Feb 11 - 15, 2017 at sea

February 11 - 15, 2017 at sea en route to Apia, Samoa
This is the part of the cruise were things got a bit messy. Between Hawaii and Samoa, we have to cross the International Date Line. To keep calendars and clock in check, we have to either add a day or lose a day crossing the Date Line. In our case, we are going from East to West and lose a day. In the original Cunard schedule for this voyage, we were to lose February 14th. Somewhere in the high offices of Cunard, someone realized that to lose February 14th meant that there would be no Saint Valentines Day. Also, no increased flower sales, no increased champagne sales, no increased card sales, no increased special venue dinners, etc.
The good people at Cunard found a solution. The ship would cross the date line early, at least for those on board, and we would lose February 13th. And the daily programme for February 13th was not printed or handed out. However, we were presented with a certificate that says we crossed the International Date Line on February 12th. On the other hand, I had great fun telling everyone that February 13th was free beer day at all the ship’s bars.
Back to life on board, Saturday, Feb 11. Speakers included Claire Balding speaking on “Golden Moments - Tales from The Olympics and Para Olympics.” ; Professor George Losey on “Legends of Hawaii and Polynesia”; Pip Burley speaking on “The 60s - Beginning of an Era.” The last individual is doing a series of lectures about the early American music composers. His lectures include video clips and his own piano playing to demonstrate the composers’ techniques. After dinner, the evening show was vocalist, Ben Mills from the United Kingdom.
Sunday, Feb 12. A quiet day at sea. A traditional maritime church service in the morning, the Cunard Singers and Dancers presentation of Palladium Nights in the afternoon and a comedian, Jeff Stevenson, for the evening show.
Feb 13 disappeared into the void, see above discussion.
Feb 14, Tuesday, St. Valentines Day and Crossing the Equator. This is a full day of events including Professor Losey speaking on “The Coral Reef”, Pip Burley on “The Golden Age of Song - Jerome Kern.” Just after the Captain’s Noon announcement, the Crossing The Line Ceremony started around the pool. This is a ceremony to turn Tadpoles, those who have not crossed the Equator into Shellbacks, those who have crossed the Equator. The evening show was in two parts, Vocalist, Ben Mills and Flautist, Clare Langan. Somewhere in the middle of the day, there was a aeroplane (paper planes) flying competition in the Queens Room.
Feb 15, Wednesday, This morning, Captain Aseem Hashmi gave a virtual Bridge tour presentation. He included information on the ship, our engines, the controls and information available on the bridge, how the propellers work and the navigation lights displayed when dark. He also gave his history and training to get to be a captain.
I attended the movie “Sully” about the landing in the Huds.   on River. Sandra has seen the movie in Merced, so she took a nap instead. The evening show was a combination of the singers and dancers and the comedian Jeff Stevenson.

February 10, 2017, at anchor in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii

February 10, 2017, Friday, at anchor in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii
Lahaina is a tender port, we have to take a ship’s tender (lifeboat) to shore. We had signed up for a ship’s tour so we went off on one of the first tenders to leave for the shore.
Lahaina was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the early nineteenth century.  It was also a historic whaling village during the whaling boom of the mid 1800's. We boarded our bus to see the island. Our first stop was at a small beach, Ukumehame Beach Park, overlooking several other small island. It was supposed to be a good spot to watch whales. The whales had other ideas. We did not see a one. The next item on the schedule was a visit to the Iao Valley Park, a beautiful gorge running three miles into the mountains. However, its parking lot was washed out several months ago, so that visit was skipped. The next spot was the old sugar cane refining plant. This was just a drive by visit since the plant has been closed for several years. The tour proceeded on to the main city of the island, Wailuku, and the harbor area. After a quick ride around town, we drove on to the main event of our tour, The Maui Tropical Plantation.
The plantation has a number of fields and gardens with examples of the various commercial plants and ornamental trees and flowers.  There is a tram that takes everyone around fields of sugar cane, pineapples, mangos, kiwi fruit and many more. The guide identified the various types of palm along the road. She even demonstrated how to harvest a coconut, from removing the husk to cracking open the hard shell and removing the meat. She described how to drink the coconut water and how to get coconut oil from the meat.
Back at the main plantation area, they have created The Mill House Restaurant decorated with some of the large iron gears and equipment salvaged from one of the old sugar mills. The restaurant even displays one of the old steam engines used by the sugar mill. The engine was named the “Claus Spreckels” after the island’s sugar baron. We had a wonderful lunch at the restaurant before returning to the bus. Our bus took us back to Lahaina were we had enough time to walk around the main shopping street and to see some of the sights.
Back on ship, we had a quiet dinner in the Britannia Restaurant followed by the evening show. The entertainment was a wonderful flautist by the name of Clare Langan who played many different kinds of music. We are on our way to Apia, Samoa.
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At Ukumehame Beach

