Tahitian Princess transfer to Pier

[lakota]

Can someone tell me whether the transfer drops people off at the Sheraton for a few hours before going to the pier? I have gotten conflicting information from Princess. One said for people who book air through them get a day room for a few hours at Sheraton, while another said the bus drops people at the pier which has a holding area for the luggage.

[laurieb]

when we went last January, we were promised a day room, but apparently Princess forgot to tell the Sheraton about it. We ended up sitting in the reception area for about 6 hours with nothing provided. I don't know when you are going, but it looks like most Princess flights arrive in the evening now, which would mean straight to the ship.

 

Laurie

Zenith 02/01

Century 01/02

Century 02/02

Tahitian Princess 01/03

Century 01/04

Tahitian Princess 01/05

[Chuck and Lorraine]

I heard from my travel agent that the TP no longer provides day use rooms. This is something that they did until recently according to her.

[laurieb]

I think that all Princess air arrangements arrive in the evening now.

 

Laurie

Zenith 02/01

Century 01/02

Century 02/02

Tahitian Princess 01/03

Century 01/04

Tahitian Princess 01/05

[Joe Friday]

So does anyone know cost of transfers from airport to downtown hotel if arrive day before the cruise. Also are getting own transfers at end of cruise to airport chea;per than using Princess at $25 each ow?

[laurieb]

when we were therelast, I heard that taxi's run about 25.00- half of the trnasfer cost. Did you decide on a place to stay yet? We will have one night post cruise on Tahiti, and haven't decided yet where to stay.

I strongly suggest not using Princess transfers. You can get a cab and not have to feel like cattle being herded into the airport.

 

Laurie

Zenith 02/01

Century 01/02

Century 02/02

Tahitian Princess 01/03

Century 01/04

Tahitian Princess 01/05

[Joe Friday]

We are 1 day pre-cruise and are probably going to stay at either Hotel Tiare or Mandrin downtown. - should be about $150/night. After much searching finally got a local travel agent on-line to help me. Sounds like these hotels have seen better days but we just want a place to sleep as we arrive in evening and we aren't looking for hotel ammenities- so we'll chance it.

 

Tahiti could sure use a Comfort Inn for $50/nite!

 

Am told taxi is about $25 airport to downtown. Also told by several that ship docks right downtown so if we stay at downtown hotel could possibly walk to ship or cab would be a lot cheaper.

[Aloha_Jackie]

Sheraton Hotel Tahiti - good for before and after - you can see the ship from there and could walk it if you are traveling light. We stayed there 6 days beforehand and when we got back from the Tahitian Princess 9/2003 10-day cruise - they let us stay aboard until flight time - something like 8 pm, I called and cancelled my day use room that I had prebooked and we stayed aboard - allowed to use spa facilities to shower after hanging out at the pool all day and listen to the band, and eat at the pool or buffet etc. Shuttle is a pain - share a cab or taxi. No AC for the most part at the airport. First class lounge for Hawaiian was okay to hang out in too at the airport if you are flying first.

[daboo]

Shuttle is a pain - share a cab or taxi. No AC for the most part at the airport. First class lounge for Hawaiian was okay to hang out in too at the airport if you are flying first.

Hi Jackie,

We also have the Princess transfers and I understand that we are allowed to stay on the ship until it's time to head to the airport. Do we then just take the next shuttle in? You said it's a pain and that we should pay to take a cab. What was your experience with the shuttle?

Thanks

Tanya

[MrsFitz]

Hello, everyone. I will know the answers to your questions very soon as my husband and I sail on the TP Wednesday! We too have purchased Princess transfers to and from the pier. At the time we booked them, we were not aware of the "fringe benefits". You still have to be out of your cabin by 11am, but you are welcome to stay on the ship, have lunch, etc. One thing I have seen mentioned is that any beverage (that would have cost you money during the cruise) you will need to pay for in cash that day, as your shipboard account will have already been settled. Also, you can take a shore excursion or go it on your own and IF you have the Princess transer, you can leave any carryon luggage and check it in Sabitini's or Sterling's (not sure which) until you leave for the airport. I think the majority of the CCer's on our cruise that do not have post-cruise packages, are using the Princess transfers.

 

Susan

[Aussie Gal]

When we were on the TP in March, we were independent travellers. We had to be out of our room by 11am but we could leave our carry on luggage at Sabbatinis for as long as we wanted. Yes on the final day, any drinks you have have to be paid for by cash but the food is gratis.

 

We had lunch on board and then left for our hotel at around 1.30pm. I would not pay for the Princess transfers as a cab out to our hotel, Le Meridien which was way past the airport was only $30. The taxis were plentiful, coming to the wharf every few minutes.

