So we were on the Voyager for close to 2 months and now back again for Auckland to Tahiti, February 11th to February 26th.

Nice visit with family in New Zealand before we departed and then a lovely dinner with my sister June and her husband Ralph and with two New Zealand couples that are clients of KLT.

We are now in Waitangi and decided to turn in our tickets. Lovely place but we have been here so many times. On land quite a few times on my previous annual visits to New Zealand. Nice day and just seeing the green hills and calm seas was perfect.

Nice group of people who are on LCT, Mark and Cheron, Fred and Darla, George and Rachel, Mitch and Bert and my daughter Cindy and a friend are on board as well.

Fantastic to see so many of the same crew that we were with for about 6 weeks on our last cruise on the Voyager. We will never be able to stop the pins the staff are so excited and tell us all the time how many they have

Great to see the start of the Sea Mail! Looking forward to some photos. Sounds like a fun LCT group!

Just a quick checkin to say we are having a good time. Bay of Islands was spectacular. Yesterday was a lovely sea day and Ngaire’s cocktail party. Got to catch up with everyone. Today weather is total crap—pouring rain. But it is a seaday so ok with that. Tomorrow is Mystery Island Vanuatu, which I had to google. It looks awesome.

Night of the cocktail it was pretty rough. So the ship changed the lounge into seating rows. Probably a good idea due to the sea conditions but hard to mingle.

Five cards were drawn. Those you would know were Mark and Cheron, Mitch and Bert, and Rachel and Bert. Pictures were not great with the seating rows and colored lights. I had pink hair then green hair.

Seas are very rough and I am amazed how well the Voyager is handling the seas. Sitting in my cabin looking at the sea and these are really rough waters, the ship is moving but not as much as I would expect.

Tomorrow we arrive in Vanuatu. Due to the damage to the main areas from the recent tsunami we are landing on a different area. Will post some pictures tomorrow.

Thanks for posting updates. Hope your seas get calmer. Keep enjoying your cruise.
It's been pouring rain in So. Cal all day.

Well after the rough seas we were hoping to ashore at Mystery Island. However the swell was too high to safely use tenders. The day was overcast with scattered rain so not the best weather for snorkeling and sitting on the beach.

We have spent our time playing rummikub, trivia and eating in between. It has been a lot of fun.

Trivia is in the observation lounge and it is packed. They said there was a new crew of dancers and they are using the theatre so we could not do trivia in the theatre.

Not many pictures to post yet but we will get some of us and get those posted soon.

I love that photo!!! Hello to everyone! What a fun group of Rummikub players!

We were on an orchard garden and village tour. However, there was a rule men and women cannot wear a hat. Kens head would burn so we switched to a bus tour. Cindy, my daughter is on the cruise and will come back with all orchid pictures.

There was an incredible Indian temple. However we could only take pictures from a distance away and not then of the main temple.



We went to the town and it was like being in India. All the lavish and detailed dresses. A little too gaudy for me but they are beautiful.



Of course the store they took us to had all kinds of souvenirs. Ken and I decided this carving would not match our decoy so we walked away.



Then we went to a coconut demonstration. Seen this many times but they did a good job.

The welcoming chief.


This man tore the inside husk away with his teeth.



We got back in the bus and then the rain started.

Today we did a tour of Suva. First stop was the Suva Museum which was really worth visiting. The grounds were stunning so many variety of trees and a tree full of bats.

THE MUSEUM




THE GROUNDS AT THE MUSEUM
The clock tower was a great addition to the garden.

This tree looked liked it was covered in vines but it was actually a tree and it moved with the wind.


THE DRIVE WAS LONG BUT INTERESTING
We went to all areas of SUVA from the areas with huge houses and ambassadors homes to the slum areas. An extensive tour. Not many pictures from this part of the tour just slums and fancy houses.

AT THE END OF THE DRIVE WE WENT TO A LOOKOUT WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE VOYAGER WAS RIGHT IN TOWN

So unfortunately the Pacific Ocean is unhappy. We have had rough seas and could not stop at Apia Samoa as they closed the port and then Pago Pago closed their port as well. So we are now heading towards Bora Bora where the weather is supposed to be MUCH better.

