Tahitian Princess by Di III

[Dimarie]

Raiatea-Best view for sailing in would be topside. Tahaa is visible portside while Raiatea is visible starboard. What a beautiful, beautiful view. So breathtaking. We sailed into port on sunday so most everything is closed. I hadn't booked anything ahead of time but I knew I wanted to do Faaroa River cruise. We went directly to the building on the right where the ship docked. They had several tours available here with one being the river cruise. This was a 3hr tour for $25pp. Our guide was Suzanne who was also the director for the Raiatea dancers who come aboard for a late afternoon show. She was a great guide. Funny and informative. I was a little disappointed that the river part of the tour was so short. This is not the fault of the tour but rather because the river narrows and is impassable. Still a wonderful sight to behold. Before the river cruise we were taken to a pearl farm. This was closed for the day but being family owned they opened for us. Learned a lot about pearl farming. Not pushed to shop here and when everyone was ready we left. We stopped at a motu after the river part. Raiatea has no beach front so you have to go to a motu for beaches. Snorkeling was very good here. This is family day for islanders so we shared the motu with a couple families enjoying their sunday out. This was one of my favorite islands. Just too beautiful to explain. Back on ship we got showered and headed to the afternoon Raiatea show with the children dancers. This is a great show and should not be missed. The youngest dancer was 3yrs. old and just cute as a button. They have a dancer as young as 1 1/2yrs but she was napping! My daughter(who is a dancer herself) was picked to dance with the teenage dancers. She had a great time. After dinner my husband and youngest daughter went to see Hal Marquardt. He is a comedian/magician. My husband thought he was okay however jokes were stale. I don't care for magicians so my oldest and I went to the casino where we promptly lost all our money!! Good thing I'm not a compulsive gambler. Had a budget and when that was gone I was out of there. The casino was the only place where smoking bothered us. We are not smokers and it seemed most people in the casino were smokers. If I were a regular gambler this would have turned me against being in the casino every day. The Raiatea adult dancers performed at a late night show. They were terrific. Not much going on after dark on the island however you could get off and on ship all night until 5:30AM if you wished. We left our balcony doors open all night every night while we cruised. I would not recommend doing this in Raiatea unless you are an early riser. All the hundreds of roosters on the island start crowing about 5AM. Not my idea of the ideal time and way to wake up!! Closed the door and went back to sleep. I didn't get up for sail-away but I'm sure the view starboard was a good one.

 

Bora Bora-Spent the morning before sailing into Bora Bora at the pool. Cruise director Dan was a great director and very informative on shipboard activities throughout the day.....however, those of us at the pool pulling into Bora Bora would have appreciated a warning prior to the ships 3 blasts upon arrival to the island. I'm sure many around the pool came close to needing a change of clothes!! We also were treated to a low flyover jet as we sailed into port. Yikes....I thought that plane was taking a nose-dive into the ship! Best view sailing into Bora Bora would be from up top although the starboard view was also good. Watch for dolphin pods sailing in and sailing away from Bora Bora as this is the best time to see them. We tendered in and explored a little before deciding to hire a guide for a circle island tour. We got this tour at the pier for $25pp. There were six of us. We had the chance to stop at a couple different shops if we wanted to along the way. There were 2 couples with us and no one wanted to stop so we kept going. We did stop at Bloody Mary's (a must see) be sure to check out the bathrooms, a lookout point with great views of surrounding motus and matira beach. Good tour guide and with information we got from her we decided on what we wanted to do the next day. That nights show was the ships dancers again. Another good show. After the show we went to the casino bar for a sing-a-long with the piano player. Smoke from the casino made it hard to sing but it was still fun.

 

Day 2 Bora Bora-We hired a taxi for $3pp one way and went to the Bora Bora Beach Resort for the day (not Bora Bora Hotel). We again had full use of the facility at no charge. Quiet and laid back. We met up with our waiter Marius and a couple of his friends. They spent the day enjoying the pool here. Snorkeling off the beach was okay. We did see an eel here while snorkeling. This resort isn't that far from Matira beach and you could walk to Matira if you wanted. Sail-away best starboard. We saw another great show with the singers and dancers.

