Report # 31 Sailing Towards Majuro, Marshall Islands January 31, 2017 Tuesday Chance of rain & 84 degrees

We just realized that there was no printed itinerary for this portion of the world cruise.  Normally, when we begin another segment, it is written in the Daily Navigator.  It includes the port days as well as the sea days, along with the arrival and departure times.  In addition to that, every day's dress code is noted.  Furthermore, we did not receive a new port guide, the booklet that has the maps and some info on each port.

 

So when we turned in our immigrations forms at the front desk, we inquired about the missing materials.  The answer we got was they were not sure why it was not printed, and they did not know where the port guide brochures were.  One suggestion was that the three upcoming ports were small islands, and only one, Guam, had tours.  No wonder Barbara H promised to work on getting good maps for Majuro.  We figured since this itinerary included these three ports for almost two years , they had plenty of time to research the information and have it printed.  Something has fallen through the cracks……Anyway, they promised we will have an itinerary for the Beijing segment.

 

If it did rain today, it must have been quite early in the morning.  Just as we got settled at the Seaview Pool, it began to sprinkle lightly.  Not even enough to get the deck wet.  For the remainder of the day, it stayed warm and humid as we continued in a southwesterly direction.  A few boobys followed along, but the tropicbirds were nowhere to be seen.  As we had spotted only one flying fish, we suspect that there is not enough feed to support the birds out here.  

 

The announcement of the 2019 world cruise was discussed today at the future cruise consultant's talk in the Queen's Lounge this morning.  The actual itinerary has not been decided, nor has the pricing come out.  But starting today, Thom and Tina were taking future deposits on the voyage.  In fact, all of the Grand Voyages were open for deposit.  It really is a "no-brainer" to put down $100 per person to hold your room, even if we don't know where it is headed as of yet.  And if we should change our minds, we can transfer the deposit to any other cruise within the next four years.

 

Two interesting talks were given in the Queen's Lounge today.  One dealt with the coral reef, and the second with major sea battles in the war in the Pacific.  The areas we will be visiting soon are filled with both coral and major WWII history.  All great info.

 

The first photo contest (part one) was announced today.  It is a fair deal, where all guests are invited to submit their best photos taken so far this trip.  The categories include people/life, wildlife, architecture, and landscape.  Although there is a $5 fee per picture, an 8 x 10 printed copy of their photo is theirs after the contest has been judged.  And we are proud to say that our friend and tablemate, Heo, won during last year's contest with an incredible picture he captured while in Abu Dhabi.  It was so good, that it ended up in the Mariner magazine.  Good job, Heo.

 

All of us were present at dinner tonight.  As we all get to know each other, it seems that there is never a dull moment.  The entrees have been a little unusual….most with names we do not recognize.   We are willing to try new items, but we cannot say they are all winners with us.  There is always dessert, which never fails to make us all happy. 

 

The entertainment this evening was an internationally acclaimed saxophonist by the name of Barry Seacroft.  We could hear him practicing while relaxing on deck five at the Ocean Bar area, well before his first performance. 

 

One more day at sea and we will be in the Marshall Islands.  By the way, we put the clocks back another hour this evening.  This is bound to catch up with all of us soon.  Either way you set the clocks, it can be difficult to adjust to it.  We think that is part of the reason why many of our friends still have the nasty cold virus. 

 

Bill & Mary Ann  

 

 

Report #30 Sailing Towards Majuro, Marshall Islands January 29, 2017 Sunday Cloudy & 79 degrees 62 Pictures

Sunday at sea……another brunch day in the dining room.  Seems that the folks like this venue, especially the ones that prefer to sleep in late.  As for us, we need our early morning coffee, so going to the dining room by 8:30am is just right.  Finally, we have the serving sizes down to smaller portions.  The chefs have already down-sized some of the breakfast meats such as Canadian bacon or ham.  Some of the slices are paper thin, and better for us.

