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Windstar Tahiti Cruise Sale - From $1,899/Person


skitrips
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Hello All -

 

Received an e-mail announcing one of those Windstar 7 on 7 sales in Tahiti for those that may be interested. March 15 departure. Must be booked by January 17.

 

I think this is the lowest price I've seen advertised for this cruise in the last six or more months.

 

So to those who may be interested, good luck. :)

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Hello All -

 

Received an e-mail announcing one of those Windstar 7 on 7 sales in Tahiti for those that may be interested. March 15 departure. Must be booked by January 17.

 

I think this is the lowest price I've seen advertised for this cruise in the last six or more months.

 

So to those who may be interested, good luck. :)

So you need to be very careful about pricing with Windstar I have been on many Windstar Cruises and I've been on the Tahiti trip 3 times what is become commonplace now with Windstar is to lower the prices and yet offer much less than they used to there are no hors douvres any longer it is very hard sometimes to even find a peanut all the food portions are smaller there are no little dessert trays at dinner and many of the excursions include lunch which make the excursions more expensive so you get what you receive in value and also sometimes they diminish the services or they will have a photoshoot on board which makes it less possible to use some of the services and that is why they lower the price or they will have a large group on board that they don't tell you about and so therefore they lower the price to the other people as compensation there's a lot of things to investigate when booking a Windstar cruise and if you are a former passenger for many years you will notice all of the ways that they have cut back in order to fill the ships. You cannot take away the beauty of Tahiti but be wary of expecting anything that is a good deal to be as luxurious as you may imagine and I would also greatly avoid staying at the hotel that they use as it is very far from town and you cannot stay in an overwater Bungalow and go swimming at this hotel. Instead book independently at the Intercontinental Hotel and find a very good agency that has a connection to InterContinental Hotels and you will be upgraded with breakfast and Wifi included and if you want to spring for one of the over-water brand-new Bungalows you will have a very good experience if you book any of these to a cruise line you will likely get a Transit room which will smell from bug spray and you wait in the lobby in the heat for 4 to 5 or 6 hours until the room is ready everybody has a different experience it's all about how you plan it and who you plan it with

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Forums mobile app

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Your post is very interesting. I am planning a Tahiti trip aboard the Windstar Spirit during either Oct or Nov 2018. This will be my first with Windstar. In light of your post, would you recommend the Paul Gauguin instead? The price difference is not much. My wife and I have sailed the islands on a rented sailboat, but not on a cruise ship. I believe that the Gauguin caters to French/European clientele more that American, is this true of the Winstar?

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I think the price is based on the time of year, which is still the rainy season, and the fact that it is near the time of the cruise. Do not hesitate to book with Windstar, you will have a fabulous time. The food and service are very good. We were there in May 2016 on Windstar and it was a trip of a lifetime.

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Sorry. I did not mean to open up a discussion on the merits/lack thereof re WS Tahiti cruises. And yes there are additional taxes on all advertised WS Tahiti pricing. And yes there are additional gratuities on all WS Tahiti cruises. And yes there aren't OTW bungalow cabins on the Wind Spirit. And yes at this price air fare from LAX is not included.

 

But on the other hand, the price is not WS' advertised $3,999-$4,999/pp (plus all the add ons) either!

 

So I went back to the WS web site to do a bit more research. And I found the 3/8/2017 cruise being advertised for $2,499/pp. But unlike the $1,899/pp price I wrote of, the $2,499/pp price INCLUDES air fare from LAX (an approximate $1,500/pp value), airport transfers (at least a $30/pp value), a first night's hotel room in PPT and a last night's "day" room in PPT (at least a $250/pp value). IMO this is an incredible price even if the cruise "it isn't what it used to be." Or "it's the rainy season in the South Pacific." Or whatever other "clarification" one wants to offer.

 

In fact it's such an incredible value I believe it to be a mistake! So before someone wakes up and understands what is really being advertised on the WS web site, I would be keeping my mouth shut and making a confirmed reservation if I hadn't already gone on this cruise.

 

But I guess that's me. If it ends up being you, please post in the future that you were able to take advantage of this incredible price.

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We took this cruise 2 months ago (Nov 16) and it was hands down fabulous in every way! Food was fantastic (including the appetizers and afternoon tea/snacks on deck in the late afternoon), service was amazing, and the tamaraa (Tahitian luau) destination event on the private island on Bora Bora was incredible . We paid $3999 per person including RT air from LAX and found it to be an excellent value after watching all the airfares and cruise sale prices for a year.

Le Meridien Tahiti was absolutely fine as our transit hotel and we never had to carry our luggage or figure out transfers, which was a real treat. The Museum of Tahiti and the Isles is just a 5-minute walk north of LeMeridien and you can also walk around downtown Papeete for several hours after being transferred to the ship and checking in (check-in is 1:30 and all-aboard is not until 5:00).

