My Reflections on Tales of the South Pacific - Amsterdam, R/T San Diego

[Traveling Dot]

Enjoying your review. I did the 30 day South Pacific last spring along with Kazu, so I am really enjoying your take on the islands.

[RMLincoln]

Hello Kazu and Traveling Dot! I followed your thread on Pearls of the SP with great interest. I think our time of year gave us better weather but Westerdam had some advantages for you too, but not enough to make up for your lost ports.

 

Thanks to all of you for following, for your encouragement and appreciation. :) Moving on...

 

Sea Days to Fanning Island: We had set our clocks back 3 times on the way to Hawaii, so got there rested although I had a bit of a cold, nothing that limited us much. I tried to keep up with some exercise and the speakers presentations but rest and reading was good too. Hawaii gave us warm, breezy, pleasant weather and now it was feeling more humid as we sailed towards the equator; ocean temps in the mid-80s, air temps too. I enjoyed the view from our window on the low deck through the choppy seas. It’s more impressive when you are closer to the water surface. There were times while walking on the LP deck the wind was pulling spray off the wave tops and the sun shining through the spray made transient rainbows until the spray dispersed... until the next wave, magical!

 

Fanning Island (tender port) is part of the far-flung nation of Kiribati (pronounced Kira-bosh), lots of little island over a huge area. Fanning is a very small, primitive atoll with few residents and almost no infrastructure that we could see. We learned that people were transported there to maintain the seaweed farms. We really crossed the International Date Line on our way there but HAL decided to simplify the matter and ignored it, so when we arrived it was our Friday and their Saturday, but it didn’t matter to us or them.

 

Did you notice it’s a tender port? We had no priority tender boarding so we got tickets and waited until about 9:30 to be called to start ashore. There is a narrow pass in the reef to get into the atoll lagoon where the tender pier is, and there was a stiff current coming through the pass towards us that the tenders had to push against. Our tender was approaching the pass when the engines died… yup, both engines died simultaneously! The Seaman AB working with the tender pilot jumped out onto the little front deck and in a flash had an anchor deployed to keep us from being driven into the reef. The officer on-board opened the engine hatch and tried several times to restart the engines, no go. It didn’t seem that the anchor was completely holding us against the current, not good. The plan was to send another tender to tow us. This all took a bit of time but the rescue tender arrived and after a few attempts got tied to us; to begin towing us we had to pull up our anchor but because we were actually pulling it along the bottom there was no slack to be able to raise it, so they sacrificed it and cut the rope to free us of it. The tow began toward the pass because we were much closer to the island than going back to the ship but it was against the current. Thwap! The tow rope broke under the load and snapped back at the front of tender with remarkable force… and we were sitting front row, just behind the front glass hatch that the Seaman AB was going in and out of. They got a second rope tied to us and managed to tow us back to the ship. Better plan! Docking a powerless tender was tricky but they executed this quite well with care and patience. They disconnected the tow rope and repositioned the rescue tender next to us and nudged us up to the loading platform. Hotel Manager Henk had us disembark and go directly into a recreational lounge on A deck next to the tender platform area where they made sure everyone was ok and gave us each a big bottle of water to rehydrate us. Many decided not to try again to get to the island but we were game! Soon they had us on our way, about 90mminutes after we had started out. During all this all tendering had to stop, stranding many folks on the island waiting to get back.

 

I was very impressed with the well-trained response and good situation-awareness (as we’re taught in the fire department) along with quick action by the Seaman AB, so I wrote a note to the Captain commending him. We saw this young man many times in subsequent tendering operations and talked with him often. We told him we had written a note of appreciation commending his work; he was exceptionally grateful for the note and said he feared for his job. This disturbed me because what happened had nothing to do with him (unless he was responsible for the engines, which I doubt), he did everything right and it was his action that kept us safe. What wasn’t right was that both engines died together, a common mode failure, but we never got any explanation about that. The tender was back in service that same day so whatever the cause was it was quickly rectified.

 

So at Fanning Island we wandered around many makeshift tables that had displays of many baskets, shells, handmade “knives” of sharks teeth edges, jewelry, carvings… tons of lovely stuff. There were hundreds of people there, families having a picnic day with blankets and coolers of foods spread in the shade. Their gathering was for the very unusual event of a ship visiting, happens only a few times a year. There was music playing, singing, children dancing for us, young men in warrior costumes to be photographed with guests, and baskets for donations. Amsterdam’s guests were generous with filling the baskets as well as bringing school supplies and other supplies. The ambiance was so welcoming and congenial; this was quite a special stop. After finding a few baskets to purchase DH and I walked over to the pass and watched the currents, absorbed the simplicity, the beauty and the breeze while I poked through the flatted coral rocks piled up there by storms. It’s very hard for us to imagine living under these conditions but folks seemed happy and healthy. It was cute to see the young children hiding in the shade under the sales tables and playing with each other. It was mostly women selling but some men also, plus the men were managing the picnic activities. Before we sailed away Amsterdam helped them out with their fuel shortage and ferried over a couple of drums of diesel before we sailed on – we were told it was for their school bus and the next supply ship wasn’t due for a month. I think there were pallets of other supplied left there too but can’t say for sure. We departed by 3pm, a short but memorable day!

 

The sea days towards American Samoa were restful and good opportunities to catch up on some reading, take in some of the talks, and hang out. I love a cruise with lots of sea days.

 

Pago Pago, American Samoa: [Pronounced Pongo Pongo] A good place to take shore excursions early in the day because it may rain in the afternoon. We’ve seen it pour down in sheets here, drowning rains. We browsed the market stalls set up in the grassy park area just a short walk from the pier and found a pareo with turtles (in honor of the turtles we kayaked with) then browsed the museum. It was interesting to see the carved canoes (so narrow!) and how they lashed and sealed them together from short pieces of wood, the woven basket-type fish traps and the art; great little spot next to the ship. And it did rain later in the day, buckets! Our day was not very busy and we found the ship internet workable for email while others were on shore. It’s a beautiful island, as all the islands are, with the signature feature being the “flowerpot rocks” just off shore – rocks that have been separated from the main cliffs by erosion, but they have bushes and short trees growing on top and look like flowerpots. The US Navy has been here since 1900 in a deal we struck with Germany and Britain, and the museum had photos of each commanding officer from those early day up to now, it’s still a US territory. History in the Pacific is convoluted, with lots of players from afar meddling and muddling in the affairs of the locals.

 

Finally crossed the International Dateline on our overnight to Samoa (formerly called Western Samoa), and the pillow note said to push our clocks ahead 25 hours!

