Costa Concordia collides with rock off Italian island of Giglio

| January 15, 2012

As a family who enjoys traveling by cruise ship, the reports from Italy and the Costa Concordia are shocking after the ship ran aground on Friday. It is difficult for me in the day of GPS, sonar, autopilots, etc to understand how a ship of this size (4200 people) with an experienced captain and crew [...]

Freedom of the Seas gets rocked by rough weather; damage to public areas | Cruise Radio

| October 10, 2011

It was a rough night for passengers on a big ship. The Norweign Cruise Line’s Freedom of the Seas was never in danger according to the company, but a passenger aboard Freedom told Cruiseradio.net a different side of the story:  “It was crazy. The ship was on it’s side, everything broke all over ship, medical [...]

Day 2 & 3 sea passage and day 4: King’s Wharf Bermuda

| August 19, 2010

Day 2 of our family vacation was spent on a southeast leisurely passage at about 8 knots cruising toward Bermuda from New York City aboard the NCL Dawn. We enjoyed a sunny day at sea relaxing on one of the aft decks … a surprisingly private spot. Although the sun was tropical, the breeze over [...]

Rogue waves kills 2 and injures 14 on a cruise ship in Med

| March 3, 2010

A large rogue wave, actually three “abnormal” waves, hit a Greek cruise ship with 1350 passengers and 580 crew in the Mediterranean north of Barcelona, Spain killing two passengers and injuring fourteen. The Louis Cruise Line ship, Louis Majesty, has 14 decks and is over two football fields long. It hit the three 26 foot [...]

Finally … Vacation to Europe blog archive finished

| July 31, 2009

Whew! I’m finally up to date with our European vacation archive … and a bunch of photos didn’t make it into my14 days of blog posts. Oh well,  there are plenty to enjoy … except just this one loner photo and it will get its own post. It’s my daughter’s 23 year old “Big Bear” [...]

Final night of vacation, but the time away felt about right

| July 25, 2009

Passing close enough to a container ship in the Atlantic to read containers The blog is missing a few days in posting due to a shortage of Internet minutes while on the cruise ship ($$$) and although there have been a few connections (very few public ‘free’) along the voyage, I’ve spent more time enjoying [...]

Day 12: Lisbon and Sintra Portugal exceeded my expectations

| July 23, 2009

Lisboa or Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and the wealthiest of the country. It has remained the capital city since its conquest from the Moors in 1147. The architectural style is a combination of old and new, European and Middle Eastern … especially in historic areas and in the Sintra region – both a [...]

Day 11: The Rock of Gibraltar

| July 22, 2009

We spent day eleven visiting the Rock of Gibraltar and I particularly liked learning about the history of this fortress. The huge fortified hunk of rock guarding the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean has seen it share of conquest and struggle. Over the years, a series of 32 kilometers of tunnels [...]

Another day – this one sailing west toward Gibraltar

| July 21, 2009

Today, we mark our return sail back toward the west steaming east in the Mediterranean on this near perfect day. The sky is blue, the water bluer and there is just enough breeze for a lone sailboat to make way well out in the clear horizon (digitally enlarged 300mm telephoto above). 

Day 9: I’m going back – Rome can’t be appreciated in one day

| July 20, 2009

We debarked in Chivitavecchia, Italy on Monday and headed by bus to the ancient city of Rome (Roma) and a visit to the Vatican. The thoughts that I had prior to visiting Rome  were of  just another old and somewhat dirty city, but the impression I left with was one of awe … and a [...]

Day 8: Livorno, Pisa and the Tuscany countryside

| July 19, 2009

What a wonderful day in Italy! We enjoyed a near perfect day in the Tuscany region of Italy heading from the port city of Livorno to Pisa in order to visit the famed Leaning Tower of Pisa, cathedral and baptistery. The crowds were relatively heavy, but flowed easily in and out of the key stops [...]

Day two and three in the Atlantic

| July 14, 2009

We spent day two and now three of our vacation at sea and are enjoying the day’s relaxing … as well as eating (too much food). The weather was cooler on Monday, but much warmer today. The winds the first day out were near gale force as we traveled south from the English Channel through [...]

Hawaii Trip Wrap up: Part 1

| August 29, 2006

I’ve been planning to write down some thoughts and include some personal photos from our recent family vacation to Hawaii. We enjoyed near perfect weather on our entire trip, both on a cruise ship, NCL(A)’s “Pride of Hawaii,” and the time spent with my nephew David and his wife Gillian who live on Kauai — [...]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.