Suva, Fiji - A Day in the Cannibal Isles

Our day in Fiji started off with a little bit of drama. We were supposed to be docked in Suva by 8:00 Sunday morning – instead, we ended up anchored in the harbour, where we were told that there was a tsunami warning in effect and that we would have to stay in the harbour until the danger had passed. Long story short, the tsunami never arrived and we were allowed to dock only a few hours behind schedule. I confess, I was a little bit disappointed that we didn't get to see any wave action – if it had arrived it was only supposed to be about 9 feet tall, but that still would have been interesting! Luckily they were able to reschedule all but one of the shore excursions, and by 11:30 we were on our bus heading to the Arts Village of Fiji where we got to see the fire walking ceremony and a performance of cultural dances. The fire walkers were very impressive and a good time was had by all. A lot of the stores were closed because it was Sunday, and some of the stores that were supposed to be open weren't because the owners had left for higher ground in case the tsunami arrived. Didn't matter to us though because we're trying not to do a lot of shopping anyway! The scenery around Suva was stunning – so lush and so green. I absolutely loved it! It was overcast for most of the day which kept it from getting too hot, and it actually didn't rain very much while we were out and about. The people were so friendly everywhere that we went. All in all, mum and I agreed that we'd be more than happy to return to Fiji in the future!

Our Itinerary

I've been meaning to post this since the beginning, but it's amazing how time flies when you don't really have anything specific to do! Anyway, for those who were interested, here is our itinerary (minus all those wonderful days at sea!)

Jan. 27 Depart Fort Lauderdale

Jan. 30 Aruba

Feb. 1 Cartagena, Colombia

Feb. 2 Panama Canal

Feb. 4 Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Feb. 6 Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

Feb. 8 Acapulco, Mexico

Feb. 9 Zihuatanejo, Mexico

Feb. 11 Topolobampo, Mexico

Feb. 14 Los Angeles

Feb. 20 Honolulu

Feb. 28 Suva, Fiji

Mar. 2 Vila, Vanuatu

Mar. 3 Noumea, New Caledonia

Mar. 6 Bay of Islands, New Zealand

Mar. 7 Auckland, New Zealand

Mar. 9 Picton, New Zealand

Mar. 13 & 14 Sydney, Australia

Mar. 18 Cairns, Australia

Mar. 21 Papua, New Guinea

Mar. 23 Chuuk, Micronesia

Mar. 25 Guam, U.S. Territory

Mar. 29 Nagasaki, Japan

Mar. 30 Pusan, South Korea

Apr. 1 & 2 Beijing, China

Apr. 6 Hong Kong, China

Apr. 8 Hanoi, Vietnam

Apr. 11 Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Apr. 12 Muara (Bandar Seri Begawan), Brunei

Apr. 15 Singapore

Apr. 17 Phuket, Thailand

Apr. 21 Male, Maldives

Apr. 24 Bombay (Mumbai), India

Apr. 28 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Apr. 30 Muscat, Oman

May 6 Luxor, Egypt

May 7 Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt

May 8 Petra (Aqaba), Jordan

May 10 Suez Canal

May 12 Athens, Greece

May 14 Naples/Capri, Italy

May 15 Rome, Italy (4 day layover and then we change ships)

May 20 Santa Margherita, Italy

May 21 Marseille, France

May 22 Barcelona, Spain

May 24 Cadiz, Spain

May 25 Lisbon, Portugal

May 27 St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands

May 28 Paris, France

May 29 London, England

May 31 Copenhagen, Denmark

June 2 Tallinn, Estonia

June 3 & 4 St. Petersburg, Russia

June 5 Helsinki, Finland

June 6 Stockholm, Sweden

June 9 London, England

And there you have it! We spend a week in England and then fly back to Canada and our regular lives, and these five months will have seemed like a dream.....

