Early arrival in Papeete ?

We're booked on the Oceania cruise in May Papeete to Los Angles and plan on a two night pre-cruise stay. My question is our flight arrives at 5:00 am. and we're staying at the Intercontinental Hotel in Papeete so what do most people do with such an early morning arrival. Appears that the majority of flights have same early arrival times. Just curious how others have filled the time until check-in.

We've usually done an overnight in Moorea so have gone straight from the airport to the ferry. Once there we have grabbed a sunlounger and chilled out after the long flight. If you're staying on Papeete, it takes a little while to clear immigration so it won't be too much of an unreasonable time to go straight to the IC. You can leave your bags with reception and grab a seat or a sun lounger while you wait or else leave your bags and head off on a tour for the day if you're not too tired?

Consider changing your hotel to Moorea. On the island of Tahiti you will not experience the exotic South Pacific feel. It is easy to take the taxi in the morning to the ferry.

Regardless of where you choose to stay I would suggest you pack so that you can easily get to your beach attire. Hang out at the beach/pool at your resort until your room is ready. You could pay for the extra night if getting right in to the room is critical.

On our last stay on Moorea the Hilton was able to give us our room at 10:00 am but that is luck of the draw.

With two nights, I'd probably just stay on the island of Tahiti. The IC will be happy to welcome you, and will store your bags while you lol around and relax. And yes, make sure to pack your bathing suit and/or resort wear in your overnight bag so you can take advantage of the hotel property until your room is ready.

Thanks for the suggestions. Decided to go ahead and book the International in Moorea since so many seem to prefer it over Papeete. Requested an early check-in but know that you can't count on that. We'll bring our beach attire and just hang until we can check in. Fortunately, it's only an eight hour flight for us since we live in California and if we can sleep on the plane we should be in pretty good shape.

Consider an IHG Ambassador membership. It comes with complimentary room upgrades (if available) and late check out. We stayed in our room as late as possible before heading over to Tahiti.

I don't know what time your cruise leaves, but if it's in the evening, staying later on Moorea may be worth it. There's no need to get in line and wait with everyone else as soon as embarkation starts.

I booked a room for the night before. We walked into the lobby and walked away with a room key within a few minutes while a couple hundred others waited around hoping a room might become available. After a couple hours of sleep in a cool dark room and a hot shower, we went to breakfast. It was raining and now all of the people who had flown in with us were crammed standing room only into the hot humid lobby looking utterly miserable.

I booked in advance using a AAA rate for the lowest level room they offered, I think it was around $120. Best money I've ever spent.