June 18, 2017

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Ed had a nice relaxing morning, we slept right through it!  We dint awaken unti 10:30, to a bit of rocking and rolling, so we waited a bit and it soon smoothed out more or less. Enough to allow us to get showered and dressed for lunch, sence we missed breakfast all together 😱. We had a great lunch, the chef was making a creamery pasta, at table side, with shrimp.  

Last night after dinner, we went to the black & white ball, I wouldn't have called it a ball, but it was fun. People were dressed in black and white, but not formal, causal, tonight is our next formal night. They played some interesting games last night for bottles of champaign, we didn't win,,,, you think it was because we didn't get up and play? 😄 we did have a wee dram, and we enjoyed the music. But we lost another hour, last night and I think that is messing with our sleep patterns. And there will be another before we we get to Reykjavik.  

So now it is just a lazy afternoon 💤

June, 17, 2017

Good morning,

Well thing quieted down some what over night. We still have deep swells and some white caps, but now we are not moving like drunken sailors, just tipsy ones! LOL

Ed went to a meeting this morning with the Captin and found out some interesting information, seems the Pacific Princess, is an "ocean liner" not a "cruise ship" it has to do with the Hull design.  Cruise ships are designed to stay close to the shore, not to be in heavy seas.  So now we know, why this small ship took the heavy seas we've had, so well. 

Last night we had another great meal in the dinning room. We have been very impressed with the food on this ship. Haven't had a bad meal yet,,,,, not good,,,,, eating too much!  

We also went to the show, " An evening with Nat King Cole" sung by Donnie Ray Evens. He was wonderful, and having grown up with Nat's music, I can say from my perspective he sounded and looked very much like him.  So all and all it was a great evening. 

We lost another hour, so as I write this it is 2:09 here, and east coast it is 11:09, so we were late awakining again, oh well, it is " escape completely "  Right!

June 16, 2017 Sea Day

It is cloudy, and gray, 41*f for a high and 38*f low, and the sea's are gray and rough, we are bouncing pretty good.  The ship is handling it well. I have given up on posting photos, unless we are on land and have free wifi. So y'all bear with me and I will try to paint with words. 

If my post from yesterday really got on then you know about the day..... But I do want to give a quick review of the island, we found the people to be very friendly and helpful, they had a band playing when we disinbarked, and handed us little French flags, and maps of the island. To me that was saying we were welcome, and they were happy to see us. And we enjoyed our time there, and as someone said this will not stay this little sleepy island for long.  So yesterday after we took the tender back to the ship we just chilled out and watched the tenders going back and forth, and used some internet  through T-Mobile sitting on the balcony. 

Last night we did dinner, but both of us were too full, to do much else and the ship had started rocking and rolling so we called it a night. 

Today we woke about 7:30, with a Big Bang the ship evidently hit a big wave, so after much debate, we went to the dinning room for breakfast. Having Club Class, is really nice, almost as nice as being in a suite. We don't get to eat in Sabitinies for breakfast, but we do have our special area, and the same waiters we have at night in that area. At night the suite passengers share the same area.  And we can come pretty much when we want, within the parramators of the serving time. So we are liking it. 

Now on the agenda,,,,, not much, not a lot going on, we missed the movie LaLa Land yesterday, hopefully it will be on again. Today's movie, is Wilson, not sure we want to see that, but we'll see.  Tonight there are two thing we want to see, but we will need to skip dinner to see them,,,,, which, wouldn't hurt us a bit. 

Later,,, I'll try to get this out. 

St Pierre & Miquelon

This is a second time to try to post this, so it is still a beautiful day, cool about 50 F. We had a great morning eating French pastries and quiche Lorien I wi try the photos again. 

 

 

New Jersey

From the ferry, this may work yet! 

First and second sea day after NY

Well computer issues have continued to be a problem, not so much each individual component, but the thing as a whole. I won't bore you with all of that, it serficeis to say, I'm not sure this will ever get out eaither. So on to an update.

