Day 43: Not Kauai!

Oy vey, what a day this was!! We didn’t seriously believe we’d be spending the day on Kauai, but I also didn’t expect this to be the roughest day we had so far. And yet, there we were. 

We were up early and knew immediately that it was too rough to get into the port of Nawiliwili. We had heard the pool sloshing all night long, and needed to hold on just to walk around our mid ship cabin. G left to get coffee and see what it looked like outside but I was still in the cabin at 7:35am when an announcement was made, “Man overboard, port side”. In all our days of cruising, I’ve never heard that one before, without including the word DRILL along with it. But just a few minutes later, Captain McBain announced that, after multiple attempts to board the harbor pilot, he had fallen into the water (an extremely dangerous situation; in fact, a harbor pilot was killed here in Kauai  attempting to disembark the Island Princess almost exactly 20 years ago) but also that he had already been retrieved by the pilot boat and was uninjured. Huge relief.

There is still some confusion in my mind about why the pilot was trying to board in the first place since we knew we weren’t going to be porting in Nawiliwili today, but Captain McBain said something about him being our pilot for tomorrow in Kahului, Maui also and they were trying to board him early. I don’t know…these things are way above my pay grade. 

I grabbed my walking stick to meet up with G in the very back of the World Fresh Marketplace. There are some comfy chairs back there against the glass that kind of encircle you when you’re sitting in them, and they felt safest this morning. They were also very comfortable, a good thing since we spent all morning sitting in them. CD Nathan made an announcement telling us a new Patter would be distributed, and in the meantime I could see new events popping up on Journey on my phone, but nothing was calling to me until after lunch, which was good, because getting around remained tough. 

Eventually, we decided that the most productive thing we could do was start to make progress on our minibar. The items, especially the small bottles of alcohol, have been growing in number since we first boarded. I don’t generally drink, and G doesn’t drink a lot, but there wasn’t much rlse we wanted 

 to do this morning. He returned to the cabin to get some bottles of gin and we bought some cans of tonic water with limes from the Outrigger Bar and got to it. By 10:30am, things were feeling quite good. 

Note: the following paragraph is for all this readers who advise me to just tell stories if I run out of cruise things to talk about, so look away now if you’re just here to read about cruise activities and ports. 

Our conversation wandered, as it tends to do when we start drinking before noon, and we were eventually discussing old station wagons and their value today, which prompted me to text my brothers. I knew Dad bought a new 1967 Ford Fairlane in candy apple red because my older brother (5 years my senior) and I got to choose the color. I also knew there was a station wagon before that one (part of our family lore involves me sitting in the back, taking off my dress and tossing it out the back window, requiring Dad to back up while hauling a pop up trailer to retrieve it), but I remembered nothing else about it. Of course my brothers were well familiar with the deets, even the younger one (7 years younger than me) and they knew that it was a ‘64 Ford Fairlane with an 289 cubic inch V8 engine with a 3-on-the-tree transmission and nonsynchronized first gear and that there was a ‘58 Ford station wagon before that one. If you are a girl who didn’t have brothers, I’m sorry you’ve missed out on these sorts of conversations but they go a long way in explaining why I’ve always been a tomboy. Also, I can’t help but think that if Dad hadn’t needed those station wagons to do things like, oh, go to work and take us on camping, and had just bought and garaged all of them, I’d be able to cruise full time right now. 

G had mentioned that it was much more stable in our mid ship cabin, but I didn’t want to stay inside there and have to lay on the bed all morning, and the ship felt packed with people, with the weather forcing everyone inside, so we just stayed where we were, in our comfy chairs with views in all directions, grazing in the buffet when we got hungry. 

This was our SIXTH sea day in a row, but, really, if you don’t count turnaround day, it was my seventh in a row. If we’re getting tired of it, I’m can only imagine how sick the crew is of all of us. It’s like a mom with young kids…they’re always underfoot, they’re always demanding something (I need LIMES for my G&T) and the house is a mess. They sure are a patient bunch. 

It started to clear up and dry out a little after noon, and, though the seas remained rough,  it gave me hope for a better weather day tomorrow on Maui. This cruise has also given us a lot to think about with regard to what we want to be doing next year at this time. I think perhaps that our stellar weather last cruise may have given us a more optimistic perception about what we might expect on a Hawaii cruise in January and February, and that this cruise is painting a more realistic picture. On the other hand, this storm hitting Hawaii is newsworthy in its intensity. 

The afternoon offered several events I was interested in. I started with ukulele class at 1pm in Club Fusion. Brian gave us songbooks he had printed and we basically just played songs together for the whole class. It was so much fun to see how much progress we’ve made. 

