March 10, 2026
Our next stop was Lautoka, Fiji. We didn’t bother going into town for this one, in fact, we got off our ship and immediately onto a catamaran to take us to Malamala Beach Club. It’s the world’s first beach club situated on a private island (allegedly).
After the sweat bus incident the day before, we were relieved to sit in the air conditioning on the 40 minute ride over to the island. We had ended up booking this excursion with the ship last minute, but refused to pay an arm and a leg to get a cabana or a beach lounger.
As soon as we made it to the island, Andy made his way to find chairs – and I high tailed it to the information desk to see if they had any cabanas for sale at a normal price. (The ship had jacked up the prices and they were astronomical). The lady looked me square in the phase and said, “Would you like number Cabana 1, 2, or 10?” I was a bit puzzled and asked her how much it was. She shook her head and told me that it was first come, first serve at this point.
Y’all. We got a Grand Cabana for free! And because we got there first, everyone else thought we had paid for it and didn’t feel comfortable coming over and trying to share it with us. They didn’t realize we hadn’t paid a penny for it. The only difference was we didn’t get a butler included, but who cares!
The four of us had shade and multiple tables… and more chairs than we could use. It was a nice upgrade from what we were going to be working with previously.
The island was small, but had different areas where you could swim. It was also covered in washed up coral – was a bit shocking! It was everywhere so we had to be careful where we stepped because some of it was quite sharp. There was plenty of room for all of us to spread out – and water activities if you wanted to (stand up paddle boards, kayaks, snorkeling, etc.) and lunch was included for us as well.
We splashed around for a while and then took a walk around the island. There were two different pool areas one was special for the real paying cabana customers – and the other was for the rest of us. We decided that after lunch we were going to hit up the pool.
It was a really relaxing day and we started to wrap up when we started to see the catamaran coming to retrieve us. I looked ahead of us in line and saw a familiar face. I could have sworn it was “Pilot Pete” from the Bachelor franchise and more recently, Traitors.
I was doubting my own eyes and enlisted the help of others. Sure enough, it was him! There was a kerfuffle as we were getting off of the catamaran and Emily and I found ourselves next to him in line. I asked him a few questions about Traitors and he was really nice to chat with.
After making our way back to the ship, Emily and Mark had another great night of karaoke on the ship.
Up Next:
Apia, Samoa
Scribbles and Snapshots 