day 80 - Still at sea but a - memorable one for Megan.

At 3.30am, neither of us had been to sleep!  Not too much sleep afterwards either – until it was about time to get up.  As is often the case lately, it was quiz time before breakfast, but no win.

We were up on the open deck again for the 12:30 Tug o’ War between the various ship departments.  This appears to be an annual challenge that we haven’t witnessed before.  Several teams didn’t have gloves – which was a bit of a surprise - so by the time the successful ones had complete two or three rounds, several people seemed to have suffered rope burns. 

It was a real spectacle with some teams having great support from their departments.  Tiny orchestra manager Sarah, didn’t add too much weight to the entertainment staff team, as they were knocked out in round one.  There was a huge crowd of passengers cheering them all on.  It was hot in the sun though and we were happy to return to the cabin to cool off.  Oh, the deck team won – well, it was their rope…

We congregated outside the Venetian dining room for the Dawn Nomad’s second ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’ about 3:20 and as usual, a brilliant turnout, supported by three of the entertainment staff, who had a first-hand taste of the Nomads.

Someone got an award for being the Maddest Hatter – a trophy I’ll cherish of course!

Thanks once again to Ros who has really gelled the Cruise Critic group and we have certainly added to our circle of friends – again.

Well, the big event of the day wasn’t the Captain’s cocktail party up on deck, but at table 7 in the Florentine dining room, where we celebrated Megan’s birthday, with the guys al wearing the Turkish Fez ‘just like that’, and our ladies with Arab head-dresses.  Our forward looking ladies had even purchased suitable headwear for Megan and Malcolm and had also arranged a birthday cake.  Sadly, the ship had run out of fresh strawberries (it was probably Megan who ate most of them anyway…) so it was a strawberry coloured layered sponge cake.

Somewhat inevitably, photo opportunities were created and head waiter Robbie kindly provided the box of Turkish Delight!  Megan was in fine form and we think she thoroughly enjoyed the evening, rounded off with an atrium drink.

NZ’s clocks are now 1 hour forward and we have Port Kelang (gateway to Kuala Lumpur) tomorrow.  For the many Australians on board, this is the last stop before home, whilst for the Kiwis, last but one of course.  We are just heading for the Klang shopping centre as we did the KL city tour last year.

Days 78 & 79 - back at sea yet again

I forgot on an earlier post, but good friends cruising friends from South Australia are going through some very tough health hiccups at the moment - and I don’t have their email address with me.  You know who you are and I know you read this blog, so all I can say is that we hope everything comes good and we are thinking of you.

With two more sea days, you could almost fill in the blanks yourselves by now.

The major news announced at afternoon quiz was that Garry’s daughter has produced another grandson for him.  We had already scanned the evening dining room menu and opted for the buffet, so we missed the blue balloons on the table!  Congratulations anyway.

I went to the tour desk and they printed out my feedback on the Columbo tour so apart from an acknowledgement of receipt, we’ll see what happens.  Glenda on the tour desk was very busy inputting from the pile of feedback sheets and I suspect most of them contained a negative comment, despite enjoying Columbo itself.

After a very nice beef stroganoff (more like a beef goulash) and a nice piece of fish plus fresh vegetables, we decided to see what was on in the Vista lounge and managed to catch the ‘Liar’ show.  For those not up with it, a weird word is displayed on screen and rather like the board game, ‘Balderdash’, the contestants give their explanation and the audience has to guess who is telling the truth, by casting their written vote.

Food and beverage Director (Gareth) and the staff Captain (Mikele – no idea how to spell it!) were real stars ably supported by Alex from the entertainment staff, Steph as dance captain and Dawn, Circle Host.   We had more belly laughs at this than one or two so called comedians!

Clocks on 1 hour again tonight, which appears to be taking its toll on several people.  Not jet lag, but time change hiccups.

Saturday September 28^th – the last day of winter nights for kiwis.

Another straightforward day and no change from the normal routine other than we (mistakenly!) thought that the others weren’t going to the dining room - so we went to the buffet again!  We enjoyed the Thai vegetable curry and also the Thai chicken curry, mixing freshly cooked prawns accompanied with another piece of fish.  We are trying our very best to eat more fish, but it often isn’t labelled, so we have no idea what it is…

On to the theatre to see Rochdale lass Lisa Lawton.  A very nice singing voice and a warm, homely sort of show.  Although not a huge fan of singers generally, this was a good show and Lisa deserved an 8/10.

A late coffee to round off the day of course.

