Day 73 That is it! Back in NZ. Cruise over.

*Written several months late…

 

For our last morning, I followed my recent routine of heading for deck 5, but made a huge mistake by opting for the Nutella doughnut.  It didn’t live up to expectations at all.

Along with most of the passengers, we headed out on deck for the Auckland sail in.  It is always an impressive one and we waved to friends who might well have seen us as we came in past the bays.  Although it was fine, there was a bit of a chill in the air.  We docked spot on time at 10;03am (We’ll ignore the 3 minutes late as we had to slow to avoid a container ship that was exiting).  The first passengers were off at 10:18 but we had to wait until luggage had been off loaded of course.  Our scheduled time was 11:30am but we escaped at 11:20.  Customs was a breeze as we had nothing to declare but unlike the airport, there is no Duty Free shop on arrival, not that we needed to buy anything.

However, we were then waiting patiently at Queen’s Wharf for Julie to pick us up.   She was at Princes Wharf…

Anyway, straight home and the car started OK.  Gas water heating, water and all electricity switched back on, then straight down to the Garden Centre on Porana Rd, where Mal & Megan had picked up Garry and Jo and Mal and Marie arrived by taxi!  We nattered until about 1:45 (after an excellent coffee, poached eggs, bacon, tomatoes and toast, something I’d been looking forward to) then Paula had to rush off for a dance lesson.

So that was it.  Back home and dinner was cheese on toast – and we enjoyed every single mouthful!

In 4 days’ time, I am flying out again to the UK for a feast of motoring related stuff, so this travel/cruise blog effectively ends, but later, I’ll post a summary of the cruise and the ship, by which time, I will probably have filtered out the dross and the memories will be either highlights or lowlights.

Days 71 & 72 - The final 2 sea days... And another concert.

*Written and posted some considerable time after the cruise ended…*

 

We were both awake fairly early, so as Paula was feeling a bit better, we were both down on deck 5 for an early drink and for me, a chocolate doughnut.  We didn’t stay too late as it wasn’t too warm.

An email from the motorsport fraternity about the (UK) Goodwood Revival meeting in September started a flurry of emails, in an effort to secure a Saturday ticket for me (all sold out in April!) and a paddock pass.

After a losing trivia, we went to the last Pacific Circler’s meet, for a ‘tacky souvenir’ exchange.  This was as expected, fun, though some gifts were more desirable than tacky!

Marie kindly presented Jo with a gift from the group’s donations, for doing such a fantastic job organising so many meets and she also gave me a gift, for doing the name tags.  That was totally unexpected but a very nice thought.

After our final ukulele practice, we headed to the buffet and once again there was a totally unannounced speciality lunch.  Oriental.  Quite why they never announce these in the daily Princess Patter is one of the mysteries of the cruise.

The early show was another Ashley Carruthers concert and another good show.

Dinner was a little unusual as several of our group had opted for the ‘Chef’s Table’ dining experience, so we combined our two tables into one. 

After a good dinner, back to the Vista lounge for the ever popular ‘Marriage Game show’. This was a good show as always and when cruise director Mark shines as ‘host’.

We stayed on for magician Tim Ellis then I managed to watch some of the Belgian GP replay, so quite a busy day.  

 

August 30^th – The very last sea day

A bit of a rough night – not from sickness this time, but the captain’s previously forecasted rough seas.  Not as bad as some nights on previous cruises, but certainly a contrast, after 70 days of incredibly calm waters.

I headed off to deck 5 at about 6:20, trying to get through the book, but I won’t finish it.  Fortified with an iced doughnut, I returned to the cabin about 8:30 and then for a very light breakfast.

No win at trivia an then on to seriously finish the packing – though I had to keep the Hawaiian shirt out for the ukulele concert.  This went down very well once again and I had the opportunity to play the banjolele – though with one of the trickier numbers, I played very quietly!  Gary kindly videoed the whole concert for us.

A late lunch - and no meat!  Catfish, salmon and pasta.  I am not a huge salmon fan but when it is available and I can just take a chunk, I do enjoy it.  Those who are vegetarian but eat fish are very well catered for and the buffet food on this cruise has probably been the best we have ever had. Delicious.

Afternoon trivia was our worst score – ever.  The questions supplied by passengers…

We skipped the Captain’s farewell party but dinner was ‘Continental’ – which was snails for Mal and French onion soup for us.  There was a bonus extra of fresh fish and chips for our two tables! (Not very continental, but a nicetouch.)  A little monkey was hidden in Roy’s cupboard as a final farewell to surprise him…  He may well be glad to se the back of us, but I suspect he really enjoyed the attention.

The final theatre show was the ever popular ‘Crew Show’.  The entertainment staff didn’t do much, but the crew did well as always.

So, NZ and home tomorrow – for a few days anyway.

our ship arrival time is 10am but our disembarkation time is 11:30am.  A bit later than usual, but at least we have a daylight sail in which we'll no doubt enjoy.

 

Days 69 & 70 - Coughs and splutters and varied trivia scores.

Probably the first time I’d slept past 6am for ages – but the cough reappeared as soon as I woke, so down to deck 5 yet again, with the book clutched under my arm.  Unfortunately, now it looks as though Paula has succumbed, so I am not exactly flavour of the month.  Dave was already down there as usual and Lily also joined us and by the time I got back to the cabin, Paula was at least awake.  Not particularly well, but awake and we did head up to the buffet.  No bananas, so a light continental breakfast of ham, cheese, onion and toast for me.

