Ted Thorpe – Page 5 – Steps to Anywhere

This week has 6 days

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Ted Thorpe

With our three mid-Pacific stops complete we saw the departure of Captain Aseem A. Hashmi and the arrival of his replacement Captain Inger Klein Thorhauge. Now with a woman in charge we shall most certainly not get lost as she will not be reluctant to stop and ask for directions, or so I have been told. We get to meet her this evening at a reception before dinner.

Last night we set the clocks back another hour so that the time is correct for New Zealand only the day is not. Tonight, Monday 19 February we cross the International Date Line and magically we awaken on Wednesday 21 February. We will recover our lost day in April when we return to Hawaii. The poor folks that are continuing east to Southampton never get their lost day back.

Saturday evening after leaving Moorea and Sunday were very pleasant with relatively smooth seas. Today, Monday, we have 31 knot head winds into which we are sailing at 20 knots. The lower decks have been closed and the salty sea spray reaches the upper decks. Those who don’t mind the wind find 24°C temperatures. The pools remain open but the slosh factor is quite high.

While we were berthed in Papeete we watched an interesting marine ballet. The ship at the adjacent berth was essentially a floating dry dock carrying several vessels. The Yacht Express would partially submerge to allow yachts and a small ferry to sail on. Yacht Express would gradually surface allowing the other vessels to settle into cradles, The crew then began the task of anchoring the vessels to the deck of Yacht Express. We have been trying to decide whether the Yacht Express was a boat-boat or a ferry-ferry. (sorry, I tried not to say that)

Boat Boat Collage IMG 2542

Having lost Tuesday, the weather moderated and Wednesday, what would have been Tuesday, became a nice summer day with quiet seas. There are many sun worshipers out on deck loungers when the weather is fine. The deck activities on the Queen Elizabeth include some games but the silly pool games are notably absent. The sea days to Auckland passed uneventfully. We had three Kiwis on as headline entertainers. The comedian could be funny at times, the operatic tenor was a pleasure to listen to and the third fellow one would have to call unique, whether you liked his work or not. He had a camera above a tray of sand in order to project for us the images he created in the sand. Upon arriving in Auckland these three plus the daily speakers are being replaced. We shall find out who they are in due course.

We arrived in Auckland Friday, February 23, 2018 and were on the berth by 7:30 AM and there was free WiFi although not the most reliable. We left the ship before 9 AM to pick up a few things and encountered a couple of light showers while downtown. A few buildings we remembered from our last visit are simply gone, erased to make way for subway construction. The harbour is essentially the same except for some minor rearrangements. We returned to the ship to deposit purchases then back ashore.

The showers had given way to a bright sunny day. The temperature rose to 22°C officially but it felt warmer in the direct sun. We took a 15 minute ferry ride to the small community of Devonport on the north side of the harbour. It is a much quieter setting than downtown Auckland. We had lunch, found another free WiFi location to send a couple of emails then walked along the beach before returning to the Queen Elizabeth. By the time we returned new passengers were boarding to replace those who ended their voyage at Auckland.

Here are a couple of photos of Devonport.

And a couple of Auckland from Devonport.

Tomorrow, Bay of Islands.

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Due South

Posted on February 17, 2018 by Ted Thorpe

Some time has passed since the last post. We have sailed south into the tropics into the Society Islands of French Polynesia and these are the only Pacific Islands we will visit before our stops in New Zealand. This post is quite lengthy and you will likely need to click on the email to see the full post on the website.

Our stop in Honolulu was a welcome change from the previous couple of days. In truth, there was little good to be said for the weather after departing San Francisco. On Sunday, February 11, we are making 21 knots heading almost due south (170 degrees on the compass) in 26°C seas and 26°C air with very light seas. This is much nicer. Each day since Honolulu has been warm and sunny. The wind has intensified a little as we crossed the doldrums. Sailing ships would not find themselves becalmed in the 25 knot east wind we have this Tuesday.

Wake IMG 6548

The dance floor remained almost totally horizontal Saturday evening and we enjoyed dancing until we moved to the theatre to see if the magician actually had any magic. This fellow was very entertaining. The actual illusions would never have fooled Penn and Teller but they were done with great style. He involved the first couple of rows of spectators which is one of the reasons we sit back and mostly out of reach. He kept one woman on edge after taking her ring and repeatedly failing to retrieve it from illusions that seemed to give her hope. It eventually reappeared seemingly in a ring box within the centre of an apple. Clearly, there are people who enjoy being victimized by stage performers.

