Considering French Polynesia, just back....

Just back from FP.: 1 night in Tahiti, 2 nights Moorea, 10 day PPT-PPT Cruise.

Getting there & back: FP is a long distance to travel for most so if you find flying a challenge try breaking up your trip with an overnite in LAX. The Marriott airport is a good option, booked breakfast included. The hotel is clean and the service excellent, great breakfast buffet. Free shuttle. Priority Lounge at the Bradley Terminal is very comfortable.

-Embarkation: we were traveling on our own from a pre-cruise on Moorea, simply walked off the ferry onto the ship at noon, room ready at 3:00. No crowds, no waiting.

-PPT airport: fast getting thru & taxis are available. Booked a transfer to the IC Tahiti with Carl’s Taxi. He was waiting with a sign. Clean, AC van, 10 min. drive.

-Tahiti: port city, busy...we chose to stay 1 nite prior our time on Moorea, worth a tour before heading off. Many tour options and rental cars available. We heard, from other passengers, that the Meridian was very nice.

-IC Tahiti: Beautiful grounds, good service, book with breakfast included. Shuttle service available. Large, ground floor, walkout room with fantastic view of Moorea. WOW

-Ferry: no need to book in advance. Large & modern with restaurant and clean toilet facilities. Within short walking distance to the ship.

-Moorea: beautiful, picturesque, land & water based tours

-Car Rental on Moorea: We booked a car with Avis online, office is within walking distance of ferry dock. When returning car before embarking the ferry, give yourself ample time...disembarking passengers picking up their vehicles, it can get very busy.

-Hilton Moorea: Booked OWB, seemed to be recently renovated. Book with breakfast included. Arrived after lunch, did not wait for room. Intimate, very quiet & well maintained. Great snorkeling. Worth it.

-IC Moorea: Larger, with a more modern feel. More people-groups . We went to the dance buffet show. It was not as ‘traditional’ as other shows we saw during our trip & was rather expensive.

-Moorea excursion: Alberts ATV-SSV Tour was EXCELLENT....Louis, our guide, was great. Book online, well in advance to guarantee a place. The SSV option is a side by side vehicle, slightly easier to drive but fewer available. They offer a combo ATV & JetSki tour for a good rate.

-Raiatea: surprisingly nice port facilities can easily pick up tours at dock including Pearl & Vanilla farms. For the popular lagoon snorkeling tours (Maneva, Bruno Fabre) it’s best to book online, they fill up months in advance.

-BoraBora: great for water activities. Rental cars available

-BB excursions: Raanui all day snorkel & Motu lunch (also offers ½ day) was EXCELLENT, small family run tour (12person boat) Mother-Arieta & son were our guides and she literally held my hand thru the coral gardens. Their private Motu is exceptionally clean and quiet. Our lunch (4persons) consisted of BBQ steak, fish & chicken, vegetables, fruit, beer & soft drinks, was served on a colorful tablecloth with proper utensils, plates and flower arrangement. Wonderful tour, book online in advance.

-Jetski: Moana Jetski Tours, probably the best way to see BoraBora, and its numerous OWB...stopped for swimming and a coconut demo, beautiful views of the island and its extraordinary shades of water. We were 2 small groups each with a guide. GREAT fun.

-Nuku Hiva: This island is well maintained with tidy homes and lush vegetation. Beautiful, mountainous & picturesque, mostly land based tours. The inhabitants do not pen their horses, they are friendly and we saw several openly roaming & encountered several on our tour. They have interesting archeological sites & panoramic vistas.

-Excursion: Claude Pua was a full day tour. We drove in a convoy of 12+ vans & 4X4s. We stopped at panoramic view points and archeological sites, we would join the 1 fluently English guide who would talk about the island & culture. Some drivers speak a little English & try hard to converse and some do not. The tour ends with dinner at Yvonne’s Restaurant; she is a well known matriarch of the island. The drive back to the ship from there is over an hour. We had a great conversation with our driver (I speak French fluently) so the time flew by. There was some hiking inland among the ruins. That is where we encountered the only mosquitoes of our entire trip, I came prepared. We loved this port, it was a nice surprise.

-Jocelyn has a ½ day tour, larger AC van and a few 4X4’s. It is HOT while sightseeing, so a shorter tour might be a better choice for some. Book in advance.

