National Geographic Orion Review

5.0 / 5.0
27 reviews

Westerly winds brought up the waters over the bow. Thrilling to see.

Review for the South Pacific Cruise on National Geographic Orion
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joan1931
2-5 Cruises • Age 90s

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Sail Date: May 2018

Chosen as a frequent traveler when offered a discount. Went with a travel buddy and shared a forward cabin. Lovely even if a bit small. It took a fair amount of rolling making the first 3 days a bit unsettling. As we went south we were in calmer seas and enjoyed the ship not only as an adventure but as a guest of the "hotel". The crew on the Orion is proud of its staff and well it should be. Always smiling, they freshened our cabin daily, served us with glorious food. Even opened a new bottle of wine that was not offered that night, just for me. The sailors took great care to assist us into the Zodiacs for forays to the beach to snorkel. I was assisted by one of the expedition onto a paddleboard, instructed how to stand and off I went into the blue water, master of my own rig. Exciting. I learned to snorkel with their help. The photography staff helped me to take better pictures and showed me how to get underwater videos with my GoPro. We visited villages on 3 islands, greeted with enthusiasm with welcoming ceremonies, native dances and food. The ethnomusiciologist heard the choir of a Christian church on a previous cruise and asked them to come on the day we were to arrive (Wednesday) and sing for u s. They agreed, rushed home from work to dress in their Sunday finery and be at church when we arrived at 4PM. Their singing was so heartful that we were all inspired. We were happy that the pastor asked them to stand in a line to greet us all as we left. We hugged and kissed in the proper French way, one of the cruisers received a hat from one of the congregants. Merci's and bon voyage to us all as we thanked them for giving us the opportunity to hear hymns in their Polynesian language. On the last night, we had the opportunity to thank the captain, meet and thank the chef. thank our servers, and to clap for those crew members who were in the engine room, who kept the ship moving.

Cabin Review

Cabin 3

Very nice. Enough storage room. A bit small.

4 Helpful Votes
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