A Day In Hawaii

I love Hawaii! Mum and I figured out that it has been almost 20 years since our last trip to Hawaii, and that is far too long. The weather was perfect, as usual. Mum was so happy to be back on solid ground even if it was just for a few hours! We spent most of the day at the mall, and a much better mall it was after our disappointment in L.A. We stocked up on new books (reading material was running a little low!) and took in some of the Chinese New Year festivities that they were having. We dropped our purchases off in our room and then headed out again, this time to the open-air shopping centre at the harbour where we got to enjoy the cool breezes while we wandered around and drank our Kona coffee. Really a lovely way to spend our day in Honolulu, and I for one am not waiting another 20 years before coming back! Now we're back at sea, day 3 of 6, and so far it has been pretty calm. Mum is feeling good, so keep your fingers crossed for her! This is our last really long stretch at sea until early May I think, so if she can just make it through this week, she'll be golden. We'll be crossing the equator and the international dateline tonight, and then I'm REALLY going to have to work at figuring out the time difference from Inuvik. I will also have some insight into the future as we will be one day ahead of everyone back home – yeah, wouldn't that be nice if it worked that way? Ha ha! Anyway, next stop – Fiji!

LA and Beyond

What can I say about our day in L.A.? Not much, I'm afraid.....at least the weather was nice! After losing out on our trip to Universal we decided just to find a shopping centre to look for some items that we may not be able to get later on in the cruise. We split a cab with a couple from Calgary (coincidentally, she and I have the same birthday – odd discovery!) and went to the mall over in Torrance. As I had suspected it would, the mall kinda sucked – American malls usually do! We did manage to find an ATM though, which was desperately needed, and we got a Cinnabon, which is so much better than that Cinnzeo crud we have in Canada! After that it was back to the ship where we caught up on our laundry. Not the most exciting day, but it was a real coup to have the entire laundry room to ourselves, trust me! We lost about 200 people in LA and replaced them with a new batch, so its been interesting over the last few days to see who is still around and to check out all of the new people. Mum and I have started to take bridge lessons, and we're slowly learning. This was a good time to join since we're at sea for 5 days between LA and Honolulu, and then we're at sea for 6 days between Honolulu and our next port. We're starting to really get to know some of the other people, so that has been fun....there are some really hilarious people that we've met! Honestly, the days are just flying by – I can't believe we've been onboard for three weeks already! Mum had another bout of seasickness on Monday but she seems to be better now. We ran into some rain this afternoon so hopefully that won't last too long – I want to sit on my balcony!

Topolobampo & Copper Canyon, Mexico

Yesterday was an exceptionally long day – we arose at 3:30 am and had a quick breakfast at the buffet, where mum and I opted to sit outside even though it was pitch black and drizzling. As you can imagine, we were the only passengers sitting out there! I was so bleary-eyed that I managed to slam my thumb in the bathroom door - ouch! By 5:00 we were on our bus leaving the port at Topolobampo and by 7:00 our train was on its way to Copper Canyon. Princess booked the entire First Class train on the Chihuahua-Pacifico Railroad for our group, and about 140 of us made the journey. The scenery was breathtaking, and the vegetation changed quite drastically from cacti at the beginning to pine trees and red cedars as our train climbed up high into the mountains – they had just had a snowfall the night before, so that was pretty thrilling for the Americans onboard! Our guide, Guadalupe, was excellent and very informative – he kept us well entertained. Six hours later we arrived at Copper Canyon, which is seven times larger and much deeper than the Grand Canyon. It was truly a spectacular sight! We had lunch at a hotel perched on the edge of the canyon and then had time to walk along the canyon rim and purchase hand-woven baskets, shawls and other goods from the local Tarahumara Indians. Then it was back on the train for the six hour ride back to the station, and finally the bus ride back to the ship. We were back onboard by about 10:45 last night, exhausted but very pleased about our fabulous trip! On a side note, mum wanted me to mention that we'd love to hear any comments, questions or news any of you might have. We may be far away, but that doesn't mean we're not interested! Next up is Valentine's Day in Los Angeles – we just found out upon our return last night that not enough people signed up for a day at Universal Studios and the trip has been cancelled, so now we have to figure out what we want to do!

