Day 92: Christmas Day at sea

We had a wonderful day, complete with good food (too much), good friends, good fun and even a couple of classic Christmas movies, too. In other words, it was just like being home for the holiday. I love it when Christmas falls on a sea day!

We had breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room and then went to the Christmas service in Club Fusion, followed by a simple walk through the Piazza when Santa arrived. Mayhem, but so cute. 

Over a week ago, six of us (Nan and Anthony and Maryellen and Ron) decided to have Christmas lunch together in the DaVinci Dining Room. What a special way to celebrate the day. We talked for more than two hours. Mehai told us tonight that they served over 50% more lunches in the dining room today than they do on an average sea day. I’m not surprised.

Day 13 lunch menu, page 1

Day 13 lunch menu, page 2

That left just enough time for National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation before we cleaned up (and dressed formally) for the evening. We couldn’t even pretend to be hungry when we went to the Elite Lounge followed by dinner, but that didn’t stop us from eating. G had the pineapple glazed ham for his entree; I enjoyed the orange roughy. We both loved the lighted candles on each table.  And no crowded supermarket parking lots or long check out lines, no cooking and no clean up. Christmas on a ship... it’s a very good thing. 

Christmas dinner menu, page 1

Christmas dinner menu, page 2

Christmas dessert menu

We returned to the cabin and are watching the 1947 Miracle on 34 Street, and will likely follow it up with It’s a Wonderful Life. We know that these movies we’re enjoying so much today will not hold much appeal tomorrow. 

And, finally, I thought I’d take a minute on Christmas Day to give an update on Mom. We are in touch daily, and we chatted this afternoon (love this speedy unlimited WiFi!). Many people have emailed Christmas greetings and several have asked how she is. Well, I thought I’d share a text I received from her a couple of days ago to give you some idea how she’s doing. 

Hi, Missy.  Hope you are doing well.  We are fine here at ES.  Always something to do.  This afternoon, Joyce and I are practicing the music for our Christmas sing-a-long which is scheduled for Monday.  We try to put it in right key.  Yesterday Kelly asked me if I had a NewYear poem for the newsletter.  She needed a short one to fill a small space.  Well, we had trivia with Gary then the Residents’ Council meeting.  I told her I could do something, but not until evening.  So I wrote it and took it to her this morning.  It is very short and she loved it!  You will see it in the JanuaryNewsletter.  Please take care of yourself and enjoy where you are planted.  Love you bunches!  Sending hugs.

Honestly, I’m tired just reading about her day. I think it’s safe to say life is very much back to normal for her. 

We are blessed.  Life is good. :-)

Day 13 Princess Patter, page 1

Day 13 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 13 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 13 Princess Patter, page 4

Day 73 (continued): Auckland

Wow. What a wonderful Christmas Day we’ve had. I know I swore off ever again being on a large ship for Christmas but the one we’ve had on the Golden Princess was truly extra special. Have I mentioned it was my idea to be on this ship over the holidays?  I know I have, but have I mentioned it lately?

;-) 

We were slow to get moving this morning (at least one of us was) as our very late night did take a toll. The midnight Christmas service was nicely done, but there was another non-denominational service held this morning; also, the Mass celebrated from St. Peter’s Basilica was being shown live in the Vista Lounge. I was up in time to have a cup of tea and then watch part of the Vatican Mass. Really, that’s more spectacle than worship, but since we had just attended a Mass there last Fall, it was a spectacle I didn’t want to miss. 

And G slept on (interspersed with watching Sunday football highlights on the Red Zone). Still, by 11am, we were meeting up in the Horizon Court Buffet for today’s special Christmas lunch, and what a feast it was. I knew Sous Chef Denise and the entire culinary team had done a lot of planning and preparation for it, but we did our part too, by bringing big appetites. I took photos of most of it, and I’ll post them later. I stayed on my vegan plus seafood plan by having a mountain of shrimp and smoked salmon and a salad with rocket mix greens and orange segments. If I could eat cheese they would never have gotten me out of there; the cheese offerings were amazing. The best part was that it took no fewer then five hugs and twenty “Merry Christmases” to make it through the Buffet and back to our table. What a great crew!! 