 

Apia, Samoa Docked in Apia a short taxi ride or ok walk to town. I wasn’t too sure how my stomach was that morning, or how the walk would be, so we got a taxi. The local tourism consultants set up in a tent on the pier gave us a local map, said that there would be a cultural show all day at the “town square” and told us the taxi price to town should be $3, so that is what we told the driver. He dropped us at the center of town across from the Tourism Center. Town was bustling with traffic on the 4-lane main road along the shore and it was warm but with a nice breeze. The Tourism Center had a big traditional fale - thatch-roofed, open sided, house - set up with chairs for maybe a hundred people and a stage. They had music and dances, Kava welcome ceremony, tap cloth making and lunch! We enjoyed the presentations and sitting in the shade for about an hour. It was a lovely cultural experience. The costumed young men and young women then brought out coarsely woven individual palm leaf platters and served lunch to any who wanted; each leaf-lined platter contained a piece of fish, taro and bananas, all prepared outside the fale. My stomach had already been an issue that morning so I said no thank you, and we moved on... it was time. We crossed the street and stopped to look at the big, bright church and then headed back toward the ship walking along the main road. We passed small shops, some modest government buildings and the big hotel – the Aggie Grey. We were looking for a museum that was noted in my Moon Handbook of the South Pacific, but we never saw it. It was hot out by the time our stroll got us back to the ship but we’d had a very nice morning. And that was enough for me.

 

Sea day before Fiji, always a welcome break. I love an itinerary with breaks. Fiji will be 4 port days in a row. There were all the usual presentations, most often at 10, 11 and one or two in the afternoon. This day the captain gave a very nice personalized and humorous talk about the Amsterdam and some his career history. While we gathered on the show lounge a time-lapse video of Captain Eversen’s Alaska glacier scenery cruises and South American glacier scenery cruises play – stunning, of course videos of only the perfect days!

 

There’s a lot to say about Fiji so I’ll work on that for next time. m--

[RuthC]

If nothing else, that tender ride into Fanning Island is fodder for great conversation. Not fun at the time, but loads of fun regaling others later on. Like on CC threads. ;)

Happy that there were no injuries and all was well.

[highland cruiser]

Great review. Thank you for sharing.

Looking forward to what you report next!!

[Mtn2Sea]

Enjoying your review very much. Your tender ride at Fanning was certainly memorable! Looking forward to hearing more of your adventures.

Edited November 28, 2016 by Mtn2Sea

[Krazy Kruizers]

Loving your review.

Glad nothing serious happened to anyone on that tender and you all were safely taken back to the ship. It is strange that both engines died at the same time.

[SilvertoGold]

WOW! What drama at Fanning Island! A beautifully written, suspenseful description!

 

We though getting through the pass once was bad: water over the tender completely, the Quartermaster soaked.

 

You have a memory that will last a long, long time!

[RMLincoln]

Bula Bula! The welcome we heard with warmth and smiles from all over Fiji.

 

But first I should mention that a funny thing happened on the way to Fiji: we ran out of lettuce! Not a leaf. Not at the salad bar, no Caesar Salads, no chopped lettuce under things … nope, gone. It was printed in the On Location that the demand "outgrew" the supply, many apologies, etc…. but we heard rumor later that we had a refrigerator konk out – the Captain said it more diplomatically, the lettuce wilted early. We dealt with chopped cabbage for a day in the Lido until that ended, then only vegetables; the MDR served a shredded carrots salad one night which was enjoyable and something different. Lautoka was the port where the air cargo shipment of lettuce was supposed to meet up with us.

 

Fiji: Moving on to the nation of Fiji with 4 ports on 3 different islands.

Fiji is beautiful, volcanic with steep rugged terrain, but as a nation it has its oddities under the surface. We were here in 2013 when we learned that they hadn’t had an election in 14 years. The tension in Fiji is between the native Fijians and the predominantly (Asian) Indian-heritage people, descendants of the workers that the British brought to Fiji to work in the plantations in the mid-1800s. Fiji has had many governing troubles, several coups and now has a new constitution which tolerates the Indians (realize these are people who have been here multiple generations) but doesn’t allow them to own land. The Indians are 50% of the population and the predominant entrepreneurs, professionals and merchants. The native islanders would be without a base without the Indians but Fijians want to make sure they remain on top. One way they do this is to follow a somewhat showy, Calvanistic Christianity, noticeably opposite the non-Christian Indians. The country is very much shut down on Sunday with nearly only non-Christians doing business. There were some exceptions - we had 2 Fijian shuttle van drivers who told us they would usually be eating with family and drinking Kava on a Sunday afternoon, but unemployment was very high so they were glad we were there, only because our ship was in Suva on a Sunday, but for their way of life, Sunday is for Fijians.

 

And Fijians want to make sure they maintain ownership of family lands, so they bury their family members in quite noticeable graves in the front of their houses. Meaningful emotionally I’m sure, but also to make certain no one else would buy the land with grandma’s grave. So we observed this around the islands and tried to understand it from both points of view and what we see is a difficult situation that is not resolving.

 

Mind you, to the tourist this is all beyond the very warm and sincere welcoming Bula Bula that greeted us everywhere!

 

Savusavu is a lesser known port, on the Fijian island of Vanua Levi; this was a tender port, but we had no problemsJ. This island is north of the main island of Viti Levu which has the capitol, Suva, and the industrial city of Lautoka, both of which we will visit soon. The island is green, green with very steep-sided mountains, very pretty and very laid-back. Sauvsavu is a small town but with a great spread outside the tender pier: fruits, vegetables, ice cream, jewelry, baskets, mats, cloth, trinkets galore, and that was before you get just a few blocks to the market. We were warmly welcomed by singers at the pier and tours were offered just outside our landing spot, what they call the Old Copra She - (historical wooden building with tin roof - now nicely converted to a few eateries, a bar and shops (and restrooms! – how civilized). We spotted someone advertising kayak rentals so we arranged with them for a driver to take us to the Daku Resort, down the road a couple of miles. Not what I would think of as a resort, just a low central building and a few cottage-type units next to it, just across the road from the water’s edge. Storm damage has eroded the beach in much of the island and seriously undermined the roadbed in places, but there was just enough room between the pavement and water to set the boat – the rest of the visible waterfront was not very assessable because of one reason or another. So we arranged with the friendly folks for a double-kayak rental for 2 hours, and a young man gladly brought the boat from the very green lawn in front of the resort down to the water for us. We paddled along the waterfront in the absolutely clear water, saw some fish, pretty coral, lovely views of the harbor and the rugged terrain, and we were glad to be in the water because it was getting pretty darned warm. Time to beach the boat, double back to the ship and call it a happy day, rest up for our next view of Fiji.

