Hopefully Air Tahiti's latest hiccups don't affect any of you.

Wishing you PALM people a great cruise. Bon Voyage, y'all.

Oh how much fun you will have!!
:bv:

Wow, more Sea Mail for us to read! :bv:

Thanks all! This trip has really snuck up on me. Usually I'm at least half-way packed by now, this time, not at all!!

I think PALM is going to be a pretty small group, but I will try to send some seamail for your entertainment.

Ummm, what Air Tahiti Nui hiccupps??

Thanks all for the bon voyages! We just finished test packing. Taking all of our dive gear is quite a challenge. But, we just did a 4-night trip to Aruba over Memorial Day weekend, so that was a very good "warm-up" for both packing and diving!

We're going BOS-LAX Friday morning, then connecting to the 1 pm LAX-PPT to arrive in Papeete at 6:30 pm on Friday. Long, long, day in coach! Oh well, for 150k AA ff miles, who can complain?? :)

Lauri - Just some maintenance tecnicians striking in Paris, I think. Doesn't appear to present a problem for us. They have been posting any "disruptions":

http://www.airtahitinui-usa.com/company/flight-disruption.asp

Whew, I don't like little surprises like that!

Have fun. We'll be looking for your seamail.

Oh, how I would love to be packing for FP right now. Have a wonderful time!

Have a wonderful time, and we want to hear all about it when you come back. I'm going back in December and can't wait, so need to hear about your great trip.

Bon voyage and have a great time!

:bv:

Dena

Sorry, Lauri - I sure didn't mean to scare you! :ohmy: I had read something a few days ago about strikes, as Kim mentioned. I think it was mainly affecting flights between Paris & PPT and New York & PPT.

Have a great trip! Cheers, Anne

Better keep close tabs with the airlines since there were two problems with Air Tahiti Nui aircraft. If you arranged through Regent they should do it for you, but if not....

I have complete faith in Regent Air and especially B&K. They took great care of me at the end of MUSH with all the rescheduling and Regent air and transfers have always been smooth.

It's getting close...STILL not packed :eek:

So much for getting something for free. We used AA ff miles for our flights.

Well, our LAX-PPT flight tomorrow (friday 1pm) was cancelled and according to their "disruptions" we are going to be rebooked on the 1:30 a.m. Saturday flight. Only a 15 hour layover in LAX. Oh boy. So, then we'll lose the points we used to book a room at the Radisson. (Free is starting to stink.) We will get to PPT at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday. I guess we'll hang out at the airport lounge until we can get on the ship. We are going to be very happy when we finally get on.

Getting up at 4:15 a.m. so we can rush to LA and wait 15 hours. We'll be in the lounge if anyone wants to stop by for a visit.

This means they'll have plenty of time to lose our dive gear at LAX.

Maruru

Oh Kim, that just stinks!! Can you cancel the Radisson and at least save those points? Maybe switch to an airport Radisson so you don't have to sit in the airport for 15 :ohmy: hours.

Hey, well, AA came through and rebooked us to depart BOS at 5:20 pm on Friday instead of 7:35 a.m.. So, that means no 15-hour layover in LAX. WOO HOO. But, feels like we're going to lose 1/2 day or more of our vacation.

That really stinks!

The bright side is you will get on the ship earlier than the rest of us :)

I'm finally packed. Just a few more hours to go!!

AACK!! I just checked Air Tahiti's site...our flight which was supposed to leave at 1 pm is now leaving at 9 pm!!!!! We don't get to Tahiti until 2:30 AM. Time to call Regent!!

Well, I can't find anyone at Regent after 5 pm. Obviously B&K is closed too. No luck with Susan's cell number either. I HATE air travel!!!

Oh boy, good luck with your flights, guys, I'll have my fingers crossed.

We should be on the plane now! Oh, well, we got to sleep in some, but it wasn't a good sleep

Lauri, sorry about your problems too! Edit: Oh, no! Do you mean Saturday?? OMG, I'm so sorry!! Good luck!! We are lucky to be getting in 12 hours late, but still before the ship leaves.

The Radisson room was booked with ThankYouNetwork points. We earn them with Citicard and book travel through Expedia. I called Expedia last night and they are non-refundable. They called the Radisson and were told no way will they credit us anything. But, this is a trivial thing compared to Lauri's flight problem.

For us, at least we have a few hours at home today which is much nicer than 15 in LAX. We arrive LAX at 8:20 tonight and get the 1:30 a.m. flight to PPT. Just have to figure out what to do when we land at Faa'a at 6:30 a.m. Saturday! hummmm

I'm starting to freak out!! I can't get ahold of anyone at B&K.

No word from Regent either...and we leave for the airport in just a few hours.

Maybe I can get on Kim's flight? We get to LAX at 4 pm. I'd rather be really early that really late!!

Lauri -- Try calling ATN to get rebooked on our flight. #3 departing LAX at 1:30 a.m. on Saturday. You might have problems getting through. I've been on hold for 15 minutes trying to get seat assignments.

