John and Diane are at it Again!

[INLAW]

The above post is for John and Diane.

Ralph

[Johnny B]

Saturday, February 1 - Day 29

Pago Pago, American Samoa

 

Hello from Charlie the Tuna! We thought there were a lot of tuna canneries in Manta, Ecuador, but this place really does it up right. According to the small billboards around, this is where the “Charlie the Tuna” idea began. Who knows?

 

When I wrote about “Pango Pango” vs. “Pago Pago” as pronunciations, I guess I still got it wrong (wouldn’t be the first time). Gene Young, our cruise director, is half Samoan (on his mother’s side) and he said that’s it’s “Pongo Pongo” with a bit of a swallowed “g.” I don’t know, but here we are and it’s hotter than the devil and even more humid. Heck, we’re from California; we don’t know what to do with humidity.

 

We arrived bright and early at about 8:00 this morning and passengers were disembarking by about 8:15. There was a welcome troop of singers and dancers, and we could see Jeff taking photos of them. We pretty much took our time for the regular morning routine and ended up getting off about 9:30, heading straight to the post office across the street to mail our one post card and send a “care package” to our kids. I think our granddaughter’s favorite part of the package will be the bag with most of the bedtime chocolates that we’ve been saving. My attitude is that if it’s not dark chocolate, it’s not worth the bother, but she loves all kinds of chocolate, so it might as well go to someone who appreciates it.

 

The package was sent and our next stop was the ATM, apparently the only one in town. The draw here was that it spits out money in American dollars, being American Samoa, so we’ve added to our stash. McDonald’s free wifi was the next plan, but. . . so sad, it was not working. That just sent us over to a cute little cafe where we paid for an hour of internet. It wasn’t much faster than the ship, but it was quite a bit cheaper.

 

The heat was beginning to get to us, so we headed back to the ship and enjoyed a very uncrowded lunch on the Lido. We thought about that bus, but several of our friends said that they took “the bus” which is a two-hour circle island tour for $10.00 apiece. We quizzed four of them - from different busses, and heard the same story: we saw lots of jungly hills, some beautiful beaches, wooden houses with family cemeteries out front, and the tuna canneries. Apparently the only stop was at the spot where the Tsunami wreaked havoc several years ago, and there’s a memorial there to the dozen or so people killed by it. It came in, with no warning, at sunrise, and if you lived in the wrong part of the island, your life was in great danger.

 

So . . . no bus, but heard all about it. Also, it seems that if you want to take a regular bus, you just have to go to a bus stop and ask the driver where it’s going; signs on the busses don’t tell you that. Apparently there was no narrative on the circle island tour, but there isn’t on the bus either, so if you want all the details, you need to go on a ship’s tour, but the folks who took those said there wasn’t much to see either except some beautiful scenery.

 

Our friend Marty (whose 81st birthday was yesterday) said that they also saw “about 20,000 churches.” It was a bit of an exaggeration, but there are a huge number of churches on the island, and on Sunday, the day we visited before, everyone dresses up in all white and attends two to three hour services. We didn’t attend because we weren’t dressed appropriately, but we stood outside a few of the churches just to listen to the wonderful singing. If you’re ever here on a Sunday, you’ll be amazed.

 

If we come here again on a weekday, I’m just going to wear a swimsuit under a cover-up and head down to Miss Sadie’s Hotel, about a ten-minute walk from the dock. There, for $5.00 apiece, you can use the beach, the pool, and the wifi. There’s also a nice beachside restaurant and a pizza parlor - what more can a person want?

 

I think there are two sea days coming up, but we’re at the International Date Line where we skip a day. I think that instead of tomorrow being Sunday, it’s going to be Monday, so I’m wondering if we go to church or not. I do know from talking to Nikki, who’s in charge of “Today on Location,” our daily newsletter, that the Super Bowl is scheduled for 12:00 on Monday - whenever that may be. It’s always a big deal, broadcast in the Queen’s Lounge, and everyone has a lot of fun. John bought a couple of squares in a pool, so we’ll be following along for the numbers rather than the team.

 

As soon as I figure out the days, I’ll get back to you.

 

 

P. S. Good luck, Shannon.

[imacruizer]

Thanks for answering my questions about the local bus. I love reading your reports from the World Voyage. Very best wishes and thanks for sharing your voyage with all of us.

