FEBRUARY 13, 2008: WE’RE IN SYDNEY!

The alarm went off at 6 am. I rolled out at 6:05 and we were almost to the turning point for the pier in Sydney Harbor. You could see the Opera House and the Bridge in the beginning dawn light. They say that Sydney is the best harbor in the world. It’s certainly gorgeous to sail into. We’d rank it up there with Rio de Janeiro.
It’s always amazing to me how they can berth these huge ships to the pier with a kiss. The hardest part is getting the tie lines secured. This time, the cruise passenger terminal has gangways similar to those on the planes at LAX, so that meant that the match between the door on the ship’s side and the gangway had to be perfect. This was easily managed after a few maneuvers.
So we were tied up well before the Captain’s 7 am target. Those who are leaving permanently, about 50 people, and those who are going on an overland trip to Ayers Rock, will be cleared by immigration first. This latter group is a lot of people as many folks are making private arrangements and will pick up the ship again in Cairns. One lady found a one way plane ticket on line (probably cost her a lot with the price of internet access on this ship!) for $90 from Sydney to Cairns. So several are going to do Sydney for a few days.
You see lots of joggers, then a few minutes later, bikers, and finally, lookie-loos.
Between 8 and 8:30am we have to present ourselves to Australian immigration for “inspection”. The Captain last nite gave us some idea of what he has to endure with American customs. After he left, the Canadians discussed the same thing and highlighted many of the loopholes. Basically, if you want to get into the US undetected, it ain’t that hard. For example, a Canadian can use a driver’s license to drive into the US. Once in here, they can roam freely. If they fly in however, they have to have a passport and go through all that rigamarole.
I’ll write tomorrow about our day in Sydney.

FEBRUARY 12, 2008 CONT…

EMAIL: Both Ed and I tried to access our email without success today. But I was able to upload the blog entry. Go figure.
OCEAN; WEATHER: there were a few sprinkles just as we finished the Komen walk this morning and the weather has become increasingly angry over the day. It is gray and over cast and the sea is a slate color with winds whipping around.
LUNCH: A couple from Australia and one from San Diego. One of the latter had a USC sports shirt on and I had my UCLA lanyard so we had some fun rivalry at the table. The latter couple was an interesting political mélange. It’s almost certain they are Republican, but they aren’t knee jerk Reps based on much of their observations about politics. They also have a dtr and g’children who live near Oslo, plus another set in Brazil.
The Australian couple were delightful. He has business in Australia so will be leaving the ship in Sydney and rejoining in Cairns. They have traveled extensively in Norway and we had a great time discussing the best of Norway train, bus, boat trip.
COMPUTER: We took the computer and peripherals to the computer teacher and he showed us another way to access the drives. Now we have to get disks to see if they’ll burn properly. Clearly, the way he showed us, they read whatever disk is in the drive, whether CD or DVD. That’s a relief.
AN INTERVIEW WITH TERENCE STAMP: I knew the name but couldn’t recall anything else about him. When they said he was in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, it all came together. His career has had a second resurgence and he has an interesting story to tell. Some of his movies will be shown on board though I don’t know if they will show Priscilla. I hope so. It’s such a hoot.
CERAMICS AT SEA: Ed went with me to check out what’s happening and we stayed to talk with the cruise staff. One is from Argentina so we had a rousing discussion about that country. A man at the table, who is a talented artist, joined this free for all. We have a lot of time to decide if we want to try our hands at doing a ceramic. We’re agreed in advance that they will probably resemble Jackson Pollock.
BOOK CLUB: I’m about 80% through the book to be discussed today: Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Eat, Pray, Love.” This is an Oprah choice and it seems Princess is using this and other lists to select books for this activity. (You may recall that Carol lent me her copy to read so I’m rushing through it). There were about 3 tables of 6 who showed up. The staff member had arranged for little bite sized sandwiches, coffee and tea. I found some errant grapes in the display and enjoyed them. One of the ladies at the table where I was said a friend of hers onboard is complaining that her clothing is shrinking in the laundry. Ha!
I was chosen to be the leader of the discussion at our table. We had a mother and dtr team (I thought they were sisters: they live down the hall from us; both have very long white hair in a single braid each day), and a gentleman who is a professor of Ecology at a University in Colorado. One other lady was American and the last, British. There are a set of suggested questions to answer and these served as the structure for our discussions. They are an easy group to converse with about this book.
The next book for the book club is Water for Elephants. I brought it back to see if Ed’s interested in reading it. When I finish Eat Pray Love, I’ll start it. But if it doesn’t interest me, I’ll turn it back in for another person.
AFTERNOON MOVIE: Ed is watching one of the Harry Potter movies—and once Ed sees something on the tube, he’s lost until it’s over.
TIM BEVERAGE: Honest, this is the name of the singer tonite. He’s from New Zealand and was the youngest person ever to sing as the Phantom of the Opera. He did a lot of Sinatra and Bobby Darrin. You can see he is being very technical but there wasn’t anything else to be said about his performance.
DINNER WITH THE CAPTAIN: It was our turn so we put our glad rags on. He has a table in the dining room for 8; he and his female hostess, the art person on board, and 3 couples. We were joined by couple from Regina and one from Vancouver. I was to the captain’s right. A little background here: I’m not crazy about these kinds of situations. Ed says no one could tell unless I tell them. We discussed a range of topics; he seemed to warm up to discussions of northern Italy. He is very personable, probably in his mid-40s to early 50s. Clearly he runs a tight ship. Like many of us, he worries about his caloric intake on board. He enjoys getting off in the ports as much as the rest of us. We thanked him for the newspapers in the library. He remarked at the cost and wastage when they were delivering a newspaper to each cabin every day. I can understand that; if one is serious about reading a paper, the library is open long hours.
He also recognizes that there are always going to be a certain number of complainers.
He, like many of the crew, was fighting a cold but other than a little voice change, one couldn’t tell. The wine he chose was a Chianti from Italy but he volunteered that he often prefers wines from California. He also said that wine consumption is going down in Italy and is being replaced by beer consumption. That will be hard for me to picture when I think of Italian men.
After the Captain left, one of the men said that if he were to do such a job, the hardest part would be having dinner with people. I agreed with him. I know Ed would love it.
CASINO LOUNGE KARAOKE: As we came back from the dining room, we heard a man singing karaoke very well. It was the cruise director, JJ! A nice surprise and a hard act to follow.

