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Tahiti arrangements with Windstar or independently?


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We have booked an 11 night cruise to Tahiti & the Tuamotu islands on the Wind Spirit in 2018. Our cruise has a "special offer" with air and hotel included. Trying to decide whether to book the complete package or do the arrangements ourselves.

 

Some questions I have are:

 

1. How much are transfers to a hotel close to the airport and from hotel to the cruise port?

2. Is one night at the Le Meridien (late arrival after 10pm) and a day room at the end of the cruise with all transfers worth $930? (for 2 people)

3. How does the day room work? Is it a private hotel room or is it shared by many?

4. If the complete package is not booked, is the base fare on the cruise higher?

5. Is $1,529.50 the approximate cost of flying Air Nui Tahiti during peak times?

 

Any opinions on whether to take the package or make arrangements independently would be appreciated. We plan on spending one night in LA prior to the Tahiti flight and leave Tahiti right after the cruise.

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1. You mean a taxi? Don't remember, but you can google for average price.

2. No way, not to me

3. You don't share dayrooms.

4. Not in my experience; the price goes down. You'd have to check

5. Price in Economy sometimes, LAX-PPT can be $1700 or more. Just depends on your travel date. You can do a dummy booking on AF or Air Tahiti Nui webpage to check.

 

IME, these packages have never been a bargain. Always been less expensive to book myself.

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We have not yet done this cruise but I believe we are doing the same one as you next July 1, 2018. We knew we wanted to try and get free air with our American Airlines miles (partner airline to Tahiti Nui) so we did not want the package. Also we feel we are traveling so far that we wanted to add on a few days in Moorea first and a few days in Bora Bora afterwards. We have so far managed to get free seats to Tahiti from LAX and will be attempting to get free seats for the return. I have found a B&B close to the airport for $85 a night where the owner picks us up at the airport and will drive us to the ferry terminal the next day. It is the Fare Suisse B&B. Very close to the airport. This is also a good place to stay for a day room, though there is no pool it is a clean quiet place to keep your belongings and explore Papeete. The owner will take you to the airport for free.

So no transfers to pay for with this accommodation. Staying at the bigger luxury hotels will involve some kind of a transfer or expensive taxi. We are staying in nice, but not luxurious places, in Moorea and Bora Bora, right on the beach with private bungalows for $200 a night. I am telling you this so you can see you can do all the booking yourself and save money. To answer your questions...

1. Depending on the hotel your transfers will be free like ours or you will pay...I do not know the price, sorry. You could problem email a hotel or two and ask.

2. There is no way I would spend that much. Two nights at our B&B with free transfers is less than $200 so we can pay for a tour of the island or rent a car for the day. I think that is very high.

3. Day rooms are private.

4. I believe the actual cruise fare is the same if you do not take the air. You need to keep checking to see if the price drops. But they do not charge you more for cruise only.

5. I think the airfare price is about $1500 - $1700. So far we have spent $5.60 each for our flights from LAX to PPE because we used our miles and hope we can get the same coming back. We have saved up our miles for this trip. But in any case, you should not spend more than $1700. I would get your flights as soon as your dates are set.

So I think the packages are too high. You can definitely do all the arrangements your self. Some people just like everything done for them and I like to research hotels, deals, excursions, etc. on my own. We always save money doing things on our own. Just use the experts here or go to Trip Advisor Tahiti forum to get questions answered. Good Luck!

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I'm with you Dwight1. Leaving tomorrow (8/22) for Los Angeles and boarding Windstar Spirit on 8/24 for 7 day cruise. We took the air/hotel package because: A. don't have all the air miles, free hotel points that many have achieved. I spent my whole career in scrubs in an emergency room and not traveling all over on business. B. I did spend a lot of time on scheduling private excursions but let my TA set up the cruise and just took some OBC and everything was handled for me because even in retirement, I am still very busy doing hospice client care.

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I'm with you Dwight1. Leaving tomorrow (8/22) for Los Angeles and boarding Windstar Spirit on 8/24 for 7 day cruise. We took the air/hotel package because: A. don't have all the air miles, free hotel points that many have achieved. I spent my whole career in scrubs in an emergency room and not traveling all over on business. B. I did spend a lot of time on scheduling private excursions but let my TA set up the cruise and just took some OBC and everything was handled for me because even in retirement, I am still very busy doing hospice client care.

