Tahiti (Part 2)December 7-8, 2023
It was still raining heavily when we landed in Tahiti around 6:30 PM. At this time of the year, it was already dark outside.
We took a taxi from the airport to the Hilton Hotel Tahiti, where we would stay for the next two nights. I was finally starting to regain some confidence with the French language. The taxi driver and I conversed in French for the entire 15-minute ride. He was an interesting guy who spoke three languages (French, Tahitian, and English). Of course we spoke about the recent wild weather. He also told me about his family roots which included Chinese and French Canadian. I enjoyed chatting with him.
Hilton Hotel Tahiti
The Hilton Hotel Tahiti is a beautiful hotel with an open lobby. The surrounding banana plants and other tropical vegetation helped keep the vacation vibe going. The hotel was decorated for Christmas. There was jazzy Christmas music playing in the background. Being from a region where the December climate is normally cold, the Christmas music in a tropical setting was confusing my brain.
The Hilton was much busier than the Fare Suisse and the St. Regis Bora Bora where we stayed earlier during this vacation. There were taxis coming and going. Luggage handlers were carting luggage to and fro. People were relaxing in the lounges.
It was around 7:30 PM when Traci and I checked in and we were quite hungry. We learned that there were not many dining options available at that time other than the restaurants in the hotel. To get to downtown Papeete from the Hilton you would need to take a taxi or walk 20 minutes. Given most businesses close by 5:30 PM on weekdays, downtown dining was not looking like an option. The Hilton is attached via a pedestrian bridge to a shopping mall that has a small food court but the receptionist told us that the mall would be closing soon if it was not already closed. The Hilton has several dining venues that remained open until 10 PM. We ended up eating at the hotel's Taitea Brasserie restaurant and were very pleased with our meal. I had lamb chops and breadfruit fries which tasted a bit like sweet potato fries. Traci had the baramundi. We shared an interesting dessert of roasted pineapple, mango, and Chinese candy sorbet. Yum!
The rain had finally stopped by the time we finished eating dinner. Traci and I decided to take a walk outside to check out the property. There was not much that we could see in the dark other than the large lighted swimming pool. The Hilton had a strange layout that prevented you from walking all the way around the property without back-tracking.
Tahiti Island Tour
The next morning, I finally got a chance to see just how beautiful the Hilton property is. Our room overlooked the swimming pool. In the distance, I could see the airport. I was once lucky enough to see a large jet flying really low as it was coming in for a landing.
We had an early start that morning. I had booked the half-day Tahiti Circle Island Tour with Moana Voyages about 2 months before our trip. We needed to meet our guide in the lobby at 8:30 AM. Before doing that, we had a very nice breakfast at the hotel's breakfast buffet. We had used our AARP membership to book the hotel. Doing so meant breakfast was complimentary each morning.
Our guide for the island tour arrived on-time. Traci and I were his only passengers that day. As we were driven slowly through the grid-locked streets of Papeete, Traci and I began to realize how convenient the Fare Suisse, our first accommodation, was to downtown. We recognized many of the places we passed from the short walk Traci and I did on the morning we checked out of the Fare Suisse.
Traffic and noise are not uncommon in Papeete.
Our guide dropped us off about a block from the Papeete Municipal Market. Traci and I were given 45 minutes to explore the place on our own. The 2-story market sells a variety of products - seafood, produce, clothing, jewelry, souvenirs, etc... I was hoping to taste the famous sugar cane drink I had read about but the popular stand was already closed when we arrived. Our visit to the market was the beginning of a shopping quest by Traci to purchase a red and white tropical dress. She would search for one on every island we'd visit until we got to Australia.
The 45 minutes in the market seemed to zip by. I would have liked to have explored some of the other shops surrounding the market but there was not enough time. Traci and I arrived at the meeting place where our guide was supposed to pick us up but he was nowhere to be found. Given the amount of traffic in the area, this was no surprise. He eventually arrived about 15 minutes later.
Municipal Market
Our tour continued to Point Venus. There is a small lighthouse bearing an inscription of the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson. Not far from there is a monument dedicated to Captain James Cook who watched the planet Venus cross in front of the sun from there back in 1769. Finally, there is the Bounty Monument commemorating the 1788 visit of HMS Bounty which was depicted in the film Mutiny on the Bounty. The other attraction at this stop was a black sand beach. Tahiti has several of them. I initially thought the black sand was mud.
Tahiti has black sand beaches.
Things turned bad as we were being driven to see the Faarumai Waterfalls and Arahoho Blowhole. One thing I was starting to notice on these mountainous islands of the South Pacific is that in the morning, you could see clouds behind the mountains. At some point during the afternoon, the clouds would finally make it over the mountains and the heavy downpours would begin. Such was the case during our ride to the waterfalls and blowhole. Our guide told us that we were only 5 minutes away from the attractions; however, after sitting in a traffic jam for almost 30 minutes watching water gush down the mountain and puddles starting to become ponds, I told our driver it was okay to make a u-turn and skip these stops. It turned out to be the right call. Our driver later learned that the reason for the traffic jam was a large tree that had fallen and was blocking the road. It was going to take some time to remove the tree.
