2019 - Amsterdam

Known for their unique front gables, narrow rowhouses line the canals in Amsterdam - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

THIS WAS our first visit to Amsterdam. There would be a couple more that would be more in-depth, but in this case, it was the termination point of the cruise, and we only scheduled the day we arrived (flying out of Amsterdam's Schipol early the next morning). No tours or excursions, but we made the most of it, walking around much of the quite "walkable" city. Originally settled by various germanic tribes, the area that encompasses today's Netherlands didn't really come about until the 1800's following The Reformation. Previously part of the Roman Empire, the combined lands of what are now Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemborg, after the defeat of Napolean in about 1815, became The United Kingdom of the Netherlands. The entire area is heavily influenced by substantial coastal land along the North Sea and down the coast on the English Channel. Many of Central Europe's major rivers (and later canals and waterways) ultimately flow into the ocean there, making the entire geographic region strategically important - particularly for trade. Around 1830, Belgium, which remained primarily Catholic, split away from the region which ultimately became three different sovereign nations: The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemborg.

Amsterdam, Netherlands
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

THE NETHERLANDS remained neutral during WWI and tried valiantly to remain so during WWII, but were disingenously invaded by the Nazis, who occupied Rotterdam and Amsterdam during the war. Pre-war, however, the area, and in particular Amsterdam, became one of the world's most important and dominant trade and financial centers. Many of the later "new world" explorations originated out of (privately-owned) Dutch corporations like Dutch East Indies Company (South Africa) and the Dutch West India Company (U.S. and the Caribbean), who in the beginning, dominated these regions. There are still a number of Dutch - controlled, popular Caribbean islands, like St. Maarten, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. For a time, the Dutch also dominated the seas around the world.

Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam, Netherlands
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AMSTERDAM'S ARCHITECTURE is an interesting mix. The old city center along the canals and the Amstel River are lined with 17th Century "Canal Houses;" narrow houses built in neo-Gothic or Gothic Revival buildings noted for their unique gabled roofs, separating one from another in terms of their looks. Note that most of them have a hook near the top that was used to lift cargo up into the upper stories. These homes were often a combination of residence and commerce. The world famous Rijksmuseum is a wonderful example of Rennaissance Revival/neo-Gothic architectue. As you move out from the city, you start to see more modern touches, including some Art Deco, "Amsterdam School Expressionist," and more modern archictecture. Much of the landscape is - of course - adorned by colorful flowers. Most of us know that the Netherlands (Holland) is especially noted for flowers, and in particular, tulips.

Landscaping around the Rijksmuseum - Amsterdam, Netherlands
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DURING THE Nazi occupation more Jewish persons were sent away to concentration camps than anywhere else in the world (roughly 105,000 of the roughly 140,000 residing there). The majority of them were murdered in concentration camps. In 2022, my wife and I spent several days in Amsterdam prior to our Celebrity Apex Baltic Cruise. We spent one of our days visiting the Anne Frank house and taking a very intense, interesting and heart-rending tour and histsory of Amsterdam's Jewish Quarter.

Amsterdam, Netherlands
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BUT ON this trip, by the time we had disembarked The Reflection and gotten our luggage squared away in hour hotel, we really only had an afternoon. So we mostly walked around. Mostly in the old city around the canals.

DeWallen - Amsterdam, Netherlands
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SEVERAL OF the prominent cities in the Netherlands end with "dam" (e.g., Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Zaandam). I am not sure I ever put that together before our second visit there, a couple years hence, during  one of our walking tours. But there is a (perhaps obvious) reason. Each of them originated at or near the point of a damn on a significant river (in the case of Amsterdam, the Amstel River). Nearby Rotterdam is on the Rotte River. Both the Amstel and The Rotte are relatively major rivers connecting parts of Europe to the North Sea, making them logical points to set up trading centers. By the late 19th Century, a`s commerce and shipping continued to grow and at the same time agricultural growth and population growth contributed to silting up of the rivers, The North Sea Canal was dug from the freshwater sea (IJMeer) immediately east of the Amsterdam Port all the way out to the North Sea - a distance of over 20 miles. Coming in on this cruise was my first time in the Canal, and it was during the dark of night, so I didn't see it. When we sailed out of Amsterdam in 2022, I was able to do better, making a few nice photos along the shore from our high up viewpoint. A year later, we sailed out of Rotterdam where they have built a similar canal, and spent most of the sailaway up on deck with my camera.

DeWallen - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

YOU MAY have noted my near-interchangeable use of the terms "Netherlands," "Holland," and "Dutch." I wondered about that myself. As much as I am chary of using "AI" as a research tool, this explanation from Google's AI search engine seemed pretty apt: "The Netherlands is the official name of the country, consisting of 12 provinces, while Holland refers specifically to two provinces (North and South Holland). "Dutch" refers to the people, language, and culture of the entire country."

"Head Shop" - DeWallen - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

We did get a brief opportunity to walk the famed De Wallen, Red Light District, and the adjacent area streets where the smell of some kind of "incense" was really strong 😇. I was told I could get it at a coffee shop, but it seemed to me like it was coming out of the bars and along the streets. I found it fascinating that "weed" is legal in Amsterdam and freely available - but technically not if you are not a Netherlands resident. I say "technically," because I know of numerous instances where U.S. visitors purchased it and nobody blinked and eye. I doubt it is something that is vigorously enforced.

Amsterdam, Netherlands
Copyright Andy Richards 2019

WE ALSO stopped in for a drink in what is I believe the oldest bar in the Netherlands - and maybe in Europe. The size of the entire bar was only maybe 3 times what you see in the image above.

Bicycle parking - Downtown Amsterdam, Netherlands
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ONE THING that really hit home with me was how much a bicycle-culture there is in Amsterdam. The number of known bikes in Amsterdam exceeds it official population. By maybe 100,000 bicycles!

Bicyles parked in a residential alley - Amsterdam, Netherlands
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HAVING COMMENTED about the "canals" in general in my Bruges post, I should say something about them here. If there is another city in Europe that I personally would compare to Venice, it would be Amsterdam. But a little research tells me that in terms of sheer number of canals, the number of miles of canals, and the number of bridges over them, Venice is actually not at the top of that list. Hamburg, Germany (yet to visit) tops that list. But other cities, like Birmingham, UK, and Amsterdam have more canals and bridges than Venice. I still think Venice trumps them all. It is about the aesthetics, in my view. And the layout and density and variety of the canal. Venice is the only one of these cities that is completely on an isolated "island" and has only foot traffic. In each of the others, there are a few vehicular bridges, and streets and traffic often lining each side of the canal.

Amsterdam Canal - Amsterdam, Netherlands
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NONETHELESS, THE Amsterdam canals are impressive, with their "canal house" lined banks, and the beautiful landscaping that surrounds them. The other phenomena I have noted in virtually all the "other" European Canals is the presence of the private, liveaboard canal boats. I do not recall ever having seen them in Venice. Any that they do have are unusual.

Liveaboard Canal Boats - Amsterdam, Netherlands
Copyright Andy Richards 2019 - All Rights Reserved

LIKE THEY all do, our cruise had to come to an end at some point. This short, busy day in Amsterdam was it for us for our 2019 cruise. Or so I thought. Stay tuned. It turns out that we decided to book another one just a couple months hence!

