I am back again after a break of almost two months, just realizing that I never finished fully reporting on the United Airlines mishaps flying home from Santiago de Chile to Tucson back in December.  And I will continue that saga later in this blog--but only after I give you news of my next adventure at sea, which starts in less than two weeks.

Holland America 28-Day Taiwan, Japan and China Explorer

3-31 March 2019

HAL ms Westerdam

Shanghai to Yokohama

On this cruise I will be visiting 15 ports in five countries, passing through Shanghai twice, at the start and mid-point of the journey. 

This is my first cruise on the Westerdam, although I have sailed on its identical sister ships, the Oosterdam (Alaska, 2008) and the Zuiderdam (Mediterranean and Adriatic, 2015). as well as its earlier namesake (Caribbean, 2000), which has since been decommissioned.

Westerdam Stats 

Built                         2004                                         

Shipyard                  Fincantieri, Italy

Operator                  Holland America Line

Length                     936 feet

Beam (Width)          105.8 feet

Gross Tonnage        81,811

Passengers              1,916

Crew                         800

Decks                       11

Refurbished              2017

Itinerary:  
additional shore excursions and land adventures to be added later

28 February Thursday / Los Angeles                                         

12:45pm Leave Tucson (TUS) / DL 3658                        

1:28pm Arrive Los Angeles (LAX)                                    
Overnight at Wingate by Wyndham Hotel

1 March Friday                                                                     

12:50 pm Leave Los Angeles (LAX) / UA 198  

Overnight flight

2 March Saturday / Shanghai, China                                              
6:45pm Arrive Shanghai (PVG)

Overnight at Longemont Hotel  

3 March Sunday / Shanghai     

Transfer to Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal

Embark ms Westerdam

4 March Monday / Shanghai

9:15am Shore Excursion:  Shanghai Old and New (3.5 hours)  

6:00pm Overnight at Sea

5 March Tuesday / Day at Sea
 
6 March Wednesday / Fukuoka, Japan
8:00am Arrive Fukuoka (Hakata)
9:30am Shore Excursion: Kushida and Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrines and Fukuoka Tower (5 hours)
6:00pm Overnight at Sea

7 March Thursday / Busan, So Korea
8:00am Arrive Busan
6:00pm Overnight at Sea  

8 March Friday / Day at Sea

9 March Saturday / Naha, Okinawa, Japan
7:00am Arrive Naha
5:00pm Overnight at Sea

10 March Sunday / Ishigaki, Okinawa, Japan
9:00am Arrive Ishigaki / tender landing
9:15am Shore Excursion: Ishigaki Half Day (4 hours)
6:00pm Overnight at Sea

11 March Monday / Hualien, Taiwan
8:00am Arrive Hualien
8:30am Shore Excursion:  Taroko Gorge (5.25 hours)
5:00pm Overnight at Sea

12 March Tuesday / Taipei, Taiwan
8:00am Arrive Keelung (Taipei)
8:30am Shore Excursion: Taipei on Your Own (8 hours)
5:00pm Overnight at Sea

13 March Wednesday / Kaohsiung, Taiwan
8:00am Arrive Kaohsiung
5:00pm Overnight at Sea

14 March Thursday / Day at Sea

15 March Friday / Manila, Philippines
8:00am Arrive Manila
6:00pm Overnight at Sea

16 March Saturday / Day at Sea

17 March Sunday / Hong Kong, China
8:00am Arrive Hong Kong
11:00pm Overnight at Sea

18 March Monday / Day at Sea

19 March Tuesday / Day at Sea

20 March Wednesday / Shanghai
8:00am Arrive Shanghai
Shore Excursion
Overnight in Shanghai

21 MarchThursday / Shanghai
Shore Excursion
6:00pm Overnight at Sea

22 March Friday / Day at Sea

23 March Saturday / Qingdao, China
8:00am Arrive Qingdao
Shore Excursion:  Best of Qingdao (6.5 hours)
6:00pm Overnight at Sea

