Live Review from Explorer of the Seas - 24 Night Transpacific - Sydney to Seattle

[BEENSAILING]

We'll be on Explorer crossing - Seattle to Sydney - in October 2016 and will keep your reviews in mind for when we are ready to set up excursions.

[londongal796]

Thanks to everyone for the follows and comments.

 

As it stands, the internet is not good enough for posting pictures -- it takes about 5-10 minutes for me to post each time as our internet keeps dropping and I have to reconnect constantly to get any page to load. However, they made an announcement in the Star Lounge for the Diamond (and above) guests that 'big things' were happening for the onboard wifi from 1 May, so we are keeping our fingers crossed for the Voom internet to go live and for our misery to end!

 

Anything I learn about the Suite process I will gladly share, and I will probably compile that towards the end once I have a grasp on things. We were given a 'list' of perks in our stateroom but it in no way encompasses everything that we know we have access to, nor does it explain how to do it (for instance -- we know we can order MDR meals to our Suite but we don't know who we contact, what sort of notice we are meant to give, etc!). They also have a list of bar drinks in our packet -- does that mean we can order bar drinks right to our room, or is that just informative?? No information is provided!!!

 

We have gone right to our Concierge and asked to be told how everything works but he's just told us some other things and redirected us so I really haven't learned a whole lot. Most of it has been by other staff noticing our gold cards and redirecting us to other services. We did at least figure out the tender situation which was a big help!

 

Re: BEENSAILING: There was certainly enough storage space for all of our things, but there isn't some sort of massive EXCESS of storage space compared to the Allure Balcony cabin we had. The closet is split into three -- one has two shelves and then a longer-height railing; however, this is diminished as the lifevests are there, so all of our long hanging stuff is in that closet but is draped along the life vests. The other two closets are split into two levels of hangers which are only high enough for a shirt for each level. However, unfortunately, in our cabin, the lower level had only 4 hangers on it so we couldn't even utilise that, and once you put your luggage in there, the space goes down even more. We found absolutely no spaces to hang things like our hats and the shelves were only adequate for our shoes only, and nothing more.

 

There are three sets of three drawers, one by the bed and two by the bar. This is one set of drawers more than on Allure -- that is it. The cubby space with the safe (by the bed) is in such an awkward position as to make it unusable -- your night stand is directly in front of it so you cannot stand infront of it to open the doors -- you have to stand off to the side and wriggle your arm around the door which of course opens out, and yeah -- it is not ideal.

 

Other than the three extra drawers, we have found the space to be THE SAME as on Allure. It is sufficient, but I was expecting tons more space. The only thing that IS more spacious is the bathroom, for which there is at least twice as much storage space. So that is a positive.

 

As for my list of niggles that you addressed: Our latest Cruise Compass has the time change on Page 1 so that was at least a success. As for the sausage, I don't know how you can be more clear than saying 'I'd like a side of sausage', especially when in the past if I have ordered a side of ANYTHING with RC I have been given a massive plate of the stuff. As for the Skewer -- how could I know there was only going to be 4 bits of chicken until after it arrived, and would I really want to hold everyone else at our sharing table up by asking for a second portion?? In fact, at that meal, someone else DID order a second portion after seeing all of our food and ended up causing us all a delay of some 20 minutes, which made us late for an event... so, while, yes, a simple solution, it is not practical if you have others sharing your table and you don't wish to be rude. Finally, yes, I DID ask about the salad dressings, and was told no, those were the only three they had.

 

Britty1: Yes, the US Dollar is not widely accepted in these parts. The Australian Dollar is much more accepted. I did notice the woman on Mystery Island took both Australian and US Dollars, but that was the only place I saw this. We were told that the Cruise Terminal in New Caledonia might take other currencies as well as credit cards (and some things even let you charge it to your Sea Pass acount!) but we did not get a chance to go there so I can not comment personally. To be sure, they aid OUTSIDE of the Cruise Terminal, it was just the Pacific Francs that they took. I can add that in Port Vila, they only took Vanuatu money OR Australian Dollars. Not US Dollars. I believe in Australia they only took Australian Dollars too. I think Australian Dollars is the best currency to go for. We did get Fijian Dollars as well as we booked a tour and they said they would only take payment in Fijian money, so we have some extra anyway.

 

Retird: Thanks for your reply! I'm glad you're having a great time. We DID enjoy the native greeting in Noumea, perhaps I didn't express that well enough -- we found it funny and interesting, but it was a surprise and it was VERY early in the morning.

 

The time change announcements are always made over the speakers which, depending where you are, you may or may not be able to hear. We have often been at breakfast, lunch, or dinner when the announcements are on which means we can not hear them at all. They did alert us on Day 1 at the Headliner Show that we would have 6 time changes and that they would be announced in advance. At this point it would have been prudent of the CD to say that the first one would be TOMORROW, Day 2, at noon, but for whatever reason he did not, and just said it would be well announced and take place at noon. Day 2's cruise compass did NOT feature the time change on page 1 (as announced) and instead it was only on page 4 on the list of cruise activities. I did see that today's, Day 7's cruise compass, has it clearly noted right on page 1 right at the very top. Absolutely brilliant.

 

I heard about the announcement on the Voom internet so fingers-crossed that will come through! I am so glad you have enjoyed all of the onboard shows and other activities.

 

Just to be clear: I am giving an honest blow by blow review of my experience. My experience will be different to others because other things will have occurred to us that did not to others. I also am basing my opinions and comments on my own personal experiences set by expectations from previous cruises. I have cruised with RC almost exclusively and over the past 5 years I have cruised with them each year. I have a set level of expectations and when the service drops from this, I will comment on it. I have to admit, the MDR experience has been THE BEST I have had in literally years -- since I think 2013 I haven't had such good MDR experiences, and my comments have been largely positive. Where I find things to be lacking or standards to be slipping, I will share my thoughts. Thanks for your comments.

