Need Shore Excursion Advice 7 day Cruise

[JIMinNC]

Shore excursion booking will open in a couple weeks for our June 8 cruise, so we need to decide what we want to do. It is our first trip on PG. My wife is not a big snorkeler (even with flotation, and she may not snorkel at all except where water is no more than 4 feet deep). I'm not even an expert snorkeler myself, but am comfortable in any water depth with a flotation belt or something like that. Does PG provide flotation gear in addition to masks/fins? I do want to snorkel as much as I can (nothing too advanced), but also need some excursions my wife will enjoy, either on or off the water. Also, as I mentioned in a thread a few weeks ago she is dealing with a sore hip, but she did very well on a 3 week trip we just finished to Hawaii, the only issues were long walks. So we would want to avoid any land tours that involve a LOT of walking.

 

My thoughts so far are:

 

Huahine - Island Exploration by Pirogue & Safari Truck (6224) or Cultural Highlights of Huahine (2300). Any experience with those? What else should we do on that island?

 

Taha'a - Motu Mahana basically all day, I think.

 

Bora Bora - two days here - definitely want to do Lagoon Excursion & Polynesian Feast (1602) and maybe a land tour (which one?). When would be the best time to go to the PG Bora Bora Motu? Is the Feast in 1602 at the PG motu or elsewhere?

 

Moorea - two days here - maybe do Island Drive and Belvedere (1794). What would be a good water activity here?

 

My wife and I love sunset cruises and boat cruise tours in general (we did eight boat trips of one kind or another during our Hawaii trip), so we were thinking of a catamaran or outrigger sunset cruise on day 1 in either Bora Bora or Moorea. Other boat activities we should consider?

 

We will also being staying at the Hilton Moorea for three nights post-cruise, so we can catch other things on that island during those days. How do the experts see that post-cruise stay impacting what we choose to do on the cruise?

 

How quickly do the PG excursions usually book up?

 

Sorry for SO many questions, but thanks in advance for any tips.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 25, 2019 by JIMinNC

[justmeindustland]

Many of the tour operators provide flotation devices.  In fact some of them require you wear them. 

 

Look at the descriptions on the water tours.  I have been in areas in both Bora Bora and Moorea that I could stand up in.

[sita]

Flotation bibs are available from the ship’s marina, ask and they will toss one in with your other snorkel equipment that you chech out for the cruise.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

If you're staying on Moorea post-cruise, then the Island Drive and Belvedere might be a nice introduction to the island when you're on the cruise.  I've done the sunset cruise on Moorea, but not Bora Bora, so can't comment except that the Moorea one was nice (we also did the daytime one, but wouldn't recommend that snorkeling for your wife--the water of the lagoon is still, but deep). If you like messing around in boats and being on the water,  you might like Dr. Poole's Dolphin Watch on Moorea.  If not on the cruise, you can probably get in touch with his company and plan it for after the cruise.  There are tour operators who will take you on different sorts of snorkel trips, including ray feeding, etc.

 

I haven't stayed at the Hilton Moorea, but I suspect you can snorkel from the hotel, which might suit your wife since she can just toddle around within her depth.  I don't know this, just guessing.  There are public beaches on Moorea as well, but none near the Hilton, at least that I know of.  

 

If you have a rental car for your post-cruise, that changes things.  You could have lunch one day at Les Tipaniers, a small hotel with a restaurant on the beach.  You can then laze around and swim/snorkel from shore.  There is a tour operator next door as well, and the area offshore is a popular one for water tours.

 

Don't forget water shoes, there are lots of sharp shells and sometimes worse, so they are essential for most water activities.  

[davwen81]

Voil’a Moorea have a 2 hour sunset cruise and will pick up and drop you off at the Hilton Moorea. Doing it in a couple of weeks so can come back and let you know what it was like. 

[JIMinNC]

Thanks so much for the replies so far on flotation aids and Moorea options. Any additional feedback on my questions above on the Huahine land tours and our priorities on Bora Bora?

[SWFLAOK]

On 3/25/2019 at 1:59 AM, JIMinNC said:

Huahine - Island Exploration by Pirogue & Safari Truck (6224) or Cultural Highlights of Huahine (2300). Any experience with those? What else should we do on that island?

We haven't done either of those, but I've bypassed selecting Cultural Highlights (2300) since walking around the main town sounded a little boring, since there's not much there. I don't think 6224 was available on either of our cruises since I'm always up for an easy snorkel, and probably would have done that. We did HHN-4, Day at the Beach and we loved it. There were only 6 of us on the bus to the resort, there were almost no resort guests, and the pool and lunch were great. We had picked this because our cruise was from Tahiti to Fakarava to the Marquesas and back to Huahine. There are no beaches in the Marquesas so we knew we would want something like this, and it worked for us. On our last cruise, we did Huahine Iti by 4x4, HHN-6226. There were 8 of us in the back of a pickup truck. It was covered and had drop down steps to get on and off.  There were 2 young women who conducted the tour and we made a lot of stops. If I had brought my mask and snorkel I would have snorkeled under the dock at the Relais Mahana at Aveo Bay where we stopped for refreshments. We learned a lot about life on the island.

 

On 3/25/2019 at 1:59 AM, JIMinNC said:

definitely want to do Lagoon Excursion & Polynesian Feast (1602) and maybe a land tour (which one?). When would be the best time to go to the PG Bora Bora Motu? Is the Feast in 1602 at the PG motu or elsewhere?

