The next leg after Brisbane was another sea voyage, this time towards Honolulu on Royal Caribbean International’s Quantum of the Seas, with stops along the way in French Polynesia.
We’ve already written quite a bit about our Atlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2 and our thirty-four night cruise from Barcelona to Melbourne on the Queen Elizabeth. In some ways this was “yet another cruise”, but there were some interesting differences and some port visits that are worth writing about.
We had boarded fairly early in the afternoon, and weren’t sailing until evening, so we had lots of time to walk around and get familiar with the ship. We spotted these pelicans hanging out on a sandbar beside us. You don’t get a good sense of scale from this photograph, but they were enormous.
There was a bit of rain, which gave us a double rainbow.
By the time we pulled out it was dark. The industrial part of the harbour looks quite pretty when you can’t actually see it.
Starting next morning, this was more or less the view. This photo was taken from the aft end of the Windjammer Buffet area, way up on deck 14, where we sat for breakfast most days. We were seven days at sea before our first port visit, which included crossing the international date line so we got April 7th twice. This was the largest continuous stretch at sea of all our cruises: one sea day longer than the Atlantic crossing. The Pacific is big!
Greg realized long after we’d planned this year that he’d managed to optimize things to have 100.55% of a regular sabbatical. The fact that it’s a leap year gives us 366 days instead of the usual 365; and crossing the international date line makes it 367. Yes, we lose 24 individual hours along the way by circling the globe widdershins – but we gain an extra sunrise and sunset, which is what counts. Or so Greg claims.
This is Quantum of the Seas, viewed from the port stern, at the docks in Papeʻetē, Tahiti. We were port side in the forward section on deck 8, which is two up from the lifeboats. As you can see, the ship is enormous. She can accommodate 4900 passengers fully loaded (compared to 2700 on the Queen Mary 2 and 2100 on the Queen Elizabeth) but “only” had 4400 aboard for our voyage. However, all the amenities are appropriately scaled, so we never felt particularly crowded.
The passengers on this trip were about two-thirds Australian, with the rest being mostly Americans, New Zealanders, and a few outliers like us. Overall the passengers were quite a bit younger than our last couple of cruises; we were in the middle of the demographic rather than the junior end. And there were quite a few families on board, with about 450 of the passengers being “junior cruisers” aged seventeen or younger.
This was our stateroom. It was quite similar to the balcony cabin we had on the Queen Elizabeth, but the bed was a bit less comfortable and the couch was much less comfortable. One nice feature was the large-screen television. It was a smart TV tied into the ship’s systems, but Greg figured out how to hack it so he could connect our laptop and let us watch movies from our collection. Speaking of the laptop, you can see it set up just left of the window, where there was a perfect spot for a standup desk. Aside from other work, Greg wrote fourteen travel diary entries mostly from there.
Karen particularly enjoyed the balcony, and stepped outside first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening, every day of the cruise.
As expected, the RCI Quantum of the Seas had much more of a “let’s have fun” vibe than the Cunard ships we were on earlier in the trip. In this photo, left to right, there’s a wave rider surfing pool, an iFly freefall simulator, a rock climbing wall, a running track, and an inexplicably magenta bear.
The centre of the ship was a two-level concourse, mostly lined with shops, bars, and restaurants. During the day it was usually packed; this is an evening shot when most of the stores were closed.
This is more of the shopping concourse. What the ship didn’t have was much in the way of quiet spaces. There was loud music almost everywhere, the “library” was just a few shelves of books, and worst of all for Karen there was no nook for doing jigsaw puzzles. But Karen did find one quiet meeting room tucked away at the back of the Two70º Theatre, which she used to rehearse this year’s Shimmy Mob choreography. The ship did have an outstanding gym, with one high-ceilinged section that Greg put to good use for juggling practice.
The dining rooms on Quantum were also a bit different from what we’d seen previously. Rather than one large multi-level “grand” dining room, there were four smaller and “cosier” restaurants split across two decks. We were in the Silk restaurant for dinner. The decor was vaguely east Asian; Karen said it really reminded her of some of the middle-eastern restaurants we’d been in, and she kept expecting a belly dancer to appear.
We did get to see dancers in the restaurant: Royal Caribbean has the wait staff in the dining rooms do group dance numbers during dinner a few nights of the cruise. The quality and enthusiasm varied widely and we mostly found ourselves embarrassed on their behalf.
We were slotted for the early shift fixed dining, with arrival at 5 pm, and were seated at a table for eight. The first night we were the only two at our table, and there was another couple just over from us, all alone at a table for six. We told them we’d join them the next night if no one else showed up – but we did have one more join us for the remaining nights, and the other couple moved themselves to a full table.