 

Will you please share your "private excursions" and how they worked out? We're booked on your cruise in bit less than a month and have booked no excursions. Thanks in advance.

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Just got off the 10 night cruise 8/13...we booked a day room for the return at the Intercontinental. $160 for two. They picked us up at the port, took us to the hotel, had a room for the day and then took us to the airport at 830pm to make our 1100pm flight. Almost everyone else had the day room package at Le Meridien. ($179) Big difference was at the Intercontinental the room was supposed to be from 3pm to 10pm...at Le Meridien from 1000am to 500pm.

When we got to the Intercontinental we asked for an early check-in and they gladly obliged. We were in our room by 945am. The people at Le Meridien were transferred to the airport 530-600pm and then had to wait until flight time UGH. We spent the night before the cruise at the Intercontinental too.

Book excursions like the Blue Lagoon in advance!

We booked late and by the time it came to excursions everything for Fakarava was booked. Found a guy that would take us BUT his boat held eight and we would need to pay for ALL eight if we wanted to go to the Blue Lagoon. $600 OUCH.

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Just checked the flights on Kayak for my July/August dates for Windstar for the flights thru provide/ the 4:25pm to Tahiti and 11:30pm back to LA and price is now $2153 vs package price $1550. Some difference.

 

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IMO you're going about it backwards Dwight1. The most critical portion of the package, at least price wise, is the cost of air. You can always book the cruise only portion later on and by and large, but for flash sales, the price really doesn't appreciably change until the cruise gets close to being sold out. It's too early for you to be purchasing air transportation for travel a year from now if you expect to purchase it as a result of a "sale." Now if you were traveling prior to May 31, 2018, given the sale fare to/from AKL with a free stopover in PPT I wrote about yesterday, I would say purchase your air transportation. If you lock yourself into an overpriced cruise this far in advance, you will limit your ability to take advantage of a future air fare sale because then your dates of travel will be cast in concrete and you will lose your flexibility. So looking at what the cost of air is today, locked into those dates of travel, IMO is pretty much meaningless.

 

If you have the flexibility, change your travel dates to conform to the cost of air. For instance, if you can travel mid May instead of August, grab seats at the current sales fare. If you can't travel in May, can you travel in Sep. of next year instead of Aug? Or October? If so, wait for another air fare sale (there will be several), grab the lowest priced seats which which allow you to take advantage of a Windstar cruise, then wait for a Windstar flash sale where the price of the cruise is reduced (you can sign up with Windstar for e-mail alerts, and you can monitor pricing by checking *************.com).

 

Your targeted price for the cost of air, again IMO, should be $1,000/person or less. Your targeted price for the cost of the cruise alone (assuming 7 nights), again IMO, should be $1,799/person (this is for a base price, category B cabin). Add the two numbers together and you're looking at a $2,799/person cost for air transportation plus the cruise. You can worry about first/last night's ground accommodations/transfers later (there will be plenty of time). And given you DON'T want to be arriving in PPT at midnight, try booking the 4:00 P.M.+/- flight from LAX that arrives in PPT at 9:20 P.M. or so.

 

Or if you don't want the stress, pay the $4,299-$4,599/pp all inclusive price Windstar is currently offering and don't concern yourself with pricing. And good luck.

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Thanks for the info. I have a reservation for the 8/2/18 cruise and paid only deposit which I can cancel. I have emailed Windstar about the high hotel costs. I may change and book myself separately if I see the airfare come down in a month or two and the explanation for the hotel charges are not good or changed.

 

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Glad to hear your price with Windstar is NOT "locked in."