The gear is from the sugar plant

Pond by the restaurant

Steam engine

Christmas palm

Pineapple

Banana

February 25 & 26, 2017, Saturday & Sunday, Sydney, Australia

February 25 & 26, 2017, Saturday & Sunday, Sydney, Australia

Saturday, We at anchor in Sydney Harbor a bit East of the Opera House. The Queen Mary 2 was tied up at the Overseas Passenger Terminal when we arrived. She was to leave at the end of the day, about 9:00 PM to continue her voyage. We are to raise anchor at 11:00 PM and tie up at the Overseas Passenger Terminal after midnight.

Not only do we have to tender ashore today, but it is a really ugly day weather wise with a lot of rain and fog. It is hard to make out the Sydney Bridge, the Opera House or the Queen Mary. Sandra and I did take the commercial tender, the port authorities were keeping the ship’s tenders out of the harbor. We disembarked just in front of the Opera House, walked to the Circular Quay and bought a couple of two-day tickets for the Hop On, Hop Off Bus. After lunch at an upscale burger spot, we got on the bus for a narrated ride around the city. We got as far as the Aquarium at Darling Harbor before we got off and walked into the center of the city. Sandra did some serious shopping, she was looking for something specific. She just did not find the perfect thing. The weather had gotten better so we walked back to the Circular Quay (by the way, this is the main ferry terminal for Sydney). From there, it was a short walk passed the Opera House and our tender to the ship.

Dinner in the Britannia and a show in the Royal Court Theatre. The night’s presentation
was The Australian Tango Academy, a part of the Sydney Youth Orchestras. The group is led the resident tango expert, Maggie Ferguson. The group played a number of different types of tango music while a pair of student dancers performed a number of different dance routines. I believe several of the performances can be found on Youtube by searching for Maggie Ferguson or the Australian Tango Academy.

Day two in Sydney was as beautiful as day one had been ugly. Today, we walked off the ship and onto the terminal. From there it was a short walk to St George Street where there is a open street market on the weekend. This is the part of Sydney known as “The Rocks”, a very rocky peninsula that juts into the harbor. It is also where the first town was constructed by the convict fleet. Sandra and I then walked out under the Harbor Bridge to see the sights, then back to our Hop On Hop Off bus stop. Took the bus back around Sydney again and got off at the Power Plant Museum.
From there we walked to Paddy’s Market, an enclosed warren of open booths with just about everything you might need. Sandra found some soap that she needed and I found some buttons to modify a pair of pants for braces (suspenders). After all that shopping, we walked to Darling Harbor, found a restaurant for lunch and had a very good meal of fish and chips. I wish we could spend a couple more days just in this part of Sydney.  To return to the ship, we got back on the bus and off at the Circular Quay and then walked onto the ship.

The ship left the harbor at about 6:00 PM while we were having dinner. The evening show was Australia’s best loved and most awarded a cappella group, “Idea of North”.
A very talented group but I think that the “Pentatonics” are better.

