Almost live from the NCL Spirit - Hawaii and Tahiti - 19 and 31 May 2022

[New2cruse2]

33 minutes ago, georgiagal88 said:

As I mentioned before, we will be boarding NCL Spirit in Tahiti on May 31. We fly United out of Honolulu on June 12. Based on the United Airlines website we are not required to test prior to our return to the US if we are fully vaccinated. I hope I'm interpreting that correctly!??

 

Thanks for your continued updates!

We are taking United out of HNL on the 12th as well. I did not see any requirement on the United’s ‘Travel Ready Center’. 
flying into Tahiti, we uploaded our vaccine records and they have accepted them. I posted a link from the Tahiti tourism website a few days ago on the May 31 forum that announced waiving the testing requirement for fully vaccinated visitors from continental US. 
 

[NCL4EVER]

44 minutes ago, georgiagal88 said:

As I mentioned before, we will be boarding NCL Spirit in Tahiti on May 31. We fly United out of Honolulu on June 12. Based on the United Airlines website we are not required to test prior to our return to the US if we are fully vaccinated. I hope I'm interpreting that correctly!??

Unless things changed our itinerary states direct from United that flying from tahiti on the 31st may to San Francisco we "HAVE" to have a negative test result and vaxed, I will have to check if things have changed since our booking. There could be a couple factors 1) I'm entering the US from a from a foreign country (tahiti) and 2) I am canadian,  thinking number 1 is the culprit., just checked the CDC site and it states:

"All air passengers 2 years or older with a flight departing to the US from a foreign country at or after 12:01am EST (5:01am GMT) on December 6, 2021, are required show a negative COVID-19 viral test result taken no more than 1 day before travel, or documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 in the past 90 days, before they board their flight." 

Edited May 25, 2022 by NCL4EVER

[Rob_H]

1 hour ago, georgiagal88 said:

As I mentioned before, we will be boarding NCL Spirit in Tahiti on May 31. We fly United out of Honolulu on June 12. Based on the United Airlines website we are not required to test prior to our return to the US if we are fully vaccinated. I hope I'm interpreting that correctly!??

 

You (and we) enter the US at the first port (Hilo I think). There is no requirement to have a negative test to enter the US by sea (or land), we've done it many times this year.

 

When you travel from HNL to the other states it's just domestic, no rules.

[www3traveler]

Question: How is the Muster Drill done now?  Last time I was on The spirit, you had to go outside and stand under your assigned life boat.

[Rob_H]

1 hour ago, www3traveler said:

Question: How is the Muster Drill done now?  Last time I was on The spirit, you had to go outside and stand under your assigned life boat.

 

We've been on the Bliss, Encore and now Spirit this year. On each ship, you should go to your muster station inside as soon as you board, and have your card scanned there. For example if your card shows A1 for your muster station you go to A (usually a restaurant) and check in there. No need to go outside, and after your card is scanned you can leave.

 

There are constant announcements about this on embarkation day, if you still don't do it there's a catch up muster out on deck the next day.

[www3traveler]

2 hours ago, Rob_H said:

 

We've been on the Bliss, Encore and now Spirit this year. On each ship, you should go to your muster station inside as soon as you board, and have your card scanned there. For example if your card shows A1 for your muster station you go to A (usually a restaurant) and check in there. No need to go outside, and after your card is scanned you can leave.

 

There are constant announcements about this on embarkation day, if you still don't do it there's a catch up muster out on deck the next day.

So Muster Stations are scattered around INSIDE The Spirit and Not OUTSIDE under your assigned lifeboat??

[coopster]

8 hours ago, NCL4EVER said:

Genius never thought of using a day pass (hotel room) direct from hotel should work out good for you the bonus is you would have full acess plus more time there. Which hotel/resort did ya book with?

The hyatt regency maui

[Rob_H]

8 hours ago, www3traveler said:

So Muster Stations are scattered around INSIDE The Spirit and Not OUTSIDE under your assigned lifeboat??

