Marquesas Islands Cruise

Sea Islands cruise

Please click on a Marquesas Islands ferry (below) and choose a sailing date to get competitive offers. Please come and browse all the routes (not just the Marquesas Islands): Find a boat or try our Virtualruise Advisor. Sailing in 2018: Sailing in 2018: Sailing in 2018: Sailing in 2018: Sailing in 2019:

Sailing in 2019: Sailing in 2019:

Cruise to the Marquesas Island Islands on the Aranui3 - Marquesas Islands Message Board

It has to be admitted that we have never even known of the Aranui 3 before our trip to Borneo. We' ve had an amazing experience at Aranui 3 and will summarize our great experience for your information. When someone is considering to make this trip, we recommend (at first) the following link:

We have been on a dozen different types of ocean voyages, from large vessels from 3,000 (like the Carnivale Triumph in the Caribbean) to smaller and in-between. However I must say that the Aranui3 trip to the Marquesas Islands is completely unparalleled for the reason mentioned below.

In our view, this number was the absolute PERFECT number and exactly the right mixture to get to know each other. Most of the airline's customers are French-speaking (which is what you can expect in Polynesia) from France, French-speaking Canadians (from Quebec) and Swiss-French. There were also people from America, the Netherlands, some really beautiful Swiss German and a young woman from Great Britain.

All of us got along very well and all of us were in agreement that the Aranui3 was a very beautiful, one-of-a-kind and unforgettable one. Please be aware that if you like to travel with only 120-180 persons, I recommend you to rent the Aranui3 fas. New Aranui5 will carry over 300+ travellers, which in my view will "flood" and forever transform the smaller Marquesas isles!

It has been unfortunate for many of us who want these beautiful little islets to stay untouched - but that is the unfortunate side of it! It was a great pleasure for us that there were no official, textured seats at meals, as this allowed our guests to move around and meet different persons, which is a good opportunity to meet onboard.

The Aranui3 is a FREE and not a specific cruiser. It has no "specialized" baggage like a regular cruiser, but uses its LOAD as such. A few were affected by sea sickness the first evening, but everyone soon gets used to it and the harsh sea only seems to have an impact outside the Marquesas Islands (crossing from and return to the islands when Tahiti).

In case of sea sickness we recommend that you take a package of "Quells" with you. All future travellers to the Aranui are advised to take all medicines (especially prescriptions) with them. Dining at Aranui 3 was totally delectable. One of the things that makes this trip so special is that the aperitif offers one "free" box of wines (per 2 passengers) per evening for supper.

The majority of the wines are red and white. If Aranui3 is "in the harbour" and visits the beautiful isles, the employees of Aranui3 organize big picnic and barbecue evenings (together with the locals), which are very pleasant; the employees of Aranui3 come from all over the atlantic.

Most of the employees came from Polynesia and were fluent in English. All of the cooks, cleaners and bartenders (especially my buddy Yoyo) smiled nicely and got out of the way to make the trip more pleasant for everyone. It was our luck to have Joel (the boss of the catering staff) as our dinner service - he was an utter jewel!

Pretty Polish barmaids have also developed into wonderful and charming Polish dancing girls - the personnel is astonishing! There were also a number of dancing people ( "local dancers" from the islands) on the boat to maintain the people. Aranui3 also had "special" evenings, e.g. the Polyynesian Evening, where everyone had to get changed into Polyynesian clothes - tell your customers to buy a special outfit in the polyynesian way, as it is costly to buy it in a store on in-flight.

Polynesia was a great evening - a great refreshment bar and people were asked to chant a hymn about their "home". Mmmm, I think the French had no idea what we were chanting about, but we organized one of the Canadians to interpret a general "meaning" of the track before our show, and everyone seemed to be enjoying our interpretation (despite my doubtful talent as a singer!).

Aranui3 also had teachers from France, Germany and other countries who were ethnologists, historicists and experts in the fields of Polish civilization. The majority of them gave multilingual presentations (in French, Englisch and German) about the different isles and the histories and customs of their people.

In contrast to most of the other vessels, the Aranui3 has the very interesting double function as a freighter. The double part offered its travellers a very interesting view of the importance of the Marquesas group in the distance! Aranui3 is the "lifeblood" of these lovely islets and provides them with urgently needed food every mont.

The Aranui3 is the only connection to some of these isles ( (where there is no airport) (with the exclusion of one or the other privately owned boat entering and leaving). In some of the isles, the locals even provided us with tasty regional fruit and gave us beautiful polyynesian dances (by men, woman and kids alike).

Aranui3 can load and unload most of the original loadings I have ever seen: all of living bovine animals, automobiles, steamrollers, lorries, agricultural implements, furnishings, a large selection of food, beverages and fruit - everything is possible! The encounter with the Marquesans was, in our view, one of the high points of this trip.

Of all the isles of the island group, the Marquesansan are some of the most friendly and untouched individuals we have ever encountered around the globe, and I am sure they have greatly enriched the pleasure of this trip; I first came to Tahiti in 1978 (on the way to Easter Island and South America).

When I was a kid, I used to love the Papeete markets, which had the best price for Polyynesian art and souvenir. Luckily we chose this date to make a "Circle Island Tour" through the hotel as we found out that it is less expensive to make the reservation than to rent a vehicle for the whole outing! We did, however, enjoy the visit to the later Paul Gaugin's Museums - this artists had close ties to the Marquesas, who interested us.

Tahiti Safari" 4x4 Tahiti Safari through the center and into the luxuriant, beautiful center of the Isle. Consequently, the streets (once entertained by the French) are now in a terrible state of decay. It was quite an adventurous drive through the center of the calendera!

After the trip went across the center to the other side of Tahiti, but because the locals are no longer in charge of the streets, isolated peasants now "block" parts of the one and only inner street across the center and accessibility was limited on the other side of the isle.

With Tahiti Safari and its Sidney, the journey is amazing! The Marquesas Island would be at the top of my "Top 10" lists if someone asked me to name one of the most wonderful places in the world! If you are thinking of an ideal Polynesian paradise, the Marquesas Isles are the perfect place for postcards!

I can' t give everything about every single isle, but here are three highlights: This untouched islet is a long, small rectangular stretch of country about 37 nautical mile long and only a few metres deep. It has to be one of our favorite Polynesian isles!

The most secluded and secluded of the Marquesas Isles, the bay of Virgins is a rugged and unbelievably scenic place with huge rugged hills, canyons, steep canyons, and luscious canyons. In Hanavave the natives served all this fruit and berry for us and we loved a marvellous performance of Polish dance by the natives men, woman andchild.

One of the most unforgettable moments of the trip was the date we stayed on Fatu Hiva. I had so many marvelous cruises that I would not have enough spare minute to mention them all here. The price of all the island routes was inclusive, which is great..... nothing was up.

Excursions through the beautiful landscape of the individual islands took place on all modes of transportation, e.g. on lorries, horseback and in the four-wheel vehicles of the island's inhabitants.