Well....attempting to go back to Tahiti one more time. We'll see...

[Mercruiser]

Another consideration of tour group size is probably how many guests you need in a group to get your cruise for free. It's been a long time since I looked into this, but as I recall, a common arrangement for group travel is to get one free berth for every 10 berths paid. So 20 guests gets two people (presumably the tour leader and significant other) a free cruise.

Edited May 24, 2020 by Mercruiser

[fedexretiree]

13 hours ago, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

 

The ship is in Tahiti awaiting word from the FP government that foreigners can start to fly into Faaa International. As  for now that is set for July 2, 2020 but everything is in flux awaiting the government go-ahead.

 

As I've said all along the crew/ship is ready to go and awaits cruisers  ...

 

Video of the Paul Gauguin/crew taken 2 weeks ago

Where did you find the notification that July 2 is the tentative date for flights to resume

[Mercruiser]

Here is one place that mentions July 2: https://www.airtahitinui.com/us-en/covid-19-flight-and-re-booking-information-air-tahiti-nui-update

 

But also see this thread about the 14-day quarantine: 

 

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

My guess is we will see another loosening of the requirements before July 2nd.

 

Be prepared to have a recent note from a doctor and my guess is they will check your temp but the quarantine will likely be done away with. 

 

No I haven't been given inside information  ... just a personal hunch   

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

13 hours ago, Mercruiser said:

Another consideration of tour group size is probably how many guests you need in a group to get your cruise for free. It's been a long time since I looked into this, but as I recall, a common arrangement for group travel is to get one free berth for every 10 berths paid. So 20 guests gets two people (presumably the tour leader and significant other) a free cruise.

 

I say 10-20 for excursions as most vendors use boats that accommodate around 12 people. A group of 10 and the vendor is still happy to keep it private. 20 and the vendor assigns two boats, again keeping it private. 

 

FYI ...

 

I spend hundreds of hours over the course of a year to answer questions on my social media page for FP ... do a live stream show on different islands every Sunday in which I discuss resorts, excursions and of course groups.  If someone simply wants info on a resort stay I give it to them. Then I plan all the activities for each group getting some of the best private excursions for the group plus some on-board activities .... I do pay some of my expenses such as airfare, transfers, day rooms and pre/post stays. The way I do groups nothing is free  .... it's earned. 

Edited May 24, 2020 by Tahitianbigkahuna

[Mercruiser]

I have a friend that leads tours. It sounds like a huge amount of work and takes every minute of his time during a tour. He has many interesting stories to tell about having to help tour group members with lost wallets, passports, personal problems, etc. It's not something I would want to do or be good at.

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

9 hours ago, Mercruiser said:

I have a friend that leads tours. It sounds like a huge amount of work and takes every minute of his time during a tour. He has many interesting stories to tell about having to help tour group members with lost wallets, passports, personal problems, etc. It's not something I would want to do or be good at.

 

It's like anything else  .... it's easy if you have passion for it. I love the planning and every time someone is experiencing their first trip to paradise I get to watch and it reminds me of my first trip. I love helping others get their trip of a lifetime planned out  ... Yes there are those times where it can be a bit nerve wreaking but the pluses far out weigh the negatives  .... to me it's rewarding. 

[brandybit]

We were on Princess that got cancelled for Oct 2020.  Decided to book Windstar for August 2021.  Have never been on this type of ship before, but am excited to try it.  I had to make sure we went during whale season.  Now I have to go back and try to re-book all the things I had set up for the Princess cruise.  We had booked the OWB in Papeete, non-refundable and pre-paid.  They would not refund me, so I contacted my credit card company and disputed the charge, explaining that the pandemic prevented us from traveling there.  They refunded my money with no problem!  Air Tahiti Nui (American Airlines) gave me the air credit, so hopefully I will be able to re-book our flights when they become available.  

[Petoonya]

21 hours ago, brandybit said:

We were on Princess that got cancelled for Oct 2020.  Decided to book Windstar for August 2021.  Have never been on this type of ship before, but am excited to try it.  I had to make sure we went during whale season.  Now I have to go back and try to re-book all the things I had set up for the Princess cruise.  We had booked the OWB in Papeete, non-refundable and pre-paid.  They would not refund me, so I contacted my credit card company and disputed the charge, explaining that the pandemic prevented us from traveling there.  They refunded my money with no problem!  Air Tahiti Nui (American Airlines) gave me the air credit, so hopefully I will be able to re-book our flights when they become available.  

