SOUTH AMERICA - CAPE HORN AND BACK

Today is the last day of 2013,,, Christmas is past, the Party is past, and now we are getting ready once again to start a new adventure. 

We will be taking a 49 dat trip/Cruise around Cape Horn, and a tour to Antarctica and many other exciting places along the way.  And then we will take Amtrak back to the east coast from LA

LINDA AND AL'S WEDDING DAY

Good afternoon all,

It is about 14:30, our iPad says 11:30, but we are guessing, that it is keying into the satellite for Hawaii so ignore the time that may come through.
Well here we are in the last two days, it has been a fun cruise, and I am sorry it is almost over, but I will be ready to get home and hug my kids, and Grandkids, at least the ones we will see.
The weather today is pretty, but now it is cool, and a wee bit cloudy, and the swells are making the ship bounce around a bit. But not too bad.
The last couple of days have been busy, we haven't won at trivia again, but yesterdays Trivia was a really hard one. So, that is ok as it is still fun to play as long as no one takes it too serious.
The three guys went to the movie last night, to see Total Recall, the new one and none of them liked it. That was Al's bachelor party LOL
The girls went to see the singer Donnie Ray Evins. He was very good, not great, but very good.


Today is the last formal night and the second to last day on the ship. Linda and Al will be Renewing there vows, today is there 50th Wedding Anniversary, that will happen at 17:00 then we will have some treats, and go to the Captains Farewell Cocktail Party and Balloon Drop, at 19:00 then dinner, at 19:45 and then we have the last Production Show, British Invasion, in the theater at 22:00, and then tomorrow we will pack, and see if we can fit it all in again. I didn't buy much on this cruise so I hope so.
I am not looking forward to the day we disembark as we will be at the airport a long time, we had hopped to get a tour, but no luck, as princess isn't even running any, oh well.

More tomorrow.

3rd and 4th Sea Day

Well yesterday was an amazing day, it started out with John winning a drink of the day on the morning show and in the afternoon we Won Trivia!!! That sure tickled all of us, and we were in a tie too at the end. But our tie breaking question, was how many women out of 10 buy shoes that are too small? We put down 7, I told them it was 9, and when the other team said 4, I knew we won,,, and the answer was 9!! So we all walked away with passport holders,,,,, yaaa,,, Bragging rights that was the prize!
Last night we went to the early Production Show, Motor City. It was very good, and I loved the music, I'm sure it was because it was from when we were young, and in Hawaii. We then went to dinner and once again had a good dinner and then went on to a very good comedian magician, Jean Boucher, he did some amazing things, and he was funny too.

So this morning we slept in tell about seven, and watched the morning show and Linda won the drink of the day!!! Wow since seeing the rainbow it has been very lucky for us.
Ed is at the lecture "Who is my Mother" with Michael Bishay, I will be interested to hear what that was about.
Ed is then going on to Dr Glick on "Why the Russians need a Czar" So I am catching up here and then maybe read, it will have to be inside, as it is raining. I am not interested in doing Hula Dance so I will meet Ed for lunch,,,, eat and eat some more, but it seems we may have a bit of Noro on the ship as they have started serving us in Horizon Court. Lots of very old and people who don't seem to be all that well on the ship too. God bless them.

More later.

Second Sea Day

Today we awoke at 06:30, and what did we see right outside our balcony,,, a rainbow,,, so close we could almost touch it. So then we got ready to do The Ultimate Ships Tour, at 08:30 We went down to the International cafe, to have a cappuccino and a coffee and egg muffin. While we were eating we met a couple that had just been on the cruise before this one and they gave us a lot of info for our South American cruise next year. We will try to meet them again, later.
So at 08:30 we met our guide and proceeded on to the tour. We started in the theater, up on the stage, I saw this part before, but it was still very interesting.
Then we went to the bow of the ship, to see the anchors and all the paraphernalia that it takes to put out the anchor, and the ropes that hold the ship at the dock. I knew they were big, but seeing them up close and personal, was really something.
Then it was on to the kitchen. Now when we did the Chefs table, we got to go in the kitchen, but this time it was much deeper, all the way down to deck 2, it is just amazing how large an area it is that holds all the stores for the ship. And all the food is from the States! It is shipped in, by container, to meet the ship. We were not allowed to take pictures, or even bring our cameras, so I have nothing to show you.
We then moved on to the meat prep area, and the Chef told us about how many people work there and how they keep it all clean and, separate. One of the guys cutting up chickens, can cut up a whole chicken in less then two minutes!

I will let Ed take over here on some of the other things, as the next stop was the engine control room. Two of the engineers briefed us on operation of the fresh water generation from sea water system, the integrated electrical generation and distribution, and the ship propulsion system. The ship has six large Diesel Engines which generate over 60,000KW of electrical power. The ship normally operates on 5 engines during daily operations. The ship also has 6 thrusters, 3 forward and 3 aft. The ship has a fresh water capacity of 750,000 US gals and can produce 500,000 gals per day. Clearly a the capability to support a small community. It was noteworthy to us to understand that the design architecture of the Star Princess or any other Princess ship's electrical distribution was not similar to the Carnival ship design. The engineers also highlighted Princess's redundancy requirements. It was very impressive.

We went to the Photo-lab next to be briefed on their transition to digital operations and implementation of photo recognition technology. We noted that the photo operation was a Princess operation, not a concession. They indicated their goal was to sell at least 50% of the photos. And Cindy told them that maybe if they lowered the price to say $15 more photos would be sold, she said write it up, so we will. We then proceeded to the printing operation to observe the publication of the daily Princess Patter and learned that they have not transition to digital technology due to their concern of the brittle nature of the technology.

