Tahiti, NZ and back to Aus.

 

Now we began our long stretch at sea, 7 days before our next port of call.

Days were filled with reading, napping, eating, drinking and a few laps around the deck.

 (Some days doing 18 or 20 but always a minimum of 14).   

 We had the excitement of the US Election (mercifully with no tv coverage so only got the news via the ship’s daily news sheet) and for on board excitement we had the Crossing of the Equator ceremony. 

Always a fun time with the Captain dressed as Neptune and granting permission to cross. The ceremony usually involves first timers getting wet, usually by jumping in the swimming pool but not this time. No one went in the pool.

That evening we enjoyed the Hula theme night, sitting on deck after dinner with another cocktail.

The next morning we discovered why the ceremony had seemed subdued– there was a gastro-bug on board. The buffet restaurant was closed and would be for a few days. Passengers were not allowed to handle crockery or tongs, staff served everything. It was very slow and crowded in the Waldorf restaurant and all of the ship was ‘wiped down’ with disinfectant.

The rumour mill was rife with the Chinese whispers ranging from silly to plain ridiculous.

We heard from a waiter that a crew member had got sick after eating out at a restaurant in Acapulco and so to be extra safe all those with him and even those on the same shift as him had been quarantined.

There were only a few passengers affected and they were quarantined too but, quite rightly, it’s best to err on the side of caution.

Then we arrived at Nuka Hiva the largest of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia.

Because of its volcanic origins, the island has dramatic scenery and a vast natural harbour, which was formed due to the partial collapse of a volcano’s caldera.

We anchored out at sea and had 2 tenders running back and forth. The shore excursions all involved 4 WD trips or Catamaran trips mostly across on the other side of the island as the village where we’re docked is very small. The weather was hot and humid and when we saw that people were returning to the ship on the third and fourth tenders we decided not to go over and we spent another day lazing on the ship.

 As the last tender returned to the ship a local kept pace with the tender, rowing his local canoe. 

 That evening we enjoyed another Gala Dinner. We had a smile at the incongruity of a formal dinner, everyone in their finery and the tables set with bottles of wine offered at 10% discount.

The next day the buffet  reopened and all restrictions were lifted, it was very nice to see the ship restored to it’s very shiny, well looked after state after days of everything smeared with antiseptic. 

We had another 2 days at sea before we arrived at the tropical paradise of Tahiti.

We docked in Papeete at overlooking the marina in the centre of the town. 

We noticed that the Aranui 5 was docked across the water, we had almost booked a cruise on this ship thinking that it would be our only chance of getting to see Tahiti. Then we booked the Astor.

 

 We went for a wander around town.

Our first stop was a pharmacy to buy some hay fever tablets and (just in case) some anti diarrhoea tablets. We wandered around the streets in the heat and humidity before adjourning back to the a/c on board.

 We met up with Ralph and Hanny and agreed to all go into town for a meal later on.

After the great meals on board we decided on Jimmy’s, an Asian restaurant serving Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese food. We had seen the place earlier in the day but got a little lost trying to relocate it, eventually we got there. It was very good and it was nice to be out and about mixing with locals.

Then we walked back, enjoying the balmy night air, through the local food market, where food trucks (Les Roulottes) had set up on the pier around 6pm and stayed open until late.

The next morning we woke to the sight of Moorea island, a mere 12 miles from Papeete.

It's said that the idyllic Bali Hai, the fictional island from the musical "South Pacific," was based on Moorea.

Once again we were anchored and the tenders were ferrying people ashore. We understood that there was less to see on Moorea than Nuka Hiva unless you took a 4WD tour or pre arranged tour so once again we stayed on board.

In the late afternoon we went up on deck to watch the anchor being pulled up and were fascinated to see a crew member kick the huge chain to free it whenever it became kinked / snagged. I suppose a hefty boot is better than a hand but both are equally vulnerable should he slip.

We were then treated to yet another spectacular sunset.

Then we enjoyed 6 days at sea – well maybe it was 7 days, on our way to New Zealand.

We crossed the International date line and lost a day! Michael was trying to get people to demand a refund as we had missed out on 3 meals (and a.m. and p.m. tea) – these things are very important to a lot of people on board.

I was really enjoying some of the cocktails, especially when they were 2 for the price of 1.

We had a Russian theme night and one night the entertainment was the Passengers Talent Show – we went along with some trepidation, it could be awful. BUT it was very good. We have lots of talented people on board.

Two guys who had only met on board sang a couple of folk songs (remember Ralph McTell’s ‘Streets of London’?) They were so good that they were given a spot up on deck at the outside, Hanse bar the next night. So the next night I excused myself from dinner early, after the main course, so that I could hear their full set and Michael joined me once he’d finished his coffee.

Other passengers stepped up the microphone and it was a lovely acoustic folk set; after a couple of hours when it started to drizzle we called it a night.

