Live Review from Explorer of the Seas - 24 Night Transpacific - Sydney to Seattle

[Setting sail for fun]

Enjoyed your review very much! I can sympathize with your husband, as I seem to catch a cold/flu on almost every cruise, no matter how careful I am.

 

Thanks for taking the time to do this. Would love to do this exact itinerary one day!

 

 

 

Debbie

[britty1]

So sorry husband is sick. Not fun, I got a really bad cold when we did the 15 day Panama Canal cruise.

 

Couple of questions: did you book your rental cars online before you boarded your cruise. Did you book the luau before your cruise or was it a ship excursion.

 

Renting a car seems the thing to do so you get around. Thank you for taking the time to give us a detail of your experience. Really enjoying reading along.

[Firefighterhoop]

Thanks for the continued updates!

 

I am looking forward to boarding Explorer on Monday!

[BEENSAILING]

Thank you for taking the time to post about the cruise.

I am so happy to read the tenders in Maui will run overnight!

I hope you DH feels better soon.

-Cheryl

[cadburysmom]

I've really enjoyed your wonderful posts. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. I'm a little sad it will soon come to an end.

 

I've a friend on your sailing who throughout your cruise has been giving lectures on astronomy and I believe he either gave one in the Palace Theater yesterday or is giving one today as he usually does them on sea days. Do yourself a favor and sit in on one of these. His name is Fred and he truly is amazing.

 

Looking forward to your next post!:D

Edited May 13, 2016 by cadburysmom

[londongal796]

Just some question / comment replies: the internet is still tiresome and I haven't written reviews for these last sea days specifically but I have taken some notes and I can add more later.

 

Retird: Thanks for the info on the dining packages. Wish we had known about that when we booked ours! But I don't know if the pricing was the same as I know the prices were a little different for our online pre-cruise purchase as the prices were onboard.

 

BEENSAILING: I wanted to update you about the seating for the Top Tier ice skating show--the priority seating was NOT for suite guests but rather for PINNACLE guests. This is for the Top Tier events only--not the regular ice shows, which you will receive instructions on how to attend in your stateroom when the time comes.

 

Britty1: We booked our rental cars well in advance and averaged about $50/day pricing. I heard others who booked much later had higher rates so I do recommend booking as early as you can. If you choose to "pay at location" you can always cancel your booking in advance if you find a better rate later on. We booked the luau in advance on our own--a lot of people from our Roll Call recommended it and it had great reviews so we opted for it. We were not disappointed!

[BEENSAILING]

thanks again for taking the time with all of your posts.

I sure hope by the time we go on the Seattle to Sydney the advertised Zoom will be working...

[Sarvowinner]

Thank you so much for blogging. Sorry that W. was not feeling well.

I hope all your stuff completed for your Masters Course. When I did a cruise from Florida to Brazil on the Mariner of the Seas in 2009, I had major reports to deliver to clients. I ended up sitting in the Promenade Cafe at 2am trying to email them off. It took 45 minutes to actually send them.

I just hope Voom on the EOS for our Oct TP is half as good as it was for our Allure TA last Oct.

 

Julie

[ronpes]

Thank you once again for taking the time and trouble to post your detailed review during your vacation and coupled with your Masters work. It was very much appreciated. If I may have one last question as I contemplate the route for 2018, are there any major differences between doing this route or the reverse option?

[londongal796]

Sarvowinner: W is nearly better now, and we are slowly getting over our jet lag! I kept up with my coursework but I couldn't even begin any of my major assignments, so I have a few weeks of hectic research to fulfil -- but so glad we could do this trip!! I certainly hope the Voom is good for the trip, it looks like the coverage area should be okay for the Pacific crossing so fingers-crossed!

 

ronpes: That is a good question, in terms of the reverse option... My DH and I discussed just that prior to getting off the ship, and our consideration (for our PERSONAL preference) was the route we took, simply because the vast majority of the Sea Days are at the end of the cruise, instead of the beginning... We have done a few Mediterranean cruises where you are visiting a port nearly every day, and afterwards we are so tired we just want to have another holiday -- except it's already over! Our personal preference was to have the vast majority of the 'busy' port days over and done with and then have a chance to really relax. But everyone's preferences are different! Looking at the routes for 2018, there are a few differences, I am really no expert on the areas but a lot of people did comment that north Fiji is better than south, but I think they meant some of the different islands, so I'm not sure if a stop in Lautoku is a significant difference. I described our 'adventure' in Fiji which wasn't the best experience, I can't say that is a port I'd like to repeat but the people were friendly and it was a beautiful place, so I'm sure there are some interesting things to do there.

