Booked our flight and transfer to Tahiti thru Princess, and everything went as expected. The flight was on time and we arrived at 5:00 AM in Papeete, our pick-up to the ship was scheduled at 8:00 AM so we did have to wait a while at the airport but the bus was on time and rather than take us straight to the ship we were given an Island tour for the next 3 1/2 hours... everyone was tired but it gave us a taste of things to come. Gorgeous Grotto, wonderful waterfalls and the colorful flowers cheered us all up after our eight hour flight from Los Angeles.

Check in was fast and easy. After having sailed on larger ships, everything was smaller but well laid out. The Pacific Princess is an older ship but beautifully maintained. Our balcony cabin #7009 was a fair size and the shower was as expected, not very large but well laid out. We had sufficient room for all our luggage and the two suitcases we brought fit perfectly under the bed.

The nice thing about sailing on a smaller ship is that everything is easy to find and nothing is very far - we used the stairs, never the elevators. There were no long lines anywhere - not even at the Buffet. We were told that the ship was not completely sold out, approximately 500 passengers which may have been the reason for no long lines. The dining room schedules were for 6PM early seating and 8:30PM late seating. We chose the early seating and never had to wait, We loved having the same waiter and busboy for dinner every night, table #42 - they were totally awesome We usually have anytime dining but on this cruise the scheduled seating worked well. We did notice people lining up for the later seating but I don't think they were ever late in getting into the dining room. Our favorite bar was the Club Bar where we spent many enjoyable hours with our friends and our favorite bartender and Bar Server. The food in the dining room was great, no complaints from us or our travel companions. The buffet food was ok, but what can you expect from a buffet? We never like to eat at a buffet so for us to rate this would not be fair. We did have breakfast there several times and the food was hot and plentiful. Read more