[BEENSAILING]

re currency - coming from the US looks like we will need to change our US dollars to Australian currency on the ship (assuming they do that... though I am sure the exchange rate will not be in our favor.)

re closets - when I pack, I pack with clothes on hangers and I have usually found then too many of the ships hangers in my closets. I usually move the life vests to under the bed. If you need more hangers I am sure your stateroom attendant or concierge can arrange for you.

re salad dressings - you are correct - not a big choice...

re dining in your suite - did someone finally give you the number to call? Have there been MDR menus in your suite each day?

I am glad to read the time changes are more prominent in cruise compass.

Have you taken advantage of going to the Concierge/Suites lounge? If you did, I hope you enjoyed...

And one more on my request of "to do..." in Maui please take note of tender schedule and if the tenders are running overnight your first night there. If not running overnight what is the latest for return in the evening on first day and what is the earliest for leaving ship for next morning?

 

I hope your internet experience does indeed get enhanced with the new VOOM. It is supposed to be fleet wide on May 1.

 

Thanks again...

[Bobal]

Why not move your life vests and luggage under your bed and ask for extra hangers :confused:

Edited April 29, 2016 by Bobal

[KazAllen]

re currency - coming from the US looks like we will need to change our US dollars to Australian currency on the ship (assuming they do that... though I am sure the exchange rate will not be in our favor.)

re closets - when I pack, I pack with clothes on hangers and I have usually found then too many of the ships hangers in my closets. I usually move the life vests to under the bed. If you need more hangers I am sure your stateroom attendant or concierge can arrange for you.

re salad dressings - you are correct - not a big choice...

re dining in your suite - did someone finally give you the number to call? Have there been MDR menus in your suite each day?

I am glad to read the time changes are more prominent in cruise compass.

Have you taken advantage of going to the Concierge/Suites lounge? If you did, I hope you enjoyed...

And one more on my request of "to do..." in Maui please take note of tender schedule and if the tenders are running overnight your first night there. If not running overnight what is the latest for return in the evening on first day and what is the earliest for leaving ship for next morning?

 

I hope your internet experience does indeed get enhanced with the new VOOM. It is supposed to be fleet wide on May 1.

 

Thanks again...

No you don't need to change your USD to AUD as the ship is all in USD, doesn't change when they come to Australia.

[north29]

She is a great artists, her name is Sue Primeau, If she is teaching water color classes or other art, it will be fun.

 

If you see her tell her hi from Nancy Wright and the South Africa water color trip was SUPER.

[little britain]

My friend on board, who is having a wonderful time by the way, said that Port Vila had a 7.4 earthquake early hours yesterday.

Thoughts go to those in that region, especially Vanuatu as they're still recovering from last year's cyclone.

I hope those on board do all they can to support the economies in that region when ashore.

[Poochie71]

re currency - coming from the US looks like we will need to change our US dollars to Australian currency on the ship (assuming they do that... though I am sure the exchange rate will not be in our favor.)

re closets - when I pack, I pack with clothes on hangers and I have usually found then too many of the ships hangers in my closets. I usually move the life vests to under the bed. If you need more hangers I am sure your stateroom attendant or concierge can arrange for you.

re salad dressings - you are correct - not a big choice...

re dining in your suite - did someone finally give you the number to call? Have there been MDR menus in your suite each day?

I am glad to read the time changes are more prominent in cruise compass.

Have you taken advantage of going to the Concierge/Suites lounge? If you did, I hope you enjoyed...

And one more on my request of "to do..." in Maui please take note of tender schedule and if the tenders are running overnight your first night there. If not running overnight what is the latest for return in the evening on first day and what is the earliest for leaving ship for next morning?

 

I hope your internet experience does indeed get enhanced with the new VOOM. It is supposed to be fleet wide on May 1.

 

Thanks again...

BEENSAILING, I suggest not changing your US dollars to Aussie dollars on the ship. You will lose big time. Either change it before you leave the US or at a currency exchange in Sydney (avoid the airport exchanges). We were on Explorer recently and the exchange rate was about 10c differnt per dollar than what you'd get at a currency exchange, not in your favour. The pacific islands will generally take small Australian dollars or credit cards. Be aware that if you're going to Noumea it is very expensive. Enjoy your cruise.

[BEENSAILING]

No you don't need to change your USD to AUD as the ship is all in USD, doesn't change when they come to Australia.

 

I know the ship uses USD - I was responding to the currency accepted on the south pacific islands on this cruise.

[BEENSAILING]

BEENSAILING, I suggest not changing your US dollars to Aussie dollars on the ship. You will lose big time. Either change it before you leave the US or at a currency exchange in Sydney (avoid the airport exchanges). We were on Explorer recently and the exchange rate was about 10c differnt per dollar than what you'd get at a currency exchange, not in your favour. The pacific islands will generally take small Australian dollars or credit cards. Be aware that if you're going to Noumea it is very expensive. Enjoy your cruise.

 

We have been fortunate to live in (for work) Australia and vacation there - and cruise from there as well. I am referring to monetary currency accepted in Noumea, Vila and Fiji. If US dollars not accepted on those islands then we will need a few Australian dollars...we are beginning the trip from Seattle.

[aussie1944]

Thanks to everyone for the follows and comments.

 

As it stands, the internet is not good enough for posting pictures -- it takes about 5-10 minutes for me to post each time as our internet keeps dropping and I have to reconnect constantly to get any page to load. However, they made an announcement in the Star Lounge for the Diamond (and above) guests that 'big things' were happening for the onboard wifi from 1 May, so we are keeping our fingers crossed for the Voom internet to go live and for our misery to end!

