luckybecky

Wednesday April 10 Papeete Debarkation Day Sadly we have to leave the ship. The time has flown by. We were awakened around 7 by announcements. We were fully packed so only had to quickly dress and throw our overnight things in the suitcase. Paul went up to the buffet to get a little breakfast. We left our room around 8am. Elevators took awhile of course but we got out pretty quickly. There was no immigration process as this was taken care of onboard a couple of days ago. The taxi line took an hour. And it was HOT! Long rant coming. Read this if you have any intention to stay at the Hilton. Otherwise just skip ahead. We arrived at the Hilton resort by 9:30am. They don’t do day rooms, so we had just booked a room for the night, with the intention of checking out early for our 11:45pm flight. Obviously we knew we wouldn’t be able to check in at 9:30am, but we hoped that as rooms were cleaned throughout the morning, perhaps we could get into one early. And we told the clerk that we would be staying only several hours and leaving that evening. We went to the pool and hung out there while waiting. It’s a very nice pool. There is no beach or access to the ocean. We never had a waiter approach us although we did see other people receiving food and drinks at their poolside loungers. Finally after almost four hours I went to the desk to inquire about our room and waited over 20 minutes in the slow moving check in line. No, our room was not ready. I asked if we could be notified by phone or text when it was ready. They said come back in an hour. I waited a little more than an hour, and then waited again in the long check in line. Room still not ready. Come back in 30 minutes. I asked again, can we be notified when it is ready? Yes. Meanwhile, each time I am standing in line, I see people being handed room keys. People who are just arriving, hours after we had arrived. Obviously they don’t believe in “first come, first served” here. And we had also watched EVERY SINGLE person/couple seated around us at the pool gain access to their room (there were quite a few people from this ship with their luggage, just like us; we had a a nice chat with some of them). After yet another wait, I went to the checkin desk and waited in line for the fourth time. This time, it was announced that our room was ready and our luggage had already been delivered there. So somehow they managed to let the bellhop know, but not us. I said, I thought they were going to call or text when the room was ready? The clerk said, we are very busy. Look, I don’t want to be a diva, but when I’m paying over $500 for a few hours’ stay, I don’t think it’s a lot to ask for a 30 second call to tell me my room is ready. And don’t tell me you are “too busy” to provide such a basic service. Apparently the waitstaff was also “too busy” to acknowledge or serve us. So we go to our room about 6 hours after arriving, which spacious and nicely furnished. The bed was comfortable. The “gardern view” was not a view of anything but a tall shrub planted immediately in front of our patio as seen below. There was black hair in the shower and on the bathroom floor. (Neither of us has black hair.) There were ants in the refrigerator. Yes, ants. Carpets in the hallways were visibly soiled. The floor in our room was also dirty. Not long after showering, I noticed my feet were dirty just from walking barefoot in the room. Out of three ice machines we tried, we only found one working. Sorry, rant over. Just be aware of these problems if you are considering staying at this expensive “luxury” resort. We napped a little. Got some snacks from the store across the street. Note that the food court here closes early. Open for lunch. But there is a full grocery store. We checked out at about 9pm and took a taxi to the airport. The line to check in took a full hour. And there is no A/C. Weirdly, we were apparently the last people to arrive 2.5 hours before our flight, because only a few people got in line behind us. We had dozens in front and almost no one behind. I didn’t know you needed to arrive that early but apparently everyone else knew. Security took an additional 30 minutes and I had the most thorough groping from a security agent of my life. It was humiliating. She touched every part of my body repeatedly and closely, made me lift my shirt, and then wanded me for good measure. In full view of everyone. After this gauntlet, our travel actually went pretty well. We have flown Air Tahiti Nui once before and knew to expect bad food and uncomfortable seats. But our flight including connections in LAX and Phoenix all were on time. We made it home after a long day and night. It was so good to sleep in our own bed! And we have finally reached the end of our tale. It was an incredible trip with an extraordinary itinerary. We loved all the ports. Already planning our next NCL vacation!

