Advice please: Booking my own air

I am about to book a May sailing on the PG. So excited. I'm also very excited that Air Tahiti Nui actually has seats available for award travel, so I'm going to book the flights using Sky Miles. The fuel surcharges and taxes are expensive, but it's still a savings of more than $1,000 compared to purchasing the flights.

My TA is trying to convince me that I should just use the PG package for air because it includes the transfers as well as the day room at a hotel before and after the cruise. That does sound very nice and convenient, but:

1. I really don't want to take the red eye to PPT. I'd prefer to arrive the night before the cruise and get a good night's sleep at a hotel in Tahiti before embarkation. So I'm going to have the cost of a hotel either way.

2. As far as transfers, we can just take taxis. No big deal, right?

3. On the day of disembarkation, since we will be flying home on a red eye late that night, I will need to either pay for a day room at a hotel, or have somewhere to put our luggage while we go entertain ourselves on Tahiti. But again, that's doable, right?

I'd love to hear advice from those of you who have done this before. Thanks!

Your idea to fly in a day early is spot on. Many people need a day to adjust to the time. The PG package is cost effective, but not if you're able to save so much using miles.

Taxis are plentiful so no issues getting to the ship.

Day room after disembarking is definitely do-able and a nice way to spend the day before leaving.

The IC Tahiti isn't far and is a wonderful place to spend a few hours, but it's not right next to Papeete. You may want to consider renting a car for a half day on your last day. You can drive yourself to the airport to turn in your car there.

PG can help with the air deviation and hotel, but it will cost you more than doing it yourself or through your agent.

I am about to book a May sailing on the PG. So excited. I'm also very excited that Air Tahiti Nui actually has seats available for award travel, so I'm going to book the flights using Sky Miles. The fuel surcharges and taxes are expensive, but it's still a savings of more than $1,000 compared to purchasing the flights.

 

My TA is trying to convince me that I should just use the PG package for air because it includes the transfers as well as the day room at a hotel before and after the cruise. That does sound very nice and convenient, but:

 

1. I really don't want to take the red eye to PPT. I'd prefer to arrive the night before the cruise and get a good night's sleep at a hotel in Tahiti before embarkation. So I'm going to have the cost of a hotel either way.

 

2. As far as transfers, we can just take taxis. No big deal, right?

 

3. On the day of disembarkation, since we will be flying home on a red eye late that night, I will need to either pay for a day room at a hotel, or have somewhere to put our luggage while we go entertain ourselves on Tahiti. But again, that's doable, right?

 

I'd love to hear advice from those of you who have done this before. Thanks!

We did just what you are proposing, though we used Air France. We flew over night from LAX to PPT, and took a room at the Intercontinental Tahiti for two nights. We just caught a cab from the airport to take us---no problems at all. On the way back, we stayed an extra day in Tahiti, (IC again), took a cab from the ship to the hotel, spent the night, and another cab to the airport the next morning. We did this all independently--was less expensive than booking thru PG.

We will be using award travel as well in June (already have 2 business class seats) and have done this twice before. For our cruise we are getting $1600 per person back from the PG and our taxes and fees through AA are negligible.

I would try, if you have the time, $$, and award flight availability, to fly in as many days early as you can with the thought of going via ferry to Moorea as it is spectacular to pair some days there with the cruise. You can also do that after the cruise instead if that works for your schedule.

If you arrive the night before and have to stay the one night precruise in Tahiti you can try Fare Suisse for inexpensive lodging for the night (they provide transport from the airport and then the next day to the ferry at no charge). They are close enough to the waterfront to walk and explore but not close enough to drag you luggage there yourself. If you need a taxi it is about $25 each way to the ferry.

After the cruise even if you don't have anything booked with the PG you can stay on the ship until noon. They will put your bags on the pier and they will give you a departure time but they do not and have no way to enforce that. So......They may want you off at 9 or 10 but you can stay until the last group leaves at noon. What many have suggested is renting a car at the pier, put your luggage in the car, and explore for the day and drop your car at the airport. If you do this you can easily return to the waterfront in the evening and eat at the many food trucks that set up each day.

