All change in Bora Bora...

Quote of the Day: “After 104 days on this cruise, I’m dreading having to go home and do housework. I think we’ve become institutionalized. We might just have to book another cruise a.s.a.p.”

So whose idea was it to visit Bora Bora on the day they had the highest tide for over 4 years? The waves crashed violently over the reef, but little did we know what that meant until the announcement came over the PA system: most of the excursions were cancelled due to “inclement sea conditions”. But the sea looked beautiful – vivid aqua in colour – yet apparently below the surface it was all too turbid for good views. Later in the day, beaches closed, and hotels were evacuated…

I’d planned on doing a helmet dive thingy, where you wear a large helmet, connected by an air hose to the surface, and walk on the sea floor. Quite radical for me, and disappointing that I wouldn’t be able to do it. There were offers of excursions to drive around the island, but having experienced the local transport in this area previously, I decided to give that a miss. Instead, I had breakfast, then sat out on the deck admiring the view. I was actually very tempted to stay there all day – after all, people pay to hire a boat, to sail this far out, then sit and admire the view, and I was getting it all for free!

Eventually I roused myself, and caught the tender ashore. Being a little late, the tender wasn’t that crowded, which was a bonus. From the pier, I did a walk in both directions, and checked out the church, with its beautiful modern stained glass window, plus a couple of galleries and shops. Everything here is very expensive, which gave some of my fellow passengers something to moan about…

Having decided that I wasn’t in the market for black pearls (outrageously expensive for low grade pearls) I grabbed a tender back just early enough to beat the crush. Most on that tender were crew (all looking about 15 out of uniform) who decided to have a sing-along. They started with a few pop classics, then moved into Philippine songs – very nice, and an unexpected special moment of the cruise…

Last night was another deck party. I didn’t particularly want to go, but BJ insisted! He now sports a tacky plastic green lei, which at least adds a little colour to the cabin. And sorry folks, but the chocolate art is no more – I gave them all to a Samoan passenger who is collecting them to give to young family members she’s meeting in Apia tomorrow. I’m sure Mr Sumee is very relieved…

Just 4 days to go and I leave the retirement village and return to the real world. And I still haven’t worked out exactly what I want to do for the next 20 years. Most suggestions I’ve had from people on the ship are just plain silly!!

King Neptune and all that...

Quote of the Day: “He didn’t like cooking smells in the house, so he had another kitchen built in the garage, and his wife had to do all the cooking out there. But then he was a little odd. He was Austrian.”

Crossing the Equator is a great excuse for a whole heap of nonsense! King Neptune arrived on board at noon, and shortly after there was much ranting by his entourage, throwing around of spaghetti, smearing of goop, and kissing of fish – who on earth came up with these things??? Everyone gets a certificate saying they have made the crossing, and the Cruise Director’s staff get to dress up for a few hours – plain old fashioned silly fun…

Apart from that, it was another cozy day at sea. I did my usual sea day things: breakfast (those wonderful omelets), coffee, gym, read, sleep, snack, lecture, coffee and scones, trivia, gym again, dinner, show, drinks, and before you know it, it’s nearly midnight. So where did the day go?

Unfortunately the internet on here is now running very slow, same as last year. Rumour has it that it's on purpose to make you buy more time as you try to organise your arrival back home...

Oh, and the choc art is progressing rather nicely too: 74 chocolates and still going. It’s taking longer and longer to rearrange now, and taxing my imagination… and Mr Sumee still hasn’t commented!!!

Gotta love those sea days...

Quote of the Day: “Everyone’s cutting down on the food and drink as we get closer to home. Philip is still having his scones though, but without the whipped cream.” Hmmm – first time I’ve heard myself mentioned in a Quote of the Day. Thanks Randy!

So what do you do on the quiet middle day of 5 sea days? The washing is all done and dusted (I managed to get the machines first try yesterday, and felt like I’d won at the Casino!), the ironing’s done, I’d been to a great lecture on Extreme Nature, and it was still a couple of hours until scones and coffee. I could have sat out on deck and read my book, or listened to music, but instead I opted for a visit to the onboard Acupuncturist… as you do.

