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Here are some photos from the Brando Resort. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Right now we are on our way to the Cook Islands where we will do some snorkeling and hope to have some great photos to share. BTW for others that aren’t buffet lovers, the MDR was open today for lunch because it was a sea day. There were at least 20 tables occupied when we left so that was good news. Service today’s lunch much better and very relaxed with both restaurants open.

I will be posting photos of Brando eventually. In the meantime some information on the cruise. We left Papeete Sunday evening. There was a briefing following the muster drill introducing the expedition staff, and the next days activities. Things were a bit disorganized in that they wanted to know why nobody had signed up for the three offerings. It turned out they had just been posted on the source app minutes earlier and nobody was aware. it appears we need to keep an eye on the app as various activities will be posted day by day as we go along. We unpacked and had sushi for dinner in the club. We had been spoiled with good food at Brando so a light dinner was all we needed. Ra’iatea, and Moto Ofetaro, French Polynesia: The original plan was we would stop in the main town in the morning for an included complimentary visit to ancient ruins, and the afternoon we’d go to a moth for snorkeling. Unfortunately that plan changed and we were going to stay at the pier in town and could sign up for one of two optional paid snorkeling trips. All three tours were in the morning so you had to choose one. We chose to pay for the drift snorkeling which sounded wonderful. Unfortunately due to weather both snorkeling trips were canceled. The trip to the ruins went ahead but was sold out so we stayed on the ship and finished getting organized. They did put on an afternoon repeat of the morning trip at the last minute but by the time we heard about it, that was also full so we walked around the town and called it a day. We had caviar and champagne in our room ( a lovely signature suite in the rear of the ship - our favorite location on any ship as we love to watch the wake), and had dinner in the MDR. I had lobster and my husband beef Wellington. Both were pretty good! today is a sea day but full of mandatory briefings on snorkeling, kayaking, submarine, and we will find out what the activities will be tomorrow in the Cook Islands. I did a sneak peek on my app and they are listed so since things seem to sell out the minute they are posted I signed us up for snorkeling. I am a bit surprised that since many of these things are what I found on the internet before the trip started, are offered by third parties, and activities offered by not only other expedition ships but also regular ships as well that they can’t post them in advance. Some are paid and some are free. I understand this is an expedition but many of these stops are not unique to Seabourn or even to an expedition ship so I’d recommend that they be posted far in advance, and ,Ike on other ships may be canceled due to weather, but it would help minimize the mad scramble at the last minute to sign up which appears will be the process on this trip. Anyway the ship is beautiful but it seems a bit understaffed in the dining venues. Why they don’t open the MDR at lunch is a mystery. The colunmade was jammed at lunch and quite honestly I don’t care at all for buffets. There were very few menu options and I just don’t like eating in a cafeteria when spending $$ on a luxury vacation. But I guess most others are fine with it as it’s crowded!

Getting ready to leave Brando for an another overnight at the intercontinental in Tahiti, boarding the pursuit tomorrow. The stay here has been fantastic. A few glitches but all handled well and nothing concerning. The snorkeling has been fair to good but we are spoiled having snorkeled and gone diving in past years in some of the best spots in the world. Most people we’ve spoken to are very happy with the snorkeling here. It is nice if staying on the turtle bay side of the island that you can walk right out of your villa to the beach put on your mask and go! To be fair yesterday was quite windy and the visibility was not as good as the previous days and the current was quite strong which is why I say fair to good as the first two days were good and didn’t even need fins just reef shoes to enter the water. My husband took some photos of the villa and the fish which I’ll post later today or tonight after our flight to Papeete. Cruise posts to start once we board and get going! Very excited to get on Pursuit! First stop is another island in French Polynesia we haven’t been to and we are hoping for some more snorkeling there!

Will fill you in. We are in French Polynesia now at the Brando resort and will be boarding Sunday. If you look on the Silversea website you can find many of the activities in some of these ports. I realize weather and tides can cause some cancellations but shame on Seabourn for not publishing some of them. We get it in Antarctica but not all of these ports some of which Seabourn has visited in the past on their bigger ships. . I posted somewhere on this site what I from of the head of destinations but all were maybes. My husband is a big WW2 buff and didn’t want to miss certain things so we booked a private tour in Honaria ( Guadalcanal) and just today found a post on roll calls with a private tour company in Rabaul another place where he has specific things he’d like to see. We love snorkeling, used to dive but haven’t in 4 years so didn’t meet their requirements, will do the submarine but want to do more. Destinations told me repeatedly some would be posted before the cruise but as of yesterday nothing. I am going to periodically post so see my start Papeete to Guam. So far only talking about the Nrando where we have 5 nights pre cruise but will start on the cruise as we get going. I likely won’t post every day as I’m involved with a number of tech cos and will need to work a couple of hours a day but will post as much as I can!

