DDaley

She's still writing these???? I think they last one I read was #20 because I got so fed up with Stephanie not choosing Ranger or Joe. Just pick already! Hahaha I do love me some Grandma Mazur, though! 😂

She's still writing these???? I think they last one I read was #20 because I got so fed up with Stephanie not choosing Ranger or Joe. Just pick already! Hahaha I do love me some Grandma Mazur, though! 😂

You do not want to be caught with ammo there. Apparently it carries a 12-year prison sentence.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/turks-and-caicos-ammo-prison-sentence-american-tourists/
Ironically (or Google shenanigans), that story popped up in my Chrome newsfeed today.

Greetings, RC Blog friends! It's me, Mrs. Regular, back again for another blog. This year we are leaving the Regular kiddos at home and making it an extended family affair! Follow along for preparations, travel, and semi-live updates from the Brilliance of the Seas!
Background Info
Picture it... Sicily, 1929... Just kidding. I'm in my Golden Girls era so I often channel Sofia when I begin telling a story. Picture it... my living room, November 2022. Alaska 2024 deployment would be announced and bookings opened within a few days. We already had cruised in the Mediterranean, cruised from NYC down to the Bahamas, and were booked for summer 2023 on the Mariner of the Seas for my 40th birthday. Generally we are a "one cruise at a time" kind of family but something struck me about the 2024 Alaska deployment that just felt.... right. Like it was the exact right time for Mr. Regular and I do book something for ourselves. A treat. A reprieve. Alaska has been on our bucket list for a long time and at first glance when bookings became available, the price was pretty good. I knew I couldn't just book something without speaking with him first, so I laid out all the benefits and trade-offs (small ship! leaving from Vancouver! Aft balcony! I just got a pretty sizable raise so I will foot the bill! He saw no tradeoffs, lol), and got his ok to contact the travel agent. YES! It was so early in the deployment I got to hand pick our room and with over 600 days to go, we started planning and researching.
Eventually, our other extended family (mainly our parents) caught wind of our plans. We scheduled a mid-May itinerary for a few reasons, one of the best being our kids wouldn't be able to go. I know, we are Regular mean parents. But also because the likelihood of the ship being overrun by school kids would be lower. We love kids, we have two, we have kids in our family and extended friends group. There's nothing wrong with kids. But, we loved our experience cruising during a non-break time. The last two cruises we've taken have been with our kids during school breaks and they have been vastly different experiences. Not bad, but different. We wanted to return to those non-break vibes. But this time in Alaska. Anyway, our parents wanted to tag along and we were ok with that. Getting my sister to come rounds out our merry group of 6!
The Intergenerational Regular Family Tree
Me, Mrs. Regular. 40 years old. Working at a university full time and full time PhD student. I am finishing up coursework and successfully defended my proposal last month. This itinerary falls over the one break I have between spring and summer terms. I have been on 3 RC cruises and will reach Emerald on this cruise.
Husband, Mr. Regular. 45 years old. Working at the same university and teaches snow sports on the side. He is bummed there will be no skiing or snowboarding while visiting Vancouver or Alaska. Has been on the same cruises as me and will reach Emerald.
Regular Mom. My mother! 70 years young. Doesn't travel much, retired 3rd grade teacher. Has always wanted to go to Alaska. Will be her first cruise.
Regular Sister. My sis! My best friend. 38 years old, never cruised before. Just there to show up and have fun!
Regular Father-in-Law. Mr. Regular's dad. 79 years old, has cruised once before from FL. Certified renaissance man, he is an acrobatic pilot, flight instructor, motorcycle racer, and welder. Ran a multi-million dollar business but never earned a bachelor's degree. He is just so cool.
Regular Mother-in Law. Mr. Regular's mom. 84 years old, has cruised once before from FL. Recovering from a mild stroke in January, she is a remarkable person. She's improved so much in 4 months mobility and speech wise. She's still sharp as a tack but just a little slower than before. In her 80's but acts not a day over 60. 
Why are we "regular people"?
My username and the name of my cruise blogs came out of an observation that post-COVID restart, most people in the RC Blogs were taking their "revenge" travel trips and there was a run for a while of suites only travel blogs. No shade to the "suite snobs" out there or to those who are blessed enough to cruise frequently at the premium of a suite. But, while I am still fairly new to cruising I wanted to read more from perspectives that didn't go for all the extras or bells and whistles. Thus, "regular people cruising" was born! Not only do we not tend to travel in suites with the amenities, we also don't splurge on other luxuries like drink packages, unlimited dining, spa treatments, a lot of excursions, etc. Now, this will change a little bit this trip because I think Alaska affords some special opportunities.
Our Itinerary
My in-laws are flying in on their own schedule, but mom, Husband, Sis, and I are all traveling together from NJ on a direct flight to Vancouver on the 11th. Crossing fingers for smooth travels! We are all staying at the Sheraton downtown and will get brunch on the 12th before heading to Canada place to board our ship!
Day 1 - Vancouver
Day 2 - Inside Passage/At Sea
Day 3 - Sitka in the afternoon. No plans other than walking around port and maybe going to the totem poles
Day 4 -Juneau. Mom, Sis, Husband and I have the dog musher's camp excursion in the morning. Regular in-laws may or may not get off the ship, much will depend on how MIL is doing. She can do activities in small bursts but then needs time to sleep and recover. We will be done at the camp by 1 but the ship is in port until 7 p.m. so I am sure some sub-group of us will explore Juneau a bit. This night Husband and I have date night at Chops.
Day 5 - Haines. We all have the White Pass Railroad excursion booked through RC. Most looking forward to this one!
Day 6 - Tracey Arm and glacier viewing/At Sea
Day 7 - Inside Passage/At sea
Day 8 - Vancouver. The Regular In-Laws are staying at a hotel on Vancouver Island to relax for a few days and traveling home later in the week. The rest of us have a red-eye back to NJ. We will look into storing luggage somewhere and taking a tour around Vancouver before heading to the airport.
Next Update: Packing! Packing! Packing!

