Day 32: Dravuni Island, Fiji

This island was one of the key decision factors in booking this cruise. The stop here on our Crown Princess return was the other. 😉 I love this place. 

Dravuni Island is only 75 miles from Suva (which is why we didn’t leave Suva until midnight last night), still part of Fiji but a different island group 

As much as I love Dravuni, I don’t love the sun I knew we’d inevitably get today if we stayed on the island too long. For that reason, we were up and at ‘em early and went to breakfast totally packed for our time ashore. This enabled us to be on the very first tender over to the island. I did not take my new iPhone over (check out my blog; I have lots of photos from our several past visits) and G said he was going to take his since he wasn’t planning to snorkel.  Unfortunately, the built-in USB-A ports in our cabin aren’t always reliable and they weren’t last night. He had exhausted his battery in a quick minute. So the photos we have are few, but it was a beautiful day and we’ll be here again in a couple of weeks. 

Just a note:  there are no umbrellas sans liners for rent here. This is a very basic, but beautiful beach. 

We claimed a spot on the beach in as much shade as was available and I was immediately in the water with my mask and snorkel. These are both recent purchases. McGee asked to borrow my snorkel gear for his trip to French Polynesia and I discovered my mask apron had ripped since I last used it (2021), which was actually a good thing since I had enough time to replace it before our trip. 

Dravuni Island had some of the best snorkeling we’d seen in this part of the world (on a cruise itinerary), but we hadn’t been here for nearly 7 years, and cyclones and tsunamis can take a toll. Well, I’m happy to report that it’s still superb. I found several Nemos, and lots of other tropical fish. I remembered that the coral were so healthy here and they are still looking good, too. 

I wasn’t certain how I’d do snorkeling. Since I was last here, I started wearing glasses with prism for double vision. In fact, it’s gotten so bad that I was scheduled to have surgery in February to correct it (but that got changed the day we were in Kauai, a whole ‘nother story). With my contacts, without my glasses, I knew I would be able to see the fish, but I also knew I’d see twice as many as were actually there. Well, that’s not such a bad thing. It was like swimming in an aquarium, and almost took my breath away. Of course, finding G on the beach afterward was a little tricky (which one of him do I aim for?) but he wore his yellow shirt and that always helps. 

I snorkeled for a few hours, taking breaks only long enough for G to do some exploring, and we caught a tender back to the ship shortly after noon. We ate lunch on the Terrace Deck, and I should have done a water workout but I was tired after battling the waves and walking on the beach. Instead I watched the last of the football games being shown in the cabin and rested. 

After dinner tonight, we spent time on the open decks watching what was left of the sunset and sail away. Captain Traverso made an announcement telling us we were returning to Suva for a medical evacuation by boat, and would arrive there about 8pm. We crashed early in the cabin, watching on the bridge cam as the lights of Suva in the distance grew closer, but were asleep early. Really early, actually, when you consider that we moved clocks back for the final time last evening and are now on Sydney time.  

Days 30 & 31: On the ship in Fiji

Our next two ports were Lautoka and Suva, Fiji, ports we have visited several times the past. They are also tough ports for us because 1) the ship docks in a city and tourist sites are not close by and 2) we’ve either already done or are not interested in doing the excursions that are offered. Excursion planning (which I tried, I really did try to do) came down to G telling me he would do anything I wanted to do and me asking him if he would be willing to go to a mud pool (no), orchid garden (no) Hindu temple (no), take a 40 minutes boat or bus ride to a beach resort (no), watch yet another cultural show (not really), participate in another kava ceremony (no), or shop for souvenirs (a hard NO from both of us). This is pretty much the list of likely things to do from these two ports. 

And just to be clear: all (actually, most…that shopping thing is always a no) of those things are wonderful the first time or two you do them. But there are things (like a beach day on Dravuni Island tomorrow) that are infinitely repeatable. And other things. like mud pools and Hindu temples that aren’t. Just sayin’. 

Of course, when we realize that the ship is stable, nearly empty and that food and coffees are at the ready, it’s quite easy to talk ourselves into staying on board. That’s the exact thing that older cruisers used to do in the Caribbean and we could never understand it. We get it now. 

In Lautoka, we lingered at breakfast for over an hour. I branched out and had a glorious avocado toast with smoked salmon, and I know for a fact what that would have cost me at a restaurant near our home (because I’ve indulged a few times, and, along with the specially coffees, this was truly a deluxe experience). And I loved every minute. 

I’ve eaten all the blueberries on the ship!

With mushrooms and spinach. A thing of beauty.

I had the stable, not-too-full Terrace Pool to myself (of course I did) and had a fantastic workout while G watched from a lounger nearby, then I joined him to warm up in the sun. 

