January 25, 2026 Sea Day #7 of 9 sailing to Neiafu, Kingdom of Tonga

On the original schedule, today would be Sea Day #7 of 9. The ship was heading to the island of Vava’u in the Kingdom of Tonga.

At 8 a.m. this morning, the the sky was overcast, temperature 28°C, wind SSW 17 km, humidity 81% and waves about one meter. We stuffed the laundry bag for the fifth time for our room steward to send to the laundry department. The clean laundry is usually returned to us on hangars by noon the following day. It is a nice perk for being a four star mariner (between 200 and 500 cruise points).

Being Sunday, the dining room hosted Brunch from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. We started our day with a visit to the Rolling Stone Lounge for Coffee with Robbie at 9 a.m. His guests today were Safety Officer Jason and Officers of the watch Dylan and Claire. They all work on the Navigation Deck. Their hours are midnight to 5 a.m., a five hour break then 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for three months then three months away. It is normal to change ships about every five years. The #16 tender sustained the most damage from Kiriwina Island squall. The tender drivers are sailors and quartermasters who have taken tender driving courses.

In the World Stage theatre, at 10 a.m., was Bernie’s port talk on the two Kingdom of Tonga ports, Neiafu and Nuku’alofa. Tonga was never colonized by European countries. The Tonga currency is the Tonga Pa’anga. One Canadian dollar is equal to about 1.73 Tonga Pa’anga. Until April 3rd 1967 the currency was the Tonga Pound which was replaced by the Pa'anga at a rate of 1 Pound = 2 Pa’anga. The main street of Neiafu is Tu’i Road. It is a tender port, taking less than half an hour to reach shore. Take toilet paper and hand sanitizer with you. The ‘Utakalongalu Market is near the Halaevalu Wharf where the tenders will be taking passengers. Other sites to see Saint Joseph’s Cathedral and Mount Tall National Park, but there are steep stairs for about 20 minutes to climb. Nuku’alofa town site is just 500 meters from Vuna Wharf where ship is moored. The Royal Palace is wooden was built built in 1867. Also worth seeing is the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua about 15 to 20 minute walk, also Centennial Church where current King was married and Tonga National Museum. There is the Cook Landing Site where James Cook arrived in 1770 but it is a 30 minute drive away.

A quick dash for cappuccinos then back to the World Stage theatre for 11 a.m. and Steve Gray’s presentation “The Golden Age of Travel in the South Pacific”. He talked about Pan Am Airways South Pacific flights using their Boeing built Pam Am Clippers or flying boats. We had visited a museum that has a replica of a clipper in Foynes, Ireland, on the River Shannon Estuary in 2024. The clippers flew transatlantic flights from Newfoundland to Ireland, Caribbean routes and transpacific routes from the mid 1930s to 1941.

In the Pacific Ocean, Pam Am set up identical hotels on the atolls of Midway and Wake where guests could stay overnight on the long haul flights from San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand which took several days. The Wake hotel was destroyed by the Japanese December 8, 2941, the day after the attach on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. The Midway hotel was used as an American base and witnessed the Battle of Midway six months later. Only ruined foundations of the hotels are left.

Steve told the fascinating story of the luxurious Boeing 314 flying boat, the Pan Am Pacific Clipper, that departed San Pedro for Auckland on December 2, 1941. (Each passenger had paid the current day equivalent of $10,000 US for their ticket.) On December 7, 1941 which was December 8th in Noumea, on the western side of the International Dateline, the radio operator received the message to open instructions labelled "Plan A”. The captain opened the package and learned that he was to land at Auckland and await further instructions. For the whole story please check the National Air and Space Museum web link: https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/december-7-1941-and-first-around-world-commercial-flight

The instruction were to fly westward to return to LaGuardia airport in New York however you can. They had no charts to plot their route, but headed to the Auckland library for any charts and were able to make a plan but had no money. When they arrived in LaGuardia airspace, on January 6, 1942, they had to circle for an hour before the airport opened. It was the first commercial around the world flight. The flight took over 209 hours in the air and covered over 31,000 miles. All the clippers were converted to bombers as that was the prototype design of the original clippers. Steve handed out postcards of a clipper poster from the late 1930s.

Then a quick brunch in the dining room. The Captain’s noon announcement was that since leaving Savusavu we have travelled 195 nautical miles (nm) and have 235 nm to go. Today’s waves are about 1.5 meters and no rain in the forecast. He also advised that late last night at 10:07 p.m. the ship crossed the 180° meridian into the Western Hemisphere, however we did not cross the International Dateline (established in 1884).

“Cross to the west of the International Dateline and it’s one day later;

cross back and you’ve “gone back in time.” The Prime Meridian is 0° and

runs through Greenwich, England. Places located immediately to the right

and left of the date line are 24 hours apart. This means that on the left side

of the international date line in Tonga, when the time is noon on Monday,

July 1st, on the right side of the date line in Sāmoa, the time is noon on

Sunday, June 30th For practical purposes, the international date line has

been adjusted to allow certain land areas to remain together in the same day

and time zones.

Then it was back to the World Stage theatre for Gerard Carney’s 1 p.m. presentation “The Exploits and Demise of a Cruise Junkie” about James Cook’s final voyage. It began July 12, 1776, word of the Declaration of Independence by the New England colonies had not arrived in England yet. He spent months in Polynesia at the islands around Tahiti and returned Omai home to Raiatea, and collected an anchor in Bora Bora that another captain had forgotten there. They finally went north stopping at Christmas Island where they hunted 300 turtles for food to feed the crews of the two ships on their voyage to Hawaii. After a few weeks in Hawaii, the ships left to find the Northwest Passage, which English scientists said it was possible to navigate as sea water did not freeze.They stopped at a few places in North America, including Nooka on Vancouver Island where Cook was impressed by the sophistication of the tribes. Pack ice halted their exploration as they turned east around Cape Prince of Wales and they returned to Hawaii. Cook was killed in Hawaii and partially cooked and eaten by the natives who returned the rest of his remains. His two ships tried again to enter the Arctic Ocean from the Bering Sea but failed, so returned to England arriving October 4, 1800.

We followed all that sitting, over the past five hours, with six laps of the Promenade Deck, then a stopped at the Library Café for iced frappés. The ship must have been pitching a lot during the walk as our counters recorded 27 flights of stairs when we walked the level deck.

It was just us and Ted and Margaret for dinner. Sandie and Sue had reservations at the Pinnacle Grill. Passengers were dressed in orange clothes or accessories for Orange Day. Orange is the colour of the Netherlands Royal family. The four of us had coffees in the Library Café after dinner and chatted for another hour. When we returned to our stateroom, there was a letter from Shore Excursions indicating that our Tauranga, New Zealand tour on January 31st has been cancelled due to the recent landslide in the area where our tour was to go. We were not surprised by the cancellation.

In the World Stage at 8 p.m. the Orange Day festivities kicked off with officers versus guest musical trivia. That was followed by a Pop-up show by the singers and dancers. before the Rolling Stone Lounge band arrived on stage to start the dance party as waiters, in orange wigs or orange top hats, arrived distributing puff pastry sausage rolls and donut holes to the audience in their seats while other guests danced in the space cleared in front of the stage. In keeping with Dutch Orange Day there were mini stroopwafels with tomorrow's Daily Program on the bed.

Total steps - 8,361