Peace on Earth...

...and goodwill toward everyone. 

Wishing you Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a safe and healthy 2016!

Have I mentioned that we will be home for Christmas?

I know I have, but have I mentioned it lately? ;-)

It's not yet Christmas, but we are home! 

We will be continuing our (by then) winter at sea in early January when we return to the Caribbean for what we consider to be "easy" cruising. I can't commit to my blogging plans yet (it's getting harder to turn one mindless beach day after another into an interesting read) but after a month off, I might feel differently. 

But now...our first Christmas at home in six years, following 87 days spent on tropical Pacific islands. 

Life is very good. :-) 

(I will be going back and adding lots of photos to the blog posts since September, and I'll let you know when that is complete.)

Never assume...

...that if there is nothing outside your cabin window when you step into the bathroom to shower, there will be nothing there when you step back out naked.  :-o

Hello there fueling barge person!

Day 87: Fifth of five days at sea

The last day!  The last meals, the last live entertainment, the last ocean views, the last time I will ever be as spoiled as I've been on the Pacific Princess (and I'm kinda ashamed to admit how much I liked it). 

I awoke at 6am this morning and saw that it was still completely dark out, and so I fell back asleep. Shortly after 7am, the sunrise finally woke me up. It has occurred at such varied times lately, with our eastward travel and time changes (and I negligently haven't paid attention to the times listed in the Princess Patter) that every day it's a surprise.  I quietly snuck out of the cabin and went to the Club Bar for coffee and then into the Club Restaurant when it opened for breakfast at 7:30am. I had just oatmeal topped with cinnamon apple wedges, knowing that I'd be eating a good lunch and dinner, too (and I sure did!).

I sat for a short time on the sunny side of the Promenade Deck...but not long. Even with a fleece pullover on, it felt very chilly. (Our temperature at noon was 61F). Still, it couldn't have been a prettier day. We've had sunny weather ever since leaving Honolulu on Thanksgiving Day, but the wind did cause us a lot of trouble for a couple of days. Today we met a lady who had fallen on the pool deck on our second sea day out of Hawaii, and knocked out two teeth.  Ouch!  Those were two very rough days, among the worst I've ever seen. 

I returned to the cabin to find G up and about, so I accompanied him to the Panorama Buffet where he had an omelet. As I've said, it's more the variety than the quantity of food I will miss when we return home...plus the wonderful waitstaff that has served it. Back in the cabin, we cotinued packing up most of our clothes and some of our toiletries, but took a break to go to the Cabaret Lounge for the culinary demonstration with the executive chef and Maitre d' Oscar. Even though we've done it several times in the past, we did the walk through of the galley afterward, and it was nice to have a chance to say goodbye to fruit and vegetable carvers Samuel and John, who were displaying their efforts in the galley.

The butcher shop

We did a little more packing then, enough to know where we had issues (paperwork) and I determined that I had a little more room in my carry on for a few more gifts, and so visited the boutique one last time. Lunch in the Club Restaurant featured one of our favorite menus, and G opted for the veggie burrito while I had the chicken korma with all the toppings. At home, that would be enough food for an entire day; I predict a painful adjustment ahead. During lunch, we completed our check ins for our Southwest flight tomorrow (we had separate reservation numbers), and were able to get assigned to Boarding Group A (almost unheard of without paying extra for Early Bird Check In), one of us position 41 and the other 42. Go us!! The weather looks good for both LA and home; hopefully, we'll have an uneventful day. 

After lunch, we went up to the pool deck to check out the temperature of the hot tubs:  cold, lukewarm at best. I don't know what happened. We've enjoyed truly hot hot tub temps all season, but it seems they're not heating the water nearly as much any longer. And the pool water was more cold than refreshing, too. Coupled with the cool air, we reconsidered our plans to hang out on the pool deck this afternoon, and returned to the cabin to pack the swimwear and sandals we'd held out thinking we might use them. 

We cleared off the bed enough for a lie down then. G napped and I read (and tried to ignore the news, which, once again was horrible. How many times has that been the case this season?). By 3pm, we were 195 miles from Los Angeles and my excitement was starting to ratchet up. As is always the case, whether our trip is 15 nights or 150, faced with returning home I am anxious to get there NOW. I just want to click my heels together and transport myself right to our front porch. 

We skipped the Elite Lounge (we'd been drinking minibar items all day) and went directly to dinner in the Club Restaurant at 5:15pm. The Last Supper. Despite the fact that I wasn't even hungry, I had a seafood and watermelon starters and a small serving of fettuccine alfredo as my main dish. Believe it or not, I have never once, not ever had Princess' fettuccini alfredo, and decided it was time to try it. Well...it was awfully salty and rich, and I probably won't order it again, but I'm glad I tried it once. We both skipped the baked Alaska in favor of the dark cherry sorbet for dessert. We are quite addicted to Princess sorbets!

The featured entertainment tonight in the Cabaret Lounge was a variety show with harmonica-ist Bernie Fields and comedy magician Lorenzo Clark. Now, we've seen Lorenzo's act so often this year that we could probably do it ourselves, but 20- or so minutes of Bernie Fields was just right. We are back in the cabin now, going through that always-painful process of closing up and weighing and opening and rearranging things in suitcases. It's never a pleasant process, and after nearly three months away is especially grueling. In fact, I've just this minute decided that it's my least favorite part of cruising, which means that getting up in the middle of the night for a flight falls to #2 and embarkation day unpacking to #3. But all those many days in between...living the dream, baby!  

Life is good. :-)

Day 86: Fourth of five days at sea

We enjoyed another perfect sea day en route to Los Angeles...brilliantly blue sky, bright sun, mild wind and just that same lazy swell we experienced yesterday. Still, I told G at breakfast in the Panorama Buffet that today's ocean didn't have that same beautifully smooth surface we enjoyed yesterday. "It's lumpier today", I said. "You mean like mashed potatoes?"  "No, cellulite", and this had the people at the next table in stitches. But it was true; the surface was dimpled and lumpy, but the swell was the same. I would love to understand what caused the difference.

