Day 53: Maré, New Caledonia

It is 9pm, and I just told G, “This was the BEST day!” to which he replied that I say that all the time. I probably do, and I mean it all the time, too, but today was one of the best best days we’ve had so far. Except for one minor speed bump, but it was very short lived and, in the grand scheme of things, pretty inconsequential. 

At 6:15am, I heard that ‘key in the lock’ sound that told me G was returning to the cabin. He has been getting up really early, shortly after 5am, awakened by the sound of a cart being rolled over the Terrace Deck above us. He loves it, though. He walks all around the ship while it is still empty and gets his steps in that way.  But this morning he wanted me to come out and play, too. It was picture perfect on the Terrace Deck, warm in the early morning sun, and he already had breakfast waiting for me when I got there. I mean, sure, he didn’t have to cook it or anything, but he did have to gather apple wedges and peanut butter and sunflower seeds from the Horizon Court Buffet, and he gets points for that. 

Though we were up early, there was no need to rush today. Our arrival in Maré, New Caledonia, originally scheduled for 9am, was changed a few weeks ago, and we weren’t arriving until 11am. 11am to 7pm; that is my kind of port schedule. As soon as loungers were set out on the Terrace Deck, we were in them, enjoying the solitude and the view of the wake as we looked out over the vast South Pacific Ocean.  Shortly after 10am, we got our first view of Maré on our starboard side, and that was our cue to return to the cabin, slather on the sunscreen, pack a few beverages and head to the Crown Grill for tender tickets. As early as we were, we weren’t the first ones there. After three days at sea it seemed people were ready for the beach. 

G went down to the International Cafe to get a hot chocolate while he waited, and ran into the HGM who told him that the port agent had just reported that there were jellyfish yesterday at Yedjele Beach. He promptly relayed that information to me. 

My reaction?  Picture a big old yellow balloon, then stick a pin in it. Yep, I was that deflated that fast. A day on a beach without being able to go in the water?  What’s the point? G reminded me that all was not lost, and maybe the jellyfish wouldn’t be there today. I was hopeful, but not convinced. 

Our planning and prep paid off, and we were on the first tender to shore (very short tender ride), and then the first shuttle to Yedjele Beach, about a 20 minute drive. As soon as we were dropped off at the beach, we made tracks toward an area where we had seen a local renting loungers the last time we were here. She had four loungers in total, and we were there in time to get the last two. $10 AUD for each, and we were comfortable all day and off the sand. Nice. We moved them into the shade of a palm tree (which is not the best shade) and watched as several people went into the water and even began snorkeling. Maybe the jellyfish had moved along?

This reminded me of Douglas Pearson’s 50 shades of blue 

I told G to start drinking beer, just in case (I won’t go into more detail, but you know what I mean) and went out in the water too. I saw clown fish and butterfly fish and triggerfish and even two sea snakes (I gave them a wide berth) but I didn’t see, or feel, a single jellyfish. I was thrilled. I snorkeled for about an hour, took a brief break and then snorkeled for another hour. It was slightly tough going; the wind and current were strong and I had to really work at it, and two hours was my limit today.

Although the day was sunny and warm, the wind made me cold when I first got out of the water, and I was sitting on a lounger wrapped up in two towels when I saw the first passenger go up to one of the security guards/life guards and the guard poured something on his arm. Within a couple of minutes, swimmers began coming out of the water, all of them rubbing something. It seemed the jellyfish had returned. It was about 3pm then, and I didn’t go back in the water after that. G, however, had to go see them for himself and brought me one to see. They were tiny, less than an inch across, with a 3” tentacle and a blob of blue dye on the inside. 

Local children played on the sand and in the water all day. 

Yedjele Beach before the jellyfish arrived 

Yedjele Beach AFTER the jellyfish arrived 

Before

After ;-)

The beach started emptying fairly quickly after that, but it was getting late anyway. The last shuttle was leaving at 5:30pm and we finally left the beach about 4:45pm when we saw two groups leaving. I didn’t see anyone else on the beach at that time. Sunset was at 6pm, so the day had definitely lost its heat and the first few mosquitoes started to appear. We arrived back on the ship about 5:30pm and decided to try to have dinner in the dining room after a very quick clean up. 