 

Moorea-Sailing in views again good starboard. This is one of the prettiest islands we visited. Good shopping right at tender pier. Great prices on those fake black pearls. I'm not crazy about black pearl so this was the place for me. I had booked a circle island tour online with Moorea Explorer Tours. We visited a pineapple grove, the govt. agricultural station, Belvedere point (great view of Opunohu bay and Cook's bay), juice factory(lots of great tasting rum!!), and a marae. We were treated to fresh pineapple and grapefruit for lunch and got a basketweaving demo. This was over 3 hrs and was real nice. Saw alot of tour buses filled to the gills. there were only 6 of us in our group. Much better tour I'm sure. After returning to our ship we were treated to a beautiful rainbow extending from the bay up into the mountains and back to the water. This we saw right from our balcony. No rain where we were but obviously rained on the island somewhere. It was mostly sunny at the time. Another good show from the singers and dancers.

 

Papeete-Went back to the Marche to get those souvenirs we didn't buy at other ports. Walked around town a bit before going back to the ship for lunch. Spent the rest of the day at the pool until we needed to get ready to disembark:( . We left our carry-on bags at Sabatini's where we had access to it all day if we needed. Claimed our bags about 4PM and headed to the spa for showers. After our showers we met up with Renee and Guy for our last meal onboard. As Renee said this was the busiest time at the buffet with our group still on and the newbies arriving. We were in the 4th group to be called for the 10PM flight. Said our last good-byes to the crew members we had befriended. Look for Alex (from India) in the Cabaret Lounge and George (from Bulgaria) at poolside. Tell them Hi for us. Made the cruise just that more fun. We have never been on such a great vacation before and we have traveled many different places. My husband went to the reception desk to see if there were any available cabins for the next sailing. They were sold out:(. Leaving the ship was difficult at best however the staff was excellent and made the disembarking process easy. After arriving at the airport we were directed to our bags and customs. The whole process went smoothly and only took about an hour to complete. LAX could take lessons. Another good flight on Air Tahiti Nui.

 

Back in the states we passed through customs with no problems and headed back to Embassy Suites South for some much needed rest. We dozed off and on at the pool all day. We had to leave for the airport the next day at 4AM so decided to turn in early only to be awakened by the fire alarm. Turned out to be a false alarm but had us all awake. Took awhile to relax again and fall asleep.

 

Flight out of LAX uneventful to Dallas for layover. Late out of Dallas...had to change our plane and gate because of mechanical problems. Made for a long day and it was nice to get home at last.

 

This is a vacation that will get you as close to heaven as is possible here on earth. We had planned to do a mediteranean cruise in 2007 but have decided we need to go back to Polynesia. For all you getting ready to go...i'm really envious. I hope my review has given you tips on what to do for full enjoyment. If I can answer a question for you feel free to ask. I'll try to check back here once in awhile. For those who have been.....awwwwwww paradise visited. And to the great cruise friends we made (Renee, Guy, Jackie, Jim, Mary and Bill) so glad to have shared the time precruise and onboard with you. Can't say enough about how much fun you all were!:)

 

Bon Voyage,

Di

[Dimarie]

On the last night in Papeete the comedian Jay Moore was again funnier than ever. Also the Tahitian dancers came aboard. They were very good and my daughter was chosen again to dance with them. Unfortunately they also picked me to dance with them. I may have been funnier than the comedian!! Haven't looked at myself on video yet. Scary thought:p .

 

Di

[annag]

Di:

 

Thank you for taking the time to write the review for all of us here. The information I got from your and Renee's reviews is really invaluable and could not be derived from any tour book.

 

A question regarding Moorea Explorer. Do you have a website handy? If not, I will find it. And, was it a four-by-four type of an excursion?

