Live, NCL Spirit-Tahiti to Hawaii 4/10 - 4/22

[Rick&Jeannie]

[jean87510]

8 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

The "bushwhacker" has drawn a bit of a following with our group. Somewhat akin to a creamy chocolate Pina Colada.

 

We found the bars at the Spice and Buffet were not very consistent with making drinks.  The bar on 8 midship had excellent friendly bartenders.  

We rented a Roadster at Moorea to explore on our own.  When we were at Belvedere, we actually saw a giant tour bus park at the car park!.  

[AKR2011]

12 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Thanks for this.  I've googled the five musicians/groups that you posted earlier.  I'm pretty sure I'll find several to follow around.  I like the variety.  Sounds like piano man/pianist/classic guitar/rock-type group and that duo. I was able to find some youtube clips of several.  Please keep us posted on what you think about any that you attend.  Thanks.

Seaside Duo is amazing! I caught them on The Pearl last summer.

Edited April 15 by AKR2011

[Rick&Jeannie]

@ChiefMateJRK...this may be the group you're looking for! The Power of Five. Their lead guitarist is amazing! It might be a little hard to tell from this short clip but he's in the middle of a jam from a Santana hit.

 

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

12 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Spinnaker Lounge, The Power of Five

Close your eyes and you would swear that you were listening to Santana! Spot on rendition of Black Magic Woman followed by an entire set of Santana classics. These guys were great! 

 

Great!!  I do like Santana!

[ChiefMateJRK]

30 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

It might be a little hard to tell from this short clip but he's in the middle of a jam from a Santana hit.

Great!  I could name that tune in ten seconds.😎

[Rick&Jeannie]

Last night we tried Taste MDR.  It was OK...nothing to write home about. Don't get me wrong,  the food was pretty good but it was just something of a strange mix of menu items that didn't call my name. Typical cruise ship dining room, nothing "fancy" like at Windows.

This was the area where we actually checked in upon embarkation and also where we picked up our passports yesterday. They had collected all passports upon checkin...apparently something with French Polynesian requirements. 

I meant to post some pics from Windows...I'll try and get that taken care of. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

We found a really nice spot to relax/read/watch the waves goby in Spinnaker atthe very front:

 

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

[Rick&Jeannie]

So far the best internet bandwidth I've been able to find has been in the Spinnaker Lounge. Have struggled just uploading pics in our cabin and other spots. In Spinnaker I've been able to upload short video clips very well.

[suech1970]

Enjoyed reading your cruise very much, just booked 14 nights on Sun for South Pacific next year😁

Would appreciate your recommendations and details of 3rd party excursions on the islands you visited, when you get chance. I’m not one for ships excursions either.

 

just one random question, can you legally bring vanilla back with you from the farm? Thinking my cakes could do with a real kick😋

[Rick&Jeannie]

19 minutes ago, suech1970 said:

Enjoyed reading your cruise very much, just booked 14 nights on Sun for South Pacific next year😁

Would appreciate your recommendations and details of 3rd party excursions on the islands you visited, when you get chance. I’m not one for ships excursions either.

 

just one random question, can you legally bring vanilla back with you from the farm? Thinking my cakes could do with a real kick😋

I was not very involved with the booking process for our group...most of that was handled by another couple. I *can* say that we had a devil of a time trying to arrange for hotel day passes on Bora Bora and *I think* Moorea. None of the hotels we contacted would book anything earlier than 1 week in advance. Given that we were arriving in Papeete a couple of days early that made it almost impossible to get anything lined up. 

We ended up just doing some relatively last minute bookings. They turned out to be pretty good, though. 

 

Vavau Adventures on Bora Bora

Safari Mario Moorea via Viator

1/2 Day excursion to Tahaa via Viator

4x4 Adventure, Pineapples, Belvedere and Magic Mountain via Viator.

 

We've had good experiences with Viator in the past...they're pretty good to deal with.

 

And of course TripAdvisor has lots of good ideas. 

 

I sure hope it's OK to bring vanilla back because DW bought 2 packages to take home. I really didn't pay attention as to what she got...I think it was 1 bottle of vanilla extract and one powder. They have a lot of different forms available for purchase. 

Edited April 15 by Rick&Jeannie

[suech1970]

That’s great info to be going on with, thank you😁

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

[Rick&Jeannie]

Day 6, 2nd Sea Day

 

Well, the original plan was for some of our 6 to get some swimming in today. Hmmm..nope! The chair hogs were out in force, but it's just as well. It's crazy hot, much more so than yesterday with not as much breeze.  Yesterday we were sailing somewhat near a rain line so apparently that was serving to cool things down. Not so much today, so everybody decided to just have a "relax" day in the A/C. Tonight is Cagney's. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

What can I say about Cagney's? I love a good steak! One thing that I've noticed is that whatever dining venue you are at the waiters *always* ask if you have any food allergies. We do not, but it's nice to know that they are at least trying to address this for guests who may have issues such as this.

 

 

Edited April 16 by Rick&Jeannie

[Rick&Jeannie]

Oysters Rockeller

[Rick&Jeannie]

Wedge lettuce salad with Bleu cheese dressing.  Very good!

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

As luck would have it,  our group got involved in conversation and I totally forgot to take any pics of any main entrees! Oh well, if you've seen one filet you've seen them all! 

Desserts I remembered, though. 

 

7 Layer Chocolate Cake

 

 

Raspberry Creme Brulee

 

 

"OMG Caramel Butterscotch Cheesecake "

 

 

Needless to say,  Cagney's was great!

 

Edited April 16 by Rick&Jeannie

[Rick&Jeannie]

Day 7, 3rd sea day

 

Breakfast at The Local

 

Getting ready for the "Behind The Scenes" ship tour. I'll try and get some good pictures. 

 

Edited April 16 by Rick&Jeannie

[Rick&Jeannie]

We met in the Stardust Theater for the Behind The Scenes Tour.

 

 

 

Edited April 16 by Rick&Jeannie

[Rick&Jeannie]

 

Edited April 16 by Rick&Jeannie

[Rick&Jeannie]

 

Edited April 16 by Rick&Jeannie

[Rick&Jeannie]

[Rick&Jeannie]

Cold storage.

 

 

Edited April 16 by Rick&Jeannie

[Rick&Jeannie]