*Live* from the Eurodam - Hawaii/Tahiti/Marquesas

[cruzin4us]

15 hours ago, seamist said:

Today we did https://www.fakaravaexcursions.com/ out to the “Blue Lagoon”.  The excursion started out, shall we say, a bit rocky.  Some folks who had booked this tour for whatever reason decided not to show.  The tour director was blaming the ship being slow with the tenders, but the reality was, those who booked went early to get tender tickets and had no problems whatsoever making it on time.  The poor tour operator got stiffed.  Nevertheless, he should have left on time, instead we sat there waiting and we were not sure how well this was going to go to say the least.

 

FINALLY a half an hour late we left and were on our way, the tour operator picking up other people at the last minute filling the boat.  From here on out the tour was FABULOUS.  The Blue Lagoon left me feeling like I was in , well, the movie Blue Lagoon or something.  It was an absolutely beautiful unspoiled place.  I was expecting Gilligan and the Skipper to show up!  So we had a wonderful time in this peaceful lagoon swimming, snorkeling, and enjoying some fresh coconut water.  This place fit my every imagination of what the South Pacific is like.

 

From there we went to the coral garden for some deep water snorkeling, then back to the ship.  Wonderful tour.

 

 

Ok, after these pics, I have now added this cruise to my bucket list.   I'm done with the Mexican Riviera!!!

 

 

[seamist]

13 minutes ago, cccole said:

All I can say is WOW!!!!!  "Our" adventures in French Polynesia have been amazing.  I assume that you arranged your excursions by doing you own research and did not use ship excursions.  Just FABULOUS.  Thank you,  Cherie

Wish I could take credit for the research, but DH did all of it.  He’s quite good at it👍  We have found over the years that HAL often does the same excursions as privately arranged, but twice the cost and twice the people!  About the only time we do a ship’s excursion is if making it back to the ship on time might be an issue.

[seamist]

Finally decided to brave the lido pool 2 for $20 t-shirt sale this morning 😬😳.   Might be easier to swim with the sharks again!! 🙈🙊. Oh my word....lol.

 

Today’s activities:

[seamist]

32 minutes ago, cruzin4us said:

 

 

Ok, after these pics, I have now added this cruise to my bucket list.   I'm done with the Mexican Riviera!!!

 

 

Do it!  This was our bucket list and itinerary is just fabulous.  Can’t promise the same excellent weather we’ve had but the itinerary can’t be beat!

[bigez]

1 hour ago, seamist said:

Finally decided to brave the lido pool 2 for $20 t-shirt sale this morning 😬😳.   Might be easier to swim with the sharks again!! 🙈🙊. Oh my word....lol.

 

LOL. Every time I make it through the crowd (and the tables) to buy these dumb shirts, I swear I'll never, ever do it again … and then the very next cruise … guess who's in that line again?  I hope you snagged some good ones! 

[seamist]

1 hour ago, bigez said:

 

LOL. Every time I make it through the crowd (and the tables) to buy these dumb shirts, I swear I'll never, ever do it again … and then the very next cruise … guess who's in that line again?  I hope you snagged some good ones! 

We did!😂😁

[LynnObie]

21 hours ago, seamist said:

Today we did https://www.fakaravaexcursions.com/ out to the “Blue Lagoon”.  The excursion started out, shall we say, a bit rocky.  Some folks who had booked this tour for whatever reason decided not to show.  The tour director was blaming the ship being slow with the tenders, but the reality was, those who booked went early to get tender tickets and had no problems whatsoever making it on time.  The poor tour operator got stiffed.  Nevertheless, he should have left on time, instead we sat there waiting and we were not sure how well this was going to go to say the least.

 

FINALLY a half an hour late we left and were on our way, the tour operator picking up other people at the last minute filling the boat.  From here on out the tour was FABULOUS.  The Blue Lagoon left me feeling like I was in , well, the movie Blue Lagoon or something.  It was an absolutely beautiful unspoiled place.  I was expecting Gilligan and the Skipper to show up!  So we had a wonderful time in this peaceful lagoon swimming, snorkeling, and enjoying some fresh coconut water.  This place fit my every imagination of what the South Pacific is like.

 

From there we went to the coral garden for some deep water snorkeling, then back to the ship.  Wonderful tour.

