Easter Island to Pitcairn island

Today, Thursday Feb 5th, was our first sea day after Easter Island and we didn’t do much of anything, sat by the pool talking to friends ’til it rained and we went up to the Royal Lounge for a game of trivia. The sea days are very relaxing and we find most of the time is spent talking with friends, attending a lecture or demonstration, eating, eating and eating . I actually did some exercise this morning, walking around the upper deck for 10 minutes, they have a full gym set up on board with all the usual machines but it’s generally busy at the popular times. Dinner was good as usual, though one of our tablemates, Jim, was not present due to illness. After dinner we went to the evening show, starring an English comedian, Rikki Jay, he was quite funny. Later we went up on deck for a presentation under the stars by an onboard astronomer, Dr Norman Caisse, unfortunately the stars didn’t co-operate and the sky was too cloudy for the presentation, it was delayed ‘til a clearer night. Clocks went back an hour last night and again tonight, first time changes since we left home.


Half way through the first segment, 17 days gone already and it was raining heavily this morning, Friday Feb 6th, the forecast is for the same all day. We’ve been having breakfast delivered to our cabin most mornings, it means we can relax and not have to get dressed before breakfast.


It was delivered by our usual guy, Michael (picture left), from Philippines, always happy and upbeat, maybe because his contract is complete when we reach Sydney and he gets to go home and see his girlfriend, they’re working on buying a house before getting married. Izzy wasn’t feeling too good so stayed in bed all morning, trying to get over her head cold. Princess had told us that all shore excursions for the entire 107 days would be charged to our credit card at the end of the first segment, Feb 25th, an announcement that wasn’t universally popular, so I, among many others made our way to the shore excursions desk to request that the excursions be charged at the end of each segment. The sky cleared around noon and it got hot and sunny, we planned to spend some time by the pool but got stuck in the casino as we both had good wins. Must have been our lucky day, we won trivia in the morning and again in the afternoon, each win gives you a coupon which can be used to acquire items like baggage tags or baseball hats. Tonight was formal night, lobster was on the menu along with a load of other stuff, lobster was on for lunch too and the buffet was the scene of mob mentality as the starving passengers pushed and shoved their way in to grab as much as possible, you’d think they hadn’t eaten for weeks. We watched Kaitlin Carr again in a new show tonight and when we got back to the cabin our dinner waiter had sent us a tray of delicious marzipan and truffle treats in case we got hungry during the night.

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Easter Island

Sheree see the fifth comment, previous post


I was up just before sunrise and the island was visible off our port side. I could see the lights of another ship already anchored in the bay at Hanga roa, the largest town. Easter Island gets about 15 ships per year and as luck would have it, we happened to be there at the same time as the Saga Rose, the ship that passed through the Panama canal with us. Because the other ship had acted first, all the islands tour buses were fully booked for the morning and Princess passengers had all their tours in the afternoon, the hottest time of day, fortunately we had booked a private excursion. We caught the first tender over to the dock and Josephina of Haumaka Tours was waiting, as arranged, holding a sign with our name on it.
After introductions, we were quickly on our way in a comfortable 4x4 Suzuki to our first stop the volcano of Rano Raraku. The drive across the island reminded us of Scotland, narrow roads surrounded by mostly rough grass terrain, rocks and occasional trees. One difference from Scotland was the number of wild horses who seemed to prefer the roadway to the grass, they frequently looked underfed, many with ribs clearly visible and later we did see the bones of one of the poor creatures close to the roadway.

From the volcanic rock of Rano Raraku 95 percent of all the statues on the island were carved and it must have been quite an undertaking, many times they were removed from the sheer face of the mountain, requiring a long descent down the slope of a stone weighing several tons. The area is beautifully maintained and we were fortunate to have near perfect weather, clear blue skies and a warm breeze. I could have stayed for a while just enjoying the view out over the ocean, contemplating the many giant heads staring out to sea along side me, but we had limited time and a lot to see. Next stop was Ahu Tongariki, a platform holding 15 of the largest statues on the island then on to Anakena beach and Ahu Nau Nau, another 7 statues. The white sand beach was beautiful, but we were soon on our way to visit the Ahu Tahai complex, ceremonial site with village, canoe ramp and cave dwellings and all too soon we were back at the boat dock and our visit was over. Our time with Josephina was most enjoyable, she has an easy going personality and was very knowledgeable of the history and culture of the island.

