Days 34 and 35: At Sea

I woke up sniffly for the first time all winter, not a huge surprise as there has been a lot of sneezing, more than coughing, being heard around the ship. And, after all, it is exactly the two week mark, and this is not scientifically proven, but I am 100% confident in saying a ship becomes a sick ship after 14 days. 

In my case, and the case of the Emerald Princess’s current cruise, I think that colds are being passed around, mostly in the Princess Theater. There was an empty seat next to us a few days ago and, just before the show started, someone sat it and started sneezing immediately. It’s hard to give up a show you’ve waited nearly an hour for and we didn’t, and here I am. 

We had a light, late breakfast on the Terrace Deck, which was quite breezy and in the 60s, but still partly sunny. I saw a few people trying to lay out in swimsuits but they eventually covered up and then finally gave up all together. That was day 4 of the 5 days to Ensenada, and the good outside weather was definitely behind us. 

We went to lunch in the Botticelli Dining Room because they had a chicken soup the menu that looked really good, and, oh my, was it. We both had it, and then I had some more, but by the time I was finished, I just wanted to be back in the cabin. 

When I finally woke up this morning I did a COVID and influenza self-test I brought from home and it was negative, which I was pretty certain it would be. This is a cold, plain and simple. I ended up laying in bed for nearly 24 hours, going from messy sneezy to totally stuffed up and inhaling nasal spray all night to feeling much better this morning. G said everyone was quite concerned when I missed dinner and Restaurant Manager Nebo had offered to send anything I might want to the cabin, but I really just wanted to sleep.  G went to Voice of the Ocean and the Princess World Orchestra (last night’s Princess Theater show) and said that, when he finally returned to the cabin around 9:30pm, I didn’t even wake up. 

Courtesy of G

When I did finally start to stir, this morning about 11am, my back was so stiff from so much time in bed that I could barely move. I used all the tools in my tool box to try to relieve the pain, but was making questionable progress. I told G to go to lunch and I would take my time and try to get there, but, let’s face it, Lido Deck forward is a long, far way from Deck 6 aft when you can barely lift your feet. I needed a rest stop in O’Malleys and another outside Crown Grill, and from there I texted G and said I’d be there in a minute. I was walking down the aft stairs from Deck 7 to 6 when I noticed my shoe was untied (really, does anyone else have this kind of luck?) and sat down on the second step from the bottom to try to reach my feet to re-tie it when G came looking for me and thought I had fallen there, and, good grief what a spectacle this had become. He tied my shoe and half carried me into the dining room where Nebo saw me and thought I was still that sick. Um, no. This whole thing started out as a simple cold which has mostly passed, but now I’m left with this. 

It’s hell to get old. 

After having soup for lunch I walked around a little and that helped loosen things up. I ended up skipping the Aloha Oe festival in Club Fusion where guests show off the ukulele and hula skills we’ve been working on, which was a pity but I didn’t feel I could stand there and play, and, besides, I’ll get a make up chance next cruise. The extra practice sessions certainly won’t hurt. 

I spent the afternoon laying on my lumbar stretcher on the cabin floor with my legs on the bed and that really did the trick. But I started feeling stuffy again and G talked me out of going to dinner but suggested I could try going to the show but that is how I got sick in the first place and I don’t want to spread this. Then CD Nathan announced that, due to cast illness (it really is a sick ship), Magic To Do was being cancelled again, and instead Jason O would do his Sing Us a Song show, so I decided to just have some dinner in the World Fresh Marketplace (fish and brussel sprouts) and call it a night. I spent the solo time watching Roaming Wild Rosie’s YouTube video of her Arizona Trail hike this year. So entertaining!

The lumbar stretcher that goes with me even on an overnight trip. Luckily it weighs almost nothing though it is bulky. 

I stayed awake until steward Fidel delivered the last of our laundry for this cruise. We already know that next cruise has about the same number of Elites and am I being greedy to hope for 24 hours laundry turnaround again?  It’s been a wonder. I’ve sent more laundry than I ever have before, at least every other day, a few times (especially in hot and sweaty Hawaii) two days in a row. I’m not even certain that I will supplement with a self-laundry session on turnaround day, except that I’ll need the same (cool weather) clothes that I’ve been wearing for the past two days again on the first two days of next cruise, so I might have to. I packed pretty light. 

Tomorrow we finally reach Ensenada. If I had to pick a day and a half to stay down, I timed it perfectly. Plus, as G optimistically pointed out, I’ll have immunity against getting a cold again on the next cruise. Fingers crossed. 

Day 33: At Sea

We had another amazing day on Emerald Princess, as much for what we didn’t have to do as for what we did. Once again we were slow to get moving, and when we did, we weren’t exactly sure how to dress for the day. We ended up wearing shorts and sweatshirts, and that was perfect to sit outside this morning and until we went to ukulele lessons at 1pm, but I don’t think we’ll be in shorts again, or spending a lot of time outside until we get to Ensenada in three days. 

