Tahiti Hotel

[Goofyisme]

Anyone have hotel suggestions for Pepeete? Looking for upscale resort.

[Dreps]

It depends what you are looking for exactly. We stayed at the Radisson before our last PG cruise last February. It is not as convenient as some of the other hotels, but we didn't care about going into town, although they do have a shuttle once or twice a day. The hotel itself is very new and very nice. I reviewed the rooms in a review of our cruise. The Radisson does not have overwater bungalows. Another reason we stayed there is that if your stay is tied to the cruise (pre- or post-), Regent offers extremely attractive rates. The food was okay and not outrageously expensive for FP. If you'd like more info, you may contact me at dreps@comcast.net.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

If you're going to be in Tahiti more than 2 nights, I would suggest doing your "upscale" stay in Moorea. In Tahiti the Radisson is very nice, beautiful rooms, lovely black sand beach. Others love the Intercontinental if you like luxury and an overwater bungalow. But none of them can compare to getting out somewhere in the islands, away from Papeete. Myself, I find the IC quite plastic.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

We stayed at the Intercontinental Beachcomber on Papeete and we loved it. We got an Over Water Bungalow Suite (ugraded) because we joined the Ambassador Club at the level you pay for and it was well worth it. We had breakfast by canoe brought to our room one morning. Heaven! And the view of Moorea was breathtaking. I wish I'd taken photos of the bath tub all surrounded by tropical shrubbery.

[Goofyisme]

Thank you all for the info.

Wendy if flying to/from Papeete what are the arrangments for getting to Moorea?

We are also trying to figure out if we will do a pre or post cruise stay and how long. Any thoughts along those lines?

[greytstuff]

It looks like you will be flying to Tahiti from Pittsburgh. Unless you are overnighting in L.A., it's a long long flight. We flew from LAX then did a 2 nighter at the Intercontinental. It was great just to relax and chill out after all the preparations and flight. We thought it was great, easy to get to town via Le Truck, which was fun. The hotel grounds were beautiful, pool was to die for, rooms were o.k. We then had a day room post cruise at the Raddison. Also lovely hotel, rooms (we had a 2 bdrm. suite) was gorgeous. Food and service was slow. I know there is a ferry that goes to Moorea, it's only 30 miles from Tahiti, so you might check that out. Moorea is so beautiful and were I to do this trip again, would spend more time in Moorea, less in Tahiti. Regardless what you do, it is a vacation like no other.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Two nights pre-cruise is great, but in that case it's perhaps not worth going to Moorea. Three nights, definitely worth it. The least we've had was 1-night, and it helped for sure, so even that is worth it.

 

There are two ways to get to Moorea. There are ferries that leave from just nearby the cruise port, downtown. They are frequent. There's also air service, fairly frequent, via Air Tahiti. I think it's a 10 minute flight. But you'd have to coordinate that with your incoming flight. You might also want to dump your cruisewear at the airport lockup if you flew to Moorea, then pick it up on the way back.

 

I also agree with the suggestion of overnighting in LA. We are east-coasters as well, and always have done that. It makes a big difference. We usually fly straight home afterwards, not much sense hanging around.

[bvlessing]

Sorry it has taken me so long to post. We went with another family July 4th week.... Vancouver- Anchorage.. Vancouver is beautiful- go there a couple days early if possible..

 

Alot of kids on the ship-- the Club Mariner is awesom( kids were 4 and 6-boys)-- the biggest surprise was how good the program was. On other larger RCCL type ships--granted alot more facilities- but here there were a total of 20-30 kids from 4-14-- divided into 4-5 groups by ages-councelors were awesome College age nannies/students from Canada.. My kids could not wait to go- they loved the personal attention- kids games/arts and crafts-- Sea days were like 10-1, 4-6. 7:30-9:30. Port days-- usually 4-6 and 7:30-9:30.. They were very loving and fun..

 

Ports- Ketckhikan---took the plane trip to see bears- was awesome!! well worth it and kids liked it..also saw lumberjack show I believe- in any case see that somewhere-- well worth it..

 

Juneau was alot of rain-- we were supposed to go Dog Sledding on the glacier- never made it..

 

Skagaway- rained a bunch.. did go Gold Panning- kids loved that!!!

 

Sitka==-Best port-- we charted two small boats and went whale watching and toured some of the nearby places-- it was so well worth it..

 

Hubbard Glacier- too much ice in teh water so we could not get too too close to the glacier- but it was very nice...

 

 

Major delights--go up on deck at around 11-12 PM and see the sun set-- totally breathtaking...

 

if you have kids-- feed them at one of the restaurants-from 6:30-7:30- then drop them off at the kids program and go eat yourself....

 

The asian restaurant is great-- French place as well.. be sure to print out reservation confirmations...

 

After the cruise- we spent a week touring Alaska-- Homer and Seward--was very well worth it.. spent last day in Anchorage-- there is really nothing there.....

 

Feel free to write- bvlessing@aol.com or respond here-- ask away!!