AN UNEXPECTED TURN OF EVENTS

February 8 2018

We all know that life has a way of turning plans upside down, and that is certainly what happened to us. On Day 12 of our 112 Day World Cruise, we had to leave the ship and return home. Steve has been struggling with the after effects of surgery in August and November, and on the weekend, he took a turn for the worse. We were luckily within 24 hours of docking at America Samoa, one of the few islands in the area that has a commercial grade airport. Thanks to some amazing work on the part of our Vancouver travel agent, Nazir Karnai, and some back and forth emails with the surgeon Dr. Greg Bailly in Halifax, we were able to get flights all the way to Fredericton, arriving four days after we began the trip back.

There was some serendipity at work, as there are only two flights a WEEK from Pago Pago, and we happened to be there on one of the days. Also, the day we were flying out marked the inauguration flight of a large aircraft to the island. We were lucky enough to get seats that laid out flat which helped Steve immensely.

At all points in the long journey back, people were helpful and considerate. Our faith in humanity is reinforced.

We are so disappointed that we had to leave the cruise as this was something we had looked forward to for a long time, with ports of calls that we were eager to explore. But, life happens and we are so happy that we were able to get back home with no bad outcomes.

Steve has a medical procedure tomorrow morning with his urologist at the local hospital. We will know more then.

So, unfortunately, this is likely the last post that we will make on this blog.

By the way....Steve did win Bronze again in the Olympic Golf Putting Event onboard the ship.  He said he would have won Silver but he missed a short one. Nerves no doubt.

Aloha

January 29 – 30, 2018

After 5 days at sea, we wake up to the lovely sight of land, in this case, Maui. We are anchored off shore so we have to take a tender into the town of Lahaina, a boat ride of about 20 minutes. Lahaina's main tourist attractions are found on Front Street, which runs for about a mile in front of the beach and ends in a great looking beach area complete with umbrellas and rum-based drinks.

We haven't been to Maui before, but have heard great things. I was interested to do a walk-about and see what the town is all about. First impression is that it is a place for people at the extreme ends of the spectrum. On Front Street, there are many high end art galleries and some fabulous looking jewellery stores. The latest craze seems to be coming up to women 'of a certain age' and enticing them to try, at no charge, their gold-laden products that will miraculously get rid of under-eye bags and wrinkles. I think I left them speechless when I told them “I like my face just the way it is”. But, it seems to me this is another indication of the demographic Front Street in Lahaina is going for.

On the other hand, not even half a block off Front Street, there are as many tatoo parlours as there are fine art galleries....many of them walk-ins. The surfer-dude culture seems to be alive and well, although quite a bit older. There are still the old beat-up wagons with surf-board holders crammed into small, almost derelict properties with big “Private Signs” and wooden fences that have a decided tilt and lean to them. Men and women of all ages are still catching the waves right beside the boat docks. Lahaina has a very cool vibe. The number of ukelele shops might have something to do with that.

The next day we are in Honolulu....home of Jack Lord, Hawaii 5-0, Don Ho and Bruno Mars, whose real name is not Bruno Mars but I can't remember what it is. An interesting note: Hawaii could be considered the most isolated group of islands in the world. If you look at your maps, you can see it is smack dab in the middle of....nowhere. It doesn't matter if you're looking horizontally or vertically, Hawaii is in middle and is thousands of miles from the next place.

I went on an excursion today to the first Missionary Post, including the church they crafted out of 14,000 blocks made from coral reefs. According to our guide, there is still some ambivalence over whether or not their arrival was a good thing. On the plus side of the ledger, the Hawaiian native tongue was, for the first time, put into written form and the natives were taught to read and write. Of course, the negative side soon piled up and included the loss of the Hawaiian monarchy and the loss of the hula dance and chant (which up to that point had formed an oral history).

A golden statue of King Kamehameha, rumoured to be 8 feet tall. He is the one who united all the islands which were to become known as Hawaii.

We had been in Oahu almost 40 years ago when Gregg and Shelley were young children. (Sidenote: we lost Shelley on Waikiki Beach and the next day, Gregg on the elevator of our 18 storey building. Good news is we found them both.) What a change. Waikiki Beach and the surrounding streets are being likened to Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, with every high end retail store showing their wares. As one person told us, 'there are no more mom and pop operations here.' There is still a very vibrant China Town which was particularly vibrant as we quickly approach the Chinese New Year. This year it is the Year of the Dog. The beach itself still looks as I remember it....beautiful blue with white sand beaches and just enough surf rolling in to keep things interesting. Some of the old iconic hotels are still there, joined by huge modern towers. Waikiki is still a very popular tourist destination. We can attest to that as we sit on our ship balcony and watch the dozens of planes that have come in over the last hour. 

This picture does not do justice to the beauty that is Waikiki Beach.

Tonight is a ship sponsored event at the Bishop Cultural Museum. I'm always up for more culture!

Notes from Steve

January 28, 2018

Leg #1 of 6 or 7. Left LA on Tuesday, January 23 and here it is already Sunday afternoon and still no sign of land. The captain has promised us some of that come tomorrow when we get to Lahaina on the beautiful island of Maui.

Since boarding the beautiful Crystal ship, the Serenity, it has been non-stop eating, drinking, reading, sleeping, watching movies, going to live theatre, attending enrichment lectures, etc followed by more eating and drinking.

It is hard to believe that Maui is 6 days distant from LA by water!  Days without making land are called “sea days” and a lot of the older folks like them better than days in the various ports. We will have approximately 40 of those over our 112 day voyage.

