Honolulu, Hawaii

February 4

Eastern Time minus 5 hours

We arrived in Hawaii bright and early. Well early anyway… it was raining. Carla and Carla were there the minute we got off the ship and we were greeted by this beautiful rainbow. Life is good!

Carla and Carla are Wisconsin friends that relocated to Hawaii last fall. They live on the Big Island of Hawaii. Carla and Carla went to great length to meet up with us. They flew over and stayed in a hotel 2 nights and got a rental car to pick us up etc. We really appreciate it. They were originally scheduled to fly out of Hilo, but with a huge amount of rain, they changed it to another airport on the dry side of the island in case the road was closed because of rock slides. By the time they returned home, Hilo had received 49 inches of rain in four days. For those of you that know I can't type, this is not a typo.

Carl and Jeff had original cooked up the idea that we would fly over to the Big Island and then get back in time for sail away at 6 PM. After Hawaii we had 4 sea days until Pago Pago and I just didn't want to chance it. We almost missed the ship as it was, more later on that.

We took off immediately for Pearl Harbor. We wanted to beat the tour buses and we did. The memorial was high on our list for the day and it was very interesting and quite moving.

Jeff brought along his favorite car companion, "Stella." This is his GPS that he hauls everywhere. He used her in Ft Lauderdale, LA and now Honolulu. Stella led us on our way to Pearl Harbor and then on to Nuuanu Pali Lookout. It was neat up there in the clouds and fog and very windy, but visibility was low because of the weather.

The next stop was Kailua Beach. This was the first place we saw Outrigger canoes which were everywhere. We were there on a Monday and we saw probably 50 outrigger canoes being paddled around the city.

One thing we noticed was that even on the most deserted beach there was a lifeguard stand like this.

They are into safety of surfers. This is a great spot for wind surfing and kite boarding. We really enjoyed watching them. We couldn't figure to what this guy has on the top of his helmet that looks like a crest.
We later figured out that it was some kind of communication device that he used with another guy on shore with a radio.
We stayed there a long time watch an old guy getting lesson from this young guy.
We wanted to see if he could do it, but he never actually got up while I was watching.

The next stop was to see surfers on Kaloko (Queens) Beach. It was fun to watch them try, but they didn't seem to be having a lot of luck.

Time for visit at Waikiki Beach for lunch and cocktails. I had a Mai Tai and Carla had a Honolulu. We had a great lunch of Ahi Tuna Cobb salads and then walked the beach.

Time was growing short so we were off to the Waikiki Yacht Club. It was a beautiful place, although casual. We felt very welcome and at home here. Time for the sailors drink… Mount Gay Rum! Anyway we got involved with the drinks and checking out the club. We were enjoying watching the Outrigger canoes that were over on one side of the club.

I tried to get us organized to get out of there, but it dragged on. We were quite close to the ship, but still had a little way to go. Jeff didn't bring a watch on this trip, so sometimes doesn't feel a sense of urgency when it is needed. When we finally got into the car, he kept fooling around with Stella even though Carla knew how to get to the ship. When we got into the vicinity, we were fairly far from the ship. The roads were one way which made it hard. I got out and grabbled what I could from the trunk which included a bottles of water and a bunch of other stuff. Jeff kept fooling around with Stella trying to put in Carl's address on the other island. I finally just left and went hustling along the street. By the time we entered this huge port building, it was empty. There were a couple of workmen they were finishing piling up all of the barriers. They yelled out, “Here they come”. All of the gangways were up but one. There was an officer there that said he was just going to try to call us. We were there about 7 minutes before we were set to sail. I was in meltdown mode.

When we got to the cabin, there was a message from Stirling, Clare and Kazzie. They were worried. They had a feeling we weren't on the ship and didn't know what to do. They had seen the gangways disappear one by one and knew we were close to leaving. When we got to their cabin, we had some champagne and I tried to calm down. Once again, a great sail away. Four days at sea.

We received this message from Carl the next day. I"ll bet Jeff and Stella are in the dog house for being tardy @ the ship. In all honesty, Stella and her commander did make my driving easier.

All is well that ends well, but it sure was a lesson not to cut it too close. There are a lot worse places to be stranded at than Hawaii.

Mail from the QV

I received a card from Mom and Dad today... It had some cool stamps from the ship.

An Aloha from Hawaii

Mom and Dad are currently in Hawaii. They spent the day with Carla and Carl, friends from Wisconsin who have relocated there.