[londongal796]

Days 21-24: At Sea

 

Just a quick recap of our time at sea... DH was still not feeling great so we didn't go out much. I have to admit, I think we missed nearly all of the remaining evening shows, except for the Late Show comedy with the CD, Graham Seymour, which was pretty funny -- crude, but funny! (It was an Adults-Only show held at 10:45pm). Fortunately, the last two days, DH was feeling mildly better so we did go do Mah Jong, which was a very enjoyable way to spend the afternoons. I also finished my Book Club, which, the Book Club itself was really enjoyable -- the book was 'ok', less a book and more like a diary, which was difficult to follow at some points and seemed to ramble a bit. It was nice to be able to discuss experiences with other cruisers and we had a nice little group discussion every time we met, which was very enjoyable.

 

The weather was good but the temperatures dropped and the wind was up, so sun bathing was not a feasible option.

 

Our last few menu's were Truffle, Jasmine, Celery and Portobello. I know we ended up eating a lot at the Specialty Restaurants in the end as DH just wasn't in the mood for the food on the MDR menus -- I was okay with most of them but he just was feeling a little fussier than usual. We did go to the MDR for Jasmine, the final formal night, and we had the 'giant prawns' which are just okay -- they were big prawns, yes, but they weren't butterflied (how they have always served them in the past) and so I wasn't super impressed -- they were tasty, yes, but nothing close to the specialness of a proper Lobster Night.

 

We tried nearly every sushi roll on the menu in Izumi by the end of our trip, including all of the extra special rolls -- they were all really delicious.

 

We did go to Chops Grille for lunch (part of one of our dining packages) and I must say that the service and experience was terrible. They only had three Chops Grille customers (the rest were Suite guests using the space to eat their Windjammer lunch) but despite this, the service was incredibly slow and very lackluster. The staff never refilled my glass of water, and they took both our meal order and our dessert order at the same time. The menu was very depleted and this hadn't been advertised on the Directory Boards (the TV screens everywhere) so I was a little surprised but we made do. The food was okay but no where near as good as usual. I tried the French Onion Soup which was superb -- I was really impressed. I also had the bacon starter, for the second time, and it was terrible -- they'd overcooked it and it was hard and I couldn't eat half of it. The steak arrived swimming in a plate of grease, although it was cooked perfectly and tasted great. The menu listed the three normal sauces to go with your steak, but they only offered guests the Peppercorn sauce -- which I hate. I asked for the Bearnaise and he said it would take time to make, he put our steaks back under the heater while the sauce was made, and returned with a gloopy mess -- it was honestly revolting looking. DH did have the sauce and he said it was 'buttery' but I refused because it looked absolutely disgusting. Chunky bits of egg and butter floating in a clear liquid, I believe you make Bearnaise by emulsifying the butter and the egg together, which is not super straightforward, and usually takes a little bit of time to get it right. I think instead they just mixed all the ingredients together and hoped we wouldn't notice!! If you don't emulsify the egg correctly, and the eggs are bad in any way, you run the risk of causing illness due to bacteria (the emulsification process heats the eggs just to cooking point). Anyway, this is my understand, at least, as I'm not a chef!!! But in any case, that was a real disappointment, but there was so much grease on my plate I just used that as a 'sauce' instead.

 

Although there were a reduced number of sides available on the lunch menu, even then they didn't have everything, and our 'truffle fries' arrived as just 'fries' (no truffle sauce/oil on it). Dessert did taste good but when we had finished we were sat around waiting for a while, expecting the staff to clear our plates and offer a bill (so we could leave a tip), but after a few minutes I turned around (as I had a view of the ocean) and I realised that all of the staff were gone, the kitchen area was sealed off, and the doors to the restaurant were closed. There were still the three tables of paying customers seated, and the staff had totally abandoned us. I was furious -- it was the worst service I've ever received, and if we HAD been paying $25/person for that meal, I would have been livid. As it was, it equaled about $15/person and even that was unacceptable service, considering it is meant to be a specialty restaurant and there were ONLY three tables of customers!!

 

As there were no staff present, we couldn't complain, and they were hosting the Mystery Dinner Theatre that night in Chops so we couldn't reasonably stop by and ask to speak to someone then either (we considered it but we thought it wouldn't have been the best time). The next day, we just couldn't be bothered to file a complaint, although I was sorely tempted -- but I decided to focus on enjoying our last few days instead.

