We are now on our third day at sea since leaving San Francisco. The Pacific Ocean is a great depth of water and we have had a couple of 'high sea' days with somewhat overcast conditions.
It has been non stop for me since leaving San Francisco and in many ways more like a Round World Cruise with the amount of business that is coming over my desk! I have a fantastic team and we crack on with the job in hand.
Many of you have been asking how we scored in San Francisco with our USPH Inspection - well - no one turned up to carry out an Inspection. We may be inspected in Honolulu - I will let you know. The US Coast Guard were most impressed! The Immigration Inspection for passengers and crew over ran by 30 minutes, causing a certain frustration for some people. It is a requirement of the Department of Homeland Security that all passengers are inspected in SFO before any are allowed off the ship. The good news is that as Honolulu is our second port of entry to the US everyone is pre cleared therefore no Inspection needed. Just think what it would be like if every country were to ask for a face to face Inspection - thank goodness they don't. My thanks to Dan today for assisting me in getting these photographs loaded up onto my blog for you to enjoy. Thanks to Inger for taking these photographs - great to have friends and blog buddies!!
San Francisco - Population 800,000 , second US city as density after New York , featured in hundreds of movies and TV series. Located in the beautiful region of Northern California on the Pacific Coast, the hilly streets give striking glimpses of the bay and its famous bridges. What ever you do in San Francisco it is one of those places where you always wish to return to.
Vintage tram circling the piers of the Bay, a survivor of the Great American Streetcar Scandal, that did not involved San Francisco.
Fairmont Hotel , showing all the flags - just like Arcadia.
Macy's - my favourite department store. 
The Pacific shore.
A monument for the Merchant Marine , our predecessors.
'Remembrance - Love's last gift'.
A view of the Golden Gate from the other side of the Bay. I once took a tour of the Bridge in a black stretched Limo - as you do!
Golden gate from the Bay Side
Fort Point and the Palace of Fine Arts golden dome and distinguished on the horizon , the Transamerica Pyramid.
The old airfield at Fort Point . The Fort Point Area is a famous filming area .Movies like Vertigo in 1958 and more recently The Pursuit of Happiness.With so many productions going on, you just never know when you bump into a filming crew.... and you know how camera shy I am......
The famous Fisherman's Wharf - many a good day I have enjoyed here on holiday.
Unusual bread shapes......
View of the Alcatraz from the Fisherman's Wharf
The old Ferry Terminal , now a historic site preserving the railway
The sea lions enjoying an early spring morning - The Good life!
The sea Lions even got a monument raised to them. I love all the wooden fronted buildings.
The SFO version of the hop on , hop off London Double Decker
Monday morning in the Fisherman's wharf. It seems that in San Fran "I don't like Mondays" was never a song to be sung here...
Arcadia presiding over Pier 35 proudly flying her 'dress' flags.
Coit Tower on the Telegraph Hill , one of the seven hills...sounds like Rome
Top of the Mark - Mark Hopkins Hotel - another favourite of mine and I can recommend a Purple Cocktail on the roof top revolving Cocktail Bar. A crowd of us once left Oriana here in 1999 and watched the ship sail out for here - a very memorable evening. We then dined in a Theatre Restaurant where the waiting staff sang opera for you. Another great place to dine is Morton's Steak House.
Wells Fargo 1852 ... Well , Fargo P&O Cruises started in 1837.
The Federal Reserve Bank of San Fran. Now you know where your dollars were printed!
I have some good shots of the plaque exchange and also some of the people I met working in Pier 35 so I hope to post these tomorrow. Looking forward to Honolulu on the 6th February.
Commodore Burgoine is leaving us in Honolulu and Captain Ian Walters takes command.
All the best for now,
James.
Don't worry about taking the cruise - the cruise will take you!
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8 comments:
Great pics, James. I definitely want to see SF sooner rather than later. This year is all booked up so maybe next year......
How frustrating for you to be waiting for your inspection and then for them not to show up - quite rude really! Good luck if they decide to show in Honolulu.
I'm off to the physio today to ensure I'm fit for travel next month - if he can recommend a bit of exercise it will hopefully do the trick. After looking forward to it for so long, I certainly don't want Tony to miss out on his retirement/60th treat - me neither!
Calm seas.
Gill
Another great Blog James, it does make you want to go to all these places, John was an engineer on the Oronsay and was at Top of the Mark in 1960! When he saw the photos it brought back some happy memories!
Cheers
Lesley & John
Hi james,the photos of the famous Tram brings back memories of when we were dangling on the sides of the streetcar and the dangling of the bells.
Hello James, Shirley and I have recently returned from Barbados and have just caught up with your blog. What fun you are having!
Would have loved to have listened to Ken Vards lectures.. am a real fan of his, he is a total ships buff, do hope he travels with Arcadia again when we are on.
