TAHITI CRUISE

DAY TWENTY TWO & TWENTY THREE - FIJI

2008-11-15T06:40:00.000+10:00

We are on our final leg of the cruise on the first of 3 days at sea before docking in Sydney at 8am on Tuesday. Today is Saturday November 15th and for the past two days we have been at our final two ports in Fiji. On Thursday we spent the day at Port Denaru and yesterday at Dravuni Island.
Port Denaru is a brand new stop for cruise ships and I think we were only the third or fourth cruise ship to stop here. The port is actually on a small, 3 sq km. Island and is reclaimed mangrove swamp now covered in fancy resorts and up market shops. There is also an abundance of tour operators offering fishing trips, snorkeling, sailing and other water based tours. We spent several hours on the island mainly watching the locals show. They put on a number of shows in a very nicely shaded area in the center of the shopping complex. There was a traditional song and dance show known here as a Meke. Part of the show was a Kava Ceremony that I avoided. Been there once before - foul taste and numb lips.
The other activity that is on offer here is the Bula bus. This bus simply runs around the island stopping at each of the 6 resorts and is used by guests and staff of the resorts plus the visitors such as us. There are no beaches to speak of here but the resort pools are all very nice and visitors are welcome.
Our next stop was Dravuni Island yesterday. The approach through the passage into the lagoon here is very interesting. The entrance , maybe 200 meters wide, is marked by two small red buoys, one either side. To make sure that ships notice these the local motor out in small dinghy’s and sit beside each buoy as an added indicator. I thought they were fishing until a fellow passenger who had been here before told me of there important duties. They were there when we left in the afternoon as well.
We dropped the anchor close to the island at 7am and stayed here until 3 pm. There are no Princess Cruises shore tours offered here. Instead it was simply a day at the beach. We live on the Sunshine Coast in Qld and are surrounded by beautiful beaches and didn’t really need to see another one so we spent the day by the pool onboard.
Dravuni Island is approximately 100klm from Suva within the Great Astrolabe Reef. It is one of many small islands scattered throughout this area and home to 200 or so native Fijians. There is very little on this island apparently. A small village, a school, a church and that’s about it. Yesterday was mainly overcast and while I’m told the snorkeling here is usually quite good yesterday the water was not very clear.
Our last sail away party this afternoon was a bit somber I thought. It’s been a wonderful cruise and like me I think a lot of people are sorry to see it end. There’s always the next one to start planning for.

DAY TWENTY & DAY TWENTY ONE - FIJI

2008-11-12T13:14:00.001+10:00

Yesterday and today we have spent in Fiji. Firstly in Savusavu and then today in Suva. Our day in Savusavu was one of the hottest days of the cruise with the temperature hovering around the 31c mark with 80% humidity. If the day had been cooler I think we would have spent longer ashore. As it was by the time we were transported to shore by tender after spending up to 30 minutes standing around between Deck 5 and Deck 4 waiting for the tender to load the day had already lost most of its excitement. Mary and walked the length of the town, approximately one kilometer, and back again. We visited the hot springs where local women cook many of their meals, two of the three supermarkets, the bank and probably two dozen or more handicraft stalls. The handicraft stalls were all staffed by Fijians all anxious to exchange the customary greeting of “Bula” with a friendly smile. The Taxi drivers on the other hand were less friendly and more insistent that you do business with them.
The town of Savusavu on the island of Vanua Levu is only very small, has a population of less than 5000 and although not the largest town on the island is certainly the hub of activity here. The town has a single main street alongside the bay and has everything needed to spend a lazy few hours wandering among the stall holders and trying out the various shops, restaurants, etc.
Today we docked in Suva. As a comparison with Savusavu where one was sleepy the other is vibrant. It’s a very large and very noisy city of some 365,000 people. Mary and I had decided a few day ago that we probably would not go ashore here. Neither of really like cities and have bought just about every souvenir we want from the trip. The following is taken directly from the Sun Princess Patter, the daily news.
“Nestled in a yawning harbor, this city is sticky with sweat and industry but it’s Fiji’s most concentrated confluence of ethnicities and cultures. Swimming in the urban milieu you’ll discover the influence of every island and background. Downtown is a jigsaw of colonial buildings, modern shopping plazas, abundant eateries and a breezy esplanade. Small passages transport you to a city somewhere in India with curry houses, sari shops and bric-a-brac traders.-”
Tonight we sail for Port Denaru.and we are getting very close to the end of the cruise. Tonight the crew are putting on their concert. This has quite a tradition on Princess ships apparently. I’m told it’s an adults only night and should be a bit of fun. Our houseboy Marvi is performing a Michael Jackson dance act and he’s most anxious we see it. This show, in the Princess Theatre starts at 10.15 after the movie Mama Mia.
All for now.

