Introduction New Zealand had always been the primary destination for our trip. Many of our friends had been there and raved about what a beautiful country it was and how we really needed to experience it ourselves. Given that we had decided to take a repositioning cruise that wouldn't get to Sydney until 14 October, and given that we wanted to spend at least a few days there, and given that we wanted to be back home by 1 November due to other responsibilities, and to vote for our next President, our time in New Zealand was constrained to 15 days. I had a rough idea of where I wanted to go...all the top spots...but didn't know the travel times as people kept telling me that the roads were winding and narrow. We also had to ... read more

Our ship docked at 6:30 am, and we were rudely woken up by the efforts to tie up at the Circular Quay. We didn't disembark until 8 am so had time for a leisurely breakfast. Before getting off I took advantage of the view the 10th deck provided and got my first pictures of the iconic views that represent Sydney...the Harbor Bridge and Opera House which we were docked between. Upon disembarking we retrieved our iron from security and caught a taxi to our hotel, the Swisshotel in the center of the CBD...a great hotel at a great location for a good price. In our room I paid for 24 hours of internet service which was not forthcoming so I left the computer on and went down to the business center to read my email for ... read more

7 October 2012 Sunday. Sea day, which was pretty much as described previously. 8 October 2012 Monday. We arrived in Port Vila, Vanuatu at breakfast time. Vanuatu is another of those South Pacific Islands favored by “The Survivor” reality TV show which Linda and I have followed since the first season. Vanuatu used to be called New Hebrides, the name given it by Captain Cook when he arrived in the islands in 1774. He was preceded by Portugese Captain De Quiros in 1606 and Captain Bougainville in 1767. But it was the Americans who arrived there in 1942, just ahead of the Japanese, who made the greatest impact on the people. The Americans built the largest forward operating base in the South Pacific, from which it would start to turn the tide of WWII. One officer ... read more

2 October 2012 Tuesday. After five sea days we finally arrived in American Samoa, or Eastern Samoa. Upon disembarking, I had now visited all the American territories. Prior to the visit I had researched Polynesia, and read Somerset Maugham’s book of short stories starting with “Rain.” This collection of short stories gave me good insight into Polynesian culture, and especially their hospitable nature. We disembarked after breakfast and were greeted at pier-side by the Visitors Bureau, the National Park Service, and a million vendors. We headed directly to the Park Service and found out that they offered a ranger guided tour of the American Samoa National Park at 9:30 am at the cost of $25/person for the shuttle bus. So we signed up and had to wait an hour, which the girls used to look at ... read more

26 September 2012 Wednesday. The cruise ship arrived off Lahaina, Maui by 7 am. After breakfast we caught the first tender to the port, and the shuttle to the rental car company. I really wanted to go to the top of the Haleakawa volcano, a National Park, but Mike, Betty, and Linda didn’t think we would have enough time to drive there and back (about 6 hours) before the ship set sail. So I reluctantly gave in. The rental car agent recommended we drive the 90 minutes to Twin Falls on the north side of the island on the Hana road. We got there and found the jungle trail to be very muddy. The girls decided to wait at the car while Mike and I hiked to the falls. In addition to the mud, we also ... read more