Feb 9, 2017, Honolulu, Hawaii

February 9, 2017, Thursday, in the port of Honolulu, Hawaii

We arrived a little before 08:30 and were cleared to go ashore by 09:00. Sandra and I left immediately for a dental appointment. With the help of the Purser’s Desk, I had a ten o’clock appointment with a dentist whose office was walking distance from the ship’s berth. Found the office without trouble, and filled out the usual paperwork. Within a half hour, I had the crown reinstalled. It looks better than the original job. As I write this two weeks later, the crown is still holding.

The dentists’ office was two blocks away from the local WalMart store. We spent an hour finding the things that we had forgotten in our previous packing efforts. After finding just about everything that we needed, we went back to the ship.

We had lunch at the Lido so we could head back out as soon as possible. At the Aloha Tower, a Honolulu landmark near the pier, we found a free Hilo Hattie shuttle van to take us to the Ala Moana Shopping Center. Sandra spent quite a bit of time and money at Hilo Hattie’s. She also spent an hour or so at Macy’s in the Mall. Macy’s had free WIFI so my time was productive. Macy’s always have several chairs available for husbands. We returned to the Aloha Tower by the same shuttle. We stopped in a Welcome Center and asked if they knew of a good barber shop in the area. They did even better, they knew of a barber school that gave inexpensive haircuts. Walked to the school and both Sandra and I got much needed trims.

The evening entertainment was a Hawaiian Folkloric Show, Halau Hula Olana group. This is a group of youngsters and adults performing the Hula in its various forms. It was a fun presentation and we all had a good time.

February 5 - 8, 2017, at sea

February 5 - 8, 2017, at sea en route to Honolulu, Hawaii
As soon as we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday evening, the seas got rough and the ship got bouncy. Bouncy is an old nautical term. It must be since two of our Captains have used the term. It stayed bouncy until we got to the Hawaiian Islands. It was the longest stretch of really bad weather and rough seas that Sandra and I have experienced in our cruising history.
Sunday, we attended the Traditional Maritime Church Service in the Royal Court Theatre. The service is conducted by the captain. The big event of the day is the  Superbowl. I just could not get interested so did not see any of the game. At dinner, I heard that Atlanta was ahead in the game by a significant margin. I told the folks at the table that Tom Brady would probably pull even in the fourth quarter and win it in the last seconds of the game.
Monday, same weather with bouncy seas. The night’s show was a trio of young ladies, Virtuosity, singing a number of popular songs.
Tuesday, same weather, same seas. Insight lectures included Clare Balding OBE on “A Right Royal Adventure, I Shot The Queen With A Sausage.” Her adventures growing up in a horse training family. Her father trained horses for the Queen. Clare has also spent a number of years as a presenter on British television. The second lecture was by Ambassador Chase Untermeyer on “The Muslim World: The Past is Present.” The evening show was the Royal Canard Singers and Dancers. We have also started morning and afternoon trivia. Our team won the afternoon session.
Wednesday, same, same. Not much to see at the lectures. Not as much luck with the trivia contest as before. The evening show was Nathaniel Rankin, comedy, magic, illusions, juggling, mind reading, sleight of hand, dangerous stunts and circus skills. Can’t say much more about the performance. Tomorrow is Honolulu.

