Come sail with me on a virtual cruise to Hawaii on Ruby Princess

[marden1970]

1 hour ago, DUCHESSRN said:

I just realized we will be on the Crown 28 day together ..looking forward to meeting you .

And I look foward to meeting you as well.  The South Pacific cruise has been on our radar for years, we were holding off soing it until our 50th anniversary.  Looks like there are a lot of cruisers that have been waiting for it; can't come soon enough!

[ellie1145]

19 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Your Fiji and Hawaii cruises have been the only ones we've been able to enjoy so no need to apologize!  Life happens and there are more important things to tend to.  I wish you well with your medical tests!

 

Thank you, Azbirdmom. Life certainly seems really hectic at the moment.

 

I am back at the hospital on Tuesday morning for more tests, and hopefully they will be able to give me a diagnosis. Thank you for your good wishes. 😊

[ellie1145]

18 hours ago, Westaussie said:

Still very much enjoying our travels together, especially now that we are in Lahaina!  My favourite place on the three occasions we've been there.  Though, after looking at your photos I do feel very homesick for another cruise.  Hope you have good medical results.

 

Glad you are still there, and I hope that you will be able to give some input as you have been to Lahaina before. 

 

I know that I would love to return to Hawaii in the future, and like you, I am truly desperate to cruise again. 

 

Am hoping that more tests on Tuesday will reveal more. Hopefully, if it is glaucoma (my father had it) it will have been caught early. 🤞

[ellie1145]

16 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

Hmmm, is it Zorba The Greek? 

 

Hope your tests go as well as they can. 💐

 

‘Am I not a man? And is not a man stupid? I’m a man, so I’m married. Wife, children, house, everything - the full catastrophe.’

 

You are absolutely right, Purple Traveller. It is, indeed from Zorba the Greek, and spoken by Anthony Quinn.

 

Now I will let you into a little secret, and please, please keep this to yourself, Purple Traveller. This is just between you and me......

 

On my very first cruise I met and fell head over heels with our handsome Greek dining room steward on SS Australis, and him with me.

 

For the next two years we corresponded as he travelled the world on Chandris ships, and we would meet up from time to time when he was in Southampton. One night he even turned up on our doorstep with flowers and chocolates! He was onboard Ellinis when we cruised on her 2 years later.

 

So I devoured Greek music, Greek dancing, Nana Mouskouri, anything Greek, and of course I loved the film, Zorba the Greek.

 

But sadly, he was sent to New York to help out in his brother’s restaurant and I went to college to train to be a teacher, and I then met my DH and that was the end of that. And of course, I wouldn’t swap him for the world, even after 51 years! 🥰

 

 

[ellie1145]

16 hours ago, marden1970 said:

We're in the Reno area so we don't get as hot as Las Vegas but it is going to be 86 degrees tomorrow, fortunately very little humidity.  Going down into the 70's for a few days and then back up in the 80's.

 

We could do with some of your lovely warm sunshine, marden1970 as here in the UK we are still experiencing some really chilly weather. Temperatures are very low for May with no sign of a warm spell in the near future. So it would be lovely to see some sunshine! 😎

[ellie1145]

7 hours ago, DUCHESSRN said:

We are in Reno also in the NW area , we are doing this Itinerary on Ruby in December out of SFO .Surely we will be cruising by then.

 

I really hope so, DUCHESSRN. I have everything crossed! 🤞

[ellie1145]

How fantastic, DUCHESSRN and JF- retired RRT that you will both be on the same ship! 

 

We are contemplating the Majestic Princess out of Los Angeles, to Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand and Sydney in September 2022. 

 

What do you think, all you Cruising Adventurers? Could this be the big meet up????  🛳️

[ellie1145]

Lahaina, here we come!

 

We finish a leisurely breakfast and pop back to the cabin to pick up our things, before making our way to the Elite tendering lounge. We are accompanied down to the tender deck and are soon stepping into the boat.

