I've come to realize there are far too many "sea days" on this cruise, with nothing much to do (except perhaps waste money in the ship's casino, eat ourselves into obesity, or die of boredom). It's also a bit frustrating to only see these places for a few hours and then leave. So . . . I've planned a couple "side trips":
Tomorrow, we visit Papeete, Tahiti in French Polynesia. Instead of getting back on the ship, we'll remain in Tahiti and take a ferry boat over to Moorea, where we'll be staying at a resort and spa on the beach for three (3) nights. After that, we fly six (6) hours to Auckland, New Zealand, where we'll stay for three (3) more nights. Then, we fly ahead of the ship to Sydney, Australia. So instead of spending 2.5 days in Sydney, we'll have five (5) days there, followed by 2.5 days in Cairns!
We'll gladly miss eight (8) long days at sea, excepting the ship's quick (5-hour) stop in Pago Pago, American Samoa. I think we "made out" in the trade . . .
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After Australia, we rejoin the ship on its journey up to Indonesia. But when it leaves Lombok, we leave the ship again -- this time trading four (4) more days at sea for a stay in Bali for three (3) nights, followed by a flight and four (4) days in Hong Kong. Then, we'll again rejoin the ship . . . at least for a while.
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So if my posts don't "exactly" follow the ship's planned itinerary, that's because I've found a way to do a whole lot more, while "sapping the marrow" out of this trip around the world . . .
You can do that? It sounds fabulous. Have a wonderful time.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great plan! I imagine it's not inexpensive, but kudos and congrats for injecting the kind of experience you were looking for into your trip.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to go, using the ship as your home base, but creting an itineary based on what you want to do. This may be a wounderful way to do a world cruise.
ReplyDeleteNow that I'm home and looking back, I can say this was the smartest thing I did the WHOLE time! I'd gone from exhuberently excited and happy to downright "grouchy". I needed this! Bill wanted to go home. This helped get him to stay to the end, even if the trip was too long for us in the end ... we made it!
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