Category: New Zealand and Australia

Leaving Fiji, we had 6 days to look forward to at sea before we could get off the ship again (in Honolulu). What would we do for all those days and without social media access? It’s very pricey to buy internet on the ship and we’re trying to make it without having to pay for some.

No worries, lots to do on the boat. After breakfast (which often turned into a 2 hr affair), there were lots of activities we could get involved in. Paul often made his way to the pickleball courts. There were lots of on board presentations throughout the day and if you missed one, most were recorded and available on line. I watched a couple about the history of the Cunard ships, one from Dr. Paul Scully-Power who was an astronaut on the Challenger (He made the trip just before the tragic accident on the Challenger.), another on women pirates and so many yet to watch. I also watched a couple of the ship’s chefs demo fruit and vegetable carving. It certainly takes some creativity!

Before we know it, it is time for lunch, then sometimes a trip to the gym or Paul would walk laps on the promenade deck. We have the early seating for dinner which starts at 5:30 and requires “smart attire” for dress which means no shorts and collared shirts for men. Our biggest challenge is often interpreting the menu – without internet to look things up! After that we usually head to the theatre for a show.

We’ve had a couple of interesting occasions on this trip. The first was crossing the international date line. We had Mar. 26th twice! The second was crossing the equator. This involved quite the activity. Those who were first timers, were invited to sign up for the event. We opted to watch instead. They had King and Queen Neptune and others dressed up and people had to “kiss the fish” and then get a couple of pitchers of ice water dumped on them. We were quite happy to be observers!

Sunday we arrived in Honolulu. See the next post for some views!

Leaving Vanuatu we saw steam arising from an active volcano on one of the many islands making up Vanuatu. Since sunset was approaching before we were out of the area, the captain told us we might see the orange glow from one of the other more recent volcanoes. We went out on deck at the appropriate time and despite being out for about half an hour, we didn’t see the glow she had told us to watch for. Without active cellular or wifi connection, we were unable to know when we were passing the actual volcano location.

We now had one day at sea before arriving at Suva, Fiji. Suva is the capital of Fiji. The island had more elevation than we had in Luganville. We hadn’t booked any side trips here but opted to walk around town a bit instead since it was close to where we were berthed.

There is a huge covered market building as we got off the ship. We walked though it, but found it was mostly a produce market. Locals were in to buy their fresh fruits and vegetables. Since we had been warned not to consume anything we couldn’t peel or wasn’t hot, we bypassed the market and headed to the main street.

You had to watch your step here, since it tended to have a lot of uneven places. We had heard from one of the other English passengers that he had tripped in Vanuatu and broken both bones in his lower arm. While they were able to look after him on the boat, it was a good reminder to watch our step. The day was hot and humid and most stores have no air conditioning. Finally we came to a four storey department building and headed inside to a look. Other than a couple of tiny souvenirs, we didn’t buy anything, we just browsed through. One thing I noticed in the women’s clothing area was one part was all saris, to meet the needs of the Indian women on the island. Soon we headed back to the ship for a shower and some lunch. The humidity was just too uncomfortable to stay outside.

Back on board we had a 6 day journey at sea before we reached our next port, Honolulu. See the next post for some of the highlights at sea.