If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Review: Pacific Princess Oct 11-19 Tahiti (long)
Well, we got back Sunday night after one of the worst flights I have
ever had (and that takes a lot). I don't like to start a review with negatives, but if anybody from Princess is reading this, FIRE OMNI AIR and get a real airline for your charters. The slight price increase will be soooooo worth the effort. I will get back to Omni later in this review. The Good: The ship is awesome. It is a mini-Mega ship. You can look up the stats online, but they do not do it justice. The room was the biggest room we have ever had. Or else it just had the best storage. When we got done putting everything away, my wife & I looked at each other and asked what did we forget? We still had empty drawers and empty shelves. That never, ever happens. The food was great. We heard a lot of grumbling, but no one could really point out what they didn't like when they were pressed for specifics. The one night I didn't like any of the entrees, I had a steak off of the "always available" menu. I usually had the caesar salad (again off the "always available" menu) rather than one of their more gourmet salads, just because I liked the caesar salad. It was never a problem mixing and matching courses off the menu. My personal favorite was the Beef Wellington, I think that is the best I have ever had. The diving was amazing. The coral was not outstanding, by Caribbean standards it was pretty boring. It was the fish. Not a large variety, just outstanding numbers of them. The Napoleon fish were awesome. They are huge. Pictures do not do them justice. The first dive, on Raiatea, included some "up close and personal" time with a Napoleon fish that had to have been 6 feet long and over 300 pounds. When he came up and nudged you to feed him, you knew you were being nudged. On Bora Bora we did two dives. The first was on the ocean side of the reef. Again, the coral was not very exciting. The sharks definitely were. Our DM said to just move slowly as the sharks are "timid and shy". I think somebody gave him the wrong definition of timid. These sharks were not aggressive, but they were definitely curious and not at all shy. A very cool dive. I have some great video from this. We also saw some of the usual reef fish and a small pride(?) of lion fish, if you can call three a pride. The second dive was on the lagoon side of the reef. It was very interesting because just as we entered the water, two snorkeling boats tied up nearby. It was amazing to see all of the fish bail out as soon as the snorkelers hit the water. If you have ever gone on a snorkeling trip and not seen any fish, I can tell you why: you guys are noisy. Once we moved away from the snorkelers into a little deeper water we saw all kinds of things, including some huge anemones with their clown fish (Nemo fish to those with little kids), a green moray eel another Napoleon fish (only about 4 feet this time) and a bunch of those South Seas giant clams (only babies about 1 foot wide). On Moorea, we did the motu picnic. That was fabulous. A motu is a sand island on or near the barrier reef. This one had tree for shade and a channel between it and the next motu for snorkeling. The stingrays were at least as friendly as the ones in the Caymans and would literally crawl up in your lap if you sat down in the water. I highly recommend this excursion, but get it quick because it sold out early. On Huahine we did the sacred sites walk and talk and this was also one of our favorites. Paul, the young man that did the talk gave a very impressive amount of background information on the history of the islands and its people. It was raining when we did it, but that just seemed to add to the mood. The walking was not that extensive. We had a number of retired persons (most not recently retired) and none of them had any trouble. If you need a cane or a walker, find a different tour, but if you can walk around the block you can finish this tour. The Bad: Sunday in Papeete. Why they bother with Papeete on Sunday, I don't know. The shops are almost all closed. The second floor of the market is closed. There is nothing to do. We took a tour which was mostly "we need to get back on the bus, so we stay on schedule". There were some interesting spots and the bus was air conditioned (the last of that until we got back to Papeete to go to the airport). Saturday in Papeete. The shops close at noon. We didn't bother with a tour this time. We just walked around town for a couple of hours, came back to the ship, had lunch and waited for the shuttle to the airport. The bright spot in all of this is that Omni now doesn't require you to go to the airport in the morning to check your bags. You go in the afternoon and stay until the flight loads, the same as ATN and ANZ. Le Truck. Transportation on all of the islands (except Tahiti) is by this demonic ally inspired contraption called "Le Truck". It is a flatbed truck with wooden benches and a wooden roof over it. After the second ride we christened it "Le Bone Shaker". When the cruise director says to take a towel, do it. Even if you don't go to the beach, sit on it, it will save your a**. The Ugly: The ugly truth is that the Society Islands, despite being a tourist destination for more than 100 years, has virtually no tourist infrastructure. Each island has a couple of hotels. Few if any tour buses. Little to buy as souvenirs. The main products to buy are the pareos (the colorful wraps the natives wear), postcards and pearls. Air conditioning is virtually non-existant. And not to sound like an ugly American, but if you don't speak a little French, it is difficult to find your way around and almost impossible to communicate other thn by pantamime. Paul (the speaker from the tour mentioned above) summed it up by saying that the