Post by Bill Mortin on Apr 18, 2014 13:22:24 GMT -8
Theresa,
Lolly and I returned yesterday morning from our trip. Thought I would give you some feedback. Overall, as you would expect, the trip was fantastic. What a beautiful part of the world. The people were so friendly and welcoming. We really had a wonderful time and are glad that we spent the money on what is likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip. As for specifics:
Air France. First time I’ve been on AF and was favorably impressed. The cheap seats seem to have a couple of additional inches of pitch than do US carriers. In fact, our cheap seats were about the same as economy plus on United. The plane was about ¾ full on both legs; we had an empty seat between us on the way there and switched to aisle seat across from one another on the way back. The business class seats on AF’s 777s did not appear to be lie-flats. The food was good on the return flight; it was a bit weird on the LAX to PPT leg, but I guess that can be excused by the midnight departure. The fact they still offer free wine in the econ section is amazing – at least to this long-time United 1Ker. Don’t know what Air Tahiti Nui is like, but find it hard to believe it could be better than what we got on AF.
Air Tahiti. No problems with any of their flights, but the carry-on baggage rule is a bit ridiculous. I appreciate the desire to keep large items out of the overheads, but a limit of 3 kg on carry-ons? While they did not strictly enforce the rule, we did have to do some last-minute re-packing at the check-in counter. Were we to repeat this itinerary, I think I would opt for the ferry ride from Tahiti to Moorea rather than wait the several hours for the air connection. They do move people quickly and don’t waste any time in turning around those flights (which is what comes with an apparent total lack of security!).
Sofitel on Moorea. My only experience with the Sofitel chain is in Brussels, and their property there is my favorite place to stay. I was not disappointed in Moorea – the Sofitel Ia Ora was superb. We are glad you chose for us the beach bungalow; our number 415 was perfectly situated. Next to the bar, not that far from the main building, but not that close. Really, I think it was the best beach bungalow of them all. It was well appointed, too. The food was pretty good at both restaurants, although I did eat something bad at breakfast on 4/7 that sickened me the entire day. The evening meals were good and not that outrageously priced; our final night there at the K restaurant was really excellent. We did not go off the property to eat, as we were satisfied with the Sofitel’s offerings (and I avoided the suspect chicken sausage at breakfast). We did do a boat cruise with Hiro’s tours. It was a lot of fun and the motu cookout was just great. In fact, it gave me back my appetite after the previous day’s sickness. In sum, would definitely recommend the Sofitel. Great job on that one. If there is ever a next trip to Moorea, I would rent a car and have the freedom to move about the island.
Le Meridien Bora Bora. Nice property and our over-water bungalow was situated almost at the end of the one pier (we were number 245). I noticed, however, that our deck was smaller compared with the units around us. Not a big deal, but noticeable. Also noticed that the Meridien over-water bungalows have the smallest lower-level platforms of any of the island’s resorts. All the others had a big enough platform to put a couple chairs or to use as a dive platform at water-level. Again, not a big deal, but it does give the other properties a leg up. Our main problem with the Meridien was the food: expensive and mediocre. We knew this was not going to be a budget trip or a modestly priced destination. But it got to the point we felt we were being gouged. And in every conversation we had with other guests, they expressed the same sentiment. For example, the Thursday we arrived, the restaurant had only the buffet dinner. I was taken aback at the price tag – more than $80 per person for food that was only slightly better than steam-table, all-you-can-eat fare at a low-end chain restaurant. I will say their cold seafood salads were outstanding, but that isn’t enough to justify the hefty buffet price tag. The next night was ala carte and that was an even bigger disappointment. Mahi cooked in a brown glop accompanied by a medley of overcooked (i.e., rubbery) shellfish. The mahi served with breakfast was far better. After this, we bought groceries at the Chin Lee market in Vaitape and fed ourselves the other three nights. No complaints at all about the breakfasts – they were up to international hotel standards. Another complaint is the absurd pricing of internet access. The $30 per person charge to take the hotel shuttle to Vaitape is another quibble, but I can accept that one more readily than the rest of the nickel-and-diming.
