Tahiti!
Jeff and I recently spent a week cruising around French Polynesia on an Atlantis all-gay cruise on the Regent Seven Seas M/S Paul Gauguin.
It's a much smaller boat with just 330 passengers, and we enjoyed the smaller size - not just because it was easier to get around but because we could become acquainted with a larger percentage of the crowd. It was the nicest cruise ship I have been on yet. The stateroom was beautiful and just a bit larger than usual, so as not to feel cramped. And the food was awesome! Best of all, all drinks (including beer, wine, and cocktails) were included, and were generally well-made.
The islands were beautiful, with their craggy mountaintops, crystal-clear lagoons, and lush foliage everywhere. We started and ended on Tahiti, and visited Raiatea, Taha'a, Bora Bora, and Moorea. The people on the islands whom we encountered upheld the Polynesians' reputation for friendliness and hospitality. Our tour guide on Raiatea was an American expatriate who married a Polynesian and has lived there for ten years. She offered an interesting perspective on the differences in lifestyles between the U.S. and French Polynesia. While there is no real poverty and suffering on the islands (with all the coconuts, bananas, papaya, fish, etc. in abundance nobody ever goes hungry), the cost of living is the second-highest in the world (behind Japan) and people live much more modestly than we are accustomed to. But then, that's true in most of the rest of the world. But she said everybody is very stress-free and happy.
Raiatea
Taha'a
Bora Bora
Moorea
I got to snorkel three times, and also had the opportunity to commune with the stingrays. Thanks to Jeff's underwater camera, I got lots of great pics.
The slate of Atlantis entertainers and dance parties was somewhat scaled back, given the relatively small size of the cruise, but they were nevertheless enjoyable. The ship's entertainers and the local troupes who entertain on board every week were enjoyable as well.
The only real downside of the trip was getting there and back. After a short hop from PHX to LAX, a three-hour layover, and an eight-hour flight to Tahiti on a cramped Air Tahiti Nui plane, we arrived at 4:30 AM and had ten hours to kill before we could check in on the cruise ship. We approached the ship at about 9:00 AM and asked if we could at least check our luggage at the ship so we could wander around Papeete (capital of Tahiti), and a nice young lady on the ship's staff actually let us on board and told us we could hang around in the common lounge areas until it was time to check in. What a relief!
Coming home, it was the same problem in reverse. We had to be off the ship by 10:00 AM, but our flight was not until 10:00 PM. (There are very few flights to Tahiti, and none are at reasonable times.) So we hung out at the Intercontinental Resort for a few hours. We ate a leisurely (and very expensive) lunch in their restaurant, roamed the immaculate and beautiful grounds and took pictures, and nursed a few drinks in their tiki bar. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon, but it was still tiring to have to kill 12 hours in addition to all the flight time.
Overall, it was a terrific vacation. We saw beautiful islands, ate and drank an overabundance of delicious things, met some nice people, relaxed, enjoyed great entertainment, and just had a wonderful time.
See more pictures here.
It's a much smaller boat with just 330 passengers, and we enjoyed the smaller size - not just because it was easier to get around but because we could become acquainted with a larger percentage of the crowd. It was the nicest cruise ship I have been on yet. The stateroom was beautiful and just a bit larger than usual, so as not to feel cramped. And the food was awesome! Best of all, all drinks (including beer, wine, and cocktails) were included, and were generally well-made.
The islands were beautiful, with their craggy mountaintops, crystal-clear lagoons, and lush foliage everywhere. We started and ended on Tahiti, and visited Raiatea, Taha'a, Bora Bora, and Moorea. The people on the islands whom we encountered upheld the Polynesians' reputation for friendliness and hospitality. Our tour guide on Raiatea was an American expatriate who married a Polynesian and has lived there for ten years. She offered an interesting perspective on the differences in lifestyles between the U.S. and French Polynesia. While there is no real poverty and suffering on the islands (with all the coconuts, bananas, papaya, fish, etc. in abundance nobody ever goes hungry), the cost of living is the second-highest in the world (behind Japan) and people live much more modestly than we are accustomed to. But then, that's true in most of the rest of the world. But she said everybody is very stress-free and happy.
Raiatea
Taha'a
Bora Bora
Moorea
I got to snorkel three times, and also had the opportunity to commune with the stingrays. Thanks to Jeff's underwater camera, I got lots of great pics.
The slate of Atlantis entertainers and dance parties was somewhat scaled back, given the relatively small size of the cruise, but they were nevertheless enjoyable. The ship's entertainers and the local troupes who entertain on board every week were enjoyable as well.
The only real downside of the trip was getting there and back. After a short hop from PHX to LAX, a three-hour layover, and an eight-hour flight to Tahiti on a cramped Air Tahiti Nui plane, we arrived at 4:30 AM and had ten hours to kill before we could check in on the cruise ship. We approached the ship at about 9:00 AM and asked if we could at least check our luggage at the ship so we could wander around Papeete (capital of Tahiti), and a nice young lady on the ship's staff actually let us on board and told us we could hang around in the common lounge areas until it was time to check in. What a relief!
Coming home, it was the same problem in reverse. We had to be off the ship by 10:00 AM, but our flight was not until 10:00 PM. (There are very few flights to Tahiti, and none are at reasonable times.) So we hung out at the Intercontinental Resort for a few hours. We ate a leisurely (and very expensive) lunch in their restaurant, roamed the immaculate and beautiful grounds and took pictures, and nursed a few drinks in their tiki bar. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon, but it was still tiring to have to kill 12 hours in addition to all the flight time.
Overall, it was a terrific vacation. We saw beautiful islands, ate and drank an overabundance of delicious things, met some nice people, relaxed, enjoyed great entertainment, and just had a wonderful time.
See more pictures here.