Luckily, our table was available (the Bernini Dining Room was still fairly empty), and we were starved. I had forgotten what I’d ordered for tonight, and after fruit and a salad, told G I might want to swing through the Buffet after the show if I was still hungry. And then Alona set my favorite entree (garbanzo beans and mushrooms in tomato sauce with tofu) in front of me and a plate of roasted red, yellow and green peppers, which she said was a surprise from headwaiter Sean. I was deeply touched.

I had mentioned to Sean a couple of days ago that I loved roasted peppers when they were on that day’s salad, and he not only remembered that but had them made for me today because he knew we might have missed lunch. Honestly, I think this was the nicest of all the nice things that have been done for me since we boarded. There are so many wonderful things I can’t have this year- MTP champagne, minibar items, the chocolate covered strawberries we received for our milestone cruise- but I can have roasted peppers, and enjoyed them all (except for one I shared with G). And then I didn’t need to swing through the Buffet after the show. 

Garbanzo beans, mushrooms and tofu in tomato sauce 


My favorite

We skipped dessert in the interest of time, and went to the Princess Theater to get seats for production show Stardust. After the show, we stopped at the Guest Services Desk. I wanted to get one of those You Made the Difference or Consummate Host or whatever Princess is calling those “You done good” cards this year to fill out for Sean. And as I walked up I was greeted by name by Hembert, who had just come on board in Melbourne. We know Hembert well from last year on the Pacific Princess, and it was wonderful to see him here on the Golden Princess. 

If we stay long enough, we’ll have all our old Pacific Princess friends here on the Golden.

Life is good. :-)

Day 52: At Sea

It may have been Monday on the Golden Princess but it was Sunday back home, and that meant NFL football. Of course, the games are not shown on MUTS (We have yet to meet another American on this cruise. Apparently Americans will fly to Sydney for a cruise but not Melbourne), but there is a channel on our cabin TV that offers NFL Red Zone on our Monday mornings. We get a smattering of several games, just the key plays and calls of each, and, with occasional TV signal losses mixed in, it can be a little hard to follow. At least G finds it so. Honestly, for me, it’s no different than being at home, where he has controlled the remote for 34 years. I’m used to getting into a show only to have the channel changed, then changed again. Therefore, when he expressed frustration this morning, my unsympathetic response was only, “Welcome to my world” (cue evil chuckle). 

We broke away long enough to eat a quick breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet and noticed that the day’s weather had improved considerably. It’s still very windy but at least the sun was out and the air was much warmer. Despite the sun, we immediately retreated to our cabin where we continued to watch NFL Red Zone (I swear we saw more shots of Eli benched on the sidelines than actual plays, but beggars...). We wanted to go to Wendy Fuller’s 11:15am presentation on Champagne Bay and Luganville, both new to us, but it became obvious that, unless one of us made a move, we’d skip it for football. Finally, G did, about two minutes before it began, and off we went to the Princess Theater. 

We had eaten breakfast with a fellow passenger who said he booked this cruise simply to return to Champagne Bay, and, from Wendy’s slides she showed during her presentation, we can see why. It looks like a beach paradise. The following port, Luganville, is just south of Champagne Bay on the Vanuatu island of Espirtu Santo, and one place I really want to get to, the Nanda Blue Hole, is located in between the two port stops. It seems Luganville offers several sights, so we may try to get to Nanda before or after a few beach hours in Champagne Bay. 

So many decisions!  I wish we would visit those ports more than once. Do we get bored?  Hardly. 

We grabbed a quick lunch in the Horizon Court Buffet (pizza for G and salad for me) and then he went to the 1pm Veterans get together in the Wheelhouse Bar while I returned to the Princess Theater for Peter Donovan’s lecture on the US in Vanuatu in WW2.  Vanuatu is comprised of 83 islands (13 major islands) and most of the US Seabees construction activity took place on the island of  Espiritu Santo. I am not very knowledgeable about WW2 in the Pacific outside of Pearl Harbor, and have appreciated everything we’ve learned, both from what G has picked up in the Veterans get togethers but also what we’ve learned in the lectures. 

