Bora Bora Master Thread

[ML1219]

Going there in January, taking the ultra-long route through SCL/IPC

Anyone ever bring in kosher food into PPT? What is customs like there (and in Chile for that matter)?

The shul looks pretty cool, anyone ever been to it?

[AJK]

Going there in January, taking the ultra-long route through SCL/IPC

Awesome. Spending any time in IPC?

[daganster]

Going there in January, taking the ultra-long route through SCL/IPC

Anyone ever bring in kosher food into PPT? What is customs like there (and in Chile for that matter)?

The shul looks pretty cool, anyone ever been to it?

How did you book your ticket/hotel?

[ML1219]

Awesome. Spending any time in IPC?

Yep, roughly a day on each end. Safe to assume I won't find any IPC trip reports or threads on this flight, or what to do about kosher? (I haven't researched yet, but I'm assuming I'll have more trouble getting meat by Lima and Santiago customs than I will IPC or PPT)

How did you book your ticket/hotel?

For all the flack we give US Airways agents about their geography skills, fortunately they are aware (or at least believed me when I told them) that IPC is geographically part of South America, unlike the airline they are merging with 

So used AA miles to get to Northern South America on the cheap, then 30K round trip intra-S.A. business class award to IPC**, then a separate Avios awad IPC-PPT round trip. Total 90K miles (only intra-S.A. flights are in Business). Haven't figured out hotels yet aside from 2 nights at each IC in BOB


**Yes, you are reading that right. I will be doing over 10K miles of flying in flat beds for 30K Dividend Miles. Yes, I will greatly miss the US Airways award chart when it goes away 

[AJK]

So what's exact routing and mileage costs?

[Yaalili]

Yep, roughly a day on each end. Safe to assume I won't find any IPC trip reports or threads on this flight, or what to do about kosher? (I haven't researched yet, but I'm assuming I'll have more trouble getting meat by Lima and Santiago customs than I will IPC or PPT)

For all the flack we give US Airways agents about their geography skills, fortunately they are aware (or at least believed me when I told them) that IPC is geographically part of South America, unlike the airline they are merging with 

So used AA miles to get to Northern South America on the cheap, then 30K round trip intra-S.A. business class award to IPC**, then a separate Avios awad IPC-PPT round trip. Total 90K miles (only intra-S.A. flights are in Business). Haven't figured out hotels yet aside from 2 nights at each IC in BOB


**Yes, you are reading that right. I will be doing over 10K miles of flying in flat beds for 30K Dividend Miles. Yes, I will greatly miss the US Airways award chart when it goes away 

Might find some info on it here - http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=5649.0. Very interesting routing you did there.

[ML1219]

So what's exact routing and mileage costs?

1) JFK-->BOG - 17.5K AA miles
2) BOG-->IPC-->GYE (via SCL in both directions) - 30K Dividend Miles for J (coach was only 5K less, so a no-brainer)
3) IPC-->PPT-->IPC - 25K Avios
4) GYE-->JFK - 17.5K AA miles

I could've done the boring 75K in coach to get to PPT the "normal" way, but I figured it would be worth it for an extra 15K to be in flat beds for half the trip and see some awesome places along the way

Might find some info on it here - http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=5649.0. Very interesting routing you did there.

Thanks!

[ML1219]

One thing i will ask, and I'd be shocked if anyone here can help me but thought I'd toss it out there...

There is apparently a cargo/ferry of some sort that goes between PPT and the other islands (including BOB) several times a week and carries passengers. It's an overnight trip, but if it saves $500 x 2 in costs, I'd probably be ok with it

Problem is, other than reading some hearsay on it, I can't find any legitimate information in English about this.

This is on LonelyPlanet:

The cargo ship Vaeanu (41 25 35) makes three trips a week between Pape'ete and Bora Bora (via Huahine, Ra'iatea and Taha'a), leaving Pape'ete on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5pm; it leaves Bora Bora on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

That's all the info they have. No contact info, no website, no costs, no capacity. And Google is not being much help

[Yaalili]

That's all the info they have. No contact info, no website, no costs, no capacity. And Google is not being much help

Call up one of the good hotels there, they are always great source for tourist information. Did this on many past trips when not too much info was available.

[Drago]

1) JFK-->BOG - 17.5K AA miles
2) BOG-->IPC-->GYE (via SCL in both directions) - 30K Dividend Miles for J (coach was only 5K less, so a no-brainer)
3) IPC-->PPT-->IPC - 25K Avios
4) GYE-->JFK - 17.5K AA miles

I could've done the boring 75K in coach to get to PPT the "normal" way, but I figured it would be worth it for an extra 15K to be in flat beds for half the trip and see some awesome places along the way

Thanks!

Love it. Great use of different currencies and maximizing their reward charts.

