Category: Emerald Princess

We’re Home

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The photo above is what greeted us as the Emerald Princess arrived in San Pedro harbour, AKA Port of Los Angeles, at about 6 AM with all aboard. Disembarkation day is always a bit of a zoo. Passengers are asked to place luggage outside of staterooms for transport ashore around dinner time on the evening before arrival and then vacate staterooms by 8 AM the next morning. Almost everyone complies so every food service, buffet, cafe and dining room is busier than normal. There are always a few passengers who are able to disembark with all their luggage so they are the first to leave, some live only a few minutes from the port. The remainder of us proceed to various lounges and common rooms to await our departure. They use a colour and number system to tag luggage and schedule departure. We were Yellow 7 scheduled for a 10:10 AM departure but that meant a two hour wait.

Everything proceeded right on schedule and our departure was very quick. Homeland Security just checked our passports and said “have a nice day”. Once outside we were directed to our bus transportation to LAX. The trip to the airport took about 20 minutes, from the time we passed the big LAX sign until we arrived at terminal 6 took another 40 minutes. If you had to drive through LAX airport you’d think Toronto airport traffic a breeze. Check-in and luggage drop, 10 minutes. TSA Pre-check, another 10 minutes, then we wait, again. Flight time, 3:40 PM.

Our Airbus 320-200 delivered us to Toronto Pearson airport on schedule at about 11:15. Thanks again to Nexus and a bit of luck at the luggage carousel we were out of the airport, picked up the car at Park’nFly and arrived home before 1 AM. There was a couple of centimetres of snow on the car but it was gone by the time we reached Burlington.

With access to home internet I have finished uploading the remainder of the photos. Some are in the sidebar, the whole trip is in the slideshow below.

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Crossed the Pacific to Ensenada

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At the time of this posting, internet service is still not great but we will make this our final post before arriving back in Burlington. There are no more photos in the album, the remainder will have to wait until I am home.

We just did a little shopping while in Hilo, the macadamias are too hard to resist. Perhaps some will actually make it home. Although Mauna Loa was cloud covered for the entire day we did not get any rain.

It is now nine days since we left Los Angeles, more precisely, San Pedro behind to sail across the Pacific to the islands that are said to be the most remote from any major land mass than any other. It is also claimed that the volcanos on the island of Hawaii are the highest mountains on the planet. Measurements are from the sea floor to the summit. Given the physics of their creation in comparison to that of the reputed highest peaks, such a reputation is reasonable. Never-the-less, it is possible to climb the recorded height of such peaks as Denali or Everest whereas that is not possible with Mauna Loa or Mauna Kea. Each is, in its own way, a geological marvel.

On a more personal note, it seems we have developed a reputation as the “tango dancers” on board. At times there are others on the floor when we dance with other musical groups but more often we are alone when Anna and Olga, the Sun Shine Duo, are playing a tango. They tend not to play the more commonly recognized tangos but their performances are superb. Almost always Olga looks for us and makes eye contact with a wink, smile or nod to invite us to dance. The first tango they played for us is one called Libertango which was the music selected for a show dance that Bonnie and I performed a little over a year ago. They have also learned that playing “The Lady in Red” almost guarantees we will perform a bolero. Since Anna and Olga most frequently entertain in the Piazza there is a large audience. We can see passengers stopping along the Atrium railings two decks above the Piazza floor. Thanks to our dance teachers, Bryan and Patricia, we seem to be able to execute an entertaining version of tango. Last evening we had danced once and were content to sit out the next one when a passenger sitting next to us looked over, smiled and motioned to the floor with an expectant smile. What else could we do? It was Libertango. This duo has become one of the two most entertaining and enjoyable groups on board this otherwise rather mediocre cruise, the other being “Elua”, “Tiki Dave” and Leialoha, the Hawaiian Cultural Ambassadors. It also appears that Gail and I may have become part of the Piazza entertainment. We really haven’t danced as much on this cruise as on others and most commonly dance out tango and bolero with an occasional rumba or cha cha. The number of passengers who stop us to say they enjoy our performances is quite surprising and numerous. They are performances since it is exceedingly rare that any others join us on the Piazza floor.

After leaving Hilo to sail east across the Pacific the ride has not been smooth. There are no huge waves just waves big enough that the wind turns their peaks into surf and a swell deep enough for the ship’s bow to make considerable spray. There has been enough movement to turn the swimming pools into wave pools which some seem to enjoy. We have been using the hot tubs frequently and they don’t have the same wave action as the larger pools. In the islands we stayed on deck to enjoy the sun but as we sail east across the Pacific the temperature has dropped a bit and lounging on the deck chairs is not for us.

On the evening of Sunday, December 30 we paid a visit to the Crown Grill steak house thanks to a gift from our travel agent. We enjoyed a very good quality and well prepared filet mignon. I think the 8 oz rating may be a bit conservative but if you were up to the task there was a 22 oz porterhouse available.

The afternoon of December 31 saw the performance of the Aloha Oe show. During the sea days on the cruise Hula and ukulele lessons were provided by the Hawaiian Cultural ambassadors “Tiki Dave” and Leialoha and this show is the culmination of that instruction. The stage was full and Gail performed with the hula group.

