Days 88 & 89 - At sea, but at least it is warm.

With no shark attack nightmares, the best sleep I have had in months, right through to 7am.  The cough seemed to have taken hold as soon as I woke, so all is not yet back to normal.

The usual morning routine other than coffee had to be on deck 7.  No favourite waiter or waitress, so two clips on the coffee card, which seems to have lasted very well.

Ukulele class was scheduled later than normal so too late for trivia.  The group have been so impressed with Alex that we have had a whip round so that Alex can get his own ukulele.  He hadn’t even played one before this voyage so he has done really well, though I believe he does have some musical experience.  Probably almost everyone’s favourite Entertainment staffer.

We had been pre-warned, so we were all at dinner on time for another table special, lamb curry.  Too much this time and also a bit spicier than before – though still not potent enough for Mike.  I didn’t make the same mistake as last time and over-eat.

A quick call into the Vista for the end of the ‘Movie Themes’ trivia, joining Errol and Theresa from Essex and Darryl and Sue of course.  We didn’t win that one either.

The late show in the theatre was guitarist Bob Howe.  I thoroughly enjoyed it as it was very much my sort of music.  He was playing and promoting an Australian custom built Thompson guitar.  The others weren’t exactly excited by the show, which is fair enough, but enjoyable enough.

We had to put up with Deck 7 for the late night hot chocolate, as deck 5 were all cleaned up.  However, we have become aware of a younger female passenger stalking the wait staff!  Embarassing.  As if the wait staff didn’t have enough to put up with old RB’s, without unwanted attention from the younger generation. 

August 21^st – Thursday

Very much as yesterday other than not quite as a good a sleep.

After the deck 5 coffee, we took the plunge into the Oasis pool at the rear of the ship.  With D & S, we had the pool to ourselves.  Lovely warm water so we made the most of it.

A bit of computer updating and then Paula went to a movie with Sue and after a light lunch with Mal & Megan, a casual lap of deck 7, I eventually found my way to Jammers.  The Ukulele class had been shifted - but I hadn’t noticed the change in the Patter.

We headed for the Wheelhouse bar before dinner for a dance, but it was a bit crowded. 

Just four of us for dinner and an excellent pate, followed by my favourite – French onion soup.  Delicious.

Paula and I went to the Vista lounge for a ‘Flags’ trivia and we managed 15/25 – but the winners got 20.

We shifted to the end of the row for comedian (sic) Glynn Nickolas.  We had heard that several people walked out the night before and reviews were mixed, ranging from crude, to slow, to not funny.

He wasn’t crude – he was definitely slow.  Apart from one skit (that went on too long anyway) using three members of the audience for an imaginary flying flea act, an abysmal performance.  We had more laughs from Alex and Kim doing the flags trivia.  A 3/10 and I think I may be being generous.  Loads of people walked out again but we hung on.  We are just too polite sometimes.

Fortunately, we got to the deck 5 Patisserie (though no pastries at that time of night) before they’d shut up shop.

Last port for us tomorrow.  Pago Pago in American Samoa.  No plans as it is a tiny place and the ship docks in town.  It will probably be our last warm day for a while too, as we then head straight for NZ, towards the end of their winter.  We have already thrown one or two items into the suitcases as they are returned from the laundry.

More Moorea - pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

Too many to post in one go, at sea, so just a few more, starting with Darryl, who got bored with patting manta rays and patted a passing twin-bumper red head instead.

 

The rays at the beach came right into the shallows.

 

Susie demonstrated her newly acquired French Polynesian wiggle to an appreciative audience.

Day 87 - Cruiser escapes from massive sharks and rays!

Another not so good night so the bugs aren’t yet gone.  When it got around to getting up time, Paula wasn’t sure that I sounded well enough, but once I was vertical and fortified with a Coldrex, I passed myself fit enough to cope with day on Moorea.

We discussed our options at breakfast and decided that if there were any vacancies (only a few left last night according to those on the Papeete dock), we’d take the Hiro’s Tour.  As a tender port, those of us at the top of the Princess loyalty scale get preferential tender access.  In truth, the boats hold about 75 passengers, so the first 55 or so come from the Elite’s meeting area and the other 20 from those waiting in a separate area.

We met D & S at 9:20 and we managed the 4^th tender (D & S still have a few days before they get their prized black cards) and that was only 9:40, by which time, the Elites had all gone, so no big deal.