We had a wonderful time in New York City, the weather could not have been nicer. We went to Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty. Not enough time for either, but fun non the less. Even though our tour was only 5 hours, it was strenuous for most of us as it got warmer, and the sun was intens. We had planed on going back out on the streets, but having not had a healthy breakfast, and no lunch we simply ran out of gas, (energy).  We were hot and sweaty, so showers, were inorder and lots of iced tea. 

We met new friends Carol and John for dinner, and saw a great show after. Because we are in club class, we are being treated to special dinners, that aren't on the minue, like an awesome rack of lamb, then oscobosco, and last night it was Chilean sea bass!  The crew on this ship are over the top, from the Captin right down the line. Our cabin attended is one of the best we have had, Menione, and the people all over are the same, high standeard. 

Yesterday we lost an hour, and last night the same, so this morning we both slept until nine!  Last night was formal night, and the Captin hosted cocktail party. Different then other ships, no champaign waterfall, just as much champaign you could drink I'm two hours. 🍾. And then a wonderful dinner and great show, great singers and dancers

Today Ed and I are up on the top deck in the pacific lounge, looking out on an almos placed ocean with clear sky's and 47 degrees, getting colder for sure. I will see if this will publish, if so I will try photos next. 😏

Second Sea Days

Good Morning,

It is our second sea day since we left Ft. Lauderdale, and I am behind already,, so whats new?  So on to catching up.  

We awoke late in the AM on Friday, and that was OK as we didn’t plan to have breakfast anyway, as we had a big dinner with Kieran, our nephew the night before, and it was wonderful.  We eat too much and had too many Margaritas, so needless to say we were not hungry by morning.

So we finished our morning routines and finished stuffing our carryons only to find out later they were too big to carry on,,, so,,, on the pier we took out meds and the computer bag, and carried that on, it all worked out.  There was no rush, as we were the only ship in port.   So everything was easy.  The ship wasn’t ready, even though it was 1PM,  but they gave us a goodie bag, with water and a granola bar incase we were hungry.  We found out later that they had not been able to complete the dress up part of the dry dock, because they had rain almost the entire two weeks they were there, so things like changing out chairs and cushions were not delivered.  But the hull work was completed and all the electrical word was also done..  And we got a brand new bed, it is glorious, new carpet throughout the ship.

We boarded about 30 minutes later and found our cabin and met our room stuert, Menino, he is very good, so good intact he won’t be with us for the whole cruise he is being promoted,,, not sure when, but I’m sure we will miss him.  

We had our bags in our room, when we returned from lunch, and we started unpacking all the stuff we just had to bring, that took us that afternoon and all day yesterday to get it organized, which is why I haven’t posted.  

We have now experienced two dinners and on breakfast in Club Class and I will say it is nice, and the extra things in the room are really nice.  It is almost like being in a suite, and honestly our room is plenty big.  I have pictures, but at the moment I haven’t been able to get them over to the mac, I have an appointment with the internet guy at 7 to see if he can resolve it.  So until then I will just send this post..

Tomorrow NY 

Sunny Florida NOT!

It has rained all night and suppose to rain all day,,,,, oh well it is what it is.  We have a beautiful room here at the Marriott Harbor Beach Resort, so we will chill for the day.  Ed is happy he doesn't have to drive again. He turned in the car, a day early, that was a fiasco. They have a kiosk here, but seems it isn't maned all the time, so when we arrived and wanted to turn in the car, well.... We saw no point in keeping it, we weren't planing on shopping, God forbid, not room for one more thing. LOL

So last night we freshened up and went down to Happy Hour, nice, good appetizers. That was dinner, and to bed early. 

Today we plan to relax until we meet our nephew Kieran for dinner, I'll post some pictures of the room later, when it's tiddyied up.  

The first day out.....

It was a beautiful morning, sunny and cool. I woke at 5:45 am, the last time 😜 so get up already so I did. My iPad alarm went off at 6, so that woke the other half. Showered, and dressed, had coffee, and banana bread I made the day before, put in the last few things in the last bag and set the heat pumps, and we were off....... Well not really. 

