Flight to/from Tahiti with Oceania

[sammyboots]

We're sailing on the 16th January on the Marina's Tahitian Breeze. Has anyone previously done this itinerary that would be willing to give us an idea of how the flight timings together with embarkation/disembarkation work?

We've booked O's air and from what we can see, most flights seem to arrive/leave late at night.

We would appreciate anyone that could give us some info on their experience, although we realise that things change...;)

Thank you! :)

[Hawaiidan]

I have made the flights many times. and Papteete airport is not large so no large aircraft overnight... small regional/local flights only.

 

That said its a 9.5 hour flight oneway and 3 hour time zone Same time as Hawaii so it vairies. . Most all aircraft travel from either LA or Sydney/Aukland. They plan on arriving between 10 to 11 pm, then either return to LAX or SYD within 2 hours of arriving. SO, ALL international flights arrive and depart in the middle of the night. There are no other options.

Tahiti Nui has the only real schedule from LA with daily flights. Hawaiian airlines, operates 1 flight a week on saturday return Sunday to Honolulu.

This Is a 5 hour flight and way more comfortable.

Air New Zealand flys from Aukland. also a mid night flyer..

So, your options for other flights in not possible. Oceania will use Tahiti NUI in my opinion... its a A-340.

[Ka Honu]

If you're flying to Tahiti, it's good to live in Hawaii (for an unusual but welcome change). For almost the same price as the included airfare credit we're taking a much shorter flight (Hawaiian Air, HNL-PPE) on Saturday, staying in a hotel that night to board on Sunday, and staying two days post-cruise before returning to HNL on Sunday. The whole thing is within $100 of the cost of Oceania Air

 

For us, this is one of the very few times we ever "score" on getting to/from a cruise. I'm loving it, even if we only do it rarely.

[Hawaiidan]

If you're flying to Tahiti, it's good to live in Hawaii (for an unusual but welcome change). For almost the same price as the included airfare credit we're taking a much shorter flight (Hawaiian Air, HNL-PPE) on Saturday, staying in a hotel that night to board on Sunday, and staying two days post-cruise before returning to HNL on Sunday. The whole thing is within $100 of the cost of Oceania Air

 

For us, this is one of the very few times we ever "score" on getting to/from a cruise. I'm loving it, even if we only do it rarely.

 

Now wait A sec, that only works for 1 cruise, Having 1 flight a week is not what I call great... If your ship departs on a sunday afternoon or after midnight...on saturday you win.

 

For me, however,leaving on the 18th April, it would cost me $3600 more than the cruise air because I would have to dead-head in PPT for 5 days ( air and Hotel meals) and pay a 1 way sur charge. because I am returning from london.

The only other option is to fly to LA one way,catch a LA to PPT. Thats about $2800 and takes 14 hours of flying Air credit would be only $800 one way Kona to PPT is $980

 

In Kona we dont think thats a deal.... its a no brainer to use Oceaina. Count yourself lucky...

[spook1]

SHAKA DAN!

You are right on the dollar. Oceania values the April air open-jaw R/T at $1,200 and I challange anyone to match that fare unless non-reving with airline benefits...not a wise idea when ship sails whether you are aboard or not.:)

[Tansy Mews]

Don't know whether this comment will help but here goes anyway! Don't forget about air deviation. We got the flights we wanted with only the deviation fee. And no, the amount they would give us if we wanted to reserve flights directly ourselves was ridiculously small, the same as for our Baltic cruise. BTW, our flight home from Papeete to LAX is at 10 pm.

[Ka Honu]

Oceania values the April air open-jaw R/T at $1,200 and I challange anyone to match that fare ...

For once I get to brag even though we're not stuck with an open jaw itinerary this time (next April) and only needed three nights "deadhead" time in Papeete.

 

Hawaiian HNL-PPE round trip tickets: $2275 for both of us (kinda high - could have gotten them them later for $150pp less but wanted to lock it in early).

 

Sofitel Hotel (later "walked" to the Meridien when Sofitel announced they were closing) for one night precruise: $163.

 

Two night post-cruise at the Intercontinental: $456 (to wait for the Sunday return to HNL).

 

Total expense for two: $2894

 

We got $2800 back for cruise-only credit for the two of us ($1400 each - not $1200) so we only paid $94 more than the credit and get three nights in Tahiti (as well as a whole lot less time in the air).

 

I'm stoked.

