Papeete Tahiti April 6th. 2011

Hello one and all,

Last night is one I won't care to remember, after saying our goodbyes my mind would not turn off so I read till 1am. Put down my book and the next thing I recall is the alarm bells ringing followed by a hasty apology claiming there had been a mistake! Looking at my watch it read 4.30am. & PO'd just doesn't cover it. We both lay awake for the rest of the night, getting up at 7.30am.

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To our astonishment, our new quarters were ready by 9.45am. and we were moved and unpacked by 10am. Our port side cabin is alongside so we get a good view of what's happening on the streets of Papeete. It is hot and humid out on the streets but we decided to have a quick look around anyway before lunch. Imagine my joy when I noticed  the Man. U/Chelsea game playing on TV at a  bistro along the front.

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Dorothy said "give me some money" and you stay here and watch the game while I have a mooch around. I pondered this for a nano second and said "deal"….sitting at the bar I was acknowledged by a friendly transvestite bar tender, and ordered a Perrier, only $6 U.S. I made it last, Dorothy Joined me just before the game ended and ordered a  Pina Colada, :) $16 U.S. I made her make it last.

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Man. U. won 1-0 so I drowned my sorrows in the dregs of my Perrier while the French Polynesian contingent of Man. U. supporters celebrated the win. The next leg will be at Stamford Bridge and I know Chelsea can score at least two goals, they just have to keep the elitist Reds off the score sheet. :)

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Papeete has grown since 1989, if I thought prices were exorbitant then, they are ridiculous now, meanwhile resorts are closing for lack of business, perhaps some bean counter politicians will grasp the fact that there is a correlation somewhere in there. Nah that's too simple.

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My Canadian friends will find it amusing that although these Islands are French the stop signs read STOP rather than ARRET.

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We both signed up to use the Thalassatherapy pool for the rest of the cruise, I tried it for the 1st time this afternoon and it did feel good. I weighed myself at the gym while we were up there and found I'd gained .2 of a KG. I'm so annoyed :) I'm gonna have to run up and down the companionways now, to get it all off.

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Jennie and Peter our friends from Melbourne boarded today, we had a natter with them in the buffet dining room, Cathi and Bruce were there too, they've sailed with them a few times and had much to catch up on. We'll have four new dining companions tonight, let's hope they are as much fun as our NZ friends.

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Well it was open seating for dinner tonight, and not as busy as I thought it might be, we were sat at a table for two and had a romantic tete e tete. Escargot was on the menu so I ordered it and as usual got snails.  We skipped the appetizer, I skipped the soup too but had my favorite ice cream for dessert, mint chocolate chip.

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Papeete is a pain in the butt to get to and from by air from North America and Europe, the flight's  usually go through Los Angeles with long lay overs for connecting flights. They depart Papeete very late at around midnight, Princess has been really good to departing guests, allowing them to stay on board  using the dining facilities and spa showers until it's time to leave for the airport. It's 8pm. I'm looking around and see people with carry on bags looking tired and weary with their journey home not yet begun. Been there, done that and I'm full of empathy.

Drat darn and fiddlesticks, went up to get my internet minutes package, only to find that the manager is not there which seems the norm on this cruise, there was a note saying that he apologizes but the internet is having some problems and "normal service will resume as soon as possible"…?

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This means I'm sure, I'll not be getting this away tonight but you know I will as soon as I can. I'm going to join Dorothy on the balcony to read for a while, then it's beddy byes for us, it was a long night with the sleep interruption, hot and humid in down town Papeete and gorgeous at the moment with a slight breeze and the lights all aglow and twinkling from the pier and on up the mountain side.

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8.50pm. Ten minutes to departure and still they are coming aboard, I think there are some late flights as the gangways are still down, we could reach Moorea with a 9 iron, so there really is no rush to sail at 9pm.

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Oh the satellite is working, I'd better log on and get my minutes account re established then send this wending on it's way.

Bueno notte, until next post