Day 122 plus....after returning home....Reckoning

Two Weeks after returning home…. Reckoning

Well; friends, family and interested parties, our trip of a lifetime is over and we have settled down to our life on terra firma. A lot of people asked before we left for the 104 day cruise, how would we manage such a long time on board a ship, the answer had always been, "what, we are going a on cruise around the world; manage you ask?", now after returning and experiencing the whole adventure, "are you crazy, what is wrong with YOU!". If not for our lovely family and friends, and of course, our depleted bank balance, we would definitely be still sailing…..but I would also like all our wonderful shipboard friends to still be on board the ship as well.

We had the inevitable ups and downs…..? (like that pun?), such as the ship's 4^th engine out of service till after ½ way through our voyage and missing the port of Amsterdam due to strong winds on the day of docking. Our life has been enriched with special relationships and experiences. During the past 104 days our life had been anything but ordinary and I doubt we will be able to repeat this again.  Our trip has unquestionably lived up to our expectations and more.

We were asked what had been our best port visited. Unfortunately I haven't been able to point to any one in particular as every port, city, country and region all had something special and unique in comparison. Our cruise gave us a sample of most things we don't see, smell, taste and feel at home.

Just to mention a few of the sights we saw, are the structures mentioned in the annuals of history. The lost city of Petra, Egyptian Pyramids and Sphinx, Queen of Sheba's castle ruins, Suez Canal, Jerusalem, Blue Mosque, Acropolis in Athens, Pompeii, Roman Colosseum and Forum, the Vatican City,Leaning Tower of Pisa, Eiffel Tower, Buckingham Palace, Edinburgh Castle, Panama Canal, and the Step Pyramids in Mexico.

The churches, mosques and temples we visited were all special and appreciated.  There are always some which leave a lasting impression on us. I would like to mention a few which had different impacts. The first one I will mention is the Jain Temple in Mumbai. A tropical down pour of rain occurred whilst we were there which made our visit almost surreal. The light from the lit candles danced across the statue and white marble walls whilst we heard the devotees chanting their mantra as the rain drummed outside. Upstairs the glare from the fluorescent lights highlighted the ornate and colourful sculptures and paintings on the ceilings and walls. We found this gorgeous and fascinating temple welcoming and serene.

Secondly, our next religious site had impacted my sight-seeing tour unexpectedly. We were both aware of the religious importance of our walk through Jerusalem, seeing the various quarters of this historic and holy place but were both unprepared to walk into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and actually walk up the stairway to Golgotha and see the large crucifixion alter, a silver disk with a central hole, marks the spot on the rock where the cross stood. Pilgrims were kneeing and kissing the disk. We were in the Holiest Christian Site in the world! The site is venerated to be where Jesus was crucified and buried, an important destination for Christian Pilgrimage and we were completely unprepared to experience the gamut of emotions we felt. That morning when we set out in the bus to tour Jerusalem and swim in the Dead Sea, we were still overwhelmed with our visit to Cairo and the Pyramids the day before.

We saw and touched the Stone of Anointing, walked around and entered the Aedicule, a large boxy shrine in the domed round area of the church. The dome is decorated with a 12 point star which symbolizes the outreach of the 12 apostles. To top off our religious experience we stood by the Wailing Wall and I prayed alongside many others in another holy place, this time for the Jewish Pilgrims.

The 3^rd religious site to impact my senses was the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. We couldn't help but marvel at its grandeur as we walked through the gate in the outer wall and looked ahead to the ablutions fountain. Above its domed roof, rose another dome, flanked by a walkway with dome roofs, then an ascent of domes and semi-domes rose heavenward until the great dome is seen to dominate over all. The splendid architecture boasts 6 minarets as most Islamic Mosques have 4 or less. Inside blue tiles, mostly in the upper levels of the area give cause to the mosques' name. Thick rich carpet gives relief to the worshippers' as they kneel to pray. Many stained glass windows, as well as hundreds of lights hanging from metal hoops, a smaller one inside the larger, lit the prayer area.

The 4^th religious site would be St Peters Basilica in the Vatican City. It is not a cathedral as it is not a seat of a bishop; however it is the Pope's principal church and just happens to have the largest interior of any Christian Church in the world and is considered to be the holiest Catholic site. When we walked into this stupendously large building, we had just visited the almost darkened and quiet Sistine Chapel so although people were talking in hushed tones, it still seemed loud. The day had been hot outside but in the dark cool interior of the chapel, we felt a comfortable temperature. A large barrel-vaulted ceiling decorated with gold biblical designs, leads to the central dome over which the main alter stands. Coming through the windows in the dome were streams of light which beamed onto the main alter which gave the appearance of hallowing. The inside is lavishly decorated in overwhelming artistic styles. Marble, stucco, gilding and many statues line the walls and ceilings. The place is in itself a work of art. Huge…we look at a monument on the other side of the main chapel and think it is about our head height but when we get close, the monument dwarfs us by its size. It is all very overwhelming and certainly a show case.

Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona is my 5^th choice. I would say it is the strangest looking, serious building in the world and impossible to find another church like it. Antoni Gaudi designed the ambitious construction with a rich variety of Christian Symbols and Scenes and although it commenced in 1882, it is still unfinished, and expected to be completed around 2050. Private donations of 20million euro a year keep the building work going.

I liken the façade and bell towers which reach toward the heavens, to the form made by scooping up a handful of water and sand and allowing it to dribble from your hand to make a tower. I used to sit on the water's edge at the beach and do the very same thing. It has been referred to one of the most hideous buildings in the world and it is no wonder religious objections have risen over its design. Though once inside I felt comfortable and I suppose more serene than I did in the St Peters Basilica. It is light, airy and welcoming inside. Like an Ugly Duckling maturing to a swan, it is a remarkable church and I am pleased to have seen it.

I must give an honourable mention to St Colman Cathedral in Cobh, Ireland. It was the only one we actually went to Mass in and Paul, especially, felt a connection to. We are assuming his forebears on his mothers' Irish side would have attended Mass there just as we did before sailing from Ireland. The building dominates the whole town of Cobh and as the ship sailed out from the harbour it was the last building we could see. 

We were privileged to meet some lovely shipboard passengers and share several of our holiday experiences with them. They were classy yet down to earth, friendly and fun loving. The impact of their friendships made our cruise more special and enjoyable. It is sad our cruise had to come to an end, as it was not the conclusion of the sailing which we had and will miss, but the camaraderie and closeness of our fellow passengers that will never be repeated, ever again. That special bond will always be there, however as time and distance is our enemy, I hope somewhere, somehow, we will reconnect. A big thankyou to all the friends, cruise critic friends in particular, who we shared 'our trip of a lifetime' with. A special mention to our four dinner companions who made our dining experience from the time we left Sydney to the conclusion of our cruise, a nightly familial experience, sharing our thoughts and adventures of the previous days.

We tried many culinary flavours from the diverse tastes around the world. Starting in the Humpty Doo Hotel in Northern Territory, a Singaporean lunch at the Marina Bay Hotel in Singapore, two different curry smorgasbords in India, a yummy Arabian spiced meal in Dubai, an Arabian smorgasbord in Jordon, which overlooked the bare hills of Petra whilst a call to prayer sounded. We then had another smorgasbord in a restaurant on the banks of the Nile River in Cairo, lunch at the Dead Sea, Turkish coffee in Istanbul and Greek Coffee in Mykonos, an array of Greek food in the Plaka before pastas, pizzas and other Italian plates in Italy. Fish and Chips in London, a black beans and rice based meal in Costa Rica and Niguaraga, corn chips, frittatas and salsa in Mexico, then a meal of shrimps in Bubba Gump's' Honolulu.  Paul and I took a Travelan tablet most times just before eating these meals, so I am pleased to report we did not suffer from any "Bali Belly" type reactions, but I must also report that all our other dinner companions who did not take any precaution, were not ill either! We certainly tasted a wide assortment of flavours and cuisines.

I am sure the staff of all of the Princess ships are trained to offer the best service possible to all the passengers and I feel as a consequence of this, a lot of their passengers are repeat cruisers. We were fortunate to have some lovely waiters to look after us. Geoffrey and Joffrey worked tirelessly to make sure our dinners arrive in front of us with little fuss. I ordered caffeine-free coffee once, so every night a cup and saucer would arrive at the conclusion of my meal, to be filled with hot caffeine free coffee. I never had to ask again. Geoffrey remembered our names from the first night we arrived at our dining table, and every night thereafter, he endeavoured to greet us personally. He was Pilipino and the three ladies on our table happened to have similar names. Lesley, Lyn and Linda. He did a wonderful job remembering all the Ls. Terry said the only person who called him Terrence was his mother but now, Geoffrey happens to be the other. Some nights if all the passengers decided to dine, the whole section would have both the waiters fussing over us, running back and forth to the gallery to collect food, rivulets of sweat running down both Geoffrey and Joffreys' faces as they worked to make our dining experience enjoyable.

