Day 14 ~ Super Bowl Sunday

“There is no tomorrow.” ~ Sammi Baker, our cruise director trying to explain that we’ll  cross the International Date Line sometime tonight and wake up on Tuesday, February 6^th, having misplaced the 5^th somewhere in the deeps of the Pacific Ocean.

Last night as we pulled away from Pago Pago, I thought for about half a minute that I’d try to go without my scopolamine patch. I didn’t even make it to the elevator before I was turning around and heading back to the cabin to put one on. We’d been blessed with extremely calm seas after leaving Honolulu, but now we’re back to rolling seas and driving rain. (FYI, if you’d ever like to see our sea conditions first hand, click on Where is the Pacific Princess? in the right hand column! They update the photo from the bridge every 20 minutes or so.)

However, I have supreme confidence in our bridge crew and slept the sleep of the just last night. (Of course, the scopolamine might also have had something to do with that!) I even slept in a bit. The DH didn’t call room service for coffee until about 7:10 AM. The server who delivered our tray asked if we’d had good sleep because he’d been waiting for our call since 6 AM. The Princess staff takes such good care of us.

After breakfast in the Panorama Buffet, we went to church in the Pacific Lounge at 8:45. It was a nice service. David Crathorne, our choir director, played the piano so we could sing 3 hymns. There is a retired minister on board who led the service and gave a short sermon. And there was a lovely memorial for our fellow passenger who died on board on Jan 30^th.  His wife had worked for Princess leading the arts and crafts workshops on this ship and others for twenty years or so. Fortunately, he and his wife had discussed the possibility that one of them might die on board someday and had made their final wishes known to one another. He wanted to be cremated at the nearest port that allowed it (American Samoa did not.) and for his wife to continue the trip with all their friends on board that had become  family. (In case you’re wondering , there are a lot of passengers for whom this is not the first time around the world. Many make the trip every year instead of buying a second home somewhere warm. The friendships formed here seem to be lasting.)

Next on our schedule was the enrichment lecture by our new Maori ambassadors, Andy & Janine, who just joined the ship yesterday in Pago Pago. The Maoris were the indigenous people on Aoteoroa (New Zealand, literally Land of the Long White Cloud) when the first European settlers arrived. Andy was decked out in full warrior regalia and demonstrated the use of several traditional Maori weapons and musical instruments. He performed a terrifying Haka (read: intimidating war dance) for us. (I recorded a video of it but if I try to add it to the blog, it would no doubt still be uploading by the time we dock in Ft. Lauderdale! Once we’re home, I plan to add more pictures to all the posts.) And Janine did a couple of Maori dances as well. One was reminiscent of the hula, but instead of her hands moving in undulating wavelike motions, they trembled like hummingbird wings.  Another dance used poi balls on short cords and reminded me of round numchucks. 

Andy performs the "hongi", a traditional Maori greeting with a member of the audience. They touch noses to share a breath and touch foreheads to share the same thoughts.

You may have noticed that most of Andy’s costume covers only the front of him. He wears a loin cloth and belt similar to a sumo wrestler. To American eyes, he was half naked, but he is so adorned with tattoos on his arms, legs and buttocks, after a while, the body art seemed to cover him quite decently. The face tattoos are not permanent, but everything else is.

It was the best cultural presentation we’ve ever seen on a ship.  I’m so glad Andy and Janine will be with us for a while. Their pride in their heritage is evident and their passion for the Maori language and culture is contagious.

When that was over, it was time for Trivia. Our team won again.  (I am so surrounded by brilliant people!) And then we had choir practice. Our concert will be on the 8^th. I miss our choirs at home, both at church and community choir, so it helps to be able to sing with the Harmony Choir on sea days.

After lunch in the Club Restaurant, we headed back to the cabin for some rest and relaxation. The Super Bowl is being broadcast in several lounges, but because it’s coming from an international satellite feed, we don’t get any commercials. That’s the main reason I watch the Super Bowl, so I started reading the next Book Club offering, The Orphan’s Tale.   Oh, the joy of uninterrupted reading time!

When the excursion office opened at three, I went down and booked us for some additional excursions in ports which were unavailable before we boarded in LA. Now we have tours at all the Australian stops and added a second one in Dubai since we’ll overnight there. The DH wanted to do the Desert at Night tour so he could see the stars over the sand dune.  Turns out he’ll see some belly dancers as well. (He claims he didn’t know that was part of the excursion. That’s his story and he’s sticking with it.)

Tonight instead of a live show, they are screening Victoria and Abdul, a witty and wise movie with Dame Judy Dench as the elderly queen. We’ve seen it before so we plan to make our way to the casino bar where David will be playing the piano before supper. Then we’ll make an early night of it since tomorrow we dock in Fiji and have an excursion to look forward to.

PS. About the evening entertainment on board: It’s been a little hit or miss. A couple of nights ago we were treated to a troop of dancers that made me think the Bolshoi had dropped by the Pacific Princess. The 3 guys and 3 girls were incredible, so talented! I’m grateful and excited that they will be traveling all the way to FT. Lauderdale with us and will present about 18 different shows in all.

Then last night we had a comedienne who also sang with a Broadway holler so piercing it would drown out Ethel Merman. The microphone she carried was only a prop. She filled the room to the back row (and sort of pinned me to the back of my seat at the same time.)  But I’m a self confessed musical snob, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

More after our day in Fiji...