February 3 and 4, 2017 San Francisco

Our ship from half way up Telegraph Hill

Levi Plaza and Coit Tower

Transamerica Building

Wheel House

February 3 and 4, 2017, Friday & Saturday, San Francisco, California
We pulled into Pier 35 about 08:00 in the morning. I sent out a couple of text messages to the girls. Lisa was going to be busy all day with Aaron and Emmy, and Carl was off at a Safety Conference for work. She did not come over to see us. Valerie could come, which was good since she had two bags of our stuff that was too heavy to take on the plane to New York. We went off the ship and she met us just as we were leaving the pier entrance.
Valerie drove us to the North Beach area of San Francisco where we had lunch at one of the wonderful restaurants in the district.  After lunch, we found a Bank of America to make a withdrawal of cash. I found that I had spent most of my US dollar bills on tips to drivers and guides of our various tours. The next stop was to a drug store to stock up on stuff we would not see for the next three months. Val dropped us off at the ship at about two in the afternoon. Later that afternoon, we left the ship to walk around the neighborhood and along the embarcadero. Found a small grocery store near Levi Square and stocked up on some more supplies. Never can have too many supplies unless you have to fly in the supplies. Walked back to the ship to the ship in a light rain.
The end of the day included a performance by The Beverly Belles, a Los Angeles group singing three-part harmony inspired by The Andrews Sisters.
Saturday in San Francisco for another day. Sandra and I set off for Union Square on foot. It is good to walk around without walking in circles. Deck three, the boat deck can get a bit boring. We were in the center of San Francisco in about three quarter of an hour. First stop was at Marshalls, the second stop was at Macy’s department store. Sandra spend a great deal of time looking in the women’s section. I spent a great deal of time on the free Macy’s internet. After Sandra finished shopping, we went to the basement and had lunch at the Boudin Bakery and Café. Half way through a bread bowl soup disk, I felt one of my front tooth caps move a bit. More to follow.
After Macy’s we started back to the ship. Got as far as a Target store were we stocked up on some more supplies. While walking back to the ship, we passed a plaque on the side of Green Street. The plaque honored Philo T. Farnsworth and the lab he worked out of on Green Street. He was the inventor of the modern electronic television.
When we got back to the pier, Sandra was tired so I sent her onto the ship along to take a nap and I headed to pier 45. Pier 45 is the berth of the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien, a World War II Liberty ship that has been restored to working condition by an all volunteer organization. In 1994, she was to Normandy, France to take part in the 50th anniversary of the D-Day Landing. She was the only American vessel present at Normandy in 1944 to return fifty years later. I walked around the ship checking out the triple expansion steam engine, the wheel house and the radio room. Met “Sparks” the radio operator. The original radio is still operational and can be used to send a Morse Code message. Sparks can still maintain communications with a station at Point Reyes, twenty miles north of San Francisco. This is also were my front tooth cap fell off. Luckily, I caught it before it was lost. More to follow. 
Walked back to the ship in time for dinner. The Queen Elizabeth sailed out under the Golden Gate Bridge at 19:00 hours, right in the middle of dinner. Another Sail Away Party missed.

February 1-2, 2017, En route to San Francisco, California

February 1 - 2, 2017, En route to San Francisco, California
This is a run from Cabo San Lucas to San Francisco. We had our normal at sea schedule including Chairobics, two trivia sessions, and three meals.
On Wednesday, we attended presentations from Lord Robert Winston, this was question and answer session and Ambassador Chase Untermeyer, “The US-UK Special Relationship.” A history and discussion of Anglo-American relations, with particular attention to the personal ties between Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, Harold Macmillan and both Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, Tony Blair and both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and David Cameron and Barack Obama.  I think we missed the evening show. Just stayed in the cabin to do some long over due paperwork.
On Thursday, the lecture event was an interview with Captain Inger Klein Thorhauge. She told of her career from cabin steward on a ferry to captain of the Queen Elizabeth. This is the second time she has been the Captain on one of our cruises. The second lecture was by Seth Gopin, “California Modern: Architecture in a Western Garden of Eden.”
   
Earlier in the cruise, we attended a beer tasting event at the Golden Lion Pub. Eight different beers paired with eight different foods (bite sized). Really a great event that we enjoyed to the fullest. At the event, we met a couple from New Mexico. They had booked the cruise to San Francisco but had gotten an upgrade to a better cabin. When they boarded, they found that they had been given a Captain’s upgrade. One of the Queen’s Grill suites on the aft end of the ship was unsold. They jumped at the chance. Sandra and I were invited for pre-dinner drinks and to take a look at their suite. Unbelievable, three rooms, a dining room with a small kitchen area, a living room and a bedroom. All three rooms opened onto the wraparound balcony. The bath complex included a Jacuzzi tub, a separate shower, and two sinks in separate rooms. To top it off, the suite also included a Butler. Sandra and I may have to rethink our next cruise.

