Windstar hotels for pre and post in Tahiti/Moorea

Windstar made us do it -- a Windstar cruise in Polynesia was on our "One Day" list, until they announced this would be their last year in FP. We're hoping to do a November cruise, and are making plans and getting prices. (We took the lovely Windsong from Istanbul - Athens in October 2001, and we were hooked!)

We're all set for the actual cruise, but I'd love to hear (from anyone who has done this) about the pre- and post-hotels offered by Windstar. What was your experience? were the package rates a good deal, or were you better off making independent arrangements? I know that FP is a very expensive destination, so we want to be smart consumers here!

It's a long way to travel, so we expect to stay in Tahiti at least one night before the cruise, and possibly two nights after, maybe in Moorea. We might break up the long flight from CT with an overnight in LA, too.

Does Windstar always use Air Tahiti Nui?

Your comments/suggestions/experiences much appreciated.

Sidebar: I wish the CC board was working properly and not scrambling dates and sequence...Seems to take an awful long time to take care of the situation.

We went seven years ago and stayed at the Pacific Resort - beautiful! Tahiti is very expensive - it was $3.50 for a coke back then. We flew in on Air France (great food if you can believe it!). Make sure you check out the the Cascades (waterfall) in Moorea. We rented a scooter and then hiked up to the waterfall and were able to swim in it!!! Our favorite pictures were from that spot.

We were on the Windstar last year and did a post stay in Tahit for 3 extra nights at the Sheraton...... The hotel was great, our veiw was fantasic and the service was out of this world..... It was very relaxing and we really enjoyed ourselves. Yes the prices are high, but you are on vaction, we are planning on going back again. Next time we plan on staying in Bora Bora, make sure you go to Bloody Mary's very nice place for a drink and food.

My husband and I sailed on the Wind Star 1/03. It was the trip of our lifetimes; romantic, exotic, peaceful, relaxing, exciting.

We flew in from LA on Air Tahiti Nui and went directly to the ship. We were the first cruise out after the repositioning of the Star after the fire on the Song. Our plane was filled with cruisers so I can't comment on the pre cruise discussion. Our post cruise experience was for the day room at the Sheraton. We did not have a good experience there and most of the others (numbering more than 50 passengers) agreed. Numbers of us sent angry letters to Sheraton regarding our treatment there.

I think the location is not very pretty. The location is perfect though. The service was nasty and prices outrageous. Post cruise I would definately stay in Moorea. It is absolutely the most beautiful place on earth, the people friendly and warm and lovely.

Do not miss the opportunity to swim with the stingrays and if you dive, go on at least 2 dives. There isn't a bad beach anywhere except the island of Tahiti.

Sebayn,

We were on the Paul Gauguin in February. We flew Air Tahiti Nui which is an excellent airline. They have new airplanes and offer excellent service and food. I am not sure where you live but ATN is starting direct service to Tahiti sometime soon from NY or Newark when their new plane is delivered.

Pre-cruise, I think you should stay at least one night on Tahiti because it is such a long flight and you are exhausted when you arrive at the ship if you go directly from LAX or NY. The people who arrived and went directly to the ship arrived at dinner looking exhausted. In fact, our flight was over 3 hours late and we would have been even more exhausted. At least they hold the ship for late arriving planes.

Pre-cruise, we stayed two night on Tahiti at the Beachcomberand 4 nights on Moorea, again at the Beachcomber in an Over the Water Bungelow. Moorea is such a lovely island and we enjoyed some sightseeing and scuba diving.

We are taking our first Windstar cruise in August - the Wind Spirit from Lisbon to Barcelona.

Have a wonderful trip!

Pat

Thanks to all for the helpful input. Now we're leaning to flying out earlier (don't want to tangle with US flights around Thanksgiving holiday). If we get a daytime flight to PPT, we'd stay in Papeete overnight then get the ferry to Moorea for 2 nights, then start the cruise.

Anyone know which (if any) Moorea hotel Windstar uses, or are we best off making our own arrangements there? Glo3479, was your Sheraton stay on Tahiti or Moorea?

