Day 29: At Sea

I had to laugh. I published the blog post from yesterday and noted that it said Day 28. That couldn’t be right…we started this journey on a Friday. Surely it was Day 29. And went back through all my posts before I realized-doh- we skipped a day. I knew that!  We all knew that! I am looking at a certificate on the cabin wall that says that!

That head bonk was apparently harder than I realized.

We had moved clocks back (for the second to last time!) again overnight. We have stopped calculating what time it is at home and just accept that it’s yesterday there. But things are getting better. We weren’t awake at 4am as we have been too often recently, but instead slept until nearly 6am. Progress. 

The Terrace Pool was still sloshy early this morning, but better. I held out hope that it might further improve as the day went on, and went to breakfast before I worked out. After breakfast #1, we grazed the buffet for breakfast #2 (watermelon, of course) and sat in the bright sun on the Terrace Deck to enjoy it. I do love the aft decks on this ship!  There is so much more space than we’ll have on the Crown.

G took note of the level of water in the Terrace Pool (low) and the number of people (none) and the fact that there was no wind and told me this was my chance. By the time I ran back to the cabin and changed, there were six people in the pool but the water wasn’t very warm and most don’t stay more than ten minutes or so. I was soon sharing it with just one other person. The lower water level allowed me to have a great workout with less sea sickness and I enjoyed nearly 75 minutes in the pool. Definitely a mood booster!!

That was followed by my favorite thing in the world, whether at home or here…a long, hot shower followed by bundling up in a robe to warm up. Heaven!! And that’s how I came to be cleaned up for tonight’s 7pm Captains Circle party at 10am, which kind of ruled out a hot tub visit or any sweaty outdoor activities for the rest of the day. That’s okay. I had blog posts to catch up on, and maybe, just maybe, without ukulele to practice, could squeeze in some reading. 

It was nice. I got in my workout, caught up on blog posts and read, the latter for the first time in a while. Maybe I need to re-think ukulele on our Crown return. It does take a lot of time. Or maybe, just maybe, Kamaki and Kaile will return as our Hawaiian ambassadors and I’ll already know all the songs. A girl can dream. 

We went to lunch in the Botticelli Dining Room and I have to say that every single waiter we’ve had has been so very friendly. And we were seated at a table where the waiters would walk by on their way to and from the galley and all of them that we know stopped to chat. That was fun. Today’s food, BTW, was really good. The carrot soup was the best of the many excellent soups we’ve enjoyed onboard and the chicken curry just perfect. 

G napped a lot this afternoon so I blogged guilt-free, then went to afternoon tea in the Horizon Court because dinner tonight looked a little questionable, between the menu and the 7pm party. 

The party was a little sad, as it’s the last time we three most travelled will be together as a group (they are from Australia and won’t be cruising on the Crown with us).  We exchanged contact info. I’d love to cruise with them again. 

We changed clothes before going to the Princess Theater for the 9pm production show Stardust. Now Stardust was past its sell-by date 15 years ago but G loves it, not least because it’s accompanied by the show band. While I walked across the Lido Deck where the White Night party was already underway and was packed with people dressed in white and The Wobble was being danced to en masse to pick up pool towels to stay warm while in the theater I kept assuring myself that we would have much more fun listening to songs from the 1950s in Stardust. And that I am a very good wife. 

Luckily, we were able to catch the last of the party when Stardust was done, and then went down to the International Cafe to get soup and a sandwich. Because it was after 10:30pm and we typically early diners still hadn’t had dinner. And the Horizon Court shuts down at 10pm (who knew?  We’re always asleep by then). 

Our weather has been sunny with no or just passing rain showers every day. Hoping it stays like that for our many upcoming island ports. 🤞🏼

Day 28: At Sea

And, just like that, we were back to sea days. That’s what a transpacific crossing is all about!

Captain Ravera had told last evening that we would be passing through a particularly scenic area, called the Apolima Strait about two hours after we sailed from Apia, but we sailed almost two hours late and it was too dark to see anything by the time we got there. But looking at Google Earth, that area between the Samoan islands of Apolima and Manono does look particularly beautiful based on the water color. 

So we slept hard. Well, as hard as could sleep can be with the ship again pretty bouncy. We feel it more in our cabin location than anywhere else in the ship, and G said we may have to re-think this beloved location for future cruises. Don’t say it!  I love our proximity to the Horizon Court and Terrace Pool. We’ve spent hundreds of nights in this part of similar ships. 

