The World We Travel

Tokyo Disney and Disney Transpacific cruise

Tuesday, Jan 21, 2025 On Board AA 2919

Well, so far, so good, even excellent! It is super cold out, we chose to stay at the Newark Marriott last night because the flight today leaves at 7AM. Then we connect in Chicago to Japan Airlines to Tokyo. We had a nice dinner at the hotel after Rick dropped us off–flat breads and salad. Went to bed super early, up at 4:15, caught the shuttle at 5:15 to Terminal A.

Got checked through to Tokyo–yay! Then at the gate we got one upgrade to first class which I let Austin take. The gate agent said I might be able to get upgraded as well, but not sure. Anyway, just at I was about to board, the upgrade came through, so yay! I am in 1F, cool.

Lots of planning for this trip, esp. Tokyo Disney. Got a vacation plan so we can get on more rides, staying at Tokyo Disneyland Hotel–fun!

//Made it to Chicago (-7 degrees), yikes! Comfy flight in 1st class. Could not load movies on my iPad so I read instead. Tried “Lincoln in the Bardo”–very weird, so now reading “Hello Beautiful”. Got access to the “AA Flagship ” Lounge. Close to our gate and the JAL gate not too far; we’re all checked in. Have about an hour until we board. I was worried initially about the connection time, but the flights changed slightly to give us more time, and we were on time, so no problems.

//On JAL. The flight attendants all introduced themselves, a nice gesture. Gave us jammies, slippers, amenity kit, pillow, blanket. Seats are set up a little strangely with window/aisle slightly staggered with a divider that comes up after take off. We’re behind each other in the window seats. Already they have given us a juice drink.

//The meal service was very nice, a choice of a Japanese set or typical food. I chose the Japanese set because I figured it would be small and I wouldn’t eat all of it. Beautifully presented with a cute little bird chopstick holder. Rice presented in a paper wrapped, tied up square. Watched “The Greatest Showman” about PT Barnum with Hugh Jackman and Michelle Williams, mostly a musical, pretty good. The movies are hard to watch because no subtitles, but the songs had subtitles. Tried to get a little sleep. The brought a mattress for you. Trying to watch “A Haunting in Venice,” with Hercule Perot, but no subtitles. It is 7:15 Japan time, 9 hours to go.

The business class section is nearly half empty, can’t recall when we’ve been on a more empty flight.

//Gosh, what a long flight! I normally watch many movies, but the selection was limited and without subtitles, hard to understand. I had a small dish of simmered beef rice bowl, from the “a la carte” menu, served anytime, then later had little miso soup, rice and konbashi. These were from the Japanese menu, which I didn’t realize was supposed to be served as a “set”. Set meals are big here, I’ve seen them on all the Tokyo Disney restaurant menus, so I mainly just read, slept a little, then had a little nap. The bedding and bed size are very comfy especially with the soft mattress pad.

//In Tokyo. We landed fine and were out of the plane and through customs and immigration very quickly, had to scan our passports and QR codes, our phones at both places. Probably had lines for the back of the plane. Not so cold either.

Got a cab, fixed price into the city, 8500 yen. Dropped right at the door of the hotel. Check-in with several forms, copying passport, etc. Got info on where to find wine. We got into our room right away. Our room is fine, not so tiny as I thought, with a view of Shibuya crossing. Got Ubigo e-sim set up then down to the mall to get wine and find our restaurant for tonight, Hobgoblin, an English pub. Back to room, had a little wine, then off to dinner.

The restaurant was on the 3rd floor of the building; had some side salads, burger with cheese and jalapeños plus fries for me and shepherds pie for Austin. Back to the room for reading and wine before bed.

Thursday, Jan 23

Slept a bit fitfully last night. Room temperature good, bed comfy. Up at 6:00; up to BF on the top flor at 6:30. Nice spread of both Japanese and Western foods, including hot eggs and meats, salad stuff, Japanese rice and soups, cappuccino machine. I walked down to go to a bank ATM, the hotel employee I asked about directions actually took me down to the street to show me. I went across the Shibyu Cossing, then tried to use my card to enter the bank building, but couldn’t make it work. I waited a little while, and someone else came by and used his card, so I got in but the machine wouldn’t take my card! Ultimately I went to a non-bank ATM and just had to absorb the fee. Also I had to take out 10,000 yen, about $67, more than I wanted. Oh well. Today we set up an all day private tour to see several of the most well known areas of Tokyo.

Yossy (our guide) sent a pic of where she was waiting in the lobby, she was early and we met her right on time. We went to the subway and wanted to get a one day pass with my credit card, but the machine did not accept any credit cards, so we had to just use the digital SUICA cards (in our phones) right at the subway entry, which was flawless but ended up much more expensive for the day because we went on many different subways, and had to pay every time instead of just using a daily pass.

We headed first to the “outer” fish market, full of shops selling lots of food goods, also places you could eat and the interior wholesale fish market. Very interesting and many different vegetables and fish related foods–giant clams, eels, fish roe, sea urchins, authenic fresh wasabi, gorgeous fruits, especially large (and expensive) strawberries (which were in season).

Then we went to the Ueno Ameyoko market where there were many shops and items for sale. It was a beautiful, sunny day, not too cold in the AM. I didn’t even need my warm sweater but had on a lighter sweater, and did use my wool hat.

We went up to an observation deck after this to see a view of the temple and the TV tower. After this, we went to the Asakusa area, to the Senso-ji Temple, a very lively, crowded area. Full of people, lots of women in beautiful kimonos with their hair done up, many souvenir stands, and stands selling special foods. A beautiful temple, the inner area not open to the public. Folks waifting smoke, pouring water, and paying to access fortunes, e.g., shook a round container until a numbered stick emerges then takes the fortune out of the numbered drawers.

For lunch we headed to Starbucks for small sandwiches, iced lattes and a rest. Although we were using the subways, we were still walking a lot and climbing up and down stairs. I was getting tried from the jet lag and lack of sleep.

We went to the Akihabara district: full of anime and electronics, then a stroll along a street selling stuff to restaurants, many knife stores, pots and pans, etc., then finally some more subways to the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. Even though it was winter, the garden was picturesque and the Japanese garden area quite pretty.

Finally we rode several different subways to get back to Shibuya. At the end, pretty much running on empty.

We said goodby to Yussy–I gave her some chocolates from the US and 2000 yen tip. Originally I wasn’t going to give a cash tip, but people said you should. That’s what the chocolates were for.

Anyway, back in the room, a good day, good guide, interesting sights, excellent weather.

We had dinner at Gonpachi which was close by although we walked a longer way to get there, then through the mall to return.

Nice warm restaurant, lots of seats and lots of noise, and eventually it was completely full. Got a very delicious riesling from Germany. Then salads, small lettuce and slivered green onions. Austin had a grilled fish appetizer then raw tuna with eggs and condiments. I had small pieces of fried chicken which were delicious and then a rice bowl with chicken and egg; all good. But she forgot my appetizer order, and Austin’s salmon order so they got delayed and the food was not served in a proper order.

Anyway, we weren’t in a huge rush, but are really sleepy. It was probably helpful to have a longer dinner to keep us up a little later.

Friday, Jan 24

Slept pretty well. Still walking up in the middle of the night. Got to BF a bit later, lots of folks already there! Had scrambled eggs, french fries, some salad stuff, ham, cappuccino.

We lounged around the room for a while, no big hurry. Then close to 10 we went out. Beautiful sunny day, fairly brisk in the AM, then pretty warm this afternoon. We started off by walking to the Harajuku district, where there were scores of really high end stores, but not open until 11. At the Louis Vuitton stores there were already women lined up to get in. Walked around and down Takeshita street–stores with pretty interesting goods, then went into Yoyogi Park to the Meiji Shrine dedicated to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. Many people were there but it was a lot less crowded than Senso-Ji Temple. We spent some time there, then went to a small Japanese garden adjacent, wandered around various paths, across bridges, by a lake.

From here we left the park and went to Starbucks for some iced lattes and sandwiches. Then we headed back to the hotel, walking a more direct, but less interesting route. We stopped in the giant Food Shaw market to get some more wine. What a cool store! And so many gorgeous baked goods candies, cakes, some gorgeous strawberries. Found our wine and headed back up to the room to relax. They hadn’t come yet to replace our towels, but I’m sure they will.

//Tonight we headed to Shinjuku for our cooking class. This afternoon we’d gone down for tea dnd afterwards I went out to figure out the subway. Google maps is excellent, it tells you exactly how to go, which train, which platform, best car to use. There are several different lines which we could have chosen, but we took the Yamanote line and I walked across the street past the statue of the dog to find the right entrance and could see the signs for the train.

We allowed ourselves extra time in case we got mixed up; it was confusing to begin, figuring out where to go but ultimately it was a very short, straight shot. Since we were so early, we walked around a bit, lots of brightly lit buildings, similar to Shibuya. Then we were a little confused coming back, but we asked someone who directed us. We were there a little early and Edo actually showed up early. We were the only ones going with him. He took off at a brisk walk and led us through some narrow alleys, the area of Golden Gai, which I’d read about full of tiny little bars, a big nightlife area. Then to his tiny apt, very small living room, and tiny kitchen/dining area. He’d been in San Francisco, but left after 9/11. His grandparents had a miso (fermented soybean) business and farmed. He’s done these cooking classes for about 8 years, the last 5 with AirBNB.

We were prepping Gyozo dumplings and miso ramen soup. We helped with the chopping and mixing and shaping the dumplings. The miso broth was quite good, fresh ramen noodles, a variety of toppings including an egg, pork dumpling. He was good and the food was good and a fun time. Luckily we ended early, I’m still feeling jet lagged and the subway back was very quick and easy. So we were back in the room before 9, having some wine before bed. I gave him the small gift of chocolates plus a small tip and he gave me some cooking chopsticks.

Saturday, Jan 25

Still sleeping a bit fitfully, but feeling better with less jet lag. Had a relaxing BF, and hung around the room for a while until we decided to walk to the Samurai Restaurant. Google said it would be about an hour but it ended up being longer. Luckily, we allowed ourselves enough time. It was near Shinjuku station where we’d gone for dinner last night. Quite a gaudy entrance, we were in the perfect seats in the center of the front row. We’d ordered ramen for our lunch and they brought it out after we sat down; it was just before 12, so a little early for lunch.

The show was quite loud especially the scenes where there was a lot of drumming. Extremely colorful costumes and floats, lots of singing, dancing, martial arts, moves, etc. Quite interesting. There were several small breaks between scenes which was a little boring, but oh well. Overall quite amazing and like nothing we’d seen before. We decided to walk back and along the way, stopped for some Starbucks coffee. The ramen we’d had was actually quite good and we liked it better than what we’d had for dinner last night. But only water to drink, so I was missing my caffeine. When we got back, I went into the store and bought a small box of cookies to give to our Fiji guide instead of a tip. It was easier just to get something here. I don’t want to change any money in local currency there, so a small gift will have to do.

So now we’re just relaxing in our newly cleaned room–we’d opted for just towel changes for the previous days, and we’re reading.