FEBRUARY 12, 2008

The alarm rang at 7:30 but I didn’t roll out until some time later. Got showered (though this wasn’t such a hot idea considering my schedule today), dressed, and joined 70+ other ship mates to do a 5K Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure. Ed was there in fine form. The cruise staff played songs and danced to keep us entertained as we made our laps. We were told 36 laps, at about a minute per lap, would be the 5K. Walkers were to be on the inside and runners on the outside. Like a lot of these things, it became a mixed mess. Most folks were engaging in conversations as they walked. One fellow in a wheelchair was pushed by staff and passengers alike to allow his wife to walk on her own. It was actually a very touching thing to see.
The cruise staff including the dancers were all part of this endeavor. Their youthful energy and enthusiasm injects the event with an extra dose of fun.
We all had baseball caps with “On the deck for the cure” with a pink ribbon and Princess Cruises logo. More than 30 other folks cheered us on and also donated. Later we’ll get the details about how many participated and how much money was raised. This is the first of 3 such walks that will be done on this trip.
A SENSE OF COMMUNITY: Many of us were discussing what a pleasant comraderie has developed among the passengers on this cruise. Even the oddballs have settled into a niche. This was relayed to the Cruise Director who took great delight in hearing this. We’ve all agreed that JJ is the best cruise director we’ve ever met.
JJ said that someone had asked him to wear the tutu from the skit last night on the next walk. Then Ed added a challenge for donations to see how many laps JJ could endure in that hilarious get up. JJ said that we’d better adjourn before any more great ideas came forward.
The computer couple also walked this morning. She is a red hat lady as well. We’ve made an “appointment” to see them during the noon hour to see if we can diagnose and cure this computer of it’s bizarre behavior.

