Back from BTB Tahitian Princess Marquesas part 1

[cindygad]

Tahiti Jan16 –Feb 5th BTB

 

This is the first review I have done in 18 cruises. I want to thank everyone on cruise critic who provided so much valuable information on excursions and what to do on each island. With each excursion, I kept saying to my husband that it was unbelievable how great they all were. I am sorry this is so long but there are so many wonderful things I don’t want to leave anything out.

 

We flew from Chicago to LAX to Papeete on Sunday Jan l4th. We flew on United out of Chicago. We flew Air France from LAX. I did our own air because I found a flight that left on Feb 5th at 9am for departure from Papeete to LAX. Most leave at 10 pm.

 

We arrived at 4am in Papeete on Jan 15th and took a taxi to Le Mandarin Hotel downtown. The cost of the taxi was 2900 francs from the airport to the hotel with 4 pieces of luggage. This is a clean, functional, no frills place to stay if you just want a place to catch up on sleep. The lobby is small and nothing to do except use of your room. We ate breakfast at a local restaurant and had our first taste of possion cru, fresh pineapple and wonderful choc croissants that you can smell baking down town. We walked in the rain and heard beautiful singing in a local church that drew us into hear the angelic voices. I did not know what they were singing but it brought tears to my eyes. We walked in rain again to Le Marche at least it was warm and heard from the locals that it had rained for about 20 days straight. It had to end soon. We ate at Le Mandarin and had some great Chinese food for supper.

 

We took a taxi and arrived at the dock at 1120. They allowed you to board the ship as soon as the first bus arrived from hotels. Embarkation was easy. On ship in about 10 min. The area is small at the entry outside with a small tent that is very hot and humid. Tip # 1 brings water with you when ever out doors. We checked in our room 6090 an aft balcony. We had Rodel as our cabin attendant. We asked him for robes and a deck lounge chair. Boy do they work hard to make your stay special, like magic both request were filled. If you are arriving early they give you a ticket for the early supper. We wanted to eat later and that was not a problem. They were not checking the ticket when you arrived. We went dancing that night in Tahitian lounge to the music of Elegant Touch. Tess the drummer was very friendly and would call you by your names. More people need to use this beautiful spacious lounge. That is a perfect place for pre dinner drink and dancing. The show that night was Polynesian dancers Folkloric show.

 

Wed 17th Moorea. I had coffee on balcony to watch sunrise. We took the tender in and got a taxi $10 for two to Les Tipaniers to snorkel on own. It turned out to be a good drift snorkel with plenty of fish and coral.

We went in the beachside restaurant that overlooked water and called for a taxi and enjoyed our first local beer a Hino. We had second seating and met our waiter Fernando and assistant Juvy both from Philippines.

We ended up having them for both cruises. We had great service the whole trip.