LIVE FROM - 2019 Pacific World Cruise - LA to LA

[GloriaF]

Loving every minute of your posts!  Thanks for taking the time.  Looking forward to the next.....

[happytravels2U]

Charles, your posts are LOL funny! Did you get the Husky 37 inch utility cart from Home Depot to hold your miscellaneous STUFF?

[madjohn]

I am coming along for the trip.  Just got caught up.  Enjoying your posts, Thanks.

[sailinglisa]

Thanks for taking me along on your trip.  I love the PP - cruised on her for 10 days in 2013. 

[ccrain]

01-28-2019 At Sea to Tahiti

 

The sea is not too bad this morning, but the wind is buffeting the ship a bit. Still overcast, starting to get warmer. I am now sleeping far better on this ship than the entire 60 day cruise on the Coral. Not sure why. Maybe it’s the memory foam pillow or maybe the comfortable soft mattress, but when I woke up at 0430 this morning, listened to the wind howling through the balcony, I just snuggled back down and went back to sleep.

 

Wow. What a day yesterday. The whales did not disappoint. Spectacular. We got spouts in the setting sun, full body breaches, mother and calves surfacing together, water falling off their bodies like diamonds in the sun – there must have been dozens of pods between the ship and Lanai. Spectacular sunset with the mountains just behind Lahaina illuminated with the setting sun and the sun reflecting off all the windows of the houses on the lower slopes of the mountains. Lots of pictures. A fitting conclusion to our two ports in Hawaii and a good start to our 5 sea days to Papeete.

 

The only absolute priority yesterday was shaved ice at Ululani’s. Best shaved ice we’ve ever had – with a scoop of ice cream on the bottom of course. We did have one final piece of ‘stuff’ to purchase. Had to go all the way to Longs/CVS in the Cannery mall to find it, but we did. Nice walk with an overcast, breezy cool day. The channel was white capped with the wind whipping between Maui and Lanai. Tenders headed to shore had to buck the wind and the waves and were a bit rough. Ones headed back to the ship didn’t have any issues until we got back to the ship and had to maneuver in that rough water. Oh, and did I mention how cute the ship looks at anchor from the shore – just like a little cruise ship model – still missing the other 2/3^rd’s!

 

A couple of housekeeping items. Emanuela had left the ship and is not back at Effy’s. The Domino Duo will leave the ship in Auckland and the Cruisetones come back in Singapore. Neil did put Domino in the Pacific lounge for several sessions, tonight as well, and it was very popular with the dance crowd. Their song mix is a ballroom/latin/contemporary mix. Good dance tunes.

 

I don’t think it was the 39” tool box. I think it was the 29”. $39.99, not the $49.99 or the $59.99 one.

 

So I did finally hear the ultimate “touristy” answer yesterday. In response to the question, where are you from – the answer was, I swear, ‘from the United States’ – nuff said?

 

We tried the burger grill yesterday. Very nice. Nothing like a fresh burger off the grill. Well seasoned. Fries nicely done.

 

That’s it from the Pacific on the Pacific!

 

Later!

[Thrak]

12 hours ago, sailinglisa said:

Thanks for taking me along on your trip.  I love the PP - cruised on her for 10 days in 2013. 

 

Just a "picky" note: The abbreviation for Pacific Princess is PA

 

Princess Ship Abbreviations

 

CB - Caribbean Princess
CO - Coral Princess
KP - Crown Princess
DP - Dawn Princess
DI - Diamond Princess
EP - Emerald Princess
NP - Golden Princess
AP - Grand Princess
IP - Island Princess
GP - Regal Princess
RP - Royal Princess
RU - Ruby Princess
SA - Sapphire Princess
CP - Sea Princess
TP - Star Princess
SP - Sun Princess

MJ – Majestic Princess
YP – Sky Princess

PA - Pacific Princess

[brucedodge]

4 hours ago, ccrain said:

Oh, and did I mention how cute the ship looks at anchor from the shore – just like a little cruise ship model – still missing the other 2/3^rd’s!

