A get-away from the downfall of the 15 inches of snow to some place tropical-warm and sunny — was just what couple Robert Grace, 73, and Jeanne Grace, 69 needed when they boarded the cruise liner, MS Marina.
The couple from US, New York State who has been travelling internationally for more than 25 years said it was their first cruise on a ship like MS Marina and they enjoyed every minute of it. The retirees thought Fiji was a beautiful island and the city was similar to many others in the tropical parts of the world they had visited. “Fiji reminds me of a mini Bangkok,” said Mrs Grace. “We like it in the South Pacific, mostly Australia and New Zealand until now, but this cruise is an opportunity to see some other nations and the islands in the South Pacific — so that is an added attraction.”
The couple chose to cruise simply because they had not been to the South Pacific for six years now and they wanted to return to enjoy the atmosphere and scenery.
Although this is their first visit to Fiji, the couple have been to the South Pacific four times. “We started visiting in 1994, 1997, 2008 and now this year.”
They were one of the many tourists shopping and roaming the streets of Suva to feel or get a glimpse of our friendly and rich Pacific way of life. “There is almost an equal number of crew members and passengers which means the level of service on board is very high,” said Mr Grace.
“There are always people around to pour you a glass of water or sell you alcoholic beverage and cater for your every other needs and desires. The food is as good as anything you have ever tasted around the world. We have been to some really good places in the world so MS Marina is an exceptional good cruise liner in our view.
“There are many shows, many different sports on board the ship, a fitness track up on the back deck where you can see people walking around, or dipping in the swimming pool.” The couple said MS Marina had the most accurate sales brochure.
“We chose MS Marina because it is one of the few cruise liners we can access to travel the South Pacific at this time.
“It turns out that the Amsterdam is also here but it’s on a world cruise and we can’t afford to take that much time off from home right now. Three weeks is about the most we can be away.
“We got a chance to sample Fiji and maybe sometime we will return and stay at a resort and do more serious snorkeling or maybe not. We’ll see how our health holds up.” The couple say Suva is a rare sight as tropical fish can be spotted swimming along the shoreline but most cities were too polluted so the fish couldn’t survive at all.
“That says a lot of good things about how Fiji keeps its water pure,” said Mr Grace.
“I mean there is also coral up here too, it’s extremely unusual to see that at the harbour in a big city and that’s probably what we will remember most about Suva — the fact that there are tropical fish right up on the shoreline in the city.”
Mrs Grace is a retired college professor and Mr Grace is a retired engineer who worked for Xerox.
The couple carry a teddy lion called San with them while travelling so that they can stay connected to their grandchildren.
“It’s our grandson’s lion and because we live so far from them, we have to find ways to stay connected to them so we take the lion in place of where we wish we could take the grandchildren,” said Mrs Grace.
“Then we write stories about the lion’s adventure with grandma and grandpa so that we hope to stay closer to the grandchildren and also to provide English exposure to the grandchildren in Japan because they’ve been raised in the Japanese education system and we are hoping we could keep their English going.”
MS Marina has 1046 passengers and 773 crew members on board this trip.
