nu#1

There isn’t any difference in terms of the quality of tours offered, but now that everyone has use-or-lose credit, those tours fill up faster so you have to be more proactive in researching and signing up. To your second point, our original itinerary included an overnight stay in Bermuda and a stop in Norfolk, VA. Weather forced the cancellation of the first day in Bermuda and the stop in Norfolk. An additional day in Charleston, SC was added with two tours being added by destination services. But many people were stuck with unused SM shore excursion credit than they could use. As always, when there are any changes, the house wins.

I’ll hit a short list of items that have been previously asked/discussed on the board. We are in concierge cabin 9095. No noise from either adjacent cabin. And the one couple must be in their cabin regularly because the do-not-disturb light is always on. Fitness center. Yes, it is smaller than expected, wish it had a few more strength machines, but it’s never been overly crowded. Ember. This is so subjective but we found it to be good/very good. I would rate it above Pollo Grill, but not Red Ginger or Toscana. Didn’t seem overly noisy but we had a corner table. No table cloths. Odyssey Wine dinner. Was listed in the Wine & Beverage Guide in our cabin when we embarked. We chose The Odyssey Menu option for $150/person + 20% gratuity. Made our reservation at the dining reservation desk on deck 5. There were two nights available on our 11-day cruise, and only six in our group. The meal was outstanding. Wi-Fi. Found the Starlink Internet to be the best Wi-Fi experience we’ve had on a cruise ship. Was able to stream multiple NCAA tournament games this last week with few issues.

They did not carry the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament this last week on Vista. I wouldn’t expect them to carry the next rounds either. I did watch multiple games this last week by streaming them using the March Madness Live app on my iPad. I did have to pay for an upgrade to allow Wi-Fi streaming.

So inconsistent. We stayed there in March, booked two rooms for the first night. Were told that we could not book a day room for the following day, had to book one room at the overnight rate in order to stay until 6:00pm.

In Papeete, I would definitely plan on going to the local market, it’s just ~3 blocks from where the ship docks. In the market you can purchase flowers, vanilla, local crafts, jewelry, clothing, etc. There are also local food vendors. Another option is to take a circle-island tour. There aren’t any beaches in walking distance. In Raiatea, I would definitely schedule a tour, the locals do sell crafts where the ship docks but there isn’t much else going on in town. I personally would go to Tahaa’ to snorkel at the Coral Gardens or visit a vanilla farm.