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!
This is what it looked like – we forgot to take pictures
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.
Andy took this picture to help confirm
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.
Our cruise brought us to Suva, the capital of Fiji. While many travelers head straight for the beaches, Suva offers something different. There is history, culture, and a look at everyday Fijian life.
Suva is the largest city in Fiji and the country’s political and cultural center. It’s known for its colorful markets, colonial buildings, and strong traditions from the native Fijian people, known as the iTaukei. Many of Fiji’s customs are still practiced today, especially in villages throughout the islands.
One tradition that plays a big role in Fijian culture is kava. Kava is a drink made from the root of a plant in the pepper family. The root is dried, ground into powder, and mixed with water. It looks a bit like muddy tea, but it’s much more than just a drink.
Kava ceremonies are an important social ritual in Fiji. They are often used to welcome visitors, mark special events, or bring a community together. During a ceremony, the drink is served in a large wooden bowl called a tanoa. When it’s your turn, you clap once, drink the kava in one go, and clap three times after. The drink has a calming effect and can make your mouth feel a little tingly!
The four of us had signed up for the Jewels of Fiji tour with the ship, which would bring us to one of these ceremonies. Much to our dismay, we made our way off the ship and were greeted by a large coach bus with every window open (think 85 degrees and 85% humidity). And somehow – even though we were the first ones out of the theater – we were at the very back of the bus.
It was a pretty uncomfortable ride, but as soon as we got off the bus we were greeted by the sound of drums and we immediately got excited. Our guide had prepared us well for what to expect: we needed to remove our hats, sunglasses, and shoes before entering the long house.
One member from our bus would taste the kava. (Unfortunately for us, we were in the back so even if we wanted to volunteer there’s no way we would have been picked). By the time we got in to the long house, there were no chairs left.
As a quick side note, I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet. But this cruise is a bit on the older side. Even compared to our Alaskan cruise, we were the youngest by far!
Knowing that we wouldn’t want to take any chairs from someone our senior, Emily and I sat on the floor. What we didn’t know is that we were right behind the two volunteers who were going to be drinking the kava. There were a few times where I thought about asking if I could have a taste. 😉
If you don’t know us, we are always looking for the furry locals wherever we travel!
Our host welcomed all of us to their village – explained how kava was made – and led the rest of the village in song to welcome us. Then the ceremony began!
I have to be honest – the kava looked like mud. We as a collective group chose to have one of our “tributes” drink a tsunamis worth (he was a good sport).
Once it finished, they began their performances. Some of the men began a traditional dance – at this point Emily and I were front row. The dance was more of a “warrior” dance – and they had their battle axes. I had whispered to Emily, “I hope he doesn’t swing that thing this way.”
I’m sure you can guess what happened next… Yep! He did! Not once but twice, and I’m sure our giggling only fueled the fire. Mark got a great video of the “attack.” The local women came out next and sang a much calmer song before we began lunch.
After lunch, we climbed into a long boat and cruised down the Navua River. The scenery felt straight out of a movie because it actually was. Parts of the jungle along this river were used as a filming location for Anacondas.
Thankfully, we didn’t see any giant snakes. But we did find something even better! A beautiful waterfall hidden deep in the rainforest. After the boat ride, we hiked a short trail to reach it. The cool water and the sound of the jungle made it feel like a secret world far away from the cruise ship.
The river itself had some fun rapids, at one point our captain asked the men to get out and walk. At first we thought he was joking, but realized he was serious. Our boat just didn’t have enough power to make it up! Our group all got out and walked up together – but on the way down we all rode in the boat and got absolutely soaked in the brown river water. It was an incredible adventure that none of us will soon forget.
Suva may not always be the first stop travelers think of in Fiji, but it offers something special: culture, tradition, and a little bit of adventure in the heart of the islands.
We boarded the Celebrity Edge in Auckland, not far from our Airbnb, but because it was a longer trip we had to take two Ubers to the port. We split up and both drivers took creative liberties in getting us there. Thankfully, it wasn’t too much of a wait and we were on our way in the boarding process.
Once on board we were able to show them around quickly, as we had been on this ship only a few years ago. Compared to the Millennium the amenities are really nice (which is one of the older ships in the fleet – and the last ship we were on!!) we had fun walking around and getting reacquainted ourselves.
Safety Briefing- check!
We pushed off around 8 pm, which was sunset there. It was absolutely beautiful with the skyline and the city lights.
Pulling out of port during sunset is the best!
