Good Morning from the PACIFIC PRINCESS

[LA_FadeAway]

Toto, thank you so much for the feedback on Bruno's tour. Now I'm rethinking this some more. What we'd really like to do is take a tour that goes to both the river and to the coral gardens; however, I don't know if such a thing exists. Maybe we should just wing it and see what we can find on the pier.

[Toto2Kansas]

Seal, that sounds like our last tour with Bruno, but this time was totally different. Except for the pearl farm, everything was quite different now. I could not believe how shallow the water was at the coral gardens, I have never seen it like that before. But we loved the tour in the past, as we didn't run into other groups along the way. Not so this time, even the coral gardens had several tours there at once.

 

Things they are a changing and the tour operators are everywhere now, at the exact same places, no more little intimate tours it seems where you feel like you aren't with a group on a ships tour. :(

[Toto2Kansas]

Pia, not sure about the new forms, I honestly didn't pay any attention when I read it. I have it in the safe right now and can't get to it as DH is still sleeping (late night going to Island night last night), but I will check and let you know.

[Toto2Kansas]

Having a bit of trouble with the internet this AM, signal aft is very low, so I am breaking these posts up so as not to loose them. I have found that either typing in another word program first, or ALWAYS doing a 'copy' just in cast the post poofs before it goes through helps.

 

Just pulling into Bora Bora, and again it looks to be another perfect day (weather wise). Slight clouds, the sun is shinning and it is warm out here on the balcony.

 

Not sure what we will be doing today, no real plans, so we may end up at the beach, with a quick stop at Bloody Marys afterward, or some shopping.

[Toto2Kansas]

Difficult for us to believe, but three more days, and three more nights and this cruise will end. It has gone by so quickly, I can barely believe it.

We will overnite in Bora Bora this evening, and sail around 5:00 tomorrow. Tomorrow night is the past passenger party and we received the letter telling us our seats are saved in the front row. Not sure if we made second place yet, but that looks like the case. It goes to show you always must bring something to wear on formal night, just in case. lol I think I have something that will work, although if I would have known this, I would have been more prepared. Guess that blew the 'no formal nights for us' right out the window for this cruise, hey?

 

Time to download the camera again and get it charged up for another day on shore. This netbook has been a lifesaver for saving pictures to each islands album along the way. I highly recommend them to anyone planning on taking a lot of pictures on their cruise. ;)

 

Bye for now, will try to check in later on. ;)

[JeanRoll]

Toto, thank you so much for all the information along with sharing your emotions and feeling of your cruise. I hope your final three days are even more enjoyable.

Jean

[Seal]

Seal, that sounds like our last tour with Bruno, but this time was totally different. Except for the pearl farm, everything was quite different now. I could not believe how shallow the water was at the coral gardens, I have never seen it like that before. But we loved the tour in the past, as we didn't run into other groups along the way. Not so this time, even the coral gardens had several tours there at once.

 

Things they are a changing and the tour operators are everywhere now, at the exact same places, no more little intimate tours it seems where you feel like you aren't with a group on a ships tour. :(

 

Toto--you know what may be is that all the CC folks in the past few years have been going with Bruno--could be that the others caught on and are doing the same trip--we've never seen another boat at the Vanill Farm or at the Pearl Place nor at the Coral Gardens--we have seen others/children at the lunch place--it had some strange fish that Bruno got in with by the pier--if that's the same place--John said that the only thing he really liked was the Coral Gardens--He reminded me that the last time some of them walked back rather than try to navigate the coral--some were just afraid of it and some were maybe a bit too wide for getting between the bunces of coral--when I said something about the water being about waist high where the boat was moored--I might have been wrong because it was there that my Sony camera burned and it was in my shorts pocket and there wasn't water that hight--so maybe knees--also--we have never seen an assistant--That's a real shame I always brag about Bruno--I've never been too excited about Marc like everyone else--that's why we're doing it again--everyone can't be wrong---so it must be me. I wish that if anyone took the Princess Motu picnic with a woman doing all the narriating on the boat and dancing in the water etc.--I just love her--she is a CRAZY (in a good way) woman--she has a US husband--maybe divorced--and an island husband--she was great to walk the beach with--what a life she has--.

