Lessons learned, love shared: Golden Princess to Hawaii 3/27/13

Our Princess Pop Choir group had been instructed by Deputy CD Marahscalh to meet at 9:00 (15 minutes before our performance) by the midship stairs behind the Piazza.

 

 

After everyone arrived and Marahscalh gave us a pep talk and some final reminders, we stood in a circle putting our hands in the middle like a football team. The ship was tossing around in the rough waves at this point, making it difficult at times to keep our balance. But "the show must go on," so when it was time for our performance to begin, we formed a line and walked down the Piazza stairway, holding the handrail to steady ourselves. Then we formed a semicircle in the middle of the Piazza.

 

Marahscalh enthusiastically introduced our group to the waiting crowd, and then provided some introductory words for

. Trying to perform our choreography moves became quite challenging with the motion of the ship, and as we stepped from side to side we sometimes started falling on each other.

 

The rockiness of the ship didn't seem to be captured on the videos, but you can tell when we experienced some jolts by watching for our occasional laughs and the laughter from the audience. The ladies' choreographed shimmies in the middle of the song also produced some laughter, as expected.

 

 

When we struck our "John Travolta" pose at the end of Oh What a Night, the crowd in the Piazza erupted with applause! Their enthusiastic response helped me to relax a little and stop worrying that we might embarrass ourselves.

 

The choreography on

was a little simpler, so we didn't have quite as much trouble keeping our balance.

 

 

On

, the men sang while the women first primped themselves, then paraded in a circle, blowing us kisses.

 

 

The camera captured me giving Terri the eye while she blew the first kiss. (About

, you can see where Terri almost lost her balance due to the ship's movement.) Edited December 19, 2013 by terrific_surprise

As the Golden Princess rocked in the waves, our Princess Pop Choir concert continued with the women singing

, the song where Marahscalh had instructed us men to swing our hips like Tom Jones.

 

 

Fortunately for me, the camera missed our moving hips, instead focusing on Marahscalh's flamboyant direction, but the cheers emanating from the audience seemed to indicate that they enjoyed it.

 

 

Marahscalh introduced

by referring to our little singing group as champions, encouraging the audience to cheer us on to our finale. Singing along with us the entire time without missing a beat, Marahscalh demonstrated his amazingly versatile range, seeming to flow effortlessly from bass to soprano.

 

 

Shirl was literally the highlight of the performance, excitedly waving her phone light as we sang. Although as a performer I always seem to think more about our flaws than our accomplishments, our fellow passengers' enthusiasm made us feel like we really were champions.

 

Our final number was

, which we had just practiced for the first time a few hours earlier. As Marahscalh introduced the song, the reason that he had not been concerned about our lack of practice immediately became obvious: he had intended all along to make it an audience participation song.

 

 

Shirl started the crowd clapping, and with everybody joining in we could just relax and enjoy our final minutes in the spotlight.

 

At the end of the performance, after the crowd finish cheering wildly, Marahscalh invited us to join him nearby at Vine's. He passed out champagne glasses to all of us, but when he got to Terri and myself, he asked if he should get us something else. I told him that I would have what everyone else was having, but Terri said that she would prefer the ginger ale, so Marahscalh (seeming happy to have the opportunity to cater to Terri's request) left for a couple of minutes to locate some ginger ale.

 

After all of our glasses were full, it was time for a toast. Marahscalh was going to start, but one of the men in our group interrupted him to tell him how much we appreciated his leadership. Then we spontaneously began singing

.

 

 

Some (including, I confess, myself) were apparently not very experienced with toasts, beginning to drink the champagne before the appropriate time.

 

Video excerpts from our entire Princess Pop Choir performance, including our post-performance toast, can be viewed together in a

.

 

It was about 10:00 by the time we finished chatting with our Pop Choir friends in Vine's, but the night was still young. After all, it was New Year's Eve!

 

(Wait a second -- New Year's Eve isn't in April!)

Edited December 19, 2013 by terrific_surprise

Hello, I been following your review for a very long time, are you still posting,it would be nice to get to the end of it before a year has past. There is slow, but your postings are beyond slow, I would love to read all the way to the end of your cruise experience before I go on my next cruise to Hawaii. Just please let us readers know if you are done or even better get to the end of it soon. Your last posting was on page 7, it is becoming harder and harder to find you.