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The next morning we woke up in Bay of Islands, which was a revisit from our last cruise. Andy had to work, so I just relaxed. Once he logged off for the day we took the shuttle into town and walked around and explored a bit. Emily and Mark did the excursion we had done last time (glow worm caves!) and had a great time. There wasn’t much noteworthy here because it was a shorter stop once Andy logged off from work.
We booked a room off the back of the ship this time, makes for great views!
The next few days were sea days – so not much to report there. But we were having fun catching up with Emily and Mark and just relaxing on the ship!
Mark and Emily love Karaoke (we love to watch) and then of course our favorite- the Martini Bar Show!Silent Disco Night!
We flew into Auckland to check off one of our longest running bucket list items – the US National Parks. I know what you might be thinking, why are you flying to New Zealand to complete the US National Parks? And yeah, sort of weird.
But to make a long story short, a few years ago I researched the easiest way to get to American Samoa National Park and realized that you could fly through Hawaii to Pago Pago and stay for a few days (but it’s a small island and the flights are expensive) OR you could fly into New Zealand and check off a few countries while hitting up the last national park.
Hence, the trip was booked and a “dream” was finalized. Some of you reading this blog may have met us at different points along the way – but from the very beginning, one of our park adventures, or maybe just knew that this was something we were passionate about.
It feels a little bittersweet that this is the end of the road. The question we get asked the most of course, “What’s next?” I’m laughing thinking about this because I already know our reputation procedes us – and you’re right. We aren’t going to be sitting home savoring a job well done.
I think we will switch to more event based travel – the Olympics, Oktoberfest, Hot Air Balloon Festival, etc. I personally want to get to every country, yes, every country.Even the “scary” ones (which I don’t buy into). Maybe hit up every Disney park, who knows?!
The other extra special part about this trip is that our best friends Emily and Mark are joining us. I’ll give credit where it’s due that Emily mailed me a postcard from Yellowstone NP back in 5th grade of Morning Glory Pool and that’s what made me realize the world was so much bigger. Sparking a curiosity and love that would turn me into who I am today – and I’m grateful that I found Andy, who I got to share this journey with.
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Once we landed in Auckland we rented a 2 bedroom apartment for the few days leading up to the cruise. We had been to Auckland before on a different cruise, but Emily and Mark hadn’t. We thought it would be easier to fly in the weekend before to ensure if there were any baggage delays that they would have time to catch up.
We didn’t have any issues and had an easy time navigating the Auckland airport. Our Airbnb was in a prime location and was easy to walk to everything. We had an amazing dinner the first night and were excited when Emily and Mark flew in the next day.
After they landed and freshened up we decided that we were going to take a ferry over to Waiheke Island for some wine tasting. We had been given recommendations to go to Mudbrick – and since we didn’t have a car we decided that since we could walk we would go to Cable Bay since it was next door.
Both wineries were great – and the views were incredible. When we had visited 2 years prior, the wines had been good, but we were with the ship’s excursion team and the experiences were only okay. This was a completely different experience and we ended up buying some wine. I’m still not sure how we’re going to get it home. But that’s a problem for a different day!
The remaining days in Auckland were relatively low key due to Andy having to work so we just had some fantastic dinners with Emily and Mark in the evenings.
We came into port on Saturday morning and had a nice breakfast on the ship before making our way out into Singapore. We had less than 24 hours in Singapore – so we knew we had to make the most of it. I had made a to-do list that would cover the major tourist locations in addition to doing some foodie-fun as well.
Our first mission, of course, was to drop off our luggage. When I had traveled to the Philippines for work previously, I had stayed at a Shangri-La hotel and it was absolutely lovely. In my search for a hotel I had seen there was one in Singapore, so it was a no-brainer that we stayed there for our one night.
Somehow, the universe looked down upon us favorably and when we checked in at 9:30 am our room was ready! The room was really nice and had a great view of the pool. We had a quick cat nap before we made our way out into the city.
Public transit in Singapore is incredible – I kept reading about the “MRT” (Mass Rapid Transit) and how they had tourist passes. Candidly, I love saving money and I know Andy and I can always figure out public transportation in a foreign country. The 1-day tourist passes came out to about $26 for both of us, and gave us unlimited access to the city. The MTR system was vast – and honestly puts any US system to shame. (Don’t get me started on how clean and safe it is as well…)
We made our way to the closest MRT station, which happened to be in a mall. It felt like we were in a whole underground city + mall. Because Christmas had just ended – there were a ton of sales and everything still felt super festive. We had to stay focused though – we only had the one day in Singapore and this wasn’t the time to go shopping. So, we got our MRT passes and got on the train!
