April 3, 2026- Day # 88

 

We had an early tour, that leaves the ship at 7:50 am, so we had an early light breakfast at one of the buffets. This tour is called the “Best of Suva”. Suva is the capital and largest city, which including the surrounding towns has a total population of about 100,000.  Fuji has a population of about 928,000. We are on the southeastern coast of the island called Viti Levi. Suva is said to be the most modern and sophisticated city in the South Pacific, outside of New Zealand. In 1882, the capital was moved to Suva and has grown because of expats and students coming in to the three universities. Suva is governed by a Lord Mayor and a 20 member elected city council. 

On tour we learned that the appropriate greeting which our guide repeated frequently is “Bula” meaning “life”. We saw and I have pictures of the palace, with a guard at the entrance which changes every two hours. We did not get to see the changing of the guard. Also, have pictures of a few of the scenic views from around the city. We did pass a golf course, but reportedly the nicer courses are on the other side of the island, which is several hours away. Multiple photos of the market place that only had vendors outside due to being closed because to it being Good Friday holiday.  Some good looking fruits and vegetables. We did get a tasting of some of the local tuna and fruits after the tour segment in Fiji Museum. The pineapple in particular was very sweet. There are several pictures of some of the exhibits including the remaining portion of the rudder from the HM Armed Vessel Bounty which was burned after a mutiny of a portion of the crew to control of the ship from Captain William Bligh in 1787.  This mutiny occurred during a transport of breadfruit ( one of the local crops) from Tahiti to the West Indies. Also have a not so great picture of a doubled hulled canoe, named the Ratu Finau which in 1913 was able to sail 10- 15 knots which was unheard of in that time. Not sure if I got a good picture as we passed a group of people reenacting the walk down the Via Delarosa for Good Friday. 

Two final notes. Not sure of the freshness of the fish, but this market had a not so nice odor. We also saw a  roadblock of police, but I have no other details. We were told that guns are outlawed, even for the police! We saw security at the pier, and I did not see that they were armed either. Our final stop was also at a store that opened up on the holiday for us and another cruise ship that was also in port. With the long lines at the checkout, I think it was worth their time to open. 

Pictures for April 1st

 After multiple hours and attempts, today I was finally able to get these pictures uploaded from my April 1st post.

Sorry for this delay.

April 2, 2026- Day # 87

 This is our son, Royce’s birthday, but we can’t wish him a happy birthday today because back in the States it is still yesterday, April 1st. We will have this date deferential until we set our clocks back another 16 to 20 hours to get this resolved.

As you may know by now, our cruise course has been changed because of the war in the Middle East. We will divert south after Singapore and go around the southern tip of Africa and up their west coast until we get to Southampton England. I will try to get our new ports of call and course uploaded. Of course we are disappointed, but others are more dissatisfied. There was a meeting of the Captain, General Manager, and Cruise Director with all the Around the World passengers to give us the option of getting off the cruise in Singapore and then rejoining the cruise in Southampton if people did not want to go around Africa. We are also getting a refund of 10% of our cruise cost toward a future cruise, but of course this is unsatisfactory to some people as well. Go figure! 

On a positive note, we were able to watch the Artemis II launch today. We will be in Fiji tomorrow.

April 1, 2026- Day # 86

 Arrived at Vava’u (Neiafu) Tonga about 8:00 am this morning. Our tour leaves at 8:50 beginning with a tender transport to shore. The tour is called the Nature and Historical Tour. We had about 8 buses all on the same tour at the same time, making for significant congestion at the stopping spots. Our first stop was at a sign and obelisk that we could not get to ( see the photo from the fence line).  A picture I took called this Pouono Park. Hope you can read this history of the island. We did not get any other information. It sounds like this area was never under colonial rule. We saw several viewing sites to take scenic photos, the first was up a set of 180 steps. At least I got in some exercise. The second site, we were served some nice local fruits, which were very sweet and delicious. The guide told us multiple times about the churches and the church schools in each village. We did not stop at any of these, but did visit (see photos) the oldest Catholic cathedral on the island. Also, we heard about the number of Chinese stores (like a general store) that are over taking the commerce in each village; putting the local Tonga shops out of business. 

Another stop was a cemetery and narrow steps down to the Veimumuni Cave. This was a challenge with our large group having people trying to go both ways, most without any handrails. There is a story about a princess and her lover who was described as a common “dude”. They would go down to this cave to be alone and swim in the freshwater in this cave.