Now given my extreme aversion to anything with a pointy end penetrating my person, to the point of fainting with blood tests, this may well seem something of an unusual thing to do. However I had been thinking about this for some time, had even attended a free lecture, and chatted briefly to Ryan, the man himself, in the gym. He’s Chinese, which I felt was a good start, as I’m sure there’s a genetic element in all this.

I also mentioned it over dinner, and a couple of the people on my table had had good experiences with acupuncture, so I thought, why not? It could well help my vertigo…

When I rang to make an appointment, expecting to have to wait a couple of days, they had just had a cancellation – could I come in 30 minutes? After a mental scream, I quickly ran through numerous possible excuses, but couldn’t come up with a good on fast enough, so had to front up at the appointed time.

After a chat with the fellow, I decided his charges were the same as everything in the Spa: outrageous! Over twice what I’d pay for any of their services back home. So I guess I won’t be signing up for a pincushion package right now…

Tonight is Country night. Now anything involving cowboys or Country and Western I loathe with a passion, so I’ll be carefully avoiding any such events. I think it could well be an early night again, or maybe a movie on the telly.

A mixed day in Hawaii...

Quote of the Day: “You should see her up by the pool. She looks like burnt meat.”

The day got off to a shaky start: we were a couple of hours late in getting to Honolulu, plus it was the day I’d scheduled to hop on the scales… not a good result there, so it’s “bye bye” to the wine, the bread rolls, the oatmeal with prunes, the deserts and the whipped cream on the scones. Extreme measures are called for!

Having been to Hawaii four times before, I’d done most of the tourist things. The weather was looking a bit dodgy, so I opted for a leisurely day based around Waikiki, just like thousands of other tourists…

I avoided the crowds trying to get ashore in the first 30 minutes (we’re here until midnight, folks) and took The Bus to Ala Moana shopping centre. Here I had my first Honolulu Coffee Company latte of the day, the only place between the UK and New Zealand I’ve found does coffee the way I like it. Several more followed… Once the caffeine hit the bloodstream, I realized that I didn’t really want to be at a shopping centre, so picked up a trolley to Waikiki Beach. Here I picked up a few basic supplies, and a couple of shirts, before hanging out on the beach for a while. I interspersed this with visits to the main Honolulu Coffee Company café, which is slightly elevated, and a great place to people-watch.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t as crowded as on previous visits – apparently the Japanese aren’t coming in their usual numbers, due to the financial crisis – and that the temperature was lower too, which made for a very pleasant afternoon.

For Japanese only...

I briefly considered taking a hike up to Diamond Head, but no sooner had I had the thought, than it began to bucket down. Fortunately I’d toted the umbrella along, so didn’t get the drenching many others received. Once the rain stopped, I thought it might be easier to get a Trolley up to Diamond Head. I’d asked the driver of the previous Trolley, and he said it would cost $5. Sounded like a good deal to me.

After waiting at the stop for over half an hour, with several “Private Charter” Trolleys going past (you have to be Japanese with an appropriate pass to use these – so how ironic is that given Pearl Harbour and all?) the green line Trolley arrived. As I tried to board, the driver told me I had to have a ticket, and couldn’t pay in cash. He said the only time cash was accepted was if you got on at the top of Diamond Head to come back down… Say, what??? He then proceeded to tell me I needed to go to The Bus stop, get a bus to the entrance, then walk blah, blah, blah… I thanked him, and retreated down the road, to another latte… Maybe next time I’ll have more success.

After dodging another shower or two, I headed back to the ship. After a late dinner, I opted for an early night, with no intention of being on deck for sail away, sometime after midnight. However, as it happened I woke up just as we were pulling away from the pier, so headed up to the top decks. There I was just in time for the maneuvering: a full 180-degree pivot, which is quite something to experience. So that was at 1:30am, in a fine drizzle, and with only 9 other passengers and 5 crewmembers in attendance… a lovely moment as the lights of Honolulu and Waikiki faded into the distance.