-Hiva Oa: replaced by Fakarava: we knew it was likely to be cancelled.....so we pre-booked a tour. You can pick up a tour on shore. Bicycle rentals available at the dock, they rent quickly. There is a snorkel rental shop with good snorkeling nearby. A place where you sit at tables in the water to enjoy the views is within walking distance.

-Excursion: Ato Blue Lagoon tour. The boat ride to the lagoon was slow. There were several boats that joined up at the lagoon. A tasty BBQ was prepared while we snorkeled among the sharks & coral. On the way there & back we snorkeled in the open water over vast coral gardens...beautiful.

-Rangiroa: this was a short port visit.

-Excursion: Jean Pierre’s Blue Lagoon Tour had 5 boats. The water was choppy and the 1 ½ hr boat ride to the lagoon was choppy. There was a BBQ and snorkeling. The lagoon was beautiful. Time was a factor so the 1 ½ boat ride back was a high speed rollercoaster ride....we got to the ship with NO time to spare. Well worth it, but I still have bruises on my derriere!

-Trip Home: 10:40am flight out. We booked an 8am private transfer with Carl’s Taxi to avoid O buses and long lines to check in. There were cool places to sit, a duty-free plus a few shops to buy refreshments once inside the terminal.

-Tax-Duty: If you bought pearls for example, they will commonly ask to see the items along with their papers that they stamp plus they will mail the vendors-copy to the store in a prepared stamped envelope (which the vendor should have prepared for you)

--IMO: If you don’t tolerate long flights, waiting, heat & humidity and are not in relatively good shape, you might want to re-think this itinerary. Some of the excursions are hard on the back & joints! Ex: ATV, Jetski, 4X4, boat rides to and from the lagoons & coral gardens, embarking & disembarking tenders when the water is choppy. I am in pretty good shape and must admit to having to take a few Tylenol’s at tours end...... If you are looking for a simple, sunny winter break and want to enjoy onboard activities, there are easier, more accessible places to cruise. The journey to and from FP can be a challenge, with connections and red-eye flights and early AM and late PM flights. Chances are there will be a few glitches. It is well worth the trip if you research, plan and book good flights. To insure a good outcome of our trip we read up on the itinerary, booked well in advance and knew what to expect. We made all of our own transfer, hotel & excursion arrangements, rather than booking with O. We got personal attention and had full control of what, where and when we did things. We opted for the deviation (270ish days out) asked for non stop flights to and from LAX and day time flights to and from PPT. We paid $100. each in upcharges and stayed overnite in LAX at our own cost before our a.m. return flight AirCanada LAX-YUL. We booked thru a U.S. online Cruise Co. and received some perks.

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Thank you for your review. We have a trip planned for next year and it's our first time on Oceania. We are fairly seasoned travelers but are trying to figure out the "deviation" thing. We're use to making our own arrangements so the possibility of giving up some control is a little scary!

As to the deviation, there is an option. We booked a one day early arrival for the Le Meridian through Oceania. The room was $500 plus, but they picked us up at the airport and provided transport to the ship with no deviation fee. We arrived at 530 am and luckily checked in the hotel upon arrival. The hotel was quite nice.

As to the deviation, there is an option. We booked a one day early arrival for the Le Meridian through Oceania. The room was $500 plus, but they picked us up at the airport and provided transport to the ship with no deviation fee. We arrived at 530 am and luckily checked in the hotel upon arrival. The hotel was quite nice.

Thank you. Definitely something to consider.

As to the deviation, there is an option. We booked a one day early arrival for the Le Meridian through Oceania. The room was $500 plus, but they picked us up at the airport and provided transport to the ship with no deviation fee. We arrived at 530 am and luckily checked in the hotel upon arrival. The hotel was quite nice.

Le Meridien is a Starwood property and about 12,000 points are needed for a free night through their program. We use the Starwood Amex card as our credit card, which IMHO has the best rewards program out there. You get 10,000 points just for getting the card.

Thank you for your review. We have a trip planned for next year and it's our first time on Oceania. We are fairly seasoned travelers but are trying to figure out the "deviation" thing. We're use to making our own arrangements so the possibility of giving up some control is a little scary!

