countdown Sept 18th PG any last minute advice from all you experienced cruisers???

[californiacruiser]

We are almost there, we leave Sept 18th for Tahiti. This is our first Radisson cruise as well. Does anyone have any must do's, must see's, don't bother tips for us, or anything else you can think of.

[macbest]

First off, you are in for the time of your life. Having done it twice now (and planning to go back), you will have a blast.

 

If you are pre-cruising at the Le Meridien, eat at the pizza/italian place just off property. Way better than food than at Le Meridien, more fun, and cheaper.

 

Sign up for the motu massage as soon as you board. It fills up very fast and really is the way to go after you experinece the "lobster and cracked crab" kinds of decisions for lunch with the floating bar. (actually no such seafood luck but you will be happy with the choices)

 

Bring two 99 cent blow up mattresses to float around on. I promise you will be the envy of EVERYONE on the ship. When done with the cruise (you will use them at the motu and the motu in Bora Bora), just throw them away.

 

Consider an excursion in Raiatea as the island is closed on Sunday when you arrive (actually, just the shops are). We did a snorkel cruise to a private motu that encircled the island. Only 8 of us on board. Very cool.

 

Compass Rose has great food. Make sure you make friends with the headwaiter soon in the trip. They will then take incredible care of you. Also remember that you can special order anything with ample notice (and if they have it on board). We wanted chocolate souffles with a Tahitian vanilla sauce one night and they made it (with advance notice). When we took the galley tour, there on a list in the kitchen was all of the special "requests" includiing ours. This is a big secret and is really cool. If you sit with different people every night, then this may not be possible.

 

How's that for a start?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Wow, lucky you. You will have a great time, believe me.

 

Buy yourself a pareo or two, and learn how to tie them.

 

Don't bother with anything more than a drink at Bloody Mary's on BB, it's a tourist trap.

 

Do the motu day, for sure, and a motu afternoon at BB as well, but watch the current if you snorkel, it's strong there.

 

Take lots of sunscreen, and a big hat. I am fair skinned, and took a long-sleeved shirt to wear, I can't take much sun. Also take a t-shirt just for snorkelling. And your reef shoes!

 

Try lunch in the Grill, if it's not too hot. I loved eating there, but I'm a fish and seafood nut.

 

Have a good look at the Apicius menu. We have really enjoyed our dinners in this dining room.

 

Pack light!

[californiacruiser]

thankyou so much for your advice. Great advice.........

[runner367]

You are in for the time of your life.

 

Like macbest said, take the galley tour (you have to sign up for it). Very Cool.

 

The room service breakfasts are not nearly as good as the restaurants. Get up and eat at one instead of eating in your cabin. Both Le Grille and La Veranda are excellent

 

Another option that we did on Raiatea was hike to the top of the "mountain" there. There is a path right in town and the view is spectacular

 

We did the waverunner around BB and had a blast

 

I tried the parasailing on moorea but didn't think that it was that great or worth the $

[sita]

recommend you consider the Discover Scuba program -- class in the pool on otherwise quiet Raiatea day, then 2 fantastic dives are available -- one in the lagoon of Bora Bora and one with the sharks outside the reef in Moorea. If you have ever had any inkling of trying scuba, these waters and this top-notch dive crew are beyond comparison.

[Kathy Z]

We just got home from B2B on the PG 8/21 -9/4. You will love it! Siglo, the regular band on the PG, was going on vacation when we disembarked but don't miss any of the evening shows. We never managed to stay up for the late night music that began after the early shows, but all of the shows that began 9:30-10:00pm were great!

 

It is true that you can special order just about anything with advance notice. We ate dinner in the main dining room (L' Etoile) every night our first week on board. When we learned that Monday night was our least favorite menu we made reservations for Apicius for our second Monday night. (Le Veranda by day becomes Apicius at night.) Following our excellent meal there I could not decide between their most popular dessert - creme brule with Tahitian vanilla, or the crispy chocolate torte with praline ice cream that Marna Lou reported as being her favorite dessert of all time. So I ordered both and ate part of each of them! We ordered box lunches 24 hours in advance for the day that we went to the Bora Bora Motu. They have an open bar there but no picnic lunch like they have at Motu Mahana on Tahaa. We also ordered box lunches for our last day on Moorea when we had rented a car from 10am-2pm. And on our final Friday we asked if there was any chance of ordering lobster for dinner and they were able to also meet that request. The lobster with Tahaa vanilla sauce in on the menu in L'Etoile on Sunday night. We also made reservations for 1 night at Le Grill. Some liked Le Grill better than Apicius and others, like ourselves, vice versa. It sounds like all I did was eat (which I did do a lot of), but by using the stairs and doing a lot of snorkeling I came home just 1 pound heavier.