Just 5 of us at Shed.  At morning quiz, no Sandy (she misread the time…) or Paula - and even with one potential 12 point question, we didn’t even crack 20!  Oh dear.

We both made it to ukulele class and the group tried to select 5 tunes for yet another concert, the day before we hit Auckland.  I suppose that means we can’t pack the Hawaiian shirts just yet.

The lunch buffet had one of my favourite dishes of this trip – mushroom and leek ragout, so with some rice and some curried pumpkin, spinach soup and a BBQ chicken drumstick, a good lunch.

Paula played cards – and won again… She may not be invited back.

The early, pre-dinner show was a performer we hadn’t seen before.  Patrick Murray – a white American ventriloquist – with his female Jamaican dummy. This was a fresh and very funny performance indeed.  Probably the funniest of the cruise.  Apart from the very last part, about the snakes hissing in a pit, which we’d heard before, it was a very original performance - particularly so with the various ship jokes.

“What’s with a tender port at Bora Bora?  Can’t the Captain parallel park?”

After dinner, (pork rack) it was off to the late theatre show, with Australian high speed pianist, Ashley Carruthers.  A high energy show and apart from a spoken part at one stage, that possibly went on just a little too long for my liking, another really good performance.  He holds the Guinness World Record for speed.  This is not for playing ‘The Minute Waltz’ in 23 seconds, but the number of repeated single key hits, in a minute.  The previous world record was something like 450 or so and Ash now holds it at 497.  He loves the faster pieces and this means the repertoire is very much to my liking too. 

Our clocks go back another hour tonight.

The weather reports from home seem to be a bit grim, with tales of 90kph gusts and one or two power lines down, not too far from our place.

At the Captain’s Welcome a few night ago, he asked who liked smooth sailing and who liked it a bit rough – sailing that is.  He said there would probably be something for everyone in the coming days.  I suspect he was probably right.  At the moment, it is still smooth, so presumably, we still have the rough to come.

 

Day 70 - Paula’s voice gets stolen.

A fair night and somewhat surprisingly, the sinuses seemed to have cleared – until I got up…  I was up at 6am and managed to finish the Clive Cussler book after the cuppa and chocolate doughnut, but it was just a little too cool to sit outside, so I sat in the library.  As I put the paperback onto the paperback swap shelf, straight after I’d finished it, whilst scanning for anything interesting, a lady brought in a double Lee Child, 'Jack Reacher' book and said I’d probably like it.  So I took it.  I haven’t read too many Jack Reacher books but like many others, I can’t really see Tom Cruise as a 250lb, 6ft 5” ex-Military Policeman!  I think this is one of the earliest Jack Reacher stories, so I just hope I can finish the first before we get off and I have to pass it on.

Not so good for Paula who definitely wasn’t well.  She took Antihistamine, Panadol, Vocalzone, etc. in an effort to feel better.  I fetched her some porridge and a hot lemon and honey drink.  I just had a coffee – nothing to eat.  She stayed in bed.

At morning trivia, there was just Larraine, Bert and myself - the outcast, and we finished equal first.  If only we’d known the Roman God of war, which we should have done, we'd had a clear win.  As it was, a 3 way tiebreaker guessing the height of the Eiffel Tower – in metres.  One team gave it (probably correctly) in feet, and therefore ruled themselves out and we missed out to the other team, who seem to win most days, either morning or afternoon.

I did uke practice then brought Paula lunch – which she enjoyed.

I had yet another chicken curry and yet another chunk of fresh salmon.  I rarely go past the dishes I like!

Trivia was early at 3pm, but the whole team missed it.  We elected to not go to the dining room for dinner, but Paula got up for the early Vista show, Australian accordionist Ross Maio, who we’d seen at least twice before, but I still enjoyed it.  The orchestra was there, but they weren’t really required for most numbers, as this modern accordion is just like an electronic keyboard, with bird song, choir and dozens of other effects.

We grabbed a bite at the buffet with a light dish of baked cheese pasta, a slice of roast turkey and a coffee.

One of our favourite production shows has always been ‘The British Invasion’ and even though Paula still wasn’t 100%, we sat at the back of the theatre ready for a speedy exit if required.  It's a good show that seems to have been freshened up a bit, but it was certainly a slick production.  With just 2 production singers, a backing music track rather than the orchestra, there were a couple of numbers that really needed an extra voice.

Our clocks back 1 hour tonight - and a day forward - so we are then 100% back on NZ time.

That brings it all down to earth for us – time to start the packing in earnest, now that the last of the laundry has been returned.

We are now looking forward to being home, regardless of the weather, but from temperatures in the mid to high 20’s, we are going to plummet to mid to high teens very quickly indeed.  

*This may well be the last post from the ship, but if I get time, I’ll do the last two days and the disembarkation, maybe even a summary, before I head overseas again, just a few days later * 

 

Day 68 - Bora Bora - the last stop - and a problem solved

Not a bad sleep and still up early enough to warrant a visit to deck 5, where loads were waiting for the first tender boat.  At this point, the weather was fine.

A raspberry jam doughnut (counts as one fruit serving in my book…) with the cuppa and after a while, I went out onto deck 7.  Fortuitously as it happens, I bumped into the IT Manager.  Knowing that yesterday’s email from the ASB had been passed on, I innocently asked if there had been any progress on access.  Much to my surprise and bearing in mind he doesn’t really know me, he claimed it had just been fixed…  I wonder if that information will get passed on to me officially, as at the time of writing, I’d heard absolutely nothing, despite the lodged formal complaint?  Did my email trigger a resolution, or just co-incidence?

