I don't know what it is about the Pacific Princess. I could never sleep in on turnaround day on the Emerald Princess but on this ship, the one day I DO sleep in is turnaround day. G was up and about (I didn't know where), but I learned last turnaround that, if I want to eat breakfast, I have to get moving, as it's served until just 8:30am (Club Restaurant) or 9am (Panorama Buffet). Still, I was unprepared for the line outside of the dining room when I got there about 8am. It seems with most people facing long travel days today, and many of them not flying out until nearly midnight tonight, many wanted to at least start their day with a full breakfast.
I had just 10 minutes of Internet remaining from my 250 minute package, and so took a moment while I was in the Deck 4 atrium area to phone Mom using Vonage (for free! Get the app!). While I haven't been very successful in phoning her from our Deck 3 cabin, I seem to have better luck on Deck 4 in the atrium. It was the first real conversation we'd been able to have in almost three weeks, and it was wonderful to talk with her.
In fact, I may try to wait to publish my blog posts until the next morning instead of in the evening. Part of my wifi issues on the ship may simply be related to our cabin location. If I start delaying until the next day, that will be the primary reason. I'll see if my upload times are improved if I do that.
G and I finally connected back in our cabin, and walked off the ship to use wifi on the second floor of Le Marché, just a couple of blocks from the pier. I love Le Marché anytime, but on a Saturday morning it was really bustling. You can buy anything here: pearls, jewelry, handicrafts, produce, seafood...it's like the Target of Papeete. G wants to buy me an artificial floral crown (because I ending up being allergic to the real one I got in Raiatea two cruises ago; such a shocker!) and they had some beautiful ones but they were US$ 35-45 and that's just crazy. I actually had one from my 2004 transpacific cruise and it was kicked around in a spare bedroom until I painted a couple of years ago and finally threw it out.
We made our way up the escalator to the second level of Le Marché, based on the directions from the ship's production show dancers and found a cafe, coffee and juice bar where we each purchased a beverage (fresh carrot juice for me; Hinano for G) in order to use the "free" wifi. It was actually of fairly reasonable speed, and we looked around to see several crew members, the magician Greg Moreland, the vocalist Claude-Eric and dancer John also sitting there; intensely internetting. But, honestly, we spent $12 for the beverages; and this is getting expensive; so much so that, when I signed up for my new internet package for this cruise today, I finally succumbed and purchased extra minutes beyond those I get for free with my Elite benefit. G was skeptical; more crappy Internet is still crappy Internet, but I'm hoping it is better up on Deck 4. We have several excursions and arrangements coming up that I need to be confirming; I simply can't to that and stay in touch with Mom and keep up this blog with 25 minutes of internet each day. Fingers crossed that things improve.
We returned to the ship about 1pm with just enough time to gather up our passports and head out again. Our big adventure today was scheduled for 1:30pm...we were in Papeete today with the luxury cruise ship Paul Gauguin, which spends all year in French Polynesia doing (mostly) 7-night Society Island cruises. I had never seen the ship, and so contacted Paul Gauguin Cruises before we left home, begging them to allow us to come on board for a tour. It took a bit of back and forth, and we had to provide our passport information, but they agreed to allow us on board today, the turnaround day for the Paul Gauguin. They were busy with passengers disembarking but their new passengers don't embark until 3pm, so we had this narrow window of opportunity for a visit.
When I awoke this morning and looked out; all I saw was the white side of the Paul Gauguin; it was docked at the very next pier, so it was a quick 2-minute walk to reach the ship. We were greeted by one of their cultural ambassadors, called Les Gauguinnes (female) and Gauguins (male). Our guide was a gorgeous man dressed only in a pareo with that same long, wavy hair we see so often down here. Oh my, yes, I'll follow you anywhere!!I. I was funny to see his heavily tattooed back, flip flops, pareo...and a walkie talkie tucked into his waist on the back. A real mix of past and present!
We spent the next hour touring all the passenger areas of the Paul Gauguin, and I took 100 photos that I will not upload until we return home. Needless to say, with an average per diem price around 300% what the Pacific Princess costs, this is one nice cruise ship. But what really impressed me was that all the art on the ship is Polynesian. There is a mini-museum on board and every exquisite stateroom has at least one Tahitian sculpture, about 24 inches tall. And the entire ship smelled amazing, kind of a mix of vanilla and fresh ocean breeze. We also were able to meet the cruise director and international hostess, and the cruise director had worked for Princess in the past.
Sure, I would have moved over in a heartbeat, but no matter how nice Les Gauguinnes and Gauguins are, and how much they could share about the local culture and crafts, I would miss Douglas Pearson's wonderful lectures. While the Paul Gauguin certainly provides an immersive Polynesian experience, the Pacific Princess does pretty darn well too.
We returned to the Pacific Princess and couldn't wait until 6pm for dinner; we were starved. A piece of pizza each held us over for a few more hours. We went to a Cruise Critic meet and greet at 4pm, and by the time we returned to our cabin and got showered for the evening, it was 6pm and time for dinner. We were lucky; although the first night of the cruise is open seating, we were able to be seated at our usual table tonight, with a beautiful view of the lights of Papeete outside our window.
We are heading back out again tonight...it's our first evening in Papeete where it hasn't been raining hard. Yay! Les roulottes, the food trucks Papeete is famous for, have set up just beyond the pier next to the Pacific Princess from 6pm to 2am, and there are also sorts of delicious food offerings available for purchase. We're hoping to get dessert crepes at one of them, and we're not alone. I suspect many crew members will be dining out there once they've finished working for the day. At 10pm, the Tahiti folkloric show will take place again in the Cabaret Lounge and we plan to attend that, too.
We overnight in Papeete tonight and sail tomorrow at 5pm. Tonight is the equivalent of the night we first arrived, at 10:30pm on October 19th. Our cabin steward Bianca has two late arriving passengers to wait up for (it's so nice that the Pacific Princess does that), which makes for a late night for her, but I told her again today how much that meant to us when we arrived after a 24 hour travel day.
We have no firm plans for our day in Papeete tomorrow. The possibilities are endless, and what we finally do will depend on weather and our moods. As I type this, I am listening to another Douglas Pearson lecture about Papeete on TV. His exploration suggestions would keep us busy here for a year...we'll have to start a to-do list!