Favorite picture of a South Pacific island

We're Home!

Arrived home mid-morning on the 17th, sleep deprived from the Red Eye with lots of fond memories of a great trip.

Many loads of laundry, despite sending it out several times onboard, a month's worth of mail to open, email to check, dog who was thrilled to see us and vice versa, and ......memories galore!

Off to the grocery store to fill up the larder then on to organizing photos and editing this blog!

Forgot to mention that, of course, we booked another cruise onboard - for October, 2009, on the new Equinox with a completely new itinerary! And so it goes :)

Late Saturday Night, March 15th

We are on our way from Hilo to Honolulu after a lovely (and again rainy day in Hilo). Will have a long day in the HNL airport followed by a red eye flight via Chicago to Raleigh/Durham.

My plan is to review all of the posts, edit and add pictures and include review of the last few days. I hope to have it all done by the end of next week, so do check back for the 'whole story'. I will write a summary of our wonderful adventure at the end, but, suffice it to say that we had a great time, made many new friends and were especially happy to get to know our online Cruise Critic friends in person. It's a diverse group from many parts of the US and around the world. We hope to stay in touch with many and to cruise with some in the not too distant future. The officers, crew and service onboard was exemplary and we thank them all for their support and assistance with the Christmas Island project.

Stay tuned for more, soon. Aloha!

Wednesday, March 13th at Sea

Another lovely, sunny sea day - morning spent relaxing, reading - do you see the pattern of relaxation?  I will not be complaining about not having enough time for R and R for some time in the future.

Spent most of the afternoon working on organizing my pictures and setting up a final Cruise Critics party for tomorrow AM for those of us who visited Christmas Island to share our experiences with other CC members and with the staff (invited the Hotel Director and Staff Captain and any others available to attend).  Dave has developed a slideshow and we've requested a projector with which to show them.

This evening we were seated at the Captain's table with the Staff Captain hosting the dinner.  A lovely group of guests as well as a charming Greek host Philipos.  Great service from our favorite waiter in charge of training at the Casual Dining area and our Asst Maitre D' Dixon.  In all, a great experience with lots of questions re: yesterday's experience at Christmas Island.

Visited with our regular dinner table during their dinner since we were at early seated tonight and then went to the show with Sharyn and John- the Celebrity Singers and Dancers!

Tuesday, March 12th - Christmas Island, Kiribati

In the morning, we did our usual lounging on Deck 10, then went to the pool deck for the 10 AM appearance of King Neptune   (in the form of Damien, our CD), sea nymphs and their crew captives to watch the induction of Pollywogs as we simulated the crossing of the Equator (which actually occurred at 2 AM).  Lots of fun as many crew members and some 'volunteer' passengers had eggs broken over their heads, faces smeared with pasta, chocolate syrup and any other gross liquid they could find.  Then they had to 'kiss' a fish before being thrown into the pool.

Quite funny and a bit disgusting.

I left before it ended to shower and change for our long awaited visit to Christmas Island.  I was quite nervous as I had been told the night before that the forecast was for clouds and scattered showers and a difficult transport for the tenders through the reefs.  Those of our Cruise Critic group who has volunteered to participate in my project to deliver school supplies to the teachers and children of the island, gathered in Michael's Club, Deck 8 to meet Sonja Gruber, our Hotel Director, prior to disembarking on the first tender to the island.  We knew that there was a possibility that those in the group who used wheel chairs or scooters might not be able to get to the island due to possibly unsafe dock conditions.  Off we went to Deck 3 to board the tender - trying to keep others who wished to get on the tender from joining our group (this was a difficult task and we were grateful to Sonja and James for helping to keep us together as a group). Since we had so many cartons of materials going with us, we could not all fit on the tender, but this is part of our group.  

As we approached the island, we heard the ominous sound of the tender scaping the bottom - the water was quite shallow with lots of coral in the sand. A bit of back and forth maneuvers and we were back in action again.

We finally made it to the dock only to find that there was about a 3 foot step up from the tender to the dock.  Thanks for the able crew, we all managed to get on shore safely.  Quite an adventure.

Art and I walked to an area where we saw some women and children gathered and found a sign that said "Welcome Dr. Sheila and her friend".  It was such a nice way to be greeted.  I met Reetina, my main contact on the island and the head of the Education Department.

