Live from the Eclipse, Apr 19 - May 21, Sydney to Honolulu to Vancouver B3B in an Aqua Cabin

[Ken the cruiser]

Here’s a fun one that got us thinking today, which BTW is April 27. On this cruise we will cross the international date line for our first time by way of a cruise ship at about 1 am tomorrow morning on April 28. However, last night before going to bed the Captain had us set our clocks ahead 1 hour. But we won’t cross the international date line until tomorrow morning around 1 am, about 24 hours later, making it April 27. 🤔

 

 

So to keep our devices on the current ship time today, we set them to Pago Pago time, which moved our clocks ahead the desired 1 hour. However, we later noticed the clock date became April 26 rather than April 27. But once we cross the international date line at around 1 am tomorrow morning, the date on our clocks should then be correct. So on this cruise, we will enjoy April 27 twice. 😂

For reference, here is where we are currently and we’re heading towards French Polynesia (Tahiti) where the 2 blue dots on the right are.

  

  
and here’s a map of the international date line. Who knew it wouldn’t be a straight line! 😂

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Another thing that caught our curiosity was why Samoa was on the western side of the international date line (IDL) and Pago Pago (American Samoa) was on the eastern side. For those slightly interested, here’s why.
 

Samoan Islands and Tokelau (1892 and 2011)

The Samoan Islands, now divided into Samoa and American Samoa, were on the west side of the IDL until 1892. In that year, King Mālietoa Laupepa was persuaded by American traders to adopt the American date (three hours behind California) to replace the former Asian date (four hours ahead of Japan). The change was made by repeating Monday, 4 July 1892, American Independence Day.^[24]

 

In 2011, Samoa shifted back to the west side of the IDL by removing Friday, 30 December 2011 from its calendar.^[25] This changed the time zone from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 (UTC-10 to UTC+14 Dst ).^[26] Samoa made the change because Australia and New Zealand have become its biggest trading partners, and also have large communities of expatriates. Being 21 hours behind made business difficult because having weekends on backward days meant only four days of the week were shared workdays.^[27]

 

The IDL now passes between Samoa and American Samoa, which remains on the east (American) side of the line.^[28]

 

Tokelau is a territory of New Zealand north of Samoa whose principal transportation and communications links with the rest of the world pass through Samoa. For that reason, Tokelau crossed the IDL along with Samoa in 2011, albeit strictly speaking 1 hour later, as they did not do Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time in American English), which Samoa did then.^[29]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Date_Line

 

[Ken the cruiser]

I know I said I wasn’t going to post any food pictures, but my DW suggested I post some of the Gluten Free desserts she can now choose from up at the OVC in the evening. Unfortunately, Blu doesn’t list which of theirs are gluten free (if any). However, since there is such a wide variety up in the buffet, it’s a win-win for us. Not only can she have a variety of tasty desserts to pick from, we can also eliminate the wait time in Blu to order and receive a dessert, as we also like to go to the early show which usually starts at 7 pm.

 

 

 
Speaking of the evening show, Rock City was awesome again tonight!! 😁

  

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 10 - April 27 (again) - Second of 3 sea days in a row

  

 

 

 
Plus I forgot to add earlier the photo of the sunset I took at dinner in Blu! 😁

  

 

Edited April 27, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Just discovered a very cool website that was mentioned over on the @Jim_Iain Live From thread.

 
https://www.windy.com/

 

Here’s what the main page looks like, only it’s live!

 

 

[ecslady]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I know I said I wasn’t going to post any food pictures, but my DW suggested I post some of the Gluten Free desserts she can now choose from up at the OVC in the evening. Unfortunately, Blu doesn’t list which of theirs are gluten free (if any). However, since there is such a wide variety up in the buffet, it’s a win-win for us. Not only can she have a variety of tasty desserts to pick from, we can also eliminate the wait time in Blu to order and receive a dessert, as we also like to go to the early show which usually starts at 7 pm.

 

@Ken the cruiserThank you for posting the Gluten Free dessert options!  A few months ago, I was also placed on a GF diet.  My first cruise as GF is coming up on Summit next month, so I really appreciate anything you can post about DW's Gluten Free experience. In all my 20+ years of cruising I never really paid attention to the GF options.

 

Is it easy for her to find GF breads? That's a major concern for me.

Edited April 27, 2023 by ecslady

[Suzi66]

15 minutes ago, ecslady said:

@Ken the cruiserThank you for posting the Gluten Free dessert options!  A few months ago, I was also placed on a GF diet.  My first cruise as GF is coming up on Summit next month, so I really appreciate anything you can post about DW's Gluten Free experience. In all my 20+ years of cruising I never really paid attention to the GF options.

 

Is it easy for her to find GF breads? That's a major concern for me.

