Day 30 - At sea - August 24th

We seem to have packed a lot into this last month and that often means places we wouldn’t normally choose to visit. We are not as adventurous as some, my youngest brother for example, as we are happy with the protection afforded by arriving en masse with a minimum of paperwork and the opportunity to select tours based on generally good information. They say that travel broadens the mind, but one of the common observations and discussion topics on this ship has been that in many cases, it also broadens the waistline...

Sea days on this trip haven’t been quite as full on as in the past, as we have taken the opportunity to relax whenever possible.

Somehow or other, when putting on a clean pair of shorts, I forgot to pop the Robert Timms coffee bag into the pocket, so breakfast was even lighter than usual.  This may have been a big mistake, having not had a decent strong coffee yesterday, so the inevitable signs of caffeine withdrawal crept up on me.

Our port lecture today was Yokohama/Tokyo, the last by Elizabeth Moran.  They have always been well presented and although occasionally, info is a bit out of date, at least you get a better map than the one issued by the ship, which is often next to useless with the ship location often not marked at all.  Her slides of notices in public toilets and on the subway were entertaining. (See pics)

No luck at morning trivia...

Once again there was a curry on the menu – chicken this time and as I write this, I am not too sure whether the curry had anything to do with feeling off colour later or it was just coincidence.

Afternoon trivia – 12/20. We are fairly consistent.

We went to the early (6:30pm) show which starred accordionist Ross Maio.  We had seen Ross last year on the Dawn and he is one of my favourites on the ship.  I think that back in NZ, Murray Wallace and the Thorpes would have appreciated this show.  With no backing tracks and just the synthesiser built into the accordion, 4 speakers on stage, his playing is just superb.

Dinner was a celebration as Mick & Pat celebrated 50 years of marriage so the champagne flowed.  Although I only had one glass, washed down with water, I wasn’t feeling the best.  It appears that like the Sun Princess, we have now been hit by too many people being well and truly off colour, so hygiene standards have been tightened. No salt pots on the table, nor butter and bread rolls.  The waiters served them instead.  The same applies in the buffet where all food and drink has to be via the waiters.  The Captain puts the increase in gastro problems down to the less than hygienic conditions in some of the Asian ports, but no doubt the usual Princess coughs and splutters from many people who choose to freely circulate and spread their germs, doesn’t help.

I was OK to go to the show, which was a rehash of “Piano Man”, with the same music but different costumes.  This was the first show by the replacement cast. A pleasant enough show.

A half strength hot chocolate as a late drink fir a change so not too sure if that is going to help or hinder! 

Clocks forward 1 hour again tonight and Vladivostok tomorrow.

Apparently on leaving Vladivostok, there will be no internet access for the following two sea days.

  

Day 29 - Soggy Busan (Korea) - August 23rd

For just about the first time on this cruise, it was raining for the sail in.  A relatively late arrival (though we were ahead of schedule) at 10am and a 100% hassle free exit from the ship to the free shuttle made this a real doddle.  We (along with many others) are totally bemused by the differences between the various countries regarding red tape, costs, hassles etc.  Our assessment is that the more likely it is that people want to escape from a country, the more likely there is a cost of visiting and a pile of paperwork and rigid border controls to wade through.

One can only assume that the Koreans are quite happy with their lot in life.

Shame about the weather as Busan is a place that is busy enough to have plenty to offer.  We were dropped off at the Phoenix Hotel, though the first stop was at the park up a hill overlooking the town, where only about six people got off.

We had a (poor) map of the place but followed lecturer Elizabeth’s instructions and turned left and left again through a paved street that led to a major landmark for cruisers – KFC.   Turn right at KFC for the classy shops and left for the market type shops.  We turned left...

Each narrow street off here was effectively a street of market stalls, with various attempts to protect the passer’s by from the rain.  There were tarpaulins galore and many buckets to negotiate.  Almost the whole of the first street seemed to be electrical goods, plus electronics. 

The clothing shops seemed only to cater for the tiny Asians or children.  We heard of several responses from shop keepers to visiting cruisers.

