Tuesday 17 May

Well, Monday's come and gone and here I am in Brisbane's Virgin lounge.

The flight in Business was wonderful. I was in the middle section, 3 seats, but there's so much room to move around. The beds are made up by the flight attendants and even though they're not what you would call soft, they're easy for someone like me to fit in. I went to sleep about 2 hours out of LA, after a light dinner and woke up with the breakfast lights 1hr 30mins out of Brisbane! I was asleep a lot of that time, but work up now and again briefly. I had chatted a bit to the guys either side of me, but at breakfast time, the guy on the left commented that he'd noticed I gave thanks before eating. He's a Christian from Omaha and said he'll be praying for Graham too. :o)

 I've been here for about 90 mins and had a shower and a coffee. It's lovely and quiet and I'll be on my way to the gate lounge for my Sydney flight in about 20 mins.

Sunday 15 May

We're docked in Vancouver but disembarkation is running very late. I'm waiting for my cue so I don't miss my shuttle to Seattle! Radiance of the Seas just sailed in beside us - it's huge. Last night we had Ruby Princess and Norwegian Pearl with us - both big too.

Bad news - my flight from LA to Sydney has been cancelled. I'm now booked on a flight at 10 to midnight to Brisbane, with a 5 hour wait to connect to a Sydney flight! Pretty bad service! Oh well, God knows what He's doing!

When I got out to the shuttle terminals, I was told that my shuttle would be leaving from a different spot. At the appointed time it went right past! Thank God for mobile phones! An expensive call but it worked out that the local assistant arranged a local shuttle to take me to where the coach was picking up at a hotel, so I finally was on the coach. At that stage it was doing pick-ups here and there and I was nervously thinking about my airport arrival time. However once we were on the road, apart from 30 minutes at the boarder checkpoint when we all had to get off, get our carry-ons scanned and go through security, it was all fine and I was at Seatac in good time. When I checked in, I was put on First Class to LA (nice); don't know where I'll be sitting to Brisbane but it's at least Premium Business. The great thing about First Class was that I got through express security: there were at least 500 people queued for the normal security, if not more.

At Seatac: I got a Starbucks coffee (lunch had been crackers and water on the bus!) and settled here in the airport with free wifi, and power as well, so I'll be all set for my laptop power for a while. It's about an hour still to boarding, but I'm happy catching up on all the stuff I've had to let go in emails up till now.

In LA: Flight Seattle to LA was lovely in first class! I was in seat 1A. The young man beside me started chatting and we ended up talking all the way; he's about 30 and getting married shortly. We just had a lot of fun: passed the time very quickly and Bart and I are now the best of friends  :o)  . Now I'm in the posh Star Alliance lounge waiting to board at about 11.00pm; it's a really nice one - quiet, big, with plenty of food and alcohol but I'll be having dinner around midnight before I go to sleep (which is okay because I had lunch on the last flight at 6.30pm or so). After dinner and a glass of wine, I'll take a couple of the sleeping pills we've used previously. If I was flying into Sydney, I possibly wouldn't but seeing I have to go to Brisie, I won't need to be so alert. Bart decided to try reclining the seat not long before we were getting to LA - the first class seats are like the old business class - it really went back a long way, and is very comfortable, so that's what I expect to be sleeping in on the long haul flight.

God is so amazing - I paid a total of $27.27 for the privilege of First and Business! because it was supposed to be premium economy on points but somehow ended up business and first. It makes such a huge difference being comfortable. Even on that short flight we got a small meal - salad and meat, whereas cattle class got a coffee/tea and a cookie.

Even with priority, LA security was slower, about 40 in front of me but there could have been 800 people in the other lines!

Saturday 14 May

This morning seas are almost calm, just the slightest swell, vastly different from the big movement out in the open Pacific. I woke before the alarm (very unusual!) having dreaming about missing my flight home! It was actually God waking me up to see a message to pray for Rick, our youth pastor at church, so I was relieved to be awake. This morning was our last non-denominational service and now I’m in Victoria. Very pretty springtime display; I walked around the waterfront, past Fisherman’s wharf, to the Empress Hotel. Unfortunately, it’s closed for renovations, so there’s no high tea; I believe it’s also changed hands recently.

I’ll spend the afternoon in Victoria, finding the first wifi on shore in over a week. It’s quite cool here, although it’s warmed up since this morning.

Friday

A very grey day today; it’s lunchtime and I’m annoyed with myself for missing the time on the program for “On Deck for the Cause”. We always did this walk to raise money for breast cancer. Oh well, it’s not good out there and my face has some wind burn from previous walks, so perhaps I wasn’t meant to do it this time! I bumped into one of the drummers at morning tea and asked him if they’ve thought of coming to Oz – he said yes, they’d like to, so I gave him my card and told him my church could offer them accommodation (let’s face it, my house would be big enough anyway!). So you never know....

