28 day cruise to Hawaii & Tahiti

Those who have done this cruise we would appreciate your feed back on the ports other than the Hawaii ports as we have been to those many times over

We are looking at doing this cruise Feb 2020 on emerald Princess .what is your opinion of emerald Princess in a Balcony cabin BB Category .

Thanks for any & all information :D

I am booked on the Feb 2020 emerald cruise too. It will be our first time on the Emerald so I can't offer an opinion there. I did the Panama Canal on the Coral Princess and one thing I learned is that I LOVE the Sanctuary on sea days in warm climates. I'm sure I will be booking the Sanctuary on the Emerald as soon as we hit warm temps.

I did one land vacation to Tahiti (Mo'orea) and we spent a week in an over-water bungalow. It was absolutely wonderful. As we get closer, I will be researching the availability of resort day passes in our ports of call. I'd actually been looking for one way cruises to Tahiti so I could again spend a week there at a resort. The business class airfare is so expensive that cruising there is actually a good option. Then I saw this round trip cruise that was priced at about the same prices as round trip airfare would be (I won't fly that distance unless Business Class) and jumped at it. It won't give the same experience as staying at a resort in Tahiti, but it's an economical way for us to return to those beautiful islands/waters.

I just checked and there is already a very active roll call for this cruise. Check it out https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2635823

My wife and I did this cruise the first time they offered it a couple of years ago on the Sapphire. It is basically the same cruise except with the overnight in Bora Bora.

My reply is probably what you don't want to read. But if this your first time in non Hawaiian ports I would recommend this cruise with reservations (unless you are not interested in the ports.). If this is your first trip to the South Pacific I truly believe you need to spend more time than a couple of hours in these ports especially Tahiti. The Samoas are some of my favorite places. You could probably do them in a day but spending a couple of days there is even better.

Also I think there are like 18 sea days out of the 29 day cruise. So you are spending over half your fare on sea days. There are 8 straight sea days coming back. I like sea days but after 8 straight, for the first and only time, I wanted to get. off the ship after the cruise was over.

I had been to the South Pacific before. SO for me it was a great cruise (aside for sea days 6, 7 and 8 coming back to LA). I was frustrated not staying in these ports longer but I knew that would be a problem when I purchased the cruise. My wife loved this cruise. She had never been to the South Pacific before. I don't think she knew what she was missing.

So, yes, take this cruise if you don't mind spending over half your money on sea days, have no problems with 8 straight sea days and you realize you are not spending nearly enough time in. the ports. But also it is a great adventure sailing the South Pacific.

Yes I would like to do it again someday. (After another land trip!)

Compare your cruise to one we did with another cruise line; your 18 sea days out of 29 days is not my "cup of tea"!!

Fri 13-Oct Honolulu, Oahu

Sat 14-Oct Nawiliwili, Kauai

Sun 15-Oct Hilo Hawai'i

Mon 16-Oct At Sea

Tue 17-Oct At Sea

Wed 18-Oct At Sea

Thu 19-Oct At Sea

Fri 20-Oct Nuku Hiva, French P

Sat 21-Oct At Sea

Sun 22-Oct Fakarava; French P

Mon 23-Oct Bora Bora, French P

Tue 24-Oct Moorea, French P

Wed 25-Oct Papeete, Tahiti

Thu 26-Oct Raiatea, French P

Fri 27-Oct Bora Bora, French P

Sat 28-Oct Bora Bora, French P

Sun 29-Oct At Sea

Mon 30-Oct At Sea

Tue 31-Oct Pago Pago, Am S

Wed 1-Nov Lost Day IDL

Thu 2-Nov At Sea

Fri 3-Nov Lautoka, Fiji

Sat 4-Nov Suva, Fiji

Sun 5-Nov At Sea

Mon 6-Nov Port Vila, Vanuatu

Tue 7-Nov At Sea

Wed 8-Nov Noumea New C

Thu 9-Nov Isle Pines, New C

Fri 10-Nov At Sea

Sat 11-Nov At Sea

Sun 12-Nov Sydney, Australia

Compare your cruise to one we did with another cruise line; your 18 sea days out of 29 days is not my "cup of tea"!!

