World Cruise - Day 38 - Feb 19 - At Sea

Today’s sunrise was on the starboard side of the ship, so we must be going north:

I haven’t yet figured out the route, but we must be backtracking around the north tip of North Island (New Zealand is essentially split into two islands, North Island and South Island) before heading south to Fiordland on the west side of South Island.

I just realized that I didn’t give a tagline to the last photo in yesterday’s blog.  That was from the folkloric show put on by local Maori (the indigenous peoples of New Zealand) last night after dinner.  Very entertaining with the dance, they also illustrated some of their weapons and weapons training (the Maori are known as a fierce warlike people).  There are about 500,000 Maori, although I didn’t catch whether that is just in New Zealand or worldwide.  They are of Polynesian descent.

Susie recommended that I start including some pics of close-ups and/or interesting details around the ship, so given that we are on sea day #1 of 5, I’ll start doing that.

The pic above is taken from the stairway above the 6^th floor (halfway between deck 6 and 7), viewing the aft elevators.  During this entire cruise, I haven’t yet used the elevators once.  Krissie did one time to up a few floors with friends.  Interesting small touch is the sign in the top right of the pic for “Deck 6” which is really nice for someone like me who takes the steps two at a time.  If I had to wait to get to the landing to know what deck, I would already be going around the corner and have to put on the brakes.  So these advanced notice signs are helpful to know what floor is coming (there is another sign by the elevators, but it isn’t that readable until you get closer.  Our cabin is through the doorway on the left, then left third cabin door.  It’s a great location, since this is the aft stairwell (there are only two, aft and forward) and all of the food is aft and all of the entertainment is forward.  So dinner is down one flight of stairs and you’re there.  Typically the most stairs I have to do at any time is 5 flights, going from deck 5 to deck 10 to the Pacific Lounge (mainly going there for trivia, although there are other events there was well, including dance lessons).

Susie, you wondered if I was bored on the sea days, resulting in sunrise pics.  Not bored, just enjoying the sunrise and playing with my DSLR to get the best shot.  I often meet up with Sergio outside, we both tend to be there right before the sunrise looking for that elusive ideal sunrise pic.

We got new balcony furniture yesterday.  They took out all of the balcony deck furniture from the entire ship and replaced it with new.  Here’s a pic of the new balcony furniture:

Krissie likes the new chairs because they recline further than the old ones.  The new table is nice and sturdy, although smaller than the old table, so makes it a bit more cramped for morning breakfast.

This ship is one of the R-class ships in Princess’ fleet (the other one is the Ocean Princess, formerly named Tahitian Princess).  There are 8 R-class ships that are the former Renaissance Cruise Lines ships.  All 8 ships are identical in design, with 680 passengers, so quite small by current cruise ship standards.  They were originally designed for a more upscale cruise line (Renaissance), but when they went out of business, the ships went to other cruise lines, including Princess, P&O, Oceania, and I think one other cruise line.  The rumor onboard is that Princess will be selling this ship to P&O in about 2 years (although both Princess and P&O are part of Carnival Cruise Lines, so it would just be a transfer of the ship to another line in the fleet).  It’s a wonderful ship and just the right size for this type of cruise.  We’ve never been on a ship this small (except for perhaps the Holland America Noordam, the one back in 2002, not the current one) and are really enjoying the cruise.

To those who commented that the Coke Jump Into Summer video is not available yet, I sent them a note asking for status.  Maybe it takes a day or two to get them loaded.  I will let you know if/when it is available.

Sonia, the punk photo was shot from pretty far away with my smaller camera.  It might make an interesting entry in the photo contest.  Krissie didn’t take the photo of me jumping, so can’t enter that one.  And you were probably the only one who understood the arm of the cricketer in the air, since it would look odd to those who have not seen a cricket match.  Also, the gelato place didn’t serve waffles, although they did have waffle cones.  So maybe it was a waffle cone and a coffee?  Still expensive.  We typically lock the patio door because if you don’t, it can slide from one side to the other with the movement of the ship (since we are on the side, so as the ship moves up at the bow, the door slides closed and when the bow goes down, it slides open).  You can both lock it open and lock it shut.  Although I understand that we’ll be required to keep it locked when we pass by Somalia due to the pirates.

Patti, no, I didn’t get the $8 gelato (even if it was with a cup of coffee, not sure).  Yes, I love gelato, but not that much.  I don’t know what kind of fish we saw out by Hole in the Wall, and yes, there were some fish with their mouths open and above water.  I liked the pewter creations in rock as well, but they’re heavy, so not buying anything that will add to the weight of our luggage.

Julie, a controlled jump means that you are connected to a cable that extends from the top of the tower to the bottom of the jump and you are essentially sliding down the cable, with two additional cables on either side connected to you to control the speed of the descent.  Not something I would do, since you’re not really free falling, although you do get up to 55 MPH.  I agree that I’d rather parachute out of a plane.  Although stepping off the edge of the tower would be pretty wild, regardless.

Glad to hear everyone enjoyed the dolphin pics.  They were a lot of fun to take the photos.  It was fun watching them come in.  I’m guessing that our ship, with 26 ft. of draft, probably stirs up fish for the dolphins.  Anyway, they would come running (or swimming) when they saw the ship coming through the harbor.  You could see them swimming toward the ship, then disappear under the ship, probably for chow time.  So I had to get the photos when they were swimming toward the ship or swimming alongside the fish before they dove down below the ship.

Regarding Krissie drying the oil paintings, when she bought more white acrylic and watercolor paints in Bay of Islands, the lady said they take 2-4 days to dry and you can speed up the process with a hair dryer.

