MARINA/French Polynesia Mar 4-19,2018 REVIEW w/lots of photos

[Hoopster95]

We followed the same route we took yesterday on the private tour.... well duh... it's the only road on the entire island!!! lol.

Thankfully we had a much nicer day weather wise today. So same as yesterday, the port area was jam packed with a stack of 4x4 vehicles bumper to bumper.... many private and many of Temarama's fleet with the logo on the truck. He announced that we finally needed to get going else we'd lose too much time so we all hopped into all the various trucks. I was lucky to have chosen Richard's own vehicle he was driving so we were always the first vehicle ahead of the pack. Off we went convoy style.

 

 

You'll find along the way many "wild" (or simply un-tied) horses all over the island

 

 

We arrived at our first viewpoint directly overlooking Taiohae Bay and both ships in port. At approximately the 8pm position of the bay is the tender pier. On the right you can see one of the many zig-zag switch backs all over the island that lead up into the mountains and viewpoints. At the farthest right of the bay as the road ends is the Nuku Hiva Pearl Lodge, and the beginning of a trail head that leads over the crest to Colette Bay and the beach where Survivor held challenges as well as Tribal Council. Our cruise buddies Shelley and Gary made it over there on this morning, the only ones that I know of to attempt and try to get over there!!! Like yesterday's adventure to Anaho Bay, they were totally alone there and back... very cool adventure.

 

 

Next stop was another viewpoint which we had stopped at yesterday, the Taipivai Valley and Controller Bay. Again, this area heavily used by Survivor season 4. Richard was not boring whatsoever, superb information at all of our stops that was really interesting and useful real life stuff

 

 

 

Time to hop in and get going

 

[Hoopster95]

Pictures don't tell the story properly of how beautiful it is to be watching the lush scenery roll by. Pictures also don;t tell you how bumpy the roads are back there in the 4x4!! Seriously, if you do have back issues or any other issues where jarring isn't good for you, make sure you are inside the cab rather than out back. As the truck pitched downhill the uphill, sideways and then around 180 degree hairpins, you're thrown around a little bit back there in those sideways seats.

 

 

With no rain since last night, the waterfalls are a mere trickle in the distance compared to the gallons of water falling yesterday

 

 

I'm going quite quickly and skipping by a few things here for brevity... in time we reached the Teavaitapuhiva Pass with the awesome view down to Hatiheu Bay. I've added some text on the photo here to show you the next parts of the review including the approximate (red oval) location of the archaeological sites, where we had lunch and the museum in hatiheu, as well as the approximate path of our hike yesterday to Anaho Bay.

 

(LOL!! I just did a "preview" of this post to check for any spelling mistakes, grammar, etc and noted to myself that this picturelooks like an internet stock photo.... I assure you it's not. It's from my own camera. Folks, this is what you see with your own eyes here... I use the word "gorgeous" often in this review, however it truly is.)

 

 

The views all the way down are just stunning. I show this picture below just for the road both steepness and width... not much to it. You have to honk at all the corners to ensure no ones coming up at you. Maybe you can picture better our travels yesterday in the deluge rains... any small mistakes, hydroplaning on water, etc and there's no barriers anywhere if you get my drift.

 

 

I'm re-adding the map for yesterday for your convenience to follow along

 

[Hoopster95]

Not far past the pass as we descended into the valley, we arrive to the ceremonial sites that we encountered yesterday on our private tour... this is the Kamuihei Archaeological site. We stopped at the side of the road right by the 1000 year old Banyan tree we quickly passed by but didn't stop at yesterday. As we piled out of the trucks, Richard had motioned for everyone to walk over to the Banyan tree... unbeknownst to us, we didn't need him to urge us over there as we were being called

 

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Richard gave us a short and excellent history lesson about this site. I have seen google images of people stepping up to the Banyan tree, however it is shunned by the locals... like yesterday when I tried to stand up on one of the altar areas, the Marquesans do not want to upset their Gods.... and frankly neither do I!! When this tree was discovered in the late 1800's, it was stacked at least 20 feet high inside the web of branches with skulls of the dead, estimated for over hundred years for the amount they found.... hundreds if not thousands of skulls as this was a sacred site for burial and ceremony.

