Live from Voyager—Feb 20 to Mar 6, 2018–Sydney to Auckland with RachelG

Rachel I have been enjoying following your posts.

Keith

Rachel, it feels a little weird to be working through jet lag and at the same time feel that I'm still cruising on the Voyager thanks to your always great reporting. I just broke the news to Ginny that you and George got on board a few hours after we disembarked, and she was bummed! She sends you and George a hug. Congrats on your and George's new Platinum status!

Rich

Is the strapping oneself in bed thing for real?

Rachel, congratulations on becoming Platinum. It is definitely a milestone and it is lovely that you and George were presented pins and had dinner with Massimo. Welcome to the "free laundry" club;p

Enjoying your blog very much - hope that the seas calm down!

Is the strapping oneself in bed thing for real?

If it’s not, it should be. I had to lay flat on my back or stomach all night. A lot of stuff went crashing in our suite a couple of times during the night.

Rachel

 

We are rocking and rolling also, as we round the South West tip of Australia and head into the Indian Ocean from the Great Southern Ocean. Last night in Sette Mari, wine and water glasses went flying a we crested and fell off a big wave.

 

Jack says he will be glad to lend you a bed belt! Good sailor that he is, he has a supply!

 

Hope you have good weather in Dunedin. It is one of our favorite areas of New Zealand. Unfortunately the day we were there on this trip it rained.

 

Carolyn

If Jack could send a couple of his bed belts over, it would be much appreciated.

Weather forecast for Dunedin is positive. Last time we were there, it was beautiful and sunny.

Pics from the wine tasting that somehow didn’t load with my post last night. They really do a good presentation. It was about old world vs new world wines, and I always learn something new. Did you know that white wines get darker with age while red wines get lighter?

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Pics from the wine tasting that somehow didn’t load with my post last night. They really do a good presentation. It was about old world vs new world wines, and I always learn something new. Did you know that white wines get darker with age while red wines get lighter?

 

 

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Is that the "new" P7 or Chartreuse. Love the colors!

Captain Felice presenting me my award. You will notice my wide stance, to avoid falling over with the ship’s movement. Also they just had us come up to the front rather than up on the stage for the same reason.

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Beautiful dress!

Jackie, they held it in the aft part of Compass Rose. The color scheme is beautiful, but I am thinking they should have picked a little darker fabric. It shows stains something awful. I foolishly ordered a couch in this color when the boys were little. It did not last long.

Beautiful dress!

Thank you!

Rachel, I am very much enjoying virtually cruising with you and George, and your balanced but upbeat review of events, foods, and on-board facilities.

February 25,2018–still rocking and rolling across the Tasman Sea

The Captain’s warning of rough seas proved true. We were awakened about 1 am with a loud crash. There is a big orchid in a pot in our room sitting on the desk. It went sailing off, landing on the floor with its rootball out of the pot and several of its blooms knocked off. George administered first aid, and it is currently sitting more safely on the floor. Hopefully it will recover.

There were a couple of other crashes from the bathroom as a bottle of hairspray went flying. I had to either lay completely flat on my back or stomach, but was able to go back to sleep.

When we awoke at 7:30, the view outside was same as yesterday, totally grey with more rain, but now with lots of whitecaps, some breaking over. Working out on the elliptical in the gym was certainly interesting, but it is easier if you just go with the flow and try not to resist the motion.

Lots of people apparently were feeling the motion as the ship seemed strangely empty. There were lectures for those interested. Walking on the deck was impossible, and the balance exercise class was canceled due to being too dangerous.

Lunch was an Indian buffet, served indoors in La Veranda rather than on the pool deck, due to the bad weather. No curries, but lots of other Indian dishes. I got my raita and mint chutney. By the time we finished, the sky was clearing some, it had stopped raining, and the fog had lifted, but the temperature had dropped considerably, probably in the upper 50s.

They were showing “The Darkest Hour” in the theater this afternoon. I opted for a nap as the sea was still rolling a lot. I guess I could have gone to the movie and taken a nap at the same time, but that just seemed too much effort.

We did terrible at trivia. Many difficult questions, and the highest score was only 12 out of 17. There was an early show by the Australian musician.

Dinner in Compass Rose. George’s oysters were off, so much so that he couldn’t ear them, but his filet was perfect as was my salad and veggie lasagna. He drank some port of hopefully counteract the oysters. Then we went to the casino where he won a bunch of money at blackjack!

The Beatles show was tonight. Normally it is later in the cruise, but we start a very port intensive portion. It was outstanding as usual. Of course, George, being the stick in the mud curmudgeon that he is, does not attend, but I still had fun.

Sorry to hear you are having rough seas like we did. Hope that improves soon.