Istanbul

Royal Princess arrives at the port in Istanbul
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

THERE WOULD be a day at sea between our stop at Ephesus and Istanbul. Athens and Kusadasi are on the Agean Sea, almost directly across from each other. From Kusadasi to Istanbul involves a longer distance sailing, back north to The Dardanelle Strait; east through the Strait and into the Sea of Marmara, and across to Istanbul. Unfortunately, we sailed through most of the Dardanelles during the night (both ways), so didn't really get much chance to see it. To the north of the strait lies the continent of Europe. To the south is the continent of Asia. I didn't give that much thought at the time. Shortly after our visit to Istanbul, there was a period of severaly years when cruise ships stopped making port stops in Istanbul, due to world unrest. Ours may have been the last year some of the mainstream lines (like Princess, HAL and Celebrity) stopped there. These days, they are making visits again. Maybe I will get a chance to see the Dardanelle Strait again some day.

Istanbul is one of only 5 transcontinental cities in the world

WE EVENTUALLY realized that one of the many highlights of our visit to Istanbul was that it is one of only 5 transcontinental cities (parts of the city lying in two different continents) in the world. While there is some dispute about the exact definition of continent, Istanbul and Suez, Egypt are arguably the two most notable such cities (Suez being divided by the Suez Canal which separates Africa and Asia).

During their rule of Istanbul, the Ottoman Turks built 100's of mosques. This one - Nusretiye Mosque - built in the 1800's - is prominently displayed to the Galata Cruise Port berths and was easy to photograph from the top deck of our Royal Princess Cruise Ship

Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

THE BOSPHORUS Strait cuts between Europe een Europe to the north and Asia to the south, connecting the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea. Istanbul straddles the strait. While we could "say" we were in both Europe and Asia that day, in reality we probably were not. The Istanbul Cruise Port is on the European side, pretty much in the heart of the downtown. The day we were there, I mistakenly thought we had docked on the Asian side, because most of the sites we visited required us to cross a fairly large waterway up into the city, called The Golden Horn. I mistakenly thought that was the Bosphorus Strait. In retrospect, I am quite sure we never crossed over to the Asian side (and most accounts concur that there is just not that much to see over there when it comes to famous cultural sites).

Galata Cruise Port - Istanbul, Turkey
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THE EUROPEAN side, on the other hand, holds an amazing collection of historical wonders, including the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosk, The Underground Cistern, Topkapi Palace and the Hippodrome, to name just a few. Most of them are on the peninsula that describes the southern side of the Golden Horn at its entrance, aptly named The Peninsula of Istanbul (a/k/a The Historic Peninsula). The ship actually sailed into port right at daybreak, and I was able to make some nice photos of the city from the ship deck. Our group of 8 met our guide on the pier as early as possible once we were cleared to go ashore,where we were joined for that day by another couple we had not met before. Today would promise to be the longest excursion day I can remember in all of our years of cruising. But what a day!

View out over the Boshporus Strait from Topkapi Palace - Istanbul Peninsula - Istanbul, Turkey
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

WE HAD a nice, roomy mini-bus that day, so our transportation was quite comfortable. Our guide (one of the few names I remember) for the day was Guli. She told us that she had only been guiding with her company for a couple years. You wouldn't have known it, had she not told us. She was one of the most thorough and knowlegdeable guides we have ever had through the years. She was young, enthusiastic and cute (maybe why I remember her name - LOL - but not really. I suspect the real reason will come more clear when I inject my "humorous anecdote - read on 😉). We also had a driver (I do not remember his name - but I think maybe he was young and cute too, 😈) who was a real pro, and had an engaging personality and an active sense of humor. As we left the port and began our drive to our first stop, Guli gave us some very brief history of Istanbul (including the point I had not caught until then: that the city is one of only 5 that lie partly in 2 different continents).

These colorfully painted stairs immediately drew my attention as our tour began, driving through the middle of downtown Istanbul
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

OUR DRIVE took us right down the middle of the downtown portion of the city of Istanbul. I think we were there on a weekend day, but there seemed to be plenty of urban "bustle" going on. It is virtually impossible to get meaningful photographs from a moving vehicle. We were fortunate that our mini-bus had fairly large windows, and I was able to make a few. Color! I have said many times before, I am immediately attracted to color in my photography. The painted stairway in the middle of the city was a no-brainer. If I ever get the chance, I will certainly seek it out on foot and try to make a better rendition. In addition to the moving platform, the day had started out with low clouds. Fortunately, as the day went on the weather improved some.

Entrance to Topkapi Palace - Istanbul, Turkey
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FROM THE cruise port, we drove across The Galata Bridge and headed down the peninsula to our first stop: Topkapi Palace (the first three "main event" stops were Topkapi, The Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque - in that order from north to south along the end of the peninsula). The palace was built at the behest of Sultan Mahmed The Conqueror, with construction beginning shortly after the Ottomans conquered the city. It became a kind of "theme" for the Sultans to create something bigger and grander than every one of the former Roman buildings. It began with the Palace, but didn't end there. Originally just "The New Palace," Topkapi served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire for roughly 4 centuries, as well as the primary residence of the Sultans (and, of course, their families - including their harems).

Topkapi Palace reception/waiting area for the Sultan to receive visitors
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

A LITTLE history would probably be in order here. Founded by the Greeks as Byzantium around 660 BC, the city was later renamed Constantinople by the Roman Emperor, Constantinople, in 330 AD. At that time, it had become virtually impossible for a single emperor to continue to administer the vast and growing Roman Empire, and a somewhat natural split caused the formation of the eastern (new) and western (old) empires. Ultimately, after moving the capitol to Byzantium and renaming the city Constantinople, the eastern empire became known as the Byzantine Empire. The original Roman Empire experienced rapid decline as the influence of Rome in the western world also declined. One of the most famous and progressive of Roman Emperors, Constantine, made the city the modern capital of the Roman (later the Byzantine Empire) a modern city to which the world modeled its civilizations. While the Roman Empire eventually colapsed in 476 AD, the Byzantine Empire continued on until the 1453 conquest by the muslim Ottoman Turks. Thereafter, Constantinople served as the capital of the Ottoman Empire, as the Turks took over and essentially re-made much of it to their design. It's renaming to Istanbul ocurred centuries later and the history of that change is relatively mundane. The Turks did not rename the city, but the Turkish meaning of the word, "Istanbul" is - roughly - "the city." During the Ottoman Empire's reign, "Istanbul" became a popular colloquial name for Constantinople. After a long period of decline, the empire eventually fell during WW1 and was governed as a territory by the British and the French. Ultimately, in 1923, the Turkish Republic was founded. During that process, the name was officially changed to Istanbul.

Topkapi Palace
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TOPKAPI PALACE is probably the most elaborate, over-the-top-ornate palace I have ever visited. Of the multiple buildings on the grounds (there are said to be over 100 separate rooms - though only certain of them are open to the public), nearly every one of them is lavishly decorated with a mix of beautiful marble columns, ornate artwork (mostly mosaic), and gold. That gold colored stuff you see everywhere? Yup. You guessed it. That's gold! Not paint or a substitute. It is hard to image the riches that were put into the palace (and in later years, subsequent Sultans would build their own, new palaces - we didn't see any of them, but I can imagine how they might look in the competition for "mine is better than yours"). In 1923, the newly formed Turkish Republic government turned Topkapi into a museum. If you ever have the ability to visit Istanbul, this is an absolute do-not-miss destination!

Topkapi Palace - Istanbul, Turkey
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OUR NEXT stop was the famous Hagia Sophia Mosque. Formerly a Roman Catholic Cathedral built during the Byzantine Empire, it was converted to a Mosque when the Ottoman Empire took over. A church that was originally built on the site during the rein of Constantine I, burned in 532, and the then Emperor Justinian seized the opportunity to build a major replacement. When the Ottoman Empire took power, over a period of time, the current-day minarets (which were not part of the original Hagia Sophia Church) were added. The church-turned mosque survived until the 1935 when the Turkish government turned it into a museum. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985, it is certainly one of the wonders of the world (though not officially, and not one of the original 7).

