Still Cruising

We are both very much looking forward to our next Cruise, once again with Celebrity Cruises.

Recent events suggests that having all of the safety things are lovely, because in theory everything will be fine, but now Cruise Companies have to build in 'human behaviour' into their safety systems and monitoring processes.

Who would have thought of an alleged 'sail pass' if the stories are true. Followed by an alleged early 'abandon ship' by the top guy if that story is true, and to top it all, a 'Not on your Nelly' sequence regarding the Jacobs Ladder, again if true. It could of course all be untrue and the chap really is a jolly good fellow. He may have in fact saved "hundreds if not thousands of lives". Then again, a timely; 'to lifeboats', followed by 'launch' could have resulted in a better outcome.

If any of it is true, then this storyboard must be a very sad eye opener to all of the Cruise Lines and not just the one that sank. How do Cruise Line senior managers deal with what you would never expect to happen? Risk analysis is about the unlikely, and who would have thought what happened could have happened before it actually did happen? Now we have £450m pounds worth of junk, and yet all the best safety features in the world were probably installed on that ship. Human behaviour may have taken the ship where it should not have been, and human behaviour may have failed to launch the lifeboats when they could have been launched. Only the fullness of time and the publication of the official report and the legal proceedings and their Appeals if applicable will tell us all what truly happened. At the moment we are simply double guessing. Yes, these guesses seem to be based on credible circumstances and initial 'evidence' but it's still double guessing until the experts have their day.

It is 100 years since the Titanic sank, and I bet when they launched her; they didn't think that she would sink either. Mmmmmmmmmmmm, does anyone need a good Safety Officer? You see, I've never thought 'outside of the box', because for several decades I have understood that none exists. It is people like me who are not constrained by the norm, the what should happen scenario, or the what could happen, that are needed now. People who see the risks and can identify the solutions. It is probable that Cruise Liners will require greater regulation after this episode. No one can complain, for after all, there are an awful lot of people on board when the boat goes down.

Mrs B and her Retail Therapist

While the number of Readers from across The Pond increases daily, I thought that it would be nice to post an image of Mrs B and her Retail Therapist aboard the Celebrity Eclipse. Yep, you got it right folks; her Retail Therapist. The best bit was, Mrs B was really kind and only had a few things on the cruise. Even better was her decision to keep selecting the cheapest item. Well done Mrs 'B' and well done to the Retail Therapist for helping Mrs 'B'. Wow, it really was 5* service. Now I imagine that the term Retail Therapist is big in the States, but here in little Wales, it's not something that you come across that often. Indeed the chap in the picture was the first Retail Therapist that I had ever met, and a lovely chap at that.

The Georgetown Quartet

The Georgetown Quartet. Now those that have been reading this Blog of late will know that Adam Westcott and the Inspiration String Trio on the Celebrity Eclipse were pretty darn good. Indeed, all four could fiddle pretty well. I was extremely impressed by Adam Westcott as he’s a first class musician. The ‘string trio’ were inspirational in both the looks department and the way that they played the music. Well done to Celebrity Cruises for booking such great performers. They were equalled by the four singers and a chap playing and singing. But one of my favourite bits of the Cruise was listening to the Jazz quartet in the Ensemble Lounge up on Deck 5. I must admit that I tended to gravitate towards the fifth deck, and I believe justifiably so.

The Georgetown Quartet
Joy Ellis, stunning voice
Adam Osmianski, one of the best drummers I have heard
Tony DePaolis, looks like he is in love with his instrument
Andy Boanco, the man best suited to be in black

Here I am post cruise listening to an album produced by the Georgetown Quartet called ‘Passepartout’ (can mean Character and is also a character in a certain film). I was a bit nervous with 13 tracks, especially after unlucky Tuesday and Coach 13 in Spain. But I should have chilled as the music suggests and ignored the omen. I don’t have a favourite in the band as to me it is a collective with each one complimenting the others. Now don’t get me wrong, I have an eye for a pretty lady, and Joy is very pretty indeed. But you see, the first time that I listened to them, I was sat and obscured by the bar. Wow, thought I, how do these guys do it? Only later that night did I learn of Joy being tucked away out of sight around the corner alone and with her grand piano. It’s a pity that Joy wasn’t singing that night, because if she had been, then I would have thought that one of the fellow’s had broken his voice. You see I am an advocate of ‘perception is reality’ and for a few hours I truly believed that there were only three of them. I’ve listened to some good jazz in the past, and some really dreadful stuff. Indeed some of the stuff that I have listened to before Georgetown came onto my scene, was so dreadful that some tracks had to be deleted from my iPod.

