Messages to Sharon:
Saturday, April 8, 2017 – “Beginning of the Blah-Blah-Blog”
Last big trip I copied all of my daily messages into a Word
file that I then used as my blog about the trip. It ended up having a little
more detail than a normal travel tale might have, because of course the daily
drivel is like that. For the first few days we have wi-fi, so I can write every
day. We have wi-fi due to my brilliance. We got a little newsletter from
Worldmark around December that said starting in Jan our dues would include
wi-fi. Previously they used ResortNet, which charged $25 a day for internet
access. You know me… that definitely wasn’t happening. When we checked in at
the Sydney property, we were told it’s $5 or $7 a day, depending on how much
data you want. I whipped out the newsletter and, with great conviction, told them it’s
supposed to be free. The 2 agents pow wowed a bit, and the manager said they’d
give it to us, but don’t expect it at any other resorts. Well, being that we’re
not going to any others, I figure that won’t be a problem. And my new elite
customer loyalty level with Princess also buys me 500 minutes of internet, so
with careful monitoring, being careful to only upload & download then log
off, I should be able to make it through the trip maintaining pretty good
contact. In Hawaii I can switch to hot spot and use my phone.
It seems so weird to be
writing here at 8:00 in the evening, when it’s 3:00 in the morning back home. I
have to keep my phone in airplane mode to avoid huge international roaming
charges from Verizon, so my devices are a little confused. I was well on my way to 10k steps on the
FitBit today, when suddenly my 8k went down to 2k. I kept expecting it to buzz
me that I reached my 10k goal, but it didn’t happen. I guess we passed midnight
PDT just as I was about to hit 10k. So now my total for yesterday was 9,800 and
I have a head start of 3k for tomorrow.
The trip started out pretty well,
with us arriving at SFO early enough that there was absolutely no line to check
in. It was raining and windy, but Eddy did a great job of driving. And we
heaved a giant sigh of relief when our bags made it under the weight limit. We
tried the bathroom scales and the luggage scale we got specifically for this
trip (it’s a piece of junk – highly inaccurate), and decided to hope for the
best. The limit is 50 lbs, and ours were 46 and 49.
The flight attendant was a bit snooty as we were
getting settled in, because the flight was full, and we were settling in as if
we’d have the empty seat between us. She backed off when we told her we had
purchased the extra seat. Buying the extra seat was about $5k cheaper than
flying business class. Alas, the armrest wouldn’t go up, so the actual use of
the seat was problematic. But it was nice not to have to share the armrest with
anybody. It would have been impossible to pick up something dropped on the
floor if every seat had been filled. And luckily for us, Austin gave us
mini-flashlights for the trip, so when looking for that dropped pen or misplaced
shoe, we were all set. Across from us and one row up, we had the dreaded
screaming baby. And the kid was really too old to be carrying on like that all
night. She was Asian, about 2, very cute, but screamed until she got what she
wanted. All.night.long. I was so glad I had pre-booked a limo service, because
our guy was there waiting for us when we cleared customs. We landed at 7:00AM,
after a 14-hour flight, and were in our hotel room at 8:15. We got to use the
automated facial recognition machine to speed up the immigration process.
Except Bill’s didn’t work. I think he didn’t get the concept of looking at the
camera. I went on to claim our bags while he had to go through another line.
Once we got checked into the
hotel, we both had showers, then took a nap, setting the alarm for 1:00. Off to
the shopping center we went, in search of meat pies. From prior trips, they
were one thing I remembered being different and quite edible. We hit the first
pub we saw, then hiked over to Darling Harbor, and all around the Maritime
museum.
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| The Three Monkeys - Pub Stop #1 |
Had a little gelato, visited with the visitor’s center about what to do
with our next few days. I think we’ll do the hop on/hop off bus. Bill wants to
go to Bondi Beach.
We stopped at the grocery
store on the way back and I was bowled over by the size of the TimTam aisle. I
knew from experience that I liked the chewy caramel, but I wasn’t prepared for
all the other flavors. I picked one called Black Forest, but it wasn’t so good.
Still, it was a great purchase, to have around when the snack attack arises.
Dinner rolled around and I
wasn’t even vaguely hungry. The front desk suggested the restaurant across the
street. It wasn’t great, and again, we were “blessed” with the screaming baby.
Back at the hotel, ready to fall into bed. I kept getting rows of random
letters, so I knew I was tired. Bill passed out on the bed. He had a second
beer and I think that helped. I woke up from my nap with bad cramps. I hope I
do better tonight. So g’nite all.
Sun AM 4/9
A few other tidbits from yesterday. Our limo driver was from
Bangladesh, and he has been here for 10 years. His wife is French, and doesn’t
yet have her residency status. They don’t have kids yet. He was sponsored by
his father, but most of the rest of the family is still in Bangladesh. He said
the taxi business has changed dramatically since Uber came around. Licenses
used to cost $200k, and now they’re 100k. That still seems like a lot to me. He
doesn’t need a taxi license, but rather a professional driver tag that’s
inexpensive. I didn’t say a word about
our perception of Bangladesh, but I imagine pretty much everyplace would be
better than that.
Our dinner last
night was pretty bad, at the Crown Hotel, across the street, recommended by the
front desk. After we ordered, a family came in with a young toddler. The
restaurant didn’t have any highchairs, something that should be a clue. The mom
let the baby loose, and he toddled over to a nearby empty table and started
pulling the tablecloth off, causing stuff to start falling to the floor. I was
about to jump up to rescue him when the mom finally got him. He was maybe 18
months old at the most. He could have gotten hurt. But he pretty much screamed
the entire time we were there. I wanted to just leave, but we had already
ordered, and Bill didn’t think it advisable.
We’re in touch
w/Bede, and think we’ll see him tomorrow afternoon. Maybe treat him to dinner.
Now off to breakfast and Hop on/Hop off city tour.
Sun. 4/9 “It's the Little Things”
Ha ha, one of the most interesting things I found while
shopping for breakfast is yogurt that comes with a spoon in the lid. I’m easily
impressed. Another pleasant surprise was that our room comes with a French
press and some coffee that’s actually good. Huh. I’m so used to hotel coffee
being horrible that I was prepared for the worst. We had even better coffee
(well, actually latte and espresso) and a fabulous breakfast at a place up the
street called Two Good Eggs. https://twogoodeggscafe.squarespace.com/
Traffic is really intense.
Yesterday when we first got here and were headed up to the shopping center, an
accident happened at the intersection just in front of us. Pedestrians dare not
cross against the lights, first of all because they drive on the wrong side of
the road here, but there are lots of weird intersections with angled streets
coming together. You’re never really sure where the next car is coming from. We
spent most of the day riding the Big Red Bus, doing both the city tour and the
Bondi run. The way they maneuver those things through cities is very
impressive. Narrow streets? No problem. They just suck it in!
On the way to the bus we
stopped at the Anzac Memorial at Hyde Park. It will probably be one of Bill’s
favorite highlights of the trip, as we were treated to a lengthy one-on-one
historical presentation by an old guy volunteer docent. He spoke with such
passion, and loved it that he cornered some tourists who first seemed
interested, and second had heard of Anzac. That was the pic I posted on FB
today. The bus has free wi-fi.
We hopped off at Bondi Beach so
Bill could check that off his bucket list. We first stopped for a drink then
walked around the craft market and later had sushi. After being out in the sun
all day (and it was a lovely day), we had a little nap and ended up heading out
for dinner around 8:00. A lot of places aren’t open on Sundays, so we ended up
at a Thai restaurant recommended by the front desk. Mere would have been proud
of me because I found something I could eat, and actually enjoyed it. I had
chicken pad Thai. Bill tricked me into trying a bit of his dish – OMG, so
spicy. I couldn’t get a drink fast enough. Thai coffee helped cool it off. We
went to a nearby pub for a drink after that, since they didn’t serve beer at
the restaurant. With all of our pub visits, I think you could say we've gotten the Aussie spirit down pat 😉
We’re set to have Bede pick us
up in the morning, for the day. It's so odd to be meeting someone we don't know, not to mention he's a renowned expert in ancient archery, a subject about which we know absolutely nothing. He’ll take us to see his sister Helen (and my request) and her famous lorikeet. He figured he could take us to Bondi, but since we already
went, we’ll pick something else. It should be a fun day. We also have rain
predicted in the afternoon.
Mon 4/10 “Dang It!”
Oh that jet lag! 4:20AM, and boing, the eyes pop open. I
hate that! FitBit shows I’ve had a restless 4 hours of sleep. At least I didn’t
wake up with leg cramps. Last night’s cramp caused my right big toe to cramp
upwards, with a diagonal cramp across to
the other side of my shin. It’s not like I was kicking my husband or anything!
This morning we
decided to try another breakfast place, recommended on Trip Advisor, Joe
Black’s. They had a cute mural on the wall, showing the evolution of coffee.
Bill tried the Benedict w/salmon, and I had a muesli thing w/fruit compote. We
were to be picked up by Bede at 10, but he messaged (and thankfully my wifi
received) that it would be 10:30. He took us to Helen’s, where he showed us a
collection of ancient thumb rings and we met Lovey. We drove his house where he
picked up his mail and cut 3 little tea roses for me.
Eventually we went to his favorite Italian pastry place, where we had
cappuccino and cannolis. The problem for me was that around 3:00 I started
having low blood sugar, because that was no kind of healthy lunch for me. And I
didn’t have any water either. By then we were headed back to town, after dropping
Helen off. The plan was to meet up later, for dinner. I had a glass of milk
& some Goldfish crackers, then took a nap. I think it was just the
combination of not enough sleep, wrong food, and no water, but I felt nauseous.
