Author: admin

March 6, 2019 – Sydney, Australia

The first shuttle out today was at 8:30 am. We were up and had breakfast in plenty of time. Traffic is a problem here as it is in any major city and the bus ride is about 30 minutes.

We arrived at the aquarium at 9:20 and started the mile trek to the harbor bridge. Today I do the bridge climb and Terri shops for pearls.

My scheduled climb was 10:55 but we arrived early and they allowed me to do the 10:25 climb. The Sydney Harbor Bridge is a steel arch bridge and is the only bridge I know that allows people to climb over the top of its arches. The climb is probably as iconic as the Opera House.

The entire experience is 3.5 hours. The first part of the experience is the mandatory breathalyzer test. Score over a .05 BAC and you will not be allowed to climb. Waiver forms are next. There are up to 16 people per group with a guide. There were 14 of us. We took turns introducing ourselves. I was the only one from the USA in this group. I chatted it up with Edwin who we had met out in the lobby. Edwin was from Wales. When he learned that we were from Michigan, his first question was “are you close to Dearborn?”. Edwin is a farmer and collects Fordson Tractors. I told him about Fordson being its own city and the school with the same name. He has a Fordson Tractor built in 1919 and it is one of about 20 he owns.

Next stop is the one piece suit that you must wear. You can put it over your clothes but with temps reaching 90s today it was recommended that you have only underwear underneath. No cameras, cell phones, watches, anything that may fall on traffic below can be taken. A metal detector makes sure of that. Once in the suit, climbers step into a harness. Harness on, radio strapped on back, glasses strapped in, baseball cap strapped on. The whole preparation from breathalyzer to harness took 30 mins. The radio was to listen to our guide as we did the climb.

The climb started with each climber taking a strap from their harness and clipping into a cable system that ran all along the climb. No way to actually fall off of the bridge with this system in place. Once strapped in, climbers could not go anywhere but up and then down the bridge.

The climb is very easy for anyone in reasonable shape. Many narrow ladders and passages to get started to the top of the arch. There are stairs welded to the top of the arch and this part was very easy. The views of the Sydney harbor were incredible. Great view of the Opera House and downtown Sydney. No way to smuggle a GoPro or even an eyeglass camera in. The guide is responsible for taking all of the photos (for some hefty coin when you are finished).

I managed to get a shot of some climbers.

The entire climb was uneventful but exciting. Robin gave us some great narration along the way. A bit of history and fun facts. One bridge worker was knocked off the bridge when the tool he was using backfired. He was an experienced diver so he quickly put himself into a feet first position. He managed to make contact with the bottom of the harbor 25ft down and pushed himself back up. He was picked up by a passing ferry.

After the climb we were given a free group photo and climbing certificate. I bypassed the line for the photos that were taken at points along the way. This picture was taken at the top of the bridge. Edwin to my right, Opera House down below.

Terri was waiting for me when I was finished and we stopped at the Fortune of War Pub for a Guinness and a BLT. Of course there was a large jar of Vegemite on the counter and it reminded me of Men at Work “Down Under”. I said do you speak-a my language. He smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich…..Probably a good time to find it on you tube and have a listen. It was played over and over on the hop on hop off bus tour.

We stopped at the Jewelry store on the way back. Terri bought some pearls as I took a nap in the chair. We hoofed it back to the shuttle point with rain coming down.

Our shipped sailed at 6 pm. Great views of Sydney as we left.

…

March 5, 2019 – Sydney, Australia

We picked up our harbor pilot at 4 am and we weren’t able to see any of the sights as we came in. I did get a glimpse of the Sydney Harbor Bridge when the sun started to rise.. I will be climbing that tomorrow.

We have tickets for a Hop On, Hop Off Bus Tour. As the name suggests, this bus does two routes around the city and you can get on and off as you wish. The bus comes every 20 – 30 mins. There is really not enough time to get off on every site and wait for a bus. The immigration process went better than I expected and we were on a shuttle bus for about a 25 minute ride to the city. I could easily swim from the boat to the drop off point. The roads take much longer because of the shape of the harbor.

We arrived at our drop off point in front of the aquarium. The tour bus doesn’t start until 9:30. We had an hour to kill before we boarded. We decided to walk around and check out this part of the city.

We must be getting old. This is just another city where only the tourists are our age. We did notice that the women dressed differently here than they did back home. I told Terri that it must be the asian influence. I first noticed this in Hong Kong. Skirts and pants are worn at the waist. Who would have thought? Lots of skirts, heels, and attention to detail. There was also a noticeable lack of body art of any kind on the women. No tattoos, no nose rings. Refreshing. The non-asian-men looked like the men at home. Full body artwork not uncommon. The asian men and women smoked. I expected that. No judgements made. Just the facts.