We moved our clocks ahead another hour last night, and are finally back on PST. We've been sleeping in slightly later, but were still in the Panorama Buffet for breakfast at 8am. I had a taste for a freshly made waffle today, and we can't get them in the Club Restaurant. Plus, the weather was so spectacular that we wanted to be outside in it as much as possible. So we sat on the terrace behind the Panorama Buffet and drank coffee and ate waffles and enjoyed the expansive view of a cellulitic sea. 

We went up to the Lotus Spa then, to see what was going on in the extra cost area at the front of Deck 9. Believe it or not, we had never been out there until today. The cost is about $10 per day, bookable only for the entire cruise, and there is a thallosotherapy pool there that is included. The water was only lukewarm, the cushioned lounges are the same as those on the Promenade Deck, and there was no one in sight at 10am. We had heard good reviews of it when the ship was in French Polynesia and needed to see it for ourself. Much like the Sanctuary on the larger ships, it's nice but not exactly right for us. Forced relaxation is not my forte and G doesn't sit still long enough to get any value from it, either. 

G went to champagne hoopla at 11am in the atrium and I took advantage of the few minutes he was out of the cabin to fly into action, dragging the scuba suitcase (as we call it) out from under a bed where it was stored opened flat for easy access. I emptied it out and neatly re-packed it, with masks, fins, snorkels, wetsuits and hoods on one side and multiple Princess tote bags, rain gear, metal water bottles, floaties and the beach cooler/bag on the other. It is closed up and weighed and ready to make the trip home. I also folded all the clothes I won't be needing before we disembark. We divide up the storage in here as we do in most cruise ship cabins...I hang everything except undies and swimwear and G uses all but the two shelves (or, in the case of the Pacific Princess, drawers) I use. With all the stuff we brought with us this year, we still have shelves and drawers we've never used. The over-the-door shoe rack helps a lot, and keeps us organized. 

By then G had returned, for once not toting a winning bottle of champagne. Apparently he was no match for a fellow passenger who plays professional horseshoes. Frankly, it was a relief. We are down to our last bottle of champagne, Veuve Cliquot, and will take that to dinner tomorrow night to share with our next-door tablemates. G made a phone call to change out a few remaining minibar items. Like always, we're carting home a bag of unused minibottles of gin to add to the previously unused bottles of gin stored in a dark corner of our kitchen island. I really wish they would simply give us drink coupons we could use in the bars onboard!!

We went to lunch in the Club Restaurant where I had a salad and a small plate of linguine with peppers and broccoli and G had the first item he's actually not liked (a BBQ brisket on salad). He declined waiter Herbert's offer to bring him something different, but toasted coconut frozen yogurt for dessert saved the meal for him. We met the most interesting people, a couple from Houston who is sailing around the world. They started in 2013 in St. Lucia but go home for the holidays every year. Right now, their sailboat is docked in Tahiti, just south of Papeete, and they will return to it in March. Instead of immediately continuing west, they are going to spend some time in Rangiroa and other islands in the Tuamotu Archipelago. They are under no time constraints, and plan to meander their way around the globe. Their longest single passage so far (I think it's called the big leap or the great leap or something like that) was 21 days from the Galapagos to Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands. 

Fascinating!

Douglas Pearson was making his final presentation of the cruise, on the history of California, in the Cabaret Lounge at 1:45 pm. I will miss him and his enthusiasm for everything!  G left early to go to a Goofy Golf, not knowing what to expect. Well, they started at the top of the stairs in the Reception Hall and the first cup was on the landing, then at the bottom, and then around the Deck 4 atrium. G said there were golf balls flying every which way, bouncing off the Passengers Services Desk and rolling around on the hard stone floor of the atrium. I'm sorry I missed that!

Eventually we met up in a hot tub. I had avoided spending a lot of time on the pool deck in the near-equatorial sun of French Polynesia, but now that we are so far north, I'm making up for it. Still, I armed myself with almost the last of the spray sunscreen (just enough left for tomorrow) and my Tilley hat but left my rash guard behind. The hot tubs, which have been HOT this season, and wonderful, are now only lukewarm. Still, compared to the chilliness of the pool water, they felt good. I alternated between dancing in the pool (the water is still only about chest-deep) to the live music of duo Rockin Paradise to sitting in the hot tub. Cruise Director Sammi said Rockin Paradise is going home on turnaround day; if the next cruise passengers are lucky, duo Great Escape will come on board. We loved them last year!

Tonight was the third formal night of this cruise (don't get me started...), but G had already decided to dress down a bit, so I wore the least formal of my three formal outfits and he wore his nicest tropical shirt and no one batted an eye. I splurged on escargot and did have lobster tonight (I don't usually), and mandarin sorbet for dessert. At 6:45pm in the Reception Hall, a farewell party was held, offering champagne and some free drinks. Many of the ship's officers were there, in their dress uniforms, and Captain Ciruzzi made a goodbye speech. Not all cruises feature a farewell party, and it was a nice event. 

Production show Do You Wanna Dance was performed at 7:45pm, a wonderful show that received a standing ovation at the end. You know I have trouble with most transitions, and didn't want to adjust to a new cast, but these dancers are fantastic. I will miss them, and miss the kinds of interactions with them that this small ship affords. 

At 9:30pm we are tucked into bed. As I lie here, I can't help but think that in 48 hours we'll be sleeping in our own bed. While our last departure from Bora Bora seems a lifetime ago, it feels like just yesterday that we were embarking on the Pacific Princess in Vancouver. 

Time is a funny thing, isn't it?

