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Advice please


Mrhappy57
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Hi all, DW and I are celebrating a number of things in April 2020 (not least my 60th) and have seen a Princess Cruise round trip from LA on 7 Apr for 28 days visiting Hawaii, Tahiti and Samoa. We’re visiting all the islands we’ve always wanted to see but wonder what will the weather be like and, as there are a number of sea days (18 I think) how smooth the waters will be? Many thanks. Newbie poster from UK so please be gentle!!

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If you go to the Oceania Cruises page 2 and look for " Marina/French Polynesia Mar 4-19 2018 review w/lots of photos" by hoopster95 you will find an excellent review of a cruise to that part of the world. It may not address all your questions but will give you an idea of what to look forward to. Enjoy your cruise.

Allan

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What a wonderful cruise you've chosen to celebrate. Spectacular itinerary.

In my experience crossing the Pacific 4 times in April and May, it has been near perfect weather. Only once did we have some big swells, 20-25 feet from a storm a goodly distance away. The ship rolled a lot but it was sunny and clear. The last two days in approaching California the weather is almost always cool and overcast that time of year. Need a light jacket or windbreaker. There is a strong current from Japan along the coast of California that can make cruising rough but that is year round. The height of the rainy season in Hawaii and SP is Dec/Jan/Feb, with Nov and Mar considered shoulder season.

We last cruised Tahiti-Hawaii-LA in May 2017 and again the weather was ideal with some nighttime rain and occasional cloudbursts. But honestly the weather in SP can be sunny/clear and rainy/stormy at anytime of year. Infact I'm doing a 17 day Windstar in November/December knowing the cruise will be wonderful rain or shine. And then doing Tahiti-LA again April 2020. Everyone's weather experience is different but ours has been consistently excellent.

 

Your cruise sounds like heaven.

Edited by Petoonya
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I would strongly suggest you consider a cruise based out of Tahiti to see French Polynesia. With the time you appear to have available you could add in Hawaii as Hawaiian Air has a weekly flight to/from PPT. While many love the sea days, and you may fall into that category, if you want to see the islands than more than 50% of your trip will be seeing the ocean. I am sure that a non flier would love the trip as it is the only option to see the region with flying.

 

IMHO Hawaii is best experienced from the land. A stop for a day on an island does not offer the opportunity to even scratch the surface of what the island has to offer.

 

Look at the Paul Gauguin out of Tahiti. They have 7, 10 and 11 night sailings.

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Flightmedic has an excellent point. I looked at your itinerary and you barely touch Hawaii and Tahiti which are some of the most beautiful islands on earth. If it were me I'd do either Paul Gaugain, Oceania's 10-11 day FP or Windstar's 11 day and combine that with a week on Maui when you are flying that far. The price on your cruise is excellent however and doing the other way is going to be significantly more costly.

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Thank you all so much for your excellent advice. I didn’t mention that we had visited Hawaii and Maui having spent a week on each some years ago so we have had the wonderful opportunity to visit these islands without having to rush our visit. The fact they were included on this one was an added bonus. We’ve had a long look at the PG cruises and they look fab with a much smaller ship. Big decisions to make! Thnaks you all.

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We cruised on the 28 day r/t from LA cruise last year. It is certainly a lot of sea days including 8 straight sea days from FP back to LA. The main issue for sea days for us was the obviously everyone is on the ship and it was crowded. It is by far the least expensive way to go.

 

We have flown to Papeete several times and cruised around the islands. This is a great way IMO to visit all the islands. The problem for us was that we dislike the airport in Tahiti for departures.

 

If you can find two cruises with a repositioning portion it would be ideal. We flew to Papeete, visited a few days, did a ten day FP cruise, and then stayed on the ship for another FP cruise portion with a transpacific to Honolulu. For us this was ideal. Flying into Papeete is no issue and there is no requirement to depart by plane.

 

Good luck. FP is amazing.

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All I can say is this is on a Princess mega ship, not a good choice for visiting small South Pacific islands.

 

The best way to see the smaller South Pacific islands in on a small ship. As an example while in FP there are 3 solid choices IMO.

 

Paul Gauguin

Windstar

Aranui

 

All three are smaller ships that won't overwhelm small islands with small populations. All three are wonderful choices.

 

April can be hot and humid in the South Pacific ;)

 

I agree with Flight Medic .... if you really want to see paradise, were not talking Hawaiian style but smaller South Pacific islands that receive less tourist in year than Hawaii does in 10 days .... You should fly to French Polynesia and take a cruise from there, Why spend over half your days out on the ocean .... unless if that is what floats your boat ...

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