 

[Hawaiidan]

, Hounu you scored well because all the stars lined up. Good for you

Your RT to PPT ( not ppe check it) air credit of 1400pp pp is great.!!!

However, for me Hawaii to Tahiti then London-back to Hawaii is only $800pp !

 

I plan to use only the Hawaii to Tahiti Oceania air and will get a $400 credit on my invoice.

 

Now flying trick. Flying London to Hawaii 1 way coach is about $1960 with United. Business is $7600..

 

However, if you buy and "open jaw" RT ticket , London to Kona, and returning Washington DC, IAD to London a week later, the fare drops to

$ 890 ! and you just throw away the return ticket and save about $1100.

 

But wait, for 20,000 miles +$500.00, I can get an upgrade to Business for a $ 1390 gross total. Then minus the $400 credit it comes to ,out of pocket, $990 on UAl.

So, I am saving $6610 on the Business fare..only paying about $100 more between coach and business. and getting London non stop to SFO then SFO non stop to Kona in a bed. 16 hour flight

 

As to the question of getting an "air Deviation" Because there are so few carriers to Tahiti, you do not have a choice of flights of any real extent ! Other than arriving a day earily or later. At Tahiti prices, and staying in Papetee ( not the most attractive town or island...you have to get off to the outter islands, just like Hawaii) Is from experience not an attractive option I would care to endure. Yes I said "endure" because thats down town industrial traffic filled Papetee...:o

[Ka Honu]

PPT it is - my brain fart (PPE is on the Sea of Cortez).

 

We did something similar with a return from Peru last year. I forget what they were asking for the fare but we ended up giving United 45K miles and $53 each for Business/First return to HNL. The cruise line gave us a $500 credit for not using their "free" air so we did pretty well.

 

I guess if you've got the time and energy to examine the options, you can often do much better than what the cruise lines set up for foreign ports. Now all I've got to do is figure out how to get to Barcelona and home from Rio next year.

[Benita]

The Paul Gauguin sails weekly Roundtrip from Papette, so if you look on their cruise critic board, you will see lots of posts about flying. If you have frequent flyer points on American Airlines, it is 75,000 points for economy and 125,000 points for business class tickets roundtrip from anywhere in the continental US to Tahiti on Air Tahiti Nuit.Like Oceania, PG includes the flights roundtrip from LA in their cruise fare, with air add ons from other cities, so we will get about $1200 dollars off the fare (and not have to buy tickets to and from LA from Florida) by using points. If you have enough for business class, that is a pretty good return on the points investment. That said, they only open up a couple of business class tickets per flight for frequent flyer use - we called 330 days in advance and nabbed them for our cruise.

Depending on the day of week, almost all Air Tahiti Nuit flights are overnighters, leaving around 11:30pm. If they book the flights for you Paul Gauguin includes a day room, as you arrive about 6am, and gets you to the ship later in the day. I would see if Oceania can arrange for something like that for you. There is also a 4:30pm flight on certain days, which gets you in around 10pm- the PG holds the ship from sailing for people on that flight, but I would certainly recommend flying in a day early, so you don't spend the first day of the cruise sleeping.

It will be interesting to see if Oceania charters planes for this cruise - as they have to get 1200 passengers to the ship, it would be impossible to do so all on the same day using Air Tahiti Nuit (or Air France which also flies there), so more planes would be needed and perhaps the flight times would be more amenable to flying in and getting right on the ship.

[patnlcc]

Hi Kaye, it's a number of years since we flew to/from Papeete, but even then the flight arrived late in the evening and it was dark when we boarded - bonus was seeing the ship lit up like a Christmas tree as we landed.The ship (not Oceania) stayed in port overnight. Return flight was late in the day too so we had a lot of time to kill. That was with Air Tahiti Nui out of LAX.

[Hawaiidan]

Because not 1200 getting on and off. Many will have sailed from Sydney enroute to Lima. Others will board in Papetee for Lima, New York or London and some will take the extended tahiti arrival on the 7th rather than the 17th, And of that many will want to stay in Tahiti a few days if they never have visited. I doubt more than a few hundred total because this is part of a grand voyage..

The problem with charter is twofold. First is getting a dead head plane back and Second, getting an route clearance and approval from trans-pacific control. ( Jets across the pacific fly on established routes called J-ways or tracks. and there has to be air space available, same with the departure airport LAX and arrival airport PPT, not many free times because of local traffic during the day. Night is for international when the commuters are not running.)