We didn't talk much about the ship, more about logistics and planning...

They have four days at sea before arriving in the American Samoa on Saturday, so it's likely the blog will be updated soon.

Dad is writing the next installment.

The next time I speak with them, it will be in person, in Hong Kong! We meet up on March 9th.

Liz

Life Onboard the Queen Victoria

First of all, an apology to Liz. You have been asking for more pictures, so here they are. This has involved 10 emails to Liz with photos attached to go with this. I am trying to send a lot, but this will be a huge job for her. I bought the new Adobe Photoshop Elements 6, but haven't figured out how to move my pictures over yet so have to send the combinations in an odd way.

Liz, Ellen and Ellen's friend Amy are busy this weekend shopping for bridesmaids' dresses for Ellen's wedding. I hope they had good luck today! (Note from Liz: We did!)

Many of you were worried that we would be bored with so many sea days. We love them. There are so many activities going on, it is unbelievable.

As I mentioned earlier, Jeff took fencing lessons. He was shocked at how tiring it is. He really enjoyed it and may continue later in the voyage. Curses! Foiled again! He and Don can now protect Chapel By the Sea if necessary, now that they are both experienced fencers.

I loved my book club, although the book was just OK. It was fun to be discussing a book with women from so many countries. We will discuss it before Sydney because that is the end of the next segment. There were about 25 women in the discussion. We did some discussing with the whole group and some in small groups of neighboring women. Our next book is Relentless by Simon Kernick.
The pub serves lunch each day. They have a set menu and one special each day. No charge for the food, just the beer or Guinness. The pictures were taken when the pub first opened. Usually it is full. The first time we went we asked the difference between the Cottage Pie and the Steak and Mushroom pie. We had an Irish girl as our server. She came back and said that the Cottage Pie was ground meat with mashed potatoes on top and the Steak Pie had pasta on top. We couldn't figure that one out, but I ordered it. When they brought it, it had puff pastry on top and it was delicious. Jeff was sorry he hadn't ordered it.

Here is a steak pie and the special which they called a minute steak sandwich.

The ship is full of flowers and music. Everywhere you look you see flowers. Music will be going on in 3 or 4 places at a time. They also have a lot of guest musicians.

One fun class I took was on how to make Martinis. I went with two of my Cruise Critic friends, Denise and Stirling. We learned and tasted (large tastes!) these recipes: Classic dry martinis, Chocolate Martinis, Appletinis and Ginger Cosmos.

We also celebrated with A Ceremonial Address to the Haggis on Robert Burns Day. The piper led the chef in carrying the haggis. The rest of the ceremony with toasts and dancing followed. This was a huge hit with the passengers.

We get some perks for doing the Full World Cruise. One of them is a special section of the Commodore Club which is a beautiful room in the front of the ship on Deck 10 with a 180 degree view. It is beautiful. A special section is set aside for us that has fruit and rolls etc along with coffee and tea in the morning from 9 to 12. You can also order cappuccinos and lattes for free there. The same drinks are available there in the afternoon along with tea sandwiches and cookies. It is a beautiful place to sit and read etc. There is also a full bar there.

They also had a beautiful Full World Cruisers party. It was fabulous! I have a few pictures, but got distracted. They had great drinks and absolutely wonderful very fancy appetizers including caviar, huge shrimp, sushi, beautiful salmon they sliced for you etc. This was held in the Queens Room which is really a beautiful room.

Today I met for tea with Lesley and Kazzie, two friends from Cruise Critic. Tea is held each day in the Queen's Room between 3:30 and 4:30. It is quite a lovely affair. Sandwiches, desserts (cakes) and scones with cream and jam as well as tea are served. (Note from Liz: I believe the woman below is Kazzie.)

We had a great time with a lot of girl talk and advice giving (my specialty :-) )! They wanted me to show my scone prepared and then Lesley added hers so you could see the before and after. They had to show the American the proper way to do it although the last time there was some discussion whether the cream or jam goes on first.

We stay up late and get up late if you can believe it. The days of me roaming the house at 4 AM are over for the next few months. Today we slept until 8:45. We love the cave! The cabin continues to be perfect for us and we keep it very neat. A place for everything and everything in its place, which is what 13 suitcases drives you to. We feel like we have plenty of room.

Dinner Companion Drama

The night we left Los Angeles we didn't go to dinner in the dining room. We weren't hungry after the big lunch and sail away wine and champagne. Jeff was napping and I decided to go and do some surveillance on our new table. It was in the area of our old table and so I went and sat in Stirling's seat because they were always late.