 

Anything I learn about the Suite process I will gladly share, and I will probably compile that towards the end once I have a grasp on things. We were given a 'list' of perks in our stateroom but it in no way encompasses everything that we know we have access to, nor does it explain how to do it (for instance -- we know we can order MDR meals to our Suite but we don't know who we contact, what sort of notice we are meant to give, etc!). They also have a list of bar drinks in our packet -- does that mean we can order bar drinks right to our room, or is that just informative?? No information is provided!!!

 

We have gone right to our Concierge and asked to be told how everything works but he's just told us some other things and redirected us so I really haven't learned a whole lot. Most of it has been by other staff noticing our gold cards and redirecting us to other services. We did at least figure out the tender situation which was a big help!

 

Re: BEENSAILING: There was certainly enough storage space for all of our things, but there isn't some sort of massive EXCESS of storage space compared to the Allure Balcony cabin we had. The closet is split into three -- one has two shelves and then a longer-height railing; however, this is diminished as the lifevests are there, so all of our long hanging stuff is in that closet but is draped along the life vests. The other two closets are split into two levels of hangers which are only high enough for a shirt for each level. However, unfortunately, in our cabin, the lower level had only 4 hangers on it so we couldn't even utilise that, and once you put your luggage in there, the space goes down even more. We found absolutely no spaces to hang things like our hats and the shelves were only adequate for our shoes only, and nothing more.

 

There are three sets of three drawers, one by the bed and two by the bar. This is one set of drawers more than on Allure -- that is it. The cubby space with the safe (by the bed) is in such an awkward position as to make it unusable -- your night stand is directly in front of it so you cannot stand infront of it to open the doors -- you have to stand off to the side and wriggle your arm around the door which of course opens out, and yeah -- it is not ideal.

 

Other than the three extra drawers, we have found the space to be THE SAME as on Allure. It is sufficient, but I was expecting tons more space. The only thing that IS more spacious is the bathroom, for which there is at least twice as much storage space. So that is a positive.

 

As for my list of niggles that you addressed: Our latest Cruise Compass has the time change on Page 1 so that was at least a success. As for the sausage, I don't know how you can be more clear than saying 'I'd like a side of sausage', especially when in the past if I have ordered a side of ANYTHING with RC I have been given a massive plate of the stuff. As for the Skewer -- how could I know there was only going to be 4 bits of chicken until after it arrived, and would I really want to hold everyone else at our sharing table up by asking for a second portion?? In fact, at that meal, someone else DID order a second portion after seeing all of our food and ended up causing us all a delay of some 20 minutes, which made us late for an event... so, while, yes, a simple solution, it is not practical if you have others sharing your table and you don't wish to be rude. Finally, yes, I DID ask about the salad dressings, and was told no, those were the only three they had.

 

Britty1: Yes, the US Dollar is not widely accepted in these parts. The Australian Dollar is much more accepted. I did notice the woman on Mystery Island took both Australian and US Dollars, but that was the only place I saw this. We were told that the Cruise Terminal in New Caledonia might take other currencies as well as credit cards (and some things even let you charge it to your Sea Pass acount!) but we did not get a chance to go there so I can not comment personally. To be sure, they aid OUTSIDE of the Cruise Terminal, it was just the Pacific Francs that they took. I can add that in Port Vila, they only took Vanuatu money OR Australian Dollars. Not US Dollars. I believe in Australia they only took Australian Dollars too. I think Australian Dollars is the best currency to go for. We did get Fijian Dollars as well as we booked a tour and they said they would only take payment in Fijian money, so we have some extra anyway.

 

Retird: Thanks for your reply! I'm glad you're having a great time. We DID enjoy the native greeting in Noumea, perhaps I didn't express that well enough -- we found it funny and interesting, but it was a surprise and it was VERY early in the morning.

 

The time change announcements are always made over the speakers which, depending where you are, you may or may not be able to hear. We have often been at breakfast, lunch, or dinner when the announcements are on which means we can not hear them at all. They did alert us on Day 1 at the Headliner Show that we would have 6 time changes and that they would be announced in advance. At this point it would have been prudent of the CD to say that the first one would be TOMORROW, Day 2, at noon, but for whatever reason he did not, and just said it would be well announced and take place at noon. Day 2's cruise compass did NOT feature the time change on page 1 (as announced) and instead it was only on page 4 on the list of cruise activities. I did see that today's, Day 7's cruise compass, has it clearly noted right on page 1 right at the very top. Absolutely brilliant.

 

I heard about the announcement on the Voom internet so fingers-crossed that will come through! I am so glad you have enjoyed all of the onboard shows and other activities.

 

Just to be clear: I am giving an honest blow by blow review of my experience. My experience will be different to others because other things will have occurred to us that did not to others. I also am basing my opinions and comments on my own personal experiences set by expectations from previous cruises. I have cruised with RC almost exclusively and over the past 5 years I have cruised with them each year. I have a set level of expectations and when the service drops from this, I will comment on it. I have to admit, the MDR experience has been THE BEST I have had in literally years -- since I think 2013 I haven't had such good MDR experiences, and my comments have been largely positive. Where I find things to be lacking or standards to be slipping, I will share my thoughts. Thanks for your comments.

 

When I turn on my computer each day, I eagerly look for your "blog". Have really enjoyed it. You are doing a great job taking others along with you. We found that on this class of ship that the Oceanview Restaurant, buffet, is too small to accommodate the number of people on the ship. Especially on the first day when everyone goes there for lunch. We saw late arriving people waiting in line outside the restaurant until people finished lunch and left because there were no seats available.

[aussie1944]

She is a great artists, her name is Sue Primeau, If she is teaching water color classes or other art, it will be fun.

 

If you see her tell her hi from Nancy Wright and the South Africa water color trip was SUPER.

