Redking

Oops @bohaiboy our posts crossed. Great minds or some such🤔🤣

Crystal? Isn't Manfedi Executive Chair?

Really looking forward to your review. We're just off Eclipse II. Itinerary and crew were fabulous. I wouldn't however consider it the 6 star luxury it's marketed as. I'm still interested in Ponant including LCC but have some reservations so keen to learn more. Thank you.

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Rapa Nui completed our visits to the apices of the Polynesian Triangle. There were most certainly some similarities between Rapa Nui and Māori cultures but also significant differences. The most notable similarity was in the languages, and I understand that Te Reo speakers and Rapa Nui are able to understand each other. We had an overnight stay which enabled us to visit many of the key Moai sites and other sites of cultural significance. Rapu Nui is one of the most remote places in the world. The nearest inhabited community is actually the space station! The history of its civilisation is shrouded in mystery including the origins of the people and the rise and fall of the practice of carving and raising the Moai. Two theories exist as to the ancestry of the first people to settle Rapa Nui. Thor Heyerdahl maintained that the original inhabitants had links with the people of South America. More recent research maintains that the ancestors were Polynesian (hence the Polynesian Triangle) possibly the Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia) and arrived on the island between the 6th And 8th centuries. Worshipping ancestors was an important part of the Rapa Nui culture. When a tribe’s leader or person of standing (Mana) died, the people believed that their spirit lived on and the huge Moai were carved in honour of them and raised onto alters (Ahu) facing towards the villages to provide protection for the people of the village. There are approximately 600 Maio distributed around the island with over 300 located in the Rano Raraku quarry, the source of the volcanic rock from which the Maoi were carved. Master carvers sculpted the Maio using basalt and obsidian chisels and it’s thought that it took up to two years for a team of carvers to complete a large Maio. The front of the Maoi were first carved from the rock face with the exception of the eye sockets. The back of the Maoi were then chisled out to release them from the rock face. Many theories exist as to how the Moai were then moved to their final location, but a definitive answer remains a mystery. Reenactment in Hawaii of how the Moai may have been moved: Moai at the quarry site: Once in place on the Ahu, the eye sockets were sculpted and the eyes made from coral and red scoria, were put in place along with red scoria top knot during a cultural ceremony. The Moai period extended from approximately 800 A.D. to 1860 when it was replaced by the Tangata Manu or Birdman ritual and practice. It’s unclear what brought the Moai period to an end, but conflicts between the various tribes is considered to be a contributing factor. We visited the historic village if Oronga on our second day. The village was the site of the annual competition based on a ritual practice of retrieving a tern (Manutara) egg from their breeding ground on an offshore island (Motu). On the arrival of the birds in September, the male participants (hopu hanu) chosen to represent their respective chiefs would ascend Rana Kau volcano to the village of Oronga where they lived temporarily in a series of 54 stone houses. The hopu hanu descended the cliff of approximately 300 metres before swimming more than a kilometre to the furthest of the three motu, assisted with floats made of totora fibres. The winner of the competition was the chief whose hopu hanu was the first to return from the island with an intact tern egg secured in to his head. The winning chief that become the ruler for the following year. Rana Kau Volcano Crater: Motu from where the tern egg was retrieved: Some other sites around the island:

Some very pertinent questions. I'll endeavour to answer some in the remaining days of the cruise. I'll also come back to do a wrap of our experiences post cruise.

Coming up!

