Fall 2014: A whole new world to explore

It was time to shake things up a bit. I know I've just said that the Caribbean is the easiest and cheapest place for us to cruise during the winter and showed you the Caribbean photo book that keeps me motivated during our months on land and reinforces our love affair with the islands.  And last winter I began my blog by cautioning that, although we had a couple of surprises in store, you ought not imagine Bora Bora breezes were in our near future. But that didn't mean we'd never do something different, and though we had originally thought we'd spend five winters in the Caribbean and then reassess, several things conspired to send us a bit further afield at the start of this winter.

NOW is the time to start imagining Bora Bora breezes...'cause we're cruising Tahiti on the Pacific Princess!!

It must be confessed up front that we've twice been to French Polynesia on month-long transpacific cruises between Australia and California. At least I have; G accompanied me only on the second one as he was away for military duty the first time around. So, while the three islands of Tahiti, Bora Bora and Moorea won't be new to us (I took the photos used in the hints), the others we're visiting will be. Plus, we've only spent a grand total of five days (me) and two days (G) in French Polynesia and always intended to return one day. So why this winter?

I was desperate to spend Christmas at home this year. Yes, I know that means snow and cold and commercialism, all in excessive quantities, and I don't think we'll be wildly decorating our house, inside and out, as we've done in past years. But Grandma's handmade ceramic Christmas tree and the crèche that Dad built us and a fire in the fireplace and holiday parties with friends and baking cookies and driving around to see Christmas lights with the kids...I am ready for all of these things. 

Last year, we said to each other several times that we'd never again have a winter cruise experience as wonderful as that one. With the Emerald Princess cruising out of Houston and the Royal Princess taking over the 10-night Eastern and Southern Caribbean itineraries this winter, things were changing, some for the better and some not. We simply had a bit of trouble psyching ourselves up for spending multiple months on the Royal Princess. That's not to say that the Royal Princess isn't a nice ship, or that we won't do multiple cruises on that ship this winter (heaven help us, the rest of our winter is still not sorted out), but until we do so, it's hard to say that it's a ship that will "live" as well as the Emerald. After the fun we had "cruising around" at the start of last winter, we had decided fairly early on to mix up our winter travel a bit, and my desire to be home for the holidays led us to the idea of flying first in one direction, returning home for awhile and then possibly going the other. 

We initially thought we'd fly to Singapore in late October and cruise south on the Diamond Princess to Sydney, stay on the ship to circumnavigate Australia, and then return home for a bit before heading to the Caribbean. I was all for that one, but G had trouble envisioning the sort of cruising we enjoy (beaches and snorkeling/diving and hiking) and pictured one busy city experience after another, which held little appeal for him. While we both love Sydney, I had to admit he had a point. 

About the time we started to question the Diamond Princess cruises- well, in fact it was exactly four weeks after we'd disembarked the Emerald Princess (which I guess is how much time was required for us to forget our awful experience flying home from Fort Lauderdale)- I noticed that Princess was running a special on air to/from Papeete, the major city on the island of Tahiti and the embarkation port for the Pacific Princess. We didn't have time to dawdle (the promotion was expiring in two days), and that's probably a good thing. We simply decided we were ready for a change, and spending some time in French Polynesia was just what we wanted to do.

I immediately ordered every Tahiti travel book our local library had. This was not going to be like going to the Caribbean where we wake up each morning, see what hurts and what doesn't and check the weather before deciding what to do that day; we have to make the most of this visit, because we're not certain of ever getting back there again. 

We'll once again be doing back to back cruises, and we will be visiting the following islands:  Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Rangiroa, Raiatea, Huahine, Tahaa and Nuku Hiva.

Honestly, just saying those names sends chills down my back...

...and maybe watching this video with underwater and aerial views will send chills down yours!

Ia Orana (yo ra na) Tahiti = Hello Tahiti

The link for those not seeing the video above:  http://youtu.be/-tHGG10blEI

I'll admit to watching this video at least three times over the past several months. G vehemently rebuts this number.  He says he's seen me watch it closer to eight times, and that doesn't count the times he's heard that music coming through the closed bathroom door.

Yeah, okay. Maybe. I AM just a little excited about this trip.  ;-)