1st & 2nd Legs of Our Voyage/Adventure 'round the Horn

Blog/Diary Events 15 to 26 Jan 06 - New York to Rio de Janeiro
The pages recording the "Shenanigans" and controversy of the first leg of our voyage.

Blog/Diary Events 27 Jan to 7 Feb - Rio to Valparaiso
Happier times, great pictures, finally 'round the Horn, some funny stories along the way.

Latest Updates - Valparaiso to Los Angeles

This Blog/Diary is laid out in chronological order (1st to last). Some of the day's events are left on the home page, while others have separate pages. If you get lost while browsing the site, just click anywhere inside the top banner image and you'll be returned to the home page.

8 Feb - Valparaiso, city tour and spectacular send off from the locals.

9 & 10 Feb - Back at sea, new passengers, same old problem in the launderette (this time I find a Chinese ally and try  my "cunning plan"). More painting classes and pictures of "blood-on-the-floor warning" along with sunset on the Tropic of Capricorn... 

11 Feb - Callao, Lima, museum, pre-Inca ruins and prancing horses! 

12 Feb - Back at sea, Stan the Man and a liquid New York Breakfast (Beer & Brandy)... hell of a session, woke up with $220 in casino chips, hope I won them legally!!!

13 Feb - Esmeraldas, Ecuador. Hot, humid, chaos with tenders, but some great dancing and museum exhibitions.

14 Feb - Back at sea, St. Valentines Ball tonight. Both of us have contracted some form of stomach bug, so decided to give the ball a miss and went to bed early. Strangely, my casino chip stash has gone up to $350 overnight... must have some generous "casino fairies" on board!!

15 Feb - Fuerte Amador, western end of the Panama Canal. Indian village visit by dugout canoe and Panama City skyline.

16 Feb - Back at sea. I'm OK, but Ann is confined to the cabin by the ship's doctor. It seems lots of people (crew and passengers) who went on the Prancing Horses tour in Lima have contracted Gastro Enteritis and it's standard procedure to quarantine each case for at least 24 hours after last symptoms.

17 Feb - Poas Volcano a washout, but magnificent tour of La Paz Waterfalls, beautiful butterflies, humming birds and spectacular scenery. 

18 Feb - Back at sea - Ann gets the all clear at 10:30, she's exits the cabin like a cork out of a champagne bottle!! We do 6 laps of the ship to stretch our legs, get totally exhausted in the hot sun and return to the cabin for extensive napping and cool showers. Neither of us feel like dinner and I start to feel very unwell with hot and cold sweats.

19 Feb - Acapulco - I get the the stomach bug during the night and to my shame exit the bed to slowly. Medic puts me into quarantine immediately and a clean up crew sort the cabin out. I'm now confined to the cabin, Ann doesn't want to go on her own, so we both miss the catamaran bay tour and cliff divers. BUGGER!

20 Feb - Back at sea - I'm feeling much better, but Ann has had a relapse and is now on antibiotics to try and get rid of the stomach bug. 

This is a real sad end to our voyage and we can only hope that both of us are fit and well by Wednesday morning. 

We both want to say a big "Thank You" to all of the people who have sent good wishes and get well soon emails over the last few days. A special thanks to Phil & Sue Witcher (received your email today), our dinner companions NYC to Rio. Sadly, we've not been able to attend any dinners for 6 days, but we have great memories of the "tall tales" and laughter shared during the earlier part of our voyage.

21 Feb - At sea - Ann was admitted to the ship's hospital last night. She was given 3 litres of fluid on a drip feed. It was quite a rough night, but the doctor sent her back to our cabin first thing in the morning. Hopefully, she'll get better today and perhaps eat something and keep it down/in. I'm really worried about the disembarkation tomorrow, as she can hardly walk and gets diarrhea attacks every 45 minutes or so.

The ship's doctor and the Purser are arranging for us to disembark last tomorrow. They will send a wheelchair for Ann to go through immigration and then a taxi to the hotel. I have no idea what we'll do at the hotel or what kind of reception we'll receive. We have full travel insurance, but no idea about how to get medical care if it's required.

Don't worry kids... I'll get her home somehow.

I did receive one email today that made me give a rue smile:

>>

<<

Bob, the cabin is 6192 and it has been cleaned 3 times per day by a special "hit team" using strong disinfectants. They also change all towels, sheets and washables. The stomach bug seems to be confined to the people who went on the prancing horses tour in Lima. I'm NOT aware of any incidents in other passengers from cross contamination. 

If you do happen to have booked 6192, I'd advise you to press for an upgrade anyway, as it's got a connecting door that acts like a sound amplifier and the stairway C lift "bing bongs" from 7 AM to 1 PM. However, there's hardly any motion even in high seas.

22 Feb - Transfer to Renaissance Hollywood Hotel - Ann awoke this morning feeling much better, I think she spent most of the night praying and mentally willing herself better. Anyway, it worked although she's still very weak after no eating for 6 days.

As promised, Cunard provided a wheelchair and escort to help us disembark, they also paid for a taxi to take us directly to the hotel. On arrival at the hotel a doorman fetched a wheelchair for Ann and within a few minutes we were checked in and on our way up to the room. I made sure to check how much to tip the bellboy and I think I got it about right, $5 for bringing up 5 bags, as the same guy smiled and opened a door for us later in the day.

Once again I'd like to say thank you to all of the American people who emailed with advice and in most cases provided their own telephone numbers for us to call if we had hit any real problems. In particular I'd like to say thanks to "travel-to-go" (online persona name for Karie from the Cruise Critics Discussion Board) who wrote a fantastic email, which included useful telephone numbers along with practical advice all delivered with a sense of humour (wink). Cheers, I definitely owe you a beer or two {_}] {_}] there's two virtual beers to start with LOL

Hopefully, Ann will be up and walking under her own "steam" tomorrow. If so, we plan to visit the Getty Centre and casually stroll around town, nothing to strenuous as befitting QM2 passenger survivors!

