Los Angeles to Brisbane Travel Notes
FEB. 11, 2024 – LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (Day 64)
We had a plan. We were trying to figure out how best to resupply in Los Angeles. We had researched Amazon Lockers and other ways to get merchandise while in port. One of our issues was that Gwen needed a new laptop and you can’t have that shipped to a locker. In a conversation with Brittani, she reminded us that Michael has an uncle who lives in Los Angeles. We knew that could mean he lives over an hour away with traffic in California. But when we got his address, we were surprised that Alex and Jeremy live 2 miles from the port. Doug and Margaret, and Gwen and I started our orders, and to be honest, we overwhelmed them with the number of packages they received.
After disembarking the ship we had a little trouble getting someone to accept our Uber/Lyft requests since they would not make a large fare for having to come into port. Finally a Lyft driver, Jerome came to our rescue. We retrieved our packages, came back to the ship and dropped off the carry-on luggage with our belongings, then headed out again to WalMart (Sam Walton has to be rolling over in his grave). Obviously we were not in Benton county anymore.
We bought some more supplies and Gwen and I headed to the Del Amo Fashion Mall across the street. We found Gwen some shoes and headed back to ship. Everything worked out to plan and we were very happy to have the things we needed in our room. What else is there to do in Los Angeles? Right?
Thank you so much, Alex and Jeremy, for helping us to solve our logistic issues. You have a nice home and enjoyed meeting you!
Back on board we prepared to watch the Super Bowl by the pool. I was wearing the Chiefs poncho that Gwen had bought in Mexico. The 49’er fans outnumbered the Chief fans onboard, but it was great to know we came back after all the gloating at half-time to win the game. What a great way to start this 4th leg of the cruise!
TODAY WE START NOT ONLY A NEW LEG OF OUR JOURNEY, BUT ALSO A NEW SEGMENT! The America’s Segment has ended and the Asia-Pacific Segment has started.
FEB. 12, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 65)
Mostly just did research for future port adventures. Gwen played Baggo, but did not do very well. We also got new tablemates, today. John and Phea decided to try “My Time” dining for awhile. Steve and Seve are from Virginia. Steve was military most of his life. Seve was born and raised in Brazil. Her english is a little difficult to understand sometimes, but we are enjoying their company. It is always fun getting to meet new people. They are on through Brisbane.
FEB. 13, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 66)
The day I have been waiting for has finally come. They brought the Golf Simulator onboard in Los Angeles. Today, we had a long drive competition and a closest to the pin competition. I placed second in the long drive, but had difficulty with the closest to the pin, since it was only 76 yards and they didn’t have a Sand Wedge. I overshot the green the first 2 times and finally got something on the green for the 3rd shot. I have already booked an hour of play time for tomorrow and invited a couple of guys to join me if they want.
Gwen participated in a Word Search race, and made a Valentine Card in the crafts. We both got together to compete in an archery competition and then we took a Waltz Class.
Later we joined John and Phea to practice our waltz during a dance time where they play pre-recorded music in the Safari Lounge that has the largest dance floor. The four of us decided to go to the pub and compete in the Dart Competiton. Gwen had a huge comeback on the last round to win the overall competition with Phea placing second! John and I stunk it up.
FEB. 14, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 67)
Happy Valentines Day! We started our day working on the website and pictures. Gwen and I went down to do Sudoku together and stayed busy with Choir Practice, Baggo (Gwen), Bible Study, and later we learned a new dance, Bachata. But the best activity of the day was my first paid session for using the golf simulator.
I was able to work on my swing and even played a front nine on one of the golf courses included on their computer. They are still in the early stages of using this and I was able to help them understand some things as the crew that were assigned to be with me were not golfers.
It was formal night of course, and we had specialty dining planned in Chops for the holiday, so we dressed early and went to the show to hear the Alley Cats. They were a very entertaining quartet that sang acapella 50’s and 60’s hits. We then joined Dominic and Patricia for their show in the Centrum featuring Love Songs. We were able to get several dances in before we headed to Chops.
