Month: February 2013

Papeete, French Polynesia

(By Gray) Of all the bad luck. Having survived the rough weather when heaps of people got seasick, Rae succumbed last night – in weather that was abating and seas that were a fraction of what we’ve had previously. No violent being sick, but that ‘I want to go to bed and shut down for a bit’ feeling. We had the doc check her out – he confirmed seasickness and prescribed light fluids and rest. So no dinner last night. This morning she was definitely on the mend, but not yet in any state to go exploring tropical towns by foot. So she’s stayed on the bed all day. Very sensible – but also very disappointing for her as Papeete is a favourite place of ours. Since she wanted drinks and cottons that we haven’t found on board, I dashed out to try to get them. We had planned to try Skyping from here – the ship’s satellite connection won’t cope apparently. However getting a connection proved a bit of a problem so I dashed back. Looks like we’re stuck with ship’s internet to the end. So, we won’t put up many pictures now. We’re taking them and will add them when we get home.
Papeete doesn’t seem to have changed much since we were here 5 years ago. Not as much development as had previously been the case – maybe feeling France’s economic problems? It’s definitely nice and warm. The boat is kept well air conditioned – (thoroughly refrigerated) so stepping outside was a bit of a shock. Something you can quickly get used to however.
Since we are taking on fuel through a 6 inch pipe, we’re not leaving until 10 o’clock tonight. We’ll probably have dinner on board and then go to ‘Music Under The Stars’ on the Lido deck aft.
Tomorrow is Bora Bora. Rae is already lots better so we’re hoping to get ashore tomorrow. Just real bad luck that of all the days to spend feeling crook, this was the one. C’est la vie – just a pain when La Vie does it to you!!
So, nice giving you an update – tomorrow it should be Official Scribe Rae again. :))

Somewhere, Cook Islands

It was great to wake up to calm seas and bright light. After breakfast we were able to get out onto Deck 3 to stride out our 1 mile walk. Yesterday this deck was closed.
Today we managed to get our planned exercise – three times around Deck 3 is almost a mile and we figure that if we really stride it out it must do us some good. We’ve been to look at the gym but it is far too scary!!

Vanity Fair was on in the theatre and it was a very good show.

Somewhere in, International

Today is the first 26th February for us. Tomorrow will also be 26th February.

The seas became quite rough through the night and we were grateful that our room is midships.
There were fewer people at breakfast and even fewer again at lunch. We were still managing to lurch down the corridors, but were looking forward to calmer weather later in the day.

This morning’s lecture was about the French influence in the South Pacific – it was OK.
Tonight was our second formal night but many people chose to eat at the Lido where you don’t have to dress up. The song and dance show Vanity Fair was postponed until tomorrow night when calmer seas are expected.

We went up to Deck 9 and listened to the resident harpist who also answered questions in between playing. She is very good. Around the ship during the day and in the evenings you come across musicians playing which adds to the ambience beautifully. These musicians are all quite young, enjoying their music and enjoying traveling.

International Date Line, InternationalThe seas are a little rougher now, so going down to the restaurant tonight in heels was quite a challenge.
We are now into our own routine of ship’s life. We enjoy breakfast meeting new people, having coffee in the cafe, finding lectures or activities that interest us each morning.

After lunch I try to get some writing done. I’m turning the account of going to live in the country that I wrote a few years ago (as a record for the family) into a novel! (Who am I kidding?) It’s fun, anyway!

International Date Line, International

Today we feel that we are on holiday now that we have left New Zealand.

The laundrette for our deck is across the hall from our room and this morning it was the busiest part of our deck as everyone washed and ironed. At one stage when I popped in to collect my things out of a drier, there was another passenger carefully folding my clothes!

After our morning coffee we went to a talk on Impressionist painters. It was actually a sales pitch from the gallery people but nevertheless it was quite interesting. The artist they were promoting was Sheree Valentine Daines. Her paintings are being sold for a mere $30,000.

