Ski Mom 2

Packing question! I understand there’s the Orange night so I’ve got myself a bright orange blouse to wear (now if I could only find my white crop pants!) 🤣 Any other night to pack for something special? Did I read somewhere there is a white night? Or did I get that confused with Azamara whom I know has a white night? We have 2 “gala nights” as well. We are heading to the Caribbean. Thanks!

We will have 3 nights pre cruise in January 2025 and have decided to stay in Moorea. And now the fun begins! Where to stay and in what type of accommodations? While I’d love to stay in an OWB the reality is they are just too darn expensive considering we are on a 5 week South Pacific - New Zealand trip including 2 cruises and several nights in various locations. We love boutique hotels, eating, drinking, shopping and meeting the locals. We live on a beach for half the year so while it would be lovely to stay on a beach, a garden view works as well. It’s all about the experience. I don’t want to say I don’t have a budget (of course I’d prefer not to blow it on the OWB) but I’m open to what might be possible. Do we need to rent a car? I’d rather not but if it’s better to have one we can certainly do that. Hit me with your favorite spots and many thanks!

Someone else was booked in March 2025 and their cruise was canceled. They found out it is now going to be on a private charter with another travel company. The January, February and part of March Star Breeze cruises either show no cruises or no availability until mid March. My TA will be calling next week to find out whatever they might tell her. In the mean time, we are putting our deposit down on PG on Monday!

Has anyone gone out to dinner in Bora Bora that first night? We love to take advantage of late nights in ports and finding a great local restaurant is right up our alley.

Thanks! We did just change it! We are now booked on Cruise Society Islands, Cook Islands, Tonga & Fiji departing January 4, 2025. It ends in Fiji on January 19 and we will fly to Auckland and board Azamara for New Zealand Intensive starting on January 20. It lines up perfectly!!

Hello! New PG cruiser but not new to cruising. We have cabin 439 on hold (it was the only one that said it was available yesterday). Today 437 says it’s available. My question is when I look at deck 4 map, what is next to 439? I see the door that heads to the marina and the map makes reference to crews quarters but it’s hard to know what is all that blank space next to 439. Should I stay in 439 or am I missing something and should try to move? I realize it’s probably no big deal but I thought I would ask. Thanks!

Thank you so much for your response TheDarkestBlue! We already have an Azamara cruise of New Zealand booked later in January 2025 and this PG cruise lines up perfectly for us. We do realize it’s the rainy season but we are ok with that. I’ve spent the bulk of the afternoon and now all evening reading up on PG and it looks and sounds like what we enjoy and we are pretty excited. We have a cabin on hold and have a few days to make our final decision. We already have flights to Tahiti so at least we won’t have to switch those. So instead of having 3 nights in Fiji following the WS cruise that is no longer we will have 3 nights ahead in Tahiti for this cruise. We will then fly direct to Auckland from Fiji and jump on our Azamara cruise the next day! Crazy I know but it will be an adventure! I know I’ll have more questions about PG. I will post those as I think of them. Again thanks so much!

Here is what the letter stated: We have been looking forward to you joining us on the Star Breeze, South Pacific – January 2, 2025 – February 5, 2025 sailings. Due to necessary fleet maintenance, it is our regret to inform you that the Star Breeze will not be operating in this region. As a result, your itinerary has been cancelled.

I am currently booked on Star Breeze Tahiti to Fiji for January 2025. I just received notice that my cruise has been canceled! In fact, it sounds like many of the Tahiti cruises on Star Breeze for 2025 have been canceled. There is a Paul Gauguin cruise that almost lines up perfectly that we currently are looking at. This is the second time Windstar has canceled this cruise on us. Once in January 2024 and now January 2025. We are avid WS cruisers but this might be the final straw. I know nothing about Paul Gauguin but am reading all I can find here on CC now...

We are also on Azamara New Zealand Intensive departing Auckland on 1/20/2025. We had added Star Breeze Tahiti to Fiji so my air is booked, some of my hotels are booked etc. Now it looks like Paul Gauguin has almost the same itinerary for almost the same dates (althought more expensive) so we are working on that now. Something is up and it doesn't sound pretty.

We already have our airfare booked to Tahiti. This is just ridiculous if you ask me. We are currently on hold with Paul Gauguin; they have a cruise that matches up with what we were doing Tahiti to Fiji. But I'm serious when I say my WS days may be over...

BAD NEWS! our WS cruise from Papeete to Fiji in January 2025 has just been canceled!!😡 This is the second time they have done this to us and now I’m not sure we will sail with them again.

