Day seven – Friday at sea

Ate, drank and were merry.

Sunrise and sunset were good to me. We were graced with a rainbow at sunset that may end up on our wall. Nothing but clouds and light. Quite an example of nature at work, though.

It seems that the casino has turned on Kim. Not too bad, but her streak is tarnished. We learned how to blend Chardonnay wine at a nice little Captain’s Club event. Good to know that stuff if we ever take up wine drinking! Surely there was more, but it has passed into a haze of reading and napping.

Tahiti tomorrow!

Day six – Thursday on, or more correctly, near Rorotonga

Fate soared over us like an albatross and like the huge seabird, dumped a big fat lesson that there are no guarantees in life. Thirty-five knot winds and two-meter seas kept the tenders berthed and sent our hopes of a day in a tropical paradise to a watery grave.

The powers that navigate tried to anchor a couple of times, but the wind and rough seas won out in the end. Our only contact with the island was a tug boat that came out to ferry some lost luggage that had been forwarded from Auckland to its anxious owners. Watching the tub bob in the water like a cork made us feel better about the Captain’s decision. We circled the island once and departed for Tahiti four hours early.

The circumnavigation was scenic and our tour was refunded, but we would have rather had the on-shore experience over the money.

It was a disappointment, but a day that ends up on a floating hotel with food and drink in abundance and in the company of your spouse and friends is not all that bad.

Day five – Wednesday at sea

Not a typo! We got back the Saturday we lost getting to Auckland in the form of a second Wednesday this week. A little Groundhog Day injected into our lives. The day was highlighted by the Captain’s Club party. It was a little odd with little if any presence by the upper staff, but our new friend from the Martini Bar spotted us and made sure we did better than flutes of mediocre champagne…lots better.

Another day spent in a whirlwind of reading and relaxing. Is there any end to this torture? I hope not!

I haven’t mentioned it so far for fear of visiting the dreaded Jinx upon her, but Kim has been kicking the casino’s butt for the last four days. She has won, lost, won, lost and is still about $400 ahead…even counting the $60 I have spent finding out that those machines see me as nothing more than a fleshy ATM.

Day four – Wednesday at sea

We ate, we napped, we ate, we read, we did what wise cruisers do…we crusied! Purely an R & R day. I snapped a few photos, but we took advantage of the opportunity for uninterrupted lethargy and spent the day in blissful relaxation so complete that we kept checking each other for a pulse.

Travel, good friends, good food, surrounded by miles of peaceful ocean and fifteen days forced to share each other’s company. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Day three – Tuesday at sea

Awoke to more rain and wind. The day brightened throughout the morning to a mostly sunny afternoon. I spent the early AM in the Navigator Lounge reading and thoroughly enjoying the ambiance. Kim slept in and woke with the last traces of jet-lag gone.

We spent the day lounging, reading, eating, lounging, reading, eating…you get the point.

Kim was lovely in her yellow satin gown and Peri was elegant as the lady in red at Prom Night #1. Ron and I were so very James Bond in our tuxes. Ok, the last part was a bit wishful, but the assessment of the girls was accurate.

Martinis before dinner in the Martini bar. A typically delicious dinner followed. The singers and dancers were unable to keep our attention or our eyes open, so it was off to bed to end another day on the Ship to Paradise.

Day two - Tauranga!

Our day started early since we had a 7:30 AM tour departure. The tour itself started badly with a long, scenic drive through the New Zealand countryside in a bus with windows fogged to opacity. We arrived at our first “stop” for a view of the thermal activity and drove in and out of the parking lot without stopping for a closer view of the distant steamy areas. We drove past a beautiful area with a building described as “the most photographed building in Rotorua”…without a stop to photograph it. At our first actual “stop” we went into the Kiwi Encounter right past signs forbidding photography. Saint Kim managed to keep me calm up to this point, assuring me that it would get better.

Fortunately it did and we ended up having a nice day of it…even if Kim was soaked by a very large geyser eruption. The Maori guide who was leading her to a better view of the geyser at the time, was soaked too and told her that the gods must like Kim and that it was a good omen. What a pleasant day! The weather was mostly sunny, I got some great pictures and Kim was blessed by the Maori gods with several hundred gallons of hot, stinky sulphur water!

We sailed at sunset and the weather went south as we turned north. The clouds provided another wonderful sunset and then wind and rain. Peri was a bit shaky since she’s the one prone to seasickness, but she got to the drugs in time and avoided dinner loss.

We fell asleep to real live rock and roll!

12+ hours in the air!

This trip will set some records for us. Longest flight at 12 hours and 40 minutes. Farthest south, Farthest east and farthest west (oddly, you are able to go either way to get to the other). Largest number of days on a single ship (this trip will make it 35 days on the Mercury). Our first (and second) crossing of the Equator. And, of course, first (and second) time crossing the Date Line.

Time flies when you’re having fun! Sitting in a butt-hugging seat with two inches of free space in front of your knees for over 12 hours is not fun and time didn’t fly. It wasn’t as bad as imagined, but it was not a commute one would like to repeat daily. Qantas has the on-demand video in the seat backs, which probably saved our sanity. The food was more than adequate as well. Not five-star by any means, but light-years ahead of pretzels and peanuts. Three movies, a BBC special on the Galapagos, an hour’s sleep and two meals later, we were there!

After a brief and relatively uneventful trip through New Zealand customs, we were met by a cheerful Celebrity Cruise Lines rep who led us to a waiting box truck. We were pretty disappointed with the accommodations until we realized the truck was for our luggage! We dropped off the main mass of our luggage and proceeded to the large and very comfortable motor coach awaiting our arrival. Keep in mind that all of this has taken place before 8:00AM local time…cheerful rep and all! We weren’t going to be able to board before noon and were wondering where they were going to drop us off, but the answer was far better than expected. Celebrity, realizing that US flights land at dark o’clock , had arranged a series of stops on the way to the ship that included a trip to the top of a local peak for a view of the city, a visit to an indoor garden with tea, coffee and snacks and a visit to a very impressive museum. After all that, we were dropped off at the pier and were on board shortly with a minimum of fuss. Sailaway and dinner were pleasant and we turned in early after 30 hours without more than a fitful nap on the plane.

Oblivion.