Mar 17

2026 Port of Call – Cartagena

Calle Mayor Shopping Street

This second port of call on this cruise, Cartagena, was a true delight.

Founded in 227 B.C. by the Carthaginian Hasdrubal the Fair, Cartagena, a vibrant port city on Spain’s southeast Mediterranean coast, has a long history with a plethora of monuments documenting the passing of at least five civilizations.

Being a rather small city, it’s easy to walk from one site to the other, starting with the remains of the Punic Walls.

In the small, very protected harbor our massive cruise ship was parked right in the town’s square so to speak.

 

 

 

 

 You walk through customs and immigration with smiling and waving officials and you are on Calle Mayor, a vast pedestrian shopping street with numerous sidekicks, restaurants, eateries and museums and delightful churches within minutes from your cabin on the ship. Our Canadian friends Caralee and Darcy joined us for a very pleasant day out on the town.

This Mediterranean, southern Spanish city is known for five major historic cultures that swept through the area from the Phoenicians to the Romans, to the Moors and the Spaniards, dating more than 3,000 years back. The background of the city is elevated by low hills-sides moving to medium mountains in the further distance and many of the peaks have defensive historically military installations like castles and forts ornamenting the summits.

What is truly remarkable is that  when you walk onto Calle Mayor, almost immediately on the right, there is the Roman museum built around and with the old Roman Amphitheater attached. As seniors we paid only $6 admission per person and you have the choice between elevators and escalators when it comes to getting around the museum into the well preserved Colosseum-like amphitheater. Very worth a visit.

Since this cruise signified our departure from the US with an extended period of country traveling in AirBnBs, we are not doing any souvenir shopping anymore, since we currently don’t even have a refrigerator for our hundreds of destination magnets. So shopping is a very limited option.

A quick stop at the drugstore for some replenishments of needed medical and supplement vitamin stuff and the prices pleasantly surprised us. Walking the cobblestoned street, admiring the great varieties of architectural creativity, was followed by a stop at a sidewalk café for some Cappuccinos and sweets and boy was that good. It just tasted real.

It was a day of relaxed picture taking under a blue sunny sky, an afternoon that made us understand the concept of “taking a siesta” and Cartagena entered definitely our list of places to revisit in the future.

Cartagena Square with Banyan Trees
Cartagena Roman Museum
Cartagena Roman Amphitheater
Cartagena Historic Roman Stage
Amphitheater stage floor
Historic Civilizations in Cartagena
Building Façades in Calle Mayor
TJ's lunch stop
Lunch on a sidewalk café

Mar 16

2026 Port of Call Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Santa Cruz de Tenerife city panorama

Unfortunately TJ got full fledged sick with a head cold the night before we got to Tenerife and I got about half sick, which invited us to stay aboard rather than climbing hilly streets and get all clammy and sweaty in the midday sun. But our friends Darcy and Caralee were up for a trip ashore and went by themselves.

We had been to Santa Cruz in 2025 during our Transatlantic cruise so we didn’t want to stretch our uneasiness into a full cold. Here are some of the things you may want to consider doing when in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Our favorite is a visit to the Market of our Lady of Africa,  right in town.

If you want to see some more of the island there are cruise line organized tours that take you to THE BEST OF SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE

1. Las Canadas National Park

Declared a national park in 1954, Las Canadas is dominated by an enormous volcanic crater. Dormant since 1909, the crater is over 29 miles in circumference. Mt Teide, Spain’s highest mountain peak, rises some 12,300 feet from the crater floor. Stop at Humboldt’s Belvedere and take in sweeping views of the Orotava Valley, the garden of Tenerife. Over 200 years ago, the naturalist Humboldt described the view as the loveliest prospect in his travels.

2. Puerto de la Cruz

This seaside town has been Tenerife’s premier resort since the turn of the19th century. Visit the Orchid Garden, founded in 1774, and enjoy free time to browse the shops, relax in a café, or stroll the seaside promenade. Everything caters to tourism these days.