On Sunday we listened to another new arrival. Gary played his violin, marched around the stage and the first several rows of the theatre. His musical skill is undeniable but his style and choice of material was less to my liking. Never-the-less, good quality. Monday evening’s guest entertainers presented one of the more interesting shows to date. This trio of vocalists, two men, one baritone and one tenor with one woman, began with a series of popular oldies, nice but nothing really special. When they performed a lengthy medley, a cappella, they became really interesting. At times each of the three was carrying a different melody, perfectly pitched, creating a complex blended harmony.

The Queens Court Orchestra gave us a very nice Dixieland set to keep Sunday evening going. As always there were pianists in some venues and other entertainers in various rooms whose only other commonality is the serving of alcoholic beverages. The photos in the Queen Elizabeth photo album may give you some idea of the public rooms around the ship. While I have not captioned many of the photos yet there will often be a sequence of photos one of which showing the name of the room. Interestingly, the casino on this ship is, apparently, equipped with slot machines purchased directly from Noah and delivered straight from the Ark, that is the opinion I have heard and I cannot speak from personal experience. It is certainly not as heavily used as on some other ships.

Saturday afternoon we found the pools. It was not that we really didn’t know their location it was just too unpleasant to bother with them. Besides, they were closed much of the time. It was a bit of fun to watch the ship’s motion create tsunamis. Fortunately, no passengers were lost in the surf. The pools and hot tubs we tried out were lovely and warm. We shall test them again on Sunday…and Monday…. We are seeing air and sea temperatures rising daily as we sail south toward French Polynesia. At our current speed I estimate we’ll reach the equator Tuesday morning. We anticipate some hi-jinx around the mid-ships pool as polliwogs are converted to shellbacks as they cross the equator for the first time. I’ll try to add some pictures to the photo site when I have good WiFi.

On Tuesday, February 13, 2018 at 0640h the ship crossed the equator, and so did we, again. King Neptune is scheduled to appear at 1400h to pass judgement on willing polliwogs. And so he did. It was a well done crossing show. King Neptune arrived with his entourage, escorted by musicians, and took his throne. Next, the polliwogs paraded and kissed the fish. Group by group polliwogs were judged guilty of such unforgivable crimes as reserving too many seats in the theatre. After the court has passed judgment they are “grunged” with sauces and pasta then plunged into the pool to complete their conversion to shellbacks. To end the show even the Captain and Entertainment Director would find themselves in the pool, The deck crew had the mess cleaned up and the pool re-opened before morning.

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On Sunday while we were in the pool we began chatting to a chap named Harry. As it turned out, he had just come aboard as an enrichment speaker who will talk about our oceans. There are a couple of other guest speakers whose subject matter we will try to ignore; the Royal Family and British Government being slightly less distasteful than the US President and Washington DC. Harry Strong wins our vote for the next few days. We shall see if the other two turn to subjects of more interest to us.

Harry’s second presentation was on the subject of sea turtles and once again both entertaining and informative. His third presentation on Tuesday described the mechanisms of ocean movement from surface waves to tsunamis. He has a very pleasant style and is easy to listen to. He will not present again until we have finished with our French Polynesia stops.

Sunday was the second formal evening, the Hawaii Ball. There were a few, women in particular, who wore colourful Hawaiian-like attire and one couple who went the “whole-nine-yards”. They must have a lot of suitcases. I think there may be one dedicated to his top hats. There are three more formals and, possibly, three more top hats. Dressing for the theme nights is quite voluntary. Dinner dress code is not, whether formal or informal, jackets are required for men and the jacket police is active.

We have a professional dance couple on the ship and their daily dance classes are quite popular, in fact the Queens Room floor is quite full. We have not been participating. To please the crowd they seem to try to teach more difficult figures for which few have adequate background technique. The couple themselves dance very well. They have presented three shows; a viennese waltz on the first formal night; a samba on the second formal night; and a jive on Monday evening which was not a formal. Dan and Alyona partner quite well, however, Dan may actually over dance her a little.