Ok.  I’m gonna try and upload these Ocean World photos.  Wish me luck.
I know this is hard to read but it will give you an idea of the content of the Park. It’s much bigger than I would have thought before I saw it for myself.

Again, maybe not so easy to read, but some idea of the show schedules
 

This is the only photo I got of an actual dolphin since the dolphin encounter wasn’t included in our excursion.  I will say though, they make it very easy for you to watch all of the interactions/encounters, even if you haven’t paid to participate.  The shows are all readily visible from a distance.  You just don’t get to interact with the animals if you haven’t paid for the excursion.  Lots of opportunities to observe.


 
We (at least, I did not.  Dan watched a bit) did not watch the dolphin show but this is a photo of the dolphin show area.  As you can see, it’s pretty easy to watch a show from this vantage point even if you’re not directly involved.


Fresh water pool

 

Dan actin’ the fool.  This is by the kiddie area of the fresh water pool.  OBTW, the fresh water pool was COLD
 

They have 2 bird houses.  This is the macaw area.  Beautiful birds.

The second bird house was for the smaller birds, primarily love birds.  
 

No explanation needed for this one…

…or this one…

The snorkeling area had a couple of plexiglass viewing areas.  Lots of fish and coral to see.  I really enjoyed snorkeling in this area but we were fortunate enough to have done this early.  Later in the day it was crowded and chaotic as there were kids in there who had no idea how to snorkel and were thrashing about maniacally.  I’m sure it was very disruptive to the fish.  Glad I missed that…
 

Bizarre photo of Dan in the snorkeling area.  Actual arms and reflections of arms.  Yikes !
 

This is a rather crappy photo of the shark encounter area.  It’s actually quite large.

The sharks in this interaction are nurse sharks and the are extremely wimpy as sharks go.  They ran and hid in the rocks once the snorkelers entered the water. When this photo was taken (before the snorkelers got in) the sharks were just looking for a free meal.  They know when the chow is coming out !

 

Moving on to the sea lions.  Here is Dan about to get a kiss.  While I was taking this picture, I had an employee telling me, “Sorry, no photographs allowed”.  I just ignored him and took this one but put my phone away after that.  I had no interest in seeing the inside of a Dominican jail.  😵‍💫

After the encounter was over, photography wasn’t a problem.  This was during an actual sea lions show which was open to the public

Obligatory balancing-the-ball-on-the-snout photo.

Heres the sea lion (I can’t remember his name) giving mouth-to-mouth (or boca-a-boca, depending upon which narration you were listening to) to an unfortunate member of the staff who nearly drowned when this SAME sea lion pushed him off the rocks, moments earlier !

Scene of the crime…
Welp, that’s all of the exciting things we saw and experienced at Ocean World.  If you get the chance to go when in Puerto Plata, I do recommend it.  
 

Thanks.
 