But the 1-hour nap perked me up, and we took a cab to meet up at a steakhouse
(Kingsley). The meal was fabulous. A petite filet, done to perfection, some
more conversation, where finally I was able to get in a word edgewise, and we
were fat & happy. For sure Bede is a character, and I think Helen was glad
for the diversion. She doesn’t do much other than hang out with her bird. I did
talk her into giving me a list of books she read and enjoyed recently. I have
one last chance to load up my Kindle before the trip. I’m not too worried,
though, because the ships always have decent libraries. (Later this assumption proved erroneous, as the library on the Emerald Princess was absolutely pitiful.)
Tomorrow is the
Hunter Valley wine tour with 10 other fellow travelers. We actually already met
one couple on the Big Red Bus, when we overheard them telling someone that they
were going on the Emerald Princess. I told them we are, too, but they weren’t
much interested. They were from Virginia. Hopefully the people on the wine tour
will be more friendly.
I took an Advil
PM, plus an extra Advil, as I really want/need to sleep, and my knee is killing
me. I got a cramp up the back of my left leg sitting too long on the kitchen
chair at Helen’s. Stretching out sounds real good right now, and our tour
pickup is 7:30, so I need to call it a night. G’nite.
Tues 4/11/17 - “Not What You Pictured”
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| Now pay attention class! |
By the end of the
day, after visiting 3 wineries, I was totally ready for a nap. I slept part of
the way there, and about an hour on the way back. It was a long day for Daniel,
as his shift was from 7:00AM to 7:00PM. He was cheerful the entire time. He
gave us good advice about what to expect at the wineries, so we could plan our
buying. You can only bring one bottle of wine onboard, so we had to pick the
best one before we even started. His advice turned out spot on. He mentioned
that he just bought a case for himself at the first location. We got a good
discount by pooling resources and buying a 6-pk, 2 for each of 3 couples. It
was a small family-run operation, and the old guy gave us quite the education
about how to taste wine and identify premium wine (by legs, color, clarity),
nothing new, but very cute how he lectured us. He talked very fast, and in a
monotone, and gave the evil eye to anyone who wasn’t holding the glass right or
swirling incorrectly.
Our first stop of
the day was at a wildlife park, with animals running around loose. It was kinda
cool, being able to pet the koala & wallaby. I passed on the snake. The
emus were also quite tame.
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| We were able to pet this little guy |
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| "Hello, little buddy" |
In the morning
we’ll go out for breakfast, check out a little before noon, and head over to
the cruise terminal. If the weather is good, we’ll probably walk around The
Rocks a bit after we dump our luggage. We figure since we’ll be on that ship
for 30 days, taking full advantage of port time is wise.
OK off to bed now.
It’s 10:00PM here, and 5:00 this morning there. So weird.
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Wed. 4/12 - Embarkation day
Farewell, Sydney, it's been grand. Emerald Princess, show us what you've got!
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Thurs. 4/13
It’s a sea day, no internet available, but I figured I could
still capture the blah-blah to pop into a message when we hit port in New
Zealand. We’re rockin’ & rollin’ a bit, which makes it interesting when
trying to do Zumba. I LOVE the instructor, and it’s a good thing, since I’ll be
with him for 29 days. He’s quite easy to follow, and after class I thanked him
for his class. I observed that he always changes movements with the musical
phrase, not on random beats like a Zumba instructor I had on a prior cruise.
The class consisted largely of ladies like me (older, pretty buff) and a few
husbands that were dragged along. Most students did well, but several just don't get it, and unfortunately one stood near me, and was constantly hitting me. The dance floor is way too small for the class, so some people sprinkle themselves in the aisles between tables in the lounge. But it's harder dancing on carpet. I worked up a good sweat, which meant a shower was in order. And after that? A nap, of course! After lunch we
had another long nap. That could enable
us to dance the night away, except for that fact that Bill doesn’t dance!
We had no
problems transitioning from the hotel to the ship. In a weird coincidence, we
were on the 12th floor of the Wyndam, and we’re on the 12th
floor of the ship. It’s the Aloha deck, and I love it every time when the
elevator reaches our stop it says, “Aloha!” Sometimes I crack myself up. Someone on the elevator asked what aloha means, and another guest said, "Hello, and good-bye." But I couldn't let it sit at that. I proceeded to sing the Aloha song from camp days! And that prompted someone to ask if I was in the onboard pop choir, so it couldn't have been TOO bad! To remind you, here ya go: Aloha song lyrics
Sydney traffic is intense, but the
2 cab drivers we met both said it was nothing compared to usual. I guess school
is out, and that has a huge impact on traffic. I know the ladies in our walking
group observe the same thing back home. When there’s no school, they’re always
early.
We decided to
stop at a drugstore (“chemist” here) to see about picking up some seasick
pills, just in case. I have one scopolamine patch left from prior cruises. I
planned to bring our bottle of meclizine, but never found it. Dispensing of
meds in Australia are REAL different than in the US. You or a clerk to the pharmacist about what you need and what other meds you're taking, and they just hand it out. I ended up with
Phenergan. I also discovered that I forgot my potassium. It’s not limited to
doctor’s prescription either, although they don’t have the dosage I have, which
I think is too high anyway so I only take half. After converting MEQ’s to MG’s,
it turned out that my pills were 1500 mgs, and their top pill is 225. That
sounded great to me… one in the AM, and one at night. I need them to help with
the cramps since I get dehydrated. They also go down a lot easier. My horse
pills often choke me, so I butter them before even attempting to swallow them.
Bill takes ½ tablet, because he has the same problem.
We got through
the boarding process in about an hour. I was a little bit excited because I now
get priority boarding with my platinum status, but seems in this group of 3,000
passengers, about 2,000 are platinum or elite status. Half are Americans, and a
good number of Canadian and Australian & New Zealanders rounded out the
manifest. Very few others, although I think Germans also made the top 10. Going
back off the ship after checking in proved a little too daunting, so we decided
to skip shopping at The Rocks. We had no interest in getting back in line.
We went to the
welcome show, and it included the comedian who’s up first. We’re definitely not
going to be making an effort to catch his show. Thinking about spending so long
on one ship is on our mind right now. We went to breakfast in the dining room
this morning, and although it was good, Bill’s first thought was, “This is
going to get boring.” We sat with a couple from Oz who had their 12 &
15-year-old sons along, but have no realistic expectation of seeing much of
them during the cruise. There are plenty of things for kids in that age range
to do. It made us reminisce about when we cruised with the kids. After the
cruise, they’re going up to the Canadian Rockies for 2 more weeks. That’s quite
a family adventure. They wanted advice on what to do for the day they’ll be in
LA. That’s where we get off and fly home. Our advice about LA? Stay onboard.
They figure they’ll do one of those tours that drives around all the stars’
homes.
Bill has already
finished his first book from the library, but there are very few good choices. I selected one, but have only read
the first page. I tend to fall asleep when I read. And that’s in spite of all
the naps! We have a schedule of special happy hours for elite members, so I
think we should go check out the Cosmo, yeah? G’nite for today.
Fri 4/14
Poor Bill, struck down with a cold, thankful that he brought
along a big package of NyQuil and DayQuil.
That definitely puts a damper on the fun, but some of my activities
don’t interest him anyway. I was so happy just to sleep all night, without
cramps. It’s the little things, you know. I didn’t get up until 8:30, and I had
to be up at Club Fusion at 9:15 to claim some real estate for Zumba. I grabbed
some yogurt & granola upstairs, then made it down in time, only to discover
they had a DVD playing, with people doing Qigong on the dance floor. Somehow it
seems incongruous to go from a meditative activity directly into Zumba. So I
just watched. But I got up there and had a decent place in row 2 when this man
came and stood right next to me, way too close. Call me culturally insensitive,
but I can’t stand it when that happens, and to top it off, he was klutzy, often
went the wrong direction, and kept hitting me. I finally gave it up and moved
to the back of the pack. I’m not sure I
can take 30 days of him!
Bill and I have a
basic disagreement about what to do with our spare time while cruising. He
likes to eat or drink beer, and I like to dance or go to shows, & eat ice
cream & cookies. So we go our separate ways. Last night I watched the Dolly
Parton tribute show by myself. It was a solid mediocre. Tonight’s production
show was “I’ve Got the Music in Me” and I enjoyed it very much. The only type
of entertainment we agree on is some nice mellow guitar or the piano bar. We’re
both happy to spend long hours reading or napping. It really does make for a
relaxing vacation.
I decided to try to connect, using a few of my precious
internet minutes to try download email. Connection isn’t so great out in the
middle of the ocean. I was able to pull in messages, but I didn’t know we were having a typhoon, as there
has been no mention of it. Seas are rough, but then I’ve heard that the Tasman
Sea is always rough. I felt squiffy the first day, decided to try the
phenergan, and oh my, it’s a miracle! I had no idea it would be a good
substitute for Dramamine or other motion sickness meds. But the pharmacist
recommended it, so who am I to argue? There’s probably some FDA reason why
we’re not supposed to have it, but I know it works great for cancer treatment
nausea, and now I’m happy to learn it works for my kind of nausea (motion sickness). I even had a
drink last night! A cosmo, at the platinum guest lounge, woo, woo.
Anyway, here’s
what I wrote over the last 2 days, being collected in my Word doc for my
Blah-Blah-Blog. Remember, we’re a day ahead of you. It’s around midnight and
tomorrow is our last sea day before our first port (Wellington). Hopefully I’ll
get better internet there. G’nite!
Sat 4/15
Our 4th day at sea… anxious for a port call
tomorrow. Today’s Zumba class was a format exclusive to Princess, “Around the
World” with songs from all over, even one from Alaska. The HI song was relaxing
& flowing. I kept my distance from yesterday’s exer-freak, but he was in
the exact same place, continuing to go the wrong way and flailing his arms
about. We have no class for the next 4 days, as we’ll be in port each day.
Guess I’ll have to get my steps the old fashioned way… by walking. Our only
plan for Wellington tomorrow is to get some cash, so we can pay for the next
day’s excursion. We pay NZ $$ at the end of the tour, and the only practical
way to get that cash is from an ATM. It will be Easter here, so many things
will be closed, but ATM’s should take care of our problem.