I talked to my TA yesterday about a dayroom the day we leave Tahiti. She told me Windstar has complimentary, individual rooms for everyone who wants one. This sounds "too good to be true" to me. She made a call to Windstar to check this out.

We booked Windstar for Nov 26, 2004 it had been on our list of things to do also. With the free airfare and this being the last year in Tahiti we decided to go for it.

Does anyone have recommendations for excursions?

Hello. We are taking our honeymoon aboard Windstar in Tahiti and are very excited about it! Now is a good time with airfare free and they will be out of Tahiti next year. Anyone else going on the November 12th voyage?

We booked a room through the extrememly people at Windstar's office in Seattle for the night before our cruise, Nov 11, at the Sheraton for $220.00. They provide you with a dayroom the the last day of the cruise because they pull in to Papeete early in the morning but most flights don't leave until that night. What a fantastic honeymoon this should be!:o

My husband & I did the Wind Star Tahiti cruise Nov 2003. It was our 5th Windstar cruise and it did not disappoint. We are in NJ so we did a 3 night pre-cruise at the Tahaa Pearl Beach Resort as arranged by Windstar. We figured that we would need the rest after the long trip. We stayed in an overwater bungalow at what I consider one of the nicest resorts ever. You will not want to leave your bungalow! It is expensive but if this is your only trip to Tahiti go for it if you can. Windstar handles all the transfers.

We let Windstar do our air arrangements, did have a 5 hr layover in LAX. ATN was a great flight, they give you all the alcohol you could ever want so most people just slept through the flight. The food was very good and you had a choice of meals from a menu (not a large choice, but good). We did not want to waste a precious vacation day by overnighting in LA but if you have the time to spare it is not a bad idea.

We were in the community day room at the Sheraton post cruise. We went to town for the day so we didn't really mind sharing the room.

You will love this trip.

Thanks for the info, Goldendaze -- I must say, the Taha'a Pearl sounds very tempting :o . (Check out this website: <http://visit-tahiti.com/tahaa/>). We were leaning strongly to the Sheraton Moorea, but since the Windstar spends 2 days in Moorea, we might reconsider.

Re your comment about the community day room in Papeete -- what is that exactly? A shared room for passengers where you can stow your luggage, shower, change, and get use of the pool? Depending on how many passengers use the room, it could be fine, or not-so-fine! What time did you have to disembark from Windstar?

Hi Sabayn--I asked the question of a day room earlier on this thread. My TA said Windstar is offering individual day rooms on our cruise(she wasn't sure what I meant when I asked). They have not in the past. Because I am a skeptic, I emailed Windstar and asked if this were true; they said yes. We have used day rooms for all passengers before and didn't want to on such a long day. There was no showering, etc. We are doing a back-to-back in Oct. We will have time to reserve a room someplace if this is not correct.

Sebayn,

Sounds like enough people complained about the community day room (and there were plenty) that Windstar is now springing for individual rooms. We were in a shared room that was like a conference room with luggage in another room. There was one bathroom for lots of people. It wasn't crowded as most people were out doing something. We disembarked the Wind Star around 10 am. We had use of the pool or you could opt to take a little bus into town and check out the market which is what we did. Windstar also offered some type of bus tour that day.

Whatever you decide you will have a great time in paradise!

Anyone else going on the 14 night Tahiti cruise in Sept.? I am told that the cruise hostess/host will be Mike and Wendy Clifford. Anyone sail with them before? I plan to partake in the scuba program. Any tips for this?

Hi! Windstar does offer an overnight at the Bora Bora Pearl Resort in an overwater bungalow for $1300 a couple as one of their shore excursions. Hope it helps.

Thanks for that info, Patrice & Rick. In the end, we decided to treat ourselves to the Taha'a Pearl, booked through Windstar. Because who knows when we'll be able to visit FP again? We're waiting to hear confirmation from Windstar... ;)

Wow! Talk about making a great first impression! Our tickets for our Nov 12 cruise on Windstar arrived yesterday and I love their presentation. Your airline and cruise tickets, as well as luggage tags and some good info about Tahiti and her islands are in individual canvas zipper bags decorated with the Windstar logo, one for each passenger. Just makes the anticipation grow even more! What a honeymoon this is going to be!