It's very "resting bitch face" while doing everything in your power to NOT look at your partner. 🤣
 
Right! I loved my Capezios. That was exactly my thought. These are designed for west coast swing, so the toe box isn't blocked for stands and the soles and heels are thinner. Other than than that, they feel just like my old Capezio pair. 
 
So we met up at the dance shoe store and we both bought a pair of shoes. I'm not sure what happened, but somehow a new practice skirt made it into my car as well. They had a cute tank top, but it wasn't meant to be. We have a west coast swing class tonight, so we'll try to break the shoes in. DH will have to get used to the different feel of the more plastic-y soles for sure.
Keeping this a cruise live blog and not a dance journal...I also dropped off a little bit of dry cleaning. The at home laundry saga continues as well. We can ALL officially start packing now too.

Great idea! I love my split-sole Bloch dance sneakers, could definitely weather some spilled drinks and roughly textured, anti-slip deck surfaces! 
 

My purse arrived, and I was a little disappointed, but not surprised, that the pattern was not aligned as in the photo. 
 
However, when I opened the flap, she was waiting for me! I have no idea why I find this so amusing, but I'm taking votes on names. 🤣

 
I mentioned to DH last night that I want some dance sneakers for the ship, and he jumped onboard. I know this may seem weird, but cruising is actually our second obsession. Our biggest concern wearing our usual dance shoes is water or spilled drinks on the floor because they have suede soles. Getting them wet would break down the glue, or cause long term sticking or slipping issues in the case of a spilled drink. Because of that, we leave the cabin in our everyday shoes and carry our dance shoes with us to change into when we want to dance on the ship. It's a little inconvenient to carry them around when we want to also do other things like go to a show or hit the casino without dropping them off at the room first. Plus we still have to worry about someone spilling a drink on the dance floor. I rationalized that I could wear a hard sole dance sneaker around the the ship, and I can use them to teach in this fall - I'm teaching dance at our co-op next semester. Anyway, we're meeting up to buy some for both of us this morning when our local(ish) dance store opens at 11. 💃🕺
I'm sure this seems nuts to most of you, but we all have that one thing, right? 
This also happened yesterday! One more to go!

We all have passports, but the kids' will expire in a few months. Just in case, I'm bringing birth certificates for them too. I don't think we are visiting a country that requires expiration to be 6 month beyond the trip, but I would rather be prepared. Anyway, I went to add them to the case we use to carry our passports, and I was very excited to find our C&A cards from 15 uears ago! Do they still mail physical cards out anymore? I guess we can use them as the card to keep the lights on in the cabin.

I wasn't quite as done with pre-cruise purchases as I thought. I bought two new formal night shirts and a polo for DS. One day, he'll stop growing, right? DD got a new pair of athletic shorts that she will use as a swim suit cover up. She's been using a pair of shorts from a soccer team she was on when she was 10 for almost 5 years... it was time for an upgrade.
My trusty black Travelon mini travel purse has been used everyday for the last 6 years, and the strap finally came unstitched from the body of the purse. I'm not sure how to fix it and it look right because of the anti-theft cable that runs through the strap. So I bought a new, slightly bigger version and deviated from my usual black with a paisley pattern. I really hope the pattern placement is the same at the picture - I see a dragon looking back at me. Amazon should deliver it today. I've been silently stalking the current live blogs, and thanks to the tip from @WAAAYTOOO I guess I need to run out an grab some red undies as well.🤑 
I'm also contemplating purchasing some new dance shoes, but I'm on the fence. I don't know if I mentioned in previous blogs that DH and I met 20 years ago as competitive dancers. 🥰 We competed pro/am, both being the am (amateur) with our respective instructors. When we got married and had kids, we stopped dancing. Last year for Christmas we started dancing again. We decided to start competing again, and our first competition actually dancing together is next month. After buying practice shoes, ballroom shoes, latin shoes, plus costumes...do I really need another pair of dance shoes? Um, probably!🤣 I'll make that decision later today, but the little devil on my shoulder is pretty loud on this one. We're also going to have to find a space to run through our routines on the ship - I'm thinking Dazzles early in the mornings or maybe the gym has an open aerobics floor? We'll scope that out day one.
DH is checking his clothes tonight, but is pretty sure he won't need anything. 

 
 
Paradise Beach sent me a confirmation email this morning. I don't remember getting one in the past, but we haven't been there in a couple years. I haven't heard anything from Roatan Getaway Tours beyond our initial communications, but I did not expect to. No headliners have been posted in app yet, and night 5 MDR is still not showing. 
Pre-pack is in full force now. All the miscellaneous cruise essential type stuff (towel clips, hooks, etc.) gets unpacked from the cruise box and packed today along with our travel pharmacy. Pre-cruise laundry has started, and the ironing board is about to make it's semi annual appearance in my living room. 5 days to go!
 

