Just back from Tahitian Princess - any questions?

Hi everyone,

We have just returned from Tahtiti and had a blast. :D Some minor issues with Princess, but nothing to detract from the trip. You can definately see some changes, but this is being reflected by the overall experience. Plenty of trip reports around and I will get to writing one soon. I will try not to bore everyone.

Just holler if you have any questions -

Mich

What did you like the most about the Tahitian Princess and the least? Curious to know sicne I am going on Dec 3/04....any comments you can advance would be greatly appreciated.

I'm glad to hear that you had a wonderful cruise. We are looking forward - less that 5 months to go :)

I am wondering, did you fly on ATN? Did you fly out of Tom Bradley Intl. or form the main building?

I am looking forward to reading your thoughts on the trip.

Mich,

We are anxious to hear your good and not so good experiences. Did you do a pre-cruise? Tell us about excursions. We leave in 6 months.

Hi everyone,

MvPinBoynton -

1 - we loved the size of the TP - 680 pax is fantastic for embarking and disembarking. We have been on the larger ships and found this far more convenient. Also the fact that we saw many familiar faces during the cruise made it great for making new friends.

2 - the cabins are fabulous, we were in minisuite 8065 - the last cabin on the deck made for great privacy. The cabin had heaps of storage space, great bathroom, and loads of room. We tossed up on the Owners suite, but thought that the owners suites being part of the superstructure would impeed viewing from the cabin - in my own opinion we were right. I love laying in bed and looking out at the ocean, with the OS you cannot do this, you have to be standing to see the ocean. Don't get me wrong, they are very nice cabins, just my personal preference.

3 - Easy to get around - had everything the big ships have without the endless hikes up and down decks. We never had to wait for the elevator, and the pool area was fine.

4 - Decor - very classy as opposed to the glitzy gloss of the mega ships. More subduded and the style of the psgrs reflected this.

5 - the Itinerary had some flaws, I still cannot work out why after Moorea - the best of the Societies, we had to race back to Papeete to be in port by 9pm. We should've stayed the night in Moorea and left early for Papeete. Still would've made the early flights.

6 - Best islands, Huahine, Rarotonga was a pleasant surprise, and Moorea.

You will love the TP she is fantastic.

We flew into Papeete 4 days early and had a ball. My DH and I met in Tahiti 17 years ago so it was a trip down memory lane. As far as shorex go, we were travelling with inlaws - seniors - so we hired cars in each port to do the circle island tours on our own. This enabled us to go where and when we wanted and find all the amenities on our own schedule. We had all the guide books, my DH has visitied all the islands, so we feel that we did not miss out on anything. We did the catamaran sunset cruise in Bora Bora and it was great. They had champers for all at sunset and Moet no less. Also rum cocktails for the entire sail - surprising and fun.

We also did the Dolphin swim in Moorea and it was a blast and worth the money. Just to be able to get in a large pool and feel these animals up for want of a better word, was a treat not to be missed. Great trip.

Rarotonga - what a beautiful island and this is the place to look for pearls, even though I got mine in Bora Bora. Raro is fun.

Laurieb - we are from Australia and flew Air New Zealand, I can find out about ATN - most reports from pax were very complimentary - great planes and great service. I travel with seniors and they were a little exhausted at the end of the cruise. I went to ATN office in Papeete and tried to order a wheelchair. The lovely girl said I needed 24 hours notice but would call her manager to see what she could do. We got the the airport and all was arranged, even wheelchair transport for the transfer to American. The only issue was at Dallas, no chair, and a long hike and American gave away the seats - ho hum.

Highroller - as above for the good, the only negatives was that Princess is definately cutting back. The food was below standard Princess fare. I have done 5 Princess cruises and this was the first where we were questioning the food. For those Princess fans who like details - I will keep it brief - the omelets were like rubber, the meat was tough, the pastries we literally had to beg for, its the little things that have changed, but this did not detract from our trip at all, just a observation. On a high note - our servers were absolutely brilliant and they are getting special notice to Princess from us. We ordered 2 bottles of wine every night and she turned it into a wine tasting trip - wonderful. We sat at a table for 4 as we like to get as much time together with family as possible and it turned out well. At breakfast we asked for a table for 4 and it was a slight hassel for them. We only ate at the buffet once, and once was to many.