Acapulco & Zihuatanejo, Mexico

Monday found us in Acapulco – I'm going to admit right now that I was not really looking forward to our stops in Mexico. In fact, mum and I had pretty much decided just to stay on the ship in Acapulco, but at the last minute we booked ourselves on a tour called “The Best Views of Acapulco”, and I am so glad that we did! We ended up loving it here, and I can definitely see myself coming back for a holiday in the future. We went to the hotel Las Brisas where every bungalow has its own private pool – talk about swank! I am totally staying here sometime in the future, even if I can only afford to stay for a couple of nights! We then drank pink margaritas at 10:00 in the morning – very decadent, I know, but when in Mexico.....Next up was a stop at the Chapel of Peace with its huge, 200+ foot cross that can be seen from anywhere in Acapulco. We then went to Hotel Los Flamingos and climbed up to Tarzan's house. The views were indeed amazing, and on our way back to the ship our driver stopped so that we could watch the cliff divers putting on their show for the tourists – snuck that one in for free! We were in port until 10:00 pm, so the ship brought aboard Antonio Rameriz and his Mexican Folklorico Festival featuring “Aztec Dancers, Rope Tricks, Singers, Mariachis and Dances of Different Mexican States” which was a really great show. Tuesday we arrived in Zihuatanejo where we traveled to a coconut farm, the village of Petatlan, and a gorgeous beach where part of The Shawshank Redemption was filmed. Honestly though, the highlight of the day was the three puppies that they had at the coconut farm – they were just so cute, I spent as much time as I could playing with them and receiving puppy kisses! I miss my dogs and cats!

Puerto Quetazal, Guatemala

Yesterday we had an awesome trip up into the highlands of Guatemala. We drove two and a half hours through many small villages and beautiful countryside to Lake Atitlan where we boarded a boat for a one hour trip across the lake to the town of Panajachel. We were told to bring sweaters as it can be cool at that altitude, but of course “cool” is a relative term and mum and I found it very comfortable while everyone else in our group was putting on sweaters and jackets! Lake Atitlan is surrounded by three volcanoes and is very beautiful, and the boat ride was lovely. Once in Panajachel we had lunch at one of the hotels, and had some time for shopping from the locals – they are very persistent but thankfully not in a scary way! They first surrounded us when we were walking from the bus to the boat, and by the time we got to the other side of the lake, the same people were waiting for us in Panajachel, ready to try again! They lined up along the fence at the hotel to try and entice the tourists to buy from them, and when it was time to walk back to the boat they tried their hardest to convince you to buy from them. Of course mum and I succumbed, so we have some lovely souvenirs from Guatemala! We were a little late coming back to port, so they hustled us back onboard our ship and we set sail almost immediately for Acapulco, which we will be touring on Monday. The sun finally got to me, and I am now sporting a lovely burn, which luckily doesn't hurt. As Esmeralda told me the other day, it beats frostbite!

Puntarenus, Costa Rica

Thursday was another fun-filled, HOT day – it was so hot, even the locals were complaining! This time we were in Costa Rica, and our day trip took us into the rainforest where we rode a tram up into the upper and lower canopy. There was so much to see and to listen to, it was just incredible. Aside from many plants and flowers we got to see some vultures and hawks, and on our ride back down, the monkeys came out! They were so cute, just like the monkey from Outbreak but without the airborne disease! We then did a walking tour of the facility where they showed us some of the many different things that grow there, and we also saw several iguanas, some bats, and their collection of poisonous snakes. After a tasty lunch of traditional Costa Rican food we got back on our bus and drove to the Tarcoles River where we boarded a boat for a tour of the Mangrove Swamp. On our two hour boat ride we saw many different species of birds including a pair of scarlet macaws, and we saw several small crocodiles sunning themselves along the shore and swimming through the water. Right at the end of our tour we found a HUGE crocodile that our guide told us was 80 or 90 years old – he came up out of the water right next to me and he was just enormous. He actually scared me when he came out of the murky water at the side of the boat, but it was so cool! Two words......Lake Placid!