After a clean up, lunch was another yummy soup in the Horizon Court, and then we sat in the shade on the Promenade Deck. We hadn’t been to dinner with Libres and Sulton (autocorrect always turns that into Stilton. Which would be fine, too).  More soup for me, and the veggie stir fry. I’m sure I was short on protein, but I’ll make it up tomorrow. 

We had great entertainment options for the evening. First, ship activities director Liberty Pessoa did a show singing songs of 100 years, from the 20s to the 20s. We love to go to these sorts of shows, but sit in the “just in case seats”. Just in case. Well, we did NOT need those seats during this show. She was incredible, leading me to scratch my head (on the non-bump side) and ask what the heck she is doing as an activities director. She will no doubt be a singing cruise director soon and move on from there. 

Afterward we went to the Vista-less Lounge for comedian Jeff Green, an ex-pat Brit living in Melbourne. Funny, funny guy. He did mostly relationship humor with some tech humor thrown in, one laugh after another. We had again sat in the just in case seats and again didn’t need them.

Two great shows, live music everywhere. An abundance of riches. On-the-ship days in tropical ports with perfect weather are good days. 

Today in Suva (the capital of Fiji) was a “rinse and repeat” day, despite the fact that we stayed in port until 11:30pm. 11:30pm pm on a Sunday night in Suva. Suva pretty much closes down on Sundays, period. But I’m sure the late departure allowed people to linger longer at the beach resorts, which is good, because, again, they are quite a drive or boat ride from the port. 

Terrace Deck view this morning

One difference today:  being Sunday, it was Saturday at home. And Saturday means college football. Need I say more? I was up at 4am to watch Michigan lose to Indiana  (sometimes, it’s tough to be a Michigan Wolverine. The Whittingham/Beck combo is making that most of the time).  Another fantastic breakfast in Sabatini’s, breakfast #2 on the Terrace Deck (watermelon, natch), then back to the cabin to watch the BYU v UCF game. Whew, that was a game!!  So so much fun to watch. 

A pool workout followed, then I was bundled up in a robe watching more college football the cabin. Because that’s what I do. G came and went, but we stayed touch via iPhone and I believe I may have actually napped, which is good, because tomorrow will be a full, fun day. 

Dinner with Libres and Sulton is such a treat. They know us and our likes and dislikes perfectly by now, and could probably bring our dinner without needing to order. 

Tonight’s Princess Theater entertainment took advantage of our very late departure from Suva. A local dance group called Vo (I think that’s the spelling) csme on board to do a folkloric show at 7pm and 9pm. But it wasn’t the usual “war fighter” folkloric show. It stated that way but changed over the course of the show to show the evolution of Fijian culture, including the Indian influence. It was all fantastic:  the shoreline, the music the rhythm, the chireography. We loved it. 

We sat out on the Terrace Deck for a few minutes, enjoying the lights of the Suva waterfront before calling it a night. 

The back of the ship is so pretty at night

Day 29: At Sea

I had to laugh. I published the blog post from yesterday and noted that it said Day 28. That couldn’t be right…we started this journey on a Friday. Surely it was Day 29. And went back through all my posts before I realized-doh- we skipped a day. I knew that!  We all knew that! I am looking at a certificate on the cabin wall that says that!

That head bonk was apparently harder than I realized.

We had moved clocks back (for the second to last time!) again overnight. We have stopped calculating what time it is at home and just accept that it’s yesterday there. But things are getting better. We weren’t awake at 4am as we have been too often recently, but instead slept until nearly 6am. Progress. 

The Terrace Pool was still sloshy early this morning, but better. I held out hope that it might further improve as the day went on, and went to breakfast before I worked out. After breakfast #1, we grazed the buffet for breakfast #2 (watermelon, of course) and sat in the bright sun on the Terrace Deck to enjoy it. I do love the aft decks on this ship!  There is so much more space than we’ll have on the Crown.

G took note of the level of water in the Terrace Pool (low) and the number of people (none) and the fact that there was no wind and told me this was my chance. By the time I ran back to the cabin and changed, there were six people in the pool but the water wasn’t very warm and most don’t stay more than ten minutes or so. I was soon sharing it with just one other person. The lower water level allowed me to have a great workout with less sea sickness and I enjoyed nearly 75 minutes in the pool. Definitely a mood booster!!

That was followed by my favorite thing in the world, whether at home or here…a long, hot shower followed by bundling up in a robe to warm up. Heaven!! And that’s how I came to be cleaned up for tonight’s 7pm Captains Circle party at 10am, which kind of ruled out a hot tub visit or any sweaty outdoor activities for the rest of the day. That’s okay. I had blog posts to catch up on, and maybe, just maybe, without ukulele to practice, could squeeze in some reading. 