[cruz chic]

Thx for the update.

[Johnny B]

Monday, February 3 - Day 30 (February 2 disappeared)

At Sea en route to Lautoka, Fiji

 

OK, today is Sunday - no it’s Monday. But then why did we go to church? Although we’ve been over the International Date Line several times, both at sea and by plane, it still never quite makes sense to me. We went to bed last night, Saturday night, and woke this morning, Monday morning. What happened to Groundhog Day? Heck, what if my birthday was Sunday? The year we sailed eastbound there were two April 20th’s, and it was our friend Renee’s birthday. By the end of her “second” birthday, she said she thought she’d had enough birthday for several years.

 

Now, however, it’s Super Bowl Sunday . . . er, Monday. We’re six hours (ignoring that day thing) behind the East Coast, so while the kickoff there is at 6:30 PM, here it’s 12:30 PM in the Queen’s Lounge. It was kind of funny to go in to Sunday (Monday) services in the Queen’s Lounge finding it looking like a Super Bowl monster had blown through, leaving signs and decorations everywhere. We ........oh my God an iceber..... (That last sentence is an addition from our friend Yuri of Black Tie - he’s on our Trivia team today - you just can’t trust him around a computer.)

 

* * * * * *

 

Anyway, it’s been all football all the time today, with the Queen’s Lounge half full an hour before even the pre-game show. As people entered, the entire right side of the entry was filled with “game food.” There were sliders, mini-hot dogs, chile, chicken nuggets, pizza, ingredients for nachos - you get the picture. Every wine steward on the ship was attired like a football referee and was making sure everyone had his/her beverage of choice.

 

Gene, the Cruise Director, began with a raffle. If your number was called, you got to take a huge inflated football and try to throw it through a huge inflated goalpost. Each of us (yes, my number was called) had three tries, and for each successful “field goal,” we earned 10 Grand Dollars (which used to be called Dam Dollars) with which to bet on our favorite team at 2:1 odds. By the time my number was called it was near halftime, and I didn’t need a crystal ball to figure out who was going to win. My one successful try earned me 10, but I just found an envelope outside our cabin with 20 of them. Score!

 

We only stayed for the first half, since by then the handwriting was on the wall, no matter how many times our friend Cheryl told us that “Manning always pulls it out in the second half.” I just figured that any game that began with a first play safety because someone who is paid incredible amounts of money can’t get the ball safely to someone two feet behind him isn’t going to end well for that team. Oh well.

 

The ship, except for the Queen’s Lounge, was eerily quiet during the afternoon, and it was a wonderful place to continue reading my Daniel Silva novel and learn more about ****s stealing art during WWII. Strangely enough, even though we didn’t do much today, we’re both pretty tired and I think will skip our dinner table tonight in favor of The Lido or even room service. Sometimes it’s just nice to kick back and relax.

[SilvertoGold]

Although I've never sailed HAL, it's on my list of lines to try. Your review has me REALLY wanted to board a Dam ship!

 

HAL ships are wonderful but remember this is a Grand Cruise and the World Cruise at that. A regular HAL cruise suffers somewhat by comparison!

 

Pretty much everything on a regular cruise is toned down from a Grand. Still excellent, especially service but quite different.

 

Hope you try a HAL cruise!

[erewhon]

Thanks for the daily updates of your cruise.

[Johnny B]

Tuesday, February 4, 2014 - Day 31

At Sea en route to Lautoka, Fiji

 

The big deal today was “On Deck for the Cause,” a charitable event that takes place at least once each world cruise (and other cruises, too). The difference this year was that it wasn’t “On Deck for the Cure” as a fund raiser for breast cancer; it was to raise money for all kinds of cancers and if the number of people participating today was any indication, it was pretty successful.

 

Because we got another hour last night, we woke up at 6:00 and headed to the gym, forgetting that we’d be getting more exercise later. We worked out for our usual 40 minutes, and then, when we returned to the room, we looked at the schedule and said, “Oh, more exercise.”

 

To participate - or at least to get the tee-shirt and wrist band - a minimum contribution of $20.00 was required, and when I was in line, I heard one man say, “I’m not going to walk and I don’t want a tee-shirt, but I’d like to contribute $50.00.” Great attitude! We paid our money, got our tee-shirts, and at 9:55 we were in the third floor atrium with lots and lots of other people wearing the same tee-shirt and ready to go.