After dinner, we went back to the Centrum to see Joff playing a Roses Are Red activity. Anyone could submit an ending to the poem, Roses are Red, Violets are Blue…! Joff gathered all the entries and read those he could (some could not be read in public, so he laid them on a table). The crowd decided if it was a WIN or BIN entry. All the entries that made into the WIN bucket were there for the drawing for a bottle of Champagne. The two best entries were: RRR VRB, I may not have sex appeal, so my credit card will do. Also, RRR VRB, I wish I could do, what I use to with you.
FEB. 15, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 68)
Lazy day as I was sore from golf the previous day. I worked on Visas for Sri Lanka and India, while Gwen worked on laundry, then did some diamond art, and read. We played Euchre after dinner with Doug and Margaret and the guys won.
FEB. 16, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 69)
Rough seas today, but thankfully neither of us got sick from it. There were big rollers that came from the side so the whole ship was affected and there was no avoiding the movement.
Big news in our Town Hall meeting, this morning. RCCL has made the decision that with the uncertainties in the Red Sea, we will cruise around Africa. In an unprecedented move, they are allowing the passengers onboard who will be affected to choose the itinerary. They gave us 2 options: 1) Do immersive port visits around Africa visiting ports that RCCL has never been to before. 2) Travel quickly around Africa with just a couple of stops to interrupt the endless sea days so we can still get to see the pyramids of Egypt.
FEB. 17, 2024 – HILO, HAWAII (Day 70)
We had decided to have a “Trip Interruption” from our cruise here on the big island of Hawaii. That basically means that RCCL knows we are not returning to the ship and will join the cruise at a later port. We rented a car in Hilo and headed across the island to meet up with our ship the next day in Kailua-Kona. Along the way we had planned a stop at the Volcanoes National Park.
We hiked the Nahuka-Thurston Lava Tube. It is basically an underground tunnel that was formed by molten lava being pushed through the earth. We also hiked part of the Crater Rim Trail to see the views into the crater. The hike was not strenuous and it was good to be off the ship since we had endured the many sea days.
Lunch was along the way in a small little town where Gwen had read some reviews about a food truck. The food was good and we loved just sitting under an arbor outdoors, just soaking it all in.
We got to Kailua-Kona and checked into the Royal Kona Resort. It had beautiful views and right on the water, but it was a little dated. Our main focus for the evening was to get in our swim gear and head to the pier.
Snorkeling with Manta Rays was a new experience for us. We had to endure some pretty rough seas for half an hour as the sun was setting to get to the dive sight. Doug and Margaret were with us on the same boat. Half the boat were snorkelers and the other half were scuba divers. For the snorkelers, we floated on the surface hanging on to a pvc pipe modified surf board. There were lights in the board that caused the Manta Rays to come from underneath and do somersaults to get the zooplankton forming around our lights. I couldn’t get videos or photos underwater because of camera issues, but since they name these Rays individually you can check out the end of this youtube video that will give you an idea of what we experienced. (Manta Rays of Hawaii)
FEB. 18, 2024 – KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII (Day 71)
We slept in at the hotel and it was fun to see The Serenade of the Seas in the harbor. We drove to town and went to brunch at Papa Kona restaurant on the water. Gwen and I both could not resist the french toast done Hawaiian style. The added fresh coconut creme and macadamia nuts as toppings. It was very good. I also had Kona coffee that made it a perfect meal for me.
We shopped a little in some of the shops and markets. They were getting ready to block off the streets for a monthly market festival. We bought some anti-nausea medicine since we forgot to pack ours when we left the ship. We thought we might need it for the whale watching tour we were heading to in the afternoon, especially if the seas were as rough as the night before.
We made it to the harbor and got on our whale watching tours with Jacob and his crew at Hang Loose tours. It was fun watching the spouts, but we were a little disappointed that the whales weren’t breaching. The water was more rough the farther north we went, so we eventually had to stop. But the water was filled with plenty of whales in pods of 2 or 3. There were a lot of mothers with their calves.
It was good to be back on board. It is comfortable and reassuring to be in our room which has really started to become our home. Even all the staff and security when you come in from a port say, “Welcome, Home!”. I always look for a particular security guard named, Raheem when I get on or off the ship. I just started one day calling him out by name every time we would stop in a port. He has started recognizing me by my name now and it has almost become a game. Today was the first time time that he saw me first, so he called out, “Welcome home, Brian!”. He had a big grin on his face knowing he had finally got me first. The people we meet on this ship are fantastic, both crew and cruisers.
