Tahiti Experts Needed

Please email me at judyskis@yahoo.com to share advice on Tahiti cruises. If you love talking about your Tahiti/Tahitian Princess experience, I'm ready to listen. I'm frantically reading what I can find on this board. The search feature doesn't work well for me. I have tons of what seems like silly little questions. Best time of year to go. TP to Tahiti or PP with Cook Islands. Pre and post cruise. What's the air deviation everyone talks about? Husband says, "Sure, Tahiti sounds good for our anniversary." (September) No time to lose!

Thanks

J

Heyjude,

We have spent 35 days on the TP in French Polynesia. We are going back for our 4th cruise in October. What can I say. It's one of the most beautiful places on earth, and the ship,natives, and islands makes this a great place to visit.

You can see some of photos from our previuos cruise at:

tahiti photos

Richard

Norwegian Dream Mediterranean/Holy Lands 10/99

Carnival Holiday Ensenada 1/00

Renaissance R4 Tahiti 10/00

Renaissance R4 Tahiti 4/01

Windspirit Costa Rica 1/02

Windsurf Southern Caribbean 1/03

Tahitian Princess Tahiti 10/03

4/11/04 Dawn Princess Southern Caribbean Cruise

10/14/04 Tahitian Princess Polynesia/Cook Islands

12/23/04 Dawn Princess Western Caribbean Cruise

I'm certainly not an expert! But I have regrets. So I will share. We had the best stateroom ever, but it was not the right time for us. Money was very tight and Tahiti is very expensive! My folks booked us, 6-5-03, and then they were not well enough to go. This was our sixth Princess Cruise. There were lots of special things anyway. The mini-suite, free internet, the size of the ship, the food and the wonderful service! We had just remodeled our home and we didn't take advange of many tours, and we should have! You need to, I felt that we did not realy see anything. I do not like humidity, and the first two days were very hot and humid! Moorea almost killed me! You need to book tours on your own, or through the ship to really enjoy the experience. I found there wasn't much to do if you do not plan ahead. Enough said, plan ahead, plan to spend money! If you do that, it will be a wonderful adventure! The ship itself was wonderful, we were always running into the same people, we really cared about who won Mr. Tahitian! Why, because we knew them all! This was a nice trip, we just did not do enough homework! I would sugest late June or July, with less humidity. The last 7 days were great. We had very little weather. We are off to Alaska on 6-5-04 on the Regal, more my kind of cruise. This is our fourth to Alaska, being from Phoenix it will be a nice break! Wish you a great cruise!

Donna,

Thanks for the email and the suggestion for Jan Prince's book. Ordering it today. I'll be in touch.

Daisy,

Yep, it's been made quite clear to us that Tahiti will cost. We know this won't be any kind of budget vacation. Cruising still seems like the best value over a land-based vacation. Our target would be the end of September or beginning of October.

Richard,

Thanks for great photos. I've been drooling for days. I've been emailing photos to lure DH -- working out of state right now. We've spent so much time in Hawaii -- and just love it; now it's time to move on in a big way. Husband requests at least 10 or 14 day trip. This from a guy I had to DRAG onto first cruise.

To dive or not to dive. If we can squeeze in getting the cert before departure, we'd be novices -- is that wise. October is okay then?

J

Cruising is the best deal - you could not get a nice hotel at the rate you are getting a room and meals on the ship. Additionally, you get the travel between islands "included" as part of your tour.

This cruise was the vacation of a lifetime. Take the time and go back to many of the old posts. Also, do a bunch of google searches - you cannot believe the amount of information out on the web.

My recommendations - Marc's tour on Huahine, Patrick on Tahiti, a pre or post cruise on Tahiti at the Sheraton - or at the Sheraton on Moorea - it is really gorgeous. Also, on Bora Bora and Raiatea (sp??) there are tons of resources available right on the dock if you haven't made plans ahead of time.

We only did one Princess excursion - Captain's Tour on Rarotonga - I hated it, my husband loved it - go figure.

We rented cars on Bora Bora one day and on Moorea one day - and explored on our own and had a great time.