A smooth and fairly quick run to land and we headed straight for the Hiro’s stand (there were others) and were charged $40 each (without the BBQ).  The guy running it claimed it was the only tour where they fed tourists to the sharks…

We had to wait about 30 minutes for the small boat to come in, which already had some passengers on, as they had already done a whale watch.

What a hoot!  Our tour leader Marco was an enormous man with a great sense of humour.  First of all, we headed anti-clockwise, fairly close to the coast of this spectacular island, towards a shallow area about 15 minutes away, not too far from the burres of one of the local resorts.  At the resort, we just caught a glimpse of their dolphin finishing off a show.

Just past the resort, they dropped anchor and the sharks and manta rays were plainly visible in the crystal clear water.  (Makes ‘Jaws’ noises…)

The dark skinned Marco headed for the water and his parting words were not to worry, as the sharks only ate white meat…

Now as many of you will know, I am no water baby, but Paula is.   So she grabbed the camera and ushered me into the water.  Collecting evidence that I was in fact eaten by sharks?

This was a simply stunning experience.  The massive reef sharks (hey, all fishermen lie about the size of the ones that got away) were around, but the manta rays came up really close and were pettable.   I doubt there was anyone who didn’t enjoy the experience, certainly after they had touched them for the first time.  (They feel very smooth like a wet chamois leather.)   Paula was busy taking pics, not just with our camera, but also one owned by a couple of ladies.  The best pic she took was on their camera.

After half an hour or so, during which time I found a floating cocoanut (taken on board) and Marco fed flakes of fish to the sea life, we clambered back aboard.

We headed for an island just a few minutes away and they ran the boat up the beach, which just happened to be festooned with Princess blue and white striped pool towels.  The crew got busy lighting a BBQ from bits and pieces they found around the place whilst Marco opened the bar.  Which is to say, either fruit juice or ice cold beer.

We had a BBQ table under the trees giving us plenty of shade, just 20 yards from the water’s edge.   More manta rays plus other small fish in the shallows.

Marco did a couple of demonstrations.  The first was several of the ways to tie a pareo using Susie as a willing model.  He claimed he’d learned how to do it on YouTube.  He also showed the male method.

Using nothing more than a wooden spike he also showed us how to split the outer and inner.  The outer fibre (copra?) he claimed they used to clean the pots (along with Palmolive)  and twisted it into rope to tie down anything, including houses, tarps - and their women.

He warned that a dropping ripe cocoanut was lethal so to watch out for them.  The biggest casualties were Japanese, as they were too busy taking photographs.  (Loved his humour.)

We stayed until 2pm and then headed back to the wharf having had a simply great experience.  Probably the highlight of this cruise for many.  Seeing Moorea, even the small portion that we saw, from the water rather than from the land, just added to the magic.  Picture postcard perfect; warm water; interacting with manta rays; fantastic crew, who could ask for more?

No queue for the tender return, as no doubt many were leaving it as late as possible – and who could blame them?

We were of course famished so the first call was the buffet (after washing our hands of course) and just a bowl of soup.  (Hey, I am trying.)

Trivia, then an attractive sailaway, with a whale too far away for my camera to catch.

After dinner, the late show in the Vista was Australian ventriloquist, Sarah Jones.  She isn’t a bad ventriloquist but apart from the last five minutes, with a member of the audience as the dummy, the show was a bit too flat.  She needs a much better script, so sorry Sarah, only a 6/10 from me.

Paula and I had a hot chocolate before retiring.  We were pretty tired but so pleased that Moorea was a huge success.  Exactly what we wanted.  Just two days at sea before Pago Pago now and that is it as far as ports go for us.  After that, just 3 more days at sea and we not exactly looking forward to the huge temperature drop in NZ, but we will be happy to be home.   There are huge plans afoot for August 25^th – more of which later.

 

PS: Reef sharks are about 500mm long and unlike the sting rays, manta rays don’t kill.

Day 86 - Papeete - land at last!

Oh dear.  Cough getting worse not better, so not much sleep after 1:40am.   A Coldrex on getting up helped, so we met D & S as planned.  We simply walked off about 9:45am, past the various enterprising sellers of tours for Moorea tomorrow, across the main road (where everyone stops for you at pedestrian crossings) and a matter of a couple of hundred yards, to try and negotiate for a taxi.  Considering the pushy drivers in other ports, Papeete was almost the total opposite.   It took time to find anyone willing to take us for a couple of hours, but we eventually managed it.

