Cruise Operator wanted

Hi everyone - I got a rather specific request. I am looking for cruises that will include Fiji, Samoa, Bora Bora and Tahiti, ideally starting/ending in Auckland/NZL. Everything I've found so far is EITHER going to Fiji OR to Tahiti or it's a super-long, super-expensive cruise which I can neither afford nor have the time for.

I'd like to spend 14 days on the cruise ship, plus the endless flights from Europe to NZL and back and spend 2-3 days in Auckland either before or after the cruise since I've never been to NZL before, so all in all I'm looking at around three weeks for the entire vacation. I have looked at the "big" cruise operators like Royal Caribbean and P&O so far but I was hoping that you savy people here might know smaller cruise operators based in NZL or Australia or even the South Pacific itself. I would very much prefer smaller vessels to these huge monstrums plying the seas these days anyway. Another possibility would perhaps be to combine two 7-days-cruises to get to see both Fiji and Tahiti?

Any advice on all this would be very welcome. I have never done a cruise before, but it seemed like the best option to get around the South Pacific but now I'm stumped. Thanks!

Check out the Aranui3: Tahiti to the Marquesas and back.

There are cruises from Auckland, but really, you are asking for a tall order. Not expensive? I just looked at a brochure that incldued those islands you request, around US $ 10,000 per person. 120 passengers, 70 crew, shore excurions, all food and drink included, as well presentations by scientists. I guess I'll start playing the lottery.

Well I was hoping for something around 4000-5000 Euro per Person max. Of course now that the Euro has crashed, cruises offered in US-Dollars will be more expensive :( I -am- willing to fork out quite a bit for this once-in-a-lifetime experience, just not too much. If that makes sense.

Do try and combine two shorter ones to cover French Polynesia and Fiji-Samoa separately.

If you buy an Air New Zealand RT ticket from Europe to Auckland, you can get stopovers in Tahiti on the way out, and in Fiji on the way back (or vice versa). You could even get off in Fiji but continue back to Europe from Samoa.
So one air ticket would get you to all areas you want, you will only need to choose the right cruise for your budget in both Fiji and Tahiti.

It may not be as nice or romantic as sitting on a cruise ship all the way from NZ to Tahiti, but if your budget is not unlimited, you must make compromises.

Incidentally, a cruise is not necessarily "the best option to get around the South Pacific" - it is more an experience in itself for those who like it, rather than a way to get around the region.

Have a look at this site http://www.cruisesalefinder.co.nz/
P&O have a T.V ad at the moment for $999NZL to the pacific Is, worth a look ;)

http://cruisett.com/ports.php

Using this web site you can cross check the places your want to go and see if any ships are in all of them. Sounds like a nice trip.

Thanks everyone :) I think we'll probably go with the Air New Zealand stop-over for Fiji and do a "proper" cruise in French Polynesia for Tahiti and Bora Bora. The more I look at places, the more I also want to spend a few nights on a shore in a nice Polynesian-style hotel and not just on a sterile cruise ship and I also think that doing a hop by plane on one day comes cheaper than four days "at sea" on the cruise ship to get from A to B. I guess us Europeans squished on our little continent find it hard to get an idea just how large the Pacific is and how far the distances.