We hopped on our bus and rode on the roofless second floor. It felt great. Earbuds provided for narration of the sights. We couldn’t help but notice the iconic Sydney Opera House and decided to get off.

This picture shows the area underneath the opera house.

The opera kitchen is just one of the many things found underneath the opera house.

A large area surrounds the Opera House. I imagine seeing arriving early and standing outside with a drink. Wandering in before the current call and seeing or hearing a great show. Coming out in the evening to admire the lights of downtown Sydney. We did not see a show or try to make plans to do so. Not enough time here and it would have been too rushed. Next time.

The structure is covered with tiles. That is not evident from far away. Most folks can recognize the structure but how many know what it looks like up close?

I took this one looking away from the Opera House. Seemed appropriate so I included it.

The rest of Sydney is a mixture of old and new buildings. We snapped photos of cool buildings and scenery.

Terri snapped this one. The Happy Hockers. Almost as good as the Thirsty Pig!

A large China Town can be found in Sydney and below is Bondi Beach. It is THE place to be seen!

We spent all day touring sights. We had lunch down at the harbor near the Opera House. Dinner was in an area called The Rocks. We ate at the William Blue College of Hospitality and Management. Everyone there was in week 6 of a 10 week program learning the ways of restaurant management. All of the students were supervised by the head chef and hostess. It was a great experience. I imagine this was one of many courses the students took.

After dinner we headed back to the aquarium to hop on our shuttle. The city was full of live and at no time did we feel like we were in the “wrong area”.…

March 4, 2019 – at Sea

This morning we listened to Ian describe our next destination, Sydney. The information we need concerns getting to the city. Shuttles to the Aquarium drop off point begin at 7 am. Last shuttle returns at 10:30 pm.

Most of our day was spent out on the deck enjoying the beautiful weather. We are heading northeast and that allowed us to see the sunrise from our deck chairs. I am in the middle of “Liberty and Tyranny” by Mark Levin. Great read. I have been watching the news on television as Terri gets ready for dinner. I haven’t done this in years. Last time I was a regular viewer, Walter Cronkite was the anchor. It is difficult to listen to this no matter who you listen to. What happened to just reporting the news?

Tonight was the Mardi Gras Gala. Hats are always way too big for Terri and way too small for me.

…

March 3, 2019 – at Sea

2 days at sea give us the needed break to plan our next stops. It is hard to believe we have been on the ship for 40 days and I can understand how people can get used to this.

We are visiting Sydney, New South Wales, Australia for 2 days. Day one we are doing a hop on hop off bus tour. We are also having dinner at William Blue Dining.

Australia does things a bit differently with cruise ships than other countries. Every passenger must get off the ship with passports in hand and have a face to face meeting with immigration. I suppose there are many people that wouldn’t mind staying in Australia illegally then say Easter Island. Once everyone is cleared we can get back on the ship. We will be long gone after we clear immigration. On day 2, I am doing the Sydney Bridge climb if the weather co-operates. Terri may shop.

Our new trivia group got off to a rough start. We finished with 6. What does a famulus do? You are looking that up aren’t you?

Today was the Bowler and Bumper Shoots Gala.

The Vallies did an all new show on the Main Stage. They did a great Motown set. So much better than the Sisters of Motown did. They did a BeeGees set. Mistake. Only one of the members has the consistent falsetto necessary. Pitch was a problem here. A few Righteous Brothers numbers. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ ” lost me in several spots. Mistake. “Unchained Melody” was fabulous. A set of traditional Australian tunes that sounded like polkas told me that they were at the limit of their repertoire. An encore set of Frankie Valli tunes closed their second show. They are definitely a one show group at this point but they have only been together 2 years. Slack given.…

March 2, 2019 – Picton, New Zealand

We arrived in Picton at 7 am. Picton is on the north shore of the South Island.

Today we have a wine tour of the Marlborough. We planned this tour back in October though Viator and I received confirmation from the tour operator that they would get us back to the ship in time for our 2 pm departure time.

Our scheduled pickup time was 9:30 am. We left the ship at 8:45 am and did the 15 minute walk to the “I – Site” or tourist information site. This was our pickup point. We found our guide and I asked for reassurance that we would be back in time for a 2 pm departure. The expression on her face was one of surprise. She called her boss and came back in a few minutes. We could cancel our tour now or do the tour and be back at 3:30. We would miss our ship. It didn’t matter that I had reassurances from the tour operator in writing. This woman was just the guide and made none of the decisions. We got out of the van and decided to tour the city on our own. I had a chat with the folks at Viator and they promptly refunded our money. I doubt if they will be using that tour company again. I am very happy with Viator but not with this tour company. Viator works with numerous tour operators, prices are better than booking directly, and refunds are not an issue.