Our first stop was the Newton Hawker Center. Have you seen Crazy Rich Asians? This is where Nick and Rachel go to meet his best friend and his fiancé when they land in Singapore. It also happened to be the closest Hawker Center to our hotel!
We were there during the day, so not all of the food stations were opened, but we made due. We got more noodles, rice, and chicken. One lady was really pushy and she almost talked Andy into ordering a beer – instead he got a peach Jinro from Korea. (It was really sweet). I stuck to a Tiger beer. The food was really good, but more expensive than our food market in Malaysia.
After lunch we hopped back on the MRT and made our way over to Gardens by the Bay. I’m sure if you’ve ever seen pictures of Singapore, you’ve seen these famous trees. We wish we could have seen them at night, but time was not on our side with this trip. They were still amazing to see during the day (and free!) – we walked around until our time at the SkyPark observation deck.
The SkyPark is part of Marina Bay Sands hotel – the surfboard shaped hotel that is also a famous part of the skyline. Naturally, I had to get to the top of it because I figured this would be the best viewpoint of the city. The cost was actually really affordable – about $50 for both of us to get up there! As far as we know, there isn’t a time limit for how long you can stay and there is a restaurant where you can get food and drinks. But remember – we were on a time crunch!
Photos of the photo spots
Looking upLooking down
Places to see people! We did a complete walk around of the observation deck (I read every plaque – I’m one of those people) and took pictures. My mom went to Singapore in the 1970s – so I wanted to take pictures and videos so she could compare and see how much it’s changed from when she was there. (I’m sure a ton!)
Our Cruise ship getting ready to go for it’s new routeSingapore HarborMerlionFor the F1 fans
After we felt like we had taken as many pictures as our hearts desired – and we spotted our cruise ship in the distance! We made our way back down the elevator. Our next stop was the famous Merlion.
Unfortunately, this was a tough one to get to by MTR and we decided to hail a Grab (their version of Uber) to get over there.
We hopped out and blended in with the other tourists trying to take a picture of this famous statue – and of the Marina Bay Sands hotel, which was weird because we had just been there 7 minutes before! We didn’t stay for too long, but it was a nice area.
We decided to walk to our next stop, the famous Raffles hotel. This is where the Singapore Sling was created. We hadn’t researched it ahead of time, otherwise we might have gotten there earlier, but we ended up waiting in a line to get in.
Thankfully the line was moving pretty fast – and it was in the shade. Once we got inside, we were greeted by peanut shells all over the ground and punkah fans on the ceiling. Back in the early 1900s, women weren’t exactly encouraged to drink in public. Juice was acceptable, cocktails were not. Enter Ngiam Tong Boon, who saw a loophole and ran with it. He slipped gin and liqueurs into what looked like a harmless pink juice, giving us the Singapore Sling – a discreet cocktail with a rebellious streak.
We had a few Singapore Slings on the trip, but this was definitely the best one we drank and the most expensive.
At this point we started to make our way back to our hotel. We wanted to have a quick dinner and then repack our suitcases to redistribute the weight for the flight. We opted to eat at the hotel since we had a credit with our American Express card – we opted for pizza and wine. A classic.
We were off to bed and had an early wake up since our flight was at 9 am the next morning!
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We were excited to get to the airport early because the Singapore airport is known for being one of the best airports in the world. We dropped our bags and were thrilled just to walk around the airport.
I had researched things to do in Terminal 3, which is where our ticket said we would be departing from. Unfortunately, we were actually departing from Terminal 1. (Noooo!!)
This meant that I was going to miss out on the giant slide and free movie theater – yes, you read that right. But when life hands you lemons… so we decided to walk instead of taking the train so we could see everything as we went.
The main attraction is the Jewel. This glass-domed stunner is home to the Rain Vortex, the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, crashing through the center of a jungle-filled oasis like it’s no big deal. Jewel turns the airport into a destination. It’s the kind of place that makes you forget you’re in an airport… until you realize you actually wish your flight were delayed. Unfortunately for us… it doesn’t turn on until 10 am. So we took the train by it, and got to see the lush jungle surrounding it and used our imagination. (You can use yours too…)
We headed to a lounge to get a quick bite and a coffee and before we knew it we had to head to security to board our flight. For those of you who have really long layovers, just know that the Singapore airport even has free city tours that you can sign up for that take you around the city on a bus. (How cool is that?!)
Until next time – thanks for joining us on this trip!
Up Next: Our last US National Park cruise: New Zealand / Fiji / Samoa / American Samoa! – March 2026
When we booked this cruise we were pretty excited that we were heading back to Thailand and that it was going to be over New Year’s. We were even more excited when we realized it was in Phuket, (southern Thailand) because we didn’t make it this far south so this was an additional draw for us!