 

Suva: Our arrival in Suva was a pretty sail-in, again with the bow opened up, and IIRC Polynesian Rolls! (yes, AKA Panama Buns). We were welcomed by a stage band and singers, not traditional music but American Oldies! Fun! They were one of the police bands, all dressed in red-trimmed, silver buttoned, blue blouses and white lava-lava skirts with ragged-cut hem lines – men wear skirts in Fiji, especially uniforms (police, government workers, anyone “dressed-up” has a skirt on). Suva is a busy city in the pier area but opens up not far away if you are doing a taxi-tour, which we did last time (also a Sunday). DH and I had a good breakfast and went out hunting for WiFi to get a fast connection, download some updates and pay some bills. We took a shuttle to the Tappoo department store that opened on Sunday specially for the ship. It was pretty much deserted and the WiFi was down, but we were directed to a mall where we might get on line at the phone store there. We walked through the streets and over a small river bridge like we knew what we were doing! Found the mall very busy with … you guessed it, Indian people, found the phone store, found the money exchanger and got business done - $5 US bought us an hour of fast WiFi and we even got some change back. We back-tracked to Tappoo and saw a very attractive men’s Bula shirt, kinda like a Hawaiian shirt but with a Fijian print. What a successful day for us! Back to the ship to cool down and mellow out. That afternoon there was a cultural show of Fijian singers and dancers, more than 30 of them, very colorful and energetic. Again, it’s nice of HAL to get these opportunities arranged for us. Apparently it’s not easy to get these troupes onboard; advanced arrangements are required with approval by name, date of birth etc of each person coming onto the ship, a fair amount of coordination on each side.

 

Lautoka: Bring on the lettuce! And fresh bananas! We were re-supplied in this industrial port. Lautoka is on the north side of Viti Levu whereas Suva is on the south side, so it was a very slow, leisurely sail around the island overnight. Here we were interested in getting up to the heights in the National Park area. On the pier were tourism guides helping guests with their arrangements, but they said that where we wanted to go was a difficult road, all 4x4 only, but it could be done if we hired a car and driver, $240 US. We mulled on it and decided against it – not because of the price so much, that amount was probably a better deal than what a ship tours costs for two, but because it was not a robust enough arrangement for us if something, anything, went wrong – questionable communications, no back-up, probably an adequate vehicle but we went with our gut feeling that is was potentially beyond our risk threshold. So we found a few treasures on the pier, a hand hewn oblong dish made of coconut wood, another Bula shirt! and a dolphin sarong, to remember the spinner dolphins we kayaked with in Kona. It was not warm today, it was blazing hot. We retreated to the ship’s AC to partake in the offerings there – swimming, Windows 10 class, trivia, plus the all-important reading and relaxing. A good day for us.

 

Dravuni: Our last port in Fiji, a lovely little island (maybe 1 mile by half a mile? or that scale) with excellent beach, coral snorkeling, massages given in the shade and the opportunity to hike to the top of the island for excellent views of the emerald and aqua lagoon. DH was up early to eat and get an early tender ticket, off for the climb to viewpoints and photography before it was horribly hot. Me, up later, no need for a tender ticket and head straight for the snorkeling around 10:30. Both plans worked out great. DH’s hike was successful and I had fun with the fishes. I found the snorkeling here easy and so convenient, right off the tender pier. My notes say, “A perfect day!”

 

Last thoughts about Fiji before we head to Tonga: Fiji is a beautiful place, popular, apparently affordable once you get there and generally safe and friendly. It has everything from city amenities to uninhabited out-islands. The islands are ringed with coral reefs and colorful lagoons. The islanders are pleasant, helpful and speak English well enough. No wonder tourists flock there...... but I wouldn’t choose to live there.

 

Next time, Tongo! m--

[RMLincoln]

Only a one-day break before Tonga and the clocks started getting pushed ahead as we began traveling east. But this was a memorable day for our trivia team, we won! Usually we “learned a lot” at trivia…. But we always had a good time together because that was our objective.

 

Tonga is a monarchy. It has a King and Queen and a Royal Palace. The palace is just across from the dock where the Amsterdam parked for the day, in full view of the harbor. The building was pre-fabbed in New Zealand and assembled in Nuku ‘alofa in 1867 on big, green lawn where the royal family holds celebrations and parades. Tonga was never conquered but it was closely associated with Britain for a long time and we noticed remnants of this during our walkabout.

 

We walked off the ship in kayaking clothes in search of a dive shop that rented kayaks, noted in both guide books we were using. We stopped at the tourism center and picked up a map of the downtown area (maybe a square mile) and strolled along the waterfront first passing the bus terminal, which we may not have recognized as such without a map – small, colorful, open air vehicles with many uniformed school children hanging around. There was a very big construction project happening to build a new pier. Treated wood resembling power poles was banded to pallets as if it had just arrived, possibly from New Zealand who exports a lot of wood product? We were guessing it would be used for pilings. Our walk continued to the point on our map opposite the fish market. We passed a large cemetery with raised decorated graves, decorated with flashy garlands similar to Christmas decorations, and beautiful quilts. I read that the tradition is to come to the family grave for a meal with one’s loved ones, and the quilt is used as picnic blanket as well as a decoration.

 

Finally we found the fish market; tables were covered in wrapped fish laid out for sale. Usually we’ve seen just the fish exposed but most of these were packaged. Many beautiful, colorful fish of green, red, yellow and a striking, deep teal blue. Plus we saw octopus, squid, oysters, a few other items we recognized but many more we did not. But no dive shop. There was a small grocery store across the street from the big construction project. We thought it might be for the construction workers. We wandered over to see what they stocked. It was very small, more like the size of a snack bar to us. It had a counter-front and a few shelves inside displaying the inventory across from the counter: canned corned beef, spam, canned halibut, and canned sardines. A cooler held neon colored soft drinks. There were two loaves of bread and basket of eggs along with a few bottles of what might have been condiment sauces, and several bags of chips and snacks. I hope the workers brown-bag their lunch.