The Georgetown Jazz Quartet; both live and on their album ‘Passepartout’ are pure bliss. Believe it not; the album was as cheap as chips. Things this good shouldn’t cost so little, so grab a bit of them before they become BIG.


Check them out on the Web at: http://georgetownjazz.com/news

Check them out on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=georgetown&init=spell&tas=0.7095723279331396&ref=ts&sc_oq=goergetown&sc_h=163944578&sc_a=cs&ab=X&sc_r=1#!/pages/Georgetown/160414550639608

Cindyanna

During an earlier post I mentioned Cindy-anna and how I mistook the State name. So here folks, is a photo of the lovely Cindyanna (now that I have managed to work out how to download the images from my camera). The bulk of the previous images from the Celebrity Eclipse cruise came from my mobile phone with its easy connection to the laptop and uploads.

You can tell the amusement from the smiles on the faces of the two in the photograph. That was a blistering hot day and being a tad deaf meant that it comes as no surprise that I misheard where she came from. Cindianna is from Indiana. Check out the United States of America Blog entry for the full story. The various name spellings are to help Cindi-anna find the Blog as I promised that the photo along with various spellings would be uploaded. Please let Cindiana know if you know her or recognise the photo back in the States.

14 Days of Excellent Service

Sumpoyo our excellent 5* Waiter in the fabulous Moonlight Sonata Restaurant on the Celebrity Eclipse. I am particularly proud of this shot as I used my Tamron 70-300mm lens at about four foot on Deck 14 of the Eclipse. Sumpoyo was expecting a full or half body shot and handed what he was carrying to a colleague. The best part was being able to wrangle a print of this shot on-board to hand to Sumpoyo before the end of the Celebrity Cruise. I managed to make the same gesture to 15 of the crew in all who we had befriended on our 14 night 5* cruise. I was only able to pay for 6x4 shots, but I think that all 15 were surprised and pleased to receive their photograph and gratuity envelope.

Celebrity Cruise Tip 22: We pre-paid our gratuities with our booking, but we also took along some money to say a special additional thank you to those who provided excellent service. It may be worth considering doing the same as the service is exceptional and you end up feeling like a million dollars. The recruiting programme for Celebrity Cruises must be exceptional for them to attract so many top class people who provide stunning service day after day

The African Bit

And now folks the African bit. It has been great blogging about Celebrity Cruises and Celebrity Eclipse, but the Blog is also about Africa so we need to find a suitable strand or strands from somewhere. Maybe it is the historical link and physical distances between our ports of call on the Celebrity Cruise and the African Continent would suffice. I must admit that I was surprised on our excursion in Gibraltar to be informed by our excellent tour guide just how close we were to Africa. It was hard to believe when he pointed out Morocco across the Straits of Gibraltar and I wonder just how close the Celebrity Eclipse had taken us to Africa as she sailed her curved route to the Rock.

Gibraltar was our first port of call on the Italian Mediterranean cruise. Gibraltar of course is linked to Spain while high speed ferries link the Straits of Gibraltar to Africa. With Africa only 14 miles away from Gibraltar: the twice weekly ferry from Gibraltar to Morocco takes just over an hour.

Our cruise then moved on to Provence in France. Of course France was one of the great Colonialist countries with French West Africa consisting of eight French colonial territories; Dahomey, French Guinea, French Sudan, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Senegal, Upper Volta, and Niger.

Our next port of call was in Italy and along its coast. Italy was also a colonial nation and Italian East Africa consisted of; Ethiopia with its four governed areas, Italian Somaliland, and Italian Eritrea until the end of the Second World War.

We then cruised to Sardinia; a Mediterranean island belonging to Italy that is situated between Africa, France, Italy, and Spain. Interestingly the distance between Sardinia and Sicily is some 280km but the distance between Sardinia and Africa, Italy, and Spain is some 100km less. I.e. Sardinia is closer to Africa than it is to Italy.

