Day 17: Broken Record

It’s our last full day of this itinerary.  It’s so hard to believe how fast time flies when you’re having fun!!

Yesterday’s calmer sea was in reality the calm before the storm.  Holy cow – we’ve really had some weather today.  It’s been raining since noon and the wind is howling again.  So of course we’re pitching about once more.  It’s really cold, too.  I packed a couple of “just in case it gets cool” clothes, but not really anything warm enough for this ick.  It's starting to be like a broken record.

My cold really got ahold of me today.  I’ve been coughing all the way from my toes and have all the other usual symptoms.  In spite of it, we had a busy day.  In the morning we attended a lecture/slide show about Sydney.  It was really well done and I can’t wait to see it.  We’ll be pulling into the harbor at about 5:30 AM.  I sure hope we run out of this weather and have a nice morning going in.

We attended a luncheon for those of us continuing on.  They gave us the whole run-down and answered all our questions.  We’ve already cleared customs and have our key cards for the next leg.  We can walk off the ship any time and return back by 4:30. 

After lunch we went to a talk about the Great Barrier Reef.  Wow – what a day that will be!  I’m super excited and might even try snorkeling for the first time. 

The thing I’m the very most excited about of all is getting to interact with the native animals – especially koalas and kangaroos.  We’re going to the Sydney Wildlife Park, the aquatic park, and then catch the Queen Victoria Building on the way back to the ship.  I’ve waited my whole life to pet a koala and a roo! 

On our next visit we’ll head the other direction to the Opera House and stuff that way.  And on our last visit we’ll either go to Manly Beach or the Koala Sanctuary on the way to the airport.

Being the die-hard cruisers that we are – we bought our next cruise today.  We just did the open-ended option since we can’t really commit to anything yet.  If anyone’s interested in cruising with us next year, we can extend some of our benefits to you if we book at the same time.  We’re thinking about Alaska in late July or early August, and probably something in the Caribbean in the spring depending on filming schedules. 

Tomorrow’s post will be soooo much more exciting and hopefully I’ll have some awesome pix to share.  I’ll put it up just as soon as I can.

Day 16: Dinner with the Captain

Things are back to normal on the Rhapsody.  The computers have all dropped those rogue sessions that were racking up the huge bills, the internet service is restored, and we even got yesterday’s wake-up call this morning at 8:30 (thank you so much).

The swells gradually flattened out during the course of the day.  The Captain explained that it was so rough because of a combination of the depth of the sea (5,000 meters) and an unusual weather pattern.  The closer we get to Australia the less water there will be under us and the better the weather will be.  Tonight we’re just having a very pleasant rocking that is great for being lulled to sleep.  It’s also much easier to walk around.

Bruce got in touch with his client and they got everything worked out regarding the meeting he missed yesterday.  We both got some writing done today.  I’ve been fighting a little bit of a cold the past couple of days, and I ended up taking another nap this afternoon.  That seems to be becoming a habit.  Maybe that’s why I’m not sleeping as well at night.  A few port days should cure that.

We had planned to have a quiet dinner in the Windjammer tonight but instead at about 4:00 we got a call from the Dining Room manager inviting us to dine with the Captain.  What an honor that is!  So of course we accepted.  This was our second time – we also dined with the captain on the Grandeur last April.  There were 3 couples plus a father/son pair, 8 guests total, who attended.  We met at 8:00 in the Schooner Bar where Captain Stein joined us for champagne, chocolate dipped strawberries, and conversation.  At 8:30 we went to the dining room.  We took a photo on the grand stair case and then were seated.  We had a special menu, which we got to keep.  I had shrimp and Bruce had prime rib.  Dessert was strawberries over vanilla ice cream served in a cup made from nuts kinda like peanut brittle.  Everything was fantastic.  At the end of dinner they gave each of us an 8x10 of our photo. 

Captain Stein gave us some pointers for the upcoming ports and I’m more excited than ever to reach Australia.  And of course Rhapsody spent the summer in Alaska so he also told us a lot about that itinerary.  I’m finally convinced that it might be a good trip.  I had always been put off by the thought of packing winter clothes for a cruise – there’s just something very wrong about that!  We had a really nice time tonight, though.  I tried to scan our photo to post here in the blog, but our scanner wouldn’t work with the thickness of the photo.  I’ll have to put it up on Snapfish when we get home.  I did get a picture of the captain standing on the pier in Tahiti, so here is that one.

Tomorrow is our last sea day before we reach Sydney Saturday morning.  Most people are getting off the ship and they’re all sad to see the trip end.  We have the same cabin for all 3 itineraries, so we don’t even have to pack anything.  We’ll have from 9:00 until 4:30 to explore Sydney, plus we’ll be back twice more.  I’m looking forward to the spectacular view coming into the harbor, sailing by the bridge and the opera house.  We’ll be sure to take lots of pix and of course I will post some.  Watch for that over the weekend.

