Princess Cruises, Ocean Princess, Pacific

In April 2007 we cruised on Tahitian Princess , visiting French Polynesia and the Cook Islands. We had booked the cruise some 18 months earlier, and as such were able to book a mini suite at a very affordable price. We travelled from London to Los Angeles, stayed overnight in an airport hotel, and then travelled the following afternoon to Papeete. It was quite a journey, 10 hours, and a further 8 hours, but as all scheduled flights, very comfortable. Transfers and embarcation all went smoothly and efficiently, and we soon found our ouselves aboard. The ship is a delight, its very small, and intimate, and almost has the feel of a country house hotel rather than a cruise ship.There's lots of mahogany panelling, and rich red carpet everywhere. Our cabins were very spacious, half as big again as a standard balcony cabin, but had cost little more. In every respect the ship was just a scaled down version of other larger ships, everything you could ask for was there, but with a much more intimate and personal feel. Of course the entertainment was a little scaled down too, so the entertainment troupe consisted of 6/8 dancers and 3/4 singers, but the quality was good, and the energy levels high. The restaurant food was good quality, with plenty of variety, and we had attentive waiting staff. The buffet restaurant lacked a little variety at times, especially port day lunchtimes, but to be fair, as it was a small ship with so few passengers, it was not bad at all. There was also an outside grill for burgers fries dogs etc, and a pizzeria. We ate a couple of times in the Siam restaurant which was pacific rim cuisine, and had superb meals, well worth the additional $20 per head. We found all the staff aboard workd really hard to ensure passengers had a great time. I don't know if it was because it was such a small ship, but it really was a friendly ship all round. French Polynesia was delightful to visit, very unspoiled and very beautiful. Bora Bora and Moorea are probably the most beautiful, Huahine... not quite so. Raiatea and Rarotonga,middling. We love snorkelling and water sports, so we were in heaven, but if you are strictly 'land based' it may not be the cruise for you. Also, many of the islands do not have much in the way of beaches, so if your idea is to lounge on a snowy white beach every day, you may be happier in Hawaii or the Caribbean. French Polynesia is so far away from the rest of the world, that inevitably prices ashore are high. Don't expect to pop ashore for a cheap beer, it will cost you twice as much as aboard! Yes really. Pearls, if bought in Tahiti are very expensive, better to buy at a pearl farm. Also the islands have a very 'French' attitude to tourism. We docked in Raiatea on a Sunday, and everything was closed, even around the port. There are only about three cruise ships calling into Raiatea, and not that frequently, and there were 2 there that day, but the shopkeepers stayed home. Contrast that with the Caribbean! The upside of this though is that you are never hassled for business like the Caribbean, its much gentler and restrained. All too soon, the cruise was over, its only a 10 night cruise, after all. We opted to stay on a few extra nights in Tahiti, and would recommend everyone to do that if they can. It made a very relaxing end to the holiday, and can highly recomment the Tahiti Beachcomber Intercontinental. The journey home was a delight, we found that for some reason we had been upgraded to business for the Papeete to LA stretch, which was very unexpected, and very nice.