John and Diane's Amazing Round the World Aventure

[Coolcruise02]

I love reading your review. As I will probably never get to do this I'll live it thru you! :)

[RuthC]

I'm still sailing along with you; the ride sure is smooth.

Nestor is our wine steward, and besides being efficient and pleasant, he has one of the best senses of humor I’ve ever run across.

Do you know Nestor's last name? There was a lounge steward named Nestor on my first Hawaii cruise in '92, and he made a fantastic impression; he was still with HAL last I knew. Just wondering if it's the same one.

[Paul123]

John and Diana.....the restaurant staff are nearly all Muslim and from Indonesia and of course, as you have found out, are just fantastic people to have looking after you. You're right about the staff serving alcohol, they are of course Filipinos and equally marvelous. Nestor has a wonderful voice....just get him to give you a little sample of it. He is usually the star of the Crew Show later in the cruise. He is a particularly cool guy. I hope you are not interrupting Jeff's sunbathing too much by talking to him while he goes a darker shad of what ever colour he now is. Say hello to him from Paul and Maria. Have a great time and keep the blog flowing.

 

Paul

[flashdog_1]

I made friends a few cruises ago with one of the American massage therapists who was taking a break from college. First, she said there were different "levels" of crew on Summit. Although she was not employed by the cruiseline, but by the spa people, she did not qualify for the title, "crew" but was called something else. But for our terms, she was a form of crew along with the security staff. Her boyfriend was among those who worked for the security staff. She said that they had different cooks for the different ethnic groups. The Muslims had theirs and the European/American/S African/Australian/New Zealand/Israeli etc. had another. She said the food was very plain and not at all like what we were being served! She said that on their days off, those in her category of "crew" could book a table at the specialty restaurant, though.

[Johnny B]

January 17, 2008

 

OK, first, Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa – yes the dining room stewards are Indonesian, and a nicer bunch of folks we’ve never met. And another word about Nestor, our wine steward.

He has many talents. He is a liaison between crew and management, he knows wines backwards and forwards, but the best is that he is incredibly talented. (Thanks, Paul, for the reminder). During the cruise, there is a crew talent show, and, unlike the passenger talent show, one really needs to have talent to participate. It is amazing! Nestor’s talent is singing, but not just regular singing. He has an act where one half of his body and face are done as a man and the other is done as a woman. Then he sings two part songs, turning as needed. It is amazing and funny and incredibly creative and talented. I’ll ask him tonight about how long he’s been on the ship.

 

We are, as newbie RTW cruisers, finding surprising little things around the ship that we just love. Here they are:

 

• There’s nothing like a teak deck, and not all cruise lines bother to keep them because they’re a lot of upkeep.

• The artwork on the ship would fill a small museum. It’s beautiful and varied and causes us occasionally to just stop and admire.

• The outdoor section of the Lido deck is a wonderful place to eat breakfast and lunch. The roof over it is usually partially open, so it’s a great combination of inside and outside.

• Popcorn in the movie theatre. (But why do people have to leave empty bags on the floor when there’s a trashcan on the way out?)

• There are lots of quiet little nooks and crannies, both inside and out, where anyone who wants to “get away from it all” can find to hide away.

• The Crow’s Nest is the world’s best place to have a drink before dinner, or to just sit and watch the world come at you during the day.

• The gym is just below the Crow’s Nest, and the view is the same, except it’s more painful to be in gym.

• The Exploration Café is like our own little Starbucks, but the cappuccinos and mochas are cheaper and all the cookies, muffins, and sandwiches are free.

 

Overall, the ship is absolutely wonderful, but right now the best place for us to be is outside on the verandah, looking at the stars and the moon, so that’s where we’re headed, wineglasses in hand.

[geocruiser]

John and Diane ,

 

Thank you both so much for taking the time to write. Every day I can't wait to get to this post and read about your day onboard ship.

 

Thank you,

 

Maria

[Cruising-along]

I'm still following along with you, loving every minute! Thank you so much.:D

[Paul123]

Nestor is a very good wine steward and has been with Holland American for many many years. He has been specially selected for this return to the role of wine steward on the current world cruise. The wine steward that considtantly comes top of the tree, so to speak, on Holland American cruises is another excellent Fillipino called Brian. I would be interested to hear if he has been called back to perform his wine duties again this year. He is first class and highly thought of having been originally trained by P and O.

