Fiji Island Cruise - February 27 - March 9, 2014

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Saturday, March 01, 2014



Today is our second day at sea. We had no big plans for today. Today’s blog entry will be fairly short.



I was up early and back to his normal morning hours, 5:00am. I found a prefect place this morning to sit and write blog entries. It is located in the Royal Promenade, outside the Irish café and it has an 110V plug, many of the plugs, outside our room are 220V. From 5:00 until 7:00am I sat in the same spot. I must have had 3 coffees and into between writing I spoke briefly to some of the other early morning risers. No running today, I need to get back into the routine of running, however it real tricky with the sea being so rough and trying to keep my balance.



I returned back to the room at 7:00am to wake up Cindy. After scratching our head, we heading to breakfast at 7:45am. As we did on the first morning of the cruise, we ate in the dining room, Carmen. Todd ordered an egg and cheese omelet, however got a salmon, veggie, and egg omelet. Cindy had egg beaters. Every morning we always get asked for some type of bread. There selections are really good. We met a new family this morning, a young couple with two small kids. They are from Sydney. The kids were really well behaved. The mom was also held a QA position at a national bakery. Sounds fun taste testing all the products. We also our dinner table mates, Ty and Arthur.



Before Cindy and I departed the states, I went to small liquor store and bought small vodka bottles they use on the airline. Today broke open these. We went to the Windjammer café and pick up OJ. We then headed up to the adult pool and made screw drivers. Nice way to start our day. We drank our drinks quickly because the cross wind was so strong, it was uncomfortable just sitting there.



Following our morning cocktail, Cindy and I decided to explore more of the ship. This ship, Royal Caribbean, Voyager of the Seas, is so large, so there are some areas we had not seen. Before lunch we ended up at the Loyalty desk and filled out an application to join their frequent cruiser program. We were not able to register until we actually started our first cruise with them. I also picked up a 2014-2015 cruise brochure to see what our ship will look like this summer and possible planning in 2015.



The mornings go by super-fast. It was lunch time already, 12:30 pm. Cindy and I again ate in the Carmen dining room. We sat with two families; both from Australia. One was a young couple with a child, and the other had a grown daughter. Cindy and I ate the Char-grilled palm sugar chicken on crispy salad with papaya and pineapple sauce. Cindy and I thought we were getting a salad, however the chicken came out chicken on the bone and the salad was something similar to cole slaw. We normally don’t eat dessert during lunch, however we could not resist. Cindy had crepes and I had a praline chocolate crunch. Good lord, I think I am gaining weight.



Following lunch, I went to the guest relations desk to exchange money to have cash for our first port stop, Noumea. The local currency is Comptiors Francais du Pacifique franc (French Pacific franc, XPF). I had to cash in some of my US dollars and Australian dollars. It is interesting to convert the Australian money, they needed to convert to US dollars and then to the Franc. While I was waiting in line to exchange money, Cindy went to the Royal Promenade and watched the horse racing. This supposed to be held in the pool area, however due to the heavy winds, it was relocated. Cindy said that some of the kids on the ship were riding the horse. Cindy said this was a great way to incorporate the normally adult activity and allowing the kids to participate.



Following these activities, Cindy and I decided to get our swimsuits on and head to the pool. Trying to find a seat at the pool, in the afternoon, is tricky. We were actually able to find a spot, in the sun, however really windy. After about 45 minutes, we were done. It was partly cloudy and very windy. In addition, the temps were really cool. Not what I expected for being in the South Pacific.



After being at the pool, Cindy and I decided to go back to the room for a quick rest. It is really nice having downtime instead of the hustle and bustle back home. We don’t have an major commitments on the cruise other than dinner and scheduled pre-paid shore excursions.



Tonight is a themed night, country and western. Cindy and I did not bring any themed night clothes (note to self, look this up before traveling on a future cruise. Cindy and I dressed casual, however dressed up enough to enter the dining room. Prior to dinner, we went to the Aquarium Bar and had the drink of the day, Kangaroo Punch. This drink consists of bacardi and coconut rum, and pineapple/cranberry juice. This drink was awesome. When buying the drink of the day, they will either give up the glass you drank out of or this evening received shot glasses.



Dinner was at our normal time, 5:45pm. For our appetizer, Cindy had the house salad and I had New England clam chowder. For our main course, Cindy ate a chicken breast and I had something good, however I can’t remember. I need to write stuff down. This is why I need to write stuff down. For dessert, of course I remember this, Cindy had a low-fat berry mouse and I had double strawberry cheesecake. Once again, we excellent table mates and they all have an excellent sense of humor and a ton of fun to talk too.



After dinner, we joined Rob and Liz for a game of “Songs of Color.” This is a game where they play a song for 2-3 seconds and your team needs to write down the name of the song, which includes the song that has a color in its name. We had to listen to each of the 20 songs. Our team guessed 14 out of 20. This game was a ton of fun, however it was a challenge when they only play a few seconds.



Following on music game, we went to the theatre to watch a comedian. The comedian was Kelly Monteith. He apparently has had guest appearances on Jay Leno and David Letterman. He was super funny and really kept the audience laughing throughout his one hour show. He covered every possible topic and poked fun at everyone. His act was clean and not offense.



After the show, Cindy and I returned to our room. We wanted to get an earlier evening rest because we were getting up early to skype family and we have a 7:45am tour in Noumea.



Another excellent day our cruise. I look forward to telling everyone about lighthouse Ameedah Island tour.

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