Los Angeles to Tahiti Roundtrip Cruise – 2011

We have signed up for another cruise, this one is a 28 Day duration, departing from  Los Angeles. The first port of call is the Hawaiian Islands, where we visit four of the Hawaiian Islands. Then we head south across the Equator, heading to American Samoa,  and Samoa, before heading to the Polynesian Islands, where we visit the islands of Bora Bora, Moorea and Tahiti, before returning to Los Angeles.  The cruise is on Princess Cruises, on the Sapphire Princess Ship. According to press releases, this is the first time Princess has done this Itinerary in 20 years.

Cruise Map

ITINERARY

Planning for the trip is progressing. We have secured rental cars in all four of the Hawaiian Island Port of Calls, some through multiple rental companies at the same port until we can get a better understanding of the pros and cons of the various rental companies. Some have longer lines (according to past reviews), some have shuttle buses to and from the port, and of course, there is price. There are a couple of Hawaiian Travel sites that have links to the rental car agencies, sort of like a rental car broker. These sites actually have the most information on the shuttle availability at the port for the various companies, even providing local phone numbers to verify shuttle services. For most of these ports, the rental car agencies are located at the nearby airports, often a 10-15 min. shuttle ride from the pier.

We have begin to do some of the research on each Hawaiian port to determine what areas we want to see and visit, and to try and determine how much we have time to do.  It is a balance of riding in the car to get places, and the time available to actually walk around and see the sights once you get there.  We always have to weigh the uncertainty of getting back to the ship in time.  Most of the four ports in Hawaii have at least 10 hours of available time, but some, like Oahu, are longer duration.  We are in Oahu until about 11:00 PM.  However, the total time in port we are using for planning assumes the ship arrives on time, lets passengers off on time, there is minimal time to secure a rental car, and we don’t have to wait a long time on tenders.  Luckily, the only port in Hawaii that requires a tender is Maui.

We are also trying to figure out the locations of major grocery stores, we always seem to need a few things, and generally pick up some sodas and wine to take back to the ship.  Although we hear that the prices in Hawaii are high, they will most likely still be lower than any of the other ports we visit after Hawaii, since they are even more remote, and we face the devalued dollar in French Polynesia, a double hit.  We will have to use the first Hawaiian port, Maui, as a test port on the ability to bring “adult refreshments” back onto the ship through the security.  If it is like the Transatlantic cruises we have done on Princess, there will be no problems, we were able to bring anything on board during those cruises.  Our only difficulties in this area were on a transatlantic outing with Royal Caribbean, where we had to use the “token” bottle exchange to smuggle our goods on board.  They would not even allow us to bring wine on board at ports, which is not usually a problem on Princess.  We would purchase the cheapest bottle we could find, usually about 1 Euro, then give it to alcoholic beverage registering crew member after being pointed out by  the security.  Since there was never any communication between the security and the crew member taking the bottles, we only had to produce one for them to confiscate, the “token” bottle.  We would then take the remaining bottles with us to the room.  We did not even collect the token collection at the end of the cruise, it was cheap and nothing we wanted to have anyway.

We have changed our cabin one more time, this time upgrading to a Category BB Cabin on the Caribe Deck.  It is almost next to the even higher priced  Category BA Cabins on Caribe.  These are nicer, they have the larger balconies, and we figured it was worth the extra $200 total increase in price.  Since these were not available when we made the initial reservation, we had been looking on the Princess website for several weeks hoping one would come open.  When one did become available, we went ahead with the upgrade.  More than likely, this will be the last upgrade we do, we don’t see any more cost benefit in being a few cabins closer to the middle of the ship from where we are now.

Based on my rough calculations, we have until about June 24 before the ship’s excursions become available, based on the standard 120 days prior to departure opening time frame from Princess.  We still do not have a firm plan for either Samoa, or American Samoa, we may look into doing a ship’s excursion at these two ports.  We have looked at a couple of local tour companies at these ports also.

That about sums up the recent activities.  We will be concentrating on firming up the plans for the Hawaii Ports, looking at suggestions on the internet, and reviewing our guide books for these islands.

