Ocean Princess French Polynesia Review Jan. 24-Feb. 6, 2015

[ROWSE]

Our walk back was hot as we had dried off a lot while

enjoying our meal and drink. The water was

right there, so I jumped in again. Didn't get

a shot of this area, but it was beautiful. Did

take a flower picture.

 

 

Continued back to the tender area. There were little shops set up

as has generally been the case on each port. We were tired so

a nap was definitely in order.

 

Later that night we went to the show that featured an amazing

violinist, and again the fantastic singer/impressionist. Our

shows were never crowded as late seating dinner was never

crowded either.

 

We were at a window at a table that would

seat 8 and the other end was often set up for two as well.

Only one or two other times did someone sit there.

 

That night was the baked Alaska parade. We were

surprised they actually cut it right at the server station.

 

 

It is always hard to say goodbye to the wonderful staff that

had done such a great job all week. Vanielson and Chester, BRAVO!!

 

It was off to one more trivia, which we actually lost in a tie breaker,

but that was as close as we had ever come to wining. It helped

that there were only three teams.

 

Off to our last sleep on what we considered home now

on this beautiful Ocean Princess.

[sunsetbeachgal]

What fantastic photos...thank you for taking the time to share this amazing journey!

[ROWSE]

During the evening last night the ship sailed from

Moorea back over to Tahiti and docked. Several

people, I believe left us at this point. Several just

went ashore to have fun. I know the crew was

looking forward to a little shore time as well.

 

We had put our luggage out last night, and would

not see it again till about 6:30 p.m. tonight as

we had purchased the Princess Transfers, which

meant after we vacated our room by 8:00 a.m.

we were free to come and go and use the Ocean

Princess as home base.

 

We were asked to eat in the buffet and of course

stay in the commons area, and our room now

belonged to someone else. BOO HOO!

 

Our carry on luggage was stored in one of the

Specialty Restaurants for us to get at any time, or

get something we needed and continue to leave it

there.

 

My husband and I decided to do some more walking

around Papeete. It was a HOT one today.

 

 

 

We walked toward the airport and came across a good size mall.

The store there had everything in it from groceries to power tools.

 

Walking back we found another stream with eels again.

 

 

 

We walked through the beautiful garden one last time.

 

 

 

For our last adventure we went back to the Le Marche to

spend those last france. I had a wonderful fresh fruit smoothie.

We were allowed to use their internet there for free. It was

pretty fast. The shop is located upstairs.

 

[ROWSE]

After spending our last cent, except the 20 cents I found

in my pocket later that I donated to another passenger

at the airport to increase his leftovers enough to buy

something, we headed back to the ship.

 

I guess we had been lucky days ago when we boarded

as there had not been any line, but this time we had

to wait in a long line to get back on.

 

We ate, laid on the promenade deck chairs and napped.

Several people had this idea. We were eventually

asked to vacate as they were going to work on the

tenders that were in this area.

 

The movie Boyhood was being shown in the Cabaret

Lounge, so we watched that. The day we spent out

walking, required I shower, and we were lucky enough

that those with transfer's were allowed to use the spa showers.

 

I guess everyone decided to to this at once as it

was like a girl's camp shower time. We all got a good

laugh out of it.

 

Of course we headed for the buffet to get a last meal

in before we were to get off at 6:30 p.m. They

called our luggage tag exactly on time and we bid

a sad farewell to the lovely Ocean Princess.

 

The transfers were perfect. We have never done one

in our life, but after this, maybe I will if the need arises

again.

 

It was again scary to have to weigh that luggage, but somehow,

and I am pretty sure it was because I prayed hard, our luggage was okay.

 

For some reason we were listed twice on the little manifest the

first security check had, they had to really work at our

reservation on their computers. Our check in agent even left

us to go check with management. OH DEAR! I was a little

worried we would be bumped somehow, or get four seats, now

that would be good in the center section of the plane. LOL

 

They must have checked everyone's passports at least 3 or 4 different

areas. We finally got to the seating area to wait the hours till

the plane took off at 10:00pm. Our last picture in Tahiti, and we

are so sad to go home.

