Cruise Day #25 - Sea Day 5 of 5

Note: The date is still one day behind the date onboard. Hopefully, that will be rectified tomorrow when we are on land. 

Last night was almost a duplicate of the previous evening. When we arrived at the Observation Bar around 6:00, we were surprised to find it nearly empty. Then it hit us — Liar’s Club was in the Grand Salon at 5:30. Sure enough, as soon as Liar’s Club wrapped up, a crowd of folks flooded the bar! From that point on, it was every man (or woman) for themselves when it came to finding a seat.

We stayed until about 7:45, right through the end of Charlie’s set. He is so good, and we really enjoy listening to him — and chatting with him, too. Our Australian buddy, C, joined us for dinner in The Restaurant. We had some very interesting conversations along with a delicious dinner. Debbie and I both ordered the Wahoo for our entrée, and it was absolutely superb.

Once again, we were among the last tables to clear the dining room. Time really does fly when you’re engaged in meaningful conversations. We said good night to our buddy and headed back to our stateroom to watch the Sinner/Djokovic semi-final match. What a roller-coaster of a match!

When we returned to the stateroom earlier, we found a port change notification waiting for us. We’ll now be visiting Savusavu instead of Dravuni Island. 

We also had a reminder for tonight’s Solis reservation — much appreciated — although we already have all of our reservations noted on our wall calendar.

We did not receive our nightly menu card, so unfortunately, no menus to share below.

This morning, we were up early and poolside by 7:45, settled into our favorite loungers. Now that the weather is perfect, loungers are being claimed early. By 9:00, all of the shaded loungers were taken. A few had been “saved” with personal items before we even arrived! By 9:30, several of those early-claimed loungers were still empty. No “lounger police” here — similar to what we’ve seen around the pools on Princess.

At 9:30, I left Debbie relaxing in her lounger and headed to the Fitness Center for an hour on the elliptical. 💪

Today at 1:30, there’s a live music and ice cream event by the pool. I’ll try to resist… I really don’t want to negate this morning’s time in the gym! 🍦🎶

I'll update this post later if there is anything interesting to report. 

Cruise Day #24 - Sea Day 4 of 5

Note: The date on this post is showing the 29th, but it is actually Friday, the 30th onboard the ship. We crossed the International Date Line last night. Hopefully, the app will correct itself once we’re back on land and I turn off Airplane Mode. 

Last night, we returned to the Observation Bar—and it was hoppin’! Hardly an empty seat anywhere. We had a great time catching up with our new friends and also had the opportunity to meet Laurent, Seabourn’s Corporate Hotel Director. He boarded in Bora Bora and will be onboard with us all the way to Auckland. Our previous Hotel Director had to leave the ship in Honolulu for personal reasons. Laurent was extremely personable and shared some fascinating insight into Seabourn’s operation. A real pleasure to chat with him.

Afterward, we headed to The Restaurant for a delicious dinner. We both ordered the Togarashi-seared rare tuna for our entrée, and Debbie declared it—so far—her favorite dish of the entire voyage! 

It truly was outstanding. For dessert, I went with the Napoleon of berries, and wow… it was sooo good!

I also have to mention our waiter, Nevando—he is absolutely stellar. Not only does he provide top-notch service, but he’s also extremely charismatic and humble. We always pick his station (and usually the same table) every time we dine there.

Next stop was the Grand Salon to watch the Seabourn Singers and dancers. Once again, they delivered an extremely high-level performance. We were very impressed.

And the best news of all: the seas have finally returned to normal, and the skies are sunny! ☀️ Ross, the Cruise Director, told us last night that the good weather is here to stay—at least through our time around Fiji. 

We went to bed Wednesday night and woke up Friday morning… sleeping straight through Thursday! Still wrapping our heads around that one.

By 8:00 am, we were comfortably settled into our favorite loungers, and we have no plans to move all day long.

Well… maybe just for lunch 😉

Cruise Day #23 - Sea Day 3 of 5

We started the evening in The Club, on Deck 5, last night. The ship was still rocking severely and we were not going to chance going up to the Observation Bar on Deck 10. Others had the same idea as it was quite crowded. After listening to, and watching the band sway to the rockin, we carefully made our way to The Restaurant for dinner. We both started with the avocado rice paper wraps and then the seared rare fresh Blue Marlin. 

Both were delicious. We then shared the warm chocolate ganache cake with vanilla gelato, wow!  So good!

