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Oceania Tahiti - any recent reviews?


caviargal
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I cannot find much recent feedback or reviews on this itinerary.

 

We are booked on Marina next March, the 12 night cruise PPT-PPT. After a good amount of research we choose O over the PG as we wanted a larger ship with more amenities and dining options, as well as less susceptible to motion (which is an issue with the PG based on reviews I have read here and on other sites).

 

I know O's season in this part of the world is short, which is the main negative, as their sailing schedule is not during the best weather months.

 

We will be booking all excursions, transfers and hotels on our own.

 

Any feedback appreciated.

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I cannot find much recent feedback or reviews on this itinerary.

 

We are booked on Marina next March, the 12 night cruise PPT-PPT. After a good amount of research we choose O over the PG as we wanted a larger ship with more amenities and dining options, as well as less susceptible to motion (which is an issue with the PG based on reviews I have read here and on other sites).

 

I know O's season in this part of the world is short, which is the main negative, as their sailing schedule is not during the best weather months.

 

We will be booking all excursions, transfers and hotels on our own.

 

Any feedback appreciated.

Just off the 21 day Sirena L.A too Papeete.Great cruise weather was good .My suggestion about O excursions they were fantastic.You must book the excursion from O in Nkku Hiva it's the only tour in town.My suggestion is book this tour as soon as you can before it gets booked up.

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I have this cruise booked for next year, so maybe someone on the next one can do a live thread with all the details and photos? I know I would really LOVE it and sure many more.

 

I also booked O for larger ship and more amenities thanPG, plus seemed less expensive with everything figured in. Sure any cruise there would be great ,regardless.

 

We often take the free excursions option, in far off places, as I have found that many of the small private ones booked by ship far in advance. Plus, had the unfortunate experience on 2 private ones where we BARELY made it back to ship.On others we love the HOHO bus option.Used to walk all over,but older knees are preventing that now.

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I am booked on 5/9/17 Papeete to Papeete and anxiously awaiting. Can anyone from January cruise advise how air arrangements by O were, and the included excursions. We have picked the 8 included excursions. Any other information regarding your cruise will be appreciated. Thanks,

Barbara

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We always take the air credit and book our own air to have control, it is not worth the bother to pay deviation fees. We were there last spring on Marina. We found a flight leaving LAX at 3pm, arriving at 9pm local time. We flew in four days early, we spent one night in Papeete then ferried to Moorea for three nights.

 

An Oceania charter without deviation will probably get you there about 8pm, the ship departs a few hours later. You completely lose the first day of the cruise. Some charters arrive at 5am the day of the cruise. You will be dead tired. Oceania will offer a holding area at a convention center type place, I've read complaints about it being uncomfortable and crowded.

 

We loved the islands but we did all private excursions. It was hot, the best excursions will be on the water. By all means take the included tours you have coming to you.

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My opinion, book your own flight. You may be able to get Air France which has much better times. We went last March. It is hotter than hades there and very humid. This was our fifth time there. Best time is October.

 

A beautiful part of the world to be sure. Very easy touring. I see someone said do tours involving water--good idea!

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We always take the air credit and book our own air to have control, it is not worth the bother to pay deviation fees. We were there last spring on Marina. We found a flight leaving LAX at 3pm, arriving at 9pm local time. We flew in four days early, we spent one night in Papeete then ferried to Moorea for three nights.

 

An Oceania charter without deviation will probably get you there about 8pm, the ship departs a few hours later. You completely lose the first day of the cruise. Some charters arrive at 5am the day of the cruise. You will be dead tired. Oceania will offer a holding area at a convention center type place, I've read complaints about it being uncomfortable and crowded.

 

We loved the islands but we did all private excursions. It was hot, the best excursions will be on the water. By all means take the included tours you have coming to you.

Agree 100% with you except we ferried to Moorea first and then came back to Papette for the last two days before boarding Marina. Loved the over water huts in both places. Loved the whole cruise. Good choice.

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I cannot find much recent feedback or reviews on this itinerary.

 

We are booked on Marina next March, the 12 night cruise PPT-PPT. After a good amount of research we choose O over the PG as we wanted a larger ship with more amenities and dining options, as well as less susceptible to motion (which is an issue with the PG based on reviews I have read here and on other sites).

 

I know O's season in this part of the world is short, which is the main negative, as their sailing schedule is not during the best weather months.

 

We will be booking all excursions, transfers and hotels on our own.

