Reading Length: Giant Tub ‘o’ Popcorn
Davin Reporting!
What isn’t widely known is that Cunard offers a behind the scenes tour of their ships. The tours aren’t publicized in any way, so it’s something of a secret for those of us in the know. To sign up you have to go to the purser’s desk and make a request– generally right at the beginning of your voyage, since the tour has only limited space available– to be on the tour. The tour also costs around $120, so it is not cheap, but it is 3 hours long and covers a large number of areas on the ship, so I would argue it is worth the price of admission.
Having signed up back in Sydney, today was finally the day of our behind the scenes tour of the Queen Elizabeth.
Entertainment Division
The tour started out with the theater, where we got to go up on stage, learn about some of the jobs in the entertainment department, and see the dressing room. It was an interesting perspective being up on stage, but it seems that what we saw with the theater completely lit was not the experience of the performers. When the theater is blacked out during a show, with bright lights shining on the stage, they apparently can’t see much beyond the first couple of rows.
The theater on the Queen Elizabeth is different from a lot of theaters on land. To begin with, the theater gets a lot of use. It is used not only for guest lecturers, but to show movies, and to present the shows of both guest entertainers and the Cunard singers and dancers, as well as allow time for any rehearsals that are needed As a result, it has to be reconfigured numerous times during the day, and often ends up being in use from 9 in the morning until past 11 at night.
The other important consideration for the theater is that it is based on a ship where the ground is unstable. As a result, all of the props need to be secured backstage to make sure they don’t end up getting broken. The lighting also has to be smart lights which can all be adjusted, since they will otherwise quickly end up out of whack. Unstable seas can also sometimes lead to cancelled shows.
Backstage we saw the dressing rooms for the dancers and found out that the dance troupe and singers are currently being provided by a production company named Qdos. The main thing I noticed about the dressing rooms is that they have numerous mirrors which are surrounded by incandescent bulbs. With each bulb putting out more than 560 watts of heat, it was like standing in a room filled with space heaters. The dressing room ceiling was also open to the costume room above, which struck me as not really being all that private. Perhaps, it’s just an occupational hazard?
[Kristin Interjection: The singers and dancers told us that they run off stage to do costume changes several times per show. They each lay their costumes out a certain way and memorizing how to put on and off the costumes is as important to the show as their singing and dancing. No one is allowed to touch each other’s stuff, or it could derail the entire show. Anyway, they strip down and redress in front of each other all the time out of necessity, so I don’t think they care if they are seen naked. It’s all part of their job.]
Mooring Lines & Anchor
After leaving the theater, we made our way to the ships forecastle, where the forward mooring lines and the ships anchors are stored. The mooring lines are absolutely massive ropes, which I would say are at least 3 inches thick. Kristin and I each grabbed one of the lines to test their weight, and we discovered they were quite heavy. If I recall correctly the lines each have a breaking strength of 80 tons, so if they do break it can have lethal results to anyone nearby. In fact, on the way into this area I noticed a paper sign that warned that a member of the crew had suffered lethal injuries by being in the “snapback zone” when the line broke.
Due to the large size of the ship, it acts as a huge sail, and as the wind builds up, the force against the ship can increase exponentially. As a result, eight lines are used to secure the ship, and as conditions deteriorate, even more lines can be added. The line winches were located on both sides of the ship, so there were several cylindrical metal protrusions in the floor which apparently allowed the lines to be routed to whatever port, was necessary, on either side of the ship.
Moving on to the anchor: the anchor chain had links that were at least two feet long. I am not sure whether or not I understood correctly, but if my recollection is correct the anchor chain was about a thousand feet. The anchor itself also weighed a number of tons, in addition to the weight of the chain itself. Another interesting fact is the anchor chain often ends up being coated in mud, so a high pressure sea water sprayer is built into the anchor channel, which allows the chain to be sprayed off, as it is retracted.
[Kristin Interjection: The anchor itself is approximately as tall as two decks of the ship. We were also surprised that we could look down the anchor drop and see the sea lit up by the daylight. We thought it was dropped out of a hole in the ship that went down to sea level, but we looked at the ship later and saw that the tip of the anchor can be clearly seen from the exterior of the ship when it is not in use.]
Medical Center
We next proceeded down to Deck A, to Burma Road, which is Cunard’s name for crew corridor that runs the length of the ship. There were several signs posted stating that there was to be “No Running On Burma Road”, so apparently that has been a problem in the past. First stop was the medical center– actually on this ship I think it’s actually the “medical centre”.
The most important aspect about the medical center on the ship is that it has to be equipped for all contingencies. Many people believe that if there is a serious problem on a ship, the person will be airlifted off by helicopter, but, in reality, the range of helicopters is very limited– not more than about 150 miles offshore. So, for much of the time of a transatlantic journey the ship is actually outside of the range of any sort of assistance. This can be even more so the case on a world cruise, where even if the ship is within range of land, there may be no medical facilities to speak of in some parts of the world.
To meet the unique needs of a cruise ship, the medical center is thus equipped with a lab capable of running many laboratory tests, a “portable” x-ray machine, and an intensive care unit where people can be intubated and provided with oxygen. There are only six medical staff on the ship, two doctors and four nurses, to meet the needs of 3000 people, so there are no dedicated x-ray technicians, phlebotomists or lab techs. The x-ray is reviewed by a radiologist back at the Southampton Medical Center, but there is a several day delay, so the doctors also need to be able to review x-rays themselves on the spot.
Because the staff must possess versatile knowledge and training in order to fill their role and operate all of the equipment, they are dedicated cruise ship medics, not just part timers. It seems that most doctors serve on board for three months, and then have three months off, although the doctor we were speaking to said she chose to serve for six month periods instead.
Not surprisingly, the worst problem dealt with on board are heart attacks, which are treated with clot busting drugs. On the bright side, the size of the ship means that the response time for such emergencies is quite fast. An entire team, including several non-medical staff, will respond to an emergency, carrying a portable defibrilator to the room, so the doctor has everything they need at their disposal when they get there. They also sometimes deal with appendicitis, which is treated with antibiotics– no surgeries are performed on board. (If I complete the tour again on the QM2, I’ll ask how they deal with compound fractures.)
[Kristin Interjection: After touring the medical facilities, I felt even more comfortable with the situation than I had before. I hadn’t been particularly concerned before, but the staff seemed extremely competent and the facilities couldn’t be better under the circumstances. Cunard also hires their own full-time medical staff. Many cruise lines subcontract out the medical department. I’d be interested to see if I felt as comfortable with the staff and facilities of those ships.]
Fire Control Station
Next stop, just down the hall from the medical centre was the fire control station. This wasn’t as interesting as some of the other departments. There is a dedicated team of officers who serve as the fire control team (and it came out in questions the same team also serves as the hazmat team). There were six fire suits hanging on the wall, set up and ready to go. Each person’s boots were already inside their pants, so they just had to step into them and pull their pants up to suit up.
There is a sprinkler system on the ship, which is the first line of defense against any fire, but if that fails the fire team will have to handle it. There are bulkheads that can be closed in each section of the ship, to isolate the fire and keep it from spreading. Multiple fire lockers are spread throughout the ship, with identical equipment all laid out and ready to go, just in case the fire prevents access to the main room.
[Kristin Interjection: I asked what types of jobs the fire team does when they are not needed to respond to an emergency. Fires are quite rare and so these employees need to be doing something else the majority of the time. It turns out they are various maintenance team members, but primarily electricians. So, if Scott ever wants to be a part-time fireman, all he needs to do is become an electrician on a cruise ship!]
Engine Control Room
Just down the hall from the fire station was the engine control room. We couldn’t see the engine itself due to safety and security concerns, which is unfortunate since that is probably one of the main things most people would like to see. To be honest this part of the tour was a bit underwhelming, although we were provided with some interesting information about the ship.
The engine control room has a large number of monitors displaying various information about the ship, although we got a limited explanation of their importance. While out at sea, control is handled from the bridge, but in the event of a fire or other problem there, the engine control room can serve as a backup control center. Most things are controlled by computer, but there is even a backup analog control panel, in case the computer system has problems.
An interesting aspect about the ship is that it is purely electric. There aren’t exactly “engines”, but rather four large and two small generators which produce electricity. This electricity is used not only to power the electric motors, which turn the propellers, but also to meet the demands of the other areas of the ship– hotel, galleys, bridge, living quarters, etc. There are two main power circuits on board, and a third “comfort circuit” which can be used as a backup if one of the other two panels fail.
Depending on how much demand there is on the system, more generators are powered up or down. At the time of our visit, three large generators and one small generator were running, and the ship was making a pretty swift speed of 21 knots. I think the ship may have been running at higher speed to minimize the time from Rabaul to Puerto Princessa. There was a large amount of vibration in our room at the rear of the ship, which was noticeably reduced during the next leg of the voyage.
Printing & Photo Shop
This part of the tour covered two different, but linked departments. The group was split into two halves, with Kristin and my half seeing the photo shop first. The photo shop on board the Queen Elizabeth has been upgraded to entirely digital. You view the photos on monitors up in the Photo Gallery, and then your order is sent down to the photo shop where it is printed on one of two absolutely massive Epson printers. I would estimate the printers were at least four feet tall, and at least as wide and deep. The print cartridges look similar to those used by our Epson Workforce printer, but they also have a light cyan and light magenta cartridge.
The head of the photo department said that they had been using this system for about three years. He said it was nice because it reduces a lot of waste (previously a lot of photos were printed and then discarded when they were not wanted), and also because they don’t need to use chemicals to develop the film. For a ship the size of the QE, it seems like an obvious choice to use this system over normal film development. I suspect they will recover the cost of the printers in no time, simply by reducing waste.
The print shop uses equipment that is a bit more low tech, at least in appearance. There is a massive printing press that was probably about 8 feet long. A negative is created and placed in the printer, to control its output. The press is capable of printing something like 6000 sheets per hour, but only in two colors at a time. Because the daily program is in four colors, it requires two runs through the printer for one side of the sheet, or four total for the entire program.
The printing press can only be serviced back in Southampton, although various belts may be able to be replaced onboard. There is also a backup printing press in case the first breaks down. However, this machine was slightly smaller, and only capable of printing in one color at a time, so having to fall back on it would significantly reduce output. Though we weren’t shown it, there is apparently another machine that can cut and/or fold the output from the printer.
The man working in the printing press had a background in printing, which was how he got the job– they do hire specialized technicians to fill these positions.
[Kristin Interjection: He was a young man, about our age, from the Philippines.]
Recycling & Waste Disposal
One of the most interesting stops on the tour was the Recycling and Waste Disposal department. To minimize the amount of waste produced by the ship, all the garbage has to be meticulously separated into its components. Paper, cans, glass, plastic, etc are stored for later recycling. Even things like broken ceramic dishware are separated out. Food waste is released into the ocean, after it has been ground up to a size where it will either be eaten, or biodegrade within three days.
Anything that can’t be handled in this fashion is sent to an incinerator, where it is heated to 2000 degrees– hotter than a crematorium! This high temperature is designed to not only incinerate the waste itself, but also burn off any waste gasses released. However, the process is obviously not completely clean, since the incinerator can only be run when the ship is a certain distance offshore, which has to be due to pollution rules.
The potable water on board is desalinated from the ocean, and the wastewater is also treated before being returned to the ocean. The ship has two classes of wastewater: grey water is water from sinks, showers and places like kitchens, while black water is from the toilet. The water is filtered to remove as much particulate matter and pathogens as possible, and then returned to the ocean. There are strict limits to how clean the water must be in order to be expelled into the ocean (based on PPMs), and at the time of the tour the water the ship was releasing was actually cleaner than the water coming out of the ocean.