FYI - we were totally dissappointed in Bora Bora, we were there 17 years ago and the island has been taken over by large hotel chains with OWB appearing everywhere. It has been ruined. Moorea is much better, IMO - and if I had the time I would go straight back at the end of the cruise and spend 2 -3 days at the Sheraton or Beachcomber. Very similar - Sheraton is probably better for OWB as the snorkelling is better than at the Beachcomber.

We stayed at the Sheraton in Papeete both pre cruise and post - fantastic location - walking distance to the town and passes right by the supermarche for those who cannot live with out the Baguette and Fromage and Jambon. Also Le Truck is right outside the Sheraton, makes for easy trips to town.

We disembarked the ship early, just needed to get away and the thought of laying around the pool all day waiting till late was to much to bear. We have a great contact if anyone is interested. He collected the four of us at 9.30 am. Drove us and the mountain of luggage to the Sheraton, waited till we checked in, washed up, changed clothes and got ourselves organised, took us on a tour of the island, drove us back to the Sheraton, came back at 6pm to collect us to go to the Airport, waited for us to check in the inlaws and say good by. Drove us back to the Sheraton. Came back to the Sheraton and collected us at - wait for it - 3 am - back to the airport and a fond farewell. All this for $200. Well worth it. I have his contact details if anyone wants to know. He is brilliant and his english is excellent. He was born in Tahiti, and educated in Australia, so it was very easy.

Tips -

Moorea had the cheapest Pareos we found.

Flowers, the market in Papeete has plenty. We saw hundreds of the arrangements come on board, I did something a little different. I selected my own flowers and arranged them myself so I had vases everywhere. One on the coffee table, one on the long dresser and some orchids in the bathroom. The cabin smelt fabulous. Looked a little nicer than the standard arrangements.

Hire your cars in advance as the islands book out when the ships are intown. We used Europcars and the only problem we had was in Moorea. But in lew of the car that they did not have they hired us a car with driver for 50% cheaper.

We took way to many clothes, much more relaxed than other cruises.

The Internet lounge worked well. We had to stay in touch with the office everyday and did not have any problems.

The Entertainment was better than on the bigger ships, but I could be biased, the entire entertainment crew were Aussies.

Sorry if this seems a little disjointed, in a rush.

Please feel free to ask if I have left anything out - more than happy to help.

Will definately do this again, it was fabulous and those who are going - I am jealous. I will be back in Tahiti early next year, but on my own. We are collecting our catamaran from Trinidad in November and sailing across the Pacific back to Australia, so back to Tahiti here I come.

Take care everyone,

Regards,

Michelene.

Michelene, thank you for your extensive posting...very informative and greatly appreciated....I am glad too hear we decided to do our post cruise for 5 days in Moorea, we are staying at the Intercontinental. Also, as to the ship we too are in a min-suite so that is comforting to know that they are spacious and lots of storage room as we will be traveling for 42 days doing a B2B then on the Sapphire Pricness from Sydney to Auckland for Xmas and New Years.

Interesting remark regarding the food you made I have noticed it as well. The food has become more mainstream on all ships in the past 2 years, and I thought this would not be the case on the Tahitian Princess.

May I ask you a question? We are staying one pre cruise night because we get in so late off of Air New Zealand at midnighton the same day of embarkation that we are staying at Le Manderin Hotel about 500 feet from the pier where th ship docks...have you seen this hotel or heard anything good or bad about it?

Thanks again for taking the time to post your information.

G'Day Highroller,

Le Meredian - have heard a lot about it, but did not see it. I would assume that it will be fine. Also transport at that early hour is no issue.

A good place for info that I found is at http://www.tahitiexplorer.com and then head to the forums. The locals are very helpful and very friendly. Forum link is a little hard to find, centre of the page at the bottom.

Good luck, have a blast and if you need any info on Australia or NZ please feel free to contact, I live in Brisbane, was born in Sydney and was married in NZ after travellling for 9 months.