Our intention was to use a hot tub right afterward, and G had even been up on Deck 16 to check the temperature of the aft hot tub (only one is ever open at a time), but, when we returned to the cabin to change, we discovered that the Seahawks-Eagles games was on TV...the entire game, not just highlights. As proof of how football deprived we are, we actually watched a Seahawks game (apologies to my Washington State friends), until the end, despite too many commercials and signal lapses. And then it was time to get ready for dinner. 

As always, watching football in our cabin made me homesick. I can picture us at home, watching with friends or just us (and simultaneously texting friends about the game), soup or chili simmering on the stove, a fire in the fireplace and snow falling outside.  But I remembered pushing a shopping cart through that same deep snow and beach towels inside the door soaking up melting snow from boots, and shoveling, lots of shoveling, and then realized that tomorrow I’ll be sitting on a tropical beach and finding Nemo and-poof- no more homesickness. 

We have been so lucky with our dinner wait staffs this year. We do have new waiters every cruise, but they’ve been so good that, within a day, we feel like we’ve with them for weeks. Alona and Lydia, both from the Ukraine, are fantastic, and fun, too, which makes dinner a highlight of each day. Tonight I had ceviche, salad and grilled vegetables with couscous, and a scoop of my favorite sorbet, banana coconut. G had the Hangi dinner, with lamb, smoked pork and chicken, and sweet potatoes and cabbage. It is the kind of dinner that the Maori of New Zealand cook in pits in the ground. 

Comedian Ivor Richards was the main entertainment tonight in the Princess Theater, and, since we understood so little of what he said during the Welcome Aboard show, we thought we’d go to MUTS to watch the movie The Ghost in the Shell. I looked it up online and it didn’t seem like one I’d enjoy but I thought G might. We went out on the Terrace Deck to watch sunset (sadly, though it started out well, it wasn’t a great one), and, walking through the Horizon Court Buffet to MUTS, G ran into someone he’d met at the Veterans get together and we ended up sitting with Taz and his wife Deb and chatting for nearly two hours (and never did make it to the movie). It was an unexpectedly fun evening. 

Tonight is the 50’s / 60’s night theme party in the Vista Lounge, and we are going to head down to that, simply to hear party band Soul Vacation’s music. We don’t arrive in Maré until 11am tomorrow, but the beach bag and backpack are already packed. Apparently, one of us is pretty darn excited. ;-)

Day 51: At Sea

We had fairly miserable conditions overnight, and woke to a steady rain again this morning. I thought I had slept well in spite of the bounciness, but when I synced my Fitbit first thing this morning, it showed I had slept 0 minutes overnight. I’ve never seen that happen before. Furthermore, it showed I had done 39 minutes of exercise when all I had done is reach for my iPhone. I think the seas were just that rough. 

I followed G out of the cabin this morning and made tracks for the passenger laundry room on our deck. I arrived there just as it was being unlocked at 7am, with laundry token and detergent pods and all my casual dinner tops in hand. Tonight was a formal night and I knew I wouldn’t need any of them, and could let them hang dry all day. The washers on the Golden Princess don’t show cycle time remaining, but I ran up to the Horizon Court Buffet and had fruit and cereal and the final spin was finishing up just as I returned. Sure, our cabin looked like a laundry the rest of the day, with items air drying, but it did put some moisture in the room, and that’s a good thing. 

I met up with G as he ate breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet. We sat with a couple from near Melbourne (as are 99% of the passengers on board) and chatted until nearly 10am, which happens fairly frequently. His daughter has just accepted a job as the Chief Financial Officer of a company in Germany that is designing unmanned helicopters for use in major metropolitan areas in a manner similar to Uber. We were gobsmacked; the future is now, it seems. But it instantly took me back ten years to when the twins were 4 and had just discovered LEGOs. Our living and dining rooms were LEGO Central, and their favorite things to build were anything with wheels (of course), but on the roof of every vehicle they built was that piece with a little helicopter rotor and blades, “In case they hit traffic, NeeNee”. They were simply ahead of their time. 

It didn’t take long for our poor sleep to catch up with us, and we returned to our cabin and slept until 11:30am, when we went to the Princess Theater to hear Destination Expert Wendy Fuller’s presentation on Mystery Island and Luganville. We have already visited Mystery Island earlier this season (let’s hope for better weather this time), but Luganville will be a new port for us. We have some great ports to look forward to on this itinerary...and a few too many sea days in a row. 

