We moved into our new apartment for the next 8 days.  With hopes of an all season pool the kids were really excited!  Apparently, in Chile all season pool means it opens November 15, huge bummer!  Other then that our new digs look pretty good.  We found out that there is a huge futbol game on Saturday between two top teams in Santiago, we are going to try to find tickets tomorrow. -Shawn

October 24 –  So the other day my dad bought me this awesome Fortnite shirt.  The next day we went to this science center and on the way in there was these teenagers that I never even seen before.  They started to yell at me because I was wearing a Fortnite shirt and they started doing Fortnite dances.  My dad started encouraging me to dance back so I did.  I did the Floss and the Hype then they started cheering me on.  It was so weird.For the rest of the visit I was looking for them but I did not see them.On the way back home we went on the subway and trust me you would not want to be there IT WAS CRAMPED everybody was squished.  On the way out there was a lot of elbowing and nudging. That’s all for today!!! – Sayer

The museum was busy with many school groups going through it.  It had an earthquake simulation room that was set up to look like a living room.  The subway was interesting at rush hour with faces pushed up against the glass as it drove by.

Mom and Dad left for home on Tuesday night.  We enjoyed our time with them on the cruise and exploring Santiago. – Renelle

I have learned that I thoroughly enjoy spending time with my family!  This has been the most family time that we have had by a mile and it has been great.  Those who know me know that I do not like bragging about my kids but………I have to this time.  There was not a day that went by on the cruise where at least a couple strangers commented on how awesome our kids were.  It was true, they are really getting along and are enjoying each others company. – Shawn

My favourite thing on the cruise was the daily ice cream.  I really liked the pool and the workers – Danika

My favourite thing on the cruise was the workers for sure!  Fandy, Christian, Heri and Din were awesome!  I am going to miss them a lot! – Sayer

My favourite thing on the cruise was ice cream and the waiters.  I liked ping pong, pickle ball, shuffleboard, basketball and kids club.  – Gabriel

I enjoyed the relaxed nature of the cruise.  We ate too much amazing food.  Our day was centered around meal times and the evening shows on the main stage.  We loved seeing our wait staff perform at the Filipino and Indonesian crew show.  The Peru show was spectacular!  I loved the time we got to spend together and the warm pools that we often had all to ourselves.  It was definitely a great way to make our way to our first destination – Chile! – Renelle

My favourite part of the cruise were the speakers, servers, and the tours of Guatemala and Peru.  The most favourite part was being with the Lewandoski’s. – Al

Winning $200 at the Casino, being in the pool with the kids, not having to prepare meals and being catered to was the best part of the cruise.  -Patti

After we left from Huatulco we arrived in Guatemala on October 5, 2018.  Shawn, Al (my dad), and I took a tour of Antigua, Guatemala.  We found a company right off the port that took us on a scenic drive of the countryside enroute to Antigua.  We saw volcanoes and one that was still active.  We also saw the destruction of houses and roads caused by the volcano that erupted in June of 2018.

Once we arrived to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Antigua at the central plaza, we visited the Spanish colonial buildings, Cathedral and Capuchinas Convent.  We also saw the Government Palace and the Church and Convent of La Merced.  Many of these buildings were repaired and some parts were still the ruins from Earthquakes in the 1700’s.

While us three were out sight-seeing the kids were with Grandma Patti.  They boarded the shuttle and went to the market and bought some souvenirs.  They saw a Guatemalan fashion show.  They were fairly pleased with their purchases.

October 6, 2018 – We were extremely disappointed that we did not make it to the port in Corinto, Nicaragua. Dad (Al), Shawn, and I bought a tour through Holland America and were excited to spend some time here and see what Nicaragua was all about.  The seas were rough and apparently the port is difficult to get into as they didn’t have any breakwaters at this port.  The pilot thought that it was too dangerous to attempt the trip to port.

October 8, 2018 – On this day we arrived in Fuerte Amador (Panama City), Panama.  We lucked out by finding a large van to take us to all the sites of the city.  Even better luck was that we had a Spanish speaker in the vehicle to help translate to our driver.

Today was a hot one 30 degrees and we were roasting  (like turkeys) and it just so happened to be Canadian Thanksgiving this day. lol  We took a walk through Old Panama and saw where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans met.  We drove through New Panama as well and admired the amazing architecture of some of the buildings.  We went to the Miraflores locks but unfortunately did not get to see any ships pass through.

We enjoyed a traditional Canadian Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all the fixin’s and pumpkin pie.  We celebrated it with the 7 of us and our new ship family servers Heri, Din, and Glenda!

