Day One sailing to New Zealand

Today has been a hard day for me. Clay got up before sunrise and snuck out for his walk. He decided it was too rough to walk on deck and went to the gym for a treadmill. It was crowded and he did not enjoy himself. It has been rougher than the 8 foot seas would indicate. They can't keep the water in the pool again. It has been rough enough that I've been taking extra medication to keep in front of seasickness yet I've have a headache that starts it since last night. In other news, something happened to hurt my tremor/fisting right foot yesterday. It feels like someone's driven a nail through my foot right where the middle toe starts. Clay says that is a Morton's neuroma and I'm just screwed. Yeah, I pretty much already got the you're screwed memo.

Clay after his ill-fated walk decision has had a perfect day. He ate his biggest lunch to date of BBQ ribs, corn on the cob, french fries and Ben & Jerry's chocolate peanut butter ice cream. That is his known "usual" at the Scoop Shop! The morning's cloud and drizzle burned off and as it has gotten cooler the further we get from the Equator is rather pleasant out. Clay is basking in the magnificent expanses of the Pacific on our balcony. I am hoping for calmer seas.

Tonight is formal wear. After a few days with no menus posted on line for us, today they are back. There was nothing, not one dish, listed that sounded good to either of us. And we have to dress up!

We seen today's popcorn movie, "Allied", a few times so didn't go.

We tender to our first port in New Zealand on Sunday. We've been to Bay of Islands before and we've done everything important there. Since it is a tender port, we've made no plans and planned to wing it. Hopefully my right foot won't be so painful by then. I am keeping it elevated and staying off the stairs until it improves. We'll see.

Lautoka, Fiji

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This is my 87th country visited. It will be many weeks before we visited another new place. There is on 1 new port for us in Western Australia. It will be even longer before I can claim a new country.

Clay was up first this morning. I know he set an alarm but I think he was up before it sounded. The sun was already up and we were already at our anchorage before 6am. We were scheduled to arrive at 7am. We were having breakfast up in Marketplace when Sun Princess arrived and sailed past us to dock. They are a bigger ship so I don't know why they got the dock and we got to tender. But from the looks of it the people walking from the port to town were from Princess and Crystal ran a complimentary shuttle on the hour and half hour. Also, the tender ride was smooth as glass so all in all it was a good trade off tendering.

Our tour departed Stardust Club at 8:15 am and it was not the first departure! Pasted below is a description of our tour. We paid $119 per person for a 4 hour tour.

GARDEN OF THE SLEEPING GIANT & FIJIAN VILLAGE EXPERIENCE

Unfolding along the foothills of Sabeto Mountain, the Garden of the Sleeping Giant is home to Fiji’s largest orchid collection. Discover the natural beauty of this serene garden and its environs during this half-day excursion.

From the pier in Lautoka, board your motor coach and set off along the Queen’s highway, first traveling through the city and then past fertile sugar cane plantations. Reaching the foot of the Sabeto Mountains, you will find yourself in the shadow of the ridge known as the Sleeping Giant.

Your first stop is the Garden of the Sleeping Giant. Nestled in a shady valley, the gardens were founded by Raymond Burr, star of television’s Perry Mason and Ironside. Originally established to house Burr’s vast orchid collection, the garden has grown to become one of Lautoka’s most popular attractions.

You may choose to explore the garden independently or in the company of a knowledgeable guide. While the orchids are stunning, the garden also features manicured grounds characterized by a canopy-covered boardwalk and lily ponds at the edge of a densely vegetated jungle.

Departing the gardens, next visit Viseisei Fijian Village, where the first Fijians landed 3,000 years ago. During your village experience, you will meet the local families, view a range of authentic Fijian handicrafts and participate in a traditional kava ceremony. Normally accorded to chiefs, the ceremony involves the preparation of the traditional kava drink, made from the root of a cultivated plant, the piper methysticum, which is pounded into a powder and mixed with water. With kava as the main ingredient, the beverage is thought to have medicinal properties, including relief of anxiety and improvement of sleep.

Enjoy refreshments of juice and local seasonal fruits accompanied by Fijian serenades sung by the village men before returning to your Crystal ship.

Important Notes: As this excursion involves walking over uneven and sometimes steep surfaces, including an approximately 300-foot slope that will need to be walked both up and down, it is only recommended for our more agile guests. It is recommended that guests wear a hat, sunscreen and flat, comfortable shoes.

We actually ran our tour in reverse order. Unlike American Samoa, we had large air conditioned buses and regular tour guides. Also, unlike American Samoa the tour's kava ceremony actually took place today. Clay told me he was going to take photos and he went and had a bowlful! You had to clap once with cupped hands, say "Bula", take the cup and drink the "muddy tasting kava" and then return to cup and clap 3 more times. Clay said he did all that and I missed it. About "Bula", our guide told us it means welcome, but that isn't how they use it. They use it like Hello. They say Bula to you and you say Bula back. (Boo-La) I mean they all say bula to you. Every single person from toddler to grandparent whether you even make eye contact. The guide did tell us that Fijians love to say Bula. They offered small chilled square bottles of Fiji Water supposedly to rinse away the kava. I took one just to compare it to the Crystal Geyser I'd carried off Serenity. We couldn't tell any difference! They did not offer any fruit.

Next we went to Garden of the Sleeping Garden. We had about an hour there and we were guided on a very short walk through 100s of orchids. We were offered seats in the shade with glasses of juice to cool off before reboarding our ACed bus. All they were missing here was a gift shop!

Not to worry. On the bus ride back towards the port, we took a wrong turn we thought only for Mere (Mary) our guide to announce that they were taking us into Lautoka city proper to Tappoo Mall for a 20-minute shopping stop. This was also the location of Crystal's complimentary shuttle. Since there was a predicted 96% chance of rain by 2pm, no one on our tour bus offered to stay and take a shuttle back. They dropped us right at the door of a Fiji Souvenir Store. It had a wide variety of products. I found my 1st embroidered patch of this trip. Clay found a really attractive white on white patterned shirt made in Fiji. He bought both with $24 USD and got back a dollar or so change in Fijian coins.

Since it was after 1pm when we got back onboard, we went to Silk where I had pizza and Clay had Chinese chicken salad. We both had ice cream for dessert.

Tonight we sail at 5pm. It is a casual night. We have a 6 pm dinner reservation at Umi Uma. It is our last reservation of this segment which ends 2/5 in Auckland, New Zealand. I think we were allowed 4 reservations at each specialty restaurant with the ability to only book 1 per segment before boarding. We had to make the remaining 3 after boarding Serenity in LA. We'll have to make our extra allowed reservations for the next segment after the new passengers board in Auckland. This process will be repeated for segments 3 and 4 as well.

I had my favorite meal of the trip so far at Umi tonight. For variety, I ordered the Australian wagyu filet steak. I had never ordered it before because in the past I haven't liked wagyu beef. I must have only had original wagyu because I loved this tonight. Umi also has one of my favorite desserts, chocolate souffle cake with sesame ice cream.

The captain said we'd hit 8 foot seas when we sail tonight. It is definitely rougher than it was last night. We turn the clocks FORWARD 1 hour tonight. Hopefully this is the only time we lose an hour this trip as those many 25 hour days are the beauty of a westbound trip. We now have 2 sea days to get to Bay of Islands, New Zealand.

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On a slow boat to Fiji - Day Two

I was up before 6am with the sun shining around the curtains. It felt too early to arise, but too late to go back to sleep. Marketplace breakfast buffet opened at 7am today. Clay asked me the time and we both got up. Clay saw the empty promenade deck last night as we looked for a sunset and decided he would start walking earlier or later but not mid morning anymore. I showered and he went for his walk. Just after 7 am we had breakfast. We were up in Palm Court staying out of the cabin for service longer than usual and listened to both yoga lessons. The Kitas, the only yoga instructors we known on Serenity, are leaving in Auckland. They say Crystal tells them they are still working to find a replacement instructor. I am happy that I've accustomed myself to my recorded workout in the cabin.

Serenity ran out of granola maybe 4 days ago. Umi Uma's manager told me they knew and it was expected in Auckland. We'll see. Clay was craving a banana sandwich for breakfast today. I warned him not to get too committed as they could be out. He was not happy to find only locally sourced small, sweet rotten looking bananas as we've tried ashore. I had warned him and his reply had been there's no excuse for running out of bananas in the South Pacific. Indeed. He was lucky to find they had purchased local bananas instead of running out.

Clay went to a 2nd cooking demo by Alex Patout, cajun celebrity chef. He said today they did a better job. I did my yoga. I watched the 10 am Fiji destination lecture on TV. I did not learn anything new.

We spent most of the morning within sight of islands on the starboard side. They are islands of Fiji. According to the captain, we are doing about 14-15 knots to stay on schedule to our tender position at 7 am tomorrow. He says he expects seas to remain about 6 feet as we continue to run 2 or our 6 generators. We hope Lautoka has a protected harbor like Pago Pago. With binoculars, we could see huge breakers ashore on the islands we sailed past. We have a ship's tour that departs at 8:15am in the morning. It should end at 12:45pm. The captain says that a hard rain is predicted tomorrow. We are to visit an orchid garden. The lecturer had photos and it is all outdoors with what looked like board walks. We'll see.

Today we have plans to skip the movie as we've seen "Ant Man and the Wasp". We plan to go on the galley tour at 4:30pm. We have dinner reservations at Prego.

Expecting nothing else newsworthy, I'll post this now.