We arrived back on board the ship just in time for a late lunch and an afternoon crash before the rigours of the evening ahead.

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Life at sea before Easter Island

We miss our kids as well as all the dogs and cat

Third day at sea after Callao and 600 miles to Easter Island, it’s 24 degrees and sunny again. We spent some time in the sun today and went to a lecture by Lynne Truss, an English writer on manners, or the lack of them in today’s society, she was quite funny.

Today I also spoke to the pursers desk about our overland trip from Vietnam. Our conversation started by me providing an itinerary of our trip from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok, to which he commented “We will need to know where you’re going” I pointed to the itinerary. “Ho Chi Minh City is in China” he said “Where will you be staying in Hanoi” “Ho Chi minh City is in South Vietnam, Hanoi’s in North Vietnam” I said. The lady next to him confirmed my statement and I said “it used to be called Saigon”. “Oh we’re going to Saigon ok” he said. I continued requesting that we not be charged for Vietnamese and Cambodian visas, since we had to purchase our own for the overland. His immediate response was that they couldn’t do anything about that, I should have arranged that with Princess head office. I produced my email from Princess head office saying they couldn’t do anything for me, I would have to arrange it with the purser on board the ship. He disappeared through to the back office and returned to tell me I would not be charged for the visas. Unfortunately they could not tell me exactly where we would be docking in Brisbane, Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok as they did not know yet, they would get that info some time before docking. They seemed to make it as difficult as possible to make independent arrangements, I’m not impressed by their organizational skills.

Before going for dinner we squeezed in a game of trivia and were rewarded with a first place win, the fabulous prize was a coupon (3 coupons get you a baseball hat). Dinner was good as usual and of interest to anyone planning a world cruise, each segment of this cruise has 4 ‘formal’ nights and the rest are ’smart casual’ . I’d guess that on formal nights, about 10 to 15 percent of men wear tuxedos, another 50 to 60 percent suits or sport coats, the rest ‘shirt and tie‘s. On smart casual nights, dress varies from mostly golf shirts to a few ‘suit and tie’s. After dinner we went to the evening show which starred Kaitlyn Carr, Scotland’s premier singing sensation. She was very good and after the show we spoke to her for a while, she grew up in Shawlands, Glasgow, an area I knew well. She’ll be on board ‘til Tahiti, so will have another show between then and now.



Fourth day and when we awoke the sea was mirror calm, like the cling wrap covering my room-service delivered morning muessli. They cover everything with cling-wrap and we’ve wondered how often some short sighted old person adds milk to their cereal without realising there’s a transparent film between them and their breakfast. No wind and as the relentless sun continues to beat down we found a nice shady spot by the pool and I caught up on reading my newly acquired book ‘The Second Plane’. It’s not about any new age religion, rather it’s about 9/11. Tomorrow we arrive at Easter Island, 2000 miles from the coast of South America. It’s hard to believe, Easter Island, one of the remoter places on earth and we’ll be there tomorrow, it’s one of those iconic places I thought I’d never see.

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Life at sea after Lima

Thanks for all the comments, it’s good to know others are enjoying following along.

First day at sea after Callao (Lima) and it’s 24 degrees and sunny with a 10mph wind from the South. We had a special lunch prepared for us by Master Chef Commendatore Alfredo Marzi in Sabatini’s restaurant. Pasta Florentini and wild mushrooms in a mouth watering wine sauce, followed by the fish Orange Roughy, baby potato spearlets and sautéed vegetables all done in a delicious sauce of unknown origin, followed by an outstanding cream cake with strawberry sauce, icecream and white chocolate dipped strawberries rounded out with a selection of petit fours and coffee (got to watch I don‘t drool on the laptop). The lunch was arranged superbly by two of our ‘cruise critic’ friends, Judy and Sue, for about 30 of us in the cruise critic group and it was undoubtedly the tastiest meal I’ve had since coming on board. I was completely surprised by the level of service provided by Princess, they went all out and gave us a lunch to remember, all complimentary including wine. If our lunch was typical of Sabatini’s standards, it may well be worth the normal premium charged. In the afternoon I listened to part 3 of John Maxtone-Graham’s lecture on North Atlantic Liners, dozing off occasionally as I digested his words and my lunch.