Filling the days with Rummykub and eating! We went to Chartreuse with Bert, Mitch, Cindy, Suzanne, six of us in the back corner of the restaurant. It was a great night and Cindy ordered two new desserts. They were really pretty and tasted good too!

Trivia! Mitch, Bert, Rachel, Cindy, Suzanne, and Ngaire. We kept coming in fourth, just out of the winners circle. Yesterday we just had one wrong and we came in second. Cause for excitement. Hopefully the "winning" streak will continue. Missed collecting those tokens which I immediately pass to people in the team.

We arrive in Bora Bora tomorrow around noon. But the earliest we can go on shore is about 6.00 pm. Missing the port of APIA was a big problem. They were picking up food, along with the men from Tahiti who were supposed to do the face to face inspection while we were at sea so we could go ashore immediately. It takes about 8 hours for clearance.

Weather is nicer now, blue sky and much calmer seas. Roll on French Polynesia. It is nice to see the sun again.

Clearance takes 6 - 8. Regent had flown the clearance offices to APIA to enable them to board the ship and then this lengthy clearance could happen on a sea day. However, we could not dock in Apia the seas were really bad. So we could not go ashore until the clearance has taken place. We arrived in Bora Bora late morning and the clearance was completed and at 5.00 pm you could go ashore.

A dance group came on the ship that evening at 9.30 pm by then the all the guests were back onboard.

We cruised 17 times on the Paul Gauguin so we know this area very well and have done probably 90% of the tours available. It was so nice to see the sun and beautiful Bora Bora. I was surprised that really nothing has changed.

Same tours, there were more shops rather than just items on a table and a large grocery / pharamcy store that was new and a good thing to have. Plus a big tent where they hold meetings often about politics which seems so strange on such a laid back island. This tent is right near where the tenders dock.

We took the circle island tour to see any changes. Only changes were some new hotels and some older hotels had closed. Bloody Mary's has closed. It is a stunning island and glad it has retained the relaxed atmosphere.

Pictures below.




Our vehicle for the circle island tour.




Not sure what this plant is but found it fascinating. Anyone know?

Just FYI for those coming on the Voyager. THE INTERNET HAS BEEN UPGRADED SIGNIFICANTLY. Access Point Devices that strenthen the signal have been installed on all decks and that has changed the internet speed significantly. Sometimes we had to go out into the hall for an internet connection. Now it works well in the suites.

Fantastic news!!!!

The plant looks like an elkhorn which is similar to a staghorn.

Raiatea.

We are now in Raiatea. I forgot how beautiful this island is the water color is stunning. Nice thing is that they DOCK. This must be a different dock than we used years ago and this is right in the middle of town. Some good looking fruit in the market. There is a big grocery store that has really nice looking produce and meat. No one hassles you to buy things and that is really nice. I think this island has changed more than the other islands. In the past the tours were not great but I am hearing better things today. We decided to stay onboard and pack but we regret that decision now.

Picture below of Cindy and Bert. Not sure about Cindys feet not what they usually look like!!! Plus a picture of Cindy, Suzanne and Bert.





These are some pictures Ken took from the ship of the dock area.

WOW! That does look very nice. Thanks for the update.

Arrived in Papeete today this is.the view from our room at the INTC hotel.



Debarking was easy and we took a taxi to INTC resort. Amazingly we were assigned a room immediately on arrival at around 9.00 am. Status counts we are at a high level of nights stayed.

Nice room, great views of the ocean and the pool. Lazy day, we watched a movie and the news. Lunch was outstanding. We split a pizza probably one of the best ever. Followed by passion fruit and mango sorbet. Then I took a little nap. Best money spent we had a relaxing day before our long flights.

Got organized for the flight and we have a taxi coming at 9.30 pm. Our flight is at midnight but we are only about 5 minutes from the airport.

Sunset at the INTC.

We are flying home tonight after a couple of days on Moorea at the Hilton. We moved over to the Papeete Hilton yesterday and had a wonderful dinner with Fred and Darla. Great to see friends. The weather wasn’t ideal in the middle part of the cruise, but New Zealand and French Polynesia had been great.