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John and Diane's Lucky Number 7

tennisbeforewine

By tennisbeforewine,
in Holland America Line

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Krazy Kruizers

Krazy Kruizers

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Sorry to hear that plans changed again and you didn't get to go home for John's birthday.  Hope your granddaughter gets better quickly.  Your daughter is right -- best to stay where you are and not get sick.

 

Glad you were able to do a tour -- snorkel, etc.  And then have a great lunch.

 

Great report -- love the pictures.

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cccole

cccole

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French Polynesia is one of my favorite areas on earth.  Such incredible natural beauty above and below the water.  Thank you for sharing the photos and description of your fabulous day!!!!  If I remember correctly, the restrooms at Bloody Mary's are also fun to see.

As usual, you have such a great attitude regarding "things" that can happen when you travel.  It is always a pleasure to ready your posts, even when everything is not perfect!!  Thanks again for taking us along,  Cherie

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tennisbeforewine

tennisbeforewine

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Thursday, February 21, 2019

At Sea en route to Tonga

 

I think I need an explanation for the above date.  We’re in the area of the Pacific where the International Date Line is located, and if we were to go by maps, we would have to move ahead one day tomorrow.  For some reason, however, the Captain has decided that it works better to make the change today - at 2:00 AM, to be exact, so we went to bed on Tuesday and awoke on Thursday.  It makes me feel like Rip Van Winkle!

 

Some of last evening’s dinner conversation centered around the change.  A couple of people wanted to know, if we lost an entire day at once, when do we get it back?  We explained to them that we get back that 24 hours one hour at a time, since during the world cruise we set our clocks back one hour at a time - a total of 24 times.  It seems quite strange, but that’s how it works.  The captain went over the history of the time zones on his noontime message yesterday and explained that today’s system was set up in the late 1800’s by a group of Englishmen - in case you’ve ever wondered why the basis for world time is Greenwich Mean Time, centered in London.

 

A few years ago, on the only eastbound WC we’ve taken, our friend Renee, the Spa Manager, had a birthday on April 10.  Since we were traveling the other way, we just repeated a day, and it happened to be her birthday.  She had been so excited to anticipate two birthdays, but by the end of the second April 10, she was thoroughly exhausted and really tired of birthday celebrations.

 

                *    *    *    * 

 

There’s one more story about our aborted trip home.  At about 10:30 PM, before we sailed from Bora Bora, we had a phone call from Guest Relations asking why we were still on the ship.  We gave them the whole sad story and they told us that we had caused a bit of a problem.  When we had our passports stamped on the morning of our Papeete arrival, it was actually an “entry” stamp.  Then, since we wouldn’t be on the ship for the immigration people to stamp an “exit” stamp, we’d do that at the airport before flying out.  You know what happened to that, and the bottom line was that the passport and passenger count was off by two (us!) and they had to find out what happened.  It was explained that the immigration officials would assume that we were still in French Polynesia and had just overstayed our visas.  The efficient and incredibly patient front office folks contacted the local officials (who by then had left the ship) to try to correct the situation, but if they didn’t, it could cause problems next year when we call at Papeete.  You’d think that after all the cruising we’ve done, we’d know to turn our passports back in, but we were just plain stupid in this instance and didn’t do it.  I guess that next year we’ll have to sit down for a long chat with the local officials to explain what happened.  I may have to just read from my blog to explain.

 

This is our second of three sea days, always a plus in my book.  Yesterday was all blue skies and heat, while today began that way but now the sky is covered with clouds.  It doesn’t change the temperature of about 82 degrees; it just adds to the humidity.  It’s still a wonderful day - as are all days on a WC.

