Triumph Comes Home

Friday February 15, 10:24 a.m.

The above is a promotional video of the now-notorious cruise ship Triumph that was taped in 2011. Lots of panoramic shots of what to look forward to when passengers plunk down the big money for an opportunity to sail the Caribbean in relative luxury.

Of course, that final voyage was anything but for those passengers.

The comments by the unbelievably exhausted, frustrated and disgusted customers are definitely not something the management wanted to hear: "I'm just so glad to be off the ship". As someone who was on his first cruise aboard The Oasis of the Seas via Royal Caribbean last year, I can't even imagine the hell these poor folks went through. They paid for something high-class; instead they got an experience in what abject poverty is like in a number of developing countries. Sewage in the corridors and on the walls? I couldn't even imagine what my family would have done if something similar had befallen The Oasis.

Nothing compared to the Triumph, but I had a small similar taste of what those passengers had been force-fed several years ago. I was on a Northwest Airlines trip coming from Tokyo to Detroit to Toronto when the toilets stopped working over the Pacific for about 6 hours. And this happened just after we got our lunch service. Toilets were almost overflowing and looked pretty bad. Just before getting the good news, I had been looking at my paper cup with some desperation.

Bee Visitation

Friday May 11, 11:47 a.m.

It looks like the now-reduced group of my Beehive students should be OK with the revised accommodations. The 24th and the 26th will be my two days with them. Mrs. Alp and Mrs. Perth are actually the two students who couldn't make it on the first trip here about 4 years ago, but they will be representing my old circle when they arrive in a couple of weeks. They're planning to stay at that hotel right at Pearson. I'll be heading over there but through a much less expensive means. When I went over to see Mrs. Tulip at her Mississauga home a couple of months ago, I had to take the GO bus from Union which cost about $10 round-trip along with the two TTC tokens. This time, it'll be just those two tokens since I can use the Airport Rocket from Kipling Station straight to Terminal 3 where the hotel is.

The plan for that first day will be heading out for yum cha. Should be interesting since most yum cha places in Japan are more staid and limited in dish variety. Our restaurants are much more rock n' roll. Alp and Perth have asked to see a whole bunch of places on the 26th....obviously, can't cover everything, but I think the two markets, St. Lawrence and Kensington, plus Greektown are doable.

Change in Plans

Wednesday May 9, 9:30 p.m.

The last couple of days have seen some changes to The Beehive's planned trip to Canada in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately I got word from Mrs. Perth that Mrs. Travel and Mrs. Tee have had to pull out suddenly due to family illness. So, it'll just be two of my former students, Perth and Mrs. Alp coming over. Mrs. Perth has asked me to cancel one of the two rooms allotted for the ladies at the hotel downtown which I haven't been able to do because of the calls in to duty over the last few days.

Although Mrs. Tee cannot come over, there is a bit of relief in that since Mrs. Tee cannot have any sort of meat due to religious reasons and she's extremely picky. Perhaps now that she has pulled out, the two remaining ladies will be a bit more amenable in terms of Toronto cuisine.

Oasis of the Seas Part 4 -- Facilities

Ship's Library on Deck 11

Thursday May 3, 9:10 p.m.

Something as big as The Oasis of the Seas needs to have plenty of things to do to keep the passengers occupied for a week. One can't live on bread (roast duck, weiner schnitzel, mashed potatoes, tiramisu, etc.) alone. Of course, there was the gym (which I avoided like the plague), the spa (which I couldn't afford) and Internet (which was selling for a hefty 65 cents per minute!).

Instead, I enjoyed a few hours over the week at the Ship's Library on Deck 11. It's just one small room in the aft lobby but as you can see here, it looks very amenable and it's air-conditioned, since we can't have those pages warping in the humidity, can we? It wasn't very busy in the days that we were in port, but once we out in the open sea, most the chairs were occupied.

 The one place that I had wanted to try out but couldn't since none of my family were particularly into the drink was The Rising Tide. It happens to be the jewel in the crown of drinking establishments onboard since it can rise and lower from Decks 5 to 8. However, a lot of the passengers took advantage of the opportunity. Well, perhaps next time. No reports on whether anyone got motion sickness.

Not-So-Golden Week

Wednesday May 2, 8:51 p.m.