The last thing briefly covered on this section of the tour was that the ship actually refines its own diesel fuel. Like many large maritime vessels, the ship runs on bunker fuel, which is a very thick and heavy crude. It seems that the waste heat from the engines is used to refine that fuel into a more easily burnable form. Perhaps that is just standard procedure on all large vessels, and just part and parcel of how bunker fuel is burned? It wasn’t exactly clear. In any case, I know the Queen Mary 2 also has natural gas turbines, so overall I suspect it is a theoretically cleaner ship (just another reason why the QM2 is the best cruise ship currently in operation, along with being the only true passenger liner).
We stopped in an area where there was some garbage and recycling collected in squarish bags. These were waiting to be offloaded at the next major port. The ship has to constantly restock its supplies, and it does so at major ports on the world tour (Sydney, Hong Kong, etc.). Some supplies are purchased locally, while others which can’t be purchased in that part of the world are shipped from the Southampton office to be picked up later. Here was also saw a track on the ceiling that served as a crane to move heavy items, and which even could be used to remove one of the engines for replacement, if necessary.
[Kristin Interjection: This area smelled just like the dump we often visit as part of our work. That sickeningly sweet, musty earthy smell. It is a smell Scott hates intensely, but which doesn’t bother me all that much in the short term. I actually enjoy going to the dump for the opportunity to watch the giant backhoes move garbage around! Anyway, the smell made me feel nostalgic for home!]
Stocking & Food Preparation
The next stop on the tour was the stocking and food preparations section.
There were several food preparation areas, where ingredients were prepared for use in the main galleys. There were vegetable, fish and meat preparation areas, where the type of food in question was cut up. Fish and meat remained frozen up until a couple of days before they were needed, at which time they would be given time to thaw, and then be cut as necessary. When it comes to meat, the ship purchases cuts of meat, rather than entire carcasses to make their own cuts from (kind of obvious, if you ask me).
The most interesting food preparation area by far was the baking area. Here dough was prepared in huge tubs, which had to hold something like 80 gallons. To add water to the tub, a hose was literally fed into it, and turned on! There was a giant electric mixer in the tub that would mix all of the dough together.
After the dough was prepared in the mixer, a portion was placed on a machine with a conveyer belt, with a roller in the middle. There the dough was fed back and forth underneath the roller until it was adequately flattened. The next step was among the most interesting: the dough disc was placed on a machine that would cut out numerous circular rolls. The amount of time and effort these machines saved was quite amazing, reducing each step from several minutes to less than a minute.
After the rolls have been cut out, they are placed on a rack inside a oven that maintains a warm and humid environment. This reduces the time required for the dough to rise from several hours to between 30 minutes and an hour. Next the rolls would go into the oven, which featured a rack that hung from the ceiling which could rotate the rolls around the oven, for more even cooking.
The final stop on this section of the tour was the main galley for the Britannia Restaurant. Here we were given dessert snacks and juice refreshments. Then the head chef told us about the operation of the galley. The galley is in operation 24 hours per day, with staff at night preparing the ingredients for the next day. Each level of the Britannia Restaurant has its own galley, and all of the restaurants, for example the buffets, have their own galley as well.
With the Britannia restaurants, the waiters file in from one end to place their orders, and walk through and pick up their dishes from the other side. It seems the amount of each dish that is initially prepared is based on the demographics of those on board. Apparently, just based on the nationality, and more surprisingly, the age of the people on board, you can predict what they are likely to order. Perhaps it makes sense that each generation has slightly different tastes as culture and cuisine change. Personally, I have noticed that sometimes service is much slower than others: I wonder if that could be due to a failure of this prediction algorithm?
The chef also claimed that the menu was changed slightly based on what nationalities were on board, but, for example, that no drastic changes would be made just because a large number of Japanese were on board. Personally, I have not observed any changes in the menu at all, and I think this is probably the biggest flaw with the culinary experience on board. There simply is not enough variation, and especially when you’re on board for months you are very quickly confronted by the same dishes rotating through over and over again.
Especially when your normal choice for cuisine is not standard American/European fare (piece of meat, portion of vegetables and portion of carbohydrates), this quickly becomes monotonous. If I had to say there was one place that could use serious improvement on the world cruise, it is in the variety of foods being served. Not only should dishes be specifically added due to the nationalities on board, but more local cuisine of the places you are visiting should be served.
That being said, what passes for Chinese food on board is abysmal– totally flavorless– so maybe it’s simply beyond the abilities of the European-centric cooking staff to make anything more exotic? However, simply offering some more variation in European or American cooking would be an improvement. Overall my experience with the cuisine on board Cunard doesn’t stack up to my experience on other lines, such as Holland America. Too many days I look at the menu and see nothing I want, when that did not happen at all during the three weeks I spent on the Veendam (granted three weeks is not three months).
[Kristin Interjection: Since we don’t like everything they make, the total number of dishes being prepared which we can eat amounts to less than half the number of dishes we make at home. My mom once told me that she read that most families do not have much more than 7 different dishes in their regular family meal repertoire. They simply repeat their routine weekly, and mix in eating out. Doing a cursory count of our family’s repertoire of dishes, I counted 21 regularly rotated recipes based on the cuisines of 11 different nations, and I certainly forgot several. We then receive exposure to the cuisines of 4 additional nations through our patronage of various local restaurants. I’m afraid that it is this regular routine of exceptional variety and variation that makes us ill disposed to the culinary fare offered on cruise ships. I’m sure that the average person would find what is offered aboard this ship to be quite varied and delicious.]
The Bridge
The last stop on the tour was the bridge. To be honest, we didn’t see a lot of importance on this part of the tour. The bridge has a pretty good view out the front of the ship, and wings to either side allow a view back along the side of the ship. The ship uses electronic charts, which should come as little surprise, and navigation is by GPS. Officers are still trained on old, low tech forms of navigation, just in case they are needed, but in practical terms they are never used.
One interesting thing we learned was that the primary means of manually controlling the ship was a little joystick. It is only about twice the size (in terms of height) as an Xbox controller thumbstick. There is a large wheel, but it didn’t sound like it was used very much. In any case, for the most part the ship just navigates automatically, with only oversight provided by the bridge crew. We also got to take pictures with the ship’s captain, but the results were not that flattering or memorable and they attempted to sell them to us for $25.00 each.
After the bridge, we were provided with a refreshment. You had the option of drinking an alcoholic beverage, or a non-alcoholic fruit cocktail. I had some weird thing with pineapple and maybe mango or something. It was alright, but I didn’t really care for it that much. To be honest, I’d rather if they’d just offered us a soda. We were also provided with a special pin for having completed the behind the scenes tour, in addition to a Cunard logo kitchen apron.
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Four Days at Sea! (March 2, 2016 to March 5, 2016)
Reading Length: Giant Tub ‘o’ Popcorn
Kristin Reporting!
March 2nd:
Well, ladies and gentleman, we’ve crossed the equator yet again. We have returned to the northern hemisphere (and, theoretically, we have returned to winter!). So, today we had the opportunity to watch the Queen Elizabeth (Cunard) version of the "Crossing the Equator" ceremony. It was interesting to be able to compare their ceremony to the one we saw on the Pacific Princess.
Overall, the Pacific Princess ceremony wins the “Best Crossing the Equator Ceremony” award! There were a lot of similarities between the two ceremonies, but the main differences were: 1) today’s Cunard event allowed more guests to be covered in food which is great for those participating but increases the boredom of the spectators as the process drags on; 2) the Princess Cruise event had more of a story and was a legitimately funny show– so it was hands down more fun and more entertaining.
[Davin Interjection: The Pacific Princess’s event also had a bit more risque commentary, so maybe it was too low brow for Cunard?]
Next, D had the excellent idea to take advantage of the pancake station (today's special lunch buffet food station– it changes daily) to have breakfast for lunch! These pancakes were more like American pancakes (thicker) than the crepe style pancakes that are served every day at the breakfast buffet. The recipe isn't quite right, but it's probably the closest I've ever tasted to our homemade batter so it was quite an enjoyable meal. We will save our remaining syrup to take advantage of this station again in the future. I have no idea how long it will be before it comes around again.
D and I are watching/listening to MSNBC's coverage of Super Tuesday when 11 different states are holding their Presidential Primary Elections. It's pretty interesting! Trump is kicking ass, because the other guys are splitting the vote. To stop him, either Cruz or Rubio need to drop out but they are neck and neck and refuse to do it! It's sort of hilarious. Meanwhile, Hilary Clinton is currently running away with the Democratic nomination.
I’ve been working on our family and company accounts and need to go online to gather information or to put through payments. Before I connect, I make a list of what I need to do. Once I’m online, I must work on all items on the list simultaneously because of the delay for any one website to load. I’ll have 5-6 (or more!) different website tabs loading at the same time, then I click down the line of tabs entering passwords (etc.), and continue the task process on any pages that have successfully loaded, and skip the ones that aren’t ready to continue. It would be quite confusing if it weren’t for my pre-made handy-dandy list which keeps me on track. To me, going online is like playing a computer game. I have to accomplish all of my goals online in as few minutes as possible to preserve my total remaining minutes! (As ‘Gold’ members, we get two hours of free internet time per cruise ‘leg’. We try not to have to buy more, but if I do need to buy more, I try to do that on the couple days per cruise when they offer a “10 percent bonus” to the internet time purchased.) Let's see how quickly I got through my 'Online' list from today: 30 minutes gone– ouch!
March 3rd:
Today I did very little but watch the news and learn fascinating things about the Republican Presidential Primary! MSNBC is so interesting!
I can't believe what is happening with Donald Trump. It is an outrage that people are publicly supporting him when he is promoting hatred– stating he will ban Muslim immigration, screaming "Out! Out! Out!" at a black woman who was at his rally as his hordes of supporters push and shove her violently out the door, and he seriously wants to build a wall along Mexico like the Great Wall of China to keep illegal immigrants out. He has been publicly endorsed by the leader of the KKK and white supremacist groups! The Republican party is scrambling to stop him from winning the nomination because he’s crossed a line which, in any decent modern society, cannot be crossed.
March 4th:
Today I woke up after having another great dream idea. I want to develop it into a single book. I didn't bother to write the story out like other dreams I've had because I'd like to make it into a book someday.
I skipped choir today for two reasons. First, I developed a sore throat last night... I am taking zinc lozenges. I don't think it would be wise to go sing. Second, today at 1:30pm one of the craft classes that I've been waiting for was finally happening!
I went to the 1:30pm class to make a travel water color set. This is a really cool paint palette that packs flat but has 55 colors to use! The colors when concentrated in the pack are very dark, so you can't get a true sense of the color variety that is in the set from the picture. We started with two sheets of water color paper, glued them together, had to design the size (height and width) we needed, fold it, trim it, organize the 55 chips which were just given to us loose in a big jumble, decide what order we would glue them in, glue them down (I decided to make sure I could write their unique names down too), tape in the plastic sheet that will keep the wet colors from touching each other or the paper binding, use decorative tape to make it look nice, and finally glue in the magnet closure.
The class had the option to make a 15 color book for $8.00 or the 55 color book for $24.00. Only 4 of us did the large book. The other three ladies took about the same amount of time as I did. The whole project took me 2.5 hours!
I also bought two 'Aqua Brushes' for $8.00 each. A fine one, and a thick one. It’s like a pen but you fill the end with water and then you can water color with no need of a cup to dip your brush in. It is self rinsing too-- you squeeze it to let out clean water and wipe it with a napkin.
It's a very awesome kit.
I'll try it out in early April-- I have to catch up on the blog, then learn Japanese, then tour one week in Japan. So, realistically I won't have free time to play with paint until we get back on board on March 24th. (Note from the future: As I edit this entry on April 11, 2016, I can note that I STILL don’t have time! Ahhhhh! This blog which is totally amazing and awesome has consumed my entire life! But, I have used the water color kit to add color to an ink painting I did, and to paint two birthday cards for Davin.)
