The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Fifty-six

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November 26 (Wednesday, Day 72, Cancun, Mexico, Continued) -

A post almost but not quite exclusively dedicated to South Dakota State University women's basketball:

Basketball under the chandeliers

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Fifty-five

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November 24 (Monday, Day 70, Flying to Dallas, Texas) -

The U.S.S. Nimitz at her home port: San Diego

We woke up and had breakfast at the Regency Club and then took a cab to the airport for our 10 AM flight to Dallas. We landed at the DFW airport around 3 PM and immediately checked in to the Grand Hyatt DFW for the night. The Grand Hyatt DFW is one of the few hotels that is actually IN an airport. Filbert loves airports so we figured this would be a nice break, especially if we got a room that faced the runways.

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Fifty-four

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November 22 (Saturday, Day 68, At sea) -

We got up and ate our last lunch (delicious hamburgers and fries from the grill) and then returned to our room to pack. At 4:00 we went to the “unofficial” party in the Neptune Lounge. Everyone brought leftover liquor and soft drinks and Carlo brought four pizzas from the grill. It was a great break from packing and energized us.

The spread at the Neptune Lounge party

Photos All Around

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Fifty-three

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November 19 (Wednesday, Day 65, At sea) -

We woke up around 11 AM and went to lunch. Then it was back to the room to pick up the camera and some money to go to the flea market. This is the first cruise we’ve been on that has sponsored a flea market for people to sell anything they don’t want to take home. Only 15 people or so participated (much to Snookums’s disappointment) and there really weren’t many trinkets for sale by 1:15 (the sale started at 1:00). People were selling some of the free Holland America items like the plates we got early in the cruise and the wheeled duffel bag we got on the last formal night. We didn’t buy anything.

The flea market

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Fifty-two

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November 18 (Tuesday, Day 64, Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, Continued) -

After a nice dinner with our tablemates, we went to the crew show. There are two nationalities of crew: Indonesian and Filipino. Usually one of them performs a crew show towards the end of the cruise and then the other nationality performs at the end of the next cruise. Since this cruise was so long, both of them performed. The Filipino show was more 'serious' and cultural and Snookums preferred it while the Indonesian one was silly and Filbert preferred it.

Crew show:

More crew show pictures after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Fifty-one

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November 17 (Monday, Day 63, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, Continued) -

After lunch Snookums showered and took the WalMart shuttle to get a watch battery while Filbert stayed in the cabin and worked on journal photos. The jewelry woman at WalMart showed Snookums that the battery was good and Filbert's watch was bad so Snookums bought a new $17 Casio watch and took the shuttle back to the ship. She had her laptop with her and immediately went to Aloha Tower Marketplace and sat in the open-air atrium and used the free wifi. She sent Filbert an email and he responded that he was in the coffee shop using wifi so she moved inside. Filbert had to stay online until he heard the end of the SDSU vs. Wisconsin women's basketball game and was very happy when SDSU beat Wisconsin by 20.

We went back to the ship and were soon greeted by a knock on the cabin door. The Neptune concierge was there and handed Filbert a bottle of wine and a notecard. The card said that the wine was for our inconvenience the other day. Filbert was puzzled until Snookums reminded him that our toilet had problems on November 14 and the plumber had to come 4 times, including twice when we were having our dinner party on the verandah. This plumbing problem didn't make much of an impact on us since it didn't even make it into the journal. But, if Holland America wants to apologize and give us a free bottle of wine, we'll take it!

Filbert went to the Holland America 'techspert' since his XD cable wasn't working and he couldn't get his photos from his camera to his PC. The techspert had the necessary devices and Filbert was able to get back to work again.

While Filbert was getting his photos on his PC, Snookums went to the local hula show at 7 PM. Snookums thought the hula show was the best one she had ever seen. It was a group of 6 to 13-year olds and they had to audition to get selected to the troupe. Once selected, they practice every summer day from 8 AM to noon. The woman that started the hula studio in 1975 in her backyard also has 1,000 students in Japan and she was actually in Japan since she goes there every 6 weeks to oversee that school. Her Honolulu school is considered the best on the island and wins many awards. The group had three boys in it and the emcee said that originally hula was only done by men in preparation for battle (Snookums didn't know that) but now females outnumber males about 50 to 1.

November 18 (Tuesday, Day 64, Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii) -

Lahaina

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Fifty

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November 17 (Monday, Day 63, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, Continued) -

Zen

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Forty-nine

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November 16 (Sunday, Day 62, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii) -

We had to go through US immigration on the ship by 8:30 AM and that's when we finally got our passports to keep. The immigration people didn't really seem to look at our passport photos or our faces so it went very fast.

As we approached the gangway, we were each given a beautiful pink orchid lei. We didn't want to wear them all day so Snookums took them back up to our suite's refrigerator with the plan to wear them to dinner the next several days.

Filbert, Snookums and the leis (OK, it's Maui in the background . . . )

More after the jump . . .

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Forty-eight

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November 14 (Friday, Day 60, At sea, Continued) -

After lunch Filbert took a tour of the bridge (and so did Gary who has been on every bridge tour that has been offered so far!) while Snookums watched the movie 'College Road Trip' on TV.

Bridge tour:

Bridge

More pictures after the jump!

The Grand Asia & Australia Voyage - Holland America Amsterdam, September 19-November 23, 2008

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Forty-seven

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November 14 (Friday, Day 60, At sea) -

Snookums woke up and worked out and then we both went to see the Grand Show Buffet so that Filbert could take pictures. (Due to time constraints, we ate lunch in Lido.)

The Grand Show Buffet:

More pictures after the jump!