Thank you!

[Zam]

We leave for our trip on the Star Flyer this Sunday and wanted to thank everyone who has answered our questions and provided valuable inforamtion about the area. We truly appreciate everyone's input! Also, for anyone who is still planning their trip and still has questions about the Flyer or the Society Islands, post them here before Sunday and we will research answers for you! Scott

[deenabob]

Hey Scott,

 

Hope your trip is everything you hope it to be!!! My husband and I will be on the Star Flyer in August and we're curious about the following:

 

Internet Access? Cost?

Any on shore excursions? Anything you'd specifically recommend?

How did embarking and disembarking go? Timely? Transfers from air and back? (did you use Star Clipper air package?)

Packing - anything specific you wish you had or glad you remembered? (did you bring your own snorkel gear or was theirs in good shape?)

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting something... but, that should give you some good "homework"!:) Thanks for your willingness to do some investigative reporting for us!

 

Happy Sails!

Deena

[Alexat2]

I'm on the Aug 16 and any info on embarkation would be great - I'm not using their air and flying in a day early. I've been to Papeete on a cruise before and have been trying to figure out where check in might be at the dock area... It was a few years ago but there really wasn't a port terminal building that I remember anyway.

 

Also - are any of the stores in Papeete open on Sunday?

 

Thanks,

Lydia

[Zam]

Bck fomr our trip and it was great to answer questions for you,

 

Hey Scott,

 

Hope your trip is everything you hope it to be!!! My husband and I will be on the Star Flyer in August and we're curious about the following:

 

Internet Access? Cost? 20 euro for 60 minutes - only two terminals on board but you can access with your own laptop if you bring it. We did not use it but were told by others it was very slow.

Any on shore excursions? Anything you'd specifically recommend? We did the following: Glass Bottom boat tour in Moorea (Cooks Bay) - turned out a lot better then I expected. it is a big boat with a glass viewing room built below the surface. After about a 30 min ride, they anchor and toss in some food which brings in the black tip sharks then everyone jumps in and snorkels with the sharks - very cool!

 

Raitatea - Water Fall Hike - nice hike into the foothills but can be a little tough for some. Saw 3 great waterfals and swam in the pool below the last one.

 

Taha'a - Did not tour - just relaxed on the motu picnic

 

Bora Bora - Did the reef snorkle which was awesome. They take you out to the end of the island and you do a drift snorkle (very easy snorkling). Saw a ton of fish, corals, etc. very fun!

 

Huahine - Did a 10 mile bike ride which was fun. An easy ride with a great group of people.

 

How did embarking and disembarking go? Timely? Transfers from air and back? (did you use Star Clipper air package?) Embarkation was pretty easy. We were on the late flight from Los Angeles (arrived Papeete at 9:20 p.m.) and had to deal with customs and inspection. It took probably about 45 minutes to on hour to get out of the airport as the USA residents have a longer customs process than the Euro's did. Once through customs, there was a Star Flyer Rep wiating for us (there were about 20 people on our flight headed to the Flyer) and we boarded their bus and headed to the Flyer. The ride was about 15 min. and they pull right up next to the ship. Note, fill out all the forms they sent in your documents package before you get there, that will get you on board quickly - I was amazed at how many people did not have their forms completed and had to sit on the bus and compete them before they could board. When you board you go straight to the library and set up your shipboard account and then sign up for excusions if you want. The whole process took less than 5 min. for us but we had all the forms completed before we got there. The ship sails at midnight for Moorea and it left on time. There were taxi's at the airport that wold take you to the ship as well but the Clipper Tansfer worked well for us. On disembarkation, it was easy too - on the last day you get your final bill in your cabin the last morning and you take it to the purser and pay it - if you posted a credit card at the beg of the trip, you can just leave it on the credit card but you can pay cash at that point (Euros) if you want. Once you pay it, they give you your passports back and you can get off the ship if you want. We took the Papeete tour so we waited for the to go but they want everyone off no later then 10:30 a.m. It goes very fast.