 

Nice cruise, but it requires you fly to Hawaii and fly home from Australia. Many prefer the RT L.A..

We took this cruise in October 2016 and loved it. We know of others who have done it more than one time. If you don't like sea days (8 at the end) then you might not like this cruise. There are a lot of us who love sea days so along with the gorgeous South Pacific it is a great cruise.

Those who have done this cruise we would appreciate your feed back on the ports other than the Hawaii ports as we have been to those many times over

 

We are looking at doing this cruise Feb 2020 on emerald Princess .what is your opinion of emerald Princess in a Balcony cabin BB Category .

 

Thanks for any & all information :D

First the ship. You will find the ship very nice for a tropical cruise. Lots of indoor venues, lots of outdoor space and pools for the many sea days. You have a nice cabin. You might want to look at cat. BD on the Caribe deck. The balconies are 9' x 9' half covered vs. the standard size of 9' x 5', covered. Interiors are the same.

Ports:

All 5 of the ports are interesting and visually spectacular.

Pago Pago, pronounced pango pango. Small buses can take you on a tour around the island. Tisa's is a popular place to visit and have lunch. The National Park Service were on the pier and offered a narrated tour of the park. Sign up early. It was either free or there was a small charge for the bus.

Apia, The downtown is a busy local city. The museum put on free demos and shows. We stopped for a drink at Aggie Greys. There are other sites outside the downtown. Don't get confused by the change of days as you cross the dateline over and back.

Bora Bora. Beautiful views everywhere. Very very expensive, ie $40 for a T shirt, $12 for a beer. Bloody Mary's is a popular place to visit, no floor, just sand, but expensive. Highly recommend you book a tour with Patrick Tairua. His all day circle the island boat adventure with lunch on his private island was really nice. There was a large group of us from the roll call that went on this trip. http://www.maohinui.net/en/a-propos-de-maohinui/item/42-patrick-tairua

Tahiti, You dock right next to downtown Papeete, kind of busy place, not really a tourist location. Take a tour outside of town.

Moorea, a tender port. Basically a few vendors at the tender dock. One store up the street where you can get a soda or ice cream pop, another similar store down the road. That's it. Many booked a day pass at one of the hotels. We took a Princess jeep tour to some of the sights around the island. It's a beautiful island, but not much there.

Hope this helps get you started.

We sailed this itinerary on the Star Princess in 2013, and are booked for the Emerald in 2020, also. It's an amazing itinerary. My avatar here on CC is the back end of the Star overlooking Moorea.

We stay in ocean view cabins, so I cannot speak to your cabin questions.

Princess has very good subject matter experts giving lectures about the South Seas exploration and history. I attended all of them, and they are usually at 10am in the morning. They have local entertainment come on board in Hawaii and Papeete: dance troupes. We loved that, also.

To us, it's all about the scenery. However, we have done the 1/2 day motu snorkeling in Bora Bora and loved it. Friends of ours arranged a lunch in one of the private over-water bungalows at one of the resorts while in port in Moorea and loved it. My husband and I took a tour of Moorea that emphasized the flora, fauna, and scenery. I learned the basics of how to pronouce South Seas words from the guide.

This is not like a European, Australian, or New Zealand cruise: it's natural beauty and the sea. It's relaxing and gorgeous.

We've been on 4 different Princess ships, and find all of them to be very nice. I think low key elegance in the common areas. The food is very good, and the service on all four ships was excellent.

If you haven't already, you might want to join the conversation from other passengers on this roll call thread for the cruise:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2635823

Following. This cruise is on bucket list.

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Following. This cruise is on bucket list.

 

 

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And, so it should be! Short flight from AZ, 28 nights, Hawaii and Tahiti. Right now Princess is including tips and cabin upgrades until 11/19/18. The Big Box Store's price is good, and there's a $615 cash card after you get home. Plus, Princess was giving $100 pp obc a week ago. I changed our booking to take advantage of these offers, and the price was over $200 cheaper than when I booked, even with the "price adjustment" for free tips.

