Wuthering Heights

I have just finished reading that literary classic, Wuthering Heights, for the first time.  I always felt that my education was lacking, not having read it, so I downloaded it onto my tablet to read on vacation.  The jacket speaks to consuming passions, turbulent and tempestuous love story, and masterpiece of imaginative fiction.  What a load of hooey!  It's a terrible book, full of unlikeable characters, spoiled brats and domestic violence.  There's no love in this story.  There's obsession, manipulation, deceit, but nothing that I would recognize as love.  Cathy and Heathcliff deserved each other; too bad they ruined two families instead.  Thank heavens Emily Bronte didn't write another book.  Phooey!

Home!

Arrived home last night.  So nice to be around familiar things.  My fist reaction was, "Wow, it's cold in here!"; second was, "I didn't remember our bedroom was this big!"  Now, laundry time ....

More football

So here we are in the Seattle airport waiting for our flight to Victoria, and it seems that there is another important football game on.  Every TV in the place is tuned to a single station.  There is little talk, but loud cheering on occasion.   I think the Seattle Seahawks are playing ...  :-)

The end ...

This is the last night on board.  We had a long - very long :-)  - dinner in the Horizon Court, complete with a full bottle of wine. This was also the Captain's last broadcast message.  Don't know if we're showing our Canadian bias but, boy, this Captain is a good communicator.  He, once again, thanked those passengers who kept an eye out for  the lost crew member of the Grand Princess.

We spent the day in Ensenada, Mexico.  Just perfect weather.

Packing tonight in anticipation of an early departure in the morning.  (Hurry up and wait ... and wait ....and ...)  Good holiday, despite the tragedy of the missing crew member.  Made some good friends - again - especially George from Romania, Damir from Croatia, Tijana from Serbia, Galyna from the Ukraine, and Arvie from the Philippines. 
 
BTW, did you know that the TV series The Love Boat was filmed aboard the Pacific Princess?  The Princess cruise line broadcasts the series on their onboard TV  ... :-)

Next stop - Victoria!

Breakfast of champions

The breakfast buffet on the cruise ship is not your regular hotel buffet. There are some interesting food choices , I suppose because of the varied nationalities and preferences of the passengers and the crew.  So, I've been trying some new things, instead of the usual breakfast choices of eggs, toast, cereal, fruit, smoked salmon and cream cheese, bacon and sausage (not all at once:-) ).  My new favourite side for breakfast is fried rice.  Mmmm mmmm.  I've never been a leftover-pizza-for-breakfast kinda gal, but I certainly could add leftover fried rice to my breakfast menu.  And then there's the bread and butter pudding.  Growing up, this was one of my favourite desserts but, if you think about it, it's a reasonable breakfast option - eggs, milk, bread, butter, sugar - why, it's practically health food!

Aye! Aye!

Tom and I met the Captain this morning.  We were having breakfast in the Horizon Court when this gentleman in a white uniform stopped by our table to wish us a good morning and ask if we were enjoying our breakfast.  I did what I always do when meeting a member of the crew:  check first to see where they're from - Canada!; check second for their name - Todd McBain.  "OH!" I said, "You're the Captain!"  We had a nice chat.  Tom told him that we were from Victoria, and the Captain told us that he was originally from Edmonton, but now lived in Vancouver.  He also told us that he had been stationed in Esquimalt when he was in the navy.  He wished us a good day and proceeded to stop and converse with all the other diners on his way through the room.  Cool!

Kona

When we diverted earlier in the  cruise to assist in the search for the Grand Princess's missing crew member, we were sufficiently delayed  that we missed our stop in Maui.  So Princess Cruises changed our itinerary and worked  in a stop at Kona, back on the Big Island, as an alternative.  We've never been to Kona before, so it was great for us.  Interestingly, it is quite similar to Lahaina, Maui.  It's a tender port, with a pleasant touristy area quite close  to the dock, and dolphins and whales frequently visible.  The weather in Kona is the best it has been the whole trip, too: sunny and very warm.  Had a great time!

As an additional bonus,we found a store with the most amazing stock of Baggallinis.  Couldn't leave without buying at least one ...:-)

Kauai

Arrived Nawiliwili this morning in a torrential downpour.  This is normal for weather in Kawai - and also normal for it to clear up later in the day and be hot and humid.  Nice to walk around in shorts and t-shirts!  Visited the beach and watched the surf and the people; did a little shopping.

Learned an interesting tidbit from one of the Hawaiian singers last night:  When the missionaries came to Hawaii to convert the natives, they established separate church buildings for the women and the men.  The hymns they taught the natives were pitched appropriately for the women, but way too high for the men (must be an Anglican hymnbook :-) ) .  And so the Hawaiian falsetto was born. 

Waikiki Beach

The day started out sunny, then cloudy, then rainy, then back to sunny - but always warm (28C).  We took the trolley to Waikiki Beach to check out the scene, then toured through Barry (as he was known then) Obama's neighbourhood before heading back to the ship.  Bought a couple of Hawaiian shirts (his and hers)  that may show up in pictures later.  I am somewhat constrained by my upbringing, however: my mother would never let us wear anything new until it was washed.

Aloha

After five days at sea, with cloudy, cool weather, we have finally arrived in Hawaii.  Weather in Hilo is warm (28C) and sunny!  Hooray!  After the first rush of people disembarking is over, we'll wander into town ourselves and soak up some of those rays.   Ahhhh ....

