Day 6 ~ Approaching Honolulu

For the born traveler, traveling is a besetting vice. Like other vices, it is imperious, demanding its victim’s time, money, energy and the sacrifice of comfort.
~ Aldous Huxley

Clearly, Mr. Huxley never traveled aboard the Pacific Princess. We are completely comfortable and stress free. It’s as though the cares of our land life have faded into the background and we face each day with the incredible luxury of doing anything or nothing with an equal lack of guilt.

We woke early again, about 5:00 AM. Even though with our late seating for supper we’re staying up later than usual to see the shows, we’re still waking up as if we have two little dogs that need to be let out. We gain an hour every other day or so as we travel westward, so maybe we’re getting more sleep than I think.

The Club Restaurant serves a lovely breakfast, but the pace is pretty leisurely and we wanted a quicker meal today. So for the first time since we boarded, we went to the Panorama Buffet on deck 9. I had a made-to-order mushroom & cheese omelet and fresh fruit at our table on the fantail. The temperature was perfect, and even though the sky was overcast, the views of the ocean were so restful. When the sun did break through, the light shafting through the clouds created not a rainbow, but a dancing collection of prismatic colors. Then I took off my sunglasses and the colors disappeared. It made me realize that even though we may not be able to perceive them, but there are wonders around us all the time.

The reason we needed a quick breakfast was that we decided today was laundry day and we wanted to be first through the door when the launderette was unlocked at 8:00 AM. We were able to snag three machines at once for our whites, darks & delicates. We brought a stain stick, bleach pen and laundry detergent pods from home. (I was concerned the pods might burst during our flight, so I double bagged them…and packed them in the DH’s suitcase!) For those of you who like details, there are 8 washers and 8 dryers in the launderette on Deck 7. Tokens cost $3.00 each so doing our laundry cost us $15.00 (I didn’t dry the delicates. They’re hanging over the bathroom door in our stateroom.)

We could have sent our things out to be done in the ship’s laundry, but I shudder to think what it would have cost. Princess charges by the item. According to the schedule of charges, it’s $1.25 for a single pair of undies. Yikes, right?

You hear horror stories about laundry wars on cruise ships and general misbehavior with regards to other peoples’ things, and true to form, we had a little excitement in the laundry. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of it. 

One of the other passengers put Dawn dish washing soap in her load. The machine filled with suds and began spilling out as if we were in an I Love Lucy episode. Fortunately, the Pacific Princess crew was quick to clean it up and no one took a tumble on the slick wet spot.

The only other things scheduled for our day are:

·         11:00am Trivia

·         11:45am Choir

·         12:30pm Cruise Critic Luncheon—This is our chance to visit with the folks I’ve been communicating with on a message board since we booked this trip last May. It’s nice to put faces to names.

·         4:00pm Honolulu destination talk (This will be played on the TV in our cabin, so we can be lounging while we decide if there’s something we want to do other than the Hop-on Hop-off Trolley we’d planned on for tomorrow.)

·         7:30pm Supper

·         9:30pm Production Show with the Princess dance troop

My sister-in-law Karen asked to see how her baby brother looks all dressed up, so I’m ending this post with a photo of the DH in his tux. Eat your heart out, James Bond!

PS. For those of you who saw the photo of what I was eating for lunch yesterday and made a guess as to what sort of dish it was, here’s the answer: Grilled Mediterranean Vegetable Terrine with Taragon and Chive Cream Sauce. It was delish! 

PPS. I'm a Great Auntie again! My niece Mariah gave birth to Gracie today. We're sorry to have missed being in town when she made her appearance, but are thrilled that we'll be able to watch this little angel grow up!

May 9, 2018  update: A word about the Belinda King Dancers and singers who did 12 different production shows for us on the world  cruise. This was not your average group of talented young people. The  dancers were several orders of magnitude better than any I've ever seen on shipboard. Each one of them deserve a regular spot in any ballet company. Their synchronicity was amazing. Even when the ship was rocking, they stayed together step-for-step! 

The Belinda King Dancers with their passenger partners for Dancing With The Cast! (The DH is 7th from the left!)

They also served as Trivia hosts and went on excursions to help shepherd passengers along. This group of three guys/three girls were such good sports, so friendly and helpful. We felt we got to know them as well as be entertained by them. And because we had three different cruise directors, these lively kids provided some much needed continuity!

And speaking of kids...

Our darling great-niece Gracie. We missed her first 3 months because she was born while we were en route to Hawaii, but we'll be around for the rest of her growing up!

A final word about laundry: The DH has put his foot down. We won't book another world cruise unless we can get free laundry service! We're about 23 days from qualifying for Elite status on Princess, which would get us free laundry. A few other lines include laundry in the fare. One way or  another, if I want another grand nautical adventure, I'll have to be sure it doesn't include tokens, stain sticks or packing laundry pods in the DH's luggage!