 

 

Richard also informed us that this was the first season he had set up this Marquesan dance for his tours, and asked us to be generous with our offerings/tips. They performed for about 1/2 hour straight, various rhythms and songs, including more of the "pig" sounding chants as we learned yesterday. It was awesome and very surreal being in that exact spot knowing the history. There was no talking or interruption by Richard at all, they just performed and we enjoyed until they were done.

 

Like the Hawaiian dancers, note the women and their hands.... all their songs and chants are life stories of the Marquesans

Authentic.... rhythmic... intense... awesome!!!

 

 

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[Hoopster95]

There was a further surprise here, as I thought this site was just this Banyan Tree (and the other 2 across and up the street) that make up this site.... not so. We were led past the tree out back and across this very slippery log bridge. We could see more structures ahead.

 

 

Well this site was waaaaaaay bigger than I thought

 

 

Once again Richard went through some of the history and significance of the site. We were not here very long, just enough to walk around a bit and get an understanding

 

 

Look but don't touch! I'm so not as creepy as these guy..... am I??? (Ok, don't answer that)

 

 

Once again showing the significance of the turtle in various French Polynesian cultures, including the Marquesans

 

[Hoopster95]

We've done everything up to this point, including the hour+ drive all in the morning! And now we approached Hatiheu for our lunch stop at the only restaurant here in town over looking Hatiheu Bay across the street.... the only street!

 

 

 

We had passed by here in the rain yesterday, and I did note the general store and restaurant, but so very quickly as we drove by.

This place is set up very well for tourism with many picnic sized tables set up to seat perhaps 100 people.

 

 

Immediately upon entering, GF and I took claim to a couple of seats. I also noted at the back several locals selling their wares. I bee-lined for the wood carvings as a goal on Marquesas was to purchase one of their famous carvings on this trip. I also figured I'd do very well perhaps buying in a remote spot with a story to tell rather than in a large "tourist trap" type of market.... turned out I was right. I posted carved knife story a page or two ago... it was here in Hatiheu where I purchase it. The woman who was at the table with her daughter was the dancer/chanter at the Banyan tree at the farthest right! We had a nice chat in broken French/English mixed. Later I saw knives which were smaller priced the same, so i think I did well with my 5000xpf purchase. The carved heads were 2000-2500xpf here... I saw them later priced at 3000-4000.

 

 

The restaurant had several large and very informative hangings on the wall with various timelines in Marquesan history, various historical photographs of the area from years ago, etc. Definitely worth a look to walk around the place rather than just lazily sit without exploring or speaking with the locals.

 

 

There were about 10 lunch choices, from goat, curried shrimp, poisson cru, shrimps/prawns, etc... all quite expensive for you got at about 2500-3000xpf average. Nonetheless you're out there in the middle of nowhere, there are not any other choices. While it didn't look like dinner from Polo Grill, it was delicious nonetheless.

[Hoopster95]

Lunch was perfectly timed... the skies opened and rained heavily for about 1/2 hour as we ate, and was again clear by the time we finished! Lunchtime itself was also perfectly timed, not too long, not too rushed, plenty of time to do a bathroom break, eat, shop the tables, converse with fellow cruisers, etc.... just right.

 

Now it off to the Marquesas museum which was located here in Hatiheu... seriously, we entered a small schoolyard and the museum is out back which looked like a school portable out back

 

 

The museum itself is teeny tiny, at first you think "wow, somewhat embarrassing", but checking my ego at the door after that initial thought it became quite intriguing once Richard began speaking and showing us the various displays.

 

 

I found an excellent resemblance to my recent purchase hanging on the wall.... their carvings are quite specific to shape, size, blade, etc.

 

 

But the history itself of the people was fascinating. Richard spoke of the cannibalism, head hunters, how the tribes were set on the island. He mentioned with his ancestry that he was on enemy soil in Hatiheu.

 

 

Note the body art and headdress, I find intriguing, with definitions of the symbols and placement. They did not have the modern equipment of today for body art... that just had to hurt.

