Star Breeze. Photo: Dori Saltzman
After two trips with Windstar Cruises to Tahiti and French Polynesia, first in February 2024 and again in July 2025, TMR’s senior editor Dori Saltzman picked up a few tips and tricks to pass along to travel advisors sending clients to the region.
Two trips to French Polynesia, one in their summer and one in their winter, taught me a thing or two about planning a Tahiti cruise. From picking the right season to learning from my mistimed spa appointment, here are eight tips you can pass on to your clients, so they don’t make the same mistakes I did when planning their French Polynesia cruise with Windstar Cruises.
Some of these are general tips and can be applied to any cruise or land trip to the region. Others are specific to Windstar’s Dreams of Tahiti cruise.
Most experienced cruisers know to fly in a day early before their cruise departs, and while this tip certainly includes that advice, I’d advise most people to fly in even earlier for a French Polynesia cruise. This is particularly important if the time difference between where they live and Tahiti is any more than five or six hours.
We flew in two nights before and with a six-hour time difference we were still a bit spacey on our first day onboard. But even that one extra day made a difference. People who flew in the night before embarkation (or even the day of) were more out of it than we were.
If your clients are planning on coming in only one night before embarkation, check their flight info before they make a decision about their included pre- or post-cruise night from Windstar Cruises. Most flights from the U.S. won’t get clients into Papeete until early evening, at the earliest. If clients choose pre-cruise, they’ll barely get to take advantage of all that the Intercontinental has to offer. With most flights departing Papeete at night, a post-cruise stay at the resort gives them a full day and a half to enjoy all the amenities.
It’s less of an issue if you’re flying in more than a day early, but paying for more nights at the Intercontinental in Tahiti is expensive, so your clients will need to factor that into their budget.
Assuming your clients opt for Windstar’s post-cruise hotel night, they’ll need a hotel the night (or two or more) before their cruise. A hotel in downtown Papeete before the cruise can be more budget-friendly (if that’s important to your clients) and is perfectly located for water-based activities like snorkeling or whale watching, as well as embarking the Star Breeze.
We made the mistake of choosing a pre-cruise stay at the Intercontinental, arriving at the resort in the evening, and never getting to check out the pool or anything else. We then stayed at a downtown hotel the day after our cruise. It took less than five minutes to walk from the ship to the hotel, which was great, but it would have made more sense to do it the other way around.
While this may seem obvious – the seasons are reversed for travelers coming to the South Pacific from North America – I forget something important for my first Windstar cruise to the region in February 2024. Summer there, like it is here, is hurricane season.
While hurricanes (called tropical cyclones in this part of the world) aren’t common in French Polynesia, they can happen. In 2024, three cyclones, one right after the other, forced our Windstar cruise to reposition to the Marquesas Islands. As a result, we saw virtually none of the Society Islands. And those that we did get to – Moorea and Bora Bora – had little to offer in that moment in time. In Moorea, the waters were so riled up with sand because of the storms that you couldn’t see more than a foot in front of you when snorkeling. And in Bora Bora the authorities had shut down both water and land activities, so the only thing left was shopping – in, of course, the most expensive port in French Polynesia to shop in.
Cruising the region in its winter brings less of a chance of weather-related changes. We specifically chose July for our return to the region in 2025 and could not have been happier with our selection. We had sunny days and temps never went above 85 degrees Fahrenheit. It only rained on our very last day, but we had not selected an excursion that day and it turned out to be perfect for relaxing before disembarking the next day.
Regardless of when they choose to visit French Polynesia, clients should always be prepared for any type of weather, and for itinerary changes. Cruisers on a Variety Cruises sailing out of Papeete the week after our Windstar cruise in August were stranded in port for the entire week due to high winds (something that was not an issue for Windstar or Paul Gauguin, by the way).
One additional note about seasons, whale watching season is July to November in Frech Polynesia. With Windstar’s Dreams of Tahiti itinerary, the best opportunities to see whales during these months are in Moorea and when arriving at and departing Huahine.
Many visitors to French Polynesia choose the destination specifically to enjoy its warm, vibrant blue waters. Snorkeling in the region is some of the best in the world with multitudes of fish, sharks, stingrays, and more to see. But spending all your time in the water means missing out on what else the destination has to offer, from Polynesian culture to interior beauty to vanilla plantations and more.
Advise your clients not to spend all their time doing just one activity. If they love the water, suggest picking one island to do a cultural tour instead of snorkeling. If they’re not fans of the water, find a water-based activity that doesn’t require getting wet – like kayaking or a glass-bottom boat.
We spent our entire Windstar cruise in French Polynesia in the water, while our travel companions did all land-based excursions. By the end, I felt I had missed out by not getting in any cultural education or learning about the history of vanilla in the region.
For most clients, Tahiti and French Polynesia is a long way to go – and this might be their only trip to the region – missing out on something it has to offer would be a shame.
Related to the above, if you are recommending only one water-based excursion for clients that prefer the cultural side of travel, make it the Coral Gardens (either snorkeling or by glass bottom boat) in Bora Bora. It is, by far, the most stunning underwater scenery I have ever seen, with breathtaking mountainous ranges and canyons of coral. Truly a can’t miss attraction on any French Polynesia cruise or land vacation.
Another tip specific to Windstar. Clients should not wait until day two (or later) to make dinner reservations if they want to go to either of the specialty dining venues – Candles or Basil + Bamboo. The latter, in particular, is a tiny space and reservations fill up quickly.
As close to their sailing as possible, remind them to check the embarkation day schedule to see when restaurant reservation sign-ups will be offered and tell them to make it a priority. We signed up for both restaurants right away but then had to give up our Bambo + Basil reservation when we got invited to dinner with the captain at the same time. When we wanted to re-reserve, the only time slots left were after 8 p.m. (We were able to finagle a 6 p.m. reservation by promising we’d be done by 7:30.)
This tip is for travel advisors with spa-loving clients wondering how to fit in a spa treatment during a port intensive Windstar Dreams of Tahiti cruise.
With no sea days, an aversion to missing a single port, and hoping to take advantage of the marina whenever it was open, finding time for a spa treatment wasn’t easy. I opted to book a facial for the second afternoon of our overnight stay in Bora Bora. With no excursions on offer at that time, it seemed like the perfect time to fit in a treatment before Windstar’s Motu Tapu beach barbecue and fire show.
What I didn’t consider is that I’d be going pretty much directly from the spa to the beach, where the heat, sand, and smoke from dinner wouldn’t mix well with my freshly facial-ed skin. Had I thought it through, a facial the afternoon of the first day – after an excursion in the morning – would have made more sense. That would still allow me to do an excursion on the second morning and use the marina the second afternoon with plenty of time to shower before the barbecue.
With most flights departing Papeete at night, figuring out what to do for an entire day – with your luggage – if you’re not staying for a post-cruise night, can be daunting.
I’ve got two suggestions for your clients.
First book a day room. For clients who are less budget conscious, both the Intercontinental and the Hilton in Tahiti offer day rooms. Clients looking to spend less can find a hotel in downtown, but these hotels have fewer amenities, with most not offering even a pool.
Alternatively, clients can store their luggage using a service like Tahiti Everywhere Luggage Storage or Radical Storage. With this option, clients can participate in a day tour, spend time at the market doing last-minute souvenir shopping, and experience one of the local restaurants for lunch, before heading to the airport late in the afternoon.
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