We now settle in for 5 sea days before Papeete – and in less than two weeks I’ll be back in New Zealand.

Well done Princess...

Quote of the Day: “Well dear, that was Hooters. Now we can cross that one off the bucket list.”

Much to the amazement of a number of people on board, Princess has actually refunded all my expenses arising from my unexpected diversion from Amsterdam to Bergen. Initially we were all told that we’d be given a letter explaining what had happened (i.e. the ship couldn’t get in to Amsterdam because of the weather), and it would then be up to us to claim the expenses back on our travel insurance.

Then a week later, we received a letter asking us to submit our receipts or credit card printouts. Two weeks after that, I was advised that they were refunding my expenses in full. Now that saves me a lot of hassle, plus the excess on my policy, so I’m quite happy with that outcome.

Well done Princess!

L.A. - same old chaos...

Quote of the Day: “I spoke to this lady from the cruise in Long Beach today. She’s been on the ship since Sydney, and this is the first time she’s been ashore.  She said everywhere else was either too hot, too cold, or too wet.”

Going through US Immigration in LA is the pits! It’s done in groups and by deck level. Firstly the crew, then disembarking passengers, then those booked on excursions. After that comes those “in transit” and continuing on from LA. Being in the cheap seats way down on deck 5, I was in Group 16, the very last group, scheduled to go through Immigration at 10.00am. That in itself was bad enough, seeing we’d been docked since before 6am, but the authorities saw fit to send just 4 officers to process 3000 people face-to-face! So it wasn’t long before they were running over an hour late.

Eventually they did send reinforcements, but by that stage everyone, including the ship’s Passenger Services people, were tearing their hair out, and getting pretty angry about things. I had a friend waiting onshore, and fortunately managed to use this excuse to sweet-talk my way into an earlier group. Even so, it was nearly 11am by the time I got off the ship.

US Immigration need to get their act together. Cruise ships come to LA all the time, so they should have enough officers to do the job quickly. After all, on the Dawn Princess, there are probably at least 2000 passengers and crew just itching to get out there and spend money. Now in the current economic climate, you’d think they’d want to get the punters to the shops a.s.a.p. Anyway, enough ranting about that…

Once ashore, I was picked up and whisked off to the Getty Villa. The original plan was to go to the Getty Museum, but in keeping with my ongoing travel disruptions, that was closed being a Monday. Maybe next time…

The Villa is in Malibu, and opened in 1968. And what does someone like J. Paul Getty do when he wants something a little different? He re-creates a first-century Roman country house, the Villa dei Papiri, which was in Herculaneum, and destroyed by the Mt Vesuvius eruption of A.D. 79. I’d seen the remains of the original villa several years ago, so found the re-creation really interesting.

The Villa houses over 1200 pieces from the Getty collection, featuring Greek, Etruscan and Roman artifacts. The thought of all this drove us first to the café, where we sat out on the terrace, and dined on chicken wraps and beer. On a beautiful summers day, this was idyllic, and we could have quite happily spent the whole afternoon there.

However, we thought we’d better do the cultural bit, and do a quick once-over of the pottery, statues, sarcophagi and jewelry, before doing a lap around the beautiful Roman gardens. All very interesting, even if the exhibits did all start to look much the same after a while… Philistines, I know!

From there, the choice was either a Korean massage, with guys walking over your back, or coffee. Being basically a conservative fellow, I opted for the coffee. We found a quiet corner café on a back street at Long Beach, and settled in for a latte and a chat. So good, and a great break from the shipboard routines. An added bonus was that because we had an early sail away, I was back on board in time for scones…

With Mike and Heather, plus the other two on our table, leaving the cruise in LA, I was faced with a new crew at dinner. All Kiwis, and they look as though they will measure up. So hopefully I won’t be looking for another table prior to Auckland. Time will tell…

Manzanillo - Mexico

Quote of the Day: “None of the officers come and dance with us in the evening. On P&O some of them were there every night. It was so good. Even Warren, the Cruise Director, doesn’t show up, and he’s a professional dancer. But then he doesn’t turn up anywhere apart from on the Wake Show on TV, does he?”