//Had an amazing dinner at Ushibachi–in the building next to us which specializes in Wagyu beef. Set up with little individual hibachis on each table. We were a bit disconcerted to be told to use a QR code to order, but a waiter helped us. We found a delicious Matua Sav blanc and ordered salad, which was delicious, asparagus and onions to grill, then dinner which was good. Then some “odd” cuts of beef and finally special wagyu beef loin, OMG, so delicious, melt in your mouth beef, the pieces were fully marbled and just so so delicious. Wow! So glad we tried it. Some folks had a whole tier of meat, too much for us, though. Lots of western folks there including a large multigenerational family.

Out on the street, so many people! OMG, like Times Square NYE. What are they all doing, where are they are going? Sat night, so that makes a difference. Lots of young folks.

Stopped at Food Shaw and Austin got a delicious little cake to top off dinner.

Sunday, Jan 26

A beautiful, clear, sunny day. We could see Mt. Fuji on the horizon from BF, snow covered and very beautiful, rising above the city buildings.

BF as usual. Set up a Gigsky on Austin’s phone, hoping it will work. Relaxing in the room with Wordle, the puzzle and packing before off to Tokyo Disney!

//Well, we had a very successful first day at Disney. We took a cab to the hotel, it took a while to check in and get all the paperwork done and get our vacation package stuff. Then we went to the monorail, bought three-day passes, needed to use cash! Then went to Ikspiri, a large shopping area with lots of fancy stores, restaurants, cinema, etc.

We walked around a bit, then had sandwiches and lattes at Starbucks. Back to the hotel where we sat and read until almost 3. We picked up our vacation package stuff which included “merch” and we chose 2 blankets, not sure how we’ll get them back!

Close to 3, we went up to our room, but couldn’t get in until 3 and right at that point our luggage also came up. So we unpacked a little and arranged the room. It’s beautiful, with a large, window overlooking the park, plenty of space.

Then we were off to Disney Sea. Upon entering we tried the lottery for Big Band Beat, and we got it! Excellent seats in the center orchestra as well. We started walking toward the Arabian area, rode “Sinblad,” a boat ride, so cute then had to find our way to Big Band Beat.

Made some wrong turns, asked for help, hightailed it over, got there with time to spare, seated in row 7, right in the center.

The show had Mickey and other characters, plus tap dancers, singing, other dancing, with characters plus performers. Several scenes and costume changes. Quite lively, 25 min, a perfect length. When we came out, it was dark and hard to see. Austin had gotten really cold before because he didn’t have on enough layers, so we went into some shops to find a scarf. Which we did, very nice warm with some subtle Disney characters.

After this, we tried to see if we could get into Magellans early, at 6 instead of 7, but they wouldn’t let us. So we walked around, finally found some benches in the Portofino restaurant where we could sit where it was warm.

Finally we were able to walk there. A really lovely building themed around Magellan’s travels with a large globe and ceiling with Zodiac signs. The tables were widely spaced, it was very quiet and serene. The menu has several courses, so we chose the appetizers, fish dish, meat dish and dessert. Also although the wine selection was quite small, we did find a nice light white. The food was excellent, beautifully presented, lovely plating, interesting choices. Several very good. The sirloin beef was really good, cooked perfectly and so tender, did not need a knife to cut.

A really wonderful dinner for about $180, We made our way back to the front of the park and to the monorail. Austin found seats in the very front looking out at the track, this was fascinating. Then back to our hotel, up to our room and into our comfy beds.

//Monday, Jan 27

Today we went in to Tokyo Disneyland. We didn’t book breakfast for today so I went down to the store and got “hot” bottled lattes, but they were sweet, plus some fruit and yogurt for Austin and a little sandwich for me. We ate in the room before heading over, just outside the hotel to the park. We dressed really warmly with extra sweaters, hats and scarves. It was cold but not bitter. No wind, a little sun peaking through. We got “Happy Entry”–15 min early entry into the park as hotel guests, this was entry at 8:45, park opens at 9. So we got there around 8:10, the HE line was not too bad, the other regular lines were long and they continued to grow exponentially after that.

When we got in, we decided to head straight for some rides not covered by our ticket (our tickets included a park-wide priority pass allowing us to use the priority line for almost every ride, as many times as we wanted to ride) so we went to Peter Pan first. A very weird sensation because literally no one else was there–everyone runs to Beauty and the Beast or Honey Hunt. Then we went on It’s a Small World with Groot. He is there temporarily, the baby Groot, so cute!

Still virtually no one around. We walked over to Pirates of the Caribbean, some differences in the beginning scenes and not much of a themed queue. IASM also had some characters from park rides, like Rapunzel. After Pirates we had some coffee/lattes then headed over to BATB, but it was not running!

Oh dear! So we went on The Happy Ride with Baymax, super short, but cute; Monsters, which was cute, then Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, which was really cute. Then we went on Thunder Mountain, yay! Just the same as WDW.

I’d put in a mobile order to Camp Woodchuck so we headed there and had fries, coffee, and shared a delicious fried shrimp sandwich. The restaurant was very cute inside. Finally we saw that BATB was open for priority pass only, so we went in. What a great, great ride! Super fun tippy and turning tea cups and also lovely, lovely scenes. We were front and center for the scene where the Beast turns into the prince–just amazing!

We loved the ride so much, we went again, not in such a great position as before, but still really lovely.

After this, we decided to go to Star Tours. Something wasn’t working properly though, because even with our priority pass, we waited almost an hour. It was cute, a better version than WDW.

Austin decided to head back to the room at this point. It was past 2. I decided to go one last time on BATB. We won’t have a priority pass for it next time and probably won’t rope drop it either. Then I went to splash mountain. This is the original version with Brer Rabbit, so cute, all the animations, working well, clear articulation and I got somewhat splashed but had on my waterproof coat.

We had a voucher for a free popcorn holder and one box of popcorn so I saw a short line for “black pepper” popcorn. They have all sort of flavors, so I got this one. Pretty much all throughout the park, there were long lines for popcorn at the various stands whenever we went by. It was really bazaar to see how long the waits were for just popcorn.

Then I went to Plaza Pavilion to see what type of wine they sell because tonight for dinner, before the parade, we’re eating at Plasma Rays. No luck, because they only had little bottles of Chardonnay.

Headed back to the hotel, the wine here in the store is also Chardonnay, yuck! Not much luck on wine. But they have a blush wine and that will be acceptable for a quick drink here before going back into the park.

//Holy Cow! Just back from watching the Electrical Parade. Wow, so beautiful. Makes you want to cry. Lively music, unbelievable lights and lighting effects. Just lovely!!!

We had a quick drink then headed off to Plasma Rays for dinner, we’d put in a mobile order–salads and a dish with meat, gravy, rice, 1/2 boiled eggs with a Mickey head, fried shrimp and some tea for me. Super crowded, hard to find a seat. We walked around a little then found the perfect place to stand for the parade with the castle in the background. Everyone here sits for the parade, so finding a spot to stand was no problem, plus they all sit right through the parade, so no one is blocking our view. OMG–so lovely! We’re so fortunate we were able to see it because if it rains, no parade. Anyway we decided to bag our dinner for Weds, so we could see it again and we’d dressed warmly. It wasn’t so cold, no wind.

Picked up a little wine and up in the room we had the alien mochi that we’d gotten at the restaurant.

So, off tmr to Disney Sea, no happy entry there.

Thursday, Jan 28

We had a good day at Disney Sea what a huge park! We had BF at the hotel, they let us in before 7AM, yay! A nice spread of Japanese and Western food. Then around 8, off to DS. Rode the monorail; no happy entry, huge line, in park shortly after 9–they opened the park early. With our all-ride package, we didn’t have to hurry to any ride. We started with Tower of Terror, a very different backstory than the one at WDW–this one has professor Hightower and an evil idol. There is a fun sequence before the ride where the idol disappears. The ride goes up and down like the WDW one, and there was lots of screaming! We rode it twice, so cute. From here we walked to about the center of the park to Journey to the Center of the Earth. I had no info on what this ride was. It turned out to be a roller coaster type of ride, very dark in the beginning as you travel past gems and jewels into the center of the earth, then fast roller coaster which also goes outside. From here we decided to walk to Fantasy Springs because it was already close to 10:30. So we walked over, the area is quite beautiful with lovely rock carvings of the characters, water effects, plantings. We went into the Snuggly Duckling with our drink coupon and got the Rapunzel magic milk tea, yum. A bit sweet but very nice flavor. We decided we’d have lunch at the Royal Hall so we put in a mobile order there.

Then we rode Rapunzel, very beautiful, especially the lantern scene, but super short. Next, Peter Pan which was fun, and finally the Frozen ride, beautiful with wonderful animatronics and special effects.

Lunch in the Royal Banquet Hall was nice. The only choices were “set” menus, a seafood or meat pie with a little potato casserole, salad with smoked salmon and greens, a weird soft bread roll and a cute little dessert, chocolate mousse, whipped cream and a little Olaf mochi on top.

After this, we walked to Indiana Jones. The park is so huge, there is just so much walking. It is lovely and the detailed different lands are striking. We were super lucky with the weather because it was not windy, not too cold, in fact, with the sun out, a really nice temperature. There had been rain predicted for some time and it didn’t show up, so yay! That would have been very unfortunate and unpleasant! And it is also not as frigid as we thought it might be, but we’re also prepared with long underwear, sweaters over sweaters, warm hat and scarf. Austin got a warm hat and scarf here. We went on the Indiana Jones ride–they have this in California but we’ve never ridden it. A dark ride full of twists and turns through the story of Indiana Jones.

Then we went to Soar’n–close to the entrance, a very interesting story line and pre show with a 3D faces and a woman in a picture frame and lots of moments from around the world–time frame set in the 1800’s. The ride itself was just like the WDW version except ending in Tokyo and Tokyo Disney. The “smells” were all there as well–elephants and dirt. Several smells at the Taj Mahal. A great ride.

Austin wanted to head back so we made sure his ticket was properly scanned. I stayed in the park, bought a couple of small souvenirs for the boys, Parker, and Carter, then went to Toy Story, such a fun ride!

Then I headed back to rest before dinner. I went down to get more “free” stuff for our 2nd vacation package and selected some Mickey bangles which light up for Parker and a Micky Mouse stuffed plush for Carter.

Sorted out all the tickets for the next several days, park tickets, ride tickets, beverage tickets, etc. Whew! Then off to Disney Sea again for dinner at the Japanese restaurant, Restaurant Sakura.

//Watched some castle lighting and fireworks over TDL from our window before heading over to DS to Restaurant Sakura, a Japanese restaurant.

Located in the NY waterfront area, it is not Japanese styled, but in what looks like a wholesale fish market. There were somewhat limited choices. They did have some good white wine, but only by the glass.

We shared an appetizer, then had mains with chicken tonkatsu (me), beef and crab over miso soup (A), clam chowder (me), a seasonal appetizer. Food OK, good, not all of it to our liking but we wanted to try Japanese food styled to the DS visitors. It was quite nippy and windy going back, two stops on the monorail before getting to our hotel. Got a little wine and cookies at the store, up in the room heard the TDL fireworks.