Go go go go!

Day 85: Third of five days at sea

And on the third day, the seas calmed. And it was a good and welcome thing.

Oh, what a difference a day makes. Actually, we started having some improvement by late afternoon yesterday, but G said he still felt a lot of rocking and rolling last night. But today...the seas are glassy and smooth, with a light side to side swell, and so beautiful that I just wanted to sit out on deck and look at the water. No splashing, no crashing of waves against the side of the ship, just sunny skies and gentle movement. I took at least 20 photos and five videos of...the water. It was that nice. 

Naturally, this has eliminated any vertigo on my part, too, but I was surprised to notice this morning how congested my ears were. I took two Sudafed and kept tissues handy for a couple of hours. I'm wondering now if that wasn't a big part of my vertigo issue since Maui, because I've never felt so seasick before. If it ever happens again, I'm going to first take Sudafed and see if that helps. I may also start traveling again with Meclazine. We used to, when we first started cruising, but never needed it and so haven't brought any for years. 

It felt wonderful to be up and about on the ship again, and I was very participative all day.  After breakfast in the Club Restaurant (which is getting simpler by the day. Today it was six grain toast topped with cottage cheese and orange marmalade), we went to a Meet the Officers session headed by Cruise Director Sammi in the Cabaret Lounge (yep, at the very front of the ship!). She interviewed several senior officers including the Captain and Staff Captain and Hotel General Manager and Food and Beverage Director, first asking how they got started on ships. For the bridge officers, it always began by living in a port city and having a relative who was at sea. For those people in hotel operations, it usually started with some advanced education in hotel management. Either way, most of them took a circuitous route to the Pacific Princess, with the captains spending time as deck hands on freighters in their early years. Very interesting!

I then rushed off to a craft session called Quilling 2 held in the Reception Hall (atrium). I am not the only one who is quite taken with this art of twirling and gluing paper. Today, those of us who had participated in an earlier session were put in an "advanced" class and encouraged to go freestyle (which, frankly, I've been doing since the second session). Today I made a bouquet of flowers in several different colors. I am going to have to get to Michaels when I am home to see about buying those narrow strips of quilling paper. I like that it's a pretty simple craft to be involved in, and involves almost no supplies. Plus, a quilling wand will easily fit in my shoebox of life's possessions. ;-)

Around midday, we finally passed the halfway point between Hilo, Hawaii and Los Angeles, with about 1100 miles on either side of us. We also passed the first ship we've seen since Hilo, a freighter heading west. I remember from our first crossing to Hawaii back on the Radiance of the Seas in 2002, we passed sister ship Legend of the Seas en route and had a huge horn blowing exercise in the middle of nowhere. The decks of both ships were packed with passengers waving (even though they weren't that close). Later today we passed two more freighters; it's apparent even without looking at a map that we are getting closer to Los Angeles. 

We returned to the Club Restaurant for lunch, a simple bowl of soup and grilled chicken breast on a salad for me (I know, I know. I once said I'd never eat that again, but time dulls the memory). We had to finish quickly to get up on Deck 10 to have a birds-eye view of the ship building competition that was started several days ago. I guess (without having the rules in front of me) that the goal is to build a small boat that can float a six pack of beer across the pool without sinking using only supplies found on board. The final award was based on team spirit, originality and boat appearance and sea- (or pool-) worthiness. All but one boat made it across the pool, but one of those did start taking on water at the same time the theme from Titanic was playing on the pool deck speakers. That was harious. 

The sky was perfectly sunny and blue all day, though the air is starting to take on a chill. We were still comfortable in shorts and T's, but by tomorrow we'll need at least a fleece if not slacks, too. But our favorite place to be when it's sunny but chilly is in the hot tub, and we spent most of the rest of the afternoon in one, with me alternating between it and the pool. The pool is once again full of water, but it's downright...refreshing. 

We drank beer and hard cider in the hot tub, and so skipped the Elite Lounge tonight in favor of going directly to dinner at 5:15pm. It is sinking in a bit that we will be going home to a house devoid of food, and that even when we do shop for groceries, we'll be missing the huge variety and quantity of food we've had available for almost three months. (Not to mention an entire waitstaff dedicated to meeting our every dining need). Ouch. 

Tonight's entertainment is once again comedy magician Lorenzo Clark (who has left and rejoined us repeatedly since Vancouver) and a late night comedy show by Doug Funk. I am giving both a pass in lieu of listening to pianist Brad Stevens in the Casino Lounge and then reading in the cabin. 

And, finally...how 'bout those Broncos???  Oh, man, I am sorry to have missed that game!  At the same time I went online to publish my blog post last night, they clinched the win with a TD in OT and I started getting text messages about it. Perfect timing...perfect game...perfect win, and the Broncos QB position looks more stable than it has in awhile. I am so happy!! Thanks to those blog readers who sent me emails about it, and especially reprints of the sports articles covering it. But how in the world did you ever know that I am sort of fond of Broncos football??

;-)

Day 84: Second of five days at sea

Today offered none of the operational excitement of yesterday, but I did get a little more information about our blackout (so called by Captain Ciruzzi) which I'll share later in this post. Also, hopes were dashed on several counts: the seas didn't calm until early evening; my queasiness didn't abate until then, either; and there wasn't a single NFL game on TV. However, I am on a cruise (as if I could forget that fact), so all was not lost. Besides, this experience is proving very helpful in ruling out future cruise options, and in that regard it is priceless. 

We both slept fitfully last night, as the Pacific Princess continued to shake and shimmy its way across the North Pacific Ocean. At 2:08am I was awakened, and again at 3:17am, 3:41am, 4:29am, and so on. I remember taking a sip of ginger ale at some point, but don't recall eating a cracker, but I must have done, as the detritus was littered on the nightstand and floor this morning. It was a rough start to the day. 

