Just booked our 7-2-2006 Honeymoon Cruise - Silly question...

[SaveMeJebus]

Just put our deposit down for our July 2, 2006 honeymoon cruise. Over a year to go and I'm crazy excited to go to this area you've all hyped me up about.

 

Silly question. We're doing a two night pre stay in an OWB at the Tahiti ICB (for now). Do OWB's have bathrooms? :confused: I know it's a silly question, but I have no idea. Having to get up in the middle of the night and walking to the main hotel could be a bit of a hassle.

[laurasue]

LOL! Yes, they have all of the amenities and then some. You'll have your own bathroom, shower, and electricity. They just look rustic. :D

[SaveMeJebus]

That's a relief. :D At the prices they charge per night, I'd hope to at least have the privilege of running water (other than underneath my feet).

 

What do I do now for a year other than pray to the rain gods that prices for airfare to Tahiti drop far below Princess' ridiculous $1399 that I'm currently scheduled for? On that note, anyone know when Air Tahiti and others open up fares for next year?

[seetosea]

We booked our cruise last December for the June cruise we just got back from. I checked almost daily, and never found it cheaper than Princess. We paid $819 from LA to Papeete. You may have better luck since you are going a few days earlier.

 

Some people booked Princess from LA to Papeete and booked their own air to LA when they found a good deal.

[land lover]

Keep on looking.......have princess or your TA break down the cost of the air and taxes..... for this AUG. our air out of LAX with princess was 819.

plus 58 dollars in tax...making it $868..............most people seem to think that princess has a competative price. out of LAX..... when I booked my trip in May I looked for air on my own, everything, which really only includes 2 carriers(flying direct) was 2-300. more...................I think flying in the summer you are going to have to bite the bullet and pay the price... good luck.......you have a year to search :)

[Kylie]

SaveMe-

Is your cruise Hawaii to Tahiti? We are doing the June 10,2006 cruise and I am also wondering how to do our air. Where will you be flying from? Do you plan to try and fly round trip by flying back to Honolulu after the cruise?

[SaveMeJebus]

We're doing the 10 day Cook Tahiti cruise. We're getting married in Florida, so we will likely be leaving from there.

 

Based on what I've seen, flights seem to be much cheaper if you book directly from one of the hub airports (i.e. LAX or JFK) than if you book a flight say, from ft lauderdale to LAX and then to tahiti.

 

I have enough US Air miles saved up to fly my fiance and I to LAX free, which would be nice if I could get tahiti tickets in the $800-$900 range, which would save about $1000 on our trip just on airfare.

 

If you can do something like that, it might be the cheapest bet.

[laurasue]

A few years ago we paid around $1000/pp for RT tickets on Air Tahiti Nui. Keep your eyes open, you can find lower prices.

 

One place I have seen tickets go for ridiculously cheap is skyauction.com. I am not sure what their restrictions are, but I have seen them go for $500/pp. Worth looking into anyhow. :D

[MVPinBoynton]

Saveme,

The OWB bathrooms are quite nice at the ICB Tahiti. We have a picture of the bathroom in the Kodak Photo Gallery that is accessible through our website. Click on the website link in my signature, click on the Tahiti review button and then click on the Kodak Gallery link at the end of the review. There are several steps to get to it, but there are several pictures of the OWB that our friends David and Julia stayed in.

[Daw6id]

We're flying JFK-PPT in August for $999, through Radisson - on a 12 hour nonstop flighton air Tahiti Nui.

[land lover]

Daw6id

great price....didn't ATN recently start that route? You are making all of us jealous:)

[Daw6id]

Inaugural flight is next week. Radisson has delayed their departure time from Papeete to accomodate.

 

David

[dog]

David,

Did you book that flight on the ATN site online?

 

I have tried several times to put in various dates for a NY-Tahiti flight but it never comes up as available.

[Nautical but Nice]

SaveMe-

Is your cruise Hawaii to Tahiti? We are doing the June 10,2006 cruise and I am also wondering how to do our air. Where will you be flying from? Do you plan to try and fly round trip by flying back to Honolulu after the cruise?

 

My family and I just did the Hawaii to Tahiti itinerary in May. We went with Princess air, which if I remember correctly, was about $1079pp r/t from St. Louis, MO. Princess had originally misquoted us a price of $739pp, but we later found out when we transfered the booking to our TA, that this price was from San Luis Obispo, CA. I had checked everywhere I knew of to purchase the air on our own, and it was priced over $2500pp, -- more than the cost of the cruise itself!!!

