#53291 - 09/23/06 01:09 PM
Te Tiare falls short
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Manny
Member
Registered: 01/25/06
Posts: 50
Loc: Southern California
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The setting is magic, the architecture charming, the water clear and clean, the fish abundant and the roosters loud. We actually liked the roosters, but most of our fellow travelers didn't like the fowl 4-6 A.M. wake-up call. We know the problems involved in operating a resort in a remote location, but it was the little things at Te Tiare that fell short of expectations. The greeting when we avived was great, but the registration process was conducted by a woman with a stern face and manner, making our group of new arrivals feel more like we were taking part in a group job application process, than a luxury resort check-in. Our garden bungalow was wonderful at first glance, until we discovered the ancient clumps of dead bugs and dust around the window runners and the floors. Don't they ever vaccuum? The marble coffee table top was broken in two. I don't mean cracked, but rather in two pieces, one of which small enough to accidentally get knocked off the table's frame and break a foot. There was a soap on the bathroom sink table, but none in the shower. We told the desk, and while we were out of the room they brought two more soaps. as well as nine more bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body lotion. That brought our total of these products up to 15. We thought we would be well equiped for the rest of our three-night stay...until we left the room again and returned to find that houskeeping had returned and taken all the soap back, leaving us soapless. We had some soap of our own, which we used for the remainder of the stay. At the bar, my wife ordered a gin martini, and was presented with a martini glass containing only vermouth and a wooden toothpick with two large-pit-no-meat olives. I asked the bartender to please remix the drink, and he poured a little bit of gin into the glass and told me that was what my wife had ordered. Other guests had similar experiences with mixed drinks above the gin and tonic level, some worse. The food in the restaurant was good and bad, more disappointing than "bad" really. There were no instructions for the remote control for the air conditionerin the bungalow, but trial and error worked well enough. This one really seemed strange. The music in the lobby/bar/dining room building was a beautiful Tahitian song, and we soon noticed that the song played over and over again. The very same song. Not the same CD, but the very same song. After two days of the same song we asked the desk people why the same song, and they ssaid the manager had chosen it and the employees seemed reluctent to question his choice, for some reason. A number of people brought up the same song issue, but none were able to get it changed until a big-time tour operator from California spoke to the manager on our fourth day there, just before we left. At least we left to a different song than the one we arrived to. There were other issues, and we know it's not supposed to be like a big resort state-side, but we just thought for $400-$700 a night we could have gotten better value. Maybe a real bar tender, and a better trained housekeeping and dining room staff are too much to expect. We had some great experiences in the nearby town of Fare, and found a couple of other places on the island we would like to stay in, while taking the half-day-four-wheel-drive tour of Huahine. While the Island is truely a wonderful experience, the Te Tiare didn't measure up.
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#53292 - 09/23/06 03:46 PM
Re: Te Tiare falls short
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holte
Expert Advisor
Registered: 11/19/04
Posts: 2417
Loc: Duluth, Minnesota
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I'm glad that you enjoyed our favorite island, Huahine. The thing about the fowl in FP is that it is part of the islands experience. We asked if anyone eats any of the chickens that run around and the Tahitians said, "Go ahead, if you can catch one!" They told us not to eat the eggs though, because no one knows how long they have been laying around. (Trust me, we would never eat the eggs or the chickens). We find it so totally interesting and charming. Since we live in the country, many years ago we raised about 20 chickens one summer. It was not "Little House on the Prarie" like I thought, and to this day, when anyone mentions raising chickens I shudder. But we enjoy seeing and hearing them in FP. So much nicer than the sound of road and freeway traffic to me. Since I live on a dirt road, there is dust blowing in always, and I can dust and ten minutes later, don't do the white glove test at my house! Also, we have a few miles of sand beach in town and those house are always filled with sand from it blowing in. Unless one has a top of the line vacuum cleaner, vacuums blow dirt back into the room. I am a vacuum cleaner addict and am searching for the perfect one! Hopefully, it just might have been a matter of the environment that causes these issues that look like a lack of cleaning.
