Day 109: Scenic cruising Fiordland National Park

Captain Dino Sagani told us yesterday that we’d be entering Milford Sound, on the north end of Fiordland National Park, at 7am this morning, and I was so happy to see, in today’s Patter, a Karakia, a traditional Maori prayer to be said on  Deck 16 midship as we entered the park. That seemed perfectly appropriate, but I’ve never seen that happen before on these New Zealand cruises. 

I wish I could adequately convey how beautiful it is to enter Milford Sound that early in the morning. The fiord is still in darkness at the water level; only the tops of the mountains and their north side is lit up. The sun was not out brightly when we first sailed in, but by the time we reached the the closed end of the fiord, it was getting a little lighter. . 

On Deck 16, looking toward the back of the Majestic Princess, with the MUTS screen view of the front of the ship. 

That tan area in the middle of the ship in the dancing fountains

One of the sightseeing boats in Milford Sound

I also wish I could say that this was our prettiest day ever in Milford Sound. It wasn’t, only because they’ve had a bit of a dry spell (which ended with a bang a few hours later), and the number and volume of waterfalls was greatly diminished from what we’ve seen in the past. But it is still such a beautiful area, and, really, we were fortunate to simply be able to get in. 

Captain Dino told us we’d have a lot of rough water as we re-entered the Tasman Sea and made the turn to the south. He said the weather was quickly deteriorating, and, boy, was he right. We had gale force (10 on the Beaufort scale) wind and 15 foot swells. And then the rain started...torrentially. 

We watched the swells from our lunch table in the Concerto Dining Room and it was like watching fireworks, keeping everyone with a view entertained. “Oh, look at that one!”, over and over again. 

Day 3 lunch menu, page 1

Day 3 lunch menu, page 2

There was little doubt we’d miss Doubtful and Thompson, and Breaksea and Milford Sounds. It seems the chance of seeing all the fiords on a cruise is kind of like the chance of getting into Easter Island on a cruise.  G and I settled in at the Sur La Mer restaurant on Deck 7 with its beautiful floor to ceiling glass walls and watched as the rain fell in sheets on the Promenade Deck. It felt rather cozy (and not too crowded) on the ship. 

As soon as we rounded the southern tip of the South Island, everything calmed down, as the island was breaking the wind. We made a very quick stop at the Elite Lounge in the Vista-less Lounge and then went to dinner. Showtime tonight in the Princess Theater featured violinist Chris Watkins.  What a performer. He confirmed my suspicion, and said he would be getting off the ship tomorrow in Port Chalmers and would not be back until September (so I’m left to wonder what will happen to his parts of Encore). He also said he was booked for the entire year with Princess Cruises. I’m glad; he is one of their best instrumental guest entertainers (the other being pianist Jon Darsk, who we will see later in this cruise). 

Day 4 dinner menu, page 1

Day 4 dinner menu, page 2

We are ready to get to a port with cellular data tomorrow. I hope to upload some blog posts. It’s a delicate balance of time and battery life and signal, so all I can do is try. Thank you for your patience!

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 1

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 4

Day 99: Fiordland National Park

I left off last night as we were listening to acoustic guitarist Jay O’Sullivan playing in the Crown Bar. He sat with us during his break, and told us he’s from Cork, Ireland, and he’d just been on board for three weeks. He’s the perfect entertainer for that venue. 

We had great seats for people watching and stayed in that area until after midnight. It was billed as a Black and White party, but I didn’t see a lot of people dressed in only those colors. The Majestic Princess orchestra started playing at 10:30pm, and people were dancing (kind of in the corridor, as there isn’t a dance floor there). 

We took turns exploring the other parties taking place, and two hours before midnight, the Piazza was packed. Since balloon drops at midnight are no more, the Piazza party has lost a little of its allure for us. The Vista-less Lounge was the location of the family party, and the dance floor there was full of little kids like it was a wedding reception. Very cute. 

But we enjoyed the Crown Bar Party. We were sitting with two sisters from New Zealand who had left their husbands behind for some sisterly-bonding. After midnight, one of the production show singers, Nick (who has an amazing voice, a la Michael Buble), sang several songs with the orchestra. We stuck around until nearly 1am, and then, hungry (since it had been nearly seven hours since we had dinner), we swung by the World Fresh Marketplace, which was open to 1:30am last night. 