Another hour on tonight, so we are rapidly approaching Australian time again, with I think, just another hour to go, probably in two half hour chunks – just as NZ moves forward an hour anyway.

   

Day 77 - Columbo - Lots of potential, but...

Paula last came to Sri Lanka 51 years ago, but not to Columbo.  Not a brilliant night and apparently my snoring in the early hours was enough to render the alarm clock superfluous, so we were up and about as the ship docked about 6:30 in the very industrial port.  Sadly, we just caught the news of the NZ Americas Cup defeat just as we left the cabin.  Shame.  In some respects, we’re probably glad we don’t have to suffer the aftermath in the NZ media, but well done to Oracle for pulling off a win when all seemed lost, with 8 wins on the trot.

Somewhat subdued, we dragged ourselves up to the buffet and noticed that in the deck 14 seating area, just outside the buffet, there were brand new tables and chairs, part of the ongoing tidy up.  Too little to call any work a refit or modernisation, but there is always something going on.

With nothing more than a chunk of melon and a chunk of pineapple (part of a self-imposed minor regime of cutting back…) we headed back to the cabin for a brief call, before assembling in the Vista lounge at 8am.  Our plans were to do the Princess City Drive Tour (CMB-290) from 8:30am to 11:15am, giving us enough time then to catch the shuttle bus back to town ($16) as we had an all aboard time of 7:30pm.  That was the plan anyway.

A decent start with bags of legroom in the air-conditioned coach and although the tour guide wasn’t a particularly fluent speaker, not too bad.  All went well for the first stop, the Asokaramaya Buddhist temple, decorated with amazing murals of early 20^th art and colourful statues.

We piled back onto the coach and headed for what was described as a stop for pictures at the Colombo National Museum.  It was at this point that things started to go a little awry.  The tour guide hopped off the coach (containing one or two passengers with walking disabilities) and after less than a third were off the coach, simply strode off into the distance, (the museum entrance was around a corner, past the banyan tree) without any notification as to how long we were stopping or where the washrooms were located.  By the time the last passengers were off the coach, he had disappeared out of sight.  We caught up and asked him how long we were stopping and were told 30 minutes.

To take photographs INSIDE the museum, you purchase a licence – which we didn’t bother with, as after just one small hall, I turned round headed off back the way we came, to use the washrooms located in a different (modern) building that also contained a coffee shop, and joined a long queue, as there were about six Princess coaches there.   Just two gents flush toilets and two ladies toilets…  Clean and modern maybe, but not suited to several coachloads arriving at the same time.

By the time the hands were washed it was about five minutes before coach boarding time.  We were not really impressed with the guide at this point.

The drive through Columbo itself was interesting and notable for the fact that the streets were clean, no graffiti and widespread efforts being made to update the pavements/sidewalks.  Most interesting buildings seem to have been credited to the British involvement.  There were 100’s of Tuk-Tuks and the driving was marginally less scary than in India.  At this point, the tour went off the rails and what followed elicited a number of written complaints to Princess (not just from our coach) as we stopped at a high class jewellery store – for 30 minutes.  (Museum 30, jewellery stop 30?)  Most passengers went in just for a look and promptly sat down in a corner, grizzling about the sky high prices then re-boarded the coach early.  Although the tour was off the rails, the passengers united (as they often do) and there was a lot of humour and banter as each passenger boarded – empty handed. When we challenged the guide as to why we had stopped, he tried to tell us it was on his schedule.

Despite the groans of the passengers, the tour guide then insisted we’d be stopping at another jewellery store – but cheaper this time and including handicrafts (see pic).  It could hardly have been more expensive.  Half the passengers stayed on the coach in silent protest (on another coach, apparently, they all stayed on!) but three returned with small purchases, not of jewellery, but of tea.  The passengers were distinctly annoyed at this point, (aimed at tour guide) yet there were lots of laughs as from then on we didn’t really listen too closely to what he was talking about anyway and there was a lot of good natured ribbing – certainly around our section of the bus.

It then descended into pure farce as we were not only over an hour late, but we then stopped for ‘refreshments’ at a beach side hotel on the edge of town, but the queue of Princess passengers was already right out the door of the foyer, whilst the fortunate ones from a couple of earlier coaches were sitting out on the terrace, whiling away their time.

We queued up for so long (this was a one hour stop!) that the more infirm needed chairs and the waiter walked through with our ‘refreshments’ on plates whilst we were still standing.  One club sandwich each and a slab of dry sponge cake.  Wow!  Quite why we even stopped here, given that our original ship return time was 11:15 and our return to the coach time after this stop was 1:15, was soon explained and formed the basis of a written complaint to the Princess tour manager.