After dinner, we did the gym and jacuzzi.
We’ve also made friends with two Australians, Nikola and Andrew, who sit next to us at dinner. They invited us to go dancing at 9:15pm. D said, “No”, but I said that I'd bring my bear to take pictures with them! So, enjoy the attached pics. Andy says that Erich needs a red beard! He hopes I will sew him one by the time they come to visit us in San Diego. He says Scott sounds like a real cool dude. He has an classic Mustang imported from Michigan, so he is excited that Scott is into cars and offroading. I'm happy I could make some friends on this trip. We are welcome to visit them when I get Scott to Australia someday.
Time for one Babylon 5 and then bed!
March 5th:
I had a GREAT day today!
First I'm so thrilled by the lockets that I got to make for myself and Scott! I particularly love Scott’s. I made them at the 10AM craft class. Again, I was the last one to leave! I take my crafting seriously!
I did not expect them to provide the charms to put inside. The teacher is quite clever and the charms are actually charm bracelet charms, not charms made for this kind of necklace. So, sometimes the charms are too big. For example, there was a classic car that I would have liked to try in Scott’s, but it was too big. I think it could have been modified by trimming a bit of the engine and trunk off-- keeping it balanced overall-- but the tools we had were not adequate. I pocketed the charm though for future potential modification.
The funny thing was that the charm selection was particularly geared towards MEN! I assume this is because this was not the first time this class was held, and all of the feminine charms have been picked out each time, but the masculine charms remained behind. Available for selection were: Hammer, Hand Miter Saw, Dykes/Pliers, Classic Car (I got the last one), Skull, Scimitar, Dagger, Axe, Pistol (think Western). The second largest theme of charms were Native American: Kokopelli, Arrow Head, Indian Head with Feathered Headdress. (There was also a toothbrush of all things!)
OH! I forgot the BEST part! Each necklace cost $16.00 instead of the ridiculous price Scott and I were considering paying from a magazine last fall, and I think what I came up with is more personal than the options they had anyway. The tools are particularly suited to myself and Scott!
After locket making, I fit in lunch, then ran to choir only to find out there WASN'T choir today. I read the daily program wrong (or rather didn't read it at all???). But then it was only a few minutes til the start of the behind the scenes tour.
The tour was GREAT! We saw so much that we will be posting a separate blog post just to talk about the Behind the Scenes Ship Tour! Check it out!
No video or photos were allowed on the behind the scenes ship tour, but our souvenirs were: 1) a picture of all of us on stage in the theater; 2) a Cunard branded kitchen apron; and 3) a pin that says "Behind the Scene's Tour" over images of the Cunard Ships. We also had our picture taken with the Captain while sitting in the Captain's chair wearing a Captain's hat. Those pictures are presumably available for purchase in the Photo Shop. We haven't seen ours yet. We will go check them out tomorrow or the next day. (We later checked them out and decided they weren’t good enough to pay $25.00 each!)
Overall a wonderful, wonderful tour, and I'm glad it was because it cost $120 per person!
We are going to try to get on the Queen Mary 2 Behind the Scenes tour as well so that we can compare any differences.
It would have been nice to see the Crew Mess Hall, and a Crew Cabin, but no such luck.
At dinner, our Aussie friends told me that they had spent time today on a mission to get Erich a beard. Of all things! I was so happy that they did such a nice thing for me! They found a woman on board this morning who knits every day in a coffee lounge and she is willing to do it for free because she thinks it’s just wonderful that I'm carrying this bear around the world. Apparently, I am supposed to watch her do it so I can tell her how big to make the beard! I think this is such a wonderful idea, so we are going to try to meet this woman the day after tomorrow– since tomorrow is a Port Day.
We did gym as usual and then had a pizza for a snack. Dinner was actually wonderful today– Tuna Sashimi and Chicken Curry (Indian style). But it was a bit lighter than usual so we were both needing a bit more calories– hence the pizza.
Tomorrow we will be going snorkeling in the Philippines! It should be fun!
[Davin Interjection: I just wanted to mention that our workout schedule is to alternate every other sea day between weight lifting, and cardio on the virtual reality exercise bike. The VR exercise bikes are called “Trixter”. They have a video game built in, where you have to outrun AI racers, and where the difficulty varies depending on whether you are going up or down hill.
Believe it or not, the game makes this exercise a heck of a lot more fun! Back on the Pacific Princess, I was using the normal exercise bike and just pedaling away, and while I always managed to force my way through it, it was just grueling. Having an actual goal (ex: get to the top of this hill; don’t let those guys pass me!), and a terrain that varies improves the experience a lot. I don’t even mind doing the exercise bike now, even though it can still be grueling. Technically the bike also allows you to steer it, but that sucks (too clunky and unresponsive), so I just set the steering to automatic and use it as an exercise bike.
Not too many people use these VR exercise bikes either (probably most don’t realize you can set the steering to automatic). There’s someone named DC305 who is the only person to make it to the end of the game (at least since it was last reset). I suspect he was either on a world cruise or on the crew, because it takes a long time to get through all the stages (based on his times, I suspect the crew since most world cruisers are 75+).
Anyway, he is in pretty damn good shape, because a lot of his times are like 30 seconds better than mine! I’ll keep working at it though! I’ve managed to beat him a few times!
As for weight lifting, it’s actually somewhat problematic for me because it badly exacerbates my dizziness problems. After completing 5 overhead press reps and 5 squats, I feel almost on the border of losing consciousness. I just work through it though, after all, it’s not like I have any other choice.
That being said, considering most people don’t even exercise when there’s nothing wrong with them, I think it’s testament to my incredible stubbornness that I refuse to give up even in the face of my problems!]
Kristin Reporting!
March 2nd:
Well, ladies and gentleman, we’ve crossed the equator yet again. We have returned to the northern hemisphere (and, theoretically, we have returned to winter!). So, today we had the opportunity to watch the Queen Elizabeth (Cunard) version of the "Crossing the Equator" ceremony. It was interesting to be able to compare their ceremony to the one we saw on the Pacific Princess.
Overall, the Pacific Princess ceremony wins the “Best Crossing the Equator Ceremony” award! There were a lot of similarities between the two ceremonies, but the main differences were: 1) today’s Cunard event allowed more guests to be covered in food which is great for those participating but increases the boredom of the spectators as the process drags on; 2) the Princess Cruise event had more of a story and was a legitimately funny show– so it was hands down more fun and more entertaining.
[Davin Interjection: The Pacific Princess’s event also had a bit more risque commentary, so maybe it was too low brow for Cunard?]
Next, D had the excellent idea to take advantage of the pancake station (today's special lunch buffet food station– it changes daily) to have breakfast for lunch! These pancakes were more like American pancakes (thicker) than the crepe style pancakes that are served every day at the breakfast buffet. The recipe isn't quite right, but it's probably the closest I've ever tasted to our homemade batter so it was quite an enjoyable meal. We will save our remaining syrup to take advantage of this station again in the future. I have no idea how long it will be before it comes around again.
D and I are watching/listening to MSNBC's coverage of Super Tuesday when 11 different states are holding their Presidential Primary Elections. It's pretty interesting! Trump is kicking ass, because the other guys are splitting the vote. To stop him, either Cruz or Rubio need to drop out but they are neck and neck and refuse to do it! It's sort of hilarious. Meanwhile, Hilary Clinton is currently running away with the Democratic nomination.
I’ve been working on our family and company accounts and need to go online to gather information or to put through payments. Before I connect, I make a list of what I need to do. Once I’m online, I must work on all items on the list simultaneously because of the delay for any one website to load. I’ll have 5-6 (or more!) different website tabs loading at the same time, then I click down the line of tabs entering passwords (etc.), and continue the task process on any pages that have successfully loaded, and skip the ones that aren’t ready to continue. It would be quite confusing if it weren’t for my pre-made handy-dandy list which keeps me on track. To me, going online is like playing a computer game. I have to accomplish all of my goals online in as few minutes as possible to preserve my total remaining minutes! (As ‘Gold’ members, we get two hours of free internet time per cruise ‘leg’. We try not to have to buy more, but if I do need to buy more, I try to do that on the couple days per cruise when they offer a “10 percent bonus” to the internet time purchased.) Let's see how quickly I got through my 'Online' list from today: 30 minutes gone– ouch!
March 3rd:
Today I did very little but watch the news and learn fascinating things about the Republican Presidential Primary! MSNBC is so interesting!
I can't believe what is happening with Donald Trump. It is an outrage that people are publicly supporting him when he is promoting hatred– stating he will ban Muslim immigration, screaming "Out! Out! Out!" at a black woman who was at his rally as his hordes of supporters push and shove her violently out the door, and he seriously wants to build a wall along Mexico like the Great Wall of China to keep illegal immigrants out. He has been publicly endorsed by the leader of the KKK and white supremacist groups! The Republican party is scrambling to stop him from winning the nomination because he’s crossed a line which, in any decent modern society, cannot be crossed.
March 4th:
Today I woke up after having another great dream idea. I want to develop it into a single book. I didn't bother to write the story out like other dreams I've had because I'd like to make it into a book someday.
I skipped choir today for two reasons. First, I developed a sore throat last night... I am taking zinc lozenges. I don't think it would be wise to go sing. Second, today at 1:30pm one of the craft classes that I've been waiting for was finally happening!
I went to the 1:30pm class to make a travel water color set. This is a really cool paint palette that packs flat but has 55 colors to use! The colors when concentrated in the pack are very dark, so you can't get a true sense of the color variety that is in the set from the picture. We started with two sheets of water color paper, glued them together, had to design the size (height and width) we needed, fold it, trim it, organize the 55 chips which were just given to us loose in a big jumble, decide what order we would glue them in, glue them down (I decided to make sure I could write their unique names down too), tape in the plastic sheet that will keep the wet colors from touching each other or the paper binding, use decorative tape to make it look nice, and finally glue in the magnet closure.
The class had the option to make a 15 color book for $8.00 or the 55 color book for $24.00. Only 4 of us did the large book. The other three ladies took about the same amount of time as I did. The whole project took me 2.5 hours!
I also bought two 'Aqua Brushes' for $8.00 each. A fine one, and a thick one. It’s like a pen but you fill the end with water and then you can water color with no need of a cup to dip your brush in. It is self rinsing too-- you squeeze it to let out clean water and wipe it with a napkin.
It's a very awesome kit.
I'll try it out in early April-- I have to catch up on the blog, then learn Japanese, then tour one week in Japan. So, realistically I won't have free time to play with paint until we get back on board on March 24th. (Note from the future: As I edit this entry on April 11, 2016, I can note that I STILL don’t have time! Ahhhhh! This blog which is totally amazing and awesome has consumed my entire life! But, I have used the water color kit to add color to an ink painting I did, and to paint two birthday cards for Davin.)
After dinner, we did the gym and jacuzzi.
We’ve also made friends with two Australians, Nikola and Andrew, who sit next to us at dinner. They invited us to go dancing at 9:15pm. D said, “No”, but I said that I'd bring my bear to take pictures with them! So, enjoy the attached pics. Andy says that Erich needs a red beard! He hopes I will sew him one by the time they come to visit us in San Diego. He says Scott sounds like a real cool dude. He has an classic Mustang imported from Michigan, so he is excited that Scott is into cars and offroading. I'm happy I could make some friends on this trip. We are welcome to visit them when I get Scott to Australia someday.
Time for one Babylon 5 and then bed!
March 5th:
I had a GREAT day today!
First I'm so thrilled by the lockets that I got to make for myself and Scott! I particularly love Scott’s. I made them at the 10AM craft class. Again, I was the last one to leave! I take my crafting seriously!
