Day 7 Hawaiian Cruise

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Day 7 Nwilliwilli, Kauai, November2, 2011
Today's Forecast: Isolated showers- High 78 Low 73
Sunrise 6:43, Sunset 5:58
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The waters of the Ocean had become on the rough side as we snaked inot the port of Nawilliwilli. The port side was tall mountains and a very small breakwaterarea. The ship landed next to a huge shed that looks as if it were used to load ships with sugar cane or other products. The ship had to move completely to one side in the wind and then straighten out to dock along the tiny port.

I took the free shuttle to Walmart. the crusty female driver had been doing this for years, drove us up the hill. She had a good patter and narrated the sights. She could also let you stop at the museum or the anchor shopping area. But she made it clear that she would not pick you up at the anchor shopping center. It was about a half a mile away from the ship downhill.

The town its self is really small and kind of broken down. Along the top ridge are various helicopter businesses to take people for adventure rides into Wiemea Canyon. 

One of the old guys on the shuttle said he was cold and could she turn down the air. We had been waiting outside and the rain had fallen, She said,"No" He asked why. She said that she liked it that temperature. The shuttle was a 25 passenger bus with a tall ceiling and a short step up to get in.

There was also a free shuttle for passengers that wanted to go to Kmart and Hilo Hatties. All the big boxes knew they needed to get the ship passengers up to their businesses.

Later that morning we were waiting transport up to the walmart with Sue. The Hilo Hatties shuttle arrived ahead of the Walmart one. We opted for the Hilo Hatties.

Sue and I had a great time at Hilo Hatties. That girl loves to shop and it seemed like everything Hawaiian was in this store. Most of the goods were made in Hawaii.

The shuttle driver started out by handing out to each rider a shell lei. One of the old ladies up front asked if he was going to kiss each person that got the lei. He said, "They have laws against that Now!" Everyone on the bus laughed.

Hilo Hatties in Nawilliwilli's is a one story about 10,000 square feet of retails space. As you walk in there are coffee cups and a couple of Hawaiian coffees for self serve as well as a couple of fruit juice containers for self serve as well.

The store has most of the square footage stocked with racks of Hawaiian shirts and other other attire. There are some sections with Macadamia nuts and cosmetics.

Sue found the bargain table and we invested in some nice genuine bargains.
We saw the chickens all over everywhere.

At the Walmart I picked up another 12 pack of caffeine diet pepsi. I was stopped by several passengers in line back to ship asking me whether that was permissible to take on the ship. They all made plans to do the same.

The Follies Singer
At breakfast I met an Asian man that needed a table to eat his breakfast. He told me that he was living in a gated community at 1500 feet elevation just outside of Palm Springs. He had retired as San Francisco architect 13 years ago. He said that he loved his life since he could play golf 4 times a week throughout the year. He also liked the fact that his community village had numerous interest groups that met throughout the month. They brought in a big star at least once a month to give them a show, like Bono or Andy Williams.

Every year the village puts on a big follies show. He was a performer. He likes to be an Elvis impersonator. As of 2 years ago his hearing got in the way of his performance so now he does it with lip syncing. He also is a star in the village people YMCA group. He is the C. Sometimes he is able to do a Louis Armstrong without the lip sync. He used a napkin to demonstrate how he could carry on a conversation with Louis Armstrong leading up to his singing one of his songs for me.  What a treat.

He said that he had 6 Grand kids  but is not as close to them as he should be. Some Grand kids live in Fresno and some in Turlock. He follies singer was a regular character. He asked me to guess his age. I guessed 72. He was amazed. He said that he was 78. It is these encounters that make the cruise for me. I always try to get a conversation going. The only problem that I have now is that these people will see me on the ship and break out in a big smile and they walk by before I can track down the memory of their conversation.


Chickens Domestic ---- Wild
At Walmart there were a huge amount of chickens running around loose in their parking lot. They were looking for a spare piece of a McDonald's bun .


Apparently they started out as domestic chickens in people's backyards. A hurricane in 1992 whipped through the town and lifted the chickens out of their cages and dropped them into the verdant country where they became feral. There were many more roosters than you would usually see in a domestic chicken population. They were also very territorial and had huge spurs.

