VALENCIA, SPAIN (4/17/2007)

From: Sherman Rootberg (BiggiRoot)
Date: Apr 17, 2007 12:35 PM
Subject: Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

VALENCIA, SPAIN

I forgot to mention, yesterday started out with a meeting in the theater with Conroy the CEO and some other executives. This was for anybody who wanted to attend.

As usual it was much ado about nothing. The biggest discussion was about smoking in public areas. It was decided, again, they would do something or not.

Nothing was said about any new ship other then they are looking into it. Same answer for three years now. They claim they are redoing the present ships. Nothing was mentioned about the new TVs they promised that have not appeared. When we got on this cruise, I was told they would be replaced in April with new flat screens that would extend further. It sounded like refurbishing was put further and further off.

The only interesting thing we did learn, is what happened in Cairo. Over a year ago they had made docking arrangements. At the Suez port, they were supposed to dock and drop off passengers and their luggage, who were going to stay overnight in Cairo. Then the ship was supposed to continue on to Alexandria to pick up passengers the next day. Instead they screwed us around for over two hours and then just to be typical rag head jerks they decided not to let us dock at all. We had to use tenders to move the entire ship and the luggage. The captain had been threatened to be black listed if he continued to dispute their rulings. They knew full well we had hotel reservations and a dinner event among other activities, prepaid. They figured, as long as we can’t just decide to forget the port, they would screw us around just because they can. Yes, take a trip to warm friendly Egypt today. And be sure to take a rag head to lunch.

Today was an event for the entire ship. We were given a tour of the town and a meeting and cocktail party at their new opera house, convention center, cinema center.

The center is fantastic. It is called the City. It is in a park that covers six miles. The buildings are outrageous. One is a huge flying saucer that has crashed and is sitting on a 45 degree angle and embedded into the ground. Another is an eye, one is a spine. I think someone has been watching too much Gaudi. They are all placed in huge swimming pool like ponds. It really is a spectacular complex. It easily outshines the Sidney Opera house and here everything is user friendly. The Sidney Opera House is terrific looking but very poorly designed for actual use. This is also far larger and encompasses much more. There is also the oceanographic park, and an arts and science museum.

In 1957 they had a terrible flood and a river had to be rerouted. This park now sits in the dry riverbed.

Valencia will hold the America’s Cup competition this year. We had a meeting in a very modern business center. Each person sat at a desk that had a microphone built in. We were given a lecture on the America’s Cup by someone that had entered several times. He showed pictures and slides. Afterward, questions were taken and answered.

Sitting right next to me was Mark Conroy, Regent’s CEO. He didn’t know it and I didn’t tell. I was afraid I might scare him.

The cocktail party was held around one of the buildings and it was very nice. Music was playing and drinks, sweet rolls, and Hors D’Oeuvres were served.

Right near by was some kind of a group of local young people. There were dancers dressed in old Spanish costumes and they were playing music. As in Barcelona, the people seemed very friendly. If you stopped someone on the street for directions, they always tried to help if they could understand. None we have met ever showed hostility of any kind. These were more cities where it felt good to walk around.

On the return to the ship we took a further tour of the city. There were many new high rises and quite a few of them were in odd shapes. These newer buildings were very high.

The old area is gorgeous. One beautiful old building after another. I am talking about very expensively built, very ornate buildings. Miles of them. This is the kind of thing you can only see in Europe. Everything is clean and well kept up. The guide keeps telling us that this is recent. The buildings had been dirty and in disrepair. I did not see any like that now and we passed hundreds. Like everywhere else we have been in Europe, anywhere you look, has far too little parking. Especially in these beautiful old neighborhoods where automobiles, let alone large numbers of them, were never even thought of when these buildings were built.

Today there were supposed to be qualifying America’s Cup races. The ship left at 1:00 this afternoon to go out and watch. We pulled up to the furthest west buoy for a great place to see them at the far turn. One small problem. There was no wind at all. Everything was covered in smog and if there were any boats, we could not see them and they could not move.

Oh well. So much for good intentions.