What Do We Do When We Get There?

"Only it seems to me that once in your life before you die you ought to see a country where they don’t talk in English and don’t even want to." 

~ Mrs. Gibbs from Thornton Wilder's Our Town

I'm usually an intrepid traveler. When I'd tag along on business trips with the DH, he'd go off to his meetings each morning and I'd set out on my own for an explore. I've wandered the capitals of Europe alone, making my way about on public transportation, and leaning on my smattering of German and French to get me by. I even spent a week exploring Tokyo solo with not a smidge of Japanese to my credit. (They are lovely people and ever so helpful, even if we couldn't communicate verbally.)

But when I used to set out on that sort of adventure, I always knew in a pinch I could hail a cab, show them a card from my hotel, and I'd be whisked back to my comfort zone in short order. Of course, my hotel wasn't going anywhere.

The Pacific Princess, however, might. 




Please forgive the cruel laughter at the expense of the stranded passengers on the video, as well as the completely uncharitable suggestion that they should jump! Other than those two shining examples of how to be an Ugly American, this vid has some good tips for making sure we return to our ship prior to sail away. Things I wouldn't have thought of, like the fact that local time and ship's time might be two different things. And not to trust the clock on our cell phones because it may automatically switch to local time.

Even with lowering skies, Mo'orea is achingly beautiful.

If we miss the boat while we're on our world cruise, it could mean a sizable expense in terms of hotels, meals and flights to catch the ship at its next port of call. Always assuming the ship makes the next port and doesn't have to divert on account of weather or some other emergency. 

A change in itinerary does sometimes happen. On our 30 day South Pacific cruise with Holland America, we had to skip two ports due to foul weather and the captain decided to change our itinerary to switch the stops at Tahiti and Mo'orea, because he had to take on fuel in Tahiti and he couldn't be sure the weather would hold if he kept to the original plan. (It did, but if the typhoon harassing Fiji had taken a wrong turn we'd have skipped the most gorgeous island on earth to hightail it back to San Diego.)  If we'd missed the boat somewhere on that cruise, we'd have been in serious trouble trying to chase the Westerdam across the Pacific. 

Anyway, to minimize stress and insure that the Pacific Princess will be there when we return to the pier, we've elected to book most of our excursions through the cruise line. Probably the biggest draw for ship sponsored excursions is that they promise to wait for us should there be an unexpected delay and we have to straggle back to the port late. Nice to know they'll wait. It's a huge relief to have the excursions all paid for ahead of time as well.

With our Princess excursions in boldface, here's a peek at what we'll be up to at our ports of call: 

#1 Daughter & me near Chinaman's Hat

Jan. 28th: Honolulu, HI~ We've been blessed to visit Hawaii a number of times & plan to do the Hop-on-Hop-off Bus tour we can catch near the pier. The route stays within the city, and since we'll be in port from 8 AM to 10 PM, even if we have to abandon the bus and take a taxi back to the ship, we feel pretty confident we won't get into trouble. Besides, we'll still be in the US! 
  
Feb. 3rd: Pago Pago, American Samoa ~ Again, we'll still technically be in America! Since we'll be in port from 8 AM to 4 PM, we plan to see if we can catch an independent tour there fairly early in the morning. We've had very good luck with this sort of "welcome to my island" type tour, in Bora Bora and Antigua, especially. English is the main language of American Samoa, so we feel confident we can wing it there.  

Feb. 6th: Suva, Fiji ~ Island Drive, Arts Village Of Fiji & Firewalking, the first of our Princess sponsored excursions (We won't be raising our hands if they ask for volunteers for the fire walking!)

Feb. 9th: Bay of Islands, New Zealand ~ Glow Worm Cave & Puketi Kauri Forest

Feb. 10th (My mother's birthday!): Auckland, New Zealand ~ Since we'll be in port from 7 AM to 11 PM, we plan to take advantage of the Hop On Hop Off bus to see the sights. We won't be in Kansas anymore, but they do speak English there. We can be adventurous around the city and still be reasonably sure we can get back to the ship before she sails.

Feb. 14th: Sydney, Australia ~ Blue Mountains, Jamison Valley & Wildlife Park Since the Pacific Princess is the "Love Boat" and we're sailing into Sydney Harbor on Valentine's Day, I'm expecting a bit of hoopla as we make our arrival past the Opera House!

Feb. 16th: Burnie (Tasmania) Australia ~  Wings Wildlife Park & Countryside Drive The DH has a tie with a Loony Tune Tasmanian Devil on it he plans to wear to the main dining room that evening!

Feb. 18th: Adelaide, Australia ~ City Drive & Glenelg 

Feb. 21st: Esperance, Australia ~ ?  There are no ship's tours offered at this time. This is one place where we'll wait, attend the port talk on board, and decide what to do when we get there.  

Feb. 23rd: Freemantle, Australia ~ Yanchep National Park I'm really looking forward to this one because it promises to delve into Aboriginal culture.

Feb. 25th: Exmouth, Australia ~ Again, no ship's tours are showing on the website. Since the 25th is a Sunday, we may try to find a church close to the pier and join our "down under" brothers and sisters to worship Aussie style.