 

We did have dinner at Chops on the final night of the cruise, and had a small hiccup there as well. The meal itself was perfect and the service was divine -- there is a waiter there (I didn't get his name, sadly!) who was just top notch, he'd helped us the last time we had dinner there and his service was just unbeatable -- I've never had such excellent service I think in all my life! So that was all positive. The negative was when I phoned to double check the time I'd made the reservation for, as I'd called on Day 20 hoping to get a dinner reservation that same night, and they had none available, so I booked it for the last day of the cruise. I was pretty sure I booked it for 6pm but I wasn't 100% sure. I phoned up and they checked their reservations and said I'm sorry ma'am but you only have My Time Dining booked for 6pm, not Chops. I started to interject with a complaint but they asked if they could phone me back in a few minutes. Of course I said yes and waited anxiously for their return call. (We had already heard the day before that Chops was fully booked for the final night of the cruise.)

 

The phone rang a minute later and a woman was on the phone (different to whom I'd just spoken to, and whom I'd made the original reservation with) and her first question was WHEN did I make my reservation. I explained I'd made it on Day 20, which was the night they had Chef's Table, as I had hoped to do dinner there that night but they were full, so we booked it for the final night of the cruise. She then asked what time I'd made it for -- I said I was pretty sure I made it for 6pm. She confirmed it was for 2 people, yes, it was (I said). She then went on about something or other at which point I said I was quite upset that they'd lost our reservation, to which her response was 'no of course not, it's been here all along.' And I'm thinking 'then why did you just have me repeat my reservation details from start to finish, and why wasn't your first statement "I'm sorry for the confusion ma'am, I have your reservation right here and it is for THIS DATE and THIS TIME"...?!' Anyway, I knew that they were lying through their teeth and that she'd hastily rebooked me (after I gave a realistic explanation as to the fact that I had genuinely made a reservation a few days before as opposed to manufacturing some excuse or other!). Well, it left a sour taste in my mouth, either way. She claimed the other staff member I spoke to (who she said was the Chops Manager!!) didn't have access to the reservation system and that was why I had been 'misinformed'. Yeah, right. Seriously?? The Chops Manager doesn't have access to the reservation system? It was a load of crap and I knew it, but I really wanted to have Chops our final night (since it was part of our dining package) so we turned up at 6 and had our delicious final meal. (I will say, the warm cookie plate was rubbish -- don't bother!)

 

I can't think of anything else worth mentioning about our final few days at sea... it was fortunately a very smooth crossing, save for the first day or so at sea, and that was a real relief. It also rained very little during the entire voyage, so that was also an amazing experience.

[londongal796]

This final post will list my 'rankings' etc of the service and amenities etc...

 

 

Day 25: Disembarkation (Seattle, WA)

Disembarkation: 10/10

 

Disembarkation Day was fantastic. Although it was rather dreary in Seattle, the ship disembarkation process was very smooth and efficient. We had the option of breakfast in a number of venues, including the MDR, so we went there for our last breakfast on board. Afterwards we pretty much were able to get straight off the ship, there was no queue on the gangway, and our luggage was ready and waiting for us to collect. We handed our Landing Cards to the Border staff and that was literally it -- they did not check our passports or anything, as I guess the clearance whilst on board in Hawaii was sufficient. That made the exiting process super smooth and the port disembarkation area was well signposted and you could either get a taxi, get a shuttle bus, or wait to be collected by your friends/family (which is what we did).

 

Now to post about the other things... This is totally subjective to myself, not everyone will agree with me, so please respect this.

 

Food Services Overall: 8/10

 

Main Dining Room: 9/10

 

We found the Main Dining Room service, including breakfast, lunches, and dinners, to be very good as a whole. We found the staff to be excellent, definitely the best we've come across in a long time, and that includes the non-dinner services. (In the past we have often found breakfasts and lunches to have terrible service, as the staff don't know you and often don't seem to 'try' to impress you.) The lunch menu variety was better than on Allure (which rotated a menu every other day), I believe there were three different lunch menus, so this was offered a little more variety. The dinner menu's were almost all unique despite it being a 24-night cruise, so you have to give them praise for the variety of menu's offered. The quality of the food was all excellent and the service we had was, again, top notch, and the best we've ever had.