When we eventually did sit down, we skipped the free cup of tea and bought a small glass of overpriced juice for $2 instead and shared it.  As Paula had chatted amicably to the guide at the Buddhist temple, he approached us and handed her (and only her…) a feedback sheet, with his copy of the “Lotus Tours” printed schedule, complete with times at each venue (silly man), thinking no doubt that Paula’s comments would be positive…

I went through the sheet with Paula without marking anything and noted at the foot of it, a rubber stamp ‘XXX Jewellers  Ltd.’  It didn’t take long to put two and two together and I challenged him as to why we were taken to two jewellery shops, when it wasn’t on our schedule.  He insisted it was until, I pointed out to him that there was no mention of the jewellery shops on his own printed-out schedule, so why did we stop twice, wasting an hour?  He then somewhat sheepishly admitted that he worked for the jewellery company…

We were eventually dropped back at the ship at 2pm, not the 11:15am we had expected.  When we looked at the Princess tours list, it appears that we had had tour CMB-200 anyway, due back at 1pm.  So we had a longer tour than we expected but we opted to not return to town even though there was time .

Most returning passengers had similar experiences, plus those with experiences of tour guides who said nothing at all, coach seats that were loose, no PA system and so on. Those on longer trips (Elephants of Pinnawela and a tea plantation – where they ran out of tea and used tea bags!!!) recounted tales of scruffy roads out of town, scary driving and so on, but overall, most thought it a great place, with lots of potential but the tour company operation needs a massive shakeup.  Several made the comment that within the city, in terms of cleanliness at least, Columbo is what Mumbai could and should have been like.

Princess staff were flat out processing the feedback/complaints from the time we returned…

A welcome coffee on board and a natter and then we fronted up for the afternoon quiz, joining Norm and Marion, John and Anne Dormer.  It turned out to be a memory test as all but two questions we’d had before and the only question we got wrong, was the one about the number of costumes Liz Taylor wore during the filming of Cleopatra.  Although John was correct, the rest of us were not…  (Just in case you are interested, it was 65.)  So, 19/20 and no win.

As it was a later sail-away, it was another buffet meal for us - and we loved it!  It included lobster bisque soup and spinach stuffed cannelloni (delicious).

A quiet evening resting (as is normal after a port day) missing the sail-away yet again as we were dozing, then I wrote up my tour feedback (which is just one reason why this blog is late) before returning to the atrium for a 9pm drink – and a revision lesson in Portuguese from waiter Franchesco.  The deck 5 bar/coffee staff are excellent and they are quick to learn how we like our drinks.

Bed not too late but the clocks move forward 30 minutes tonight as we slowly return to Australasian time.

Ahead of us, 12 sea days and just two more port days, so back to the boring drivel again tomorrow.    

 

Days 75 & 76 - back at sea - and more curry!

After a late night (for us) and many people having had a long day yesterday, it was very noticeable that people were glad of a relaxing couple of sea days.  We slept well but were up relatively early.  Many either had breakfast in the cabin (room service would have been flat out) and surfaced late and many just surfaced late, so the Horizon Court was busy with breakfasts right up until the 11:30am changeover for lunch.

After a light breakfast we followed our usual routine of losing at trivia before the welcome Atrium coffee.  A tip here for those who like a LARGE coffee.  Skip the glass mugs or cappuccino cups and go for a large takeaway instead.  You get twice as much. You can always decant it into a glass mug if you wish, as the staff will happily provide one.

As is often the case, with a sea day, the internet was extremely slow and I couldn’t upload the blog or read the email messages on line.

A late lunch at 2:30 for a very tasty veal stew, rice and a nice piece of fish.  On board, all stewed meats appear to be very lean, well cooked and very tender with a good variety offered over the course of several days.

After our afternoon quiz, we rushed to Jammers (night club) for another Dawn Nomads get together.  For this one, Ros had devised a Travel Trivia Quiz, based on the various ports we had visited.   A good quiz but the standard joke on board at trivia when people get a bit stroppy is “Hey guys, you are not playing for a sheep station!”  So, in typical Ros fashion, the winning team each received the deeds to a sheep station…

Yet another formal night.  That meant lobster and monkfish on the menu, so that was my starter, as the quantity isn’t exactly large for a main.  In addition to the menu desserts, the head waiters prepared crepes Suzettes, which were small, but tasty.