The Hagia Sophia - Istanbul, Turkey
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

BYZANTINE CHURCH architecture followed a rather straightforward plan of a large square central building, usually with 4 arms extending out from the corners, and usually a domed roof over the central building .The massive dome of the Hagia Sophia is probably its most notable feature. Over its years of history it endured a couple collapses and reinforcements. But to me, the interior of this cathedral-turned mosque was the real show-stopper. As you can see from the photograph, the interior finishes are rich in color and appearance. As restoration efforts have continued over the years, evidence from prior versions appear (including frescoes from centuries back). As you stand inside this massive building and and look up into the dome, you cannot help but marvel at the fact that it was built well over 1,000 years ago. No cranes. No power tools. No fancy metal fasteners, studs, or prefabbed trusses. Just men. And mortar and stone. Amazing.

Inside the Hagia Sophia - Istanbul, Turkey
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THERE IS an interesting historical interplay between the Hagia Sophia and our next stop: The Blue Mosque. They are built in the shadow of each other. The Sultan who commissioned the Blue Mosque did that with some purpose - primarily to "overshadow" the Hagia Sophia. Everything woud be bigger and more grandiose. The mosque dominates the Istanbul skyline and as you stand in the court between the two mosques, you can easily see both. It is a pretty awesome experience.

The Blue Mosque, as viewed from the Hagia Sophia Grounds - Istanbul, Turkey
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AGAIN, AS I stood inside the Blue Mosque, it put things in a historical perspective for me. I contemplated how few young U.S. citizens had any knowledge of historical sites like this, and how we tend to think we are the biggest and best of everything.. But the perspective changes that. We are not yet 300 years as a nation. This Mosque is over 1,500 years old - and at that, "young-ish." As for big, it is a massive space. I contemplated how we could move our U.S. Capitol Building inside the mosque with lots of room to spare! While I know it isn't feasible, I have thought many times since then that a trip outside the U.S. (and Canada and the Caribbean don't count - 😏) should be a mandatory part of our public education system.

Prayer area - Blue Mosque - Istanbul, Turkey
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UNLIKE THE Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque is still a working mosque today and though open to the public, there are times when it - or at least parts of it - are closed for worship. You can see here, that even though we were there during a time is was open to the public, there were people there praying. The few people in the space gives an idea of just how huge this mosque is.

The Blue Mosque - Istanbul, Turkey
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THE BLUE Mosque was built during the reign of Sultan Ahmed I and is more correctly named the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. The "Blue" comes from the thousands of blue tiles used in the interior costruction and decoration of the building. The mosque is built in what was the traditional Ottoman Architectural style for mosques. It consists of a central, main dome, with 4 domes (one on each corner) of the building designed for alternate places of worship. The most also has several roofs that look like half-domes. It is an imposing structure and architectural masterpiece.

The Underground Cistern - Istanbul, Turkey
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

THE TWO Mosques were both built on the site of the ancient Hippodrome (chariot racing track) in what is now Sultanahmet Square - one on each side of the square. The "footprint" of the track is still there, but the grandstands have long been gone. There are a couple of obelisks marking ends of the old track. I didn't make any pictures of that area. Very near there is the somewhat famous Underground Cistern, a/k/a Basillica Sistern. There are actually a few hundred underground cisterns in and around Istanbul. But the Basilica Sistern was the largest of them and supplied water to Topkapi Palace and other government facilites for years even up until and for some time after the Ottoman conquest. Over time, however, it was mostly forgotten and abandoned. In 1985, it was restored (removing over 50,000 tons of silt and uncovering the old "medusa-headed" columns - one of which it is said if you kiss it you will have good luck for life. We saw it, and I watched some other folks get down on their stomachs and kiss it. Not me. "Not gonna do it. Would not be prudent. Not at this (or any) time" (I would make a similar decision some years later when we saw the "Blarney Stone"). Once re-opened it was done so as a museum exhibit in 1997 It is kept with only low levels of water, to facilitate the public visiting. Wooden walkways were installed. Since we visited in 2013, in 2022, it was again restored and this time old rusted iron was replaced with stainless steel and steel walkways installed. It would be interesting to see how different viewing access is today. For those of you who are fans of  (the somewhat controversial) Dan Brown, the "Inferno" plot revolved heavily around this cistern and (of course incorrectly) the supposition that it is a major water supply for Istanbul.

The Grand Bazaar - Istanbul, Turkey
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THAT IS a pretty busy morning! But wait. There's more. Guli took us to the metropollitan area where the Grand Bazaar is (less than a mile from where we had been all morning). It was well after noon by then, and she gave us 45 minutes of "free time" to find something to eat or drink, before arranging to meet us outside the main entrance of the Bazaar. We found a nice shop and had a small snack - and I had my first "Turkish Coffee," which is pretty much an espresso. I like an espresso from time to time, so it was good. We then headed down the block to the Bazaar entrance. The photo tells 90 percent of the story. The other 10 percent is about the carpets - but not really much difference. No surprises. A huge cross between a mall and a flea-market, with lots of haggling and hard selling. Some people love that atmosphere and if you do, this will be a fun place. Neither of us are really much into that scene. It was fun to do a (thankfully) quick walkthrough and be on our way.

Handmade Turkish Ceramics - Istanbul, Turkey
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

IT WAS nearing the time we needed to be back to the ship. Guli rounded us all up and we head to our rendezvous with our driver. After we all loaded on, she mentioned that one of our group (the couple that had joined us earlier) wanted to stop at a local shop to pick up some gifts for friend and family. We could see that we were going to push up against deadline, and that traffic in the city was pretty heavy. She promised us it would be a short stop. We stopped and all got out and walked through a couple of the shops. As you can see, the Turkish artisans make some wonderful ceramics. We probably spent 20 minutes or so. Again, Guli rounded us up and herded us to the bus. We were all on and accounted for. Except . . . you guessed it. Our new friends. We waited. And waited. We finally were all grumbling and Guli went to get them. They finally came on the bus with shopping bags, apparently not a care on their minds. Our nervousness was short-lived. As we got onto the main road, we could see that there was a pretty much total traffic-jam on the bridge back over to the port terminal. We had 20 minutes before all-aboard time and it was pretty obvious we weren't going to make that.

all you have to do is beat the last one of those coaches back to the port

SO HERE is my "humorous" anecdote. Guli was very nervous. She huddled with the driver and eventually, she stood back up and got our attention. Her proposal was that our driver drop us all at the nearest subway stop, and that we all - Guli would go with us - and pay - get on the subway and ride it to the port. We knew she was new with the company and we also new that it could be career-ending if we missed our ship on her watch. Yet we all - to a person - kind of laughed and said "not to worry - we don't need to get off - we are going to be just fine. We had all noticed the (in those days ubiquitous) "Princess Coaches" all around us. Though we understood that we were responsible to get ourselves back because this was a private tour, we also were confident that the ship wouldn't leave as long as any of those coaches were still out. Around us we could see several of them, some of them well behind us on the road. We told our driver, all you have to do is beat the last one of those coaches back to the port. He laughed and agreed - and said he was pretty sure he could do that. I think Guli continued to sweat all the rest of the way. But as we pulled up to the port we could see a lineup of a whole lot of passengers getting back on the ship. We gave Guli a hug and a nice tip and a big thanks. I am sure she went home and breathed a deep sigh of relief that night. We had a long sail (and another at-sea day) ahead of us, back out into the Agean and down to the southern end where the Agean meats the Mediterranean Sea - and Mykonos.

OMG - NCL Does it Again!