 

Without the dive shop to rent us a kayak we wandered back and into the downtown area to follow the walking-tour route. (We weren’t too disappointed about getting skunked out of kayaking because it was getting very windy and choppy on the water, would have been a lot of work to kayak that day.) We noted that there seemed to be little infrastructure for tourists, only a small hotel-like establishment. But we reached some government buildings (Government Ministries, Parliament, Prime Minister’s residence, Supreme Court…), closer to downtown, and the impressive Treasury building (which was directly across from the entrance to the pier) with its monumental-sized photo of the King dressed in a dark suit and tie greeting all arrivals. Just behind this building was an impressive semicircular, several story construction with many proud signs showing that this was being built by the Chinese. A lot of Chinese money is developing infrastructure in Polynesia – office buildings, as this one was to be, plus hospitals, schools and a host of other projects. Globalization?

 

The walking tour took us around part of the perimeter of the palace and up to the royal graves but one of the more interesting buildings we passed was the private men’s club, “where Tonga’s elite gather to relax over a game of snooker”! Snooker? Yup. We didn’t finish the walking tour; having put in over 3 miles, we took a shortcut back to the ship as it was really heating up. We were planning an early morning the next day as we entered the island group of Vava ‘u, Tonga 9pronounce va VA oo.

 

So up early for the very pretty sail-in through the green, lush, islands of the Vava ‘u Groupp, north of where we had been. DH said it reminded him of the San Juan Islands north of the Seattle area; I thought of the approach we had going into Picton, South Island New Zealand (ferry from the NZ North Island). We parked in a deep zone facing Mt. Talau and a longer distance from the tender pier than usual but we had to be very careful of the many shallows.

 

DH organized himself for getting an early tender ticket (I think our last tender ticket because then we turned 4 star Mariners and just had to wait in the line with all the “priority” guests.) His day took him up a trail past schools and schoolchildren, churches, homes with gardens, pigs, chickens and finally up to the peak that hovered over the ship. He had a fun day hiking to the viewpoint while I lazed until no tender tickets were needed. When I disembarked the tender I was greeted by the assembled high school band, all organized under a big tent shade cover. They played for most of the day for us and the music was wonderful; plus the kids applauded and acknowledged their appreciation for all donations dropped in the basket (when they weren’t playing music), and the Amsterdam guests seemed to fill the basket. The market stalls near the tender pier were makeshift but well stocked and I did find a nice little pearl on a neck-chain for our friend who was taking care of our mail, a good find!

 

The attractive and seemingly more progressive Vava ‘u impressed me as so very different from Nuku ‘alofa which struck me as variable to grubby – nice downtown and around the palace, but get a few blocks away and I really felt like I was wandering away from the world. Maybe I’m not being fair here because we really only walked along the waterfront and didn’t sample most of the island. But that’s my lingering impression.

 

As we sailed away from Vava’u we cruised over the Tonga Trench which has the second deepest point on the globe, 10,882 meters, or 35,702 feet. The trench runs sort of N-S and we sailed east across it, not over the very deepest point, but I did see on the navigational info screen near the Explorations Café that the water depth under us was more than 25,000 feet, and perhaps it had been deeper. Wow. I’ve walked on the tippy-tops of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in Ponta Delgado, Azores, and I’ve traveled across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge’s spreading center in Iceland, and now I’ve crossed over the Tonga Trench… pretty exciting stuff for an old geologist.

 

We crossed the International Date Line on our way to tomorrow’s port of call, Alofi, Niue (pronounced new way), repeating a date… so would it be tomorrow or today again? It felt like tomorrow because we went to bed and slept, but when we woke up no one had changed the elevator mats! Dooo-do, dooo-do, dooo-do….

 

Next time: Niue and Raratonga of the Cook Islands, maybe more?

m--

[florisdekort]

I'm trying not to think of a real emergency and evacuation in bad weather, and then both engines of a packed tender dying at the same time. Inexcusable. Someone in maintenance should get fired, but clearly not your guy who was driving the tender.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[RMLincoln]

I'm trying not to think of a real emergency and evacuation in bad weather, and then both engines of a packed tender dying at the same time. Inexcusable. Someone in maintenance should get fired, but clearly not your guy who was driving the tender.

 

I should have mentioned that during the late afternoon after we departed Fanning Island Captain Eversen sent us a plate of chocolates along with a personally signed letter of apology. No explanation was to be had from anyone, very tight-lipped.

 

The images you refer to all went through my mind, especially having read Burning Cold a book written about the saving of all souls (about 600 or 700 I think) aboard the original MS Prinsendam when it had an engine fire, had to be abandoned and subsequently sank in the Gulf of Alaska in the early 80s. Her lifeboats were not motor powered and they were open topped. Horrible conditions. There have been so many improvements in the cruise ships, emergency equipment and procedures, plus in the industry as a whole over 35 years since then, thankfully, but the numbers of souls on board have risen and multiplied.

 

I also thought of our tender issue in terms of the ability of the travelers aboard our ship because, and I think most of us would agree, HAL can be exceptionally accommodating to passengers with mobility issues, especially on a long itinerary. I shuddered and had to move beyond those thoughts so I could continue enjoying our vacation and hope for the best. Remember, we provide emergency service to our communities at home, and we wanted to have a mentally and emotionally relaxed time away from such issues - I didn't want to be in the mode of developing Response Plans, but naturally my mind went there.....

 

The flip side of this is that because we see so many cases of people in compromised health or life situations, and many of them are much younger than I, I was particularly looking forward to enjoying interactions with the older clientele on the cruise who are "out there" enjoying life and traveling the world and have been for a long time. I love that aspect of cruising, that so many can enjoy it long into their years and there is much to look forward to. m--

[SilvertoGold]

I wonder if both tender engines died at the very same time because they ran out of gas or the gas was contaminated?

 

And given that restarting attempts did not work at all and that you saw that tender back in service later that day.....maybe the fuel level gauge was broken of otherwise compromised. That would make for a quick fix.

[RMLincoln]

I wonder if both tender engines died at the very same time because they ran out of gas or the gas was contaminated?

 

And given that restarting attempts did not work at all and that you saw that tender back in service later that day.....maybe the fuel level gauge was broken of otherwise compromised. That would make for a quick fix.

