Air to Tahiti

[der93711]

Does anyone know what kind of air arrangements Princess has been making to Tahiti. We were also looking at Air Tahiti Nui and getting back to Los Angles is terrible. You are forced to take a 10 PM flight or a flight the next day at 2AM. That means sitting in the terminal for many many hours. What kind of flight did Princess offer? or is there another airline we should check.

Thanks

Der

 

RCCI Song of Norway 1982

RCCI Viking 1991

Princess Crown 12/93

Galaxy 11/98

Princess Crown 12/00

Summit 1/03

Summit 1/04

Tahitian Princess 1/22/05

 

[jody]

I haven't gone yet, but all the reviews I've read say that the only flights out of Tahiti are late at night (10 pm or later). I'm not sure there are any better options on any airline.

 

NEXT UP: Tahitian Princess October 2004 (Tahiti)

Golden Princess May 2003 (Mediterranean)

Golden Princess January 2002 (Eastern Caribbean)

Sea Princess March 2001 (Western Caribbean)

Carnival Inspiration March 1997 (Southern Caribbean)

[Flotsam]

This has been a problem for all of us who cruise in Tahiti, and then have to fly back to LAX.

 

The ships arrive early in the morning, and the aircraft depart for the US leave very late at night or very early the next morning.

 

Sitting all those hours at the un-airconditioned Faaa airport in Papeete is not fun! So what to do? Make lemonade!

 

Get together with a few others aboard your cruise and arrange to rent a day room at the Sheraton (or some other hotel) between Papeete and Faaa! Yes, it will cost some bucks; but splitting $150-$200 by two or more couples isn't really so much. Compare it to the obviously hot, sweaty, joint-aching, alternative!

 

You will have a place to store your luggage, and to rest or nap; and will have the run of the premises including their lovely pool, whilst you await your flight home.

 

Of course you will also have access to the room's facilities to shower and "get ready" for your late flight.

 

You can also use the "slack" time to do any last minute shopping, since you are easily within walking distance of the Grande Marche and the Viama Center downtown; or a short "le truck" or cab ride to any other shopping venue in Papeete.

 

Of course some of you more adventurous souls might even use the time for a "round the island" tour.

 

Personally, I highly recommend "vegging", and enjoying your last beautiful Tahitian sunset on a comfortable chaise-lounge, with a Mai-Tai in hand, alongside their equally gorgeous infinity pool!

 

Hope this helps.

 

[i hate to mention it on this board, but Renaissance Cruises always provided 8-10 day rooms for the use of their cruisers at the Papeete Sheraton; with complimentary food and drinks.

 

Whoops, I almost forgot; they also provided a/c buses from the ship to the hotel, and then to the airport! This was part of their service; but of course sadly, Ren is no more! C'est la vie.]

 

Flotsam and Jetsam

[spongerob]

Great advice, and thanks!

 

What time do the flights arrive in LAX, or perhaps the better question is, at what time should one book a flight from LAX back to our home?

 

Completed:

Sea Princess, Royal Princess, Grand Princess (3X), Caribbean Princess, Golden Princess

Coming up:

Tahitian Princess Oct 14/04

Caribbean Princess redux 6/25/05

[kaysie]

Spongerob,

We just returned from Tahiti on Air Tahiti Nui.

It looks as though the times change a bit in October. You can check times for your exact dates on their website, www.airtahitinui.com.

We did exactly what was suggested by previous posters. A Day room at the Sheraton ran $98 if booked through the cruise line (In our case Windstar) I don't know if Pricess offers this or not. We arrived at 10:30am and stayed until 7:45pm. The hotel is nice and the pool area is gorgeous. A great place to spend your final day.

We opted not to take the Windstar bus, but grabbed a cab 15 minutes before the buses left. That saved us the aggravation of long lines through security and airline check in.

 

If you're booking your own flights, you need a three hour layover coming and going in LAX. This is the minumum recommeded by Air Tahiti Nui.

Good Luck!

Kaysie

[spongerob]

Thanks Kaysie. Looks like if I'm trying to book anything on my own I shouldn't plan on anything earlier than 2 PM local time. I appreciate your help.

 

Completed:

Sea Princess, Royal Princess, Grand Princess (3X), Caribbean Princess, Golden Princess

Coming up:

Tahitian Princess Oct 14/04

Caribbean Princess redux 6/25/05

[GottoCruise]

If the dates work - Air France times are very good.