We boarded some trucks for a bumpy, windy trip to visit children in a variety of schools (preschool, elementary and high school).  The children have mandatory 1-6 grade education after which they must pay to go to upper level.  Unfortunately when they graduate there are very few available jobs and many leave for NZ or Australia.  We spoke to the children and teachers, distributed our gifts and received lovely gifts from the children.  It was a very moving and emotional experience for all of us.  The quality of the education with such limited resources and materials was amazing.  The elementary school, for example taught science in the local language and in English and the children sang welcome songs to us in English and did local dances and performances. Elementary school performance below

Girl reading book we gave to her

Preschool kids saying good-bye

High School Class

After our school visits, we were welcomed with a student band playing instruments made of PVC pipes (they had also greeted us when we arrived) and a sincere thank-you from the teachers and students by Miss Reetina.  I responded from our group and then we were offered a homemade meal of local foods.  We, unfortunately, were running late and couldn't stay very long but were overwhelmed by the hospitality of these friendly, warm people and the sincerity of their responses to our small donations.  They are in great need of educational and other materials that we take for granted and, yet, are so happy and lovely to be with.  We received lists of things that are needed and many of us will continue to be responsive to their needs.

We returned to the ship on the next to last tender feeling honored to have been able to help in a small way.

On our return to the ship, we discovered that there were many disappointed and angry passengers who could not get ashore. We heard many stories of rudeness and even fights among the guests. Some of our group were even made uncomfortable for wearing the flower leis and headdresses that had been given to us as we moved from school to school.  We shared our experiences with many people who were very supportive of how we had spent our day.

We did not attend the Magician show tonight and were asleep before our heads hit the pillow after a tiring and emotionally draining but very satisfying day.

 

All in all a wonderful afternoon.

Monday, March 11th at Sea

Imagine - carefully opened the drapes this AM to clear skies and bright sun!  Today and tomorrow at sea and then Christmas Island.
We went to the gym...been doing that about every 2 days on sea days since Art got over his bad cough on the first cruise.  Somehow I feel less guilty about all that I'm eating if I do 1/2 hour on the Treadmill and some free weights....especially when I can work off at least the breakfast calories.

Spent most of the morning catching up on this blog and trying to figure out my picture card problem.  Finally determined that I couldn't figure it out and was relieved to meet up with Dave (my photo guru) who agreed to work on it for me.  Promptly invited Dave and Kim and their friends Peri and Ron  to the cabin for drinks on our veranda at 4 PM (with Dave working on my pictures).

Now this is the way to entertain.  We stayed in our hide-out on Deck 10 Aft - a small public deck where we camp out on sea days along with 4-6 German passengers - until it was time to shower and order food.  Ordered cheese and fruit plates, tonic, ice, extra glasses and napkins and moved furniture around to make room for six.  By propping the veranda door open, we had an indoor/outdoor party with fun friends and didn't even have to clean up afterwards!  It will be hard to give this us in just 5 more days!

We had a new entertainer tonight - a violin virtuoso who was very good - mostly classical with some Fiddler on the Roof and a rousing version of Hava Nagillah thrown in.  Very nice to not have a repeat of past performances.

Saturday - March 8th - Bora Bora

Awoke to an amazing sunrise this morning that raised hopes of a glorious sunny day snorkeling on Bora Bora.  Of course, the clouds moved in soon thereafter but, this time, they were high clouds, the temperature was warm and we had a quick breakfast and headed to meet our group 0f 20 for our snorkel and motu lunch trip with Nono.  This was another tour recommended on our CC Ports of Call.  We, with some difficulty managed to get off on one of the first tenders.  Although we had VIP tender passes, the group of 200 from Germany, were granted early privileges. After some discussion, we did manage to get on the tenders with them and quickly landed on the small dock on Bora Bora.  Took the requisite pictures next to the Bora Bora sign, visited the small market near the pier and, actually, bought a few nice gifts.  then waited next to the area where Popo picked us up in his outrigger boat for the first part of our trip - to Nono's house to pay via credit card.  This is a magnificently beautiful island (one we would definitely like to visit again AND stay for awhile).  Most of the hotels we passed (by boat) were those you see in all of the the island travel articles - over-water bungalows with their own access to the water, white sand beaches with lots of water toys, etc.  One was a new Four Seasons Interval Ownership or private home property - georgeous! 

Our first stop was to swim with the Sting Rays...much like Sting Ray city on Grand Cayman but without the crowds and screaming tourists. There were just the twenty of us, Popo and the Rays who, for some reason, loved me!  Picture coming....

Then we went to the Fish Garden - just another spot along the reef where 'just us' snorkeled with Rays, beautiful fish, AND black-tipped sharks.  It was quite amazing - after I got over the fact that I was actually taking pictures of sharks while in the water with them!  One of our best snorkeling experiences and proof that my camera case did NOT leak.  My pictures were just OK, since I hadn't had the time I had planned to really learn how to use it in Rarotonga...but I do look forward to future snorkeling experiences down the road and I didn't have to worry about my camera getting wet.

