Day 26: not Aitutaki
Arutanga, Aitutaki was far too stormy and the seas too rocky for us to get in. After the captain announced our delay, we slept in. Since it was too deep to anchor, we were just bobbing around near the island we could barely see. After the delay and with no improvement, they just called it and headed–very slowly–toward our next island.
We ordered a late brunch to our cabin, went to The Square to attempt the crossword and read socials, and then had a light lunch before the trivia torrent.
When we got back to our cabin, we got some womp-womp sad news: the Dr Peppers in our fridge (8 or so) are the last ones on board. He has three options: 1) hope they find some on the next (kinda remote) island*, 2) hope to get some on his own at that island, or 3) switch to Coke.
At the Patio Bar, he had not one, but two milk shakes. I asked James to make me a coconut margarita….and then a second one as a double tall. We chatted with the Brits a little before heading inside.
At Name That Tune, our little team of five “terrible at this” players did quite well. Everyone seemed to know one song quite confidently. We almost tied for first. We got the one song that no one else got: Let It Go from Frozen. The very long intro is tricky in a fast-paced game. Our answer was a true team effort. Nearly all of them were. One of our teammates was supposed to be on the winning team, but she got bumped because they had eleven. So, she asked and got a prize, too. They gave away some very nice Seabourn packing cubes to all 11 of them.
He napped while I edited…and then suddenly, it was time to get ready for dinner.
Dinner was great. He had venison (and gave me a taste) that was lovely. His baked potato was “vertical” and cut with an X like it was inspired by Alien. (Yeah, I’m doing that for our next party. I just need to figure out how to make facehuggers.)
The show was another guest musician, Jim Hodson. He played six instruments. For a brief bit, he played two at once. I’m not sure how he travels. On top of all that gear, he must have a whole separate case for his stage presence. And he ended with Stairway to Heaven on the ukulele. We are both excited for his next show.
Day 27: Rarotonga
The access to the tender was a tiny bit rougher than usual, but when we got to the visitor’s station, it was quite good. They staffed it and had brochures and even hailed a bus for us. Two busses circle the island in each direction. We took the one going 3/4 of the way around to the “good snorkeling” beach. It was packed and we had to stand. My forearms were killing me by the time we could sit down. At least I got my pole workout for the day?
And get this. The one brewery in all of the Cook Islands is on Rarotonga. And it makes one beer: a lager, my favorite. And it happened to be near the beach where he wanted to snorkel. I hung out at the brewery.
The “hourly” bus dropped us off at x:30, so of course, the recent one we wanted to catch came by at x:10. We were 10 minutes early and still missed it by 10. The bus was also old and broken in a lot of ways. This is why people were already getting back on board the ship before 11am.
After an hour wait, we took a short-but-confusing bus ride (with seats!), back to the dock. Under the Seabourn pop-up canopy, there were iced wash cloths for us while we waited a whole five minutes for the tender. It was a very nice touch and was much appreciated.
* Before dinner, we learned we would not be going to Niue. They had some kind of shipping mishap in their small port. Their (lets go with small and old) dock is quite cumbersome and time consuming for offloading as it has to be done by barges. They need the goods in the containers far more than they need the tourism dollars, so they waived us off. So much for his hope for more Dr Pepper.
We had another dinner at Solis. Last time, they asked us if we’d like a shared table and we said yes. …and we may never do that again.
The first couple (from Florida) was already there. She is a loud and obnoxious travel agent (other tables were staring) and talks with her mouth full…in the fanciest restaurant on the ship. She tried to predict what our table’s fifth would order based on their one meeting the night before. She asked if I was a mom. No. Fur mom? Not anymore. And as soon as I mentioned the Turtle, she cut me off and exclaimed “That’s not fur!” Calm down woman, we had cats for a while, too, and I was about to tell you about our last one. She also seemed offended that we had less-than-zero interest in Trivia. (It’s ridiculous that they care, but Trivia lovers are like that. I can be polite with “it’s just not our thing” or I can be more stern with “oh hell no; we don’t like it at all” and they get all butt hurt every time. Why? Are they just hoping to talk us into it so they’ll have more people to “beat” or something? …because that’s how it seems. And that room has no more seats, anyway.) She even got angry when the table’s fifth called her a Car- name instead of her Cat- name after only knowing her for 24 hours.
