TUESDAY, MAR 2ND--MANILA, THE PHILIPPINES

We pulled up to the dock in Manila just before 11am to a sight that I had to fight back tears. As I said most of the crew is from the Philippines and a lot of their families were standing there to greet them. We have become good friends with many of these crewmembers over the last 6 weeks, and some, we feel like are like part of our family, especially Marjorie, our suite stewardess. So to see their husbands or wives and little kids standing there was so thrilling for me too. This has to be the best moment of the cruise so far and one that I shall never forget. When we walked off the ship and took about 4 steps on the dock, there was our Marjorie with her 4 year old daughter’s arms wrapped around her neck, squeezing her mother so tight. We were introduced to her husband and told him we would take good care of his wife as we loved her too. We just said hi and bye as wanted them to spend time together as a family. I will be posting pictures tomorrow and there will be one of them on the blog. The Silversea’s Silver Whisper cruise ship is docked just across from us and it is doing a world cruise also. Silversea is also a luxury cruise line just like Regent and the ships are similar in size. So we boarded our tour bus for our “Charms of Old Manila” 4 hour tour. First stop was Rizal Park and the old walled city of Intramuros. Dr Rizal is a national hero who was executed by the Spanish in 1896 because of his reformist views. Intramuros is Manila’s walled city built by the Spanish in the 16th century and is only 3 square miles. It has a wall that is 30 feet thick with a moat surrounding it for protection. When the American’s came here in the 1900’s the moat was filled in because it was mosquito infested and a health hazard. They replaced it with a golf course. Next stop was Ft Santiago overlooking the mouth of the Pasig River. It is a nice park now but has been used by the Spanish in the 1800’s, Americans in the 1900’s, and Japanese during WWII when they occupied the Philippines. Next we stopped at a museum but it was upstairs so I did not go due to my knees. Last stop was for a short shopping break. We arrived back at the ship just before 4pm. There was some shopping set up in tents just next to the ship so we bought several T-shirts. They had Regent 2010 World Cruise T-shirts that some enterprising Philippino was selling and doing very well, I might add. $10 each so good price! Our balcony is in shade this afternoon and overlooks the dock area so we have a perfect view of festivities. The Silverseas ship is preparing to depart now and there is what appears to be a small high school band playing for them. We have a ringside seat for that too. We are to sail at 7pm and I expect it to be quite a sight. More and more family members are coming and will be waving goodbye. I’m sure there will be as many crewmembers on deck as can be (some will be working as dining room opens at 6:30). We sail in an hour and the band is now by our ship and playing for us. I am going to sign off and enjoy the departure from our balcony while enjoying a cocktail. It is a very pleasant evening and not very humid.