That it's so beautifully sunny just adds insult to injury. It looks like we should be having a grand time sailing our way home, and many passengers are spending these sea days quite unscathed by the conditions. Unfortunately, I am not among them, and am having more difficulty than I've had in over 1000 days at sea in such typically rough water as the Tasman Sea and Cape Horn. I believe that the small size of the Pacific Princess is definitely a factor. 

I was feeling well enough to have a simple breakfast of melon and oatmeal in the Club Restaurant, but had to leave in a hurry when a sudden bout of nausea hit. G returned to the cabin to find me not just lying down, but lying down on a blanket on the floor. Even the bed had too much sway for my comfort. It was not even 9am at that point, not the best start to the day, but things did improve throughout the day and by now it's actually pretty comfortable.

G turned the TV to a replay of the Navigation@Sea lecture that had been given yesterday afternoon in the Cabaret Lounge. We had missed it because...well, it was held in the Cabaret Lounge at the front of the ship. And there was football. Mostly, there was football. Third Officer Alex from England made an excellent presentation and we learned quite a few things we hadn't previously known. But then the floor was open to questions and, not surprisingly, considering the timing of the presentation, the first question asked was "What happened this morning?"  The Senior First Officer, Giuseppe, who is third in command and also the ship's safety officer, took the question. He said he just happened to be walking by and thought that someone might ask. ;-)

Giuseppe said that the power outage was still under investigation, but what could have happened is that all four diesel generators had been running at full power to get the Pacific Princess back to Los Angeles by December 3. There may have been an issue with one engine, and, without the ability to shift power demand to another, they all went into a protection mode and shut down. The backup generator provided power to run some AC, return the elevators to Deck 5 (which is the default deck as it is where the muster stations are), provide minimal lighting and, most importantly, maneuver the bow into the wind and water so that the ship was not at the mercy of a side wind. Within 10 minutes, they had begun to restore power and within an hour we had fully recovered. When the investigation is complete, a summary of what had occurred and the causative factor(s) will be sent to California and all the other ships in the fleet as a preventative measure. It was an unfortunate (but interesting to me) event that could have been very serious but turned out well. 

I finally took over control of the TV, searching up and down the channels for an NFL game. I didn't even care which game it was; I have been so far removed from the season that it would go a long way in catching me up just to listen to the commentators. There was not a single game to be found, just a 'best games in history' replay on the only sports channel we were getting (ESPN2?). Well...shoot. I have lived quite complacently being football deprived all season, but it seems like the closer we get to home, the more acutely I'm missing it. Or maybe it's more a factor of finally having time on my hands. 

G started watching some "ant" movie with Michael Douglas and I tried reading but had better luck with my dizziness when I just played a card game on my iPad. We went up to the Promenade Deck at one point to check the temperature. It's dropping now, around the mid-70s as we make our way northwest. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the low 70s, and, while I know that Los Angeles on Thursday is supposed to have a high around 70F, I suspect we may be in the low to mid 60s for the last couple of days at sea.

We left the cabin again to go to lunch in the Club Restaurant. I ate very lightly, just vegetarian spring rolls, but did have mandarin frozen yogurt for dessert. It tasted just like those orange dreamsicles I used to eat as a kid...so yummy!

We decided to skip this afternoon's Grapevine Wine Tasting (is it possible that I have reached my wine saturation point? I think maybe...), and G headed off to a Meet the Cast session in the Cabaret Lounge. He promised to tell me all about it, because I returned to the cabin to tackle a project best done alone in the cabin: coloring my hair with the last box of hair color I'd bought at the Hilo WalMart in September. I guess I could have waited until I got home, but I didn't want to haul the color home with me. I also needed to time this so that I can repeat it again before we leave home in early January. Today was the day. 

It also marked the last unopened item we had purchased in Hilo in September, save for one tube of sunscreen. I have to proudly say that, after six years at this long-term cruising, we've gotten very good at predicting consumption. I suspect that, had we had some sunnier/hotter weather on Rapa Nui, we might have had a 100% success rate. The last couple of days have seen me use the last of several items:  Fabreze, OxyClean laundry stain remover, shower gel, body moisturizer, face cream...and now hair color. It's a sure sign that it's almost time to go home. 

I moved myself only as far as the Promenade Deck, where it was very pleasant, although windy and salt-spray-ish. I needed to get some fresh air, but didn't want to venture up to the pool deck. The pool has been open but half emptied of water since we left Hawaii to prevent it from sloshing out. By 4pm, the seas started to calm quite a bit (I hope it lasts!) and I was feeling the best I have since Maui (I hope that lasts, too!).  Still, we skipped the Elite Lounge in the Pacific Lounge and instead went directly to dinner. We took our award bottle of Korbel from the Captains Circle party last night to share with our next-door tablemates. 

It was Italian night, and I surprised myself by ordering a salad AND spaghetti and meatballs AND lemoncello sorbet for dessert. I was hungry!  We attended comedian Doug Funk's first show at 6:45pm and called it a night. When I go online to post this, I am going to check the score from the Broncos game. Frankly, I'm scared. My luck today kinda sucked. Big seas, big seasickness and no football on TV. But lemoncello for dessert saved the day. 

A few more disjointed thoughts aimed especially at those passengers coming on for the 50th anniversary cruise on the Pacific Princess on December 3. I've been getting lots of emails with questions, and can't answer them all individually due to Internet limitations (even Mom gets only very occasional emails from me).  Instead, I'll try to answer some here...

- The mattresses are totally hit and miss. We've had three cabins with six mattresses so far this season. Three of the mattresses have been good, one okay and two pretty bad. This is not a case of mattress comfort being a subjective matter. A mattress that is hard on the edges and broken down in the middle appeals to no one. The pillows and linens are in pretty good shape. I've had just one pool towel that was ragged and returned it to our cabin steward.  

