Day 8 Caracalla Baths in Rome

I awoke nearly 11 hours after I fell asleep!  As LC had returned to Canada and  I had not replied to any of her texts she was worried about her little sister all by herself in Rome!  It was just that I was finally catching up on some overdue sleep!

For my final day in Rome, I planned to visit Eataly to get lunch, dinner and breakfast food before heading to the Caracalla Baths. 

I chose to walk to the Caracalla Baths - had I not got lost, the walk would have taken 20 minutes, but it took about 30 minutes for me!   But it was a glorious, sunny day so I didn’t mind the additional exploration. 

The Baths of Caracalla were the second largest Baths in Rome and built in 212-217 A. D.  I was shocked that they weren’t the largest Baths, because they were huge!  They were used for about 300 years before they were no longer used. 

I SO wish I could have rented a set of 3D goggles that showed you what the baths were like in ancient times!  Unfortunately, they had a large number of school groups that had rented them all out!  I can imagine what they were like!  The Romans really valued water and its availability for all - even the poor. 

My walk home was direct and most enjoyable without a coat!  The temperature hit 18 C today. 

I enjoyed a meal of pasta and salad, cooked in the apartment. Had to pack up all my belongings, including nesting my old suitcase inside a new one I bought here in Rome. 

I am feeling very organized for my flight home tomorrow!

It has been a wonderful vacation!!

Day 7 Vatican City

So today I visited Vatican City the smallest country in the world. (And in fact I visited yesterday, April 8th, but I was too exhausted to write last night - so am making up for it by writing the following morning).

I had purchased a guided tour through Viator- and they used the local company “Tours About”.  LC left Rome today (sniff) so as soon as she hopped in her shuttle to the airport, I made my way to Pyramide station to catch the metro to Termini station, where I transferred to another train and made my way to Ottavio/Vatican Square. While at the apartment and with wifi, I had pulled up google maps to to walk from the station to the meeting point for the tour - and taken pictures on my phone, so I knew exactly where to walk. 

The meeting place for English tours had comfortable furniture to sit on and clean bathrooms (with toilet seats!) to use. I arrived about 15 minutes before the guide gathered us together to begin our journey. Our guide was Maria - a good catholic name - and she was excellent. 

Today involved a LOT of walking - visiting the Vatican is not for the aged or infirm. We stood in line for “Skip the line” tickets and our 11 am reservation, from 10:40 until 11:30 am when we finally got outfitted with our audio headsets inside. 

Our group of about 25, toured the Vatican museums first. 

We then visited the Sistine Chapel - where Michelangelo painted the ceiling around age 30. It took him 4 years (1508-1512) of backbreaking work to do that. He never thought of himself as a painter - he felt he was more of a sculptor (and he was an architect too).   He was then invited to paint The Last Judgment at the front of the Sistine Chapel at age 60.

 No photos are allowed in this building, and voices are to be kept low so our guide did no talking in advance, but she had described much of what we would see in detail before entering the chapel.   The reverie of our 15 minutes was interrupted by 1. The masses of people inside and 2. The harsh directives saying, “SILENCE!” - but the chapel was stunning, if not prayerful to visit the Sistine Chapel!

Rick Steve’s has an audio tour I was trying to play on my headphone while inside the Sistine Chapel but I didn’t have the right adaptor for my phone to listen!

We then were led to visit St Peter’s Basilica - the largest basilica in the world!  And if memory serves me correct, it took about 200 years to build!  One of the children asked who was the priest of this church who didn’t quite understand the question - but then realized the answer was - the Pope is the priest of this church!”  Currently, we have Pope Francis, who declined the lavish Apostolic residence in which to live - instead he has chosen a humble 2 room apartment. 

Above is a picture near the entrance of St Peter’s Basilica - the largest in the world, measuring about 187 metres in length. 

This altar is 30 metres high - about 10 stories. 


The letter above the altar below the dome are each 3 metres high. 

Once the tour had ended, I chose to enjoy different aspects of the Basilica in my own for another hour. It was an emotional space to visit. 

After leaving Vatican City later in the afternoon, I grabbed a sandwich to sustain me and headed off to the Castel Sant’Angelo - a building that has been a tomb, a castle, a fortress and now a museum!

I then made my way by bus to a restaurant to meet cousin Hazel. She is so pleased to have family come from abroad to see the city she has called home since 1959. And it is a delight to have her guide us on what to see and join us for dinner most evenings!

Hazel kindly delivered me by taxi safely back to the apartment before returning to her home on the opposite end of the city!!

I was so exhausted from all my walking and touring that I made a quick call to my husband then collapsed into a deep sleep!

Day 6 Getting lost In Rome

Today is Sunday so LC and I had a plan to go to church today - a Protestant church with a 10:30 service. By about 11:40 am we had to admit defeat and accept that we wouldn’t find said church!  But I am getting ahead of myself. 