 

Any feedback appreciated.

Hi! We did part of this itinerary in January 2016. We were on Marina from Valparaiso to Papeete and stopped at Easter Is. Loved it so much that we booked the 28 day Sirena cruise for March 2018 from Papeete to LA several months ago. Then, Sirena's itineraries were changed, and our cruise was cancelled. We finally agreed on the Marina B2B departing Papeete on 3/7/18 since it was so close to our original cruise. So, we'll see you next March on Marina!!

 

We will be booking private excursions again including Patrick's in Bora Bora, and Ato's in Fakarava. Last year, snorkeling and lunch with both of them were phenomenal!! Can't wait to do it again.

 

Just got off Marina on Wednesday after another great O cruise.

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Hi! We did part of this itinerary in January 2016. We were on Marina from Valparaiso to Papeete and stopped at Easter Is. Loved it so much that we booked the 28 day Sirena cruise for March 2018 from Papeete to LA several months ago. Then, Sirena's itineraries were changed, and our cruise was cancelled. We finally agreed on the Marina B2B departing Papeete on 3/7/18 since it was so close to our original cruise. So, we'll see you next March on Marina!!

 

We will be booking private excursions again including Patrick's in Bora Bora, and Ato's in Fakarava. Last year, snorkeling and lunch with both of them were phenomenal!! Can't wait to do it again.

 

Just got off Marina on Wednesday after another great O cruise.

 

Thanks so much for this info! I will look into the excursions you recommended. Look forward to seeing you aboard...less than 13 months to go!

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One little thing- buy water shoes before you leave home. We found $20 ones at Target , pretty cheap. We had always discard them after an ocean vacation.

We also went with Patrick at Bora Bora and we had Alto at Fakarava for another motu picnic.

Water shoes a good idea. Found some pretty crummy one's in Bora Bora. Much better in Target. Booked Patrick also but he did not show up and sent someone else. Was O.K. Have since heard that he overbooks a lot. We had a great time anyway. Our trip was PPT to Sydney and it was terrific. Loved FP and hope to go back again.

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We just returned from 10 day cruise PPT-PPT on Sirena (sailed 1/25/17 - 2/4/17). We were fortunate and had great weather, but the cruise before us many days of rain. We flew in early and stayed on Moorea for 3 days before the cruise. I Totally recommend staying on Moorea over Tahiti if doing so pre or post cruise! We used Tahiti Legends to arrange all of our transportation and hotel for the pre-cruise and highly recommend them. We did choose the excursions from Oceania O Life package and we also booked independent excursions. You can get great tour suggestions on Trip Advisor. We did Franckly Franck on Moorea (excellent!) and Huahine Nautique on Huahine (we did Marc's combo tour - also excellent!). On most islands you can book a tour right on the dock ( Rangiora, Huahine, Raiatea, and Bora Bora) for less than the ship's excursions. We really enjoyed the tours that included snorkeling and a picnic on a motu!! That never got old for us :). We did enjoy Oceania's excursions, but there are plenty of options available to do it on your own. Sirena only had ~ 680 passengers and Marina will have more, so take that into consideration if you plan to wait and book a tour once you tender. It was a great cruise and now we want to go back!! Enjoy!!

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Water shoes a good idea. Found some pretty crummy one's in Bora Bora. Much better in Target. Booked Patrick also but he did not show up and sent someone else. Was O.K. Have since heard that he overbooks a lot. We had a great time anyway. Our trip was PPT to Sydney and it was terrific. Loved FP and hope to go back again.

 

I'm pretty sure Patrick's company has multiple boats. The day we went with them there were 3 or 4 at our Motu picnic, with more on a different schedule. So it's kind of hard for him to be manning every tour. They also do the land tours also. FWIW Patrick was not operating any of them that day. He was on vacation.

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Yes, Patrick does have several boats. Last year, we filled 2 of his boats with cruisers on our Roll Call. We stayed together, and had lunch together on his private island. You can check out our review and some of our photos on TripAdvisor. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g311415-d1191067-Reviews-or60-Maohi_Nui-Bora_Bora_Society_Islands.html

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This thread is bringing back memories.

I forgot about Francky Frank, he was fun and informative. Picked us up at our Moorea hotel. We also used Tahiti Legends for a package including hotel, ferry rides, transfers on Moorea and to the ship. It was a good deal and arranged in a couple of emails and calls.