Off then for yet another showing of “The British Invasion”. I think we have now seen it about five times.  The rest of our table were still outside the Wheelhouse Bar, chatting, so we joined them, before retiring.  Another sea day ahead so no alarm clock to be set.

Wednesday September 26^th

Probably the best sleep in ages! (Please don’t tell me it was because I skipped the late night coffee…)  Although I was awake 6:45am, I managed to go back to sleep again – but then we missed the early quiz...

Up to HC of course and ended up chatting with Terry and Sandra, who we know from a previous cruise and are originally from Nottinghamshire.  We carried on our chat down in the atrium with a coffee.

That took care of the morning before retiring to the cabin. Once again, no luck uploading the blog, but I did managed to deal with one or two emails.

We didn’t win the quiz but then we dressed up for dinner.  The guys wore their Arab gear and the ladies, Indian.  We hadn’t realised it was going to be an Indian food night and had already booked a curry, so we ended up with another prawn curry for the table plus one beef jalfraizie per couple.  Nice.

Back to an atrium coffee with M & M after a photo session (of course) where Mal made the most of being the big chief – though wearing long trousers and formal shoes could be classed as a wardrobe malfunction.

Two of our current atrium waiters are Allesandro (Alex - right) and Brazilian, Franchesco, and this was a good opportunity to show that there are other tall people around.

With the deciding race of the America’s Cup tonight, we are somewhat nervous, as the American boat seems to have gained a fair bit of speed recently and no doubt the English tactician they now have on board hasn’t done them any harm either.

With a day in port tomorrow (Columbo) and a Princess tour booked, the alarm clock has to be set.

Day 74 - Mumbai - almost!

As we weren’t due to dock at Mumbai until 11am, it was life as normal first thing, with a quick call at the buffet before the morning quiz.  There weren’t as many as normal as presumably, many were on deck for the sail in.

By the time most had gone ashore, Paula had booked in for a massage session with Maria and so I wandered up to the open deck, for a quick lemonade and a chat or two, before returning to the cabin for a bit of computer time.

When Paula returned, we headed to the atrium for a coffee and as expected, the stories started to filter in about people’s experiences in arguably, the most controversial stop of the whole cruise. The red mat was laid out for the arrival and several people were obviously glad to be back - some rather too quickly!  Many others made the most of it and there were still passengers (and crew!) returning at a quarter to midnight.  No doubt there will be many tales tomorrow.  We also believe that there were about 70 passengers who were off to Agra and to the Taj Mahal, who will rejoin the ship in Columbia.   

We returned to the cabin until afternoon quiz, where there were relatively few teams, it being a port day.  We still didn’t win, but we were only a team of two.  A team of 4 or six won.

We headed for the buffet about 6:30pm for dinner (which is nearer our normal eating time anyway and we think that eating so late, is one of the reasons we sometimes don’t sleep so well) where we bumped into cruise friends, Norm and Marion.

We really enjoyed the freshly cooked tempura battered fish, the lamb curry and rice, to the extent that Paula rated this one of the best meals she has eaten on the whole cruise – and I’d have to agree.  Occasionally, lightly battered fresh fish is something I really crave and this fitted the bill perfectly.

Although we really enjoy our table mates in the dining room, the food at times is just as good (and often better) in the buffet, and this sometimes comes down to the vegetable options.  Maybe we’ll even opt out of the occasional dining room meal, dependant on the menu?

We then headed to the theatre to watch the thought provoking movie “Disconnected” which was about the perils of Facebook, chat rooms etc.  A film that maybe all teenagers should watch as it included a sneaky form of cyber bullying.

Back down to the atrium again with introductions to two new waiters - one Indian and one Brazilian.  As we were sitting at the bar, we ended up chatting to the Princess security advisor/officer.  This was not the on-board security officer, but the person who travels ahead of the ship on behalf of Princess, to check out the various aspects of port security.  We had a very long interesting chat and learned a fair bit.  He got off just before the gangplank was raised, as he is now heading to our next stop, Columbo.

We then went up onto deck 7, initially just to walk around the deck before retiring, as it was a 12:30am sail-away.  We started chatting to Ron, the bass guitarist from the resident group “Epithani”, from British Guyana, whilst observing the activity on the dock.  Once again, a long, pleasant and very informative chat that lasted until after we’d left India.  His observations of the port building echoed that of all others.  As a gateway to a very colourful, fascinating and interesting city (and country), it is not a good look.  A city of immense contrasts and a must see – at least once, because there is nowhere quite like it. 

