3/30 Tahitian Princess review (long)

[Stranger1]

My wife and I just got back from the 3/30 sailing of the Tahitian Princess and I must report that it was the best vacation that either of us have ever had. I hope this review answers most questions but please feel free to ask if I don’t cover something.

 

Day 1: Had a car service take us to LAX, which worked out really well and was much less stressful than hassling the L.A. traffic. For our 1pm flight we were advised to get to the airport 3 hours ahead (actually, somewhere on Air Tahiti Nui’s website I read 3.5 hours). Anyway, got there a bit early at about 9:10am and there was not much of a crowd…in fact, the Air Tahiti Nui desk was not open until about 9:30 so we had to wait a few minutes. There is the TSA security check right next to the Air Tahiti Nui desk (just to the right) and you need to check your bags there first. They will then take your bags to a holding area within the line for the Air Tahiti Nui desk and will take the bags up to the desk as you get up there. Your bags get checked in, and you then proceed with your carry on luggage to another screening area where your carry-on’s get x-rayed and you get half undressed! Let me address one thing about your carry on luggage. When you are at the air Tahiti nui checkin, they weigh all of your bags including your carry-ons. The max weight for a carry-on is 22lbs and they strictly enforce it. If your bag is too heavy, you may have to check it in as checkin luggage which means you’d have to go through the whole screening process again…by this time, the line could be very long. The moral is…make sure it’s under 22lbs. If you want to eat something, there are a few restaurants upstairs before you get to the second security check. Once past the second check, there is nothing so beware.

I’ve read a lot about how great Air Tahiti Nui is, and in my opinion they are not bad by any means, but this is still an airplane and a long flight and nothing is going to change that. Seats are a little more roomy than a Southwest plane, but still pretty cramped and although some would disagree, we felt the food was down right uneatable.

Arrived at Papeete airport at about 7:10pm and we were immediately hit by a blast of muggy hot air…there’s just no way to prepare for this! Getting our bags was pretty painless and we found the Princess shuttle easily and were happily transported to the ship.

Embarkation was a breeze and we were up in our Mini Suite (8033) in a matter of minutes. We dropped off our carry-ons and headed for the buffet, toured the ship and then waited until about midnight to have our bags arrive to the room…a very long day but well worth the effort.

[Stranger1]

Day 2: The ship is still docked in Papeete until 5pm so we got off the ship and went shopping at the Marache. Prices seemed pretty good on most things and we purchased a very large flower arrangement ($20) for the room. One word of warning…you have to cross a very very busy street to get to the shopping area and the cars whip across very quickly. You have to look like you’re making an attempt to cross and then look to see if anyone is going to stop. They usually stop, but sometimes it’s at the last minute.

Got back to the ship, sat by the pool for a bit and then headed up to the Club Bar to meet the other CC’ers. Let me say right here that the CC’ers that we met were some of the nicest people we’ve ever come across. Since the ship is so small, and there are only so many excursions, we tended to run in to the same people day after day and it was really nice to have a sort of bond with them so that we could compare notes. After that, we grabbed a glass of champagne for the sail-away and then got ready for our 2nd seating dinner (8:15pm).

Day 3 (Huahine). We took Marc’s Motu excursion…and it lived up to the hype. We had a great day motoring around in one of Marc’s motorized canoe boats. We stopped for a shallow snorkel right off the now closed down Sofitil hotel and then a deeper drift snorkel near where we would have the picnic. The food, the snorkeling…everything about this excursion was great…well almost everything. Turns out that both of our underwater housings for out digital cameras were damaged on the flight over and of course we didn’t notice until they started leaking underwater. Yep, you guessed it, our cameras now sleep with the fishes. We were able to salvage the memory cards and got about 60 pictures off of them but for the rest of the trip we had to use disposable underwater cameras. A very expensive lesson so remember, always check the housings for cracks etc and check the gasket to make sure it’s not only seated properly but also not cracked.

Day 4: Sea day. We reserved 2 spots on the Spa deck at the front of the ship ($15 per person) and had an enjoyable and quiet day of sun.