Plans are well underway for the trip.  Since the last update in June, the date has come and passed for the final payment (August 9), which we have made.  It was interesting to monitor the availability of cabins up until that date since reservations could be changed or even cancelled with full refund up until that time.  From this date forward, until we sail in October, we are pretty well locked in to going, with just one more chance for a small partial refund if we had to cancel.

Since the price of this cruise is quite high, we did opt to purchase travel insurance through a company called CSA.  We did a significant amount of investigation into the different types of policies available, all outside of coverages provided through Princess.  Our investigation did show that most veteran travelers recommend getting insurance form a company specializing in travel insurance, not a cruise line, whose main objective it to make money.  In the end, it appears that the same insurance company underwrites our travel insurance policy as well as the Carnival Cruise Lines policies, so we assumed that was the case for Princess Cruises, which is owned by Carnival.

One of the significant coverages, in addition to covering any cancellation of the cruise, is covering the cost of any type of medical evacuation in the event either if us becomes ill, or a non-traveling family member becomes ill back in the USA and we have to return home.  Since this cruise ends up in a part of the world that is somewhat remote, and far from the USA, we felt that this was a good benefit to have.  Apparently, medical evacuation can become quite costly, especially from the remote areas of the world we are traveling to.  We hated to pay the cost of the insurance, but it does buy some peace of mind knowing it is there.

I do have to admit that while reading through reviews of most all of the major travel insurance companies, there were many less than complimentary review from people who had actually had to utilize their policy.  From that information, I was able to determine that one really needs to know and understand the policy limitations, keep within the notification periods, and pay strict attention to the requirements imposed on the traveler when making a claim.  Most of the unhappy reviews seemed to be a situation where they traveler just did not follow the rules set forth in the policy.  Others that did follow the outlined rules had their claims fulfilled without issue.  One interesting observation common across all of the various insurance companies was that none received an overall rating of more than about 3 out of 5 stars from their reviewers.  Hopefully this is more a result of people wanting to find somewhere to give negative feedback than a true indication of the company’s performance.  All in all, still a little unsettling, but it was consistent across the industry.

Princess also finally opened up their excursion list for the various ports.  From monitoring the Cruise Critic web site forum for this cruise, we found out that there had been some unusual delays in opening up the excursions for this cruise.  Most seemed to feel that this was a result of Princess visiting ports that are not normally part of their itineraries, and that some the ports that we do visit are usually done with a much smaller Princess ship.  Apparently, they were having some issues lining up a sufficient number of excursions for some of the more exotic, smaller ports.

Although we are mainly doing port excursions on our own, I had read a couple if interesting items that resulted in a slight change in thought for our excursion plan in a couple of the ports. Fortunately,  there is no negative side to signing up now for the excursions, the cancellation policy is very lenient, and there is no charge to cancel until right before the date of the excursion.  The only two excursions we opted for through Princess were the Pearl Harbor-Arizona Memorial and Missouri Battleship Tour, and a tour in Samoa.

Pearl Harbor

For Pearl harbor, we opted to do this through the cruise line based on reading some stories online about there being potential problems with acquiring reservations for the Arizona Memorial when cruise ships are in port.   Apparently, for some of the past Hawaiian cruises people have been on, they were unable to obtain reservations to the Arizona Memorial when they tried to go on their own.  We did do some research on pricing of other independent tour operators offering a similar package, and found the Princess pricing to be only slightly more.  In addition, there were some unwanted side trips for shopping with the independent operators, which we wanted to avoid.  We still have the opportunity to do additional research to try and determine if we may want to do this tour independently, but we do know that the number of persons who are allowed to visit the Arizona Memorial is regulated.

Here is a description of the excursion to Pearl Harbor from the Princess website:

Take a fascinating tour of the Visitor’s Center which features a poignant short film with actual footage of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 – the devastating event that shocked Americans out of isolationism and prompted the United States to declare war on Japan and thus enter World War II.

Then board a Navy launch and travel to the haunting USS Arizona Memorial. This graceful 184-foot long memorial seems to float serenely above the shattered hull of the sunken ship, destroyed by Japanese bombs on that infamous day. At once beautiful and sobering, this stunning memorial commemorates the 1,177 crewmen (75 were recovered, 1,102 remain entombed there) who were killed during the surprise attack.

