kej1

Brando - yes we were on the snorkeling side and walking distance from the restaurants. We were very happy there. Some villas were quite far away - you have bikes but they will pick you up in a golf cart so really doesn’t matter but being close enough to walk was convenient. Turtle Bay is the snorkeling side and has gorgeous sunsets. You do want reef shoes as there are a lot of shells on this side of the beach but I’d prefer this any time. Expedition part of cruise: honestly so far this could have been done on any other ship. Could have had tours posted in advance and shouldn’t be charged the big uplift IMHO. The tours are what you could get on Quest or Sojourn or Princess for that matter so should have been posted way in advance. But as we get into some of the other ports I hope we will have the real expedition experience. I think we will Fiji for example. I think unlike Antarctica this trip is really a combination of real expedition and more traditional cruising. Tours could have been published in advance in many of the sites and it would have saved the scramble to sign up. My husband and I both worked in tech and in my case still work in the tech industry so not so hard to navigate the not so great source app but I’m sure for many it gets it’s not ideal.,To get what you want last minute you have to sign up fast. To be fair they have worked hard to accomodate people but the planning could have been much better IMHO. our stop at Niue was canceled. I was disappointed as heard from friends who’ve sailed here that’s the place to see whales, now we will go to Pago Pago, American Samoa - a pretty regular cruise ship stop. Two choices of tours - 1. Cultural visit with a cava ceremony - complimentary. 2. Snorkeling with a save the reef program - paid - over $200. I must admit we signed up for the snorkeling although it seems wrong to charge that much when we’ve paid a premium for an expedition cruise. I did see on the good old internet these are both tours that are offered to princess and others…… so not anything that special but we are snorkelers so…just feeling a little bit like an ATM!

Brando is a huge thumbs up! If one can fit it into the schedule do it! The flight from Papeete is 20 min on a private plane. Trip in, there were two others on the flight. Flight out we were it! Probably one of the best resort experiences we’ve ever had. And we’ve been to the Seychelles, Maldives, many Amans, etc. this was really special. Anyway, back to the cruise! I continue to be so impressed with the ship. Pursuit is really beautiful and other than the craziness of colunmade lunches when the MDR is closed it seems like guests are pretty spread out in different venues on the ship. Lots of outdoor space which is really nice in a warm weather cruise like ours. Aitutaki, Cook Islands: We were there today and it’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go. It’s gorgeous. In fact I wish despite it being quite small we’d had more time here. Beautiful turquoise lagoons with terrific snorkeling. I only wish I was still a diver as I’m sure that would have been spectacular. ( although I’m not sure if that was an option with Seabourn - not sure). We had three tour options - all third party and honestly you can find these on other cruise ships. Just too bad it was published last minute. There was a scramble to sign up but the expedition team was able to put more buses and boats on so that everyone had a chance to do something but why it wasn’t published in advance I don’t understand as they were std tours I found months ago on the internet, 1. snorkeling 2. Lagoon tour, snorkeling and beach barbecue ( they ended up canceling the lunch to accommodate more people). 3. Round the island cultural tour All of the above were complimentary. We did the snorkeling which was lovely. Saw big clams, an eel and lots of fish. We took a zodiac to a jetty ( pier), got in a third party boat and then went out to a great snorkeling spot. Later we went ashore on a small motu ( island) where you could see some rare birds). More on this later as I will post some photos with more detail. I had hoped we’d be back in time to do the round the island tour but by the time we returned and washed away the salt water it was too late. People that did that tour said it was really interesting. Cook Islands have an interesting history. Spanish were here first, then the British ( captain cook), eventually became independent from the crown but are New Zealand protectorate. I’d love to come back here and visit Roratonga ( capital island) and check into one of the supposedly lovely resorts here on Aitutaki! If you are on a cruise coming here I highly recommend the snorkeling and if you can organize an island tour as well that would be great. Ship things - I’m not usually a fan of the colunmade but you can sit outside here on the patio and the weather is great. We do get occasional showers but the outdoor dining is protected. Last night was Spanish. So we decided to give it a go. The traditional tomato bread was a bust - tomato butter not the typical spread you’d get in Spain. The Zarzuela again a bust - more like a brith than the Spanish version of boulabaise. The paella on the other hand was ok! Didn’t expect fantastic but it was good. So overall despite the lack of authentic Spanish food we enjoyed sitting outside and the paella was good, Today the dining room was closed for lunch. So we ate on the patio of the colunmade and had another burger from the limited menu. Not as good as the TK burgers but not bad. Ok. I did find out later one can order from the room service menu which dues expand choices to include a chicken Caesar salad, club sandwich, etc so good to know, Tonight we ate in the MDR and it was fine. Not great but good. Service was excellent and the staff couldn’t be more happy and just wonderful so although the food is good ( not excellent but we don’t expect that with so many people) the friendly and hard working staff make the evening a real pleasure. I’ll post some photos of Aitutaki and snorkeling tomorrow as we have a sea day. I haven’t dine photos of the food as it hadn’t inspired me yet but we are doing a special wine paired lunch tomorrow in the MDR so maybe that will inspire photos,