The seas have
calmed quite a bit. And the sun came out today. But of course you already knew
that since you found our bow cam. That’s so cool! So we went in the hot tub and
the pool, and sat there reading (I’m reading Anne Tyler’s A Spool of Blue Thread)
for a bit. But I definitely have to watch the sun. I already have swimsuit
lines, and my makeup is now the wrong color. I had forgotten about that. It
happens every time. I always wear sunscreen every day, but here the sun is so
strong, I guess I should be using extra.
I had a funny
conversation at breakfast this morning with a couple from Arkansas. I was just
there to grab a quick yogurt parfait before heading to Zumba. They first said
they’re from TX, but after we chatted a bit, they admitted they’re really from
Arkansas, but usually when they say that, people dismiss them. They live in a
community of quite well-educated seniors, and they just don’t like being
branded with the perceived notion of what’s in Arkansas. They said TX plays
much better. Once they tried out Beverly Hills, and they were shocked at the
different reception. People played up to them. I said I might have reacted
negatively to Arkansas too, based on what I know about education there. They
don’t spend the money on education. For one reason there just is no money for
it. They said the main industry there is timber, and of course that’s shrinking
as the trees disappear.
At lunch we ended
up with a small East Indian man from Toronto who said he travels alone, or
rather with the spirit of his deceased wife. He still wears his wedding ring.
He had a very calm aura about him. Tomorrow is Easter, and they were busy
decorating the dining room with balloons & streamers tonight as we finished
up. It’s weird being a day ahead of you. We had a glass of bad champagne at the
Captain’s welcome champagne fountain last night in the atrium, but so far our
best deal for drinking has been the $5 specials at the platinum/elite lounge.
That’s where we hook up with other serious cruisers. Everyone we’ve talked to
LOVES Barcelona, so I think we’ll plan to spend most of our spare days between
cruises there next year. We have about a week to play with, and were
considering dividing it equally between Barcelona and Madrid. Now I think we’ll
only spend 2 days in Madrid, as part of the formal “pre-trip extension” of our
river cruise. We’ll get to know some of our fellow passengers before boarding
our riverboat.
Retired folks abound on this trip, since not too
many people can be away for 5 weeks at a time. One guy I met this morning was
wearing a bicycle t-shirt that said how many miles equal a burrito (53, I think).
One trip he rode 40 days, from San Diego to Florida. That hurts just to think
about it. He said he was lucky, because the worst day of rain happened to be a
day when he was driving. There were 12 riders, so each person drove the van for
a day every 12 days.
I’m going to give
a quick try to upload now, but figure things will work better tomorrow. Until
then, g’nite.
*****************Sent
above Sat. night***********************************
Sun 4/16
Happy Easter, and Happy Birthday to Craig! Except it’s not,
because we’re a day ahead. Doh! They put balloons all over, and some of those
party store tissue paper fold-out decorations here and there. It wasn’t such a
happy Easter for Bill, though, as he woke up with his cold worse than ever, and
his throat hurting to the point where he was sure he must have strep. He had to
bit the bullet and visit the ship doctor, who luckily was holding office hours
from 8-10. That meant the office visit was only a hundred bucks. It’s more
after hours. He took a look & listen, and declared that his cold had just
progressed to the point where infection was setting in. He gave him amoxicillin
and sent him on his way. The uncontrollable coughing & phlegm is already
getting better. Knock on wood, I haven’t gotten it.
We were in
Wellington today, but after a bit, we surrendered. We waited until the first
mob departed for town on the shuttle before we ventured out. It was about a
10-minute ride to town. The bus let us off in the middle of the town, and we
walked up the pedestrian way called Cuba St. and found an ATM. There was a free
wi-fi zone, so we called & texted like crazy. We called Austin, who could
hear me, but I couldn’t hear him. Luckily he texted to let me know, so I tried
again, then got him. Then we called Bev,
who of course was thrilled to hear her son. Since it was Easter, most of the
shops were closed, but we were able to pick up some more sunscreen &
mouthwash. We bought sunscreen in Sydney, but it’s the kind that doesn’t rub
in. I went around in whiteface for part of the morning. It doesn’t wash off,
either! Bill has been using a lot of mouthwash due to his sore throat, so he
was almost out. That accomplished, we asked the clerk which way to the trolley
to the botanical gardens. She said the gardens are lovely, and sent us left,
then right, whereupon we became completely lost, and it started raining. The
streets weren’t on our map, and we were dressed in shorts & t-shirts. We
eventually spotted our bus stop, and I asked Bill if he wanted to just go back
to the ship. He was pretty uncomfortable at that point, and was so grateful
that I was willing to go back. I didn’t take a single picture today.
We got to the
ship and experienced a bit of a cluster f**k getting back on. First of all, a
couple people on our bus didn’t bring their ID, so the immigration person held
up our bus. Then when we got ready to board the ship, they had a huge line for
security, and both gangways were being used to let people off, so there was no
place for people to get on. So we stood in the rain, getting cold. It was just
sprinkling, but still, Princess should have done better. One of their x-ray
machines wasn’t working either. Actually I think the one that they did use
wasn’t being monitored, because with a half bottle of water and a bottle of
mouthwash, they should have asked to see inside my bag. I could have been
bringing on booze! Because of Bill’s cold, we haven’t even opened the 2 bottles
of wine we brought onboard. I’m hoping he feels better tomorrow, as we’re
dining in the specialty restaurant for our anniversary. It’s $30 per person
extra, so we hope to be able to enjoy it.
We went up for
lunch, where I major in dessert (I know, my bad), then to our cabin for a nap.
We slept the rest of the afternoon, and didn’t regret it one little bit. I read
a bit before falling asleep.
Mon 4/17 – Happy 35th Anniversary to Us!
Except one small detail… we didn’t spend the day together
because Bill simply felt too awful to venture out, and I couldn’t see missing
the excursion planned so long ago. When the alarm went off at 6:00AM this
morning he didn’t move. So after about 10 minutes, I asked if that meant he
wasn’t going. Yep. So off I went, to grab a bite to eat and meet up with our
tour group of 20 folks. I figured I’d have to pay for Bill anyway, but the bus
driver/owner was very nice and said he had a full tour anyway, so no worries. I
gave him an extra $20 tip. The cost was $95 NZ each, so I was glad not to have
to pay.
The tour was
basically a scenic drive around Napier, and a trek up their one mountain.
Napier was completely destroyed in the 1931 earthquake, and when rebuilt, the
town was done in the art deco style. I’m pretty sure Bill would have been
completely bored by today’s tour, so perhaps it worked out for the best. The
driver was passionate about his town and its buildings. We saw a lot of
wineries, sheep, apples, and even a deer farm. We had to be back onboard at
1:00, so it was a short day onshore. At the top of the mountain, our driver
gave us an apple and a bottle of water. The apple was perfection. But he said
some of the eating apple growers had been paid off to start growing cooking
apples instead. They can them, like for pie filling.
At one of our potty stops today, I
was startled when my phone suddenly pinged. It was a text coming in, and we were at a park that had free public wi-fi which apparently automatically
connected. While I was at it, I quickly pulled up email, and messages came in, too. Woot! But oh, your days aren’t nearly as much fun as mine.
We had our 4:30
massage appt, and Bill decided he would like to give it a try. He had been
promised a Serbian masseuse, and he was looking forward to the strength
afforded by the body type. She didn’t disappoint. But both gals carried on and
on about MY muscles and my age, just like your experience. I told them it
wasn’t from going to the gym, it’s just how we’re built. My calf muscles got a
real workover, so I’m a bit sore tonight. We won’t be able to have the same
gals again, because they are going home for 3 months at the end of the week.
For all of the staff onboard, I can’t even imagine leaving your family for 9
months at a time.
Bill also decided
to try the dinner at the specialty restaurant, and he made it through, but I
could tell he wasn’t enjoying it as much as he could. We met another couple
celebrating their 35th anniversary at the table next to us. I got
him to have the waiter take a pic of the 4 of us.
 |
| We were seated at table 35! |
Flying these days is such an ordeal. That was quite a
dissertation you wrote about the United Airlines incident. All I know is when I saw it,
I thought there was something missing from the story. And I suppose we’ll never
know the real story. If you’re late to your flight, they might have given away
your seat, and you don’t get on. Forcibly removing someone? That didn’t add up.
And I’ve seen overbooked situations plenty of times, and they just keep upping
the ante until someone takes the deal. Sometimes you just can’t, though, like
say you’re getting on a cruise ship! Or going to a wedding. Might as well not
go at all if you can’t make the flight on the right day.
That’s it for
now. See you around the bow cam!
Mon 4/18 – Tauranga
Bill was feeling well enough today to at least get off the
ship for a walk about town, and we stopped at a brewery where he actually
enjoyed a hoppy beer, and I had a cider. We also walked up to the mountain
park, but didn’t attempt to climb it. It was a beautiful sunny day.
After happy hour
tonight we got to perusing the day’s schedule and spotted a show billed as
“Magical Storytelling with Sand Art” by a guy named Marcus Winter (google him),
a street artist turned pro. He gave a bit of Maori history and made amazing
sand art pics (projected on the big screen) the whole time he talked. He said
his goal was to engage your eyes, ears, & heart, and I’d say he did it very
effectively. His topics included war, hope, love, and missing people &
pets.
Have a look: Marcus Winter Video
Have a look: Marcus Winter Video
Get the picture?
Internet wasn’t so great, but I did manage to post our pic from the Sydney harbor sailaway.