FEBRUARY 11, 2008

One luncheon companion said she was keeping a journal and for many of the sea days, her entries were:
Wake up
Shower
Eat breakfast
Do stuff
Eat llunch
Do stuff
Eat supper
See show
Go to sleep
Some days it may feel like that.
DINNER LAST NIGHT: Everyone was there and we had our usual sharing of anecdotes. Dave is just grateful to be cleared from quarantine. Tonite was formal night and everyone was dressed in their best duds. Since lobster and premium prawns were on the menu, Ed was more than happy.
ENTERTAINMENT: A tiny little gal named Caroline Dennis. I admired the tailoring on her dressy suit. As far as her entertainment, I wasn’t as impressed as Ed was. Still it wasn’t a terrible show and it had it’s moments.
We’ve spoken before of Elena, the young woman from the Ukraine that we are so fond of . She’s getting off at Sydney so Ed took a photo of me with her so we’ll have it. I’ll give it to her on a flash device.
COMPUTER AGONIES: Thank God my USB drives are working fine. But the computer does not recognize the D drive, or the external E drive. When we check the device manager, it says they are working properly. It has worked in the past in between times when it didn’t work but neither one of us can recall what was different. Since there aren’t any computer gurus on this ship, we’d be very grateful for any ideas of what to check or do.
In the meantime, we’ve made arrangements with Roy to get disks from him when we leave Sydney as he’s making a run for the store when we’re there. Linda had her friends bring a disk to see them in Auckland and she gave me that disk. I now believe that it may have some corrupted files on it and it isn’t a reusable disk.
So woe is me. I’m so bummed about this. There are some folks who probably could help us but the shipboard folks are not available for laptop consults, the computer teachers are doing group classes, and it seems presumptive to approach a fellow passenger to help with the troubleshooting. So I am severely bummed about it.
DINNER with the Captain. Ed and I were supposed to do this tonite but the Captain has cancelled for this evening so it’s rescheduled for tomorrow night. There are still plenty of opportunities and we’ll give you a complete report afterwards.
PORT TALK: SYDNEY: Ed’s teeth are on edge with this port speaker by now. I like his photos but I tend to tune out his narrative since he sometimes gets things wrong. People in the audience mumble the correct info among themselves but he seems not to hear. In a way I feel sorry for him. He is knowledgeable about these ports, but perhaps we’ve all begun to wear on each other with too much intimacy. We’d better cope with it because he’s with us to Southhampton.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to Sydney. We are there from 7 am to 10 pm, the Lord willing and the creek don’t rise. We have several walking maps and there’s an on-again,off-again trolley so I think we’re in good shape. The ship comes into the famous harbor by which Sydney is known. We may be luckier since we’re there on a weekday.
LUNCH: It turns out the previously mentioned lady from Palm Springs worked at UCLA for a thousand years. So we reminisced about the great place.
$ALE, $ALE, $ALE: they have Princess logo and other items on sale for 50-75% off today. I picked up a few items this morning and when we returned this afternoon, there were yet other items, so we did buy a few things. I found a swim suit that was $80 originally for $9.99; a windbreaker for 50% off. The irony of the latter is that Ed has been trying to talk me into buying one in the boutique since we got on the ship. I did manage to find a size small, a minor miracle anywhere these days. I am definitely not a size small but with the size creep, I now find that those marked small are the ones that fit me. There were some knit tops in a size small for $9.99 and so I bought all 3: the girls can wear the other two. Ed picked up some T-shirts for exercising (well, he is doing better even if he didn’t go today) at $3.99 each. They were $5.99 this morning, and $12.99 a few days ago. Clearly they do want to get rid of all they can before Sydney (when I suspect they’ll take on a new lot to tantalize money from us). One lady has a cruise to Alaska scheduled later in the year, so she picked up several Alaska related, logo items.
DOLPHINS? They announced dolphins playing on our side of the ship. We looked…..and looked…..well you get the picture. All we see are swells and a few white caps sprinkled across the surface. Again the ocean water is the most incredible blue you’ve ever seen. So we know if we fall overboard here, it’s a looooonnnnnggggg way to the bottom.
Speaking of falling overboard, the ship’s rumor mill (so you’ve been alerted to the quality of the information) says that a few doors down from us, a bolt on the rail came off and the rail either came loose or fell. In any event, I am being more careful about not leaning against it. Oh yes, they did find the missing bolt and repaired it.
CERAMICS AT SEA: I have stopped by here a few times and looked at some books today. There are some real pros who do this each day and unlike other cruises, the majority are men. Most are doing large plates, but one is doing a bowl in which to put change, much like the one I did years ago on another Princess ship and which some believe, after seeing it, that I did it in the primary grades.
LIBRARY: This is such a quiet serene place. There is a paperback exchange and books to check out. Quizzes are here each day; newspaper summaries for US, Australia, UK are available to read here. Jig saw puzzles are out on both sides of the space for folks to put together. They seem to go pretty quickly too no matter if there are only a few working on them now and then. Most are over 1000 pieces. Makes my eyes tired just to contemplate it but I’ve been known to figure out something now and then.
TITANIC: The Drs. Weber are discussing the Titanic today and Curious George is dressed out in a life jacket. That little monkey brings so many smiles to everyone’s faces. What a hoot.
TRIVIA: I’m trying to convince Ed we should do this this afternoon. He’s got FOX (non)NEWS on and they’re on their celebrity bashing right now.
GUITAR MUSIC: they have a guitarist who plays so quietly in the Casino Lounge before dinner so we decided to go hear him and have a strawberry margarita. These drinks are enormous on here so I was glad to share. It was very thick with strawberry syrup. I think I like them because I like sweet snow cones.
DINNER: Dave and Twyla were there. We talked about the new additions to our table who will be joining us after Cairns and discussed the staff who are leaving in Sydney. We will have some new folks and many of the ones we’ve come to know. We all had rack of lamb and it was terrific. As always Ed helps me out by cleaning the bones, as delicate as they are.
ENTERTAINMENT: Halida Dinova a classical musician who does Russian and American modern pieces. She is so different from the other pianists than we had because she doesn’t beat up the piano, she caresses it. Ed and others said her Clair de Lune was the best they’ve ever heard.
ENGLISH PUB NIGHT: This was a rollicking addition to the evening. There were sing-alongs with outrageous competitions. If you’ve ever seen the balloon popping contest where women try to pop a balloon on a man’s lap and visa versa with out using hands, you will not be able to appreciate how funny it can be. And they ended this hilarious farce with my all time cruise ship favorite: If I were not upon the sea, something else I’d rather be. I’ve seen it done on several ships over many years and this was one of the better renditions of it. And the staff who were the funniest were a surprise.
ANOTHER HOUR BACK: I look for a city to represent this time zone without any luck, so I just set my Treo manually. Tomorrow night we drop back yet one more hour but that time we’ll be on Sydney’s time zone. It should get easier to identify the time zones in the future. It isn’t necessarily important except that the Treos also keep track of what time it is in LA and Oslo so we don’t wait for a response to a text message in vain—or worse, decide to call someone in the middle of the night!
A TRIBUTE TO MY FRIEND, ELLEN: Dr. Ellen McFadden passed away February 8 at 3 am after over 3 mos battle, over two of which were in hospice. Her sister was at her side. I am fortunate to have good friends who gently told me of her passing.
I am grateful for her friendship and professional teamwork for 10 years. I learned much from her and will miss our joking about which Saint to petition for the current crisis we find in our lives. When I think of Ellen, the words that come to mind are mischievous, tolerant, patient, supportive, skilled, reliable, real, dependable, fun, and so much more. Her colleagues, friends, family, and students will feel the void of her loss in our lives.
Ed was kind enough to be sure to take me to see Ellen before we left despite the inclement weather. I was so grateful. We had fun, met some of her other friends and family, and had an opportunity to have a photo taken with her. She is so cute, so tiny, so vulnerable but strong in that photo. I’ll carry the memory of her with her cat Simba as she talked to her comfortable that Simba, Prissy, and the undisciplined Buffy will be taken care of lovingly now that she is gone.
Ellen cared for her parents until her father died a few years ago, and in more recent years, caring for her mother at home because she didn’t think she was as well cared for in a nursing home as she could do for her at home. In early October, Ellen had a stair chair (a device that you sit in and it takes you up stairs) installed for her mother’s use. As she said to me: Little did I know I would be the one using it. When Ellen’s condition became serious enough that she couldn’t care for her mother, her mom was put into a nursing home near one of her sisters.
In one of those unexplainable ironies, her mother died, at 92+ yrs., one week before Ellen.
To those of you who had Ellen on your prayer lists, on her behalf, I thank you. She did know of these prayers from far and wide.
The family requests donations to the Susan G. Komen Foundation in lieu of flowers. In another coincidence, the ship is having a Komen event on the ship later this week. I will participate in honor of the joy and acceptance Ellen brought to my life and to so many others.
. I asked her to be my “spirit angel” on the other side. She said How do we know there is an other side? I told her she had to send me a sign to let me know. So Ellen, I’m listening carefully and I have my best glasses on.