No complaints about the staff or the facilities themselves. Were we to return to Bora Bora, we would opt for one of the other resorts and avoid the Meridien. I also think we would stay on the main island rather than the motus. We really felt trapped and I think that isolation breeds the usurious pricing. The exception is the Sofitel property there –both of which looked very appealing. I don’t mean to carp about the Meridien, it’s just that with a high price tag and high expectations, I expect certain things. And on some of those the hotel did not deliver.
We did the Vavau ATV tour and a snorkeling tour, both of which were quite fun and arranged through the Meridien activities desk. The snorkeling trip (I forget the name of the outfit we used – it was the one the hotel uses) was the highlight of the trip, for sure. So glad we did that. We opted for the full day tour, which added a motu lunch for another XPF 2500. It was the best meal (not to mention the least-expensive) we had on Bora Bora! By the way, we had great timing: we watched the stunning lunar eclipse from our deck. A magical event in a magical setting.
InterContinental on Tahiti. This is a lovely property, although it seems more suited to a clientele that wants to sit around a pool than go in the ocean and do things. So convenient to the airport. It was a great place just to walk around, and we particularly liked the explanatory plaques they had around the property. Wish more of the hotels did that – explaining the local flora, legends, etc. Kudos to the InterContinental for that. We had a very nice room for our last night in the islands. To end the trip with a bang, we made a reservation to dine at Le Lotus. Perhaps one of the best meals we’ve ever had. It was ~$300, but I don’t mind paying for world-class dining and it was worth it. Would recommend Le Lotus to anyone who appreciates good food.
Transfers. All the transfers worked out perfectly. Everyone was on-time and there was never any problem. Made life much simpler.
As I said, all in all it was a fantastic trip. I had the over-water bungalow in mind for this trip but glad you divided between over-water and beach front. I think we actually kinda preferred the beach front, as walking on the beach is half the fun at a place like this. But the over-water also has to be experienced. Thanks for arranging it the way you did. You can absolutely count us a satisfied customers.
Regards,
Bill
Lolly and I returned yesterday morning from our trip. Thought I would give you some feedback. Overall, as you would expect, the trip was fantastic. What a beautiful part of the world. The people were so friendly and welcoming. We really had a wonderful time and are glad that we spent the money on what is likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime trip. As for specifics:
Air France. First time I’ve been on AF and was favorably impressed. The cheap seats seem to have a couple of additional inches of pitch than do US carriers. In fact, our cheap seats were about the same as economy plus on United. The plane was about ¾ full on both legs; we had an empty seat between us on the way there and switched to aisle seat across from one another on the way back. The business class seats on AF’s 777s did not appear to be lie-flats. The food was good on the return flight; it was a bit weird on the LAX to PPT leg, but I guess that can be excused by the midnight departure. The fact they still offer free wine in the econ section is amazing – at least to this long-time United 1Ker. Don’t know what Air Tahiti Nui is like, but find it hard to believe it could be better than what we got on AF.
Air Tahiti. No problems with any of their flights, but the carry-on baggage rule is a bit ridiculous. I appreciate the desire to keep large items out of the overheads, but a limit of 3 kg on carry-ons? While they did not strictly enforce the rule, we did have to do some last-minute re-packing at the check-in counter. Were we to repeat this itinerary, I think I would opt for the ferry ride from Tahiti to Moorea rather than wait the several hours for the air connection. They do move people quickly and don’t waste any time in turning around those flights (which is what comes with an apparent total lack of security!).