All this fun I’ve been having is on a inexpensive kids’ ukulele using handwritten chord sheets

These were just returned from the print shop and are an excellent compilation of beginner songs

I next went to the Explorers Lounge for Fred Cink’s lecture on the sun (fascinating), and afterwards had a few-minute rest in the cabin to recharge me and y iPhones before dressing for the evening. We both went to Club Fusion for naturalist Daniel Gohstand’s talk on the history of early Polynesian canoes and the development of the surf board and then the cultural importance of Hawaiian drumming. 

Huge shout out to CD Nathan and the activities team for pulling all this together in very short notice today (though they probably also had an idea that Kauai would be cancelled). 

Captain McBain offered another update on the harbor pilot while we were at dinner, assuring us that he was doing well. He also gave us the weather forecast for tomorrow in Kahului, Maui, which has had lots of flooding and power outages in the past few days. Oh my. We are among the fortunate very few on board who have been to all these islands many times before, but most people have not, and, even if we can get into port tomorrow, the weather looks fairly abysmal. 

The ménage à trois

Because some days just demand dessert

As soon as we missed our port today, I wondered about our Princess Theater entertainment for this evening. We were supposed to get a four person vocal ensemble on board today, and that obviously didn’t happen. Luckily, CD Nathan still had Erik Bryan, the Magic Maker in Magic to Do on board, and he performed his Let Me Be Frank show again tonight. I’ve probably seen this show enough already this season, but it is a good one, and was something to do tonight while we were waiting for the 70s Disco party in Club Fusion. 

Here’s hoping we get into Kahului port tomorrow and don’t have an all day rain!

The original Patter

The revised Patter cover

The revised activities schedule

Day 42: At Sea

I was slow to start my day today, mostly because I had nothing on the schedule this morning. I could also see (on the ship’s webcam) white caps on the water and rain on the camera and heard the water sloshing in the pool next door. It was obviously another bouncy day. I instead paid a few bills and mindlessly scrolled the internet (I am heartsick at Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance) and set up appointments for after we return home. It’s hard to believe we can now say that we’ll be home next week. 

Sigh. I have enjoyed these cruises so much. 

I decided to get cleaned up for the evening before I even went to lunch, and met up with G in the Botticelli Dining Room. Actually, I first saw him in the elevator lobby outside the Botticelli Dining Room. The elevator door opened to a lobby full of people waiting to get in and I heard G’s voice and people laughing and, good grief, there is nothing that man likes more than an appreciative audience. I rolled my eyes and didn’t interrupt his act. 🙄

It was Cobb Salad with chicken for lunch again today

For once in my life I had come prepared, and went right from lunch to Club Fusion with all my chord notes and music for today’s ukulele lesson. When it comes to the simple chords, we are getting quite good and thrilled ourselves by playing several songs today.

I went to the Touch of Polynesia Showtime in the Piazza, which featured Hawaiian Ambassadors Brian and Rowena and the guests who have been learning hula, accompanied by Hawaiian drums and music. It was packed, and I didn’t have the best view but I enjoyed the music from where I sat in Vines. 

I was sorry to miss Fred Cink’s lecture at 4:30pm today, but it conflicted with dinner and we have no wiggle room with dinner because the Princess Theater shows start at 7pm instead of 7:30pm. That’s why we generally return to the Michelangelo Dining Room if we choose to have dessert and coffee because there is never time to linger after we finish our entree. 

Tonight’s show was Magic To Do, which we saw yet again. It’s fun now that we’ve gotten to know some of the cast members. And after that we called it day, despite the fact that we are moving clocks back an hour tonight. I think I’m tired from simply navigating the ship on yet another bouncy day. 

The weather forecast for tomorrow on Kauai is not good. In fact, schools and government offices and many businesses on Oahu were closed today due to rain, wind and flooding. Nawiliwili’s chicane entrance could easily prevent us from getting into the port tomorrow, but, even if we do, I don’t think our planned beach day is going to work out. That’s cruising life. 

Day 41: Super Bowl At Sea

5:57am.

That’s when I heard the cabin door click. I pulled off my sleep mask to be greeted by a room full of light and G asking me to spell him in 15 or 30 minutes so he could get a cup of coffee. 

5:57am!

And we weren’t even the first people claiming seats at the MUTS pool. 

!!!

Super Bowl spectatorship on MUTS is not for the faint of heart. But it can be oh-so-much fun, kind of like when you’re camping as a kid and your dad wakes you up before dawn to climb the nearest fire tower using flashlights just to watch the sunrise. 

