June 10 - June 19, 2005

Bula --

Our stay at Yasawa Island Resort began with a wonderful greeting at the air strip by Jocelyn (an absolute delight) and then the resort absolutely blew us out of the water (nothing as I had envisioned). We were in Bure #9 (Deluxe) and it was beautiful (great photos). Marisa fell in love with Gillie and Ollie. She did not want to leave plus we had a met 2 other families from Virgina (same area we are from – great coincidence) and they had teenage children. The food was absolutely wonderful and Marisa even ate things I didn’t think she would.

After our departure from Yasawa we went to Sonasali Island Resort. It was great meeting Patrice and Louise. They invited us to dinner and we had so much fun and chatted way past 9pm or so (Marisa finally begged to go to sleep). They accommodated us in a Beachfront Bure with spa tub on deck overlooking ocean (nice). The Bure was nicely appointed with stocked mini bar, coffee & tea service. The bathrooms were a nice size with a tub (great option for kids) and Marisa welcomed the Television after 4 days of none (hahahaha). They also have a great kids program which keeps them busy from about 9am to approximately 6-7pm.

From Sonasali we traveled to Lautoka where we were dropped off at the Blue Lagoon Office (very very nice). Clients are greeted outside and luggage is identified, tagged and locked and you don’t see it again until you board the ship and it is waiting for you in your cabin. Clients are checked in at counter and then once inside the Lounge area, they fit everyone for snorkel & fins (if needed) and you can pre-book the diving which is recommended as the dive company they use also provides Turtle Island’s clients as well so they do book up. You can always cancel the dive (day of) if necessary. The cabins are very spacious with nice size bathrooms (for a cruise) and Marisa had her own cabin (which I noticed is very common for families traveling together). The staff, food & entertainment were excellent and I will have no problems booking families on this cruise. The staff looked after Marisa while Tony & I went diving (they even had her out snorkeling without us). It was an absolute dream!

I have to admit I did like the ease of First Landing being right there after the cruise.

Anyway, we had a wonderful time! I will post pictures soon.

Joanne
1-800-588-3454 / 1-808-871-5986