RachelG

Chinese New Year decor at the mall

January 27, 2024–Papeete, Tahiti Well, the room at the Hilton has one major design flaw. There is an etched glass panel between the bedroom and the shower. It isn’t transparent, but it isn’t opaque at all. So if one person gets up at night and turns on the bathroom light, the bedroom is lit up too. And it would be super awkward if you were traveling with anyone other than your significant other or best friend as you can see the person showering. I used to travel a lot with one or the other of my sons when they were teens. They would have been so embarrassed. We awoke early to overcast skies. It was warm and humid. The sun rises early here. We have a big balcony with a great view of the pool and ocean. We went to breakfast, included for us since we have Diamond status. It was a nice buffet with all the normal breakfast items, plus some Asian things, and made to order omelets. Very pricey if not included ($48 pp). There is also an executive lounge/transit lounge with soft drinks and a few snacks but not much else. It is convenient though as right next to our room. There is a mall across the street, very good for procuring forgotten items and for breakfast at a more reasonable price if you don’t have it included. It opens pretty early, so we walked over to pick up a few things. There is a large Carrefour store, and several small more local stores. The rest of the morning was spent by and in the pool—perfect temperature, then we ate lunch at the pool grill. Again very pricey but excellent food. $200 for the six of us, and we over ordered. It started getting cloudy, then lightly raining, so we entertained ourselves playing cards on our covered balcony and drinking wine from the Carrefour store. About 6 pm, George noticed out the window a ship coming into port. The Navigator had arrived. We had dinner reservations downtown Le Soufflé. They specialize, surprise, in soufflés. they have savory and sweet, a huge variety. I thought it was great. George had mixed reviews, but everyone agreed the gran marnier soufflé which was flambéed table side was the highlight.

Agree, the TA should be able to do this.

Go ahead and put yourself on the waitlist for the ones you want now. Good likelihood most will clear. Then when you board, go down and talk to destination services. They can tell you availability on all the excursions. People turn their tickets in at the last minute all the time.

And view at breakfast

View from our balcony at the Hilton

Great to hear you will be joining us. My son is in his late 30s with a bushy black beard, so you should be able to spot him. Come and make yourself known.

Bloody Mary’s is still closed as far as I can tell. We have an overnight in Bora Bora and have reservations for dinner at the Yacht Club at sundown.

January 26, 2024–Tulsa to Papeete, Tahiti And we are off again, this time to French Polynesia aboard Regent Navigator. A lot of people don’t like Navigator because she is kind of old and not as flashy as the newer ships, but we quite like her. Because she is smaller, she can sail some places that larger ships can’t. The theater is beautiful, my favorite among all the Regent ships (though I haven’t been on Grandeur yet). The suites may not be as fancy as on the newer ships, but they are a good size and comfortable. We aren’t bothered by vibration. My husband loves the gym with its great views. And fares on Navigator are generally lower than the other ships. We have been to Tahiti and French Polynesia on the Paul Ganguin about 18 years ago. We loved it and vowed to eventually return. My best friend and her husband have never been, but it is a bucket list place for her. And my oldest son and his wife honeymooned there 8 years ago and wanted to return. So it was set—the six of us would go. My daughter-in-law works for my friend, and they are very close, so it works out well. The air credit for this cruise was $7000 per person. I always take the credit then either use miles or find my own, usually better, deal. It was a bit challenging, but I was able to find round trip in business class on United for $3500 pp, so was pretty happy with that. Our flight schedule was Tulsa to Houston to San Francisco then on to Tahiti with hardly any time between flights on the outbound. So no room for late flights. We literally had time to walk from one gate to another, and they were already boarding in Houston and just getting ready to in San Francisco. The flight from Tulsa to Houston was on an ancient small plane which rattled and shook the whole way. Then it took 20 minutes to taxi from the runway to literally the furthest gate. Fortunately the other flights were on new large planes with the flight from San Francisco to Papeete on a 787 with the Polaris seats in business. We boarded the flight to Papeete, and waited, and waited. Finally the pilot came on overhead and said something was wrong with the plane’s computer system, and they were trying to reboot it. Not encouraging. And the pilot said if they couldn’t fix it, the flight would be cancelled. I was starting to look for hotels to spend the night in San Francisco, but then, after 2 hours, the problem was resolved, and we were flying to Papeete. The seats were fine. I like the AA business class seats better though. Food was ok, but they sure were stingy with wine. No offers for refills, you had to ask. And no offers for refills of water. If you wanted anything other than the small bottle in the seat at boarding, you had to ask. The airport in Tahiti was just as I remembered. You get off the plane by stairs. We were immediately hit by a wave of humidity. We were first through customs, and suitcases came out first. We were able to get a big taxi and quickly were at the Hilton. It is a beautiful hotel with big comfortable rooms. No beach but a huge pool and great views.

you are not going to find many if any taxis that would take you to the Rome airport as it is very far from the port. A driver that you have pre-arranged is needed. I have used several of those listed above and prefer Rome Cabs, but the others are good too.

Will be on Navigator next week. Hoping for pilates and yoga classes. We have had them on previous cruises on Navigator as well as the other ships. I think Navigator is the only one without a pickleball court.

We have been on many expedition cruises on Silversea, including one that was to England and Scotland. We loved it, but we are into hiking, nature, etc. Would definitely recommend.

if you haven't gotten your visa yet, I am worried for you. My adopted daughter is Chinese, and it took several months for her husband (American) to get his visa to go with her to see her Chinese family last year. In fact, they had to push their trip back by a month. She also had to hire a visa expediting company to help.

Just carry on and drop it off in your room, then go to lunch. I would not leave port side with the porters.

just now getting started reading this thread and getting caught up due to no time, what with work and having to take care of my 2 year old grandson with the flu since he had to be quarantined from his baby brother. Loving your pics and writing. I so want to do a world cruise some day!

If it is before final payment, you can rebook at the lower price. If after final payment, no such luck, and I have never gotten any OBC or FCC in that situation either.

There are no hotels near the airport, so you will be in downtown Reykjavik. We have stayed at the Hilton several times, and while it is not downtown per se, it is pretty close and has a great breakfast buffet.

I haven't received one

interesting. I would have thought they would have enlarged the coffee connection and meridian lounge as those are both very popular venues, but I guess there was no place to get more room.

Wow, that is a lot. Thank goodness they found the aneurysm and were able to get it repaired though. If that thing had ruptured while at sea, things would not have worked out well. Best wishes on the cancer treatment, and hope to see you onboard soon.

While my boys didn't go to Antartica on Silversea when they were teens, they went a bunch of other places and would have had a blast in Antartica. It just depends on the teenager though. They need to be able to talk to adults and enjoy adult food, not have to talk to their friends every hour or be addicted to tic tok.

This is really sad news. A zodiac floating around looking at the wildlife from a distance is just not the same. But if migratory birds introduce the flu, I don't think preventing tourists is going to solve the problem. It might slow the spread down a bit, but eventually it is going to spread.

husband agrees entirely and has complained, of course to no avail

Thanks for the fair and balanced report. I thnk the coffee connection turned out to be a lot more popular than they expected. On Splendor it is larger.

If it is spring during cherry blossom time, you need to get this booked NOW. I waited too long last year, and we were not able to secure a driver.