This is a great little Mexican port, which has geared itself up fairly well for the tourist trade. They’ve set up speakers in the cruise ship pier area, so we’re all serenaded with Mexican music as we promenade through the little souvenir stalls on the way to town. Add in a few flamenco dancers and it’s a great atmosphere.

We’d been here before, so I was more than happy to sign up to a private excursion, organized by the lovely Ros. This took us firstly to Colima, the state capital, about 90 minutes drive from the port, where we visited the “pyramids”. They are actually the stone bases of wooden buildings, and extend over many hectares. At one stage it’s estimated that 50,000 people lived in this ancient city. The ruins were discovered back in the 1920s, but they’ve only been excavated since 1995. Very interesting place.

From there, it was a quick trip to a small museum, showcasing some of the pottery found at the above site, then off to lunch in the “white” village of Comala – traditional Mexican food, complete with beer. That all went down very well!

After the mandatory rush through the craft shop, it was a speedy downhill race back to the port, where there was just time for a little more shopping before boarding.

Tonight was another Captain’s Circle cocktail party, complete with soggy nibbles and strange coloured drinks, all of a quality best avoided. Formal night as well, so again we guys all dressed up as waiters for dinner. I suggested to the room steward that maybe we were all working for our dinner tonight, which he found very funny.

Anyway, some old git I hadn’t met before asked me if I was a jockey (shades of the rumour going around last year that I was some famous Aussie jockey). OK so I’m short, but do I ask every tall person if they’re basketball players? Sheesh. Anyway, when I asked him if he was an accountant, because that’s what he looked like, he got a little huffy… at which point I departed rapidly on the pretense of looking for a drink… now where’s my copy of “How To Make Friends And Influence People”?

San Juan Del Sur - Nicaragua

Quote of the Day: “I left my iPad on a seat up in the coffee lounge while I went to the loo, and someone swiped it. And I was worried about crime in Panama…”

San Juan turned out to be another great port I’d never heard of. I had originally booked an excursion to Granada, but cancelled as I didn’t fancy another long drive to get there. That turned out to be another good call, as it was much hotter in Granada than at the port.

Mike, Heather and I did a walk along the bay, and sat for a while under some trees, soaking up the scenery. The beach was virtually deserted, but we did get chatting with a young German surfer, who told us he had a hostel room in town for $US10 per night. The surf was good, so he thought he’s be staying a while.

The town itself was cute, and surprisingly clean. The multicoloured houses were reminiscent of Curacao, but not as modern. Walking back through town, we found an open sided restaurant, where we got 4 very drinkable beers for $US7. The food seemed very reasonably priced too, so cheap living all round here.

Costa Rica

Quote of the Day: “I was the Mayor of Worthing last year. It rotates, and you do it for 12 months. I got to wear all the gear and the carry the gold mace (flashes photo conveniently carried in bag). And whenever I went anywhere dressed like this, I got a security officer to protect me.”



Puntarenus in Costa Rica was a bit of a dive. Not much at the end of the pier, apart from a row of craft stalls, where one person got his camera snatched. So it didn’t leave the greatest of impressions. Fortunately I went “Princessing” (slightly derogatory term used to denote taking a tour organized by the ship, rather than doing your own thing, or taking a private tour or taxi). Seeing I’m a regular coffee drinker, I thought I should go to the coffee plantation. Great decision, as it’s a lot cooler at 1200 meters than down at sea level.

ABC

The drive was supposed to take about an hour and a half, but took longer due to road works. Once we arrived, we were taken in small groups around the plantation and processing areas, where the whole process of coffee production was explained. And of course there was coffee and T-shirts to purchase. I decided to leave the brewing of my coffee to the very able barristers back in Wellington.

