JUST GOT BACK FROM JULY 9th CRUISE!!!

[Maureen4]

All I can say is UNBELIEVABLE!! Any questions ask away.

[ArizonaRalphie]

All I can say is UNBELIEVABLE!! Any questions ask away.

Let's keep this thread alive too. Was the food good?

[hillslife]

That is great to hear - we are on the Aug 12th TP...

 

Did you do any of the self booked tours like Marc's or Bruno's? We booked them back in January - should we confirm now that we are getting closer? And how were the tours if you have experience?

 

How did the last day work on the ship - was it impossible or ok?

 

We arrive on ATN at 930pm - are the roulettes still open for dinner?

 

Thanks for any tips you can throw our way.

[Maureen4]

Let's keep this thread alive too. Was the food good?

 

I thought the food was good. No one had any complaints, and I didn't have to cook. The service was fantastic! Prime ribs were always great and so was the filet mignon. Some said service for breakfast in the restaurant was slow but we never ate there. Have your omelette made at the buffet they are better then the eggs served.

[Degas]

Did you go snorkeling and was the water as warm as they say it is???

Is there a hot tub on board?

Did you eat at the Roulottes in Papeete? Was the food good?

Was there wet suits to use at the marina along with the equipment??? Were there enough that I don't need to bring mine??

 

I am you glad you had a great time.....I am so excited...I keep marking of the calendar and smiling ... 83 days to go!!!!

Thanks for any info .................CCers are the best !!!!

[Maureen4]

That is great to hear - we are on the Aug 12th TP...

 

Did you do any of the self booked tours like Marc's or Bruno's? We booked them back in January - should we confirm now that we are getting closer? And how were the tours if you have experience?

 

How did the last day work on the ship - was it impossible or ok?

 

We arrive on ATN at 930pm - are the roulettes still open for dinner?

 

Thanks for any tips you can throw our way.

 

We went on both Marcs and Brunos. We sent an email about 2 weeks before to remind them. Both were there on time. Marcs was fantastic. We had such a great time and way to many Hinanos. The food, motu, his staff and snorkeling were fantastic and we saw dolphins too! Brunos was great also. He was really very nice but a little hard to understand his accent. The pearl farm was the best we saw and many bought pearls there. We want to live there. lol. It was one of our Fav islands. The food wasn't the best. Very traditional. The drift snorkel was beautiful. My favorite tour was Teiva tours with the sharks and rays on Bora bora. It was an unbelievable day with the greatest people.

Yes the roulettes are still open. It was fun. The last day worked out fine. We'd hung out, since we did so much, some did Patricks 1/2 day. Ship was pretty quiet. Got tatoos in the morning. Couldn't resist. Took cab over at about 7:30 for $30. Shuttle was $30 each. Be prepared for a LOOOONNNNGGG wait and night at airport. And yes you can take showers at the Spa.

[hillslife]

Thanks Maureen - I will drop an email to Marc's and Brunos. Also nice to know the spa showers are open - there has been lots of discussion about that on the boards.

 

Appreciate your help.....thank you! :o

[BarbB]

Maureen,

 

Where in Papeete did you get your tatoo, and what did you get?

[ArizonaRalphie]

Maureen,

 

Did you happen to meet Ruben? He's one of the dancers from Columbia. Speaks with an Austrailian accent.

[mipps]

now you have got DW dribbling over Ruben

 

:p

[Maureen4]

Did you go snorkeling and was the water as warm as they say it is???

Is there a hot tub on board?

Did you eat at the Roulottes in Papeete? Was the food good?

Was there wet suits to use at the marina along with the equipment??? Were there enough that I don't need to bring mine??

 

I am you glad you had a great time.....I am so excited...I keep marking of the calendar and smiling ... 83 days to go!!!!

Thanks for any info .................CCers are the best !!!!

Spent most of the time in the water. Yes it's very warm. There are 2 hot tubs by the pool. You don't need a wet suit. We went to the roulettes and had pizza. It was good, not great. It's a fun place and not to expensive.

[Maureen4]

Maureen,

 

Where in Papeete did you get your tatoo, and what did you get?

 

A very clean place by La marche called Mana's. # is 424500. It's a small fish on my foot like Nemo. My daughter got a larger Tahitian one on her foot. Might need a appt. if you want one.

[jane02]

Hi Maureen,

Glad to see you got home safely. We missed you on Thursday morning so we didn't get to say goodbye. I would have loved to see your tatoo! Which of your girls got the tatoo - daughter 1 or 2?:D It was great to meet you, Bob and the girls. You were lots of fun and we always had a blast on the tours.

Ralphie - the very first person I met when I boarded the ship was good old Ruben. He was very sweet and seemed quite shy.