Patrick had four outriggers and one catamaran out when we were there, he was on the catamaran. We had a wonderful young man on our outrigger. On the motu Patrick runs the show and is the entertainment. His daughter collects the money and organizes the vessels.

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Last year in Nuku Hiva our roll call had a private tour arranged. Great sights but the downside was O had the best vehicles/drivers booked. We had several vehicles that went from site to site but only the tour leader spoke English so we only got updates when we stopped at the various sights.

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I just came back from the 10 day PPT-PPT cruise on the Sirena (25/1 ~ 4/2/17). This was my second cruise on O, the first was on the Riveria in 2015. The Riveria is superior in all departments.

 

I booked 5 O shore excursions to take advantage of the My World prices. But still I found local tour offers on the pier at half of my price. Again, I do realise that with almost two times more passengers on the Marina, one may be disappointed when local supplies are limited in terms of capacity.

 

The other islands are far more interesting than Tahiti. A pre or post cruise stay in Moorea or Bora Bora will make it a perfect trip. If you have to stay in Tahiti, the Inter-Con is much better than Le Meridien (which O uses).

 

Wet shoes are a must. Each of the islands that we visited is different and has something different to offer.

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I cannot find much recent feedback or reviews on this itinerary.

 

We are booked on Marina next March, the 12 night cruise PPT-PPT. After a good amount of research we choose O over the PG as we wanted a larger ship with more amenities and dining options, as well as less susceptible to motion (which is an issue with the PG based on reviews I have read here and on other sites).

 

I know O's season in this part of the world is short, which is the main negative, as their sailing schedule is not during the best weather months.

 

We will be booking all excursions, transfers and hotels on our own.

 

Any feedback appreciated.

 

HI Caviargal, We did our 1st FP round trip Papeete-Papeete 14 days on the Marina in April 2014. Fabulous cruise and did 3 pre cruise nights in Moorea. Highly recommend! We booked all our excursions independently (Marc's Motu in Huahine, Patrick's in Bora Bora Day 1, Reef Discovery Bora Bora day 2, rented a car on our port day in Moorea with Albert's Car Rental, Raro Safari in Rarotonga). I would have to check the other tour companies for Fakarava & Rangiroa that we used, cannot remember. We loved all our excursions except for the Raro Safari in Rarotonga, it was just ok. The water for us was the ultimate so to have an excursion that did not involve being in the water was disappointing.

 

We are going back this time on PG in October 2017 primarily because when we booked, the Marina was not in French Polynesia for October and PG cruises there year round. The weather in April was quite warm & humid so we decided to try a different time of the year and were told by many of the locals that Sept/October in FP is a nice time of the year. We shall see....

We love Oceania and the Marina and will be on her in May for Spain/Portugal. I will be happy to relay our PG experience in October to our past experience with Oceania. PG has as much a loyal following as does Oceania so I am anxious to see how it compares to our stellar experience with Oceania.

 

We used the ATN flight included Economy air back in 2014, paid for air deviation and flew the 11:55PM from LAX to Papeete. Took early Ferry to Moorea for our 3 pre-cruise nights in the OWB's. It was a wonderful trip and I am confident you will enjoy it, truly a Paradise. We thought that would be our one and only visit to FP but we are extremely excited about going back again.

 

We opted to book our own flights for October on Air France and took the PG credit but our flight times are similar. We are traveling this year with friends who will be seeing FP for the 1st time and we are returning to Moorea for pre cruise days.

 

If you have any other specific questions, I would be happy to help. I am currently booking our same port excursions in FP for October as we did in 2014.

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We where on the Jan 4 to Jan 25th cruise on Sirena. First 2 days out of LA was cool and a little choppy which was to be expected in the Pacific this time of year. The rest of the 3 days where sunny and nice a little cool on ship. The Hawaiian Islands for the 4 days we where there was sunny mid to upper 80 all 4 days. The 4 day crossing to Nuku Hiva was bright and sunny very warm had to be up on the pool deck for a lounge by 7 am everyday, the Sirena was full over 680 passengers.Like I stated in my last post if you don,t book the NukU Hiva tour through O you will be out of luck. We have been cruises since 1983 and would rank this tour in our top 10. It was very hot in Nuku Hiva. We ran into a very big storm over night on our way to Fakarava stuff fell of the desk LOL.. But cleared up by 8 am and the weather was nice. We were told the storm came through and went on to Papeete and washed out the air port for 3 days.. Bora Bora was sunny and hot as was the rest of the voyage to Papeete. We had O's air leaving at 11: 59 pm the day we disembarked. We made arrangements for a day room at the Intercontinental, got off ship at 9 AM had O deliver our luggage to the airport for us, and only took one carry on to the hotel, checked in at 10 am got room at 10 ;30 had lunch, took a nap, went to airport at 8 PM got our luggage..

