Airfare to Tahiti

[jazzmom0710]

Can anyone tell me how much Princess charges for airfare for the 12 night Hawaii-Tahiti cruise? Planning way in advance for summer of 2008. 20th wedding anniversary for us and another couple. We are trying to figure out our bottom line costs so we can save accordingly. Can you get a better deal on your own? I know flying in and out of multiple locations can get more expensive. We got a great deal a few years back on our Alaskan trip going in and out of various locales. Also if you book through Princess can you still do precruise hotel on your own. No matter which way we travel we want to do at least 2 nights prior to be rested and soak up some more vacation time.

 

Thanks for all the great info. I have always gotten good advice here!

 

Connie

[Princess-of-Quite-alot]

I believe Princess will charge you a $75 (per person) deviation fee if you want to go early. You're better off searching on your own. If you spend a lot of money, charge everything and rack up some travel miles. If you want to stay in an OWB afterwards, budget around $1,000 per day for room and food. Moorea might be your better bet, as you won't have to pay additional airfare..just take the ferry over from Papeete. Also, plan on budgeting extra for excursions and souvenirs (pearls, pareos, monoi oil, tahitian soaps, etc) It aint cheap, but it sure is Paradise! Have fun planning...that's half the fun!:D

[jazzmom0710]

Thanks,

 

Any estimate of cost though? Have flown to Europe bu never to the Pacific islands. Stupid question...what is an OWB? Sorry for the ignorance.

 

Connie:confused:

[CSloan]

We're doing Tahiti-Hawaii on Sept 1. It is MUCH cheaper for us to do Princess air, even with the deviation, since we fly into Papeete and out of Honolulu. At the time we made our reservation, air from SFO was $900pp (without the deviation). I'll still keep shopping for prices up until final payment, but, so far, that is the best rate.

 

We'll be doing a 1-night Papetee/2-nights Moorea precruise, and plan to pay the $75pp deviation fee. However, we're not going to arrange for the deviation until closer to final payment. Once you request it, if you have to cancel the cruise for any reason, even before final payment date, you forfeit the $75pp. We found that out last year.

 

OWB is over-the-water bungalow, which is what we will be staying in at the Moorea Sheraton.

[jerseyblue]

Hi Connie,

[jerseyblue]

sorry for the double post

[jerseyblue]

Hi Connie,

 

We are also on the 9/1/07 Tahiti/ Hawaii cruise. We are paying approximately 1200. airfare pp from Philly with princess air. We will probably also pay the $75. pp air deviation. I have looked periodically, and can't find the airfare any cheaper on our own. That may change as we get closer, but I'm not sure. I'm a first timer to this part of the world.

 

One thing I did do that I think helped was as soon as the itinerary showed up on the Princess web site, we booked it right away through a travel agent. At the time gas prices were going up, and I thought the cruise price would go up. I think this helped because the pricing appears slightly higher now.

 

Princess has pre cruise hotel packages but from what I have read and seen they are higher than what you can do on your own.

 

Good Luck,

Sharon

[Princess-of-Quite-alot]

Summer pricing may also be higher than other times, so if you budget around $1,000+ for airfare, you should be pretty close. I would think if you budget around $9-10,000 you should have all your bases covered.

[Spikesgirl]

When we flew over in 1/05, it cost us $1789 for two, including deviation. There were some pretty scary posts on the Princess thread that was quoting over $4000 pp. and up.

 

Definitely head in a couple of days early, just to get the feel of the island and to get over jetlag. We booked a room through Princess at the Sheraton, which was neat because it was only about a 10 minute ride, via Le Truck, into Papeete and a half an hour walk back to the hotel. After the cruise, we extended our stay by a couple of days at stayed at Le Meriden in a OWB. It was nice, but we were nearly 45 minutes outside of Papeete, which made getting into town expensive. The upside was that we were just minutes from the airport and the hotel allowed us to stay in our room until we were ready to leave for our flight. Made coming home a little nicer.

 

Charlie

[candydane]

Thanks,

 

Any estimate of cost though? Have flown to Europe bu never to the Pacific islands.

 

Connie:confused:

You can easily find out for yourself for your specific cruise. Go to any of the online TA websites. Key in your cruise details and indicate that you want the flight from LAX to PPT. Write down the total price. Do it again using the exactly same cruise details but indicate that you DO NOT want the flight. The difference is the amount that Princess will charge you for Princess Air.