Weds., Jan 29

Another good day at Tokyo Disneyland. We had breakfast at Sherwood Garden, when set out for the park. It was clear and sunny but cold and windy. We set out for the Happy Entry area at around 8:15. Overall, the crowds were somewhat smaller than two days ago. We were warm enough in the crowd and it wasn’t so bad to wait 30 min.

We decided to rope drop Beaty and The Beast because to seemed like few people ahead of us. We walked quickly and there were lots of folks ahead of us, but some of the crowd split off. When we got there, it said 20 min wait, but actually, it was only about a 5 in wait. Such a great ride! We also bought a pass for later on today, about $24 total. Peter Pan (5 min wait) then we headed over the IASW with Groot. So cute and so full of action, you notice more each time.

From here we headed to Hunny Hunt. I’d gotten a free pass for this. This is also a very cute ride! We then went on Pinocchio, not a ride in WDW. A fairly quick moving little ride, like the Mr. Toad ride used to be.

Next we used one of our passes for Monsters. I didn’t even try the flashlights but just enjoyed the scenes. Then we went on Star Tours. I’d gotten this pass after Hunny Hunt. Even though we had a pass, the wait was pretty long, probably 20 min or so–all the other rides have been walk ons. We had lunch at Pan Galactic Pizza Port, just next door to Star Tours. Had pizzas, salads, and got some mochi’s for later. After this, we walked over to Thunder Mountain to use one of our passes, then after this we were able to watch the afternoon parade. Finally we used our paid pass for our last ride on Beauty and The Beast.

Austin wanted to leave after this, so I walked with him to the entrance so he could get his ticket stamped. Then I went back and decided to ride Hunny Hunt again, so cute and unusual. I picked up a couple of little souvenirs for Rachel and the kids, and got our free popcorn bucket and popcorn.

Then back to the room around 3 to rest. Tonight we’re going back into the park to see the castle projections and fireworks, then dinner, then the electrical parade.

//After watching the sunset, we bundled up at around 5:30, put on all the layers we could to go back into the park. Although it was mid 40’s, it said it felt colder, but it wasn’t so bad. We found a spot in front of the castle to watch “Reach for the Stars”, castle projections of characters with songs, lighting effects and fireworks. Then we went to Tomorrowland Terrace for dinner, I thought Austin might want to watch the parade from here and I wanted to try the food. I’d made a mobile order for 6:30. We found a seat by the window and drank a little wine that we snuck into the park in water bottles. I had the “Baymax” burger, hamburger with a fried egg, ham, lettuce and sauce, french fries, Austin had the cheeseburger, we had salads in cups and a Mickey churro for dessert. We walked across the forecourt to the other side to stand where we were 2 nights ago for the parade. It started at 7:15–OMG–so beautiful, with amazing lighting effects, electronic music–like the original electric parade so long ago at WDW.

What a privilege to be able to see it–twice! This is definitely the highlight and Beauty and the Beast, second to that. So, so lucky on the weather as well. They don’t have the parade in the rain or strong wind.

Thursday, Jan 20 (Rachel’s BD)
We headed back to DS after a leisurely BF and no real rush to get to the park. It’s sunny and not too cold plus no wind, how lucky we are.

We arrived around 9:15 and walked about 15 min to get in. We had the Fantasy Springs passes for all rides as many as we wanted so we started heading there. My goodness, so many people waiting to get in then once in the park, a sea of humanity. Yikes! We walked leisurely enjoying the atmosphere. Passing by Sinbad, we went again. No priority passes for this, but no wait. A very cute ride, lots of great animatronic detailing. Then into Fantasy Springs where we went on the Peter Pan ride, then got coffees at Snuggly Duckling and enjoyed the outside scene by the pirate ship and people watched. Then Frozen, Rapunzel, and Frozen again. Then lunch at the Snuggly Duckling, a shrimp burger for Austin, Snuggly Ducky burger for me, salads, a lemon strawberry dessert in a frying pan and I had the special Rapunzel milk tea again.

From here, we headed to Nemo Sea Riders, used an attraction ticket, where you sit in a small theatre and watch a movie about Dory, Nemo, etc., effects like you are underwater with them. It was OK, not great. Then we headed to the Magic Lamp theatre in the Casbah area, a theatre show with 3D effects, and live action magic effects. All in Japanese. After this, we were out of attraction tickets, so headed toward the Venetian Lagoon area near the entrance where were will be having dinner at Di Canaletto, and Italian restaurant.

Rode the monorail back and picked out a couple small gifts for Jodie. Then rearranged my bags to try to fit all my stuff in. We’ve already acquired quite a few souvenirs from the hotel.

Friday, Jan 31. At the Royal Park Hotel, Haneda.

We had a bit of a slower day today. Once again, fabulous weather. I’d already thrown away the ratty sweater from the auction. Had our last BF at the hotel, dropped our bags at the bell captain and went into the park at about 9:15 at the gates. Masses of people here, around 5-10 minutes to get in, just hoards of people.

Last night we watched Reach for the Stars and the fireworks from our room with a little wine. Then off to the monorail to Disney Sea and restaurant di Canelleto. This is an Italian restaurant right by the canals and gondolas. Very beautiful inside with a lot of detailing for Italian decor. A wood fired pizza oven in the center, and man were they turning out the pizzas.

We each had a salad which had a little mortadella and pepperoni with greens. We had a nice bottle of white wine. Then Austin had black pasta with prawns and I had lemon tagliatelle with a little salmon. The pasta was cooked perfectly and very delicious. Our reservation was for 7:10, albeit a little later than normal and by the time we were finished, the restaurant was emptying out. Park was fairly empty as well.

When we first got to the bridge by the restaurant, the volcano was going off, lots of thunderous sounds and fire coming out; quite the sight at night.

We arrived back at the hotel just as the 9:30 fireworks were going off so we just watched from outside the hotel.

Today after arriving at the park, there were no free passes left for Fantasy Springs so we decided to just go to Indiana Jones. But we got onto the “steamer line” boat which gave us a nice ride on the water, past the American Waterfront to the Lost Lagoon area, just where Indiana Jones was.

This was our second time and we appreciated the ride more. We had three tickets we could use on some of the rides.

Then we decided to use our ticket to go on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, not much of a ride, you can see underwater from your vehicle but there’s not all that much to see–a shipwreck, a giant squid, and a lost city with some wierd creatures inhabiting it.

We walked over to the Arab area and went again on Sinblad, it’s a really cute ride with almost no wait.

Then went again on Indiana Jones, using our final ticket. We then started to slowly make our way back to the front of the park. Walked by Nemo and Friends, then through the American waterfront area. This is a lovely and wonderful themed area with a Cape Cod area with boats and ducks in the water, the large ship housing the SS Columbia restaurant, an area evocative of 1800’s NYC with shops and restaurants, old fashioned cars, etc. Really impressive. We showed up early for our 1:10 lunch reservation and they seated us. I had a margarita pizza, really delicious with lots of cheese, Austin had pizza with white sauce and ham and parm cheese. All yummy!

On the way out, I got a little bowl and small spoon and fork as souvenirs. While on the monorail I realized we were early enough that I thought we could catch the 2:30 airport limo bus, which cost us only about $16 total vs $70 or so for a taxi. The bell captain helped me; I had to set up an account, reserve the slot, pay with my card, all in about 15 minutes. Austin went outside to the bus stop with the luggage to wait. I successfully accomplished everything and went out–ran over when I saw a bus, but that one was to NRT. Ours came 10 minutes later, but didn’t go straight to the airport, instead stopped at several other Disney Hotels including the New Fantasy Springs hotel, plus train stations and park parking lots. Finally after this little tour, we were on our way.

Our hotel is just off the departures area of the airport terminal 3, which is where our flights will depart from, so super convenient. They helped us check in at a kiosk then we went to our room, on the same floor and close to the lobby, which is nice because the hotel is super long with several levels.

We settled in then set off to check out dinner options. The airport had some food but nothing appealing; I didn’t see how to get to the other shopping area I had researched, but we decided to just eat at the hotel restaurant, a cafe just as you enter the hotel, so quite convenient.

Back in our room to relax before dinner. It’s been a great and very interesting time at Tokyo Disney. We were super lucky with the weather, no rain or snow and cold/chilly in the AM and at night, but we were prepared although Austin ultimately bought a winter hat and also a very warm scarf (with a Mickey design, so great souvenir).

Fun to see the clumps of girls all dressed alike. Seas of people, masses of people, all short with black hair. So polite and trying to be helpful.

We had a really nice dinner at the restaurant here, the Royal Park Haneda. Found a good Spanish white wine, then a cup of veggie soup, a nice, fresh green salad, and a lovely perfectly cooked steak plus some tempura, onion and mushroom, so good! Also some berad and butter. And they had salt and pepper. We sat facing the huge windows of the airport, sadly not facing the runway, but the roads into and around the airport and the city beyond. Yum, yum, so good!

Sat., Feb. 1 Singapore Airways

Slept well, up at 6, no coffee available, checked in shortly before 7, up in ANA lounge shortly after that. A really nice lounge, uncrowded, lots of food choices, including made to order noodles and ramen. I had some ramen plus the egg salad sandwich from Lawsons. Their egg salad sandwiches are famous and I wanted to try one, so when we got to the airport hotel, we got a few little bites for Austin for BF and I got one of these sandwiches for myself. It was, indeed, good.

The flight has been very fine. At the airport you could see planes taxiing on runways, bridges over the water. At altitude, we got a great view of Mt. Fuji above the clouds.

I watched Emelia Perez with Selena Gomez. I can see why the transgender actress was nominated for an Oscar, he/she roles. Interesting movie, but violent.

Then I watched “Lee” about Lee Miller who photographed during the second World War including the liberated concentration camps.

Then part of “Concave” but not enough time to finish.

Lots of food available, we got a small appy of beef satay early on but then a long time until “lunch” which was ramen, my choice of several western dishes and there were Japanese and Chinese dishes. The flight attendants were very attentive and lovely. Seats very comfy. I didn’t sleep since the whole flight was during the day. No turbulence of any consequence.

//Changi Airport Crown Plaza Hotel

Landed and through customs and immigration quickly. I’d figured out and submitted an electronic visitor visa so we just went through some electronic gates by scanning our passport and taking a picture and thumbprint.

Hotel easy to find at the end of the terminal. Paid for a lounge access room and got upgraded to a suite–sweet! Off to explore the airport.

Sunday, Feb. 2 Changi Airport, Crown Plaza Hotel.

We walked around the airport heading specifically to “The Jewel,” a large central area with a giant waterfall and pathways around it filled with plants. Very pretty. The whole area was filled with shops and so many restaurants, but basically the quick seating type, counter service, no alcohol. Mostly Chinese or Asian food. I’d thought we might eat out in the airport, if we didn’t want to eat in the lounge here. But we didn’t see anything really compelling. Noticeable diversity of folks including many women with hair covered.

The hotel also had an Italian restaurant which we checked out when we came back, pizza, pasta, etc.

