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Should a French Polynesia Cruise Be On Your Travel Bucket List ? 4 Pros and 4 Cons Revealed !
Jan 28, 2025
Do you have a cruise or travel bucket list? If so, should a French Polynesia cruise be on that list? In this I discuss the Tahiti and French Polynesia region and review what I think are the 4 pros and the 4 cons of cruising that I believe you should consider as you consider this as a cruising vacation option. I travelled to the region, which is pretty remote to explore. It takes well over 8 hours to fly from Los Angeles and the trip from Europe is 21 hours. It is very unique, different and beautiful. But, is it worth going all the way there? Find out what to expect and if I think you should add this to your travel and cruise bucket list - especially when there are so many other things you could have on your travel and cruise bucket list.
Note: Some of the costs of my trip to French Polynesia were covered by Paul Gauguin Cruises and Air Tahiti Nui before making this video.
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Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 60+ cruises.
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0:00
should a French Polynesian cruise be on
0:02
your travel bucket list hi I'm Gary
0:04
Bembridge this is another my tips to
0:06
travelers I'm gonna tell you whether I
0:08
think a french polynesian cruise should
0:10
be on your travel bucket list I'm going
0:12
to give you four good reasons why it
0:14
should be and four key watch outs with a
0:17
recommendation about what I think you
0:18
should actually do first of all let's
0:21
talk a little bit about what is French
0:22
Polynesia there are a hundred and
0:25
eighteen islands spread across a vast
0:28
area of over 1,200 miles 2,000
0:32
kilometers in the South Pacific Ocean
0:34
only 67 of those are inhabited Tahiti is
0:39
the biggest island and over 70% of the
0:42
entire population of French Polynesia
0:44
live in Tahiti let's take a look why you
0:47
perhaps should have it on your travel
0:49
bucket list first of all there is
0:52
incredible scenery and the most
0:54
magnificent ocean the islands are
0:56
absolutely stunning and they're all very
0:58
different in their own right
0:59
many of them are surrounded by reefs the
1:02
ocean which can go from very shallots
1:05
are very deep and be very varied means
1:07
that the ocean is incredible mixture of
1:10
greens and blues and turquoises they are
1:13
absolutely stunning some of the islands
1:15
are very mountainous they're volcanic
1:16
they are just the most incredibly
1:18
beautiful islands it absolutely is one
1:21
of the most beautiful parts of the world
1:23
incredible scenery beautiful islands
1:25
amazing ocean is definitely a good
1:28
reason for being on your bucket list the
1:31
second reason is it has a very
1:33
interesting diverse and different
1:36
culture being so remote being so
1:38
isolated it has its own distinct and
1:40
unique peoples culture music folklore as
1:45
you travel around the islands you learn
1:47
so much about the culture and the people
1:48
and it is very different and others the
1:52
clothes they wear the architecture the
1:54
food the jewelry the handicrafts so much
1:58
is very different and it is really
2:00
exciting to go to a part of the world
2:02
that has such a different culture and
2:04
people so people are incredibly friendly
2:06
and very welcoming so I think definitely
2:08
the people and the culture and the fact
2:10
that are so different is a really good
2:13
that it should be on your bucket list
2:14
the third reason that a French
2:16
pollination Cruz is worthy of
2:18
consideration for being on your bucket
2:20
list is the fact that there are 118
2:22
islands so to get around the islands to
2:25
see even a handful of islands if you're
2:27
not going on a cruise is a real hassle
2:28
you have to fly for coming in
2:30
internationally into Perpetua a port
2:33
that's the International Airport and
2:34
from there you either then have to catch
2:36
ferries or other flights to go to the
2:38
other islands the advantage of course of
2:40
going on a cruise is you can board the
2:43
ship in for petty which is where the
2:44
ships will normally depart from setting
2:46
the paul gauguin it started and ended in
2:48
pipette ii so it's you can get on the
2:51
ship very easily you can unpack and you
2:53
can go around many many islands without
2:55
all the hassle of flying and ferries
2:57
unpack ones and you get around so there