 

P. S.  Note to SJSU Librarian and other readers:  Force of Nature was a wonderful read.  In 2017 we read The Dry by the same author, and the main character, Aaron Falk, continues in this one.  In a chat with the librarian this morning, I found out that the next book is China Rich Girlfriend, the second in the Crazy Rich Asians  trilogy.  Since I’ve read all three, I’ll just do a quick read through and then continue with the next book, Holy Cow, a first-person non-fiction tale of finding oneself in India.  I’m really looking forward to that one.  Kass also told me that the first book for the European ports is Tara Road by Maeve Binchy, a book that I read a loooong time ago.  The last book is the new Oprah Winfrey selection, the title of which the Oprah people won’t release yet, even to HAL, her cruising “partner.”  Lots of good reading coming up.

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The-Inside-Cabin Great Review Rare

The-Inside-Cabin

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Enjoying your blog and the great pics.   Can't find the link to your blogger.com blog.  Found the facebook page.

 

I would appreciate a report on the Texas Holdem situation as to how much are the games, how many per day and if they are using a Poker Pro table or live dealers.  

 

Thanks!

Pete

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tennisbeforewine

tennisbeforewine

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Friday, February 22, 2019

At Sea en route to Tonga

 

I’ve commented from time to time on the evening shows.  We do like singers and almost all musicians, some comedians, and the Amsterdam singers and dancers.  For the most part, we tend to skip magicians and ventriloquists.  Last night, however, was the most unusual and riveting performance we’ve seen in seven world cruises. 

 

Marcus Winter calls himself “The Sand Man,” and is an amazing artist. The ship’s program described him as “New Zealand’s No. 1 Live Art Performer”, and he told us he began as a street artist.   I can occasionally  get a bit dozy in the middle of a performance, but not only was I completely alert for the entire show, but when he said he only had one bit left, I had to look at my watch, as I couldn’t believe that 45 minutes had passed.  

 

Using dark sand on glass with a camera overhead which projects onto the screen, Marcus creates works of art by using nothing more than sand and his hands.  He would clear away an area of sand with his hand and then we’d realize it was a face.  Adding bits of sand would add the face’s features and the surrounding area.  On another piece of art, he used all four fingers to clear a space, and before long we realized he had “drawn” a waterfall, with the sand creating tropical sourroundings.  Each piece of art was accompanied by music which represented the “picture.”  

 

To celebrate the world cruise, he “drew” a series of pictures representing some of HAL’s ports.  For England, there was Big Ben, for China it was the Great Wall, and so on.  The musical background for each place was appropriate for the location.  Big Ben, for example, was accompanied by Beatles’ music. 

 

His last piece of art, he told us, represented love throughout the years.  Using both hands, he drew two faces looking at each other and then began slightly changing them, adding wrinkles and deleting hair until the two lovers were much older than at the beginning, echoing much of the audience.  He is an amazing artist and I hope he performs again.

 

                *    *    *    *    *

 

For The-Inside-Cabin, I had to do a bit of research on Texas Hold-em poker.  Since our friend Sandra is one of the best players on the ship, I’ve thought it was strange not to see her at a table at about 10:00 at night after dinner.  I asked the casino manager as well as Sandra for answers to your question and this is what I found out.

 

 Regular games are 1, 2, no limit.  For a tournament, it’s a $60 buy-in.

 It’s a Poker Pro table, but it’s broken.

 Regarding how many per day, now there are none because the table is broken and has been since the Asia-Pacific cruise.  Sandra has been told it will be fixed in Auckland, but she sounded a bit skeptical about that.  When the table is working, the number of games per day depends on the number of players wishing to participate.  As you know, long cruises like the WC have fewer people in the casino, but I’ll bet when we go back through the Canal to San Francisco, there will be plenty of people wanting to leave their money behind.

 

Tomorrow is Tonga, and we’re looking forward to seeing this beautiful Pacific island again  The last time we were here was on a Sunday, and a group of us went to church for two reasons.  One was that we generally go to church, and the other is that if you have a chance to attend church on a Sunday anywhere in the South Pacific, you really ought to go, no matter your religion (or lack thereof) or churchgoing habits.  The music is like nothing you’ve ever heard, so be sure to surreptiously turn your “video” recording on so you can listen to it again and again.  The king of Tonga is Methodist, and this was a Methodist church, so there he was, sitting in front.  Unfortunately, our visit is on a Saturday, so we’ll miss the opportunity.  