To a larger lady - “Solly no elephant sizes.”

To a larger gent – “Solly, no king-kong sizes.”

Even to myself as I ventured into one shop with what looked like decent business shirts, I was just reaching for a packaged shirt, only for the seated shop owner to blurt out, “Solly, no large sizes.”

So to future visitors, if you are a gentleman over about 5ft 7”, or a lady larger than about dress size 12, don’t be surprised if your purchasing options are somewhat limited.  Prices seemed to vary too with a lot of stuff more expensive than at home.

We headed back towards the Phoenix and about 30 metres before it, is a subway entrance, with underground shopping.  We went down there as Paula didn’t fancy a trip to the massive fish market across the road, though many cruisers did.  The underground shops at least kept us out of the rain, but again, prices seemed steep and sizes small.  Unlike some other calls, the shopkeepers do not hassle you at all.  We spied many people from the ship - and one staff member showing his support for NZ.

Back to the ship and there were a couple of stalls on the quay, but again, prices seemed very steep, so having not changed any money into local currency at all - and no credit card usage, a very cheap stop indeed for us.

After changing into drier clothes, as we walked into the buffet for lunch, Paula said that what she really felt like was a curry, so we were delighted to find a great lamb curry on offer!

Paula didn’t feel 100% and craved her wheatie-bag (the type you throw into the microwave and heat up for about 3 minutes) for her stomach.  It was definitely a cooler day.

Just for once I opted for a half strength hot chocolate rather than coffee in the atrium (5^th floor) then I headed for the quiz whilst Paula opted to go for a lie down. I was the only one in our team so joined a rather grumpy couple.  We managed about 14/20 – which is exactly what I would have got if I’d stayed on my own!

The evening meal menu was “Asian” and this is always a bit difficult as there is so much that is appetizing.  I managed 4 courses without a dessert!  I even skipped the usual delicious bread rolls, so cutting out a coffee and the rolls, I hope is only temporary.

The evening entertainment was a pint sized Australian singer with a gallon sized voice.  Michael Montgomery.  A very good show indeed but we are always amazed at the even smaller Sarah, the orchestra leader.  She is compelling to watch.  She somehow manages to direct the orchestra whilst playing piano and keyboard – often at the same time.  With the right hand on piano, the left hand alternates between keyboard and piano but what I find fascinating is that often, the left hand is playing the melody (treble clef) on the keyboard.  Michael’s closing number from Phantom of the Opera was pushing both of them and it was top class.

Hot choc in the atrium (level 7 of course) but neither of us had shoes suitable for dancing, so we just sat and watched for a while.  Always interesting, as there is a great mix of talent and style, with Alana leaping off the stand to assist a couple of beginners struggling with the rumba.

Clocks on an hour again tonight (and tomorrow night) but a day at sea to look forward to, even though the temperature is now dropping significantly.

 

Day 28 - Weather retraction at sea - August 22nd

Sorry about the wrongly numbered day(!) on an earlier blog, but going into the blog to correct errors isn’t always easy.

After the usual light breakfast, Paula went off to Zumba with Teri and I retreated to the cabin to keep the blog up to date.  (See what I sacrifice for your benefit?)

I headed down again for morning trivia with Teri, Alex and Gayle.  We didn’t too well.

Buffet speciality today was “Parisienne” which for me meant pâté and cheese to go with the soup.  (I always thought the pâté was made on board.  It isn’t...  It is from the USA.)  Paula was unlucky, as by the time she headed back for the delicious looking crème brulee, they had cleared everything away.

We were able to spend the mid afternoon with the balcony door open as it was a fair bit cooler outside than of late, before heading down for coffee. 

Our quiz score could have been equal 1^st on 17 but for a couple of questions where my (correct) guess wasn’t the chosen one!

Another formal night so I opted to leave the shrunken white shirt in the wardrobe where it will now stay and wore a collar and tie instead.

We opted for the “Duo Yalba” for entertainment.  Extremely talented with a massive range of instruments.  The 22 year old on guitar(s) was just amazing.  It meant we missed Carl Doy’s second concert.   Often a tough call with two good acts on at the same time. 

