Tourism
Cruise Business Gets A Boost In French Polynesia
At least 3 new ships to join the industry
At least three new cruise vessels are expected to be cruising the French Polynesian waters this year.
Aranui 3 is scheduled to begin operating in March while Bora Bora Cruises’ Tu Moana and the Tia Moana hope to start cruising in June.
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The Aranui 3, the biggest and most expensive in the latest of Aranui cargo/passenger ships operating between Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands, is scheduled to make its maiden voyage in March at the very earliest. That departure date can only be confirmed when the ship arrives in French Polynesia which, as of late December, was scheduled for mid-February.
The ship has been under construction in Romania since December 2000 at a cost of 2.3 billion French Pacific francs (about US$20 million).
But the latest version of the Aranui will have a much larger passenger capacity - 208 instead of 104 for the present Aranui. There will be 10 suites, 12 deluxe cabins and 63 standard cabins, plus rooms on deck for 22 passengers. All rooms are air-conditioned. Each suite has a balcony. All suites and deluxe cabins have a double bed and bathroom. The standard cabins have twin beds. There’s also an air-conditioned dormitory with bunk beds and communal toilets.
The new Aranui will also offer one conference room, a business centre, two bars, one salon, one restaurant, one swimming pool and one fitness centre. There will be guest lectures aboard on such subjects as history, anthropology and archaeology as the ship cruises from Papeete to the Tuamotu atoll of Takapoto and the Marquesas islands of Ua Pou, Nuku Hiva, Hiva Oa, Tahuata, Fatu Hiva, Hiva Oa and Ua Huka and the return to Papeete via Nuku Hiva and the Tuamotu atoll of Rangiroa.
This is actually the fourth Aranui vessel, the first carrying only cargo to the Tuamotu Archipelago. The second Aranui began carrying cargo and upto 50 passengers to Tuamotu and Marquesas Islands’ destinations in December 1984. The third Aranui, which is still in service, began operating in January 1990.
Meanwhile, after four years of offering inter-island cruising aboard the Haumana, Bora Bora Cruises is adding two new and bigger ships for seven-day/seven-night cruises among the Leeward Islands of French Polynesia beginning June.
The two new ships are the Tu Moana and the Tia Moana, both of which are being built in Australia. Each fully air-conditioned ship offers four decks plus a solarium and 37 cabins (12 double, 21 with twin beds, four triples) for 74 passengers. Each cabin has a safe for personal belongings, a mini-bar, television with DVD player, radio, telephone, Internet hookup for e-mail.
There are two bars, a restaurant, library, salon, souvenir boutique, two Jacuzzi, and excursion office aboard each new single hull vessel, which measures 69 metres (226 ft) in length and 13.8 metres (45 ft) in width with a draft of 2.1 metres (6.9 ft).
By comparison, the Haumana is smaller overall, offering 19 cabins for 38 passengers in a catamaran format that measures 33 metres in length. Since 1998 the Haumana has carried more than 1400 passengers per year.
Like the Haumana, the two new ships will specialise in lagoon cruising at each of four Leeward Islands, offering a variety of onboard activities, shore excursions and onboard amenities standard with larger cruise ships.
With three ships, Bora Bora Cruises hopes to enlarge its market for resident and overseas passengers looking for voyages aboard smaller, less crowded cruise ships that offer a style closer to that of a private yacht. The three ships also will be marketed to groups, such as incentive groups for employees.
The Tia Moana and the Tu Moana will begin each cruise from the island of Bora Bora, each heading in opposite directions as they visit the other Leeward Islands of Raiatea, Tahaa and Huahine for one or two days each before returning to Bora Bora. Passengers will leave both ships on the morning of the eighth day.
Some of the shore excursions include a visit to a cultured pearl farm at Huahine, visits to small motus, or islets on Raiatea, a kayak trip up Raiatea’s Faaroa River, visits to motus on Bora Bora and a guided walk with a talk on medicinal plants on Tahaa. Optional excursions include jeep safaris, scuba diving, Jet Ski tours, helicopter rides, shark and ray feeding and parasailing.
The Haumana will continue to offer three, four and seven-day cruises to the same Leeward Islands until May. The ship will spend two months in dry dock in Papeete undergoing transformation into a scuba-diving cruise ship. Bora Bora Cruises is operated by Mehiti Degage, the daughter of Eugène Degage, owner of the Aremiti, which operates passenger and vehicle/passenger shuttle boats between Tahiti and Moorea and the Leeward Islands.