We then proceeded to the ship's bridge! Wow what a treat! Our new Captain Lubrano was quite charming and gave us a good tour of the Bridge and gave lots of technical stuff that Ed could tell you, but he is at a lecture, so I will proceed. While on the Bridge we had a magnificent view, of the ocean and the women lay totally necked on dolphin deck!!! That was the end of our tour. Later they brought us robes, aprons, and photos of our day, nice.

First day at sea on the way to LA

Today we awoke about 0800 it was sunny, and warm. Went down to the international cafe, to get breakfast and wait for the time to get a ticket to learn ribbon lei making. There was a long line but I was at the front so I could chose which class time I wanted, we all took the 11:15 today. That was good for me as tomorrow, we are finely on the Ultimate Ships tour,,, we have wanted to do that for some time. We will do that in the morning at 08:30. We are excited about it.
Tonight we are going to see the comedian, Darrell Joyce, at 19:00 and Ed might go to the Movie under the stars and see Mission impossible, Ghost Protocol.
We shall see, LATER

Ribbon Lie making was very good, I can't wait to teach the girls. And the comedian was pretty funny. And dinner was very good again. Everyone was very happy with dinner. The guys are off watching the movie, and the woman are in bed reading or writing in there blog LOL

Bora Bora and Moorea

OK, I am back again, as I said we arrived in Bora Bora, and it was raining hard,,, but by the time we arrived the island on the tenders, it had stopped, Of coarse there were puddles everywhere and it was HOT. It reminded me of Southeast Asia. The local area reminded me of that anyway, lots of french influence, so a lot like Vientiane.
Our tour wasn't until 2:45 so we had lots of time to look around at the pearl stores. Have I mentioned the pearl stores? They have been everywhere, black pearls gold pearls, and pistachio colored pearls. Those last being the most expensive, but none of them are cheap. I found a strand of black pearls that looked modest, and they were $8,000. not modest at all. Not sure I like black pearls.....
Any way when our turn for our tour came it was late,,,, oh well, but we did get a nice island tour around the Island. Because of the weather we did not see the water at it's best for the jewel-like colors it is noted for.
Life here centers around three main villages, Vaitape, Anau and Faanul. Music and dnce are an integral part of the life here. We didn't really see any dance, but we heard music being played as we were brought in.

A French possession since 1888, Bora Bora became an American naval base between 1942 and 1946. You can still view the WWII huts, piers and bunkers, we only saw a bunker from the road and our guide said that when they have a bad storm or cyclone, the people use them as they have extended tunnels.
Along the way Cindy bought a pareo at Mama Ruta's

She didn't buy the guy,,,,, It was fun, and we had a good demonstration, on how to tie Pareo's then we went to a famous beach, Matira Beach, the water was nice, but the beach in my opinion leaves a lot to be desired, for those of us with Hawaii and the outer banks, and Florida, in our history, you would not be that impressed.

Then it was back to the "Le Truck Station" for the end of our tour. We asked the guide how to get back to Bloody Mary's and as luck would have it the shuttle to there was waiting for us, so it was on to the famous watering hole. It was lots of fun, wish we would have had time for dinner, but hay you can't have it all.

Did I mention that the floor is all sand, they ask you to remove your shoes, it was fun, we got a shuttle back to the dock, and boarded the ship about seven. The ship left at 9. And we were on our way to Moorea.

Moorea/Pepeete

Moorea is formed li an isosceles triangle, with two mountains sides joining at Mt. Tohivea.

There are two bays, we anchored in Cooks Bay. They say from the air it appears as a beautiful green butterfly floating over a tranquil blue sea. It had once again been raining, so it was still cloudy when we disembarked, so we didn't see those pretty water colors.
The rest of our group went on a shark and sting-ray swim, and they said they had a wonderful time. We all make poor choices sometimes, this was ours. Ed and I walked around a bit and watched the dancers, and then went back to the ship and spent the rest of the day at the pool.

We left for Papeete, about 16:30 and arrived here at about 20:00 and coming into the port was really beautiful, and it was dry,,,,,, for a little while. We went out on the dock, and there was a big party going on in the park by the ship. It seems this happens on Saturday night, just about the time we found the chocolate crepe place, it started raining buckets!!! Ed still got us a couple crepe's to share, but we were all drowned rats when we got back on the ship to go and see the Tahitian dancers in the Princess theater, they were wonderful, and I am sure glad we didn't miss them.

Won't mind having the money to own this little babe, parked beside us as we docked in Papeete, the Golden Odyssey

These photos were taken just this morning. We didn't go any except by the ship, as it has been raining cats and dogs all morning.

We were treated to a Pareo demonstration, guy wasn't bad either. LOL

Ed and I walked around a bit, looked at black pearls, but still nothing we could afford. So we looked at the ship, and it started to rain again. Oh well.

We will be leaving in about an hour, with a new Captain, as Captain Todd McBain, left the ship today for a six week vacation. And Captain Vincenzo Lubrano took his place. So today at 16:30we start our 8 sea days back to LA.

Western Samoa, Apia

I am not sure that Apia even deserves a sentence, but we did stop there and the fish market was interesting, other then that, it was pretty from the sea, but when you got up close not so much.

The Samoans on this island need to take care of there land, there was trash everywhere. Awful!

Bora Bora

Well after two more sea days, and one formal night we are arriving in the French Polynesian, island of beautiful Bora Bora. Not so beautiful this morning.