Our driver mentioned that it was against the law to try to suppress the population. He said though with a little wink that went along with the statement. There homeless don't go hungry. At the Walmart parking lot the flock has become pretty bold, and the cars slow down when they make turns so as not to hit them. The flock was defiantly working the waiting crowd, looking for a a chance to pick up a crumb or a two.

There were downpours again today. Hilo Hatties has a covered outdoor waiting area for the shuttles along the side of the store. Even with this, the rain splashed significantly on one side reducing the sitting area to about half.

In the waiting area, Sue saw a lady show off to her friend a cosmetic bag she had bought on sale in the store. It was bright yellow with orange flowers on its side. She found out that it was only 5 dollars marked down from 27. We marched right back in and bought a stack of them. There was also a matching wallet kind of thing. Sue needed it too.

Sue bought be a T shirt at Hilo Hattie that had the logo from above on a green shirt.. StarClucks Kaui
Dinner:

Pat: Daiquri Soup (watermelon based)
        Calamari-flash fried with baby octopus and artichoke
        rack of veal with aspargrass.
        Apple Struedel

Sue: Daiquri Soup
        mixed greens salad
        Tiger Shrip with mango and tomato chutney
        coffee creme bruelee

Day 6 Hawaiian Cruise

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Day 6 Honolulu Oahu, November 1,2011
Today's Forcast: Mostly Sunny High 82 Low 73
Sunrise 6:36 Sunset 5:58
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We pulled into the dock ten minutes late at 7:10 am. I got up on the deck to take photos of the surrounds.

I saw a double beautiful double rainbow off the decks and to the East.

We were ported in the dock closest to the Aloha Towers.
I had my usual cappuccino on deck 5 with the usual pastry assortment. Sue wanted me to to check out the "get off the ship" clearance and report back.
I was off and looking for Diamond Head and maybe Waikiki.

My morning walk took me after 2.5 miles to the county park of Ala Moana. It had a good view of Diamond Head . Many people were jogging the park in the morning. It was not crowded on the beach or on the trails. Three were people swimming in the area before the breakers and several people on very long boards doing paddle surfing on the flats in front of the breakers. The breakers seem to be a quarter of a mile away from the beach. This is not what I imagined.. but good.

I was having a pleasant time when I felt a gentle mist blowing in the wind the had picked up. Then suddenly a tropical downpour occurred. It was huge. I tried to find cover under the Banyon tree. It helped a little but I was drenched. The downpour continued for 25 minutes . It reminded me of heading toward the trees or the car when a rainstorm would hit when we were fishing in the rockies.

This rain was pouring out of the sky. It lacked the coolness of the Rocky Mountain thunderstorm. There was no lightening in this and no thunder.

I rolled into the nearby Starbucks and the cashier noted my condition. I earned my Hawaii badge under the banyon tree. A native Hawaiian also headed for the tree at the same time I was there.
A banyon tree is a ficas relative. There are a million ficus trees in homes across the country but I will never look at the indoor tree in the same way again.

I had lunch at the Ward Farmer's market on the way home. No farmers but a grocery store for the Asian population. It also had a "junk souvenir" stand out in front. Inside they had a section of the store devoted to making sushi. 8 people were working making sushi in an animated way. I bought a bento box for $6.69 that had a thin piece of cold salmon the width of my hand, a shrimp tempura piece and a chicken on a skewer tempura piece. there was rice and three different salads. No wasabe or pickled ginger. also no chopsticks... fingers worked.


Another rainstorm hit and I was glad I was under some cover.

I took the bus back to the ship 2.50. Sue wanted to get out and move along the streets with her power chair. I thought that we might do the upscale mall right along the side of the ship. We did those and bought a few items. Then she wanted to go to the park that I had been. As we made it out along the streets we realized that the power chair was not fully charged. We had a mix up and got separated. She barely made it up the ramp to the elevators and to the room to plug the beast in.

On the way back I noticed that the water in the port had cleaned and the little reef that the port made had dozens of Angel fish and trigger fish swimming around it. No snorkel mask needed.

