We had exactly the kind of day I’d hoped we’d have on the Majestic Princess today. While the ship was anchored in the beautiful Bay of Islands in northern New Zealand, with views in every direction, we stayed on board. When the weather is sunny and warm, and most passengers are off in port, the Majestic Princess offers a wonderfully relaxing experience. It was nice to take advantage of it today.
We had stayed up later than usual last night at Ye Olde Pub Night. It’s been years since we’ve been to one of these because they haven’t been offered very often lately, but they’re always a lot of fun. Entertainment Director Tim Donovan participated, and I remember from the many, many, MANY years we had Tim as our Cruise Director that he does a really nice job with those sorts of parties.
We could tell as soon as we woke up that we needed a slow day. We’ve been doing a lot of walking in ports, and while it is nothing short of a wonder that I can do that with very minimal foot pain (although I haven’t given many updates on that lately, we still talk about it between ourselves daily, as if we both need affirmation that, yes, our aestas horribilus was worth it), we are approaching our fifth month of travel, and the even G’s Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is starting to diminish a little. To which I say Thank God.
We had a decent cellular signal from shore and could actually check the webcams and furnace at home while on the ship. To which I also say Thank God. We are living on the dark side of the moon here on the Majestic Princess.
It was warm enough to enjoy breakfast on the open deck behind the World Fresh Marketplace. Gloriously quiet, and with wonderful service keeping me well supplied with decaf coffee and soy milk. I am also eating a kiwi everyday for breakfast. The buffet has lots of them, and it seems the appropriate thing to do while in New Zealand. Although, did I tell you about looking for yellow kiwis (the most prized variety) at a grocery store in Port Chalmers a few weeks ago and not only not seeing any, but discovering the regular kiwis they were selling were from California? We could hardly believe it, but I guess it’s still too early for New Zealand kiwis.
As I’ve mentioned before, there are many comfortable seating areas on the Majestic Princess, inside the ship but also on the open decks. After breakfast, we settled into a wicker conversation area near the pool and happily enjoyed the peace and quiet. MUTS was showing a silent slide show of the 1000 best travel photos submitted by Princess cruisers, and that is a million times more enjoyable than the Wake Show or a movie or concert. There were actually a couple of hours on this ship when I thought, “This is as good as it gets.
The views from the ship today: priceless!
With so much time on our hands, we easily made it to the Elite Lounge in the Vista-less Lounge before we went to dinner. We then went to the Princess Theater for tonight’s show. Vocalist Rietta Austin from Auckland has a terrific voice and was harious to boot. Good grief, when she solicited help from some men (including an 18-year old) from the audience to help her get up and down the stairs (she is amply proportioned), we just howled. There was also a second show by the comedian (whose name was left out of the Patter, but we knew he was Jim Short) in the Vista-less Lounge, but we’ve already seen him a few times already this season and passed on that.
Day 11 dinner menu, page 1
Day 11 dinner menu, page 2
Day 11 dessert menu
Afterwards, it was still warm enough for us to sit on the open deck behind the World Fresh Marketplace (I don’t know what that deck is called, or I would call it something other than the “open deck behind the World Fresh Marketplace”) and enjoyed sunset (not exactly behind the ship tonight) and another gorgeous twilight. We do love these long days! I managed to avoid both cookies and watermelon tonight. I need to do that more often.
Next up: two days at sea back to Sydney. New South Wales (the Australian state in which Sydney is located) is currently getting rain, too much, we hear, but the forecast for January 21st looks fantastic, and, we are hoping to find Sydney smoke free. Not that it matters too much. Our primary goal has to be finding an open Apple Store or at least high speed WiFi. Our next cruise will remove even cellular data as an option for internet access in most of the ports, and we need to be ready to be on the darkest part of the dark side of the moon for two full weeks. Pray the furnace holds and the house stays safe!
Day 11 Princess Patter, page 1
Day 11 Princess Patter, page 2
Day 11 Princess Patter, page 3
Day 11 Princess Patter, page 4