Should a French Polynesian cruise be on your travel bucket list? I'm Gary
Bembridge and this is another my tips to travellers. I'm going to tell you whether I
think a French Polynesian cruise should be on your travel bucket list. I'm going
to give you four good reasons why it should be, and four key watch outs and a
recommendation about what I think you should do. First of all, let's
talk a little bit about what is French Polynesia.There are a hundred and
eighteen islands spread across a vast area of over 1,200 miles (2,000
kilometers) in the South Pacific Ocean. Only 67 of those are inhabited. Tahiti is
the biggest island, and over 70% of the entire population of French Polynesia
live in Tahiti. Let's take a look at why you perhaps should have it on your travel
bucket list. First of all, there is incredible scenery and the most
magnificent ocean. The islands are absolutely stunning, and they're all very
different in their own right. Many of them are surrounded by reefs. The
ocean which can go from very shallow to very deep means
that the ocean is an incredible mixture of greens, blues and turquoises. They are
absolutely stunning. Some of the islands are very mountainous, they're volcanic.
They are the most incredibly beautiful islands. It absolutely is one
of the most beautiful parts of the world. Incredible scenery, beautiful islands and
amazing ocean is definitely a good reason for being on your bucket list. The
second reason is it has a very interesting, diverse and different
culture. Being so remote and isolated, it has distinct and
unique people, culture, music and folklore. As you travel around the islands, you learn
so much about the culture and the people. It is very different, from the
clothes they wear, the architecture, the food, the jewellery and the handicrafts so much
is very different. It is really exciting to go to a part of the world
that has such a different culture and people. The people are incredibly friendly
and very welcoming. So, I think definitely the people and the culture, and the fact
that are so different, is a really good reason that it should be on your bucket list.
The third reason that French Polynesian is worthy of
consideration for being on your bucket list is the fact that there are 118
islands, and to get around the islands to see even a handful of islands, if you're
not going on a cruise, is a real hassle. You have to fly if coming in
internationally to Papeete, where the International Airport is, and
from there you either have to catch ferries or other flights to go to the
other islands. The advantage, of course, of going on a cruise is you can board the
ship in Papeete, where the ships will normally depart from, like where
the Paul Gauguin I cruised on started and ended. You can get on the
ship very easily, you can unpack and you go around many islands without
all the hassle of flying and ferries and just unpacking once. You get around so easily.
There are many islands to see and if you come to this region you need to
see many islands because the islands are very different. They're not all the
same, so you should see more than one or two islands when you come here.cSo, going
on a cruise is the best way of seeing a representation of the
islands. I think that's a really good reason for a cruise around French
Polynesia being on the bucket list. The great thing about a cruise in French
Polynesia is you are given an enormous range of excursions. Let me
talk about the sort of things that you can do as excursions off a cruise.
Snorkelling and scuba diving is a big part of the region, and all of the
islands have great reefs and lots of snorkelling. You'll find there are always
many different options in terms of snorkelling, and the ships have
partnerships and know where to go to get great snorkelling. Of course,
scuba diving as well. Depending on the time of year, you'll find there's an
opportunity to go whale watching, which tends to be more into July, and
there's dolphin watching. That's a really popular tour to go and view
dolphins and whales. Another popular excursion is to go swimming with
stingrays, and excursions where they feed the stingrays. This is
great fun as they are incredibly approachable, calm and
friendly and get excited at the feedings. It's a great excursion to do.
There's lots of opportunities to go kayaking, paddle boarding and all sorts
of kind of water sport related activities. Some of the ships even let you do
them off the ship. For example, on Paul Gauguin they have a watersports platform
which in most of the ports they will open up and you can go paddleboarding
and kayaking right from the ship itself. An advantage then of cruising is you
have it right there on the ship! You just go down to the watersports platform on
Paul Gauguin and you can do all of those activities. You'll also find in all of
the ports Waverunners which often will head off around the whole island or big
parts of the island and many of them, if you're on a cruise, will also give you
the opportunity to go zooming around the cruise ship itself. Waverunners
are really popular. Catamaran trips are also popular.
