I'm not live but i was there..24 days of voyager of the seas and celebrity solstice

Not really sure where these folks are going..

just hanging out...

Always love the shot of the ship in the distance...

A little closer.. she is a beauty..

landfall....

Tenders..

Mystery Island Point... The toe of the island

Its definitely a tight beach in some spots..

off in the distance... the waves and the clouds start to arrive..

We then headed back to the ship for the sail away. The line up at the dock reminded me of why I am not a fan of the tender.. we waited about 40 minutes to get back on the ship... after a quick bite to eat we headed out on deck for some final looks at the island.

An empty deck....

This shot gives you a good idea of how wide the island is..

This was on the other side of the ship.. another one of the islands of Vanuatu

With that Mystery Island was no longer a Mystery for us. We had a great day and the island didn't disappoint. There is really nothing negative to say about this stop. The island is beautiful and offers a little bit of everything for the day. It's primarily a beach day, but if you wanted to just explore a bit and head back to the ship you easily could.

The weather was very hot when we were there. Towards the end of the day, the clouds were starting to roll in. Little did we know at this point that we were about to come extremely close to a cyclone... the sun would take a hiatus for us the next few days...

At the end of our day we came back to our room to this... its a stingray I think...

Our next Port would be Vila...

Excellent review and pictures!!!!! I was also very interested in the Hawaii information as I head there to meet the Solstice at the end of the month and am staying three days in Waikiki prior to the cruise.

I learned a lot and thank you! I look forward to more!!

Excellent review and pictures!!!!! I was also very interested in the Hawaii information as I head there to meet the Solstice at the end of the month and am staying three days in Waikiki prior to the cruise.

I learned a lot and thank you! I look forward to more!!

We have been to Hawaii a few times so feel free to ask any questions you may have. It remains one of the best places I have ever ticked off on my bucket list.

So our next port of call would be Port of Vila, Vanuatu. Our plan for this day was to find a local who would take us around for the day. When you get off the ship there is a local market you have to walk through as you make your way to the local tour folks. There where many to choose from and you could work out a price with them. We found a local driver who agreed to take us on a tour for the day. The weather was not the greatest. I mentioned in the last post that we were about to run into a cyclone. Well as it turned out when we arrived in Vila we were just on the outside of this storm.

Nonetheless, we persevered and made our way around the island. Our tour would take us to 3 stops with a walk around the port at the end of the day. We paid $50 per person for the day.

Our first stop was the Reef Vanuatu Zoological School. This was a great little spot where the locals are working to preserve the wildlife and in particular, turtles. You start off with turtle area. You then walk around to see other marine life and birds. The cost was 20 AUD for adults and 12.50 AUD for children. Well worth it considering the work they do at this reserve.

Here are some shots from this stop...

Coconut Crabs... these are huge

The area also had a jungle feel as well....

Having some fun with the wildlife..

Here we were looking for Star Fish.

After the stop at the reserve we then made our way to Cascade waterfalls for some swimming and a few jumps off the falls. When you arrive at the entrance you have about a 15 minute walk to where the falls are. Its an easy walk but you do need to mind your head along the path as many of the trees sweep downward and if you're not looking ahead you will bump into them. We saw that a few times with kids and their phones. actually funny...

The views along the walk..

The area was very beautiful and lush...

..and the falls...

Some tubing was also available..

this shot really shows how green and lush the area is..

the water was actually very cold... it took a bit to get used to.

up top and getting ready to jump...

The view looking back from the falls...at the top of the falls...

its a long way down from the top..

after the jump...

more from the falls..

Craig getting ready to jump...

Vanda is next...

She made it..

They had a rope swing as well...

We then headed back to town for a walk around. We were in Vila on a Sunday so most of the stores in town were closed. Our goal was to find some wifi!

We walked around a bit and then headed back to the ship.

It had been raining most of the time we were swimming at the falls and the clouds didn't really clear at all as we walked around.

..and that was our day in Vila.

Well lets get back to a some more of this review.

I had mentioned earlier that we were now in the path of a cyclone. What that meant was that our plans were about to change. The captain had decided that because of the approaching storm we would need to change our route in order to avoid the storm. The result of that unfortunately was that we would have both Mare and Lifou cancelled. We instead would end up with an extra sea day and then we would proceed to Luganville, Vanuatu instead. An unfortunate turn of events but much better than heading into a storm. So, instead of Lifou we were now on a sea day.

We had booked an Oceanview room. I didn't take many pictures of it but here is one.

Now, despite the weather we had the previous day in Vila, today wasnt so bad and the captain seemed to be doing a great job of avoiding the storm. That said, the waves were a little rough today and the ship was rocking. The result, the pools were closed for most of the next two days.

The upper outdoor deck was a bit to windy so Vanda and Vicki found a spot down on Deck 11.

Remember I mentioned the pools were closed... This is why..

A few more shots from around the ship.

Great review, and super pictures!

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