Cruise Destinations Board on Pinterest

Are you using Pinterest?  Lots of folks with an interest in travel in general, and cruising in particular are there.  If you are one of them, please feel free  to follow my Cruise Destinations pin board on Pinterest

Mothers Day Gift Ideas

Mother's Day is Three Weeks Away

Portside View No.2 Poster

Mother's Day is three weeks from today.  Right now, there's still plenty of time to shop Zazzle for Mothers Day Cards and Gifts.  You'll find some outstanding unique gifts for Mom there.  Here are a couple of samples:

For a Crusing Mom:

Portside View No. 2 Mothers Day Card and Portside View No.2 Personalized Electronics Sleeve by CruiseReady

World's Best Mom:

World's Best MOM and World's Best Mom Mug by Vilizard

BONUS -  Free Shipping!
FREE STANDARD SHIPPING on orders of $50.00 or more.  Use coupon code FREESHIPFORU at checkout.  Valid through June 30 for  orders shipped within the U.S. 

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Other places to find Nautical and Sea-inspired Mother's Day gift ideas:

Lighthouse Trinket Boxes
These lovely lighthouse trinket boxes make wonderful, unique gifts.

Jigsaw Puzzles - Ships and the Sea
Jigsaw puzzles of ships and the sea are enjoyable to work and beautiful when done. Everyone loves to work a good jigsaw puzzle, and there are nautical puzzles here for all skill levels.

Nautical Jewelry and Sea Life Jewelry
Gathered from several sources on the web, here's a nice variety of nautical jewelry for you to consider. You'll find boats, anchors, and ship's wheels, along with dolphins, sea shells, star fish, and other symbols of the sea. are always popular.

April 18, 1912: Titanic Survivors Arrive in NYC



RMS Carpathia in New York, following the Rescue (pd) 



April 18, 1912
It was another momentous day in the tragic saga of the Titanic.  It was the day that those who had survived the horrific events of the night of April 14-15 finally set foot on land again.

It was due to the heroic efforts of Arthur H. Rostron, Captain of the Carpathia, and the crew of the Cunard liner, that the souls who had been helplessly adrift in lifeboats in the icy North Atlantic survived at all.    Reaching the site of the sinking in record time had taken quite an effort, with the ship being pushed to sail beyond her rated speed.

The story of the remarkable voyage of mercy by the RMS Carpathia is well worth reading.  You can do so by following the above link - or this one.

Specialty Cards for Cruisers

You can find specialty cards for cruisers at CruiseReady on Zazzle.  Choose from Bon Voyage Cards, note cards, Thank You cards for crew members, or mailers for travel agents and group cruise leaders.

Many of the cards you'll find have customizable text messages that you can change to your own words. 

There's cruise themed postage and return address labels, too!

Stop by any time and browse all the gifts for cruisers  and custom cruise gear at CruiseReady on Zazzle.

Eight Weeks Until . . .

It's just eight weeks until the start of the 2012 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Season. 

Officially, hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov 30, though storms can (and have) occurred outside that date range.  The most active part of the season is typically from about the second week of August through October. 

The alphabetical list of  hurricane names for 2012 starts with Alberto, and goes through William.  

Here's hoping they don't get all the way through the list this year!

With just a couple of months until the season begins, it's a good time to be thinking about things like your evacuation plans, checking the batteries in your NOAA Weather Radio, updating your hurricane supplies, and seeing to hurricane preparedness for your roof.

One Hundred Years Ago Today

Titanic's Sea Trials

Titanic's Sea Trials by spfino

 - Monday, April 2, 1912 -

 A century ago today, early in the morning, the RMS Titanic put out from Belfast for her Sea Trials.  After 12 hours of being put through her paces, she was pronounced sea worthy.
She sailed the same evening for Southampton, from which she would begin her maiden voyage just eight days later.  For that fateful maiden voyage, command was assumed by one of the most respected sea captains of the day,  Captain Edward John Smith.

Surely any of those involved had no suspicions of what lay ahead, or that, a century later, people the world over would still be fascinated with any and every little detail about the ship, her passengers, and her crew.

Kind of makes you wonder what events in our lifetimes will be so haunting to our descendents a century from now, doesn't it?  Of course, September 11th comes to mind.  But will there be anything else?  That's plenty, in my opinion. 

Related Articles:  Pictures of Titanic -  Books About Titanic for Kids