Hello, I been following your review for a very long time, are you still posting,it would be nice to get to the end of it before a year has past. There is slow, but your postings are beyond slow, I would love to read all the way to the end of your cruise experience before I go on my next cruise to Hawaii. Just please let us readers know if you are done or even better get to the end of it soon. Your last posting was on page 7, it is becoming harder and harder to find you.

 

So you don't have to search pages to find the thread, simply subscribe to it and then you will get notification, if you choose that option, when a new posting on the thread appears. Instead of choosing email notifications, though, I simply click on "User CP" (User Control Panel) toward the top of the computer screen on the left-hand side. It then displays all the threads that I subscribe to that have new postings.

Sorry for the many delays in writing this review. This most recent delay of course related in part to Christmas, but tonight we are preoccupied with a big baby shower for about a dozen moms.

 

I'm still not done with the review of course, but it's nice to know that you're interested. I certainly do agree that this has been "beyond slow," but there are still some significant ups and downs of the final days of our cruise that I need to share.

 

I have set (and missed) several goals for finishing this review, so I'm almost afraid to say that I do hope to get to the end of the cruise by the end of the year. But if you're wise I'm sure you won't bet on it.

 

Tim

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Sorry for the many delays in writing this review. This most recent delay of course related in part to Christmas, but tonight we are preoccupied with a big baby shower for about a dozen moms......

 

Tim

 

 

Tim, no need to apologize! It is wonderful to see your posts, and when I get the notification that there is a new one it is a special treat to go and read it. I really appreciate the detail you provide, and the pictures as well.

Thanks for the review, great. We are on Golden for 31 days around South America on March 1. Oh dear those Princess Pop Choir numbers have not changed in the last few years, looks like I will have to sing them again, no song sheets needed !

No complaints about the "slowness" of this review from me either. I'm actually enjoying the pace. It's something to look forward to.

When our post-performance celebration at Vines wrapped up, we decided to go to the Princess Theater to see British Invasion, having heard other passengers speaking highly of this production show. Entering the lower level of the theater from Deck 6, we found ourselves near the front rows as the show was just about to start. We noticed two open seats, right next to some familiar faces. Dare we try to sit by them? I didn't see any other option.

 

The show was a dazzling display of laser lights, choreography, brightly animated sets, and music.

 

 

 

Having just experienced firsthand the challenges of performing simple choreography on a rocking ship, we were impressed by the fact that these performers never seemed to miss a move.

 

 

Many of the performers were recognizable from the Motor City show we had seen earlier in the cruise.

 

 

The British Invasion songs seemed more disjointed than the Motor City show (where it had seemed that the sequence of many of the songs flowed together to tell a story). I wasn't familiar with some of the songs, but I'm sure that simply indicates that my knowledge of UK-based groups is quite lacking. I think I did recognize all of the Beatles songs, which were of course featured prominently. Several of the other songs I recognized seemed to push the boundaries of what I would have thought defined the British Invasion (which I would associate primarily with the 1960s) and in some instances I hadn't previously known that there was any British connection to some of the songs.

 

 

Nevertheless, the show was very entertaining, as I shifted my mind into neutral and just allowed myself to be immersed in the musical/visual stream of consciousness emanating from the stage.

 

Near the end of the show, I finally found a moment when I could discreetly turn my camera away from the stage to try to quickly snap a photo of the couple sitting next to us.

 

 

Perhaps you can't tell from this somewhat blurry photo, but we had been sitting next to Dave and Leialoha of Elua! By now you might think it would have been nothing special to see these two. We had seen them almost every day of the cruise, typically leading classes or performing their songs (or sometimes even just sitting at a table eating).

 

But we felt like we had VIP seats, experiencing this performance next to the two performers who had been such an important part of making our cruise so special.

Edited December 29, 2013 by terrific_surprise

Awesome, Tim. Keep going. Can't wait to read the "rest of the story." Thanks to you and your good advice, I'm able to post photos in my review...which I hope will get done tomorrow. May the new year bring you and your wife and family God's every blessing.

Awesome, Tim. Keep going. Can't wait to read the "rest of the story." Thanks to you and your good advice, I'm able to post photos in my review...which I hope will get done tomorrow. May the new year bring you and your wife and family God's every blessing.

 

I'm glad that I could help, and I look forward to seeing your review and photos. Here's hoping for many new blessings for you and your family in the new year too.

 

Tim

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your review so far. I want to wish you both a wonderful 2014, both for you and your family.

