On our first full day in Tahiti, you might imagine we took an island tour. Went to a beach. Shopped for Tahitian black pearls. Instead, we spent the day first unpacking, and then looking for liquid hand soap and laundry detergent. The latter took half of our time and all our money and so from here on out we can't afford to leave the ship.
I'm only half kidding.
As I mentioned in my last post, we started stirring about 5am, which was later than I might have expected. My first real view of our cabin (an obstructed ocean view cabin on Deck 3) was not promising. It didn't help that we had unpacked luggage and dirty clothes everywhere. It didn't help that the bed was set up, as it was supposed to be, with the headboard on the right wall. It didn't help that the storage was very un-Emerald Princess- (or any Grand Class ship for that matter) like. Oh my. Where to start?
I reminded myself that the Pacific Princess is the ship used for the 100+ day World Cruise, and if those passengers could figure out how to make this cabin work, we certainly should be able to.
It was still early, so we quickly unpacked, and, in doing so, discovered just how workable the storage in this cabin is. I don't care for the closet doors, or the glass door covering the bathroom shelves (I want open, accessible storage in a cruise ship cabin ) but, aside from that very minor beef, everything fit with room to spare. I gathered up dirties for a first load of laundry (fingers crossed here that there are no burrs in the Pacific Princess' commercial washer or dryer drums) simply because I couldn't stand to have the clothes we had traveled in with us in the cabin. Then, after getting approval from our cabin steward, Bianca, we started rearranging furniture.
You should have seen us, G holding up the end of one bed as I pushed the other bed underneath and past it. In the end, we moved both beds under the porthole window, and it seemed to double the floor space in this cabin. The table in front of the love seat just fit in the closet, and that gave us even more room. And just those two moves made this a cabin anyone could do a World Cruise in.
Don't worry...we'll put it all back in order before we disembark.
By then it was 7:30am, and the Club Restaurant was open for breakfast. We were famished. Furniture moving the morning after a day of travel will do that to a person, I guess. After ordering the usual (mixed berries and orange slices to start and egg beaters with double salsa) I sat back and spotted the waiter working the next table. He was Romeo from the Philippines who we knew from the Emerald Princess. And another waiter, Frederick, came to say Hi. He, too was from the Emerald Princess. That's a very enjoyable part of cruising Princess, seeing crew members we've cruised with in the past.
We then spent some time seeing the ship, which is totally see-able in about 15 minutes. Naturally, much of it was recognizable from photos and videos I've seen online, but what was a bit of a surprise is that, though it is exactly as it appears in media, it's all so small. In fact, it very much reminds me, in style and decor, of Holland America's small ship, Maasdam. Granted, the Maasdam holds twice as many passengers, but it certainly has the same feel. And we loved the 24 nights we spent on the Maasdam.
We had awakened to a steady rain, which discouraged us from leaving the ship this morning. We found two cushioned loungers on the wide, covered Promenade Deck and settled in to watch the ferry and boat traffic. The island of Moorea is just across the channel from Tahiti and ferries run back and forth all day long. One of us (not me, of course) might have snoozed and, before we knew it, it was time for an early lunch.
The Panorama Buffet is oh-so-tiny, and the pizzeria is actually located right in the buffet, which is not so good for pool-side pizza consumption (on the larger ships it's located adjacent to a pool) but is superb for grabbing a piece of pizza and a salad from the salad bar quickly and easily. Most people appeared to be off the ship sightseeing, because the buffet was nearly empty, and I took advantage of that to take food photos. I had already received my orders for the day from McGuy:
Forget the scenery; he wants FOOD photos!!
By then, the rain had just about stopped, though the nearby mountains were shrouded in clouds. We were able to eat on the (partially) covered terrace behind the buffet and take in the scenery. Pinch me- I'm in Tahiti!
Finally, it was time to walk off the ship, and we reversed last night's walk down the pier, only this time we weren't soaked with rain and weren't rolling carry ons through puddles of water. That was a bit rough last night, but I was so happy to be here I was oblivious to the inconveniences.
We stopped by the Tahiti Visitors Center located right at the pier, and an adorable guy offered us his best ideas for purchasing hand soap and laundry detergent, two things that didn't make the cut when it came to best using our allowable baggage weight. Our first stop was the port pharmacie located right across the street, but we immediately ran into trouble. There were simply no brands we were familiar with, and though they had lots of nicely fragranced liquid soaps, most of them were a bit too fragranced to appeal to G. Finally we found a fragrance free utilitarian shower gel in a pump dispenser that would do the job. At nearly US $10, it was our introduction to French Polynesia's exorbitant prices.
We wandered the shops closest to the waterfront looking for laundry detergent but not seeing any. Finally, we walked through Papeete's municipal market (called Le Marché) and that provided some of the funnest photo ops of the day. Fish, fruits and vegetables of all types and colors, and every vendor, to a person, smiled and gestured permission for me to take photos when I asked (in the Caribbean, a request like that might get me an open palm for a bribe). Everyone we met was very welcoming.
Our iPhones 6s garnered us as much interest as we were showing in the produce and fish, and opened the door for us to ask lots of questions and have some good, though simple conversations. French in the official language but Tahitian is also widely spoken; English is less common, but most of the younger people could speak at least a bit. Finally, we were directed to one last possible store for laundry detergent and here we hit pay dirt. Concentrated gel laundry detergent in a tube about twice the size of a toothpaste tube for $13. Of course, we had to ask two 12-year old boys, stopping in for after-school ice cream treats which tube was detergent and which was fabric softener. They didn't have a clue, but were willing interpreters between the store clerk and us. In fact, they seemed tickled to have been consulted and, for their trouble, we paid for their ice cream. $28 poorer for hand soap, laundry detergent...and ice cream, we returned to the ship in preparation for muster drill and sail away.
The Pacific Princess is so small that there are only two muster locations (the large ships usually have five). Our location was the Club Restaurant, and it was quick and simple...though I was surprised to hear a new narrator on the safety briefing. We also had to take our life jackets with us and put them on (that's changing in some ships). It was there that we saw our Captains Circle host / Future Cruise Consultant, none other than Catherine Fullarton, one of our favorites who we spent most of our cruises with two winters ago.
We raced back to our cabin for quick showers and to dress for dinner before sail away, but we actually sailed early (as we could see out our porthole window). Oh well, we'll be doing this again in ten days. Instead we went up to the Sterling Steakhouse which is where the Elite Lounge is held. It's an excellent location, up on the highest deck 10, with floor to ceiling windows, but has tables and chairs instead of sofa seating so it feels a bit different than Skywalkers in the Emerald Princess.
Sitting there, watching the water, was a bit surreal. Did we really go home for 6 1/2 months, because that felt so...normal, like it's something I do everyday.
Dinner in the Club Restaurant at 6pm was at a table for 2 with Antonio from Portugal and Gerald from India. The menu featured my very favorite entree, cioppino, Italian seafood stew, and one of my fav desserts, Key Lime Pie. Both were in short supply last winter on the Emerald Princess, and I enjoyed them very much.
A comedy magician show followed in the Cabaret Lounge, the equivalent of the Princess Theater. G was asleep before it ended (and he was far from the only one). The time change was catching up with him as it is right now with me. It's 10:48pm, 4:48am EDT, and I have just this minute hit a wall. I'll post this now, and call it a day.