Question about Marc's Motu Picnic

[tsb2]

I have e-mailed Marc several times to book me and my husband for his picnic and have never had a response. I have had a very timely response from Bruno's snorkel. Has anyone else had this problem, any advice? Thanks

 

tsb2

[land lover]

Took us a week before we got an answer..we e-mailed only once about 21/2 months before sailing just said what we wanted to reserve didn't ask any questions.

 

Suggestion I would do the 4x4 because the photos we saw of the eels were :cool:

and Marc now leads that group.......everyone meets up at the last snorkel place and it was much better than the first IMO. Also it is a looooong ride in the boat. Have a great time:)

[tahoe782]

I emailed Marc 5days ago for April and he returned in 48hrs. We are all set and he sent lots of info

Good Luck

Aleeta

[tsb2]

Landlover - I read a review that recommended the 4x4 so that is what I e-mailed a reservation for. Thanks for the confirmation of our choice.

 

Tahoe782 - what e-mail address did you use. On the website there is an e-mail directly to marc for princess passengers (which I used) and then an e-mail for all other excursions. Let me know.

 

Thanks

[aadaneboy]

Use the princess link. I believe his tours for princess passengers are different in that he picks up at the pier, and knows when you must return. The other tours he offers may go longer than when the ship sails.

 

We will be on the TP next week!!!

 

When we booked Marcs tour, it took about 3-4 days to hear back from him. Very easy and with the great reviews, we can't wait for his tour!

[Ninjachyck]

We booked Marc, and I had about 3-4 day wait for a response as well. Can't wait, only 2 weeks to go until paradise!

[tahoe782]

Landlover - I read a review that recommended the 4x4 so that is what I e-mailed a reservation for. Thanks for the confirmation of our choice.

 

Tahoe782 - what e-mail address did you use. On the website there is an e-mail directly to marc for princess passengers (which I used) and then an e-mail for all other excursions. Let me know.

 

Thanks

 

Tsb2....I used huahinenautique@mail.pf

Hope that helps

Aleeta

[tsb2]

I have used those links suggested, used english and french and requested reply and no luck over the last two weeks. Maybe I will call. :rolleyes:

 

tsb2

[candydane]

I got an answer to my e-mail within 24 hours from Marc. It's possible he's been answering you but you haven't gotten his responses.

 

I'd guess your spam filter is blocking Marc's responses. With the exception of a few key words that get an e-mail automatically deleted, I have my spam filter dump e-mails into a spam folder. I'd say almost half of my e-mail responses from businesses end up in that spam folder! Then I at least scan through the subjects & senders BEFORE deleting the e-mails, checking any e-mails that are not obviously spam. E-mail responses can come back with unexpected senders and subjects and spam filters can use strange rules to determine spam.

 

I suggest that you send Marc another e-mail stating you think your spam filter may have deleted his earlier answers. Ask him to try one more time. Maybe even ask him to put a specific word in the subject line to help you find his answer. Then check every "spam" e-mail before you delete it for the next couple days. You could also have a friend use their e-mail service to try for an answer.

 

Good Luck!

[Bob100]

aadaneboy (or anyone who knows the answer) - what is the "princess" link for marc's tour? does marc offer an excursion through princess or does it have to be booked separately? thanks!!!!!!

[tsb2]

Bob 100 - Go to website www.huahine-nautique.com and the home page will have and american flag, click on the flag and it will take you to an english version of his excursion options. Scroll down and there will be a bright yellow option that says "Princess passengers only". Here Marc gives you two options, a 4X4 drive that meets up with the traditional picnic group, or the original outrigger canoe lagoon tour with picnic. No, Princess does not offer this excursion, however Marc specializes these tours to Princess passengers that book independently so as to pick them up at the dock and return them before the ship sails. Hope this helps, although I have yet to get a confirmation back but others have had good success. Let me know how your experience goes.

 

tsb2

[Bob100]

Thanks TSB2, that is extremely helpful info!

[maygoddess]

Hey Bob100..I just returned from the 9/1 sailing of the TP and we did Marc's tour and it was fantastic..well..at least the picnic part. Unfortunately, our cruise started out with rain..and when we arrived in Huahine, it was cold and rainy and we were handed rain slickers to wear on the canoe. It was looking dismal. They actually rerouted us to different snorkel locations..to the abandoned sofitel hotel that Marc is caretaking. Kinda eary to be walking inside a closed down hotel..and teh snorkeling was so-so..but then we canoed over to the picnic site and it was bright and sunny and made it worthwhile.

 

I will have a full review of my trip shortly. Be prepared for possibility of rain in some of the islands. We missed Rarotonga because of rough seas..no tendering..and our last few days in Moorea post cruise were rainy in the afternoon on some days..though the cruise day there was perfect..

 

 

 

Anyway...hope that helps! Marc is a great guy..may just be slow with email!

