MissEileen23

I just got back from the Star Breeze. I did 4 excursions and booked two through the ship and two on my own. Moorea - private snorkeling tour with Mermaid Private tours This was probably my favorite tour since it was just my husband and I. I booked this independently. The guides, Luna and Clem, were fantastic. They picked us up at the tender dock so we got beautiful views of the North coast of Moorea on the way to the snorkel spots. Luna snorkeled with us and took photos and videos so we could enjoy the experience and still have the memories. Highly recommend! http://www.mermaidprivateboattours.com/ Raiatea - kayaking the Faaroa River I booked this through the ship. I tried to book on my own but they were all booked up. I think it’s the same tour operator though. There were 14 of us on this tour with two guides. Vivien was the main guide and he gave us a lot of info about the river and the plants around it. The kayaking was difficult for me on the way in and out of the river but it’s doable. They only had two person kayaks so my husband and I struggled to get in sync - you would think after 30 years we could work as a team lol! It was a lot of fun but more exercise than I expected. Bora Bora - Half Day Eco Snorkeling Shared Boat (Strenuous) I booked this cruise through the ship. The tour operator is H2O. It was absolutely amazing snorkeling! We went to 4 different locations. The first was a coral garden which was beautiful and easy snorkeling. The second stop was the manta ray cleaning station and I was absolutely in awe as we saw about 10 manta rays. If you haven’t seen them before, you have to do this! It was really windy that day though and this area is not protected so there was a lot of bouncing up and down. The third location was a channel where eagle rays were common. This was just ok but the scenery was fantastic. The last stop was the aquarium and it lived up to its name. So many fish and relatively easy snorkeling. I loved this tour for the snorkeling but the tour guides didn’t really describe much, they just dropped us off at the different spots. I still would highly recommend it though! Huahine - driving tour around the island I booked this independently. We did a 4 hour tour around all of Huahine. Janou was our guide and she was a lot of fun and a wealth of information about Huahine. We stopped at a lot of scenic viewpoints, a vanilla plantation and a pearl farm. It was fun and relaxing after all of the activity of the rest of the week. https://www.huahine-private.com/ Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for all of your input! I'm still deciding but hearing about your experiences really helps.

Thanks for sharing your experience with Ponant. I also wasn't aware that PG could have gone out of business. I agree about the price. If PG isn't noticeably better than Windstar, paying 25% more doesn't make sense! I was also hoping that with Star Breeze staying in FP, they would have to try and keep up.

Thanks for your comments FlightMedic! WindStar is actually a lot cheaper (just a little more than what you are paying in July) for this sailing so even if I add the all inclusive package it's still cheaper. It seems like I should go with WindStar but for some reason I keep looking at Paul Gauguin. The itineraries and dates are slightly different, but for the price I can't imagine that it would make that much difference.

I'm planning a trip to Tahiti for next June and I'm leaning towards the Paul Gauguin 7 night cruise. I've seen a lot of comments on the boards here though about people who aren't comfortable booking with PG due to issues with refunds, etc. I don't cruise often so I'm not used to booking trips far ahead of time and with such a large deposit. Windstar seems to have a less restrictive cancellation policy along with a much smaller required deposit. This trip is for a special anniversary so I'm not planning on cancelling unless absolutely necessary, but things happen. Any thoughts?