 

We were on an "R" ship at Grand Turk (only two spaces opposite each other on the pier).  Opposite us was a HUMONGOUS Carnival ship.  When walking back along the pier the size discrepancy was amazing.  I mentioned this to someone walking along pier with us, and he said, "Yeah, we're on a real, if not life size, ship."

4 hours ago, ccrain said:

 

The Domino Duo will leave the ship in Auckland and the Cruisetones come back in Singapore. Neil did put Domino in the Pacific lounge for several sessions, tonight as well, and it was very popular with the dance crowd. Their song mix is a ballroom/latin/contemporary mix. Good dance tunes.

 

Charles, you obviously have more "pull" with Reid than we did.  We would have loved to have had them up there for an evening.  Wood floors beat carpet any day!

 

And FWIW, we like "PP".  We've used that with fellow cruisers for many years.

 

Bruce

[chamima]

On 1/19/2019 at 11:32 AM, ccrain said:

 

So welcome to a Live From thread on the 2019 Pacific Princess World Cruise. Roundtrip LA.

 

Hello Charles

Just found this thread.

We're signed up for 2020 so I'm following you with a lot of interest.

We were just on the Pacific for New Years. The crew are WONDERFUL!!!!

Please say hello to David and Marislova in the Casino Bar from the Jalapeno lady (Karen) and Allan.

They are really, really great !!!

[blakeislandbooks]

On 1/19/2019 at 11:32 AM, ccrain said:

Now its 4 suitcases, 4 carry-ons and a toolbox! A toolbox from Home Depot, wheeled, cheaper than a new piece of luggage, duct taped closed, filled with 4 months of toiletries and STUFF.

 

Oh yeah, let’s not forget umpteen different charging cords and the futility of trying to make sure your laptop and all your electronics are updated while still connected to decent WiFi – and knowing full well that the moment you get on the ship and leave the harbor, every device will require a major system update and app updates totaling more gigs of bandwidth than the entire Apollo program used in its lifetime – and those update will only last about 2 weeks…

 

When did cruising get so darn complex! Oh I forgot, we signed up for our first world cruise! To paraphrase a famous general, everyday cruisers think fun, drinks, exotic ports, sun, sea, surf – serious cruisers think logistics, alternate plans, closet space, backups upon backups (what if the toothbrush charger goes out?) – how many days of vitamins and supplements? How many bottles of shampoo and conditioner? No wonder the house budget consists of 20% food and the rest – STUFF! (Good thing we don’t have to bring toilet paper!)

 

But I get way, way ahead of myself. Hi Everyone! For those of you who don’t know us, Judy and I have been sailing since 2001 when we got hooked on an Alaskan cruise on the old Ocean Princess (Sun Class). 50+ Princess cruises and a little over 600 days and here we are – on our first World Cruise and our first cruise on the Pacific Princess. Yep, from a ‘can you fish off the back of the boat’ guy to a serious OCPD (Obsessive Cruise Planning Disorder) engineering approach to World Cruising.

 

We are presently ensconced at the Doubletree in San Pedro having had our breakfast, inventoried and re-packed a bunch of STUFF, and are enjoying a nice cup of coffee before heading out to purchase MORE STUFF. After spending almost $600 last night in STUFF for the next 100+ days on the ship, what more STUFF could we possibly need? Glad you asked. Crystallized ginger and Stevia from Whole Foods. A closet organizer, flip flops and a couple of other things from Walmart, with a backup location of a Target in Carson just in case the Walmart fails me.

 

So welcome to a Live From thread on the 2019 Pacific Princess World Cruise. Roundtrip LA. Or at least we are doing the R/T LA. Several of our Cruise Critic band has already started the journey from FLL. And many will get off in FLL as we circle the world. But I wanted to do a World Cruise. The whole enchilada. So here we are. Why the 2019 WC? In a word, Africa. When we booked, I didn’t think they would do Africa very soon after that, although the 2020 cruise also does Africa. But we have already booked our Route Sector Deviation and will be doing a 3 Day safari from Durban, catching up with the ship in Cape Town.

 

But again, I get ahead of myself.

 

The 2019 cruise, for us, starts in LA and then goes on the following itinerary. The Indian Ocean and Africa part of the itinerary is what caught my eye. Parts of the world we will probably never see, and face it, we’re not getting any younger. To quote another famous general “L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace”!

