French Polynesia Star Flyer Cruise

Opunohu Bay- Unfortunately our tour to take a boat ride around the island and search for dolphins was cancelled. Once we heard this we planned to go back to the Hilton for snorkeling. But where we tendered was pretty far from the resort and we really didn’t have a lot of time on the island to waste driving around. Our Polynesian hostess, Cynthia suggested that we go to the beach at a hotel called Les Tipaniers instead. We took a free shuttle there from the dock so that was very convenient. While the beach there wasn’t much to speak of, the snorkeling was nice. We had lunch at the hotel and it was very good and also just in time for a downpour. Once the rain stopped we made our way to Tahia Collins Pearl Shop where we were able to pick up a free shuttle back to the tender. The highlight of the day was what the rain brought with it—a beautiful rainbow. Just as we made our way back to the ship the rainbow was directly in front of it- a great way to end our last full day on the ship!

The tour was with Sharkboy. There were only about 12 people on the boat. The boat picked us up directly from the ship so we did not have to take a tender. Our first stop was the stingray feeding. My favorite thing about it was the area where we were feeding them. I took pictures of the postcard views of the Bora Bora Nui Resort and the backdrop of Mt. Otemanu. Next up was a short snorkel which was very beautiful. But the highlight was the shark feeding. After our guide attracted them with food we were able to jump in and snorkel with them. They were mostly black tips, but there were also a few larger lemon sharks trolling at the bottom. Apparently from my pictures (though for some reason I don’t remember actually seeing them) dolphins showed up as well. I was disappointed that I didn’t actually see them while snorkeling, but I guess I was just focused on the sharks. It was a little scary at first but the fear wore off pretty quickly and I just enjoyed swimming with these amazing creatures. Next we went to a motu where the guide’s family lives and had some fresh fruit. The beach and views here were also beautiful.

It really is as stunning as everyone says. Before getting there I had a hard time fathoming a place with water more beautiful than Moorea. I have never seen so many shades of blue and green in the water like this and with the backdrop of Mt. Otemanu there were also breathtaking views in Bora Bora. To get the most out of our short time here we did two excursions. In the morning we did the 4x4 tour. There really isn’t much to the island itself, but the views from the top of the mountains were astounding. This was the roughest of all the 4x4 tours we went on—we went up three different mountains for views and the roads were the bumpiest I have ever experienced. But once we made it to the top and saw the gorgeous vistas, the bumps were a distant memory. My husband enjoyed seeing the World War II cannons and I enjoyed taking pictures of the amazing scenery. At the end of the tour we visited a pearl farm. We were not interested as we had already visited 2 others, and I had already bought pearls. Even with the rough roads this was my favorite of the 4x4 tours. But by this time we had had enough of going up and down mountains and were glad we didn’t have anymore scheduled! We went back to the ship to have a quick lunch and change for our shark and ray feeding excursion.

We did a 4x4 tour of this island as well. The interior of the island was beautiful and we did see some nice views. After the tour we went back to the boat to quickly change for the beach barbeque on the motu. It was beautiful! The beach and water were gorgeous. The water was crystal clear. We did a little snorkeling, and there was a lot to see, but unfortunately the current was very strong so I didn’t stay in too long. We also enjoyed the beach barbeque lunch and the Polynesian show. We also walked around the whole island in about 5 minutes. Another thing that was nice about the motu time was that it was free!

We did a 4x4 tour of the island. We drove into the mountains and got some amazing views, visited marae which were right on the beach in quite a beautiful location, visited a vanilla farm and pearl farm (this vanilla farm had the best prices compared to the other vanilla farm we visited in Tahaa and the stores we visited around the islands- we were glad we bought our vanilla there). This day was a bit rainy so we rode with the top up. This was welcomed so we wouldn’t get too wet, but it did impede some of the views. But it seemed like every time we made a stop to get out of the 4x4, it would stop raining so we could see the sights. We enjoyed having the opportunity to see the interior of the island on this tour. The ship provided free snorkeling trips from the zodiacs in the afternoon. We signed up for this in the afternoon, but this day I wasn’t feeling very well, so we ended up cancelling. I wish we hadn’t, but I don’t think I could have made it.

