Dbld777

Olympic surfing competition in Tahiti is scheduled for July 26th thru Aug. 11th. Athletes, coaches, officials, visitors attending the event, all need housing, arriving in the week before the event. It can probably bring a very nice nightly revenue per room. Not the first time a ship would be used for event housing. Should have been planned long ago though, but maybe the housing demand is much stronger than forecasted. Who wouldn't want to travel to Tahiti to watch the surfing event?? Just another possible explanation.

Yes, I was a little surprised the app allowed it but I just made sure I was logged in under my login for one reservation and then logged on with her password for the second.

We had a family group of 14 last Summer on the Majestic in Alaska. My wife and I each made a booking for a table of 7 at the same time slot(5:40) each night, in the same dining room and also specified private table. Make sure that everyone(12) is already linked or included in your "travel party" on the app. Then you'll need to link or include 5 others(that are already in your travel party) in each of your two reservation. On embarkation day, try to have lunch in the one dining room that is open. You're likely to be able to find a dining room manager that can help you at that time. Ask them about ensuring your two tables are close to each other and that you'd like the same tables every evening at that time. The dining room manager that I spoke to had already planned a location for our group of 14 with two tables in a private nook area around the corner from the entrance. He had obviously already scanned the reservations looking for large groups and since the two reservations were both from the same cabin(wife and I) he knew that it was one larger group. So convenient then to be able to walk in each night to the same tables and everyone in the group could find their way in to the tables without everyone being ready and out front of the DR at the same time.

Yes, using the word "reservation" does seems to be a bit misleading to many of the DMW diners using the app. They just can't hold a table open for a 6:30 reservation. That's the only time we've seen some longer lines, the 6:30 to 7:00 timeframe.

We would agree with the training requirement for a top notch personalized service that many tout Windstar for. We were on the Star Breeze in Tahiti in March of '22 and we did not experience the personalized service and the "they'll know you by your name after a day or two" type of experience that many Windstar fans spoke about here on CC. It was our first WS experience and we chalked it up to new crew still learning the WS service standard after the restart from the pandemic.

We were on the Star Breeze last year. When the watersports platform is out, you are generally in deeper waters. Excursions get you to the beautiful coral gardens such as we saw in Raiatea(Taha'a) and Bora Bora. You are often snorkeling in quite shallow waters to see the most beautiful corals and fish. Look up "Drift Snorkel Tahaa" on YouTube. We highly recommend booking with H2O Bora Bora(boraborah2o.com). Some of the best snorkeling on a small boat(4-6 person) tour, that we've ever had. Lots of great posts over on the Pacific Islands CC Board regarding good snorkeling and other excursion in FP.

I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. Your French Polynesia knowledge and recommendations have been such a help to so many, including us. My hope is that you will find others who are on the same path as you, who can help you navigate your way when cruising solo. I also hope that you will feel his spirit with you on your future cruises.

We stayed 3 nights pre-cruise at the Sofitel and it was very nice. If you like sunrises they are on the East side of the island so you are gazing out at Papeete to the East and the sunrise. The sunrises we saw were absolutely beautiful.

I would highly recommend Fabrice at Tahiti Eden Tours. We did a full day island tour on our disembarkation day when our flight out wasn't until 10 PM. He knows the island very well and provided a great tour with great insight into the history of the island and the people of FP. tahitiedentours.com

Yes, it won't even accept the same credit card number for a separate booking on the same cruise. I tried to put my credit card in for other family members cabins and it won't take it and says "invalid credit card number". Same cc number that I had just entered for my booking.

Embarking the Majestic a couple of weeks ago, about half of our family had their security pic retaken as we first scanned our medallion on the ship. Took an extra 5 seconds to complete the embarkation. They're really looking for a headshot only, that looks like you currently do, as you are boarding. They were really looking closely at us and our pic every time we reboarded. I'm glad to see the increased scrutiny and security as we boarded.

@oakridger I'm a '79 grad. You wouldn't recognize the campus at OSU. So many new buildings and not much greenspace left except for the Oval. The whole Columbus area has grown tremendously. If you'd like an island tour while on Moorea, we had a great tour with "Lady in Blue", Spirou. During a stop at one of the pearl stores, we met the owner, a native, who had once lived in Ohio for a few years. She was a pearl diver at Sea World in Aurora, Ohio for several years. Small World. The pearls there are beautiful btw. https://ladyinblue-moorea.business.site/ https://www.facebook.com/MADAMEBLEU2

We rented directly from the Avis car rental on Moorea. It's directly across from where the ferry from Papeete docks. They have their own website to make a reservation, which is better than going through the Avis corporate website. https://www.avis-tahiti.com/en/

Check out Huahine Private. We had a great island tour with Janou. She will customize the tour based on your preferences. https://www.huahine-private.com/

Thank you so much for all the info @martincath. I really appreciate the time you've taken to help guide us through this dilemma. I will be reaching out to my CVP at Princess to start the escalation process to get a commitment one way or another on the possibility of boarding with just a birth certificate on this one way cruise. My understanding is that you're basically reentering the U.S. when you board the ship, as all future port stops are in the U.S. So I would think Princess should be okay with it since any disembarkation enroute(early or not) would be U.S. territory and no passport is needed to get back home from there. But as you say, their rules, not necessarily the government regs. will apply. We also appreciate your offer of help should we get rebuffed at the pier(possible even with pre-approval from somebody at Princess). I will email you closer to our sail date if we are taking the risk and haven't received the passport yet. I'm still hoping we can break through the bureaucracy at the passport agency and get the PP expedited. Much Thanks!