Day 9 ~ Southward Ho! or Downton Abbey Afloat

C—Big, blue wobbly thing that mermaids live in. ~ from the episode of Black Adder in which they attempt to create a dictionary

I know it seems as if I skipped a day, but because I was still writing about our experiences on Hawaii, I labeled the previous post Day 7.5 instead of 8.

Today, on the 9^th Day of our voyage, we find ourselves bounding over the deeps heading for American Samoa, which we won’t reach for several days. We are enjoying slight seas and sunny skies. The high today is in the low 80’s with a fair breeze to keep it from being oppressive—sort of perfect, IMO.

This is when the ship itself becomes a destination, so allow me to give you a quick tour of the Pacific Princess. We’ll take it from the top…

Reynald, Pierre, my DH (Dear Husband), me, Mary & her hubby Brian in the Pacific Princess after a win of total domination at TRIVIA. The matching shades are our prize!

Deck 10—Here you’ll find the jogging track (or in my case, the walking track), which the DH and I made use of after breakfast today. After hitting 10,550 steps in Honolulu, I hope to do it again. But the PP is a petite little lady. Just walking from one activity to another won’t get me there. Hence the time on the track. Also on Deck 10, you’ll find the Pacific Lounge (where we play Trivia & have choir practice) and the premium restaurants to the rear of the ship—Sabatini’s and Sterling Steak House. We find the food in the Club Restaurant so good, it makes no sense to pay extra for those other venues. 

Next to the specialty dining is this jewel of library. Elegant and serene, it wouldn’t be out of place in Downton Abbey, would it?

Deck 9—The pool and two hot tubs are located mid-ship. (Yes, that is the DH lounging in the hot tub!) Going aft, you’ll find the BBQ grill and the Panorama Buffet (which I’ve mentioned in a previous post). If you go forward, you’ll see the Internet Café, the Card Room and the Lotus Spa. Generally speaking, you go aft to find food, forward for entertainment.

Decks 8, 7, & 6—All passenger cabins with no public areas.

Deck 5—From the stern, you start with the Club Restaurant & Bar. The lobby is located in the center of the ship. There’s quite a lovely atrium. Like the beautifully appointed library, it’s all rich dark wood and elegant railings. The shops, which I haven’t visited yet, surround the atrium. Still going forward, you have to go through the small casino. Unlike every other ship we’ve cruised on, there is NO SMOKING in the casino! In fact, there are very few smoking areas on the entire ship. This is a huge relief to me because with my lung issues, the last thing I need is second-hand smoke. Most of the evening shows are in the Cabaret Lounge located far forward.

Deck 4—A deck with passenger cabins and only one public area—the medical center. I hope we don’t have reason to visit this part of the ship, but I’m glad to know it’s there. Last night at oh:dark-thirty, I was wakened by the ship’s bell sounding. A crewmember came over the ship-wide broadcast system summoning an emergency medical team to a passenger cabin. I hope all was well, but with a voyage of this duration and considering the demographic of those who can take the time for a world cruise, it is expected that a few passengers will…, shall we say, disembark before the rest.

We’ve made a number of new friends on the ship, like our excellent Trivia partners. Then there are some folks I met online through Cruise Critic, a travel site which features a big message board so that future passengers can connect with their fellows in a Roll Call thread. A few days ago, Marilyn (who flew all the way from Israel to join us in LA) organized a Cruise Critic luncheon. It was a spectacular four course affair, starting with a Mediterranean Vegetable Terrine (the same one I posted few days ago!), a delicious sea food pasta dish which I mistook as the main course, followed by a perfectly done steak so tender you could cut it with a butter knife. Desert was this fabulous Napoleon cake, with layers of pastry so flaky and light they were only kept from floating away by the mini-chocolate chips in the sweet ganache.

I think the PP must have lost its pastry chef in Sydney because the Napoleons were never as fabulous as this one we enjoyed during the first segment!

This beautiful luncheon was overseen by Oscar, our Maitre d’ extraordinaire. He marshals his company of servers like a general organizing a campaign. With boundless energy and unflappable good humor, he’s truly a force of nature.

Another event organized by members of the Cruise Critic Roll Call was the Cabin Crawl. About 30 of us tromped about the ship, visiting different types of staterooms—inside with no window, ocean view, balcony (like we have), the larger mini-suite, and a truly elegant and spacious Owner’s Suite. As I always do when I tour someone else’s home, I came back to Stateroom 7009 feeling grateful for the floating home we have. It suits us perfectly.    

Tonight is another formal night and we’ve been invited to the Captain's Cocktail Party before we go to supper. The DH will wear his tux and I’ll be decked out in my purple gown.  Because we are in the late seating for supper, our stage show won’t begin until 9:45pm. We are usually the early-to-bed-early-to-rise sort, so this schedule is stretching us. But the DH points out that we get to set our clocks back another hour tonight, so the show will really be starting at 8:45 pm.

And after that, we hope to enjoy something really special, astronomically speaking, but I won’t know for certain until it happens. More about that tomorrow…

PS. More about that alarm in the night. I learned what happened from Betty, the lady who sits beside me in choir. Her husband is a pastor and they were called to the cabin at about 5:00AM. A gentleman did die. He was a member of the 60+ voice strong Harmony Choir, but we had not yet met him or his wife. However, our director David says our concert for this segment will be dedicated to his memory.

I feel so sad for his family, but at the same time, his passing is a reminder to me to greet each day with thankfulness and to treat everyone around me with kindness. A little verse from a beloved book from my childhood comes to mind.

We’re here so short a time before we go to unknown ends.
We may not meet in other worlds. Let’s hurry and be friends!
~ The Cheerful Cherub by Rebecca McCann

Wishing you fair seas and sunny skies…

May 22, 2018 update: I suspect other passengers died during the voyage, but this is the only one that was widely acknowledged on board. He and his wife had done the world cruise on Princess several times and she was, in fact, under contract as the arts and crafts instructor. So she remained on the ship for the entire world cruise. 

This next bit falls under the category of laundry room gossip, but it was rumored that her husband had wished to be cremated, but American Samoa either didn't allow it or didn't have the facilities to offer the service. We never heard what arrangements were finally made.  

But it does bring up an important issue. It's very important that you express your final wishes to your traveling companion, or better yet, do it in writing. We didn't bring our power of attorney papers or our living wills with us, but we will if we do another world cruise. Taking away those awful final decisions from your loved ones is the last kind thing you can do.