Air Tahiti Nui

[west coast cruiser]

Nancy - I would still worry as they refused to check ours from SF to Tahiti in spite of the fact that we fly United pretty much exclusively. Make sure you ask and have a great trip! I just noticed that we are down the road from you. It'll be much warmer in Tahiti.

 

Hi,

I just got home from a wonderful cruise on the Tahitian Princess.

United checked my luggage through to Papeete and it worked out fine. No problems.

I noticed you were down the road from me and that you are active on the California cruisers thread. I hope to make one of their lunches sometime.

Nancy

[Spikesgirl]

Now I'm really annoyed that they didn't check ours through. Oh well, guess that's water uner the bridge. I'm assuming you had a wonderful time! Can't wait to hear all the details!

 

I'm not as active on the CA cruiser thread as I was for awhile. Things have been crazy here and I sort of fell behind on all the talk. Perhaps one day I will make it to a luncheon, but have missed the others due to theater conflicts Still hope springs eternal!

[meherio]

Ia orana

nice to find once in a while some great reviews and photos:

http://www.johnnyjet.com/folder/archive/WheresJohnny11192008.html

 

http://www.johnnyjet.com/folder/archive/WheresJohnny10152008.html

 

Enjoy

meherio

[flamomo]

I was on the Tahitian with Nancy (WCC) and we had a great time. Tahiti and the other islands are every bit as beautiful as we were told, and even moreso. Fovorite island was Moorea. It's incredibly beautiful. They all were beautiful, but Moorea surpassed the others.

 

We loved our stay at the IC Papppete. We splurged for the buffet meal with the Tahitian dance show on Saturday night, and it was worth every penny. The grounds of the resort are lovely, as are the panorama rooms. It was so pleasant to sit out on the balcony in the early morning and late in the evening. I took loads of sunset over Moorea pictures. We spend the afternoon on Saturday lazing on the beach of the smaller infinity pool. Fortunately there are some big palm trees for shade. Sunday morning I was up at 5 AM, and went out to the beach area of the pool, sat in the cool sand, and watch dawn develop into sunrise. No one out there but me and some birds that were singing.

 

The Captain decided to do a sail-by of the up-atoll of Makatia. It has tall granite-looking cliffs (instead if being flush with the surface of the water, like Rangiroa). Folklore says that it was pushed upward when the weight of Tahiti's volcanic output pushed down on the earth's crust He felt it would be worth looking at, and he mentioned that he would probably do it again on the upcoming cruises. Seems like he may be a bit of an innovator. He sailed a slightly different route from Bora Bora to Moorea, than what the previous Captain did. And he did a sail-by around Moorea so we could see more of the beautiful mountains from a distance of about 1 mile from shore.

 

The Captain is a very personable man. He was on the PA system a couple of times a day, telling us what to expect for that day. He stopped in the Club Bar and chatted with people who were waiting for their dinner seating.

 

I could go on and on about the cruise, it was so great. I just keep thinking that I sure would like to do that cruise again!

 

Oh - - nearly forgot the original reason I decided to post - - I flew Delta from Tampa to LAX, and they were able to check my luggage all the way through to Papeete.

 

BTW, ATN was as great as we had heard. Even in economy class, the service was excellent, the flight attendants very nice, the food amazingly good, and Charlie, you're right about getting addicted to watching the progress of the flight on the little seatback screen!

[meherio]

Ia orana

Glad to read that this lesser known island was even mentioned during your cruise.

 

Makatea is the only island in FP with a railroad. this was to carry the phosphate to the port.

 

Many of the Chinese brought initially to FP started their life there. ( interesting tidbit found only recently was that the Chinese population did not receive their French citizenship until a few decades ago.

 

You can see Makatea during the flights to the Tuamotu archipelago.

 

PPS for the 6 day seven nights movie fans, this was the supposed island where Harrison Ford was stranded...

 

Back to the thread, ATN just celebrated 2 days ago their 10th year anniversary.

 

Meherio

[Spikesgirl]

 

Charlie, you're right about getting addicted to watching the progress of the flight on the little seatback screen!

 

See? I told you so!:D

 

Glad you had such a wonderful time and it's great to hear that ATN treated you so great. Did you get your free pearl?

[cruzin girl]

Can someone tell me how ATN movies work? Is it a package that you pay for and do you get a good selection? If they offer a nice selection, I won't bring my own. Thanks!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

You don't have to pay. As I remember, there's a decent selection. They have a schedule, you just have to wait until one starts. At least this is how I remember it, i.e., pay per view, not view on demand (but you don't pay.)

[Spikesgirl]

The one thing that I didn't like was that there weren't any games this time. The movies, I think there were something like ten channels were fairly new to DVD releases, like "Kung Fu Panda." And, Wendy is right, they are free. However, my favorite is still the one that tracks your progress to the islands. When we took off from Faa'a - they actually had a nose camera going and we could see what the pilot was seeing - that was pretty darn cool, but it was only on the way back.

[flamomo]

The movies and the games were free. There is a corded remote control in the armrest that you use for choosing music channels, movie channels and for playing the games. I think there were about 6 games available.

And there is a leaflet in the pocket of the seat that explains how to use it.

You can go on the ATN website and find out what movies are available. I can't remember where I found it, but you'll be able to look around for it.

[Spikesgirl]

Wait - you had games? You had instructions? In English? Sorry, I'm joking, but I looked everywhere for the games and couldn't find any...guess I should have read the instruction book...or at least looked for it. All we had was the flight magazine and the 'flying mall' catalog in our pocket.

[cruzin girl]

I went to ATN website and found it, thanks. That should keep me plenty busy.

Hopefully the games are up and running (love tetris)!