FEBRUARY 10, 2008
NEW ZEALAND TO SYDNEY
Happy Birthday to Jeff!

I GOT LUCKY! Ed went to exercise and I got the laundry ready and hit the laundry room. There is a merciful God as I got two washers right away, followed by two dryers right away. Since the washers go for 20 min., and the dryers for 40 min., there’s usually a waiting line for one or the other. There was a steady stream of folks in; as soon as one machine would be empty, someone new would arrive to use it. We had enough quarters to get things going and I went to the purser’s desk to get more. They have Princess Cruise’s slugs that they put into the change they give you; I had forgotten this so I’ll have to remember to use them first next time.
There were at least 3 people in there at all times and this isn’t a large room. Someone had left folded clothing on top of a dryer and when my clothes were finally dried, I moved this pile to an ironing board so I could use the top to fold clothes. One fellow wanted to jabber and I tried to be polite but I had brought a book with me and further, it is hard to hear in there with all the machines running. He eventually started with some other ladies and then he left when they got busy too. One poor fellow came in looking for a lost men’s sock. Since I had a load of Ed’s black socks and I had used that dryer, I checked diligently with no luck. So whoever used it in between us likely has a lone black sock that will never find it’s rightful home.
We were told last night that we are now known as THE FISH PEOPLE because of our unique fishing technique. One guy said I should be given an angling award. While in the laundry some folks started discussing the fish. It has grown in size with the retelling and this lady told me it was about 3 feet in length. Then I revealed that it was actually about 7-9”. The aforementioned fellow wanted to know what kind of fish it was. I didn’t have a clue. He suggested tuna and I replied that it could be; the tail would indicate that. Then he asked if it was a flying fish which has been most folks’ first guess. I know it wasn’t a flying fish because of the location and color of it’s fins.
So the laundry room continues to be a source of rumor. However would we know the real news without a visit there periodically.
SUNDAY BRUNCH: This is a nice change of pace for all of us. They have various stations and a scrumptious buffet. A couple from Yorba Linda sat with us and we traded stories. They are going to do a Buenos Aires to Chile by way of Antarctica cruise soon so we gave them lots of ideas of what to see and do.
We had a discussion of whether or not we like the sea days. I don’t mind them but many folks get cabin fever. It seems that a one or two day stretch at sea is OK, but anymore than that, and many of the natives get restless.
HAIR CUT AND SUCH: I had a pedicure as much to straighten out the big toe where the old nail finally came off. The new nail had been pushing up against it for a long while and when it was denuded, it really was gross. So this gorgeous young lady from Jamaica made me presentable again.
Gretta, who sheared Ed on Friday, did my hair. It’s so hard to tell someone how to cut your hair when they’ve never seen you before. She did a good job but when I look at myself I’m reminded of the motto from our childhood: That’s my dog Tyge, he’s in the shoe; I’m Buster Brown, look for me in there too! There are worse indignities to suffer in life and perhaps by the end of the cruise, we’ll get it right.
THE MOVIE “INVASION” WITH NICOLE KIDMAN: This was the movie in the Cabaret
Lounge. We are all missing popcorn for the ambiance. Most of us had no idea of what it was about. As soon as it started I knew Ed was in for the duration. I left to do this blog.
I looked on the TV just now for the interview with Terence Stamp this morning that we missed. I know the name but can’t place him. I found out that he only introduced the movie in which he appeared. It is supposed to be on one of the channels now, but when I looked, the channel was blank.
And speaking of blank channels. It defies logic that we STILL can only receive Fox News. What’s wrong with this picture? I’ll be fascinated to see when they start allowing us to have some variety in our digested news.
FORMAL NIGHT: So we’ll get fixed up in our fancy duds. I brought along a Chinese theme formal outfit but no one seems to know if we’re going to have a Chinese themed dinner for Chinese New Year. So I guess I’ll need to wear it at some point anyway.