On a slow boat to Fiji - Day One

So, today is Tuesday and yesterday was Sunday. We've crossed the International Date Line. To add to our confusion, we're only going about 13 knots per hour. According to the captain, we'll only need to make less than 14 knots on average to make our anchorage off Fiji on schedule. This is in contrast to the 21 or so we had to average between Fanning and American Samoa. We are in about 6 foot seas and that is expected to continue. It is another picture perfect day as we sail past some volcanic islands visible off the starboard side.

So we expect it to be sunny, cloudy and rainy all in one day all the way through Fiji. As the captain says, normal weather for this area at this time of year. So we expect a couple of relaxing and restful days to recover from the heat exhaustion of Pago Pago. I forgot to write about it but the native Samoans are very touchy people. When they talk to you, they get right up beside you and put their arm around your back! I witnessed several of them doing this to not just me, but to other passengers. I hate that! They just seem to think its normal behavior as both men and women did it to both men and women equally. Anyway, for several months now I've had a thing where sometimes for no evident reason and sometimes because I got hot or something that the right side only of my face turns hot and bright red. I guess that yesterday I was lit up in the heat and humidity. Even after the afternoon in air conditioning, into the evening my right cheek was red and hot. Our very large 11th grade tour guide girl was concerned about me and kept snuggling and caressing me under her arm to ask me to have some water. I was keeping well hydrated with my bottle of iced water but, well you can imagine. She was being normal and thoughtful, but I am sure it only made me redder. As far as the hot red right cheek, I am assuming it is a symptom of Parkinson's Disease since it is on the resting tremor side. I had once read that a symptom of PD was failure to regulate body temperature and assumed that was behind the hot red right cheek. Anyway, it compounded an already difficult day.

It is a casual night onboard and we lose another hour tonight. We have no reservations today and no plans except to go to the 2:30 pm movie "The Mercy".

Anticipating nothing else to write about, I'll post this now.

Pago Pago, American Samoa

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I was up first before Clay's alarm went off this morning. We couldn't see land yet. We could see it on TV from the bow cam though. We enjoyed breakfast at 7:30 am in Waterside as we sailed alongside American Samoa. Pago Pago is a snug little protected harbor and it was a pleasure to be docked here today instead of tendering. We entered the harbor and saw our docking spot before Serenity slowly spun in place and backed up to tie off.

Our tour (description pasted below) was to depart Stardust Club at 9:45am. There were only 6 tours offered here by Crystal and we heard someone at breakfast say that due to rain, theirs had been canceled. We paid $59 each for the tour and that was probably too much.

WEST SIDE ISLAND DRIVE & TUTUILA CRAFTS
Discover the marvels of nature and the traditions of handcrafts during an excursion that takes you on a scenic drive on the west coast and to the Maliu Mai crafts center. Along the way, enjoy stops to appreciate island monuments and scenic vistas.

From the pier head west in your open-air, island-style bus and discover a nearby natural wonder the Flowerpot Rock, a large rock that rises from the waters of Pago Pago Harbor. Sporting a bushy carpet of vegetation sprouting from its crown, the rock resembles a plant in an enormous flowerpot, thus giving it its name, Flowerpot Rock. Stop to photograph this unique landmark and then travel to the southwest side of the island and the town of Leone, the ancient capital of Tutuila. It was here that Samoa’s first missionary, John Williams, landed in 1832. In front of the town’s Zion Church stands the Leone Missionary Monument, paying tribute to Williams’s arrival and the work of the London Missionary Society. Note this interesting testament before rejoining your bus for the journey along the beautiful Leala coastline, stopping to appreciate inspiring island vistas en route.

For a glimpse into local traditions in handcrafts, continue to Maliu Mai. Here, you will discover the art of crafting and enjoy a chance to relax as you witness basket weaving and hear ancient storytelling, and perhaps purchase a refreshment at the onsite restaurant.Having learned about the natural environment and local traditions, return to the pier.

Transfers are by open-air island bus with bench-style seats. Tour guides may be local high-schoolers without professional training. However, their knowledge, friendliness and enthusiasm are sure to add to your island experience. It is recommended that guests dress in casual clothing and wear flat, comfortable shoes. Guests should also wear a hat and apply sunscreen. This excursion will operate in all weather conditions. The order of sights visited may vary.

Our bus and guide were as described above. Our 3 buses drove directly to Flowerpot Rock for a photo stop. I am sure most  of us had photographed it from sea as we sailed in. We did drive on to Leone where the buses turned around and parked us for a photo stop at Leone Healing Garden. We did not stop at the John Williams monument though our guide did point it out as we were driving back by it. Our final stop lasted over an hour and as our guide said, it was at a bar. A nice bar on the beach by the airport. They were offering fruit and restrooms along with seats as they described and demonstrated weaving pandanus leaves as well as cloth painting. They were selling craft items like jewelry and painted cloth. They were also selling beer, sodas and coconuts. This stop was kind of a cluster cuss.

It was unbearably humid here. Men and women alike mostly wear skirts that reach just below the knee. The women tour guides were dressed in ankle length dresses that our tour guide described as formal wear like to go to a funeral. Or to guide a bunch of cruisers. We were dressed in our bug repellent clothes as the CDC listed this as a place with an active Zika virus outbreak. Given all the rain and puddles that we saw it was amazing that we saw not one mosquito. After the hour + at the bar, our bus took us to what the guide called an industrial park. It was a waterfront recreational park, it had playground equipment, tennis and basketball courts and picnic tables. It had no shade. We arrived there after 12:30pm which is when we were scheduled to have returned to the ship. Our guide asked us to step off the bus there and everyone balked and refused and asked to be returned to the ship. I don't know how long they'd have toured us around if we'd gone along. We got back aboard around 1pm just in time for lunch at Silk. Clay had a local beer here, Vailama. He also got a T-shirt with the logo on it for only $12.

We showered and made it to the cool Hollywood Theater to see the 2:30 pm showing of "The Post". It was a great movie and another we had missed seeing til now.

We are all aboard at 5:30pm and the captain just announced we'd leave now. He said more rain ahead as this is the rainy season here. He only predicted seas of 4 to 6 feet between here and Fiji. He reminded us that we'll cross the International Date Line and tomorrow will be the 29th of January and not the 28th. We'll skip Monday, January 28 this year!

We have dinner reservations at Umi Uma, the Japanese restaurant. We liked it last time and we're both planning to order something different this time. I'm back to say that Clay ordered different dishes except for dessert just because he likes tapioca soup with green tea ice cream. I ended up ordering the exact same meal as I had last time. They have 4 noodle dishes and I meant to order one of them, but on questioning the waiter I learned all 4 had fish! I should say that we both ordered something different in Prego last night and enjoyed it just as much as previously. Except dessert. Prego dessert we ordered the same as last time and both feel dessert is weakest there.

I am counting this as my 86th country. I believe it is a US territory, but I think it counts as a new place for me.

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Day Two sailing to Pago Pago

We turned the clocks back an hour last night. Hurray for westbound travel! We tried to stay up later and watched a movie on TV.  We watched "Learning to Drive". It was well done. We hit a brief rough patch of sailing last night that woke me briefly. Clay was up first this morning shortly before 7am as sunrise was 6:55 am he beat the sun up.  Today being Saturday we waited to go to Waterside at 8am. I was still waiting for Eggs Benedict. As last week's cheese omelet, it was anticlimactic. It was too hard to eat! I only ate one and when Clay finished his blueberry pancakes, he tried to eat the other one. He too found it too hard to eat! I don't remember that being a problem before.We needed a sharper knife.

The captain says running 4 of 6 generators we are averaging over 20 knots and on time. Seas are mostly running 4 to 6 feet so pretty calm. Yesterday was picture perfect. Today is expected to be rainier as well as tomorrow ashore.

We plan to have lunch at Marketplace. We have 6 pm dinner reservations at Prego tonight. It is Formal dress tonight. We think we'll go to "The Mummy"  at the theater at 2:30 pm. It is from 2017 with Tom Cruise and we can't recall seeing it before.

Tomorrow morning we should arrive in Pago Pago, American Samoa. The captain says Pago Pago (pah-go pah-go, like it looks). Our destination lecturer say Pango Pango which he says is the correct pronunciation. I've searched online and both are considered correct. I'll just avoid saying it aloud to be on  the safe side. We have a half-day shore excursion booked through the ship. We have been warned of rough open-air hard bench buses and high school student guides to adjust our expectations. It departs at 9:45 am so we plan to return to Waterside for Sunday breakfast. I have a plan for a malted Belgian waffle. Our original plan here had been to go to the National Park on our own. Checking the website however revealed it is closed on weekends. So that is why we booked the ship's excursion. I've just sat through the destination lecturer's presentation on Pago Pago and he highly recommended everyone take a visit to the National Park. He spent a good 5 minutes of his half hour describing the National Park. It was too bad he couldn't have spent 5 minutes fact checking that it will not be open for us to visit. I don't put too much stock in his information now though.

In other news, we still have afternoon sun on our balcony and it is finally too hot and humid out there even for Clay!

Assume nothing newsworthy occurring today, I will post this now.

Day One sailing to Pago Pago

We had our smoothest sailing yet overnight and we both slept soundly through it. We didn't wake up until after 7 am with sunlight streaming around the balcony drapes. Luckily we had no schedule today and we could afford to laze. I have to say that yesterday for some reason for the first time since we boarded that I felt a sense of home and comfort and place. I guess it has been my theory that it takes about 2 weeks to learn your way around a ship and maybe that it is. Otherwise the starkness of life on Fanning forced me to a place of finding familiarity and comfort onboard Serenity. I don't know.

