Star Breeze - Tahiti & French Polynesia

Where this cruise calls, day by day

8 ports over 7 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Papeete

   French PolynesiaDepart

   Papeete is the administrative and shipping capital of French Polynesia rather than the postcard version of it, and most Tahiti itineraries begin or end here. The quay is right in town, so you step off into traffic, gendarmes and a French-Polynesian city that works for a living. The scenery people came for is mostly on the other islands, or up in Tahiti's interior valleys.

   • Marche de Papeete, the two-storey municipal market for vanilla, monoi and pareu
   • Les roulottes, the food-truck park at Place Vaiete that fills up after dark
   • Point Venus and Matavai Bay, where Cook observed the transit of Venus
   • Musee de Tahiti et des Iles at Punaauia for Polynesian navigation and tattoo history

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the Quai d'Honneur in the middle of town; the market is about a block away and no shuttle is needed.

   Best months

   May-Oct (dry season)

2. Day 2

   Moorea

   French PolynesiaPort

   Moorea is 17km across the water from Tahiti and looks like what people imagine Tahiti will look like - two deep bays cut into a ridge of jagged green spires. Ships anchor off and tender in, usually near Opunohu or Cook's Bay. The interior is the draw as much as the lagoon here, because the road climbs high enough to look down on both bays at once.

   • Belvedere Lookout above the saddle between Cook's and Opunohu bays
   • Snorkelling with stingrays and blacktip sharks in the shallow lagoon
   • Magic Mountain 4WD track for the view over the barrier reef
   • Temae Beach, the island's best public stretch of sand

   Getting ashore

   Tender in to a small pier in Opunohu Bay near Papetoai, or occasionally into Cook's Bay; either landing is a minor village, with the main commercial strip at Maharepa a good 10-15km away, so arrange transport.

   Best months

   May-Oct (dry season)

3. Day 3

   Taha'a

   French PolynesiaPort

   Taha'a shares a single reef and lagoon with Raiatea and has no airport, which keeps it quiet. There is no real cruise town here - villages like Tapuamu and Patio are small - so calls tend to be built around the lagoon and the vanilla farms that produce most of French Polynesia's crop. Some ships work it as a tender day, others reach it by boat from Raiatea.

   • Vanilla plantation visit, where the flowers are still hand-pollinated
   • Black pearl farm tour on the lagoon
   • Drift snorkel through the coral garden between the motus off Tautau
   • Motu beach day inside the reef

   Getting ashore

   Tender ashore or arrive by lagoon boat from Raiatea; there is no cruise berth and no town at the landing worth calling one.

   Best months

   May-Oct (dry season)

4. Day 4

   Bora Bora

   French PolynesiaPort

   Ships anchor inside the lagoon off Vaitape and tender in, which means the famous view - the twin basalt peaks of Otemanu and Pahia rising out of turquoise - is yours from the deck before you go anywhere. The island itself is small and the village is modest; the reason to be here is the water and the ring of motus around it. Nearly every worthwhile excursion involves getting back into a boat.

   • Lagoon tour with stops to snorkel with stingrays and blacktip reef sharks
   • Matira Beach, the one long stretch of public sand, about 15 minutes south of Vaitape
   • Manta ray site off Anau on the eastern side of the lagoon
   • 4WD trip up to the WWII coastal gun emplacements above Vaitape

   Getting ashore

   Tender to the pier at Vaitape - there is no berth big enough for a ship; the village is at the landing but everything scenic needs a boat or a taxi.

   Best months

   May-Oct (dry season)

5. Day 5

   Bora Bora

   French PolynesiaPort

   Ships anchor inside the lagoon off Vaitape and tender in, which means the famous view - the twin basalt peaks of Otemanu and Pahia rising out of turquoise - is yours from the deck before you go anywhere. The island itself is small and the village is modest; the reason to be here is the water and the ring of motus around it. Nearly every worthwhile excursion involves getting back into a boat.

   • Lagoon tour with stops to snorkel with stingrays and blacktip reef sharks
   • Matira Beach, the one long stretch of public sand, about 15 minutes south of Vaitape
   • Manta ray site off Anau on the eastern side of the lagoon
   • 4WD trip up to the WWII coastal gun emplacements above Vaitape

   Getting ashore

   Tender to the pier at Vaitape - there is no berth big enough for a ship; the village is at the landing but everything scenic needs a boat or a taxi.

   Best months

   May-Oct (dry season)

6. Day 6

   Raiatea

   French PolynesiaPort

   Raiatea matters more than it looks. This was Hawaiki, the departure point for the voyaging canoes that settled Hawaii and New Zealand, and its great marae is a UNESCO site. Ships tie up at Uturoa's town wharf, which is rare in French Polynesia - no tender queue. The island shares a single lagoon with Taha'a next door.

   • Taputapuatea marae, the most important pre-European religious site in the Pacific
   • Boat trip up the Faaroa, the only navigable river in French Polynesia
   • Uturoa market, busiest on Wednesday and Friday mornings
   • Fifteen-minute ferry across the lagoon to Taha'a for vanilla and pearl farms

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the Gare Maritime in the centre of Uturoa - one of only two real cruise berths in French Polynesia; the town starts at the terminal door.

   Best months

   May-Oct (dry season)

7. Day 7

   Huahine

   French PolynesiaPort

   Huahine is the quiet one in the Society Islands - two islands joined by a short bridge across Maroe Bay, more farming than tourism, and almost nothing built for cruise passengers. Where you land depends on the ship, and one of the options has essentially no village attached to it. What Huahine does have is the best-preserved pre-European archaeological landscape in the Societies.

   • Maeva, a hillside of restored marae and the Fare Pote'e meeting house
   • The sacred blue-eyed eels in the stream at Faie
   • Avea Bay on Huahine Iti for swimming
   • Ancient stone fish traps in Lake Fauna Nui, still in use

   Getting ashore

   Tender only, and the landing varies by ship - some tender to Fare, which has shops and a beach, others to Maroe Bay, which has almost nothing and relies on open-air trucks to carry you across to Fare.

   Best months

   May-Oct (dry season)

8. Day 8

   Papeete

   French PolynesiaArrive

   Papeete is the administrative and shipping capital of French Polynesia rather than the postcard version of it, and most Tahiti itineraries begin or end here. The quay is right in town, so you step off into traffic, gendarmes and a French-Polynesian city that works for a living. The scenery people came for is mostly on the other islands, or up in Tahiti's interior valleys.

   • Marche de Papeete, the two-storey municipal market for vanilla, monoi and pareu
   • Les roulottes, the food-truck park at Place Vaiete that fills up after dark
   • Point Venus and Matavai Bay, where Cook observed the transit of Venus
   • Musee de Tahiti et des Iles at Punaauia for Polynesian navigation and tattoo history

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the Quai d'Honneur in the middle of town; the market is about a block away and no shuttle is needed.

   Best months

   May-Oct (dry season)