Just go!!!

We went to Tahiti on the Tahitian Princess last month and stayed in an over-the-water bungalow at the Sheraton Moorea for 4 days pre-cruise. I'd HIGHLY recommend doing that!!! If money is no object I'd move up a notch and stay at Le Taha'a which is on a private motu off Tahaa. You can see photos of both places on the web page I made for our Tahiti trip. There is also a link to the Le Taha'a there. We stayed in the owner's suite, 6091, on the Tahitian Princess and it was the best ever!! Awesome room!! And it was not really that much more than a mini-suite. It ended up costing us about $3,700/person for two people for the ten day cruise if I remember correctly.

Have fun!!

Thanks everyone. Great comments. Great photos. I've looked at Windjammer also and I'm quite intringued by the Aranui (the passenger/cargo ship. It's very expensive but the accomodations are not what you are paying for ($3K to share a bathroom!). Princess is always a win/win for us -- there is still lots of availability on/around our anniversary. We won't be taking kids (and kids' friends) this time so a nice cabin and a couple days pre-cruise sound great. I'll be reading for a while now!

J

Just got back from 10 day French Polynesian cruise. Getting there and getting back is terrible and long, but the cruise is fabulous. We booked our flights with Princess. I would not do that again. We did not get good seats and did not get our flights until 2 months ahead of time. The flights are full. We were traveling with another couple and Princess could not promise us we would be on the same flight. Tahiti is beautiful. The shore tours we went on were great. Yo need to book your shore tours on line before hand. The good ones book up fast. We did the Motu Beach on Huahine, our guide Delores was fabulous. Eating lunch at tables in the water was fantastic. If you only do one tour I would do the aqua Safari on Bor Bora. You have dive helmets with oxygen tube hook up to them. You go down about 30 feet and there ae all the beautiful fish and coral. They give you bread to feed the fish and they nibble at your fingers. It was fabulous. Rarotonga (Muri Beach)was the best beach we were at. The snorkling was also good. Take your own snorkling equipment. Our Cabin was fantatic. We had cabin 8020 and the views were great at all the ports. The dinning experience was not very good. Our waiter was not very friendly. It I had have that kind of service at a resturant, I would have walk out and never gone back. The Tahitian Princess is a smaller ship. Not awhole lot of other things to do. Casino very small and the shops were small also. Alot of people from different countries. With the smaller ship you do get to know the people a little more than on the larger ones.

Heyjude,

Yes having spent many vactions in Hawaii, FP is like Hawaii was 50 years ago!!

Last July we got certified in California. This was so we could dive in FP. It took about a month and was hard work,especialy in California where we must do beach dives,water is cold, and the viz is about 10'-20'. It was worth it!!

In FP the diving is in beautiful calm lagoons,water temp is 80, and the viz is 75'-100'.

We leave this week for the caribbean on the Dawn princess and can't wait to dive in all the ports!

Richard

Norwegian Dream Mediterranean/Holy Lands 10/99

Carnival Holiday Ensenada 1/00

Renaissance R4 Tahiti 10/00

Renaissance R4 Tahiti 4/01

Windspirit Costa Rica 1/02

Windsurf Southern Caribbean 1/03

Tahitian Princess Tahiti 10/03

4/11/04 Dawn Princess Southern Caribbean Cruise

10/14/04 Tahitian Princess Polynesia/Cook Islands

12/23/04 Dawn Princess Western Caribbean Cruise

Hi,

I strongly second the Huahine Nautique (Marc's tour) suggestion and add www.taaa.net. Also well worth contacting is Myriam of Moorea Transport who has a variety of excursions on offer ad is a terrific person to deal with. You will love this cruise.

andy dee

I'm loving the research on Tahiti, Cooks and Marquesas. I'll get there if I have to swim and hole up in a grass shack!

Someone tell me honestly about the TP and the occurence for most regarding motion sickness. I have no problem but I have to strongly consider the ship for my husband who is the most susceptible-to-motion-sick person I've ever met! He has spent half of one 10-day Carribean cruise on Meclizine. This last time on the Grand, he did fine. Thank God that ship is enormous. At night when they cranked it to Ramming Speed with the stabilizers up we were rockin' away!