21 days to go.......
Work has been stressful all around and the weather in Chicago has been bipolar. Sat and Sunday were like 30 degrees and today on Monday it was 65 and sunny. 
My documents were right on time for the first cruise but a full day late for the 3n and a day early for the last cruise. Royal IT strikes again. The luggage tags for the first two cruises are still GTY. Last time they updated around 10 days before I cruised to say the actual room number. So, I will wait until later and print them out. 
I believe I saw in another post that a few blog members and Matt will be on the May 20th-24th Freedom cruise. 🥰
When I booked the cruises, it was just my brother and I going, each with or own room. But my mother turned Emerald after our Mariner cruise and now she is obsessed with making it to Diamond so she can relax in the lounge. Yes, not the drink vouchers or internet discount......but lounge access is her goal 😂🤣. She was upset that she couldn't go on Wonder, I had booked her, but she allowed her bf to talk her out of going. During that Mariner cruise I offered to help make her prime to get offers, she said she was going to be land traveling with her bf and don't bother. In March when she found out we would be doing these cruises she was sad, her bf had cancelled 2/2 of their land vacations. So, my brother was like, we can add her to my room, and she can come with us. She was so happy to be going. 
As usual she is brand new. I feel like she gets amnesia every time we travel, and I have to hear the same questions.  This is her sixth RCG cruise and she texted me about luggage limits. Somehow her logic was that shorter cruises only allowed weekender bags and/or carry-ons 🙄. I just told her to pack as she would normally. Last week she fell at work and thankfully she is okay, but her front left tooth got chipped slightly. The dentist rounded it out and it is barely noticeable, but she was afraid she might have been toothless for the cruise🤣😂, she is so dramatic. 
I did my pre-cruise shopping: which involves going to Kohl's, Marshall's, TJ Maxx and Walmart for any essentials, and giving Bezos his offering. After reading about wearing red (I hardly ever wear it) to ensure some casino luck, one of my casino outfits is a newly acquired red shorts and a red shirt. I am currently making my packing list and the plan is to pack a separate cube, with special casino outfit to contain the smoke, in each cube. I figured I will need about four cubes since I always carry an extra not in my checked bag. 
 

Today was Puerto Plata and we did the Ocean World Sea Lion Encounter & Snorkeling with sharks and Lunch.  This is one of the best excursions we have ever taken.  I have lots of pix but of course, they are not yet on my iPad so I will have to post them later.
We had soooo much fun and saw so many awesome critters.
Ocean World is a Dominican Sea World -an Aqua park with shows and exhibitions.  I was very surprised to find it was very well maintained and well organized.  I have been to aqua parks before in other countries that were…well….sad.  But this one is not.  It was thoroughly enjoyable.
There were dolphin and sea lion shows as well as the shark encounter and multiple snorkeling/swimming aquariums.  There were aviary enclosures (small but fun).  There was a beachfront swimming area as well as fresh water pools.  Some of the interactions were additional $$ (dolphins, in our case since we paid for the sea lions and shark interactions) but we did not pay for anything more than our original excursion included and we had a blast !   Lunch was a pretty typical Caribbean buffet….nothing to write home about, but it wasn’t bad….but was very busy !
Transportation from the port was in a big, comfortable, air conditioned bus….may 15 minutes from the port,  fast, efficient and well organized.  I will definitely recommend this excursion or the one like it that included the dolphin interaction.
This excursion wasn’t cheap.  It was nearly $200 PP but you got a lot for your money and I think it was worth the cost.  We go on VERY few excursions.
We were exhausted by the time we got back to the ship.  The bus left the port area at 8:30 and we got back at 2:00 so it’s a very full day and there’s lots to do.