There are two 110V outlets for North American plugs and two 220V outlets for 2-pin plugs on the vanities. We bring two 2-pin adapters and charge our iDevices on the 220V outlets and use the 110V for other things like the toothbrushes and waterpik. 

- The TVs are fairly small flat panels without any on demand capability. The remotes are a bit more miss than hit. I've found that the arrow buttons work for channel and volume changes; the channel and volume up and down buttons don't. 

- The cabins all have refrigerators. Not all the refrigerators have shelves in them, or storage on the door. We keep the door of the cabinet they're in propped open with a bottle of cheap champagne to allow the refrigerator to vent and cool. 

- The CD staff is not being augmented for the 50th anniversary cruise. Neither is the crew or the Captains Circle host. What we have is what you'll have, which is to say you'll have wonderful service and a lot of fun. 

- After receiving the notice about Elite laundry taking 72 hours to be returned, mine has been returned in 36-48 hours this cruise. That's with 98 Elites on board this cruise. If you're one of the 300-400 Elites on the next cruise, you may want to bring at least enough clothes for 7 days. There is a passenger laundry on Deck 7 with 8 washers and dryers and they've worked fine. Ship's cards can be used to get laundry tokens:  $3 to wash, $3 to dry, $1.50 for detergent, etc. I've only had one laundry issue so far this season, a tiny pinhole in a T-shirt front. 

- Neither chef Curtis Stone nor his menus will be on the ship. 

- The ship has not been especially spruced up for the cruise but it is spotlessly clean. The railings on the Promenade Deck are in pristine condition. There have been buttons installed on the two aft doors to the Promenade Deck to make them handicap assessable (a hugely positive addition). You will notice lots of wear and tear, especially in cabins and on the varnished arms of dining chairs. Keep expectations in check and you'll be very pleased with the entire cruise experience. 

Day 83: First of five days at sea

I was more comfortable last night as soon as I left the Cabaret Lounge and returned to our low, midship cabin, and had a great night's sleep with no alarm in earshot. Yay!!  We awoke this morning to a sunny day, but the sun was, logically, not coming directly in our cabin as it had on our five northbound days from French Polynesia. We slept until about 7:30am (the new time, which is four hours behind EST, one hour behind PST) and met in the dining room by 8:30am. There was still ocean-motion, but not nearly as bad as last evening. We later found out that the second production show had been cancelled last night, as it was just too dangerous for the cast to perform. Yep, I thought it was kinda rough!

I was bad this morning, and asked waiter Herbert (who, like all the others, treats us like we're his parents) if he would ask the cook to include a few blueberries in my pancakes, and - voila!- they appeared, like magic. This is a good life, and I'm going to enjoy it to the max for the next four days!

G and I sat there, lazily drinking coffee and eating breakfast when, suddenly, everything went quiet. And that was my first thought, that the constant background hum that is ever-present on a ship had stopped. It took a few seconds to register that we had lost power. Almost immediately, Captain Ciruzzi made an announcement confirming the power loss, telling us not to panic, assuring us the ship was navigationally sound and that they would be starting the backup generator right away. He also cautioned against venturing into unlit areas of the ship until they did. Within a couple of minutes, the lights were back on and passengers who had been stuck in the elevators were liberated. 

Now, between you and I, I find these sorts of events very interesting. G, of course, made tracks up the stairs to Deck 10 to see the emergency generator in action, but I was more concerned about the state of the toilets. When we lost power, we lost most of our water pressure, but I was able to very slowly fill a cup with water several times to put in the toilet so that the suction worked. However, force of habit had me soaping up my hands with our Dial Foaming Complete hand soap before I realized there wasn't enough water pressure to rinse it off. Yep, it was an adventure!

Captain Ciruzzi kept us updated with several announcements, all assuring us the ship was navigationally sound. After about 30 minutes, he announced that one engine was operational and they were slowly bringing the others up to full power, and that we had once again resumed our navigational progress and our arrival in Los Angeles would not be affected. The water still wasn't working, so the toilets flushed with difficulty, but, within an hour after the initial event, except for the hot water appearing a little brown for a while longer, everything was back to normal. Which is to say I was sitting in our cabin looking for the most stable spot on the ship. Yep. It's going to be a long few days if the seas don't calm down a little. 

We talked with a bridge officer tonight who said that things were very exciting on the bridge during all this (I can only imagine). Captain Ciruzzi was in his office when this happened but was on the bridge in seconds and almost, immediately made the first announcement. Unsurprisingly, there is a check list of things to do when power is lost, right down to the initial announcement the captain should make. We lost power once last winter, too, but then we were docked in Raiatea. It's a whole different sport when it happens 16 hours out of Hawaii. 

We spent the rest of the day until dinner time watching college football in our cabin, one game after another, and loving every minute of it.  I was hoping to see the Michigan v. Ohio State game until I caught the final score, and then decided I was glad I hadn't. But hope springs eternal...the Broncos play the Patriots tomorrow. I hope the ship has power, I hope the game is available on the ship, I hope the Broncos win. I hope I'm not sea sick. :-|

I did go up to the Panorama Buffet at some point and brought some pizza back to the room for us, the closest I've come to preparing a meal since our beach bungalow on Rarotonga. There was no Elite Lounge tonight due to the Captains Circle parties, so we went directly to dinner at 5:15pm. It was also a formal night, number eleventy-seven of our winter, and that's my favorite thing to do, to leave a fantastic football game (Notre Dame v. Stanford) to go to dinner all dressed up. ;-)  We had a few minutes after dinner to return to our cabin to brush teeth and just happened to catch the last two minutes of the game. The score confirmed what I had expected, that it had been a great game to watch.  We stayed as long as we could (actually, I stayed longer than I should have, right up until the end, before I had to get to the Cabaret Lounge for the Captains Circle party. Luckily I ran into Anna and Antonio coming down the Deck 4 corridor just as I was. 