My decision to title this “Live-ish” was well considered. So much respect for the commitment of those who post daily. By contrast, I spent our first set of sea days imbibing, dining and enjoying the discovery team lectures. Hence my big push to play catch-up today before arriving at Pitt Cairn Island tomorrow. I’ll start with an overview of dining experience so far and then post a summary of our fabulous two days on Easter Island. Scenic list up to 10 dining venues on their Eclipse yachts, including room service. I’ll cover seven of them in the next posts Lumiere On our first night we dined in Lumiere a French styled degustation experience. Bookings are required for this venue and we have been fortunate to make a total of four reservations, possibly assisted by the fact that we are sailing with only 150 guests out of a capacity of 228. Our third reservation is this evening, so I’ll post more on that later. Menus from our second night with some photos of the stand out dishes follow. Kokos Kokos comprises three dining experiences in the same location: Koko Sushi, Koko Fusion and Koko Night Market. Reservations are required for sushi and the nigh market. All are open for dinner only. The option of sushi atlunch time would have been a plus. Night Market This was a fabulous experience. The chef prepares the meal in front of you teppanyaki style. The theme changes every three days and we have so far enjoyed an Indian themed meal with a Philippino experience to follow. It’s a very intimate venue with bar style seating for up to 8 guests. 8 Sushi Again this is a bar seating venue. The sushi is prepared freshly in front of you if your fortunate enough to be seated at this bar. We were seated at an ocean facing bar, but the experience was still very enjoyable and the food was excellent. 20240319_155041.mp4 Fusion We dined twice at fusion. As the name suggests, this an Asian fusion themed restaurant with menu changing every three days. It has a really relaxed atmosphere. Elements Whilst there isn’t a main dining room on the Eclipse, Elements would probably come closest as it’s probably the largest restaurant. Italian themed, the menu changes daily. On days when we didn’t have reservations at other venues, we’d check the Koko Fusion and Elements menus in the afternoon and decide between the two. Lots of flexibility at Elements to order starters Azure Café Café venue that serves breakfast until 10.30 am, great for late risers. Casual dining available for lunch and dinner including: pizza, pasta, burgers and sandwiches to order. A range a of desserts, sandwiches and salads are available from the cabinet. Have reached the food and wine saturation point of the cruise, we dined there last. Seems that everyone else felt the same because it was very busy! We initially sat on our own but were joined by another three people and had a great evening. Amazing that after so many days we’re still meeting new people. Yacht Club This is the buffet venue. Having said that there is table service, so options to serve yourself or not. I have a passion for interiors and soft furnishings and the yacht club is right up my alley with a quirky range of chairs and pattern fabrics. Absolutely love the salad selections. Bread look wonderful too, I’m gluten intolerant so a bit challenging to pass it by. That said, I have been offered the most amazing bread baskets with an array of gluten free goodies at most venues. 20240318_163654.mp4

We're currently on Scenic II on our way to Easter Island. We had swells of about 3.5 metres after living Chile and are now down to about a metre and we're experiencing quite a bit of sway. I'd therefore say that the comments about the stabilisers are likely correct. We're very keen to sail on the Charcot so please come back and share your experience.

Sacha is wonderful. Our second night tonight with him in Lumiere. I believe a high percentage of the crew are ex Seabourne

Head som is Sacha, bar manager is Miloush and Captain Tory from 🇳🇴 is at the helm - first time we've had a Norwegian cruise Captain @Norwaylady

Day Four After a somewhat choppy night (continuing 3 to 3.5 metre swells) we arrived at the second island in the archipelago, Alexander Selkirk Island. The island is located 180km west of Robinson Crusoe Island with an area of 49.5 square kms and a temporary population of between 40 and 60 fisherman during the lobster season. Pretty impressive rock with a peak of about 1.2 metres which falls sharply away to the sea. Kudos to the hardy souls who fish for the lobster that is exported to China by a cooperative. Unfortunately, the weather did not allow us to see the settlement, so the photo is courtesy of the cooperative’s website. This was our first zodiac trip of the voyage. Kind of strange feeling bobbing around in the middle of the Pacific, but great to get a closer look at the spectacular geological formations which initially looked like vines growing on the cliff face. I suspect that it’s just the way the rock has eroded but I’m not sure – I’m such a nerd! The sun came out in the afternoon to make for a beautiful sail away. We now have four sea days enroute to Easter Island, so I’ll endeavour to get some interior shots around the ship and share more information on the overall experience, including the dining.

DAY THREE After a day at sea, we arrived at Robinson Crusoe Island, one of three volcanic islands in the Juan Fernandez Archipelgo, situated 670 km off the coast of Chile. The islands are sparsely populated and rely on tourism and fishing for income. The Scottish privateer, Alexander Selkirk was marooned on the island for more than four years from 1704. Apparently, he was marooned at his own request when he considered that the ship he was sailing on was unseaworthy. His story was reputedly the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s novel, Robinson Crusoe. The island has a population of 1000 of which 250 are school children. Interesting ratio. The islanders only received internet connection a year ago, so I’ll leave you to surmise whether there is any connection. Three activities were offered. We decided to wonder around the main town San Juan Buatista, located in Cumberland Bay on the island’s north coast. Cumberland Bay Fauna and Fishing Boats Set up for the pirate party A beautiful teacher brought some of her students down to the jetty to practice their English.