Cruising through Auckland Harbour

It was a really beautiful Christmas Day!

We had arrived in Auckland by then, later than originally scheduled but earlier than it had recently been changed to. We didn’t rush off though. We saw ferries leaving for Devenport (as we had done last time we were here), and knew the Maritime Museum was open today, but couldn’t get motivated to visit either. Instead we phoned home using Vonage (For 1 cent per minute! Get the app!!) and texted Christmas wishes to friends (nearly all of whom are dealing with cold and/or snowy weather) and generally took advantage of having local cellular internet again. 

We eventually walked off the ship and down to Albert Park, less than a mile away, where we walked along several paths (the weather was perfect, sunny and about 70), and then returned to Queens Wharf where the Golden Princess was berthed and watched some locals fishing. We really just wanted to be outside and get a little exercise after three days at sea, so that’s what we did. 

The local Maori Haka folkloric group performed again at 4:30pm (on Christmas Day!  I was surprised by that) but we had such good seats for it last time that we skipped it today. We were back on the ship and cleaned up for dinner at 5:30pm. Headwaiter Sean outdid himself today with my menu:  a seafood starter, a salad and then a beautiful grilled vegetable tower with vegan (!) puff pastry circles separating the different vegetables. (I took photos. You’ll see it eventually). It was so delicious.  Dessert was mandarin sorbet for both of us, though several different kinds of Christmas desserts were offered too. 

If there’s a candle it must be Christmas!

Christmas crackers too

Seafood starter

Vegetable tower

There was a special Christmas variety show performed twice in the Princess Theater tonight. We went to the 8pm show, and it was both funny (Entertainment Director Tim read kids’ letters to Santa) and moving. All four production show vocalists sang, but Alyssia Penn (I know I’m spelling her name incorrectly), who has trained in and sung opera sang O Holy Night, and it was everything you’d imagine it would be. I got chills. Such a talent. 

The Princess Theater stage was beautiful

We were watching from the Promenade Deck as we sailed out of Auckland Harbour and the harbor pilot was disembarked just before 9pm (sail away was 8pm). Giovanni walked past after performing in the show and wanted a photo of the three of us to send to his parents in Sicily, as he had already told them about our Christmas Eve dinner. That was very sweet. 

And that was it for me, though G is out listening to...something. I’m not exactly sure what, though he mentioned The Voice of the Ocean auditions. He got at least three hours more sleep than I did last night and still has energy, but the alarm is set for 6am tomorrow. We have an early arrival and long day in Tauranga, and, with four more ports after that, can’t afford to have late nights. 

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Christmas Day. Stay warm!

Day 72: At Sea

It is Christmas Eve in New Zealand as we round the northern tip of the North Island, scheduled to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, Christmas Day, at 1pm. We are in between activities tonight as I start this post, but our plans for the evening extend to the midnight Christmas Eve interdenominational service. It’s been a wonderful, busy day at sea. 

We slept late again, until 8:30am which, we keep reminding ourselves, was 6:30am just three days ago. We went to breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet where I wandered by the dessert/pastry bar (I have thus far avoided it altogether except to get peanut better) and saw...STOLLEN!  I knew in my heart it had probably been available for days, but had tried not to think about it. However, it’s Christmas, and I decided to treat myself to one slice. It was worth the wait (especially for that little circle of marzipan in the middle). 

Destination Expert Wendy Fuller spoke on the ports of Gisborne and Wellington at 10am in the Princess Theater, two ports that are new to us this cruise, so we went to that and then watched the turkey carving demonstration in the Piazza with Sous Chef Denise (chosen in lieu of our Indian Executive Chef because she is from the US) and Maitre d’ Carlos. Then it was back to the Princess Theater for Maori Ambassador Kane Holmes’ Walata Mai singalong. 