Day 5: Raratonga: We were fortunate to be able to tender in to Raratonga, in fact, some of the crew said they had never seen the conditions so calm at this location! Since the reviews of this island have been sporadic, we decided to just take the shuttle to Muri beach to snorkel. The beach where the shuttle stops is very nice but we thought it would be nicer down the beach so we walked about a mile and a half and it actually got worse. The water was a bit murky and unappealing. We ran in to some locals that said if we continued walking about another 2 miles, there was a very good place to snorkel. Unfortunately, it was very hot and we were already a bit dragged out from the past couple days of sun so we just walked back and took the shuttle back to downtown where we shopped a bit and then walked back to the ship. Note: If we had walked the extra 2 miles, it turns out that the beach we would have gone to was Titikaveka beach…also known as the beach across the street from the Fruits of Rarotonga stand and the snorkeling really was excellent (as reported by fellow cc’er TravelerJoyce).

My advice is to either take the shuttle and see if they’ll take you down there or try to grab a taxi at the dock.

Day 6: Another sea day. Spent most of the day trying to stay out of the sun so that we would be ready of Raitea!

Day 7 Raitea - Found an excursion to a motu at the dock. Vai Poe is the name of the company and they have 3 excursions. You can go to the motu for $25pp, go to the motu and vanilla farm for $30, or motu, vanilla farm and Pearl farm for $35. We elected the motu only so we got dropped off and the others were taken to the rest of the tour. We were basically alone for the first 2 hours which made for some great snorkeling. Even after others were dropped of, it was never “crowed” and we had a great day snorkeling, sunning and watching the owner’s 3 dogs (2 rottweilers and a dalmation) trying to fish.

[Stranger1]

Day 8/9 Bora Bora. We took two of the best excursions possible. The first day we took the Aqua Safari where you put on the diving helmet and walk along the ocean floor. This was fantastic! There were tons and tons of fish and we all had so much fun that when the scuba diver who led the excursion came up at the end, he received a round of applause. You do not have to know how to swim and it is very very easy to do.

The second excursion we found on the dock. It’s called the Photo logon (lagoon) safari. Damien Dunund is the guide…a very personable young man who will take 2 – 4 couples out in his canopied boat around the whole island. There are two tours, a 2 hour for $50pp and a 4 hour for $75pp. We took the 4hr tour along with fellow cc’er TravelerJoyce and another couple. Damien stops several times to explain the history of the island and the difference in water color, etc. We also stopped twice to snorkel. The first was a great snorkel with coral gardens and tons of fish. The second was a very shallow lagoon (called the royal lagoon) where we also saw lots and lots of fish. The tour itself is worth every penny but to top it off, Damien is a very accomplished photographer. He takes quite a few pictures of each couple throughout the day and also takes a lot of underwater photos of each couple snorkeling etc. At the end of the day, he burns a copy of all of the pictures to cd and gives a copy to each couple. The first thing I did when I got home was pop in the cd on my computer. OH MY!! These are some of the best photos I’ve every seen and we really really loved the photo’s of us snorkeling. This is a seldom reviewed excursion but one that I recommend highly!!!

Day 10 – Moorea. This was a bit of a disappointment for us. We really didn’t have anything planned so once on the dock, a couple of other cruisers convinced us to share a cab over the the IC where we could use the facilities and snorkel. The snorkeling was not very good and once there (it’s a beautiful hotel by the way) the wind kicked up to about 30mph and the water got very choppy. We decided to head back but I first asked the taxi driver if he could take us up to Belvedere lookout (I never mentioned a price) and he said that they don’t do that, only tours go there. Wow, can you imagine a taxi driver in the Caribbean turning down a chance to make some good money? Anyway, we learned later that there’s a water taxi from the IC over to a motu and I think next year (yes, there will be a next year) we will plan on that and also a tour to Belvedere lookout.

Day 11 – Had to be out of our cabin by 10am. Went up to the Tahitian lounge which had great air-conditioning until 11:30. Hit the buffet and Pizzeria and shared a table with a nice couple from Michigan and killed another 1.5 hours until our dinner tablemates stopped by and we started up a game of Rummy. We had a great time and that killed the remainder of the time before the shuttles came.

Got on the shuttle about 6:45 and got to the airport about 7:15. Got our bags pretty quickly but then got in the Air Tahiti Nui line for about 1.5 hours (dress light…it was very hot and muggy wating in that line). Everything else went pretty quick and the return flight was long and uneventful.

 

Here are some quick thoughts:

Eat before you get on the plane…food is pretty bad.

On the last night, the dinning room is open at 6pm (open seating) and it is possible for you to eat and still make the shuttles…but you have to hurry a bit.

The ship is beautiful and after being on her for 10 days, I cannot imagine going back to a larger ship.