 

Paul

[hammybee]

I just got caught up and this is some fabulous reporting. I can't wait for the next installment.

[patnjohn]

Love this post! Looking forward to more. Thanks for taking the time to post. Some of us may never do a world cruise & this is the next best thing.

[Paul123]

Have you come across little Angel (real name Angelica ) who is a bar stewardess and maybe sometimes works in the Explorers Coffee Bar? She is very very petit and looks like a very young attractive teenager but is in fact well into her 30's. Indeed last count she had three little children back in the Philippines living with her parents. She is Miss Personality and lots of fun to have around.

 

Paul

[Johnny B]

January 19, 2008

 

We all know that most people think they’d like to run away to Tahiti – beautiful weather, tropical surroundings, topless . . . well, you get the idea. But what about the place that Paul Gauguin left Tahiti for? Today we’re on the island of Nuka Hiva in the Marquesa Island chain, about a day and a half’s sail from Tahiti. It is everything that Tahiti used to be: beautiful, unspoiled, with a quite small population (3,000-4,000 on this island, our driver told us). After Gauguin spent several years in Tahiti, he thought it had lost its pristine nature and he moved to the Marquesas, where he later died.

 

We’d wanted to come here for some time because of all the wonderful things we heard about it, so we were up before six (wacko, right?), and on the first tender before 8:00. We wanted to get a taxi to see more of town than we could just by walking, and because we understood they were in short supply, we thought we’d better hie ourselves there.

We did indeed find a taxi, and the driver took us up the hill, waaaay up the hill for some of the most gorgeous island views we’ve ever seen. Our ship sat in a perfect little bay, like a rubber boat in a bathtub, way below us. The road (or strip of concrete) up the hill was bordered by more banana trees than we’ve ever seen outside of a plantation, and horses and cattle wandered at will. After a certain point, pines began to appear, and by the time we arrived at the top, there were areas of cultivated crops and the air was significantly cooler, so much so that we had to put the windows up halfway. All in all, it was a great way to spend a couple of hours.

 

Later, we walked the mile and a half of shoreline that is the town. The first thing we noticed is that these people will never starve. There are abundant fish, chickens running loose, breadfruit, mangos and bananas growing with wild abandon, and even a small boulangerie (French bakery) – after all, the islands in this area are all a department of France. Who needs Trader Joe’s when you can go into the backyard and get dinner?

 

There were a few markets set up for the tourists (who, us?), but it was all very laid back and relaxed. You want to buy, you buy. You just want to look, you look. The Nuka Hiva tee-shirt that John bought wasn’t a great bargain, as far as souvenirs go, but it’s got a great design and will be a wonderful memory.

 

We walked as far as we could each way in town. At the post office, which was closed, there was a sign posted in French which said, “Dear Customers, please do not bring your horses or goats into the building.” (Honest to goodness!) There were a few pensions and quite a lovely hotel on the hill, made up of cottages strung along above the sea. I think we could have stayed a week.

 

We’ve just sailed (40 minutes early – I assume everyone is on board), and were “escorted” out of the harbor by a young man in an outrigger canoe, loudly singing chants and songs, all by himself. It was a wonderful way to leave Nuka Hiva.

 

(P. S. Last night I checked with Henk, the Hotel Manager, and he said no one got off in Panama who wasn’t scheduled to get off in Panama – the rumor machine is printing counterfeits again!)

 

Also, Paul, we haven't run into Brian or Angel, but we'll check. We've passed along all the hellos to Jeff (Bronzeboy) at the pool.

[Paul123]

Thank you....pleased all is gouing so well for you all.

 

 

Paul

[Robin7]

We walked as far as we could each way in town. At the post office, which was closed, there was a sign posted in French which said, “Dear Customers, please do not bring your horses or goats into the building.” (Honest to goodness!)

 

I love signs! I have a small collection of photos of signs that amuse me. Someday I hope to print them and frame them and hang them on our office walls. I sooooooooooooo would have taken a photo of that! (I hope you did!)

 

This is my favorite so far, from a trip to Seoul, South Korea last January. "Please keep my mind"? Gratefully. And they were serious about the toilet paper! There was a ceramic 'bucket' next to the toilet for deposit. NOT my favorite part of being in Seoul, that's for sure!

 

Thanks for continuing to report from the cruise. I love reading about your travels.