 

Until Pacific Princess

Islands of the Pacific Theater

 

 

Until Golden Princess Western European Capitals

 

 

Until Golden Princess British Isles

 

 

[der93711]

great ideas thanks

der

 

RCCI Song of Norway 1982

RCCI Viking 1991

Princess Crown 12/93

Galaxy 11/98

Princess Crown 12/00

Summit 1/03

Summit 1/04

Tahitian Princess 1/22/05

 

[Toto2Kansas]

Rob, Just booked our flights to/from LAX yesterday. We fly out of LAX at 1:00 for MCI, let's hope we have left enough time to make it.

 

Tahitian Princess 10/14/04

RCI-Legend of the Seas 3/27/05 Panama Canal.

One Phantom Booking still open with Princess.

[rwdtgb]

We were on the Tahitian Princess in March and Flew ATN, we left Lax at 1pm arrived PPT at 7:3

0pm and on the return left PPT at 11:15pm arrived LAX at 9Am. We stayed at the LeMeridian for 2days post cruise and had a room for the travel day which cost $100.00 and we checked out at 8pm.We also had the Hotel arrange for the cab and this was billed to our room for $35.00 for two of us.We got to the Airport early at 7:30pm and the lines were long and hot.We upgraded to business at the counter so we had a AC in a private lounge while we waited to board.

 

Tom

[Toto2Kansas]

Hey thanks Tom, that means you were on the late flight and still arrived in LA at 9:00 A.M. That should give us plenty of time to make our 1:00 flight. I was getting a bit worried that we had booked too early. Now my mind is at ease.

Thanks again!

 

Tahitian Princess 10/14/04

RCI-Legend of the Seas 3/27/05 Panama Canal.

One Phantom Booking still open with Princess.

[pfibilly]

I am on the 6/26 sailing and heard from other folks that if you have Princess transfers, they will take you to the airport on the morning of departure where you will check in with your bags. You then board the bus back to the ship where you can use their facilities and eat for the rest of the day. They then take you back to the airport that night to fly home.

Can anyone confirm/deny this happening?

 

Carnival Carnivale January 1978

Carnival Jubilee December 1998

Golden Princess May 2003

Tahitian Princess June 2004

[karen_cpa]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by pfibilly:

I am on the 6/26 sailing and heard from other folks that if you have Princess transfers, they will take you to the airport on the morning of departure where you will check in with your bags. You then board the bus back to the ship where you can use their facilities and eat for the rest of the day. They then take you back to the airport that night to fly home.

Can anyone confirm/deny this happening?

 

Carnival Carnivale January 1978

Carnival Jubilee December 1998

Golden Princess May 2003

Tahitian Princess June 2004<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Yes, that is true. We stayed on the ship until about 8pm if I remember correctly last year. You have full access to the ship, except your cabin.

 

Voyager of the Seas - 05/04

Tahitian Princess - 10/03 (Our Honeymoon)

Carnival Paradise - 08/02

[pfibilly]

Thank you Karen!

 

Carnival Carnivale January 1978

Carnival Jubilee December 1998

Golden Princess May 2003

Tahitian Princess June 2004

[laurieb]

I know that Omni pax did that, but we flew ATN(through Princess air) and did not do that. ATN will be the only airline used I think from now on. Maybe someone returning soon will let us know.

 

Laurie

Zenith 02/01

Century 01/02

Century 02/02

Tahitian Princess 01/03

Century 01/04

Tahitian Princess 01/05

[der93711]

Laurie B,

Which January date are you sailing on the TP. We are on the 1/22

Der

 

RCCI Song of Norway 1982

RCCI Viking 1991

Princess Crown 12/93

Galaxy 11/98

Princess Crown 12/00

Summit 1/03

Summit 1/04

Tahitian Princess 1/22/05

 

[foraner]

Kaysie,

 

I booked air through Princess and have just about 2 hours between flights. I assume that Princess must have some arrangement with ATN to expedite our transfers between planes? Is that so, so you know?

[laurieb]

der93711-

we are on the 1/02 sailing. We're planning on flying in on the 1st and staying two days post cruise on Moorea. We have Princess air resrved right now, but haven't gotten the deviation yet because we may try to find our own air as the cruise gets a little closer. I found air from PDX on Hawaiian air for only 850pp, but we would have to stay longer than we originally planned. Are you doing pre or post cruise days?

 

Laurie

Zenith 02/01

Century 01/02

Century 02/02

Tahitian Princess 01/03

Century 01/04

Tahitian Princess 01/05

[laurieb]

several hours between connecting flights in la, but our flight from ppt left 3 hours late and customs had unusually long lines, so we missedour connecting flight. we booked through Princess so we had no problems.