We did a lagoon cruise and snorkel here. There were only about 15 people on the snorkel tour. We cruised along the coastline to our snorkel stop which was off of a motu. This was the best snorkeling that we had seen so far. The water was only up to about 10 feet deep with much of it less than that. Marine life was everywhere and the water was clear. We also had over an hour to snorkel so we were able to take our time. The boat was very easy to get in and out of with steps into the water. After snorkeling we stopped at a motu beach where they had a dance lesson, pareo tying, and coconut husking. Then we got back on the boat and were served fresh fruit and she taught us how to make a palm frond basket. We were dropped off directly at the ship just in time for the sailaway.

One of the things that we didn’t do on Moorea when we were staying there was to visit the motu and snorkel there (since I had heard such great things about it). So this day we went to the Intercontinental to take the boat transfer over to the motu We found a shady place to sit and snorkeled. The snorkeling was great and we saw a wide variety of fish and coral. It was still in fairly shallow water, but a little deeper than what we experienced at the Hilton. I think the snorkeling here was slightly better than at the Hilton.

Star Flyer Cruise

Luckily our ferry came in right next to where the Star Flyer was docked. When we arrived they took our luggage and we were given a welcome drink and checked in. I told my husband before the cruise that the room would be small (I had been on it’s sister ship, but he hadn’t), but it was smaller than he expected, especially after the huge room we had at the Hilton. But we got used to it after the first day. After checking out our room, we went straight up to the library to sign up for excursions. I wanted to make sure that things didn’t fill up and we miss out on any of the ones we wanted to do. Typically I don’t book excursions through a cruiseline- I book independently for smaller groups and better prices, but I had heard that the port dates and times could change so I didn’t want to chance it. All of our tours ended up being pretty small groups anyway so this was fine.

Ship and Cruise
This is a small sailing cruise ship that carries only about 170 passengers. There is one restaurant and 2 bars (one indoors and one outdoors). There are two small pools and lots of deck space for lounging. There is also a library and a shop. We had a Category 3 room, #331. It was towards the middle/aft of the ship near the dining room (but not too close to the dining room that it was loud) The room and bathroom were quite small compared to other cruise ships I have been on. But the space was sufficient and well organized. The bathroom just has a drain on the floor, so the floor gets quite wet after taking a shower—especially when we were underway. On my previous star clipper cruise we were in a category 1 room and the bathroom and room were a bit bigger. We enjoyed sitting on the loungers on deck after getting back from our port activities. They had a few tarps for shade as well. One of my favorite parts of the cruise was the sailaway. It often happened close to sunset and provided gorgeous views of the islands. It was the perfect time to have some tropical drinks too!

People
We met a lot of interesting people on the cruise. This was a nice change after being pretty solitary at the resort. Most of the Americans were from California, but we met people from Texas, Oregon and New York to name a few. There were also a lot of Europeans on board and even a fellow who had come all the way from Japan for the chance to sail. We really enjoyed getting to know the other passengers and hearing about all their travel adventures. We even swapped emails with a few people so we can share our pictures from the trip.

Food on the cruise
There was an early bird breakfast and a large breakfast buffet a little later every morning. There was a pretty good selection (much better than we experienced later at the breakfast buffets in the Pearl resorts). I really enjoyed the omelete station. The lunch was also buffet and had a different theme every day. Personally I would prefer just to have a sandwich or burger for lunch, but the buffets were fine. I did get my sandwich one day—when they had a beach barbeque on the motu in Tahaa, so I enjoyed that. They had a snack at 5 pm and it varied each day. My husband did enjoy a lot of it. I think his favorite were the tacos one day and the waffles they had another day. I thought that the dinners were very good. Better than other cruise ships I have been on. There was a choice of a couple appetizers, 4 or 5 entrees, and 2 desserts. If there wasn’t an entrée that you liked each night you could order steak and fries or pasta (I did this one night and the steak was pretty good). Also, one night I didn’t see an entrée that I really liked, but I loved the tortellini appetizer—so I was able to get that as my entrée. On the desserts— Some of the ones I really enjoyed were taro ice cream, baked Alaska, and straticella ice cream. The service at dinner was generally good, and the food came out pretty quickly. They also had a midnight snack—but we were in bed every night by then, exhausted from our island explorations, so we never made it there.