 

IMO, there's no need to stay at a fancy hotel the night of your arrival. You will be recovering from a long trip and just need a clean place to spend the night. And because of the very, very high costs in PPT, you want to eliminate add on transfers and breakfasts if you can avoid them. You might want to consider the Tahiti Airport Hotel. You can walk there (uphill) from PPT, and the price ($90+/night) includes continental breakfasts for two. Or consider the B&B suggested by KathiB. Or try the Sarah Nui Hotel which is located within short walking distance of the pier where your Windstar cruise will depart. About $100/night, and they will pick you up at the airport on your arrival so free transfers. Then the next morning you will be able to walk to the business district, do some shopping, and find breakfast at something less than high hotel prices. You can keep your luggage at the hotel and later in the afternoon, take your short walk to the pier. Don't have a suggestion for a "day room" on your return, but maybe you can work something out with the Sarah Nui given their clienteles will not be arriving until the 9:20 P.M. Air Tahiti Nui flight?

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Yes, I will add that our B&B, Fare Suisse, is only $85 per night (breakfast is $10 extra) for a double room with AC and private bathroom. The owner picks you up at the airport for free and then will take you to the ferry or the cruise ship dock in the morning for free. All correspondence has been fast and easy. They are within walking distance to many things. You can google them or look on Trip Advisor on the Tahiti forum under Tahiti B&Bs.

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We are on the 11/16/17 sailing of the Wind Spirit (Dreams of Tahiti 7-day cruise). There was an airfare sale that popped up on Travelzoo on 8/10, so I checked to see what our airfare would be on or around our flight dates. It was a tad higher than our $1500 pp RT price through Windstar. The lowest airfare we found was $994.52 per person for LAX-PPT on 10/18/17 (Wed), returning 10/27/17 (Fri). But those dates did not coincide with any Windstar cruise dates, so we are happy to have gotten the package deal through Windstar for $3,999 per person. And we booked our cabin a year before our sailing date. It's $500 more per person now, so there's the $1000 we would have saved IF we had found $1000pp airfare around our sailing dates (which we didn't). Plus, I am loving the thought of never having to worry about arranging our own ground transportation or shlepping our luggage around. I'm able to spend my planning time planning off-cruise excursions on each island instead!

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I saw the dec. 26 cruise at 1699 about a week ago. And don't forget to check price daily if you already booked. WS will price match until 7 day of departure . Upgrade, $$ at their discretion

 

 

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As a matter of curiosity through an online travel agent that is quite large I searched all of the Windstar Tahiti 7 day cruises from next week thru the end of the year. The August and Sept 7 ones are sold out and all others for just the cruise were nowhere near 1799 but around $2500 and up with only the Dec14 one being $2000. Nothing beyond January was discounted also. Interesting.

 

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You need to be patient Dwight1. You're talking about a cruise which takes place a year from now. What you've booked is 100% refundable for up to six months from now! So you're holding all the cards. If what I suggest doesn't materialize, then you pay full retail and get to go when you want to go. But what you see today in pricing is absolutely meaningless because so much is going to change between now and a year from now. We can't even imagine the kinds of things which may change because world events can have an impact we cannot predict. Rest assured, I didn't simply pull my $2,799/pp targeted all inclusive price "out of my hat."

 

You will essentially NEVER see a fare war to Tahiti because essentially no one services that routing from the mainland U.S. except Air Tahiti Nui ("AT"), and they're not going to negotiate with themselves. So if you're looking for a lower air fare, you need to get creative or wait for AT to offer its version of a "sale" which typically has so many restrictions (like a maximum 5 night stay) that it's worthless.

 

So what is "creative" air? In my mind it's Los Angeles ("LAX")/Auckland, New Zealand ("AKL") with a free stopover in Tahiti ("PPT") [it could be similar travel to Fiji or China or Australia or wherever, as long as it includes the free stopover in PPT]. It's the old "hidden city" technique. You don't really want to go to AKL or Fiji or China or wherever. But the price for air to AKL or Fiji or China is lower than the price for air to PPT notwithstanding you deplane in PPT on your way. The problem is that if you never continue onto AKL or Fiji or China or wherever, your return reservation will be cancelled by the airlines. So you actually need to continue onto wherever which as I have attempted to explain, is not such a bad thing.

 

Unlike PPT, the routing from the U.S. mainland/AKL is serviced by UAL, ANZ, Qantas, UAL and probably a half a dozen or more other carriers. In other words, there's "competition." And where there's competition there will be air fare sales. And where there are fare sales, the competition (in this case AT) will typically match the fare because they don't want to lose market share.