Research the flights that you would like and have your TA present those options to O as soon as the flights are open (270ish days out). Have a few options & flexibility with arrival & departure can make a difference in getting better flights. The deviation is worth it if you plan several days pre/post cruise, otherwise as 'Oceanbill' mentioned, O will have some interesting packages to offer if you arrive 1 day precruise, or stay a day later. If you can, 2-4 days precruise on Moorea is ideal. Unless you have points, booking your own flights will be impossible to match O...I too am a stickler for details and control and the deviation worked out fine. By making all other arrangements on your own you will save a great deal of money and have a more personal experience. Join your RCall to share tours. There are very few companies that ask for deposits so no risk. Most tours will keep their own list of persons so all interested persons just personally email them and ask to join the 'Marina' group. This way NO ONE person has the task of keeping track...and it is easy to cancel or fill in spots that open up last minute. Tours are payable the day of in PF or US dollars. Larger companies take CCards and a few by PayPal.

We use the Starwood Amex card as our credit card, which IMHO has the best rewards program out there. You get 10,000 points just for getting the card.

That's what I thought as well until the Chase Sapphire card came along.

You get 40,000+ "points" for opening the card (at present - I got 55,000); you get 2X the points for ANY travel & dining expenses (most of our spending), no foreign transaction fees, 7% dividend on points earned at end of year, can transfer points to multiple airlines & hotels and now you even get travel insurance up to $5,000/pp when using the card. Not bad :)

SPG doesn't give you any of these - the only good thing is 1:1.25 transfer of points to miles. While you can transfer to many airlines, you are limited to only SPG hotels. Also, not everyone takes Amex but everyone takes Visa.

Research the flights that you would like and have your TA present those options to O as soon as the flights are open (270ish days out). Have a few options & flexibility with arrival & departure can make a difference in getting better flights. The deviation is worth it if you plan several days pre/post cruise, otherwise as 'Oceanbill' mentioned, O will have some interesting packages to offer if you arrive 1 day precruise, or stay a day later. If you can, 2-4 days precruise on Moorea is ideal. Unless you have points, booking your own flights will be impossible to match O...I too am a stickler for details and control and the deviation worked out fine. By making all other arrangements on your own you will save a great deal of money and have a more personal experience. Join your RCall to share tours. There are very few companies that ask for deposits so no risk. Most tours will keep their own list of persons so all interested persons just personally email them and ask to join the 'Marina' group. This way NO ONE person has the task of keeping track...and it is easy to cancel or fill in spots that open up last minute. Tours are payable the day of in PF or US dollars. Larger companies take CCards and a few by PayPal.

Thank you very much! I love research so all of that's easy to do. One question though (you people are going to get tired of me), when you say research flights do you mean only with ATN?

Thank you for your review. We have a trip planned for next year and it's our first time on Oceania. We are fairly seasoned travelers but are trying to figure out the "deviation" thing. We're use to making our own arrangements so the possibility of giving up some control is a little scary!

It is easy enough to make your own arrangements for Pappette and I found it hundreds $ cheaper to do my own air. Ask your cruise TA for the price of the cruise without the air. Do a comparison with the air and without. I have always found that I could do better myself and then I could go early, go first to another place if I wished and stay later. Another good reason to do your own is that if your partner just hates night flights then you can choose a flight that does not have a night flight or has recovery time. For our trip to New Zealand in Feb. 2014 & we went through PPT, I found that discount airlines like Alaska, Southwest and Jet Blue all had many flights to LA at a very good price (watch the sales!!). We elected to stay overnight at the Marriott LAX (points stay) and got the benefit of eating dinner with a cousin we had almost lost track of then took a late afternoon flight to Papeete the next day. Air Tahiti sale and a hotel package offered by them worked very well for one party member while the other two chose to book the flight and hotel separately for a deal that allowed Ambassador Club(Intercontinental Hotel loyalty) benefits of a free night's room and 4 PM checkout.