We were suppose to start tender rides at 0900, but I am not sure it will commence that fast in this weather, it is raining hard, so we are not seeing the beauty of the island. Sad for sure. If it had to rain I wish it had rained in Apia, oh well.

Ed is out looking for the others, to see what they want to do, so I am playing catch up on this blog, once again.

We had formal night last night and had a great time. We started with chocolate strawberries, and champaign, Janet provided the strawberries, and we provided the champaign.
After another excellent dinner, once again, that we all enjoyed, we went to see the illusionist, Wayne Hoffman, he was outstanding. I have no idea how he did what he did. Amazing that is for sure.
The night before last we saw another good show Randy Cabral the comedian and Juggler, he was so funny, we laughed and laughed. He was also a VERY good juggler.

Well Ed is back, and I guess we will try to get off in a little while, so I will get back to you later.

Pago Pago

8 April - American Samoa - We arrived in Pago Pago on a cloudless morning at 0930 after nearly circling the island arriving from the northeast and going around the southwest tip and back up the south coast to Pago Pago.

When we got off the ship we noted the National Park table on the dock and proceeded to book the National Park tour. It was fabulous!!!! Cindy took lots of pictures of spectacular vistas.

Upon returning to the dock we entered the temporary shop area to look for treasures. Clearly we found many and they were simply beautiful. Ed got a Samoan style shirt and Cindy found a couple of beautiful hand made and styled cover ups! Wow and double wow.

We went to Sky Walkers, and had a drink, waiting for the others to get back from there tour, but it ran late so we met at dinner a seared stories, It was a good day.

Crossing the Equator

We are sitting at the HC waiting for the initiation to start for the equator crossing. We have already crossed according to the captain. Not sure I saw the line,,, LOL
The seas are calm, the weather warm, but not hot. We still have two days to go before we get to Pago Pago,,(pronounced pangno, pangno), this is one long way.
The internet connection goes off and on,,, well write more later.

OK, so we are now all Shellbacks, we were pollywogs, but when we crossed we will never be that again. It was fun to watch the ones who actually went through, the initiation and we are buying the DVD of the cruise as I don't think we will ever be able to do this cruise again, and I know we will want to relive it all.

Today is our 4th sea day and we are readying for our stop tomorrow, at Pago Pago. We went to the lecture with Dr. Faff, and she gave us lots of info on what to do in Pago Pago and Apia. We will try to go to the only National Park in the southern hemisphere, on Pago Pago. We canceled our tour there as we wanted to be able to go there and there were no tours gong there. So we will get our park passport stamped, as we forgot it in Hilo,,, dumb.

So today Sunday at 3PM our time 10 PM your time we just finished a Sunday Buffett and are now chilling, I should go to line dance, but I think I won't, not much going on tonight either, except for the movie the Bourne Legacy, which I think I will pass, but Ed is planing on going to.

So until tomorrow, see ya

Second sea day

OK, OK, I see that I messed up and reposted the whole blog, I will try not to do that again, sorry.

Ok so last night we went to formal night, all gussied up, and met the Capt, at the Captain circle cocktail party. The couple with the most sailed cruise days, had 1212 days, WOW, that is almost three years, we had a good time there and had a great time later, when we saw, the vocal impersonator Sean O Shee, he was great. He had some voice, and he was good enough doing Elvis that I would go see him again. He was also very funny.

We gained another hour last night so now we are way off, it is 2:15 PM here now and it is 9:15 PM on the East Coast. It is still the same day, but that will change soon. It is cloudy and rainy here, but warm, not a pretty day. We have gone to two lectures today, or I should say Ed has gone to two, I went to one. We both saw the one about Natural Disasters of the Pacific, with Dr Sharron Faff, and Ed stayed to here Dr Glick, "Can the world live with Iranian, Nuclear Bombs."
Then we met John and Janet for the Pub lunch of Fish and Chips. Now we are taking a rest before we go to tea. John and Janet are in Hula Dance, and Linda is making a lei. Al went to golf simulator, to do a closes to the pin computation. As I have said it is a busy ship.

Tonight is Lobster tails in the Dinning room and the Ventriloquist in the theater.

we just got back from tea, it was suppose to be for six people, delivered to Al and Linda's next door,,,, well as you can see it was for a lot more then six,, OMG and we have lobster tonight!!!

Tahiti Cruise

First day of a sure to be great trip.

We left Dulles a wee bit late this morning, as they were eating for connecting bags. That was ok by me as if they were mine I would have been very happy, they made it and the lady two rows bag was.

It was bumpy going out of VA, but soon we climbed out of it, and it was smooth all the way so far. I say so far, as we jus flew over the GRAND CANION!! 😱 And I have never seen it before, it was so exciting. It was sooooo clear. Ed said as many times he has flown over this area he has never seen it so clear.

Well I was so intrenched that I plum forgot to take a picture, but remembered befor we passed it, so here they are.

We approached the plains the clouds parted and we could see the massive snow covering the plains extending to Denver and the Rocky's. We crossed Rocky Mountain NP and into western Colorado. We began a west-south-westerly heading passing over Grand Canyon, what a sight, first time Cindy and I had ever seen the whole canyon from 35000 feet, it was beautiful. We crossed over Palm Springs and made a straight in approach to LAX landing 15 minutes early. What a great flight!