FEB. 19, 2024 – HONOLULU, HAWAII (Day 72)
Our first day in O’ahu was going to be a full one. We had reservations to spend the entire day at Pearl Harbor. We had a “passport” for all the exhibits and knew there was no way to take them all in, but we knew the things we really wanted to see. We wandered through the museum that told the story of December 7th, 1941. When our time came, we boarded for the ferry ride over to the USS Arizona Memorial. Every time I visit these military memorials it sets me back a little. I tend to become more introspective as I ponder the lives and sacrifices given for my ability to have the freedoms and way of life that I enjoy. It is not something I take lightly.
After seeing the memorial, I was on a mission to find a map of where all the ships were moored on the morning of the attack. Specifically, I wanted to find out more about the USS Breese as it was the ship my grandfather was on when the harbor was attacked. I found a good map and we continued our touring. I was comforted on learning more about what my grandfather’s experience was like that Sunday morning. This is a map of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7th, 1941 with the yellow arrow showing my grandfathers ship in the Middle Loch.
We toured the Bowfinger submarine, then took the shuttle over to see the USS Missouri. It was also a very interesting tour. We had a guide who explained the history of the ship and the two significant events that occurred on the ship. One was a kamikaze attack where the captain of the USS Missouri decided to give the Japanese pilot a proper sea burial which angered some of the men. The other event was the signing of the Peace Treaties to end World War II. There were pictures of the event with General Douglas MacArthur and the Japanese Prime Ministers during the ceremonies. It was a full day!
There was also a memorial for the USS Oklahoma, but we didn’t have time to visit. My grandfather had spent some time on the USS Oklahoma prior to Pearl Harbor. He had been a playing manager and captain of the ship baseball team. I remember seeing pictures of him with his team.
We had reservations for a restaurant on Wakiki beach so we decided to go early to the area to look around and possibly get something to drink before dinner. We were surprised to find that the restaurant that we had chosen was actually in the Outrigger Hotel. The Outrigger was where Gwen and I had spent our honeymoon in September 1982. It was a great evening as we had dinner at sunset out on the porch overlooking the beach. The food was great, but it has been a long time since I have paid that much for a meal. I’m not sure I would ever want to live or retire here. Also, we had noticed on this visit that Honolulu was not immune to the homeless problem that is plaguing the U.S. right now. Honolulu is now a big city with a lot of tall buildings sharing the landscape. O’hau has definitely had many changes since our last visit!
FEB. 20, 2024 – HONOLULU, HAWAII (Day 73)
Gwen wanted badly to do a hike. Specifically, she wanted to do the Summit Trail at Diamond Head Crater. Some people get up very early and summit the crater in the dark so they can watch the sun rise. We had no such aspirations!
We took a taxi to the park and started our hike. It was a moderate hike with most of the trail being either cement or rock. There were even stair sections. The altitude changes along the length of the hike are what made it moderate rather than easy. We loved seeing Honolulu from a different perspective. We even got to climb inside some of the military bunkers that were used to protect the island. It was a good workout and to be honest, we loved just getting out and getting a workout that pushed us out of our comfort zone. We couldn’t stay long and there was no need to do so. We had an “All Aboard” at 2:00 p.m. so we headed back for a well deserved lunch.
We stood up on Deck 12 and watched the island of O’ahu slowly pass by, aware that this would probably be the last time we would see it. Even if we return to Hawaii, we both agree that we want to explore the other islands.
FEB. 21, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 74)
Not a whole lot going on today. Gwen worked on pictures since we had so many from Hawaii and I caught up on the website.
We had the webinar today with RCCL executives to explain and answer questions about the changes and voting for Segment 3 Itinerary. I will have to say, that I think RCCL is really doing well in handling this whole matter. No matter what happens, they will be giving a partial refund because of the itinerary change. They are also covering a lot of other costs that they wouldn’t have to, but have decided to do. We spent a good part of the day considering the options. I think that regardless of the decisions made, we may be bailing for part or all of that section after looking at the ports available. Yes, it would be nice to visit all these new countries in Africa that we would probably never visit otherwise, but I think I would rather go and immerse myself in other countries with the refunded money. We shall see how the vote comes out on Feb 26th.
