"Too big to fail" is just a polite way of saying "too big to succeed, but we're going to keep propping it up, throwing good money after bad anyway, because we don't have the wit or imagination to conceive of any alternative."

(Yes, we're still around. Another travel journal will be forthcoming.)

The 2012 14-Day Eastern & Western Caribbean Cruise, Holland America ms Nieuw Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Nine

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

February 10 (Friday, Day 14, At sea) -

Snookums and Pat slept in until 9:15 and then showered. Pat ate a light breakfast of muesli while Snookums read on the verandah. The sun was out and the sea was calm. Then Snookums realized that Mom might get a 100-day medallion at the 11 AM Mariner reception and had to logon to try to verify it. She failed and decided to ask the concierge at Neptune Lounge if Mom was on the list. She was!

Snookums went to Mom’s room at 10:00 AM and opened up the door just a bit to see that it was pitch black and Judy was still sleeping so she didn’t go in. She returned to Mom’s room around 10:30 AM and now everyone was up but still in pajamas. Snookums made sure that Judy knew that Mom was going to get a copper medallion. Everyone said that they were attending so Snookums let them get dressed. Snookums and Pat arrived at the event at 10:45 in order to secure good seats.

Captain van Zaane, Mom with her copper medallion, Hotel Manager Stan Kuppens

The 2012 14-Day Eastern & Western Caribbean Cruise, Holland America ms Nieuw Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Eight

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

February 9 (Thursday, Day 13, St. Maarten) -

We woke up and it was raining (naturally!). It didn’t stop us, though, from heading out to meet with our private tour guide, Joyce Prince ($375). And the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. The five of us found Joyce and her nice big van and she started by taking us on an island tour. Then she dropped off Pat, Judy and Snookums on Front Street so they could get their two Diamonds International charms (sunglasses and clock charms) and the Effy pendant and took Mom and Dad on more of an island tour for twenty minutes or so. When the five of us met up again, we went to the butterfly farm ($12 per person) and spent a nice hour there. It was supposed to be handicap accessible and for the most part it was, but due to the heavy rain that had occurred earlier in the day, Dad’s wheelchair wheels got stuck a few times in the mud and had to be manhandled out. Snookums found a 10 cent (Euro) coin, too, at the butterfly farm. She was hoping to find a guilder from the Dutch side, but settled for the Euro coin from the French side.

St. Maarten scenic overview

The 2012 14-Day Eastern & Western Caribbean Cruise, Holland America ms Nieuw Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Seven

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

February 8 (Wednesday, Day 12, San Juan, Puerto Rico) -

Snookums woke up around 9:15 and immediately yelled to Pat to wake up since she was going with Dad to the 9:30 AM “Veterans Meeting”. To Snookums’s surprise, Pat was not in the room. Snookums got up and showered and piddled around until 11:00 or so. It was very cool and cloudy and windy and rained a bit, too. Pat came back to the cabin and then Ian, the Travel Guide, announced that a scenic narration would occur as we passed El Morro Fort so we went outside on the bow of the ship on deck 5 to see our approach. It was VERY, VERY windy on the bow but the view was great and the sun was fully out. After we got our pictures, we went to Lido for lunch and ate by the pool. While we were eating, the pool’s retractable roof was opened up the whole way since it was so sunny (finally!). Dad drove by in his scooter and we talked to him for a few minutes before he left for the library and we went back to our cabin to get ready to walk around San Juan.

Dad, Pat and Snookums

The 2012 14-Day Eastern & Western Caribbean Cruise, Holland America ms Nieuw Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Six

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

February 7 (Tuesday, Day 11, Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos) -

We woke up at 7:30 AM and waited for our pre-ordered room service breakfast. We had ordered it to be delivered from between 7:30 and 8 AM. The other time it was delivered at the beginning of the time period so we were kind of counting on that since we were going to meet Judy at 8:15 AM. Breakfast finally came at 7:55 AM and the server brought it in and looked at Snookums and said, “You need to write your room number on the order form.” Snookums then pointed to Pat and said, “She filled it out.” Mystery solved! When Pat filled out the room service breakfast form last night she neglected to fill in the room number. She did, however, write down the last name so the kitchen was able to look that up and find us. Whew!