Once we gathered our bags it was off to a taxi and a $70 cab fare to Long Beach. One glitch, they broke off one of the bag wheels and its mounting. Oh Well, the bags have a life.
We got an ocean view room at the Long Beach Westin hotel and had an excellent lunch with both of us having a chicken salad... it was excellent. John and Janet called about 1600 and said that they had arrived and they would meet us at our hotel. they joined us at 1700 and we went to the hotel bar for a beer and glass of wine. The hotel bell man indicated he could make us reservations at Patrick's Lighthouse at 1900 so that we could be present for the beautiful sunset over the Pacific! Diner and the views were unbelievably beautiful. It was a great evening and when we returned to the room we just crashed into the arms of a restful sleep.

25 March - We managed to sleep until 0630 as we transitioned to Pacific Time zone. We had breakfast at the Westin Grill restaurant, excellent food, however the prices are pricy!!! Almost Brussels prices.

Janet and John joined us after breakfast and we were off for the day of sight seeing. We took the Long Beach Passport bus (free) to the Ocean liner Queen Mary center. We saw the ship from the restaurant last night, but the size of it is overwhelming. Ed used to see it come in and out of NYC as a kid, so it is on his bucket list. We purchased tickets to tour the ship for the day. We took the guided ghost ship tour and climbed through many of the back locations of the ship including the boiler tower chambers, indoor swimming pools, and other crew locations. after the tour we became our own tour guides; touring the bow, anchor and chain locations, bridge, first class club rooms, and finally the Tea Room where we decided to have lunch.

After lunch Ed and John wandered the remainder of the ship stopping at the engine room and observing all the propulsion systems and related equipment. They also visited the radio control room and were briefed on the communication systems employed by the ship.

Al and Linda Colton arrived and called us to say they had arrived. We joined them and proceeded to the Shore Line Village Shoppes and on to Patrick's Lighthouse for an early diner. The diner served to commence our 4 - week cruise to the South Pacific via the Hawaii Islands to celebrate Linda and Al's 50th wedding anniversary. Thus began our Bon Voyage from California.

We are now awaiting going to the ship. So now I will take advantage of the last of our free internet, and try to catch up with the blog. Maybe this time I can pull this off. We are planing to go over about noon, but they have said we shouldn't come before three, but that is hard as we need to check out.
We met Judy this morning (Voovodool) for coffee it was really fun to see her again, we met on the Ruby TA a couple years ago, she is still as sweet as ever.

Janet, John, Al and Linda are already on there way to the ship as they had to take the 1100 shuttle, from there hotel. We will leave about noon.

Well we have checked in, and waiting for them to let us board. I guess this late boarding means we won't have to wait for our bags,,,,, right. Doesn't mater we are already having fun!

We found a space in the terminal for the six (John, Janet, Linda, Al, and us to sit and wait for the opportunity to board. There were several announcements noting that boarding would not occur before 1500; however at 1445 we were permitted to board; we all were within the first twenty folks; great!!!! Just after settling into our room the captain announced that the ship would have delayed departure at after 2000 hours. However we did our muster station training at 1730 as scheduled. Ed made reservation for the six of us at Sabatini's restaurant at 1930. Just prior to going to diner, we got all four of our bags at one time; it was great! Janet & John and Linda & Al each received a portion of their bags, with a couple still to be delivered as we left for diner. Diner at Sabatini's was terrific!!!! everyone had a wonderful diner and enjoyed the evening. While Cindy and Janet went back to their rooms; John and Ed went to see the movie Money Ball; it was excellent. Then it was off to bed and test out the new Princess Pillow top mattress used by the Star Princess!

27 March - 1st Sea Day enroute to Hilo Hawaii... We set the clocks back one hour as we went to bed. We awoke at 0630 to see a very gray morning with an overcast sky with the air temperature at 53 degrees and the sea temperature at 59 degrees. We ordered and had a light breakfast in or room. Then Cindy and John went on the Princess sponsored ship treasure hunt and gathered the stamps from all over the ship. Janet and Ed went to gather cruise information at the future cruise desk and then joined Cindy, John, Linda, and Al at the Cruise Critic's meet and greet function held in the Amalfi Dining Room. While there we watch several dolphins riding the ship's waves and playing in the calm seas. We all adjoined to the Lido deck and had a light lunch. The Lido deck was cool with the temperature only reaching 63 degrees but the sea is as calm and the sky is clear. The sea food on this ship has been prepared perfectly in all venues. Quite a change from our recent experience on Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas which was poor at best! After lunch Cindy went to the spa to have her feet pedicured and Ed went to the room to sit on the balcony in the sunshine and read his Lee Cliff book. We all gathered at Skywalkers for evening snacks and drinks and adjoined to diner at 1945. Diner was excellent!! This was our first time (due to our very late departure from LA) for diner at late seating in the dining room and our waiters were excellent! John, Al, and Ed decided to attend the late night performance of the comedian, Doug Funk. It was light entertainment, easy to say good night with. Looking forward to a warmer sea day tomorrow.

28 March - 2nd Sea Day enroute to Hilo Hawaii... We awoke at 0700 to bright sunshine and light seas. The temperature increased to 63 degrees and the sea began to gain its character. We ordered room service and ready ourselves for the day by studying the daily Princess Patter to plan our day. Tonight will be formal night so we will adjust our plans accordingly. Cindy decided to attend the ship's shopper's sale and rejoin Ed at the Princess Scholarship@Sea Lecture on the Big Island of Hawaii presented by Sharron Faff, PhD. Ed attended the Scholarship@Sea Lecture "Piracy: It's a Very Lucrative Business" with Edward Glick, PhD prior to joining Cindy. Both the lectures were very good in the topics presented. All of us went to the Horizon Court for lunch with the theme of Oriental lunch Buffet presented by Executive Chef Gaetano Patamia. The lunch was terrific. After lunch all the group except Ed went to a Line Dancing class to learn the basics. Ed retired to his cabin to continue to read his book. We plan to gather at 1700 for cocktails and then dress in our formal attire.

