Oceania air departing from Tahiti

[Hawaiidan]

I get in there on March 24, we disembark on the 25th. Air France has a flight that day leaving at 8:40 AM . Wish Oceania would put us on this.

 

There are options though. You aren't stuck with ATN.

 

Here is the deal... if you take the dev fee of $175 pp and the flight choosen on your own, you are going to pay the difference between the credit and the picked flight. and that's for coach so +2000-+175- 725 = you pony up $1450 pp to fly in that 1 day early.

Orvil....if you guys do go in early get over to Moorea as fast as you can and out of Papeete as it is not a good place or island The Inter Cont on Moorea is where you want to beat feet to.

None of the hotels on Tahiti proper are good except to crash in.... Trust me on this. I always try to arrive and go right on the ship with as little time in PPT as possible. as it is east St Louis with palms.. no joke.

 

Last I heard Tahiti Nui had placed an order with Boeing for 2, 787-9's for 2017 delivery.

To see if your flight is a for real Air France or whatever, go to the PPT web site and see the reported or scheduled flights are. It will be by the hardware not the code share that they show. I know LAN has a Lima to PPT flight.. However,

[ORV]

Here is the deal... if you take the dev fee of $175 pp and the flight choosen on your own, you are going to pay the difference between the credit and the picked flight. and that's for coach so +2000-+175- 725 = you pony up $1450 pp to fly in that 1 day early.

Orvil....if you guys do go in early get over to Moorea as fast as you can and out of Papeete as it is not a good place or island The Inter Cont on Moorea is where you want to beat feet to.

None of the hotels on Tahiti proper are good except to crash in.... Trust me on this. I always try to arrive and go right on the ship with as little time in PPT as possible. as it is east St Louis with palms.. no joke.

 

Last I heard Tahiti Nui had placed an order with Boeing for 2, 787-9's for 2017 delivery.

To see if your flight is a for real Air France or whatever, go to the PPT web site and see the reported or scheduled flights are. It will be by the hardware not the code share that they show. I know LAN has a Lima to PPT flight.. However,

 

Thanks for the info Dan. We are coming in on the boat, from Sydney by way of Auckland, so we are only going out of PPT. We've been there twice before, once in and out and the other time only in, and rode the boat back to San Francisco. We're pretty aware of the things you've mentioned about the Island of Tahiti, not to mention everything is way expensive there. $25 cheeseburger anyone?

 

My major concern is trying to get out of Papeete as early as possible, and I'd be willing to spend the $350 to either leave the night we get there, or the next morning on AF.

 

I'm pretty sure that AF doesn't codeshare with ATN, different alliance I think, maybe someone like Paulchili would know for sure. Regardless, it's the 8:40 AM departure that's important to me, not really the metal. Of course I'm pretty sure I'd rather be on AF than ATN.

 

Since I'm a tightwad my biggest concern is that we spend the $350 and then Oceania would have put me on that flight anyway, or they have a charter that leaves around 10:30 AM or the middle of the afternoon. What I don't want to do is wait until the middle of the night to leave. So I'll probably wait and see what they assign us. Just like taking out insurance,(which we did for this cruise) I hate to spend money that I might have otherwise not had to.

 

With a big ship like Marina they would have a bunch of people going somewhere. I know a certain amount of them are going to spend extra time there, or maybe be on a B2B. A certain amount might be going back to Australia or New Zealand, but I'm betting quite a few will be going home that day, so they might feasibly do a charter, the key there is what time that charter leaves.

[LHT28]

Are you not flying into Australia early?

It would be worth the deviation fee to go a few days early & then leave PPT on a better flight time

 

YMMV

[vaitape]

Are you not flying into Australia early?

It would be worth the deviation fee to go a few days early & then leave PPT on a better flight time

 

YMMV

 

Great point Lyn! Can't imagine flying all the way to Aussie to head straight to the ship....ugh, we'd be comatose by sailaway!

 

Same for those boarding in AKL. NZ is such a beautiful country and you've flown so far, it seems a shame not to see more of it than the 2 port stops.....and again, to not be comatose by sailaway time.

 

If you're already paying deviation for early arrival in Syd, then no worries, book whatever eastbound flight works for you. My vote would be for an early departure on 25 March on AF but others on the board prefer going on ATN's red-eye flights on the 24th.

