February 2-3, 4-8th
To break up the sea days, we made a two-day stop in Port Vila, Vanuatu. While the land break was welcome, I wasn’t thrilled to be doing a repeat again. New Caldonia or Neiu were close, and we hadn’t visited them. But again, weather and docking played a role in the decisions, and instead, we were back in Vanuatu.
Even though Port Vila is the capital of the country, the dock remains damaged from previous storm seasons, and tendering was our only option. The tender was about 20minutes and was easily done even in the light rain that we experienced, but the town is so boring.
I got off to get off, but didn’t do more than visit the handicraft building and the duty-free shop. One good thing is that the duty-free shops are some of the cheapest we’ve seen since the Caribbean.
Of course, everything I bought was local, so there wasn’t much price difference.
After leaving, we have 5 sea days until we reach Cairns again. That’s a lot of sea days, but we also gained a new member of our entertainment team to replace our dance person. Luckily, Big Mac is not a dance person and is really outgoing and willing to try new things. He’s brought a bit of fun back on board with trivia, pool games, and our Friday night Karaoke.
On sea days, I typically get up and enjoy a nice cup of chai tea that I purchased, go on a walk around the deck, do my personal aquasize routine, and then participate in morning trivia at 10. Other than that, my day is wide open.
One day, I joined Eddie and Christiein their drinking games, which led to a terrible karaoke version of Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer.” On another, Amy, Sue, and I played a selfie scavenger hunt around the ship, where we came in second. Another afternoon, I played host to a tasting of the liquors bought in Vanuatu. Yesterday, I was on the winning team for visual trivia.
Colombia has also responded to the myriad of complaints about the food on board by sending out their executive chef to look over our service section. Somehow, lettuce has been discovered for every day we’ve been at sea. The general consensus is that the food is way better (where did the supplies come from? Midnight drones?) and a distrust that it will not last once the management leaves, but we are enjoying it while we have it. Yesterday at lunch, the focus was a simple Caesar salad bar, and today was a macaroni and cheese bar, and you’d think it was high-class dining at its finest with the way residents attacked the buffet.
I’ve bleached and redyed my hair pink, tried a few TikTok makeup looks, and planned some things for Australia. I can’t wait for landfall again.
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