 

Relaxing at the aft pool, we had the treat of seeing a small flock of red-billed tropic birds.  You would never suspect that they are in the pelican family, but these birds have four webbed toes, instead of three.  They have the reputation of being plunge-divers with water-repellant feathers and bones with substantial air spaces.  This helps them float back to the surface with their prey of fish or squid.  The ones we saw today were more like the white-tailed tropicbird, with two long central tail feathers that twist and flutter while in flight.  We had trouble spotting the tail feathers, because the color was orange instead of white.  Obviously, these birds are able to fly great distances, because Captain Jonathon said we were over 100 miles away from the nearest island.  Later on in the afternoon, we were able to get some good photos of these pretty birds.

 

The Location Guide, Barbara, gave a talk on the Marshall Islands this morning.  Since we have never been there, we will make it a point to watch her talk on the TV later.  Actually, we did get some great info from Leta and Bill, who have been there many times over the years.  Except, at that time, it was during his career as a pilot in the Air Force.  They remembered it as being extremely beautiful, with lagoons, tropical atolls, and hot, steamy weather.  Since there are no tours offered, we suspect we will have fun exploring on our own.

 

Our job of the day was filling out forms for immigrations/customs for the upcoming port in the Marshall Islands and Singapore.  The ship gets a group visa, and some of those are actually free.  Some will come with a nominal fee, which is charged to our ship board accounts.  

 

We heard mixed reviews on the Chinese New Year dinner in the Lido last night.  Some folks said they never saw Asian food like they served, while some others said it was good, the usual stir-fry fare.  No fortune cookies however.  And as we suspected, it was crowded big time.

 

Tonight was another gala evening, with the Black and Silver Ball taking place in the Queen's Lounge at 9:30pm.  For that reason, the singers and dancers of the Amsterdam performed at 5 and 7:15pm.  We could hear the singing when we walked deck three to watch the sun set.

 

No one at our table made it to the ball, since we had a guest from Shore Excursions….David.  He is a pleasant young man who speaks at least four different languages.  Being from Belgium, he enjoyed chatting with our Dutch buddies, as well as each and every one of us.  Although we have not had much interaction with the shore ex people, he seemed to remember seeing us on several cruises.  As recently as the Tales of the South Pacific.  The conversation flowed until 10:30pm, when we realized the surrounding tables were being set for breakfast.  David confessed that he had looked up all of us in their guest info, so he would not be blind-sided by going to a difficult table.  He admitted to having some pretty long evenings in the past.  Guess we passed inspection.

 

He told us of some interesting things about crew preparedness in regards to safety.  All of the crew has to be certified to handle any emergency with possible ship accidents.  He claimed that a lot of extra training has been required since the Costa Concordia had that terrible incident several years ago.  Good to know they are all trained well, and not only the sailors, but the dining room and stateroom stewards as well.

 

There were crab legs, filet mignon, veal chops, and lobster on the menu tonight.  We had the veal and it came with the creamiest mashed potatoes and a mushroom gravy.  Excellent.  Finished the meal with a small slice of key lime pie.

 

This evening we had a nice surprise gift in our room….two umbrellas.  Now, does that mean we can expect rain?  Of course, we are heading into winter time in Korea, Japan, and China.  However, when we listened to Barbara's talk on the Marshall Islands, she warned everyone of feral dogs in these islands.  Never heard that one before, but we do know one of our friends that got a severe bite while visiting Nuku alofi in Tonga a couple of years ago.  Barbara said to bring an umbrella to ward them off in case you are attacked.  So we had to laugh when we saw two of these on our bed.

 

Another job tonight…..a clock change.  Since we will be crossing the International Dateline, we had a gentle reminder that the ship's clocks will be turned back one hour and one day forward, as we sail into a new time zone.  Does that make sense to you?  So we will end up losing Monday and go right to Tuesday.  And as we mentioned already, we will get this lost day back, one hour at a time as we circle the globe.

 

There is rain in the forecast tomorrow, but we sure hope not.

 

Bill & Mary Ann

 

Photos of the tropicbird……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guess you can tell……we like tropicbirds