Our table-mate was an Australian named Dean who had retired fairly young from a career doing disaster recovery planning for bank information systems. He was both nice and interesting, and we got on quite well, so dinners were very pleasant. Dean is a frequent cruiser and RCI “Diamond Plus” member, which gives him five free drinks a day. Since he doesn’t drink alcohol or specialty coffees, this isn’t a lot of use to him, so he normally used three of his slots for one virgin peach daiquiri and a couple of cans of diet Coke each day – and bought us a couple of drinks with the other two. Thanks, Dean!
And of course, here’s that staple of the cruise experience: towel animals on the bed. It’s a frog. We think. Or possibly Admiral Ackbar.
We were slotted to have three consecutive shore days in French Polynesia in the middle of the cruise, with a long day in Papeʻetē, Tahiti, and shorter days in Moorea and Raiatea. None of those worked out exactly as planned, which is partly on the cruise line and partly on us.
During the cruise from Brisbane to Tahiti, one of the ship’s four engine pods failed, which meant we had to cruise at a slower speed. As a result, rather than getting in to Papeʻetē first thing in the morning, we arrived early afternoon. This led to many of the planned excursions being cancelled, and left much less of an opportunity for those of us without excursions to enjoy the port. As compensation for the delay, the ship gave each cabin between seventy-five and a hundred and fifty US dollars as shipboard credit (depending on cabin type); we got US$100.
Once we were able to get off the ship, we went for a walk through the very touristy area around the cruise dock and then out through Paofai Gardens, a lovely park along the shoreline. That’s Quantum of the Seas behind us.
Tahiti really is beautiful. The canoe is Marama Nui I Te Ra - Te Ra Nui Marama, a replica of the vessels used by the Polynesian peoples during their exploration and settlement of the Pacific islands.
This is part of a peace memorial, commemorating the 193 atomic bombs detonated as tests by France on the Moruroa and Fangataufa Atolls, and their effects on the Mā‘ohi islanders.
This is a happier memorial, to Bobby Holcomb, 1947–1991. “Singer, composer and painter; Bobby contributed to the revival of Polynesian culture. Symbol of the richness and diversity of the Polynesian people, he and his work were welcomed and adopted by the Mā‘ohi people.”
Chickens roamed freely in the Gardens.
Of course, there were many beautiful plants, and Karen had to take pictures.
We went back aboard in time for dinner, and got to enjoy views of Papeʻetē by night before the ship sailed.
The next day we were in Moorea, a smaller island in French Polynesia. The island doesn’t have a dock large and deep enough for cruise ships, so we were moored in Baie d’Opunohu with passengers taken ashore by the ship’s lifeboats acting as tenders.
There weren’t really a lot of options ashore if you weren’t on an excursion of some sort, and the weather had rain on and off, so we decided to stay on board and enjoy the lovely views. The red dot out by the tip of land was the tendering destination.
Like the other Pacific islands, Moorea is an ancient volcano. These peaks are the remnants of a volcanic crater wall.
Another view of the island, with a couple of people cluttering up the picture.
The view out to sea. You can see the reef line where the waves are breaking, protecting the harbour. The yellow boat at right of the picture is one of the tenders on its way to shore, with the red-roofed tender destination on the left.
The next day was another port visit, this time to the island of Raiatea – or at least, that was the plan. Unfortunately the winds and swell were too high for the ship to safely enter the harbour, so the Captain gave it up after three attempts and announced that we’d be spending the day aboard.
We spent the morning and early afternoon doing loops of Raiatea and the other nearby islands, which at least gave us something to look at – and kept Greg connected to the cellular data plan he’d purchased.
This is the smaller island of Bora Bora, quite near Raiatea.
Being a larger ship, Quantum of the Seas had lots of entertainment options. In addition to the main live theatre (the Pacifica), which had a different show each evening, there was a second, smaller theatre called Two70º which presented a site-specific production called Starwater on most nights.
Two70º was equipped with floors that raised and lowered in multiple configurations, a projection system that spanned the entire back wall, and a set of large display screens mounted on robotic arms that “danced”. All of these were used in the show, to good effect. The show started off weirdly slow, with a lot of what Greg calls “poncing about”, but eventually the pace picked up. There was a lot of good dancing, some excellent singing, and some serious visual spectacle – including the lead singer’s dress rolling out to cover the entire stage and acting as a projection surface while the other singers and dancers waved it up and down. A strange and rather abstract show, but with strong singing and dancing, and visually stunning, so we enjoyed it.
