Tag Archives: cruise vacation

December 27, 2017 · 5:35 am

Touring the Norwegian Epic


The massive Norwegian Epic

After three days in Madrid, Dolores and Earl Daniels with Ursula and I took the Alta Velocidad Española (AVE) high-speed train to Barcelona. Along the way we frequently hit speeds in excess of 300 kph/186 mph. Impressive. At these speed it takes only 2 ½ hours to cover the 621 kilometers/386 miles. Very impressive. The next morning we headed out to the port to catch our transatlantic ride — the massive Norwegian Epic, which when built was the third largest cruise ship ever.

Epic theater

The Epic displaces up to 155,873 tons, measures 1,081 feet/329 meters in length, has 1,724 crew, and houses 4,100 passengers (double occupancy). Aboard ship are countless lounges, restaurants, shopping venues, a casino, a comedy club, an entertainment theater, a fitness/well-being center, and a huge multi-story LED chandelier.

Gigantic LED chandelier

But the one venue that kept drawing us back was the recreation of the Beatles-era Cavern Club and the almost nightly Beatles tribute band that played there. If you closed your eyes and just listened, you’d swear you were listening to the real thing. These musicians were that good, and especially note worthy this voyage as the John Lennon impersonator.

Recreation of the Beatles-era Cavern Club

Below are some more photos of Norwegian Epic venues. Click on any image to enlarge and to activate a slide presentation:

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April 21, 2017 · 5:35 am

Fun Photo Friday — Papeete Favorites Part 2


The Spears of Paradise

I hope you enjoyed this 28-day voyage around the Pacific.  During this series I’ve shown you various sights around the Hawai’ian Islands, Western and American Samoa, and three islands in French Polynesia.  Wrapping it all up is today’s Fun Photo Friday gallery of some more Papeete favorites:

A Study in Scarlet (with apologies to Sir Arthur)
Sunset
Monument to Autonomy
Out for Late Night Fishing
Yacht on Water
Steeple and Sky
Outrigger Outing

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April 19, 2017 · 5:35 am

Port Nine Papeete — Out Nanuu Bay and into the Pacific


Sailing into the Sun

The Crown Princess continued through Nanuu Bay and into the South Pacific Ocean for the return home, but not before I managed to snag a few more photos.  From this vantage we saw the slopes leading up to Mont Orohena beyond Papeete:

Protestant Church of Papeete

As noted on Monday we sailed past Pā’ōfa’i Gardens, and also had great views of Place Jacques Chirac:

Outriggers for rent

Pā’ōfa’i Gardens

Place Jacques Chirac

Beyond this area, with which we were already familiar, other heretofore unseen areas of Papeete came into view:

Plage Hōkūleʻa

Around this time I was stunned to see a magnificent wall of reflective glass that offered up a truly bizarre mosaic of the Crown Princess:

Reflections in a Glass Wall

Speeding to keep up with the Crown Princess was a delightfully colorful pilot boat and people paddling their outriggers:

Pilot Boat Approaches

Outriggers

A lone fishing boat headed out to sea alongside the Crown Princess toward open waters:

Fishing boat

Turning north away from Nanuu Bay and toward open water we passed Fa’a’ā International Airport’s Runway 04/22.  Here you can see an ATR-72 on landing rollout on Runway 04:

ATR-72 landing rollout at Fa’a’ā International Airport

Because of the lighting and numerous photo subjects this was one of the best sail-aways I’d yet experienced, but the best was right around the corner.  As we headed out to sea we were treated to a spectacular sunset, more of which you’ll seen on this week’s Fun Photo Friday:

Tahitian Sunset

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