Day 15: Crossing the Date Line

Remember Y2K – how the doomsayers were convinced the world was coming to an end and we feared for all the computer systems?  Well that was a breeze compared to crossing the International Date Line on a cruise ship!!  Oh my gosh, the stories I have in store for you today…

Yesterday afternoon Bruce was in a chat session with a customer trying to schedule an online meeting for today at 4:00 PM Central Time.  I looked over at him counting on his fingers, puzzled look on his face, more finger-counting, then complete frustration set in.  He couldn’t figure out what time that would be here on the ship.  After about 20 minutes, he came up with his best guess – 9:00 AM.  Here’s an excerpt of the reply he sent to the customer:

We're half-way between Tahiti and Australia -- should be a hundred miles or so from Cook Islands tomorrow. Oops, there is no tomorrow. We go from the 11th to the 13th.
Right now, it is 2pm here and 9pm CDT. Just after midnight tonight (here) it will be 7:01am CDT on Oct 12, but it will be 12:01am here on Oct 13. Damn -- I'm gonna miss Columbus day.
Mind boggling. I'm guessing I need to be online by 9am my time the day after tomorrow (which is really first thing in the morning) in order to hook up with you tomorrow at 4pm CDT.

We had a good laugh over the logistics of it.

During Happy Hour at 5:00 we had our daily deluge.  The fog turned into torrential rain with high winds and the swells grew to a noticeable size.  We had a nice dinner and were back to the room around 10:30.  By then it was getting pretty wild out on the bounding seas.  We needed to set a wake-up call for Bruce’s meeting, but decided to stay awake until after the ship’s clocks were reset at midnight.  We got sucked into a movie that ended at 12:30.  I got up and set the wake-up call.  At 12:42 – guess what – the wake-up call went off.  So I got up again and shut it off, then reset it again.  I waited a few minutes and it didn’t go off, so I thought it must surely be set this time.

We fell asleep right after that.  Bruce had no problem sleeping.  I, on the other hand, hardly slept at all.  The size of the swells over night was 5-6 meters – that’s 18-19 feet - nearly twice the size that we had a few days ago.  There was a 4-second rhythm to it that went like this:

1. One-one-thousand, two-one-thousand:  the ship’s bow would rise.
2. Three-one-thousand: the ship’s bow would crest over the swell and begin to descend.
3. Four-one-thousand:  the ship’s bow would come crashing down with a BANG-BANG.  We’re on deck 4 very near the bow, so this was close and very loud
4. The side wind causes a constant vibration.  I was wondering who was putting quarters in the bed.
5. The old girl creaks like a haunted house with every hard impact onto the ocean.
6. One-one-thousand, two-one-thousand:  as the ship’s bow would rise, you could feel your body rising and almost leaving the bed.
7. Three-one-thousand: as ship’s bow would crest over the swell and begin to descend, you would get that sensation in your stomach like being on a roller coaster when it goes down the big hill.  Wheeeee…
8. Four-one-thousand:  as the ship’s bow would come crashing down with a BANG-BANG, your body would catch a G or two and be pressed deep down into the bed.
9. The BANG-BANG is caused by the ship’s bow rising above the water which allows air to get under the hull.  When she starts down, the air is pushed out, causing the first BANG.  So basically, she’s farting.  Not so lady-like.  The second BANG is the hull crashing into the water surface.

So all night long it was this constant rhythmic pitching about.  I wasn’t counting sheep, I was counting waves.  Things in the room were also being pitched about.  First it was a bottle of vitamins rolling around in a cabinet.  Then it was the door to the safe that I hadn’t locked.  Later, a suitcase was banging against the wall in the closet.  Each time I had to get up and locate the offending item.  Yet Bruce slept on.

Then it was 8:30, but the wake-up call never came.  Yet Bruce slept on.  Not me, though.  Luckily I was awake and aware that it was time to get up.  So we did.  We went up on Deck 9 where we usually get very good Wi-Fi connection.  He started to log on.  And then he freaked out!  He couldn’t get logged on because yesterday’s session was still running – it said 1400 minutes at a cost of $900!!!  He couldn’t kill the session and he couldn’t open a new one.  He even rebooted his computer – TWICE!  But the session ran on, ticking up minutes and dollars.  We went to the Purser’s desk and found out that they’d had problems resetting things when we crossed the Date Line.  Wake-up calls were missed, and computers were racking up huge bills.  So after all that calculation, he missed his meeting anyway.  And the worst part is, there’s no way to reach the customer to let him know or to reschedule.