Without tempting fate, it looks like both of us are now well on the road to full recovery and providing we take things steady, they'll be no need to call on US medical facilities.

23 Feb - LA city tour and Getty Centre - We handed back the wheelchair to the hotel this morning, Ann's determined to get back on her feet and try to carry on as normal. It cost us $50 each way by taxi to visit the Getty Centre and was worth every penny/cent. We were lucky enough to catch the Leonardo de Vinci exhibition and actually saw some of the great master's sketches along with many other works of art. However, by 2 PM we both felt totally exhausted and the stomach bug had returned with a vengeance, so we returned to the hotel for an early night.

24 Feb - 5:30 PM flight back to UK

25 Feb - Land Heathrow 11:50 AM - The flight back was uneventful except for numerous toilet visits, the stomach bug is still very much active. Our son picked us up at the airport and we arrived home around 5 PM.

I plan to write a critique and a "Character List" during the next few weeks, while the memories are still fresh to mind.

This will finally close the jackatsea blog/diary.

NO MORE later...

Jack(onland)

5 Apr - Added a guestbook/comments program to the JackatSea blog. This will allow visitors to post feedback or share their voyage or travel experiences. Why not give a go??

JackonLand!! the NEW BLOG - Yep, I'm traveling again, only this time it's a "land" (working) holiday. Two weeks in Crete, June 20th to July 4th. Once again, I plan to keep my family and friends updated using jackatsea.com. So watch out for changes to the main site layout and my latest research on Crete.

This diary will be updated regularly (15th Jan to 22nd Feb 2006) and primarily it is intended to keep our family and friends informed about our progress during the voyage. Hopefully, we'll be able to publish some memorable pictures and descriptions from each port of call.

Other Internet users are welcome to read the pages and download pictures for their personal use. I would also encourage visitors to send recommendations of places to visit or tour companies to use at the various ports of call, based on their own experience or research.

Pre-voyage Research - Seeing What WE Want at the RIGHT Price!
Earlier this year we both enjoyed a ten day cruise around the Caribbean on board the Queen Mary 2 calling in at three Islands; St. Maarten, St. Thomas and St. Kitts. The ship offered organised excursions for each island and in the main, we were quite happy with our choices. However, the total cost of these excursions was just over $1,200. We both felt that with better research prior to the cruise, we would have selected different excursions or even arranged for a local guide/tour from the Internet and obtained better value for money.

The Queen Mary 2 is scheduled to call in at SIXTEEN ports during the New York to Los Angeles 2006 voyage. Follow the links in the "Voyage Calendar" to view my latest research for each port-of-call. During the voyage each of the port links will be updated with new information, pictures and descriptions of our onshore excursions.

Daily Cruise Diary of Onboard Events and Experiences
The QM2 has become famous for providing a varied onboard daily itinerary combining the very best in lectures, leisure and cuisine... and we intend to experience EVERYTHING! (smile).

Due to business commitments I will have to login to the Internet for around one hour each day. While online I plan to update these pages, probably not daily, but at least every other day. 

About Cunard and Queen Mary 2
There's absolutely no point in duplicating the information on Cunard's UK web site. Follow the link below for full ship details.

Queen Mary Home Page

Top Tip - don't miss this section of their web site.

Virtual Tours of the QM2
You'll need to have QuickTime installed or be prepared to download a 20mb program. In my opinion it's well worth the effort. All of the main areas of the ship are covered with high quality 360º panoramic viewpoints:

About Us
I'm fifty and Ann is "forty something", we've been married twenty six years and have four children. We live in Kings Clipstone, which is about five miles north of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. I'm chairman and technical director of the family company and Ann is a school teacher. We both regard the forthcoming cruise as "timeout" from our normal lives and intend to make the very best of our time onboard the ship and at every port-of-call.

Contact Us
Fellow passengers or people with recommendations for port-of-call tours please use jackatsea@askjack.co.uk to send information. People with Skype enabled are more than welcome to call me username: "jackatsea".

Business Contact Details for My Current Client List
32 CORNERS Ltd
Sterling eConsultancy is a Division of 32 Corners Ltd
Mansfield Business Centre UK
Email: info@32corners.co.uk
SKYPEin No: 0044 121 288 1037 
(Calls are charged at normal UK landline rates, answer phone service)
SKYPE Username: "jackatsea" 
(Skype to Skype calls using the Internet are FREE from anywhere to anywhere in the world)
www.skype.com 

1st & 2nd Legs of Our Voyage/Adventure 'round the Horn

Blog/Diary Events 15 to 26 Jan 06 - New York to Rio de Janeiro
The pages recording the "Shenanigans" and controversy of the first leg of our voyage.

Blog/Diary Events 27 Jan to 7 Feb - Rio to Valparaiso
Happier times, great pictures, finally 'round the Horn, some funny stories along the way.

Blog/Diary Events 8 to 22 Feb - Valparaiso to Los Angeles
A sad tale of sickness and quarantine with some memorable tours and a "cunning plan"...

32 Corners Info Finance & Business: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8   9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14   Try Vicky's Articles: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 eCons Info Database: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 Food: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 Pets: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 Internet: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 Politics: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 Parents: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 Sport: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6

Disclaimer
Jack at Sea is a personal diary/blog and has absolutely NO business affiliation or official connection with Cunard other than being written by a passenger booked on the QM2 Around Americas Cruise 2006. All information is presented as-is with no warranties or guarantees of accuracy from links to other web sites.