 

As I recall, the officer on board called in that he checked the fuel level; it could be that the fuel was contaminated or the connection failed, or a host of other possibilities. Bottom line remained the same. m--

[RMLincoln]

Good morning from our snow covered abode! Got a new 10" and it's so welcome. But have to make a trip into town for appointments and groceries, so enjoy reading about the warm places and I'll catch up with you all later, m--

 

Moving on eastward, and in a few days I may return to some other thoughts about Tonga as well as some other topics, but for now…

 

Alofi Niue: This is an isolated island, very lush but not too high and steep because it’s a raised coral atoll (the highest raised atoll, I was told), with Vanuatu’s Lifou being the largest raised atoll), so up to about 60 meters, or almost 200 feet in elevation. It’s located between Tonga to the west and the Cook Islands to the east. What did we do in Niue? We took pictures from the ship because we didn’t stay. This port call was canceled because of too much swell at the tender dock. This dock seemed quite exposed and even though the swell wasn’t much at the ship, it was coming into the docking area with vigor. There was no breakwater for protection, no harbor and no bay. We took pictures while our tenders were deployed with an attempt to scope out the situation and evaluate the safety issues, but the decision was to move on. Too bad, the island offers some unique opportunities for visiting caves and bird watching along with the usually excellent snorkeling and diving.

 

So we enjoyed another sea day making two days of rest before Raratonga, Cook Islands.

 

Rarotonga: A tender port. The Cook Islands are steep,volcanic islands, lush and inviting ringed with bright emerald green and blue lagoons within the surrounding coral reef. Flowers were abundant adding their fragrance to the breeze and richness to our day ashore.

 

Our tender transfer was easy but this isn’t always the case as others know from the events of the 2016 world cruise. That time IIRC, Captain Mercer determined that the landing which we used on our cruise was too dangerous for them that day, so he moved to an alternate landing on the other side of the island. In using that pass one of the tenders got washed onto the reef and grounded causing much discomfort to those guests during the long delay to get them rescued, suspension of tendering for much of the day and eventually the need for repairs of the tender along the remained of their cruise. But we fine….

 

Once on land we found very friendly folks in a tourism center at the tender pier who spoke English with a pronounced New Zealand accent – and they used the NZ dollar. They did take US$ but at parity, a horrible exchange rate. For $20 for two of us for the r/t Beach Shuttle ticket we decided this was not an big economic impact to us, so we went along with it for ease – we were a captive audience I’m not aware of where we could have exchanged currency. (Niue also uses NZ$.) We took the shuttle bus to the Intercontinental Beachcomber Resort , one of many small resorts on the Muri Lagoon on the southeast side of the island – Amsterdam was parked on the north side of this “round-ish” island. There was a cheaper public bus that circles the island about every hour, one bus going clockwise, another going counterclockwise, but without local currency and more knowledge we were very happy with this arrangement.

 

At the resort we rental a double kayak for a couple of hours (paying $40NZ by credit card gave us the proper exchange rate) and we paddled around the picturesque lagoon and a protected motu (motu is the vernacular for a reef island.) Sometimes we worked against a stiff tidal current coming through the passes buy, oh, was it pretty there One some of the motus there were musicians entertaining and lunches with foods cooked in umus (in-ground cooking pits) for guests on shore excursions, both form the ship and private tours. We beached the boat on a motu for a short walk and met a couple who were vacationing in one of the resorts. They had been there many times and knew the lagoon was shallow enough so they carefully walked across to the island even with their fancy camera, well wrapped and held aloft. They were from Canada and came here every year though their flight to the Cook Islands connected in Sydney! Oiy, not for us, but I can see why they loved it there.

 

 

The bus ride was in an open air bus with wooden benches – Kainoa always encouraged us to take a ship towel ashore for so many good uses, including as a seat cushion. We passed many well-kept properties with lush landscaping, and flowers! Churches yards were bustling with cars and scooters on this Sunday and we were enjoying the ambiance of Rarotonga. At the tender pier shopping stalls I found an excellent price on pareos for gifts, so we returned to the ship feeling wonderfully blessed with this lovely day in such a beautiful place. Raratonga seemed to be well set up for tourists.

 

We had a sea day on our way to the Society Islands, next stop Bora Bora. The day had rain on and off but so far we’ve had very good weather. Last time we were in this part of the world it was January, hot and rainy. They told us July was the best month… if you can swing it.

[RMLincoln]

Back with you... needed a full day in town for all kinds of errands and appointments. But ready to share thoughts on Bora Bora, our first stop in French Polynesia.

 

Beautiful Bora Bora, (pronounced Pora Pora), Society Islands of French Polynesia, a territory of France; a tender port. This is one of the most amazing backdrops of a paradise setting, this and Moorea. Our approach was through the one pass in the reef, facing the volcanic spires that seem to shoot up from the base of the island. We anchored for two full days, with some passengers taking the extravagant overnight shore excursion in an overwater bungalow. Some people do it on their own, either here or in Moorea by taking the ferry there from Papeete and catching the ship the next day when it ports in Moorea. The Bora Bora choice has less risk but costs more. Of course, everything is expensive in the Society Islands of French Polynesia.

 

We had no plan laid out for our day so we packed and dressed for possible kayaking and the beach. Once on land we opted to take a private 4x4 around the island and to viewpoints; we were joined by a couple staying at one of the resorts and a woman from the ship, so five passengers and one guide in the Land Rover. Turns out that most of the viewpoints were cannon emplacements from WWII. GIs arrived in Bora Bora February 1942, not many weeks after the Pearl Harbor bombing. The GIs built the road around the island, as well as the airstrip on the straightest portion of the reef – no road connection between the island and the airport, boat only. They bulldozed rough roads up the steep hillside to get the big cannon emplaced to defend the one pass through the reef. There was never a need to fire the guns, but if they hadn’t been there…? The ride we had was bumpy, muddy but filled with beauty all the way around the island – views of the water, the mountains, the lagoons, and sometimes all at once. It’s hard to take it all in and pictures fail. So glad we got to do this tour and for less than half of the ship excursion cost, pretty low risk with our overnight in port.

 

Our guide took a few minutes at one of the gun emplacements to say that Bora Bora thanks all Americans for helping them and that Bora Bora never forgets. Now, he was maybe 30 but he carried this with him from his parents and grandparents. On some of our sea days we had talks on many topics including WWII in the South Pacific. The war was very real in these places and changed them forever, if not always on the outside, definitely on the inside and to their core. In Tonga we stopped at a monument to their war dead of both WWI and WWII – we looked at each other and said, WWI? We need to look closer at our history lessons. In reading Happy Isles of Oceania the author was visiting the region at the time of the outbreak of the first US Gulf war, 1991; it seemed that no matter where he went he was asked about news of the war, and many people were convinced that war would come to them again.

 

Back on the ship we found the MDR menu selections not to our tastes this night, so we opted for the Pinnacle Grill for a special meal. The ship was very quiet with many people enjoying themselves late into the evening onshore. There was no show scheduled but a movie was shown in the show lounge. We were told the tenders would run all night – I didn’t get out of bed to check. The second day I think last tender was 10:30pm.