We had breakfast and surprisingly I wasn’t feeling seasick at all.  But by 10:30, it finally hit me.  So I went back on the Bonine.  Thank goodness for Bonine!!  Dramamine knocks me completely out.  Bonine will cause brief periods of drowsiness, but I can stay awake if I have to.  No sleep + Bonine + nothing more pressing to do = long afternoon nap.  It was my turn to sleep on.

We’re almost exactly halfway between Fiji and New Zealand.  The rain set in today in the early afternoon.  There was no internet access all day. 

Dinner was formal – with lobster tails and shrimp, and cherries jubilee for dessert.  Ahhhh, food on the ship is good.

They’re saying the seas will calm a bit tomorrow.  I hope so!  Wheeeeeee…

Days 13-14: Skipping Over Tuesday

Today is Monday.  Back to work for most of you with J O B ‘s.  This should cheer you up a bit.  Here in the S. Pacific we’ll be crossing the International Date Line sometime around midnight tonight.  We’ll leap from Monday to Wednesday.  No Tuesday.  It’ll just go ‘poof’.  I’ve absentmindedly lost lots of days, but never for real.  So if you were here with us, you’d have a 4-day work week.  We’ve crossed a time zone each of the last 2 nights, so we‘re now 6 hours behind Denver time.  At midnight we’ll be 18 hours ahead.  Not to worry, though.  We’ll get that day back when we fly home.

When we crossed the equator, we went from being Pollywogs to Shellbacks.  I’m not sure what we’ll become when we cross the date line.  I know there’s a term for it.  They’ll probably do another silly ceremony about it tomorrow.  Stay tuned for that….

The sea is very calm today, just a gentle roll.  It’s a welcome relief from all the tossing about of the past few days.  It poured down rain last night.  Today an eerie fog surrounds the ship.  It’s like one of those creepy horror movies where a monster jumps out and gets you.  It’s still a balmy 84 degrees and not too much wind so it’s very pleasant.

We’re up on Deck 9 near the pool, listening to a Jamaican cover band while we write.  We both wrote a lot yesterday and today.  Bruce is down to the final page of his Counterfeit Bill episode and I’m within 15 pages of finishing my screenplay.  I nailed down the ending and I’m just filling in gaps here and there to fluff it up.  I’ll be ready for some readers very soon.  Any volunteers?  It’s a cute family film about a young girl and her animals. 

I’ve also been reading a book that I was asked to review for a potential movie.  I’m just past halfway, so I have a ways to go yet.  It’s somewhat interesting, but very slow.  I’m withholding opinion until I finish it.

Still 3 more sea days after today to reach Sydney.  I hear that the entrance into the harbor is spectacular.  We’ll be up early to see that!  We’re planning to either visit the Topanga Zoo or take in downtown Sydney.  We’ll have 2 more port days in Sydney, and thus 2 more chances to see fun things.  We’ve been looking ahead at all the tour options and planning out our days in all the ports.

Stay tuned for more updates and our exciting Adventures Down Under.

Day 12: Sea Day

Today was the first of our 6 straight days at sea.  The swells are at 10’ now, which is quite a lot for this small ship.  Throw a saddle on this brombie and give ‘er a go!  Yee-haw!!  We’re rockin’ and rollin’ along.  Walking is difficult.  The Captain hasn’t turned on the Fasten Seat Belt sign yet, but if it gets much worse he surely will.  We had 28’ swells in the S. Caribbean once on Brilliance (MUCH bigger ship) and they actually did confine everyone to their cabin for a while.  The floor either comes up in your face or completely drops out from under you.  Forget taking the stairs – that would be suicide.  But for now we’re just carefully walking around and trying not to look too drunk as we do it.

We slept in this morning and skipped breakfast.  We had a nice lunch and then walked 2 mi. on the upper deck.  We came back to the cabin, watched a movie, Bruce wrote, and I napped.  The Bonine makes me a bit drowsy, plus it rained a bit.  We enjoyed chatting with our friends at Happy Hour and then had a nice lasagna dinner.

We experienced a lifetime first for both of us tonight – we got stuck in an elevator!  We opted to take it rather than chance walking the stairs.  And wouldn’t ya know.  We were with a 9-year-old girl from Newcastle, Australia.  She was pretty freaked out, so we tried to keep her calm while we waited for them to rescue us.  After about 10 minutes, the elevator went down and seemed fine.  We were happy to get off and take those stairs.

