Tahitian Princess, the newest ship to join the Princess Cruises' fleet, is, in fact, the reincarnated version of Renaissance Cruises' R4. What's interesting about Tahitian Princess is both the strong sense of deja vu she gives former Renaissance cruisers, and the utterly unusual experience she offers those who are Princess stalwarts.

In a nutshell: Tahitian Princess is a gorgeous vessel, and this 677-passenger ship sails mostly full on every cruise. She features elegant cherry-colored wood finishes, lush window treatments, and cozy upholstered furnishings in a design scheme that literally runs from stem to stern. Every room, from the casino bar to the spa's salon to individual cabins, evokes that British country house hotel feeling. Princess has tampered little with the Renaissance formula. So little in fact that, despite a welcome revamp of the former sports bar into a Polynesian-esque night club, this experienced Renaissance cruiser could find little had been changed. In fact, when Princess changed the name of the Sports Bar to The Nightclub, it simply stripped the new name into existing signs at elevator banks, and some of the crew carried key cards with the Renaissance logo.

Some of the elements for which Renaissance had become synonymous are high points of a Tahitian Princess experience. These include the sense of staying in a floating hotel, and the intimate feel of a midsize ship which creates a passenger and even staff camaraderie unmatched by today's megaships. But if the Princess "style" has made itself unfelt in the ship's appointments, it has most definitely communicated its onboard experience elements, from dining traditions to entertainment programs, on a comprehensive basis, so cruise line regulars will feel right at home. One note to travelers more accustomed to 2,000-plus traveler megaships: At 680 passengers, what you give up in breadth and depth of onboard options (only having a tiny casino, one showroom, and one pool), you more than get back in a sense of being pampered and, pervasive on this vessel, absolute relaxation.

For passengers, the most unique challenge facing a trip on Tahitian Princess is getting to the ship. The biggest conundrum is that Tahiti, home of the region's major international airport, has limited (and often overbooked) air service. And yet, it now has three cruise ships (Tahitian Princess, Radisson's Paul Gauguin, and Windstar's Wind Star) sailing there year-round. Los Angeles is the jumping off point for U.S. travelers, and only three airlines (Air France, Air Tahiti Nui, and Air New Zealand) offer flights from there. These airlines fly only a handful of times each week, and missing a connection from a domestic flight to the Tahiti flight can result in a delay of days, so plan accordingly. Another option is to book the cruise line's air fare, and Princess, while using Air Tahiti Nui, mostly depends on a charter operator called Omni. Comments we heard was that the service was fine, but the seats cramped.

Tahitian's largely identical sister ship, Pacific Princess, will be splitting the year wearing both the P&O and Princess Cruises flags.

Cabin categories range from inside cabins (158 square feet) to owners' suites (962 square feet), but what's distinctive about this ship is its high percentage of standard oceanview cabins with balconies… 73 percent of the ship's oceanview cabins have balconies. Cabins are cozy and colorful with a gold and blue color scheme on soft furnishings, set against the ship's signature cherry finish. Bathrooms in mini-suite categories and above have bathtubs; all others have showers. There's a hair dryer (though its terrible). Mini-suites and above have mini-refrigerators and receive an initial supply of miniature liquor bottles.

In-cabin television options are quite varied and almost too intriguing! Channels featured relatively new flicks (some not yet out on video), CNN, and the Discovery Channel.

The nice thing about Tahitian Princess's balconies is that they're simply wrought iron; no fancy glass coming between you and the view. On the downside, however, all of the balconies are outfitted with the same pair of plastic $5 straight-back chairs; it might be time for Tahitian Princess to upgrade the balcony furniture. Also: These balconies aren't as private as some of those found on more recent ships. There are huge gaps on each side of the white-painted doors.

Princess has, at least for now, modified its "personal choice" dining program to suit this much-smaller ship. Meals are available 24 hours a day but the choices vary (and it's helpful to pay attention to the "quick reference" card left in your cabin). The Panorama Buffet, the usual lido scenario, offers a smaller-than-usual selection of hot and cold dishes throughout the day, starting with continental breakfast fare at 4 AM and winding down with a pizzeria that closes at 11 PM. Night owls can get a hot dinner at the "Bistro," housed in one of the alternative restaurants, from 11 AM until 4 AM. A limited room service menu is available around the clock.

Traditional in nature, "The Club" dining room is open seating for breakfast and lunch. At dinner, there are two seatings: 6 PM and 8:15 PM, and passengers are assigned tables and tablemates. There are a smattering of tables for two, though these seemed in high demand. For casual breakfast and lunch, the Panorama buffet features the usual hot and cold options, though limited in variety (breakfast seemed to get repetitive but the ship's themed lunch buffets were worth catching). There's an omelet station out by the pool, and the cook there will cook eggs in other styles. Another lunch option is the basic barbecue, with grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, and the like. One underused curiosity was the transformation of The Panorama into a pizzeria for casual dinner seekers. It's a great idea, but the only item available is pizza, with no salads or other possible additions, so it didn't seem to attract too many patrons.

The ship has two alternative restaurants and they're open on, um, alternative nights. The Sterling Steakhouse Grill, unique to this ship, was a passenger favorite early on (book in advance), featuring carved-at-the-table prime rib and all manner of steaks, from filet mignon to porterhouse. Sabatini's is an extension of an existing Princess concept and features a multicourse northern Italian-style feast. The cover charge for Sterling was $8 per person, and $15 per person for Sabatini's.