A cost of $120USD was agreed and although Paula and I had been out to the west before, D & S hadn’t.  The taxi driver didn’t say much, but we had a very pleasant couple of hours, with several stops at the usual tourist places such as a lookout, the waterfall and the blow-hole etc.

Back in exactly 2 hours, we headed back to the ship. A very, very light lunch and we all went back out again just after afternoon tea.  We should have gone out a bit earlier as the market was just closing.  I managed to not buy a solid, carved, 8 string ukulele for about $200.  Sue had great difficulty in the pharmacy, explaining that she wanted cough lollies/sweets.  When Paula finally fished out a Strepsil from her bag, after 15 minutes, the pharmacist explained that he had them in stock!

Darryl and Sue did bit more wandering whilst and Paula and I headed back to the dock area.  We got back about 5:30 just as ‘the Trucks’ were setting up for the famous evening food market.  I think they have been relocated from our first visit and are now much nearer the ship.  I’m sure that in the past, they only set up on a Friday, so as a Monday, it probably explains why there were fewer than I remember.   Those who went and ate there enjoyed it, but we opted for the ship’s buffet instead.

We called at the theatre after eating for the latter part of the Folkloric show.  The theatre was packed so we watched from the rear.  Some very good dancing – particularly the shimmy by the girls!  The audience loved it.

We retired early at 10:45 and we now have Moorea to look forward to, but have nothing really planned other than maybe a return to the ‘Lagoonarium’ we visited a few years ago.  Well, that was the plan, until we actually got to the cabin and found out that the ship docks nowhere near the ferry terminal, which means we are half way around the island, opposite where we wanted to be.

We did pick up a flyer on the dock for ‘Hiro Tours’, for $50 a head, so maybe we’ll do that instead.  Maybe we’ll investigate hiring a car – but I doubt it.  We’ll just have to discuss it at breakfast.  Moorea is a tender port, so we won’t be getting off early.

Sailaway from Papeete is about 4am tomorrow, so I think we may just skip that and try and catch up with some sleep instead.

Days 84 & 85 - Yup, still at sea

Two more days of sea life before we hit Papeete.  Cabin fever seems to have made one or two more people than usual grumpy, or maybe it is just that we are still meeting new people?  Darryl’s favourite is when using the lifts, to ask for someone to press the button for deck 13.  Some people really do not have a sense of humour. (For those new to cruise or shipboard life, the superstitions around maritime life include the number 13, so there is no deck 13...)

Another terrible night’s sleep, as despite the Vick’s ‘First Defence’ some enterprising bugs seem to have made it through, so a croaky voice and a bit of a cough.  I had the coffee-bag coffee with the fairly late breakfast – and succumbed to a cherry Danish too.

After a bit of a rest (OK, some may say there is touch of irony there) we ambled up for lunch just a minute or two before the Indian buffet closed.  We probably grabbed the very last pieces of chicken, which may not have been such a good idea.  We stayed outside on deck 14 to watch the tug o’war between the various staff departments.  The first time we have ever seen a team booed!  It was the casino staff team (with the fitness instructors).  Probably the two departments on the ship that empty your wallets with nothing much to show for it. 

The Musician’s team under Sarah Dyer turned up a couple of minutes late and weren’t allowed to compete, which we think was a harsh decision.  The Entertainment staff team had Kim who weighs next to nothing and Prince who probably doesn’t weigh much more, eliminated in round one.  No surprise there.

The casino/salon team won.

The afternoon ukulele class was the usual test of dexterity, before rushing to trivia – but I needn’t have bothered, as I couldn’t add any value to the questions our team couldn’t answer without me.

Captain’s Circle drinks in the atrium before dinner and the Chateau Cask Red had a few takers who may have regretted it later.  One most obviously so, late in the evening needing some assistance to stand after he had presumably keeled over.

We decided to have a go at Matt’s TV Themes trivia.  On Matt’s own admission, giving us too many TV themes that went so far back, that most in the audience probably didn’t even have a TV set, probably wasn’t such a good idea as even the winners only managed 9/15!

On then to another production show “Motown Gold”.  No prizes for guessing the theme.