It was nice. I got in my workout, caught up on blog posts and read, the latter for the first time in a while. Maybe I need to re-think ukulele on our Crown return. It does take a lot of time. Or maybe, just maybe, Kamaki and Kaile will return as our Hawaiian ambassadors and I’ll already know all the songs. A girl can dream. 

We went to lunch in the Botticelli Dining Room and I have to say that every single waiter we’ve had has been so very friendly. And we were seated at a table where the waiters would walk by on their way to and from the galley and all of them that we know stopped to chat. That was fun. Today’s food, BTW, was really good. The carrot soup was the best of the many excellent soups we’ve enjoyed onboard and the chicken curry just perfect. 

G napped a lot this afternoon so I blogged guilt-free, then went to afternoon tea in the Horizon Court because dinner tonight looked a little questionable, between the menu and the 7pm party. 

The party was a little sad, as it’s the last time we three most travelled will be together as a group (they are from Australia and won’t be cruising on the Crown with us).  We exchanged contact info. I’d love to cruise with them again. 

We changed clothes before going to the Princess Theater for the 9pm production show Stardust. Now Stardust was past its sell-by date 15 years ago but G loves it, not least because it’s accompanied by the show band. While I walked across the Lido Deck where the White Night party was already underway and was packed with people dressed in white and The Wobble was being danced to en masse to pick up pool towels to stay warm while in the theater I kept assuring myself that we would have much more fun listening to songs from the 1950s in Stardust. And that I am a very good wife. 

Luckily, we were able to catch the last of the party when Stardust was done, and then went down to the International Cafe to get soup and a sandwich. Because it was after 10:30pm and we typically early diners still hadn’t had dinner. And the Horizon Court shuts down at 10pm (who knew?  We’re always asleep by then). 

Our weather has been sunny with no or just passing rain showers every day. Hoping it stays like that for our many upcoming island ports. 🤞🏼

Day 28: At Sea

And, just like that, we were back to sea days. That’s what a transpacific crossing is all about!

Captain Ravera had told last evening that we would be passing through a particularly scenic area, called the Apolima Strait about two hours after we sailed from Apia, but we sailed almost two hours late and it was too dark to see anything by the time we got there. But looking at Google Earth, that area between the Samoan islands of Apolima and Manono does look particularly beautiful based on the water color. 

So we slept hard. Well, as hard as could sleep can be with the ship again pretty bouncy. We feel it more in our cabin location than anywhere else in the ship, and G said we may have to re-think this beloved location for future cruises. Don’t say it!  I love our proximity to the Horizon Court and Terrace Pool. We’ve spent hundreds of nights in this part of similar ships. 

We started our day at breakfast in Sabatini’s and then I returned to the cabin to practice my ukulele for today’s Hawaiian cultural show, scheduled for 3pm in the Vista-less Lounge. Nine songs!  We learned nine songs, some of them in Hawaiian!  I practiced and practiced, and told G I needed to skip lunch to get to today’s last group practice at 1pm in Sabatini’s. He went off to play backgammon and told me he’d meet me in the Vista-less Lounge for our program. 

And then it got particularly rough, and I stood up off the bed and lifted a foot to turn at the same time the ship lurched and- boom- over I went, falling to the floor in our cabin. 

Fortunately, our cabin is very small and it’s hard to fall too far. I’m sure I hit a bed on the way down; I almost would have had to. Unfortunately, our cabin is very small and I bonked my head hard on a desk drawer knob. Very hard. I didn’t cut myself but I have quite an abrasion and a contusion. And a big old goose egg right on the top of my head. 

I’m bruised but not broken. But it did knock me kind of senseless. My Apple Watch detected a hard fall and asked if I wanted it to call 911. Yeah, good luck with that. G returned at 1pm to tell me I was missing the final practice in Sabatini’s and discovered me still lying in bed and a little dazed. He checked me out, and we both knew there was no way I was going to be standing in a bouncy Vista-less Lounge playing the ukulele for nearly an hour at 3pm. 

Thus ended my fledging ukulele career. At least for this cruise. There’s still our Crown Princess return to California. 

It was important to feel better and quickly, as tonight was the first of two Captains Circle parties nights. It seemed like forever since we had seen the other MTGs at the luncheon. I guess it was about two weeks ago. This is a long cruise!l The top three most travelled guests were the same as last cruise and we were honored to be this cruise’s most travelled once again.  

The days (and thank you to the person that posted these on Facebook…it takes a village) were:

#1 1858 days 

#2 1801 days (David and Sandy from NSW Australia)

#3 1595 days (Maurie and Gail from NSW Australia)

I hadn’t had lunch. These were delish.

After two parties, we went to the Horizon Court where I had some delicious tilapia and mango salsa, and called it a night.