Windstar, Tahiti and Seatrade Miami

[dandee2]

While Seatrade is in full swing in Miami, a French delegation from polynesia is attending the show. Lots of talk about Ponant and Silversea increased présence in Polynesia. Not a word about Windstar. wS and Gauguin Will gave neigbours very soon.  https://www.tntv.pf/m/La-Polynesie-representee-au-plus-grand-salon-consacre-a-la-croisiere_a31557.html

[milepig]

I'm not sure this overly concerns me. When we were there last fall there were a couple big ships (by WS standards) in Papeete who seemed to be making a couple stops as they passed through FP. Other than that we only saw the Gauguin once and the WS crew were a bit surprised as they said they almost never crossed paths. FP is a big area and there is still room for some cruise ship growth before the experience will change. Most of the time we were utterly alone. A week link is the still limited access by air with only a handful of carriers, the United flight from SFO is a huge step - already made year round and they could easily go daily rather than 3x/week. Papeete infrastructure is also in issue - traffic is already horrendous at times, and the airport a bit grubby and certainly needs to grow - again, access roads need a big upgrade. There are also a limited number of luxury hotels on Tahiti itself and prices are high - many cruise ship pax stat a day or two before after after their cruise, and the number of rooms needs to grow. Many go to the other islands, but for only a night before or after that's a complex journal with timings of ferries not linking up will the common flight arrival/departure times.