Bye,

Michelene

We stayed at the LeMeridien in May and it was lovely -- had an OWB. Only drawback -- they wouldn't let you swim from your own porch. You have to walk in to the beach to enter and exit the water to snorkel. You can swim under and around your OWB and the snorkeling was better than other OWBs we stayed in. Good breakfast buffet for $30 PP but ours was included in the price of our room. :) The LeMeridien is about 10 miles from the pier -- not 500 feet! Maybe there is another hotel called the Le Mandarin??? :confused:

Here's the link for the the Manadarin Hotel in Papeete ...if anyone has anything good or bad...it's really only a place for us to crash for 10 hours that night since we will arrive at teh hotel at 1:00AM and board the ship at 11:00AM.

http://www.hotelmandarin.com/index.htm.en

Michelene,

Thank you so much for all the info. It does sound like you had a wonderful time. We will have a minisuite and can't wait to experience a cabin with some room to stretch. :) I am looking forward to finally being able to experience a smaller ship. Most people seem to really love them. We are doing the Marquesa's itinerary, so we will miss out on your favorites, Huahine and Rarotonga. But I have great expectations or the Marquesa's and Rangiroa. I guess it will give us an excuse to do another cruise on the TP. As far as food goes, it doesn't have to be great, just better than Royal Caribbean's. :D We have already reserved a couple private excursions in anticipation of a run on them when the ships are in. Thanks again for your post.

MVPinBoynton, we are doing the Marquesas as well on Dec 3/04 on the Tahitian Princess....will let you know my thoughts when I am onboard as I will probably do a "Live from the Tahitian Princess" whle onboard throught my cruise just too keep fellow CC'ers informed.

HR, we stayed at Le Mandarin hotel just for overnight as you are doing in March 2004. It was an older hotel, a bit worn but clean. Perfectly fine for just crashing after a flight. They do not have anyone to help with the luggage to your room but do have a small elevator. My hubby had to make a couple of trips to get the luggage up since it is really a very small elevator (think Europe). There is a little restaurant next door (actually attached to the hotel) where you can have breakfast the next morning. All in all, a good value for just sleeping the night. We will probably use it again in 2006 as well for sleeping the first night before we board the plane since we won't get in till about 9:30 PM and traveling from the East Coast (NY) makes for a long day. Also, what is nice is that if you have any energy left after making the flight you can walk down to the pier and eat off the roulouttes if you decide you want something to eat that evening.

Again, not fancy, a bit worn but clean. Worth the $135/nt we paid in March 04 to spend the night.

Jackie

NEW YORK LADY...thanks for the candid remarks, as you pointed out I wasn't expecting it too be the "Ritz Carleton" either just from the pictures on there website, and we got a good deal for you over $110.00 USD...as long as it's clean!....didn't feel like paying double the price for the Intercontinent or Sheraton only to see the four walls too sleep that night!...thanks very much and I can't wait to see us lugg all of our luggage in that little closet fo an elevator!

New York Lady.....We are on the Dec 13th cruise and heard your group are booked for Mar 2006. My daughter and myself may join you also, is this the Cook Island cruise? when do you plan on starting a roll-call?

HighRoller,

I am looking forward to reading your on board posts. I am particularly interested in what happens on that short day in Raiatea. Since everyone says you have to be back to see the 5:00 Polynesian show on the ship, I know that we won't get to do everything that we want to do or see there.

MVPinBoynton, yes "HR" will be live on the airwaves for those 10 days and will try and take all your questions, concerns, complaints (easy on the complaints as I am on vacation mode at that time)....looking forward to this one probably more than any of my Princess past or future cruises.

Ikyfrog,

Yes, we are on the March 10, 2006 Cook Island cruise. I will probably post a Roll Call the beginning of March 05 (one year out) so we can meet all our new CC friends on line. This way when we get on the ship we will feel like we know each other already. We have about 4 couples from this year's trip going on this one already with a few others tossing the idea of March vs. September. Welcome aboard.

Jackie

Hi Michelene! Glad to see you made it back safe and sound. Bet Zero was happy to see you! It was nice meeting you, David, and his parents. Wish we could have spent more time with you, but everyone was so busy on this ship, and the wonderful ports.