Tuesday April 9 Moorea This is truly one of the most gorgeous places on earth and we had a great day! We had booked a tour with Enjoy Moorea tours. This was one of our best tours of the entire trip! There were just 6 of us. We were picked up in a 4x4 and had a treacherous, thrilling drive up to the stunning viewpoint on Magic Mountain. We saw how they grow vanilla and had a sample of some local jellies. We went through the pineapple fields and learned how they are cultivated. Went to a private beach where we were the only people as far as the eye could see. Here, our guide served us a delicious lunch of local fruits and the local specialty of poisson cru. Then we had a hike to a beautiful and remote waterfall that I’m sure very few tourists get to see. We had been pre-warned that the hike is vigorous and you need to be in good shape, and they weren’t lying. It was challenging but worth the effort. All in all it was an amazing day and such a wonderful way to end our trip. The private beach where we had lunch Lunch of fresh local fruits, rice, breads, and poisson cru The waterfall that we hiked to. The pool of water was very cool and refreshing One of the other couples on this tour was supposed to have been on our tour yesterday. Remember I said the tendering operation was delayed a bit? They said they got off the ship very quickly, but the tour had left without them when they arrived. The guy with the sign with our names on it was still there, but told them the tour had left. So they were on their own for the day and did not get to enjoy the spectacular snorkeling. Back aboard, our usual routine of dinner at Taste and casino. We finished packing. There was no show tonight, only a movie in the main theater. However I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned how much live music is available all the time all over the ship. Here's the menu for tonight. You've probably had enough food photos for one review so I won't post those.😜 There is always some kind of music in the Atrium or Magnum’s, and in the pub, the pool deck, the Social, and Spinnaker. If you like to listen to music, this is the ship for you. We left Moorea at 5pm and arrived in Papeete for our overnight stay at 8pm. We did not get off the ship in Papeete tonight.

Here are a couple more photos of the sharks. There were dozens of them swimming very near to us, within reach although we had been instructed not to touch them. I have a very cool video but can't seem to upload it.

Monday April 8 Bora Bora Beautiful Bora Bora! Here we had a rare hiccup with our privately booked excursion. We booked a full day Combo tour with lagoon cruise, 4WD land tour, and snorkeling. The company was Vavau 4x4 adventures. They had excellent online reviews. The tendering process began a little late. This was the first time we have ever had priority tendering. Went to the pub as directed where we had a bit of a wait. Finally they allowed us to proceed to the tender, at the same time as they called people with tender tickets #1. There was a crush of people. No one was checking to see if you had priority tender status or a ticket. Anyway, we got on I think the second boat; the line was moving pretty quickly considering the rush of passengers. We arrived on the dock and immediately found our tour provider holding a sign with our name on it along with the names of a few others. After just a few minutes’ wait, we were led to a boat. That was the first sign of trouble. Paul said he thought we would do the 4x4 tour first. I blew it off, said maybe they just reversed the order of the tour and we are going to do the lagoon first, then the land tour. Our boat had 20 people on it plus a baby. Second sign of trouble: I thought we had booked a smaller group tour, but it has been awhile since we booked and I couldn’t remember for sure. (I always check tour size and generally try to get small group tours whenever possible.) We had a lovely ride through the gorgeous lagoon. The water is amazing with many brilliant shades of blue. We stopped to snorkel with blacktip sharks first. What a cool experience! It’s kind of scary at first because we humans have learned to be very fearful of sharks, but the blacktips are harmless. Next we went to an area populated by stingrays. The water here is only waist deep, so you can stand in the water and touch the animals. The guides were helpful in holding the rays and helping you to hold one or touch it if you wished. There were also blacktips gliding through the water here. Our last snorkel stop was at a lovely coral reef with many kinds of fish. Finally, we rode our boat to a picnic spot. Unfortunately, the tour went awry a bit here. The tour I reserved was supposed to be a maximum of 12 people. We had 20+. Momentarily, four more boats arrived at our lunch spot! So our “small group” tour grew quite a bit. This is the lunch spot: We were served a good lunch of chicken, fruits, bread and rice. It was very hot and no swimming was possible as we were in an extremely shallow area (water about 1 foot deep for as far as the eye could see). The water was also hot since it was so shallow with the sun beating down on it. We inexplicably remained here for a full 2 hours. There was an opportunity to make a tie died pareo (at additional cost) but otherwise no activities available. Did I mention it was exceedingly hot and no swimming? After this we reboarded our boat and returned to the ship. Here's the pareo we made. No 4x4 tour at all. I later learned that we had been placed on the wrong tour. The tour we were on was a completely different – and cheaper – offering than the one we were placed on. A lady sitting next to me paid almost $50 less per person than we did. It wasn't a bad tour. The snorkeling was fantastic. But it wasn't the tour we had booked. After returning home I contacted Viator and asked for a 50% refund. I didn’t request a full refund, even though we didn’t get the tour we reserved, because at least we did get a tour, and the snorkeling part of it was very good. To their credit, the company did provide the credit we requested with no hassle. Back on board, we had dinner at Taste as usual, then went to the adult comedy show with Steve Womack. Unfortunately they scheduled this in the large Stardust theater. Stand up comedy is much better suited to a more intimate setting such as the Social. The theater was only maybe 25% full and it made the gig challenging for the performer, but he did a good job. We spent a little time in the casino as usual. I’ve done great on this trip! I had a specific budget and by the time all was said and done, I had doubled my money. That rarely happens, at least for me. 🙂

