Oregon Living
2025 – Blog #9 – Our Cruise Pt 1
Monday, 2/24 Day 1 We loaded
our luggage in the Honda and went to pick up Penny. We drove to the Comfort
Suites in Albany and said our goodbyes. After leaving us for the airport
shuttle she would take the car back and park it in her garage so she can park
in ours. Once at the airport we checked in and went through customs and
declarations and got on the first leg to SFO. We had a 2 hour layover but made
the connection on ANZ and settled in for our 13 hr. flight to Auckland. While we were seated, we monitored the
Facebook page "Dance With Mee" that David and Dawn started. We
saw several groups sharing their 'in transition” photos and stories. A couple
were coming from Reno and were on our flight from San Francisco. We took
a group photo (called sittings) and Bill posted that. We got on our flight
later and I took a shot of the beautiful clean interior of the 787 from
Air New Zealand.
Later, we saw that Carl and Louise were a few rows in front of us. The flight was long (just over 12 hours) but was not bad. They had tons of free movies. Cathye watched The Hobbit and I watched Juror #2. Good movie but different. The dinner was excellent and filling. We had all three seats in our row so we spread out. Cathye slept quite a bit but I was not able to settle down. I think I got about 3 hours in!
Wednesday
2/26 Day 2 Yea I know - we skipped a day! Auckland is 21 hours ahead of us. After a
tasty breakfast we landed at 5:30am and made our way through the country's
admittance process and got to our driver who had our name on his laptop. The
drive was about 30 minutes and we are at The Rydges Hotel in downtown Auckland.
We learned a bit later that probably 80% of our group is staying here. Couldn't check in until later but we were able to drop our luggage for storage. We found some dancers and had coffee and rolls in the lobby. We decided to walk across the street to the Sky Tower, and go up. It was $45. ea. ($25.72 US). It wouldn't open until 9:30am so we hit the casino in the building. Suddenly, Cat wasn't tired so much! She changed $50.00 for $87.50 NZ. I got $40.00 of it and headed out for a few machines. When I lost it all and found her later, she had won mine back!. By then it was time to go get our tickets for the tower. They have four levels and today the view was spectacular. No ships in port today but we found the dock. We may just walk there with our luggage.
We went back to the hotel and rested in the lobby and met more dancers. Later, we walked down the street and had chicken and bacon croissants for lunch and then checked back in at the hotel. Our room was ready. We got in and settled. The room is very nice! Cat took a nap while I walked the route to the cruise ship. Nope, too much walking. We'll share a taxi or uber there on Fri. Later, we went down to grab dinner. Then it was back to the room to catch up on our sleep.
Thursday Feb. 27 day 5 We slept really
well last night. We have a corner room and left one of the two curtains open
just a slice so we would get some idea of the time. We showered and went down
to the breakfast buffet. After yesterday's coffee at the barista, we knew they
only had small and large black. Way too strong but that's what’s around here.
After we ate, we came back and got our backpack and headed down to get on
the Hop On/Off bus line for a tour of the city. We did just that - got off and
on - 4 times! We stopped to shop and use
a restroom, and then again at the Kingston District. Not much so it was a quick stop. Next
time it was the garden district and arboretum. That was fun! It's mid/late
summer here now so there was a lot of things in bloom. Last stop was Tamner
District where we found a really cool food court. Small brick and mortar
businesses with a common courtyard. Cathye had a stuffed pita sandwich and I
found Mexican tacos! So far, the best food I have had! The guy was
Mexican but had a New Zealand accent! He
asked where I was from - he said I had an accent! We also stopped at one of the shops
specializing in local products. We bought a metal kiwi bird and some pounamu
necklaces. Its native to NZ and Penny had us look for some. It will make nice gifts
for her and Cherrelyn.
We later got back on and
made it back and got off the bus where we started. I think it was 5 hour
trip total! We HAD to go back in to the casino! I went to the sky tower gift
shop to get us travel bottles while Cat did her thing! Broke even she said, so
overall she's still ahead a bit. Here are pics from the day....
We got back to our room and rested until it was time to go eat a little before we got our dancers together on two double decker buses and headed off to a local dance arranged by our caller. We had a fun night. David alternated levels so Cat got to dance. Once we got back to the hotel, we went straight to bed.