 

Love your quote about "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels"

[sunshine755]

Love this thread!!!!! Thank you so much for keeping us all posted. We will be meeting you when you get to Seattle :) so I am anxiously reading your posts to see if indeed they activate ZOOM on the ship for our trip on May 16th. I also love reading about all your experiences. I check this thread more than any other thread on cruise critic....even my own roll call! So please.....keep on writing :):):)

[Sarvowinner]

Hi J & W

 

Sorry we missed you in Sydney but I'm sure you were buggered after your horrendous trip. Loving your blog especially as we are doing the reverse in October from Seattle.

 

I'm sure W is also frustrated by the poor internet especially after the brilliant Voom on the Allure TA. Looking forward to seeing how the performance improves on May 1st. Has W been able to work the HDMI on the TV?

 

Thanks for the heads up on Aussie dollars in the Pacific islands. As we will have spent a month in Italy and Canada, I will need to put a stash aside.

 

Ciao

 

Julie

[aussie1944]

re currency - coming from the US looks like we will need to change our US dollars to Australian currency on the ship (assuming they do that... though I am sure the exchange rate will not be in our favor.)

re closets - when I pack, I pack with clothes on hangers and I have usually found then too many of the ships hangers in my closets. I usually move the life vests to under the bed. If you need more hangers I am sure your stateroom attendant or concierge can arrange for you.

re salad dressings - you are correct - not a big choice...

re dining in your suite - did someone finally give you the number to call? Have there been MDR menus in your suite each day?

I am glad to read the time changes are more prominent in cruise compass.

Have you taken advantage of going to the Concierge/Suites lounge? If you did, I hope you enjoyed...

And one more on my request of "to do..." in Maui please take note of tender schedule and if the tenders are running overnight your first night there. If not running overnight what is the latest for return in the evening on first day and what is the earliest for leaving ship for next morning?

 

I hope your internet experience does indeed get enhanced with the new VOOM. It is supposed to be fleet wide on May 1.

 

Thanks again...

 

We did a TA to Rome on Reflection and there was an ATM machine at passenger services, free standing. We found that the best way to exchange money. Rate at passenger service on the ship wasn't that bad either. ATM fee was 6.50 for each transaction using the machine.

[londongal796]

BEENSAILING: We still aren't sure how to do in-room dining but we do get the MDR menu in our suite each day. I assume you call Room Service for that one? We aren't too fussed, I am sure it is a nice option but I'm not sure where to eat except out on the balcony, and it's been either too warm or too rocky to do so comfortably. I'm sure we'll do it at least once before we dock! We have been to the Concierge lounge but we aren't drinkers so it doesn't hold much purpose for us.

We won't be using the Tender later in the evening as we are staying in a hotel overnight in Maui -- but I will see if there is any information posted when we are around.

Fingers-crossed on te Voom!

 

Bobal: Absolutely, you are correct, we could easily do those things -- however, given the price, I would have assumed that these sorts of things (taking care of the hangers, at the VERY least) would be taken care of without asking. Anyone could see there were only four hangers on the lower level. I did suggest putting the luggage under the bed to my DH but he has big feet and was worried about catching it underneath -- it's not a massive issue and if it were, I would move the luggage, but people asked about the space of the closet and that is what I am commenting on!

 

little britain: We did hear about the earthquake. Now we are in a hotel with some decent wifi I have been able to look up the sort of damage experienced and fortunately it looks like it was a shallow earthquake and no significant damage has been reported, and no tsunami was experienced.

 

aussie1944 & Sunshine755: I'm glad you're enjoying!!

 

Sarvowinner: Hello hello!!! Sorry we missed you -- our sleep schedule was all over the place and I think we spent more time sleeping and napping than touring (sadly for us!!). Surprisingly, because I have my Masters coursework to keep up with, I am the one going crazy over the slow internet! But that is a rare thing! He did sort out our HDMI cable but we lost the ability to look at the RC Network (Room Service / OBC details etc) but it's a small sacrifice!!!

 

I have to update about our Sea Day and time (so far) in Fiji... soon!!

[londongal796]

Day 7: At Sea

 

Today is another sea day… it was a little rocky but not worse than Day 2 when it was REALLY rocking, I think it may be because we are moving at a very fast pace as we aim to hit our destination in Fiji in good time.

 

We started our day a little later than usual and arrived in the MDR for Breakfast around 9:15 or so… we got into a discussion with those at our table and found ourselves still there at 10:30am! We missed the Introductory Bridge session which we had planned on going to so instead we went back to our room and I did some work on my Masters degree… lots of fun (boring) readings about Project Management and Knowledge Management!! It was enough to make anyone fall asleep on their sun lounger on the balcony…! ;)

 

We went for lunch in the MDR and finally they had the Ranch Dressing at the Tutti salad, woohoo! I also had the Tandoori Chicken which was flavourful but just a smidgen on the ‘too spicy’ side (normally the Tandoori I have had has never been spicy, just flavourful) but it was still yummy. DH wasn’t feeling great so he had a few light bites and then we went back to the cabin to rest – yes, we do tend to spend a lot of time in our cabin so that is one of the reasons why we generally don’t book an Interior cabin! (Although there is nothing wrong with them!) I did want to go out and do some things but all of the readings I had done caught up to me and soon enough I found myself napping… oops!

 

We went to dinner early in the MDR (three times in one day!) and had a nice table for two with a waiter and assistant waiter we’d had before that we really liked. After dinner we spoke with them and also the Reservations people and I believe that will now be ‘our’ table, so that is exciting! It is sometimes difficult to get to know the wait staff when doing MTD so this was a great experience as we really liked them and have had good service with them every time. It does mean we won’t have any more ‘sharing’ meals at dinner (if we take our table for 2) but we can always share at other meals during the day!

 

The menu was Chives and I had the Spinach Pie to start and then had the ‘Classic’ Salmon for my main. The salmon was cooked to absolute perfection. It was just delicious. DH had the Shrimp Cocktail and the porkloin, his choice was ALSO perfectly cooked and super flavourful, I had a bite and really enjoyed it. Dessert was the berry crumble for us both, it was very good.