 

The plan was that participants would walk 5 kilometers, or 3.1 miles, which is 11 laps around the Lower Promenade Deck. There were lots and lots of people who began, but as the laps accumulated, the crowds decreased and pretty soon we were able to walk at any speed we wished. John has bad knees (from tennis), but he kept up a good clip and, even though it was in the low 80’s, we walked and sweated all eleven laps.

 

Afterwards, everyone gathered where we had begun, where there were all kinds of goodies, including lemonade, water, cookies, fruit, and a really pretty cake, carrot to be specific. Everyone felt pretty good about what they had done, whether it was three laps or eleven, and especially about contributing to such a good cause.

 

We were so sweaty by the finish that short showers were required before we were allowed into polite society. By the time we got to Trivia, we were cool and collected, but we only came in third today.

 

This afternoon it was aft to the pool, where the air and the water were both 86 degrees. We lasted about 40 minutes out there, and then I just had to get into some shade. That led to a quiet afternoon, interrupted only by the book club, which met to discuss the ending and the whole enchilada of The Girl with No Shadow, the sequel to Chocolat. Some people liked it, some really disliked it, but it was an interesting discussion. After sailing from Sydney, we’re going to read The True Story of the Kelly Gang, historical fiction about Australia’s most famous outlaws. The last one captured and hanged was Ned Kelly, and I suggested that the book club have a field trip in Hong Kong to “Ned Kelly’s Last Stand,” a jazz pub near where the ship docks.

 

Tonight Black Tie performs again, and they’ve told us that this show is entirely new so we’re looking forward to it. At 7:30 there’s a didgeridoo performance in the Queen’s Lounge, but I think the Crow’s Nest is calling our names.

[rafinmd]

On the World Cruise, I hope it's "Once per segment" and not "once per cruise. I hope to join you on the walk on the final segment.

 

Roy

[Johnny B]

Wednesday, February 5 - Day 33

Lautoka, Fiji

 

What an incredible day! We were on a Cruise Critic tour and had a great time. We met at 8:15 this morning and the 40 of us proceeded to our bus and drove for almost an hour through beautiful tropical countryside and a few towns to an island near Nadi (pronounced Nandi) where we boarded a large boat that reminded us of the African Queen because it had seen far better days. It even had a plaque stating that Diana, Princess of Wales, had been aboard this particular vessel on Australia Day in 1988. It was obviously in far better shape then.

 

We sailed for about an hour out to a beautiful sandy resort on Bounty Island where we began by snorkeling out to a reef and then had time to swim in the fresh water pool or just lie on the sand. The water, like Polynesia, was in the high 80’s and absolutely wonderful to swim in. The snorkeling earned a 10 for coral but only about a 3 for fish; I guess Bora Bora spoiled us.

 

We returned to our trusty vessel for a tasty lunch and then sailed back to our original port. Because we were behind schedule, we went directly to our bus and high-tailed it back to the ship. In four world cruises, this was the first time we were ever late for an “all aboard,” if only by five minutes. Fortunately for us, one of the ship’s tours was twenty minutes later than ours, so no one even paid us any attention.

 

Even though we arrived wet and exhausted, it was time for sailaway, so we headed up to Deck 8 to join some friends for what is always a good time. Then it was time for something we had never done: a chef’s dinner in the ship’s kitchen. Today is our dear friend Barbie’s birthday, and Aart and Ellen decided to gift her with this wonderful dinner. We joined because it’s a table for six.

 

The Chef’s dinners are few and far between, rather costly and limited to only six people at a time. On the world cruise, they are held about once a month and I think cost $129 per person for food and paired wine. Is it worth it? After this evening, I would answer a resounding yes! Because this one happened to be scheduled on Barbie’s birthday, Ellen and Aart decided that it would be the perfect gift.

 

We met outside the Pinnacle Restaurant at 6:30 and were greeted by Jacques, the Cellermaster, with a bottle of wonderful Champagne. Barbie, who thought she was being taken to dinner in The Pinnacle, didn’t quite understand why there was so much attention being paid. The five of us were joined by Peter Wallis, the ship’s purser and Barbie’s good friend. When Barbie realized what we were doing, she almost couldn’t believe it.

