Air For Tahiti Cruises

[Hulagirl]

Would really like to know how all of you that have cruised or will be cruising on the Tahitian Princess have booked your air for the cruise. I'm looking at the prices with Princess and it seems considerably less than booking it ourselves. Usually we book our own air, but this time I'm not too sure about that. Even my TA says this time she would recommend Princess Air, so I'm presuming she knows more than I do on it. But, I would appreciate some insight as to what the rest of you have found, price wise. We live in the Seattle area, so we will still have to fly to LA and then fly out to Tahiti. Hawaiian Airlines has a few flights to Tahiti, but not many, so ATN seems to be the best option also, I think.

 

Any information would be greatly appreciated. We are looking to book the cruise for next year, and I like to plan ahead on this.

 

Thank You!

 

Susan

[laurieb]

we booked air through Princess the first time we went and found our own the second time. We will book our own from now on. That being said, it sounds like your cruise is a ways out, so you might want to go ahead and book the air through Princess now, and you can always cancel the air later if you find good rates. That is what we did. Just keep checking prices, we bought our ATN tickets about 5 months before the cruise. We fly out of PDX.

[Tahitian Princess]

We have been on this cruise three times, Twice when the ship was Renaissance Cruises and last year on the Tahitian Princess. We've always used the airlines through the cruiselines. I know some people have found some pretty good deals on their own, I think it depends on the time of year.

The better deals to Tahiti are usually Nov.-April. I've seen a few specials at those times. We have always gone in Aug.(great weather each time), last year we wanted to stay a few days in Moorea post cruise so, I booked my own hotel and went with Princess air(Air Tahiti Nui) and paid the air deviation so we could pick our dates and flight times. It was about $75 extra. Our plane tickets came to $875 each total. This worked out great for us. Next time we go, hopefully in Aug. 2006 I plan on flying in a day early and staying a few days after the cruise, I would definately do the air deviation again.

[Hulagirl]

Thank you so much for the quick information. Yes, we are looking at the July or August dates. My TA sent me the dates and the itineraries for 2006 sailings, so we are now waiting for the pricing to actually come out. The beginning of July looks like the best so far and then the beginning of August. The two cruises in the middle go to Honolulu and back, otherwise I would have looked later in July.

 

We have also done the deviation with Princess when we flew to Europe for our 2 cruises and found that worked quite well also. Actually even with paying the deviation then, it was still cheaper with Princess than getting the tickets ourselves. Think I will take the advice of both of you and book the air with them, and then watch the prices.

 

Thanks again for your information.

 

Susan

[Tahitian Princess]

Hulagirl, did your T.A. give you the itinerary for the Summer of 2006 or just the dates? I'm anxiously awaiting to see if there are any changes and also, what ports the Hawaii to Tahiti cruise will be stopping at, I've done the Cooks and Rarotonga is very nice, although we might want to try something a little different(personally, I wish the ship would just travel around the Tahitian Islands) I just want to see what the other itinerary has to offer. What do you know? French Polynesia is amazing,I have no interest to travel anywhere else now.

Thank you!

[Toto2Kansas]

We did a lot of looking around for air fare not through the cruise line, but just couldn't find anything that beat Princess prices. One thing we did do though which saved us a ton was to book our own air from Kansas City to LAX. Princess wanted an astronomical amount for that part of the flight. We booked it ourselves, arrived the day prior and got a great deal for $50 at one of the airport hotels through PriceLine. Even after the hotel stay, we still saved several hundred over what Princess wanted to charge us for the flight to LAX. RT from LAX to Tahiti we did Princess air and it was fine. We just learned to get to the airport with our luggage ourselves instead of relying on Princess transfers and their luggage mess at FAA.

[RNay]

Hulagirl,

 

We are going soon!!!! I did look for our own air, even just from Iowa or Minnesota to LAX, but could not find a lower price than the TA quoted me from Princess. Definitely couldn't find a lower price than Princess from LAX to PPT. I booked this cruise more than a year out. I have kept an eye on prices. I wasn't sure with coming from this distance how the timing would work with the ATN flight, so that made me nervous too. You are rather closer than us, so good luck!

 

Renee

[Hulagirl]

So appreciate the information. Will look into booking our own air from Seattle to LAX and see what Princess is charging for that. I do know though that the flights from Seattle R/T to LAX are running $300.00 per person for our April cruise next year, so we are flying into Long Beach for that one. It will save us $100 per person. Really surprised me that LAX was that much more. Thanks Toto for that though, as I will definitely see what Princess is charging for that leg of the trip.

 

I couldn't cut and paste what I was sent, so I will type here the dates and the itineraries for next year during the summer.

