Well, it’s been a while since my last post, and I apologise. But, we are on our 6th day of 7 sea days between Hawaii and Bora Bora. There’s just not a lot to talk about on sea days.
I am as you probably know, I am a creature of habit. I get up and work on my computer until about 11, then head up to my chair at the pool, where there is not much (unfortunately) to report. After lunch, I either stay where I am and drink iced tea, or go somewhere cooler than the outdoor temperature. At 4 o’clock, it’s margarita time on deck 9, I have 2. Then it’s time to get ready for dinner. Pretty simple life, until something goes wrong.
A couple days ago, after margarita time, Kim and I got into the elevator on deck 9. I pushed the button for deck 6 and all of the sudden…..wait fir it. FREE FALL! Yep, the elevator dropped like a rock. It probably only dropped about 5 feet, no way to tell, but have you got any idea how many things your mind can process in that time? Even after 2 margaritas? It came to a stop just as suddenly as it dropped. I did the free fall ride at Knotts Berry Farm, it was just like that, only no one told me what was going to happen first. Soon, it continued to our floor and let us off. I reported what happened and that elevator remains closed even today.
I remember taking my kids to Disneyland when they were little. Phil was mad because he was too short to go on the roller coaster rides with me, and Sheila was scared to death of them. I talked her in to going on Space Mountain with me, by telling her it was just a gentle ride in the dark through the galaxy, with stars all around. It didn’t take her long to realize that it really was a roller coaster, she yelled “dad this is a roller coaster, you tricked me”. When we got to the end, she wanted to go again.
Not so much on the elevator ride, don’t want to do that again. The staff checked in on us the next day to make sure we were okay. They are the greatest.
Speaking of eating, today was my most favorite meal of the cruise. It’s called Galley Lunch. We actually get to go into the galley, where there are buffet style spreads that everyone can find appealing. Me being as far from a vegetarian as you can get, found Fish and chips, lamb T bone, Cocktail Shrimp, Garlic Shrimp, yellow Fin Tuna Sashimi, Snow Crab Legs, topped with Baked Alaska for desert. I don’t think I will eat again until tomorrow. A true Kings meal, unless you’re a Queen.
During lunch, the servers were paraded through the dining room so we could show them our appreciation.
Kim is on a trivia team each sea day at 11:15, after which, we have lunch with the friends we met in 2024 from Chicago. We have met more people this trip and have had dinner with other some of them at least once a week.
Here we are with a couple that live in Spain and Eastern Canada. We went to the Solis Restaurant, the only place that you must have reservations and it is limited on how many times you can go there per cruise. There is not any additional charge, but it is very intimate and cannot accommodate very many guests.
I had the 32 ounce bone in ribeye, I almost ate the whole thing!
The crew set up a tv and bar in the confrence room so we could watch the NFL play off games. The Seahawks totally killed the 49ers and by the end I was watching by myself, GO HAWKS.
We crossed the equator and King Neptune and his court of mermaids iniated the first time crossers by making them kiss a fish. They were then slimed and pushed into the pool.
I have no idea why, but I am waking up at about 5 AM daily even though I go to bed about midnight. I saw this sunrise, it was amazing. Even though the moon was just a sliver, you could see the entire “dark” part.
We will reach Bora Bora on Thursday where we will taxi to a beach bar that Kim first found about 40 years ago and we went to 2 years ago, it’s one of those beaches that you can walk a mile out in crystal clear water and only be waist deep.
More after Bora Bora, thanks for following us on this incredible journey.
Kim left at 7 in the morning to hike Diamond Head. I slept in. No suprise there.
In the afternoon our friends that were our neighbors on Puget Island picked us up and took us to Walmart where Kim stocked up on snacks and sodas, she thinks she might starve on the ship? Then we went to a mall and got me 2 Hawaiin shirts.
We didn’t leave Honoluiu until 11 that night. We were treated to a sight beyond belief.
These are pipe fish, a cousin to sea horses. We have snorkeled in some of the most sought after waters in the world. We are very familuar with these fish. When we see more than one, we are really excited. Well, that was until now, there were hundreds of them directly below our veranda. They stayed there for hours. All of the sudden, they all disappeard. What? Then I saw it, a shark was swimming by. I had a choice, open the door and alert Kim sio she could see it, or take a picture. Sorry, I wanted Kim to enjoy the moment.
That night, we weren’t wanting to dress for dinner, so we had dinner brought to us and set up on our veranda. Again, what a life?
We sailed over night to the garden island of Kawaii. Well, we found out why everything is so green.
We were suposed to have a poolside champange and caviar sail away, but the weather didn’t like that. They postponed it for 24 hours. Now, I have a problem with a “sail away” party when we have been at sea for a day, but, whose going to make that a big deal?
My brother constantly reminds me that I have no “class” and that I don’t get it. What is “it” anyway. So, when it was time for champagne and caviar, I choose Margarita, peanuts and caviar. What say you? Do you want to be “classy” or do you want to do it my way?
