Papeete arrival

[beardedshark]

Hi, guys, we are doing a cruise out of Papeete in April.  Our flight is due to arrive about 5.30 am but boarding is at 1.00pm.  What are the Oceania arrangements for this period?

 

Thanks in advance for any info/advice

 

Beardedshark

[piedpiper99]

After a long flight from the UK, I would want a place to sleep.  It is not far from the Airport to the port.

 

I have no Idea what O offers, but there is a motel across from the airport (You still will want a taxi - I would not walk up that hill).  It is not a fancy place - but you can take a nap there.  There are also few other hotels around  there that are < 10 min taxi ride from the airport. If you want a resort - The Intercontinental resort is good and also close by.  The airport to the hotel is 10-15 min taxi ride.

 

I personally would not fly in the day of the cruise. I do not think it is possible to get to PPT from the UK without stopping in the states, which is always a pain, and those flights could be delayed.

 

Enjoy your trip.  French Polynesia is most excellent on a cruise ship.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I think I'd opt for a hotel day pass if I were you.  You'll have about 7 hrs. to wait. 
We're in the same basic pickle too.  Our flight arrives at 5:00am but we're doing 2 days pre-cruise in an OWB in Moorea.  We have to find something to do for about 4 hrs. until we can take the ferry to Moorea. 
We were thinking of hopping in a taxi and seeing if we can do a short island tour to see a bit of Tahiti with a drop-off at the port.  If that doesn't work, then we'll take a taxi to the Papeete market and walk around dragging our luggage with us I guess.  If anyone has any other ideas, please let us know.  

[Acrusa]

I would email the Intercontinental hotel and ask about pickup at airport and leave your luggage till you board the ship. Oceania uses this hotel for pre and post so maybe they will accommodate you for a price.

[jondfk]

You don’t say whether you’re doing air with O air not.  If so, for our sailing last April, pax were transported to the Intercontinental where a ballroom was set up with a light breakfast buffet.

 

Busses returned about 11:30 to transport both those who arrived late evening via Air Tahiti Nui, and those who arrived at 5:30 with Air France.  So that’s what you’ll be doing if you’ve left the arrangements to O.

 

Now a bit of advice based on our personal experience.  DON’T under any circumstances do what is described above!  Why?  Papeete has no terminal at the pier.  The 9 busses from the intercontinental left basically nose to tail and dumped their 450 passengers in the 100* mid day sun.  The line to board took well more than 2 hours with little shade and no water.  Don’t do it, just don’t.  Instead, get a day room or resort pass (at the Hilton or Intercontinental), get a nap in, a bite to eat, a shower and leave for the ship no earlier than 3pm, 4pm would be better still  The embarkation process in Papeete was by far the worst we’ve ever experienced and by far the most disappointing part of an otherwise lovely sailing.  Sorry for the rant, but since you ask…

[the more ports the better]

We sailed on Marina in FP a few years ago and stayed at the airport hotel, barely passable, would never stay there again.  We just sailed on Paul Gauguin a few weeks ago in Sept.  We stayed at the new hilton 2 days pre cruise.  It is a perfect precruise choice.  Close and easy, both for the airport and the cruise port.  It was completely gutted and redone, they did a great job.  Many of the passengers on our sailing were there too.  A lot of fun!

 

Flying in the day of the cruise is risky, if any flight is delayed or cancelled, it’s not like there are a lot of alternatives to get you there, you have to wait until the next day at which point you miss the ship.  Air Tahiti is very prompt though for inter island flights in case you miss the sailing.

 

We stayed a week post cruise at the SR Bora Bora, heaven!

[EasyGoingGuy]

The hotel in the middle of the picture is the "Hotel Tiare Tahiti" where we stayed the nights before and after the cruise.  Nothing fancy but may have a day rate and it is definitely walkable (and we're 70ish) to the ship (the picture was taken from our cabin).  We walked over, dropped our bags, then strolled about for a while as there are shops, restaurants, etc. in that area. Maybe we chose a good time to board, and this was the Marina, not the Regatta/Nautica, but it was no problem. I also don't recommend flying in on cruise-day.  Good luck.

[Bongomeme]

To drives like Mario….if you are as daring as Mario,,,we had hours to kill and rented a car…cheap and easy (was years ago) and really enjoyed the drive around the island. Good luck, enjoy your trip.

[Kiwi_Cruisers]

Our cruise is end of March so we booked a hotel that has just opened opposite the ferry/cruise terminal.

- Boutique Hotel Kon Tiki Tahiti 

We booked for the night before the cruise as our flight arrives 12:30am and booked a few nights at the end of our cruise including the night before as we wanted to walk from the ship to the hotel and checkin at once.

[beardedshark]

Thanks guys really helpful. Booked through oceania so I assume they must be ok with us flying in on the day. The boarding does sound a nightmare so I think I may do as jondfk suggests

[ToxM]

1 hour ago, beardedshark said:

Thanks guys really helpful. Booked through oceania so I assume they must be ok with us flying in on the day. The boarding does sound a nightmare so I think I may do as jondfk suggests

Am thinking about a SP cruise in the future, so would appreciate hearing about how this all goes for you coming from thr UK. It’s a hell of a trek and I have been looking at options for getting Marital Unit there with the least fuss (he is a very grumpy traveller). I hope it all goes well for you 🙂

[Verokaren]

We also did this cruise this past March, and I can wholeheartedly recommend the newly renovated Hilton in Papeete with a day pass. They have a lovely breakfast buffet, and a wonderful pool where you can lounge around until it's time to board. It's a quick, 10 minute taxi ride from the hotel to the pier.  There will be passengers who disembarked that morning as well as passengers waiting to get on, so a fun vibe.