We did this cruise last October on the Emerald Princess. We had an outstanding time and a great cruise critic group.

We did a private tour in Tahiti with Red Mercedes. She knows everyone one the island. If you want to buy pearls at a discount she knows the people.

Bora Bora we did Patrick’s Tour. It was outstanding It books up quickly.

America Samoa we did a private tour due to it was Sunday. A lot of people went to $5.00 beach.

Moorea we did a snorkeling tour. We swam with the rays and Black tip sharks.

We did not make it ti Apia because they are building a new pier. Great sailing!

My wife and I did this cruise the first time they offered it a couple of years ago on the Sapphire. It is basically the same cruise except with the overnight in Bora Bora.

 

My reply is probably what you don't want to read. But if this your first time in non Hawaiian ports I would recommend this cruise with reservations (unless you are not interested in the ports.). If this is your first trip to the South Pacific I truly believe you need to spend more time than a couple of hours in these ports especially Tahiti. The Samoas are some of my favorite places. You could probably do them in a day but spending a couple of days there is even better.

 

Also I think there are like 18 sea days out of the 29 day cruise. So you are spending over half your fare on sea days. There are 8 straight sea days coming back. I like sea days but after 8 straight, for the first and only time, I wanted to get. off the ship after the cruise was over.

 

I had been to the South Pacific before. SO for me it was a great cruise (aside for sea days 6, 7 and 8 coming back to LA). I was frustrated not staying in these ports longer but I knew that would be a problem when I purchased the cruise. My wife loved this cruise. She had never been to the South Pacific before. I don't think she knew what she was missing.

 

So, yes, take this cruise if you don't mind spending over half your money on sea days, have no problems with 8 straight sea days and you realize you are not spending nearly enough time in. the ports. But also it is a great adventure sailing the South Pacific.

 

Yes I would like to do it again someday. (After another land trip!)

We have this cruise booked for 3/30/19. We are looking forward to all the sea days. We would never pay the cost to fly & stay on these islands. For us this is a great way to spend a wonderful relaxing trip and get a taste of these places that other wise we would never see. In pricing just a 7 day trip to Tahiti for us $4000 airfare $2500 hotel stay. For us cruising to places like Tahiti & Bora Bora, make our travel budget stretch to get the most for our money.

We have this cruise booked for 3/30/19. We are looking forward to all the sea days. We would never pay the cost to fly & stay on these islands. For us this is a great way to spend a wonderful relaxing trip and get a taste of these places that other wise we would never see. In pricing just a 7 day trip to Tahiti for us $4000 airfare $2500 hotel stay. For us cruising to places like Tahiti & Bora Bora, make our travel budget stretch to get the most for our money.

My wife and I did the same thing. We priced it out flying over and staying there for a 3 island tour then looked at the cruise and the cruise was a better deal. Now if I could find a little price reduction for us then it would make my day. We are really looking forward to the cruise. It is our first on princess, but have cruised on carnival, celebrity, and royal c.

Compare your cruise to one we did with another cruise line; your 18 sea days out of 29 days is not my "cup of tea"!!

 

Fri 13-Oct Honolulu, Oahu

Sat 14-Oct Nawiliwili, Kauai

Sun 15-Oct Hilo Hawai'i

Mon 16-Oct At Sea

Tue 17-Oct At Sea

Wed 18-Oct At Sea

Thu 19-Oct At Sea

Fri 20-Oct Nuku Hiva, French P

Sat 21-Oct At Sea

Sun 22-Oct Fakarava; French P

Mon 23-Oct Bora Bora, French P

Tue 24-Oct Moorea, French P

Wed 25-Oct Papeete, Tahiti

Thu 26-Oct Raiatea, French P

Fri 27-Oct Bora Bora, French P

Sat 28-Oct Bora Bora, French P

Sun 29-Oct At Sea

Mon 30-Oct At Sea

Tue 31-Oct Pago Pago, Am S

Wed 1-Nov Lost Day IDL

Thu 2-Nov At Sea

Fri 3-Nov Lautoka, Fiji

Sat 4-Nov Suva, Fiji

Sun 5-Nov At Sea

Mon 6-Nov Port Vila, Vanuatu

Tue 7-Nov At Sea

Wed 8-Nov Noumea New C

Thu 9-Nov Isle Pines, New C

Fri 10-Nov At Sea

Sat 11-Nov At Sea

Sun 12-Nov Sydney, Australia

Flying home from Sydneyi is not mine, rather be at sea.