Friday Feb. 28 day 6
cruise day 1
We slept in because
boarding time is not until 2:00pm. We went down and ate breakfast then came
back and packed up. We checked out of the hotel and we had a taxi shuttle us to
the docks and we waited until we could board. There were two other couples there
listening to me at the concierge desk and they volunteered to share the ride
and split the $45.00 fare! We dropped
off our luggage and walked around the dock area
for a while then boarded. We sat in the bar and had drinks and visited with Carl and Louise before heading up to find our room. We are on deck 14. Not all the luggage was here yet. We rested for a few minutes and checked out the room. It is nice!
so we headed out to the buffet. The lido deck is two above us where we found enough food to feed an army!. We took it easy because we would be going down later (7:30pm) for our first group dinner. They have one section for us for 130 people. We saw it was smart casual so we changed. Tonight we sat with our leaders, David and Dawn and Dan and Lizzie and had a nice time. Food was great!.
We left and went back to the room to find that the last bag made it!. We decided to walk around the ship. We went up to the sports court and found where we'll be dancing. Then it was back home and to bed.
Saturday Mar. 1 day 7
cruise day 2
Today's port is
Taurangua. Our excursion is 8 hours.
It's called Rotorua and Polynesian Spa Experience. We went up and had breakfast
and then got our gear together. We all met in the dining room with our backpack
with swim suits inside because part of the tour is the geothermal hot springs!
Ok, it's later
now.... there was one bus and two smaller shuttle type vans on the tour.
We drove probably 50 miles across the island to Rotorua to te puia. It's actually called te whakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao. We were treated to a local style lunch where
the meat and fish and corn is cooked underground. In this place they use
geothermal heat for cooking. After a delicious meal we went on to see the
kiwis. They have three here and you go inside in the dark. They
can't see red so it was lit like that. No pics inside. Eerie but really cool we
got to see all three! Here's what they look like with their giant eggs!
Later, we headed down to see the mud pots and geysers and then went to the geothermal pools for about an hour and a half spa experience. It was awesome and we left very relaxed.
Because the trip was all day, we missed day one of square dancing. No worries. We also missed dinner but we were ok with that too. When we got back we walked around and had some pastries and beer and wine...
We were headed to the 9:30pm show in the main stage princess theater but came back to the room because Cat was worn out. I worked on blog notes and then called it an early night. Ship left Tauranga at 9:00pm. We will be in Bay of Islands tomorrow.
Sunday Mar. 2 day 8
cruise day 3
Today's tour is not until
11:30am so we slept in and then went to breakfast. We are on a big ship with a
lot of people so it's crowded at the buffet. We may try the dining room soon.
We got to the tour meeting point in the theater and left for our trip. Today we
are at harbor at Bay of Islands and we are seeing The Glowworm Caves and Puketi
forest. Our driver turned out to be less charismatic as Scotty yesterday. Ray
took us through the inland mountain region. I think it was close to 50 miles
again!. We got to the caves and our new guide gave us history lessons and then
we got lanterns because the worms do not like light. The cave is sacred to the
Maouris so no cameras are allowed once we got in to the entrance and it got
dark. I got a few pics before.....
then we went in. Once inside, we could see what looked like a milky way galaxy on the ceilings of the cave. They were everywhere!
This pic came from their website...
Our guide
explained that the three colors we see are because of age - white for newbies,
blue for adults, and green for oldsters. She noted that some of the lights were
a bit brighter than others. The adults get to the size of a matchstick and the
little light is smaller than a match head. It attracts tiny insects from the
leaves and other items in the stream flowing into the cave. Very cool tour.
After that, we left for
the Puketi rainforest. But first we stopped at Kalakaua for a toilet stop. Ray
lives here and said they have the most photographed toilets in the world!. Of
course we all used them. We had a 25 minute stop in town and he
recommended the meat pies (aka Kiwi pies) from the local bakery. We each
got the steak one and he was right. Highlight for both of us! After that he
drove us to the forest. Our guide there was very good and showed us a lot in a
short time. Unfortunately, Ray had some kind if issue with his esophagus and
wasn't up to the drive back. I think I could drive the bus because it's just
like our motorhome - except they drive in the left side! Plus I don't have a
commercial license. But they got another driver who got us safely back to the
docks so we could get on the tender back to our shop in plenty of time before
we set sail.
We came back and cleaned up for the dance. That was really fun.
We left to come back and change yet again for a casual/dressy dinner. After that, we headed straight to the Princess Theater and got really good seats for the Elvis show. This kid is 18 and this is all he does - perform Elvis on the Princess ship's. He was a pretty good singer and has the moves but neither of us were impressed with his act.