 

Robin

 

[Cruising-along]

Oh Robin, your sign is a hoot! I think I'll start collecting signs too, what a great idea! :)

 

John and Diane, I'm loving every minute of your posts and look for them every day :D

 

edited to say "photos" of signs !

[RuthC]

Did you go inside the church in Nuka Hiva? Those carvings are amazing.

Sadly, my photos didn't come out, so all I have now are vague memories. If you did go in, and took pictures, I'd love it if you posted some.

[SDHALFAN]

Hi John and Diane:

 

I am loving your reports - thanks so much for taking the time for post them for us.

 

Next time you see Nestor would you please tell him that Valerie says "Hi". He may not remember me by name, but please tell him I'm the red-headed lady who, once she wins the Super Lotto and buys the ms Amsterdam, is going to appoint him Hotel Manager.:D

 

Valerie:)

[joangg]

Nuku Hiva was the last stop on a 64 day Circle the Pacific cruise we took in 2002. When we got home I found an old book called Typee by Herman Melville written after he had jumped ship in 1872 onto Nuku Hiva. It is a tale of this "adventure". My main memory is during the sail away, "Time to Say Goodbye" sung by Sarah Brightman was played. I also remember hearing the waves on the pebble shore making soft rattling sounds. Thanks for the Memory.

[Royal Princess]

Did you go inside the church in Nuka Hiva? Those carvings are amazing.

Sadly, my photos didn't come out, so all I have now are vague memories. If you did go in, and took pictures, I'd love it if you posted some.

 

I was on the same cruise and do have some photos but have no idea how to post them. I can email them.

[Royal Princess]

Did you go inside the church in Nuka Hiva? Those carvings are amazing.

Sadly, my photos didn't come out, so all I have now are vague memories. If you did go in, and took pictures, I'd love it if you posted some.

 

I was on the same cruise and do have some photos but have no idea how to post them. I can email them.

[Johnny B]

January 20, 2008

 

What’s good for you, goes round and round, and makes you feel like you’re being a hero? Well, today it was “On Deck for the Cure,” a fund-raising activity for the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Fund. Everyone was given a chance to sign up by donating a minimum of $15.00, and then given a tee-shirt and pink wrist band. At 8:45 this morning, we met in the 3rd floor atrium, whose pillars had been wrapped in pink and decorated with hundreds of pink balloons. The hunky Australian from the gym led warm-up exercises, and then Bruce Scudder, the cruise director, read an email from his sister-in-law to us. She had a double mastectomy earlier this week, and when he finished there was hardly a dry eye in the house.

 

At that point all 200+ of us walked outside onto the Promenade Deck and began our 5K walk. The music was great; there was everything from “Anchors Aweigh” to Swiss yodeling. At first, my claustrophobia threatened to kick in, but after a couple of laps the crowd thinned out and the walk became much more enjoyable. There was a man using a walker, another man pulling an oxygen tank, and a woman with one metal crutch. What a bunch of heroes! Of course there were the usual show-offs (in other words, anyone faster than us), but the time seemed to go by quickly, partly because the cruise staff stood at the beginning point and held up lap markers (1, 2, 3, etc). At the end, we shuffled inside and picked up pink glasses of pink lemonade to quench our thirst.

 

It was a wonderful beginning to the day, and I think that everyone who participated had a glow about them all day. Bruce is scheduling an entire cruise full of Susan Komen fund raisers, and his goal is to collect $50,000 before we dock in Ft. Lauderdale. We missed church, but I’m sure God understands.

 

At lunch we held our first Cruise Critic luncheon in the dining room. We had sent hand-written invitations to everyone on our Cruise Critic list, which had been amended at our first “Meet and Greet” on the 5th. Out of about 48 people, we had an attendance of about 38 or 40, so we felt that it was very successful. Everyone seemed to want to do it again, so instead of the “Meet and Greets,” I think we’ll do luncheons instead. One table came up with the idea of not sitting with the person you came with, so as to get to know as many other folks as possible.

 

Tomorrow we dock in Papeete, Tahiti. The captain reported during his usual 1:00 announcements that we were 4 hours early, so we’ll dock in Papeete at 7:00 AM instead of 11:00 AM. We stay there until 6:00 AM the following morning, and then spend about an hour moving to Moorea for the day, followed by a day at Bora Bora. We’ve been to these ports before and absolutely love them, so we’re looking forward to all of them.

 

Better bring this to a close; it’s cocktail time, and one must have priorities.