We made the 8 o'clock ferry, and as we were in line,,,, Ed says "you did pack the notebook that has all the boarding passes, etc". and I say yes, then wondered did I? So I said well check the last bag that went in the car on the ferry.  Now my self doubt is setting in. We're on the ferry, and we check the bag,,, no book!! So get off and turn around, and get back on. Drive home,,,, very quite car,, get home,,, no book any wear!  Now I think, maybe it's in the bag we took out last night,  late. Sure enough, there it is. Back to the ferry, we finely arrive in Surry, two hours late at 10 am!  Long story short, we drive through, some major thunderstorms, starting in SC and about that time, I said to Ed I was going to call the hotel and tell them we would be late. And what did they say,,,, WE DONT HAVE A RESERVATION!  Oh no, and they are booked up! Ed made a ,,,,,, another story. So I called the courtyard by Marriott and we got the last room. We arrived safe and sound at 7:30pm. Dinner in the Beastrow and now it sleep time. 

Good night

Almost ready to leave

It has been a busy day around here, I made two loaves of banana bread and two loaves of sourdough bread. A frittata for brunch in between. And worked on packing jewelry, going over our checklist, and realized we had forgotten to coppy down all the amergenze numbers, in case we lost CC.  Check list are a good thing for me. 

Now to hope we get an oversized car like we did last month to go to Tim's as we have so much luggage. We shall see if we packed too many clothes, only time will tell 

It is almost midnight, and I have an appointment to get my nails done early in the morning so I will say good night, hugs to all our kids, and Gran's and thanks for the calls. 

Goodnight

Cyndi/Mom/Nana 

Wake up Blog

Wake up blog,,,,,, oh my i'm tired.... it might be, because I have been packing for two weeks!  It is done now,,,, so now I will wake up the blog, and start posting.

We are ready to take our only cruise in 2017, but it will be a long one, 36 days on the Pacific Princess. 

The map shows all the places we are scheduled to stop, accross this northern transatlantic   

At the end of this cruise we will spend 3 days in Dover, England, at a B and B that Ed found, but it is really in St Margrets Mead,  and then 3 days in Southampton, at another B and B, that is close to the pier. We will then board the Queen Mary 2, on the 21st of June, and travel back to New York City. We will then board Amtrak, for our journey home, and God willing be home on the 28th of July. 

So now it's the last minute things to make sure is done. We have wonderful neighbors, they will take in the mail and keep an eye on the house. Peggy and Amelia will spend a couple nights here, later this month, as Amelia has a week at CNU, to attend. So the hous won't be empty the whole time. The house is clean and we are almost ready to go.  

We have to pick up the car on Monday afternoon and I have a nail appointment that morning too, then we will drive out Tuesday morning. Then an overnight in Georgia and the next day Ft Lauderdale, for two nights and board the ship on Friday.

Bellow are two links, that you may find interesting:

Princess bridge cam

The Daily position of the Pacific Princess

Sailing towards San Diego May 1, 2016

Well this is our final night of this cruise. We have said our goodbyes to our friends, Val and Jim, we will see them in about a month. And Bill and Irene we will see in a a couple of weeks, they are continuing on to Seattle, so they get to enjoy this wonderful crew we have had. Agoone our water, has been the best we have ever had, and our room guys, Ipool, and Eddie have also been the best. We can't say enough good things for HAL in that department. 

Our bags are out and we are ready to go, no suntan, but happy non the less, as we had a good time. 

I will lose our internet, but will hope to get on at the airport

CINDY and Ed 

April 29, 2016 sailing towards Ft Lauderdale

KWell we have been without internet for two days now, we are in never, never land. The seas are a bit rough, about five ft and head winds of 45 KTS. It is 75 F and the map finely has the land on the screen, so it won't be too much longer now, and maybe that means we'll get the internet back  I hope I can get this to post, but we'll see.  

Around the ship for the last couple days have been sort of busy, we had the Neptune crossing, but didn't get to see it as they scheduled the wine tasting at the same time. That type of thing has been a problem the whole cruise. I don't think the cruise director is very swift. And we have had rain again, first sea day it was sunny then rain and clouds, it makes things kind of a downer. Everyone in our group has  has made the best of it, but it is hard not to wish for a bit of sun. 