G wanted pizza for lunch and I had salad, and after that short break in the Buffet, we returned to the Princess Theater for the 1pm presentation by historian Peter Donovan on the French colonization of New Caledonia. While Wendy Fuller’s presentations make me feel like a third grade student, Peter’s hit just the right note, and, for two people interested in the history and culture of this area, they’re fantastic. 

With nothing else we had to do, we watched TV (Dateline on MSNBC, we love those) and started early to get ready for formal night. The sun was kind of out by the time we went to dinner and the ship is much more stable tonight. I am hopeful for a better day tomorrow. Dinner was fruit, a salad and salmon with broccoli, and a scoop of pink grapefruit sorbet for dessert. 

The Captain’s Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall was held beginning at 7pm, and we followed that with production show Born to Dance in the Princess Theater. I love that show more each time I see it, and would have gone back to see it a second time tonight if I thought there might be an empty seat. Immediately afterward, we made our way to the Vista Lounge where we were again entertained by the Blues Brothers Tribute act. The audience really gets into that show; it’s just pure fun. It was a perfect evening:  great dinner and two great shows. Those are worth getting dressed up for!

One more sea day BS (before snorkeling). Once again, I’ll be packed and ready to go tomorrow night, even though we don’t arrive in Maré until 11am the next day. I simply can’t wait to be finding Nemo once again.  

Day 50: At Sea

We’ve finally found the Tasman Sea that we knew from our previous visits; the sea is rough and the Golden Princess has really been bouncing all day. We have towels over the hangers, a washcloth shoved in the refrigerator and rubber bands around the nightstand handles (we ran out of duct tape long ago) to try to keep the cabin quiet. It’s funny...on the Pacific Princess the front of the ship is the rockiest, but on these Grand Class ships it’s the back. It doesn’t stop us from choosing cabins back here, but sleep might be restless tonight. 

In addition to the movement, we awoke to a steady rain, but it started to clear by mid afternoon though it remained cloudy. It’s the worst weather we’ve had since our first cruise in Queensland (so we really can’t complain). 

I took care of purchasing a transfer to the beach in Maré at the Shore Excursion Desk and ordered some additional Future Cruise Deposits...it was mostly an administrative morning. I did go to the Piazza at 11:30am when the Entertainment team introduced several activities taking place this cruise, including a new one called the Escape Room. That’s the one I really wanted to hear about, and I did, but I honestly can’t say I’m clear on what it involves. It did sound like more work than I was interested in doing, so I passed, but I may try again on another cruise.  

We had lunch in the Donatello Dining Room because the menu offered that broccoli and cauliflower entree I love, and a tuna sandwich with potato chips that G loves. We then raced to the Princess Theater to listen to a lecture on the settlement of indigenous peoples in Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia and European exploration in the area by historian Peter Donovan and he was fantastic. He started with that same map showing the different island groupings of Oceania that I used in this blog when we first went to French Polynesia in October 2014.

I learned that I was wrong when I believed that New Caledonia and Vanuatu are part of Polynesia; they are part of Melanesia (though New Caledonia is part of French Polynesia...go figure). And Peter, when he explained the migration of indigenous people across the South Pacific, said that anthropologists determined the order of settlement based on pottery found on the different islands. At the end, he handed out crossword puzzles covering the things we learned today (with the solution on the back, thank God) which was a clever way to help us retain the information. We are hooked. 

Dinner with Alona and Lydia was black bean and pumpkin soup, a salad and vegetable korma, accompanied by the show the huge waves were putting on right outside the window. It was like watching fireworks.  Later, we went to the Princess Theater to see Steve Larkins back again as Freddie Mercury in Mercury Rising. We love that show (who could tire of Queen?) and Steve gets a standing ovation every time.