3:00
are many islands to see and of course
3:01
you wonder if you come to this region
3:03
see the many islands because the islands
3:04
are very different they're not all the
3:06
same so you want to see more than one or
3:08
two islands when you come here so going
3:10
on a cruise is absolutely the best way
3:12
of seeing a representation of the
3:14
islands I think that's a really good
3:17
reason for a cruise around French
3:19
Polynesia being on the bucket list the
3:21
great thing about a cruise in French
3:23
Polynesia is you then are given an
3:25
enormous range of excursions so let me
3:27
talk about the sort of things that you
3:29
can do as excursions of the cruise well
3:32
snorkeling and scuba diving is a big
3:34
part of the region and all of the
3:36
islands they're great reefs and lots of
3:38
smoking so you'll find there are always
3:40
many many different options in terms of
3:42
snorkeling and the ships have
3:44
partnerships are know really where to go
3:46
to get great snorkeling and of course
3:48
scuba diving as well depending on the
3:50
time of year you'll find there's
3:51
opportunity to go whale watching which
3:53
tends to be more into July
3:54
there's dolphin watching and that's
3:57
really really popular on tours and view
3:59
dolphins and whales a really popular
4:02
excursion is to go swimming with
4:04
stingrays and also go to excursions
4:07
where they feed the stingrays this is
4:08
really great fun these animals are
4:10
incredibly approachable very calm and
4:13
friendly and really get excited with the
4:15
feeling it's a great excursion to do
4:17
there's lots of opportunities to go
4:19
kayaking paddle boarding and all sorts
4:23
of kind of water sport related activity
4:25
some of the ships will even let you do
4:27
them off the ship so for example on Paul
4:29
Gauguin they have a watersports platform
4:31
which in most of the ports they will
4:33
open up and you can go paddleboarding
4:35
and kayaking right from the ship itself
4:37
a greater bunch with cruising is you
4:39
have it right there on the ship you just
4:41
go down to the watersports platform and
4:43
Paul Gauguin and you can do all of those
4:45
activities you'll also find in all of
4:48
the ports waverunners so often they will
4:50
head off around the whole island or big
4:53
parts of the island many of them if
4:55
you're on a cruise we'll also give you
4:56
the opportunity to go zooming around the
4:58
actual cruise ship itself waverunners
5:00
really really popular
5:01
catamaran trips are also very popular
5:04
many of those will go in the early
5:07
evening at sunset one of the things that
5:09
French Polynesia is renowned for our
5:11
incredible sunsets so you'll often find
5:12
this many catamaran excursions that are
5:15
sundown or related in terms of
5:17
land-based there are a couple of really
5:19
great land-based activities one of which
5:21
is cycling so you'll find particularly
5:24
in some of the islands like Maria for
5:26
example there's great cycling
5:27
opportunities where you cycle through
5:30
pineapple fields and then right up to
5:32
big lookouts the good news is because
5:35
these are pretty steep and difficult
5:36
rides is you'll find that most of them
5:38
will also give you the opportunity of
5:40
having an e-bike so Maria for example we
5:42
hike right up to the Belvedere viewpoint
5:45
to look over the bays and we use ebikes
5:47
to get up there and it was really great
5:49
ATV tours are also really popular on all
5:52
of the islands some of their own roads
5:53
some of them off-road and they are a
5:55
great way of exploring getting right
5:58
into the heart of the island so ATV
5:59
tours very popular as well the other
6:02
thing which the cruise lines offer which
6:04
I really liked and we used a lot our day
6:07
passes to some of the most exclusive
6:09
resorts across French Polynesia so for
6:12
example in Bora Bora we got to go to the
6:15
very prestigious 5-star intercontinental
6:18
Bora Bora Resort where we were whisked
6:20
across in a boat and we had access to
6:23
the five-star facilities the beaches the
6:27
pools lunch included and on all of the
6:29
islands there are resort passes included
6:31
as excursions where you can go and see
6:34
some of the most exclusive resorts and
6:36
go to some of the most exclusive beaches
6:38
across French Polynesia so definitely
6:41
the range and variety of excursions that
6:43
you can do on a cruise ship very easily
6:45
if you guys an independent traveler it's