 

May God richly bless you all this coming year.

 

Brenda, Gladstone, Missouri

Several of the other songs I recognized seemed to push the boundaries of what I would have thought defined the British Invasion (which I would associate primarily with the 1960s) and in some instances I hadn't previously known that there was any British connection to some of the songs.

I felt the same way about that show. Some of the songs seemed newer than what I would define as the British Invasion era. But I still enjoyed the show. It was very fast paced and the performers were great.

I'm getting through this wonderful review, and haven't been far enough to see if anyone has told you, but there is one Vancouver to Hawaii one way cruise in 2014 on Sept 16, and one from Hawaii to Vancouver on April 23, but this one seems to be sold out.

 

Sorry, this was the first time I used quick reply. It was something for Cr8tive1, in response to this, which I wanted to quote:

 

I have been waiting for Princess (lobbiest) to put the pressure on our congressmen to add an addendum to the Jones Act or similar restriction. There are only a few coast to island cruises (usually only repositioning ones). I wouldn't hold my breath for this to happen in my lifetime (it was possible 60 years ago).

 

I am jaded and the NCL cruise around the island is a great itinerary (and I have done it), but prefer Princess to do the round trip. The experience on NCL just isn't the same as your foreign serviced fleets.

 

Thanks Tim for all your recognition. Hopefully, I did not misdirect you too many times. And you did not miss Diamond Head. Once on H-1, you can't see it anymore.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Amuse Bouche

I'm getting through this wonderful review, and haven't been far enough to see if anyone has told you, but there is one Vancouver to Hawaii one way cruise in 2014 on Sept 16, and one from Hawaii to Vancouver on April 23, but this one seems to be sold out.

 

Sorry, this was the first time I used quick reply. It was something for Cr8tive1, in response to this, which I wanted to quote:

 

I have been waiting for Princess (lobbiest) to put the pressure on our congressmen to add an addendum to the Jones Act or similar restriction. There are only a few coast to island cruises (usually only repositioning ones). I wouldn't hold my breath for this to happen in my lifetime (it was possible 60 years ago).

 

I am jaded and the NCL cruise around the island is a great itinerary (and I have done it), but prefer Princess to do the round trip. The experience on NCL just isn't the same as your foreign serviced fleets.

 

Thanks Tim for all your recognition. Hopefully, I did not misdirect you too many times. And you did not miss Diamond Head. Once on H-1, you can't see it anymore.

 

There's usually some one-way's to Hawaii from the West Coast. Many are from other cruiselines such as RC that go between Hawaii and either Vancouver or Ensenada. Some are repo cruises for ships that are heading back to Australia. But again, just to clarify, it is not the Jones Act, but the PVSA. I know that sometimes Princess uses the wrong law (whoever wrote the Patters for our first Hawaiian cruise kept using the Jones Act, and I had to restrain myself from going to the front desk to point out their mistake just in case it caused some confusion).

Wow. I've been reading each post all day long now. I know more about your cruise than the Hawaii cruise I took in April! The depth of your descriptions is astounding. I now feel like I didn't pay attention to a moment of my vacation.

 

I mean that with all flattery intended. This must have truly been a dream for you to remember so many minute details to a photographic memory.

 

I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed this review. Over the years, I've come to rely on Cruise Critic postings to meticulously (altho, not as well as you) plan our experiences and not miss anything we would love. Unfortunately, when we were primarily cruising on HAL, there were a few times when all of the complaints, rantings and negative posts only prepared me for battle with any known disappointments I'd read about. I leave CC occasionally for extended periods because I'm aware of the dismal effect it has on me. When I was booked on the Zuiderdam, I fully expected that my entire investment was going to be ruined by faulty plumbing. As fate had it, our toilet didn't work most of the time on that cruise...but you know what? Reality hit me when it happened that it's just a toilet. It broke, they fixed it and then it broke. I wasn't on vacation to use the toilet. I shrugged it off and had a spectacular time in spite of it. And I realized the first day that I was allowing the negativity on CC to affect me needlessly. I then booked on Princess after a 12 yr absence in 2013 and I found much less negativity in these boards, and had a wonderful cruise on the Grand to Hawaii.

THIS. THIS exact type of review is what we all need! Small appreciations for all the little things that make us happy! The way you planned, the plans changed and you found unexpected pleasure in what came your way in alternatives! This is exactly how a vacation should happen.