DAY EIGHTEEN and DAY NINETEEN - SAMOA

2008-11-10T08:30:00.001+10:00

Monday November 10th and we have crossed the international date line once again and now have lost the day we gained on October 28th. Yesterday was Saturday November 8th and Sunday the 9th was lost somewhere at sea last night. We spent the last two days in Samoa. Pago Pago, American Samoa on Friday and yesterday we were at Apia, Western Samoa. On Friday we toured American Samoa in a Ford Taurus hire car organized by Evon. The four of us, Peter and Evon, Mary and I spent 6 hours touring the island from one end to the other and over the top through a couple of spectacular National Parks.
We took some advice from the people at the car rental agency and Evon navigated us out of town past the Tuna Cannery. If you ever come this way make sure you close all windows and turn off the A/C. Even then it’s hard to escape the stench and even harder to stick to to 25klm per hour speed limit. Once past this the road follows the shape of Pago Pago Harbor and it’s clean sandy beaches. We had instructions to continue along the road ‘till we found a church with a red roof on our left and to take the road on the left over the mountains. This road was very steep and climbed through jungle like country side occasionally separated by very tidy little villages. At the top we stopped for some photographs of one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen down through a lush green valley to Fagasa Bay ( Forbidden Bay). We drove down to this bay and followed the road to the beach area and another small village and church.
We retraced our path back over the mountain and onto the coast road and continued to the furthest point from town. Along the way we found many terrific photo subjects one of the most spectacular was a large rock formation surrounded by water called Camel Rock. Photograph this from any angle and it still looks like a Camel. We stopped at Tisas Barefoot Bar on the way back into town. There didn’t seem to be much on offer here in the way of food and although the beach did look inviting we decided not to stop for a swim. From here we drove back into town and through to the other side looking for a turnoff to a couple of sites Evon knew about that she wanted to photograph. These were a very large rock formation sticking up out of the water only 20 or so meters from the beach called Flower Pot Rock. A couple of stops on the way back to the ship for a bit of shopping and our day was over. We had spent 6 hours out and about and could easily have spent at least another 6 and still not have seen all that American Samoa has to offer.
We sailed through Friday night and docked at Apia at 7am Saturday. By 7.30 when the shore authorities had cleared the ship and passengers were allowed off the ship the dockside was alive with a local song and dance group. Twelve men and eighteen young women plus the accompanying drummers and guitarists entertained us as we disembarked. We had been greeted like this a couple of other times but the singing of this group was by far the best I have seen. The music and the dancing together with the beautiful harmony of their voices made for a very special welcome.
I had arranged to be met by Mark Birtwistle of Berties Tours and he was there to greet us as well. Mark had arranged two buses for our groups. Our group consisted of Mary and I, Peter and Evon, our WA visitors - Jan, John, Bill and Dianne plus Anne and Barry. The other group, organized by Kate, was to consist of Kate and Ian, Trevor and Betty and our visitors from the states - Ellen and Ken who unfortunately didn’t come off the ship to join us.
Kate’s group of four went with Mark in the smaller of the two buses and the other group traveled with Marks friend Brian. Both Mark and Brian are English, have lived in Samoa for about 5 years and are married to Samoans. Brian’s wife traveled with us for the day and was a wonderful source of information.
Our first stop was the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum where we spent a half hour being guided through the house where Stevenson lived and worked for many years. Within the boundarys of the property there is large hill/mountain and Robert Louis Stevenson is buried at the top overlooking Apia.
From here Brian and Mark took us to see a couple of waterfalls and some very nice beaches. Beaches here are much nicer than anything we had seen in Tonga or French Polynesia. At one of our waterfall stops Mark had organized some people from a local village to give us some insight into village life with a demonstration of the preparation of a cooking fire. Food was wrapped in banana leaves, placed on top of scattered rocks that had been heated in the fire. The food was then covered by more of the hot rocks and then by banana leaves and allowed to steam/cook for about 45 minutes. We couldn’t hang around ‘till the oven was opened up again as we had our own lunch to get to.
This was at a beachside resort consisting of a large eating area built up on stilts above the beach and surrounded by Fales. These are basically one sleeping room , built on a platform and open to the elements except that each side of the room has a drop down screen that one can use for privacy or if the weather turns nasty. There were about six of these with absolute beach frontage and behind these there were a number of more substantial looking Fales that had solid timber walls and louvered windows. We spent about an hour here and then headed further along the way though yet more villages and more churches. Very religious people the Samoans - in every village there is a church. Almost every denomination is represented here but the greatest number by far is the Mormon Church. This is the same throughout the Pacific, especially in Tonga. In Nuku’alofa there are 36 Mormon Churches and they are all built to the same specifications. Here in Apia that isn’t so obvious. There seems to be some large and some small depending on the size of the village.
Brian and Mark had us back to the ship at 3pm as promised and I’m sure everyone enjoyed their tour as much as I did. Heading this way? Google Mark Birtwistle in Apia

DAY SEVENTEEN - AT SEA

2008-11-07T13:59:00.000+10:00

Today is Thursday November 6th and the third sailing day since leaving Bora Bora on the way to Pago Pago. I received an email last night from a friend wanting some information about the food and the various restaurants on the ship.. Much of the following will, I hope, interest both those that know the Sun Princess and those that have never cruised on this or any other ship.
Mary and I have got into a certain pattern regarding food and I’m pretty sure most of the other passengers have done the same. I say this because despite the fact that there are over 2000 passengers on board we keep bumping into the same ones each time we go to eat. We have been eating our breakfast in the Horizon Court up on Deck 14. Mainly due to the fact that breakfast is available from 6.30 am and even when on holidays we still get up with the sparrows. The food here is just what you’d expect in any 5 star resort. The staff are very accommodating, the huge dining area spotless and the view are outstanding. The Horizon Court is at the pointy end of the ship and has floor to ceiling glass. Before leaving the Horizon Court I should mention it’s hours of operation. They operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Starting at 4am with hot breakfast Pastries until 6.30 when the buffet breakfast starts through until 11.30am. Then the buffet lunch is available and there is a new theme for this each day. This is available ‘til 3.30pm and for the following 2 hours there are sandwiches & light snack buffet. At 5.50 pm the buffet dinner opens up, runs through ‘till midnight and from then through to 4am one can dine Bistro with an a’ la carte menu. And it all starts again.
We often return here for our lunch, available 11.30am ‘till 3.30pm, but on some occasions we visit Verdi’s Pizza on Deck 8. Here we can choose from about 8 different 12 inch Pizzas. I am only one third through the list and haven’t found one I don’t like yet. Or , we might pop into the Terrace Grill on Deck 14 overlooking the pools. The barbecue lunches here are nothing like the burnt offerings you’ll find in my backyard.
Our evening meal is spent with our dinner companions Deb’ and Vern plus Peter and Evon at the early sitting in the Marquis dining room on deck 5. This is a truly splendid dinning room. The staff are attentive to ones every wish. The atmosphere in the room is exactly what you would expect from a 6 star hotel and the food is delicious. The menu changes each night with new entrees, starters, mains and sweets plus there is about a dozen items labeled - Always Available. There does not appear to be anything the waiting staff won’t accommodate here. For instance a double helping of a certain starter and special vegetables with main - “ no problems” And it happens and all with a smile. Many eat here at breakfast, lunch and dinner just to experience the opulence of it all I’m sure.
The other options for the evening meal is the Steakhouse. This is one of those rare things that are not free on the ship. The 3 course meal here, which I’m told is delicious, cost AU$20 per person. There is another formal dinning room , The Regency, on deck six. This is only open for dinner each night and for afternoon tea each afternoon. and from a quick walk through, looks to be much the same as the Marquis one deck below.
There is of course things like hamburgers, hot dogs and ice cream available in various spots around the main pool area on deck 12 but we haven’t tried any of those so I can’t really comment. And if all of that is not enough there is always room service.
I hope that satisfies your curiosity, Jono. You’ll just have to come aboard some day and try it. I know we will be back.

