This spectacular chandelier at the Sheraton on Tahiti is made of polished oyster shells. 

The cruise ship sailed from Moorea and headed back towards Tahiti and the end of our wonderful Tahiti vacation. We spent our last night cruising the area around Tahiti and Moorea, and entered the Papeete harbor about 9:00 am.  Those of us who were leaving the ship were assigned different times (between 7:30 and 9:00) to have our checked bags outside our cabin door.  This time we docked with the even-numbered cabins dockside.  Mother and I were off the ship (along with many of our fellow passengers) before 10:00 am to finish spending our francs and stock up on some more souvenirs.  I bought some more pareos, vanilla beans, and t-shirts.  I especially wanted a Hinano beer t-shirt since I had enjoyed the "local brew" throughout our cruise.  The market was buzzing with shoppers!  

We were back on the ship before lunch.  I had managed to spend all but 700 francs.  Renaissance had asked us to vacate our cabins by 11:30, so we toted our carry-ons to lunch.  Many of the passengers who were disembarking congregated in the Panorama buffet to spend the couple of hours on our "last meal" before we left the ship.  All of the passengers who had arrived in Papeete the day after us were staying on the ship for their extra day in Tahiti at the end of the cruise.  It was kind of weird to see them lounging around the pool like they had no where to go!  I guess at the beginning of the cruise they were a little jealous of those of us who had a day more at the first of the trip to get used to the time change, etc.

Like the flight over, there were two Hawaiian Airline charters back to Los Angeles, one at about 9:00 pm, and one at about 11:00 pm.  We would be flying overnight back to Los Angeles, arriving in the early morning.  Those planes would be bringing new passengers to the R3 before they delivered us home.   Passengers on the early flight met in the Cabaret Lounge at 1:00 pm, and those of us on the late flight met at 2:00 pm.  We exited the ship and found our bags on the dock.  (Baggage had been assigned numbers by deck location to facilitate finding it on the dock.)  Porters helped us carry the luggage the 15 feet or so to the Hawaiian Airlines check in.  The bags were then transferred directly to the airport, and we picked them up in Los Angeles.  Very efficient and easy!  Renaissance really seems to have the embarkation and disembarkation procedures down pat on the R3.

After checking our baggage on the dock, we boarded busses with our carry-ons for the trip to the Sheraton hotel near the airport.  We were on bus number 11--the last bus, and arrived at the Sheraton a little before 3:00 pm.  We stayed at the Sheraton until about 9:00 pm, before boarding our bus number 11 again for the transfer to the airport.

Some of the passengers did not enjoy the time we spent at the Sheraton.  The description of our last afternoon sounded fun on paper, and Renaissance's idea of sending the disembarking passengers to a hotel instead of dumping us at the airport for several hours was a great concept and much appreciated by most of us.  After all, the ship needed us to leave so they could get cleaned up for the passengers arriving that evening!  Renaissance had arranged for 10 air-conditioned hotel rooms (5 for men and 5 for women) for us to change, shower, watch TV and relax in.  Passengers who wanted privacy could secure a separate room for $120.  In addition, a large tent with a couple of televisions tuned to CNN was set up on the grounds of the hotel with a buffet from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.  We had free run of the hotel and nice pool.  Sounds great, doesn't it? 

Unfortunately, it started raining about the time we arrived at the hotel, making it oppressively hot and humid.  Although the hotel sat right on the ocean, there was no cool breeze.  The pool was nice, but not many chose to swim in the rain.  

I think the biggest problem for the disembarking passengers was "end of cruise" let down.  Cruisers are like all other vacationers.  When your vacation trip is over, you want to be transported home as quickly as possible to start doing laundry and get back to a normal life.  (I know, for example, that Ronnie and I drove home to Atlanta from Jackson Hole, Wyoming in 3 days.  Once he pointed the car for home, I had a hard time getting him to stop for bathroom breaks!  Lucky for me the car needed gas every few hours.)

People are sometimes in a foul mood at the end of a vacation.  After all, you've just finished a wonderful cruise and have felt like a prince or princess being waited on constantly.  Suddenly at the end of your trip, it's back to work, cooking, cleaning, and the real world.  Therefore, many people were not of a mind set to enjoy the ambiance of the hotel.  The hotel had beautiful Christmas decorations, a good bar, and live music, but most people wanted to be HOME.    

Personally, I took my good novel, went to one of the women's changing rooms and stretched out on the bed for about three hours and enjoyed the air conditioning and  book I hadn't had time to read while on the cruise!  Another woman came in and stretched out next to me on the king-sized bed, read her book, and napped for a while.  While I was in the room, several women came in from the pool (I think they got more wet from the rain than from swimming) and took showers and changed clothes.  We all enjoyed chatting about our fantastic cruise experiences.  As much as I enjoyed my time to "wind down" from vacation, some of my fellow passenger sat around outside or in the hospitality rooms and complained about how much of a hurry they were in to get home!  My mother and dad sat with them, so I got the report from them as to the foul mood of many in the group.  

I think that everyone understood WHY we needed to be off the ship, but no one sitting and chatting with my parents was able to come up with a good alternative idea of what Renaissance could do with us for 6-8 hours.  Flying eastbound to the states, we needed to leave Papeete at night in order to arrive in Los Angeles in the morning--not in the middle of the night.  One woman sitting in front of me on the bus to the airport had the same attitude I did.  She said that on her last cruise to the Caribbean they took everyone to the airport at 8:00 am, no matter what time you were departing.  She and her husband sat at the airport for 8 hours.  Ugh! 

I guess the moral of this story is that if you don't think you'll enjoy lounging at the Sheraton for six hours or so, don't!  Go to the Sheraton and stow your carry-ons and then grab a cab and go shopping.  Or, plan a shore excursion for the last afternoon.  No one from Renaissance is forcing you to stay at the Sheraton and relax. 

We were whisked through customs at the airport.  There was a Tahiti Nui plane leaving for Los Angeles at about the same time as our Hawaiian Airlines flight at the gate next to ours.  There must have been 25-30 children waiting with their parents to board.  Made me thankful we were on an adults only flight!  Our plane left Papeete almost an hour late, but we still landed in Los Angeles on time.  We had a smooth connection and got back home only a little late, which was to be expected with the holiday travelers.  My parents and I enjoyed one last drink on the plane (not guava juice) while it was descending into Atlanta.  Many thanks to the warm, friendly people of French Polynesia for a vacation we will be talking about (and using my hundreds of pictures to bore our friends and family with) for years!