Your wife is extraordinary. I love the way she rolls along with your plans, the plans that you make for her, and she adjusts and trusts your judgement when things take a new path. Bless her, and bless you for loving her so.

Thank you for taking us on 14 days of memories so far. I anxiously await the bittersweet disembarkation. Forever you will have a perfectly documented journal of a lovely two weeks of your life.

And might I add, I find it shockingly voyeuristic to read the passions left in your relationship, but I have to admit, after 20 something years and ELEVEN children, it's a testament to your love and a welcome addition to your story.

 

 

Ok, now back to my life :D Please finish soon. Oh, and P.S. If you have notes of your prospective plans on island days is summarized somewhere, I'd be very appreciative. I didn't take notes, and halfway through, realized that you did more research than I can ever do. And I'm a master at that to most standards! I can't start back at post #1 again. I'd lose an entire day of my life.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Amuse Bouche

(No, I really didn't intend to delay writing this until New Year's Eve! It actually seems kind of weird to me that it turned out this way.)

 

Exiting the Princess Theater after the British Invasion show brought us back to the Piazza, where a "New Year's Eve" party had started about 20 minutes earlier, with the band Crimson creating the party atmosphere. I never understood why they decided to have a New Year's Eve party in the middle of April, but I guess it was just another excuse for a party.

 

Not long after we arrived in the Piazza, we were handed streamers to throw down in celebration of the "New Year." Some began throwing down their streamers early, so CD Gavin Chandler gently reproved the premature revelers, telling everybody to wait until his cue.

 

Apparently sensing the impatience of the crowd,

just a few minutes after 11 (I doubt that much of a crowd would have remained had he waited until midnight). Soon the Piazza was filled with colorful streamers.

 

 

After the countdown, Crimson began playing "Celebration," which happened to be one of the musical clues on the CD I had given Terri before the cruise (of course I hadn't known that the song would be played for the New Year's Eve party, or that there would even be a New Year's Eve party, but I included the song on the CD because it is featured at the Fanfare Fountains next to the World Cruise Center in San Pedro/Los Angeles, although I don't think we had heard the fountains play it yet at that point).

 

Perhaps that song Terri had heard throughout the year leading up to the cruise put her in a dancing mood, although I found myself wondering if somebody had slipped something into her ginger ale. Whatever the case, she was uncharacteristically uninhibited, wrapping her arms around me, looking into my eyes with passion as she began to dance.

 

Unfortunately, I was almost frozen by the excitement of the moment. While Terri danced, all I could seem to muster up was a little swaying back a forth!

 

For the next 20 minutes or so, Terri danced (I swayed) as Crimson continued playing songs, with Gavin wryly introducing each succeeding song by exclaiming each time "this is my mother's favorite song!"

 

Meanwhile, children seemed to enjoy collecting the streamers from around the room, wrapping the streamers around themselves until they were almost mummified.

 

 

At about 11:30 a conga line was formed, leading to Skywalkers, where the party was supposed to continue. But when the conga line passed Explorers Lounge, we decided to stay to watch the final Princess Pop Star (karaoke) number, a tongue-in-cheek performance from CD staff members Michelle and Sasha. After lingering in Explorers Lounge a little longer, we finally found our way back "home" to the Baja Deck, being welcomed to our hallway by the now-familiar sound of the squeaky doorway.

 

I forgot to mention that on the morning of this final full sea day, I had given Terri the plumeria plant (actually at this point it just appeared to be a thick green stick) which I had purchased on Maui. Her genuine surprise indicated that she really hadn't noticed me slip that item to the ABC Store cashier that day. Looking forward to having Hawaiian flowers blooming at home was just one way in which I hoped to extend the cruise experience beyond the cruise.

 

More photos of our final full sea day can be seen at:

 

(Some of the photos include links to the corresponding videos, which are posted to my You Tube channel due to technical problems with Flickr.)

 

Of course, by the time we made it to our cabin, we were looking forward to settling into our comfortable bed. We didn't realize that we were about to face the most difficult night of the cruise.

...This must have truly been a dream for you to remember so many minute details to a photographic memory....

 

...P.S. If you have notes of your prospective plans on island days is summarized somewhere, I'd be very appreciative. I didn't take notes, and halfway through, realized that you did more research than I can ever do. And I'm a master at that to most standards! I can't start back at post #1 again. I'd lose an entire day of my life.