 

 

It would have been nice if we had been called to the plane by rows

as it had been in LAX, but it was just a free for all, but we got

on eventually. Air Tahiti Nui, you leave a lot to be desired:(

 

After this it was rather a blur of eating, sleeping if possible, and

being woken up to eat again at 4:00am Tahiti time but 6:00 LA time.

 

Getting off the plane and through customs went well. LAX has a

state of the art system. I was impressed. A quick peak at our

passport and we were done. Lugging our luggage way down to

Southwest Airlines, was probably very good for our circulation after

being on the plane for eight and a half hours. We had to wait till

four hours before our flight to check in, so sat about an hour and a half

in a very ugly area.

 

Then checked in and no sweat on luggage weight here. YEAH!!

 

Our flight home routed through Las Vegas and here they asked

for volunteers to take a flight out tomorrow instead. I looked

at my husband thinking let's do it, but he gave me that look,

the one that you know there is no chance in hades. He had

had enough.

 

Soon we were back in good old COLD Spokane, and now I am

looking forward to our next cruise, as I always want to have

one booked so I don't have the disappointment of nothing to

look forward to.

 

Thank you for reading along if you are still with me at this point,

and may any of you heading to French Polynesia soon have as

an amazing time as we did.

[AZ Ocean Lover]

A lovely review and lovely pictures. I've never been there so it was a fascinating read. We are avid snorkelers as well so I loved the underwater pictures and admire your blasse attitude towards the sharks swimming around you.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post a review of your wonderful vacation.

[Bimmer09]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon we were back in good old COLD Spokane, and now I am

looking forward to our next cruise, as I always want to have

one booked so I don't have the disappointment of nothing to

look forward to.

 

Thank you for reading along if you are still with me at this point,

and may any of you heading to French Polynesia soon have as

an amazing time as we did.

 

Wow- It's over already??

 

OK- next cruise...there are still some cabins available on the Emerald from Rome to Barcelona Sept 26th...

 

Just saying'

 

 

Great page-turner review.

Thanks!

 

Norris

[AZbeachboy]

I relly enjoyed your review and all the pictures. It brought back many memories. Like you my wife like Bora Bora the best. However, we did not have as much time there, just the day. We walked the same highway you did, but we started at the pearl shop just down from Bloody Mary's.

 

We saw our fresh water eels at one of the ponds when we took the excursion to the middle of Tahiti. That was a wonderful trip.

[ROWSE]

Wow- It's over already??

 

OK- next cruise...there are still some cabins available on the Emerald from Rome to Barcelona Sept 26th...

 

Just saying'

 

 

Great page-turner review.

Thanks!

 

Norris

 

 

Norris,

I do love the Emerald we have been on her four times.

We just can't fit September in, though, with an Alaskan cruise in August and then one in Jan. 2016.

 

Hoping our paths will cross someday!

[ROWSE]

I relly enjoyed your review and all the pictures. It brought back many memories. Like you my wife like Bora Bora the best. However, we did not have as much time there, just the day. We walked the same highway you did, but we started at the pearl shop just down from Bloody Mary's.

 

We saw our fresh water eels at one of the ponds when we took the excursion to the middle of Tahiti. That was a wonderful trip.

 

Thank you Jim!

 

Those eels were amazing. We ran across a man when we were paddle boarding who was coming in from fishing, and he had speared one. Apparently they are tasty. ICK!

Of course he was friends of our tour guide, and he pulled up alongside our paddle boards to show us.

It looked like it had very sharp teeth!

[zoncom]

I noted your food sure looked better than usual Princess food. A few questions as I am on Oceania Insignia for a long cruise including French Polynesia, Duplicate of your ship. Promenade deck 5? Noticed the Teva sandals. I f going on same cruise again, would you bring lightweight hiking boots too? How often did you need long pants? Do they take Euros or American dollars at Vendors? Many thanks for your review. I think you are tied with The Preismans.com. Look em up.