24 March Sunday / Day at Sea

25 March Monday / Beijing
8:00am Arrive Tanjin (Beijing)
Overnight in Beijing

26 March Tuesday / Beijing
5:00pm Overnight at Sea

27 March Wednesday / Day at Sea

28 March Thursday / Nagasaki, Japan
12:00nn Arrive Nagasaki
Overnight at Sea

29 March Friday / Kagoshima
Arrive Kagoshima
8:00pm Overnight at Sea

30 March Saturday / Day at Sea

31 March Sunday / Yokohoma to Tucson
6:30am Arrive Yokohoma / transit to Tokyo  
5:00pm Leave Tokyo (NRT) / UA 33
11:00am Arrive Los Angeles (LAX)
2:50pm Leave Los Angeles (LAX) / DL 3648
4:29pm Arrive Tucson (TUS)



This cruise takes me to many places I have never visited before, including the countries of So. Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines.  Although I have previously been to Hong Kong (1986, 1994, 2015, 2016), China (1994), and Japan (1986, 1990, 1994)--with the exception of Beijing and Shanghai, I have not visited any of the other cities in these countries.  The five ports in Japan are all located in the southernmost parts of the country, Kyushu and Okinawa, allowing me a fairly extensive exposure to that area.  In all, I will be stopping at 11 ports I have not previously visited.

I have signed up for a few shore excursions, but I plan to tour on my own in most of the other cities.  Traveling in Asia is very easy and safe.  Most cities have infrastructure designed to make visiting a pleasure.  Even some of the smaller cities in Japan and Taiwan have underground metro systems, with signs in both the native language and English.  Changing money is much easier than it used to be, with the advent of ATMs almost everywhere.  For this trip,  China is the only country that requires US citizens to obtain visas in advance (positive:  only takes about six days, using the internet; negative:  the process costs almost $400.); the other nations allow visa-free visits for short-term tourists.

This is the longest cruise I have ever taken--the previous record was 23 days from Ft Lauderdale to Rio de Janeiro in 2014.  I hope to keep busy enough that I won't spend a lot of time missing Will (and the kittens)--although I will surely miss all three of them.  The cruise also schedules 10 days at sea, which will allow for rest time between the exertions in the ports.

As is always the case on cruise ships, I will not know how effective the wifi service will be until I start using it.  On our last cruise--to South America in December of last year--the wifi on Holland America's ms Zaandam was quite speedy and efficient.  I was able to post a whole load of pictures while sailing.  On other cruises I have had to wait until I returned to Tucson before I could post more than just a few photographs.  Holland America, unfortunately, still charges by the minute for wifi usage.  Since up-loading photographs can take quite a bit of time, it can also result in costing quite a bit of money.  Oceania Cruise Lines, on which Will and I have sailed five times in the past few years, provides free, unlimited wifi to all passengers.  However, Oceania's charges for a single passenger (rather than two people sharing) is quite high; so unless they have a very special offer going (which they do at times), when I travel solo I have to use Holland America.  At least I get free, unlimited laundry and dry cleaning (among other benefits) on Holland America, as a result of my having sailed on 16 previous cruises (15 of them since 2007).

When I started making plans for this trip, during the recent government shutdown, I decided it would be unwise to try to make a short connection when flying Tucson-Los Angeles and Los-Angeles-Shanghai--who knows what kind of slowdowns might occur during security checks.  So I will leave Tucson on Thursday, one day early, and spend the night in LA.  I won't have to rush or worry about the transfer, and I can take my time checking in for my 12:50pm departure to Shanghai on Friday.  Fortunately, I was able to use frequent flyer miles for a free first-class flight from Tucson to LAX (and the return at the end of the trip), as well as a free night at a hotel at LAX.

For the very long flights between the US and Asia (14 hours in both directions), I am flying Polaris Business Class on United Airlines, which allows for two free bags and a seat that reclines to a full-length flat bed.  I have grown too old and decrepit to sit up in a hard, cramped seat for that many hours.  Will and I flew in the same kind of seats on our recent trip to South America (Houston-Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile-Houston).

I will be happy to respond to any questions or comments, which can be sent either directly to the blog or to my usual email address (llaban@vcu.edu).  I will try to provide more details about the trip before I leave on 28 February, and to send at least a message from Shanghai, even if Chinese web censorship won't allow for a full blog entry.

And now that you have held your breath in expectation for this long, I will return to a short version of the final two days of our wonderful South America trip, fouled up fully by United Airlines.