Neither of us were very hungry or inclined to dress for dinner tonight, so we went up to the buffet. I was close to 10k steps, so I suggested a stroll around the pool deck. They were playing “La La Land” on Movies Under the Stars, and somehow my feet just wouldn’t keep walking. Bill watched a bit, and said it was torture, worse than getting a tooth pulled. So he headed back to the room, and I got a blanket and settled in and watched the entire movie. I didn’t get in until after midnight. We originally planned to go down to the casino and spend our $10 in the slot machines since it was a smoke-free night down there. The funny thing is, there was a couple on the lounges near where we sat (Bill only briefly), and the couple picked up & left, woman confiding that the husband didn’t like it, and she had already seen it twice! I actually tried to watch it on the plane, but the sound was so bad it was impossible. I don’t think it was Oscar worthy, but I found it to be an entertaining movie. Ah, all the what-ifs in our lives.
Time to hit the
hay. G’nite.
Wed. 4/19 – Auckland
Ugh, guess who woke up with a sore throat? The coughing
began last night. Now I just have to wait and see if it gets as bad as Bill’s.
Dang it! I slept OK, though, and haven’t been plagued with leg cramps, so
that’s at least one victory. 300 passengers are getting off here. Originally we
planned to join the cruise here ourselves, since we wanted to tour NZ. But the
lack of availability of WorldMark properties and the chance to toss in a visit
to Sydney outweighed that plan, and we re-booked the longer cruise. Maybe we
wouldn’t have gotten the cold, but I know one thing, I sure wouldn’t want to be
driving on the wrong side of the road if I was sick. I’m not real crazy about
it anyway, and Bill flat out refuses to do it. Even when walking, when we come
to an intersection, I always say out loud, “Look right.” Some places even have
it painted on the street. I guess ‘cause we’re that dumb. I don’t care about
The Hobbit and Middle Earth, so some of the sights are wasted on me.
We walked around
downtown Auckland, which is obviously a big city full of tall buildings with
lots of businesspeople walking around. I always notice the small things, though, like a garbage can painted with jelly beans or the construction wall mural.
In Auckland I
was thrilled to find the same brand of root touch-up hair color that I have
used at home in the past. I wasn’t real crazy at the thought of spending
hundreds of dollars to have it done onboard. Ten bucks? That’s more like it. I
wore my Big Dog “Attitude is Everything” sweatshirt around today, and got a lot
of smiles. That’s good, because right now with us both coughing, we’re like the
untouchables, with people understandably avoiding us. That puts a damper on
meet & mingle activities. I can blame people for not wanting to have a meal
with someone who’s hacking up a lung the whole time.
 |
| Looks good, tastes meh |
When we got back
onboard, I decided to try the gelato in the International Café. They warned me
that there would be a charge, but I didn’t care. Then they told me it’s the
same price for 1, 2, or 3 flavors. Well duh, of course I’ll have three! But the
dish they handed me was HUGE! Obviously this was going to be lunch. I had lemoncello,
Nutella, and strawberry, way more than I could ever eat. I asked the bus boy if
he had ever seen anybody eat it all. He said, “Not really,” but I suspect
that’s because it wasn’t really that good. It was OK, but not premium quality.
Bill said it tasted like flavored Cool Whip. But it was only $1.50, so I wasn’t
even slightly annoyed. But I won’t be going back, except for coffee drinks (lattes).
We rounded out
our night in the perfect way, with a Movie under the Stars – “Hidden Figures.”
I knew Bill would like it, because he’s always interested in anything
space-related, and the movie won awards so I figured it was also well done. And
I was right. We also just ate dinner out there one deck (burgers from the
grill), but it was barely edible, so after the movie we went to the buffet and
got some real food. I had roast beef & mashed potatoes, and yes, veggies.
After dinner I
wanted to go to the late show, but Bill was done for the night. So I went by
myself. It had just started, so I tucked into the back. Good thing, because it
was TERRIBLE, and I soon left. It was a guy doing
self-deprecating humor, picking on old people and Hispanics. He also sang a bit, very poorly. His name was Patricio Rodriguez.
I went from there to the casino, where I proceeded to lose the $10 I had left
from the last time I was there. The machine took 30 cents at a time, and paid
back virtually nothing, no dancing, bells ringing, nada. So I went back to the
room and Bill was surprised to see me back so soon. He had just finished a
10-minute coughing fit. I took a half-dose of NyQuil and hit the hay.
Thurs. 4/20 – At sea, heading for Pago Pago, American Samoa
(but still have 2 more days at sea) We’ve never been there before, but reviews
are that there’s not much there.
I slept fairly well with the NyQuil, only awakened once with
a minor toe/calf cramp. I took a half dose of DayQuil to start my day, and
decided to skip Zumba. My lung capacity isn’t up to par. I later ran into the
instructor/asst. cruise director in the library, and I told him I was sorry to
have to miss his class because I was sick. We decided to take it easy today,
spending most of the day reading. I finished The Blue Thread (kind of
fizzled at the end) and moved on to a Kindle book about a terrorist cell that
got on my Kindle as a result of Bill’s download. I guess he checked the wrong
box. Whatever, it was on his, too, and he read it just a couple days ago, and
said it was good.
Since the only
good ice cream is available only in the dining room, when Bill said he wanted
to go there for lunch, I was all over that. I knew I had to order at least
something before having ice cream, so I got an appetizer size piece of lasagna.
Then I ordered all 3 flavors of ice cream. They’re much more reasonably sized scoops,
fitting into one of those little silver pedestal cups. It was macadamia nut,
raspberry, and something that started with a t, some Italian shaved chocolate
flavor (Bill says it’s stratacella) . All were just dandy, thankyouverymuch.
The manager came over to inquire if they had forgotten my entrée! Can’t get
away with anything. I explained how wonderful their ice cream is, and he got
all embarrassed. The soft serve stuff upstairs isn’t really ice cream, and the
gelato just isn’t up to par. But HIS ice cream is wonderful! Oh, I guess I’m
supposed to call him the maître de!
After lunch, back
to the room for more reading and the daily nap. We lounged around until dinner.
Weather has been mild and mostly sunny, seas fairly calm. I expect another
couple of easy days like that.
We ended up our
day by watching the Movie under the Stars again, which is quite amazing. We
actually watched TWO movies together. Since our taste is so different, that’s a
rarity. Tonight was a Marvel movie called “Doctor Strange” and it was a very
mild evening, so Bill didn’t even use a blanket to cover up. It sprinkled a few
drops at one point, but not enough to make us move. The water in the pool was
certainly sloshing, though. It seemed like we should have felt more motion,
looking at the pool waves. After the movie we went down to the International
Café again, where I, against my better judgement, had a cup of coffee. We’ll
see how I sleep tonight. Happy Groundhog Day! Tomorrow we live Thursday again.
4/20 – Thurs Ver 2.0 – at sea - "Groundhog Day"
We received our certificates for crossing the International
Date Line, and we got to re-live Thursday, except this time isn’t wasn’t sunny,
rather a gloomy sort of day. I skipped Zumba again, and spent a rather quiet
day, reading on my Kindle around and about. I finished the terrorist book, and
started one about a gal moving to New Zealand because of a stalker
ex-boyfriend. We had dinner with an interesting couple who were quite elderly,
but married when each one’s spouse died. It sounded a bit like a green card
marriage, but it seems to have worked out, as they’ve been married 25 years.
The man’s wife died at age 55 of hep C. Yikes, eh? The woman was English, and
she was in Oz with her husband who had a work visa. When he died, she no longer
had legal status in Oz. Her husband was a teacher, and they spent many years
living in Kenya. He taught, and she raised their 2 boys. At lunch we dined with
a couple from Brisbane, and they told harrowing tales of the deadly snakes in
their yard. Mostly he shoots them with a shotgun. I told Bill he’s probably
going to have nightmares tonight.
The comedian
tonight was pretty funny, an older gent from Liverpool. We had good seats on a
couch near the front, but careful not to get too close lest he choose to pick
on us. He told jokes like asking for the cheapest red they had at a restaurant,
and they brought out a bottle of ketchup.
I wanted to catch
the movie, but missed it. It was Jackie, and I think it got good reviews. It
will probably be on TV, but there’s no way to know when since one of their
money-saving acts was to quit printing TV schedules. Nor have I been able to
find them on the TV or the online schedule. We saw a bit of BBC news today,
about the latest Paris terror attack. Luckily it was a small one.
Not much else
going on, so I’ll wait another day to send this. Hopefully I’ll be well enough
to try Zumba tomorrow. We don’t have to set our clocks ahead an hour tonight,
so just maybe we’ll get a full night’s sleep.
4/21 Friday… Finally! – still at sea
We’re getting
into the swing of life at sea, doing different things every day, but generally
hitting the elite cocktail hour where drinks are $5, avoiding the happy hour
elsewhere, for the buy one, get the second for a dollar promotion. That harbors
the serious drinkers. They tend to be more obnoxious than the long-time
cruisers. I made it to Zumba today, but
with the cough I still have going, I was careful not to overdo it, and I stayed
back from the crowd. I don’t like the crowd anyway. Mikey, the instructor, gave
a mini-lecture at the beginning, about “Zumba love” advising everyone to chill
and don’t get all territorial. He also gave a shout out to the people coming in
for the next event in the room, trivia. He told them to respect our time and keep
quiet, or they were going to have to close the doors and not let them in til
we’re done. For the serious trivia players, that would be bad.
We finally caught
up with the acoustic guitar guy, Matt Baxter from England, tonight and managed
to enjoy an entire show, with good seats. It wasn’t too crowded for the late
show, so we got to shout out song requests. It was a pretty mellow evening. And
I had a chocolate martini. That bad comic is on again tomorrow night with an
all new show. Uh, no thanks! We watched an insipid duo for a bit tonight after dinner,
but the best part of that show was the people dancing. There were a bunch of
Asian couples out there cuttin’ a rug. The music was karaoke style with the
background music, and just a guy with a base guitar plunking along. Dumb.
We will be in
American Samoa tomorrow, in a port where there’s apparently NOTHING! The crew
said there’s a McDonald’s with wi-fi. There used to be a tuna plant, but it’s
apparently closed down. It’s also supposed to be 90° and humid.
Bill is still
having coughing fits, so that makes sleep somewhat disjointed. This too shall
pass. Gotta give it up now. G’nite.