FEB. 22, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 75)
Gwen took a painting class and painted a beach scene. I went to the Vortex to work on my golf game in the simulator. We had choir practice and worked on our Sea Shanty songs. We have to do this performance soon. Every morning when I wake up they are the first things that pop into my head! We worked on web site. We did get to play some cards in the evening.
FEB. 23, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 76)
Gwen loves attending the Cultural Enrichment lectures they keep having. Todays lecture was on the making of Tahitian clothing. So you can guess what we will be doing in a couple of days, SHOPPING! One of the perks of being on a long, long cruise like this is interacting with the crew. Because of this they are having the employee recognition awards. I got to attend my first, today, and I was so glad that I did. One of my favorite crew members is a very kind, and humble woman, Sun Lee. Everyone loves here as she fulfills our coffee orders in Latte-tudes. She won Employee of the Month for January. She got a standing ovation from most of the crowd.
They had another King Neptune ceremony today for our crossing the equator going south. Gwen thinks the skits are very clever as they intertwine the events on the ship. They couldn’t decide between 2 “scoundrels” so King Neptune asked the crowd to “vote” on it since he heard that we like to vote on things on our ship. They also double crossed the Activities Director, Sheenagh. She was helping dump ice on everyone when it was pointed out that she left the ship for her brothers wedding. “She doesn’t even have a brother”, they cried. Then they put up photoshopped pictures of here going all over the world and meeting people. They dumped the rest of the ice on her.
Gwen watched the movie “Blue Crush” and we did archery together. We didn’t win, but we enjoy it.
FEB. 24, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 77)
Gwen started the day off finally doing Zumba. She has been talking about doing it but never seems to have the time. She even filmed everyone doing a dance for Juliette’s social media page.
Our choir finally performed the Sea Shanty’s! They have Mickey, the pianist from the ship band come over the day before for a “dress rehearsal”, but for him it is the first time he is seeing the music. He always likes to embellish it and add his touch. It was our downfall, today as we couldn’t tell where our entry points were and he was going very fast and not following our director. I think we will have to look for other options if we continue forward with choir. All in all the other 3 songs went over very well and most people didn’t notice our errors in the other.
They had a very good aerial acrobatic show, called Duo Quintescence. It was so good, Gwen saw it twice!
FEB. 25, 2024 – MO’OREA, FRENCH POLYNESIA (Day 78)
Our plan was to go get a rental car and see some of the island. We went up into the hills in the center of the island to Belvedere lookout point and trailhead where you could hike further if you wanted, but a hike was not for us today. We took in the nice views and left to go where we really wanted to get to, our hotel, with a stop at Allo Pizza for some good wood fired oven pizza. Doug and Margaret dropped us off at our hotel, the Sofitel of Mo’orea. They were going to be halfway around the island at a similar type hotel that was much closer to their dive shop for their scuba dive in the morning.
Gwen and I were very impressed with our accommodations. Even the desk clerk commented that we had the nicest room at the hotel. Our bungalow (room) was out on the water with unobstructed views of Tahiti. Our walk was a little longer to get to the end of the pier, but with our normal view we could not see any other huts between us and the ocean. Our room was excellent! There were so many small touches that made it special. There were flowers throughout the room for decoration and it smelled so good. They provided a bottle of champagne, but we had brought our own from the winery in Uruguay.
We immediately went to look around and to find out all about the amenities. We had a free 1 hour rental of paddle boards or kayaks. Gwen has always wanted to try to paddle board. It took just a little effort to get her standing up on the board in shallow water and then she was off. She never fell over, not even once! I however tried to catch up with her quickly and dumped myself 2 times before getting my balance better. It was fun. We then went snorkeling to to see the fish. We decided there were more around the stilts of our hut so we ended up going back to the room.
Gwen loves to snorkel. We even got some pictures under water even though our cameras were not cooperating. We eventually went to a gourmet dinner at the restaurant where the flavors were fantastic. To top it off, there was a full moon and they had a saxophone player providing relaxing tunes. It was one of our favorite nights we have ever spent in a hotel.