[beardedshark]

Thanks again all. Have been trying unsuccessfully to find contact details of hotels in Papeete to enquire about day passes but cannot find any emails for the hotels. Very frustrating. Does anyone have the email address for the Hilton, also any idea of the cost for a day pass?

Second question, we fly into LA on a virgin/Air France flight then fly out on Air France to Papeete. Will we need to get our luggage and go through security again?

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, beardedshark said:

Thanks again all. Have been trying unsuccessfully to find contact details of hotels in Papeete to enquire about day passes but cannot find any emails for the hotels.

 

phone number under the photo

https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/ppthihh-hilton-hotel-tahiti/?SEO_id=GMB-AMER-HI-PPTHIHH

[ToxM]

1 hour ago, beardedshark said:

Thanks again all. Have been trying unsuccessfully to find contact details of hotels in Papeete to enquire about day passes but cannot find any emails for the hotels. Very frustrating. Does anyone have the email address for the Hilton, also any idea of the cost for a day pass?

Second question, we fly into LA on a virgin/Air France flight then fly out on Air France to Papeete. Will we need to get our luggage and go through security again?

If your flight is booked as one ticket then you should be ok and your luggage will go to final destination without you needing to do anything to it, if you have two tickets then you will have to collect, go through customs and then recheck. Also worth making sure you are clear about which terminal you arrive in and which you depart from. I haven’t changed at LAX for a long time, but it’s a trek at times. 

[ToxM]

Oh also, TripAdvisor will have links to all the hotel websites in PPT. 

[beardedshark]

Thanks guys, yes I’ve seen the phone numbers but I would rather email but I haven’t seen any addresses

[FlyerTalker]

8 hours ago, beardedshark said:

Second question, we fly into LA on a virgin/Air France flight then fly out on Air France to Papeete. Will we need to get our luggage and go through security again?

 

6 hours ago, ToxM said:

If your flight is booked as one ticket then you should be ok and your luggage will go to final destination without you needing to do anything to it, if you have two tickets then you will have to collect, go through customs and then recheck.

 

Incorrect answer.

 

All flights arriving in the USA are subject to immigration and customs procedures.  Whether on one ticket or a dozen.

 

Although you don't specify the airline you are arriving on (I would suspect it is a Virgin Atlantic flight with an AF codeshare flight number), you will arrive at the TBIT, proceed through immigration, then retrieve your luggage and go through customs, then drop off your tagged bags at the drop off location outside the secure customs area.

 

You will then go upstairs and go through security and head to your gate for the onward flight to PPT.  You should have received your LAX-PPT boarding passes when you checked in at LHR.

 

There are no airports in the USA where there are dedicated sterile "international transit" gate areas, as you might find in Europe and elsewhere.

[beardedshark]

Thanks flyertalker, that’s very clear except what is TBIT?

[ToxM]

8 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

 

Incorrect answer.

 

All flights arriving in the USA are subject to immigration and customs procedures.  Whether on one ticket or a dozen.

 

Although you don't specify the airline you are arriving on (I would suspect it is a Virgin Atlantic flight with an AF codeshare flight number), you will arrive at the TBIT, proceed through immigration, then retrieve your luggage and go through customs, then drop off your tagged bags at the drop off location outside the secure customs area.

 

You will then go upstairs and go through security and head to your gate for the onward flight to PPT.  You should have received your LAX-PPT boarding passes when you checked in at LHR.

 

There are no airports in the USA where there are dedicated sterile "international transit" gate areas, as you might find in Europe and elsewhere.

Never had to sort luggage on a single codeshare ticket. Always been checked through.

[babysteps]

 

50 minutes ago, ToxM said:

Never had to sort luggage on a single codeshare ticket. Always been checked through.

If one is being processed for entry to the US when landing in LA it will be just as@FlyerTalkersays. You will claim bags after passport control, clear customs, and if on a single ticket, drop bags again before going to your next flight.

 

If one is on separate tickets with checked bags you will almost always have to go landslide after customs and check in for your next flight. 

 

If one is landing in LA as a domestic flight (from US or pre-cleared from outside US) then you just go to your boarding gate for your next flight. 

 

If you pay $$$$ for VIP service you might avoid lines and hassles - I don't know those details lol

[jondfk]

13 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

 

Incorrect answer.

 

All flights arriving in the USA are subject to immigration and customs procedures.  Whether on one ticket or a dozen.

 

....

Everything FlyerTalker has said is correct.  Frustratingly, international arrivals into the U.S. require the passenger to be fully cleared, luggage included.  You'll go through U.S. immigrations, claim your luggage, go through customs and then hand your luggage off again to your onward carrier (in this case Air France).  Some airlines make the luggage hand off easier by stationing baggage handlers just beyond the customs clearance area, not sure if this is the case with AF.

 

TBIT = Tom Bradly International Terminal.  Most (though not United Airlines) international arrivals and departures go through this terminal - including Virgin Atlantic and Air France.  

 

United Airlines have their own immigrations and customs facilities in Terminal 7.  Something that doesn't seem to apply to OP,  but may be useful information for others.

 

Hope this helps a bit, and many thanks to FlyerTalker for getting the process so very right.

 

 

[ToxM]

I think I must have blocked it out/been zonked enough to just do it then .. happily stand corrected, I would advise being careful about terminal changes .. LAX is a swine. 

[FlyerTalker]

8 hours ago, ToxM said:

Never had to sort luggage on a single codeshare ticket. Always been checked through.

 

It IS checked through.

 

What you have, though, is the intermediate step of clearing USA immigration and customs.  After completing those procedures, you only have to drop off your bags which are already tagged to your final destination.  You do not need to go through a second checkin at LAX.

[ToxM]

Pleased to have been partly right LOL