FINISHING UP WITH 2/9/08

So I told you about the writing for effect. As the speaker said, there’s nothing you don’t know in it, just different emphases and organization. Still it was a good review and I wish we had his powerpoint slides because he had several acronyms that help. The only one I can remember is FAB: Facts, Advances (or was it Advantages? Or something else?) and Benefits. And he has no problem with the one sentence letter if it does the job.
LINE DANCING: We didn’t make it. It conflicted with the lecture. This is a common dilemma we have.
MORNING QUIZ: We didn’t do as well today as yesterday. Of course, we would have won yesterday if we’d have felt a little more risky. Still it’s good brain exercise. Whereever do they get these questions from?
LUNCH: A new set of folks and different assessments and conversation. Never a dull moment.
FRANKIE (one of the cruise staff) AND FRIENDS – PREVIEW SOUTH PACIFIC. This included a featurette “Making of the movie”, interview with James Michener back on the islands where it all started, original movietone news & trailers, and Vintage Broadway excerpts. I brought Michener’s “Tales of the South Pacific” along and I started it. But it was so full of military detail, that I gave up and donated it to the ship’s library. It’s been gone ever since. We sang along with the songs and reminisced about Mitzi Gaynor and Mary Martin, and so many others.
HISTORY OF OCEAN NAVIGATION: We missed this one because of South Pacific but we had seen it on the Diamond Princess.
DID I TELL YOU that Ed got his ears lowered yesterday? He sometimes worries because of how short Amy cuts his hair, but this was even shorter. Oh well, it will grow back.
AUCKLAND AT LAST! The Captain gets another gold bar; he got us into Auckland 45 min. earlier than he had anticipated. The trip into the harbor on the ship was a fun experience. Auckland’s nickname is the “City of Sails” because of all it’s sail boats. You may recall that the America’s cup is on the schedule here. We had plenty of sail boats around us.
The ship berthed right downtown. It’s quite amazing how they can get these huge ships so close in such tight squeezes. But they also have thrusters on the sides of the ship to help.
We had from about 5 pm to 11:30 pm to see what we could in Auckland. We first hit the FoodMart a few blocks from the pier, along with at least 75% of the passengers on this ship. Many went solely to buy wine; I saw one guy with 3 of those green ecology bags absolutely full of wine bottles. Ed and I stocked up on diet and Zero Cokes and some snack nuts and such. They took our credit card, even giving us credit as if we had one of their discount cards! There was an ATM there so Ed could feel better with local currency in his pocket. We are told that this currency will be accepted in Australia as well. In any event, I later saw folks purchasing things with USD and getting substantial USD in return.
We took these back to the ship (we really needed to steal a shopping cart for this trek: I had a backpack full of stuff, Ed had 2 boxes of sodas in his backpack and then reinforced bags in each hand. By this time it was 6 pm and we figured we had about 2 ½ hrs more of sunlight. We had a quick bite on the ship and then went off again to stroll up and down Queen street to gawk at the souvenirs and other goodies in the shops. They have lots of gorgeous lambs wool clothing here and soft as silk leather wear. All tempting but we can’t use them in So California. I never looked at the price tags or I’m sure I wouldn’t even have looked at them.
While sauntering around looking rather lost, we met some ship mates who recommended the tower ride, especially laying down on the glass and having your photo taken as if you were falling from the top. This is the tallest tower in the Southern Hermisphere, over a thousand feet. This didn’t especially interest me for a variety of reasons, so Ed went up with the camera and I watched the short movie about New Zealand and the making of the tower.
I love the architecture in this town. Much is old and reflects the British influence. All that we saw were lovingly maintained. Then there are the new, ultra modern bldgs many of which are sky scrapers. In some places, it is a conflicted pairing, in other places, old and new look well together. I tried to think of a way to describe this sense. Chicago has diverse and interesting architecture as well but it isn’t like Chicago in any way except that they both have diverse architectural styles living next to each other.
Ed and I both agreed that we’d enjoy returning to New Zealand for a longer stay. Ed looked at Starbucks for an Auckland coffee mug without luck.
HAKAA. You’ve all seen the pictures of the Maori warriors who stick their tongue out to touch their Adam’s apple. Well, the ship had a dance troupe come onboard to do Maori dances. The narrator was a gentle lady with a wonderful style of description and introduction to the songs. The dancers were of various ages though the males were all young. All 3 of them were heavily tattooed on their faces (permanent or temporary I don’t know) and on their bodies (these I’d bet were permanent). We’ve learned that the body tattooes tell the story of the person’s life. It makes it much more interesting to view them.
All of the voices were wonderful; a few in particular. The men are ferocious and work hard at their dances. The music and tunes are so interesting to let wash over you. I laugh when I think of the first white men to encounter these Maori with their bulging eyes, heavily tattooed bodies, grunts, elongated tongues, and fierce demeanors. I think I’d just turn around and go back where I came from.
We got to sleep just as the ship was pulling away from the pier for our over-1000-mile-trek to Sydney.

FEBRUARY 9, 2008—AUCKLAND TODAY…WE HOPE

WRITING FOR EFFECT: HOW TO WRITE A COPY THAT MAKES YOUR AUDIENCE RESPOND. This was an unexpected add on given by the ship’s current resident spook. I’ll let you know how it goes in my next blog.
Boo Hoo: no fish on the balcony this morning.

FEBRUARY 8, 2008
WE’VE CROSSED THE INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE

So we’ve lost February 7th.

