#616 - 05/29/05 03:44 PM
Trip Report-Bora Bora 5/20-5/24
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hc11238
Junior Member
Registered: 07/07/04
Posts: 32
Loc: NYC
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Our 10:20am flight from Moorea landed at 11:25. Today was our 5 year wedding anniversary! WHOO HOO! There was a woman from the Bora Bora Nui waiting for us. She gave me tags to put on our luggage. Once I put the tags on, that is the last I saw my luggage until we got to the hotel. The hotel has a yacht that brings guests from the airport to the hotel. On the 10 minute trip, we filled out some small paperwork and they gave us a bottled water and a heart shaped brownie. It was really cute. Once we got to the dock, we were met by a little van and the van drove us to our OWB #112. The drive was 3 minutes from the dock. The Nui room was very nice. Good snorkeling and swimming and a really spacious bathroom. There was a HUGE shower that was its own separate room a tub in the sink area and a separate toilet area. The terrace area was very nice as well. It had 2 really comfy lounge seats and a table with 2 chairs. The room also had 2 areas to look through the glass and feed the fish but they werent very strategically placed. I would rather (and did) feed the fish on the desk. The TV there was a little better than the Sheraton. There was European CNN, Cartoon network in english and one movie channel that SOMETIMES had movies in english. The walk from our room to the main lobby/dock was about 10 minutes. The walk to the beach bar/lunch/breakfast area was about 6 minutes. The one drag was that the hotel was on a motu. It was very annoying to have to catch the boat on their schedule and catch it back. Also, the hotel charges 500 XPF per person if you ride the boat after 6:15pm. I thought that was sad. The breakfast buffet was ok. What we found out on the 2nd day is that the egg person made AMAZING scrambled eggs so we ate those for the remainder of our stay. The business center (which was between the pool and our OWB) was free for internet use. We used it once for 10 minutes to get the # for American Airlines. The beach bar/lunch was very good. The drinks were EXPENSIVE. A maitai/colada was 1200-1600 each. They did come in a tall glass though. We had room service dinner once and it was horrible. There was NO selection on the menu and it was ice cold when we got it. On the night of our anniversary, we went to Top Dive for dinner. In the meanwhile, I emailed guest services because I wanted to do something special for my husband. I ordered a "bed of flowers" which was 13000 and the "bath of flowers" which was 11000. I told the woman to set it up while we were at dinner. I actually emailed her a few weeks prior to set it up. Back to dinner. We took the 6:15pm ferry to dinner and a taxi service paid for it. It was a 5 minute drive from the dock at Vaitape. We got there and sat by the water. It was dark so you couldnt see anything. It was also very windy so that is why there was no outdoor seating. I think they do have seating by the railing but it wasnt set up because of the wind. The food and service at Top Dive were good. They gave us a welcome drink. It was like a mimosa but red. We each ordered an app, a meal and a dessert and my husband had a glass of wine and it was 13000. The interesting thing was the coffee. They had different kinds and we thought it would be regular american coffee but it was espresso. Once we were done the car was waiting for us. There was another couple waiting already. I guess one negative with the rides are that sometimes you have to wait. It all matters on who finishes first. The other thing was that we had to catch a ferry so we were somewhat rushed. If we missed the 9:45pm ferry, the next wasnt until 11:15pm. Luckily we made it to the dock by 9:30pm. We got back to the hotel and walked into the room and I surprised my husband with the flowers. It was really nice but SO not worth the 24000. I do have pictures if anyone is slightly interested. I would definitely pass unless you have money to burn. The tub was surrounded by 10 flowers but mostly ferns and the bed had about 10 flowers on it. There were 2 kickers to this story. The first was that when they cleaned the room, they threw away all of the bed flowers and most of the bath flowers. The 2nd funny thing was that the woman called me not to ask how it was but how I was paying for it. I was like, put it on the bill. I guess she thought I would pay separate since I surprised my husband. The other quirky thing about the service was that I was desperately trying to get the 800# for American Airlines (which I ended up getting on the web). I called the front desk and asked the woman and she said, no, I dont have that. So I said, do you know how I can get it? So she said, try the post office and hung up on me. Since I am on the subject, there were very few language barriers but there were a few. Most everyone is fluent in French, not english but we made the best of it. There were very few times where language was a problem.
