Day 10 - Epilogue

River vs Caribbean Cruise

Many folks have taken cruises in the Caribbean plying the Islands. Today it is not uncommon to travel on ships exceeding 7000 passengers and 2300 crew. This is essentially like sailing on the Mall of America with shops and restaurants. When I cruised the Caribbean back in the late 80s, the ship Song of America carried 1575 passengers and a crew of 540. I thought this was quite crowded. I won't be traveling on these floating cities.

In contrast, the Joey has capacity for 126 passengers (she carried 102 on this trip) with a crew of 54. While I didn't learn the names of more than maybe 10, I recognized my fellow passengers when we were on shore. All of the crew recognized us and many of them called us by name. The rooms were large enough and the bathrooms and showers were larger than the older cruise ships. (I suspect this could be the case for almost all cruise ships today.) I've certainly had bathroom facilities in my Scotland tours that were smaller.

Food & Drink

The food onboard is definitely top notch. If I have a complaint, it is that it is maybe a little too ritzy. After a week of it, I would have been glad for, say a fish and chips (or the French equivalent.)

Which brings ups the subject of French fries (sometimes referred to as pomme frites, frites or just fries.) If offered fries in France, get a double or triple helping if you can! France apparently didn't get memo that McDonald's, Burger King, etc. got back in the early 90s regarding the cooking oil. We got fries in St. Mere Eglise that beat even the OLD McD's fries. I ordered the wet aged strip steak on the last night and was asked by the waiter if I wanted the fries and vegetables. I was surprised since many chefs in the States would not server fries with a top quality steak. By the way, while not greasy, they were excellent. Oh yeah, and the steak was damn good, too.

As on Caribbean cruises, the food is pretty well all you care to eat. On the Joey, each meal consisted of an appetizer, a soup, an entre and a dessert. There was no mid-night buffet or flaming babaloo!

Drinks! Yes I mean drinks. Uniworld changed to an all inclusive model some years ago. This means that not only can you order wine with unlimited refills at any meal, but unlimited drinks are available in the lounge when it is open. For additional charge you can upgrade to more expensive brand. For instance, George and I had a dram of Glenfiddich. Had we wanted, say Lagavulin or Highland Park, we would have had to pay for a an upgrade. However, we managed to enjoy the entire cruise on the excellent beverages provided with our booking.

The Parlez-vous

So who doesn't like the French language? After all it's got that je ne sais quoi that makes it sound not only romantic but quite pleasing to the ear. So back in the mid 80s, Amy and I planned a trip to France. I don't exactly remember why we canceled, but I bought a tape of conversational French and started working on my French. Here are a few words and phrases that I learned then.

bonjour - Good morning or just Hello.
bon après-midi - Good afternoon.
bonsoir - Good evening.
je ne sais quoi - Literally translated it means "I don't know what". It is idiomatic for "a pleasing quality that cannot exactly be described".
oui - Yes.
non - No.
mais oui - Literally "but yes" or "yes of course".
voilà - Literally "here" or "here it is".
et voilà - And there you go.
où sont les toilettes - Where is the toilet.
petit-déjeuner - Breakfast or literally "small lunch".
déjeuner - Lunch.
dîner - Dinner.
sel et poivre - Salt and pepper.
poivre vert - Green pepper.
poivron rouge - Red pepper.
citron - Lemon.

On the flight over, I was flying Air France. I asked for water with lime. The attendant looked at me quizzically and then picked up a lemon. I nodded yes. On the return, I knew to ask for "citron vert". However, I still got lemon.

citron vert - Lime (green lemon).

If you order water, it is common in Europe to serve carbonated water. If the server asks, answer "Still" if you want non-carbonated water.

eau au citron vert - Water with lime.
eau au citron - Water with lemon.
s'il vous plaît - Please.
merci - Thank you.
merci beaucoup - Thank you very much.
pomme - Apple.
pomme de terre - Potato, literally apple of the earth.
frites - Fries, generally what we call French fries.
pomme frites - Usually meaning fried potatoes though the literal translation is "apple fries".
ananas - Pineapple (just because I like the word).

Amy and I planned a trip to France in the mid 80s. So I bought a tape on conversational French and began my education. We did not make the trip but a few phrases that I learned stuck with me. When we disembarked/embarked the ship, our room card was scanned to keep up with us. On reboarding, I finally got to use one of these phrases.

voici ma carte - Here is my card.

And if you are taking a river cruise, you should definitely know the following.

où sont les bateaux - Where are the boats?

And if you do not want to learn any of the above, you should at least learn this.

je ne parle pas français - I do not speak French.

And if all else fails, you can always resort to cursing.

sacré bleu - It is "a French expression of surprise, exasperation, or dismay". Sometimes literally translated as "damn it".

And with that, I bid you au voir - Good bye.