Category: Cruise Ships

On the sea, on the sea…on the beautiful sea.

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Merry Christmas!

It is day 6, Christmas Day, our final sea day before arriving in Honolulu and it is warm if a bit overcast. I enjoy sea days, not because they are filled with activity but because they are at sea and there is little else that confirms how truly small and helpless we are. Our 110 thousand ton ship sails her course at the whim of the ocean and the weather. The Pacific Ocean at its calmest flicks at us with waves that the ship is powerless to resist. We maintain our 21 knot pace toward Honolulu on faith that the ship’s navigator will bring the ship to its intended destination. There is nothing visible that is convincing proof we are going to Hawaii. 

The first two nights aboard the Star Princess takes us well off the coast of North America. The weather remained cool and partially overcast, those seeking suntans had to wait. The sea was relatively calm but the swells were sufficient to give us a gentle rolling motion which I always find rather pleasant.

The barista who served me our second morning wake-up coffee was a Jamaican lad who is living in Toronto when not on the ships. I was wearing a Blue Jays T-shirt so he made me apologize for their early departure from the baseball post season. He served me with a smile in spite of the baseball failure. When I returned to the room I found Gail happy because she seemed to get her first complete night’s sleep of the trip. 

Wednesday evening we enjoyed dancing for the first time since Gail injured her shoulder before we left home. She was still experiencing some discomfort but managed brilliantly while avoiding expressive arm motions. There are several very good dance couples on this cruise, particularly a younger couple from Calgary who have clearly been in competition. There are also several couples who use enthusiasm to make up for their technique. Everyone seems to share the floor happily. The ship’s orchestra played a set that was very danceable and there are two other groups that will provide enjoyable, danceable entertainment.

Sea days are good to meet people, read and enjoy the hot tub. Still too cool for the pool but the weather is improving as we move west. Gail was able to participate in the hula class without too much discomfort so that is good news. Late this afternoon I glanced out the cabin window to see more whitecap like splashes than should have been there. A closer look and there was a pod of dolphin. Over the next several minutes at least four more pods passed along the ships starboard side and off into the distance. Their appearance was over so quickly no photos were possible The evening was busy with the hula dancers (students) hijacking the Wheelhouse much to everyone’s delight. 

Saturday morning was the first true evidence of warm weather. Seas were almost flat and winds very light. The sun was bright with only a few scattered clouds. We have been wandering on deck off and on since finishing breakfast. There are a couple of speakers on board that add interest. One is an astronomer and the other a naturalist. Today we learned that we should wear expendable clothes while whale watching in Maui. Apparently clothes need to be burned after a whale sneezes on you. Christmassy things are all around including people with strange, illuminated elf like costumes. The spa pool was enjoyable this afternoon but we still followed it with some time in the hot tub. The hot tubs are great places to meet people. Because of the number of Californians on this cruise it is becoming a point of honour to check everyone’s home and to cheer when an entire group is from places other than California. 

Christmas Eve included carol singing, amusing costumes and a generally Christmas atmosphere, or as much as possible for those of us who normally associate the season with cold weather and snow, neither of which we have. Although there were artificial snowflakes falling on the carollers in the atrium. On Christmas morning the strongest evidence of the day was the arrival of Santa for the children at about 10 AM. There are apparently about 500 children aboard and their presence has been the source of numerous smiles. Tonight most of us will dress formally for dinner and the evening’s activities.

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Forget the airport, time to go cruisin’

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Cruising is not everyone’s ideal vacation, but to do what we will do in the next two weeks without a cruise ship could require no fewer than six airport visits. Not only that, there is also the packing, unpacking, re-packing, boarding passes, bag checking and luggage hauling associated with each stop. The trade off is the length of stay at travel destinations. You rarely get to visit a port for more that eight to 12 hours. For us, cruising works, particularly to a warm location during a Canadian winter.

So, Tuesday we made our way to San Pedro and the awaiting Star Princess. At about 8 AM our luggage was picked up from our hotel room to be delivered to our stateroom.  Just after 11:45 we boarded a motor coach and by 12:40 we were in our stateroom. We had barely emptied our carry-on bags when our checked luggage was delivered. We grabbed a burger for lunch and Gail had her first chocolate ice cream cone of the trip. 

It is interesting to wander about the ship on embarkation day. You needn’t wait long to see the “deer in the headlights” look. There seems to be a conspiracy to confuse as many passengers as possible. Stateroom addresses use a letter to denote the deck and odd numbers for rooms on the starboard side with even numbers assigned to the port side. The elevators, or lifts if you prefer, denote floors by number. therefore, you first need to know that elevator floor 12 has room addresses beginning with “A” then 11 equals “B” and so on down. It seems easy but there will be some still working this problem on day 10. The antics when passengers leave the elevators is equally interesting. There are signs in every elevator vestibule indicating port and starboard sides and the correspondence with odd and even numbers, however there are three columns of elevators some of which face forward and others face aft. Passengers who have associated port with left find themselves quite lost for a moment when they leave an aft facing elevator. I leave it to you to work out why that might be so.

Dinner and the first evening passed quietly. the lounge musicians lill be quite enjoyable if the first experience is any indication. Having injured her left rotator cuff just prior to leaving home Gail is struggling to get it back in shape to dance. Before leaving home she paid three visits to the chiropractor and this morning, Wednesday, spent 30 minutes with one of the massage therapists on board. She managed to negotiate what we will just refer to as “a preferential rate” while we are in the port of Ensenada, Mexico.

