Saturday 29 OCT 2012
Two days ago (Thursday) we flew from Midland, MI, to Los Angeles. Here is Paula in the MBS airport:
We stayed Thursday and Friday nights at the Westin Long Beach Hotel, which is only about a mile from the Queen Mary and the cruise ship terminal.
Here is the Queen Mary:
The Volendam:
The Volendam is today considered to be a mid-size cruise ship, in the 60,000 ton class. She carries 1400 passengers and a couple hundred crew. There are a few ports that can't accommodate her size, and Holland America owns at least one smaller ship that visits such smaller ports. But Volendam can dock at most tourist locations, and if necessary can even anchor in a harbor and off-load people via shore-based tenders or even her own lifeboats. I've heard that there are now mega ships of more than twice her displacement and carrying 5000 passengers. I have no more desire to be on one than I do to fly on that giant Airbus A380.
The cruise ship terminal:
And the terminal building showing its proximity to the Queen Mary:
While we were there we saw this blimp framed above the container cranes:
The ship is scheduled to leave this afternoon at 5:00 pm PDT. Coming next: 5 days at sea to Hilo, HI.
Posted from Tyler's iPad
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