Today - we were determined to try to get around Rome by metro. I bought a 72 hour metro pass for 18€ - and most taxis we take anywhere cost more than 10€ - so we thought we could save some money. 

The Pyramide station is near our apartment and required that we take a metro to Termini station. I didn’t appreciate how little I knew anything about travel by train in that everything is in Italian, no posted maps were to be found, we didn’t know this train station which is right next to Ostiense station for the regional trains AND I forgot my phone so I couldn’t even use my offline map service for the city of Rome.  Add in the fact that the Rome marathon was happening and two stations were closed - the Spanish Steps (our destination) being one of them - and we really couldnt get to the church on time. But laugh we did - and never was a temper tantrum thrown - ( well except when LC couldn’t find an acceptable restroom) and we just rolled with the punches. 

I should say the situation of trying to navigate our way around Rome improved immensely once we broke down and bought a map. LC never wanted to look like a tourist so she forbid us from pulling out a map and looking at in public. “Ah - trust me - they know we are tourists!”

The point of the day was to sightsee and we saw the sights!  We did get to the Spanish Steps - in glorious sunshine and blue sky. We actually saw the marathon race several times, cheered on participants and humorously had to find a break between runners to cross the race path - so we actually ran IN the Rome marathon!  We found a clothing store with clothing made in Italy that was so unique and comfortable and affordable (and made of silk and cotton) - we think it was called Stop Here. 

We revisited the Trevi Fountain, even busier on a Sunday, and the Vittoriano Emmanuel Monument. 

This time we climbed the walkway to the Capioliani Museum which had a stunning view atop the Forum. 

We made our way back to the Pantheon and were sitting on a pew enjoying the space when they announced the building was closing at 5:45 pm - so we were glad that we had entered it one more time. 

We made our way to the Trattoria de Famiatti - a restaurant near the Piazza Navona to meet our cousin Hazel once again. We had very thin crust pizza and delightful conversation. Much to our surprise her son, Mario joined us at the end of dinner. He had quite a difficult time finding the restaurant- which made LC and I feel quite a bit better about the number of times we were lost today - if a local Roman could get lost too!

Day 5 Venice to Rome

I am a bit annoyed that today’s submission got lost in cyberspace. So today you get a visual of pictures as we left Venice, returned to Rome and explored Eataly - a four story food market near the apartment where we are staying!

Day 4 Venice

Visiting Europe is not for the weary!  Somehow I managed only to sleep about 3.5 hours last night so the 5 am alarm was very early!  LC and I took a taxi to Termini station from our apartment to catch our 6:50 am train. We arrived at the train station in plenty of time. Once aboard our train, we started to enjoy a bit of the landscape, but that hurriedly was covered up by fog. 

Our 3.5 hour trip to Venice allowed me to catch up on a few missed hours of sleep. When we first arrived in Venice - it was still raining - but the rain quickly dissipated. 

We stood in line to catch a vaporetto- a water taxi - but LC was worried that we would take too long to get over to St Mark’s Square - where we had a noon tour booked to see St Mark’s Basilica. LC thought 10 minutes in line to buy a ticket then 20 minutes for the Vaporetto ride was more time than it would take to walk. It turns out that walking took 45 minutes to navigate the streets of Venice up and over canals to get to St Mark’s Squarr at 12 noon on the dot!!

We were the last two people in our group prepared with an audio device to hear our English guide tell us all the details of the Basilica. No pictures are allowed inside - so here is a view from outside. The Gospel author, Mark, has his bones interred in here. 

We had downsized to one small carry-on piece of luggage on wheels together and we were ready to drop that off at our hotel!  We found Hotel Rosa Salva after a few missed turns and were delighted with our room!

But we had no time to waste, we had to grab a bite to eat and get to an appointed stop to go for our half hour gondola ride. Our gondolier, Augustina took us passed The home where Mozart lived in 1771. 

Mozart’s house in 1771. 

A view on the Grand Canal. 

We couldn’t resist the sunshine and the quintet’s playing in St Mark’s Square - but the 15€ cup of tea put us off being a paying customer!!  But we sure enjoyed the music!!

Italy has beautiful leather goods so shopping was fun. 

After our best meal in Italy (supper at Trattoria Alla Scala where I had goranzola Gnocchi) we were happy to retire to our room. We registered 16,000 steps and 11.8 km of walking. 

Life is good!

Day 3 Colosseum

We were delighted to sleep through till the morning and wake at 7 am!  We must be adjusted to the 8 hours of time change!

Following breakfast in the hotel - we talked with hotel staff about booking various tours. After learning that the Colosseum would have a marathon running around it on Sunday - when we planned to tour it - we changed gears and inquired about a tour for today. Two hours later - Alessandro, an archeologist, met us at our hotel to begin a private tour. 