 

FYI: It's not much cooler, if at all, early in the morning vs late at night in the airport. Hopefully you will have enjoyed a good night's sleep on-board and feel more refreshed than trying to keep yourselves cool and occupied for the day before the red-eye flights.

[LHT28]

Great point Lyn! Can't imagine flying all the way to Aussie to head straight to the ship....ugh, we'd be comatose by sailaway!

 

You are a lot closer then the east coast too

I would be dead flying in from here :eek:

[ORV]

Are you not flying into Australia early?

It would be worth the deviation fee to go a few days early & then leave PPT on a better flight time

 

YMMV

 

We're only using Oceania's air for the return. We're doing our own flights into Sydney, going in 6 days early. So haven't paid for the deviation. 2 more cruises after this one and it won't be a worry as we'll then get the included deviations.

 

I've spent some time browsing through this years Roll Calls that left from PPT. It's a mixed bag, some people left as early as 8-9am, others in the late evening. Not a lot of help there. :rolleyes:

[TERRIER1]

Thanks for the info Dan. We are coming in on the boat, from Sydney by way of Auckland, so we are only going out of PPT. We've been there twice before, once in and out and the other time only in, and rode the boat back to San Francisco. We're pretty aware of the things you've mentioned about the Island of Tahiti, not to mention everything is way expensive there. $25 cheeseburger anyone?

 

My major concern is trying to get out of Papeete as early as possible, and I'd be willing to spend the $350 to either leave the night we get there, or the next morning on AF.

 

I'm pretty sure that AF doesn't codeshare with ATN, different alliance I think, maybe someone like Paulchili would know for sure. Regardless, it's the 8:40 AM departure that's important to me, not really the metal. Of course I'm pretty sure I'd rather be on AF than ATN.

 

Since I'm a tightwad my biggest concern is that we spend the $350 and then Oceania would have put me on that flight anyway, or they have a charter that leaves around 10:30 AM or the middle of the afternoon. What I don't want to do is wait until the middle of the night to leave. So I'll probably wait and see what they assign us. Just like taking out insurance,(which we did for this cruise) I hate to spend money that I might have otherwise not had to.

 

With a big ship like Marina they would have a bunch of people going somewhere. I know a certain amount of them are going to spend extra time there, or maybe be on a B2B. A certain amount might be going back to Australia or New Zealand, but I'm betting quite a few will be going home that day, so they might feasibly do a charter, the key there is what time that charter leaves.

 

We did Papeete airport twice. Both times we took the air deviation. The first time we flew in and out of there on our French Polynesia cruise. Came in a day early and stayed at a hotel on Tahiti away from Papeete and then went to Moorea after the cruise. We rented a car to kill time on Tahiti before boarding the ship and hanging around town until embarkation time. We took the late ferry from Moorea after our 5 day stay and still had to wait around the airport for several hours before we could board our night flight home.

 

The second time we flew out only since we started in Sydney and did the 32 Grand Voyage which ended in Papeete as an overnight. If we weren't going onward to Moorea I would have scheduled the flight the evening we ported in Tahiti to avoid hanging around the airport or getting a day room which isn't cheap and you have taxi there and back to the airport from the hotel.

 

We flew into Sydney early and spent 4 days there and then went to Moorea after the cruise and spent 6 days there (retirement is great). We took the deviation and flew on Qantas to Sydney and then on ATN from Papeete to LAX and Delta from LAX to JFK. Oceania did not impose an upcharge above and beyond the the $175 deviation fee. If you are going to Sydney first then I would highly suggest you come in early and then you would have incurred the deviation fee anyhow. You don't want to miss the boat by coming in the day of departure especially after a VERY long trip and Sydney is great. You might want to check out the Air France flight both on the Air France website and Delta's since they code share. I haven't a clue why but often the prices are different even though it is the exact same flight and equipment.

Edited October 5, 2015 by TERRIER1

[Hawaiidan]

Ok....you get into PPT on the 25th a Friday. You take the Air credit $$

you stay Friday over in Moorea and then come back for the late Saturday/Sunday morning flight to HNl on Hawaiian in business for$1600

 

Then rest up in HNL or continue on back to Mo any oldway using miles

 

Otherwise I would not deviate, take the Oceania charter and hope for a upgrade....but flying west to east they do it in just under 7 hours to LAX.

 

I have actualy taken the Air Tahiti O charter that LAX to PPT was 7 hours from wheels up to wheels down. I will comment that the meals they served were some of the best .... Grilled Scallops and very French side dishes.

 

Good Luck