 

 

I have decided not to wear my “I’m Elite, out of my way!” T-shirt today, and luckily, in no time we are sitting waiting for the tender to leave. It is a beautiful day and we can see the island in the distance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we depart another tender draws alongside, ready to take another group of eager passengers over to the island.

 

 

 

We are very excited at the prospect of being greeted by beautiful Hawaiian dancers, in hula hula skirts, wearing orchid leis, and swaying in time to music from ukulele players.  What a wonderful sight that will be.....

 

The whole operation is extremely well organised, and we sit back and watch as the ship fades into the distance.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by ellie1145

[ellie1145]

So sit back, relax and enjoy the ride....

 

We pass close to the bow of the ship, and can see the anchor chains which keep Ruby Princess in position. During the day she will move gently around.

 

 

 

Ruby Princess has an amazing prow, which is quite rounded, and above we can see the bridge. 

 

 

High up on deck we can see her name, and several flags flying from her mast. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s only when in a tender that you get a real feel of how large this ship is. 

Edited May 14, 2021 by ellie1145

[ellie1145]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ellie1145]

We have arrived - at last!

Orchid leis and dancing girls greet us.......

 

 

 

Um, well not exactly....we are greeted by these lovely ladies who are obviously seniors. We stand and watch them as they move in time to the music, and I have to say they are very good, with a natural rhythm.

 

Good for them, we say! What a lovely way to be welcomed to this beautiful island. We will certainly not forget it, and I wish I could move with such grace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by ellie1145

[PurpleTraveller]

4 hours ago, ellie1145 said:

 

‘Am I not a man? And is not a man stupid? I’m a man, so I’m married. Wife, children, house, everything - the full catastrophe.’

 

You are absolutely right, Purple Traveller. It is, indeed from Zorba the Greek, and spoken by Anthony Quinn.

 

Now I will let you into a little secret, and please, please keep this to yourself, Purple Traveller. This is just between you and me......

 

On my very first cruise I met and fell head over heels with our handsome Greek dining room steward on SS Australis, and him with me.

 

For the next two years we corresponded as he travelled the world on Chandris ships, and we would meet up from time to time when he was in Southampton. One night he even turned up on our doorstep with flowers and chocolates! He was onboard Ellinis when we cruised on her 2 years later.

 

So I devoured Greek music, Greek dancing, Nana Mouskouri, anything Greek, and of course I loved the film, Zorba the Greek.

 

But sadly, he was sent to New York to help out in his brother’s restaurant and I went to college to train to be a teacher, and I then met my DH and that was the end of that. And of course, I wouldn’t swap him for the world, even after 51 years! 🥰

 

 

 

I also loved Anthony Quinn in The Guns Of Navarone! A great story about your Greek dining room Steward. Isn't young love wonderful! I wonder where he is now? But don't worry my lips are sealed - I won't tell a soul! 😀

[margord]

Just wanted you to know I am still with you and enjoying each and every word.  We are from Maryland on the east coast of the US.

 

Marilee

[Steelers36]

Not following, but wondering how it takes over six months to report or blog on a two week cruise.

 

[dickinson]

34 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Not following, but wondering how it takes over six months to report or blog on a two week cruise.

 

 

Reason: Life gets in the way.  I think some health issues in family and then a wonderful new grandchild.  Most of us are appreciating when she reports because none of us have cruised in more than a year and NO ONE else is blogging about past trips.

[DUCHESSRN]

42 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Not following, but wondering how it takes over six months to report or blog on a two week cruise.

 

Ellie did  a magnificent review of her cruise on Majestic , she offered to give us a virtual cruise on Ruby and we all said YES PLEASE ...a small relief from Covid isolation .

GO STEELERS .

[JF - retired RRT]

50 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Not following, but wondering how it takes over six months to report or blog on a two week cruise.

 

Her Fiji report took a long time, too.

It's helped us cruise during a pandemic.

