Unlike our last two stops in Samoa which were mountainous and Jungle, Tonga is flat and agricultural. Reminded us both of Cozumel. Quite the change from one to the other, Kim went on a 3-hour tour that took closer to 4.5 hours, she enjoyed it. I watched the water and ships. Perfect day!
I’ll be back in 30 seconds:
Kim here 😊 My tour included a trip to the other side of the island to view blow holes. The pounding surf comes in and bursts through various sizes of holes in the coral, making some amazing spouts. There are also musical tones created and it was fun to hear – like a whistling, but a low tone. On our drive back, we stopped at a large mango tree on a city street and got out to see a few of their “flying foxes”, which are actually fruit bats. They are very large and have heads that look like foxes. I caught one unfolding his wings on video – very fun.
You’re probably getting tired of me boasting about the crew, but something happened today that even blew me away. Apparently, I regularly grab an empty chair and turn it so I can rest my arm on it. Today I sat down and one of the servers brought me an extra chair for my arm. You have got to be kidding, they don’t miss anything. Kim asked for some potato chips one evening, so now every evening they deliver a bowl of chips to our room. Is that service or what? They have never told us that they cannot do that.
February 4, 2024
Day one of three consecutive days at sea. We got up this morning and immediately noticed the humidity had dropped. It was a very pleasant 80 degrees with little or no humidity. The sun is getting up earlier and going down later each day too. Just another day in paradise. The days just seem to zoom by and today Kim said she is enjoying sea days. What more could I ask for?
Before dinner tonight, they had a cocktail hour for world cruisers only. They spared no expense. Champagne, caviar, hors d’oeuvres, ships officers and the works. They spoil us. For dinner tonight we (I) chose a Japanese menu. All was fantastic, but the Lobster tempura was over the top!
In a half an hour we are going to a comedy show, I so hope he is funny. We’ll see. Well, he was funny, but our Cruise Director stole the show by telling us that sometimes the guests are funnier than anyone. He said he overheard a guest telling her friend that they were going to the Helen Keller Steakhouse that night. For background, all the food served on board is under the direction of the famous chef THOMAS Keller. Not Helen. Then he told us he got into a fairly crowded elevator and a man accidently brushed his elbow into a woman’s breast. He apologized and said if the rest of your body is as soft as your breast, I know you will find it your heart to forgive me. To which she replied I’m not sure about that, but if the rest of your body is as hard as your elbow, I’m in Cabin 429! Now that’s funny. Good Night.
Even rainy sea days are wonderful. We woke up to a blustery day, rain, wind and oh wait 82 degrees. It’s not like a rainy day we all picture.
We listened to Heidi, our astronaut, talk about her second trip to the space station, including how they pooped and peed. She told us that all waste including human wastes were turned into drinking water, and how they made their coffee out of it. I controlled my tongue, but I wanted to say “Oh, so when you say this coffee tastes like piss, you really know what you’re talking about?”
And then the General talked about West Point and its graduates. It was interesting also.
The afternoon turned dry and partly cloudy, so we enjoyed our usual day at the pool (in the shade). Every night there are 5 dinning venues, we chose the patio for tonight because of the menu. As soon as we sat down, the heavens opened up and we had another downpour. We were under cover so all was well.
I keep forgetting to tell you about the huge Starkest tuna processing plant that was across the bay from our dock in American Samoa and the gigantic fishing boats that were docked there. We eat home canned tuna, but next time you go to the market, check where starkest tuna is canned.
Tomorrow, Tonga. Will I post from there or not? Check in…..
Every time I start my blog, I feel like Captain Kirk, Star Ship Sojourn, February 1, 2024.
Well, Samoa the country and Samoa the American Territory have a lot in common and a few differences. We spent the day in the country of Samoa. Another beautiful country filled with proud citizens. We had a splendid bus tour, the busses only hold 14 passengers, that ended at Robert Lewis Stevenson’s house. After a tour of the house, they gave us all a fresh coconut filled with milk. I had Coconut milk in the 70’s and didn’t like it, but I decided to give it another try. Guess what, I still don’t like it!
Samoa is a poor country as a whole, and there is only one American restaurant, take a guess, right, McDonalds. None of the locals go there because it’s too expensive. We were only the second Cruise ship to visit here this year, and they rely upon Cruise ships for most of their tourist income.
We had a great day even though it was 93 degrees, wow hot, right. In about an hour, we set sail for Tonga, a two-day sail away.