So I will try to show you some of the fotos of the happenings around the ship

Here is a picture of the Philippino show. 

Yesterday we went to the mariners luncheon, it is to honor the people who are most traveled. 

Then day befor we had a Gala Night, better known as formal night. This is our group. 

And Jim passing out YUM YUMS after dinner. 

Later,,,, got to see if I can this out. 

Welcome to Nuku Hiva

Well it finely happened,,,,,,, we had SUN!

It is really pretty and it was very bright! We have been in shade too long!  It was also hot,hot,hot. Small island, not a lot to do, except wait in long lines for the tenders, and a wee bit of shopping, but it was wonderful to see the sun. 

Ed wanted to go down to the queens lounge early to get an early tender ticket, and I grumbled all the way, when the blond doesn't even get time for coffee,,,,, well you know. But as it happens it was the very right move. Tendering was a real challenge on this island, and unless they fix this on, Nuku Hiva I know we will never get off at that port of call again. Long story, and the only tour offered was awful, according to Bill and Irene, thank god we hadn't booked it. 

Tikis are a big part of the culture here

Because we left early we got back in time for lunch and spent the afternoon here in the aft pool. 

When every one returned and met for dinner, we had lots of stories to tell. One of them was from Ed. In the visitors center, we bought post cards, but they didn't have stamps, we were now in the Marquesas, so they have there own government and stamps. So they sent him to the post office. What looked like just around the corner turned out to be up a big hill when he asked a lady in an SUV, I guess the look on his face made her offer him a ride up the hill. Phew,, when he got there, the postmaster, said they couldn't take dollars!  But after a bit, and Ed telling him, they didn't have stamps at the visitors center, he finely figured out how he could do it. 

Tommrow is a sea day, and I will elaborate on the food in the dinning room and the cabin crawl. Good night. 

Sunday, April 24, 2016 Sailing towards Nuku Hiva

Ok so now we are at sea, and it is warm and sunny!  81 F and the ship's clocks will be set another 30 minutes forward. We did that last night too, sense we had a sea day, I am not sure why they didn't just make it an hour tonight, instead.  Oh well. 

We got our passports back this morning, and Kainoa gave another location talk on Nuku Hiva. He is very good. 

Tonight we are going to the Pinnacle Grill for dinner with the group it should be fun. The stakes were really good and the shrimp cocktail were like little lobster tails. We ate too much, but had fun. 

Early to bed as Ed wants toget on an early tender in the morning. 

April 23, 2016 Opunohu, Moorea

We sailed across the bay to the island of Moorea, and anchored in Opunohu bay. Last time we were in Cooks bay, so this was all new to us, it didn't really matter as it was raining before we were able to get tender tickets. By the time we got to the island it was raining hard, we whroe our swim wear, thinking we outdoor get a excursion to swim with the stingrays and sand sharks, but that wasn't going to happen. The market was under cover, so we just did a bit more shopping. And got in line to go back to the ship, when we got to the ship, it was again a downpour and we had to climb an outside stairway in the pouring rain. Good thing we wore our suites, we were now as wet as we could be. 

Can you tell it is raining?

Pape'ette, Tahiti April 22, 2016

Capten Rens van Eerten, changed our itinerary, we will now be in Papeete, Tahiti today Friday, from 6:00 to 1:00 AM  on Saturday the 23rd, the short cruise across the bay to Moorea. Instead of the reverse, seem we need fuel., and stores. Well that is ok with us as when we awoke in Tahiti it wasn't raining. At least not at first.   

This is a big city, and it was sweltering hot and humid. So we were going across the street, to find the market, we missed last time we were here, because it wasn't opened. And we had no excursion booked, and many had been canceled. 

I was feeling a bit under the weather, with a yucky cold so, we didn't do much. They had a show with dancers in the theater, but we knew we would never get in, as our dinner time makes it so we would not be able to get there early enough to get seats,,, oh well. 

Making coconut milk

Flowers in the market. 

View of the city from or balcony. 

