Los Angeles, California – January 20 - 21

Los Angeles -  Jan 20

Well, LA is having crappy weather. Cold, windy and rainy! We had to go through customs since we were arriving in a U.S. port after being in foreign ports. We are free to come and go for today and all of tomorrow since we are “stuck” here waiting out the storm.

 Ruby Princess is in port with us

 as you can see it's a dreary day

Despite the weather, Bob & Pat drove from the Palm Springs area to pick us up at the ship so we could have lunch together. We met them on a Mediterranean Cruise 10 years ago. We have kept in touch via email, but it’s the first time we have seen them since. What a wonderful couple! We actually toured with them as a foursome as they were traveling with their friends John & Sandy. Sadly, medical issues kept them from joining us today. We wish them all the best! We had a very enjoyable lunch at Parkers' Lighthouse and chatted up a storm. It almost turned into a disaster when Greg realized he did not get his credit card back from the waiter. The waiter refused to acknowledge it was not returned. He insisted it was there when he signed the receipt and didn’t really go looking for it. After a brief discussion with the manager the credit card magically appeared. They said since the card was black it wasn’t seen in the folder that the bill was in. It’s a big hassle to cancel a card when you are on land, but being on a cruise it’s nearly impossible to get a replacement card. Phew! It was great to get it back. (we travel with multiple cards, but still would have been a pain)

 Joel, our cabin steward - he is fantastic!

 us with Bob & Pat at lunch

 Queen Mary

After lunch Bob & Pat drove us to a CVS drugstore to pick up some items we wanted to pick up in Hawaii, but since we aren’t going there now, the extra time in LA worked for that.

Bob & Pat had a long drive back to their home and the weather was still raining on and off. They dropped us back at the ship, and we dropped our things and we realized we had time to go visit the USS IOWA Battleship Museum that is walking distance from our ship. It started to rain again and the outside parts of the ship were miserable to do in that weather. Still, very interesting to see it.

 Roosevelt's chair

 

For those following my Aruba Horse riding injury saga, I am feeling MUCH better, but I used a lot of Tylenol to get through it and wanted some more just in case. Plus, some extra heat rub if I should need to continue to use it. I’m taking stairs again and if the weather ever is nice enough to walk outside on the track again, I will resume that.

We came back and got ready for dinner. It’s open seating the next 2 nights since we are overnighted here until we can resume this cruise. We ran into Jeff & Julie from the 2013 World Cruise in line and we had dinner together. They are a young couple that are such a joy to tour with as they have such a zest for life and travel. Then, we saw Karen & Steve go by and later Tom & Ken were seated a few tables away. How nice to see everyone again!

 Baked Alaska on parade the last night of the first segment.

The show tonight was another “welcome aboard” performance with the same singers and dancers, but a different comedian Steve Bruner. We didn’t like him as well as the one on our embarkation show in Ft. Lauderdale.

We also have a new Captain Jon Paul Bryant. We have now traveled 5,034 Nautical Miles since we left Ft. Lauderdale.

Los Angeles - January 21

Steve & Karen had organized the Cruise Critic Meet & Greets for all the segments of the World Cruise. The meeting was scheduled for the first full sea day, but since we are still in Los Angeles some of the people that may have attended were ashore. None the less it was pretty well attended and it’s always nice to put faces with our Cruise Critic names. After that it was time for lunch. They treated today like a shore day, so there was no lunch in the dining room, only the buffet.

 Steve

me on our balcony

After lunch Greg and I went for a walk off the ship since it’s a much prettier day than yesterday. He got some nicer shots of the outside of the USS IOWA. Back on board we are taking advantage of the free internet. It’s slow, but I am trying to get some photos added to the blog. (they are included above)

Dinner was open seating, but we sat at our usual table and had 4 new people to talk to. It’s not their regular table, but it’s always nice to get to talk to new people.

The show tonight was the comedian from last night. He won’t be one of our favorites, but it was OK.

With any luck at all we will sail away around 4:00 AM and be on our way to Bora Bora which will take about 8 ½ days. So, not much to report on, but I’ll do a token blog post. We enjoy sea days so it’s all good…..