Fiji Island Cruise - February 27 - March 9, 2014

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Saturday, March 8, 2014



This will be my last blog entry for our cruise to the South Pacific. On Sunday, we disembark and fly home to Houston.



In typical fashion, I was woke up super early this morning, not to run, but to work on my blog in the Royal Promenade. There are a few other crazy people on the ship that are also up early. Cindy also was up early, however not until 6:15am. I truly enjoyed sitting in the lovely Royal Promenade in front of the Irish bar each morning, drinking a cup of coffee, and writing about how much fun we are having on our trip. We are very fortunate to be able to experience this.



Cindy and I ate breakfast in the dining room this morning. The food is much better here and it is always nice having someone serve you. We both had omelets again; Cindy had a veggie omelet and Todd had a ham and cheese omelet. We once again sat at a table with some very nice Australian people. Like I have mentioned in my prior blog entries, the people of Australia are super nice and very easy to talk to.



Once we finished breakfast, we visited the photo gallery to review all our photos. At the beginning of our cruise, we purchased a package in which we could purchase 12 photos. This was a much cheaper deal in the long run if we wanted to purchase multiple photos. We spent a good hour sorting through the photos. We found some winners. Some of those photos are posted with this blog.



Once we done with sorting photos, we went back to the room, grab my computer, and went to the High Notes bar (this is the best place for Internet access) and worked on posting photos and skyping family back in Texas. We needed to use up our Internet minutes we purchased at the beginning of the trip. We eventually had to move to the 19^th Hole bar (next door) because the young kids were having a talent show in the High Notes bar. While sitting in the 19^th Hole bar, we snuck over to take a peek at the talent show that was going on. It was so neat seeing the young kids having a ton of fun entertaining for their families.



Between sorting photos and working in the bar, the morning was pretty much done and it was time for lunch. The revolving food machine kept on moving. I am not complaining, I love eating and better yet, eating all the great food.



We ate lunch in the dining room for the last time. One thing we liked about eating in the dining room, most of the meals were served within 30 minutes. Cindy and I ate the roast beef wrap. We had this a several days ago and it was really good.



Following lunch, Cindy and I decided not to watch the final Karaoke competition because we heard that the venue moved from the La Strada theatre to the Cleopatra Lounge because there was a fire sprinkler system leak on the stage in the theatre. We were concerned that the lounge would be too packed. Instead Cindy and I went to the adult pool area and found a spot in the shade where we could hunker down for a while. We did use the hot tub for about 15 minutes. This hot tub was really really hot. We could not stay in it for that long. After a quick stop in the hot tub, we relaxed in the adult pool area and even took a nap. That is two days in a row where we just relaxed by the pool and fell asleep. This is totally unusual for me because I am so wired and going a 100 miles an hour. This is actually something I should have been doing and just enjoying my holiday.



We returned to our room around 3:45 pm because we needed to pack. Our luggage needed to be in the hall and ready for pick up by 11:00pm. Packing did not take that long, however was painful because we know we had to return home tomorrow.



We headed to the aquarium bar one more time for our evening drink. We went early this evening because we also wanted to see the final DreamWorks parade before dinner. The drink of the day was good. We drank a Great Blue Reef. According the ships description, it was a blend of Bacardi superior run, blue curacao and pineapple juice, served on the rocks, topped with a splash of sprite.



At 5:05 we headed to the Royal Promenade to watch the final DreamWorks parade. It was a ton of fun watching the parade all the DreamWorks characters we have seen throughout the last 10 days. I included a few of the photos.



We ate our last dinner with our awesome table mates. We really enjoyed all our conversation and getting to know each other. Cindy and I hope we are able to stay connected with each of them. Dinner this evening was really enjoyable. Cindy and I had a bottle of Chilean white wine. Unfortunately I did write down what we ate this evening, however it was enjoyable. Before dinner was over, all the wait staff paraded around the dining room and then congregated on the staircase at the back of the dining room. They sang for us again. Very cool. I included a photo of this awesome moment. During dinner, a couple of our table mates said they saw me on the cruise video that was produced. I was doing the twist during the 50’s/60’s party. I ended buying the video because of that.



Following dinner, headed to the La Strada theatre one more time for the farewell performance with Colleen Austen and Jonathon Clark. The final performance was modified somewhat because of the leak they had on stage earlier in the day. The performance was still well done. At the end of the show, several of the cruise staff members came out on the stage and it was nice to see everyone in one place. They also showed bloopers of the cruise director and his assist while they were filming the daily rundown of the activities. This was a ton of fun watching this.



This concludes my blogging for our trip. We hope you enjoyed reading about all our adventures in Sydney, Australia, Noumea-New Caledonia, Suva-Fiji, and Lautoka-Fiji. Cheers.

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