 

BTW, I think there may be cabins on our sailing on the 12th of August available. We need more friends!

 

About your 2007 plans, I bet you that the Mediterranean Cruise would not be much less amazing, just in a different way. Although we did a land trip of Italy, not a cruise, it was absolutely smashing, particularly Venice. Venice is just perfect! So, go for it!

 

Anna

[RNay]

Di,

 

Great review! Reading this takes me right back (well, almost). I didn't get your email before we left, but I'd like to stay in touch. We had such a great cruise and meeting all of our CC friends made it even better. Next time, maybe we'll sit together at dinner! I'm jealous of you going back. I've booked the Southern Caribbean for next March and I'm busy arranging airfare, hotel, etc. That will keep me preoccupied for a while :D .

 

Renee

[land lover]

Great review....going in Aug....can't wait especially after reading such informative reviews.

 

I am with Annag, if you have never been to Europe it is a must...travel the world then go back and repeat your favorites...mine happens to be Italy but then again after August, Tahiti might be on the list...........

 

Thanks again...liked your detail on best areas for viewing the islands while sailing:)

[Jackiealu]

Thanks a bunch for the great information. I am going on the Tahitian Princess in September 2005, and I can't wait. I want to make sure I see all of the must see sights.

Thanks again,

Jackie

[laurieb]

I agree, CC friends are what make the cruise great! We have made wonderful friends the last two times, and we are looking forward to seeing old and new CC friends in 07 on this cruise!

[Dimarie]

Anna,

Here is the email address moorea.explorer@mail.pf. I got a response right away. This was a small airconditioned bus. My husband has to have back surgery so we couldn't do 4x4. I believe that there is a 4x4 tour available through the same people. Look at the website www.tahititraveler.com. Lots of great links to other websites. I also used www.tahiti-tourisme.com for info.

 

My family and I have visited Europe twice. We traveled all over via train. I agree that the mediterranean is a must see but I'm afraid the unspoiled islands of FP win hands down! I've got to go back one more time before the world finds this secret and exploits the beauty.

[Dimarie]

Renee,

Email is adej@prodigy.net. Make sure to let me know it's you in the title so I don't delete it! Writing that review brought back all those good feelings!

 

Di

[laurieb]

correct website address is http://www.thetahititraveler.com . http://www.tahitiexplorer.com is another great resource.

[annag]

Di:

 

Thank you very much for the follow-up posting of the website addresses. So much to research and do, I barely have any time for work.;) A good point about bad backs, since my husband lives from an epidural injectin to an epidural injection, so a four-by-four shaker may not be a good thing for him.

 

So, you are saying that FP beats European travel hands down. I am getting more and more intrigued by the minute here. Can hardly wait!:D

 

Anna

[land lover]

Di,

 

So Tahiti beats Europe...........now you have got my interest........My expectations are getting greater by the moment.......History versus natural beauty........

 

Can you tell me what the sitting times were for open breakfast and lunch?

 

Thanks, Lori

 

P.S. Who cares about HIstory or Beauty, what about the food:D

[Dimarie]

Anna,

Europe does have it's own appeal. Until I went to FP my favorite place in the world was the little town of Zug in Switzerland. Very laid back and picturesque. I'm not fond of big cities and like to stay off the beaten path no matter where I travel. I'll be interested in how you feel about FP once you go. I always said I'd live in Switzerland in a heartbeat. Now, I'm not so sure.

 

Di

[Dimarie]

Lori,

Breakfast was 7-9. Lunch 12-2 in the diningroom. Lunch buffet was 11:30-3:30 in Panarama buffet room.

 

Di

[TahitianVirgin]

Di,

 

This is GREAT!

 

I can't wait!

 

Chuck

[Dimarie]

Chuck,

 

I'm still having dreams about this vacation. Absolutely the best ever!! Envious of all who are booked to go.

 

Di