Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

You don't need water shoes??? Don't you need them for when you go on the tours?

I don't know how many times I've stubbed my toe on coral or other unknown sharp objects on the beach.

Anything that you wish you should have brought didn't???

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

You do need water shoes! I have been to other coral islands and you really need them! If you cut your foot it can fester and you can't swim anymore.
I think you should find out if your credit card company charges a fee on your purchases out of the country. I have been told that most charge a fee, so we are going to use cash for small stuff.

best,
evon

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

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Posted by glass012

I'm trying to make a list of things i need to buy for the honeymoon.
1) Did you buy and bring your own snorkel gear? If so...where would i be able to purchase one?
2) Do i need to have the water aqua shoes??
3) How much sunblock do i need to bring? I bought 2 bottles of Neutrogena SPF 55 from Costco the other day. Do i need more? Probably do right?
4) How much cash do i need to bring? Can i put everything on a credit card? Are there some places (like local grocery stores) that do not accept CC? If so, do i need to exchange the cash or do they accept US$?
6) Were you able to check in a litle earlier than the normal check-in time? The reason why i'm asking is that my flight arrives in Tahiti at 530am and we're planning to take the earliest ferry to Moorea and hopefully be able to check in our bags and start the day. If we're not able to check in i don't know what we will be able to do for all those hours with our luggage in tow.

SOrry so many questions...I'm getting really antsy about this trip. I'm really excited and i'm trying to put everything together!

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It's SOO funny to me how people's answers vary...everyone is different I guess...here are mine:

1) We brought our own snorkel gear and were glad we did - the stuff the tours and hotels provided just seemed a little dirty to us. Bought ours on amazon.com for I think somewhere around $15-20. Def. worth it.

2) You ABSOLUTELY need water shoes! Lots of coral - you don't want to cut your foot and get hurt! We wore our shoes anytime we went in the water off our OWB.

3) Sunblock - you DEFINITELY need more than your 2 bottles of 55. I know those Neutrogena bottles and they are small - you'll use them up in 3 days. The sun is SOO strong there - you constantly have to re-apply. I've had skin cancer scares so maybe I'm a little paranoid but we brought and used every last drop of: 1 - 50 SPF, 3 - 30 SPF and 1 - 15 SPF. We had smaller bottles of 30 and 15 that are just for face - 1 of each. Used every last drop we had. Also pack some aloe or after sun stuff. If you don't have enough and have to buy there - sunscreen is $35 a bottle and up there! Better to bring from home!
We saw SO many burnt and miserable looking people who got too much sun. We just re-applied and were fine...got nice tans and never burned.

4) We brought $1k in US cash - exchanged $500 of it at the airport when we arrived (yes you need to exchange it - they do not accept US cash). We used all $500 no problem but never needed to exchange more. We charged whenever we could but yes some places do not accept credit cards or some places machines were down sometimes and could only take cash. Bring some just to be safe.

5) We were able to check in early everywhere we went but we were there during low season. If you can't check in early every hotel has a room to hold onto your baggage for you until you can check in...just change into your bathing suit and go enjoy the pool or something.

Hope this helps!

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

sorry for all the different answers..

:)
but everything worked out wonderfully for everyone regardless.

so you'll be fine!

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

How much did you guys pay for the bbq at Hotel Bora Bora?

My TA just quoted us $110 pp.

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

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Posted by Bridex100

How much did you guys pay for the bbq at Hotel Bora Bora?

My TA just quoted us $110 pp.

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ditto

i just found out from my ta too
hey do you have claudia


i could have sworn i saw it for 60-75 pp

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

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Posted by Jess5790

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Posted by Bridex100

How much did you guys pay for the bbq at Hotel Bora Bora?

My TA just quoted us $110 pp.

---

ditto

i just found out from my ta too
hey do you have claudia


i could have sworn i saw it for 60-75 pp

---

Yes, I got the quote from Claudia.

I know I read somewhere that it cost $85.

Inflation or TA commission?

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

Has anyone booked Hotel Bora Bora show not through their TA? I would like to book in advance. We just booked VIlla Mahana for the 23rd...it took him a couple of days to get back to me!!

Also, is there like a 'must pack' list? I feel like i am clueless and dont know what to bring? If this list exsists can someone please post it?

I love lists (can't help it---i'm a teacher!)

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

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Posted by Bridex100

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Posted by Jess5790

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Posted by Bridex100

How much did you guys pay for the bbq at Hotel Bora Bora?

My TA just quoted us $110 pp.

---

ditto

i just found out from my ta too
hey do you have claudia


i could have sworn i saw it for 60-75 pp

---

Yes, I got the quote from Claudia.

I know I read somewhere that it cost $85.

Inflation or TA commission?

---

hopefully ta comission

im going to do a search nw
if i can book it cheaper, i will

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

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Posted by Jess5790

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Posted by Bridex100

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Posted by Jess5790

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Posted by Bridex100

How much did you guys pay for the bbq at Hotel Bora Bora?

My TA just quoted us $110 pp.

---

ditto

i just found out from my ta too
hey do you have claudia


i could have sworn i saw it for 60-75 pp

---

Yes, I got the quote from Claudia.

I know I read somewhere that it cost $85.

Inflation or TA commission?

---

hopefully ta comission

im going to do a search nw
if i can book it cheaper, i will

---

If you get a lower quote, could you please share your source? TIA!