[Reader0108598]

22 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Her Fiji report took a long time, too.

It's helped us cruise during a pandemic.

I so appreciate anyone who entertains me these days!

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by Reader0108598

[Steelers36]

56 minutes ago, dickinson said:

 

Reason: Life gets in the way.  I think some health issues in family and then a wonderful new grandchild.  Most of us are appreciating when she reports because none of us have cruised in more than a year and NO ONE else is blogging about past trips.

 

48 minutes ago, DUCHESSRN said:

Ellie did  a magnificent review of her cruise on Majestic , she offered to give us a virtual cruise on Ruby and we all said YES PLEASE ...a small relief from Covid isolation .

GO STEELERS .

 

40 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Her Fiji report took a long time, too.

It's helped us cruise during a pandemic.

 

20 minutes ago, Reader0108598 said:

I so appreciate anyone who entertains me these days!

 

Okay, I get it.  NP.

[ellie1145]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

Not following, but wondering how it takes over six months to report or blog on a two week cruise.

 

 

Hi Steelers36. How lovely to have you pop in and join us on this Hawaiian adventure.

 

Your question is very pertinent and I hope to answer it for you.

 

To be honest, I never meant it to take over 6 months, but as Dickinson so rightly says, sometimes life gets in the way. I am amazed that anyone has stayed the course so far, and we still have a few more days to go before we reach LA again.

 

But I’m not complaining! I love having everyone along with me, and writing this (and the very long Fiji blog) has kept me going and raised my spirits (and those of many others) as we have lived through the pandemic without being able to cruise.

 

So let me explain a little. I have often thought about doing a review of a cruise, but to be honest I was very nervous as sometimes people can be a little critical, and I also was a bit ashamed of my photos, bearing in mind that there are some people on CC who are phenomenal photographers.

 

But when Covid came along and everything came to a grinding halt I decided to go for it. And I also decided to make it a virtual cruise where anyone could join me and sail along with me vicariously. And surprisingly, a huge number of lovely people did just that. 

 

I spent a long time preparing my Fiji cruise blog, so had a lot of it ready to go. It actually included our pre-cruise stay in Singapore, followed by a stay in Sydney, Australia, as well as our return via Singapore. But even this blog took several months as there was so much to write about, and I do suffer from verbal (and photographic) diarrhoea......

 

Not only that, but we had a few detours on the way, courtesy of my pocket Tardis, and from time to time we went ‘off piste’ and completely off topic. 

 

So when it finally came to an end (and in between my husband had an unexpected operation) both me and my fellow Cruising Adventurers felt at a loss.

 

So after a little persuasion (and it didn’t take much persuading!) I embarked on a blog about our Hawaiian cruise, including our pre-cruise stay in LA.

 

Unfortunately there have been a few hiccoughs on the way as my husband was quite poorly for several weeks at the start of the year, then my daughter had a very difficult pregnancy during the building of an extension to her house (and I added in painting and decorating to my busy schedule to help them out). This was followed by the birth of my beautiful and long awaited grandson, and a few medical issues of my own. So I am embarrassed to say that this blog has taken a very long time to do.

 

However, we have become a bit of a ‘family’ here on this, and the Fiji blog. We have got to know each other, and at times when I have, of necessity, been absent, my lovely cruising adventurers chat amongst themselves. They also give the benefit of their experiences to add to the blog, and it has been so great having people along who are familiar with Hawaii, especially cr8tiv1 who is a fund of information. By chance, another lady, azbirdmom, was on the same Fiji cruise with us, so her photos and input were invaluable.

 

So that’s why, I’m afraid, a 2 week cruise has taken months to complete.

 

I hope you will pop in from time to time, but if this is all too boring for you I wish you well and wave you a fond farewell. Keep safe and I hope you, like us, can return to cruising safely in the very near future.