 

 

And I really loved this one.... this was us last night on the Marina Lounge stage doing the bird dance.

 

[Hoopster95]

The museum visit finished it was time to head back to our vehicles parked on the road in front of the restaurant area, and we headed off leaving Hatiheu for the final time

 

 

 

Climbing back up the hill from Hatiheu and within about 5 minutes, we turned into another site... this was the site we did the pig dance yesterday! This site is called Hikokua. Besides the photos I showed yesterday, we only spent about 15 minutes here without a full walk-around. I noted that the horse ride excursion (you can find it on-line) visits this site... I'm assuming everything here within riding range in Hatiheu.

 

 

I took a few more shots that I hadn't yesterday of the various stone carvings. The staff also shared grapefruit (different than North American grapefruit), star fruit and papaya along with juice as a snack to anyone who needed it. Water was available at anytime.

 

 

[Hoopster95]

We were retracing our route up to the Teavaitapuhiva Pass and back down into the Taipivai Valley, where we had passed by a very large complex with a field and several buildings.

 

 

I had thought it was another archaeological site but it wasn't. It was the Marquesan version of a leisure/sports center it seemed. The one building being used as a large flee market type area for the cruiser tourists in port that day. We had stopped there for only that reason. Wow, there was some real beautiful one of kind stuff in here

 

 

 

GF purchased the one-of-a-king oval stone mortar and pestle (front left) from this table. Bring cash... and plenty of it. The artwork and sculptures are not cheap.... not because they are greedy. Everything in FP is very expensive. Research any website about French Polynesia and most all will rave about the fame of the carvings from Marquesas. Personally I regret not buying something else other than my knife (really had my eye on a ukulele here), I regret not bringing it home and I feel would be a museum quality piece worth up to $1000 in a specialty store at home .... 3500xpf (about $400US) here in Taipivai.

 

 

We had one more stop to make before heading back to the tenders, and that was back in Taiohae. Again winding our way all the way back up and passing the viewpoints, then all the way down into town, we turned the corner away from the tender area as we headed to our final stop Notre Dame Cathedral. The famed front entrance to the site is now a facade as a new church was built in 1973. The two bell towers and a section of the wall from the old cathedral were preserved and are now utilized as part of the entrance to the cathedral compound. There's great (and short) on wikipedia about this church

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_Cathedral,_Taiohae

[Hoopster95]

Like all the art and sculptures here in Nuku Hiva, the masterpieces here within the church are phenomenal. Note the pulpit. There are various carvings of significance on the walls all around the interior. The stone baptism basin in the background is one of the few things that was preserved from the original church, circa late 1800's.

 

 

Back outside Richard gave us more info about the church, it's significance with French rule, and how it lasted even after french rule. Since the late nineteenth century, more than 90 percent of Marquesans have become Catholics, most of the remainder being Protestants descended from Hawaiian mission teachers

 

 

This cathedral was the finale of the tour and an amazing day on Nuku Hiva... unfortunately it was time to say good bye as they dropped us off across the street from the tender port where they collected payment

 

 

 

 

Final tender this evening was 5:30pm and we were dropped off approximately 4:45pm.... looooong day, so we were pooped.

Back in our cabin we were able to relax and get ready for the evening, we enjoyed sailaway from our cabin as the Marina spun around to sail straight out of the bay

 

[bennybear]

Wow! Thank you for your excellent review. We are planning a visit in the Fall and we have booked the beach bungalow so you have reassured me that I have made the right choice especially with our Canadian dollar!

 

I really appreciate all the detail! Did you fly via LAX?

[Hoopster95]

For our pre-dinner drink tonight, rather than our usual Grand Bar we opted for Horizons to maybe catch any possible view during sailaway before the sun set, but we had already exited the bay sop it was pretty much open sea all around us as darkness set in. Very quickly we could not see land out the starboard side either. I'm guessing many fellow cruisers had the same idea to come up and enjoy sailaway as all the chairs and tables at the windows were taken.