Having a private guide allowed us to bypass all the lineups at the Colosseum to see this magnificent arena. 

And because it was raining in Rome today, our guide advised us that there were not any crowds!  I still thought there were a lot of tourists - so wouldn’t want to visit it on a crowded day!

We then opted to look at Paladine Hill from below and carried on to tour the Forum. 

Our guide showing us architecturally accurate drawings of structures that were there centuries ago!

LC and I sporting our five euro rain ponchos inside the grounds of the Forum. 

After our tour, we grabbed a bite to eat then returned to the hotel. Today we transferred to a two bedroom apartment in the Ostienca area - considerably more affordable, but not quite as central as our Hotel on Via Nationale. 

Cousin Hazel and her son Mario joined us at our hotel and helped us relocate to our new location. We would have struggled with finding the address and undoing the locks were it not for Mario!  

The others enjoyed a glass of wine before heading out to a nearby cafe for an early supper at 6:30 pm!  That allowed us to return home by 8 pm to get organized in the new apartment. We would be reorganizing our bags to take one shared carryon to Venice tomorrow. 

Our taxi to the train station will arrive at 6 am so we can get to the train station for our 6:50 am departure!!

Day 2 Rome Walking Tour

Day 2 has come to a close and I am fighting to keep my eyes awake at 10 pm!!

After waking up super early and being in line for breakfast at 7 am, we quelled our hunger then went back for a sleep until 9:30 am. That allowed me to have a total of 6.5 hours of sleep in the night. Tack on 14 km of walking and 13,500 steps and it was a full day of exploring the city centre of Rome. 

We had pre-arranged a half day walking tour with Roma Tours. Lorie came and met us at our hotel and took us by private car to Vatican City. The car left us to begin our private walking tour and we were happily surprised to learn the Pope was having an audience. That meant security was preventing us from entering St Peter’s Square!  But I got a picture of Pope Francis!!

Must finish in the morning as I fall asleep while typing this!  

Carrying on filling in the details the following morning now!!  So the day was filled with a full walking tour where we visited Vatican City. I must go back and visit to see the Vatican Museums (and I will try to do that Monday or Tuesday after LC flies home a few days before me). 

We visited the Pantheon - the largest dome in the world for about 2,000 years!  What a magnificent building!  It was built in 25 BC. 

We walked to the Trevi Fountain and ended at the Vicoria Emmanuel II Monument - spectacular!!

This picture is LC and I and our guide Lorieand the Vicorie Emmanuel monument in the background. 

By the end of the walking tour we had plenty of hunger and thirst, so we grabbed a plate of pasta at a nearby cafe. 

Our cousin Hazel lives in Rome - so she took a taxi to our hotel to join us. We had tea, then called a cab to drive us to more sites, including the view from Garibaldi’s Monument. 

We then went for dinner at a Sicilian restaurant that evening. Italians eat late - our reservation was for 7:30 pm and we were the first ones in the restaurant. We returned to the hotel from dinner about 10 pm and fell promptly asleep!!

Day 1, Rome Italy

My sister LC and I have begun an adventure in Europe!  LC has travelled to Rome several times so she is the head navigator!  The last time I set foot in Europe was about 3 decades ago and that was to travel by train from England to Norway. 

So today LC and I travelled through the night to arrive in Rome. Jet lag is hitting at its peak so will share a few photos of the Trevi Fountain and chat more tomorrow!  Yay - we are in the Eternal City!

Addendum to the day - so we went to bed at 10:30 pm local time; I slept until 3 am and LC until 4 am. We both tossed and turned for till about 5 am when we gave up and started to chat. 

So we are staying in Hotel Artemide on Via (Street) National which is lovely and central. So very glad I followed advice from Rick Steves Italy book and downloaded “City Maps 2 Go” app on my phone. It allows a person to download a city map for free, in this case, Rome and use it offline without data!  So when we tried to find the Trevi Fountain - we could see where we were on the map and which tiny little alley we needed to follow, all without needing wifi or paying for data on my phone!

While our hotel is central and lovely- it is tiny!  We both walked passed it not even noticing it when returning home after dark - so we used the app again and saw we had to backtrack two blocks!

The Trevi Fountain was much bigger than I imagined and surrounded by tourists similar to us. Many shops in the area sell beautiful Italian leather purses and shoes!  

Day 26 Papeete Disembarkation

So today we left the ship!  We had so many people to thank that were staff for us and treated us like royalty. We were so appreciative of all they did for us!

We joined our newly acquired friends from Sarnia for breakfast on the Terrace Grill. We ate inside as it was raining hard!  I do believe Papeete had more typical weather for this rainy month. By the time we disembarked at 8:30 am, the rain had subsided. 