I did not expect them to provide the charms to put inside. The teacher is quite clever and the charms are actually charm bracelet charms, not charms made for this kind of necklace. So, sometimes the charms are too big. For example, there was a classic car that I would have liked to try in Scott’s, but it was too big. I think it could have been modified by trimming a bit of the engine and trunk off-- keeping it balanced overall-- but the tools we had were not adequate. I pocketed the charm though for future potential modification.
The funny thing was that the charm selection was particularly geared towards MEN! I assume this is because this was not the first time this class was held, and all of the feminine charms have been picked out each time, but the masculine charms remained behind. Available for selection were: Hammer, Hand Miter Saw, Dykes/Pliers, Classic Car (I got the last one), Skull, Scimitar, Dagger, Axe, Pistol (think Western). The second largest theme of charms were Native American: Kokopelli, Arrow Head, Indian Head with Feathered Headdress. (There was also a toothbrush of all things!)
OH! I forgot the BEST part! Each necklace cost $16.00 instead of the ridiculous price Scott and I were considering paying from a magazine last fall, and I think what I came up with is more personal than the options they had anyway. The tools are particularly suited to myself and Scott!
After locket making, I fit in lunch, then ran to choir only to find out there WASN'T choir today. I read the daily program wrong (or rather didn't read it at all???). But then it was only a few minutes til the start of the behind the scenes tour.
The tour was GREAT! We saw so much that we will be posting a separate blog post just to talk about the Behind the Scenes Ship Tour! Check it out!
No video or photos were allowed on the behind the scenes ship tour, but our souvenirs were: 1) a picture of all of us on stage in the theater; 2) a Cunard branded kitchen apron; and 3) a pin that says "Behind the Scene's Tour" over images of the Cunard Ships. We also had our picture taken with the Captain while sitting in the Captain's chair wearing a Captain's hat. Those pictures are presumably available for purchase in the Photo Shop. We haven't seen ours yet. We will go check them out tomorrow or the next day. (We later checked them out and decided they weren’t good enough to pay $25.00 each!)
Overall a wonderful, wonderful tour, and I'm glad it was because it cost $120 per person!
We are going to try to get on the Queen Mary 2 Behind the Scenes tour as well so that we can compare any differences.
It would have been nice to see the Crew Mess Hall, and a Crew Cabin, but no such luck.
At dinner, our Aussie friends told me that they had spent time today on a mission to get Erich a beard. Of all things! I was so happy that they did such a nice thing for me! They found a woman on board this morning who knits every day in a coffee lounge and she is willing to do it for free because she thinks it’s just wonderful that I'm carrying this bear around the world. Apparently, I am supposed to watch her do it so I can tell her how big to make the beard! I think this is such a wonderful idea, so we are going to try to meet this woman the day after tomorrow– since tomorrow is a Port Day.
We did gym as usual and then had a pizza for a snack. Dinner was actually wonderful today– Tuna Sashimi and Chicken Curry (Indian style). But it was a bit lighter than usual so we were both needing a bit more calories– hence the pizza.
Tomorrow we will be going snorkeling in the Philippines! It should be fun!
[Davin Interjection: I just wanted to mention that our workout schedule is to alternate every other sea day between weight lifting, and cardio on the virtual reality exercise bike. The VR exercise bikes are called “Trixter”. They have a video game built in, where you have to outrun AI racers, and where the difficulty varies depending on whether you are going up or down hill.
Believe it or not, the game makes this exercise a heck of a lot more fun! Back on the Pacific Princess, I was using the normal exercise bike and just pedaling away, and while I always managed to force my way through it, it was just grueling. Having an actual goal (ex: get to the top of this hill; don’t let those guys pass me!), and a terrain that varies improves the experience a lot. I don’t even mind doing the exercise bike now, even though it can still be grueling. Technically the bike also allows you to steer it, but that sucks (too clunky and unresponsive), so I just set the steering to automatic and use it as an exercise bike.
Not too many people use these VR exercise bikes either (probably most don’t realize you can set the steering to automatic). There’s someone named DC305 who is the only person to make it to the end of the game (at least since it was last reset). I suspect he was either on a world cruise or on the crew, because it takes a long time to get through all the stages (based on his times, I suspect the crew since most world cruisers are 75+).
Anyway, he is in pretty damn good shape, because a lot of his times are like 30 seconds better than mine! I’ll keep working at it though! I’ve managed to beat him a few times!
As for weight lifting, it’s actually somewhat problematic for me because it badly exacerbates my dizziness problems. After completing 5 overhead press reps and 5 squats, I feel almost on the border of losing consciousness. I just work through it though, after all, it’s not like I have any other choice.
That being said, considering most people don’t even exercise when there’s nothing wrong with them, I think it’s testament to my incredible stubbornness that I refuse to give up even in the face of my problems!]
Rabaul, Papua New Guinea (March 1, 2016)
Reading Length: Afternoon Cuppa Tea
Kristin Reporting!
Papua New Guinea is one of the two stops on our trip that my Travel Clinic Doctor recommended that I take malaria medication to visit. As such, we started taking malaria medicine two days ago, and we will have to take one pill a day for the next seven days also. That’s nine days of taking pills for one day of possible exposure to malaria! Ridiculous, huh? But, better to be safe than sorry!
To prepare for going outside, we doused ourselves liberally with bug spray. We accidentally overdid it– this being our first time using the spray– and made it difficult to breathe in our cabin for a few minutes!
Our tour didn't leave until 12:45PM, so we slept in this morning. We planned to check out the donuts in the Commodore Club (served from 10AM to 12PM) but when we went by, we didn't see anything. (We checked back a few days later and saw the donuts, and just kept on walking... they were very unappetizing!)
We went outside to take in the view off the back of the ship and saw a very undeveloped town. You could walk right off the ship onto a street lined with local people selling colorful cloths, jewelry, and other wares. It didn't look promising in terms of seeing anything really interesting. Rabaul, Papua New Guinea looked to be the poorest and most undeveloped place in the world we've ever visited (so far!).
In the end, our slow start this morning meant that we didn't have time to go exploring before we needed to meet up for our afternoon tour. I took advantage of the little time we had to take Erich on deck to get some photos with the picturesque tropical scenery.
We checked-in to our tour and we were loaded onto tour vans. Each van held about 8 people. The weather was miserably hot, and terribly humid. We sat for some time in the van, just waiting, and melting. (There was little-to-no breeze.) This was particularly unpleasant for some of the older people in the van with us. Sweat was rolling down our arms, backs and faces while we sat there, waiting. It was hot enough that I think it would be a potential medical concern for sensitive people. I also wore long sleeves and long pants to protect myself from mosquito exposure.
[Davin Interjection: Fortunately, I was able to sit in the front seat of the van. There is a serious problem whenever I ride in a van that I literally will not fit in the seats. Even sitting with my back all the way against the seat, my leg bone will be too long to fit between my seat and the seat in front! Being tall isn’t always a plus, as I mentioned before!]
Once we finally got moving, we drove through Rabaul and took in its lack of development. The van ride took quite some time to reach the first destination. Our tour guide, a local woman, explained that the road we were driving on was a dirt road because the volcanic eruption of 1994(!) caused the existing road to be buried. After the eruption, the landscape looked like a desert of ash. Now, some twenty years later, the landscape is lush, tropical, and so thick you cannot see anything through it. In some cases, nature can bounce back fast!
[Davin Interjection: Unfortunately, the road hasn’t bounced back nearly as fast, since it’s still gone after more than 20 years! I think that tells you a bit about the economy of this place!]
The first stop was at a "museum" about the Japanese occupation of the island during WW2. I use the term "museum" extremely loosely. The many guides (1 per van) did not provide any explanation, and it turned out to be a property containing dilapidated Japanese war vehicles, and some massive artillery shells and bombs that had turned out to be duds. Some vehicles were twisted metal wrecks. All of them were rusting and falling apart. Taken individually, some of them could be considered works of art– they looked pretty cool and would certainly make awesome yard decorations!
[Davin Interjection: The war museum was really not at all what I was expecting. Seeing some of the equipment was cool, and I didn’t mind seeing it, but most of it really was just broken down scrap. The description of the tour kind of oversold this place. To make matters worse, this tour was quite expensive, at over $100 each, despite it being such an undeveloped country. I guess the country was undeveloped to the point that actually finding someone who could scrape together some vans and guides was difficult, thus requiring a high price?]
During this 15 minutes "museum" stop, we went straight to the "office" to ask about buying a postcard. There was a sign saying they sold postcards, but inside the office we discovered they had only about 6 left, and they looked quite old. Most of them were of some tribal artwork which we had not seen. One postcard showed a dilapidated Japanese vehicle from WW2. It was the only one of its kind, and when we flipped it over we saw that the postcard was printed in 1991! It's as old as Scott! The back is covered in yellow age spots. I offered the guy $1.00 for this postcard, but he gave it to us for free! That was really nice of him, and I think he felt bad at the idea of selling us a 20 year old postcard! Lol! (It turned out that there would be no other opportunity to buy a postcard on our visit to Papua New Guinea, so getting this postcard really saved our postcard door project!)
[Davin Interjection: Getting the postcard was incredibly lucky! Unfortunately, Rabaul looked like about the last place that someone would think to make a postcard for.]
Also, in the middle of this war artifact museum, for no stated reason, there was one traditional wooden house that we could go inside and admire the tribal artifacts that were contained within. It was also sprinkling on and off at this time, so we just got wet because we did not bring rain jackets. The heat was miserable enough without putting a rain jacket over the top. Plus the addition of a little rain water was hardly noticeable in our already sweat soaked clothing.
The second stop of the tour was to a cemetery dedicated to all of the Allied forces who lost their lives on or around Rabaul. There were mostly Australian and Indian soldiers buried at the cemetery, and many memorial markers stated "an unknown soldier" of one of those two countries. There were two really amazingly huge trees outside the cemetery, and the trees had other plants growing on their trunks and branches! That was pretty amazing to see– botanically speaking.
[Davin Interjection: I saw one cool thing on the drive out to the war memorial. It started to rain and a woman and a boy, presumably her son, just picked some large leaves to use as umbrellas! Crazily enough, the leaves on some of the plants in the jungle were large enough that they actually could serve as a decent umbrella! ]
We were both feeling pretty underwhelmed about the tour at this point. There was one stop left– the Japanese Tunnels. This was by far the best stop of the tour, but was not especially great either– just historically interesting. The Japanese dug massive tunnel compounds into the hills of Rabaul and used them as military bases. The vans dropped us at a tunnel entrance and we entered the dirt tunnels. There was nothing inside them to make them more interesting (for example, desks or cots to show how it would have looked during the war.)
It was literally just dirt tunnels that a short man could stand up straight in. Davin had to bend over the vast majority of the time. The guides really failed to guide us. Mostly we wandered at random and avoided going down tunnels that had absolutely no light in them. There were only a handful of tunnels with light in them, so we didn't really get a good feeling for how massive this tunnel complex may really have been. We saw many pitch black tunnel entrances, but the area we visited was very small. So, who knows?
As the bus returned us to the ship, we got a close up view of the wares being sold on the street out in front of the port. All jewelry, colorful cloth, etc. So, we knew there was nothing of interest out there for us– no postcards. As such, when we got back to the ship, we decided we had gotten enough of a taste of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. The ship was also leaving really early today-- at 4:30pm so we would have only had 30 minutes to an hour to explore anyway.
We spent the evening in the usual fashion after a day in port-- relaxing and recovering from the draining heat of the day. I also took photographs of the island from Deck 9 of the ship. One thing that must be acknowledged about Papua New Guinea is that it is a truly beautiful tropical island. However, standing outside to admire its beauty is extremely uncomfortable. It is better admired while sitting inside the air-conditioned buffet restaurant and sipping an afternoon cup of tea!
We now have four sea days ahead of us before we finally reach land again!
