Tahitian Princess - Worth It?

[melindda]

We are two couples that have "special" birthdays and anniversaries coming up in June and have considered many different options. We have checked out Europen River cruises, Mediterranean cruises and an Italy tour. We have decided against going to Europe for various reasons, and especially because of the euro.

 

We are back to our first thought which was the Tahitian Princess. We are from the east coast so our travel time will be a long one.

 

We are looking for a relaxing vacation, we would be interested in doing some sightseeing, some snorkeling, and just being on the beach. In other words, we just want to enjoy ourselves, good food, good company and have the opportunity to see what it is like on the other side of the world.

 

My question to other members that have done this cruise would be "Is it worth it"? When it was all said and done, did you feel that it was the "best" vacation ever? I know everyone has their own version of the "best" but I also think that if this is the right choice, then it would be our "best".

 

Thanks for any help.

[rberne1]

YES !! This is very worth it and was truly our BEST vacation! The islands are breathtaking. The clearest water we've ever seen and we vacation only to spots for the water sports/snorkeling/diving, etc. It's a bit costly, and is a looong flight, but worth it! We loved it all so much, we're going back again on the TP in May. :p

 

This would be an excellent choice for you and your friends - IMHO.

 

Happy Cruzin' :D

[IScubaSlo]

My answer to that question is definitely "YES". We did the Cook Islands on the TP 2 years ago and I would love to go back. It was absolutely the most beautiful place in the world. It truly is a paradise..............

 

Its a vacation that you will "NEVER" forget........

[jbond]

We have decided against going to Europe for various reasons, and especially because of the euro.

Europe is expensive, but FP is outrageously expensive. The great thing about the cruise is that you don't have to buy food on shore, unless you really want too.

The islands are extremely beautiful, the people charming and you won't ever forget, or regret, the experience.

[Tahitian Princess]

This is absolutely my favorite place on earth. We've been 3 times and plan on going back again and again. It truly is paradise!

[Ready to Sail!]

YES, YES, YES!!!

 

We did the Tahitian Princess January 2004 and absolutely loved it. Cannot wait to go back. We just did 15 day Panama Canal in December and except for the canal itself, it just didn't compare to the beauty of the Tahitian Islands. As mentioned above, with the cost of Tahiti you are getting a bargain going on the TP. Go, you will not regret it.

[gvre]

We have done the cruise 4 times. And have really enjoyed every moment.

We are not planning a fifth cruise yet.

 

It is one of the most beautiful unspoiled spots on earth.

[Second seating]

Yes!! I had your thoughts in 2003 when we were booked for July, we were traveling from NH. We split it up by spending the night in LA prior to our fly out day. This helped bust up all the time changes. I thought this would be a once in a lifetime trip, but it was unbelivable and we are going back this August.

 

Deana

[laurieb]

Yes!! we have gone twice and are planning our 3rd. If you can swing the time, I would highly recommend going a couple days early and staying one day after the cruise ends.

[wingsdc]

yes,yes.yes Bora Bora and Moorea are absolutly beautiful.

[NEW YORK LADY2]

We are from the East Coast too and are going back for the third time on the TP in March 06. Now, saying that, I noticed that you mentioned just being on the beach. Please realize that the beauty of Tahiti is in it's water and dramatic scenery. It is not known for long expanses of beach like Hawaii. If it is beach time you are looking for as opposed to water time (which in Tahiti is done mostly during tours that take you shark feeding, ray feeding, snorkeling, etc.) then your best bet is a land trip to Hawaii. The TP is a wonderful trip but I wouldn't want you to be disappointed in not having any great beaches to relax on. Food on the TP is good but if you eat on the islands it is very expensive. We have so far been to Hawaii about 23 times all on land trips (yes, the 12 hour flight time is a drag but it is worth it) and returning to Tahiti for our third time (we break that flight up on the way over by staying overnight in LA and just biting the bullet and flying all the way through on the way home). Good luck with whatever you choose but please do read up on the islands so you don't have any misconceptions about what the islands are like. The ports of call section here is a wealth of information also as well as you local library for books and tapes on the islands.

 

Jackie

[sunprincess]

Tahiti is the ULTIMATE cruise. When I went I left from Hawaii & flew home from Papetee. Yes, it is far, far away. But, honestly worth every moment.:)

 

My all time ultimate favorite island is Moorea. I truely felt I had died & went to heaven. :cool:

I hope one day to go back.

 

Good Luck with your decision. My vote is Tahitian Princess!