Anyway, I watched and waited awhile on deck 7, away from the air-con, as they launched the tenders.

I couldn’t wait to check the ASB access, so gave it a try even before we went up for breakfast.  Yup, it worked – and I also found out that I’d set up a payment for my tax, that Julie paid by cheque a couple of days ago…   Oh well, at least I won’t have to pay the next instalment.

Breakfast was another light affair, with hot water and lemon and fruit – though the banana supplies seem to have been exhausted.

As previously, we waited until they made an announcement that there was no longer a queue for the tender.  We stepped aboard in sunshine and before we’d reached the shore, it was raining – and we, stupidly, hadn’t packed our rain gear.

The rain didn’t last long and after braving the usual shore side crowd of tour sellers, ukulele players and souvenir sales, we hit the main road.  Main road? Single lane in each direction with no pavement and puddles of sandy water everywhere.

Eurocar rentals had reasonably solid looking buggies for rent, and had the seats not been puddled with the recent rain and had I remembered to bring my driving licence ashore, maybe we could have hired one and toured the island.  It wasn’t to be.  Once again, grossly overpriced local ukuleles for sale and nothing caught the eye.  We briefly considered an island tour by road, but hard looking bench seats in the rear of a ute for 2 hours plus, didn’t appeal.  A boat tour including snorkelling was the other option, but we weren’t prepared for that either – and I don’t swim in water deeper than 5ft anyway.

So, back to the ship, somewhat relieved that we had survived all ports and that soon, we’d be heading for home, despite the oncoming cooler weather and reports of high winds in Auckland.

As we were aboard early and I hadn’t eaten much, I had a snack of 2 link sausages from the buffet and a spoonful of coleslaw out on the terrace – then they brought out the fresh chips…

Back to the cabin for a computer catch up then a latish proper lunch – of, yup, chicken curry again.

Sailaway at 6pm and there were some very, very tired snorkelers around, so dinner was just Ian and Mary and ourselves plus Ed and Bev from the other table.

The late show was another by production singer Andrew Geater.  Not too many people and another good show, though some numbers he’d done in his Hong Kong show.

Bed at 11:30 and the next time we hit land will be in Auckland.  Between then and now, we have four sea days to enjoy.  Need to get my head clear though and hopefully, Paula will stay well.

With just the 4 sea days and a bit of pressure on time, this may be the last post for a while, but if I can keep up, I will, even if it means foregoing some cabin ukulele practice.

Day 67 - Changeable Tahiti

We have been to Papeete, in Tahiti, on several occasions now and it remains an island of contrasts.  It sounds so exotic, but Papeete always feels a bit run down and unless you get outside of the town, it can almost be depressing, particularly if it is raining.

I was up at 6:15 and once again, headed for doughnut central on deck 5.  After satisfying the inner man, I picked up my Clive Cussler novel (The Assassin) and sat on a lounger on deck 7, commonly known as the promenade deck, away from the air conditioning.  It is under cover and the majority of walkers do their 1/3 mile laps at any time of the day – generally after 7am.  Sitting there reading as we approached Papeete, it was very noticeable that quite a few people, even when walking, are very heavy footed, probably oblivious that their stomping along the decks can be heard below.  Fortunately, there aren’t too many cabins on deck six, except at the bow end of the ship.

Ship berthed on the port side, having executed a 180 degree turn on arrival.

Both our el Cheapo, $30 Vodafone pre-pay phones worked, as we are now back in Vodafone territory, rather than AT & T.

The ship had collected our passports to deal with Immigration.

A simple walk off and no one asked for photo ID on our return.

Papeete doesn’t have a HoHo bus and no need for shuttles, as it docks in town.

Although the local currency is French Polynesian Francs, at 100pfr to the USD, most traders took the US Dollars, even in the market.

Hand luggage scanned on board, so booze to be declared, though I’m not sure than many found cheap bargains anyway.

Jo’s group were off on a Catamaran for the day and ready early, although port clearance and gangway set up seemed slow, we decided to wait on our balcony to see them go – even though we were well past breakfast time by then, so that we could video their departure.  They didn’t even wave…

After a light breakfast yet again (oh how I am looking forward to decent poached eggs, decent bacon, tomatoes toast and a large coffee when we return.  Despite the various sausage options on board, I do miss decent runny poached eggs!) we took our time and just wandered ashore.  Whether it was because there was a ship in, or we picked the right day of the week, we are not too sure, but in the market (and elsewhere) there were ukulele groups playing.  I say ukulele groups, but most consisted of 1 or 2 genuine or standard ukuleles, one guitar and maybe 1 or 2 local ukuleles.  The local version tends to be solid, with 4 or 8 strings and strung with nylon fishing line and gives a slightly tinny sound.  We did look at maybe purchasing one, but they were horrifically expensive for what they were. $380USD.

There were also displays of coconut cutting and flax weaving in the market, making for a nice atmosphere.  Outside, we opted for a morning drink, with Paula having a nice lemon meringue pie and I had a warmed banana and chocolate muffin – which came with a scoop of chocolate ice cream.

Having walked the town, we headed back and a lunch of pork vindaloo with rice, and a piece of river trout.