An atrium hot chocolate and down on deck 5, a fairly well lubricated group were having a whale of a time with a sing-song.  We are not too sure what the deck 7 pianist thought about the noise wafting upwards, but we thought it hilarious!  At 10:50, just before the pizzeria closed, they had a couple of pizzas to share which was a good move.

Sunday August 17^th

Not such a good night, but this time, either the chicken curry or the one glass of cardboard red upset Paula’s sleep.

She felt much better later in the day having watched Federer win.

After dinner and a little bit of dancing to the Tritones Duo, we opted to see Maggie Scott’s second show, ‘Live is a Lemon’ which we had seen before.  As we enjoyed her first show which had changed from earlier cruises, we thought that maybe her second show would also be worth a go.  We were not disappointed and a packed house thoroughly enjoyed what was rated as an R15 show.  She is obviously much loved by the Australians and got a deserved standing ovation.  Some of her material was indeed R15, but we didn’t see anyone walk out - and some of the more risqué material got the biggest laughs.

Land tomorrow!   We never thought we’d be so excited to be arriving in Papeete.  Clocks back another hour tonight.

Day 83 - If we can't go to an island, can an island come to the ship?

A slightly different day in prospect.  If you have ever seen any of the various versions of the film, ‘Mutiny On The Bounty’, you may be familiar with Pitcairn Island.  Our schedule was for scenic cruising (ie. a lap of the island) but a stop first thing to allow Pitcairn Islanders on board to set up a market.  It appears that the ship also traded some of its stock of toilet paper for fresh fruit.

Anyway, all seemed to go to plan.  A fine enough day so a traditional breakfast then we caught up with Darryl & Sue for a coffee in the atrium, ready to see how 1900 passengers would cram into the deck 5 dining room eager to purchase souvenirs.

Anyway, Paula and I legged it to trivia but joined Mike & Sue’s team of three and we were then joined by Sam, who often sits with us.  Much to our surprise, we made the playoff for first place, with a modest 15/20, but lost out as we didn’t get the correct year for the commencement of Wimbledon.

We wandered the open decks for a while before giving the lunchtime ‘International Buffet’ a whirl and we sat outside on deck 14 for a change.  We can’t remember the last time we were able to sit outside and enjoy the ambience.

Back down to deck 5 to check out the merchandise and I am not going here into the history of the island (past or present), but suffice to say that most inhabitants are 7^th Day Adventists and as the population is tiny (and I do mean tiny – like 40…), most also appear to be related.  Tourism provides 80% of their income, so many items for sale seemed to carry the name ‘Christian’ – from Fletcher Christian.  It is still a British outpost, but is administered from NZ.

We left the area about 2pm to carry on towards Papeete after two more days at sea.

After another losing trivia, we had a fair dinner but elected to skip Bayne Bacon’s second show, on the assumption that as his first show was the same for all previous cruises, there was no reason to believe his second show wouldn’t be any different from his previous second shows either.  So we went up to the open deck to check out Maggie Scott’s show, but it was a bit nippy, so we didn’t stay.  We (D & S too) opted for an early night and a bit of reading, rather than a late hot chocolate.  A bit of a throat creeping in.  I thought I was doing well, but now the trip is almost over, I am not too concerned…

I did manage to read a couple of emails from NZ.  Yes guys, we are indeed back WEDNESDAY August 27^th .  Our first yoga will be the Thursday.

 

     

Days 81 & 82 At sea - still. Yawn...

We were a bit early going to breakfast but we still met Darryl & Sue!  Sunrise is quite late really, about 7am.  Having had the UK and the Baltics with really long hours of daylight, it is quite a change.  We opted for a cuppa in the atrium to get tea in decent china cups rather than the plastic mugs of the buffet.

We headed back to the cabin but our routine was thrown a little out of kilter as the water was turned off, as they were replacing water pipes.  On-going maintenance must be a nightmare.  Paula escaped to Zumba and I went for a haircut by Sarah from Denmark.  It certainly is a very international crew.  A bill for $30 wasn’t too painful and helped reduce our on board credit.

Trivia score wasn’t worth bragging about but as we had already had a decent drink, we headed for the atrium anyway.

Whilst Paula had a mooch around the $15 items for sale, I approached the front desk.  I asked if we could withdraw cash from our on board credit as the cancelled Easter Island tour put us $400 up.  Up until now, we had contemplated the best ways to use up the credit, ranging from registering for the casino slots and then claiming cash back as winnings, to buying things on behalf of others and them paying us cash!