We only had to manage our carry on luggage as our big luggage was sent by the cruise line to the airport. With our insider knowledge of Papeete, we didn’t follow the boards of people to the luggage tents and taxi lines - we cut across another walking path and crossed the street the taxi stand near our Tiare Tahiti hotel. Two taxis were available!  We confirmed our price of about 2100 XPF to go to the Intercontinental Tahiti and were on our way. By 9 am we entered a very busy lobby of cruise ship passengers trying to extend their stay in their rooms (who would be embarking the ship today) and our crowd trying to get early access!

We were prepared to not get a room for a number of hours - so we went and changed into swim wear (think 1920’s bathing styles where you are totally covered up). We carried my backpack with us and checked the other carryon with the bellman. We found two lawn chairs under some palm trees in the shade outside the infinity pool and the Lagoonarium that is stocked with fish.   Our intent is to spend the day here until early evening when we will head to the airport. Our flight isn’t until 11 pm tonight. 

What a lovely last day in paradise. We got our room about 1:15 pm and napped and relaxed, then ate a meal before catching a taxi at 7 pm!

It has been a blessing of a vacation. 

And it is pretty remarkable to go through the Papeete airport, clear security and find an open air garden right next to your gate!!  That would be a bird of paradise growing taller than J!  Soaking up every last bit of heat - as there is no air conditioning at this airport. Will wait till the last second to change into long pants and shirts for the flight home!!

Day 25 Huahine

So I learned today that we have been very fortunate with the weather. Normally February is a very rainy month. Talking with entertainer Emily during tea time and she was told to enjoy the glorious weather in January because it would rain all February. 

We can see this has been the case the past three days in port, by all the standing water in puddles that it has poured rain just before we arrived.  J always says I bring the good weather with me after 26 + years of travel with me!

We have also had guides tell us that normally the best weather is September October and this past fall it was very poor weather. 

Today, we pulled into Nuahine and there was noteworthy cloud cover with a bit of sun shining through on occasion. We packed for a bit of everything and took a tender ashore. Once ashore, we asked if anybody would boat us to our one preferred coral garden to snorkel - but found no takers. Huahine Nautique would take us on the full motu picnic excursion- but I didn’t really want to endure the vanilla plantation, pearl farm visit and another 3 hour picnic just to get in two snorkels. 

So we found a taxi driver to drive us around the island to visit the Maeva archeological sites, see the blue eyed eels and we tried to go for a snorkel - but it appeared the beach was not open to us when we arrived. I couldn’t quite understand why.  Another lesson learned when negotiating with your taxi - ask the person selling you the trip if they will be your driver!  We negotiated our tour, then were handed off to the person who would be our driver. The driver spoke no English, and more Tahitian than French - so more challenging to communicate with him. Still we didn’t have to endure what Nick and Katie experienced - and that is their driver kept picking up hitchhikers? friends? And dropping them off as they toured around!!

Nevertheless, we got a flavour of the island, and supported the local economy (and I believe that is important when we travel), then returned to the ship.   We then spent the afternoon packing up as tomorrow is disembarkation day :(. 

We did go for high tea in Horizons on the 15th floor forward. 

Dat 24 Rangiroa

What a wonderful day. I was falling asleep at the dinner table I was so tired - so will be brief this evening. 

Today we weee up at 6:30 am - barely in time to catch our entry into Rangiroa. We were on the lookout for dolphin!  No sightings at this point in the day. We ate breakfast on the grill then caught a tender into town. 

We bought a few souvenirs, then walked to the far side of the island where we watched the very rough waves crashing in towards the channel. Quite powerful indeed. We enjoyed time sitting on the dock at Josephine’s and we did spot dolphins playing in the waves!!

After buying a few souvenirs we headed back to the ship for lunch. We had a snorkelling excursion booker for 1 pm. This snorkel consisted of snorkelling in the aquarium and a couple of drift snorkels through that very powerful channel. Yikes!!

We were in a zodiac boat and we were dealing with very big swells in the same channel we had been watching this morning!  I was a bit nervous and elected not to drift snorkel the first time, but then joined the group of 6 for the second snorkel. Rangiroa Plongee certainly was more professional Than any other company we used. We had life jackets and a life preserver being pukked by our guide. I chose to join in for the second snorkel and hold onto the life preserver. 

We returned to the ship where I did a load of 

Laundry. Tonight we were invited by C and E to join them in the Privee Dining. It was lovely attentive service. Our party is 8 could choose any menu items from both the Toscana and Polo Grill menus. What a spectacular evening. 

I am pooped and hardly able to keep my eyes open while J has gone to play bridge!

Last full day on the cruise will be in Huahine tomorrow!

Dat 24 Rangiroa

What a wonderful day. I was falling asleep at the dinner table I was so tired - so will be brief this evening. 