 

We headed to the special Ice Skating show for all Crown and Anchor Society members. This was a really nice treat and something I’d never experienced before. The tickets said show was 7:45pm-8:30pm but also said ‘doors open at 7:45’. We decided to queue up around 7:30pm but apparently everyone else decided to go at 7:15pm or so because there were about 500 people already in the queue! Yikes!!! I have no problems waiting for a show to start but when a queue snakes all around a room and then ends up on a set of stairs, I think it is important that they MOVE the queue along and allow guests into the theatre early to ensure the safety of all passengers. As soon as the queue started to move (at about 7:40pm), we noticed a lot of people descending the central stairs trying to bypass the queue – most of them were redirected around by a member of staff but I noticed nearly all of them cutting into the queue and getting ahead of us who had waited. These things happen, and it is no one’s fault but those rude people, but it was irksome. Everyone had waited patiently and it doesn’t seem fair that some people turn up at the last minute and cut ahead of everyone because they think the rules don’t apply to them!

 

We went in and there were free drinks galore but it sounded like they were all alcoholic, DH is allergic and I had finished off a bottle of Prosecco at dinner so I was satiated! We were SO lucky that there were two free seats in the second row but RIGHT at the very end of the theatre, so we did get amazingly good seats but it was just a fluke that it happened. There were probably 50-100 guests who simply did not have seats, as there were simply too many of us to fit in Studio B at one time. This was a real shame but we felt very lucky to have a proper seat (and such good ones!).

 

The show itself was very low key but at the same time, the talent was unforgettable. I recognised one of the skaters from I believe our cruise in 2014, Independence of the Seas out of Southampton in June 2014. She was blonde with a ponytail, I think she was an American girl? But they didn’t share their names for this performance so I couldn’t double check her details but I definitely remembered her. She is super talented and she did a solo piece that had everyone clapping and hollering their enjoyment. A few of the skaters (both girls and guys) did solo pieces, very low key costumes (mostly just plain black leotards, most of the boys were just wearing jeans) but there were a few ‘group’ pieces and a few pairs skating together. All of it was lovely and I believe it was an opportunity for the skaters to showpiece their own little routines they had worked out (as opposed to it being a major production with a ‘theme’ throughout). The only ‘theme’ was ‘love’. It was really beautiful and some dances were very poignant, while others were very vibrant and peppy.

 

After the show we grabbed a cookie before heading to the main Theatre to see Colleen Austen, the ‘Diva’ show and our first time back in the Theatre since the first night. I had decided it was more important to go to the show than to sleep and I intend to do so moving forward! We have missed too many shows due to jet lag, but not any more!!

 

The show was pretty good – it wasn’t anywhere near my ‘favourite’ but Colleen was talented and had a beautiful voice. Her ‘headshot’ showed a woman in her early 20s – and she was clearly in her 40s when she came on stage. But her voice was just as beautiful as it would always have been. Her repertoire was more …. Classic Divas than what we call ‘Divas’ these days, so I was surprised by most of her song selections. I had barely heard of many of the singers, especially as many of them came from Australia etc as that is where Colleen is from. I did recognise many of the songs, but I had had no idea which singer was behind the works.

 

Afterwards we retired to bed… unfortunately for me, I suffer from vertigo and it’s been off and on the past two months or so. Basically, sometimes when I sit up in bed, or roll over, the room goes all spinny and I find it hard to stand up and keep my balance. Usually it goes away after 5-10 seconds, maybe 20 seconds at the worst. That night, at about 4am, I woke up and my head started spinning… and spinning… and spinning! It spun for at least 1 minute at which point I was so queasy I may as well have been in a washing machine!! I ran for the bathroom but seemed to be okay for a few… but the spinning came on again and at this point I decided to try some sea air, so at 4am I was out on the balcony, in the dark (I did turn the light on but there was nothing to see beyond the boundaries of our balcony) in my pjs, attempting to get myself to stop feeling so awful. (I had glanced at myself in the bathroom mirror and I was white as a ghost!)

 

10 minutes outside and I was cold but no better. I gave in to the inevitable, and let myself be ‘seasick’… Yuck, but it happens.

 

The rest of my evening was spent between bed and the bathroom… sigh. And of course, our day in Fiji was quickly dawning…!! These things happen… but I wish it had been one of our regular Sea Days and not one of our port days!!! (I’m doing much better now but I’ll catch up again soon.)

[aussielozzie18]

Despite your ongoing cruise issues, I am enjoying your review. Well done on organising the cabin crawl for so many. That would have taken alot of work. Sorry to hear about the vertigo - not nice at all. Looking forward to reading about your port visits.

[ronpes]

Hi there,....Sorry to read of your vertigo issue. That must be very unpleasant.

 

I am very much enjoying your regular updates from the other side of the world (Scotland) and your posts have brightened up the day during the snow storms we have been having this week.

 

I really look forward to perhaps doing this trip ourselves (in reverse) in 2018.

 

Thanks and again and regards

Ron.

[BEENSAILING]

Hope you feel better and that you get to enjoy your time in Fiji.

Thanks for all of the reviews.

 

PS - for the ice show because you are in a Grande Suite didn't they have reserved seating for you?

[bigfoot2004]

My husband and I are booked on the April 2017 sailing. I could not find any reviews of this cruise until I found yours. The information you are sharing will be very helpful. :)

[londongal796]

Day 8: Suva, Fiji (Day 1)

 

We arrived in port in good time, although I was feeling worse for wear from my vertigo incident. I hadn’t really slept between 4am and 7am and certainly was feeling dehydrated and weak. But I wanted to see what I could in Fiji and we had an all day ‘private’ sightseeing tour booked. We went to Chops Grill where I ordered toast and apple juice – the staff were very courteous and got me just what I wanted / needed. I felt nominally better afterwards and we went back to our cabin to get ready to leave, as well as to wait for the Captain’s clearance of the ship. It was anticipated at 8:30am – by 8:45am we were a little surprised it hadn’t happened yet. A few minutes later the clearance was announced and as our tour was due to start at 9am we headed down.

