Hi Everyone:

We had a wonderful time and great weather last week. No problems to speak of. These are just a few observations:

As I mentioned in a post from the ship, the majority of passengers were much older than our previous cruise 2 years ago. Not sure if that is the Grand Circle influence or just the way it worked out. Not a positive or negative in my opinion, just an observation.

Dining room staff seemed pressed to the limit. Not bad service, just very hurried and strictly business. I missed the interaction with our servers. Room stewardess/asst. did fantastic job and seemed very friendly and happy.

Siglo was the band. We loved them 2 years ago, loved them again. Hal Fraser in la Palette was also great. Spent time there each evening before and after dinner enjoying his piano and song.

Tried in vain to get creme brulee in the dining room. Our friends traveling with us are "nuts" about creme brulee and I inquired the first night in the dining room if we could order it for one night during the cruise. Was told no--get it in Apicius only. One day while in the pool, a gal we were chatting with said her friend was their "cruise expert" and had been ordering lobster and creme brulee for their entire party each night. Said they were even taking extra creme brulee back to their cabins for mid-night snacks!!!! :eek: So I thought, well, I'll try again and speak directly to the maitre'd (sp). Nope, no luck. I hate to get pushy, so I let it go, but I sure would love some pointers from you guys who get special orders in the dining room.

We booked our choice of shore excursions on-line just a few weeks before the cruise. When we checked on board, we had tickets for everything except the sunset sail on Thursday. We were first on the wait list, never got it. No big deal, we made other plans and things worked out for the best. We did the off road adventure in Bora Bora (did it two years ago too). Enjoyed it again, but it's a little different now. Bloody Mary's is not on the "official" tour, but we asked our guide if we could stop. He said fine, we are the boss, but he's not supposed to. One woman on the tour with us did not want to stop, so we just had him drop us there, we had a great lunch (just burgers, but we had the place to ourselves) and took a taxi back to the tenders. They have added a stop at a "pearl farm", which of course is just a shopping opportunity. Didn't like that addition to this tour. Did the helicopter tour in Bora Bora. It was neat, but very short for the price. Cancelled our heli tour for Moorea feeling it was just too overpriced for what you got. Hard to hear what the pilot was saying to us through the head phones. Alot of static, and I don't think he spoke much English either. So we really weren't sure what he was telling us. :)

The one tour we did that was new to us was the funny cats on Bora Bora. Similar to jet skis, but you don't straddle the vehicle, you sit as you would in a paddle boat or go cart. Two people per craft, a little canopy over the top, stop to snorkle along the way. Lots of fun.

Had a facial and massage in Carita Spa. Very nice and no hard sell. The girls in there were very sweet and lovely.

Lots of great stuff in the shop on board. Two years ago it was barren. Tons of Tommy Bahama clothing and shoes and of course beautiful jewelry.

My mind is shutting down for the night, re-entry to the real world is difficult as you all know. Will add more as I think of it, or if there are any questions you have I'll do my best to answer. Wish we were going on PIP, that group is bound to have a blast on the ship!
Jacki