[laurieb]

And there are some beautiful beaches. The beach adjacent to the Sofitel on Moorea, Mitira point on Bora Bora, numerous motus found along all the islands. the water is incredible, the islands are beautiful! We are snorkelers and the Caribbean doesn't hold a candle to what you will find in FP.

[maygoddess]

Hi Melindda! I am going on this cruise for the 1st time in September..with my DH and parents...it will be our 5th wedding anniversary. My parents are celebrating their 40th as well but belated.

 

We actually honeymooned on land in the Cook Islands for 10 days back in 2000. I think our total trip was less than what we are paying for our 10 cruise on the TP..but it is the NZ dollar..prices were great 4 1/2 years ago!

 

Tahiti was always on our list, but I knew it was more expensive to go there than the Cooks..until I found out about this cruise where we can still enjoy Tahiti without the extra land and food expense.

 

If you are looking for alot of lazy beach time but still want South Pacific..you should consider the Cooks as a land deal..we did have lazy beach days..also spent a weekend in Aitutaki which was gorgeous beyond belief.

 

But if you want to see alot of islands in a 10 day period..have lots of water excursions as well as some land time..take the cruise. You can relax on deck or take sailing excursions...lots to do..

 

Hawaii by land is also nice as suggested..but for us..just not the same as going to Tahiti or Cooks..I don't want to pass a Walmart in Paradise!

[cruisinlivin]

We did this cruise the summer of 2003 with our 18 year olds. It was a great cruise, our first so we weren't sure what to expect.

 

The itinerary was wonderful, we saw all of the major islands and Raritonga(sp) in the Cook Islands. The ocean was really rough going down there though. I can't recommend enough keeping the patches on or whatever works for you. That was the only rough seas though so it does not ruin the whole trip.

 

The ship, service, and food were great as far as I was concerned. The age of the cruisers ranged from young families to retirees. The weather was warm, sunny and enjoyable.

 

The islands are relatively under developed and still very native. We rented cars in many of the locations and drove ourselves around. That way we chose where to stop and how long to stay at each site. We went to many of the places offered by the excursions at a much lower fee. We recommend getting off the ship in Bora Bora and taking one of the local tours. I wish I could give you a name but I'm not sure they even had one. They were two natives dressed in their poreas(sp) with a small boat docked off to the left of the tender dock. They took us to a couple of locations to go snorkeling, at one many saw a large manta, we all swam with the sting rays and white or sand sharks out by the reef, we stopped on an atol for a drink and snack. It was the most memorable experience on the trip. They may have done a similar trip in Raritea because they followed the ship from there to Bora Bora. We also rented a car on BB the first day there, circled the whole island easily, stopping at Bloody Mary's for lunch.

 

We had many experiences, if there is anything imparticular you would like to know please post or send some questions.

[ssbeagle]

You betcha it's worth it. We are from Florida and it is a long trip. We have been on the Tahitian twice and each time we fly to LAX and stay overnight in one of the airport hotels. Last time it was the Marriott and it was VERY nice (we got a great rate). We stayed over on the way back the first time and the second time we flew straight home which made for a very long trip, but I was happy to be home. I do recommend staying over on the way to Tahiti. The islands are beautiful and I saw one of the prettiest sunsets I have ever seen in my lifetime when we left Moorea. We get some pretty sunsets here in Florida but nothing like the one in Tahiti. The people are very friendly too. Learning about their culture was very interesting and worth the trip. Had lots of relaxation time, too.

[cruising cat]

Just to echo what everyone else is saying on this thread, Tahiti is a wonderful experience and was definitely our best holiday ever.

 

Coming from the UK we had a looong journey, but we stayed over in LA then flew onto Tahiti next morning......boy was it worth that long long flight.

 

We did the Eastern Caribbean on the Golden a few weeks ago.....never again 3-4 cruise ships carrying over 2000 pax each in nearly every port we docked at....uggghh. Whereas on TP maybe 300-400 pax on each island.

 

As Jackie said though not sure about great beaches, though we did find a few. We are real beach bums when we get the chance however we really didn't miss the beaches at all and I could have stayed there for months!

 

I say....GO FOR IT!

 

See ya later

 

Jayne

[melindda]

Okay! I surrender! LOL!

 

We have booked it! June 23, 05, we are going!

 

Thanks for all the encouragement in helping us to make a decision.

 

I am sure that I will be back to the boards before I go with questions since everyone was so helpful in giving us information.

 

Thanks!

[torontohoneymooner]

I also booked today for the June 3rd Tahitian Princess cruise for our honeymoon.