January 31, 2017, Tuesday, Cabo San Lucas

January 31, 2017, Tuesday, at anchor in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Today’s schedule is a complete change of pace. The ship anchored a mile off shore within sight of Cabo San Lucas. We had an afternoon ship’s tour schedules so we had to wait for the morning tours to be tendered ashore. We were finally able to get on a tender at about 10:00. The process of getting on the tender, motoring to the pier and off loading from the tender took about three quarters of an hour.
We visited a number of shops around the harbor. We talked with one shop owner who had first come to Cabo in the 80's when there were only a thousand people living there. We had taken our first cruise in 1997 and Cabo was our first port of call. At that time, there were a small number of shops around the harbor and a small number of apartments and condos in the hills around the village. Now, there are a thousand shops around the harbor, even a couple of large malls, and the hills are covered with buildings from hotels to condos to apartments. The small shops have become WalMart and Target. We stopped for a real Mexican lunch at Captain Tony’s overlooking the harbor.
After lunch, we found our tour group, leader and bus. First stop was to a hotel/restaurant complex outside of Cabo San Lucas overlooking the bay and the tip of Baja California. We were provided drinks and an opportunity to take pictures of the three ships anchored in the bay. Back on the bus, we drove north along the coast for about ten miles to the city of San Jose del Cabo. In the center of town is the Plaza Mijares and the main church of the city. Beautiful church, however there was a funeral in progress and we did not interrupt the service. Next to the church was a small museum with local artifacts. The photo shows some of the bead work on display. Small glass beads are pressed into a layer of beeswax to make the patterns.
We were given some free time to do some shopping. Sandra has been looking for a special key ring similar to one she lost years ago. After a number of visit to different shop, one owner admitted he knew what Sandra was looking for and that he could make the item. We have his name and email address and will contact him after the cruise.
Last stop on our tour, a glass factory in Cabo San Lucas. They gave us a demonstration of glass blowing by making a small Mexican turtle with a bottle in hand. As usual, we were given time to shop. Finally, we were back on the bus making a high speed run to the pier. Last call for the tenders was 17:30. We got there at 17:25. We made the last tender, since we were on a ship’s tour, they would have waited anyway. By the time we arrived back at the ship, it was too late to clean up and dress for dinner. Instead, we dined at the Lido on the top deck. It was a long day, but fun

January 29-30, 2017, en route to Cabo San Lucas

January 29 - 30, 2017, at sea en route to Cabo San Lucas

Sea days are getting to be a well regulated scheduled affair. Breakfast in the morning at either the top deck Lido buffet or the second deck Britannia Restaurant. Sandra does Chairobics with Laura, something like Sit and be Fit. Low impact exercise in the Yacht Club. At 10:00, we gather with the rest of our team for Morning Trivia in the Golden Lion Pub. At 11:00 or 12:00, we take in one or two Insight Lectures. By then it is time for lunch in the Britannia Restaurant. After all this strenuous exercise, we head back to the cabin for a nap. At 16:15, it is time for Afternoon Trivia. Then, back to the cabin to clean up and get dressed for the early seating for dinner in the Britannia Restaurant. After dinner, we go to the Royal Court Theatre for the evening show, every night with a different entertainer or dance presentation.

On Jan 29, there was a stand up comedian, Mick Miller, from the classic British TV show, “The comedians.”

On Jan 30, the lectures were Lord Robert Winston, speaking on “Dropped Eggs” and Seth Gopin speaking on “Frank Lloyd Wright and the West.” The evening entertainment was Mick Miller, again, and Mac Frampton on the piano.