Consecutive cruiser lunch menu...only about 15 of us are here and they sat me solo 😂

Here are our plans for the ports. 
Roatan: We booked the 3 Reef Stop Snorkel with Roatan Getaway Tours. We paid a deposit by PayPal and will pay the balance when we meet them in port. Communication by email has been pretty quick.
Costa Maya: We're staying on the ship. The current plans are Flowrider in the morning, and we have Escape the Rubicon booked that afternoon. If that does wind up getting cancelled, we'll probably all laugh at how bad mom is on the golf course instead. 
Cozumel: Paradise Beach. We've been here a few times, but not since February 2020.
Usually I can get the kids to wrap up our school year before we leave on an April/May cruise (we homeschool). This year though, they are both dragging their feet in a couple subjects. They will both have papers to finish when we get back and DD, who is taking Biology this year, will have a couple labs to complete. All their other subjects will be complete this week. This is also the last week for our co-op, so after Friday, my teaching duties are over for the year. I gave myself a break with work this trip too, and my last wedding is this Saturday. I'll have all next week to pack! DS is the only one who may need a new shirt for formal night. The rest of us are all the same size as fall's cruise, and I just replaced the kids' swim suits right before we went to Great Wolf. I actually feel prepared and calm - not normal for me, but I like it!

27 days to go.......
Since I made my brother prime, he gets a nice number of monthlies. Usually, they match with mine but of lesser value. Most of my offers are OVs and my brothers are interiors or "1 complimentary guest." It works out the same for us moneywise, but gets us double point, so we booked 2 sperate rooms for the first two sailings as the upgrade option is just OV when you combine. I hate OV so I will often just take the interiors, in this case the first two sailings are GTY. I normally prefer an aft cabin and to pick my own, but I also like a cheap sailing. I really spend minimal time in my room, so location takes a backseat to savings. My brother was excited about his first B2B and then he decided it would be nice to bring our mother along. She of course is sharing a room with him 🤣😂. But she didn't have enough vacation time to do all three, so she will just join us for the first two. We are gifting this as her Mother's Day present.
For the first cruise, check-in opened on the 28th of March I believe. The earliest slot was 11am, which wasn't a big deal because we are flying in the day of......first flight out as usual. I never recommend this, but I have insurance and live in hub city, meaning there are usually 3-4 flights after mine that will get me there. Which brings me to a side rant: there used to be more flights. I remember when there were flights between 8pm-10pm that went to Mia, MCO and FLL. Now the last flight is often around 6:45 to 7pm, which is not ideal when flying with my mother who has church until at least 3pm and requires another couple of hours to be ready. So 5am flights are what I have to deal with, and the sucky part is my preferred airline makes those the most expensive flights. So even though I complain and say I hope to never fly them again, I am often stuck with SWA...... and their crappy boarding procedure 🤣. 
I don't know if 10/10:30 opened up, I didn't bother to check. We will be on the ship for 11 days so I can care less about getting an earlier time. Plus, there are no reservations required for Freedom class entertainment.  My brother brought his own snorkeling gear, the price for snorkeling all day at PDCC is like $50 on sale now 😱. No ecursions are planned.
I used the barcode trick as soon as I checked in and I was able to see our room assignments. For the first leg we are on deck 3 in rooms #3253 and 3251. On the second leg we are on Deck 2 in rooms #2567 and 2569. I chose my own room for the last leg with deck 9 and room #9391. I was happy that the rooms were assigned so close to each other. We have traditional dining for all three legs at 8:30.........which will probably be 8 in most cases. Since the reservations are linked, they should sit us together at a smaller table, if we are assigned to an 8-top I will request a different table. My brother doesn't want people judging him as he eats all his meals. 
I will not be pre-purchasing anything. I get 2 free days as D+ and then can use my prime discount on the remainder. I will also be using my BOGO. There will be the B2B'rs lunch so I will take advantage of that to avoid the WJ. Plus, we will do embarkation day lunch at Playmakers. 
I plan to prepack each leg in its own packing cube. I am also bringing a ton of casino-friendly snacks as I have a 2025 S2S2S or B2B2B to plan. I am following @AshleyDillo advice and bring specific clothes for the casino, so the rest don't get smoky. 

My phone and iPad finally synched, so I have some photos from Antigua and Grenada.  Let’s see how this goes.  I’ve had some trouble spacing them and inserting text.  I’m terrible at this stuff.
This is the floating platform in Antigua for the stingray swim.  It made the entire experience so much better than in Grand Cayman. It was much easier to get into and out of the water

  These mysterious blobs are obviously stingrays.  They are so docile and sweet.  
 

You can almost see the tail !
 

This is St George, Grenada with Explorer in the background.  I really liked Grenada.  Nice people, beautiful island, shitty roads.
 

Obviously, I’m having a bad hair day.  
 

The town of St George really reminds me of Curaçao, which is one of my very favorite places.  This town just looks so quaint.


Shamefully, I got very few photos of Ft Frederick.  
 