Oops apologies for the duplicate post. Too much Sangria at lunchtime. [removed] Busy couple of days, so playing catch-up. Day One Embarkation was between 2 and 4 pm. Given our hotel checkout time was 12 noon, we decided to head down to the port at about 1pm and fully anticipated that we’d then have to wait until 2pm. To our surprise our names were checked off a list, bags were checked, we were through a security scan and onto a bus for a short trip to the ship. I think we were on board in less than 15 minutes. Embarkation on Scenic is more of a hotel check-in experience. We were greeted with champagne and escorted to the reception desk in the main lounge to complete the check-in formalities. Our room wasn’t ready, so we headed up to the Yacht Club for lunch and more champagne. Lunch completed, our next stop was to make our restaurant reservations. Although Scenic is all inclusive, reservations are required for three of the restaurants: Lumiere (French), Night Market (teppanyaki styled) and Koko Sushi. You can’t book prior to boarding and we’d been advised to book as soon as you board. We were able to get three reservations for Lumiere and one for the Night Market. We kicked-off our first night in Lumiere with a fabulous degustation and wine pairing experience. The Amuse Bouche Lobster Bisque Salmon Normand Oysters Sorbet palate cleanser Chateaubriand Both desserts

Pre cruise wrap up We arrived 3 hours late into Santiago on Sunday, but still on time for happy hour at our hotel – Castillo Rojo in Provendencia. It transpired that a 3 hour delay was but a minor inconvenience. The aircraft that flew the route the following day suffered a technical problem which resulted in a sudden drop in altitude on the leg between Sydney and Auckland. As a consequence, the Auckland to Santiago leg of the flight was cancelled. Had we flown on the Monday we would most likely have missed the cruise. Thoughts go out to the some 50 people who were injured in the incident, a salient reminder to wear your seatbelt. After a quick freshen up we headed out to dinner at the Bella Vista Patio and enjoyed the first our first Pisco Sours with our Cruise Buddies from Sydney. We headed into Santiago the following day to enjoy the sights in the city centre. We last visited 12 years ago and the aftermath of the civil unrest in 2019 was still visible with barricaded buildings and what seemed to be a lot more graffiti. We nonetheless enjoyed our day with a visit to Santa Lucia and San Christobel before heading off to the Sky Constana enjoy some excellent cocktails whilst watching the sunset. The following day we were picked up by our guide for our wine tour to the Casablanca valley. We visited three wineries. All were very different but I think we enjoyed Bodegas RE the most. Very interesting winery working hard to bring about a renaissance in some of the more traditional wine making processes and with a smaller production. Our guide dropped us off at our hotel (Pallacio Asterico) in Valparaiso around 7pm, so it was long but enjoyable day. We headed out for dinner at which was a short, but very steep walk up the hills of Valpariaso. We sat outside with a good view of the port. Food was generally good. After sharing a bottle of Mille Carre, a lovely red from the south of Chile we headed off to bed. Wednesday bought the excitement of watching the Scenic Eclipse arrive around 7.30am. The excitement of watching your ship or in the this case yacht come in never grows old. She’s an absolute beauty and to be honest the photos and videos I’d seen did not do her justice. We had a beautiful breakfast before heading off down the hill for a stroll around town and closer view of the Eclipse. Day One of the voyage follows.

Our first time dipping our toes in non-Celebrity waters. After 13 years of cruising exclusively with Celebrity we’ve taken the plunge and decided to spread our wings and try other cruising options. First stop is Scenic Eclipse and the second of what they describe as ultra-luxury discovery yachts. We pondered moving over to the smaller ships but were concerned we might not like the smaller number of passengers. I guess we’re all or nothing kind of people as the Scenic Eclipse yachts have a maximum 0f 224 guests, with a maximum of 200 in the Polar regions. It’s an itinerary with some interesting cultural and historical inclusions: I think that most people are more familiar with the river cruise division of Scenic’s business. The Ocean cruises started in 2019 with the launch of the first yacht, followed last year with the launch of Scenic Eclipse II. I’ll be posting live-ish on the Scenic Forum, so please feel free to follow the link and experience the Scenic through the eyes of a newbie. Any questions, ask away. https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/topic/2996736-live-ish-journey-across-the-pacific-easter-island-french-polynesia-on-scenic-eclipse-ii/#comment-67067824 Cheers, Kim