Even though we had just done the island hopping in Langkawi the day before, we had booked a full day excursion to James Bond island. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, it’s from The Man with The Golden Gun (1974). I had seen it quite a bit on social media, but candidly I hadn’t seen the movie.
But James Bond Island is a tiny island in Thailand with a tall rock that looks like it was glued straight into the ocean. It became famous after the movie, so now everyone calls it “James Bond Island” even though Bond was only there for about five minutes. You can’t go inside the rock (sad), but you can take dramatic photos, pretend you’re a spy, and wonder how the rock hasn’t fallen over yet.
Some tour guides (or locals in their stands) even provide you with golden guns to take pictures, which is a bit terrifying when you’re walking up and you see a bunch people pointing guns every which way!
Previously, the beach had been closed to swimming to protect it from tourism. Imagine my surprise when I walked up and saw people in the water! What?! I didn’t bring my bikini! It seems like most other people didn’t realize either, thank goodness… because we were still able to get quite a few pictures without a ton of bum bums in the background of our pics.
There were a few places where you could hike up and get better views far away from the beach too that allowed for even better pictures as well. It was a really lovely place!
After James Bond island, we stopped at a small fishing village where we could do a little shopping or grab some snacks. This fishing village popped up after James Bond Island got famous and they wanted to capitalize on the tourism in the area. There were many handicrafts to be bought and food that our guide recommended that we avoided (unless it was prepackaged) in case the water wasn’t clean. The whole “island” was built on stilts around a sand bar- crazy there is a whole village floating above the water!
After we got back to our bus we got dropped off at an ocean front restaurant and had a fantastic Thai lunch. We met a lovely family from Ohio that shared a table with us. We shared travel stories – and a love of Disney. They were a lot of fun to connect with – even their teenages were super social to talk with!
Once we got back on board we started to clean up before New Year’s Eve – it was a long, sweaty day out and about. So we both wanted to freshen up and get ready for dinner.
The main dining room on the ship was crazy – Andy said it looked like it was their Super Bowl! Since we had a late lunch we were okay waiting for our favorite server, Gama. We had ordered a special bottle of champagne from our sommelier, Alphonso, earlier in the cruise. He had it chilled and ready for us. We weren’t sure if we could share any with him. But his eyes lit up when we asked if he wanted a splash!
After dinner was ending, he brought over two small port glasses and poured a tiny taste for him and Gama and toasted to health and prosperity in the new year. They truly were the best servers we’ve had on a Celebrity Cruise, ever. It was a really special moment for all of us – and Alphonso is getting married in just a few weeks, which made it even more special too!
We hung out indoors at the Martini Lounge (in the AC) until around
11:30 or so before making our way to the pool deck for the big party. Once we made our way outside it was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever seen. I knew Phuket would put on a party, but I didn’t expect lanterns. (You know, like Tangled – paper lanterns?) They were every where marking the sky. It’s one of those moments that a camera can’t capture and a moment I’ll remember forever.
All the floating lights were paper lanterns, it was incredible
Conveniently, after our Australia/NZ cruise – the pools were covered, so as the clock struck midnight no one was jumping in the pool. Shucks!
We didn’t stay out too much after midnight – we watched the fireworks a bit longer because they filled the sky all around (along with the lanterns) and it was beautiful to see.
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The next morning we had most of the day in Phuket, but since we went to bed much later we didn’t want an early start.
We also didn’t have much planned for the next day in Phuket, but we did want to get cheap Thai massages. It was important to me to find a good spa, and I had found a few. We walked about 30 minutes and the first spa was booked until 2:30, which just wouldn’t do. Thankfully, we had only passed about 70 other massage places.
I had asked the receptionist for recommendations and she had given us one nearby. They had availability and we actually were able to walk right in!
When we had gone to Thailand previously, we had cheap and wonderful Thai massages that left us both sore (and maybe a little bruised?). We were both looking for a sequel. Unfortunately, we paid about the same (maybe a little more?) but didn’t get the same level of pain. When I say pain – we both like deep tissue massages – we were hoping to be hurt. 😂
They weren’t BAD, they just weren’t what we were expecting. Either way, they were still adequate and considering we were walk ins. They were fine! And we paid less than $50 for for the hour for both of us with tip!
We started walking back to the ship and decided to get a drink. The cruise was really big on making sure not to drink the ice in the port stops, but we figured Phuket is a big enough area that it should be fine. We found a place near the beach and ordered a few cocktails and mango sticky rice. The drinks were good and the food was superior.
