Random thoughts from the sea
Day 53, 2024 Majestic Japan Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024; At Sea, North Pacific Ocean Just one more “sleep,” as they say, and this cruise will be over. Our final port was Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii last Friday. I finally met up with my friend Scot, who has
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Days 45-47, 2024 Majestic Japan Tuesday-Thursday, Oct. 15-17, 2024; Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii I leaned in close to the Sephora store greeter, somewhat embarrassingly asking in a whisper: “This may sound weird, but is there a mascara called “Better Than Sex?” The Gen-Z young woman laughed and replied unabashedly in a
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Day 41, 2024 Majestic Japan Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024; 25°29’8” N 174°44’22” E (North Pacific Ocean) Two items in the news caught my attention in the last 24 hours – and neither has anything to do with American election politics. First, a Japanese grassroots organization (Nihon Hidankyo) of atomic bomb
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Day 34, 2024 Majestic Japan Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024; Naha, Okinawa, Japan As much as I like discovering new places, there is something comforting about returning to familiar ports. Today’s stop in Naha, on the island of Okinawa, was just one of those days, combining a new experience with a
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Day 33, 2024 Majestic Japan Friday, Oct. 4, 2024; Ishigaki, Japan The beauty of Ishigaki lies north on the island at Kabira Bay, “where on a sunny day the blue, turquoise and emerald-green water contrasts against the white sand beaches.” At least, that’s what I wrote last February when we
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Day 31, 2024 Majestic Japan Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024; Nagasaki, Japan Today was the second of our visits to historic atomic bomb sites in Japan. The tour this morning in Nagasaki went to this city’s Atomic Bomb Museum, the nearby hypocenter (ground zero) and Peace Park. In many ways, the
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Days 28-29, 2024 Majestic Japan Sunday and Monday, Sept. 29-30, 2024; Toyama and Kawazawa, Japan Japan has its share of large cities, and we visited several of them on this cruise. Now that we are on the north coast of Honshu, the ports are still cities, but small enough that
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Day 27, 2024 Majestic Japan Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024; Sakaiminato, Japan It’s not often dinner is the highlight of my day on a cruise ship, especially with the variety of ports we visit. But tonight was special, as not only did I eat with good friends, but Iron Chef Masaharu
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Day 25, 2024 Majestic Japan Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024; Hiroshima, Japan In early 2023, as I considered booking this Westerdam cruise, I also considered a voyage to Japan on Holland America’s Noordam. Each cruise had its advantages over the other, but the deciding factor was the Westerdam’s itinerary, and more
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Day 24, 2024 Majestic Japan Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024; Kochi, Japan Bragging rights to the largest cities by population in the world can depend on just how you define a city (city proper, urban area, metropolitan area, etc.) Regardless, Tokyo is likely to top the list, with an estimated 37
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