Tonight was the Filipino crew show on the main stage.  Our wine steward was named Glenda and she was performing tonight.  We had the kids make signs for her in Club HAL (kids club).  Glenda was so tickled that we sat in the front row with her sign and made her stand out from her peers.

October 10, 2018  We all crossed the equator and got a certificate to prove it from the captain! We arrived in Manta, Ecuador.  Here we were surprised that it was only 21 degrees and the water was fairly cold do the Humboldt current bringing the waters from Antarctica up through the coast of the Pacific Ocean.

Manta is a port city and we didn’t book any tours this day so we walked to the mall and around the town for a few blocks. We went to the ocean and looked for shells and glass.  Mom, Dad, and I bought some hats from someone selling them on the beach.  We also went to a free museum.

October 12, 2018 – We were woken up by the Captain’s announcement in our rooms at 2:30 am that we were to stay in our rooms due to the rough seas.  The Captain then decided not to make the port.  It was extremely rough this night and lots of glass ware and china were broken.  We were suppose to go to Salaverry and head to Trujillo, Peru for the day. We were looking forward to seeing some Inca ruins this day.

October 13, 2018 –  We arrived in Callao, Peru and were shuttled to Lima as safety was a concern in Callao.  We saw a man with a photo of a minivan as soon as we got off the shuttle.  The driver and the tour guide took us for 6 hours around.  We went to the main square – Plaza de Armas.  We arrived as the changing of the guards was happening at the Government Palace.  We went to the San Francisco Monastery and convent of Santa Domingo.  This was exciting as we saw the catacombs.  We went to first of three layers underground and saw many skulls and femur bones.

We went to a museum that was in a building that was previously the first bank in Peru.  Here they had gold and pottery from the pre-Incas time.  We ate lunch at a famous restaurant (apparently) called Bar Cardoba.  Shawn and I ordered Peru’s famous dish ceviche which is raw fish with lemon, lime and onions.  We enjoyed a beef plate with tacu-tacu (rice and beans mixture).

We took a trip down from the city centre to the affluent Miraflores district.  We walked the boardwalk with a cliffside view of the Pacific ocean and went to the Park of Love.  There were tons of para-gliders in the distance and shopping malls built into the cliffs (we didn’t end up shopping).

We went to the place of the Huaca Pucllana a place of the pre-Inca ruins.  Our tour was coming to an end so we didn’t have time to go inside and see the whole grounds.

Our last stop was the Indian Market.  This market was ginormous.  We experienced our first paid bathroom stop.  Thank goodness for our excellent tour guide Felix that helped us translate to the bathroom attendant. It cost 6 sols  for all 7 of us.  We got a ticket and an arms length of toilet paper each.  It was a first of many paid bathroom experiences to come.

Tonight on the stage were Peruvian locals that had amazing costumes and dancers.  They blew us away with their performance.

 

October 14 – We stayed in port at Lima, Peru overnight.  We took the shuttle to the mall but scored some Peruvian keepsakes from the market just outside the ship.

October 15 –   Tonight was the Indonesian crew show and our servers Heri and Din got the special signs tonight.  They were so cute when they saw our signs they pointed at us and all their friends laughed.  They lit up like Christmas trees!

October 16 –  Sayer also made a sign for the Dining room greeter, Fandy, who always had a cart with mints, apricots, ginger, and dates on the way out of the restaurant.  The kids loved the mints because they tasted like butterscotch. Fandy was always playing tricks with the kids getting them to solve toothpick puzzles.  As they took longer and longer to solve the problems the mint reward got larger and larger.  He ended up not performing this day but the kids got him back with the help of the maitre d.  They hid behind his cart and surprised Fanny with their sign.  He was so thrilled he had it hung up behind his trolley the rest of our trip on the ship.

October 17 – We arrived in Coquimbo, Chile and was fortunate to see some Chilean dancers right off the port.  It was the first cruise ship of the season so this entertainment today was special covered by the local radio station this day.  Here we walked around the city and got a very relaxed feel from the Chilean people.  We connected with wi-fi and I had to get a sim card for my phone since we plan to be in Chile for a couple weeks.  Again we were blessed with the parents of the one other boy on the ship to translate for us as my phone was having a hard time with accepting the sim card.

October 18 – We arrived on day 23 of our cruise to San Antonio, Chile.  We ate our last meal on the ship and walked a few blocks from the port to the bus station.  We took a 90 minute coach ride to Santiago for $28 CAD for all seven of us.