[Johnny B]

January 22

 

French Polynesia: those two little words evoke a whole world of imagination. We imagine sights, smells, sounds, and, for most of us, I believe we go into a kind of mental lethargy just thinking about all those things.

 

The island of Tahiti is all those things as well as more -and less. Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, has all the advantages and disadvantages of a big city. There is the pollution (nothing compared to mainland cities), the traffic, and the sales pitch (although a fairly gentle one.) However, it also has a variety of shops, a wonderful market, and the French supermarket Champion, which gives the shopper the feeling that she has just walked into a market in the sixth arrondisement in Paris. There are dozens of kinds of cheeses, wonderful wines, baguettes, and that wonderful French salad dressing with mustard – but all at about three times the price one would find in Paris.

 

We docked in Papeete at 7:00 AM, four hours early, and we took it easy and didn’t even set foot off the ship until about 9:00. Our first stop was The Marche – the huge, two-story market a block off the beach. If you want a souvenir of Tahiti, this is the place to find it. We were particularly looking for gifts for our daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, and of course we found them (No, Courtney, I’m not going to tell you what we bought you – but they’re in the mail!). A shopper can shop for tourist things, fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, or lunch – all under one roof. We also found birthday gifts for the daughters of close family friends as well as a beautiful arrangement of bird-of-paradise, orchids, and anthuriums for our stateroom. All in all, it was a successful trip.

 

One thing we discovered about heat and humidity, though, is that it saps the strength.

I know that those of you who live in it are saying, “Well, duh!” but we’re California weather wimps who don’t know anything about extreme heat, cold, or humidity. So, to relieve our exhaustion, we collapsed into chairs at a wonderful little ocean-front brasserie which made its own beer. The menu could have been taken from one in France, but again, the prices were two or three times higher. In case you’re wondering, the biere blonde was very good, and the cherry beer was even better.

 

In the evening, the little food wagons called Roulotte assembled on the open area near the dock, and whole families sat at the temporary picnic tables enjoying Chinese, pizza, crepes, poisson cru, or other such wonderful-smelling foods. Several of the young ship staff members were wandering through the area, trying to decide which to have.

 

We stayed in Papeete until about 6:00 this morning, and then departed for the two-hour cross lagoon passage to Moorea, where we sit now, at anchor and watching the tenders ferry people to and from the shore. A small motorboat is pulling three small sailboats with Tahitian kids shouting to each other in French. We’re looking forward to a day on the beach at a wonderfully cooperative beach-front hotel. There’s nothing like just another day in paradise.

[btobey]

We are, as newbie RTW cruisers, finding surprising little things around the ship that we just love. Here they are:

 

• There’s nothing like a teak deck, and not all cruise lines bother to keep them because they’re a lot of upkeep.

• The artwork on the ship would fill a small museum. It’s beautiful and varied and causes us occasionally to just stop and admire.

• The outdoor section of the Lido deck is a wonderful place to eat breakfast and lunch. The roof over it is usually partially open, so it’s a great combination of inside and outside.

• Popcorn in the movie theatre. (But why do people have to leave empty bags on the floor when there’s a trashcan on the way out?)

• There are lots of quiet little nooks and crannies, both inside and out, where anyone who wants to “get away from it all” can find to hide away.

• The Crow’s Nest is the world’s best place to have a drink before dinner, or to just sit and watch the world come at you during the day.

• The gym is just below the Crow’s Nest, and the view is the same, except it’s more painful to be in gym.

• The Exploration Café is like our own little Starbucks, but the cappuccinos and mochas are cheaper and all the cookies, muffins, and sandwiches are free.

 

Overall, the ship is absolutely wonderful, but right now the best place for us to be is outside on the verandah, looking at the stars and the moon, so that’s where we’re headed, wineglasses in hand.

We will be sailing Amsterdam for the first time on April 27th, so I especially loved this part. Please keep the ship comments coming--you are helping us to get excited about our cruise! :D

[serendipity1499]

John & Diane..Haven't been on-line for a while & have just discovered this thread..The Amsterdam is one of our favorite ships... I'm spellbound! Thanks so much for including us in your exciting trip..:) Betty

[candbgirl]

John and Diane thank you so much for taking me(us) along on your adventures. Are there families with children on board? I think that would be a fabulous trip but I wonder how children would tolerate so many sea days and so many days in general.