In fact, speaking of Ensenada, I completely forgot we were even going there. I kept referring to the two days left this cruise and HGM Simona reminded me tonight that we actually have THREE days left this cruise. Well, yay!

So, back to this morning…we grazed in the World Fresh Marketplace for brunch that we enjoyed on the Terrace Deck, went to Club Fusion to pretend practice playing the ukulele, and then spent a short time in a hot tub until it was time to get cleaned up for tonight’s two Captains Circle parties. We were asked to attend both the 5:00pm and 6:30pm parties, and invited friends David and Doug to join us. We first met them at the MTG cocktail party on the November 30 Royal Princess cruise to Mexico and they were our guests for the Captains Circle party that cruise also. We will miss them next cruise, but should see them again in December. 

Captain Todd McBain is the most hospital, welcoming captain I know, and hosts a fun party. And David encouraged me to try one of the new non-alcoholic beverages that Princess is featuring, and I love it!  Only 61 calories, not very sweet, but a lot more interesting than sparkling water. It’s my new favorite. 

We were honored to be this cruise’s second Most Traveled Guests. These are the numbers:

#1: 2065 days

#2: 1796 days

#3: 1682 days

After the second party we went to the Michelangelo Dining Room where we were seated in waiters Ronie and Ivy’s section. We are getting so spoiled by them. Ronie is returning home to the Philippines after this cruise, and we are happy for him but will miss him, too. 

It’s the hard part of doing B2B cruises…all the goodbyes you have to say. 

Dinner was just a large salad topped with protein (tonight: chicken). That’s the way it has to be for the foreseeable future. We booked another cruise today, this time for April, which we were not planning to do at all, but which surprisingly fits in perfectly between/around outdoor track meets and medical, vision and dental appointments. That’s no small feat. But the same set of clothes I packed in October have to fit me 95 cruise days later in April. Salads it is. 

Sweet Soul Music was performed tonight in the Princess Theater and we went to the 9pm show. We love that production show, for not only the music but the live backing by the band.  I know it states in the Patter that tonight’s Princess Theater entertainment is the Princess World Orchestra but they’ve had so many technical issues with and cancellations of the production shows this cruise that they’re trying to fit them in before the cruise ends. 

We move clocks ahead an hour overnight and will be back on PST. That makes it nearly midnight as I finish this up, way past my bedtime. It’s not just sleep that I crave; I need the quiet to give my brain a rest after much socializing today. I do love the tranquility of an inside cabin!

Day 32: At Sea

Days keep getting slower and slower for us. Actually, a large part of it is simply that we are spending so many hours each day outside on the open decks to enjoy the warmer temps as long as we have them. In fact, though G is still going to breakfast in the Botticelli Dining Room, I go to the fitness center to bike or walk and then meet up with him on the Terrace Deck where he continues to have coffee and I enjoy bird seed patties (if I’ve made the side trip to the International Cafe, which, sometimes, is just too far to go after I’ve used the treadmill😉), or cereal from the World Fresh Marketplace.

And then we move around the Terrace Deck trying to avoid the sun as much as possible, until the lunch buffet is set up and we enjoy that and then, at 1pm, go to Club Fusion for our ukulele lesson, followed by a rest in the cabin. And that is as exciting as our days have been since we left Hawaii. 

Through it all, both yesterday and today, we have been talking about future cruises and booking future cruises and second guessing future cruises we have booked. This is fairly routine stuff for us, to spend sea days making cruise plans, but today, when we started second guessing everything that is in place for next winter, I wondered why we even try to plan ahead. 

I skipped the Elite Lounge today, because I just wasn’t hungry, and, once again, dinner was a wild mixed greens salad made dinner-sized with some extra shrimp. That was scrumptious. I need to do more dinner salads. I noticed just last night that my pants are fitting differently, and not in a good way.  Nip it nip it nip it!

Tonight’s scheduled entertainment was production show Magic To Do, but around 5pm I was walking down Lido Deck to go to dinner when I saw one of the male dancers heading to the buffet wearing a track suit. I asked him why he wasn’t getting ready for the show and he said it hadn’t yet been announced but there were technical issues (again) preventing them from performing it tonight. And right then CD Nathan made an announcement to that effect and said we’d be seeing Erik Bryan in Let Me Be Frank instead. It was fun to see that after we had chatted with Erik a couple of nights ago. 

We’ve been skipping coffee and dessert after dinner to get to the show, but tonight went up to enjoy coffee on the Terrace Deck. It’s obviously our favorite place on the ship. 