The last two countries that we visited were Spain and Portugal. Spain played a bit part in the Colonisation of the African Continent. Spanish Morocco, the Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea fell under Spanish control. Whereas Portugal was the first European nation that actively took an interest in Africa. There’s a good explanation of Portuguese influence in African affairs and colonisation including the ‘Slave Bridge’ at http://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Portugal+and+Africa of course various countries means various currencies if it wasn’t for the Euro! Although watch out as although you can spend Sterling on the Rock at a ratio of 1:1 apparently Gibraltar notes are not legal tender in the U.K. although it is in pounds etc., I may be wrong on this one, as I am relaying what I was told by another guest on our Celebrity Cruise.


Celebrity Cruise Tip 21: Celebrity Cruise ships like the Celebrity Eclipse are cash free but that doesn’t mean that you don’t need cash on your cruise. Not all places take American Express so make sure that you top up your dollars and your sterling with some Euro’s. Especially if you want a beer during one of the short excursions, that are in isolated locations without access to an ATM.

Celebrity Cruises Top Waiter

As far as we are concerned this is a picture of the best waiter ever (Sumpoyo on the left) and his assistant (Mahmad Mooradun on the right). 14 nights of top class 5* service on the Celebrity Eclipse in The Moonlight Sonata dining room compliments of these chaps.

The stunning food was served to an exceptionally high standard.

Setting the table to perfection, welcoming us and our dinner companions with a smile. Making sure that we were seated well. Bringing water and the bread basket and topping them up when needed and without being asked. Changing the knifes depending on the appetiser or entree. Cleaning and maintaining the table to a high standard. Sumpoyo carrying upwards of 14 meals on one tray on his shoulder. Always serving from the correct side. Always there but never noticed. Great recommendations on every night of the Celebrity cruise. Fantastic service from a great waiter and his assistant. Celebrity Cruises should be proud of these guys and all others whom I suspect also reach the same exacting standards.

More USA and some UK

Oops; I missed out the lovely Christine and Anne from Vancouver Washington State when I blogged my American piece yesterday. That was very naughty of me as they are so lovely, as are the lovely Kathy and Dave from England in the UK. We met Kathy and Dave for coffee today on Deck 5 and are meeting our American chums in the outside bar on Deck 14 tomorrow at 1630 Cruise Time. But watch out as there is so much to do on Celebrity Eclipse that the Blog tends to lag behind. So tomorrow can be today if you know what I mean!

I hope that you enjoyed the poem, but alas there is so much to do on The Celebrity Eclipse that I am too busy enjoying our Celebrity Cruise to do as much blogging as I would normally and also too busy for the poetry as well.

We had a great dinner last night and some great wine along with the food. Today has been a hoot. Mrs B and I bunked off the excursion bus and while they done the medieval thing, we sat on the beach and drank beer and coffee and then done some shopping for yours truly. A wonderful day, made better when we met up with some of our new friends. The ship is heading for Southampton now, and the band is playing in the background. Wonderful, sheer bliss; yes folks it is a holiday of a lifetime!

Celebrity Cruise Tip 20: Let the expert serving at your table pick your wine, and be brave enough to follow the food recommendations made by your waiter. These people are trained and experienced and they will enhance rather than detract from your Celebrity Cruise 5* experience

The United States of America

The United States of America
We have met some lovely Americans and North Americans on this trip. This is pretty strange as there are more children on board the Celebrity Eclipse on this Cruise than there are American citizens. But it seems some of the best people all come from the USA. In fact, the friendship is so good that I want to be adopted. Then I would have an excuse for a picture or a photograph of an Eagle on my study wall. Amongst those that we have met and in no particular order;

There is Fred “The Stairs” and Julie “Andrews” from Boston
Along with Fred and “Hey” Jude from New York City
The two lovely ladies from Chicago
There’s the “Chicago Bear”
Our dining companions the lovely cool Ray and equally lovely “Babs” from Connecticut
Jerry “Bagels” and Louise from Long Island who hail from Brooklyn and Queens
“Cindy-Anna” from Indiana
“Danni” from Washington DC
Jim and Sue from New York State
Irene "Dallas"
The late night coffee scooter duo from New York
Three more from New York City
Someone from the West Coast
Someone else from the East Coast
And someone from something called “Central Eastern Middle time” but I may have got that one a tad wrong

My favourite name association is “Fred the Stairs” as we chatted on Deck 5 near to the Moonlight Sonata staircase. My favourite accidental name is “Cindy-Anna”. I met a group at a cafe break on an excursion and said “Hi, where are you from?” To which the lovely lady sat towards the front of the table replied “Cindy-Anna”. “Cool” I said, “I don’t recall that State but it’s a nice name”. Now you know where this is going folks. The place was Indiana, but when I said ‘Cindy-Anna’ out loud it got a really good laugh from all of the Americans. I laughed along with them and the lovely lass, now has a new name. Ps in case she does a Google search I promised myself that I would input the name several ways so here goes: Cindyanna, Cindy-anna, Cindianna. Thanks for that everyone, please also enjoy the next bit as well.