 

Christine

[Kylie]

My family and I just did the Hawaii to Tahiti itinerary in May. We went with Princess air, which if I remember correctly, was about $1079pp r/t from St. Louis, MO. Princess had originally misquoted us a price of $739pp, but we later found out when we transfered the booking to our TA, that this price was from San Luis Obispo, CA. I had checked everywhere I knew of to purchase the air on our own, and it was priced over $2500pp, -- more than the cost of the cruise itself!!!

 

Christine

 

Thanks for the information, Christine! Everything I had seen when I looked at airfare on my own was in the $2500 range too which was way too much! The price you paid is much more reasonable. Did you do any deviation? We would like to go to Hawaii a couple of days early.

[Kylie]

Christine -

There are so few people that do this itinerary (12 day Hawaii to Tahiti) since it isn't offered much. What did you think of it? We haven't been to either place but thought it would be a good way to check out 2 great places! Any information you have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Kristi

[Nautical but Nice]

Kylie - No, we didn't do any deviation, although I wish we would have! This was the first time we had been to either place, and I absolutely loved this itinerary. We were originally looking at doing the 11nt. Hawaii on NCL, but then I found this one on the TP, so we figured we'd knock out two separate cruises itineraries in one. As a result, it only fueled the fire for me to go back to both Hawaii and Tahiti! :D

 

The first night in Honolulu, Princess brought on hula dancers from a local children’s hula school. And the last night they brought on Tahitian dancers. I thought both performances were very entertaining and added a little more culture wise to the cruise.

 

The highlight of this cruise for me was Christmas Island. I know this place isn’t for everyone (especially after reading a few posts on here before we left), but I really enjoyed it. I think the big draw for me was that it is remote and still pretty much unspoiled, not that there is really much there to spoil in the first place. But, it was peaceful and primitive. There was no rush and the people were VERY friendly. The children had such a fire in their eyes when they smiled and everyone seemed genuinely happy to see us.

 

I had contacted a Tourism Official about a month and a half before we left, to try to arrange a tour, and to find out information about bringing toys and games to the children. (We wound up bringing a suitcase full). The day we arrived, we were on the first tender, and the Tourism guy wasn’t there yet, so we asked some of the local women if they knew him. As they were pointing out his office, he walked up. I left the toys/games with him, as he was going to deliver them to the villages. We then gathered up a few more tour participants and off we went. We drove partially around the island and saw some of the villages, schools and churches, the only radio station on the island, the Captain Cook Hotel (If you like shells, the beach here is full of them, but watch out for the ones that move! I almost squished a few.:eek: ), the 6 headed coconut tree, cemeteries, and part of the bird sanctuary - there are millions of birds living on the island. At the end of the tour, the Tourism guy gave me a huge coffee table book on birds.

 

In Kauai we booked an independent helicopter tour. Great scenery!

 

In Maui we rented a car and drove out to the winery and then up to Haleakala.

 

In Hilo we booked an all day tour to Akaka Falls and Kilauea through Green Tours.

 

In Bora Bora, we found a guy on the pier to take us on an island tour in the morning. In the afternoon, my dad and went on the Safari Helmet dive booked through Princess.

 

In Moorea, I went on an independent 4x4 tour through Albert Tours with some other folks from Cruise Critic.

 

And lastly, in Tahiti, my parents and I went with our tablemates on a 4 hour independent island tour and shopping at the Marche.

 

The ship is small, but has many of the same amenities as the larger ships, albeit on a smaller scale. Actually, this was the only ship that I was able to get a lounge chair right next to the pool at any time I wanted. On the 4 sea days, I usually made it up on deck somewhere between 10:30 – 12:00 and got the exact same lounge chair every time!

 

We thought the food was just OK. Strangely, a couple nights, they repeated the same dish, but just changed the name. This happened with a pasta and veal sauce dish. One night it was plain, the next night, they added peas to it. My mom was even dumb enough to order it both nights, that’s how we knew it was the same thing + peas. Then 3 nights they had the same shrimp/rice dish. I was dumb enough to order it twice, but caught on when I read the description on the 3rd night. :) And there was some parfait thing that made an appearance two nights for dessert. The waiter kept touting it, but it didn’t have much flavor and had the consistency of lard.

 

All in all, it was a very good cruise and I would actually like to do the same itinerary again next year (mainly to go back to Christmas Island!).

 

I have posted photos from the cruise at http://photos.yahoo.com/nauticalbutnice2

[Daw6id]

We were booked through Radisson. I called ATN to change our seats, and the flight pn 8/13 seemed reasonably empty, as we got two aisle seets across from each other in Row 20 without any difficulty.

 

David

[SaveMeJebus]

Well, just talked to Air Tahiti on the phone (which by the way seem to be the nicest airline representatives I've ever dealt with), and they say that reservations can be made up to 331 days in advance of the actual travel date, so I'll have to put my airfare quest on the back burners for another month or two.

 

The quest will continue!