 

Thanks for the kind comments, Cheryl!

 

My memory may not be quite as good as it seems. This process of writing this review has involved jogging my memory with the assistance of some sketchy notes I took during the cruise. For example, the notes below (typos included) were the sum total of what I wrote during the cruise about our post-performance celebration in Vines and the British Invasion show:

 

marisc. told us to meet at vines bar afterwards, gave us champagne (terri ginger ale, he had to go get it)

stayed aroudn talking to pop choir poeple,

10:15-10:45 british invasion show, sat by elua

laser lights, not familia r with many songs

 

Along with my notes, the daily Patters helped me remember some things (and often revealed some things I had missed during the cruise), and our photos and videos of course served as a big memory aid. Many, many times I took photos or videos just to provide timestamps to help me remember later what happened (and of course most of those photos were never made public).

 

I had actually thought about doing a "live" review, but in retrospect I think that would have ruined the cruise for us and probably would have made it a lousy review (although I have enjoyed reading some live reviews and appreciate the time some CC users have taken to write them). Even with the memory aids I mentioned above, the process of writing this review has usually involved me really needing to wrack my brain, often primarily trying to remember (and discussing with Terri) the feelings we experienced when a particular event occurred.

 

Anyway, that may be more than you wanted to know, but I just share that for the benefit of anyone who is considering writing a review of their cruise. To me the details of the cruise should be secondary to the real story of how it made us feel.

 

And I suspect that the vast majority of cruisers (even the negative reviewers) feel good on a cruise, even when problems occur. I haven't been afraid to share some negative things (with some of them being an absolutely necessary part of the story, even though I was afraid at times that this review would get derailed into focusing on my wife's lost ID and our embarkation problems) but I think that those who share negative experiences here on CC should always try to find something positive to share too.

 

Regarding my prospective plans on island days, I didn't post the details here (and they're not really formatted for public consumption), but I would be glad to send them to you by email if you send me a message at terrific327 [at] gmail [dot] com.

 

May 2014 be a year of beautiful memories!

 

Tim

Edited December 31, 2013 by terrific_surprise

.............May 2014 be a year of beautiful memories!

 

Tim

 

I would definitely say dittos to that sentiment Tim! Thanks for the review. It reminds me of some of what we saw and did on our cruise this last November (BTW, we meant you two in the terminal before boarding when you did your BVE, it was a pleasure meeting both of you in person) and, also, gives me some ideas of some things to do if (or maybe, from a more positive point of view, when) we do another cruise to Hawaii. My wife and I wish you both a Happy New Year.

I would definitely say dittos to that sentiment Tim! Thanks for the review. It reminds me of some of what we saw and did on our cruise this last November (BTW, we meant you two in the terminal before boarding when you did your BVE, it was a pleasure meeting both of you in person) and, also, gives me some ideas of some things to do if (or maybe, from a more positive point of view, when) we do another cruise to Hawaii. My wife and I wish you both a Happy New Year.

 

We enjoyed meeting you two too, but I had forgotten your CC handle so I'm glad you reminded me. It was fun to learn that you recognized us from CC!

 

Blessings!

 

Tim

 

P.S. I guess it's obvious that I have missed another goal regarding finishing this review. Time just keeps marching on. But tomorrow is another day (and another year :eek: -- exactly two years from the date I gave Terri the very first hint about the cruise to come)! Wow how time flies (but I remember when it seemed like the day of the cruise would never come)!

Edited January 1, 2014 by terrific_surprise

The night before our final full day on the Golden Princess was awful. Just awful. I'll spare you the unpleasant details, but suffice it to say that being on this huge roller coaster made Terri violently ill. Someone later claimed that the waves were as high as 27 feet that night, but I never saw any official confirmation that the waves were ever higher than 12 feet. (The official log of the cruise does not mention the height of the waves, but refers to "rough seas.")

 

Terri was in such distress that she later told me that she had been trying to muster up the strength to say "please don't ever do this again!" In the midst of her anguish she felt like ruling out the possibility of ever taking such a cruise again. (But by the time she confessed this to me, she made it clear that in spite of her seasickness she really would not want to give up on cruising.)

 

Had she spoken those words to me, it probably would have settled the argument going on in my mind that night regarding whether I should go through with making the future cruise deposits I had been contemplating. Then again, perhaps I would have thought of the fact that she had actually said such words to me in the midst of some of the most difficult (yet treasured) experiences of her life, unimaginably long excruciating labors which ended with unparalleled joy as she looked into the eyes of our precious newborn children. She had long ago embraced the enigma that living an abundant life involves being willing to suffer.