We got our disembarkation documentation and luggage tags today. I’m set for late leaving between 9.00 and 9.15. I will be looking for my coach on the pier, leaving at 10.00am to Seattle. I’ve almost packed one suitcase and it won’t take long to do the rest after dinner tomorrow night.

I went to the Filipino Crew Show this afternoon: truly beautiful girls and lovely traditional costumes and dances. It’s such a gentle culture. They did the traditional dance with the two sticks where the men have to jump between them – very exciting. It was very moving to see how much they love their country and they must miss it terribly, being away from their families for so long. I followed that with a tech session on using the digital camera and picked up some nice hints. Then it was time to get ready for tonight’s formal dinner.

Tonight the waiters came and sang for John and Nancy for their 67^th wedding anniversary, so we got extra chocolate cake, which we really needed after our big dinner!

The seas over the past few hours have become much calmer.

Tuesday and Wednesday sailing towards BC

Tuesday - A quiet day: service this morning, and the number has now grown to about 20 people. I got lots of reading done, some knitting and editing my photos, which are now up to date.

I got back from my wifi time up in Explorations Cafe to find a plate of huge chocolate coated strawberries, with a note from the Shore Excursions Team apologising for the unfortunate police involvement and waiting time on our Lahaina excursion: they arrived just in time for afternoon coffee – yummo!

It’s been quite cool today, with patches of pretty sunshine glistening on the water. At 4.30, it was time for a walk on deck before facing some more food. The weather is noticeably cooler again.

Tonight we have another time correction – forward 1 hour.

Wednesday, also pleasantly relaxing.

Some bright sunny patches now and again; the water here is over 5km down: a deep, deep, clear velvety blue. It’s very windy walking on deck.

This is what greeted me when I walked into my room after dinner!

We put the clocks forward 1 hour tonight again.

Wednesday 11 May 2016

Some bright sunny patches now and again; the water here is over 5km down: a deep, deep, clear velvety blue. It’s very windy walking on deck.

Thursday 12 May

This morning we had quite a bit of sunshine. However, by the time the service finished, the sun was gone. I tried a walk on deck but only managed two circuits: it was blowing a gale and the spray was blowing across the deck. The temperature is dropping as we get closer to the mainland; today’s range is 11 to 15. While I was having lunch, we sailed into a thick fog, with the ship’s horn blasting every few minutes; it’s lightened now, but there’s still fog around.

This morning the “professionals” covered the Lido poolside area with hundreds of towel animals. This “animal” looked like he’d had a heavy night - 

Our last time correction on the water – 1 hour forward again tonight. The ocean looks quite angry out there today: it’s a good thing this ship has stabilisers! I met Debbie and then her mum, Nancy in the lounge, Debbie’s shout, and then had dinner with Anita and Dorothy. Debbie and her parents went to the Lido – easier than dressing for the dining room.

The Island Magic Steel Drums were on again tonight to thundering applause and standing ovations. Tonight they played Elvis, The Beatles, Abba, Frank Sinatra and they finished up with To God Be the Glory, Amazing Grace and When the Saints Go Marching In. They were brought back for an encore , which was Hallelujah.

Monday 9 May at Sea

We lost an hour last night so I got up at 7.30 to be ready for the service at 9.00am; this was followed by the Mariner Reception, where I was presented with my Copper Medallion. There were lots of presentations, the highest being over 2,000 days on cruise ships: the President’s Medallion. If I get to 200 days (sometime) I’ll become a 4-Star Mariner, but the Silver medallion isn’t until 500 days, I think. No worries – I had no idea I would be getting my medallion, so that was a nice surprise, plus three kisses on the cheek (Dutch style) from the very nice Captain Chris Turner and then a picture with the Captain and the Hotel Manager.

This was closely followed by the Mariners’ Brunch, which meant I got a free glass of champagne: very nice. The ship is still rocking and rolling quite significantly and I heard today that that’s normal for the Pacific.

The thing is that today’s menu could be:

Breakfast

Reception – champagne and canapés

Brunch – 3 courses full meal, champagne, wine, petit fours

Dutch High Tea – pastries, sandwiches and cakes

Formal Dinner – 3 courses

Yes, that’s why cruises can be heart attack material!

I got my Mariner’s Delft tile to add to our collection as well.

Well, we did it tonight! Everyone was at dinner and we got some formal pictures done as well as some snaps on my camera. This morning’s picture with the Captain was waiting for me on the bed when I got back from dinner: an actual freebie!

