Month: December 2018

Maui Whales and Hilo Sunrise

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On Wednesday, December 26 we anchored at the island of Maui in the harbour off the coast of Lahaina. Our mission, to see some whales. Six of the tenders, otherwise known as ship’s survival craft or life boats, were lowered into the sea as the ship came to its anchorage. They begin by transporting to shore the shelters and supplies to be used ashore, with that complete, passengers become the  cargo. Passengers on ship’s tours congregate at designated locations on the ship and are moved to the tenders in groups. Those passengers without tour reservations are expected to collect numbered tickets and board the tenders as they become available. This practice often gets unthinking passengers somewhat angry. Apparently they would prefer the chaos of a few thousand people fighting for queue space.

Since over one hundred of us were booked on the whale watching tour, two tenders were used. Those of us on the first tender waited ashore under the very warm Maui sun while the remainder came ashore. The tenders were operating on about a 10  minute interval which doesn’t seem like a long time, however, the sun made it feel much longer. Once everyone was ashore, boarding the tour boat was very swift and there was shelter from the heat.

It took about 20 minutes to travel to the area near Molokai where there always seem to be plenty of whales and this year was no exception. Waiting for the first whale to show itself seemed like forever. Suddenly, they were all around. We did not get as close to them as we sometimes have but there was plenty of activity and I managed to get a few photos worth posting. You should be able to find them in the collection displayed in the right hand sidebar near the bottom of this web page.

The return trip was quick and Gail used the afternoon to do some laundry. There are some tasks that are difficult to avoid even on vacation. A second batch of laundry was sent to the ship’s laundry service but that won’t return for a day or so.

On Thursday, December 27 we visit our last Hawaiian port, Hilo on the island of Hawaii in the state of Hawaii. Confusing? I’m sure that’s why it is more often referred to as simply “The Big Island”. While this is true at this point in history, the island of Maui was once much bigger. The islands now known as Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe were once a single island much larger than today’s “Big Island”. Over the millennia Maui has sunk and its valleys filled by the ocean. These valleys are now between 100 and 300 feet deep and very warm, probably the reason the humpbacks find it such an attractive birthing centre; that and perhaps the absence of predators.

As we sailed into Hilo I was up very early and managed to get a sequence of photos of the most spectacular sunrise so far. They too are posted for you to see. 

Assuming the ship’s internet shows no improvement on the return trip this may be the last of the photos I post until returning. I will likely be able to do a couple more text only posts. As I finish writing this we are getting ready to go ashore to find macadamia nuts and some free WiFi to upload the photos and post this to the journal. 

Our next stop will be in Ensenada on January 2 so we will wish you a Happy New Year in advance.

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Nawiliwili, Kauai

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December 24 was the first day that was really warm. The sun was brilliant. Having been in Honolulu many times we took no tours and simply enjoyed the warmth as we spent part of the afternoon in the Spa pool and hot tubs. As you saw, I did get a journal post and a few photos uploaded. To do that I took the 15 minute walk from Pier 2 to the Aloha Tower where free WiFi was available. It required less than 10 minutes to do what had taken nearly an hour using the ship’s internet service.

Since departure from Honolulu was not until 11 PM a group of girls aged six to 16 came aboard to show us how the Hula was done. I think we have watched some of these children grow and develop over the last three years. Once again they were amazing. The group attempts to keep Hula in the forefront of Hawaiian culture. I honoured their request to take no photos but, as you might imagine, the five six and seven year old dancers captivated the audience. 

There are quite a number of passengers who, like us, have taken this Christmas Cruise before. We concluded the evening doing a little dancing and chatting with people we recognized from past years.

Christmas morning began at about 6:30 AM with the usual coffee. The lights of Nawiliwili, our Kauai port, were just visible in the darkness. As the sun rose the Captain and Pilot maneuvered the ship through the narrow harbour entrance and gradually rotated the Emerald Princess through more than 180 degrees and brought it to a gentle stop alongside the berth. From the channel to the harbour entrance to the berth is actually nearly 345 degrees. There was one tug visible, firmly moored and definitely not assisting with the docking. In Honolulu where there seemed to be plenty of manoeuvring room we had tugs pushing and pulling. Hmmm!

From the ship’s upper deck we can see Kalapaki Beach and the hotel beyond which is the tallest building on the island. After two attempts to build tall buildings on the island were demolished by successive hurricanes building height was limited to “the height of the palm tree”. The hotel is the only remaining structure exceeding that height restriction.