Our trip across the Pacific has been anything but smooth. It has not been violently rough but enough so you really know that the deck is moving beneath you. As we approach Ensenada, Mexico this morning, January 2, the sea became quite calm. There was no majestic sunrise and it is still quite cool but it looks like we will have a sunny day. Ensenada harbour is not one of the prettiest. It is an industrial site primarily but there is room for a couple of cruise ships to berth. A brief excursion ashore confirmed a sunny but cool day.

Back aboard, we took a little walk around the deck then back to the room to pack. Tomorrow we expect to arrive in San Pedro early then wait for our 10 AM transfer to LAX.

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Maui Whales and Hilo Sunrise

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On Wednesday, December 26 we anchored at the island of Maui in the harbour off the coast of Lahaina. Our mission, to see some whales. Six of the tenders, otherwise known as ship’s survival craft or life boats, were lowered into the sea as the ship came to its anchorage. They begin by transporting to shore the shelters and supplies to be used ashore, with that complete, passengers become the  cargo. Passengers on ship’s tours congregate at designated locations on the ship and are moved to the tenders in groups. Those passengers without tour reservations are expected to collect numbered tickets and board the tenders as they become available. This practice often gets unthinking passengers somewhat angry. Apparently they would prefer the chaos of a few thousand people fighting for queue space.

Since over one hundred of us were booked on the whale watching tour, two tenders were used. Those of us on the first tender waited ashore under the very warm Maui sun while the remainder came ashore. The tenders were operating on about a 10  minute interval which doesn’t seem like a long time, however, the sun made it feel much longer. Once everyone was ashore, boarding the tour boat was very swift and there was shelter from the heat.

It took about 20 minutes to travel to the area near Molokai where there always seem to be plenty of whales and this year was no exception. Waiting for the first whale to show itself seemed like forever. Suddenly, they were all around. We did not get as close to them as we sometimes have but there was plenty of activity and I managed to get a few photos worth posting. You should be able to find them in the collection displayed in the right hand sidebar near the bottom of this web page.

The return trip was quick and Gail used the afternoon to do some laundry. There are some tasks that are difficult to avoid even on vacation. A second batch of laundry was sent to the ship’s laundry service but that won’t return for a day or so.

On Thursday, December 27 we visit our last Hawaiian port, Hilo on the island of Hawaii in the state of Hawaii. Confusing? I’m sure that’s why it is more often referred to as simply “The Big Island”. While this is true at this point in history, the island of Maui was once much bigger. The islands now known as Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe were once a single island much larger than today’s “Big Island”. Over the millennia Maui has sunk and its valleys filled by the ocean. These valleys are now between 100 and 300 feet deep and very warm, probably the reason the humpbacks find it such an attractive birthing centre; that and perhaps the absence of predators.

As we sailed into Hilo I was up very early and managed to get a sequence of photos of the most spectacular sunrise so far. They too are posted for you to see. 

Assuming the ship’s internet shows no improvement on the return trip this may be the last of the photos I post until returning. I will likely be able to do a couple more text only posts. As I finish writing this we are getting ready to go ashore to find macadamia nuts and some free WiFi to upload the photos and post this to the journal. 

Our next stop will be in Ensenada on January 2 so we will wish you a Happy New Year in advance.

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Nawiliwili, Kauai

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December 24 was the first day that was really warm. The sun was brilliant. Having been in Honolulu many times we took no tours and simply enjoyed the warmth as we spent part of the afternoon in the Spa pool and hot tubs. As you saw, I did get a journal post and a few photos uploaded. To do that I took the 15 minute walk from Pier 2 to the Aloha Tower where free WiFi was available. It required less than 10 minutes to do what had taken nearly an hour using the ship’s internet service.

Since departure from Honolulu was not until 11 PM a group of girls aged six to 16 came aboard to show us how the Hula was done. I think we have watched some of these children grow and develop over the last three years. Once again they were amazing. The group attempts to keep Hula in the forefront of Hawaiian culture. I honoured their request to take no photos but, as you might imagine, the five six and seven year old dancers captivated the audience. 

There are quite a number of passengers who, like us, have taken this Christmas Cruise before. We concluded the evening doing a little dancing and chatting with people we recognized from past years.

Christmas morning began at about 6:30 AM with the usual coffee. The lights of Nawiliwili, our Kauai port, were just visible in the darkness. As the sun rose the Captain and Pilot maneuvered the ship through the narrow harbour entrance and gradually rotated the Emerald Princess through more than 180 degrees and brought it to a gentle stop alongside the berth. From the channel to the harbour entrance to the berth is actually nearly 345 degrees. There was one tug visible, firmly moored and definitely not assisting with the docking. In Honolulu where there seemed to be plenty of manoeuvring room we had tugs pushing and pulling. Hmmm!

From the ship’s upper deck we can see Kalapaki Beach and the hotel beyond which is the tallest building on the island. After two attempts to build tall buildings on the island were demolished by successive hurricanes building height was limited to “the height of the palm tree”. The hotel is the only remaining structure exceeding that height restriction.

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