FEB. 26, 2024 – PAPEETE, TAHITI (Day 79)
After a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit and crepes in the Pure restaurant in the Sofitel Hotel, we got a taxi to the ferry terminal to get us over to Papeete. We caught the 11:15 ferry so we would have time to get to the market in Papeete that closes at 2pm. After dropping off luggage in our cabin on ship, we headed out to market. Gwen wanted to buy some material that is made locally called a Pareo. It is a type off bathing suit coverup that has multiple uses. They are made locally with natural dyes. We also decided to get some black pearl jewelry for Gwen that is also known to the area. We retreated to the ship as we were both hot and exhausted and wanted to get off our feet.
Uh oh, we forget to mail our postcards that we bought at the hotel in Mo’orea. We found a post office within 2 blocks of the dock, so Gwen went back out to mail the postcards and take more pictures, because she discovered a water front park.
We ended the night playing Bingo in the Tropical Theater. We didn’t win the money prizes, but Gwen won some RCCL swag in a raffle drawing. We were very tired and retired to our bed determined that we had to return to this area again.
FEB. 27, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 80)
Gwen got up and got going early. She went to do Zumba and then attended a lecture on 13 Ways to Preserve Your Travel Memories. I did what I have been doing many mornings. I went to get coffee at Latte-tudes and came back to the cabin to do some reading. We then went to choir practice to see what might be the next thing we will do. We only practiced on intonation and harmony with no real music.
This morning Captain Kjell (shell) came over the intercom to announce that our itinerary for Africa will be Option 1 (Immersive Africa). I immediately went into research mode to see our options to bail in Dubai and go to Europe.
We have enjoyed every time we have done the Archery here on the ship. Today we did one of the progressive competitions in the Safari Lounge. Gwen ended up in a 4 way tie for 3rd and lost to one other guy so she placed fourth. I ended up with a silver medal for 2nd place and earned points for the progressive part. We will have a championship at the end of this leg.
After dinner we ended up in the pub listening to Daniel. Tonight turned out a little different than normal. Since there weren’t many people there, Daniel came to our table with his acoustic guitar and we sang around our table. It was a blast and it really made me realize how much we will miss him when he gets off in Brisbane. He has become a friend and that is something that would never happen on a 7 night cruise.
FEB. 28, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 81)
Gwen’s day started with Zumba, then we went to our Community Group meeting. We had some great discussion about knowing truth. There are a lot of mature believers in this group and it is so encouraging to hear the Word and how it has been lived out in their experiences.
Gwen wanted to learn dances from our resident dance team. We went to the Safari Lounge and learned how to do the merengue. It was fun, but sometimes it can be difficult doing dance moves on a rocking ship!
We are weighing our options for the Immersive Africa portion of the cruise. Most of the people on the ship are excited about the choice. To be fair, it would be difficult to ever do what they plan ever again. There just aren’t any cruises that cruise around the Horn of Africa and stop at all those ports, so most are excited to get a chance to see that part of Africa. We are pretty sure that we will leave the ship, because we have so many other places in Europe that we want to see. We are exploring all options. We also went to choir and worked on website.
We went out to eat with Doug and Margaret to Giovani’s, one of the specialty restaurants. It was delightful and the service was very good (much better than our Chops experience). Our food was fantastic, so we had a very nice quiet dinner together.
After dinner, we went to The Races again. We really enjoyed the last time and word must have gotten out as there were a lot more people at this one. It is fun to watch everyone laughing and cheering on their choices during the race.
FEB. 29, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 82)
This really was a chill day as we both had some small knee pain from walking and stairs. We did do some walking and research. Other than choir, not a lot going on for us today. We both realized that we want to read more, so that change will be implemented in our routine.
We did have a “show” tonight in that they have an ongoing Charades competition on board between our Cruise Director Joff’s “STARS” and the Financial Officer Jennifer’s “STRIPES”. They have ongoing jabs and it is all improvisational in nature. Some of the titles they had to do were very funny. Good just to laugh with the crew.