 

If you like snorkeling I would recommend either the Lagoon & Snorkeling or Snorkel and Black Pearl Farm excursion on Raiatea; no excursions on Tahaa - just try to get over to the free Motu Mahana as early as you can; Shark & Ray Feeding, private motu or Land & Sea Safari on Bora Bora; and Lagoon Discovery with Snorkeling on Moorea. We found that many tours were cancelled on day 2 at Moorea because a minimum # of people did not sign up for them. If you prefer off road adventure do one of those trips. If you prefer waverunners the ones on Bora are supposed to be the best but our cruise first week had bad luck with water in the gas of the waverunners in Bora Bora. At least when the folks finally got back to the ship they were informed that their charges for the excursion were cancelled. We did the Dolphin Watching Expedition with Dr. Poole afternoon #1 Moorea and saw no dolphins or whales. That tour filled up so another was added for the next morning and those lucky folks saw several dolphins and whales. Week 2 we decided to do the Lagoon Discovery with snorkeling on day 1 Moorea (it had been cancelled day 2 on our first week). It was by far our favorite excursion. We were able to feed and pet sting rays, then went to another location to snorkel. On the way back we saw a large pod of spinner dolphins, then a mother whale and her calf and finally 3 adult whales that we followed long enought to see them breach (flip tail in the air) and roll on side and wave a fin. There is a boat captain plus a photographer on board this excursion. We were able to purchase a movie of our trip - VHS format cost $40 and DVD cost $60. (Ordered it while still on excursion boat - they bring the orders to the dock the next morning for pick up between 8:30 & 9:15 - we paid cash in US dollars.) We stayed up long enough our first night home to watch our DVD - what a souvenir! We learned from the folks that were with Dr. Poole at the same time as we were on our Snorkeling trip that they saw no dolphins and only the mother and her calf whale but we were closer to the whales than they were!

[Elquailo]

Maybe we'll see you onboard, we're heading down this Tuesday for a pre-cruise stay at the ICB in Tahiti, then doing a post-cruise at the ICB Moorea. If you see a couple with way too much dive gear and a digital underwater video/photo rig, that's us...:D

 

Cheers,

Ken

[Dolebludger]

For a first cruise of French Polynesia like yours, you might also consider the River and Land shore excursion on Raiatea. This excursion was very educational on the subjects of Polynesian culture, history, and native religions. Also, be sure to see the "Children of Raiatea" show on the pool deck that Sunday. While you may be eager to snorkel on this first full day of your cruise, there is better snorkeling near Bora Bora and Moorea, IMO.

 

Have Fun!

Richard

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Richard, I agree with you about the land and water trip on Raiatea. I really enjoyed that, the river part is cool, and the anthropology part is really fascinating. Plus you get a trip through the island, and it's often your first real bit of FP.

 

Kathy, sounds like the Lagoon trip with snorkelling was great on Moorea! I'm jealous. Also jealous about you gaining only one pound! Did all the seafood and fish help? I remember eating grilled local fish sometimes 3 times a day, and being in heaven. And then, of course, there's the creme brulee...:p

 

Wendy

[poolechick]

While we're talking about Raiatea, I have a coupla questions. I have read that there are some craft stalls near the dock. Is this true? I have also heard that the "stores" are closed on Sunday. Does that mean the craft stalls too?

 

We definitely want to check out the Children of Raiatea program. Do the excursions leave before the program or do you have time to see the program and then leave? And I also understand there are crafts sold on board at this time, too. How long are they on board?

 

As for snorkeling. We live in a landlocked State, so almost ANY snorkeling is good snorkeling as far as we're concerned. Anyone have advice about the Raiatea snorkeling excursion possiblities?

 

I just don't think we could bear to stay on board all day our first day, and since we've been to FP before we're not really interested in the Faaroa River trip.

[Kathy Z]

The "Children of Raiatea" show is up on the pool deck (weather permitting) at 10:45a.m. The tours begin departing the ship at 12:30pm so yes, you can do both. We had our gear together for our tour prior to the show so that we had ample time for lunch and departing on our tour. The crafts sold onboard are available a few minutes before the show and for a short while after. I only noticed a snack shop or two open onshore when we were there, but I wasn't trying to shop so I'm not sure if anything else was open. Generally, the shops are not open on Sunday.

 

I only indulged in the creme brulee once. It was fabulous! I did eat a lot of fish, but also some great beef. Now, it's back to plain home cooking. I've lost that extra pound.

[macbest]

The circle island and snorkeling tour we took in August was an excellent way to see the island (from the water). You cruise by a number of motus and get to stop at one to snorkel. You are in the middle of nowhere which is really cool. The snorkeling was excellent. I would encourage you to take that tour if you want to get in the water the first day like we did.

[poolechick]

Thanks Kathy! And Wayne, that trip sounds JUST like what we're looking for. :)

[californiacruiser]

Thankyou All For All Of Your Suggestions And Comments. We Really Are Getting Excited. Not Looking Forward To The Long Plane Trip However.

[Kathy Z]

We did the same excursion as macbest on our first week and agree with him that it was a great way to start. Snorkeling got better on later excursions.

 

We did the pearl farm & snorkeling our second week.

 

The plane ride over was not that bad, being during the day and all of the excitement of the trip ahead. (We had spent 1 night in LA.) Traveling all the way back to the Eastern time zone for us with overnight travel was the killer. It took 1 full week to recover from that jet lag.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Yes, there is a little shopping centre by the dock, with tourist-related stores.

 

But, when I was there last year, there were only one or two shops open on Sunday. (But it was Easter, as I recall, so that may have made the situation worse.)

[Robbo1]

Don't miss the two on-board "enrichment" lectures by Dr. Mark Edowes, an archeolgist/anthropologist about Polynesian culture and the true story of the Mutiny on the Bounty-- they were great. We also did teh Walk of the Ancienst tour in Moorea, which was led by Dr. Eddowes, but I felt that was a dissapointment.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

So, Kathy Z, I know you are a snorkelling enthusiast--what was the best snorkelling you had on the cruise? How did it compare to the snorkelling you did in Manihi? (I still have memories of simply snorkelling on the reef in front of the hotel in Manihi--it was much better than either of the motus on the PG, that's for sure.)

[Kathy Z]

Wendy,

 

Our favorite excursion that included snorkeling from the PG was the Lagoon & Snorkeling at Moorea. We first stopped at a place where we fed and petted the rays. Then we went to a coral garden area near a beach to snorkel. Many areas here were too shallow for novice snorkelers and two did get coral cuts, but Bill & I had no problems and the coral and fish were pretty good. The best part of this trip was that we were blessed with dolphin and whale sightings while traveling back to the dock and the captain took the time to pursue the whales outside of the lagoon. This trip also has a photographer on board so we purchased a DVD of the entire trip for $60 - a very nice remembrance of the day!

 

Visibility at Motu Mahana (Tahaa) was better on our second week than on our first. The first week at Bora Bora it showered on Day 2 so we went shopping rather than to the Motu (I purchased a pearl pendant and stud earrings). Week 2, Day 2, we spent most of the day at the free motu and enjoyed great snorkeling there. I've read that sometimes it is too windy and the currents are a problem there, but our conditions were excellent.

 

The coral at the Premium OWB's on Manihi is mostly dead. There are still fish there but they are not the healthiest looking fish (probably a result of their diet highly supplemented with bread handouts). Also, the visibility was not all that great. I have to admit that is fun to stand in the water and have the fish surrounding you for the handouts. Watching the sharks swim under us at night was also cool. I startled a nice young gal on her honeymoon when I tossed a roll off the platform near where she was snorkeling and all of a sudden she had fish all over her back! We experienced better snorkeling from the PG many times. The one time that we paid 1900 CPF each for a boat ride across Manihi's lagoon and through the pass into the ocean we had the BEST SNORKELING of the entire trip in pristine water over completely living coral reef teeming with fish. That was definately worth the cost of the activity!

 

I've started writing my trip report. We have a house full of company Sunday afternoon so I won't finish it until next week at the earliest. You'll hear more then.