Went back to our suite room, then at 6:30 went down to the lounge for wine. There was a lot of food, you could definitely eat there but we liked the idea of a nice hot pizza from the restaurant so we decided to go there.

We had vouchers for some free glasses of wine and we split a nice caesar salad and we each had a pizza, I had spicy salami, which was good and spicy and Austin had one with ham. All yummy! Back in there room we’d gotten a little welcome gift of a small bag of little cookies which Austin had. They’d also given us a 20% discount in the restaurant plus one free glass of wine and I got two free glasses of wine as an IHG Gold member. That membership is definitely worth it.

Austin turned the heat down in the room and it was really cold, but great for sleeping. Nice comfy bed with silky streets, first time we’ve slept in the same bed since Tokyo.

We had our free BF in the restaurant, a very large buffet with Indian, Asian, Western, made to order eggs, quite nice. I was able to have a poached egg, Indian curry and Indian naan bread–yummy!

//We hung out in the Singapore Airlines lounge–quite large, all kinds of food, noodles, ice cream. Then going down to the gate–they confiscated my nail scissors, even the “hidden” ones which fold into two circles. They also took the wine opener, not the “disguised one” a circle with the opener curled around it, but the plastic one.

Jesh! I’ve flown around the world with this stuff–it’s been years since anyone confiscated anything. Well, we can get new ones. On the plane, same seats as before. I finished watching Conclave, “A Pain” with Kieran Culkin and Jessie Eisenberg about two cousins visiting Poland on a holocaust tour. Then “Emma” with Anya Taylor Joy, a Jane Austin movie, which is always good to watch. A light lunch, some satay and some fried noodles, champagne, same great NZ sav blanc. The flight was bumpy in parts along the way–even stopping the service. I’ve been reading “Where the Crawdads Sing” and it was good. I didn’t know if I would like it but I did. I’d borrowed the electronic book from the library.

We’re landing a little early 9:15 Melbourne time, but because of the time change, it feels 2 hours earlier so we’re not so bad off. And Jodie is not picking us up after 11 tmr so we can sleep in if we want.

Tuesday, Feb. 4 At Jodies

After landing, we were able to pass through customs and immigration pretty easy. We were off the plane quickly and as we walked along, we saw hoards of people arriving from many directions.

Lucky our passports are “e passports” so we were able to use a kiosk, there were many of these with short lines. After this through another e gate, then a short line after baggage claim where they collected our arrival cards. Then we were out, The hotel was across the street. As we were descending to the airport, we saw a large cloud with lightning, pretty awesome but creepy. It was not raining as we exited the airport–it stormed during the night however, but with sound proofing and blackout blinds we didn’t notice much.

The hotel sits on top the parking area across from the airport so we look an elevator up to the fourth floor and checked in. They upgraded us to a suite which was nice. Not huge but a nice sitting area.

We went down to the bar and got some great sav blanc and they gave us some nuts and munchies to bring up to the room. I hadn’t eaten anything late on the plane and Austin just had a little pizza. It was so late that the restaurant was closed, so all we could get were the bar snacks.

We were up until almost 11, but it felt more like 9PM because of the time change. Slept pretty well, up around 7. BF was fine, an Asian section with some dim sum, eggs, bacon, lattes. We repacked our bags and Austin did some stretching before we went outside to meet Jodie. We waited for a while looking for her amidst all the cars and vans coming and going, then she arrived and parked across the street.

About a 20 min ride to their house in Gisborne, they’d only recently moved in here and didn’t have everything set up completely yet.

We’re in an alcove off the kitchen/living area with a screen but no door and sharing a bathroom across the living room and down the hall by the kids’ rooms. The house is all on one floor.

After a while, we went out to a little cafe in town for lunch and had an Indian wrap.

Later on Jodie went off to pick up Sydney and after that Herbie and Mabel arrived from their private school in their uniforms with school jackets.

Gareth arrived home from work then went out to buy some wine, then fixed dinner on the “barbie”, burgers, sausages, sate’s, corn on the cob and a little salad. Good wine.

Eventually, we were off to bed. The room was a bit warm to begin but we’d opened the windows and it cooled off during the night. Very quiet and dark.

I was up at 6 and showered to try to be done before the kids got up. Nice cappuccino machine to make great lattes. Herbie and Mabel were up and dressed first. Herbie has gotten super tall, and Mabel grown a lot, too.

They all went off to school and Jodie did pilates before coming back before lunch. We took a short walk up the street, super hot, close to 100 degrees, all the homes pretty similar.

Jodie took us to Hanging Rock Winery where we had cheese, pate, crackers and olives for a lovely lunch outside under the trees by the vines.

When we got here yesterday, we gave them the small things we’d brought from Tokyo Disney, one of the packable bags, 2 little cups, some alien mocha cookies. I’d thought these were real moochies but they were only cookies which looked like the moochies, also 2 small washrags and some “frozen” candies.

It seems to be threatening rain this afternoon, we hear thunder but it hasn’t rained. On the way to lunch we stopped at a pharmacy and based on the pharmacist’s advice, Austin got more meds to help get rid of his phlegm, also some saline spray and a pair of nail scissors to replace the ones they took from us. Tonight we’re going out to dinner with Jodie and Gareth and his parents and the kids are staying at home.

Weds, Feb. 5 Young

We had a really nice dinner last night with Gareth, Jodie and his parents at a restaurant near the train station Baringo. Very casual, order at the counter. Had some good NZ sav blanc. I had fish and chips and Austin had tuna. Gareth’s mom gave us a little gift of magnets from Gisborne. Very sweet. They’d traveled around so we had some lively conversations. All good. They had driven us by their parents’ home on the way and we saw some kangaroos.

Up bright and early to use the bathroom and shower before the kids needed it. Made us some lattes. Austin had some cheerios. Said our goodbyes then Gareth drove us at 8AM to the airport to pick up the car, Europcar. We were able to check right in, got a brand new Hyundai hybrid car, very comfortable. Plenty of room for both of us. Then off to Young through rolling hills, yellow dry grasses, eucalyptus trees lining the roads very rural, many cows. We stopped in a small, historic town, about halfway to get a little lunch. Very picturesque, 1860’s buildings, wrought iron balconies, stopped in a jewelry/mineral shop and got some Australian gold in a little jar for Miles.

Had lunch in a cute bakery, chicken sandwiches with veggies, iced lattes. Then off again. Rain threatened but did not actually start.

We got to Young and checked in to the Young Federation motel which is very nice. Friendly check in, got a nice cold bottle of sav blanc to take to the room. BF only has instant coffee!!, so we’re going to walk/drive to another place.

After settling into the room, nice and large, with a table and chairs and balcony, we were going to take a walk but there was a big black threatening rain cloud so we went back to the room.

Sure enough we did get rain. In the room, I discovered that Disney is going to actually stop in Noumea, after telling us they wouldn’t and now we will be docking in Suva later. I’d first gotten an email from the concierge saying that they added a Noumea activity to our itinerary and I really didn’t understand, I thought it was some sort of automated response from early on and I wrote back to decline but then I saw the email that the itinerary had changed back–jeesh!

Anyway, we were originally going to have a private drive/tour but now decided to just use the boat shuttle and maybe the Choo Choo train or hop on hop off train. But I had to change our private Suva tour to later.

When we checked in, the hotel clerk said she would book us into the Elliotz restaurant–this is a really highly rated restaurant but they had a $50 cancelation fee and since we were driving all the way from Melbourne, I thought we shouldn’t book it in case we were delayed for some reason. Other possibilities are just pub type places, not so great. so Yay! A good restaurant.

We had a little wine then decided we’d drive there because it was still threatening rain, and only a 2 min drive. Found parking and went in, quite spacious, not too many tables, a bit dark, very quiet.

Our server, who is also the owner was very cheery and helpful and explained why they had to have a cancelation fee–during the cherry festival, 2 very large tables booked but didn’t show up. Anyway, she said she’s flexible and if I’d known that, it would have been different, but we got our table anyway. It’s Weds night so not so busy.

We got a great NZ sav blanc, then I tried a very nice rib eye steak wrapped in bacon with red wine sauce and a little salad. Austin got pork belly. So delicious and my steak was good. But most memorable was a very large dish of slim fries, very, very hot, salty, with garlic aioli, oh yummy! For both of us.

So much food. We were quite satiated. Drove back, no rain until we were parking and then some drops.

Back in the room, cookies, wine and reading. No need to get up early tmr so we can be relaxed.

//Mountain Heritage Hotel Katoomba.

Had a leisurely morning. The hotel served BF but they said they used “instant” coffee. Yuck. So we decided to walk to BF.

We went to the Juicy Lucy cafe, no wifi, unfortunately, Austin had 2 fried eggs on toast, and I had bacon, egg and cheese and hash brown on a roll plus lattes. All good.

Walked back to the hotel, warm and sunny, then off on our drive about 3 1/2 hrs to Katoomba. Similar scenery initially, flat and rolling hills, yellow grass, lots of cows and sheep.

Then eventually we started climbing, more trees, fir trees, greener grass, traffic builds up near Katoomba, lots of traffic there.

The hotel is old and on a hill. We have a beautiful suite room, round, in a turret with windows all around, views out over the mountains, sofas, mini bar, sink and stove. Very nice.

We walked down to the bar for a little lunch, a warm club sandwich in a large roll with chicken and tomato and a couple of large hand cut fries. Yum, yum. Eventually we decided to go for a walk in town. It’s very hilly and we had to go down, then up. We found the two restaurants for tonight and tmr–quite close. Then looked for a pharmacy, a bit further, another street over to get some pills form Austin’s stomach. We found some wine along the way, then came back to relax in the room.

After a little wine, we headed out to the “Old City Bank” bar and bistro. We ate upstairs, a very simple meal, NZ sav blanc and steak and ale pies. Austin had mashed pots and veggies and I had “chips”, fries and salad. They brought our meals out in a nano second so we were done quickly, but we lingered to enjoy the wine,

Then walked back, we encountered some very noisy cockatoos flying around and then sitting on lamp posts, building roofs, etc. all down the street And what a racket!!

The sun had not yet set when we walked back, and it was pretty as we were strolling, looking out over the mountains.

Friday, Feb 7

Had a hard time getting to sleep. I was too warm under the duvet and too cold without it. The pillow was too hard so I found a smaller one in the closet. The sheets were silky and the room was dark and quiet. Eventually, I got to sleep.

Up this AM as the sun was brightening the sky. No beautiful sunrise or anything. Had a pod coffee in the room then down to the lovely dining room for BF. Self serve coffee, pastries and toast, A menu of other things. Fresh squeezed OJ, very nice. Austin had scrambled eggs on ciabatta toast. I had an egg and chorizo “stack”–a very thin hash brown, covered with thin smashed avocado, two chorizo slices, some rocket salad and two perfect poached eggs, quite delicious and picturesque.