We had invited new friends Anna and Antonio from Genoa, Italy to be our guests for the party. We had spent the day with them on Matira Beach on Bora Bora (a lifetime ago) and they told us how they cruised a lot on Costa but this was their first Princess Cruise. Anna owns a B&B in Genoa and is the friendliest person; Antonio admits he only understands 60% of what we say but Anna is a good translator. We were honored to be the #2 MTP this cruise with 781 days. Mary Ann Z. has just over 1000 days and was the #1 MTP. Mom was a bit indignant (she's such a mom!) when she read that we had slipped to #2...steel yourself, Mom. We're heading to the Caribbean after Christmas, where we'll be lucky to be #75!!

Harmonica-ist (is that a word?) Bernie Fields performed with the Pacific Princess show band as the Cabaret Lounge entertainment tonight. We had met Bernie when he arrived on the ship yesterday on that same tender on which I made my ill-fated attempt to go ashore. That's a great instrument for a traveling musician to play; Bernie arrived on the ship with a carry on bag and nothing else. I was a bit unsure about harmonica entertainment, but Bernie has played with symphony orchestras all over the world. He is fantastic; however, after 45 minutes, I was starting to grow a bit weary of harmonica music. For a short time, I even wished that the Pacific Princess offered the child's-attention-span length shows that the other Princess ships offer...until Bernie's second-last song, Schubert's Ave Maria. That song has had particular significance for my gramma, mom and me for 40 years, and someday I may be able to listen to it without getting misty. Someday...but not today. It was a good show after a good day. 

There is much going on tonight, including the 50th anniversary balloon drop in the Pacific Lounge, but we are tucked into bed by 10pm. We 're starting to transition to our home time zone...at least for bedtime. For wake ups, we're staying firmly in Hawaii. It is, after all, a vacation, and we have a lot of early morning island arrivals to recover from. 

Day 82: No Maui for me :-(

We awoke early and watched (albeit from our cabin window) as the sun rose just off the ship's starboard side.

Captain Ciruzzi made his welcoming announcement early, and by 8am the tenders were set up and operating. The day looked to be nice and sunny, and we were thrilled to see that the view of the West Maui Mountains from the ship was spectacular. 

We went to breakfast in the Club Restaurant (yes, we have some papaya...finally!!) and had just fruit plates and oatmeal. This morning, I awoke feeling a little...vertigo, I guess, and didn't have much of an appetite.  I found out at dinner that several passengers had been awakened at 3am by the ship's rocking and rolling. I slept through it, but think it was the cause of my vertigo. 

We returned to the cabin to make a couple of phone calls. G wanted to do a helicopter tour today, but, this being the holiday weekend, everything was fully booked, even for singles (that I don't do helicopters sometimes works in his favor if there is just one empty seat).

Defeated on that count, I took the time to order our Prime Time Shuttle pickup for next Thursday in Los Angeles (can you believe it is that time already?) and delete the 100 or so BLACK FRIDAY emails in my junk email account. Have I mentioned we will be home for Christmas?  I know I have, but have I mentioned it lately? I have a feeling, however, that the overt commercialism of Christmas in America is going to hit us like a ton of bricks, after so many years away. 

We gathered up some things for a walking/shopping day, and went down to the tender boat platform on Deck 3. Right away, I knew I was in trouble. Captain Ciruzzi had said he was initially having the tenders launch from the starboard side of the ship, but that the wind was expected to pick up throughout the day and we'd probably return to the ship using a platform on the port side. Well, the tender boat on the starboard side was pitching and rolling. Still, I got in it and sat for several minutes while it was loaded with a few more passengers. I knew to sit by the opening and watch the horizon, but I finally gave up and stepped back off of it.

I waited just inside the ship until the tender would be ready to leave, but, standing there, it looked even worse. I asked one of the helmsmen if it got better or worse as it traveled the not-short distance to the Lahaina pier and he said it got much worse. That sealed it for me. I handed a can of Coke from my backpack into G in the tender and waved goodbye (and that vertigo sensation in my head lasted two more hours).  G phoned me from the tender and said I had made exactly the right choice; it was a very bouncy ride.

While I was sorry to miss a day in Maui, I suddenly had a few hours alone on a nearly empty ship to do whatever I wanted. Anything!  People ask us lots of questions about cruising for as long as we do, and we honestly answer that, except for Internet issues, it's not hard to do. We don't get bored, we don't eat too much, and, while we miss people and certain conveniences of home, we don't pine for them. But, in the interest of full disclosure, I do miss being alone sometimes. Not that I would ever want a steady diet of solitary living, but I went from having a husband away for months at a time for military duty to having a husband who lived at home but worked to having a husband at home nearly all of the time, to having a husband and 1000 to 4500 people around all the time. A little alone time is a welcome thing.

I first went out on the starboard side of the Promenade Deck to watch the pitching and rolling of the ship's tenders as they loaded and unloaded. Within 30 minutes or so, my iPhone rang; G was boarding a semi-submersible sub!  He was walking by the sub loading point in Lahaina harbor and they made him an offer too good to refuse. I went on the port side Promenade Deck and watched as the bright yellow semi-submersible sub left the harbor and sailed north toward Kaanapali. 

I settled in with a book and looked up occasionally as the sub moved further away. Suddenly, my iPhone was alerting me that I was receiving texts. G was sending me photos while still under the water!   

 

The sub is the yellow dot in the middle of the photo

The seating and windows were on each side of the sub

A diver was pointing out the sea life, including this octopus, to the passengers in the sub. This reminded me of a dive I once did in Cozumel. I think it was at Paradise Reef, not far from where the cruise ships dock, because I was there on a cruise ship. I was at about a 40 foot depth when I heard the strangest sound getting louder and louder. Sound carries differently underwater, and I couldn't immediately tell which direction it was coming from. The next instant, a submarine with some of my fellow cruise passengers went by right in front of me, and I recognized some of the people waving at me from the windows. That was a surreal experience!