 

Unfortunately for us, as we had a very small roller bag with a change of clothes, swimsuit, and my laptop, they refused to let us disembark as they said customs would need to clear us. We were sent back to Guest Services (who we had spoken to the day before about staying off ship and they’d said there was nothing we needed to do), who then, as soon as we arrived, said they were soooo sorry but there had been a mistake and actually we CAN disembark with our bag no problem and they had told security this. So back down we went and disembarked a few minutes later, around 9:15am.

 

We met with our tour company ‘leader’ who directed us just outside of the port and to a waiting taxi with a guide. I will say that this was not the highlight of our trip. Fiji was beautiful, and we saw many beautiful things while we were there, and the forests were just abundantly gorgeous. But our guide was not the best and it very quickly became apparent to us that this was not going to be as wonderful of a trip as when we were in Vila. The main issue was that our tour guide was not quite fluent in English. He could speak a lot of English, but he didn’t understand us almost at all. So this made it very difficult to communicate, as if I asked a question or said something, he would misinterpret it and just respond with anything he wanted. This made for a very, frankly, boring day, as we couldn’t interact with him at all. He also did not seem to understand that I was very weak, tired, and dehydrated, and kept insisting that 93 year olds had had no trouble doing the things I was saying I simply wasn’t up to doing. More on that…

 

We started off by driving high up into the local area and he parked out front of some houses to show us the stunning view, with the port of Suva on the left and the wide expanse of Fijian rainforests on the left. He showed us ‘the thumb’, which is a jut of mountain that looks like someone has their thumb up. He showed us a river that runs through and talked about some things, most of which I didn’t quite understand but nodded along. The view was really spectacular and we got some shots of the ship from there which will probably be in the ‘favourites’ of mine (I always try to get a nice picture of the ship in port from a distance on my trip). We then got back in the car and I asked what was next on the agenda. He said visiting the local village. I asked if it was a far walk to the village or if we’d need mosquito repellent, as this had been the case for our last ‘village’ visit. He said no no it is very close, no mosquitos, no problem.

 

15 or 20 minutes later he announces ‘we’ll just visit the waterfalls first’ and pulls off the main road. I figured the waterfalls involved a bit of a hike and gave my DH one of my ‘looks’ but we just tried to go with the flow. We were driven into the park quite a ways and then we parked and set off on the trail. He showed us the trail map which included some big red writing saying ‘STEEP HILLS’ which worried me but off we went. It was not a long trail, and in normal conditions, I would have been okay with it – it would have been tough, as I’m not super fit, but I could have done it okay. But the rainforest was warm, humid, and the climb sloped gently uphill for a few minutes. We crested a bit of hill and then the path went down – so far so good. As we turned a corner I could hear the waterfall splashing very VERY far down below. I looked and was just like, nope, I can’t climb that far down because I can’t climb that far BACK up. The tour guide at this point kept insisting it wasn’t too far and he would ‘massage my legs’ when we finished to relieve my sore muscles. I’m like, it’s not sore muscles, it’s fatigue, it’s exhaustion, it’s dehydration – I don’t have the stamina for this. I insisted my DH go ahead and so he did and the tour guide waited with me (I would have preferred it the other way around but oh well!). DH came back a few minutes later and we made our way back. I will say, it was maybe, MAYBE, a 10 minute walk. But I was very unwell, and I just didn’t think I could manage it at that time. Later on in the day, yes, but at that moment, no. I was already feeling a little queasy again from all the driving and just was still dehydrated. (My DH said afterwards that the climb down involved some very steep steps which I would have struggled with on the way back up. It's just an FYI – it wasn’t much further, but the steps in the path were apparently quite steep.)

 

After we got back to the car we drove to the village which was only a few minutes away. Fortunately this time he was true to his word and the village really was just a few steps away from the car park. We were greeted by the locals, one blowing a shell and some others gave us fresh flowers and fern necklaces. (Please note: these did seem to have bugs in them, they were quite fresh, so do NOT try to bring them back on board as a souvenir!) We were shown to the community hall for some watermelon, I wasn’t up for that but the hall was not very big and it was quite creaky, I did worry for them but this is their style of life. The village itself wasn’t made up of straw huts or anything – it was what most of the island housing was like, which is corrugated iron pieces comprising roofs and sometimes walls, while other times concrete made up the walls.

 

There was a working toilet out back, I did use it but it was a bit creepy looking. But it was a western style toilet so thank goodness for that.

 

We were then escorted to watch the villagers do their routine, which started with one boy doing a ‘Kava ceremony’ routine, and then he came and gave Kava to everyone interested. My DH and I passed on this opportunity – it probably wouldn’t have ended well for me on my empty stomach!! Next a bunch of the ‘boys’ (they called them boys but I would say late teens, early 20s) did a warrior dance of some sort with big spears. Then they had the fire dancers who were very impressive with their massive torches. And then there was ‘the best dance’ which was basically a conga line for the guests to join in on.

 

Afterwards we were given the opportunity to try some of their locally prepared foods, fish, chicken, and some vegetables, all in coconut milk. At this point I took the opportunity to buy a bottle of Powerade, to try to help me feel better. I did try two bites of chicken and two bites of fish, as it looked well cooked and very juicy/tender. It was very tasty.