DAY FOURTEEN - BORA BORA

2008-11-04T11:12:00.000+10:00

Monday November 3rd (Tuesday back in Australia, Cup Day) and we are at anchor at Bora Bora . For the past three days including today we have visited three Polynesian islands. Tahiti on Saturday, Moorea yesterday and Bora Bora today.
My first observation of all three is that they are nothing like what I expected. There are few if any clean sandy beaches. On Tahiti all the beaches are black sand, on Moorea the only white sand we saw was those that had been created by the hotels, and here on Bora Bora Matira Beach, where the majority of the mainland resorts are, the beach is very nice. Crystal clear water, clean white sands, pandanus and coconut trees to the waters edge and very friendly locals. Moorea and Bora Bora are both surrounded by little islands called Motus and these do have very nice beaches I’m told. We didn’t go there so didn’t see them.
The second thing I noticed that I was not expecting was the very low quality of the majority of houses on Moorea and on Bora Bora. Papeete, Tahiti is really just like any other city the world over and the housing mix not as noticeable as Moorea or Bora Bora. Many of the people here live in the most wonderful of locations, almost on the waters edge. But they live in what looks to be houses constructed from left over materials from dump sites. Sheets of ply for walls, old rusted corrugated iron roofs. There are some traditional houses made of pandanus and other local grown materials. There are also quite a few brick/concrete houses that have been built by the government to replace houses destroyed by hurricanes.
TAHITI.
We spent the morning in Papeete at the local market. Today was a holiday in Tahiti and the only shops that were open were jewelers and the market. The market was a mixture of fruit and vegetables and fresh fish and hundreds of bunches of flowers. These people really go in for flowers. They were more expensive than our previous stop at Raiatea. The city itself appears a bit run down and a bit grubby. But even so has a real charm and allure about it. Must be the French connection. Most of the people we spoke with were very friendly and helpful, but not the flower sellers. I got an earful from one lady when I asked if I could photograph her floral arrangements. You’d have thought I was carry out some industrial espionage.
In the afternoon we went on a Tour that Evon had arranged with Marama Tours. Unfortunately they had misunderstood how many we were and only sent a 22 seater for our 40 that Evon had recruited. Half our group had to head off in Taxis while the rest of crammed into the bus. Our driver’s English was not too good and he only knew one speed to drive at, flat out, so while we did a tour of the whole island it was too fast with not enough stops.
MOOREA.
On Moorea Mary and I had opted to do a Princess Cruises Tour of the island with a visit to the Tikki Village. This turned out to be one of the highlights of the entire cruise. The tour itself around the island was very informative with a driver who spoke quite passable English. The Tikki Village show was fantastic. Ten very attractive girls in traditional costumes complete with coconut shell bra’s and six muscled young men that had more energy than anyone deserves. They danced to music provided by four or five men on drums, guitars, ukuleles. The men put on their own display of fire dancing. The show also included a display of dying sarongs (that’s not what the call them here but I can’t remember what is the correct word) and how to wear them.
The Village itself is a bit artificial looking but the waterfront location is stunning.
BORA BORA
We had booked a Princess Cruises tour here as well. This tour, Highlights of Bora Bora, was a complete circle of the island, all 32 kilometers of it, in a vehicle known as Le Truck. A surprisingly comfortable method of transport. Ideal for this climate with open windows, no doors just a safety chain and plastic seats. Today’s temperature was forecast as 32c with 88% humidity. We took 2.5 hours to circle the island with 4 stops for photo opportunities plus a visit to Matira beach and Bloody Marys Bar. Bloody Marys is owned by an American and has signs out front with the names of all the rich and famous that have visited. It is a very interesting place to visit and has a colorful history from when the American Forces were here. The locals are a bit cynical of the todays Bloody Mary and we were told it is nowhere near where the original stood nor is it anything like the old bar of years gone by.
Of the three islands we visited over the past three days this is certainly the most memorable. It’s clean, very easy on the eye with it’s surrounding coral reef and the little islands scattered all the way around the mainland. All in all a very nice place to visit for a day on a cruise.
Tonight we leave Polynesia on our return route through Samoa and Fiji. We are at sea for the next three days until our next stop at Pago Pago, the capitol of American Samoa.

DAY ELEVEN - RAIATEA

2008-11-01T16:45:00.000+10:00

Friday October 31st docked at Riaitea portside. We arrived here this morning at 7.30 am and the first passengers left the ship at about 8.30. We were not in any hurry to go ashore today as we had no tours planned. Instead we had decided to check out the town and if any locals were offering tours that sounded interesting we would go with them. We left the ship at about 9.30 and walked the length of the town and back on the opposite side of the road in less than an hour. It’s a very small town. The market was open today and we spent another hour here before heading back to the ship for lunch.
Riaitea is the second largest of the French Polynesian Islands and has a population of approximately 11,000.If they give out Tidy Town awards in this part of the world then Riaitea would have to be a strong contender. No pigs or chickens wandering the roads here unlike Tonga and the Cook Islands.
From the ship looking inland the tiny town is laid out in two parallel roads running along the coast. There are a couple of banks, at least two supermarkets that we saw, only one hotel but lots of cafes, restaurants, ice-cream parlors, etc. And of course the market. Not sure if this is an every day event or just on Fridays but it’s worth a visit if for no other reason than to see the most amazing display of floral arrangements one can imagine. These were the only things for sale that seemed a reasonable price. Some were as low as 1,000xpf, about AU$16 for a bouquet and up to 60,000xpf for a full sheaf arrangement.
In the afternoon we went ashore again to visit a supermarket to buy a bottle of cordial concentrate. I had bought one back in Noumea for the equivalent of AU$3, enough to make 10 liters. The same item here in Raiatea was just under AU$8. A litre of milk sells for 800xpf, that’s about AU$13. I had lost my favorite cap back in Vava’u and thought I might replace it here. I had bought the old one in Thailand for the princely sum of AU$3 and thought then I had paid too much. The equivalent here had a sale ticket on it of 2850xpf. You work it out. 1000xpf = AU$16. Not the place I could recommend for an inexpensive holiday. In fact, the Princess Cruises shore tours were cheaper than what the locals were offering. Evon found a young guy in a Ute with bench seats in the tray - the sort of thing that we know as a Bemo in Bali or a Tuk-Tuk in Thailand. He was offering a 3 hour tour of the island in the back of his Ute for US$80 per person. Needless to say she declined.
The island is ringed by a coral reef much the same as our previous stop, Rarotonga. The big difference here is the fact that there are no sandy beaches. Raiatea is solid rock all the way to the waters edge. There are some small islands out in the lagoon that do have beaches and we were told the snorkeling here was some of the best. Tourism is not very big here. There are only a small number of resorts and a couple of backpacker type B&Bs. The people who work in the stores and shops are very friendly and helpful with our pitiful attempts at speaking French.
In closing I would recommend to any one cruising here that they purchase a Cruise Ship tour or be satisfied to just have a leisurely stroll through town as we did.
We sail for Papeete in about an hour from now and tonight is Halloween party night onboard. Could be a bit of fun. I’ll let you know next time I post.