 

Our second day in Bora Bora we set out to go to Matira Beach, really one of the few good public beaches on the main island. We took a shuttle there for $5US (pp each way) and inquired at the Intercontinental Hotel about renting a kayak but they were not available to non-guests. (I had emailed with them months ago and was told then that they offered day passes for $65US including lunch but they didn’t address kayak usage, so we were not surprised but thought we’d try.) They recommended we try up the road at Mai Tai Hotel so we did that but with the same result. It was getting warm so we wandered back to lovely Matira Beach, complete with showers and restroom, food was available too but little shade (there’s a big gazebo but it was occupied by news people reporting on the big canoe race). We were lucky to find a big shade tree just off a small parking area and sat there for quite a while enjoying the breezy spot, alternately taking a swim and having fun photographing many fish around a nearby coral rock. That’s where my camera got wet I guess because it wouldn’t response properly on the way back to the tender. I got it dried out that night and working again, but the next day, nothing, so for our next trip I will have a new one.

 

The air was hot and humid here and a morning half-day outing was enough for us, then back to the ship to enjoy relaxing.

 

Onward to Raiatea, about half-way down the island chain to Tahiti which is at the southeastern end.

[RMLincoln]

Welcome back to my tale of our our adventure...

 

Raiatea, Society Islands French Polynesia: Another beautiful port, often called the Heart of Polynesia because many Polynesians believe their deities came from here. The Society Islands are volcanic, ringed with coral reefs that enclose colorful lagoons. Raiatea has a sister island, Tahaa, both of which are enclosed within the same very large lagoon with Tahaa smaller and north of Raiatea, making sort of key-hole shape. The heart of Raiatea is lush and green with lots of rainfall, waterfalls and a navigable river.

 

We took a ship shore excursion today to go kayaking on the Favaroa River. We put-in near the mouth of the river and paddled upstream along tree-lined shores and views up into the peaks high above. The day was warm and very windy, but once we got upstream a bit and away from the ocean we were in serene waters.

 

Our sail-away took us north inside the lagoon for over half an hour and finally through a tight cut it the reef off the west side of Tahaa. Onward to Papeete, Tahiti.

 

Tahiti: The city is Papeete (pronounced papa eaty) on the island of Tahiti in the Society Islands chain, French Polynesia. It’s a big, bustling place. We were to be here until 5am the next day, so technically an overnight but in practicality not useful to do an onshore overnight here unless you took the ferry to the next port, Moorea, which is quite doable as it’s only about 15 miles away and I’m sure some guests pulled it together. Another way to do an overnight onshore is to arrive in Papeete, ferry to Moorea, enjoy your mostly two-day stay there and board the ship in Moorea when it ports ther the next day, and I know some folks did that. The ferry dock is a 10 minute walk from the ship; fare is now $18 US pp one way.

 

We had been to Tahiti in 2013 and stayed 5 nights in a pension (small family-owned lodge, hostel or bungalow) before we boarded Ocean Princess. We “did” Tahiti then, seeing most of what interested us. We rented a car one day and circled the island, made several stops along the way – very easy to do in a day. In fact it was while staying at the pension that we discovered how much fun it was to kayak in the lagoons – really got us hooked!

 

We were unable to find access to kayak rentals, so today we only planned to walk up to the market and shop for some coconut oil products for gifts and tablecloth fabrics for me – there are several excellent fabric shops on the block with the market. I was not disappointed and brought back two bright, flowerful cloths. Many people shopped for pearls, though expensive here, the selection for higher-end jewelry was probably better here than some other places. Most stalls in the market took $US, the cloth stores took credit cards so we did not need francs. We were docked right in the heart of downtown which made it very easy to come and go from the ship. Walking over to the downtown shopping district took a bit of assertiveness crossing the main road along the harbor – 6 or 8 lanes of traffic between us and the market! But a crosswalk allowed us to cross safely – you just step onto the pavement and all the traffic in that direction stops…. good to follow a local!

 

With being in port until late into the wee hours, it was easy to take an evening wander through the park just in front of the bow of the ship; this is where the food trucks sell Tahitian poisson cru and other French delicacies, plus hamburgers and fries – of course, French fries! There were also very active cafes and bars nearby, we could hear the music from the promenade deck.

 

The show that night was a local group of Tahitian costumed singers, musicians and dancers sharing their traditional entertainment with us. Again, HAL goes the distance to bring us these opportunities and it was nice to see the Queen’s Lounge packed and so appreciative of their performance.

 

Moorea, Society Islands, French Polynesia: Pronounced Moh oh Ray a. Sister island to Tahiti, its shape is between a heart and a W; there are two bays to anchor in within the lagoon, Cook’s Bay and Opunohu Bay, both deep bays with steep-sided cliffs, and both facing the volcanic spires of the island’s core, the image of the mythical Bali Hai. We were supposed to park in Cook’s Bay but that tender pier is under construction so we parked in the other bay which is really an easier path through the reef, straight in, no zig-zagging needed.

 

DH signed up for the ship’s photography tour and I did a ship’s snorkel tour that included swimming with rays and sharks! Both tours were huge successes! His tour took a small group up into the hills by 4x4 to photograph the lagoon views from high up, as well as other vistas and flowers. My tour brought us to part of the lagoon where the guides knew the large rays by name. One guide held a female ray for us to touch and photograph; she was very cooperative and didn’t seem unhappy being held by him. There were many rays in the waist-deep water (well, chest-deep on me) and they would swim close into us, sometimes flopping up onto us as they went by. The sharks came too, small reef sharks, maybe 3-4 feet, in small groups or solo; they were more shy than the rays, fine with me! - but so very interesting to watch from so close. It was especially comfortable and stable to be in the shallow water. The whole experience was fascinating to me; after about 90 minutes we were taken into a small lagoon off a motu (reef island) where there were facilities and other folks were having an island-style lunch experience. We drift snorkeled in this very picturesque spot just off the beach – walk up the beach, drift back to the boat… I made three passes and had a lovely time! The guides husked fresh coconuts there, cracked them open and cut them up for us for snacks on the way back along with refreshing flavored water.

 

We departed Moorea, leaving behind these magical islands with their towering, lush volcanic cores surrounded by their colorful lagoons that we’ve enjoyed playing in among the fish and in view of the jagged mountains…such special places.