We didn’t do too much dancing and drifted away about 11:20 as I was a bit snuffly and decided that a Coldrex and bed was the best option.

Busan late morning tomorrow and another free shuttle to town.  It seems that it is often the local authorities who supply the free shuttles rather than Princess.  A good move as it does encourage cruisers into town to spend.

      

Day 26 - Tianjin, China - August 21st

With a free (yes, free!) shuttle to town operating from 10am, there was definitely no rush to get organised.  We had Chinese visas (single entry if you remember) and had to take our passports AND a photocopy (supplied by the ship) in Shanghai.  These photocopies were stamped, not the passports, and all we needed in Tianjin was the photocopy.

We are not sure what was happening on the quay as we spied this squad on parade and having their photographs taken.  Filming was going on just outside the terminal building too, so maybe it was related as there were police cars, vans and an ambulance around.

Getting ashore was just about as fast as is possible, as having shown the photocopy at the gangplank, that was it, we just walked straight through the modern terminal to the shuttle bus.  As soon as it was full, away we went at 10:40am, expecting a 40 minute ride.

The roads leading to the Tianjin port are wide and straight (3 lanes in each direction) and this is presumably to cope with the 1,000’s of shipping containers and new cars delivered to and from the port.  The tree planting is impressive with blocks of different colours and heights and the place was very smart.  The straight road must have gone for two to three miles before a turn at traffic lights, following the coast - which appears to be mainly reclaimed land, so it looks rather like Mablethorpe (UK) when the tide is out.

The journey only took 20 minutes and we passed absolutely nothing of interest and parked at the Aeon shopping mall.   The collective groans and grumble from the men could be heard miles away.  The mall was extremely bright and modern but the shops held little of interest to most people. The only interesting part for me was the upstairs food court where the dishes looked appetising and fairly chap.  I am not sure of the payment system but it looked as though you bought a swipe card from a central kiosk, but I could easily have misread that, as the signs were in Chinese!

Down stairs was “Restaurant Street” which was also fairly interesting. You could tell the cruisers as they were all in McCafe or SPR Coffee, with  a few poking their heads around the door of KFC and Pizza Hutt!  There didn’t seem to be much outside the mall.  Along with many others, we caught an early shuttle back to the ship but had already been warned that immigration wouldn’t start until 1pm.  We were there a bit earlier and once again, just strolled onto the ship, handing in our photocopies on the way through.

About 280 people joined the ship in Tianjin (Beijing) and there was a tannoy call that all those who did NOT have a Chinese visa and hadn’t got off the ship, were required for a face to face with the Chinese officials.  We later heard that most Americans were not granted visas...

We called at the buffet for lunch (of course) before having a bit of a nana nap as I had once again developed the sniffles.

Atrium 5^th floor for coffee where we bumped into Mick & Pat who were with M & M and were joining our table for dinner.

The sailaway was instantly forgettable as there is nothing to look at but I did spend a lot of time chatting to very nice elderly lady.  We piled down for dinner to our normal table, even though dining is “open” on changeover days.

The entertainer tonight was Kiwi pianist Carl Doy who plays very well, but oh dear, the patter was dreadful.  Three long winded rehashed jokes we had heard dozens of times before.  No wonder the orchestra looked quite bored.

I didn’t have decent shoes on (still in sandals) so couldn’t dance and the atrium was rather quiet, so Alan and Alana packed up early.

Clocks forward 1 hour again tonight and it is visibly cooler than it has been, whilst the UK is having a late summer.

Another day at sea ahead before Busan.        

Day 26 - Guess what? At sea - August 20th

Pictures belong to yesterday’s post!  Lobster tails pic for Jo, dance shoe pics for Helen.  Other pics show Darryl & Sue with their ‘spoof’ trophy and the phantom judges, Teri & Alex, who are joining our table after Beijing.

This is the half way point of our trip and with most of Asia in the bag, we still have the delights of Alaska ahead.  I think Paula is basically over Asia already, finding it far too hot and too crowded, so the ship is our refuge.  Paula was awake 6:45am and had her MP3 player plugged into her ear so is now feeling much better, though we still have Tianjin (China) and Busan, (Korea) to look forward to.