DAY NINE - RAROTONGA

2008-10-31T10:34:00.000+10:00

It’s Thursday October 30th and as I write we are midway between Rarotonga, where we spent yesterday, and Raiatea our Friday destination. Raiatea is the first of our four French Polynesia ports and we will be there from 8am ‘till about 5pm.
We arrived at Rarotonga at 10am and the first tenders started to deliver people to shore at about 10.30. There was quite a bit of complaining at how Princess handled things this morning. There were several hundred people milling around on deck seven waiting for the tender tickets to be handed out. This in itself causes problems. Too many people in one place at one time. Princess have decided that every passenger must be there to accept his or her own tender ticket. Apparently in the past it was possible to send one of a group to collect a number of tickets. Not any more. So, here we have several hundred people waiting for tickets so they could get to shore and do their own independently arranged tours while at the same time another many hundred were in various meeting rooms around the ship receiving preferential treatment because they had paid the exorbitant cost of a Princess tour. Mary and I were finally given our tender tickets and then stood in a cue for a further 50 minutes watching the tour people get on to Tenders ahead of us. Not the best way to start a day.
We spent the day with Peter and Evon in a hire car. Evon had organized this from home via the net. The car rental company were at the dock waiting for us and soon had us in our very roomy family size car. The company Evon had booked with were simply known as Friendly Cars and Scooters and our car cost us a total of NZ$61 for the day. This included insurance and a one day Cook Islands driving license.
Armed with a map of the island we headed off in a clockwise direction. It’s either that or anti clockwise. There really is only one main road on Rarotonga and goes around the island for a total of 32 kilometers. The island of Rarotonga is home to about half of the 19,000 population of the Cook Islands and it’s main town of Avarua is home to the main commercial hub of the island. Here you will find banks, supermarkets, medical facilities cafes petrol station, etc. The rest of the coastal road is mainly dominated by resorts and homes with the occasional café. The island is surrounded by a lagoon inside the reef and inland is dominated by a mountain range covered in lush rainforest vegetation.
We stopped at Muri beach and I had a swim in water so clear that standing in waist deep water I could see detail of shell and coral on the sea floor as if I was looking into a glass bowl only inches deep. At the halfway mark we stopped for some lunch at a small café run by a New Zealander with his local Polynesian helper. This guy has what I would describe as the perfect working location and ethic. He is directly across the narrow road from another beautiful beach, his tan lets on that he spends a lot of time there and the sign at his front door tells you that he’s open 6am ‘till 4pm Monday to Friday, closed Saturday and Sunday GONE FISHIN’. What a life!
The weather was a very pleasant 25c with humidity if about 77%. The people we spoke to all were all very friendly and eager to help. This is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and certainly the highlight of our cruise so far. Mary and I have put it into our “ must return for a longer stay” list.
Tomorrow we arrive at Raiatea and this will be the first of 4 consecutive days on land so I’m not too sure when I will post again.

DAY EIGHT - VAVA'U

2008-10-29T10:57:00.000+10:00

Today is Tuesday the 28th of October and so was yesterday. We have crossed the International Date Line and gained an extra day. We are at sea today on the way to Rarotonga and yesterday we spent the day on Vava’u, pronounced vavavoo.
I had arranged to be met by a taxi driver named Semisi the RoadRunner at 8.30am after we were transported to shore via ships tenders. The ship arrived on schedule at 7am and Mary and I managed to catch the first tender ashore at 7.30. We were closely followed by Kate and Ian plus Evon and Peter our travel companions for the day. Semisi had emailed me that he had an eight seater and we would easily recognize his car with the RoadRunner signage. When he arrived on time at 8.30 we were all very pleased to note that he had probably the newest and cleanest passenger mover on the island. He explained that although his was a taxi he didn’t operate as such. No crops, pigs or tapa cloth mats in his truck, he said. “I only drive tourists!”
Semisi has a VHF radio and is on call by the resorts, the yachties and the airport and takes bookings via the internet for tours. Roadrunner@vavau.island.ee
We had asked Semisi to take us for a complete tour of the island with as many photo stops as possible. We also asked to have a look at some village life, some resorts, beaches, handicraft production and have us back to the port by 12,30.
Vava’u island is one of the 21 inhabited islands in the 34 that form the Vava’u group of islands and the capital is Neiafu. The town runs along side the very peaceful looking Port of Refuge which Semisi said had until about a week ago been filled with yachts from all round the world. Most of them had now moved on to escape the approaching humidity and heat of the summer months. The town has nearly all the sort of shops one could want. A Post Office, a Bank, quite a number of general goods shops, a couple of supermarkets, cafes and bars. Out of town these facilities are almost non existent and the two or three resorts on the island provide transport to and from the center. Much of this is provided by Semisi.
Semisi went out of his way to show us as many parts of the island that he could get to. I should point out that much of the worth seeing points on Vavau are via dirt roads not much better than goat tracks. Even on the main roads the speed limit is only 60 kilometers an hour and down to 40 when going through villages so don’t expect to get around very fast. Vavau is quite hilly as compared with Nukualofa which is flat. Semisi took us to one particular spot, up a dirt track that ended at the top of a spectacular cliff top looking out to sea. He said that on many occasions whales could be seen from here but not when we were there. A great photo shoot though. Back down the track to a village and we were invited to visit a group of local village ladies at the community hall as they worked on making Tapa Cloth mats.
From there Semisi took us to a small beachside café where the owner showed us a range of fresh water pearl jewellery. Evon couldn’t resist and bought a love.ly twisted neck strand.
From here we headed for the Tonga Beach Resort for our final stop before heading back to the ship. A cool drink on a lovely beach with a great view of our ship resting at anchor across the bay. Another great day ashore and another tour I would highly recommend.