We started our day at breakfast in Sabatini’s and then I returned to the cabin to practice my ukulele for today’s Hawaiian cultural show, scheduled for 3pm in the Vista-less Lounge. Nine songs!  We learned nine songs, some of them in Hawaiian!  I practiced and practiced, and told G I needed to skip lunch to get to today’s last group practice at 1pm in Sabatini’s. He went off to play backgammon and told me he’d meet me in the Vista-less Lounge for our program. 

And then it got particularly rough, and I stood up off the bed and lifted a foot to turn at the same time the ship lurched and- boom- over I went, falling to the floor in our cabin. 

Fortunately, our cabin is very small and it’s hard to fall too far. I’m sure I hit a bed on the way down; I almost would have had to. Unfortunately, our cabin is very small and I bonked my head hard on a desk drawer knob. Very hard. I didn’t cut myself but I have quite an abrasion and a contusion. And a big old goose egg right on the top of my head. 

I’m bruised but not broken. But it did knock me kind of senseless. My Apple Watch detected a hard fall and asked if I wanted it to call 911. Yeah, good luck with that. G returned at 1pm to tell me I was missing the final practice in Sabatini’s and discovered me still lying in bed and a little dazed. He checked me out, and we both knew there was no way I was going to be standing in a bouncy Vista-less Lounge playing the ukulele for nearly an hour at 3pm. 

Thus ended my fledging ukulele career. At least for this cruise. There’s still our Crown Princess return to California. 

It was important to feel better and quickly, as tonight was the first of two Captains Circle parties nights. It seemed like forever since we had seen the other MTGs at the luncheon. I guess it was about two weeks ago. This is a long cruise!l The top three most travelled guests were the same as last cruise and we were honored to be this cruise’s most travelled once again.  

The days (and thank you to the person that posted these on Facebook…it takes a village) were:

#1 1858 days 

#2 1801 days (David and Sandy from NSW Australia)

#3 1595 days (Maurie and Gail from NSW Australia)

I hadn’t had lunch. These were delish.

After two parties, we went to the Horizon Court where I had some delicious tilapia and mango salsa, and called it a night. 

Day 27: Samoa

When I booked this transpacific crossing, Samoa was one of the islands I was most excited about visiting. I had been here once, 22 years ago, when it was still called Western Samoa. We also stopped at nearby American Samoa on that cruise, and while we’ve revisited it a few times since then, Samoa is harder to get to. 

G had never been to Samoa, and I was anxious to show him some of the sights I enjoyed when I visited here with friend Sheila. I found a tour on Viator that covered what I remembered from that day (in reality, I suspect every tour on Samoa covers the same places) and booked and paid for it several months ago. 

It’s always fun to arrive in port after several days at sea. I was on the Promenade Deck well before 7am, just as we entered Apia harbor. I could already hear musicians on the pier serenading us in, and as we got closer, noticed there were several dancers in traditional local attire already performing. What a nice welcome!

Apia Harbor

That’s a large turnout!

Taxi and tour operators wearing lava lavas, a commonly worn pareo

G joined me and we went to Sabatini’s as soon as it opened at 7am. Same breakfast as always, though I think G limited his bloody Mary’s this morning.  I had warned him about twisty roads on the island. We gathered up what we needed for a mixed day (snorkeling, beach, swimming, sightseeing) and walked off the ship about 8:15am. 

We met our tour company on the pier and immediately fell in love with our sweet tour guide Rachel. The tour company is small, family owned, and her husband, Sammy, drove one of the two buses that were used. We had comfortable seating for 18 passengers and started off. 

With Sammy

Rachel told us that cruise ship visits, though they’ve increased in number recently, are still only 5 or so each month, and the whole island gets very excited on cruise ship day. What a difference from how ships are viewed in most ports!  We were constantly waved at by the locals, and welcomed by any people we spoke with. Very nice. Also, Rachel had a microphone so it it was easy to hear her. Also very nice. 

American Samoa culture is traditional; Samoan culture even more so. Unless they live in the capital of Apia, people live in small villages scattered around the island. These villages are ruled over by chiefs, who are responsible for the wellbeing of their residents and appearance of the village. Justice is meted out at the village level, with drugs being the single biggest crime. With most people making about $1.66 an hour, a recent drug conviction carried a $15000 fine…that the entire family was liable for. Shame is a big deterrent here. The entire village comes together in a fale (an open, wall-less house that everyone has in their front yard) for prayers (mostly Catholic) at 6pm every night, and a curfew is strictly enforced. 

