Tag: Insignia
A View With a Room
Masters of the Sea
Three captains will have commanded our ship as, in the Latin terminology of old Rome, “Magister Navis” or Master of the Sea, before our voyage ends. And we have had the privilege to dine at least once with each, and establish a casual acquaintance. With Oceania, their work contracts are a rotation of about two…
Continue reading →Seas the Day
I love sea days. I love the (mostly) gentle sway of the ship, the melting of blue from sky to sea, the feeling of being at home on the ocean, the mystery of its depth, the water slapping against the hull, the misting spray, birds roosting on the jackstaff, dolphins arching in the ship’s wake….
Continue reading →A Moveable Feast
Cruise ships are often heavily rated by the quality of their food. Great attention is paid to its excellence, availability, and visual appeal, as eating is a primary onboard pasttime. When describing this voyage to friends, they would gasp in horror at the mental calculation of just how much weight one could actually gain if…
Continue reading →Remote Rangiroa
Rangiroa, whose name means ” vast sky”, is the biggest atoll of French Polynesia, but aside from two main villages, the rest of it is almost uninhabitable and remote. It has a string of rich coral encircling a luminous turquoise and jade-green lagoon and is considered one of the world’s greatest dive destinations. Insignia anchored…
Continue reading →Queen of the Pacific
Our ship approached Tahiti at dawn, with the island outlined in the rising sun. As we got closer, I could see that Papeete was a town of more significant size than any on the other islands. With a population of almost 26,000, it is French Polynesia’s capital and cultural center. When spelling Tahitian words the…
Continue reading →Blue Ribbon Win
To me, one of the great experiences of cruising is living on the ship. It is a luxuriously contained world and everyone is pretty much there for the same reasons, mostly to ensure a good time. An advantage to a very long cruise is that you establish very good friends with which to have a…
Continue reading →Ships of Fools
Cruise ships suffer no lack of activities to keep their passengers busy whether it is with enrichment lectures, cooking demonstrations, wine and spirit tastings, art and dance classes, games, tea time, spa treatments, fitness exercises, bridge lessons, and on and on. The staff will do almost anything to keep us entertained. So to occupy us…
Continue reading →Pack Rat Results
At about halfway through the trip, after all the long pre-departure angst of guessing, shopping, packing, and planning for everything it takes to live on a ship and sightsee in a variety of distant foreign lands for 109 days, I find that all the preparation has actually paid off pretty well. I’ve worn almost all…
Continue reading →See Saw Sea Day
Real time, May 15, 11:00 a.m. We are are on the northern edge of the Tasman Sea, arriving in Sydney, Australia tomorrow morning. Rough mounting seas, 14 to 16 foot waves with heavy gales to 47 knots. The view from our veranda on deck 6, overlooking the bow.
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