DAY SEVEN - NUKUALOFA

2008-10-28T14:00:00.000+10:00

Monday October 27th at Nukualofa the capital of Tonga on the island of Tongatapu the largest of the Tonga islands. Today we toured the island with Toni Mathias. Toni is a Brit’ who came to Tonga 16 years ago, has married a Tonga lady and is now a naturalized Tongan. He and his wife run a B&B in Nukualofa and he also conducts tours of the island. I made contact with Toni via the internet and arranged for him to conduct an all day tour of the island. Originally there were only 8 of us but as our roll call on Cruise critics grew so did the interest in this and other tours. Today we had 18 on tour and Toni had arranged for two buses. Toni was waiting for us at the port gate at 9am when the ship docked. A word to any-one thinking of booking Toni for a future tour - try to keep your numbers down to about 8 per bus and if you only have a group of eight and have no need for the second bus ask Toni to PLEASE bring the bus with the opening windows. His other bus has all sealed windows except for the driver and passenger and the air flow is just not good enough for the conditions.
We all took some time to organize money exchange as Princess had no Tonga money on board and didn’t get underway until about 9.40. We left the port area a little ahead of all the Princess Cruises tour groups and drove through the town of Nukualofa. This does not take very long. The town itself appears to be no more than 0.5 of a kilometer square and we were soon on our way for what turned out to be great day. Our first stop was the furthest point westward on the island where Abel Tasman was reported to have landed. I should point out that Toni is an incredibly cynical gentleman and questions every purported historical date or event including this one. It was a great photo opportunity none the less. We also had a brief stop in this leg of our tour to view the flying foxes. Most of our group were from Queensland and didn’t really need to see another flying fox. We have plenty at home.
From the Tasman landing site we backtracked a few kilometers and turned off on to a bush track that took us to a beach side resort. Here we managed to arrive just after a couple of the Princess Cruises tour groups who had got ahead of us by not doing the Tasman landing site. These people on this tour were being fed what looked to be salad and fruit while our group who had our meals ordered in advance by Toni dined in the top deck dining area of the resort on things like Caesar salad, Fish and Chips and Chicken Kebabs .Part of the Princess Cruises tour included a dance and song performance by a group of local men and women in traditional clothes We were there at the right time and were also able to see and hear this performance free of charge. Very moving and very entertaining..
From here we headed along the coast to the blowholes. Another great photo opportunity and on such a warm humid day we were all grateful to Toni to plan things so that we were able to beat the cruise tour buses and park very close to the action without too much walking.
Further along the coast we turned off on to a very narrow track that took us to a natural bridge at the bottom of a valley worn through by the crashing ocean waves. Yet another great photo opportunity.
We then continued through the center of the island to the Trilithon. This is an amazing structure that is made up of two upright stone pillars about 4meters high and about 6 meters apart with a slab of coral spanning the gap. It is thought to have been built in about 1400AD and is known as the “place where time begins” It is, according to Toni, the spot on earth that sees the first rays of the rising sun.
From here we headed back towards the town stopping from time to time to allow for more photographs until we were back in town center and our final stop at the Royal Tombs and the Royal Palace. You can’t actually get very close to either but still close enough to photograph.
We had a great day with Toni and found him a very knowledgeable and entertaining tour guide.
Nukualofa is an interesting mix of living standards from the obviously well off to the very down at heal. The greatest influence on peoples lives is religion. We passed, according to Toni, 36 Mormon churches on the day. A lesser number of Catholic and other denominations.. The people themselves are very friendly, especially the children in their neat school uniforms.
Anyone heading this way and wanting a very entertaining and inexpensive day tour I highly recommend Toni Mathias. You can contact him on tonigh2@yahoo.co.uk

DAY SIX - AT SEA

2008-10-26T05:26:00.000+10:00

Today is Sunday October 26th and we are at sea midway between Noumea and Nukualofa. Although there is no land in site we must be sailing close to some land mass as there are quite a few birds skimming across the top of the water. Channel 36 on out TV shows the ships course, present position, distance traveled and distance to the next port and looking at the map here shows us just off the coast of Fiji. We have lost 2 hours in the lat 48. On Friday night we were advised to put our clocks forward 1 hour and then again last night, Saturday night. The further we travel the warmer it gets and the calmer the seas. The only time we have experienced anything that could be considered rough was the first night leaving Sydney. Since then I could have been sailing in my 4.2m tinnie quite comfortably.
I’m taking this opportunity to correct a couple of bits of misinformation that I’ve read on CC forums. This will mainly interest those that intend to sail on Sun Princess in the future.
The first relates to the coffee in the Horizon Court.. I have read that this coffee is “horrible - tasteless - really bad - and ghastly”. Well, all I can say is Princess Cruises must have been taking notice of these comments because on this trip there is absolutely nothing wrong with the coffee. This is not just my opinion, I’ve asked several and they all agree, the coffee is fine. In fact we believe it is the same coffee that is served in the formal dining rooms.
The second bit of information that might help future cruisers is about the internet. I was told before boarding that I would need to swipe my card in the internet lounge and then very quickly write down a code to allow me any future connection. The following may only relate to those using their own Wifi enabled laptops and for those who wish to use the computers in the internet lounge the above swipe the card process may still apply.
The process for connection via a Wifi enabled laptop is as follows. When the computer is turned on it will search for available networks and will find one named Princess. You then need to type in you first initial, surname and cabin number, all one word. This will connect you to the Princess server. You then need to specify a password for future connections and purchase a package of time. The bigger the package the less per minute you will pay. I purchased $100 worth at .40c per minute. You can, of course, pay as you go, but this will cost you .75c per minute.
The interesting thing that others might like to try is location searching. When I was talking to the computer manger I was told that I would need to bring my laptop into the internet lounge or one of the public areas around the ship. Not accurate - I post from my own cabin on deck 10.
This morning our CC group has been offered a tour of the galley at 10 am and tomorrow we sail into Nukualofa.. The next 3 days will be busy and I’m not sure how often I will be able to post. Tomorrow Nukualofa, Tuesday we are at Vava’u and on Wednesday we spend the day on Rarotonga.
All for now.