WHAT A week. Last week, in three separate incidents involving three different cruise lines, in three different places, mooring lines failed, causing docked cruise ships to move away from the dock. In all instances, the movement resulted in the gangway(s) falling into the water. In two of the cases there were people on the gangways at the time (who fell into the water)! That is shocking enough news.

BUT WHAT about Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL)? Once again, they have demonstrated their total lack of awareness. As I read about this incident, I couldn't help but have a sense of deju vu. Readers he may remember my less than complimentary coverage of another NCL incident in South Africa just over a year ago, in "Somebody Missed The Boat." In that case, I reported on an incident where a group of cruise passengers missed the deadline to be back at the port for re-boarding after a port day. We all realize that it is on the passenger to get back on time unless they are with an official cruise-line operated excursion. They weren't. But they also didn't really "miss" the boat. A tender port, the passengers arrived while the ship was still at anchor in the port, and had been shuttled back out to the boat by port authorities.,In a rather heavy-handed response by the crew, they were refused boarding. I acknowledged in my blog post that there could have been legitimate reason for that action, but there was never any indication by any NCL officials that that was the case (I say in the post why I don't think there was any legitimate reason for NCL's actions). It makes and interesting read and you might want to go back and read it before reading on here.

THIS TIME, in an even more eggregious circumstance, NCL has apparently upped their (horrible) game, though there are certainly some inconsistent reports about the incident. At 1:00 p.m., on May 30, the NCL Epic was moored in Catania, Sicily for its penultimate stop, scheduled to depart that afternoon for their final stop the next day in Naples. It has been reported that a "sudden and unexpected" 60 mile and hour wind gust caused all 4 mooring lines to snap, pushing the boat rapidly away from the pier. Return time for passengers was to be 5:30 p.m. There were passengers returning to the ship and reboarding at the time of the incident (and on woman actually went into the water - presumably as a result of the gangway being pulled off the pier and going into the water herself. The report states that her husband immediately jumped into the water after her. The really, really good news here is that it appears also that any injuries were not serious and though taken to a local hospital, the two returned to the ship before it ultimately left the port.

WHILE REPORTS are not completely consistent, it is - once again - the conduct of NCL in response to this incident (based on the reports of passengers, and the "official" response of the cruise line) that blows my mind. The incident lasted from 1:00 p.m. until about 7:00 p.m. before passengers were allowed to reboard. The Epic has a passenger capacity of about 4,100 and a crew of 1,700. Since it was well before boarding time, we can be sure that the passengers (and off duty crew) that were off the ship at the time numbered in the 1,000s. Reports of the incident indicate that there was essentially zero communication from the ship to its 4,000 plus passengers during the entire ordeal. There may have been some employees on shore directing passengers that they could not re-board at that time. But otherwise, no useful communication from the ship. You can only imagine the small boarding area at the port filled with all these people and no information or plan.

Imagine being on shore, knowing you were hours away from all aboard time, and seeing your ship pulling out of the port!

LETS TRY to break this down:

The Incident

I FIRST saw this on one of the many cruise You-Tube video sites. This one is one that I give some credibility to, though in my view they all have succumbed at least partly to the news media approach of sensational headlines to hook viewers. When I first watched, I had a visceral reaction, remembering the incident in South Africa (and later Alaska) last year. But then I took a breath. And realized that I was going to have to dig into a number of sources if I was going to have even a chance of getting the straight up facts. Sure enough, I learned that my original source hadn't reported the full story, and had engaged in just enough hyperbole to make it a "racy" episode. Other sources were reporting different information.

THE FACTS I have been able to glean follow. It was a windy day (and as people don't always appreciate, these very large, very tall cruise ships act as a huge sail in windy conditions). I have read reports of maximum wind gusts (one source quoted Accuweather as 45 mph) of anywhere from 45 - 60 miles per hour. In this case, it was not the actual mooring lines that failed, but the concrete bollards in the pier that apparently snapped off. From the cruise website, Cruise Hive: “All of a sudden, we heard this loud bang. One by one, the concrete nubs in the ground that hold the ropes were pulling out of the ground and went flying into the ship,” said one passenger. There are always multiple mooring lines on these ships at angles that are designed to keep the boat from moving away from the pier, but also from moving forward or backward along the pier. Once one of these gives way, it allows unintended movement of the ship, which in turn, puts additional stresses in play. It appears that multiple bollards failed.

I HAVE little doubt that the incident caught the powers that be by surprise. But as I read about the other incidents - within days of each other, I began to wonder why these failures were happening. In other cases, the actual mooring lines failed and snapped. And I began to wonder about the standards for mooring line tensile strength, the inspection and testing process as the lines aged, and what other "failsafe" measure are taken for this important part of the cruise experience. It also surprised me that it seems to have taken the ship crew and the cruise line so much by surprise. Surely if you are in the business of boats and secure moorings, you know that wind, waves, weather and deterioration all play a significant role. Yet they appear to have had no clue, and no contingency plan for the passenger disruption aspect of things.

FOLLOWING THE incident, it was determined by (or perhaps jointly) the shore personnel that the ship could not remain safely moored in the harbor and the harbormaster ordered the ship out to sea - to remain there until the winds died down. USA Today quoted NCL officials with saying: “After this incident, the Harbor Master ordered us to leave the port to wait offshore until the wind had calmed down.” Imagine being on shore, knowing you were hours away from all aboard time, and seeing your ship pulling out of the port!

The NCL Response

WHILE I have criticised some of the online reports as engaging in everything from hyperbole to downright misinformation, one thing seems to be consistent to me in everything I have read or watched. The response by NCL was (not shocking to  me) awful.

IN SPITE of NCL "official" comments, I base my conclusion on the remarks of many of the passengers that contradict the official response. Obviously, passenger and bystander safety is first and foremost  and in the aftermath, it appears that NCL took swift action to get the ship under control and to deal with the safety aspects of getting the ship out of the mooring until the wind died down. It also appears that they took quick action to assist with the passengers who went into the water, including transport to (and presumably back from - though I don't have any information on that. Nor do I have any information regarding who paid for the emergency medical care). The are to be commended for these actions.

RATHER, I  take issue (once again) with the company's customer relations stance. From my (perhaps biased) point of view, they seem incapable of just owning up to the part they play in the problem. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying they are at fault for the incident itself. Indeed it was pretty obviously a mix of bad weather, and bad maintenance (or engineering, though that one seems difficult, given that they have been mooring cruise ships there for years and this cannot be the first time they faced strong winds). But common sense tells us that at least some of the responsibility falls squarely on NCL. It seems like they should have some process in place for judgements on the safety of mooring in certain windy conditions, and perhaps even inspecting the facilities where they moor their multi-million dollar, 4,000 plus passenger ships. And interestingly, there is some precedent for this issue, making their "caught with our pants down" reaction more perplexing. In 2023, an even larger, newer, NCL ship (The NCL Norwegian Prima), broke free of her moorings in Zeebrugge, Belgium. I saw some video footage of that one. It was clearly the mooring lines breaking and snapping that was the issue there, rather than problems with the infrastructure of the pier. That's 2 years, NCL, to think about that, and to put a plan in place to handle that. And maybe to come up with a backup or failsafe mooring solution?

ONCE MORE, I am not trying to lay all the blame for the occurrence on NCL. Nor am I unappreciative of the fact that somebody has to pay for all the engineering and maintenance. And they do pay port charges - maybe those charges have to be increased or an assessment made for safety and maintenance issues like this (I am also fully aware that such costs would be passed on to us as consumers - but I guess I am willing to entertain that for my own safety). No. My complaint still goes back to the NCL response to their customer.