 

At about 9 am, with the worst part of the waves behind us, Terri felt up to taking a shower. In spite of the trauma she had just experienced, after her shower she wrote me a message of love in the fog on the mirror in the bathroom, drawing a large heart in the middle.

 

 

Terri spent the rest of the morning resting in bed in preparation for our 11:30 dress rehearsal for the Aloha 'Oe Farewell hula and ukulele show.

 

Meanwhile, I spent some time checking my email and communicating with our son to make sure that he would be at the port to pick us up after disembarkation. With 80 minutes remaining when I logged out (and less than 24 hours remaining onboard), I began to realize that I probably would never use up all of my minutes. I'm usually no slouch when it comes to spending time on the Internet, but there are so many better things to do on a cruise than to spend time online.

 

As Terri continued resting, I slipped away from our cabin long enough to grab something from the International Cafe and to make a final decision about the future cruise deposit. One of the things I had agonized about before making this deposit was the fact that according to the form, the $200 ($100 deposit per person) would be taken out of the same bank account we used for our shipboard account, and I knew that deducting another $200 after paying the balance on our shipboard account might make us fall below the minimum balance for that bank account.

 

In preparation for the cruise, I had tried to make sure that I didn't have all of our "eggs in one basket" in case we lost our cards or something. (Although as you all know by now, my preparations fell short regarding the most important problems we faced.)

 

Along with cards which could access different accounts, I brought extra cash, and tried not to keep everything in the same place in case something got lost.

 

I used some of the cash to pay down our shipboard account at the Passenger Services Desk, alleviating the immediate financial crunch. My decision became final as my completed form fell into the box outside the Future Cruise Consultant's office.

 

In spite of the fact that I had now taken the plunge of a making a future cruise deposit, I did so with the full realization that we could receive a full refund for the deposit. I doubt that I would have dared to make such a deposit without being assured that it was fully refundable.

 

I didn't tell Terri about the future cruise deposit yet, saving it for a future surprise.

 

Having settled the big question of the future cruise deposit, I returned to Terri's side so that we could begin getting ready to go to the Princess Theater for the big rehearsal.

Edited January 1, 2014 by terrific_surprise

The waves had calmed down by the time we arrived in the Princess Theater for the Aloha 'Oe Farewell dress rehearsal, and Terri was feeling much better. We had been instructed to show some aloha by what we wore for the show, and from what I could see, everybody cooperated (and there wasn't a coconut bra in sight).

 

Before we were allowed to go on stage, we were provided with some safety instructions (primarily involving not touching anything backstage). Walking through the backstage area, I was amazed to see how small it was. How did they find room for the all of the large sets and props we had seen the night before in the British Invasion show?

 

The combined numbers of the hula and ukulele groups totalled almost 100 people, with over half of the group being ukulele players! Dave and Leialoha inflated our egos by calling us "Ukulele Masters" and "Hula Masters."

 

The first song in the show was

, which was performed by the Hula Masters (as those of us in the Ukulele Masters group stood silently behind them on risers). The stage was so full of hula dancers from end to end that I was surprised that I never saw any of them bumping into each other even when they fully extended their arms to their sides.

 

 

Then the Hula and Ukulele Masters joined together for some fun on

. Although my ukulele skills were still rough and I still sometimes had trouble forming some chords quickly enough, I wasn't anxious about this performance like I had been about the Princess Pop Choir performance. Being surrounded by so many skilled ukulele players took the pressure off.

 

 

After Little Grass Shack, the Hula Masters stepped to the sides so that the audience could focus on the Ukulele Masters during the next number,

.

 

 

When our ukulele song was over, Dave erupted with enthusiasm, waving his arms as he bounded around the stage soliciting applause for the Ukulele Masters (as can be seen in

).

 

 

Dave made us feel like we really were "Ukulele Masters."

 

The finale of the show, of course, was

, with the Hula and Ukulele Masters once again joining together, bidding farewell to our fellow passengers "until we meet again."

 

 

While writing this review, I noticed that the top of Elua's Facebook page shows the group photo which was taken at this April 9, 2013 rehearsal!

