What happens ??

[ubsueg]

I have read alot about the ship not being able to make it to Rarotonga.

When this happens, is the ship rerouted to another port or are there 3 sea days in a row. Do they know in advance that the waters are going to be rough and may not be able to make it and go to another port or do they just wing it and try to get there. What is the percentage of sailings that actually do get to Rarotonga. Does it ruin the cruise to have that many sea days?. We are sailing on March 20th.

Thanks for any information

[laurieb]

there are 3 sea days in a row. first time we went, which was just the second sailing, we docked early in Raiatea, which was really nice. they didn't do that this past January though. I wish that they would just drop the Cook's and spend more time in FP.

[maygoddess]

This happened on our Sept 1, 05 sailing a few months back. We were not able to tender, which was VERY disappointing because my husband and I had honeymooned in the Cooks five years earlier and were looking forward to revisiting some great memories there. The weather was pretty rainy from the start of the cruise(papeete, huahine) so our chances were good that Raro would be a bust. Once we got there, the seas "looked" calm enough to use to tender, but a small tugboat was coming towards the ship to offload and we can see how it was tossed around quite a bit so THEN we believed the captain.

 

Captain then circled the whole island and then we took off for another full sea day..so three in a row. I don't know if the Captain always does this, but on our cruise, he actually had us leave Raiatea at Midnight rather than the next morning so we could get to Bora Bora at 8am rather than Noon which meant an extra half day in Bora Bora which was fabulous! We were able to do two different excursions and really enjoy the island!

 

I was seasick most of the trip..and those three sea days in a row were the roughest for me..I was so glad to get on solid ground in Raiatea but found I was still rocking alot and feeling sick on land..nothing to ruin my trip..but I didn't like it!

 

I think Princess will tell you officially only 2 out of 5 don't make it to Raro..I think it is more like 4 out of 5 from just informally polling here on CC. It really is a crapshoot ANY time of year. I was there at same time of year for the honeymoon and it was gorgeous..this time a little more rainy in spots..so you never know!

[ubsueg]

Thanks for your reply. After all the sailings that the Tahitian Princess has done in this itinery I would think they would know if they were not going to make it to Rarotonga and set sail for another island or add more time at already scheduled ports. Three sea days in a row out of 10 is alot. This is disapointing to me that this might happen. It seems that Princess should have a "plan B" ready to go if this happens.

[maygoddess]

Thanks for your reply. After all the sailings that the Tahitian Princess has done in this itinery I would think they would know if they were not going to make it to Rarotonga and set sail for another island or add more time at already scheduled ports. Three sea days in a row out of 10 is alot. This is disapointing to me that this might happen. It seems that Princess should have a "plan B" ready to go if this happens.

 

My thoughts exactly! We were lucky enough to be invited on a private bridge tour as part of the deluxe anniversary package. It was on the day after the Raro day..so our 3rd sea day and when on the bridge, they did show us they look at a 7 day forecast and I wanted to ask the 1st officer "so if you knew the weather was going to be crummy, why did we just stay away"!!! Arrgh..I wish.

 

I am puzzled as to why the continue to include this as part of the itinerary when realistically so few cruises make it off the ship at this port. As someone else on my ship said..these are "revenue days" for the ship..we are a captive audience on sea days..spending money everywhere onboard..so what is it to them if we are captive for one extra day..not their fault due to weather. And also..some people like sea days and if they just did a Tahiti itinerary..you would have very little sea travel other than at night.Personally, now having been on this cruise..I would not care if we had NO sea days...I would take those three days and tack on extra time in Moorea, Bora Bora or maybe include Rangirora to add another island. But imagine how much money Princess would lose if they did not keep us on the ship other than in the evenings or those folks who don't leave the ship at all for excursions..they are not fools..

[vinoman]

We made it to Raro on the Dec. 20th sailing. It was our least favorite of all the islands plus they use a different currancy (NZ dollars) so we got ripped off at the grocery store at the tender dock because no one knew the US dollar exchange. Incredibly it didn't rain during the day the entire 10 days of the cruise!! The two weeks before it rained non-stop according to a local I met.