December is rainy season. Our tour was cut short.
As consolation for missing the waterfalls and blowhole, our driver made a stop at Papeete's City Hall where we were able to photograph the pretty building from the outside. The heavy rain that had caused us to turn around a few minutes ago had not reached Papeete yet.
There was nothing on this tour that I thought was all that spectacular. I enjoyed observing the hustle and bustle of the city but most of all, I enjoyed listening to our guide tell us about his life in the South Pacific. The Pacific islands are religious - mostly Protestant. Our guide does missions work in various parts of the world. He also preaches sermons on some Sundays. He did not shy away from controversial topics. He tolds us that dogs are eaten in Tahiti but not as much as in the old days. As we passed by the Buddist Temple, our guide told us that the people of Tahiti protested the plans to build a mosque because they were afraid that an Islamic place of worship would somehow bring violence to the island.
scenic overlook
Buddist Temple
City Hall
At the Mall
After the tour, Traci and I decided to walk across the Hilton's pedestrian bridge to check out the mall. It was a typical mall with clothing stores, a candy store, a small food court, etc... We wandered around the mall's grocery store where I bought a bag of curry barbeque prawn chips. They had an unpleasant after-taste so I threw them away later. The rain finally reached Papeete while we were in the mall so wandering around in there turned out to be a nice way to spend a rainy day.
The rain eventually stopped after we got back to the hotel. I took some time to relax on our balcony. While I was out there, I watched the cruise ship we would be boarding the next day arrive into port in Papeete.
For dinner that evening, Traci and I ate at the Hilton's La Strada Restaurant which features Italian cuisine. It was a good meal but not as good as the meal I had at Taitea Brasserie the previous night.
Cruise Embarkation Day
The next morning, Traci went for a 6-mile run and then joined me at the breakfast buffet just before breakfast ended. Our time in Tahiti was quickly coming to an end. We would be boarding the ship that day for the 15-day South Pacific cruise portion of our vacation. We packed our luggage and then checked out of the Hilton. Traci was feeling some separation anxiety knowing that we would probably not have access to speedy Wi-Fi for the next 15 days. We sat in the lobby of the Hilton for almost three hours while Traci logged into her laptop to go through work emails and social media.
Finally, Traci finished up what she was doing around 3 PM. After waiting almost 20 minutes for a taxi, we were finally on our way to the cruise port. We were already well beyond the boarding slot of 12:30 to 1:30 PM that I had given Norwegian as our estimated boarding time. Norwegian likes to use these time slots so that they are not inondated with a crowd of passengers all trying to board at the same time. It was not a big deal that we had missed our slot because we had until 11:30 PM to board the ship. It was about 4 PM when we arrived at the ship.
Our ship was the Norwegian Spirit. It has a passenger capacity of 2,032. I heard we were sailing with 1,400 passengers. The check-in process was different than any we've done on previous cruises. There was not a building for cruise check-in. Instead, you just show your passport and cruise ticket to some security officers seated under a tent and then you walk up the gangway to board the ship. The check-in actually takes place onboard. You receive your key card at the last table in the check-in room. We had to leave our passports with the check-in staff. We would retrieve the passports later during the cruise. It turned out to be a good thing that we missed our boarding time slot. There was only one other couple that was checking in at the same time as Traci and me. We experienced no delays in getting through the check-in process. I heard people waited in line for 1.5 hours during our reserved time slot of 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM.
We went to have a look at our cabin (#9108). It was a mid-ship cabin with a balcony. It was an adequately-sized cabin except for the narrow shower and the shallow balcony. There was only enough room on the balcony for the two chairs to be positioned sideways. A strange thing about our cabin was our toilet flush. It had a suction sound similar to an airplane toilet. This is no different from other cruises we've done; however, the flush on this toilet would finish with a loud, startling roar. I jumped the first few times I heard it.
ready to board the Norwegian Spirit
Cabin #9108
viewing Papeete from our cabin balcony
Traci and I wanted to explore more of Papeete so we headed off the ship around 4:30 PM. We did not have to be back aboard until 11:30 PM. The cruise port is located in downtown Papeete thus making it very convenient to explore the city. Now that we were no longer in tourist areas such as a hotel or airport, I noticed that very few people who we encountered spoke English. I definitely got a workout with the French language that day. We did not get a chance to do much in Papeete other than stroll the streets. The downtown businesses generally begin closing around 5 PM on weekdays. We only had enough time to peek in a patisserie (bakery), a McDonald's, a grocery store, and a smoke shop. Our smoke shop visit was not for buying tobacco or other smoking products. We are not smokers. What drew us there was the large variety of refrigerator magnets. I finally bought a Tahiti magnet there. We stopped in the same Champion grocery store that we visited when we stayed at the Fare Suisse. This time, I bought some chicken-flavored potato chips. They were tasty.