Lunch was a bit ho-hum, so we assumed that the chef was on a break.
However, the dining room was abuzz during dinner – everyone in formal dress. My dinner was wonderful. I chose the chef’s selection.
We rushed from dinner to the Captain’s cocktail party and enjoyed the free bubbles – not much is free here!
We called into the Cunard Ball for a short time before crawling off to bed.

Tahiti is now 4 days away!

Wellington, New Zealand

This morning when we woke we were already in Wellington. A cooler day had been forecast but in fact it turned out to be quite a warm day.

After breakfast we headed into town and were surprised that many shops had not yet opened even though it was 10 o’clock. Te Papa is always a good visit. There was a waka competition on so the waterfront was quite busy.
We were back on board for lunch. I took more photos after mysteriously losing some I took the other day. We also explored more of the ship.
At dinner we discovered that our original table people had moved to another table, so now Bonnie and Vincent from Sydney (originally from Hong Kong) are with us. We gather that our previous partners have moved quite often! We enjoyed the company of Bonnie and Vincent who say that they will stay! If they go we may develop a complex or take more showers.
The concert tonight was Jazz, Blues and Rock’n Roll withe resident dancers and singers. It was very energetic!!

Tomorrow night we are off to have cocktails with the captain along with the other 373 people who got on in Auckland. It will be the first formal dress code night – dinner suits and long dresses!!!

Napier, New ZealandThanks to Gray’s superb supervision, the berthing in Napier was quite spectacular! It is cooler today and there is talk of rain. The hills are really brown so no doubt rain will be very welcome.
We were thrilled to meet up with Brenda (my niece) for lunch. It did seem rather strange to have to travel down by boat to see her!

This evening’s entertainment was absolutely great – The Ladykillers – Annie Crummer, Tina Cross, Suzanne Lynch and Jackie Clarke. We loved their singing.
So tomorrow is our last port in New Zealand – Wellington.

Tauranga, New Zealand

Well here we are in Tauranga – the Mount to be more accurate.
Last night as we sailed out of Auckland, we had dinner in the Britannia Restaurant. We’d booked a table of 6 but instead we are at a table of 4. The other couple is from England and are very nice. Dinner was quite yummy; the wine however is really very expensive!! After dinner we went off to the welcome concert which was pretty good with the resident singers and dancers.

This morning we woke up in Tauranga. We spent the morning exploring the ship – first stop to purchase a coffee card at the cafe. Very good coffee after the rather insipid brew in the dining room at breakfast. Also checked out internet access – blogs will not go up every day because the charges are huge.
There are 1933 passengers on board, over half of them from USA. There are about 500 Brits, and Kiwis, Aussies, Europeans and Asians make up the rest of the population. At breakfast this morning we sat with a couple from Snells Beach!

This afternoon we headed into the Mount, had a coffee and looked around the shops. There was a school group having a water safety day in the water and they were having a wonderful time.
Before dinner we set sail heading towards Napier. It was the first time this ship had come into Tauranga so our send off by the locals was quite touching. The wharf was crowded as was the beach. There were small boats with families aboard bobbing about beside us. It was all very cool. Gray was more interested in watching the pilot jumping back into the pilot boat.
The evening concert with Ben Makisi was wonderful!!!

Auckland, New Zealand

So how did we manage to get here, on the Queen Elizabeth?

Initially we were planning another trip to Europe in September, this time hoping to spend more time in Italy. Then Liam announced that he was hoping we would join them in a big family holiday in Ao Nang in Thailand for his 40th birthday in September.
We then thought we could probably squeeze in a little holiday in the late summer. I found a short cruise around Vanuatu that looked rather nice. However, Gray discovered that the Queen Elizabeth was coming to Auckland in February. As you can see it didn’t take much persuasion to get me to agree to this voyage!!! So here we are sitting in our stateroom (not a cabin apparently) drinking a complimentary French champagne!
Methinks this is going to be OK.