 

Laurie

Zenith 02/01

Century 01/02

Century 02/02

Tahitian Princess 01/03

Century 01/04

Tahitian Princess 01/05

[der93711]

LaurieB,

we are not sure about anything. The more we research the more confused we get. We want to do a pre or a post cruise but without knowing what are air with Princess will be (time of departures in PPT and LAX) we are unable to decide how to do it. I would like to talk to the air deviation department but because we are using an online travel agent, I do not think they will answer any of my questions as I have been told to ask my TA. I would rather not ask the TA. Everything is becoming too stressful so I have put things on the back burner until I have read enough of these threads to get some information. I tried to use American Airline miles to PPT but have not been successful as the dates are too early going and too late on the post side. I still think Princess offers the best air deal but better deals may come up. I want to book my own room in PPT but cant commit to a non-refundable deposit. I can get the room for a lot better than Princess is offering. I feel like I am going around in circles. Sorry to dump on you and all the others who read this but that my frustration. Not the same as doing a caribbean cruise. That was so simple.

Der

 

RCCI Song of Norway 1982

RCCI Viking 1991

Princess Crown 12/93

Galaxy 11/98

Princess Crown 12/00

Summit 1/03

Summit 1/04

Tahitian Princess 1/22/05

 

[chamima]

Der,

I totally agree about the confusing aspect of this trip. We booked air with Princess from Lax (since it's totally refundable) and are trying to decide pre and post. Everyone's comments on these boards had us convinced to stay on the Islands until I called a Tahiti TA and priced it. I'm hoping I just called the wrong TA because it was the same as doing a second cruise. But that's another thread. Someone somewhere said to sign up for Air Tahiti Nui's email so I did that last night. They said they got an air/hotel special for $995.Maybe that will help you also.

I've been reading your posts so good luck!

Karen

[10X]

What we scheduled was to fly to LA a day early, spend the night, and fly Princess air to Tahiti the next day. On the return trip we reverse the process, spending the night in LA before flying for home the next morning. No hassles with flight schedules whatsoever. We reserved "la Hacienda" hotel both ways for $65 per night. However, our travel agent said you can get the Sheraton LAX for $51 through Priceline if you bid right.

 

'89 Commodore/Caribe I

'92 NCL/Westward

'96 NCL/Seaward

'99 RCI/Rhapsody Of The Seas

'00 RCI/Legend Of The Seas

'01 Princess/Ocean Princess

'02 RCI/Vision Of The Seas

'03 Princess/Sea Princess, back-to-back

'03 Princess/Sea Princess

'04 Hawaii, 2 weeks on land

 

TAHITIAN PRINCESS 02/11/05

 

[Toto2Kansas]

The Hilton is also available on PriceLine for about $50 pre or post cruise stay in LAX. That might end the problem of waiting for the flight times.

Depending on when you cruise, there are only so many flights out of Papeete so if you check ATN and go to their daily schedules for your departure date, that should give you a clue.

 

We also checked on booking the hotels in Tahiti ourselves. After pricing them, and adding in the transfers that Princess includes to the hotel, the price came out just about the same for a two night stay. There is also a deviation fee they add in there to fly in early of $75 pp if you don't book the hotels with Princess. If you decide to stay post cruise on your own you will still be charged the $75 pp fee for flying home later with Princess air. So we opted to go with Princess.

I contacted a few places on the ATN site for pre and post cruise stays with airfare. The bottom line ended up being that I could have booked a back to back cruise for the price they were charging.

Best of Luck!

 

Tahitian Princess 10/14/04

RCI-Legend of the Seas 3/27/05 Panama Canal.

One Phantom Booking still open with Princess.

[der93711]

This is the best board in the world. It eases my frustrations with this cruise. Pat your selves on the back, you are all so compasionate and so knowlegable and most of all so willing to give of your time for some advice. Thank you all.

Try using the website of the intercontinental hotels ichotelsgroup.com for some of their properties in Tahiti. I think they are cheaper than Princess or I am reading it wrong. Let me know what you think.

Der

 

RCCI Song of Norway 1982

RCCI Viking 1991

Princess Crown 12/93

Galaxy 11/98

Princess Crown 12/00

Summit 1/03

Summit 1/04

Tahitian Princess 1/22/05

 

[pfibilly]

Anyone just back from the TP tell me about the last day of the cruise? If you had Princess transfers, were you taken to the airport in the am to check in with your bags and then returned to the ship? What was the timing like? Did it all work out OK?

 

Carnival Carnivale January 1978

Carnival Jubilee December 1998

Golden Princess May 2003

Tahitian Princess June 2004