I suppose we went to bed somewhat relieved, as it has been fairly stressful at times and the controversies will no doubt continue.  When the security officer makes the comment that he really doesn’t understand why the  company continues to visit the port and deal with all the aggravation they have to put up with, it says a lot.

Days 72 & 73 - Yup, more sea days.

A sleep catch up to the extent that we even gave breakfast AND the morning quiz a miss.

As I may have mentioned before, on most (all?) sea days, either the central buffet area or the deck outside the grill bar, has a speciality lunch of some sort.  Today, with Mumbai being our next stop, it was an Indian buffet and we had inked that in, which is why we skipped breakfast.  The six hot dishes (you know I won’t mention any cold dishes…) included fish fillets in a light curry sauce, beans, cauliflower and potato curry, chicken curry and I think, lamb curry, rice etc.  We thoroughly enjoyed it, but what I have found on board is that almost everyone has a different opinion about any curry dish!  Not hot enough; too bland; boring etc.  We are just grateful to get any curry and apart from our special table requests, it is always at the buffet and never in the dining room.  Maybe they need a curry of the day for the main dining rooms?  They cater for fish eaters, steak lovers, pasta lovers and vegetarians, so why not curries?

Rock and rollers Graham & Linda enjoyed the sun on deck with Graham going all shy.

An email from my other brother Malc, addressed to Prisoner 2343534, offering support and sustenance if we are incarcerated in India, but querying whether or not the UK contingent of friends and blog followers was closer than the Australian…  Thanks Malc.

It took some time to respond to it, whilst Paula had a short nana nap before afternoon quiz, where we were delighted to see Ros back as team leader of the Guessalots.  We still didn’t win.

As we were still fairly full after lunch, we opted to skip dinner in the dining room but joined M & M in the Horizon Court, where whatever we all had was very fresh and tasty.

We then went to the theatre to see an act new to us “the Tap Pack”.  Five Australian based male tap dancers who also sang and had a bit of banter.  We had a mixed view and although the tap dancing was excellent, we felt that overall, the show was a bit immature at times and not particularly well structured.  I’d give it a 7/10.  

A coffee and a natter in the atrium to round off a typical day at sea – with another tomorrow.  Clocks forward just 30 minutes tonight – which tends to be a bit confusing for those trying to contact home.

Sunday September 22^nd

A terrible night’s sleep!  Paula couldn’t get to sleep either and it can’t be the coffee, as Paula has a weak hot chocolate…  At 7:45, when Paula got up, I certainly didn’t feel very awake.  Up to HC and met a ‘new’ couple and chatted for ages.  We just love this aspect of cruising.  Old friends, new friends, potential new friends.

No morning trivia win.  What a surprise.  I think we’ve missed our moment of glory.

An atrium coffee and a small roll sufficed to keep us ticking over and we retired to the cabin (with the balcony door open as usual).

A bit of internet time and a nice email in from son Stewart, but no further news from the now bikeless friends, who are probably also at sea, but on a much smaller craft than the Dawn Princess.   If you are reading this guys, please email us with an update. (Probably far too busy enjoying the local wines.)

As it was Singapore GP day, I kept an eye on the BBC TV sports channel for news and we nipped up for a quick snack at about 3:30.

We didn’t win the afternoon quiz. 

After a clean-up, we went back to the Vista lounge for the early show, the singers and dancers’ “Country Road” show.  Great costumes but this is a tiny stage area for 6 female and 4 male dancers plus 2 singers.  We enjoyed it as it was fairly fast moving and colourful.  We noted the Tap Pack watching and I’d have to be honest and say I enjoyed this show much more than theirs.  The resident singers leave a bit to be desired on several counts but this show probably suited them rather more than some of the full production shows.

On to dinner at 7:45pm.  The surf and turf fillet steak was just perfect and easily the equal in terms of tenderness and taste, to the fillet steak in the Sterling Steak House.   Sadly, Megan was  bit off colour so it was just Paula and I for the late  night coffee whilst Mal went back to his lady love.

On channel 24, they had delayed coverage of the full GP, but in NZ, I tape it and fast forward, so as it was after 11pm, I only managed the first 20 laps before trying to catch up on the sleep.

The controversial Mumbai tomorrow, where of course, we don’t go ashore, but they have now extended the stay from an original departure time of 6:30pm, to 11pm, to midnight, so many will now finish their Princess tours and probably stay ashore and have dinner in Mumbai.