G eventually returned to the Lahaina pier and took a tender back to the ship to have a late lunch with me. He said the sub ride had ben surprisingly smooth despite the rough water, and that the visibility had been better than he'd expected. He felt it was worth the $35 he'd paid at the last minute. It was his intention to go back to the island, but he never did. Something tells me the tender ride was just a little too rough to take four times in one day. We sat for a long while on the terrace behind the Promenade Deck enjoying that incredible view. It was so pretty that it even promoted G to say that he thought it rivaled any of the island views in French Polynesia. It certainly comes close, but, of course, it lacks the beautiful blue lagoons. 

Panoramic pic of the West Maui Mountains

We watched as several parasailing boats sped by, with the mountains as a backdrop

We returned to the cabin mid-afternoon, and G napped as I giddily texted friends at home.  While I welcomed this connectedness with the real world, news alerts about the domestic terrorism taking place in Colorado Springs kept popping up on my iPhone.

Sigh.

And that's all I will say about that. :-(

Sailaway wasn't until 6pm, but we skipped the Elite Lounge tonight and instead went directly to dinner in the Club Restaurant. Let me take a moment to say that we have been so lucky with our dinner waitstaff this season. We've had three different waiters and assistant waiters, and they, as well as all the waiters on the Pacific Princess are simply as good as the best we've ever known. It simply doesn't get any better than this. Sitting at our table, we had a perfect view of the sunset over the neighboring island of Lanai. 

And the bridge had an even better view of the sunset (their windows are cleaner!)

Source:  Princess.com

The water was so rough that they had a little trouble picking up the last tender, but we were finally making our way north into the Pailole Channel on the northwest coast of Maui. Almost immediately, the water got considerably rougher, and after dinner (just a salad with chicken breast and sorbet for me), we made our way forward on Deck 5 to the Cabaret Lounge for the 7:30pm performance of production show Cinematastic. We got front row seats and waited for the show to begin. 

Immediately, I knew I wasn't going to make it. The movement was the roughest we've seen to date. I had no idea how the dancers were going to cope, but, even though I was concerned about them (the fun part of this ship is that we get to know them as individuals), I couldn't stay. I left G and went up to the Panorama Buffet to get ginger ale, crackers and a green apple in case I needed them overnight. Returning to our cabin, our steward Jackie was leaning on her housekeeping cart, as green as the apple in my hand. I predict a rough night for many of us, but hope it improves tomorrow. 

G returned to the cabin after the show to check on me and said it never got any worse in the Cabaret Lounge, but it never got any better either; however, the dancers did just fine. It helps that they spend so much time in the air and are moving so quickly that momentum helps them keep their balance. Even in our Deck 4 midship cabin, it will be a 'tuck in the duvet' night to keep from rolling around in bed.

We are moving clocks ahead an hour overnight, and one more hour ahead later in the cruise. When he returned to the cabin, G asked me if I had changed my watch and iPhone yet. No, I hadn't. Five days at sea...I'm not sure we will even care what time it is. 

Halau Hula Ohana videos from their Honolulu performance

Look at their feet and hand gestures in perfect unison!

Here the dancers clicked together two separate river pebbles in each hand. 

At the end, the little girls came into the audience and shook hands. Soooo sweet!

Day 81: Honolulu

Happy Thanksgiving!

Before I get into what we did today, I wanted to post the content of an article I read yesterday from a Hawaiian news source. When many of us think of Thanksgiving, it evokes 'over the river and through the woods'-type images. But, in reality, Thanksgiving was officially celebrated in Hawaii before it was in the U.S.  

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How Thanksgiving became a holiday in Hawai‘i before the United States

Elita Ouk, Web Reporter 

Historians can tell you that, in the United States, President Abraham Lincoln officially made Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863 after years of unofficial celebration.

Few, however, know that the holiday was observed by royal decree fourteen years earlier in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

What drove the Kingdom to celebrate one of the most American holidays?The answer involves the monarch who ruled Hawaiʻi at the time. The Kingdom's different kings and queens each had their own preferences when it came to foreign allies.While some of his predecessors had favored Great Britain, Kauikeaouli, also known as Kamehameha III, admired the U.S. more. He was particularly impressed by the work American missionaries had done in the islands, former UH Manoa history professor Ralph S. Kuykendall wrote in the first volume of his history "The Hawaiian Kingdom."Hawai‘i already had a close relationship with the U.S. Christian missions of conversion had arrived in Hawai‘i around 1820 through the missionaries.Although their teachings were often at odds with existing Hawaiian culture and religion, Christianity and literacy were both widespread thanks to the work of missionaries from the nation's East Coast.Wanting to show his appreciation, Kauikeaouli designated a holiday to give thanks to the missionaries.In a decree, the King declared Dec. 31, 1849 "a day of public thanksgiving to God, for his unnumbered mercies and blessings to this nation," an announcement in the government-run newspaper The Polynesian said.Kauikeaouli was no stranger to ordering celebrations that went down in history. During a ceremony in 1843 shortly after Hawaiʻi's independence had been threatened by a rogue British military officer, he proclaimed before a crowd: "Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono,” which is often (though not always) translated as "the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness" and is the state's motto today.
Source:  http://m.kaleo.org/news/how-thanksgiving-became-a-holiday-in-hawai-i-before-the/article_21d06124-9395-11e5-bf31-b76fa7e249da.html?mode=jqm

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G was up and out and off the ship for a walk as soon as the Pacific Princess docked in Honolulu at 7am this morning, and I contentedly snoozed through it all, which, in itself is a remarkable thing. I remember that, when the Emerald Princess docked in Fort Lauderdale on turnaround days, we were literally shaken out of bed...and there we were on Deck 14. Here we are on Deck 4 and didn't hear -or feel- a thing. 

