Does anyone know anything about the Marquesa Islands? Have you been there? We're booking a Princess cruise and have the option of either the Marquesas or Cook Islands as part of our itinerary. I know the Cook's are supposed to be great, but apparently the boat can only make it into that port about 50% of the time. So I'd like to know more about the Marquesas. We would have two days there, at Nuku Hiva and Hiva Oa. We like beaches, snorkeling, catamaran trips etc. Not big on interior island drives or shopping. Thanks for your help!

If you haven't already booked, why not book the Aranui 3 and go to both Marquesas and the Cook Islands?

If you meant that the Aranui does both, it does not cruise the Cook Islands - it stays in French Polynesian waters which includes the Marquesa Islands. I cruised on it a year and a half ago - it is a wonderful trip.

I should have added that with the interests you have in snorkeling and beaches, the Cook Islands might be better for you. Good snorkeling to me means a reef structure which the Marquesan Islands do not have at least on the two islands you mentioned.

Thanks for the feedback. We booked the itinerary with the Cook Islands. There was so little info about the Marquesas, and to Louise's point, we wanted snorekeling etc. Now we just hope we can get into the Cooks port!

Just a follow-up to my original posting. We thoroughly enjoyed our Princess cruise and got into the Cook Islands port of Rarotonga! The island was one of our favorites on the cruise.

We went to Muri beach, which was just gorgeous and relatively uncrowded. My brother snorkeled around a little bit, but didn't see much. There are a few small hotels along the beach. The Muri Beach Hotel has a little outdoor restaurant where we got lunch and beers. The guests there seemed to be mostly European, Australian or from New Zealand (it's only 5 hours from NZ).
Back in town, there are several nice tourist shops, little restaurants, a liqour store and an internet cafe.