Your Advice on the Tahitian Princess

[Darrell and Janine]

My husband and I have booked a cruise on the Tahitian Princess for early April. I've been doing research and have read everyone's advice on the cruise. I'm starting to have second thoughts if this is the right cruise for us. :confused:

 

We're both in our early 40's, in good physical condition, and enjoy a cruise experience that includes active elements (mountain biking, snorkeling, hiking, etc) and passive elements (fun in the sun, experiencing the culture of each island). The excursions for each island on the Tahitian Princess itinerary

look very similar and fairly passive. We don't really enjoy "herd" excursions and have often booked our own small group excursions (shoretrips.com is a great site). I've done a lot of google searching and can't really find many options. In view of our background, can anyone provide feedback on the ship (activities, shows, workout facilitites, etc.) and the shore excursions (what did you do and how did you book it)? Thanks so much!

[rberne1]

Janine:

You most certainly DID book a GREAT cruise. Have no regrets! My hubby and I are also in our early 40's (can't believe I admitted that!). We were on the TP in April of '03. Loved it!! We're water people and loved all the excursions that took us into that great blue H2O. It's so beautiful in FP that even though we don't "do" crowds either, it never bothered us to be on the Princess excursions with others. However, most of the same excursions can be booked right on the pier, for less $$ and with less people. Either way, you won't go wrong. We booked both Princess and independent excursions ourselves. We loved everything about this cruise, so much so that we've rebooked it again for next May.

Any other questions, just ask them right here and myself or other TP cruisers will be happy to answer!

 

Happy Cruizin' :D

 

R.

[Toto2Kansas]

Definitely look into booking your excursions privately, there are tons of posts on the Princess Board here on CC that tell who is the best to book with and how to contact them.

Princess excursions are more like cattle calls we have found in the past.

 

There is plenty out there to choose from that are very active for any age group.

[laurieb]

we are in our 40's, going back for #2. You certainly won't be bored. You can find all kinds of tours onshore, much better than through Princess. You couldn't find a better place to cruise!

[Aussie Gal]

I agree with all of the postings above. There are loads of excursions you can book by email or on the pier other than the ones Princess organizes.

 

We loved our cruise on the Tahitian in March and in fact I am looking at booking the Marquesa Islands cruise for next year at the moment.

 

Jennie

[cruisernurse]

My husband and I are also in our early 40's. THE BEST CRUISE AND TRIP OF OUR 25 YEARS OF MARRIAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!! BAR NONE! We are very active too and love to snorkel and just about do anything we want to try. Here are a few of the things we did. Just a quick tid-bit, we were so tired after doing so much every day that we would fall asleep by 10pm. Get up and watch the ship pull into the next port of call and watch the sun come up. We couldn't even keep up with what day it was. We were so relaxed and had so much fun nothing will ever compare to this trip. We will be back. Our children which are all in their 20's now want to go with us. We went May 7 2004

 

Here are the tours we did and would do everyone of them again except in Papetee we would do Patrick's 4x4. ( our friends did that one and wow the sights they saw were great)

 

We reserved all online except Stephan

 

Marc's motu - picnic in the water and snorkel

 

Stevan in Raietea- snorkeled, fed sharks, rays, and picnic, pearl and vanilla farm

 

Scoot car in Cook Islands- snorkeled too on our own.

 

Sunset cruise- Bora Bora 1 st night with Taravana Cruises

Rented a car at the pier (if you do that, get off on the first shuttle and go straight to the rental place across from the pier). We were first in line and within 5 mins there were at least 20 people waiting for cars!!

 

2nd day in Bora Bora - Sharkboy- a little dissapointing after Stevan- snorkel, fed sharks, went to private island for picnic

 

Moorea- Helmet dive-WOW THAT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!- Aquablue tours- then went back to Beachcomber and used their pool facilities.

 

 

**** Remember, there isn't a lot of gift shops like in the Carribean, so don't expect to be able to go to a t-shirt place and find something quickly. Moorea (at the pier) had some very inexpensive things to bring home. I now wished I had bought more stuff there.

 

Hope this helps. Please feel free to email me if I can be of any help.

Nancy

[jmike]

I think you will really enjoy this cruise. The ship is on the small side compared to the Grand class ships and doesn't have the large production shows. Some of the shows feature local singers and dancers and are truly a treat. The ship has everything the larger ships have but on a smaller scale.

 

The main attraction of this cruise is French Polynesia. It is almost impossible to describe the beauty of these islands. If you enjoy snorkeling, it is wonderful here. There are very few places on earth with waters this clear. The wonderful Polynesian people make the whole experience on the islands something special. Shopping is a real pleasure. No pressure to buy, no vendors on the beaches borthering you and everywhere you go you meet friendly people.

 

Like so many cruisers, once they go and experience paradise, they can't wait to return. Truly a cruise to remember.

 

Mike