 

7/2, 8/5 and 8/15 itineraries:

 

Papeete (Overnight)

Huahine

roratonga

Riatea (Overnight)

Tahaa Scenice Cruising

Bora Bora (Overnight)

Moorea

Papeeta

 

7/12, (Reversed 7/24), 8/25 (Reversed 9/6)

 

Papeete

Moorea

Raitea

bora Bora Christmas Island

Hilo

Maui

Kuai

Honolulu

 

The the first Marqueses Island cruise I see is October 8, 2006. This one alternates a few times with the Cook Island cruises.

 

Hope this helps. I appreciate the information on the flights. At least I know it is looking more like Princess will be the best bet for air. We are looking at staying a couple days at each end of the cruise also. Don't know whether to do this through Princess or not. Last year when we went to Copenhagen, we booked the hotel ourselves there for the first 6 nights before the cruise and it was so much better. That part I will have to think about.

 

Susan

[pugsbest]

We are looking at booking the TP next August as well. All your comments will be a big help figuring out the air.

 

Tahitimama2001,

Was the air deviation $75 each?

 

Thanks everyone!

[Hulagirl]

I can answer the cost for the air deviation. Tahitimama is right for the $75 per person. They raised it to that a while ago. We paid $75 for our deviation for our Baltic cruise last summer.

 

All this information is helping me so much also. So nice to be able to ask people who have actually done this.

 

Susan

[Tahitian Princess]

Hulagirl, thank you for posting the dates and itinerary. If you have any other questions ask away, Tahiti and Her Islands are my favorite subject(other than my family,of course) to discuss.

 

Pugbest, yes $75 was the cost of air deviation, last year. I don't know if it has gone up since then, as I said before I think it is totally worth it. Even if you don't end up staying pre or post cruise, you can choose your flight times and pick your seat ahead of time.

[Hulagirl]

So glad you saw the post for the itineraries/times for next year. I had been waiting for something to come out and was so glad she sent all the information to me. I have all the dates and sailings with the information, so if I didn't type in a date that you are really interested in, let me know. Would have copied and pasted the information, but the format she sent to me didn't allow that. And, I'm just not computer savvy enough to know if there is another way to do that. Prices hopefully should come out in another 2 weeks. She is watching for me and will definitey let me know also.

 

I'm excited that we are finally going to be able to do the Tahiti cruise. With the rumors that the ship might have been leaving the area, I was concerned that I'd waited too long. Glad the rumors didn't pan out.

 

You are right about the deviation price. It is still $75 and I agree that it does pay to get what you want.

 

My questions would be what you did for tours/excursions in Tahiti. Are there any in particular that shouldn't be missed? Did you do a lot of these on your own or with the ship? If on your own, what tour operators did you find the best, most reliable, safe, etc. Yes, as you can see I have a lot of questions for this cruise. So any information you can give me would be so appreciated.

 

Of course with 3 other cruises ahead of me you would think I'd be concentrating on those, but NO!!! They are all easy and know what we are doing with them. Mexico and the Caribbean are so easy and been there several times, but Tahiti is such a new territory. We usually go to Maui in the summer and spend 3 weeks there, but need to branch out.

 

Thank you so much for any information you can give me. Granted this is a year away, but doing the research on it is also so much fun.

 

Susan

[Tahitian Princess]

Yipeee!I get to answer some questions about My Tahiti(my family and friends call me theTahitian Princess, they named me that before Princess named the ship).

We have learned each time we have gone something new about excursions. Of course the first time we went, I didn't know about this board, which has been so valuable to us. The first time we booked most of our excursions through Princess. On the 2nd and 3rd trips, we booked everything on our own.

I'll try to give you a list of everything we've done then if you have any particular questions, if I can answer them, I'll be most happy too.

 

Tahiti- 4x4 tour, rental cars a couple of times drove around the island saw Black Beach at Venus Point, Blowhole, waterfalls,Botanical Gardens, surfing beaches,The Grotto, went shopping at the Marche in Papeete and every store there as well.

Huahine- rental car drove around the island, stopped at the Sofietel hotel and swam and snorkled, also, in the main town of Fare is a closed down hotel Bali Hai had great snorkeling also. Last year we did the Motu picnic with Marc, this was such a fun trip, I would do this again(one of our favorites).

[Tahitian Princess]

I didn't realize I would have to continue on a new post.

 

Rarotonga- Last year was our first time to Raro, we decided to rent a convertible red Mazda Miata and drove around the island, stopping at beaches for snorkeling and also, checking out some of the hotels.Again did some shopping, we heard this was a good place to shop because it was less expensive than Tahiti, we found some good prices. Went to the famous Muri Beach as well for some beach time and snorkeling.

 

Raiatea- 4x4 and combo Faaroa River trip on an outrigger, great fun, rental car around the island(one of my favorite views of the water is from there, spent one day on a beautiful motu snorkeling and of course, shopping.