You'll love it. We're doing the 17 day May 2021 and the third time. It's pure heaven, and that price makes splurging on excursions even better. There is someone else doing the 18 day on Aug 1...if it's the same or part of the same cruise as yours maybe you could hook up for excursions. Minidonuts on Windstar forum.

[brandybit]

Thanks Petoonya, I will look for them on the Windstar boards.  Always fun to hook up with other cruise critic members for excursions!  We are really looking forward to the Windstar experience.  Never thought we could afford it!  

[fedexretiree]

On 5/26/2020 at 4:21 PM, Petoonya said:

You'll love it. We're doing the 17 day May 2021 and the third time. It's pure heaven, and that price makes splurging on excursions even better. There is someone else doing the 18 day on Aug 1...if it's the same or part of the same cruise as yours maybe you could hook up for excursions. Minidonuts on Windstar forum.

Does Windstar go to the Cook Islands?  Do they include all you can drink alcohol in their rates as well?  

[Mercruiser]

On 5/25/2020 at 5:06 PM, brandybit said:

We had booked the OWB in Papeete, non-refundable and pre-paid.  They would not refund me, so I contacted my credit card company and disputed the charge, explaining that the pandemic prevented us from traveling there.  They refunded my money with no problem!  

 

There is a good lesson here on USA consumer protection laws. For USA issued cards, you have the best consumer protections when paying with a consumer credit card. Debit cards and business credit cards have weaker protection laws.

[Mercruiser]

On 5/25/2020 at 6:42 AM, Tahitianbigkahuna said:

 

It's like anything else  .... it's easy if you have passion for it. I love the planning and every time someone is experiencing their first trip to paradise I get to watch and it reminds me of my first trip. I love helping others get their trip of a lifetime planned out  ... Yes there are those times where it can be a bit nerve wreaking but the pluses far out weigh the negatives  .... to me it's rewarding. 

 I am glad to hear that this working well for you. You are certainly right about things being easy if you have a passion for it. And I'll thank you for all the help your posts have provide to me over the years with my FP trip planning.

[Petoonya]

21 minutes ago, fedexretiree said:

Does Windstar go to the Cook Islands?  Do they include all you can drink alcohol in their rates as well?  

No Windstar visited the Cook Islands this past fall/winter on way to Australia and Indonesia but now just Tahiti. And no alcohol included in their rates either. If you look at prices right now you'll be astonished by how reasonable they are. We're paying 1/2 what we did 18 months ago for the same 17 day cruise $3200pp total with OBC. Being on a luxurious sailing ship is magical. But you are probably doing Cook Islands on PG and set on that. Know you'll love whatever you choose.

[Zukini]

35 minutes ago, fedexretiree said:

Does Windstar go to the Cook Islands?  Do they include all you can drink alcohol in their rates as well?  

 

While they don't include "all you can drink" alcohol in their rates, they have a pretty reasonably priced package at $59 per day per person.  That gets even better if you purchase the bundled "All-in" package, which gives you unlimited spirits, unlimited wi-fi, laundry service, and gratuities for $89 per day per person.

 

Details here: https://www.windstarcruises.com/all-inclusive-cruise-package/

[fedexretiree]

1 hour ago, Petoonya said:

No Windstar visited the Cook Islands this past fall/winter on way to Australia and Indonesia but now just Tahiti. And no alcohol included in their rates either. If you look at prices right now you'll be astonished by how reasonable they are. We're paying 1/2 what we did 18 months ago for the same 17 day cruise $3200pp total with OBC. Being on a luxurious sailing ship is magical. But you are probably doing Cook Islands on PG and set on that. Know you'll love whatever you choose.

If you don't mind me asking...how much OBC do they give for the cheapest possible cabin on the 17 day?

That is a GREAT price, what date is your cruise?

[Petoonya]

I got $600 from TA and $400 from WS. You also get free laundry from the ship for a 17 day. I got in on a group for the May 24 cruise. Haven't heard from you in awhile other than you were going back on PG. Email again if you need to know more about WS 🙂  petuniafish at gmail dot com

[LTCOP]

13 hours ago, fedexretiree said:

Does Windstar go to the Cook Islands?  Do they include all you can drink alcohol in their rates as well?  

Windstar was doing a cruise that had a stop in the Cook Islands for June this year.  We were booked, but it was cancelled.  It was such a unique itinerary.  Unfortunately, they don't have any of those scheduled again, at least through 2022. 