Here are some photos from the Brando Resort. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Right now we are on our way to the Cook Islands where we will do some snorkeling and hope to have some great photos to share. BTW for others that aren’t buffet lovers, the MDR was open today for lunch because it was a sea day. There were at least 20 tables occupied when we left so that was good news. Service today’s lunch much better and very relaxed with both restaurants open.

I will be posting photos of Brando eventually. In the meantime some information on the cruise. We left Papeete Sunday evening. There was a briefing following the muster drill introducing the expedition staff, and the next days activities. Things were a bit disorganized in that they wanted to know why nobody had signed up for the three offerings. It turned out they had just been posted on the source app minutes earlier and nobody was aware. it appears we need to keep an eye on the app as various activities will be posted day by day as we go along. We unpacked and had sushi for dinner in the club. We had been spoiled with good food at Brando so a light dinner was all we needed. Ra’iatea, and Moto Ofetaro, French Polynesia: The original plan was we would stop in the main town in the morning for an included complimentary visit to ancient ruins, and the afternoon we’d go to a moth for snorkeling. Unfortunately that plan changed and we were going to stay at the pier in town and could sign up for one of two optional paid snorkeling trips. All three tours were in the morning so you had to choose one. We chose to pay for the drift snorkeling which sounded wonderful. Unfortunately due to weather both snorkeling trips were canceled. The trip to the ruins went ahead but was sold out so we stayed on the ship and finished getting organized. They did put on an afternoon repeat of the morning trip at the last minute but by the time we heard about it, that was also full so we walked around the town and called it a day. We had caviar and champagne in our room ( a lovely signature suite in the rear of the ship - our favorite location on any ship as we love to watch the wake), and had dinner in the MDR. I had lobster and my husband beef Wellington. Both were pretty good! today is a sea day but full of mandatory briefings on snorkeling, kayaking, submarine, and we will find out what the activities will be tomorrow in the Cook Islands. I did a sneak peek on my app and they are listed so since things seem to sell out the minute they are posted I signed us up for snorkeling. I am a bit surprised that since many of these things are what I found on the internet before the trip started, are offered by third parties, and activities offered by not only other expedition ships but also regular ships as well that they can’t post them in advance. Some are paid and some are free. I understand this is an expedition but many of these stops are not unique to Seabourn or even to an expedition ship so I’d recommend that they be posted far in advance, and ,Ike on other ships may be canceled due to weather, but it would help minimize the mad scramble at the last minute to sign up which appears will be the process on this trip. Anyway the ship is beautiful but it seems a bit understaffed in the dining venues. Why they don’t open the MDR at lunch is a mystery. The colunmade was jammed at lunch and quite honestly I don’t care at all for buffets. There were very few menu options and I just don’t like eating in a cafeteria when spending $$ on a luxury vacation. But I guess most others are fine with it as it’s crowded!