 

I looked at the other stalls for souvenirs but nothing caught my eye so we headed back towards the driver. After a few minutes we set off again and this time we didn’t seem to have a destination in mind. He just drove us around for about 1.5hours… At one point, as we pulled up to a local market, complete with live chickens in cages, he asked if we wanted to go inside. We declined – the market hall itself was full of fresh spices, and the scent probably would have knocked me out, and the live chickens weren’t really my thing either. It was GENUINELY a local market for local people, not tourists like ourselves. With all of the quarantine laws etc, we couldn’t have bought anything anyway, not to take with us at least, so we weren’t really sure what the point was other than to experience local life, which is great, but … again, considering how I felt, not the best idea! We stayed in the car, he drove us around, and then we kept driving for another half hour or so.

This was when a few of the highlights of our trip came… First, the driver pulled over to a local stall and bought some cabbage. This wasn’t too bad. Then he was driving us and pulled on to a smaller road and was explaining that this was where the army barracks are and where the boys come for basic training for 3 months. We could see a typical ‘field’ of obstacles, ropes courses and big walls to climb, etc. We’re nodding along and then he comments that there is a prison nearby as well. At this point a large, open bedded truck pulls in front of us, complete with two dozen prisoners sitting loose in the back, all in bright orange jumpsuits. The driver then proceeds to follow the prison vehicle along a dead end road, and as soon as the prison vehicle stops at the end, he pulls up ALONGSIDE IT and stops the car. We’re sat there as he starts talking about what the prisoners do, which is to work gardening in this particular area. The prisoners all jump out of the prison truck and surround our vehicle as they walk towards the garden area. No one is in shackles or anything and I didn’t even see a prison guard. The driver, at this point, while the vehicle is surrounded by people in bright orange jumpsuits, decides to REVERSE and nearly runs over multiple prisoners. At this point I am in such shock, thinking I can’t believe this is happening to us. But it did, and fortunately we reversed away and drove out safely. A few minutes later, the driver stopped and said ‘this is my house, I’ll be right back’ and jumped out, leaving us in the car with the car running. He came out a few minutes later with some sort of power tool that he threw in the back and off we went again.

 

At this point it was about 1pm and we could check into our hotel at 2pm. I was hungry by now, and the village ‘meal’ had in no way satiated either of our hungers and had been a good 2 hours or so before. We came to a pretty stretch of road so I asked if he could pull over so we could take some pictures. He did and DH was taking photos and I asked if there was somewhere he could take us for some lunch. He suggested a Chinese food place and as rice is a good thing for an upset stomach, I quickly agreed as did DH. A few minutes later we set off for the Chinese place and he told us it was air conditioned which is why it’s so nice. That sounded good to us! We arrived and he had some trouble parking so we headed to the restaurant alone, got a table and while we were looking over the menu he joined us at the table with a menu. We all ordered a meal and then I was asking about how to make payment – I had Fijian dollars but I wanted to keep some for our taxi ride back to port in the AM, and possibly for dinner etc later that day, and we asked and they did say they took Mastercard. At this point, mentally, I decided I would just pay for our guides meal, as it was only, maybe, $7USD and that was really not a huge amount for us to pay.

 

We ate our lunch, mine was just right, it wasn’t spicy or anything (unlike DH’s squid which was swimming in chilli, poor thing!) and it really hit the spot. When we had all finished, the guide rubbed his belly and said ‘thanks for the delicious meal’. I hadn’t yet offered to pay for his meal, and his assuming I would really rubbed me the wrong way, especially after our day. But it was nothing to me, I had no problem paying for his meal, and so graciously paid. Unfortunately the card machine was broken, so I did have to use my Fijian money, but these things happen – at least I had come well prepared!!

 

At this point we said, just to the hotel please. He started talking to us saying he would give us his number and we could call him for a taxi anytime, he’d take us anywhere, but we just wanted to get away from him at this point – the prison incident had really scared the heck out of me.

 

We stayed in the Holiday Inn in Suva, which was just a quiet oasis after our perplexing day. I can’t say that our day was terrible – we saw a lot, it was VERY cultural, and amazingly I had managed to power through despite feeling so unwell. But it was not the day I had envisioned, our guide was not good, and we had been placed in danger and I felt very uncomfortable with the whole thing. The hotel was just what I needed – a safety harness and a bit of relaxation and respite. The air conditioning was good, our room was clean, and the wifi worked – finally, a bit of decent wifi!!!! I quickly set to doing one of my two 2-hour lectures, and finished that before we got dressed for the pool and went out and sat on two sun loungers, watching the sun set. It was beautiful, calming, and just what I needed. Afterwards we got changed for dinner and had a lovely meal in the hotel restaurant. Not adventurous, but I’d had enough adventure for the day! Afterwards I was pretty tired, we watched some Comedy Central which was amazing to watch in Fiji, and maybe an hour or so later we drifted off to sleep.

[londongal796]

Day 9: Suva, Fiji (Day 2)

 

I woke up very early and did my second 2-hour lecture, so that it was all out of the way. DH was still sleeping soundly so I decided to try to get a bit more sleep, which I managed, and then around 9am we both got up and headed to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. We had a ‘light’ breakfast, just eggs and toast, and it was very good. I was hoping to get some time out by the pool again before the rains came in, but as we were eating it started to drizzle, which quickly became a downpour. So we spoke to the reception desk and arranged for a taxi back to the ship. Packed our bags, said goodbye to the amazing wifi, and checked out. We got a taxi back to port, we could actually see the ship from the road as soon as we got on it but it was a few minutes away by car, and no way we would have wanted to walk it in either the heat OR the rain. It only cost us 5 Fijian dollars for the taxi ride, which was very affordable indeed. We were dropped off right outside the port gates and went in. We did have the security folk ‘swab’ the roller bag down but we were cleared a few minutes later. By now the rain was just very light so we dropped our stuff off and headed back out for the all important magnet purchase.

 

As it was a Sunday, there was very little open in Fiji. However, in the taxi we had seen a store open with lots of people going in and out and it was very close to the port, maybe 2 blocks away, so we decided to head there. We arrived and discovered a huuuge department store, it was over 3 floors with the 4th floor a food court. The ground floor had a touristy section so I found my requisite magnet but still had so much Fijian money leftover that we thought we’d try shopping some more.