My husband and I left San Francisco on Tuesday, April 9th and flew nonstop to Papeete, Tahiti. So nice to have a nonstop. On past trips by land we used to have to connect through LAX so this was a great improvement. Flight was full on a Tuesday so french Polynesia is clearly becoming a popular destination. As we arrived after dark at 7:00pm we could not get to Brando Resort on the private island of Tetiaroa until the next day. Therefore we spent the night at the Intercontinental which we had stayed in overnight in past trips here where we couldn’t fly to other islands to the next day. We stayed in an overwater bungalow and had a lovely dinner at Le Lotus restaurant ( French Polynesian), the fine dining experience at the hotel. I took no photos so alas I don’t have those to share. We were impressed with the food and the service was friendly tropics style - a bit slow and laid back but always with a smile. Although we were a bit tired and hungry it didn’t bother us at all. The next morning we lounged around our bungalow, had a nice room service breakfast on our deck and enjoyed the view. At 1:00 we were off to the private airport to take the resort’s plane to Brando resort. Air Tetiaroa has a very nice lounge where we were able to relax before boarding our flight. The flight had only 3 other people on it so it was quite nice. Twenty minutes later we arrived at Brando. We were greeted by two Tahitian women playing some music and singing. We were picked up in a golf cart and given a tour of the facilities. Then we were taken to our villa ( the island has about 30 villas spread out) where we registered while drinking a glass of fresh fruit juice. A bottle of champagne was also waiting for us which we drank later that evening at sunset. The villas are beautiful, spacious and has all the modern amenities. A large bedroom and bathroom with two sinks, walk in shower and outdoor bathtub. There is a living room and a third media room with a desk set up for working and a very large screen tv. ( we’ve used the desk as we both are doing some remote work but haven’t turned on the tv). The outside area has a large nicely furnished patio, a small infinity pool, and an open air gazebo for eating meals if you want room service outdoors,. You also have your own beach area where you can just walk out and snorkel. I’d rate the snorkeling a B but then we’ve had some amazing snorkeling and diving experiences in our life so may not be the best judge. Each room comes with two bikes which you can use to get around the island which is quite spread out but you can also ask for a pick up in a golf cart. Or alternatively you can walk although some of the villas are far from the main restaurant and activity area. We are not far from the main area so it’s an easy walk now that we know where we are going. There are two areas for villas - Mermaid Bay which has beautiful soft sand and no rocks or coral so a nice swimming beach with a sunrise view. Turtle bay where we are has gorgeous sunset views and it’s ideal if you want to snorkel. But the beach is a bit pebbly and there is lots of coral so bring reef shoes and you will be fine. We asked for this location as we prefer the sunset view and love to snorkel which we’ve been doing twice a day. There are many activities on the island such as snorkel trips to an outside reef, diving, nature hikes, etc and a lovely spa. We have not taken advantage of these as we know we will have lots of activities on the ship. We are only here a few days so have enjoyed chilling out and relaxing before our cruise. The food by the way has been excellent. There are three restaurants - a casual Beach restaurant that is open all day with both indoor and outdoor space. It is casual but offers some very upscale dishes as well as your typical sandwiches and salads. There is a Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant where we had dinner our first night. It wasn’t the quality you’d receive in Japan but it was very good and a nice change of pace. We enjoyed it and met some nice people as it’s a small tab,e you sit around while watching the chef cook. Last night we had dinner in their French restaurant which was fabulous. We did the tasting menu with a wine pairing ( wine pairings can be average wines but these were good, not premier cru but very good French wines that went well with the food). You also can order a la carte. We have had room service breakfast and lunch so far each day in our gazebo. Food has been served hot and delicious. Service has been very good and the place is just wonderful! I haven’t taken a lot of photos but will do so today and my husband took some when we first arrived so I will try to post those later. Needless to say I highly recommend this resort. This is all for now! One more night here, next night on Papeete again and we board the Pursuit on Sunday!