 

Sun, Jan 20         Los Angeles, California 

Mon, Jan 21       At Sea 

Tue, Jan 22         At Sea 

Wed, Jan 23       At Sea 

Thu, Jan 24         At Sea 

Fri, Jan 25           At Sea 

Sat, Jan 26          Honolulu, Hawaii 

Sun, Jan 27         Maui (Lahaina), Hawaii  (Tender Required)

Mon, Jan 28       At Sea 

Tue, Jan 29         At Sea 

Wed, Jan 30       At Sea 

Thu, Jan 31         At Sea 

Fri, Feb 1            At Sea 

Sat, Feb 2           Tahiti (Papeete), French Polynesia 

Sun, Feb 3          Huahine, Polynesia  (Tender Required)

Sun, Feb 3          Raiatea, French Polynesia 

Mon, Feb 4         Raiatea, French Polynesia 

Tue, Feb 5          At Sea 

Wed, Feb 6         Cross International Date Line 

Fri, Feb 8            At Sea 

Sat, Feb 9           Nuku'alofa, Tonga 

Sun, Feb 10        At Sea 

Mon, Feb 11      At Sea 

Tue, Feb 12        Auckland, New Zealand 

Wed, Feb 13      At Sea 

Thu, Feb 14        At Sea 

Fri, Feb 15          Dunedin (Port Chalmers), New Zealand 

Sat, Feb 16         Stewart Isand, New Zealand  (Tender Required)

Sun, Feb 17        At Sea 

Mon, Feb 18      At Sea 

Tue, Feb 19        Sydney, Australia 

Wed, Feb 20      At Sea 

Thu, Feb 21        At Sea 

Fri, Feb 22          At Sea 

Sat, Feb 23         Cairns, Australia 

Sun, Feb 24        At Sea 

Mon, Feb 25      At Sea 

Tue, Feb 26        At Sea 

Wed, Feb 27      Darwin, Australia 

Thu, Feb 28        At Sea 

Fri, Mar 1            At Sea 

Sat, Mar 2           Komodo Island, Indonesia  (Tender Required)

Sun, Mar 3         At Sea 

Mon, Mar 4        At Sea 

Tue, Mar 5         Singapore 

Wed, Mar 6        Singapore 

Thu, Mar 7         Kuala Lumpur (Port Kelang), Malaysia 

Fri, Mar 8            Langkawi, Malaysia 

Sat, Mar 9           Phuket, Thailand 

Sun, Mar 10       At Sea 

Mon, Mar 11      At Sea 

Tue, Mar 12       At Sea 

Wed, Mar 13     Colombo, Sri Lanka 

Thu, Mar 14       At Sea 

Fri, Mar 15         Maldives (Male)  (Tender Required)

Sat, Mar 16        At Sea 

Sun, Mar 17       At Sea 

Mon, Mar 18      At Sea 

Tue, Mar 19       Seychelles Islands (Mahe) 

Wed, Mar 20     At Sea 

Thu, Mar 21       At Sea 

Fri, Mar 22         Nosy Be, Madagascar  (Tender Required)

Sat, Mar 23        At Sea 

Sun, Mar 24       At Sea 

Mon, Mar 25      Port Louis, Mauritius 

Tue, Mar 26       Pointe des Galets, Reunion Island 

Wed, Mar 27     At Sea 

Thu, Mar 28       At Sea 

Fri, Mar 29         At Sea 

Sat, Mar 30        Durban, South Africa 

Sun, Mar 31       East London, South Africa 

Mon, Apr 1         At Sea 

Tue, Apr 2          Cape Town, South Africa 

Wed, Apr 3         Cape Town, South Africa 

Thu, Apr 4          Cape Town, South Africa 

Fri, Apr 5             At Sea 

Sat, Apr 6            Luderitz, Namibia 

Sun, Apr 7          Walvis Bay, Namibia 

Mon, Apr 8         At Sea 

Tue, Apr 9          At Sea 

Wed, Apr 10      At Sea 

Thu, Apr 11        Saint Helena, Great Britain  (Tender Required)

