Tahiti on Ocean Princess

[JFO23]

I am not a new cruiser, but have not been on Princess yet. I am looking at a Tahitian island cruise and considering the Ocean Princess Itinerary in Jan. 2013. My TA has told me that Ocean Princess is a smaller ship so will not offer as much in the way of nightly entertainment. Can one of you experienced Princess cruisers give me an idea of what to expect on this ship. We would love to hear that there will be some music on the pool deck daytime, and dancing music in a lounge (other than ballroom) in the evening. Also looking at Paul Guaguin, but my husband is afraid the evenings will be too quiet. Sure appreciate your feedback.:)

[Toto2Kansas]

We have sailed on the Ocean (former Tahitian Princess), the Pacific and the Royal, all small ships and all to Tahiti.

Your TA is correct, they do not offer the bells and whistles in any way as the larger ships. Think one small pool, that is it. One tiny casino. There are shows but even in the lounges they are not the theater style you will find on the larger ships.

Many nights there was Karaoke in the casino bar (small and standing room only). There are music and bands, but I dont' remember seeing any by the pool except on special occasions. Depending on what type of dancing you are looking to do, there is music somewhere onboard each evening, usually a type of classical music from what we saw, as there is no disco or anything like a disco onboard these smaller ships.

These smaller ships are for those that enjoy the old style cruising, and are looking for some great itinerary that the larger ships rarely do, IMHO.

We love the smaller ships, but we have sailed with some passengers that were very unhappy when they learned how limited the night life onboard is.

As long as you are prepared for what they offer, you should be fine. But if you need to go to a club each night and dance the night away, we have never seen that type of thing offered on the smaller ships.

[Aussie Gal]

We have also cruised on the smaller ships 8 times and love the size and the intimacy of these pretty ex "R" ships. Also, they often go to ports that the bigger ships cannot venture and therefore their itineraries are so much more interesting.

 

We have been to Tahiti 3 times and it is a great cruise around the islands.

 

There is usually entertainment each night in the Cabaret Lounge whether it is the Princess dancers or an entertainer and sometimes, they bring on board the locals who will perform their Tahitian songs and dances.

 

Also, there is often dancing or a disco held up in the Tahitian Lounge on Deck 10 later at night which is always fun. It does depend a lot on the ages of the passengers on board. If the ages are a bit younger than 60, then the Tahitian Lounge is a great place to have a bit of fun but if the overall age of the passengers are more in the mid 60's to 70's then a lot of the activities up in the Tahitian Lounge fall a bit flat and finish early in the night.

 

It does depend a lot on whether you need to be entertained or are quite happy to enjoy the company of your fellow cruisers and the beautiful ports you will be visiting. After a day in the sun and sea, a lot of people do tend to go to bed early.

 

Jennie

[Kinkacruiser]

One of the best night of this cruise is Island night (which they had in Raiatea in 2008 as it was an O/N port.) The local concert entertainers who came onboard were marvellous.

I agree there is not a lot to do at night, but in my opinion, this cruise is all about enjoying daytime paradise settings.

[Gabrielle R.]

We did the Tahitian (Now Ocean) 5 years ago. Hawaii to Tahiti. While in Bora Bora, a Paul G was also anchored. I got to visiting with the other passengers. Turned out we had more going on then their ship! We had more entertainment (Toto & Aussie Gal described it perfectly.) The Paul Gaugan had more lectures then we had. Prices for Princess was much cheaper. A few of the Paul G passengers commented, "gee, wish we could jump ship."

My husband & I were in our early /mid 40's when we did this trip. It was a trip of a life tiem for us. We were too tired at night to do much- but wow, did we have fun! My best memory was snorkeling on Bora Bora with my new 70+ year old buddy. Our spouses would't snorkel with us. We looked like Dad & daughter- I had fun, He had fun. Guess it is what you make it. We had sailed the Grand 6 months earlier and then went to the Tahitian. Yup, a jump, Different, BUT we had fun.

Hope that helps!

Gabrielle

[JFO23]

Thanks to everyone! Once again CC pulls through with super helpful information. This is just what I needed to hear. Sounds like Ocean Princess is just what we are looking for.:)

 

Anyone know if the weather is more of a problem in January?

[Aussie Gal]

In January, it can rain quite a bit as it is the rainy season though saying that, it can also rain in June when it is supposed to be the dry season.

 

Tahiti only has two seasons, the wet and the dry and the wet commences around November and goes to April and the dry is from May to November. We have been there in March, April and June and other than more humidity in March/April, we were lucky with the weather and didn't really see much rain at all in those 3 visits.

 

Jennie

[flamomo]

Being a tropical climate, the rain we had when we were there in November a few years ago was typical for the tropics ....... short but intense. Then the sun came right back out!!!

[Joywrk]

We did Tahiti on Ocean Princess 2 years ago. We have cruised 10 times and by far this was our favorite cruise. We loved the small ship, loved the food and especially loved the ports. It is different but a really nice change from big ships. The library was also a real hit for us and we met some great people.

[billie5]

We also sailed with the old Tahitian Princess, and remember it as a really great cruise -- our third most exciting of more than two dozen cruises.

 

Second most exciting: Xpedition in the Galapagos (92 passengers). Most exciting: the Sepik Spirit on the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea (18 passengers). Obviously, we don't have a problem with smaller ships.

 

Bill