The food in the dinning room was very good, although the selections seemed limited some nights. We ate off of the every-night menu about 3 nights but that was ok because I love steak and I thought theirs was very good. Also had a pasta dish one night with veal and a cream sauce that was to die for.

The bucket of beer was a good deal. You could get Becks, Becks light or Dos Equis.

The hamburgers at the grill were real good and the Pizza at the pizzeria was very good thin crust style with a very good sauce and good tasting cheese and pepperoni.

The Mini Suites are very roomy and have plenty of storage. We recommend them highly.

Ceasar (our room steward), Marius (our waiter) and Petre (our assistant waiter) were all top notch.

Take advantage of booking your next cruise while on board…even if it’s open dated. $100 per person to book and $100 per person in shipboard credits for and outside cabin or better. You can also use your own TA and get any shipboard credits that they might have as well.

Last but not least…we highly recommend you participate in the Cruisecritic roll call and meet up with your fellow cc’ers on the ship. We met so many nice people which made the trip that much better.

If anyone has any questions that I can answer, please ask away! Looking forward to next year when we’ll be returning to the beautiful Tahitian Princess!!

 

Mike and Marla (Stranger1).

[Stranger1]

oops, one more thing I wanted to add. We used US currency for everything and never had a problem. Heck, even some of the venders took Visa and MC.

For the most part, 8 out of 10 places gave us 1 -1 for dollars, but the problem occurs when you have too large of a bill and need get change back. You rarely get dollars back so my advice would be to make sure you have lots of 5's, 10's and 1's so that you won't be stuck with a bunch of French Polynesian Francs...although, you could always change them back at the Pursers desk.

[stricker]

Thanks for the great review !!!!!

[LuAnn]

We are going in July and really appreciate your information. ? re reserved spots on the spa deck at $15.00 pp...is that required for all deck chairs or just if you want one in that area? We live in SD and I was thinking of doing a car service to get up there as well..which one did you use? Also how long is the actual flight and are there movies, music etc..? Thanks again for your help! LuAnn

[Stranger1]

LuAnn, the 15pp is for the deck chairs in the spa area only. All other areas are free...and by the way, although the pool area is small I never saw a time where you couldn't get a chair by the pool.

The flight is a little over 8 hours. Air Tahiti Nui has screens in each head rest with multiple things to do. 6 movies, games, you can track the planes progress, etc. The bad thing is that I don't think they are maintained all that well because once I got into the trivia game, I couldn't get out...major loop so I was stuck playing trivia for about 6 hours so I would take something to read just in case yours doesnt' work.

The name of the car service was "An Impressive Limousine Service" but it's based here in Temecula and I'm not sure if they would go down to SD and then back up to LAX. I would call around in SD since there are a ton of limo services in the area. Also, we took a stretch limo because we wanted to go all out but if I had to do it again (and we will next year) I'd probably just take the sedan and save about half.

Hope that helps.

[Stranger1]

One bad thing abour writing a review is that you remember stuff later. I wanted to make mention about the ship's rocking. I was a bit concerned about this due to other reviews that I read so I stocked up on the dramamine. Although it did rock, I didn't think it was any worse than the worst of the other ships that I've been on. I was on the Millenium when they had a stablizer out, the Serenade of the Seas when we had a bad storm coming in to Puerto Rico, and the Star princess when we hit rough waters...I don't know, but maybe I was expecting it to be as bad as that and I didn't think it was bad at all. Maybe we just got lucky. Some people did need to take medicine or the patch so your mileage may vary. I would be prepared just in case.

Also, we had mini suite 8033 and we thought it was pretty quiet. I think we heard more noise from the hallway than from above us (the cabin is right under the grill and partially where the stage is. When the local Tahitian dancers were up there for their show, we could hear a bit of noise (I think the whole ship could). We saw half the show and then went to bed, but we were so tired that even that bit of noise didn't bother us. For the most part, I don't think you have to worry about the noise in most of the mini suites.

[sunsetgal]

Stranger1

 

Thanks for the fantastic review!! It sounds like you had a wonderful time. Really sorry to hear about your camera:( That is awful. We are going on July 12 and I was wondering about the spa deck as well. When did you reserve the space? I called Princess about it a couple of weeks ago, and the person didn't know what I was talking about. Is it $15 p.p. a day? or $15 a person for the entire cruise?

