Hello All! I've been meaning to join and post forever and it seemed so far away... and now, it's practically here!
My family and our SO's are all going together... there will be 8 of us. Believe it or not, it took some WORK to get everyone together. I think we just made it onto this cruise because it was almost sold out... We're scattered over Decks 3,4,and 6. We've been on the big "normal" cruise lines but this is our first luxury cruise so I can't wait!!!
Just wondering... I took the Deck 3 cabin, #310, and on the deck plan, it looks like on one side there's another cabin but on the other side there's a space, not quite cabin size, and unmarked... does anyone know what that is? Should I be worried?
Also, we arrive in Papeete on Friday morning. I really want to go to the big market. Any tips on best times? I like to find unusual things when I travel, any suggestions for other places to go along the way?
I've been reading the message boards about the excursions and the RSSC descriptions are pretty good. My thing is snorkeling so if there are any "don't miss" excursions, do let me know.
That's all for now, I'm sure I'll think of more questions... thank you all!

I'm sure you'll have a great time. Not sure what the space is either, but next to it is the tendering gangway, so you'll be close to that. Sometimes the lines are a pain at tendering time (just a minor annoyance).

The market's great, and huge. Just budget some time to poke around, upstairs as well. Lots of pareos (the women in your group need at least one each!), wood carvings, mother of pearl jeweller.

Don't miss the motu picnic, on Motu Mahana day. Snorkelling in Bora Bora is fabulous, try something involving stingrays, the lagoon out there is great. With a group of 8, not sure what to recommend on Moorea, perhaps rent 2 cars and drive around? Don't miss driving up the Belvedere lookout, the scenery is stunning.

I agree with Wendy on everything she suggested. The snorkeling in Bora Bora is fantastic. At the time we went, it was at the location with the Sting Ray and Shark feeding excursion (which now seems to be the Sting Ray ballet excursion). Be aware that currents can be strong and at times the coral is not too far below the surface. As for shopping, pareos, vanilla, and of course black pearls, are some of the natural choices. I also agree that driving around Moorea is a good idea. We just rented a car on shore where we tendered. I think you can even work in a stop at a place like the Sheraton, which used to let you use their facilities for a nominal fee. Of course, given the weakness of the dollar, I suspect prices will be higher than the relatively high levels that prevailed when we were last there in 2006. Nevertheless, you and your family are in for a treat.

------------

Eugene

Oh, and if you love the beach and water, but aren't feeling energetic, some of you can go over the motu at Bora Bora, the afternoons you are there. It's a lovely white sand beach, with clear water. There's some snorkeling there too, but it's further out, and you do have to watch the current through the pass.

Ditto to everything Wendy and Eugene have said. We also had snorkeling as our primary focus and did all the things suggested above. Motu Mahana and the private beach at Bora Bora are at no extra charge. Don't miss them. On both of our PG trips we did the Lagoon Discovery and snorkeling on Moorea.

Between #310 and #312 is where you get on and off the ship on the port side. Have the same thing on Starboard side.
This really makes it nice when you return from an excursion. Just get on the ship and go directly to your cabin. (we were in #314).
When we were there in 2003 we thought the market was a long ways from the ship. In 2007 on the Mariner we realized it is just across the busy street and 1/2 block down a side street. In fact from the top deck of the ship you can see part of the roof of the market.

I just ran this by my husband and he confirmed what Jim mentioned above. (I could not remember if we tendered from both sides of the ship.) So that blank space on the diagram between the tendering gangway and cabin #310 would be the space where a crewmember is stationed when folks are embarking or disembarking via the tenders. I can't imagine that you would be wanting to sleep in rather than be up for breakfast and off on excursions so it really should not be any bother at all other than being a little crowded by your doorway occasionally, particularly on Motu Mahana morning at Taha'a. On the plus side you'll know just how early the group waiting for the first tender starts congregating.

One more point about snorkeling. The PG supplies all the gear free and their divemasters will insure that it fits you. The quality is good. So there is no need to lug your own equipment across the Pacific.

Wendy has a custom mask to match her glasses, but uses their flippers. I use both as supplied by the ship.

You will want to take reef shoes, not so much for the snorkeling as for wading on the beaches.

You folks will have so much fun! We don't get back to the PG until December, and I'm already impatient.

-- David

Wow thank you all so much for your replies. It sounds like the positives outweigh the negatives for our cabin... I'm not very good at getting up early but the great thing about Tahiti is that 8AM is like sleeping till noon here in LA. (It'll be tough getting up for work when I get back though!
Good info about the snorkeling equipment... was wondering if I needed to buy some.
One last question... how is the coffee??? I've read mixed things... A few of us (including my Austrian boyfriend) are kind of coffee snobs. We gave my sister a hard time because she brought her own cappucino machine to our Thanksgiving gathering... do we need to make her lug it to Tahiti? (they didn't have a coffee icon!)

