2012-1-18 Crossing the Equator

King Neptune came aboard this morning and rounded up all the crew who were “pollywogs” (people who had never crossed the equator). They were all hazed in various gentle ways.

Here is a mermaid watching the trial.

The polywogs (all crew members) were placed in a rope cage and buckets of water were thrown at them by the pirates. The charges against them were read. In the case of the cooks, they were accused of adding extra calories to the food. 

They were covered with some kind of colored slime and either allowed to go in the pool to wash off or forced to sit and bake in the sun. The captain of the ship decided who got which punishment. 

Then, King Neptune told them they could be released if they would “Kiss the Fish”. Afterwards, we all lined up to kiss it, too. Bill wasn’t interested but I did it. 

We were having a little gale which didn’t amount to much but was rocking the ship. Today, I went to another class on Windows Live Photo Gallery and I learned a lot. I learned how to make a panoramic photo so I will probably post one sometime. 

Here is a picture of Bill holding a place in line for the computer class. 

Here is the room where the classes were held. 

I started a new book today called The Hidden Reality-- Parallel Universes. It’s by Brian Greene, the same man who wrote The Elegant Universe. I really love this stuff. I believe that one or more of these scientists’ conclusions are correct.

2012-1-18 Sailing, Sailing...

There is smooth sailing today with small swells. The sun came out after a light rain this morning. I just came back to the cabin from playing a group trivia game. That was followed by a lecture on Polynesian navigation. The next lecture is on the Ring of Fire but I was sitting under a vent and the air conditioning was too cold. 

It’s not cold on deck. It’s in the 70’s. I was playing on the Kindle Fire while I listened to the lecture and one of the young Indonesian stewards came and stood behind me and watched me play. I explained that I was playing Angry Birds. He said he is on Level 27. Smart Alec! I am still in the beginning games. I told him to go away. 

Some of the stewards know our names and greet us all over the ship. There are very kind and run all over to help us. Mumin waits on us often and Tua is also very attentive. Our room stewards are Dodi and Moi. Ahmed is our waiter in the main dining room. 

There are only a few women among the staff on this cruise and not many older people. Almost all the stewards are young men. Bill and I both made a valiant effort to avoid overeating at lunch and I was starving by 3:00. There are always sandwiches, salads and desserts set out to eat in between meals. Tea is served in the formal dining room every day at 3:00 but we don’t need any more treats. 

I stopped by the Lido deck and had some of the salads. There was a broccoli salad, a seafood salad, a jicama salad, green bean salad and more. There is also an ice cream stand and they change flavors every day. 

On previous cruises, I walked at least two miles a day but my knee is too painful so I am swimming in the pool instead. Bill plugs his computer into the nearest outlet and is pretty happy there. 

I am trying to watch CNN but it keeps cutting out. The only reliable channel is Fox but that will soon disappear, too. There are movies on the TV and they can also be borrowed from the library. 

Today they are showing Chocolat, the latest Harry Potter, an old Woody Allen movie and also two documentaries. There is a sitcom like The Big Bang or The Office sometimes. There are ship channels that play previous ship lectures, also. 

Bill keeps taking the remote control away and changing the channel. He can’t stand Sean Hannity but it is the only fresh content available. Once in a while Fox lets some actual news get on the air and I hate to be the last one to know anything.

There is a game room and some people play bridge or card games all day. There is a huge puzzle in the library. There is a book club and a knitting circle. There is a casino, of course. There are 1 cent and 2 cent slots but we don’t don’t play them. There are not many people there in the daytime. 

Tonight there is a choice between an old Tina Turner concert playing on the big screen in the stern, which is also a bar and pizza place. Or, there are two guys who won the X-Factor a few years ago playing in the big lounge in the far forward area. There is also the movie, ”Amelia”, playing in the movie theater and several bands playing around the ship. There is dancing in the Crow’s nest and a sing along in the piano bar. 

This is a formal dress night. We are already tired of dressing up. Given the choice, we would wear cargo shorts and t-shirts all the time. Bill has a suit and that is what most men are wearing. There were some tuxes at first but I haven’t seen in a while. I have a black velvet pants outfit that I worried would be too warm but it’s fine. They keep the public areas pretty cool.