We them went to a motu (a picnic areas on a deserted beach).  Some motu experiences are actually with tables in the water...but this one was in a hut just off of the beach - we ate barbequed marlin, baked poi, bananas, and other local food on plates made out of leaves.  We were serenaded by 3 local musicians (including Popo) and enjoyed swimming before and after lunch.  The water was quite shallow and we walked a long water into the lagoon with the water thigh deep.  A lovely, relaxing afternoon with NO rain.  The sun didn't come out until about an hour before we headed back but we were grateful.  It was warm and we got plenty of sun through the clouds and we were quite comfortable.  All in all, it was a wonderful day and made up for a few previous disappointments.

I managed to spend our last 1000 pacific francs (about $12) before we headed back to the ship.

Showers felt very good!  We ordered cheese trays and, once again, enjoyed our veranda while sailing away from Paradise with dreams of coming back.  Early show tonight with NEW entertainment - a NY comedian who (except for the first 15 minutes) was quite good.  Then dinner and off to bed.  We are now counting down the days to the end of our trip as we are in the last week of a great cruise experience.

Friday - March 7th - Tahiti

In all honesty, I must confess that I did not want to come to Tahiti.  The original cruise itinerary included Moorea (one of the places high on my list of places to visit) but it was changed long after we had booked.  Most people we knew who had been to Tahiti and many Cruise Critics had indicated that Pepeete was a dirty town, with expensive shops and restaurants and not many nice beaches except, perhaps those at luxury hotels.

Guess what, we awoke to cloudy skies with the promise of serious rainfall.  We had booked a tour with Patrick (based on Cruise Critic reviews) and Isabel had made the arrangements for 8 of us to tour together.  Patrick arrived on the dock on time at 8 AM and we had a group of congenial folks who were on time to leave - in cloudy weather with a bit of drizzle.  Patrick is a real charmer, originally from Paris, with a lovely French accent, great smile and lots of excellent information about flora, fauna, geology (our son-in-law Mike (a hydro-geologist)would have loved his talks) and island culture.

We headed out of town with a stop at a local boulangerie for Patrick's breakfast.  Many photo stops along the way into the rain forest.  Patrick stopped whenever he spotted an interesting flower and let us examine it while he described information about it.  Fantastic waterfalls along a bumpy road filled with pot holes.  Note: we were in the back of a pick-up truck seated on benches with, fortunately, a roof and side that zipped up and down throughout the day as the rain turned on and off.

It was a lot of fun and even though, at times, it rained quite hard, we had a great morning.  At one point we stopped to see eels that lived in the dammed up part of a river that flowed to a hydro-electric plant. We saw many beautiful water falls, lava formations called lava organs and porous lava that causes the mountains to be highly unstable - no hiking in this rainforest.

We returned to the ship about noon (whereby Patrick picked up an afternoon group from Mercury that reported NO rain on their trip - is there a message here?).  After lunch onboard, we disembark again to wonder around town and, hopefully, to buy some souvenirs and gifts.  No such luck.  Papeete was exactly as reported.  Lots of traffic, many round abouts, shuttered buildings, etc. The market was filled with vendors selling fruits, sarongs, etc...most selling about the same things with locals doing their produce and bakery shopping there but no bargains and quality just so - so.  After about 45 minutes of wandering around, we returned to the ship and repeated our relaxing 'shipboard' routine.

Skipped the show tonight which was a repeat of the singers and dancers 2nd show from the first cruise.  We were off to bed at a reasonable time dreaming of sun on Bora-Bora!

Brief note: I'm having a problem with one of my camera cards so will add pictures at a later date - please check back to see them.

Wednesday, March 5 and Wednesday, March 5th

Nope, I didn't make a mistake in the heading for this message - we crossed the International Date Line during the night of the FIRST March 5th and, low and behold, it was March 5th again.  So, not only did we have 2 Wednesdays, but those celebrating birthdays and anniversaries on March 5th got to celebrate twice!  Messed with my head for 2 days...I can't quite get my head around it, especially when we were told that there was no Newspaper digest on the 2nd March 5th because we crossed the dateline - now there had to be news somewhere on that day, right???

Anyway, we had one dreary March 5 and one sunny, lovely day so I guess it was good to have 2 March 5ths.  We enjoyed the rest and relaxation, but are, admittedly, getting a bit bored with the repeated menus, some repeated entertainment with a few new acts that were refreshing to see and an Hawaiian group doing traditional songs and dances (including, of course, hula lessons in a very crowded Navigator lounge).

We are having lots of laughs with new friends and very much looking forward to tomorrow when we can get off of the ship and enjoy our first South Pacific white sand beach and snorkel tour.

Sea day Tuesday, March 4, 2008

So nice to sleep in and have a relaxing sea day...a very nice day to catch up on reading, organize pictures, and.....  We are really glad to be our way to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.  Many years ago we met a couple from London who had traveled throughout the South Pacific and they thought the Cook Islands were the most beautiful.  So we do anticipate a lovely day on the beach when we get there.