Okay, the shoe officially dropped today, even though we got word of the big change in our itinerary yesterday. It was finalized today when we got up to find a letter in our box from the President of Seabourn Cruises. We will end our Cruise on Singapore on May 2, 2024. They are flying us home from there. That means we miss out on the last 35 days of our Cruise. Seabourn will refund us for the time we miss, plus give us all kinds of perks as an apology for the change. All passengers and non-essential crew will be removed from the ship in Singapore, then the ship will beat feet around Africa in an effort to get to Athens by June 5th to pick up the new group of passengers and crew. It is really the best that they can do, so we are okay with their decision. Of course, you know me, I don’t like to fail at anything, so I’m already looking at the brochure for the 2026 World Cruise!
And now a message from our sponsor. Brick and Mortar Travel Agencies are almost extinct. But in our little town of Longview Washington, Great Escapes Travel still stands proud. Bonnie and Donna have been helping me and organizing trips for me, now for over 40 years. When something like this huge itinerary change happens, I just send them an email to make sure Seabourn has also informed them. They will spring into action and make sure we get the best available flights from Singapore to Portland. And constantly watch our backs as this unfolds. They saw to it that we had everything we need before we left home. Including for this trip, a 3 x 5 wall map of the world that I am tracking our journey on, and you will all get a picture of our trip in the end. They are cyber savvy, so even if you don’t live in Longview, give them a try. They never cost you money as the travel providers compensate them and as a matter of fact, they have saved me money several times. Just another level of free insurance for your travels.
Just to mess with Kim’s head, this morning I asked her if she took her Thursday vitamins. To which she quickly replied with that look on her face “No I took my Wednesday vitamins”. Well, it’s Thursday here, got ya.
We found out tonight that our cabin steward is from Puerto Cortes, Honduras. That is where the Worldwide Heart to Heart Orphanage is. I was very involved in building it and spent months there working as a volunteer. When we got married, I told Kim she needed to experience it. She became the first health care provider for the children and went at least once a year for several years to give the children exams and chart their growth and development. Who would have thunk that we would have run into him on this cruise? Small world. We will give him information so he can contact the orphanage when he goes home at the end of his contract. That’s how big things start to happen sometimes, you never know when you plant a seed what will happen.
After 7 straight days at sea, today we spotted land, Land Ho. We spent the day at American Samoa, or as the locals say ”SAH MO WAH”. Kim was up and gone before I even got out of bed, but I have been taking advantage of these nothing mornings by sleeping later than I normally do. We thought we would have cell service and could check in, that quickly turned out to be a dud, maybe tomorrow in the country of Samoa, our first foreign port. Today’s high temperature was 87 degrees, a little too hot, not complaining. Tomorrow we will join our first excursion, an Island tour and a stop at the fish market and The Robert Louis Stevenson Museum. Should be fun. We don’t often sign on for shore excursions, preferring to strike out on our own.
Is tomorrow really tomorrow? Well, tonight we cross the international date line and when we get up it will be Thursday, February 1st. And right on cue, a lady asked “will we ever get it back”? Someone in the back said, probably when you fly home. I’m beginning to realize that not all our shipmates are seasoned travelers.
After all of the amazing food we have had, we were both excited to find out tonight’s dinner was Fried Chicken! Sometimes you just want to have a home cooked meal, it was great.
In the next couple of days, we will find out what’s going to happen in regards to the Red Sea Crossing, so, stay tuned.
Yesterday we watched the Championship NFL games. What a disappointing outcome. We learned that they would broadcast the Super Bowl in the Grand Saloon on the 3 big screens. It will be Monday about noon as we will have crossed the International Dateline. Yes, I know what happens when we cross that line, HaHa.
Ever since my first post about canes, walkers, wheelchairs, and grey hair, after boarding the ship, Kim has told me that I’m embellishing the truth. Well, last night I was working on my computer when she returned from somewhere and exclaimed “Our hallway is starting to smell like a nursing home”. I rest my case!
I haven’t mentioned the weather lately, so, here goes. Sunny and 82 or cloudy and 82 or rainy and 82 or dark and 82. There is always a gentle breeze to keep us cool.
Yesterday lunch was a BBQ at the pool, what a feast, Lobster, Shrimp, Salmon, Steak, Pork ribs, you name it they had it, most excellent. Today at the pool the head chef made us shrimp po’boys, they were also excellent!.
I’m happy to report that the Hawaiian Hawk is doing fine, he is a great fisherman, so he is not going without.