[Davin Interjection: I thought just driving around the island and seeing how things are was interesting. The roads were all in pretty bad condition, with some parts totally washed out, and others filled with pot holes. The van had to drive on the wrong side of the street as often as not, because of the street condition!
There weren’t that many people on the roads either, with the exception of one part of one of the main towns, where the street was a little bit busy. It’s interesting how the modern world of cars has invaded even places like this which are out in the middle of nowhere. I suppose that maybe this is the last frontier?
The people of Rabaul all seemed very friendly and happy to see us. I just wonder how they’re going to move beyond where they are now? There are plenty of countries out there with cheap labor, where factories and infrastructure are already in place. It’s going to take a lot of cruise ships visiting Rabaul to push this place fully into the 20th century.
Out in the forest, we saw some people who were living more of a traditional life, with subsistence farms, and, at this point, I sort of question whether they might not be better off than those trying to live in the semi-modern cities?
But, then again, everyone seemed happy, so maybe I’m not measuring by the right standard? After all, we have many unhappy people in the United States, and our country routinely ranks lower than Mexico in terms of happiness, and we’re arguably the most developed country in the world. There’s clearly a lot more to life than technological and economic development.]
Next Stop: Puerta Princess, Philippines (March 6, 2016)
Kristin Reporting!
Papua New Guinea is one of the two stops on our trip that my Travel Clinic Doctor recommended that I take malaria medication to visit. As such, we started taking malaria medicine two days ago, and we will have to take one pill a day for the next seven days also. That’s nine days of taking pills for one day of possible exposure to malaria! Ridiculous, huh? But, better to be safe than sorry!
To prepare for going outside, we doused ourselves liberally with bug spray. We accidentally overdid it– this being our first time using the spray– and made it difficult to breathe in our cabin for a few minutes!
Our tour didn't leave until 12:45PM, so we slept in this morning. We planned to check out the donuts in the Commodore Club (served from 10AM to 12PM) but when we went by, we didn't see anything. (We checked back a few days later and saw the donuts, and just kept on walking... they were very unappetizing!)
We went outside to take in the view off the back of the ship and saw a very undeveloped town. You could walk right off the ship onto a street lined with local people selling colorful cloths, jewelry, and other wares. It didn't look promising in terms of seeing anything really interesting. Rabaul, Papua New Guinea looked to be the poorest and most undeveloped place in the world we've ever visited (so far!).
In the end, our slow start this morning meant that we didn't have time to go exploring before we needed to meet up for our afternoon tour. I took advantage of the little time we had to take Erich on deck to get some photos with the picturesque tropical scenery.
We checked-in to our tour and we were loaded onto tour vans. Each van held about 8 people. The weather was miserably hot, and terribly humid. We sat for some time in the van, just waiting, and melting. (There was little-to-no breeze.) This was particularly unpleasant for some of the older people in the van with us. Sweat was rolling down our arms, backs and faces while we sat there, waiting. It was hot enough that I think it would be a potential medical concern for sensitive people. I also wore long sleeves and long pants to protect myself from mosquito exposure.
[Davin Interjection: Fortunately, I was able to sit in the front seat of the van. There is a serious problem whenever I ride in a van that I literally will not fit in the seats. Even sitting with my back all the way against the seat, my leg bone will be too long to fit between my seat and the seat in front! Being tall isn’t always a plus, as I mentioned before!]
Once we finally got moving, we drove through Rabaul and took in its lack of development. The van ride took quite some time to reach the first destination. Our tour guide, a local woman, explained that the road we were driving on was a dirt road because the volcanic eruption of 1994(!) caused the existing road to be buried. After the eruption, the landscape looked like a desert of ash. Now, some twenty years later, the landscape is lush, tropical, and so thick you cannot see anything through it. In some cases, nature can bounce back fast!
[Davin Interjection: Unfortunately, the road hasn’t bounced back nearly as fast, since it’s still gone after more than 20 years! I think that tells you a bit about the economy of this place!]
The first stop was at a "museum" about the Japanese occupation of the island during WW2. I use the term "museum" extremely loosely. The many guides (1 per van) did not provide any explanation, and it turned out to be a property containing dilapidated Japanese war vehicles, and some massive artillery shells and bombs that had turned out to be duds. Some vehicles were twisted metal wrecks. All of them were rusting and falling apart. Taken individually, some of them could be considered works of art– they looked pretty cool and would certainly make awesome yard decorations!
[Davin Interjection: The war museum was really not at all what I was expecting. Seeing some of the equipment was cool, and I didn’t mind seeing it, but most of it really was just broken down scrap. The description of the tour kind of oversold this place. To make matters worse, this tour was quite expensive, at over $100 each, despite it being such an undeveloped country. I guess the country was undeveloped to the point that actually finding someone who could scrape together some vans and guides was difficult, thus requiring a high price?]
During this 15 minutes "museum" stop, we went straight to the "office" to ask about buying a postcard. There was a sign saying they sold postcards, but inside the office we discovered they had only about 6 left, and they looked quite old. Most of them were of some tribal artwork which we had not seen. One postcard showed a dilapidated Japanese vehicle from WW2. It was the only one of its kind, and when we flipped it over we saw that the postcard was printed in 1991! It's as old as Scott! The back is covered in yellow age spots. I offered the guy $1.00 for this postcard, but he gave it to us for free! That was really nice of him, and I think he felt bad at the idea of selling us a 20 year old postcard! Lol! (It turned out that there would be no other opportunity to buy a postcard on our visit to Papua New Guinea, so getting this postcard really saved our postcard door project!)
 |
| The Ultimate Swiss Army Knife! |
Also, in the middle of this war artifact museum, for no stated reason, there was one traditional wooden house that we could go inside and admire the tribal artifacts that were contained within. It was also sprinkling on and off at this time, so we just got wet because we did not bring rain jackets. The heat was miserable enough without putting a rain jacket over the top. Plus the addition of a little rain water was hardly noticeable in our already sweat soaked clothing.
The second stop of the tour was to a cemetery dedicated to all of the Allied forces who lost their lives on or around Rabaul. There were mostly Australian and Indian soldiers buried at the cemetery, and many memorial markers stated "an unknown soldier" of one of those two countries. There were two really amazingly huge trees outside the cemetery, and the trees had other plants growing on their trunks and branches! That was pretty amazing to see– botanically speaking.
[Davin Interjection: I saw one cool thing on the drive out to the war memorial. It started to rain and a woman and a boy, presumably her son, just picked some large leaves to use as umbrellas! Crazily enough, the leaves on some of the plants in the jungle were large enough that they actually could serve as a decent umbrella! ]
We were both feeling pretty underwhelmed about the tour at this point. There was one stop left– the Japanese Tunnels. This was by far the best stop of the tour, but was not especially great either– just historically interesting. The Japanese dug massive tunnel compounds into the hills of Rabaul and used them as military bases. The vans dropped us at a tunnel entrance and we entered the dirt tunnels. There was nothing inside them to make them more interesting (for example, desks or cots to show how it would have looked during the war.)
It was literally just dirt tunnels that a short man could stand up straight in. Davin had to bend over the vast majority of the time. The guides really failed to guide us. Mostly we wandered at random and avoided going down tunnels that had absolutely no light in them. There were only a handful of tunnels with light in them, so we didn't really get a good feeling for how massive this tunnel complex may really have been. We saw many pitch black tunnel entrances, but the area we visited was very small. So, who knows?
As the bus returned us to the ship, we got a close up view of the wares being sold on the street out in front of the port. All jewelry, colorful cloth, etc. So, we knew there was nothing of interest out there for us– no postcards. As such, when we got back to the ship, we decided we had gotten enough of a taste of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. The ship was also leaving really early today-- at 4:30pm so we would have only had 30 minutes to an hour to explore anyway.
We spent the evening in the usual fashion after a day in port-- relaxing and recovering from the draining heat of the day. I also took photographs of the island from Deck 9 of the ship. One thing that must be acknowledged about Papua New Guinea is that it is a truly beautiful tropical island. However, standing outside to admire its beauty is extremely uncomfortable. It is better admired while sitting inside the air-conditioned buffet restaurant and sipping an afternoon cup of tea!
We now have four sea days ahead of us before we finally reach land again!
[Davin Interjection: I thought just driving around the island and seeing how things are was interesting. The roads were all in pretty bad condition, with some parts totally washed out, and others filled with pot holes. The van had to drive on the wrong side of the street as often as not, because of the street condition!
There weren’t that many people on the roads either, with the exception of one part of one of the main towns, where the street was a little bit busy. It’s interesting how the modern world of cars has invaded even places like this which are out in the middle of nowhere. I suppose that maybe this is the last frontier?
The people of Rabaul all seemed very friendly and happy to see us. I just wonder how they’re going to move beyond where they are now? There are plenty of countries out there with cheap labor, where factories and infrastructure are already in place. It’s going to take a lot of cruise ships visiting Rabaul to push this place fully into the 20th century.
Out in the forest, we saw some people who were living more of a traditional life, with subsistence farms, and, at this point, I sort of question whether they might not be better off than those trying to live in the semi-modern cities?
But, then again, everyone seemed happy, so maybe I’m not measuring by the right standard? After all, we have many unhappy people in the United States, and our country routinely ranks lower than Mexico in terms of happiness, and we’re arguably the most developed country in the world. There’s clearly a lot more to life than technological and economic development.]
Next Stop: Puerta Princess, Philippines (March 6, 2016)
Two Days at Seas (February 28, 2016 & February 29, 2016)
Reading Length: Afternoon Cuppa Tea
Kristin Reporting!
February 28th:
Today I sadly used up the last two glorious french toasts that we made way back at the Jenolan Caves cabin. They were “oh-so delicious”. I will miss them. <3 U French Toast 4-Ever!
D went to the grill and had a hamburger for his first meal of the day. He said, "Hey Kristin, these french fries were made by Rudi Sodamin also!" "Really??" I said, and grabbed one to eat. Immediately, I found there was no salt on them and they sucked. Ohhh, I remembered now. "Yep! Definitely made by Rudi!" I agreed. (Rudi Sodamin is the head chef on the Holland America Line. His choice picks are always low sodium and look at his last name. How can that be coincidence? Could that really be his real name?)
We spent the morning picking out shore excursions for the next leg of our voyage. All the way from Hong Kong, around Japan and back to Hong Kong. It took HOURS to work on this, and we can’t wait to get through to the end of the cruise so we don’t need to do this task anymore! We dropped off our choices at the tour office. We are toying with the idea of cancelling the Japan excursions before the deadline and just getting off the ship at the first Japan port and touring for one week on our own and then hopping back on in Hiroshima. We asked at the Purser's Office and they said we can totally do that if we want.
We found some Japan country guides in the library. I took pictures of the minuscule amount of language pages to help me brush up on my tourist Japanese which is all we'll need to get around. It's nice that my three years of Japanese study will be coming in handy again. (For the second time in my life– Yes! Hopefully I’ll come back one more time with Scott, and it will be useful again!)
Although I've forgotten most of my Japanese, my language skills come back quickly. Plus, despite it being eight years since I last spoke or read Japanese, I can still read the writing (Hiragana/Katakana-- I never learned much Kanji). It's actually interesting that I did not lose the ability to read the language, just most of the vocabulary and the more esoteric types of conjugation. And the vocabulary isn’t actually lost, it’s just buried. Once I hear a word that I used to know in a sentence, I remember it and its meaning and can effortlessly use that word again going forward. I don’t have to do any re-memorizing exercise nonsense. The human brain is very interesting.
More so because not every human brain is the same. In contrast to my experience, Davin lost the ability to speak and read Japanese entirely over the last nine years. His brain has held onto a handful of words and then confused even those few words’ meanings. While I was studying, he got interested enough to ask, “What does this phrase “_____” mean again?” Which led him to ask things like, “What is the toilet?” and “Who is the cost?” My god! He is lucky to have me around to do all the talking.