Sunday – Nawiliwili, Kauai

We didn’t arrive till 10.00am, so we were able to get in our church service at 9.00am. This time Walt, the pastor, had a stool, just in case! We had communion as well, which was, I imagine a fairly conservative Baptist flavour, but we used the priest’s chalice, ciborium and hosts, dipping the host in the wine. I had time to grab an Explorations coffee, which I finished while waiting in the showroom for our tour to be called. They split our group by calling forward twelve and then another twelve and so on, but she was insisting that only couples or fours or sixes go in the group; I was a bit annoyed as there were one or two besides me who were singles and we were being pushed to the side. However, it worked out for the best because the other buses had 12 in a minibus and we only had 9 – much more comfortable!

We first had a short drive through the pretty town and down to the Wailua River where we joined a riverboat. There was a music team on board and we had music and hula and we even got to all stand up and do a hula ourselves. It was a lovely, peaceful, relaxing glide to the Fern Grotto, which is a beautiful, natural structure with ferns hanging down, an old spiritual site. I wasn’t aware that there was quite some human sacrifice in years gone by on these islands.

Next we went for a drive along the “North Shore” which is an upper class area, with homes owned by some famous people, as well as sites where various movies were filmed in part. Their two famous lava mountains are The Sleeping Giant and the Sleeping Pregnant Goddess – quite striking formations. We saw the Kilauea Lighthouse and had lunch on Anini Beach. Of course, so many beaches around here have a significant surf, always waves you can ride. Lots of standing paddle boards in the quieter waters too.

Wild chickens everywhere on this island. It was fun to watch the chicks following mum around.

Ungainly albatross wander clumsily around looking for food for their chicks; they’re protected and apparently it’s quite a sight to see these magnificent birds spread their 7ft wingspan and use the road as a runway to “take off”.

It was a much more leisurely excursion than yesterday, and the second half was rather less inspiring, but it was pretty good all up. Still we only just got back in time to board before sailaway, so I didn’t get to do any wifi ashore. Never mind!

Dinner was 4 of us – Nancy and John had gone to bed because they didn’t feel like having any dinner, so we took a picture of the 4 of us and we agreed that Debbie would make sure we’ll all be there tomorrow night for formal night, in all our good clobber so we can get a group picture done.

There was an enormous Mother’s Day cake at the entrance to the dining room, but we didn’t get to sample it! Maybe the late sitting did??

I was just in Explorations at 9.15 to do some wifi and I thought I felt the engines stop; it was hard to tell because you can’t see out in the dark from the cafe because it’s higher up. Every now and again the ship was shuddering and I thought something must be going on. Anyway, 15 mins later I was walking downstairs and the Captain announced that we were back off the port of Nawiliwili again because a sick passenger had to be transported ashore. The shuddering is the bow of the ship being hit by the significant waves out here. We have to wait for the tender to come back from shore and get loaded again before we can resume our journey, which will set us back about 4 hours.

The tender got hoisted up right outside my window just after 10.00pm, and we’re under way again, so they were able to complete that whole exercise pretty quickly. It’s nice that I get to watch the lights of port sailing past again.

Saturday – Lahaina, Maui

Saturday – Lahaina, Maui

I was up for a really early breakfast and joined Anita and Dorothy; we anchored while I was having breakfast and it was soon time to be in the lounge ready for the tender for my full-day tour to Hana. I began to have a tummy problem and even though I went to the restroom on the pier, the two hour drive before our first comfort stop was pretty uncomfortable. I said many thank you prayers when we finally got to a bathroom! It was only a rest stop, where I did get a pretty picture of the vegetation, then we got to a little pop-up cafe called “Halfway to Hana”, where we got coffee: great! - and only $1.50; life is better after a bathroom and a coffee! We had stopped by the side of the road many times, lots of pretty scenery, but through the bus window it was no good for pictures. I got good pictures of a large, beautiful farm which is Chinese and we stopped to see several “waterfalls” but all very tiny.

Maui is beautiful and striking in many ways – lots of lava hills, some very tall; there are 5 volcanos on the island – 2 extinct, 1 dormant and 2 active. It’s also a place of incredibly beautiful rainforest. Lunch was at a hotel halfway through the trip: simple buffet with iced tea.

We have had all the seasons today, except snow and hail – and the weather changes every half hour or so. As I write this on the bus, it’s raining again.

One very unpleasant aspect of today was that we were travelling over about 4 hours of the trip on “roads” which were barely wide enough for 1½ cars, in a “school bus” tour bus, hugging the side of a mountain with no safety rail, hundreds of feet drop and meeting cars coming the other way. Our driver was brilliant but also crazy! 

Lunch was at the beautiful Travaasa Hotel, Hana: a chicken buffet. Lovely gardens everywhere.

 There is a large cross way up on the hill overlooking the property; this is in memory of the previous owner of the site.

