Sea Day 2.

Overnight we had quite a bit if rolling as the ship made its way through a swell.    There is nothing like being rolled to sleep!!!

We woke about 7.30am, to a fine day, and what I would term a slight swell.   It was a swell all the same which meant there was no way I would be able to walk around the cabin, so Pete transferred me to the walker to wheel me to the bathroom.   Showering was undertaken seated on the shower bench.   It is tiny and close to the corner of the bathroom, so I appreciated I was not any larger!     Amazingly the water did not flood the bathroom.  The floor seems to be a better design than in the Diamond Princess.

This morning we made it to the MDR for breakfast.   I had to try the Eggs Benedict which I had heard were just the best.    They were very good - eggs poached perfectly.  The bacon was a little thick for my liking so I put that to one side.   The coffee was excellent - I just don’t get the complaints I read on the Cruise Critic forum about the ‘awful’ coffee.   We struck a conversation with an American couple next to us (well just the wife as the husband did stand a chance!) and a lady from Cairns, who I am afraid I found rather conceited and opinionated (strange for an Aussie as they tend to be more relaxed).

We had to attend to “Kiwi Quiz” which we won getting 11/15.  Our team was Colin, Patty, Bert (a rather lovely American) Pete and I.   Some of the questions were rather subjective but that’s Ok.  We received a medal for winning!!!   We stayed on for ‘Wheel of Fortune’, and Steve (bruin steve) joined us.   The crew member running it was not exactly clear in how he was running it, and after the third question Steve complained as all the words were the same as the quiz from the previous game, and the other team knew all the answers!   After much to do, the game was changed to “X-ray Vision” which was kind of funny.   We had to identify objects in a bag under x-ray.   Again it was full of American-isms and not exactly accurate.   Items were missing from the list and some items were subject to artists’ license!

At Noon we had our Cruise Critic Luncheon in the lower level of the MDR.  I had asked at the Guest Relations Manager about organising one at the Connections Party, and he said they would set the time and send out the invitations.   Matt the Events Coordinator was great - got it all sorted and when I asked for a Santa Sack, one was sourced, for our gift exchange.   When we were all assembled we discovered we had the whole of the lower level of the Grand Dining Room (MDR) to ourselves.   Probably just as well as we made a hell of a lot of noise.    We seem to have twice the number of waiters to normal.

After the mains/desserts we had the gift exchange, but first we had to sing Happy Birthday to the Birthday Boy - Hunter.   Pete drew out the first number, they came and picked a gift, then they drew the next number and so on.   It was not exactly easy to keep everyone quiet but it was fun.    We had 8 - 9 tables, so over 60 people in attendance with about 45 doing the gift exchange.    It went off without a hitch and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  Mike turned up an hour late as he had not turned is watch (purchased the night before) forward!    Reg made a very short appearance advising Gwyneth was not well and then disappeared.    Discussing the luncheon it appears that not many had experienced a CC luncheon onboard any cruise lines, which I thought was interesting.     Celebrity really makes an effort and acknowledges members of Cruise Critics.

We had kept the last two gifts for Gwyneth and Reg, and called by their cabin afterwards to find Gwyneth had been quarantined by the Ships Doctor for 24 hours!!!

The two Sea Days were New Zealand Immigration Customs days, with all passengers being allocated a half hour time frame to present their documents etc to Immigration and Customs.   Our time was 3.30 to 4pm.   There was virtually no queue and it was a very quick and painless process.   Mike was with us, and he was very nervous about whether he should declare his new watch.  In the end he did and when asked how much and was he wearing it he said a little over the limit and he was wearing it!    A bit naughty as it was rather expensive item - I nearly fell over when he told us how much.  

We were not interested in the quiz games, so we sat in the Cova Café - Pete reading and me Blogging.   I seem to spend a lot of time blogging, but I am enjoying writing.   (Not sure whether others will enjoy my dribble!).    We did have another look at watches and Pete had found another one which is nice.  So he has details so he can check the prices against the local shops onshore.

The sea swell is still evident but it is really quite a gentle sequence of 7 - 6 slight and 1 heavier swell.    The sky is partly cloudy about 20 degrees, but with the chill factor we have not ventured out on the Promenade at all.     The air conditioning inside can be quite cool in parts, and sometimes I feel I need more than just a tee shirt or blouse.

We stayed in Cova until about 5.30, listening to a lovely lady playing the guitar and signing in the back ground.    The ship had lovely background music is some areas.  The whole ship does not have music playing everywhere.   For pre-dinner drinks we returned to the cabin.   I decided to put up my feet on the bed for a while so I could raise my legs and hopefully reduce the swelling of my ankles due to a total lack of walking.   So I reclined and sipped wine while watching the news and Pete carried on reading a book - his second so far.    The book he is reading is “Behind the Pit Wall” my life beyond Formula 1 with Bob McMurray with Eric Thompson.  He is finding it very interesting and amusing in parts.