March

March 29th 3rd Sea Day Good Friday,

On this holy day we woke up to cloudy sky's, and rough seas, and Al is a wee bit motion sick.

Ed and I ordered coffee and then we went to breakfast at HC, with Janet and John, and Linda joined us later. Ed and John have gone to a lecture about and the girls are going to do trivia. And I thought I would catch up on the blog.

Last night was formal night, and we all got dressed up, and had a wonderful dinner in the Almalfie dinning room. Our waiters are proving to be spectacular. So the evening was wonderful. but Ed and I crashed early.

Today is a busy day. After Trivia, we will go to a lecture on Oahu, then the Pub Lunch, and then later this evening we will do Movies Under the Stars, (MUTS) The Life Of Pie. And get a snack up at Skywalker's or International Court.

March 30th 4th Sea Day

Last night was truly casual night, blue jeans, long sleeve shirt, jacket, and blankets for an evening at MUTS. Diner was Pizza, Hot Dogs, Burgers, fries, ice cream cones, and of course pop corn! We all enjoyed the movies and adjoined to the buffet for a midnight snack. REALLY a low key evening.

We began today having breakfast at the Horizon Court per our current daily routine. One of the waiters (from Argentina) stopped to talk with us and share some of his background. It appears Pope Frances was his districts priest and baptized his sister some 26 years ago, AND he informed us that one of the Pope's first cousins is on board this ship!!! The sun rise was terrific again and the temperature continues to climb and now is just 70 for both the sea & air temperatures. the sea is calm and the wind has subsided to least the 5 mph. It should be a great day at sea.

We continued attending the Lecture series presented by Prof Glick (Sea Power) and the series on the Islands of Maui and Kauai. We then tried our talent on Trivia and got 17 of twenty correct, not bad, but the winners got them all right. Diner wasn't special but all the choices were great and Ed had the lamb shank! We went to bed early so as to get an early jump (0600) on our day on the Island of Hawaii.

March 31 Easter Day - Hilo, Hawaii!! We were up early and got all together on the Lido deck to watch the docking in Hilo. We got off on time and boarded our mini-van for the full day tour of Volcano National Park, Black Sands Beach, the Orchard gardens, macadamia nut farm, and many other sights around Hilo. A great day, so much to do we skipped lunch. It will be a quiet evening, just watching sail away at sky walkers and then diner, nothing too fancy, just right to complete our day.

1 April - Honolulu, Hawaii - Well we have arrived in Honolulu, and are waiting to go ashore. It is 7AM and Al has rented a car here to take us around to all the places we are planing to go. And we will have to see what we can do.

Boy! has Honolulu changed,,, it is so big now, lots of tall buildings, didn't get a photo, so sorry. I will try later,,, back later.

We have all just been laied,,,and the tower. Ed spotted a lady selling Lai's in the terminal area and purchased one for each of the ladies! We were the talk of the terminal area with each person in succession asking were they could be purchased.

Al retrieved the rental car from Enterprise and we were off to see the Arizona memorial and the Pearl Harbor area. We arrived too late for our pre purchased tickets so we lost our opportunity to walk right in. We tried standing in line for extra tickets but the folks right in front of us got the last set. We looked around at some of the other items available but then left for Hickam AFB.

We drove right on and quickly found 201 Beard Avenue and our old home; yes it was still there after all these years! It was off to the O'Club and a tour around it and a quick snack! We departed Hickam and were off to the north shore, over the Likelike Highway and down the hill. We got hopelessly lost without a map finally we needed to stop for gas any way and we got a map and directions.

We stopped at a local BBQ shop for sandwiches and then got back on the road to Bellows, It didn't let us down, Bellows is just as beautiful as it was 30+ years ago.
only stopped long enough to put our feet in the ocean, and walk on the soft sand, we remembered. Back on the road to Hanama Bay and the blow hole! They both were beautiful. We didn't stop long because the group wanted to see Diamond Head. So it was off to the creator. Al and John raced up the mountain and back down in just over an hour. The rest of us took a wee rest. Then It was back into the car and back to the ship and turning in the car as it had to go back by six.

The ladies and Al did a bit of shopping, at the pear, and when we were boarding, the boarded the children's dance group, were they ever cute, so that made us decide to have dinner at the Horizon court, so we could see the show. It was sooooooooo good, and nostalgia griping. We loved our day on Oahu, and all of our memories, but sometimes it is very hard to revisit the past

2 April - Nawiliwili, Kauia - Once again we were up at the crack of dawn dressing and packing for the day ahead. Ed and John were off on a tour to see Wailua Falls, Kauai Coffee Company, Waimea Canyon, the Sprouting Horn, and Lihue. The trip was fabulous and was lead by "Anytime Land Express (ALEX)". Excellent value! The ladies and Al were off to shopping and looking around Lihue and they had a good time.
We returned to the ship and gathered at Skywalkers for drinks and sail away! We retreated to our rooms to freshen for diner and dinned in the dinning room for the evening.
We had a great dinner, infect, it is time to mention that the food on the Star, has been wonderful, I think the best we have had on any ship, and it is consistently good. We enjoyed our dinner so much that we almost missed all of the evening show, The Ventriloquist, Don Bryan, what we saw, was pretty funny. Then it was off to bed to get a good nights' sleep to meet our schedule tomorrow