When we were off the awful road, we had probably 10 miles of dirt/rock road, so our bones are pretty well rattled but that was really fun. Our tour was supposed to be 9 hours but about 5 hours into the trip, in the middle of nowhere, a car tried to overtake us and hit the back of the bus, then instead of moving forward, he reversed and ripped the bumper off! So we drove to the next viewing spot, with the car and Asian family following us. Then we had to wait for the police, so we were about 1¼ behind schedule. Being a Saturday, just like in Sydney we got stuck in traffic once we got back into Lahaina, which made us even later. Back at the dock, I managed to get a couple of pictures of Lahaina before I had to get on the second last tender back.

We stopped at a little church, “Missionary Church in Kaipahulu”; the guide told us to wait quietly, then he whistled a distinctive whistle a couple of times and two beautiful horses came trotting up from the paddock. This is where Charles Lindburgh’s grave is located. The inscription on the grave is Ps139:9 “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,”

Because of the delay, I didn’t have time to try to find wifi, but I believe the guide said they only have AOL access on the island, not wifi. Coming back to the ship on the tender was very exciting – there’s quite a surf in that area and we had waves crashing over the bow, bobbing around crazily! Being so late back, dinner  tonight was a BBQ on Lido deck.

My new word to remember today: popoki – cat!!

Friday, Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii

Right sunshine this morning. We anchored at about 7.30am and went ashore for an excursion.

We started off this morning going to a chocolate farm: how amazing to see how cacao grows, is processed and made into the final product. Again, hugely expensive but all gown, harvested and processed on site, so it’s pure and high quality. Samples were delicious!

Next was a soap/personal care farm – this is all natural stuff and we did a tour of the farm, with all sorts of beautiful flowers, coffee, chickens.

Last was the Kona Joe’s coffee farm, where we saw the whole process of how the coffee is hand-harvested, processed and tasted the finished product. It’s the third most expensive coffee in the world. I learned a lot about what makes good coffee and what makes Starbucks coffee! The chocolate coated coffee shots were amazing!

I’ve just spent an hour here in Quinn’s restaurant with a coffee to get free wifi and now I’m off to catch a tender back “home”. It’s been a lovely, lovely day: Kona is beautiful and the tour was worth every cent – wonderful!

I forgot to mention that today the sea was very choppy for tender travel between our anchorage and the pier; it wasn’t a problem when we were moving on the water, but it makes getting on and off the tenders tricky, even more so for the significant number of people who have mobility problems. Apparently one gentleman, ignoring the direction to wait, stepped at the wrong time and fell and cut his leg; being on blood thinners made that quite a nasty accident!

Back on board at the end of the day, I met Anita from our table when I got back to my cabin and she said she and Dorothy wouldn’t be at dinner in the dining room because they’d had a late lunch when they got back from their tour. So I sat at my table and waited for Debbie, John and Nancy but they didn’t turn up, I had my first course alone, enjoying watching the last tenders join the ship and then moving slowly away from the port. Then the people at the next table (for 8) invited me to join them, as 4 of their group had gone to the Pinnacle for dinner. So I met Carolyn and Debbie from Ontario and Arlene and x (can’t remember her husband’s name) from north of Vancouver. Before too long, we were the best of friends and soon we were all talking about the Lord’s work in our lives!

After dinner I had a lovely walk out on the deck, so I wouldn’t be in my room when the stewards were doing the turn-down service. I had been in the room when they came last night and said thank you to Adi for the chocolate they had left each night; so he gave me 4 last night and there were 4 on the bed again tonight! :o)  Yummy yummy! I had to get to bed a bit earlier because it’s an early start in the morning for an all-day tour in Lahaina, Maui.

Thursday, Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii

We sailed into the port while I was having breakfast – it was lovely to watch the island coming into view. To say its a cruise port is a little stretch of reality: we’re right smack-bang in the middle of the industrial waterfront. As we walk along, there are huge container trucks flying in every direction, container cranes scooting around, waterfront staff everywhere trying to heard the “sheep” wandering casually around onto defined walkways and stopping us when there’s a monster truck approaching. You certainly have to be on your toes getting around here.

There’s a second cruise ship berthed fairly close alongside – the Start Princess, which was also berthed in Honolulu when we were; I walked to the information centre, where they’re selling tickets, of course, to everything. I was almost resigned to buying a $20 “Hoppa On-Off” bus to get around the local district, when I was told that there’s wifi at the coffee shop across the shipyard. So that’s where I headed for a coffee and email catch-up. The barista was a lovely, older lady who was a really taking pride in “creating” her coffees; as always in Hawaii, no-one is in a hurry, so you just settle patiently and enjoy the wait! A little sticker to protect the opening of the coffee lid said “Labour of Love”.

I was back on board at 10; it was bright, sunny weather and quite hot in the sun. I had lunch around 11.40 because I had to be on the pier at 12.45 to wait for my excursion. We stopped at several beautiful waterfalls; the vegetation was lush and lustrous even though they’ve had quite a hard time with water recently.

