Day Twenty Three: A slow day at the office

We really haven’t done much today, the weather is quite a lot warmer and has reached
72F but we did go out seeking dolphins straight after breakfast. None to be seen unfortunately but I did see one flying fish so that is a good sign; we are getting closer and closer to Hawaii so it shouldn’t be long before the sun and the sea life come out to meet us. We are not going on an organised tour in Honolulu, our initial thought is that we might make our way to Hanauma bay for a bit of paddling and swimming, however as we arrive on a Sunday we are just a little concerned about the public transport. It is also Super Bowl Sunday – the biggest sporting event in America – so it will be interesting to see if that has any effect on the number of people that are out and about. We will probably make our decision about what to do and where to go when we find out if the ship is laying on a free coach from the harbour into the town; we know that there is another cruise liner already in port and that they are bigger than the Oriana so they have top spot in the harbour.

Hilary got her pictures from the photographer today, all 120 of them, so she is busy cutting them from the 6 x 4 sheets into a size that she can use for her scrapbook, then she is planning to type all her words into columns that she can cut up and use alongside the pictures. It is quite a project but I think that she is pleased to be finally starting on it; I am very sympathetic to what she is doing as I know that I really need to begin getting the video from the camera onto the computer so that it can be edited into a DVD. These are not small projects that we are doing and with so many other activities to choose from it is easy to put them to one side and go do the fun stuff. The trouble is the longer you put off the big jobs the harder it is to remember exactly what happened and in what order. We watched a talk this afternoon by the ITV producer/director and his subject was the cockups that he had personally been involved in. If I keep putting off the video, that will turn out to be a big cockup too.

Other than that it has been a day of sitting in the Crows Nest reading, doing the crossword, failing at the Sudoku and watching the waves. We have wandered around the ship a couple of times and today it is warmer outside than inside – sometime they have the air conditioning set on far too cool for us. It seems daft to see people wandering around outside in shorts and T-Shirts and then coming in to put on cardigans and jumpers when they go to the shops or to the lectures. As we wander around we realise more and more that this really is just a big floating hotel, Jess would fit in here perfectly behind the Reception Desk as it is no different to a Marriott or a Sheraton. There is an atrium that goes up 2 stories from Reception into areas that have shops, restaurants, a theatre, a cinema and several bars; there is a very good lending library as well as conference rooms and dance halls. On the top level there is a fully equipped gymnasium (which we have only looked in!) as well as several swimming pools (all outdoors). If it wasn’t for the constant motion – and we are now totally unaffected by this – you could easily think that you are in a first rate hotel.

Tiz I. Well done Liz, Great news – I know you will be able to build up your own business now you have time to devote to it. How exciting, get yourself known around the locality – go for it girl. I must tell Sheila that Richard’s double is a singer/dancer on the ship. Every time I see him I think of our Ric. His expressions, his build, his smile and his all round look is exactly the same. Does Emily know where Ric is at this time?
The scrapbook is finally getting started. Today I sorted through 120 photographs and the day after tomorrow I will start to do the writing strips for each page. I m excited to be getting on with it. Sam has just read the guide for Honolulu and apparently there will be a free bus to take folk from the ship to Wal-Mart or Hilo Hattie. I think we might take it and see a bit of the countryside on the way and then walk back to the prom. When did Wal-Mart get to this beautiful island? We probably won’t buy anything anyway as there is only a limited space in the cabin for storage and we are close to the limits – if we put much more under the bed it will start to rise! Well must go, Sam is waiting to go to the computer room to get the blog sent, so ‘til tomorrow. God bless.

Another great dinner and another great Headliners show, this one was called “You gotta have friends” and was used to introduce us to the names of the cast that we have been seeing in all these great shows. The songs were from a number of musicals including the works of Lloyd-Webber (of course) as well as from a couple of American musicals. Having just read Hilary’s little note I will take a bet with anyone that we will buy something at Hilo Hattie and Wal-Mart, at least one of them will have scrapbook material that just can’t be resisted. Sorry no pictures tonight but we haven’t really done anything that merited taking them.