Okay, time for me to rant a bit. Again I see peoiplr older than us lying out in the sun all day. We know so much about skin cancer, these people are within the upper crust of the human race. Why do they do that? Ug. I also wrote about bikinis and speedos having age limits, thankfully, the cruisers heard me and there is less old skin to look at. However, one of the great things about being over 70 is that you really don’t care what others think. There is a guy that looks more like a living cadaver, that swims in his underwear every day! That’s what you young people have to look forward to. No photo, thank you.
I booked us on the 2028 World Cruise today. As you can see, it starts in Miami and ends in Loundon. Take a close look at the map above. I’m excited about the route.
I’ve been quiet because it’s been a quiet trip so far. We have settled into our “sea day” routine and are enjoying ourselves. On a typical sea day, we eat breakfast and catch up on emails and life. At 11:15 Kim goes to trivia and I head for the pool deck. Kim’s trivia team is made up of mostly the same people as were there 2 years ago. After trivia, she and a couple from Chicago that we met last time and ate lunch with most days joins me at my table for lunch. We really enjoy their friendship.
The cruise line calls them “consevationists” and “conversations”, but they really are lecturers and lectures. There are usually 4 per day, and it kinda reminds me of a college lecture. The subjects are closely related to where we are or where we are going. Facinating speakers. If you miss a conversation, you can watch it on your in suite tv any time you want to.
Speaking of watching tv, I spent the weekend watching the NFL playoff games. The feed was from Germany and in German. You really don’t need sound to watch football, but they were very entertaining anyway.
The weather is a boring high of 72 and low of 70 each day. So outdoor functions are automatic. We ocassionally get a quick shower, but the Captain does a pretty good job of steering around them. We land in Hawaii in the morning for 2 days. First is Oahu then Kauai. Kim is climbing Diamondhead in the morning then our friends that used to live on Puget Island near us will pick us up for a visit in the afternoon. After Hawaii we sail for 6 more days to get to Polynesia.
Room Service Dinner
Sushi
After dinner mint?
In the afternoon, we discuss the evenings dinner menus and choose where we want to eat. If Kim wants Indian or some other specialty, you know where to find me….
After dinner we watch a movie or conversation or we have a conversation. Then Kim takes her book to bed and I take my book to the veranda. One never knows what you might see on the veranda, like this cloudy night.
I must appologise for my lack of Pool Chronicles, but this group of passengers are well behaved.
There are 414 passengers, 346 crew, 146 doing the entire World Cruise with us and 49 Solo Cruisers.
In 2024, there were 84 World Cruisers compared to the 146 this year. The crew attributes that to the fact that Seabourn has sold this ship and we are on its’ last trip. When we get to Vancouver BC, they will pass her to the new owners.
We have not seen any sea life, yesterday we saw a sea bird, probably a Petrol. And even though the swells were at 3 1/2 meters, they are so far apart and gentle, they are hard to even feel.
As I said, we are almost to Hawaii on this map. Notice how many times we cross the International date line on our way south tp Bora Bora.
Well we have been at sea for a day and it’s a lake out here. I passed on lunch, Kim went to lunch. She met a wonderful lady named Carol. Kim told me all about her when she returned to the room from lunch.
After that, I went up to the pool deck and took my usual table, usual seat. A couple sat down next to me and as usual, I started listening. She asked the guy at the table on the other side of her if he knew what the 3rd flag from the left was, the pool deck was rimmed with flags, he didn’t know. I volunteered that it was the Philippines, she thanked me and continued to ask what the significance of all the flags ringing the pool deck were to which I replied they represented all the countries we would visit on the World Cruise.
Side bar for educational purposes. The World cruise this year is called “The Ring of Fire”. The ring of fire is a volcanic reference to a ring of techtonic plates that loosely rim this part of the Pacific Ocean. The plates are moving on top of each other ever so slowley. This causes friction, which in turn causes heat. The heat cuuses the rock to heat up to the point of melting and the pressure caused from that pushes up and breaks through the earth’s crust and we have what we commonly call Volcanos. When Volcanos erupt, the molton lava creats mountains, like Mt Hood or Mt St Helens, for example. Most volcanos are under water and we almost never hear about them. They don’t cause any damage, so it is not news worthy. This eventully creats new Islands. Mountains in Alaska, Western Canada, Western America, Hawall, French Polynesia…Check our cruise itenery for more locations, we are loosely following the ring all the way around.
Meanwhile, back at the pool, we continued chatting and several crew and a few passengers came to me with hugs, hand shakes and greetings and welcome backs. The lady at the table next to me finally asked me if I knew everyone on board, it’s great to see people I knew from before. This is another great example of why we sail with one small company exclusively now. My friend Sheila and her late husband sail and sailed exclusively on Holland America, for the same reasons.