3. Taganana & Anaga Mountains and local Wine Tasting

This village in Tenerife’s interior is famed for its vineyards, its goat milk and its cheeses. During your visit, enjoy a wine and cheese tasting at some of the local restaurants.

4. Tour of La Laguna

The island’s old capital is a city of graceful colonial houses and convents dating from the 17th and 18th Centuries. La Laguna is the cultural and religious capital of Tenerife.

5. Pyramids of Guimar

Visit the step pyramids of the Guimar Valley and learn about the alignments during Summer solstice and the direction of the rising sun on the Winter solstice. Construction dates back to the early 19th century. Tour the site, visit the museum, and view an audio-visual presentation.

6. La Orotava

Visit La Orotava, a municipality located on the north coast of Tenerife.The streets of the old town are lined with Renaissance mansions and dotted with architectural treasures.

As permanent travelers we do recognize that islands like Tenerife offer some historic insight in the development of the former Spanish Empire, but these days the Canary Islands are exclusively appreciated as a place to vacation in the sun; suntan on the beaches during the day and enjoy dinner at night at one of the sidewalk terrace restaurants around town. Historic religious sites, if any, wine tastings and the enjoyment of local dishes are mostly created with tourism in mind.

We spent the day aboard the ship , doing not much at all. Recuperating for the next stop Cartagena. Our friends bought us some Aloe Vera presents produced exclusively on the island of Tenerife.

 

Mar 15

Our Third Transatlantic Princess Cruise

The Sun Princess in full Glory

We were very much looking forward to catching up with our Canadian friends Darcy and Caralee, whom we had befriended on our 2025 transatlantic Princess cruise to Southampton, England and who upon learning that we had booked this cruise, excitedly booked the same one with a 5 day after cruise extension in Spain’s resort town of Pineda de Mar, north of Barcelona. Our friends live near Vancouver, Canada, so we’re talking half way around the world travel. That is what we call friendship!

Our reasons for once again taking a transatlantic cruise came down to more luggage availability, less effect of jetlag, 14 days of luxury treatment and rest, and…the refund for the return part of the original airline tickets we had bought last April when we flew from Amsterdam to Nashville, pretty much paid for the cruise. With all the horror stories about air traffic control, TSA not being paid and more of the same, we decided a cruise would suit us better.

Our Canadian friends Darcy and Caralee

The Sun Princess

Following is our reasoning why in future. we prefer to book royal class ships like the Regal Princess over sphere class ships like the Sun Princess or the Sky Princess..

The Sun Princess (launched in 2024) is the lead ship of the new Sphere-class, representing the largest and first LNG-powered vessel in their fleet. It features a 21-deck design focusing on expansive views and modern, sustainable technology. It carries 177,882 Gross Tonnes over a length of 1,133 ft. and a capacity to accommodate 4,300 guests served by a crew of 1,600.

First and foremost, the entire crew was marvelous. Superior to any other cruise we’ve done. Unfortunately the ship’s layout has a number of “design” shortcomings, many loyal passenger don’t particularly like. During the following we will touch upon them. 

It took us a couple of days to adjust to the ship’s entirely different floorpan. We were used to the familiar naming of Lido deck etc. instead of the boring numbering system all the way up to the 21st deck. Of course this could have something to do with the AI driven elevator system.

No more library, no Churchill, much smaller gym, now located midship, more attention to exterior spacing with sun decks and a long list of eateries. The Eatery on deck 9 is a confusing directional buffet where guests bumb into each other using both directions. Quite irritating. After a couple of time trying we decided to mostly dine in the Soleil Dining room or the Americana Diner which served excellent chef inspired dishes.

The elevators are now computerized with a form of artificial Intelligence, which means you press the floor you want to go to outside in the elevator hall and the screen will let you now which elevator will take you there. Strange in the beginning, but you quickly adjust and it eliminates standing on side of the hallway and having an elevator arrive on the opposite side, with you having to run to it to make it, yelling: “Please hold the door,” or people inside of the elevator yelling “Can someone push 10 for me.”

the Sphere rooms with extended balconies

Our stateroom was in the sphere on deck 10, just to the front of midship which means that we had a slightly expanded balcony with more seating space on the Starboardside, (not enough for a lounge chair however) with the sun coming in beautifully every day of our trip over. Note: if you like to get a suntan on your way over to Europe, you need a stateroom on the Starboardside, from the 10th floor up, with a balcony. Anywhere else you will mostly experience shadows.