While we made our way to our first stop, Rachel gave us a history of the island and some idea of its size and population. It really is a subsistence economy, with fishing and some agriculture making up most of people’s income. As a result, it relies very heavily tourism to supplement its economy. The island we were visiting, called Upolu, is home to most of its people, and the capital of Apia. The other main island is Savaii and there are a small number of inhabitants on two smaller islands, as well as several uninhabited islands.  

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Wikipedia

Samoa was controlled by the Germans just before the start of WWI and was called German Samoa, and New Zealand until 1961, when the country achieved its independence. It is a member of the Commonwealth, and they drive on the left side (now; they didn’t always, but most of their cars come from Japan and are right hand drive). 

Our first stop was at the Piula Cave Pool on the grounds of the Piula Theological College. This is a freshwater swimming pool located inside of a lava tube. There is an underwater tunnel connecting the two grottos (I didn’t swim so far into the cave as to go underwater). 

Chilly (or, as the Aussies said, “fresh”)

Tour guide Rachel with G

We next drove through the countryside to Lalomanu Beach, where we had use of a beach fale (open air “shelter”) with the opportunity to have lunch. Many people swam here, but I was still chilled from the Piula Cave Pool and chose to just lie in the sun. 

Nu’utele Island just offshore at Lalomano Beach

Beach fales at Lalomanu Beach

We had to skip the To Sua Ocean Trench stop, which was unfortunate, but the long, steep ladder into the volcanic crater collapsed last week (no one was hurt, as they would have fallen into the seawater that fills the crater in which people swim) and was being repaired. 

We then walked through a small (very small, as in family owned) botanic garden to Sopoaga Falls, a 30 meter high falls into the rainforest. 

Sopoaga Falls

And finally, we finished up with a visit to the Apia market. Local markets (and grocery stores, for that matter) are always a favorite of mine. 

Handwoven palm baskets are used everywhere, and even suspended from each end of poles to carry produce over the shoulder

I think this means that this store is closed

Samoan cacao, known as Cocoa Samoa 😆

Lava lavas for sale

A plastic bag on a stick is used to keep flies away from food

Jackfruit for sale

It was fun to see all the school kids in their uniforms throughout the day, always brightly colored lava lavas (like a pareo) and button down shirts. The girls wore small ties also. Everyone in Samoa and Western Samoa were lava lavas in everyday life, not just for the tourists.

Rachel gifted us all with a brightly colored lava lava of our own as the tour ended. We returned to the ship about 3pm and stopped at the International Cafe where I had soup (still trying to warm up!  On a tropical island!) and we crashed in the cabin for just an hour or so before getting cleaned up for the evening. I wore my new lava lava tied around my waist and a white T-shirt but wore a pair of boy cut gym shorts under it in case of a wardrobe failure. 😉 We ate very lightly at dinner (that’s what a 3pm lunch at the International Cafe will do to you) before going to the Princess Theater for tonight’s entertainment. 

Vocalist Willis White was on board to do his Lionel Ritchie and Commodores tribute, and I LOVE that one. We’ve seen Willis a few times this year, on the Emerald Princess and the Star Princess, and I never tire of him or that music. We sat in the front row. Because…he’s mighty-mighty (get it?  Brick House?). 

I would have enjoyed seeing his second show, but we were tuckered out by then. All that moving the clocks back lately makes getting up early very easy, but staying up late nearly impossible. 

Day 26: At Sea

DITTO, with some vertigo mixed in for fun. 

G finally pegged it today; I’m clearly not seasick (no nausea) but my head feels like swaying. A lot. I lasted 30 minutes into my pool workout (I should have known better; I could hear the water sloshing in our cabin). I ended up skipping breakfast and lunch, made it to marzipan food art and ukulele through sheer determination, and spent most of the remainder of the afternoon in the cabin. Considering we live at the tail end of the ship up high, maybe not the wisest option. But it felt good to have my head on a pillow.

Dinner was salmon and broccoli (I’m up two pounds and, yes, I brought a scale), and we both skipped the evening shows to make it an early night. And then it got really rough. Captain Ravera mentioned we were expecting 50mph winds overnight. I think they found us. I used recycled duct tape to keep the drawers closed and sandwiched myself between two pillows. 

To be completely honest, I think my consecutive sea day limit is four days. I can stay on the ship much longer -heck for weeks at a time, if it’s docked and stable- but my brain starts to feel like seaweed floating on top the water about Day 4. 

And now I know for sure.