 

The TP docks so close to the town of Papeete that if you are staying at one of the downtown hotels, such as Mandarin etc. you could walk to the ship if you didn't have too much luggage, in fact you could make a few trips.

 

If you take your own taxi, you can get out to the airport before the crowds on the shuttle and get through customs a lot quicker. I believe upstairs at the airport it is airconditioned. We were flying Business, so we went to the Air New Zealand lounge.

 

Jennie.

[daboo]

Hello, everyone. I will know the answers to your questions very soon as my husband and I sail on the TP Wednesday! We too have purchased Princess transfers to and from the pier. At the time we booked them, we were not aware of the "fringe benefits". You still have to be out of your cabin by 11am, but you are welcome to stay on the ship, have lunch, etc. One thing I have seen mentioned is that any beverage (that would have cost you money during the cruise) you will need to pay for in cash that day, as your shipboard account will have already been settled. Also, you can take a shore excursion or go it on your own and IF you have the Princess transer, you can leave any carryon luggage and check it in Sabitini's or Sterling's (not sure which) until you leave for the airport. I think the majority of the CCer's on our cruise that do not have post-cruise packages, are using the Princess transfers.

 

Susan

Hi Susan,

I just responded to another post you made, it appears as though I am following you around today. :)

As we have the Princess transfers as well, I would interested in hearing about your experiences with the shuttle and day use of the ship while the new passengers board.

Bon Voyage! and I look forward to hearing from you in September upon your return.

Tanya

[laurieb]

Tanya,

As Aussie gal said, you don't have to have the overpriced Princess transfers to stay on the ship after checking out of your room. You can stay on until evening and have dinner, get onand off the ship, and use the ship facilities without the transfers. When we used the transfers last year, it was miserable. Everyone showed up at pretty much the same time at the airport and the lines were long and slow. This time we are spending a night on the island after the cruise to miss the crowd all together.

[Princess Di]

Ia Orana, TA Cruisers,

 

I believe that $15 pp. was quoted to me in an e-mail from Marama Tours for x-fers from airport to hotel. ;) I lost all my Outlook Express e-mail when the Little Princess sank (my Laptop contracted 54 viruses + 350 Spyware programs installed). I now have the Windows XP Grand Princess. :eek:

Send them an e-mail and they are Very responsive and courteous. :D

This is one of the largest Tour Operators and does a lot of Princess business but also contracts independently with Pax. They will pick you up at night and not charge a premium like taxis sometimes charge after dark. (I have a friend picking me up now so don't need x-fers.) :cool:

Here is text from their Website:

 

WETSITE: http://www.maramatours.com/

 

E-Mail: maramatours@mail.pf

 

Phone: +689 50.74.74

 

MARAMA TOURS

P.O.. 6266

98702 FAA'A CENTER

TAHITI - FRENCH POLYNESIA

 

"We can easily accommodate (Anglaise as a Second Language) any size group as we feature 45, 39, 22, 15, 10 passenger coaches as well as 4X4 Land Rovers and private car for VIP'S. Marama Tours is a family owned and operated, full service, travel and transport company. Founded in 1973 by Mata and Emil Cowan, Marama Tours is one of the leading and most well established tour companies in Tahiti. Marama Tours offers one of the largest, newest and most comfortable air-conditioned fleets in Tahiti. Marama Tours well trained travel specialists are at your service to help you plan your entire booking from conception to successful completion. Here are some of the excursions and activities you can enjoy in French Polynesia. ° Circle Island Tour ° 4X4 Mountain Safari ° Motu (Atoll) Picnics ° Dolphin Enclunters ° Sunset Cruises ° Fishing ° Yacht Charters ° Glass Bottom Boats ° Shark Feeding ° Helicopter Tours ° Scuba Diving ° Golfing"

[MrsFitz]

Princess Di, it's interesting you mentioned Marama Tours, as that is who Princess used as our "Princess Transfer" to and from the airport. Here's what I can contribute regarding the final day. The night before, they want your luggage outside your room between 8pm and 10pm. Final day, they want you out of your cabin by 10am. You can take your carry on luggage to Sterlings and check them. I really don't think it matters if you have a Princess transfer or not. They were busy and never asked to see anything proving I was on the transfer. You must have the bags out of there by 8pm.