It’s nice that my brain talents will be superior to D’s (in terms of usefulness) for a change! Unlike D, I can’t remember dates or facts for the life of me. It puts me at a significant disadvantage in any debate. I remember my position firmly and I know that I formed my position based on facts and/or statistics but I cannot provide those details on the spot to others! D can read an article one time and have an intelligent conversation about the topic a year later. I consciously lose all details of an article after a matter of days without constant study and repetition which I never do because I’d have to do it every day for anything I ever read!
However, trusty language skills lie dormant in my subconscious. I guess I should have majored in language rather than history. My brain makes me the worst historian of all time! But I enjoyed my major and don’t consider it a waste. Instead, I consider my bachelor’s degree study to simply be the education all Americans should get in K-12 education. History classes in K-12 are a total embarrassment. There was too much repetition: You get one (or two) dumbed-down version of history in grades 1-8, and then they re-teach the same history with added detail in 9-12. There was almost no emphasis on modern world history: Each repetition of history never made it past WW2, and we never learned in detail about formative events in foreign countries from 1900 - present which had direct impact on our modern day wars and issues.
Anyway, we will decide tomorrow if we are going to do our own one week solo tour in Japan instead of staying on the ship.
I did another social activity today. I went to a Patchwork Animal sewing class. It was a nominal $6.00 fee. I could pick an Owl, a Fawn, or three minuscule dogs. The owl was extremely ugly, so I picked the fawn. It's a cute little baby deer! In the 45 minutes, I just had time to cut out all the pieces. The hostess, Janice, told us to come to the 3:00pm 'Knitters and Knatters' meeting to continue working on our projects. So, eventually I'll fit going to that sometime so that I can continue working on my fawn. (I was also going to go to a class this morning to make a patchwork turtle but I slept too long because I worked til 2AM. I figured one sewing class in a day was enough. That class may come back on the roster before this voyage is over too. The morning craft class is supposed to repeat eventually.)
Next it was dinner time. Another formal night, so D had to take the extra step of putting on his pre-made bow-tie! I had a broccoli flan which was actually pretty good, and D liked his rack of lamb. So far, so good as far as the food goes. I also had a cheddar cheese soup which was very flavorful, but I ran out of steam before I finished it-- a bit too rich!
After dinner, was the gym. A dreaded cardio day! On the Pacific Princess, I was in the habit of spending 30 minutes on the reclined bicycle because there was only one regular bicycle and Davin was using it. So, I now had the chance to upgrade to a regular bike machine. What a difference! The reclined bike is basically cheating in comparison! So, I had to change from 30 minutes down to only 10. My legs were mutinying almost from the get-go. D told me later that his legs were also tired today. I think all the walking in Sydney and then the recent shore excursions must be taking a bit of a toll on us! I did as hard a 10 minutes as I could stand, then I followed it up with 5 minutes on the hand bike. They actually have a hand bike machine! Exactly what Scott needs for cardio with his bad knees! It is so weird, and hard as hell. After just 5 minutes, I could tell my arms were going to be noodles and in pain tomorrow, so I called that a wrap.
Back from the gym, I wrapped up the day with some Babylon 5 and picture sorting.
February 29th:
We went to bed one hour earlier last night, but Davin didn't change the alarm this morning! That kind of annoyed me. We got up at 10:30am. I had an English Muffin for breakfast. Did some emailing, then went to the 1pm choir practice. D and I are working on our plan to get off in Nagasaki, Japan and re-board in Hiroshima, Japan– one week later. This way we will get more days (because the ship has 3 sea days during this period) and total freedom to see what we want.
At 4:15pm, I went to 'Coloring In' which was literally 5 old ladies coloring in templates with colored pencils. I knew that's what it would be but it seemed really stupid in person. Haha! I have so much better things to do. I stayed because it seemed too rude to leave! So, I have a partially colored in picture now.
Next, I settled down to do some bill paying/family accounting work. Also, some company bill paying. We decided to skip the sit down dinner today because the menu doesn't look very good, and I need a break from the rigamarole. Instead we planned to get a custom made pizza for dinner after we went to the gym. It was a weight lifting day.
After dinner, I spent an hour reading a Japan guidebook. Then, we went to the Juggler show at 10:30pm. He was good but juggling isn't really that amazing to watch. I felt he dropped his items too often for me to really be impressed, but to his credit he was doing extremely difficult tricks. Back at the room, it took me from 11:15pm til 1:00am to finish researching things to see in Japan. We can't do the whole list, but we now have a basis for planning our week now.
Tomorrow is our day in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. They have malaria there so we are going to cover up and wear bug spray. We started taking our malaria medicine two days ago. Happily our tour is in the afternoon so we can sleep in. Not planning to go ashore much, if at all, other than to do our guided tour. Apparently this place is so backwater they don't have taxis or even public buses. We plan to mail our postcards from the Philippines in case this place doesn't have a good postal system either!
Kristin Reporting!
February 28th:
Today I sadly used up the last two glorious french toasts that we made way back at the Jenolan Caves cabin. They were “oh-so delicious”. I will miss them. <3 U French Toast 4-Ever!
D went to the grill and had a hamburger for his first meal of the day. He said, "Hey Kristin, these french fries were made by Rudi Sodamin also!" "Really??" I said, and grabbed one to eat. Immediately, I found there was no salt on them and they sucked. Ohhh, I remembered now. "Yep! Definitely made by Rudi!" I agreed. (Rudi Sodamin is the head chef on the Holland America Line. His choice picks are always low sodium and look at his last name. How can that be coincidence? Could that really be his real name?)
We spent the morning picking out shore excursions for the next leg of our voyage. All the way from Hong Kong, around Japan and back to Hong Kong. It took HOURS to work on this, and we can’t wait to get through to the end of the cruise so we don’t need to do this task anymore! We dropped off our choices at the tour office. We are toying with the idea of cancelling the Japan excursions before the deadline and just getting off the ship at the first Japan port and touring for one week on our own and then hopping back on in Hiroshima. We asked at the Purser's Office and they said we can totally do that if we want.
We found some Japan country guides in the library. I took pictures of the minuscule amount of language pages to help me brush up on my tourist Japanese which is all we'll need to get around. It's nice that my three years of Japanese study will be coming in handy again. (For the second time in my life– Yes! Hopefully I’ll come back one more time with Scott, and it will be useful again!)
Although I've forgotten most of my Japanese, my language skills come back quickly. Plus, despite it being eight years since I last spoke or read Japanese, I can still read the writing (Hiragana/Katakana-- I never learned much Kanji). It's actually interesting that I did not lose the ability to read the language, just most of the vocabulary and the more esoteric types of conjugation. And the vocabulary isn’t actually lost, it’s just buried. Once I hear a word that I used to know in a sentence, I remember it and its meaning and can effortlessly use that word again going forward. I don’t have to do any re-memorizing exercise nonsense. The human brain is very interesting.
More so because not every human brain is the same. In contrast to my experience, Davin lost the ability to speak and read Japanese entirely over the last nine years. His brain has held onto a handful of words and then confused even those few words’ meanings. While I was studying, he got interested enough to ask, “What does this phrase “_____” mean again?” Which led him to ask things like, “What is the toilet?” and “Who is the cost?” My god! He is lucky to have me around to do all the talking.
 |
| More islands! |
However, trusty language skills lie dormant in my subconscious. I guess I should have majored in language rather than history. My brain makes me the worst historian of all time! But I enjoyed my major and don’t consider it a waste. Instead, I consider my bachelor’s degree study to simply be the education all Americans should get in K-12 education. History classes in K-12 are a total embarrassment. There was too much repetition: You get one (or two) dumbed-down version of history in grades 1-8, and then they re-teach the same history with added detail in 9-12. There was almost no emphasis on modern world history: Each repetition of history never made it past WW2, and we never learned in detail about formative events in foreign countries from 1900 - present which had direct impact on our modern day wars and issues.
Anyway, we will decide tomorrow if we are going to do our own one week solo tour in Japan instead of staying on the ship.
I did another social activity today. I went to a Patchwork Animal sewing class. It was a nominal $6.00 fee. I could pick an Owl, a Fawn, or three minuscule dogs. The owl was extremely ugly, so I picked the fawn. It's a cute little baby deer! In the 45 minutes, I just had time to cut out all the pieces. The hostess, Janice, told us to come to the 3:00pm 'Knitters and Knatters' meeting to continue working on our projects. So, eventually I'll fit going to that sometime so that I can continue working on my fawn. (I was also going to go to a class this morning to make a patchwork turtle but I slept too long because I worked til 2AM. I figured one sewing class in a day was enough. That class may come back on the roster before this voyage is over too. The morning craft class is supposed to repeat eventually.)
Next it was dinner time. Another formal night, so D had to take the extra step of putting on his pre-made bow-tie! I had a broccoli flan which was actually pretty good, and D liked his rack of lamb. So far, so good as far as the food goes. I also had a cheddar cheese soup which was very flavorful, but I ran out of steam before I finished it-- a bit too rich!
After dinner, was the gym. A dreaded cardio day! On the Pacific Princess, I was in the habit of spending 30 minutes on the reclined bicycle because there was only one regular bicycle and Davin was using it. So, I now had the chance to upgrade to a regular bike machine. What a difference! The reclined bike is basically cheating in comparison! So, I had to change from 30 minutes down to only 10. My legs were mutinying almost from the get-go. D told me later that his legs were also tired today. I think all the walking in Sydney and then the recent shore excursions must be taking a bit of a toll on us! I did as hard a 10 minutes as I could stand, then I followed it up with 5 minutes on the hand bike. They actually have a hand bike machine! Exactly what Scott needs for cardio with his bad knees! It is so weird, and hard as hell. After just 5 minutes, I could tell my arms were going to be noodles and in pain tomorrow, so I called that a wrap.
Back from the gym, I wrapped up the day with some Babylon 5 and picture sorting.
February 29th:
We went to bed one hour earlier last night, but Davin didn't change the alarm this morning! That kind of annoyed me. We got up at 10:30am. I had an English Muffin for breakfast. Did some emailing, then went to the 1pm choir practice. D and I are working on our plan to get off in Nagasaki, Japan and re-board in Hiroshima, Japan– one week later. This way we will get more days (because the ship has 3 sea days during this period) and total freedom to see what we want.
At 4:15pm, I went to 'Coloring In' which was literally 5 old ladies coloring in templates with colored pencils. I knew that's what it would be but it seemed really stupid in person. Haha! I have so much better things to do. I stayed because it seemed too rude to leave! So, I have a partially colored in picture now.
Next, I settled down to do some bill paying/family accounting work. Also, some company bill paying. We decided to skip the sit down dinner today because the menu doesn't look very good, and I need a break from the rigamarole. Instead we planned to get a custom made pizza for dinner after we went to the gym. It was a weight lifting day.
After dinner, I spent an hour reading a Japan guidebook. Then, we went to the Juggler show at 10:30pm. He was good but juggling isn't really that amazing to watch. I felt he dropped his items too often for me to really be impressed, but to his credit he was doing extremely difficult tricks. Back at the room, it took me from 11:15pm til 1:00am to finish researching things to see in Japan. We can't do the whole list, but we now have a basis for planning our week now.
Tomorrow is our day in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. They have malaria there so we are going to cover up and wear bug spray. We started taking our malaria medicine two days ago. Happily our tour is in the afternoon so we can sleep in. Not planning to go ashore much, if at all, other than to do our guided tour. Apparently this place is so backwater they don't have taxis or even public buses. We plan to mail our postcards from the Philippines in case this place doesn't have a good postal system either!
Cairns, Australia (February 27, 2016)
Reading Length: Giant Tub ‘o’ Popcorn
Kristin Reporting!
