#742 - 07/11/05 08:24 AM
Bora Bora, Huahine and Moorea - 6/14 - 6/24
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BBlover
Member
Registered: 08/01/04
Posts: 54
Loc: New York
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Before I say anything, it needs to be said that this truly was the trip of a lifetime. We weren't sure about choosing French Polynesia for our honeymoon, mostly due to the cost and distance, but now, I can't imagine having gone anywhere else.
We were married on a Sunday, and left for our trip on a Tuesday. Our flight to LA went very smoothly, and two hours later we made our connection without any problems. We flew Air Tahiti Nui, and it lived up to its reputation. I thought the food was excellent (when you consider its airplane food) and the service was great as well. There is no getting away from the fact that its an 8 hour flight, but it really wasn't that bad. The tv screens helped immensely. We had our first Hinano's on the plane and we liked them instantly.
We landed in Tahiti at about 20 after 6. It was dark, and we were unable to see much. We were driven back to our hotel - Le Meridien Tahiti, checked in and realized hungry we were!! We ordered room service, while checking out our room. It was a standard lanai room and it was extremely nice. Our food came, we ate and we passed out.
4 AM were were woken by a rooster. We laughed our heads off - it seemed he was in a bush directly in front of our room. We roused ourselves out of bed at about 10 to 6 and were treated to a beautiful sunrise over the mountains. The shock of seeing the mountains and the landscape was overwhelming. It took my breathe away.
We boarded a plane to Bora Bora, sat on the left side (thank you everybody!!) and I can not tell you how much I enjoyed those 50 minutes, snapping pictures and gasping at the islands. Coming into Bora Bora, I had tears in my eyes. My husband was in awe - he really hadn't seen too many pictures, and his reaction was priceless.
We were met in the airport by the Le Meridian desk and they handled our bags and we took off on the boat. The lagoon is as beautiful as everyone said. I could hardly contain myself from jumping up and down. We arrived at Le Meridian, were taken into the bar for a cool drink and were shown around the hotel and then driven to our OW bungalow, room 330. Our room was amazing.
I had read intently the mixed reviews on the board about Le Meridian and in the end, I promised myself not to set my expectations too high. I fell in love with our bungalow. Our 3 day stay at Le Meridian was nothing short of perfection. The employees were outstanding, we never wanted for anything, they always had a smile and made us feel so welcome. We ate at the hotel for all our meals, except one dinner and were happy with everything. We both said we would return in a heartbeat.
We had the hotel arrange for dinner at Bloody Mary's and again I didn't hold too high expectations, due to reading some mixed reviews. We both loved it. I thought the food was excellent and the atmosphere was great. Both the boat and car transfer were in perfect synch with one another.
After 3 days, we left to go to Huahine and the Te Tiare. Again, we were met at the hotel, driven to the luanch, and told to wait. We didn't realize that the boat was on an hourly schedule - and we winded up waiting 40 minutes. As Ed put it, we got spoiled by Le Meridian. Te Tiare was beautiful, very remote and lush. We stayed in Beach Bungalow #8 and it was enormous! The resort is very laid back, even more so than Bora Bora, and we really enjoyed ourselves. The sunsets on Huahine are phenominal. We didn't see sunsets anywhere else in FP to match. The pictures we have are unbelievable.
My only regret about Huahine is that we never had a chance to do the rest of the island. Te Tiare is located in a very secluded spot, not really allowing you much of a view. I think I would've liked to have seen the rest of it, but we had scheduled a day trip to Tahaa while we were there, and I didn't want to kill two out of the three days.
Tahaa lived up to the hype. We booked with Le Excursion Blue and had a fantastic tour. It included the pearl farm, vanilla farm, a trip to the lagoonarium, lunch, and a snorkel trip to the coral gardens. The pearl and vanilla farms were interesting, but the snorkeling made the day. The Coral Gardens are located right by the Tahaa resort - and the fish were eating right out of our hand. We didn't want to go back to the boat! Ed used his Underwater housing unit for his camera and took really beautiful pictures of the fish. I would highly reccomend the tour, as Bruno (the tour guide) went out of his way to pick us up from the airport and get us back in time for our flight back to Huahine
Two days later we flew out to Moorea. And we fell in love all over again. We stayed at the ICBC - and this was the most "Americanized" of the resorts. It was big, there were more people, things weren't as laid back. And it was great in its own way. We couldn't do the dolpin encounter, I had forgotten to book in advance. I was bummed about that, but our OW bungalow (624) was three doors down so we had a good view of everything that went on. We rented a car one morning and drove around the island and then went to Belvedere Point. Wow. The views simply are breathtaking. We walked to town, and it did take us about 20 minutes - but wasn't a bad walk. I was really thrilled with the amount of fish by our bungalow, I hadn't expected much. IN addition, the lagoon in the center of the resort really had a lot of fish and we spend some time snorkeling there
The last day of our trip we flew back to Tahiti early and hooked up with Tahiti Safari. We had a blast on this excursion as they took us into the valley and we drove around. We did see quite a few waterfalls and thought they did a good job with the history and explanations. It was a nice way to end a fantastic trip.
Our flight left at 10 PM, and again, we were extremely lucky with the connections and both flights being on time. Coming home, it seemed the flights were alot harder on us, partly because it was an over night and thanks to a very noisy neighbor, neither of us slept and also because of the time change. We left FP at 10 PM, and walked in the door of our home at 8:15 PM the next day! Tiring, but so worth it.