Live Entertainment is a big part of the Crystal experience and the consensus of those who travel a lot is that they do it better than any other cruise line. No real Vegas headliners yet but top notch shows nevertheless. A great comic, John Joseph, last night.

Laurie and I regularly attend the sea days lectures. Topics can range from self-help sessions to understanding our skies and oceans to politics of the day. Today we got a glimpse into the tyranny that is North Korea. Fascinating stuff.

As it is an Olympic Year, Crystal brought in two Olympian champions to tell their stories. Below is a pic of me chatting with Dwight Stones (L) ... just one of the best high jumpers ever - he set new world records 10 times in his career; and John Naber who won four gold and one silver in the pool at the ‘76 games in Montreal.

The three Olympic medal winners onboard our ship.

We are just settling into our own Olympics events here at sea. The events I will be participating in are pretty certain to leave me played out at the end of the day. First, there is cribbage followed by the putting event (on artificial turf). The last Olympic Games were held four years ago and I was the bronze medal winner on the putting green. Really working hard on my game as want desperately to bring home the gold this time around. There is a lot of pressure on Olympic athletes such as myself to repeat!

Midway Through the Pacific

January 26 2018

We are in Day Three of our Pacific crossing to Hawaii with two more days to go. So far, we have been fortunate that the winds have been fairly light with reasonable waves. However, an active weather system to the north of us has resulted in a heavy swell. There is lots of rockin' and rollin' going on. 

A poor picture of the live chart on the ship which tracks our progress. In this photo, we are less than halfway to Hawaii. The Captain has made good progress and we are now more than halfway there. Aloha soon.

Steve and I were chatting this morning about how the crossings in days of yore must have been. Here we are, sailing in the lap of luxury with state of the art stabilizers, gourmet meals, soft comfy beds, and all of the comforts of a five star hotel. Contrast that to what the early explorers must have experienced. There is a lecture in the days ahead about the early Polynesian sailors and how they sailed with no instruments other than the stars. They probably would not recognize our sailing experience today. Likewise with friends of ours who have sailed in the Pacifc on small sailboats. I'm sure their experiences are every bit as different, and I can't help but admire those folks even more.

The view from our window. Not too tough to take. Have only seen one sign of wildlife for the past two days...one lonely seagull that followed the ship for a short way.

So, how do our days at sea compare? So far today, I walked five miles around the deck, went for a quick bite at the 5^th floor deli, went to two lectures (one entitled “Planet Ocean” and the other “Tales from Tinseltown” with Bruce McGill (a character actor whom nobody can name but everyone recognizes.) Then lunch, followed by quiet time and perhaps some book time. This afternoon we can go to see a movie in the Hollywood Theatre (complete with popcorn), followed by another lecture if we wish. And then, of course, Happy Hour followed by dinner followed by an evening performance by Broadway Star Emilie Skinner. In other words, there is no lack of things to do on Sea Days on Crystal Cruises.

We have sailed with other cruise lines but keep coming back to Crystal. Perhaps its because it's all-inclusive meaning we don't have to sign for every drink and every amenity...it's all included. Maybe its because the service is truly outstanding. I don't think “we can't” is in their corporate vocabulary. And maybe its because we have come to know many of the guests and crew members from previous cruises. At any rate, the Serenity is now home for 109 more days.

The ship is smaller than many large vessels, holding not quite 1000 passengers. I think there are about 800 crew members as well. On board there are three or four lounges and nightclubs, four dining rooms, shops, casino, gym, spa, medical centre, movie theatre, library, computer lab, pool and hot tub, and lots of quiet areas to curl up with a good book or play cards. There are lots of activities for those who wish to take part....music lessons, bridge, embroidery and knitting classes, fitness and yoga sessions, golf classes, table tennis and shuffleboard, to mention just some.

A challenge for both of us is to keep off pounds and keep our livers intact. Our strategies include no bread products and no dessert (well, hardly any!!) We haven't quite formulated our strategy for keeping the alcohol content reasonable, but that will come....perhaps!

We are looking forward to docking in Hawaii on Monday. It will be good to be on terra firma once again

LOTS OF BAGGAGE, LOTS OF BALLOONS

January 24,  2018

Our bags were packed....three for him and two for me. Who would have known I was married to a closet fashion plate? An uneventful trip to Los Angeles, a paid-for airport driver who didn't show up, and a kamikaze drive to our Beverley Hills hotel in a handicapped van. Yup....the Hawrishoks were travelling once again.

A four month cruise requires lots of baggage...right?

Our Rodeo Drive hotel in Beverley Hills was very expensive and while it was fun to be in the middle of this mecca of consumerism, it was difficult to find the value. Mind you, the hors d'oeuvres and unlimited bar service from 5:00 to 10:00 nightly sort of made up for it....sort of.

Beverley Hills is not a place you go if you don't want to be seen. There are busloads of people who drive by with video cameras going full tilt. In general, there was no lack of luxury cars, glamorous women and older men, usually all together.

On Tuesday we arrived in San Pedro where our cruise ship, the Crystal Serenity, was ready for boarding. We saw many familiar faces among the crew and the guests. We are five days at sea before our first stop, Hawaii, which is perfect for us as Steve will be able to rest and relax and hopefully get in shape for the rest of the trip. Hard to believe we will be on this ship for the next 112 days.

Lots of fun at the Embarkation Party with hundreds of balloons, magnums of champagne, great jazz and a chance to shake the Captain's hand. The challenge will be to eat and drink in moderation so we don't gain a ton and lose a liver!

Hundreds of balloons and confetti set the stage for our 2018 World Cruise Send Off. Pity the housekeeping staff to clean up after. I was looking for a broom to help out, but couldn't find one.