Then we arrived in New Zealand.

In Auckland we said goodbye to around 80 passengers but said hello to around 75 so the ship was still busy.

We got off the ship nice and early, around 8.30 and headed up the main street Queen Street, where we found a supermarket and replenished the coffee and clothes hand-washing liquid supply.

Then we went back to the dock to meet a friend who returned to NZ from WA some years ago; she was meeting Ralph and Hanny for lunch.

I thought that I’d quickly pop back on board to leave the shopping in the cabin rather than carry it around all day. That took much longer than I’d expected because I had to go through a full security screening, complete with photo ID. I was on board less than 2 minutes but the enterprise too about 10 minues and by the time I got back on dock Lesley had arrived and they were ready to head off. We were going to get the ferry across to Devonport (an historical maritime village on the north shore) but Lesley suggested that if she drove us there, over the Auckland Harbour Bridge, we’d have have longer to chat together.

It took longer to get to Devonport than we’d all anticipated partly due to heavy traffic and partly due to the fact that Lesley hadn’t been there for a while and was trying to remember the roads. (She’s an old fashioned girl and doesn’t use a Sat Nav.)

We didn’t mind, we all got to have a longer chat and to have a look around the north shore of Auckland.

Devonport is a lovely little village and we enjoyed walking up and down the main shopping street. We bought a couple of T shirts and it was time for lunch.

We found a simple old fashioned chippy, with no dining room so bought our fish and chips, wrapped in paper, then walked across the street to eat Al Fresco in the park outside the library.

Then we caught the ferry back to Auckland city.

This ferry was very busy because it was 1.30 and the Christmas Parade was scheduled to start at 2.30. There was no chance of us walking up Queen Street as it was packed solid with people so we walked up a street parallel to it. Unfortunately we didn’t think this through and the shop that we wanted to go to was across Queen Street, we should have walked up the street parallel on the other side.

We walked up to the cross street that we needed and then found a good vantage point to see the parade pass by. 

 

It was great, we were even given free frozen yoghurt sticks.

Santa completed the parade and within 5 minutes of that last float going past the crowds were dispersing. We made it across to the book shop that we were looking for and then headed back down to the dock. Unfortunately it was alongside the ferry terminal so the majority of people were heading there too. What a crush.

It was, once again, great to be back on board. The ship was now in festive mood, with Christmas decorations everywhere.

The sea swell picked up a little as we left Auckland and the top deck was closed off because it was wet and slippery.

That swell was 4.5m and winds F5. The ship was rolling nicely, those people just boarding were a lot more unstable than we ‘sea dogs’ who had been on board since Tilbury.

The evenings entertainment was supposed to be the Crew Talent Show but it was cancelled due to the choppy seas (couldn’t risk a crew member twisting an ankle I suppose).

Next stop Australia.

We docked in Sydney as the sun came up and we woke to a marvellous view out of our cabin window, the sun rising over the Opera House.

Fellow passengers were talking about looking forward to getting home, how the trip had been so long but I thought I’d happily do another month.

Until we arrived at Circular Quay, then I found myself singing “I still call Australia home” and felt like skipping as we walked along the quayside – so I did. I too was ready to get home now that I was back on Aussie soil.

We had arranged to meet Michael’s cousins for lunch. We were meeting in Manly as they live along the Northern beaches, so we took the ferry across.

We went to buy tickets and were stunned to find that Sydney now has ‘Opal’. (Similar to UK Oyster card.) You can buy a single ticket but there are no longer any senior discounts on these single tickets. To get a discount you have to register by mail, around 2 weeks beforehand and then the Opal card with discount authority, will be mailed to your home address. The adult fare Circular Quay to Manly was $8.70 each way, each person!!!

The discount would have been $2.50 for an all day ticket.

People that we had met on the ship and who live in northern NSW were equally stunned, they had to buy single tickets too, without a discount. They had been on the ship when Opal was introduced, and so couldn’t have applied 2 weeks ago. Very handy for someone returning from holiday.

What were they thinking – no, I don’t think that they were thinking.

We had a lovely ferry ride across to Manly and enjoyed a wander along the Corso to the beach where we sat for a little while before heading back to the Wharf and our meeting place.

We decided on a pub lunch, at the Ivanhoe Hotel on the Corso. The menu was large and varied, offering something for each of us. The problem was that after 6 weeks on the ship all of the fabulous choices were ‘usual’ for us, the one thing that we didn’t get on board was an individually cooked steak and the Thursday special at the Ivanhoe was steak, chips and salad with a free glass of wine - $20. It was Thursday so that’s what we had. Very nice.

We sat and chatted for hours, making our way back to the wharf to catch the 4:25 ferry.

We were back on board the ship by 5:15.

