Business
Good News. Cruise Ships Back In Business
P&O Cruises moves in
Two former Renaissance Cruises passenger ships are due to be back in business before the end of the year as French Polynesia-based P&O Princess Cruises vessels.
The Tahitian Princess, formerly the 684-passenger R-4, will operate year-round cruises from French Polynesia to the Cook Islands, American Samoa, Samoa and the Marquesas Islands. These cruises are due to start on December 23, two days before Christmas.
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There’s already speculation that these cruises will appeal to French Polynesian residents who want to take advantage of the casino aboard each ship that now can open when the vessels are in international waters, something that has never occurred with the Renaissance voyages.
The Pacific Princess, formerly the same capacity R-3, will operate cruises within French Polynesia two months a year, and from Sydney to New Caledonia via Vanuatu the rest of the year. The first Sydney-Nouméa cruise is scheduled to arrive in New Caledonia on November 21.
During a September 6 meeting with French Polynesia’s President Gaston Flosse, P&O officials announced that Princess Cruises was installing in French Polynesia for at least 10 years. Flosse’s office announced that ground services, such as excursion operators, that previously worked with Renaissance Cruises would be given priority by P&O for the Princess Cruises passengers.
However, businesses on Raiatea in the Leeward Islands, where the two Renaissance ships each spent two days during separate 10-day cruises, were not pleased with the prospect of seeing Tahitian Princess only one day on the 10-day cruises to the Marquesas Islands and during the 10-day cruises to the two Samoas.
Both ships — identical with 280 cabins, 64 suites — spent nearly a year anchored in French Polynesia after their previous owner, the Florida-based Renaissance Cruises, declared bankruptcy on September 26, 2001, following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
The two ships left French Polynesia early September for a shipyard in Singapore to undergo dry-dock repairs and uplifting to prepare them for cruising after a year of inactivity, most of which was spent anchored side-by-side at Papeete Harbour.
The tourism industry in French Polynesia originally anticipated that both ships would be operating 10-day cruises similar, if not identical, to what Renaissance offered for nearly two years.
Those cruises all started from Papeete Harbour where passengers spent three days, followed by two days at Tahiti’s sister island of Moorea, and five days in the Leeward Islands — one day at Huahine, two days at Raiatea and two days at Bora Bora before returning to Papeete.
However, the new Tahitian Princess’s itinerary published in the local media announced 34 cruises a year to the Cook Islands, eight cruises yearly to the two Samoas and eight cruises yearly to the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. All cruises will last 10 days.
French daily newspaper, Les Nouvelles de Tahiti, reported August 17 that Princess Cruises is offering a special promotion fare of US$798. But that price does not include the roundtrip airfare from Los Angeles aboard the cruise lines’ exclusive carrier, Air Tahiti Nui.
The cruises to the Cook Islands will spend two days in Papeete, one day in Huahine, one day at sea, one day at Rarotonga, one day at sea, one day at Taha’a and Raiatea, two days at Bora Bora and one day at Moorea, then returning to Papeete.
The cruises to the two Samoas will spend one day in Papeete, one day at Moorea, one day at Raiatea, two days at sea, one day at Apia, one day at Pago Pago, two days at sea and one day at Bora Bora, then returning to Papeete.
The cruises to the Marquesas Islands will spend one day in Papeete, one day at Moorea, one day at the Tuamotu atoll of Fakarava, one day at sea, one day at Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands, one day at sea, one day at the Tuamotu atoll of Rangiroa, sunset at Taha’a, one day at Raiatea and one day at Bora Bora on the way back to Papeete.
The two Princess Cruises ships join two other foreign cruise vessels based in French Polynesia for year-round cruising. Windstar Cruises’ 148-passenger Wind Song and Radisson Seven Seas Cruises’ 320-passenger M/S Paul Gauguin operate weekly cruises within French Polynesia, mainly visiting the Leeward Islands.
French Polynesia’s government notes that during 2001 the two Renaissance ships, the Wind Song and the Paul Gauguin handled a total of 50,000 cruise ship passengers.
Those passengers spent some five billion French Pacific francs (about US$42 million) in shopping, restaurant meals and excursions, the government reported.
