Final Thoughts

I have often been asked where have I visited that I liked the
most and that is hard to answer.

After this cruise, I can say that overall it is the best cruise
we have been on in the last few years. That is because the
overall cruise experience was exceptional.

Of course the beauty of the islands was a highlight. I also
enjoyed the peace and tranquility of being away from large
cities and crowds. It's not easy to find places like these for
several weeks.

But apart from the beautiful islands, the onboard experience
was superior to most. the "On Location" program of speakers
and the two ladies and one man who entertained with local
dances and taught local crafts (making leis, headpieces, etc)
and ukelele lessons were wonderful. The singers and dancers
were the best I have seen in a long time.

This is best explained because we were on the "flagship"
of Holland America. The Amsterdam has been doing the
world cruise for many years and the crew and entertainers
assigned there are their best. Because it was getting near
world cruise time, we already had these people aboard.

This is a cruise I hope we will be able to repeat.

Nuka Hiva

Nuka Hiva

November 8

Taiohae (Nuku Hiva), French Polynesia

All good cruises must come to an end. We

have another week but today was our last

port.

This will probably go down as my favorite

cruise. Going to all the small beautiful

islands has been wonderful. After we left

Hawaii we only stopped at two medium

size cities.

We walked around Nuku Hiva, another

Beautiful island and visited a Catholic

Church with lots of nice carvings and

an archaeological site.

 

 

 

Avatoru, Rangiroa

November 6, 2015

We had an on again off again rainy day in

Avatoru, Rangiroa.

The weather has been wonderful, not too hot

and only a few sprinkles. That’s wonderful

considering  how many ports we’ve been to.

This was another small island. We took a

really nice glass bottom boat trip.

Our location guide Kanoa has told us many

times to do different things and I think we’ve

done a pretty good job.

Unfortunately our trip is nearing an end,

only one more port.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moorea

November 5, 2015

We had a wonderful 4W drive around Moorea.

We shared our ride with 1 fellow passenger and

4 French people staying on the island. Our

excellent driver did great having to tell

everything twice. Our last stop was similar

to the narrow, steep, crooked roads in Bora

Bora. Great fun.

 

Tahiti Nui II

Tahiti Nui

November 4, 2015

We took a nice tour around Tahiti Nui

Today Papeete to Papeete. Four hours with

four stops which turned into 5½ hours with

5 stops. We saw a sacred site, grotto,

botanical gardens, blow hole and Point

Venus with view point and black beach.

Papeete is a city and Tahiti is more modern

than most of our other stops. But we did see
a lot of  pretty sites.