We decided to make the best of it. The town was small and the surroundings beautiful. We stopped in quite a few shops ( I assumed the waiting position out on the street). One shop we did go to was the hardware store. I purchased a French press coffee carafe. My only complaint with HAL is the coffee. It is the worst coffee I have ever tasted. It looks like Turkish coffee but taste like camel dung. There are places on the ship to purchase a better cup but I never make the trip. We also stopped in the grocery store. I guess folk from New Zealand don’t drink much coffee. Maybe 10 different brands in tiny little packages. I’m not sold on any of the “free trade, organic, or sustainable” baloney on any of the packages. I would have settled for a can of Folgers at this point. No such cans existed. I bought a few tiny little packages and we left. It reminds me of my experience the day before when we went cigar shopping. $40 for one cigar? Not going to happen.

We wandered into a park and listened to a band. Definitely a band of seniors. After a few numbers the band took a break. We were sitting on the grass in front and the pianist wondered over and we struck up a chat. I told him he needed to turn up his volume and he thanked me. Colin was probably the best musician out of the group but it was difficult to hear him. After our conversation, much better!

Blenheim is about 20 minutes away from Picton. This group rehearses once per week. The Blenheim Orphans Club performs at many senior centers throughout the region. Colin joked that members must have a heart attack or a prostectomy before they can join. They are orphans only because of their inability to join a well know organization that was formed after WWII. This organization began as a way to get men back into society after the war. The youngest member in the group is 65 and the oldest 80. They were pretty competent on their instruments but vocally were challenged.

We wondered back to the ship after 1 pm. Enough time for the all aboard at 1:30 and departure at 2 pm.…

March 1, 2019 – Wellington, New Zealand

We arrived at 8 am today and we have a Wellington Tour planned.

Richard, from Xplor tours picked us up at the port and we went to the see the sights. Wellington is a relatively small city and its growth is limited by the frequency of earthquakes. 4 stories tall is about all you see here. Population of just over 400,000.

Mount Victoria is our first stop.

Great views of Wellington from here. Looks like a great place to live!

Wellington is home to Miramar Studios. King Kong, Lord of the Rings. The Wellington sign is is a takeoff on the Hollywood sign. Richard said Wellington actually considered calling it “Wellywood”. Also known as the “Windy City” – no mention of Chicago – the sign depicts the wind blowing the last few letters.

We stopped at an ice cream shop on the way down from Mt. Victoria to pick up a New Zealand treat. Hokey Pokey ice cream. Hokey Pokey ice cream is vanilla ice cream with honeycomb bits of toffee in it. Wow! Fantastic!

Next stop was the Wellington Cable Car. Early 20th century system recently upgraded. We rode up to the top for more great views.

The largest wooden building in the Southern Hemisphere. No match for the Grand Hotel.

Old St. Pauls Church

We finished our tour and decided to get some lunch. We did pass on the Burger King. It must be an important place in Wellington!

We stopped into an Irish Pub where I could get a Guinness and an order of fish and chips!

We passed by a music shoppe and had to stop in. According to the owner, one of the few music stores left. Many unique instruments. This is a 5 string piccolo banjo.

We stopped by a few vintage clothing stores. I think I had this jacket in high school! Anyone remember the La Notte disco in Macomb County in the 70s?

We had dinner back on the ship. Evening entertainment, back from sea sickness – the Vallies. This musical group did the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. This four man group was spot on! Great repertoire and great harmonies. Polished and flawless!

…

February 28, 2019 – at Sea

This is a day we needed to recover after two days of hiking. Very cool and windy today. Another storm on the horizon.

We spent most of the day relaxing and watching ridiculous politicians.

We had dinner with Ron and Karen in the Canaletto Restaurant on the ship. There is a small up-charge for this restaurant. We have had dinner with the pair a few other times and they suggested dinner at this restaurant. We both enjoyed the the menu and the conversation.

We were looking forward to entertainment on the main stage today. The Vallies. A tribute to the Four Seasons. Unfortunately, they just boarded the ship back in Auckland and weren’t used to the sea and we were experiencing a very rough day. Hamish announced that do to “unforeseen circumstances” they would be unable to perform. He later announced that, yes, they were all seasick.

Jonathon Johnston was able to make another appearance in place of the Vallies. We missed Jonathon when he first appeared and were happy for a second chance. Jonathon was from Belfast and played the flute. Wonderful tone, repertoire , and chops! I’ll have to check to see if he is free for the DCCB rehearsals!

Tomorrow we arrive in Wellington and have a tour scheduled.…

February 27, 2019 – Tauranga, New Zealand

Another calm day. Clear skies and 70. We arrived in Tauranga at 9 am and were able to leave the ship about 9:30 am. Today we planned another hike. Mount Maunganui was within walking distance of the ship. We planned to hike in the morning, go back to the ship for lunch and then Uber out to the city center.

