Gay couple's first cruise
Written: Aug 26 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Best way to visit Tahiti
Cons: One week is too short!
The Bottom Line: Do it at least once in your life. You'll never forget Tahiti.
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| markwpatterson's Full Review: Radisson Paul Gauguin |
My partner & I wanted to celebrate our 10th anniversary in style. Greece was our first choice but since I'm in graduate school, I couldn't miss 3 weeks of classes. So we decided to take our first cruise ever (June 28-July 5, 2003...Winter in Tahiti but still nice & warm).
The ad came in the Sunday LA Times as a loose leaf pamphlet announcing drastic savings on a Radisson Seven Seas cruise in Tahiti. I had been once before to Tahiti for 9 days & fell madly in love with these islands & had shared that with my partner many times. He said, "why don't we just do this for a week". "Twist my arm", I said!!!!
Living in LA, we sometimes forget that people from other parts of the USA don't always treat gay couples as human. I was concerned for a few seconds & got over it realizing that we will be there to have a great time & deserve to have a great time just like anyone else who's paid their fare. We love each other & who we are & don't pretend to be or feel anything else under any circumstance.
The flight from LAX to Papeete is nearly 8 hrs. but it seemed to go pretty quickly. We arrived early in the morning & were whisked gently off to our hotel where Radisson put us up for the day. The hotel was not very far from the airport & was breathtakingly beautiful. Later that evening we were again gently whisked off to the ship, the "S.S. Paul Gaugin" at the port in Papeete. Papeete has lots of charm & we love the large central market. The food is wonderful & you'll see fresh fish every color in the rainbow.
And let me insert here a bit about the people of Tahiti. I would be difficult to find a friendlier, more laid back, helpful, gracious people in the world. They are beautiful & wonderful & full of hospitality.
We were greeted by the staff & were shown to our rooms promptly. We always figure the "room" itself is not the most important thing when we travel, so we got the cheapest rooms on the ship. I was expecting a tiny little cramped space with no windows & maybe bunk beds. BOY were we surprised! The room was incredibly spacious & incredibly beautiful with TWO portholes! I knew this was going to be a great cruise.
Due to the war in Iraq & terrorist threats around the globe, this & other cruises had seen a sharp decline in bookings. SO...there were only 145 passengers on this 340 passenger ship & over 200 staff! We wanted to take a small ship cruise for our first cruise. We were pampered beyond belief. It was perfect timing for us.
We left port in Papeete promptly at 10pm. I was so excited I stood on the bow & watched the city lights disappear. A storm had brewed up the waters the day before so as we entered the deep Pacific waters, the ship began to get tossed around quite a lot. I decided that it would be a great idea to go to my room & GO TO BED QUICKLY!
It was a rough night as far as waves but we made it safely to our first stop...Raiatea & Tahaa. We parked there for a couple of days. Took the "vanilla plantation" excursion. Bought some INCREDIBLE vanilla beans right where they are grown. It's an amazingly labor-intensive process to produce quality vanilla beans. They are MUCH cheaper here than in the USA. I bought $50.00 worth & got about 60, nice sized beans. The smell of the vanilla plantation will always stay with me. YUM! We were told to take a few of the beans, put them in dark bottles with some 175 proof dark rum & that this would produce the finest vanilla extract & that the beans would produce extract for at least 35 years. I have used some of the extract & must say it is the best I've ever had! Will let you know about the 35 years...hopefully!
Our next stop was Bora Bora, the famed island paradise. It truly was unbelievable. The waters are so clear & teeming with lovely fish. We took a "shark & sting ray feeding" excursion & boy was that shocking. We found ourselves surrounded by at least 50 sting rays all wanting a dead fish from us. The black-tipped sharks swam very near us too but did not let us touch them like the friendly sting rays did.
We also rented a micro car & drove around the island. I must say that I was incredibly disappointed. There is really nothing at all to see & the town of Vaitape was nothing much & quite a disappointment. The real beauty of the island is in the waters.
We sailed back towards Papeete & stopped in Moorea a couple of days. I must say that this was my favorite island. Boy is it beautiful there & much cleaner on the island itself than Bora Bora. Took a "dolphin watching" excursion. That was interesting but the guide, a researcher from the States, was a bit strange & annoying.
Then back to Papeete & back home.
The food was WAY more than we had expected. It was incredible every meal & there was SO much of it that we really had to pace ourselves towards the middle of the trip.
We can definitely recommend this Radisson cruise. And you know, I have to start giving people outside of LA more credit. We were treated like any other couple. And there were 2 other gay couples on board. We even attended an "anniversary celebration" for couples celebrating their anniversaries. Each couple was wrapped in a Tahitian quilt & given a Tahitian blessing (& of course, the ever present photographer was there to snap pictures). Everyone was SO incredibly kind to us & were asking us how long we had been together (before it was told publicly). Several couples ahead of us were celebrating many years together...one couple from France were celebrating 42 years. We were kind of in the middle at 10 & several straight couples were at 5 down to 1 year. We were given a grand applause after our photo was taken. Made us feel like we blended in with everyone else...which is the way it should be. You know we had thought about one of those "gay" cruises but then we wondered why we should segregate ourselves. This is often the cause of ignorance. I like to get to know other people & let them get to know us. I really works to break down barriers & stereotypes. Try it sometime!
Cruise for 2 cost us just over $5K. But considering that many of the hotels in Tahiti can cost $2,000.00 a night, NOT including food or anything else, we got a deal! I think a cruise is the best way to see Tahiti & the most cost-effective way.
That's it for now. We're off to China in Dec. Will update you on that.
Pleasant travels whoever you are.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
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Epinions.com ID:
markwpatterson
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Location: Los Angeles, California
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Studying interior design at UCLA.
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