We showered and then went up on deck to enjoy the evening views of Sydney as we sailed away.

We had another couple of days at sea before arriving in Adelaide. 

Well, Adelaide’s cruise terminal, Outer Harbour, which is 22 kms north of the city. In Acapulco we had a mariachi band, in Adelaide we had an Aussie Bush Band singing, 'Give me a home among the gum trees...'The weather was grey and overcast with light showers so we just went for a walk over to the train station and back to the ship. We have had a couple of holidays in Adelaide and plan to return so didn’t feel the urge to see anything on this day trip. There were lots of passengers disembarking but we had 150 newcomers, so once again, a full ship.

The next morning we were woken at 7:am by the sound of the anchor dropping as we moored off Kangaroo Island.

We took the tender across to the island, the town of Penneshaw, and walked up to the supermarket. Michael bought the local South Australian newspaper, the national newspaper, The Australian and although it was Monday he managed to get a copy of the Weekend Australian.

(I told him that he should have bought tomorrow’s paper too then he’d have enough reading material to last until we got to Fremantle.)

Penneshaw is very small so our walking tour didn’t take long. We stopped for a coffee, Michael had pastie and I had a very rich (too rich really) Citrus tart before we headed back to the ship.

That evening we had the postponed Crew Talent Night – hidden talents there. Who would have thought that the Shore Excursions Officer had such a great voice? And that the Ukrainian waiters had such a kinky sense of humour?

Then we settled down for our final days on board the Astor.

We fell a little behind schedule due to the storm crossing the Bight making us drop our speed to 10 knots, we needed to average 14.5 knots to arrive on time.

One evening whilst enjoying a cocktail the Captain walked past, he was singing a little song and then he came back, put his arm around me and serenaded me in Greek. We may not have had dinner at the Captain’s table but I have been serenaded by him.

Our final Gala Dinner finished with ‘The Parade of the Baked Alaska’. Lots of clapping and sparklers, the waiters all having a great time.

Later that night, after the show, the Captain made his farewell speech and thanked the crew.

Then the entire crew paraded through the lounge with flags of all nations and everyone sang, ‘We are the World.’ Okay, it was cheesy but it felt good! Everyone was on their feet clapping.

We were supposed to arrived in Fremantle at 8:00am but were running 4 hours late.

Cruise ships do not sit around empty and the Astor was booked to sail out of Fremantle that afternoon so we still had to vacate our cabins by 8:00am. We took our hand baggage (and our Statue of Our Lady) with us and sat in the entertainment lounge.

It was the busiest we’d seen it and unfortunately a lot of passengers had coughs and colds. It sounded like a ‘chest clinic’ waiting room.

We did a few puzzles, had a coffee and then the entertainers arrived to start rehearsing,well the show must go on.

They ran through their Abba Dancing Queen show. They were flawless. Then as we were all applauding and enjoying it so much they rehearsed another show – The Rocky horror Show.

The timing was perfect, as we pulled into the wharf everyone was on their feet doing The Time Warp. We have a wonderful, very different memory of arriving home to Fremantle.

It took a while longer for all of the bags to be unloaded and then they called those passengers who were on a tight time table for connecting flights (we were over 4 hours late by now). Eventually

our deck and cabin number was called and we were off.

It was over so quickly, we were in the baggage hall, looking for bags, looking for a trolley and then through the official area and there were our friends and neighbours, Graham and Julia.

They had each driven down to meet us so that there would be enough room for our bags, so we drove in convoy up to Two Rocks where we stopped for a late lunch. I had initially planned this to be brunch, but we had a lovely meal at Neptunes Cafe anyway.

Then we were home.

The firebreaks are still in excellent order, parts of the garden are a little dry and parts are a little overgrown. All is well.

Inside we unwrapped Our Lady for Graham and Julia to see. We also found a card that we had telling her story. She first appeared on December 1531 - we arrived home on December 9^th 2016.

Make as much or as little out of that as you like.

So that was our cruise.

Too many highlights, too many happy moments and memories to pick one special moment.

Acapulco exceeded our expectations, Panama Canal was fascinating.

The food on board was excellent.

The crew were excellent.

There were niggles and some things could have been done better but it was excellent value for money. As one English lady put it, ‘We live in a village back home, and this ship is like a village. You get to know everyone and everyone gets on’.

Would we cruise on the Astor again?

Maybe, the itinerary and the size of the ship, only 620 passengers, were the main factors in choosing this cruise. So IF the Astor was going somewhere that we wanted to go, yes we would go again.

Footnote: That coughing on the last day did for us, we finally came down with chest infections, we had to see our GP and are both taking antibiotics. We blame those South Australians that joined the ship in Adelaide, we were doing okay up until then. Friends of friends have just returned from a short holiday in Adelaide and they are coughing, feeling ill and on antibiotics. Definitely blaming Adelaide!