2 April - Nawiliwili, Kauia - Once again we were up at the crack of dawn dressing and packing for the day ahead. Ed and John were off on a tour to see Wailua Falls, Kauai Coffee Company, Waimea Canyon, the Sprouting Horn, and Lihue. The trip was fabulous and was lead by "Anytime Land Express (ALEX)". Excellent value! The ladies and Al were off to shopping and looking around Lihue and they had a good time.
We returned to the ship and gathered at Skywalkers for drinks and sail away! We retreated to our rooms to freshen for diner and dinned in the dinning room for the evening.
We had a great dinner, infect, it is time to mention that the food on the Star, has been wonderful, I think the best we have had on any ship, and it is consistently good. We enjoyed our dinner so much that we almost missed all of the evening show, The Ventriloquist, Don Bryan, what we saw, was pretty funny. Then it was off to bed to get a good nights' sleep to meet our schedule tomorrow

3 April - Lahaina, Maui - What a beautiful morning, the best of the four, beautiful, with 26+ whales greeting us, dancing all over in family groups!! it was simply magic! Wow and double WOW! We quickly dressed for breakfast, went to the Lido deck, and simply watched the whale show and enjoyed coffee and a light breakfast! What a way to start the day!
We took the tender to the shore and free lanced around the shoppes looking for bargains. John and Janet went off to a beach they had been too some years ago to relive some memories. The weather was absolutely perfect all day! And all the ladies, came home with new Hawaiian dresses....
We came back to the ship about two, and cleaned up, then went up to the upper deck to hear Sharron Faff give a talk on the Humpback Whales. And we spotted more whales too, it was the end of the season here so there weren't the 6000 that had been here a month ago.
Then we enjoyed the warm breezes, as we watched Stevie Wonder, Live, on the outdoor screen, it was great. As we sailed away and said Good By to Hawaii, it was with great emotion. We wonder if it will be another 30 years before we get back, I hope not.
After, it was off to the dinning room, and another great dinner. Ed and I departed for a good sleep, and the rest went to watch Skyfall. Tomorrow will be the first of 4 sea days.

April 4th,
Wow, I didn't wake up until 8 AM, I did have a good sleep. The morning was warm and sunny, but it is now warm and cloudy. Ed is off to the movie Arbitrage, and I am trying to catch up on the blog.
Today is formal night, and the Captains Circle Cocktail party, so when I get this posted I will go and start getting ready, takes me a while you know.
I haven't seen Janet and John today, saw Linda for a moment so I am not sure what they are doing. I did laundry and had lunch with Ed. He went to the two Lectures, Islands in the Sea Hotspot Volcanoes, with Sharron Faff and Peace is war a learned behavior, or is it an innate imperative, with Edward Glick. He told me about both, and I wish I had attended too.
There has been so much to do, it is hard to pick and choose.
Well I guess I will post this and try to get a picture of us, tonight all gussied up, later hope all is well back at your homes, we are missing all of you.

Tahiti Cruise

First day of a sure to be great trip.

We left Dulles a wee bit late this morning, as they were eating for connecting bags. That was ok by me as if they were mine I would have been very happy, they made it and the lady two rows bag was.

It was bumpy going out of VA, but soon we climbed out of it, and it was smooth all the way so far. I say so far, as we jus flew over the GRAND CANION!! 😱 And I have never seen it before, it was so exciting. It was sooooo clear. Ed said as many times he has flown over this area he has never seen it so clear.

Well I was so intrenched that I plum forgot to take a picture, but remembered befor we passed it, so here they are.

We approached the plains the clouds parted and we could see the massive snow covering the plains extending to Denver and the Rocky's. We crossed Rocky Mountain NP and into western Colorado. We began a west-south-westerly heading passing over Grand Canyon, what a sight, first time Cindy and I had ever seen the whole canyon from 35000 feet, it was beautiful. We crossed over Palm Springs and made a straight in approach to LAX landing 15 minutes early. What a great flight!

Once we gathered our bags it was off to a taxi and a $70 cab fare to Long Beach. One glitch, they broke off one of the bag wheels and its mounting. Oh Well, the bags have a life.
We got an ocean view room at the Long Beach Westin hotel and had an excellent lunch with both of us having a chicken salad... it was excellent. John and Janet called about 1600 and said that they had arrived and they would meet us at our hotel. they joined us at 1700 and we went to the hotel bar for a beer and glass of wine. The hotel bell man indicated he could make us reservations at Patrick's Lighthouse at 1900 so that we could be present for the beautiful sunset over the Pacific! Diner and the views were unbelievably beautiful. It was a great evening and when we returned to the room we just crashed into the arms of a restful sleep.

25 March - We managed to sleep until 0630 as we transitioned to Pacific Time zone. We had breakfast at the Westin Grill restaurant, excellent food, however the prices are pricy!!! Almost Brussels prices.

Janet and John joined us after breakfast and we were off for the day of sight seeing. We took the Long Beach Passport bus (free) to the Ocean liner Queen Mary center. We saw the ship from the restaurant last night, but the size of it is overwhelming. Ed used to see it come in and out of NYC as a kid, so it is on his bucket list. We purchased tickets to tour the ship for the day. We took the guided ghost ship tour and climbed through many of the back locations of the ship including the boiler tower chambers, indoor swimming pools, and other crew locations. after the tour we became our own tour guides; touring the bow, anchor and chain locations, bridge, first class club rooms, and finally the Tea Room where we decided to have lunch.

