2020 Regent Pink Hibiscus Blue Mountain Cruise Feb. 8-Mar 4 (Tahiti to Australia)

We booked this 18-night cruise October 31, 2017 with Bonnie Buchanan at Cruise One. Regent is an all-inclusive luxury cruise line. The cost of the cruise concierge room #861 was $46,140 including first class air round trip, 2 nights pre cruise in the Intercontinental Hotel in Papeete Tahiti and three nights post cruise in the Four Seasons hotel Sydney, all excursions, liquor, transfers, internet, and specialty restaurants while on board.

We began the trip on February 8 at the Airport Hilton in STL. We checked in about 3:00 and went to the bar for wine. We had dinner at the hotel…which was mediocre at best.

On Sunday, we caught the shuttle to the airport at 5 am, checked in and waited in the Admirals Club until time to board. The flight left on time. We arrived LAX and checked into the Air Tahiti Nui Business Class Lounge and waited for our 4:15 flight on Air Tahiti Nui. We boarded the Boeing 787 and had champagne to celebrate our journey. We were served dinner and then they turned out the lights. The flight was good. (The last time we flew to Tahiti in 1999 the flight was horribly bumpy, and many folks got sick.) We arrived in Papeete and Regent had a shuttle waiting to take us to the Intercontinental Resort. We got room 169 with a beautiful view of the ocean and Moorea. We got to bed about midnight.

Monday Feb 10, we had our included buffet breakfast then went to the beach. The water is as beautiful as we remembered from our trip in 1999. You can see the fish swimming. We had a cheeseburger for lunch then went back to the beach. This was a great way to start our vacation…relaxing on the beach with a tropical drink (Mai Tai) in my hand…. looking at Moorea across the water. We had made dinner reservations at Le Lotus online prior to coming. We both had foie gras appetizers and pork filets entrees…it was terribly disappointing…. but it was a great atmosphere. We saw a sea turtle swimming past our table. We came back to the room and crashed.

Tuesday Feb 11, we had our included breakfast. Our bags had to be out at 9 for our transport to the ship at noon. We shopped at the hotel and bought Sloane, our granddaughter, a turtle. We transferred to the ship. It took FOREVER because of the coronavirus…. they looked through our passports to make sure we have not been to China; they took our temperature and when we boarded, we went straight to our room 861. It was a very nice room, but I will admit I was a little disappointed. The room itself was comparable to other ships we have been on except it did have a larger bathroom and closet. We did expect more from a “luxury” cruise line. We had dinner at prime 7 with Paul and Bonnie Buchanan, our travel agents who were aboard for the world cruise. Bonnie and I attended the show Leading men.

Wednesday Feb 12…we had room service for breakfast then we boarded the bus for the around the island tour of Bora Bora. We had Bloody Mary’s at …Bloody Mary’s and then went to Matira beach… a beautiful beach where I found a piece of coral and watched a sting ray swimming by. We had lunch at the pool grill, and we had dinner at Compass Rose. They announced that we would not be stopping in American Samoa or Apia Samoa. Samoa is fearful of tourists bringing in the coronavirus. We are terribly disappointed, but we understand that Regent is not to blame. Bonnie and I attended the show Broadway.

Thursday Feb 13 Today was a sea day. We had breakfast in Compass rose, lunch at the pool grill and dinner at compass rose. We watched movies in our room and hung out at the pool bar.

Friday Feb 14. Valentine’s day…and another day at sea. We had breakfast in Compass Rose, lunch at the pool grill and dinner at compass rose. I thought the ship would make a big deal of Sweethearts day…and they did put up a few decorations…but for the most part it was just another sea day. We watched movies in our room and hung out at the pool bar.

Saturday Feb 15…a day at sea. I woke up sick this morning. This ship is the smallest ocean ship we have been on. There is no atrium with a grand staircase…which is where we usually spend a great deal of time on other cruises. So, we have found ourselves spending the most time in our room. The nice thing is…we have lots of movies we can watch. We have never sailed in the South Pacific…and there are no birds, no animals of any kind. Just vast amounts of rolling ocean…and this ship seems to feel every one of the swells. My balance is off…I can barely walk, and my stomach is in my throat. We skipped breakfast, we went to the pool grill for lunch and we went to the Sette Mari at LA veranda for dinner. We filled out a comment card and included our disappointment in the difficulty of getting reservations for the specialty restaurants and about the rust all over our balcony.

Sunday Feb 16…we have crossed the dateline and have moved our clocks forward 1 day and back another hour. So, as I write this…at home it is 11:42 am on Sunday…. but it is 5:42 am Monday here. My body is so screwed up!

Monday Feb 17…and we have another day at sea. I am MUCH better. I put on the seasick bands I had purchased before the trip just in case I needed them. We ordered room service for breakfast. We had lunch at the pool grill. We booked the far east cruise for our 50th anniversary 2022. If you book while on board, you get an on-ship credit and a reduced down payment for the future cruise. We had dinner at compass rose.

Tuesday Feb 18…LAND!!!! We have arrived at Lautoka Fiji. The authorities boarded our ship and took our temperature, looked down our throat, listened to our lungs. Thank GOD they did not check our blood level alcohol or weigh us! All we have done for 4 days at sea is eat and drink! We have been informed that they will paint our balcony today while we are in Fiji. We had lunch at the pool grill and dinner at prime 7. We boarded the bus for the tour of the Sabeto village and Lautoka Sights. We were told no shorts and not to wear hats to be respectful to the Fijians. We complied but there were certainly several people who did not. It always amazes me why people choose to break rules. When we got back to the room there was a card on the bed with 7 reservations for specialty restaurants. Sometimes I guess it pays to complain.

