A 2-line World Cruise--Around the World on Amtrak, Crystal, and Cunard

rafinmd · February 3, 2020

The World Cruise Games

I had an inquiry on Wordpress about the World Cruise games and expect there is some general interest in the topic:

"Roy, what are the games all about? You mentioned a medal ceremony and the opening one a few posts ago but what are the competitions, etc?"

I know the requestor is on Holland America's World Cruise. I assume all World Cruises (certainly HAL, Crystal, and Cunard) have more or less the same demographic and for people to have the time to be away for an extended period. Very few people on world cruises would be candidates for actual Olympic events and the program reflects that.

Here is a list of the events grouped by what I will call category:

Computer games:

Solitaire
Free Cell

Table games:

Scrabble
Sudoku
Chess
Gin Rummy
Duplicate bridge
Backgammon
Cribbage

Athletic or semi-athletic:

Paddle tennis - Mixed doubles
Basketball - Mens and ladies
Paddle Tennis-Mens and ladies singles
Crew tug of war
Walking relay (mixed doubles)
Darts - Mens and ladies medals
Table tennis - Mixed doubles
Lap Swimming (by age and sex)
Table Tennis - Mens and ladies singles
Golf putting - Mens and ladies medals
Table tennis - Mens and ladies doubles
Paddle tennis - Family (crew and guest doubles)
Paddle Tennis - Mens and ladies doubles
Shuffleboard Mens and ladies singles
Shuffleboard - Mens and ladies doubles
Shuffleboard - Mixed doubles

Other:

Photo contest
Team trivia

At one point the games were called the World Cruise Olympics but apparently the IOC objected and it's now World Cruise Games. There is always an actual Olympic Medalist on board for the games. This year it is Jennifer Chandler who won Olympic Gold in the 3-Meter Springboard Diving at Montreal in 1976 and was headed for the 1980 Olympics before the USA decided not to go.

The crew tug of war is really part of the crew games and only affects passengers as a great fun spectacle. I was part of the crowd and well outfitted for the sunny day we had.

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Most of my photos will be from the closing medal ceremony and closing ceremony:

There were a couple of Cruise Critic members represented in the final awards presentation. Keith1010 took a bronze in the mixed doubles paddle tennis competition.

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Stickman1990 took a couple of medals including bronze in the shuffleboard doubles event.

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I took photos of the winners of the 2 events I entered, first Sudoku where the Bronze winner did not show up for the ceremony.

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All 3 winners of the men's golf putting did show up.

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With 6 people on a team, the podium got really crowded for the team trivia presentation with Jennifer Chandler really needing to reach to put medals on those in the back row.

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The family paddle tennis presentation was among the last. The crew halves of the teams were one of the athletic directors and 2 chefs.

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After the last award the hype was that all the athletes would blow together to blow out the flame, but of course it was just a piece of translucent cloth blowing in the rays of red and yellow lights.

The Crystal Ensemble of Singers and Dancers closed the ceremony with a couple of tunes including "We are the Champions"

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The final medal count was quite lop sided. There were a number of countries in single digits, but the top 3 were Canada with 11, the UK with 17, and the USA with 116.

I assume the 2021 games will likely be on the segment from Los Angeles to Brisbane, but I will miss them. I am waitlisted on the Amsterdam segment from Dubai to Fort Lauderdale but not at all sure I will be able to get off the wait list.

Roy

rafinmd · February 4, 2020

Day CS11, Sunday, February 2, 2020, Leave Bora Bora

Queen Mary 2 is at sea from Muscat to Colombo, Sri Lanka. The sun rose at 5:54 and set at 6:42. The moon set at 12:04AM and rose at 1:01PM.

The weather improved dramatically from Saturday to Sunday. It was still cloudy when the sun should have risen but the skies were a lot brighter. I am having some problems with bruises on my left foot and holding back on my walking but I did walk about 2 miles on the ship.

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I had no real plans for the day but took the tender to shore about 10. Where I had turned left at the highway Saturday I went briefly to the right where I found the Cathedral. Services were still in progress.

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I walked to the opposite end of town along the narrow main street. The grocery store was open but all the other shops appeared to be closed on a Sunday morning.

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As the tender came in I noticed a little space with benches on the other side of the inlet. I sat over there for a while. I had noticed some large catamarans entering and leaving the harbor for a while. I finally concluded that they were the shuttle to the airport which was on the reef surrounding Bora Bora.

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Serenity. at anchor, was rotating with the winds. When the angle was right it became a nice picture.

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The wind started to pick up about 11:15 and I feared that might signal a storm and I hightailed it back to the tender. The storm did not materialize but it was a good time for lunch anyway.

Much of the afternoon was wasted trying to get files to upload for Reflections and posts. I think the worst of it was just one day but if the conditions continue I will need to rethink continuing to post.

The Super Bowl was shown in the Galaxy Lounge starting at 1:30 local time.

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There was an array of snacks as well as beverage service provided. I dropped down briefly at half time and enjoyed a tub of popcorn.

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The game ended JUST in time to avoid conflict with the Sunday worship service which was held in the Bridge Lounge at 5:15. The last tender left shore at 5:30 and Louis sang at 5:58.

I opted once again to dine on my own to avoid missing the show, choosing the oxtail consume, sirloin steak, and rhubarb crumble tart. I had a few minutes to return to my room after dinner.

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The featured entertainment was a long time Crystal favorite, vocal impressionist Karen Grainger. For several years she had a continuing engagement on the Symphony with a show called "Diva". Most of her material has changed since then but I was pleased to see that one of her best numbers remains, her duet with herself as Patti Labelle and Michael McDonald in "On My Own" where she does a quick turn to face the other direction as she changes voices between Patty and Michael. Karen certainly still has it. There was also a short session by the dance quartet in the Stardust Club but I did not go.

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Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs.

PS. Just a reminder, my blog is at https://morethangetaways.wordpress.com/

Same material as here but also pages where menus and Reflections are posted.

Roy

rafinmd · February 5, 2020

Actually posting slightly earlier than planned. I just put the photos up on the blog and was planning to take a break before moving things to Cruise Critic but it's raining so hard at the Papeete Visitor Center I'll stay a bit longer.

Day CS12, Monday, February 3. 2020, Moorea with evening relocation to Papeete

Queen Mary 2 is at sea from Muscat to Colombo, Sri Lanka. The sun rose at 5:48 and set at 6:39. The moon set at 12:38AM and rose at 1:51PM. The weather was clear but quite hot, about 87F/32C.

I started the day with another load of laundry, and was out on the promenade deck about 5:35. As I rounded the stern and headed up the stairs there was a lot of color in the sky. After getting coffee I headed to the bow on the sundeck and saw the actual sunrise but it did not match the colors I had seen 15 minutes earlier.

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It's probably a 20 minute ride from the anchorage to the tender pier and there really isn't a lot there (nearest village is 3 miles away with no shuttle). The ship's photographers were waiting when I got off the tender.

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I had nothing planned and was not planning to stay ashore long but a tour guy caught my eye and I was soon off on a 2 hour tour on a safari vehicle, accompanied by one couple from the ship and 2 personnel from the spa.

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It turned out to be pretty much the same tour I had done 2 years ago on the 2018 World Cruise but the difference between the open safari vehicle and the bus provided a bit of a different perspective.

Our first stop was an overlook where we could see 2 bays surrounding the peninsula where the tender dock sat. A bit of the Serenity's funnel can be seen in the bay to the left.

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On the way down we stopped at Marae Titiroa, the ruins of an old temple. Our guide indicated it was once the site of human sacrifices. Most of the old temples were destroyed and churches built on top of the sites when missionaries arrived; this is one of the few that remains.

