WORLD CRUISE - 2nd segment

We are on the second segment of the World Cruise on Navigator - San Diego to Aukland. If the internet cooperates, I hope to post on our impressions of the refurbished Navigator. This is our second voyage on Navigator with 4 previous cruises on the Voyager.

We arrived in San Diego yesterday and we are now ensconced in our pre-cruise hotel the US Grant. This is a lovely vintage hotel in the heart of San Diego. I was very impressed to see Itzak Perlman (virtuoso violinist) checking in! I gushed like a groupie, and, thankfully, he was very gracious.

Weather today was horrid - high winds and horizontal rain. I hope it Improves tomorrow for our sail-away. Please feel free to ask questions as we sail along!

Fair Winds & Following Seas Jennifer & Georges--have a terrific crossing! Look forward to reading more and viewing some pix.

Princess has currently delayed three ships sailing in California until Sunday

AM.

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Forgap have a great cruise. Hope the weather settles. I enjoyed your last Voyager thread and look forward to this one too. Safe travels and have a wonderful time. Jean.

One word - jealous. Enjoy and have a fab trip

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We had an interesting morning as our pre cruise hotel, the US Grant, was ground zero for the start of the San Diego Woman's March. I would say 100,000 people gathered on the streets around the hotel to begin their peaceful affirmation of our American values. This delayed our transfer to the ship but not by much. Unfortunately, the bus had to unload us a distance from the ship. This was difficult for the aged and infirm and it didn't seem like anyone was exactly in charge but the circumstances were unusual as the march route continued right in front of the cruise ship. I was amazed that the bus could get us to the ship at all!

Before we knew it, we were on the pool deck for lunch with a glass of champagne in hand. The refurbishment of the Navigator is beautiful but everything seems so compact! We have been on Voyager for our last 3 cruises and the Navigator staterooms are configured slightly differently. It is very comfortable and we are happy.

We expect some rough weather tonight as the waves of bad weather continue their march on California.

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I am so glad to see that you will be posting from the Navigator. My mother is on the ship for the full world cruise and I was very disappointed that I could not find anyone blogging from the ship . Please continue with pictures if possible. Many thanks . Frank .

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Well now that your on the ship thing should be better. Looking forward to joining via your post-thanks so much for taking the time to do this. But enjoyment 1st and post 2nd.

Rick

Fm6175, please see this blog for the world cruise:

http://weiler2017worldcruise.blogspot.com/2017/01/next-couple-of-days.html

Day 2

We are definitely in rough seas. Everyone who is not in bed is staggering in the hallways. I took a Bonnie and put on a patch last night and slept for 12 hours. Once I took the patch off this morning, I began to feel like was in the land of the living!

Dinner last night was very good. The menu is extensive so you would have to be one picky eater not to find something that tempts you. The ship really started to rock once we started out to sea. Since we had a later than expected sail-away, most passengers were already eating. One larger than expected wave caused a monumental crash in Compas Rose everyone in the pace clapped). Our waiter said that the charger plates were stacked up and that was the crash we heard. Given that they are Versace chargers, it must have been one expensive mishap! After the crash, the sommeliers were busy proactively taking the ice buckets filled with bottles of wine off of their pedestals and placing them on the floor.

We skipped the entertainment last night which was the movie, Florence Foster -Jenkins. Today I ate cookies for breakfast an then went to the lecture by Kalewa Correa on Hawaii's environment. It was part of the Smithsonian series and very interesting.

Th captain just made an announcement that the swells re 15-18 feet with strong winds. This is the view from our balcony.

George is jealous of the seas. Have a great cruise.

Looking forward to your posts especially any info you have regarding Navigator. We hope to be on her this fall if my DH's health allows.

Have a super cruise.

I was wondering who is your Captain? Enjoying your blog. I hope the seas calm down. We will be on this cruise next year..LA to Aukland segment. Looking forward to your posts.

Welcome to RSSC Zombie Apocalypse! I haven't left our cabin all day as I'm high on scopolamine and bonine. My husband (who is not seasick) said few are out and about. It is a sunny day but there is high wind and high seas. The cabin is creaking alarmingly and the ship feels like a tilt-o-whirl. So, there is nothing Pacific about this section of the pacific! It's amusing that we sailed the Drake Passage this time last year. The seas here are much worse than the Drake-although we had an easy go of it according to the naturalists board. More later when I get my sea legs!