Japan is going through its first major holiday period right now. They're in the midst of Golden Week which usually starts from April 29 (Showa Day) and goes on to May 5 (Children's Day). In the middle of that are Constitution Day (the 3rd) and Green Day (the 4th...and nothing to do with the band). Corporate Japan has been pretty kind to its ants over the decades by letting them take the official non-holidays off to create this long week of time off to visit the hometown and relatives.

But the traffic is horrifying during this time. Airports, train stations and highways are all clogged at the beginning and the end of GW. A lot of folks, including me when I was living there, just chilled in the Kanto and enjoyed the relative emptiness. Subways and intercity JR trains had quite a few seats open during the weekdays.

However, this year, it seems that the Rainy Season has come a bit early. I've been seeing weather reports over the past few days on NHK showing some major downpours afflicting most of the country. Pretty unusual for this time of year which is usually very pleasant for those travelers.

Regrettably, though, there has been a tragedy which has been making the rounds during GW. It happened around the same time that that minivan toppled over into the Bronx Zoo in Manhattan killing everyone on board. A bus heading to Tokyo Disneyland sliced itself in half through a highway sound baffle some days ago injuring several and killing seven. The cause was the driver falling asleep at the wheel which has gotten the media investigating reports of bus companies trying to cut corners by not having that extra driver on board to relieve a tired driver. I'm hoping that there is some sort of accountability to this sort of vehicular manslaughter.

Oasis of the Seas, Part 3 -- Entertainment

Tuesday May 1, 9:55 a.m.

Despite what I wrote about food on a cruise ship, one can't merely enjoy a weeklong cruise on noshing alone....and I say this as a foodie. Nope, there was plenty of opportunity to partake in entertainment. My brother and I participated in a couple of loosey-goosey trivia contests in the Schooner Bar on Deck 6 while my niece doodled bunnies on a scoresheet.

There was also the more professional kind. On the second night, the aft Aqua Theater presented "Oasis of Dreams", a mix of diving, synchro swimming, flying, and interpretative dance. A bit on the rococo side for me but it did its job and got a deserving standing ovation from the assembled audience.

I can finally say that I got to see "Hairspray". On the third day, there was a matinee performance, one of two I believe during the cruise, at the 1,350-seat Opal Theater. The most famous actor there was Jim J. Bullock, acting as the big mama, Edna Turnblad. I remember him as the hapless thorn in Ted Knight's side on "Too Close for Comfort" decades ago.

I've had a casual like for American music of the 50s and 60s (re: Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man"), but I can't say that any of the songs I heard were toe-tappingly memorable. And the audience which were leaning toward the elderly demographic applauded politely throughout the performance although there was a generous standing ovation during curtain call. The only screamout moment was when Jim J. and the actor playing hubby Wilbur made some sort of blooper during their duet which prompted a couple of minutes of laughing fits from the two of them.

A couple of days later, there was ABBAcadabra, the tribute band for the legendary Swedish group, ABBA. This was a disappointment. But I wasn't disappointed in the foursome so much as I was disappointed FOR them. The group had pulled out all the stops in pleasing the audience, including throwing out glowsticks and doing some intersong schtick. But the audience wasn't biting. ABBAcadabra may be big on Broadway but when an onboard performance comes as part of the overall cruise cost, it doesn't necessarily translate into huge numbers of rabid ABBA fans flooding the theater. The audience was either just too old or too casual. I could see the four whispering to each other during the performance....probably desperately thinking about how to liven up the folks. A lot of glowsticks were thrown out during that less-than-1-hour gig....I kinda wondered if that was really the intended length or if the band decided to cut their losses. But that is show business.

To be honest, the most bang out of my buck that I got from shipboard entertainment was watching a video concert of Michael Buble one afternoon on the Aqua Theater screens.

Oasis of the Seas, Part 2 -- Food

If you look at it one way, it resembles
that Ceti Eel from "Star Trek II"!
Still delicious, though.

Tuesday April 30, 5:06 p.m.

A few years ago, I saw a report on cruise ships and the reporter concluded that they were all floating buffet restaurants. He wasn't kidding. There must've been tons of foodstuffs on The Oasis of the Seas which gradually became part of our insides during the week at sea. Of course, a percentage of that stuff ended up going back....well, I think you get the picture.