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We stopped at a pineapple plantation. The pineapple plants have a life of about 10 years and produce pineapples every few months.

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We pulled to the side of the road to view one of the peaks which were originally part of a volcano. The peak in question has a little (at least as viewed from a distance) hole near the top.

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We went about 3 miles past the port to drop the spa employees at a beach and then returned to the port. There were a couple of little grocery stores and a small snack bar or two as well as an octagonal church which is the oldest one on the island. I returned to the ship about 1.

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We were to leave Moorea at 6 and spend the evening in Papeete. I had planned to be at least free to be on deck during the transit and was trying to decide whether to eat early before Trident Grill closed or go to Churrascaria. The ship put a monkey wrench in that plan when the Waterside menu came out. One of the things I have enjoyed on other cruise lines but RARELY see on Crystal is chilled fruit soups. It was on this menu, and my option was to dine late.

Louis sang at 5:40 and I stayed on deck as we left the harbor and then returned to my room. I had planned to go on deck for sunset but it went down behind the Mountains of Moorea and I missed it. It was getting dark when we entered Papeete Harbor but I could see 2 ships there, Pacific Princess that I expected and one other. It turned out to be CMV's Astor, built in 1987 and in her final season with CMV.

I went into Waterside about 7:30, too late to be part of a shared table. In addition to the Tropical
Fruit Soup (fabulous) I had the grilled chicken breast, and blueberry crumble slice.

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The featured entertainment was the spot show Jump and Swing A- Mania (7:45 and 9:45). It was probably the latest I have been out recently. Pacific Princess was due to sail at 10 but when I left the Stardust at 10:10 she was already out of sight. As I walked back from the show there were suitcases in the hallway waiting to be offloaded but pleased to report that none were mine.

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My parting shot will be a final item from the World Cruise games. I have known about the games since joining Cruise Critic in 2010 but did not know there was a crew version until the Crew Officer was interviewed on the morning show last week. Out of curiosity, I asked Rick Spath after the show Saturday if there was a way to get any of the results (perhaps by nationality) of the crew games. He said he would try to get something in Reflections. Sunday night I hit the jackpot, a full page in the February 3 Reflections. There were about 20 nations with single digit medal totals, 11 for Portugal, 12 for Sweden, and 30 for the Philippines. Interestingly, all of Sweden's were earned by one person. Congratulations to the Filipino crew athletes, and congratulations to Crystal Society Hostess Alyssa Gustafsson on a tremendous individual performance (5 Gold, 5 Silver, and 2 Bronze).

Roy

rafinmd · February 5, 2020

Day CS13, Tuesday, February 4, 2020, Transition to South Pacific Tropical Kingdoms, Papeete

Queen Mary 2 is at sea from Muscat to Colombo, Sri Lanka. The sun rose at 5:46 and set at 6:37. The moon set at 1:21AM and rose at 2:45PM.

I will start with a photo left over from the embarkation in Los Angeles.

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I went out and walked about a mile on deck. The Astor departed about 6:30. The sun was coming up behind the mountains of Papeete into a little cloud and was a bit of a disappointment.

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I booked a tour called "Best of Tahiti" for those in transit. We left the ship about 8:30 and essentially covering the north shore of the island. Our first stop was at a monument to the last King of Tahiti.

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We continued to the James Norman Hall museum. Hall was the author of several books including Mutiny on the Bounty, and among other things we saw the manual portable typewriter on which he did his work. There was also a room devoted to his WW1 service as an aviator.

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Our next stop was Point Venus, the entrance to the bay where the Bounty spent most of it's time in Tahiti. It is so named because it was one of several sites where Venus was tracked passing in front of the sun in attempts to create a reliable chronometer. Our guide talked a lot, pretty much ad nauseam. In this particular stop he spent about 10 minutes talking about his personal tracking of it’s most recent passing in front of the sun. As we left the bus he had told us to note the time on our watches and be back promptly after 30 minutes. We were to stay with him for a little while and then explore on our own. I listened to his babble for about 15 minutes and then decided I needed to get around a bit. In addition to the lighthouse there were several monuments and a black sand beach. The guide who had told us to be back in 30 minutes sharp came back in 45 minutes and I don't think he gave the group any free time.

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As we continued our drive the north coast of the island is quite rugged and popular with surfers.

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Our next stop was at our turnaround point, a lovely cascading waterfall.

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Soon after we turned around we stopped at a blowhole, a short lava pipe where the waves hit the hole at just the right height to explode in splash.

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Our final stop was a scenic overlook where we looked out on the bay where the Bounty had anchored. Our tour had been advertised to return at 12:45; it was actually about 1:10 and I rushed up to Marketplace to get a salad to go with my Trident ham and cheese.

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There was a downpour about 2 but when it stopped around 3 I headed out for a bit of shopping. A pharmacy was very close where I found an insert for my shoe. Not sure yet how much it is helping. It was a longer walk (about 2/3 mile) to "Easy Market". It was not the best of grocery stores but I did find what I needed, a few small packaged snacks to take ashore at ports. I was back at the ship a little after 5.

The shared table at waterside was all people who had been aboard since Miami or Los Angeles. Most will disembark in either Auckland or Sydney. I chose the Beef Consume, Chicken Curry, and apple tartlet. We finished about 7:30.

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There was no feature show the first evening. I had thought about going down to the Avenue Saloon for a while but dozed off about 9:30 and didn't wake up until about 11.

My parting shot will be about a bit of a coincidence. When in the James Hall Museum I noticed on his timeline graduation and many years later an honorary doctorate from Grinnell College. My late sister in law was President of Grinnell for several years, and I have fond memories of my times in Iowa.

Roy

rafinmd · February 6, 2020

Day CS14, Wednesday, February 5, 2020, Leave Papeete

Queen Mary 2 is in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The sun rose at 5:47 and set at 6:37. The moon set at 2:11AM and rose at 3:43PM.

The day was mostly cloudy with periods of heavy rain. I had planned a relatively easy day with an emphasis on wifi. When in Papeete 2 years ago I noted that the visitor center had wifi but it was slow. My plan was to visit McDonalds and use their wifi with one computer and later take the secondary one to the visitor center. I was at McDonalds about 9 and got hash browns and coffee but it turned out to be one of a few places where they don't offer wifi.

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I started towards the visitor center with an eye to also passing through the market but soon after I left McDonalds it started raining, coming down in buckets. I took refuge in an office supply store and looked around a bit and had planned to buy some little stickers but there was a line at the cashier and the rain was letting up. I did walk through the market which had a wide variety of goods on offer but the meat section had a lot of empty stalls.

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There are 2 levels and the view from the top level was very nice.

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I found the situation at the visitor center (a very heavy fabric tent) better than expected. The wifi was excellent. I normally post to my blog with an email that I can compose offline and simply hit the send button when connected to the internet. The email has been struggling for about 3 minutes to get through and timing out. My alternative has been online yahoo mail where it typically takes 2 or 3 minutes to load each little photo, and often even those will time out.

At the visitor center in the first 15 minutes I had downloaded several windows updates, posted 2 blog entries, and uploaded 2 days Reflections. Each blog post transmitted in barely 15 seconds.

After those 15 minutes I was ready to return to the ship and do more work later while updating my secondary laptop. As I was getting ready to leave the skies opened up and a return to the ship would have been hopeless. The lights went off in the shelter but the wifi continued without a hitch. When the rain stopped and I was able to return to the ship it was time for lunch.

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When I returned with the secondary laptop the service seemed to be even faster, although all I did besides the Windows updates was upload a couple of menus.