We were joined at the end of breakfast by banjo player Jim Coston who now has a Chris Barber/Kenny Ball CD to take home to New Orleans remind him of our meeting.

We had to leave Jim at 9:30am to head for today’s port lecture – Vladivostok.  I remember so well at school trying to absorb details of the trans Siberian railway that terminates at this Russian port after its 6,200 mile journey from Moscow.   To be honest, I really don’t think I ever thought I’d go to Russia – (nor NZ and all calls between there and the UK we have managed over the years!) as it was a different world then and our horizons didn’t really extend beyond St Ives, Bournemouth and Skegness.

Just for a change, we headed to the morning quiz and sat next to Darryl & Sue, but they had a full team so didn’t need our expertise.  Maybe they were as surprised as we were when we beat them, scoring 15/20!

Paula stayed on to watch the final of the Bingo, where the jackpot had to go, whilst I kept up to date with the blogging.

After a pleasant light lunch, we went to dance class which was mainly revision but also a bit more on the square tango) I think that is what it was...

The passenger talent show is often a must see but having suffered 4 recitations of the “Man from Snowy River” on 4 previous talent shows, I was ready this time and sat at the rear of the vista lounge as I had seen the chief culprit down as number three on the list!

Sure enough, every other act was about three minutes and his was 9 (but felt like 19) but I had escaped to the library so I missed it.  The star turn was “The Laundry Lament”, set to the Tom Jones hit, Delilah.  Very well done and very original and funny. The final act we missed, as we went off to the quiz, but not before catching the first few bars of Bali Hai, which really was bally awful.  In hindsight, I should have stayed and videoed it as it would have been perfect for the spoof video as it was done by a 90 year old.  Good on her for standing up, but she really should have stayed seated.

I have a new name for our video – “The Twilight Princess”.        

A miserable 11/20 for the afternoon quiz before relaxing before dinner. I have carried on collating photographs towards my spoof Princess video, mainly of the plethora of “Ralp Lauren” shirts and the width challenged passengers.

On this, the final night at sea for some, was the traditional baked Alaska parade by the chefs and assistant waiters.

It was just Paula & I for Alan’s atrium travel quiz – another we didn’t win.

Sadly, we farewelled Darryl & Sue who are young enough to have to go back to work.  Of all the nightly atrium dancers, they have been the keenest (and the youngest of course) so have often been the last one’s standing when Alan finally covered his keyboards.  We hope we’ll catch up with them again some time. 

Many had retired early anyway, as they are on early starts for long trips to the Great Wall of China or Beijing City tomorrow. (Ten hour trips, with 7 hours trapped in a coach are not our idea of fun.)  We are just taking the (free!) shuttle to Tianjin City so bed at 12:10 isn’t a problem.

 

Day 25 - A lazy day at sea yet again - August 19th

Thankfully, Paula had an excellent sleep and was feeling much better.  We decided to breakfast after the port lecture on Busan (was Pusan) in Korea.  As always, a well presented lecture after which, we headed for the food with M & M.

I missed seeing the parfait this time, so settled for beans, sausage and also chorizo sausage – then I found the parfait, so a larger than usual breakfast.

We opted for a really lazy day (again...) so this gave me chance to catch up with writing the previous day’s blog, (which I couldn’t upload as the connection kept dropping out) then start to transfer the video footage of Jim Coston’s show and also the colourful Shanghai sailaway.  If the connection speed was better and more reliable, I could upload part of it to the blog.

A slightly earlier lunch at 2pm which was just soup (a very nice cream of ratatouille) plus one spoonful of pasta and a couple of hunks of pineapple.

Paula then sat out on the sheltered back deck for a while whilst I continued transferring footage, which is quite slow.

Our routine lower (5^th floor) atrium coffee before the quiz where it seems that team member Tony has the same quirky fascination with collating on board whale photographs as I have.  Quite what we will do with them is anyone’s guess, but mine may well find their way into our spoof video.  I am already avidly collecting as many pics as I can of the “Ralp Lauren” polo shirts...