 

[Petoonya]

10 minutes ago, LTCOP said:

Windstar was doing a cruise that had a stop in the Cook Islands for June this year.  We were booked, but it was cancelled.  It was such a unique itinerary.  Unfortunately, they don't have any of those scheduled again, at least through 2022. 

 

Wind Spirit took off for Indonesia/Australia cruises but then when the possibility of resuming Tahiti loomed apparently the Cook Islands went by-by. Also those governments are less likely to open to cruise ships than Tahiti is. Sorry about your cruise. Really would have been a special one.

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

Came across the deal of the decade  .... R/T SFO - PPT on United. $539

 

Bought it for our next cruise in March. Used FF miles  ... 

[fedexretiree]

Thanks for all the info on windstar.  We really had our hopes set on going to the Cook Islands so guess it will have to  be PG for us.  

[LTCOP]

23 hours ago, Petoonya said:

Wind Spirit took off for Indonesia/Australia cruises but then when the possibility of resuming Tahiti loomed apparently the Cook Islands went by-by. Also those governments are less likely to open to cruise ships than Tahiti is. Sorry about your cruise. Really would have been a special one.

Yeh, they were scheduled for some really special cruises the first half of 2020.  I could see the handwriting on the wall early on when Tonga, Fiji, New Caledonia, etc. started cutting off ships.  All of sudden, none of our ports were open to ships, so I knew it had to be cancelled.  At least I had the year to have fun with the planning and looking forward to it.  Lost our Caribbean spring break cruise too this year - about 10.5 hours before our flight out!  That cruise was in the first batch of cancellations in March.  Of course, these were the safe and necessary things to have happen. 

 

However, we just re-booked for the Caribbean in March and Greece and Italy in June with the great sales Windstar has going!  Hoping it will be possible for all of us on here to be able to do our cruises next year!  Enjoying your planning posts for FP!  Planning is a big part of the fun;-)

 

Pam

[Petoonya]

12 hours ago, LTCOP said:

Yeh, they were scheduled for some really special cruises the first half of 2020.  I could see the handwriting on the wall early on when Tonga, Fiji, New Caledonia, etc. started cutting off ships.  All of sudden, none of our ports were open to ships, so I knew it had to be cancelled.  At least I had the year to have fun with the planning and looking forward to it.  Lost our Caribbean spring break cruise too this year - about 10.5 hours before our flight out!  That cruise was in the first batch of cancellations in March.  Of course, these were the safe and necessary things to have happen. 

 

However, we just re-booked for the Caribbean in March and Greece and Italy in June with the great sales Windstar has going!  Hoping it will be possible for all of us on here to be able to do our cruises next year!  Enjoying your planning posts for FP!  Planning is a big part of the fun;-)

 

Pam

Sounds like you have some wonderful cruises ahead! Can't imagine how fantastic Greece and Italy will be on Windstar.

You're right- the planning is half the fun. Let's keep fingers crossed that COVID is on the downswing, and we've all had our vaccines! And governments will take in citizens of the USA first and foremost. A day at a time I guess. Good wishes.

Nancy

[cadien]

On 5/27/2020 at 7:15 PM, Petoonya said:

No Windstar visited the Cook Islands this past fall/winter on way to Australia and Indonesia but now just Tahiti. And no alcohol included in their rates either. If you look at prices right now you'll be astonished by how reasonable they are. We're paying 1/2 what we did 18 months ago for the same 17 day cruise $3200pp total with OBC. Being on a luxurious sailing ship is magical. But you are probably doing Cook Islands on PG and set on that. Know you'll love whatever you choose.

 

Wow! That’s less than half of what we’re paying for our 2021 11-day on PG. Had always just assumed Windstar would be significantly higher. 

[Petoonya]

1 hour ago, cadien said:

 

Wow! That’s less than half of what we’re paying for our 2021 11-day on PG. Had always just assumed Windstar would be significantly higher. 

It usually is much higher! I paid $6k for 17 days a year ago. They just have had terrific special- a lot of which is sold out now. Take a look at the 11 day Windstar if there are still dates available. It's not all inclusive like PG but what a bargain. I've sailed both and far prefer Windstar, but others believe otherwise. Depends on what you're looking for. The sailing ship adventure, only 148 passengers and unbelievable dining and service really are incomparable to me and I've done Seabourn and Crystal Tahiti. PG is authentic Tahiti, more so than WS, but WS is plenty Tahiti. I started out with them in Tahiti in 1992!.

 

But I don't think you can make a mistake either way.

Edited June 17, 2020 by Petoonya