2012-1-15 Fanning Island

I took the tender to Fanning Island today. Bill didn’t want to go. I only stayed an hour. Here are my fellow passengers getting off the tender. 

This is what the tender looks like inside. They double as life boats. 

We were welcomed to the island by a group of singers.

I bought a coconut because I was thirsty and I wanted to try coconut milk. One of these men slashed the top off the coconut with a machete and handed it to me. 

 Here I am drinking from the coconut. 

I bought two necklaces and a Christmas ornament. 

I resisted buying some really cool daggers made of bones for $5 each. I don’t want my grandchildren to stab each other. I can’t think of any other use for them except to hang on a wall. The daggers and swords were all sold out when I left.

I caused a mini riot by handing out my bag of toys. These are some toys collected by the staff and guests of the ship. I had a bag of toys that I brought on my own. 

I should have given my bag of toys to the teachers to hand out. I am going to buy some more toys before we get to Embara Village in Panama. Next time, I am going to give them to an adult. I should have known better.

The island is lacking in conveniences. No toilets. That’s why I only stayed an hour. People use the bushes and the surf as a toilet.

The water is stunningly beautiful. Men were fishing from small boats. Everything except fish, coconuts and some vegetables are shipped to the island. Pretty idyllic unless you need a doctor or dentist. Or lights.

Norwegian Cruise Line came to Fanning Island for many years and built some infrastructure for the inhabitants. But, NCL apparently gave up on the project because the inhabitants couldn’t maintain those structures. It's pretty hard to do with no stores and all materials shipped in. The nearest Home Depot  is in Hawaii. This is rusty trash on the beach.

Below is an old wreck near the island.

Later—

Tonight we watched a fabulous magic show. I don’t know where they get these guys but this was another great one. On our last cruise, the magician held classes in the afternoon and showed us how to do some simple tricks. Bill was better at it than I was. I think he can still do one trick.

The magician tonight was named Fred Becker. He invited an older woman to come up from the audience and dress him in a straight jacket. That situation was ripe for comedy. There was a strap hanging down in the front that she had to grab from between his legs and cinch up tight. He was trussed up like a chicken but, of course, he got out of the straight jacket in 30 seconds.

Then, he performed an amazing trick with a deck of cards. He went around the room and had three people choose cards. Then he gave the deck to another man who gathered the cards and put them back in the deck. The magician produced a sword. He asked the man to throw the deck in the air. Then, he caught those three cards on his sword in mid-air. I know that’s not possible but it looked like it.

I told the cruise director, Glen, that the talent he hired is superb. He said that’s part of his job but all the acts were hired by the head office as he just boarded the ship.

When we got back to our room, the steward had placed two chocolate candies on our bed. He does that every night and Bill lets me have both of them. Bill says if the steward put out red licorice, he would arm-wrestle me for them but he doesn’t like chocolate nearly as much as I do. I wouldn’t care if the room was swimming in red licorice.

2012-1-13 International Dateline

Today we are crossing the dateline so we are skipping Saturday and going directly to Sunday. There was no Jan 14 on board the Rotterdam. Instead, today is Sunday, Jan 15. 

Tomorrow, we will stop at Fanning Island. Then, we will head back across the dateline and have Tuesday Jan 16-- twice. The captain said that if your birthday or anniversary is the 14th, tough luck.

Mass is held every morning on board ship. There was a Jewish service on Friday. Today, there is an interdenominational service. I don’t see anyone except us who says grace before eating. We almost always do that. We will have our own little devotional in our room. We have the hymns and some lessons on our computer. (Update: We left the Mormon church in November 2015.)

We have oatmeal almost every morning even though there is an abundance of every other breakfast imaginable. Yesterday, I discovered small boxes of dark chocolate sprinkles. They are from Holland. You are supposed to sprinkle them on hot
buttered toast. Instead, I put some boxes in my bag and will bring them home for everyone to try. Another woman said she brings them home to her grandchildren, too.

I am watching Anthony Bourdain on TV until it is time to go the Lido Deck. That is where we are collecting the things we will donate on Fanning Island. Bourdain has a travel show. On this episode, he is in Greece. 

Every day there is another show on TV called Man Vs. Food. We face that issue every time we go near the food. It is all fabulous.