Thanks for this wonderful blog. Loved seeing the photos and the write up.

I will try to update as much as possible. I’m gong to be working part time while on the cruise so may not be as frequent ( and top notch) as others but will try to update as much as possible. I know you (HPD) also asked about Brando. Assuming no travel glitches we will be there next Wednesday evening and will report before we leave Saturday!

Although still no excursions published online on Seabourn, in addition to my previous post #11 on this message string is what I’ve learned through persistence. Please note this was prefaced with these are ideas and not confirmed even though departing April 14. On the Papeete to Honaria leg the previously “ maybe “ excursions are still not confirmed. you can sign up for submarine, kayak, or scuba diving but they will let you know when on board when this will happen. See post #11 in this string. The second leg from Honaria to Guam also doesn’t have daily excursions published. But you can sign up for Kayak or submarine. Currently I don’t see diving as an option on this leg but will update if it becomes available. The possible ( not confirmed excursions) include: Honaria - Guadalcanal WW2 sites ( we have a private tour booked in case Seabourn doesn’t offer on the first day of an overnight). highlight for my husband so a must do even if Seabourn doesn’t offer. Ghizo island: snorkeling Buka, Bougainville: PNG: visit to school and local community. Parts of this island are on the State Dept do not go list so we will see if this stop happens. Rabaul: another WW2 highlight for my husband. Visit some WW2 sites, Baining fire dance in the Evening. ( HPD, checked out your comments on your trip and if the description you shared on the fire dance logistics is the same we might skip this and focus on the day visits to the WW2 sites should the cruise go ahead with this program which we hope. Kavjeng: visit ashore to meet locals, snorkeling Rambutyo Island: visit ashore, possible welcome dance snorkeling Ponam Island: WW2 airbase and snorkeling Oroluk Atoll, Micronesia: village visit, hikes, snorkeling Chuuk, Micronesia: WW2 sites, snorkeling After my persistent outreach to destination services I received this but was told none of these are confirmed and that is why they haven’t published. These are ideas they are working on, I was told we will not be given this on board except through lectures the night before each stop and can decide then which activity we’d like to do. i understand things can change but it would be nice if they could publish some of this online as SS and Ponant for example seem to have done for many of their ports. Regarding diving and snorkeling here is what I understand: they will have masks, fins, snorkels, weight belts with weights and tanks onboard. All other equipment we need to bring. We no longer dive despite doing so for many years so we are brining our own masks and snorkels, as well as skins and in my case a light short 1mm wetsuit as I can get cold even in tropical waters! And booties in case have to do a beach snorkel which requires walking over coral. We are not bringing fins and hope that we can use those on board. I hope this helps somewhat. I’ll report more once on board.

Ponant not Penang! Auto correct😎

Thank you for the review. We leave for our first Pursuit cruise next week. 30 days from Papeete to Guam. We have done some cruising but more travel by land. Most of our cruises have been on Seabourn which we have enjoyed - Antarctica, Greenland ( both on the Quest) and a few others. This will be our first on the new expedition ships although two of our previous cruises ( pre Covid) were expedition on the Quest. We don’t care about the entertainment so that’s not a big deal. We do care about the food, we don’t expect Michelin star food but have usually been able to find things we like on the menus and have also ordered some good special meals in the past. We have never been fans of the Columnade as it’s very much a cafeteria atmosphere and I’ve never cared for buffets and the theme menus we have on occasion tried were poor. We also prefer to eat a bit later so the dining situation doesn’t sound ideal. That’s too bad. If they have overflow in the MDR why wouldn’t they on such a small ship allow people to sit in the other restaurant or outside and order from the MDR if they would like? That seems like it could be a natural adjustment even if the atmosphere is poor. Warm weather cruise could be nice to eat outside but not the themed typical colunmade dinners. Anyway good to know and will be prepared to have relatively low expectations on dinner which is a shame given it’s supposed to be luxury! Zodiacs we expected but no shore excursions other than submarine and kayak have been published. I realize in places like Antarctica that makes sense but competitors like Silversea and Penang have their excursions published in this part of the world for even browsers to see. Because my husband is a WW 2 buff and has certain things he really wants to see we have arranged a few private tours in advance ( all cash when you arrive and can cancel in advance). So that has been disappointing. I know it’s new to Seabourn but the tour options seem pretty std on other lines and it would be nice to plan. I am told by Seabourn we won’t know anything til the night before each day. Again made sense in Antarctica but even on our Greenland trip on quest in 2018 they had excursions published in advance. I know things can change based on weather, etc but if other lines can do it for their expeditions in this area Seabourn at their pricing and luxury advertising should be able to do the same. Despite all of this we are very excited to go on this trip and will “ go with the flow” and have a positive attitude once we get on board! Thank you again for the review, I will write one as well after our trip and if time along the way.