 

Yes. Not unique to the Spirit nor new, it was the same before Covid, waiting on deck had already ended.

 

Before, you had to gather in your assigned assembly station such as the theatre or a restaurant then wait for everybody to arrive then listen to the ship-wide drill.

 

Now you have your card scanned (to show you know how to find the place) then move on.

[ziggyuk]

8 hours ago, www3traveler said:

So Muster Stations are scattered around INSIDE The Spirit and Not OUTSIDE under your assigned lifeboat??

It's been like that for years, In case of incident you meet inside not outside and you never get an assigned lifeboat.

[Rob_H]

On 5/23/2022 at 9:06 AM, deepbluediver said:

 

Did you check out the new Thermal Spa? What was in there?

 

Sorry I'm no expedite expert on what is normal in the spa. It's quite small and there's no thermal pool.

 

On 5/23/2022 at 9:06 AM, deepbluediver said:

What about the Pulse fitness center? Does it have a separate men's and women's locker room for the fitness center that the Jewel-class ships have? Or did NCL take them away as in all Breakaway class ships?

 

No locker rooms for the fitness center. I didn't see them in the larger ships (Bliss, Encore) earlier this year either.

 

Fitness center has plenty of treadmills but limited on all the other things (again, no expert), there's mostly one of each weird machine.

[Rob_H]

Even on the sea days, there is only one performance in the theater each evening, at 9pm.

 

Normally on Norwegian there are shows at 7 and 9, if something has only one performance it's usually at 8.

 

On the good side, there are 4 different production shows by the resident company, in 12 days. We've seen Worldbeat and Blazing Boots so far.

 

 

 

[Rob_H]

On 5/23/2022 at 7:35 PM, Phamer55 said:

Was wondering about the Bier Garten?  How good is it and what beers do they have there?  

 

The Bier Garten looks like a regular outdoor bar, overlooking the pool deck and next to a smoking area.  Doesn't appear to have any beer on tap.

[Rob_H]

For Latitudes members platinum and above, the "behind the scenes" tours are still not available.  As a result, if you go to the cruisenext desk they will give you a $50 onboard credit, per cabin (for sapphire and above, less for lower levels).

 

However, dinner with officers (Sapphire and Diamond) IS available (if you want to sign up).  Yesterday we had a very entertaining dinner with one of the two ship's doctors, a young but highly experienced doctor from Colombia, and a few fellow guests.  It's nice to see this is back.

 

The free platinum laundry is twice per cruise per member.  The same-day service is really good.  The housekeeping is also way above average, perhaps because of the low passenger numbers.

 

There are five diamond members on this sailing (we are two of those), and no ambassadors.

 

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by Rob_H

[deepbluediver]

14 hours ago, Rob_H said:

For Latitudes members platinum and above, the "behind the scenes" tours are still not available.  As a result, if you go to the cruisenext desk they will give you a $50 onboard credit, per cabin (for sapphire and above, less for lower levels).

 

However, dinner with officers (Sapphire and Diamond) IS available (if you want to sign up).  Yesterday we had a very entertaining dinner with one of the two ship's doctors, a young but highly experienced doctor from Colombia, and a few fellow guests.  It's nice to see this is back.

 

The free platinum laundry is twice per cruise per member.  The same-day service is really good.  The housekeeping is also way above average, perhaps because of the low passenger numbers.

 

There are five diamond members on this sailing (we are two of those), and no ambassadors.

 

 

 

That's good to hear that the dinner with the officers is now back on. It was cancelled for my 2022 April NCL Encore cruise from Miami to Seattle. On the 1st day, they said they would have it and so, I signed up but a few days later, we received a letter that the dinner with the officers was cancelled and Sapphire members were not compensated for it - other than the USD $50  OBC that Platinum and above got for the cancellation of the Ship's tour and the Wine Around the World experience. BTW, I spoke to the CruiseNext staff and they said that NCL had cancelled the Dinner with Officers on all ships because of rising COVID cases which made sense in order to keep the officers safe. Surprised to hear you had yours.