In the meantime, we are enjoying settling in to a quiet time with sun, pool, friends and no real schedule.

Our first formal night of this cruise was tonight.  We dressed and went to the Martini Bar to share a flight of Martinis (the 6 flavors Martini tasting.  Three for each of us was more than enough for pre-dinner - I loved 5 of them - Art drank his 'regular' one and barely touched the others, so guess who had the rest!  We met Dave and Kim and Ron and Peri sitting near the bar and Dave was nice enough to take our picture (my personal photographer).  Also met a couple from our Bermuda cruise who we had been looking for and missing.  It was fun to catch up on them and their new grand-daughter (we had met their other grand-daughter and pregnant daughter when we sailed on the Journey).

Off to dinner - with menu anticipated from the last cruise.  Had our usual congenial dinner and then on to the Captain's Gala Welcome Toast and the first show with the Celebrity Singers and Dancers.  We guessed that we slept through (or left early) this show on the last cruise because we didn't remember having seen most of the numbers   We really enjoyed the show this time - senility is setting in.

Friday, Feb 29th - Sea Day and White Island

Lovely, sunny sea day with calm seas (and high hopes that all sea days will be like this as we continue to head north over the next few weeks.

Relaxed and read on the balcony in the morning after a brief time on the Internet to post to this blog.  Met Sharyn and John, Elaine and Gray for lunch in the main Dining Room (our first lunch there this trip).  Food was good, as was the company; then back to our sunny, warm balcony (and a nap for Art). 

As we sailed closer to White Island - the only active marine volcano in New Zealand and, according to the Celebrity Today newsletter, perhaps the most accessible on earth. A major eruption occurred in 2000 so we hoped it didn't decide to visit us this week - we invited Sharyn, John and Elaine to view from our balcony.  Ordered cheese and fruit plates from room service and opened the wine (made Starbucks coffee for Elaine!).  Had a lot of fun enjoying the volcano viewing from both our balcony and from the Deck 8 public balcony at the end of our corridor which had the best views of the steam vents in the crater. We cruised around the volcano taking lots of pictures and, at one point, seeing 2 people on an ATV on the island through binoculars.  Then set off for Tauranga - the 2nd fasted growing city in NZ.

Tonight was formal night

Pictures of White Island are forthcoming so do come back to see them - computer time is expensive AND vacation time for computer work is limited...so I've gotten a bit off schedule.  Will be back on track very soon.

Thursday, Feb 28- Wellington

This is the port I've been waiting for - an opportunity to re-visit the Te Papa Museum and to meet friends from the Hutt Valley Health District for lunch.  I was a Magnet Appraiser at their facility last March and spent time with them at the Magnet conference in Atlanta last October. 

Art and I left the ship at 9:15 with Elaine and Gray (our dinner friends from Sydney).  We shared a taxi to Te Papa - the National Museum of NZ.  We loved it on our first visit almost 13 years ago and were thrilled to find that we enjoyed it as much on this 2nd visit.  We only had about 2 hours there until our lunch appt. but enjoyed every minute, especially a wonderful film with vignettes of people with different backgrounds and all ages who described their love for the land and the ecological strategies they were using to reclaim some of the lost land and forests. Very beautiful and moving. 

Picture is a Maori Sculpture in the lobby of the museum.

Wellington from the rooftop Sculpture Terrace of Museum

We left the museum at 11:30 to walk along the lovely harbor area to Shed 5, a wonderful restaurant on the water, where I had eaten dinner with the folks from Hutt Valley last year.  Debbie and Michelle were there when we arrived - hugs all around and introductions to Art - and we chatted until Toni arrived a few minutes later. 

Left to right - Toni, Michelle and Debbie with yours truly behind

We had a delicious, if expensive, lunch.  We thoroughly our visit with them.  Michelle mapped directions to a wine store that was nearby so that I could buy a bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc that I had enjoyed on my last visit. 

Flowers along the street on the way to the wine store.

Then we walked along the busy road that took us back to ship...a rather treacherous walk along a busy highway - Wellington really should consider building a walkable path from the ship to the city center.  It's a short and reasonable walk but, at this point, potentially dangerous.

Once onboard, we, once again, changed into bathing suits, went to the pool, had our, now daily, afternoon ice cream with chocolate chips, and relaxed with friends. A short time in the spa pool and off to get ready for dinner - informal dress tonight, so a bit more primping ;).  Entertainment was the Australian comedienne who started off with unappealing 'Fat' jokes - which focused on making fun of HER size, she followed by several song routines with were quite good - we all agreed that she should stick to singing!