Today we weee up at 6:30 am - barely in time to catch our entry into Rangiroa. We were on the lookout for dolphin!  No sightings at this point in the day. We ate breakfast on the grill then caught a tender into town. 

We bought a few souvenirs, then walked to the far side of the island where we watched the very rough waves crashing in towards the channel. Quite powerful indeed. We enjoyed time sitting on the dock at Josephine’s and we did spot dolphins playing in the waves!!

After buying a few souvenirs we headed back to the ship for lunch. We had a snorkelling excursion booker for 1 pm. This snorkel consisted of snorkelling in the aquarium and a couple of drift snorkels through that very powerful channel. Yikes!!

We were in a zodiac boat and we were dealing with very big swells in the same channel we had been watching this morning!  I was a bit nervous and elected not to drift snorkel the first time, but then joined the group of 6 for the second snorkel. Rangiroa Plongee certainly was more professional Than any other company we used. We had life jackets and a life preserver being pukked by our guide. I chose to join in for the second snorkel and hold onto the life preserver. 

We returned to the ship where I did a load of 

Laundry. Tonight we were invited by C and E to join them in the Privee Dining. It was lovely attentive service. Our party is 8 could choose any menu items from both the Toscana and Polo Grill menus. What a spectacular evening. 

I am pooped and hardly able to keep my eyes open while J has gone to play bridge!

Last full day on the cruise will be in Huahine tomorrow!

Day 23 Fakarava

So for the first time on this cruise, we awoke to rain!  I didn’t realize it was raining until we got up on deck 12 as we tried to figure out how we were approaching Fakarava. 

It wasn’t a heavy rain, but once we took a tender over to the island, it was apparent it had been raining heavily. In fact, I did receive another email from Dive Spirir Fakarava stating that today’s snorkelling excursion would be cancelled because the water was too “agitated”. I believe that was the translated term too state the water had poor visibility because it had been churned up due to the rain. So disappointingly, we would not be snorkelling today. 

Our backup plan was to rent bikes on the island to explore. You see, there are no formal excursions offered on this island with Oceania, so most of the 1200+ guests would be looking to explore the island which is home to just over 800 inhabitants. Our ship would be more than doubling the population of the island. 

Fakarava boasts an ecosystem that is so unspoiled the entire island has been designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve to preserve rare species (that I have never even heard of like Squills and sea cicadas).  This atoll is long and skinny - measuring 60 km in length. 

Our tender took us to the village of Rotoava (with its population of 800) and there is a grocery store and other necessary amenities. And as we were travelling with Missouri Mother (C) and daughter (E) we were looking to rent 4 bikes. It quickly became apparent that all the bikes in town were rented out!  C wanted to wait for a bike to be returned. E, J and I decided to walk the 3 km towards the Topaka Lighthouse. It is a 45 foot high pyramid with a square light tower. We wandered along the exposed side of the island and walked the beach before finding our way to the main road and the lighthouse. 

We returned to the bike rental place, by about noon. We were fortunate to find three one speed bikes available. We rented 3 bikes for 3 hours for $30. We thought that was s good deal!  In fact, the operator was only going to charge us $25 and was thrilled with the $5 tip!!

We cycled the other direction, clearly the more developed side of the island with shops and homes, not to mention some great beaches. We cycled 11 km, then turned around and cycled back into the wind!!  E and I needed to stop and eat, so just before 2 pm we found a little cafe and ordered some tuna, fried and poisson cru!  J had a Hinano beer. It was a lovely spot right on the water!!

We then cycled the last 4 km into the wind to return our bikes. It was an active day!!

A swim and a shower was in order once back on the ship. We enjoyed watching the sail away from the 15 deck of the ship. 

We were both hungry for supper at 6:30 pm so headed up to the buffet on the Terrace Grill. After dinner we went to the shops on deck 5 and ran into all kinds of friends. 

I plan to go the production show at 9:30 pm - so we will see just how wonderful it is!!

Life is great!

Day 22 Day at Sea

What a relaxing day at Sea. Nothing to rush to - but somehow we were kept busy all day. 

J went to a spin class today while I rode the stationary bike on an adjacent room and turned up the tension on my bike whenever they stood up to cycle. There is no way I could have lasted the entire class!  After 15 minutes, I was done and turned my attention to lifting some weights!!

Many scheduled activities kept me busy. At 10, Nick Glakas gave a presentation on the Pacific; this was followed by a cooking demonstration in the Marina Lou ge. Happily we were given recipes to the Chilean Sea Bass from the Red Ginger Restaurant. At 12:30, I went to the second class of my painting classes to work on my custom plate. 

The sea is getting rougher- and people are starting to get seasick. The captain hasn’t announced anything yet - but I wonder if our plans for Fakarava might be put on hold. The snorkelling company we had booked an independent tour with, contacted me by email to advise me that the Sea was very rough, and unless there was a significant improvement overnight, then the excursion would not be offered and  I would be getting a refund. We shall see!