As on our previous cruises, shows in the Pacifica Theatre had guest entertainers some nights and music and dance production shows from the ship’s theatre company on the others. This was “Mercury Rising” by Steve Larkins, billed as a tribute to Freddy Mercury with a bit of comedy. The music was quite well done, but we found some of the “comedy” a bit flat and not particularly respectful to the source. Kudos to Mariano (at left), lead guitarist in the ship’s orchestra, who did a solid job covering some very tricky Brian May guitar solos.
On a whim, we decided to go the ship’s crew talent show, which was presented in the Pacifica Theatre one afternoon. We were expecting a lot of singing and dancing – which we definitely got – but one of the senior bartenders put on a really energetic and highly skilled bar flair performance, including some actual juggling. He placed third, after a truly excellent singer and a singer-dancer.
There was one circus-themed act on the cruise: “Mario, Queen of the Circus” which is a character of American-Australian juggler Clarke McFarlane. This was another Queen / Freddy Mercury themed act, and a lot of fun to watch. Clarke gave a fabulous demonstration of the right way to get a volunteer up on your shoulders while you unicycle: you can see that she’s actually having fun rather than being terrified. Greg’s favourite bit of high skill in the act was Clarke doing hula hoop, on a rola bola, while balancing a Freddy Mercury doll on his face; all on the deck of a moving ship.
Much to Karen’s delight, there was a guest choir on this ship as well. Three of the vocalists from the ship’s theatre company coached and directed the choir. The performance was in the Pacifica Theatre. Karen is at right in blue.
And here’s a closeup. Can you tell she was having fun?
Group photo, following the concert.
There was a Crossing the Line ceremony by the pool on the day we went over the equator. Here you can see King Neptune with his Queen and court, ready to mete out punishment to the “pollywogs” among the ship’s company who hadn’t previously crossed the equator by ship. The ceremonial punishment involved the miscreants getting increasingly large volumes of ice dumped on their heads and down their shirts, after which they were made to kiss a fish and declared to be “shellbacks”. Much of the ice ended up in the pool, and they had to repeatedly ask the kids in the pool not to eat it. At the end of the formal part of the ceremony, any passengers who were themselves “pollywogs” were also invited to kiss the fish. We had to wonder whether we were still on the same ship that had hand sanitizer at the entrance to every public area and a “washy washy” handwashing station at the entrance to the buffet.
On the second-last night of the cruise the production show in the theatre was Sonic Odyssey, featuring an enormous instrument called the “Earth Harp”. Apparently there are only five of these in the world. The harp’s strings reached all the way from the stage to the theatre balcony, with weighted stops at different lengths to tune them. The musician wore gloves with what appeared to be talc on them, and played the strings by drawing along them, which gave an effect like a violin’s bow. So maybe “harp” is the wrong name, and “super ultra tetra-icosa cello” would be better. Or not.
The performance also featured a wall of drums, played by the company’s vocalists and dancers. It was a really solid show, with great music, dance, and spectacle, which we really enjoyed.
There was also quieter entertainment, in some of the bars, some of the evenings. This duo played a mix of classical and pop songs. The violinist (who was also featured in Sonic Odyssey) was very emotive; her husband the guitarist was stone faced, more like your stereotypical bass player.
The original itinerary had us arriving in Honolulu early on April 19th, which was the day we were to disembark. However, the US immigration authorities wanted to do a full face-to-face inspection of all the passengers and crew, so we actually got into port the morning of the 18th. The inspection, which was broken into sixty groups, lasted all afternoon and into the evening. Groups were called in waves to keep the queue sizes down. Fortunately for us they had a designated queue for US and Canadian citizens, which gave us a shorter wait once our group was called.
This was the view from the upper deck, looking south-east along the coast from the Pier 2 cruise dock. The cluster of tall buildings is Waikiki, which is mostly resort hotels. We booked an apartment in the Ilikai Marina condominiums on the near edge of Waikiki, indicated by the arrow. The hill in the distance is Diamond Head.
This was the view looking north-west into the harbour. Holland America’s ship the Koningsdam was at Pier 11, the other cruise dock. Honolulu is a busy cruise port; there were ships at both piers every time we went past during our stay in the city.
This was the view looking west and slightly out to sea. In the foreground is Sand Island; beyond that is the airport, and in the far distance you can just see Pearl Harbour before the hills.
By the time we got through immigration it was late afternoon, and we had nine full days to spend in Honolulu, so we stayed on the ship until departure time the next morning. This was our last view of her after disembarking, as we headed off to pick up bus passes en route to our apartment.
