Survey

This wasn't our cruise experience

http://youtu.be/XrZeFgxz6mQ

Ringing home to Ireland

Today, we rang Ireland and spoke to Nana Sheridan aunty Geraldine, uncles Felim and Liam. They are all at a big famly gathering at home in Granard.
Some of them had gone to the big game in Longford where Longford were playing Tyrone in the All ireland qualifiers. Unfortunatley Longford lost.
The weather is nice in Ireland but a little cold.

Tomorrow, everybody is going the anniversary mass for Granddad.
Above is a picture of the family home taken from Google Maps.

Pacific Pearl Cruise

In June we went on a Pacific Island cruise. The ship was called the Pacific Pearl. There were around 1,500 on board with about 700 crew. Even so, as the ship was large it did not feel too crowded.

It took 2 days of sailing non-stop to reach Lifou Island which is part of French Caledonia. We went ashore where the locals had a market going. Jane and Grace had their snorkelling gear ready and were off out to check the fishlife. Conor went along too and was able to see the fish. When we got back on board, we bought snorkelling gear for him.

The next day we arrived in Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu. We had booked a snorkelling tip at this stop so off we went. Everybody jumped overboard except me and enjoyed the experience of seeing the fish etc. Then we went back to the ship for lunch. After that we went ashore again, haggled for a taxi and went into the town. There there were more more markets. Port Vila has a french influence so we visited a cafe for a coffee and nice cakes. Grace was keen to speak French to the staff which she did; a new experience for her.

The next day we arrived at Mystery Island. It is a small island with an airstrip built by the Americans in World War 2. The weather was beautiful and we had a great day on the beach.

Then it was back on the ship and 2 days of sailing back to Auckland. 

On board, we had a cabin with a bathroom and 4 bunks. It was small but very comfortable for us. The food was very good too; there was no danger of going hungry. There were 14 levels on the ship and we were on Level 8. Grace and Conor went to Kids Club every day and had a great time taking part in many activities. There were lots of things for adults to do too. At nightime, there were shows which were very well done and entertaining.

We were lucky with the weather and didn't experience any major rocking.

We all had a lovely time.