Fiji Island Cruise - February 27 - March 9, 2014

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Thursday, February 27, 2014



Todd was up at 6:00 am. I slept well last evening surprisingly. First night after traveling overseas can be tricky. My goal this morning was to run across the Sydney Harbor Bridge and around the Opera House. He did both. I brought along a small camera because I wanted to take photos on my in front of these landmarks. Running across the Harbor Bridge was awesome. How many people can say they have done something like this, running on the Sydney Harbor Bridge? Getting to the bridge was tricky though. It included going through the Rocks areas and several stair cases. He ran the span of the bridge, one side to another and through a neighborhood. Interesting observation, people running on the bridge don’t greet each other. Trying to ask someone to take my photo on the bridge was a challenge. I also noticed there were 5 armed police/security officers along the pedestrian part of the bridge. Good to see though considering all the dangers we face now. After running on the bridge, I then ran around the Rocks area and scoped out our cruise ship. I then ran around Opera House. I was able to find someone to take my photo in front of the Opera House. I ran for a total of 50 minutes. Good stuff.



I was back at the hotel by 7:15 am and Cindy was walking up.



After relaxing a little bit this morning, we ventured up to the Executive Lounge for breakfast. Breakfast in this lounge is a treat. There are various hot and cold food items like eggs, porage, fruits, and local favorites. There were also cereals and a great selection of breads. What I found interesting, like Asian countries, they have a bee hive/honey comb, titled with fresh honey dripping into a bowl for us to use. I tried porage for the first. With a little brown sugar, it was really good.



After breakfast, Cindy and I returned to our room to pack. After packing, Cindy skyped with family and I went back to the Executive Lounge to work on my blog. I found a spot that overlooked to the Opera House.



We left our hotel about 12:30 pm to go to board the ship. The nice thing about our hotel, we were 10 minutes walking time to the cruise ship boarding area. While walking to the ship, it was drizzling. It was somewhat inconvenient, however tolerable.



Our ship, Voyager of the Seas, Royal Caribbean, arrived at port earlier in the day. The cruise port building was relatively small compared to others we have been to. We dropped off our bags at on area then walked through a queue where we got paperwork to fill out while we were waiting in line to check in. There were a ton of people, however the queue went quickly. The staff member from Royal Caribbean was super nice while checking us in. We received our SeaPass card which enables us to charge things and also to get on and off the ship.



We then moved to immigration. The immigration officer was also really nice and had a great personality. After immigration we moved to the ship to scan our SeaPass. They are sensitive about keeping our personal environment clean. We had to apply hand sanitizer before we moved forward. We then had some photos taken of us and then to interior of the ship. Our rooms were not ready, so we ventured around to explore the really neat places on the ship. More to come of that.



We found the Windjammer dining facility, buffet, to eat lunch. Once again the staff was very concerned about our personal health. We had to apply hand sanitizers before entering the dining facility. While the dining area, the staff was very helpful in finding us a seat among the craziness. Although this facility was buffet the employees served us. I really like this method, it reduces the possibilities of spreading germs. We sat next to tow Australian couples that were pretty funny. The Australians have an awesome sense of humor.



At 2:00pm, our room was ready, although our 2 suitcase had not arrived in our rom yet, we did drop off out carryon bags. Since we wanted to take advantage of free WiFi one more time, we exited the ship and found a Starbucks. In order to use the WiFi, we did have to purchase a drink and were given 30 minutes. Cindy uploaded photos to here album. Thirty minutes sure does quickly.



We returned to the ship at 4:00pm, we need to be back on to participate in an emergency test drill starting at 4:45pm.



The emergency test drill was running 15 minutes late due to late arriving passengers. Once the drill started, we proceeded to our muster station for all instructions on how to handle certain situations. One thing I liked that is different than other cruise companies is we did not have to wear our life jackets. Wearing a life jacket to the drill is a royal pain and people trip on the dangling straps.



Once the drill was completed we went back to our assigned dining room and dining table for the next 10 days. We like the early seating when we cruise. On Royal Caribbean, the first seating is at 5:45 pm. Dinner started late today because of the delayed drill. Our dinner area is La Boheme, table 422.



Since we were traveling with the kids on this trip, we wanted to be assigned to a larger table. This is a great way to get to know others from around the world. Our dinner table mates all lived in Australia. One couple was originally from South Africa; however they now live in Sydney. The three couple’s names are Rob and Liz, Ty and Arthur, and Charmin and Paul. They are all super sweet and we will be dining with them all during this cruise. The dinner selections are much dinner than other cruise companies, in a good way. What I liked most about this is that there are options where you can have gluten free, lite, or low calorie.



This made it easier to decide from a variety type of foods that you can chose from. For dinner, Cindy had a fruit medley mix (pineapple, kiwi, melons) for an appetizer and Prime Rib. Todd also ate the fruit medley; however he had a horse radish topped salmon. As for the veggie selection, there were fresh snap peas and potatoes.



While ordering dinner I told the waiters that it was Cindy’s birthday recently. After ordering dessert, the brought Cindy’s dessert first with a birthday candle on top. Several of the staff members sang happy birthday to her. It was classic. The birthday that keeps giving. Cindy’s dessert was a strawberry mouse with shortcake. Todd’s dessert was a hot berry crumble with vanilla ice cream on top. Awesome first night dinner and great company.



Following dinner, there was a parade schedule in the Royal Promenade. There was a general theme around the ship for kids based on DreamWorks, Madascagar. The theme of today’s parade was Island Frenzy spectacular. The Royal Promenade is in the middle of the ship and designed like a street/boulevard in Europe with shops and restaurants at street level and residences above. The residences above are actually cruise staterooms overlooking the Royal Promenade. The parade was quite fun. I included some photos, although some are blurry. They certainly know how to entertain the kids and adults. The parade lasted about 15 minutes, good stuff. Cindy made a comment about the characters that it seemed like Royal Caribbean was competing with Disney.



Following the parade we went to deck 4 to find a spot to sit and stare at the Opera House and then watch our departure from the port to Sydney.



Our departure was delayed because a passenger had to leave the ship due to a medical reasons. That breaks my heart. We did start leaving the port around 9:15 pm. It was so awesome passing by the Opera House close up and higher in the air from harbor cruise yesterday. I took several photos and angles as we passed by the Opera House and then wide angle views of the Harbor Bridge and Opera House together.



Prior to ending this evening, Todd enquired about how the Internet worked on the cruise ship. There were several packages to purchase, however the Internet was not working this evening. They were scheduled to be back online tomorrow.



We were both exhausted so we retired early this evening.



A little bit about the ship, at least our observation from being on six hours. The ship is awesome in size and does a great job demonstrating multiple themes throughout. It provides a little of everything for each person. It is so spread out it easy to get lost. The architecture on board is like no other. You do not feel like you are on a ship, they take you away from feeling like you are sailing on a ship. The crew so far is super nice and helpful. I will be posting more about the ship during tomorrow’s blog.



Tomorrow we have a sea day. We will explore more of the ship and participate in the many activities. Stay tuned for my next blog entry.

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