Compare your cruise to one we did with another cruise line; your 18 sea days out of 29 days is not my "cup of tea"!!

We did this cruise on Emerald Princess last year. Loved it. Didn't have a problem with the sea days. Port intensive cruises wear us out. :)

Bora Bora was beautiful. Pago Pago not so much.

Those who have done this cruise we would appreciate your feed back on the ports other than the Hawaii ports as we have been to those many times over

 

We are looking at doing this cruise Feb 2020 on emerald Princess .what is your opinion of emerald Princess in a Balcony cabin BB Category .

 

Thanks for any & all information :D

Loved Bora Bora. You can either book one of the party-type boats or you can pick up a small boat tour where the tenders dock. It is beautiful. Loved getting out into the water that was maybe 5 feet deep, warm, while the rays and sharks swam around. They are black tip sharks and don't eat you. :) There is pretty much nothing to do in the one tiny little town. There was one place to eat but it had a huge line.

Pago Pago we visited the headquarters of the US National Park of American Samoa. My wife is "collecting" US National Parks and this was the time to get this one. :) Not a heck of a lot to do here. Many people went to $2 Beach (which costs $5). We found it to be crowded and not much in the way of beach. Very rocky even out in the water. If you do go here get together with some folks and take a bus. If you take a taxin verify the cost first or you may get there and find that the driver tries to charge you a crazy amount. Not cool at all.

Moorea is beautiful. We had an excursion there but not through Princess.

I don't know if Princess is still claiming to go to Apia or not but, if it's on your itinerary, don't count on it. They have been working on the port there for a few years. Unless they have finally finished the ship won't be porting there.

We did a day pass to a resort in Tahiti with some other folks so I can't really tell you much about the actual "Tahiti Experience". It's French.

We loved this cruise and hope to hit some of the same places again one of these days if we can swing a Sydney to Los Angeles cruise. :cool:

As for Emerald Princess: We liked the ship. I "think" the CD is still Dave Clark and we liked him as well. Say hello for me to Chris - bartender in Wheelhouse. He "may" remember me as I drank Talisker for 28 days and most folks don't drink that. :) (I also not only put in the Consummate Host card for him but also mentioned him in the post-cruise survey and then sent a note regarding him - and some of the other crew - to Princess. I got a nice call back from them and they said they would forward my comments to both him and his supervisor. Hopefully they did so.)

Did this cruise on the Sapphire in 2011. Loved, loved, loved it. We enjoy sea days - activities throughout the ship or just sitting on the balcony with a good book (or napping). We had a balcony a bin on Caribe and really loved having the extra balcony space. Sapphire is my favorite ship.

My DW and I have done this 5 times already and are looking at the Feb 2020 cruise as well. As other posters have said you need to be prepared for a lot of sea days which doesn't bother us at all.

I noticed you were interested in Resort Day passes if you look at Pescado Amarillo's cruise blog (http://pescadoamarillo.blogspot.com/) she did multiple cruises on the Pacific Princess in 2014 and 2015 and they went to quite a few resorts to give you some ideas.

Hope this helps a little and maybe we will see you onboard.

My DW and I have done this 5 times already and are looking at the Feb 2020 cruise as well. As other posters have said you need to be prepared for a lot of sea days which doesn't bother us at all.

 

I noticed you were interested in Resort Day passes if you look at Pescado Amarillo's cruise blog (http://pescadoamarillo.blogspot.com/) she did multiple cruises on the Pacific Princess in 2014 and 2015 and they went to quite a few resorts to give you some ideas.

 

Hope this helps a little and maybe we will see you onboard.

