Our Tahitian trip was booked on the Dawn Princess during our August 2005 Alaskan cruise. There is a phenomenon on cruises where you have this insatiable desire to start planning your next cruise because you do not want this fantasy experience to end. Our cruising has been on larger ships, from 90-130,000 tons, which hold from 1,900-3,500 people. The Tahitian Princess is the former R3, 670 passage ship from the defunct Renaissance Line. The Future Cruise Sales Lady said it was a gorgeous ship, traditional in dEcor and intimate in feel.

I had always wanted to travel to Tahiti. As a kid, Id cut out of magazines pictures of over the water bungalows  a virtual floating hotel room, surrounded by water where you literally jump out of bed and into the sea water for a morning swim. A ten day cruise sounded heavenly and the Cook Island itinerary nicely fit our schedules.

In January 2006, I moved our reservation from Princess Travel to an internet agency to secure a better price (a reported savings of $760) and better cabin. When it came time for final payment, we learned Mr. X, the agent misstated the actual savings. After a lengthy email campaign, which ended up just short of the General Managers desk, we received about $450 (a small victory but it was the principle!) The blessing of this fiasco was when the customer service manager turned us over to a well seasoned travel and cruise professional. Read more