 

 

Tonight was our second visit to Red Ginger. This night was pre-booked on our Oceania dashboard as one of our 4 allotted reservations. Red Ginger turned out to be our favorite restaurant of the cruise. This is very surprising to me .... in our part of the world, we have a huge Asian population with some of the best varies cuisine of all nationalities available in the world. I eat Asian cuisine weekly, so normally steer clear when on a cruise. However Red Ginger is a "fusion" of many Asian nationalities.

For my RCL friends... way better than Izumi in every aspect.

 

 

Let's get started shall we!!

Seared salmon with scallop ceviche

 

 

Spicy duck and watermelon salad

 

 

The melt in your mouth Tuna Tataki

 

 

Is your mouth watering yet?

[Hoopster95]

Entrees were ridiculously awesome!!!....

 

Red Curry Chicken

 

 

Had to do this one again ... Lobster Pad Thai

 

 

Best surprise of the evening.... Malaysian Beef Penaeng

Served with Roti bread, dipped into the gravy was to die for!!!

 

 

However, once again, the very best dish of the entire cruise was the Miso Glazed Seabass.

You know, people say "melt in your mouth" all the time to describe a dish

Not exaggerating, this was just that... sensational

 

 

Voila! What a great dinner. Wow, were we stuffed... no need for desert on this night. We left very very satisfied

 

 

Tonight was another Broadway show by the Oceania singers and dancers. Having left Red Ginger at about 9:40pm, we were late to arrive, sneaking into one of the back rows to enjoy the remainder of the show. Note that the shows were always 9:30pm start times. Booking any specialty dinner reservation after 8pm and you will surely miss whatever show is scheduled. I feel sorry for those who booked dinner the night previously very late and missed the Marquesan dancers for example.

 

 

On most cruises I really love the nightlife, club atmosphere, comedy, whathaveyou going on around the ship. Truth be told, with the early mornings and very full days ashore, we were just beat. This itinerary roughs you up n the same way port intensive Europe/Med cruises do. With the show being over, rather than stay up for some dancing we decided to hit the sack even though it's a sea day tomorrow. Hopefully a great sleep in and a day of nothing will recharge us.

[Hoopster95]

Wow! Thank you for your excellent review. We are planning a visit in the Fall and we have booked the beach bungalow so you have reassured me that I have made the right choice especially with our Canadian dollar!

 

I really appreciate all the detail! Did you fly via LAX?

 

Hi bennynear. Yes, LAX is pretty much your only choice for now.

Your choices at this time are Air France or Air Tahiti Nui out of LAX, Hawaiian Air once per week only out of Oahu, and supposedly United is starting service from San Fran in November which will really help things a lot imho.

[musicmom3]

Loving your attention to the details of culture and nature as you travel--so much fun to read (and dream of going someday). Looking forward to hearing more adventures!

[ABoatNerd]

Hoopster95 - thank you so much for your time and hard work providing your outstanding trip report to all of us. Your are most gracious!

 

Your trip sounds wonderful and thanks for the details of trips, the ship and the food.

 

We took our first Oceania voyage last September to the Baltic after 15 years with Celebrity - we are hooked on Oceania.

 

Have a safe trip and get home safe

 

ABoatNerd

[GeorgesGal]

Just found your post and am following along. We visited FP on the Marina in Jan/Feb this year, sailing out of Lima, Peru. What a wonderful trip that was, which also included two days on Rana Nui (Easter Island) - yes, we were actually very fortunate to have gotten onto the Island as sea swells make tendering impossible for more than 50 percent of ships scheduled.

 

We really enjoyed all of the islands visited - most of those which you have listed with the exception of Huahini and one other.

 

At the conclusion of our cruise, we opted to 'jump ship' the day before disembarkation (over-nighted in Papeete). We arranged to disembark after a wonderful dinner at 8:30 p.m. for our 11:50 p.m. ATN flight to LA.

This plan worked out beautifully for us - no mob at the airport, no problem getting a cab, our butler walked our luggage off the ship and down to a waiting cab!

 

And by the way, after reading all the negatives about Air Tahiti Nui, we found it very pleasant. Seats quite comfortable, excellent breakfast and friendly flight crew on an almost new Airbus 300!

 

Now, I'll go back to reading more of your review.