 

 

While I'm sure that Dave and Leialoha enjoy leading all of their hula and ukulele classes throughout their many cruises and I wouldn't try to suggest that we were their favorites, it feels special to see our group still featured on their page after all these months.

Edited January 2, 2014 by terrific_surprise

After the Aloha 'Oe Farewell rehearsal, we laughed when we noticed that Shirl (our favorite Princess Pop Choir member) had placed her funny pineapples on a "Mexico" hat at the International Cafe.

 

 

Although we had encountered these pineapples in various unexpected places throughout the cruise, this was the first time I had thought to snap a photo. As you'll soon see, later we (along with the rest of the passengers) would have a final unforgettable encounter with Shirl's pineapples.

 

It was lunch time, and Terri finally felt like eating, so we went up to the Lido Deck for the Mexican Buffet. Like the previous poolside buffets, it was decorated with carved fruit.

 

 

I was amused by the fact that one of the watermelons displayed at the Mexican Buffet had a Chinese character carved on it. Apparently it was a refugee from the Golden Dragon Buffet two days earlier, and of course there's nothing wrong with Princess reusing their carved fruit. (Actually it was ironically appropriate, leading me to recall that one of our Chinese refugee friends came to our country via the Golden Dragon ship, which ended up somewhere near Ensenada.)

 

The food at the Mexican Buffet was a mixed bag. For example, the tortilla chips were lousy, seeming to be the absolute cheapest mass-produced chips possible. Perhaps I have been spoiled, having enjoyed far too many great Mexican restaurants over the years, but I find it hard to believe that Princess could not have obtained better tortilla chips.

 

 

In spite of the cheap chips, the toppings were good (especially the salsa and guacamole). I also thought that the fajita meat was particularly tasty.

 

After the Mexican Buffet, we found some interesting items at the nearby Horizon Court buffet, including spinach flan and Waikiki chicken (but I forgot to take pictures).

 

Before long it was time to return to the Princess Theater for the real Aloha 'Oe Farewell! (I don't have any videos or photos of the actual performance, but of course it was very similar to the rehearsal -- although knowing that we were really saying farewell made it more sentimental.)

 

This

provides the highlights of the show (from the vantage point of the rehearsal) in about 10 minutes.

 

As the farewell show ended, we knew that the coastline of Mexico would be coming into view. Soon we would be docking in Ensenada. But first, we needed to focus on a sad task: packing up our luggage.

Edited January 2, 2014 by terrific_surprise

Sorry for the many delays in writing this review. This most recent delay of course related in part to Christmas, but tonight we are preoccupied with a big baby shower for about a dozen moms.

 

I'm still not done with the review of course, but it's nice to know that you're interested. I certainly do agree that this has been "beyond slow," but there are still some significant ups and downs of the final days of our cruise that I need to share.

 

I have set (and missed) several goals for finishing this review, so I'm almost afraid to say that I do hope to get to the end of the cruise by the end of the year. But if you're wise I'm sure you won't bet on it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Tim

What a great review! I have been enjoying it over the last couple of months. The pace is perfect for me since I have a hard time getting on here to catch up. I really appreciate the time, thought and photos you put into this. Much appreciated! I'll be on the Golden 8 months from today. :)

We had fully emptied all of our suitcases on our first night on the Golden Princess, and with all of the additional things we had accumulated during the two weeks of the cruise, fitting everything back into our suitcases was no trivial task. Among the items I decided not to pack yet were our three Elua CDs, which I had purchased from Dave Soreff by mail before the cruise.

 

That morning on the Wake Show, Dave piqued our interest by promoting the fact that after their final concert that night, they would sell (and autograph) CDs. We didn't want to miss the chance to have our CDs autographed, as they embodied some of our most precious memories (not only from the cruise itself, but from our pre-cruise experience).

 

As I worked on clearing out the closet area, Terri silently approached, interrupting my work. Now I must admit, I do tend to get irritated if Terri interrupts me when I'm focusing intently on completing a task -- but this time I didn't mind the interruption.

 

She wrapped me in her arms as her eyes filled with tears, and for what seemed to be several minutes we just gazed into each other's eyes. Thoughts of continuing the mundane task of packing melted away in the midst of that intense silence, overwhelmed by the deep emotional connection we were sharing.

 

Finally she whispered "thank you...," her voice trailing off as she became too choked up to finish her sentence. The words weren't necessary. I could see into her heart.

 

The rest of the packing could wait.