If you are flying on Air Tahiti Nui they release 2 business and 6 economy award seats each flight. I would grab them before they are gone.

We used Air France. We took the overnight flight from LAX and had booked the least expensive room at the IC for the night before so we had a room to get into as soon as we arrived. It was soooo worth the money to be able to sleep for a couple of hours and shower. We knew we had made a good choice when we passed through the lobby on the way to a late breakfast and saw many who had been in our flight hanging around waiting for rooms and looking miserable. It had rained, so lounging by the pool was not an option, and the lobby was standing room only.

The cab from the airport to the hotel was maybe $10 or so, they are actually almost walking distance.

It was also nice getting off the ship and having a last overnight, although we had to get up very early the next morning to be at the airport for the flight home. Hint--prebook a cab through the concierge the night before. There were a number if people waiting for cabs who hadn't prebooked.

One other tip, when you get off the PG they will hold your bags at the dock until around noon if you want to do some shopping before heading to your hotel.

I would never give the PG $15 to book a cab. Do it yourself. There are so many cabbies there. Google it. Renting a car on a weekday, the traffic can be miserable. It was just that recently. Weekends are better. You can stay in the ship usually until 12:40 - yesterday that's when the last bus group got off. Medic is correct, AA has the best rewards program as far as fuel surcharges. If the schedule is favorable look into Hawaiian Airlines also. I did and they are very good. They only fly to and from Papeete on Saturdays though. I am in Honolulu right now waiting for my connection.

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I agree that there is no reason to pay PG to book your cab. We were easily able to get one from the cab stand about a block from the pier to the IC.

If you have the early morning flight out its essential to book a cab in advance. They are not available at 5 am on the dock. I used Carl's Cab for all my transfers last week and it worked very well. Maybe marginally more expensive but they were early each time so no sweat.

I agree that there is no reason to pay PG to book your cab. We were easily able to get one from the cab stand about a block from the pier to the IC.

We paid the damned $15 and let someone else take care of it. Then we were ushered to our cab by Pia, the Destination Manager, on departure.

When you are paying that kind of money for a cruise, why sweat the small stuff?

On the subject of booking your own flights, go for it, especially if you can do it on points. We did Air France this last trip, and except for the threat of strike action from the pilots, it worked out well. We did Premium Economy, and the seats were very nice.

If I could, I would try to get day flights both directions, but I'm not sure that's an option on ATN--it wasn't on AF. Flight back to L.A. during the day was much pleasanter.

We paid the damned $15 and let someone else take care of it. Then we were ushered to our cab by Pia, the Destination Manager, on departure.

 

 

 

When you are paying that kind of money for a cruise, why sweat the small stuff?

 

 

 

On the subject of booking your own flights, go for it, especially if you can do it on points. We did Air France this last trip, and except for the threat of strike action from the pilots, it worked out well. We did Premium Economy, and the seats were very nice.

 

 

 

If I could, I would try to get day flights both directions, but I'm not sure that's an option on ATN--it wasn't on AF. Flight back to L.A. during the day was much pleasanter.

We wanted to spend some time in town before heading to the IC, and we weren't sure exactly when we'd be ready to leave. We didn't want to be in someone else's schedule.

I'm glad you liked Air France, it was a hint headache in both directions, starting with it taking 70 minutes at the counter and several phone calls to Paris to get us boarding passes. They were quite rude about it when it was their system that caused the entire problem. The flights were delayed in both directions as well. We also found the seats to be horribly uncomfortable.

I understand check-in time is at 3pm and no earlier. How much earlier can luggage be dropped off on embarkation day?

...The flights were delayed in both directions as well. We also found the seats to be horribly uncomfortable.

Yeah, I remember that, and I took a cushion just for that reason. I used it, but didn't really feel I needed it. We thought the seats were fine.