R 4 to tahiti
Steve Castle
everyone paid a different amount for the trip and had a different type of
story about the booking procedure. Even if you book several month's in
advance, it appears you will not be upgraded under any circumstances. One
they have allotted your space it's yours. Talked to folks who booked alot
later than we did and received a much better cabin for less cash.
If you have any questions about this cruise feel free to contact me
at sca...@cadvision.com.
R 4 ( Renaissance)
Tahiti February 2000
I like most others have some reservations about the policies of
Renaissance. This being said I didn’t have a good experience with the
customer service representatives of the company overall. Although most
report of dealings with these reps has been favorable, I found them not very
cooperative. Once they have your money, their care factor seems to decrease
substantially.
The cruise itself was exceptional and the following review gives my thoughts
on the R4 to Tahiti. This cruise line addresses many of the small
annoyances that many cruise line passengers have and handles them in
innovative ways. The staff aboard the R4 was made up of young people from
over 45 different countries and although a little inexperienced, always were
trying to satisfy the passengers.
Transportation:
The tickets for this flight appeared to be on a first come, first served
basis but I not sure that this is true. They say it is. We were at
check-in three hours before the scheduled departure and the seat selection
was limited at that time. From what I could gather there are 3 planes
going to Tahiti for each Renaissance sailing. Some rows in the planes have
an empty seat in the middle of the 5 seats in the center but both ways we
had a full row. Also the row we were in had different people going and
coming back. Plane was a DC 10 (somewhat older but in good condition).
Meals were typical airline (generally acceptable) with dinner served on way
down and dinner and breakfast served on return. The trip down was 9 hours
and the return was seven hours. Two movies were shown in each direction,
which helped to pass time.
Renaissance made the check-in in LA easy, as well as the transfer to the
ship. Including immigration in Tahiti, it was less that 30 minutes and all
passengers were checked on to the R 4.
Ship:
The ship is well laid out and is beautiful. Library is probably one of the
nicest areas on the ship. The public rooms were well laid out with the
exception of the cabaret lounge, (which is the main showroom. Since it is
all table and chairs, the seating is not always used efficiently and the
view of the stage from the rear of the room was somewhat hindered by a wall
around the lower bowl of the room.
The fitness center was well done and never that crowded. Seemed to have all
the modern equipment and a nice change room and steam room and showers.
Staterooms were of average size and well equipped. The laundry although
small seemed to be quite the ticket. (Large machines and a couple of irons
to press the wrinkled items from your suitcase.) Most of the time it was
busy but if you need to use it and picked your times, it was good.
Casino was quite small but probably large enough for the ship. Never seemed
to be extremely busy. Slot machines also available in the sports bar.
Meals:
The open seating policy in the dining rooms for meals has 2 real advantages,
one you can have your meals when ever you please and two you meet many more
people because you dine with different tablemates each meal. (Many people
liked this idea.)
Meals were generally excellent with few exceptions. Portions were ample and
well prepared. I can’t say I ever had a bad meal in any of the locations.
My only complaint about the main dining room service (club restaurant) was
that on occasions it was quite slow. The dining staff seemed a little
disorganized but tried hard to please. The panorama buffet offered typical
buffets each day for all three meals. We had almost all breakfasts and most
lunches in the panorama buffet. At lunch this area also has a pizzeria and a
barbecue each day in combination with the buffet. Both the hamburgers and
hot dogs and pizza were excellent and seemed to be popular items.
The grill and Italian restaurants were excellent and seemed to use the more
experienced waiters, as the service was much better in both. I am not sure
the meals were any better in these restaurants but more of the specialty of
each was available.
It was necessary to make reservations for the Italian and grill restaurants,
phone first thing the morning before and if the line is busy, they will get
back to you. We never had any trouble getting into each of these
restaurants when we wanted to but you sometimes had to compromise on the
required time.
Entertainment:
The shows offered were small and not all that imaginative. The entertainers
were good but limited. The magician was excellent. The band was very good
but only usually preformed for the shows. There were a couple of piano
players who played at different times in different rooms. They were quite
good but the times they entertained seemed to not match when the passengers
were around to see them.
Excursions and Islands:
As usual the shore excursions were expensive. It was sometimes possible to
get a private shore excursion at the shore, but in many cases the cruise
line is using a large part of the islands resources. Car rental is
available but quite expensive. Local bus service ‘ le truck’ is available
but in a lot of cases is not scheduled and you might be waiting for hours.
Some of the islands have beaches and some do not, so swimming and snorkeling
is sometimes only available if you go to a ‘Motu’, which requires a shore
excursion or a water taxi. Islands were beautiful and must be seen whatever
way it takes.
Overall:
Renaissance Cruises has many different ways of running a cruise line, some
good and some not so good. Almost all employees are contracted, so the
actual renaissance staff is quite small.
I would recommend this cruise line to anyone as I didn’t have any major
complaints or hear many and had a wonderful trip.
If anyone has any questions about the cruise line or this destination feel
free to contact me at
sca...@cadvision.com.