 

Windjammer: 8/10

 

The variety of food at the Windjammer was amazing and I was really impressed. At lunch time, I have often just found the same couple of dishes being circulated at the different stations, but this ship, nearly every station was a different set of dishes, and they had a dedicated gluten-free section, vegetarian section, and an 'Asian' section. On top of which they did daily: pizza, burgers, hot dogs, and the pasta station, plus they had loads of other dishes every day (and I think a sandwich making area daily too). It was really impressive. The only negative is, as always, seating, and although we could have sat in Chops Grille for our meals, this was rather inconvenient as the entrance is all the way outside the Windjammer (and most of the food we liked was at the stations waaaay at the back of the Windjammer). I found the variety good but DH didn't and stuck to pizza and cold meats most days. Breakfast was ok, we only went there I think once or twice, and we did not ever go for dinner.

 

Chops Grille: 8/10

 

Chops Grille would have been a 10/10 if they had not blundered the lunch experience. Food was perfect, service was fantastic, atmosphere was great, and we really enjoyed eating here.

 

Izumi: 8/10

 

Our first night at Izumi was 'ok' but after that things got better. Our biggest issue at Izumi was the sushi chef who did not like to stick to the menu! Every time I ordered the Crispy Philly Roll, it came without cream cheese. I think what happened is this: I think the chef put a teeny tiny amount of cream cheese on the roll, and when it was tempura fried, the cream cheese melted away. This has NEVER been a problem before, I've had the roll at other Izumi's before without this problem. However, they have always put a generous amount of cream cheese on, and this probably made the difference. (We did, twice, ask them to fix the cream cheese issue but it came out again without it.) The chef also was liberal with certain toppings, beyond the norm, and just seemed to have their own idea of how things should be (despite it being a set menu instituted by RC and which is meant to be the same across all ships). However, we love sushi, the sushi tasted good (even if it didn't contain the advertised ingredients, which happened A LOT), the service was efficient, and overall we loved going here.

 

Giovanni's Table: 8/10

 

Personally, I'm not a big fan of Giovanni's, but we tried it again. We still don't like it, but in all fairness, the menu is massive, the food we ordered was all excellent tasting, and the service was good. The venue on this ship in particular was not impressive -- there was no exterior view of the water at all, and I found this off-putting a bit. But it was a very popular restaurant and I could tell other diners really enjoyed their time there. For whatever reason, we just haven't hit it off with this restaurant, but that's okay -- since we have 2 other Specialty ones we love instead!

 

Suite Dining (Chops Grille for breakfast, and a special buffet in Windjammer): 8/10

 

The Suite Dining service was top notch, the staff were very attentive and we really enjoyed the quality of service. However, the quality of the food varied at breakfast, and whenever my DH ordered the eggs benedict, they would leave his out under the heat lamps and curdle the hollandaise sauce on top. Also, the majority of his poached eggs did not come out runny. The special buffet was delicious, and all of the food was good (although, and I know I will sound fussy here, but the lobsters they served -- which yay, lobsters! -- were just 'okay'... There was literally two bites of meat in the tails and the claw meat I had was slimy and didn't feel like it was cooked properly).

 

Stateroom: 9/10

 

I know some people will be shocked at a 9/10 for a Grand Suite, but hear me out! The room was beautiful, it really really was, and the space was fantastic. I know there was already discussion about the closets, which I'm excluding, as I'm taking the room as a whole on it's own. The real down factor for the room was the bathroom as there were a few problems with it. There were two sinks, one sink had a faucet that operated without much noise but you had either the highest pressure ever, or no water. The other sink operated at varying pressures but with a high pitched whine whenever you ran it. This was very annoying, the noise was REALLY loud and very noticeable, DH and I would laugh about it every now and then, as it was like gremlins screaming or something. That was very unpleasant. The other problem we had was a choice of 'scalding hot water' or 'cold water' for the shower. The water pressure was also very low, which surprised me, as I'd never had that problem before. Finally, the shower hose had seen better days, it was falling apart in some places and looked rather rank, frankly! So these features did mean I have taken a single point off from the 10-rating. I think this is fair, especially considering I have had nicer shower hoses, better water pressure, better temperature control, and better sink faucets in non-suite staterooms in the past.

 

Stateroom Attendant: 10/10

 

Our stateroom attendant was simply top notch. She was super thorough and efficient, and she was able to zip through our room in what seemed like no time at all. I must admit, DH called her a 'little ninja' at one point as we were only gone from the room for maybe 25minutes and had not asked for the room to be remade (as it was well past her time to do so) but when we came back, she'd scrubbed the bathroom, refreshed the towels, given us our daily menu and remade the bed, etc etc etc. She was just amazing. If we did turn up while she was cleaning, she would finish up and leave rather quickly, which we really appreciated, as often times we have come back and (quite frankly) we don't care if the room is finished or not, they are literally going to be back in a few hours, but they normally would hold their ground and that would mean we'd have to go elsewhere until they finished -- not always something we wanted to do! So, anyway, yes, she was great, and we really enjoyed her service!!

