Oceania Travel Guide

In addition to searching for the lowest airfare, you may want to consider booking your flight as part of a travel package. Buying a package tour is simply a way to get the airfare, accommodations, and other elements of your trip (such as car rentals, airport transfers, and sometimes even meals and activities) at the same time and often at discounted prices -- kind of like one-stop shopping. In fact, package tours usually provide the best bargains available, especially to expensive French Polynesia.

Package tours are not the same thing as escorted tours, which are structured tours with a group leader. Scant few escorted tours go to the South Pacific islands except as add-ons to tours primarily of Australia and New Zealand.

The costs are kept down because wholesale tour operators (known as wholesalers in the travel industry) can make volume bookings on the airlines and at the hotels. Packages traditionally were then sold through retail travel agents, but many wholesalers now deal directly with the public, thus passing savings along to you, rather than part of their commissions to retail agents.

Travel packages are listed in the travel section of many Sunday newspapers. Or check ads in magazines such as Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel Magazine, Travel & Leisure, National Geographic Traveler, and Condé Nast Traveler.

Airlines offer air-and-hotel packages, so be sure to check the Web sites of Air New Zealand, Air Pacific, Air Tahiti Nui, and the other South Pacific carriers.

Following in alphabetical order are some reputable American-based companies that sell package tours. Some will discount air tickets and hotel rooms separately; that is, not as part of a package. Be sure to shop for the best deal among them.

Blue Pacific Vacations (tel. 800/798-0590; www.bluepacificvacations.com), a division of France Vacations, is headed by John Biggerstaff and Ken Jordan, two veterans of Tahiti tourism. They will customize tours to most French Polynesian islands.

Brendan Worldwide Vacations (tel. 800/421-8446 or 818/785-9696; www.brendanvacations.com) provides packages to Fiji and French Polynesia.

Go-Today (tel. 800/227-3235; www.go-today.com), based in Washington State, offers discount-priced packages to Fiji and French Polynesia.

Islands in the Sun (tel. 800/828-6877 or 310/536-0051; www.islandsinthesun.com), the largest and oldest South Pacific specialist, offers packages to all the islands.

Jetabout Island Vacations (tel. 800/348-8145; www.jetabouttahitivacations.com) of El Segundo, CA, offers a wide variety of packages to Fiji and Tahiti.

Journey Pacific (tel. 800/704-7094; www.journeypacific.com) is a Las Vegas-based agency offering packages to Fiji and Tahiti.

Newmans South Pacific Vacations (tel. 800/421-3326; www.newmansvacations.com) offers packages to the islands, including Samoa and Tonga. It's a branch of a long-established New Zealand company.

Pacific Destination Center (tel. 800/227-5317; www.pacific-destinations.com) is owned and operated by Australian-born Janette Ryan, who offers some good deals to the islands.

Pleasant Holidays (tel. 800/742-9244; www.pleasantholidays.com), a huge company best known for its Pleasant Hawaiian and Pleasant Mexico operations, offers packages to Fiji and French Polynesia.

Solace (tel. 800/548-5331; www.solace1.com) specializes in trips to French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, and Fiji. It offers fares and rates below those published by the airlines and hotels.

South Pacific Holidays (tel. 800/940-1712; www.spac.com), based in Vancouver, Washington, offers packages to high-end resorts and less expensive diving destinations in Fiji.

Sunspots International (tel. 800/334-5623 or 503/666-3893; www.sunspotsintl.com), based in Portland, Oregon, has trips to all the islands. It has particular expertise in the Cook Islands, Samoa, and Tonga.

Tahiti Discount Travel (tel. 877/426-7262; www.tahiti-discounttravel.com) is owned by former employees of the defunct Discover Wholesale Travel, once the leader in budget packages. Today they arrange some of the lowest-priced packages to French Polynesia.

Tahiti Legends (tel. 800/200-1213; www.tahiti-legends.com) is run by former officials of Islands in the Sun. It sells tours to French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, and Fiji under the names Pacific Legends (www.pacificlegends.com).

Tahiti Vacations (tel. 800/553-3477; www.tahitivacation.com), a subsidiary of Air Tahiti, French Polynesia's domestic airline, specializes in French Polynesia but also has packages to Fiji, the Cook Islands, and Tonga. It frequently offers the least expensive packages available to Tahiti and Moorea.

A Few Cautions -- There are some drawbacks to package tours: The least expensive tours may put you up at a bottom-end hotel. And because the lower costs depend on volume, some more expensive tours could send you to a large, impersonal property. You might find that once you're in the islands, you want to shift to that cozy bungalow down the road; if you do, you might lose the accommodation portion of the money you've paid. Some hoteliers will endorse your vouchers to another property if you're unhappy with theirs; others will not. And because the tour prices are based on double occupancy, the single traveler is almost invariably penalized. You could end up traveling with strangers who become friends for life; they could also be loudmouthed bores.

In other words, ask about the accommodation choices and prices for each. Then look up the hotels' reviews in this guide and check their rates for your specific dates of travel online. If I don't recommend the hotel in this book (there usually is a good reason or two), then check it out thoroughly online, particularly in chat rooms and message boards such as you'll find at www.frommers.com.

You'll also want to find out what type of room you get. If you need a certain type of room, ask for it; don't take whatever is thrown your way. Request a nonsmoking room, a quiet room, a room with a view, or whatever you fancy.

Most tour companies require payment in advance of travel. If possible, pay by credit card, which will give you some protection in case the company doesn't come through with the tour. Also consider buying both trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance.

Finally, look for hidden expenses. Ask whether airport departure fees and taxes are included in the total cost.

If you decide to go for a package, read the fine print carefully. You might not want all the "extras" that are included, such as all meals (why pay in advance for all meals in places like French Polynesia, where dining out can be a major extracurricular activity?). And don't think the free manager's welcoming party is any big deal; you might be invited anyway, even if you're not on the tour.