November 21, 2009: We Arrive in San Diego
	November 19, 2009: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
	Return to the Index for Our Panama Canal Cruise

Our Last Sea Day

Today is a sea day- our last one on this cruise. And we did our by now normal things. We had breakfast, we played bridge, we had lunch, we played RummiKub, we went to the Fitness Center and we had dinner with all our friends. We didn't take many pictures, of course, having pretty much exhausted views of the ship itself. We did take some pictures showing some of the ship decoration, and we did take some pictures of the evening variety show; have already seen the pictures of the ship decoration that we took on the page earlier devoted to the Oosterdam itself. The pictures we took at the variety show are below.

Other than that, there are some pictures I'd like to include here.

First, let's have a look at our last sunset at sea. Below are some thumbnail images for the great pictures that Fred took; click on at least a couple of them to have a look:

I also took a couple of sunset pictures- a little earlier than Fred's. Have a look at them by clicking on the thumbnails at left.

Our Last Sunset Given that this was our last sunset, and given that it was such a nice one, I made a movie just as the sun was sinking into the Pacific.

For entertainment, tonight is leftovers again, this time the comic (Ziegfeld) and the singer (Smitherman). You've seen pictures of both of these performers before, but if you would like to see some more, click on the thumbnail images at left.

Taylor Brown, a pop/folk guitar player and singer, was not one of the headliners on the Oosterdam, but he was one of the most enjoyable entertainers on the ship. His usual venue was the Crow's Nest, and that small area suited his intimate style; the Vista Lounge would have been way too big.

The cruise line didn't provide much information about him in the Daily Program, but I got the following off his web site:

Taylor Brown's earliest memory of his Quaker upbringing in Philadelphia is making up songs on a plastic guitar when he was three. His musical ambitions were especially encouraged by his guitar-playing father before his untimely death, and his musical lineage goes back to his grandfather, who was a prize-winning country fiddle player. For Taylor, writing and performing songs has been a way of life. While earning a degree in Classical Guitar Performance from Vassar College ('06), Taylor toured with folk musician Kate Taylor (sister of James Taylor). He has performed with Kate and as a solo artist all over the country. Among others, he has appeared with Dar Williams, Felicia Collins, Levon Helm, Tom Rush, Bob Dylan's bass player Tony Garnier, and Carly Simon.

This evening, he has his own show in the Queen's Lounge and, since we'd seen him three or four times in the Crow's Nest, we wanted to stop in and see him here. His show was well-attended and his performance quite good. If you click on the thumbnail images below, you can see some of the best of the pictures that Fred took of him this evening:

We didn't take any movies of Taylor Brown in the Crow's Nest, so maybe the best of the movies that Fred took here in the Queen's Lounge will make up for that.

This evening, there was an unusual event. The captain came on the PA system and announced that a passenger had developed a health issue that the ship's doctor and the passenger's own doctor felt could not wait until we docked in San Diego tomorrow morning. Because of this, the bow upper decks would be closed for the arrival of a Coast Guard helicopter that would airlift the passenger to San Diego. A while later, we were on the stern upper deck watching the helicopter land on the bow helipad. It was a tricky maneuver; there was some wind and the ship was moving quickly. The captain slowed the ship and the pilot was able to land, pick up the passenger, and then depart. The whole operation took the better part of an hour.

Our License Plate Collection

When we went ashore at Aruba, our first actual port on the cruise, and we walked around, we happened to take a picture of an Aruban license plate on one of the cars we passed. This set a precedent, and at almost every stop we did the same thing- took a picture of one of the local license plates. While these pictures might not be terribly interesting to you, I wanted to include them here in my personal photo album.

Aruba	Panama
Costa Rica	Guatemala
Chiapas, Mexico	Hualtulco, Mexico
Zihuatanejo, Mexico	Acapulco, Mexico

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Towel Animal Menangerie

One of the interesting (and unexpected) things on this cruise was our introduction to the Holland-America tradition of creating playful animals and creatures out of towels, creatures which are usually left on passengers' stateroom beds when the turndown service comes by in the evening. We learned later that cabin stewards attend classes on how to make the animals. Some end up doing the basic kinds, and a very creditable job usually, but some seem to have a talent for the practice and do more intricate creations. I suppose it's just the luck of the draw whether you get a steward who's an expert or not.

We didn't have the opportunity to compare the animals that graced our cabin with those of other passengers, although we do know that Greg and Paul were very complimentary about the ones they received (maybe in a suite you get a better class of animal/creature, or perhaps a bigger towel- I don't know). In any event, you might want to see some of the animals we received during our cruise. We didn't take pictures of all of them, but if you take a look at the pictures below, you can get a good sampling of them:

November 7	November 8
November 9	November 10
November 11	November 14
November 15	November 16

November 18

With the last towel animal, the last full day of our cruise came to an end. It has been a memorable 18 days; we've seen places I never thought I would ever see. Even so, even with all the interesting places and events, it will be nice to get back home, and we retired actually looking forward to docking in San Diego early in the morning.

You can use the links below to continue to the album page for different day.

	November 21, 2009: We Arrive in San Diego
	November 19, 2009: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
	Return to the Index for Our Panama Canal Cruise