I took one more walk into town, stopping at the Cathedral and also picking up the stickers at the office store. I was back onboard to stay about 3.

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The muster was at 5:15. An in-transit letter a few days ago indicated it was optional but both Reflections and Rick Spath's morning update made clear it was required for everyone to be sure we get a drill every month. I had planned to go anyway since I will be off the ship when the drill comes in Auckland.

At about 5:40 Captain Vorland indicated we were ready to leave but then we sat and sat with just a few lines attached, and the linesmen on the pier took shelter from the rain. They were all released quite suddenly and Louis sang at 6:13. I wanted to stay on deck for our departure. While we were the only traditional ship in port I was curious about Aranui5. It is a combination freighter (forward) and cruise (aft) vessel which supplies outlying islands. I noted one of their itineraries will allow people to go ashore on Pitcairn Island. It was sitting at the cargo docks and I got a bit of a view through the fog as we cleared the breakwater.

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It was after 6:30 when I arrived at Waterside. I was told I was not too late for the shared table although others already had their starters. I'm not quite sure what the soup was but I had the lamb chops and butter pecan ice cream. I was never offered bread but took that as an excuse to get one more oatmeal raisin cookie. Despite my tardiness everybody was out a little before 7:30.

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I'm not sure about the foot. The cushion that seems to be helping a bit on the big toe side seems to be making things on the little toe side a bit worse. I think there was a slight improvement but am not sure.

The featured entertainment was the new normal welcome show, Crystal In Motion, a bit different from the one out of Los Angeles as the "new" dance team is Beverly and Curtis.

The parting shot for today. Congratulations to Kwasi Mfume and Kimberly Klacik, the winners in the primary to succeed my late Congressman, Elijah Cummings. The seat will remain vacant until the date of the Maryland Primary (April 28) which will also include the election between these two.

Roy

muddleaged · February 7, 2020

8 hours ago, rafinmd said:

While we were the only traditional ship in port I was curious about Aranui5. It is a combination freighter (forward) and cruise (aft) vessel which supplies outlying islands. I noted one of their itineraries will allow people to go ashore on Pitcairn Island. It was sitting at the cargo docks and I got a bit of a view through the fog as we cleared the breakwater.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/aranui5.pdf

I am thoroughly enjoying your posts! I am unable to travel, so you are the next-best-thing!

The link to the picture of Aranui5 needs to have the jpg extension:

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/aranui5.pdf

It should be:

Edited February 7, 2020 by muddleaged

rafinmd · February 7, 2020

3 minutes ago, muddleaged said:

I am thoroughly enjoying your posts! I am unable to travel, so you are the next-best-thing!

The link to the picture of Aranui5 needs to have the jpg extension:

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/aranui5.pdf

Thank you for that. Here's the corrected version (It really was foggy):

Roy

rafinmd · February 8, 2020

Day CS15, Thursday, February 6, 2020, Raiatea

Queen Mary 2 is at sea from Colombo to Phuket, Thailand. The sun rose at 5:55 and set at 6:42. The moon set at 3:16AM and rose at 4:47 PM.

The day started out cloudy but as I rounded the stern about 6 we came to about the closest thing I've seen to a sunrise in the past several days.

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Raiatea is actually quite close to Bora Bora which we visited just a few days ago. Despite being a small town rarely visited by cruise ships (perhaps once per week) there is a dedicated cruise port with a dock. We pulled up to the dock about 7:30.

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I think I had waitlisted for a tour but it did not materialize and I walked around the town a bit. It is quite small with a population of about 12000 for the island and just under 4000 for Uturoa. The main street through town is pretty vibrant. There were 3 grocery stores. I walked through one and it was pretty well stocked.

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French Polynesia is a predominantly Christian country and somewhat surprisingly it is mostly Protestant, I assume a throwback to the days of Captain Cook. Most communities have Protestant, Catholic and Seventh Day Adventist churches. Uturoa adds a Mormon church to the mix. On the North end of town is the Mormon Church with a white steeple and the Seventh Day church. At the south end there is the protestant (Bethel) church and a the Catholic church near the center.

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All the churches except the Catholic were surrounded with fences and closed gates. The sanctuary was pretty simple but elegant in it's simplicity.

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I was planning to go back to the ship about 11:15 and made it a quick move as the wind picked up. I don't think it started raining then but it was certainly threatening.

As I like to do I took my lunch to the pool deck. I was getting near the end when the wind picked up again and watched as the pool crew rushed to first secure the big umbrellas and then move the cushions out of the open areas. After I got ice cream at Scoops and when I returned to the pool deck the sky opened up.

I went to Afternoon Tea for the first time on this trip for mostly a scone. Violinist Irena Guskova supplied the music.

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All aboard was 5:30. Captain Vorland came on the PA early (5:10) and announced all guests were aboard but we still needed 5 crew members. I hope they made it because I went out on deck about 5:35 and the gangway was gone. Louis sang at 5:38, and I had time to be out on deck for a while before dinner. We were always near Tahaa Island although we got REALLY close while I was at dinner.

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Just before I went down to dinner we passed a tiny atoll on the reef where somewhere had created a small shelter. We could see Bora Bora about 20 miles ahead of us.

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I was the first one at my shared table but most of the seats filled up fairly promptly. I chose the chicken consume, chicken breast, and jello. We finished just barely in time for the 7:45 show.

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I saw Jamila perform several times in 2016-7 but not recently. When I first saw her I went in resigned to a rehash of old Fifth Dimension music but her shows go far beyond that. Her stylings turned on a dime from old Fifth Dimension and Motown music to such diverse things as classic folk, Broadway, Opera, and even came close to classical. I think hers will end up as one of the top shows of the segment.

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As a parting shot, this coronavirus situation really gets weirder and weirder. I really wonder how well documented it can be that a single ship (Diamond Princess) has more cases than any country other than China and Japan. Sometimes strange is possible but it just doesn't look right to me. I get the feeling we have as much a pandemic of hysteria as one of disease.

Roy

rafinmd · February 9, 2020

Day CS16, Friday, February 7, 2020, At Sea, Crystal Serenity

Queen Mary 2 is at sea from Colombo to Phuket, Thailand. The sun rose at 6:05 and set at 7:08. The moon set at 4:25AM and rose at 6:14 PM.

I started the morning off with a 6-lap walk on the promenade deck and added 2 more laps later as I detoured around the perimeter of the ship. It was pretty cloudy but the sun did manage to shine through the clouds a bit as it rose.

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I haven't seen any real healing of the foot but think I'm getting better at not aggravating it and hope that will eventually start a bit of healing. What sets it off is somewhat unpredictable. It was fine on my 6-lap walk but as soon as I came inside and started walking on the carpet the pain started. Fortunately, recovery from those episodes is pretty swift.

It was another busy sea day although I was pretty well rested after 6 consecutive port days. Things started off at 9 with the weekly devotion led by Chaplain Voosen.

We have at least mostly a new set of lecturers. Captain Richard Hayman started things off at 10 with a talk on the Polynesians.

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He was followed at 11 by General Joe Schaefer with a talk on water. I was surprised to learn that household use only accounts for about 1% of water consumption in the developed world.

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It was raining fairly hard when Captain Vorland made his noon update. He reported that we were just under halfway to Rarotonga and with the rain the temperature had dropped to 73F/23C. He treaded very lightly on the Symphony's location "As of now on the way to Singapore".

The afternoon talk (Hollywood Theater) was Australian layer Judith Fordham. According to those who have heard her before her presentation was pretty much a carbon copy of the same lecture in the past.