Fri, Apr 12          At Sea 

Sat, Apr 13         At Sea 

Sun, Apr 14        At Sea 

Mon, Apr 15       At Sea 

Tue, Apr 16        Natal, Brazil 

Wed, Apr 17      Fortaleza, Brazil 

Thu, Apr 18        At Sea 

Fri, Apr 19          At Sea 

Sat, Apr 20         "Devil's Island (isle Royale), French Guiana Scenic Cruising"

Sun, Apr 21        At Sea 

Mon, Apr 22       Barbados 

Tue, Apr 23        Guadeloupe (Point-a-Pitre) 

Wed, Apr 24      "Marigot, Saint Martin Tender Required

Thu, Apr 25        At Sea 

Fri, Apr 26          At Sea 

Sat, Apr 27         Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 

Sun, Apr 28        At Sea 

Mon, Apr 29       At Sea 

Tue, Apr 30        Aruba 

Wed, May 1       At Sea 

Thu, May 2         Panama Canal (Scenic Cruising) Panama 

Fri, May 3           At Sea 

Sat, May 4          Puerto Quepos, Costa Rica  (Tender Required)

Sun, May 5         At Sea 

Mon, May 6       At Sea 

Tue, May 7         Huatulco, Mexico 

Wed, May 8       At Sea 

Thu, May 9         Puerto Vallarta, Mexico 

Fri, May 10         At Sea 

Sat, May 11        At Sea 

Sun, May 12       Los Angeles, California 

 

For this itinerary, we have a mix of DIY, Private Excursions and Princess tours scheduled. The largest and most complex, of course, is the safari in Durban. The DIY ports are mainly those that we’ve been to before – Hawaii, Auckland, Dunedin, Sydney, Darwin, Singapore – and the private excursions where we could get on them. Then we just filled in the rest with Princess excursions. As we go through the cruise, I hope to give everyone an idea of what we did, who we did it with and how it all went. Especially the mechanics of what we did for those of you infected with OCPD.

 

We have over 150 Cruise Critic members on this cruise. Meet and greets planned for FLL, LA and SYD. Hopefully we can do group luncheons and dinners as well – we had a great time on the Coral late last year during the 60 Day Northern Pacific cruise. I will try and give everyone, especially those on the 2020 cruise, a good idea of shipboard life, cabin space, food and entertainment, as well as the ports. After all, you can’t get enough information when planning something like this…

 

So that’s the morning before update…

 

Later!

Hello once again, Charles and Judy! We toured Hong Kong together last year with you, and we look forward to following your World Cruise adventures. We're thinking of doing part of this itinerary in 2021, and I appreciate your detailed take on things. Happy cruising (we're off on a number of trips as well this year and next - South Pacific, Egypt, Israel, India, Ireland).

[greenie082756]

This dreamer is jumping in to read away! Your writing style is entertaining.

 

Thank you so much for sharing your adventure of a world cruise with us. This is a trip that I most likely can only dream about.  Again, thanks!

[queensquared]

On 1/28/2019 at 11:36 AM, ccrain said:

A couple of housekeeping items. Emanuela had left the ship and is not back at Effy’s. The Domino Duo will leave the ship in Auckland and the Cruisetones come back in Singapore. Neil did put Domino in the Pacific lounge for several sessions, tonight as well, and it was very popular with the dance crowd. Their song mix is a ballroom/latin/contemporary mix. Good dance tunes.

Thanks for the update about Emanuela and Cruisetones!!!!!

Keep enjoying.......especially the ice cream!

Nan and Yvonne

[ccrain]

On 1/28/2019 at 3:54 PM, chamima said:

 

Hello Charles

Just found this thread.

We're signed up for 2020 so I'm following you with a lot of interest.

We were just on the Pacific for New Years. The crew are WONDERFUL!!!!

Please say hello to David and Marislova in the Casino Bar from the Jalapeno lady (Karen) and Allan.

They are really, really great !!!

They were both thrilled to hear from you and send hugs and kisses back!