We didn't see a thing, either.  I looked out of our window, docked in beautiful Hawaii, and this was my view:

Now, that's appealing. ;-)

G appeared just before 8am, finally waking me up. I joined him for breakfast in the Club Restaurant, but first stopped to take some photos of the Thanksgiving display in the Club Bar. The ship definitely felt more 'Thanksgiving-y' today than it did last year, though it was similarly decorated for the holiday. I think the difference is that we were in the U.S. today (I think we were in Bora Bora last year, but I'm not certain) and, with this cruise returning to Los Angeles, more of the passengers are American. 

(This photo was taken later in the day in the Panorama Buffet, with assistant waiter Senny from India in the background.)

We were happy to see another new breakfast menu today, one that included banana walnut pancakes, so, of course, I had to follow up my usual fruit plate with an order of those. Anything banana nut, and I'm there!

The weather didn't look great this morning, but by 9am we walked off the ship and north through the Fort Street pedestrian mall en route to a bus. 

The ship was docked at Aloha Tower

The Fort Street pedestrian mall

Looking back toward the ship

While the traffic in Honolulu was the lightest we have ever seen, the streets were still full of pedestrians. WalMart was open, as were Walgreens and Longs Drugs, and I heard this evening that several big stores were also open, but not those in Ala Moana Mall. We had no trouble catching a bus down to Waikiki 

Beach. Our first destination was, unsurprisingly, the Hale Koa Resort. We got off the bus and had to walk four or five blocks toward the beach, and for most of them we walked through Fort DeRussy park, the military park that runs right to the beach adjacent to the Hale Koa hotel. 

Things were hopping at the Hale Koa, and along the entire length of Waikiki Beach. This is a long holiday weekend, after all. We made our way through the not-small resort to the outdoor bar/cafe right along the beach. 

Large banyan tree on the Hale Koa property

I loved this gazebo covered with bougainvillea...

...and this tree that had pink leaves mixed in with the green (it's always pink with me)

By the time we reached the beach, the sun came out for awhile, and the rest of the day offered a mix of sun and misting rain showers accompanied by some wind.

We ordered some fries and I had a traditional mai tai. They're so good there!

We had wanted to do a sunset sail again tonight, as we had in September, but when I called Holokai catamarans yesterday from Hilo, I was told they'd not be operating today. Still, sitting there on the beach, we could see another company's catamaran leaving for short sails throughout the late morning and early afternoon.

We eventually made our way down there, and found that they were a company called Maitai catamaran and they were offering a sunset sail tonight, but it was totally sold out. However, we were welcome to return at 5pm to see if there were any no shows. It was an appealing idea...it was already 2:30pm and we could easily have stayed in the area until 5. But at that moment the sky darkened again and a windy rain blew in and that kind of sealed the deal. We turned around and started walking back down the beach toward the Hilton Hawaiian Village. 

We spent a little time walking through the extensive shopping area that fronts the Hilton Hawaiian Village waiting for the rain to pass, and eventually started to walk down to Ala Moana Mall to catch a bus back to the ship. One note on that...the Honolulu Bus' website and app are fairly useless compared to Google Maps; which provides better bus routing and schedules. If you have cellular data in Hawaii, Google Maps is definitely the way to go. We waited just 7 minutes for a #19 bus back to the Aloha Tower. It brought back memories of our very late return to the ship in September, and of the night before that, when we'd stepped off the bus into a torrential rain. 

Our first stop was our cabin to wash our hands ten times before using the bathroom and washing them again. I can't imagine the germs we encountered on the buses and touching hand rails during our outing!  Then we went right up to the Panorama Buffet,  where the first person we saw was waiter Stefan from Romania, who was on the Pacific Princess last year and just arrived back on the ship today. I couldn't believe it, and for half a second was confused. Was it this year or last year? Then headwaiter Nelson came over to introduce us to Melvin's replacement and it clicked. How lucky are we to get Stefan for our waiter, even if it's only for 7 nights?!?

We ate very lightly, just enough to get us through to dinner less than 2 hours later. The Panorama Buffet was empty; I have no idea where everyone is on this ship. Love that!  We returned to our cabin and rested (and Interneted) a little before getting ready for dinner in the Club Restaurant. 

I think you can click on the menus above to enlarge them. 

I had the crab martini followed by the pumpkin gnocchi and then the turkey dinner and it was all excellent, but skipped the pumpkin pie for dessert in favor of the mango sorbet. As well as Princess prepares turkey, it cannot make pumpkin pie at all. I don't even try it anymore. ;-)

We were finished eating in time to get to the 7pm performance of folkloric hula school Halau Hula Ohana. They featured about 22 young girls (12 or so and under) and 7 or 8 older girls performing several hulas in perfect unison. So beautiful to see!  I'll upload some short video clips eventually, maybe from Maui tomorrow. 

And that was our Honolulu Thanksgiving. We've been on cruise ships for Thanksgiving for even more years than we've celebrated Christmas on ships, so it feels like a perfectly natural place to be on this holiday, especially as it was the first time we've been in the U.S. for it. We sail at 11pm tonight, and will arrive in Maui early tomorrow morning, at a time that I'm not certain about. We are 81 days into our cruise, and I don't sweat these sorts of details anymore. If I'm on deck, I'll watch as we cruise between the islands of Molokai and Lanai en route to Lahaina, Maui. And if I'm not...I'll spend the rest of the cruise hiding from Douglas Pearson. ;-)

Sailaway from Honolulu as seen on the Pacific Princess bridge webcam

Source:  Princess.com