number one industry by value is tourism, but the number one occupation is living off the handouts from the French. The Bottom Line: I am very glad that we went. I will need to think very hard about whether I would go back. We loved the ship. If you will get to the Society Islands only once in your lifetime, go there and take the Pacific Princess. But if you do decide to go, make sure you make your flight arrangements through Air Tahiti Nui not Omni Air. If there is sufficient interest, I will be happy to go into detail about the problems with Omni, but this is a review of the cruise. Sorry for the length, but there was a lot to cover and so far I have only scratched the surface of what was one of the most interesting weeks of my life so far. Thanks for reading this far, ken |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Review: Pacific Princess Oct 11-19 Tahiti (long)
Thanks Ken. I just printed this to read at my leisure. We're booked for
next year. Arlene Kenneth Graham wrote: Well, we got back Sunday night after one of the worst flights I have ever had (and that takes a lot). I don't like to start a review with negatives, but if anybody from Princess is reading this, FIRE OMNI AIR and get a real airline for your charters. The slight price increase will be soooooo worth the effort. I will get back to Omni later in this review. The Good: The ship is awesome. It is a mini-Mega ship. You can look up the stats online, but they do not do it justice. The room was the biggest room we have ever had. Or else it just had the best storage. When we got done putting everything away, my wife & I looked at each other and asked what did we forget? We still had empty drawers and empty shelves. That never, ever happens. The food was great. We heard a lot of grumbling, but no one could really point out what they didn't like when they were pressed for specifics. The one night I didn't like any of the entrees, I had a steak off of the "always available" menu. I usually had the caesar salad (again off the "always available" menu) rather than one of their more gourmet salads, just because I liked the caesar salad. It was never a problem mixing and matching courses off the menu. My personal favorite was the Beef Wellington, I think that is the best I have ever had. The diving was amazing. The coral was not outstanding, by Caribbean standards it was pretty boring. It was the fish. Not a large variety, just outstanding numbers of them. The Napoleon fish were awesome. They are huge. Pictures do not do them justice. The first dive, on Raiatea, included some "up close and personal" time with a Napoleon fish that had to have been 6 feet long and over 300 pounds. When he came up and nudged you to feed him, you knew you were being nudged. On Bora Bora we did two dives. The first was on the ocean side of the reef. Again, the coral was not very exciting. The sharks definitely were. Our DM said to just move slowly as the sharks are "timid and shy". I think somebody gave him the wrong definition of timid. These sharks were not aggressive, but they were definitely curious and not at all shy. A very cool dive. I have some great video from this. We also saw some of the usual reef fish and a small pride(?) of lion fish, if you can call three a pride. The second dive was on the lagoon side of the reef. It was very interesting because just as we entered the water, two snorkeling boats tied up nearby. It was amazing to see all of the fish bail out as soon as the snorkelers hit the water. If you have ever gone on a snorkeling trip and not seen any fish, I can tell you why: you guys are noisy. Once we moved away from the snorkelers into a little deeper water we saw all kinds of things, including some huge anemones with their clown fish (Nemo fish to those with little kids), a green moray eel another Napoleon fish (only about 4 feet this time) and a bunch of those South Seas giant clams (only babies about 1 foot wide). On Moorea, we did the motu picnic. That was fabulous. A motu is a sand island on or near the barrier reef. This one had tree for shade and a channel between it and the next motu for snorkeling. The stingrays were at least as friendly as the ones in the Caymans and would literally crawl up in your lap if you sat down in the water. I highly recommend this excursion, but get it quick because it sold out early. On Huahine we did the sacred sites walk and talk and this was also one of our favorites. Paul, the young man that did the talk gave a very impressive amount of background information on the history of the islands and its people. It was raining when we did it, but that just seemed to add to the mood. The walking was not that extensive. We had a number of retired persons (most not recently retired) and none of them had any trouble. If you need a cane or a walker, find a different tour, but if you can walk around the block you can finish this tour. The Bad: Sunday in Papeete. Why they bother with Papeete on Sunday, I don't know. The shops are almost all closed. The second floor of the market is closed. There is nothing to do. We took a tour which was mostly "we need to get back on the bus, so we stay on schedule". There were some interesting spots and the bus was air conditioned (the last of that until we got back to Papeete to go to the airport). Saturday in Papeete. The shops close at noon. We didn't bother with a tour this time. We just walked around town for a couple of hours, came back to the ship, had lunch and waited for the shuttle to the airport. The bright spot in all of this is that Omni now doesn't require you to go to the airport in the morning to check your bags. You go in the afternoon and stay until the flight loads, the same as ATN and ANZ. Le Truck. Transportation on all of the islands (except Tahiti) is by this demonic ally inspired contraption called "Le Truck". It