Tahitian Cook Island Excursions

[JJHA04]

Hello,

 

Me and my wife are in the process of booking our excursions, however we want to make sure we're doing the best ones for the best prices. For each Island, can someone list a few of their favorite excursions and also list contact information for them. Also, we though of booking excursions directly with Princess, but they seem to be highly overpriced. So, if you could give us a few suggestions, it would be fantastic. We like to snorkel and are thinking about doing the Marc's Huahine Picnic/Snorkeling one. I've heard of Patricks and Damians, I think that is his name. Thank you.

 

Contact info would be great also

 

Thanks

[Spikesgirl]

We did all of our excursions through the ship, mostly because they were offering what we wanted without the hassles of dealing with indie tours. On Huahine, we did a drift snorkle, which was nothing short of spectacular. Our guide was informed, funny and seemed to know all the best spots - best of all, we never saw another tour group while diving.

 

We decided to skip booking anything in Rarotonga, mostly because dropping anchor there is so iffy. We walked into town, toured the university, the Pink Church and had the best fish and chips ever.

 

Raitea, we did another drift snorkle. The operator took us to Taha'a and again we had fantastic snorkling. We anchored off a motu and had fruit, juice, pastries and fed the fish.

 

Bora Bora - another snorkling adventure, this time with rays thrown in. This was the only excursion that I was less than content with. The water around the rays was milky and we had lots of company. The rays seemed almost blaise and weren't very keen on eating. After such incredible sites prior, this one was lacking a bit.

 

Moorea - we decided to hire a local driver and do our own circle tour.. Figured if worse came to worse and we missed the ship, we could see Tahiti from Moorea (it's a 15 minute ferry ride). Six of us hired a driver and had a very leisurely tour, always meeting the tour buses as we were leaving. Tiki Village was my favorite, even though it was closed because of a movie being filmed on site. It gave us a unique experience to see how a movie is shot on location.

 

Tahiti - we did a circle island tour before the cruise with a local driver and several of our shipmates. The rest of the time, we took Le Bus and just hung out. This is something that really lends itself to.

 

iNot sure of this was of any help, but I hope you have an incredible cruise. At lesat you're doing all your research and that always helps to make it a great experience.

 

Charlie

[lhbsurf]

We did just the opposite of Spike's Girl, mainly because we usually feel like herded cattle on ships tours, like to safely and conservatively explore "on our own" when possible, and have had fantastic luck with the excursions we've booked from Cruise Critic Advice.

 

We did pre-cruise on Moorea and 1 post on Tahiti at Intercontinental, so days in Tahiti at the Intercontinental on our OWB deck - heavenly.

 

On Huahine, we did Marc's 4x4 with snorkeling, it was one of the most relaxing days of my life, with a little sight-seeing, snorkeling, and history thrown in. I think his website is www.huahine-nautique.com

 

Raiatea, we chose the ship drift snorkeling tour, because for whatever reason, we just didn't want to do another full day tour. Ship was 1/2 day vs. Bruno's full day. There were several of us, but the Coral Garden at Taha'a was great. (I think they all go drift snorkeling in the same place.) If I had it to do over again, I'd probably just pick something up at the pier here - much cheaper for same experience from what I read.

 

Bora Bora, we did the Sunset Sail with Tara Vana with a Cruise Critic Group and just picked up a Circle Island tour at the dock during the day- it was good. Second day we zipped around the Bora Bora Lagoon on Jet Skis - it was not a docile tour, but probably my favorite ever. I booked it through Top Dive before we went, but our table mates were able to pick it up at the pier.

 

We didn't make Rarotonga.

 

Moorea, first trip we took the water taxi from the Intercontinental to the Motu for R&R and snorkeling (About $12 per person round trip). Second trip (on the ship) we rented a car and toured the island on our own (Keoni, the Pearl Guy on our sailing lives on Moorea, and that was his recommendation for the best thing to do on Moorea.) We picked it up on the pier and it only cost $60 for the day.

 

Honestly, I don't think there are many "bad" excursions in FP - on the ship or otherwise. Just do your homework and see what appeals most to you. It's Still Paradise no-matter what you do!!!;)