Mariner Grand Pacific Paradise Voyage: Miami - Sydney, 10/10 -12/15/2018 - Rich48100

[rich48100]

A very busy day on beautiful Moore’s.  It is hard to pick a most beautiful island between Bora Bora and Moore?  Both spectacular.  Eye candy galore.  Did two excursion.  Morning was a stingray and shark snorkel safari.  Afternoon was truck tour of the island.  Spectacular scenery, and great fish sightings.

 

Man am I ever tired.  Loved every minute of it.  Got back to the ship about 5:45pm after starting at 8am.  We were beat so to the pool grill for dinner.  Am I ever glad Regent instituted this venue.  Decided not to do shows tonight.

 

enjoy some pics, and can’t include all that I think this island deserves somhere goes.

[Travelcat2]

Rich and papaflamingo -  greetings from the Voyager.  Now that we are settled I can get back to your absolutely amazing photos.  Although we have been to that part of the world several times, we will never tire of the people, music, food, etc.

 

The next part of your cruise is the one that we are most interested in as you will be going places that we have yet to see.  Really looking forward to more pictures and delightful commentary!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Great pictures of my favourite island, Moorea!

[flossie009]

Safe journey home, @WesW and thanks for sharing the excellent narrative and superb photos of your vacation  😄

 

Looking forward to further reports from the Mariner by @papaflamingo, @rich48100 and any other bloggers on this segment of the voyage  😎

 

The islands of French Polynesia look fabulous - definitely need to put this itinerary on our bucket list

[WesW]

 

Yesterday in Moorea, French Polynesia we enjoyed our most challenging excursion since we began cruising with Regent Seven Seas in 2004 (then Radisson cruise-line).  

 

Before sharing our photos of our “Hike the Coconut Trail,” a newly offered Regent excursion, pls read a few sentences of the excursion write up provided by the outstanding Mariner Destination team.  Difficulty: Three little men. Hike approximately 5km up and 5km down the Moorea rainforest mountains.  Duration about four hours—it took our group of six intrepid Regent guests about six+ hours along with Daryl (one of the Regent Production cast dancers).

 

Acknowledge that there are potential dangers associated with hiking which include slipping, tripping or falling on rugged, slippery, or boulder-strewn trails and stream beds; being struck by falling tree parts or rocks, being exposed to the elements including hiking in stream beds.  Certify that you have adequate insurance to cover any injury.  Well now that your expectations of our vigorous near six mile hike entailed, pls enjoy some photos from our start (observation look out at beginning of Coconut Trail) point (pouring rain for the first hour in a dense Moorea rainforest) to our end point (same observation point)

 

Last night we had yet another outstanding dinner in Compass Rose and were fortunate to have been invited to the Captain’s table for dinner.  Executive Chef Wesley and his dining room team hit another grand slam cuisine homer; Beef Wellington, Lobster Thermidorian paired with delish complimentary Chardonnay or complimentary Shiraz.

 

Have included some photos from last nights dinner (group snap) and of one of our favorite main dining room (Compass Rose) servers on board Salvador and Ida and our dinner table group photo.

 

Today is out last day onboard the Mariner and is packing day.  We board our Air Tahiti Nui flight about midnight from Papeete to Los Angeles.  WE have a few hours layover before continuing on directly (via American Airlines) to Atlanta.

 

Thank you Regent cruise critic members for following us along this Panama to Paradise South Pacific voyage.

 

And a very special thank you to fellow bloggers Rich48100/Rich and Barbara and Papaflamingo/Jim and Margaret for sharing this voyage with us, so we could share our South Pacific voyage with almost all of you very grateful and thankful Regent cruise critics

Edited November 14, 2018 by WesW

[xrvlcruiser]

Ida and Wes,

Safe travels home and thanks for taking us along on your time on the Mariner. I thoroughly enjoyed you posts and look forward to the next - where ever that may be!

Peggy

[liptastic]

Wes and Ida safe travels home. Thanks for providing us with wonderful photographs and detailed posts from your voyage. 

You both  have an energy that shows In your obvious enjoyment of your time onboard and ashore.  Thanks,  Jean.  

[boblerm]

Wes and Ida,

Enjoy your long trip home, and thanks so much for sharing your comments, photos and thumbs😀👍 with us.  It was great to see 2 people obviously having a great time in wonderful locales.

And thanks, Wes, for your lovely profiles of crew members, it gives us a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes, how dedicated the Regent crew is, and how their efforts go so far in helping us all enjoy wonderful cruises.

Bob

[Keith1010]

Wes,

 

Safe travels as you make your way home.

 

It has been enjoyable following your trip with the wonderful photos and narrative.