Getting ready to leave Brando for an another overnight at the intercontinental in Tahiti, boarding the pursuit tomorrow. The stay here has been fantastic. A few glitches but all handled well and nothing concerning. The snorkeling has been fair to good but we are spoiled having snorkeled and gone diving in past years in some of the best spots in the world. Most people we’ve spoken to are very happy with the snorkeling here. It is nice if staying on the turtle bay side of the island that you can walk right out of your villa to the beach put on your mask and go! To be fair yesterday was quite windy and the visibility was not as good as the previous days and the current was quite strong which is why I say fair to good as the first two days were good and didn’t even need fins just reef shoes to enter the water. My husband took some photos of the villa and the fish which I’ll post later today or tonight after our flight to Papeete. Cruise posts to start once we board and get going! Very excited to get on Pursuit! First stop is another island in French Polynesia we haven’t been to and we are hoping for some more snorkeling there!

Will fill you in. We are in French Polynesia now at the Brando resort and will be boarding Sunday. If you look on the Silversea website you can find many of the activities in some of these ports. I realize weather and tides can cause some cancellations but shame on Seabourn for not publishing some of them. We get it in Antarctica but not all of these ports some of which Seabourn has visited in the past on their bigger ships. . I posted somewhere on this site what I from of the head of destinations but all were maybes. My husband is a big WW2 buff and didn’t want to miss certain things so we booked a private tour in Honaria ( Guadalcanal) and just today found a post on roll calls with a private tour company in Rabaul another place where he has specific things he’d like to see. We love snorkeling, used to dive but haven’t in 4 years so didn’t meet their requirements, will do the submarine but want to do more. Destinations told me repeatedly some would be posted before the cruise but as of yesterday nothing. I am going to periodically post so see my start Papeete to Guam. So far only talking about the Nrando where we have 5 nights pre cruise but will start on the cruise as we get going. I likely won’t post every day as I’m involved with a number of tech cos and will need to work a couple of hours a day but will post as much as I can!