The Majestic Princess was scheduled to arrive in Dusky Sound at 10am this morning, and it was storming and windy at that time. We went up to the Hollywood Conservatory to find a place to view the scenery, such as it was, and there must have been people camped out up there since there wee hours of the morning. Still, we found two chairs along the side, and tried to see what we could, but it was very limited. Plus, it was cold in there!  We moved to the Hollywood Pool and settled in on two loungers. The rain was running down the glass roof in sheets and it was nearly dark as night in there at noon. Still, we were entertained by a large lightning storm directly overhead. 

When the Majestic Princess moved back to sea, we went to the World Fresh Marketplace for lunch...and so did everyone else. I am really struggling with the buffet on this ship. I don’t see anything but breads and rolls and carving stations with huge hunks of meat. And when I’m sitting down munching on a roll, people walk by with plates full of shrimp and mussels and other good things. When I ask where they got them, they point in one direction or the other, but there are three buffet lines in those directions, and I try to find the good stuff, and all I see are more rolls and hunks of meat. 

I finally gave up and walked outside across the Lido Deck in a sideways rain (Captain Dino said the wind gusts were reaching 100 knots) and deep puddles and got a vegan miso ramen bowl at the Noodle Bar, then walked back to the World Fresh Marketplace to eat with G. 

There has to be a better way. I’m still trying to find it. 

We missed Thompson and Doubtful Sounds (again), and we returned to our cabin to watch videos until dinner. We entered Milford Sound about 6pm, and we ate quickly and then tried to find a place on the lower decks to watch the scenery. It was just misty at first, and we were able to take some photos from the Promenade Deck by the shops, but then the rain picked up and forced us inside. The areas of the Promenade Deck that are open to passengers are not covered. I’m sure we would have had a more favorable ship experience today if the weather had been better, but the rain really limited our viewing options, and this ship is incredibly inward-focused.

Waterfalls everywhere...

...but the clouds were hanging very low

The terminus of Milford Sound

The Princess Theater entertainment tonight was the Buddy Holly tribute artist we had seen on the Ruby Princess, and we went to his 7:15pm performance. The weather looks pretty rough for at least the first part of our Tasman Sea crossing, but Hobart has been having a heat wave lately. Somewhere between here and there, things have got to change. We’re ready for it. 

And, finally, the first day of 2020 is drawing to a close off the coast of New Zealand, but I’m sending wishes for a safe holiday and wonderful year to you all. Thank you for continuing to travel with us via this blog!

Day 87: Scenic cruising Fiordland National Park

Have I told you how much I love these days when we stay on the ship and the scenery comes to us?  I know I have, but have I mentioned it lately?

Sorry. Just a little throwback for my own amusement. 

I wasn’t the only one wondering last night if the scenery would actually be coming to us today. It was so rough overnight that a fellow guest I spoke with today said that she didn’t sleep all night, upset at the mere possibility of missing the fiords. Well, she needn’t have worried. We didn’t get into two of the fiords today (Doubtful/Thompson), but we did fairly well. Ranger Ian Thorpe pointed out, in his narration from the bridge, that it had taken multiple attempts for the pilot and him to get aboard at 7am, because the sea was so rough. That’s scary. He also said that, at 4am, when it was raining buckets with thunder and lightning in the park, he was pretty sure they wouldn’t have to even try. In the end, we got pretty lucky today. 

We watched our initial entry into Milford Sound from our breakfast table in the DaVinci Dining Room, but were out on the open decks before we had even reached the closed end of the fiord. We first watched from the Promenade Deck as those passengers who had booked the overland excursion were picked up by a local tour boat. They spent the day seeing Fiordland National Park by land, will spend tonight in a hotel and then reboard the ship tomorrow in Port Chalmers. 

Near the closed end of Milford Sound, passengers doing an overnight overland excursion were picked up by a Milford Sound tour boat.

Milford Sound is the most visited part of Fiordland National Park. It is on the far northern end of the park, the youngest part geologically, as evidenced by the narrower fiord and the higher mountains lining it. The only road into the park comes into the closed end of Milford Sound; the rest of the park is not accessible by road. We’re lucky that, on a cruise, we see parts of the park seldom seen by visitors. 