It also means on deck 10, we have just a short distance to many of the eateries just one or two decks below us. 

The entire floorpan of the ship is totally different from previous Princess ships we sailed on. The feel is much smaller, kind of cut up, although the entire ship is one of the biggest on the 7 oceans. Time will tell what we like and won’t like, I guess. Right now it feels much more like a commercial enterprise than a welcoming resort on the ocean. Even the entertainment venues have severe limitations

The Dome on the Sun Princess

The only time we visited the famous “Dome”, promoted as the quiet, introspective place aboard the ship was during the Captain’s Welcome for Elite, Platinum and Sanctuary Guests. Ironically during this one glass presentation the Captain, a jolly, friendly Italian from Messina, Sicily with a 27 year work record for the company, showed an audio visual presentation of the growth of Princess Cruises since its founding in 1965. I couldn’t help but silently admire those first early years’ small ships where you knew most of your co-passengers and there was a certain grandeur implanted into the design.

Today’s ships seems to all suffer from a Disney Dream design abundance. Yes we had been upgraded to a Sphere Cabin, which still could not accommodate a lounge chair to enjoy the sun away from the overloaded pools. During In-port maintenance exercises most of the  hassle happened for starboard cabins and the smoking decks, as they are typically held on that side of the ship. On the positive: the check in and check out procedures on deck 6 are much more spacious and therefore much better streamlined than on other ships, which helps greatly disembarking and returning at Port of Calls.

The nicest thing about this crossing were the eight days on the Atlantic Ocean before we would hit Santa Cruz on the Canary Island of Tenerife for our first port of call. We were enjoying the Sea Days so much that this first Port of Call was totally neglected. But its significance was that we had finally exchanged the USA for a retirement of adventure travel and charity contributions across the pond.

Sunset developing
An angry Sunset on the Atlantic
Smart angles or Confusing architecture
Caralee&TJ on the smoking deck
Not his best picture, says Han
Delicious Dessert Options

Jan 22

Nashville offers more than just BBQ

In-N-Out Burger in Lebanon,TN

After completing our last season as managers at the Beaver Island Lodge, we were exactly back where we were 10 years ago when I wrote the story “Wide Open Spaces Ahead of Us”. Our first trip then was also to Nashville, where Han’s oldest friend in the US had moved to.  Sadly Ric passed away a couple of years ago, so now we visited Kay his widow in Brentwood TN, a suburb of Nashville, for almost a month in Dec/Jan of 2026. This is also our last trip south in our trusty Nissan Murano which we purchased exactly 10 years ago. And the end of this trip she goes to another dear friend, while we take a transatlantic cruise over to Europe for an extended stay. But first some travel impressions from this last north-south trip.

There are so many amazing restaurants near her home, that we did not have to venture far to experience something new and delicious.
These are just “a few of our favorite things”.

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Jan 30

We Think We Have Time

  Thinking we have Time is possibly the biggest mistake we make in life. The decision to retire after 7 season was made and announced a year earlier, but with the reality of season 2025 at the Beaver Island Lodge coming to an end, the naked truth was also that we had to get rid once again of everything we had collected for and during our stay on Beaver Island, Michigan. Truth be told for us it was probably the third time in twenty years that we offloaded our entire households with the help of eBay, Garage sales, Facebook Marketplace and word of mouth. This time we had figured in what to leave with the kids as well. It’s kind of essential if the vagabond lifestyle of a global traveler is your choice. The feeling is equally bittersweet and liberating. And so is the fact that you’re leaving a place where you spend seven years of your life. The French poet Edmond Haraucourt left us with a beautiful expression for that emotion: “partir, c’est mourir un peu” – “leaving is a little bit dying”. It’s kind of how we feel, but seven years of “too cold for us” island life of Northern Lake Michigan wears on you even more so when you reach your senior years.