I have no idea how much fish I have sampled on this trip, but from memory, it has included the trout, delicious salmon, tilapia, snapper, perch, barramundi, breaded catfish, plus various fish that I either can’t remember or which weren’t labelled.  Most of them have been enjoyable as a taster, but very few would have appealed as a full meal or a meat substitute.

The saga of the ASB Bank access (or lack of it) continued and I had a response from the ASB who explained what needed to be done – by Princess.  I passed that on to Cruise Director Mark (the only email address I have) and asked that it be forwarded to the Customer Service Dept, the IT manager on board and to Head Office IT.  We’ll see.

A quick nod and we woke to fairly heavy rain.  I looked out of the window to see that the catamaran had just returned at 3:30 – 2 hours early.  I videoed their return to pass on to Garry, our ace videographer.

Up on deck 12, they had a ‘Wine & Beer Festival’ (sic).  With six ‘Ezi-Ups’ with display tables inside, they were offering free nibbles (cold) and the opportunity to buy beers and wines.  Please note, buy, not sample.  I have no idea which marketing genius thought that up for a port day, when they were offering 6 beers for $36 - and in poor weather.  The same genius must also have spent a hefty budget on signage, for an ‘event’ almost at the end of the voyage, when most regular wine and beer drinkers had already stocked up anyway, legally or illegally, as we head for cooler climes.  I do know that buying an extra six beers or ciders at well above treble any shore price, with just 1 port and 4 sea days to go, was not at all tempting.  As we passed by several times, in the early evening darkness, you couldn’t even read their blurb, so no wonder we didn’t actually see anyone taking advantage.  

The rain seemed to set in.  We nipped up to the buffet for a snack and knew that the Tasmanian fish chowder was a bit light on fish, so I added a chunk of salmon to it. That made it more substantial.  Later, we caught up with Mary and Ian from our dinner table who were heading ashore to try the ‘truck’ food.   For anyone not familiar with the concept, food vans roll up late afternoon, setting up outdoor tables and chairs.  In the past, we have been lucky enough to be there on a Friday, which is traditionally truck night, with maybe 30 to 40 establishments selling hot food.  Being a Wednesday, there were only about 6 or 7 vans and most tables weren’t under cover.

We spied Jo and Garry, Ed and Bev, waiting patiently for their order, under a small awning.  I think they’d ordered the special chow Mein – but waited over an hour for it, as there was only one wok burner.  Ian and Mary and several others got fed up of waiting, got their money back and left, opting to eat elsewhere.  The return of the rain didn’t help.

Nothing on offer appealed to us at all so we returned to the adjacent ship.

The rain stopped in time for the sailaway and afterwards, we gave the buffet another hit.  I was still in an eating lightly frame of mind, so had another crack at the fish chowder - with extra salmon of course.

The head was still very uncomfortable with no signs of improvement, which is annoying, but we do have our last port of call tomorrow, the nearby tropical island of Bora Bora. That should really be ‘Pora Pora’, as the letter ‘B’ was never part of the local language, but was misheard by the first Europeans.  There’s a good trivia question.

We have nothing planned for Bora Bora either, so will make our decision tomorrow, based on the weather, which once again, may be a bit changeable, but it is also a tender port, so no rush to get off and join the usual melee. 

Our last port so it will be a mix of sadness and excitement when we board tomorrow.  It is also a tender port, so a free boat ride. 

 

 

Days 64 - 66 More sea days. Some successes, some failures...

Despite another night interrupted by a head that refused to be quiet, therefore minimal sleep, by the time we got to Trivia, at 11am, although still an outcast, on DD David’s ‘True’ or ‘False’ 20 questions - Dave and Sandy putting in a too late appearance - we were outright winners.  We are now the proud owners of Princess key fob torches.  All say, ‘wow’.

Still feeling far less than 100%, we opted out of the ukulele meet.

Whilst Paula headed off to the salon for a hair colour, which was supposed to be ‘dark blonde’, I busied myself on the computer.  When Paula returned, having reduced our on-board credits substantially, her hair was definitely not dark blonde!  In fact, it wasn’t really blonde at all.

In another attempt to reduce our credits (they cannot be withdrawn; use ‘em or lose ‘em), our two tables were booked into the Sterling Steakhouse at 7:15pm – half an hour earlier than our regular dining time ($29 surcharge). 

We waited patiently whilst the waiter read out the menu (one of those things I find unnecessary, as it assumes we can’t read…) and eventually we ordered.   It was 75 minutes from entering the restaurant before we actually got any food. To be fair, they were fairly busy. The main, fillet steak was delicious, but after the king prawn entrée and a shrimp bisque soup, plus the inevitable bread roll and an off colour system, I couldn’t do it justice so for the first time ever, I think, I left part of a perfectly good piece of steak.

Our table enjoyed ourselves but poor Oana, the Assist Maître D had to deal with both adjacent tables who had hiccups of one sort or another. We later found out that one table (not our group) 'plays the system' and are serial complainers, in an effort to get various freebies, such as free champagne or other perks.

We’d missed the crossing the equator ceremony at 9pm, but we have seen it before anyway.  Apparently they had a good turnout with about 50 Pollywogs.

 

Day 65 – Another birthday boy.

Up at 5:40 and headed for deck 5, a cuppa and a chocolate doughnut.   

That 52 diet categorically doesn’t work.  I ate normally for 50 days and fasted for 2.  No weight loss at all.  (OK, I know...)  

Back to the cabin at 7:45 and Paula was awake, then up to the buffet for a banana and 1 toast.