Dinner: Because we were in Honolulu there was reduced dinning room support. They told us all to use the anytime dinning if we wanted a formal dinner on the ship instead of our usual spot.
Pat:
Bratwurst and fries from the hot dog stand on ship. Copra (a kind of Italian salami) and a couple of chicken skewers from the buffet.
Sue: Hot dog with cheese roll, fries and some brough from home fruit roll ups and a nut bar

During the dinning hours teh captain came on the announcements and stated that there was a higher than normal admission to the Drs for gastro intestinal outbreak  Norwalk. He said that we should be vigilant regarding our hand washing and that he was enacting new procedures today in the self serve sections of the food areas.

It was obvious that self serve buffets were no longer self serve. Everyone was "served" in the buffet. No passenger was allowed to "touch" tongs or even in the hot dog bar pump their own mustard.

I sat down at the table and an "older lady" sat across from me at the buffet tables. She said that she was hit by the malady. She was signed up to go with her grown kids to the Polynesian Cultural center all day long excursion. She sent them on in the morning. She tried to send word out that she could not make it on her legs. She slept the entire day. She was hoping that they would cancel the cost of the excursion..$375. There was no one down at the excursion table to collect her request. She had not been to the Dr on the ship. I told her that she needed to do that if she hoped that the excursion would not be billed to her account. She said that she was up all night but slept the morning through to the afternoon before she could get up again. The Polynesian Village excursion was to leave at 8:30 in the morning and get back about 10:30 at night.

The captain reviewed again the Norwalk procedures and did not shake hands with anyone that night at the captain's reception for the Captain's Circle members. At our cabin we responded by wiping everything down again with the disposable sheets we bought at the walmart in Hilo.

Overall there was a large contrast to between the rural sort of run down look of Hilo and the urban Jaguar car feel of Honolulu.

We saw some homeless  (a few) camped out corners along the road in Honoulu. None of them were begging like ours. Some people were living out of their cars or vans, living the idealistic surf bum life.

Oddly there were not many tourists in the areas we walked except for ship borne folks all carrying their free blue princess bags.

I also had a chance to visit the Ward center. Its a 3 story "outdoor" mall and a group of parking spots between the two wings. There were empty store fronts and a little food court with a DQ and Orange Julius combined. I had a pumpkin blizzard.. pumpkin pie flavored soft serve with some cookie chucks that had the texture of crust tossed in.. I approved. the McDonald's was advertising their baked pies in Hawaii... bananna.. I didn't try.. got to save something for the next trip!
I took some photos of the sunset across the port.. The lights came on and streaked across the water of the port as the sky turned orange.
Overall a great day.. although it had its moments!

Day 5 Hawaiian Cruise

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Day 5 Hilo Hawaii October 31,2011
Weather: Chance of Showers High 82 Low 65.
Sunrise 6:22 Sunset 5:44
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This morning started with storm clouds all around the ship. Not overcast, but genuine black clouds. This storm passed us by. We are going to have a brilliant sunny morning.

I brought Sue her breakfast and choice from the buffet, scrambled eggs, bacon, corned beef hash, a baked pear adn 3 rolls with butter.

I took the elevator down to the 5th floor piazza, walking through the art gallery and had what they called an bengue (sp?) a french donut. Its really a small doughnut square filled with blackberry filling., a chocolate glazed rolled doughnut and a custard filled doughnut. Add these to a broad rimmed cup and saucer cappuccino and its almost a perfect breakfast.
I checked the email. Natalie said that Nigel is in the window all day and is happy to eat the treats.

Today is Mom's birthday!

They have a wild display in the piazza lobby. It had some gruesome carved pumpkins (the cooks with the garnish knives on watermelons could accomplish amazing things with pumpkins). Also in the center was a manikin with green eyes, and bloody shirt. My daily internet use is around 20 minutes per day on a 14 day cruise that works out to be around 300 minutes. I bought a plan that would give me more than the minimum 500. So I guess that spend a little more time in facebook. The connection speed was really good as there were only three others in the internet cafe and people started using their regular cell phones as we rolled into US territory in Hawaii.

I called Wanda (mom) to wish her a happy birthday. Dad was chopping on his peach tree.
I text messaged the Brownie Korbs in Colorado and both girls in the Bay Area.