Holy Cow! 5 times and looking at a 6th. I am officially jealous! :p

Holy Cow! 5 times and looking at a 6th. I am officially jealous! :p

Added: Plus Princess!

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My reply is probably what you don't want to read. But if this your first time in non Hawaiian ports I would recommend this cruise with reservations (unless you are not interested in the ports.). If this is your first trip to the South Pacific I truly believe you need to spend more time than a couple of hours in these ports especially Tahiti.

That's true for every port I've ever been to (with the exception of Korsakov). But better eight sea days than one trans-Pacific flight. I'm booked on the r/t the end of next March and thoroughly looking forward to being bored to death.

We did this exact cruise on the Emerald approx. 2 or 3 years ago. I agree with Dfields regarding sea days. As much as we love them,. 8 continuous ones coming home was a bit much.

As for ports - we have taken the Hawaiian cruise several times so nothing new there. We found Tahiti itself a bit disappointing as it was very industrialized. Bora Bora and Moorea were just what we dreamed the south pacific would be. Beautiful islands.

Just consider you are going on a relaxing long trip and enjoy the ride.:):)

We did the previously mentioned tour with Patrick and it was one of the highlights of the entire cruise. Lunch was awesome …. some local foods, grilled chicken, as well as fresh caught lobster tails grilled to perfection and champagne …. all served buffet style on one of the most beautiful beaches one can imagine.

For Pago Pago, one of our friends who had been there before got in touch with Tisa, of Tisa's Barefoot Bar, and she picked us up, along with about 20 other cruisers, in a fancied-up school bus, and gave us a personally narrated tour of the island, followed with lunch on the beach, prepared island style (cooked in a sand pit lined with rocks (called an omu or something similar)) and served on "plates' made of leaves, along with local beer and other beverages. After lunch we had free time to enjoy the beach, which is on a quiet cove, before being returned to the ship. Another extremely memorable day!

I can honestly say that itinerary was my all-time favorite.

We did this cruise on Emerald Princess last year. Loved it. Didn't have a problem with the sea days. Port intensive cruises wear us out. :)

 

 

 

Bora Bora was beautiful. Pago Pago not so much.

 

 

 

 

 

Loved Bora Bora. You can either book one of the party-type boats or you can pick up a small boat tour where the tenders dock. It is beautiful. Loved getting out into the water that was maybe 5 feet deep, warm, while the rays and sharks swam around. They are black tip sharks and don't eat you. :) There is pretty much nothing to do in the one tiny little town. There was one place to eat but it had a huge line.

 

 

 

Pago Pago we visited the headquarters of the US National Park of American Samoa. My wife is "collecting" US National Parks and this was the time to get this one. :) Not a heck of a lot to do here. Many people went to $2 Beach (which costs $5). We found it to be crowded and not much in the way of beach. Very rocky even out in the water. If you do go here get together with some folks and take a bus. If you take a taxin verify the cost first or you may get there and find that the driver tries to charge you a crazy amount. Not cool at all.

 

 

 

so.)

Hello Thrak,

Did you take a Princess excursion to the US National Park of American Samoa or were you able to find bus/taxi to get you back/return at the pier. Looking for something to do in Pago Pago and the National Park is at the top of the list.

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Hello! Can someone refresh my memory how to SEE this cruise (Feb or Mar 2020) on the Princess website? I had it up last night but had to close my browser and now it doesn't matter whether I click Hawaii or either of the TWO "South Pacific" -- or whether I choose "Los Angeles (Long Beach)" or simply Los Angeles... I cannot see any cruises much less the 28-day Tahiti RT.

Funny way to run a business.

Hello! Can someone refresh my memory how to SEE this cruise (Feb or Mar 2020) on the Princess website? I had it up last night but had to close my browser and now it doesn't matter whether I click Hawaii or either of the TWO "South Pacific" -- or whether I choose "Los Angeles (Long Beach)" or simply Los Angeles... I cannot see any cruises much less the 28-day Tahiti RT.

 

Funny way to run a business.

Princess website is down. Normally you would check for Hawaii from LA , over 16 nights

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