We won at trivia this morning with 18 out of 20, then winning the tiebreaker with one other team:  What is the only state to be an independent republic before becoming a state?  Texas (both teams got that).  In what year did it become a state?  I’m not exactly sure on the answer, we said 1845, which I think is correct, but later someone said it was 1836, so maybe we were just the closest.  Some of the other questions:  Which George wrote Crazy For You?  Gershwin.  In which country did Steve McQueen die?  Mexico.  What does the “B” in SCUBA stand for?  Breathing (Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus).  In which James Cagney film did he say, “You dirty double crossing rat!”  The answer was Blonde something or something Blonde, never heard of it (we put Public Enemy).  Which Bobby was the first golfer to win all of the grand slam events in one year?  Jones.  What is the study of materials at very low temperatures?  Cryogenics.  What constellation points to the south celestial pole?  Southern Cross.  What movie actor said that kissing Marilyn Monroe was like kissing Hitler?  Tony Curtis (we said Clark Gable).  What is the English title of Freud’s book Traumduetung?  Interpretation of Dreams.  What is the divorce capital of Nevada?  Reno.

I checked with the navigation charts and we did head north last night and are now rounding (just shortly after noon) the north end of North Island.  The ocean is glassy smooth, almost like we are going through a protected bay or even a big inland lake:

Yet we are currently out in the ocean traveling around the northern (northerners think south, since we get closes to the equator here going north) tip of New Zealand.  We have about 700 miles to go to get to Fjordland, which will be “scenic cruising” (meaning that we will not go to a port, just near to shore to see the sights from the ship).

I went to hear Gavin MacLeod, who played Murray on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and the Captain on The Love Boat give a presentation:

He has done a lot of film roles, including several roles that were very interesting and challenging.  He said several things that I thought were notable: “I never considered myself to be a leading man.  I just felt grateful to be able to work with as many wonderful people as I have over my career.”  He also talked about when he got fired the only time in his life early in his acting career and he felt like giving up.  His wife encouraged him to continue on, that something else would come up.  As it worked out, being fired it what opened him up to a variety of new roles that never would have come about if he had not been fired.  “Never give up” was a recurring theme in his presentation.  Another quote: “You can realize your dreams if you know what they are.”  He feels that young people today are chasing dreams that they can’t identify.  The first part of reaching your dreams is to make them real, make them concrete.  He is now 80 years old and for the past 25+ years he has been the spokesperson for Princess Cruises.  I got my pic with him after his presentation:

One other thing that he said that also stuck with me.  He said of all of the successes and failures in his life, the one that he wishes he could change was the failure of his first marriage.  He was successful in so many things, but was not able to be successful with his first marriage.  He remarried later, but it’s interesting that he commented on that.  It’s also interesting that so many people that are otherwise successful still wish for success in marriage.

In afternoon trivia we again tied with another team with the top score of 17 out of 20, but we lost the tiebreaker: How many years can a snail sleep?  We went high with 20, the other team said 10, the answer is 3.  Brandon will be pleased that we got this question correct: How many functions does the largest Swiss Army Knife have?  It was multiple choice—21, 45, 65 or 87.  Answer is 87.  I think we were the only team in the room to get this answer: What browser, launched in 1993, is credited with launching the Web?  Mosaic.  Netscape Navigator came out a year later by the same team led by Marc Andreeson from University of Illinois Supercomputing Center, but Mosaic was the original browser.  The Kitchen God’s Wife is Amy Tan’s second novel; what was her first?  Joy Luck Club.  Who was known as the Moses of her people for escorting so many people to freedom?  Harriet Tubman.  What kind of super social shark is known for its yellowish-brown color?  Lemon shark (we said nurse shark).  What Moroccan city is known as the Red City?  Marrakesh (I had that down as my answer, but it was just a guess, we put Tangiers).  In an effort to curb crystal meth production, what cold ingredient was banned in 2006?  Sudaphedrin. What international retail chain was founded by 17-year-old Ingvar Kamperad in 1943?  Ikea.  What is the only one word anagram for the day of the week Monday?  Dynamo (Krissie was proud of me for coming up with that one).

The ocean just keeps getting prettier and prettier.  Here is a shot at about 7:45p, about 40 minutes before sunset:

It’s like a surreal painting.  I am wondering whether or not to go to the show tonight.  It is a comedian by the name of Jeff Wayne.  Maybe I’ll go to the show, but bring my camera with me to pop out to take some pics at sunset?

I went to the show, but I snuck out to take this pic:

Then I went to listen to Wayne:

He was pretty funny.  But I snuck out again to take a couple more photos right before and after sunset:

I love the way the sunlight is reflected in the glassy water.  Then I took this one right after the sun went down:

We had Movies Under the Stars again tonight.  It was Real Steel with Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly.  Think Rocky – The Champ – Rock-em-Sock-em-Robots all combined.  Typical Hollywood, although cool robotic special effects.

Tomorrow is sea day #2 of 5 on our way to Burnie, Tasmania.  We will apparently get to Fjordland on Tuesday, per Brett (Cruise Director) after the evening show today.  It’s kinda funny how they say “We will be doing the entertainment early tomorrow, since we have a big day the following day…”  They change the show times to 6:45p and 8:30p.  Normally they are at 8:00p and 10:00p.  So although it sounds “earlier” it’s actually later for the early seating (which is most people onboard), since the show is now at 8:30p instead of 8:00p.  And late seating (8:00p) ends up going to the show before dinner.  I’ve heard that people on early seating don’t like these show times, since they keep them up later at night.  And the late seating crowd doesn’t like it because they like being up later, so there’s nothing to do after dinner.  I haven’t figured out yet what the reasoning or logic is on the show time changes.  I will ask Brett the next time I see him.