With the city businesses pretty much closed for the day other than a few packed brasseries (pubs), Traci and I decided to walk along the beautiful waterfront path. Traci had actually jogged it earlier that day. The weather was perfect for strolling. There were a couple of restaurants with live music that sounded great.
We eventually made our way back onboard the ship. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas. There were Christmas trees all around ship. There was an elaborate Christmas-themed model railroad layout in the Atrium. We saw many gingerbread houses. There were bowls of candy canes and chocolate candy at the front of the main dining rooms. There was always Christmas music playing in the background in the dining venues. There were Christmas performances in the theater and Atrium towards the end of the cruise. Santa even made an appearance. Despite all the efforts to create a Christmas wonderland aboard the Norwegian Spirit, it still did not feel like a Christmas season to me. The tropical weather reminded me too much of summertime.
Traci and I found our way to the dining room for our first meal aboard the Norwegian Spirit. We dined at the ship's Windows dining room. I am assuming it got its name from the large windows at the back of the dining room that offers views of the ship's wake.
During this cruise, Traci and I dined at the ship's complimentary dining venues only - Windows Dining Room, Taste Dining Room, Silk (Asian restuarant), and The Local (hamburgers, hot dogs, wings, fries, etc...). We ate at the Garden Café buffet less than a handful of times - mainly to get ice cream. We never ate at any of the specialty restaurants where you are required to pay. Norwegian offered "free" specialty dining in their Free at Sea program; however, reading closely, I discovered that there is a small fee on the package. Therefore, I deselected the "free" specialty dining option when I booked the cruise.
There were other offerings in the Norwegian Free at Sea program such as the drink package. We did not choose this option either when booking the cruise because Traci rarely drinks alcohol and I do not drink it at all. Also, we rarely drink soda. Just like the "free" specialty dining, there is a small fee associated with the "free" beverage package. Instead of the beverage package, Traci and I drank water or lemonade that you can have with your meal for free. Additionally, there are complimentary juice machines in the buffet. For breakfast, a variety of fruit juices such as orange, grapefruit, pineapple, apple, and cranberry are available for free.
We did elect to use the $50 off shore excursions option of the Free at Sea program since we bought all our shore excursions via Norwegian. The other option we used was the free 300 minutes of Wi-Fi package. Of course, the ship Wi-Fi is not as fast as what you get on land but I found it sufficient for checking email and social media. There are no fees associated with it. Furthermore, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the 300 minutes of free Wi-Fi was per person - not per cabin as I had originally thought. The trick with this is that you must remember to log out of the Internet portal of the Norwegian app each time or else your minutes will continue to tick away. Also, you need to use your minutes before the last day of the cruise. We did not know that the internet gets turned off on the morning of disembarkation. I ended up with 14 unused minutes. Traci had 102 unused minutes.
While I am on the topic of technology, the other thing that surprised me was that my Google Voice number was still able to send/receive text messages even though my phone was on airplane mode and even when I was not connected to Wi-Fi via the Norwegian app. Furthermore, I was still able to receive notifications from my apps such as our Ring doorbell, home security cameras, etc... All this made it convenient to monitor our house from afar and to stay in touch with family and friends.
As for our first dinner on the Norwegian Spirit, it was good but for some reason, the service of that particular meal was slower than we anticipated. Maybe the crew was still trying to get caught up from the turnover activities that day? Anyway, the delay caused us to be late to the evening performance in the Stardust Theater. Tonight's entertainment was a group of Tahitian dancers, singers, and musicians. I enjoyed the costumes and music but had a difficult time interpreting what was going on.
After the show, I took some time to walk around the ship. Traci and I had not been on a cruise ship since 2017. It felt great to have that anticipation of the cruise ship experience with its food, activities, amazing destinations, and opportunities to meet other travelers. Some things had changed, however. There was no evening turn-down service, towel art, or candy on your pillow. Your room is cleaned once per day instead of twice per day as was done pre-pandemic.
I eventually made my way to the upper deck where I lingered to take in my final views of Tahiti. I could see cars and people going here and there in the city. I could see the neighborhoods in the hills. I saw the construction on a new Burger King being built across the street from the port. I saw the lights of a nightclub and could hear the music in the distance. All of this was my final Tahiti experience. Our ship would leave this port for the island of Moorea at midnight. I would not be awake to witness our embarkation. It was 8:30 PM and I could barely keep my eyes open. Continue...
Magnet Purchased At This Destination: (click to enlarge)
Entire fridge magnet collection...