This happened to us as well for a Star Breeze around New Zealand that was scheduled for January 2024. We took our money and the $200 OBC for another cruise. We too had had the cruise scheduled for over a year or more and were pretty unhappy. I don’t think we received any reason why.

With Star Breeze cruising Tahiti now, there are a few “Sailing the South Pacific” or “Pearls of Paradise” cruises where she sails Tahiti to Auckland via Fiji and vice versa. I believe the first sailing was January 20 2024. We are on the January 2025 sailing (but only sailing to Lautoka) and I was wondering if anyone could give us some insight on how the cruise was. We are avid WS fans and I’m looking for info on the ports, the crossings, etc versus how the ship was. PAPEETE BORA BORA AVATIU NUKUALOFA, TONATAPU SUVA TAVEUNI SAVUSAVU LAUTOKA AUCKLAND We will take advantage of WS’s one night in Papeete offering before boarding and departing in Lautoka where we will be looking for a resort to stay for 3 nights. Thanks!

Look at where WS goes in that area of the world. That should give you a good indication of where you might stop. Do you enjoy Greece and Turkey? That would be my bet and in April the weather should be pretty enjoyable I would think. I’m with your spouse…book it! It will be an adventure!!

Update: We have recently returned from our Star Collector cruise that included Barbados to Aruba and through the Panama Canal cruise. I have to say we thoroughly enjoyed the Aruba through the canal cruise. Our stops were almost all new ports for us (with the exception of St Lucia and ending in Panama) and totally enjoyed the new stops. Prior to the cruise they changed our itinerary to an overnight in Cartegena (instead of the stop in Santa Marta) so we ended up going on 2 WS tours that were both outstanding there. We also had a wonderful WS tour out of St Lucia that we enjoyed. The location of the beach bbq on San Blas Island was a one of our favorites. I don't think you can go wrong with either cruise!

We like to wander as well so this is good to know. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences!

Thank you! It's so nice to chat with someone that's done this particular cruise, especially since it hasn't run before. May I ask what you were disappointed in with the Fiji stops? Weather? Not enough time? Not as beautiful as other stops? This cruise is pretty spendy so I'm trying to decide if it's worth the money or I should book something else. We are actually on an Azamara cruise Auckland to Auckland following this cruise and thought it would be fun to add the South Pacific since it's such a long haul to get there.

We are on the Tahiti to Auckland cruise in January 2025. Could you tell me a little bit more about this particular cruise? It's a lot of sea days for husband so I'm wondering what makes it special to have those 8 sea days. Thanks!

Just got off Star Pride. Our AC worked fine. It did seem to get just a bit warmer towards the end of our cruise but not enough to disrupt our sleep (we like it pretty cold at night).

Would you be willing to share the AirBnB in Papeete? We are going in January 2025 and are trying to decide where to stay precruise.

We are on an Azamara cruise Auckland to Auckland in January 2025. We booked a Windstar cruise from Tahiti to Fiji ending in Auckland arriving 2 days before the Azamara cruise sets sail. I'm attempting to sort out air and hotel and hoping to use my AA miles at some point. The cost of flights is crazy if you're wanting laydown seats whether you're paying or using miles/points. Part of the reason we booked the Tahiti - NZ cruise was to have a shorter flight over (and maybe catch a daytime flight) and potentially save the miles for the return from Auckland. I'm also trying to decide where to land for what will most likely be 4 nights prior to the cruise. Papeete? Mooreau? Resort? AirBnB type? I've thoroughly enjoyed reading through your posts! Thank you!

Hmmm. Different experiences. Josefina’s gave us a chance to visit with her and her helpers; learn about her take on local foods; visit the market; help prepare the meal; and enjoy! We did help “pick” the menu which was fun too and since it was only us and one other couple that was easier I think than if it was a bigger group (I don’t eat a lot of fish so she also made chicken too). For the food tour I loved visiting places we never would have found on our own. And we for so lucky that we were the only ones on the tour so one on one service was special. Both were wonderful in their own way; I don’t think you can go wrong!

So I have a question and I hope it's not a dumb one... To book Club Orange, one must call Holland to first ask about availability. Two, if it's available you tell them to book the lowest price cabin in the category you'd like (veranda seems to be the best value). Three, once you tell them the cabin you'd like, they will automatically upgrade you to the "real one" you'd like (the higher valued cabin in that category). So it all happens at the same time?