FISH ANYONE? There was a poor little fish on our balcony when we got up this morning. Poor dear had been there a while. I don’t know fish so I can’t guess what it is. S/he had been there so long he was gone. I pitched him back anyway to be food for another animal.
This evening after the show, Roy told me Frankie (one of the cruise staff) was looking for me to interview me about the fish. It seems that someone I told, told someone else, and so on and the size of the fish has grown exponentially in the retelling. So we found Frankie at the Karaoke event and he brought Ed and I up to tell our fish tale to the assembled.
I’m constantly amazed at the rumor mills on these ships. The knitting and crocheting crowd are a reliable source of much of it but the Laundromat is also known on this ship as the place to catch upon the “latest news”.
A POOR LITTLE BOAT ALL ALONE ON THE SEA: We still have not seen one other vessel on this trip unless we were near port. For they past few days we’ve been expecting the sea to get calmer as we tried to move away from “cyclone” Gene. However, we still tossed around last night. Ed and I clung to each other and the mattress edges so we wouldn’t be rolling around in our cabin. We have battened down everything a la our Prinsendam experience. The other Prinsendam veterans were recreating their efforts to assure no flying objects in the night.
The sea this morning is a little calmer but it’s all relative. At least I’m not afraid to put a breakable down for fear it will become a flying object. The roped off areas around the Promenade Deck have been removed but the barf bags are still taped everywhere. Lots of folks are staying in their cabins because of sea sickness. Thank God Ed and I have iron guts. Never a problem for us.
YOU KNOW WHAT? I WAS RIGHT. This is a favorite expression between Ed and I and we used it when Romney put his campaign on hold. Such a silly way to do it. Just drop out, period.
Sooo. Now we’re down to the die hards. I find it hilarious that so many Republicans are threatening to vote Democratic if McCain is the nominee. It’s usually the Democrats who shoot themselves in the foot.
The vote on the ship was overwhelmingly for McCain with small mentions of the other two; the Democratic ticket had Obama in a very slight lead over Clinton. As a reminder, you could vote for a candidate in each party, you didn’t have to have an voting screen so non-Americans voted too.
COOKING AROUND THE WORLD: We had another demonstration from the Executive Chef. This time the decorations he put on the plates are some that any of us could manage. He makes it seem so easy.
Today was especially funny because of the pitch and sway of the ship. Liquids were sloshing out of their containers, Pots were sliding around on the cooktops, fancy carved watermelons had to be laid down as they were falling… you get the picture. We heard a lot of Ooooo Haaah (a la Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. Is this an Italian expression?), Holy Smokes (when something was boiling too much), and some words that you’d recognize but which were truncated since this is being videotaped for later broadcast.
As always we learned a lot and had a good time in the process.
TRIVIA: Ed and I went up for this and we got 16 out of 20; the highest score was 19 out of 20. However, the group next to us felt we did darned good for a group of two; most are six or more. Anyway, it’s fun and it taxes your brain.
QUILLING: I saw some ladies in the bathroom with their projects. This isn’t what I thought of as quilling; it’s more like paper cutting, assembling and pasting. Still it’s very creative and pretty.
LUNCH: Again, a nice group with which to visit. A Couple from Palm Springs shared many stories from that part of the world.
UNDERDOG: Because of the weather and other factors, they showed the movie “Underdog” in the Cabaret Lounge. It was cute. It ended just as Ed headed off for his appointment in the beauty spa. They cut his hair pretty close but then how could they know what he likes. He almost always claims it’s been cut too short. Anyway, he returned beautified and lighter in the pocketbook. I have my appts on Sunday.
READING: A lady passed her book “Eat pray love” to me to read so I feel obligated to read it quickly and return it to her. I am almost finished with another Vanity Fair to pass to Ed. And of course, I continue to move forward in Iberia. If you’re a fan of Spanish flan, here’s a recipe from his book: In each of six molds, put a spoonful of sugar and melt it over the fire until it covers the bottom and almost reaches the point of caramelizing. Take it off the fire. In a bowl beat three whole eggs and the yolks of three more. Grate some lemon rind. Mix one soup spoon of sugar, not too full, for each of the egg yolks, in this case, six. Add milk sufficient to fill the molds, which you now put into Mary’s bath.
Mary’s bath: the molds are put into water enough to cover the “feet” with the heat not too high, it should be low. When it begins to form gelatin, that is, after about an hour, put the molds in the oven or even better in a little electric oven so you can brown the tops. Then move them to the refrigerator.
TONITE’S ENTERTAINMENT: Finally we saw Yacov Noy who really was very funny. And he had such a bad case of laryngitis that the deputy cruise director narrated his mimes. This fellow also lost his luggage in Papeete! Next was Eve Sherratt the fantastic singer from the other evening. As expected, she is superb.
The Cruise Director is challenged to find the right mix and times for lecturers and entertainers considering unexpected sea days, inclement sea conditions, and illnesses.
And speaking of illnesses, there was a message from Dave that he’s in quarantine for 48 hours. That means he can’t go out in Auckland.
AUCKLAND: At this point, we are scheduled to arrive at the pier at 5 pm. The original plan was 7 am to 10 pm. The Captain has agreed to give us two more hours on shore—this feels like I’m in a dorm with a curfew—so the ship will now leave at midnight. Sunsets after 8:30 pm so we might be able to get some sightseeing in before then. Fortunately, the pier is very close to the downtown area and on a Saturday night, perhaps we’ll be lucky with businesses being open.
We are now the farthest south we’ll be on this trip and the outside air temp is colder than the water temp! What an odd phenomenon and it probably explains some of the storm conditions too. Some folks are thinking of getting off the ship and flying to Sydney to meet it there. We have several days at sea and the flight is 5 hrs. We’re staying put. It takes a lot of luck to make that work just right. Not worth the hassle.
The Captain is running the ship as fast as it can comfortably go on these seas which are so much better than the last few nights but which still have considerable swells.