 

This is why AT offers competitive LAX/AKL fares with free or low cost stopovers in PPT. However, the problem has been that traditionally AT places what I label "artificial" limitations on your stopover in PPT. So you need to wait for the "correct" type of sale. A sale which may never come.

 

My wife and I waited for over a year for one of these "correct" sales. And when it materialized last January, we reacted. The price was under $900/person, permitted travel for up to three months, and allowed for a virtually unlimited stopover in PPT. Plenty of time for a cruise, excursion to Bora Bora, or whatever.

 

And now there is a similar sale in effect. The price is a bit higher ($1,048/pp), and permitted travel is for up to "only" 45 days. But you can get three nights worth free lodging in PPT which is worth something.

 

So please don't tell me my targeted $1,000/pp air fare is unreasonable just because you don't see it today on Kayak, Orbitz or wherever.

 

Let's talk about Windstar pricing. If you study that pricing over a long period of time, you will see that the "regular" price for the 7 day cruise, without all the add ons (including air), starts at $2,999/pp (double occupancy) for the lowest price "B" category cabin. As the cruise date gets closer to departure, Windstar must "release" unsold air space on AT. That's when you start seeing "cruise only" pricing which is what you now see for August-September, 2017 departures.

 

But if you're flexible, you likely can find "cruise only" pricing well in advance of departure. You see this because Windstar wants to offer something akin to a "loss leader." An advertised price that's so low, we unsuspecting members of the public will "act" emotionally and purchase. So Windstar discounts the price of its cruise only, throws away all the "add ons" (like air), and offers a low "teaser" price. And the price turns out to be $1,799/pp (or in a perfect storm, I have seen it as low as $1,599/pp). This happened several months ago. A "flash sale" was announced that I know some on this board were actually able to book (including us). For us it ended up costing $1,999/pp because none of the category "B" cabins were available (we had to "upgrade" to category "BX").

 

So please don't tell me my targeted $1,799/pp cruise only price is unattainable.

 

Now maybe your travel times aren't that flexible so you can sit back and conform to the sale dates the airlines and Windstar elect to offer. Or maybe you cannot devote a couple of additional days of travel to continue onto to AKL. Or maybe you absolutely don't want to go to AKL. Or maybe you don't want the stress (or excitement) of playing AT's/Windstar's pricing "games."

 

But if you're looking for a good price and have the flexibility I suggest, I guarantee you that sometime within the next year you will be able to do what I suggest. In fact, you can do it right now if you're willing to travel between November of this year and May of next (with some black out dates in between). And if not, don't worry. Come next December or Jannuary, you will see a very similar offering for travel next August-September.

 

Just like KathiB "worked" the frequent flyer allotment game with American Airlines so she could secure the frequent flyer seats she/her husband coveted, you can do the same with AT and Windstar. You just need to be diligent, flexible and ready to pounce on an opportunity whenever it surfaces. And to help you, I suggest you sign up for e-mail alerts from both AT and Windstar.

 

Hope these thoughts were helpful and some on this board are able to take advantage of the strategies I suggest.

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Love your answer. Very comprehensive.

 

WS price fluctuate a lot and you can ask you TA to adjust it if the price goes down. We did that three times last year - two price reduction and a "President" sale that saved us another 200$us ea. Don't forget that as a past customer, you are entitled another 5% off.

 

Our date this July was not flexible. We're both working and we wanted to experience the Heiva I Tahiti (which was worth every penny we spent for this trip). We do not regret anything, even if our airfare was quite high and in canadian fund, which cost us another 35% extra.

 

Great writing skitrip

 

 

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Just to confirm what Skitrip is saying, there was a lengthy article today on Polynésie Première, the local radio station in Tahiti. There is a transcript (in french) on the social media site of "Aviation Geeks Tahiti".

 

In essence, don't look for huge price reduction in the coming year. While the bottom line of Air Tahiti is good, most price reduction seen so far in the last 2 years are due to price reduction from other carrier, namely Air NZ, Air France to name those 2. There could be price change during the start of the school year.