So, a lady came along looking kinda lost obviously wanting to sit down and I offered her a seat at my table. We were having a nice conversation when she asked me where I lived. Well, Kim and I decided a couple years ago that we would answer that we live on the Oregon Washington border on the Columbia River, Before that we said that we lived in Washington, even when we said Washington State, most people thought we lived where the White house is. When I said that, she asked “ is your wife Kim?” Oh, you must be Carol, I replied. Yes, I had lunch with her, she said, more proof of how small the community is here. Another couple walked by and commented that they were having a Déjà vu moment. I heard him say, That guy was sitting at that table, in that chair every day last time we cruised and that couple on the other side are still sitting there drinking champagne. Familiar territory I said. They laughed and moved on.
Well, now it was time to pick where we were having dinner tonight. The choices are the dining room, the buffet, the specialty restraunt, room service or Sushi. Kim was busy unpacking and was not hungry, that’s makes my choice an automatic sushi bar trip.
I headed up to the club and took my regular seat at the bar. You know, the one closest to the Sushi Chefs. They of course recognized me for before. The bartender also knew me and what I wanted to drink, I’m telling you, these servers are amazing.
I sat next to a guy named Mark. He is from Michigan, nice guy, nice conversation. New to Seabourn.
While I was eating, Sean, the bar manager walked up behind me and asked, “ why am I having a déjà vu moment? I laughed and replied because we’ve been here before. I asked him if he ordered enough IPA and he laughed. Two years ago when we left LA , the ship ran out of IPA in the first 3 days. He said he had never scene so many IPA drinkers in all of his years of sailing on cruise ships.
When we restocked in Auckland, he had a case sent to my room and told me not to drink it yet, keep ordering from the bar, so that when we ran out again, I would be in high cotton. It’s good to befriend the crew.
That said, becoming a crew member on Seabourn is a goal that all crew members try to achieve. That’s another reason I love sailing with Seabourn. They treat the crew like first class sailors and family. They pay them well. Don’t get me wrong, they work long hours, 7 days a week, but every crew member I’ve ever asked says that they are very blessed to have a job with Seabourn.
Right now I’m sitting on our veranda. Most of you would be cold. It’s 10:15 PM and I am loving the sound of the waves, the seagulls flying around, the moon peaking around the clouds. Life is beautiful. When I climbed into bed about midnight, I could not wipe the silly smile off my face. This truly is my happy place.
When I got back to the hotel last night From my outing with my kids, I went out on the balcony to see what I could see and get some fresh air. I saw one of our favorite restaurants about 2 blocks away, Din Tai Fung. So, I made a reservation for 11: 00 AM for us to have a light lunch, it’s a Taiwanese restaurant.
The food was delicious as usual. Great treat for us. They make the best Xiao long bio.
They have windows into the kitchen so you can watch how they are made.
Kim went to the original restaurant when we were in Taiwan, 2 years ago. She says the US ones are better.
Well, now about the GALA. We have attended a few Galas in the past with Seabourn and although elegant, they lacked great food and entertainment. So , we were not really excited about attending the affair. However, dinner at Spago, a Wolfgsang Puck restaurant, was the best, I had slow roasted boneless beef short ribs, yes if you are paying attention you probably noticed that I had pork ribs for lunch, pictured, Kim had some wonderful grilled white fish. For desert, we had what is probably the best cheese cake ever. One thing I always appreciate about Seabourn is if they have to bus us anywhere, they hire luxury buses that can hold over 40 passengers, but limit each bus to 20 passengers. We’re not sardines, but they serve us caviar. So, getting to and from is a nice experience.
After dinner they wouldn’t tell us any details of what was happening. They took us the the Fox compound and to the sound stage. It was a large room, but with all the musicians and about a hundred of us, there wasn’t a lot of room to roam.
Then Wow, I’ll call it an experience that cannot be given a monetary value. Priceless would not even do it justice. An event that money could not possibly buy, okay, you got me again, I’m sure we paid for it in the price of the cruise.
This sound stage was built in the 1920’s and is where every song that every movie or show ever made by FOX is recorded. It’s also where people like Julie Andrew’s sang her songs in “the sound of music”. The orchestra is made up of not only great musicians, but also many famous and notorious musicians. The base player for example is Eric Clayton’s base player. Elvis even recorded in this studio for his movies. They proceeded to play theme song after theme song. With many stories in between. Many famous singers were there to perform for us too, like Henry Mancini’s daughter, for one.
At one point the speaker said that they were the ones who were getting the best entertainment out of the night. He said in all their years of producing music, they had never played a song in it’s entirety until tonight. Their job was to a part of a part of a song for 10 to 20 seconds then sit and wait, read a book or something while the director and the sound team made changes. They were given the changes and played the same stanza again then back to their book reading. This went on all day. When the director was satisfied with that segment of the song they moved on to the next few seconds and repeated the process. Some days later they were told they were done with that song, but never played or heard it in it’s entirety until the movie came out.
So, last night was;
1. The first time they got to play the entire song.
2. The very first and probably the last time they had ever performed for an audience in the sound stage ever. Talk about special. Some of the theme songs we were treated to were; Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, Sound of Music, The King and I, the Pink Panther, just to name a few.
We are the only 100 or so people who will ever have that experience. How about that for a great start?