Anyone taking Patrick on Bora, Bora ?? would love to hear how it goes--we're going on the shorex while we're on Bora Bora

 

I wish I could remember the name of a restaurant we liked for dinner on Bora Bora-- one of the owners of Bloody Mary's told us about it--we ran into himm on the plane from Bora Bora to Papeete--his wife owns a boutique close to the tender pier--the restaurant and the boutique are both to the left on the left side of the street--seems the restaurant was farther than I cared to walk--it was right on the water--;the railing was right next to the table---

 

Nancy:D

[LA_FadeAway]

I contacted the company on Rangiroa that Toto posted information for several threads back. Here is what he said if anyone is interested:

 

You can do snorkelling during one hour and a half to the place call

aquarium, the price is 4 000 xpf/pers.

 

Depending of the current we can organize too drift snorkelling (4500

xpf)

 

Anyway we need four personn minimum per tour, 12 maximum.

 

best regards

 

Olivier

His pricing is much better than the ship's tour and it seems to be the same length. Probably goes to the same place. If anyone from the Nov. 18 cruise wants to join us on this, please let me know in our roll call. We need two other people. Thanks again for the info Toto!!

BTW, Bruno e-mailed me that his trip is full, so I guess that answers that one for me. Anyone know any good tour operators that do river and snorkeling trips in Raiatea???

Toto, it looks beauitful in Bora today. Hope you're having a great day!

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Toto, it looks beauitful in Bora today. Hope you're having a great day!

 

It sure looks lovely from the bridge cam

 

 

From the Pearl Beach resort cam...

if it was just angled a little more to the left

we would probably see the ship at anchor.

[Toto2Kansas]

Just back from Bloody Marys and a day at Matira Beach on Bora Bora (probably blew that spelling again, sorry, too many glasses of wine at Bloody Marys is probably why my brain isn't functioning to it's full capacity :)). Picked up a new Bloody Mary T-Shirt (the one I had was ancient). What a delightful day. We have cancelled all tours booked for the rest of this cruise (even our sunset sail this evening). We had such a delightful day at the beach, we are going back first thing tomorrow morning. We should have just gone with the flow and stopped worrying about having things booked ahead of time. We are finding out that picking something up when we arrived is half as expensive,and even better than the ships tours or private tours booked ahead of time.

 

Friends that went to the beach with us picked up a private snorkeling tour in Raiatea yesterday just off the dock, and it sounded even better than our tour with Bruno (and a lot less expensive, $60 per person). They did all the same things, except the coral gardens, so they were very satisfied with what they found for the price.

 

I am still amazed at how Tahiti has changed in the last 5 years. Private tours are available every where we looked now, the tour operators are growing like crazy here. But finding those out of the way tours that are secluded are few and far between. We also had never run into several tours every place we went before, this is definitely a first.

It seems the private tour operators have wised up now, and they are everywhere you look.

 

The weather has been perfect again today, except for a brief three minute shower at the beach. But with the covering right there to dodge into until the rain passed, no problem at all. For those interested, shuttle to the beach if $5 per person each way. And if you would like, they will drop you off at bloody mary's either way and pick you up at a set time, no extra charge. Very inexpensive day, that's for sure. BUT, if you drink, look out. A beer at the beach will set you back $6-$8 dollars, where a mixed drink can run as high as $15 for a small drink. Those prices make bloody mary's seem much more reasonable than ever before. ;)

 

The view off our balcony right now is perfection, with the peeks of Bora Bora seeming close enough to reach out and touch, simply amazing as I sit here typing on my balcony.

 

So, we are heading to the shower, then dinner and probably a bit of packing before an early night to bed. We plan to head off to the beach around 9:00 AM tomorrow since we need to come back to the ship in time to prepare for formal night and the captain's circle party. Still can't believe we made the cut for the most traveled, so I don't want to miss this one.

 

I quickly downloaded my pictures from today. The first is of me in the water this afternoon, the second is the view I am looking at as I type. It just doesn't get any better than this in my opinion. :)

[kruisey]

Just looked at the pictures looks like paradise to me :)

Once again it lightens up my day to read your posts.....Kruisey:)

[caribill]

I know it's so in actuality, however, the four FCC's I bought 10 days ago on the Coral are still being issued on the same forms. Does Jennifer have new forms?

 

 

Was able to use one form purchased in May (plus $100 for the second person) in August and the OBC will apply to both people per the Princess deposit confirmation.

