How Early can you get to the airport (PPT)

[RLK33853]

We will be disembarking in Papeete on November 18th.  Looking at booking a 8:25 flight to Auckland as the next flight is 2 days later.  How early can you get off the ship, as well as is there transportation available at such an early time (guessing we would have to get off by 6 am)?

 

thanks

[elmaexec]

Don’t rush off the ship if you can swing the extra two days in French Polynesia!  You can take the ferry across for a day or two in Moorea or just enjoy the time exploring Tahiti - black sand beaches, the drive across the center of the island, waterfalls, giant surf waves, etc. 

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

Officially it is 7:30 PM

Sometimes they will let you off a little before that but I would plan on it being 7:30 PM.

[mermaid 285]

We also have an early morning flight around 8.30 am to Paris.  I hope that won't be a problem.  On 2 previous occasions we left the Paul Gauguin the night before to catch the flight just before midnight. If catching this flight isn't possible we will have to cancel the cruise. That would be a great shame.  

 

Edited March 27, 2023 by mermaid 285

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

3 hours ago, mermaid 285 said:

We also have an early morning flight around 8.30 am to Paris.  I hope that won't be a problem.  On 2 previous occasions we left the Paul Gauguin the night before to catch the flight just before midnight. If catching this flight isn't possible we will have to cancel the cruise. That would be a great shame.  

 

 

I've taken that early AF flight. Simply have PG reception/excursion desk reserve a taxi for you ... pickup @ 5:30 - 6:00 AM. Sometimes they've charge a reservation fee and sometimes they haven't ... but it is money well spent. I would follow up with PG to make sure this is still possible 😉

[Leejnd4]

On 3/27/2023 at 7:26 AM, RLK33853 said:

We will be disembarking in Papeete on November 18th.  Looking at booking a 8:25 flight to Auckland as the next flight is 2 days later.  How early can you get off the ship, as well as is there transportation available at such an early time (guessing we would have to get off by 6 am)?

 

thanks

Hey, you're on our cruise! 😁 

 

We have the same situation...our AirFrance flight to LA leaves at 8:30 am. Maybe we can share a cab!

 

By the way, we have a roll call started. Pop in and say hello!

 

 

[RLK33853]

Thanks LeeAnne

 

We decided that it may be tight making that 0830 flight, so we are staying a couple of days in Papeete before flying to Auckland.  I'll stop by the Roll Call in the next couple of days. 

 

Looking forward to checking out Paul Gauguin!!!

 

Ray and Ann

[mermaid 285]

5 hours ago, RLK33853 said:

Thanks LeeAnne

 

We decided that it may be tight making that 0830 flight, so we are staying a couple of days in Papeete before flying to Auckland.  I'll stop by the Roll Call in the next couple of days. 

 

Looking forward to checking out Paul Gauguin!!!

 

Ray and Ann

At least you have the option, I will have to be back at work on the Monday, so we will need to get off the ship early on the Saturday morning and if that's not possible we will have to cancel.

[mermaid 285]

1 minute ago, mermaid 285 said:

At least you have the option, I will have to be back at work on the Monday, so we will need to get off the ship early on the Saturday morning and if that's not possible we will have to cancel.

I have reached out to Ponant, but so far have not had a reply.

[RLK33853]

Hopefully it works out for you Mermaid. 

 

An option would be to see if  you could disembark the day prior in Moorea and take the ferry over to Papeete, but then you would have to stay in a hotel on the Friday night.  We considered this, but since we aren't on a schedule, just decided to stay in Papeete the extra days until the Tuesday flight.

[Leejnd4]

12 hours ago, RLK33853 said:

Thanks LeeAnne

 

We decided that it may be tight making that 0830 flight, so we are staying a couple of days in Papeete before flying to Auckland.  I'll stop by the Roll Call in the next couple of days. 

 

Looking forward to checking out Paul Gauguin!!!

 

Ray and Ann

That's probably a wise decision. We're doing our extra time pre-cruise rather than post-cruise. I need to get back as soon as possible after the cruise. I'm not too worried about getting to the airport - the ship arrives the night before, and I'm sure they are used to passengers needing to debark early for those early flights. But I'll reach out to my travel agent, who is a PG expert, and see what he says.

 

This will be my 3rd PG cruise, and I'm super excited to get on that ship again! See you in the roll-call!

 

LeeAnne

[mermaid 285]

On 4/2/2023 at 9:43 AM, mermaid 285 said:

I have reached out to Ponant, but so far have not had a reply.

For anyone else who's wondering about an early departure, I have had a reply from Ponant, they are fine with us leaving the ship early on the Saturday morning.

[Leejnd4]

33 minutes ago, mermaid 285 said:

For anyone else who's wondering about an early departure, I have had a reply from Ponant, they are fine with us leaving the ship early on the Saturday morning.

Thank you, that's great! We'll be doing the same thing when we depart our cruise in November. I really don't have time to stay post-cruise - We've got stuff going on that I need to get back for. So we're taking an 8:20 am flight to LAX. I'll ask them to arrange for an early taxi for us.

[1sttimerrt]

We are planning to fly home at 11:30 pm on the day that Paul Gauguin itinerary says they will arrive at 7:30 pm.  So we will be leaving the evening before the morning disembarking schedule.   Has anyone else made plans like this?  

[mermaid 285]

We have done this in the past but that was before Ponant owned the ship.  I have heard of others leaving the Paul Gauguin on the last day in Moorea to stay there for a few nights, so it must still be possible.  I'm sure as long as you make them aware of your plans it should be fine.

[Leejnd4]

4 hours ago, 1sttimerrt said:

We are planning to fly home at 11:30 pm on the day that Paul Gauguin itinerary says they will arrive at 7:30 pm.  So we will be leaving the evening before the morning disembarking schedule.   Has anyone else made plans like this?  

I've not done this myself on my two PG cruises, but my understanding is that you are allowed off the ship shortly after they arrive in Papeete in the evening before morning disembarkation. And I've read of recent PG cruisers disembarking that evening, so I don't think the Ponant ownership will change that. But it's not a bad idea to have your TA call PG just to ask.

Edited April 27, 2023 by Leejnd4

[Phantom_Celery]

On 4/27/2023 at 3:02 PM, 1sttimerrt said:

We are planning to fly home at 11:30 pm on the day that Paul Gauguin itinerary says they will arrive at 7:30 pm.  So we will be leaving the evening before the morning disembarking schedule.   Has anyone else made plans like this?  

I asked a similar question in another thread and got helpful responses that disembarking after 7:30pm the night before the official disembarkations is pretty common. The FAQ on the PGC website also says that passengers can disembark any time after the ship arrives in Papeete on the last night (see screenshot). 
 

As for the 0-dark-30 fights on disembarkation day, that Air France flight to LA is very consistent and popular, so PG must be pretty used to accommodating it!
 

(Full disclaimer I’m also a first-timer and have never actually done this, just passing along information I’ve gathered!)