She was exhausting.
Her husband is a sexist. It takes a real talent for chauvinism to make napkins out to be gender-specific. He wanted them to have a button hole so he could use that to cover his shirt. I guess he didn’t remember that he was wearing a necktie with his naval bling on it that would prevent him from using said button hole. Yes, let’s please have the entire linen industry redesign formal napkins for the gentlemen who wear button down shirts with no ties. He also acted offended that we use Android phones instead of iPhones. He practically put his fingers in his ears as I tried to explain that I use both a Mac and an iPad. Finally, he also only wanted to talk to the men and would try to keep conversation pointed to that “side” of the table. I now fully understand why seating is often alternated by gender. That one is on me. I should have sat next to him instead of her.
He was exhausting.
The fifth person, the single guy, couldn’t sit still. He unapologetically kicked both of us at least eight times. He was also extremely critical claiming how each dish wasn’t prepared correctly. Dude, you ate in the same restaurant last night. If you didn’t like it, then don’t come back!
He was (guess what?) exhausting. (The next day, we saw him coming into the Colonnade for lunch, dripping in sweat from his workout. ew. No one wants to sit next to that to eat.)
But wait. There’s more! The wife ordered two appetizers. The single guy then wanted a second appetizer, which I don’t think he ordered, and got mad that “they forgot” it. We all politely waited for them to both eat, which added two full courses to the meal since they didn’t come out at the same time.
After our entrees, most of us ordered dessert. She barely touched hers and called it bland. Um, lady, that’s the meringue you ordered; that’s what it is. The three of them were then rushing us two because they wanted to get to the 9:30 show. Our seating was for 7pm. Yes, this diner was more than two hours. I get that they were tired (we certainly were!), but it took so long because of their two extra courses. I was rushed through a lovely strawberry Chantilly desert so good that I want to make it for a sorority function I’m hosing in the spring.
Luckily for me, our wine steward could read my pain and kept my glass from going empty. She is an angel.
As it turns out, the restaurant was a bit desperate to fill our shared table and found these last-minute fill‑ins. I don’t think we’ll be sharing again. No one on this boat seems to want to take that risk. I guess we got super lucky that first time when we met N&R. And now we understand why no one does it.
After dinner, we didn’t have enough energy to see the show; it was probably a good show of classical guitar, which I like a little of. We popped by the bar for a little chat with the bartenders. Sadly, we didn’t have the energy to see Lanie sing with The Band, and we both like them.
We just defected from the public spaces and crashed.
Day 28: Sea Day
We had another one-hour fall back, so we got long sleep. We barely made it to breakfast, attempted (badly) some crossword puzzles, and did a little browsing to try to spend our on-board credit. The poor retail clerk was very confused when I didn’t want to play their game to win a jewelry credit. It’s $1000, but I’m guessing that nothing in the store is priced that low. Plus, everyone has already been playing it every day, so my odds are supremely low. We later learned that one of the pretty little necklaces is $13,000. As we later learned, people spend something like $50K in jewelry just to get a “free” 5-day cruise. And with the “production” later made by the jeweler, we can see how overpriced their bobbles are….and how it funds a penthouse suite for the jewelry reps.
The xmas music has also increased with frequency. They didn’t play any until after Thanksgiving; then, it was a song here or there. Now, it’s most (all?) of the music. Staff started to put out the gingerbread houses, which attracted a lot of chaos, so we went back to our cabin, hit lunch before trivia was done, and ducked right back into our den of solitude.