My husband and I left San Francisco on Tuesday, April 9th and flew nonstop to Papeete, Tahiti. So nice to have a nonstop. On past trips by land we used to have to connect through LAX so this was a great improvement. Flight was full on a Tuesday so french Polynesia is clearly becoming a popular destination. As we arrived after dark at 7:00pm we could not get to Brando Resort on the private island of Tetiaroa until the next day. Therefore we spent the night at the Intercontinental which we had stayed in overnight in past trips here where we couldn’t fly to other islands to the next day. We stayed in an overwater bungalow and had a lovely dinner at Le Lotus restaurant ( French Polynesian), the fine dining experience at the hotel. I took no photos so alas I don’t have those to share. We were impressed with the food and the service was friendly tropics style - a bit slow and laid back but always with a smile. Although we were a bit tired and hungry it didn’t bother us at all. The next morning we lounged around our bungalow, had a nice room service breakfast on our deck and enjoyed the view. At 1:00 we were off to the private airport to take the resort’s plane to Brando resort. Air Tetiaroa has a very nice lounge where we were able to relax before boarding our flight. The flight had only 3 other people on it so it was quite nice. Twenty minutes later we arrived at Brando. We were greeted by two Tahitian women playing some music and singing. We were picked up in a golf cart and given a tour of the facilities. Then we were taken to our villa ( the island has about 30 villas spread out) where we registered while drinking a glass of fresh fruit juice. A bottle of champagne was also waiting for us which we drank later that evening at sunset. The villas are beautiful, spacious and has all the modern amenities. A large bedroom and bathroom with two sinks, walk in shower and outdoor bathtub. There is a living room and a third media room with a desk set up for working and a very large screen tv. ( we’ve used the desk as we both are doing some remote work but haven’t turned on the tv). The outside area has a large nicely furnished patio, a small infinity pool, and an open air gazebo for eating meals if you want room service outdoors,. You also have your own beach area where you can just walk out and snorkel. I’d rate the snorkeling a B but then we’ve had some amazing snorkeling and diving experiences in our life so may not be the best judge. Each room comes with two bikes which you can use to get around the island which is quite spread out but you can also ask for a pick up in a golf cart. Or alternatively you can walk although some of the villas are far from the main restaurant and activity area. We are not far from the main area so it’s an easy walk now that we know where we are going. There are two areas for villas - Mermaid Bay which has beautiful soft sand and no rocks or coral so a nice swimming beach with a sunrise view. Turtle bay where we are has gorgeous sunset views and it’s ideal if you want to snorkel. But the beach is a bit pebbly and there is lots of coral so bring reef shoes and you will be fine. We asked for this location as we prefer the sunset view and love to snorkel which we’ve been doing twice a day. There are many activities on the island such as snorkel trips to an outside reef, diving, nature hikes, etc and a lovely spa. We have not taken advantage of these as we know we will have lots of activities on the ship. We are only here a few days so have enjoyed chilling out and relaxing before our cruise. The food by the way has been excellent. There are three restaurants - a casual Beach restaurant that is open all day with both indoor and outdoor space. It is casual but offers some very upscale dishes as well as your typical sandwiches and salads. There is a Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant where we had dinner our first night. It wasn’t the quality you’d receive in Japan but it was very good and a nice change of pace. We enjoyed it and met some nice people as it’s a small tab,e you sit around while watching the chef cook. Last night we had dinner in their French restaurant which was fabulous. We did the tasting menu with a wine pairing ( wine pairings can be average wines but these were good, not premier cru but very good French wines that went well with the food). You also can order a la carte. We have had room service breakfast and lunch so far each day in our gazebo. Food has been served hot and delicious. Service has been very good and the place is just wonderful! I haven’t taken a lot of photos but will do so today and my husband took some when we first arrived so I will try to post those later. Needless to say I highly recommend this resort. This is all for now! One more night here, next night on Papeete again and we board the Pursuit on Sunday!

Thanks for this wonderful blog. Loved seeing the photos and the write up.

I will try to update as much as possible. I’m gong to be working part time while on the cruise so may not be as frequent ( and top notch) as others but will try to update as much as possible. I know you (HPD) also asked about Brando. Assuming no travel glitches we will be there next Wednesday evening and will report before we leave Saturday!

Although still no excursions published online on Seabourn, in addition to my previous post #11 on this message string is what I’ve learned through persistence. Please note this was prefaced with these are ideas and not confirmed even though departing April 14. On the Papeete to Honaria leg the previously “ maybe “ excursions are still not confirmed. you can sign up for submarine, kayak, or scuba diving but they will let you know when on board when this will happen. See post #11 in this string. The second leg from Honaria to Guam also doesn’t have daily excursions published. But you can sign up for Kayak or submarine. Currently I don’t see diving as an option on this leg but will update if it becomes available. The possible ( not confirmed excursions) include: Honaria - Guadalcanal WW2 sites ( we have a private tour booked in case Seabourn doesn’t offer on the first day of an overnight). highlight for my husband so a must do even if Seabourn doesn’t offer. Ghizo island: snorkeling Buka, Bougainville: PNG: visit to school and local community. Parts of this island are on the State Dept do not go list so we will see if this stop happens. Rabaul: another WW2 highlight for my husband. Visit some WW2 sites, Baining fire dance in the Evening. ( HPD, checked out your comments on your trip and if the description you shared on the fire dance logistics is the same we might skip this and focus on the day visits to the WW2 sites should the cruise go ahead with this program which we hope. Kavjeng: visit ashore to meet locals, snorkeling Rambutyo Island: visit ashore, possible welcome dance snorkeling Ponam Island: WW2 airbase and snorkeling Oroluk Atoll, Micronesia: village visit, hikes, snorkeling Chuuk, Micronesia: WW2 sites, snorkeling After my persistent outreach to destination services I received this but was told none of these are confirmed and that is why they haven’t published. These are ideas they are working on, I was told we will not be given this on board except through lectures the night before each stop and can decide then which activity we’d like to do. i understand things can change but it would be nice if they could publish some of this online as SS and Ponant for example seem to have done for many of their ports. Regarding diving and snorkeling here is what I understand: they will have masks, fins, snorkels, weight belts with weights and tanks onboard. All other equipment we need to bring. We no longer dive despite doing so for many years so we are brining our own masks and snorkels, as well as skins and in my case a light short 1mm wetsuit as I can get cold even in tropical waters! And booties in case have to do a beach snorkel which requires walking over coral. We are not bringing fins and hope that we can use those on board. I hope this helps somewhat. I’ll report more once on board.