And, finally, today was our 1000th day on Princess Cruises. Our first Princess Cruise was almost exactly 14 years ago, on December 3, 2003, when we did two 10-night Caribbean cruises back to back on the Sun Princess. We hadn’t put a lot of thought into it; G had to use leave before the end of the year, and the cruises were booked very last minute simply because they offered several new (to us) islands. Until that time, we had been mostly Celebrity cruisers, and, though we remained loyal to Celebrity for a few more years, Princess eventually won us over with its itineraries. But I never imagined we would cruise 1000 days, period, let alone 1000 days on a single cruise line when I literally dragged G on our very first cruise in 1997 (I like to remind him how right I was about that). ;-)

Tonight may be (really) bumpy, but life is good. :-)

Day 49: Melbourne

The rainy weather that had been forecasted for today did find us, and, frankly, it made me happy that we had heat instead of rain for the two days we were in Melbourne. Rain definitely changes the look of the city, and would have made it more difficult to do all the walking and sightseeing we enjoyed so much. 

We finished up the last of the cereal and almond milk for breakfast, and did dishes and gathered up towels and took the trash down to the garbage chute. It was a bit like being home, and, I don’t know if it was that or the fact that, for three days we were able to stay in touch with friends so easily but it made me really homesick. This happens at least once each season, so it wasn’t a surprise, but I think today’s rain and gloom made it worse. 

Luckily, though there were puddles everywhere when we checked out of our apartment, the rain had slowed to a moderate drizzle, so we decided to take trams to Station Pier, where the Golden Princess was docked. We had to add $5 each to our Myki cards, as the tram we connected to left the Free Zone, but we managed to figure out how to do that. We arrived at the port about 11:30am and were on the ship having lunch by 12:30pm.

Good grief it is good to eat healthy again. I told G that I think Hawaii is going to be brutal for me in that way. Maitre d’ Carlos Justina has returned home to Portugal, and we met the New Maitre d’, Carlos Serrano Rosa, also from Portugal. We will be dining in the Bernini Dining Room for the remainder of our time on the Golden Princess. 

Other changes around the ship:  Captain D has returned home and Captain Georgio Pomata is in command, and Cruise Director Fernando has left and the Golden Princess is switching to the new management system for entertainment where an Entertainment Director is in charge of the administrative aspects of on board entertainment and the Cruise Director is more in front of the passengers and there is no Deputy CD. Tim Donovan (we cruised with him many, many times as CD) is the Entertainment Director and Jen Glancey (we know her from the Pacific Princess) is the CD. 

I’m sure there are lots of other changes but those are the most notable ones. It’s funny how quickly things change from one cruise to the next on ships. Luckily, our cabin steward Karen is with us until we leave, and it was a wonderful thing to come back and see her. 

The weather went from bad to worse and by mid-afternoon there was a steady downpour. Sail away was kind of a bust, but here’s the thing...sail away from Melbourne does not compare in any sense with sail away from Sydney even on the best of days. I truly miss Sydney already (which I think is contributing to my depressed mood). Luckily, we’re heading to the islands, which is always certain to perk me up. 

Our wait team for dinners this cruise is Alona and Lydia, both from the Ukraine. We’ve been here long enough that we already know them well from the Horizon Court Buffet. They are fantastic. I ordered the Moroccan vegetable ragout tonight but was brought sautéed vegetables (delicious) instead. Apparently there is cream in the ragout recipe, and since I hadn’t special ordered it, I couldn’t get it. They take my dietary concerns very seriously (better than a personal chef, or a mom, which is nice), and it made me thankful of the fact that many vegetarian meals I order are tweaked to be vegan-compliant just for me. 

Yep, Hawaii is not going to be easy. 

Happily, we are back to two Welcome Aboard shows, instead of just one at 9pm. We went to the 7:45pm show with the singers and dancers and then comedian Ivor Richards (new to us) did a short routine. He is from Liverpool, England and was brought on board by Tim Donovan (also from Liverpool). Unfortunately, we understood nearly nothing of what he said, and that’s a first for us on the Golden Princess. Sure, there have been times we haven’t understood Australian humor, but this is the first time we couldn’t understand a comedian’s words. But he must have been funny. At least the Aussies, who apparently understood him, thought he was. 

The Tasman Sea is showing its true colors tonight, and the nightstand drawer dance is in full swing. Though I hope we are out of the bad weather by tomorrow, I suspect it may take a couple of days. The meteorologists on TV in Melbourne spoke of record breaking precipitation over the next several days. That’s ok; as long as the islands are sunny, I can deal with it. 

Milestone 1000th day cruise