Londolozi one of my favorite safari lodges and a great place to see leopard. Next door at Singita nice too. I’m really enjoying your photos and missing South Africa!

When staying on the 6th floor in an aft suite (SS in the corner) there was a lot of vibration and some noise. We loved the room and especially the wrap around deck bit not the vibration and noise. On a later we stayed in the same suite on a higher floor and was not a problem but the wrap around corner deck was not as spacious. There was some vibration but it didn’t bother us and no noise issues. To be transparent this was pre Covid not recently.

Thank you Terry for sharing your trip and great photos. I enjoyed reading about your voyage. I have spent a lot of time in India, Singapore and Japan for business and by land but next time I think I’ll do a cruise! Thank you for sharing!

Thank you so much for taking the time to share! It looks like you had an amazing journey!

I am a Californian who spent 3 years living and working in London. We absolutely loved it. We took advantage of all London had to offer but also spent many weekends and holidays away in the country and traveling all around the UK. since moving back to San Francisco we visited every year until Covid. Now we really miss it and are returning in Sept. we will spend a few days in London and then do a similar cruise around the Uk. We love the idea of going to smaller seaside villages that for the most part we haven’t seen. We are also adding on another week in London on the back end. Depending on your interest why not spend time in London before and/ or after to see the wonderful sights, enjoy the great restaurants ( London has great food), see a show, and even take a couple of day trips out of the city. It can all be done with the cruise which would give you the opportunity to see the city and many wonderful smaller villages ( some of which have access to some great historic sights if you choose to venture outside the port). Just MHO. Whatever you choose I’m sure you will enjoy it!

We did the Bears of Anna in late July of 2018. It was a hike to the river area and we saw lots of bears catching salmon by mouth. It was truly a great experience from Wrangel

Nice wines - especially the desert wine! And the food looks good too.

We are not on the Santiago toPapeete leg. We hpget on in Papeete and go through to Guam. i received the information after calling the general Seabourn number several times. The first few times they insisted it would eventually be published. Then I got an agent who said we wouldn’t know til we got on board. Eventually a gentleman answered and said he’d follow-up. I must admit I doubted I’d hear back but about 3 hours later he got back to me with a little bit of what “might” be available. Destination services I had called several times over the last few months and they didn’t help at all. so for your first leg I have no information but if you are persistent in calling back and insistent you might be lucky and get someone who will hunt it down for you. in Papeete I don’t know what they are offering as we board there after 5 nights at the Brando - a private island resort. Here is what else is “maybe” on offer ( it was all prefaced with “ to be confirmed” Ra’tea: snorkeling and scuba diving, visit to cultural site. Cook Islands: lagoon tour with snorkeling, cultural excursion Niue: snorkeling and diving, island tour, hike, garden tour Optional with cost - golf, fishing, forest tour, vanilla tour Samoa: Cultural Center visit, rainforest hike with snorkeling optional with cost: mountain biking, cooking, hike to waterfall Tonga: snorkeling and diving, cultural program, botanical gardens Fiji: village visits, snorkeling and diving Ambryn, Vanuatu: ROM Dance Pentacost, Vanuatu land diving ritual Honaria : potential WW2 tour I know this isn’t much but more than I had before. Hopefully you can get some info on your first leg. I was told they will gather everyone the night before and tell the, what is planned and if choices one can sign up after the lecture. I understand this for some of the remote locations, but some of these ports are regularly traveled by not only expedition ships but also larger ships like Sojourn. So it’s better than nothing but still pretty vague.