 

Breakfast is served both in the Buffet as well and the dining room (open seating). Lunch was also in both places. Pizza was not served until 2:30 and lasted until 7pm. Dinner was also served in both the dining room and buffet. However, they start calling the transfers so early, you would be best if you grab some pizza or hit the buffet instead of going to the dining room. I have the embarkation paper in all my stuff, but it's in the other room. I remember part of it! There was an 8:35 flight from PPT to LAX. That group had pink luggage tags and the are numbered in groups (Pink 9, Pink 10 and Pink 11). They call you by color and group. They called the Pink 9 group (which was the first transfer for that flight) around 5:00pm. The rest of the pink groups were called in about 10 to 15 minute intervals. We were thinking that since we were not flying out until 10pm, that there would be a break in between that group and our group. Wrong! They called the first group for the 10pm flight at about 6pm.

When you get to the airport, you will have someone explain the process of getting through the airport to you while you are still on the bus (captive audience and easier for you to hear without all the additional noise outside the bus). You get in a line and start "weaving" your way closer to the first security screening. You will have an airport employee get a cart and come to you and have you claim your bags you put outside your cabin the night before. Then continue to weave a little more. Now, the ATN people were not the most organized and pulled together team at this point. One of their reps directed us to get in a particluar line. (Your single line has now split into 2-3 lines as they have 3 security stations.) While waiting our turn through security, a different rep walks up to us and asked if we were on flight 102, which we were. She proceeds to tell me that I was in the wrong line. My response: "One of your employees directed me to this line and if it is the wrong line, I am sorry, but that is not my problem." Plus I started asking others in front of me, whom she didn't question, if they were on the same flight and they were! So she speaks in a language other than English to some other reps and all of the sudden I am now getting to go through security. We could not get seat assignments prior to leaving (despite my attempts), so we headed for the checkin counter. It was odd, because the security station you go through is how you are directed (by "ropes") to the ticket counter. Since we got to go through the last station, it somewhat worked to our advantage. We ended up passing a lot of people who were in the other line (most for the 8:35 flight, which may have been the difference) and went directly to the ticket counter. That is where they take your bags again and you can lock them at this point since they have passed through security. There are some shops right there when you finish at the ticket counter, but there are a couple as well after you go through the next security and immigration station. The waiting area is two level. It is NOT air conditioned! Only the VIP Lounge upstairs has AC! You can sit up stairs or down (I think up is more comfortable) and there are ceiling fans, but it was rather humid when we first got there. Felt better as the night progressed. There was also a bar upstairs and several round tables & chairs, but we were on the large sectional sofas under the fans! Prices here can shock you! We had run into this as well in Bora Bora. There is a place right across the street from where the boat tenders to that has canned soft drinks, but they want $3.00 US for a can! If you will walk a couple more "blocks" to the left, you will find their version of a grocery store and you can get one for $1.25 US. Also the airport wanted $3.25 for a CAN of Coke.

 

Sorry to ramble on, but this might become useful to you, although I hope you don't have our issues. We were leaving PPT on Saturday at 10pm. That morning, I turned on CNN to hear a "news story just in" that LAX had experienced two security breaches and the International terminal was shut down. They were allowing planes to land but not take off. As it turned out, my 10pm flight originated out of New Zealand and was about a half hour late. The 8:35 flight came from LAX and was estimated to depart at 10pm as well now. We actually left before the people booked on the 8:35 flight. Another thing we figured out was you might think you are flying back on ATN, but you could be on ATA Airlines. One of our CCers who was one of the first to check-in asked if there were bulkhead seats available. They said yes we can put you in row 2. We thought that really didn't make since and I had a diagram of the seating on the ATN plane and knew the seats were 2-4-2. My friend said, our plane is 3-4-3. Once we started talking to our CC group, we figure out that if you were on the 8:35 flight (602) then you were flying on ATA and not ATN. Some people were not happy about that. I agreed in that you should be told. Apparently ATN only has five planes and from time to time they don't have enough planes. So, they charter this one from ATA. One big difference is they do not have the monitors in the seat in front of you like ATN does.

 

Tip for your ATN flight. If you have any food allergies (ie. allergic to fish), I suggest you call and make arrangements for a special meal. One of our CCers called and asked about that, as they are both allergic to fish. They were assured there were two meals to choose from and there would be plenty of both. Well, they give you a 2 choice menu showing what they will be serving. We were in row 23 and by the time they got to us, they were out of the beef meal and only had fish.

 

Also regarding transfers to the airport, two of the couples from our CCers group shared a taxi to the airport. So they had 4 people and 7 bags and it cost $22. There was a note that in FP they charge per bag.