Dinner was a bit unusual - the table next to ours was so loud that we could hardly hear our tablemates talking.  The Keith dropped plates off of the tray he was carrying - several people at the table clapped until we realized that it was OUR FOOD that had fallen.  I had direct line of vision when the plates fell and was frightened for Keith - a close call that none of the plates or plate covers hit his head!  He was chagrined...said that was the first time he had ever done that!  We laughed with him and told him that as long as he wasn't hurt, it was fine.  It was amazing to see how quickly the other waiters, ass't waiters, maitre d's and wine stewards came to his assistance.

Off to bed, enjoying the idea of a Sea day tomorrow!

Monday, March 3 Tauranga

45were so glad to see the sun shining this morning!  The sky was glorious when we peeked outside and we were excited to get ready for the day.  After Breakfast with Sharyn and John in the aft section of Deck 11, we headed off of the ship to meet Christine.

A brief note about how we came to have a special personal tour guide on our 2nd day in Tauranga.  I met Christine at the Magnet conference in Atlanta last October when my friend Kim and her husband Larry and I had dinner with our friends from the Hutt Valley District Health Board in NZ and their friend Christine, the Chief Nurse from Tauranga Health Board.  Christine, when she heard I was coming to NZ on this trip, offered to tour us around the area.  AND did she ever fulfill her promise.

She met us promptly at 9 AM outside of the exit from the port where we saw our first view of Mt. Maunganui  Off we went on a 1 1/2  hour drive to the Waimangu volcanic valley.  We drove through the beautiful countryside on winding (think roller coaster!) two lane roads for about 1 hour 15 minutes.  We could never have found this place on our own - few signs and clearly not a major tourist area.  When we arrived in the parking lot, we parked and found a beautifully maintained visitor area with a lovely coffee shop and gift shop.  Art bought tickets for the 45 minute boat ride on the lake...spectacular views of tree ferns, steam vents and boiling water from the rocks.

After our geothermal excursion, we had lunch at Fat Dog's in Rotorua (the food was good, fattening (thus the name) and local).  A drive back to Tauranga on even more roller coaster roads took us in search of a $1 or $2 store in Tauranga where we could buy additional books and school supplies for the children of Christmas Island (Kiribati) - quite an adventure.  The first store had closed, then we tried K-msrt - where most children's books were between 6 and 16 dollars - and finally to a lovely $2 store in Tauranga where we bought more school supplies at one time than the clerks had ever seen.  But just what we needed.  We said our fond farewells to wonderful Christine and returned to the ship in time for our daily ice cream fix, and drinks on the balcony as we set off for 3 wonderful and relaxing days at sea

We were happy for casual dress for dinner tonight and after dinner went to the evening entertainment - a very talented multi-instrumentalist who also sang and danced.  Very rocky and rough seas and the walk back to our cabin make us look like we had a few too many with or after dinner :)  Off to sleep in our rocking bed and slept very well (did take a Bonine beforehand!)

Sunday, March 2 Auckland

Today was another 'iffy' weather day...very cloudy with occasional drizzle, so on with the rain jackets and off with Sharyn and John for a walking tour of downtown Auckland.  Maps were hard to follow and even though we had been to Auckland several times before, we had a bit of trouble getting our bearings.  Few pictures due to the poor light but a few that show off the city starting with the clock tower on the old Ferry Building. The building below is on the campus of the University of Auckland.

 

We met a 2nd year student from Ohio and he was kind enough to give us directions to the free loop bus that takes you around the city center.  After climbing hills much like San Francisco, we were ready to sit down (even on a crowded bus filled with other tourists as well as commuters).

Art and John  getting directions.

The Sky Tower from the University of Auckland

We got off of the bus in the center of the city and walked DOWNHLL down Queens Street to the harbor and back to the ship for lunch.

Another walk around the harbor (with a stop for a bottle of wine!) and back to the ship for sailaway and our first meeting with the Cruise Critics who had joined us for the second leg of our cruise.  It was a lively and friendly bunch with fun recognizing screen names and putting faces and names together.  Great to finally meet everyone, sorry that some had left our group for home and happy to meet those joining us. I was especially happy to meet Dave and Kim Pierce.  Dave and I had partnered for a very long time on acquiring the information needed for Dave to add to the lovely Web page he had designed for the MANIACS!

The weather cleared as we were ending our stay in Auckland making our sailaway picture ops good ones.

The evening show was an early one - with introductions of some of the entertainers and Activities Staff and a rousing performance by the Celebrity Singers and Dancers.  They did a much better job tonight than we had seen before so, hopefully, practice over the past cruise will improve performances on this one.

Changed for dinner and met Julie (one of our CC friends who joined our dinner table) and 3 other new table mates (a couple from Switzerland and their adult son).  We had a bit of a language problem since the father did not speak English and the mother's English was limited.  The son spoke reasonable English and spent much time translating for his parents.

