Tonga Shows Its Friendly Side; We Smile Back

Day 27, Grand World Voyage

Monday, Jan. 30, 2023; Nuku’alofa, Tonga.

I sent my new dress from Tonga to the laundry on board the ship. I’m not sure what to expect when it comes back. I loved the fabric pattern and the simple A-line design. Its light weight, I thought, would be perfect for hot days.

The vendor on the pier assured me it was cotton, from New Zealand. I guess I really wanted it, because I didn’t check the label. When I got back on the ship, I discovered it was cotton/poly, which will keep it from wrinkling, but also keep it from breathing. And it was made in China. What did I expect, when I paid $25 for it, and just $20 for the second one I bought?

Oh well, if it lasts for this cruise, it will probably be worth the low price I paid. And we did have a lot of fun shopping from the pier stalls. I also found a cute little necklace. My sisters also contributed to the local economy, enough that we made two trips back to the ship to drop off our purchases. The day was hot and humid, and we didn’t want those plastic bags sticking to us as we wandered through the town.

When we were last here, in early 2020, the Amsterdam barely got permission to stop, as countries worried about the strange virus that seemed to have originated in Asia. We were traveling west from South America and had no one ill on board. Some merchants quickly pulled up face masks when we entered their shops, and we understood that they were as fearful as we were.

Today everyone is living up to the moniker of Tonga, the Friendly Islands. The locals are thrilled with the return of cruise ships. It’s been a hard year for them, suffering from tsunami damage that destroyed a number of establishments on the west side. By now the main city of Nuku’alofa looked just about as it was before. I believe it escaped the brunt of the damage.

I thought I would walk down to the Basilica of St. Anthony of Padua. In 2020, 30 minutes there was one of the highlights of our “half world cruise.” The sanctuary was almost full of children singing with great enthusiasm. We sat just outside the open doors and marveled at their harmony. I even posted a video on my blog. Take a moment to listen to the short clip.

There was no open service or singing today, and as a matter of fact we never made it the few blocks to the church. We popped into the Friends Cafe, and felt like regulars. We enjoyed the cold beer there just as much today as we did three years ago. We joined Carol and Siri (of past watercolor fame) at a corner table in front of the open doors, but still couldn’t catch a breeze.

After a short walk to the handicrafts center next door and the market a couple of blocks away, we headed back to the ship.

I’ve saved the best for last – we returned in time for the NFL American Football Conference championship game between our Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals (who beat us in the playoffs last year). A small group of the faithful bellied up to the Gallery Bar to watch the game amid trash talk. The Chiefs led until the Bengals tied it near the end. Our quarterback Patrick Mahomes, playing on an injured ankle, got us close enough for the game-winning field goal with eight seconds remaining.

This means the Chiefs will play the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl, which will be in two weeks. We will be in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, and the game will be at 7:30 a.m. We are waiting to hear how the ship will feature the game; we may have to cancel a tour to watch it. It’s hard to imagine anything topping the experience of watching the Chiefs win from Antarctica in 2020, but we’ll give it a try!

We continued our celebration with a sail-away party on the promenade deck, where we watched the Tonga Police Band send us off. The band had welcomed us early in the day with Stars and Stripes Forever. Not your typical Polynesian greeting, but great fun!

Rich McClear wrote a great description in his Postcards from the Transition blog about the band and his day in Tonga. Rich is a wonderful writer who captures a different side of seeing the world. I recommend subscribing to his blog. If you want advice on seeing each port, as well as links to the daily activity sheets, menus and other details, try The Inside Cabin by Pete Laszcz. He will even help you calculate the cost of your own world cruise.

Meanwhile, that dress came back from the laundry in good shape. The guys there work magic.