EVEN THOUGH the official rejoinder by NCL continued to be:  “During this interruption, our crew were actively attending to our guests until they were able to re-embark the ship," the overwhelming commentary of observers and passengers was 180 degrees the opposite. They nearly uniformly reported that they were more of less ignored while NCL dealt with the ship and the harbor master issues. Fropm a passenger interviewed by USA Today: "Everyone is stuck at the port, very little information from NCL, some of us have been waiting here since noon. Very little water, older folks are hot, there is not enough water or seats,” shared one guest. Many passengers expressed astonishment that there was no announcement or communication of any nature on the NCL app (encouraged to be used by the cruise line and freely downloadable by all passengers). One NCL source told ABC News: "The disembarkation and embarkation process was paused until weather conditions improved and the ship was able to safely dock again." Information that was apparently never passed along to the several thousand NCL passengers stranded on shore. At best, they were given word of mouth information by somebody on shore that the area was closed and would be for a period of time. No signage. No set time. In other words, a huge, out of control mess.

WHEN THE ship finally returned to the berth around 7:30 p.m. (now 2 hours beyond original all-aboard time), by all accounts, it was a disorganized mess. I saw a brief video on FB showing all those people pressing to get back on the ship. Another USA Today quote:  “And when they got permission to open the gates, it was just a free-for-all, . . . People were just pushing and shoving.” If the next comment is true (though I only heard it from one internet source who cited unidentified passengers of the Epic), it is perhaps the most eggregious of all of NCL's lack of sensibility when it comes to customer relations. There was some commentary suggesting that when they finally opened the gangways for boarding, there were NCL employees at the front holding signs saying first boarding only for Haven Guests! For those who may not know, "The Haven" is NCL's exclusive, elite luxury package on board the ship. Anyone who has been reading her for a while, probably has a feel for my personal view of those "premium" cruise "packages" (see, Are Those Exclusive - Ship Within a Ship - Luxury Areas Worth It?). Keep in mind that at this point most of the passengers had been standing and waiting for hours for the ship to re-open for boarding. If true, one has to wonder what self-absorbed, officiant had that idea? The folks need to figure out that creating an exclusive, extra cost experience can be done withouth the need to treat the non-participant poorly. Oh well. From what I read, I don't think it was successful.

AS EXPERIENCED cruisers know, most of the time cruise ship are at sea at night and stop in ports during the day, when possible. Obviously, it depends on the distance between ports. Having been in these port on several occasions, I know that if they leave in the early evening from Sicily, they can get to Naples by the next morning. That was the plan. Folks had excursions. Having made many stops in the Mediterranean, I would say the of all ports, Naples is not one you want to miss. It is the gateway to some of the best sights there are, including the ancient ruins of Pompei and Herculineum, The Amalfi Coast, and the Isle of Capri. Not to mention that Naples itself is a great city to visit. While I assume many of the seasoned cruisers knew this, it is my understanding that they were not informed that Naples would have to be skipped until the next day, shortly before they would have docked. In short, a customer - relations nightmare.

THROUGH ALL of this, the official response from NCL was, saying it nicely, "lukewarm." They responded to inquiries by news sources repeatedly  with "our crew were actively attending to our guests ...." What does that even mean? Then, in the aftermath, their official statement was that it was "An Act of God." That tidal wave that rolled the Ocean Liner in the fictional Poseidon Adventure? That was an act of God.😏 This was a combination of bad maintenance and bad judgement and not wholly unanticipated high winds.

Takeaway

SAFETY FIRST. Not for a nanosecond do I think any of this trumps over safety. This is a serious situation and it troubles me that I have learned of 5 such incidents over a less than 2-year period. Should somebody be paying attention to mooring equipment safety and maintenance? Should somebody be looking at backup/failsafe measures? I think so. Hopefully we don't let my "rant" above cloud the paramount importance of that.

THE CUSTOMER is always right. Look, I know that isn't really true. Sometimes they are wrong. Sometimes they are unreasonable. Sometimes they are unpleasant. That doesn't change the underlying meaning of that statement. We know it really means we need to take the approach that they are always right. Again, sometimes that just won't work. But mostly it will. I worked in a customer/client relationship business for my entire working career. I can count the number of times I did not follow that maxim on one hand and have the majority of fingers left over. Succesfull providers understand that the underlying reason they are in business is their customer. We all know this kind of behavior is really all about the money. "Act of God" is subterfuge (in this instance) for I found a way I don't have to take the blame and therefore don't have to pay. I think there is middle ground here. I think reasonable customers would agree the incident isn't entirely the fault of the Cruise line. But I also think stepping up and first, admitting we messed up, second, having pro-active and transparent communications with your passengers - in realtime, and giving the customers something of real value - hopefully successfully keeping them as customers - will win the day.

How Cruise Lines Handle Adversity - Another Princess Tale

I MAKE frequent reference here to our experience with serious adversity on a Princess Cruise 12 years ago. I keep thinking I am going to link back to the story, only to find that I have never really told the entire story; just made references to it. I am posting this as much as anything, to make a reference I can link to, rather than retelling the story every time it becomes relevant to another post.

How did our captain address the situation and at a higher level, how did Princess Cruise Lines address it?- magnificently

IN THE telling, I will also reference to a post I did spend some time and detail on last year, recounting the story of another group of passengers who experienced a nightmare - partly of their own doing. But it isn't their conduct that is the point I will be trying to make. Rather, it is the reponse of the Cruise line to an adverse situation.

FOR BOOKENDS, in my view, there are really only two ways to address adversity: head on with the best solution you can reasonably come up with; or negatively, blaming others and bullying anybody who gets in your way. There are, of course, going to be plenty of situations where the parties could take a meet in the middle approach. So here is the story of the "right way" (in my ever so humble opinion 😇) to address adversity.

IN SEPTEMBER 2013, we boarded the newest Princess "flagship," the newest and greatest: "Royal Princess." Truly a marvel in design with modern propulsion sytems, a 3,500 passenger capacity, and beautiful, state-of-the-art (for the time) amenities. It was our first Mediterranean cruise and our first time in Europe. We had high anticipation. And for the first 1/2 of the cruise, they were met - and then some. We spend several days in Venice before boarding. That is a pretty auspicous start and a hard act to follow. But with stops in Kudasisi (for Ancient Ephesus), Istanbul (the cradle of western civilization, Athens (The Acropolis - among other amazing sights), and the picture-perfect island of Mykonos, they really lived up to the hype.

in my view, there are really only two ways to address adversity: head on with the best solution you can reasonably come up with; or negatively, blaming others and bullying anybody who gets in your way

THEN THINGS went south. Our first inkling (and it really didn't seem like a big deal at the time - maybe it was or maybe it wasn't related to the later catastrophic failure) was when we learned that we would not depart Mykonos at our sheduled sailing because the motor to lift the anchor had died. It took them some 4 1/2 hours to fix it and we finally sailed away late that evening. We were assured that we had plenty of time to arrive at our next scheduled port on time. As a photographer, I was keying on this stop. Naples and more importantly to me: The Amalfi Coast. From Mykonos, we had a scheduled sea day. Things were going swimmingly. Then suddenly around noon, everything went silent and all power went off. It restared a couple times, but they couldn't fix it. We had visions of a Carnival ship floating adrift with sewer water in the halls and days before rescue. Actually, those visions were only fleeting - but they did ocurr.