It was a really good start to the new year!
The next day is a sea day and then we will arrive in Singapore, which is the end of our cruise.
Often referred to as the “Crown Jewel of Malaysia,” Penang earned its reputation long before it became a foodie pilgrimage. Founded in 1786 by the British East India Company, Penang quickly emerged as one of the most valuable trading ports in the region making it one of the busiest maritime routes in the world.
At the center is George Town which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Over time, Penang’s wealth shifted from trade to culture most famously its food! When we realized we were making a stop here we decided that we needed to do a food tour.
We booked one with the ship – and our first stop was the Wonder Food Museum, which was a real hoot. They had created a ton of interactive photo opportunities throughout – and a lot of their national dishes on display. Our tour guide let us know to take pictures of ones that looked interesting for the market we were going to later, so we knew to look for them while we were there.
Beatriz, our guide took a liking to us. Probably because she saw me quickly put on a chef jacket and pull out two frying pans and pose for a picture for Andy. She basically led the two of us from display to display while we were in the museum because I think she knew we would be excited to take pictures in the exhibits. (Pictures below as proof).
After the museum we went to a few different shops where we were able to buy different Malaysian goods. Malaysia is most known for the Batik, which features vibrant floral and geometric patterns with bold colors (pinks, blues, purples) from its wax-resist dyeing tradition. The store that we stopped by had a large selection for men, women, and kids. Plus, a ton of accessories that had a wide variety of different patterns. Basically, they would draw in the fabric in wax, then dye the fabric, then boil the fabric so the wax melts off- they dye doesn’t change the color under the wax, so it leaves a cool effect!
Next door, we walked into a store that “white coffee” and tea. They were both delicious, but when they call it white it means it’s instant and packed full of sugar. The teas were similar for the most part – loaded with sugar! The ones that didn’t have sugar were really expensive, but we took pictures in hopes to find something similar when we get home because they are known for their natural remedies.
After our shopping was done, we finally made our way to the market. This was a foodie heaven. Beatriz told us to grab a table and memorize the number. She explained that we could go to a booth: order, pay for the food, and wait there OR tell them our table number and they could bring it over. But she said it’s happened to her in the past where she’d forgotten she ordered something and she wandered off and when she remembered the food wasn’t there (likely because someone else had already taken it).
The market was super busy – so we ended up sharing a table with a couple that didn’t speak any English. They made great table mates! We ordered a LOT of food – it was all very affordable. Fried rice, fried noodles, dumplings, soup dumplings, meat skewers, and a large Skol beer. It was all super tasty and we left super full!
Our bus dropped us off at the cruise port, but Andy and I wanted to see if the local Starbucks had a Malaysia mug. We made our way over only to find out that they were out of stock, disappointing considering how muggy it was outside! On our walk we did get to walk by a very cool fort, which we learned had never been fired upon so never saw any military action.
That evening our Cruise Director had coordinated to have a local dance company to come on board to perform a traditional Malaysian dance for us. We really enjoyed it!
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We had two days in Penang, so we woke up in Penang. We lounged around the ship taking advantage of a quieter day on board. We decided to make another attempt at a different Starbucks for a mug (a bit over a mile away). We walked in and out of traffic for about 30 minutes to a super large mall. We couldn’t find a directory to help us find it, so we just started wandering.
That’s when we quickly realized how big this mall was. Eventually we finally asked a man who told us we needed to take a sky bridge to an entirely different section of the mall which was on a different block, the place was massive, and that is coming from people that grew up around the Mall of America. Once we made our way over there, we found a directory.
Their decorations were so cute!Some will appreciate this
We were still lost, but this time we had more hope. I finally found a picture on Google maps and saw that it looked like it had exterior windows. Success! We found it! AND it had mugs!
We started our grueling 30 minute walk back in the humidity, but took a different route this time. This street was more interesting. There were more shops and restaurants. It was very cute, but we just wanted to get back to AC at this point.
We really enjoyed our time in Penang – it was a very cute city! We wish we would have had more time to explore, but grateful for the time we did have there.
We arrived in Port Klang on Saturday morning and we were eager to get off the ship after 2 days at sea. Both days had been really nice sailing days though – the water had been really smooth and the ship had done a nice job with Christmas entertainment and food. At a certain point you’re just excited to see land again!
Port Klang is a major port in Malaysia and serves as a gateway to Kuala Lumpur, which means it is at least an hour to hour and a half bus ride to get into the city. We had booked an excursion with the ship this time to show us around.