We left the room, around 9:40 to go to Scenic World–I had booked an indigenous tour–Buunyal, which started at 10. The location was only a couple minutes away. After checking in we found our tour guide outside arranging various weapons rocks, plants, etc. We were the only ones on the tour which was super. Austin had lots of questions. He showed us a map with all the 300 indigenous areas in Australia. He was from this area which turned into a UNESCO heritage site because the area was mountainous and the British didn’t want to develop it.

He told us many stories, “lore”, about greetings and who can show you around, how you can visit other areas, totem animals and how to talk to others with the same totem or an animal you may eat; how to kill using a very light spear, or using a boomerang plus a heavy “hammer” type instrument; “glue” made from the gum, soap from a plant which kills fish if you add it to a pool, leaves used for tea, plants with seeds used for bread, native berries and fruits.

We went with him on the skyway across the canyon and saw ferns then trees and the waterfall. Then over to a very steep inclined cable car, built for miners, a walk through the rainforest, then back up on the cable car. He pointed out various plants in the rainforest, and tole us various stories, lore, about the rock formations, three sisters, etc.

He gives these tours but also works with school children and gives presentations to businesses, Also there is a gathering where indigenous peoples from around the world come to gather. The Maori from NZ, the Pacific islanders, the Sammi. The 2 1/2 hour tour was quite informative and one of the best tours we’ve done. We had a sandwich and coffee after, I picked up a little souvenir for James, and we decided we’d leave to go to the next town of Leura.

We parked in the middle of town and went to the ice cream shop where we had some delicious ice cream then walked around the tiny town, bought some nail scissors, shaving cream for Austin and a book from the bookstore. It was sunny and warm the entire time although we thought a storm might be coming.

Sometimes in the morning there is a lot of fog and we saw this early but it had gone by 10. Our guide said the location gets very crowded around 2PM when buses from Sydney start to arrive. Also today was not going to be crowded anyway, we had just a couple of short waits for the vehicles but otherwise it seemed fine. So we were lucky.

//For dinner we went to Avalon, in a repurposed movie theatre, where they had a guitar player. Lovely window view of the Blue Mountains. I had duck breast which was OK, not great, Austin had salmon which he loved. Comfy surroundings and nice background music but the overall atmosphere was noisy. Our meal took longer than the night before and we walked back in the twilight but the sun had not yet set.

Saturday, Feb. 8

A lazy morning. Off to drop off the car this AM. Slept well last night. Another terrific BF, chorizo avocado, potato hash browns, little greens, two great poached eggs.

Fullerton Hotel Sydney

Had an easy drive to the airport to drop off the car. We were aiming to avoid tolls, so the drive took longer and we went through the city. I tried to get an Uber at the car rental from the car drop off, but it wasn’t working. So we took the bus to the terminal and I couldn’t get an Uber there either, very frustrating. So we just decided to get a cab–initially it seemed like it was going to cost a lot but ultimately it was $75 AUD, so around $50US, not bad. Our room wasn’t ready. They said it would be ready by 2:00. So we left our luggage and headed out toward “The Rocks”. It was a beautiful, sunny, and warm, but not too hot. We found a Starbucks and had a little sandwich, a latte and ice tea. We walked around to see what the ferry schedule is to the zoo. This is a small zoo but they have Australian animals and you can take a scenic ferry ride to get there. So we’re planning to do that tmr AM. The weather should be OK.

We walked around the opera house, got some pics then ambled through the botanic gardens. Then we walked around, found a beautiful glass covered multistory building with upscale stores. Then walked around looking for supermarkets to see if we could get pavlova mix eggs. Went into a couple of places, no luck, but did get some wine to bring back.

Back at the hotel, we got our room, we were upgraded to a higher floor and a city view rather than interior view. However, the desk clerk had no clue about the $100 credit we’re supposed to get, our free BF, etc.

We went up to the room and it took forever to get our luggage, I even called them. They did confirm the $100 credit and free BF, but no welcome amenity here either. I did send off a message to Ali–just so she gets some feedback. It does appear that it is going to storm which the weather app had said. Tmr evening also. Tonight we’re eating here so no problem, but tmr we walk to a restaurant with a roof top dining area. Anyway, we can change if necessary. Nice that we can stay in tonight.

//Back from a great day in Sydney. Last night we ate at the hotel, The Place, a nice table in the glass roof atrium, We found a $55 AUD bottle of sav blanc–the house wine and we each had the “two course” menu. Austin had a burrata and tomato salad and I had a nice chopped salad. Then we each ordered beef cheeks, but these came out as a part of a pasta dish, very unexpected. The pasta was delicious and so were the beef cheeks but there weren’t very many pieces of beef and the pasta was too much for us.

The room was nice and quiet and comfy for sleeping. We went down to BF about 6:45. They’d told us it opened at 6:30, but that is not the case on Sat and Sun, they open at 7.

Anyway, eventually we got some nice lattes and had a poached egg Benedict, some bacon, some cucumber and olives and a little hash brown puff.

After this we headed to the ferry to the zoo. There was a Royal Caribbean ship in port. The ferry was a quick ride, we got some beautiful views of the harbor. We each needed a credit card to tap into the ferry and the bus that took us to the zoo. Luckily I had several with me. The zoo is on a steep hill and the bus takes you up to the entrance at the top. It was a warm, partly cloudy day with some serious wind gusts every once in a while.

We started off in the Australian section with kangaroos and koalas, also emu and dingo. The koalas were sleeping in trees and the kangaroos mostly resting. We went into a building where we saw night animals, bats, little mice etc. We went on a “Blue Mtns/Bush Walk” but didn’t see much until the end where we saw Tasmanian Devils. From here we headed toward to capybaras and saw a beautiful cassoway along the way. The two capybaras were sleeping under a little tree. We went to see lemurs but the entrance was locked and we didn’t see anything when we looked in.

Then we headed toward to African Savannah. There was a talk going on about meerkats and we saw a few cute little guys. Then some sleeping lions, then chimpanzees. We were just about to head off from the chimps when there was an enormous racket, they were screaming at each other and running and jumping all around, chasing each other up and down. It was quite amazing. And a huge racket. People started to come by to watch and eventually a park guide came by to say this was all very normal behavior and part of how the group manages who is the dominant chimp. Wow!

So after this we headed down many sets of steps to the lower part of the zoo, and the exit to the ferry. A nice ride back, but dark, threatening clouds. We went back to the Starbucks for the yummy, warm chicken and avocado sandwich, latte and tea–yummy!

Austin had been wanting to get Pavlova “eggs’ and we’d looked yesterday but I googled it again using the actual name of the “egg” and Sydney and a couple of Woolworths locations came up. One we could walk to, it was past the botanical gardens, further on past St. Marys cathedral and Hyde Park. So we walked there, but didn’t see it in the store, asked someone who didn’t know, but I had a picture and the web site showing inventory at this location, so they called over someone else and he took us right there, by the section with jello type mixes, I had looked in this section yesterday, but not in this store. So yay!

Austin got his Australian souvenir, 4 of them. On the way back we stopped in the very large St Marys church with lovely stained glass windows. Then we went to the Queen Victoria building, a block long, old building with glass roof, turned into a very high end mall.

Finally back to the hotel. I’d made a reservation at a pub with a roof top eating area where we could see the bridge, but we’d decided we wanted to eat here again; the main restaurant is closed but the bar open and same food. So we made a “sort of” reservation there for a nice table.

Then I tried to cancel the Glenmore, only got a robot not a person, said they couldn’t cancel, looked at the website which said we’d be charged if canceling within 24 hours, tried to reach them again to discuss, only got a robot, because we’d go there if we were going to be charged anyway.

Finally I got the hotel desk clerk to help, he initially only got the robot but finally after several tries got a human and confirmed we were cancelled for free. I also checked our portfolio and we hadn’t spent the $100 credit last night, our meal was less than that, so we’ll use up some of the credit tonight. Turns out it probably isn’t going to rain anyway, but we’re happy to eat here.

We got a wonderful video of Parker doing a figure skating routine and Shelby said she’s doing very well on the Colonials, getting shots and assists. Rachel sent a picture of the lake, totally frozen, perfectly smooth ice But there is supposed to be quite the snow storm tonight and into Sunday So it will get ruined, oh well! She said they’d been able to skate on the lake every weekend.

Monday, Feb. 10 Cruise day, also superbowl Sunday back home.

We had a nice dinner at the hotel bar, same food choices as the restaurant, sat out under the glass dome. We shared a chopped green salad and then had spicy chorizo hamburgers, yummy!!

/This AM we had a good BF then walked down to the cruise terminal where the Wonder was berthed. Got a good pic with the harbor bridge in the background which I sent to the kids. We’d originally thought how cool to sail under the bridge, but the ship is on the ocean side of the bridge and won’t sail under it. We were also told the ship isn’t going to leave until the middle of the night, for some reason, so we wouldn’t have been able to see it anyway.

It’s been threatening rain, not sure if it will. We’re planning to take a cab anyway so we don’t have to walk down with our luggage. Since we’re in concierge, we’re able to board in the first boarding group at about 11:15.

//On the Wonder. We got a cab and showed up around 10:30. However, we weren’t allowed in the terminal until 11. We checked in, then had to wait until around 11:30 to get onto the ship. They had a little lunch for the concierge folks in Tritons, we had lobster salad, OK, not great, one of the concierge attendants came by to answer our questions. I had also wanted to book a Royal Princess gathering. I assumed the concierge could do it, but it seems like I’ll only be on a waiting list. Wanted to ensure we have a table for 2 for dinner as well. After this, we headed to the Crown and Fin pub where they were showing the superbowl. We arrived at half time and stayed until into the 4th quarter. The Phillys were leading 24-0, then increased their score, in the end, it was pretty much a blow out.

We headed up to our room at around 2, and it was ready but no luggage, big disappointment. A small bowl of fruit as a gift. We finished the rest of the game, Austin went to check out the gym then we went to walk around a little. It had been previously pouring, but then it stopped, sail away party at 7:30, probably can be on the deck.

The concierge lounge is pretty nice and above it is a nice sun lounge. This lounge was sort of shoe-horned into space as the Wonder did not originally have a lounge. Drinks from 5-10. Snacks and nonalcoholic drinks all day, open at 7. So now its 3 PM and still no luggage. I did find out they will print us a personal navigator for each day, yay! But it doen’t look like they will have a cooking class until later in the trip. Our restaurant tonight is Tiana’s, then Triton, 2X, then Animators Palate.

Tuesday, Feb. 11

Well, of course our luggage did finally show up. We went up to the concierge lounge as the ship was leaving harbor around 7. Very nice views of the harbor. The rain had stopped so they were able to have their sail away party We had dinner at Tiana’s. It was a table for 2, but in the center of the room, so very noisy and I’d requested a quiet table. We had some good salads, we’d brought down wine from the concierge, a good NZ sac blanc. Then I had steak, a thin piece, tasty, but a little tough and some mashed potatoes and asparagus. Austin had halibut which he said was overcooked and not good. We snagged some cookies from the lounge, and also the “navigator”, just a printed sheet with activities for today Since we’re eating so late, 8:15, we’re staying up later. Slept well, comfy bed, good temp, only a little ship movement.