After meeting so many lovely people from the States, it is fitting that the following poem is dedicated to them all. It is written in ‘Royal Rime’ consisting of seven lines per stanza in the rhyming scheme ABABBCC. It was written on Deck 5 on the afternoon of Tuesday the 09 August 2011 while on the Cruise Holiday of a Lifetime.

The Anthem

Oh how I long to sing
The Star Spangled Banner
With its unique ring
While in upright manner
Although I’m no tenor
To sing the national song
Is all that I long

To stand side by side
With cousins from across the Pond
That’s no longer so wide
Because of our special bond
From discourse and not a wand
Oh how I long to sing
That Star Spangled thing

Roger Bennett, August 2011
(All rights reserved)

Celebrity Cruise Tip 19: Try out the complimentary treats in Cafe al Bacio, but don’t visit too often because I can imagine that they could become quite addictive

Celebrity Ski Yoghurt and Horse Devours Darling

Well folks we have done what I never thought that we would get around to doing. You see Mrs. B and I are very good at talking about what we are going to do, but not that good at getting around to the actual doing of it. So, surprise-surprise when en-route back from York; ‘the Boss’, AKA Mrs B explained that she wanted to go on a cruise and I went and booked one.

So here we are on the Celebrity Eclipse and it meets the hype. I was told that this was as good as it gets and guess what? The lovely Thomas Cook lady was right. This is indeed the Hilton 5* hotels at their very best with brass knobs on top. Pure luxury on each and every deck and so big that I keep finding new gems every hour or so.

The lovely chap at the hotel yesterday said words to the affect of “oh, so you’re going skiing?” “Huh?” replied I, “Spending Kids Inheritance” he countered. Yes indeed, and a blinking good job too. That is, I’m have a jolly good stab at spending the lot. It may be the price of a small car, but it’s a jolly nice car, and I’m well impressed.

The best bit is that there is no need for any of you to worry about the house back in Wales. One of the children is there with Yoghurt Boy on guard duty with the perimeter almost as well lit as the Celebrity Eclipse. Albeit the lights from the house are not reflecting on the water as we glide onwards to Gibraltar. I also recognise that the two back in Wales, would appreciate a bit of the 5* service and food while crewing the Watch Tower.

On the Celebrity Eclipse it is astonishing food. I enjoyed the champers followed by the cheese burger relaxing in the sun around mid afternoon prior to our 2045 dinner sitting. Thankfully being a lad from the gasworks, it all began with an appetiser and not ‘Horse Devours’ as one of my gang likes to say it. It’s good to be reminded of your roots. A listing in Burkes Peerage and Gentry ain’t much good if you forget the gasworks. It is wonderful service, wonderful venue, wonderful food, and wonderful company. We are extremely fortunate to be on a table with four other guests, all of whom flew across 'The Pond' to catch the ship in Southampton. One hails from the Americas who collected her granddaughter in Washington DC en-route to the U.K. and the other two from the South. All genuine lovely people so it couldn’t be better.

So for the Thomas Cook Aberystwyth crew if you are reading this: (1) we got an upgrade and our stateroom is stunning. So much room we could breed a flock of sheep. I could also feed them on the grass on the upper decks, and exercise them around the running track, (2) yep, it was a double hit folks; we also got our preferred 2045 dinner sitting, and (3) parking was a breeze and the Cruise Parking team were lovely, (4) gratuities were paid for in advance in that price, and yet another well done as (5) the drinks package is handy and good value. Well, as well as being from the gasworks I am also a Cardi and we mustn’t forget that!

Gosh, its day one and I already feel as if I am a celebrity. It doesn’t get much better than this, now I have to start saving for the next one.

Celebrity Cruise Tip 1: Book with Thomas Cook, Aberystwyth
Celebrity Cruise Tip 2: Bring along a coloured highlighter pen to highlight items in the daily detailed itinerary, and thereby reduce your chance of missing something special