FEBRUARY 6TH CONT…

NEWS FROM HOME: Ed’s brother Mike sent us a wonderful, newsy email telling us just what we needed to know about how well Mom’s doing with explicit examples, and updating Ed on the UCLA sports news. Other family news brought smiles to our faces.
AUCKLAND: Because of this “cyclone”, which they still assert is over 250 miles away from us, we will have much less time in Auckland. We had a 12 ½ hr tour which will now be cancelled. I don’t feel bad about this as there is much to see near where the ship will be piered and they have an on-again, off-again trolley which we may be able to get for a few hours before sunset—it is their summer down here.
The seas continued to have huge troughs with many white caps and a steady wind. You simply must hold onto the rails when walking around the ship or you’ll wind up with bruises here and there, assuming of course that you remain upright. The airconditioning keeps our room cooler than the outside temp and you can feel the radiation of that heat when you get near the seam of the patio door.
BALLROOM DANCING? Are you kidding? They’ve cancelled that and any activities that require one to stand. And today’s dance was to be the meringue. Wouldn’t that have been wild. We women would have been flying all over the lounge!
HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE: This was the final lecture by our resident spook, Gelnnore Trenear-Harvey. He discussed what he could of the British security and intelligence service. This is such a black box for all of us that he has us spellbound.
When he discussed spies in high heels, he finished by reading a poem written for a woman spy. He had read this poem at his wife’s funeral. It is special and I’m including it here hoping there’s no copyright conflict.
Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell Szabvo, G.C., M.B.E., CdG (June 26, 1921 – c. February 5, 1945) was a World War II secret agent. Her wartime activities in Occupied France were dramatized in the film “Carve Her Name With Pride”. During her time in the special Operations Executive (SOE) she met Leo Marks, who gave her what is now thought of as the definitive World War II code-poem “The Life That I Have.”
The Life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have
Is yours.

The Love that I have
Of the life that I have
Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have
A rest I shall have
Yet death will be but a pause.

For the peace of my years
In the long green grass
Will be yours
And yours and yours.

TONITE’S ENTERTAINMENT: Comedy showtime starring Yacov Noy. “The look of Danny Kaye….The Charm of Red Skeleton….The Wit of Victor Borge and the Timing of Charlie Chaplin….They are all in one artist.” Well, it turns out he was ill so the ventriloquist was asked to go on. We passed on this and were in bed at 9 pm to sleep.

FEBRUARY 6, 2008; AVOID TYPHOON GENE

SLEEP? What’s that? We got almost none due to the howling winds but more importantly because of the pitching and swaying of the ship! I saw the Captain outside the Internet Café and asked how he slept last night. He said he’d been on the bridge all night long. I can imagine. Because of this diversion, and the need to go very slowly through these high waves, we will be late getting into Auckland. We’ll have to see what this does about tours. I wouldn’t mind just doing the “on-again, off-again” trolley now that we know there is one there.
INTERNET PROBLEMS: If you sent me an email in the last few days and didn’t get a reply from me, it’s probably because the terminal I was using kept bumping me off unexpectedly. No one else seemed to have this problem. It was during the computer guy’s consult time but he just stared blankly as I demonstrated it for him twice. He tried something different and the same thing happened to him. Finally I said I needed to stop this because it was eating up too much time. He didn’t off to make my time good.
So I’ll put some brief notes to people in here on the hope that I can upload the blog easier:
Nancy: sorry about your cold. We hear of tornados in your area and wanted to be sure you were not affected. School will work out.
Lisa: Given your interest in Spain and perhaps living there one day, you should see if you can get James Michener’s book Iberia to read. It’s older but still has much good information about the history and culture of Spain.
MA$: Love getting the political perspective to offset the “fair and balanced” drizzle we’re getting from Fox News, which even in the middle of this typhoon, continues to come in without a hitch.
Queen RazzMaTazz: I didn’t know g’child #2 was on the way! Send me the details: due date and such. You must be thrilled.
PORT TALK: AUCKLAND: the speaking pattern of this speaker is beginning to get to many of us. Ed mentioned it at the end of today’s talk about Auckland, and I overheard others talking about it on the stairwell too. Still, his information is good to have even though he kept referring to the kiwi bird on his screen as the dodo bird.
SPECIAL STAFF: There is a gorgeous blond woman who serves drinks for many of the venues and we have come to feel so fond of her. She’s from the Ukraine and is married but her husband is on another ship. She leaves us at Sydney to go visit family. She has very long hair that she fixes differently each day. So many of us wait to see what it’s like. And she is always smiling and is just simply gorgeous.
These people work so hard, much of it behind the scenes. This cruise is particularly hard on them since it is an around the world cruise. It means more days at sea and more special events in addition to the regular schedule. At least one who’s contract will soon expire says he’ll never sign a contract for this kind of itinerary again. I can understand. Often they are up late and have to start again early the next morning. Their sleep is disrupted and they can only rest in short bursts.
LIZARILLA: My sunburn on my left arm has just finished the reptile skin shedding stage. It was mild actually which I attribute to slathering it with Ed’s Gold Bond with aloe lotion.
DOZING: I looked over just now and Ed is “napping”. Not fair!
GAZPACHO: In the book Iberia, Michener gives a recipe for gazpacho, that wonderful cold, Spanish soup. I’m putting it in here so I’ll know where to find it as I’m passing this book along to Dave when I finish it; he’s also a fan of Michener’s books.
Take two stale rolls and reduce them to crumbs. Soak in water until they form a thick paste and set aside. Into your blender put two pounds of tomatoes, one large pared cucumber, two large green peppers, a quarter-cup of pimientos and two small sweet onions. Season with pinches of salt and pepper. Now comes the tricky part. To this mixture hyou must add olive oil and vinegar, which are the heart of the soup. A Spaniard will use one cup of the former, a tablespoon of the latter. Americans, of whom I am certainly one, prefer not more than a quarter-cup of oil and four tablespoons of vinegar. Reduce all ingredients except the bread to a liquid then mix it in the bread by hand and put the results in a covered wooden bowl and place in the refrigerator for six hours. Serve ice cold and pass with a serving tray containing separate dishes of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and small cubes of bread.
Bon Appetite!s
CAPTAIN’S UPDATE: We will be very late getting into Auckland. Going only 8 knots at the present time.
At lunch, when you looked out the back of the ship from the dining room (5th deck), all you could see was the foam on the waves—no horizon until the ship dipped forward again.
LUNCH: A new couple: he a former corporate lawyer, she a retired MD. The first spouses of both died of cancer. They are now married 3 yrs. Delightful conversation.