 

Haven't booked the flights yet, we'll be doing it on our own. We're planning to go 2 days early and hopefully stay in an Over Water Bungalow for the first night and then second night on the ship (we were told we are allowed to board the ship 2 days in advance, is this true?)

[oshuns42]

My sister and I went on a cruise to Tahiti (Radisson). We are from NY and also stayed over in LA, then flew Air Tahiti Nui. Staying over an extra night in LA helped in keeping our sanity.

 

Then we were in Tahiti, and thought we died and went to heaven. We are from Long Island, great beaches, beautiful ocean......, however, the water in Bora Bora is uncomparable to anything I ever saw. Then we sailed into Cooks Bay in Moorea and my jaw dropped. It is beautiful. We went back to Moorea after the cruise to the Intercontinental Beachcomber and had a wonderful time. We booked the most inexpensive hotel room and we were upgraded to a beach bungalow, right on the lagoon. I kissed the ground when I got there. One morning we saw humpback whales, just outside the lagoon.

 

We are booked on the TP November 30th. Looking forward to Raratonga and to see Tahiti again. It is worth every penny.

 

The cruise message boards helped in planning our trip, you learn so much and everyone is so helpful.

 

I read that Air Tahiti Nui will have direct flights from Tahiti to JFK in NY coming this July. We are thinking about taking a direct flight home. I think is it is a little over 14 hours. I'll keep checking the boards, I would be interested in how travelers handled a flight this long.

 

Happy Trip!

[ssbeagle]

I also booked today for the June 3rd Tahitian Princess cruise for our honeymoon.

 

Haven't booked the flights yet, we'll be doing it on our own. We're planning to go 2 days early and hopefully stay in an Over Water Bungalow for the first night and then second night on the ship (we were told we are allowed to board the ship 2 days in advance, is this true?)

 

 

I never heard of Princess allowing anyone to board two days early especially when the ship is at another port than the originating port for the beginning/end of the cruise.

 

It's good to do your own flights because you can get some better deals by doing it yourself. We always booked Princess air from LAX to Tahiti but did our own from Florida to LAX. It worked out to cost a lot less.

[Northender]

"I read that Air Tahiti Nui will have direct flights from Tahiti to JFK in NY coming this July. We are thinking about taking a direct flight home. I think is it is a little over 14 hours. I'll keep checking the boards, I would be interested in how travelers handled a flight this long."

 

Not to nitpick, but did you mean non-stop or direct. Direct means the plane makes a stop but you do not have to change planes. 14 hours is a loooong time in a plane, especially these days with less seating room, etc. But the other side of the coin is - you will be home in 14 hours. :)

I did fly from Tokyo to SanFran and then connected to Boston. I will say, the connection in SanFran was a Godsend. Was able to move about, get something decent to eat and go outside and breath fresh air :D Although I do not get air-sick, car-sick, etc., I did get quezzey (sp) about 10 hours into the flight. The Flight Attendant gave me a dramamine, which did help and I was able to doze off for a while. :cool:

[oshuns42]

I read on the Air Tahiti Nui web site they will be flying "non-stop" from Jfk. Not too many, but there will be some a few days a week. They are supposed to start in July, 2005.

[PrincessAddict]

We came back from the Tahitian Princess last Dec/04 doing the Marquesas run...I would say It was Absolutely worth it!..although, French Polynesia currency XFP is based on the EURO...on the islands can be very expensive in terms of food, excursions etc....

 

However, we would repeat the Tahitian Princess someday soon hopefully!

[BJS]

We are looking for a relaxing vacation, we would be interested in doing some sightseeing, some snorkeling, and just being on the beach. In other words, we just want to enjoy ourselves, good food, good company and have the opportunity to see what it is like on the other side of the world.

My question to other members that have done this cruise would be "Is it worth it"? When it was all said and done, did you feel that it was the "best" vacation ever? .

If you are looking for relaxing and water/beach activites with beautiful island scenery and little in the way of sightseeing or shopping it is a great choice.

 

:( For us it was not the "best vacation ever". I'm not a beach/pool person. We enjoyed the cruise and glad we took it but doubt we'd ever go back. The ship is small and very nice but because it is small we found there weren't many choices for planned activites. The food was not as good as on our other cruises but that could have been because it was only 4 months after Princess started running the Tahitian Princess. Our idea of the "best" is lots of sightseeing so our bests were: China/Asia, British Isles/Norweigen Fjords, Mediterranean (loved Italy and being on a cruise the Euro didn't have much impact), and South America.

 

:cool: We took our daughter and son-in-law and she is a beach/water person, doesn't care about shipboard things except the pool and she'd tell you it was the "very, very best" vacation ever.