Our cabin steward, Pol did a great job looking after our cabin whilst we were on the ship. He was always polite and eager to help us with any requests. Pol would try to assess when we would be leaving the cabin so he could clean it whilst we were out. In the end we would let him know how long we intended to be away. "We are having a walk this morning and will be out of the cabin for an hour", or "We are going up to breakfast and should be out for the rest of the morning", or "Good afternoon Pol, we are out of the cabin for the rest of the afternoon".

Always ask for anything you may require, if it is not possible to fulfil your request, the crew will let you know, but generally, if the request is reasonable, it would be achieved. I would like to mention the fact we flew Qantas to and from Sydney, this just happened to be the airline we had tickets issued for, and as a result we were able to arrange with the information desk to pre order an extra piece of luggage each, for our return flight with the payment added to our stateroom account. We were not informed by Princess or the staff at the information desk about this arrangement; it took another passenger informing me of this option. I had known already about Qantas allowing passengers an extra piece of luggage, weighing no more than 23 kilos, for $20 each if we pre booked and paid on the internet 7 days prior to flying and no less than 3 hours before the flight leaving. The thing is we did not have a booking reference number on our 'Princess Ticket' as they were group booking tickets. This is where the staff notified the main office for Princess to arrange the excess luggage for us. At no time had any passenger received information regarding the choice in taking up this offer. There were many passengers who were struggling with additional luggage. Qantas charge $10 a kilo, Virgin charge $15 a kilo for extra weight over the 23 kilos allowance. We had four suitcases weighing 92 kilos, the first two were included with our normal tickets, the other two cost us $40. If we hadn't been aware of this offer by Qantas, we would have paid $460 for excess luggage! Another option taken up by a few Virgin passengers was 'Pack and Send' where a person came to the wharf, weighed the excess luggage to send it via road transport at $2.25 kilo, or there 'bouts, depending on where the final destination happens to be. Sydney to Adelaide cost $2.25 kilo and arrived on the doorstep on the following Monday.  Another passenger changed her flight with Virgin Economy to Premium Economy, paying the extra $100 odd dollars for the upgrade and receiving 69 kilos in luggage allowance…….!

Would we cruise again? Would we go on another world cruise? Heck yes, but not straight away. 

day 102 Auckland, New Zealand

Day 102 Auckland, New Zealand

Relaxed, friendly, open areas and parks, beautiful harbour, spring flowers and blossom, stately old buildings, city of sails….

DP sailed across Waitemata Harbour to dock alongside the Hilton Hotel. Today we wore our jumpers and jackets, the first day since Scotland. Yesterday we experienced the cooler temperate which we expect to continue till to end of the cruise. As the ship docked we called greetings to the hotel guests who stood on their balconies looking at us on ours.

Paul and I were greeted by Lesley and her husband Paul, who showed us their New Zealand hospitality. We were driven around the beautiful harbour side city of Auckland, and were impressed by the wide clean streets and motorways and the stately old buildings, restored to their Victorian elegance. Cornwell Park with its rich green pastures, many old trees and gardens of spring flowers, has a central hill and lookout called One Tree Hill. We were there early on this Sunday morning and passed many walkers and joggers enjoying the fresh morning air. The views of the city with its famous Sky Tower, harbour and Harbour Bridge could all be seen past the green grasslands home to young lambs and their mothers.  Our tour included the western suburbs, Devonport which can also be accessed by the harbour ferry from Auckland. In Devonport the garden verges had been planted with electric blue pansies, parsley and silver beet. We then over the harbour bridge to the Selwyn Domain on the south eastern beaches of the harbour blue pansies, parsley and silver beet. We enjoyed a lunch here with Paul and Lesley before our return to the ship. Many thanks to both Paul and Lesley for their warm welcome and time showing us their lovely Auckland.

Oh no, only two more days before the end of our 'trip of a lifetime'

Sob, Sob.

Happy Father's Day to all Fathers who read this blog, especially DS Rob who is celebrating his first Father's Day.

 

 

Day 97 Apia, Samoa

Day 97 Apia, Samoa

Perched just east of the International Date-line this tropical island country in the South Pacific became our second to last port before our expected arrival into Sydney. We arrived at this tranquil haven early this morning, Paul and I were again sitting on our balcony with our continental breakfast but this time we were entertained by the local Samoan Music and Dancing Group on the wharf. Ukuleles, guitars and drums accompanied the singers as the dancers swayed on or pounded the ground they stood on.