We didn’t win the morning trivia but did manage equal first in the afternoon one and sad to say, I think I let the side down with the tie breaker answer.  They should have gone with Birthday Boy Mal’s answer.

The early show was a hypnotists we’d never seen before – Michelle Van Ree.  I was very impressed with her success rate, with I think, 10 out of 15 volunteers going under.

Probably the funniest parts were telling a totally bald guy that he had long blonde hair.  He spent the next 15 minutes whilst the show went on, combing it and admiring it.  Then she put a blonde wig on the guy sitting next to him and a pair of scissors…

Best of all, was establishing that none of the audience liked Rap music.  Under her instruction, if they had the microphone passed to them, then they had to rap and do all the moves – but in Cantonese!

Dinner was a celebration of Mal’s birthday, with the usual fuss made of any birthday boy – or girl.

Afterwards, the plan was to go the ‘Share’ restaurant for cheese and biscuits and maybe a port, but as they are now busy (with people no doubt anxious to burn up their OBC), they suggested we leave it until 9:30pm, but I was fading, so we opted out.

We returned to the cabin, to find our disembarkation info.  We arrive in Auckland 10:00am, so we assumed we’d be off the ship well before 11am.  Apparently not.  We put down for the earliest group – 11:30am.  That rather blew our plans, so I had to resend out a few emails sent earlier in the day, delaying our pick up time, .  Paula has a dance lesson at 3pm and we were meeting other cruisers at 12:00, so who knows? I think we may be out for the evening too, but that hasn't been confirmed.

 

Day 66 – Success breeds success

I’m not sure why, but the best sleep in ages – right through to 6:25.  I still snuck out to deck 5 and Dave was already there.  The sinusitis hasn’t improved at all.  If anything, slightly worse, so now onto a regime of a 24 hour antihistamine, then a Panadol later.  This time, it was a jam doughnut that made the early morning more pleasurable.

Still on a light breakfast of banana on toast, but I grabbed a few sachets of salt to take back to the cabin after Shed.  Sniffing salt water may not cure anything, but it did give about ten minutes of relief.

Trivia, we won again, with a remarkable 20/20 – but with a playoff with 4 other teams, this time, we did win the tie-breaker comfortably.  Our booty this time was Princess pens.  All say…       too late, you’ve probably said it...

At Ukulele meet, we are trying to put together a play list for yet another concert.  My favourite is the Bobby Darin ‘Things’.  Energetic and fun to play.  We had been issued with ‘The Carnival is Over’, but in tiny writing.  I downloaded it from the internet and rewrote it later.

Late lunch and yes, another curry, but also a chunk of BBQ salmon.  Nice.

The early show was Michelle again with a new show (11/15 this time).  Possibly not quite as funny as show 1, but much depends on the participants.

Just 6 of us for dinner and we headed for a hot chocolate in the atrium afterwards.  Very pleasant.

Papeete tomorrow, a place we have been to several times before and nothing planned.  We’ll just walk off, as the ship berths down town anyway.

 

 

Days 62 & 63 - At sea yet again.

A terrible night sleep-wise, with a blocked nose and a thick head.  (Who said I was a thickhead?)  Anyway, not much I could do about it but thought I may as well have a go at the Nurofen Cold & Flu tablets, only to find we only had two!  I think it might have helped ease the discomfort a wee bit.

As mentioned earlier, now on the 52 diet which I have heard is very good. So a couple of fasting days now with a minimal calorie intake.  That meant no cooked breakfast – not even the sausage rolls, no chocolate croissant, not even a hunk or three of pineapple - or even coffee.   Times really are grim.  Just  a cup of hot water and lemon, with a dob of honey

I even excused myself from the Shed, not wanting to infect my fellow shedders and needing a bit of cabin time.  Paula was with the girls at their regular haunt down on deck five, scoffing doughnuts no doubt, that are not available on deck 14 where we meet.

I rallied a wee bit and took both our instruments down to a slightly later trivia, as we had a ukulele meet straight after.  The others wouldn’t sit with me, so I sat on my own, with my own score sheet and made up a team of 1 – ‘The Outcast’.  For scoring purposes, only and because I am a team player, I did help them of course, to a massive 11/20, which was what I got anyway!

Having lost our tutor Salomon, the Ukulele players met, as there are so many instruments in private hands, but Jamie from the Cruise Staff was there to issue instruments for those who were without.

Mike, Tony and Paul, basically organised the printing of more song-sheets and also led the group, very successfully I might add.

Afterwards, we ditched our gear and headed up once more to the buffet.  Showing admirable restraint, I limited myself to a bowl of soup and a bread roll.  Not easy when you know just how much good food is up there.

Some blog catch-ups, even the assembling of some stuff to be packed away (yes, that time approaches fast), skipping afternoon trivia, then to the early show at 6pm, (formal night again) where staffer Jamie had yet another show, in the theatre.  A great performance again.

Typical Jamie one-liner.  Whilst singing, comes to the front of the stage and shook a couple of hands, kissed a couple of ladies, played for a guy - who grabbed him, gave him a big hug, and without really messing up his song, “Ooooh you smell nice.  Have you been jogging?” His final song was an all action, “Remember Me?”, the Johnny Tillotson number, that apparently Spike Milligan thought was the same as “Ghost Riders in The Sky”… He sang it as though he were cowboy galloping on a horse.  Quite a visual performance and very physical, ending the night with a cartwheel this time. 