Then visit the USS Missouri Memorial berthed on the former “battleship row” at Ford Island. The 887 foot long “Mighty Mo” battleship is a living museum that offers guests a glimpse into the past and the experience of being aboard a ship that is alive with history as well as modern technology. You will be educated and entertained with exhibits, memorabilia and activities that give you a sense of what life at sea was like aboard the world’s last and most celebrated battleship.

Discover the thrilling details of the kamikaze attack on the Missouri; stand in the shadows of the 16-inch guns that pummeled Inchon, Korea; see where 28 Tomahawk missiles were launched during the Gulf War and stand on the “Signature Deck” where General Douglas MacArthur stood when Japanese officials signed and presented him with the “Articles of Surrender” that ended World War II.

We still plan on getting or rental car for the day in Oahu, just later in the afternoon.  We are in port in Honolulu until 10:30 PM, so there will still be ample time for some additional sightseeing with the rental car once we complete the Pearl Harbor excursion.

Western Samoa and American Samoa

We are still not sure what we will do in American Samoa, or Samoa, so it seemed prudent to at least book one tour in one of these ports.  Again, since there is no cost to make a reservation or to cancel, we have signed up for an excursion called the “Piula Cave Pool & Vailele” in Western Samoa.  The excursion is described on the Princess Website as follows:

Piula Cave Pool & Vailele – Board your colorful open-air bus and begin a fantastic half-day island adventure. From the wharf, take a scenic drive out of Apia to the Piula Cave Pool. Travel past the main houses in many of the villages, and observe their European construction. Just behind the houses are spectacular Fales, traditional Samoan thatched huts used during the day for cooking or eating.

Drive along the shore, and observe the sharply eroded, dramatic lava cliffs leading to Piula College. This Methodist seminary is built over a naturally occurring freshwater cave pool. Enjoy a drink of fresh coconut and take a plunge in the subterranean turquoise waters. Explore the underwater passage linking two cave chambers as you swim in the pool. Land lovers will have free time to explore the grounds of the college.

Leave the pool, and get ready for another unique cultural experience. Travel to famed author Robert Louis Stevenson’s house in the small village of Vailima. Stevenson’s final residence now serves as a historic museum with authentic period furnishings. The museum’s well-maintained gardens feature a stunning collection of tropical plants and flowers. Your visit includes a Kava ceremony, celebrating the medicinal powers of the Kava plant, and cultural entertainment. You will also have the opportunity to relax in the gardens surrounding the house.

On your return trip to Apia, stop for photographs of the lagoon and the world famous black-sand beaches at Lauli’i and Solosolo.

We still do not have a firm plan for American Samoa, other than to possibly visit an establishment called Tisa’s Barefoot Bar, apparently one of the more colorful spots in the American Samoa port of Pago Pago.

Tahiti

We have also signed up for a 4 x 4 excursion on the island of Tahiti, but again, only as a place holder until we finalize our own plan for that port.  The main reason for possibly doing a ship excursion here is similar to what we faced while visiting the Canary Islands on a previous cruise.  The City of Papeete in Tahiti is our last port of call before we head back the eight days across the Pacific Ocean for Los Angeles.  If we were to have a mishap and “miss the boat” we would face getting back to Los Angeles on our own, and missing a good part of the cruise.  Maybe for this port, we will either just stay around Papeete and shop for Tahitian Pearls, or go on this excursion and take comfort that we are not responsible for getting back to the ship before it sails.

On another note, we were able to take advantage of an opportunity to get some additional ship board credits by applying for a Princess Credit Card.  If you utilize the card for Princess related purchases, you get double points, which in turn can be cashed in for ship board credits.  We applied for the card a few weeks ago, and then utilized the card for the final cruise payment.  Based on the amount of points we acquired, we are now able to get $300 of shipboard credit.  This was another tip we picked up through Cruise Critic’s Roll Call forum for this trip.    We will take “free” money whenever we can.  Although we are not sure that this was the best way to maximize the value of a credit card rewards program, the doubling of the points seemed to be a good value, or at least, as good as any other credit card program.

There is also a $250 shipboard credit available for shareholders of Carnival Cruise Line Stock.  This option is available to anyone who owns at least 100 shares, and ranges in value based on  the duration of the cruise.  This benefit is available for any and all cruises the shareholder takes in the year it is approved by the Board of Directors, and apparently, has been approved every year for quite a number of years.  One learns about all kinds of ways to maximize the savings from fellow passengers through the Cruise Critic forums.