We finally saw flying fish from Palm Court windows after breakfast this morning while waiting for the captain's 9am announcements. The captain said he is making 22 knots on 4 of 6 generators and on schedule. He says he expects to continue in the 6 to 8 foot seas we have now. He expects it to be warm and rainy in Pago Pago. He said we are south of the Equator and crossed about 6:30 am.

Clay looked up today's Waterside menus and it will be slim pickings for me. That's OK because I could stand to skip a few meals. My limiting of my breakfasts and lunches doesn't seem to be helping to keep me from getting fatter. Oddly enough my pants are growing! I of course brought all elastic waists. I know elastic wears out or stretches as I have to continually replace my Sea Bands. But I have 2 pair of gray pants, one French Terry lounge style and one for evening casual meals. They both are falling down! I have safety pins cinching the waists for this trip and I had already put new elastic in the day pants!

Clay has developed a rating system for roughness. After breakfast and before he heads out for his morning walk, he goes out to the balcony railing. He is looking down to the Promenade deck on 7. He watches the walkers there from above. He said today was the first one board walk he had seen yet. Huh? He said prior to today it had been all 2 or 3 board walks. What? The Promenade deck like our balcony is floored with maybe 3 to 4 inch wide boards. He said today the ship was only swaying enough that people's feet were landing one board away from where they lifted it instead of 2 or 3 boards away. Ah! He walked on the Promenade deck himself today. He admitted that he rested at the front of the ship after every lap until he saw a flying fish. That caused some spry old ladies to lap him. I had to laugh and tell him I hoped they weren't on canes. He refused to answer that!

We kind of grazed through the Marketplace buffet for lunch. I am planning to read this afternoon and skip the 1:30 pm movie "The Wonder Wheel". We've seen it before. I am working hard to finish my Crystal Serenity library book before we arrive in Auckland and I have to turn it in. We both finished reading John Sandford's latest Virgil Flowers novel of "Holy Ghost".  I am less than half way through Robert Galbraith's "Lethal White". Clay just picked up the latest Janet Evanovich. I believe Crystal's library has the best latest releases section of books I've ever seen on a ship. It probably has to do with keeping the library locked with a librarian and charging for checked out books that are not returned before cruise segment end.

We plan to go to Waterside and find a single course each for dinner. Dessert shouldn't be at problem.

Expecting nothing newsworthy nor any photos, I'll post this now.

Fanning Island, Kiribati

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We had some of our calmest sailing yet overnight. As we had breakfast in Marketplace, land came into view. Fanning is an atoll island which is a narrow doughnut of land around a huge turquoise lagoon. It was bigger than I had expected. We sat 3/10 of a nautical mile off the man-made cut into the lagoon. The tender pier was just inside to the right as was the small local community we visited. We arrived about 8:30am and the first tender probably went out about 9am. We must have been on the 2nd or 3rd tender over. The first people over were waiting to return to the ship when we arrived. It was sunny when we arrived and blowing sideways rain when we left. There was a group of teenagers on the pier singing to welcome us. Maybe 2 dozen vendors selling mostly things made from shells was set up on one of the tracks leaving the pier. We walked through a cloud of thousands of dragonflies to view the tables. There couldn't be a mosquito problem here and there isn't. There was a beach to the right of the pier. We followed the line of vendor tables to the back of a pickup truck with 2 facing wooden benches under a canopy. They were offering a tour of the village for $10 each. We climbed aboard. There was a driver and an English-speaking guide. They drove us around for about a half hour with 2 stops. We visited the Roman Catholic church and the medical clinic. The guide pointed out the school. He said they have grades 1-3 after that they have to leave the island for education. Inland and on the Pacific side of land, there were swarms of flies. I guess the lagoon side belongs to the dragonflies and they mustn't coexist. Mind you the distance is probably only a football field or 2. We saw lots of rain collection equipment, solar panels, dirt bikes, small boats, dogs, pigs and chickens. This is probably the most remote and isolated subsistence community we have ever visited. I added Kiribati to my country list at number 85.

I had a target date for doing laundry but a recount of underwear made me think I was cutting it too close. If there was a run on the laundry room before the segment end in Auckland, I would be out. I checked and found 2 empty washers when we got back aboard about 11:30am so I grabbed them. We went up to Trident Grill for lunch and I was back before the 45 minute wash cycle was over. I stayed while the dryers ran. We made it to the 1:30 pm Hollywood Theater showing of the movie "The Miracle Season". Usually there is one movie at 2:30pm, but today one was early and "The Lion" showed at 3:30pm. We skipped that  one.

This morning we found an invitation to the 1st full WC shore side event in Auckland. It is "100-years of Military History" Through Song & Dance, a cocktail party with buses departing the pier at 6:15pm. No idea where the buses are going, but we RSVPed No. I assume they are celebrating 100 Kiwi years of military as nothing else really makes sense. Anyway.

We have our first dinner this trip in Prego at 6pm tonight. We set sail for Pago Pago, American Samoa at 6pm too. That will be #86. Two more days sailing the Pacific ahead.

The captain just announced that we are leaving early. It is almost 5pm. He said as soon as the now last tender is on we'll set sail. He said we have 1200 something nautical miles to cover to Pago Pago in 2 days so we need to maintain a high speed in high unfavorable wind and swell conditions. I believe he said he needs to maintain over 20 knots (which I don't recall seeing us reach before). He said to expect high wind and seas 10 to 18 feet. He said it should be hot and raining when we reach Pago Pago. He advised us to hold on to something if we're moving about and to stay away from doors for a while once we start moving. OK.

Back from Clay's favorite meal aboard Crystal at Prego. Frito Misto, rack of baby lamb and pistachio cake with mascarpone ice cream. Mine was OK. Cured meats, cheese and olives, spaghetti marinar and peach sorbet in Prosecco. We have our second reservation at Prego in 2 nights. So far it has been smooth sailing. Hopefully we won't run into the conditions that captain was warning us of. The latest Reflections says we should cross the Equator at 6:30am. They'll have the Pollywogs to Shellbacks ceremony at 6:30pm.

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Day Two sailing to Fanning Island, Kiribati

The seas remain at about 6-12 feet so it is not really rough but just awkward and uncomfortable. I guess we'll hope it doesn't get worse. It continues to warm up as we near the equator. We should cross the equator some time soon, if we haven't already.* No one has really said anything about it. The captain didn't mention it or give an ETA in his announcements this morning. His big news was that after over a week with an empty swimming pool they thought they could keep water in it today.  Given the numbers of people we've seen lolling on the pool deck when ever we cross it, I am sure there are some happy people today.

In other news, we must have known and forgotten that Crystal has draft beer in Waterside and Silk. They have Newcastle and Heineken on tap. Clay likes both and was thrilled to discover this. We have never seen beer on any menu. Of course, we also haven't visited a bar to look at a bar menu. Though if they only have draft beer at Waterside and Silk, it wouldn't be on a bar menu anyway. All to say, if you're a beer drinker on Crystal, ask!

Last time we were on Serenity for the NWP16 cruise, they did not have straight mint or peppermint tea. I am happy to report that now they have a different brand of teas than in 2016 and the mint tea is excellent.

Today Clay checked online for the menus and we found nothing appealing for lunch or dinner. He called and got us a 6pm reservation at Silk tonight for Chinese. We'll cross our fingers for a repeat good meal! We waited until after 12:30pm and went to Silk for lunch that begins at 1pm. We got 1 of the last window 2 tops. We ordered drinks while we waited. Clay also ate from Marketplace buffet since we were seating right next to the door between them and Silk. I waited til 1 pm and ordered a ham & salami pizza. The crust was very nice and the cheese was abundant but it wasn't all that flavorful. It was just a tad too big to eat alone, but to small to split without other food. Since Clay was also eating the buffet it worked out fine. We both had Ben & Jerry's for dessert.

We are skipping today's popcorn movie "1944" since IMDB says its in Estonian, German and Russian. Last night we watched "Ideal Home" on demand on TV. It had Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan. They were brilliant and it kept us laughing out loud.

Tomorrow we anchor off Fanning Island, Kiribati about 9am. We'll be there until 6pm. They are a vanishing country due to rising sea levels. This island has no power grid or running water. Crystal is running tender service ashore and back. Any visits are on your own. We have to set foot so I can pin a new country but I expect it will be a short visit ashore. Two sea days follow to another new country for us at Pago Pago, American Samoa. (Pronounced pango pango.)

I'm assuming no further news and no photos and posting this now.

*I am back after reading tomorrow's Reflections left on the bed after dinner. Instead of waiting for intermittent Internet, I used as a reference the WC2019 route map we had received a few days ago. News flash, the Equator on that route map is a good inch North of where it should appear. I can understand artistic license and not to scale, but this seems like a pretty important place marker. In any event, tonight's Reflections states that the Equator is 262 miles south Fanning Island. The newsletter and today's destinations lecturer said that Kiribati is pronounced Kiri-bas or Kiri-bosh.