DAY FIVE - AT SEA

2008-10-25T06:28:00.000+10:00

Saturday October 25th and we are at sea today and tomorrow on the way to Nukualofa. Yesterday we spent the day at Noumea but before I report on that I need to revisit the first couple of days.
You will recall that Evon had arranged a Meet and Greet onboard on the first morning at sea. for all those from our roll call. Princess announced the time and place for this in their first edition of the Princess Platter. We had read that many of these meet and greet events had been poorly attended with peoples intentions changing once onboard so we were all very pleased to see 30 of our possible 32 members show up. It was good to finally put faces to the names and we spent over an hour together planning shore excursions, forming teams for onboard trivia and organizing dinner companions.
Friday 8am and as promised the Captain has us alongside at 8am. The day was a little overcast and the weather report threatened showers. These never eventuated and the day turned out ideal for touring around.
Because of the size of the SP we were not able to tie up to the Passenger Terminal but were instead docked in the Commercial part of the port. Princess provided free shuttle buses for the 20 minute drive to the passenger terminal. Mary and I had nothing really planned for the day other that the hop on hop off bus. Unfortunately no-one at the terminal knew where to catch the bus. Fortunately for us Peter and Evon arrived on the next shuttle so we tagged along with them, walked to the market and then through the city to the museum bus stop. . We had just missed one bus and looked like waiting an hour for the next when we were approached by another passenger from the ship who had managed to make contact with a local lady who had a 10 seater and was willing to take us on the same tour that we had just missed out on for the same price, 1000xpf each. We were joined by Deb and Vern who had been visiting the museum.
The lady who arranged all this was spoke French which was just as well because our very friendly driver, Kathy, spoke no English. This was not a problem until about half way through our tour our French speaking fellow passenger left us to visit the Zoo. Things got a little confusing after that and our one hour tour soon blew out to over two hours before she dropped us back at the cruise terminal. We visited beaches, resorts, lookouts, cultural centers, more lookouts, and all in all had a fantastic tour of Noumea.
Noumea had never been on my list of places I just had to see and after yesterday that hasn’t changed. It is just another city, not unlike a lot of Asian cities. A lot of commerce/industry, some very nice beaches, a few reasonable looking resorts, some lovely old colonial home and some very poor areas as well.
All onboard and we cast off on time at 5pm heading for Nukualofa..

Day Two Wednesday October 22nd

2008-10-22T15:08:00.001+10:00

Our adventure started at 3.am yesterday when we finally gave up trying to sleep
and both decided to repack the suitcases for about the umteenth time. Didn’t help, still overweight by 4 kilograms. Gave up and sat about waiting for our friends Roy and Paula to wake up and drive us to the airport in Brisbane for our 90 minute flight to Sydney. On the road at 5am - airport by 6.30 - in the air at 8.10 and on the ground in Sydney at 10.30 daylight saving time
.Princess Cruises were very well organized at the airport and had us underway by a little after 11. We arrived at the enbarkation hall at 11.45, expecting to be one of the first groups onboard, to be greeted by the site of at least 500 people milling around in the hall and an announcement that embarkation would commence at 12.30. We were assigned our boarding numbers, group 5 ands settled down for what looked like a long wait. Princess again showed how efficient they are when we were called at 12.50, were onboard about 10 minutes later and were sitting down in the Horizon Court for lunch at 1.30 after having dropped our hand luggage off in the cabin. And after lunch we took a quick trip around the ship, up and down the elevators and got lost several times.
WOW!!! What a ship. I had no idea we would be so impressed. The last time we cruised, the only other time , was on the SuperStar Gemini last year and we thought that was a ship. Very nice to be sure but nothing compared to this beauty, The Sun Princess weighs in at an impressive 77,000 tonnes, it has 8 restaurants and cafes, 4 swimming pools and 5 spas, 7 lounges and bars, a library with over 600 books plus an internet café, 2 formal dinning rooms that can seat 900 people plus a 24hr bistro, a show lounge/theatre that seats 600 and in total the ship can hold 2,022 passengers.
Our cabin is on Deck 10, the Baja Deck. The top deck, the Sun Deck is Deck 15, and the lowest deck we can visit is Deck 5, the Plaza Deck.
We were assigned to the Marquis Dining Room for the early dinner time and found that our requests to Princess Cruises to put us on the same table with Peter and Evon (ella 2) and Deb and Vern( Angelwingsflys) was successful and we had a table for 6. Mary and I both came on the cruise determined not to put on too much weight. After last nights dinner I’m convinced that that will be difficult. Of course one does not have to eat all 5 courses at every meal, but which one do you leave off. The food is out of this world. 5 class meal served in a 5 star room by 5 star waiters. And tonight is the first of our formal nights. Beginning with the Captains cocktail party.
The weather so far has not been marvelous. Overcast and a bit breezy but ,according to the announcement from the bridge about 15 minutes ago, tomorrow will be better Another full day at sea tomorrow before arriving at Noumea on Friday. I’ll write again on Saturday and tell you all about it.

16 Days To Go

2008-10-05T05:19:00.010+10:00

Picked up all our documentation yesterday morning and printed off our boarding pass from the Cruise Personaliser. Done as much as I think we need to the plan (see below) and the only thing left is to sort out the luggage etc. My next post will be onboard the Sun Princess.

THE CRUISE PLAN

NOUMEA-Docked Friday October 24th 8am - 5pm
The hop - on - hop off bus sounds good to me.Walk to market. Noumea Explorer bus to aquarium, zoo/gardens, etc. Explorer bus runs about every hour and costs 1000 xpf (A$13.75). .

NUKUALOFA -Docked Monday October 27th 9am - 5pm
Full day tour with Toni Mathias Tours - . Frank/Mary, Jan/John, Bill/Diane, Peter/ Evon, Betty/Trevor,Ellen/Ken, Anne/Barry, Kate/Ian & Tracy/Ian

VAVA’U -Tuesday October 28th 7am 3pm
We have booked a morning tour with Evon & Peter, Kate & Ian with a taxi driver called Semisi. Apparently the town is well worth a visit and the walk along the Bay into town might have some attractions in the afternoon.

RAROTONGA- Wednesday October 29th 9am - 6pm
Hire car for the day Large car NZ $49 + $6 insurance + licence. Peter/Evon; Frank/Mary. Full day round island sightseeing tour.

RAIATEA -Docked Friday October 31st 8am - 5pm
From what I have read Raiatea does not have the glamour of its neighbouring island of Bora Bora. There are no white sand beaches except around the motu islets. The quay in Uturoa is quite new and was especially built for tourist ships. Vendors located on the Raiatea waterfront provide an atmosphere of an old-world marketplace. .
It's the longest pier in French Polynesia and apparently lovely to wander around. Apparently there will be many options for tours available when we get off the ship.