We joined Brian, Ros, Merrilyn and Roger to find a taxi to take the 6 of us on a tour of the island for our stay in Apia. When we arrived at the gate Brian spoke to a taxi operator who had negotiated with a group of 4 who were intent on the same type of hire. It worked out this taxi driver had a van which took the 10 of us at $25 US or AUD each. Ed and Bev are cruise critic members whom we had already met, Janet and Brian had been on the ship for almost the same time as us but today is the first time we had met. Janet explained she had fallen over their luggage the night before the Sydney departure and had cracked her knee cap in half. Whilst she was in hospital getting it wired and pinned her husband took the luggage and himself onto the DP and sailed to Darwin where he disembarked and flew back to collect Janet in Sydney. They then flew to Singapore and joined the ship. The plane had to circle Singapore for an hour before it was safe to land in the tropical thunderstorm. Oh I remember that storm! Janet is managing to walk quite well but with care around the ship. Remarkable. Good on ya Janet.

The stately mansion and tropical gardens of Robert Louis Stevenson was our first stop. Note to self: when home get at least one of his books, Treasure Island, Kidnapped or Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and read them to some of the grandchildren. Stevenson was loved by the Samoans and the engraving on his tombstone was translated to a Samoan song of grief which is well known and still sung in Samoa.

"Under the wide and starry sky,

 Dig the grave and let me lie.

 Glad did I live and gladly die,

 And I laid me down with a will.

 This be the verse you grave for me:

 Here he lies where he longed to be;

 Home is the sailor, home from sea,

 And the hunter home from the hill"

This morning we experienced a few showers, however as the day progressed, most had cleared and the sun ended up shinning in a cloudless blue sky. As we drove along the coast the seas were quite choppy and grey but as the clouds passed the water turned to that beautiful tropical aqua blue. We stopped at a resort nestled alongside the Methodist Church which is built over the islands' lava tubes. We walked along the beach of the resort, across a couple of dry sandy creeks and through a barbed wire fence to see the cave pools and underground caverns formed by the lava tubes.  By the time we climbed the stairs to the church we realized we should have entered by the main gate and paid a fee to see the caves.

The last stop before heading back to Apia turned out to be the Falefa Waterfall. The viewing point just happened to be guarded by family members who owned the local land and waterfall site, so a fee of $2 each was paid by us to stand near the edge of the road to take photos of this delightful waterfall.   

Janet requested to see turtles, so the driver obliged by driving us back, through the capital city, Apia, to the beaches on the other side. Of course the drive through Apia take no more than 10 minutes. It turned out to be a great suggestion of Janet's. Lots of different sized turtles. We stopped off at a supermarket/bakery to buy several loaves of bread to feed the turtles but the bread was fresh and as we hadn't had anything to eat since 7am and it was a least 1pm, we were all hopping into the bread. It worked out to be one piece for the turtle, one for me! Yeh, you say, you are on a cruise ship and all that food 24/7 and you are starving? Mmm. I try not to think of it but we only have 6 days left. Everyone is mentioning it. You get into a lift and the subject is about the number of days left before getting off the ship. You sit down next to someone and the subject is which port you are getting off in, Auckland or Sydney? Ugh, don't want to think about it but we are missing our family and friends and are looking forward to seeing them.

We enjoyed our second visit to Samoa and would gladly return to this friendly, orderly and idyllic country.

The ship had sailed out about 2kms past the reef when it changed direction. A 180 degree turn to sail back into Apia. It happened to be about 5 mins after we realised the ship had been negotiating this turn that the Captain broadcast the ship was returning to Apia for a medical emergency. The DP reached to reef when it slowed and stopped to allow the pilot boat to come alongside the opened ship's tender platform. This is when we saw two people and luggage transferred to the pilot boat before it headed back into Apia and we turned once more to sail to Auckland. We heard later today there were 2 other passenger medical mishaps. A lady slipped and fell on deck 14 and broke her leg and another lady slipped and fell on tour and broke her foot. Come on guys….we have less than a week of the cruise. Hopefully we do not have any more medical emergencies.

Day 94 Bora Bora

Day 94 Bora Bora, Tahiti

Bright turquoise water, lazing the day away, protected lagoon edged by fine white sandy beaches, trade winds, beautiful island gem….

Set a 6am wake-up call, ate our continental breakfast on the balcony, we were ready and waiting in Jarmers at 7am with the rest of our tour group to be on the first tender into Bora Bora. Once there we walked the entire strip of shops by 8am! (not many). We waited with the rest of the group to meet the Lagoon Snorkelling Guide for the 9am appointment only to be disappointed to hear an exceptional high tide and strong winds caused all water activities on the island to be cancelled. Bummer; but we took the local bus to the famous Matira Beach to see if we could have a day swimming in the protected waters instead. A few brave (or foolish) people tried to swim but the waves and current (rip) were too dangerous to stay in the water for long. We had heard when we returned to the ship, someone had drowned today swimming in the waters.