MAR 1, 2024 – DOES NOT EXIST FOR US AS WE ARE GAINING HOURS AND WILL CROSS THE INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE
MAR. 2, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 83)
Really just worked on photos and videos today. We also got caught up with our laundry and went to choir practice.
MAR. 3, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 84)
We decided to treat this as a typical Sunday morning. We got up and watched our Fellowship Bible Church Service online. We have hated that we missed the David series, so we are going back to catch up on our viewing.
Royal had a backstage tour for Loyalty Members. It was fun to go behind the scenes and hear from some of the performers and staff about their roles and what it is like during a performance. It is amazing how much is put into every show and the technical aspects of pulling off a good performance.
We have decided that although RCCL has cancelled 2 of the World Wonders, we still want to go see the pyramids and Petra. The only way to do that is to cancel our sailing from Dubai to Ravenna, Italy (Venice). That will give us 42 days off the ship to plan other adventures. We started researching options to fly into Cairo, Egypt and Amman, Jordan. Now we just have to finalize those plans and decide what we would want to do for the other 30 days or so that we will have off the ship. We will be going separate ways from the Rogers after Jordan. Gwen and I are leaning toward heading to Europe, while they are contemplating diving and other interests.
We did take time to do some reading today! So we are making some activity changes.
MAR. 4, 2024 – AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (Day 85)
After getting off the ship, we took an Uber to the top of Mt. Eden that overlooks the city and the bay. We had a nice little hike up to the summit from the parking lot, but not too bad. We were rewarded with 360 degree views that were very nice!
Gwen and I wanted to go back to the dock and jump on the ferry next door to get to a small town called Devonport. Doug and Margaret had other needs and errands so we went separate ways. With a 13 minute ferry ride we arrived in town and started our exploration. We walked up the main street looking at all the quaint shops. They had an old theater that had been renovated and was so inviting, especially after we smelled the popcorn and saw the Gelato. But we forged onward to get to the top of Mt. Victoria.
It was a moderate walk to reach the peak, which again gave us 360 degree views of the surrounding islands. It used to be a strategic defense position for their military and still looked like the weather and bunkers still had functionality. We took a circuitous route back to town and found the Patriot Pub to eat lunch. There were plenty of other world cruisers there and we got to visit with a couple that I had briefly encountered on the ship. It seems as time passes on this cruise that you keep getting to know more people even better. You may just have a passing interaction at the coffee bar one day, but then you are on an excursion and you have extensive conversation. Our list of friends keeps growing! I had the meat pie and Gwen had Fish and Chips and it was delicious. For me, it paired well with a local Pilsner brew on tap.
We were fortunate to really avoid much rain the entire day. It always seemed to hit while we were indoors or on the ferry. Even when caught in the rain is was more of a sprinkle and we had raincoats. A very enjoyable day, overall.
Gwen, of course, went to the cultural show once we got back on board. The Spirit of Haka, which had demonstrations of the indigenous people of New Zealand.
MAR. 5, 2024 – BAY OF ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND (Day 86)
Bay of Islands will always have a place in our memories and our hearts! Gwen and I went separate ways as Doug and I went to play golf with 2 of the resident Tik Tok’ers and members of our Community Group, Gustav and Andrew. Gwen was on her own as Margaret was still not feeling well. Even though we went different directions, we both came away in awe of the people and the beauty of the area.
Gwen, on a whim, decided to hike to Haruru Falls, since she wasn’t sure whether she would be with Margaret or not. She thought a map told her it was a 3km hike, but it turned out to be 5km! It was a nice trail that at one point became a boardwalk through a mangrove coming out along a river till she reached the falls. It was another day where the weather was fickle, going back and forth between pouring rain and sunshine.
After the hike Gwen took the shuttle to the little town of Paihai to look around and see the sights. Ignoring the shuttle, she decided to walk along the beach back to the tender dock. All in all, she did 32,465 steps for 11.85 total miles of walking. Yes, she is that crazy and tomorrow her body will let her know just how crazy she is.
