Auckland New Zealand and Sydney Australia

 

February 16:

Over a month ago, as we were boarding the MS Pacific Princess, we were behind an older couple (everything is relative) and we overhead the gentleman saying to the crew member who was helping them that he would be celebrating his 101st birthday on board.  At the time, we thought we might have misunderstood the comment, but today on board Stephen Gittus had his 101st birthday party.  Most of the passengers attended the celebration and shared the cake.  Stephen attributed his long life to two factors, he followed his own instincts in life and he enjoyed a shot or two of good scotch whisky daily.  In the photo below, the youngest and only child aboard presented the oldest passenger (Stephen) with a birthday present. 

       

February 17:

We arrived to clear skies in Auckland New Zealand.  Our plan for the day was a ferry ride to the nearby town of Devonport across the bay from Auckland.

Wayne was very disappointed,  He wanted to bungee jump off the Auckland tower (that’s the tallest structure you see in the photo below).  Anne was smarter and stopped the plan. 

After Devonport, we returned to the ship and were entertained by a local Maori folkloric group.  The dancer pictured below was identified as a select member of the royal line of the Maori and therefore was allowed to perform a special weapons dance.

        

February 18th:

Each sea day since leaving Fort Lauderdale, a group of about 50 passengers got together as a choir.  Today, as one of the activities on board, the choir performed for the rest of the passengers.  Needless to say neither Anne nor Wayne were choir members.  Our voices won’t make the grade.  Ann Marie Forster a friend from Az. traveling on the ship was in the choir and all did a great job

 

February 20th:

Sydney greeted us with wind and rain.  Both days of our visit were overcast with poor photographic weather conditions.  Since this was the fourth visit to Sydney, we just used the Hop on Hop off tourist bus to see the city.  This was also the port that ended the first segment of the world cruise (hard to believe the cruise is about 25% complete).  Our evening dining room table has four couples assigned.  The other three couples were leaving the ship in Sydney.  With the arrival of the embarking passengers we will  gain a new set of table mates.

Our table mates on our last formal night together.  One couple wasn’t present.  In addition, here is a photo of our stateroom.  Not the smallest we’ve ever had, but close but it works for us..

    

Tahiti and Moorea French Polynesia

 

February 8, 2011

We ran into our first inclement weather today.  We are one day out from Tahiti and the weather, while still warm (about 80) was rainy and seas were a little more stormy.

February 9, 2011 Papeete, Tahiti. 

We arrived this morning to overcast skies and rain.  Our tour was a four wheel drive safari into the interior of the island to see “the true Tahiti”.  The rains caused the river scheduled for a swim to be a raging torrent and prevented us from going as far upstream as the tour planned.  We were just as glad not to forge the swollen river.  Instead the driver took us to Venus point where we saw the old lighthouse.  The coast was interesting but not photogenic.  

    

That evening, we had a local folkloric company entertain us.  Anne took the photo’s so most of the good images were of the men…..Wayne was just as happy being in the front row…. and observing the artistic moves of the women.

     

February 10, 2011  Cooks Bay, Moorea,

This morning we were greeted with sunny skies.  We were scheduled for an afternoon catamaran ride and snorkel swim inside the coral reef.  Just after breakfast we received a call from the ship’s tour office to tell us our tour was canceled because the catamaran captain was sick…..we took the ship’s tender ashore,shopped a little and dropped in at a local water front restaurant for some libations.

        

The ship has a photo contest for passengers.  Each passenger can submit one photograph per segment.  These are the photographs we submitted from Cook’s Bay in Moorea ;  Wayne’s is on the left, Anne’s is on the right.

      

February 14th Valentine’s Day:

The ship scheduled a  special event on Valentine’s Day;  they had a recommitment ceremony for couples.  The passengers who volunteered to be in the choir, serenaded us.   We participated, so I guess this means we have another 40 years or so to get it right!!  

     

Love is like a mountain, hard to climb, but once you get to the top the view is beautiful.

Next stops will be Auckland, New Zealand; and Sydney, Australia.