Alas, you've fastened on the ship's weak point: the coffee. It's not very good. The cappucino and espresso are fine, but the regular coffee is usually pretty lame.

Just catching up here. Alan and I snorkeled in Bora Bora and Moorea in December and much preferred Moorea. It was the best we had ever done (in our limited experience).

Welcome to LCT and enjoy your PG cruise.

Hi Belaroo and welcome to LCT. Not to drive this thread off topic but your profile lists you as an animator and I bet we know some people in common. Have you ever worked for WB?

Great snorkeling on Raiatea, but I had to take the circle island boat ride to get to it. I don't see that excursion listed any more, but there is a drift snorkel that sounds good, still involves a fairly long boat ride I believe.

Usually there's a good session of snorkeling during the ray excursion on Bora Bora on the nearby coral heads as well, they are great, although seeing locals standing on them made my heart sink.

Good snorkeling around the reefs off Moorea, but you have to know where to find them--we did the shark and ray excursion there as well (Lagoon discovery with snorkelling.) There were lots of fish, but I found the coral damaged where we were. On a Dr. Poole dolphin watch we did some casual snorkeling at a much better reef, but that was serendipitous, not planned.

Do try to get on land on one or two islands, they are very interesting.

The market place in Papette is really the least expensive place to purchase pareos, creams and other assorted items.We went their prior to the cruise and then on the last day of the cruise right after breakfast ran over to the market to make our purchases. There are pearls as well but could not speak to their quality or prices.

If you like biking, you can rent bikes just off the dock in Bora Bora and ride around the island in just short of than 4 hours. We stopped at various hotels and a few shops along the way.

The dining room coffee is not their high point(I think it is made from a concentrate rather than grounds-could someone confirm this?). Laksman, a pool attendant and barman makes the best cappacinos and lattes this side of Starbucks.Look for him. He is great.

Hello again! So sorry to take so long to reply. All of a sudden there is so much to do... plus trying to finish my taxes before I go... ack!
Yes, Robert, I've worked for WB and most of the major animation studios! If you like, email me privately and we can play, "Do you know..."
Some more questions...
When is the best time to go to the market? We arrive EARLY Friday so we could either go Friday some time or Sat before we get on the PG.
I'm curious about what to do in Raiatea. It looks like the only snorkel excursions are the Drift snorkel and the Pearl farm and snorkel. I'm not so excited about pearls (altho that may change once I see one). I'd like to do the Drift one... I've done a lot of snorkeling, mostly in Belize, but I'm not a strong swimmer. Has anyone done that excursion? I guess I can ask when I get there too. If you don't sign up for an excursion in Raiatea, where do they take you? I haven't had much luck getting my family to sign up for excursions, they're of the " we're in Tahiti, isn't that enough" school of thought, but I want to at least do a couple of snorkeling trips! And I think I'll try to rent a car on Moorea at least, and maybe the snorkel trip there.
Has anyone done the aqua bike-underwater scooter? They sound kind of cool, but it says not to go on it if you have claustraphobia, which I do...
Also, are there irons in the room or do I need to bring one?
Oh I know I had a million questions and now I can't think of them all! I'll be posting more, I'm sure...
-Sari
5 more days!!!!

Oh wow, you must be excited!

Cruise ships don't allow irons, they consider them a fire hazard. The ship is so casual that you probably won't need one, however. (You can pay to get things washed, cleaned or pressed, and I believe it's reasonable.)

You can get a flotation vest with your snorkel and fins--that should help allay your snorkeling fears. I really recommend the stingray ballet type-thingy in Bora Bora (used to called it shark and ray feeding, but I think they banned the practice of feeding), there's good snorkeling ops there, and no current.

I believe you can rent a car on Raiatea, but if you don't do an excursion, there's not alot to do--walk around town a bit, but there's only a few stores open. It's a pretty island, and more so because it's the first one you see. It is considered the spiritual centre of Polynesia, and it has this huge temple area (marae) called Taputapuatea--most of the land tours go there. It's not a building, but an area of stones, almost liked pavement, but interesting and kind of sinister (human sacrifice and stuff like that.)

And don't forget the Bora Bora motu, as well as Motu Mahana (natch!)

Have a wonderful time.

We take a hand held steamer along.
Probably does not work as well as an iron but at least it gets the big wrinkles out.
Sign up for the river and 4x4 tour on Raiatea.
Gives you a little of both worlds.

I'll second Jim's endorsement of that tour, if you don't mind missing out on water time. We've done it twice.