DAY 40 DAY 29 SERENITY

2/4/2020

WELCOME TO PAPEETE, TAHITI

We wanted to begin by acknowledging some recent comments posted to the Blog.

Diana...Thank you for sharing what your tour guide told you about many of the loose dogs during your tour on Bora Bora in 2016.

Carolyn F....We are glad you are catching up with the Blog.

Gilly...In terms of the non-essential visits to the ship being cancelled this would include all visitors which guests had requested, visits by travel agents and other related visits.

Gilly....Most in the room thought the wine we blind tasted was old world when it was really new world. The wine is made by at a California Vineyard for it to be like an old world wine and we think they have succeeded.

Anne...Thank you for your comments. If you need help finding the entertainment listing for your sailing if you could click on the comment button towards the top of the our website and provide more specifics we can help you with this.

Doris...Thank you so much for your good wishes. This is very much appreciated.

Sophie...So nice to hear from you and we hope you like the hotel as much as we do.

We began last evening with a pre-dinner drink at the Avenue Saloon.

Before dinner there was an art display from those guests who participated in Odyssey At Sea Art Program. We were impressed with the quality and quantity of the art on display.

We also saw Ronnie who works at the Computer University. Ronnie has been in the Computer University over a year. He has held a wide range of positions including Librarian, Operator and prior to moving to his current position worked in the Engineering Department.

These are the dinner menus from Waterside.

We enjoyed dinner at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant.

Head Sommelier Jiri had mentioned to us Conundrum was added as an inclusive wine Although not an Italian wine Sommelier Lubo brought over a bottle. Like their other wines it is a mixed blend.

After departing Moorea around 5:30 PM we arrived to Papeete shortly after 7:00 PM. We enjoyed the arrival while seated at a table by the window.

We will have two full days at Papeete until we leave at 6:00 PM on February 5.

The evening entertainment featured Jump & Swing - A Mania Show which was performed at 7:45 and 9:45 PM.

Today is turn-around day. Approximately 330 guests departed Serenity and around 300 guests will boarded.

Views from our room from last evening and this morning.

We kept to our regular early morning routine including a workout for Keith at the Fitness Center followed by breakfast in our room and a walk together outside the ship.

As our walk was coming to an end we heard singing coming from the pier.

We then got ready to go ashore.

Papeete is located on the island of Tahiti. The name Papeete means water from a basket.

Some facts about Papeete.

The population is 26,000

Papeete is the capital of French Polynesia.

Major attractions include:

Cathedrale of Norte Dame which is a 19th century church.

Marche du Papeete which is the municipal market.

Musee de la Pele which is the Robert Wan Pearl Museum.

Our first visit to Papeete was in 2008. We took a group Crystal tour which included a stop at a museum honoring the life and achievements of James Norman Hall who is most famous for authoring the Mutiny on the Bounty trilogy. As part of the tour we met his daughter who spoke with us for quite awhile. She read one of several poems written by her father on her birthday.

We arranged a private tour for today through Crystal Cruises.

We were met by our local guide Mr. Lionel Philipp and headed towards the west coast of Tahiti. Lionel owns the tour operator company which Crystal and other cruise lines and hotels use. His Grandparents moved from German to Texas and eventually to the Islands and in time Lionel moved to Tahiti. He has five children; four of whom are in his company. He is very knowledgeable and gave us a terrific understanding of the history of Tahiti as we drove around the entire main part of the Island.

We began on the West Coast which is considered the dry side although it received 80 to 100 inches of rain per yer and we drove the East Coast which receives 200 inches of rain annually.

We made several morning stops including the Museum of Tahiti, Marae Arahurahu, Fern Grotto Maraa, Papara Blank Sand Surfing Beach and Vaipahi Gardens.

We arrived to the overwater Restaurant, Musee Gauguin, where we enjoyed appetizers, grilled maki maki fish (best we have ever had), papaya pie (wow) with ice cream and a few other items. The owners of the restaurant took wonderful care of us.

Our tour continued with a tour of a private home with amazing gardens. The private home is owned by the couple who owns the restaurant. It is 100 years old. We have never seen anything quite like this in terms of the gardens and the views. As they noted the views have not changed all that much since they moved into the home 40 years ago.
After leaving the home we had two options; one was to drive back the way we came which would get us back to the ship in an hour or two continue around the island and with stops about two and one-half hours. We were having such a wonderful time we took the longer route. We stopped at many locations and hopefully you will get a sense with all of the photos we took.

We have more photos to post starting with the rest of the day after lunch. Look for those tomorrow.