Home Again Home Again

What a wonderful trip we had!! I'm glad to be home though. I was glad to see Keller and the dogs.

We loved most of the ports and what we did at each. I've tried to put the tours in order of the ones I like the best but end up with several number ones!! The first place winners have to be; Bora Bora with Patrick of www.maohini.net, Jewel of Fiji in Suva with www.discoverfijitours.com and www.Coast2Coastnz.com in Auckland with Donna and Stu. These were all private tours arranged by friends we met through Cruise Critic. Each was very different from the other. We are not able to pick a clear favorite because each was so different. We would do them all again.

A close second to the tour winners were; the ships tours on The Train to Taiere Gorge in Dunedin, The Punt Tea and Tram Tour in Christchurch and the ride to the top of Mauna Kea in Hilo to almost 14000 feet to the observatory.

I also have to mention two other private tours we enjoyed. Those were the LOST tour in Honolulu at www.hawaiianescapades.com and Des Harris' of Indigenous Trails at www.itrails.co.nz/tour in Auckland to the Maori village and geysers in Rotorua and then to the glowworms.

So, first, second and third place aren't easy to pick. They all seem to run together as wonderful experiences.

And we enjoyed the ship. I did miss having a balcony. And I think my table servers should have known and used our names after 60 days. The cabin stewards knew us from day one. But overall I can definitely recommend the experience. There was plenty of room on the ship for the 2600 or so passengers to not feel crowded. The entertainment was very very good, the food was OK, the Captain and Cruise Director excellent and the sailing not too rough.

We met delightful people. It was good to have been on Cruise Critic before the cruise because we knew many people at the beginning. More than I expected had been reading this blog and knew us very well. I wish I had had time to get to know them better. Thank you for identifying yourselves to us.

Our table companions at dinner were all entertaining. We were at a table for eight but had only four who showed up consistently. We miss Marion and John from the first 30 days and Mike and Elizabeth from the second 30 days. You will stay in our hearts with fond memories.

Thank you to all of you who have been following this blog. And thank you for the comments you left, We really did enjoy hearing from you. I wish I had had enough internet minutes to reply to each of you. As it was I spent 300.00 on the Internet. Ahhh I'll be Platinum next time and get it for free!!

When can I go again?