New Zealand Cultural Presentations - Kia Ora!

Day 2  Thursday, March 14, 2019    At Sea

Ariki and April, the Māori Ambassadors, presented a class on the Haka Dance - the history, the meaning, and how-to for willing passengers. We absolutely loved this, and were impressed with Princess Cruises for providing these cultural lessons, including Dave Upton's presentations on each port of call, and John van Tunzelman, the retired Fiordland National Park ranger who presented fantastic information about our cruise through that park on Day 4.

While crossing the Tasman Sea, we learned that below us was the Gascoyne Seamount, where water depth goes from 250 feet at the top to 13,400 feet at the sea floor!

Today we were busy with so many interesting things to do on the ship. I was up at 6:30 and went to the Fitness Rm. The buffet breakfast was great and NOT crowded. That continued our many comments during this cruise about how much better this ship was compared to the Escape. Nothing was ever too crowded, there were so many places to relax in quiet, the restaurants were never crowded, and the layout was so much better for cruiser comfort. And, we thought that the passengers, mainly from Australia and NZ, were so much friendlier, happier, and healthier than what we saw on the Escape. "G'day Mate" and cheerful conversations were everywhere all the time. Noticeably, since the Beverage Pkg was not free here, the general demeanor of everyone, including us, was pleasantly sober relative to what people were like on the Escape. Cocktail party vs beer brawl.

It took us a day or two to get used to how to walk properly! Yes, in Australia and New Zealand they drive on the left, meaning that when they walk, they move to the left when there is two-way traffic. We Americans instinctively walk to the right, which would be straight into them as we approached each other. We were definitely outnumbered, so we learned to stay left when moving about the ship or on the streets of towns.

Kia ora! At 9:00 we went to Dave Upton's theater presentation about Dunedin, our first port of call several days ahead. We learned right away that "Kia Ora" (kee-oruh) was the common Kiwi Māori greeting. During every single day in NZ over the next five weeks, New Zealanders would say hello by saying Kia Ora!

Dave talked about much more than Dunedin, however, covering flora, fauna, history, and culture of the country. Every one of his presentations was like this, each one covering different animals, plants, foods, and history. His talks and slides were so well done.

Later in the morning, we attended a cultural/historical Māori presentation (Kia Ora!) called Across the Ditch. Ariki told at length about the legends regarding the Māori origins in Polynesia, and how they took their large canoes (waka) to reach NZ in about 1300 AD.  He and April did chanting dances and talked about how the Māori keep their cultural traditions alive and passed down to each new generation. Interesting, although overly detailed for much of it.

Our lunch was in Alfredo's Pizzeria. We then watched the vegetable carving demonstration. During the entire cruise, these works of art were on display in the buffet. I will be posting many photos I took of them.

We had front-row seats for the afternoon Māori Haka Dance class. In this photo they were dancing, so you can't see their faces. Ariki explained how the Haka was a ritual dance to prepare for a battle; they work themselves up into a rage, and the Haka ends by sticking your tongue out in a menacing fashion.

Passengers volunteered to learn the Haka, but not too many really got it. Look at the standing-room only crowd on all three levels in the piazza. Ariki really got into his part, slapping his leg until it was red, making scary faces, sticking out his tongue, and shouting in Māori. We loved it!

I attended an afternoon New Cruisers Welcome event. Some notes I took: Princess started in 1965, always based in Santa Clarita, CA. The Love Boat was based on a Princess ship, and caused the line to soar in popularity. 17 ships, 300 ports of call. The Majestic, based in Shanghai, was christened by Yao Ming, the famous NBA basketball star (they had photos, see above, of Yao Ming's wine business). The ship goes through 470 gallons of coffee per day. The quiet adults-only Hollywood Conservatory (17th level forward) is the only such area on a Princess ship that's still free to use, but probably won't be in the near future (so they said to use it while you can!).

For dinner, we agreed to sit with others, and we had quite a blend of personalities. Most were from Australia, but there also was a couple from Texas. The conversation eventually turned to gun control and taxes, and it got a bit touchy between the liberals from Sydney vs the two from Texas. I think that was the last time we agreed to sit with others, although on lobster night 11 days later, when I had to eat without Janet, I sat with another couple each time. I will mention the contrast between those two couples when I get to that night's posting.

The show was a ship's cast production, which we enjoyed as usual. We tried out the guitarist/singer, but didn't think he was too good.