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#53293 - 09/23/06 06:24 PM
Re: Te Tiare falls short
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Manny
Member
Registered: 01/25/06
Posts: 50
Loc: Southern California
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We,too have lived in the country and had chickens in the yard for 17 years. That's why the roosters' crowing was a happy sound for us. Today we live at the gateway to Joshua Tree National Park in the high desert above Palm Springs. There are more than 200 miles of dirt road in our two communities. The bugs and dust in our Te Tiare bungalow were from a lack of housekeeping attention, not from the daily dust we experience in our home. And we still can't get that song out of our heads! It's like that Disneyland ride "It's a Small World After All." We should use that song for prisoner interrogation. Would it be a Common Article Three Geneva Convention violation?
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#53294 - 09/23/06 07:15 PM
Re: Te Tiare falls short
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holte
Expert Advisor
Registered: 11/19/04
Posts: 2417
Loc: Duluth, Minnesota
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I know what you mean about music that you can't stand! I like what Lily Tomlin once said: her biggest fear is that the person who invented elevator music is going to invent something else. That's really too bad about the dirt. I hate going to a place that is not clean. I would rather sleep in a car, and I have done that when nothing else was available when we were travelling in the US once. Obviously, I was truly hoping it wasn't a housekeeping issue.And by the way, thanks for the song. It's going round and round in my head! I wonder if there is a list of most hated songs. That would be one of mine
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#53295 - 09/24/06 05:46 AM
Re: Te Tiare falls short
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Manny
Member
Registered: 01/25/06
Posts: 50
Loc: Southern California
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There is such a song list, but be warned, you don't want to search it out. My wife and I love road trips, and actually did a AAA one diamond adventure one time. In Mancos, Colorado we found a one diamond dump a block from a four star restaurant. The eatery is gone now, but the dump remains. We will return to Tahiti, however. A place like no other.
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#53296 - 09/24/06 06:59 AM
Re: Te Tiare falls short
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superstar
Advisor
Registered: 02/16/06
Posts: 567
Loc: Laingsburg, Michigan
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Thanks for the honesty Manny. Hopefully when you return one of the other properties you saw will fit you better. Grew up with chickens. I have scars to prove it. It brings back funny memories(now that I am older) every time we stay in in FP and wake up to the little guys.
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#53297 - 09/24/06 01:29 PM
Re: Te Tiare falls short
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Silvanocat
Advisor
Registered: 04/03/04
Posts: 696
Loc: Los Angeles
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Thank you for your report. Somethings wrong there. For 4500 xpf a night in Rangiroa I got a room that you would expect for that price but it was spotlessly clean and the 1000 dinners were delicious. In Papeete for $70 a night I got a perfectly clean room with towels folded just so and wonderful Tiare soaps placed on them. I would let the Outrigger management know.
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#53298 - 09/24/06 02:26 PM
Re: Te Tiare falls short
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Manny
Member
Registered: 01/25/06
Posts: 50
Loc: Southern California
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Where did you stay in Papeete for $70? Thanks
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#53299 - 09/24/06 03:39 PM
Re: Te Tiare falls short
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Silvanocat
Advisor
Registered: 04/03/04
Posts: 696
Loc: Los Angeles
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It was Pension Puea - Room with shared bathroom: 6990 fcp per day all taxes included with
breakfast served from 06:30 to 08:30 am. (Okay, a tad more than $70).
http://www.infotahiti.com/Pub/pensionpueaP.jpg
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#53300 - 09/24/06 08:19 PM
Re: Te Tiare falls short
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Manny
Member
Registered: 01/25/06
Posts: 50
Loc: Southern California
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Silvanocat,
Thanks. We are thinking of a budget trip next year based on bargain air fares and hotel deals.
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