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We took this cruise 2 months ago (Nov 16) and it was hands down fabulous in every way! Food was fantastic (including the appetizers and afternoon tea/snacks on deck in the late afternoon), service was amazing, and the tamaraa (Tahitian luau) destination event on the private island on Bora Bora was incredible . We paid $3999 per person including RT air from LAX and found it to be an excellent value after watching all the airfares and cruise sale prices for a year.

Le Meridien Tahiti was absolutely fine as our transit hotel and we never had to carry our luggage or figure out transfers, which was a real treat. The Museum of Tahiti and the Isles is just a 5-minute walk north of LeMeridien and you can also walk around downtown Papeete for several hours after being transferred to the ship and checking in (check-in is 1:30 and all-aboard is not until 5:00).

 

We are looking to book for Nov. 15, 2018 for 11 days. However a friend of mine went on a Paul Gaugin Cruise and said that the seas were incredibly rough and many of the passengers were incapacitated with sea sickness. Did you find this to be an issue on the Wind Star?

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We took this cruise 2 months ago (Nov 16) and it was hands down fabulous in every way! Food was fantastic (including the appetizers and afternoon tea/snacks on deck in the late afternoon), service was amazing, and the tamaraa (Tahitian luau) destination event on the private island on Bora Bora was incredible . We paid $3999 per person including RT air from LAX and found it to be an excellent value after watching all the airfares and cruise sale prices for a year.

Le Meridien Tahiti was absolutely fine as our transit hotel and we never had to carry our luggage or figure out transfers, which was a real treat. The Museum of Tahiti and the Isles is just a 5-minute walk north of LeMeridien and you can also walk around downtown Papeete for several hours after being transferred to the ship and checking in (check-in is 1:30 and all-aboard is not until 5:00).

 

 

We are looking to book for Nov. 15, 2018 for 11 days. However a friend of mine went on a Paul Gaugin Cruise and said that the seas were incredibly rough and many of the passengers were incapacitated with sea sickness. Did you find this to be an issue on the Wind Star?

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We had some waves crash against our first deck portholes on the way from Taha’a to Bora Bora (it was fun!), but the ship never rocked enough to make people sick. Your friend probably had the bad luck of taking a cruise during a storm or unusually choppy seas. I took the precaution of taking a Bonnie whenever we left a barrier reef, though, since I tend to get a little queasy. Zero problem.

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Your post is very interesting. I am planning a Tahiti trip aboard the Windstar Spirit during either Oct or Nov 2018. This will be my first with Windstar. In light of your post, would you recommend the Paul Gauguin instead? The price difference is not much. My wife and I have sailed the islands on a rented sailboat, but not on a cruise ship. I believe that the Gauguin caters to French/European clientele more that American, is this true of the Winstar?

 

 

My husband and I have done 5 Windstar Cruises and are planning on booking the same Nov 2018, 11 day voyage to Tahiti. We have loved our Windstar trips and have studied the differences of going on the PG Cruise......they look similar to be sure. We are sticking with what we have found to be tried and true. Over the years we have encountered some of the same staff that remembers us from previous trips. We are always well pleased with our Windstar experience.

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After reading this thread, I am confused. I know March is considered rainy season. I booked March 15 which is what OP was talking about. I have heard that rainy season is sporadic. Now I am wondering if it is just going to be downpours the whole time. Thoughts or experiences?

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The weather in F.P. will always be a gamble. We took our cruise in mid-November, which is the beginning of rainy season, and we got 4 downpours that week: one very brief one while we were in Papeete (we ducked into the McDonald's until it was over), one on Moorea, but only when we were on the higher part of the island (just below Belvedere Lookout), twice when we were anchored at Bora Bora (once for about 2 hours in the evening--making us move inside for our Candles dinner--and again for about 2 hours the next morning). Just come prepared with a rain poncho and rubber shoes. We had ours on us on Moorea and actually enjoyed experiencing the rain in the rain forest!

 

This is the average monthly rainfall on Bora Bora. You'll see that November averages 8" and March averages 7": http://www.bora-bora-motu.climatemps.com/precipitation.php

 

This was the daily Bora Bora weather in March 2017: https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/french-polynesia/vaitape-bora-bora/historic?month=3&year=2017

and this was the daily Tahiti weather in March 2017:

https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/france/papeete/historic?month=3&year=2017

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Last January 2017, Polynesia suffered the worst rain/downpour/flooding they have seen for a long time. Everybody was impacted by this, including WS and PG. Rain is frequent but short-lived. Last year event was a rare occurence. You should be fine.

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Last January 2017, Polynesia suffered the worst rain/downpour/flooding they have seen for a long time. Everybody was impacted by this, including WS and PG. Rain is frequent but short-lived. Last year event was a rare occurence. You should be fine.

 

"You should be fine" is a relative statement, since people have different expectations and tolerance levels for rain. But it is true that the chances of a cyclone hitting the Society Islands is extremely low this season, which is a good thing. Regular rainy season rain is far preferable to a cyclone. :)

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