Kellie;)

[ArizonaRalphie]

Ralphie - the very first person I met when I boarded the ship was good old Ruben. He was very sweet and seemed quite shy.

Kellie;)

 

Would that be shy or perhaps just a tad embarassed. After all he is a Cruise Critic Celebrity.

[jane02]

Would that be shy or perhaps just a tad embarassed. After all he is a Cruise Critic Celebrity.

LOL - come to mention it, I think "coy" would be a better word. I had no intention of mentioning CC but my husband shook him by the hand and said "Ruben, I feel like I already know you". He got the drift.:D

Kellie;)

[dot73]

Poor Ruben. I wonder how many cc'ers will be looking to meet him. Maybe it will be a lesson for him not to play with young girls' hearts. :p

[joyride]

Did you do the 1/2 on Teiva's tour? We have him booked for the 2nd day in Bora Bora and then we were planning on hitting Bloody Mary's for lunch. It's great to hear that you loved Teiva's so much - our day with him will be our 25th anniversary! Can you give a little review of his tour?

 

As far as the Tattoos, hummmm... being in FP for my 25th, maybe a Tattoo is in order. I wanted to get one when I turned the big 50, but never did. How much did your little fish cost, and did you feel it was clean and safe? These are real, not henna - right?

 

We leave in 3 weeks - OMG, I can't wait!! Was your's a Cook Island trip? Did you make it to Rayotonga? How was the motion - I just read a couple recent Hawaii-Tahiti reviews and it sounds like it was quite rough...

 

Thanks for the info.

[joyride]

So, I'm starting to pack and I would love to know how your packing turned out. Did you have the right stuff?

 

I'm pretty much going light with several bathing suits & coverups (since we have a lot of water activities), shorts for day and capris for night with nice tops and black dressy pants with shimmery tops for the formal nights. Does this sound good? Did you have to use insect repelent at all? Was it HOT and HUMID or just comfortable and warm? Did it get cool at all in the evenings? What about in the dining room and on the ship in general?

 

Thanks again for any info...

[Maureen4]

Did you do the 1/2 on Teiva's tour? We have him booked for the 2nd day in Bora Bora and then we were planning on hitting Bloody Mary's for lunch. It's great to hear that you loved Teiva's so much - our day with him will be our 25th anniversary! Can you give a little review of his tour?

 

As far as the Tattoos, hummmm... being in FP for my 25th, maybe a Tattoo is in order. I wanted to get one when I turned the big 50, but never did. How much did your little fish cost, and did you feel it was clean and safe? These are real, not henna - right?

 

We leave in 3 weeks - OMG, I can't wait!! Was your's a Cook Island trip? Did you make it to Rayotonga? How was the motion - I just read a couple recent Hawaii-Tahiti reviews and it sounds like it was quite rough...

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Ok here we go... We took a whole day with Teiva and it was fantastic. The lunch on the private motu should not be missed. We went to Bloody Marys on the first half day at port after a 4x4 excursion. FYI they have certain times they are open for lunch and dinner. A group of our CC's wanted to go for dinner that night but they were booked. So make reservations. We just had a drink at the bar. Do the whole day with Teiva. It's much better then BM. Teiva review: Fantastic people running it, family owned. Play Tahitian music the whole time. Swim with sharks :eek: scary then with the rays, so much fun. On to a private island with great BBQ and then more swimming.

A+++++. Yes we made it to Rarotonga and the water was like a lake. Not kidding, glass. The island is beautiful and snorkling across from the Fruits of Roratonga was great. A bunch of us took the bus there. Very easy. My tatoo is real not henna. The place was very clean and everything sterile. Also all needles were wrapped individually and thrown out. Very professional. My fish is about the size of a half dollar on the side of my foot and cost $80. My daughters was much more involved cost $150. As for clothes... woke up put on sunscreen, suit and shorts. That's it for all day. Weather was nice 80-85 a couple of sprinkles here and there. VERY HUMID. For dinner I wore a tank top and capris every night. Brought a black dress and wore it both formal nights. The second formal night some people were wearing hawaiian shirts. Didn't seem to matter. It was warm at night also I never wore a sweater. The ship was very nice and intimate. Crew were very friendly and the people on board were great. Can I go back with you?:D

[CruiseDuck]

We will be on the Tahitian Princess in a couple of weeks. Last summer when we were on the Golden Princess, in the British Isles, the ship sold t-shirts of the ports we had visited. The sale was on one of the last days we were onboard. Had I known that the ship would have these I would have waited and bought my t-shirts on the ship. They were actually nicer and much more reasonable than in the ports. Did the Tahitian Princess have a similar sale on port t-shirt's?

 

What island did you feel had the best prices on souvenirs? Any places to stay away from?