On to the Vista lounge for the Captain’s Circle drinks - and meet the new Captain Diego Parrera, who spoke very well.  So well, we were a couple of minutes late for 7:45pm dinner.  Somehow, the camera setting wheel got moved so the pics taken were terrible, but I did manage to rescue the one of ourselves with Dave and Sandy

Once again, showing that famous restraint at dinner, just a small baked pasta dish as a starter and the three delicious, but small, slices of Chateaubriand.  I left the veg…  Hey, I needed the iron...

I did manage the after dinner coffee, which I must say, I don’t really enjoy that much – only marginally better than a withdrawal headache.

Fairly early to bed.

 

Day 63 – At sea of course   

It rained! Holy moley. We haven’t had bad weather for what seems like ages now.  At least on a sea day it doesn’t matter too much – other than the buffet is a bit crowded despite a latish breakfast.  Day 2 of the 52 diet, another fasting day and still feeling terrible, but this time, I did have three or four pieces of fresh pineapple with the lemon and honey drink.  Those who know me well know that in NZ, I normally start the day, whether it is 6am, 7am or 8am, with nothing more than cider vinegar and honey in hot water, with a brunch and dinner about 6pm.  On board ship, that routine just doesn’t work at all, as the 7:45pm dinner is late, but a huge part of our enjoyment of the cruise, especially on this one.

So, excuses again for skipping shed and I maintained my isolation at trivia, with 13/20.

We opted out of the Pacific Circler’s lunch at 11:45 for obvious reasons but did make the 1pm ukulele group.  Four or five new pieces issued and a couple were beyond me either because the writing was too small, or there were chords I couldn’t manage in a hurry, even if I did know them.

Late lunch and both soups were watery or broth type, so I opted to make a sandwich.  Big mistake.  They cut the sourdough bread so thick and it is so chewy, plus my choice of filling wasn’t the best, so I left most of the crusts…  To fend of the caffeine withdrawal headache, a Timms coffee bag sufficed.

Within my calorie limited day, I did manage to squeeze in a NZ Natural ice cream – well, the berry sorbet.  Good for the throat.

Evening meal, just the soup and picked the prawns out of the main, leaving the rice.

There was a Hawaiian deck party after dinner – but my Hawaiian shirt wasn’t back from the laundry!  Bad timing.  Marie’s headwear needed fumigating as she was scratching away. The live band were a bit too noisy anyway, so we retired for the night, but others were having fun.   The dance options were somewhat limited by the Jamaican/Hawaiian beat anyway.

Three more sea days on this leg as we steam towards Papeete, Tahiti. That always conjures up pictures of an idyllic, exotic, tropical island doesn’t it.  In fact, Papeete is far from idyllic or exotic, certainly downtown.  One of the grubbiest downtown areas of any stop.  It has colour and life, but…

Day 61 - Hilo - the last Hawaiian shop stop.

Almost as expected, the throat tickle developed onto a head cold or sinusitis but whatever, it is going to be with me for the next few days, so if anyone says I was being snotty, you can take it however you like. The first choice of the day was whether to take a Nurofen, Coldral or an antihistamine.  I opted for Coldral. The second choice was whether to have a cooked breakfast, my much loved sausage rolls or fruit.  Jill would be proud of me as I opted for fruit – and coffee.  I’m not sure whether the excess sugar from the pineapple is a good thing or not, but hopefully, the vitamin C will help.

Ship berthed on the starboard side.

One of our identical el Cheapo, $30 Vodafone pre-pay phones still worked, Paula’s of course…

As we’d been processed in SF, just a walk off.

There was a free Walmart shuttle.

I think there was a rather run down HoHo bus, at the port exit

We did need either a government ID or passport copy on our return.

Cruise cards checked on returning to the dock area and our bags physically searched.

Scanning on board of hand luggage on return and I presume, more liquor was found…

Once again, we couldn’t see any point in rushing off and this was also a repeat port for us.  There is more to see in Hilo or around the largest of the Hawaiian islands, (it is called The Big Island) and there is still an active volcano, so helicopter trips were a popular option.

Our option was to take the Walmart Shuttle, which in this instance was a 45 seater Robert’s coach.  Or to be more precise, there were two of them doing the 15 minute run to the semi industrialised shopping area.

Although this was a shopping shuttle, the driver treated it like a normal tour and gave a bright commentary, right to Walmart’s door.

This was the least Hawaiian feeling stop of all.  It could have been anywhere.  We dutifully went inside the massive Walmart store anyway, only to find a small McDonalds inside and a Hawaiian version of our daily Shed meeting going on.  Four locals were happily sitting at a table, playing their ukuleles, with most other tables occupied - several by early cruisers resting their feet.

I sat on the thoughtfully situated ‘boy’s bench’, just outside Macca’s, near the store entrance, opposite a massive stack of soft drinks.

It always intrigues me that we are usually charged upwards of $3.50 for a coke, on or off shore, yet here, we could buy a pack of 20 for $8.00. We could also buy a Hawaiian favourite, Spam – in different flavours(!) for $2.44.   I hadn’t realised that you could get garlic flavoured spam before.  I wonder if the Monty Python team knew that?

Paula mooched around but only managed a pair of sandals at $10.  Hardly enough to cover the shuttle cost.  We then crossed over the road and thanks to our informative driver, we knew that the Macey’s we could see, was just one end of a decent sized mall, so we went across.  Much to our surprise, the mall wasn’t really very busy and had a nice variety of middle of the range shops.  I managed a rare purchase, from a shoe shop, with another pair of Skecher’s (my first pair was bought in Nottingham and I found them very comfortable).  When Paula found the Macey’s ladies department, she bought another pair of shoes – for $11.   Not exactly Auckland prices at all on either count.