A good portion of the price we paid to live out at sea went for food. Restaurants like The Solarium Bistro, The Opus Dining Room and The Windjammer offered all complementary fare. And all of us took advantage of that fact...my tighter jeans are proof positive. Almost all of our dinners were taken at the Opus Dining Room on Deck 4 where Waiter Markland Williams and Assistant Waiter Danny took care of us for the duration. The first night didn't go all that well due to a distinct lack of pacing which annoyed Mom and my sister-in-law to no end, but the guys got back on track for the other 5 times we were there. Above was my first main dish, a good rare slab of prime beef. By the end of the cruise, Markland and Danny were our best buds.

Up on the Boardwalk on Deck 6 Aft, there were restaurants that reflected that feeling of being near the sea in Jersey. Johnny Rockets was there. Though it was not part of the complementary plan during lunch and dinner, the restaurant served complementary breakfasts.

Sausages, potatoes, English muffins,
scrambled eggs

We had one breakfast at Johnny's. Of course, I opted for the carnivore's special. During my entire trip on the ship, I never opted for pancakes or waffles for some reason. I guess I needed a lot of protein to walk aimlessly all over The Oasis.

If you can identify every item on my dish,
you will have my eternal respect.

Buffets anywhere, whether they be on a massive cruise ship or definitively based in a landlocked restaurant, are always a hit-and-miss affair. The Oasis of the Seas was no different. We found that the Windjammer on the top deck had the overall best all-you-can-eat fare so we often had our lunches there. Even then, individual items hit our fancy more than others. My personal favorites were the mashed potatoes, the weiner schnitzel and the hamburgers. Desserts were OK but not spectacular.

The Windjammer overlooking Nassau

During the times that we were at port at Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maartens, the Windjammer wasn't too crowded but once we were on a purely cruising day, we made sure that we got there between 11:30 and 11:45. Luckily, there was a screen which showed crowd levels at the various restaurants onboard. Still, each time we got to the Windjammer, we could always find a table to seat all 6 of us. It's truly a huge restaurant.

In the middle of our cruise, the family decided to have one dinner at a specialty restaurant, so we chose the Japanese place, IZUMI, which was right next to the Windjammer. One of the stateroom videos showed the sushi chef presenting how to make the house favorite of Salmon Lovers' Roll. IZUMI was a bit more of an Asian fusion type of restaurant than a truly authentic place that I used to find in the wilds of Shinjuku and Asakusa.

Salmon Lovers' Platter

That is indeed the Salmon Lovers' Roll that was so lovingly made on the video. Just had to try it. Raw salmon, avocado and mayo! In back is the sashimi platter that we had also ordered.

I also had the sukiyaki nabe for dinner. Pretty hefty stuff, especially since the sukiyaki beef which is usually pretty thinly sliced was basically mini-steaks in terms of thickness. With dessert, I was one pretty stuffed fellow....not something that one can usually say after a meal at a Japanese restaurant.

IZUMI did have a great view of us launching from St. Thomas during dusk.

Finally, there were the smaller places like The Cupcake Cupboard peppered liberally along the Promenade. Here's my niece taking her sweet time making a decision on her cupcake. This was also a specialty place in that payment is necessary. It was so easy to find something to nosh onboard that gaining weight was an inevitability.

Oasis of the Seas, Part 1

Sunday April 29, 9:54 p.m.

Well, I'm back! Got back from a 1-week Caribbean cruise on board The Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise ship on the planet (although technically her sister ship The Allure of the Seas is 2 inches longer...but I'm not gonna get into that).

This was a family event that was nearly a year in the making. Soon after I'd returned to Japan last year, my mother phoned me up to say that a cruise was in the planning with my sister-in-law spearheading the event. It kinda felt like The Olympics...all this planning with the final execution being last week and now it's all over.

Before I get too introspective, though, let's get into the overall trip. Last Saturday, my family got together at Pearson Airport. We had to take the Air Canada Toronto-Ft. Lauderdale circuit. Both going there and coming back had its trials and tribulations. Getting there involved one move to another airplane because of a technical problem which was enervating and frustrating, but in defense of the currently beleaguered Air Canada, this is pretty much the sign of the times anywhere in the airline industry. Just glad that our cruise liner didn't have to launch until 5 p.m.