 

I am interested in the Aqua Dive as well. Were you underwater by yourself, with a few other people, with a guide, in how deep water? What about SHARKS? How roomy, big is the helmet? Is it scary at all?:eek:

 

Also, in case you may know the answer to this, I love to bake and really want to bring home vanilla beans. We signed up for the Vanilla Farm/ Pearl Farm with Princess, but I was wondering if you noticed vanilla and or/beans being sold at stands or the Marche. The tour information doesn't mention anything about being able to purcahse vanilla at the Plantation, but it does mention buying Pearls at the Pearl Farm.

Well, sorry about these questions. But thanks for the great detailed informative review.

[patnlcc]

Thanks, stranger1, for the great review. We are also going on the 2 July cruise (same as LuAnn) and your review was very comprehensive and enjoyable - we are now even more excited abou the TP. Thanks again.

Pat in Scotland

[cruisesoon]

We were on the Tahitian Princess in February. We reserved the spa deck section for the entire cruise. It was 100.00 for the entire stay. My sisters and I had the whole spa deck practically to ourselves the entire week!!! You can book just days for 15.00 a day also. We really liked the spa deck and enjoyed the privacy and not worrying about deck chairs etc.

[calikak]

Thanks for the great review! It makes us even more excited for our cruise next month! :)

[LuAnn]

Cruisesoon: is that $100.00 per person or for the two of you? Does that mean you have a chair available anytime, sea days and port days? Thanks LuAnn

[lhbsurf]

Stranger1

 

Thanks for the fantastic review!! It sounds like you had a wonderful time. Really sorry to hear about your camera:( That is awful. We are going on July 12 and I was wondering about the spa deck as well. When did you reserve the space? I called Princess about it a couple of weeks ago, and the person didn't know what I was talking about. Is it $15 p.p. a day? or $15 a person for the entire cruise?

 

I am interested in the Aqua Dive as well. Were you underwater by yourself, with a few other people, with a guide, in how deep water? What about SHARKS? How roomy, big is the helmet? Is it scary at all?:eek:

 

Also, in case you may know the answer to this, I love to bake and really want to bring home vanilla beans. We signed up for the Vanilla Farm/ Pearl Farm with Princess, but I was wondering if you noticed vanilla and or/beans being sold at stands or the Marche. The tour information doesn't mention anything about being able to purcahse vanilla at the Plantation, but it does mention buying Pearls at the Pearl Farm.

Well, sorry about these questions. But thanks for the great detailed informative review.

 

They sell vanilla beans about everywhere. Usually, they will say where they are from. I got some from Raiatea/Tahaa at the Marche - I think it was $10-12 for 4 beans, but I saw them at about every port.

[fishman620]

Stranger1,

thanks for the great review! I have a couple of questions about the spa deck... what are the amenities for the spa deck, just a reserved chair or is there more? Also do you know if you can reserve it for the last day while waiting to disembark?

[tuknshak]

Stranger1 thanks for the great review. You answered some of the questions that I had and it was nice to know some of the tours we have booked you enjoyed. Thanks for sharing your trip with us! Makes me want to May 9th to be here even quicker :-)

[TexEm]

Wonderful review, thanks so much for taking the time to post it. We're on the 4/29 cruise and there are about 28 of us on our roll call. We plan to meet just after sailaway at the pool bar. Did you leave Papeete pretty much on time for sailaway? Was it totally crowded around the pool then?

 

Glad you got to go to Rarotonga, wish us luck for the same!

 

I found so much of your review answered the questions I still have/had about the cruise, so a double thank you!!

 

Mary

[Stranger1]

Reserving the spa deck is a bit of a secret but not really...it's posted in the patter almost every day but most people don't take advantage of it. It's $15 a day per person, or $100 for the entire week per person. They have padded teak loungers and a whirlpool that has some kind of minerals in it. Mike of Seadoers said he thought it was like Epson Salts. You can use the phone out there to call the pool bar and they will come and take your order...kinda nice. We booked as soon as we got on the ship. We booked for both sea days and then decided to book for the last day as well thinking we could use the showers. The first sea day on the spa deck was very nice and warm. The second one was very windy and we didn't stay out there very long. On the last day anyone can use the showers and we were told that by the spa staff so if that's all you want to use it for I would save your money. If you shower before you leave your room on the last day, and only plan on hanging around the ship, ie; stay in the lounges, the spa/shower is really not necessary. Next time I think we'll just book for the first sea day, but don't let that influence you. Other people were up there almost everyday and loved it. With all the sun you get on the excursions etc, it seemed like we wanted to avoid the sun at times so the spa deck wasn't always the place to be.