[ual902]

1) JFK-->BOG - 17.5K AA miles
2) BOG-->IPC-->GYE (via SCL in both directions) - 30K Dividend Miles for J (coach was only 5K less, so a no-brainer)
3) IPC-->PPT-->IPC - 25K Avios
4) GYE-->JFK - 17.5K AA miles

I could've done the boring 75K in coach to get to PPT the "normal" way, but I figured it would be worth it for an extra 15K to be in flat beds for half the trip and see some awesome places along the way

Thanks!

What are you doing for hotels\OWB in BOB?

[Fan of Dan]

Love it. Great use of different currencies and maximizing their reward charts.

Agreed that is pretty creative. And it makes IPC not so in middle of nowhere which is nice.

[Fan of Dan]

Call up one of the good hotels there, they are always great source for tourist information. Did this on many past trips when not too much info was available.

+1 do that all the time. TripAdvisor is great too.

[ML1219]

What are you doing for hotels\OWB in BOB?

The only thing that is firm so far is 2 nights at IC Thalasso (where it books into an OWB) since availability is uber-scarce. The rest of the itinerary i'm less concerned about - it will be some mix of the different IC's and Hilton's around PPT/MOZ/BOB, but i haven't researched those yet.

Agreed that is pretty creative. And it makes IPC not so in middle of nowhere which is nice.

The whole thing that puts it together is the US intra-S.A. cost. Considering how much buzz the BOS<-->DUB for 50K Avios in J gets, it's amazing that nobody talks about this which is a far better deal. The former is 6,000 miles of travel in an angled flat seat for 50K Avios. The latter can be upwards of 10K miles flying in flat beds for 30K Dividend miles, and you have a ton more flexibility (since you're not constrained to only 1 city pair where this works). And US will let you open jaw the trip so you can do something like 60K AA + 30K US can get you from anywhere in North America to IPC with 2 stopovers anywhere in Northern South America in flat beds the whole way.

How about 90K miles for NYC to IPC with stopovers in Cuzco and Galapagos in J? Now that is maximizing award charts

Call up one of the good hotels there, they are always great source for tourist information. Did this on many past trips when not too much info was available.

Good idea, I shot an email to the IC, but I doubt this will work. I don't suspect they'll no anything about this. For starters, I doubt the IC or LM have many travelers who arive to their hotel via cargo freighter. But also because this isn't just something "off the beaten path". This is well off the unbeaten ones as well

[Fan of Dan]

The only thing that is firm so far is 2 nights at IC Thalasso (where it books into an OWB) since availability is uber-scarce. The rest of the itinerary i'm less concerned about - it will be some mix of the different IC's and Hilton's around PPT/MOZ/BOB, but i haven't researched those yet.

How did you get the IC Thalasso? Was that using points? Assuming your talking about the BOB one? I tried booking that with points but had a hard time.

[ual902]

The only thing that is firm so far is 2 nights at IC Thalasso (where it books into an OWB) since availability is uber-scarce. The rest of the itinerary i'm less concerned about - it will be some mix of the different IC's and Hilton's around PPT/MOZ/BOB, but i haven't researched those yet.

How many points per night for the OWB BOB? the OWB  is the biggest obstacle folks have when heading to BOB.

[Yaalili]

How did you get the IC Thalasso? Was that using points? Assuming your talking about the BOB one? I tried booking that with points but had a hard time.

You can't book it with free night certs from IHG?

[ML1219]

How did you get the IC Thalasso? Was that using points? Assuming your talking about the BOB one? I tried booking that with points but had a hard time.

How many points per night for the OWB BOB? the OWB  is the biggest obstacle folks have when heading to BOB.

You are correct that it's hard to book rooms at the IC Thalasso - that's why it's the only thing I've already reserved. As soon as I saw openings, I snatched it up.

It's 50K points a night, and it's confirmed into an OWB since all but like 2 or 3 rooms on the property are OWBs

You need to do a calendar search of availability on IHG.com to find dates that are open. It's not easy, but if you do it far enough in advance or go during non-peak times, you should be able to find something

[ML1219]

You can't book it with free night certs from IHG?

You can, it's just hard because there's very few rooms at that hotel which are considered "standard rooms" for award inventory purposes, and because of the obvious appeal of being confirmed into OWBs, what little inventory there is usually gets snatched up fast.

I will get the 2 free nights from the latest Big Win promo, but i wasn't waiting around till that happened to lock in the IC

[Fan of Dan]

You can, it's just hard because there's very few rooms at that hotel which are considered "standard rooms" for award inventory purposes, and because of the obvious appeal of being confirmed into OWBs, what little inventory there is usually gets snatched up fast.

I will get the 2 free nights from the latest Big Win promo, but i wasn't waiting around till that happened to lock in the IC

I was told that only about 5 rooms in that hotel can be for awards at any time so you are on target.