I have just come off the Eclipse last week and I am both Coeliac and Lactose intolerant.
In the MDR I was given GF bread every night and I asked for oil & vinegar instead of butter.  
For breakfast there is a special GF bread toasting area in the buffet.  At lunch I didn't look for bread but the toaster was still there so I assume I could have got bread there if I asked.
GF Pizza and Pasta could be made in the buffet on request and everything was labelled so I knew what I could eat at all the other stations.
At night I got the next days menus and I selected what I wanted them to make me for the following day.  It didn't have to be anything labelled as GF, but they would make it that way and also make it LF as well.  A 'surprise' dessert was made for me every night.  My favourites were the flourless chocolate cake, lactose free creme brulee and a tiramisu.

[cruzzzinma]

I also suggest she ask for gluten free desserts in Blu. Maybe not available the first time but it will be next time.

[DaKahuna]

@Ken the cruiser  I am curious to when you will be crossing the Equator and what sort of activities they have planned for the crossing the line ceremony.  I have done it multiple times during my career in the US Navy but never on a cruise ship. 
 

 

[Pantheral]

7 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Another thing that caught our curiosity was why Samoa was on the western side of the international date line (IDL) and Pago Pago (American Samoa) was on the eastern side. For those slightly interested, here’s why.
 

Samoan Islands and Tokelau (1892 and 2011)

The Samoan Islands, now divided into Samoa and American Samoa, were on the west side of the IDL until 1892. In that year, King Mālietoa Laupepa was persuaded by American traders to adopt the American date (three hours behind California) to replace the former Asian date (four hours ahead of Japan). The change was made by repeating Monday, 4 July 1892, American Independence Day.^[24]

 

In 2011, Samoa shifted back to the west side of the IDL by removing Friday, 30 December 2011 from its calendar.^[25] This changed the time zone from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 (UTC-10 to UTC+14 Dst ).^[26] Samoa made the change because Australia and New Zealand have become its biggest trading partners, and also have large communities of expatriates. Being 21 hours behind made business difficult because having weekends on backward days meant only four days of the week were shared workdays.^[27]

 

The IDL now passes between Samoa and American Samoa, which remains on the east (American) side of the line.^[28]

 

Tokelau is a territory of New Zealand north of Samoa whose principal transportation and communications links with the rest of the world pass through Samoa. For that reason, Tokelau crossed the IDL along with Samoa in 2011, albeit strictly speaking 1 hour later, as they did not do Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time in American English), which Samoa did then.^[29]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Date_Line

 

The other big influence on the date line is Kiribati. Since it's a multi-island chain there was an accommodation to keep all the islands on the same day.

[Deb_in_IL]

Thanks to Ken for posting the yummy GF desserts! 
@DaKahuna,  I've been GF since 2007, cruising since 2017 on Celebrity and RC, both have accommodated my diet well and I didn't have any reactions. 
 

[DaKahuna]

43 minutes ago, Deb_in_IL said:

Thanks to Ken for posting the yummy GF desserts! 
@DaKahuna,  I've been GF since 2007, cruising since 2017 on Celebrity and RC, both have accommodated my diet well and I didn't have any reactions. 
 

 

That is good to know.  Neither of us have any issues with gluten although my DW does seem to have some adverse reactions to some dairy products like milk and cheese so she avoids those but otherwise we seem to do okay.  

 

I have a ‘cast iron gut like a pot belly stove’ and can eat anything, and am especially fond of spiced foods. 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Today we went to 3 lectures, one about the life and times of Paul Gauguin, one by Eddy Jenkins

  

 

and one by Nina about the Maui dolphin which isn’t  doing so good in the waters on the west side of New Zealand.

 

 
Then it was back to the cabin for some well deserved chill time! 😁

  
The show tonight is featuring Yoomia, a rock star violinist!

 

 
Followed later on by some late night adults only comedy by Darren Sanders.

 

 
As far as internet speeds today, once again they are quite acceptable if you purchased the Premium service. However, that’s not been the case for the folks we dined with in Aqua last night who only have the Basic package. For them it’s been a struggle to upload photos to their social media accounts.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

13 hours ago, ecslady said:

@Ken the cruiserThank you for posting the Gluten Free dessert options!  A few months ago, I was also placed on a GF diet.  My first cruise as GF is coming up on Summit next month, so I really appreciate anything you can post about DW's Gluten Free experience. In all my 20+ years of cruising I never really paid attention to the GF options.

 

Is it easy for her to find GF breads? That's a major concern for me.

 

13 hours ago, Suzi66 said:

I have just come off the Eclipse last week and I am both Coeliac and Lactose intolerant.
In the MDR I was given GF bread every night and I asked for oil & vinegar instead of butter.  
For breakfast there is a special GF bread toasting area in the buffet.  At lunch I didn't look for bread but the toaster was still there so I assume I could have got bread there if I asked.
GF Pizza and Pasta could be made in the buffet on request and everything was labelled so I knew what I could eat at all the other stations.
At night I got the next days menus and I selected what I wanted them to make me for the following day.  It didn't have to be anything labelled as GF, but they would make it that way and also make it LF as well.  A 'surprise' dessert was made for me every night.  My favourites were the flourless chocolate cake, lactose free creme brulee and a tiramisu.