[ccrain]

On 1/29/2019 at 5:28 AM, blakeislandbooks said:

Hello once again, Charles and Judy! We toured Hong Kong together last year with you, and we look forward to following your World Cruise adventures. We're thinking of doing part of this itinerary in 2021, and I appreciate your detailed take on things. Happy cruising (we're off on a number of trips as well this year and next - South Pacific, Egypt, Israel, India, Ireland).

Mandy and Apple have added their other sister to the group and are taking larger groups. Everyone raved about their tours when we re-visited Hong Kong on the Coral in October last year...

[chamima]

20 minutes ago, ccrain said:

They were both thrilled to hear from you and send hugs and kisses back!

 

 

Thanks!

We really loved them and miss them.

 

[ccrain]

01-29/30-2019 At Sea To Tahiti

 

CRUISE CRITIC LUNCHEON – LA TO SYD SEGMENT – FEBRUARY 5, 2019 – 1145 – DINING ROOM

 

They will have a special area set aside for us. So if you signed up, come on by. Even if you didn’t, come on by anyway and we’ll see if we have room or not!

 

Busy, busy sea day Monday. Morning workout, hot tub and swim, burger and hot dogs for lunch, slot pull in the afternoon, dancing all evening into the night. Still trying to get the image of Rich’s coconut bra and grass skirt costume out of my head at the King Kamehameha party – Goku did not show up. I know Jane – you warned me!

 

This was the kind of scheduling for a party that we like. Rather than after a full day shore, its on the first sea day after Maui. Lots of participation as well. More than on the Coral’s deck party the night of Nawilliwilli. Line dancing, Hula dancing, lots of fun. All three of the cruise staff were on deck as well as several of the dancers to help fill out the staff. From my understanding, this is typical on the Pacific during the World Cruise. CD, deputy CD and one JACD, with help from the dance troupe.

 

Kathy’s slot pull was a great success. About an hour and a half of fun entertainment for $1! (We put in $15 each and got $14 back!). Next slot pull is between Sydney and Singapore on March 1^st.

 

We are dancing quite a bit in the Casino Bar on the carpet with Domino. Since we initially learned dancing on a carpet, before we got our dance floor installed, its not too bad. Just can’t do a lot of moves in a tight space or a lot of turns on even a tight knap carpet. Since they are leaving in Auckland, we’re trying to spend as much time with them as possible before they depart the ship. Then we will probably go up to the Pacific Lounge for dancing with the 2 Cool duo. We have dinner with Domino tentatively scheduled for the night of Papeete. There are a couple other couples dancing with them as well. We sort of take turns dancing in the ‘large’ space! And foxtrots take the long way around the entry way, through the photo gallery and back.

 

With a late night on Monday, I didn’t do anything on Tuesday – and the internet connection was very spotty – so I did not want to waste a lot of minutes posting an update. My VPN connection kept going out as well. Very, very slow! I kept checking all day and it was pretty bad until this morning when I was able to log on at 0445…

 

Today is the crossing the line ceremony and it is a bit showery/rainy and windy. I hope the ceremony goes off well, but we do have a couple more crossings on this cruise. And Rich is getting his wish, he is involved in the ceremony in some manner – hopefully with a lot of duct tape! (Just kidding!)

 

Ventured to dinner last night in the MDR – third time on this cruise! They had lamb again. What can I say! I only get to eat Lamb on the ships. Dinner was good. Too good. Ate way too much…The Fettuccine Alfredo was excellent, but the star was the cheesecake for dessert. This was a fantastic cheesecake. Best I’ve had in years on a ship. Good cupcakes, good cheesecake, fantastic ice cream – what more can you ask? We did get moved to a table with Paul and Elizabeth, and 2 other couples, but they, and us, rarely show up. I just can’t eat like this every night – no way…

 

The service is exemplary. In fact, the service is about as good as you can get on any ship. Help is never far away and you still have to guard your dishes on the table if you don’t want them to disappear.

 

Unlike the 60 day cruise on the Coral, there continues to be a constant mix of lectures and presentations during the day to tickle you interest. Frank does a great job with a mix of lectures. WWII, Amelia, air travel and the postal service. Even the understaffed photo staff is doing lectures on Go Pro’s and digital photography classes from basic to moderate. Even Tai Chi at sea is back! (Going to try that this morning.) There is just as much, if not more, activities going on in this ship than on the Coral between Guam and HI last October.

