Friday, June 19, 2009

South Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand

Sept 22, - Nov. 24, 2009
DAY DATE PORT
Tue Sept 22 San Francisco, CA
Wed Sep 23 San Francisco, CA
Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun Sep 24 At Sea
Mon Sep 28 Hilo, Hawaii, HI
Tue Sep 29 Lahaina, Maui, HI
Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat Sep 30 At Sea
Sun Oct 4 Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Mon Oct 5 Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Tue Oct 6 Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Tue Oct 6 Moorea, French Polynesia
Wed, Thur Oct 7 At Sea
Fri Oct 9 Apia, Samoa
Sat Oct 10 Pago Pago, American Samoa
Sun Oct 11 Cross International Dateline
Tue Oct 13 Suva, Fiji
Fri Oct 16 Auckland, New Zealand
Sat Oct 17 At Sea
Sun Oct 18 Wellington, New Zealand
Mon Oct 19 Christchurch (Lyttelton), New Zealand
Tue Oct 20 Dunedin (Port Chalmers), New Zealand
Wed Oct 21 Fjordland National Park, New Zealand
Thur, Fri Oct 22 At Sea
Sat Oct 24 Sydney, Australia
Sun, Mon Oct 25 At Sea
Tue Oct 27 Fjordland National Park, New Zealand
Wed Oct 28 Dunedin (Port Chalmers), New Zealand
Thu Oct 29 Christchurch (Lyttelton), New Zealand
Fri Oct 30 Wellington, New Zealand
Sat Oct 31 At Sea
Sun Nov 1 Auckland, New Zealand
Mon, Tue Nov 2 At Sea
Wed Nov 4 Suva, Fiji
Wed Nov 4 Cross International Dateline
Thu Nov 5 Apia, Samoa
Fri Nov 6 Pago Pago, American Samoa
Sat, Sun Nov 7 At Sea
Mon Nov 9 Moorea, French Polynesia
Mon Nov 9 Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Tue Nov 10 Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Wed Nov 11 Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun Nov 12 At Sea
Mon Nov 16 Honolulu, Oahu, HI
Tue Nov 17 Lahaina, Maui, HI
Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat Nov 18 At Sea
Sun Nov 22 Los Angeles, CA
Monday Nov 23 Los Angeles, CA
Tuesday Nov 24 Home

Getting Ready

Final payment is due July 21 for our adventure to the South Pacific. We have our air to San Francisco arranged and have been meeting fellow cruisers on Cruise Critic. We have even arranged to join some of them on private tours at several of our stops. We still need to book pre and post hotels in SF and LA. I'll do that soon. We are waiting for Princess to post the ships shore excursions so we can confirm our activities for each port.

When we got home from South America we knew we wanted to go on another long cruise. I didn't really expect for it to happen this soon. This cruise is 60 days. South America was 49 days. Maybe we can work up to a real World Cruise one day.

We booked in late April but had questions this month as to whether we would be going or not. First was the tumor in Reba's breast. Dr Phillips removed the mammary gland and we were relieved when the lab report came back benign. Then Jack found an enlarged lymph node under his arm. The surgeon who removed it said he was 98% sure it was just an infection. We will have the lab report next week but are encouraged by the statement from the surgeon.

Our cruise sails on Sept. 23 and returns on Nov. 22, 2009. Out of SF we have four sea days before arriving in Hilo, Hawaii on Sept 28. The next day Lahaina, Maui, HI. Then four more sea days to Bora Bora on Oct 4, Tahiti on Oct 5 and Moorea, French Polynesia on the 6. Two days at sea to Apia, Samoa on Oct 9 and Pago Pago, American Samoa on the 10. We cross the International Dateline on Oct 11. Arrive in Fiji on the 13. The next stops are in New Zealand. Auckland, Wellington. Christchurch and Dunedin. Finally on Oct, 24 we arrive in Sydney.

Sydney is the end of the first segment of the cruise. Many passengers will depart and new people will get on. The return trip has the same stops except that in Hawaii we go to Honolulu instead of Hilo. We are planning an independent tour at each port on one stop and a ships tour the other time. I wish we were seeing more of Australia. We considered ending the cruise in Sydney and spending a week or so there but the thoughts of that airplane ride back home made the decision to continue with the cruise ship home. I guess we will have to go back again.