We went all over the ship while it was in Milford Sound, from the area over the bridge to the jogging track on Deck 19 in the back. It was chilly, but not too cold. Those passengers who didn’t come prepared wore MUTS blankets, pool towels...anything to stay warm. Luckily, it didn’t rain while we were in Milford Sound, though there were very low hanging clouds in places. But the waterfalls were unsurprisingly incredible today. Every time we visit Fiordland National Park, it’s different. 

This first set of photos was taken in Milford Sound:

Loved all the low hanging clouds

Kayakers

This is not a black and white photo; Milford Sound at its moodiest, deep in the fiord. 

Lots of blue sky, too

While I was standing above the bridge, I noticed the name of the beach stenciled on the crew pool deck. 

Some people came very prepared for the scenery!

Waterfalls everywhere

This waterfall started at the top of the mountain and repeatedly 

appeared and disappeared as it fell down to the water. 

It turned out to be a beautiful morning. 

Since Milford Sound is a closed fiord, the Ruby Princess did a 180 degree turn at the end and sailed back out to the Tasman Sea to travel south along the west coast of the South Island to Doubtful Sound. As soon as we reached the open ocean, that same westerly wind that had been behind the ship yesterday was hitting it on the starboard side and it got as rough as anything we’ve seen so far this season. In our cabin on Deck 14 aft, it was difficult to even stand up. We opted to skip the 10am Princess Theater lecture on the park by Ranger Ian Thorpe (we’ve already heard it this season) and instead just laid in bed watching TV. It was too hard to move around. 

By 11am, heavy rain was added to the heavy wind and, though I never heard an announcement about it, it was pretty obvious we would not be getting into Doubtful Sound, which connects to Thompson Sound. We wouldn’t have been able to see anything if we had. We decided to go to lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room, mostly because it was easier than trying to navigate in the Horizon Court Buffet. 

Day 8 lunch menu, page 1

Day 8 lunch menu, page 2

We returned to the cabin afterward, but had the TV tuned to the ship’s webcam channel, over which the ranger’s narration was being broadcast. We knew if we eventually made it into the final fiords, we’d find out about it there. Around 3pm, we could see the rain had stopped and the Ruby Princess turned toward land. Ian began to tell us about Breaksea Sound which leads to Dusky Sound at the southern end of the park. That was my cue to return to an outside deck. I started on the Terrace Deck but made my way up to the jogging track on Deck 19 just as the skies opened again.

And that set the stage for the rest of the afternoon. It would clear up one minute and rain the next. In between storms, I was able to get a few photos. Dusky Sound is at the oldest end of the park. The fiord is wider and the mountains lower as more erosion has occurred. 

In the Acheron Passage between Breaksea and Dusky Sounds

Making the turn from the Acheron Passage to Dusky Sound

The weather this afternoon was wild. This was a short glimpse of blue sky in between sideways rains. 

By 4pm we were leaving the park, and we raced back to the cabin to shower before we reached the ocean and it got rough again. And it sure did. We went up to the Elite Lounge in Skywalkers and it was a real ride up there. It was nice to return to the DaVinci Dining Room on Deck 6 midship for dinner; it’s amazing how much more stable it is there. 

Day 8 dinner menu, page 1

Day 8 dinner menu, page 2

Day 8 dessert menu

I hadn’t been to a show in two or three nights and needed to fix that tonight. Both vocalists from recent shows performed and it was quite good. It’s always better when a show is accompanied by the orchestra. 

I’ve mentioned these new motion sensitive lights in the cabin. Apparently they are not being well received. The cabin stewards were taking an informal poll about passengers’ feelings two days ago. We talked with a man with his arm in a sling yesterday. He had fallen in the closet area when the light turned off after 15 seconds and left him in the dark. I’m glad we had ours adjusted to 50 seconds, but it’s still taking some getting used to. G says it’s like living inside a refrigerator; lights are constantly going on and off. He’s absolutely right. ;-)

Day 8 Princess Patter, page 1

Day 8 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 8 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 8 Princess Patter, page 4

Day 62: Scenic cruising Fiordland National Park

When doing scenic cruising of Fiordland National Park on the South Island of New Zealand, a pilot and a park ranger come on board just as the ship is at the entrance to the first sound, either Milford Sound if traveling north to south or Dusky Sound if traveling south to north. Both the pilot and the park ranger are on the bridge, with the park ranger narrating over the PA system what we are seeing during our scenic cruising. Today we wear told that the park had had seven days of solid rain in the past week, which means the waterfalls were going to be spectacular, but today dawned sunny with a bright blue sky.