It was neat to see that breakers as we barreled up the coast to our docking port in Hilo. It was clear enough at this point to see all the way up the mountain to the tiny round knobs that had to be the observatory. It was the only time during the entire day that the mountain was visible. The rest of the time grey and black clouds blocked the view.

I was off the boat about a half and hour after we docked for my 2 mile hike. I thought that it would take longer than that with people being on ship for so long. It was an easy off. So the early exucrsions were off on time. We had arrived about a half an hour late. After that many miles at see its a wonder that we were there so close to our planned arrival,

I walked down toward the town and saw car dealerships and big truck warehouses. After I walked a a mile and a half I decided that the additional mile to the town was not worth it. I had failed to put on my hat, and the sun was making it pretty hot.

I headed back and got Sue up to do the run to Walmart. A shuttle runs form port to Walmart and Hilo Hatties was running the some vans and did not want to waste their space with a wheel chair. (This we found out from another wheelchair couple as they waited to get on. Walmart hired a bus to do the runs and everyone including our two wheelchairs were welcome. The walmart bus held 65 people . It pulled up and we climbed on. It dropped us off at Walmart, and the driver gave us a little local color as we traveled. Hilo has 45,000 people.

Sue and I ate McRibs.. yum. I listened to the post high school students talk in their classic "pidgin" What an interesting linguistic soup.

I bought the Steve Jobs biography. Sue fell in love with the quality and depth of Hawaiian material available in the store. Almost everyone was wearing Hawaiian shirts. Shorts were everywhere.

When we were ready to return, we waited for the bus outside of Walmart. It finally came up but it did not have room for us. We could have waited for the next bus. But....
Our excursion started at 2:20 and I was afraid we were going to miss that one. I flagged down a taxi. It was a mini van. The first question the middle aged female taxi driver asked was,"Are you allergic to dogs?" I said no. Sue said, "find out how much it would cost." She guessed it would be about 14 dollars to the port. It was only 12. by meter. I told her to keep the change of the 20. She almost didn't want to keep the change but she did. She did in honor of her little shitzu dog that was her constant companion. Sue sat up in front with the driver and her little dog that had a tiny gold clip to keep her hair out of her eyes. She rode the transmission hump all day with her master.

Back at the port. I took the Walmart purchases up to the cabin while Sue shopped the merchants set up inside the port building. Some of our family members will be the recipients of the fine shopping environments . There were even some lady selling tropical arrangements for your cabin at 10dollars a throw.


The Botanical Excursion

We were gathered up from the huge indoor port building under the sign. We had the tickets supplied by the ship. We traded them for a big gold sticker for our clothes. 9 of us and the manual wheelchair squeezed into the van and off we went. The driver was equipped with a microphone and a headset so that he could narrate the trip and answer questions that people had before getting to the gardens. Our driver took us sight seeing along the way, showing us some of the public parks beside the sea and some of the flora that makes this place different.

We unloaded at the gardens and Sue went diving into the gift shop. She found the only shirt that had a chance of fitting. We also got some postcards of the place. It had some photos of the beautiful flowers and plants that we would see along the slopes of this vertical garden.

Sue got out her camera and took a large number of photos of the things that impressed her. It is situated on a very steep hillside. They got us down to the area that we had a chance at pushing the wheel chair around and more level walking by moving us down using gas powered golf carts. They were also used to drag the wheelchair and us back up the hill.

Sue sat in the front of the van coming and going. I sat with a newlywed couple from our ship from Oregon. She had long gorgeous red hair.

The driver narrated our journey. He answered the "living"questions. Gas was $4.25 a gallon. Currently in the states its $3.65 a gallon. He pointed out the banyon trees and the umbrella trees.

We were all checked thoroughly for identity four times this day just getting into the area that had the ship. Sue was hurting and wiped out. I was just wiped out from what felt like working in a warm sauna all day long.

It took 6 glasses of water at the buffet for me to feel I had caught up with the water I had lost.