The hike afforded beautiful views of the sea.

A steep trail but we were surprised to see so many college aged people running up and down this trail. The trail is not wide and if you are bumped there is nothing keeping you from falling down the side. At some points, the fall would be very far.

At the top we could see over the other side.

We decided to come down a different route that led to the other side and out onto Maunganui Beach. The way down had lots of stairs and took a bit more time.

After our trip down we went for another hike that took us to leisure island. More great views.

As lunch time approached we went back to the ship. I had booked dinner in Tauranga earlier in the day. We had lunch and then took an Uber out to Tauranga. We walked around town and stopped into a cellphone repair shop to have a new battery put into Terri’s phone. We then stopped at a nice bar for a drink and then went for another walk over to the Harbourside Restaurant.

A nice change from the ship. Great location and great food.

…

February 26, 2019 – Auckland, New Zealand

Very calm waters as we cruise into port today. Back to civilization! Our port has a building next to it that houses areas for cruise lines to check in passengers. Entry and exit today is a few steps from our room.

There is a bit of confusion on what time we have to be back on board. I ran into Hamish, our cruise director, and asked about it. Originally we were told 6pm, the online navigator says 5:30, the printed program says 4:15. Hamish said there is a required emergency drill at 4:15 but the ship does not leave until 5:30. “If you miss the drill, you be sent a letter reminding you of requirements of being a passenger…..”. ( I know Sandi is immediately thinking of staff meetings and PD.) Hamish assured me that we could still get on the ship after 4:15 but before 5:30. We will miss the drill.

Plans today include hiking around Rangitoto Island and a visit to the sky tower. We left the ship after breakfast and walked over to the ferry. Almost right next to the ship! First ferry left at 9:15 so we had some time to kill. No food or water could be brought off the ship and Rangitoto has no food or water. Supermarket is our first stop.

The streets of Auckland are alive with folks going to work or visiting. New Zealand has the largest population of Polynesians in the world. That is evident but they are not at all like the Polynesians we saw on the many islands in the South Pacific that we visited. I expected short and wide. Not so!

The city reminded me of San Francisco. Port side city, young people everywhere, bustling economy, high end shops everywhere. A few homeless but not the many tent cities as San Francisco. The NW Metro supermarket was blocks away. We purchased what we needed and went back to the port. The city tempted us to hang around and visit but it could have been Chicago, New York or Seattle. We were here to see the unusual. Hiking up a volcano was the main event.

The ferry pulled out right on schedule. A private girls school was on board with us. They appeared to be middle school aged with all of the laughing and giggling. Still summer vacation here. We chatted it up with some women our age that were visiting from the states. West coast folks. They were very interested in the cruise we were on. HAL had no excursions to Rangitoto. This hike was beyond what most passengers on this cruise could handle.

The entire trip may have been 45 minutes, including loading time, a quick stop to another port, and then across the bay. Felt a lot like Sheplers to Mackinac Island.

Rangitoto is a volcanic island with strict environmental protections. There is to be nothing left on the island. There are no trash containers and there is no food or water. There are many traps around the island to control rodents. We did see a few birds but no other creatures.

We got off the ferry and went right to the trail. Strictly business. Many photo ops along the way. We did take a diversion to the lava caves. Big disappointment. Not worthy of even a photo.

The view from the top was magnificent. One could see the many volcanic islands and the magnificent city of Auckland. We took many photos and decided to head down a different way. Our goal was the 2:30 ferry. Miss it and there was one at 3:30. Miss that and we are on the island all night.

The path down turned into a road used by a tractor pulled trolley. The entire path was crushed volcanic rock. It was quite steep. Terri took a tumble and scraped up her hands a bit. We took it slow and came to the bottom of this road and were back on a trail. The ferry was about 3.5 miles from here. Nice views of the water and very interesting hike.

We stopped for lunch on a bench and relaxed before heading over to the ferry.

Our next stop was the sky tower in the center of Auckland. We felt quite invigorated after the 8 mile hike but not enough to bungee jump off of this tower.

The view from floor 60 allowed views of the entire city. Afterwards we stopped for a drink near the ship and heard the alarm for the mandatory drill at 4:15. Darn.

Back on the ship for the Auckland send off party.

Big day and we packed it in early. Another big day tomorrow.…

February 25, 2019 – at Sea

Today our trivia team partners played their last game with us. Tomorrow they get off the ship when arrive in Auckland.

To my left, Skip, Gail, Joan, Jerry, and Terri. We are going to miss them and we wish them the best of luck.

It was cool and windy this morning. We did sit out on the deck but hat long pants and sweatshirts on. We watched as the ship headed toward an obvious storm. When it reached us we experienced the roughest seas we have experienced so far. The Captain said winds were up to 70 mph and swells up to 14 ft.