 We finished up at the little shops downtown – it’s just  a small, laid-back town; we were back on the ship by 4.30. I was glad I’d had my wifi his morning on shore; when I was nearly finished the connection froze, but at least I got my stuff done.

Wednesday - Honolulu, Oahu

I spent some time at Starbucks on wifi, the first free access for over a week. On the way, my knees had an unpleasant meeting with the kerb; however, prayer and Grace Massage Cream are helping! So I decided that I needed to limit today’s adventure to either Waikiki or Ala Moana Shopping Centre; I was happy that I’d been to Waikiki yesterday, to I had fun walking around Ala Moana. As the guide described it – every woman’s shopping heaven: every man’s shopping nightmare! It’s no longer cheap shopping in Honolulu, as it was not so long ago. The main players, Macy’s and Nordstrom and the designer shops are super-pricey but the small outlets aren’t cheap either: bottom line is, the tourist dollar is still easy to get hold of, so the shop owners are doing better than they used to. I had an interesting experience when I showed interest in a very pretty pearl ring 14kt gold. Of course you can never see the price till you ask - $549, reduced to $315! When I didn’t want to pay that, it kept going down till it reached $150 – I would have bought it but she didn’t have my size. Then she showed me another one, very pretty and it fitted, with two tiny diamonds $979: that ended up $250, but that’s way more (in $US) than I was prepared to spend. Oh well, it was nice looking anyway! Most of the pearl rings these days are big and clumsy, but this was the first time I’d seen something more delicate.

We had a chatty shuttle driver on the way back to the ship who gave us a commentary all the way, going through Ala Moana Park, where we could see Ala Moana Beach. We also went past the place where they launched Gilligan’s ill-fated voyage to the Island with the Skipper, the Professor and Harriet and all the rest.  :o)  Of course, a chatty driver means you tip him for being nice – that’s the way they make a living here and he deserved it.

The weather today? Well, some bursts of sunshine and blue, blue water, but more often it clouded; every now and again there would be the lightest rain – they call it “powder rain” not really enough to wet you and really quite pleasant.

Sailaway was 6.00pm while we were at dinner; lots of dinner guests wearing their new acquired Hawaiian attire!

These are 2 of my table mates, Anita and Dorothy.

Okay, so it’s a bit of a stretch of the imagination, but this is a koala!

These are 2 of my table mates, Anita and Dorothy.

Funny story – tonight there was a competition: guess which of the 3 pairs of earrings are real pearls. So I picked “1” but I put in 3 entries, one for each choice, just in case. Well, they separated them and “1” was the correct answer and my name got pulled out! So I won a $20 bracelet – nice! Thank you, Lord, for lovely little surprises!

Tuesday afternoon

I enjoyed walking back towards the Moana Surfrider, where we would be picked up by the shuttle on the ¼ past the hour, whenever we were ready to go. I thought I’d go over to the beach from there, but when I walked down “surfboard alley” to the beach, I realised I’d forgotten it was mainly restricted to hotel access, with unsheltered sand on the other side. I didn’t feel like walking a mile back to the access to the other end of the beach by then, so a slight change of plans and I’ll go back tomorrow. I did go into the Cheesecake Factory to use the restroom; a bit sad that unless I find someone else who wants to sample the amazing creations with me tomorrow, there’s no point doing it on my own, as the portions are huge and taking a doggy bag back on board would be rather superfluous! The plan for tomorrow is to catch a trolley to Ala Moana first, because I didn’t get there today and then from there a trolley to the beach, this time down the friendly end!

It was quite a wait for the shuttle but I was back on board by about 2.45 and just had some afternoon tea and relaxed with my book on Lido deck. I’m happy that it’s actually not necessary for me to spend every moment running around Honolulu, especially as I have an excursion booked for each of the other four islands.

Dinner was just Anita and Dorothy and me; probably Debbie needed a night off from managing her parents through the meal. Tonight there was a Polynesian Drums concert, which was more about the fast style of hula dancing, as well as warriors doing their intimidating stuff. Being “Polynesian” they included Fijian, Tahitian and then New Zealand dancing – the latter was a skilful poi dance, followed by a pathetic imitation of the haka!

Aloha from downtown Waikiki

Monday afternoon

Well, the sun came out this afternoon, completely changing the 360 degree picture of sky and ocean surrounding us. It’s much more pleasant walking on deck, with no jackets necessary now. We enjoyed a farewell Hawaiian concert from the team who have sailed from Vancouver with us, introducing us to all things Hawaiian. Then dinner with just Debbie and John because the ladies went to the Pinnacle Restaurant and Nancy, John’s wife had mistakenly got all ready for bed early. Maybe tomorrow night we’ll all make it to dinner together!