Dinner:
Sue: hot dog with extra mustard with cheese and rolls form the buffet.
Pat: Double hamburger with cheese, handful of fries, a scoop of garlic shrimp form the buffet and a desert sampler (for use to share) small slices of pumpkin pie squares, cheesecake, and choc. layer cake

I watched the last quarter of the Monday night game that pitted the San Diego Chargers and the K.C. Chiefs. It was on the big outdoor screen as we headed out of port in the evening headed to Honolulu.

The kids on the ship, all six of them did some trick or treating through the buffet with the Princess mascot.. the pelican. Its the first and probably the only time that I have ever seen the Princess mascot.

Day 4 Hawaiian Cruise

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Day 4  October 30, 2011
Forecast High 79 Low 62 Sunrise 6:50 Sunset 6:29
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Checked email: had responses from the girls. Also Natalie. The cleaning ladies were back. Natalie liked them. Connection speed slowed way down.
At breakfast I ate in the formal dinning room and was served a very strange version of Huevos Rancherios. Chopped tomato fresh salsa on the side. Eggs serced over a quesadila filled with green peppers and a large dollop of refried black beans accompanied.
Breakfast dinners included a couple from Pennsylvania. The wife had a white mennonite prayer cap. The husband a trimmed beard. Also there was a couple from Florida interested in horses, with the husband a police attorney. A couple from Rockford Illinois and an insurance salesman from Bakersfield completed the table. He was rather outspoken regarding California politics and its solvency. I let him have his right wing platform. It died without a second.

I met a truck driver from Hemit. He and his wife cashed in their LA home and bought a brand new one from the proceeds in Hemit. Hemit is a high desert city east of LA. He helps cook for the American Legion . He grills hamburgers and hot dogs with fries... price $4.00. Even then some of the members don't want to buy. The American Legion supports itself with bingo but no bar.

Sue and I booked the botanical gardens excursion for the next day when we dock on the big Island of Hawaii at Hilo. It is scheduled to leave the port at 2:30. Its the last one of the day. There were 4 other times. They use a van to transport the people to the location. The excursion office called ahead to see if there would be room for the wheelchair. They said that they could accommodate it.

The ship's naturalist was selling her own book after her lectures in the big theatre. It is all photos she took herself of natural Hawaii. She autographed it for us. She is selling it off to pay for her college loans. She is form Portland. She was a naturalist for the park service in Alaska before doing the princess boats. She was up on the Kenea peninsula. She was also stationed for 2 years in Ketchikan.

Dinner:
Pat: Carbmeat in a martini glass with pieces of orange
        Cold coconut soup in a hurricane glass
        Surf and Turf- Filet with four large Shrimp -tails on
        Cherries Jubulee- Flambe with vanilla ice cream

Sue: Two hamburgers from the terrace via Pat's room service

We set our clocks back again for tomorrow wake up . We are supposed to be dockside at 9am in Hilo.

Day 3 Hawaiian Cruise

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Day 3 Saturday October 29,2011
Forecast: Partly Cloudy, High 78 Low 63
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I was up this morning at 5. We lost another hour as we headed West today. Its supposed to be in the high 70's and low 80's maybe. There was very little rock in the boat last night or this morning. The Eastern coast passengers were up very early this morning- their heads have yet to join the game.

There was a swimmer in the Neptune pool this morning at 8:15. I asked about the water temp. She said that is was good. Out of port they have have been repairing this pool. with some plaster patches and some re- lighting projects. Last night it was ready for occupation. Today.. a swimmer.

This morning the internet connection was a little slower but still acceptable. Received an update on the Merced cats and Kelly with a cold.

This morning attended a slide show on Kaui. Lots of insight plus a nice map was provided for his talk in the Princess Theater. Luckily, no Diamonds International. It was genuine and his references were authentic.

I also had a chance to listen to the captain circle talk. I was able to get another Pacific Island stamp. Back in the room the idea to use the stamp as a take point for some watercolor got the paints out.

I bought a couple of moleskine notebooks with watercolor paper inside of them. I made the first variation with the Caran de Arche watercolor pencils then wet them down. The second variation was made with watercolor sticks . The third variation was done with the pilot pigment pen to start and then watercolors, primarily Mayan colors for the rest. Its a little different working with the hot pressed paper that was in the notebook rather than the cold pressed paper that I have mostly used in my painting, Cold pressed is much rougher in texture. I also opened a pack of artist trading cards and made a variation on them from the travel kit.