After lunch Ed and John wandered the remainder of the ship stopping at the engine room and observing all the propulsion systems and related equipment. They also visited the radio control room and were briefed on the communication systems employed by the ship.

Al and Linda Colton arrived and called us to say they had arrived. We joined them and proceeded to the Shore Line Village Shoppes and on to Patrick's Lighthouse for an early diner. The diner served to commence our 4 - week cruise to the South Pacific via the Hawaii Islands to celebrate Linda and Al's 50th wedding anniversary. Thus began our Bon Voyage from California.

We are now awaiting going to the ship. So now I will take advantage of the last of our free internet, and try to catch up with the blog. Maybe this time I can pull this off. We are planing to go over about noon, but they have said we shouldn't come before three, but that is hard as we need to check out.
We met Judy this morning (Voovodool) for coffee it was really fun to see her again, we met on the Ruby TA a couple years ago, she is still as sweet as ever.

Janet, John, Al and Linda are already on there way to the ship as they had to take the 1100 shuttle, from there hotel. We will leave about noon.

Well we have checked in, and waiting for them to let us board. I guess this late boarding means we won't have to wait for our bags,,,,, right. Doesn't mater we are already having fun!

We found a space in the terminal for the six (John, Janet, Linda, Al, and us to sit and wait for the opportunity to board. There were several announcements noting that boarding would not occur before 1500; however at 1445 we were permitted to board; we all were within the first twenty folks; great!!!! Just after settling into our room the captain announced that the ship would have delayed departure at after 2000 hours. However we did our muster station training at 1730 as scheduled. Ed made reservation for the six of us at Sabatini's restaurant at 1930. Just prior to going to diner, we got all four of our bags at one time; it was great! Janet & John and Linda & Al each received a portion of their bags, with a couple still to be delivered as we left for diner. Diner at Sabatini's was terrific!!!! everyone had a wonderful diner and enjoyed the evening. While Cindy and Janet went back to their rooms; John and Ed went to see the movie Money Ball; it was excellent. Then it was off to bed and test out the new Princess Pillow top mattress used by the Star Princess!

27 March - 1st Sea Day enroute to Hilo Hawaii... We set the clocks back one hour as we went to bed. We awoke at 0630 to see a very gray morning with an overcast sky with the air temperature at 53 degrees and the sea temperature at 59 degrees. We ordered and had a light breakfast in or room. Then Cindy and John went on the Princess sponsored ship treasure hunt and gathered the stamps from all over the ship. Janet and Ed went to gather cruise information at the future cruise desk and then joined Cindy, John, Linda, and Al at the Cruise Critic's meet and greet function held in the Amalfi Dining Room. While there we watch several dolphins riding the ship's waves and playing in the calm seas. We all adjoined to the Lido deck and had a light lunch. The Lido deck was cool with the temperature only reaching 63 degrees but the sea is as calm and the sky is clear. The sea food on this ship has been prepared perfectly in all venues. Quite a change from our recent experience on Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas which was poor at best! After lunch Cindy went to the spa to have her feet pedicured and Ed went to the room to sit on the balcony in the sunshine and read his Lee Cliff book. We all gathered at Skywalkers for evening snacks and drinks and adjoined to diner at 1945. Diner was excellent!! This was our first time (due to our very late departure from LA) for diner at late seating in the dining room and our waiters were excellent! John, Al, and Ed decided to attend the late night performance of the comedian, Doug Funk. It was light entertainment, easy to say good night with. Looking forward to a warmer sea day tomorrow.

28 March - 2nd Sea Day enroute to Hilo Hawaii... We awoke at 0700 to bright sunshine and light seas. The temperature increased to 63 degrees and the sea began to gain its character. We ordered room service and ready ourselves for the day by studying the daily Princess Patter to plan our day. Tonight will be formal night so we will adjust our plans accordingly. Cindy decided to attend the ship's shopper's sale and rejoin Ed at the Princess Scholarship@Sea Lecture on the Big Island of Hawaii presented by Sharron Faff, PhD. Ed attended the Scholarship@Sea Lecture "Piracy: It's a Very Lucrative Business" with Edward Glick, PhD prior to joining Cindy. Both the lectures were very good in the topics presented. All of us went to the Horizon Court for lunch with the theme of Oriental lunch Buffet presented by Executive Chef Gaetano Patamia. The lunch was terrific. After lunch all the group except Ed went to a Line Dancing class to learn the basics. Ed retired to his cabin to continue to read his book. We plan to gather at 1700 for cocktails and then dress in our formal attire.

March

March 29th 3rd Sea Day Good Friday,

On this holy day we woke up to cloudy sky's, and rough seas, and Al is a wee bit motion sick.

Ed and I ordered coffee and then we went to breakfast at HC, with Janet and John, and Linda joined us later. Ed and John have gone to a lecture about and the girls are going to do trivia. And I thought I would catch up on the blog.

Last night was formal night, and we all got dressed up, and had a wonderful dinner in the Almalfie dinning room. Our waiters are proving to be spectacular. So the evening was wonderful. but Ed and I crashed early.

Today is a busy day. After Trivia, we will go to a lecture on Oahu, then the Pub Lunch, and then later this evening we will do Movies Under the Stars, (MUTS) The Life Of Pie. And get a snack up at Skywalker's or International Court.