Anyway, the quiz score was round about our usual score with 12/20.

Now formal nights can be a mixed blessing as getting dressed up means that so many people scrub up well.  The down side is that it seem that the laundry must have shrunk my white shirt a tad.  I struggled to fasten the collar, so a new white shirt may be on the shopping list before next year.  The sleeves also seem a bit short.

Terri & Alex joined us as they are the only ones on their table and we had two spaces.  Rob & Sharon returned to the table for their last formal night, as they get off at Beijing (Tianjin) but we have never ever seen number’s 7 & 8.  Daryl and Sue in passing, showed us their dance trophy and written citation for coming second, with comments from the ‘judges’ as to why they didn’t come first, such as hogging the dance floor and Darryl’s regular hand position on Sue’s behind!     

Lobster tails!  I was the only one to have them this time, as course 2, with everyone on the table settling for beef Wellington as their main course.  The previous lobster tails were a bit on the tough side, so many were put off trying them again.

As is usual on formal nights, there was a production show and we believe this is a new one -  “Tributes”.  This was the original production cast as we already have on board the next cast.  The show was as good as always though very light on backdrops.

We went on then to the atrium (7^th floor) where Darryl and Sue were confused as Alan & Alana knew nothing about their trophy.  Then Alex and Terri turned up with name tags “Phantom Dance Judges” and all was revealed.

Loads of people dancing (you can always tell a sea day followed by another sea day, by the number still up late) until close down at 11:45.  We continued chatting to another couple, George and Helen, where it seems that George and I have a similar work involvement with improving productivity.  Plenty to chat about between now and San Francisco.  Bed very late at 12:25!

Another sea day ahead tomorrow before the changeover, or sector port, where 300 passengers are leaving and presumably the same number joining.  The chances are that we may well know a few and Pat & Mick from the 2011 cruise are joining us for dinner.  We are not sure whether or not the two absentees are getting off.

Incidentally, we have heard of some amazingly cheap deals for the San Francisco to Sydney leg, which are 30% cheaper than our one way airfare!  It means that last minute booking are ridiculously good value, but obviously, you need to be very flexible with your lifestyle.  With friends paying more for ten day’s cycling in France next year, I think we’d rather pay a lot less for 24 days on the Dawn!  Although 2013 dates are sorted, we are now keen to get 2014 pencilled in as soon as possible. 

 

Day 24 - Shanghai's Saturday surprise - August 18th

An early sunrise so we were awake fairly early but certainly not on deck for the 5:30am docking.  Wow!  Looking out of our starboard/dock side we saw an immaculate park with a fancy foot-bridge and several very modern buildings and a clear sky.  This we did not expect.  Heading up to the buffet, the view across the river to the financial district was better still, with the futuristic towers, right across from where we were berthed.

We were booked on an 8:45am city tour with “easy walking”.  That is ship speak for “loads of mobility challenged; width challenged; fitness challenged passenger son each and every coach.  By the end of the tour, several fit and able passengers were losing their patience with the inconvenience some of them cause.  One such specimen occupied two seats on the coach; sat half way down and insisted on getting up and slowing all the other passengers behind her, as she waddled up the coach, struggled down the steps, then blocked the door as the driver had to scoot round to unload her walker from the luggage compartment.   Our ten minute stops often got shrunk to nearer 6 minutes for those seated further back.

Suggestion to Princess: Allocate 1 specific coach on each tour for these people, instead of inconveniencing everyone else on each coach.  If they are overall slower and have to miss out on a couple of photo stops, or their tour takes 30 minutes longer, who cares?  They too have to expect that tourist coaches in these countries are not built the same as local transport in NZ & Australia with kerb level floors.  They are indeed tourist coaches that need to be higher to accommodate the luggage – and wheelie walkers – so steps are inevitable but some passengers insist on moaning about them.  For many of them, not piling their plates at the buffet or adding extra pork crackling might help.