This morning the officers brought out all of their safety equipment and emergency supplies, it was a huge toy show, from the life raft to the satellite emergency beacon it was very impressive. We’ve never seen them do that before. From international alphabet flags to survival suit demonstration in the pool, we saw it all.
Tomorrow is Pago Pago American Samoa (pronounced Pango Pango). First docking in over a week, last stop in anything resembling America until we get home.
The rumors are flying about the final stage of our cruise. Today I heard someone say instead of the Red Sea, we would do the west coast of Africa and end up in Cape Horn. Another rumor is that they are planning to put us in a hotel in Dubai while they sail the Red Sea and we will rejoin them at the other end of the Suez Canal. Who knows, I really don’t care. This trip includes our flight to Portland, so what do we care about where we end up?
Tonight’s pre dinner entertainment was provided by our Cruise Director Ross. He sings quite well and is extremely funny. At almost the same moment we looked at each other and said that he reminds us of our dear friend Michael, who now lives in Webster South Dakota. Michael (Pastor Mike) was my room mate on the cruise where I met Kim and I met. He also came out to Portland to marry us. He loves the Lord and loves his job, but he could have had a career in the cruise as a Cruise Director.
I’m not sure why last night’s post was dated today, but oh well, maybe I’m secretly preparing for the international date line.
Welcome to the southern hemisphere. Not only are we on the bottom half of the world, but winter magically just became summer! The ceremony of the equator crossing was fantastic. There were about 100 guests and crew that were experiencing their first crossing. Ten at a time they were brought before the high seas court and the judge read their crimes. Like buying the streaming package and streaming movies which slowed the internet for everyone, claiming to have gone to the gym every day but couldn’t tell you what deck the gym was on, or spending way too much time in the crew bar. Even if they plead not guilty, the jury of their peers (the rest of the guests) found them guilty. The punishment was a sliming, they had to kiss a fish and were then pushed into the pool. It was very fun.
From time-to-time Seabourn brings comedians onboard to entertain us, we always attend these shows, but I realized that sitting by the pool and eavesdropping on a conversation is sometimes way more entertaining. Today was one of those moments. I can’t share all I heard with you because this is a public blog and I would not want any feelings hurt, so I’ll share what I can. It seems late last night in the club a couple had a bit of a spat, she decided to leave and go to their room, he yelled at her as she exited the club “you’ll pay for this, don’t go off and leave me here”. Well, he started pounding down drinks and when he was totally wasted, he headed for his room. When he got to his hallway, he started stripping off his clothes, by the time he got to his room he was almost naked. His room key would not work, so he started pounding on the door and yelling for his wife to open the door. When security got there, they informed him that he was on the wrong floor! They picked up his clothes and escorted him to his room. Today he is on a mandatory vacation from alcohol. Keep in mind, the average age on this ship is close to 80, sometimes people never grow up.😉
I heard one lady ask, “are we really going to lose a whole day when we cross the International Date?” Folks, we are all supposed to be seasoned and educated travelers.
However, it’s also educational sometimes. I heard a lady say that when she meets someone, she explains that she has reached the age that she can not always remember who she told what. She went on to say, “if I start telling you something I’ve already told you, just give me a thumbs up and I will know we’ve already been there”. I like that because I am afraid that I may repeat some of my stories to you. Well, if I do, just give me the thumbs up, forgive me and move to the next day.
The other day when the Astronaut spoke to us about her experience on the space station a gentleman asked her “is the space station still active and occupied?”. Fortunately, I did use my indoor voice as I said, “do you live under a rock?”. A term my brother uses on me regularly.
We gain another hour tonight which will make us 3 hours ahead of the west coast and the NFL play off games start at 9 AM tomorrow. I have 4 options in place to watch: the ship may broadcast the games, but the announcers are in Germany, I should be able to stream on my laptop or phone and last-ditch effort, my son will text me updates.
For dinner tonight, we went to the Thomas Keller Grill, the most elegant eating venue on board. Their signature plate is a Snake River (Oregon) center cut Ribeye. Now, this will be an easy one for my Reno trip buddies. I have had a steak 4 times so far on this cruise, can you guess how many I sent back because they were overdone? Okay, I hear you yelling, you’re right, 4 for 4. I’m slowly training them how to cook my steak. Depressing for me though, I hate to waste such a great cut of meat.
By the way, if you have an iPhone, you can text us while at sea and I am on Telegram, an app you can download.