PAPEETE-Docked Saturday November 1st 9am overnight - 6am
An overnight stay provides plenty of time to explore. Walk along Papeete’s waterfront and discover the exotic blend of Polynesian and Parisian culture.
Evon has arranged Marama Tours half day Tahiti Circle Island Tour (1.30 – 5pm). . Bus with either 8 or 15 seats.
Morning - Frommers South Pacific has a map and a walking tour

MOOREA - Sunday November 2nd 9am - 6pm
Moorea is described as one of the most beautiful islands in the world and we have booked the Princess tour to Tiki Theater Village .

BORA BORA -Monday November 3rd 8am - 6pm
Have booked a morning Princess Tour, Highlights of Bora Bora. 2.5 hour In the afternoon we might just wander around the little town of Vaitape. From what I have read it’s like a small village, with many duty free and souvenir shops. After that we might see about a taxi to Matira Beach. It is supposed to be one of the best beaches in South Pacific. I have read that it is possible to use the pool, showers, private beach etc at the Sofitel for a very reasonable price, around $10 US)

PAGO PAGO - Docked Friday November 7th 8am - midnight
Currency US dollar. Hire Car booked with Friendly Hire. F & M plus P & E . Family Size Taurus. Visit Tisas Barefoot Bar, Sadie Thompsons and shop.

APIA - Docked Saturday November 8th 7am - 5pm
Full day tour with Mark Birtwistle, Berties B&B Tours. Collect at the dock gates at 8.30 am.
Then we visit in order: Robert Louis Stevenson Museum, Bahaii Temple, Papapapaitai Waterfall, Sopoaga Waterfall, Lalomanu Beach (Lunch)

SAVU SAVU -Tuesday November 11th 8am - 6pm
Might find a bus to a beach resort or just spend time looking around the town and the port area.

SUVA - Docked Wednesday November 12th 7am - 6pm
Shopping at Tappoo or Jacks ( buses will pickup and return) Tappoo probably the best. Other than that I think we will stay onboard.

PORT DENARU- Docked Thursday November 13th 7am - 6pm
Hop on and off the Bula Bus. This is a free service and runs a shuttle service around the resorts. It operates every 20–30 minutes between 6.30am and 6.30pm. Currency Fiji dollars. Or AU$.

DRAVUNI ISLAND - Friday November 14th 7am - 4pm
Wander about, eat, drink and have a swim. No tours available here.

40 Days to go

2008-09-11T08:01:00.003+10:00

Well here we are 40 days to go and starting to get things organized. Updating the medical provisions, scheduling bill payments, checking on the luggage, buying clothes for the trip. This last is a biggy. 28 days at sea and Mary. has decided she doesn’t want to contend with laundry rage. Not sure how we can accommodate that and still meet Virgin Airlines 20kg per person luggage restrictions. We might have to wear half a dozen shirts/blouses on the plane.

I was checking into our Cruise Personaliser the other day and noticed two new entries. The first was our flight details from Brisbane down to Sydney. We fly out of Brisbane at 8am arriving in Sydney at 10.30am. I think it takes about 30 minutes from the airport to the ship so we should be onboard in time for lunch around noon.
The second new entry was a visit from the upgrade fairy. We originally booked C622 Caribe Deck and now we have been upgraded to B706 on Baja Deck. The cabin looks the same size and the location is almost the same, it’s just one deck up and I’m told that’s an upgrade.

There haven’t been many new shorex arranged since my last post. We decided to book a Princess Circle Island Tour on Bora Bora as there didn’t seem to be many other options. This is a morning tour that will have us back to the ship around lunchtime and leave the afternoon free to do our own thing.
There has been some new developments on Moorea. Originally we had intended to do the Tikki Village independently and had a very good price from the Village for our entry. They also offered to provide some transport to their show at quite a good price. They were then asked to combine all of the above with a tour of the island and the price they came back with was almost as expensive as Princess. As I write there are about 18 of our CC group who want to do this tour and Evon is negotiating the final deal.

Fiji is still up in the air a bit. At the moment SavuSavu looks like a bus or taxi to a beach. Suva might be a shopping expedition at Tappoos or Jacks. At Port Denaru I think we will do as DucknChook did and ride the shuttle buses to some of the Resorts and on Dravuni I think it’s just eat, drink, have a swim and relax on the last day before the sail home to Sydney.

Had a call from our TA this morning just to make sure I knew that our deal inluded transport to the airport in Brisbane, our flights to and from Sydney plus transport to and from the ship. I knew about the flights and happy to hear about the transport to Brisbane. We usually ask a favour of my good mate Rob but this year he can have a sleep in.

Ok, all for now. More later

60 Days To Go

2008-08-22T18:57:00.005+10:00

Starting to get excited now. Only 60 days to go and any day now the tickets will arrive.

There's been quite a few new members of our RollCall since last I wrote. Bazbel (Anne & Barry), TassieTiger ( Judy & Barry), Angelwingsfly ( Deb & Vern) and from the UK Staggerlee ( Tracey & Ian).We now have 24 CCs on board and Evon from Ela2 is busy organising Princess Cruises to host our Meet and Greet onboard Sun Princess.

A couple of days ago our Cruise Personalisers finally included the Shorex for our cruise. Many of the tours offered by P&O during the same itinary that the PD cruised are repeated. Most of the prices have remained constant, a few have increased and a few have been discounted. I doubt that many of our RollCall pax will be doing many of these tours as most have been researching to do things independently.

Since last I wrote we have finalized arrangements between Evon and Peter and Mary and I to share a hire car in Pago Pago and share a taxi in Moorea when we do the Tikki Village tour independently. Princess want to sell this tour for AU$79 each. We have calculated that we will do the same tour for less than AU$50. In Papeete Evon has contacted a group called Marama Tours to take us on a Circle Island tour. As I write there is at least 12 of our Rollcall members joining us on this tour.

On Bora Bora we might just wander around the little town of Vaitape. From what I have read it’s like a small village, with many duty free and souvenir shops. After that we might see about a taxi to Matira Beach. It is supposed to be one of the best beaches in South Pacific.I would also like to pay a visit to Bloody Mary’s. A taxi from the town should cost no more than about $8.

From what I have read Raiatea does not have the glamour of its neighbouring island of Bora Bora. There are no white sand beaches except around the motu islets. The quay in Uturoa is quite new and was especially built for tourist ships. Vendors located on the Raiatea waterfront provide an atmosphere of an old-world marketplace. .
It's the longest pier in French Polynesia and apparently lovely to wander around. Apparently there will be many options for tours available when we get off the ship.