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Honolulu Christmas Eve

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Friday, Dec 21, was rather uneventful and ended as a formal evening. It was also the day I gave up on the on board internet. I have sailed through this part of the ocean numerous times and this is the worst connectivity ever. The usual explanation is that satellite service coverage is poor in this part of the world. Given my past experience I suspect there is a different problem that they’d rather not mention. Never-the-less, there is little I can do about it. My first two posts consumed nearly two hours of connected time on the ship’s internet system. At home it would have taken 20 minutes and that would have included time to verify the posts and photos. Since those first two days the service has gone from appalling to impossible.

On this voyage, the entertainment programming has been rather mysterious.  Here it was a formal night and three of the major entertainment venues were without music after about 7 PM. Another mystery is why they schedule the show band for a “ballroom dance” set in the Piazza, the least desirable venue for any dance that might be considered “ballroom”. 

We have enjoyed some of the events despite the peculiar scheduling. There is a duo called Galaxy that plays popular music that is danceable and does attract enough passengers to make a busy dance floor. We have not spent a lot of time with them so far. We seem to have found our personal entertainment in the Sunshine Duo of two violinists from Ukraine. Their music tends to be too eclectic for most casual dancers but they cater to us by including tangos and boleros. Olga, who seems to lead, usually glances in my direction before playing something to which she expects us to dance. Ana, the other half of the duo, was among the first to greet us on the first night of the cruise. We rarely have company on the floor under these circumstances so although the Piazza floor is relatively small and circular, we can do whatever we want. The folk around the dance floor seem to enjoy what we do.

Although the ship is well decorated it feels less like Christmas than perhaps it should. I was thinking it was the lack of snow but we have not had snow for Christmas very often at home over the last few years. 

A Christmas show was presented on the evening of December 23. The theatre was packed for the early show to the point where there were people sitting in the aisles. I have been on other ships where this was strictly forbidden but not so here. Just one of the many unenforced regulations on this ship. I suppose one can hardly call them regulations if they are not enforced. On this Christmas cruise we have seen many more children visible during the day. Although there are, reportedly, sufficient staff to manage the kids programs it seems like many parents have opted out of such programs. They are not free, perhaps one reason for the opting out. The children have been no real trouble except possibly for an occasional child at risk on a dance floor.

December 24 has arrived and we are at our berth in Honolulu. As we made our way through the early morning darkness the moon shone through a filter of cloud and there was a fine mist as we docked. The sun rise was not visible from our port side stateroom but we could see the city and Sand Island come to life as the daylight arrived.

Honolulu is the first of our four island ports. We left the ship immediately after breakfast in search of functional WiFi service which we found a few blocks away near the Aloha Tower. A few Christmas greeting texts were sent. We were able to get our email and even view the Christmas e-cards sent to us. All this well within the 30 minute limit on the free WiFi service. It would have been unthinkable on the ship’s service. I will at least try to find free network access on the next three ports so I can post a few pictures. On the way back I may be able to make some text only posts.

So, as the say in Hawaii, “Mele Kalikimaka” and Aloha to all.

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First Real Sea Day

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The sidebar photo album covers both Dec 19 and 20. I have added a few of the decorations in the Atrium. The internet is rather slow so some photos may not be uploaded until we reach the islands where I can access faster service.

Thursday was our first full day on board the Emerald Princess. The ocean was a little angry last night and this morning. We have been experiencing moderately deep swells that tend to produce a corkscrewing effect on the ship which is felt much more extremely in the forward areas of the ship and the effect is amplified on the upper decks. Our accommodation is toward the aft of the ship and middle of the five major accommodation decks and the sensations, while noticeable, are not uncomfortable. We have experienced these conditions on most cruises that sail west from the coast of California.

We had breakfast in the dining room with several pleasant travellers and lunch with a fun couple from Arizona. During lunch about a dozen pods of dolphin passed the ship. To me, dolphin always seem to be laughing, even when you can’t actually hear them. I think they may be laughing at how easily we are entertained.

The ship is well decorated for Christmas with the three deck high atrium being the focus. There are numerous decorated trees, garlands wrapped around railings, a gingerbread village and some stateroom doors have been decorated by their occupants. There are decorations on some of the upper decks, particularly around entrances to food service areas.

We managed to dance a little with our two violinists, the Sun Shine Duo, and a little with our friends Elua. We keep meeting people on this cruise from previous journeys. Sometimes we are recognized, other times we recognize others. It is not uncommon to find passengers who have, like us, done this Christmas cruise one or more times. That said, there are many for whom this will be their first visit to Hawaii and others for whom this is their first cruise.

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