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Tahitian Princess -- no summer cruises in French Polynesia?!?


kruzingtogether

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I can't believe that the TP will be absent from French Polynesia June-September ... I guess we'll be doing the PG in '08. I am worried that this will drive PG prices up, though, since they will have a monopoly on the summer vacation (and honeymooner!) market...

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I can not believe they are doing this! I am soooooooooo mad! I have been researching, planning and dreaming of our summer 2008 cruise on the TP. There are only 2 ships in FP and a zillion in Alaska. Why in the world would they want to send yet another ship to Alaska?!:mad:

 

I don't know if we will get to go now. I don't want to spend close to $10,000 for a vacation that is in the rainy season were we run the risk of being rained on every single day. I can't afford the PG so I just don't know what to do now. Plus it actually costs more to stay on land than to cruise on the TP.

 

ARG!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad:

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Hi Lyndsey,

The TP is going to do Alaska with an eight port itinerary. Susan and I have also been looking at the PG. If we decide to book it it will be longer than a seven night cruise.

Jay

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I totally agree ... I've been emailing back and forth with my husband; we've been planning to go in August '08. I have no idea why they are skipping the best weather time of year in Tahiti.

 

I think we will end up doing the PG ... in the end, the price will be a couple thousand more than we ended spending last time (since the PG includes drinks, tips, etc.), but we really have our hearts set on the return... and we definitely don't want to go in the rainy season.

 

The TP (in the months it is there) did change their itinerary-- minus Raratonga, plus Rangiroa, which is EXACTLY what we were hoping for, so it makes it even more disappointing that they won't be there in the summer months...

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I am thrilled that the T.P. is going to be in Alaska next year from May to middle of September but cannot understand why Princess would be pulling the ship out of Tahiti. May-September is the best time to visit the islands with the best weather.

 

Luckily for us we are returning in a few weeks time for the cruise from Papeete to Honolulu and we were planning to do Alaska next year in September so guess what ship we will be on!

 

Jennie

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Seems as though Princess has a five year committment to FP then once that expired they were free to makes changes. Seems to me there are already plenty of ships in Alaska. I kind of wish Princess mwould come up with more exotic cruises say including cruisetours to South Africa and include the Maldive islands.

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Another set of very unhappy Princess cruisers here. I'm just hoping that perhaps it will send another ship down there to pick up the route. If not, we will just have to see. It doesn't make sense to me to pull a route that was sailing full for every cruise, but companies do strange things.

 

Charlie

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I have read that the T.P. will still be in Tahiti from October until late April, early May so you can still visit those wonderful islands and cruise on the lovely T.P.

 

Apparently it is only going to Alaska for the short summer season.

 

We cruised on the T.P. in March, 2004 and had perfect weather.

 

Jennie

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We have been booked for this June for over a year. It was my longest time to wait as well. Gone are the days when you can book and be gone in a short while. That is unless you want left over cabin.

 

I use to set around news years day watching football and planning my vacations. Now I have to be booked much sooner than that. Even with the airlines you cannot book a decent seat unless you are early.

 

I booked a business trip going to Detroit next week in January. I go ok tickets. My co-worker booked last month and is seated in the rear of the plane. I just made reservations for a trip to Chicago in September. The rest I am driving.

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Definitely true ... when we went to Tahiti for our honeymoon, I didn't get around to booking until January 2nd for the August cruise. We were able to get the "2" window seats on ATN on the way there, but even 8 mos in advance, there were none of those left on overnight flight back, and we were stuck with two seats in the middle "4" area. As for cabins, I was surprised how many were already gone on the PG for August ... nevertheless, I can't believe how long we have to wait!! Our travel agent assures me it will fly by, but we'll see :-) Oh well, at least when I daydream and look at my honeymoon pictures almost daily, I can also daydream about the return!

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Well, have a great time on the PG, it's wonderful. As for timing, cruises get booked very early, in comparison with some other types of travel. In the cruise world, August is not very far away. I have a cruise booked next December, and I have friends who have booked their trips through 2008!