Vava'u and the 4 Fiji ports still require some research but I'm sure we will have some plans for those over the next few week.

All for now.

81 Days to go

2008-08-01T08:53:00.006+10:00

There has been quite a few developments since my last post. The Cruise Critic Rollcall has several new members including, ellenh, Seachangers and Janset, and Evon (Ela2) is busy organising a Meet and Greet for us all once we are on board.

We have all been very busy researching the ports for DIY shorex. Nobody seems very keen to pay out for the Princess/P&O tours. Both Evon and I have had friends return from the same trip onboard the Pacific Dawn just recently and the information they have passed on plus the fantastic blog written by DucknChook has certainly helped our own efforts in deciding just what we will do in each port.

To date this is what we have come up with.
In Noumea we originally were sharing a hire car with Evon and Peter but now will probably spend a bit of time at the markets and around the port area and then hop on the Explorer bus to visit a few of the sites. Evon suggests the aquarium, the zoo and the Tjibaou Centre. Sounds like a busy day.

In Nukualofa we are doing the same tour that DucknChook wrote about. Since I last wrote we have managed to fill the tour with the inclusion of Evon and Peter (Ela2) Jan/John and Bill/Diane (Janset)

In Rarotonga Peter has agreed to drive our hire car. This should be a great day. All day hire of the car with unlimited mileage for only NZ$59.

In Papeete we will spend the morning exploring the town and the port area before an afternoon Tahiti Island Circle Tour with Marama Tours. The ship is scheduled to stay along side in Papeete overnight so I hope we can find some evening activities as well.

In Apia, Samoa, we have booked Berties Tours for a full day around the island. This tour started off as costing Mary and I US$60 each but we have managed to get a full tour bus now and the cost is down to US$30 per person plus the cost of lunch. A bargain when you compare the cost of a much shorter tour offered by P&O for $129.

There's quite a bit of work still to be done for Vava'u, Raiatea, Moorea, Bora Bora, Pago Pago, and the four Fiji ports. So far we have not considered any P&O/Princess tours. The more I read and the more people I talk with on the CC site the more I'm attracted to DIY or, as Chez from DucknChook put it , wing it when you get there.

More next time.

130 Days to go

2008-06-13T07:44:00.006+10:00

I just transferred our final payment to Escape Travel today, Friday June 13th. It's 130 days 'till we cruise and I've been doing lots of research on various web sites including Cruise Critic plus books from our local library that have been a great help. I've been getting a lot of really good info' on all the islands we will be visiting.

We have decided to only book Princess shore tours at those ports that require a tender to get to shore. A couple of reasons for this. The first has to do with security of travel. I've been told that if you are on an organised tour and it runs late getting back to the port, the ship will wait for you. People who do their own thing are at risk of being left behind. Apparently it does happen.

The second reason, and again it's from what I've been told or read, is that people on organised tours are the first off the ship by the tender boats while those doing their own thing have to wait 'till all the others are organised.

There are 7 islands that require landing by tender and the other 8 have the ship docked. These are, Noumea, Nuku'alofa, Raiatea, Tahiti, Pago Pago, Apia, Suva and Dravuni Island.

In Noumea we have decided to share the cost of a car rental with a couple , Evon and Peter (Ella2), that I met on the Cruise Critics web site. They have been to Noumea before and have some good ideas of the things worth seeing so we will be in their hands for the day.

In Nuku'alofa we decided to go with DuckNChooks experience and have booked a tour with an englishman named Toni who is married to a Tonga lady and runs a backpackers hostel on the island. He will pick us up at the ship in his 10 seater bus and return us 6 hours later. His tour includes all the best sites on the island plus a bit of a swim and a snorkle and costs about $35 per person. He has asked me to try to find some others to join us on this tour. I'm sure I'll have no problems with this.

Ok. That's all for now. I'll write again when I have some more news.

142 DAYS TO GO

2008-06-02T06:24:00.012+10:00

It's Monday June 2nd and time to start this blog on the Tahiti Cruise. We have a couple friends who are heading off on the Pacific Dawn to do the same 28 day cruise that we are doing in October. Looking forward to their report when they get back. Also, I've found a blog site that is beeing written by a couple of ladies who are doing the same trip and intend to report on their blog as they travel. That could be interesting as well. We are sailing on the Sun Princess on October the 21st for 28 days.

This is a trip that I have dreamed of for 50 years or more. Ever since I started reading books by people like Michener and Melville about the South Seas. Always wanted to sail to places like Bora Bora, Moorea, Tahiti, Raratonga. I finally talked Mary into doing a cruise last year when we did 10 days from Hong Kong to Singapore. That was a test to see how we would like being on board a ship for any length of time. We loved it so much that we had no problems booking the next one, 28 days to Tahiti and return.

This is where we are going.

21 Oct 08 Sydney, Australia 4pm
22-23 Oct 08 At Sea
24 Oct 08 Noumea, New Caledonia 8am - 5pm
25-26 Oct 08 At Sea
27 Oct 07 Nuku'Alofa, Tonga 9am - 5pm
28 Oct 08 Vava'u, Tonga 7am - 3pm
28 Oct 08 At Sea
29 Oct 08 Rarotonga, Cook Islands 9am - 6pm
30 Oct 08 At Sea (Cross International Date Line)
31 Oct 08 Raiatea, French Polynesia 8am - 12 midnight
01 Nov 08 Papeete, French Polynesia 9am Overnight - 6am
02 Nov 08 Papeete, French Polynesia Moorea, French Polynesia 9am - 6pm
03 Nov 08 Bora Bora, French Polynesia 8am - 6pm
04-06 Nov 08 At Sea
07 Nov 08 Pago Pago, American Samoa 8am - 12 midnight
08 Nov 08 Apia, Samoa 7am - 5pm Cross international date line
10 Nov 08 Niuafo'Ou, Tonga (12noon - 2pm
11 Nov 08 Savu Savu, Fiji 8am - 6pm
12 Nov 08 Suva, Fiji 7am - 6pm
13 Nov 07 Port Denaru, Fiji 7am - 6pm
14 Nov 08 Dravuni Island, Fiji 7am - 4pm
15-17 Nov 08 At Sea
18 Nov 08 Sydney, Australia 8am

We payed our deposit for the cruise in August last year and as I write it's 14 days 'till we pay the full fare and 142 'till we sail.

More later.