 

Day Time Entertainment: 6/10

 

My biggest complaint about this is that the vast majority of day time entertainments took place at 11am, or earlier, which left afternoons almost entirely entertainment-free. We tended to sleep in and even if we were up early, we would go for breakfast, which takes time, and often missed all but the 11am activities. We really felt that there were opportunities missed and that the activities could have been better spread out throughout the day. The variety of entertainment was 'ok' but I was really disappointed not to see Aqua Aerobics every sea day etc, in fact, despite the fact we had excellent weather for the vast majority of the ship, there didn't seem to be tons of outdoor activities (but that's just me!). There was also the issue of 'progressive' activities, which meant, if you weren't there on Day 1 of whichever activity it was, you were out of luck... apparently some of the progressive activities went on for a full week, which seems a bit silly! (I get progressive trivia, but we heard about progressive bean bag toss which lasted the 7 sea day stretch... Really?!)

 

Evening Entertainment: 7/10

 

This is not an entirely fair review of the Evening Entertainment as we did not attend even half of the evenings. However, the performances we did see were mostly good, not great, and the only performance we saw that we really enjoyed was the Hypnotist act. The comedians had been 'ok', but we've been on other ships where all of the comedy acts had us in tears from laughter. While the singers were all hugely talented, I find watching a single singer perform covers for 45minutes to be a bit excessive, and I don't really enjoy that very much. We only saw one Production Showtime and this is usually my favourite thing, but I wasn't really impressed -- they had the costumes, the singers, the dancers, the sets, but I just wasn't getting much out of the performance. I prefer a story line, not just random singing along to (yet more) covers.

 

Ice Show: 10/10

 

The Ice Show (Seasons of Change) was fantastic, and the performance was I believe the best I ever saw of any of the Ice Shows. My main disappointment with this experience was that, even for a 24-night cruise, we only had the one official Ice Show -- there was a special show for Crown and Anchor members, but that was just a one-off performance. I really felt that a 24-night cruise deserved at least two different shows, as on a 12 night itinerary and a 14 night itinerary, we had two different ice shows. That's just my opinion.

 

 

I have considered ranking my Suite experience, but I can't really do it, firstly because I have nothing to compare it to, and secondly, we frankly didn't really take advantage of many of the 'perks' aside from the fantastic cabin. I will say that the Suite benefits were lovely, but the vast majority of them were not things we really needed. We did love having the option to eat breakfast in Chops Grille, especially on port days, and of course priority access to anything is great to have (whether seating, tenders, or immigration queues) but we usually go to the shows early anyway, and the rush for tenders have never been a problem for us before. (The immigration queue though was a massive help this time!) We have nothing against the Concierge, he was excellent, but the Lounge itself we found to be very small and always super noisy and crowded. We don't drink alcohol so there just didn't seem to be much point for us to be in there... we only stopped by to ask questions of the Concierge. We made use of the special sun loungers I think twice, the rest of the time there were enough loungers open elsewhere it wasn't necessary to use them. So overall, we had a minimal amount of 'perks'. They did have a few meet & greets but this again mostly revolved around alcohol, and we just aren't those types of people. We did enjoy having the opportunity to meet with other guests (the social aspect of the booze fests!) and also the staff on board, who really did listen to us. Overall, we felt we got real value out of this cruise, considering the price we paid for a 24-night stay in a GS (compared to what a 7-nighter costs, which was ALMOST the same price!!), but overall, we can not justify that cost again in the future for shorter cruises. We do think we will continue cruising at the JS level for the extra space and the double-cruise points -- after this cruise we are at Diamond level, and we'd like to get to Diamond Plus to get the priority theatre seating access (this is my biggest thing as I like to sit right in the middle of the balcony, which you can usually only do if you get the priority seating!). I also LOVED having a bath tub instead of a little shower cubicle, so that is why staying at the JS level is ideal. Lately, the costs of the balcony's have been almost the same as JS, so, while the prices remain like that, we will probably stay in JS's.

 

Anyway, that wraps things up from me here. Any last questions, I will try to answer. Thanks for your patience and apologies for the lack of photos!!!