 

 

 

Princess actually does a similar motu picnic..not sure where they go to snorkel..but they picnic in the water just down the motu from Marc's..but have heaps of people..we had only 20..

 

 

 

Have a great time..the TP was a great trip...despite the rain and missing of one port!

[land lover]

We returned on Sept, 4th....... I remember reading some tips from your thread before we left......will be anxious to see your review and compare experiences since we traveled at similar times...our weather was so..so ...as well...but I remember when we were leaving the ship the weather looked threating and we had rain on our post... our day in Moorea on the cruise was the worst weather...but as you said still a great time......L:) ri

 

Did you see any sunsets? ours were usually clouded in ...but the sunrises:cool:

[maygoddess]

We returned on Sept, 4th....... I remember reading some tips from your thread before we left......will be anxious to see your review and compare experiences since we traveled at similar times...our weather was so..so ...as well...but I remember when we were leaving the ship the weather looked threating and we had rain on our post... our day in Moorea on the cruise was the worst weather...but as you said still a great time......L:) ri

 

Did you see any sunsets? ours were usually clouded in ...but the sunrises:cool:

 

Hi Lori!

 

Yeah..I had heard from a Moorea tour guide they day TP was in port that we lucked out with the weather as it usually rained when the ship was in. We had warm, sunny weather that day on the safari tour we did. On our 3 days post in Moorea...just as we were coming back from a motu picnic, it started raining..but it stopped and the sun came out. There were always threatening clouds hanging over us..with sun coming in and out.

 

As far as sunsets..yeah..same..though I may have missed some as we had early seating...but usually most ports were overcast by dinner time...but still warm...

 

but I kept saying that even a crappy weather day in paradise was better than being in a sunny day trapped in the office at home!!

[tsb2]

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I guess my e-mail was blocking his business. I routed him to a different e-mail and responded within 12 hours and said that he had tried several times to reach me before. This is a good tip for others who may have trouble reaching him in the future. We are booked for his 4x4 excursion and picnic. This is a fairly new option so I will write a review when we return in November.

 

Gratefully,

 

tsb2

[Jackiealu]

We are scheduled to take Marc's Moto Picnic with the morning 4x4 around the island next week on 9-23-05 (I can't wait).

He told me we would not miss much of the snorkeling when we do this option, we will still get the snorkeling in the afternoon.

I will be home the week of October 3, so will try to come back here and post a report.

Jackie

[land lover]

Jackie...believe me the boat ride around the island was loooong and the first stop for snokeling so so....the photos I saw of the blue eyed eels from the people we met for the pinic at the motu were :cool: You'll have a great time.

[LnJ]

We had a great time on Marc's motu picnic during June, 2004. Even though we were there in the "dry" season, it still was threatening rain in the early morning. Fortunately, it cleared up nicely.

 

For about a dozen captioned photos of the excursion, see the link below.

[turquoiseas]

Linda and Jim - Your photos and captions were fabulous! Thank you so much for sharing them! We aren't going until Jan. 29th and hope our weather is even half as great as yours looked. We're also booked on Marc's and Bruno's tours. Were you able to wear fins on Bruno's drift snorkel if you want to? I heard that he suggests that you not, but then a lot of people get cut on the coral due to difficult currents. It looked like people had fins on in your photo.

[Ninjachyck]

We just did Bruno's tour on Oct 7, and he opted not to do the drift snorkel through the coral gardens, we just snorkeled it on our own. He thought he would try something different, as this way we could spend more time where we wanted. It was amazing...saw 2 moray eels, as well as lots of amazing fish. We preferred this, as we had done a drift snorkel already with Marc's tour. :D

[turquoiseas]

We just did Bruno's tour on Oct 7, and he opted not to do the drift snorkel through the coral gardens, we just snorkeled it on our own. He thought he would try something different, as this way we could spend more time where we wanted. It was amazing...saw 2 moray eels, as well as lots of amazing fish. We preferred this, as we had done a drift snorkel already with Marc's tour. :D

 

So, are you saying that you did, or did not do the drift snorkel? When would you have done it on your own? The drift snorkel is what we want to do the most and that is why we booked the tour. What was it that he did for "something different?" Where did you spend more time "where we wanted?" How many were on your tour and how did you agree on what to do? Sorry, I don't understand your post :confused:

[andydee]

Flippers are a definite disadvantage on Bruno's snorkel; you need good coral shoes instead. You drift through dense coral in very shallow water which requires frequent changes of direction .It is impossible to do this without touching the coral with your hands. We didn't break any off but I did get one coral scrape on my forearm. So would I do it again? In a heart beat!!. It was much better xnorkelling than anything we experienced in the Cooks, Hawaii or The Great Barrier Reef and Marc's drift for that matter (although Marc's total package was fabulous. Hope that helps