After the first photo shop at the futuristic rocket ship (this may be the Post office tower), where there were at least 30 coaches, our next door neighbour Alastair tried out his new wide angle lens, as we headed for the Jin Mao tower, 88 storeys (not stories Princess!) high.  Here, there was an escalator down to the lifts and a bit of a queue for the lifts up to the observation platform.  The lifts featured a picture mosaic in mirror glass but with an orange light showing the progress.  At 9m per second, one or two people experienced the old ear problems, but once up there, it was just fantastic.  Alighting from the lift, our first view was across the river where we could see the ship. For those not too good on heights, you know, those who get dizzy licking airmail stamps, this was no problem at all and well worth the view.  (The cost was included in the tour.)

We even did a bit of shopping up there - 2 Magnum ice creams and they cost us $2 each – with change in local currency for the $5 note offered.  We may present these Chinese notes back in Auckland at our favourite local cafe, where the owner is Chinese...  Paula also bought a nice glass ornament of the futuristic post office tower - and it came with a free coffee mug.  For future visitors, don’t forget to go to the centre and look down the inside.  A note of caution too. Despite the thousands going up the tower, there are only a couple of toilets at the top.

Our guide was more than a bit disorganised on this trip as meeting places weren’t specified, so several were in the wrong place again to get down to ground level and others made their own way.

Outside there were a couple of very persistent hawkers and one was flying an impressively long string of pennants.  One lady dug deep but then found out that the string wasn’t included.  Once on the coach, she unwrapped the package to find just three pennants and the hawker was tying several together for his display.  He saw her disappointed face on the coach and gave her a big grin (for free).  Another tourist suckered.

The coach then headed into the older part of Shanghai where it was interesting to see washing lines strung out between lamp posts at street level! Most on the coach were quite positive that they wouldn’t be hanging their smalls (or bigs in many cases) at street level.  

We stopped at Central Square for a photo-stop, but some passengers obviously didn’t take note of the return to bus time and a couple of others were obviously suffering from the heat. The sound system on this bus wasn’t too good - and I still don’t know the name of our guide.

The last stop was only a few minutes from the ship so several passengers elected to make their own way back.  This was the Bund.  A pleasant walkway along the river but it was far too hot for us to venture far, so we were back in the comfort of the air-conditioned coach, well before the 30 minutes allowed.  We were back at the ship at 2:15, but one elderly chap was a bit sick on the coach and didn’t look too well when we got off.

Back on board, once again, we attacked the buffet and Paula was quite tired. (Not from attacking the buffet, but from the heat.)  After a nana nap (both of us) we were ready for M & M calling at 6:30, but Paula didn’t feel up to eating, so stayed in the cabin.

As darkness descended, this Saturday night on the water really came alive, as there was a constant procession of LED lit up pleasure craft going out past us, then back again about 20 minutes later.  Some of the lights constantly changed colour, as did the lights on several buildings.  The waterfront was brilliantly lit and sorry Hong Kong, but Shanghai knocked you into a cocked hat with this one.  The view was just stunning.  It was so good that I dragged Paula back out of the cabin to the rear deck for the 8pm sailaway, as I knew she would not be pleased at missing it.

We were a bit late leaving but the ship had to be towed into mid stream, then almost 1km, backwards, before the river was wide enough for it to turn 180 to head back out again.  Once under the bridge, Paula returned to the cabin and I went to banjo player Jim Coston’s second show.  Sadly, not a huge crowd in the vista but this is normal after a heavy port day.  Those who did make the effort were treated to another superb show.

Back to the cabin afterwards and bed a bit early. Two days at sea now to look forward to and we also expect the weather to start to get a bit cooler, especially at night, though  it is still about 30 degrees during the day.

Although we didn’t really do any shopping as such in Shanghai, the wide clean streets and well manicured greenery were a surprise, but there again, most of Shanghai is a modern city.  The bonus of a great spot on the river and the Saturday night river traffic made this a very pleasant stop indeed.  Hopefully, the memories of the mobility challenged will soon fade, though I couldn’t resist that pic...  of Alastair taking a video of course.