Fiji Island Cruise - February 27 - March 9, 2014

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Monday, March 3, 2014



Today is a sea day for our cruise. A lot of fun things planned for the day. They ship is really good about offering a variety of activities for everyone.



To start the day off, I woke up early, 4:40am. This is a good thing because I am behind on my travel blog. I headed down to the Royal Promenade and settled into my usual spot in front of the Irish pub. Around 6:20am, Cindy came up behind me and scared the living you know what out of me. Cindy is joining my world, walking up early.



After working on my blog, Cindy and I got dressed and headed to breakfast by 7:30am. We ate breakfast in the dining room this morning. As I have mentioned in prior blogs, it is great being able to have someone serve you instead of going through a buffet line. For breakfast, Cindy and I ate eggs benedict and mango yogurt with granola.



By 9:00am, Cindy and I ventured up to the Solarium pool (adult only pool). We found a spot in the shade to just hang out and relax. Cindy was able to access the Internet in this area so she could post photos. Today the pool area was still windy, however much calmer than prior days.



Before lunch, Cindy and I caught the end of a future cruises presentations. They discussed several of their exotic cruises on Celebrity. They sounded really interesting, however too long for us (at least right now).



Our cruise ship moved into another time zone, so at 12:00 noon, yes middle of the day, moved forward. That felt kinda weird changing time in the middle of the day.



Around 12:15pm, we headed back to the dining room to eat lunch. A couple we ate lunch with a few days ago sat with us. For lunch, Cindy and I ate roast beef wraps. The wraps were actually really good. It came with a small side of chips. Todd had dessert again at lunch. The dessert was apple and rhubarb crisp topped with vanilla ice cream. This was really good. Good lord, I am probably gaining weight.



Following lunch, Cindy and I promised Michael that we would Skype him today. We brought my computer to the High Notes bar. This bar seemed to have the best hot spot available on the ship. It was so good seeing the Michael and talking to him. He was watching the Oscars with the dogs on his lap. He filled us in on how the soccer team was doing during the playoffs and filled us in out how the style show went. We miss both kids. We are so lucky to have the technology to connect with someone on the other side of the world, down under.



The most incredible thing happened today. We have cruised for years, however none of the cruise ships we have been on had an ice skating rink on it. Incredible. Throughout the cruise, they had a show called Ice Odyssey. Because there is 3300 passengers on board, the shows were assigned based on a code that was on your SeaPass. The show was about 45 minutes and I can’t even believe the skaters are able to skate and perform the moves with a ship that is sailing in rough seas. They did a super great job and very entertaining. I posted some photos from the show.



Following the awesome Ice Odyssey, I told Cindy we really need to work out. Cindy walked around the upper deck and I ran around the upper deck. I had never run on a cruise ship, just walked. The wind seemed to have picked up in the afternoon so certain corners were really windy and hard to run. The other odd thing was when my feet came down on the deck, the ship was moving up and down and side to side, so my footing got tricky. It was a strange feeling. To run one mile, I had to run 5 times around the track. I ended up running 23 laps. In addition to the wind, it was really warm. Finally warm, for the first part of the trip it was cool.



This evening before dinner, we had a cocktail. Tonight we decided to have cocktails in the Schooner Bar. As we have done over the last several days, we order the drink of the day. The drink today is the Melbourne Mama. It was refreshing. It was made of orange and pineapple juices, hand shaken to combine the hint of vanilla and caramelized sugar found in Captain Morgan Original Spiced rum, topped with grenadine (this is the cruises description).



We enjoyed another excellent meal this evening. The company, our dinner table mates, was always enjoyable. We all engage in some fantastic discussion. I don’t remember the food selections this evening, I have been writing down what we ate each night, however this evening, I failed to do this. I do remember the conversation we had with our table mates. The couple originally from South Africa, Charmin and Paul, told us a story about how they both grew up in South Africa and how beautiful it was there throughout their lives. However over the last several years, the crime has really increased and they were always in fear for their lives. It appears there political system has driven this. It got so bad they decided to immigrate to Australia. Paul was able to secure a job. They also told us how some of their friends also immigrated to other countries. This was a really powerful story and a powerful message on how something is going so well and can really change so quickly. I can’t even image how hard it was to move from one country to another, even with kids. Such an interesting story. It sounds like they adjusted well.



After our awesome dinner, Cindy and I went to the evening show in the La Strada theatre. Tonight’s show is a variety show with two of the performers, Jarrod and Tiffany. They sang separately, both were fantastic and had great powerful voices. Such fun this was.



At 10:15 pm, Cindy and I had to attend the Love and Marriage game show. These shows are super funny, however embarrassing too. The show this evening was not a disappointment. They broke up four couples by the number of years they were married. The contests that were picked were older. It the extreme was a couple married 2 years and were probably 70ish, and then the other couple was married for 49 years. I don’t think I have laughed that hard in years. The game show lasted about 1.5 hours. I have no doubt some of the things that happened on the stage, although it was funny to us, there were going to be a discussion between the couples. Yikes.



Cindy and I called it lights out at 12:00 midnight. It was a fun filled day today.



Tomorrow we will be visiting Suva, Fiji. We are taking a tour called the Jewels of Fiji. Cindy and I can’t wait to go on that tour. It is an all day tour. Stay tuned to my next blog post.

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