Afternoon tea was held daily in The Club and featured delicious scones and pleasant musical accompaniment.

One don't-miss event: One of the few late-night eating events is the Polynesian buffet, held poolside.

Probably the most dramatic area of the ship for first impressions is the purser's lounge area on Deck 4. That's because Tahitian Princess has a Titanic lookalike staircase winding its way up to the next deck (and a player piano that more less constantly plunks out pleasant tunes). The extremely versatile Cabaret Lounge is the main theater and hosts everything from evening production shows to movies and bingo. There are two very small gift shops, one selling the usual cruise essentials and logo wear, the other an array of pearls, perfumes, and other trinkets. There is a handsome Internet room with six terminals, but oft-excruciatingly slow connections… this is French Polynesia, after all! That, a serious lack of communication between passengers needing assistance, and a ship contact all drove a lot of potential users away. There is also a nice card room.

The ship has one laundromat, and aside from the usual "rush hour" periods, there was plenty of room. In addition to the four washers and dryers, there are two ironing boards. Passengers buy tokens at the purser's desk ($1 per wash, $1 per dry). The soap is automatically funneled into the machine at no charge.

The ship's highlight? This has to be its library, which is easily one of the most gorgeous at sea. Featuring a faux fireplace and ceilings with painted murals (not to mention overstuffed couches and chairs and walls lined with cherry-finished bookshelves), this is the most pleasant room onboard for moments of utter peace and quiet. The unlocked bookshelves featured a selection that must have been current when Renaissance operated the ship—could do with a little updating—but was still interesting and eclectic.

While they were plenty of activities, both during the day (particularly sea days) and in the evening, they were geared to the more traditional members of the ship's mostly over-60 crowd. During the day, there were organized golf-putting, shuffleboard, and ping-pong contests. There also were craft workshops, a chef/maître d' cooking demo that was as hilarious as it was informational, and occasional afternoon movies in the Cabaret Lounge. Art auctions and bingo were daily mainstays.

During evenings, most of the ship's bars, particularly the Casino and the Club bar, featured a pre-dinner guitarist or pianist. Post dinner, the ship swings into full gear. The Cabaret Lounge features a range of options, from production shows that are definitely scaled down to fit the smaller venue to a magician and a comedian. The Nightclub is the spot for pre- and post-dinner dancing and transforms itself into a disco for late-night revelers (of which we spotted few).

Poolside entertainment consisted of a rather lackluster duo who performed during lunch hour and at sailaway time, but didn't seem to inspire passengers.

Tahitian Princess's ultimate entertainment highlight—and this is definitely a don't miss event—is a dance and musical performance that takes place while the ship is docked in Raiatea. All performers are locals, ranging from toddlers to adults. This performance gives passengers a real sense of the art and culture of this part of the world. Afterward, they hold an entertaining "workshop" on pareo tying that involves both men and women. A second, and different, musical show, featuring an adult troupe, takes place that same evening on the pool deck, during the Polynesian buffet event.

The pool area features one smallish pool that's flanked by two whirlpools (in this hot climate, they usually weren't very crowded). We didn't see too many blatant signs of chair saving, though lounges around the pool area seemed limited on sea days at at noon time. The pool deck also has a well-used ping-pong table. A small walking/running promenade deck rings the pool area and was usually quite busy early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Two decks above there's also an extra sunbathing area.

The spa is simply gorgeous and offers the usual Steiner services, both traditional (full-body massage) to nouvelle (they were pushing the Chakra hot stone treatment). There are four treatment rooms, and we never had trouble getting appointments. The men's and women's locker rooms included, ironically, steam rooms. This destination is so naturally humid and, well, steamy, that they seemed redundant. Outside is a private thalassotherapy pool and sun deck that charges $15 per day; we never saw anyone using it. The salon, also elegant and peaceful, offers the usual hair and nail treatments.

The fitness facility was small but entirely adequate and pleasantly fronted a wall of windows which made it feel larger than it really was. There are numerous classes, from aerobics (no charge) to Pilates and yoga ($10 per class); the spa is experimenting with packages for workouts (for example, unlimited yoga and Pilates for $75), though options change with each cruise.

Between the distance from the U.S. to Tahiti, and the ports themselves (which don't have a lot of child-oriented attractions), this is not really a cruise for young kids, and there are no dedicated children's facilities. That said, the activities staff works really hard to entertain the children it does get, and they plan games and diversions for junior passengers that use numerous rooms all over the ship. If the ship does have more than 20 children registered to sail, Princess assigns a dedicated children's counselor.

The crowd on this ship skews differently from other new (and otherwise larger) Princess vessels, attracting a large percentage of couples in both the over-60 and on-a-honeymoon range.

The ship automatically tacks on a $10 per person, per day charge, which covers dining room and cabin service, though passengers can opt to pay tips personally.

There are two formal nights per 10-day cruise, though passengers left tuxedos and spangled gowns at home (think "resort casual formal" with lots of flowing pants ensembles). The rest of the cruise was resort casual.

• Cruise line - Princess
• Ship name - Tahitian Princess
• Type of cruise - Smart Casual
• Total cabins - 344
• Private balcony cabins - 232
• Decks - 11
• Total crew - 373
• Passenger capacity - 688
• Ship size - Midsize
• Year entered service - 2002
• Registry - Gibraltar
• Tonnage - 30,227
• Former name - R4

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