We ate lunch outside on the Terrace Deck on a warm and sunny day, with a view of the ship’s wake. On Christmas Eve!  It simply doesn’t get any better than that. There were all sorts of good things to choose from at lunch in the Buffet today, and I had a salmon salad and black bean salad and some of the gorgeous (!) whole halibut they were slicing. It was perfectly moist and delicious.

Executive Sous Chef Denise ready for Christmas

Rounding the northern part of New Zealand

Following lunch, I walked on the Promenade Deck AND went to the Fitness Center. I’m not sure where exercise (besides lots of walking) will fit into our next six days in ports and decided to be good today. 

We skipped the Ta Moko Maori face painting and learning the Haka in the Piazza with Kane, as we had done both of those last time we were in New Zealand, and also didn’t participate in the gingerbread house  building contest, but those were just two of the many activities available this afternoon. The Patter was packed!

We had invited drummer Giovanni to join us for dinner one night, and there were a lot of approvals and rescheduling that were required, but tonight it finally came together, and the fact that it was Christmas Eve made it all the more special. We have known Giovanni since he first started working for Princess. He is from Catania, Sicily, and it was nice to be able to talk about our visits there last year. After dinner, we went to the Piazza for Christmas caroling with the officers and staff, and I was reminded of Christmases on the Pacific Princess with Jere Ring accompanying us on the keyboard, and, last year, Captain D waving his Santa hat in the air as he sang. And Santa arriving on a tender boat in Bora Bora. We’ve had some really good Christmases on Princess ships (6 of the past 7 years) and I’ve come a long way since the tears I shed on our first Christmas away from home. 

The entertainment tonight in the Princess Theater was magician Brad Manuel, but we chose to skip that in favor of listening to the Golden Princess band (and Giovanni!) playing jazz in the Wheelhouse Bar. Next we will move to the Promenade Lounge to listen to piano entertainer Juan Carmelo Escobar until the midnight service. We can sleep in a little tomorrow morning, which is a good thing. We’ll need it!

Day 71: At Sea

Today was such a lazy day that I am truly embarrassed to admit how little I did. First, despite first staying up late last night listening to Juan Escobar in the Promenade Lounge, I stayed up several hours longer watching The Crown episodes. I am obsessed, and am so happy that I was able to download the second season plus another 20 or episodes of other shows while in Hobart. 

As a result, I slept until nearly 9am, and decided to read in lieu of going to breakfast. We had been invited to a wonderful lunch with a couple of ship’s  officers and I didn’t want to ruin my appetite. Lunch was incredible, all seafood and delicious veggies and, for me, a fruit plate for dessert that included strawberries and blueberries and raspberries (oh my!). What a treat!

G went to the Veterans get together in Skywalkers afterward, but I returned to the cabin to write thank you notes and get Christmas gifts together for a few friends onboard. The wildest thing to us is not that we are enjoying  a warm-weather Christmas...that’s as it should be. ;-) but that it’s daylight until nearly 9pm at Christmas. Even in the warm weather of the Caribbean and French Polynesia, sunset occurred by 6pm in late December. 

Our second last formal night of the season (silent cheer) was tonight, and we managed to dress in about 5 minutes and had one more formal photo taken before dinner. We’re still searching for that photo that makes us look 20 years younger, but by now we’d settle for ten. Or five.  Dinner was a kiwi and grapefruit starter, salad and delicious red snapper with about two pounds of vegetables sautéed in olive oil and garlic. I am going to miss that!

We went to the Princess Theater very early to get good seats for our final viewing of production show Born to Dance. We skipped the Promenade Lounge tonight...we move clocks ahead another hour tonight and I really don’t want to get in the habit of sleeping late every morning, especially when we begin our six port days plus Fiordland National Park without a break.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. There are a lot of holiday activities and entertainment scheduled throughout the day, ending with an ecumenical worship service at midnight. I hope that our sunny and calm weather continues. These seas would be considered stable even in the Caribbean. Here in the Tasman Sea they are extraordinary. Always something to be grateful for!

