My wife and I booked our PG cruise that departs Sept.10th about 2 weeks ago. We decided to arrive a day early to get used to the time change from Chicago to Tahiti, so my travel ag. let radisson know that we would need travel arangements to be a day early(which Im sure is pretty common.)Anyway Radisson has a contract agreement with the hotel Le Meridan Tahiti and I was told one overnight stay would be $590.00 This also covering transfers and breakfast. Now I know I spent a pretty penny for the cruise but does this sound right ?????

Well Darbie, you might do better independently. I've heard that the Meridien is not particularly 5-star these days, so you might want to see what your travel agent could get you. All hotels in Papeete are expensive, but we got a one-night at a 3-star for considerably less than that. It kind of depends on what you want, and what you like.

We are staying two nights at Beachcomber in OWB for equivalent of $407 per night including breakfast.

However, since we deviated and are doing hotel on our own, we do not get transfers, lunch, or transfers. That is in addition to paying $100 per person deviation fee.

For one night, I think it would definitely be cheaper and easier to take the Radisson package. As for choice of hotels, we chose Beachcomber because of cost and Intercontinental benefits. However, like Wendy stated, there have been many bad reports on Le Meridien recently.

Hi Darbie,
Yes, that sounds right. That is the price we are paying but we are at the Tahiti Beachcomber Inter-Continental. We leave this Thursday for our cruise and I plan to report back when we return. We had a day room at Le Meridien post-cruise two years ago. This time we will have the room overnight pre-cruise. Do you know if the Beachcomber is an option for you? My impression from other reports on this board is that the Beachcomber is prefered by most who have seen both properties. In any case, I will be sure to give you my two-cents worth when we get back.

I love visiting your city! Our son was married there last July and they plan to be there for the next 3 years as our daughter-in-law attends U of Chicago, so we hope to make many more trips to your city in the next few years.

I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have when we return.

Jacki

We paid for Air deviation ($100 per person) to go in to Papeete 4 days early. The Beachcomber will pick you up at the Airport if you give them the flight info and they will take you to the ship when you leave. We got our room (an over water bungalow) with breakfast for $400 per night ( a prepaid rate - it was $533. for a cancellable rate), so you got a reasonable deal from RSSC.

Yes Darbie, Marc is right. I forgot about the $100 per person deviation fee. That kept us from booking independently for our upcoming trip (Pip), because we couldn't really beat the Radisson rate for a 2-night pre-cruise.

Hi Wendy,let me tell you, a bed and a roof is all we require, especially after 13 hours in a plane!!! I see your from Canada, My wife and I spent New years in Toronto, what a great city you have the best beer anywhere, and the ice wine is to die for!!! My wife took me to a Tragically Hip concert in Hamilton, good band but the town was ''''' well let's say it didn't compare to Toronto. Thanks for the Tip. Darbie

I guess Le Meridian sounds like the plase not to be. I'll have to give The Beachcommer a call. Darbie

I don't know if I have to pay a deviation fee because my air hasn't been booked by raddison yet, but I could be wrong and probably am.

Please forgive my spelling, I'm lost without spellcheck.

Darbie,

We're happy to hear from you - don't worry about spelling and grammer, it goes with the territory here - can't always help it!

Hi Darbie, Welcome to the board! There is one other option that you can consider. Radisson just opened a new resort last year on Tahiti. I checked the price for your date and it was $227.55. I didn't think that sounded right so I pretended to go through with the reservation to see if that price was per person or per room and the total did seem to be per room.
There are no over the water bungalows but it's brand new and priced right.

They also offer this package for the night for $280:

Bed & Breakfast Pkg-Ocean View Room-Balcony
Bed & Breakfast Package Includes:
· Full buffet Breakfast
**Special Offer**
· Free Upgrade to Ocean-view Suite
· 2 Sunset Cocktails


This sounds almost too good to be true for Tahiti so maybe someone can tell me if I am reading these rates right??


Click here to visit the Radisson Plaza Resort Tahiti website.

Karen,

Prices could vary based on the actual dates and occupancy level

Kathy, I used their dates (September 9th) for 2 adults. The price was listed in XPF but lucky for me, they have a currency converter on the website :)

Wow-what a bargain!
I missed that part of your post, my apologies.

Kathy, I am still not convinced I am calculating the rate correctly. You can also upgrade to include breakfast and dinner for $306 for an oceanview room or $350 for both meals and an oceanview suite. That just doesn't sound right to me. I just think that has to be per person!

No, Karen you're correct!!

I found the same deal for my Dad this May on PIP. But by the time they paid the deviation fee of $100 pp (airfare was included in their RSSC cruisefare), there was not a great deal of difference considering transfers were included and RSSC was in charge of things for the short stay.

BUT, this was for one night!! If you are spending more than one night, it is truly a deal!!

Suzanne, doesn't it seem odd you have to pay $100pp to deviate to a Radisson property! :)

We stayed at Le Meridien in June 2003 and it was just fine. The room was large, as was the bath; very comfortable. They have a great sand bottom pool on the property that we enjoyed very much. Transfers on the RSSC package were handled seamlessly. Better get used to high hotel prices and expensive, yet not great food in FP. I'd take the RSSC package at Le Meridien again.

Doug,
We were satisfied with our accomodations at Le Meridien in Feb of 2003 also. We were only there, however, during the day before our flight home on Saturday night. I believe most of the more negative reports about Le Meridien have been since we were there. In any case, I will be able to make some comparisons after our stay at the Beachcomber.