Plans are still progressing along, as is the countdown until we leave on this cruise, only 22 days to go before we head out to Los Angeles. We will begin the packing process next week. The packing lists are all completed to capture what we want to try and take, the next step being to assemble all of the items together, and determine what will fit into the one large and one carry-on bag we are each taking.

Seems like there is a lot of electronic stuff on our lists, we need all of the gadgets and gizmos to make the trip more like being at home. At a minimum, we will be taking the following items of the electronic variety.

1. DSLR Camera, Lenses, Flash and accessories like battery chargers, remote shutter release, etc
2. Sony Waterproof Camera – Stephanie’s new Camera (and charger)
3. Old Sony DSC-P1 Digital Camera & Waterproof Housing (and charger)
4. HD Video Camera (and charger)
5. Ipod for music in the room and on the balcony (yea! no charger!)
6. Ipod Speakers – Small compact rechargeable system from I-Home (and charger)
7. Ipad – Stephanie’s ebook reader, and of course the charger
8. Kindle – My poor man’s ebook reader, and of course the charger
9. MacBook Pro Laptop – Main Blogging device for these posts (and charger), plus mouse
10. 1 TB Passport portable Hard Drive for video and digital picture back-ups
11. Plug Adapters so we can charge multiple items at one time in the cabin, there is only one outlet
12. GPS for driving in Hawaii
13. And lastly, almost forgot about the two Cell Phones with their chargers.

Looking over the list makes me wonder if we will need another suitcase just for all of the battery chargers. Fortunately, I have been able to modify one of the power cords plugs so that it will fit into several of the separate small chargers that hold the batteries for various devices. One day, maybe there will just be a universal charger that can be used on all electronic devices, that would certainly save space and resources to make them all the same, but not today….

We did find out that you can use the Apple iPhone charger  to charge the Kindle, we just need to take the separate USB cords, so that saves us a lot of space (just kidding, the chargers are about an inch square).  We could charge them all off of the computer, but that would require a charging schedule to get them all “filled up”.

Now for the list of entertainment items that are not electronic:

1. Playing Cards – probably will have them on the ship, but cards seem to be less available than in the past, so we always take one deck with us.

Wow, that’s a short list.

I have gone ahead and modified my “Ultimate” guidebooks that we purchased for the 4 Hawaiian Island stops, physically removing sections from the bound book to minimize the space and weight. I learned this trick while going on European trips, it was really easy with any Rick Steves’ guidebooks, they were easy to “unbind”, probably because they were cheap. The Ultimate guides I have are much better bound, so unfortunately, the first one was sort of experimental, and did not go well. However, when I finally realized I could carefully cut out the required sections with a small pocket knife, the results were better on the next three modifications. Although the section I removed is more intact, maintaining some actual “binding”, there was more overall damage to the outside cover binding. One good thing is that with any of the guide books, I can temporarily reassemble them afterward using a rubber band, and keep them intact for a future trip. No use destroying new books each time, unless they just get too old by the time we re-visit those locations. Overall, this exercise consolidated the four books into one about the size of the thickest one was originally. When you can only visit one or two areas of an island, you certainly don’t need the entire book.

This week we also laminated a couple of copies of our passport. This should work well when we go to any areas where there is the possibility of being in a wet location. It is always recommended to have a copy with you for identification purposes, and to maintain a spare copy in the event the original is lost. Since we are on a ship for the duration of the trip, we won’t have to worry about physically carrying our passports with us as we travel form one location to another, as is the case on a “land” trip.

We cashed in our Princess Visa points for an additional $300 shipboard credits. These mainly came from charging the trip to the Visa, since you get double points for any Princess related charges. We also purchased some Casino Credits, only for the purpose of using them as cash reserves on the trip. Best benefit is that you carry less cash, and get to charge them on the Princess Visa for double points. Since they are not “cash”, it is handled just like any other charge. We may do some additional casino credits as we get closer to the trip, but needed the initial charges to round out the points on Princess Visa that we cashed in for shipboard credit. Now our balance for shipboard credits stands at $850, which will help offset the daily tips and some of the excursions we have reserved. I am sure we will find a way to spend them over the 28 day cruise duration.