BoraBora 2. December 29

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The day started out overcast and rainy.  I was hoping for a break so I could head ashore. Sadly, that wasn’t happening.  

After some coffee and a croissant, I decided to look at Email to make sure I hadn’t missed any important news. I also went out to United’s website to see if any better seats opened up and YESSSS, I was able to upgrade to an Economy Plus seat for a couple hundred bucks!!! Purchase?  Yes, please!!!

Fresh squeezed orange juice and granola parfait!!

Feeling rather accomplished, I proceeded to the Star Grill for some lunch.  Pork Belly was on the menu and I decided to try it. Meh.  So I decided to get a hot dog!

Pork Belly, chicken satay and pineapple— always pineapple 🍍 

It finally stopped raining about 3pm.  Hmmm….maybe we’d be able to have the dinner on the Motu!!!

Well then preparations were needed.  Off to my cabin to shower and get ready! 

There were three different departure times. My cabin was assigned the 3rd tender. We departed at 530 in a small tender. We arrived at the motu about 15 minutes later once on the there was a sign that the island was owned by the Conrad.  

There were tables and picnic tables and, of course, a nice bar set up.  Again, the selections of food was amazing and the variety…… OMG. 

Sunset on the motu:

After filling up on many different foods and desserts, we were treated to a traditional Polynesian show .  

It was phenomenal!!!!

 

After we returned to the ship, my favorite band, the Queen of Aces, was doing a Beatles set.  They are amazing!!

And so ends my fabulous day on the Star Breeze!

BoraBora Day 1. December 28

This is the Aranui tender- looks like it’s ready to storm a beach!!!

This is Aranui - part cargo ships, part cruise ship.  Surprisingly, it’s very expensive for some fairly standard cabins .  I looked into this, some years ago and the only cabin I could afford was a dormitory room with a shared bathroom. Nothank you!

Once again, I slept in until about 9 AM. I spent time catching up the blog then headed up for a late breakfast in my favorite spot!

After several cups of coffee and a cappuccino, I returned to my cabin to get on my swimsuit and headed to the water sports platform. I jumped in the water and the current was much stronger than it was in Moorea. But I was still able to swim all around the back of the ship.

My dancing from the night before must’ve been pretty “fantastic” because one of the guys said something to me and he said man I was drunk too and we were having a really good time LOL

I think the water sports platform is a great addition to a ship. They have a lot of safety measures in place and if you feel the need lifejackets are available too. Oh and they also have noodles lol. They have several different people watching over you while you’re out in the water. That includes two people on the platform itself and a person one deck above that watches everyone in the water. I felt really safe and confident in my swimming and it was amazing to know that you’re swimming in like 100 feet of water.

I had a nice lunch in the star Grill and then made my way down to a deck chair in the shade. It was quite hot and humid even out on the water.

Dinner tonight was the deck barbecue and once again they outdid themselves with food so much delicious food. I did not take any pictures because the menu was much the same as it was last week.

I sat with my new friends Karen and Mark and met another fun couple but I can’t remember their names of course. After the dinner was over the band was playing and the crew performed some line dances for us it was a great time.

When they were finished the dance floor opened up for anyone and we did some dancing and it was amazingly hot at eight or 9 o’clock in the evening. We were all drenched with sweat but it was so much fun.

We walked up to the front of the ship, and it was darker there and we could see the stars a lot better. We are told that when the ship sails all the lights on the front of the ship are out and you can probably see 1 million more stars. So we said we’re going to come up to this deck while we’re sailing which would be tomorrow night I can’t wait!

All in all it was a great Day to be alive. As I’ve said before, I’m having so much fun on this cruise I’m so glad I came. 

Sorry the post is a bit out of order—it’s too hard to fix on my phone!! 

Ta’aha Private island- December 26

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Today was the day we visited WindStar’s private motu !! A Motu is actually just a small island.

The crew worked overnight to transport everything we could need for a day on a tropical island. They also prepared lunch and like any other meal here it was a feast.

The first tenders were scheduled to go to the island about 10 AM. These were not the lifeboats we normally use for tender but we’re zodiac boats. So we all had to wear lifejackets.

Once we got there we found lounge chairs set up all around the perimeter of the island and they brought all the water sports toys over there as well. It was nice to have the stand up paddle boards and the Kayaks available. The water was very shallow near the shore and Unbelievably clear.