Day 75: Christmas Day at sea

Captain D told us, in his noon announcement, that overnight the wind gusts rose to 40 knots and though the Pacific Princess' planned route to our next port of Bequia in the Grenadines was on the outside (eastern side) of the Lesser Antilles, during the night he had turned the ship around and we are now traveling down the Caribbean side of the Lesser Antilles. We hadn't noticed a thing and slept through any bounciness we might have encountered. As I've said before, it's all relative. 

G was up and out early today, and had his main breakfast in the Panorama Buffet, but I was slower to get moving. Finally, around 8:45am he returned to the cabin and then joined me at breakfast in the Club Restaurant. I splurged and had banana walnut pancakes, because I knew that lunch was a sure thing and there would be plentiful opportunities for more nutritious meals today. Eggnog was served in the Panorama Buffet but not in the Club Restaurant but our waiter ran up and got me a small cup of it. Nothing says Christmas like a little egg nog. Except stollen. :-)

G and I went only as far as the sunny side of the Promenade Dexk where we sat in loungers and watched the sun dance on the swells and saw hundreds of flying fish. It was still windy, but not as much as we saw on those first two days out of Fort Lauderdale, so we were covered with salt spray but not as much or as quickly. G fell asleep and I plugged in ear buds and listened to an audiobook (Winter Solstice, which I could recite by heart) and quickly fell asleep myself. We awoke in just enough time to go to an activity of interest we had seen in the Princess Patter:  Christmas cookie decorating. 

Have I mentioned how much we love cruising on the Pacific Princess at Christmas?  I know I have, but have I mentioned it lately?  On the larger ships, these sorts of activities are pretty much limited to families with kids, which is fine and right, but with only five kids on the Pacific Princess (and at least two of them too young to participate), all of these things truly are open to everyone. We went up to Sabatinis where we found stacks of huge sugar cookies (about 7" in diameter) with a hanging hole and a loop of ribbon at the top. Three members of the cruise staff were there to help us fill decorating bags with different colors of frosting and there were all sorts of decorations to be applied:  candied cherries, Froot Loops, marshmallows and rainbow sprinkles. 

I took two cookies, one for each of us, and basically decorated both of them because G was too busy getting email addresses to send photos and videos from last night's caroling to the cruise staff's families. Several fellow passengers remarked how wonderful it was on this ship to have this laid backed atmosphere and ability to truly participate in all these sorts of things. We could have decorated gingerbread houses three days ago but I couldn't find anyone to do it with, though Johnny said later that he'd have joined me. So maybe next year... Not wanting to take our cookies back to our cabin, G and I took them to lunch in the Club Restaurant. I had a chicken Caesar salad and he had four cheese pasta and we both had a few bites of our cookies for dessert. And left them there. That sort of thing gets kind of gamey in the cabin after a day or so. 

 

 

 

G finished in time to go to Goofy Golf in the Atrium where he tied for first place and won a nifty Princess neck wallet filled with candy that we'll give to a 10 year old on board named Charlie who tells the best jokes. I went to the cabin and caught the movie White Christmas on the cabin TV from the beginning, but fell asleep (again!) and missed part of it. No worries; it looped over and over again the rest of the day so I eventually saw the middle and just now watched the very end. It's not like I haven't seen it before!

We stopped by the PES Lounge for a few shrimp, and then went to dinner at exactly 5:30pm. I took photos of the Christmas menus but we went with the traditional: salad and turkey dinner for me and fruit and a Virginia ham for G. The waiters all sang two Christmas carols in a language not their native one, and it was very sweet and much appreciated. We skipped all the wonderful desserts; we were full by then and, frankly, have had each of them at least once in the past. 

