Donabq

I've found it amazingly quick how the days flash by at sea.  I've done three transatlantics and two transpacifics without being bored.  (...and my first transatlantic was when I was nine and easily bored.)

I've done two 14 day ocean crossings on the motor yachts, but 21 days aboard a smaller vessel should be interesting.  (Size being relative)This is the Star Breeze in San Diego next to the Ruby Princess after Last year's transpacific.  (Photo by Renee, another board member)

I'm spending a few days in Tahiti prior to the sailing and some time in Costa Rica afterwards.  

Are any of you contemplating the February 2024 cruise from Papeete to Puerto Caldera?

I made the crossing from Papeete to San Diego in April.  We had fantastic weather and the pool area was well used.

According to the VesselFinder site Star Breeze got underway yesterday in Lisbon bound for St Maarten.

According to the VesselFinder site Star Breeze got underway yesterday in Lisbon bound for St Maarten.

I developed symptoms that appear to be allergy related two days ago and have been quarantining while I wait and see.  Symptoms are waning and no fever at any time, so I am hoping it's an especially bad allergy of the week flare up.

The Ocean View suites are priced by location fore and aft and by deck.  The major difference is with the Star Ocean View suites.  These are in the newly added part of the ship and feature the sleeping area adjacent to the window with the seating area as you enter the stateroom.

I used this company in the opposite direction with good results.

http://www.sewardalaskabus.com/

This link can be used to see who is in Port on any given day.  It does take a little fiddling.

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/

I have booked the segment to Yokohama and was just curious as to how popular it might be.  I cruised to Japan last year from Seward through the Aleutian Islands on a much smaller ship and loved it.  The North Pacific demonstrated who's boss for a couple of days, but it wasn't unmanageable.  (Although the head chef got sea sick.)

Don

For all of you HAL experts--any feel for how full the Noordam might sail next September on its passage to Yokohama?

I have a couple of questions regarding the motor vessels. Does the laundry launder under garments? Is the Bose device shown in stateroom photos an iPod docking station or is it a Bluetooth speaker?

I'm curious as to the respective nationalities for the stateroom stewards, dining room staff and bar staff on the Legend. I'm learning a few phrases in Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia and would like to use them appropriately. :)

There have been a number of posts expressing concern about groups travelling together on cruises. I received the Smithsonian Journeys brochure yesterday. Two of the journeys they're promoting are the Star Legend June 28th and July 5th sailings. They indicated that they reserved space for up to 40 guests.

Years ago, in the "Love Boat" era, Princess permitted visitors to use the bars and restaurants aboard ship while in port. That was a completely different era before mass market cruising took off. Come to think of it, the "Love Boat" is probably to blame.

The same thing happened on the 2018 Seward to Yokohama cruise a few weeks ago. The prices dropped back to the earlier ones a week or two later.

Oops, apparently I wasn't awake when I posted before. We're going in the other direction (Seward-Yokohama) leaving in September. The fares on that cruise took a major jump.

We booked over a year out for the Yokohama to Seward passage. Six weeks after we booked, the fares on-line increased $2,000 per person, followed shortly thereafter with significant onboard credit. I figure it would be the height of chutzpah to ask for the OBC at this point.

My wife and I are finally adjusting to reality after our cruise on the Aranui 3 from 22 November to 5 December. The experience exceeded all of our expectations! I learned of the Aranui back when the Aranui 2 sailed, but never had the time for a two + week cruise. Last year we met two couples recently back from a cruise and we started making our own plans. We booked directly with the San Mateo office over a year out so that we could have one of the balcony suites.

We arrived the day before boarding and spent some time exploring Papeete on foot with the expectation that we would spend more time upon our return from the cruise. Boarding at 7:30 AM was an easy five minute process, giving us plenty of time to explore the ship before the welcome drink and dancing before a 10:30 AM departure. The next 13 days were a whirlwind of meeting new friends, new islands, shore activities, dining, evening partying and little time to sleep. There were 150 passengers on board with French speaking nationalities comprising about 70%. Other nationalities included English, Australian, New Zealand, German, Swiss, Austrian, Norwegian, Russian, Canadian and US. In a first for the Aranui, 16 Japanese ladies were aboard with a guide. Needless to say, PA announcements took a little time as they were repeated in French, English, German and Japanese.

After a short period of adjustment, everyone tended to mingle freely and groups formed and reformed according to interests and not nationality. Our guest lecturer, with a strong interest in anthropology, confided that he was enjoying the observation of the way table groups developed and redeveloped in the dining room. Most of the lunches were ashore at either local restaurants, or a beach barbeque. Evening meals were in two sittings, with a half hour delay to allow the wait staff enough time to serve the first course before the second sitting arrived. Dinners were good, but picky eaters might not like some of the entrees. Some diners elected to have two appetizers or salads to compensate. Although one bottle of wine was provide for each four people seated, more was available and wine tended to flow freely most evenings.

The cruise ended too quickly, but we were fortunate to have sailed with the Aranui 3 before she is replaced with the Aranui 5 next year. We were the last cruise to spend eight days in the Marquesas. Future cruises cut a day from the Marquesas and add a day on Bora Bora to the itinerary.

Two days in Papeete eased the return to late fall conditions in the Pacific Northwest. The night before our return, we were treated to the Papeete Christmas parade. It was a mixture of typical North American Christmas themes mixed with a strong dose of Rio Carnival and seasoned with a Polynesian flair. I can’t imagine ever topping the overall experience!

I hope not...I'm sailing on the November 22nd cruise. There were several extremely bad reviews posted on this site recently. They appeared to be the work of a troll or someone disappointed with his cruise and out for some sort of revenge. I've been reviewing information on the Aranui for several years leading up to my booking the cruise and most of the negative comments seem to relate to expectations there were out of sync with the available information on the ship.

Don