23 November 2007

23 November 2007
Aloha All,
My flight to Honolulu was uneventful and almost an after thought as compared to the 44 hours it took me to return from Swaziland. Good friend Dotty Laird was kind enough to pick me up at 4:45 AM and take me to BART for my ride to the San Francisco Airport. I arrived at the “Pride of Aloha” hours before closing and my embarkation was relaxed and comfortable. The lines were long but no one seemed in a hurry and the time provided for a wonderful chat with some people from SouthAfrica who just moved to their retirement home in Hawaii. I found myself the only person in line 1) carrying a coat, 2) wearing long pants and 3) wearing socks. I changed all of that as soon as I was on board and my suitcases were delivered to the stateroom.
Bridge Director Martin arrived several hours later and quickly established contact with the ship’s personnel responsible for the arrangements we need for the duplicate bridge games. It was learned that we will have five games and one lesson. There is only one day “at sea” but we will have games on port days for those who don’t go ashore. Our first game yesterday only filled three tables and that was with me playing. It looks like bridge on this cruise will be pretty relaxed. On Martin’s last cruise he had fifteen tables each day at sea with an overflow of beginner types that filled another half dozen or so tables.
Martin has been sailing almost non stop for the past six months. In the last three years he has been at sea for just over 600 days. One would say that he is really into this Bridge Director thing. At age 55, it appears he has developed a life style that he hopes to continue as long as the cruise lines will have him aboard as a Bridge Director.
The Pride of Aloha is larger than I was led to believe. It maxes out at 2500 passengers and about 1500 crew. It features a half dozen restaurants and the usual theater and bars. The only music on board is provided by a six man band that is into rock and roll primarily, a guitar player who is accompanied by an electronic synthesizer and a piano bar kind of guy. The first night on board, the only dancing was with a DJ who was nice and loud and pleasing to the 20/30 something group of about a dozen dancers. The guitar player was entertaining and I sat through a scotch listening to his variety of songs. During his act, while he was playing something surreal, a lady sat next to me at the bar and seemed mesmerized by the song(?). When it finished, I commented that the tune was certainly different. She was quick to tell me that she had requested it because it was the song that her daughter had played at her recent wedding. Oops!!
The clientele on board represents a huge group from Australia, an equally large group from Canada and the rest from the US and the rest of the world. There is a noticeable absence of the usual Japanese tourists and, as a matter of fact, other foreign groups. The usual elevator chatterings that include a number of different foreign languages is missing; an unusual occurrence in my experience.
Martin and I were discussing another interesting observation at breakfast this morning. It seems that more than half of the passengers prefer to eat at the 11th floor Buffet, with long waiting lines, rather than use one of the dining rooms. We decided that perhaps the clientele attracted to this cruise may be more comfortable eating on formica with paper napkins rather than at a linen covered table with a liveried waiter looking after your every need. This morning we found that one of the restaurants actually closed for breakfast for the remainder of the cruise because of the lack of business.
The crew is different. Most of the cabin stewards are stewardesses and the wait staff in the restaurants seems to be made up of kids who probably haven’t reached their majority. A few of the waiters seem to be long time professionals but they are out numbered by the kids who are probably limiting their sea adventure to their first five month contract. After sailing for so many years aboard the Marco Polo where the crew was almost entirely from the Philippines, the youthful blonde faces seem out of place. The kids all seem to be having the time of their lives.
Our sailing schedule will include three days in Honolulu, two days on Hawaii (Kona and Hilo), three days on Maui, two days on Kauai and one day at sea. The schedule doesn’t provide any place that I haven’t been before but there may be some side trips that will provide some new experiences. Martin lived in the Islands for five years as a Travel professional and he has suggested that, if nothing else, we should rent a car on Kauai to see a site that he believes to be the most spectacular in the islands.
I had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings beautifully served. The food was great but they didn’t serve Richard’s GranMarnier stuffing. What a shame!
Love to all,
Grandpa/Dad/Bill