You really just have to think about your trip and what will be best for you and for your money. Loyalty clubs and FF miles can tip the difference as can special offers. NOW, I try to make the travel portion of the trip as comfortable and stress free as possible. I try to break up long trips so that I don't spend the first three days of vacation getting over the flights. I let my body catch up with the time zones. I try to balance money value with experience value. Unfortunately this balancing act can only be done by you -- and for each trip circumstances are different. Turning it over to the cruise line you get what you get and even with deviation fees you rarely get "the best" flights for you (They don't know you and don't have the power to please you- they have the flights they have). I would really have to save huge amounts $$ on flights to give up the control I have when doing my own flights and pre/post-cruise arrangements. Lucky for me, I have always been able to get what I want (and how I want it) as cheap or cheaper than the cruise line price. If you choose to buy the included air, that is wonderful too --if you know that the decision has been thought out and are the best choices you can make for that set of circumstances.:D

Thank you very much! I love research so all of that's easy to do. One question though (you people are going to get tired of me), when you say research flights do you mean only with ATN?

Look at all flights options (non-stop) to and from your home airport to LAX. ATN is usually what O uses LAX-PPT-LAX. Give your TA an idea of your date options 1-2-3-4...pre cruise/post cruise etc.

Remember that you do not have to accept the 1st proposal, it is a negotiation, but it is understandable they will always opt for the less expensive routes & carriers so an upcharge may be added for good non-stop flights. A good TA will usually get you thru this process no problem. Sounds more complicated than it really is. I was initially concerned but it turned out fine. Start the process as early as possible.

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That's what I thought as well until the Chase Sapphire card came along.

You get 40,000+ "points" for opening the card (at present - I got 55,000); you get 2X the points for ANY travel & dining expenses (most of our spending), no foreign transaction fees, 7% dividend on points earned at end of year, can transfer points to multiple airlines & hotels and now you even get travel insurance up to $5,000/pp when using the card. Not bad :)

SPG doesn't give you any of these - the only good thing is 1:1.25 transfer of points to miles. While you can transfer to many airlines, you are limited to only SPG hotels. Also, not everyone takes Amex but everyone takes Visa.

Capital One Venture Card is working well for us. Somebody (not me) just is stubborn about paying membership fee or whatever each year -- won't do it!--so the Venture card was chosen. In 3 months of use (including major trip of the year) we have redeemed over $300 and it was really easy. Luckily I like to keep on spending (and I just booked a cruise) so I will keep getting points to redeem. Might as well have a good travel credit card -- you are going to spend money anyway:D

Thank you all so much. I'm not timid by nature, but do like to know what to expect when I jump into something. If I know "how far I can negotiate" I'm happy. The past couple of years we have come to realize that comfort is worth every ounce of "negotiation" it takes!

That's what I thought as well until the Chase Sapphire card came along.

You get 40,000+ "points" for opening the card (at present - I got 55,000); you get 2X the points for ANY travel & dining expenses (most of our spending), no foreign transaction fees, 7% dividend on points earned at end of year, can transfer points to multiple airlines & hotels and now you even get travel insurance up to $5,000/pp when using the card. Not bad :)

SPG doesn't give you any of these - the only good thing is 1:1.25 transfer of points to miles. While you can transfer to many airlines, you are limited to only SPG hotels. Also, not everyone takes Amex but everyone takes Visa.

The Sapphire card is my backup card- it has the chip technology and no foreign transaction fees, which makes it useful when traveling abroad and in places that do not take Amex. The problem with it is twofold for me- it is not affiliated with American Airlines or Delta, which is what we usually fly and it's hotel partner is Marriott, which requires way more points for a free night than Starwood.

The Sapphire card is my backup card- it has the chip technology and no foreign transaction fees, which makes it useful when traveling abroad and in places that do not take Amex. The problem with it is twofold for me- it is not affiliated with American Airlines or Delta, which is what we usually fly and it's hotel partner is Marriott, which requires way more points for a free night than Starwood.

I to have the Sapphire card and they will book any airline and apply your points discount. We are using it for American on Friday no problem....

The Sapphire card is my backup card- it has the chip technology and no foreign transaction fees, which makes it useful when traveling abroad and in places that do not take Amex. The problem with it is twofold for me- it is not affiliated with American Airlines or Delta, which is what we usually fly and it's hotel partner is Marriott, which requires way more points for a free night than Starwood.

I love Marriott and have wonderful memories of Marriott stays especially when we got special rates for family member working for Marriott. The problem with any one set of hotels is that they don't have hotels EVERYWHERE -- maybe lots of places but not everywhere so being members of many loyalty clubs gives more options and sometimes a special deal or option in another brand makes better CENTS. (sense). My problem with loyalty cards is I am just not loyal -- independent minded I guess.