Well, I tried calling Seabourn again yesterday. After 3 attempts talking to different people in destinations and concierges I finally got someone that helped. ( it’s like calling the airlines, hang up and keep calling back til you find someone who will help). This person said he’d look into it and get back to me. Given my experience calling them about various matters the past year I thought well at least he agreed to look into it and maybe I’ll get a call back. I was tired of trying so went back to working. About 4 hours later lo and behold I received an email! Not advertising but a rough list of potential included and paid excursions that “ might” take place along with a sentence stating that private tours were not advised on expedition trips even when visiting more traditional ports not dependent on zodiacs. So the good news is we have an idea of what may transpire on the trip and it looks good and inline with what other expedition cruises offer in the more remote and traditional South Pacific ports. However since it was not included as an option I will book a private tour in Honaria ( Guadalcanal) as we will be there two days, docked as some passengers leave the ship and others arrive. Thank you for the feedback and it seems like getting the correct visa information, getting unposted excursion information takes a lot of persistence and the luck of finding someone who will find the answers. Not exactly what I’d call luxury service, but hopefully as some of these newer ports become more familiar it won’t be so difficult to get the right information. And big kudos to the guy that finally did help and get back to me! He gave me a completely different positive experience.

I agree that in places like Antarctica it makes sense to not have set expeditions. We have been there with Seabourn and it worked well. However some of the ports we are visiting have historical sights we would like to see. Other expedition lines ( SS and others for example) have published “ included” expeditions and extra charge expeditions in many of these ports. We are happy to do zodiacs, snorkeling, submarine, kayak, etc but don’t want to miss out on things like Guadalcanal sightseeing, many of the sights in Rabaul, etc. So we are starting to book some private tours where there are sites we want to see. We know the difference between classic and expedition cruises but other lines do publish expeditions in the ports where it makes sense and there are a number of them on our trip. Anyway we will book a few private and go with the flow on others. I just find it odd when we are spending two days in Guadalcanal ( Honaria) for example there is nothing scheduled.

Thank you for these wonderful photos! We had such a perfect trip to Antarctica and South Georgia on Seabourn Quest a number of years ago that we thought we’d never go back. But you are tempting me. I think we might have to give it another go on an expedition ship!

Thank you for your response @sfovoyage. I have called and emailed guest services to no avail. I’ve talked to destination services as well. The answer is right now there are only submarine and kayak excursions available despite the voyage leaving April 14th 2024 - less than two months away. I guess the issue is some of the ports are new to Seabourn. So I guess we just have to go with the flow. I find it a bit strange as some of their competitors that do this part of the world on expedition cruises have their “free” and paid excursions listed even for those of us who have not booked. So I am using those sites to determine our options and in some cases am now looking into private excursions. They did tell me there would be snorkeling opportunities which we are happy to hear and diving as well but were unsure in which locations. I do understand that is weather and seas dependent but I would think given the pricing they would have some more information available.

We leave April 14th 2024. I would not be concerned at all if 2025. It’s now less than 2 months away.

Our 30 day cruise from Papeete to Guam on Pursuit starts on April 9th and no excursions are listed except for submarine and kayak on Day 1. I have called Seabourn as has my TA to ask and nobody seems to know anything. I understand it is expedition but it’s not Antarctica. I would hope they would publish something soon as some of the ports have various things to see and do besides kayaking and the submarine which are both at a high cost. We will likely do them both once on the trip and hope to do some snorkeling. I am about to give up so I did find a local tour company in Honaria, Guadalcanal and will likely book with them as we are there overnight and my husband really wants to see the old WW2 things. I’m so surprised Seabourn has nothing posted. There are some places that are very remote but there are some with things we’d like to see and do so I’m now looking for private options since there is nothing posted. I can find ideas on other cruise lines that travel by expedition in these areas and have their tours posted to the public. I realize some of the ports are new to Seabourn but some are on the bigger ship South Pacific trips as well. If anyone has any ideas of who to reach at Seabourn I’d love to know a name!

Lots of great restaurants in Capetown. Fyn is a particular favorite ( Japanese fusion with South African), La Columbe ( near the vineyards in the constancia area), and Salsify. if you like Indian there is Thali and Bombay Brasserie. And many more great restaurants. I suggest emailing ahead for reservations. Have a great trip! Capetown is one of my favorite cities and loved our trip to Antarctica.