What is it about Papeete and rain and us? We seem to get out fair share of it here, at least in the morning, evening and overnight. And sometimes mid-afternoon, too. ;-)
I was awakened at 4am this morning by a change in the sounds the ship was making. Thinking we were coming into Papeete, I peeked out our porthole, but saw no lights yet. The next thing I knew it was 7:15am and we were docked in rainy Papeete. I had planned to try to get to Mass at Cathédrale Notre-Dame de l'Immaculée-Conception for (fittingly) the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (that's a Holy Day of Obligation for those not Catholic, which means Mass is a must or, if you're in a Catholic elementary school, it means no art class today, and lunch at either 10:42am or just before you catch the bus for home. Offer up your suffering for those poor souls in Purgatory.), but wasn't even certain of the time it was offered and had no umbrella to walk over to the cathedral to investigate. I also had an important task to complete before our internet minutes from the cruise that was ending today expired.
I have been sending increasingly urgent emails to Princess Customer Relations about our EZ Air flights home on December 18th that will now go unused, as we have extended our stay in French Polynesia. Emails with subjects like "2nd Request", "3rd Request" and "URGENT". Even Catherine, the ship's Future Cruise Consultant, phoned Princess on our behalf, to no avail. Well, it's now just ten days away, so I used 40 minutes of Internet time to phone Princess and got a very helpful agent who talked to the Princess Air Department who told me to ask the ship's Passenger Relations Department (like a hotel front desk) to assist. I'll keep you posted. We just think that someone should know in advance that we won't be on that flight in ten days.
I was also able to place a quick call to Mom (quick, because her schedule today would make a 20-year old tired). It is always a highlight our of cruises to be able to talk with her!!
By that time, G was back in the cabin, confirming that it was, in fact, pouring outside, and that the dining room breakfast was backed up, as it often is after 8am on disembarkation day. In the interest of time, we chose to go to the buffet, where we sat at the only dry seats on the terrace and watched the rain.
Not too paradise-y, is it?
It was not the best day for sightseeing, but that's okay. We just needed a break in the rain to be able to get our electronics safely over to Chaplins Café, across from the ferry terminal to use the "fastest wifi in all of French Polynesia" (our term). We finally had our chance about 11am, and walked the five minutes or so to Chaplins. OMG, unmetered, reasonably fast (relatively lightning fast) wifi. I swear I could feel my blood pressure drop as soon as I sat down there. I ordered Perrier, G ordered juice and we settled in for awhile. The first thing I wanted to do was upload those videos in my last post, and Chaplins is the only place we've found in all of French Polynesia with wifi fast enough to allow that. I then started updating apps on my iPad (I had updated them on my iPhone a couple of cruises ago), and downloading a new audiobook from the library using the Overdrive app (something else the ship's wifi is waaayyy too slow to accomplish). Finally, about 12:30pm, G decided those embarkation day lunch menu beef tenderloins and orange soufflé were calling his name, so we wrapped up things (temporarily) on wifi and walked back to the ship.
After lunch in the Club Restaurant, we returned to the cabin to sort through the abundance of paperwork we always receive on the first day of every cruise. I also stopped by the Passenger Services Desk to let them know that, for the first time in 51 days I had an issue I needed their help with and asked when their embarkation day crunch might die down. They said it hadn't hit yet, so I was able to fill them in on the flight situation and they're working on it. Fingers crossed...it's one of the last issues remaining from our big change in travel plans, with the exception of will we or won't we get on the December 28th cruise. And even that is no longer an issue; G said ten times today that he would love to spend that time in Papeete.
The weather never really improved, and with nothing else to do we walked back over to Chaplins until I needed to walk to Notre Dame Cathedral.
By 5:45pm I had managed to update the operating system on my iPhone and was returning electronics to my backpack to walk to church. My agreement with G was that he would pick me up after Mass at 7pm, as it would be dark by then. Unfortunately, the rain picked up right then, becoming a bit more than the mist that had fallen nearly all afternoon, but at least it was still light out. The rain slowed my walk a bit, trying to avoid puddles, and I was afraid I'd be late for Mass. But I saw the now-familiar group standing outside the cathedral as I approached and thought I was fine. Then I saw the church empty out and everyone come to stand outside too. Hmmm...
It turned out that there was a special...something before Mass because it's a special feast day for them. We all stood out front for 20 minutes in the rain while prayers were said and songs were sung. While I might know the cadence of a Mass, this was entirely new territory. Father Jesus was there, and lots of incense, even before we entered the church together. The humidity was at least 127% (as it had been all day), and the church was as hot as it had been on my prior visit. I took note that nearly everyone had a fan- beautiful ones of all designs, some decorated with real flowers- but I made do with the church bulletin. A/C is a rarity down here.
G came to get me before Mass was ended, but I had made the effort by that time and didn't keep him waiting. With all the French and Latin and Tahitian readings and songs, they were going to be there until nearly 8pm. We needed to get back to the ship before it got any darker and wetter outside. We chose to skip the dining room and instead had dinner sitting on the covered Terrace Deck. It was as comfortable a day as could be, one that felt cozy because of the rain and comfortingly familiar even in unfamiliar territory. It was nice today to pay for our drinks at Chaplins without having to examine each coin closely to determine its value. And I definitely understood a bit more of the French at Mass. It only took 51 days; but I think we're finally settling in.
Life is good. :-)