My pets have been keeping me company:      :o)

This is the view from my cabin - I could sit there for hours at the windown, propped up with cushions, just watching the sea going by. Last night for the first time the sky was clear and the stars were unbelievable! I could have sat there for hours.

The Hawaiian dancers on board.

Tuesday lunchtime.

We docked at 7.00am this morning. The weather was grey, then sunny, then grey. The water is soooo blue when the sun's out. I caught a free shuttle to the pearl factory, which then took me downtown to Waikiki. I'm in Starbucks, downing a massive coffee and getting my first free wifi. It's nice and sunny but with a lovely cool breeze. There are a couple of Aussie girls across from me, so I'll "meet" them in a minute. When I get through here (when the laptop dies) I'm going to walk down and sit in the shade and just watch the blue water wash up onto one of the world's most beautiful beaches. 

There are people around, but its not as busy as in midsummer, which is nice. There's no queue at the Cheesecake Factory.

Well, off for my walk and then back to the ship. I'll do Ala Moana Shopping Mall tomorrow.

Monday 2 May - getting close!

Sunday afternoon

A quiet day today, knitting, reading, walking. Tonight’s dinner was lovely, as usual. John was back at our table after being off colour yesterday, but Nancy was struggling with seasickness and didn’t come for dinner: hopefully her patch will settle her by tomorrow.

I went to the show tonight by an English tenor – a young man with an amazing voice who was also a very funny entertainer. He sang some opera, as well as Phantom, Elvis, etc. 

Monday morning.

This morning I woke early to see the moon rising; even though it’s only ¼ it was very bright and reflecting on the water.  Morning saw bits of sunshine; the sun is peeping through the clouds again now and the temperature is rising a little; it’s been quite pleasant for the past couple of days.  I’m sitting at the window in the Explorer’s cafe with my coffee, looking out onto the ocean: it’s still grey, reflecting the clouds, but it’s also sparkly, reflecting the bits of sunshine here and there. The swell hasn’t really subsided since we left port, but that’s nice because it feels like we’re sailing, not just sliding over the water. It’s amazing to think that the engines haven’t stopped for almost 5 days now, and apart from a couple of heavy fog patches, we’ve maintained a steady 18 knots. We’re probably about 400 miles from Honolulu now. Did you know there’s a website where you can track the location of a cruise ship? So if you’re interested, you can spot exactly where the Zaandam is at any time during the cruise.

After the pastor’s collapse yesterday, I wasn’t surprised to see that there was no service listed this morning, so I went to the early Mass; coming up to the lounge at 9.00, I met a lady who was a regular at the service and she said the service was on – not only that but Walt, the pastor was there, bright as a button! Apparently he’s had one of these turns a couple of times and they can’t find a thing wrong with him: he appears to be perfectly healthy. I’ve just done my first digital workshop: learning OneNote. This afternoon there’s a Hawaiian concert and tonight it’s Abba night, so they should be fun.

Sunday 1 May

Saturday afternoon.

Yay! I made it – 1 mile around the deck! I was really rugged up and the wind was very strong, but considerably less chilly than earlier days. I could have done more but I was conscious that I’m trying to put on some weight, not take it off!

Sunday morning

Well, that’s a ship’s service I’ll never forget. This morning we were moved into the showroom for the Sunday service and a good thing we were because there would have been at least 200 people in attendance. After some introductory prayers, nothing of a formal “liturgy” type (some ship chaplains use the Anglican format) Walt was about 10 minutes into his message from Jonah when he paused for quite a while, appearing to be looking for his place, then he staggered backwards a little, against the stage and fell to the floor, bumping the top of the stage as he fell. He lay still for a few seconds before a few people moved to help him. After another minute or so the medical team arrived. We all sat and prayed in silence; Walt was awake and responsive but they kept him very still, and then the nurse asked us to clear the theatre. Lydia, Walt’s wife, didn’t appear to be there for some reason. If you’ve seen “A Man Called Peter”, it was almost exactly the same thing. So now Walt has a whole bunch of Christians praying for him. I hope someone tells us during the day how he’s going.

I was planning to go to the 2^nd History of Hawaii through Hula session and then my first digital session of the cruise – queues for every session so far, although nothing has particularly grabbed me, so I haven’t bothered. However, Rita rang and we met in the Explorer’s Lounge for about 90 minutes, so that took care of the sessions I had planned! However, we had a lovely time, looking through pictures, which Bob loves, and chatting about all sorts of life events. Walking the mile on deck was so much easier today, with the wind being less wild and the temperature being a little higher. Still no sunshine, grey skies and a vast, grey ocean to match.