 

Bora Bora(my favorite place in the world) We seem to do the same thing when we retun here, rent the little Cabrio convertible, drive around the island stopping at Bloody Mary's, Matira Beach and some other favorite spots along the way..Our very favorite excursion to do there is the Wave Runner tour, The lagoons are amazing unbelievable colors of blues, and of course, shopping.

 

Moorea-Rental cars, Wave Runners,canoes, snorkeling, Belvedere Point, 4x4 tour, relaxing on motu. We also stayed a couple of days on Moorea post-cruise, at the Beachcomber. And of course, shopping!

 

Make sure you buy the book By Jan Prince (2005 edition) Tahiti and French Polynesia Guide. It has tons of info. and of course, I will be most happy to answer anything that I can.

Wow! I didn't know this would be so long. It may be moved, as it's more like a review. Sorry, now I know why my husband calls me long winded!!!

[tweetybird]

We're planning on doing Tahiti next summer too! Thanks Hulagirl for posting the itineraries for next summer. I love that the ship overnights in so many ports. Anyone know what the weather is like in July and August? Any recommended hotels for pre and post cruise stays?

 

Tahitimama thanks for all the GREAT tips on what to see & do!!:)

 

Thanks for tip on booking Princess air. We usually book our own air.

 

Can't wait for my TA to have the prices up!!

Laura

[Tahitian Princess]

tweetybird, Weatherwise, July, Aug. and Sept. are the best times to go, low humidity and temps. are ususally beteen 80-85. Of course, it's the tropics, so any kind of weather can happen.

[Tahitian Princess]

I forgot to add another couple of fun excursions, which you can do on Bora Bora and Moorea is the helmut dive. We also, swam with the dolphins at the Moorea Beachcomber. Once with my husband and on another trip, with our then 18 year old son,we took him on that cruise for his graduation from high school. Here it is 4 years later, and he just graduated from college.

I'll probably think of a few things I left out and add them as I remember.

[tweetybird]

Thanks for all the tips!! It sounds wonderful!!:D

 

Laura

[Hulagirl]

All I can say is thank you so very, very much!!!! I'm going to print out everything you told me about the excursions you have done. What a wonderful amount of information you have given me. I was looking last night on the computer for information, but it just isn't the same as being told what it good or not. I do have the site for the Motu picnic. That looked so good and was wondering about it. Glad you did it and liked it. I see they have a picnic for people staying there and then another one for those on the cruise ship. At least that is how it looks. Maybe the timing of it is just different. But that really caught my attention.

 

Do you think it is better to rent a car at each place for first timers, or would it be better to find different excursions (not with the cruiseline) and do that. Would hate to think we missed something really good because we didn't know quite where to go. Also, is there anything special you need to do to rent cards in Tahiti? We always rent in Maui and have here at home on trips, but never in another country. If there is something special we need to know I would appreciate that.

 

Here we haven't even booked the trip yet, and I'm so excited about it. Can't wait for the pricing to come out.

 

Also, do you stay before and/or after the cruise? We are looking at going 2 days before and staying 2 days after. Who knows when we will get back, so I want to make sure we do what we can while we are there. Do you have any recommendations? I know Princess uses the Beachcomer (hopefully that is right, but I think it is) for their pre and post stays. Just wonder if you have found a good place and what you can tell me.

 

Thank you again for the information. I'm printing it out and going to keep it. Will look for the book. Was just at Border's today, so now I need to go back and find it. And, you can be long winded all you want!!!!! I love it, as you can see, we must be alike.

 

Susan

[laurieb]

I believe that the Sofitel on Huahine is closed now, I don't know if you can still gain access to the beach to snorkel there. Our favorite excursion this last time was Marc's motu picnic on Huahine. We snorkeled at 3 different spots,had a wonderful picnic with tables set up in the water, and visited a pearl farm. We had a whole group of CC friends we did this with. I hope that you have or will hook up with others on this board who are going with you, this was the best part of the cruise, both times.

[Tahitian Princess]

I believe your correct Laurie about the Sofietel being closed on Huahine, I just read that somewhere. I agree about Marc's picnic, it was one of our all time favorite excursions

Hulagirl, I think your better off booking excursions on your own, after reading these boards you'll get plenty of names and tours that are indpendent. Going through Princess, it's more expensive and crowded.

We have rented cars on every island on each trip to FP. I booked the majority of them ahead of time through Europcar. In Rarotonga, we rented through Budget when we arrived there. We were lucky to get the last convertible Miata on the island. I didn't book that ahead of time because, I wasn't sure before hand what we were going to do there. We really like touring the islands on our own, it's easy to do and you can stop when you want. We would pack a picnic, sandwiches, fruit and chips all from the ship, stop at the store and bought drinks and brought baggies and a collapsibile cooler from home. We really have done alot of exploring through all our trips. Each time we get more independent.

