Tahiti Excursions on you own. Can you wait and get them at port?

[Curious Jan]

We are down to two months before our cruise and we have only booked Marc's Motu Picnic. We want to know if we can wait until we get to the different ports to book something or if we need to do it on line to get the right things? We are so confused with all the names people have mentioned that we don't know who to go to and what to book. But I don't want to end up having no tours. What is best? If we should book on line does anyone know the internet sites we should go to?

Thanks

Jan

[regent218]

when are you going? we booked mark in advance and will book the aqua helmet dive tour in advance, but from everything i read there should be no trouble booking everything else when toy arrive in port. if you want to do the dolphin quest you might have to do that in advance to get the time you want. you can do that through their web site.

hal

[Burt]

We booked all of our shore excursions through Princess. When we boarded the ship, many of the excursions were sold out with a waiting list. If you want a tour guaranteed, book on-line through Princess. One of the benefits of booking through Princess is that if your tour is late getting back to the ship, they will not sail without you. No so if you book tours on your own.

 

Many of the passengers that sailed with us did book their own tours and there were no problems on our cruise with late arrivals.

 

At each port, there will be many tour operators right on the dock to take your money. Princess will be a little more expensive than the independants, but we feel it is worth the little extra.

 

If you are a snorkeler, don't miss snorkeling on Raiatea. It was incredible!

[laurieb]

We have booked Marc for our next cruise, everything else we plan to get onshore. Princess is so overpriced, and usually the tours are shorter, at least the snorkel trips. We caught a snorkel/shark/ray feeding tour on Moorea through Albert tours which we found when we tendered ashore. We rented a car with some new found CC friends on Huahine and had a blast. The rental agency was right across the street from where we tendered, but get there early, they disappear quickly. We did pre book with a group for a snorkel trip on Raiatea, with the gentleman now ding the drift snorkel for Princess. I think we will probably look up Stephan when we dock this time. On Bora Bora, we had the best time with Johnny, but I understand that he is no longer around, so I think we will will try to book Stephan there also. We also rented a car with our CC friends and again had a blast. Whatever you decide to do, it will be great!

[Chuck and Lorraine]

I too was nervous about not having anything booked except one Princess excursion on Bora Bora, but it was so easy to book things from the dock, it was great. We prebooked Marc and loved that tour, and found Stephan in Raitea and again in Bora Bora. Raratonga was the only difficult place as we arrived on a Sunday and most everything was closed that day. Don't worry, you will find plenty to do!

Lorraine

TP June 2004