Today started off with some heartbreak since the policy on this cruise line differs from anything we have experienced before. Sadly, we missed the snorkel of the barrier reef! My tears got us a refund at least, and we headed into town to find a replacement activity.
We spent two hours searching for an option. We actually could have gone to snorkel at the Green Island but the return wasn't until 5:20pm, and with no passport in case the worst happened (missing the ship), we just couldn't risk going. Everything was booked solid! It was our bad luck to be there on a Saturday. Ultimately we ended up in a tour agency and the kind woman there helped us find something, which was a scenic helicopter ride out over the reef and back.
[Davin Interjection: I think that if I had it to do over again, I would be more inclined to risk the Green Island tour. Our experience since then has shown that the “last bus” actually leaves quite a few minutes after the claimed time, and the ship also doesn’t usually just leave you behind without doing a cursory search to find you first (it can happen sometimes, but it’s not the standard).
We’d only have been a couple minutes late at getting back at worst (unless the return boat totally broke down, which would have been a totally unforseen event), and very possibly on time. Papua New Guinea wasn’t that great anyway, so in the worst case we could probably have had our passports mailed back and just flown into the Philippines.]
The kind tourist agency woman told us a little something about the shady practices of cruise ship companies when it comes to shore excursions. She said that people getting off cruise ships tell her all the time that the cruise ship charges over $100.00 more than the local tour groups per person, and no one can get off the ship before almost every Great Barrier Reef tour has left for the day. In this way, the cruise ship companies have a monopoly on selling their own Great Barrier Reef snorkel tours and ripping off all of the passengers in the process! (This isn't the case in every situation, as we have done our own comparisons and have found the mark-ups to be usually $25.00 to $50.00, which is well worth the convenience and guarantee to return to the ship and not be left behind.)
One explanation for the extreme mark up in this case could be that it seems to be common practice for cruise ships to take local tour charges and convert them straight into US Dollars without changing the numbers to take into account exchange rate, and, in fact, usually bumping the numbers up a bit to make more profit. So, in this case where the Australian Dollar is weak compared to the US Dollar, the rip off is extreme. A local tour of the Great Barrier Reef may charge $180 AUD compared to the $250 USD the cruise ship was charging. After currency conversion, that is really $126.00 versus $250, or a mark-up of $124-- basically double the price! That’s insane, and totally uncool.
While I worked hard to find some fun way to spend the day, Davin was beside himself with disappointment and, in addition, had given up all hope of finding anything worth doing, and started throwing his hands in the air and declaring we should return to the ship.
Finally, thanks to the help of the tour agent, we had an $800 helicopter tour booked for 3:15pm, so we headed out to find some lunch. We called our Mom to commiserate, and then found our way to a Pizza Hut where we ordered the usual-- pineapple with diced tomato.
[Davin Interjection: The pizza was still not as good as the one we had in Sydney! It’s weird that these places all seem to follow roughly the same recipe, but the pizza still ends up being better in some places than others. Maybe there is some skill involved in making pizzas that transcends franchise instructions?]
We then had time to do a little grocery shopping, so we headed for a Cole's and stocked up on salsa and green tea. I also bought a razor because I apparently left my brand new one (from Hawaii) in Sydney! I'm hopeless! The line at Cole's was the longest line of all time despite having at least 10 self-checkouts and 6-8 manned registers! During this shopping visit, I learned that diapers are called 'nappies' and registers are more commonly referred to as 'tills'.
On the way back to our pick-up point for the helicopter tour, we passed a tree filled with bats! They were making a lot of racket and most were slightly moving their winds for some reason-- maybe they were hot too!
We got some delicious gelato. D got his usual favorites of coconut and banana. I got my usual favorite of... you guessed it!... CHOCOLATE!
While waiting for our pick-up at the Shangri-la Hotel, I had the opportunity to call Scott. The most handsomest man in the world then texted me "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!" Today is the sixth year anniversary of our first date, but only for me. For Scott it will be tomorrow thanks to our extreme time difference!
We got our ride to the helicopter staging area next to the airport, watched the safety video which told us how to assume the position if the pilot ever said, "Brace! Brace! Brace!” (I was like, hoooly shit, it better not come to that!) Three words that can immediately scare the shit out of someone: “Brace! Brace! Brace!” Lol!
I let Davin sit in the front of the helicopter by the pilot so he could look straight out the window, and I was in the back. We thought it was pretty cool that we had a female helicopter pilot, and she seemed to be about our age. We were lucky that we had the helicopter all to ourselves. They can fit a total of 4 passengers. It was a unique experience. It felt a little freaky at first as the helicopter can make very minute adjustments and it makes it feel very unstable.
Earlier in the day, Scott had actually googled and confirmed that flying in a helicopter is statistically safer than flying in an airplane. Flying in a combat helicopters is statistically not as safe as flying in an airplane, for obvious reasons.
Davin had no fear at all, and really enjoyed the experience. I think he enjoyed it more than me, as I had a bit of fear from the wobbling, and, after that went away, I started getting slightly nauseous because I was staring out the side window but we were flying straight ahead. That's just me and my sensitive stomach! It was nothing major but I was glad it was only a 30 minute ride.
[Davin Interjection: It was actually kind of funny, since I don’t actually like flying, but I just accepted the risk and had little concern at all for what happened. To be honest, my reason for not liking to fly on airplanes is also about the whole shitty experience of it, with seats too small for me to even sit in.]
Seeing the reef from the air was pretty impressive. Happily it convinced Davin that the snorkeling would not have been that much different from what we did in Kona, Hawaii. It was the same kind of shallow reef system. The really impressive stuff to see at the barrier reef must be from diving down along the reef shelves. In the end, snorkeling is really limited. Also, we avoided the risk of getting stung by the irakanji jellyfish which can kill you (but doesn't usually), and always make you deathly sick.
[Davin Interjection: Unfortunately, later on we met a passenger on board who said the GBR snorkel was amazing and they saw a bunch of awesome things like sharks, and green turtles, so it probably wasn’t quite like what we’ve seen before (we were supposed to do a shark tank viewing in Hawaii but it was cancelled due to rough seas). Whether we can see the same sort of thing at a closer location is another question. Besides those impressive large creatures, the smaller, numerous tropical fish are similar to elsewhere.]
Back at the helicopter office, we asked the receptionist if the locals snorkel much, and she said, "No, it just isn't worth the risk." Lol! So, I guess tourists come in and snorkel for one day, each taking the risk one time, and usually getting away with it, but the locals feel that to go more often is basically just asking for it! Pretty funny perspective of the whole industry. Cairns' economy is primarily fueled by tourism to the Great Barrier Reef.
I'm pretty certain that I saw a sea turtle and some kind of manta ray from the helicopter. Though we were 1,000 feet up (...but we both heard the pilot says climbing to 1000 meters... so maybe 3,000ish feet, but it looked more like 1,000, but whatever), the water was crystal clear and you could see right through it to the reef floor which was only 6-10 feet deep. Through that clear water I saw the sea turtle and manta ray.
The best thing about the helicopter ride was seeing how big each reef system really is. We flew over 4 different reefs in those few minutes, but in total the Great Barrier Reef spans 2,000 miles. We saw very pretty blue colors, and I hope I got some decent pictures. Sadly, the sand cay which was exposed due to low tide had people on it, so we missed the opportunity to land on it for 20 minutes and go in the water. This didn't bother us in the slightest though because at this point in the day we pretty much expected disappointment. On the bright side, we saved $160.00 which we would have had to pay additional if landing on the cay had been a success!
The helicopter agency gave us a ride back to the tender point and the tender delivered us back to the ship. As we were getting off the tender, Davin was only two people behind me. There was some "merging" traffic behind me, but by the time I got to the x-ray machines and looked back, there was no Davin or anyone else! So, I waited. Maybe two minutes passed, then people showed up, but not Davin. Now I was sure something had gone wrong. So, I headed back against the traffic. That's when I heard, "The man in front of me was dropping bottles all over the place." “Shit!” I thought. I knew immediately that Davin's bag with salsa bottles must have broken. I rounded the corner and he was just getting things under control. I was happy I had turned back before I’d gone through security as I wouldn’t have been allowed to go back at that point. D needed help carrying everything! Man... first London subway in 2014 when I dropped a salsa bottle at the ticket counter and it shattered, and now this! Salsa transport keeps trying to get us into trouble!
[Davin Interjection: The whole bag breaking thing was kind of funny. I didn’t realize it, but both of my bags were on the verge of breaking. As I was getting off the tender, one of the crew members told me to put a hand on my bag, but I didn’t understand what he was talking about. I thought he meant to grab the rail or something. As I was passing, he made a comment along the lines of “oh no, there’s going to be a mess.” In retrospect it’s kind of annoying that the guy didn’t communicate better– it should have been clear I didn’t understand what he meant. Maybe point out that the bag is breaking, not just say to put a hand on something...
In the end, the bag wasn’t actually the problem. I think if I could have just walked straight onto the ship and to the elevator, everything would have been fine. Unfortunately, the troubles started when I got to the point where I needed to get my ship card out to get checked back into the ship. The card was in my wallet, which was in my pocket, so I set my bags down on the chair of the person checking people in (for some reason she was standing), and that was when bottles started falling out everywhere.
One fell a good three or four feet to the floor and amazingly did not break! I guess the bottling companies in Australia don’t skimp on glass quality!]
Back in the room, we talked about the helicopter ride and how expensive it was in comparison to the snorkel we were originally going to go on. The snorkel was going to be $250.00 per person. The helicopter was $412.00 per person. That's when we had the sudden and glorious realization that the helicopter ride was $412 AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS per person. At the current exchange rate, that means about a 30% discount on the price! So, we actually paid (approximately) $288.40 per person for the helicopter ride. A whopping $30 more than we had planned to spend that day anyway! Granted, the helicopter ride was only 30 minutes, but everyone knows how expensive and luxurious helicopter rides are considered to be, and we had one for the price of a (very expensive) snorkel trip! What a deal! What a happy realization after the day started out with such woe. As neither of us had ever been on a helicopter before, that in itself was unique and, though totally unplanned so we can't take credit for thinking of it, it was a great decision to get the experience in a country with a currency so much weaker than our own.
I forgot to mention the horrible humidity not only continues to exist in this country, but it is getting progressively worse because we have gone further north-- back towards the dreaded equator. Over the past few days we have heard multiple passengers proclaim, "What a beautiful day!" Davin and I are just looking at ourselves and thinking, "Where the HECK do YOU live?" We are just walking around pouring sweat. YES! The sun is shining. Yes! It's a blue sky. If all I had were eyes-- YES! It's a beautiful day. But, I also have the sense of touch which includes feeling hot, and feeling sweat pooling on my brow, and feeling it pour down my face, and feeling it rain down my back. And there isn't enough of a breeze. It is NOT pleasant. It's disgusting!
[Davin Interjection: The people on board also seem to think that it’s great to lay out in the sun and get turned into lobsters, so I think they may just be nuts. I’ve seen so many people getting burned out by the pool it’s not even funny, and not just a little bit either, but bright red! If I get burned it’s because I made a mistake, like losing track of how long I’ve been in the water, and not reapplying sun screen in time.
With these people it seems like they don’t take even cursory precautions against being burned! I just don’t get it. You can’t just go out with pale, untanned skin, and lie in the equatorial sun for 30 minutes, let alone a couple of hours!]
In fact, at 5:45pm as we got back aboard the ship, it was still so hot and muggy outside that I said to D, "Hey! It's still so nasty outside, let's go in the pool for a cool dip. It will feel great!" So, we dropped our groceries in our room and headed to the pool. What an unpleasant surprise to walk into the pool and find that is was HEATED. (My thought was literally, “NOOOOOOOO!”) The pool is actually almost as hot as the (pathetic) jacuzzis! Lol! How disgusting! But it was fine in the end. I used the pool rinse-off showers to get cold and then I was happy to go in the warm pool and after that we transferred to the best of the not great jacuzzis.
