ReneeFLL’s Semi-Live Review B2B Ovation TP & NZ Oct 9th - Nov 9th

[ReneeFLL]

More video from snorkeling in Moorea.

 

 

 

 

[ReneeFLL]

After the 2 snorkeling stops we went to a small island for lunch and some lessons on how to prepare ceviche.

 

Learning how to open a coconut. Wished I learned this when we lived in Key West. We had a coconut tree and I tried to open some with a machete. It seemed easy enough, but getting the husk off was a pain in the rear and took me forever.

 

Shredding coconut.

 

Making ceviche. A couple of stingrays and sharks decide to check it out.

 

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by ReneeFLL

[ReneeFLL]

Here is the ceviche that was made. It tasted good, but I only had a couple of bites. 

 

 

Our lunch from counterclockwise.

Grapefruit, plantain banana, taro, rice, chicken, fish, coconut bread and papaya in the middle.

 

We learned how they weave hats.

 

Hat that he made for me. Still turning brown.

 

We also learned about some of the plants. One acted like a laxative, one was for an upset stomach, one would make you throw up if you ate something bad, one was used like an antiseptic and I don't remember what the other one was for.

 

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, ReneeFLL said:

More video from snorkeling in Moorea.

 

Are you using the handheld floatie mount?

[Bailey & Sophie]

 

Loving everything so far.

The woman teaching how to break coconuts was so patient! They look so yummy. Love fresh coconut.

[perfect match]

I loved seeing the snorkeling videos, but I can see why you were disappointed. There’s a lot of stressed out, bleached out corrals there, and like you said, not much color at all. Definitely not the healthiest reef I’ve ever seen. It looked like a lot of snorkel tour boats out there too. 

 

That said, I still wish I’d been there with you!

[AlohaLivin]

10 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

After the 2 snorkeling stops we went to a small island for lunch and some lessons on how to prepare ceviche.

 

Learning how to open a coconut. Wished I learned this when we lived in Key West. We had a coconut tree and I tried to open some with a machete. It seemed easy enough, but getting the husk off was a pain in the rear and took me forever

Shredding coconut.

Making ceviche. A couple of stingrays and sharks decide to check it out.

 

 

What an amazing day! The Polynesians definitely have a lock on how to most easily get and get into coconuts! I have a Samoan brother-in-law that makes it look like nothing 😳 There is a humorous exhibition on this topic at the Polynesian Cultural Center on the north side of Oahu.

 

Loving going with you in this wonderful journey!

[ReneeFLL]

On 10/20/2022 at 9:14 PM, Ocean Boy said:

Thanks for the cabin photos. Kind of odd how they shoehorned that studio cabin where they placed it. When at you balcony rale is the view looking to the left obstructed?

 

I was able to get into the cabin next to us this morning. From our balcony there is a divider, but it's not at the corner so I couldn't figure out why it was there. It also doesn't show up on the deck plans. When looking from our balcony we can't see around their balcony to the rest of the ship.

 

Looking from our balcony you can see the extra divider.

 

The blue line is the divider you see from our balcony.

 

Owners Suite balcony has their balcony with a divider where they can open the door for a larger space.

 

The divider in this picture is ours so that is their extra space.

Edited October 28, 2022 by ReneeFLL

[BonTexasNY]

I'm enjoying your review.  Great pictures.  Love that balcony.  Great place to relax after a tiring day of excursions.  

[lesands77]

Love that balcony on 12234 - we are in that cabin in a couple of weeks! Nice to get a preview 😀

[ReneeFLL]

On 10/28/2022 at 2:20 PM, Sea Dog said:

 

Are you using the handheld floatie mount?

Yes we were.

[ReneeFLL]

16 hours ago, AlohaLivin said:

What an amazing day! The Polynesians definitely have a lock on how to most easily get and get into coconuts! I have a Samoan brother-in-law that makes it look like nothing 😳 There is a humorous exhibition on this topic at the Polynesian Cultural Center on the north side of Oahu.

 

Loving going with you in this wonderful journey!

We almost went there again, but we ended up not going. We went in 2017 an really enjoyed it.

 

5 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

I'm enjoying your review.  Great pictures.  Love that balcony.  Great place to relax after a tiring day of excursions.  

The balcony was great.

 

3 hours ago, lesands77 said:

Love that balcony on 12234 - we are in that cabin in a couple of weeks! Nice to get a preview 😀

You will love it. What cruise are you doing?

[ReneeFLL]

We overnighted in Moorea so the next day we did an ssv tour. We were in an ssv while others were in atvs. We did this tour back in 2017 with the same company and had an ssv with a roof. Their website was different and didn't have any pictures of the ones with roofs so I emailed them and asked. I was told they had one. I also emailed a second time later on to re-confirm. Still told yes. Mike has had skin cancer things removed so he tries to limit his time in the sun. The day before he definitely had plenty with the snorkeling. When we got there the ssv didn't have a roof, just roll bars. Anyway, we were stuck with no roof or we would need to cancel. At that time we didn't want to cancel to try to find another tour so we went on it. When we did it in 2017 they had some with roofs so I was disappointed with the situation.

 

 

 

 

The only time we saw cows.

 

 

[lesands77]

2 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

We almost went there again, but we ended up not going. We went in 2017 an really enjoyed it.

 

The balcony was great.

 

You will love it. What cruise are you doing?

