Getting our sea legs (Post #3)

Today was the first of our five sea days before we arrive in Honolulu on March 6^th.  It’s quite chilly in the eastern Pacific Ocean in March which is often a little surprising to people not familiar with this part of the ocean.  The swells in this part of the Pacific will also likely be the highest we experience the entire cruise – and sure enough, the deck motion was obvious and while not too severe, you could definitely tell you were on a ship.  If you are prone to seasickness, its always important to start taking any precautionary measures, pills or a patch or wristband etc, before the onset of any symptoms.  Once you start to feel the effects often times the remedies aren’t able to reverse the effects.

One of the traditions on any HAL Hawaii or South Pacific cruise is the Polyneisian Cultural Team.  This group will lead passengers in Lei Making, Hula Dancing, Ukelele Classes and a series of lectures on a variety of topics.  We were happy to see that COVID restrictions didn’t prevent them from coming onboard.

Their first, and probably most popular event, was the lei-making class held at 10 AM in the BB King Lounge.  We got there about 45 minutes early to ensure we got a spot and flowers as sometimes they run out.  They brought plenty this time so I think everyone was accommodated regardless of when they arrived.

I was happy to see that they will be holding two Texas Hold’em tournaments daily – $60 buy-in for $5000 in tournament chips.  The blinds start small, 25/50 and increase every 15 minutes which makes for a nice game, although they will take 90-120 minutes depending on how things go.

My luck wasn’t with me today and I was knocked out early.

The big event today would be another COVID test for all the passengers to meet the requirements to avoid quarantine upon our arrival in Hawaii.  Testing started at noon, working its way from Deck 1 up thru Deck 8.  As we are on Deck 8 it would likely be about 3 hours until our deck was called.  Once we were tested we had to remain in our cabin for 20 minutes hoping the phone wouldn’t ring telling us we were positive.  No call in 20 minutes meant that our tests were negative.  I may have given some friends a scare as I called their room, not aware they were in their 20 minute window hoping the phone wouldn’t ring.  Everyone relaxed when they realized it wasn’t medical calling.

Our Deck was called at 2:49 PM and even with the time is took for us get from Deck 8 to the Stuyvesant room, we were done with the test by 3 PM.  After our 20 minute wait was over, we heading to the MDR to catch “Afternoon Tea” which was already in progress.  The tea service was fine, but while HAL does many things exceptionally well, no one sails on HAL for the Afternoon Tea.  If you want the best tea service on the high seas, then seek out Cunard Line – they can’t be beat in this area.

We met Gail and Marty for dinner in the Pinnacle this evening.  Gail and Marty run the Linus project on the World Cruises and are very active on Cruise Critic aka “Gail & Marty sailing away”.

The food and service in the Pinnacle was top notch – as always.  We haven’t spent much time with Gail and Marty previously and it was a real joy to get to know them better.

The evening’s entertainment was a quartet from Great Britain called – Masters of the Musical.  They were wonderful and sang a variety of popular show tunes from over the years.  They were very good and if you enjoy Broadway musicals – don’t miss them if you see them on the schedule.