4/22- Saturday Pago Pago
Hot, humid, dirty, but at least they use American money
here. We ventured out to the McDonalds, only to find a crush of people all
trying to get an ice cream cone and some internet. I entered the password and
got the delightful message, “No internet.” Just getting there had been a bit of
a challenge, as the humidity was oppressive. We made it about a block before
Bill said he needed to stop. We sat on a low fence a bit, then headed on. We
passed by a huge lawn filled with vendors under tents selling all their crap
from China.
Then we crossed back over to see if the internet booth had anything
to offer. They just had public internet available for $5, but you had to enter
a credit card number. Uh, no thanks. We finally made it to Mc D’s, but after
waiting in line getting nowhere for about 10 minutes, we gave it up. On the way
back we spotted a fast food window at a local joint where all the natives
seemed to be getting their ice cream. There was only one person in line. But
she got about a dozen cones, and the only server inside had to walk over to
the machine (soft serve) to dispense each one separately. The customer had a
runner, taking the cones to the extended family lined up on the other side of
the building. Finally it was our turn, and we did score our ice cream, for only a buck apiece, and it
was a blessed relief. We found a place in the shade and sat a bit. A breeze
came up, which made it slightly more bearable. Walking along back toward the
ship, we spotted some people coming out of a museum that was set back from the
street. I stopped a woman and asked if it was air conditioned. Yep! So we
suddenly became very interested in Samoan culture. The building smelled musty,
but it was soooooo nice and cool inside. We looked at their entire small
collection very carefully. They had some outrigger canoes and a bit of artwork,
but really not much there.
After the museum
we headed back to the ship, and as we waited for an elevator from the 4th
floor gangway, an announcement came over that said passengers were not to use
the elevators as they were turning off main power, testing their backup
generator. As this was the ship’s first entry into a US port this year, they
had undergo a Coast Guard inspection. They did the lifeboat drill/tender
exercise too, which caused services to halt. I ended up sitting with an older
Australian woman who was quite a firecracker. She had a cane, which is why Bill
offered her his seat. She is part of an international women’s organization that
does all sorts of charity work throughout the world, supporting women &
girls. She was about 80, and quite
passionate about her charity work. She’s the archivist for the organization,
keeping minutes, boxes of documents like invitations, flyers about contests and
events, etc, and takes the job very seriously.
Bill ended up giving
up on waiting for her to finish, and announced I’d find him in the pool. I
couldn’t break away from the woman (Nola), for about 45 minutes! It always
surprises me when I run across someone who’s a bigger talker than me! By then
it was about 3:00, and we hadn’t had lunch, so I joined Bill out by the pool,
and had a chicken sandwich from the grill. We read for much of the rest of the
afternoon, listened to some music, played in the casino a bit (gave them back
their $20), took NyQuil and went to bed.
4/23 – Sunday, at sea
The NyQuil made me oversleep. I woke up with the sun around
6:15, saw the time and rolled over and went back to sleep. I woke up at 9:30,
the time my Zumba class starts. So much for that for today.
Our only plan for
the day was to go to the library to hope for some more books, then catch the
movie. I picked up a chick lit paperback (Debbie Macomber), which I got halfway
through before the end of the day. While at the library, I had a coughing fit,
and headed for the nearest potty (cause you never know!), then ended up going
into a bar to get some water. Finally it calmed down and I rejoined Bill in the
library.
The movie didn’t
get good reviews, but it was “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,“ based on the book I
loved so much by Barry Crump, about the Maori boy. There were a lot of changes from the book,
and they morphed it from a serious book into an adventure comedy. They had
several comedic characters and a lot of one-liners. We both enjoyed it, but thought it would have been much better if they stuck closer to the book, and ditched the slapstick.
4/24 – Monday, at sea
We’ll be in Bora Bora tomorrow, facing tender service to get
to shore. That’s always such a hassle. We’re hoping to find a snorkel tour on
the dock, rather than pay $160 each from the tour desk onboard. I had a very
rough night, so I wasn’t feeling much like doing any activities today. I was up
for a couple hours during the night, coughing, then just not being able to
sleep. I finished my book, and what finally allowed me to go to sleep around
5:30AM was eating the cookies I had saved for the next day. The scratchy
oatmeal felt good on my throat. It’s not sore, just has an annoying tickle. And
there’s no goo in my lungs, just a tightness. I even had mint tea before bed
last night, to try to soothe it. Unfortunately I again slept late after all
that, getting up at 9:30.
Today was the
anticipated first pedicure in a year! My last one was before Mere’s wedding last June,
and after that I dropped a can of chili on my big toe, and the nail turned
completely black. Well, it’s finally grown out, and it felt soooo
good to have my feet taken care of. The very tip is still black, but I just had
her use navy blue polish. The gal was from India, and did the best job ever.
She never once hurt me, yet did a great pedicure. So yay! And while I was
there, I took my reservation paperwork up to the manager to complain about
being overcharged for the massage. He quickly agreed to fix it. Figuring I was
on a roll, I decided to double-check the laundry token charges, and sure
enough, they were doubled, too. Twice the machine took my card but didn’t dispense
tokens. A simple phone call, and they were happy to remove the extra charges.
So now I have an extra $20 to spend in the casino!
The captain
said the swells are going to increase this afternoon and tonight, to 3-4 meters
(12 feet?), and we should be careful to hold onto the handrails. That was my
cue to take another Phenergan, particularly since my tummy was already a bit
off this morning. I didn’t eat breakfast, then on the way back from the
pedicure I had some lemonade. It didn’t set well. I grabbed a roll at lunch,
which helped right away, then I ordered egg drop soup. I’ve got my fingers
crossed for the evening.
So that’s the
update. Hoping for a beautiful day in Bora Bora tomorrow.
4/25 – Tues. Bora Bora, or should I say, “Mora Bora”
as in, “We want more!” I think we had the same reaction last time we were here,
years ago. To stay in one of those huts over the water? Truly magical.
Here’s what I sent today, but I’m sooooo inclined to
write a whole lot more:
Oh boy, what an AMAZING day. We went on the catamaran
snorkel tour, swimming with the sharks and rays, having excellent native
entertainment, and lunch on a motu. Look up Patrick’s Tours, and you’ll see
what a jaw dropping specimen he is! A South Pacific god, maybe? He even twirled fire for us after lunch.
I’ll do the regular blog later, but I just had to share a bit NOW.
Full message:
The day started out a
little disappointing, as we had to get up at 5:45 to be to breakfast at 6:00,
then downstairs to get in line for tender tickets at 6:30. The only good thing
was that they didn’t make us line up, instead just started handing out tickets
and having us sit in the gathering place until our tender was ready. We got
#43/44. But the problem was, instead of it going at 7:00, it was about 8:00
before we got out of there. Our tour wasn’t scheduled to depart until 9:00, so
we had plenty of time, but we would much rather have spent the time sleeping.
We didn’t get to bed until after midnight, so 5:45 hit crazy hard. I also was
having NyQuil dreams when I woke up. I had been shot in the solar plexus, in a
neighborhood drug deal gone bad. I was an innocent bystander. The resident
closest to where it happened took me in, but there I witnessed another drug
deal. I have much more detail about the story, but it’s not relevant. It’s
crazy how I remember those dreams.
Patrick, the owner of the tour company had to captain one of the smaller boats, but all of his group stayed
pretty close together. We were on the big catamaran, with about 50 people. The
others were in 3 smaller outrigger boats. Patrick looks like a god… all bronze,
muscular, ancestral tattoos, and wearing a thong sort of skirt thing, I guess
you’d call it a loin cloth. The other staff dressed a bit more demurely. When I
say thong, I really mean it. After lunch Patrick did a fire baton routine for
us, and oh my!
 |
| Here’s his "ending move" |
 |
| Patrick tastefully covers up during lunch |
We
sat up top on the big catamaran, but it had a cover, so we didn’t have to worry
about getting completely fried. The first stop was deep water, and there was
wind and current, so they wanted us to wear life jackets. The site was filled
with sharks, and we were to swim around with them, but not dive down, because
there were other sharks deeper that didn’t like being disturbed. Maybe they
were just joking, but just the reef sharks were enough to sober most of us. One
guy got in, took a look, and immediately got back on the boat. I was
happy to wear the life jacket. I also wore a t-shirt all day over my suit,
hoping to avoid getting a sunburn, and it worked. Bill’s unevenly applied
sunscreen left a rather interesting burn. I don’t know why he won’t wear a
shirt. I had to put aloe vera on him tonight.
 |
| Yeah, I was swimming with those bad boys! |
 |
| Better safe than sorry |
Next we went to a place where we could
stand up in the water, while the stingrays slithered all around us, and reef
sharks rounded out the action. They were everywhere. Bill said the sharks were vegetarians, so no worries. Yeah, as one of the helpers was
feeding them bits of fish. It was a little eerie at first, especially when the
rays would brush against our legs. Crazy fun. Next we were to go to a coral
garden, but the wind & current made Patrick feel it wouldn’t be safe. So he
took us to a place with super fine sand, recommending we use it to exfoliate. We just hung out in the very shallow water for about 20 minutes. The
water temp was perfect, and ohhhhh, the colors. Who knew there were so many
shades of blue? I couldn’t really capture the colors in pictures, but they were
amazing.
 |
| Patrick exfoliating! |
 |
| We had lunch on picnic tables in the water! |
 |
| A Mora-Bora day |
 |
| Patrick cooks, too! |
Lunch included beer & wine, and the food was local. The most
surprising to me was that the tiny bananas tasted so fabulous. Normally I don’t
like ripe bananas because they’re gassy. These were wonderful. Our plates were
leaves, and the music continued as we ate. I asked Bill to get my plate as I
saved our place at the picnic table. Patrick said something to him as he went
by, so once Bill sat, I got up to get drinks. Patrick was standing there
pouring wine, so I told him I don’t normally make my husband wait on me, but
it’s our 35th anniversary, and he wants to do it. I told him we had
three sons, and asked if he had any kids. He said yes, and pointed out his
daughter who was working there helping with the lunch. She took a microphone
and thanked everybody for coming at the end of the presentation.
 |
| That's our ship in the background as we headed back with musical entertainment |
We had a lovely ride back to the dock, and
sadly had to return to our ship. Showers to get off the sand and grit, and we
were back to our regular shipboard selves.