Today, up around 6:15. Cabanas doesn’t open until 7:30 and concierge not open until 7! I could get coffee from the deck but I waited to go up, and am able to get a latte there. We decided to eat at Cabanas however, so we went down around 7:30. Already there were a lot of people. We wanted to get fresh cooked eggs; there was a little confusion about that, but Austin waited to get the eggs, poached for me and over easy for him. I got some rice congee and fried rice as well.

After BF, I went to the morning show where they talked about some of the activities to come–a movie premiere, Captain America, crossing the equator and the international date line, 2 fireworks shows, some entertainers from Fiji, dance instruction. Why they decided to put Noumea back on the itinerary (they’d gone there because of a big storm which prevented them from going to NZ, and once there, decided it was OK to go to in the future.)

At 10:45, there was a special presentation for gold and above cruisers, behind the scenes of The Golden Mickeys. They introduced the techs, showed us a couple of scenes with the stage producer calling the prompts. We’d seen this before, it was Tarzen on a line and that time, in the actual production something happened and the show stopped, the curtain came down and they had to restart it later.

After this, we found a little lunch–salads at Cabanas. The weather is warm, it is quite windy. The photo hunt today is uniforms; I don’t do well there so not doing it.

I’ve gotten several things already in the fish extender; some are “pixie dust” things, a little bracelet with “Wonder”, some legos to make a representation of the Wonder colors, some candy and a few recipes. Wow, only the first day.

We’d requested that they move us to a quiet table and they were able to do that, but we were put on a different dining rotation, which is fine. I also checked on our ship account and we got the $250 due to Noumea cancellation, but also another $200, don’t know why.

The Gigsky internet had been a bit buggy, but it is working. We were able to download the papers and do Wordle and the puzzle. We may be using a bit too much data, though, but we do have some complementary internet from the concierge. One 24 hour plan for each of us.

Weds., Feb 12

The afternoon speaker yesterday was Bruce Kimbell who worked for Disney for 44 years. He spoke about the initial design for Disneyland Main Street and various trivia, money/time/replacement to keep gardens beautiful, trash cans repainting, incandescent light bulb replacements, etc. Pretty interesting. I walked around the deck, deck 10 for about an hour. The wind was fierce.

It was “formal night” so I dressed up a bit, then we met at the Crown and Fin at 5:25 to get popcorn and enter the theater early. It was “The Golden Mickeys” and surprisingly the theatre was not very full. But I imagine many folks who have already seen it may choose not to come, also less crowded at the early performance. But the Disney shows are always terrific, such talent, singing, acting, music, costumes, fireworks, Disney glitter at the end, such fun!

We headed up to the lounge to grab a quick drink. I had an Aperol Spritz, then we went again to the Cadillac Lounge with Joel Fernades, he’s quite good. There were almost no seats left. Such great music.

Then before dinner, we grabbed wine at the lounge. They’d switched us to a new rotation. Originally I’d seen just a new table number, but then we actually changed restaurants, so we were in Animator’s Palate. Our servers were super attentive, much better than the first night, the head restaurant server, from India, came over as well. I had potato/cheese soup, tenderloin with mashed potatoes and bok choy, some extra garden veggies, Austin had salmon tartar and tuna, perfectly cooked. So just so much better than the night before.

It was odd, though, because the restaurant was mostly empty, we didn’t understand it, we were beside the wall, but really anyplace would have been fine because so few people.

When we went back up to the lounge afterwards, they told us that they had opened up the third rotation (which they weren’t using because the ship is so empty), and moved people who were complaining about the noise, maybe there were also complaints about crowding or service? Perhaps, in order to use only 2 of the three full rotation, they chose to overcrowd the two restaurants instead of all three. Anyway, so much better now, but a bit weird with the restaurant so empty.

We slept well, but this AM they were saying that there were some really large waves overnight which rocked people in their beds. We didn’t even feel anything but it helps to be midship. At 7, we grabbed lattes in the lounge then I grabbed a little BF, and headed to the morning show. I got tickets for the Princess gathering, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Moana. Then I walked around looking for “chairs”–this is the photo challenge of the day. Along the way, I saw Moana, Mirabel and got a photo with “Princess” Minnie. Eventually back to the cabin to finish watching “The Morning Show.” It’s still rough out there, the pools are closed. It’s warm.

We grabbed a little lunch, salad and shrimp. I walked around some more trying to find all the chairs, Austin walked on deck.

At 2PM, we went to Bruce’s talk about Disney. For this one, he focused on people who helped with the parks and company in various ways so are immortalized on the “shop” windows on Main Street. He had a lot of stories. Then Austin went to the gym and I walked around more to find chairs. There is one final one I am stumped on, it is in a bar and looks correct, but it’s the wrong color. So I hope it’s because the color changes in the different lighting at night. We’ll see. The weather hasn’t been so good, very rocky with high waves and a bit rainy.

Thursday, Feb. 13

We went down to the show at around 6, it was a ventriloquist. He was pretty good; especially at the end when he worked with 3 men from the audience to “sing.”

After that up to the lounge, I got a passion fruit maitai which was good, then down to the French Quarter for music; UK songs, so Elton John, the Beatles. We like the Cadillac Lounge performer better but it’s harder to find seats there.

Finally back to the lounge to get our dinner wine, then down to Tiana’s Place for dinner. What a huge change! With a mostly empty dining room and our table by the side of the stage it was very quiet. Tiana did come out and the band played and near the end, the Alligator showed up!

I had asparagus with Bernese sauce, caesar salad with broccolini, and jumbo shrimp with jambalaya and andouille sausage and some sautéed spinach, all very yummy! Austin had mahi mahi and tortellini and spinach, the fish well cooked. So quite a nice dinner. Back in the lounge for cookies then back to the room.

This morning, we were in the Noumea harbor at 6 and docked by 7. It’s a very, very gloomy day, misty with a big black cloud but no rain as of yet.

We were able to get Gigsky initially and download the papers plus puzzles but then it went out. I went to the cafeteria, waited until the 2nd section opened because it was a madhouse, got congee, fried rice, scrambled eggs, corned beef hash and a churro Mickey–yummy!!

Austin had food in the lounge. We hung around for a while before venturing on shore.

//Off the ship a little after 9 and onto a shuttle bus which stopped first at the cruise terminal in town then continued to Lemon Beach. We originally thought we’d get off there and walk around bit it wasn’t much of a beach, very narrow, sidewalk alongside. We decided to just get off in town; however, turns out the bus did not stop there, so we had to go back to the ship and get on another shuttle. No problem. We had plenty of time; the shuttle was necessary because we were docked at a working port. We did get a little view of town. There was a shuttle waiting so we took that. We got off and walked into the town, went up to a large cathedral. The front door was locked but the side doors were open, so we went in for a moment, then walked back into town. There was a nice park with a fountain and folks were walking around and also shopping. But really, not much to see. The women were often dressed in very floral mu mu types of dresses. We came back to the ship close to lunch time, it was very hot and humid but surprisingly, it did not rain. It was so threatening when we got up.

The ship was fairly empty. We went down to Cabanas, Austin had shrimp and salad and I had sauerkraut, knockwurst, gherkins, mustard and green beans, a “German” lunch. Yum, yum.

Pretty quiet afternoon. No photo challenge, for yesterday I’d gotten the stool wrong, it was in the Oceaneer Lab; next time I need to make sure I ask at the kids’ clubs.

I ended up reading, going to see Stitch, tried some Origami, then back to the cabin, then up to see the ship leave, but eventually it started raining. The harbor was quite picturesque with hills and land on both sides. Almost finished with my book: Master slave, Husband, wife.

Shortly after 3, I went to D Lounge for an Encanto celebration, figured Mirabel and Bruno would show up, first they were making chachas, there was dancing, the room was all decorated, then Mirabel and Bruno showed up and at the end you could get pics. So cool. They are good at interacting and asked me if I had any special talent so I said I am a good grandmother and they then referenced the grandmother in the show; her pictures on the wall. That was fun. I was going to walk around for a little and saw Captain Hook out on the deck and got a pic of him. Earlier, I’d gotten Stitch. So good haul today.

I was trying to walk around deck 4, but the anchor area was blocked off so I went up to deck 9, but it was very wet and rainy. Back in the room I heard the Mickey horn going off–why? Then I saw a Carnaval boat passing by on its way to Noumea and they were blowing their horns at each other.

Feb. 14 Valentines Day

The show yesterday was Johnny Acosta, a very good singer, operatic voice, we had popcorn for the show. Then up to the lounge for a passion fruit mai tai, wine and down to the Cadillac Lounge for music. He played a variety of songs and we kept trying to identify them–Otis Redding, Elton John, Tom Petty. Back up to the lounge for wine for dinner then down to Tritons where it was nice and quiet.

The ship was very rocky and sometimes would hit a wave with a thud and a shudder which I imagine might be a bit disconcerting form some folks. Austin decided to have escargot for dinner, then salmon and I had salad and chateaubriand which was cooked perfectly and a very large portion; we had an elephant on our bed when we returned.

Sat., Feb. 15, on the way to Fiji

Yesterday, was Valentine’s Day. I’d bought a card for Austin and he gave me a book (diary) from the ship shop. We also got a few little Valentine themed goodies in our fish extender and a little gift and card on our bed last night.

Austin ate BF in the lounge and I went down to Cabanas again. The new photo challenge is signs. I missed the last one, the stool I couldn’t find was in the Oceaneeer Club. I went to the morning show where they made some calls to their wife and mother for Valentines Day.

Walked around a bit then up to the lounge where we were going to be able to get pics of a Disney character, turned out to be Donald. I wanted to be first so I could scurry down to the cooking class, Austin was here too, so we both got the pic.

The cooking class was lobster ravioli, we’ve done this one before. Another chef was by his side carving fruit animals, so cute, a penguin, dog, monkey with banana. Everyone was watching him instead of the chef.

More walking around then grabbed a quick lunch, salad and shrimp before going up to see Bluey! He is Australian so was on the Australian cruises but no one knew if he’d be on this one. I was 30 min early and already there was a long line which eventually became super long! Probably more than an hour. But it was so cute, I was next to a couple, he was in the air force and they were talking about air force life; they lived in Hawaii. Bluey was so cute! With his sister, sent the photo to Carter.

We went again to the presentation by Bruce. They’ve been interesting but not as good as some in the past.

After this, more walking around, it was very, very hot outside and the ship wasn’t rolling as much.

The performance was by Bruce Blaze, a speed painter and was much more interesting then we thought it would be.

He painted Albert Einstein upside down and painted Tayler Swift which wasn’t revealed until he threw glitter on it, and suddenly the image was revealed! He did a few characters and ended with a painting of Micky Mouse. He was also funny and engaging. It was much more interesting than we thought it would be. We had our drinks in the French Quarter Lounge, Aperol Spritz for me. The music was the trio who played in Tiana’s.

Then dinner in Animator’s Palace, a nice wedge salad and a cold rice noodle salad. Austin had ceviche then barramundi and I had slow braised short ribs and extra spinach. They talked us into the “Valentines” cake which turned out to be a chocolate layer cake with a little heart on top and strawberries.