 

This is the last of our three sea days, with two more between Tonga and Auckland.  I’ve loved all of the South Pacific sea days, but I’m looking forward to seeing some more ports, too.  

 

P. S.  We've been told that Friday is National Margarita Day, so enjoy!

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judithbiggs

judithbiggs

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I don’t normally watch much TV but I was at my daughters house when America’s Got Talent came on.  They had a Ukrainian on that did this type of art.  It was mesmerizing.  I could have watched more.  Glad to see there is some great entertainment on board this year!

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judithbiggs

judithbiggs

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I don’t normally watch much TV but I was at my daughters house when America’s Got Talent came on.  They had a Ukrainian on that did this type of art.  It was mesmerizing.  I could have watched more.  Glad to see there is some great entertainment on board this year!

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tennisbeforewine

tennisbeforewine

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Saturday, February 23, 2019

John’s Birthday

Kingdom of Tonga

 

What a day!  We kept busy from morning until night, enjoying Tonga and enjoying John’s birthday.  It was exhausting, but in a good way. Once a year, John wears his “I’m Not Dead Yet” tee shirt, a souvenir from a London performance of Monty Python’s Spamalot.  The quote refers to a very funny scene about the plague, if you can imagine that.  He only wears it on his birthday, so it’s held up very well.  

 

This was our third visit to Tonga, a port known for beautiful seas and extremely friendly people.  Many of the men still dress in the traditional lava lava, a long piece of fabric which is worn wrapped around the waist, somewhat like a skirt.  Many women wear bright floral patterns with flowers in their hair.  

 

Along the walkway to town there were the expected vendors selling everything from tee shirts to “aloha” shirts to jewelry and many other things.  There was no pressure and no one told us how their merchandise was better than others.  Tongans are quite a laid-back group of people.  We made two purchases:  a pair of black pearl earrings for our daughter and a tapa cloth angel for our Christmas tree.  The latter purchase was made from a young woman who makes her own tapa cloth by beating tree bark and then produces dozens of beautiful things to sell.  My favorite was a small nativity scene (made of tapa cloth) which was attached to a small square of tapa cloth, and then the whole thing slid inside of a tapa cloth box with a door which closed to protect it.  I really, really wanted it, but $90 was out of my comfort zone, even though I thought it was a fair price for all the work that went into it.  

 

We wandered around the city, looking at old favorite sites and then finding a quiet balcony outside the Catholic church from which we could call our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter for a nice long chat.  We then walked past a beauty salon where I made an appointment for a 2:00 pedicure.  I was really in need of one, but I have a hard time paying $70 on the ship, when at home it costs $25.00.  This salon was charging the equivalent of $20, so I was happy.

 

After a loooong walk reacquainting ourselves with the city, we headed back to the ship for lunch, before returning for my appointment.  John was quite the sport and went with me, sitting quietly while my toes were beautifully groomed.   I think he caught up with his online French lessons and, before long, it was time to return to the ship.  

 

Sailaway was on Deck 8 aft at 4:30, and I do enjoy being out there.  I don’t know why, but there’s something special about watching the ropes untied and seeing the ship slowly but surely edge away from the dock, sailing out into the seas.  I guess it reminds me a bit of early explorers who didn’t even know where they were going, but they managed to find “it” anyway.  Of course we know exactly where we’re going (Auckland after two sea days), but it seems mysterious anyway.

 

Throughout the day, friends, acquaintances, officers, crew members, and even people we didn’t even know stopped John to tell him “Happy Birthday.”  Although his birthday at home in California was a day away, here on the ship we were in full birthday mode.