4/26-Wed
Tahiti
Given
Bill's sunburn from yesterday, we thought it best to avoid the beach today and keep our clothes on! We walked
around near the ship, shopping at the market and looking for wi-fi, spent an
hour at a corner café, had an amazing butter cake, lots of fuzzy water and some
coffee, and Bill had a beer, to drag out our access to wi-fi. All I got was a
bit of FB, & tried to call Eddy, but not good enough connectivity. But we were
able to exchange some texts. Tables on both sides turned over a couple times,
so we had nice visits with fellow passengers. It was going to be one lady’s 70th
bday tomorrow, so she said she was going out to the food trucks to celebrate.
We wandered around some more and ended up in
a place that said Coffee Market, but was actually a French bistro. There were
only a couple men drinking wine inside, so I asked, “Are you open?” “Ya, ya.”
So we sat. It had GREAT wi-fi, but not a soul who spoke English. The rotund
little French guy (owner/chef/waiter? – Appeared to be everything except
busboy) gave me a book with the convoluted network & password, which I
successfully put into Bill’s iPad and my phone. We were floored. We had
lightning speed bytes! The 10 MB video that Julie texted was previously stuck
at 8, so I couldn’t see it. Boom! 10 MB, and I got to see that beautiful
grandbaby crawling. The French guy brought out a charcuterie plate, and said,
“You need this.” Uh, sure. Not for me, but Bill’s thing for sure. He dined on
sausage slices, pate, etc. while we shared a big bottle of cider. It came with
a champagne type cork with the wire basket. Originally Bill asked for beer and
I cider, but our guy wouldn’t let him have it! He told Bill he had to drink a
glass of cider first, to help me, since the bottle was so big. Only then was he
allowed to have his beer! We wandered back through the shops and to the ship to
cool off. We went out again for dinner. The ship wasn’t due to sail until 3:00AM,
so we needed to at least step out.
Every night they have a bunch of trucks
come in and sell lots of HUGE plates of freshly cooked treats. We had a treat,
but it wasn’t really the food… it was that we sat at a tiny table where we
could get mixed foods. Bill got Chinese, and I got grilled chicken & fries
with a huge pile of fresh green beans. The treat was a couple with twin
5-month-olds sat right next to us with the babies in the stroller by me. One of
the girls was awake the whole time and kept making eyes at Bill. He played
peek-a-boo, and got her smiling. So cute. The parents only spoke French, like
many of the people, but we could still communicate.
We came back and watched what had to be
the worst movie we’ve ever seen, on the outdoor screen. It was called “Dad’s
Army,” and was a ridiculous British war spoof about a Home Guard unit
infiltrated by a German spy, played by the lovely Catherine Zeta-Jones. It was
almost torture watching it. At the start of the movie, Bill went up to the bar
where they were having 2 for 1 drinks.
Unfortunately
he didn’t find out until after he ordered, they had to be the same drink. I had
a margarita, and he “dark & stormy” which was rum & ginger beer, and he
hated it. TWICE! He got help to bring the 4 drinks down to the pool area where
the movie was showing. By the end of the evening he managed to shatter a glass
on the pool deck. You know, where no glass is allowed? It was the end of the
movie, and everyone left while we tried to get help to clean it up. We asked 3 people,
but nobody came. We refused to leave until someone with a broom showed up. I
went up to the bartender at the pool again and told him we weren’t leaving, so
he got his helper to go out with the broom. He didn’t want to, because he had
already called for help. By the time we left, there wasn’t a soul around. And
yeah, must be bedtime.
4/27
– Thurs – Morea
We
decided to hope for a tour off the pier rather than pay the big bucks onboard
to make Carnival Corp rich. We found the $119 motu – swim with the rays tour
for $45. Granted, it didn’t include lunch, but what group lunch would be worth
$74 each? We mostly sat in the water as rays swam past.
 |
| Tough life in Morea |
At dinner we met a couple from Oz who
recommended the movie of the night, “Lion.” Bill wanted to read, so I went into
the theater to wait for the 10:00 movie start. After the preview stuff
(Princess ads), on comes “Hidden Figures,” the movie we saw already. Turn out
the other movie was on deck “Under the Stars.” So I missed the first 10 minutes
of it and had to sit in a chair instead of a lounge. They’re showing it again
tonight in the real theater. Oy. Anyway, it’s probably on Netflix or Amazon,
& worth the watch, about a kid from India who got adopted by a very white
couple in Tazmania. Dev Patel plays the grownup kid, and I love him.
On our last trip to the casino we both
lost $20, so we have to stay away for 2 days. We’re generally in bed by
midnight. With 5 sea days we’ll probably do a lot of reading.
4/28
– Fri – at sea, Day 1 of 5 - "Bali Hai, Good-bye"
I
was a good girl and started my day w/Zumba. Fun class as usual, and helps get
the blood flowing. The funny part came at the very end of the day, as we were
coming back from a most excellent evening of music with the acoustic guitar
guy, and I noted that I was just 400 steps away from my 10k for the day, and
that rewarding buzz on my wrist. Bill had been hankering to go up to the late
night bar on deck 18 aft, so I said, “Sure,” just to get the buzz. We walked in
to a rather smoky place, but the waiter came running over and informed us that
it’s just on one side of the club. So we walked over to the other side, just as
the music launched some of my Jazzercise songs. When “Uptown Funk” has the
“Woo” part, I couldn’t help myself but to throw my arm in the air & sing it
out. And of course that made the feet move to the music. Then on came “Shut Up
and Dance” which is also prime for singing along. By then we were almost back
to the entrance, headed out. People actually came running after me, saying the
party was young, don’t go!!! I said sorry, one of us likes to dance and the
other doesn’t. So it’s midnight anyway, and really a good idea to hit the hay.
We went to the pub lunch today, normally a
$12 each cover, but free today. Of course we had drinks and that caused a nap
attack. Bill had two Newcastle ales, and I was delighted to find my favorite
pear cider. I finished with a latte, so I was feeling pretty good, but poor
Bill had a huge nap attack. He said he could feel the beer after about 1 ½. He
slept the entire afternoon. I slept about an hour and a half, then went out on
the balcony & read. Around 5 I went up for my daily ice cream cone (soft
serve, not very good, but all they have at that hour), and some tea &
cookies to bring back to the room. Finally the steward woke him up knocking to
return our passports which were collected & held the whole time we were in
French Polynesia. I convinced him we should have an early dinner (6:30) to be
able to catch the comedian. He was a finalist on Australia’s Got Talent, but
neither one of us found him very funny. He did toss in a Trump joke, though... Canadians spend loonies, we elect them.
The guitar guy was playing to a very small
audience in a rather large lounge. Too bad, because he’s better than that. It
was late, though. We sat through both of his sets, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Problem is, he doesn’t know many American singers, and we don’t know many
British ones. So when he asked for requests, he didn’t know many of the songs.
Due to our earlier drinking, and a glass of wine with dinner, we decided just
to have Perrier. I’m afraid I’m going to have to give up the desserts &
cookies, as my formerly loose slacks are now snug. Rather than get out the
squeezy pants, I think it prudent to just cut back on the sweets. I don’t
overeat anything else. Bill had a plate of food from the buffet after the
comedian’s show, less than two hours after dinner. I had a glass of water. I wasn’t even vaguely tempted to eat again.
Well, maybe the warm cherry cobbler with custard sauce, but not enough to
actually do it.
4/29
– Saturday – At sea, Day 2 of 5
I
forgot to mention that last night I wore my Isotoner slippers for the evening.
I was wearing black slacks, and the slippers kinda look like ballet shoes, so I
thought, “Why not?” Bill has been wearing his slippers every night! His are
like moccasins. Anyway, this morning I was reminded of why it wasn’t a good
idea. In a vivid dream, I was awakened with a cramp in my right calf. Wearing
the wrong shoes, plus drinking alcohol is almost guaranteed to get me a cramp
back home. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that here onboard. The dream was
silly. Judy, Carol and I had ridden up Highway 9, they on bikes, and I on a
scooter. No, not the motorized kind, rather a child’s skateboard with a handle.
So already you know it wasn’t real! We were just about to head down when some
construction work blocked the way. I got around the work, but the others hadn’t
even left yet. As I went by, a worker said, “Hey lady, you lost a wheel.” Sure
enough, but I kept going. Soon 2 more wheels fell off, so I tossed the scooter
and decided I’d jog down the hill. Yeah, sure. As I was going along, a small
mountain lion began pacing me. I stopped running, as even I know you don’t run
from a wild cat. I had a yellow string, like a long shoelace, and I know cats
like to play with string, so I tossed it to the cat. I then decided this was a
very bad decision, and wondered who I could call to come get me. I worried that
someone might think I only call when I need something. For some reason it
didn’t occur to me to try hitchhiking. I was about to start jogging again when
I woke up with the cramp.
There was no Zumba this morning because
they were having a crossing-the-equator celebration. I was up with the cramp
around 8:00, but Bill was still sleeping. So I captured the dream and waited for
him to wake up. I’m reading one of those Kindle books about the woman forest
ranger who solves murder mysteries. We looked in the library yesterday, and
there was absolutely nothing there then.
We ended up spending most of the day in
the pool area, reading our Kindles and hopping into the pool & hot tub
& back in the pool. Last night we were out on the balcony looking back, and
got quite a show of lightning far in the distance. We didn’t hear any thunder,
so it was a long way from us. It’s so black out there. I heard they have a star
gazing program one night.