6:47
much more difficult to tap into the
6:49
things to do so there's a couple of
6:51
really good reasons why a cruise around
6:53
French Polynesia should be on your
6:55
bucket list however there are a couple
6:57
of watch arts which may influence your
7:00
decision so let me talk about the four
7:02
big things that I think you need to be
7:03
aware of before you put that cruise on
7:05
your bucket list
7:07
French Polynesia is a long way away you
7:08
need to fly in to prepare tea in Tahiti
7:10
that's a good eight hours flight from
7:12
Los Angeles if you're coming from Europe
7:14
is 21 hours so we flew on Air Tahiti Nui
7:17
which was fantastic they have brand new
7:20
Boeing Dreamliners and it was a really
7:23
comfortable and magnificent flight but
7:25
it is a long way to go so bear in mind
7:28
as you put down your bucket list you're
7:29
traveling a long distance so actually
7:31
think about once you get here how are
7:33
you gonna make that and then around
7:36
worth the while of the investment of
7:38
flying all the way here so what most
7:40
people do is they do the cruise but
7:41
they're also tagged on some pre and post
7:43
days land-based
7:45
as well the second part is when you
7:47
start looking at the fares for the
7:48
cruises initially they will seem quite
7:50
expensive however make sure that you
7:53
really understand what's included so on
7:54
paul gauguin for example it was largely
7:56
all-inclusive so all the accommodation
7:58
all the food including specialty dining
8:00
all your drinks were included all
8:02
gratuities were included so your only
8:04
real major extras were Wi-Fi and
8:06
excursions so when you hook cruise phase
8:09
although they may look relatively
8:10
expensive make sure you understand what
8:11
they include they are much better value
8:13
than you may think when you first look
8:15
at the fares it is a relatively
8:17
expensive trip but like many bucket
8:20
lists that's why there are on people's
8:21
bucket lists the next wall chart is
8:24
around the best time to go and that in
8:27
French Polynesia is really between June
8:29
and August it's between the mid 20s to
8:32
30s you have the least amount of rains
8:35
he had more chance to have blue skies
8:37
and it really is the absolute best time
8:39
I went to my cruise in June and we had a
8:42
really really great time it wasn't too
8:44
hot the weather was great
8:46
my next watch out is if you're planning
8:48
to go on a cruise around French
8:49
Polynesia think very carefully about
8:52
who you go with so some of the bigger
8:54
cruise lines do come to French Polynesia
8:56
they tend to include French Polynesia or
8:58
some of the islands as part of a bigger
9:00
trip what's really important as those
9:01
cruise lines don't have ships that are
9:04
specifically designed for French
9:06
Polynesia because there's lots of reefs
9:08
it's quite difficult to get into some of
9:10
the islands so the bigger ships can only
9:12
get into very few of the islands however
9:15
if you go with a cruise line which is
9:17
much more rooted and has ships to sign
9:20
for French Polynesia you're likely see a
9:22
much more diverse and a bigger part of
9:24
the region so again using an example of
9:27
Paul Gauguin their ship was ready
9:29
specifically designed for French
9:31
Polynesia so it has a very shallow
9:33
draught which means it can get into many
9:35
of the islands has able to navigate
9:36
around some of the reefs that surround
9:38
many of the islands and it gives you a
9:40
much more diverse and wider range of
9:42
islands so very importantly as you look
9:44
at which cruise line think about one
9:46
which is really designed and targeting
9:49
the region because you're going to see
9:50
more islands so look at the range and
9:52
diversity of islands that they're gonna
9:54
take you to cruising around French
9:56
Polynesia for me was really a bucket
9:59
list destination and it absolutely lived
10:01
up to it should you have a cruise to
10:04
French Polynesia on your bucket list my
10:05
view absolutely it's not the cheapest
10:08
item you may have in your bucket list
10:10
but it's definitely going to be one of
10:11
the most beautiful and most memorable if
10:14
you want to find out much more about
10:15
cruising French Polynesia
10:17
Paul Gauguin or anything to do with
10:18
cruising I have many more videos about
10:21
it so why don't you watch another one
10:22
right now
10:23
[Music]
10:27
[Applause]
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