Our departure plans included celebrating Thanksgiving and Han’s birthday on the island at the Gregg Fellowship Center, which gave us a chance to say goodbye to a lot of islanders that we had come to know and appreciate over the years. And then the plan was to take the ferry over to the mainland the following Sunday, the last day of November. Well the snow, wind and freeze came early this winter season and on our departure day the blizzard from the north blew snow horizontally and the ferry was cancelled. The next day, Monday December 1st, we were on the ferry, but sadly none of our friends, employers or co-workers made it to the ferry dock to wave us off. Seven years of commitment becomes a relative emotion that way.

Beaver Island Ferry departing Charlevoix

Brian and Han playing favorite songs

Thinking back on the experiences of this nomadic couple, it’s not an uncommon behavior. Our Caribbean days were numbered in 2009 and when we left, we lost some friends whose friendship depended on close proximity rather than mutual appreciation. Leaving Amelia Island in 2016 created a similar situation and no doubt leaving Beaver Island will do this once again. Sad but true. It should not come as a surprise to either one of us, having left countries and cities of our youth and adolescence to find strangers on faraway shores who soon would turn into friends and sometimes even family.

Freedom is Fickle 

Freedom is often considered fickle because it is unstable, constantly shifting between being gained and lost through changing circumstances, choices, and external constraints. It is not a permanent state, but rather a, often, fleeting experience shaped by personal actions and environmental factors. Some people think that freedom can be found in having excess money, some people think that moving away from highly strained city life into an  unguarded wilderness is freedom. Some people think freedom is sailing the 7 oceans without a worry in the world. Living on the ocean gives you plenty to worry about. Living in Alaska or even Beaver Island trades freedom for nature’s random ire. Procrastination is an absolute No-No, that may cost you your life. Some people think that they can not live outside of the political freedom called democracy. In our travels we have learned that democracy would be great, if it could be achieved without destabilizing a country, society or civilization. It turns out that economic progress and a reasonable equality comes first. It also helps having a good amount of empathy for others when they need it.

 

After a week of winter pleasure with the kids and grandkids in Holland, Michigan, a blizzard once again threw us off one day and an exceptional 8 hour drive took us to Lexington, Kentucky, where we had rented a 2 bedroom AirBNB condo for two nights to spend with son Cody. From there the next stop was 5 nights on the Cumberland Plateau in Mississippi, where we left the best Airbnb cabin we ever stayed at, also a day late, again because of heavy snowfall. The last part of our 2025 travel was to see and stay for a while with longtime friend Kay in Brentwood, TN for the Christmas Holidays.

This year’s trip from the north to the south was different than in the previous years, because we had decided that we would move to Europe for at least a couple of years, as the lifestyle over there matched our energy and beliefs much better, than what is currently unfolding in the USA. As a result of this decision, our visits to friends and family were anchored in a form of goodbye, filled with melancholy and promises to return as times change.

A week back to the Cumberland Plateau and then it was time to point the car south via a couple of Georgia stops and a week stay with son Drew and his wife Jessica, in Savannah, Georgia. We had an absolute blast of a time.

You served our travels well Murano. Now do the same for our friends!

Our time in the US was getting short and our 3rd transatlantic cruise was only weeks away when we visited our dear friends Jack and Sharon on Amelia Island. They live in the same oceanfront neighborhood we used to live when we had our B&B. When one night in 2012 their house burnt down in a lightning storm, we offered them a room in our B&B. We became fast friends, now already 14 years later. With their house as our homebase, we met with numerous friends from our years on Amelia Island and sold our last possession, our Nissan Murano, to a great friend, who used to work for us. On March 4 we rented a truck one way to Fort Lauderdale, where we took a room in the cruise ship popular Roadway Inn and boarded the Sun Princess on March 5. The US was going to be on our back burner for at least as long as MAGA was an accepted elective point of view in the country. Off to the European Shores and Cities.

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