Wednesday, February 14, 2007

SOUTH PACIFIC CRUISE

DEPARTING PAPEETE - SEPTEMBER 2004


"PAPEETE PORT - The departure to the South Pacific cruise took place from the Autonomous Port of Papeete. The quality of the site of the Papeete harbour, connected to the ocean by a pass of 110 meters wide and 10.9 meters deep, was a major factor for the development of the port as early as the second half of the nineteenth century. But it was in the twentieth century, mainly from 1962 through 1966, that the port facilities improved significantly. The facilities include more than 2,500 meters of quays, including two berths for cruise ships, and several others for inter-island coasters, freighters, ferries to Moorea, catamarans and yachts"


"TAHITIAN PRINCESS - There were mainly two cruise possibilities for visiting French Polynesia. We opted for the Tahitian Princess - a six hundred and seventy passenger ship - because it was a ten day cruise and visited also Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands"


"WELCOME ABOARD"



"POOL AND JACUZZI - It was probably the only time when both Jacuzzi tubs were not crowded"




"DEPARTURE - By 5:00 p.m. on the second day in Papeete, the Tahitian Princess was prepared to start moving, and the small yellow boat from the Port pilots was ready to show the way"


"GROUP PHOTO – With the pilot onboard, our group was also ready to go!"



"MOVING - With Papeete on our back, and the airport runaway on our left, the Tahitian Princess was heading to our next destination: Huahine!"



"SUNSET with clouds and Moorea in the horizon. The pilot was back again in the small boat..."

5 comments:

John said...

Gil,

We have never been on a cruise ship before. We have thought about flying to Vancouver Washington and then taking a cruise to Alaska. However, I suspect we won't do this for a few years yet.

Right now we are debating on where to go for our summer vacation. We haven't decided on whether to do something here in the United States or perhaps going to Italy or back to England.

I would be curious to hear your thoughts on taking a cruise versus other forms of travel.

I have been lax lately in updating my blog lately. It has been very busy at work, but I will try to put something up this weekend, probably our trip to Disney World. Then when I have more time I will organize and scan our photos from our Paris trip. I want to try to do a good job on the Paris trip so I may have to wait until I have more time.

Best regards,

John

Anonymous said...

Hi John,

I understand your doubts on taking cruises; actually we began taking cruises with the age and many years after starting travelling around… Anyhow, I believe it’s a nice option for your holidays. The big advantage, further to life on board (which depends also on how keen you are to get seasick), is that you only pack once. Your hotel travels with you and every morning it’s docked at a new port. This is great! The disadvantage is exactly this one: usually you’re on a new port everyday, so you don’t have much time to visit the sites on the way. However, provided that you choose adequately the itinerary (Caribbean, Alaska, Yasawa Islands – Fiji or some Mediterranean or Northern Europe cruises, avoiding cities that deserve more than one day, except as a starting on ending points…), cruising may be a very good choice! I prefer 10 to 14 day cruises, with only two days entirely at sea, including the day before disembarking!
Take Alaska. We opted for a cruise tour with some days on land before taking the ship. It was THE perfect choice, starting in Anchorage, going to Denali National Park and Fairbanks and then to Seward where we boarded. After, we cruised the College Fjord, Glacier Bay (a must), Sitka, Juneau, Ketchikan, and ended in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada! It was very nice; even if the famous wet summer made its appearance (you may see some of these under the labels Alaska and Cruises).
Italy is magnificent! You can start going there, because you’ll need to return many times to see it... Thousands of years of history! A bit hot in summer, anyhow. UK, not only England, is OK.
Hope to see you posting again.
All the best
Gil

Cris said...

Never been on a cruise before... and they are quite popular here now.

Anonymous said...

Hi Cris,

Don't worry. I think I took the first multi-day cruise when I was 49...
Brasil (I resist to write it with a z) has two interesting cruise options: Amazon River and Rio to Santiago, Chile, through Magellan Strait... But, departing from South America, my first option would be Antarctica...

Anonymous said...

Hi!
Yes: Antarctica is more and more mentioned at home these days. At least once a week sometimes even more... I hope that we will be able to do it soon!!!