Menus were repeated from the first cruise, which made ordering simpler...but a few new dishes (since there are 500 Back to Back cruisers on this one) would have been nice...we're growing bored with the menu and don't think we'd be happy to repeat it a third time as some of our back to back to back (3 cruises in a row for non-cruisers reading this) friends will be doing.

Saturday, March 1 - Tauranga first visit

Awoke to a light drizzle, clouds and predictions of rain all day.  And this is the day on which we have a great excursion planned to the Maori area with Indigenous Trails - a company owned by Des Harris, with whom I've been in close contact for some time.  Twenty of us were going with Des and we looked forward to a River Boat trip, views of geothermal areas, lunch and a visit to a Kiwi Plantation.  Our group met near the Guest Relations desk promptly at 8:15 and were off the ship with the first group.  Des met us with 2 comfortable vans - 10 of us traveled with Des as our guide and Allen our driver and 10 went with Tarina whose brother's Maori music (on CD) enriched our day.

Des welcomed us and told us that due to the weather, our long awaited itinerary was changed.  Initial disappointment turned to anticipation when Des told us that he had arranged a special Hangi for us with one of the best groups in NZ.  We first drove to the 360 degree Kiwi Plantation which despite my early misgivings turned out to be quite interesting.  We visited the gift shop where I purchased a NZ visor to replace the one I left in a cafe in Sydney, tasted Kiwi Berries (grape tomato size kiwis with smooth skin, yum!) and kiwi berry liqueur - more yum.  It started to rain while we were on the tram taking us through the plantation where we learned how kiwi are grown (somewhat similar to grapes on vines with wooden supports), picked and distributed. 

After leaving the plantation we drove to the outskirts of Rotorua to the Mi Tai Hongi in the pouring rain.  Once again we were sooo glad that we had rainproof jackets but sorry that we hadn't take the umbrellas provided by Celebrity.  On the bus, we had to pick a chief, who would be responsible to represent us to the Maori chief by giving a speech, doing the hangi (pressing noses and exchanging breath) afterwhich the group sang a Moari song. AND the Chief was Art - are you listening CHPD???

We were greeted at the entrance and walked on a lovely landscaped path to a shelter where we were provided with plastic raincoats (called human condoms :)).  Off we went down a beautiful path - with wishes for sunshine - to a narrow river where we were greeted by Maori Warriors in a beautifully carved canoe.  After the greeting we went to the main meeting room for the Hangi show.  Art did his part as our 'Chief', did a very nice job telling them how honored we were to be welcomed to their tribe, and we all sang the Maori song!  This was followed by the traditional singing, dancing and Haku (warriors chant and dance).  Then we had a sumptuous lunch (lamb, chicken, salads, veggies and dessert) and were off on our vans (once again in the rain) to the geothermal area at Te Pui. 

Despite the rain, we walked around the geothermal area, attended part of another Maori show, and followed a local guide who described the way the locals living in the village used geothermal power to cook and heat their houses.  We also saw a couple of boys in the communal baths (with clothes on :) heated by the boiling water from the area.  Lots of fun and lots of discomfort from the rain and damp clothes. 

We returned in the vans and arrived back in Tauranga just as the weather was breaking!!  Off to hot showers and felt much better with clean dry clothes and, of course, a glass of wine.

I'm going to post this now since I am behind on the blog.  I haven't edited pictures from this day yet, so will edit the post and add pictures soon.

Wednesday, Feb 27 - Christchurch

This morning we actually awoke on our own without a wake-up call - no scheduled excursions.  Since we've been to Christchurch twice before, we were most interested in seeing how it had changed since our last trip in 2000.  We took the free shuttle to Lyttleton and then followed the very good directions from local security personnel to the #28 local bus to Christchurch.  Met Henny and Steve on the bus and we all spoke with a ex-pat from Virginia who shared her adventures in moving from the States to NZ with her husband and 2 young children.  Quite interesting - she has home- schooled the children until recently (they are now 14 and 15) while they traveled NZ for 5 years in a motor home!  They are so happy living in the Lyttleton area and may eventually move south to Dunedin.

When we arrived in Christchurch, we took the free shuttle on the loop around the city which has grown so much since our last trip.  It is very busy, crowded and lacks the 'quaintness' that we remembered.  Then we walked to the Avon River area to see the tourists punting on the river - after taking pictures, I realized that I had captured Johanna and Carl who had shared our Melborne tour with us.

  We walked to the Arts Centre to see if our little cafe with the great coffee was still there and we thrilled to find that some things don't change.   Stopped for coffee and a hot cross bun and then walked across the street to the Botanical Gardens

We walked around the city searching for some slacks for me (to replace the ones I left at home :( ) and were astounded by the prices.  Somehow I don't need basic slacks that I didn't think were well made for $149 on sale!  Decided to return to the ship for a late lunch and relaxing late afternoon and were pleased that we easily found the return bus stop.  Got out the requisite picture IDs and Sea Passes...NZ is quite security minded and both IDs are required at all ports.