 

Daboo: As far as the new people coming on, I really didn't notice a lot of them until later in the day and even then it was minimal. They can be easy to spot if they still have the flower over their ear tha ATN gave them! The public areas were not really crowded at all. On the larger ships I have been on, you were doing good to find a chair to sit in while waiting to disembark. This was much easier. You can leave the boat even on the night before when you first dock back in PPT (around 8pm). Our last day, we went back into town for a few last minute purchases. Note: On Saturdays, a lot of the stores near the market either close for lunch right around noon, if not for the day. When we were about to head back to the ship (at noon) we noticed a lot of business pulling down their grate. There were shops open later, so you might have less to choose from if you go after noon. Princess does offer two shore excursions for that day. One is the 4X4 Waterfall blah blah blah (sorry I can't remember the full name!), and the other is the Island Highlights tour (on an A/C Motorcoach). We did the 4X4 at the beginning of our trip and the HIghlights tour on the final day.

 

Again, sorry to go on, but hopefully you will find it useful.

 

Susan

[regent218]

do you know if 1st class opr business class passangers have the same lines for checkin and security?

[Aussie Gal]

We flew Business on Air New Zealand. Unfortunately there is only the one line for security when you first put your cases on the conveyor belt before checking in.

 

After that I think there was a separate line for Business at check in, and then once again as you go into the main part of the airport, there was just one line for the x-ray and checking of carry on bags and they are very particular regarding this. They made everyone open their carry on bags.

 

Upstairs is quite a nice lounge with air conditioning and we spent a good hour there.

 

Our flight left Papeete at 5.45am, so we really were the first plane out that day.

We were one of the first to arrive at the airport and as the plane was only half full, we didn't have all the delays.

Jennie

[Aloha_Jackie]

do you know if 1st class opr business class passangers have the same lines for checkin and security?

 

We were 1st for Hawaiian Air and we waited in the same security line, but had a different line for the flight desk checkin/luggage

 

ATN had priority (French) and Hawaiian had to wait for them because of some sort of security situation where they said a Foreign Prime Minister was coming in from China or something, we went to the first class lounge upstairs and had the AC and a few drinks after finally being allowed inside - it was hotter than heck - one of the stores has the AC - its the one with the $4 cans of sprite....at the time Hawaiian only flew one day per week out of PPT and I was getting those miles if it killed me

 

The airport is open air and smoking is allowed at the tables upstairs (outside of the VIP lounge)

 

Drinks were expensive (even cans, at the airport) and things were a madhouse as described above by Mrs Fitz. We chose to stay aboard and cancelled our transfers - shared a cab with a couple we met - the price of dinner (or a drink for that matter) makes it well worth it. Now who is up for a stinky $20 Hinano beer???? TP has Coors Light!

[Aloha_Jackie]

Jennie is right - but she left early in the A.M. Everyone off the TP had to beat feet to get to the airport for three different 11p.m. flights to smell-A and it was a LOOOOOOONG day, thank god we went thru Oahu and had the layover - I just didnt want to go thru LA....and all those miles!

Triple in first class too!!! wooo hooooo

 

Previously I put down ATN (being French) but I did hear their PPT to LA flight was quite comfortable by a flight attendant friend of mine. They gave out little socks and a nice little kits of goodies for first/business class folks. And they have the more comfortable seats and the screens in the seatbacks, etc.

 

I got upset a few times because of the French thing, but it wasnt that bad, as Americans we take a lot of that stuff for granted and expect those whose first language is Tahitian or French to speak English and give it priority.

[MrsFitz]

Aloha Jackie: Your last post made me laugh because that is so true about the language! ATN was a good airline and they do give you the little goodie bag (even in coach) with headphones that are the current style (they hook over your years and not across the top of your head), socks, Eye mask (for blocking light) and Ear plugs. All they should add is gum! The seats did seem to be a bit narrow, but it was tolerable as we could put up the armrest between myself and my husband. But back to the language! It was weird when you are used to English as your first language and suddenly all the safety instructions and other announcements are given in French first.

 

The time it took to get through the airport might have been longer for some of the others behind us, but we had several groups called before us and about three after us, and I think it was about an hour from the time we got in line until we reached the first security scan. For us, it was a breeze thereafter, but the others on the earlier flight spent additional time in line getting to the ticket counters to check in.

 

Susan

[Aloha_Jackie]

For us it was critical to get out - Hawaiian only flew one day per week out of Papeete. Ia Orana was the only Tahitian phrase I knew and my French was rather limited too, so with their brusque attitude and the language barrier, combined with the heat, stress of traveling to a new place, etc - I can admit it was a bit overwhelming - even for a seasoned traveler.

 

I think that we Americans assume we will be catered too - I need to get myself out of that rut and expect to go more cultural....on the other hand, since this type of travel is their bread and butter, or at least a major source of income, you would imagine that they would cater more to tourists and speaky Englie!

 

okay, I am crawling off the soap box now...