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We are early bookers, especially for our honeymoon in FP. We booked our flights and cruise back in September for April. HOWEVER, it was apparently too early for Air Tahiti Nui, as they changed their schedule as of April 1 back in December - and no one told us, they just cancelled our flight. Over the holidays we were double checking all of our travel and my husband noticed that our flights disappeared. I called and found out that 2 weeks earlier they cancelled the flight, I asked if they were every going to tell us (American Airlines since we used points) and was told 'eventually', I asked with 'eventually' meant and was told 'a week to 10 days before the flight' is usually when they call people.

I could not imagine getting a call a week before my wedding letting me know that my flight to Tahiti was cancelled. I am very happy we found it so quickly as we were able to book similarly scheduled connecting flights (we originally had JFK - PPT direct) that ended up both being completely full. If we didn't find out until a week before there is no way we would have gotten on the flight, and may have missed our cruise!

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Hi krusin and trobrah,

 

Glad to see you fellow roll-callers on the board. I guess Princess is going after that small ship nitch market up in Alaska. I wonder if the PG will change the itinerary a little to take in some of the islands the TP visited? Gloria and I had such a great time in FP. We still go through the pictures and talk about the good times and the wonderful people we met.

Jay, We just got back from our NY vacation a week ago and hope that the storm didn't bring too much damage to your area. We were in Buffalo when the worst of it hit the coast. Loved the Big Apple.

 

Eric

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just booked the last cruise in April of 2008 before it heads up to Alaska. We are hoping that they will go back to Tahiti-Hawaii in the Fall of 2008 so we can cancel and book that instead. At least we have the April booking to fall back on just in case.

We also were looking forward to an August or September sailing in 2008 because of the weather, so I don't get why they would cancel these?

I keep checking their site hoping the Fall schedule will be out soon.

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Bear in mind that the 7-day itinerary on the PG is very port-intensive and gives you a really great in depth visit to the Societies, with very little sea time.

 

You can tack on a day or two pre-cruise, or a proper 3-4 day visit on land. We've done that itinerary 4 times, and have loved every minute.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just looked at the Princess site and can't believe they dropped the number of Hawaii - Tahiti cruises past next summer, as well. We liked the peacefulness of Huaine that we would probably pick the 10 day PG, too. We just went on the motu picnic there, but loved lying on warm sand and not doing a thing. Too bad the PG is staying only 1/2 day. We are so happy that we had a chance to see FP when we did.

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I sailed the TP last Mardch and it was great - so good I gave them a deposit for a future cruise that we were planning for June 2008. They really screwed up my plans - I have just booked the Paul Gauguin for June 25 - a 10 night cruise and at a cost of - well - a LOT MORE $$$. BUT - I am going to French Polynesia again so I certainly cannot complain !! You are all correct - there a ton of ships in Alaska and right now the only other choice in FP is Starclippers - not my thing - need an elevator (knees). So thanks for nothing Princess, you lost me this time.

If anyone is considering a 10 night cruise on the PG - make up your minds quickly as they sell fast - only a few all year - most are 7 days.

I liked the 10 day as the go to Huahine (which was the highlight of my TP cruise last year) and Rangiroa - glad to be going here instead of Raratonga.

 

Larry

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Just booked the last cruise in April of 2008 before it heads up to Alaska.

 

First post here, very cool resource.

 

Anyway, also just booked the last April cruise. We have been planning our honeymoon and were shooting for the 12 day itinerary, and have also been very disappointed at the lack of summer cruises. Turns out this sailing will work very well with the wedding date of April 19. We'll spend a few days in Hawaii, fly down on HA, spend a few days there, cruise, spend a few more days there and fly home.

 

I must say I'm looking forward to it a LOT!

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Well - PG here we come 6/25/08 - already a few people on this trip on the Regent board. Really wanted to go on the TP again - such is life - and yes Huahine only half a day a bit of a disappointment but at least we go there.

 

Larry

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First post here, very cool resource.

 

Anyway, also just booked the last April cruise. We have been planning our honeymoon and were shooting for the 12 day itinerary, and have also been very disappointed at the lack of summer cruises. Turns out this sailing will work very well with the wedding date of April 19. We'll spend a few days in Hawaii, fly down on HA, spend a few days there, cruise, spend a few more days there and fly home.

 

I must say I'm looking forward to it a LOT!

 

 

gwade, Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! We actually have cancelled this cruise and booked the Tahiti to Hawaii in May instead, as that was the itinerary we really wanted.

Hope you have a wonderful time on this one though!

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