Live from Tahitian Princess

Hello from Moorea! We boarded yesterday and so far our cruise is going very well. Embarkation was a breeze, we arrived at the pier at 11:30 AM and some nice guys took our luggage right away, and I think we waited about 10 minutes to check in. Then we explored the ship and by then lunch in the dining room was open, so we ate there at a table with some departing passengers. They told us the service had been outstanding and we were in for a great cruise, and so far they've been right! We had dinner in the buffet last night, since first dinner is open seating and we just felt like something lighter. And of course the lush that I am, I've already found a new favorite bartender, Henry who works in the Club Bar and also in the buffet bar and the casino bar. He's from the Phillippines and makes a great drink. :D

Some details for those following along at home: The captain is Edward Perrin, the cruise director is Neil Chandler, and the Maitre D'Hotel is Lorenzo Tarini. Our sailing is not the normal 10-night sailing, it's a 12-night that ends in Honolulu so the formal nights are a little different and the menus are slightly different. They're treating tonight like it was the first sail-away (even though we sailed away from Papeete at 4AM this morning) so tonight is the Sail Away dinner. Tomorrow is Tropical Night (the dress code says "Tropical") and that's when the Champagne Waterfall is. Our first formal night is the first sea day, June 2, and our second formal night is our last sea day, June 6. There's also one night, when we're at Christmas Island, where the dress code is "Optional (Formal/Smart Casual)." That's a new one to me, but maybe people on other longer sailings have seen this before? June 7 (the day we're in Hilo) is another "Tropical" night, and the rest are all smart casual.

Movies to be shown onboard include Pride and Prejudice, Good Night and Good Luck, The Family Stone, Walk the Line, March of the penguins, Proof, Bewitched, Must Love Dogs, and I assume because we're in French Polynesia, they're also showing South Pacific and Mutiny on the Bounty.

Weather has been mixed so far. We stayed two nights pre-cruise in a B&B in Punaauia--for folks looking for a totally non-cruise-ish place to stay in Tahiti, it was called Taaroa Lodge and we really liked it, but it's pretty primitive so I wouldn't recommend it for the average cruise passenger. Anyway, there was quite a thunderstorm on Sunday night, with a TON of lightning and then pouring rain. It was a really amazing storm to watch, I mean, hundreds of lightning strikes. Sunday was particularly cloudy and Monday was a bit too, but today has been more sunny and no rain so far, just lots of humidity.

Exchange rate onboard is about 92 Francs to the dollar. I highly recommend changing money in FP or on the ship and NOT at LAX. We ended up changing money there (I was going to go to the exchange bureau in my city but I had a migraine the day before we left so I didn't make it there) and I definitely feel like we got ripped off. Most places take US dollars here, even the little minimarket near our B&B.

Today we took a tour that we picked up pretty easily on shore. We walked off the tender past the places selling pareos and jewelry and a man came right up and offered us a circle island tour. It was supposed tobe a 3 hour tour but it actually lasted longer and we got to go up to Belevedere lookout and we also stopped at a pineapple juice factory (they also make pineapple booze and they gave us free tastes--yum!) and a touristy shop that sold souvenirs and expensive-looking Tahitian pearl jewelry. The tour was $30 per person, so about half what Princess was charging, and the guy who was driving us (Pierot) was very friendly and told us lots of stuff about the island. Tomorrow is Raiatea and our plan is to pick up another tour at the pier, probably one involving water. :)

Oh, one other thing: Don't book a shuttle at the airport in Papeete, it's substantially easier to just take a taxi. It's a total zoo when you get off past customs, with Tahitian dancers and loads of people and no air conditioning, and the taxis are just outside and all lined up ready to take you away.

I'll try to answer questions if I can if you post them here, depending on how the internet is working. The internet cafe was closed yesterday so I can't make any promises. :)

Sounds great! Thanks for sharing your comments with so many people. ;)

One of these days I have to do a Tahitian cruise, but for now I can live vicariously through you. Thanks for posting this live from thread.

Thanks for the info! DH and I will be doing this cruise in August so I look forward to following your posts.:)

Hi Beth:

You are such a dear for posting! I know you said you would if you could, and I'm so glad you found the time in paradise.

Wow, on the exchange rate on the ship compared to what we found here. I went to Frontier the other day, and they deal directly with Thomas Cook for exchanging money. It was 79 Francs to the dollar, so a terrible exchange rate. So glad you posted what it is on the ship. Must not vary much. I want to say that was the rate last fall when someone posted, so a much better rate than what we can get here at home or in Seattle!

Interesting about the night for the champagne waterfall. We have been on cruises of 10 - 11 and 12 nights and only on 2 of them have we had more than 2 formal nights. Have never seen a night where you could dress formal or casual if you wanted. I say casual all the way for this trip, if we could. Two formal nights is enough for me in Tahiti.

Your tour in Moorea sounds good. We have excursions booked for the 2 times we are there, but now we are thinking about changing one stop and doing what you did. Glad it turned out so good.

How was the changing of planes in LAX? I know you flew Alaska down and I'm wondering if you had any problem with booking your luggage all the way through with them on to ATN? Just curious about how that all worked for you. We have the 6:00 AM flight out (ugh) just in case to LAX. Didn't want to chance the flight being delayed out of Seattle.

So glad you are having a wonderful time. Will definitely remember Henry's name at the bar. I always find a wonderful bartender/waiter and make friends with them. Have exchanged e-mail addresses with a couple of them they were so nice.

Have a great time! Will be fun to read your posts whether on the ship or when you get back. Can't wait to meet in September.

Susan

Beth,

Thanks for your post. We board the TP after you arrive in Honolulu. What room are you in? We'll be in 8048. Looking forward to more info--especially your favorite excursions.

Sue and Mike

Neil Chandler was on the Grand this February when we were on board. He's a great guy - lots of fun . . . I can only imagine how much more fun he'd be on a smaller ship where he can really get to know the pax.

We're doing the same cruise next summer, so I can't wait to hear a full report. I know the port days will be filled.Curious about those 5 days though. Also, what is there to do on Christmas Island. Keep the updates coming, and have a great cruise.

jan

Hi Beth:

One more question from our group on the July 12 sailing. What time was muster? We are trying to plan our meet time for the CC group, and we were wondering. As of now, we have 2 meets set up, but curious when muster was and when and where did your group meet. We are looking at the back deck outside the buffet area on deck 9 since it looks a bit bigger than some of the other areas. Anything you can tell us would be great.

Thanks

Susan

Doing the June 10th cruise.Thanks for the Info.Do you know the price of the soda card? How is the food sofar? Have fun and dont drink the ship dry, save some for me.

10 days to go

mrbill62

Thanks for the post! We were also on the Grand, Feb 11 - 18 which was one of the last cruises Neil was on before vacation....was wondering where he landed after. We will be on the TP Nov. 7....if you happen to run into Neil, can you check & see if he will still be aboard. We had a very nice get together with him aboard the Grand. Keep the posts coming!

Mike

http://www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

Thank you for your post. Can't wait to read more. I am on a back-to-back TP cruise in January and can barely contain myself with excitement. Only 240 more days to go!!! Have a wonderful time.

Beth,

Thanks for your post - finally some info on the 12 night sailing. Have the most wonderful cruise ever - we look forward to more posts when you have the time.

Sandy

For Sue & Mike (quote)

Thanks for your post. We board the TP after you arrive in Honolulu. What room are you in? We'll be in 8048. Looking forward to more info--especially your favorite excursions.

Sue and Mike

We'll be on the July 24th sailing and would also like to know the Muster time for the Honolulu sailing - to plan our CC get together.

Sandy

Looking forward to hearing what they do aboard the TP when you cross the Equator and also about your Christmas Island stop....and of course....every detail you can share about your cruise. Have fun!!!!

Sandy

Hi. can you elaborate on the B&B you stayed in? How do you describe primitive? Thanks and enjoy your sailing!

Hello from Bora Bora! DH is out doing the helmet dive right now, so I'm doing laundry and checking e-mail.

Yesterday in Raiatea, we ended up going on Bruno's tour (L'Excursion Bleu) because some folks from our roll call who had it booked were ill and asked if we'd take their place. It was a FANTASTIC tour! He took us by boat first to a pearl farm, then to a vanilla farm, then to a small island/park where we had a really delicious lunch and I even tried poisson cru--I'm totally not a raw fish person at all, but it was really fantastic. Then he took us to snorkel. There were two options: Just stay near the boat and snorkel or swim casually (which I did) or do the drift snorkel. The drifters got to see a huge moray eel, several octopus and some amazing fish, along with lovely coral, but it is a strong current so if you're a weak swimmer or snorkeler (like me) I wouldn't recommend it. DH did the drifting and had a great time. Then he took us back to the boat. It was a really fun day but pretty exhausting so we didn't go to the show last night, just had a nice dinner in the dining room and then hit the hay.

Weather yesterday was fairly sunny until late afternoon, then it got cloudy. Today in Bora Bora is mostly cloudy and it's supposed to be hotter today (around 86) and the humidity is still fairly strong.

Hulagirl, our layover in LA was fine. Alaska checked our luggage all the way through to Papeete--we didn't even have to ask them, it just automatically printed the baggage tags that way. We were on the flight that gets to LA at like 1:00 or 1:30 or so, and there was almost nobody at the check-in area for ATN and hardly any line for security. Oh, and muster actually happened in Moorea, right before sail-away. We did our meet-up for our roll call at the pool bar at sail away from Moorea, but it was really noisy there with the musicians playing for sail-away, so I would recommend meeting in the Tahitian Lounge instead if you choose to meet then.

The place we stayed was called Taaroa Lodge, I found it through an article in Budget Travel. It's owned by a Tahitian semi-pro surfer named Ralph Sanford. He has a hostel-type building with dorm-style beds in one room and a private ensuite room, plus two bungalows with their own bathrooms and a microwave, fridge and coffee maker. We had the bungalow closest to the water, so we woke up every morning, opened our shades and there was the ocean. :) It was really just like having a hotel room, only no daily maid service and no air conditioning. We did have a fan, though, and surprisingly I managed to be cold at night the first night because the fan worked pretty well. Ralph is a really nice guy and if you're the type of traveller who doesn't mind not having a swimming pool or folding their own towels or that sort of thing, I'd highly recommend it. It was also insanely cheap for FP: 10,000 francs per night (about $100) for the bungalow, which if you've looked at prices over there at all, you'll know is very inexpensive.

Our roll call group is really nice and several of us are having dinner at Sabatini's later in the cruise. Several couples from all over the US and some Canadians as well.

Soda card was like $38 or something like that, I honestly don't remember because DH is the one who uses it, I'm not a big soda drinker--I'm more of a martini girl. :) The first day I tried the Passionata martini (it was the drink of the day) and it was lovely!

I think I answered all the questions, but if I missed one let me know! Oh, one other thing: internet is now 50 cents a minute, I remembered it being 35 cents but I've been platinum for several cruises now so I may not have noticed when it changed.

Hi Beth -

Lou and I met you on the Sapphire Alaska cruise last Sept. We're doing a Tahiti b2b in Nov. Can't wait. Am interested in what excursions you do as it's time for me to plan those.

Rita

Thanks for the Info on the soda card.As much soda that I drink I guess I will get one. Enjoy your trip

mrbill62

ON THE TP IN 9 DAYS

Beth:

Thank you for all the information. We are also taking the tour with Bruno, along with 5 other people from our CC group, and I was really happy to read what you just wrote. Have read a few different reviews about him, and this sounded so good. Glad you had a good time.

We have the 1:00 PM flight out of LAX, so that is probably why you found it so empty when you got there since that flight had just left. Thanks for the info on Alaska tagging the luggage all the way to Papeete. That does put my mind at ease. Only other question I have about this is, how far from where you walk outside from the Alaska area was ATN? That was the only other thing I'm wondering about. Only flown on Alaska to that airport, so I know very little about any other area that.

Daughter is the only one that gets a coke card, so I'm glad to know the price also. I'm with you and martini's are my drink of choice in the evening and then ice tea for me during the day.

I copied and pasted your other message to the roll call I'm on for the July 12 cruise. Everyone was thrilled with your post and can't wait for this one. So I'm going to paste it again and make their day as you have made mine.

So glad the cruise is wonderful. How is the ship riding? Have read both sides about movement on it and I'm wondering how you are finding it. We leave 4 weeks from tomorrow morning and I can hardly believe it.

By the way, it is so muggy here in Seattle yesterday and especially today. It was raining this afternoon when we left the Alderwood Mall but finally stopped. Supposed to finally be sunny and dry next week. So you really aren't missing a thing and hopefully the sun will be out when you get back.

Thanks for all the information! We are thrilled you are having a great time.

Susan

Hope your having a fantastic cruise!

Do you have the bio of the Captain from the Princess Patter. I believe he's very young and promoted only recently.

Many thanks, have fun! :)

Hello from somewhere in the South Pacific! We're having a nice day at sea today--DH is off getting a massage right now and my pedicure is in about a half-hour, so I thought I'd pop online and say hello. Weather was cloudy when we first woke up but now is very sunny and around 84 degrees. There is some rain off in the distance but it doesn't seem to be getting any closer for now. The pool area is almost entirely filled with sunworshipers. We did the morning trivia today and our team won, yay! Free luggage tags! :)

Susan, I'm so glad this info is useful for you! It's just good to know what to expect, isn't it? The Alaska terminal we flew into was right next to the international terminal--you just went outside and turned left, and it's the next terminal over. It was a surprisingly easy connection, actually.

APH, I don't have the captain's bio handy but I'll try to remember to bring it with me next time I stop in the internet cafe. From his accent I assume he's English, and I remember thinking his photo did look a bit young so he may have been recently promoted. I want to say the bio said he'd been on the Sapphire but I just don't remember for sure.

Some other tidbits for folks on upcoming sailings: at embarkation they collected our passports and haven't returned them yet. I'm assuming this will happen sometime after our stop in Christmas Island (that's the day after tomorrow). They gave us a little stub of paper when they took the passports. The version of South Pacific they showed yesterday was a remake, with Glen Close and Harry Connick Jr. We saw the commedy magician the other night, he was not particularly funny but not unwatchable. Last night they just had a singer in the cabaret lounge (where the shows are) and he was OK too, it was totally packed in there and nobody was at the 50's theme night activties. Very few kids on this sailing, and none under about 6 or 7 years old, and lots of people over 60. DH and I have been asked several times already if we're honeymooners, since there are several onboard. Tonight is the first of the stage shows, which we plan to attend since I know one of the dancers. They were quite good in the meet-the-staff show on Tuesday. The sea day activities have been plentiful and varried, from line dancing to lectures (we met the lecturer this morning at line dancing, her name is Ellen Rittberg, if I remember right, very nice friendly woman) to wine tastings to arts and crafts, and today is the first art auction. I'd say this has been the least art-auction-heavy cruise I've been on. Not a lot of advertising of it and not a lot of clutter of art all over the place, just in a tasteful corner of deck 5. Poolside bar service has been very onobtrusive as well, I had one person offer me a drink in the hour I was sitting there and when I said no they left me alone. It's really hard to find any faults with this cruise. The only piddly thing I can complain about it is that our toilet backed up this morning, but we told our cabin steward about it and by the time we came back from line dancing and breakfast it was fixed.

Oh, motion on the ship: we have an aft balcony cabin and there is some vibration back there. It's not enough to bother me but it might bother some folks. I'd say there's more motion on this ship than I expected, enough that you have to be careful how you step but not so much that you're grabbing onto things for balance. The seas are relatively calm and have been the whole sailing. We'll see how it is as we progress, though.

I think that's all for now, I have to run off to my pedicure. It sure is a tough life! :)

Glad your having a good time.Have you or your friends had dinner at Sterlings steakhouse.If you did is It good?

THANK FOR THE INFO

mrbill62

7 DAYS TO GO

BETH - when does the Tahitian Princess arrive in Honolulu?

:cool:

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights. We're enjoying every word and looking forward to the rest. Anxious to hear aabout your Christmas Island experience. Keep having a FANTASTIC time.

:-)

Sandy

Hi Beth,

Thanks for all the info. You mentioned the ship's motion in a previous post. By any chance, have you met anyone in one of the forward facing cabins on the bow? We are booked in one of them on the July 12th cruise and wondered if there was any feedback. We tried to book an aft cabin but they were all taken. Thanks in advance.

Caroline