[Hoopster95]

Day 9 - at sea

 

OMG!!!!..... a sea day.... it's a sea day! Yes, no schedule, no getting up at 6:30, no tender ticket delays.... none of that.

We woke to a beautiful morning

 

 

When I finally did crawl out of bed to get us our morning ritual Americanos, I decided to head down the hallways of both deck 9 and 10 to get a look at the laundry and concierge areas as I hadn't bothered to look at these yet.

 

 

 

I was surprised to find what I considered a really nice set up with several machines and a mini lounge area with television. I remember reading on other threads that soap is obtain at guest services (I didn't look in the drawers of the cabinets). I also assume the butler in a PH or higher cabin will get some for you.

 

 

 

[Hoopster95]

We had our 2nd art class scheduled today at 10am, so by 9am we got ready for breakfast and headed out for the morning. Walking through the main pool deck I noted the many empty loungers and seats all over the pool area... I was astounded. On Royal Caribbean, the culture is for cruisers to get up at 6am to "reserve" loungers by clipping towels or throwing personal belongings on loungers for the whole day, leaving them unused for the majority. Here, the culture is much more civilized.

 

 

We decided to stop at Waves grill this morning knowing we'd likely be at the Terrace for lunch soon after the art class. Looks busy right?

 

 

We opted for the smoothies and a fresh fruit plate, but all the regular hot options are available as well

 

 

 

Waves also serves lunch, and other friends of ours swear by it... one of them trying a different sandwich each day to sea which ones he likes the best

 

[Hoopster95]

We arrived to the art class with the early keeners already there preparing their plates for the next step. On the first day we applied the forefront... today we apply the background. There plenty of colours to choose from, and you're able to blend them as well. Cassidy, the resident assistant, helped me choose these three as what I felt were the most suitable

 

 

Paint is placed on the pads in front of you, and then rolled only onto the back of the plate. Andre began a few of them as we watched

 

 

 

You can apply a very light almost see through coat, or a very heavy thick coat. Here you can almost see through the plate... so you can apply a different shade of green or another colour altogether once the green is fully dried with the hairdryer.

 

 

I chose to start with the gold

 

[Hoopster95]

GF needed help with fine tuning her plate as she copied one of our photos from Bora Bora on the outriggers

 

 

 

You can see how translucent the gold backing is on my plate as we dry the various coats

 

 

I applied a second colour, the powder blue. This is where I was done... I would leave my plate as is and see where it would go! I was drying it beside a fellow cruiser... you can do many things such as roll a backing onto only portion of the plate... whatever you come up with artistically is open game. There were many great ideas which I will show you ion the final day when we picked them up.

 

[Hoopster95]

Cleaning up after art class, we called our best buddies to meet them for lunch up at the Terrace. Lo and behold it was a theme lunch.. Italian! And what a great lunch it was, serving all the staple Italian goodies including bocconcini and tomato, various grilled veggies (eggplant/peppers), olive tapenade, bruschetta... you name it. I also noted the lasagna and other Italian goodies.

However as we lined up at the grill, they had set that up as a fresh pasta station for lunch

 

 

Does Oceania serve you pre-cooked, dry pasta brought on board from a supplier and pass it off to you as "fresh"?

Here's the answer

 

 

 

Fresh parmesan anyone? And the best part... my favourite... you can grab little chunks out of here too!!!

 

 

Not only did they have fresh tagliatelle pasta served with a bolognese sauce, as I moved down the line there was what I thought a risotto station... no one was ordering. I asked the chef behind the counter if risotto was being served and it was! From scratch he started a batch. As he stirred and poured the liquid as it thickened, I asked him what the liquid was... it was in fact stock, yep, freshly made on board (not from boxes). YUM YUM YUM... fresh pasta and fresh risotto. For my RCLs friends following along, I really hate to say this, but the risotto was better than any sampling I've had from Giovanni's specialty... this was the real McCoy and super good, easily could be served in specialty venues (with better presentation of course)

 

[Hoopster95]

But wasn't all... mini tiramisu's in a glass and cannoli's were amongst the desert offerings. Very delicious deserts.