Sofitel on Moorea. My only experience with the Sofitel chain is in Brussels, and their property there is my favorite place to stay. I was not disappointed in Moorea – the Sofitel Ia Ora was superb. We are glad you chose for us the beach bungalow; our number 415 was perfectly situated. Next to the bar, not that far from the main building, but not that close. Really, I think it was the best beach bungalow of them all. It was well appointed, too. The food was pretty good at both restaurants, although I did eat something bad at breakfast on 4/7 that sickened me the entire day. The evening meals were good and not that outrageously priced; our final night there at the K restaurant was really excellent. We did not go off the property to eat, as we were satisfied with the Sofitel’s offerings (and I avoided the suspect chicken sausage at breakfast). We did do a boat cruise with Hiro’s tours. It was a lot of fun and the motu cookout was just great. In fact, it gave me back my appetite after the previous day’s sickness. In sum, would definitely recommend the Sofitel. Great job on that one. If there is ever a next trip to Moorea, I would rent a car and have the freedom to move about the island.
Le Meridien Bora Bora. Nice property and our over-water bungalow was situated almost at the end of the one pier (we were number 245). I noticed, however, that our deck was smaller compared with the units around us. Not a big deal, but noticeable. Also noticed that the Meridien over-water bungalows have the smallest lower-level platforms of any of the island’s resorts. All the others had a big enough platform to put a couple chairs or to use as a dive platform at water-level. Again, not a big deal, but it does give the other properties a leg up. Our main problem with the Meridien was the food: expensive and mediocre. We knew this was not going to be a budget trip or a modestly priced destination. But it got to the point we felt we were being gouged. And in every conversation we had with other guests, they expressed the same sentiment. For example, the Thursday we arrived, the restaurant had only the buffet dinner. I was taken aback at the price tag – more than $80 per person for food that was only slightly better than steam-table, all-you-can-eat fare at a low-end chain restaurant. I will say their cold seafood salads were outstanding, but that isn’t enough to justify the hefty buffet price tag. The next night was ala carte and that was an even bigger disappointment. Mahi cooked in a brown glop accompanied by a medley of overcooked (i.e., rubbery) shellfish. The mahi served with breakfast was far better. After this, we bought groceries at the Chin Lee market in Vaitape and fed ourselves the other three nights. No complaints at all about the breakfasts – they were up to international hotel standards. Another complaint is the absurd pricing of internet access. The $30 per person charge to take the hotel shuttle to Vaitape is another quibble, but I can accept that one more readily than the rest of the nickel-and-diming.
No complaints about the staff or the facilities themselves. Were we to return to Bora Bora, we would opt for one of the other resorts and avoid the Meridien. I also think we would stay on the main island rather than the motus. We really felt trapped and I think that isolation breeds the usurious pricing. The exception is the Sofitel property there –both of which looked very appealing. I don’t mean to carp about the Meridien, it’s just that with a high price tag and high expectations, I expect certain things. And on some of those the hotel did not deliver.
We did the Vavau ATV tour and a snorkeling tour, both of which were quite fun and arranged through the Meridien activities desk. The snorkeling trip (I forget the name of the outfit we used – it was the one the hotel uses) was the highlight of the trip, for sure. So glad we did that. We opted for the full day tour, which added a motu lunch for another XPF 2500. It was the best meal (not to mention the least-expensive) we had on Bora Bora! By the way, we had great timing: we watched the stunning lunar eclipse from our deck. A magical event in a magical setting.
InterContinental on Tahiti. This is a lovely property, although it seems more suited to a clientele that wants to sit around a pool than go in the ocean and do things. So convenient to the airport. It was a great place just to walk around, and we particularly liked the explanatory plaques they had around the property. Wish more of the hotels did that – explaining the local flora, legends, etc. Kudos to the InterContinental for that. We had a very nice room for our last night in the islands. To end the trip with a bang, we made a reservation to dine at Le Lotus. Perhaps one of the best meals we’ve ever had. It was ~$300, but I don’t mind paying for world-class dining and it was worth it. Would recommend Le Lotus to anyone who appreciates good food.
Transfers. All the transfers worked out perfectly. Everyone was on-time and there was never any problem. Made life much simpler.
As I said, all in all it was a fantastic trip. I had the over-water bungalow in mind for this trip but glad you divided between over-water and beach front. I think we actually kinda preferred the beach front, as walking on the beach is half the fun at a place like this. But the over-water also has to be experienced. Thanks for arranging it the way you did. You can absolutely count us a satisfied customers.
Regards,
Bill