 

In fact, we’ve only watched movies on the Ipad/Iphone/computer in Honolulu and Lahaina. Haven’t started binging any of the series I brought with me. Maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. Bottom line is that so far, we are not bored at all – despite the small size of the ship.

 

Tonight is our second formal night of five on this segment. We will be going to the Captain’s Circle party to snag a few free drinks – order the ‘good’ stuff direct – they will do ‘simple’ drinks on order. For some reason, my drink of this cruise is jack and coke. Not sure why. I go through stages I guess.

 

Well, that’s it for now. Time to get my lazy butt up off the chair and earn a nice lunch.

 

Later all!

[ccrain]

01-31-2019 At Sea To Tahiti

 

CRUISE CRITIC LUNCHEON – LA TO SYD SEGMENT – FEBRUARY 5, 2019 – 1145 – DINING ROOM

 

Notices were placed in mail boxes yesterday..

 

They will have a special area set aside for us. So if you signed up, come on by. Even if you didn’t, come on by anyway and we’ll see if we have room or not!

 

Another crossing the line ceremony. This time both the CD and the Captain ended up in the pool. Funny, the adagio dancer threw Frenchy in the pool last time. This time they carefully escorted the Captain to the pool and he jumped in…it’s good to be the Captain.

 

Rich was the jester/joker and Marie and Mark were the ‘naughty’ couple. Marie and Mark were true pollywogs and had a good time, and were slimed pretty well, but they used much better smelling stuff than on the Diamond. And they let the two crew members wear coveralls! That was cheating! No cadets in whites! Where’s the fun in that?

 

The Captain’s Circle party had no new rumors beyond those we already know. Captain Poggi on the Coral did talk about the new 1800 passenger explorer ship type that everyone else is ordering, but not Princess. This time we only heard about the Sky, Enchanted and the two new LNG ships – although they will be LNG/Marine Fuel, not LNG alone, and they will be the biggest yet.

 

Most travelled had 2015 days at sea and 9 world cruises under his belt. 3^rd most traveled was about 1200+ days. There are 320+ elites on board – almost half the ship. Only one or two blue cards and a couple of Ruby. Over a hundred platinums, and the rest were gold.

 

Was able to snag a few real drinks before they shut the bar down. Other than that, a pretty standard Captain’s Circle party.

 

A little bumpy last night, but it has calmed down this morning. Weather has now officially turned hot and humid. Will hit Tahiti on Saturday morning. Not sure what we’re going to do yet. I have a ferry ride to Moorea and back on the list. But the town shuts down around noon, so shopping time is limited. Late departure, not an overnight.

 

That’s the quick and dirty this morning. Later!

[ccrain]

02-01-2019 At Sea To Tahiti – Last of the last 5 day sea days

 

Still some more motion, more overcast this morning. Quite a bit rockin and rolling last night. The Pacific, being a smaller ship, moves a lot more than the larger ships and the ‘safe’ zone, deck 4 midships, is much smaller than the Piazza in the big ships. Something happened to our A/C in the cabin and its getting hotter. No lower than 73 at night, and up to 75 during the day. Airflow has greatly diminished noticeably, which I think is where the problem lies. We are currently on the afternoon shaded side, port, headed south. When we turn to the west, we will be on the southern exposed side and the temperatures will rise. I hope they can fix it as the Diamond was miserable last March in the tropics headed North.

 

Mental note – from now on, pick cabins based on solar heating potential!

 

Yesterdays show was the second production show of the cruise – Bellissima. It was not a production show in the big ship sense, but a series of song and dance routines featuring the dancers and vocalists. The Belinda King dancers and vocalists Charlie Vose and Lisa Wilson. This time her mike worked perfectly. But he is one great singer. The dance routines ranged from irish river dancing to contemporary accompanied by appropriate songs modified to fit the choreography. Several solos and duos were also performed. A very nice show. We have 10 more shows on this cruise with them.