We are on the South Pacific 16/11. Watching the ship on the webcam as I type, I can’t wait! Looking forward to reading about your adventures in NZ 😀

[bobmacliberty]

5 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

We overnighted in Moorea so the next day we did an ssv tour. We were in an ssv while others were in atvs. We did this tour back in 2017 with the same company and had an ssv with a roof. Their website was different and didn't have any pictures of the ones with roofs so I emailed them and asked. I was told they had one. I also emailed a second time later on to re-confirm. Still told yes. Mike has had skin cancer things removed so he tries to limit his time in the sun. The day before he definitely had plenty with the snorkeling. When we got there the ssv didn't have a roof, just roll bars. Anyway, we were stuck with no roof or we would need to cancel. At that time we didn't want to cancel to try to find another tour so we went on it. When we did it in 2017 they had some with roofs so I was disappointed with the situation.

 

 

 

 

The only time we saw cows.

 

 

 

I also have to be careful of too much sun.  That would really bother me if I confirmed and re-confirmed, and still had no roof.

[bobmacliberty]

Strange balcony situation for you and the OS next to you.  Why does that divider in the middle of their balcony even exist?  I wonder if at some point in the design of the ship, your JS and the solo next to it were supposed to be one big GS or OS, and your cabin would have had the space where the loungers were in the picture.  Looks like Quantum has the same JS/solo configuration so if it's something that changed in the original design, it goes back to Quantum.

[ReneeFLL]

On 10/29/2022 at 6:54 PM, lesands77 said:

We are on the South Pacific 16/11. Watching the ship on the webcam as I type, I can’t wait! Looking forward to reading about your adventures in NZ 😀

Thanks for coming along.

 

On 10/29/2022 at 11:12 PM, bobmacliberty said:

Strange balcony situation for you and the OS next to you.  Why does that divider in the middle of their balcony even exist?  I wonder if at some point in the design of the ship, your JS and the solo next to it were supposed to be one big GS or OS, and your cabin would have had the space where the loungers were in the picture.  Looks like Quantum has the same JS/solo configuration so if it's something that changed in the original design, it goes back to Quantum.

That’s a possibility because it is a very odd design to me. I don’t see any other purpose for it.

[Ocean Boy]

On 10/29/2022 at 8:12 AM, bobmacliberty said:

Strange balcony situation for you and the OS next to you.  Why does that divider in the middle of their balcony even exist?  I wonder if at some point in the design of the ship, your JS and the solo next to it were supposed to be one big GS or OS, and your cabin would have had the space where the loungers were in the picture.  Looks like Quantum has the same JS/solo configuration so if it's something that changed in the original design, it goes back to Quantum.

 

6 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Thanks for coming along.

 

That’s a possibility because it is a very odd design to me. I don’t see any other purpose for it.

I think this theory makes a lot of sense. I said, a few pages back, that it seemed like a strange location to shoehorn in that studio cabin. These two cabins could be a carved up GS or OS.

[ReneeFLL]

On 10/29/2022 at 8:54 PM, lesands77 said:

We are on the South Pacific 16/11. Watching the ship on the webcam as I type, I can’t wait! Looking forward to reading about your adventures in NZ 😀

Enjoy your cruise. You're going to love it.

 

29 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

 

I think this theory makes a lot of sense. I said, a few pages back, that it seemed like a strange location to shoehorn in that studio cabin. These two cabins could be a carved up GS or OS.

After I read your comment I wanted to make sure to try to get pictures of it. Luckily our cabin attendant let me in on the last day after the people left.

[ReneeFLL]

As we were driving we came across a cool looking building. The Te Fare Natura is a museum to learn about Polynesian culture and marine ecology. Unfortunately, we didn't stop there.

 

Te Fare Natura 

 

The tender dock. The buildings between the right tender and the orangey pointed roof are the vendors selling their stuff. The boat tours pick you up at the dock there and the land tours the pick up is in the parking lot.

 

Ovation OTS drops anchor in Opunohu Bay.  The white squiggly line is from some jet skies. I'm surprised they go that close.

 

 

 

 

[ReneeFLL]

Our tour guide talked about how they grow pineapples. Moorea is known as the pineapple center of French Polynesia and produces the majority of Queen Tahiti pineapples. There is a Manutea Tahiti Rotui Juice Factory & Distillery that makes pineapple rum along with other flavors. Pineapple wine is also made from these tasty and sweet fruits. The pineapples are a major source of income for the people of Moorea.     

 

 

They grow them wherever they can. You can see some very small ones here.

 

 

Edited October 31, 2022 by ReneeFLL

[Luckynana]

Interesting pictures of the pineapple farm!  I have to admit, I never thought about how pineapples were grown.🤔  And so, my day is not wasted, since I did learn something new today!😉

[ReneeFLL]

2 hours ago, Luckynana said:

Interesting pictures of the pineapple farm!  I have to admit, I never thought about how pineapples were grown.🤔  And so, my day is not wasted, since I did learn something new today!😉

These were so crammed together. Our tour guide said the farmers fertilizer the pineapples to speed up production. They get fruit in about 6 months. He owns a farm which he grows them organically and it takes about a year. He also gets money from the government since he is an organic farmer.

[AlohaLivin]

1 hour ago, ReneeFLL said:

These were so crammed together. Our tour guide said the farmers fertilizer the pineapples to speed up production. They get fruit in about 6 months. He owns a farm which he grows them organically and it takes about a year. He also gets money from the government since he is an organic farmer.

If you have a chance ask someone if they have a ground dried hot peppers with salt - it is FANTASTIC sprinkled on pineapple (the locals may not have it out to sell, but they probably have some)  - I have never tasted anything as good 😋

[ReneeFLL]

Here are a few more pictures from our ssv tour.

 

Looking out from Magic Mountain. In the background on the right you can see the ship. Sorry but I couldn't get a picture without people in it.

 

Biking routes. There were some people who brought bikes on board and went biking at most if not all stops. We would usually see them on the tenders.

 

Looking out from Belvedere Lookout.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by ReneeFLL