Unfortunately, today was not one off those oh-so-much fun experiences. Today was NOT the best day ever. 

But I didn’t know that yet at 6am. I also didn’t know what the day’s temps would be, but it didn’t matter; our cabin is literally right under the Calypso Pool area so we’d be close for clothing changes. More accurately, our cabin is literally next to the Calypso Pool, along side the pool walls. The swells had returned overnight, and, because the pools had been filled during yesterday’s reprieve, we heard heavy sloshing all night long. It was exactly like sleeping on a beach, and wasn’t at all unpleasant…except for the eleventy-seven times I had to get up to use the bathroom during the night. The suggestive sound of moving water!

So, anyway, I dressed in slacks (those same pants must have gotten a little stretched yesterday, because they felt great today) and a long sleeve T-shirt and stuffed my new sweatshirt into my backpack, along with AirPods, sunscreen, 15 Wet Ones packets and our battery backup and did actually manage to spell G in under 30 minutes. He made a coffee run and thus began our day. 

Loungers were never set up (they take up too much space) but G had settled in at a table with chairs. Another table was already occupied and the Lido dining crew was busy setting up an extra charge area on Deck 16 that we didn’t even know about until today. Apparently, this was being sold on embarkation day, but as we didn’t go through normal embarkation,  we had missed it entirely. It cost between $395-$495 for a table for four and included a table cloth and food service delivered to your table. I don’t think it included drinks, though (special Super Bowl drinks were priced at $18). 

Setting up the conspicuous Super Bowl viewing experience

We were plenty happy in the cheap seats. Even though the sun (supposedly) rose, it started feeling even chillier, and I put on my sweatshirt and then pulled up the hood and added a pool towel around my shoulders…and fell back asleep sitting up in a chair. 

 The sexy reality of Super Bowl spectatorship on MUTS

 

At 8am, MUTS started broadcasting Tai Chi, and I opened my eyes to see that we were surrounded by a few people partaking in that. G went to the International Cafe to get those muesli cakes we enjoy so much and I switched to drinking hot water with lemon and the hours passed.

All the tables and chairs from the covered seating area were moved to have a clear view of the screen

Unfortunately, rain showers passed over every so often and we traded wet pool towels for dry pool towels over and over and over again and it all felt very familiar. This was definitely not our first rodeo. In fact, we were remembering back to being on the Grand Princess for the first Super Bowl ever shown on MUTS, out of Galveston in 2005. There was a huge marketing campaign, that you could watch the Super Bowl on a drive in movie-type screen on a cruise ship, and it sure sucked us in. 

Good times. 

Finally, the air started feeling even cooler and the rain became heavier and steadier. I traded out 31 pool towels (really!) as they all became soaked, and my clothes became damp in spite of the towel changes and, no, this was definitely not oh-so-much fun. But by noon the game was still more than two hours away and we looked at each other and decided to throw in the towel (haha). Two minutes later we were back in our cabin and turning up the heat and taking hot showers and willing ourselves to warm up. We hung up our wet clothes on our stretchy clothesline and it sagged under the weight of them. 

I was able to go to my ukulele class dry if still not warm, and that cheered me right up. We ended up in the Piazza today, as Club Fusion was being used for the game, and learned three more chords. Progress is being made (and my fingertips don’t hurt at all at this point)! 

We watched the first three quarters the game on our cabin TV and at that point decided to go to dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room. I mentioned that it was obvious the Patriots had already lost, and G finished with “their will to live”, and yes, I expect they were maybe feeling that way but luckily for them they didn’t have the first ever shut out in Super Bowl history. But, good grief, that was one boring game. 

I wonder how those people who paid $495 for a table fared in rain.

Gloomy dinner view tonight

We dressed in our warmest clothes and ate comfort food at dinner and our resulting full bellies made the day seem much better. So did tonight’s Princess Theater show, the return of singer Gen Maldonado who we had seen at the beginning of last cruise. My God, what a voice, what a talent, what an entertainer. 

We took a peek at the dessert menu before we went to the show to determine if we wanted to return to the dining room for coffee and dessert, but we really weren’t hungry enough to do that, and so we ended our evening early, at 8pm. 

Just one more day until Hawaii, and (even better) a stable ship!

Life, even when it rains during the Super Bowl, is good. :-)

Day 40: At Sea

Today was the BEST day. G tells me that I say that all the time, and I probably do say it too much. But, really, I think there are worse problems in this world than having a wife who says “Today was the BEST day” a few times too often. 