is a flatbed truck with wooden benches and a wooden roof over it. After the second ride we christened it "Le Bone Shaker". When the cruise director says to take a towel, do it. Even if you don't go to the beach, sit on it, it will save your a**. The Ugly: The ugly truth is that the Society Islands, despite being a tourist destination for more than 100 years, has virtually no tourist infrastructure. Each island has a couple of hotels. Few if any tour buses. Little to buy as souvenirs. The main products to buy are the pareos (the colorful wraps the natives wear), postcards and pearls. Air conditioning is virtually non-existant. And not to sound like an ugly American, but if you don't speak a little French, it is difficult to find your way around and almost impossible to communicate other thn by pantamime. Paul (the speaker from the tour mentioned above) summed it up by saying that the number one industry by value is tourism, but the number one occupation is living off the handouts from the French. The Bottom Line: I am very glad that we went. I will need to think very hard about whether I would go back. We loved the ship. If you will get to the Society Islands only once in your lifetime, go there and take the Pacific Princess. But if you do decide to go, make sure you make your flight arrangements through Air Tahiti Nui not Omni Air. If there is sufficient interest, I will be happy to go into detail about the problems with Omni, but this is a review of the cruise. Sorry for the length, but there was a lot to cover and so far I have only scratched the surface of what was one of the most interesting weeks of my life so far. Thanks for reading this far, ken |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Review: Pacific Princess Oct 11-19 Tahiti (long)
On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 06:49:55 GMT, Kenneth Graham
wrote: The Ugly: The ugly truth is that the Society Islands, despite being a tourist destination for more than 100 years, has virtually no tourist infrastructure. Each island has a couple of hotels. Few if any tour buses. Little to buy as souvenirs. The main products to buy are the pareos (the colorful wraps the natives wear), postcards and pearls. Air conditioning is virtually non-existant. And not to sound like an ugly American, but if you don't speak a little French, it is difficult to find your way around and almost impossible to communicate other thn by pantamime. Hi Paul, To many, including myself, most of the above is what makes the Society Islands so wonderful. To each his own. FWIW, I have never had any trouble communicating with the locals as most spoke enough English to understand me. Best regards, Ray LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL 800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905 http://www.lighthousetravel.com |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Review: Pacific Princess Oct 11-19 Tahiti (long)
On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 08:22:14 -0700, Ray Goldenberg
wrote: On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 06:49:55 GMT, Kenneth Graham wrote: The Ugly: The ugly truth is that the Society Islands, despite being a tourist destination for more than 100 years, has virtually no tourist infrastructure. Each island has a couple of hotels. Few if any tour buses. Little to buy as souvenirs. The main products to buy are the pareos (the colorful wraps the natives wear), postcards and pearls. Air conditioning is virtually non-existant. And not to sound like an ugly American, but if you don't speak a little French, it is difficult to find your way around and almost impossible to communicate other thn by pantamime. Hi Paul, To many, including myself, most of the above is what makes the Society Islands so wonderful. To each his own. FWIW, I have never had any trouble communicating with the locals as most spoke enough English to understand me. Best regards, Ray LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL 800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905 http://www.lighthousetravel.com Hi Ray, I think you missed the point (as well as my name). The cruise brochures (as well as movies, TV, etc.) make it sound like Tahiti is a perfect paradise. I am just trying to paint the picture with a little honesty. Some of the people on our cruise were extremely disappointed with the shopping opportunities. Many were experienced European and Caribbean cruisers and were quite disappointed. Not everyone was there just for the scenic beauty. If you are expecting a South Seas Caribbean vacation (ala the brochures) you will be disappointed. Everything was very expensive there. To arrive in Papeete late Saturday after everything was closed and to have all day Sunday to kill in a ghost town is rediculous. Princess should know better. Make Sunday a day at sea cruising around Tahiti. If they feel the need to rack up the big bucks on shore tours, then let people off Sunday morning and stop back (or tender them back) Sunday night. We ended up getting our shopping done mid-week when Papeete was bustling only becasue the captain decided that he was not getting enough potable water in Raiatea to support the remainder of the cruise, so we made an unscheduled stop back in Papeete. To speak to the language issue, if you stayed near the "tourist" areas, yes, you could find people that spoke enough English to get by. Take a Le Truck to Fare on Huahine and it was pantamime time. I went to the Banc de Polynesia in Fare to exchange some money. After standing in line for almost an hour, I attempted to explain what I was trying to do, finally resorting to pointing to the US $, pointing to the sign listing the selling price and then to some Francs that I had. She finally got the idea and she handed me a form, all in French, demanded my Passport and waved me to