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It was the first Black Tie Optional night and most people looked very nice. I chose the oxtail soup, pasta, and strawberry ice cream and was finished before 7:30.

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This was the evening of the Captain's Welcome Reception in Palm Court. I will take it as a positive sign that Dr. Soto was present for the introduction of the senior officers.

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As I left palm court a full moon was shining brightly through one thin cloud. Even though the cloud was almost a perfect cover for the moon it still came through beautifully.

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The featured entertainment was the Crystal Ensemble of Singers and Dancers with "Crystal on Broadway:The Show" featuring excerpts from Something Rotten, Rent, and West Side Story.

My parting shot will be mostly happy. Crystal has been pretty good about promoting from within. The one sad part about it is I will not see iconic Cruise Director Gary Hunter as his retirement is imminent. The mostly good news is that while legendary trumpeter Raphael Dirksen will no longer be leading the Crystal Show Band he will soon become the newest Crystal Cruise Director full time. Wishing Gary a long and happy retirement and Raphael the best in his new role.

Roy

rafinmd · February 10, 2020

Day CS17, Saturday, February 8, 2020, [Raratonga, Cook Islands] At sea, Crystal Serenity

Queen Mary 2 was due to be at sea from Colombo to Phuket, Thailand. Her third itinerary change due to coronavirus has just been announced. A call in Hong Kong was changed to Singapore, then the ship was to skip all intermediate ports and proceed directly to Singapore. She has just amended her itinerary again and is making a resupply call at Port Klang, Malaysia, and then proceeding to Fremantle. There will apparently be a complete circumnavigation of Australia with calls at Fremantle at each end. I’ll be on the second of those calls. The sun rose at 6:24 and set at 7:29. The moon set at 5:47 and rose at 7:30PM.

Anticipating a day on tour I had planned to walk about 4 laps on the ship but it eventually got extended to a total of walking about 2 miles. I found about the closest thing I've seen to a real sunrise about 6:30.

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I went up to the lido to get started on breakfast a little after 7. At 7:30 Captain Vorland came on the PA and said that the waves were crashing up over the tender platform and there was no way we could run a safe tender operation. The Astor, which was immediately ahead of us had come to the same conclusion.

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This was to be my third visit to Rarotonga which is always a tricky tender port. The first time I just took a bus ride around the island but did skin my knee in town, and the tender was so rough it became fodder for a great Dale Gonyea (great musical satirist) song. The second time, in 2018, things were easier and I had a great nature walk. This time I had booked a 4-wheel drive tour.

While I knew early that there would be a revised program the supplement to reflections did not arrive until after 10. Rick announced the highlights about 9:30, with a full schedule of lectures in the Galaxy.

The morning started of with Dr. Bill McKay speaking about "What You Can See in the Night Sky", covering both natural and man made sights.

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He was followed at 11 by Roberto D'Alimonte on the evolution of the European Common Market.

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In his noon update Captain Vorland said we had gone 65 miles since leaving Rarotonga. We are doing 12.5 knots on 2 generators with 830 miles to Nuku'Alofa. The temperature was 84/29.

The afternoon talk was Judith Fordham. I watched it from my room and thought it much better than her first. One of her main points was the potential flaws with eyewitness testimony and people not seeing what they were not expecting. A prime example was a video of a police shooting. They told a man carrying a rifle to put the gun down and as soon as he did they shot him. The officer was not charged. On a second showing of the video we could see a pistol he was still holding; putting down the rifle made it easy to think "end of story".

It was a really horrible day for the internet. Since the show was late Friday I had not expected to be ready to post for Friday until afternoon, but did start trying to load reflections in the late morning. There were just about 700kb of photos in my post but I started loading Reflections on my secondary laptop about noon and blog post photos about 3PM, and neither of them finished loading until well after midnight.

I stopped for a photo in the cove Friday evening. I liked it for a BTO night photo. Just one little exception while the shoes are black and plain they are a bit big and business like for a formal outfit but the only ones I can wear comfortably right now. I think the foot is making slow progress. There were periods of pain but I don't think quite as many.

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There were I think 3 full shared tables again at dinner. I chose the chicken consume, always available fillet steak, and ice cream for desert. I made it out just barely in time to get to the 7:45 show.

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I believe this was comedian Steve Caouette's first performance on a Crystal ship. He was extremely funny and well received (more later).

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On a slow photo day I popped up to the sun deck for a look at the moon which was shining brightly through a thin cloud. Perhaps unfortunately, Bill McKay is willing to do a number of Southern Hemisphere stargazing sessions and we seem to be in a pattern of rainy days and bright clear nights, not ideal for looking at stars.

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Today's parting shot comes from the life meets art meets life collection. There has been a lot of Cruise Critic talk on this cruise about people arriving late to the shows. I doubt if Caouette follows Cruise Critic but early in his act he started a routine of making a sweeping gesture with his hands as a signal for the audience to stand, face the latecomer, and applaud and cheer like crazy. This happened 5 or 6 times in the course of the show and people loved it. I think the latecomers even took it well. Perfect timing for this. Bravo.

Roy

Edited February 10, 2020 by rafinmd

rafinmd · February 11, 2020

Day CS18, Sunday, February 9, 2020, At Sea, Crystal Serenity

Queen Mary 2 was scheduled to be in Phuket, Thailand, but her next call is now a resupply call in Port Klang. The sun rose at 6:45 and set at 7:51. The moon set at 7:14 and rose at 8:44PM.

It was another day of mixed clouds with occasional sunny patches. It was pretty much all clouds in the morning but the sun provided a bit of color off the port side as I rounded the bow for the first time.

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As I neared the end of my first lap there was a beautiful rainbow on the starboard side.

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It was another active day starting with Sunday worship at 9 with Pastor Voosen. The day continued with talks in the Galaxy by talks by Captain Hayman on the Pacific Ocean (Oceanography and Ecology), followed by General Shaefer on the challenges of communication with the culture in the eastern world.

In his noon update Captain Vorland made it official that the day we skipped crossing the International Dateline would be February 10. The nearest land was the island of Niue that the Symphony visited in 2018.

There was nothing on the Waterside dinner menu that called out to me so I changed things up a bit. The lunch menu had a strawberry and vanilla soup which I combined with a baked potato and ice cream from Scoops.

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The afternoon talk was Bill McKay with Tasman, Cook, and the Mutiny on the Bounty. McKay was in the Galaxy while the Hollywood Theater was being set up for the Oscars. I think the actual program started at 3PM ship time but forgot to check them out.

While there was a lot of rain during the day the seas were very calm and placid.

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Dinner was at Churrascaria. I think I had all the meats except the shrimp, and of course the cinnamon spiced pineapple. I was finished about 7 and looked from deck 13 for sun or moon but there was none to be found.

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There were 2 shows. Jamila and violinist Irina Guskova had a variety show at 7:45 and 9:45. At one point Trumpeter and soon to be Cruise Director Raphael Dirksen came out and joined Jamila on a number. I don't normally take photos in the Galaxy but could not resist this time. It's not the greatest since I held the camera as low and close to my body as possible to minimize the disturbance.

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The second show was by Dance Team Beverly and Curtis in the Stardust Club at 8:45 and 10:45. I had pretty much run out of gas by that time and did not go.

We gained an hour but lost a day overnight as we made the transition to the time for Nuku'Alofa.

My parting shot will be congratulations to Parasite and it's creators.

Roy

rafinmd · February 11, 2020

News Flash. All cruise ships have just been denied entrance into the Kingdom of Tonga. There were apparently supposed to be 3 other ships (Astor, Columbus, and Wind Spirit) and all were turned away.

