Huge Cruise Ship Crowds this Weekend in French Polynesia

[Mercruiser]

This weekend, four big cruise ships are visiting French Polynesia:

 

Golden Princess: 2600 PAX

Marina: 1258

Radiance: 2496

Solstice: 3145

 

This is a total of 13,532 PAX and 4,033 crew. These are numbers we would normally associate with a Caribbean island port. The port stops are mainly in Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora.

Most of these ships are on their semi-annual repositioning cruises between Australia and Alaska seasons. They will repeat this dance in about six months or so when they move back to Australia. You might want to keep this in mind when planning any future French Polynesia travel.

 

Source (in French): http://tahitinews.co/quatre-paquebots-a-papeete-pour-ce-long-week-end-de-paques/

and http://www.tahiti-infos.com/Accueil-des-croisieristes-a-Papeete-enfin-un-effort_a99267.html

 

Hint: Use translate.google.com to read in English

Edited April 20, 2014 by Mercruiser

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Wow, that is something to consider, isn't it? I remember being on the PG once at Easter and there was a very large Princess ship anchored in Bora Bora. That one was quite enough.

[Fletcher]

Big ships: cheap

Small ships: less is more

[Tikiintahiti]

This is happening more and more.

 

Good advice to schedule around those mega ships, they are simply to big and ruin the charm of islands like Bora Bora and Moorea who don't have enough vendors to provide service to the masses.

 

Going on a smaller ship when the mega ships are not around is the way to go or head for an off the beaten trek island and just hang at a smaller resort.

[canuck.qc]

This weekend, four big cruise ships are visiting French Polynesia:

 

Golden Princess: 2600 PAX

Marina: 1258

Radiance: 2496

Solstice: 3145

 

This is a total of 13,532 PAX and 4,033 crew. These are numbers we would normally associate with a Caribbean island port. The port stops are mainly in Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora.

Most of these ships are on their semi-annual repositioning cruises between Australia and Alaska seasons. They will repeat this dance in about six months or so when they move back to Australia. You might want to keep this in mind when planning any future French Polynesia travel.

 

Source (in French): http://tahitinews.co/quatre-paquebots-a-papeete-pour-ce-long-week-end-de-paques/

and http://www.tahiti-infos.com/Accueil-des-croisieristes-a-Papeete-enfin-un-effort_a99267.html

 

Hint: Use translate.google.com to read in English

OMG :eek:

[numbersix]

Interesting--thanks for posting this.

 

BTW...we were disembarking the Oceania Marina on Saturday morning (April 19th) having to vacate the stateroom by 8 am, but we could eat breakfast and be off by 10 am. Our flight out wasn't until 11:50 pm, so we had a leisurely breakfast, intending to rent a car (but hadn't reserved one in advance). About 9:15 or so we saw the X Solstice backing in next to us, and I knew we had to get out of there, and out of town, fast!

 

We rented a car from Hertz (free shuttle to the airport to pick it up), and had a fabulous day, without really running into any crowds, driving around the island seeing the waterfalls, beaches, maraes, with a great lunch at Terre Mer in Taraveo, Baie de Phaeton, on the southern coast...no, actually, it wasn't just great...it was fabulous...and the view!!

 

 

[Fletcher]

 

We rented a car from Hertz (free shuttle to the airport to pick it up), and had a fabulous day, without really running into any crowds, driving around the island seeing the waterfalls, beaches, maraes, with a great lunch at Terre Mer in Taraveo, Baie de Phaeton, on the southern coast...no, actually, it wasn't just great...it was fabulous...and the view!!

 

 

 

Thanks, NumberSix . . . Tahiti is a fabulous place with loads of interesting places to visit and amazing scenery. It's sad that 99% of people just want to get off the island asap and go to some sanitised overpriced resort on stilts. Tahiti is a real place and I'm pleased you enjoyed it!

[RZ3]

Interesting--thanks for posting this.

 

BTW...we were disembarking the Oceania Marina on Saturday morning (April 19th) having to vacate the stateroom by 8 am, but we could eat breakfast and be off by 10 am. Our flight out wasn't until 11:50 pm, so we had a leisurely breakfast, intending to rent a car (but hadn't reserved one in advance). About 9:15 or so we saw the X Solstice backing in next to us, and I knew we had to get out of there, and out of town, fast!

 

We rented a car from Hertz (free shuttle to the airport to pick it up), and had a fabulous day, without really running into any crowds, driving around the island seeing the waterfalls, beaches, maraes, with a great lunch at Terre Mer in Taraveo, Baie de Phaeton, on the southern coast...no, actually, it wasn't just great...it was fabulous...and the view!!

 

 

 

We have a car reserved for our last day on Tahiti after we return on the PG. Our flight out isn't until the next morning. This post makes me really glad we're renting one rather than staying at the IC all day!

[numbersix]

Thanks for your kind comments!

 

Fletcher--I agree 100%...while every island we visited was incredibly beautiful, the resorts have a bit of a Disneyland South Pacific feel to them...we found the island of Tahiti to have a much more "real" feel to it, and did quite enjoy it.

 

RZ3--You'll have fun! Good roads, nice, easy driving, and, as Fletcher pointed out, loads to see and explore.

 

I almost forgot...as we really didn't have to be back to the airport until 9:00 pm or so, we stopped in town (Papeete), and:

 

1) Noticed a bunch playing roller ball-hockey in a parking lot by the McDo's

(we're Canadian, so that was pretty cool to see roller hockey in Tahiti!)

 

2) the bar opposite the 3 Brasseurs showing the NHL playoffs on TV (wow--Canadian cultural domination continues!); and

 

3) strolled, ate, and, in general, took it all in at the Roulottes on the quayside. What a great experience! Locals (Poynesians, French, grandparents, parents, kids), tourists, and cruisers eating, drinking, making merry, local musicians, kids on all kinds of wheels--rollerblades, bikes, little cars in the centre court. It was, probably, our best interactive experience of the cruise.

 

Finally, I have to say that Polynesians may be the friendliest people I have ever come across...everyone, and I mean everyone, smiles and says hello, and seems genuinely friendly. I mean, it's almost exhausting...but so lovely.

[Mercruiser]

Princess just announced they will have five ships in Australia next year. See http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/10983.html

 

It's the Australia cruise market growth that contributes to all these semiannual repositioning stops in FP.

 

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