Oceania air to Tahiti

[BillK400]

I am on the 4/5/14 Marina cruise and will be using Oceania air arrangements (no deviation). It appears that to arrive on 4/5/14 I could possibly get a flight (from Atlanta) that leaves later on Friday 4/4 and arrives very early 4/5 in Papeete or leave early on Saturday 4/5 and arrive late evening on 4/5. Either will work for the cruise as the ship does not depart Papeete until 5 am on 4/6/14.

 

The Air Tahiti Nui flights (as i understand oceania is using Air Tahiti Nui; possibly chartering flights) to Papeete appear to leave LA late evening or early / mid afternoon to arrive in Papeete either late evening or early morning.

 

I would rather leave later on Friday 4/4 and arrive very early on Sat 4/5 rather than leaving on Sat 4/5 and arriving late evening of 4/5. As I am not using air deviation is there anyway to "ask" / 'request' to leave on Friday for the early morning Sat. arrival?

 

I realize Oceania will choose the least expensive option, but if both are equal, will they be option to a request?

 

Thanks for you help!

Bill

[orchestrapal]

I am on the 4/5/14 Marina cruise and will be using Oceania air arrangements (no deviation). It appears that to arrive on 4/5/14 I could possibly get a flight (from Atlanta) that leaves later on Friday 4/4 and arrives very early 4/5 in Papeete or leave early on Saturday 4/5 and arrive late evening on 4/5. Either will work for the cruise as the ship does not depart Papeete until 5 am

I would rather leave later on Friday 4/4 and arrive very early on Sat 4/5 rather than leaving on Sat 4/5 and arriving late evening of 4/5. As I am not using air deviation is there anyway to "ask" / 'request' to leave on Friday for the early morning Sat. arrival?I

I realize Oceania will choose the least expensive option, but if both are equal, will they be option to a request?

 

Thanks for you help!

Bill

 

If you pay the deviation they will be happy to book the flights you choose. There may be a possible further fee if they can't obtain the flights for the price of the original flights. Best bet ask Oceania.

[workstocruise]

DH and I are on the same cruise. We just booked about 30 days ago and since we won't make final payment until Jan. 2 we do not have any air arrangements as of yet. Our flights will also be through Oceania and I would prefer to leave on 4/4/14 rather than 4/5. We will be flying out of Houston. I have a feeling we will be on a chartered flight vs Air Tahiti Nui.

[BillK400]

I have read where Oceania maybe chartering flights through Air Tahiti Nui. I guess we may have a better idea from other CC members who are on an earlier cruise (3/26/14) on Oceania from Papeete when they get their flight info from Oceania.

[Hawaiidan]

No.... not for the same price

Option is anyting but the exact flight it will cost $150-174pp plus extra air.

 

I asked for a similar thing and the answer was $ 150pp dev. Plus $299 pp extra air fare. so $900 more for I day change, even a 8 hour change.

 

The charter price pp on the 5th is way lower than the regular fare on the 4th because charter fares are block fares for say 200 passengers. Your asking for a one on one fare no leverage for Oceana to get a better fare.

[SweetPease]

For what it's worth, we booked a cruise recently (early December). Cruise dates are 3/11-3/26. When booking, we asked TA to arrange for us to arrive in NZ 1 day early to get acclimated. This resulted in booking a "prenight" package for an additional $500 (total for 2 of us) which included transfers and one night in a hotel. Not sure if this would be cheaper for you, but worth looking into. You may be better off paying the deviation fee, plus additional air and finding your own hotel (if you are staying over one night prior to cruise). Worth the research. FYI, we also chose to stay an additional night on end of cruise, but O was not able to get us flights, so we opted for 2 nights booking one night through O (they did NOT have a 2 night option) additional night booked directly with hotel with no extra charge from O.

Edited December 28, 2013 by SweetPease
clarification

[BillK400]

No.... not for the same price

Option is anyting but the exact flight it will cost $150-174pp plus extra air.

 

I asked for a similar thing and the answer was $ 150pp dev. Plus $299 pp extra air fare. so $900 more for I day change, even a 8 hour change.

 

The charter price pp on the 5th is way lower than the regular fare on the 4th because charter fares are block fares for say 200 passengers. Your asking for a one on one fare no leverage for Oceana to get a better fare.

 

Thanks for the info. Guess we will be getting in late on the 5th. As you pointed out the cost to deviate and arrive about 14 or so hrs earlier is not worth it. Are you on the 4/5 Cruise?

 

Bill

[DiveDoc]

We are on the Jan 15 Tahiti cruise and elected to fly in a day early and got the hotel through Oceania. That way we did not pay the air deviation fees, or charges to get to the hotel or from the hotel to the ship. As another poster said the hotel was $250/pp for the one night but still cheaper than paying for the hotel, air deviation and transfers separately.

[Hawaiidan]

We are on the Jan 15 Tahiti cruise and elected to fly in a day early and got the hotel through Oceania. That way we did not pay the air deviation fees, or charges to get to the hotel or from the hotel to the ship. As another poster said the hotel was $250/pp for the one night but still cheaper than paying for the hotel, air deviation and transfers separately.