Packing - anything specific you wish you had or glad you remembered? (did you bring your own snorkel gear or was theirs in good shape?) Forgot to take a daypack and wished we had one. Easier to carry towles, snorkel equipment and camera gear that way. As for the snorkel gear, we only used their fins (we take our own masks) but others who used the masks sad they worked ok - they had lots to choose from so you could exchange if the ones you had did not work well but there were only 100 guests on our trip.

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting something... but, that should give you some good "homework"!:) Thanks for your willingness to do some investigative reporting for us!

 

 

All in all the trip was awesome! Also, we took about 24,000 poly francs with us and bought things on the various islands with that. All places took the dollar but gave you a very bad exchange rate so having the francs with us saved us some money. Example, a pareo cost about 1,000 xpf (on average) which is about 9 USD but if you paid with the dollar, they wanted between $13 and $18 depending on who you were dealing with. Every placed had a different rate.

Let me know if you have more questions! Hope you have a great time!

 

Happy Sails!

Deena

[Zam]

Hi Lydia, Check in is in the library on the boat - there is no terminal like we are used to here in the states. The bus pulls right up next to the boat and you get off and board and then go straight into the library to set up your account. If you are not using their tranfers and you use a taxi, I think they pull up about 50 yards from the boat but it is an easy walk even with bags. note, fill out all the embarkations forms that Star Clipper sent to you before you get there, it will save you time - many people on our trip did not and had to do it when they got there and that slowed them down. As for shops open on Sunday, most everything in the tourist areas (resorts) were open but outside of those areas, the shops were closed.

 

Hope that helps!

 

 

 

I'm on the Aug 16 and any info on embarkation would be great - I'm not using their air and flying in a day early. I've been to Papeete on a cruise before and have been trying to figure out where check in might be at the dock area... It was a few years ago but there really wasn't a port terminal building that I remember anyway.

 

Also - are any of the stores in Papeete open on Sunday?

 

Thanks,

Lydia

[redroses]

Thanks for the tips! Its interesting that there were only 100 people on board - that must be relaxing.

 

How was the food? Were there any unexpected expenses on the trip?

 

The Star flyer has some great deals now, too bad the plane tix to Tahiti is so pricey.

[Alexat2]

As for shops open on Sunday, most everything in the tourist areas (resorts) were open but outside of those areas, the shops were closed.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Cool, I'll keep my fingers crossed ;-) The two I'm interested in are a swimwear shop and a jewelry store on the main drag in Papeete right across from the dock - so hopefully they're open. I arrive on Sat night before the ship sails on Sunday, and then I'm off on the 7:45am flight the Sunday the ship disembarks - so my only shopping time in Papeete is the Sunday I board.

 

Thanks,

Lydia

[Zam]

Hope the tips helped - see more responses below.

 

Thanks for the tips! Its interesting that there were only 100 people on board - that must be relaxing. It was nice, never had a problem finding a chair around the pool and the dining room was never very full.

 

How was the food? Were there any unexpected expenses on the trip? The food was good. Breakfast was always the same with lots of choices. Lunches were our favorite - each one was theme based and always had some good choices. There is always a salad bar available if you don't like the options. Dinners were good too - the fish selections were very tasty. Also, they always offer a basic steak and fries if there wasn't anything on the menu you liked.

 

As for expenses, nothing unexpected and we came in below budget. We did think about buying some perals while we were there but the good ones a very expensive (I felt they were over-priced). Persoanlly I think you can do better at home but maybe the experience of actually buying in Tahiti is worth the increase?

 

The Star flyer has some great deals now, too bad the plane tix to Tahiti is so pricey.

[deenabob]

Thanks so much for all the answers. It's great to hear you had such a wonderful time!!

[Zam]

There were a few shops open on Sunday but it was hit and miss.

 

Cool, I'll keep my fingers crossed ;-) The two I'm interested in are a swimwear shop and a jewelry store on the main drag in Papeete right across from the dock - so hopefully they're open. I arrive on Sat night before the ship sails on Sunday, and then I'm off on the 7:45am flight the Sunday the ship disembarks - so my only shopping time in Papeete is the Sunday I board.

 

Thanks,

Lydia

[SKYHALL]

Hello. We were on that same trip and I'm wondering if we met. We were the mother daughter graduation trip pair. We had a great time and loved the cruise