Lovely afternoon - had chicken Gyros at the pool bar, relaxed in the sun by the pool with Sharyn and John and Elaine, and they the 'girls' and Art headed to the spa and the Thallosotherapy pool.  It was a great way to bring the day to a close before dressing for dinner.

We, somehow, forgot that the show was pre-dinner tonight and missed what was reported by everyone to be "the best entertainer" so far.  He was a ventriloquist and we got tired of being told how wonderful he was :)

Note: the individual entertainers on this cruise have been superb.  A male singer one night followed by a multi-instrumentalist that performed twice (described in an earlier post), a female singer, a comedienne from Australia, and several typical Celebrity singers and dancers shows.  The only one we didn't enjoy was  the singers and dancers which was quite average.  Damien, the CD, is always upbeat and fun and we have found him to be warm and friendly when we've met him around the ship.

Tuesday, Feb 26th - Dunedin

What a fantastic day! Awoke at 7 AM to a slightly cloudy sky which, by the time we ate and got dressed turned into the most beautiful, clear, cool day that we've had so far! AND this time, we had no problem meeting our group of 8 Cruise Critics exiting the ship and finding our Van. Our tour was arranged with Arthur's Tours of Dunedin based on very positive reviews on CC. Our guide was Colleen, Arthur's wife, and our driver was Charles, a quiet man originally from Scotland and, interestingly, from a small town where 2 of our group - Isabel and Tom - had lived after they got married (they are from Scotland, too).

We left promptly to ensure our arrival at the Penguin Place and enjoyed Colleen's commentary along the way. The drive was lovely on a 2 lane winding road along the harbor and across from where our ship was docked.

We had visited the Penguins (Yellow- eyed) on our last trip but that was by boat and on a cold rainy day. Today was perfect - lots of penguin sighting (adults and chicks) viewed through penguin blinds built by the owners to protect the birds and keep noise to a minimum.

And the flowers near the entrance were beautiful.

We walked along a hill to the water and saw seals and some sea birds as well.

Then we drove to the Royal Albatross Colony just a bit further down the road, ate a light lunch (savory scone for me and steak pie for Art) and viewed the exhibits in the Albatross Center. Our guide presented good information about size and anatomy of the Albatross (wing span of 3 meters) and about breeding season and raising chicks...then we climbed a VERY steep path to the top of the hill - my aching Knees - where we viewed an Albatross with a chick on the side of the hill, another one further up the hill and several flying around. They are quite amazing birds and we felt privileged to have encountered them in the wild. Of course, between the birds and the scenery, we all took lots of pictures.

If you look carefully, you can see an albatross chick under the mother!

Our next stop was Lanarch Castle (reminiscent of the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC) which we toured with Colleen as our private tour guide. It has quite an interesting history, beautiful rooms and gardens (we could only take pictures of the gardens, and lovely views.

Then we had a driving tour of Dunedin's beaches, neighborhoods, the University of Otago campus, Botanical Garden, and finally rode up and back down the steepest street in the World!! Quite a feat and even steeper than it looks!

Returned to the ship at 5:40 - just 20 minutes before we were due back...we chose not to get the certificates saying that we had driven the steepest street due to our concern about time. It was a wonderful day - full of new experiences and a wonderful appreciation of beautiful Dunedin.

It was lovely to snack on Pizza and wine on our balcony as we sailed out of Dunedin harbor.

We were so tired that after dressing for dinner (thankfully casual tonight), we went to the Cova Cafe for coffee for me and a Coke for Art for a caffeine boost....lots of walking up and down hills all day had worn us out. We enjoyed our dinner conversation - tonight trying to solve the problems of the world! Laughed a lot over the antics of our terrific waiter, Keith, who keeps challenging us with his mind bender tricks, and talked about plans for our stop in Christchurch tomorrow.

Monday, Feb 25th - Milford, Doubtful and Dusky Sounds

I can't believe this is a vacation - set our automatic Wake-up call for 5:30 AM and set a back-up on my cell phone.  Damien (CD) told us we would be entering Milford Sound at 6:30 AM, so we got up at the appointed time, gathered our cold weather gear (jackets, gloves, jeans and long sleeved shirts) and our cameras and coffee mugs and headed for the Buffet to fill up the mugs and grab a couple of bagels.  Then we found seats near the front of the ship in the Navigator lounge just as we had done to view the Hubbard Glacier on our Alaskan cruise.  There were surprisingly few people there ahead of us (in Alaska, we thought we were early and the lounge was full when we arrived).  It was still dark outside and the water very rough...we were heading into the waves going south today rather than 'riding' them as we had the day before.  As the skies got lighter, we realized that it would be another cloudy, rainy day.  But entering Milford Sound was as majestic and beautiful as when we had experienced it in the rain 13 years ago! 