 

How were the tenders? Were the waits long?

 

Thanks in advance for your reply.

[Seal]

They had a sale on the TP--all sorts of stuff--the same you normally see on the other Princess ships--maybe not as much of it

 

Nancy:D

 

We were on the TP last August and also this May--Have fun !!!!!

[joyride]

Thank you for the answers. I'm very excited about packing - because it sounds pretty easy (my last trip was 3 weeks in Europe and I MAJORLY overpacked!)

 

Unfortunately, we have to stick with only 1/2 day for the Teiva tour, but I'm sure it will be fun anyway. So, the sharks were scary? I am excited about doing that, but a little apprehensive at the same time... We are doing the helmet dive and sunset cruise on the first day in Bora Bora and then doing Teiva on day 2. I HAVE to go to Bloody Mary's, I have to fill a tee-shirt order for a good friend! :)

 

It sounds like your group had a great time - I hope we are as lucky with the trip out to the Cook Islands!!

[Princess-of-Quite-alot]

Hi all! The cruise was fantastic! Weather was perfect, and Maureen was right..The water to and from Rarotonga was like a lake....smooth as glass! We stayed 2 nights at the Sheraton Moorea in #109, a premium overwater bungalow. The snorkeling was as good as at the drift snorkel with Bruno, only easier! Buy a baguette at a local market for fifty cents...eat half and keep some for the fish. They come out of everywhere! Puffer fish, sharks, rays, eels, triggers, needlenose, angel fish, clwn fish, etc. Amazing! We ate at the roulettes before heading to the airport, and the food was very good. Had to get my last bite of poisson cru. Also had a Hawaiian crepe (fried pineapple, cheese and ham) and also a Samoan crepe which was sooo good! (Banana, whipped cream and chocolate sauce) Yum! We arrived at the airport at 7:30 for a 10:00 flight. The line was long but went very fast. Customs at LAX was nothing.

The ship sold T shirts with Moorea and Raitea on them only on one day ($10). Later on, they had a "sale" where they sold shirts for the Hawaii cruise...go figure. They said they were trying to "blow them out" for $8...now if they were serious in getting rid of the excess, why not sell them on the Hawaiian cruise??? They did finally bring out the shirts related to our cruise again on the last day. This was dumb, as they should have had them out all the time during our cruise.

The lamb with the breaded coating was very good..had 2 servings. They were slow in doling out the lobsters on the 2nd formal night, but one of our table mates managed to eat 7 halves. I would have had more, but the baked alaska dessert was already starting to melt.

 

Bruno's and Marcs were great. We skipped out on Teivas because we felt like a slower day. Got a free shuttle to the Black Pearl Farm, and then they took us (for free) to the beach where I met a woman collecting Tamanu nuts and showed me how she cracks them open and makes oil. We hung out by the Bora Bora Hotel and had a great time. Saw the Teiva boat pass us by. Had a great fish burger at Bloody Mary's for lunch. Also had a chance to talk to a local man, who told me he went to Moorea when going on vacation. His simple home had a gorgeous view....why leave? The helmet dive in Bora Bora was amazing (and I've dived before too). Highly recommended.

 

As for packing: pack swim suits and a cover up, and evening wear. One pair of shorts for sight seeing. That's about all you need as far as clothes go.

 

Lots more to tell..will write a review after I get more sleep.

[Maureen4]

We will be on the Tahitian Princess in a couple of weeks. Last summer when we were on the Golden Princess, in the British Isles, the ship sold t-shirts of the ports we had visited. The sale was on one of the last days we were onboard. Had I known that the ship would have these I would have waited and bought my t-shirts on the ship. They were actually nicer and much more reasonable than in the ports. Did the Tahitian Princess have a similar sale on port t-shirt's?

 

What island did you feel had the best prices on souvenirs? Any places to stay away from?

 

How were the tenders? Were the waits long?

 

Thanks in advance for your reply.

 

Yes they sold tons of t shirts 2 for 20.00 on two days. I thought the souvenirs were high on all islands. Didn't buy much. Tenders were a breeze no waiting at all.

[Princess-of-Quite-alot]

Many of the souvenirs are imported from Indonesia and the Phillipines. The carved ones done locally are very expensive. Good rule of thumb when buying pearls is expect to pay more if there is air conditioning and glass fronts. The pearl farm Bruno takes you to on Taha'a (Monique & Bernard Champon) had a beautiful selection of pearls. They also have a website: http://www.tahitipearlonline.com Some inexpensive souvenirs can be found at La Marche across from the pier in Tahiti, such as Monoi oil, Tamanu oil, soaps, etc. I used the Monoi oil spray in my hair before shampooing to help with the drying effects on my hair from snorkeling all day.