Our plan to have dinner early never quite happened and we got to the MDR at 7pm.   After dinner of the first night we had requested to be seated with Jimmy and Alvin, and the lady who had taken the request was at Reception, so seated us there at a table for 4.   Jimmy and Alvin were pleased to see us back and we chatted and waited for another 2 guests to be seated with us.   Tonight we were joined by Bob and Ricky from northern Queensland.   We had a lovely dinner with them and the conversation was interesting, as their favourite past time is doing vehicle “Bashes” which are run over 3-4 days and they raise money for SES (Search and Emergency Services).   Run along the lines of the Variety Bashes in New Zealand but off-road.  We were at dinner for nearly 2 hours.

During dinner the swell decreased by about 50% to a very gentle roll.     We have been amazingly lucky with the weather as crossing the Tasman Sea can be one of the rougher seas.

Pete had $20 in his pocket, so we could go via the Casino!   We lost it all on one machine without much trouble and quickly - hardly and decent ‘wins’.

Tonight we had to put our watches forward another 1 hour so we retired at 9.30 (10.30 new time).

Day Seven - 28 December - second Sea Day bound for Milford Sound

Weather - Some cloudy periods with rain predicted (no sign of this), sunny 11° C, but when the sun was out it felt much warmer.

We had another sleep in.  Have to make the most of these sea days for a lie in as port days are early rises so we can see the land coming into port.   Breakfast up in Horizon Court.  The staff are great, reserved a table for us and helped carry the food to the table.  Should have accepted the help earlier, as the staff are eager to help, and it stops the other passengers looking at you as if you have no place being in the Buffet area.

We spent the morning in the lower Atrium area, chatting to other CCer’s and watching the Martini Demonstration (well not really, but so close to it we had no choice!), and I started on this ’Blog’.  Trying to remember what happened on what day was interesting as the days seem to blend into one another although it has only been six days!!!  

Cruise Critic Luncheon - photos courtesy of 'KiwiPete'

Mike, Judith, Jeanette, Julia & Bob



From left - Lillia, Margaret, Peter L. Kristi, Jason, Inga, Norma - Kiwi Pete taking photos




From left, Lillian, Tracy, Maitre'd Rue & Kim




From left, David, Barry Brian, Cindy, Don & Ann




Liz, Dave Julie and Shane

I had organized a Cruise Critic Luncheon for about 40 in the Santa Fe Dining Room.  Most people participated in the Secret Santa parcel exchange.   It turned out we had the restaurant to ourselves, except for one woman who had slipped in on the end of our group.  She even complained to the waiter that she had not been given a ticket for the parcel exchange!   Near the end the 5 who had been on the Ultimate Ship Tour turned up - the 2.5 hr tour took 3.5hrs!!  They had a ball, but missed the exchange, but still got lunch.   It was funny having about 8 staff hovering around us.   Kiwi Pete and my Pete conducted the Secret Santa, with KiwiPete getting a large blue tie with “Mr Perfect” on it, which his family said was so apt, as they often call him that.     Everyone enjoyed the luncheon and appreciated the little bit of effort KiwiPete and I had made in arranging our gatherings.   KiwiPete reckoned this trip had the best bunch of CCer’s he had been involved with.   So that was nice to hear, as the group has seemed to gel really well and mixed without any apparent clashes.  We have Kiwi’s, Aussies, American’s and Canadians, from a wide range of parts of each country.

After lunch we retired to the cabin to read and catch some sun on the balcony.  Our balcony on Caribe is the larger of the balconies, being half covered and half open, which affords some privacy.  While others are either fully covered, or fully open, we had the best of both worlds.   It was so lovely to have some quiet time on our own.

We decided it was time we attend another show in the Princess Theatre.   The show was an Australian singer Jackie Love singing Broadway songs.   Although she was a lovely singer the song choices were a little strange - didn’t appear to be Cabaret really.   Still we did enjoy it.  To be honest not a lot of the shows have really appealed except the Elton John/ Billy Joel show.    Roger Carr in the Crooners Lounge is very popular, and it is hard to get seating in that area, as those chairs available seem to be taken by ‘regulars’, which is a pity.

As the Crooners Lounge was full we went to the Explorers Lounge where Julie and Dave were.   The 10.30 event was passenger participation - “Newly Wedded and the not so newly wed”.  It turned out to be quite funny.   We finally had our first really late night retiring at midnight (new time, as we had to put our watches forward another hour to be back into the NZ time zone).