HERE IS where we get to the point of the post. How did our captain address the situation and at a higher level, how did Princess Cruise Lines address it? The answer is: magnificently. If I were writing a text on how to address a similar catastrophe, the Princess response would serve as my model. When this first ocurred, the ship Captain was on the P.A. system very shortly after things began to happen. First he informed us that the ship (I did some later research and these systems are now mandated by international maritime rules) was equipped with an emergency power system which would not only run essentials (lights, refrigeration and cooking equipment, bathroom amenities, air conditioning and the like), but would also provide propulsion power - albeit at a reduced thrust (the ship had a rated speed of 22 knots and we only were able to go around 8 knots under emergency power - but we could move). At this point, he indicated that it seemed obvious that we would be late arriving in the port of Naples. They were trying to fix it but wouldn't know. He promised to get back to us with a report the first thing in the morning. In the meantime, they offered free drinks to all aboard (just one - not unlimited, mind you 😏).

And that is how you deal with an adverse crisis

TRUE TO his word, the Captain reported to us at about 10:00 the next morning. They had been working all night on the problem and had been in touch with Princess management and engineers and it was clear that they were not going to be able to fix the problem. They had collectively made the decision to cancel the second half of the cruise. They realized they couldn't safely continue. It was - at first reaction - a pretty crushing disappointment. But it was what it was and they were making the right decision. Now the compelling question was: how were they going to handle things. Here is the "clinic" on how to address adversity. First, a complete (not just 1/2) refund of 100% of cruise fare. Second, a 25% discount on any future booked Princess Cruise within the next 24 months. Third, and this is where things get interesting, but at Princess' expense they would make arrangements to fly everyone home. In our case, that meant we paid the airfare over and (back - we had round trip), and our out of pocket for our stay in Venice, and a 6 day cruise at no cost. It got better (if that is possible). The ship would not arrive in Naples until late that evening, but until we were able to get accomodations to fly home, the ship would remain in port and we would remain entitled to use all of its facilities. Stay in our stateroom. Dine in the resaurants. Drink in the bars. Come and go on and off the ship as we pleased.

WHEN WE got our "itinerary" from the cruise line, we didn't like it. It did not get us back to our originating airport, and it had us getting up a 2:00 a.m. to board a bus to Rome, at least 2 hours away. Here is where (and why) I recommend that you book cruises through a Travel Agent. We calledour travel agent. She told us to sit tight. A couple hours later, she called us back with the "new" itinerary she had negotiated for us. An extra day in Naples. And, it turns out, Business/First Class tickets on Alitalia which got us back to our originating airport. And Princess told us to keep track of our out-of-pocket expenses and turn them in to be reimbursed. They would reimburse all reasonable expenses. We did. Everything. Cab fare to Rome. Overnight airport hotel. Meals when not aboard the ship.Any and every out of pocket expense we had. We turned them in and Princess paid us. No. Questions. Asked.

AND THAT is how you deal with an adverse crisis. There is little doubt that Princess experienced heavy losses in this instance. They essentially lost the revenue for a 3500 passenger cruise for 12 days, in addition to the costs of airfare and other things (like reimbursing us for out-of-pockets). What they gained though from their swift and aggressive response to the crisis was so much goodwill. And there was very little (if any) bad publicity. While we tend to cruise another line more, we would have zero hesitancy to book a Princess cruise if the itinerary and circumstances served.

And that is how you don't deal with an adverse crisis

I ALLUDED to the opposite approach that could be taken by a cruise line. Hardly an "apples to apples" comparison, but still instructive, was the incident that ocurred on a Norwegian Cruise Lines cruise in South Africa last year. I am linking to to my blog post "Somebody Missed The Boat," here rather than recount it. I had plenty to say in my dedicated blog to this situation. The short story is that a small group of friends and family were late getting back to port. It was not a cruise-sponsored excursion and the rules are very clear. They were at fault. The ship need not feel compelled to wait for them. But from there, the circumstances suggested that there was a reasonable line and an unreasonable line to take. The cruise line chose the latter. There is a point where you are there to serve the customers. There are some extentuating and unclear factors on both sides, but the overall takeaway I got was that the cruise line took an absolutely unreasonable stance. And that is how you don't deal with an adverse crisis. I'll let you read the story on my earlier post and draw your own conclusions.

"Event" Cruising - Tales of a Vineyard Voyage

Barb and Bart O'Brien - Proprietors - O'Brien Estate Winery

WE STARTED cruising in May of 2010, with our first experience being a one-way Alaska Inside Passage Cruise (on Princess' Diamond Princess). I may have mentioned in previous blogs that I was very "lukewarm" about the cruising experience in general. I had been hearing about them for years, growing up. Mostly what we heard about were Caribbean Cruises. My "mind's eye" conjured big buffets, open 24-hours, serving low quality food; swimming pools and beaches. I grew up in Michigan, land of many inland lakes, and surrounded by the Great Lakes, so water and boats were not a concern for me. Neither were they a particularly big deal. My thoughts for vacations at that time leaned toward traveling on terra firma.

On a "lark," we signed up

OF COURSE my preconceptions were wrong, and to my surprise, I ended up liking cruising. Enough that I looked forward to the next one, which didn't come until two years later, this time in February of 2012, and this time in The Caribbean (on Princess' Ruby Princess). On both of these cruises we were with family. Anyone who had experience gets that Alaska and the Caribbean are two very different experiences. But the common denominator is still the onboard cruise experiences - and there are a lot of similarities there. We have since been on many cruises - both warm and cool weather - and on balance, I have to say that I enjoy the warm weather for the onboard experience. After the Ruby Princess experience we were ready to do more cruising. Following our Alaska adventure, that view changed dramatically. Since then we have been on 20 cruises - and counting. Over a period of 15 years, our cruising has eventually divided up into 3 different categories. Our "sun and fun" cruises are in the Caribbean. Our other cruises are in as many different parts of the world as we can find - and are our exploring the world cruises. The third category is more of a special event type cruise. We have had two of them (so far), and both have been sponsored by Bart and Barb O'Brien and The O'Brien Estate Winery, in Napa, California.

My thoughts for vacations at that time leaned toward traveling on terra firma

OUR THIRD cruise would be a bit of a new adventure. But first, some background. Our daughter moved to San Francisco in the mid-2000's. My wife and I were married in October, and we had begun to make the September/October time of the year a kind of travel/anniversary trip tradition. It doesn't always happen, but it has made that time of year a time we plan for. It doesn't hurt that in most parts of the world that is some of the best weather also. In 2011, we decided to travel to San Francisco in early October to visit our daughter. In part to celebrate the "anniversary" part of the trip, we booked an overnight in Napa, with a private guide - wine tasting. We visited 3 vineyards, and had private tastings, in two cases with the owners of the facilities. We thoroughly enjoyed that and I ultimately became (albeit long-distance and mostly "electronic") friends with those owners. It would turn out that they actually had a connection, though neither they nor us knew about our very insignificant touch on that. More on that later. We signed up for their "wine club" allotment system in both cases, and began receiving periodic shipments of their wine.

O'Brien Estate Winery - Vineyards
Copyright Andy Richards 2011 - All Rights Reserved

ALONG WITH the wine shipments, The O'Brien Estate, included a newsletter, with news about the vineyard, notes about the included wine, and often a recipe for a meal that paired well with the wines. Sometime in 2012, the newsletter contained some interesting "news." The owners, Bart and Barb O'brien, had decided to initiate some group travel opportunities for members. They enjoyed travel themselves and thought offering a travel experience which included tastings (or perhaps "seminars") about wine - and in particular - their wine might be an experience members would enjoy.

Obrien Wine Cruise - Celebrity Reflection 2013
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

WHEN YOU first meet Bart and he does a presentation, you will hear the clever and novel "story" of the O'Brien Estate wines. It is a love story, in which they have named their wines commensurately, from the newest wines to the medium to bold reds, to their dessert wine. Appropriately, their Sauvignon Blanc is called "Fascination," the Chardonay: Attraction; a series of reds from "Romance of the Heart," "Seduction" (their signature blend), "Passion of The Soul," and "Devotion."

