

Saturday morning

November 16 2024

Usually I type the day’s events the evening of. Right now I am steaming! So you get to listen to me whine.

When I made reservations, this trip included one stop in an island in Korea and several days in Japan. There were no ‘Sea Days’ planned, which was just fine with me. I did not come on this ship for a ‘cruise’ I came on this ship for transportation from port to port in Japan.

One of the reasons I was really drawn to this cruise was that the schedule called for arriving in Osaka at 9am and not departing until the next evening at 6pm. A full two days in Osaka port. This would allow me one day in Kyoto and one day in Osaka. Life is great.

Then either the day before or the day of final payment, they changed that itinerary to 10am to 10pm in Osaka and a day out in the water doing doughnuts in the ocean. Okay I can adapt, I’ll leave the ship in Osaka and let them sail to performing pastry in the sea and rejoin them in the next port, Hiroshima. True the money spent for the cruise that sea day was lost and I would need to pay for two night’s lodging and transportation to Hiroshima. I can do that.

Well according to Guest Services I can’t, and I am not sure why now. Other than ‘Cuz we said so’, I’m not clear if it is Japan having a point to point internal transportation regulation, or the company’s internal policy. That may take some research. So at the present I am not a happy camper.

Then the ship stops at Nowhere Japan to look at Mount Fuji for a day before going to Tokyo. I have absolutely no reason to go to Tokyo until I return to the States. So I’ll just get off at Nowhere Japan and bid the NCL Spirit Sayonara. Apparently I am not doing that either. The contract was from Incheon to Tokyo and by damned I was going to live with the contract whether I wanted to or not. I’m not sure if I can get a doctor’s order to get off the ship in Nowhere or maybe my dear sweet great aunt Tillie might be on her deathbed and I need to get home at once to bid her a final Ta-Ta. If they ban me for life from NCL, well there are plenty of Ships on the sea that aren’t NCL. And frankly I don’t foresee myself doing much cruising. It really isn’t my preferred style for travel.

Moral of the story, I should have never asked. My saying before retirement was “It’s easier to beg forgiveness than it is to get permission”, I guess still applies to life.

I now return you to my regularly scheduled reporting.

So now dinner time and back to regular bitching.

I made a wrong turn and ended up at the main dining room. A huge room a full two stories tall with a huge set of windows over looking the wake of the ship. I prefer a different restaurant with a bit of a more intimate feeling, but the menu is the same in either venue.

Last night’s meal was fine. A nice piece of fish in a good brown butter sauce. The wine was an odd situation. I told the wine steward that I wanted a Burgundy and vetoed a Pinot Noir. So he suggested an oaky Chardonnay, I’m sure how a Burgundy morphed into a white but maybe Baby Jesus had a hand in it, or maybe a ‘Chard’ is made with Burgandy grapes. Regardless, the ‘Chard’ was a $5 upsell over the included wine on the menu. He poured the glass and then said, ill give you some extra and basically dribbled another two drops in the glass, You know how you are leaving the house on a long drive and go to the bathroom, just before leaving? Then after you are done, you tell yourself you are going to be on the road for a while and squeeze out a couple last drops, just in case. That is the way I felt his ‘some extra’. And after that, the dry oakyness was more like it passed through the Oak woods on the way to the bottle. Meh. Needless to say, I’m not trusting him a second time on this trip.

Bed around the right time, Jet Lag is manageable, the room tolerable, especially after a few drinks. The previous trip was at the lowest floor on the ship at the pointy end. When we ran over a sailboat or a small fishing trawler I could hear it bang on the side of the hull, but the rest of the trip was peaceful. This trip the exact opposite, the highest floor and at the round part of the ship. I can feel the engines vibrate my bed, and not quite as good as the motel room’s Magic Fingers. At least it doesn’t cost me twenty-five cents.

The buffet is directly above me, but it is closed by bedtime. But, there is cleanup which seems to be done mostly as soon as I turn out the room’s lights. I’ve looked for the camera but haven’t found it yet.

With the top floor, it also gets the most movement, not bad so far. I think I’ll need a seat belt for my bed if it gets rough.

I slept in fits and starts. At 6am I gave up on trying to sleep and opened the curtains and watched the sky lighten while laying in bed.

As followers of this over past years, I haven’t made a secret that I am a recovering smoker. I only allow myself to smoke on vacation and with my Amiga Tiffany. She isn’t on this trip so I am a solo smoker. I stepped outside to a 30 mph wind and horizontal rain. Nothing will detour a true junkie. I made it to the 13th deck to the open area designated for the ship’s pariahs. A sole brother in nicotine was there and I forgot my lighter in my room. One thing about junkies, we enable one another. So quick as a dog’s tail wag, I had my paper wrapped cancer lit, and the bond was forged.

He, Richard, retired Chief Master Sargent in the German army. Helo and aircraft maintenance his specialty. Ended up with 250 soldiers under him at the conclusion of his service. We swapped military lineage and were soon relatives in arms.

The ship didn’t dock until noon so lots of time for breakfast and wandering. Katrina my favorite bartender from the previous trip on this ship has now been promoted to the head of a particular bar. She isn’t as fun and bubbly as she was before.

The noon rush to exit the ship began at 1210. Seju Korea. I had heard of it, only because I watch a Korean series on Netflix or else it would have been a total nothing for me. Unlike the Alaska trip, there is no bus waiting to whisk you to town, here you are on your own. I trolled the taxi stand trying to figure out who did what, and what went where. A passing couple asked me if I wanted to share a cab into town. Sure why not?

Lynn and Glen from the UK. A nice 10 minute chat to the main tourist stop, the city’s open air market. We went our respective ways and I found a small festival celebrating I have no idea what. The stage held a combo with a very energetic female lead. She was really good. I didn’t understand a single syllable but really enjoyed it.

Then into the market with the usual smells, both enticing and foreboding. One open air market is pretty much the same as another. This one was boring, no bats or cats for sale, just the regular fish and vegetables. I soon tired of the same old same old.

Google maps said that the Museum of something or other was a walk away. Just follow the river upstream, the river in front of the market was more of a canal so, Let’s do it!. I didn’t realize that the river cut a deep steep canyon and the Museum of something or other was at the top of a flipping hill . What Google maps said was a 7 minute trip via bus was a 40 minute mountain ascent. The payoff was a museum that I didn’t enter and a volcanic rock park the I strolled through. At least the walk back to the ship and taxi was all downhill.

Back at the ship I found Richard and now Annette at the smoking grounds. On my bed when I arrived was a sealed envelope that looked like military orders. Inside was a letter thanking me for my service, a lapel pin, a shoulder patch and a metal coin. My service was over 55 years ago and nothing that I can really relate to any longer. Though it does get me some discounts on some things. Richard on the other hand was quite proud of his service. I asked him if like US military and Law enforcement did he collect those big clunky coins. He said he did, so I gave him mine. He seemed to really appreciate it, and gave me a fist bump in gratitude. Which I happily accepted.

Not much else of note occurred until dinner and so here we are.

Tomorrow, Nagasaki