We were thoroughly WOWed by seeing the many waterfalls, cloud covered mountains and sea birds.  As we left Milford, we looked forward to Doubtful Sound but wondered how it might be different from Milford.  We went back to the cabin - I ordered room service for Danish pastries and water to make our good 'french press' coffee.  Elaine joined us and we took pictures from the rainy balcony and drank our coffee.  Very rough seas - our cabin steward met me in the corridor and told me that when we left to go back to the Navigator Lounge, he found all of our coffee 'stuff' on the floor in the cabin!.  I'm just glad it wasn't my laptop on the floor!

Then we went to the Navigator Club for our 2nd Cruise Critic gathering...only about 15 people came (from the 100 onboard) - I'd so say that some went back to bed after getting up at the crack of dawn and others are just enjoying the down time with 4 port days coming up in a row starting tomorrow.  Those who were there shared coffee/pastries and shore excursion info for the next days and just enjoyed visiting with each other.  It's a very nice group and so good to get to know each other.  And we do appreciate Celebrity for arranging a 2nd meeting - Thanks to Damien and Sheila (not me, the Event Planner :))

While transiting the open sea to the entrance to Thompson sound, which would connect us to Doubtful Sound, Art and Elaine picked up turkey kabobs and French Fries from the Pool Grill (didn't want to miss anything by going elsewhere for lunch).  Seas continued to be very rough and our entrance to Doubtful was delayed by 45 minutes.But it was worth every minute...it was a magical place with a special moment when the sun tried valiantly to break though and cast it light on the magnificent scenery.

Lots of pictures to be posted later, lots of rain, brief sun, and cold wind.  As we left the sound we viewed our exit from our balcony window and bounced our way to Duskie Sound - entry time 3:15 PM - nap and blog time for an hour and 1/2!

Will post this and add Duskie Sound when I get the next chance...so many pictures to choose from!

Gotta get ready for our 2nd Formal night tonight.  Showering will be an interesting experience with the ship rocking like crazy.  This cruise has been wonderful for us but not for those prone to seasickness (although we haven't heard of many) or who get nervous on roller coaster rides.

 

 

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Sunday, Feb 24th - Day 2 crossing the Tasman Sea

Woke at 8:30 AM - late for me, but with the time change, my body is on normal time (7:30)!  Cloudy skies and rough seas about the same as yesterday but with more breaks in the clouds. I'm hoping for clear skies tomorrow when we enter Milford Sound.  I keep remembering that the Antarctic is south of us and that we shouldn't expect warmer weather at least until we reach Dunedin on the 26th (or maybe later). We are at the very beginning of fall and I wish I had packed more warm clothes.  Made good use of the laundry deal for Elite Captain's Club members and managed to fit a good amount into the small laundry bag with a cost of $15 for the whole bag. Tightly rolling clothes makes it a real deal!

This morning we went to the main dining room for the first time for breakfast because they were serving Brunch from 10-1230.  So we went thinking we'd just have a very light late lunch after a good brunch. The food was very similar to the choices on the regular buffet with a few fancier selections (strawberry crepes and steak benedict).  It was nice to sit at a white clothed table viewing the rough seas but juice and coffee service was slow and the juice warm.  We did enjoy meeting some new people and discussing various travels. Too cool to sit outside today; although some hardy souls were wrapped in blankets by the pool.  We were only on our balcony to take pictures of the surf

and to, unsuccessfully, try to get some of the Albatross that are following the ship...too fast for my camera!

Another lazy day, reading in the library, posting to this blog, visiting with friends and napping.  Weather was intermittent sun and clouds with some rain, especially later in the day.  Tonight was informal dress - another lively dinner table discussion with lots of laughter. I

:( didn't have any except on my laptop...so will have to schedule a slide-show for the group! We seated the men together and they were 'poorly' behaved as usual - lots of jokes and funny stories.  And we did pass pictures of grandchildren around.  I, And a long discussion about the food - none of us has had big complaints, but, neither has anything been excellent.  Lots of the usual complaints about the poor quality of the coffee and lack of interesting desserts (mousse-type desserts continue to be the norm) - we had the key lime pie that I requested - good but not great, but I am quite appreciative that they met the request. 

Evening entertainment was pre-dinner, which we love, and very good - singer and more from Marc Donoghue, the multi-instrumentalist.  We went to bed soon after dinner since we are entering Milford Sound at 6:30 AM.... Our lazy life on sea days may sound boring to some, but it's wonderful for us...lots of rest and plenty of time to do whatever we wish!