Disembarkation Day - Papeete

Our final day aboard the Tahitian Princess arrived. We had a marvelous time these past 10 days in Polynesia / Cook Islands.

The sun was shining, casting shadows on our balcony as we looked out at Papeete once again. Although our cruise was now officially over, unlike other cruises, disembarkation would not occur until later in the afternoon.

One of the best things about the disembarkation process in Papeete is the ability to check-in for your afternoon / evening flights either on the pier, or as was the case for us, at the airport. After breakfast, we disembarked the ship, claimed our luggage, and boarded a shuttle bus for Papeete airport. Recall that we were booked on an Omni Air charter. We checked our luggage in, obtained our boarding passes and returned to the Tahitian Princess to enjoy our final day in Tahiti.

Depending on the airline, some passengers were able to check-in at the pier, while the others were taken back and forth to the airport to check-in. Either way, when it was time for your flight later in the day, you wouldn't have to worry about your luggage, which was fabulous.

In the morning, we had the ship to ourselves, but later in the day, passengers for the next week began to arrive. Since we were in port, the shops and casino were closed of course, but you could still purchase your photos if you didn't do so already. Any purchases would have to be with cash since our onboard accounts were already closed out.

TIP!! When we embarked the Tahitian Princess, they were selling "Coke stickers" which came with a reusable Coke container. The sticker allows you to get unlimited fountain drinks throughout the cruise, including disembarkation day. We could simply bring our Coke container to the bar to get a refill.
Normally, we wouldn't purchase a "Coke card" on a ship, but on this cruise, it made sense (especially since you could use it on the final day without having to worry about cash).

We hung around by the pool most of the day, just relaxing and enjoying the Tahiti sun and scenery for one final day. My husband also used the time to get some last minute pictures around the ship. See the

Tahitian Princess - Final Day (Papeete) photo album for the conclusion of the cruise.

Note that in this picture the moon is rising and the clock is about to strike 5:30 PM. It was now time to say goodbye to the Tahitian Princess and head to the airport, this time to actually depart for home.

Expect to find slow moving, long lines at the airport. The passport control line takes some time to get through, but Princess allowed sufficient time and we had no problems catching our flight.

Tahitian Princess was a wonderful ship for this cruise due to it's size and the small number of passengers. If you decide to book Tahiti on this ship, plan early so that you can get your choice of cabins (or any cabin for that matter). Tahitian Princess is being redeployed to Alaska this year before it returns to Tahiti for the fall. She will be doing a 108 night World Cruise in January 2009.  (Note;  Tahitian Princess has since been renamed 

I hope that you have enjoyed our visit to Tahiti. If you haven't already done so, check out our Cruise Diaries and additional photos on Shutterfly. Contact me if I can help plan your Tahitian vacation.

10 Day Polynesia / Cook Islands Cruise on Tahitian Princess

Click on image to the left for more blog posts about our Tahiti adventure

For more images, see our Shutterfly Photo Page.

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