It was a great cruise for us. The kids like the bigger ships, but for us, we loved the small ship with less people, easier tendering. And, it was nice to see familar faces after our Cruise Critic meet. We had a great time with everyone.

We tried the vegemite last night. Boy, it is salty! Garrett is saving the other two packs for when he has a few friends over!

By the way, we loved our Owner's Suite on Deck 7. Ron and I could definitely see the ocean from our bed. Ron would open the drapes in the morning, and we had a gorgeous view. Also, having the extra room was a plus.

Happy sailing to you! I am so jealous!!!

Take care, Debbi

thank for your wonderfull posting. i have a question about the sunset catamaran cruise. what time do you get back to the ship? if you have the late seating for dinner should you book an alternative restaurant or can you make the dinning room in time with showering and changeing?

hal

Thank you for the wonderful thread. Your love of the islands definitely shows :)

Michelene, Thank you for your post! Any information is helpful. I will be on the TP in two weeks and did have a couple of questions (and they are simple). What time was the muester drill on the day you departed? Our CCers are trying to plan a sailaway meeting and it would be helpful if we knew what time the drill was. Also, you may not know the answer to this, but I will ask and perhaps you or another CCer will know the answer. We purchased Princess transfers so I know I have transportation to the airport at the end of the cruise. We are leaving on one of the 10pm flights and I was wondering how they handled the transfer. Does everyone go on one big bus or do they run it more like a shuttle and you can go to the airport whenever you want to? We will be flying PPT to LAX and then LAX to Dallas. How was the PPT airport when you departed? Was it really crowded or busy? Any tips on how to manage at the PPT airport would also be really, really appreciated!

Thanks!

Susan

Hi Everyone,

Muster drill - If I rememeber right 4.30 - a real pain in the butt - we are just having our first CC party and have to race off to Drill - a real bore. Sail - away day - 2nd day of cruise as you spend the first night in PPt.

Regent 218 - Cat Cruise - we got back at 7.00pm. We were on the early seating and just made arrangements the night before to change for late seating. You will be back in time,no worries.

Cruzfvr - we are on our way to you - we have closed our deal and are leaving in Nov. We plan on 6 weeks in the US and are coming to Vegas for 3 days of Margaritas and will more than likely stay at the Bellagio. (sp) rushing. Want to see O again. Great meeting you guys, will definately try to catch up - Zero is missing his pal, my sisters pup, but definately happy to see us.

DH is really excited as we are filling the downstairs of our house with boating gear, new sails ordered and sooooooo much to organise. Containers to Trinidad, storage, house, dog, ah!!!!!!!!

Great cruise eh!!!!!!.

Michelene

Hi Michelena,

It is late but I thought I'd stroll through looking for our former Princess thread, which i have yet to find. We just totally enjoyed meeting you both and hope that you will seriously consider staying with us when you tour the United States. I'll write you in a few days at your e-mail address.

I agree with Michelena on the food. Quite disappointing although one would wonder why I had to eat and eat and gain 5 pounds.

Our highlight of the trip was with Moorea Boat Tours. We actually swam with sting rays, sharks, dolphins and whales. Who'da thunk I could've done that? I don't even like the swimming pool!

Warning about room 7055. We had to vacate the room. Some metalic noise at night. They may have repaired it by now. They were very accommodating and gave us a wonderful upgraded cabin after 4 sleepless nights.

Eileen

Hi We are going on the TP Oct 31st and wanted to know if it is better to take a pre`cruise package or is it safe to book a hotel on your own? Do you have any suggestions on hotels? Also what about transfers? Any information would help. Thank You John

Hi We are going on the TP Oct 31st and wanted to know if it is better to take a pre`cruise package or is it safe to book a hotel on your own? Do you have any suggestions on hotels? Also what about transfers? Any information would help. Thank You John

John,

You should post this as a new topic on the Pacific Islandsl message board (under Ports of Call). There have been many threads on these topics and I'm sure you'll get some advice!!

I don't have anything yet on hotels (coming soon!!) but lots of other information on the website I've done for our Tahitian Princess Cruise Critic group cruise next year: Group Cruise on Tahitian Princess.

Enjoy your cruise and let us know all about it when you get home!!!!