Cruisin’

My friends Dennis and Teresa Chao have asked us on a few occasions if we wanted to join them on a cruise. Up until now, I only counted visiting a new country if I stayed on land at least one night, so cruising didn’t seem to provide an in-depth enough experience. But after two years of staying home and no foreign travel, a new experience seemed fun. The Discovery Princess was a brand new boat, cruising had just resumed thanks to the CDC and Teresa had found a phenomenally good deal leaving from the Port of San Pedro for 7 days, so I booked it right away.

The Discovery Princess

A large cruise ship is like a city unto itself, with its own culture and inhabitants. It felt like going to summer camp, but with several thousand Asian and white people over the age of 70. The crew was from over 60 countries, and most of them were my age or younger (we were about 10% of the ship, at most). We left on a Sunday and early the next morning were greeted by the Golden Gate Bridge! It was kind of foggy but so cool to sail underneath the bridge while the ship’s horn played the Love Boat Theme. My cabin had a nice balcony and small sofa and was on the 15th deck. One evening, Dennis and Teresa saw a school of baby dolphins outside of their balcony! I was so jealous to have missed that.

It was impressive to see all of the old couples dancing and having a good time. Most of them even seemed to still like each other, though you could clearly tell when the wife was more into it and the husband was taking one for the team.

Dennis is a star at karaoke.

For more photos of the trip: https://photos.app.goo.gl/txtJKER7pwzrkZCAA