[LA_FadeAway]

Wow, that view from your balcony is amazing!!! Thanks again for the info on all the tours you can pick up on shore. We may leave a few days open and just book something when we get there. Have fun at the captain's circle party!

 

Oh yeah, one more question... Did you see if there were tour operators at the pier in Papeete? We'd like to do a 4x4 tour there. We're currently booked through the ship, but $100pp is pretty steep.

[gth2k]

Hello Toto,

 

My wife and I will be on board Pacific Princess on Nov 28th.

 

I would like to say thank you so much for all the up to date and very helpful informations from your great "Good Morning......" , is greatly appreciated!!

 

After following all your fabulous postings, we booked all these excursions:

Marc at Huahine, Rene at Rangiora, Patrick or Raanui tour in Bora bora, Bruno at Raiatea,

Few Scuba divings in Tahiti and Bora Bora

We are concerned with Bruno's tour after reading your comment, because his excursion is the most expensive and also a very long day. May be we should re-think and get the excursion at the pier at Raiatea?

 

Please let us know your recommendations what is the best thing to do to spend the last day in Papeete, our flight does not leave until 11.00PM.

 

We wish you all the best for the rest of your holiday.

Thanks again and kind regards,

 

gth2k

Toronto, Canada

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the great continuing live from.

Can't beleive its over so fast either.

Enjoy your last couple of days. :)

[jp20]

THANK YOU! :D I couldn't wait until the next morning so I would get up real fast and get dressed for work, grab my cup of coffee and sit down at the computer to read what you've done that day. Its become a daily thing and I'm really going to miss it when you arrive home.:cool: Thank you for sharing.

[Toto2Kansas]

Opps. going to try that one again, the internet is doing funny things here this morning.

[paul929207]

We first went to FP 20 years ago. My bride of three years then, said Bora Bora was the most beautiful place she had ever been. She made me promise to bring her back for our 20th anniversary. So 3 years ago I booked the Tahitian Princess for the cruise over our 20th. It was one from Papette to Honolulu. We were a couple of days off hitting Bora Bora on the big day, but my wife did not complain.

 

I had planned the trip as an surprise. My wife has always said she can be packed to go in 48 hours. I was going to give here a week. I told our TA it was a surprise and to use email if she had a question. Then our daughter, who knew nothing about the trip wanted us to go on a cruise to the Caribbean at the sametime, so I had to spill the beans.

[Toto2Kansas]

I woke up before the sun rise this AM, not sure why as we didn't go to bed all that early last night But with Bora Bora being my favorite Island in the entire world, I guess my brain wanted to take in each and every minute of this last day here.

 

DH is still sleeping, and I am enjoying a few minutes of 'alone time' sitting out on my balcony with my coffee this one final morning in Bora Bora. I could stay here forever, this peaceful morning is priceless, with the only thing breaking the silence of the morning being the rooster crowing on shore. My view is the same as yesterday as I sip my coffee and think back on the last three weeks of the best cruise ever in our lives.

 

We called last night to see if there was a table available at the Steakhouse, but Marco said it was totally booked up for the evening. A few minutes later Marco called back to tell us he found us a table if we didn't mind eating early. Since we missed lunch yesterday while at the beach, that sounded great to us. So, within 45 minutes we were out of the swim suits, showered, and at the Suite/Elite lounge in Sabatinis waiting for our table at Sterlings. We enjoyed another wonderful dinner watching the sun set, and ate way more than we needed to. Thankfully, I packed something to wear home that has an expandable waist. I haven't had to do that in years, but with this being a smaller ship, and so much accessible to our aft stateroom, we just didn't walk or get quite as much excercize as normal. Yes, we just down right played it lazy on this one.

 

Friends from our roll call called our stateroom shortly after we returned after dinner. They booked an OW bungalow for the overnite at the Intercontinenal and wanted to alert us that the CC group was invited over today for a visit. It is close to the beach, so we will be checking it out later today. If you need to find me this afternoon, I will be taking pictures of the OW 'hut' so I can post them later on. ;)

 

I started packing last night, and the first two suitcases are zipped and ready to go. I knew it was time to start getting things together when I noticed my beautiful flowers we purchased at Le Marche were beginning to fade away. The Lei I have drapped over the lamp has lost it's appeal, but not it fragrance, so it will stay until the very last moment we leave the stateroom.