And I did lounge in a lounge chair for a couple of hours until it was time for lunch. There was such a variety of foods and the hamburgers and hotdogs and fish were grilled over real flames. Of course there were at least 10 different salads plenty of vegetables and fresh fruit and desserts and of course lots of rum punch.

After lunch, I donned my snorkeling gear and waded out into the beautiful water. There were many small areas of coral with lots of fish swimming around them.

After about an hour, I got out and made my way over to the other side of the island and found an unoccupied lounge chair and sat and sat and read my book. Oh, I forgot to mention you had to be careful where you put your lounge chair because not all the coconut trees have nets under them and you could very likely get struck in the head or somewhere else with a coconut so you need to look up!

About 2 PM I decided to head back to the ship get showered and cleaned up. The little zodiac brought us back in style.

I did a whole Lotta nothing until it was time for dinner. Of course dinner was lovely and I was seated with two very friendly women. Great conversation great food and great wine made for a great evening!

After dinner, I went up to the star compass lounge and drink even more wine and then because what the hell, I apparently did quite a bit of dancing. I seriously hope no one got a video of that LOL

One of my many favorite bartenders!

I also wanted to give you an update on my stalker situation! Karen and I decided to go to a show in the lounge. We were sitting there chatting waiting for the show to start and who starts down the row where we were sitting and settles about three seats away from me. Dear God. I thought I was rid of him. The next thing I know, he has moved to the seat right next to me and sat on my phone my key card everything I had laying there Before I could even say a word, Karen leans across me and says “You need to move over there (pointing across the room), Jill doesn’t want to sit with you.”  And off he went!  I pray he finally gets it!  And many thanks to Karen!!!

Merry Christmas from Raiatea!

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My apologies for not being timely and updating the blog for the past few days. I have been having so much fun. I am in the water. I’m eating this fabulous food. I’m dancing, drinking, perhaps a tad more than normal, but mostly after all day of being busy I fall into my bed without writing a word.

Christmas day, we were docked in Raiatea. Nothing was open because they celebrate Christmas here. So the day was a ship day for me. Excursions were operating but I chose not to do one. What I did mostly was lay on a deck chair and read. I had lunch at the Star Grill and was just finishing up when my stalker plopped his ass down across from me.  Sigh.  I’ve been quite successful in avoiding him and thought he had lost interest. Apparently not. I simply put on my mask said enjoy your lunch and walked away.

Shortly after that, I got a text message from my daughter wanting to know if we could FaceTime. Of course we could I was so excited. So she opened her Christmas presents from me while we were on the phone and then I took her on a tour around the ship and we ended up talking for over two hours. It was wonderful. 

Before I knew it, it was time to get ready for dinner. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to update my shower/bath tub when I get home because this one is spoiling me to death.

I had dinner with the same people as the other night. We had a great time and the menu was exquisite. For my starter, I had the Parma ham with baked ricotta flan. It was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten! 

This was followed by a roasted butternut squash soup also delicious. 

The main course was poached lobster tail with risotto and asparagus. OMG.  Of course, no picture- but I assure you it was delicious!

And just when you think they couldn’t top this dinner with a dessert equal in taste, they did. Three words Dash hot ginger bread soufflé! With salted caramel sauce!

All of this was accompanied by many glasses of great wine.

We finished dinner by about 9 PM. There was Christmas caroling in the main theater. And I had every intention of attending. I went back to my cabin to change and freshen up and decided to turn on the TV for a few minutes until I had to leave. Uh-huh. We all know where this is going. I woke up at midnight with a crick in my neck and a little pissed at myself for missing the show. But, c’est la vie!

The ship was sailing to our next destination and rocking me to sleep as we sailed.

Merry Christmas Eve From Moorea!

​I woke up refreshed and headed to my nail appointment at 9 AM. My nails were desperately in need of repair!

After some coffee and a late breakfast, I headed out to the water sports platform on the aft of the ship. It was amazing – pretty much like everything else has been for the past 10 days or so. We are anchored in about 90 feet of water and it is so blue and so beautiful. I just swam around looking at everything trying to make memories of how beautiful this island is. 

I didn’t take my iPhone down to the sports platform this morning or I could’ve taken pictures from the back of the ship but I’ll try to remember to do that next time.

I pretty much decided that this cruise is going to be more about the ship then going into all the ports. I’m hoping at the next tender port, that they will have the tubing things set up so you can you know be towed by the ski boat. If they do that I’ll be sure to take my water camera!