The big event of the day, we got to set all our clocks back one hour. This is the start of a progression of 25 hour days. The benefit of sailing from East to West. It can be used as an extra hour of sleep or as time to create a blog

January 28, 2017, Saturday in Santa Cruz, Huatulco, Mexico

January 28, 2017, Saturday, ashore at Santa Cruz, Huatulco, Mexico
Went on a ship’s tour of Huatulco in the morning. This is a small town south of Acapulco that has been improved and modernized in the last ten years. The roads are excellent, facilities are modern. Just the place to attract tourists and a lot of money. The tour included a stop on the other side of the inlet, passed the Navy base, to get a view of our ship. Went back to the town to visit a couple of shops, tried some Mexican liquors and other tidbits. The next stop was at a weaving shop with working looms and a lot of stuff to buy. There was also a stop at the local church. It was supposed to have a beautiful ceiling but there was an ongoing service when we got to the church. This was a short tour and we were back at the ship in two and a half hours.
         
We had lunch in the Lido Restaurant and rested a bit. Sandra had not been feeling well for a couple of days. I went back off the ship alone with my laptop computer looking for a good cheap WIFI connection. One restaurant was supposed to have the WIFI. I got the connection information and a beer. The beer was good, the WIFI not so good. After about an hour, I went back to the ship. Sandra was feeling better, but after dinner, we went to bed early

January 25-27, 2017

January 25, 26,27, 2017
After leaving the Panama Canal, the ship turned to the north to follow the coast of Panama headed to our next port of call in Mexico. January 25 is also the traditional day to celebrate the Scottish poet Robert Burns. After dinner, haggis was served, we stopped at the Queens Room for the celebration. There was Scottish dancing by the ships dancers, the traditional Addressing the Haggis and a reading of a Burns writing. By the way, haggis is a dish made of ground lamb, oatmeal, spices cooked in a sheep’s stomach.

Jan 26, 2017, Thursday, A day at sea, the highlights were a lectures by Dr. Peter Quartermaine, “Cunard and the QE2" and Dr. Joe Golden, “Chasing Hurricanes in the Air and on the Ground.”

Jan 27, 2017 Friday, Another day at sea, the highlights, I attended a seminar in the Computer Center titles “Introduction to iOS 10 on Apple iPhones and iPads”. I did learn quite a bit about the Apple system. Todays lectures included Lord Robert Winston, “What Makes Us Happy”. Lord Winston has done a number of programs on the BBC network, unfortunately, not broadcast in the United States. The second lecture was by Dr. Quartermaine about “The Building of a Modern Cruise Ship”. He made the comment that the old cruise ships took a ship and put a hotel on top. The new cruise ships are hotels with a bow put on the front and an engine on the other end.

The evening show was Mac Frampton playing the piano. Extremely good.

January 25, 2017 part 2 Transit of Panama Canal

Dam and spillway for Gatun Lake

Leaving Gatun Locks

In Gatun Lake

Entering Miraflores Locks

Miraflores Locks

Miraflores Locks

The new locks

The new locks

January 25, 2017, Transit of Panama Canal, Gatun Locks

Ship in the Gatun Lock

Ship leaving the Gatun Lock

Lock gates opening

Gates opening

Gates fully open

Ship leaving the locks

Ship out of the locks

Ship completely out of the locks

January 24, 2017,Tuesday, in the port of Cartagena, Columbia

 

January 23, 2017, Tuesday in the port of Cartagena, Columbia
Breakfast in the Lido Restaurant.
By 0830, we were on a ship’s tour of Cartagena, Columbia. We sort of on our way. The ship’s representative for this tour, one of the dancers, took us to Stairwell A, not the correct stairwell. She then took us toward the aft end of the ship by the Burma Road, the crew’s main fore and aft passageway. Not for passengers. She and we finally found the gangway at the bottom of Stairwell B. The bus was easier to find. First stop was at the top of a high hill. The location of the Monastery of La Popa overlooks the city. We were shown the central patio, the sanctuary and altar, and an explanation of some old maps. The hill gave us a great view of the harbor and our ship and of the city built around the bay. Further into the tour, we went to the old city square, visited an emerald shop and church in the old town. Stopped at the gates of an old fortress, Castillo San Felipe, which guarded the city from the English, French and pirates. The last picture is of Sandra and a couple of friendly parrots. Tomorrow is the Panama Canal.