My husband and I just returned from our week at Moorea Pearl and had a fabulous time! We booked through a travel agency (flight plus hotel accommodations) and paid a lot less than the "posted" prices at the hotel. We did, however, upgrade to a premium over the water bungalow- well worth it!! The hotel is beautiful, the staff was very attentive, and the American breakfast was fantastic (many fruit choices, 4 types of cold cut meats, fresh cheese, yogurt, cereal, pastries, french bread, five or six jam choices, nutella, croissants, bacon, sausage, made to order omelets, hash browns, scrambled eggs, coffee, tea, hot cocoa etc.). Our vacation package included the tickets for the catamaran (half hour trip) and the shuttles to/from airport (20 min) and it all ran smoothly. The official language is French, however, most people can speak English. TIPS: The airport completely SHUTS DOWN after the last afternoon flight and only reopens about 3 hours before the 11:30pm evening flights. Exchange your money across the street from the catamaran and not at the airport (no fee). Everything is very expensive (food, taxi, merchandise) even at the local "super market". My husband and I enjoyed the fantastic hotel breakfast and then purchased snacks, bread, meat and cheese at the market. It was still very expensive but it beats the prices on the dinner menu (lunch menu prices served IN THE BAR of the hotel were more reasonable). Next...My husband and I just returned from our week at Moorea Pearl and had a fabulous time! We booked through a travel agency (flight plus hotel accommodations) and paid a lot less than the "posted" prices at the hotel. We did, however, upgrade to a premium over the water bungalow- well worth it!! The hotel is beautiful, the staff was very attentive, and the American breakfast was fantastic (many fruit choices, 4 types of cold cut meats, fresh cheese, yogurt, cereal, pastries, french bread, five or six jam choices, nutella, croissants, bacon, sausage, made to order omelets, hash browns, scrambled eggs, coffee, tea, hot cocoa etc.). Our vacation package included the tickets for the catamaran (half hour trip) and the shuttles to/from airport (20 min) and it all ran smoothly. The official language is French, however, most people can speak English. TIPS: The airport completely SHUTS DOWN after the last afternoon flight and only reopens about 3 hours before the 11:30pm evening flights. Exchange your money across the street from the catamaran and not at the airport (no fee). Everything is very expensive (food, taxi, merchandise) even at the local "super market". My husband and I enjoyed the fantastic hotel breakfast and then purchased snacks, bread, meat and cheese at the market. It was still very expensive but it beats the prices on the dinner menu (lunch menu prices served IN THE BAR of the hotel were more reasonable). Next time, we will pack more snacks in our luggage and spend our money on the local beer (VERY GOOD!). The fridge is more of a cooler but if you keep it stocked with ice (again- plastic bags are handy) everything will stay nice and cold. The hotel offers free kayaks and rents bicycles and jet skis. WIFI was about $6 for a half hour. Bring zip lock bags for your food items (we didn't have any problems in the over the water bungalows, but were told the sugar ants will quickly appear in the rooms on land). There were two tiers of "over the water" bungalow- only the premium tier are truly over the water (on stilts with a glass cut out in the floor for watching fish!!). Bungalow 401 is at the very west end of the property by a public pier. The plus side: it is right over the end of the coral so the aquatic life is best and your glass "coffee table view" will be amazing. The minus side: it is not very private. Locals can go to the end of the pier and look right into the balcony. The hotel actually told us that this bungalow wasn't as desirable as the others but as it was the last one available that day, we took it. They then called us the next day and offered a "better" bungalow. SUNSCREEN- should be obvious I know, but the sun is intense. It's worth it to buy an under water camera, the aquatic life is unreal. The reef was maybe 800 yards out, and the coral right at the hotel was a superb snorkeling spot. We saw 100+ species of fish, octopus, turtles, and sharks- all at the coral under the bungalows. If you want to see geckos in action, turn on your porch light... then listen to them vocalize to one another. There were two restaurants west of the hotel, as well as a post office, some commercial businesses and the aforementioned super market (closes at 7:30pm but stops selling alcohol at 7pm).
Overall, we were very happy with the location and the resort. The staff was very helpful, friendly and professional (early check-in, best room upgrades, late check-out) and Moorea is truly a paradise in the south pacific.More
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