We met some London Brits at lunch. His job was controlling the air and heat inside of the building.

Sue got ready for her massage

Dinner:
Pat: Escargot
        cold cucumber soup
        duck ala orange
        raspberry creme brulee
Sue: fruit
        green Ceasar salad
        fettuccine

Day 2 Hawaiian Cruise

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Day 2 Friday, October 28, 2011- attire Formal
At Sea: Partly cloudy High 68 Low 55
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Sunrise 6:50 Sunset 6:20

Breakfast -Lox and Danish (pear) canned apricots prunes, and figs
Morning broke with a string of clouds headed East- We are headed South west. Ship hours lose another hour tonight.
At 6 am I was in the internet cafe to get the latest update from Natalie, the house overseer. Paul (doing the cat and mail thing) left the front door unlocked but Natalie closed it and locked it within 10 minutes of his leaving. Natalie was headed over to him to remind Paul about it after he arrived home from school.

I sent emails to our daughters this am. As frequent travelers on Princess, (Platinum level) we get 250 minutes of internet time free. I bought another 500 minutes for 67 dollars. This should be enough. Its a one time offer that has to be done the first day that you are on the ship.
I had cappuccino service in the Piazza (the center of the ship on the deck 5. It was nice to have the card so that I didn't have to sign a slip to be added at the end with all of the others documenting our purchases.


2 Retired H.S Secretaries
As I looked for an easy chair to pass some time 2 retired High School secretaries couldn't seem to leave the active life alone. "Just because I am retiring this year doesn't mean that I am going to sluff off my duties," One of them stated.
Then there surfaced Angst expressed over a summer typed "purchased order... "I wasn't the one that typed that purchase order... It wasn't hers."I would have known not to use maintenance funds.
New personnel was taking over their jobs. And a new principal.. only 28. How could he think he could do the job? The counselors are coming back to schedule summer school with no knowledge of what they did in the spring.
"I told them they had the best staff of any High School could have. So he didn't talk to me the first 3 weeks just before school started, I pointed it out." He said that he was sorry, what can I do to make it better, he said. Just ask me when you need help. I will do it she said. Then there was the keys. Many teachers had lost their keys.. and round up.
So much angst so hard to let it go.

Looking out to Sea
See you are in the middle of the sea
No land to see for days
Would you look out the window to see?
Or find pattern in the waves?
If a tree were to fall in the sea
would there be anyone there to see?
Looking for the slightest breeze
To cap the waves and lighten the sea
Push on ship of wonder ship of the sea


Pat's book in hand.
Everyday in Tuscany-Seasons of an Italian life by Frances Mays (author of Under the Tuscan Sun)
Much of it is a quest for viewing paintings by Signorelli. I believe that he was the painter that we saw in Orvieto..an Umbrian hill town in Italy.


Canadian Bakers
At lunch Sue was helped through the buffet line by a Princess employee. She held the tray and Sue pointed out what she wanted. At the end she found a partially occupied table nearby. The Princess employee asked the couple if we could join them. No problem.
He was a retired bakery owner in Winnepeg. His company made thousands of cakes each day to be shipped out to Canadian safeways among other places. He said that they imported the flour for the cakes from the US as well as the fat. He preferred the soya fat over the only one made in Canada, canola. I asked him what he thought of the cake boss on T.V. He said that he likes watching the techniques but felt there was way too much drama in it. He watches it with the volume off.

In the afternoon I sat in the start of a movie in the Princess Theater. I realized that it was the same as the one I had seen the night before up on the Stars outdoor big screen.
In the meantime the workman had fixed the Neptune pool, probably why the workmen were drilling something in our hall the first night. 100 or so passengers were waiting to watch the test screen that said, MLB.
It was the 7th game of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals. Each group had it own cheering section as movies under the stars screen was bright enough to broadcast the game to the cheering audience in their swimming suits and buckets of beer. Nearby was the free hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza.. order up and enjoy. After the fourth inning the crowd slowly disappeared to get ready for the first fancy dress night on the ship for the 6 o'clock seating. A few passengers were enjoying the free soft serve ice cream (served until 11pm each night).  Since our dinner was at 8 I was able to see the last of the game from St. Louis.