Many of those go in the early evening at sunset. One of the things that
French Polynesia is renowned for is incredible sunsets. So, you'll often find
that many catamaran excursions are at sundown. In terms of
land-based there are a couple of great land-based activities. One of which
is cycling. You'll find particularly in some of the islands like Moorea, for
example, there's great cycling opportunities where you cycle through
pineapple fields and then right up to lookouts. The good news is, because
these are pretty steep and difficult rides, you'll find that most of them
will give you the opportunity of having an e-bike. In Moorea, for example, we
rode right up to the Belvedere viewpoint to look over the bays on ebikes
to get up there. ATV tours are also popular on all
of the islands. Some run on roads and some of them off-road. They are a
great way of exploring and getting right into the heart of the island. So, ATV
tours are very popular as well. The other thing which the cruise lines offer, which
I really liked and we used a lot, are day passes to some of the most exclusive
resorts across French Polynesia. For example in Bora Bora, we got to go to the
very prestigious 5-star Intercontinental Bora Bora Resort where we were whisked
across in a boat and had access to the five-star facilities: the beaches, the
pools and lunch was included. On all of the islands there are resort passes included
as excursions where you can go and see some of the most exclusive resorts and
go to some of the most exclusive beaches across French Polynesia. So, definitely
the range and variety of excursions that you can do on a cruise ship very easily is a plus.
As an independent traveler it's much more difficult to tap into the
things to do. There's a couple of really good reasons why a cruise around
French Polynesia should be on your bucket list. However, there are a couple
of watch outs which may influence your decision, so let me talk about the four
big things that I think you need to be aware of before you put that cruise on
your bucket list. French Polynesia is a long way away and you
need to fly in to Papeete in Tahiti. That's a good eight hours flight from
Los Angeles, and if you're coming from Europe it is 21 hours. We flew on Air Tahiti Nui
which was fantastic. They have new Boeing Dreamliners and it was a really
comfortable and magnificent flight, but it is a long way to go so bear in mind
as you put down your bucket list you're traveling a long distance. Then
think about once you get there, how are you going to make it
worth the while of the investment of flying all the way. What most
people do is they do the cruise and then add on some pre and post
days land-based stays. The second point is when you
start looking at the fares for the cruises, initially they will seem quite
expensive. However, make sure that you really understand what's included. So on
Paul Gauguin, for example, it was largely all-inclusive. All the accommodation,
all the food (including specialty dining), all your drinks were included and all
gratuities were included. So, your only real major extras were Wi-Fi and
excursions. When you look at the cruise fares, although they may look relatively
expensive, make sure you understand what they include. They are much better value
than you may think when you first look at the fares. It is a relatively
expensive trip but, like many bucket lists, that's why they are on people's
bucket lists. The next watch out is around the best time to go, and that in
French Polynesia is really between June and August. It's between the mid 20s to
30s and you have the least amount of rain, and more chance to have blue skies.
It really is the absolute best time. I went on my cruise in June, and we had a
great time as it wasn't too hot and the weather was great.
My next watch out is if you're planning to go on a cruise around French
Polynesia, think very carefully about who you go with. Some of the bigger
cruise lines do come to French Polynesia, but they tend to include French Polynesia or
some of the islands as part of a bigger trip. What's really important is those
cruise lines don't usually have ships that are specifically designed for French
Polynesia and ,because there's lots of reefs, it's quite difficult to get into some of
the islands. The bigger ships can only get into some of the islands. However,
if you go with a cruise line which is much more rooted and has ships designed
for French Polynesia, you're likely see a more diverse and a bigger part of
the region. So again using an example of Paul Gauguin, their ship was
specifically designed for French Polynesia and has a shallow
draught - which means it can get into many of the islands as it is able to navigate
around some of the reefs that surround many of the islands. It gives you a
more diverse and wider range of islands. So, very importantly as you look
at which cruise line, think about one which is designed and targeting
the region because you're going to see more islands. Look at the range and
diversity of islands that the line is going to take you to. Cruising around French
Polynesia for me was really a bucket list destination, and it absolutely lived
up to it. Should you have a cruise to French Polynesia on your bucket list?My
view? Absolutely! It's not the cheapest item you may have in your bucket list,
but it's definitely going to be one of the most beautiful and most memorable. If
you want to find out more about cruising French Polynesia,
Paul Gauguin or anything to do with cruising, I have many more videos about
it, so why don't you watch another one right now?