Cartagena & the Panama Canal

I knew Cartagena was going to be hot when I stepped out on my balcony at 6:00 in the morning and my camera lens instantly fogged up! Our tour started early, just after 8:00 am and our first stop was the Fortress of San Felipe de Barajas, where they filmed part of Romancing the Stone (one of my all-time favourite movies). Mum and I actually watched the movie the night before in preparation for our stop in Colombia. It was quite a hike up to the top of the fortress, so I'm glad we got there early in the day or else I definitely would have melted away! The view was incredible and the fortress was very cool, so it was well worth the visit. We then moved on to the old part of the city behind the protective walls and walked the streets, stopping at the Inquisition Palace and the Church of San Pedro Claver. They have beautiful gardens growing inside many of the old buildings, and some fantastic architecture. We also walked by Julio Iglesias' house, which looked pretty swanky! I have to say I was very impressed with Cartagena – it was so clean and beautiful, particularly the harbour, and not scary at all (at least the parts we were taken to!) We stopped a couple of shopping areas and mum and I both bought emerald earrings since Colombia is the emerald capital of the world. Fun day, but I'll admit I was a little glad to get back to our air-conditioned cabin! We got some fantastic views of the city as we sailed out of the harbour. Today we traveled through the Panama Canal, which was very interesting. Mum and I spent hours on deck watching the proceedings. I finally got some real colour on my face, and I think mum burned a little bit more as it was another scorcher! We are now on the Pacific side and sailing toward Costa Rica – tomorrow is another day at sea and then we have a great sounding tour planned for Thursday. Should be fun!

Aruba (aka Mum was so happy to get back on land!)

All this time at sea, and I still manage to get behind on my “homework”! Friday mum was feeling quite ill and the ship was definitely a-rockin'. Mum spent the entire day in our cabin, sitting on the loveseat with her eyes closed. I was feeling perfectly fine, which led to her bitterly wishing that I could suffer the way she was suffering – some mother! I kept myself busy meeting new people on the ship and attending the port lecture on Cartagena. We tested room service and found it to be a good option when one is not up to facing the main dining room. Saturday morning we awakened to much calmer waters and mum had a miraculous recovery – we arrived into Oranjestad in Aruba just after 11:00 and were quickly sent off on our tours. Aruba is very lovely – it was hot without being too hot, and there was enough of a breeze as well as some cloud cover to make it a very pleasant day! We toured the Aloe Factory and ended up buying some of their fine products. Next we went to the Butterfly Farm which was very interesting – there were some huge butterflies in there, and some with very beautiful colouring, and our guide Marlin was full of information. We drove around the town a bit and then drove out to the Ayo Rock Formation where we had a bit of rain. All in all it was a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday! There are so many brightly painted buildings in Aruba that it all seems very cheerful, and the people were very friendly. Now I'm going to try to forget Aruba because every time I say "Aruba" the song "Kokomo" pops into my head! We spent Sunday at sea and basically did “the usual”.....reading, relaxing, attending the lecture on the Panama Canal. In the afternoon we attended the interview the activities director did with Tab Hunter, movie star and musician from the 50's and 60's. He was very entertaining and had some really great stories about the movies he worked on and the stars he worked with (including Natalie Wood, John Wayne, Paul Newman, Gary Cooper and Sophia Loren). That was definitely the highlight of the day! Monday we spent the day in Cartagena, so I'll try to write about that tomorrow when we are going through the Panama Canal, but here is the preview – it is HOT!!!