 

You can also just book the LAX to PPT flight through Princess and buy your domestic flight on your own. Or book all the way from your home airport to Tahiti. You can find out the fare for just the Tahiti ticket and just the fare for your domestic ticket by using the above method.

 

Hopefully you understand what I mean. It's easier than it sounds. :)

[edste]

Another silly question but what is OWB. I keep reading about it and can't figure it out. Thanks

[edste]

Sorry I just read the answer.

[hillslife]

anyone notice that ATN is selling out quickly for August cruises to PPT - now only Business Class available on return which makes it very $$$$...guess you need to book it the first time you see it cause it might not be available when you return to the site!!

[joyride]

We currently have booked Princess Air for our August TP cruise and will probably end up using it. I have a feeling that there won't be any big sales or bargains coming available for August. We will try to upgrade to Business Class at the airport if possible, or at least try to get bulkhead seats in economy class. Rod and I are tall - he's 6'2 and I'm 5'10" - and I tried to get pre assigned seats through ATN but they say no can do. They will give the bulkhead seats to Tall & Big people at the airport (so I was told).

 

There is no way I'm going to pay the huge price for Business Class to Tahiti on ATN. I think the reason that economy is showing full up right now is because Princess has the spots all booked up for Princess air. You will be better off just sticking with Princess air for this one. They seem to have a monopoly going on here.

 

I never book air through Princess, but for Tahiti I think it's the way to go.

[nitterm]

We too are on the 9/1/07 cruise from Tahiti to Hawaii and will arrange flights through Princess. Tried many time to do it ourselves but two one ways tends to be very pricey. We were quoted $900 per person from Northern California.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

Also on the 9/1/07 sailing. We were quoted from Princess at roughly $1,200 per person from Boston. It was MUCH more expensive if we did it ourselves. Luckily we had miles. Unfortunately we missed business class miles by about 10K. Trying to think of a really big purchase that we need to make on the credit card!! :D

[jody]

We usually do air on our own but had to go with Princess air for Tahiti as flights were all booked up. Pay for the deviation! If you don't you are stuck with Princess's hotel options for your pre-stay. We didn't and later decided we wanted to spend a night in an Over Water Bungalow (OWB). We couldn't cancel or change our Princess pre-cruise package, so ended up paying for 2 hotel rooms one night. We had 3 nights through Princess pre-cruise in Papeete (hotel was nothing special) but ended up spending the second night in Moorea in an OWB for $500 (at the Sheraton, discounted rate). We left our bags in Papeete and just took an overnight bag to Moorea on the ferry. The night in the OWB was the highlight of our honeymoon trip! It was worth wasting the $200 at the other hotel that we'd already paid for.

[CSloan]

We usually do air on our own but had to go with Princess air for Tahiti as flights were all booked up. Pay for the deviation! If you don't you are stuck with Princess's hotel options for your pre-stay. We didn't and later decided we wanted to spend a night in an Over Water Bungalow (OWB). We couldn't cancel or change our Princess pre-cruise package, so ended up paying for 2 hotel rooms one night. We had 3 nights through Princess pre-cruise in Papeete (hotel was nothing special) but ended up spending the second night in Moorea in an OWB for $500 (at the Sheraton, discounted rate). We left our bags in Papeete and just took an overnight bag to Moorea on the ferry. The night in the OWB was the highlight of our honeymoon trip! It was worth wasting the $200 at the other hotel that we'd already paid for.

 

What was your secret for getting a discount rate at the Sheraton in Moorea? The rate we have booked at the Sheraton in Moorea (OWB) for the end of August (before the 9/1 cruise) is $605/night, plus taxes. That's the best we could find. What time of year did you go?

 

How did you like the Sheraton? Any tips about the hotel or the area?

[ldparker]

I might as well junp in here too. I am also on the Sept 1, 2007 Pateete - Hawaii cruise. We currently have Princess air reserved and will also need deviation air because we are doing a single night pre-cruise and a three night post-cruise in Hawaii. We are doing the pre and post hotels on our own.

 

Like Cathy (CSloan), I have been watching the one-way air fares LAX to PPT and HNL to LAX to see if we could do better that the $834.00 Princess fare. The LAX to PPT on ATN fare is now a special web at about $700 pp one way for August 28, 29, 30, and 31. That is a great fare but when added to the HNL to LAX fare, Princess is still cheaper.

 

Best advice (IMHO) is to book Princess Air, keep watching the air-fares on your own and decide before final payment is due. That way, there is nothing to lose and you will definately have flights through Princess if all else fails.