After that I headed up to the pool deck where I FaceTime to with my BFF Linda and heard it was 47° in Pennsylvania. Yuck! I warmed up by having a few of these strawberry Gin, mint smoothie drinks!!!. OMG so delicious!

Then I headed up to deck seven to the star grill where they have the barbecues. I had a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw. Very delicious! I’ve eaten there a few times one time, they had these delicious barbecue ribs. I’ve seen beautiful looking hamburgers and cheeseburgers up there as well. 

This is just one example of the service aboard the ship: I was eating my pork sandwich and thinking I could eat some potato chips with this. So I said to one of the waiters do you have potato chips a board well they did not have any up where I was at they were only available when you ordered room service. Of course three people immediately were falling all over me insisting they could go down to the kitchen and get the chips and bring them up and serve them to me and I was like no that’s not necessary. But everyone here just seems so generally happy and so willing to do anything to make your life better on this ship. I’m pretty sure I am ruined forever for all other cruise lines.

Because it’s Christmas Eve, they have a lovely show planned for 9:30 PM in the large lounge large- meaning it holds 300 people. If I didn’t mention this previously, there are 170 people aboard for this cruise.  And I have dinner in candles tonight on the deck with my new friends while we are selling towards Raitaia. 

Always fresh baked cookies!!!!

Week Two Begins!!!

The ceremony at sailing! The raising of the Windstar flag

Today is turnaround day in Papeete. I didn’t do a whole lot today but finished moving all my stuff to my new cabin, got everything put away so I’m ready for the week.

Overnight, it looks like they worked all night to really put up their awesome Christmas decorations around the ship.

One of bands—they learned a Tom Petty song for me and played it today!!!

The Ferry Terminal

The waterfront and city.

I woke up about 7:30 AM. And hung around in my cabin until about 10 AM. Then I went up to my favorite little café in the forward area of the ship and got my coffee and these little delicious egg salad sandwiches. After a few cups of coffee I had an oatmeal raisin cookie. They bake cookies every single day on the ship and there are usually four varieties. The oatmeal raisin are my favorite.

I decided to get off the ship and walk around downtown Papeete. I was glad I remembered to bring along some water because it was hot and humid out there. The downtown area is very urban, lots of traffic. But one thing they do know how to do here is crosswalks. And everyone obeys them! After walking along the waterfront for a little across the street and walk down some side streets just to look in the shops. Of course, there are tons of Pearl stores everywhere but I went into a little store selling all sorts of women’s dresses. I ended up paying far too much for a little cotton sundress but it’s very adorable.

Lunch was very uneventful. Good food but I was really just thirsty more than anything. I swear I drink at least a gallon of water here every day.

Dinner was a huge surprise. I have always asked for a table with others so tonight I was assigned to a large table of six and met the most phenomenal people. The woman to my left and I immediately hit it off and we’ve been talking like we’re old friends. We’ve (Karen and her husband) decided to have dinner tomorrow and include our new friend John. John is a very interesting person first of all, he only has one arm but he has traveled all over the world. I haven’t heard all of his stories because Karen  and I were chatting up a storm but we went to the club after dinner and met up again . We listened to the band and we danced a little and we had a few drinks and now I’m back in the cabin.

I hesitate to write about this but it does appear that I’ve picked up a creepy stalker. I had met a man at a group table last week and he was nice enough to talk to and we ended up listening to the band at the night club and talking some more. When it was time for me to go back to my cabin as I was tired and it was quite late, he sort of grabbed me and kissed me and I was not willing. It was sort of gaggy.It freaked me out and I’ve been avoiding him for the last few days of the cruise previously.  He found out my cabin number and knocked one day and said since he knew “where I lived”, he wanted to let me know his cabin number. And wouldn’t you know he signed a board for the second week as well. And the creepiest thing of all, when he booked the new week, he booked the cabin next to mine- and the way these ships are set up, there is a doorway and then 2 adjacent doors. I hadn’t told him I wouldn’t be in that room—it was booked so I had to move down a few cabins. Thank God.  

 I told my new friends about him and they made sure that they got me safely back to my cabin and thankfully he didn’t follow me. I hope he’s finally got the hint, but usually those types never do.  

So, sending some protective vibes my way would be appreciated!!!!  

jilly