Some comments:
-"BuggSpray" really worked well with the no no's
- The Tahitian people are beautiful - inside and out.
- The Ritz Carlton on BB - we weren't affected by the construction at all (and we were on the "arm" closest to that hotel)
- The Bungalow's at the Tahaa resort look amazing
-Do not fly between Tahiti and Moorea if you are faint of heart!!! Take the ferry
-Best thing we bought - water shoes
-Silliest thing I packed - makeup!
What i wish i packed more of - another pair of "summer" pants for dinner
What i really didn't need - 5 sundresses (could've made do with 3)
The real deal on the "Bugs" (aka roaches) - they are no where to be found at the resorts. But, I did see several at the inner island airports (the aiports are all open) and 2 of them on the inner island planes. One even crawled on me lol. I normally do not deal well with bugs, but they didn't bother me. I accepted it going in, and handled myself very well. I think that's the secret - knowing you are in their environment.
Overall, i can't say enough about the trip. We werent there 24 hours before we were planning our return trip. I want to thank everyone on this board for all the advice, and information, Never have I felt so prepared for a trip. Now, I too , have the flu!
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#743 - 07/11/05 02:26 PM
Re: Bora Bora, Huahine and Moorea - 6/14 - 6/24
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Thomas Marshall
Moderator
Registered: 02/10/04
Posts: 1152
Loc: Newport Beach, Ca. USA
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Thanks for the report and pictures, great job.
Sounds like you had a wonderful trip; I love to read reports about people falling in love with French Polynesia.
We also spent our honeymoon there, it's a perfect way to start a marriage, and the memories will live in your hearts forever.
Good luck 
_________________________
Thomas
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#744 - 07/11/05 08:37 PM
Re: Bora Bora, Huahine and Moorea - 6/14 - 6/24
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Anonymous
Anonymous
Unregistered
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Wow, your honeymoon truly sounded fantastic! And your photos are just gorgeous
Just wondering if you would be able to answer something for me as my fiance & I are trying to figure out where to go for our honeymoon in Feb/March next year. We're trying to decide between Moorea & Bora Bora, we'd stay in an OWB at either - in Moorea it would be at the ICBC but if Bora Bora then we can only afford the Le Maitai. Would island would you recommend more? Did you happen to see the Le Maitai at all in BB & if so do you think it would be more worth it to go BB even if staying there over the ICBC Moorea?
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#745 - 07/11/05 10:50 PM
Re: Bora Bora, Huahine and Moorea - 6/14 - 6/24
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Submarine
Expert Advisor
Registered: 01/03/03
Posts: 1033
Loc: Gilbert, Arizona, USA
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Sounds like FP has claimed another "victim"!
Now you know why we all chime in all across the board as far as our opinions go for resorts and restaurants etc. Sounds like you guys have the perfect balance between letting the beauty of the islands temper any fault in your accomodations or dining.
Mish, I'd say Le Maitai would beat ICBC Moorea hands down as far as OWB's go. In fact, I'd only recommend paying for a beach bungalow at ICBC Moorea (and I've stayed at all of 'em). Not because of the level of accomodations, but because of the lagoon. Le Maitai is in a nice location and the OWB's are more than adequate and a great value. If you want to do two islands, splurge on Bora Bora and stay in something more affordable on Moorea such as Club Bali Hai or one of the nicer pensions.
You'll come for the room, but remember the Lagoon.
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#746 - 07/12/05 06:15 AM
Re: Bora Bora, Huahine and Moorea - 6/14 - 6/24
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BBlover
Member
Registered: 08/01/04
Posts: 54
Loc: New York
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Thanks everyone for all your really nice comments
Mish, I agree with submarine. Bora Bora is unlike anything else. I think you would be doing yourself an injustice to not visit that island. And, since Moorea is so close to the island of Tahiti (8 minutes by plane, 30 minutes by ferry) perhaps you could do a day trip to visit the island - so you wouldn't feel as if you missed out. Either way, the bottom line is, I don't think you could go wrong either way. Have fun with your planning!
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#747 - 07/12/05 06:38 AM
Re: Bora Bora, Huahine and Moorea - 6/14 - 6/24
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Mish
Junior Member
Registered: 07/11/05
Posts: 20
Loc: Australia
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Thanks so much Submarine and BBlover for your advice.
We're so confused! Unfortunately the package deals we're going for (because they are considerably cheaper than anything else we could find or could put together ourselves) only offers the OWB options at only these resorts (in the budget range we're looking at), so we can't really choose a cheaper option in Moorea in order to splurge more in BB. I'm hoping we can do both though, should get that quote tomorrow. We've got a difficult decision to make, thanks again!
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#748 - 07/12/05 04:01 PM
Re: Bora Bora, Huahine and Moorea - 6/14 - 6/24
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marshamouse
Advisor
Registered: 03/01/04
Posts: 529
Loc: Boise, Idaho
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Mish - On our last trip we wanted to economize on 2 islands so we could stay at Kia Ora Sauvage on Rangiroa. So we asked our TA if she could put together a package for our airfare, Moorea Village and Kia Ora Sauvage and we would make our reservations for a pension on Fakarava. She was open to doing this. It would be worth a try to see if your TA will allow you to do this.
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