I ruled out Windstar and Aranui, not just for cost but for size. Every review on this ship that I read talks about sea-sickness on TP. Hmmm. It would be such bad form to leave husband behind on our anniversary cruise!

Let me know what you think.

J

DeadEd,

We are sailing on 7/16 TP and have the same owner's suite you were in. I don't know how to correspond directly w/you by email but would like to know more about the suite and its amenities from your perspective. Could you please either email me directly @ lpayton@celebrityattractions.com or put on this board. Thanks,

Larry

I would not suggest going in October. Our first trip to Tahiti was in May and it was humid but not bad. Our second trip was in October, not much humidity but lots of rain. I was actually cold on a tropical island. The closer you get to the rainy season, the more chance of rain.

Happy Sailing!

Infinity 12/04; HAL Veendam 11/05; HAL Ryndam 12/03; PP 10/03 (b2bs); HAL Noordam 3/03; HAL Veendam 10/02;RSSC Navigator 5/02;HAL Statendam 12/01; Carnival Elation 4/01; NCL Sky 9/00; Ren R4 5/00; Rhapsody of Seas 11/99; Dawn Princess 12/98; RCCL Viking Serenade 7/98; Crown Princess 11/97; 8/94 Carnival Tropicale; '88 Admiral Stardancer

If you do this trip, do the Marquesan itinerary. We were on it in January and loved it. Friends took the Cook Island tour and were less enthused.

The flights are long, even longer for those of us in the Northeast. But it WAS worth it. I'd rather put up with the long flights than go anywhere in the Caribbean.

Wow, I've heard just the opposite! Friends that did a back to back, were glad to see the Marquesas, but not much to do. They much preferred the Cooks itinerary! To each his own!

Nita

We did the Cook Island itineary for our honeymoon last October and absolutely loved it!! We did not have a single day with rain in it - everyday was gorgeous!

My only suggestion - definitely consider booking airfare through Princess. For such a long flight - you do not want to be on your own if something goes wrong. We had a HUGE problem last year with the wildfires in CA - our flight from NY was delayed, so we missed our connection in LAX. Luckily we had booked through Princess, so all it took was a simple phone call and we were booked on the next ATN flight. I, personally, would not want to be responsible for finding an alternate flight if something went wrong. Also consider a pre-cruise stay. We had a 2 day stay at the Sheraton in Tahiti (which turned into a 1 day stay due to the wildfires). It was a great way to start our vacation!!!!

Hubby and I are counting our pennies so we can go back for our 5th anniversary!

Enjoy - it really is a trip of a lifetime!!!

Karen

Voyager of the Seas - 05/04

Tahitian Princess - 10/03 (Our Honeymoon)

Carnival Paradise - 08/02

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by desarae82:

Wow, I've heard just the opposite! Friends that did a back to back, were glad to see the Marquesas, but not much to do. They much preferred the Cooks itinerary! To each his own!

Nita<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Here's my take on the difference. There isn't much to do in the Marquesas and if you are the "party all the time" kind of person then it might not be for you. The Marquesans are remote and far from civilization. They are unspoiled and beautiful. The people there were friendly and seemed to appreciate visitors. The Marquesan itinerary also visits Rangiroa which is an atoll and definitely worth seeing.

Karen,

Were you refunded the Sheratorn night that you were not able to stay there?

A Smile is just a little curve that sets a lot of things Straight.

Fair Winds and Following Seas!

Princess Di -

Our 2 day pre-cruise was a little odd. We were supposed to land at 6am on Tuesday morning. (Cruise started on Thursday). There was no hotel room assigned to us for that "night" so hubby and I thought we would hang by the pool until our room was ready. We ended up getting in at 4am on Wednesday, so essentially we still spent the same two nights (Tuesday into Wednesday and Wednesday into Thursday)in the hotel - it was just that we lost one full day of sun.

