Tahiti On Sale - Paul Gauguin

Summer on "Sail" by Paul Gauguin

Regent Seven Seas has announced two special offers for sailings to Tahiti aboard Paul Gauguin.

This is the final season that the ship will be sailing under the Regent flag. In January, 2010, Paul Gauguin Cruises will begin sailing in Tahiti.

See my previous posts for more details about Paul Gauguin Cruises: Luxury Tahiti Cruises at Special Savings and Paul Gauguin Cruises Joins CLIA

Speical Offers Available
Bookings by August 15, 2009

French Polynesia is made up of several series of islands, atolls, and archipelagos, independently surrounded by lagoons and barrier reefs that create unique eco-systems and divine respites for the traveler weary of the usual getaway.

Explore the Society Islands aboard Paul Gauguin this summer with up to 74% savings, third guest sails FREE; BOOK by August 15, 2009.

7 Nights Roundtrip Papeete

Fares from $1,995 per guest: September 12, September 19 and September 26

Itinerary: Papeete, French Polynesia * Raiatea, French Polynesia * Taha'a (Motu Mahana)French Polynesia * Bora Bora, French Polynesia (Overnight) * Moorea, French Polynesia(Overnight) * Papeete, French Polynesia (Overnight)

Society & Cook Islands

14 Nights Roundtrip Papeete

Fares from $4,995 per guest & FREE AIR from LAX August 29

Itinerary: Papeete, French Polynesia * Huahine, French Polynesia * Cruise the Pacific Ocean, Int' Waters * Aitutaki, Cook Islands * Rarotonga, Cook Islands * Cruise the Pacific Ocean, Int'l Waters * Tubuai, Tuamotu Archipelago * Cruise the Pacific Ocean, Int'l Waters * Taha'a (Motu Mahana), French Polynesia * Bora Bora, French Polynesia * Rangiroa, French Polynesia (Overnight) * Moorea, French Polynesia (Overnight) * Papeete, French Polynesia (Overnight)

Special One Week Sale by Paul Gauguin

July 27 - August 2, 2009

Explore the Society Islands aboard Paul Gauguin this fall with up to 67% savings, Select Balcony & upper suite categories only; Valid from July 27, 2009 to August 2, 2009.

7 Nights Roundtrip Papeete
Balcony & Upper Suite Fares from $2,995 per guest: October 24, October 31

Itinerary: Papeete, French Polynesia Raiatea, French Polynesia Taha'a (Motu Mahana), French Polynesia Bora Bora, French Polynesia (Overnight) Moorea, French Polynesia (Overnight) Papeete, French Polynesia (Overnight)

Society & Marquesas Islands
14 Nights Roundtrip Papeete
Fares from $3,195 per guest Cruise Only December 5

Itinerary: Papeete, French Polynesia * Cruise the Pacific Ocean, Int' Waters * Fakarava, French Polynesia * Cruise the Pacific Ocean, Int' Waters * Fatu Hiva/Hanavave, Marquesas * Atuona, French Polynesia * Vaipaee, French Polynesia * Taiohae, French Polynesia * Cruise the Pacific Ocean, Int' Waters * Cruise the Pacific Ocean, Int' Waters * Huahine, French Polynesia * Bora Bora, French Polynesia * Taha'a (Motu Mahana), French Polynesia * Moorea, French Polynesia * Papeete, French Polynesia (Overnight)

For more information about Paul Gauguin or these French Polynesian itineraries, call or email me. You can also visit my website.

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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Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us every Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat  

Each week we post images from our trips and participate in several travel chats on Twitter.

Take advantage of these resources to assist in you in planning your dream vacations.  Of course, we are always available to answer any questions you might have about travel and the industry.

Papette, Tahiti - 4WD Excursion

After a good night's sleep we were ready to explore Papette, Tahiti. We decided to book the Papenoo Valley And Waterfall By 4wd shore excursion offered by Princess Cruises. If you are in reasonably good health (no heart or back problems for example) a 4WD adventure is a great way to see the island of Tahiti. There is an expansive network of off-road trails which transport you from sea level to the highest mountain peaks on the island.

We began our tour from the pier and made our first stop at Pointe de Tapahi where we had magnificent views of the east coast of Tahiti. Lush vegetation framed our view of the scenic coastline. If it weren't for the white caps which formed as waves splashed against the rocks below, it would have been hard to determine where the sky ended and the sea began. 

As usual, I won't leave it to your imagination to picture this scene. See our Papeete photo album for pictures from this tour.

The tour continued with a drive through the Papenoo Valley. Our jeep caravan stopped in the midst of lush vegetation where the sound of rushing water could be heard. It didn't take long before we could see the towering waterfall ahead of us. We have seen many waterfalls in our journeys, but never anything as amazing as the ones we saw on Tahiti island. Some of our group took a dip in the pool formed at the base of the waterfall.