 

Luigi, the Maitre De, had to leave the ship for an emergency. We are getting a new Maitre De, just not sure when. Neil is not leaving in Sydney, he is staying on until FLL. Peter Tredgett (sp?) will take over for the ship until drydock. Rumor is that they will be getting a miniature golf course and a LED screen in the Cabaret lounge during drydock in the Bahamas. No other major features, other than hull touch ups, new carpets, general cleaning are being rumored. I will check on Medallionet installation, as a drydock would be a perfect time to install the new satellite hardware.

 

Domino Duo – I have to talk about them as well. Daniella and Costello are consummate professionals. In the 12 days we’ve been with them and listening to them, they have repeated, maybe, 3 or 4 songs in a couple of dozen music sets. That’s pretty incredible, and although she denies it, she has a beautiful voice. It is a pleasure to listen to them and dance with them, even on the carpet in the Casino bar. They leave in Auckland and will not be back before we disembark in LA. I wish we could keep them the whole cruise.

 

Today is the finale event for our Hawaiian couple. An Aloha Oe show with the hula dancers and ukulele players. I have to put that on the schedule as Judy is performing in that one…

 

So that’s it for the day, today…tomorrow, Papeete!

 

Later!

[Kenswing]

Thanks for taking the time to report daily.  Enjoy Tahiti.. 

[brownblonde]

On 1/30/2019 at 11:19 AM, ccrain said:

01-29/30-2019 At Sea To Tahiti

 

CRUISE CRITIC LUNCHEON – LA TO SYD SEGMENT – FEBRUARY 5, 2019 – 1145 – DINING ROOM

 

They will have a special area set aside for us. So if you signed up, come on by. Even if you didn’t, come on by anyway and we’ll see if we have room or not!

 

Busy, busy sea day Monday. Morning workout, hot tub and swim, burger and hot dogs for lunch, slot pull in the afternoon, dancing all evening into the night. Still trying to get the image of Rich’s coconut bra and grass skirt costume out of my head at the King Kamehameha party – Goku did not show up. I know Jane – you warned me!

 

This was the kind of scheduling for a party that we like. Rather than after a full day shore, its on the first sea day after Maui. Lots of participation as well. More than on the Coral’s deck party the night of Nawilliwilli. Line dancing, Hula dancing, lots of fun. All three of the cruise staff were on deck as well as several of the dancers to help fill out the staff. From my understanding, this is typical on the Pacific during the World Cruise. CD, deputy CD and one JACD, with help from the dance troupe.

 

Kathy’s slot pull was a great success. About an hour and a half of fun entertainment for $1! (We put in $15 each and got $14 back!). Next slot pull is between Sydney and Singapore on March 1^st.

 

We are dancing quite a bit in the Casino Bar on the carpet with Domino. Since we initially learned dancing on a carpet, before we got our dance floor installed, its not too bad. Just can’t do a lot of moves in a tight space or a lot of turns on even a tight knap carpet. Since they are leaving in Auckland, we’re trying to spend as much time with them as possible before they depart the ship. Then we will probably go up to the Pacific Lounge for dancing with the 2 Cool duo. We have dinner with Domino tentatively scheduled for the night of Papeete. There are a couple other couples dancing with them as well. We sort of take turns dancing in the ‘large’ space! And foxtrots take the long way around the entry way, through the photo gallery and back.

 

With a late night on Monday, I didn’t do anything on Tuesday – and the internet connection was very spotty – so I did not want to waste a lot of minutes posting an update. My VPN connection kept going out as well. Very, very slow! I kept checking all day and it was pretty bad until this morning when I was able to log on at 0445…

 

Today is the crossing the line ceremony and it is a bit showery/rainy and windy. I hope the ceremony goes off well, but we do have a couple more crossings on this cruise. And Rich is getting his wish, he is involved in the ceremony in some manner – hopefully with a lot of duct tape! (Just kidding!)

 

Ventured to dinner last night in the MDR – third time on this cruise! They had lamb again. What can I say! I only get to eat Lamb on the ships. Dinner was good. Too good. Ate way too much…The Fettuccine Alfredo was excellent, but the star was the cheesecake for dessert. This was a fantastic cheesecake. Best I’ve had in years on a ship. Good cupcakes, good cheesecake, fantastic ice cream – what more can you ask? We did get moved to a table with Paul and Elizabeth, and 2 other couples, but they, and us, rarely show up. I just can’t eat like this every night – no way…

 

The service is exemplary. In fact, the service is about as good as you can get on any ship. Help is never far away and you still have to guard your dishes on the table if you don’t want them to disappear.