Wednesday Feb 19…American Samoa and Apia Samoa denied us entry, so Regent substituted Suva Fiji. We boarded a bus for an hour drive to the Pacific Harbor for a fire walker show and city tour. We bought Sloane a turtle, a postcard and lotion for Shelbie and lotion for Caitlyn. We watched the fire walkers and dancers. We had lunch at the bar grill and dinner at Chartreuse.

Thursday Feb 20, we have a day at sea. We had breakfast at LA veranda, lunch at the pool grill and ordered room service for dinner. We wish the bars opened before 10 AM so we could get a Bloody Mary or Mimosa. There is a very nice bar that opens at 6:30 AM called the coffee connection that has every coffee you could want but it does not serve any other drinks. There are so many wonderful things on this ship and with a few little tweaks it could be amazing.

Friday Feb 21, we have a day at sea. We had breakfast at Compass Rose and lunch at the pool grill and dinner at Chartreuse. We arrived New Zealand Saturday thank goodness. I am sick of sea days. There are activities on board, however, we don’t play games like bingo or bridge or ring toss. Thank goodness they do have a good selection of movies and decent internet.
Saturday Feb 22…NEW ZEALAND!!! Today we docked in Auckland and will remain there overnight for two days of excursions. We had breakfast at Compass Rose. Today we took the Devonport & North Shore tour. Devonport is a beautiful seaside city…reminded me a lot of Seattle. We went to Milford Beach. We took the ferry back to the ship. We shopped on the pier. We got the girls necklaces made from paua shell in New Zealand and a shirt for Saylor. We had lunch at the pool grill and ordered room service for dinner.
Sunday Feb 23…today we do the Auckland city sights. We went to the war museum. Auckland is an interesting and beautiful city. We had lunch at the pool grill and dinner at Compass Rose.

Monday Feb 24, we visited the Hobbiton movie set in Tauranga New Zealand. It was amazing and very enjoyable. We drove about 90 minutes to the movie set, so we got to see a lot of the farms in the area. We could see the white island volcano that erupted in December killing 20 tourists. We skipped breakfast. We had lunch at the pool grill, and we had dinner at Prime 7.

Tuesday Feb 25, we docked in Napier New Zealand. We did a Napier city drive and aquarium. We had breakfast at Compass Rose. We had dinner at Chartreuse. Napier is a lovely quiet little city famous for their art deco buildings. It has amazed us how much lumber is harvested and sold to China. Every port has a dock full of huge logs.

Wednesday Feb 26 Wellington New Zealand. We walked in the footsteps of Lord of the Rings. We had breakfast at la veranda. We had dinner at Sette Mari at La Veranda. Lord of the rings consisted of a tour of Miramar studios and a walk through the woods on Mt. Victoria. It was quite disappointing. I broke a nail while watching the dolphins dance in the water in front of the ship. Our ship sailed between the North and South Island of New Zealand. Stacey, our daughter, had to have an emergency appendectomy….and of course…. we were not home.

Thursday Feb 27 day at sea on our way to Sydney. I had an 11:30 appointment for a nail fill and a pedicure. To express my disappointment is an understatement. My nails are HORRIBLE. It would only anger me to elaborate so let’s just say…I can’t wait to get home to get my nails done. After all, it only cost me $82.60 for this disaster…. the pedicure is ok…and for $64.90 I almost feel that I got a bargain. Steve took me to the jewelry store and bought me a beautiful Australian opal necklace and earrings from Australian opal cutters. The necklace is 6 carets with a small diamond and the earrings are 2 ½ carets. Happy Birthday to me…lol.

Friday Feb 28 another day at sea. We had dinner at Chartreuse. We packed and filling out paperwork to disembark. We attended the staff talent show.

Saturday Feb 29, we sailed into Sydney harbor. We did a tour of the opera house. I was surprised that the opera house consists of several venues. I always thought it was one big venue. The design is truly fascinating, and the original architect was certainly screwed out of the accolades he deserved. We went to Bondi beach. It reminded me of South Beach in Florida. It was so crowded with young beautiful people. We slept on board for our last night.

Sunday March 1, we ate breakfast at la veranda then we boarded a bus that took us to the harbor for a cruise and luncheon. We drove to Manly beach and we had fish n chips. We checked into the Four Seasons…room 1801. Our luggage was waiting for us in the room. The room is nice with a city view. We ordered room service. The food was mediocre.

March 2 Monday Today we had breakfast at the Four Seasons which was very chaotic…then we boarded the bus for the 90-minute drive to the Blue Mountains. When we got off the bus, I got stung by a bee on my foot. The Blue Mountains were beautiful and even had a small waterfall. We rode the train. We saw no signs of the brush fires. We went to the town of Leura, did some shopping and had lunch at Bon Ton. While eating we were visited by three Sulphur crested cockatoo birds. They were beautiful. We had dinner at Rissini on the harbor.

March 3 Tuesday Today we took the fast ferry to the Taranga zoo. It is a small but very nice zoo with some very special encounter areas. We paid extra for an encounter with a koala. The temperature was in the 70’s and very pleasant. We had dinner at Pony. It was a great ending to a wonderful trip.

March 4 Wednesday, we had breakfast and caught the bus at 11 AM to the airport for our 2:40 PM flight. We flew an Airbus A380 on the upper deck to DFW. We made our connections and flights with no issue.