Hope that makes sense! It's a little hard to explain!!

Voyager of the Seas - 05/04

Tahitian Princess - 10/03 (Our Honeymoon)

Carnival Paradise - 08/02

K32682,

There isn't nuch partying anywhere in the islands! The back to backers said there wasn't anything to do, tourwise. We have been accustomed to booking out own tours in FP. (with help from this board!) That couple had been on a b to b last year, (that's where we met them) so had plenty of experience there. They just preferred the snorkeling, shark/ray feeding, etc. on the Cooks itinerary. Just seemed to be more activites at the ports, for them. Depends on what you like, however!

Nita

Dear Karen,

Another good argument for going to the Port early. Lucky for you that ATN had availability. I remember the fires well - we were all scared. Could not get from one Valley to the next on the 5 Freeway and had to take the back roads and it took a long time. The sky was so grey with smoke and cinders rained down upon us.

I'm so glad it worked out for you. It does make sense that, coming in the middle of the night, the hotel would charge you for that night. Princess may have notified them you were delayed or they may have had plenty of vacancy. If you are like me, I am always so excited on a trip that I hardly ever sleep. One time, in Madrid, I fell asleep in the bathtub. I woke up when I started to go under.

A Smile is just a little curve that sets a lot of things Straight.

Fair Winds and Following Seas!

I have spent 25 days on the TP in FP in October. Had great weather both times. Also spent 10 days on the TP in April and it was a little rainy but nothing to worry about. Just go!

A warm rain in French Polynesia makes the vanilla blossom. I can smell it now!

We'll be back in October for our 4th cruise on the TP! It's the best!

Richard

Norwegian Dream Mediterranean/Holy Lands 10/99

Carnival Holiday Ensenada 1/00

Renaissance R4 Tahiti 10/00

Renaissance R4 Tahiti 4/01

Windspirit Costa Rica 1/02

Windsurf Southern Caribbean 1/03

Tahitian Princess Tahiti 10/03

Dawn Princess Southern Caribbean 4/04

10/14/04 Tahitian Princess Polynesia/Cook Islands

12/23/04 Dawn Princess Western Caribbean Cruise

Can anyone comment on going in late Feb./early March. The winter here is so grey and cold that we like to get away during those months but I would hate to fly for 14 (or so) hours to have rain on a cruise.

Chamima,

Ssshhhhh! Don't use the R word. Since we are doing the Feb. 21 cruise, that word is out of our vocabulary for the next 9 months. From what I have read, the end of Feb should have less rain because it is getting near the end of the rainy season. Since I wanted to do the Marquesas, and Feb 21 is the last one that they do until next October, I felt this was the best one to go on. Hopefully any R--- that we might have would be a normal tropical thing and be over quickly.

Mike

See our reviews and pictures at Mike and Carol's Website

Costa Classica 3/94

Celebrity Mercury 4/98

Carnival Destiny 4/99

Crown Princess 7/01

Norwegian Star 11/01

Grand Princess 12/01

Sun Princess 3/02

Celebrity Constellation 11/02

Brilliance of the Seas 6/03

Navigator of the Seas 11/03

Jewel of the Seas 06/04

Tahitian Princess 02/05

Weather patterns all over the world have changed in the last few years. Richard, was your 25 days of glorious October weather in Tahiti a recent experience? Because I can vouch for 14 days in October, 2003. Cold, rainy and everyone that was on the ship made the same comment - where is the sunshine? I would not choose October again when there are better weather months to go.

Happy Sailing!

Infinity 12/04; HAL Veendam 11/05; HAL Ryndam 12/03; PP 10/03 (b2bs); HAL Noordam 3/03; HAL Veendam 10/02;RSSC Navigator 5/02;HAL Statendam 12/01; Carnival Elation 4/01; NCL Sky 9/00; Ren R4 5/00; Rhapsody of Seas 11/99; Dawn Princess 12/98; RCCL Viking Serenade 7/98; Crown Princess 11/97; 8/94 Carnival Tropicale; '88 Admiral Stardancer