As it turned out, getting cash back from the front desk was no problem at all.  They merely checked that we were in credit, so handing out cash was no big deal.  At least we now know we can do that, so it may help others in the future.

Lunch, I grabbed soup and a couple of pieces of fish whilst Paula made do with half a roll and some rice pud!  On the way out, the whiff of fresh chips was just too much - so we shared a portion.

Ukulele class was mainly practice on what we’d already done plus another sheet of music that brought in one new chord.  Watching some of the others, it is quite interesting to see that some have great difficulty with even a basic chord change, which makes me feel a lot better.  Even though the class finished a bit early, a rush to trivia, where Kim was already on question 14!  She is probably the fastest trivia host.

Last but one formal night for us and we opted to head for the atrium for a pre-dinner dance, which was a good move, as several of the dancers were there and they managed 3 or 4 New Vogue dances on the trot which we knew - Merilyn, Gypsy Tap and Tangoette.

It was billed as a special dinner, but with just four mains to choose from, it was less special than usual.

Late theatre show was Rebecca Lowe again, but this time, husband Kuba joined her for most of the show.  He really is talented as he not only played guitar, piano, drums and the electronic vibes, but by special request, had also written an arrangement for the orchestra for an Edith Piaf set.  He is from Poland and the couple now live in Nashville and apparently, Country and Western music is unheard of in Poland, but he has really taken to it, so they did a Johnny/June Cash number.

Rebecca also went into the audience and found a couple who had been married for 58 years and dragged them on stage whilst she sang something about ‘Dance’, whilst the sweet old couple shuffled around the stage.  Maybe she should have limited that number to just two minutes instead of dragging it out, as we feared the old couple might just keel over!  Thankfully, they survived.  A thoroughly enjoyable show with Kuba doing his own show tomorrow.

Down to the Atrium with D & S and also M & M for a late night hot chocolate, before once again, walking through Jammers – just for the hell of it.

Just two weeks tonight and we’ll be home and in our own bed.  Frankly, we are now ready for it.  Billing Easter Island, for example, as a feature stop in the brochures, is a good sales pitch, but the reality is that even the Customer Services Director has failed to land on all 5 cruises!   A ten day run of sea days when often it isn’t even warm enough to sit outside without wrapping up well, is no great attraction.  At least the Cruise Director’s team have been working flat out to try and fill in the gaps and they have certainly tried to make the atrium a more popular place, especially in the evenings, but…

A(nother) new rage emerged today.

During the early afternoon, they cleared the central, carpeted area of the atrium on deck 5 and put up the table tennis table, with a match between the staff and the passengers.  This was hugely popular with spectators on decks 5, 6, 7 and 8.  Lots of cheering from all levels apparently, when a grumpy woman (presumably a card player or something), yelled down from deck 8 “WILL YOU LOT BE QUIET!!!!”

From the assembled masses “NO!”

Apparently this happened twice!  So stupid.  Firstly, it was advertised in the Princess Patter and secondly, there are dozens of places where you can go for a bit of peace and quiet.  I just wish I’d been there to identify her, as I just love to know who these people are with the reverse Botox!  (Thanks to Shane O’Shea for that description.)

Thursday August 14^th

We were locked out of the vista lounge whilst Zumba was on, as apparently some impatient old guy tried to muscle his way past yesterday and caught a flying elbow, and word is (unsubstantiated) that he was bowled over.  So, they took no chances today.

The delay didn’t help our score and Mark had used his two days confined to cabin to come up with a brand new quiz.

There was a programme clash with ukulele class and a tea dance with the orchestra in the Vista at 3:30.  I spent a couple of minutes at the class, grabbed the latest sheet and shot off to the Vista.  A tremendous turnout though Paula and I declined the tea, sandwiches, scones, cream etc.

Back to the 6:15 show and Jonathon Neale again. Another good show with more tricks we can’t explain…

After dinner, late show – Kuba Kawnik again, but Sue was a bit off colour so they skipped it.  Another great show.  As someone had pointed out the theme for ‘Midsomer Murders’ used a Theremin, he once again did an arrangement for the orchestra in double quick time, though the movement of the ship made it a bit difficult.

On to the Wheelhouse bar for a couple of dances.  Clocks back 1 hour again tonight and tomorrow, we cruise Pitcairn Island.