THE FINAL chapter of the story is their dessert wine: "Reflection." It is well worth saying that these wines are not just some quirky, cheesy (although they do pair well with cheese - just sayin') sales and marketing gimmick. The Obrien Estate Wines are first and foremost, very high quality (consistently scoring in mid-high 90's in sources like "Wine Spectator"). They are also delicious. I am red drinker myself and I generally switch hit between the signature blend Seduction and their very smooth and tasty Merlot. If you happen to be in Napa, do yourself a favor and book a tasting with them. You will thank me.

NOW BACK to (our regularly scheduled programming) cruising. The O'brien Estate inaugural cruise was scheduled for February, 2013, a 7-day cruise out of Miami, with ports of call in San Juan, St. Maarten and St. Kitts. The "new adventure" for us was two-fold. We had 2 Princess Cruises under our belts and were pretty sold on the Princess experience. We still like to cruise on them. But this cruise was on a cruise line we had seen in ports, but had no familiarity with: Celebrity. Why Celebrity? Celebrity had 2 primary ship classes at the time: the older Millenium Class (starting with the Celebrity Millenium), and the newer "Solstice Class (starting not surprisingly with the Celebrity Solstice). In 2018, Celebrity launch their third and newest class of much more modern ships: The Edge Class. We have cruised on all 3 classes; more on Solstice and Edge ships. The 5th and final ship of the Solstice class was launched in 2012 and sported a few additional amenities, making it a (still) great favorite of Celebrity cruisers; the Celebrity Reflection. What better ship to initiate the O'brien cruise experience than with a brand new ship, whose namesake just happened to be the same as their ultimate desert wine: Reflection?

Engaging in some silliness with our new friends 
O'Brien Wine Cruise - Celebrity Reflection 2013

ON A lark, we signed up. The second "new experience" for us was going on a cruise by ourselves, with very little planning. We wouldn't know a soul on board. But that would soon change. The good thing was that onboard activities were pretty well planned for us. There being only 3 ports, we really didn't need to do much planning. We did plan our own excursion on St. Kitts (having been there previously without really doing anything). We took their narrow gauge railway around the high elevations on the island, and finished with a catamaran cruise back to the cruise ship. It was really fun.

I AM one of those "loyalty guys." If you show me good stuff I am impressed. If you continue to show me good stuff, I become a loyal patron. As such I was certainly moving in the direction of loyalty to Princess. At the same time I was prepared to not like Celebrity as much as Princess. Pre-cruise and at the beginning of the cruise, I made some unfavorable comparisons. In reality they mostly showed my bias (which in fairness wasn't based on all that much: 2 prior cruises).,In reality most of them weren't good vs. better, but just different. There are things Princess does better. There are things Celebrity does better. that is always going to be true. In the next couple years we would cruise again on Princess two more times, with a couple Celebrity Cruises mixed in. Later, we would cruise again on Princess (because the itinerary and opportunity was right). Over time and with more data, I do lean a bit toward Celebrity (enough so that we have The Reflection 5 times, and would gladly sail it again, given the right itinerary). But we wouldn't hesitate to sail on Princess (or Holland America - which we have sailed once), again if the ship, itinerary and opportunity was right. The Celebrity Reflection, though is most certainly our favorite "Solstice Class" ship. We have history with it.

The Wine Tower in the MDR - Celebrity Reflection
O'Brien Estate Wine Cruise - 2013

DURING OUR at sea days, we had several "seminars," which involved tasting and drinking Bart and Barb's wines. They brought I don't know how many cases aboard as part of the program. We got to hear the O'brien wine Romance story (again 😁). We signed up for the ship-sponsored Reidel Tasting, which was an hour-long tasting of some of the ship's better wines with the goal to demonstrate why there are different shaped and designed glasses for drinking different wines. Who knew? One good part of the deal was that each participant got a voucher for 4 Reidel wine glasses. We still have all 8 of them in our wine bar area. The Reflection had a wine tower that dominated the main dining room and went 3 full stories. It was full of hundreds of wine bottles and from time to time you would see the somoliers climbing up to retrieve different bottles. At that time, Celebrity had branded itself as a wine-centric cruise line (sadly, I am not sure they could deservedly say that today). That is perhaps another reason the Reflection was selected for the inaugural cruise.

Our Table-mates from the O'Brien Reflection Cruise - 2013

IN 2013, most of the mainline ships (other than NCL) still mostly went by the standard model of assigned tables and times for dining. The O'brien group were assigned 3 of their own tables. We were placed with six other travelers who were friends and family. Lou and Penny (you have ocassionally have seen their name here), a couple who were their friends, and Penny's mom and her boyfriend. Lou and Penny were the club members. We hit it off right away and ended up meeting for drinks before dinner and going off the ship together in San Juan. They introduced us to another club member, John and his girlfriend. In 2014, the 6 of us rented a house in Napa for 3 days and did independent wine tasting. On one of our evenings, we visited the O"Briens at their vineyard and had a cookout. Lou and Penny have been to our home in Florida a couple times. We all keep in touch today.

THE CRUISE was short but fun. Following a farewell wine reception I chatted with Barb (perhaps my first personal conversation with her of any length). Up until this time our conversations and interactions were cordial, but we hadn't really gotten to know either of them well. In this conversation with Barb, she asked a little about our trip to the vineyard in 2011 and that led to where else we had done tastings. In the small world department, the other vineyard we had made a connection with (and signed up for the allotment) was another small, local vineyard called Aonair. Back in the early days (around the time we visited there), the proprietor, Grant Long had a very small operation and owned no property. All his grapes were grown on very small rented plots, all on high mountain areas. The Aonair wines were all organically grown and fermented. While Grant has moved on, purchasing his own land and moving his base of operations there, at the time we were on the Reflection, it turns out that he had his wine bottled at the O'Brien Estate. Small world.

More New Friends - Obrien Estate Wine Group - Kilkenny, Ireland

FROM THAT brief conversation with Barb, and some other events, our friendship with the O'Briens grew. Proud of his Irish Heritage (Bart is a descendent of Ireland's most famous King: Brian Boru - the name O'Brien means "of Brian"), Bart is a member of a society dedicated to the history of that monarchy. In April we again joined the O'Brien Estate group on a multi-day (land-based) journey through Ireland, following the lifeline of the King. It was a great trip with a small group on a tour bus and in small bars in the towns we stayed in, and we not only got to know more of the members (unfortunately, Lou and Penny weren't with us on that trip), but we got some one-one time with Bart and Barb again, getting to know each other even better. In October, we did the trip out to Napa. Whew! that's a lot of "Bart and Barb" time. 😀

Did I mention that these are some of the best wines in the world?

OVER THE years since, the Obrien Travels have included several other cruises, including a couple river cruises. They always center around wine, with trips to local vineyards and wine country being a prominent part of the itineraries. For numerous reasons, our own travel and cruising has not meshed with them for much of that period. Until 2023. Sometime in 2022, the Newsletter included the newest upcoming cruise for the wine club members, this time to South Africa. I wil say from the outset that I would not consider South Africa a prime cruise destination. My own recommendation is that if you want to visit South Africa a land-based tour would be more fruitful. Having said that, it appears that at this time few cruise ships port there and when they do they tend to be the smaller (and perhaps more exclusive) ships. In this case our cruise would be on the Oceania Nautica.

