Post cruise stay in bora birds, booking options other than PG?

[beasleybird]

Planning a three night post cruise stay and looking for tour operators who might handle the hotel booking on bora bora and obtain decent prices for yes. Suggestions other than the PG cruise extension option? Do you think you can get better pricing by booking direct with hotels?

[Emdee]

Although not in Bora Bora but elsewhere in FP we have both booked direct or through operators that specialize in FP.

 

Sometimes individual hotels offer special deals depending on the time of year. The price differences can be quite big.

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

For a three day extension I'd go to Moorea. The inner island airfare is close to $1000 for 2 people, Moorea is an inexpensive ferry ride which is next to the PG dock.

 

I've also gotten off the ship on Moorea just a few hours prior to the ship leaving to head back to PPT.

 

Your question is a broad base one as prices and specials change throughout the year.

 

Remember nothing is cheap in FP

[AmR87]

My husband and I stayed for 4 days after our cruise.

 

 

I booked everything on my own through Expedia. (Flight and overwater bungalow at the ic moana) I saved about 2k doing so. Now, my trip didn't include transfers or breakfast, where pg did. That was not worth 2k to me.

 

Pg will charge an air deviation fee though, which is ridiculous in my opinion. It was 200 for both of us I believe.

 

I would disagree with other posters though. Bb is so worth it to fly back to. Moorea was great and all but I still dream about bb

[Emdee]

My husband and I stayed for 4 days after our cruise.

 

 

I booked everything on my own through Expedia. (Flight and overwater bungalow at the ic moana) I saved about 2k doing so. Now, my trip didn't include transfers or breakfast, where pg did. That was not worth 2k to me.

 

Pg will charge an air deviation fee though, which is ridiculous in my opinion. It was 200 for both of us I believe.

 

I would disagree with other posters though. Bb is so worth it to fly back to. Moorea was great and all but I still dream about bb

 

No question that BB is the stuff of dreams. At some point I want to stay at the 4 seasons there.

With respect to deviation.....$200 ie $100 per person is the cheaper end of the spectrum. I guess you do not have much experience with deviating on your air booking to find this ridiculous. When we deviate ,and this is not just on the PG , we weigh the costs vs conveniences of booking all arrangements on on our own against what the cruise line offers. Sometimes we prefer the convenience of the cruise line arrangements sometimes we prefer our own. It depends on the circumstances.

 

On the subject of deviation it would be nice for the PG to offer free deviation as some cruise lines do for repeaters with a certain number of days.

[AmR87]

No question that BB is the stuff of dreams. At some point I want to stay at the 4 seasons there.

With respect to deviation.....$200 ie $100 per person is the cheaper end of the spectrum. I guess you do not have much experience with deviating on your air booking to find this ridiculous. When we deviate ,and this is not just on the PG , we weigh the costs vs conveniences of booking all arrangements on on our own against what the cruise line offers. Sometimes we prefer the convenience of the cruise line arrangements sometimes we prefer our own. It depends on the circumstances.

 

On the subject of deviation it would be nice for the PG to offer free deviation as some cruise lines do for repeaters with a certain number of days.

 

 

Yes, I have had experience with deviation. I meant in general, I believe it is ridiculous that charges can be made concerning that. (Not just PG). Even when the person booking me (through PG directly I may add) apologizes for 'having' to charge that, I get a sense that even employees have similar feelings. (Or have had many complainants maybe?)

 

In our case, spending the 200 dollars still saved us 2000. Well worth the extra nights we were able to spend in BB!

[Emdee]

Yes, I have had experience with deviation. I meant in general, I believe it is ridiculous that charges can be made concerning that. (Not just PG). Even when the person booking me (through PG directly I may add) apologizes for 'having' to charge that, I get a sense that even employees have similar feelings. (Or have had many complainants maybe?)

 

In our case, spending the 200 dollars still saved us 2000. Well worth the extra nights we were able to spend in BB!

 

Charging for deviation is a legitimate charge. As you likely know cruise lines like the PG block book on ATN. This gives them preferred pricing. Anyone deviating from the block would be charged for not flying with the block.

 

You would only need to pay deviation if you booked PG air. Sometimes it's better to book other air or even ATN on your own. No deviation would be charged then.

 

It's industry practice which I cannot see going away. I have a bigger problem with lines where air is included and they give you such bad timed flights that if you don't want to fly at odd hours or have huge wait times in airports you have to pay the deviation to get a flight you want. Fortunately, this does not apply to the PG and their standard air/sea package tries to make the experience as seamless as possible.

 

Now if only ATN would have more comfortable aircraft and flat bed...as DH would say...dream on!

Edited December 10, 2015 by Emdee

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

Sometimes we are talking apples and oranges. I've been to FP about 20 times, I know each island and the major resorts very well. For me personally if I was to stay an extra 3 nights I would stay in Moorea as I've been to Bora Bora so much thathat spending a huge amount of extra money for inner island airfare isn't a wise choice.

 

For people more on budget, you know, the 75% of us who are just thrilled to afford economy to get to FP, then the extra cost of inner island airfare is a huge thing. Now I'd we had never spent a bunch of time in FP I would consider going to Bora Bora but I'd probably thing a bit longer than 3 days but that's just me and wanting to get the most bang for the buck plus sometimes resorts offer great deals like pay 4 and get 3 free.

 

It also depends on what you enjoy. If your a water person Bora Bora is great but for the land lover itt's hard to beat Moorea and overall Moorea is les expensive than Bora Bora.

 

People forget that there are more travelers to Hawaiii in a few weeks than FP in FP in a year, thus flights are not near as often so deviation charges are needed especially when blocked are involved. I understand the need to do so in this part of the world.

Edited December 11, 2015 by Tahitianbigkahuna

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I agree that Bora Bora is a great choice if money is no object, you love the water, and would prefer to stay out on a motu, i.e., off the main island. But Moorea is a wonderful choice, and much more reasonable.

 

I also agree that deviation fees are stupid, but I understand why they charge them, because yes, they do block bookings. This is particularly difficult for PG presumably, because they mainly use only the one carrier, ATN.

 

We've been using Air France and booking our own, mainly because they have Premium Economy seats. It means spending some extra time on the islands, either coming or going, or both, but we would anyways.