 

Hi Seamist...  Thank you SO much for sharing your once-in-a-lifetime cruise!  You've been very fortunate to have such good weather!  When we did this cruise with Kazu in 2016, we had such horrible weather that we missed several ports and had less than desirable weather in most of the South Pacific ports we did manage to visit.  I'm hoping we can do a repeat of our 2016 disaster with weather more like you've enjoyed.  If you happen to know or encounter a couple from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada....  Bob & Marie Smith, please say hi from Lynn & Betty.  Wishing you safe travels for the balance of your cruise!

[canadianbear]

Beautiful photos-sure is tempting to book this cruise!!! 

[seamist]

1 hour ago, LynnObie said:

 

Hi Seamist...  Thank you SO much for sharing your once-in-a-lifetime cruise!  You've been very fortunate to have such good weather!  When we did this cruise with Kazu in 2016, we had such horrible weather that we missed several ports and had less than desirable weather in most of the South Pacific ports we did manage to visit.  I'm hoping we can do a repeat of our 2016 disaster with weather more like you've enjoyed.  If you happen to know or encounter a couple from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada....  Bob & Marie Smith, please say hi from Lynn & Betty.  Wishing you safe travels for the balance of your cruise!

Thank you, sooo sorry you had a disaster when you tried this itinerary.  Best wishes for a better repeat!

[seamist]

3rd Gala Night Menu and pics:

[Krazy Kruizers]

Just got caught up with this thread.

 

Great reports -- glad everything is turning out so well for you.

 

Love the pictures.

[G&G]

On March 23, 2019 at 4:46 PM, DocJohnB said:

When you see him next, please tell him Jack from the Panama Canal cruise says hello and wishes him well.

 

Just saw him this am. Remembers you and says hello.

[Loreto]

Seamist, thank you for your fantastic reports and pictures!  This cruise is on my list for next year and hopefully we will be able to go.  Being from SO California is a plus for us.  Keep the reports coming, they are appreciated!

Karen

[seamist]

Today is our last port.....Nuku Hiva.  What a great day!  I was not sure once again.  Went to a port talk last evening, as well as the evening entertainment, and we were warned by both the Captain and the Cruise Director and Staff, NOT TO GO SWIMMING!  SHARKS!!  When I hear shark, don’t go in, I say to myself, “Aye Aye, Cap’n”.  I got on the net and looked it up and sure enough, the waters around Nuku Hiva are a breeding ground for Hammerheads and safety cannot be guaranteed, you swim at your own risk.  😬😬😬. Yikes.  So we stayed out of the water on this one!  I knew it was a wise decision when on the tender ride in I saw several dorsal fins sticking out of the water swimming by.

 

Instead since I break out in a rash with insect repellent, and not wanting to get too terribly bitten, we did not go into the interior on any excursion.  Rather, we walked around the town and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  We thought the shopping here was the best we’d seen (other than pearls of course).  But, the wood carvings were absolutely fabulous and we bought 3 (see pics below).  And the Notre Dame Cathedral is a must see.  You walk straight out of town, it lies between 2 bridges, if you pass the 2nd bridge you’ve gone too far.  Just past the first bridge there is a road to the right that you will take and there is a sign that says Cathedral.  Just past the road and 2nd bridge is an area, sort of a mini archeological site that has some interesting old stone carvings worth a look see.

 

It did rain on us off and on but today I came prepared.....umbrella!!  But boy talk about hot and muggy.  I would also say this is not a port easily done for the mobility challenged and they did mention that last night at the port talk.  There is no public transportation - you walk everywhere - or take one of the few tours available.  On the upside - like Papeete - they love U.S. dollars so for the entire trip we never once needed to exchange our money into the French Polynesian frank.  The next few pictures are our fascinating day in the Marquesas.  

 

Now we head back to San Diego for 6 days.  Will continue to post menus and what not for any who might be interested.

[kazu]

Oh my heavens!  Your last port!  How did the time slip away?

 

Hope you have very smooth seas on your way back to San Diego and lovely weather. 

[seamist]

[seamist]

[seamist]

Activities onboard today:

[cruzin4us]

OMG, I love your wood stingray!!!   

 

Your pics have made me start looking for a cruise just like yours out of SD.   No airfare makes it much more doable for use.   Question, what's your gut telling you about getting an inside cabin?   Should we suck it up and get a balcony or go on the cheap and hope for an upgrade?

 

I have enjoyed following your journey.   I will have something to talk about with my parents when they get back too.

 

[seamist]

3 minutes ago, cruzin4us said:

OMG, I love your wood stingray!!!   