March 2nd: Singapore ~ City Drive, Chinatown & National Orchid Garden 

March 7th: Cochin, India ~ St. Francis Church, Museum & Dutch Palace I had hoped to find something a little more India-centric, but European powers have played a role in the sub-continent for centuries, so perhaps this too is the "real" India.

March 9th: Mumbai, India ~ Elephanta Island & Caves A World Heritage site with both Hindu and Buddhist carvings

March 12th: Dubai, United Arab Emirates ~ Easy Dubai Since we have 2 days in Dubai, this tour is a good overview for us. We'll be able to see what else we'd like to explore while we're in the most opulent city on earth. My niece and her family used to live there. Sad that we didn't manage this trip while she was still in the UAE.

March 14th: Abu Dhabi, UAE ~ Abu Dhabi City Tour The Grand Mosque is said to be a wonder. 

March 21st: Aqaba, Jordan ~ Aqaba Highlights & Lunch At Wadi Rum I'm sure a number of our fellow passengers will opt to visit Petra (of Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade fame) but the Princess site warned that the Petra tour was not suitable for folks with lung problems. I had to scratch that one from my bucket list. It's nice to imagine that I can do all sorts of things--swim with the sharks, run with the bulls, and such--but the truth is, I can't. It's better to recognize my legitimate limitations and focus instead on what I can do.

March 25th: Santorini, Greece ~ Fira On Your Own Ever see photos of blue domes on whitewashed buildings overlooking an azure sea? This is that. 

March 26th: Crete, Greece ~ Knossos An ancient Minoan site

March 28th: Kotor, Montenegro ~ Kotor, St. Tryphon Cathedral, Budva & Scenic Drive

March 29th: Zadar, Croatia ~ Highlights Of Krka National Park Supposed to have lovely waterfalls

March 30: Ancona, Italy ~ Urbino Highlights A UNESCO World Heritage site

March 31st: Koper, Slovenia ~ Lipica Stud Farm & Hrastovlje Village Since we used to have horses when we lived in Wyoming, we'll love seeing the Lipizzaners up close and personal.

April 1st: Venice, Italy ~ Easter Sunday. We'll have 2 days in port, so we hope to make our way to St. Mark's Basilica to take part in a worship service on this day and do a little exploring on our own. May take a gondola ride!

April 2nd: Venice, Italy ~ Best Of Venice Just in case we missed something. 

April 3rd: Korcula, Croatia ~ Walking Tour Of Korcula Looking forward to seeing a couple of Tintoretto paintings in the gothic cathedral of St. Mark's.

April 5th: Valetta, Malta ~ Grand Master's Palace, St. John's Cathedral & Mdin  Another World Heritage site & the island where the apostle Paul was shipwrecked on his way to Rome. Fingers crossed we don't follow in his footsteps!

April 6th: Porto Empedocle, Italy ~ Temple Valley Of Agrigento - Unesco Heritage site 

April 7th: Positano, Italy ~ Pompei When #1 Daughter visited Rome with  a high school group, I cajoled her into taking the optional excursion to see  Pompei. Since we'll be so close, I couldn't very well skip it myself.

April 9th: Civitavecchia, Italy ~ A Discovery Exclusive - Ultimate Rome At 10 hours, this is our longest excursion and includes the Vatican Museum, a visit to the Sistine Chapel, a stroll through St. Peter's Square, lunch at a 5 star restaurant, the Colosseum, and a stop at the Trevi Fountain. We'll also be spending 3 hours in a bus (a 90 minute drive each way from the port to Rome.)

April 10th: Portofino, Italy ~ Genoa - San Lorenzo Cathedral & Chiesa Del Gesu 

April 11th: Villefranche, France ~ Ultimate Monaco & Villa Rothschild  My mom's eyes lit up when I told her about this one. She still remembers the story book romance of Grace Kelly and the Prince of Monaco.

April 13th: Barcelona, Spain ~ Gaudi's Barcelona We will actually reach Spain on the afternoon of the 12th, and stay 2 nights in port.  Figured we'd wait for the 2nd day to see the weirdly eclectic Holy Family Church which has been under construction since 1882. No rush. It's not scheduled to be completed until 2026! 

April 15th: Gibraltar, Great Britain ~ Top Of The Rock - It may be Tax Day in the US, but with any luck, the weather will be fine enough for us to gaze southward to Africa and north to Europe from the top of the Rock that sits squarely between both of them.

April 16th: Seville, Spain ~ Andalusian Horse School & Sherry Tasting Again, since we're horse lovers, we'll really enjoy seeing those Andalusians up close. The sherry had nothing to do with my choosing this excursion. Honest!

April 19th: Azores, Portugal ~ Caldeira & The Volcano Of Capelinhos 

Commissioner's House, Royal Navy Dockyard

April 24th: Hamilton, Bermuda ~ We've enjoyed several trips to Bermuda and know how to get around the island pretty well. With a 7 AM arrival and a 6 PM sail-away, we'll have plenty of time for an independent adventure in the morning and stick close to the ship in the afternoon. 

Then it's full steam ahead for Ft. Lauderdale and the end of the waterborne portion of our circumnavigation of the globe. By then, our homing beacon will probably be pinging big time, but my! what wonders we'll experience along the way. 

I'm not sure I believe it's actually going to happen yet.

How about you? Are you an adventurous traveler, or do you like to play it safe?

~~~

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