? for anyone using Princess Air to PPT

[cruisingfreak]

We are starting to plan our summer 2007 Tahitian cruise, as the schedules will be out in a few weeks.

 

We will be booking our own flight to LAX, but were wondering, does Princess use New Zealand Air or Air Tahiti Nui for their flights over to PPT? Also for anyone who is going this summer, what price did Princess give you for the RT flight? Do you think it would be cheaper to book on are own or through Princess?

 

Thanks so much!

 

 

Minette

[budaman]

Think I'll try to piggyback on your thread also & let you know what I have found out so far. Booked yesterday for the 11/7/06 cruise. R/T air through Princess was $1209 PP from Austin. From LAX with us booking ourselves to there was around $1050 PP. My TA thought they mostly use Air Tahiti Nui for the flight from LAX.

 

Now for my questions: Our cruise begins boarding on the 7th @ 1PM and departs Papeete on the 8th @ 5ish PM. What day & time would the flight leave LA. On the return, we get back to Papeete on the 16th @ 8PM with debarkation @ 7AM the next morning. Would the flight out be late the night of the 17th?

 

Hope someone can help us answer our questions.

 

Mike

 

www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

[cruisingfreak]

Think I'll try to piggyback on your thread also & let you know what I have found out so far. Booked yesterday for the 11/7/06 cruise. R/T air through Princess was $1209 PP from Austin. From LAX with us booking ourselves to there was around $1050 PP. My TA thought they mostly use Air Tahiti Nui for the flight from LAX.

 

Now for my questions: Our cruise begins boarding on the 7th @ 1PM and departs Papeete on the 8th @ 5ish PM. What day & time would the flight leave LA. On the return, we get back to Papeete on the 16th @ 8PM with debarkation @ 7AM the next morning. Would the flight out be late the night of the 17th?

 

Hope someone can help us answer our questions.

 

Mike

 

 

www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

 

 

Mike

 

Let me see if I have this correct. Are you booked with Princess for $1209 p/p from Austin to LAX & then booked yourselves ATN for $1050 p/p? Or do I have that wrong?

 

Do you know how much Princess air was from LAX to Papeete? Was it more that $1050 P/P?

 

Thanks.

 

 

Minette

[budaman]

The fare from LAX to Papeete was $1050. When I made the reservation with Princess airfare included it was $1209 R/T from Austin. Afterwards we started thinking of booking our own flight from Austin to LA so that is why I checked to see what fare from LAX to Papeete was using Princess. Wife wants to use Continental for our flight to LA and Princess won't/can't commit to what airline they would schedule on domestic flights this far out. Right now, Continental is showing best fare around $400 R/T from Austin to LAX so it would cost us a bit more, but we can use our miles to upgrade to 1st class. At least that leg of the trip would be comfortable:D We really wanted to schedule Continental from Austin to Honolulu and Hawaiian Air from Honolulu to Papeete so we could spend a day each way in Hawaii, but the flight schedules don't work well with the cruise schedule:(

 

Mike

 

http://www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

[tuknshak]

Just thought I would let you both know what happened when we booked our air thru Princess. They schedule you on a flight that will get you there the day the cruise 'starts' and a flight home the day the cruise 'ends'. TP stays in port the first night and gets back to port the night before you leave but the 'official' first and last day of your cruise is when fly (the days listed in the Princess catalog). The TP is different then most ships since it stays in port with time to spare on both ends. We thought we might end up late there the first day and when I inquired with Princess we were told we had to check in by 11:59pm on day 1 of the cruise.

We booked our flight thru Princess last November for our May cruise and paid $900/person round trip. Yes Princess does tend to use Air Tahiti more just because they offer more flights from JFK and LAX. We considered not booking with Princess but when we did our homework on airfare pricing we ended up saving us money by going thru Princess instead of booking on our own. Another good thing is Princess secures the price when you book so an increase in oil prices or the like will not change your ticket price. We booked our Princess air last fall when the oil prices shot up so high and Princess's flight price was the same it had been in August when we booked the cruise while on Air Tahiti's site the same flight was $600 more for the two of us. When we have checked since then our same flights have been listed on Air Tahiti’s website at to $1000 more then what we paid EACH.

