Tahitian Princess cruise

[June13]

Hello, We are going on January 9, 2008 on the Tahitian Princess. We are so excited. Hopefully it will be a smooth journey.

June13

[C-Ked]

Sparkle10:

 

The helmet dive lasts about 30 minutes, and it's true, the first few minutes, I was very very aware of the sound of my breathing and the weight of the helmet on my head. For me, it wasn't so much a problem of claustrophobia, but rather fear of something going wrong with the breathing apparatus. Judging from others' reactions on our tour, it seemed that everyone needed a minute or two just to get used to the whole feeling. But it really was such a unique and interesting experience -- and you've got a dive instructor and knowledgeable support staff with you the whole time. If you need to go up before the half hour is up, you just signal to the instructor and he'll help you back up the ladder onto the boat.

 

Re Christmas Island -- it's a really small atoll, and I don't believe there are any ship excursions at that stop. You might be able to get a Jeep tour of the island, but what most people ended up doing was just getting off the ship and exploring on their own. It's a nice way to break up the sea days, and it's the least touristy of all the islands, so it's worth wandering around a bit, but there's not much there by way of attractions.

[SPARKLE10]

Hi Again:

 

Thanks so much for your quick replies. My DH thinks that Tahiti is going to be just like Hawaii and really wasn't very enthusiastic about going there at first, but I think I've convinced him that it is totally different and he is going to love it. We're staying two pre-nights at the Intercontinental in an OWB, and I think that will be great also. The flight is 9 hrs from LAX and we have to fly from Des Moines, Iowa, to get to LAX, so by the time we get to Tahiti, we will be happy for the two pre-nights to get rested before the cruise. March of this year, we were on the Sapphire Princess from LAX to NZ and Australia for 12 days and then did the 6 day post cruise tour in Australia. That was one of the best cruises I've taken so far and we've cruised more than 40 times. We had to fly from Des Moines, to Chicago, to LAX and then 14 hours to NZ. I can't sleep on planes, so by the time we finally got there, I had been awake two days and two nights, but that was the only bad part of the cruise. Then again, flying back from Sydney to LAX, it was another 14 hours. I would love to do that cruise again and take the ship back to LA, but that would be a 30 day cruise.....maybe when we retire. Thanks so much for your help.

 

Happy Cruising....Sparkle 10 (Anita)

 

PS I'm going to do the helmet dive.......:confused:

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

We are leaving in Nov and hoping to make all our ports! We are packing really light and with no dressy cloths...On those nights we eat at the buffet or do room service....no room for those shoes that hurt my feet anyway!

 

We are leaving in a month for this cruise and we also do not plan on bringing dressy clothes. There was a post a couple of weeks ago from someone who had done BTB on the Pacific Princess. She stated that on formal nights they ate at the pizzarea that turns into a bistro in the late evening and that they were able to order some menu items like steaks and salmon. That is what we are planning on doing. No suits or tuxes for us in the tropics.

 

For those who ask if the ship is old, please note that the TP will be going into wet dock on 9/13/07 for five days so she should look pretty good after that.

[dog]

I've only been on the Grand class ships with Princess except for the Tahitian. She has "class" and is an elegant ship.

I went last Sept. and thought she was in great shape.

 

I found the food in the dining room similar (but actually prepared better) than that on the Golden & Grand Princess.

 

And I noticed that a lot of people really dressed for the formal nights. ( Well less numbers of course than the Grand ships). But I am glad we dressed up. A couple of people we met didn't want to take the extra clothes for formal night because they were spending pre cruise on Moorea, which is understandable.

We took less clothes and used the laundry.

[TexasMom2]

Just remember that there is no bistro on this ship. It's just a pizzeria and closes around 11:00pm. One evening when we were having pizza, we noticed lots of people wandering into the buffet area to look for food and there wasn't anything except the salad bar for the pizzeria. One solution would be to have dinner really early before the buffet closes at 5:30pm.

[kiwigirl]

Hi:

 

I love to snorkle and I wanted to try the helmet dive, but I was worried about feeling claustrophobic ....

 

Hi Anita - I don't think you need to worry. We had someone in our roll call who was also claustrophobic. She was a bit nervous at first, but then was able to relax. I don't swim and I did it. I was also a bit nervous because I have a hard time clearing my ears. I just took my time going down the ladder and again, after a few minutes I was more relaxed.

One thing to be aware of is that you will hear the bubbles while you are breathing. Also, the air being pumped in is a bit cool, which is actually nice because it helped me relax.

As everyone else has said, this is an excursion not to be missed. I would do it again given the opportunity and my DH agreed.

