Sunday – October 14, 2018
Our schedule called for three Sea Days between Pago Pago and Auckland, New Zealand. However after one day out, Captain Aldo announced that there was a medical emergency on board and we would be briefly stopping at the island of Tonga to let one of the passengers off the ship to receive medical attention. Jeff and I saw the abrupt westward turn of the ship on our cabin navigation screen as the ship changed course and aimed for Tonga. Unfortunately, it was dark when the ship slowed down for its approach into the harbor.
We finished dinner and went out on deck to watch the harbor tugboats escort our ship into the harbor. All we could see was a ring of lights on the horizon around the ship. The Golden Princess stopped for a total of seven minutes to offload the ailing passenger and we were underway again.
The pilot boat came alongside the ship to pick up the pilot. Everyone on board watching from the rails cheered and waved to the pilot. He and his crew waved back and then they sped away back to the Tongan harbor. We resumed our course south toward New Zealand. After all the excitement, we all wondered about the ill passenger and wished him/her good luck.
We lost October 12th, 2018. It was very confusing to loose a day when the ship crossed the International Dateline. I went to sleep Thursday night and woke up Saturday morning!
The Atrium was decorated and ready for a celebration balloon-drop since almost half the passengers were leaving in Auckland. Of course, another 900 passengers would embark to fill those staterooms. The winds picked up for our final days on board and the South Pacific Ocean was rough with three meter high seas. We arrived in Auckland, on Sunday, October 14, 2018 and disembarked on the island of New Zealand.