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

I paid $85 per person for Hotel Bora Bora BBQ. We did have to take a $30 cab ride to get there from the Thalasso's sister resort - Le Moana. It is almost walking distance though...but not at night I guess. We had no idea it was so close - kind of bummed the cab was $30 but it was roundtrip so it was good he was there waiting for us when we wanted to leave.

It must def. be a TA commission - don't book thru your TA. Either email Hotel Bora Bora yourself to make a reservation or email your concierge...Jerome the concierge at Thalasso made the reservation for us. I emailed him ahead and he took care of it. But I don't even think you need to do this ahead - I think you'll still get in if you wait til you're in Bora Bora to make the reservation. It's on a beach so they can just keep adding tables and chairs if more people want to go.

Or tell your TA you know someone who just went and made the reservation thru their concierge and it was only $85 per person. She should not be charging you extra to make a dinner reservation for you...that's part of their job!

Good luck!

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

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Posted by KandE917

I paid $85 per person for Hotel Bora Bora BBQ. We did have to take a $30 cab ride to get there from the Thalasso's sister resort - Le Moana. It is almost walking distance though...but not at night I guess. We had no idea it was so close - kind of bummed the cab was $30 but it was roundtrip so it was good he was there waiting for us when we wanted to leave.

It must def. be a TA commission - don't book thru your TA. Either email Hotel Bora Bora yourself to make a reservation or email your concierge...Jerome the concierge at Thalasso made the reservation for us. I emailed him ahead and he took care of it. But I don't even think you need to do this ahead - I think you'll still get in if you wait til you're in Bora Bora to make the reservation. It's on a beach so they can just keep adding tables and chairs if more people want to go.

Or tell your TA you know someone who just went and made the reservation thru their concierge and it was only $85 per person. She should not be charging you extra to make a dinner reservation for you...that's part of their job!

Good luck!

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I'd almost bet that the additional cost is for transportation. I will confirm.

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

The Hotel Bora Bora buffet cost us $85 per person. We have booked it directly through the hotel. Don't book it through your TA. My agent did it direct for me as a courtesy, so there was no commission. We just pay when we get there. She's really helpful that way. She said the taxi, we are coming from the Thalasso to Le Moana via boat, then a cab to Hotel Bora Bora is about $10-15 each way. Expensive it seems like! But I guess everything in Bora Bora is that way!

best,
evon

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

I found the cutest water shoes! Lands End catalog, in lots of colors! Here's the link:
http://www.landsend.com/pp/SliponWaterShoes-74284_159115_253.html?sid=0718154426648122050&CM_MERCH=SRCH

I hope it works, just cut and paste the link!

best,
evon

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

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Posted by evonm

I found the cutest water shoes! Lands End catalog, in lots of colors! Here's the link:
http://www.landsend.com/pp/SliponWaterShoes-74284_159115_253.html?sid=0718154426648122050&CM_MERCH=SRCH

I hope it works, just cut and paste the link!

best,
evon

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Those are really cute!

In case you don't want to spend that much, my DH and I got ours at D i c k 's sporting goods... they were less than $15!!

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

IMO... must bring items:

*water shoes
*snorkel gear (for you and DH)
*pool floats (we brought 2) -- so nice floating out in the lagoon!!!
*bug spray (one can)
*sunscreen (used 1/2 a bottle but we tan easily)
*digital camera & lots of pic cards (we brought 2 xd cards that held about 500 pics total and had to buy another one while we were there b/c we still had 3 days left) -- we took over 650 pics and tons of video!
*travel games (we brought cards, uno, scrabble, etc...) and books (highly recommend Something Borrowed and also Something Blue, I read both within a couple days).


HTH!!!!!

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

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Posted by CaMacho

IMO... must bring items:

*water shoes
*snorkel gear (for you and DH)
*pool floats (we brought 2) -- so nice floating out in the lagoon!!!
*bug spray (one can)
*sunscreen (used 1/2 a bottle but we tan easily)
*digital camera & lots of pic cards (we brought 2 xd cards that held about 500 pics total and had to buy another one while we were there b/c we still had 3 days left) -- we took over 650 pics and tons of video!
*travel games (we brought cards, uno, scrabble, etc...) and books (highly recommend Something Borrowed and also Something Blue, I read both within a couple days).


HTH!!!!!

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Thanks for the shoe info Jess! I'll be sure to check out ****'s. THe Land's End shoes are really cute too!
I'm planning to buy the same Olympic waterproof camera that you have. I think it'll be a good investment. The underwater case for my Canon camera seems to cost AS MUCH as a new camera! But i never thought about the memory cards i'm going to need! OUCH~! That'll be more $$$!

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

Haha~! THey censored the name of the sports store~! So funny~!

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

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Posted by CaMacho

IMO... must bring items:

*water shoes
*snorkel gear (for you and DH)
*pool floats (we brought 2) -- so nice floating out in the lagoon!!!
*bug spray (one can)
*sunscreen (used 1/2 a bottle but we tan easily)
*digital camera & lots of pic cards (we brought 2 xd cards that held about 500 pics total and had to buy another one while we were there b/c we still had 3 days left) -- we took over 650 pics and tons of video!
*travel games (we brought cards, uno, scrabble, etc...) and books (highly recommend Something Borrowed and also Something Blue, I read both within a couple days).


HTH!!!!!

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Should we bring in our own pool floats?

Do you mean those things you lay on on top of the water?

Re: French Polynesia (Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc.) Honeymoons!!!!!!

Yeah, the blow up kind. We are bringing some blow up rafts and will just leave them there when finished.

Glad you girls liked the water shoes! I got pink!

best,
evon