We tried The Club after dinner, but the rocking ship won out and we returned to our stateroom.

Overnight, the seas have dramatically calmed down. The Captain anticipates winds of only up to 25 knots today—much improved from yesterday’s 60+ knots. However, it remains overcast, with rain showers expected throughout the day.

This morning in The Restaurant, I had one of favorites, Eggs Benedict with avocado instead of the meat. 

Last night, we received notification that our wine tasting scheduled for Friday was moved to today.

At 11:15, we were spectators at the super competitive trivia session. We actually had about 75% correct answers!  Afterwards, we had a light lunch in the Colonnade. The variety of options at lunch are truly impressive. Today the Eggplant Parmesan was outstanding.

At 2:00, we attended the wine tasting along with 9 other attendees. 

Karen, the Head Sommelier, started the event, with Karan (soon to be Seabourn's Head Sommelier) doing the majority of the heavy lifting. 

He is such a pleasant, knowledgeable individual, super impressive. The wines performed very well and good conversations were had by all!

Tonight, dinner will be in The Restaurant. And, I'm very happy to report that the seas are back to normal with minimal clouds!  Tomorrow should be a great pool day. 

Tonight, we turn the clocks back another hour. We’ll go to bed on Wednesday night, but when we wake up, it will be Friday morning! We’re crossing the International Date Line tonight and will completely lose Thursday—so weird! 😄

Cruise Day #22 - Sea Day 2 of 5

Last night was a bust thanks to the rough seas! 🌊 We spent the afternoon tucked away in our stateroom watching the Australian Open. By 5:00 pm, the waves were pushing close to 20 feet, as you can see on the Windy.com chart from that time. 

Walking around the ship was a challenge, and the idea of getting dressed in formal wear wasn’t appealing to either of us. We opted for room service and the Australian Open quarterfinals instead 📺🎾.

Because of last night’s rough seas, the show by the ship’s singers and dancers was also canceled.

The seas rocked all night long! In the middle of the night, I had to break out my electrical tape to secure the bathroom cabinet door—it kept slamming open and shut with every roll of the ship 😬.

This morning, the seas are still quite large. Making our way to The Restaurant for breakfast was no small effort. Several of the window drapes were closed, as diners clearly preferred not to watch the heavy wave action while eating 🌊🍽️.

At 11:00 am, the Captain made an announcement advising guests to avoid the open decks as winds were exceeding 60 knots (about 69 mph)! Add in the heavy cloud cover and off-and-on rain, and you can imagine how much the ship is rocking. We’re tucked into bed reading — definitely not the most comfortable day to be wandering around the ship. 🌬️📖

For now, we’re planning on carefully making our way to the Colonnade for lunch — emphasis on carefully. We’ll reassess later and see what the seas (and our stomachs) decide about dinner plans. If anything interesting—or especially entertaining—happens this afternoon, I’ll be sure to update today’s blog. 🌊🤞

Cruise Day #21 - Sea Day 1 of 5

Last night was again a lot of fun at the Observation Bar! Charlie was singing great tunes, the room was packed, and the energy was high. We eventually made our way to The Restaurant and enjoyed yet another fantastic dinner.

After dinner, we headed to the Grand Salon for Paulette Ivory’s show.

Unfortunately, we were a bit disappointed. The performance felt disjointed, with a lot of time spent talking about—and showing video clips of—her past performances, along with frequent requests for audience participation. She definitely has a great voice, but I guess it just wasn’t our cup of tea.

By the time we made it to the show, the seas were really rockin’. As we were departing port, the Captain announced that swells could reach up to 8 meters and would continue throughout today. He wasn’t kidding—it rocked all night and is still rocking this morning. 🌊 It’s expected to be cloudy all day with a chance of showers.

For now, we’re settled into our favorite poolside loungers and plan to spend the day right here. 

Fingers crossed the rain stays away. The high today should be in the low 80's with a slight breeze. At around 11:30, the rain came in buckets, it made everyone run for cover! One highlight today, was the Seafood Paella at the Colonnade at lunch. 

And oh—almost forgot—tonight is formal night! We’re planning our first formal dinner in The Restaurant. ✨👔🍷

Another thing I keep forgetting to mention—Seabourn does not have onboard photographers! On Princess, we often feel like we’re constantly being hounded by photographers. We know they’re just doing their jobs, but sometimes it can be a bit much. This is definitely one area where Seabourn gets a big thumbs-up from us. 📸👍