 

When we met our besties in the Crow’s Nest, everyone had to give greetings (even though we had celebrated at a surprise party a week ago), and then the dance band broke into “Happy Birthday” and everyone sang.  By the time we got to our table, Indy had used the decorations Ginni and I had secretly purchased downtown, and cute little  foil spirals hung from the ceiling.  After dinner, about twenty waiters descended on our table to sing the Indonesian birthday song.  The closest I can come to the beginning words is “Bonja Boolia,” and even though I sing along, I’m sure I have the words wrong.  It’s fun though, since they sing it through twice, faster the second time, while a couple of waiters are banging metal servers together.  The carrot cake completed the celebration, served on paper plates in the shape of frogs (chosen by John) and the pastry chef needs to be complimented for that cake.  It was

 truly wonderful!

 

There was a show at 10:00, as usual, but John decided he’d had as much birthday as he could handle, so it was off to the cabin for reading and uploading photos.  It had been a wonderful day, but I think it might take both of the sea days for a full recovery.

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tennisbeforewine

tennisbeforewine

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Monday, February 25, 2019

At Sea en route to Auckland

 

Overnight, we have experienced a sharp change in weather.  In his mid-day talk yesterday, Captain Jonathan said that he used two weather models and in this case they were diametrically opposite.  For our entertainment, he decided to give us the least optimistic report, which predicted significant winds, high seas, and cool weather.  It didn’t turn out to be entertainment, however, as the weather has cooled significantly and the skies are gray and threatening rain.  It’s also now necessary to be careful when we walk so as not to lose our footing as the ship rolls.

 

Both today and tomorrow, our Auckland call, the high temperature will be 72 degrees.  Now I understand that for those of you still struggling with nasty winter weather this sounds downright balmy, but keep in mind that we just left places where even the ocean was at 87 degrees.  It’s rather a shock to the system.  I will, however, get to actually wear a jacket as we wander around Auckland, so it’s not all bad.

 

A new addition to the WC as of 2018 is the Sunday Brunch.  It occurs whenever the ship is at sea on Sunday, and yesterday was our second chance to enjoy it.  It was absolutely delicious - again.  I spoke to the Food and Beverage Manager this morning and we agreed that as you look at those tiny bites on each of the three plates, you think there’s really not much there to eat.  However, as those tiny bites accumulate, it’s really filling.  By the time the tiny dessert bites appear, I just looked at them and wondered how I’d find room - but of course I did.

 

The meal is divided into three parts:  first course of cold sampler, main course of hot sampler, and the third course called the “sweet ending sampler.”  My highlights of the cold sampler were a deviled egg, Serrano tapas, and a crab leg cocktail.  The hot sampler featured a chili sauteed jumbo shrimp (delicious!), a mini-beef Wellington, and my favorite, a mini French toast sitting atop a tiny little glass of maple syrup.  John was a bit disappointed in the desserts, as not a one of the three had anything chocolate.  Instead there were a raspberry tiramisu (more like a trifle, actually), a lemon meringue tart (my favorite), and a tiny slice of apple strudel.  It’s a wonderful Sunday midday meal, for which I skip breakfast and then eat a light dinner.  Next Sunday we’re at sea again - oh darn!

 

Last evening was a gala event, so we all dressed in our formal best.  It’s really nice to go to the Crow’s Nest and see everyone in their best clothes.  Men wear anything from a sport coat to a beautifully turned out tuxedo, and ladies really look great in their gowns and other formal attire.  I wore a new evening gown, and Ginni was quite excited because I had purchased it at Stein Mart, her very favorite shopping spot in the world.

 

We were told that we’d have an officer, and it turned out that we had two guests, both Daniel, the assistant chief engineer as well as Stephanie, one of the Amsterdam dancers, with whom we’d become acquainted in 2017.  Her first comment upon being seated next to us was, “It’s so nice to sit with people I know.”  We knew Steph was a Brit, but we found out that she is from the island of Jersey, so we chatted about our visit

 to Guernsey last summer and promised that next time we’d include Jersey in our travels.  We also found out that the singers and dancers rehearse every sea day and that they spend time in the gym every day.  On stage, we can see that that gym time really pays off.