Second day out from Callao and it’s 24 degrees again, overcast and the sea is angry today my friends, like an old man….… well never mind …. we’re about half way to Easter Island. Didn’t do much of anything today, finished reading my book, went to an informative lecture on astronomy, laid in the sun watching the world go by, it’s tiring doing nothing. We’ve met so many nice people and everyone is generally good natured and tolerant except the anti-smoking nazis who are occasionally heard telling a poor innocent smoker that they should not be smoking in a smoking area.

Our room steward, Chonpat (shown left), from Thailand has been teaching me some Thai phrases. He has 2 children, 8 and 11, he came on board the same day as us in Fort Lauderdale and will see his family briefly when we dock in Bangkok, March 27th, then not for about another 6 months when his contract ends. Must be hard for him when I think how much I miss my little Spammy, hope he’s eating well (Spammy not the room steward). Tonight is Superbowl and it’s on in the main lounge, they’ve got it all decorated in team colors and it looks like it will be well attended as long as the satellite connection holds out. We had a late night tonight after losing everything in the casino we took in a late night trivia quiz, placing second equal of a total of three teams, but we laughed from start to finish, who knew that Edith Piaffs nickname was Little Sparrow.

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Two days in Callao (Lima) Peru

Thursday January 29th, we were already docked in Callao when we awoke. Callao is the port city for Lima, Peru’s capital, the two cities have all but merged into one metropolis of 8 million inhabitants. The port provides a free shuttle from the quayside to the port gates and a private company runs a $5 each way shuttle from quayside to the Marriot Hotel in Miraflores. We had booked a morning tour of Lima’s highlights and after meeting in the Cabaret lounge onboard, we boarded our bus quayside. A long drive through a somewhat run-down area brought us to our first stop,Plaza Mayor, the city’s main square and home of the Cathedral (shown below), Presidential palace and City Hall.

Next stop Miraflores Park high above the Pacific Ocean with sweeping vistas along the coast. Then it was on to the Indian market and while Izzy explored the market, I took a harrowing 5 minute taxi trip to a nearby grocery store to buy some wine. With 4 bottles in hand I took the reverse trip and was soon back at Indian market. The 4 bottles cost about $30 plus about $4 taxi fares, compared to the average price of a bottle on board ship at about $30, the effort was well worthwhile. The traffic was incessant and drivers seemed to follow few rules, constantly on the horn, moving into any space available. Back at the ship, we had lunch then vegetated the rest of the day watching the events dockside. One of the ‘events’ we did not witness but saw the results of, was a failure in the pipe joint pumping fuel oil onto the ship from a tanker trailer on dock. The joint failed under pressure and sprayed oil over a large area of dock, the side of the ship and part of the gangway, fortunately it did not affect any passengers and when we saw it they were washing down the side of the ship and sweeping up oil soaked sand from the dock. I’ve never seen so many seagulls in one place there are thousands of them around and there effects can be seen all over the dock, like a Jackson Pollock painting, every square meter is dappled white with little of the underlying surface visible, it’s quite a nice effect. Two medical emergencies yesterday, an old guy passed out in the restaurant right behind our table and an older woman broke/injured her ankle and was stretchered off, presumably for treatment at a local hospital. Considering the age of the average passenger, I expect they won’t be the last medevacs we see. After dinner we watched a movie, had a couple of drinks and then went to a folkloric show in the main lounge.
Friday January 30th, slept late as we didn’t have any plans for the day, even though we were still docked in Callao until 01.00pm. The small local market set up dockside yesterday, was still there today so we took a walk ashore and bought a couple of teeshirts before having lunch then watching the sail away from the promenade deck. I was surprised at Lima, it was different than I had imagined and I could probably live here, except for the fact that they have constantly humid conditions that might get a bit wearing after a while. I’ll may not post again for 3 or 4 days as it’s 2032 miles of ocean to Easter Island, so the next 4 days are sea days and unless something unusual happens I‘ll vegetate and enjoy the warm weather.

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