 

I also enjoyed other posting on this thread about their experience.

 

I agree with Bob.  It is always nice to read about the crew on each vessel. 

 

In the end it is the people who make cruising very special and unique from other types of travel.

 

Keith

[WesW]

 

Marq, we were originally booked thru to Sydney.  Ida asked me to fence off the month of December for Christmas planning/cooking/decorations.  So, we then changed to this wonderful Panama (we had not yet done a canal transit) to Paradise voyage.

 

Well seasoned/Dieter & Debbie, who our wonderful friends and avid Silversea cruisers; thank you for your kind words, we look forward to catching up with you when we return to Atlanta.

 

Flossie009/Susan and David; a very special thanks to y’all, I sincerely appreciate your timely posts 🙂

 

Xrvlcruiser;  Thanks very much Peggy and for travel home well wishes.  For our next Regent cruise, in the spring of 2020, we’re excited to join Texas friends who invited us to join them on the Splendor’s first European crossing (NYC to Barcelona) we added the next leg (Barca to Venice).  We’re thrilled we will be able to enjoy John Barron as our CD (but this time on the Splendor)again.  Serena will be the Splendor Captain with John as Splendor CD, when the Splendor leaves the shipyard in February 2020.

 

Liptastic/Jean; you’re so very welcome and thanks for the travel well wishes

 

Boblerm/Bob & Jeannie; so happy you enjoyed our posts, and for travel well wishes—thank you.  And thank you for your CC new format guidance as well as getting us excited about Kasia and Boogie—so musically talented and Regent Mariner guest fav’s.

 

Keith1010/Keith and AnneMarie, and thank you too, so glad to have you both along (thought of you Keith when we did spin class, tho only every third sea day, so Ida and i did our own indoor cycling class at 6pm almost nightly.

Edited November 15, 2018 by WesW

[papaflamingo]

Catching up on Moorea.  We did the same tours that Rich and Barbara did.  Snorkeling with the stingrays and sharks was fantastic here.  Lucky us, we were sitting on top of the tender going ashore in the morning when we ran through a rain squall... Well we were going snorkeling anyway.  But luckily the weather report was wrong and we had a beautiful day for the rest of the day.  

A few comments.. the Island of Moorea is absolutely incredible.  Our snorkeling was wonderful as there was a huge number of both sharks and stingrays swimming among the people, and the coral garden we went to was indescribable.  

After a quick lunch and change into dry clothing we did the 4x4 adventure.  This took us to numerous beautiful stops, the most breathtaking were the high scenic views in the mountains.  The pineapple plantation was quite interesting as the plant on the hillsides.  The pineapple was the sweetest we have ever tasted (our guide picked a pineapple and cut it up for us).  

We finally returned to the ship totally exhausted.  We decided to do room service and it was wonderful.  Then a relaxing night watching a movie.  Here are a few more pics to add to Rich's.  

[Travelcat2]

Such lovely photos - the water color is so amazing!

[Wizpharm2]

On 11/13/2018 at 4:45 AM, papaflamingo said:

We are loving Regent.  We are going all the way to Sydney and so looking forward to another 4 weeks aboard!  We have also booked 29 nights from NYC to Dublin in 2020.  Thank you Travelcat for so much info on Regent.  Your comments and answers to my questions gave me the incentive to book our second cruise before our first!  😎

Papa flamingo, thanks to you and your Regent companions for taking us along with you on your South Pacific travels.  We have enjoyed your narratives and behind the scenes introductions.

Sounds like we will be joining you in the summer of 2020 as we have recently booked the full 91 day Artic Grand Tour of which the NYC to Dublin is the first leg.  It will be be our third Regent trip and certainly our longest!  Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

[DavidTheWonderer]

10 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

... the Island of Moorea is absolutely incredible.  ...

 

Some believe that Bora Bora is the most beautiful place on the planet.  We let them think that.  But we all know that Moorea is the most beautiful place on the planet.

 

Incidentally, when using the "quote" facility on this board, consider removing the photos, as I've done with papaflamingo's post. Otherwise, readers end up scrolling through multiple copies of the same photographs to get to the new posts.  Some are already doing this, but others seem not to have thought of it yet.

Edited November 15, 2018 by DavidTheWonderer

[Hambagahle]

1 hour ago, DavidTheWonderer said:

 

 

Incidentally, when using the "quote" facility on this board, consider removing the photos, as I've done with papaflamingo's post. Otherwise, readers end up scrolling through multiple copies of the same photographs to get to the new posts.  Some are already doing this, but others seem not to have thought of it yet.

Could not agree more!   It is tiresome to have to re-visit the same photos time and time ago!  thanks for mentioning this...