 

We were then taken on a tour of the Pinnacle’s kitchen, which connects to the candy and pastry kitchen and then on to the main ship’s kitchen. As our tour concluded, we were seated at a table set for six in the main part of the kitchen, so that we could watch all the action during our meal. I even discovered that there were two escalators, one up and one down, to serve the passengers on the upper level of the restaurant.

 

Our menu was selected by Daniel, the head chef, and it was outstanding. Each course was paired with a wine selected by Jacques, and they were wonderful. We began with lamb carpaccio, which earned a refill of the Champagne, and then we continued with an outstanding cream of wild mushroom soup paired with Conundrum, a California white wine with which we are familiar. Next was a baked lobster tail served with green olive butter (yum!) and a vanilla cream paired with Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.

 

As a break in the serious courses, we next had a dragon fruit granite which was served in the most beautiful ice container. It looked like the ice had been frozen around a balloon, but Daniel explained that they actually have molds for this sort of thing. I don’t think I’ve ever been so impressed with a presentation as with this one. By this time, we had had more than enough to eat, but our main course was next. It was a roasted loin of venison served with braised red cabbage and parsnip chips. I expected it to be “gamey,” but the chef explained that marinating it for three days in the Pere de Famille cabernet sauvignon that accompanied this course got rid of the gaminess and made it just perfect - if a bit more than we needed at this point in the dinner.

 

Finally dessert arrived. It was a banana-peanut chocolate dome which was absolutely perfect, but then was accompanied by little chocolates and then by birthday cake. Waaaay too much - but we did our best.

 

After 2-1/2 hours of eating and drinking perfectly paired wines while greeting all the restaurant staff as they worked in the kitchen, we exited up the escalator to the upper floor of the restaurant and continued on to The Crow’s Nest to finish the evening. We didn’t even order anything to drink there; we just sat and talked about how wonderful our dinner had been and how much we loved Barbie. It was a great evening.

 

Now it’s almost midnight and I think we’ve decided that we will simply skip eating tomorrow. All told, it was a wonderful day and evening and we can’t wait until our sea day tomorrow - to recover.

[shrimp56]

That dinner sounds like an amazing experience. Good for Barbie's friends:) And lucky for you :D

Edited February 5, 2014 by shrimp56

[madera1]

What a great dining experience! Thanks for keeping us updated on your cruise.

[erewhon]

The Chef's Dinner was a super birthday gift.

Thank you.

[cruz chic]

Thx for the latest instalment :).

[Cruise NH]

Still trying to figure out who 'Barbie' is at your table. I don't want to post names here of course, but did her son used to work for Dan Quayle?

[ZSandy25]

I am also curious about Barbie, her name is mentioned many times. Did she sail on the Maasdam 2012 holiday cruise?:confused: If she did I think I might have met her...just curious.

[SilvertoGold]

I am also curious about Barbie, her name is mentioned many times. Did she sail on the Maasdam 2012 holiday cruise?:confused: If she did I think I might have met her...just curious.

 

Take a look at Jeff's blog for the last formal night, Feb 6. Barbie is the one with the short blonde hair and a V-neck blue dress.

Edited February 6, 2014 by SilvertoGold

[ZSandy25]

Thank you, not the same Barbie that I met.

[Johnny B]

No, Barbie's son did not work for Dan Quayle.

[Cruise NH]

No, Barbie's son did not work for Dan Quayle.

 

Thanks for letting me know. I could of sworn she was an old walking buddy of mine from our time in 'SAT' back when I was living in the DC area.

 

I'm enjoying your posts. thanks so much for doing them!

Edited February 7, 2014 by Cruise NH

[Johnny B]

Friday, February 7 - Day 34

Noumea, New Caledonia

 

A taste of France in the middle of the South Pacific, ringed with white sand beaches - what could possibly be better? We’ve spent the day today in Noumea, the capital and largest city of New Caledonia, a French colony in the Coral Sea. The weather here is warm and humid, the seas are blue and warm, and there are enough catamarans and yachts in the harbor to choke a horse. It is just a picture perfect place. It’s tempting to compare it to Papeete, because there seems to have been little building planning in Tahiti, but here someone clearly had an eye for blending the buildings with the environment, and it truly is beautiful.