My parents are decade-long cruise veterans but for myself and my brother's family, it was our first adventure on a cruise ship. Basically our exposure to cruising had been limited to reruns of "The Love Boat"and perhaps "Titanic"(believe me, the irony that I would be boarding the largest cruise ship on Earth in the centennial year of the sinking of the world's largest cruise ship of that time was not lost on me).

To say that The Oasis of the Seas was a ship would be kinda like saying Godzilla is a lizard with a thyroid condition. Boarding directly onto the main Promenade Deck (5) was entering the idealized main street of a small town. Basically, the ship was designed to encapsulate chunks of Americana. The Promenade is Disneyland with stylized cafes and shops siding along the weaving center road which links the fore Opal Theater and the aft Boardwalk.

A few decks up on 8 was the smaller tony Central Park which had plenty of greenery and benches. Although a lot of the restaurants' fare onboard is complementary, there are a couple of  restaurants which require reservations and a fully-charged credit card. Of course, even further upwards are the more sporting decks such as pools and solarium and mini-golf...and even a zipline.

Pretty much once The Oasis of the Seas set off at 5 p.m., I felt as if we had all entered a different country of sorts. As my niece so precociously put it, we were in "No Country". We all had to go through another round of security checks (although we were spared the stripping of shoes and belts). But once we were all onboard, it was a rarefied atmosphere of strangely friendlier service and copious amounts of food. It was further enhanced by the epic size of the vessel and the Disneyland effect. The passengers also seemed a bit more narcotized than usual. There's something about being on a gigantic ship in the middle of a large ocean that could make people gain this somewhat Tahiti Syndrome.

Anyways, I'll go further into my weeklong cruise over the next couple of days.

End of the Line

The 100 series courtesy of timtak

The 300 series courtesy of dscreativ

The Japan Sea Train courtesy of nanahocya

Friday March 16, 10:43 a.m.

I think all those train lovers out there should bring out the Kleenex for this entry. I'm pretty sure none of the train otaku in Japan will survive with a dry eye past this year.

Last year, the original Shinkansen Bullet Train...the 0 series....was finally put out to pasture after decades of service. Just in the last couple of weeks, I've heard that its next two levels of descendants, the 100 and 300 series, will also be retired. I think they still look pretty sleek, although the later series look even closer to Starfleet design. Once these babies have their last runs, there will be armies of train otaku on the platforms of Tokyo Station and other stops with their digital SLRs and movie cameras to commit the scenes for posterity. And JR will have ceremonies with all of the pomp and circumstance of a royal funeral.

While trains in Canada and the United States are hardly mentioned at all...let alone with any sort of reverence (and with the exception of any crashes), the Japanese have had a long love affair with their trains, particularly the ones which have the overnight sleeper car service. Songs have often been written about particular trains. Because of the size of the country, the Japanese love of domestic travel and need for business trips, and the excellent service (aside from the occasional screwup), rail travel still gives air travel a run for their money and passengers in Japan. One of the top stories on NHK News this morning was the semi-retirement of The Japan Sea (Nihon Kai) run from Aomori Prefecture to Shin-Osaka Station. A few veteran passengers of the line gave wistful interviews about how much of a second home away from home it was.

I've had a few experiences on the Bullet while I was in Japan. Of course, I rode the original Zero and perhaps even the 100 series. Riding in the non-reserved section usually, it almost felt like I was speeding along in my own warp bubble...almost separated from the surrounding countryside although I could clearly see the rice fields outside. The ride was that smooth. One time in 1991, I had the chance to ride a Bullet all the way from Hakata Station to Tokyo...a 6-hour ride at the time. I finally got an elite Green Car seat and so it was slightly wider than the usual jiyuuseki. Plus, I had been one of the last passengers to eat in the dining car before it was discontinued.

One of my dreams was to have ridden the Cassiopeia. This is the Tokyo-Sapporo run which lasts for almost an entire day, and is basically the equivalent of a modern hotel on wheels. The prices and popularity also reflect those of The Imperial Hotel. I simply couldn't afford the time and money for it, but perhaps there may be a remote chance in my life that I can still get on it before it, too, gets retired.