Aranui Cruises is offering onboard credit and slashing 20 per cent off cruises in 2026 and 2027 as the Tahitian cargo cruise line encourages guests to go beyond Tahiti and see more of French Polynesia.
As part of the Escape Beyond Tahiti sale, cruises are discounted by up to $2000 per couple and onboard credit of A$700 per room is on offer when select Aranui cruises are booked by July 31, 2026.
The promotion is available on four of Aranoa’s 13-day voyages to the Austral Islands, with cruises departing April 12, May 15, June 2 and 19, 2027, included in the promotion. Set to debut in 2027, the new ship will cruise to French Polynesia’s southern Australs archipelago taking guests to all five inhabited islands including Rapa, priced from A$8524 (reduced by $836). Aranoa’s Austral Islands itineraries excluding Rapa and featuring either Maupiti or Huahine start from A$8194 per person twin share, savings of more than $800.
At present, Aranui offers the only way to visit all five inhabited Austral Islands in the south of French Polynesia – Tubuai, Rurutu, Rimatara, ‘Bora Bora of the south’ Raivavae, and Rapa Iti – as Rapa is only accessible by sea and Aranui 5 is currently the only local cruise ship permitted to call there. Rapa is only included in a limited number of voyages as the untouched southern island, home to a tiny community of just 500 residents, works closely with the cruise line to create a small, sustainable flow of tourism.
The sale also includes Aranui 5’s 13-day roundtrip voyages from Papeete to the northern Marquesas Islands departing December 5 and 19, 2026, as well as the first ten voyages of 2027 between January and June. A discounted stateroom is priced from A$7391 per person twin share, offering savings of more than $800 per person.
The cruise line’s 125-metre mixed freight and passenger vessel Aranui 5 delivers cargo to the six inhabited Marquesas Islands – Hiva Oa, Nuku Hiva, Ua Pou, Ua Huka, Tahuata and Fatu Hiva – allowing guests to explore the UNESCO World Heritage-listed region while the Polynesian crew unloads goods for locals. This itinerary also features calls at Tuamotu atolls Rangiroa and Fakarava, as well as the famed Bora Bora, to break up the journey to and from the Marquesas.
With local crew, cuisine and culture, Aranui is the most authentic way to explore French Polynesia. An Aranui cruise includes more than two thousand dollars’ worth of shore excursions such as hikes, visits to archaeological sites and local feasts, a weekly laundry service, three meals per day and complimentary French wine with onboard lunches and dinners.
Aranui 5 features a restaurant, conference rooms, lounges, a library, a boutique, a swimming pool, a gym, a spa, the first tattoo studio at sea and bars including the panoramic Sky bar and popular Veranda bar.
Aranoa, known in Tahitian as a “great awakening”, will debut in early 2027, and accommodate 198 guests across 93 cabins, most (62) with a private balcony. The 116-metre-long mixed passenger-freighter vessel will feature two restaurants, two bars, two spa pools, a boutique, a health spa, a fitness centre, and a tattoo salon in line with Aranui’s first tattoo parlour at sea.