[DC Traveller]

Londongal796, thank you so much for this review and all the valuable information which you provided! We will be on the TP cruise in October from Seattle to Sydney, so your review was VERY helpful.

Jan & Larry

[ronpes]

Thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to put together a very detailed and informative review. It was very much appreciated.

[Coralc]

Very nice londongal796! We thoroughly enjoyed your detailed trip report. I'm glad that you met friendly work crew prisoners in Fiji; along with your other adventures. :D

 

Thank you for taking the (huge) amount of time to entertain and inform us about your lengthy cruise. :)

 

Best wishes for your Master's degree completion! :)

[harrodsfan]

Regent is more expensive but I don't recall any off limits areas.. other than the normal ones.. crew area.. bridge etc.

[WorldTravellerz]

Hi there Londongal

 

Do you mind answering a question? When you took your tour and were taken to the prison in Fiji was it Atmosphere tours as we are booking our tours for the return journey to Australia in October? Thank you so much for your posts, they were entertaining reading. Takes me back to the cruise (I was aboard also).

Edited May 28, 2016 by Phayyte

[londongal796]

Hi there Londongal

 

Do you mind answering a question? When you took your tour and were taken to the prison in Fiji was it Atmosphere tours as we are booking our tours for the return journey to Australia in October? Thank you so much for your posts, they were entertaining reading. Takes me back to the cruise (I was aboard also).

 

Atmosphere Tours operate in Vanuatu -- we had a fantastic tour with them when we were in Port Vila, I highly recommend them. So no, it was not that company in Fiji.

[WorldTravellerz]

Atmosphere Tours operate in Vanuatu -- we had a fantastic tour with them when we were in Port Vila, I highly recommend them. So no, it was not that company in Fiji.

 

 

Ty! Who do we need to avoid in Fiji?

Edited June 14, 2016 by Phayyte

[BEENSAILING]

(posted on wrong site.)

Edited June 14, 2016 by BEENSAILING

[dolphingirl47]

Thanks for sharing. We are booked on the equivalent cruise next April although we have two different ports (Isle of Pines and Kona) and no overnight stops.

 

Corinna

[tonibrad]

Thanks heaps for sharing as we are doing the Seattle to Sydney leg this October.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[BEENSAILING]

Atmosphere Tours operate in Vanuatu -- we had a fantastic tour with them when we were in Port Vila, I highly recommend them. So no, it was not that company in Fiji.

 

Because of your great review and things I read on Trip Advisor I have coordinated three vans with Atmosphere when we are in Vila. We are on the Explorer Seattle to Sydney in October 2016.

 

PS - you never disclosed the tour company you used the first day you were on Fiji. You did a private? We have many of us going with Moana Fiji Tours - in vans.

[londongal796]

Because of your great review and things I read on Trip Advisor I have coordinated three vans with Atmosphere when we are in Vila. We are on the Explorer Seattle to Sydney in October 2016.

 

PS - you never disclosed the tour company you used the first day you were on Fiji. You did a private? We have many of us going with Moana Fiji Tours - in vans.

 

It wasn't Moana Fiji Tours. Sorry for being so cryptic but I agreed with the company not to name them on here in order to get a partial refund... Probably wasn't worth it in the end but you live and learn!!!

 

I am sure you will have a great time with Atmosphere, just remember what I said about mosquito repellent and appropriate shoe-wear for the visit to the village (hopefully it will not be so muddy or muggy when you visit but just a heads up!). Rest of the trip it's fine to wear whatever you want to wear, just that bit was much better if you had proper shoes on (that you don't mind getting muddy) and mosquito repellent!

[BEENSAILING]

It wasn't Moana Fiji Tours. Sorry for being so cryptic but I agreed with the company not to name them on here in order to get a partial refund... Probably wasn't worth it in the end but you live and learn!!!

 

I am sure you will have a great time with Atmosphere, just remember what I said about mosquito repellent and appropriate shoe-wear for the visit to the village (hopefully it will not be so muddy or muggy when you visit but just a heads up!). Rest of the trip it's fine to wear whatever you want to wear, just that bit was much better if you had proper shoes on (that you don't mind getting muddy) and mosquito repellent!

 

So happy it wasn't Moana on Fiji. AIsha has been wonderful in email correspondence and their facebook posts are so upbeat.

 

I will remind everyone in my organized vans about mosquito repellent and footwear...

 

Thank you again for all of your help.

 

PS - I hope your thesis work is going well.