We enjoyed 1602. The motu where the lunch is held is further north than the PG motu. It's owned by the family that runs the excursion. After stopping to see the sharks in deep water (I stay on the boat for that), walking on the sandbar with the stingrays and small sharks, and going for a short snorkel on a near shore reef, we went around the entire island and stopped at the motu for lunch. Family members have the meal ready to dig up and serve, and it was delicious.

We also did the Day at the Beach. It's a beautiful resort and the view of Bora Bora from the hotel's motu across the lagoon can't be beat. It's a long trip to get there and back, waiting for the bus to the first hotel, then waiting for the boat to the hotel on the motu, and the boat trip. The service at the restaurant for lunch was terrible.

We went to the PG motu on our first cruise. It was OK, but it's right on the harbor so you don't get any of the feeling of how beautiful the lagoon is. The water was a little choppy the day we went so snorkeling wasn't very good.

We haven't been tempted by the land tours. Many years ago, we stayed on Bora Bora at the Sofitel for a week. We rented a car one day. We drove around the island twice, up the hill, stopped in town and ate at a beachfront restaurant for lunch. After lunch we turned in the car. We saw everything on land that there was to see in 5 hours (lunch included).

[SeasickLikely]

Just got back from PG 7 Night Tahiti and Society Islands. We stayed at the Moorea Hilton in the premium over water bungalows pre-cruise. They have snorkeling at all depths of water and a great variety of fish and coral. The Hilton has complimentary snorkels, masks and fins. They say that they are due at 5pm each night, but my sister kept them our for our whole 2 night trip. 

 

Edited March 31, 2019 by SeasickLikely
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[JIMinNC]

Thanks for all the thoughts and ideas. Shore excursion booking opened up today, and I was able to reserve:

 

Huahine - Island Exploration by Pirogue & Safari Truck (HHN-6224) - 9am - 12:30pm

 

Bora Bora Day 1 - Lagoon Excursion & Polynesian Feast (BRB-1602) - 9am - 2pm

 

Bora Bora Day 2 - Bora Bora Island Tour by Le Truck (BRB-1608) - 9am-11:30am

 

My biggest question now is which land tour on Moorea? We want something that is more than just a "drive-by" tour, and want a lot of stops for scenic photos, island life, etc. We don't know enough about the island to tell from the descriptions which one meets our needs best. The three we're trying to decide between are:

 

MOO-6893 - Moorea Photo Safari

MOO-1794 - Island Drive and Belvedere

MOO-5544 - Aito Off-Road Safari

 

Any additional thoughts  on those?

[SWFLAOK]

I wouldn't expect any of these to give you much of an experience with island life, other than seeing it go by as you pass through areas. I haven't done any of these excursions, but have driven all of the roads on the island on 2 different trips (one a week long stay at what is now the IC Moorea back in 1995, and the other time was a car rental from Avis on a PG cruise in December 2017). Off-road is usually a slow, bumpy way of seeing the same things you would see in a more comfortable ride. We usually only use our cell phones to take pictures, so the Photo safari would be beyond us. That would leave my pick as MOO-1794.

[JIMinNC]

14 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

I wouldn't expect any of these to give you much of an experience with island life, other than seeing it go by as you pass through areas. I haven't done any of these excursions, but have driven all of the roads on the island on 2 different trips (one a week long stay at what is now the IC Moorea back in 1995, and the other time was a car rental from Avis on a PG cruise in December 2017). Off-road is usually a slow, bumpy way of seeing the same things you would see in a more comfortable ride. We usually only use our cell phones to take pictures, so the Photo safari would be beyond us. That would leave my pick as MOO-1794.

 

I had initially leaned toward 1794, but the more I read the description, it wasn't clear if it was more of a drive-by tour or if the bus actually stops at most of the places mentioned in the description. The description specifically mentions a couple stops, but is rather vague on the nature of the visits to the other areas. I'm a fairly serious photographer with pro-level cameras, so the photo safari is interesting, but I'm also wary of that one as many such photo treks are targeted at more basic-level photographers, so I don't want to spend $300 for two people for a more beginner-level tour. Those facts have me leaning towards the off-road trip, but am not totally convinced, hence my question above.

[SWFLAOK]

The photography tour mentions magic mountain, which is definitely a great place to take photos. Some people walk up from the tender drop-off spot, but it's always been too hot for us to try it. We've always gone in their summer. We've found that there are quite a few cruisers on the PG that would rather not take the excursions offered and would rather just explore on their own. We drove 2 people back to the tender  drop-off spot from le petite village. They had walked for over an hour to get there, had stopped at the same place as we did for lunch, and were unsuccessful in finding a taxi to take them back. We had the rental car, and brought them back to the tender pick-up. 

I think the people who sign up for the photography tour will really be people who are interested in photography since they're paying for the tour. The 150 per person might deter those who are only mildly interested. 

 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

On 4/11/2019 at 11:06 AM, JIMinNC said:

I had initially leaned toward 1794, but the more I read the description, it wasn't clear if it was more of a drive-by tour or if the bus actually stops at most of the places mentioned in the description

 

We've done both this one and 5544, the 4x4, in past years.  Both have multiple stops.  The Island Drive, as I remember, stops at the agricultural station, the distillery and I goes up to the Belvedere, so that's three stops at least. There may have been one other stop of the shopping variety, I can't remember.  The 4x4 trip did the same, plus the Magic Mountain, where you drive up the peak just to the side of Oponahu Bay and then climb up to the top on foot.

 

I'm sure if you phone PG, they will tell you the details of both excursions.