 Last stop was to see some vanilla plants growing in a plantation. We also heard that many of the houses have their own plantation, that sounded more like a garden to grow some of their own food, as it seems like the people really do not own much and have to be innovative to make a living. Apparently vanilla is a major export to Australia and New Zealand, with some coming as far as the US. 

As they only have about 11 cruise ships per year, and a couple of hotels, it does not seem like tourism is a big part of the economy on this island. The largest island of Tonga is Tongatapu, which has over 60% of the population and government. We are not visiting this island. 

March 31, 2026- Day # 85

 Another day at sea, so I will include some information out of the daily information sheet about Cruising.

This is a little different than what I posted previously. Cruising today is a major part of todays tourism industry, accounting for an annual 19 million guests and over $29.4 billion worldwide.  Since 2001 there are at least 9 new cruise ships launched each year, catering mostly to North American passengers. The Asia- Pacific and other smaller markets tend to be serviced by older ships. 

The first ship built exclusively for tourism was the Prinzessin Victoria Luise designed by Albert Ballin, the General Manager of the Hamburg- American Line in 1900. Cruising grew out of the tradition of four day transatlantic voyages. In competition for passengers the companies started adding luxuries. A famous example being the Titanic. Ships were designed specifically for cruising in the summer or winter climates. 

By the 1960’s, intercontinental passengers largely transitioned from ships to jetliners. This decline continued until ocean liner cruising all but ceased in 1986. The only remaining company was Cunard Line catering to the small niche market of those wanting several days at sea to get away from civilization.

I talked about the growth of the cruising industry in a prior posting, so I will not repeat it here. But suffice it to say that since the rocky start in the late 1980’s and the eventual success of the conversion of the SS France to the Caribbean cruising SS Norway luxury liner in 1990, cruising has grown into a major industry accounting for the numbers mentioned above. 

March 30, 2026- Day # 84

 

So after leaving Pago Pago yesterday, we are in Apia, Samoa this morning. As seems to be our routine, they are calling for more rain today. The locals are telling us that yesterday was sunny and beautiful and that they are happy we bought them some rain. 

Our tour today left the ship at 8:00 am, so we went to a different restaurant for an early breakfast. 

Independent Samoa is made up of two major islands (Savai’i and Upolu) and 8 smaller islands. Of the two major islands, the smaller of the two, called Upolu covers about 434 square miles, and is the most populated (with about 3/4 of the country’s population). It is also the location of the capital city of Apia. Apia is along the northern coast and known as the heart of Samoa. 

The tour today is called Apia Township and Surroundings. Before I go any further, I need to tell you a little about this tour guide. She does this job part time with her main job being a government worker as a marketer for the government newspaper. She was very knowledgeable but also had a jovial streak. She said that most Samoan people, including herself,  love to eat and therefore they tend to be on the fluffy side. She also told us that since this is a Monday the streets would be busy, but yesterday being Sunday the streets would be vacant because all the Samoans would be in church then home eating with their extended family. Everything evolved around their family, including that they have very few cemeteries, as most of the ancestors would be buried in their front yards so they remained close to descendants.This is no exaggeration as we saw many tombstones and crypts in front of many houses. 

I have photos of the Apia Clock Tower which is a highlight in the center of town, and a number of pictures from the museum which was the house called Vailima, the former estate of Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, who the locals called Tusitala ( the teller of tales). If you are not familiar with his works, he is the author of Treasure Island, and the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, among others. 

We also toured and we have pictures of the beautiful twin spires Immaculate Conception Cathedral with ornate wooden ceilings and stained glass. We did not get to see the famous site of the Papase’ea Sliding Rocks which are a natural playground of smooth volcanic rocky chutes. 

Of course there was another market that had many local handcrafted items, fruits and vegetables. 

I almost forget to mention that we saw a local elementary school with an area for tourism next door that we visited. They showed us the method of hot rock traditional cooking of taro and breadfruit. They also did another Ava Ceremony and provided dances, some with the Siva Afi or fire knife. There was the chance to sample some of the food we saw cooked earlier, but by this time, guess what, the skies had opened up and it poured down rain again. 

Lastly, in contrast to yesterday, these buses had padded seats and A/C and actual windows (that unfortunately collected raindrops.