I to have the Sapphire card and they will book any airline and apply your points discount. We are using it for American on Friday no problem....

The Starwood card will do that, too. Unfortunately, the points discount option only gives you money off the airfare, which is usually about 1 cent per dollar, while allowing you to transfer the points to an affiliated airline program can lead to huge savings - we used 62,500 points for a free first class ticket from Ft. Lauderdale to Tokyo. Having the credit card company buy the ticket would have saved us only $625, which is a small fraction of the cost of a ticket. That said - the Sapphire card would allow us to transfer the points to United, so we could have flown for the same number of points aswe did with the Starwood card. It is a great card if United is your usual carrier. Starwood is not so good for United, as they only send over half the points - it cost 100,000 Starwood points for 50,000 United Airlines points. The same 100,000 points, will get you 125,000 Delta or AA points.

Like Benita, we fly internationally to/from Miami, which is an American Airlines hub. We use the AADvantage Visa cards for almost all state-side purchases, and the SPG Amex for major cruise purchases. We have a Venture One card for foreign purchases to avoid foreign transaction fees, and a Schwab Bank debit card to avoid ATM fees anywhere.

Together, they work for us. We don't pay foreign transaction fees or ATM fees. We haven't paid for airline tickets for years (other than taxes), nor have we paid full price for hotels, except once -- there was not a Starwood hotel in Copenhagen. Usually we get free nights, but some expensive hotels need too many points, but offer a combination of cash and points. We're staying in London and Amsterdam for $110 per night and points.

Like Benita, we find the deals offered by using the affiliated cards much better than transferring points to miles, etc. We may not be playing the "game" to the fullest extent, but we're doing Ok.

Getting away from credit cards and back to French Polynesia . . . .

I remember reading a while ago some complaints about this cruise, to the effect that almost all the stops are by tender and that the facilities on the islands were inadequate to handle enough tenders . . . end result being that at least a few passengers felt they spent too much time waiting to disembark and embark and too little time ashore. Did you experience anything like that?

Getting away from credit cards and back to French Polynesia . . . .

I remember reading a while ago some complaints about this cruise, to the effect that almost all the stops are by tender and that the facilities on the islands were inadequate to handle enough tenders . . . end result being that at least a few passengers felt they spent too much time waiting to disembark and embark and too little time ashore. Did you experience anything like that?

I don't think it would be the "facilities" that would slow you down, but the size of the ship, i.e., the number of pax and number of tenders.

Of course, I've only done this on the Paul Gauguin, where it is less of a consideration, but I've seeen the Renaissance ships tendering in the past, and it didn't seem to be a problem. Plenty of dockage of tenders.

Loved French Polynesia!!! We've been there twice. The first time we went, we were on a cruise line which sailed from San Francisco to Hawaii and then on to Polynesia. Then we had to fly back. The second time we sailed to and from San Diego. In my opinion that was the perfect way to go even though we could not do it on our favorite cruise line.

Getting away from credit cards and back to French Polynesia . . . .

I remember reading a while ago some complaints about this cruise, to the effect that almost all the stops are by tender and that the facilities on the islands were inadequate to handle enough tenders . . . end result being that at least a few passengers felt they spent too much time waiting to disembark and embark and too little time ashore. Did you experience anything like that?

Yes, most are tender ports. We booked early a.m. private tours & did not experience any problems getting off and on the ship. I suspect that these delays, you read about, could be with the O tours - larger groups a big drawback. They were running all tenders, the trips to shore were never long and the tender dock sites were good. Obviously bad weather would cause some delays but we had beautiful weather with only one day with choppy water but even that did not delay the service.

I posted a detailed "tender process" which I found to be the best way to insure you get off the ship early and promptly. There are a variety of itineraries & some ports may be more challenging for tendering than others but that was not the case on our cruise itinerary. I must say, like yourself, I too had read some of the same comments and I clearly did not encounter anything as described. We did not feel the ship or passengers overwhelmed any port, we were alone to tender, except 'The World' was visiting Bora Bora on the same day. We made all our own arrangements enabling us to come and go without any problems......our trip was great and I would not hesitate choosing Marina for FP.