We had dinner in the main dining room and saw some dishes fall from tables as the ship roll and pitched. It is rougher back in the dining room then anywhere else. The seas were full of white caps and were slamming into the ship. The Captain said that by 1 am we would be in a more sheltered area near New Zealand and the pitch and roll would subside. After being at sea for over a month it really doesn’t bother many folks.

After dinner we played a few games of backgammon and called it a night.

Tomorrow we have a hike planned on Rangitoto Island in Auckland, New Zealand. …

February 24, 2019 – at Sea

We have reached the end of the world! We are heading to New Zealand on the other side of the map.

We decided to go to the Main Stage and listen to Ian talk about Australia and Singapore. Sometimes you pick up interesting facts and sometimes you want a life refund coupon. This time it was the latter.

Maybe a record day on team trivia. We scored a 12 out of 15. We were all quite proud and vowed to make our final game tomorrow, with team Michiganders, our best.

Absolutely beautiful day. The entire roof was open on the Lido deck and we had lunch there. 80s and low humidity. We spent the afternoon on the deck and enjoyed reading and the weather.

We had dinner with two other couples. Another black tie gala night. This time for the Oscars.

The entertainment was an encore of the Motown Act. Bill had dinner with the girls yesterday and confirmed what I could hear in their music. They have never been to Motown nor have they heard a live Motown performance by any of the original Motown acts. You-tube can only provide so much. We decided against seeing the encore act and played a few games of backgammon.…

February 23, 2019 – Nuku’ Alofa, Tonga

We decided that today we would do exercising before breakfast. I hit the treadmill just before 6 am and Terri did power walking on the lower promenade. Breakfast followed and we packed for out trip out. Terri packed some water and I took cash and credit card.

We watched from our room as the HAL staff prepared the port area. We were still awaiting customs clearance. I could see on the pier that a band was preparing to perform. This was a Police Community Brass Band.

What a great way to welcome tourists to the island. This is the Kingdom of Tonga!

Clearance was granted. We checked out the band. Very good! This band gets around. Their book is about 2 inches thick!

We then walked by the many tables of wares set up along the pier. Ian said there would be bicycle rentals on the pier. We saw none and decided to walk to the market. Interesting place full of all kinds of fruit and vegetables and lots of wood carvings, jewelry and other products. Terri managed a picture of the “production line” at the market.

It doesn’t appear so in the pictures but the people of Tonga are very happy and very friendly. We ran into Bill at the market. He invited us to join him and 4 others on a tour of the island by private car. We knew that was not much to see but we decided we would join him. We met back at the pier and loaded up in a mini van. Tight for 6 people and driver. We had a map and decided to hit every highlight that we could before getting back to the pier before 4:30. Some roads were paved and very smooth. Others were only one lane with tall grass on both sides. The three headed coconut tree was the first stop.

Underwhelmed we went to the next stop. Our driver wasn’t much for narration. Bill peppered him with questions constantly to get information from him. We learned he grew up in Tonga, has 10 children and 3 homes on the island. He does woodcarvings and exports them to Hawaii and other places. We looked at some of his work on the pier. It is outstanding.

Next stop was a beach. Great photo op.

Tsunami Rock. Storm moved this rock inland about 2000 years ago.

Next stop was a photo op at the blowholes.

We finished at about 3 pm and Caleb, our driver, dropped us off back at the pier. We sat on the lower promenade as the ship pulled out and a group of women danced to Polynesian music and waved goodbye.…

February 22, 2019 – at Sea

We are 18 hrs ahead of Detroit and we will gradually cross 18 more time zones before we get back home.

After our morning routine we went to the Main Stage to watch Ian give a presentation on Tonga. We still don’t have anything planned and my research suggests that there isn’t that much of interest to see. There is another market we plan to check out and we may rent bicycles to tour the island. This is not a tender port and that makes life a lot easier.

We did group trivia and are sad to learn that the rest of team gets off the ship in Auckland. They are seasoned travelers and are doing only a portion of the cruise. Skip and Gail and Jerry and Joanne will be leaving Tuesday. That leaves some spots we will be interviewing for.

One of our cabin stewards, Yan, is also leaving. I believe he works 9 months a year on the ship. The old days of leaving a tip for these employees has been replaced. HAL now adds a gratuity onto your bill. How handy! We have learned that people from some parts of the world refuse to pay this and to compensate for this, HAL now charges them more up front. HAL does not put a price online for its cruises. You must give them your information first and they will email you a quote.

We had dinner with Jean and Jim again in the main dining room. They have lots of great stories. I think they are the only farmers I have ever met and had a conversation with. I didn’t get that chance growing up in Detroit when the population was 2 million. Not many farmers crossed my path.

