Flexibility is the word of the day!

Today we were scheduled to stop at Waitangi (Bay of Islands) New Zealand. Last night  the captain notified us that due to high winds and torrential rains the port would not be available for us to Tender into.  Viking has a fabulous tender operation and I have never been unsure of their capabilities to get us into the port. The tender ride would have been almost a half hour long and due to the rough,very rough seas it would not have been a safe ride for any of us. So instead, the Captain made arrangements for us to head straight to Auckland and dock before the winds become a problem in their harbor. Of course we were told we must stay on board till after 5:30 when the work being done on the dock is finished and then freedom (after 6 days at sea, although we did cross the dateline and lost a day).  

Gray skies as we enter the harbor.

Even on a rainy cloudy day the Auckland skyline looks pretty cool!  Notice the whitecaps on the bay!

As soon as we could, we headed out to find Oysters!  We’ve thought about them for days, had plans on finding them in our cancelled stop and tonight’s the night!!

We found a restaurant “the Shucker Brothers” and off we are going! Leaving this lady behind..

Within a block we found this

We didn’t hesitate..one dozen oysters, 4 cooked oysters and fish and chips! I wish I could share with you how fresh and salty they were! We wolfed them down but then I remembered to take a picture

Above: cooked with bacon,bourbon and chipotle butter yummmmm

Well take it from me.. three large pieces of white flaky tasty fish that practically melted in your mouth! And chips of course!! Along with a Sav Blanc from Marlborough it was heaven!

After all that, we needed to walk a little to not feel so guilty.

One of the buildings near our dock. The center business district is right at the dock so it’s going to be real easy to explore on our own tomorrow.

This area is a unique mix of old and new

We made our walk without getting hard rain, just light sprinkles.  The harbor terminals are surrounded by beautiful red iron gates that seem to look very old. This was the insignia on them

And with that picture I will bid you all good night! Tomorrow we will explore in the morning and take a bus tour of the area to see those sights that are not within walking distance. So far the extra night in Auckland has been worth leaving Waitangi behind. ( even though it meant we missed the GlowWorm caves)

And just like that: More Sea Days

 We have five days of sailing agin to get to New Zealand.  i must say, Viking tries hard to keep us entertained and fed well. Tonight’s special meal is a Polynesian Buffet with  something for everyone.

A full page of goodness!

Always interesting centerpieces!

Fresh Mahi Mahi grilled in front of us. In the background you can see the aft pool/hot tub. Its always nice to have them set the grills outside and cook for us. 

There’s always fresh fruits and vegetables available.

After a full stomach and a good night’s rest we are ready for day 2 

Nothing beats sitting on the veranda having our morning coffee and watching the blue sea, planning our day. Today we have a “behind the scenes” tour of the ship. Viking is very proud of this new ship and like to show off the “guts” of how the provide such great service.

Our General Hotel Manager Ronald led us through the tour. First up is the amazing kitchens

The room service kitchen. They serve about 180 room service orders daily. I can attest to their great service.. its always on time and tasty.

Each restaurant has its own prep crew.

Even the crew in the kitchen always have a smile for us!

Many of the crew start at 2am baking the muffin, pastries and breads for breakfast.Then on to the pastries and pies, cakes and breads for lunch…There are five restaurants aboard  serving 900+ passengers three times a day plus snacks! 

Ronald is explaining how they order supplies for the ship.  They do their best to anticipate what the passengers might want to eat and drink.  They miscalculated their order for non-alcoholic beer and ran out.. that was rectified recently. They order supplies three months ahead and have them shipped to one of our destinations to be loaded on the ship when we arrive.There is always a few items missing.One order was missing $120K of supplies that were delivered to a dock in Barbados… Only problem ,we didn’t sail to Barbados! Another sisterViking ship docked there got as much stuff on board as they could, but much of the order was left behind and lost.  If the ship is docked at a dock port, there is an opportunity for them to buy local produce and fruit as much as possible. The reason we had the MahiMahi last night was because the chef was able to go to the fresh market in Honolulu and purchase fresh fish to keep on board. FYI, we will go through approximately 180,000 bottles of wine and about 600,000 beers on this journey.

Standing in the intersection of I-95. There is a long, wide passageway that runs the length of the ship. This is the major walkway for staff and supplies to get from one end of the ship to another.  

 a look down the I-95

Next up was the engine room. We were not allowed to take pictures of the room. I can tel you there were lots of computers and gauges.

Below is the engine room door just around the corner

We are so far down under in the ship that the alphabet doesn’t even get  a capital!

On to the laundry!

The laundry is a never ending job. I always imagined someone whose only job was to stand and fold towels,napkins,sheets…. Instead this machine takes damp cleaned sheets,napkins,table cloths,anything that needs folding and drys the item AND folds it in one process!!! I’d love one of these at home! 

And out it comes completely folded and dry!

The ship’s laundry does  all the laundry for crew members.  They feel they want the crew to be able to  spend their time relaxing and refreshing themselves for service to the passengers and not worrying about how to get their laundry done.  So they get theirs done. Some of the executive suites include laundry, so those passengers also get it done here.  All laundry from any room that has had covid is done separately in a machine dedicated to that purpose, away from all other laundry to prevent any cross contamination.  