This AM, we’re approaching Fiji. We got the internet for a short time but then it went off, because we’re near land? Austin worked on the puzzle but I didn’t get Wordle or the puzzle.

Went to the lounge for coffee, then to Cabanas. Had a yummy Mickey churro waffle, yum, yum. The answer to yesterday’s photo challenge, the little “Donald” figure which I couldn’t find was at “Quacks”. Quacks, where was that? Finally found out it is the title of the kiosk by the pool selling beach wear. Jeesh!

After BF, Austin is watching TV to get the news since no internet. Oh Well. Maybe later. But as we approach Fiji, I think it will be lost until we leave at 8PM or so. We are basically relying on Gigsky because the ship internet is so extremely expensive.

The big news today is the premier of the new “Captain America” movie. We’re not all that interested but will go anyway.

I went to the morning show, amusing as usual then went to see Moana. Spent some time trying to get a hotspot connection to Gigsky; finally able to get the WSJ and the remainder of the NYT. I was able to do the puzzle but Worldle is not coming up.

It’s interesting on our hallway, our room is larger than we’ve had before–it’s wider from the door to the balcony, there is the sofa bed with pull-down bunk plus a single bed tucked into the wall right by the veranda doors. The way they were able to do this is by getting rid of the interior cabins and moving the hallways more to the center of the ship. You can clearly see it when you leave the elevator lobby area that the hallways go in. We had a little lunch. I had some salad, egg, cheese, spiced cauliflower. Austin had some fish and cauliflower.

Now the pilot boat is here and we’re heading into the city, no beaches, just city. Also it is really hot here. We’re approaching the equator and even with the ship moving, it is really hot.

//We docked at Suva on time and the gangways were out and ready for us to get off at 1, but the customs and immigration people were late so we really didn’t get started with our tour until 2 or so. We were hanging out on deck 4, but when we got the all clear and headed toward the aft gangway, (forward reserved for Disney tours), it was totally clogged with people. Then when we exited the port, we didn’t see anyone with our name but started asking around for Kay Tours and we found them, but they should have had our names. We had a young man who drove and a young woman guide. She was perky and full of facts. We went first to Colo-I-Suva Park, a rainforest where there is a waterfall. But it had started to rain as we left the shop and was pouring when we got there, so we skipped the walk, although it was a beautiful drive through the lush rain forest.

Then we drove around several suburbs near the city, past many schools and universities, small shanties, and nice homes a very large apt building, tallest in the Pacific islands, lush plantings. Took a pic by a guard in a park. The museum was closed and shops starting to close as it was late Sat afternoon, so after driving a little more around the city, we made it back to the port. We wanted to be back in time to see “Captain America at 5:15. I gave our guide the small box of cookies I got from Japan. I had not wanted to exchange money for a tip, and anyway, I don’t think Fiji has much of a tipping culture. Back in the room, I was finally able to get Wordle, so was Austin and the puzzle. The rain had stopped by now so walking back onto the ship was fine.

Sun., Feb 16

OK, this is the first day of our 2 day repeat! So weird. Today is Sunday and tomorrow will be Sunday again!

Yesterday we watched Captain America which was OK, not great. But Harrison Ford was in it so he is at least interesting. The theatre was pretty empty which was surprising.

Then up for our pre-dinner drink. My passionfruit mai tai and then to the French Quarter Lounge for the jazz trio. Then up for our wine and back down to Tiana’s. Our table is right by the stage but no music tonight. Anyway it’s really quiet with the restaurant only half full, such a difference from our first night.

It was lobster tail night, and it was perfectly cooked, not tough as all, very tasty; they took the meat out of the shell for us. The asparagus was also really good as were the potatoes. We started with a smoked salmon and trout rilles. No dessert, back to the room.

Slept well, boat is barely rocking at all. Gigsky good, this AM although we’re still passing by small islands off of Fiji. Unfortunately, since we did the puzzle and Wordle late yesterday, it was today’s version!

So up to the lounge for coffee, Austin had his BF there, I went to Cabana’s–very warm outside but not too windy. I had a BF sandwich with cheese, egg and sausage. They were not letting folks sit outside, unfortunately. The photo challenge is “walls.” I’ve gotten several, but as always there are a couple of tricky ones.

After the morning show, I’m hoping we can get a picture with Mickey and Friends together.

It is pirate day. Jack Sparrow will be here later and there are pirate crafts and trivia in addition to “island” culture. Ukulele lessons and lei making. Tonight the Pirates party and fireworks!

//The morning show was pretty funny, they were joking about the clock change to the international date line. Also the special fireworks tonight originally for NYE, but the ship was docked at Hobert and they had a celebration of their own. Our cabin is starboard so we have a good view of them so we won’t have to go up on deck. We waited for a pic with Mickey and his friends, then went to the cooking show where he was making risotto and sea bass, all good and vegetable carver was there. So amazing.

I walked around looking all over for the walls decorations but I’m really stumped on one and not sure of another. Don’t think I’ll be able to get them all.

Had a little tandoor chicken, tomatoes, and cukes for lunch; Austin had a little snack in the lounge. Then I waited for Jack Sparrow, who admired my earrings and rings, then we went to the Disney presentation. He focused on the apartment in DisneyLand that Walt Disney used, but then after his death it was renovated for millions, used for charity now, same as the Cinderella Suite at WDW. Shared some pics of the Club 33 lounges around the world. After this, more walking around checking out walls, no luck, then tried lei making, but not doing it right, then up to relax.

Sunday, Feb. 16 Repeat! How cool and weird!

Our entertainer yesterday was a broadway performer, Gail Bennett, she was great, sang some good Disney songs.

I gave up on the photo challenge–as soon as we got to the Cadillac Lounge I saw that one pic was actually from the lounge, it looked like a knife but was just a sharp shape on the wall. But the other pic I could not find, today I found out it was in the Oceaneer Lab. Oh Well.

We were trying strategies to stay up later so we could see the fireworks; we had our drink, I had a Aperol Spritz in the lounge then dinner in Tritons–a pirate menu, had a crab cake, too much bread, and jerk chicken, good with rice and beans and spinach, and Austin had grouper. We lingered in the restaurant while the wait staff, in pirates uniforms started a Conga Line to It’s A Pirates Life for me, and got many guests to join. Then afterwards, we snagged some wine to have with the fireworks, then went back down to the Cadillac Lounge to listen to Joel’s music again. At around 10, we made our way up to the 10th deck, then to the 11th deck area for the concierge sun deck, but it was very full, so we decided to go back down to 10. Couldn’t really see the dance party but didn’t really want to. Mickey eventually zip lined over the group and then the fireworks went off over the starboard area, we could have seen them from our room, but had a much better view where we were. These were extra long because they originally were going to be the NYE fireworks but they didn’t get used. So before bed last night we set our devices to American Samoa time which meant 23 hours back, e.g., the previous day but losing one hour.

Needless to say, we slept later today. Also, it has been raining all day, finally stopping late afternoon. I went to the lounge and Austin was still sleeping, but he eventually came up. Gigsky was working well and we were able to download the newspapers and do Wordle and the puzzle. I went down for BF and had a super yummy Micky churro waffle, whipped cream and strawberry sauce.

The seas are calm and the ship is proceeding relatively slowly because we have plenty of time to get to Pago Pago. The morning show made jokes about the time change. Cooking with Chris, up to the ice cream maker on deck and to create a huge, overflowing, dripping cone. Door of the day, a beautiful door decorated with the little mermaid and other ocean things. It was quite lovely. He said some folks change their doors between occasions (e.g., Pirates) and some folks fill a suitcase full just for door stuff.

I did a lot of walking around up and down stairs for the photo challenge which was art work and I found everything fairly quickly except one final item, part of a map. Everyone seemed to think it was in Oceaneer Lab and I went in there numerous times, but it wasn’t. I finally found it in aft stairwell on 5. I’d seen that art before but hadn’t focused on it, as this was one tiny section.

Went to a 3D craft session and brought some things back. Went to a button session but the line was too long so I gathered some stuff; maybe can do it later in the cruise. The cooking class was beef tenderloin with wasabi potatoes with veal jus, just delicious! We went to Cabanas for lunch but brought it outside on deck 9 where it was sheltered because it was still raining. I had some asian salads and chicken.

The Disney presentation gave some info on how some of the rides were constructed, the haunted house hosts are mirror projections, the voices of the ghosts, the track system for Peter Pan, the construction of the Haunted House. The “elevator” built by Otis, cables actually pull the elevator down creating forces because it falls faster than gravity. Quite interesting.

Monday, Feb. 17 Pago Pago American Samoa

We came into port around 6:30-7:00 and three was a welcoming party, dancing and singing in native dress. A large sign: “Welcome to American Samoa” and American flag with a a woman welcoming us with a loud speaker. Cute! Unfortunately it is raining, not pouring but drizzly. Well maybe it will clear up. We have a bus trip, seeing island sights then a visit to a village. We went to the performance yesterday which was a juggler. Every time we get popcorn free to concierge. We always debate how good something like this will be, but it’s usually good, he was high energy and amazing and had a little kid up on stage to help him, who was incandescent and very funny. Then I got a delicious margarita and Austin wine and we went to hear Jason in Cadillac, singing country. Dinner at Animator’s palate, prime rib cooked perfectly, spinach, twice baked potatoes and greek salad.

We slept well, boat not rocking at all. No Gigsky this AM, maybe on land. The navigator said BF would be open at 6:15, but I was there before 7 and just opening then. Very few people so I was able to get poached eggs plus bacon and hash browns. I ate outside under the cover. Austin was trying to watch TV for the stock market but it is President’s Day so the markets are closed.

//We’d booked a DCL tour–Village Life. We met in the theatre then were taken to small buses with bench seats, we had a very lively young Samoan guide who gave us lots of info about American Samoan some legends, facts about the island. We stopped to see two famous rock formations off shore, then to a small park for a bathroom break. Then we went to a small village, our guide’s village. It was raining off and on but hadn’t rained when we stopped. At the village, we were supposed to be under a large tent, but just as we arrived, the whole thing collapsed with a very strong wind gust. Luckily we weren’t in it. We went into a permanent, roofed structure instead; they hastily brought over chairs. Then our guide’s mother introduced us to the village, some men showed us how they husk, bark and scrape a coconut and how they coat then pound cocoa beans for cocoa, the island sells all of its cocoa to a US buyer.

Then we were invited to visit small stalls to taste some food: breadfruit, banana, tuna with coconut milk and spinach, taro leaves with coconut milk cooked. Then we could see the cocoa roasting and pounding and taste some cocoa. After everyone was done with this, we went back to the pavilion and saw some young women dancing. Then a 10 year old girl, the village “princess,” daughter of the high priest, dressed up in an elaborate native costume plus head gear also danced, very beautiful.

Then it was off back to the ship at around 1:00. We were lucky not to get rain as we were waiting to get on because shortly after it started to rain, then very, very heavy rain with sheets of water. Folks going on afternoon excursions were not very lucky with the weather. It was a fun excursion, much better than the typical 60 per bus with AC tours we’ve taken. So we’re glad we did it.