Roy

rafinmd · February 12, 2020

Day CS19, Mon-Tues, February 10-11, 2020, Cross International Dateline

Queen Mary 2 has cancelled a call in Penang, Malaysia on February 10 and will be at Port Klang on February 11 for resupply and fuel purposes only. Passengers will be allowed to get off but if they do they will not be able to return to the ship. The sun rose at 6:09 and set at 7:11. The moon set at 7:44AM and rose at 8:51 PM.

It was another day of variable weather. With the hour gained overnight I thought I might be up before 5 but only made it up 5 minutes early. When I stepped out on the promenade deck about 5:20 the deck was wet where not covered by balconies but the moon was shining brightly by a cloud not much bigger than it.

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An hour later on the other side of the ship it there were many more clouds with the rising sun peeking through only on a narrow strip at the horizon.

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I walked 5 laps around the ship with 3 more added on the way to the lido. It was one of my better days for the foot. It did have some times where the soreness was there but it was ok for most of the day. While my walking is impaired I am still doing enough that it would be difficult to be on a ship without a decent promenade deck. I decided to post a few scenes from the deck with the little sign with the distances, and a couple of bollards at the back that I don't think have ever been used. On the sides are the life rafts, and several benches. There are no loungers but they are on the upper aft decks.

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Pastor Voosen was the guest on the morning show with Rick and Stacey. There is trivia at the end of the show and I called in with one right answer. The question was what county in Ireland contains the Blarney Palace and I correctly guessed Cork. I got a hat later in the day.

The ship activities started at 9 with Rap With The Rabbi. Topics discussed were weddings conducted by non-clergy and the different interpretations of the Bible by Jews and Christians.

The morning talks were Richard Hayman at 10 on Captain Cook's Voyages and Robert D'Alimonte at 11 with the second part of his talk on the European Union.

In his noon update Captain Vorland noted that we had encountered a "wall of water in the morning" and had slowed down to let the storm pass. It was calm and lovely as I went up to Marketplace/Trident for lunch.

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The 1:30 lecture was Judith Fordham with another talk on the justice system and how the adversarial nature can sometimes lead to injustice. I watched from my room and then went up to Scoops for ice cream. The Crystal Quartet was playing under the canopy by the kids clubs. Their hours are 1:30 to 2:30 so it mostly conflicts with the lectures. According to my calculations we actually crossed the dateline about 4:50.

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There were 5 at my shared table including one shop employee who has joined a couple of times. My choices were the beef consume, roast turkey, and a bowl of berries for desert. I was out just in time for the show.

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There were actually 2 shows. Production Show Icons In Concert was performed in the Galaxy Theater at 7:45 and 9:45. Comedian Steve Caouette was in the Stardust Club at 8:45 and 10:45. The 8:45 show was standing room only and I passed, and the 10:45 was too late. I did go up to deck 13 to see if I could catch a moon rise but stayed until about 5 minutes past the appointed hour with no luck. I could only see one faint star in the sky. The lighted pool deck was pretty at night.

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I'll keep my parting shot brief or maybe not. It's hard to believe I am past the midpoint of my 40 days on Serenity. People sometimes ask if 30 days on a ship is too long. NOT FOR ME! With the just announced closing of Tonga to cruise ships coming from nowhere coronavirus areas who knows how long I will actually be on each ship or where we will end up.

Roy

rafinmd · February 12, 2020

Day CS20, Wednesday, February 12, Nuku’alofa, Tonga (NOT)

Queen Mary 2 is on her revised itinerary and is at sea from Port Klang to Fremantle, Australia. The sun rose at 6:28 and set at 7:35. The moon set at 9:07 AM and rose at 10:02PM.

When I first stepped out on deck about 5:45 it was dark but the moon was just faintly peeking through the clouds a bit too lightly for the camera to pick up. As I walked around I got a GPS reading and we were about 17 miles from Nuku'alofa harbor. I planned very limited walking on the ship with additional walking expected in port. As events unfolded I did eventually end up walking a total of 2 miles.

I went out again about 6:30 for sunrise which was also disappointing but noticed there was no land ahead of us which seemed about odd but I returned to my cabin anyway.

Captain Vorland came on the PA (just the bridge view channel on the TV) about 7 and broke the news that we had been denied permission to enter the harbor at Nuku'alofa.

This would have been my third visit to Nuku'alofa and each time I have taken basic tours but also had a bit of individual time in the city. Right outside the dock is the Royal Palace which is closed to the public.

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My last visit was on the 2018 World Cruise and we had visited just weeks after Cyclone Gita had come through leaving devastation throughout the countryside.

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I was particularly interested in the city where the storm had virtually demolished the legislative building (It may have been the upper left panel of the "city" group although there may not have been enough left for even a photo)

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Rick came on the PA about 9:30 with a preliminary announcement of a new schedule. There were 2 morning presentations, Bill McKay at 10 with "Beyond the Night Sky", and General Shaefer at 11 with "Lessons in Leadership: The US Response to Pearl Harbor", not just the military response but the civilian response as well.

In his noon update Captain Vorland made it official that we had gotten approval to arrive in Lautoka a day early. It had become a calm day although there was more wind, possibly just the effects of turning in a more northerly direction towards Fiji.

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With no 1:30 lecture I held back on lunch so I could get more of it on the pool deck while the Quartet was playing. I've talked about Scoops but haven't had any photos. Business was booming and I did not get a view for a photo of the space but did get the menus. First the ice cream selection.

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Next all the toppings. Total delight. I like mine with butterscotch sauce and cranberries.

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Crystal provides a Priest on every Ocean cruise and they do an excellent job with interdenominational services on Sundays. Father Patrick would normally be my spiritual leader but for the World Cruise we have a Protestant Chaplain as well as a Rabbi. The three work very well together. Father Patrick had corresponded with the Cardinal in Nuku'alofa and they had set up an afternoon session at the Basilica (On the care of our common home) with all 3 faiths included. A session was held at 2PM in the Avenue Saloon to discuss what would have transpired at the Basilica. The Cardinal had supplied two prayers and one was read in the Avenue.

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There was a full house of 6 at my shared table. I chose the vegetable broth from the vegetarian menu and the pork chop as well as a bowl of berries for desert. Service was very quick and we were finished about 7:15.

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It seemed foggy outside after dinner but despite the weather we had a beautiful sunset. Go figure.

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The featured entertainment was supposed to be piano showman Chris Hamilton. He was due to join the ship in Tonga but hopefully will be able to fly to Fiji and perform Thursday. In his absence, the Crystal Ensemble of Singers and Dancers performed the spot show "Rock and Pop-A-Mania in the Stardust Club. We gain an hour overnight as we move to Fiji time.

My parting shot will come from the planned meeting at the Basilica in Tonga. The second of the prayers, "A prayer in Unison with Creation" was not read but was provided for us.

Roy

rafinmd · February 13, 2020

Mr. Smith in Cabin 7506: Report to the Galaxy lounge immediately". We pulled up to the dock about 10:40 and the people of Lautoka appeared quite eager to welcome us with a number of buses and popup shelters in place for our arrival.

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While doing their best for us the Fiji authorities were taking quite seriously their due diligence in protecting the Island's health and it was 11:30 before we were cleared to go ashore.

Two tours had been set up for our first day, a 6 hour tour to a Navela Village at 9:15, and an 8-hour tour at 10:15 to a beach resort. With our delayed clearance I don't know if either of these tours actually happened.

I had planned in going into town in the morning but once we were cleared there was not much morning left and I headed up to Trident for lunch. A shuttle into town (about m mile) was announced and I boarded it about 1:30. Once at the stop I remembered it from 2 years ago. A narrow gauge railroad track runs down the main street.