Dinner:
Sue: Grapefruit and Kiwi slices
         Caesar salad
          Pan flashed Shrimp
           Chocolate Mousse

Pat: Slices of smoked Duck breast with salad greens
        Yogurt Tamarind cold soup
         New York Steak with veggies (asparagus and green beans)
        Pear browned on Puff pastry

Even though we loved our table from yesterday with our Disney Imagineer  Exec, Sue felt uncomfortable having everyone move as she passed by to get to our table especially on the way out. Sue always likes to leave a little earlier than most people at the table. We talked to the matre de, and in Italian fashion he tried not to take blame for the original seat. We of course absolved him of intent and he found us an outstanding table.

This table had thee people from Philly and one couple from Santa Monica. The Philly people were involved with the power grid and safety one of them retired form Eslon. The Santa Monica people took care of rich people's money the official title... Financial Advisor. They are a lively conversationalist interested in sports and personal experience. They were mostly sympathetic to a more liberal brand of politics.. good.

Tonight was "formal night". Just a few tuxes were out there. Men mostly wore sport jackets and ties. Women got out their sparkly dresses.

Earlier in the day, the red hat ladies posed for a photo . Two pro photographers were there as they "posed on the curved railings." These were all ladies were over 50 years old. They just met up when they got to the ship. When they were all set and standing sideways (there were about 40) one of them yelled out "Say Sex!"Huge giggles emanated  from the assembled crowd.

Also on the Piazza was a "street performer" His last name was Rossi. He came in dressed like a chef with a tall white hat. Then he walked or jumped on one hand across the plaza on one hand (a moving one hand handstand) Then he did the same dribbling a basketball.

There was a demo and a sushi station at lunch. People descended on the sushi but they kept up with the demand. There were even a couple of big trays left over after lunch.
It was a pretty great day even if it didn't turn out exactly like we had planned.

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Day 1 Hawaiian Cruise

Thursday October 27,2011
At Sea: Forecast: High 71 Low 59 Sunrise 6:25 Sunset 5:41

Awake at 5 AM (as usual)
There seems to be quite a bit of programming lined up for today:
•Sue has yet to find the library- if they are ready for her
•Tickets available for the lei classes with fresh orchids (need to buy a kit)
•Sue is scheduled for a deep tissue massage
•Introduction-orientation to the ukulele lessons
•2:30 Jacqueline Kennedy event (Jackie jewlery)
•ceramics at sea

(none of this happened for us as it turned out except finding the library)
Last night we jostled our way along. Nothing big just the slight feeling that your head may not be working the equilibrium task easily. Its a whole lot different from the sharp jolts we felt coming into northern California on our Alaskan cruises.
Overall the ship has a "big" feel about it. The Golden Princess was constructed in 2001 in Italy. It has been reconditioned since its construction in 2009.
In homage to my daughters that always find new friends at breakfast in the dinning room, I had breakfast there. A nice conversation was had.the ladies were u for talk and their husbands kind of softballed it. One of the husbands was a borderline diabetic and the other one was a diabetic. The wife of the borderline said that it didn't keep him from eating sweets. Fare for breakfast was cheese and mushroom omelette with a small piece of Italian sausage and fresh tomatoes.
I had previously used my coffee card (you can buy one to cover the coffee and tip) to get a cappucinno and a creme filled donut.
One couple at breakfast was from Deleware. They were concerned about a company supported by the state called Bloom. They are investing the people's money without the people becoming stockholders. It uses natural gas to make what sounds like fuel cells. The by product is water.
One lady told me about her daughter. After 45, started out as a PE teacher and went back to school to become a HS counselor so she could help out more.
I met a man who did cross country for 33 years outside of the internet cafe/library.
The internet cafe doubles for the library. This makes mobility on issue for the library folks. Early in the morning only 3 out of 40 pcs were being used.
I checked my g-mail and found a note from Natalie, the house overseer. She reported that the house cleaners were there and she was going to see that the trash cans were put out on the curb Thursday night. The cats were giving her the cold shoulder but she recognized that they probably would come around.
Sue had soda and a couple of donuts for breakfast using my coke card. The coke card allows you to get soda at any bar for 67dollars for the trip. A little sticker is issued on your card and a tumbler is issued. She did some prowling in the library and found a couple of books that will keep her entertained. She bought a light orange pair of pants on"trail" at teh gift shop. (They didn't fit too well so she returned them later in the cruise for credit). We also picked up some postcards .. mostly of the ship.