The plantation itself was quite stunning – hundreds of acres of coffee trees, as well as gardens and forests. Lovely to be out in the countryside for a couple of hours. The drive back took us through the town of Sachi, with its cute church, and the largest hand painted oxcart in the world. Now why is it that we humans come up with a good idea (like an oxcart), then feel the need to build a totally impractical super-sized version of it? Is it just to gain an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records, or does it fill some greater need? I pondered this over a glass or two of fine wine during the evening…



Over the top!





Panama Canal - a fun day.

Quote of the Day: “I got up at 5am to see the sail away from Colon, but it was still dark. So I went back to bed, and the next thing I know it’s after 7am and I’d missed the first lock. Only answer was to go to breakfast.”

The passage through the Canal was scheduled for several hours earlier than last year, so I didn’t think I’d be up to see the first part. Having stayed up chatting until after midnight didn’t help either.

Exiting a lock

It was still another fun day, even if it didn’t have the same excitement the second time in two years. There’s an endless stream of thing to see, and just when you think you might go have something to eat, something else happens. Like rain! Apparently the people up early got soaked, and there was another downpour as we passed through the last of the locks. I retreated to the gym at that point, and watched out the window and on TV. Much more pleasant than getting drenched out on deck.

Bridge of the Americas

Now we want to know who was responsible for scraping the ship along the edge of one of the locks. It wasn’t the captain, as he hands over control to a pilot to take her through. So was it the pilot? Or did someone else up on the bridge misjudge where we were? In any case, some poor old crewmember will be out with the long-handled paintbrush at the next port!

The chocolate count is up to 27, so I’m putting up a pic of the latest choc-art design. I now change it twice a day, which keeps me amused, and hopefully gives Mr Sumee a bit of a giggle too. He’s the soul of discretion though, and hasn’t mentioned it yet… it probably just reinforces his opinion of crazy Europeans.

Choc-art progress

Panama City

Quote of the Day: “I’m in the middle of another tricky divorce. She’s Thai, and everything was good up until she got permanent residence. Then it all changed. So I put a wad of money into my travel agent’s trust account, and now I’m spending up large on cruises.”

Ruins of Old Panama

With the change of port from Cartagena to Colon, we were given the opportunity to view the locks from land, or travel into Panama City. I took my first ship organized excursion, and went to view the Old City of Panama.

Colonial Old City

This was actually divided into two areas. First was the ruins of the early city, which burned down in 1665. The ruins were the remaining brick walls, with a few towers dotted around. A brief call at the Visitors Centre gave us a bit of the early history of Panama, but the artifacts from this time were fairly sparse.

From there we moved on to the Colonial Old City, which is post-1665. The style of the buildings is Spanish, and the area is gradually being restored. (This area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.) It was interesting seeing very smart, fully restored, colourful buildings right along side dilapidated ones, still waiting to be upgraded. The latter have had their roofs removed to discourage people from squatting there.

We then drove back past the New Panama, which looks like downtown Singapore. This area is booming. Our guide told us that with the development going on, and the new canal being built, the crime rate has dropped drastically, unemployment is low, education is compulsory until 18, and the minimum wage has been doubled. So not quite the tin-pot town we learned about at school!

The tour ended with the obligatory craft shop visit, where a few of the women bought up large. I couldn’t believe the tack they were buying! The same women also hopped off the bus at the shopping mall opposite the ship’s berth when we got back – just to pick up a few extra bits and pieces… Go granny…

Modern skyline

Strange things that happen at sea...

Quote of the day: “I’ve been on the ships for over 5 years now. I’ve earned enough to pay for our house. It’s a hard life being away from my wife and my children all the time. I want to stop working on the ships, but my father says I should do it longer because it’s a very good job. Maybe I will do one more year, then buy a business back home.” Crew member.

