Hello fellow travelers: My wife and I are trying to plan a cruise to Tahiti from Honolulu or vice versa for our 50th anniversary and because we have no experience with this part of the world I have a few questions for the more experienced travelers. 1) are the sailings typically smooth or rough waters in the south pacific ? We are looking at Oceania cruise lines with two sailing options between September and October. 2) Has anyone had experience sailing this cruise line at this time of the year and will the weather be an issue for that sailing ? The one option has us flying from LAX to Papeete,Tahiti and boarding the ship there. 3) this question will probably show how inexperienced we are but here goes. My wife has always wanted to stay in one of the overwater bungalows, can someone advise us as to how to get to Bora Bora from Papeete and is it worth ? it seems to have quite a hefty price tag to stay there. Finally, the cruise line is suggesting a pre-cruise package stay inn Papeete has anyone had that experience and was it worth it ?

Any and all advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Pete

We've done a South Pacific cruise from Papeete on Oceania and had a wonderful trip. September and October is a good time to visit as weather and sea conditions should be ideal. Of course, you are dealing with mother nature so there's always a possibility you could have a day or two of unsettled weather or wavy seas. Oceania has fairly large ships equipped with stabilizers to help mitigate rough seas so I wouldn't worry too much about that. You won't experience much difference in weather or sea conditions between September and October with the exception that average daytime temperatures may be a couple of degrees warmer in October (i.e. Low to mix-80'sF in Sep vs. mid-to high-80's in Oct).

You can get from Papeete to Bora Bora by either flying or taking a ferry. The flight over takes about an hour with R/T flights starting at around $400/person. The ferry is more economical at between $65 and $80/person each way but the crossing takes about 6.5 hours each way. Do a Google search for "Getting from Papeete to Bora Bora" and you'll find lots of helpful information and links to local airlines and ferry companies which will answer all your questions. FYI - If your only reason for going to Bora Bora is to stay in an overwater bungalow you should know that there are quite a few resorts on Tahiti that have overwater bungalows, some of which are just a few miles (short taxi ride) from Papeete. Again, a Google search for "Overwater Bungalow Resorts near Papeete, Tahiti will bring up loads of links.

The pre-cruise hotel package from Oceania includes transfers from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the ship. We've done numerous cruises with Oceania and other cruise lines and generally find their pre or post cruise packages to be "worth it" with the caveat that when doing the transfers between the airport, hotel and ship are in busses with other passengers so you depart on a set schedule. While this makes everything convenient it does mean you experience "wait time". For this reason we tend to make our own private airport/ hotel/ship transfer arrangements so we can come/go on our own schedule. If you want to stay in a more upscale resort with overwater bungalows and make your own transfer arrangements you are certainly free to do so.

Thank you so much for your response to our request. Your information was extremely helpful and insightful. We have now been weighing the option of extending the cruise from LAX to Papeete which is a few days longer with obviously many more days at sea. Not sure how we'll handle that many days in a row at sea.
Additionally, we are wondering about the excursions offered by Oceania for the Hawaiian island and in your opinion if there worth it or not. They seem to carry a pretty hefty price tag for these excursions through Oceania. And as mentioned, being we've never been to any of the islands before would you suggest trying to make your own excursion on each island ? One of the first things we love to do when traveling in Europe is to find the closest "Hop on Hop off" buses in each city which gives us a lay of the land and with it, some level of comfort.
Can you tell us if that's an option on the islands or is it more like find the major attraction for each island and find a way to get there and back or better to follow the Oceania crowd ?
Again, thanks so much for your previous comments...

I'll try to address your questions:

First: You can be as active or as sedentary as you please on sea days as the on board entertainment staff will have plenty of daily on board activities such as games of skill, trivia contests, card 7 board games, lectures, cooking classes, etc. that you partake in.

Second: Yes, you can sign up for all types of excursions offered by Oceania for each Port of Call. They generally are a bit pricier than if you want on non-Oceania sponsored tours going to the same places. The biggest "pluses" for using Oceania sponsored excursions are for convenience and that if for some reason you encounter a delay the ship will wait for the group(s) on the tour to get back to the ship. If you go on non-Oceania sponsored tours and encounter a delay it is YOUR responsibility to get back to the ship on time. If you are late the ship is under no obligation to wait for you. If the ship sails without you it ids your obligation to get to the next Port of Call on your own dime.

Third: Hop On/Hop Off buses are not all that prevalent on most of the islands in the south Pacific so I wouldn't count on them. Instead, at every Port of Call you'll find independent tour operators offering excursions similar to, slightly different and completely different from those available through Oceania. They will be either large or small group tours for which you'll pay a per person rate. You'll find them inside or just outside the complexes where your ship will dock. The caveat is that while the tour operators will make every effort to get you back to the ship prior to departure there are no guarantees and you assume the responsibility to get back to the ship on time (as mentioned above). You'll also find plenty of taxis at each Port of Call available that you can hire to give you a private tour. The cost for private taxi tours can vary greatly depending nohow long a tour you take. Again, you assume all responsibility for getting back to the ship on time.

Fourth: When it comes to doing research the Internet is your friend, You can find loads of useful information by Doing a Google search using topics like "Things to do in NAME OF PORT OF CALL". You can also read reviews for all Oceania tours available for your particular cruise on the Cruise Critic website. There's a wealth of information on that website. Also check out the "Things to Do" section for each of your Ports of Call on TripAdvisor - you'll find tour descriptions and review for just about every tourist attraction available for each of your Ports of Call.

Lastly: Only you can decide if the cost of Oceania Excursions for Hawaii (or any other Port of Call) are "worth it". In our experience the group tour offered by various cruise lines, including Oceania, are good to very good but once in a while a particular tour proved to be a disappointment. On many occasions we've also arranged to take our own private tours and for the most part these proved to be excellent (but usually more expensive than group tours). For us, the biggest draw back to any group tour is that you more a the pace of the slowest person in the group. For example, if there are 40 people on your tour and the bus makes a 30 minute stop at a certain point of interest, you'll find a few people will return to the bus early, most others will return "on time" and there always will be a couple people who are "in their own little world" and will get back to the bus anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes late.

Regardless of which option(s) you chose for visiting the various tourist attractions at each Port of Call you'll almost always encounter your fair share of your fellow Oceania and other cruise lines passengers as well as land based tourists wherever you go.