G and I had discussed our approach to today last night over dinner. I initially wanted to spend it just as I had on the Golden Princess two years ago, moving around the ship front to back and side to side on an upper deck. There were two issues with that plan:  1.) the Ruby Princess is not nearly as conducive to outside viewing as the Golden Princess had been. We can’t typically get out over the bridge, and the back of the ship is far more chopped up than on the Golden; and 2.) I didn’t have it in me to be outside all day today, in the chill air but also in the sun. This latest antibiotic has made me even more sun sensitive. 

G suggested we start out watching from the Terrace Deck and then move to our table in the dining room when it opened at 7:30am. The table is next to a window, and we’d have a good view.  Once again, I have to admit it, he was right. I was feeling pretty puny this morning and wouldn’t have lasted an hour out on the open deck. However, that means I have precious few real photos to share tonight. Instead, I’ll just post a link to when we did this cruise over two years so, on a similar weather day. 

Yellow Fish Cruises Fiordland National Park in 2017

We entered Milford Sound, on the north, or younger end of the national park just after 7am. This is the narrowest sound that we would see today, with the tallest, sharpest peaked mountains.  The park is older toward the south, the mountains more worn and the sounds wider. We went out on the Terrace Deck to take a few photos, and then moved into the Horizon Court Buffet when the cold chased us in at that early hour. 

As soon as the DaVinci Dining Room opened at 7:30am, we were enjoying the view, albeit through a salt-crusted window, right from our table. 

Breakfast with a view

We were in the dining room until nearly 9am, and then went to the Princess Theater for the talk by the ranger who had been narrating from the bridge. By then, the ship had turned around in Milford Sound, cruised back out to the Tasman Sea, and was cruising down the western side of the South Island. Today’s ranger was different than the one we had listened to in October when we didn’t get into the park at all, with a different presentation. and it was very interesting. 

That gave us about an hour before we entered the next sound, Thompson, and, when we did, we returned to the DaVinci Dining Room to watch from there. That was spectacular, as the sound is a bit wider, and the mountains lower, and we could see rows of mountains from our vantage point. I had pre-ordered the butternut squash soup, made dairy-free, and it was exactly what I needed today. 

Day 4 lunch menu, page 1

Day 4 lunch menu, page 2

Cruising down the coast of New Zealand between Doubtful and Dusky Sounds

And that was when a miracle happened. I don’t know if it was a result of time, or of the second antibiotic I had taken after breakfast, but I suddenly stopped feeling worse and started to feel the tiniest bit better. I’m on Doxycycline now, specifically for lung infections after the Z Pack barely budged the illness, and by tonight I can definitely see some improvement. This did as much for me mentally as physically.  A week of being under the weather while on a cruise is a tough thing to endure. Unfortunately, I’ve now shared the bug with G (or he has picked it up from any of the other hundred plus people on the ship who sound just like me), but he seldom gets these things as badly as I do. Most people don’t. 

But I still need a lot of rest.  Sleep has been abysmal since this started, for both of us, so we returned to the cabin after lunch and dozed off and on all afternoon. We watched our cruising of the final sound, Dusky Sound, from the ship’s webcam on our TV, where we could also hear the narration by the park ranger. That worked really well.

As soon as the Ruby Princess exited Dusky Sound back into the open ocean, it immediately got very bouncy. We earlier had overheard the deck stewards talking about securing everything on the open decks because high winds and rough seas were expected (they were right), but we still had full sun and a beautiful blue sky. It was bouncy enough that we skipped the Elite Lounge in Skywalkers and went directly to the dining room when it opened at 5:15pm. And for the third time today we enjoyed a view from our window (this time of the very southern coast of New Zealand) as we dined. 

Day 4 dinner menu, page 1

Day 4 dinner menu, page 2

Day 4 dessert menu

Following dinner, G went to listen to comedian Scott Williams (we have seen a LOT of him recently) but I picked up a cup of tea from the Horizon Court Buffet and returned to the cabin.  I have definitely turned a corner, and am hoping for a solid night’s sleep tonight. And if I wake tomorrow the same or even better, I’ll know the light I see in the tunnel is not an oncoming train, but the end of the tunnel. 

Once again, fingers crossed. 

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 1

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 2

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 3

Day 4 Princess Patter, page 4