It is an amazing facility and once again all the crew had smiles on their faces and seemed happy to show off where they work. 

 One distinctly noticed thing about Viking staff is the never ending smiles, kindness and service from every member of the crew.. From the cleaning staff, our room stewards, the deck crew, the wait staff in restaurants, the bar staff, the guest services staff…Everyone! We found out why during our tour.. this was on the wall of the I-95 where every staff member walks..

It reads: Smile and make an amazing connection 

              Take care of yourself,each other and our ship

              Act to create great memories

              Respond,recover and make it right

Viking has been voted one of the top cruise lines for the last two years. They focus completely on their passengers. This is how they provide star service to the passengers. I can certainly vouch that they do try their very best for us. My family knows how grumpy I am in the morning effort I’ve had a cup of coffee…Now my coffee is given to me with a host of fresh smiles and a “good Morning,Madame.. did you sleep well? …I am so very spoiled!!!! 

 

Papeete..our last day in Paradise

 Well, last night as we went to bed this was what we saw from our veranda 

I pulled open the curtains this morning and saw this:

WOW! This is the exploration yacht “Arctic” (Arctic P) . This ship can go anywhere in the world.  It was incredibly impressive. It is a refurbished icebreaker that started life as a tug boat in 1969 and was fitted for icebreaking and owned by one family and just recently has been fitted to be a charter yacht.  This ship has every toy you could want for exploration..jet skis, zodiacs,helipad, and for just 400,000 dollars per week you can experience it with twelve of your friends and a full staff including a dive instructor.  If you want to know more please google Arctic P..I’d be happy to be invited long if you decide to rent it.

Then when I turned my head this was moored next to the Arctic:

This yacht is also available for charter…$800K per week. Think I will stick where I am!

Today we took a walking tour of the city.  Our tour left at 9:am and it was already hot and humid. Being intrepid travelers meant we just grinned and bared it.  Our guide was fun and had lots to tell us about his city. We walked from the ship across this lovely little gazebo area where during the early evening there will be many food trucks for the community.

Our first stop is the city hall/registry/office of the mayor. It is a faithful reproduction of the Mansion of Queen Pomare IVwho ruled the island until 1854 when the island became a French Protectorate.

This is where all couples who are getting married must come first to be married by the local government and then they can go to the church to have a religious ceremony.  

The chapel is simple but nice and opposite the chapel is a mural of island life and is strongly reminiscent of Paul Gauguin’s work

We are here during the Chinese New Year so the streets were decorated to celebrate the year of the Rabbit. 10% of the population is Asian.

Our next stop was the Papeete Market. Vendors gather early each day to sell fruits,vegetables,fresh caught fish, and homegrown home made items.  It was full of everything you might want to take home..food,shell gifts, black pearls,flowers,prepared foods, French pastries….from 6am-8am most people stop and get a pastry and coffee to eat before they head to their jobs. The bright red wrought iron walls are inviting and typical of many things in Tahiti..colorful

Entering the market

Fruits including bananas and pineapples

From the Market we walked through the streets of town to get to the Cathedral. One thing our guide mentioned as we walked was the level of homeless we would see. Since the islands are small and there are high unemployment rates on the smaller islands, many young people try to come to Papeete to find better jobs. They often stay with relatives until the situation becomes uneasy and they take to the streets to live. One mission of this cathedral is trying to help them. By European standards, most of the churches and cathedrals we have seen are simple and unadorned. 

The Virgin Mary and child greets you when entering

When in recent times the church stained glass was repaired/replaced the themes were changes to show more of island life and more inclusive of the island population .

This marker was outside the church near the road. Our guide explained that until 2018 there was no house numbers on the island.  Mail was delivered to a post office box in every small communities.  if you needed to give directions to someone to find your house you would tell them how many kilometers from this marker. The marker reads Papeete Polynesian kilometer 0. Our guide lives at PK19,meaning he lives 19 kilometers from here .. further directions would include turning at a palm tree or  mentioning some geographical feature. In 2018 the government finally decided to give all homes a number and direct mail delivery. 

Our walk continued and look at what we found!

What a grand meal! Certainly enough to feed a family!

Our last two stops were a garden near the French office buildings and a park near the dock. 

This provided a much needed shade. The gentle walk along a koi pond( without the koi) (instead local fish.) many of the plants were in bloom including a “rainbow “ hibiscus.

The bloom starts green in the morning turning to yellow in the afternoon then hitting red by evening and orange at dusk. It was in its yellow phase for us but you could see old ones that had turned red/orange on the banks. 

This garden is on the grounds that used to house Queen Pamore. It certainly was peaceful.

 Our last stop was a park named for General Bougainville. 

There were a few structures that were representing a typical Tahitian home in the past- open on all sides with a thatched roof. This provided for ventilation during the heat of the day. After 2 hours of walking in the heat and humidity,Al and Steve left to go snorkeling and Susan and I walked back to the market to get some fresh gardenias for our rooms. Then we sat in the pool and relaxed all afternoon. Tonight the entertainment was a destination event.  We were entertained by a local dance group who treated us to a wonderful concert of native dancing.

 It was a great way to spend our last few hours in Pepeete, Tahiti!