Returning from Santiago de Chile to Tucson

17-19 December 2018

On Monday, 17 December, the final morning of our 14-day cruise, ms Zaandam arrives at seven in the port of San Antonio, Chile.  Since our flight from Santiago to Houston (and then on to Tucson) does not depart until 10:15pm, we sign on for a full-day excursion to the coastal city of Valparaiso, at the end of which passengers will be deposited at the airport and reunited with their luggage.  In the previous blog entry (posted on 23 December 2018), you will find the description and lots of pictures of the highlights of Valparaiso.

After a full and tiring day of playing tourist, with only a light snack for lunch, we arrive at the airport at 4:15pm to find our luggage not only waiting, but carefully arranged with each person's belongings (about 40 of us) on separate portable luggage carts, which we can use until we are ready to board our aircraft.  This is a nice and welcome touch.  However, this is the last thing that goes well until we are home, exactly 24 hours later than scheduled.

For security reasons, flight check-in does not begin until three hours prior to departure.  Since there is nowhere handy to check our luggage, this means we have to carry it around for another three hours.  To compound the difficulty, there are absolutely no places to sit down in the entire terminal building--other than in the one (!) restaurant or in the very busy handicap section.  Luckily, the restaurant allows us to keep our luggage with us while we have a bite to eat (all we have had since breakfast is a light snack in Valparaiso).

Finally the three waiting hours have passed (very slowly) and we can line up for check in.  This part of the process proceeds slowly, but at least without a hitch, and we are finally rid of our large suitcases and ready for the long trek through Duty Free shops to the gate (there is no fancy Polaris Lounge here in which we can pass the time). Boarding is delayed for an hour, but since our seats are in row six, in the front section of the plane, we are among the first to board.  

I decide to use the bathroom to empty my bladder before everyone else is on board and the aisles are crowded with passengers and their bulky carry-ons.  I quickly finish my business and then discover that the toilet will not flush.  I report this immediately to a crew member--and this is when all the trouble starts.  The crew is soon in motion and discover that none of the toilets are working.  The pilot informs us that mechanics are working to fix the problem, since flying for 11 hours without any working toilets is clearly not an option.

At least another hour passes before the captain informs us that we are moving away from the terminal and heading onto the tarmac for take-off.  But the plane sits on the tarmac for what seems an interminable length of time.  The captain then informs a very tired set of passengers that the crew have exceeded their allowable work hours. and there are no extra crew available to replace them.  You'd think after this much time waiting for repairs that United Airlines might have been aware of this problem a little earlier and not have kept us all on the plane for over three hours, waiting for something to happen.

So all passengers must return to the terminal, taking all our hand baggage with us.  Since we all have officially left the country when we went through immigration prior to boarding, we must now go back through immigration and have our passports inspected again.  At this hour--it's around 3am (we started boarding at 9:30 pm)--most airport workers have gone home, so with few available inspectors, the passage through immigration takes much longer than it would normally.  After immigration, we have to pick up our checked luggage, with no porters available, and walk outside the terminal to a bus stop about a block away.  Finally buses arrive to take all the passengers from the plane (only a few from the cruise itself) to a hotel for the night.  At this point we have no information about when in the future we will be returning to the US.

There is a large Holiday Inn at the airport, but instead of spending the night there, we are driven for over an hour to a hotel in the center of the city (in fact, the same hotel I stayed in when I was in Santiago three years ago, the Sheraton San Cristobal).  

We finally reach the hotel at close to five in the morning.  Although we are a large group of almost 200 passengers, check-in at the hotel goes rather quickly (they must be used to this kind of crisis).  We finally get into bed for a few hours sleep just as the sun is rising at six am.

We awaken a little more hopefully, about four hours later, to enjoy a large buffet breakfast and then a full lunch.  We continue to be treated well by hotel staff.  At lunch time we are finally given information about the our flights:  we will return on the exact same schedule we were supposed to fly last night, although it will be on a different plane.  This time we are driven to the airport at a later time than yesterday and are able to check-in with our luggage almost immediately after arriving; United Airlines even has a special dedicated check-in line for us.  The same flight crew greets us as we board and the flight takes off on time.  We make our scheduled change in Houston--albeit 24 hours late.  We finally arrive home, a little bit more worn out than we had hoped, but at least warmly welcomed by our cats.

Sheraton San Cristobal in Santiago de Chile

Jake and Luke (Eagerly) Welcome Us Home