Insignia Archives - Page 12 of 20 - Steve and Cathy On The Road

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Special Post for March 29th through April 4th

Posted on April 2, 2018 by Steve and Cathy

Since the posts of our journey are running a week behind, I am going to skip ahead to the time period that is the title of this particular post. A great deal has happened since we left Hong Kong, all due to weather. There were two scheduled Sea Days for March 29th and March 30th. At this point, who knows what we did, but we do recall that the weather began to deteriorate in that visibility

This Trip

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam on March 25th

Posted on April 1, 2018 by Steve and Cathy

We board our junk right from the tender dock on Deck 3 of Insignia. No need to ride one of our lifeboats into Ha Long City and then get on. What an advantage. It was a very clever setup. The tour company used a boat that has a flat steel platform as a dock extending from the ship. The junks would tie up to this other boat, and we would come out of our ship, cross

This Trip

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam on March 24th

Posted on April 1, 2018 by Steve and Cathy

This is what Cathy and I call a virtual Sea Day, as our new arrival time in Ha Long Bay is now around 6:00pm. We know that the staff of Destination Services has been working overtime trying to rearrange everything for everybody. It is an unenviable job, but we have seen them work miracles before. We choose to sit in Destination Services to be there when they open up at 9:00am. We are hoping that we

This Trip

Sea Day on March 23rd

Posted on April 1, 2018 by Steve and Cathy

We wake up this morning and immediately feel a change in the weather. Gone is the heat and humidity we have been whining about. The temperature is in the high seventies. The other condition we notice is that of the sea. It is active, with nine-foot waves pushed by a stiff wind coming right at the ship. Apparently the ship has been contending with this adverse sea condition all night. Once again, we are thankful that

This Trip

Mekong Delta, Vietnam on March 22nd

Posted on March 30, 2018 by Steve and Cathy

A quick note to two. First of all,we are having issues with the Internet. This was predicted by the cruise line due to the area through which we have been passing, which, coincidentally or not, is Vietnam and China (you may connect the dots or not). I have many more photos I would like to add to this post, but I can’t download them into the app I am using for this blog. I will update

This Trip

Saigon, Vietnam on March 21st

Posted on March 29, 2018 by Steve and Cathy

One of the primary objectives that we set when we decided to take this around the world journey was to test all of our preconceptions about the places we were going to visit and the people we would meet in these places. There was no country we would visit where this assignment would be more challenging than Vietnam. The picture above is Cathy with Enrichment Lecturer Peter Croyle who, as mentioned in yesterday’s post, has spent

This Trip

Sea Day on March 20th

Posted on March 28, 2018 by Steve and Cathy

After three straight days of excursions in the heat and humidity of Southeast Asia, a Sea Day comes as a welcome opportunity to dial down the activity level and spend the day in air conditioning. Some of our fellow guests from south Florida are saying that this is what it is like there in July and August, and that their days are spent indoors as ours would be during a winter snowstorm. Ooh, perhaps mentioning snowstorm

This Trip

Bangkok, Thailand on March 19th

Posted on March 27, 2018 by Steve and Cathy

Today we have a morning excursion and, yes, we chose it primarily because it has a boat ride as a major segment. Our guide introduces herself as Ann, explaining that her real name is Siri Kul but we can call her Ann. As seems to be the pattern, she is lively, entertaining and possessed of wonderful people skills. Since our guides are very much the window through which we view a city or country, it is

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Bangkok, Thailand on March 18th

Posted on March 27, 2018 by Steve and Cathy

We come up the Chao Phraya River into sprawling, immense Bangkok and dock around 8:00am. This is the 22nd most populous city in the world. The city has a registered population of 7 million, but most analysts agree that, because of unregistered immigrants from the north and northeastern parts of the country, the population is more likely to be 15-20 million. It is Sunday, which is a blessing, because Bangkok traffic is renowned throughout Southeast Asia.

2018 Around The World Jan 3 - Jul 1

Koh Samui on March 17th

Posted on March 24, 2018 by Steve and Cathy

One of the many, many aspects of this cruise that we like is how carefully the itinerary is laid out. The variety of locales that we have visited thus far is quite significant, which is one of the numerous advantages of being on a small ship (Insignia is 30,277 gross tons with a 684 passenger capacity; Oasis of the Seas is 225,282 gross tons with a 5,400 passenger capacity). Today we visit the island of Koh