Here are some interesting observations and tidbits…

1. The Polynesians have no word for good-bye.  They don’t like to see anyone leave.
2. The Polynesian languages use all 5 vowels but only 7 consonants:  H, L, K, M, N, T, and W.
3. The exchange rate between US Dollars and the island money was done very inconsistently between shops.  There was no price negotiation at all like there is in MX or the Caribbean.  The price was the price, period.  And the prices were crazy high.  I only bought a magnet on each island and that’s it.  Not for the lack of trying, mind you.
4. Being a small-town girl at heart, I preferred the smaller, more intimate islands of Moorea and Raiatea over the famed Tahiti and Bora Bora.  Moorea was definitely my pick of the four we visited and I would love to return someday to stay in one of those huts over the water.
5. My Tahitian sunburn has now turned to a nice Raiatean tan in the shape of a tank top and shorts.  Thanks to our Kukui oil from Hawaii, no blistering or peeling.
6. The passengers on board are about 2/3 Australian/European and 1/3 US.  When you meet someone in a narrow passage the Aussies & Brits want to pass right-to-right and others pass left-to-left.  It’s hard to tell by looking which way the other person will choose.  So there’s lots of dancing around in the hallways.
7. On the ship, they will announce “Alpha” for a medical emergency and “Bravo” for a fire.  We heard a new one the morning we were in Bora Bora – “Oscar, Oscar, Oscar, Starboard side”.  I happened to be taking my morning pictures up on deck so I ran over to the starboard side to see what was going on.  One of the life-saver rings had somehow gone overboard and was floating next to the ship.  We guess they must use the term “Oscar” because the ring is O-shaped??
8. Sadly, we did have an Alpha call the night before Tahiti.  “Alpha, Alpha, Alpha, Main Dining Room, Deck 4, Starboard”.  We heard that a man had a heart attack in the middle of dinner.  We saw an ambulance pull up to the ship in Tahiti.  I always feel so sorry for anyone who ends their trip that way.
9. Our Sketcher Shape-Up shoes always draw a lot of attention.  A lady in the elevator asked how we like them.  Since the car wreck my back was screaming if I walked much, but these shoes really help relieve that pressure.  The lady said she had just bought some but hadn’t gotten to wear them because they went over board in her suitcase!  HUH??  She said when they were loading luggage onto the ship they somehow had some bags fall off the cart and into the water.  How does this happen?  There’s maybe 3’ between the pier and the ship and the ramp into the hold area has a side screen.  But what a disaster for this lady.  She said they weren’t very nice about it and she was not a happy camper.  I always feel sorry for anyone who begins their trip this way.

Day 11: Raiatea

Raiatea – what a lovely little island.  We were only there for a few short hours – all aboard was at 12:30.  So we made the most of it.  In the native language, Raiatea means “bright sky”.  The locals call it the “Sacred Island”.  Folklore believes it to be the birthplace of the gods.  It’s much less touristy than the other islands, so it feels more like an unspoiled paradise.  It’s very neat and tidy.  They’ve done an excellent job of making an appealing first impression when you get off the ship.  They made an intriguing sidewalk from inlaid stones.  It was so precise!  

We didn’t have time for any tours, so all we did was enjoy the quaint little town.  After walking past tons of French pastry shops in all the ports, I finally decided this was my last chance to sample something.  Mmmmm. It was yummy.

Very near by is a sister island called Taha’a.  We sailed past her on the way out and the photos I got are so beautiful.  I promise to post all the pictures on Snapfish when I get home.  But for now, I’ll share just a few of the best ones.  Both islands are surrounded by a reef and the colors are just extraordinary.  That's Bora Boring on the horizon.

We set sail for Sydney at 1:00.  Six and a half days at sea.  That’s the longest stretch we’ve ever had.  The swells are up to 8 feet and much more noticeable, especially as you walk around.  They’ve already put the barf bags out!!  They’re attached to the railings of all the stair ways and at other convenient locations.  I do fine with this until we get up on the upper decks.  I took a Bonine just as a precaution.  Happy Hour on deck 11 is a bit of a challenge for my tummy.  We met a delightful young couple from Brisbane, Australia and learned a lot from them.  I’m so excited to reach Australia and see all the sights!  We also had a nice conversation with a couple from Hot Springs, Arkansas.

It was a formal night, so we got all dressed up for a Surf n Turf dinner.  S’all good on board the Rhapsody.

Day 10: Bora Bora

Bora Bora - I called it Bora Boring.  Very small island, not much to do or see.  The tours were the same as the past 2 days: drive around the island, snorkel, or take a jeep ride.  We walked around in the town for a bit, bought a magnet, and went back to the ship by noon.  After you've seen one or two of these islands, they all start to look alike.  I find the high humidity very taxing and both of us were starting to be drained.  We napped, and that was nice.

We found more of those huts over the lagoon, but most of them are closed after a hurricane damaged them. 

I caught some lovely sunset photos. 

 Tomorrow we visit Raiatea, then we start our 6-day stretch at sea on our way to Sydney.