Dinner tonight at Silk was a mixed bag. Clay hated everything but dessert of tapioca soup with green tea ice cream and lychees. He had prawn dumplings to start which were like breaded and fried meatballs. By his definition, a dumpling has a dough wrapper. Fail. He ordered the prawn claypot. He did not recognize what was in there as prawn because there were a pair of crab-looking pinchers on top of the pile. Once he dug down, the claws were attached to what looked like a large shrimp or small lobster split in half length-wise. He decided to eat it. I don't think he'll order anymore prawns. My wonton soup was the same as before. My black pepper beef was as good as the first time I ordered it.  Tomorrow night we have our first reservation of the cruise at Prego. Looking at my notes about it from the NWP cruise, Clay loved it and I hated it. Stay tuned.

Day One sailing to Fanning Island, Kiribati

We started sailing some time after we went to bed. After the drama of the tender last night, we both swore we could feel Serenity rocking at anchor which we both felt shouldn't be possible.

We slept to close to 7am this morning. We arrived at Marketplace after 8am so got a full breakfast option today. For me that meant I could get a spoon of granola for my yogurt. Yesterday a sheet of cling wrap separated me from my granola addition. Clay had a craving today that was disappointed. He wanted a sausage egg mcmuffin. He thought he should be able to put on together. So, he went to the egg station and ordered 1 egg fried over hard. He went to the toast station and got a toasted English Muffin. He picked up a couple pieces of sausage and a slice of orange cheese. He found that he'd been ignored by the egg chef and had 2 eggs conjoined with runny yolks. He was really mad like he'd wasted a wish.

The Captain announced that we are in 6-10 foot swells and it will probably stay that way to Kiribati.  Sometime over the next 2 days, we will cross the Equator, Hopefully they can find a protected anchorage for the tender operation there. Kiribati has no electricity or running water. There are no tours there. You can tender ashore and visit independently and tender back. I am hoping for some calm tendering. As Kiribati will be my 85th country visited, it is important that I set foot ashore.

Clay walked after breakfast and I rested my foot and typed blog entries. We went back to Marketplace for lunch where I had navy bean soup followed by broth with herb spaetzle. For dessert, I had grape fruit jello (it was grape!) and a caramel macadamia nut tart. Clay said it was the same one he had last night. Clay had a variety of roast pork, fish, sides and salad. He had mashed sweet potatoes with peanut butter with peanuts on it. He had Ben & Jerry's for dessert. We didn't go to the movie today. It was "Stronger" and we'd watched it shortly before leaving home. We read and worked on needlepoint all afternoon.

In other news, sunshine! We didn't see much our first week of sailing. Also, heading mostly west and being on the starboard side, our cabin faced north and stayed dark and wet. Since departing Maui, we've been heading south and being on the starboard side, our cabin now faces west. That means that all afternoon, we've had full sunshine on our balcony and in our cabin. This is what Clay has been waiting for and he was out there soaking it up for hours.

Tonight is Formal night. We plan to dress and eat in Waterside. We don't have any other plans so I'll post this now. I don't think Clay has any photos today.

Maui and the Road to Hana

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Sorry for the delay getting this post written and published. It was a loooong day! We left Serenity at 8am and returned at 7pm. But we had a great long morning before we ever left the ship! We woke to stillness which was so unusual that it woke us before sunrise. We are on the starboard side so even though the TV nav map showed us in only 20 meters of water traveling at under 6 knots and land right there, we couldn't see it until after sunrise. We went to Marketplace for the early continental breakfast since all full breakfasts onboard wouldn't give us time to brush our teeth before leaving the ship by tender. I don't know why Honolulu had breakfast a half hour earlier when I don't think any excursion left before 8:15am and no tendering was involved. Anyway... When we returned to the cabin to prepare and apply bug repellent, Clay went out on the balcony. There were a lot of small boats out and about and I went out to ask him what they were doing. He didn't know he was using his tablet. I heard a whale breathe close by and asked if he heard that. He said they were preparing tenders on our side. No, I pushed to the rail in time to look over and see a baby humpback whale submerging and just in time to catch his mother breathing. Clay raced into the cabin to get his camera and missed them surface close again before leaving. We must have anchored right in the middle of a humpback whale nursery. There must have been at least 8 mother/child pairs off the starboard side. The small boats were whale watching excursions. You could hear the whale watchers hooting and cheering every time a pair got close to them. It was a magical morning.

Eventually, though we hated to, we had to go sit in the Stardust Club to join our excursion. It was $379 per person. Description is pasted below. I added the hot links.

HANA ROAD ADVENTURE & PICNIC
Capture the essence of the Maui's Rain Forest Coast on a tour designed for just 8 Guests. Stretch out in the leather appointed, luxurious Limo-Van with first-class captain's chair seating to tour the famous Hana Highway. Refresh with a waterfall swim and dine oceanfront with a 3-course luncheon.

Your tour begins with pick-up from Lahaina Pier in a leather appointed, luxurious Limo-Van with first-class captain's chair seating. As you journey to Ke'anae, observe Maui's North Shore along the historic Hana Highway while snacking on Berry coffee cake, juice and hot coffee. Arriving in Ke'anae enjoy splendid view of the taro fields that populate the landscape, one of the main industries in region. Continuing past the Waikani Falls, glistening with fresh mountain rainwater, view tropical rain forests and lush green hills on your way to your luncheon in Hana. Arriving at the Hana Beach Park, indulge in a scrumptious 3-course chicken and fish luncheon complete with stunning ocean vistas. And after lunch there will be plenty of time to stroll, swim, sunbathe or just relax and enjoy. As you journey back to your Crystal ship, swim in a freshwater pool under a cascading waterfall and pause in Ho'okipa to view another breathtaking ocean vista popular with Maui's World-Class windsurfers.

We started with a walk through a square in Lahaina with a talk about the world's 6th largest banyan tree planted there. We were advised to use the restrooms there before boarding as our next stop would be in over 2 hours. We did not have an option for a waterfall swim or dine oceanfront. We did not snack in the van. Our 1st stop was at Kaumahina State Wayside. We were supposed to have a potty break, see the ocean view from up high and have cream cheese iced pound cake with local fruit sodas or I think coffee. Today was a federal holiday so there was no service and the water was shut off and the toilets were overflowing. Our guide, Keith, told us to just get back in the van after the views and we'd drive another 15 minutes or so to Ke'anae Peninsula where there was a small ocean front park. We had lots of drive-by photo pauses and stops. Several times we were able to park, unload and walk to falls and use nearby restrooms. The speed limit on the Road to Hana is 15 so even though the road isn't all that far in distance, it takes a long time. I believe this would be one of the world's most scenic drives right up there with the Amalfi Coast, some of the Alps passes, the Cabot Trail. It was something big. Our lunch was not at Hana Beach Park, it was at Hana Farms. We had a cold pasta salad, a choice of either a chicken wrap or a fish wrap with sliced fresh pineapple and brownies. After lunch, Clay & I walked over to the shop and shared a cup of delicious chocolate mac nut toffee ice cream. We continued on to the downtown area of Hana proper where Keith pointed out everything and then unloaded us a the Hana Beach Park for photos and final potty stop before starting the return drive. Officially, the paved Hana Road continues beyond Hana but that is where we turned around. We backtracked to spend an hour of free time at Wai'anapanapa  State Park. We stopped again at Ke'anae on the way back for toilets. Other than that it was all just photo pauses from the van until we reached Ho'okipa Beach Park. Clay & I had been here before to watch surfers, wind surfers and kite surfers. Today it was so calm that it was only regular surfboards and even paddleboards among swimmers. But, Keith promised Hawaiian green sea turtles! We'd only seen 1 in 2 visits to Hawaii and it was in the surf not ashore. We didn't know about them gathering ashore here and didn't walk down to the beach before we just viewed the wind & water sports from the upper parking lot before. This is the advantage of having a good and informative tour guide!

We got back to Lahaina about 6:15pm. The last tender was 9:30pm. Keith had pointed out where the ABC Store was as he drove us around the banyan square to return us to the tender pier. We shopped in there for a final Hawaiian souvenir as well as at Whalers General Store which had a wider selection except in t-shirts. We boarded the tender right before the day's last excursion, a sunset catamaran cruise, arrived. It was a rough ride back to Serenity and a perilous tender disembarkation with the swells being up to 2 feet. It was much calmer in the morning.

We got to the cabin and changed for dinner. I found that the day in sand-filled Keen sandals had re-opened the calloused place on the ball of my right foot. It had never healed properly since last summer when i had ripped a piece of rough flesh off there with pumice. I believe the callous was part of my right foot kind of dragging due to Parkinson's Disease. In any event, since this has gone on for over 6 months, I am going to assume it will just be an ongoing problem. I'm not sure what I can do about it, but try to keep it from getting infected. I have Bactine and Neopsorin and am using both. I am still pumicing it gently to try to keep it from getting too thick. We have 2 sea days before Fanning Island, Kiribati so maybe some healing will occur before I really have to do a lot of walking again.

We found our cabin had already been serviced when we got back onboard. We had our quickest dinner ever in Waterside. We had a another letter from Stacey, the WC hostess about things to look forward to along with a pair of WC souvenir magnets that won't stick to the walls like the little magnets we brought with us. The magnets were meant to put up a large sheet printed as a WC route map. Oh well. It caused me to turn the page on the event scheduler calendar that Stacey had earlier delivered. I noticed that at the bottom of the new page was typed Full World Cruisers First Shore Side Event.. This was the 1st mention of such that we'd seen. It seems like the kind of information that Crystal should already have shared so we can make plans. As it stands, we have plans to take a ferry across the harbor in Auckland that day for a 3:30pm Segway tour. Clay went down to Reception to find out what they could tell him. All they could tell him was that buses would start running at 5:15 pm that day to shuttle full WCers to the event. It is not clear that we'll be able to do both or if we'll want to participate. In the absence of any useful information to influence a decision, we won't try to reschedule the Segway and take our chances that either we'll still be able to attend an evening WC shore side event or that we won't be interested in a cocktail party of something like that. Time will tell. I'll keep you posted.

