Arriving in Papeete airport is like going back in time. You walk off the plane down a flight of stairs to an open air terminal with no air conditioning. We arrived by bus to the ship and were checked in through the Princess tent relatively quickly as we were the 1st of 3 buses. On board around 9:00 pm. Even at night it is humid, though there are light breezes.

At 10:00 pm that first night there is a local Tahitian dance & music review. This is the first of 3 that will be offered during the cruise and a great way to get acquainted with the culture and fill in the time waiting for your luggage.

TP is unlike any other Princess ship  more like a small boutique hotel. No glitz and chrome. Our mini suite was quite spacious w/lots of storage and room to move about w/o bumping into each other. The small refrigerator can hold a max of 6 bottles of wine or a couple of 6 packs if you take out the ice bucket. Our room had the new upgrades. The striped bed linens are very nice; ask about the pillow menu for the right fit. The new Beautyrest beds are not any more comfortable than the regular beds so ask for the egg crate mattress pad right away. The feather duvets are lovely but impractical - too heavy for humid travel and you cant cool the rooms enough -especially if you leave your balcony door open for any amount of time. Complaint about room noise-not beside us but above us. We were below the pool deck which didnt carry sounds but the running track above it did. At first we thought it was just ships noise but after going up on deck we realized the pounding intervals definitely fit the joggers. We were awakened by the sound of joggers every morning about 6:00 am  so earplugs for light sleepers or go jog.. Read more