 

To answer a few questions asked. We received the tour sheet for ships tours in Papeete on the final day. Nothing too interesting for us, and most were all day tours, which didn't sound too apealing. We did notice a few tour operators on the pier on turn-around day, so we may either look into that further when we arrive, or just hang out on the ship for the day as we did the last time. Yes, it makes for a very long day, but we have both had enough of all day tours and riding in buses for a lifetime I think. ;)

 

I will sign off for this morning, and try to get some pictures posted again soon.

 

I purchased a large package of minutes now, so hopefully I will be able to use my laptop that final day after our account is closed.

[KCSungirl]

Thank you for all of your posts. I so enjoyed cruising with you. I want to be YOU. Owner's suite, most traveled guest, Tahiti. Life can't be any better. ;-) have a safe flight home back to our cold and dreary state. You picked a great time to be away.

Cheers, Sungirl

[Seal]

TOTO--let me know how good it is at IC Le Moana--we'll be there on the 23rd until our sailing on the 29th--I love it there--have never been to their new one--this one seems good to me--grab a kayak from the beach by the entrance of the pier--there should also be a basket of bread--take some to feed the fish--have a great day--

 

I don't want in a bus either--and I've probably seen most of the cathedrals and museums we need to see before being totally lazy like me. !! We love Bora Bora and this cruise--it makes life pretty simple--

we also love land trips to Aruba--great water and restaurants--casinos are not too good to me--but that's what you do on the way to the elevator--they open about noon--I miss my favorite game Pai Gow--not in ship casinos or any other smallish casino.

 

Nancy:D

[pretenda]

Thanks for taking us along with you Toto, I've enjoyed every minute of reading - and viewing the wonderful pictures, thanks so much for sharing your wonderful adventure. Now all we need to do is book ourselves!!:)

Wishing you both another fabulous few days and a safe journey home.

Glenda and Tony

[Carolina Cruisr]

Toto,

Thanks for lettting us cruise along with you and your DH! We have put this on our "must cruise" list! ;)

[seamanfs]

I have thoroughly enjoyed cruising along with you guys. DH and I want to put this on our "must do" list! I know how you feel towards the end of a good cruise. Someone told me this once and I will pass it on: Don't cry because it's ended; smile because it happened. Good to keep in mind but still sucks to have wonderful events end, doesn't it? Take care and thanks for the great "Live from". Sue and Fred

[dorothyh]

Enjoy these last few days, Toto!

 

I WILL somehow get back to Bora Bora. I don't know when, I don't know how...but I will get back there somehow. I'm very interested to see the inside of one of those huts!

 

 

We were on the first leg of Toto's cruise, and on the last day this is what we did:

 

Checked out of our suite at 8:00 AM :(

 

Checked in our carry-on luggage at the steakhouse- a long line at the beginning of the day, but then it died down. It was very easy to pop in and get something out/add something to your carry-on throughout the day.

 

Had breakfast at the buffet.

 

Tried to get online and COULDN'T because they shut down our acccount after 9:00 AM, even though their signs said you could use your minutes until you left the ship. When I talked to the internet person and the front desk, they said that usually everyone is off the ship by 9:00 AM, and they have to disconnect everyone in order to put in the new cabin list. I am curious to see if Toto has better luck with her internet on the last day.

 

Left the ship and explored the marketplace area.

 

Went back to the ship - went to the Pacific lounge - they had coffee, tea, water, juice set up....we found a comfy spot and read. It was way too hot outside.

 

Went to lunch at the buffet. Very sad because it was the Welcome Aboard! lunch...and we were going to be leaving. :(

 

Went on our tour - an afternoon tour from 1-5 PM- it broke up the day and I'm glad we did it, as we have never seen Tahiti before. It was a highlights of Tahiti tour - if you have been there before and seen the highlights, it is not worth doing again. Our tour guide was interesting, funny, and was American (so his English was great) which made the tour much better. Friends we saw at the airport tried to pick up an afternoon tour on their own and couldn't find one...apparently there had been tour operators in the AM if you are looking to pick up a tour then and they figured they'd be able to pick up an afternoon tour, but by afternoon, they were nowhere to be found.

 

Back to the ship - had dinner in the buffet. For all of our meals on the last day, the buffet was busy but not a zoo, which was a relief.

 

Shower at Toto's - THANK YOU again!!!

 

Off to the airport at 6:30 PM for our 10:00 PM flight.

 

Enjoy those last few days Toto!