We did not disembark at Ensenada but I did take a couple of photos of the dock area. There was only one lonely, perhaps, harbour seal on the rocks. We departed bound for Honolulu at 4:30 PM. There are more photos almost daily and the link is available on the photos page. You should find the link in the top menu. ———————30———————— 

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Adelaide

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We had a really pleasant autumn day in Adelaide. Lovely and sunny with mid 20°C temperatures. We didn’t actually make it into the city of Adelaide, having visited before we opted for a stop in Port Adelaide, where we had not been previously. So, after a leisurely breakfast we came down the gangway, through the terminal and across the street to the train station. Envious of Australian seniors who were able to ride for free, we anti-ed up our $3.10 (each) for a 2 hour ticket. The train arrived and departed right on time and about 10 stops later we arrived in Port Adelaide. 

The train platform was well above the street level and the only apparent access was by way of an inclined ramp that snaked back and forth seemingly endlessly. Once on the main street we followed the crowd to the water’s edge where there was a large building containing what I would call a permanent flea market. Gail actually found a book she hadn’t read for an amazing $2 price tag. The port is a dolphin habitat and there are tour boats offering to take anyone out to visit. The small town boasts several museums. A maritime museum, airplane museum and a railway museum.

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After browsing the buildings and side streets we approached the railway museum and decided to take a look. They took pity on us and only charged us seniors rate even though we lacked an official Australia seniors identification. As soon as I get a stable internet connection I will upload photos of about two dozen locomotives and other rolling stock. We found it quite interesting in many ways. Some of the “more modern” carriages were remarkably similar to some we had traveled in during our 2007 visit to Australia. Gail had the opportunity to see the inside of her first caboose. 

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We continued our leisurely walk through the town. Based upon the number of vacant shops, the town has seen more prosperous days. However, there was plenty of street traffic particularly as we moved away from the waterfront to less “touristy” areas. One unexpected sight was this 1959 Edsel parked near the flea market.

We grabbed a couple of small bags of  McDonald’s fries then climbed the endless, zig-zag ramp to the train platform. Once again the train was right on schedule and, being honest folk, contributed another $3.10 (each) to the transit system. We made it back to the ship in time to get lunch and do a last load of laundry before starting the homeward trek on May 6.

Albany area

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Our over night trip from Fremantle was to arrive by 11 AM in Albany. Mother nature had other ideas and we arrived an hour or so later than expected because of wind and waves. We certainly noticed the seas during the night but I think we are becoming accustomed to the bumpy ride.

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Here’s an interesting note. We were advised to adjust our watches one hour ahead last night, which we did. When attempting to convince my computer to adopt our current time it turned out that the selection was to be Eastern Indonesian Time. I investigated further and it is also Japan Standard Time or Palau time. There appears to be no area of Australia sharing this time zone. My iPhone seems willing to adopt a time associated with Eucla, Australia which is 15 minutes behind Eastern Indonesian Time. Incidentally, Eastern Indonesian Time is also Irkutsk Standard Time although this region appears to be at least one and a half time zones west of Indonesia. Ah, the trivia one learns.

We waited in the theatre for the ship to be officially cleared for us to go ashore and then we were off to our coach. We were taken to Emu Point where we boarded a small boat for our tour of Oyster Bay and the Kalgan River. It was quite cool and fairly moist, particularly at the front of the boat. Never-the-less it was one of the most enjoyable tours of the cruise and perhaps one of the best ever, thanks to the 24 year old operator, navigator, tour guide, raconteur, cook and Captain, Jack Jones.

For the first part of the tour he manoevered the boat around Oyster Bay as he described the history and geography of the area from Captains Cook and Vancouver up to the present. The bay was used to farm oysters and mussels and a small very green island served as a nesting area for pelicans from a much wider area than the bay and river. Jack punctuated his narration with folksy poetry of his and his fathers and stories about the flock of pelicans that greeted us as we came aboard. The heroine of the pelican stories was Percy. Yes, Percy, a female. He named the bird as a youth before he could tell the difference. Percy would dance on command, doing circles in the water for her waltz. Jack would present her with a small fish for her efforts. The bay and the Kalgan River was populated with many species, the birds being the most visible on this day and Jack seemed to know where they would be. Spotting them was quite easy, getting a picture was more difficult but we got a few. 

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Shortly after Jack took the boat through an area containing ramps and buoys marking a competitive water skiing area he grew up to a small dock and extended the boarding ramp. This was our wine tasting stop. We were escorted up a steep his from the river’s edge to Toyota minibus then driven up more steep hills to the Montgomery’s Hill winery. There were a surprisingly diverse selection of wines for tasting and the five I sampled were all worth a second taste. Unfortunately, I doubt we will see the label at home anytime soon. The minibus returned us down the hill to the boat ramp where we waited a few minutes for the return of Jack and the Kalgan Queen.

Waiting for us on the boat was hot tea or coffee and slices of warm damper, a yeast-less but very tasty bread. As we returned down the river to Oyster Bay Jack continued his patter of humour and history. The light was fading quite quickly as the tour was ending nearly an hour later than planned because of our delay arriving in Albany. We ran at full speed across the bay with the plastic side curtains pulled down to minimize the spray. Percy guarded us all the way back to Emu point occasionally taking a fish from Jack’s hand as she glided beside the boat. 

The coach met our arrival at Emu Point and we returned to the ship via the centre of Albany. The driver did narrate as he drove and I am sure everything he’s described must have been there. Being dark by this time, it was a bit difficult to confirm and impossible to photograph. As we boarded the ship just before 6:30 PM the dock was very quiet. We believed we might have been the last to return but a few did not return for yet another hour.

The Captain took us out of the harbour and soon the ship was rocking and rolling through the Great Australian Bight en route to Adelaide, the only remaining port before we disembark in Melbourne.