I suggest flying to Tahiti a day early, and spending a few days after the cruise. We booked our hotels ourselves,

I'll add to this later, hubby needs the computer.

[dog]

I'm excited about this too. Thanks for the info. We are planning on going either August or September 2006.

 

Are there any photos or trip reports from your trip tahitimama?

[Tahitian Princess]

Okay I'm back, I was saying we booked our own hotels. Last time after the cruise, we took the ferry(right next to the Tahitian Princess) to Moorea, it's only a 1/2 an hour trip. Then, we took a taxi to the Moorea Beachcomber. We just had a garden room, because we're really not in the room that much. We liked the hotel and always wanted to stay there because, everytime we do the cruise we end up there, when the ship docks in Moorea, we use their beach and their water activities. They have outriggers you can use that are free of charge, if you stay at the hotel and we had so much fun going out to the motu's, even tipped it over. They have a water taxi as well, that will take you to the motu. I have heard the Sheraton Moorea, has better snorkeling, I don't know we never went there. My niece stayed at the Beachcomber in Tahiti as well as the one in Moorea last month, when she went on her cruise and liked both hotels, she enjoyed the one in Moorea a bit more but, highly recommends both of them. We rented a car for just 24 hours from Alberts, right across the street from the Moorea IBC. There's not alot of places to eat right by the hotel, across the street there is a pizza place(Miss Pizza), pretty good pizza and salad. Down the road to the right about a 5 minute drive is Le Petit Village, there you will find a market or two, shops and restaraunts, even the famous Chicken Man, he's so nice and makes a great rotissere Chicken and rosemary potatoes all for $12.00 this will feed 2 or 3 people and enough for left overs. We took ours back to the hotel and sat on the beach and ate it, watching the gorgeous sunset and then looking at the millions of stars.

We also, used taxis before we rented the car to get to town. You don't need anything special to rent a car in Tahiti, just have your driver's license and purchase their insurance, you can also, check with your own insurance co. to see if your covered out of the country. In Rarotonga(Cook Islands) you have to purchase a Rarontongan drivers license at the police department for $10.00

it so happened the police department was right next door to the Budget car rental. My husband loves that he has a drivers license from there, it's his favorite souvineer.

Dog- I have many wonderful pictures of our trips, I'm just to computer illiterate to know how to post them, sorry!

[laurieb]

we did kind of the opposite, we went 3 days early and stayed just one day post. we stayed at a pension on Moorea, have been looking at the IC there but not sure we can do that moneywise next time. We did stay at the Tahiti IC and loved it, we will stay there again post cruise. As far as the rental crs, I think you need to have a major credit card( Visa or MC).

[Hulagirl]

That is great information about the hotels and the rental cars. At least I know you don't need anything special for driving there except at the one island. This would be one place I would definitely purchase the extra insurance. Even in Maui we have done it a couple of times. The traffic there has gotten worse and we just didn't want to take a chance for the last 2 trips. Before we just use our own personal insurance and hope for the best. So far, no problems.

 

Good to know about the hotels. Was wondring about staying on Moorea, and now I know what to do. We love to snorkle, so the Sheraton sounds good also. But the Beachcomber looks good with what you say is around it. Have read that it is very expensive to eat in Tahiti, but with your suggestions it would not be unreasonable to stay. Of course my husband and daughter would love to have an over the water bungalow, but I just don't think it would be in the cards.

 

I'm printing out all the information you have given me so far. This is better than anything I could have hoped for. You just will never know how much I appreciate it.

 

Have another question, but this is about the ship. I understand they only offer traditional seating on the TP. We always do personal choice, so I'm wondering what time the traditional seatings are for this ship. Have found that the different ships seem to offer it at varied times. Do you remember when the early and late seating was? I know this is sort of a stupid question, but it is something I haven't thought about for several years and many cruises. When I book the cruise, I just want to get some of these things taken care of and not have to think about it later. Our daughter will be almost 17 when we go next year, so late seating is what I'm leaning toward. Sorry to ask something really not relevant to the cruise experience of Tahiti. Also, did you find the ship to have a lot of movement to it? Since it is smaller, I'm also thinking that we would need to be prepared to sea sickness. My first cruise with Princess was in 1983 on the original Pacific Princess. It really moved, but I only had a problem on French night. Food too rich and ship rocked a lot.

 

Well so far I think we will put the cruise air on and then watch to see the pricing. But, most likely we will stay with that and ask for the deviation. Of course we would need to do that if we book the hotels pre and post ourselves. Are taxi's difficult to get there to take you to the airport? So used to Florida and California where they are everywhere!

 

Again, thank you for all the information. Tahitimama I would love to see your pictures. Understand about not knowing how to post them. We have used Web Shots, but my husband has done it and not me.

 

The printer is busy printing out your answers. Have a great evening and weekend. My Tahiti file is started.

 

Susan