Have a great trip!!

[Maracucha]

Pammie:

 

Do not waste a day or two of your vacation if you find yourself suffering from seasickness. I took my godchildren in July and we had some very rough seas. I was OK, but the godchildren spent two miserable days--couldn't keep anything down. We tried dramamine, wristbands and finally ginger. Nothing worked. Finally hauled both of them to the ship's doctor. They gave them a shot of something called Promethazine Hydrochloride and that did the trick. No problem from that point on. Might talk to your doctor before you leave home. I'm sure it's cheaper at your family physician than an after hours medical visit on board.

[NCP]

We are leaving in a month for this cruise and we also do not plan on bringing dressy clothes. There was a post a couple of weeks ago from someone who had done BTB on the Pacific Princess. She stated that on formal nights they ate at the pizzarea that turns into a bistro in the late evening and that they were able to order some menu items like steaks and salmon. That is what we are planning on doing. No suits or tuxes for us in the tropics.

 

For those who ask if the ship is old, please note that the TP will be going into wet dock on 9/13/07 for five days so she should look pretty good after that.

 

Thank you!

We area going to be flying to different islands and we are not allowed heavy suitcases in the small planes. So there is no way we can bring fancy stuff. Anyway, it is very hot and humid....

But I do not want to be penalized if there is no alternative to the dining room in Formal nights.

[hillslife]

We just got back from the TP yesterday.....it was a wonderfull cruise - not tooo humid, no real mosquito problem, but I did get a few bites and only used bug spray once. Some pretty rough water for 3 days to and from Roratonga and we didn't get to land due to the rough seas and rain. Many people were sick (read: vomiting) and many taking bonine or some type of sea sick pills.

 

It rained almost every day for only a short time, but it was a warm rain. Even being August - we didn't have hot sunny weather....it was often overcast but still warm.

 

Someone was asking about dinner options - you can also do room service or dinner on your balcony and the buffet was open the first night we went there for dinner and my DD ate there one other night. I don't know what time it closes but that is an option also.

 

We booked most of our excursions privately before we left: Marc's on Huahine, Bruno's on Raiatea, Patrick's on Papeete and Trevia's on Bora Bora...They were at least half the price of the ships tours and covered the same things and more, plus they were small only 6-10 people on each.

 

Many people were dressed very fancy for formal night but several had on tropical outfits also. I think either are ok for this cruise.

 

Hotels, food and souvenirs are VERY expensive. We stayed 4 nights precruise at the IC Papeete for one night and 3 nights OWB at Sheraton Moorea - both are excellent hotels - very beautiful...but $$$$. (for example: sodas $3.50-5.00 per can. 3 crepes and 3 sodas for dinner $68.00. pearls are very expensive and we didn't have enough expertise to know what we were buying - so we didn't. Taxi from ship to airport $32.00 - about 5 miles.)

 

We never exchanged US $ for francs and had no problem, even in taxis, restaurants, shops, etc. Everyone took US $ - some convered 1:1 and some converted with the exact exchange - somewhere between 80:1 and 86:1....the ship was only giving 77:1 - so that is not a good deal.

 

Air Tahiti Nui airlines was 2.5 hours late leaving LAX and 4 hours late leaving Tahiti and they never really gave us an explanation or reason - rarely any announcements. When we returned to LAX it took almost 2 hours to get our luggage - they couldn't find 2 containers and weren't sure if they were in LA or Papeete - this affected many people on our cruise.....so ATN gets bad marks from me. Although the food and service on board was very good.

 

Have a wonderfull cruise - you will love it. :o

[dog]

A few more thoughts: I was not impressed with the buffet or its open times. A couple of times we tried it, there was very little still out...cookies, fruit, salad. They seem to be cleaning up as we arrived. Could have done room service.

I don't think you need to stay away from dining room if not dressed formally. It's your comfort level to consider, and you decide.

Also, the OWB s at the Intercontinental are beautiful according to people we cruised with. They were very pleased with them in Tahiti.

We stayed pre cruise at Le Meridien and rented a car at the airport and returned it downtown, not far from the pier.

Le Belvedere Restaurant was wonderful. See photos in the link I gave above. The restaurant sent a driver over to the hotel to pick us up.

If I were to go again I'd stay on Moorea. Just beautiful hotels and scenery.

It is not like Hawaii. I've been to several of the islands and there is a difference.

 

And I agree, at the first sign of illness see the doctor so you can enjoy your cruise. We sat at dinner on 3 cruises with people who felt sick that made themselves miserable and talked about themselves at every dinner they made it to. Not pleasant for their tablemates either.