All-in-all: It was a good day in the end!
[Davin Interjection: I thought the day was somewhat salvaged, but it was still a bad day overall. Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef was one of the top events of the trip and I ended up missing it. Overall, I think the helicopter ride maybe made up 75% for missing the snorkel. Other people might even have liked it better, but for me it wasn’t enough. To be honest, what I’d suggest for anyone who is coming out to Cairns on a cruise ship, is to consider pre-booking a helicopter flight out to the reef platform and then back in. That way you get the helicopter view, the snorkeling, and you’re still back in plenty of time to make the ship. It’s kind of a pricey option, but if you’re pressed for time, and/or if you can easily afford it, it would be worth considering.]
Next Stop: Rabaul, Papua New Guinea! (March 1, 2016)
Kristin Reporting!
Today started off with some heartbreak since the policy on this cruise line differs from anything we have experienced before. Sadly, we missed the snorkel of the barrier reef! My tears got us a refund at least, and we headed into town to find a replacement activity.
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| Breakfast has arrived! |
[Davin Interjection: I think that if I had it to do over again, I would be more inclined to risk the Green Island tour. Our experience since then has shown that the “last bus” actually leaves quite a few minutes after the claimed time, and the ship also doesn’t usually just leave you behind without doing a cursory search to find you first (it can happen sometimes, but it’s not the standard).
We’d only have been a couple minutes late at getting back at worst (unless the return boat totally broke down, which would have been a totally unforseen event), and very possibly on time. Papua New Guinea wasn’t that great anyway, so in the worst case we could probably have had our passports mailed back and just flown into the Philippines.]
The kind tourist agency woman told us a little something about the shady practices of cruise ship companies when it comes to shore excursions. She said that people getting off cruise ships tell her all the time that the cruise ship charges over $100.00 more than the local tour groups per person, and no one can get off the ship before almost every Great Barrier Reef tour has left for the day. In this way, the cruise ship companies have a monopoly on selling their own Great Barrier Reef snorkel tours and ripping off all of the passengers in the process! (This isn't the case in every situation, as we have done our own comparisons and have found the mark-ups to be usually $25.00 to $50.00, which is well worth the convenience and guarantee to return to the ship and not be left behind.)
One explanation for the extreme mark up in this case could be that it seems to be common practice for cruise ships to take local tour charges and convert them straight into US Dollars without changing the numbers to take into account exchange rate, and, in fact, usually bumping the numbers up a bit to make more profit. So, in this case where the Australian Dollar is weak compared to the US Dollar, the rip off is extreme. A local tour of the Great Barrier Reef may charge $180 AUD compared to the $250 USD the cruise ship was charging. After currency conversion, that is really $126.00 versus $250, or a mark-up of $124-- basically double the price! That’s insane, and totally uncool.
While I worked hard to find some fun way to spend the day, Davin was beside himself with disappointment and, in addition, had given up all hope of finding anything worth doing, and started throwing his hands in the air and declaring we should return to the ship.
Finally, thanks to the help of the tour agent, we had an $800 helicopter tour booked for 3:15pm, so we headed out to find some lunch. We called our Mom to commiserate, and then found our way to a Pizza Hut where we ordered the usual-- pineapple with diced tomato.
[Davin Interjection: The pizza was still not as good as the one we had in Sydney! It’s weird that these places all seem to follow roughly the same recipe, but the pizza still ends up being better in some places than others. Maybe there is some skill involved in making pizzas that transcends franchise instructions?]
We then had time to do a little grocery shopping, so we headed for a Cole's and stocked up on salsa and green tea. I also bought a razor because I apparently left my brand new one (from Hawaii) in Sydney! I'm hopeless! The line at Cole's was the longest line of all time despite having at least 10 self-checkouts and 6-8 manned registers! During this shopping visit, I learned that diapers are called 'nappies' and registers are more commonly referred to as 'tills'.
On the way back to our pick-up point for the helicopter tour, we passed a tree filled with bats! They were making a lot of racket and most were slightly moving their winds for some reason-- maybe they were hot too!
We got some delicious gelato. D got his usual favorites of coconut and banana. I got my usual favorite of... you guessed it!... CHOCOLATE!
While waiting for our pick-up at the Shangri-la Hotel, I had the opportunity to call Scott. The most handsomest man in the world then texted me "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!" Today is the sixth year anniversary of our first date, but only for me. For Scott it will be tomorrow thanks to our extreme time difference!
We got our ride to the helicopter staging area next to the airport, watched the safety video which told us how to assume the position if the pilot ever said, "Brace! Brace! Brace!” (I was like, hoooly shit, it better not come to that!) Three words that can immediately scare the shit out of someone: “Brace! Brace! Brace!” Lol!
I let Davin sit in the front of the helicopter by the pilot so he could look straight out the window, and I was in the back. We thought it was pretty cool that we had a female helicopter pilot, and she seemed to be about our age. We were lucky that we had the helicopter all to ourselves. They can fit a total of 4 passengers. It was a unique experience. It felt a little freaky at first as the helicopter can make very minute adjustments and it makes it feel very unstable.
Earlier in the day, Scott had actually googled and confirmed that flying in a helicopter is statistically safer than flying in an airplane. Flying in a combat helicopters is statistically not as safe as flying in an airplane, for obvious reasons.
Davin had no fear at all, and really enjoyed the experience. I think he enjoyed it more than me, as I had a bit of fear from the wobbling, and, after that went away, I started getting slightly nauseous because I was staring out the side window but we were flying straight ahead. That's just me and my sensitive stomach! It was nothing major but I was glad it was only a 30 minute ride.
Seeing the reef from the air was pretty impressive. Happily it convinced Davin that the snorkeling would not have been that much different from what we did in Kona, Hawaii. It was the same kind of shallow reef system. The really impressive stuff to see at the barrier reef must be from diving down along the reef shelves. In the end, snorkeling is really limited. Also, we avoided the risk of getting stung by the irakanji jellyfish which can kill you (but doesn't usually), and always make you deathly sick.
Back at the helicopter office, we asked the receptionist if the locals snorkel much, and she said, "No, it just isn't worth the risk." Lol! So, I guess tourists come in and snorkel for one day, each taking the risk one time, and usually getting away with it, but the locals feel that to go more often is basically just asking for it! Pretty funny perspective of the whole industry. Cairns' economy is primarily fueled by tourism to the Great Barrier Reef.
I'm pretty certain that I saw a sea turtle and some kind of manta ray from the helicopter. Though we were 1,000 feet up (...but we both heard the pilot says climbing to 1000 meters... so maybe 3,000ish feet, but it looked more like 1,000, but whatever), the water was crystal clear and you could see right through it to the reef floor which was only 6-10 feet deep. Through that clear water I saw the sea turtle and manta ray.
The best thing about the helicopter ride was seeing how big each reef system really is. We flew over 4 different reefs in those few minutes, but in total the Great Barrier Reef spans 2,000 miles. We saw very pretty blue colors, and I hope I got some decent pictures. Sadly, the sand cay which was exposed due to low tide had people on it, so we missed the opportunity to land on it for 20 minutes and go in the water. This didn't bother us in the slightest though because at this point in the day we pretty much expected disappointment. On the bright side, we saved $160.00 which we would have had to pay additional if landing on the cay had been a success!
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| Waiting for the tender: Queen Elizabeth is behind us (behind a strand of my hair) |
[Davin Interjection: The whole bag breaking thing was kind of funny. I didn’t realize it, but both of my bags were on the verge of breaking. As I was getting off the tender, one of the crew members told me to put a hand on my bag, but I didn’t understand what he was talking about. I thought he meant to grab the rail or something. As I was passing, he made a comment along the lines of “oh no, there’s going to be a mess.” In retrospect it’s kind of annoying that the guy didn’t communicate better– it should have been clear I didn’t understand what he meant. Maybe point out that the bag is breaking, not just say to put a hand on something...
In the end, the bag wasn’t actually the problem. I think if I could have just walked straight onto the ship and to the elevator, everything would have been fine. Unfortunately, the troubles started when I got to the point where I needed to get my ship card out to get checked back into the ship. The card was in my wallet, which was in my pocket, so I set my bags down on the chair of the person checking people in (for some reason she was standing), and that was when bottles started falling out everywhere.
One fell a good three or four feet to the floor and amazingly did not break! I guess the bottling companies in Australia don’t skimp on glass quality!]
Back in the room, we talked about the helicopter ride and how expensive it was in comparison to the snorkel we were originally going to go on. The snorkel was going to be $250.00 per person. The helicopter was $412.00 per person. That's when we had the sudden and glorious realization that the helicopter ride was $412 AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS per person. At the current exchange rate, that means about a 30% discount on the price! So, we actually paid (approximately) $288.40 per person for the helicopter ride. A whopping $30 more than we had planned to spend that day anyway! Granted, the helicopter ride was only 30 minutes, but everyone knows how expensive and luxurious helicopter rides are considered to be, and we had one for the price of a (very expensive) snorkel trip! What a deal! What a happy realization after the day started out with such woe. As neither of us had ever been on a helicopter before, that in itself was unique and, though totally unplanned so we can't take credit for thinking of it, it was a great decision to get the experience in a country with a currency so much weaker than our own.
I forgot to mention the horrible humidity not only continues to exist in this country, but it is getting progressively worse because we have gone further north-- back towards the dreaded equator. Over the past few days we have heard multiple passengers proclaim, "What a beautiful day!" Davin and I are just looking at ourselves and thinking, "Where the HECK do YOU live?" We are just walking around pouring sweat. YES! The sun is shining. Yes! It's a blue sky. If all I had were eyes-- YES! It's a beautiful day. But, I also have the sense of touch which includes feeling hot, and feeling sweat pooling on my brow, and feeling it pour down my face, and feeling it rain down my back. And there isn't enough of a breeze. It is NOT pleasant. It's disgusting!
[Davin Interjection: The people on board also seem to think that it’s great to lay out in the sun and get turned into lobsters, so I think they may just be nuts. I’ve seen so many people getting burned out by the pool it’s not even funny, and not just a little bit either, but bright red! If I get burned it’s because I made a mistake, like losing track of how long I’ve been in the water, and not reapplying sun screen in time.
With these people it seems like they don’t take even cursory precautions against being burned! I just don’t get it. You can’t just go out with pale, untanned skin, and lie in the equatorial sun for 30 minutes, let alone a couple of hours!]
In fact, at 5:45pm as we got back aboard the ship, it was still so hot and muggy outside that I said to D, "Hey! It's still so nasty outside, let's go in the pool for a cool dip. It will feel great!" So, we dropped our groceries in our room and headed to the pool. What an unpleasant surprise to walk into the pool and find that is was HEATED. (My thought was literally, “NOOOOOOOO!”) The pool is actually almost as hot as the (pathetic) jacuzzis! Lol! How disgusting! But it was fine in the end. I used the pool rinse-off showers to get cold and then I was happy to go in the warm pool and after that we transferred to the best of the not great jacuzzis.
All-in-all: It was a good day in the end!
[Davin Interjection: I thought the day was somewhat salvaged, but it was still a bad day overall. Snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef was one of the top events of the trip and I ended up missing it. Overall, I think the helicopter ride maybe made up 75% for missing the snorkel. Other people might even have liked it better, but for me it wasn’t enough. To be honest, what I’d suggest for anyone who is coming out to Cairns on a cruise ship, is to consider pre-booking a helicopter flight out to the reef platform and then back in. That way you get the helicopter view, the snorkeling, and you’re still back in plenty of time to make the ship. It’s kind of a pricey option, but if you’re pressed for time, and/or if you can easily afford it, it would be worth considering.]
Next Stop: Rabaul, Papua New Guinea! (March 1, 2016)
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