We are still sitting at the dock in Fremantle. Australian officials are holding the ship because we apparently have two" stowaways" (two people got on the ship and in a cabin with out clearing immigration and customs). Go figure how that could happen or at least not know which passengers are on the ships records and not on the immigration records. The Captain is a bit up tight!

Enjoy your ports...we found the wine tours very nice.

Cwn, stowaways, I cant imagine. How can that happen?

Rachel, I feel as if I’m still on the ship! Wonderful writing! Thank you!

Rachel say hi to Elda for Arlene and me. Also say hi to the RSO; especially Lex. Voyager is a wonderful ship with wonderful crew.

Marc

PS I hope Marsha sang "At Last" during her show; her rendition is fantastic!

Will do, Marc. Marsha has an amazing voice. I look forward to hearing more from her.

I hope that the weather gods will be kinder to you for the rest of the cruise, Rachel, but glad you're finding other pleasant things to enjoy. Btw, the idea of missing the Beatles show-- NO WAY.

I agree, Poss. George is just weird that way.

February 26, 2018–Milford Sound, New Zealand

Fortunately during the night, the seas calmed considerably and were back to just a nice rocking motion perfect for sleeping without feeling the need to be tied down to the bed. I had set the alarm to be sure to be up early and ready for the scheduled entrance to Milford Sound at 7:20, which also was the time of sunrise. However, there was again a change of plan.

When I got up at 6:30, we were already at the entrance to the sound. George and I hurried to get ready to go outside. Just as I stepped out from our cabin, Ray came on with an announcement stating that there was a medical emergency and that the patient was going to need evacuation to Dunedin ASAP. Therefore, we were going to go to the end of the sound as quickly as possible to the little town there and offload the patient who would then be flown by helicopter to the hospital in Dunedin. We would then do a slow scenic cruise on our way out of the sound.

Up on the top deck, it was what my mother would call a “nice brisk morning”, which means a clear day that is freezing cold. The temperature was in the low 40’s. The sun was just starting to come up, and I had all my layers on and had to keep moving, walking around the deck, to stay relatively warm. Even George wore a jacket. By 9 am, I had my 10,000 steps.

On all sides around us were high jagged cliffs formed long ago by a glacier. The rock face is now covered in lush green trees and vegetation interspersed by hundreds of waterfalls, most of them being small rivulets, but also some large gushing ones. It reminded me of some of the fjords in Alaska or Norway.

We had been here three years ago. That day was also cold, but cloudy and rainy. Today was sunny and bright, so a totally different feel, very beautiful with the shadows cast by the mountains. Everyone was out taking pictures. Waiters brought hot chocolate, coffee, or if you preferred something stronger, bloody Marys and mimosas.

At the end of the sound, a tender was lowered. The sick gentleman was able to walk down the stairs to board the tender. He looked weak, but being able to do it under his own power with minimal assistance was encouraging. The tender took him ashore, and soon the helicopter could be seen taking off for Dunedin.

While we were waiting for the tender to return, we were treated to the view of multiple flight seeing planes flying up through the sound and landing at the small airport, one right after the other. George counted 13. Very dangerous place to fly, IMO. No margin for error and no other place to land.

On the way out, the sun was really bright, and it had started warming a little. The captain took the ship close to the largest waterfall and did a 360 turn right by it, so everyone got a great view. Reminded me of when Capt. Dag took us in this ship under a waterfall in Norway.

On sailing out, as we got closer to the open ocean, we could see a meeting of the waters kind of phenomenon where the clear blue ocean water met with the water in the sound which was filled with green leaves that had come off the trees in the storm the day before.

Lunch in La Veranda and on the pool deck was the Tex Mex buffet. As I have stated before, this is not Regent’s strong suit, but they do have some pretty good guacamole, so I got some of that and made a big salad to go with it.

Did pretty much nothing in the afternoon. We were at the very bottom of New Zealand, which meant that the seas were really rough, as rough as the other night. They drained the swimming pool again (after just filling it this morning) as there were huge tsunamis going up on the stairs by the pool deck. They replayed the Olympic closing ceremony in the theater. We did poorly at trivia, though I actually convinced George to go, and he knew 2 answers we would have otherwise missed.

The captain had predicted that as soon as we rounded the bottom of New Zealand and started up the east side, the seas would calm down considerably, and he was right. We went to dinner in Compass Rose, and suddenly the seas were calm. George and I split an order of escargot as that is just too much for either of us. I had what was listed as trout on the menu but was actually salmon. The waiter told me it was in the same family?!? Would that family be fish? I was fine with it, but just not what I was expecting.

The entertainment was the Australian guy who plays every instrument known to man plus a bunch of others. He is really good. George went to make a donation to the casino.

Milford Sound

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