 

 

David

[Texed]

We currently have booked Princess Air for our August TP cruise and will probably end up using it.

I never book air through Princess, but for Tahiti I think it's the way to go.

 

Hello there. Remember us, Jacque and Ed? We were on Constellation at Thanksgiving together. Anyhow, have a nice cruise. We are going to Fiji/Tahiti on June 3, 2007 on Paul Gauguin for our next cruise. It looks like a great one. :D

[jazzmom0710]

Well, again I have received great advice from this site! Since we are still about 2-3 months out from booking, (can one be too excited about a trip that's well over a year away???) I think we already have a game plan. Book Princess air, don't pay the deviation fee until we are sure we can't get a better deal, plan on going two days early, get our own hotel (we are looking at the Intercontinental to pamper ourselves??? - any advice on this place?), go on trip, spend a lot of money, and finally have the time of our lives in an owner's suite! Whoo! Sounds like fun...now I just have to wait a long time to make it happen. We are already budgeting about $14,000 for the whole trip (including bar bills and excusions) so I think we'll be OK. I'm trying to convince some friends of ours to book an inside cabin, hang with us in our suite and pay for the champagne. Do you think it would work???

 

Thanks again,

Connie

[DANofNORTH]

We stayed there in late November06. I would have to say that it is a destination in itself. Yes, that good! A photographers paradise.

 

The Panoramic rooms are large and have geat views. We would happily stay in one again. The OWB were great too, we stayed in a Motu for 3 nights. Don't pick the real high numbered ones (over #490) I don't think that the views are as good. We thought that the Lagoon OWB were pretty far out on the property. Although larger & newer, a few looked to have bad cracks in the foundation. (I'm in construction, what can I say!)

 

If you snorkel you could spend days in the Lagoonarium or just off of the OWB's. It was great.

 

Unless you are a huge eater, I don't recommend the buffet. It looked very good but pricy. Just order off of the menu & it will fill you up at a better price.

 

The food was good, staff very friendly and the rooms and grounds kept very clean.

 

If you are flying out late at night; for about $125 you can stay in your room till 8:00 at night if it's not rebooked. Talk to them as soon as you check in about it. The day room makes the last day more enjoyable.

 

Have fun. I hope my suggestions help.

 

Dan

[DANofNORTH]

We stayed there in late November06. I would have to say that it is a destination in itself. Yes, that good! A photographers paradise.

 

The Panoramic rooms are large and have geat views. We would happily stay in one again. The OWB were great too, we stayed in a Motu for 3 nights. Don't pick the real high numbered ones (over #490) I don't think that the views are as good. We thought that the Lagoon OWB were pretty far out on the property. Although larger & newer, a few looked to have bad cracks in the foundation. (I'm in construction, what can I say!)

 

If you snorkel you could spend days in the Lagoonarium or just off of the OWB's. It was great.

 

Unless you are a huge eater, I don't recommend the buffet. It looked very good but pricy. Just order off of the menu & it will fill you up at a better price.

 

The food was good, staff very friendly and the rooms and grounds kept very clean.

 

If you are flying out late at night; for about $125 you can stay in your room till 8:00 at night if it's not rebooked. Talk to them as soon as you check in about it. The day room makes the last day more enjoyable.

 

Have fun. I hope my suggestions help.

 

Dan

[DANofNORTH]

We stayed there in late November06. I would have to say that it is a destination in itself. Yes, that good! A photographers paradise.

 

The Panoramic rooms are large and have geat views. We would happily stay in one again. The OWB were great too, we stayed in a Motu for 3 nights. Don't pick the real high numbered ones (over #490) I don't think that the views are as good. We thought that the Lagoon OWB were pretty far out on the property. Although larger & newer, a few looked to have bad cracks in the foundation. (I'm in construction, what can I say!)

 

If you snorkel you could spend days in the Lagoonarium or just off of the OWB's. It was great.

 

Unless you are a huge eater, I don't recommend the buffet. It looked very good but pricy. Just order off of the menu & it will fill you up at a better price.

 

The food was good, staff very friendly and the rooms and grounds kept very clean.

 

If you are flying out late at night; for about $125 you can stay in your room till 8:00 at night if it's not rebooked. Talk to them as soon as you check in about it. The day room makes the last day more enjoyable.

 

Have fun. I hope my suggestions help.

 

Dan

[DANofNORTH]

Having problems with the CC site today.

 

Hope my apology doesn't triple up too ! :):):)

 

Dan