Embarking & debarking Tahitian Princess

[ezcheezy]

What time do you recommend getting on the ship? I understand they allow the departing passengers to stay on board until their airport time. Is this crowded and crazy? Would you recommend staying on board last day or going to a day use hotel? Thank you!

[MikieF]

Hi...unless you have an extra day or two before boarding, your flight will arrive on the evening of day one of the cruise itinerary but you won't sail until 5PM the following day. Rather than take the Princess transfer from the airport, we grabbed our baggage and took a cab to the pier...about 10 minutes. This avoids the mob that will arrive at the ship via the transfer. As to disembarkation day, they did let us stay onboard until we were ready to go the airport, about 7 PM. We could use the public rooms and our baggage was held for us. It was a long day, but not to bad. We are doing this cruise again next April and might opt for a day room this time. Incidentally, the cab did take US$. Enjoy your trip!

[Toto2Kansas]

Keep in mind that although you have access to the ship that last day, you will have to vacate your cabin early.

You can check your hand luggage in upstairs until you are ready to go to the airport. There isn't much going on onboard that last day, many sit around the pool or at the buffet.

If you can find something to do, or take a tour, it would be your best bet.

It is a very long day if you choose to just sit around until you leave for the airport in the evening, usually around 7:30-8:00.

 

Also keep in mind that it doubles the capacity of the ship that final day with all the passengers. Day rooms can get quite expensive in Tahiti, but if you can find an affordable one, it would be a great place to relax and freshen up before your flight home since you will not have access to shower facilities and such onboard.

If we were to do this cruise again, I would definitely do a one night post cruise stay at a hotel. It gets a bit crazy that final day and the airport can be a total zoo with so many passengers catching flights.

[sprinkles]

When we did this two years ago. We checked our carry-on luggage in the steakhouse. Checked our valuables with the Purser. Then took off for one last day at the beach (yes there is a gorgeous soft black sand beach that we took a city bus to for just a few dollars). The bus dropped us off right in front of the Marche and we did some last minute shopping. When we came back to the ship, we got our carry-on luggage, took it up to the pool area to hang-out (we had no problems finding a table in the shade). DH and I took turns going to shower in the spa, then took turns going to get dinner from the Lido. We hung out till about 6:00pm, then headed for the gangway. We exited the ship just about the time they started calling for the first transfers. When we got off the ship, we grabbed our own luggage that was sitting at the dock, grabbed a cab and headed for the airport.

 

I'm not sure if Princess still does this the same way, but the people who took Princess transfers had to wait in a very long line to collect their luggage. We were third in a seperate line since we already had our luggage. If I had it to do all over again, I would do the same exact thing (or take the ferry back over to Moorea for one more day at our favorite island). Have a great time, whatever you do.

 

Tammy

[Toto2Kansas]

We were also told we could use the showers in the spa, but upon trying, we were turned away saying that we were not allowed to use them. So, double check with the spa personel as it would have been terrible if we would have spent the day at the beach, but not been allowed to shower before the long flight home.

This is one problem with the last day on the Tahitian Princess. No where to actually clean up before the flight home after a long day in the heat.

[ezcheezy]

Thank you all for your information. I think we'll try a couple days pre cruise and a few days post cruise. The air fare there and everything else is expensive so I figure we should see as much as we can. I know I'm sure looking forward to going!