 

As a Diamond member, did you get the Diamond perk of "Sail and Sustain mixology experience" on board your recent cruise?

 

Thanks, Rob, for answering all our questions.

 

Cheers

Jerry

[Phamer55]

37 minutes ago, Desiree Hooter said:

 

For the Mustard Drill you should go to your mustard station inside as soon as you board, and have your card scanned at that location. For instance if your card shows A1 for your mustard station you go to A (usually a restaurant) and check in at that location. No need to go outside, and after your card is scanned you can leave.

All true, except it's Muster station, not Mustard.  There will be no condiments available.

[NCL4EVER]

6 hours ago, Desiree Hooter said:

spirit

We were in area x which WAS OUTSIDE at area x   very simple no lineup just get your card scaned and on your way easy peasy.

[NCL4EVER]

 

21 hours ago, Rob_H said:

Was wondering about the Bier Garten?  How good is it and what beers do they have there?  

This is the menu at the bier garten

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by NCL4EVER

[NCL4EVER]

2 hours ago, Desiree Hooter said:

it would take a muster station a maximum of 7.24 minutes to get there from the furthest cabin away.

Interesting  thanks for that info, wonder if walkers, wheel chairs and canes who go to a specific area would play a roll in that equation. Even though the muster station is located on your key card my guess is most people already forgot where their station location is located, in the event of an abort ship order given  according to the buffet lines my guess it would be complete chaos and unfortunately the old analogy "sink or swim everyone for themselves" would fall into play. Just my opinion. Keeping in the know could save your life

Edited May 28, 2022 by NCL4EVER

[Rob_H]

Today (right now!) we're arriving at Ra'iatea in French Polynesia.

 

We have a tour in the afternoon, more tour capacity became available part way through the cruise 

[Phamer55]

15 hours ago, NCL4EVER said:

 

This is the menu at the bier garten

 

Thanks for this!  Not particularly exciting menu, I think the Brok Premium would be worth a try, have never had one of those before. 

[Rob_H]

The Spirit in Ra'itia 

 

 

 

 

 

[NCL4EVER]

More of the port in raiatea

[NCL4EVER]

For anyone who is booked with Viator and there 1/2 day coral garden adventure BEWARE!! the place they take you has a strong current which smashes you into the very sharp coral, lots people with  minor cuts and abrasions one lady's bathing suit got ripped, once in the slow curent part of it there was LOTS!! of colorful fish, recommend wearing a long sleeve shirt and definitely water shoes oh and if ya have your own mask and snorkel recommend taking it as well as the ones supplied leak and cleanliness was a concern.

[Rob_H]

There was a mix up with our afternoon ships excursion so we ended up needing something else in Ra'iatea.

 

There's a small visitor information centre right near the ship. Everything was sold out, but the friendly lady there called around her taxi driver friends and got us the last two seats in a six seater taxi with 4 others, leaving in an hour or so, when he got back from the first tour.

 

The standard price is US$250 for the whole taxi for a 3 to 4 hour tour. Turns out there were only 3 others in our large taxi so that made the maths easy, $50 each, paid after the tour.

 

Our driver was excellent, took us to a botanic gardens and explained many of the plants, then to the marae (ancient meeting places) at Taputapuotea. He also stopped at a roadside stall to buy us fresh coconuts which he opened for us to drink.

 

On the way back, we went to the belvadere (viewpoint) at sunset to see the view of the mountains forming the rim of the volcanic caldera (the floor of the crater is the main agriculture area).  A good tour at a fair price.

 

In the morning, we had wandered around the port (Uturoa), which is the main town. Not really a lot there, it's good to have a tour planned. 

 

 

[Rob_H]

Sunrise in Bora Bora this morning.

 

It's a tender port, tenders are already going ashore.