Grand Turk shoreline

The 2012 14-Day Eastern & Western Caribbean Cruise, Holland America ms Nieuw Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Five

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

February 6 (Monday, Day 10, At sea) -

Pat and Snookums had their normal breakfasts of muesli (Pat) and oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon (Snookums) but ate it outside since it was finally a bit sunny. Snookums took pictures around the ship before returning to the room to read on the verandah. Mom, Judy and Pat went to the 11 AM shopping lecture to get the coupons for the upcoming ports.

The 2012 14-Day Eastern & Western Caribbean Cruise, Holland America ms Nieuw Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Four

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

February 3 (Friday, Day 7, Costa Maya Mexico) -

Pat woke Snookums up by saying, “Wake up. It is 8:17 AM and we are meeting Judy at 8:30.” However, Snookums could tell that the ship hadn’t docked yet and since it was scheduled to dock at 8 AM, she told Pat to re-check the time. Sure enough, Pat had looked at the wrong time on her watch that shows dual times. It didn’t matter since room service breakfast had been ordered for 7:30 AM which would have woken Snookums up anyway. And, it was pouring rain.

The plan was for Snookums, Pat and Judy to leave the ship at 8:30 AM to catch a taxi to Maya Palms Resort in order to do a snorkel/beach day for $65 each (plus $40 total for the round-trip taxi). Since it was raining we weren’t in too much of a hurry to get to the cabs so instead we hit the jade store for its free gift (a worry doll from Guatemala), the silver store for its nice free silver charm of the Mayan calendar and Diamonds International for its tacky free charm. We finally waded through the puddles and found the taxi stand. We had been given explicit instructions to take a yellow taxi for $40 total and to pay when we were dropped off back at the ship in the afternoon. We told that to the driver and he was fine with it. We got in the little cab which had almost zero visibility due to the condensation on the inside of the windows and were in for an interesting ride.

A view of the sea grapes and trash at the shoreline of Maya Palms

The 2012 14-Day Eastern & Western Caribbean Cruise, Holland America ms Nieuw Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Three

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

February 2 (Thursday, Day 6, Mahogany Bay, Honduras) -

It was pouring rain when we woke up at 8 AM. The ship was scheduled to dock at 10 AM but was delayed 15 minutes due to a squall and heavy winds. Pat and Snookums ate breakfast inside by the pool and watched the docking process and then got ready for the private guided tour that Snookums arranged with Theris Dixon for $25 per person for the day.

Shipwreck at Mahogany Bay

The 2012 14-Day Eastern & Western Caribbean Cruise, Holland America ms Nieuw Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part Two

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

January 31 (Tuesday, Day 4, At sea) -

Pat and Snookums slept in and ordered room service breakfast. While cruising within 14 nautical miles of Guantanamo Bay, Pat ate her oatmeal and Snookums had her bowl of mixed berries and a sunshine parfait (berries, plain yogurt, granola). It was around 80º, slightly cloudy and kind of windy but pretty nice on the verandah.

Then it was time for the 11 AM Caribbean Shopping Ashore Presentation. Judy is bound and determined to collect all five free Diamond International charms and now that we know the password (“I love crown of light”), we should be able to make that happen. During the 45-minute sales pitch there were various raffles as well as audience participation giveaways. At one point Gary, the shopping guide, asked if people wanted to win a Del Sol t-shirt. Snookums yelled and jumped up and was the winner. It is the size that Pat’s husband wears so he will get a Del Sol souvenir Cayman Islands t-shirt that changes to a colorful picture on the front when it is exposed to sun. Otherwise, we didn’t win any of the other raffles.

Snookums getting her free t-shirt as shown on the cabin TV

The 2012 14-Day Eastern & Western Caribbean Cruise, Holland America ms Nieuw Amsterdam

Text and pictures by Snookums, webification by Filbert

Part One

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

January 28 (Saturday, Day 1, Flying to Ft. Lauderdale) -

The Itinerary

Note – Filbert isn’t on this cruise. He is attending South Dakota State University basketball games in Brookings, South Dakota and also hosting good friends of ours at home. Snookums’s cruise roommate is her sister, Pat. Pat’s husband isn’t on this cruise and neither are their seven children. Pat is ready to party!