FEBRUARY 5TH CONT…

WEATHER: Well this was the big story of the afternoon. While they told us they were changing course to avoid the “cyclone 500 miles away”, I think we didn’t get the whole story. They roped off the doors to the outside. All they actually did was to put a theatre “rope” in front of them. On the ship last year, they literally tied the door handles shut with ropes. They didn’t forbid us on the balconies and frankly they were probably pretty safe by comparison. The ship’s info says the wind is at 30 mph and the seas are high with swells. I’ll say but I think they haven’t updated their stats for a while. The temp is 79; water is 77. Very different from Cape Horn in that respect. The howling of the wind by our balcony is such that we have to turn up the volume on Fox (non)News so far I’m concerned about our neighbors in adjacent cabins.
Bulletin: Water sports in the pool were cancelled. I’ll say!
AND SPEAKING OF FOX NEWS: I find it absolutely amazing that Fox News is coming in almost flawlessly during this horrendous storm but they can’t get any other source of news? What’s wrong with this picture?
LUNCH: We went up to the buffet since it was Chinese today and we sat with our table mates from the Galapagos. Linda is still black and blue from her fall there, but she is otherwise fine.
GALAPAGOS PICS AND VIDEO: The ship’s staff who accompanied us to the Galapagos, but who is not a professional photographer or videographer, showed us some of his photos and a video the cruise staff has put together from his video takes. It was fun to see it, especially for those who were there, but none of it will get me to buy the DVD. There was no footage showing some of the funniest events we experienced such as the landings (I will not label them wet, or, dry; they were all wet), animals barking to us to get out of their way, being hosed down as we returned to the ship… But the product shouldn’t offend anyone either.
It appears that Princess is going to start featuring cruises with several ports before and after the Galapagos, but particularly marketed to those interested in seeing this World Heritage Site.
HISTORY OF NAVIGATION, PART TWO: As you may recall, we saw this series of 4 lectures on the Diamond Princess in December. We stayed through almost all of this lecture but were curious to see what was happening with Super Tuesday.
SUPER TUESDAY: I’m only interested in the results but one must endure the lip flapping and speculation of mostly folks paid to “analyze.” The speculation and “fill-in-the-blanks,” “don’t report the news, create some,” approach to reporting is very annoying.
The “vote” on the ship is very funny as anyone can vote and you vote for candidates in both parties. It’s as much fun to see people come up to give their vote to Frankie, the staff assigned this job, as it is to see the results. He was outside the dining room this evening taking more votes. I asked him if this was Chicago style voting: Vote early and vote often. He hadn’t heard that before.
We may see a brokered convention at this rate. It is interesting to see how interested folks are in the candidate(s) of the opposing party. And I’m amazed at people who seem to be otherwise engaged, who don’t bother to vote in a primary! Indifference is the only thing I’ve ever heard anyone cite.
As we see the remarks made by the candidates, I’m interested in seeing the faces of their family members, especially, the spouse. Rumor has it that Mrs. Romney advised him on a limit of money to spend. Rumor also says he’s decided to ignore that. At this point, I wonder what “prize” he wants to be able to exact in a new (Republican) administration. An Ambassadorship isn’t big enough; a cabinet position perhaps? But which one?
And who will the VP candidate be? Good money is on a Clinton/Obama match up but I’ve heard no speculation about the Rep. possibilities.
And again I’m struck by the unexpected twists and turns of politics.
CRUISE CRITIC GROUP: The Patter lists a get-together for this group. This sparks my curiosity and I hope I find out what’s up with them.
DINNER: It was just Ed and I tonite. Erna and Hank had told us they weren’t coming this evening. We haven’t seen Dave or Twyla all day. Many folks aren’t moving around the ship because of the bouncy ride.
You may remember the couple who spent 6 yrs going around the Pacific in a 50’ boat. I asked her if they had anything like this. She said Yes, and right in this exact same place. This time she’s glad she’s on a large ship. I’ll bet.
I was surprised that for some of the staff, this is the worst weather they’ve encountered. We are now 250 miles from the “cyclone” and winds are at 50 knots. The Captain has slowed down even more; probably much less than the 19 knots of earlier today. We are headed northeast to get away from it. We heard the crashing of some dishes in the dining room with a big sway; I’m surprised there aren’t more such episodes. Someone facetiously said that the disco would be closed this evening. Our waiter suggested we stay in our cabin and watch a good movie. The one for today is Hoax; not exactly one I’ve been dying to see.
It’s quite amazing to watch the ocean in such a frenzy. I wonder what it’s like for the animals below and what a mixmaster it must be for all the suspended things in the sea.
ENTERTAINMENT: Was a cabaret singer from Wales. She was terrific; did her performance barefooted because of the pitch and sway of the ship.