Because I had wondered aloud here about how we all could cruise Polynesia after the PG is gone (and the TP will soon be gone too), Karen sent me a brochure on Cruise West's Polynesian itineraries. I checked their website, and it contained no info about these cruises, so I called them at a tool free number on their site (www.cruisewest.com). Here is what I was told (no guarantee of accuracy, of course.).

The ship is the 118 guest Spirit of Oceanus, which is the former R-5 of the old Renaissance line. From late December '05 to February '06 it does itineraries in Polynesia, gradually working its way from Hawaii to Guam. Cruises range from 11 to 18 nights. Included in this was an 11 night cruise, Papeete to Papeete that included some familiar islands, including the Marquesas. Fares begin at $4149 for the lowest category, which is a 215 sq. ft. outside cabin. This INCLUDES all port charges and taxes. Apparently TA's can get and give discounts. And all excursions are included. All soda and bottled water is included. All dining is open seating and the dress code is casual. Very casual, including shorts. If you book air through them, they have much the same post cruise day room situation as Radisson.

On the negative side, all alcoholic drinks are extra, and the line has one of those "anti carry on" policies. There are no TVs or DVDs in the rooms. There is no entertainment, as we know it. No shows. No dance bands. Instead, they have lectures about the islands every night after dinner. (I rather like these, but wonder if I'd like them every night.) Air booked through Cruise West is HIGH! For our 9/17/06 PG cruise, Radisson charged us $1359 pp coach from and back to Okla. City., which includes fuel surcharges. Cruise West charges $1840 for the same thing. Also, I note that all their cruises of this area are during the rainy season. Cruise West will offer these cruises again in '07.

Some of the excursions sounded very different. On one, I was told that a group of local families each take a couple of guests in their cars to their homes for a visit, and then give a tour of the island via car. Other excursions, I was told, emphasize snorkeling and in-water activities.

I have no idea how the food and service is. I checked CC and there are very few Cruise West reviews, and none on this ship or itinerary.

The folks at Cruise West told me that this was more of an "expedition" and less of a "luxury cruise" compared to the PG, and that conclusion would seem to fit the description of the details.

If any who read this board have any experience with Cruise West, please tell us about it. All in all, I think I'd rather take the PG. But we do like Polynesia, and with the PG (and all other present cruise ships) leaving the area, we just want to explore any alternatives.

Thanks,
Richard :) :) :)

Richard, NO TV???? I am pretty sure I couldn't handle that. The no phone I could deal with but I HAVE to have a TV!!

I think the included excursions are a nice idea, with what you save on those, I could drink myself silly :) I wonder if they have several options for each island?

Here is the webpage for the 4 itineraries, I do think they look nice.

Karen:

I was told that they do have more than one excursion option on some islands. Also, on the subject of carry on alcohol, I asked the guy if I could bring some aboard and he said "well, it is our policy that guests cannot bring alcohol onboard." From what he said, and from the tone of his voice, I got the distinct idea that Cruise West doesn't enforce this like NCL does, with high tech X rays and all!

And I forgot to mention the all important $800 early booking discount!

Thanks,
Richard :) :) :)

Richard,

I know nothing about this itinerary on Cruise West, but we have friends who took an Alaska itinerary on another Cruise West ship and loved it. My understanding is as you stated, that -- at least as far as the Alaska itinerary our friends took -- the line offers more of an expedition experience with an emphasis on "education" provided by lecturers and local guides for the areas visited, perhaps somewhat like the focus of Smithsonian or similar organizations in their travel packages.

So, my impression is that while Cruise West may not be the best choice if the ship is a major part of the "destination," it might be a good option as a way to visit and learn in depth about an area in which you have a particular interest.

By the way, Richard, I have on my desk at this very moment a Cruise West brochure on a Sea of Cortez cruise that looks very interesting! So obviously this is a line I have been interested in learning more about. I'll be watching this thread to see if any other LCTers have experiences to share.

Thanks, Priscilla:

You know how Carol and I love French Polynesia. But also we are very unimpressed (to say the least) with the cost/value relationship of land accomodations, food, etc. for a land vacation there. While you know I really do prefer "open bar all inclusive" I have to agree with Karen that total lack of this on Cruise West might well be offset by the included excursions --- leaving money in the total budget to buy what drinks I might want -- and maybe some left over! And we very much like the cultural/historical parts of the PG cruise, and might actually like more emphasis in this area. Also, Cruise West says that while they don't have local entertainment onboard, they have plenty of it on their included excursions. As for the excursions, I was told there was no significant walking involved, so those of us who have various degrees of mobility impairments (which includes Carol and me) should have no worries.

Karen. The lack of TV wories me a bit too. But what I usually watch on the PG are the movies. The "regular TV" there isn't very good, and is in some "funny" language! This might be cured by taking along a laptop with DVD capability, and bringing some DVDs.

Thanks,
Rihard :) :) :)

Richard, I think your laptop idea is a good one! I am one of those people who can't fall asleep without the tv on. On one of my cruises, the only channels we were getting were international CNN and the History biography channel. I watched the bio of Milton Hershey about 10 times as that's all that channel seemed to show :)

A couple of years ago we took a CruiseWest trip through the Panama Canal from Costa Rica. Can't remember the name of the ship -- used to be called Temptress. We had a suite -- ha ha! I don't know the dimensions, but it was small...however, that has no real bearing on the Polynesia ship. We thought the food was poor, with limited selection. The whole trip was very "eco" oriented -- not a trace of luxury. I would probably not sail this line again.