Thanks @Suzi66 for adding your experiences with the GF breads and pizzas and ordering from the menus. That pretty much sums it up. 😉

[Ken the cruiser]

11 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

@Ken the cruiser  I am curious to when you will be crossing the Equator and what sort of activities they have planned for the crossing the line ceremony.  I have done it multiple times during my career in the US Navy but never on a cruise ship. 

It looks like we’ll be crossing the Equator on Friday, May 5, which will be on the 3rd sea day after leaving French Polynesia.

 

 
Hopefully, we’ll get more details about the festivities as we get closer to the actual crossing.

 

 

[Suzi66]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

Thanks @Suzi66 for adding your experiences with the GF breads and pizzas and ordering from the menus. That pretty much sums it up. 😉

I got off as you got on.  I hope we left it in good shape for you after our 13 days.

[Ken the cruiser]

29 minutes ago, Suzi66 said:

I got off as you got on.  I hope we left it in good shape for you after our 13 days.

You did! The ship looks great! Thanks! We are having a great time and I’m sure you had nothing to do with the paint chipping off the hull! 😂

[Ken the cruiser]

Tonight, while dining in Blu I had to take another picture of the sunset. 😁

 
 

 

Then it was off to the early show after having dessert up in the buffet to we to see the rock violinist, Yoomia.

 

 
Followed by the Who’s Truth Game Show in Celebrity Central. The late night adult comedy show was tomorrow night at 10 pm with Darren Sanders. There was a variety of things to do at 10 pm tonight, but we decided to head back to the cabin.

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 11 - April 28 - Last day at sea before reaching Papeete!

 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

For those interested, it’s taking about 1.5 days to get our bag of laundry back. We leave it on the bed when we head off to a lecture and it’s usually returned clean and folded in a bag (or two) the next afternoon around 5 pm. For reference we’re allowed to put up to 30 pieces into our free bag of laundry. And since we’re Elite+ we each get two free bags on each leg of the cruise which is a great perk! For example, the bag we just got back had 30 pieces and would have cost us $130 if we would have had to pay by the piece.

[Ken the cruiser]

15 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

@Ken the cruiser  I am curious to when you will be crossing the Equator and what sort of activities they have planned for the crossing the line ceremony.  I have done it multiple times during my career in the US Navy but never on a cruise ship. 
 

Your comment got me thinking about the Equator crossing in the Indian Ocean we did on our recent 38-day NCL Jade B2B cruise last Nov/Dec. Starting on page 14 at post #344 in my below thread are some additional pictures of that celebration. Not sure I would want to be the person getting the yellow goop being pour on! 😂

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

Ken -   Loving the pictures and of course your fantastic dialogue.    I spent the morning catching up. 

 

We are currently in Mid-Atlantic 1/2 way around the world from you and still 3 1/2 before land.   I don't plan anything today except sit on my rear and catch up.   We are in the middle of huge storm and even going down for coffee this morning is a challenge.     Your weather looks so inviting. 

 

Your internet looks really solid.    I just finished a Zoom Call and no jitter or pixelization (sp)

 

I think your Pictures of Auckland really excited me in anticipation of our visit.

[Ken the cruiser]

Today has been a busy one and also our last sea day before arriving at Papeete tomorrow around 10 am.

  

 
After doing my daily speed test from our balcony followed by eating breakfast in Blu

 

 
We were off to our 10 am lecture about Nuclear Testing in the Pacific. 

  

 
Followed by a Q&A with Eddy Jenkins interviewing Chantelle Delaney.

 

 

Then after lunch we were off to Celebrity Central to learn more about whales and dolphins, only this time about possibly in the vicinity of Hawaii. Did you know all dolphins are whales, but not all whales are dolphins! 😂

 

 
Then tonight after dinner in Blu and dessert up at the OVC, there’s a Broadway Cabaret we’ll be heading to in the theater 

 

 
Followed by a late night adults only comedy show featuring Darren Sanders.

  

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[trinitygirl]

I am a kiwi; when I was in high school (David Lange was PM) my school voted to go Nuclear Free as a result of the Mururoa Atoll testing (such a tiny deviant gesture, but it felt huge at the time), and then of course, the French bombed the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour and NZ changed its foreign policy which affected ANZUS.  That was my introduction to politics.  Sometimes it feels like we are worlds away from those days, and sometimes it feels like nothing much has changed at all.

Edited April 29, 2023 by trinitygirl

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 12 - April 29 - Third and last sea day before arriving at Papeete, Tahiti