 

Your pics have made me start looking for a cruise just like yours out of SD.   No airfare makes it much more doable for use.   Question, what's your gut telling you about getting an inside cabin?   Should we suck it up and get a balcony or go on the cheap and hope for an upgrade?

 

I have enjoyed following your journey.   I will have something to talk about with my parents when they get back too.

 

Loved that stingray myself😁 hee hee. In the future on any Signature class or Pinnacle class ships we will no longer do any gty’s.  We did this one and actually got a lower grade cabin sad to say.  They didn’t consider it lower grade as it was supposedly a “better location”.  But what they put us in was the ridiculously small insides only found on those 2 classes that everybody hates because they are too small!

  

The verandahs on these 2 classes are bigger than our small inside but bear in mind they are going to be smaller than verandahs on the vista, R or S class ships.  What we are going to do is take the advice of the cruise consultant and look at the deck plan, then hand pick any future insides.  You want the ones that are “horizontal” on the deck plan, not ones that go “vertical”. It’s the vertical ones you don’t want.  If you book gty you may well get stuck in one of those like we did.

 

We are going to book another cruise tomorrow (Mediterranean on New Statendam) and looking at that deck plan is priority #1!

[tpwolfe]

1 hour ago, seamist said:

Loved that stingray myself😁 hee hee. In the future on any Signature class or Pinnacle class ships we will no longer do any gty’s.  We did this one and actually got a lower grade cabin sad to say.  They didn’t consider it lower grade as it was supposedly a “better location”.  But what they put us in was the ridiculously small insides only found on those 2 classes that everybody hates because they are too small!

  

The verandahs on these 2 classes are bigger than our small inside but bear in mind they are going to be smaller than verandahs on the vista, R or S class ships.  What we are going to do is take the advice of the cruise consultant and look at the deck plan, then hand pick any future insides.  You want the ones that are “horizontal” on the deck plan, not ones that go “vertical”. It’s the vertical ones you don’t want.  If you book gty you may well get stuck in one of those like we did.

 

We are going to book another cruise tomorrow (Mediterranean on New Statendam) and looking at that deck plan is priority #1!

We are having a discussion on how to say which inside cabin to pick.  Here’s my take If you look at the deck plan you want the inside cabin that are the same direction as the outside cabins.  If the inside cabin is pointing from aft to bow you don’t want that cabin it will be very small.  Don’t pick the cabins like the K and L are positioned in this image. They are the ones that are very small.  Hope I didn’t confuse things.

[Lido deck main]

Thank you for all your posts, you all had great weather.  Loved the pictures.  Hope the seas are smooth on your way back to San Diego.  Will keep following, I like looking at the food pictures and the daily activities page.

[Snowesha]

2 hours ago, seamist said:

Loved that stingray myself😁 hee hee. In the future on any Signature class or Pinnacle class ships we will no longer do any gty’s.  We did this one and actually got a lower grade cabin sad to say.  They didn’t consider it lower grade as it was supposedly a “better location”.  But what they put us in was the ridiculously small insides only found on those 2 classes that everybody hates because they are too small!

  

The verandahs on these 2 classes are bigger than our small inside but bear in mind they are going to be smaller than verandahs on the vista, R or S class ships.  What we are going to do is take the advice of the cruise consultant and look at the deck plan, then hand pick any future insides.  You want the ones that are “horizontal” on the deck plan, not ones that go “vertical”. It’s the vertical ones you don’t want.  If you book gty you may well get stuck in one of those like we did.

 

We are going to book another cruise tomorrow (Mediterranean on New Statendam) and looking at that deck plan is priority #1!

I'm with you on the gty's; never again. I ended up with a decent cabin but gave up my Explore 4 to do so. I've learned my lesson! Take good care of the ship, I'm  very excited to board her when you return to San Diego next Saturday! Perhaps we will pass each other in San Diego. Thank you so much! I have thoroughly enjoyed your review and look forward to it every evening!

[seamist]

1 hour ago, Snowesha said:

I'm with you on the gty's; never again. I ended up with a decent cabin but gave up my Explore 4 to do so. I've learned my lesson! Take good care of the ship, I'm  very excited to board her when you return to San Diego next Saturday! Perhaps we will pass each other in San Diego. Thank you so much! I have thoroughly enjoyed your review and look forward to it every evening!

You are welcome!  Have a great trip!!

[seamist]

We have departed Nuku Hiva and are now returning to San Diego.  Tonight’s menu and pics: