Tahitian Princess - Front/Back & Excursions

[chandon]

Hello,

 

Has anybody cruised on the Tahitian Princess with an opinion on whether it is best to stay in the front of the ship or the back of the ship?

 

Also, any recommendations for the 10 day Polynesian/Cook Islands cruise as far as shore excursions?

 

Thank you!

[Druke I]

We were on her sister, Pacific Princess (new), Papeete to Sydney, 11-03, slightly aft of midship, and thought she rode pretty well, but the seas were fairly calm, including the Tasman Sea, which has a reputation for being rough at times.

[jody]

Chandon,

I thought the TP had a lot of movement (especially side to side), even on calm seas. I recommend a cabin in the middle of the ship to minimize the rolling movement. I was seasick for the first time ever on the TP and it came as a surprise to me as I've been on a variety of larger ships and tiny boats and ferry's and nothing has ever made me ill before.

 

For excursions, I recommend Marc's on Huanhine, Bruno's on Raiatae, Patrick's 4x4 on Papeete and Albert Tours 4x4 on Moorea. We didn't do any Princess tours on our 2/11/05 sailing, so I can't comment on any of them.

[aqua2]

The 2/11 sailing of the TP didn't make it to the Cook Islands. There were some huge storms out that way (Cyclone Nancy, Cyclone Olaf), so the itinerary was revised and we went to Rangiroa instead. I agree with Jody, go with something amidships...we were in 6067 and it was great. I did notice the motion of the ship more in the dining room and the lounges. And a lot of crew as well as passengers were seasick the first night out.

 

All excursions which we did were thru Princess - no complaints about any of them. We snorkeled at Huahine, did the drift snorkel at Raiatea/Nahaa, scuba at BoraBora, and the dolphin encounter on Moorea. Others in our group did the Sting Ray Ballet snorkeling - was that BoraBora? - and loved it. We also snorkeled on our own at Rangiroa; it was fun but just fair snorkeling, while friends who did the ship excursion had a terrific snorkeling experience at Rangiroa.

[jody]

Aqua2,

I'm not sure if we ever met up with you guys. We missed you at our cruise critic meeting, but I'm guessing we probably ran into some of your group along the way. I did get pulled on stage twice, if you went to the shows. The cruise staff made me lip synch as Aretha Franklin one night in the Tahitian Lounge and the main male singer pulled me on stage during the second showing of the French Song and Dance review. Everyone knew my name after that show, ooh la la! :-)

jody

[guardhouse]

Chandon..........we are on the 4-9-06 sailing and cannot wait. We are mid ships. Also watching everything we can find on FP to read up on it.