The show “Atlantic Crossing” was the evening entertainment. This featured the Amsterdam’s singers and dancers and they did a show featuring pop history from the UK. Beatles to Cold Play. They presented a very polished production once again. There are 10 in the group. 2 male and 2 female lead singers. 3 female and 3 male backup singers. They all dance well and the production appears flawless.…

February 21, 2019 – at Sea

We lost a day crossing the international dateline and turn the clock back another hour tonight.

Another nice warm day cruising on the Pacific. Breakfast, gym, trivia, lunch put us back in our lounge chairs for the afternoon.

Tonight we had dinner in the Pinnacle Grill and were guests of Captain Mercer. We didn’t do anything heroic like point out an iceberg. Everyone on the ship eventually gets this invitation. The Pinnacle Grill serves better food and has a nicer atmosphere. There is an upcharge for having dinner here at any other time.

Each table was hosted by a crew member. Ed was at our table. Ed is the Environmental Compliance Officer. He is in charge of all what is discharged into the ocean and into the air from the ship. Different areas of the world have different laws and he needs to communicate that to the engine room and the Captain. I know that at sea we burn diesel fuel with at least a 30 percent sulfur content. This is taken care of with scrubbers. 10 percent is is burned closer to shore in most countries. New Zealand doesn’t allow any sulfur and a different fuel is carried on board.

Three other guest joined us at out table. Ava, Mary Lee and Beth. Ava was a college professor. She was pretty soft spoken and it was very difficult for me to hear her. I do know that she is from Colorado and her son wanted to be a band director but now teaches 4th grade. Mary Lee did teach at one time but is currently working with her son who owns a towing company. She is from Seattle. Her sister, Beth, is also from Seattle and did spend 30 some years living in Alaska. She started teaching and then worked with autistic children. Her career was all in some form of education.

Ed is from England has been working on ships since he was a teen.

We talked about the Brexit quite a bit. It was nice learning about this from someone who is actually experiencing it. He did talk about the immigrants coming to England for a handout. They then send it home and put the other hand out.

He kept climbing up the ladder until his present position. He had some great stories to tell about some of the people he has met.

Tomorrow we are in Tonga. This country sees the sun rise before anyone else in the world.

…

February 19, 2019 – at Sea

Tomorrow we cross the international dateline. We will go to bed tonight and wake up Thursday morning. February 20 does not exist on this cruise. I will be following what the ship does so the dates may seem odd but the number of the day will continue.

Bora Bora was a blast and our timing was for the day worked perfectly. The sun is very intense here and we both show signs of it the day after.

When we showed up for group trivia we found another couple in our seats. Two things we learned on this cruise. Game seating and bus seating are sacred. Once you sit in a seat it is your for the tour or the cruise in this case. Obviously this group was new. Nasty looks didn’t seem to work. We did find a stray table and Terri and Becky sat while Skip, Jerry and I stood. A good effort on our part. The only other element to be liquid at room temperature besides mercury? If you said bromine you were correct. We were not.

The evening entertainment was a trio called the Soul Sisters of Motown. Before I do my usual critique, there was a woman in front of us that spoiled the event a bit for us and did cause some friends of ours to leave. She was alone, sat right in front of me, and was quite obnoxious. She tried to imitate everything the women on stage were doing. If she could only keep a beat it wouldn’t have been as bad. Obviously her meds were back in her room.

The sisters looked the part and did some great choreography. Some of the harmonies and even lead parts were off for just a bit. It was very obvious that a lot of time was spent on costuming, and choreography. Motown musicians were great musicians. Great vocalists and instrumentalists. Here is where the show lacked. I would have preferred a canned recording of a real Motown backup band. There is nothing like the sound of a bari sax or trumpet. The synthesizer that the stage band used just didn’t do it. They also played very carefully. This is how musicians play when they have little rehearsal time. The Motown sound was not there. If they did that, their sound would have improved tremendously, even with the occasional vocal flaws. They probably would have sang with more energy with a better band sound.

Tomorrow we are at the Captains dinner in the Pinnacle Grill.…

February 18, 2019 – Bora Bora, French Polynesia

One of the tours HAL offered on Tahiti was an over night stay at the Hilton on Moorea. Passengers who opted for this excursion would tour Tahiti and then taken to Moorea on a small craft to spend the night in the Garden Bungalow. The cost was outrageous but we did talk about doing it on our own. If we had done this, we would have had to Fly to Bora Bora on our own. The ship did not stop on Moorea because of weather. HAL did fly passengers who booked the tour through them to Bora Bora and a tender was send out to get them. This is the kind of chance you take when doing things on your own. We were lucky we had nothing booked.