Our first stop was at a hotel for a buffet lunch, which was a bit unusual that we didn’t start with an activity first. There was quite a bit of local cuisine, with some international cuisine mixed in too. We got to try some new things without worrying about going hungry if we didn’t like it!
After lunch we hopped back on the bus before making a quick stop at Petronas Twin Towers. If you’re a Formula 1 fan, you probably recognize the name as they are a huge sponsor of F1. If you’re a Harry Potter fan you might think I’ve misspelled patronus but I swear I know what I’m talking about! They are one of the most prominent fixtures in the city skyline – and they are really cool to look at!
Merdeka 118, 2nd tallest tower in the world (2,227 feet tall)Petronas Twin Towers
We continued over to their central square area where we started a mild walking tour towards the Central Market, stopping along the way to look at a few of their landmarks.
River of life (2 rivers coming together into one)Masjid Jamel MosqueIndependance Square
Next we made our way over to the Central Market to do a little shopping, and the group had an option to go to the market or head into China Town. It was a no brainer for us because the Central Market was air conditioned and at this point we were both melting.
We bought a few things and made our way to the meeting point. This is where things started to take a turn. The whole group wasn’t there, which started to push our timeline back for Batu Caves (the real reason we had all booked this tour). Our guide suggested we split up and some of us head to the bus, as we got outside we realized the bus wasn’t there, it was easily 90 degrees Fahrenheit and 60%+ humidity, and it looked like it might start to rain.
Now we were getting pretty annoyed because I think all of us would have rather had started at the caves when the weather was better and skipped the shopping, the 15 minutes at the towers, etc. And where was our bus anyhow?!
Short story long… Our bus finally pulled up, along with the rest of our group. We’ve all been there, our guide had originally said an hour and then changed his mind and said a specific time. They had heard the hour first and immediately left to capitalize on their time shopping. But that left 40 minutes at the caves.
I’ll tell you why this matters. Batu Caves has 272 stairs to climb to get into the caves, yes. You read that right. It isn’t something you want to sprint up. And now imagine you’re doing that in the rain. Throw in the added pressure of needing to get back in time for the ship’s departure time.
People were getting really upset, rightfully so. Eventually our guide called the company and was able to get us 20 more minutes at the caves, which wasn’t much. But it did help.
Did I mention it’s a sacred site so women had to cover their shoulders and knees? An added pleasure on a particularly humid day.
Now that I got that off my chest. IT WAS STUNNING! And there were monkeys everywhere. It was sooooo cool!
We saw a few monkeys actually grab food out of people’s hands, some were a little aggressive, but most were well behaved
The colorful stairs were so fun to look at from a distance (not so much as you were walking up them and trying to catch your breath). The caves themself were really cool – there were different ceremonies being performed while we were there too.
It was worth it. We were really happy that we went, and if you’re in the area I would highly recommend going! The hour we had was just the right amount of time to fully take in and enjoy the temple, any less and we would’ve been rushing.
After we returned to the ship and had dinner we were even able to catch a magic show on the ship. (No, I didn’t get selected to volunteer this time. 😉).
Happy Christmas Eve! The next day we pulled into port with an open itinerary, but our server, Gama had given us a recommendation the night before. Rent a motorbike and go exploring.
I can feel our moms shaking their heads all the way over here, but after the day before we were itching for an adventure. It was another day with expensive full-day excursions that were far from the port. I got to work researching what looked cool that was closer to our ship. I found a cool beach and a temple.
We decided that we wanted to make our way to the temple, but now we needed to secure a motorbike. This port stop was a tender ride in, meaning we needed to use one of the ship’s lifeboats to go to shore. We thought it would be a slow process, but by the time we finished breakfast they were practically urging everyone to make their way to the tenders.
Once we got to shore we could already tell this stop was different than Lombok. For starters, we were greeted by musicians and not people hassling us. The store owners warmly smiled at us and gestured towards their stalls, but didn’t pressure us to come in.
In fact, we had a hard time finding anywhere that was renting motorbikes! We walked all the way out and didn’t see a single stall that had rentals. We didn’t want to take a car, even though I’m sure that would have been affordable. I kept reminding myself, the motorbike was the *experience* so we actually started walking back to port.
That’s when I noticed a sign that was official looking that was for tourists to help connect them with their drivers. I wandered up and asked them if they knew where we could rent a bike. Jackpot! They asked where we wanted to go and I showed them the name of the temple. They confirmed it wasn’t very far so they said $10. Gama (our server) had warned us to not let them charge us more than $20, so we didn’t bother to negotiate because we knew it was a fair price.