 

Unlike the 60 day cruise on the Coral, there continues to be a constant mix of lectures and presentations during the day to tickle you interest. Frank does a great job with a mix of lectures. WWII, Amelia, air travel and the postal service. Even the understaffed photo staff is doing lectures on Go Pro’s and digital photography classes from basic to moderate. Even Tai Chi at sea is back! (Going to try that this morning.) There is just as much, if not more, activities going on in this ship than on the Coral between Guam and HI last October.

 

In fact, we’ve only watched movies on the Ipad/Iphone/computer in Honolulu and Lahaina. Haven’t started binging any of the series I brought with me. Maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. Bottom line is that so far, we are not bored at all – despite the small size of the ship.

 

Tonight is our second formal night of five on this segment. We will be going to the Captain’s Circle party to snag a few free drinks – order the ‘good’ stuff direct – they will do ‘simple’ drinks on order. For some reason, my drink of this cruise is jack and coke. Not sure why. I go through stages I guess.

 

Well, that’s it for now. Time to get my lazy butt up off the chair and earn a nice lunch.

 

Later all!

I too look forward to lamb on cruises.like the chops with eggs for breakfast. Was introduced to that many’s years ago on HAL. Can’t get it now, yes  had it on Oceania and Viking. Seems other ships have gone to shanks sometimes roast.  Expensive way of getting lamb no matter how you cut it.

[treesah]

Thanks for sharing this fabulous adventure.  Watch out for the Green Flash while in French Polynesia.  We were blessed with one while on the old Tahitian Princess many moons ago.

[PescadoAmarillo]

If you read this before your arrival in Papeete, the best free WiFi (as of three years ago) was at Chaplin’s across the street from the ferry terminal. Also, if you are taking the ferry to Moorea and like to snorkel, the ferry terminal at Vaiare is not very far north of the Lagoonarium, with some of the best snorkeling in the area. You can use their equipment. 

[Susie Cruise NC]

Thank you Charles for your wonderful updates Live from the Pacific and all of the preparation pre-cruise. I just finished reading all 61 pages and gained so much insight and information!  We are Larry and Sue from NC and will be joining you in Cape Town in April. Until then, we will continue to follow you and anticipate our leg of this voyage and live vicariously through yours!!

[rjs412]

On ‎1‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 9:39 PM, Hulagirl said:

Be sure and check out the Cruisetones in the Casino Lounge.  Dan (guitar) and Elliott (piano) are the nicest people and we enjoyed listening to them every evening last Aug-Sept on the Pacific P.  Dan is married to Deborah who is the Destination lecturer on the cruise with you.  Was always a fun evening with them.

 

Ditto that!  We first met Dan, Elliott, and Debbie on our Ocean Princess Cruise along the west coast of Africa in 2010. Have always enjoyed Dan & Elliott's music and Debbie's port lectures. Have sailed with them twice on the Ocean Princess and twice on the Pacific Princess.  Rick & Diana

[ccrain]

In Papeete today, Huahine tomorrow and Raiatea the next day. Will be busy snorkeling, eating and drinking, and such. Will report back on the way to Tonga next week...

[brucedodge]

On 2/1/2019 at 9:56 AM, ccrain said:

Domino Duo – I have to talk about them as well. Daniella and Costello are consummate professionals. In the 12 days we’ve been with them and listening to them, they have repeated, maybe, 3 or 4 songs in a couple of dozen music sets. That’s pretty incredible, and although she denies it, she has a beautiful voice. It is a pleasure to listen to them and dance with them, even on the carpet in the Casino bar. They leave in Auckland and will not be back before we disembark in LA. I wish we could keep them the whole cruise.

 

Charles, we feel the same way.  We only had them for 17 days in December, but wish they could be aboard every future sailing we do. This has to be a better gig for them than in Romania!