A huge part of it was that we both took a melatonin last night and slept like babies. It also helped a great deal that the bounciness calmed down overnight. In fact, when we first woke up and laid there in bed (I don’t think I’d even taken off my sleep mask yet), I said, “Is it my imagination or has it finally stopped?” And G assured me it was not my imagination, and, though it hadn’t totally stopped, it was much more tolerable. Hallelujah! 

It was also warming up outside (my watch said 70° at noon), and people are spreading out around the ship. It was brightly sunny, the pools were filled and open and the cruise seemed to change tone overnight as a result. Just for the record, I still didn’t wear shorts today, although I could have. I wore my ‘travel’ pants, which are my least forgiving pants (in a roominess-sense), in the interest of seeing if they were still comfortable. I usually wear these on turnaround days because they have large zip pockets that hold my passport, but it was warm in LA on turnaround day, and I wore shorts instead. That left me wondering if I could still tolerate my tightest pants; hence wearing them today. (G weighed himself today in the fitness center and took an average of the 12-pound range on the scale as the ship moved for a similar reason). I’m happy to report my pants still fit, albeit a smidge less comfortably than they did when we left home on November 30. I’m not counting the nine days at home over Christmas, because, truly, those are as bad as being on a cruise when it comes to eating sensibly.  Cruise on!

We met up for breakfast on the Terrace Deck (very comfortable in the shade, dressed as I was). If I felt 100 years old yesterday, trying to weave my way around the ship, today, with smoother seas I felt as nimble as an athlete. 

I was especially loving the views of the sea today, and these pics will prove that. 

I went to Club Fusion at 10am for astronomer Fred Cink’s lecture on Cruising to the Moon. Cruise Critic’s Astroflyer had given me a heads-up about this  enrichment lecturer being on board for this cruise, but I somehow missed his first presentation two days ago (and I don’t think he gave one yesterday), and it was everything I’d hope it would be.  I nearly ran (being so nimble today, and all) down to the Princess Theater for naturalist Daniel Gohkind’s next lecture on the Hawaiian islands. I’m not seeing those in the right order at all, but by the end of this cruise should have heard them all. 

I took note of Tsiolkivsky’s name during Fred’s lecture and, it being a Saturday, texted it to McGee (who is studying some kind of rocket science -AI meld) to ask if he had ever heard of him. His response?  “Of course I have NeeNee. We studied him two years ago.”  Okkkkkaaaayyyy then. I’m guessing he won’t be needing any further Algebra 1 help from me. 😉

Then it was time for lunch in the Botticelli Dining Room with G (we both had the Cobb salads with yogurt parfait for dessert…yes, it was definitely weight reality day for both of us).  Once again, pinch me at the beauty of the sun sparkling on the water. That’s what I will miss most when we are home. Well, that and the variety and ease of food access and live entertainment and lectures, and twice daily housekeeping service and…

Ukulele was up next and we learned four new chords that we performed in a song during class, but, if we felt defeated by that effort, Brian then returned us to the familiar C-F-G7 chord combo of Jamaica Farewell and life felt safe again. 

Finally, I was able to get back to the cabin where I caught Fred Cind’s first lecture that I had missed two days ago on our TV and recharged my social battery a little before the Elite Lounge in Skywalkers. 

I really needed to just skip dinner after this, but, of course, I didn’t. Those pants still fit, after all!

More ocean views

Guitarist Dennys was performing our favorite hits from the 60s to the 80s during the Elite Lounge

Santiago, who makes our Elite hors d’oeuvres dreams come true

Veggie korma, of course, for me

It’s not chicken korma but it’s delish 

Dinner view

We can’t currently see the sunset from our dinner table, but we were up on the Promenade Deck in time to catch the afterglow before heading to Club Fusion to get seats from comedian Carl Strong’s 8pm set. He went on for 50 minutes and had us roaring with laughter. 

And then it was up to Adagio where we are waiting for the Imperial Strings Duo to perform their Candlelight Concert show. 

Do you see why I started with “This was the BEST day”?  

And tomorrow is another big day, Super Bowl LX on the Emerald Princess. Allow me a minute of self pity while I contemplate what could have been, what might have been, had one broken ankle not stood in the way. 

Sigh. 

G is already planning our day, starting with staking claims early in the day on two loungers. We may actually be too old for MUTS Super Bowl viewing (it’s not as easy to sit in a lounger for hours on end as it used to be), but, fortunately, unlike in the Caribbean, the game will be over and done by late afternoon. Let’s just hope for some really good football, because we then enter the Dark Ages, a sports drought until the craziness of March Madness.