The life stylist, Sebastian, gave a talk on the evils of sugar. Ten people attended. He is right but it so hard to resist. I have one pair of larger pants and they may end up being my only pants. He has a kale shake made by someone every morning

but that service is not available to us.

I was upstairs staring at the dessert area yesterday when a young woman brought out some decorations that she made out of chocolate. They were like lacy sculptures. Presentation
is a big part of the food preparation. It’s best just to avoid the whole area as much as possible. There was a chocolate fountain surrounded by fruit, too.

Later—
Just as I was leaving the cabin, the Captain made an announcement about the Costa Cruise accident near Greece. He said 8 are known dead and 70 missing. Costa is part of the Carnival Cruise Line family and so is Holland America. This will probably lead to more safety drills on board.

I attended two lectures. One was about the constellations in the southern skies. We can meet with the Star Lady on the highest deck tonight and she will point out the sights to us. We are all looking forward to seeing the Southern Cross when we
get further south. Currently, it is rising at 4 in the morning.

The second lecture was about ocean currents and their effects on climate and weather. We get a brief print out of the New York Times every morning. I noticed that snow is expected in Salt Lake City today. It has to be better than the inversion.

I am hoping to find a find an internet café in Rarotonga on the 19th or Raiatea on the 21st. We have a trip planned in Rarotonga. We are going snorkeling with Tamas. We have nothing planned in Raiatea.

 

2012-1-11 Grand Circle of Oahu

We left Honolulu at 9:00 this morning and took an 8 hour tour of the island. We ate lunch at the Polynesian Cultural Center and met some of the students. One young woman was from Mongolia and another from Kuala Lumpur. Of course, there were many from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. 

I watched a girl from Tahiti prepare Tahitian Coconut Bread cooked in coconut leaves. I saw a drum-playing demonstration where they called men out of the audience who were from Korea, Mexico and the U.S. There were all kinds of activities and entertainment. 

Later we saw the famous Waimea Bay where people were surfing on the huge waves of the North Shore. We saw the Pipeline, too, and there was some kind of competition going on. 

We also went to a gorgeous cemetery that had a huge Buddhist temple. It was built to commemorate the Japanese first coming to Hawaii. 

There is a picture of me ringing a bell for luck. 

Of course, we saw the sites of the Japanese attack on Hickam Air Force Base and Scofield Barracks. We’ve seen the Arizona site before so we skipped that this time. 

Every corner seemed to bring the site of a movie or TV show. Everything from “Lost” to “Gilligan’s Island” was filmed here.

We spent an hour at the Dole pineapple tourist trap. There was everything imaginable made from pineapple, including pineapple bubble gum and pineapple Spam. We bought a pineapple flavored soft ice cream. 

All in all, it’s paradise--if you don’t mind a two hour commute to get home after work. We were going the opposite way and passed mile after mile of traffic coming out of Honolulu. They are in desperate need of some kind of light rail transportation system here. 

Bill took a picture of me petting a towel dog that looked like our dog, Bubbles.

2012-1-9 Hilo, Hawaii

I am aware that I posted five copies of my last blog yesterday but at 40 cents a minute, I don't want to take time to correct it. Yesterday, we stayed onboard. The high point of the day was seeing whales breaching near the ship. 

We took a long tour of Hilo today. We saw a black sand beach, another gorgeous Japanese style park called Liliuokalani Gardens, an orchid store, a macadamia nut plantation and factory and the best of all was the active volcano at Kilauea. We saw the smoke rising from the caldera. At night, it glows. I walked through the longest volcano tube in the world. That was way cool.

The next picture is the black sand beach. 

These people were practicing water rescues using a dummy. 

This is a huge banyan tree.

We are looking at a statue of the king. 

Visiting an orchid grower. 

The volcano!

Bill warms his hands over lava rock. 

Entering the lava tube near Hilo. 

Walking out of the lava tube. 

Then we went to the WalMart and bought toothpaste and toothbrushes for the people in Fanning Island. We didn't have much time to get back to the ship so I bought the first thing that was on the list. We won't be there for several days. 

Just now, the captain announced that any passengers who feel ill should report to the infirmary to be evaluated as we are going to be way out there in the Pacific Ocean for the next week. 

We are set to eat dinner with John and Laurie, a great couple from Sun City, AZ.