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Land Ho! Honolulu, Oahu

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At last, land. Beautiful land! We had been here before and focused on Pearl Harbor. We booked a half day tour through the ship before leaving home, but that tour was canceled on arrival onboard. It included a tour of Iolani Palace and they told us that it is closed on Sunday now. We booked a substitute tour onboard which was closer to a full day. We paid $159 per person. We left at 8:45am and were back onboard by 3:15pm. Pasted below is the tour description. The hot links I added.

EXCURSION: THE TASTES & VIEWS OF OAHU
Hawaii is bursting with an intoxicating assortment of sights, flavors and textures, a bounty of which you will experience during today’s excursion. Visit a sugar mill for a private coffee tasting, enjoy a walk and lunch at a family-owned farm, and tour a chocolate factory for insights into the making of rich chocolate. Stops at Shark’s Cove and Kahana Bay offer treats for the eye, with sweeping views of Oahu’s dramatic landscape.
APPROXIMATELY 7 HOURS
Aboard your minivan, depart for the Waialua Sugar Mill. Arriving after a scenic journey of about one hour, enjoy a private tasting of Hawaii’s aromatic coffee and see cocoa bean plants. You will also observe production of Hawaii’s celebrated cacao, key ingredient for delicious dark and milk chocolate.
Next, venture along the beautiful North Shore coast to Shark’s Cove, where you will pause to admire the views.
From here, a quick transfer brings you to Kahuku Farms, a farm owned by two families going back three generations in Hawaii. During a guided walk, learn about the people, culture and crops of Hawaii and encounter the colorful fruits and vegetables grown in Oahu’s rich soil. The farm hosts a café, where you will enjoy lunch and a non-dairy smoothie, a Kahuku Farms specialty.
Refreshed, head for Kahana Bay to gaze at the vistas before continuing to Manoa Chocolate Factory. Any connoisseur of chocolate, which surely almost everyone is, will relish a tour conducted by the resident “Chocolate Flavormeister.” Discover how chocolate is made, from selecting and crushing the beans to winnowing and conching the cacao, all to craft the rich chocolate unique to the South Pacific—just one more delight of life here in Hawaii.
After your chocolate factory visit, return to the pier with a transfer of about 30 minutes.

Important Notes:
Guests must be a minimum of 3 years of age in order to participate. As this excursion involves walking over sandy, grassy and gravel surfaces, it is not recommended for guests with walking difficulties. It is recommended that guests dress in casual clothing and wear flat, comfortable shoes. This excursion will operate in all weather conditions. The order of sights visited may vary.

I have tried to mark a map to show our route. It was almost a counterclockwise circle island drive! Clay says he will photograph and post the map picture with his other photos. You can look for it. We did not have any view stops nor did we have a guided walk at the Farm Cafe. After we crossed the Pali Highway back to Honolulu we had a 5 minute photo stops in front of Iolani Palace. It was a good tour. I like coffee and chocolate. I believe I understood from today's tour that Hawaii is the only state in the USA which commercially grows coffee and cacao. Our guide Mark told us they no longer grow sugar in Hawaii. He said the last sugar mill on Maui closed 3 years ago. We toured it when we were on Maui before! Marc also told us that the Dole Pineapple Plantation no longer exports pineapple from here. With the exception of pineapples packaged and sold at the airport past security, all the pineapple grown here are consumed here. For lunch we both had the pizza & salad with a banana bang smoothie. The smoothie was inexplicably dark green!

So, it was sunny and warm here today. Perfect weather. It is partly to mostly cloudy as I type this around 4:30pm. I have my fingers crossed that the skies will clear some before moon rise and the total lunar eclipse. We have dinner reservations onboard at Umi Uma tonight, the Japanese specialty restaurant. Our reservation is at 6pm so we should be out of dinner in time to view the eclipse from the top deck. We sail away at 12:59pm. Tomorrow is Maui. We have another day long tour tomorrow. This will be our 2nd time on Maui and we did not drive all the way to Hana the 1st time. Tomorrow we should.

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Food and menus

Pictures and Menus

There are 8 eating places onboard that are open to the passengers each day.

The main dining room is Waterside which serves sitdown breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. The menu for lunch and dinner varies daily.

The main buffet restaurant is MarketPlace which serves breakfast and lunch buffets. The lunches vary. At night, MarketPlace is renamed Churrascaria and is a Brazilian steak house with a fixed menu.

SILK is a chinese restaurant open for lunch and dinner.

Trident is a grill that serves hamburgers, hotdogs, and wraps for lunch through the afternoon.

Prego is a dinner only, reservations required Italian restaurant.

Umi Uma is a dinner only, reservations required Asian restaurant.

Prego and Umi Uma have an included number of no charge dinner reservations per cruiser based on sailing length and fare I believe. One reservation per person per cruise segment may be booked in advance, the others may be made onboard. Over the limit allowed is $30 per meal extra charge. Silk used to be included in these rules, but now you can have no extra charge dinner as often as you can get a reservation onboard.

The last eating venue is Bistro. It is a coffee bar that is open from 6 am to midnight or so. Depending upon the time of day, it has a buffet offering of varying foods and snacks (including Portugese custard tarts).

There are 2 more variable schedule, reservations only with an extra charge places to have dinner. We have no other info about  them.

Here're some pictures of some of the dishs we have had so far and some of the menus we have seen.

Pictures and Menus

Day Five sailing across the Pacific

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I should start with dinner last night. Daytime's Marketplace opens partially at night as a Churrascaria or Brazilian steak house. I don't believe I've ever been to one anywhere including in Brazil that I've enjoyed. I did not like anything about this one either. The best thing Clay could say about it is that it was the most food he's eaten at a single meal onboard. That won't be enough to bring us back. The sad thing is that it is the only alternative restaurant that does not require a reservation. So if I find myself with nothing to eat at Waterside and no alternative reserved, I am out of luck. I feel certain I can skip a meal or have the ramen noodles at Bistro as a backup, but Clay doesn't like that idea. We'll just hope for the best.

True to the Captain's prediction the seas have remained the same. We've changed course a bit to get back on track to Honolulu from our southern detour leaving LA. We have the wind at our backs now and are down to running 3 of 6 generators. We should be docked by tomorrow at 7am. Hurray!

I was so looking forward to a cooked weekend breakfast today. It was anti-climactic. We went to Marketplace instead of Waterside which my have been our mistake. I guess we didn't want to wait until after 8am to eat. Clay conjectured that Waterside might have had Eggs Benedict though. We have never seen it at Marketplace. I thought I'd see crispy bacon and great looking omelets though and I was looking forward to that. I was oddly disappointed. Oh well. We have an all day excursion tomorrow departing at 8:45am so it is not clear we'll have time for a big breakfast tomorrow anyway. I guess it depends what time they start serving.

Today is the Crystal Grand Gala Buffet in the Atrium and Waterside. It opens for photography in about 30 minutes. Clay will probably go for photos. We'll probably hope the only half open Marketplace can accommodate us or else we'll try for Trident or Silk for a pizza. We'll see. Anything to avoid the hoopla.

We went to sign off on all the WC required, ship provided visas/landing cards for the entire cruise after 8:30am this morning. If that finished it, it was a piece of cake. I think they may end up placing $120 or so in fees on our shipboard account for the privilege.

Clay walked on the top deck again after breakfast. I worked on my needlepoint. We saw birds outside today. The first sign of life we've seen since LA other than 5 distant freighters. I don't know what kind of birds they were, but they didn't seem very large for living so far from land.

We plan to go to the 2:30 pm popcorn movie "The Dark Tower". We plan to go to Waterside for dinner. Tomorrow we have a 6pm reservation at Umi Uma. We hope we are out of there in time to see the total lunar eclipse.

I don't expect anything newsworthy the rest of the day, so I'll go ahead and post this now.

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Day Four sailing across the Pacific

The gained hour of sleep seemed to agree with everyone. We easily found an empty table in our preferred area at breakfast. I'm looking forward to something besides yogurt this weekend. The omelets and bacon look so perfect! Clay's studied today's menus and it looks like it will be all 3 meals in the Marketplace space high and aft. At night Marketplace becomes Churrascaria which is new since we were last onboard Serenity.

I should comment on dinner last night at Silk. Before boarding we'd heard mostly negative feedback about it. So we were pleasantly surprised when our 1st meal there was excellent and delicious. Last night we must have gotten what all the complaints have been about. I had exactly the same meal with the exception of a glass of Riesling instead of Gruner Veltliner. (By the way, the Riesling is the better of the two.) The wonton soup was the same, OK but nothing to write home about. The black pepper beef was bad especially since I'd just had it and we had that as an expectation. We both agreed the cut of beef had  to be different as the texture was completely different and a bit repulsive. While the first time was nicely flavored of black pepper, last night's was completely without flavor of any kind. Just mushy, chewy and bland. Too boot, there must have been some kind of photo training because many of the maître d's and waiters now recognize our faces and greet us by name, even one's we've never seen before! That makes it harder to not tell them what we really think when they come around begging compliments. They should taste the food themselves to find out how it is. I personally don't want to spend my dining time waiting for them to whisk away a bad dish and cook another one. We left when they forgot to deliver my mint tea. The waiter realized it and offered to give it to me in a go cup but we told him we'd just go to Bistro. Then we went. We forgot all about our invitation to a 7pm cocktail party by Signatures TA consortium hosts until we were back in the cabin! Oh well, it was not an RSVP event so hopefully we weren't missed.