We did pay the $70 some dollars each to pick our own flights because we have a very tight schedule getting to Tahiti and coming home we are staying two nights post-cruise at the IC Moorea which we booked on our own. FYI, if you do book a hotel pre or post cruise on your own you will need to pay to pick your flights because otherwise they will put you on a flight to make the cruise not the extra hotel nights. I have also heard from others on the CC boards that sometimes they pick stupid flight times that barley get you there in time before the boat leaves or some crazy early flight out after the cruise. I think that is an issue more with other cruise ports where there are tons of flights in and out all day long. In PPT they only have one or two flights a day to LAX and JFK, which are the main flight routes.

Hope this help!

[budaman]

Thanks Tuk! I think that answers my main question. Converting what you said to our cruise, the imbarkation starts at 1 pm on Tues. the 7th and leaves port at 5PM on Wed. the 8th, so they would fly us in on the 7th arriving sometime between 8 & 10 depending on which of the 2 flights out of LAX we were on.....maybe:confused: Then after the cruise, we arrive 8PM on Thurs the 16th and off the ship the next morning so they would schedule the flight out the night of the 17th & getting back into LAX the morning of the 18th. Guess figuring it out is great practice if we ever get on 'The Amazing Race':p

 

Now....what if we decide to do the special 2 night OWB at the IC Beachcomber before we leave.....seems like a good deal, 2 nights in a OW Bungalow for $549. Leave out the night of the 19th?

 

Again, thanks for helping clear things up!

 

Mike

 

www.homepage.mac.com/csealove/

[cruisingfreak]

Thanks Mike & Tuk for all your helpful info.

 

 

Minette

[MichTraveler]

...

Now....what if we decide to do the special 2 night OWB at the IC Beachcomber before we leave.....seems like a good deal, 2 nights in a OW Bungalow for $549. Leave out the night of the 19th?

If you do Princess air and book hotel on your own, you will need to pay a deviation fee to choose your own flight dates. If you choose Princess Air and their hotel at IC, then that includes the deviation fee. The cruise hotel fee is per person, so factor that in when comparing to the IC website price which is per room.

The IC is a wonderful hotel, was just returned last week. If you are doing the IC on your own, but sure to check out their website. You can enroll in the Ambassador club. It is $150 fee which comes with a coupon for a FREE night. Plus good chance for room upgrades.

http://www.tahiti.intercontinental.com/control.cfm?

As for air prices, you can always book Princess Air and keeping checking on your own. You lock in the Princess price, and can cancel anytime before final payment if you find something better.

[cruisingfreak]

As for air prices, you can always book Princess Air and keeping checking on your own. You lock in the Princess price, and can cancel anytime before final payment if you find something better.

 

That's what I was thinking of doing, concerning airfare, when I book the cruise.

 

 

 

Minette

[tuknshak]

Hi Budaman-

Just an FYI....I thought the same thing about the IC Tahiti package in the Princess catalog. $529 for two nights....half off the IC own website... Unfortunately when I called to confirm this with Princess because it seemed like a steal and wanted to make sure it was correct they informed me it was PER PERSON! I said what! That is more then getting it thru IC myself...aren't you supposed to offer a discount? The women I spoke with was one of the only rude people I have gotten at Princess and informed me if I read the size 4 font on the page it says that.

So we booked the IC Moorea on our own thru IC's website and it was very easy to do. We are paying just under $1000USD for two nights in an OWB there.

As others have said, if you buy Princess's hotel package they will fly you in and out around that but if you book on your own hotel they will not and you need to pay to pick your flights.

Hope that helps!

[margaritagirl424]

So, I can join the Ambassador Club, pay the $150, and I will get a certificate for a free night that can be used for an owb when I am in Tahiti next year?

If this is how it works, what a deal!!:)

[BarBug]

Yea, I'm hoping you're right....where do I sign up?