Since Sunday we have been getting decent coverage of the Winter Olympics which we have been watching from time to time and particularly at bed time. It is great to see the cold from our tropical location. We have also been kept up to date on Canadian news headlines, by way of a four page news brief called “The Canadian” delivered every day with our Daily Programme. I have also seen a Britain Today so I suspect there is a similar update for most countries represented on board.

Tuesday evening there was an opportunity to dance on on an empty dance floor. The seems to occur when there is a recorded music set after a sequence dance set. At these times we can really enjoy the big floor. As we began to leave the floor a full tempo viennese waltz began. Not being comfortable with viennese waltz Gail suggests I dance with Cecelia, a lady from Ottawa with whom I have danced a couple of times before. I can add her to the list of partners with whom I have done a five minute VW. Wednesday evening as the Valentine’s Ball so empty floor space may be at a premium, but we were able to see rumba show dance from Dan and Alyona. Once again, they were spectacular. After their show we were able to enjoy the floor for a while.

Thursday we are at anchor in Bora Bora. The ship’s tenders have begun taking passengers to the shore to connect with early tours. We have no scheduled tours but decided not to sweat our way to shore in the tenders

Friday brings us alongside in Papeete. Once again it is tropical as expected. Before landing I had thought we had previously visited her but once on shore nothing seemed familiar. The harbour here shows much more commercial activity than in Bora Bora.

Papeete Collage IMG 2548

We sailed out of Papeete Friday evening at 11 PM and dropped anchor in Moorea at 7 AM Saturday, The two points are about 20 miles apart, line of sight, However, we may have sailed over 150 miles before arriving.

Moorea Collage=IMG 2561

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Arrived in Honolulu

Posted on February 10, 2018 by Ted Thorpe

We have not seen all the entertainment offered on this sailing but what we have seen has been quite good. With a little effort I might be able to identify them by name but since it is doubtful you would know any of them anyway I won’t make the effort. We saw a brief performance from the on board dance troupe but last night’s performance was cancelled because we were bouncing like a cork. A comedian who has been on since San Francisco did a full show rather than sharing with the dancers and had most of us laughing uproariously. We also had a guest entertainer who played piano rather well. For his closing number he took about 20 song titles from the audience then sat down and played a medley of all the tunes. There are also staff musicians including a harpist, a string quartet, at least two more pianists, a Caribbean band, the Queens Court orchestra that accompanies guest performers and the Queens Room orchestra that plays dance sets.

There is a large dance floor on the Queen Elizabeth and we have enjoyed dancing several evenings. More than half of the time the dance floor is open recorded dance music is played, this is when we dance the most. The orchestra that plays exclusively in the Queens Room tends to attract more of an audience and the dance floor becomes uncomfortably crowded. We dance only occasionally with the orchestra. I fear I made myself a little unpopular with the orchestra Wednesday evening. Several members of the orchestra sat behind the stage curtain playing warm up exercises on their instruments while the pre-recorded music was playing for the dancers and it was quite distracting. I kind of went behind the curtain and told them to be quiet. I guess I’ll be on their naughty list.

The entertainment provided by the artist Philip Gray has been quite fascinating. We have been privileged to watch him develop three canvases. I assume it is common practice for artists to cover their canvas initially and develop the image over the base coat. Philip has been using members of his audience to apply paint randomly to these three canvases after which he creates an image as if by magic. Here are some side-by-side photos showing his work.

Painting 2

It was amazing to watch Philip turn random splotches of paint into spectacular scenes. The images here cannot display the beauty of his work. However, you won’t be seeing any of it coming home with us either. If you need to ask the price you can’t afford it.

The last two days before making port in Honolulu were very rough. We didn’t even try to get on the dance floor, by Friday evening Gail was not feeling well and the seas were even starting to bother me. Overnight the sky cleared and we have a beautifully sunny day here in Honolulu.

We got off the ship as early as we could and walked the 10 minutes to a nearby Wal Mart where we picked up some supplies. We had planned to do this before leaving, It meant we didn’t have to pack a few things, like coffee. We planned to buy coffee in Australia and brought filters with us. The coffee on the ship is so pathetic we moved the plan forward.