I went to watch Bogemian Rhapsody in the Marina Lounge this afternoon. They offered free popcorn and (as always) free pop. 

We enjoyed dinner in the main dining room - where I gladly had the waiters carry my food to me!   Below is the lovely decor in the main dining room!  They never seem particularly busy in this dining room!!

Day 21 Nuku Hiva

What an amazing day in Huku Niva, Marquesas Island!!  Breakfast on the Terrace Grill off the back of the ship allows us to look down at the water - and today we spotted 3 manta rays swimming along!  How fabulous!  We watched them for about 10 minutes - then had to run and change to meet M from Sarnia for 8 am. We wanted to try to hike to Tehaatiki Viewpoint. 

A tender to town and then we started to climb off to the right. Only one yard with a dog in it sent us scampering back to the proper trail. What a well maintained trail. If they had a little box for donations, I would definitely have added some money to it. 

Once you left the concrete streets, and started on the Tehaatiki trail - it was nicely in the shade!  And eight degrees below the equator, you want shade!!

After about an hour climb, we made it to the viewpoint  where you had a thatched roof shelter that allowed you to view the stunning vista in comfort!

Take a look at my panoramic photo!  This was my ‘pinch me’ moment on this trip!  J and M left me and tried to hike higher and find a trail to the ridge. I stayed put by myself and revelled in the view!

I descended down and took the extra trail to Haetapatu Beach. This part of the trail was a little overgrown and not too spectacular a view - though J later told me it was a great beach to collect shells!!

As I returned to the ship, I quickly changed into my swimsuit and went for a swim. After a refreshing shower I felt all cleaned up. I found not one, but two sets of friends to join for lunch. The  couple from New Zealand invited me to sit with them while I ate my main course. They told me about their daughters (about my age) and granddaughters - about the age of our boys). Once I lost the shade of the umbrella, I moved to join the Mother Daughter duo from St Louis and had ice cream with them. Just then, J appeared, so I knew he safely returned from his hike!  More laughter and conversation ensued. 

We called our youngest son, attending University in Ontario and asked how he was doing. (Using the Vonage travel app for 1 cent per minute - get the app!)

The line was clear as a bell and not really delayed. We then ran into J’s hiking companion, M and his wife. We chatted and spotted more manta rays off the side of the boat!!

We returned to the room for 30 minutes - then joined the mother / daughter duo for a pre-arranged game of cards. The daughter was interested in a trivia game so we went and tried our hand at that. Lots of fun!!

I raced up to the Oceania club members cocktail party just to see what it involved - I learned there were over 200 Canadians on this ship (of 1200 passengers) with about 600 Americans and I grabbed a glass of red wine for my DH. What I really was interested in was sail away in 15 minutes time pulling out of the volcano!!  

We ate dinner on the back deck (for the our third time today) - we love this ship design for this cruise in French Polynesia - we truly get to enjoy the warm ( well I would say HOT) air morning, noon and night. It is 8 pm at night and I am just barely avoiding breaking into a sweat!!

I will publish this post then retire to the air conditioned comfort of our room and look for a movie. My three hours of exertion hiking today are getting the best of me!!

Tomorrow, we enjoy a free day st Sea!!

Day 20 Nuku Hiva

It was exciting to pull into Nuku Hiva today- a dormant volcano, in the Marquesas Island. On this cruise, this was new territory for us to visit. We didn’t visit this island on the 10 day cruise, Nuku Hiva was featured on this 12 day cruise so this was exciting new territory for us. Nuku Hiva is the largest of the Marwuesas Islands in French Polynesia. Nuku Hiva was also the site for Survivor: Marquesas, the fourth season of the popular CBS reality television show.  About 2,500 people live in this island. 

We were booked on a half day tour with a group from Cruise Critic. Richard Deane is legendary for offering private excursions here and we were privileged to find two spots on this afternoons’ tour!  There was 19 in our group and another couple had booked independently. So our group of 21 was shuttled around the island in three 4x4 trucks each seating 4 guests and one additional truck that seated 4 inside the truck, and 5 more in the covered back of the truck. 

The second viewpoint that we stopped at was where Survivor was filmed. 

In our vehicle we travelled with a couple from Sarnia Ontario and we used to live there so it was fun to talk  about all the people we knew in common!  J plans to hike the mountain tomorrow with M from Sarnia!

Richard Deane stopped at about 4 viewpoints as we travelled to the other side of the island. The roads were narrow and curvy - not unlike Norway where they would be single lane at points. Our driver was Maeva- Richard’s wife. Again, my French came in handy to translate!!