We had a special evening ahead of us: E&C’s vow renewal and anniversary party. When C told me that it would be in the spa, I wondered how that would work, but it was lovely. The sunset view from Deck 9 in a round room wrapped in white sheers was perfect. The staff had decorated the space with a red carpet runner, candles, and red rose petals. A couple of members of the Seabourn Six, the Cruise Director, the Entertainment Director, and a few other staff members were all there. A guitarist played soft melodies. Other staff members passed champagne and canapés. When it was time, E&C were led into the space to join us all. C looked beautiful in her white dress and E matched her with a dressy white Hawaiian shirt with black palm trees on it. Captain did a fabulous job with the vows. One of the performers had never been to a wedding (or vow renewal). There were many tissues passed around after the short ceremony. The pastry team made a lovely red heart shaped cake for everyone and it made a great prop for some more photos.
After a few sunset pictures, we went down to The Restaurant. Our three tables were decorated in silver and white ornaments and a few more red roses and our place cards. Dinner and service were excellent. The icing on the cake was beautiful, but not tasty…but the layers of the cake itself were grand. And get this, a couple at our table is from Denver; they live on the south edge of town. That makes six of us on board.
After dinner, we all headed to The Club for dancing.
Day 29: not Alofi Niue / Sea Day
After breakfast, the staff hosted Caviar “in” the Surf. When there is a port of call that is suitable, they do this in waist-deep water in a lagoon or cove, but our voyage doesn’t have such a port of call. When that happens, they improvise with a pool version. Along with the caviar, they had a passed cocktail. It was silly and fun, but way too hot to be out there, so we didn’t stay long.
We tried to do another crossword, but it was too hard to even start. So, then, we talked Internet. From our booking, we had a $300 non-refundable ship credit. And by this point in our trip, the “streaming” internet service was below that, so we upgraded. Now, we can go back and add few of our missing videos. If you don’t want to have to hunt them down, you’ll be able to see them on our tiny YouTube channel.
After naps, we went to another Liars’ Club. Except for an anti-semitic part of one story–which is not acceptable–it was quite good. Our team was us, N&R, and M&V, and another. We still performed poorly with only 1 correct, but we had fun.
From there, we went to dinner and it was lovely. My potato leek soup with a lobster crouton, linguini with mushroom cream sauce, and hazelnut soufflé were all amazing. And a funny thing happened at dinner, the story of the partner of the speaker was told at our table. I was all, “ha! we were there.” Word travels fast in a small “city” I guess.
Wendy Law gave another fabulous performance! She smart to play to her audience with popular tunes. After that, The Club was a fun place to hang out. We got to chat with L a little bit. And, we had a great visit with I; we just have so much in common with her.
Happy Solstice (Winter for our friends up north, Summer for us down here). The longest day of the year…
…followed immediately by…
Day 30: Skip Day
…the shortest day of our journey: 0:00 as we cross the International Date Line. We crossed it at about 9am, but Ship Time changed at 2am just to make it all easier for all people and systems.
This date is the actual anniversary of E&C. It must be weird to celebrate 40 years of marriage only to miss that day altogether.
Day 31: Sea Day
After breakfast, we skipped the crossword because Sunday ones are brutal. I spent some time editing a few of our videos.
it only got fixed once
Naps. After a light lunch, we both slept for a few hours.
Dinner (alone!) was great. I had the pear and gorgonzola tartlet. And then, for our mains, I had an entree portion of another appetizer, a creamy cauliflower soup while he had a braised veal that was probably the most tender meat I’d ever tasted, thanks to him sharing a tiny taste with me. I had another strawberry dessert, a sundae, while he had some gelato.
From there, we went to The Club for a drink before another Jim Hodson show. We went back to The Club, but we just didn’t have the energy to stay very long. They do keep us all very busy on this ship.
He made plans for the next island. After learning about the wide layout, minimal transportation with no AC, and 50% chance of rain, I made plans to stay on the dang ship.