As for Vanilla, I'm pretty sure you can buy it just about anywhere. Some nice people we met up with at the motu on Riatea had bought some at the vanilla plantation on the Vai Poe excursion and I'm pretty sure they even had vanilla at the Marache at Papeete.

 

We left Papeete right on time and the pool wasn't too crowded. I don't know if it's because of the intense sun or the average age of the pax, but the pool never really seemed crowed.

 

As for the Aqua safari, there were 18 of us and we went down in 3 groups of 6 for about 20 - 30 minutes each. The guide is a scuba diver and goes around to make sure everyone is ok...not scary at all. The helmet is pretty roomy and there were no sharks. We were in about 18 - 20 ft of crystal clear water...very nice indeed!

[Hulagirl]

Hi Stranger1!

 

Absolutely loved your review. We are also going to be in 8033 this summer for both of our Tahiti cruises. Reading your review has gotten me even more excited for the cruise, if that is even possible. Sounds like you had a wonderful time.

 

I have a couple of other questions that have come to mind.

 

1. When ATN weighed your carry-on luggage, did they weigh your personal item also? This may sound dumb, but my husbands camera bag, which will be his personal item, is a bit heavy. Probably not that heavy, but it may be if we have to put a few other things in it.

 

2. On your first day on the ship, when did they have the muster drill? Our roll call board is trying to decide when to have a meet and greet that first afternoon, but have no idea when they do muster.

 

3. That first evening, do they have your assigned dining time, or is it open dining since there are still people on the ship from the previous cruise waiting to be taken to the airport? When you wrote that you got ready for your second seating, it made me wonder about this.

 

4. Was the helmet dive in Bora Bora really that good? We have signed up to take this excursion, but I do have some problems with being a bit claustrophobic and this is concerning me. I really want to do this, but don't want to be scared. I've read such positive things. Can you explain a bit more of how it all works for me? I read that you have to do something to get your ears adjusted, but I'm not sure what that entails.

 

Sorry for all the questions, but I would love to know your thoughts on these. So glad you had such a wonderful cruise and such a good time. We are anxious for our cruises and just being there.

 

Thank you,

 

Susan

[eskie]

...and if I could add one more question to Susan's #4...helmet dive in Bora Bora. On Princess' site it says this exersion has some medical restrictions. Do you know what they are?

Thanks for the review. I also enjoyed reading it.

[Hulagirl]

Eskie: That is an excellent question. I missed that and would also love to know the answer. Not much information in the excursion booklet for these cruises.

 

Susan

[sunsetgal]

Hulagirl- I believe that we are on the same cruise July 12th:) I am glad that you asked those questions about the dive because I have the same somewhat claustrophobic concerns. I have the Glassbottom Boat booked in Bora Bora unless I get brave enough to do the Helmet Dive.:eek: I am not sure if I can get Tom to do it either. It really does sound amazing.

[Stranger1]

Hulagirl, you are going to love the location of your suite (8033). Not quite in the middle but not far off either. The perfect location to reach everything on the ship without walking too far. I'm only sorry you won't have a chance to have Cesar as your cabin attendant since he's leaving for home in June. As a matter of fact, there were quite a few crew members that either left the same night we did, or will be leaving soon so I hope the new ones get "broken in" before you go.

I'll try to answer your questions the best I can:

1. ATN did not weigh our personal carry-ons which included my wife's purse and my small camera bag. They never asked to weigh them and I didn't offer or ask either...just kept the camera bag over my shoulder and that was that. The one weird thing that I think I forgot to mention was that they only weighed the carry-ons in LAX, not Tahiti when we were coming back. It makes no sense to me...maybe it's just inconsistant in tahiti or maybe they don't care. We spent quite a bit of time in line moving stuff from our carry-ons to our checkin luggage in Tahiti and then they didn't check it. Just in case, I'd make sure any personal article didn't go over the 22lbs.

 

2. We had our Roll call meeting on the Second day (first full day in Tahiti for us) at 3:30 at the club restaurant bar on deck 5. We met for about an hour and had Muster at 4:30 for about 20 minutes. We then had sailaway at 5pm. When you go back to your cabin to put away your life vest, look in the hallway for your cabin steward...he'll probably have champagne for everyone to take up on deck to watch the ship sail.

 

3. The first evening (the night we arrived and the last for the pax from the previous cruise) is open seating in the club restaurant. Dinner starts at 6pm however and although the departing pax can sneak in their last dinner, people flying in to the airport between 7 - 10pm get there a bit too late to eat. The buffet is open till late that day and we found it quite good.