Ponant not Penang! Auto correct😎

Thank you for the review. We leave for our first Pursuit cruise next week. 30 days from Papeete to Guam. We have done some cruising but more travel by land. Most of our cruises have been on Seabourn which we have enjoyed - Antarctica, Greenland ( both on the Quest) and a few others. This will be our first on the new expedition ships although two of our previous cruises ( pre Covid) were expedition on the Quest. We don’t care about the entertainment so that’s not a big deal. We do care about the food, we don’t expect Michelin star food but have usually been able to find things we like on the menus and have also ordered some good special meals in the past. We have never been fans of the Columnade as it’s very much a cafeteria atmosphere and I’ve never cared for buffets and the theme menus we have on occasion tried were poor. We also prefer to eat a bit later so the dining situation doesn’t sound ideal. That’s too bad. If they have overflow in the MDR why wouldn’t they on such a small ship allow people to sit in the other restaurant or outside and order from the MDR if they would like? That seems like it could be a natural adjustment even if the atmosphere is poor. Warm weather cruise could be nice to eat outside but not the themed typical colunmade dinners. Anyway good to know and will be prepared to have relatively low expectations on dinner which is a shame given it’s supposed to be luxury! Zodiacs we expected but no shore excursions other than submarine and kayak have been published. I realize in places like Antarctica that makes sense but competitors like Silversea and Penang have their excursions published in this part of the world for even browsers to see. Because my husband is a WW 2 buff and has certain things he really wants to see we have arranged a few private tours in advance ( all cash when you arrive and can cancel in advance). So that has been disappointing. I know it’s new to Seabourn but the tour options seem pretty std on other lines and it would be nice to plan. I am told by Seabourn we won’t know anything til the night before each day. Again made sense in Antarctica but even on our Greenland trip on quest in 2018 they had excursions published in advance. I know things can change based on weather, etc but if other lines can do it for their expeditions in this area Seabourn at their pricing and luxury advertising should be able to do the same. Despite all of this we are very excited to go on this trip and will “ go with the flow” and have a positive attitude once we get on board! Thank you again for the review, I will write one as well after our trip and if time along the way.

Londolozi one of my favorite safari lodges and a great place to see leopard. Next door at Singita nice too. I’m really enjoying your photos and missing South Africa!

When staying on the 6th floor in an aft suite (SS in the corner) there was a lot of vibration and some noise. We loved the room and especially the wrap around deck bit not the vibration and noise. On a later we stayed in the same suite on a higher floor and was not a problem but the wrap around corner deck was not as spacious. There was some vibration but it didn’t bother us and no noise issues. To be transparent this was pre Covid not recently.

Thank you Terry for sharing your trip and great photos. I enjoyed reading about your voyage. I have spent a lot of time in India, Singapore and Japan for business and by land but next time I think I’ll do a cruise! Thank you for sharing!