An old woman and man arrived first at our new table. She approached it and stopped still. She thumped her cane on the ground and said, "Table for 2!" He told her no, that was her table. "Table for 2!!!" and on it went. They finally hobbled off. No one else ever arrived at our table for 6, so it was the old people and us. They took up a stance at the maître d' station to wait for a table for 2.

Next, another old woman and man arrived at our old table next to Stirling and Clare. She took one look at the chair and said, " I can't sit here! There is glitter! (from me when I sat there). The waiter covered the chair with a napkin and she finally sat down, but kept on grumbling.

Another couple arrived at the 3rd table in the area. She looked at their table for 6 set for 4 and said, "Where are all the people! I want a party!"

At this point I was laughing at the disaster called dinner and left.

The next night we decided to go to dinner to deal with our table, even though we kind of dreaded it. There was a nice couple about our age waiting for us at our table. They are Greg and Jo from Melbourne, Australia.

They had asked to be moved from their table from the night before because they were at a table for 6 with 4 people that only spoke Spanish. So it is now the four of us at a table for 6 with the other 2 chairs empty so far. Two nights with the same tablemates! We are having a great time with them and are looking forward to our next two weeks. They will disembark in Auckland because the ship is full to Melbourne and to Sydney which would be the easiest places for them to disembark. Stirling and Clare are off in Sydney so we will be back on the search then.

Grog with Robert Macomber

February 1, Pacific Ocean En Route to Honolulu, Hawaii

Eastern Time minus 4 hours

One of our lecturers on this segment, Los Angles to Sydney, is Robert N. Macomber, an internationally recognized, award-winning maritime author, lecturer and TV commentator. It is great for us to have him on our cruise because we all belong to our Florida sailing club, the Caloosahatchee Marching and Chowder Society (CMCS). He is a charter member. Although we have heard him speak, we hadn't actually met him until he embarked this week. He travels a lot and so do we. He lives in Matlacha Florida, which is also the home of The Yard Dogs.

Yesterday his subject was Modern Day Piracy Around the World and today it was Grog. I know this is out of order. I have lots of things stored up to write about, but this was so funny I had to write it now. Bob suggested that anyone that was attending the lecture bring a drink to toast with, even if it was water, because that was part of the lecture.

When it was time to leave for the lecture, Jeff had his Mount Gay Rum flask that he bought in Barbados. I had 2 glasses and a bottle of water.

When we got there, Bob explained about Grog. It was the drink of the Royal Navy and of the US Navy as well for a long time, like over 100 years. Actually it was very interesting, but I forgot to write it down in my new notebook. He gave an extensive history of the drink. It was used as punishment and reward etc.

Grog is the most famous drink afloat. Grog is made with Rum from the British Islands of the Caribbean and water in varying strengths from ¼ Rum and ¾ water and sometimes much stronger. We didn't know it ahead of time but we happened to have the perfect ingredients for Grog. He mentioned that Mount Gay is the preferred rum of current day sailors, which is why Jeff has the flask.

Bob announced he was going to tell is about some historical toasts of the Royal Navy. He said we should have the drinks ready so Jeff tried to open the flask. It was stuck. He used his shirt, his belt, my jacket and my shirt. Stirling used his shirt, Clare's shirt, the cloth of her purse and then a piece of paper (not sure of the thinking behind that one) to try to open the flask. Then Jeff used the top of his sock and then, believe it or not, the tongue of his gym shoe to try to open it. At this point he said he was going to go back to our cabin to get a pliers. I don't know why he has a pliers. (This reminds me of when he fixed the tour bus with his Swiss Army knife when we were in Nova Scotia.) He came running back in and said he was able to open it with the phone cord on the phone in the hall. By this time I was laughing so hard I was snorting. No one has ever said Jeff doesn't think out of the box. Anyway, success!!!!

The Toasts: Most were from the Royal Navy

Monday: “To our ships at sea”

Tuesday: “To our men”

Wednesday: “Ourselves, as no one else is likely to concern themselves with us”

Thursday:” A bloody war and a quick promotion”

Others:

“To our sweethearts and our wives, may they never meet”

“To absent friends and those still at sea”

Confederate Navy: “Here's to the ships of our Navy and the ladies of the land. May the former be well rigged and the latter be well manned.”

Tonight we met him up in the Commodore Club for a some Mount Gay and Tonic and Mount Gay and Coke.