Easter and Pitcairn Islands

 

February 3, 2011

After four days at sea, the ship arrived at Easter Island.  Ashore we took a tour that included visiting the volcanic quarry, carving site of the Easter Islands famous statues, the Maoi.   The quarry included many statues in various stages of completion.which were carved from the volcanic stone and hauled many miles to their permanent location on the coast.  The heaviest of the statues weighs 80 tons.  No one is sure how the original inhabitants were able to move the statues.  The purpose of the statues was to mark the burial location of a tribal chiefs.  In addition we visited two sites where the Maoi have been erected showing how they looked originally.  By the 1930’s all the statues were pushed over because of the wars between the island’s residents.

   

February 6, 2011

We arrived at Pitcairn Island.  This is the island where the mutineers from the HMS Bounty sought to establish a new life hidden from the wrath of the British Navy.  At one point the island was home to about 250 people.  Today about 50 people live there.   

Forty three of the island residents came out to the ship to sell their wears.  Most of the items were handicrafts.  The ship didn't allow passengers to land on the island due to the dangers of the steep ascent to the village. 

Next stop Tahiti!

2011 World Cruise Blog

17 January 2011:  We left Sun Lakes for Fort Lauderdale and two days of Florida sun before the start of our 119 day World Cruise adventure.  We stayed at the Fort Lauderdale Embassy Suites.  A hotel that was conveniently located  if a little worst for wear. 

           

Above is an outside view of the hotel and next is a shot of the interior courtyard.  The photo on the right was taken from the ship as we were preparing to leave Fort Lauderdale.  These were condo’s located on the Fort Lauderdale shipping channel at sunset.

Our luggage arrived (all 250 pounds) with no problems.  Yeah!!!!

21 January 2011  Grand Cayman Island

Today we made our only stop in the Caribbean.  Grand Cayman is just a shopping port.  We did some walking, some shopping but little or no buying;  (Wayne was thankful).   Wayne decided to start towards his goal of sampling a local beer in each port of call.  Anne tried a coconut rum and coke.

            

23 January 2011

The MS Pacific Princess (the latest incarnation of the Princess “Love Boat”) made the Panama Canal transit today.  We didn’t stop on either side but made the 10 hour transit without a hitch.  Since the MS Pacific Princess is a smaller cruise ship (only 700 or so passengers) we didn’t tax the size of the locks.  We did see a lot of construction for a new lock to handle bigger ships.  The canal itself will not be enlarged, the 12 year construction project will just add an additional set of locks at each end of the canal.  When complete, there will be three sets of locks at each end and the capacity of the canal will double (in terms of tonnage). 

            

25 January 2011

Today we arrived at Manta Ecuador.  This is the port for Quito, the capital of Ecuador.  This stop and the next stop were made (in our opinion) so that those passengers who wanted to see either Cuzco and Macho Picchu or the Galapagos Islands, could leave the ship here and pick it up when we arrive in Lima Peru.  Since Wayne did the Cuzco and Macho Picchu visit ten years ago on our first world cruise, and since the cost of either of these tours matched or exceeded the cost of a longer land tour to these sites, we elected to stay with the ship.  In Manta, we took a short bus ride through town.

28 January 2011

Today we arrived in Lima Peru.  The weather was marginal (cloudy with a lot of smog, or fog, or mist) for taking photographs and ship personnel were warning us about walking around independently, so we stayed on the ship, did a little local shopping pier side, and enjoyed the good life.  This evening the ship contracted with a local folkloric dance company to come on board for entertainment.  The dancers and their costumes were exceptional.

              

A little note about the ship, the MS Pacific Princess.  The ship and the Ocean Pacific are the smallest in the Princess fleet.  Passenger wise there are only 700 of us on board and the ship is full.  We are not sure if the ship will be full the entire world cruise since only half of the passengers are booked for all four segments.  At our dinner table, the other three couples are all getting off at the end of the first segment in Sydney.  The size of the ship has made it very easy to get to know where everything is within a short time.  Even Anne does not need the ship’s map any longer.

Service has been very good and the food has been excellent.  On past cruises, food quality has been spotty at times and normally desserts look great but taste flat.  Not so on this ship with this crew.  So far, we would rate this ship A+ on all the important issues.  Our grand plans to lose, or at least maintain our weights have been placed in extreme jeopardy!!!

29 January 2011

We left Lima this afternoon heading west and leaving South America behind us.  For the next four days we will be sailing west to Easter Island.  We expect to arrive Thursday February 3rd.