cdastager

Strenz - 

We are scheduled to depart 1/22 - Can you tell me - you tested positive, were you quarantined? Or were you still able to participate in shore excursions, dine in public, etc?

Thanks everyone!

Appreciate all your responses to my question.

Looking forward to our cruise in a couple days. When back in town, I'll be sure to post 'must do's' for all concerned ;-)

Hello all!

We are heading to Tahiti in a few short days for the March 1st sailing - can hardly wait!

My question is for those who have sailed on the Spirit... is there snorkel equipment available? We have our own mask & snorkel, but wondered if fins are available at the Sports Platform?

Just don't want to have to pack extra weight if we don't have to...

You are very welcome, cdastager! FYI, the Taha'a drift snorkel you would be doing via jet ski is the same one you'd be doing if you took the morning drift snorkel excursion with Windstar on Taha'a day. You'll be missing a pilgrimage to Marae Taputapuatea on Raiatea day, but the advantage is that you would then be able to do a different Taha'a tour on Taha'a day, i.e., the vanilla plantation, etc. We do kind of regret not having done that, since we had wanted to visit a vanilla plantation and had no other chance after missing the opportunity on Taha'a. If you can get vanilla beans for $5 per bean, buy them there. Otherwise, just buy them at the agriculture school on Moorea, where they are $5 per bean. That's even cheaper than the public market in Papeete. Slice the bean open lengthwise and use a knife to scrape the vanilla caviar into the granulated sugar that you are using for your recipe (I love using them in vanilla pudding).

Great recommends again! I've bought a vanilla bean in Hawaii and they recommend slicing it, scrape the caviar and put all in a small bottle of rum - voila - your very own vanilla extract. As you use the extract, keep refilling with rum for a never ending (sort of) supply of awesome vanilla extract.

Our jet ski tour is a private deal, and were told they will take us where ever we would like to go. Maybe we can ask about the Marae Taputapuatea site... My main reason for booking a full day jet ski, private tour, was to get to some awesome snorkel sites. Many moons ago we were on our own sailing yacht in the islands and had the opportunity to visit some very pristine snorkel sites and I am trying to re-create some of those adventures. Looking forward to seeing it all!!!

I did this cruise 2016 and I did some dives booking with the ship and some dives with Topdive where Windspirit did not offer any scuba dives. in retrospect Windspirit used Topdive and it could have been cheaper to get their golden pass not sure how this works with the "cruise ship control" of excursions where you can't book directly with the vendor. I'm not sure how this is doesn't seem to go against freedom of choice laws but maybe outside the USA but if you wanted to have 10 dives there should be some price break even using the ship as the middle man. That being said the dives were fantastic and I enjoyed each and every one and would do them all over again, I did a total of 11 dives over all the islands and snorkeled where I there wasn't any option to dive either with the ship or outside vendors. The one must do excursion my wife enjoyed was going out with the professional photographer learning more about how to take pictures with our Cannon SLR need to sign up very early for this one as there are only limited openings, and the diving for your own oyster and seeing what pearl was inside, hers was an amazing pearl with wonderful color, luster and over 12 mm. Some of the island tours tended to be basically the same even though they were on different islands, there is only so many pearl farms and so many vanilla / coconut plantations explanations. I hope this helps

Can you tell me which island you did the 'dive for your own pearl'? And if you booked thru WS or an outside provider?

Thanks in advance!

I know on the 2 cruises we have sailed we were only able to re-book Candles once. And that was due to some really rough weather - most passengers were staying in their cabins. We scored the second night at Candles due to so many cancels. If your cruise isn't fully booked, it's possible to get a second night at Candles - which I highly recommend, their food is wonderful.

Aita pea pea....no problem!! Have a wonderful time!

Is that the correct spelling? Never knew how to spell it - came across it while on Rarotonga many many moons ago by a couple islanders with the infamous names of - Baby Doll, Rum Rum, and Gin Gin. Baby Doll fell in love with my brother and jumped in the harbor to get on our boat to get to him - she almost drowned as she was a wee bit hungover from the night before... long story, but pretty funny!

Vlaurend -

Awesome recommends! We are headed to Tahiti March 1st and I'm busy scooping up any and all recommendations I can. Yours have been extremely helpful - Thank You!

This will be our 3rd WS cruise so we know what a great on board experience we are in for!

I've already secured a private jet ski for the day we are on Raiatea - headed to Taha'a to check out the reef over by the Taha'a Resort (which I believe is near where the reef drift excursions go?). My experience with a 'drift' tour has been a working one - many many years ago my family was on a sail boat in the South Pacific and we would have to scrub the hull of the boat from front to back utilizing the current - not quite an enjoyable reef drift, but ya know, still unique!

Your Bora Bora insights are terrific - I plan on heading to the motu prior to the evening BBQ to enjoy the island before the majority of my cruise-mates get there. I just love 'inside' information like this!

We will head back to Moorea after the cruise for a couple days - any insights while there? We will be at the Hilton Moorea.