the back of the line, presumably until I had the form filled out. Instead, I walked out the door, walked down the street, bumped into an ATM and 30 seconds later had my Francs (at a better rate) with no language barrier or attitude. Would I do it again? That depends. Bora Bora and Moorea were beautiful. If I could afford it, I would plunk my butt down in one of the palapas (grass huts on stilts over the lagoon) and snorkel and dive myself into oblivion. Papeete, you couldn't pay me to vacation in Papeete. To be honest we did not see enough of the rest of the island of Tahiti to say if we would go back. The airport, the road to the wharf and the downtown area around the wharf are not enough to bring me back. The overpriced island tour we took did not leave a very good impression either. If I knew I was only going to get to Tahiti once, I would definitely take a cruise. It is a great way to see the islands without worrying about where you were going to sleep or what you were going to eat. Tahiti is well worth doing once. I'll just have to think hard before I would do it again. There's just so much of the rest of the world to explore. ken |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Review: Pacific Princess Oct 11-19 Tahiti (long)
On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 04:34:14 GMT, Kenneth Graham
wrote: I think you missed the point (as well as my name). The cruise brochures (as well as movies, TV, etc.) make it sound like Tahiti is a perfect paradise. I am just trying to paint the picture with a little honesty. Some of the people on our cruise were extremely disappointed with the shopping opportunities. Many were experienced European and Caribbean cruisers and were quite disappointed. Not everyone was there just for the scenic beauty. If you are expecting a South Seas Caribbean vacation (ala the brochures) you will be disappointed. Everything was very expensive there. Hi Ken, (sorry about botching your name) No one should go to the Society Islands for shopping. It is not the Caribbean and I have not seen it portrayed in that way. Why would someone want to spend the time, effort and expense to go to Tahiti if it were the same as the Caribbean? You are correct that everything is expensive which is why a cruise is the best way to enjoy the islands. A 3-night pre-cruise stay in an overwater bungalow can certainly enhance your vacation. ;+) To arrive in Papeete late Saturday after everything was closed and to have all day Sunday to kill in a ghost town is rediculous. See above regarding a pre-cruise stay. I go on the Paul Gauguin which sails on Saturday. The stores and large market are all open on Saturday morning and offer all the shopping most would want. At the end of the cruise, the PG docks in Papeete on Friday afternoon. The locals set up a wonderful outdoor fair with food and shopping galore right at the cruise pier. Another shopping opportunity. On Saturday morning all of the stores and market are open again at the end of your cruise. To speak to the language issue, if you stayed near the "tourist" areas, yes, you could find people that spoke enough English to get by. Take a Le Truck to Fare on Huahine and it was pantamime time If one wants to not experience a foreign land with a foreign language then you should stay home and not travel, imo. I and my clients have never complained about not being understood. Tahiti is well worth doing once. I'll just have to think hard before I would do it again. There's just so much of the rest of the world to explore. This is where we disagree completely. Don't the French have a word for that? ;+) I go back as often as I can and so do my clients who have sailed the Society Islands. May I suggest that you might enjoy the Paul Gauguin with a 3-night pre-cruise in an overwater bungalow on Bora Bora or Moorea next time. Best regards, Ray LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL 800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905 http://www.lighthousetravel.com |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Review: Pacific Princess Oct 11-19 Tahiti (long)
I think you missed the point (as well as my name). The cruise
brochures (as well as movies, TV, etc.) make it sound like Tahiti is a perfect paradise. I am just trying to paint the picture with a little honesty. Some of the people on our cruise were extremely disappointed with the shopping opportunities. People fly all the way to the South Pacific to shop? Who would have thought! Warren |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Review: Pacific Princess Oct 11-19 Tahiti (long)
We went to Tahiti in July to cruise on the Tahitian Princess, this was
a trip of a lifetime. It was a long haul from Boston and we will do it again. We travel a lot and have cruised many times. Anyone that goes to Tahiti only to shop is sick! I did buy a few things for people at home and Christmas presents. I had no problems with language, a smile goes a long way. I loved the Hinano beer. deana |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
Review: Pacific Princess Oct 11-19 Tahiti (long)
|
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Review: Pacific Princess Oct 11-19 Tahiti (long)
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Air Tahiti Nui to Launch NY-Papaeete Non-Stop | texan@texas.,.removethisbit.usa.com | Australia & New Zealand | 0 | April 28th, 2004 09:14 PM |
Tahiti and South Pacific | news.verizon.net | Cruises | 2 | October 7th, 2003 10:59 PM |
Asia cruise with Princess.....Royal Princess or Pacific Princess?? | XS4all news | Cruises | 2 | September 16th, 2003 02:11 AM |
Urgent: Oct. trip, tahiti excursions on Princess, prebook or wait? | Fred | Cruises | 0 | September 13th, 2003 07:56 PM |
Urgent: Oct. trip, tahiti excursions on Princess, prebook orwait? | wolf | Cruises | 0 | September 12th, 2003 11:20 PM |