 

 

All the while enjoying the superb aft views and great weather we're having today

 

 

 

We left our cruise buddies to go get changed... we would be meeting up with them again shortly. In the meantime we stopped at the Pool Bar for drinks. I would have to say the two times we had a drink at the pool bar they weren't as tasty as the other bars around the ship.

 

 

Sitting on one of the stools at the Pool bar, it's here I again noted the pool deck a second time... the pool deck was now busier as we are in prime time on the final sea day. Most loungers on the pool deck itself were used but it looked to me many on top deck were not. Note the foot traffic and space on deck even though this is the very busiest I've seen the pool deck.

 

[Hoopster95]

The next couple of hours was enjoying some time with our best buddies up on the balcony of their vista suite 12001. They have the best balcony I've ever had the pleasure to spend any time in, with one of the best views ever. Some of their photos sailing into port are incredible with the forward view. It's here I definitely want to invite delee to share any pics if you want and review your suite. What a treat.

 

 

This cabin is directly situated over the bridge, so their balcony also extends outwards to the side with a superb view aft. Without delee's approval, I won't step on her toes regarding pics, but here's a couple of teasers down the side of the ship and over the bridge... cannot beat these views forward and to the side/aft, almost a 270 degree view

 

 

 

We had a great time enjoying the sun and sharing stories. However, closing in on 4pm we were due for a Cooking Class up at the culinary center. I tried to book this particular time slot pre cruise but kept getting an error message... luckily on the first day on board I booked it anyways so no issues. As a side note there was one spot still available during this class.... a cancellation or never booked? I'll also mention now that the chef was promoting the 2nd to last night as only 5 couples were booked, they needed 8 minimum to run the class, so having read many times here on CC that culinary classes are fully booked pre cruise is note totally true.

 

 

Loved the set up of the room with the close-up cameras above her. She also had 3 assistants around the room helping as well.

Here's our workstation

 

 

[Hoopster95]

This chef was ready to rock!

 

 

Today was all about seafood, with several methods and tricks. I've got tons of photos of the various stages. We got to enjoy everything we ate, and included a very nice glass of wine paired for seafood. The signature and final dish was the halibut. We got to work

 

 

It was a sous vide method using a coffee filter to steam the fish!

 

 

Ah yes, finishing the final product....

 

 

We copied all the finishing touches of presentation as the chef displayed, and then got to eat everything we cooked.

This was a really fun learning experience that I do recommend at least once. It's pricey so I feel that once is enough per cruise. We were given the full menu and methods in a take flyer/booklet of sorts made with heavy duty card stock as somewhat of a keepsake (not just a plain paper menu)

 

 

[Hoopster95]

Tonight was announced that the Terrace would serve a Polynesian Theme buffet which I heard from the previous cruises was excellent. So having already eaten some of our food in the class, we prepared for dinner as we wanted one of the few outside tables for 6 persons with our cruise buddies. We did get up there early, grabbed our table, and looked around. Great buffet this evening

 

 

Love the presentation of the buffet and the various cuisines, some really different offerings not typical at all with the entire rest of the cruise. In fact, thinking about it, other than the grilling station (lobster, steak, tuna, etc...), the pasta station, and the salad/Caesar prep area, I think all the entrees, starters and deserts varied nightly as I cannot remember seeing a duplicate from a previous evening earlier in the cruise.

 

 

 

Got to love that they brought on board the local beer (Tahitian Hinano) at a reasonable price

 

 

As well as the local wine

 

 

Of course, fresh tune was offered nightly since Bora Bora and throughout until the end. Note the root vegetable beside the Tuna sign ... that's fava, and the Polynesians have a signature dish called "Chicken Fava". Nicknamed Polynesian spinach, it's the leaf of the Taro. The chicken and fava are cooked in coconut milk. You'll find this dish available ashore everywhere in FP, including the Hilton and Intercontinental.

 

 

We stretched out dinner in order to enjoy our company as the outdoor evening ambiance as much as possible. We have become accustomed to early evenings on port days, and with a very early wake up call tomorrow we opted to head to bed without checking out any of the goings on around the ship. Tomorrow will turn out to be one our favorite days of this entire cruise vacation --- Fakarava!