Flight Dilemma

Hi all,

I am booked on the PG for October next year for my honeymoon on the 10 night cruise.

As we live in New Zealand we will not be able to purchase the air package through PG so will need to do this on our own (which is fine). My dilemma is that the cruise leaves Tahiti on a Wednesday and due to flight schedules we will have to arrive on the Saturday or Sunday night (so 3-4 nights pre) OR risk it with a 9:15pm arrival into Tahiti the night the cruise leaves (which I am not too keen on in case we are delayed!) :(

The cruise finishes on a Saturday but the only flight back to NZ that day is at 7:30am which will mean we will need to be at the airport by 5:30am. Or stay another 1 night and depart at 5:30pm on the Sunday evening.

What would you do? It is our honeymoon so we want to stay somewhere nice but without breaking the bank as we are already spending a chunk of our $ on the PG.

Thank you in advance for your suggestions :)

Many of the cruisers who are coming from the US don't get in until about 9:00 pm the evening of the cruise and the ship will wait for all to arrive. You should be fine with a 7:30 pm arrival but I would call PG before you finalize that flight to confirm with them.

If you can afford it I would suggest you come in a few days earlier and take the ferry to Moorea and spend the extra days there. It is spectacular.

Here is the problem ............

As you are talking a year out the flight schedules are not written in stone. Currently ATN has a flight that arrives on Wednesdays from LAX at 10:35 pm. PG Cruises would wait for people from this flight as most would be on PG Cruises added airfare program. But as stated you are over a year off and seeing schedules might change you have a problem.

I would agree with Medic, arrive a few days ahead and take the ferry over to Moorea. A great place to stay without breaking the bank would be Les Tipaniers. Not a 4 or 5 star resort but a great location with reasonable prices for rooms and eats. You will like being there a few days to relax before you board your cruise.

Thank you both for your replies. We are both really keen to stay a few nights in Moorea and most people on here seem to love Moorea!

The way the flights are timed we would probably have to spend 1 night in Tahiti and then 3 in Moorea. I'm guessing 2 nights there would not be long enough?

I was also considering staying the 3 nights in Tahiti at the IC before the cruise (instead of Moorea). Do you think 3 nights there would be too long?

Thanks again for your help!

Nice place but realize that many who stay there are using it for a stop over/day room so it can be a bit 'busy'.

If you choose to go over to Moorea but need to stay one night on Tahiti I would stay at Fare Suisse. Included in their price is free airport PU and delivery to the ferry teminal in the morning.

http://idx-images.cisdata.net/acnt/images/708/AR408708/file_manager/Fare_Suisse.pdf

I am also only staying two nights at Moorea Hilton rather than three. The first night is at the IC Tahiti. We just couldn't squeeze one more day off from work and figured two nights are better than none. So three nights pre-cruise total rather than four. The first night will probably be wasted on jet lag anyway since we are coming from the US east coast.

Oh thanks Tiki that's great! I will look into that.

I just wanted to ask you one more question - the day our cruise ends our flight is at 7:30am so we would need to be at the airport by 5:30am. Do you think it would be worth cutting our cruise slightly short and try and get to the airport by then (I don't know if that's even possible). Or stay the extra night and leave the following day so we would have 1.5 days in Tahiti?

:)

I would contact PG Cruises and ask if they can facilitate you getting off at 5:00 am in the morning. That is the first question. If they can I would just get off at 5:00 am and head for the airport. You can ask the concierge the night before to arrange for a taxi to be at the ship at 5:00 am the following morning.

Getting off the ship is no problem. My last cruise a lot of people got off earlier than this for their flights