Later, we stopped in the Princess Plaza and had drinks and listened to the ship's band before coming back in around 11:00pm to call it a night.
Monday Mar. 3 day
9 cruise day 4
Today is all day at sea.
Tonight is formal night for dinner. We slept im and missed the dining room for
breakfast, so we went back up to the buffet. I think we're finding our
favorites. But, we are also both doing the green vitamin energy drink every
morning. Yucky but good for us. After that, we walked the upper decks and
track. I think we may have walked a mile or so. We came back to our room and
caught up on FB and the blog notes then took naps. With our Princess Plus
package we each get a premium dessert. We both chose the Godfather which was
huge and tasty. We dropped in on the square dancers who were doing higher level
(A1 & A2). I learned these many many years ago but would not attempt
anymore! After that, I left Cat at the casino (because it called out to
her!) and came back to the room. Later, we headed up to the sports deck and
danced there until it was time to come back and clean up. Like I said,
tonight was dress up night! We enjoyed another nice
meal and then went on to get seats for the show tonight, which was a tribute to
Sweet Soul Music. I think they had 20 cast members. The show was really good.
We went to the main Plaza area and had drinks and joined the dancing for a bit.
Regular dancing. Bed.
Tuesday Mar. 4
day 10 cruise day 5
We are the port of
Lyttelton and Christchurch. Our tour this morning is the jet boat and jeep
tours. We got shuttled from the ship and got on the bus for the 2 hr. bus ride.
We drove around and through Christchurch on the way.. they had a major
earthquakes about 10 years ago. It destroyed 80% of the buildings and homes!
They are rebuilding and it's coming back. We headed out through the
beautiful countryside, very similar to Oregon. Weather is not good today. Rainy
and 56°. They fed us lunch first. Ciabatta burgers. Very good. We chose
the offroad ride first. These were not jeeps but rather large 4×4 vans.
Our driver took us up to the Alps and it was mostly gravel or rocky roads and some grass. it was fun and he was very knowledgeable. We then switched to the jetboats. We rode them on the Rogue River in Grants Pass last year, but these were way different. Way smaller and more maneuverable. It was really cold but we did enjoy the ride. The driver tried to keep us dry. This is probably when Cat got sick. She was super chilled and, although she tried to stay for dinner, she just wanted to go back to the room to sleep.
Wednesday Mar. 5
day 11 cruise day 6
Cathye still was feeling
bad. She had a fever and cough. She doesn't want to go to sick bay. She wasn't
hungry so I went down to eat. When I got back, she felt way better and decided
to go on the tour today. We are going on the Taieri Gorge Train Tour. We read
up on it and it's all inside so hopefully she'll be ok.
Ok, its later now... the
trip was fun! We got on one of several shuttle busses and got into the town of
Dunedin and boarded the train. On the trip we saw the harbor then made our way
to the gorge. It's really a nice ride and we experienced a lot of different
landscapes from grasslands, farms, and then the Taieri River. Famous for gold
in the late 1800s. The last stop and turnaround was Pukalani. They had locals
selling wares.
The trip back to the station and to the ship was uneventful and we had plenty of time to change for dinner. No dancing today. We sat through a production show called The Secret Silk. Most of us and those around us were not too impressed. Cathye was having more chills so we couldn't wait to get back to our stateroom. She had a tough night and definitely had a fever. I kept giving her Tylenol and pulled bedding off of her. That helped and she slept. Me not so much. I was worried, so, at 4:00am I went down to medical but they were not open. The note posted said to call 911 which I did. She will be seen at 10:00am tomorrow.
Thursday Mar. 6
day 12 cruise day 7
Today is a scenic cruise
day. We will be going in and out of the fiordlands. We were up at 7:30 and
I checked Cat and gave her some more Tylenol. At 10:00am, we went down to
medical. It took an hour or less. No covid. No flu. But fever of 101. The
doctor said maybe rsv but she agreed with Cat's history of long covid. It was
brought on again by being in the rain and the boatride in the wind chill
weather. The chills and fever came back. So she is now in isolation in our
room. All services know if she should leave her room. I stopped and got
breakfast sandwiches and she ordered coffee from room service. We have voice
commentary on the TV as we cruise through. Here's what it looks like on
the map....