 

 

  

 

The big entertainment tonight was a much anticipated Christmas Variety show. The Pacific Princess showband started it off with some Christmas tunes, and then vocalists Simon Breen and Deana Julian from the production show casts each sang two songs and comedian/juggler Thien Fu did a funny bit and guitarist Duncan Tuck played some wonderful Christmas folk songs and finally the dancers came out in those darling Christmas costumers we've seen before (looking very Rockettes do Dickens) and danced and it was all just perfect and fun. We went right into the Casino Lounge to listen to Jere Ring for an hour but then called it a day. I said yesterday that we have have five upcoming port days in a row, but I was wrong. It's six. And only one of them (Martinique) is not as exciting to us as all the others, so we may use that day to slow down a bit. 

 

 

The Pacific Princess dancers (and cruise staff)

Officially today we must now say that we are going home next week, and although there are many wonderful things about that (I received a new photo of the boys and their older sisters today that made me a tad homesick), this will not be a happy disembarkation. They may have to pry my fingers off the ship's hull when it's time to leave. We've had the BEST time!

Happy Holiday wishes!

 

 

More videos...

It's darn near impossible for me to go back and insert these videos in the appropriate days' posts, so I'm going to take the much easier way out and simply lump them together again.

Caroling in the atrium on the Pacific Princess 

Santa arriving on a tender boat

Santa attempting to get through the ship's security. 

(We go through this same process every time we re-board the ship in port). 

Day 68: Bora Bora One

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.  I suffered so...I woke up on a cruise ship in Bora Bora on Christmas Day without a single present to open.

;-)

We had an open porthole hatch and visible sun on the water in the ship's webcam when we awoke this morning. Merry Christmas indeed!  But we were slow to get moving and watched our arrival in Bora Bora from the comfort of our bed. I have no idea where we cruised after we left Raiatea yesterday at 6pm; we went 140 miles to travel just 22 miles away, but it wasn't too awfully bouncy and for that I am grateful. The ship anchored in the Bora Bora lagoon around 7am and we fell back asleep. 

Our late night had caught up with us; it was just after 9am before we got moving. I was dressed and waiting for G when cruise director David made an exciting announcement:  Santa Claus was arriving on a tender boat!!  Woohoo!!  I grabbed my iPhone and made a beeline for the Promenade Deck. Santa arriving on a tender boat?  This was a first, and something I just HAD to see. Luckily, due to this ship's small size, there was plenty of room on the Promenade Deck for all interested parties.  I saw the tender boat with Santa waving from the open door doing circles in the lagoon. The ship's horn was blown, over and over, announcing his arrival, and the tender went around the entire ship (that was a photo op...Santa waving from a tender with Bora Bora's Mount Otemanu behind it) before coming back around to the tender pontoon. Santa was calling his HO HO HOs (with an accent. Italian?) as he stepped onto the pontoon and then made his way up the forward stairs where he was besieged by kids on Deck 5 and posed for impromptu photos with them. David made another announcement, that Santa needed to meet with the ship's officers below decks to take care of some visa formalities and then take a nap after his long night, but he would be back later in the day with presents for the kids. 

Santa's tender doing circles in the Bora Bora lagoon. 

Santa arriving on a tender boat!

Santa posing for photos in the elevator lobby (as far as he got before the kids found him). 

The whole thing was darling. I got some great videos that I will post from Papeete. I have to say that everything Christmas-y on the Pacific Princess has been just perfect, much more intimate than any Christmas we've had on the Emerald Princess (and those were also very nice). But, with fewer kids and more space per passenger, everything seems much less cruise ship-like and much more family-like, and this was has been a most special experience. 

G and I finally got up to breakfast in the Panorama Buffet sometime after 9:30am. Oooohhhh, we were moving slowly today. We had mimosas with breakfast, and I had Christmas stollen and egg nog was also served and we dined looking out at the beautiful Bora Bora lagoon (sitting inside, as it was HOT out there today). It was a Christmas morning I'll not soon forget. 