The 2012 14-Day Eastern & Western Caribbean Cruise, Holland America ms Nieuw Amsterdam

January 28 – February 12, 2012

Text and Pictures by Snookums, Webification by Filbert

The 2012 14-Day Eastern & Western Caribbean Cruise (from Holland America)

This is the table of contents for the online version of our trip journal. Here are the chapters:

Part One - Ft. Lauderdale and Half Moon Cay

Part Two - George Town, Cayman Islands

Part Three - Mahogany Bay, Honduras

Part Four - Costa Maya, Mexico and Ft. Lauderdale

Part Five - At sea

Part Six - Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos

Part Seven - San Juan, Puerto Rico

Part Eight - St. Maarten

Part Nine - At sea and Ft. Lauderdale

The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011, November 26–December 21, 2011, Holland America Prinsendam
Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Seven

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

December 11 (Sunday, Day 16, Alter do Chão, Brazil) -

A dip in the Amazon

We woke up and didn't bother to shower. We enjoyed our Sunday brunch in Lido rather than in Neptune. Snookums made an egg McMuffin and Filbert enjoyed eggs benedict. We took the tender to Alter do Chão which is 12 miles from Santarém and has a population of around 1,400. Alter do Chão is actually considered the “Caribbean of the Amazon” since it has nice white beaches and the people of Santarém flock to it on weekends. We didn't see any packed beaches and decided that the locals come in the afternoon.

The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011, November 26–December 21, 2011, Holland America Prinsendam
Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Six

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

December 9 (Friday, Day 14, Manaus, Brazil) -

Manaus Opera House

We woke up, showered to get ready for a hot and humid day, had a quick breakfast and then headed out for a quick walk around Manaus. We walked to the Catedral da Matriz and continued along Avda Eduardo Ribeiro to the Palace of Justice and the Opera House. It was inaugurated in 1896 and took 15 years to build. The rubber barons were very, very wealthy and almost all of the materials were imported from Europe. The wood used for the chairs and floor were local but even it was shipped to Europe where it was carefully molded before being sent back to the jungle for installation. We had to make this a quick walk since our big event of the day was to go to the Regent Seven Seas Navigator cruise ship after it docked to meet our friend, Bill. We returned to our ship to get our laptops and then left again at 9:45 AM to go to Regent.

The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011, November 26–December 21, 2011, Holland America Prinsendam
Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Five

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

December 8 (Thursday, Day 13, Manaus, Brazil) -

"A Three-Hour Tour . . ."

We woke up around 7 AM and saw that the water was the color of iced coffee, almost a dark black-gold compared to the cafe au lait “muddy” color that it sometimes is. This is because Manaus is on the Rio Negro and the muddy Amazon meets the Rio Negro to the southeast of Manaus. We passed the “Meeting of the Waters” about an hour before docking in Manaus but since we also saw it at Santarém (involving the muddy Amazon and the Rio Tapajós), we didn't wake up special for it.

The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011, November 26–December 21, 2011, Holland America Prinsendam
Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Four

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

December 6 (Tuesday, Day 11, Santarém, Brazil)-

Meeting of the Waters, Santarém

We woke up and went to the gym for a 45-minute workout. Then we had a light breakfast at Neptune Lounge. We had been told that we would be able to see the “meeting of the waters” starting about one hour before we docked at Santarém so we went to the Crow's Nest to see it. It is quite impressive to see the muddy water of the Rio Amazonas (Amazon River) flow side by side with the reddish-black water of the Rio Tapajós. The two rivers flow side by side for a few miles before their waters mingle and this phenomenon can be easily seen from Santarém, a city of 200,000. After a quick lunch it was time to meet for our piranha fishing excursion.