 

Unfortunately for us, there was not much we really wanted or needed, and the few things I saw that caught my eye (a beautiful tea set in particular), we just had no way of getting it home – our luggage is already maxed out. We did buy a chocolate bar from the convenience-type store and ate it in the food court, since no food is allowed on/off the ship at any of these ports.

For those interested: There was a WH Smith on the 4th floor. I do not know if they sold postage stamps, but right outside of it was a postage point, so I imagine they may have sold stamps for postcards. Can’t 100% say as we didn’t ask, but it seemed likely.

 

Also, they sold $3 wifi cards and a lot of people were sat in the food court using the wifi. I understand there was somewhere else nearby that had free wifi, but I don’t know where, so I can’t point you in that direction -- $3 is very cheap though!

 

Afterwards we walked back to the ship and re-boarded and that was our time spent in Fiji.

 

We had a laundry bag option in our room and we had enough dirty clothes to make it worth our while. It’s our second bag of laundry so far.

I grabbed a shower and then we had some lunch in the windjammer. It was very busy there and we had trouble getting a seat, but the food was very good. The selection has been much better than I have experienced on previous cruises, where they seemed to always have the same stuff day in and day out and only 1 or 2 different ‘stations’ – whereas this ship has tons of different stations, the whole back end is just different types of food, plus there is a Gluten Free corner, a vegetarian corner, and a ‘Asian’ food corner, plus the typical burgers and hotdogs, all the foods from some of the other stations and of course a massive dessert station. So we have always found a few things to eat, me usually more than DH as I am a less picky eater.

 

We came back to our cabin and decided to watch a movie on our tv (we’ve hooked our laptop up to the tv with an HDMI cable), so that was a nice quiet afternoon activity. We had been invited to a special event for Suite guests on a small portion of the Solarium area, there were lots of staff there to greet us, Head of Housekeeping, etc, and then we were all plied with free alcoholic beverages (I opted for a margarita which I sipped very gently, they had champagne, red and white wines, and some other drinks). There was some seating plus some tables to perch on, and shortly after we arrived some beautiful canapes started circulating. It was very classy. They also had a guitar player performing for us as well. We stayed for about 40 minutes and then went for dinner in the MDR, again at our table for two. Dinner was the Coconut menu. I had the Paupiette of Roast Beef to start, DH had the Shrimp Cocktail, and then I had the special Chops Grill filet at the special price of $10, and DH had the tempura fried mahi mahi and shrimp. We both split our dishes (as we had both wanted both meals), and his mahi mahi and shrimp were delicious, as was my filet. For dessert we both had the hazelnut soufflé which was very delicious.

 

Afterwards we stopped by the Concierge lounge to find out about the wifi, which had NOT been upgraded. At this point we learned that the wifi will only be upgraded for sailings beginning on or after 1 May 2016 – which does not include our ship. We were hugely disappointed, it has to be said… I do understand the reasoning behind it, to some extent, although my DH, who works in IT, really can’t see very many objections to not turning the upgraded wifi on sooner – there are more benefits than negatives, all things considered! Apparently the staff were notified that the change would be occurring for sailings after 1 May 2016, but someone who was a little too enthusiastic about this change went ahead and announced it as occurring AS OF 1 May 2016, to the Diamond Lounge guests, and this is why the rumours had quickly circulated. Our Concierge did say he would look into the wifi issues we had been experiencing, which were beyond the normal ‘slow’ traffic issues we could be anticipating, and they are due to speak to us this morning once we are both awake (it is currently the AM of the next day, as I type this!). We also mentioned that we’d had some trouble with our TV after we hooked our HDMI cable up to it – this is entirely our fault but they’ve gone ahead and added a second tv to our room that is currently connected to the usual RC TV stuff, like the regular tv channels plus the room service stuff, OBC charges, etc. We did find one mistake – I’ve been charged twice for our dining package (not once per person but the full price TWICE) so we will need to get that sorted. Outside of this, no problems :)

 

While they were still fiddling with the tv we went to the Headliner show, a Comedian named John Knight. He was – okay. Not great, we had a few laughs, but not loads. He did like to heckle the crowd which I never really enjoy. But it was an okay show. Our CD announced about the upcoming ice shows, and said that they are using guests’ Assembly Station numbers for admittance to the Ice Shows, so that people don’t have to queue for tickets. As all of the shows are taking place at sea, this is a very nice way to do it. We did receive a letter in our Suite stating that we can attend any (or all) of the ice shows and we just need to meet in the Concierge Lounge in advance and we will be escorted to our priority seats. Anyway, after the show we went back to our cabin and watched a little bit of the RC TV before heading to sleep…

[londongal796]

Thanks again for all of the positive comments and 'follows', I'm glad you are enjoying my review! I imagine the next few days will be a bit more bland, as we have 7 sea days in a row, but hopefully I will be able to record some of our activities to a degree of interest!

 

BEENSAILING: When we arrived in Studio B I displayed my Suite card very prominently but no one directed us anywhere special, and in fact they kept saying 'there are seats further forward'. When we got to the section where usually I have seen Suite guests seated, I could not see any signs stating that there were priority seats. In fact, all I could see was a very full theatre. When we did finally get to our seats, I looked to the section where Suite guests are usually seated, and I could see the front row of seats in that section all had placecards on the chairs but I was so far away it was literally impossible for me to read what they said. There was only one person seated in ANY of the seats. A few minutes later, the placecards were removed and other guests moved into sit in those seats. I would ASSUME they were the Suite priority seats, but it was impossible to read what they said from our distance.

[BEENSAILING]

I sure would like to know what tour company you booked with for Fiji - and then make sure I don't book with them...