We watched the surfers for over an hour then decided to catch a Le Truck to the Sofitel Coralia Marara Resort and pay the money to enjoy the hotel's facilities for the day. We swam in the horizon pool and appreciated the surroundings. The high tide flooded the beach and front bungalows overlooking the lagoon bringing a lot of natural debris with it. The water splashed up over the decking of the pool and the jetty going out to the little hut at the end. The decking around the pool started to break-up whilst we were there and the staff had to go out in a boat to retrieve the loose boards floating away in the lagoon.

This place is remote; we sailed 5 days from Hawaii to get here. I don't know how many connections someone would need to take to fly here, but it is the epitome of the Pacific Dream, Bora Bora is a Garden of Eden, so beautiful it is hard to believe the reef-fringed islands and translucent aqua lagoons exist. No wonder it is favourite honeymoon destination.

Both Papeete and Bora Bora had its generic dogs which seem to have the same parents. Locals seem to regard them with a casual nonchalance however the dogs appear to be good natured. I would have patted a couple of these friendly beings but they looked pretty mangy and goodness knows what parasites they harboured. It is common for the islanders to have fowls as pets, wandering free around the houses. Some of the roosters have the colourful red, orange and brown feathers. We were told they ate the many centipedes which live on the islands.

Day 93 sail away Papeete

Day 93 Sail away Papeete

DP left Papeete around 6pm, just as the heat of the day dissipated and daylight faded. A group of us set up and partied on the back of deck eleven as the ship sailed away from Papeete. There were a group of Kiwis who shared the balmy night with us as the island faded from view. Afterwards the same group shared a casual dinner, using the table and chairs from outside the closed sundae servery.

 

Day 93 Papeete, Tahiti

Day 93 Papeete, Tahiti

Black sand beaches, waterfalls, tropical rain forests, history with the Mutiny on the Bounty, Black Pearls….

We decided to join a Princess Tour this morning for a 3 hour tour of parts of the island. Unfortunately Paul and I were messed about by the organisers and missed the first section of the tour. We had arranged to meet up with another couple and share the tour with them by making sure we were on the same bus as them. We were all allocated No. 4 bus and walked off the ship together to join the bus. When we got on the bus we found there were only enough seats for our friends and not us. Our allocated seat had been taken up by another couple who missed their No 1 Bus which had not waited for them. Where were we to sit? Were we to go on the tour? Why didn't No. 1 bus wait for ALL its passengers? The extra couple who were supposed to be on the first bus had a mobility problem which caused them to use another exit off the ship and their delay. The Princesses Tour organiser had let the No.1 bus leave without all its passengers. So what did that mean to us who were without a seat?

We were quickly hustled into a van which proceeded to race to catch up with the first bus! I sat with my back to the driver while Paul sat facing the front. By the time we sped around the 3^rd or 4^th round about it worked out to be the wrong position for me, I was about to be van sick. Fortunately the driver managed to stop in time for me to get out and prevent an unfortunate event! The trip then continued with me sitting in the front, alongside the driver. We finally arrived at Point Venus and located the No. 1 bus and the tour guide. Not happy Jan. Of course the passengers on No. 1 bus already had their guide through this area, with explanations of the light house, a memorial to Captain Cook and an account of the breadfruit memorial which were all located here at this stop. Well, we were given 10 minutes to walk around by ourselves before joining the passengers already seated on the bus. Not happy Jan. I found out later there were quite a few significant sites in that area which we had missed. When we got on board the bus, there were only single seats left as couples had decided to spread out to the luxury of a double seat. We missed not having the friendship of our friends who were on the other bus and I am sure everyone on No. 1 bus thought we were the ones who were late and had to be transported to join the bus. Not happy Jan. Poor Paul tried to placate me which eventually worked…eventually. Well what does that say about Princess Tours? If you have mobility problems, they won't wait for you, and if you don't, you are still messed around.  Oh, by the way, no apologies from them.

We had three other stops on the rest of the tour. Arahoho Blowhole (fizzer), a walk through a tropical rainforest to Faarumai Waterfalls (I must have calmed down by then as the walk to the attraction was what it was all about, stunning) and our last stop took in the panoramic views of the coastline. We arrived back to the ship to see one of Greenpeace's 'Rainbow' ships docked nearby. A question arose, 'a Rainbow Ship in French waters'? It just goes to show how time changes everything.