 

4. The Aqua Safari was fantastic. My wife is also a bit claustrophobic and she had no problems what so ever. It might be because the front of the helmet is one big viewing panel and you're paying too much attention to all the fish and where you're going to even remember you have a helmet on.

Basically, you back down the ladder from the boat until you have just your head and shoulders above the water. The assistant on the boat lowers the helmet on to you via pullie system and you start going down the rest of the rungs. After a couple of rungs, you'll feel a little pressure in your ears. All you have to do is either yawn or swallow to equalize and you're fine (same as on an airplane). The diver is right next to you all the way down the ladder and constantly checking with you via hand signals to make sure you're ok. Once on the bottom, you can walk around and see all the fish.

The helmet feels very light under the water, in fact, when you come back up the ladder the first step seemed a bit high (could have been my perception) so I grabed one of the higher rungs to pull myself up and I felt like I was going to shoot-up to the surface :)

One more thing...there was a least a couple of people on this excursion that were apprehensive about this, but afterwards they were all willing to do it again in a heartbeat.

 

5. Medical restrictions: On your tickets, there's a disclaimer you have to initial that says something to the effect that you don't have heart problems or asthma...that's about it.

 

I highly recommend the Aqua Safari, but if you don't want to do it and you're not into feeding the sharks, I'd like to recommend that Bora Bora Photo lagon Safari. That was also excellent and can be done on either day.

You can contact Damien on the dock or email him at Damien@boraboraphotolagon.com

I'm still amazed by the pictures he took of us, in fact, I'll be blowing up some of them for our walls here at home.

 

We're totally jealous of Hulagirl doing the back to back and also going to Hawaii...so jealous in fact that we may do the same thing next year :)

I hope you all have a great cruise!!

[Stranger1]

P.S. If you do either excursion, make sure to take some type of underwater camera...you'll see a ton of fish!! The ship sells a disposable one in the gift shop without a flash and the photo dept sells one with a flash. Both about $20 but the one from the photo dept is reusable!

[Hulagirl]

Stranger1:

 

All I can say is THANK YOU!:D You have completely put my mind at ease for the aqua safari. Really I was getting pretty nervous about the whole thing, but after reading what you had to say and looking at the picture in our excursion booklet of the helmet, I'm more than ready. I'm glad your wife was able to do this with no problem. It has eased my mind more than you know. I've read so much about it, but the fear just couldn't quite go away.

 

We do have an underwater camera now with a housing. My husband had been looking online at some and we found one that we liked. Went to our local dive shop and they actually had some coming in that they were going to have on sale. So luck was with us, and we bought one. The camera is a 5 megapixal with a fantastic housing around it. The buttons are easy to push on the back and hopefully without our glasses on we can see what we will be taking pictures of. Thank goodness for a daughter with perfect eyes. She may be taking several pictures.

 

Several years ago I bought my husband another camera setup like this. Only that was before the digital cameras and it was a film one. It only went in the water once and that was it! The thing leaked and the camera flooded. Unfortunately, the model of the camera had been discontinued by the time we actually used it, and nothing else would fit. So frustrating. This time, it will not flood!!!!!

 

Appreciate the information on the weighing of the carryons and that they don't weigh our personal items. I doubt they will be that heavy, but just in case. The camera bag can definitely get heavy, but I doubt that much. Just wanted to make sure. At least we will be flying back from Honolulu, so we won't have to worry about them weighing our carryons then, just the checked luggage.

 

The cabin location sounds perfect. We needed a cabin for 3, and this one just stood out to us. I really think we were about the first to book both of our cruises last year. There wasn't a cabin we couldn't have picked at the time, and this one just looked good. So glad you thought the location was so good. We were thrilled when we read your review and you had been in this cabin.

 

Glad to know that the first night is open seating. I wondered how that worked. How fun to have the champagne to take to the top for sail a way. That will be fun!

 

I can't thank you enough for all your information. Do you have any pictures from the trip that you've posted on webshots or anywhere else? Would love to see them.

 

Definitely sticking with the aqua safari now. Again, appreciate all the info.

 

We are looking forward to the 2 cruises! When we started thinking of taking the cruise we were going to stay for a week afterwards at a hotel. After pricing that out, the second cruise looked more appealing than ever. Will fly in 2 days ahead and are staying at the IC, so that will be good to get over the flights.

 

If you do post some pictures, please let us know.

 

Susan