[rich48100]

Well, here I sit on the pool deck on turnaround day in Papeete, Tahiti, so glad we didn’t have to pack and leave today.  We will have a relax day before going back to Raiatea and Bora Bora.  Yesterday was easy in the morning and bumpy in the afternoon.

 

Great Catamaran ride for 12 of us with great scenery, music, discussion, and snorkeling for those that wanted to.  Nice way to start the day.  Afternoon went on a truck tour to interior to see waterfalls and scenery.  We were told it was going to be a bumpy ride with suggestion of no pregnant women or folks with bad backs.  Well they were absolutely correct.  If you didn’t have a bad back before you might have had one after.  Waterfalls were nice, not spectacular.  Scenery was nice, but not like the other islands.  Discussion by one of the drivers about area and history and culture was very good.  I guess I got spoiled by going to the other islands first.  Nice to get back to the ship in time for dinner and a nice Polynesian dance performance and entertainment team songs of broadway.

 

here are some pics from yesterday.

[xrvlcruiser]

Barbara,

Which island had the Truck Tour? Bora Bora or Raiatea? And what was the name of the tour, specifically? The Navigator stops in both ports next January and I want to be sure I have all the correct information. TIA

 

And on another subject - I think we're sailing together next August on the Silver Cloud.

Peggy

[rich48100]

 xrvlcruiser(Peggy) this is Rich, sorry I didn’t make it clearer.  The “ride” was on Tahiti in Papeete and surroundings.  Called Tahiti Jeep Safari, 4 hours.  It was described as a rough ride, and it was.Saw some scenery and waterfalls, but after being in Raiatea, Bora Bora, and Moorea I think I was spoiled by the spectacular scenery on those islands.  I am not saying you shouldn’t do it if you want to see those things, but if I had it to do over again I wouldn’t.

 

Looking forward to meeting you on the Cloud next year.  We will also be doing the next cruise to Greenland.  Haven’t been to that part of the world before, so part of my bucket list.

 

I haven’t looked for a thread on the Silversea thread.  Is there a Roll Call that has started, or is it in the regular thread like this one is.  

 

Again in looking forward to cruising with you next year.

[rich48100]

Wes and Ida:

 

i want to to thank you for being such a great couple to get to know.  Well done on the meet and mingles.   Enjoyed our lunches together, lots of laughs.  Hope we travel together again.

 

by the way, thanks for the points toward Regent goodies.  We will put them to good use.

 

Rich and Barbara

[xrvlcruiser]

Rich,

Thanks for the specific information about the tour - I'm on a different one in Papeete (Tahiti's Natural Treasures) although it too talks about the rough roads. I think I'll wait and talk to someone in Destinations when I get on the ship.

I'll be on the WC starting in January so will be going to many of the places you are as well and will pay attention to your tour reviews.

 

There is a thread for the Cloud trip - I found it a couple of days ago. Here's the link:

The last posting - just before mine -  was in September so "not very active" is probably a good description. There are a few people

 

I'm just on for the Reykjavik->Reykjavik trip plus the pre-cruise.

Keep on enjoying your Mariner trip and I'll continue enjoying your blog!

And thanks!

Peggy

 

 

[Paul Bradley]

22 hours ago, rich48100 said:

 

 

 

 

 

Wow - is that a mega-yacht or a cruiser? Impressive beast, with a helicopter no less! 

[tnr]

Xrvlcruiser, we did the Tahiti’s National Treasures tour.  While a pretty drive, the north side of the island is a curvy road.  It is in a bus, so take precautions if you are prone to motion sickness.

 

Paul Bradley, the “boat” beside us was indeed a mega yacht.  It is the “Andromeda” which was the “Ulysses” before being renamed by its current owner.  

Terri

 

[xrvlcruiser]

Terri,

Thanks for the heads up on the Tahiti’s National Treasures tour. Much appreciated!

Peggy

[Thundery]

We board the Mariner inAuckland on Nov 30 until Jan 20. Looking forward to meeting you still on the ship at our meet and mingle. Snowing like mad here in Calgary. Can't get out of here soon enough

[rich48100]

Well, we did a canoe ride up the Faaroa river followed by a motu performance and swim this morning in Raiatea.  The trip started fine and then the rains came at the end of the river.  Turned around and went to the Motu, and fortunately dry there. Nice performance by our guide and dry weather.  Made it back to the ship just as rain started again.  Hard rain the rest of the afternoon, but no excursions scheduled so just chilled and played games inside. 

 

Off to Bora Bora tomorrow.  Hope weather is good.

 

Here are some photos from our excursion today.