These monkeys are native to the island and I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know their proper species name.  We caught a fleeting glance at one in the rain forest.

…and finally, the waterfall at Annandale.  Very beautiful place. Kinda like a cenote in Mexico.

Yep, on leg 3 we have to move up to deck 14 forward to a pano OV room.  It’s one of our new fave cheapo cabin types.  I’ve actually grown quite fond of our little Promenade view room, which is fortunate since we will be here another 5 days !  Truly, my only complaint about the Promenade view room is the fact that there are no drawers in the vanity except for one tiny drawer right in front.  Otherwise, the room is fine.  I love the little window love seat.  That’s MY space.  I sit here and do my blogging and it’s very comfy.  I was able to watch the Promenade parade this afternoon  -at least, one “end” of it.  I expected the noise to finally reach us but nope.  It was still very quiet here.

To the room...


There are so few rooms in this little loop and it's behind a door so likely to be pretty quiet. The wifi is fast in the room too 👍

From the decor it appears this is a bunch of newer rooms perhaps? It definitely looks different from my last room here:

Got my C&A amenity..

Even the bathroom is a different tone from the last one..

I tried to pull a @WAAAYTOOO and grab my SeaPass card from my stateroom door, but it wasn't there. I didn't break any rules or go behind any signs that said rooms wouldn't be open until 1pm.  But my room this time is tucked in a little hallway next to the stairs.

EXACTLY! It's a win win... people who want to get off and do beaches or shopping can do that... and it allows people who'd rather be on the ship to go ahead and stay on board and enjoy an emptier ship than they would in a sea day. 

Just at Nassau today.  It’s not removed from itineraries. 

You posted it on Sunday 3/24 in two threads. 
Allure sailings we’re put on sale over a month ago

My birthday twin to the day and year!

Red underwear! Who knew. Buying some today. I need to hit prime.

Day 4: First port day in Noumea. We booked the Amadee Island day tour through RC which was amazing. We snorkelled with so many green sea turtles and it was picture perfect. The trip was a short bus to another pier and then a 30 min boat ride over to paradise. 
 
Amadee is apparently full of snakes but we only saw one in the water. Perhaps it was the wrong (or right, depending on your mileage) time of year. A glass bottom boat, buffet lunch including drinks and Polynesian dancing show was included in the ticket and broke the day up a bit. It was very hot although the island had a lot of chairs/umbrellas and was not overcrowded. 
We arrived back on the ship at around 5 and there was a lot of hair washing and showers to be had. Quick dinner in CK before an early bed time after a long day. The next day was our first tender port and we wanted off early.  

 
Day 5: Mystery Island. Our genie said they only get to MI on about 40% of the cruises due to wind or bad weather. None of that here! It was perfect weather. We had booked 2 beach huts through a local tour company which we were so happy to have. They also included 2 drinks, the inner tubes and a 30 min massage. 
 
We had a quick breakfast in CK before meeting the genie. Tenders had started earlier than expected so we were on tender 4. Thankfully nobody who arrived before us seemed to realise there was another side to the island so we still got a lot of great empty beach shots. Our genie asked what time we wanted to head back and we said we had the huts till 1 so around 2pm. We thought she was asking due to afternoon snack delivery but little did we know… 
The huts were a great place to relax and it was nice to have a base rather than just chucking all our stuff on the sand. The kids had a blast and spent their own pocket money to hire a clear SUP for an hour. We were right next to the tiki bar so had a few Vanuatu beers and cocktails. Gotta stimulate the local economy somehow. 
When it was time to head back the boys had a look in the markets for some trinkets and found a few souvenirs. I had some small USD left over from our wedding/honeymoon so they used that up. We were getting hungry then so went looking for the apparent lobsters that you could buy for $50 Australian dollars. They must be invisible lobsters or we had heat stroke as we couldn’t find them. 
 
We were lamenting the gigantic line to tender back to the ship when I heard a call of “Andreaaaa” in the distance. Yen had tended over to collect us! We were on in 5 minutes and back in 15. Yen had ordered some pizza and fries along with our usual snacks to the room assuming that we’d be hungry. What a gem! There were also some Easter eggs for the kids and a 3D puzzle each which was exciting.
Izumi for dinner tonight. Again, the food was fantastic but the service was lacking. They were also out of quite a lot of items including everything for dessert. Thankfully Wijaya bought us more cookies than Mrs Fields everyday we we still had a sweet treat. We went to Starwater tonight which was spectacular. Easily my favorite show.