Is John King still on board, we have such fond memories of him as Captain and then Commodore. Lovely story the late great Commodore John Young (no relation) told at a passengers party … On his first visit to China he was surprised and delighted to find that the Chinese referred to him by his surname first, so that he became Young John … he went on to say that his deputy Captain at that time was equally pleased as he was John King and therefore became King John !!… he continued to say that the on board comedian was rather less pleased as his name … and you will remember him James .. was Dick Gold! Happy times eh.
It was also a delight to read the note from one of your bloggers, Sharon Taylor … a name from our early days of cruising … knew her initially as Sharon Jackson on Sea Princess in the mid ‘80s, think as Deputy Cruise Director to Bill Allison. We travelled with Sharon on a number of occasions on Sea P and then on Pacific Princess when it was moved to Europe in ‘87. Where does the time, the people and cruises go too! Lovely memories I guess. If you read this Sharon, our best wishes to you.
Michael and Shirley Young
Hi James,
Thanks for more great blogs, and fantastic photos. Please pass on our regards to the Commadore, and hope that he enjoys his holidays.I really am no trouble, am I James!!!
Off to Geneva tomorrow to see Cerys (Anne Pash's daughter) and her family as she gave birth to a beautifull baby girl on Monday called Celyn Rhianwen(Pronounced KELIN)Looking forward to following you on the rest of your adventure.
Norma & Peris
Brilliant Blog James, keep them coming, your knack with words has everyone waiting patiently for each port of call's story.
Cheers
Mary G.K
All good!
Love the story about Young John, King John and Gold D**k!
Saw that the seas were a little bumpy yesterday and now after leaving Honolulu you are heading closer to the South Pacific which hopefully should have settled a bit before you venture too much closer to Oz. Cyclones have reared their windy wet heads early this year.Haven't cooled us down or reduced the humidity though, seas are rather big but hoping to see them ease in a couple of days as long as there are no relatives of TC Olga wanting to make a visit.
Hi James
Breakfast on a Saturday morning. Well I was so annoyed yesterday James. My ISP decided to have problems and I couldn't get on the internet. I think I must be addicted to the net, cause I was getting quite upset ;-0) Maybe I need to be admitted to a love of cyber clinic - Lol ;-0)
DD rang home about 1.30pm her time on San Francisco time, to say she was in the office waiting for the go ahead to go ashore. She said she'd only just got through immigration and there were some still waiting to be inspected as she left. I always remember doing US immigration inspections on QM2. It was a very early start! And as usual people just don't do as they are supposed to do they!! Certain decks were supposed to go at certain times, but the size of the queue I reckon they'd taken no notice. All I remember was how much of a pain in the backside it was, and if I were actually a US citizen I'd be even more annoyed having to go through all that to get back into my own country! I do think we can be accused of being very relaxed with our immigration, but the US seem to be very thorough. Don't know which is worse! One thing I should add though is we'd already done immigration a few days earlier actually in New York. But because we'd gone to Canada (shock horror) and was coming back to New York we had to go through it all again. They don't take kindly to our English humour either do they??!! ;-0) Actually it kind of puts me off wanting to go the US. When DD and SD (it's a joke thing between me and Nicole - she says I'm her English stepmum), went to Las Vegas on their last break, the US couldn't understand why a Brit was travelling with an Aussie! And then when they got home we had to wait for Nicole to come through immigration. Thankfully she wasn't too long.
Anyway, to your photos now. I thought it was cold in San Francisco at this time of year. It's odd because in some of the photos there are people in big coats and then some in jumpers/fleeces.
I loved the pictures of the sea lions, basking on the jetty. Beautiful creatures aren't they?
Your comment on the Wells Fargo Bank sign made me titter to myself this morning James. You tell em!!
Say hello to the commodore for me and I hope he has a safe journey home. Is he spending a few days in Honolulu?? Given half the chance I would ;-0)
Well better get by backside to the gym! I reckon I've put more weight on since getting home than whilst I was away. All that walking around on Arcadia is excersize in itself! It's a long walk from the aft to the bow!
I keep looking in the brochure James for a cruise in the summer. I'm sure I can persuade Tom to go on one. I've already checked out his holiday entitlement ;-0) Got some days left after our Xmas cruises have been taken off (his holiday year goes Jan 1st to Dec 31st). Because Xmas 2010 is on a weekend there are a lot of extra bank holidays. I can't go a whole year without my summer sunshine fix ;-0) Where are you off to next James after your next break?
Off to read your latest blog entry (I am going to copy and paste this reply there just in case you don't see this one) and no doubt add a little more to it!!
Bye for now and enjoy Honolulu today.
Best Wishes
Elaine (aurorabore)
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