The Captain announced at his 9am shipwide address that we are in 8 to 12 foot swells and he now expects that won't change much between here and Hawaii. He said it may be a little less swell from time to time but probably it will be a little more from time to time. It is sunny again and it continues to warm up a few degrees a day.

After the 9am announcement, we left Palm Court and found the cabin ready. Clay pronounced that we have the stewardess trained to get in and out ASAP now because I think we spend more time in our cabin than most cruisers do. Maybe. I know she was mortified the 2nd night she missed our service and told us she'd do our cabin first from the next night on. She has kept her promise and that's all we can expect. Now I'll just keep my fingers crossed that she's working the entire WC and we don't have to go through the training period again.

Clay went for a 2 mile deck in the sun on the top deck. We moved the coffee table and gave me a perfect space to do my yoga workout between the bed and balcony.

We plan to attend a 1:30pm lecture after lunch. It is "Killing Captain Cook:Hawaii 1779". We would plan to stay for the 2:30pm popcorn movie "12 Strong".

I am going to assume nothing newsworthy will happen today and post this.

Day Three sailing across the Pacific

We enjoyed a 2 course meal last night at Waterside. I should comment that while I don't like the new taller chairs there otherwise the recent revamp was positive except for all the added 2 tops that are inches apart along the windows. Before we boarded I had read another cruiser's comments onboard that they like sitting alone just the 2 of them dining and conversing. She commented that previously there favorite tables were 2 tops by windows but not now. With the 2 tops so closely packed in rows by the windows that the people at the next 2 tables over treated those spots like a 6 top and engaged them in conversation. She commented that the best 2 tops in Waterside now were along the rail in the center section. I honestly couldn't imagine it when I read it online, but I get it now. The last 2 nights we have been fortunate enough to be given those center section railside 2 tops and they are great and private. From  there we could observed the configuration and passenger behavior she was describing. Yesterday at lunch we were assigned a window 2 top but it was almost all the way to the rear of the restaurant and had a big space before larger tables inside and no one sat there. So, we've been lucky so far with our seating assignments. Crystal Serenity had "fixed seating" the last time we were onboard and the implementation of "open seating" is a huge positive. We both really enjoyed our quick meal at our private table. Clay had rack of lamb and I had a filet well done with Bearnaise.
We both had a flourless chocolate hazelnut souffle a la mode. We got Ricardo as our wine sommelier. I haven't been drinking very much because I've been taking huge amounts of meclizine to cope with the ship's motion and have been headachy already. But Clay has still been having beer and/or wine. Ricardo was our sommelier on the 2006 Regent Voyager WC! It was funny catching up with him. It turned out he was also on this ship during our 2016 NWP cruise and because of that fixed dining we were in opposite rear corners of the restaurant and never saw each other during that month-long sailing. Serenity doesn't hold a huge number of passengers but it is a bigger ship than you'd think. Since we ate so quickly, we didn't got straight back to the cabin. The only night we'd had turndown service so far was the Gala evening. The 2nd night our stewardess missed us, she popped out of the cabin next door and bemoaned the fact that we'd have been next to be done. Too late I said after Clay entered our cabin and set the Do Not Disturb button on. She promised she'd do our cabin first the next night and we voluntarily returned later than before. We went to Bistro and I drank 2 cups of mint tea. It might be that mint tea is a diuretic!

When we got back to the cabin last night we found what WC Hostess Stacey wrote was her 2nd letter to us regarding scheduling Casual dress portraits today with the photographer for the 2019 WC Photo Album. Now we are opting out of most of their camp-like events but this was the 1st time I remembering seeing or hearing anything like this. The good news was that near the bottom of the page was a bold faced sentence that said if we didn't want to participate to dial 0 and say so ASAP. I did PDQ. No photos!

So when the Captain announced that he expected calmer seas by Friday, we assumed it would just slowly improve. He didn't imply it would be much worse before it improved. It did get much worse. Some time around 1:30am it got substantially rougher. Drawers opened, the electric toothbrush fell off the bathroom shelf and as a bonus, the green tea kicked my kidneys into overdrive.

We went up to Marketplace for breakfast today anyway since it is not the weekend. For reasons that are a mystery, Bistro does not put out cups of yogurt until after 9am. I suppose you could get a cup of yogurt and coffee only at Waterside, but all that waitservice for that seems like overkill. Since the stewardesses were not in the halls when we headed out close to 8am, we knew even if our started with our cabin that we couldn't get back in it until after 9am. We have been killing that wait time in Palm Court listening to back to back yoga lessons with the Captain's 9am announcements as a break. Today neither of us could face that deck 12 forward pitching, so we went back to Bistro hoping lower and central would help. It did but man was it noisy! Between phone conversations and actual conversations and cutlery clatter when the Captain's 9am announcement started they just talked louder over him. We had to get up and go all the way back to the rear entrance of Hollywood Theater to hear him. By that time, he'd finished talking about past and present sailing conditions and was predicting the future. He said that by tonight he expected the swells to have diminished to the 18 to 10 foot range. So we didn't hear what they were last night or now, we know that he thinks they were/are over 18 feet. In good news, the sun is shining and the temperature is close to 70 F. So,  while they can't keep water in the swimming pool for the past 2 days, it could be worse.

Clay has gone to the gym. I am in the cabin typing this up. We had plans to go to the 2:30 pm movie again today but if it stays this rough I don't think I'll feel up to it. We have Magic Castle at Sea tickets for 4:30. We have dinner reservations at Silk for 6pm. We have an invitation from Bob & Tom, our Signature TA network hosts onboard to a 7pm cocktail party that we may or may not attend. We'll see. Clay read the menus for today online and thinks we should try again for Silk at lunch. If we manage it that will mean an all Chinese day but that is OK. We'll see.

We went up to Silk at noon with books to make sure we got seats today for lunch. Sitting there for an hour waiting for the 1pm opening, it was clear why we didn't find seats at 1:03pm the other day. By 12:59pm every 2 top was taken and perhaps every table of any size. Bar service was available at all the tables starting shortly after noon. By 12:30pm many of the tables had people eating at them with food they brought from Trident or Marketplace. That coupled with the beverage service meant by 1pm when Silk waiters started taking orders all the tables were already taken. Having had lunch there, now we know we don't need to go back unless we want to try a pizza. I can't explain but Silk's chinese restaurant served pizza, spaghetti and a reuben sandwich at lunch. We shared a dim sum order of the worst bao buns we've ever eaten. Clay had a chinese chicken salad and I had chicken chow mein. We finished up with a scoop each from Ben & Jerry's. We were seated by the bar and watched as Bruce McGill walked up and ordered some very complicated mixed drink that got set on fire! I thought I had seen him a few days ago and decided it had to be someone who just looked like him. No, it was him, he gave a talk at 11am today about his 52 years in Hollywood.

After spending over an hour up on deck 12, we may have decided to go to the 2:30 pm popcorn movie. It is "The Leisure Seeker". We'll have a busy rest of the day if we go. I'd like to see it though.

So we went to the movie and thoroughly enjoyed it even though it had a predictably sad ending. Straight from the theater to Pulse Nightclub at the end of the hall for Magic Castle. We had a magician named Francis Menotti and his assistant Lindsey Noel. I won't give away any tricks since this was his first show of the cruise. I managed to get the last front row seat after we tried and failed to sit on the high stools at the back. I was afraid of getting bucked off that stool more than being up front. It ended up putting me in the hot seat for the first/last trick. I hate magic but it was a fun show.

We have time to change for dinner at Silk now as the 4:30 show ended around 5 and dinner is at 6pm. I will assume that nothing else newsworthy happens the rest of the evening and post this now.

Oh, right, last thing.  We turn the clocks back 1 more hour tonight. Fingers crossed the seas calm down overnight!

Day Two sailing across the Pacific

We had a long night last night since we moved the clocks back an hour. We tried to stay up later by watching a movie on TV but we were still up at 6:30am old time and 5:30 am new time. We tried to go back to sleep since we had no where to be this morning but within an hour we were both up and moving. Such problems...

Everyone else onboard must have had the same early rising problem because when we got to Marketplace we couldn't find any where to sit! We started a 2nd pass through and sat in a different area than we'd wanted. You hate to give up a waiter you've already trained! We had last night's dinner waiter today. He was a quick study but says he's leaving in Honolulu, our 1st port. Clay made a sausage sandwich and I had my normal cup of yogurt with spoon of granola and a skinny cappuccino. I am trying to keep healthy by only allowing myself the luxury of a full cooked breakfast on weekends while we're aboard Serenity. We'll see.

After breakfast, Clay went to the gym for the treadmill. I sprayed 2 outfits each with Permethrin as safari outfits in ports with mosquito-born diseases.

Lunch menu today was listed as Nuevo Latino. That meant the chef had never actually seen an enchilada. We both had the soup first and really liked it. Clay had flank steak and pronounced it very tender and delicious. He ate my guacamole. I had the sugar free dessert of pineapple mousse and really liked it. We ate downstairs at Waterside because according to the Captain's 9am announcement we are still in 8 to 12 foot swells with a high wind. The sun did shine today. The Captain says he doesn't expect to exit this big low pressure system until day after tomorrow. I must have gotten my sea legs because I'd have guessed conditions had improved overnight based on how I feel.