I’m afraid I was a bit of an entitled
passenger today, as I went into the afternoon buffet to make a sandwich for
lunch. The only meats they had were ALL pork. There were 8 different varieties
of ham, salami, bacon, mortadella, etc. EIGHT! And not a single chicken or
turkey offering. I asked, and the young gal behind the counter got all huffy,
saying they change what’s offered every day. I said yes, but all the things are
ham, ham, and more ham. And I would like either turkey or chicken. She said
she’d go downstairs to see if she could get something. She came back after a
long time, as I was standing there with my roll, lettuce & tomato. I said,
“You know some religions forbid eating pork, like Muslim or Jewish.” And she
had the nerve to ask in a snotty way, “Are YOU Muslim or Jewish???” I felt like
I should hunt down the manager, but she did show up with some turkey, so I had
her plunk 2 slices on my sandwich and got the heck out of there. I was on the
verge of just putting ham on the sandwich, even though it wasn’t what I wanted.
We had dinner tonight with 4 older ladies.
Bill was the king of the table, with his harem of 5. I’m really getting tired
of all the food, so I ordered the appetizer fettuccini alfredo, and had them
add steamed vegetables to it. It was perfect. After dinner we went to a very
disturbing movie, “American Pastoral.” Since I have no real internet, I
couldn’t go to IMDB to get a synopsis & reviews. At the end, both of us
were just scratching our heads, wondering what it was even about. It was weird
and disjointed.
So now we’re back in the northern
hemisphere, heading for 2 days in Hawaii, then home. We’re really missing
Janie, and each time we get a text with a pic from Julie, it gets worse. She’s
sooooo stinkin’ cute.
Off to bed, hoping for no more
weird dreams.
4/30
– Sun – At sea - Day 3 of 5
I
had a hard time getting to sleep last night, due to the tickling cough that
still lingers. It was 1:30 the last time I checked the time. There’s a lot of
perfume around, and that sets off both of us. Also I think the AC is affecting
us. But I still had a very good night. We drank a lot of sparkling water last
night, so I did have to get up to use the facilities around 4:00AM, but I went
back to sleep until 8. That was just about perfect, being that I had the alarm
set for 8:30 in order to make the Zumba class.
They had an equipment malfunction about ¾
of the way through the class. The music just stopped in the middle of a song.
Poor Mikey had to reboot, and we had to just move about a bit to keep warm. And
boy was I ever warm today. I worked up a sweat that drenched my t-shirt. When I
got on the elevator, I said, “Pardon my sweat!” Most everybody feels guilty
that they don’t go, so it really was OK. I was noticing this morning that in
class I see the largest group of “normal” looking folks in class than anywhere
else around the ship. The common sight is either very old, or very fat people.
The fat ones don’t seem in the least bit bothered about baring it around the
pool, either. Old fat guys in Speedos? Yeah, no thanks. Of course they have every right to dress however they feel comfortable. And I have every right not to look. The fat ones
are also seen around the buffet a lot. Personally I’m about done with all the
eating. 3 big meals a day is just too much. I'm much happier with just some
yogurt before class then a light lunch. Today we went to the dining room for
lunch. I wanted to just have ice cream, but in order to keep in sync with
everyone I ordered a salad first. Most of the people were having lobster at
dinner, but obviously not us since we're allergic. We sat at a table with 3 Aussie couples tonight. We had to listen carefully with the accents, but they were quite entertaining.
We spent time in the classic deck chairs
out on the promenade deck today. The breeze was perfect, and it’s protected
from the sun. I finished my Nevada Barr novel then went to enter it in my book
log and got distracted by a silly high school romance movie on TV. Bill was
waiting for me up at the buffet, but he had his Kindle, so didn’t miss me!
 |
| It's not fancy unless I wear the sequins |
It was formal night again, and I think I
felt my mom smiling down on me as I wore her sequin top. I try to wear it once
on each cruise. I know how she always liked to wear it dressing up, and it’s
perfect cruise wear. I had Bill take my pic, so you can
see what I mean. After dinner we went to the late comedy show, and it was
pretty good.
Early to bed (midnight – just after
nailing my 10k steps), and I’ll be up for Zumba in the AM.
5/1
– Happy May Day - Mon – At sea - Day 4 of 5
Every year on May Day I think of all the
years as a child where I’d go deliver a green plastic strawberry basket of
flowers to Opal Blohm, across the street from our house. Of course directed by
my mom, I’d put the basket on her porch, ring the bell, and run hide until she
came out and got them. A couple times I had to do it twice, because she didn’t
hear. Obviously she knew what was up, but Hank & Opal had no children, and
provided a lot of parent-like support to my parents since their moms lived in
Canada and Arizona. Opal would have made a great mom. Hank liked to paint, and
did landscape reproductions. We “kids” (now in our 60’s & 70’s) still have
the paintings done by Hank.
When the alarm went off today, I just kept
thinking I would love to roll over and go back to sleep. I actually tried, but
it wasn’t happening, so I resigned myself to going to Zumba. It was a good
class, but not quite as hard as yesterday. Mikey promises us “reduced
choreography” for tomorrow since he’s feeling the effects of teaching so many
classes on top of his regular schedule as asst. cruise director. He said to
bring our friends, who maybe haven’t done it before, and he’ll break down the
moves. After that, he gets 2 days off from teaching, and probably a day in HI
to go surfing.
As an esteemed Platinum guest, tonight was
our invitation to the Captain’s cocktail party. On this trip, it doesn’t make
much difference since there are over 1,000 in that status. Most people can’t
manage to get away for a 30-day cruise, so it makes sense that the super
cruisers would abound on cruises like this. A few people are getting off in
Honolulu, but most are going on to LA, another 5-day stretch of sea. It seems
like so long ago since we were home. 2 more ports and we’re done. But with 2
more cruises already booked, we’re not sad.
We finished the evening with yet another
movie under the stars, also starring Dev Patel, “The Man Who Knew Infinity.” It
was about math theory discoveries in the 1920’s, things about which I have
absolutely no clue. Other than not knowing what they were talking about, and
the English accents, it was a pretty decent movie. Bill couldn’t take it,
though and just went back to the room to read. The problem with the movie seating
is they have 1-hour lounges, but the movies are 1 ¾ hours long. My
tailbone was talking to me by the end. I kept squirming around, trying to find
a more comfortable position. I guess I should wait until the next night, when
they generally show the movie again in the indoor theater. First world problem.
May
2 – Tues – Day 5 of 5 at sea - "Land Ho, Not Don Ho!!"
A bit
of unexpected circumstances turned out to be a rather good thing for most of us
passengers. Unfortunately for one person who took ill last night, we had to
steam full speed ahead to get close enough for a helicopter evacuation. That
happened around noon, and the captain said in our speed to meet up with the
helicopter, we were then only 75 miles from Hawaii. So we saw it appear in the
distance this afternoon, then got to cruise back & forth slowly, and could
see the steam where the lava was hitting the water. That was a first for me.
Tomorrow we meet face-to-face with INS, so they can compare our passports to
our pics, then we get to set foot on land, after so many days bobbing around. I
doubt that we’ll find internet, since our goal is to visit the beach parks
nearby. Our immigration appointment is at 7:45 in the morning, so we have to be
up and at ‘em pretty early. Bring close to shore, I suspect we’ll have better
internet on the ship tonight. Sometimes out there in the middle of the ocean,
it’s sooooo slow.
I finished another Kindle book today,
since there’s nothing left in the library. I was very pleasantly surprised that
it was actually a pretty good
mystery/legal thriller, Irreparable Harm (Sasha McCandless Legal Thriller #1)
by Melissa Miller. My life at home seems so foreign right now. I use an alarm
to get to my 9:30 exercise class. Yeah, at home that’s a 6:00AM class. But in a
mere week, we’ll be back to it.
Sometimes I think I'm totally out of step with the world when I see cruise line entertainment and find it so ghastly I think I'm going to expire, while people around me are wildly clapping & singing along. We suffered through one such act, an older woman (bless her heart for keepin' on keepin' on, but geez...), Toni Stevens. You look, and tell me if that's what you'd call good entertainment. Toni Stevens Sample The joke I remember... You know how the cabin stewards always fold the toilet paper into a V? Well, she refolded it each time she used it, so the steward thought she didn't poo for 4 days, and instead of a chocolate on her pillow, he left a prune. Yeah, whatever.
5/3
– Wed. Hilo, HI
At 7:45 this morning, my deck had to file
past the US Immigration folks in order to get cleared to leave the ship. Our
ID’s were checked and re-checked coming back into the port and onto the ship.
We headed out in the morning to catch a free shuttle to town, stopping at the
Walmart. Normally that’s a store that wouldn’t find us anywhere near it. But
today? We figured it would be a free ride to some free internet. The bus was
very large and nicely air conditioned, but we just missed the count and had to
wait for the next bus. So we wasted close to 30 minutes just getting there.
Once there though, we discovered screaming internet. Bill was able to download
over 300 emails. We were actually planning to go to the Starbucks across the
street, but at that point, we saw no need to do that. We figured we could do
some souvenir shopping at Walmart then head back to the ship and catch a taxi
to a black sand beach. I found two cute little outfits for Janie, and some
orchid hair ties for Julie & Sarah. We also chatted with Bill’s mom as we roamed around there store.
 |
| It's so fun shopping for girls |
We were in line to get on the bus to go
back to the ship, and would have made it, except a group of Chinese people
pushed their way through to the front, mob style. The rest of us who were being
polite just kinda looked at each other in a shocked way. The front of the
line/mob was in the sun, but there was a very long shady walkway which seemed
to be the logical place to line up. So I appointed myself chief, and started
organizing everybody. The first 10 or so had witnessed what happened and agreed
that something needed to be done, and in a crazy movie scene being played out,
I used my big booming voice to tell everyone to back up to the shade, and form a
line to the right, being sure to stay in the shade so nobody got over heated.