The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011, November 26–December 21, 2011, Holland America Prinsendam
Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Three

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

December 3 (Saturday, Day 8, Devil's Island, French Guiana; €1 = $1.32; $1 = €0.76) -

Snookums woke up at 9:55 and decided to run to Neptune Lounge for a sunshine parfait (minced, and NOT diced, cantaloupe topped with yogurt and granola) mixed with fresh berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries). She thought the breakfast items were taken away at 10 AM in Neptune, but she found out it's served until 10:30. She ate her yogurt mixture on the verandah and read her book. Filbert woke up and visited Neptune Lounge, too, but didn't know Snookums was on the verandah and he ate his oatmeal inside and then returned to the cabin.

Filbert saw a hammerhead shark from the cabin and another fish that he managed to photograph.

Fish

The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011, November 26–December 21, 2011, Holland America Prinsendam
Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Two

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

December 1 (Thursday, Day 6, Castries, St. Lucia; 1 XCD = $0.37; $1 = 2.70 XCD) -

Filbert set the alarm for 6 AM since we wanted to be off the ship as soon as it docked at 8 AM. Our plan was to snorkel on our own since the ship didn't offer any snorkeling shore excursions. Neptune Lounge opened at 7 AM and we were ready before that so were enjoying the view from our balcony at the very front of the ship when we saw dolphins. The pod of five or six dolphins finally left and then we went to breakfast.

Police academy, St. Lucia

After waiting for the ship to clear customs, we finally got off around 8:30 AM and found out that a taxi ride to the one snorkeling place would take 90 minutes each way and cost $100 total. We found one boat company that was going to the same place and it was going to leave at 10:30 and return at 3:30 for $100 total (plus lunch on your own) but the boat looked like a little motor boat with very little shade so we decided to pass.

We returned to the ship to drop off all of our snorkel gear and then took the water taxi ($5 per person, round-trip) from our dock to the city directly across the harbor. It wasn't that far to walk, but since it was so hot and humid we decided to save our legs for the actual walk in the city rather than the walk to and from the city. We walked by lots of sidewalk vendors selling things to the locals (clothing, soap, sidewalk bars, sidewalk “cafes”, etc.) and wandered in two grocery stores and Filbert bought the local Piton beer (3 bottles for $3.10 which was much cheaper than yesterday). We also found the central plaza/park named for one of the two Nobel prize winners from St. Lucia. We saw a class of police recruits learning how to be a traffic cop, too.

The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011, November 26–December 21, 2011, Holland America Prinsendam

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part One

(Remember to click "read more" if you're looking at this from the main medary.com page to get the whole article!)

November 26 (Saturday, Day 1, Flying to Ft. Lauderdale) -

The cruise itinerary

We left home around 8 AM and it was raining but around 55 degrees which is just about unheard of for Kansas City in late November. We've flown out in ice storms before during this time of year. We ended up in Ft. Lauderdale without any hassles. Our Southwest flight was mostly full, but we managed to keep an empty middle seat between us. And, a Southwest pilot and flight attendant and 14 of their family and friends were passengers on the flight in order to go to the wedding of the pilot and flight attendant. It was a happy flight!

The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011, Holland America Prinsendam

November 26–December 21, 2011

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

The 24-Day Amazon Explorer Cruise 2011 (from Holland America)

The Amazon (from Holland America)

This is the table of contents for the online version of our trip journal. Here are the chapters:

Part One - To St. Bart's

Part Two - St. Lucia

Part Three - Devil's Island, Macapá

Part Four - Santarém, Boca da Valeria

Part Five - Manaus

Part Six - Manaus, Parintins

Part Seven - Alter do Chão, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Aruba

For that matter, are you sure YOU aren't a Marxist?

Watch these two (admittedly rather dry) YouTube videos, then go into your bathroom, look at yourself, and answer the question.






The totalitarian "progressives" are trying to make the words "socialist" and "Marxist" as taboo as the word "nigger." There is a reason that they are doing this (and, for the record, I think that the "n" word probably should be taboo in almost every context (except, perhaps, comparative ones such as this). The "s" word and the "M" word most definitely should not.)

Videos via Ace of Spades HQ