Sunday April 7 Sea Day Slept late. Walked on the promenade for half an hour. Spent a couple of hours alternating between pool and hot tub at Spice H2O. The main pool was closed which is a drag on a sea day. We can only speculate that it was because of the rocking of the ocean. The seas did not seem all that rough, but the pools were rocking and you could definitely feel the motion of the ocean. All hot tubs were open, but only the shallow “kiddie pool” as I call it was open (Spice H2O)-- main pool was closed. We hit the casino for awhile before dinner, doing well on video poker. Dinner at Taste. As usual we eat early so we can go to evening activities. Good service. Food was good. We have been on the ship for 3 weeks now and have tried most everything. Most is good. Occasionally there is a miss, but for the most part everything has been pretty good. Went to the Karaoke finale in Spinnaker. It was a lot of fun! Arrive early to get a good seat. Lamb kofta Endive and arugula salad Chicken parmagiana

April 6 Saturday Sea Day We had to be processed by French Polynesia immigration today. They are doing it by deck, some today, some tomorrow. It took over 45 minutes to get through the line. Went to the buffet for lunch again. We have never eaten breakfast or lunch anywhere else, just because the buffet is quick and easy. This morning the cruise director made an announcement asking people to not use the tables in the buffet for playing cards, reading, etc. We have often seen people playing games or reading during the height of the lunch rush, while many people are walking around with plates laden with food, looking for a place to sit. This is the first time I have heard this announcement (possible I have missed it), I think they need to be doing it every day. Spent some time in Spinnaker relaxing and enjoying the view. Supper in Taste again. Go early for the fastest service and best view. This was the best meal we have had so far in MDR. Excellent apps, and the steak entree was superb. I honestly think it could rival Cagneys. Cooked perfectly to medium rare, and a generous portion with 2 pieces on our plate. More than I could finish. We went to Elements at the 9pm show. You really need to show up early to get a seat for this show. Buffalo chicken taco salad Chimichurri sirloin steak -- excellent!

April 5 Pago Pago, American Samoa We had a tour with Best Tours. We wanted to be sure we saw the National Park so we looked for a tour that included this. We stopped at several scenic sites, but it was mostly just off and on the bus for a quick photo before moving on to the next stop. I had hoped maybe there would be a short hike or something in the park but there wasn’t. We saw some bats. At the end we had some local snacks: fruit, breadfruit chips, taro root chips. Our guide was good and gave us excellent commentary about the local culture. This guy proudly showed us his tattoos There is a market about a 5 minute walk from the ship and the bus offered to drop us off there. Lots of souvenirs to buy. Back on board we went to the pool and hot tub before getting ready for dinner. Dinner at Cagney’s was excellent. Oysters Rockefeller French onion soup. Much richer than the one served in MDR Sorry, my photos are loading upside down again. This is the beefsteak tomato salad Wedge salad Filet mignon NY Strip

April 4 again! Sea Day We passed the international date line. So when we went to bed last night we were instructed to turn our clocks back 23 hours. When we woke up, it was groundhog day – Another sea day on Thursday April 4. We did our usual exercise on the promenade, and watched the afternoon Dala Illusions workshop in the Atrium. This is the magician that we have enjoyed on board. He showed how to do some magic tricks and was very entertaining. We watched the Perfect Couple game show in Spinnaker in the evening. Always fun. Dinner was at Taste, of course. Gnocchi Grilled tilapia Pineapple chicken