I had a great day playing golf, of course, but I was overwhelmed by the people of this island. We met some nice people in Auckland, but not like these locals. It started when I got off the tender carrying my clubs. Immediately a security guard told me that there was a shuttle that could take us to the course. As I exited the pier, another security person escorted me over to the bus driver and told me he would take us to the course for free, even though it was not on the route to town and back. Tai took us to the course and as we were getting off, asked if we had arranged transportation back. Upon hearing that we hadn’t, he gave me his phone number and told me to call him when we finished. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that every person I encountered on this island was the same way. We went to a small pub in town afterwards and had some home-made onion rings and a beer to celebrate our round of golf. It was a great day of camaraderie and fun!
MAR. 6, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 87)
We are in the Tasman Sea on our way to Australia. This area is known for rough seas and it hasn’t disappointed. There are a lot of big rolling waves that really toss the ship about. In some ways it is even worse than most of Drake Passage. We were awakened many times in the night with the noises that a ship makes when in rough seas. We had to tape up some of our drawers because of them opening and banging shut in the night. Oh, and Gwen woke up sore from her hiking!
We had a face to face with Australian Immigration today on the ship. It seemed like more of a formality, but everyone had to go through it. Because it was in the Safari Lounge, our choir practice was cancelled.
We made the most of the day planning our new itinerary. We have finally decided and booked some of it. We will be leaving the ship in Dubai on May 10th and will fly to Cairo. We have a Nile River cruise booked through Avalon Waterways that will not only allow us to see almost all the famous landmarks, but we will also have time to visit the museums in Cairo to see the artifacts that have been collected over time.
After our cruise, we will fly to Amman, Jordan where we have hired a guide service to take us to Petra. We will spend 3 days in Jordan, which should be plenty of time to hike and explore the sights.
Gwen and I will then fly on the Geneva, Switzerland on our own. We want to spend a week or so traveling through the countryside of Switzerland up to Stuttgart (where I hope to tour the Porsche factory) and back to Zurich.
We will then fly from Zurich to Ireland for a couple of weeks staying in smaller towns and exploring rural areas. After Ireland we will head to Italy about 10 days ahead of our ship and see some of the things we didn’t have time for on a previous trip to Italy. On June 20th we will get back on the ship in Ravenna (Venice) and be back on the original itinerary.
We celebrated our coming entry into Australia, last night with a balloon drop in the centrum. We also celebrated Kat’s (one of the activity directors) birthday by getting her a Birthday card when we were in Devonport. We had as many of the cruisers sign it as we could. Gwen and I danced for a bit, then ventured to the Pub to see Daniel. We don’t have many more days with him as he disembarks in Brisbane.
MAR. 7, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 88)
We had our Community Group meeting this morning. Both Gwen and I are so grateful for having a Christian community onboard. They are fast becoming very good friends. Gwen went to a talk about Sydney that has her eager to get to Sydney, tomorrow. For lunch, we tasted the Cincinnati Chili recipe that won the cruiser contributed recipe contest. I would say it was OK, but I definitely miss my own Chili recipe. We spent the afternoon on our balcony reading and relaxing as the temperature was very nice. We went to an Australian comedy show and it was mediocre at best. Australian comedy is definitely different than American comedy.
MAR. 8, 2024 – SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (Day 89)
We got up around 7 a.m. to get up on deck to see the views as we came into Sydney harbor. Gwen got a lot of pictures and it was nice. We tendered into Sydney next to the Sydney Opera House, so we went in to pick up our tickets for the evenings opera performance. We then walked through the Botanical Gardens and saw some very interesting birds. We caught our first sight of Lorikeets, a very colorful “parakeet”-like bird. There were a lot of interesting looking and sounding birds on our walk.
We had purchased tickets for the Hop On-Hop Off bus to get a basic idea of the city layout. We ended not getting off anywhere out of fear that we would have a long wait to get back on. It was full on our bus most of the day and we enjoyed taking in the views around Sydney. After a complete circuit, we got off in the Hyde Park area and went inside some of the churches and a museum nearby. We wanted to jump back on the Blue Line of the bus, but the que to get on the bus was too long, so we started walking through the city to an area known as The Rocks close to our now docked ship at Circular Quay. We had lunch on the street at The Rocks Cafe, where Gwen found her favorite cider (Rekorderlig Strawberry-Lime Cider)
After lunch we headed back to the ship to get rested up for a late night out. The sail away time was midnight and we needed to get cleaned up for the Opera. We ended up going with Andrew and Ale and we had a good time just walking around Circular Quay to get to the Opera House. The Magic Flute Opera was great! We really enjoyed the fact that it was performed in English. They even had the captioning on a screen high above the stage when you couldn’t understand what was being said. They had an Australian slant on the performance with several comedic lines added that made everything very enjoyable. What a great evening in an iconic place. We were so glad to have invested the time, money, and effort in attending a performance in the Sydney Opera House!