O'Brien South Africa Cruise - Oceania Nautica - 2023
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

OWNED BY the large, mainline cruise line: Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL), Oceania is deemed by them their "luxury" cruise line. The ships tend to be smaller (though the newest ships are certainly trending larger). Our "sweetspot" Celebrity ships have a passenger capacity of 2,500 - 3,000. The Nautica's capacity is 670; a quarter the size of our accustomed ship. We found that the accomodations were commensurately smaller. Our balcony room was small but nicely furnished. Our only quibble was the very tiny bathroom. Too small for comfort. There were not as many spaces on board. But the spaces that were there were all very nice. The ship was very traditional in its decor, but also very clean and well kept. A so-called "luxury" line, it was also commensurately more expensive than our normal fare. While there were some very nice touches, I would not judge it worth the significant difference in cost. But this was an "event" cruise, and if you want to participate in the event, you do not get to choose the ship. Besides, it was a new adventure. There were enough positives that I would "never say never," about cruising on an Oceania ship in the future.

We made a few new friends and caught up with some old 

ONE THING that I will say is that the food was (mostly) the best we have had on any cruise. Particularly the food in the main areas like the main dining room, buffet and the poolside grill. Ironically, the one exception to that was the so-called specialty restaurants (which were part of the all-inclusive cruise - but very difficult to get into). Our group had one night in one of the two specialty restaurants. We were fortunate to be invited to join another couple we had become friends with on this cruise in the other restaurant. Each night the food in those restaurants was marginal. On the other hand, we ate in the main dining room all but once on the balance on the cruise. The food was excellent as was the service!

"Martini's" - The main bar on the Oceania Nautica
O'Brien South Africa Wine Cruise - 2023

WE ALSO enjoyed the rather small (by comparison to, for example, the Martini Bar on the Celebrity Edge class ships) comfortable "Martinis" Martini Bar. It was pretty much in the middle of the ship - fore to afte and up and down - and was flanked by the very small (an not much occupied) casino and a very nice seating area. Our group often used it as our before meal meeting spot. In general, the cruise was nice - but what made it special was the O'Brien group. We made a few new friends and caught up with some old friends. Craig and Georgia were on the inaugural O'Brien trip - on the Celebrity Reflection. And, I believe they have joined every one of the subsequent trips. I didn't remember meeting them on the Reflection, but we did sit with them for dinner the first night of the Ireland Trip (where we first heard about their son, Benji). On the Nautica, we met Benji and his partner, Clay and had cocktails and conversation somewhat frequently on board. We learned from them that Clay and Georgia had quite late flights out of Cape Town on our last day, as did we. We had booked a driver and guide to pick us up from the ship and spend the day touring around the Cape and my wife was easily able to have them added to our little group of two. The four of us spent a great day - although and exhausting one at that - seeing the sights of the cape: Table Mountain, Table Mountain National Park, and the vicinity of False Bay where we saw magnificent views, took a boat ride to see the harbor seals, saw the penguin colony, ostriches, and baboons and of course, the obligatory stop at The Cape of Good Hope. We had a delightful lunch with an incredible view and then finished the day seeing the colorfully painted houses of Bo-kaap. 

Craig and Georgia Boehlke
O'Brien South Africa Wine Cruise - 2023

IN SOME ways, the South Africa trip was the trip of a lifetime for us. While we fully intend to go back there someday on a land-safari based tour, as we age, we never know whether and when that will really happen. In the meantime, we were able to make the best of what we had, taking a couple daytime tours of animal parks and getting some pretty nice wildlife photos. We also continued to make new friends along the way. And of course, there were the "mandatory" 😆 Seminars. Twist my arm. These seminars involved the excruciating experience of having to drink some of Bart and Barb's delicious wine, and hearing some history and "war stories" about The Obrien Estate history and experience. And of course, the "Romance" story (again ).😉 The price we had to pay. Did I mention that these are some of the best wines in the world, ranking high on critic reviews - but more importantly, ranking high on my palate? And, I am not a true wine expert but I can say that I get the same reaction time and again when I serve one of the O'Brien wines!

O'Brien South Africa Wine Cruise Seminar
Copyright Andy Richards 2023 - All Rights Reserved

IT WAS interesting for me to compare the experience on this smaller ship versus our usual medium to large Celebrity, Princess, and eventually, HAL cruise ships. The upscale, kind of "clubby" decor was nice. The smaller buffet with fresher and in general better, foods was really nice (though there was a time or two when seating was a challenge). The dining room was my favorite main dining room of any ship I have been on so far.

Michael and Lisa - great and fun new friends
O'Brien Wine Cruise - South Africa 2023

THE ONBOARD amenities were mostly pretty good and included some very good "enrichment" programming. Rather than just having the cruise director talk about ports, the Nautica brought two South Africa experts on board and the programming went well beyond the "this is what you will see when you are on shore" kind of talks. In particular, one of the speakers was a university professor from South Africa who gave us some great and in some cases unfortunate, insight into the state of South Africa today and into the immediate future. Both of them delved into the history and culture of the country. Typically a day late and a dollar short, I read Michener's "The Covenant" after I returned from the cruise. I wish I had read it first as it would have brought much of what we saw and heard into a very different light.

My favorite entertainer aboard Nautica
Obrien South Africa Wine Cruise - 2023

THE ONBOARD entertainment was pretty good. They had a much smaller cast and orchestra for the evening shows, and while they weren't the huge, extravaganzas we were accustomed to on Princess ships, they were reasonably well done. The theatre was tiny. But of course a full ship would be less than a quarter of the bigger ships, and this ship was well under capacity on this cruise. To me, there was one "shining start" among the entertainers. There was a combo group which appeared to be lead by my buddy in the photo. I was a musician in high school, particpating in a couple different bands and playing three different brass instruments, so I alway love the small combo bands, especially when they play jazz and similar music. These guys played in one of the large bars with a dance floor nightly, and on sea days for a couple hours out on the pool deck. This guy played several different instruments expertly, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. On our last night I made it my mission to introduce myself.

Two of my new "best buddies" - Michael and John
Obrien Wine Cruise - South Africa - 2023

MICHAEL HAMMER and I met on board at our first dinner with the group and we hit it off. Probably because I am just so darn likeable. We got to know Michael and his wife, Lisa pretty well during the week. Shortly after the cruise, Michael (a physician) took a job just south of where we live in Florida and we have been able to catch up a couple times. We also met John and Debbie and joined them on one of our "Safari" days. We spent a fair amount of time with them on board also. This was a pretty small and pretty close-knit group and it made being on the very small ship a lot of fun. As always I did meet a couple other folks who were not part of our group but were fun to talk to - not surprisingly in the smoking area where I spent some time with my cigars. Just as a side note, the cigar/smoking accomodations were not among the best I have experienced. But we got by. 😈

Barb O'Brien and (as Jimmy Buffet once said) "Just a few Friends"
Obrien Wine Cruise - South Africa - 2023

TO TRY to bring this long-winded account to a close, I want to say that when I first joined the O'Brien Wine Club, it was about business. And about wine that I thought was pretty darn good! When Bart tells the "romance story," he starts by talking about friendship. The story, he says: "is our story and it is your story." I love the wine (and so will you - I guarantee it). When I think about my own experience with The Obrien Estate these days I don't really think about wine. What I think about is friendship. We have been rewarded with the frienship of Bart and Barb O'Brien for sure. But the friendship has been an ever-growing circle and we count friends like Lou and Penny, John Mossop, Michael and Lisa, John and Deb, Craig and Georgia, and others who haven't been named but are certainly in that mix. Thanks to Bart and Barb and their O'Brien Estate Winery. And thanks to cruising - which for us brought this all together!

If you like pictures and want to see more of the adventures we have had on Obrien Estate Member Trips, you can see them on my personal photo website: LightCentricPhotography.com (they are not specifically labeled or identified as "O'Brien" trip photos, but the galleries in The Caribbean, South Africa, and Ireland contain many photos that were made during those trips).