 

You just can't jump in your plane and fly any old time. It is all very controlled and there is a lot of traffic, cargo, military, not to mention passenger aircraft. The sky is busy..like a interstate hiway.

 

Arrival at night is great as mentionedas you fly the approach directly over the lit ship... which is a sight. Also, its way cooler.

[ORV]

When we went in May Oceania chartered a flight with ATN and we left at 1:00pm and got to PPT around 6:30. Being a charter there were no additional baggage fees, they even allowed you to check any carry ons for no fee at check in. Got a great bulkhead seat to boot.

 

Rode the ship back to SF so had no return experience, but you might check some of the Regatta Roll Calls from Jan -May of this year and they probably discuss the flights on them.

[ronrick1943]

We're going to go a few days early, and stay a after the cruise for 2 days. We booke Air Tahiti Nui, wanted to do Air France but if something goes wrong you may be staying longer than you want with so few flights. Air Tahiti Nui goes everyday except for the 27th of Aug.

[TERRIER1]

We are on the April 7 Tahiti Breeze cruise. We took the air deviation to come in 2 days before the cruise and stay 4 days after in Moorea. We were charge the air deviation fee which is charged to your credit card and a small flight up charge that appears on your Oceania invoice.

 

We are from New York and this is the schedule we received. These flights appear to be scheduled flights and not charters. I found out that ATN has an additional flight that leaves at night from LAX and gets you to Papeete at 5:30 am but only on a Friday.

 

NYC (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX): leave 10:30 am arrive 1:40 pm on American

LAX to Papeete: leave 4:30 pm arrive 10:00pm on ATN

 

Papeete to LAX: leave 10:00 pm arrive 9:10 am

LAX to JFK: leave 12:30 pm arrive 9:10 pm

 

We are staying on Moorea after the cruise so we will take our time to check out and ferry over to Papeete. Once in Papeete we will check the luggage and hang out in town.

 

I called American and ATN and confirmed that we don't have to pay additional for luggage on the American segment since the bags go through on ATN which doesn't charge for the first checked piece.

[centsable]

You are VERY knowledgable about this area. We are Canadians taking the Jewels of Pacific from YEG Edmonton Alberta The cruise begins March 14th in Sydney Ends April 7th Papeete. Our portion of air with Oceania is $1449. We are VERY concerned about the length of time we will have to spend getting there and flights and even more time getting home. Looking at flights costing $2500 each how a 61 hour total time returning!!

We visit Mauia many times on Alaska airlines and I have toyed with the idea after reading your info about getting our own fare as we have companion fare. We booked with a TA so questions need to go thru him to Oceania. I would prefer to see their regular schedule then ask for deviation, however I see that Air Schelue from my contract with TA states that:

The cruise line will release your air schedule and carrier designation approximately 20 days prior to sailing, but will not guarantee your air route or carrier unless you purchase an air deviation. Airfare that has been purchased but not scheduled by the airline is subject to the cancellation penalties shown below. Airfare that has been purchased and scheduled is non-refundable even if you cancel your cruise.

We CANNOT purchase air deviation that late.

Your suggestions or anyone elses would be greatly appreciated!! Final payment due Oct 13th, so WE have to make decesion on Oceania air prior to then.

[JimandStan]

As you say, if you wait to see the non-deviation itinerary from Oceania, it will be too late to opt for a deviation.

 

Your decision therefore becomes "am I willing to accept whatever I am assigned" versus "Am I willing to pay the deviation fee in order to have some control".

 

The good news is that, although the deviation fee is non refundable, it does not kick in until you accept a Route, and the pricing that goes with it, from Oceania.

Therefore, if you find what they are offering to be uneconomic or otherwise unacceptable, you will still have an opportunity to take the Air Credit and book it privately.

 

Hope that this helped-

[Hawaiidan]

SInce your ship gets in on April6th, a saturday you could leave the ship late the evening of 6th, and catch the HAWAII aIRLINES flight at midnight to Honolulu, cost is $986.pp Ite flight arrives at 0615 in honolulu, process customs and change to Alaska ( they have an interline agreement I think).