MAR. 9, 2024 – NEWCASTLE, AUSTRALIA (Day 90)
Newcastle was a commercial port, so they had busses to shuttle us in to the town center. When we got off, we were met by a very kind gentleman who gave us a map and explained the routes to the sites we were interested in. We headed out along the beach on a walkway that was excellent for both pedestrians and bikers. There were restaurants and today they were having a market along the way. We decided to tackle the tougher part first and headed inland to climb a hill to reach a church with good views. We arrived at Christ’s Church of Newcastle, an Anglican Church with a long history. Upon arrival we walked through their historic cemetery first, fascinated by the way they told the method of death for everyone. Most of the graves were for those in the original penal colony.
We went inside and had a nice tour and were guided by many volunteers who had come in because a cruise ship was in town. We got to climb up into the bell tower and were rewarded with a fantastic 360 degree view of the area. On the way down we were right next to the church bells and I couldn’t resist barely, and I mean barely touching the bell with the hanging clapper. It surprised us at how loud just a touch made with the bell. We got in a conversation in the gift shop and were able to purchase some items for communion for our onboard Community Group for Good Friday coming up.
We then decided to walk over what was left of the hill and find a memorial walk that extends out over a cliff to the beaches below. It was all very interesting and beautiful, but Gwen’s knee started to act up, so we called an uber to get to Knobbys Beach and lighthouse. Although we had come prepared to swim, we decided against it but still enjoyed the view.
Walking back to town we were looking for a place to eat where Gwen could try some of the local wines. We found a place on the water and had a nice lunch of Nachos while watching the bustle of port life. Gwen liked the wine, so we decided to go find a “bottle shop” or liquor store as we would say, to buy some wine to celebrate Margaret feeling better and joining us for dinner.
Back on ship, we decided to hang out by the pool and take some weight of Gwen’s knees. It seemed to help a lot and we got to get to know some people that we had been wanting to meet. Speaking of that, when we got off our bus Gwen was visiting a couple named Roy and Edna (another couple we had seen around the ship often). They listened with us to the visitor guide. We then bumped into them at the top of the church. We left the church going different ways but we continued to bump into them at various stops. We know them much better, now!
MAR. 10, 2024 – DAY AT SEA (Day 91)
RCCL celebrates their crew and their countries of origin from time to time. They have the celebration in the centrum with flags paraded in with a crew member from that country. They also will sometimes add a routine or dance indicative of their cultural heritage. Gwen loves these kind of things and attended the ceremony they had this morning. Sheenagh and another Irish crewmember did a river dance routine. While waiting for the event to start, Gwen started visiting with a man from Hong Kong who now lives in California. He gave her all kinds of tips for getting around the city and some must see attractions.
We spent the afternoon working and planning before we left for our last dinner night with Steve and Seve. We have decided to change to Anytime Dining for this next leg of our journey.
We spent our evening in the pub listening to Daniel for the final time. He is off to Denver tomorrow morning flying out of Brisbane. It was a great evening with him sharing the mic with cruisers and other entertainers coming by. I was honored to be invited up to sing The Boxer with him. He has provided so many good times for us. It is not just his music, but his demeanor and connection with his audience. We wished him the best and sent him off after he sang his personal version of “Daniel”. We all realize we aren’t losing entertainment, we are losing a friend and a member of our cruise family. We wish you well, “Daniel my brother”! We hope to meet again, soon.
MAR. 11, 2024 – BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA (Day 92)
Our 4th of 17 legs completed. See Leg 5 Notes for comments! Turnaround Day
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It is fun reading your blog and adventures but it doesn’t replace hanging out with you guys. It sounds like you are conquering global logistics and dealing with world issues as you redirect your itinerary. We miss all of you.