I had attended Nick Glakas’s tslk this morning and was excited to pull into port!  We arrived in port just after 11 am. Our tour began at 1 pm and lasted until 5 pm. 

There were some beautiful catamarans in the Bay here. When I asked Richard about these boats, he said they don’t belong to local people. Sailors stop here while enroute from Panama Canal to Australia or New Zealand. 

After a swim to cool down after our hot island tour we enjoyed supper st Toscana. Too much food!!

As we are staying overnight there, J went to try to view the stars from land as the ship casts too much light!  He was the only person on the tender both ways!  Still too much light to view the stars from on land!!

Life is good!!

Day 19 Day at Sea, Cruising the South Pacific

So today we are living life as if it were in Newfoundland!  We moved clocks forward 30 minutes in the night!  I don’t think many guests read the memo - because the Terrace Grill was empty at 6:45 am when we went for breakfast. It could have been the fact that we had a day at Sea and nobody had any desire to get up early!!

J went to a stretch class and then a spin class!  I was slothluje in bed, watching a movie. Then at 10 am I went to an Oceania presentation where they try to entice you to book another cruise. I sat with our friends from New Zealand - and the wife was one number away from winning a $250 shipboard credit!!(Must be present to win - and it is handed out at the end of the presentation!). As she said, might as well have been a 1,000 numbers away!!

Back in the stateroom, I received a call from E, who had hiked the 3 coconuts trail in Moorea with John. She and her Mom were looking for bridge players and invited us to join them in the French Polynesian air, at a card table, but out of the sun. I hunted down John and found him outside of the Barista. And, wait for it, I played a game of bridge. E, is a new bridge player, (and smart as a whip cause she is in med school) but I felt comfortable enough that I want the only newbie. Anyhow, J talked me through every single bid I had to make - and I got the cards, because I had the highest score at the end of the four hands, three times. 

E, her Mom, C and I then went to a painting class where we started painting a glass plate. Class two is in 3 days time where we continue on with the project. 

I then read and spent time by the pool and J went to his third free fitness class of the day - a yoga class. 

Supper was at the Terrace Grill and Marina, my favourite server at the buffet station, somehow learned my name!  Good for her!!  She is always super friendly!  

Our view from the back Terrace Grill tonight just after the sunset!!

We did attend the entertainment at 9:30 tonight - it is a female singer from Australia with some acclaim!  Claire Lyon has played the role of Christine in the worldwide tour of Phantom of the Opera and sung with Josh Grobin. She had a lovely voice - if a few too many opera songs for my liking!  She did sing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” which is always heart warming!

Tomorrow we arrive in a new port, Nuku Hiva, the Marquesas. The island became known after it was featured in the fourth season of the television show “Survivor”. 

Day 18 Bora Bora

Today we remained in Bora Bora until 1 pm. The last tender back to the ship was leaving the shore at 12:30 pm. 

We awoke at our usual 6:30 am and had breakfast on the Terrace Grill. We love sitting outside in shorts and a T-shirt in 30 C weather from early in the morning till late at night. So after breakfast I joined my husband for a stretch class at the fitness centre. There is nothing too stretchy about this body!!  But I do appreciate that attending classes at the fitness centre are offered at no extra charge. 

We then caught a tender into the island of Bora Bora and walked down the road. Freelance tour guides were offering trips to Bloody Mary’s and circle island tours, but we just wanted to walk and check out a few shops. 

We visited a few shops and the local grocery store and found a few souvenirs. We then returned back to the ship around 10:45. The tender wasn’t crazy busy - but I heard that they were at 12 noon!

We headed to the dining room for lunch - thinking they might have something special for Valentine’s Day. 

While a pleasant and diverse menu, there was nothing about it offering chocolate!!  So after a Greek lunch, we headed up to deck 12. J had ice cream and I went to the watercolour class being offered. It was a class for newbies and I fit in just perfectly!!  At the end of the class I raced off to get some flourless chocolate cake - and was disappointed to learn there was none left!!  Honestly, Oceania underestimates how much people love chocolate for dessert!!  Many of the restaurants don’t offer chocolate anything for dessert!!

So then I headed up to the room to discover J wanted to have a nap - so I went to the Marina Lounge to hear Nick Glakas talk on French Polynesia again. I read my book on my iPad up on deck 12. Then J and I went for a swim. Time for a shower and got changed Togo to our reservation at Red Ginger. Since this is the third time we have eaten there in 2 weeks, the staff are getting to know us!!  Delicious as always!!  Love the forte tea especially!

Speaking of the best tea, it makes me think of the barista here. You can order specialty coffees any time on the ship. I have seen J drink more coffee on the trip than in our entire 26 years of marriage!!  He likes the coffee here!!

So again, Red Ginger has an amazing Chilean Seabass that I ordered for the main course, but they offer no chocolate dessert. So we headed up to the Terrace Grill for Flourless Chocolate cake -which was replenished by supper time!!