April 4 Thursday Dravuni Fiji / Sea Day We unexpectedly got another sea day. The wind was too high for us to tender safely. Boo! We lost a port in Fiji that I was really looking forward to. Oh well. We know this can happen and we’ve actually been lucky in our cruising history. This is the first time we’ve ever had a port canceled at the last minute due to weather. So we had a really lazy day. It was raining off and on. We got in the hot tub for awhile in the afternoon. The main pool was closed. We assume this is because the sea was rocking too much and turning it into too rough of a wave pool. The Spice H2O pool was open however. The casino also remained closed until 11pm. Since it was a sea day, we mistakenly thought the casino would be open. We went to Silk for supper. Have tried to go there several times and there’s always a wait. So we went very early. Our consensus is that apps are good – dumplings, spring rolls, soup – but entrees are poor. Kung Pao Chicken and Orange beef were not even mall food court quality. We’ve made an effort to eat here and decided it’s not worth the trouble. Below are the entrees along with some fried rice. Saw comic/musician Steve Womack at the Social Club. He’s great! Then went to Spinnaker for the Broadway Cabaret show. We saw a Broadway Cabaret show last cruise in the theater. It worked much better in the more intimate Spinnaker setting. Great performances.

April 3 Wednesday Luatoka Fiji We had a tour scheduled with Untouched Fiji to Beachcomber Island. Didn’t start well, long wait in hot humid weather standing on the pier. But finally got going and it got better. About a 45 minute boat ride to a small island with clear water and beautiful beaches. Shortly after arrival we reboarded the boat for a short ride to a coral reef where there were many fish. The water was clear and the snorkeling was great. The island was uncrowded although there were only a few umbrellas and chairs, not enough for everyone. Lunch was included. It was just OK. No water was available. There was a sink in the dining area for hand washing. I asked if the water was OK to drink (to refill my water bottle). The answer was no. We always take a bottle with us, but in this case on a hot sunny day it was not enough. I always think it is unconscionable to not provide water on an 8 hour tropical tour. Doesn’t have to be fancy bottled water, a cooler or large thermos to dispense fresh water would be fine. But in my opinion access to water should be a minimal inclusion for any tour in hot weather. Some kind of juice was the only drink offered at lunch – and only available at lunch. Hot tea (?!) was available when we arrived. There was a bar where drinks could be purchased. We got back to the ship around 4pm. There were several vendors on the pier selling souvenirs. We bought a couple of t-shirts and they accepted USD. Back on board, we cleaned up and spent some time relaxing in Spinnaker. Another amazing sunset. We had dinner in the buffet for only the second time. We just wanted something quick for a change. We also skipped the magic show which we have seen already. The casino was not going to open until 11:30pm so we didn’t go. We watched the Battle of the Sexes game show which is always hilarious. The game shows on this ship are always fun.

Tuesday April 2 At Sea Another lazy day. Went to the main pool for the first time. The hot tubs and pool were not very crowded, although of course all the poolside loungers were taken. The pool looked like a wave pool due to the rocking sea! I'm not sure this video shows it adequately. 20240402_122124.mp4 We had Onda for dinner. It was excellent. This was our second time here. The first was when we were in Melbourne; I think I forgot to post about it. Here are some photos from the first dinner: I think this is the octopus Market salad Tuna Beef filet This is the Macellaio pizza which was amazing! We wanted to take half back to our room to save for later but they would not let us. No idea why this would be a problem because people take food from the buffet all the time, and this is obviously just going to be thrown away. We had a stunning sunset tonight! Went to the Vocal Impressionist show with Grant Galea. It was good. He’s a good singer but some of his material is becoming dated. Singers from my parents’ generation. And I’m not a spring chicken. 🙂

April 1 Monday Mystery Island, Vanuatu We did not book a tour here. The ship tenders you directly to the island, where you can walk directly off the short pier onto perfect white sand beaches with crystal clear water. We found a spot to spread our blanket (a $7 Wal-Mart shower curtain, folds up small and makes a great travel beach blanket). Unlike yesterday, it was possible to find some shade. There are lots of vendors on the island offering tours at very low prices – far lower than anything from NCL. You can also get a very inexpensive massage, hair braiding, rent a kayak or outrigger canoe, etc. And multiple vendors selling souvenirs. We snorkeled in two different areas. You only have to walk/swim maybe 20 yards offshore to come to some coral where there were abundant brightly colored fish. No guide is needed. We saw many people heading back to the ship around noon. They had started calling the first tender tickets pretty early. If you wait until later, things weren’t as busy. Back on board we went to Spinnaker, our favorite place on the ship, and watched sailaway. Tried to go to Silk again around 6:30pm. Thought maybe the first wave of diners would be finishing up. Nope, multiple people already had pagers and it was again a long wait. So back to Taste again. Shanghai pork pot stickers Cheesy mashed potato croquettes Roma tomato salad Hawaiian pork belly Chicken cordon bleu The show tonight was Blazing Boots. We saw it last cruise but it was worth seeing again.