We got a little tired waiting in the queue for the shuttle back.  So when a (taxi) van arrived and several people piled out, 9 of us piled in, happy to pay the $3 a head to get back.  A couple of younger travellers had bought a takeaway picnic and were off to a beach as soon as they returned.

This may not sound like an exciting or venturesome stop, but as stated earlier, we’d been before and no doubt other blogs will be a bit more informative and interesting – and with much better pics…

Back on board, a very light late lunch of soup only, then an afternoon, trying to catch up with this blog.  (This is obviously written days later).

We were just about to rest our eyes with a nana nap when we got a phone call from Jo and Garry, who unusually (for them), were back fairly early and we happily joined them for a cuppa and a natter, down in the Atrium on deck 5.

We returned to the atrium at 6:45 for one of the orchestra’s very popular Dixieland sessions.  I finally managed to hand over my last double CD of the Barber/Ball, ‘Down Under Tour 2000’ album, to Tim, the Orchestra manager.  When I say last copy, I mean the last of the six copies I brought on board.  On every cruise to date, I have passed on an album, in the hope that although they are session musicians – and very good ones at that – getting some exposure to good jazz will be of benefit to them.

We had all opted for the buffet and I wasn’t feeling 100% anyway, so another very light meal.  Soup again.

We did go to the late show as it was an act totally new to us – and I suspect, Princess.  Billed as ‘Bande Artistique’, all anyone knew in advance (and that includes Cruise Director Mark), was that either they had performed at ‘Cirque Du Soleil’, or that it was a cirque type act.

Probably a reasonable description.  Male and female.  She sang – and talked a bit, danced a bit.  He clowned and juggled (well). The act started with him hiding under her massive ball-gown and part way through, he stood up, just showing skinny hairy legs, in boots, whilst she was obviously on his shoulders.  Visually, very funny.

Apart from a couple of times when the act was a bit flat (mainly when she was on stage on her own, talking), a good show but often quite visual.  He is also a very good juggler, bouncing up to 7 or 8 balls at a time, much better than the previous juggling act.  They got a deservedly good reception from the audience.

Many people did miss out on the show, as they were congregating on the deck as we passed (from a fair distance I might add) the lava flow into the sea.  It then started to rain anyway…

I didn’t feel too good, so bed after a Coldral.  Cold and flu medications seem to be in everyone’s travel kit on these cruises and I think I have needed them every time on the long cruises .

Probably a good time to try the 5-2 diet too, more of which tomorrow, as we really are heading for home now.  Strange, that Tahiti and Bora-Bora are seen by us as ‘nearly home’.  The truth is, that with just the two ports left, just makes it seem nearer home, but the reality is that we now have a run of 5 sea days then after Bora Bora, another run of 4.  So that is 18 trivia quizzes to go. Although we may have added (some) knowledge, so have all the other teams.

With no Salomon, (his contract finished) hopefully the ukulele players will still meet.

 

 

 

 

Day 60 - Lahaina, Maui

My distant cousin maybe?

Cruisers welcome.



Our 'other' water craft

Model for sale at $99...

As a tender port, we were safely anchored by 7am and the tenders launched.  These tender boats are in reality, our lifeboats, so at least they get a bit of usage throughout the voyage and all passengers are very familiar with them.  All that is except those who are wheelchair bound and cannot walk unaided to board them – and there are always a fair few of them, not to mention the wheelie walkers and those walking with sticks.

Ship anchored and numbered tender tickets issued, waiting in the Marquis dining room.

One of our identical el Cheapo, $30 Vodafone pre-pay phones still worked, Paula’s of course…

As we’d been processed in SF, just a walk off again.

No shuttles or HoHo buses as this is a small town.

We did need either a government ID or passport copy on our return.

Cruise cards checked on returning to the dock area.

Scanning on the ship of hand luggage on return, as there is no dock

As I over ate yesterday, just fruit for breakfast and a leisurely start to the day.  There is always a rush for the tenders and we had nothing planned, so we ambled down, just in time to get ticket number 900.  That was the last call for numbered tickets but we didn’t have to wait long, for our smooth ride to shore.  Bright sunshine and a deep blue sea, exactly what the brochures show.

We trundled through many of the shops and in addition to the souvenir shops, there were some very classy galleries.  As I hadn’t had a coffee, we opted to sit on a small deck, overlooking the beach and Paula’s mango smoothie was excellent and the coffee also very good.   Hawaii is the only US state that grows coffee.

Too late.  We've been shopping...

Although a fairly small place, it does have a lot of charm and we had heard of yet another ukulele shop here, so we had to look – not that we were buying any more! Some of the souvenir shops had $9.99 instruments, but as we’d been told, you get what you pay for.  I’m not sure that the +$2500 models would make us sound any better.

Jim and Marie sampled the local speciality of ‘shaved ice’ and enjoyed it.

We were back on board at 2pm, before the late rush as we didn’t fancy standing out in the sun, queuing.

Yet another portion of beef curry (strange that they have a daily curry in the buffet, but rarely in the dining rooms, which is why one of the tables close to us complained about the evening dining room food.  The food is fine, but the buffet seems to have far more variety, so they scan the menu and  choose whether to eat up or down.

A usual deck 11 sail away get together.

