Sea Princess
This is a continuation of our recent 2015 World Cruise summary, with volume I discussing the organisation and volume II the positives. This post will review the areas that need some work, as these areas failed to meet our expectations. Continue reading
Tahiti – 08:00 to 19:00
Due to the weather, adverse current and I also suspect one engine not being online at times, our 07:00 arrival was delayed by an hour, but the Captain also delayed the departure by an equal amount. Today is the first of two days in French Polynesia, with Tahiti being most definitely the bigger of the two islands. Our tour today consists of a circumnavigation of the island with a number of stops at various points of interest. While eagerly awaiting the South Pacific islands, having now completed the tour, in our opinion, Tahiti is like any of the other many highly over developed tropical islands.
Pitcairn Island to Papeete, French Polynesia
Our second sea day between Pitcairn Island and Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia. During his daily announcement last evening, Captain Kent advised the forecasts called for the winds and swell to abate, which they have done to a certain extent, but we still have a healthy swell causing a fair bit of pitching. After yesterday’s excellent schedule, we are basically back to the usual dross, so not much of interest. The galley today has also achieved new lows in mediocrity, excelling in the service of cold food.
Pitcairn Island to Tahiti, French Polynesia
While the storm force winds of yesterday have abated, the swell certainly hasn’t, resulting in a rather uncomfortable ride throughout a rainy and overcast day in the South Pacific. The Cruise Director has finally produced a unique daily schedule, with some new and interesting activities, rather than the usual dross. Therefore, I had a busy day with at least 4 activities of interest, and bonus, they were all at different times. Unfortunately, the weather resulted in Judi’s sea legs being misplaced, so she wasn’t able to attend some of the activities.
Easter Island, Chile to Pitcairn Island
With another set of clox last night we finally returned to Vancouver time (Z-7), but only for 24 hours, as I anticipate a further hour back tonight. We also passed through Longitude 123W, which means we also passed due south of Vancouver, at a distance of about 5,000 miles. As we wind our way sedately across the South Pacific, we enjoyed yet another fine day at sea, aboard the aptly named Sea Princess.
Easter Island, Chile to Pitcairn Island
Thrilled that we managed to make the call at Easter Island yesterday, we are tootling along on a very dull, completely overcast and rainy day in the South Pacific. On the bright side, the wind and seas have abated, making it a more comfortable passage, without the rolling and pitching previously experienced. With Easter Island now behind us, we can start correcting the clox to our time zone, so we had the first hour back last night since before Cartagena. However, still steaming west, it will take a few days to get back to normal sunrise/sunset times, with meridian altitude at high noon.
Easter Island – 09:00 to 19:00
Yes, we finally beat the odds, as the frequently inclement winter weather relented, permitting us to visit Easter Island. This is a common port on the World Cruise, but we are the first ship in about 5 years to succeed in getting passengers ashore. With the poor success rate you would think the government officials and local businesses would be welcoming us with open arms. Alas, local officialdom threw up roadblocks and made frequent changes, sometimes less than hourly. Being a Sunday, most businesses, other than a couple of restaurants were closed. Regardless, we thoroughly enjoyed the experience and actually seeing the Moai statues was amazing.
San Martin, Peru to Easter Island, Chile
The third of hopefully only four sea days and the weather continues to gradually improve. The wind had dropped to about 15 knots before sunrise, but picked up again to 20 to 25 knots in the early morning. We still have a good swell running and at sunrise this morning we actually saw a couple of small patches of clear sky, which was a pleasant change from the usual completely overcast. Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that the improvement continues and we make it into Easter Island on Sunday.
San Martin, Peru to Easter Island, Chile
Our second sea day between South America and hopefully Easter Island. Yesterday’s gale force 40 knot winds have eased slightly, so at least the weather is changing for the better. We still have the expected SE’ly winds common within the tropics, but they have eased to about 20 to 25 knots, however the ship is still pitching considerably. A great day aboard Sea Princess, which included some excellent news about Easter Island from Capt Kent, an update on the progress of our new truck and an excellent dinner.
San Martin, Peru to Easter Island, Chile
Well we are definitely back at sea and crossing the Pacific Ocean, with the ship a rocking, a rolling and corkscrewing in SE’ly gale force winds of about 40 knots, and a short steep swell. With our WSW’ly heading this puts the seas on the port quarter, which causes a combination of pitching and rolling. The majority of the onboard discussion centres around receiving reports from those that visited Machu Picchu and how many sea days we can expect after departing Peru. Easter Island is our next scheduled port of call, but only between 1 in 4, or even 1 in 7 ships make the call. If we stop at Easter Island, it will only be 4 sea days, but if we miss the port, it will be almost 11 continuous days at sea. While the schedule lists Pitcairn Island between Easter Island and Papeete, it is not a port of call, as it only entails an 8 hour scenic cruise around the island.
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