Tahitian Princess Review –September 10th

Part 2

The cruise

As I said, embarkation was quick and easy. We were informed that the staterooms would not be ready until 2pm, so we went to the buffet and grabbed something to eat. After getting to our cabin, we explored the ship. As previous reports have said, it is a beautiful ship. Small, but has everything the larger ships have but on a smaller scale.

Checked in with our new CC friends and arranged to meet for dinner since it was open seating this first night. Ended up having a before dinner drink in the Club bar, which was very cozy. It was nice to be on the ship and not have to worry about the cost of the meals!

Dinner this night was ok. Good but not great. I had the sirloin steak. I was worried about being able to have med rare beef, based on other reports, but did not have a problem the entire trip with my beef being overcooked.

Our meals in general were very good. A few nights, they were just ok, with not a great selection. We ate in the dining room all but two nights, which we tried the alternative dining, which I will get to later. We had Peter and Bernadette as our servers. They were great and took very good care of us.

Our cabin was 7059-mid ship starboard side. Our cabin steward was Vhal, who was also great. I think our best steward so far. We found the service on the ship to be quite excellent. I didn’t have any encounters that were not pleasant and friendly.

We did attend the “O Tahitie” show the first night. We had to have our fill of Polynesian shows, since this was our first time here.

9/11 was remembered on the ship with a moment of silence. There was also a note from the President of Princess in today’s Patter.

The full day in Papeete, Steve was able to join the other CC’s on Patrick’s tour. They got back at 4:29pm. The cruise staff was not too happy. In fact, the security office called me at 4:25 wanting to know if he was on the ship. I told them “no and neither are 7 other folks on this same tour.” I was on the pier side of the ship, so I was on the balcony watching for them, wondering what to do when the call came. So at least I knew that someone knew they were not on the ship and would hopefully not make the first sail-away without them! The lifeboat drill was at 4:30, so they were waiting for them to start the drill. Boy, in trouble from the start!

I just relaxed a bit. I walked over to the Marche with Carol and Jim. We both bought our flower arrangements for the trip. They were absolutely beautiful. They were a real bargain at $15. They did last the whole trip. I only had to pull a few flowers out toward the end.

After the lifeboat drill, we had our CC get-together at the pool bar. Quite a few folks joined us. Us (Kathyj and DH-Steve), M94FUN(Carol and Jim), ALM(Allison and Kathy), Crabbychessie(Phil and Sue), Grafx, Billpg(Bill and Martha), Kathy from Texas and her husband, Sam’s mom and her husband. Missing were the newlyweds-EKADN, and Matwood. We had a nice little get-together, and were excited about Marc’s tour the next day.

That night we met our table mates. We were at a table for 8. We had Sharon and Mary from New Jersey, Lynn and Steve from Michigan, and Bill and Angel from, of all places, Denver. Lynn and Steve, Bill and Angel were newlyweds.

There seemed to be many newlywed couples on this trip. Overall, the age range seemed to be slightly younger than other reviews. I think maybe since the word has gotten out about this being mostly a tendered cruise, might have something to do with it.

I think we did go to the show this night. It was the comedian David Reid. He was fairly funny. I am referring to my Princess Patters, since I can’t remember which night is which. I started keeping notes at first, and just never kept up with it. I think this is the night that we decided that naps were in order from then on, to stay awake after dinner for any length of time.

Friday, September 12. First port-Huahine

What can I say? Marc’s Motu picnic tour! He is now giving groups the option of going to the pearl farm or sort of a circle island tour. He puts those who want the pearl farm on a separate boat from the rest of us. The island tour was lengthy. I think I would have rather just gone to the snorkeling spot and the motu, but it was scenic and our guide played his ukulele for us. The snorkeling was incredible. I have never done a drift snorkel before. It was deep enough here that you didn’t have to worry about hitting the coral, which is what I like. I have never seen this much coral snorkeling before in the Caribbean. It was truly an experience not to forget.
The motu was beautiful, and the picnic delicious. The previous reports were right on with this excursion.

We noticed that the Princess tour came and went twice while we were there, so we got twice the time and probably a lot less money! They were also on big boats with lots of people. We had boats of 12, I think 4 total. I even tried the Poisson cru. It was actually very good. Try it, even if you’re not a sushi person, as we aren’t. I didn’t try it anywhere else, so I have nothing to compare it with, but his ingredients were pretty fresh. It certainly didn’t taste like raw fish! From what Marc was saying; Princess isn’t too happy with him. He didn’t seem likely to join the Princess bandwagon, because he want to keep his groups smaller. It sounds like he stays pretty full, thanks to all the CC’s.

After the required nap, we had gotten into the habit of meeting our new CC friends in the Club bar before dinner. We were all mostly at the late seating. We also have met a nice couple from Canada, Jane and Bob, who soon will be CC’s.

The show tonight was Hal Marquardt, comedian and magician. Allison and Kathy have seen him before on other cruises, so they told us a bit about his act. Barely made it though this, even with a nap!

Saturday, September 13. Sea day

Yes, this ship is small and you do feel quite a bit of motion at times. I took Bonine every day and was never queasy. My DH never has any problem. On the 2nd sea day, I just wanted the ship to stop just for a few minutes-please!

The first sea day was the first formal night. We went to the pearl seminar. Tried to find pool chairs in the shade, but were full both sea days. Chairs in the sun were available. We did find the cushioned deck chairs on deck 5. Try these out-great for naps.

We did attend the Captain’s cocktail party in the Night Club. This is a really nice area for before dinner drinks also. It is never crowded before dinner and it is forward on the ship so you can see out the big windows. They have a good trio performing there also. The Toucan Duo that played at the pool stage, I didn’t care for very much. I won’t say anything else about that.

I think there were about 50% tuxes, maybe more. The women not as glitzy as our other cruises, but still very dressed up. The menu was not very elegant tonight. We did check out the casino after dinner. Luckily Steve was able to keep us about even through the trip with the poker machines. I gave the regular slot machines back the money they wanted to give me.