Our plan was to take a shuttle to Matira Beach but we returned to the cabin and got caught up with a movie on TV and actually fell back asleep again for a while longer. Eventually we woke up and felt inspired to do some continued "straightening" in our cabin. We have some Princess gifts put together (in blue Princess beach bags) for people we've met in Papeete, and bottles of wine and champagne to be stored for us in the galley bar while we're away and we're still trying to sort out what stays on the ship and what goes with us. We'll have a busy couple of days coming up while we continue to enjoy the islands with a eye toward getting off the Pacific Princess on December 28th. 

Finally we had had enough of housekeeping, and took a tender over to Bora Bora where we first worked on making some plans for tomorrow on the island. We then took the Air Tahiti ferry to the Bora Bora, airport a nice ride that we enjoy simply for the views of the lagoon and mountains. The day stayed hazily sunny, not the prettiest day we've had on Bora Bora, but, interestingly, the lagoon appeared a very pretty blue-green in spots. 

The resort boats leaving the Bora Bora airport with their newly arrived guests. 

The beautiful Bora Bora lagoon on a partly sunny, partly hazy day. 

Interestingly, the Aranui 3 (the combo freighter/passenger ship that carries freight to the Marquesas Islands) was in port with us today, the third time we've seen it since we've been in French Polynesia. I wasn't even aware that it sailed to Bora Bora, but perhaps it does just a few times a year. It stayed until after dark and then sailed out of the lagoon. It keeps strange hours!

By 4:30pm we were back on the ship (and I got another great video of outriggers riding the tender wake on our return). Today, being Christmas, was formal night, and I got ready for that while G snuck in a hot tub visit. By 5:30pm, we were dressed for the evening and up in the Pacific Lounge as Santa passed out presents (plush baby seals that had been wrapped by musicians and entertainers in their spare time) to the kids on board. There are so few kids that we didn't feel like we were taking space from someone else, and enjoyed the experience very much.  There is a family with three young boys that's been doing back to back cruises on the Pacific Princess with their extended family, and they are all right down the hall from us. They were so sweet, and wanted us in their family photos. We meet the nicest people when we cruise!

The winners of the gingerbread house decorating contest on the Pacific Princess

Dinner was a special Christmas menu, and I had a seafood starter, butternut squash soup (I'm not one for any squash, but bravely tried it and it was delish), and then had a full turkey dinner with roasted chestnuts and maple glazed carrots and asparagus and stuffing and cornbread. G had the Virginia ham and proclaimed it excellent (but not a true, salty Virginia ham). For dessert we both had gingerbread soufflés, and I have to say they were better than the gingerbread soufflés on the Emerald Princess last Christmas...much more ginger taste, and quite yummy. 

Bora Bora from our Christmas dinner table

Christmas cookies after dessert 

We. Were. Stuffed. And then we returned to our cabin to find mini-eclairs had been delivered for formal night (in lieu of chocolate covered strawberries, which we have not had a lot of down here due to how hard is it to get strawberries sourced in French Polynesia). Really, we don't need to eat the entire time we stay in Papeete (which is good because I'm not certain we can afford to). 

We weren't sure what the Christmas variety show was going to be, but went to the Cabaret Lounge at 8:30pm to find out. Well, it truly was a variety show, and every entertainer on the ship performed a Christmaa song or dance; and they showed videos of the crew and officers from the different departments on board wishing us Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. They also showed a video of Santa coming onboard through security and having a tough time of it, and that was harious. Apparently they had filmed that a couple of weeks ago, and we especially liked it because we know all those people by name. I've recorded it and will upload it from Papeete, too (it's going to take me ten days just to get all this internetting done!). 

All in all, it was one of the best Christmases in recent memory for us. I never had a moment to be homesick and never for one minute regretted our decision to extend our stay in French Polynesia...well, except for when friends Jim and Marcia sent us a Christmas email telling us they were looking forward to seeing us on the Royal Princess in two weeks. THAT was a hard reply to write. We will soon be missing people at home AND on the Royal Princess, people we've cruised with for years. But I just have to remember of all the wonderful people we've met on the Pacific Princess and in French Polynesia, keep calm and cruise on. 

Life is so good. :-)

Tomorrow:  just another day in Bora Bora. ;-)