They had trouble securing a second helmet for us – but we weren’t leaving without it. I’m notoriously clumsy and I certainly wasn’t going to die from head trauma on the side of a road in Indonesia. I might be dumb enough to get on a bike there, but not without a helmet! 😉
They also drive on the “wrong side” of the road in Indonesia, so that took some getting used to. At least for me being the passenger, but we were off! I was Andy’s GPS and quickly assumed the role of passenger princess. I probably should have taken a shot or two before getting on because I was a bit nervous with every pot hole, bit of loose gravel, and truck that got too close.
But eventually we both got more comfortable and we started to have fun! The temple was only 30ish minutes away, but it did feel a bit like an eternity on the way there. I had a vice grip on my phone because I was afraid I would drop it. Nevertheless, we made it to the temple!
The temple was on the top of a hill that overlooked the port and it was stunning. It was very affordable (maybe around $2-3) to get in to Brahmavihara-Arama, which is actually a Buddhist monastery. This temple is pretty unique because Bali is predominantly Hindu and this happened to be the largest Buddhist temple in Bali. We have visited probably close to 50 temples of different cultures in our travels, so we knew to wear conservative clothing (pants and ability to cover our shoulders. As we bought our tickets, we a got a thumbs up from one of the workers who who saw how we were dressed, she had just got done renting coverings to other tourists so they could go inside.
It was a very calm and serene place to visit. There were lots of different features to explore throughout the temple. We loved how intricate everything was and that no details were left out.
We had to follow the same path we took to head back towards the cruise ship, this time with a bit more confidence on the bike. We made it safely, and really enjoyed our time out and about. Would we do it again? Yes! Would we do it any time soon? Probably not. 😂
That evening was a more formal night on the ship – so we freshened up and I was thrilled to break out one of my sparkly dresses for dinner. Another favorite thing about cruising is getting to break out clothes you don’t normally get to wear every day at home.
The next two days are sea days, so I won’t blog those days because they will be rather boring. I’ll pick back up when we arrive in Port Klang/Kuala Lumpur.
Monday morning we woke up feeling much more refreshed after having slept almost 10 hours. We got ready and ate breakfast at the hotel. They had a nice buffet, which really was getting us ready for the cruise life we were about to embark on.
After breakfast we decided to finish our walk from the night before, we weren’t able to walk the whole property because we had run out of daylight. We were able to explore the adults only pool – and then we walked on the beach for a while. We decided to relax for a bit and lay out on the beach chairs.
It was a really lovely morning! We packed everything up and made our way to the hotel lobby to wait for our taxi to take us to the cruise port. We always love embarkation day. There’s such a sense of excitement in the air – a new beginning!
Benoa Bali cruise port
Our driver made sure to drop us as close as possible because it was starting to rain. The line wasn’t too bad at that time and we were able to drop our bags right away. We had been on this ship before, back in 2023. There had been some refurbishments done – and we wanted to get familiarized with the ship again. We dropped our smaller bags in our room and then started to wander.
We had a quick bite to eat and then we were surprised because our bags were already delivered to our room (that never happens!) and we were able to unpack early in the day. One of our favorite parts of cruising is only having to unpack once, but still getting to see a ton of new destinations. This time around we brought Christmas decorations to decorate our door – to give it a bit of festive flair!
We were feeling very jet lagged so turned in early that night.
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On day 2, we stopped in Lombok, Indonesia. This port was an interesting one because it was about an hour away from the city. All of the ship’s excursions were really expensive and honestly, none that were of interest to us.
I had looked up different options on Viator and Get Your Guide and couldn’t find anything of interest. We decided to just get off the ship to stretch our legs and see if there was anything nearby or at least some shops.
That was a mistake. It felt like we were back in Egypt. The people that owned the shops were hassling us so hard. They wouldn’t take no for an answer and kept following us. It was really uncomfortable, and since we had no plan and there was clearly nothing nearby we just decided to turn around.
And then it started to rain. We rain back to the closest welcome back to the ship tent and took cover until the rain let up. Our waiter from lunch the previous day was there setting up the water station, so it was good to chat with him for a bit. He confirmed that things really were that far away.
We decided to just relax around the ship. Something I’m personally not great at, but I guess that’s what people normally do on vacation? Because it was a port day it was much quieter at the pool so we took advantage of that!
We caught a beautiful sunset from our room’s balcony
For us, Bali is not an easy destination to get to. It’s about 21 hours in the air – that doesn’t count the time spent driving up to LAX, going through the airport, the layover, customs, and then waiting for our bags. However, flying to the other side of the world for a 12 night cruise? Totally worth it!