 

After docking at 10:00, we found the HOHO bus (Hop-On, Hop-Off), paid our $15.00 each, and had a lovely (air conditioned) tour of the island. We saw the morning market, Lemon Beach (swimsuits optional), Palm Beach, some beautiful hotels like the Meridien and the Hilton overlooking the beach, the Melanesian Museum, the city center and . . . McDonald’s. Truly, that is listed as one of the stops on our tour. After making the loop, we dashed into the Casino Supermarche directly across the street from the ship and picked up a couple of nice bottles of white Bordeaux and a Pepsi Max.

 

After dropping off our loot, we decided it was time to head out for lunch and to take the computers with us to find some free wifi (pronounced wee-fee here). We walked and walked and walked - probably something in excess of a mile. That’s not very long for us, but in 86 degree heat with high humidity, I could barely keep the sweat off my face. We were almost to the shopping area that was our goal when some friends drove by and offered to drive us. It was only another quarter mile or so, but their air-conditioned rental car was just heaven.

 

We found a little restaurant called Cafe Couleur, where I had a chicken baguette sandwich and John a croque monsieur with tapenade and a salad. The cold beer and the panache tasted so good in the heat! We got our fill of wifi and John got to post some photos on Facebook (we have trouble doing that from the ship). We had walked there, but had no intention of walking back, so we whipped out our HOHO tickets and caught that bus back to the ship.

 

I don’t know if it’s age (I’d rather think not) or the heat and humidity, but after five hours of hiking and bussing around, I’m beat! Our stateroom’s air conditioning feels wonderful and the ice cold Pepsi Max just hits the spot.

[Johnny B]

Saturday, February 8 - Day 35

Ile des Pins, New Caledonia

 

The sea shades from dark blue to light blue to clearest turquoise, the sand is the texture of flour, there are pine trees (hence the name) and palm trees and the people are truly kind and friendly - what did I do to deserve this? Whatever it is, I’d better do it again and again. If Tom Hanks had landed on Ile des Pins in Castaway, he’d never have wanted to return to civilization.

 

We dropped the anchor at about 7:30 this morning and listened as the tenders were lowered so they would be able to transport us from the ship to the small dock. Although I far prefer docking ports of call to tendering ones, this place was so perfect that a big ol’ dock would have spoiled it, so I was happy to be tendering in. Actually, after people almost came to blows waiting for tenders at Easter Island in 2012, the powers that be decided that things should now be done differently - and they are. If you have fewer than 200 HAL days, you must get a tender ticket and people are called to A Deck forward by their numbers. If you’re a 4 or 5-star Mariner (or more) with in excess of 200 days, you need not have a tender ticket but just go to A Deck aft where you show the stars on your room key and get on the next tender. It seems to work well and we love it.

 

We went ashore shortly after 8:00 under grey and cloudy skies. Each passenger was greeted by local folks and presented with a woven, flower laden headband, which we saw people wearing the rest of the day. It was warm and humid, however, so we just walked with Aart and Ellen and Barbie to the beach on the far side of the island. We hung out there for an hour or so, talking about how much colder the water was here than in Bora Bora, but we really thought it felt pretty good in the heat.

 

We then decided to take the small jungly trail to the side of the island nearest the tender port, and by then the clouds had lifted, creating all shades of blue and turquoise in the water. It was truly beautiful. While our three buddies hung out at the cafe on the beach, John and I took the 30-minute walk to the old prison. Apparently the Ile des Pins was to the French in the South Pacific what Devil’s Island was to the French in the Atlantic. We wandered around the crumbly old brick buildings, looking inside and wonderful how horrible it would have been to live inside a place like this with all the beauty on the outside. I guess that’s why they’re prisons, isn’t it? Across from the prison we found a cute little (emphasis on the “little”) market where we bought a few cans of Panache and a wonderfully fresh baguette - French islands are good that way. We finished one can of the first and all of the second as we returned.

 

Once back, we found our happy little group looking over the beautiful beach, having already frolicked in the surf as much as they liked. We shared some Panache with Ellen, who doesn’t like beer but decided that this was “pretty darned good.” They asked us how much each can cost, and when we responded “$1.40,” they groaned and told us that beers at this little cafe were $12.00 US - whew! Fortunately, they sold Magnums (ice cream bars) for only $4.50 US, so we bought one for the walk back to the tender.