Dinner was very nice sliced fillet steak.  I should qualify that.  There are always about 5 choices, but I rarely have one of the two the fish choices  and even rarer, the vegetarian.

The late show was billed as ‘The Modern Gentlemen’, who are normally touring as ‘The Four Seasons’, backing the Franke Valli shows.  However, they were good to a point, but we felt that they really are a backing group and hadn’t the strength of a genuine lead singer.

Off to bed after 11pm and yet another Hawaiian port tomorrow – Hilo, our last US port before heading south to French Polynesia.  Getting a slight tickle in the throat which doesn’t augur well…

 

 

Day 59 - Honolulu and Christmas Shopping

A fair night and once again, calm seas.  We can’t believe how lucky we have been on that score.  By the time we got up, we were safely berthed at Pier 2.

Ship berthed on the starboard side – bow in.

One of our identical el Cheapo, $30 Vodafone pre-pay phones still worked, Paula’s of course…

As we’d been processed in SF, just a walk off again.

See below regarding shuttles and HoHo bus.

We did need either a government ID or passport copy on our return.

Cruise cards checked on returning to the dock area.

Scanning ashore of hand luggage on return – and once again, there were several bottles of spirits taken.

Once ashore, it was a little confusing with regard to shopper shuttles, as passengers were issued with a sticker – if they saw the rep that is.  She was scuttling about and it wasn’t really made clear what the system was.  We gave up on that and opted for the HoHo instead, which was charged to our room, which we were more than happy with, as we are still trying to burn through our on board credits.  At $45, it wasn’t particularly cheap, though it did cover 3 routes and the Red route trolley only ran every 50 minutes, with the last trolley at 4:15pm.  A bit slack given that the ship wasn’t scheduled to leave until after 10:30pm.

We waited patiently though and once on the trolley, we only did about 3 stops before the DFS stop, where we could transfer to the green route.  The transfer station was quite well organised, though the 20 minute wait in an underground car park area was a bit depressing, but at least we had seating.

The Green trolley arrived and by the time we hopped on, there weren’t too many seats spare, as we headed out to Diamond Head, via Waikiki.

The commentary wasn’t the best (again) but neither of us had been inside the crater before.  Some walk up to the summit, but no one from our trolley got off to do it, but several people clambered on and had to stand.  The entrance to the crater is via a tunnel, reminiscent of the avalanche part of Universal Studio’s tram.  

The run back to town was easy enough and we passed the studios where Hawaii 50 is filmed and there were police cars and Garrett’s Camaro placed strategically by the gates.  We got off just before the changeover spot, as we wanted to go to the Ukulele Shop, on Lewers Street, #206.  They had a great display of instruments and once again, a massive range of prices.  We were tempted by the green uke that looked like a Kiwi fruit.  After a bit of discussion, Paula bought me a banjolele, but that is my Christmas present(s) for the next few years sorted.  Not cheap, but a nice sounding instrument.  Boy, is it heavy though…

We made our way to ‘The Cheesecake Factory’.  A hugely popular establishment and we’d heard good reports about it - but forgot that the portions are huge.  Although busy, we only had to wait 5 minutes for a table, but meanwhile, we’d eyed a raspberry and lemon cheesecake in the cabinet and were licking our lips at the thought of tucking in.

The establishment is massive, the service excellent and possibly the longest menu we have ever seen.   The lunch time specials were on page 8 of what was possibly a 20 page booklet.  Paula opted for an avocado and chicken toasted sandwich and I opted for the shrimp and sausage pasta.

Drinks?  OK, a milk shake and a coke if you insist.  Within seconds, they also brought along two pieces of warm bread rolls, one a ciabatta and the other a very tasty rye bread, plus butter and a tankard of iced water each.  Paula’s shake would have done as a dessert and we should just have shared the sandwich.  I cleared my plate and thoroughly enjoyed it but Paula managed a little over half of hers and even with me having a bit of the chicken, there was still some food left, along with most of the green salad.

We were too bloated to even consider the cheesecake.  The meals were $14.95 each plus the drinks and the inevitable tip and service charge.  Highly recommended though.

We staggered up to the changeover trolley stop and instead of the double decker that normally does the pink route, we ended up on yet another trolley and hopped off at the famous Ala Moana shopping centre.  We didn’t really cover it at all, but went out back and across the road and up the street to Ross, Dress for Less – but no purchases.  We weren’t at all sure about any of the shopper shuttles heading back to the Pier, (if they were still running) so along with several others, we caught a service bus back - $1 each, seniors rate, though the driver did not seem to be too worried about whether or not any were seniors.

It had been very warm outside (30 degrees again) so we were happy to get back on board.

Salomon was playing in the Atrium so we sat and had a cuppa - and handed over the banjolele for him to have a go on it!  He pronounced it a good instrument…

Although we went up to the buffet later, we didn’t eat much, as we were still full from that factory lunch.

Sailaway at 11pm was the usual meet back on deck 11 and there was considerable interest from the uke players, well, one of the several Rays, wanting to see the acquisition, so I had to take it out.

Afterwards, a hot chocolate down on deck 5 with a couple of others, then happily to bed about midnight.

We like Honolulu, though it is busy and very commercial, but it does have an attraction.  Plenty to do and see and the water is usually warm.

Tomorrow, the third of our 4 Hawaiian islands, and a stop we are both looking forward to, Lahaina on the Island of Maui.  One of just two tender ports on this leg of the cruise.   We passed through it in 2007 in our hire car and regretted not stopping, so a chance to remedy that.