We reorganizing the clothes hanging around  to dry after lunch. At 2:30 pm we went to the movie theater and watched "Leave No Trace". It was rather sad and a little disturbing but a well made film. We got popcorn.

Back to the cabin to stow the dry clothes and reorganize those still damp to hang over the tub. Clay went to try to make additional reservations at any of the specialty restaurants. We've only been to Silk so far, have 1 at Umi Uma and 1 at Prego upcoming this segment. We have an allotment of no charge reservations that we can make onboard and he is trying to find nights they can take us early. This probably should have been done the afternoon we boarded since we have a time preference. Clay came back successful. All our included reservations have been secured for this segment.

Tonight is Casual and I guess we've decided to go back to Waterside tonight.

Day One sailing across the Pacific

As promised, we have sailed almost due south overnight and the swells are probably in the 8 to 12 foot range. If this is our roughest sailing, we'll feel quite lucky. I feel unwell, headachy and upset stomach but not quite full-blown seasickness. Fingers crossed. I am taking it easy.

Yesterday we had a lunch conversation with a couple who just boarded about canceled tour reservations. It made me double check ours and we were missing our Fiji tickets for this segment. We went to the tour desk and it wasn't booked. No idea if this is our error or Crystal's. Fortunately, Clay and I had each documented what we booked online as we did it so we knew what to be looking for. After we got the Fiji tickets, I double checked our booking notes vs. Crystal's and we are missing another excursion in Reunion. We haven't done anything about that one yet maybe we can yet book it online without making another trip to the desk. Back again from the shore excursions desk. Since it is another segment, not this one the guy had to take my request but suggested it should be able to be confirmed and he'd send a note to the cabin. We'll have to stay on top of that. Hopefully 3rd times the charm and that was our last visit down there. Bonus: picked up Portuguese tarts!

Last night I was delivered a letter from the Captain noting that my lack of attendance at the muster yesterday was noted and why it was frowned upon. Crystal evidently believes Clay attended alone, even as he noted that he never spoke to the attendance taker, only I did. We noted that the muster drill was not diligently conducted as we were accustomed to over many years and cruise lines including this very ship in 2016. Anyway, they did not require life jackets, they were slipshod about taking attendance and a good 30 cabins were originally called out as not in attendance and they never called us so they thought we were there at the meeting time and place. The final paragraph of the Captain's letter asked me to disregard all the above if the letter had been sent in error and offered advance apologies. Really? Since there was an entire paragraph about error and apology, I just tossed the letter and let it go but it really makes me question my safety in the event of an actual emergency. In the past on our cruises, people who did not attend mandatory muster drills were required to attend a make up muster within 24 hours. There was no mention of that.

Last night we also received a welcome packet from Signatures, our TA Keene Luxury Travel's consortium. I had a gift of a keychain-sized flashlight for us. We had earlier signed up for their special lunch at Mt. Nelson Hotel in Cape Town and opted for the $2400 shipboard credit instead of 4 cities private car and driver.

We had another packet delivered last night from Stacey Huston, WC Social Hostess. It was about a meet & greet this morning for full WCers. It was to sign up for a WC Olympics at the same time with a list of events and a schedule. We weren't interested in any of that and I trashed all the paper. We happened to be in the atrium lobby waiting for the shore excursions desk to open when I noticed the Olympics sign up guy was handing out WC map t-shirts. I told Clay he should go sign up whether he participated or not. He got behind the next couple in line and they just gave their cabin # and got shirts without signing up at all. Clay did the same and got 2 shirts for our cabin. They look like t-shirts but are all nylon and pretty see through. It is not clear we'd ever wear them. Clay's doesn't even look like it would fit him. He got me a large and it fits though it hangs below my butt.

We had plans for returning to Silk at lunch today. Reflections said it started serving lunch at 1pm. So I did an hour of yoga in the cabin and we went up. We were there before 1:05pm and there was not a single table available! It was nearly empty last night. Most of the people in the seats were already eating so it is not clear if they carried in plates from Marketplace or Trident Grill or the program was wrong and Silk opened at noon. If we decide to try for lunch there again, we'll head up between noon and 12:30 and just seat ourselves and wait it out. We wandered back to Marketplace for their last half hour. Clay had sausages and sauerkraut and I found a big bowl of iceberg lettuce and had a salad only before time was up. We went back to Ben & Jerry's for dessert. Clay learned that Chunky Monkey is banana flavored and he doesn't like it!

I got a needlepoint kit this afternoon. I there early and still wound up about number 30 in line. By the time I left Palm Court the line was out to the elevator lobby! I had thought it was cheap of Crystal to publish their policy of 1 kit per guest but with all the couples in line, I guess they have to. Weirdly, Oceania has a pretty free giveaway policy and I have never seen a line up like that. Anyway, I got an 8.5x10 inch case for my new Surface! I started it right away as we watched a movie on demand in the cabin. This is a new Serenity feature since the Oct/Nov dry dock. The TV is big and a crisp picture. The bridge and port and aft camera views are perfectly clear. I guess we'll see how long that lasts as I suspect it is a function of the cleanliness of the camera lens. After the movie, which we watched from the bed since the TV is at the foot, Clay said, I don't think I can spend 3 months in bed. We'll see. He did walk 7 laps on the Promenade Deck today! I don't know how far that is.

We are sailing due west now. Our speed has dropped with the head wind and swells. It is rougher than it was this am and looks like it might be raining. Tonight is formal night was a special menu so we expect to dress and go to Waterside. They have a trio of oysters on the half shell.

In other news, Crystal has an Astronomy Lecturer onboard and at 5pm he talked about the total lunar eclipse happening around 7pm or so in Honolulu on January 20 when we'll be docked there. Very exciting! We watched the lecture live on TV. I am typing this at the desk, but Clay is still on the bed.

I don't know if Clay will have any photos today, so I'll post now. If he has some photos he wants to share, one of us will be back to update this post.

Last day in LA

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A storm front came through overnight and it got colder, windier and a lot rainier. We had already bought our tickets to Battleship Iowa docked here at the cruise terminal, so around 10am we set out. We wound up soaked to the skin everywhere except center mass under our waterproof layer. The puddles onboard the ship and during the walk along the waterfront were so deep we had water in our shoes! Other than that it would have been a nice visit. We were told and saw signs that there was a special entry for ticketed cruisers but since we'd already purchased online I don't know what it was. We spent a couple of hours climbing steep ladders/stairs and ducking in and out of rain touring the ship.

When we got back to the cruise terminal and Serenity, the crowds we'd seen earlier had thinned. They were checking in onboard today vs. our shore side check in on Sunday.

Back in the cabin, we had a mishap with Clay dropping some pieces out of a sewing kit down his sink. Since we know the plumbing is sensitive, he called in to let Reception know and we waited for a specialist to retrieve the bits before lunch. We had picked up a signature Crystal Portuguese tart on the way to the room fortunately to hold us over. Once the button and straight pin were retrieved, we went down to Waterside for lunch. It was ok. I had pasta and Clay had a burger. He said he wouldn't have a burger there again. We had discussed lunch at Silk, but since we have dinner reservations there tonight Chinese for 2 meals in a row seemed excessive. We skipped dessert and went to Ben & Jerry's on deck 12 for ice cream instead.

I want to share a link to another cruiser's blog. We met him on NWP16 on this same ship.  He is linking menus and daily Reflections every day. So, if you're really interested in what is happening onboard, that is the place to read up. My musings, observations and Clay's photos will never be that detailed. Plus Keith is much more upbeat and ready with praise than I tend to be. With over 90 cruises on Crystal, he also has a lot of inside information.

Right before the cocktail party last night we received some very nice WC logo gifts. We had been asked for sizes to order from measurement charts right after booking. The clothes fit quite well. We both got ballcaps and quilted vests. I wore mine today under a rain poncho. Clay got a polo shirt and I got a jersey knit wrap sweater. Today around 3pm more gifts arrived. A huge wall calendar and 2 leather bound journals along with a WC scheduling calendar. Less useful. A nice gesture anyway. When we came back from lunch alongside our orchid sprig on the coffee table was one of the cocktail tables' hydrangea arrangements. That was nice! Bob loves flowers!

Last night's Gala was nearly excruciating for us. We sat with and met a delightful Michigander traveling alone on her latest WC during cocktail hour. We were assigned different dinner tables. Our table was awkward with a block of non-native English speakers in the center dividing 4 of us Americans from a woman traveling alone from AZ. In addition, the new dining room chairs are taller than they used to be and my feet didn't touch the floor. Final complaint was that I didn't love the fixed meal. The only choice was between beef and halibut. I did order well done beef and it came that way, so credit where it was due. After the hour long cocktail party, I really needed to be able to take off my right shoe under the table and flatten my foot and straighten my toes but I couldn't because my legs were just dangling. I thought dinner would never end. Then to the 8:30 show, Broadway Bound, about the development of a new musical theater show based on Mrs. Doubtfire. We weren't the first to walk out but we left before the encore! It was interesting, but not really compelling entertainment to us and I just couldn't get comfortable.

