We had a great time on our 10 night cruise on the Ocean Princess followed by 3 nights at the Moorea Pearl Resort in an over water bungalow. The ship was great - terrific staff, good food, enjoyable entertainment, wonderful ports, really great excursion I arranged myself, lots of sun, no rain, and nice people cruising with us. My husband and I first cruised in the early 80s on Royal Caribbean, and we've saved up every few years to continue with these luxury trips on various lines. This was our 15th cruise, the 5th on Princess, and we have also gone on 2 with Carnival, 1 with Celebrity, and a couple on small European cruise ships. I first discovered CruiseCritic.com in 2003 when planning our first trip to Tahiti. The valuable information I got then (and now) was so helpful that I feel I must now "pay it back" by writing this review. Most everything I read from other posters was on target and I recommend future cruisers take advantage of information relayed by generous travelers.

We flew the red eye on Air Tahiti Nui and found the seats to be the most uncomfortable we've ever experienced. As other reviewers previously mentioned, the food was not too good. The flight was jam packed but we survived, knowing Tahiti was at the end of the flight. There was no problem getting through customs, using the ATM for polynesian francs, or finding a taxi to the port. I had tried ahead of time to get a half day tour of the island with pickup at the airport, but no one would accept us with our luggage. I took a chance that Princess would have porters for drop off of luggage, and was so glad ther were there even thous embarkation did not start until around noon. By 9 a.m. we were walking around Le Marche which was open half day on Sunday for a farmer's market. The colorful fish, exotic fruits and vegetables, and fresh coconut drink were an enjoyable way to pass the time until we were allowed to embark at around noon. We also walked over to check out the ferry schedule to Moorea, which was just a few blocks adjacent to where the ship was docked.

The Ocean Princess was as good as when we first sailed her as the Tahitian Princess in April, 2003. This time there seemed to be more international passengers, perhaps because it was a holiday/New Year's Cruise. It was nice to hear people chatting in French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese and Japanese. There were a few children and youth on board, all nicely behaved. I saw middle aged couples, honeymooners, and retirees like us (we are 69 and 66, retired for 10 years). We always select second seating and usually like a table for 2, but this time there were too many other requests for the few tables for 2 that they have. Our table of 8 was a nice mix of 2 younger and 2 older couples. While the service was good, it did take about 2 hours to get through dinner. We all agreed that was too long. The variety of food on the menu had something for everyone, and we chose to dine there every night rather than visit the specialty restaurants. We had experienced them before on other cruises. Read more