 

Strangely enough, on this tiny little island, another cruise ship had arrived, and its passengers were enjoying a beachside barbecue as we passed them. Then there were all kinds of stands with delicious looking food, of which we only tried one: banana beignets that just melted in the mouth. There were also ladies weaving headbands, hats and small purses out of pandau leaves - and they were offering them for free. Boy, that doesn’t happen in many places!

 

On arrival at the ship, we dropped off our bags, headed to the aft pool and just jumped in. It felt soooo good and now I’m all clean and salt-free ready for whatever comes next. It’s an early sailaway at 3:00, so we’ll be headed there soon. All I can say is that this port was as close to perfection as they get.

 

P. S. I stand corrected. I asked Barbie at dinner last night and one of her sons did indeed work for Dan Quayle, first as press secretary during the campaign and then as communications director for four years in the White House. She added, however, that she hadn’t been on the Maasdam in many years. Thanks for asking.

[Cruise NH]

P. S. I stand corrected. I asked Barbie at dinner last night and one of her sons did indeed work for Dan Quayle, first as press secretary during the campaign and then as communications director for four years in the White House. She added, however, that she hadn’t been on the Maasdam in many years. Thanks for asking.

 

Boy, I bet she was surprised that someone reading your blog knew that! So she is indeed my old friend from our 'SAT' days. My initials are C.R..

 

My husband and I will be on a segment of Cunard's QV's world cruise next year so that's why we're reading your blog so intently.

 

Keep up the good work!

[alibabacruisers]

Loving your blog! Thanks for taking us along!

[Johnny B]

February 9, 2014 - Day 36

At Sea en route to Sydney, Australia

 

Change is in the air. It’s funny how the rhythm of a world cruise goes. At first everyone is in a high excitement phase, with some passengers trying to find their way around the ship and others spending time catching up with old friends. Then we get into the “everyday” aspect of the cruise, where we figure out what we want to do with sea days and look forward to ports and then look forward to sea days to recover from them. Soon however, too soon, we come to the end of a segment, in this case, Sydney. I spoke to our friend Peter, the ship’s purser, this morning, and he told us that we are losing about 150 of our 1000 passengers and gaining about 130 more. Included in this group is a lovely young mom and her three beautiful and incredibly well-behaved children who are joining Dad and their grandparents in Sydney. We’ll miss them.

 

Another change is the weather. We’ve become accustomed to the warm, humid weather of the South Pacific and today it’s been quite different. The humidity is way down and the temperature, at one point midday was 73 degrees - downright chilly compared to what we’re used to. Even though the temperatures were brutal in Melbourne during the Australian Open (tennis), and even though it is summer “down under,” the weather is definitely feeling a change.

 

A change that no one is looking forward to is our port in Sydney. We’ll be docking at White Harbor, a new ship terminal that the city has constructed. In 2008, we docked in Circular Quay, the “heaven” of ship’s docking areas, between the opera house and “The Rocks,” below the Sydney Bridge, and right in the middle of downtown. In 2012, we docked in Darling Harbour, which was only a ten-minute walk from Circular Quay, but the ship provided a free shuttle. This year’s new destination is waaaay out there, and the literature we’ve received so far says that it’s a 30-45 minute shuttle ride from Circular Quay. Yuck! Since only one ship can dock in Circular Quay, apparently that’s not us. I have a feeling that the docking fees are less at the new terminal, so that’s where we’ll be.

 

We’re very much looking forward to spending time with our friends Greg and Heo, who are Sydneysiders, as well as Martha, who lives in Boston but is spending a couple of weeks in Australia. We’ll meet the three of them at 9:30 on our first port day (of 2), do whatever they think we’d like the first day, and then all three are coming on board for dinner that evening. On Day 2, Greg and Heo are spending the day with Spa Renee, an old friend of all of us.

 

Yesterday we were talking to our friend Cheryl, who has cruised extensively but never on a world cruise, and she said, in exasperation, “This is going so much faster than I thought it would!” She’s right, and even though we’re only on day 36 (not including the Christmas cruise), we’re a third of the way along and afraid that the rest of it will slip by just as quickly.

 

P. S. Sorry to post late - couldn't get online until now