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I took a short walk around the town. It did not strike me as attractive but I certainly never felt unsafe. There were a number of grocery stores and the one I entered was quite attractive. There is a diverse faith community and in the photo clockwise we have protestant and Catholic churches, a Sikh Temple, and a Mosque. There were also several Hindu temples on the map but I did not get to them.

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The market was vibrant but seemed rather dimly lit. That was probably a good thing as it may have been a bit more comfortable in the heat (34/93 with 66% humidity) in the afternoon, and I was quite drained in my hour or so of wandering the streets.

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Reflections had said the shuttle would run every 30 minutes but it was mostly minibuses and there was one almost every 5 minutes. I was back on the ship around 2.

I was booked at the 4:30 magic show with Magician Anthony Salazar. There was some sleight of hand magic but it was mostly mental tricks.

There were 5 people at my shared table including 2 Ambassador Hosts. I opted for the chicken consume, fillet steak, and apple pie. I had just enough time after dinner to return BRIEFLY before heading up to Palm Court.

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I think it is unusual to have the Crystal Society Party on an overnight port call and it wasn't planned that way but that is how it worked out. The honoree was just at her 100 cruise milestone. The Employee of the Month for January was also recognized, an Able Seaman.

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The featured entertainment was piano showman Chris Hamilton (thank goodness there are direct flights from Tonga and he was able to catch up with the ship). He played a variety of music but was much in the style of Liberace. It is the first time I've seen him and it was a very nice show.

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My parting shot is aided a bit by being on this side of the International Dateline so it shouldn't be too late. Wishing all my readers a Happy Valentines Day.

Roy

rafinmd · February 14, 2020

Oops! Somehow I cut off the first part of the above post.

Day CS21, Thursday, February 13, 2020, Arrive Lautoka, Fiji

Queen Mary 2 is at sea from Port Klang to Fremantle, Australia. The sun rose at 6:02 and set at 6:45. The moon set at 9:40AM and rose again at 10PM.

Our arrival in Lautoka was not without drama. Things looked good when I went out for coffee about 5:30. The open parts of the promenade deck were wet but it was not raining. After obtaining my coffee I walked forward along the pool deck and the moon was shining brightly even though it was cloudy on the horizon.

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I was planning to do more walking on land than on shore but went out again around 6 for sunrise. The sun finally poked just above the clouds about 6:15 but I noticed we were barely moving. I saw a boat coming towards us and said "pilot boat" but it blew right past us.

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I went up to the lido for an omelet about 7:30. We had not moved significantly but when I started up my GPS we were moving slowly away from Lautoka. Captain Vorland came on the PA at 8 and said we were just hanging around the pilot station while officials reviewed our records and he would make an announcement when we were ready to proceed.

I was on deck enroute to the lido at 9 when I noticed we had a wake and were turning sharply to port. An update from the Captain followed. We had conditional approval and were heading towards the port but the officials wanted to interview and get health declarations from all passengers who boarded in Papeete.

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It was past 10:30 when the final deck was called to meet the authorities, and we were getting quite close to the dock. We managed to get through the process without "This is a personal message for Mr. Smith in Cabin 7506: Report to the Galaxy lounge immediately". We pulled up to the dock about 10:40 and the people of Lautoka appeared quite eager to welcome us with a number of buses and popup shelters in place for our arrival.

Roy

rafinmd · February 14, 2020

Day CS22, Friday, February 14, 2020, Leave Lautoka

Queen Mary 2 is at sea from Port Klang to Fremantle, Australia. The sun rose at 6:03 and set at 6:45. The moon set at 10:39AM and set at 10:43PM. I did a bit of walking and headed down to Waterside to check the dinner menu and a large Valentines day display was almost completed.

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This is my third visit to Lautoka but to date I haven't done much "touring". In both of my previous visits I have taken volunteer excursions. In 2011 it was an orphanage called Treasury House and we painted the dining room floor.

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In 2018 the charity was a development called "Koroipita". We worked on a number of projects including creating shutters, painting, and entertaining children. Our tour escort created a video.

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I had originally planned on returning to Koroipita this time but with the possibility of painting and having only one pair of shoes I can wear comfortably it did not seem like a good idea. Instead I booked a tour called "Highlands Adventure" where we divided into a number of 4-wheel drive vehicles. We drove through scenic areas and stopped at an overlook where a table with an assortment of fresh fruits had been spread out on a table for us.

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It was a short drive from there to the village of Nausori. We were ushered into the community center for a welcoming and Kava ceremony. Our guides had shown us the Kava root at the overlook, and the root is ground into a powder and then washed repeatedly in a large bowl. "A chief had been chosen at the overlook and he took a seat at one end of the room while the other guests sat on the side lines. The village chief could not be present but sent several young men as his representatives. They massaged the Kava powder (in a cloth bag) for several minutes, and then offered some words of welcome. The "wash water" became the kava drink and the Village chief and our chief drank the first bowls. Then other guests had the opportunity to taste a bowl. I declined.

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We divided into groups and the chiefs representatives (the Rugby team) took us around the village. Most of the homes were either cinder block or corrugated metal with corrugated metal roofs. A few had more conventional siding. Our escort told us the village's current population was about 250.

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There were 2 structures with some history. There was one traditional house with a thatched roof. It is mostly vacant but used for some ceremonies. There was also a monument to the missionaries.

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The church looked quite nice. There is also a parsonage and our escort noted that the pastor's wife is the village's nurse. There is a full time nursing station.

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The school is across the road. There are 248 students and 8 teachers (obviously including pupils from other villages), and covers grades 1 to 8. The secondary school is in the lowlands and most students board near the school. When my group arrived other groups had already arrived and the students were all massed out on the patio. Each adult was asked for their names and hometowns as the children listened intently. At the end of our visit they sang a song or two for us.

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Before we left there was another get together in the village center with a spread of treats and lemon tea. There was a farewell dance and several songs by the villagers.

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We returned to the ship about 1:15. Marketplace was open until 2 (instead of the usual 1:30) so I had ample time to get a salad to go with my ham and cheese.

All aboard was 5:30 but apparently people were mostly ahead of that. There was one announcement at 5:10 for one party to identify themselves; they must have been accounted for as Louis sang promptly at 5:30. While we sailed one and a half hours with a pilot on the way in, on the way out he departed after about 10 minutes.

There was a full shared table and I chose the beef consume, pasta, and berries for desert. We were out very early, about 7:25.

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The featured entertainment was to be the Crystal Ensemble of Singers and Dancers with the LED based show, "The Tourist". The 7:45 show went pretty well despite the seas and winds kicking up while the 9:45 show had to be cancelled. The combined White Party and Valentines Dance did go on as scheduled. Dance Team Curtis and Beverly started things off as well as singer Karin Kovacova, and violinist Irina Guskova. Assistant (and soon to become full time) Cruise Director Raphael Dirksen was the emcee for the time I popped in.

My parting shot will be a welcome home for passengers completing stressful cruises on the Crystal Symphony and the Westerdam.

Roy

rafinmd · February 16, 2020

Day CS23, Saturday, February 15, 2020, At Sea, Crystal Serenity

Queen Mary 2 is at sea from Port Klang to Fremantle, Australia. The sun rose at 6:03 and set at 6:57. The moon set at 11:44AM and rose at 11:26PM.

I started the day walking forward to the laundry and noticed in passing that both the forward promenade doors were roped off and the wind was howling. With the bad foot making walking on thick carpet difficult there were few options. I spent about 15 minutes on the exercise bike but the shoe was too big for the toe clips and kept slipping out. I ended up walking several times around deck 12 (Palm Court, pool deck, Silk/Trident, and Marketplace) with just a few feet of carpet at the aft stairs. I did not see the moon but there was a classic sunrise just after 6.