Many of the islands in French Polynesia have a reef around it. There is a place in the reef where ships can get through. A pilot came aboard in Tahiti to navigate through this reef. The Captain had to retract the stabilizers to get through the reef because it was narrow. He warned us of the ship rolling but we did not notice any difference. Inside the reef the water was relatively shallow, very clear, and very calm. Today we planned to pick up our rental car, do some snorkeling, see the sites and do some hiking.

Tenders started operating at 6am and it was open tendering until 7:30am. This meant we did not have to stand in line and pick up a tender ticket. We had breakfast, grabbed our gear and headed down to deck A. Loading was fast and efficient and we were off. Avis opened at 8am and we would be early but didn’t mind. It was already very hot and humid when we pulled up to the port. Avis was very close to the port as expected.

I began planning these excursions in June of 2018 and I often forget details. We rented a Renault Twizzy. A tiny electric car. It held two. The passenger sat behind the driver. Since I did the booking, I was the driver. There was not a lot of room in the rear seat but Terri took it in stride. The detail I forgot? No trunk, no roof rack, no place to store things. I would been happy with a milk crate bolted to the back. Luckily, Terri was able to put some of our gear between her legs and the remainder was piled to my left and right. No AC but there were no windows on the sides so there was plenty of airflow. After figuring out how everything worked we were off.

Our first stop was Matira Beach. Almost a mile in length of white sand. The water was 86 F. Getting in was effortless. The reef was at least a mile or more out. We knew that the best viewing was there and the water was only waist deep all of the way out. After 30 minutes of snorkeling about 1000 yds from shore, we decided not to go to the reef. Lots of jet skis, and tour craft out; and it would be difficult to see us with our heads in the water. There was some coral near us which brought in plenty of fish to view and this was not our only snorkeling stop on the World Voyage.

We spent a few hours in the water, packed up and headed out to see more of the island. We had a local map but the instructions were written with locals in mind. “Make a left at the farm and take the asphalt road up”. I don’t remember how many times we went back and forth to find something. A hiking trail is what we wanted. After at least an hour we managed to located it. Closed, said the sign. Getting around the fence would be difficult so we moved on.

We saw the famous “Bloody Mary’s” restaurant and decided a Bloody Mary is what we needed. We shared a burger some fries and each enjoyed one of the famous Bloody Mary’s. Very unique flavor. Just enough kick! I will be searching for this recipe.

Back in the Twizzy we were off to another hike. More back and forth but managed to find it. No signs to guide us. Just a gut instinct and my map app to guide us. The road kept going up and up. About three quarters of the way up the Twizzy said “no more” and would not move an inch further up. Not enough torque in this little thing. We parked and got out to begin the hike. We saw a sign that said “private”. That sign usually means we are close to a trail. We did meet up with another hiker who said he was lost. Not lost in the sense of not being able to get back to town. It’s up or down, one road around the island. He said he had lost the trail. He was looking at his phone and I pulled out mine. He had the official French map of the island. I pulled out maps.me and was able to see the trail with an icon that used GPS. The trail was heavily overgrown. We got him to the trail, took a few photos and went back to the car. I didn’t have my Popeil Pocket Machete with me and we decided to turn back.

We were able to drive around the entire island. Much smaller than I imagined. Maybe 25 mins around. The Twizzy would not go past 47kph.

We finished the afternoon shopping for pearls. Jewelry store first. Terri found a bracelet she liked but it really didn’t do much for her when she put it on. There was a necklace that she liked. $747.00 was a bit more than she wanted to spend. I didn’t like it so my wallet never opened. We browsed for a bit then left. Fine jewelry store to homemade table on the street side selling pearls. The pearls looked identical. The price $10; but did not include a “Letter of Authenticity”. We hit the jackpot …

February 17, 2019 – Moorea, French Polynesia

a plugin issue prevented Tahiti images from loading on day 26. Issue resolved

We arrived left Tahiti about an hour late because of weather and arrived at Moorea and found the same. Captain says 50 mph wind gusts and rain. They cancelled tendering on shore and we were unable to make a stop here. We learned this after spending 90 minutes in line for a tender ticket on the Lido deck.

The ship left Moorea for Bora Bora at 9 am in the roughest waters yet on the trip. We hit the gym after the announcement was made and I had the most exciting time on the treadmill yet. Nearly fell off a few times as the ship was navigating through huge swells.

All excursions booked through HAL were promptly refunded. Anyone booking third party tours lost out. We had nothing booked and planned to wing it once we arrived.

The ship staff quickly re-planned the entire schedule on the ship. Port days have few activities and sea days have many. We sat outside and watched the huge swells and whitecaps. This is what I imagined the Pacific would be like when we left a nearly a month ago.

Dinner was a tropical paradise theme.

The evening entertainment was Kieran Powell. Puppeteer and ventriloquist. Absolutely hysterical show.