 

The show last night was a reprise performance from The Ladies of Motown, and it was even better than their first.  The finale was “Proud Mary,” and it really had the audience rockin’.  On the way to the library to write, I ran into two of the ladies (an added benefit to all of us being on the same ship) and passed along our compliments.  

 

Today is our chance to watch the Academy Awards in the Wajang Theatre or in our cabins, and as I love to see it, my only decision today is whether to watch it in the theatre or in the cabin.  Such tough decisions are the curse of the WC traveler.

 

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tennisbeforewine

tennisbeforewine

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Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Auckland, New Zealand

 

If ever I had to move out of the United States, it would be to New Zealand.  Most of it even looks like California, with a beautiful ocean, rolling hills, and friendly people with a quirky sense of humor.  There are dozens of sailboats on the water and it just seems like a perfect place - especially in the the southern hemisphere summer.  We’ve been to Auckland about four or five times, and each time it’s a wonderful place to visit, one I could see as a home.  After she graduated from high school, our daughter spent an exchange year in New Zealand, half the year in Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula, and half the year in Hamilton.  She came back loving green-lip mussels, the All Blacks rugby team, and Steinlager beer.  

 

When we were here two years ago, we took the ferry to Devonport, a wonderful little town on an adjoining peninsula, and on the advice of our friends Sandra and Alan, we went to The Patriot pub for mussels.  Since it worked so well then, we decided we not only had to return, but we had to drag our friends along.  Bill had gone on and on about how wonderful they were at the Crab Shack on the Auckland waterfront, but he agreed to try a new place.

 

We took the 11:00 ferry (for all of 10 minutes) to Devonport, and spent our first half hour just wandering around the cute little town.  There’s not a chain store to be seen, and everything probably looks just like it did in the 1950’s.  Ginni found an arts and crafts store and was doing the happy dance when she found some heavy watercolor paper for about a fourth the amount she’d pay at home.  

 

We finally wandered up the street to The Patriot, where, fortunately for us, the mussels lived up to and even exceeded Bill’s expectations.  We had a great time at a large picnic table in the back garden, with mussels, Patriot Fats (french fries), calimari, and a couple of enormous Reuben sandwiches.  I was told that the beer was excellent, but I was happy to find that they had a choice of ciders and my pint was very tasty.  

 

Then it was time to take the ferry back, but Bill and Jane and Rich and Ginni wanted to do a bit more shopping in Devonport.  Upon arrival back at the Auckland ferry terminal, we had a bit of a walk along the waterfront and then around the corner to the yacht harbor, where a few America’s Cup racing vessels are housed.  On our first trip here, we sailed on one of those boats and boy, do they fly across the water.

 

After the 4:15 safety drill (required once a month), it was sailaway time, made even more special by the five Maori dancers who came aboard, I believe to stay until Picton, our last New Zealand port.  It’s great to watch them do tribal dances, sticking their tongues out and making very threatening noises.  These were originally battle dances, which makes them more understandable.  

 

Then it was time to loose the ropes and sail out into the beautiful bay surrounding Auckland.  I wish we could have stayed here longer, but ‘twas not to be.  We’ll be back next year, though. 

 

P. S.  Regarding Trivia, it's been a bit depressing lately, having only missed one our last outing and then being beaten by a team with a perfect score.  Oh well.  

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The-Inside-Cabin Great Review Rare

The-Inside-Cabin

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By the way, one of our ports is Picton, New Zealand, where we've never been.  Does anyone have any information for us or suggestions as to how to spend our time there?  Thanks in advance.  

 

We rented a car and drove to a winery and then an aviation museum. There was a rental car place right outside the port Gate but you need to walk there as the shuttle bus will take you into town. See my blog post on that day for details. https://www.theinsidecabin.com/day-30-picton-new-zealand/

 

 

www.theinsidecabin.com

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