There are quite a few photos on the photo site that I don’t show here. Check the previous post if you need to refresh your memory on how to get to them. This may be the last day with really good internet access before Auckland. I will get a few posts done I’m sure but unless I find good WiFi in French Polynesia I’ll be limited to ship’s Internet which is rather sad.

So, here you have it.

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At Sea after San Francisco

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Ted Thorpe

Monday, February 5, Boarding Day

Perhaps we will be on Pacific Time tomorrow, it wasn’t today. Despite the early morning coffee we managed not to be the first at the buffet for breakfast. We managed a bit of conversation with two other couples in the dining room. The remainder of the morning was just easy going. Our luggage was ready for pickup before 9 AM as requested but was not in fact collected until after 11 but who cares. We made a second pass at the breakfast buffet just before the 10 AM close then retreated to the room to await travel to the ship.

The lobby was a mad house between 9 and 10 AM. By waiting until 11:30 to check out it was over in a minute. The wait in the lobby was not long and shortly after 12 noon we were escorted to our coach for the 5 minute trip to Pier 27 and the terminal.

Boarding was done in a very orderly, British fashion. Upper classes immediately, the rest of us were assigned groups for checkin then boarding was permitted immediately. The whole procedure really didn’t take very long and best of all, our luggage was delivered to the room very quickly. One arrived before we did.

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Immediately after checking in to the stateroom we needed lunch. Up to the buffet, a quick lunch and a bit of exploration of the upper decks. Queen Elizabeth is, by current standards, a relatively small ship. Listed at 90,901 Gross Tons carrying around 2,000 passengers. The interior is quite impressive, old school decor. She has a library, book shelves covering two decks complete with spiral staircase.

Thursday, February 8

Without the luxury of nearly unlimited internet time as we have with Princess, this is the first post of the cruise. We are just past the halfway point from San Francisco to Honolulu. The first three days have been relatively uneventful, as sea days should be. We have a celebrity guest on board by the name of Philip Gray who is promoted as an “Extreme Artist”. This intrigued me enough to take a look, although art is not usually my pursuit of choice. I think we will follow him through to Honolulu. He is, of course, promoting his art but in an entertaining way. The “extreme” characterization has come from his habit of practicing his art in dangerous locations including the slopes of Everest, shark infested tropical water, Icelandic volcanoes and Antarctic waters.

His descriptions of his adventures have proven to be quite interesting indeed. He has also chosen to execute three canvases while on board and has found ways to include passengers in the process by allowing them to help fill the canvases. Subsequently, he develops details from his experience. We have found it enjoyable to watch him work. I will include some photos of his work in future posts/

Like all Cunard ships, the Queen Elizabeth is beautifully appointed and the walls are frequently covered with historic memorabilia. I will collect some photos to post later. The staff dress code is evident regardless of the task they are assigned. Passengers too observe a more elegant dress code than on other lines. There is an older demographic on this ship to be sure, but there are very few mobility vehicles visible. Last evening provided the first opportunity for everyone to show off their formal attire. It was the Cunard Ball, at least for an hour or two. During that time the professional dance couple showed an extremely well executed Viennese Waltz as their first performance. I look forward to seeing them again.

The weather has been mild but not yet summer like. The sea temperature and air temperature are nearly identical, around 18°C to 19°C and today has been very overcast with moderate seas bouncing us just a bit. Gail doesn’t find the ship’s motion too comfortable so we’re having a cup of tea in our stateroom. We have the luxury of an electric kettle in the room so we can make tea or coffee at will, so to speak. The coffee is instant so we are avoiding it, the tea, however is just fine. British I suppose. We lan to fix the coffee situation shortly after arriving in Honolulu. We brought a Melita coffee system with us for Australia but we’ll activate it as soon as we buy coffee in Hawaii.

We share our dinner table with two very nice couples, one from New York, the other from Brisbane, the seventh and eighth chairs have as yet remained empty. Conversation has been quite easy. We are learning about the Gold Coast from the Australians and the New York couple are learning what to do during their stay in Sydney from both of us.

We were among the first group to the dining room for breakfast on the first two mornings and found ourselves with three women who were on a third or forth world cruise within the last five years. Even taking inside cabins this would kinda break the bank for us. This morning we were a bit later and found ourselves with another great group.

We reach Honolulu on Saturday and I will find some WiFi to post pictures etc.

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