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HI Caviargal, We did our 1st FP round trip Papeete-Papeete 14 days on the Marina in April 2014. Fabulous cruise and did 3 pre cruise nights in Moorea. Highly recommend! We booked all our excursions independently (Marc's Motu in Huahine, Patrick's in Bora Bora Day 1, Reef Discovery Bora Bora day 2, rented a car on our port day in Moorea with Albert's Car Rental, Raro Safari in Rarotonga). I would have to check the other tour companies for Fakarava & Rangiroa that we used, cannot remember. We loved all our excursions except for the Raro Safari in Rarotonga, it was just ok. The water for us was the ultimate so to have an excursion that did not involve being in the water was disappointing.

 

We are going back this time on PG in October 2017 primarily because when we booked, the Marina was not in French Polynesia for October and PG cruises there year round. The weather in April was quite warm & humid so we decided to try a different time of the year and were told by many of the locals that Sept/October in FP is a nice time of the year. We shall see....

We love Oceania and the Marina and will be on her in May for Spain/Portugal. I will be happy to relay our PG experience in October to our past experience with Oceania. PG has as much a loyal following as does Oceania so I am anxious to see how it compares to our stellar experience with Oceania.

 

We used the ATN flight included Economy air back in 2014, paid for air deviation and flew the 11:55PM from LAX to Papeete. Took early Ferry to Moorea for our 3 pre-cruise nights in the OWB's. It was a wonderful trip and I am confident you will enjoy it, truly a Paradise. We thought that would be our one and only visit to FP but we are extremely excited about going back again.

 

We opted to book our own flights for October on Air France and took the PG credit but our flight times are similar. We are traveling this year with friends who will be seeing FP for the 1st time and we are returning to Moorea for pre cruise days.

 

If you have any other specific questions, I would be happy to help. I am currently booking our same port excursions in FP for October as we did in 2014.

 

Extremely useful info and thanks so much!

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We where on the Jan 4 to Jan 25th cruise on Sirena. First 2 days out of LA was cool and a little choppy which was to be expected in the Pacific this time of year. The rest of the 3 days where sunny and nice a little cool on ship. The Hawaiian Islands for the 4 days we where there was sunny mid to upper 80 all 4 days. The 4 day crossing to Nuku Hiva was bright and sunny very warm had to be up on the pool deck for a lounge by 7 am everyday, the Sirena was full over 680 passengers.Like I stated in my last post if you don,t book the NukU Hiva tour through O you will be out of luck. We have been cruises since 1983 and would rank this tour in our top 10. It was very hot in Nuku Hiva. We ran into a very big storm over night on our way to Fakarava stuff fell of the desk LOL.. But cleared up by 8 am and the weather was nice. We were told the storm came through and went on to Papeete and washed out the air port for 3 days.. Bora Bora was sunny and hot as was the rest of the voyage to Papeete. We had O's air leaving at 11: 59 pm the day we disembarked. We made arrangements for a day room at the Intercontinental, got off ship at 9 AM had O deliver our luggage to the airport for us, and only took one carry on to the hotel, checked in at 10 am got room at 10 ;30 had lunch, took a nap, went to airport at 8 PM got our luggage..

Arriving by sea sounds so nice

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Arriving by sea sounds so nice

 

Acrusa:

How long before your cruise were you able to book a day room at Intercontinental. My cruise is May 9, 2017 and I have tried to reserve a day room, but they said I must wait until 15 days before. What was included and what was the charge?

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I emailed the hotel from the ship exactly 15 days before arriving into Papeete.They have 2 we took the

day room $180:00 that's it.

the other package included a dinner but no room. Check with your TA Oceania has a day room at another hotel.

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I emailed the hotel from the ship exactly 15 days before arriving into Papeete.They have 2 we took the

day room $180:00 that's it.

the other package included a dinner but no room. Check with your TA Oceania has a day room at another hotel.

 

Did that include dinner for 2 and transportation to the hotel from the ship and then to the airport? How much was the package without the room?

Barbara

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