March 31 Easter Sunday, Noumea New Caledonia You have to take a very quick shuttle to the city center. We immediately found our tour operator who said we weren’t on her tour. We had a runaround going to multiple others before returning to the first one and speaking to someone else, who confirmed what we already knew, we were on their tour. It was a Signal Island turtle tour. I don’t really recommend it. I think there are probably better tours. It took a long time to sort 80 or so of us into several boats. We were put on the very last boat. Then we had a 30 minute very rough ride to the island. Don’t do this if you are prone to seasickness. It was very rocky! Arrived at the island. What little shade existed had already been claimed, as well as the 3 or 4 picnic tables. We snorkeled for awhile. The water was quite murky but we did spot a few fish, and one huge turtle swam right under us. We walked around the island to explore. There were quite a few campsites, all occupied. The water on the other side of the island by the campsites was much clearer with smooth white sand, but there was no coral here, so no fish or turtles. A helicopter landed on the sand right by the dock where many people were. It turned out to be a medical helicopter and they evacuated someone off the pier. We have no idea what happened. After about 2.5 hours, we loaded onto the boats for the return trip. There is a large well stocked grocery store directly across from the shuttle bus stop. Back on board we watched sailaway from Spinnaker. Tried to go to dinner at Silk. The couple in front of us got the very last table. It would be an hour wait. So we went to Taste again. Always good service here. It was Easter and they had a special menu but it turns out the sirloin was the exact same one they serve every day. Not that good. Breaded mushrooms Broiled ruby red trout There was no show in the Stardust Theater tonight, only a movie which we did not go to. There were some very cute fruit sculptures in the buffet area for Easter. Here are a couple of them.

March 30, Saturday Sea Day We had another lazy day. Slept late, then got up and went for a brisk walk on the promenade, and then hot tub for awhile. Spice H2O is crowded of course. No chairs available anywhere. The pool is very shallow. Like a kiddie pool. Barely comes up to your rear end. Here are some photos taken on an obviously less busy day while in port. This actually WAS the kids' pool in the past. At the last dry dock they removed the slide (if I remember correctly there was a pirate theme) and turned it into an adult only area. This explains why it's so shallow. As you can see when I'm standing in the pool the water just comes to my thighs. The pool did not seem to be filled to where it should be. The depth is less than marked. Back to our cabin for a shower and then lunch in the buffet. Watched Deal or No Deal in the atrium. Took a nap. Went to Spinnaker for the Latitudes party. Dinner at Taste. Chicken lettuce wrap disappointing – very salty. Waldorf salad good. Pasta primavera good. Duo Delight, the acrobat show, was great. Worth seeing again. Then went to Majority Rules game show. We won! Prizes for the game shows are usually a little NCL logo bag with a deck of cards, keychain, and phone holder. Hit the casino for a little while.

Sorry many of my food photos are turning out sideways or upside down. Not sure how to fix that, they are fine on my computer but uploading wrong. 😞 When I left off, we had just left Sydney. March 29, Friday Sea Day We had a really lazy day. Slept late. Had to spend some time in line at guest services because Paul’s new key card wasn’t working (again!), and even more time in line at the tech support desk because we couldn’t log in to the internet. Our unused minutes from the last cruise rolled over to this cruise, which I didn’t expect. That was nice. We did a 30 minute brisk walk on the promenade. Then went to lunch at the buffet. Go early to get a table. Took a nap, spent a couple of hours in Spinnaker reading and enjoying the view and the wine. It was really nice to have a laid back day with nothing on the schedule after 2 weeks of travel and activity. We had a beautiful full rainbow! Dinner at Taste. Unquestionably our favorite over Windows, with faster service, and we are almost always seated at or very near a window with ocean views. Sorry, I forgot to get a photo of the menu tonight. Went to the Newlywed or Not So Newlywed show. We have seen this show, or a variation of it, on nearly every cruise we have ever been on, and it is hilarious. I went to Spinnaker almost an hour early to make sure to get a good seat. The oldest couple, sadly, struggled through the show. Married 66 years. I think they could not possibly have been traveling alone. They didn’t leap up to participate and must have been encouraged to go on stage by whomever they were with. They certainly weren’t on their own. The hosts of the show made a valiant effort to help them along. As someone seated behind us said at the end, “that was brutal.” It’s a shame that someone sent this lovely couple up on stage when they clearly were not able to understand what was happening. Went to the casino for a spin before back to our cabin for the night.