Getting Closer to Hawaii

Friday evening

Dinner in the Pinnacle Grill with Rita and Bob was delicious: Chef’s complimentary appetiser, raw fish- delicious.  Starter: beef tartare – awesome.  Main: halibut and king prawns – yum

Dessert: Rita and I had soufflé – amazing. Bob had the volcano cake – have had that before: it’s to die for! Chocolate tray and coffee. Took the chocs in a cute hand-made alfoil doggie basket.

We talked for over 2 hours non-stop! and we got the waitress to take a pic of us. I didn’t realise till afterwards that the photographer didn’t come around to our restaurant – a pity.

Rocked to sleep for another peaceful night. 

Saturday 30 April

Bible study this morning, with a few extra participants. Then a crowded craft session where we made a lauhala bracelet with leaves and raffia and shells. Very pretty! Somehow, God gave me a seat in the front row and it was a lot of fun making something pretty. We were crowded out at the end by the next group who were lined up for the cooking class: these are very popular too and the kitchen is set up as well as any TV show kitchen.

Day 3 Sailing Towards Hawaii

Thursday evening

We sailed into a pea-souper around 3.30, moving very slowing and sounding the ship’s whistle every few minutes; then it became lighter about an hour later, but still out there. It’s been pretty bumpy all day too. Today there were some cultural items in preparation for Hawaii: hula dancing, good band and some language tips.

At dinner I finally met my table mates and they’re all lovely: Debbie is there as a carer for her elderly parents who are celebrating their 67^th wedding anniversary, Nancy and John, apparently a well-heeled family. Then there are two single friends travelling together, Anita and Dorothy. I’m staggered that I’ve actually remembered all their names! I went for a short walk a few times around one side of the deck: the wind chill factor on the other side was almost zero. There’s still a swell and we’re still rolling but making good speed. Tomorrow night is our first formal night.

Friday

Well, this morning we have sunshine for the first time. After breakfast was the service/bible study – today was on Giving, which our C group studied recently. (If anyone’s interested, we’re doing the Stay Positive series from Life Church – bite-sized 30-minute encouraging messages: just ask Dr Google to find it for you! :o)  )

A presentation in the showroom was about the history of Hawaii through hula. A male dancer first in ancient style and then two ladies showed today’s modern version: they’re so graceful! I went back to the stateroom with a cuppa and sat at my lovely big window, just watching the ocean drift past and realised that I’ve finally arrived at “holiday mode”. Just sitting there, doing absolutely nothing: it’s so relaxing watching the water; the swell is somewhat lower this morning and the rocking is a little gentler. The oceanview stateroom is perfect and I don’t find it a problem not having a balcony; I’m only one deck above sea level and have never been so low in the ship, but I really like it. There are lots of places where I can go in the open when I want to. Again, the Zaandam is such a lovely size and it never feels like there are crowds of people anywhere.

I’m sitting in the Lido now writing this, up at the window watching the ocean (because the cabin stewards are doing my room). I tried to attach some pictures today it took too long, I’ll wait till land where I can get free wifi. 

I got ¾ mile done on the deck today – still too cold to stay out there any longer!

Tonight I'm having dinner with our friends in the special restaurant and it's formal night, so we get to dress up!!!

Thursday – at Sea

Rita rang last night and we arranged a rendezvous for this morning in the Crows Nest.  I had my first Explorations coffee last night (well, first coffee of the day, really!) and I’ve more or less done enough orienteering to know where everything is. The Zaandam is really only a small ship – less than 1500 guests and that’s rather nice. Shopping is somewhat limited: they don’t have as much available as far as cheap cruise clothing goes, in fact the duty free is mainly jewellery; however, there’ll be plenty to see in Hawaii, not that I plan on spending much anyway.

I went to the welcome concert at 9.30pm, which was okay, but I’m not really into the showtime stuff. It’s just lovely being on board again: the window, as I downloaded photos last night, was doing a distracting light show from the lights of the towns along the coast that we’re passing (I’m on port side, which is really good on this cruise because we hug the coast for ages). I could just sit there for hours, but thought I’d better get to bed!

We were to set the clocks back; as my phone had autoset when I hit LA, I assumed it would do so overnight; so I ended up in the Lido at 6.40am having breakfast, when I thought it was an hour later! Oh well, early to bed tonight. We’re in quite a swell now; I barely noticed it in bed because I’m on Deck 1 amidships, but up in the Lido, it was careful, drunken walking everywhere! Well, true to form for Holland America, not only do we have a Mass every day and an interdenominational service but also tonight the Jewish community is celebrating Passover.

After breakfast I went to the service: the pastors are Walt and his wife, Lydia, an elderly retired couple from Ontario CA. We had some prayer and did a lovely Bible study on worship, based on a few Psalms and scriptures; there were a little over a dozen of us there. So it wasn’t really a service; however, it was certainly encouraging and nice to begin a connection with these people. I’m finding that most people on board appear to be a little or a lot older than me and there is only a small percentage of younger couples – a little unusual, but perhaps most people prefer to fly to Hawaii these days.