It will take us all day to do this area. Then we leave and will be out to sea for 2 days before getting to Australia. First port there will be Hobart. For us, we can't do too much except hang in our room. She goes back at 5:00pm for a temperature check (and then again at 9:00am tomorrow). We went through and around Dusky Sound and out at Breaksea Sound, then slept for a while. I needed that! Next entry was Doubtful Sound and out at Thompson Sound. It's so beautiful and peaceful here! There are little coves where small boats come in and then launch kayaks for runs around the coves. Cat went down at 5:00pm and found she still has a 101 temp, so another check tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I ordered room service. Steak frites and tuna sandwich. Plus cake and ice cream. Tonight is the second and last formal night on the cruise. Unfortunately we can't participate. Also, no dancing. I won't leave her. So far, none of our dancer friends know. Since we have two straight days at sea, she will have plenty of time to get rest
So, it was tv and bed.
Friday Mar. 7 day 13. cruise day 8
We are in transit to Australia today. The ship has a ton of things to do. Plus David and Dawn have several hours of dancing on their itinerary. First up for us today was a 9:00 am check-in for a temperature check. Still high, so we stay in again today. I went down and got us coffee from the barista bar and we ordered room service. Quiet day. Cat went back for her 5:00pm check. Temp us normal - but she still needs two of those in a row. She asked if she could leave to go up to the sports court for our group photo. "I heard nothing", said the nurse!. So, we dressed and braved the winds and cold temps. I danced one Plus tip...
and then we got our group pic. After that, we came back and ordered room service. I am impressed with how fast it gets to us! Plus, it's really good. Problem was, at least for me, i ate way too much. Plus I had nightcap. I ordered a Hawaiian Tropics. It was delicious. We have one more test tomorrow morning before they release her. Tv and bed. We lose an hour tomorrow and one more when we get to Hobart.
Saturday Mar. 8
day 14 cruise day 9
We were up and going and
got to the medical center at 9:00am when they opened. They got her in and out
in 5 minutes and she's good to go. I think she has rsv because she is breathing
raspy and can't catch her breath. Plus, she's tired. But the fever is gone. We
went up to the buffet and then back to the room to get dirty clothes together.
There was no seating in the laundromat so she went back to our room and I
stayed and did two loads. They have 4 washers and 4 dryers on each floor. It
was not too bad and I got two machines that were just coming available and then two
dryers after that, so overall I was in and out in around an hour and a half. We
spent the rest of the day in the room. Cat slept throughout the day. Later, we
dressed then went down to the Princess Live lounge. They had previously held
round dancing and advanced in there because the room is not that big. But since
it was so windy up on deck, they moved it inside. We only stayed for a short
time. Cathye is still really down and tired. I don't want her
dancing now and pushing it. We have so much more on this trip. We went to the
piano bar and had drinks and listened to the guy sing and play. We talked to a
young lady at our table who was a travel agent. She has been on 23 cruises, all
on Princess! She got such a good deal on this one for her and her friends. I
thought we'd never get away because she talked more than I did!. We finally
excused ourselves to go to our designated dinner time with our group. Tonight
we had a table by ourselves. And hey, I got liver for my dinner choice!
It was delicious!
Cathye chose a homemade chicken pot pie which she liked. We left there and went straight to the theater. We had an hour so I got seats and worked on the blog while she went outside to the casino. I had I think $25. NZ in my wallet and we are in Australia tomorrow, so she used that tonight. She later came back and said that since we are now in Australian waters, they will only accept Australian money! Oh well, guess we'll have to find a place to convert it when we dock tomorrow. The theater show tonight is Colors of the World. It was good and Cat was ok to sit through it but was ready to come back to the stateroom! Tomorrow we dock at Hobart, Tasmania AUS.
Sunday Mar. 9. day 15
cruise day 10
Time went back another
hour. We are now 5 hours earlier (plus a day) Our ship docked and we assembled
in the main dining room, ready for our shore excursion. That was my mistake.
Last night, the ship director said everyone must go through immigration. Those
with tours were to assemble and disembark as a group. Turns out everyone must
leave the ship and go through immigration together. Those walking around could
go about their way. But those going on tours had to reboard and assemble as in
the past. No worries - we made it with plenty of time to spare! My bad! We
stopped and got lunch and went to wait. The tour today is 4.5 hours and we met
in the main dining room at 1:00pm. Today, it is Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary
& Historic Richmond. We drove through the city of Hobart into the Tasmanian
countryside. After stopping at an lookout point of the port and city,
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