 

That is a very good strategy, saves a lot....and I think that will cover transfers making it even more of a value..........except for the food and tax of even one day.

 

THe one thing I have learned in Tahiti is to eat and stay as much as possible on the ship Staying in Tahiti food, room tax and drink will cost close to$ 1000 a day.

[LHT28]

Thanks for the info. Guess we will be getting in late on the 5th. As you pointed out the cost to deviate and arrive about 14 or so hrs earlier is not worth it. Are you on the 4/5 Cruise?

 

Bill

 

Everyone measures costs differently ;)

 

I would gladly pay the deviation fee to know that I will arrive earlier & have time to adjust to the climate, time changes etc..

It is a personal decision on you can make

 

Lyn

[Packard]

Hi Bill,

We are also on the 4/5 cruise. We asked for the deviation because we wanted to fly into LAX from Toronto the day before to be rested before the long flight to PPT. We were charged the deviation and $250pp. If we had done all flights on the 5th, there would be just the deviation.....live and learn....I would try Divedoc's way the next time!

[Hawaiidan]

Flying from the Central or Eastern time zone to Tahiti is going to be a 6 hour time change ( normally 5 but on April 18 is changes to 6)

You will depart in the earily dawn or the night before which is a good thing as it will give you a nice 8-11 hour connection in LAX. Plenty of time to get a hotel, a sleep a swim .

However, If its all in one long day then flying east to west is WAY easier then the other way. Most all of the flight except for the last 2 hours will be in daylight and your body will not feel the impact even though it will be 3 am on the east coast when you arrive, your brain will just have seen the sunset and the feel will be like 7 to 8pm !!!

I used to fly a lot to Europe from both Hawaii and Calif. The flight west to east was rough and required a business class seat min. But, flying back say London to SFO was 12 hours but all in daylight and never felt that bad.

Just steer clear of drugs as they will dehydrate you...The serve free beer on the plane.. a good source of H2o as compared to a martini.

 

Too, a week before the flight, start changing your daily patterns... by say 30 min a day.. and that helps too.

[BillK400]

Hi Bill,

We are also on the 4/5 cruise. We asked for the deviation because we wanted to fly into LAX from Toronto the day before to be rested before the long flight to PPT. We were charged the deviation and $250pp. If we had done all flights on the 5th, there would be just the deviation.....live and learn....I would try Divedoc's way the next time!

 

I guess I will call Oceania and see what the options are. I would like to get to Tahiti earlier in the day of embarkation (5am as opposed to early evening), but I am not willing to spend $400 PP or so to do it. I might do it if its only the $150 PP deviation fee.

[alexandra cruiser]

since this air confusion is making me wonder whether I want to even attempt this cruise.Sounds awful,expensive and LONG so far.Whew.

Wonder if the Oceania deal better than trying to book yourself,so many questions.Need business class and cost of it all is starting to price my out of whole thing.Sad.:confused:

[Packard]

since this air confusion is making me wonder whether I want to even attempt this cruise.Sounds awful,expensive and LONG so far.Whew.

Wonder if the Oceania deal better than trying to book yourself,so many questions.Need business class and cost of it all is starting to price my out of whole thing.Sad.:confused:

 

We have flown from Toronto to PPT in the past in one day via LAX. It wasn't horrendous but we were a lot younger then! My DH isn't a fan of long flights but, in spite of this, cruising around French Polynesia is well worth the aggravation to get there!! He wants to return year after year!!

As to booking on our own, O's prices were still better than what we could get...even with the deviation and extra $$$.

[Hawaiidan]

We have flown from Toronto to PPT in the past in one day via LAX. It wasn't horrendous but we were a lot younger then! My DH isn't a fan of long flights but, in spite of this, cruising around French Polynesia is well worth the aggravation to get there!! He wants to return year after year!!

As to booking on our own, O's prices were still better than what we could get...even with the deviation and extra $$$.

 

1. totally forget going for only 7 to 14 days go for atleast 28

2. Doing Tahiti business class on your own RT is going to be around $4200pp and $3000 one way

3 You can if you want to spend 4 to 5 days in Tahiti Fly to Honolulu spend a few days and on Saturdays fly to Tahiti only 5 hours. If you time your cruises to depart on Sundays this works and for return on a Saturday you can take the Hawaiian Air connection back to Hawaii and then rest again and fly home much cheaper

4. Fly from LAX one way and connect to a 30 day cruise that brings you back to the east or west coast.

 

Tahiti is about 4200 miles from LAX Hawaii is 2500 going for 7 to 14 days is well a waste of time and money

I am taking a cruise around Tahiti and on to NY...34 days for about the same price as flying round trip to Tahiti, paying the deviation and up-charge plus the hotel costs and food for staying 3 to 5 days

Taking a longer cruise that passes through Tahiti is way better than doing a circle Tahiti... Done it 3 times ( LA-Tahiti-LA Regent) ( Tahiti-Sydney Royal Viking), ( Sydney -LA Regent) and going Tahiti-NY in April Mariner

 

All 30 -35 days but way better then yo-yo flying. Save your $$ and time go long..._