The flight to Alberta is on ALASKA departs at 0800 and there is another at 1125. The Alaska has to change planes in Seattle and over all time is 11:30. The cost is $326pp. I do not think alaska 2 for 1 cupons are good for one way flights

The Tahiti to Honolulu is 5.5 hours So, overall 19 hours.. to 25 hours

 

Cost would be $1312pp for the Hawaiian/Alaska potion If you are getting and overall fare of 1400... then I would strongly

 

You know you have the option, to take 1/2 the air credit and Oceania cover the Canada to Sydney Remember in your calculations that you gain 24 hours crossing the date line. + flights from Canada are going to take about 10 hours to get to LAX, add 3 to 4 hours for international connection and then 15 hours for the flight..... thats going to show up as 53 hours over all travel time which in reality is 29 actual hours

 

I frequently do 7 to 12 hour connections intentionaly, and take/grab a hotel and a shower between flights. Makes it easier

[centsable]

Our ship doesn't dock until 8 PM on the April 6th so getting to the airport that night COULD be dicy, good details about taking half the credit though. I spoke with Oceania and my TA is wrong. We will get our air schedule 75 days prior and can ask for Air deviation at any time after final payment.

With the long trip home, it would be nice to break up the flights anda trip through Hawaii is a NICE deversion!

Thanks!

[no fuss travel]

Oceania booked us from Vancouver to LAX, the from LAX to Papeete. Returning they gave us a direct flight from Sydney. We did pay the deviation fee as we wanted to arrive a few days earlier and leave a few days later. We could not have done it as cheaply trying to get our own airfare, so were quite pleased with what Oceania gave us. Oceania usually does not give you huge layovers which to get a cheaper flight you have to take.

[sammyboots]

Thanks for your replies everyone. :)

Has anyone any experiences they would like to share of what to do on the last day after disembarkation while waiting for a late flight back to LAX?

Thanks

[centsable]

Oceania booked us from Vancouver to LAX, the from LAX to Papeete. Returning they gave us a direct flight from Sydney. We did pay the deviation fee as we wanted to arrive a few days earlier and leave a few days later. We could not have done it as cheaply trying to get our own airfare, so were quite pleased with what Oceania gave us. Oceania usually does not give you huge layovers which to get a cheaper flight you have to take.

Are you on Jewels of the Pacific in March 2013?, That sounds like a great itineray! Did you have to pay more thanthe $150 deviation fee?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Our ship doesn't dock until 8 PM on the April 6th so getting to the airport that night COULD be dicy... We will get our air schedule 75 days prior and can ask for Air deviation at any time after final payment.

 

So you don't know what time your homebound flight will be in Papeete. Usually they are late at night, so 8 p.m. should be no problem, since the airport is really very close. Presumably if it's 10 p.m., with many folks taking that flight, they'll get you off the ship quickly.

 

Just a warning--the Papeete airport is the worst part of the trip. Hot, crowded, unorganized. Last time we came back we were had Business seats so got to use the Biz lounge--at least it's air-conditioned (sort of).

[Hawaiidan]

Ok getting in at 8pm... the Airport is 5 min from the pier... and a streight shot !!!! Piece of cake !

 

You can save the air devation fee in total by requesting for only 1/2 of the trip by air. Your Flight to Tahiti and do the return on your own.. so that saves $150 pp right there.:D

 

Since you would use 2 different carriers Hawaiian and another it is no big deal to stop in Hawaii. Actualy the air fare from Tahiti to Hawaii is the same no matter what island you fly to ! SO, Maui,Hawaii, Oahu, Kauai are all not going to cost you extra. ( I would suggest Hawaii, the big island because it is the most Hawaiian and least touristy and least expensive.. and has the volcano !)

 

Then you could stay as long as you wish in Hawaii. Make the next leg of your flight a day or a week later. The nice thing with the Hawaiian Air option is that it eliminates the 9 hour flight to LAX with a 5 hour flight to Hawaii. AND as a bonus, Hawaii and Tahiti are in the same time zone so no jet lag and having to clear customs in LA.

 

Now there is a 3rd option... continue on to Lima or NY and let the ship bring you almost home. It may cost more but not that much more considering the air fare you will save.. at least $2000 plus hotels etc This is what I did last year with europe... and will do again in 2014 Tahiti to NY or . It eliminates much of the return travel which is a drag.

[Silver Sweethearts]

Hawaiidan -

 

You say:

 

"...the air fare from Tahiti to Hawaii is the same no matter what island you fly to ! SO, Maui,Hawaii, Oahu, Kauai are all not going to cost you extra."

 

Just curious how you figure the air fare is the same from Tahiti to Oahu as it is from Tahiti to Maui, Hawaii and Kauai?