He pulled a male “volunteer” out of the audience and had him stand there as he held a microphone and a big pair of lips that he could control in front of his face. He then “spoke” to the audience for the volunteer.

He did his own version of the “Dating Game” with one of his “male” puppets and three woman he pulled from the audience. One was the former personal assistant to the former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (Justin’s Father). It was hilarious as the puppet asked the women questions.

I would guess because of his age that he has youtube video clips. Great show. It be worth it to look.

…

February 16, 2019 – Papeete, Tahiti. French Polynesia

We arrived at the dock about 8:30. No tendering today and we got the all clear from the Captain at 9:30. This morning we planned to do a 10 stop walking tour of Papeete, come back to the ship for lunch and then take a guided tour of the island of Tahiti.

The highlight of the morning tour was the municipal market in the center of town. Here one could purchase fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, and all kinds of other goods in “flea market” fashion. We did stop at a fine arts store where we again found something we couldn’t do without.

We finished our tour and went back to the ship for lunch at 11:30. At 1 pm we were back for our afternoon tour. Tahiti is two islands that are connected. Each of the islands has a paved road that circles it. We were to do the eastern island. This is a tour that we booked online using Viator. It costs almost half of what HAL offers for the same tour. The down side of a third party tour is the lack of a guarantee that the ship will not leave if the tour runs late and there is no cancellation if the Captain cancels the stop because of rough weather. This island has a port for us to dock so there is no tendering issue. We do not have to be back on the ship until 4 am. The risk is low.

We did 5 stops on the tour. This one had a perfect place for a selfy.

One of the stops was a garden that had many trails. It was a 25 min stop so we chose the trail that went up. After 15 mins of switchbacks we grabbed a photo and started back down.

Next stop at a waterfall.

Lots of great scenery throughout the tour. We were really were fortunate that the rain held off until the afternoon.

Unfortunately there is not enough satellite bandwidth to upload video.…

February 15, 2019 – at Sea

We are close to French Polynesia and still are up in the air about what to do on Moorea on Sunday. Saturday we are in Papeete and have a tour planned. The tour is at 1:30 pm. We plan on checking out the city early, coming back to the ship for lunch and returning for the tour. Sunday was to be a day of hiking but the forecast is for thunderstorms and we may reconsider. We rented a car in Bora Bora and plan to tour on our own and stop to snorkel.

The Pacific Ocean seems to be a bit bigger than Lake Erie. We are excited for the next few days exploring Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora.

Decent job on group trivia. We did miss the national animal of Cuba. Castro wasn’t the answer. The group next to us scored a 3. We finished with a 10.

We spent the afternoon on the Lido near the pool. Rain spoiled our outdoor reading spot. It was a nice change. The water in the pool moves with the ship. Constant waves crashing into the sides.

We had dinner in the main dining room. Made it to the 2nd floor with those that have permanent seating. Nice change here also.

The Main Stage entertainment was BBC World II. Outstanding filming with live music. Very well done and very entertaining.

Next few days will be busy. Time zone is now 5 hours earlier than Detroit. …

February 14, 2019 – at Sea

After 24 days at sea we have developed a whole new lifestyle. All of our bills are paid automatically, no need to open mail or email. All meals are prepared by a great chef. Laundry is done on a daily basis and delivered folded or on hangars as you request. Our focus on sea days is going to the gym, reading on the deck, group trivia, lunch, reading on the deck, dinner, entertainment then bed. Going to take some time to re-adjust after the 114 days is up.

We have met quite a few folks that we enjoy talking to. Believe it or not we met a couple originally from Dearborn when we were in one of the museums in Lima. He went to the old Dearborn High and she graduated from the first Edsel Ford High School class.

For our own entertainment and a way to remember folks that we talk to each other about, we have assigned names to them. Jimmy Cash looks like he could have been Johnny’s brother. Slicked back white hair, jeans and large buckle on his belt. Loves to dance but moves pretty slow. Jack Lalane is in the gym as much as we are. Always instructing the women on how to correctly do an exercise. Terri loves that. There is a woman who has a hair style reminiscent of Lindsay’s late dog Clement. You guessed it. There is a Bernie Sanders look alike also. He is constantly looking for other peoples money. We had dinner with a Jim and Jean last night and we learned that they do the same thing. Jim asked me if I knew “2 step”. I laughed and said “Who is that?”. I learned that 2 step is always 2 steps behind his wife. Every once in a while she will look back to make sure he is there. We also learned about “Joe”. The real Joe is someone who went on this cruise some years after seeing an ad. He signed up and didn’t notify his family. They had no idea he took a cruise. His memory was a little faulty and he got lost on every excursion. The crew was constantly looking for “Joe”. Joe is now used for anyone with a failing memory. There are many “Joes” aboard.

4 hour time difference is making communication a bit more difficult.

…