March 30th 4th Sea Day

Last night was truly casual night, blue jeans, long sleeve shirt, jacket, and blankets for an evening at MUTS. Diner was Pizza, Hot Dogs, Burgers, fries, ice cream cones, and of course pop corn! We all enjoyed the movies and adjoined to the buffet for a midnight snack. REALLY a low key evening.

We began today having breakfast at the Horizon Court per our current daily routine. One of the waiters (from Argentina) stopped to talk with us and share some of his background. It appears Pope Frances was his districts priest and baptized his sister some 26 years ago, AND he informed us that one of the Pope's first cousins is on board this ship!!! The sun rise was terrific again and the temperature continues to climb and now is just 70 for both the sea & air temperatures. the sea is calm and the wind has subsided to least the 5 mph. It should be a great day at sea.

We continued attending the Lecture series presented by Prof Glick (Sea Power) and the series on the Islands of Maui and Kauai. We then tried our talent on Trivia and got 17 of twenty correct, not bad, but the winners got them all right. Diner wasn't special but all the choices were great and Ed had the lamb shank! We went to bed early so as to get an early jump (0600) on our day on the Island of Hawaii.

March 31 Easter Day - Hilo, Hawaii!! We were up early and got all together on the Lido deck to watch the docking in Hilo. We got off on time and boarded our mini-van for the full day tour of Volcano National Park, Black Sands Beach, the Orchard gardens, macadamia nut farm, and many other sights around Hilo. A great day, so much to do we skipped lunch. It will be a quiet evening, just watching sail away at sky walkers and then diner, nothing too fancy, just right to complete our day.

Well we have arrived in Honolulu, and are waiting to go ashore. It is 7AM and Al has rented a car here to take us around to all the places we are planing to go. And we will have to see what we can do.

Boy has Honolulu changed,,, it is so big now, lots of tall buildings, didn't get a photo, so sorry. I will try later,,, back later.

We have all just been laied,,,and the tower.

Big Easy

Blog

Thursday 28 February - Good morning New Orleans, hello winter in the city by the gulf. We had a light breakfast at the club lounge and went off to meet with Janet and John Morrison. They joined us and we went in search of the Gray Line tour center which opened at 10am. We booked our river cruise for Friday and were informed that the Swamp boat river cruise was closed and was closed since the hurricane. Not good; so we had to regroup and we decided to go to the New Orleans National aquarium for the afternoon. But prior to going we stopped at Chico's to purchase jeans and a sweater for Cindy, she had not packed any warm cloths and the temperature was to drop to 38. Cold in the city; also dropped in a restaurant and had a small lunch.
After the Aquarium we purchased a trolly ticket and rode about the city and the full length of Charle's Street. We returned to the Sheraton Hotel and went to the club lounge for heavy snacks and wine. After an hour or so we decided to not go a have diner.

Friday 1 March - where are the sunny skies? Gosh it is chilly! Janet and John joined us at 9am and we were off shopping for goodies and walking slowly to catch the river boat for a cruise on the Mississippi River. The full Cruise Addict group boarded the riverboat as a group and enjoyed seeing each other. The group enjoyed the trip and agreed to have diner together at Pat Obriens restaurant. We spent the remainder of the afternoon walking the streets of the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Saturday 2 March - We're off! We left the hotel at 10am for the very short trip to the ship terminal and the Royal Caribbean "Navigator of the Seas." We boarded in less than 15 minutes and were walking the ship halls by 1045. however, we could not go to our rooms until 1300 and the only place to wait was the main gallery. The skies continued cloudy and the temperature continued in the 40's and the wind gusting over 20mph. The trip down the Mississippi is 110 miles; about 8.5 hours of sailing. Wow what a journey!! The Cruise Addict group all joined at their respective tables and the main dining room.

This was the view from the 45th floor room we were staying in. To the right you can see the cruise terminal.
Good morning one and all, we are in Grand Caiman this morning and it is bright and sunny. But there is nothing Ed and I want to do in town so we have chosen this day to stay on board. And I will try to catch up on the blog.

When we left, New Orleans we left late, so we didn't get to see much of the Mississippi going out, that was really too bad, and it will be dark when we come back in too. :( Oh well such is life.
it was still very cold that night and the next day also, that was a sea day so other than getting used to the ship we didn't do much, except the gift exchange.
We managed to draw a good gift, a small first aid kit, that you can take in the water or on a boat, and it stays dry, cool. And we needed small as we have no room in the two suitcases we brought for anything of any size. So my shopping has been limited!
Formal night was nice, the picture were awful, and I thought the photographers on Princess were bad, these were worse.
Yesterday the we arrived in Cozumel and it was going to be warm, it was beautiful, we had a wonderful day, walking the streets and shopping. We didn't buy much, but we had a great lunch in a Mexican restaurant, and saw lots of things we didn't need nor want, but it was nice and balmy and that was enough for the four of us. Janet got a bracelet, that she was looking for, I didn't find anything except some of the charms they give away to get you in the store.

This is the view as we left Cozumel, it was still really pretty.

So today we rest as tomorrow will be VERY busy, we go to the beach, at the Hilton in Falmouth, and when we get back to the ship, we will have to hurry and go to the mystery theater dinner we have booked so until later I bid you all Aude.

The big Easy Cruise.with the Cruise-Addicts

We have arrived at Dulles airport, Peggy was kind enough to take us so it was really no effort.
We breasted through security, and are now enjoying a Starbucks and blueberry scone. We are going in the back, so no meal,, not a big deal for a short flight. And we will be eating to much in the next couple of weeks any way.