This was in our mail box:

Dear guests,

As you know we have been experiencing some unpleasant weather conditions,,,,,, that have caused cancellations of port calls as well as excursions---------- I have been in contact with our home office and as a special gesture of goodwill we are pleased to provide each of you with a Future Cruise Credit equal of15% of the base cruise fare you paid for the 30-day sailing which began April 2, 2016. Additionally we are pleased to provide an onboard credit of $100 per person for your enjoyment on this sailing. This will be posted tonight to your shipboard account. (And it was) 

Would you say they were trying to make up?

Bora Bora April 20-21, 2016

Well we finely arrived and anchored in Vaitape, Bora Bora, where were suppose to be. We anchored in the bay, and it rained,,, again. But later in the day. It cleared enough to take the tender ashore. So we put on our clothes, that could get wet without being to provocative and bumped across to the pier. 

When it rains here, or really rains!  

First on the agenda, was to check on our reservations for Bloody Mary's, we went to the visitors center, and they called and confirmed all was in order. So now it was a hunt for pearls. Kainoa, was on the dock, and he sent us accros the street to Alberts, and many $$$$ later we came back to the ship, to get ready to go to dinner.  

The shuttle to Bloody Mary's was to pick us up at 6:15, not knowing how long the shuttles would take we all decided to error on the side of being early, and luckily we hit it all right and then had to wait an hour for the bus. It finely came, now there was 18 of us!

When we arrived and checked in, we were all set to see the menu.

This is our menue

So we all ordered and waited for it to get to us, meanwhile, it again started to rain, and hard, it even came through the thatched roof. We had fun, ate,  and left on the 8:15 shuttle back to the dock not wanting to go back in the rain. 

Well we didn't make that, by the time we got to the dock, it was pouring, and lightning and thunder, a real show, they couldn't launch the tender. We waited under the eve for about an hour. And would you believe this was our tender, that would take us back to the ship!

Notice the number, LOL 

It was a bumpy ride back, and fireworks were still going on, but all was well and we returned wet, but with a great story!

We all felt sorry for the crew who had to keep going back and forth, until midnight. 

The next day it was cloudy, with off and on rain, but we needed to go a ashore again to get post cards and look for more treasures, all the shore excursions had been canceled because of the weather once again. So we found the cards, and went to a little place to sit down, and luckily ran in to Val and Jim who had snaged a table. 

Even we got back to the ship, the clouds opened up again and it poured. So we said good by to Bora Bora. 

Our welcome even in the rain. 

They still have phone booths. 

Tonight's dinner?

 

Sailing towards Raiatea Monday April 18, 2016

Forecast partly cloudy, NOT, it is raining and we haven't seen the sun in days. Not even for a little bit. The seas are rough we have winds across the bow of 48 knots. 

They say it is 83 F, but not sure about that one. 

Not sure you can read this, but this is on the screen of our TV 

Here is out the door.

Any way, we are suppose to dock early, around 9 PM, spend tommrow all day in port, sure hope it clears up, as no tan yet. 

Our on location guide Keinoa is giving a talk on French Polynesia at two, so we will do that. 

Last night we saw a great show, Greg Andrew, doing Elton John, he looks like Elton and plays the piano as good as Elton, he was amazing. 

Then the 11 pm show was the Philippino crew show, it too was wonderful. It made for a very late night, and this morning we are not moving fast,with the ship rocking and rolling, we have to be careful any way.  So we had breakfast in the room, room service, has been great, very fast and VERY well done. 

By for now. 

 

Welcome to Avatiu, Rarotonga April 17, 2016

We not really a welcome as once again, we cannot go ashore. The wind is at 30 KTS across the bow, and they tried to get us off, by putting the tenders in the water, but just too much wind and the swells are just too big. Then on top of that they had a medical evacuation, so they had toget that person off to be air evaceted home to Australia, sad. 

So we are to do scenic cruising around the island to take pictures. I will post them here. 

So now we are on our way to Raiatea we are now suppose to spend the night, arriving about nine tonight. This is a docking port, not a tender. We have not been off the ship, since we left Kona, a week ago!