We drove through the valley stopping for a view of the Papenoo River. It reminded me of the Grand Canyon, except with lush vegetation instead of rocky terrain. The river curved through the valley surrounded by mountain peaks. In addition to the lush green vegetation, we saw beautiful tropical flowers in many colors. The most interesting green vegetation was a leaf that would curl up if you touched it.

Before returning to the ship, we stopped for refreshments which included fresh coconut milk and various local fruits. We thoroughly enjoyed this tour which took us off the beaten path and into the heart and soul of Tahiti. We were able to talk with local inhabitants enabling us to learn more about the culture.

This was only the beginning of our Tahiti adventure. When we rejoin this cruise story, you'll be in Huahine. Until then, may you have warm tropical thoughts.

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.

Connect With Us On

        

Sign-up for Exclusive Email Offers


Where have you explored? 

Gather your travel and food pics and join us every Wednesday night for the latest installment of #FoodTravelChat  

Each week we post images from our trips and participate in several travel chats on Twitter.

Take advantage of these resources to assist in you in planning your dream vacations.  Of course, we are always available to answer any questions you might have about travel and the industry.

Polynesia / Cook Islands Cruise

Princess Cruise Lines
Tahitian Princess - Polynesia
Apr. 17 - 27, 2004

As I promised, it's time to forget about the winter and think about something tropical. One of our favorite cruises was our 10 Day Polynesia / Cook Islands Cruise on Tahitian Princess.

Tahitian Princess was previously one of the Renaissance vessels.
By today's standards, this is a small cruise ship. It is only 30,227 tons with a capacity of 670 passengers. For that reason, it is necessary to book well in advance if you are planning a cruise on this ship. In our case, we booked about a year in advance and were able to obtain our first cabin category choice - a mini-suite (cabin 8030). You can see from the picture that there is plenty of room to relax in this cabin both inside and on your private balcony.

The flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Papeete (PPT) takes about 8 hours, so we decided to fly to California a day early. We spent the night at Hilton Los Angeles Airport. By flying out a day early, we broke up the long flight into something reasonable and also saved the $500 surcharge per person on Princess Cruises airfare (for other departure cities). We usually purchase airfare on our own, but this time it was cost effective to use the cruise line air. It included transfers between airport and pier. The Hilton had a shuttle which we used to get back and forth from LAX. After breakfast, we caught the shuttle to the airport.

The flight from LAX to PPT was via Omni Air charter. We had heard some horror stories about that airline, but were pleasantly surprised. Our seats were the last ones in the middle section of the DC-10. We had plenty of room and the service was very good.

When we arrived in Papette, we went through customs and Princess Cruises had representatives there to guide us to our bus transportation. After checking in at the pier, we dropped off our carry-on luggage and headed back out into town to do some exploring. Since it was Sunday, almost everything was closed. We were able to purchase a flower bouquet for about $20 from a street vendor. This flower arrangement lasted the entire length of the cruise. We would awake every morning to the smell of tropical flowers in our cabin.

Those of you that have been reading my blog for awhile know that we have posted many photos on Kodak Gallery from our cruises. Tahiti was no exception to this practice. We must have thousands of photos in our albums from all our locations. Of all the albums, the Tahiti albums are the most popular amongst our visitors. I'll be discussing each of the ports in detail, but if you want to look at some photos in the meantime, see our Tahiti Pictures page.

Unlike most cruises, there is an overnight stay in the departure port before setting sail for the rest of the islands. In my next post, I'll talk about the shore excursion we did in Papeete.

 

DATE	DAY	PORT	ARRIVE	DEPART
17-Apr	1	Papeete, Tahiti, Polynesia
18-Apr	2	Papeete, Tahiti, Polynesia		5:00 PM
19-Apr	3	Huahine, Polynesia	8:00 AM	5:00 PM
20-Apr	4	At sea
21-Apr	5	Rarotonga, Cook Islands	8:00 AM	5:00 PM
22-Apr	6	At sea
23-Apr	7	Raiatea, Polynesia	6:00 AM
24-Apr	8	Raiatea, Polynesia		6:00 AM
24-Apr	8	Tahaa Scenic Cruising	6:30 AM	8:30 AM
24-Apr	8	Bora Bora, Polynesia	12:00 PM
25-Apr	9	Bora Bora, Polynesia		5:00 PM
26-Apr	10	Moorea, Polynesia	8:00 AM	5:00 PM
26-Apr	10	Papeete, Tahiti, Polynesia	8:00 PM
27-Apr	11	Papeete, Tahiti, Polynesia	5:00 AM