 

Here is verbatim, the English translation from Google:

First of all, fewer promotions(classes). Where ATN had led 2 big general campaigns(countrysides) of promotion(class) on its whole network these last 2 years (a campaign(countryside) to the 1st and an other one in the 2eme half-year in 2015 and 2016), there was no this year for the moment. ATN simply aligned himself with punctual special offers(classes) Air France or Air New Zealand (and still, not all) but introduced no big promotion(class) on all its destinations. Patience however, the period of the start of the school year (between August 15th and the beginning of October) is traditionally convenient to the promotions(classes), and a pleasant surprise could arrive always soon. To follow...

 

Also, ATN will be receiving new B787 later this year and next. ATN bought them directly from Boeing so they have to make payment in the building stage.

 

Price increase 10% over last year on average.

 

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Our date this July was not flexible. We're both working and we wanted to experience the Heiva I Tahiti (which was worth every penny we spent for this trip). We do not regret anything, even if our airfare was quite high and in canadian fund, which cost us another 35% extra.

 

Dandee2, can you tell me what you did, where you went, what you saw for Heiva?

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Our cruise was on the 20th of July. We got in Tahiti on the 12th of July. Stayed in a Airbnb downtown. We went to the shows on 3 consecutive nights (13-14-15 July) and on the final night (July 19th). Got our online ticket about 2 months in advance from La Maison de la Culture (https://www.maisondelaculture.pf/)

 

This is the biggest Maho'i culture and festival (Fidji, Cook's ilsand and Hawaii included). It is not only a folklore show, they really have these display during the year in a multitude of villages and islands. It's a living culture. We speaks French so we are probably closer culturally than english speakers, but no matter your mother tongue, the shows are easy to understand.

 

If we go back, we will choose exactly the same dates. 2 weeks before they have the Va'aa canoe race and other activities (fire walking, etc)

 

Where else can you see 130 dancers and 30 drummers at the same time? Each evening has a theme. 3 groups (or villages) do the big 45 minutes long choreography and dances + they have the traditional choir signing competition.

 

The announcer explain the theme or the story in French, Tahitian and english. We just fell in love with them.

 

Always held the last week of june to the last week of July but dates are set only in April of each year.

 

The Tiki village in Moorea has similar show all year long on a smaller scale but for tourist mainly. It would be a good alternative (https://www.tikivillage.pf/). The Meridien and Intercontinental also have small version of this on some night.

 

About 28 minute into the video gets really interesting. They are not professional but practice about 8 month of the year for this show.

http://www.tntvreplay.pf/Heiva-2017-Au-coeur-du-Heiva-du-14-juillet_v9562.html

 

Another one, full length. http://www.tntvreplay.pf/Heiva-2017-TAHITI-IA-RURU-TU-NOA-danse-integrale_v9680.html

 

Cheers

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Daniel - Meant to thank you for the heads up on the Heiva on the other thread. I had heard about it and it was on my radar but it has definitely moved to "can't miss" status for our trip next July. I'll be keeping an eye for the 2018 schedule

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Thank you so much ,Dandee2!! I fully expect that we'll want to go back to FP again after our cruise, and I figure if we can cut costs on lodging, we can splurge and go at high season during Heiva. But since the schedule isn't published until April, it sounds like we would have to go ahead and make our flight and lodging reservations and just trust that we'll catch some good performances/events. If we go on our own, we would probably go to Tahiti, Moorea and Maupiti (which is not accessible by cruise ship, even by Windstar).

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  • 1 month later...

We decided to postpone our Tahiti cruise, but I did learn a lot while researching this trip.

 

1. The "cruise only" fare is more (approx. $300) if you don't book Windstar's air/hotel/transfer package.

2. Windstar's package is not flexible. You can't add nights on either end.

3. If you have to book airfare from the east coast, do it through Qantas. For some reason, their flights are a lot cheaper than booking through American or Air Nui and they use the same Air Nui flights from LAX.

4. I think Windstar puts together a nice package, but it is definitely cheaper to make arrangements independently. One thing we didn't like about Windstar's package is that they choose a flight which gets you to the hotel very late in the evening. You are paying a lot for a hotel without having much time to enjoy it.

 

Hope this helps.

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