It was our first time flying Cathay Pacific and we had a great experience with them. Although, on our return flight we are flying with Singapore Airlines. (Another first for us!)
I had arranged our airport transfer with our resort so we didn’t have to think too hard after such a long travel day. He had messaged us to let us know that he was there, and even set us a picture so we knew who to look for!
Unfortunately for us, our bags were some of the last ones to come off the plane. But you can’t win them all. Celebrity Cruises did a good job letting us know that we had to complete one form when arriving in Indonesia, but they didn’t let us know about a secondary form. We were able to complete it pretty quickly on our phone and then we were on our way!
We were at our hotel within 45 minutes – I had found a nice resort in the Nusa Dua area. We only had one night there, so we were hoping if we had time we would be able to spend it on the beach. Once we got checked in, we freshened up and then walked around the property. It was decorated really well for Christmas and we really liked the blending of the indoor/outdoor space for all of the restaurants.
We turned in early that night due to the red eye flight. The next morning we had planned on spending more time exploring the resort and then boarding our cruise ship. We’re excited for this cruise because it’s around Asia. We’ll explore Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and end in Singapore. We enjoy cruising over Christmas and New Year’s Eve as well because Celebrity does a nice job making the holidays special!
Hope you’re excited to travel with us!
Accommodations: Grand Mirage Resort & Thalasso Bali
Up Next: 12 Night Cruise – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore with Celebrity Cruises
Andy and I have traveled to some pretty obscure destinations over the years, and most of the time people don’t even bat an eye. We get an occasional, “Is that place safe?” And I usually respond with, “Is the United States?” (Let’s be honest, no). But what was surprising when we booked this trip, we both got a lot of the same question separately, “Why?”
So let’s start there. I love Central America. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but I love the culture, the climate, and Andy and I both love the coffee. Andy spent about 3 years working for Starbucks as a Store Manager (and a Coffee Master!) and Guatemala coffee is one of his favorite regions. Guatemala has rich history – and amazing natural features – hello? Volcanoes!
I had been researching a trip to Cartagena, Colombia on a Thursday, and when I went to book the trip on Sunday the flight had basically DOUBLED in price. Andy had thought we had gotten priced out and we were going to stay in the US for Thanksgiving and I said, “Hold my beer.” 😏
I looked through a range of countries we hadn’t been to – including Jamaica – which I’m glad with the recent hurricane we didn’t end up booking there. But we finally landed on Guatemala Antigua, a UNESCO world heritage site.
We knew it would be a short trip, but we decided to book it anyway. We booked a red eye flight out of Tijuana the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and we were on our way!
We arrived in Guatemala City on Thanksgiving and I had arranged transportation to Antigua through our hotel, which made it super convenient. Antigua was just under 2 hours from the airport, but depending on the time of day I’m sure the traffic could be way worse.
We had booked our room for the night before since it was such an affordable rate – and so we could check in right away. As soon as we got into our room as we took a nap because we were so tired from the flight. We didn’t want to sleep too long because there was exploring to do!
I had found a boutique hotel that was central to the famous arch in Antigua. We also knew that a lot of our activities could launch from this hotel, so once we saw the price and location we booked it. We grabbed a few appetizers and then rushed back to the hotel to meet our guide for a walking tour.
When we can, we like to do walking tours to familiarize ourselves with a local city if we are staying there for a few days. This helps us find restaurants and things to do. Our guide met us at our hotel and took us over to the Arch (half a block away) to start the tour. It was a private tour, which sounds far more impressive than it is. Everything is very affordable in Guatemala, so I think this tour cost us around $50.
Our guide told us about how Antigua was the third capital in Guatemala, but was eventually moved due to earthquakes. It is still a very popular city, and a destination for locals. It is very expensive though – for the locals – and many people vacation there (or get married there!).
We stopped by many different churches and other buildings that held significance. One thing that stood out to us, is that a lot of the “magic” in Antigua happens behind the walls. From the street you actually can’t tell how beautiful a building is until you walking inside the courtyard and that’s when you can see how special it is.
We walked inside a restaurant called Aqua and were able to see from a rooftop the three surrounding volcanoes. It was such a cool view, we decided we needed to come back later in the trip! Another stop was maybe the most beautiful Starbucks we’ve ever seen, which was pretty cool to see how they infused the local culture in it.
We ended the tour and then had dinner before turning in for the evening. It was a great way to get acquainted with the city and scope out different places to stop by on the rest of our trip!
Accommodations: San Rafael Hotel Antigua Guatemala
Up Next: Coffee Tour with De La Gente Spa Day at Casa Santo Domingo
Scribbles and Snapshots 