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My activity day started with morning devotions with Pastor Voosen at 9. The morning talks were Capt. Richard Hayman on Magellan's voyages and Captain John Creighton on things that can go wrong in space.

In his noon update Captain Vorland indicated that winds were slowly declining and I did do one token lap around the promenade deck in the afternoon. A sudden rain shower came up right after the update.

The 1:30 talk was Bill McKay on South Pacific Architecture. While Reflections doesn't come out until dinner time, the day's lecture schedule pops up on channel 3 right after the last lecture ends.

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I ventured out on deck just before 5 to check the sky. The sea has been pretty riled up and it shows on the promenade deck railing with salt deposits heavy enough to show up on the camera.

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It seems the second Black Tie Optional is coming frequently on nights with nothing unusual in the way of program but everybody looked great anyway. I chose to dine on my own and opted for the oxtail consume, kosher chicken, and sour cherry crumble tart. I was able to wear my dressier shoes to dinner!

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I did not finish by sunset but there was still some nice color in the sky when I left Waterside.

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The featured entertainer was classical pianist Simon Tedeschi, I believe relatively new to Crystal. It was largely Gershwin and he was really good.

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Crystal has a few ways to minimize paper usage. There are no cards when we have a time change; the stewardess turns the TV to the appropriate channel at turn down. While we should always be gaining hours on a westbound circumnavigation this was not the message I was hoping for.

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The night ended on a sour note. There was no bar service at the show. I poured myself a Diet Coke back in the room and spilled it on my secondary laptop. I've been traveling with two and sadly needed the second on 3 straight trips. The first two have been warranty issues but this was my own fault. As of Sunday the machine is totally dead. I use the secondary machine for some things and wasted quite a bit of time recreating things on the working computer.

My parting shot is a salute to two cruise lines. The Corona Virus is changing plans for a number of ships. Royal Caribbean has withdrawn their Spectrum of the Seas and moved it to Sydney where she will be offering complementary cruises to first responders who served in fighting the Australian wildfires. Half sister Celebrity Millennium is proceeding to Los Angeles where she will do the same for first responders in the California wildfire area. While I am sure they will get some revenue for things like the casino and specialty restaurants it is still a very gracious move to bring some good in the wake of three tragic events.

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/22457-royal-caribbean-to-sail-free-cruises-for-crisis-responders-with-displaced-tonnage.html

Well done!

Roy

Happily@Sea · February 16, 2020

Sorry to hear about your back-up/second computer.

If you are still heading west - how can you lose time, or are you travelling vertically right now?

rafinmd · February 16, 2020

5 hours ago, Happily@Sea said:

Sorry to hear about your back-up/second computer.

If you are still heading west - how can you lose time, or are you travelling vertically right now?

Traveling pretty much vertically south but I think just a little bet westward. Not sure if the time zone is gerrymandered to keep the same time as trading partners or perhaps we are going from standard time to daylight savings time.

Roy

Happily@Sea · February 16, 2020

4 hours ago, rafinmd said:

Traveling pretty much vertically south but I think just a little bet westward. Not sure if the time zone is gerrymandered to keep the same time as trading partners or perhaps we are going from standard time to daylight savings time.

Roy

Thanks, Roy. Continued good wishes with your foot issues.

rafinmd · February 16, 2020

Day CS24, Sunday, February 16, 2020, At Sea, Crystal Serenity

Queen Mary 2 is at sea from Port Klang to Fremantle, Australia. The sun rose at 7:00 and set at 8:09. The moon rose at 12:24AM and set at 2:07PM.

While windy (with several promenade deck doors roped off) it was significantly less so than Saturday. After getting coffee I walked forward on the top deck and the moon was almost directly overhead.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/moon0216.jpg

There were clouds on the horizon and the view crossing the bow about 25 minutes before sunrise was better than anything that came later. I walked about 2 miles over the course of the day.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/dawn0216.jpg

There would be a Grand Gala Buffet lunch and preparations were well under way in the Crystal Cove.

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My activities started with the Protestant Worship Service at 9 in the Hollywood Theater. I watched the first of the day's presentations, Captain Richard Hayman's introduction to New Zealand, on TV, and then started the video of the 2017 Northwest Passage Cruise which has been placed on the on demand TV system.

The 11AM talk was General Joe Shaefer on Russia but I knew I wouldn't be around for the end of the talk so I didn't watch until later in the afternoon.

The Gala Buffet opened for photos at 11:30 and I walked around amid the sumptuous displays.

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Cruise Director designate Raphael Derksen has become more visible since his appointment and he acted as emcee as the chefs were all brought out for a photo op. I did not stay for lunch at the buffet.

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In his noon update Captain Vorland noted we had 350 miles to go and the nearest land was the northern tip of New Zealand only 40 miles closer. Most of my readers know my normal lunch spots are the Trident Grill and sometimes Scoops Ice Cream. They are right next to each other. In the photo the Trident is the upper left panel with some fixings and fruit on the counter to the right, and Scoops lower left with the case with fixings and cookies lower right. Desert will be either ice cream or some pineapple from the case in Trident.

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Today desert was ice cream but I deferred it until after the 1:30 lecture (Judith Fordham with another DNA story) and went up while the Quartet was playing on the pool deck. Later that afternoon I watched General Shaefer's talk on TV.

The Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle was held in Pulse at 5:30. I only saw a few people there along with some officers (Rick and the Food and Beverage Manager while I was there, and some others later). I only stayed a few minutes as the World Cruise Chorus performance was at 5:45. They sang about 5 songs.

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There was a full shared table. My choices for the evening were the melon balls, lamb shank, and mixed berries for desert. We were finished with a bit of time to spare before heading for the show.

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That show was jazz pianist Kim Perling. There has been some criticism of Perling as many have sat through his life story time and time again. For better or for worse, I dozed off at that part of the show.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/purling.jpg

As a long parting shot I had a very nice comment on my blog about Come From Away and how one of the actors got a chance for a first visit to Newfoundland, and it may be a good time to repeat my relationship to the play. I visited Newfoundland on land tours in 1999 and 2000, passing through Gander on both trips. When the town welcomed thousands of stranded travelers on 9/11 the story registered with me as a recent visitor, but quickly faded deeply into my subconscious. Fast forward 15 years and I was on Crystal Serenity's first Northwest Passage cruise. On 9/11/16 I was trying to think of something to say in a parting shot that was a little different from what everybody else was saying. Finally at dinner time it dawned on me that we had spent the day sailing along the Newfoundland coast and it was appropriate that we were doing so on the 15th anniversary of the town's outpouring of kindness. I had never heard of Come From Away, but a reader alerted me to it and it was then playing at Ford's Theater, almost in my back yard. As they say, the rest is history. I will see Come From Away for the 10th time March 8 when Queen Mary 2 visits Melbourne.

Roy

rafinmd · February 17, 2020

Day CS25, Monday, February 17, 2020, Bay of Islands (Waitangi), New Zealand

Queen Mary 2 is at sea from Port Klang to Fremantle, Australia. The sun rose at 6:57 and set at 8:16. The moon rose at 12:58AM and set at 3:21PM.

When I went out for coffee the moon was shining above the aft decks. It is definitely getting smaller but is still pretty bright.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/moon0217.jpg

Sunrise was just before 7. It came up behind the island and there was a fairly decent view as it cleared the hills about 7:15 but nothing like the color in the sky just before sunrise. We picked up the pilot at just about the same time.