………To Be Continued

………Sorry to bore you but internet was next to impossible.    Renelle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our wifi signal is down to nothing.  Posting pictures is almost impossible now, too many patrons at the café now.  We will post more in a few days, when we get wifi again.- Shawn

September 29, 2018

We sailed to San Diego, picked up Grandma and Grandpa and met with Renelle’s sister Ali and her boys Seb and Sander.  We met at a place called Fault Line Park after attending a class on the ship about San Andreas Fault.  We went for lunch at the Cheesecake Café at Sea Pot Village and the kids went on the Merry Go Round.  It was time to get aboard the ship mid afternoon.  We enjoyed another fabulous supper in the Dining Room.  The kids watched a movie with popcorn on the ship and we attended a Lionel Ritchie inspired concert. – Renelle

September 30, 2018

Today was a rough day at sea.  Due to Hurricane Rosa the seas were rough and the Captain had to speed up the boat to get in front of it otherwise we would have had to stay back in San Diego for a few days and would miss our following two ports of call.  I was glad this day was over because I was sick.  The other days you could hardly feel the boat moving. -Renelle

Tuesday, October 2

We took a taxi from the port to a beautiful beach called La Audiencia in Manzanillo, Mexico.  The waters were warm and fun to play in.

Thursday, October 4

We were excited to find a café with cheap drinks and wifi, with a beach directly in front of the café for the kids to play on, when we arrived to Huatulco, Mexico.  Today we were able to get caught up with the world and finally post to our blog.  It is 27 degrees Celsius at 9:40 this morning.

So we have been on our trip for just over a week now!  I must say that we are getting into the cruise lifestyle (even I am)!  I am going to unload a lot of posts today so here they go…..

September 25, 2018

After an early wake-up call (5:00 am), a flight that left Saskatoon at 7:00 am and a cab ride across Vancouver we arrived at the waiting area of our cruise. The Zaandam appears to be Market Mall on a ship.  We bring down the average age by quite a bit.  We have found out that there is only one other family and they are getting off the ship in San Diego.  Our kids will be the only kids on the boat after San Diego.  They are not thrilled by this. – Shawn

September 26, 2018

We had a good sleep in and hit up the buffet for breakfast. We found a nice little spot in the library for the kids to do their homework.  After homework, we went to play shuffleboard, pickle ball and soccer and then it was time to eat again, at the Buffet.  I took the kids for a swim.  It was between 16-19 degrees out but it seemed warmer than that with the retractable roof open. Sayer and Gabe went to play some video games in the kids club for a little while. This evening was a Gala night so we got dressed up a wee bit nicer and had our first pampered supper in the dining room.  The entertainment on the Mainstage was a young comedian.  We all had a few laughs and enjoyed the free champagne and pop for the Captain’s toast. -Renelle

 

September 28, 2018

So today we stopped in Santa Barbra with our cruise ship. So we went to Sea Cave there was many sea animals there. We  saw a moon jellyfish , sea stars and sharks .We got to touch all the animals that were there. It was really fun. After that we went to a really fun science  place called Moxi`s.  There were many things to do there , there was a rooftop garden ,a gift shop and a temperature thing. There was a little kid who was about two years old who knocked down a bookshelf of stuffed animals there and it was really funny.-Danika

Today we saw a lot of cool stuff like seal’s on a buoy. We also went into an aquarium and we got to touch sea creatures we went to a science museum there was a lot of stuff to learn and just to see . we saw sand sculptures one of them was a woman wearing sun glasses the other was a soldier with all of his gear on, they were SO COOL. So far today was my favorite day of our vacation.-SAYER

The itinerary is as follows:

September 25: We board in Vancouver

September 26-27: At Sea

September 28: Santa Barbara, CA

September 29: San Diego, CA. We get to visit with Renelle’s  sister and nephews. Renelle’s parents join us on the cruise.

September 30 – October 1: At Sea

October 2: Manzanillo, Mexico

October 3: At Sea

October 4:  Huatulco, Mexico

October 5: Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

October 6:  Corinto, Nicaragua

October 7:  At Sea

October 8:  Fuerte Amador, Panama

October 9:  At Sea

October 10:  Manta, Ecuador

October 11:  At Sea

October 12:  Salaverry (Trujillo), Peru

October 13-14:  Callao (Lima), Peru

October 15-16:  At Sea

October 17:  Coquimbo (La Serena), Chile

October 18:  Last Day of the Cruise.  Arrive in San Antonio (Santiago), Chile

Here is a blog by us!  The Lewandoski’s!  We hope to update this frequently with our day to day happenings on our trip of a lifetime!  So…..check back often or don’t, the choice is yours.  -Shawn

“People don’t take trips, trips take people.” – John Steinback