That brings me up to date. I will wait and try to publish this after we sail at 6pm. I am considering the 4 pm stretch class in the gym. Muster drill is 5:15 pm. Our reservation at Silk is 6pm. We've heard rumors that rough sailing is expected pretty immediately and maybe for more than the first day. I'll let you know!

After the drill, the captain broadcast his official rough seas warning over the PA. He said the seas we faced were 18 to 20 feet, but he was heading further south than our original course to shoot for 8 to 12 foot seas. We are definitely at sea!

Dinner at Silk was all good. We both liked everything we ordered. I had chicken wonton soup, black pepper beef with rice, and five spice dark chocolate slice. Clay had crispy duck salad, sea bass and tapioca soup with matcha ice cream. We look forward to returning some day for lunch. They used to charge $30 for more than 1 dinner per cruise in Silk, but it has been poorly received and now you can go as often as they'll give you a reservation. We hope to return some night with a day of reservation when we don't like the Waterside menu or don't want Churrascaria.

We skipped tonight's musical show and got back too early for turndown service. We failed to turn on the service light at the door so that may have contributed. It is fine. Tomorrow's Reflections was on the mail holder outside. Tomorrow starts a long stretch of sea days...

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Onboard Crystal Serenity

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We got picked up at the Sheraton by a big black van and it took only about 20 minutes to get to the port. There was no traffic. Since our pickup arrived early and we were ready and there was no traffic, we arrived before our scheduled time of noon. We weren't first here anyway. They had been checking people in since 11 am. Crystal pulled out all the stops making a Hollywood production of the World Cruise guests arrival. They made the private transfers drop us off upstairs and drive our luggage back downstairs. I had an unhappy hour or so while we waited for all 4 bags to appear. We found the 4th ourselves out in a stairwell. We got everything unpacked but have an electrical outlet shortage. The 220 outlet on the desk is loose and unusable. There is 1 110 on the desk and 2 USB outlets. There is 1 110/220 on the hair dryer in the bathroom but it only works if the lights are on. Not optimal but we have a power strip sitting on the old TV ledge above the refrigerator on the desk which has been left unfinished and a large useless space. We'll see.

We have a welcoming gala cocktail party at 5:30pm and an assigned table in Waterside (the main restaurant) at 6:30pm. So I need to go change clothes now. It is a previously unused category of dress code Informal. We only had pre-cruise dress codes of casual and black tie optional. We'll wear the BTO clothes. Tie is listed as optional for men tonight. No idea what Clay will do. I brought one fancy beaded dress for BTO so that's what I'll wear tonight.

Later.

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Last morning in LA

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I think Clay has some food photos from dinner at El Cholo last night and from the Original Pantry this morning. I had been looking forward to the remembered as mythological pancakes today. When we got there I saw they had pancakes and buckwheat pancakes! I didn't remember which kind I had and loved and wanted to repeat! Assuming I'd have gone with buckwheat in the past as something different, I ordered them. These were just ordinary, not the fluffy, melt in your mouth pancakes I'd remembered and craved. Disappointment. Still massive servings. Coffee was only 85 cents with a meal! I'd made and drunk the Starbucks in the room since we were up very early. That was good as when we departed about 8am, there was a line around the corner waiting to get in.

We walked back and Clay went in the Rite Aid across the street from the Sheraton to look for some kind of ice cream. Now this was not our first visit to this Rite Aid, but somehow we'd previously failed to notice the scoop shop! This Rite Aid had a Thrifty ice cream counter. How had we missed that. Clay was thrilled, if disappointed to have missed a serving after dinner the last 2 nights!

We are resting after breakfast and waiting til closer to our 11am private car transfer to Crystal Serenity. Next post will be from onboard. There is supposed to be a formal World Cruise kickoff Gala onboard tonight. The next day the 1st segment passengers board and we sail about 6pm that evening. We prepurchased tickets for the USS Iowa for that day. Sadly, it forecast to rain again that day. It was meant to be a walking kind of day for us at the waterfront. Oh, well it's weather and you get what comes.

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In LA

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I guess it has been a long time since my last post. When I last posted we were on our way to Florida for the holidays. Weather was excellent for our visit. Sadly, we were all sick during Christmas week and spent most of our time indoors! It was still a good visit. I managed to get all but 300 or so of my Flickr account photos moved before their free account freezing and deleting. I had to leave 2 trips worth of photos behind there due to the way I had saved/formatted the albums making it too hard to reconstruct elsewhere. Fingers crossed the photos left behind stay there!

It has been a busy last 2 days. On the 11th, we flew from RDU to LAX. It started badly with us first breaking the handle off one of the suitcases getting them out to the street, then realizing half way to the airport that neither of us had shut the living room drapes! We had to go back and start over. In good news though we managed to successfully have the house's water supply line from the meter replaced in a little over a half day on the 9th. So, it looks like we finally have our pesky leak problem solved but we shut off the water anyway before we left. Because the hall bath faucet that got broken searching for the leak, and which we replaced ourselves, has itself sprung a leak! And around it goes. We'll deal with that when we get home in April!

We paid AA about $950 for the 2 of us to fly one way to LAX. Thank goodness for that because it was just about tolerable but as it was an overbooked flight, I was glad to have the space and quiet of first class. It was still a long almost 6 hours. We watched movies on our seat back on demand video systems and they served us a meal that we'd pre-selected online. Clay had chicken and salmon and I had fruit & cheese. Clay had red wine and I had prosecco. The meal came with an appetizer of mixed hot nuts. It was a rather turbulent flight and I was happy to land. Once at LAX, it took about an hour to get out of the airport. They changed our baggage carousel which may have accounted for some of the delay. The rest of it was waiting for the Execucar private transfer that Clay had booked in advance online for about $60. I still don't know what that delay was about. We wound up downtown in the Sheraton Grand about 2 hours after we landed. We stayed here once before and loved the central location. We booked it online for just under $560 for 2 nights, but they've charged our Discover card $677.88 since we arrived so I guess somebody has some explaining to do. We'll see.

After we got checked in and our luggage stowed, we walked a few blocks to Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken. There is a small fridge in our room along with a coffee/tea making station. I thought we were going to get breakfast for Saturday, but Clay also got fried chicken. We got there more than an hour before closing at 9pm and they had fewer than a dozen doughnuts left! They had no chicken ready, so we sat and waited about 20 minutes for fresh fried to order. I guess that was better than old and stale. We had our doubts about the remainder doughnuts but they were good this morning. My favorite was the square PB&J one.

The room, 1006, was quiet and the bed was very cushy both top and bottom. I don't know if it was the stress of a flight day or what but we both slept well. I was up first at 6:13am. I didn't realize Clay had a digital clock on his side until I got up to check the time. That was earlier than we'd planned to wake, but too close to go back to sleep. It meant no rushing anyway.

The Sheraton Grand must be directly over the 7th St. Metro Center. I think it is a convergence of 3 different metro train lines. Very convenient. We wandered to find the entrance as Clay trusted his Google Map app over my looking out the window or around the hotel lobby. We had allowed plenty of time for error anyway. We bought TAP cards with our 1 way fare on for $2 deposit + $1.75 fare each. The $2 deposit is non-refundable! Anyway, it was still cheap and efficient transportation. We had a walk of several blocks on the other end of the ride. I guess I haven't said what we were doing today! We had booked online an Architecture Tour. We were looking for something easy, interesting and new for us accessible on public transit when I thought about Frank Lloyd Wright houses in LA. Googling found the tours and a query found that the FLW tour today was sold out. Laura though suggested the Hollywood tour as a substitute and it was a good choice. It began at Barnsdall Park and the Hollyhock House which was where the Lloyd Wrights began their time in California. We learned and saw a lot we hadn't seen or known before and got a refresher on some that we had. It was a great way to spend a rainy morning riding around in a van. We turned out to be in the van for the heaviest part of the rain. It was clearer before and after. Lucky. (Which reminds me to talk about the baptism of my Vera Bradley rain poncho! It works great which is a good thing since I didn't bring any other waterproof gear! It was my Christmas gift/ACL/Savannah souvenir.) After the tour, on our return to our meeting place at Barnsdall Park, we paid $7 each to tour the Hollyhock House. We were glad it was available. After that I suggested lunch. We first thought we'd pay an extra fare to ride a couple of Red Line stops further out to Musso & Frank. Laura had pointed it out and I'd eaten there before without Clay. As we walked back to the Metro stop, Clay wondered aloud if Papillon in Little Armenia would be a more tasty choice. We both agreed it would and backtracked across the park for Hollywood Blvd. It was definitely a more unique choice and we shared savory and sweet fried dough specialties. Clay described it aptly as fair food. They were all served piping hot and all were delicious. We shared 3 savory perashki, with one each of meat, potato and cheese. Followed by 2 sweet ponchik with one each of dulce de leche and Nutella and Oreo. They were all delicious. Clay asked but I couldn't name a favorite. It was an interesting and perfectly portioned lunch for us. We had originally planned to skip lunch and have dinner near the Sheraton at Mas Malo, but as I typed this Clay double checked our original research and found it permanently closed, so dinner plans are open right now as he starts over looking for another close by Mexican food place. We'll see! We wound up at El Cholo. We should have made a reservation, but instead wound up among a thousand hockey fans have a pre-game dinner out. It was good, I don't know if it was worth the 30+ minute wait though. Tomorrow morning we plan to return to the Original Pantry for breakfast before checking out. Crystal Cruises is providing a private car transfer to the San Pedro World Cruise Terminal at 11am tomorrow as part of our World Cruise. Then a new adventure begins!

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