I had coffee with Rita this morning; Bob was at a session in the art studio. It was really lovely to catch up; Rita is going along well but Bob has had lots of health issues. We’re going to have dinner in the Pinnacle Grill tomorrow night together, as we both have a complimentary gift dinner from our travel agents. Today I went to some information sessions on our Hawaiian ports; first port will be Honolulu on Tuesday morning, for 2 days.

I heard you’ve had some more hot weather. It’s cold here at sea, cloudy today and the wind is too cold to do more than a couple of laps of the deck. Of course, as we said further south it will get warmer. 

Vancouver tomorrow

I've got my ticket for the train from Edmonds to Vancouver BC tomorrow morning early. I'm really looking forward to doing the rail trip for the first time, as it's always been road or plane. I'll get to Vancouver Central Station around 12.00 and then a cab to Canada Place where I'll board the beautiful MS Zaandam. I found out yesterday I got an upgrade, so now I have a full window and I'm no longer on Lower Promenade, which is even better.

And, for all you NRL fans, I got a perfect round with my guesses on the weekend!!

See you next time I can get wifi, which could be a while. xxxx

Saturday to Monday so far

Rick and Barb arrived at the baggage carousel just as I did: it was lovely to see them. We had some errands to do, grabbed a snack, went to the real estate agent to sign their old house onto the market from Monday, and then e drove to their new condo which is lovely – what we would call a 2-bedroom unit, quite modern and very open and spacious, in a very quiet block. Having just moved in 6 days ago, they’re still discovering their new environment; they’re within walking distance of shops. They’ve done very well with settling their furniture and the unit is already very comfortably set up. There was a pot-luck dinner for their home group, people I’ve met before and who also know Alison from her stay in Year 11. The host had done slideshows of his recent trip to France, so we all watched that, then home to bed.

Sunday

This morning they had to wake me because my alarm didn’t go off; after about 9 hours’ good sleep, I feel almost normal today apart from a couple of “spaced out” moments. We went to 10.30 Mass, home for a light lunch and then Rick and I went to the library so I could check email and he could try again to get into their gmail account.  Tonight Matt and Tricia came for dinner – it was lovely to catch up and retell stories of Gilmores and Kings when they were all little. They enjoyed the pictures of the family I brought with me. Barb rang John so I could have a chat to him because they live in Oregon. It’s 10.30, so I’m getting ready for bed. Tomorrow I need to organise my train trip to Vancouver!! Very exciting – almost cruise time!

Monday

Barb went off to work and after breakfast Rick and I went to the old house to check out the new FOR SALE sign. They already had an open house sign up and brochures to take. It was nice to be able to get a last picture of the house we know so well. We then found a coffee at Zorba’s because Tully’s (Rick’s version of Cheers but for coffee) had just closed down on Saturday. Then we went for a drive to the lake and sat there for a while, chatting and watching the seaplanes land. Rick was under instruction to take me to the Queen Mary cafe for lunch but we got there and it doesn’t open, so we had lunch at a cafe. It’s a very pretty area where they live now in Edmonds.

LA International Airport

Very quick immigration, baggage claim and customs. Beautiful weather - about 20 degrees. Waiting for security for my Seattle flight took forever and you have to almost do a strip to get through these days Everyone goes through the body scanner. I'm in the gate lounge now and can settle for a while, freshen up and get a good coffee.

Arrival!

"All my bags are packed: I'm ready to go ... Leaving on a jet plane ..."
Sorry, folks, I'm a child of the 60's. :o)

Yes, I've arrived at 23 April 2016! ... funny how you have these dates that are goals which for so long seem so far off and then you arrive.

Yesterday I spent lunchtime and some with my darling and slipped out when he closed his eyes; it's never easy to leave but even harder knowing I won't see him for almost a month. I'm grateful to everyone who will drop in and spend a few minutes with him while I'm away.

My beautiful cousin and house sitter extraodinaire arrived in the evening and we cracked a nice bottle of shiraz to celebrate. Of course we talked non-stop till bedtime.

Now it's 5.36 and we'll leave at 6.00.

Ugh! Packing!

Well, I've finally got in there and made it about 2/3 of the way into the packing chore. Two heads are so much better than one (and make it more fun) when it comes to packing; besides, Graham was the world's tidiest packer, whereas I come close to the other end of the scale.

There's always the temptation to take one more top, one more skirt, etc. etc. This time I'm packing for cold in Seattle and balmy in Hawaii and in-between on the ship.

Miriam is coming Friday afternoon; looking forward to having a nice glass of wine and some equally nice cheese. Then it will be an early night and early rising for the airport Saturday morning.