Yeah, I'm a bit concerned about the food. Given the "expedition" nature of this cruise, I really wouldn't expect it to be Radisson style. But we wouldn't want it to be too bad, either. Would appreciate more comments on food on Cruise West, perhaps from their additional ships.

On this ship, the base rooms are actually 15 sq. ft. larger than those on the PG. But the highest level suites are only 363 sq. ft.

Thanks,
Richard :) :) :)

I found this review at Cruise Critic:

Spirit of Oceanus

There is also a ship overview here. where I found this info;

"Amenities include color TV monitor with VCR(a large collection of videos can be borrowed at no charge in the library)"

So at least you can view movies without having to bring your laptop.

Also from that page...

"Typical Spirit of Oceanus passengers are well-heeled 50+ couples who want to sail on a quality small ship with a relaxed pace that offers a learning experience as well as sufficient creature comforts."

Sufficient creature comforts? Hmmm, I don't know, doesn't sound all that, er, comforting...

Well, it does not sound that entertaining, at least. There appear to have been some changes in operation of this ship (if I was told the truth by the company) since this review was written. First, tips are now supposed to be included in the fare -- just like Radisson. Second, on the FP cruises, there are supposedly nightly lectures, instead of just "Discovery Channel" nature videos.

Thanks,
Richard :) :) :)

Richard,

My land TA who had cruised many times on RSSC, prefers the Expedition cruises and has done many Cruise West cruises. While it's not for us, some people love it. He was telling me that in the evening, they play games, chat, they have sometimes a guitarist or other entertainment or the guests might ply theselves with Alcohol before they can go on deck and be friends with others.

Richard,

Jim and I actually were booked on Cruise West for Alaska last year but then decided to go for more luxury and better food, entertainment, etc. and switched to the Mariner. (Which we loved.) C.W. was actually more expensive than RSSC.

We are still considering Cruise West for the future sometime. The impressions I got from some of the reviews I read last year was that the food was very good, not gourmet though.

Ginny and all:

Please understand that I'm sure we prefer RSSC too. But the question concerns itself about a time when the PG will be gone (and the TP too, for that matter), and is about how aybody can cruise FP with these ships gone.

Thanks,
Richard :) :) :)

We were considering it for their new Japanese cruise. I thought that if Marty couldn't handle all of the excursions at least he could stay on the boat. We have been on other small ships and enjoyed them We have been on a 7 day Blue Lagoon cruise in Fiji and the Coral Princess in Australia. The food is plentiful but far from gourmet.It is a different type of vacation. I would love not having TV but Marty would miss it.I like the fact that small boats can go into small ports where there are no big cruise ships.

Well, then, as we found, the Cruise West ship in FP does have a TV. So you might want to delve more deeply into this issue. And if there is no TV, it might be difficult to understand anything anyway, assuming you don't speak Japanese. If you do, yeah, it is an issue. If you are like me, when a gentleman on our Alaska cruise said "I speak ten languages, how many do you speak?" and I answered honestly "none", you might go the laptop computer and DVD route.

Thanks,
Richard :) :D :)

Patience, my friends. Don't panic. Into every vacuum a ship will cruise, perhaps a bit later but sooner than y'all seem to expect. With TVs no less! :app:

So why are all the cruise ships leaving Polynesia, anyway?

Mary

MaryLis:

I second your question as to why all the ships are leaving FP.

In the case of the PG, the best I can piece together is that the new owners, GCT, want to take her to S. America, and "around the Horn" and to Antarctica! Anybody who is familiar with how rough waters car be in some of those areas, and who knows that the PG rides very shallow in the water knows well how ill suited the PG is for this use! The PG was, if fact designed for the shallow and calm reef-protected waters of FP.
The PG has actually sailed pretty full recently (too full, acutally).

The TP seems to have proven popular with folks who want to cruise FP at a price a bit less than the PG (although they may have to tolerate a smaller cabin and deny themselves a few drinks to do it).

Other reports indicate that the FP government is very eager to keep cruising there, so I don't thing "hostile government" is the answer.

Does anybody know why all the ships are leaving FP?

Thanks,
Richard

Richard, in discussions with the Hotel Director in March, the problem is the economic model/pricing in FP...take the high cost of products vis-a-vis the EURO and cruiselines have a tough time making a reasonable profit..r/wes

Okay..had to chime in here.. since Al and I took about 6 cruises on the baby "R" ships in their day and LOVED_LOVED them(the CW has one that is now the Oceanus).
They were gorgeous ships.. but after looking at CW website..gotta tell you- they still have the same bedding ( YUCK) what's that tell you?
( we are talking 1990's here)
They removed the TV's ? Why on earth would they do that? They left the bedding but took the tvs..
too funny.
I give them a big pass.......

Wait a minute.. they left the tvs too.. here is a picture of a cabin with the TV in plain view

Yes, Claudia, the "Baby R" Cruise West uses in FP does have TV and VCR.

Thanks,
Richard :) :) :)

I think this Cruise West cruise sounds nice. If there's one thing that I don't like about the PG in Polynesia is the lack of contact with the locals. Sounds like some of the excursions are meant to break down that barrier a bit.

Claudia wrote:
Claudia, I am guessing that Cruise West might be using old Renaissance photos, like the new owners of the Song of Flower, they are using old Radisson photos.

actually in the photo I found above ( at their) site.. shows orange bedspread.. so that is "new" how new is another q.. but R used blue that matched the carpet and couch ( as is shown in picture)..

sorry..disregard

http://www.galapagosexplorer.com/index.htm

Was trying to post this..in regards to the baby R ships that Richard was discussing.. here is where another of them is these days.
They are really beautiful ships, just wonder how they look these days as to upkeep?
Sounds like some great diving...........