Category: Cruising

The long step at sea

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We spent most of this morning waiting but it provided opportunity to chat with other travellers who were also waiting. While waiting for the porter to retrieve our large bags then waiting for our 11:45 bus to arrive at 12:30. All things worked out well and there was no wait at all to check-in and board the Star Princess. By 1:30 we were munching on our traditional boarding day lunch, cheese burgers, and by 3:00 PM all baggage had arrived, been emptied and we were sitting quietly on a hallway floor during the muster drill.

The first four or five days of this cruise are spent crossing a large part of the Pacific Ocean, which, contrary to its name, is not so peaceful. This time, each of the first three nights were progressively more bouncy, making us happy we again chose accommodation in the less affected midship area. Now, as we approach Hawaii, the weather and sea condition is improving minute by minute. I wouldn’t be surprised if the pools were open today, during the heavy weather they turn into wave pools and unsafe to use.

Thus far we have met a number of people with whom we have previously shared this trip. There are also many for whom this is a first experience and others who are experienced travellers. It is easy to meet people on the ship. We share tables with different passengers for each meal and conversation is generally good. We also meet folks in the lounges where the entertainment this time is quite enjoyable. Elua is a duo that perform Hawaiian theme music and drive the Hawaiian cultural experience by their music, teaching lei making, ukulele, and hula. The Gemstones Quartet has been performing very danceable music in the Wheelhouse Bar.

There are, as expected, numerous children, mostly well behaved. Yesterday, with some help, they made a  number of gingerbread houses. They are on display in the Atrium along with other Christmas decorations and there are decorated Christmas trees everywhere.

We are just arriving at Honolulu so I will post without photos and load them later.

Hawaii 2019 (again)

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Star Princess

We are traveling again. Just a reminder that the complete post is not visible in the email. To see the full post and any photo albums you should  click on the Blue “Read The Post” button.

Hawaii Cruise Map

We are once again getting ready to take our private yacht to Hawaii for Christmas and New Year celebrations. We have invited about 2600 of our friends to join us for the 15 day round trip from Los Angeles. We have taken this voyage several times and at least twice aboard this ship. Although we won’t know all of the passengers but there will doubtless be several with whom we have previously shared this voyage. 

The Star Princess was our ship for a 2006 Caribbean cruise and a 2011 cruise from Rome to Venice. She was launched in 2002 and had a minor refit in 2017. Like many cruise lines, Princess appears to have a fondness for ever larger ships. Many of the smaller ships have been given a major refurbishment and a new name with a different cruise line. Golden Princess is next to go to P&O Cruises in 2020 and the Star Princess will follow in 2021, so this will probably be our last cruise aboard Star Princess. Four new large ships are expected to enter service in 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2025. 

In previous years we have arrived in Los Angeles the day before sailing and stayed at a hotel near the airport. This year we will spend that night in Long Beach for a change. We do this for two reasons. Firstly, because winter air travel can be unpredictable so the extra day allows some time for delays and secondly, because Princess makes luggage handling simple. They take us and luggage from the airport to the hotel then from the hotel to our shipboard stateroom. In Toronto we also stay near the airport on the night before our flight. We have to handle our own luggage at this end.

I have added a few new pages to the site which you should find under the menu item “Ships, Past and Present“. The page “Cruise History” catalogs our cruise history by ship. The page “Ship History” documents the life history of those ships which are no longer sailing under the Princess Cruises brand. The page “Basic Ship Specifications” provides basic data describing the vessels on which we have sailed.

This will serve as journal post number one for this tour. Having done this trip several times it will be hard not to duplicate some photos. I am going to try to provide some new scenes so keep watching. The most recent photos should appear in the sidebar to the right of the post. All of the years photos can be found under the “Photo Gallery” menu in the “Christmas Cruise 2019” page. There is a group of historical photos from our Toronto departures at the end of this post.

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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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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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