Another restful day at sea. And a classic from the Princess Patter, the daily newsletter listing everything that’s happening on board: 11.45am Didgeridoo players meet. That little gem kept me amused all day! I can just imagine the conversation: “Marge, we’re going on a world cruise. Now whatever you do, don’t forget to pack the didgeridoo.” I didn’t go (surprise, surprise) but I’m left wondering how many people turned up to that one…

Another change in itinerary

Quote of the day: “I was just talking to an English lady. She wants to go home already and she only got on the ship today. Can’t stand the heat, poor thing.”

The captain has announced that our route to Panama from Ft. Lauderdale has had to change, due to the arrival in the area of tropical storm Emily. She has apparently caused 7 ships to change their schedule, and is expected to develop into a full-blown Hurricane before she gets to Miami. So Cartagena is off, and is to be replaced by a port with the unfortunate name of Colon… and talking to someone who’s already been there, it may well be aptly named!

I’ve now been joined on board by Mike and Heather, friends from back home in New Zealand. We’re having a blast – well apart from drinking a little too much last night, and waking up feeling a little seedy today, that is… No wine for me with dinner tonight!

I caused a minor storm in the dinning room this morning at breakfast time by walking out. I ended up on a table with a couple who don’t talk to anyone (I’ve struck them twice before at breakfast) and argue with each other constantly. On previous occasions, there have been other people on the table, so we were able to ignore them. Today I was stuck with them by myself, so I up and left.

The Maitre d’ was shocked, and asked why I was leaving. I explained to him I wasn’t willing to have breakfast with those people, and when I turned to point out where I’d been sitting, I found about 10 waiters, all looking horrified, and thinking I was complaining about one of them! Oh dear… I then went and had coffee, and returned half an hour later, and fortunately finished up with a lovely group of people… Ah, the joys of life at sea…

The Half Way Point...

Quote of the Day: “I did a calendar spreadsheet on my computer, but only put in 30 days for July instead of 31. It was only last night I realized that. I thought we were docking in Ft Lauderdale today, but now we get an extra day at sea before we can go home.”

Another beautiful day at sea cruising through the Bahamas. I should have been writing today, but it was so nice, I spent that time out on the deck again, listening to the ocean, and chilling.

Daily fresh fruit

It’s amazing how the time flies by. We had another CC (Cruise Critic, aka Crazy Cruisers) lunch to farewell those leaving at Ft Lauderdale tomorrow. After that, I went to the gym, which meant that I could justify scones and coffee for afternoon tea! Sadly, my usual coffee steward is leaving tomorrow too, so I’ll have to train up another one…

I’m putting up a couple of pics of my cabin today, so you can get an idea of where I hibernate when I want peace and quiet. I took these after the wonderful Mr Sumee had done his magic. I now call him “Radar” (after the character in M.A.S.H.) as he has this amazing ability to sense when I’m out of my cabin, and zooms in to tidy it. So far, I haven’t once come back and found it not done, or still being done. He’s a true professional. He told me he’s been on various ships for 8 years, but is currently on his last contract. He’s decided it’s time to go home.

Small but cozy!

Looking the other way

I’m also adding a pic of my progressive chocolate artwork. Every night, my bed is folded back, and two chocolates are left on the pillow. I don’t eat the chocolates (and neither does BJ), so I started arranging them on the tray that holds the water glasses etc, expecting Mr Sumee to decide I was crazy and stop leaving them… But no, they appear every night, and the artwork is getting bigger and bigger. I’ll post updates later in the trip…

Choc-art!

Had the final dinner with Terry and Donna, my lovely dining companions tonight. Very sad to see them go, as we got on so well – we had a ball! I now wait with trepidation to see who turns up tomorrow night. I do have a backup plan though – I was invited to join another table if the new folks don’t work out.

Today marked the mid-point of my trip, which is hard to believe. It only seems a couple of weeks since I left home, but it’s been just on five weeks… and I certainly don’t want to get off the ship yet!