Marina Papeete-Papeete, 2/10-22 report

[pinotlover]

The ship was not full. Heard differing numbers but was told just at 1000 from a good source. 

 

Outside of the very very top suites all cabin categories were wide open up to sailing. That’s why quite a few of us got nice upsells to PH.

 

Also heard stories from some about getting the quiet phone call from their OCC  TA with some amazing unpublished rates about a month before sailing. Of course, some of them were also the ones crying about the horrible flight connections they got. 

 

Oceania ran two charter flights for this cruise out of LA, one on ATN and the other on UA. 

 

Second aquidneck1’s comment on the PH. That wonderful walk-in closet helped us hide and store all the miscellaneous snorkeling equipment: snorkel, fins, booties, skins, etc! Love that closet!! ❤️

[wp bob]

we were also on this cruise. We used UA from SFO and French Bee (low cost French airline - relatively new) back to SFO. We were worried about Fr bee but it was fine, brand new plane and nice service. You pay for meals, luggage and seat assignments. the early reviews were horrid but they have improved greatly. In Moorea we stayed 2 nts at Manava Beach Resort (formerly Pearl resort) . Very nice and several restaurants and shops off the property within walking distance. Again all private tours in the islands- arrange early. We only made a few shows - some we had previously seen and too tired other nights from the early tendering / tour departures. I rate the entertainment just fair (no surprise to past passengers) except the night a native group who were very good came onboard in Nuku Hiva.

[pinotlover]

I may have posted this on the other Marina thread but:

 

The shows were iffy. The female singers all did an excellent job. One had a bit of a high pitch squeaky voice but all sang nicely. The male singers and performers were the problem . Jory again did a fabulous job and was the only truly professional among the males. The black male singer would one night do a fabulous job, then the next night go flat, then change key in the middle of the song leaving the band trying to decide what to do! The lead male dancer on another night dropped his partner in the middle of a routine with quite the thud! He then danced away leaving the others to help her up! She was fairly shaken.

 

The female singers performed in Horizons one evening. The person setting up the sound system had everything zeroed in on the drums. You literally couldn’t hear the singers only the constant beat of the drum. This was brought to the attention of the CD who got a bit snippy about it. IMO, the CD on this cruise was the weakest we’ve ever had , but since we don’t do trivia or stay aboard for daytime activities we may not have the best overview for that observation.