[ROWSE]

I noted your food sure looked better than usual Princess food. A few questions as I am on Oceania Insignia for a long cruise including French Polynesia, Duplicate of your ship. Promenade deck 5? Noticed the Teva sandals. I f going on same cruise again, would you bring lightweight hiking boots too? How often did you need long pants? Do they take Euros or American dollars at Vendors? Many thanks for your review. I think you are tied with The Preismans.com. Look em up.

 

 

Thank you for reading along!

 

We would not take any hiking boots. Tevas work great, and even made it to the top of Raiatea's Mt. Tapioi with just some flip flops. Teva's were good to snorkel with when we had no fins especially if we walked in from a bit of a rocky beach.

 

I only wore long light weight pants when I got an awful sunburn. If you are cruising you would want long pants for eating in the dining room of course. On land, it is so hot you would not want them unless for guarding against sunburn.

 

We brought French Polynesian Francs, and US dollars, so I don't know about the Euros. Whether they took US dollars or not was rather hit and miss. Some venders did and some didn't. Expensive restaurants took credit cards. Some of the little booths set up at tender sites had prices

listed in US dollars also. At this time, when the dollar is worth more than the franc, it is better to pay in francs as they have not caught up with that fact yet and charged more in US dollars.

 

The Preismans.com look like a wonderful site, I will definitely do some

reading on that one.

 

Have just a fantastic time on your cruise!

[Bimmer09]

T

 

The Preismans.com look like a wonderful site, I will definitely do some

reading on that one.

 

Mike Preisman was one of the first people I communicated with on CC back in 2009 and his photo reviews inspired me to do the same and then share, as he does so generously, with CC members.

 

He's a class act all the way.

 

Norris

[caribill]

 

Met up for trivia, and I wish this picture wasn't dark,

but the view out the window in the Tahitian Lounge

was amazing.

 

 

 

 

Here you go

[Mercruiser]

Rowse,

 

It's nice to hear from a fellow Spokanite. Your trip report brought back lots of great memories from our November 2013 trip. We went on some of the same activities, including Albert's Lagoon Excursion in Moorea. Does this boat look familiar?

 

 

We are going back to Bora Bora, Moorea, and Tahiti in November 2015. I can't wait. My wife wants to see the Tahiti waterfalls from your trip report.

[caribill]

My wife wants to see the Tahiti waterfalls from your trip report.

 

You can see our views of Tahiti waterfalls at http://fp.caribill.com/

 

Select the Tahiti link

[Kiwis Afloat]

I have enjoyed following along on your adventures. Thank you for taking the time to write this review and posting the lovely photos! :)

[ROWSE]

You can see our views of Tahiti waterfalls at http://fp.caribill.com/

 

Select the Tahiti link

 

Thanks for fixing that picture. We were laughing at the size of her drink versus mine, but before you fixed it, it didn't quite show.

 

I had your site bookmarked and loved all your pictures before we went to Tahiti in the first place:)

[ROWSE]

Rowse,

 

It's nice to hear from a fellow Spokanite. Your trip report brought back lots of great memories from our November 2013 trip. We went on some of the same activities, including Albert's Lagoon Excursion in Moorea. Does this boat look familiar?

 

We are going back to Bora Bora, Moorea, and Tahiti in November 2015. I can't wait. My wife wants to see the Tahiti waterfalls from your trip report.

 

Nice to hear from you too!!

 

Albert's Lagoon Excursion was so great! I definitely recognize the Pontoon.

Have a wonderful time in November, and we just loved the tour of all the waterfalls. Not sure if it would be the same in November as late January,

as we were definitely in their wet season. November is the beginning of that, so not sure how that would affect the amount of waterfalls.

 

Weather is such an unpredictable thing.

 

I suspect no matter what month one goes to French Polynesia,

there is beautiful things to see.

[WembleyB]

Wow Kitty, this is amazing!! I am reliving our trip all over again, hoping there's more postings to come! It was wonderful meeting you and Jim - sure hope our paths cross again,

Cindy & Bruce

[Grammyluvs]

Ok, I have definitely put French Polynesia on my bucket list. Your pictures are amazing. Thanks for all the time and effort.

[kingsgirl]

Thank you for your lovely review!

[ROWSE]

Thank you for all the lovely comments! It was fun to relive everything!