Jacki

Karen, the deviation fee is for the airfare. If you come and go on your own schedule not Radisson's or if you use a smaller airport like mine, you need to pay the deviation fee.

On my recent cruise, I used Radisson air (it was free) but had to pay the deviation because we did not want to fly from Dallas or Houston. There were no hotels involved at either end of the cruise.

Colleen, I know the fee is for the airfare but you would think they would wave it as they do when you choose one of their pre cruise packages, just for staying at a resort that they own! :)

My guess is that they charge it because you are picking your own flights and it costs them more in time and effort - and perhaps airfare because you aren't part of a grouping of tickets.

Hi everybody, I was not charged a $100.00 deviation fee because air fair had not been booked yet. The price is $295.00 per person for 1 night $590.00 for 2,that is just a regular room/with breakfast and transfers. So I will investigate the hotels you all talked about. If its the same prices then mabee I will just stay at the one raddison booked us at. Darbie

Darbie,
I believe you will pay a $100.00 deviation fee eventually if you are using Radisson's air and decide to go in a day early and you do not book a pre-cruise package through them. However, maybe you will get in under the radar. The Radisson Hotels are run totally separately from the cruise line and therefore would not preclude the air deviation fee, although they have the same parent company. I have stayed at the Beachcomber, Le Meridian, Sheraton, and in November The Radisson Plaza. The Sheraton is the least expensive and closest to the port. While the Radisson Plaza is newly refurbished, it is a longer cab ride as it is on the other side of the island. I prefer the Beachcomber if I am going to spend any time there. However, if all I needed was a bed, I would go for the Sheraton. We did like going in a day early and getting rested before boarding the ship.

Susan, like they don't already make enough money off of you-but your probably correct. I would like to stay close to the port so mabee I will check into the sheridan and its rates thanks-Darbie

Darbie, your quote of $295.00 p.p.for 1 night was at Radisson Plaza Resort? So it would be $1,180.00 for two nights for two people? Wow!! Maybe I am misunderstanding you, correct me if I am wrong. I cant believe it would cost so much just to have a place to sleep. Thats crazy.

DiveDiva, with all due respect, the Radisson Plaza is not "newly refurbished" -- it is, in fact new. It just opened last fall. Also, it is not on the "other side of the island." It is on the other side of Papeete, and is a slightly more expensive cab fare than the other hotels mentioned.

I saw the Sheraton last December when a group we were with stayed there. I thought it was pretty poor, but then, I had researched it and made reservations at the Radisson. We were very pleased with the Radisson and will stay there on our next trip to Papeete.

The quote I got was for Le Meridian, not radisson plaza, "unless they are the same hotel. If they are not I can't understand why raddison seven seas would have a contract with Le Meridan and not their own hotel, but I guess that would just be to easy. And yes my quote was for $590.00 for 2 people 1 night at Le Meridian. I think they have better deals if you stay more than one night. Darcie

Susan, Having seen the location of the Sheraton, I wouldn't want to stay there for anything other than just "a bed"... I'd vote for the Intercontinental or the Radisson if I wanted anything at all more than just a place to sleep.

Cheers,
Ken

Well Darbie, this thread is so long I don't remember exactly when you're going, but I am seeing rates at the Radisson in the $200+ range. Nowhere does it indicate that that's per person, not per room.

The Radisson is a brand new hotel--it's got to be better than the Sheraton (which everybody is down on, haven't been there myself.)

Hi Wendy, my cruise departs Sept. 10th 2005 and did you see my coments above about Toronto?

Hey Darbie, I went back and found it, sorry I missed it before. Hard to keep up! Glad you enjoyed Toronto.

I have *never* been to Chicago, and hope to rectify that some day.

Sounds like you have some time to book. You can wait until some of us get back and ask questions about where we stayed. None of the hotels in Papeete are great, frankly. We had good luck last time with a smaller place--you might want to go to www.tahiti-explorer.com and read they board, lots of info about hotels, and you will get different feedback than you will here.

Well, finally got the call from my travel agent about the room at Le meridian which is an ocean view for $590.00 for 2, I can cancel that reservation and get a hotel on my own but I will be charged the $100 per person deviation fee plus I will have to pay for my own transfers. But raddison said if I want an over the water bugalow they would book me at the beachcomber for $690.00 for 2 including tax/gratuity/transfers/and breakfast. So since Im in this situation Im going to go with the beachcomber and get the most for my money-because who knows when I will be in Tahiti again. Darbie

Darbie, great decision, you will have a blast...use the site wendy mentioned above and they will even tell you which OWB to ask for..r/wes

Great, good for you Darbie! Here's a webcam showing the view:

http://tahiti.intercontinental.com/...04&CFID=1107980&CFTOKEN=63331365

Wow thanks Wendy what a great picture, now my problem is I want to go now, so what do I do for the next 6 months? <img border="0" alt="[bang]" title="" src="graemlins/banghead.gif" />

Darbie, Excellent choice, we stayed in an OWB at the Intercontinental and loved it.

Cheers,
Ken

Darbie (now I know this is a composite name, it's Barbie, right?)

What you do for six months is read about it, post questions, plan and plot, shop, and dream! That's what I've been doing since last summer, and Pip still doesn't leave for almost three months. Having just paid for the cruise last week, I am now officially in high gear. Thinking about bathing suits, and custom snorkelling mask, and sandals, and shorts, and new t-shirts, and sunscreen, and hats, and and...

Hey Wendy, Im actually Darec my wife is Barbie and yes I will do alot of reading, lots of people are going on the PG this year so I will listen to all the advice!!! Does PIP stand for the city the PG departs from,Im not hip on the lingo.