Day 31: At Sea

This was definitely a lazy day for us. We slept until 9am (with that one hour ahead thing), had breakfast on the Terrace Deck (two bird seed cookies for me), then used the pool and hot tub and generally chilled (I listened to an Audible book) until it was time to go to our ukulele lesson. I think we’ve forgotten more than we ever knew, but it still so much fun! After that, we rested in the cabin until we got cleaned up for our eleventy-seventh formal night of the winter. 

The evening was filled with the Elite Lounge (we go, not because we’re even a little hungry, but just to see chef Santiago who puts his heart and soul into the food taste and display) followed by dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room (I had the Asian salad made dinner-sized and topped with chicken breast and i wish I could have that every night at this point) and then a show in the Princess Theater.  

The iced tea is every bit as bad as you’ve read it is

It was a particularly good show night: the Princess Theater performance was Jason O with an Elton John tribute. We saw him in October on the Regal Princess and I always love his show. Front row seats where I can see the keyboard and G can see the musicians and we’re both happy. 

But that was all we did this evening. I think we’re at that point in this streak of cruise days where a movie and book in the cabin feel like the perfect way to end a day. 

Day 30: Kahului, Maui

Oh Lahaina, you are sorely missed! Of course, the devastating Lahaina fire in August 2023 was not the cause of cruise ships now berthing in Kahului instead of tending into Lahaina, but the contrast between arriving in beautiful Lahaina by water shuttle and waking up to the Matson freight dock on Maui’s north side is marked. Kahului is truly the least cruiser-friendly port on itinerary. 

Hilo at least offers local tours that can be booked right at the terminal, but in Kahului, only ship tours and taxis are allowed to leave from the terminal area. Independent tours and Ubers must be picked up outside the port near Longs Drug Store, a hot, dusty 20 to 30 minute walk away. A sign at the taxi stand next to the terminal states that taxis are a flat rate $100 per hour (no haggling). For reference, Google Maps says Kaanapali is a 50-60 minute drive from the port, and the ship offers a shore excursion for $115pp called Kaanapali on Your Own, with about 4 hours of time in Kaanapali. 

In short, berthing in Kahului has made Hana easier, Kaanapali much, much harder. 

On the bright side, it was another bright and sunny day, and, after breakfast in the Botticelli Dining Room, we walked off the ship to scope out the opportunities for sightseeing, which, as we learned, are minimal and expensive. 

Lots of fruit at breakfast

One of our options for today had been to rent a car from Maui ECO Car Rental, which rents from a building within walking distance of the port instead of at the airport (OGG). We set out to walk there first.  It’s $150 a day for a gas-only powered Prius (don’t ask me) or a minivan. We got the application via email and this is an option for our next cruise. 

One of the reasons we were interested in a rental is because, though we’ve spent days on Maui with a rental car, we’ve never driven the road around the northwest part of the island. But then we heard it’s not all paved and can be very rough in parts, not exactly optimal for a Prius. If anyone has current information on the condition of that road, I’d appreciate it if you’d send it to me. 

We walked to the Longs Drug area where we got the information I shared earlier in this post, and then walked back to the ship. It was hot in the sun, and we didn’t feel compelled to leave the ship again today. Instead we enjoyed the views of the waves breaking on the reef and watched a car freighter loading and unloading behind the ship. This simple activity always entertains, and, 15 years later, we still talk about “lawn chair guy” in the freight yard in Aruba who apparently determined where everything was to be loaded and unloaded in that freight port. In Kahului, “lawn chair guy” is apparently called “golf cart guy”, but he’s the brains of the operation all the same. 

We actually napped a bit this afternoon, all the sun and walking of the past few days catching up with us. There are a LOT of sunburned guests on the ship right now, a sure sign that we’ve had great weather. Then it was the Elite Lounge in Skywalkers followed by dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room for the first time in three nights and the production show Disco: Blame it on the Boogie in the Princess Theater. We took sweatshirts to wear in our first row seats but the theater didn’t seem as chilly tonight. Something tells me we’re looking as red as our fellow guests with a built in heater. 

Unfortunately, after waiting an hour for the show to begin, there were technical issues that cancelled the 7pm performance. Fortunately, vocalist Erik Bryan, who performs in his own show Let Me Be Frank, as well as the role of the magician in Magic To Do, sat next to us, and we recognized him immediately. We chatted through all the delays as they tried to get the production show re-started and that kept us highly entertained (and if he was sorry he sat next to two of the few people in the Princess Theater who could recognize him from his shows last cruise, he hid it well). It turns out that he grew up right down the road from us, and has had singing and acting roles in our community, though he lives in London now (and what a change that would be!). 

We were at a bit of a loss for what to do next and whether to try again for the 9pm show which we knew would be packed. We move clocks ahead an hour overnight, and I decided to call it a day, though, as of this writing, G is still sounding like he wants to go back out.  Stay tuned…