I got ahold of Regent's air/sea desk finally. Seems like I was the first to tell them about this change. Nice going Air Tahiti Nui!!

As you might assume, there are quite a few of the Regent air/sea passengers affected by this. We have all been rebooked on Air France leaving LAX at 5:10 arriving at 10:30. Regent has quite a few phone calls to make!! So it looks like the ship may sail a bit late and we'll all miss out on dinner the first night. I can't get through to Air France to get seat assignments. I may still try to get on the flight tonight, I'll see what the situation is when we arrive in LA this afternoon. I'd rather spend a day in Papeete than hanging around LAX until 5 pm tomorrow.

Lauri

You can't get seat assignments under 48 hours in advance. But, for us, they had already assigned us to the same seats. Maybe for you, too.

Air Tahiti Nui said they would have given us a hotel room in LA for the day. But, they won't do anything about the room we lose at the Radisson tonight. I'm still working on that issue!

So, if we arrive at Raiatea a bit late, np. Just get on the ship! We'll wait for you!

Just got it worked out to be able to go to the hotel Saturday morning and stay until we go to the ship. We were going to try to rent a car and just drive around before getting on the ship, but Hertz is sold out. So, fortunately, the day-shift people were much better than the night-shift people at getting something worked-out with the hotel.

Seems one of my posts got lost in which I said that when I asked ATN about the Regent people he said they were reprotecting them on Air France. He also said that one of their planes got hit by a ground ops vehicle last night which is what caused all this. AA didn't know anything about our flight being cancelled either.

Wow, I am sure you all are glad you finally have new flights/times...how very stressful. Keep in mind how wonderful it will be when you are on the PG in paradise!

How nice of Radisson to let you use the room once you get there. You can at least freshen up, take a swim or even a nap (I can't sleep on planes, I'd need the nap!)

I guess since we're already reprotected on Air France, I'll just roll with that but I'd still like to look at taking tonight's flight. I hate to be late.

UGH!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: I am so sorry to hear about your troubles. I sure hope everything works out for y'all. This is not a "hiccup" anymore, it's a hacking cough! :(

Like Sue said, soon you will be on the PG in pure paradise and you can put all this crud behind you. Best wishes and safe travels!

Laurie and Seadog, when all of us awaken to our normal surroundings, you will be stepping into paradise. I envy you still. I am so in love with French Polynesia!!! Please send seamail and pictures when you have a moment. I cannot wait until November.
Sweet breezes, calm waters, tiare blossoms and uplifted elbows
It's always worth the journey!!!

Thanks everyone! Wish you could ALL come along. And thanks for letting me rant all morning. We're leaving in about an hour. Finally starting to breathe normally. Ah, yes, tiare blossoms are only hours away.

We'll do our best to send some photos and seamail your way.

Kim

Crossing our fingers, and hoping everyones
flights work out ok!!

I'm so sorry to hear of all the flight problems. With so many people affected I know that they will hold the ship in Papeete until you are on board, Lauri. One of our sail-aways on the PG was after midnight due to a late incoming flight. :bv:

Well, after all of this, I do you have all make it and have an amazing cruise!

Kim, Lauri, Alice and Susan;

Have a wonderful cruise and spectacular diving!

Sorry to hear about the "air" challenges.

r/wes

In line at ticket counter at lax. Couldn't get boarding pass in Boston.

Wes, I'm fighting a sinus infection. We might be saving money on dives. Wish you were going to be there to be alice's buddy. We'll see if I can kick it before mushroom patch on sunday.

Line is getting longer. Counter isn't open yet. Meeting some other regent cruisers while we wait.

Kim, hope your sinus infection clears soonest..pls send us paradiseseamail..r/wes

I am hoping Kim checks in with us, I am hoping she arrived safely and with a clear nose!

Kim and Alice arrived Saturday morning although I am sure were quite tired. This week has been quite a challenge with Air Tahiti. We flew out Tuesday and arrived 12 hours late into Tahiti. All the flights have been delayed due to aircraft that are out of service. It is my understanding one more is going back into service this weekend.

I haven't seen Lauri yet but I know they did arrive. The ship did sail Saturday night at 1:30 a.m. I believe with everyone onboard as the ship is totally full. Despite the challenges everyone seems to have weathered it all well and of course the end result a week in paradise was worth the wait.

We are next door neighbors to Kim and Alice,which is so much fun. Kim and Alice are diving at Mushroom Patch as I write. John and I decided to pass as it is quite windy and the waves quite rough. I thought it would be more fun to sit by the pool sipping pina coladas than getting tossed around in the waves. More importantly I was waiting to hear from my son who is in Tokyo. I was concerned as I had heard the news about the killings in the popular electronics district where I knew he was visiting. Fortunately he passed by after the incident and I heard that he is fine.

Tonight is the Captain's Welcome Aboard party. So far the food has been excellent, the service exceptional, and the weather beautiful. Tomorrow is the Motu Mahana which is my favorite day.