Edited May 15, 2021 by ellie1145

[Steelers36]

7 minutes ago, ellie1145 said:

 

Hi Steelers36. How lovely to have you pop in and join us on this Hawaiian adventure.

 

Your question is very pertinent and I hope to answer it for you.

 

....................... It actually included our pre-cruise stay in Singapore................. 

 

So I am embarrassed to say that this blog has taken a very long time to do.

 

 

You should not be embarrassed nor apologize for a personal project. 

 

I might look up the other one sometime and see if some good info on Singapore.

 

[ellie1145]

3 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

You should not be embarrassed nor apologize for a personal project. 

 

I might look up the other one sometime and see if some good info on Singapore.

 

 

Thank you, Steelers36. I appreciate that.

 

I hope that you will find some useful information on Singapore in my Fiji blog. We certainly had a great time and visited some fascinating places. My father-in-law was taken prisoner by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore so we visited some of the sites associated with that.

 

Singapore is a wonderful place, so safe, and with so much to see and do. If you find my blog then I hope it will give you some food for thought. 

 

PS should you decide to read my Fiji blog I suggest that you take a survival pack with you, as you will need it! 😉 🤣

Edited May 15, 2021 by ellie1145

[ellie1145]

20 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

I also loved Anthony Quinn in The Guns Of Navarone! A great story about your Greek dining room Steward. Isn't young love wonderful! I wonder where he is now? But don't worry my lips are sealed - I won't tell a soul! 😀

 

Thank you, Purple Traveller, glad you enjoyed my little story, and I really appreciate your discretion. The last thing I would want would be for anyone else to hear about my young love. 

 

But I will, if you don’t mind me digressing, tell you a little story about my Greek romance which shows how things have changed on ships. 

 

After our cruise on Ellinis, Christos was due to leave the ship early on the morning when we docked, so I set my alarm and went up on deck to wave him goodbye. He had asked my parents if I could fly out to Athens and stay at his home but unfortunately my parents said no, and this was the last time I would ever see him.

 

When my Greek love left the Chandris fleet to work in New York I continued to correspond with his sister in Athens. Two years later my parents took me and my sister on a cruise on an English ship, the Canberra, and I had just got engaged to my DH.

 

When I told Christos’ sister that we would be in Athens she said she would come and meet me, although we could not make arrangements on how we would do that as it was a tendering port, so timings were going to be difficult, and there were no mobile phones in those day. 

 

Canberra was too large to dock in Piraeus so we had to tender into the port. Unfortunately, my father had been taken off early that morning, accompanied by the ship’s doctor,  to see an eye consultant, as he had symptoms of a detached retina, so my sister and I went into the city on our own, taking a bus from the dock. We had no idea whether Anthoula would manage to meet up with us. 

 

When we returned, there was a note in our cabin from Anthoula. She had come to the dock and made enquiries about us, and had been allowed on the tender, and then on the ship, to look for us, eventually finding our cabin and leaving a note under the door.

 

Can you imagine that happening nowadays? With all the security it would have been a complete no no! 

 

As for where he is now, I imagine that he is still in New York, if he is still alive. I was sweet 16 and he was 26 so who knows? It’s 55 years ago but I hope he had a happy and successful life. I was certainly very lucky to meet and marry my wonderful DH, and I hope he met someone nice, too. 

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by ellie1145

[ellie1145]

3 hours ago, margord said:

Just wanted you to know I am still with you and enjoying each and every word.  We are from Maryland on the east coast of the US.

 

Marilee

 

Thank you, Marilee. Hi to you in Maryland. 👍

[TeaBag]

3 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Not following, but wondering how it takes over six months to report or blog on a two week cruise.

 

How long does it take you?  I'm just wondering as I have never done one and I have followed people who start one and don't finish.  Ellie has stuck with this one and another, through health problems and a new grandchild, faithfully entertaining all of us who "sail" with her in our office chairs.  It sure relieves the covid boredom.  Thanks a million Ellie.