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Sea legs are attached now and the ship is brimming with guests in the public area. Davor (our general manager) said that we were in rough seas so we could have a true ocean experience rather than an experience in a hotel at sea. The seas are calmer now but it is overcast and chilly. We are about 1400 miles from Hawaii. Outside areas are off limits except for the pool area. The pool and hot tubs are drained.

The refurbishment of the Navigator is beautiful. My one complaint is that the public areas are very crowded on sea days with inclement weather. The coffee connection/computer area has way too much furniture in it. It's hard to get around it, and in rough weather i'm surprised no one has lurched into a stranger's lap!

Since yesterday was a lost day and we didn't feel like dolling up for dinner, we ordered room service for 7pm. You can choose from any menu and the new table in the cabin is perfect for dining.

No pictures right now as the internet is not cooperating.

forgap,

I was told on good authority that only 3 of the chargers were broken . . . not too bad.

Peggy

The infamous Versace chargers!

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:rolleyes:But no Versace jeans allowed after 6PM:rolleyes:

We had a wonderful sea day yesterday packed with activities and lectures and food. The sea was calmer so many passengers were out and about. The captain said that the weather will improve as we get nearer to Hawaii.

We had the captains reception yesterday and watched a brief film on the 25th anniversary of Regent. We have many old timers on board who sailed the original ships. They also recognized some long standing employees, including Elvis who got a robust round of applause.

Our sunrise this morning. We're looking forward to some time outside!

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It has been several days since I posted. One would think that five sea days would allow plenty of time for reading, relaxing and writing. No. Regent keeps you busy and wine at lunch requires a two hour nap which really eats into the day! We arrived late in Honolulu yesterday as the captain made the good decision to deviate our course to sail 250 miles further south to avoid the worst of the Pacific storms. Even so, we had a rocky ride! I was still feeling lightheaded when we finally arrived in Honolulu, so I opted to walk to a nearby mall specializing in local clothes and jewelry while my husband hiked Diamond Head along with hundreds of other tourists. He wasn't sure it was worth the effort but his photos from the top were beautiful.

We have a lecturer on board from Smithsonian who is a Hawaiian expert. I've been underwhelmed so far. In our last two cruises It seems that Smithsonian doesn't actually care if the lecturer is a dynamic speaker. They know the content, but the delivery is blah.

We had special entertainment last night - MAUNALUA AND THEIR LOVELY HULA LADIES. This is a local group of three men playing traditional songs on guitar and ukulele. It was spectacular! Beautiful harmonies while their wives interpreted the songs in dance. Very impressive!

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Forgap, I agree with you as regards the quality of the delivery of Smithsonian lectures. The speaker on our last Baltic cruise was very poor indeed and though I don't question his knowledge and subject expertise, any professional educator in the audience could have done a better job IMHO.

Glad the seas have calmed a little and wishing you smooth sailing for a while!

L'ai haine, Mauï, Hawaii

We anchored in the bay this morning with whales all around us - fins, tails, water shooting into the air. What a beautiful sight with lush volcanic mountains as a backdrop.

We opted to do the Atlantis Submarine Adventure as our excursion today. It sounded corny but ended up being a marvelous time with an amusing naturalist giving fish play by plays. We descended to 107 feet to the theme from Mission Impossible and we popped back up to Wipe Out. The highlight was the sunken ship that is now a reef and the "squadron" of sting rays we happened upon.

Once back on shore, we found a local joint and had lava lava shrimp and an ahi tacos washed down with local brew and then took in the tourist shops along front street. The weather was perfect - high seventies and sunny.

Absolutely stunning photos!

Great photos. Maui is lovely above or below water!

Nawiliwili was not in the stars for us today. We woke up bright and early for our 8:45 departure for "Tubing the Ditch" in Nawiliwili, Kauai. We were supposed to dock fairly early but when I turned on the TV to see our location, it looked like we had turned around. At about 9, the captain came on the intercom to inform us that we had an unexpected sea day due to 40mph winds. Nailiwili is a port that has a very narrow entry and the pilot and the captain decided that it was just too dangerous to attempt. We have been rocking and rolling all day as we navigate to Hilo, our next port. So much for the Pacific being calm!

Everyone seems to be taking the weather in stride. Last night La Veranda turned into a Luau. All Hawaiian food with the wait staff and cooks decked out in Hawaiian shirts and leis. Everyone was in good spirits and it was quite a bit of fun.

We hike a volcano tomorrow so we hope that the day goes as planned!