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I boarded the tender just after 9. I had a nice view through the open tender window. The ride was just over a mile.

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This was my second visit to Bay of Islands. Apparently, our tender landing is at Waitangi, site of the signing of the initial treaty between the British and the Maori. The town of Paihai is the commercial center and it is about a mile from the tender dock. There was frequent shuttle service.

This is my second visit to Waitangi. When here on the Symphony in 2018 it was a Sunday and I visited St. Paul's Anglican Church, unfortunately totally drenched after about a 200 yard walk in a tropical downpour. Today I got a look at it under better conditions.

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Directly across from the shuttle stop there is a large local market which I assume is only open on cruise ship days.

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The main commercial street appears to be Williams Street. I browsed the pharmacy and 2 grocery stores (bought a carton of milk for lunch and a NZ phone simm), and a number of other shops.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/williams.jpg

The other half of my onshore lunch was ice cream from Cellini's on Williams, almost directly across from the shuttle stop. Delicious.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/cellinis.jpg

I returned to the ship about 1, and added an order of fries from Trident. I had a quiet afternoon on the ship. The last tender was listed for 5:30 but by that time the crew was starting to dismantle the tender platform. Louis sang at 5:45.

We quickly assembled a full shared table in Waterside. I ordered a chicken consume, glazed ham, and mint chocolate chip ice cream. We were finished with a few minutes before the show started.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/dishes17.jpg

That show was Fosse by the onboard entertainment team, including not just the ensemble but the dance team, Stacey dancing, Raphael on the trumpet, and an extra trombone player who I expect was from the Crystal Quartet. The show was a selection of numbers from shows created by Bob Fosse. The in house shows created by the staff on the World Cruise are always a special treat.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/fosse.jpg

My parting shot will be for my fellow Americans. Have a safe and wonderful President's Day.

Roy

rafinmd · February 18, 2020

Day CS26, Tuesday, February 18, 2020, Arrive Auckland

Queen Mary 2 begins a 2-day call in Fremantle, Australia. The sun rose at 6:53 and set at 8:16. The moon rose at 1:34AM and set at 4:26PM.

Realizing that I did not have quite enough t-shirts for my time away from the ship I started the day with a visit to the laundry room. When I went out on deck and to the lido for coffee the moon was almost directly ahead and not much more than a sliver.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/moon0218.jpg

There were a fair number of clouds and sunrise was not a major event, just a subtle touch of color to the sky.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/dawn0218.jpg

Crystal takes pretty good care of accounting for supplies but there is one notable shortage. The Bistro uses very nicely designed to go cups that are fluted and very well insulated. Normally, those cups are also used in the Lido Marketplace. About 5 days ago they disappeared from Marketplace and were replaced with plain thin white cups that needed an extra band for insulation. A couple of days later the plain cups surfaced in the Bistro and the last day or 2 the supply even of those cups has been moved back behind the counter where they are dispensed one at a time. Hopefully, a new supply of the good cups is one of the pallets being loaded on the ship.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/cups.jpg

We pulled up to the dock in Auckland about 7:30. I started my time ashore about 9. It was pretty much all practical stuff. My first stop was an electronics store which was quite close to the ship. I asked about my laptop and they said they did not do repairs on site and would not be able to fix it within 2 days. I then took a look at grocery stores to see what would be available for my time on land. There was a Metro next door to the electronics shop and it had some things but not so much what I wanted.

I continued walking to my hotel and the train station. I had found the train station in my 2018 visit and my hotel (Nesuto Stadium) is actually quite close to midway between the ship and the train. It is near the Sparks Arena.

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The hotel is physically very close to the station but a loop of the tracks makes access pretty awkward, with the actual walking distance about a kilometer, pretty much double the straight line distance.

On the way back I checked out a second supermarket, Countdown, which had much more of what I need than the Metro. It is very close to the hotel. I was back on the ship just after noon.

I opted for my standard lunch and while topside I went up to the bow for an almost birds eye view of Auckland. The ferry building is one of the iconic landmarks of Auckland although all the actual ferry operations have moved onto the piers on the water.

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The Sky Tower is largely hidden behind other buildings but the top does stand out quite well.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/skytower.jpg

Of the people at my shared table on the final night of the segment there was only one lady leaving in Auckland. I opted for the vegetable soup, fillet steak, and carrot cake. Service started slowly but we were finished about 7:30.

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The evening entertainment was an acrobatic duo called Balskat, Rebecca and Philippe. I had previously seen the similar duo of Rebecca (not the same one) and Donovan and had much the same impression. They exhibited fantastic skill, strength, and flexibility but I was left wondering why I should care. I didn't stay long.

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I went up to deck 13 just after 9 for a look at the city. It was lovely with all the lights.

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My parting shot will be a wish for safe and pleasant travel for those leaving us in Auckland (and also for those leaving QM2 after their adventurous journey to the unexpected destination of Fremantle).

Roy

Edited February 18, 2020 by rafinmd

rafinmd · February 19, 2020

Day CS27, Wednesday, February 19, 2020, Transition to New Zealand Natural Wonders, begin independent land sojourn, Auckland

Queen Mary 2 is ending her call in Fremantle. The sun rose at 6:54 and set at 8:15. The moon rose at 2:22AM and set at 5:23PM.

There was just a slight sliver of moon when I first went out on deck and I encountered it rounding the back of the ship. It was a bit too cloudy for any kind of a sunrise.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/moon0219.jpg

The order of the day was preparing for my overland experience. I had purchased some snacks and hard to obtain items for the trip. Crystal's continuous announcements didn't make much sense and were inconsistent with what the authorities were saying. They repeatedly named some obviously inappropriate foods and went on from there to only bottled water may be removed from the ship. I wouldn't mind that if it was Crystal product they were restricting but they really furnish little or anything anyway that would be appropriate to take off. New Zealand said declare it or dump it, but the problem with them was declaring it. Biosecurity officers are generally quite reasonable people but they seem to be in short supply right now. I left the ship and passed by one of the biosecurity officers. Asked him about 4 items or so and he said fine, fine, fine, fine. Then I asked if our conversation amounted to a declaration and he said, "no, you need to turn in the form" I got the form, filled it in, and dropped my stuff at the hotel.

The instructions said I could leave the ship anytime before 3 so I had one final lunch at the Trident, getting a good fill.

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I left the ship about 2:30 and was at the Nesuto Stadium about 3. My room is huge with laundry and kitchen.

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This sailaway addict returned to the port about 5:30. Muster drill was just ending and things proceeded quickly to an announcement from the Captain, and lines started dropping at 5:35 as people looked on from the top deck. I saw waves coming from the pow thruster and then several blasts of the horn and movement. I even heard Louis Sing (faintly) at 5:42.

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In just a few more minutes the ship was turning towards the sea.

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After getting a bite to eat I checked on MV Columbus. It's always fascinated me because before CMV acquired her she used to do cruises on the Great Lakes. There aren't many ocean cruise ships that can navigate the St. Lawrence Seaway as I believe the locks are about 80 feet wide. She was due to leave at 6:30 and a tug was waiting but she just sat there and I gave up. I was almost at the hotel and ready to leave Quay Street when I heard her horn and saw a little bit of her backing away from the dock.

The Countdown supermarket is about 2 blocks from the hotel. I was looking mostly for apples but also bought a couple of other things.

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Chief among them was a cup of a very nice Boysenberry ice cream. I was back at the hotel about 8.

https://morethangetaways.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/boysenberry.jpg

My parting shot--I was expecting it to be a bit cooler in Auckland.

Roy

A 2-line World Cruise--Around the World on Amtrak, Crystal, and Cunard

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