 

Next, the coral atolls of the Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia: ports of Rangiroa and Fakarava…

plus maybe Nuka Hiva, Marquesas, French Polynesia our last port of call.

m--

[Traveling Dot]

Thanks for your marvelous picturesque descriptions of the islands and what you did there. When reading I feel I am right there with you and remembering the places I saw on my cruise. :)

[RMLincoln]

Thanks for your marvelous picturesque descriptions of the islands and what you did there. When reading I feel I am right there with you and remembering the places I saw on my cruise. :)

 

So glad you are enjoying it, thank you for the feedback. The thread of your cruise helped us consider booking this cruise! m--

[dchip]

Thanks so much for taking the time to give us your view of this cruise. It has been fun for me to relive our days in the South Pacific. Very interesting to read about your tours which were different from what we chose to do.

 

It's a shame you couldn't do later seating in the MDR. We ate every night at 7:30. No reservations. We were able to walk in every night and get a table for two in the same area with the same wait staff.

 

Looking forward to more as we come to the end of our ports. Thanks again!!

 

Cheers, Denise

[RMLincoln]

Thanks so much for taking the time to give us your view of this cruise. It has been fun for me to relive our days in the South Pacific. Very interesting to read about your tours which were different from what we chose to do.

 

It's a shame you couldn't do later seating in the MDR. We ate every night at 7:30. No reservations. We were able to walk in every night and get a table for two in the same area with the same wait staff.

 

Looking forward to more as we come to the end of our ports. Thanks again!!

 

Cheers, Denise

 

Thank you Denise for your kind comments. Good that you found a dining time that worked well for you. We ate at 7:30 many times when we were on the eve of a sea day; one thing we liked about eating later was that the dining room was more empty and much quieter, then we'd head on to the late show. It was all good - I miss it!

[RMLincoln]

Winding down to the last three ports of call…

 

Rangiroa, Tuamotus, French Polynesia. Tender port. Rangiroa is a BIG atoll. That means the lagoon inside the reef ring is huge, 50 miles across and you can’t to the other side. The atolls have no island inside the lagoon like Bora Bora has for example, just lagoon, the island has long ago been eroded away.

 

We anchored inside the reef-ring, in the lagoon, having come through one of the passes on the north side. The land of the reef-ring is coral-based but there is enough soil development to support coconut palms and shrubs. The ocean side has rough water, the lagoon side is calm but there aren’t too many beaches within easy reach; a shuttle boat took folks to a small, nearby public beach (I think $5pp/each way) but I heard folks say it was very pebbly, not much sand but beautiful water.

 

The main attractions here are snorkeling and diving. I snorkeled here last time with a ship tour in what they call “The Aquarium” which is in the lagoon near the pass where the water is rich in nutrients…. and I loved it, the fish were so plentiful they surrounded me. This time we walked a short way to sit along the shore of the pass and watch for dolphins. Didn’t see any, maybe the tide wasn’t right – I was speculating that the tide wasn’t pulling the lagoon’s nutrients through the pass, so it was poor for feeding… sounded good to me, no idea if it’s real. But we had a lovely spot in the shade to watch the waves and enjoy the breeze, the sounds, and the colors of the water. Some folks rented bikes but found the road surface pretty rotten, and unforgiving when you fall on it, ouch.

 

Rangiroa has some infrastructure for tourists: an airstrip, water-taxis, restaurants and small hotels; there are a couple of villages around the ring. My “Polynesian Islands Travel Guide” brochure from the Papeete Tourism Center says Rangiroa’s population is 3300. We didn’t see many of them but we didn’t go very far either. It’s such an interesting landform to see and if you enjoy water activities you’ll have a good time here. It didn’t take long for the day to feel hot, so we made our way back to the ship after an hour or two.

 

Fakarava: Tender port. Another atoll in the Tuamotus, French Polynesia. We’d not been here before so we were interested in seeing what there was. It was similar to Rangiroa but different too. Some people were swimming and snorkeling in the perfectly clear water just fifty yards from the tender pier. We didn’t go in the water but we did spend a bit of time watching the fish from the pier, just so perfectly clear! Here we photographed fish feeding on coral, and great big clams, maybe 8 inches across; these are imbedded in the coral but still able to open and close their inner fleshy muscles, feeding by filtering the water that flows past them. Many of these clams were bright, electric blue, just stunning!

 

We wandered across the reef island from the lagoon side to the ocean side…. and soon we wandered back in the increasing heat. The flowers were beautiful, big trees of them, all blossoming and fragrant…. but it was getting too hot for me.

 

We left the Tuamotu Archipelago of atolls and sailed northward with a quiet sea-day break, finally, after seven port days in a row! We were heading to our last port, located in the Marquesas Islands, named for a Spanish Marquis when European explorers first arrived.

 

Nuku Hiva, Marquesas, French Polynesia. The Marquesas are further north but still in the South Pacific, our last stop on our way home. It is a group of volcanic islands with massive, tall, rugged mountains and steep cliffs that drop straight into the water in many places; no coral reefs here, no lagoons! Apparently there is a cool ocean current that comes up from South America and across the equatorial zone westward which keeps the water too cool for coral to live and accrete reef structures. Although the mountains were well vegetated, the prevailing wind side is more lush, drier and more shrubby in the lee. This rugged beauty of the Marquesas was such a sharp contrast to the flat atoll coral-ring islands of the Tuamotus, which was a sharp contrast to the tall, eroded spires of the Society Islands… all within French Polynesia. What a magnificent opportunity to experience all of this diversity on our itinerary.

 

Before we arrived in Nuku Hiva we were cautioned not to go in the water due to the danger of sharks; also not to wander around on our own due to the danger of cannibals. Cannibals? I heard two warnings on this, once from our Cruise Director, Gene, announced after the evening show; and once from our Locations Guide, Kainoa when he gave his overview of this port. Now, I’d read a lot about cannibalism as a fact of history in many of the islands of the South Pacific, but nothing, nothing, of this occurring presently. I picked up some rumors when back onboard that this warning was to keep people from trespassing… could be, I didn’t test it.

 

Our tender pier was part of a little harbor with fishing boats and fishermen hanging around. One had a large fish-head on a rope that he repeatedly dunked into the water to attract sharks so the visitors could get pictures of them (and maybe make a donation to his bucket). It sure did work and sharks came lunging at the bait, sometimes chasing it up, out of the water with their big, toothy mouths open and ready. These sharks were more aggressive (read scarier) than the ones I saw in Moorea and I found it difficult to stand on the pier and watch the display, whereas I was fascinated in Moorea to watch the reef sharks swim shyly around us – another contrast.