For lunch the set up of stir fry station outside of the buffet looked good.

The cooks stuffed stir fried veggies (that they did on the spot) with shrimp and a little ham and packed rice on top of it into a small ramkin. They flipped the rambkins upside down and on to a plate  for serving. Available with a viable hot and sour soup it made a great lunch.
I ate lunch on the pool deck. A couple asked if I could save their place at my table. I said sure. The wife was widowed and so was the husband. They were both lost their spouses within six months of each other. They live in Sierra Vista part of Southern Arizona. She has a job passing out coupons one day a week at the military commissary. He worked 20 yrs each at the same job both military and  civilian When pressed he said it was intel. Russian was his specialty. He was a linguist. It came in handy when they cruised to St Petersburg. He could speak to the natives in their own language. That pretty much floored them.
She now does a lot of travel agency work. Not for the money but for the experience. The first shot at ceramics was a bust... no one showed or they didn't have it. Sue was disappointed.
In the afternoon, I watched a pbs special on the sharks of Co Co Costa Rica on the jumbo outdoor movie screen.


Two Worlds Collide
The two servers in the buffet were busying around their preps. Its easier to "organize" than provide service. So far no complaint about service from me. there seems to be enough servers to do the job so these servers were milling around their support station, both of them Philippine natives.
A middle aged platinum blond approaches them, She says,"I would like some lemonade."
The server says, "Your glass is full."
She said,"I want some lemonade . In wild flourish he grabs a pitcher and says,"here"
He pours her cup from the pitcher. She walks away and and says "That is an Arnold Palmer. "
The server says "Arnold Palmer," with his accent.
"Yes," She said. "When I ask for an Arnold Palmer you can get me an ice tea with lemonade in it."
"An Arnold Palmer, "she repeated.
I asked the servers after she left if they knew who Arnold Palmer was. They ignored me, but were laughing because the server had filled up the glass with more ice tea. The servers were laughing at the big joke they had sprung on the passenger.
That was passing as humor from the server station from server to his server buddies. They all thought it was funny that she didn't get he mix.
So for the servers had no problem with me getting a diet coke in or out of the designated cup.


Dinner for Day 1
Sue:
Strawberry soup
Lettuce wedge salad
salmon

Pat:
Pinapple chopped up with other tropical fruits
corn chowder (no cream)
Pork shoulder with chimmichuri sauce
warm brownie with vanilla sauce

Our table mates were from Long Beach. They were celebrating their 25th anniversary. He works for Disney in the an executive function for theme parks and cruise ships. He is currently working on modifying the Hong Kong Disney Park. They have two sons in college. One is studying film like father did and the other is hoping to be a screenwriter. They live up by the Long Beach airport.
I am not sure that we will be able to keep our table. Despite so few eating at the 8 o'clock seating, Sue was concerned about getting her powerchair in and out of the table gridlock to the current spot. She also had to climb up a couple of steps to out table in the back.

One of the interesting tales that our table mates told us was about getting the newest Disney ship out of Germany and sailing with it to the Canary Islands and on to the United States before the public had a chance to get on it. It was in the winter and people lined the banks to see Mickey and Minnie at the head of the ship pass through the bridges in the middle of the night. They also came to see the fireworks that the ship set off as they passed under the low bridges. They had to go at low tide to get under some of the bridges.
It was winter clothing to start the trip and shorts as they hit the Canary Islands. The biggest obstacle was dodging the film crews as the ship made its way. They were filming promo spots all across the ocean.
Sue left early before desert .
I watched the movie Arthur on the Movies at see Stars Screen outside our pool deck. It got chilly at 11:15. There seemed to be a significant reduction in swales in the middle of the night.