Our Papeete experience so far.

[deercottage]

We are booked on the Marina April 19th 2014. Booked air through O, no problem

flying from Victoria BC. Air Nui from LAX leaving 11.59 pm. Arrived in Papeete at

5.30am. About Air Nui good service, 2 meals, but very hard seats. But we have nice cruise ahead of us, that makes up for it. Stayed in Intercontinental in Papeete for 2 days. I booked a room for the previous night, so when we arrived our room was ready. Extra cost but well worth it! Check in time is 2pm, most people had to wait for 5 till 6 hours before their rooms were ready. The temperature was 28C with a humidity of 88%. It was sure nice to step into refreshing shower after a long flight. We booked the rest of our stay though O.

The Hotel, what can I say in one word fabulous! We had a Lagoon view room,

very spacious and clean. The grounds are very well kept and just lovely. Food

very good. The Breakfast buffet is something else, I thought for $38US there was good value. Last night we had the Polynesian seafood buffet + a Show.

Cost $115US per person again very good value. The Buffet was out of this world

with very exquisite food. Make a reservation before you leave, fills up quickly.

It is every Friday night. The staff at Hotel go out of their way to help you, very

friendly. Our O package also included a tour of Papeete, four and a halve hours

very good. Just waiting now to be transferred to the Marina. At will be our home for 33 days. ( Papeete/ New York ) looking forward to our first O experience!

 

Chris

[traveler916]

We are booked on the Marina April 19th 2014. Booked air through O, no problem

flying from Victoria BC. Air Nui from LAX leaving 11.59 pm. Arrived in Papeete at

5.30am. About Air Nui good service, 2 meals, but very hard seats. But we have nice cruise ahead of us, that makes up for it. Stayed in Intercontinental in Papeete for 2 days. I booked a room for the previous night, so when we arrived our room was ready. Extra cost but well worth it! Check in time is 2pm, most people had to wait for 5 till 6 hours before their rooms were ready. The temperature was 28C with a humidity of 88%. It was sure nice to step into refreshing shower after a long flight. We booked the rest of our stay though O.

The Hotel, what can I say in one word fabulous! We had a Lagoon view room,

very spacious and clean. The grounds are very well kept and just lovely. Food

very good. The Breakfast buffet is something else, I thought for $38US there was good value. Last night we had the Polynesian seafood buffet + a Show.

Cost $115US per person again very good value. The Buffet was out of this world

with very exquisite food. Make a reservation before you leave, fills up quickly.

It is every Friday night. The staff at Hotel go out of their way to help you, very

friendly. Our O package also included a tour of Papeete, four and a halve hours

very good. Just waiting now to be transferred to the Marina. At will be our home for 33 days. ( Papeete/ New York ) looking forward to our first O experience!

 

Chris

 

Hi Chris - thanks for posting....we are doing this same cruise next year...

[edo4mayor]

Hi! We are also doing this cruise next year.

 

What package did you book with o that included the tahiti island tour?

 

Thanks,

Maria

[LoveBora]

Will you please let us know how your transfer to the ship went. What time were you able to board? I have read about some unfortunate experiences on embarkation day. Thanks.

[canuck.qc]

We just returned(I posted a trip report) and embarkation went very smoothly. First, I should mention we traveled as independents(opted for the deviation). I don't think the charters went quite the same way. We walked off the ferry from a 2 nite pre cruise on Moorea and walked on to the ship. There was no one at the Oceania tent, our room was ready by 3:00. We had access to the ship's common & dinning areas. If you take the O transfer package you may experience something very different. I am a firm believer that if you can, make all your pre/post cruise arrangements on your own. NO WAITING, LINEUPS, EXCESSIVE COSTS. You can reserve or pick up tours and transfers easily at the airport or dock, no problem. We stayed, the 1st day at the ICTahiti and DID NOT have to book a room the day before. We booked our rooms, tours and transfers online at a fraction of the cost and was able to come and as we pleased. I believe O has worked out many of the glitches we read about in last years cruise posts. The logistics are VERY different when traveling in a group versus independent....IMO FP is easy to get along on your own...no problem

[1westover]

We just returned also. Like previous post, we flew on our own from Atlanta and overnighted in LAX. Bought air deviation through O from LAX and went to FP 2 days early.

We arranged everything independently. Intercontinental on Hotels.com and had breakfast included in rate. Used Carl's Tax for transfers and island tour. O wanted $145.00pp for a transfer and we paid $10.00 to $20.00 pp, depending on where we were going.

Oceania, in MY opinion, did not live up to what I expected. Much prefer Azamara. Several itinerary changes at the last minute. We should have been notified before before boarding. Cook Island deviation was strictly politics! Food was, for the most part good, but no better than Azamara. Certainly did not live up to the expectations. Sent 2 dinners back. They were served at room temp, which told me they were cooked ahead and then plated as ordered. Entertainment was mediocre.

Plan as much as you can yourself. Post on CC and you will find many fellow travelers happy to join your independent tours.The Jan Prince book on Tahiti and FP is an excellent guide.

[canuck.qc]

++1 for Carl's cab and tours.

I chose not post a review of the SHIP but wrote a trip report instead.

Sometimes I read the ship reviews and think....'they must have been on a completely different ship:confused:'. Marina & Riviera class of ship is very different from the R class ships which Azamara is part of.

The FP cruises are nothing like other itineraries, they are subject to changes, cancellations etc. a whole different way of functioning out there. It helps to know this before leaving home.