On ship we grabbed some lunch. Austin had some shrimp and asparagus and I had some Swedish meatballs, cucumber and dill, peas and onions and potato salad.

I decided it would be a good time to distribute my recipes and other stuff since nothing was going on and no photo challenge. So we walked by all the rooms on deck 8, 7, 6, 5, and 2. But sadly, I didn’t see the winner, the “Up” door, and the butterfly door or somehow we missed it. No cell service at the port so no Wordle or puzzle. It didn’t work on land either.

We went back to the room for a while then I decided we should go off the ship for a moment and get a picture of the welcome to Samoa sign with us in it. Then Austin went to the gym and I went to D Lounge for “Who’s Behind the Curtain”–it was Bluey and his sister, so cute. I was then going to go up on deck to read but it was torrential rain.

Back in the room I eventually noticed the rain stopped so I watched the boat pull away–there were dancers and singers waving us goodby–the ship pulled away, the pilot got picked up, then the torrential rain started again!

Tuesday, Feb. 18

We’re now on Hawaii time, having turned our clocks ahead last night. We went to the performance, grabbed our popcorn. It was a cellist/pianist. He was engaging, funny and very talented. Very nice music as well.

Weds. Feb. 19

Today we are going to cross the equator, tonight at about 7PM, so they are having the “King Triton” crossing ceremony at the pool. Based on the morning show today most people have not crossed the equator (in a ship). We’ve done it several times, Viking and Oceania.

Yesterday we did all the typical activities–the photo challenge was carpets, pretty easy. Anyone can cook, an ahi tuna stack with avocado, I did actually eat some of this and I have to admit it was pretty good!

Bruce Kimbell gave some stories about VIPs that he had chaperoned in DisneyLand–Robin Williams once showed up in his Jungle Cruise boat. Sophia Loren had a BD party after hours in Fantasy Land, closed to everyone except her invited guests.

The seas have gotten better. The ship was going really fast yesterday and I thought maybe he was trying to outrun the weather. Today they’ve told us we were pretty sure to have fireworks tonight–yay!

The “crossing” ceremony just consisted of people ducking under a long decorated bar, not very elaborate.

Last nighty was the Frozen performance, this is so good. They had a technical malfunction at the beginning and had to stop, The cast members entertained the audience while they fixed it.

The show has snow puppets, and Mickey flour petals at the end. We went early and had super great seats right in the middle around row 6 and no one was in front of me.

Dinner in Tianas, no music, salad, pork tenderloin, Austin had plain salmon. The performance ended so late because it started so late, so we just had our pre-dinner drinks in the lounge, I had a delicious Margarita.

Today is warm but not beastly hot and not so windy. The cooking show was Indian, Chicken Tikka Marsala, very good but so many spices and ingredients. They also showed how to make a couple of flat breads, paratha, and a rice one from a thin batter, and little triangles of samosas.

The photo challenge is actually a scavenger hunt you have to find the Little Mermaid Skupper around the boat, then name what he is holding, then fit the letters to the word at the bottom. I gave up, even if I found everything, it’s not completely clear what exactly to label the items, say fork or silverware, glasses or eye glasses, etc.

Thursday, Feb 20

Well our cruise is almost over. In some sense, it seems like we’ve been away forever, but the time has gone quickly.

Yesterday, the cooking class was Indian Food. Too many spices and ingredients, chicken tikka masala, delicious, plus they showed how to make some various flat breads.

A lot of the day was focussed around crossing the equator. The “king triton” crossing ceremony was just having people duck under a decorated pole and then they could kiss a fake fish.

Bruce Kimball talked about some celebrities had hosted including Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson.

At 4:30 there was a presentation by several of the show cast members, Q&A–training in Toronto, auditions working on the ship, they also work as character greeters and in the deck shows. They have contracts, but when there contracts end they don’t know if they will be rehired and have to go through the process again, different then the crew members who know when there contracts end if they will be renewed,

The show was a comedic magician who did a few cute things. Just as his show was ending, the captain came on over the PA to say we were 30 seconds from crossing the equator. So some folks rushed out of the theatre to go outside; in the theatre, Chris did a countdown.

As we exited, we could see so may people standing outside and taking pictures, which is weird because you don’t see anything different, only water, The vast majority of folks on the ship seem to be first timers, so it’s particularly exciting for them.

After that we went as usual, to the lounge to listen to Joel, then to dinner. I’d run into our head restaurant manager and mentioned the good Indian food we’d had at the cooking class and he said he could make us some Indian food for dinner. So yay! That would be nice. So that’s what happened, we had salad then they brought us butter chicken, a chickpea dish and a sauce to put over rice plus some naan. Yum, yum. And a nice change from the regular menu.

Today had been calm and warm but too windy to walk around deck 4 or 10. I did do a little walking on deck 9. The morning show was fun as usual and the cooking class was apple strudel where he spread the dough extremely thinly over a large tablecloth and used that to roll up the strudel logs. We were able to eat lunch outside in the back as it was warm enough and not too windy there.

The show at 2 featured some clips of Walt Disney, the press conference acknowledging his project in Orlando, but not admitting exactly what it was for or giving away much. There was also Tonga dancing but I missed the dancing and only saw some of the presentation on the clothing. I went to the session for lei making but it took so much time to hand out/select the ribbons that I gave up. I also saw Jesse from Toy Story and Thor, a Marvel character. And I sat in on a trivia session on Airline Tails, e.g., showing the tail logos and guessing which airlines. People had to be exact in the correct name and how to spell it. Out of 25, I probably knew about half, should have known more. Some completely alien to me.

Friday, Feb 21

Hard to believe that tmr is our last sea day and when we reach Hawaii on Sunday, our tour is all day. So we’ll really just be enjoying the ship tmr.

Last night the show was put on by the cast members, several of them sang favorite songs. It wasn’t an elaborate play, just songs, they were really good.

Today is warm and sunny and not too windy and no high seas, just a perfect day to cruise. The cooking demo was lava cake, then at the end I joined Austin who was listening to a cast member talk about his career–he is the person who manages the Olof puppet. We were able to have lunch out back, warm and sunny, not too windy. I went to meet Woody then the presentation focused on Walt Disney with several tapes about him, him talking, and a tour of his offices at the studios which have been restored to exactly the way they were when he died. Just relaxing and reading the rest of the day. Rachel sent a picture, they are still skating on the lake, so late in Feb., but every night it has gotten into the teens and during the day, mostly in the 30’s.

Feb 22, Our last Day!

It’s sad that our cruise is almost over and a little hard to believe. Today is a beautiful, calm, sunny day, just perfect.

Monday, Feb 24 The End

It’s always sad to leave a Disney cruise, but as soon as we get to the airport, we’ll be anxious to get home. Confirmed our arrival with Shane and he sent some pics of Monster. It’s a beautiful day in Honolulu, great for anyone who is staying in the area. We originally thought we’d go to Pearl Harbor, USS Missouri, but the cost of the cab/Uber there plus luggage storage, $7-10 per bag, plus cab/Uber back to the airport seemed too much hassle. So we’re just hanging around the ship as long as we can, then at the airport will hang out in the lounge.

Yesterday, we spent the day on a Disney tour in Kauai. What a beautiful island! And we had really good weather, warm and sunny. Especially because this is the rainy season and they usually have rain.

We started off the day by having to clear customs and immigration. What a disaster. They had people coming to the theatre as early as 7:30 to wait when we weren’t even at the dock yet. So the theatre filled up and hundreds of people were lined up in the hallways, the lines trying to get into the theatre interfered with the line for immigration in D Lounge. One person was checking room numbers at the door; once inside D Lounge there were 5 or 6 agents standing there with no lines and they gave our passports one quick look and that was all. The whole thing was ridiculous and a huge waste of time for the passengers.

Once out of that mess, we had a little time before we reported at 9:30 for our tour. Then we were led to a van, there were 4 vans, 12-14 people each so much nicer than huge busses.

Our driver was a transplant from Vermont. He had a lot of knowledge and was engaging. He took us to several viewpoints, some stunningly beautiful vistas before we stopped in a quirky little town for lunch, scenes from “The Descendants” were filmed there. They gave us turkey sandwiches, chips, cookies and a drink. Austin and I walked across the street to get a delicious latte. It was a beautiful sunny, warm day.

After this, we went to the Wailua River where we and the other vans loaded up a huge open air boat for about a 20 min ride up the river, then a walk to the fern grotto which had beautiful rocks and a wall/cave area with beautiful long draping ferns, then back down the river, then back to the ship. A very nice trip.

The show as usual for the last night was “Disney Dreams”, just so excellent. Then our final meal in Animators Palate, some cheddar broccoli soup and chicken schnitzel and Austin had very delicious, perfectly cooked rare lamb chops, which he loved! We didn’t stay for the animated show, we thanked our servers then back to the room to finalize packing and bed.

Up early to get some coffee and food in the lounge, thanked the concierge staff, then headed back down to the room before leaving it at 8:00. We went up to deck 9 just to chill for a while. We’d decided not to go to Pearl Harbor, expensive cab, then paid luggage storage, then paid cab, and maybe not much time, so we decided just to go to the airport instead.

We left the ship close to 9; there was a long line for cabs so we just sat on a bench by the street and watched as folks loaded their huge amounts of luggage into the cabs; until the line steered out, then we hopped in one for the airport. Quick security, they were OK with our new, longer scissors, then a long walk to the G gates, then to the lounge, where were found out we didn’t get free lounge access because it was a domestic flight, some types of United Clubs allow access, but this one didn’t! Jeesh! So we just decided to buy access for $69 each, since we had a long 4 hour plus wait. The lounge is fine with nice chairs, right by the gate. Had some lattes, dole whip and a little snack food for lunch, before heading down to board. Saturday we enjoyed the beautiful weather, warm and sunny and calm seas on our last sea day. A battle between the cruise director Jimmie and the head of the hotel dept, at the cooking show. The final presentation by Bruce Kimball about some of the WDW firsts, and flops, ride technology, animatronics, monorail, some weird rides, shows, stores at Disneyland, a strange World of Color Parade with weird fairies and pixies, then the opening of “Stitch” when the castle was covered in toilet paper, the several “anniversary” celebrations where the castle was made into a pink “cake” or otherwise colored differently. We were trying to finish our books so we could leave them and enjoy our last time on the ship. The show was the crew talent show, which was just terrific, some singers, Japanese dances, tap dancers, a music group with drum and guitar, the cruise director et. al, as swimmers doing some weird exercises–lots of fun.

On board the plane, it was a very different business class experience from when we go overseas. We had the nice seats, but the dood and drink service was quite limited and fast, without the normal plating, table cloths, etc. No choice of wine, just a terrible chardonnay. It was late anyway, and we planned to just sleep, which I was successful at. In fact, there was a little breakfast service, but I didn’t wake up until later on.

We landed fine, and Rick picked us up. So early in the morning, with our whole day ahead of us, a bit strange, since we normally are landing at night from our trips.

A great trip. Seemed to be away for so long.