Moving on

It's 11:00 on Wednesday morning, and we have once again been released from search duty by the Coast Guard.  The Grand Princess will continue her search until at least midnight.  Another complication has arisen, though: there is a passenger on the Grand Princess in need of medical attention.  We sit on the starboard deck watching the situation unfold.  The Grand Princess has arrived  a short distance away and has transferred the patient to our ship in a zodiac.  Both ships blow their horns; I read 'Thank you' and 'You're welcome' into the sounds.  We are now speeding with all haste towards Hilo to resume our journey and deliver the patient.  While we are pleased to be on our way, it has been a sad interlude.  We feel for the crews on both ships.

Thank you, Rico.

There is a server behind the buffet tables in the Horizon Court whose name is Rico.  I'm sorry to say that I don't know where he is from, though I will make it a priority to find out before the cruise is over.  What makes Rico so memorable is his enthusiasm.  Everyone who enters the buffet line is greeted by Rico:  "Good morning/afternoon/evening, Madame.  How are you today?"  We politely answer, "Very well, thank you, and how are you?"  "FANTASTIC!!" he replies.  I thought at first that he reserved that greeting for me :-), and I went out of my way to engage him, just so I could hear him say, "FANTASTIC !"  Then today I heard him ask a young woman how she was today, and heard her reply, "FANTASTIC!" and realized that his enthusiasm was universal, and infectious.

This evening we were watching a (mediocre) comedian in the theatre when the Captain interrupted to announce the resumption of our search for the missing crew member from the Grand Princess.  As you can imagine, it was quite a downer.  It quite took the sails out of the comedian, too.  So he talked about Rico.  It was heartwarming to see how many of us recognized Rico, and how any of us were in receipt of his enthusiastic greeting.  It was a little warmth in an otherwise bleak day.  Thank you, Rico.  You're FANTASTIC!!

Emotional roller coaster

This is so sad.  About 6:00 pm the Captain announced that the Coast Guard had released us from the search and we're on our way to Hawaii.  He thanked all those folks who had been scouring the seas all day for a sign of the missing crew member of the Grand Princess.   It was very upsetting to know that our search had been unsuccessful. Then, about 7:30 pm, the Captain announced that the Coast Guard had asked us to look again, and we are now steaming back to our last position and will re-engage in the search.  I guess the good news is that the Coast Guard thinks that there may still be a chance.   It just makes us both cry.

Rescue effort

Our arrival in Hawaii is delayed as we join the Grand Princess, a cargo ship, and a Coast Guard aircraft to search for a crew member from the Grand Princess who went overboard about 1:45 am.  The Captain made the announcement over the PA system about 7:30 this morning, asking us to keep an eye open for a person in the water as we search our part of the grid.  As I look above and beside us from the balcony of our suite, I can see guests still in their pajamas, with binoculars at their eyes.  The Grand Princess left San Francisco on a voyage to Hawaii similar to ours from LA. 

Learning experience

Had a little kerfuffle about our seating arrangements at dinner - no 'Tables for Two' in 'Traditional Dining' - so we've been eating dinner at the Horizon Court. Turns out that it has been a nice change.  While we miss the interaction with the regular servers  over in the dining room, we are meeting an equally enjoyable group of servers at the buffet.  These folks probably don't have the polish of those in the dining room, but they have a sense of fun that's quite infectious.  As well, we can stay as long as we like over dinner.  And we do .... :-)  And we eat less ... :-)

BTW, Tom has decided that he really likes caramel lattes!

Who's watching?

Just back from a nice walk (or as Tom calls it - a "forced march") around the deck.  Had a caramel latte in the International Cafe, then watched some of the passengers playing "In It To  Win It" in the Piazza - throwing ping pong balls onto bread coated with peanut butter - for prizes. :-)

It's interesting to contemplate being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with no land in sight.  I can understand now how someone can be 'lost' at sea.  It's a BIG ocean!  I remember, too, being in Puerto Morelos several years ago, watching the cruise ships pass by, all lit up on the horizon, and imagining how much fun those folks were having.  I wonder who's watching us now ...

Football, anyone?

This is too funny.  There's some important football game happening today (yeah, yeah, I should probably know which one it is, but I don't :-) ) and it is being broadcast on the big screen by the pool.  So here are all these fans wearing their sweats and winter coats, or wrapped up in towels (it's only 16 degrees, after all), lying on the loungers watching the show.  Here's what it looks like at half-time.

And away we go!

Left LA last night about 8:00, four hours behind schedule (like we care).  It takes a bit to re-acclimatize to life on board but, by this time tomorrow we'll have worked out all the kinks and be seriously mellow.  Despite the fact that we're pretty much retired, we still find a few weeks away from our daily routine to be quite rejuvenating.  Ahhhh .....

Name dropping

Arrived safely in LA last night.  Had this great room overlooking the inner courtyard and the pool, with a fabulous balcony.  We tested it out with a drink after dinner (the balcony, not the pool:-) ). 

Sat next to Bruce Walton and his family at dinner.  Had a nice chat.  For those of you who don't know Bruce (including us!), he was a pitcher for the Montreal Expos, and a pitching coach for the Toronto Blue Jays.  He's now working for the  Chicago Cubs.

Off to the Star Princess soon ...

Confessions ...

I admit it, I'm a weird eater.  Not what I eat - I like almost everything (except bananas) - but how I eat.  I like food set out on the plate in exactly the same way:  meat on the right, potatoes on the left, veggies at the top, none of it touching.  I've been known to turn my plate around in restaurants or, heaven forbid, actually move things around on the plate so they're in the right spot.  And then I eat things separately: a forkful of veggies, a forkful of ... etc, etc.  You get it.  Even when I eat casseroles, which I love, I eat the meat and veggies separately from each other and the starch - no mixed up forkful for me! 

But I've just discovered that my fastidiousness does not extend to turkey dinners.  I still eat veggies and potatoes separately, but I eat the meat, the dressing and the cranberries together as one combo flavour.  Weird ...