March 14-17, 2026

One of the fun things about this trip was crossing the international dateline and doing some serious time travel. We woke up on Saturday to an announcement from the captain stating that there had been an emergency. We were turning around and returning to Pago Pago to drop a passenger off for medical attention.

One of the dangers of cruising in such remote parts of the world is that if something happens – there aren’t a lot of options for medical treatment. Cruise lines have limited options when it comes to getting you treatment when it comes to life or death situations – and in this instance the passenger had decided it was best to turn around and return to better facilities in Pago Pago. The one unique thing about this situation, is we crossed the international dateline 4 times within 18 hours.

We were informed that they weren’t sure how long we would get in Tauranga – or if we would get time there at all. There were 3 days between us and Tauranga and the captain and his crew would need to go full speed ahead to get us even half of a day.

We didn’t want this to ruin the rest of our vacation, so we tried not to focus on it too much.

By the next morning, the cruise director confirmed that we would get an abbreviated time in Tauranga. But they were cancelling all of our previously booked excursions. We had booked mud baths with Emily and Mark, so we were disappointed to hear that.

But at least after 3 days at sea and before our long haul flight home – we would have a quick pit stop on land!

TAURANGA

When we got off the ship, we didn’t have much of a plan anymore because things were too far from the port and we didn’t have as much time as we would have liked. Mark had looked up if we could rent a sail boat – but no such luck.

We ended up finding a fun restaurant where we got some drinks and food before walking around shopping. We also entertained the idea of moving there before we looked up the prices of houses. We decided we could potentially swing it if we bought a house big enough that we could separate the dogs and cats from each other.

After we finished shopping, we walked over to one of the world’s most famous beaches, Mount Maunganui Beach. It was a little brisk, but I think I must have been a pirate in a former life because I’m called to the sea.

There’s just something about a body of water (in general), but there’s something even more exceptional when it’s in a different country. We spent quite a bit of time here before making our way slowly back to the ship.

Of course this was St. Patrick’s Day – so the ship had some St. Patrick’s Day themed festivities happening on board. It was also our last night, so we made sure to say goodbye and tip our favorite servers. (green Champaign and a Jamison Ginger)

The next day was our long travel day, but not as long as Emily and Mark. We were all flying on the same flight back to LA, but then we connected down to San Diego.

It was a wonderful trip – and so great to spend it with Emily and Mark.

Up Next:
–Europe: Dublin, Ireland & Monaco Grand Prix