Oceania Cruise-14 day cruise april 5, 2014

Anyone on this cruise? Is it worth the extra $$$ to go to Cook Islands?:confused:

If they had added Aitutaki it would be worth it but IMO 2 sea days to get 2 days on Rarotonga isn't worth it.

Keep in mind that this year the Marina tried three times to get into the lagoon at Moorea and then turned tail. This was into Opunohu Bay. We were to dock at Cooks but when the Marina Capt called our ship ( PG) and said they were unable to land we docked at Opunohu.

These ships are really quite unsuited to these islands - too big to get people ashore in most places and if they ever do succeed in landing people then there are too many people on the island! Useless.

We want to go to the Cook Islands before leaving on Oceania for their Feb 2014 cruise. Have you found a way to get from the Cooks to Tahiti pre-cruise?

Linda

Air Tahiti makes a trip from RAR to PPT on Thursdays & starting June 29th also on Saturdays until August 10th.

Flight schedule

I cannot comment on the Oceania cruise specifically, but 2 years ago, we flew from LA to Rarotonga. We spent a very enjoyable 8 days there before taking the Air Tahiti flight to Tahiti for a combined land and cruise (on the former Royal Princess) vacation there.

Rarotonga was very scenic, relatively quiet, and easy to get around on our own. We hope to return. When we were there, there was talk about building a dock for cruise ships so that tendering would no longer be needed and the risk of missing the stop would be reduced. I do not know the status of the proposed dock.

John

The problem with Rarotonga is there is not an outer reef by the main marina. They have a man made break water. The mouth at the break water of the current marina is only 275 feet wide. In comparison Rangiroa's pass opening is about 750 feet wide which can be tricky. Plus the actual size of the marina in Rarotonga is just to small to configure for anything larger than around 350 - 400 feet.

Not that is couldn't be done but it would be very costly, just doen't see it happening anytime soon.

we are on oceans feb 4 cruise from Papeete to Auckland. We are hoping to go to the Cook Islands for a week before the cruise. Air Raratonga to Papeete seems to be difficult. Have you looked into this?

easiest if we email back and forth

Linda

lindasomatron at gmail dot com

Thank for your info. What happens after Aug 10? We want to go in Jan 2014 before an oceania cruise. Who flies Rarotonga to Papeete?

Linda

lindasomatron at gmail dot com

J-D here. If the situation is unchanged from 2 yr ago, Air Tahiti flies the PPT-RAR route round trip once a week all year, with a 2nd round trip flight during certain weeks (as noted earlier by Tiki). These flights are (or at least in 2011 were) operated by Air Tahiti but are also listed as Air Rarotonga flights on a code-share basis. Our flight was operated by an ATR-72, and Air Tahiti's usual severe constraints on luggage seemed to have been relaxed somewhat.

John

Above I posted the link to the Air Tahiti Cook Islands link, it's all current information.

I'm looking at the cruise lines that offer Tahiti cruises: Princess, PG, Oceania & now Windstar. What are the pros/cons to each one of the cruise lines?

I won't give a detailed report here, you can do some checking yourself but there are 3 groupings

1. PG & Windstar (best)

2. Oceania (big ship, not as good for seeing small islands)

3. Princess (nickel & dime you to death)

1-PG & Windstar (best)-why are these the best?

2. Oceania (big ship, not as good for seeing small islands)-why not?

3. Princess (nickel & dime you to death)-can you provide examples of this?

4. I heard PG does not have North American Milk. Is this true?

5. Why is PG dinner from 8-10 pm? That's so late.

6. Heard that flights LAX/PAP return you can only have 1 carry on and 1 piece of checked luggage. Is this true in your experience?

7. Where are the best cabins located?

1. PG & Windstar (best)-why are these the best? - best food, small intimate, best crew (PG-most Tahitian)

2. Oceania (big ship, not as good for seeing small islands)-why not? - some of these islands don't have large enough populations to handle the needed help for excursions and such. Recently a Oceania ship couldn't enter Moorea because of size/tide issues.

3. Princess (nickel & dime you to death)-can you provide examples of this? - Water to take ashore on some of the others it's free. Bar tab is free on some of the others. Tipping is free on some of the others & there are more nickel and dime

4. I heard PG does not have North American Milk. Is this true? - They good wonderful milk, heck, they make great ice cream that should tell you sometihng

5. Why is PG dinner from 8-10 pm? That's so late. - ask the captian

6. Heard that flights LAX/PAP return you can only have 1 carry on and 1 piece of checked luggage. Is this true in your experience? - you can pay more for extra bag

7. Where are the best cabins located? - subjective

Thank you very much for your reply! Very helpful.

Hello Tikiintahiti , Ship gets into Papeete from Moorea at 8 pm. Would you recommend a 1130 pm flight which is 3.5 hours later? Any comments are appreciated, as always. Cheers!

Hello Tikiintahiti , Flights from LA are very expensive to Papeete. Any $ tips to getting a reduced flight? Cheers!

Hello Tikiintahiti , Have you stayed in over water bungalow in Tahiti? How much does it cost? Is it worth it? Cheers!

Hello Tikiintahiti , How do I add/revise my signature line here on cruise critic? Cheers!

Hello Tikiintahiti , What excursions do you recommend at the Tahitian ports? Should we do cruiseline excursions or private ones? Cheers!

Hello Tikiintahiti , Is any month a good month to go to Tahiti? Cheers!

Hello Tikiintahiti , How far is Papeete port from airport? Can you walk there? How do you get a cab at 8 pm? Cheers!

I have taken two Princess Tahiti cruises. The nickel and dining is the same as any mass market line. Water and soda not cheap, art auctions, tips extra and other BS. But if you understand this fling into it it's not so bad. I had two awesome trips. I got an owners suite for the same price as the cheapest PG cabin. However I still like the PG much better and when you factor in the ore paid tips, free booze and nice credit if you do your own air the price now really is not that much different.

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