We did a few activities while we were there.
The first one we did through the hotel was the Tupuna Jeep Safari. It was 13200 for both of us and it was a half day tour. We went through the back roads of Bora Bora and saw some of the WW2 cannons there. We also went to a vanilla plantation and a pearl farm. We also saw some great scenery. One of the days we just tooled around and took the ferry into town and had lunch and did some shopping. As I mentioned in my Tahiti trip report, try and buy all your souvenirs in Tahiti. The price goes WAY up on the other islands.
Our FAVORITE activity EVER was definitely the Keishi Tour by Pierrot Taati 676731. The only negative thing about this was that I called him directly months ago to schedule the tour. This is one of the ONLY tours where you need to schedule in advance. Besides the call being $30.00 from the US, there was a small language barrier. I obviously knew the dates of my trip and scheduled with him on May 22nd (Sunday). He told me to call and confirm once I was on BB and I did. When I called, he said, no, no Sunday, what about Monday? I was lucky that we didnt plan anything on Monday so we ended up going Monday instead. Make sure you say what day it is when you call. Luckily, it worked out for me. This activity was AMAZING. I highly recommend it. For 60000 XPF you get a private motu picnic PLUS shark and ray feeding. It was SO much fun. We had to meet Pierrot at the Vaitape dock at 9:30am so once again, the ferry from the Nui sucked because we had to take the 8:30am ferry to get there on time. The next ferry didnt leave the Nui until 10am so we waited around for him. We left the dock and did TONS of snorkeling and shark and ray feeding. It was amazing. The water and reef made the Sheraton look like crap. Then, we went to a private island and he cooked us this AMAZING HUGE lunch. It was poisson cru (which my husband stayed away from), salads with honey mustard dressing, tons of bread and butter and then a 1/2 a lobster each, a steak each and a piece of Mahi Mahi each and a baked potato. All made on the grill behind us fresh. There was fresh fruit for dessert, tons of drinks including water, champagne, orangina, soda, etc. Then he wanted to take us snorkeling some more but we were STUFFED. We got back to the dock around 3:00pm. This was the best! I would HIGHLY recommend it. AMAZING. The only negative is that there is no bathroom to be had so we had to go on the private island way in the back. OH, definitely bring the bug spray on this one. I forgot to mention that I bought 5 bottles of that vanilla deet from bugspray.com. It worked wonders!!!!!!!!!!
The next day we were leaving by helicopter to go to Tahaa-Le Tahaa. We went to breakfast that morning and settled our bill with the Nui and came back to the room, finished packing and they picked up our luggage at 9:45am for a 10:00am helicopter to Le Tahaa. The buggy ride from the room to the helipad was about 4 minutes. We got there and waited until 10:05am and the helicopter arrived. I was completely scared but my husband was cool. We paid for this in a package but I think it was about 270 US per person but I am not sure. It was amazing because it took us only 7 minutes to land in Tahaa..... Stay tuned for that report... definitely the BEST for last.
***SUMMARY***
The BB Nui is on a motu so remember that you are stuck to THEIR ferry schedule
Best activity EVER, Pierrot 676731, bring the bugspray and an empty stomach
TV at the Nui, only CNN Europe, Cartoon Network in english and sometimes a movie channel
Skip the room service all together, go to the beach bar for dinner/drinks
FREE internet at the Nui if you are itching to get on the web
Don't forget your Starwood #, get points for your stay!
Off to Tahaa!!!!!!!!
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#617 - 06/18/05 02:06 PM
Re: Trip Report-Bora Bora 5/20-5/24
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gleff
Member
Registered: 05/16/04
Posts: 254
Loc: DCA
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Outstanding report, thank you!
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#618 - 06/21/05 08:35 AM
Re: Trip Report-Bora Bora 5/20-5/24
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Craiger
Member
Registered: 05/04/05
Posts: 55
Loc: Salt Lake City, UT
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Great report hc, can hardly wait for the rest.. Does the Keishi tour involve other couples?, Or was it tailored exclusively for the two of you?.
$600.00 clams! is alot of cash for an excursion 
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