 

In the afternoon DH took the (rather pricey three hour) ship-organized tour that was done in local vehicles traveling caravan style (no buses here). They stopped at sacred sites, historic sites, a modern church and viewpoints. At the stops a guide would talk to the whole assembled group. DH said communication was difficult at best but he enjoyed the variety of places they saw, the rugged scenery and the views of the ship in the harbor.

 

I browsed the crafts tables under the big awnings and the open-air shops at the tender pier. These tables and shops were filled to overflowing with stunning shell jewelry, carved shells, and gorgeous, intricate carvings – wooden bowls; statues (some huge) of Tikis, dolphins and rays; wooden necklaces and bracelets, carved and decorated “knives” of swordfish and marlin “snouts” and so much more. What a great last chance for picking up little gifts and mementos - last port (aww…), last tender (yea!).

 

We still had a full week before San Diego so lots of time to enjoy the slower sea days and absorb all that we had experienced.

 

I want to put together some odds-and-ends thoughts before I leave this thread, so I’ll be back in a day or two with post-scripts. Enjoy, m--

[DeepWaterMariner]

Great report on the Tales of the South Pacific. We were on the Kayak tour with you in Raiatea and probably had dinner with you at least once during he cruise. Loved reading about our cruise.

[RMLincoln]

Great report on the Tales of the South Pacific. We were on the Kayak tour with you in Raiatea and probably had dinner with you at least once during he cruise. Loved reading about our cruise.

 

Many thanks for reading through all this. I hope you had as good a vacation as we did! m--

[kftw]

Thank you so much for your review/reports of your cruise. Looking forward to your final thoughts. Thanks again.

[RMLincoln]

Post Script 1

Ship things, in no particular order:

The Cast entertainers performed six different shows for us; the 6 dancers (3 male, 3 female) were the very best I’ve seen, plus we had 4 singers, all good. The shows were all new to us: Dance, Bellisima, Heat, Heart and Soul, Take a Bow, and Love Crazy.

 

Adagio was the best we’ve had yet, two men from Hungary, David on violin and (I really never did get his name clearly, I’m sorry) but something like Alono? on piano. We only saw them use sheet music once. They were quite a remarkable pair of musicians and I never did decide which one I enjoyed more, maybe the pianist who I thought was phenomenal… but then David was so good too! And they played classical, classic style pops and music even I recognized.

 

It’s clear that HAL has cut back on musicians but on this long cruise we had 3 Neptunes, 2 Adagio and 5 HALCats plus Darlene singing. The HALCats accompanied all the Cast shows and many of the guest entertainers; they did their own show the last night.

 

Generally the entertainment was good to very good, but the music was usually too loud, and they know it because lots of people have told them so (I carry ear plugs in my evening purse.)

· We had 3 local troupes come onboard: Hawaii, Fiji and Tahiti, all enriching.

· The new BBC contract brought us a unique evening presentation movie, “Frozen,” accompanied by live music; and two afternoon games with wildlife and nature themes - a trivia game and a game-show event. Frozen was very cinematic, beautiful photography and lovely music from our on-board musicians. The others were barely something to change decks for, but I’m easily entertained so I went to them, not sure I’d bother again.

 

We added a new instrument to our long list of how we’ve heard Flight of the Bumble Bee; this time we heard it played on the Hammer Dulcimer, so now that is to trumpet, flute, piano, violin, guitar, harmonica, xylo-synth (a synthesizer xylophone), traditional xylophone, clarinet…. and I’m sure there have been others.

 

Crossing the Equator: On our way home we crossed back to the northern hemisphere and had the traditional Court of King Neptune celebration making the pollywogs into turtlebacks. It was probably best to leave this until the long week of sea days, and the decks were packed with guests 3-deep trying to see the activities. If you are not familiar with the ceremonies, those crew who have never crossed the equator before are indoctrinated into the family of turtlebacks forever and ever. This ceremony is somewhat involved and rather messy but all in good fun. There were no guests involved. The pollywogs are brought for “judgement”, they have to kiss the big smelly fish and then they are smeared with whipped goop (some secret combination of egg whites, gelatin and food dye). The captain and senior staff pass judgement on whether they should be dunked in the pool, which is usually preferable to sitting in the sun while the goop dries in their hair. They immediately drain, sanitize and refill the pool afterwards.

 

With the crossings of the Date Line, it sure was nice to see the day of the week floor mats in the elevators!

 

Temperatures inside the ship varied a lot. The Piano bar had a full wall of seats that went unused because of a cold wind blowing on them from the HVAC (even though Paul McD’s sessions were lots of fun and very well attended). The aft section of the MDR was often stuffy but the Ocean Bar where we had trivia was too cold for some members of our team. So most people learned to carry a shirt or sweater... not something one might think is needed for the South Pacific.

 

The crew is so hard working and pleasant and I would really be remiss if I didn’t include kudos to them. I had requested a fan and no feather pillows (allergic) long before the cruise; after the first night I asked for a mattress pad… along the way the fan konked out and I called the front desk at 11:00pm to see if they could get us a replacement; the night steward and an electrician both came right away, so within half an hour we had a replacement…. all accomplished with a smile.

 

Church Services: We had 3 clergy onboard – a minister, a rabbi and a priest (and no I didn’t see them walk into a bar….). They were very busy with their duties with daily Catholic Mass and Interdenominational devotions plus we had Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur holy days during our itinerary.

 

Gene Young, our Cruise Director, covered a lot of ground for us in too many ways to recount here, plus he did a superlative job with the Veteran’s Day/Remembrance Day/Armistice Day ceremony we had on Nov 11. The ship’s whistle and alarms were blown at 11:11 to begin two minutes of silence; Captain Eversen spoke, and each of the 3 clergy had a part to read. Gene had invited guests to give names of those to be remembered, and he began by reading several names “On Behalf of Guests”. Microphones were standing on lower and upper floors of the Queen’s Lounge for guests to come to if they wished. Guests remembered loved ones who served in many wars and conflicts around the world and over more than 100 years, from WWI to present. Gene and others on his staff read names, a few at a time, then left it open for guests. The cadence of this flowed so well. Gene had this very together and we thought it was very well done. The florist made a beautiful wreath of evergreens, red anthuriums and carnations that stood front and center for the ceremony and then later was moved to the Explorer’s Lounge. HAL distributed poppy lapel pins to everyone a couple of days ahead of time with a notice of the ceremony. This was such a well-rounded effort that came together in a meaningful way for the guests.

 

 

 

Next, and I think, last thoughts: Land thoughts, and Travel thoughts.

 

m--