Smaller space...less stuff...more living!!!

Tuesday, Feb.2, 2010

Warning…this is very long…sorry…just trying to catch you up…

Aloha from Honolulu…so far so great. What a journey!! Had a great time in San
Fran. We toured the city by trolley, streetcar and bus and saw quite a bit of the city. Ken’s friends’ John and Geraldine picked us up for dinner and had a great time at the Slanted Door. What fun to be with locals and hear so much about the town. Good food and great company. On Wed. we checked into our home for the next 3 months and met Therese, Rosanne and her friend Mike for lunch at Pier 23. It was good to see them too and they walked us back to the ship. I wish they could have come aboard but the security was way too tight. They waited on the Golden Gate bridge as we went under, although we were delayed a bit because..would you believe?...there was a crew member missing!!!

A little about our new “home”….it is 264 sf incl. the balcony yet has a lot of crook and nannies and we were able to unpack all 350 lbs. of “stuff” we brought with us…it shall be interesting to see how much we use!!!! We have a couch, refrig, desk, tv, and storage under the bed. Our steward, William is taking very good care of us, everything from making up the room daily (incl. keeping the ice bucket filled)…OMG…I still can’t believe it). We are on the 4th floor port side…that’s on the left…I’m learning a whole new lingo. Our room is right across from the “lift” and it’s just a flight down for dinner and up to the 9th deck for the “Lido” deck. The Lido has the pool, hot tub and buffet when you want to eat a bit more low key than the dining room. The ship is awesome..there is art everywhere you look and so grandeur. The staff is very friendly and helpful…always greeting us.

The first four days we spent cruising to Hawaii so it gave us time to sorta find our way around. We have dinner table for eight with an international flavor….two Canadians, one an author and his wife of 51 years who was Miss Israel 1957, an English lady, Audrey who has cruised over 1600 days in her lifetime, a gentleman from Wales and two Americans plus ourselves. This is just a sampling of the 2000 passengers aboard. Thirty percent are Americans, 40 % are Europeans and the remaining 30 % scattered across the world. The average age is about 70 and there are many traveling solo and also many with canes, wheelchairs and walkers…nothing is holding them back!!

The activities aboard have kept us busy. While I have been taking the stairs, Ken has been making sure the “lifts” are in working order….I am wearing my pedometer and we are trying to get in at least 5 miles a day…that is not hard to do…three laps around the deck equals one mile.. I have spent time in the gym doing pilates, and stretching and mobility classes. Also the treadmill looks over the ocean so I have had the joy of that machine!!! My newest and fav class has been foil fencing…wow…what a workout that is and so much fun. We have been to seminars on whale watching, WIFI, history of art, and life in space. I really feel I am earning my college credits!!!

On Monday we docked of the coast of Maui….woke up to whales swimming out our balcony. We took tenders ashore where we walked, explored and had lunch looking out at the Queen V not believing we were really cruising around the world on it!!! It all still hasn’t hit me!!! Ken was getting kinda antsy not having anything to wash or clean so we did find an Ace Hardware and he bought a squeegee to clean the balcony windows. Before the trip is over, he’ll probably be hired to do some deep cleaning aboard!!! Tuesday we docked at Honolulu…it was pouring down rain but we made it to a huge mall along with hundreds of people…yes, a mall…we cruise seven thousand miles and end up at a mall…go figure!!! As it was, with the rain, it was a fun thing to do as it gave us a good feeling of the people….great people watching place. And the folks that did take the tours were very disappointed as it was so rainy and foggy they didn’t see anything except puddles!! By the time we sailed away the sun had come out and we said good bye to the US. We are now on our way to Pago Pago.

Since I haven’t written for a week, this is quite long and I do apologize for all the chatter…I’ll do better as we progress and fill y’all in on other fun facts etc. Meanwhile, thank you for your support in this trip….we are thinking of you and just wish you could all be here with us.

So, until next time…Mahalo…