The ship did have the shops selling jewelry and women’s clothing as a special Valentines sale - but offered no special food like you might ordinarily find on a Princess ship for Easter and Christmas. Maybe Valentines isn’t a special enough day to warrant new dishes on the menu. 

I then found a comfy lounge chair in the open air of Deck 12 to write my blog. I’ll see if there is a production show in the Theatre at 9:30 pm. 

Tomorrow is a day at Sea, so it should be fairly relaxed!!

Day 17 Bora Bora

This morning I woke up and decided to do another load of laundry. Some clothes just never smell that clean once worn here in paradise!  Laundromat opens at 7:30 am, not 7 am as I thought!  The door is kept locked outside of opening hours. 

J and I went to enjoy the view of Bora Bora from deck 15. We could see the much smaller Paul Gaugin ship was anchored here in Bora Bora too. I generally try to put on sunscreen before I leave the room so that I never get caught off guard and am on a sunny deck I protected. Skin burns so very easily here. I have heard the ozone layer is thinner here so we have seen many people with burns turn to blisters in just one day.  J thought I was packing excessively by bringing along 4 bottles of sunscreen!!  It will all get consumed, though we generally try to wear long sleeve protection when out in the direct sun. 

After breakfast on the terrace where you really can enjoy the open air and 30 C temperatures (the design of the Marina is well suited for French Polynesia), we headed back to our stsateroom. We enjoyed a few card games, reading and blogging. We have a 1 pm snorkel booked with H2O Bora Bora, recommended by some Cruise Critic people. They are supposed to offer some snorkel spots frequented by far fewer boats and have just 4 guests onboard the boat - so we shall see!

Just a few comments about the design of Oceania Marina rooms. We really like the size of the bathroom. There is a stand-alone shower (with a rain shower head too low for J, so he unscrewed the attachment and e use the other wand shower head). There is also a bathtub (a rarity on a cruise ship) with a long clothes line across it. Great for hanging all our wet gear after a day in the water. The sink in the bathroom is nice and deep so you can hand wash clothes easily in it. The mirror features hidden shelves behind it on both sides. Also two big shelves for storage below the sink. 

Where Oceania gives more space in the bathroom, they take away from closet storage space. There is one closet for hanging clothes about 4 feet in length. It is long enough. But access is right right next to my nightstand and it is awkward to get into it. Doors always have to be closed because there is a light inside the closet and shirt sleeves frequently get stuck in the contact points of the closet. 

There are four one foot square drawers - and then a selection of 3 very tiny skinny draws in our night stands.   We had to work pretty hard to find room for all our belongings , but we made it work. 

J’s complaint about the room is that everything is too short for somebody 6’4”. The couch is too short, the table is too short, the desk is too short and the shower is too short and the lights in the bathroom are too low. But we do have beautiful big windows to look out. (Albeit very covered with seawater!). But the size of the room is comfortable - the room is amazing considering we have the second lowest category of stateroom on the ship! 

So time has passed and we have now returned from our snorkelling excursion with David of H2O Bora Bora. What a fabulous afternoon!  First of all, David only has 4 guests on his boat!  Talk about personalized service! Two acquaintances from Cruise Critic recommended him and are we ever glad they did!

The very first snorkel site was an area to spot a manta ray!  And we saw one - about 4 metres long - just comfortably gliding in circles in an area where the manta rays like to go to clean up. A certain smaller fish populate this area and they pick the barnacles or whatever is on the manta rays skin - so the rays go there when they want to get clean!  Talk about exciting. 

Stop two allowed us to spot eagle rays - sometimes called leopard rays because of their spots. We also saw a barracuda, Tahitian Starfish, a pufferfish and a black tipped shark- not enticed by being fed!!

Stop 3 was a lovely coral garden with no other boats there. We saw a tiny spotted eel. We saw the Harlequin Wrasse - it was a juvenile and was orange and white striped in color (like a clownfish) but with a slight blue on the tail. 

Stop 4 had a stronger current, but I saw genuine yellow tail clownfish (J had always doubted that I identified them properly in the past - this time he was by my side to confirm the sighting). J got a video of a moray eel - I was okay to miss that!

We would highly recommend H2O Bora Bora!

Back on the ship, we cleaned up and backed up photos. Dinner at Jacques tonight was delicious. They offer a poached scallop gnocchi with lobster as a hot appetizer. J said that dish alone would make him consider booking another cruise with Oceania!!  The wait staff is so well trained in these specialty restaurants - there is nothing to fault. J was hurriedly sweeping his own bread crumbs so that the waiter wouldn’t come along with his little wisk (officially called a crumber according to my google search)!

We will see if we can stay awake till 10:30 pm when they have a party on deck under the stars while in port at Bora Bora!