Well, they all hopped right to that, so I left Bill at the head of the line to
monitor that while I went behind the line to direct people coming out of the
store to the rear of the line. “Bus back to the ship? The line is right over
here, and the bus will be here soon. Be sure to stay in the shade so nobody
gets overheated.”
I had about 60 people in line by the time
I boarded the bus! And the best part was the line procedure continued even
after I got on. About the 10th person who got on handed me $2,
folded up, tip-like, and he and his partner said that was for my amazing work
taking charge. So as I got off, I gave it to the driver and told him what
happened. He was a little puzzled about why there was no big rush. Sometimes I
crack myself up. It made me think of bossy little Meredith, telling all the
other kids what to do. Some of the people thought I worked for the bus company.
But my fish bag should have been a hint that I didn’t.
We got back, had some lunch, then went
back out and got a taxi to the beach, about a 10-minute ride away. The driver
told us where the best swimming was, and asked what time we wanted to be picked
up. It was just a $13 ride, and a great decision. We saw some of our fellow
passengers on the beach, and found someone who would watch our stuff while we
went in the water. While we were at Walmart, we bought some large swim goggles
that we took to the beach. There weren’t a lot of fish, but enough to make it
worthwhile. We saw a lot of angel fish and parrot fish, and some others that
were familiar but I couldn’t remember the names. The water temp was perfect,
there were just the right number of people there to feel safe but not crowded.
The taxi showed up right on time, 2 hours later. When we got back onboard, we
stopped by the laundromat to see if by chance there might be a washer open, and
there was, so we popped our clothes in, then went up to the pool to float
around some more. I had to make a trip back to switch the clothes to the dryer,
but then went back to the pool. We decided since I had been so lucky today,
maybe we should try the slot machines tonight.
While at the pool, I saw the guys who gave
me the tip, and I asked if they worked in a business where they’re tipped. No,
but they had waited tables in the past. They got the idea because they were so
disgusted, they were about to get a taxi. I found out they’re Steve and Fabio,
and it seems that Fabio once worked on a cruise ship as a dancer. They live in
Las Vegas. I’m sure we’ll see them around again.
Alas, we tried our luck in the casino, but
we both lost $20 over about a half hour, and called it quits. We never gamble
more than that, even if we haven’t spent our daily $10 limit for several days.
Full day in Honolulu tomorrow, with
10:30PM all aboard. We’re not sure what we’re going to do, since shopping is
done, sun maximum reached, absolutely no desire to go on a dinner cruise, being
that we go on one every night, already been to the USS Arizona Memorial (which
is way too crowded anyway), Polynesian Cultural Center, etc.
5/4
– Thurs – Honolulu
Facing a huge line for the shuttle to the Ala Moana shopping center, we opted to share a taxi with another random couple we met
outside. I swear, we did more shopping in one day than we’ve done in the last
35 years! But the first order of business was to get some decent coffee. That
accomplished, we started browsing the stores, but it’s a mega-mall, just like
we have back home, with all the same stores. We were at our second coffee stop
when a hula show started up on the stage just below where we were sitting. So
tick the schmaltz off our to do list for today, and back to more shopping.
We
were in the Gymboree store when Julie called to give us a FaceTime visit
w/Jane. Eddy was fixing peanut butter & jelly sandwiches in the motorhome,
and Jane was standing on the couch looking out. They were so happy, and so far
the only issue with the motorhome is that you can’t leave the tp in the dispenser
as you go down the highway, because it unrolls itself. There’s a cupboard handy
right next to the pot, so that’s where we should keep it. OK then!
Bill was enjoying the Tesla store while I
browsed a jewelry kiosk outside. I ended up buying earrings for the girls. Of
course we had to buy some traditional chocolate covered macadamia nuts to bring
home, and we mailed our last 2 postcards back home, to Bev & Joan.
Bill decided he wanted to eat lunch at the
mall, but after studying the directory, and walking around everywhere, nothing
seemed appealing. It was way too loud everywhere to make any phone calls, so we
gave up on that idea. Bill eventually settled on Chinese from the food court,
and I had mango shave ice. It’s not like we’re starving after all!
 |
| Yum! Mango shave ice |
 |
| We loved all the shirts at Rix, but had to just pick two |
We asked the clerk in the Walking Store if
there was a place that carried XXL sized Hawaiian shirts, and she got so
excited, directing us upstairs to a store called Rix. Their fabrics were bold
and different than any of the other shirts Bill has. Not a bargain, mind you,
but some really nice shirts that were long enough to cover his belly, and 100%
cotton or cotton with a bit of linen. YAY! We told the guy at the store that he owes her a coffee.
When we couldn’t take another minute of
shopping, we set out to catch the shuttle back. We walked all over, asked
several people who worked at the mall (security and customer service office),
and both directed us to a place where we sat for quite a while, but no other
people came, and no bus came. So much for that idea. We walked back and caught
a taxi.
When we got back, we immediately went to
the pool to cool off. All that walking left us pretty sticky. We could have gone
back out since all aboard wasn’t until 10:30 tonight, but we were just done at
that point. We got over 14k steps today, but fortunately both of us were
wearing good shoes. Instead of getting dressed to go down to dinner, we just
grabbed something at the grill by the pool. I had an orange chicken sandwich,
which wasn’t too bad, and a Strongbow cider, and Bill had a chili burger and
two beers. That left us both even more gumby, so we went back to our room and I
watched a rom-com (Kate Hudson, where she works as a stenographer for a
frustrated writer), and Bill continued playing politics on FB. Eventually we
decided we should round out our dinner with some fruit, so we went back
upstairs and stayed out for the sail away. It’s now 12:30, and I need to get to
bed so I can get back into my Zumba routine. Yeah, g’nite!
5/5
- 5/7 – Fri-Sun - First 3 of 5 days at sea
I
haven’t written because there’s nothing to say. We eat, sleep, read & watch
movies. Occasionally we’ll go for a drink or play the slot machines. Onboard
entertainment is abysmal, so we don’t even bother to go any more. Zumba was
canceled Saturday because of onboard emergency drills for the crew. The day
before I didn’t make it because I was up in the night with heartburn, and today
the instructor showed up late, with apologies. We still had a class, but it was
just over a half hour, not the usual 45 minutes. Weather has turned cooler
(high 60’s), so we’re not inclined to hang out at the pool. I guess this means
it’s time to come home. I read an entire chick lit book yesterday (Elin
Hilderbrand’s The Rumor) and plan to do the same over the last 3 sea
days. We already got our disembarkation instructions, so the end seems real.
We’ll be home on 5/10.
Mon
5/8 – Day 4 of 5 at sea – "More Time? No Thanks!"
Ah,
but it’s not all fun & games. Seems we’ve run into some heavy seas, and I
spent the entire day in bed today. I was up in the night due to the sound of
balcony furniture sliding around, then when the alarm went off, the rocking
& rolling was so ridiculous, there was absolutely no way I’d attempt to
dance in that environment. It was time to get up and get something to eat at
noon, but as soon as I stood up, it was, "Nope!" I felt nauseous. I told Bill to go without me.
I took a Phenergan, but I guess it takes a while to take effect, as shortly
after that I had dry heaves. Bill came back with some French bread and little
packaged breadsticks for me, so that’s pretty much what I ate during the day. I
started to feel better in the evening even though we were still going through
huge swells. The whole ship rattles, groans, and sways. You would definitely
not be happy.
I watched a few movies on the TV in the
cabin, but nothing noteworthy. “You’ve Got Mail,” kind of a classic, and a
recent Woody Allen movie “Café Society” which I’d never heard of, and now I
know why. I always get “You’ve Got Mail” mixed up with “Sleepless in Seattle”
and “When Harry Met Sally” since they are the same general era.
Tonight I felt well enough to go to
dinner, but ordered mild stuff. I even tried to order chicken noodle soup off
the children’s menu, but they didn’t have it tonight. I did my DIY appetizer
fettuccini Alfredo with steamed vegetables for my main course. They had a
strawberry sorbet palate cleanser, so I had that both for my appetizer course
and my soup course.
After dinner we actually went to the
production show, a glittery disco show, and Bill didn’t hate it! Coming out
after, we heard our favorite guitar guy playing in the pub, so we went in there
and listened for a bit, then we went down to the casino to make our $10
donation to the slot machine. We found one that has an interactive event when
you match the bonus wheels. You get to grab for money on the screen, for a set
amount of seconds. We can usually get about $7.50, which isn’t bad off a 20₵ bet!
Oh, such high rollers we are.
Down on deck 5, like on the other ships,
the International Café is open 24 hours a day. That’s where we get the lattes.
So after gambling, we stopped by there for a bedtime snack. And now I’m
thinking I should take advantage of my last hour of free internet while
everybody else is in bed, so hopefully I’ll get a little better speed. I hate
to use up all my minutes trying to log on and off. It’s seriously annoying.
Well, one more day at sea and a little
flight up from LA, and this 35 days for 35 years will be over. Overall, I think
it was a good choice, but I did hear some people who held out for the last
minute deals ended up paying considerably less than we did. But we had a
balcony, and I’m not complaining. We’ll probably find similar deals on our Alaska cruise this summer, but then we’re facing last minute air fares. Hard to win that one.
Since the service in both the dining room and buffet was spotty, we decided to remove half of our automatic tips added to the account, and use it to reward the specific employees who we felt deserved it. Our cabin steward was perfect (like they usually are), and the hostess at the dining room was exceptional, always remembering us by name, and taking time to chat.
 |
| Maria was so sweet |
5/10
- HOME: OMG, what a dork. I bought earrings for Julie and Sarah, but was
mortified to discover that Sarah doesn’t have pierced ears. OK, faux pas, but
probably forgivable, since Sarah is still the fiancé, not yet my
daughter-in-law. Oy. We have our priorities right… family before all else. I
have unpacking, laundry, bills, etc, but we got our baby kisses tonight, so all
is well.
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