The Official 2007 French Polynesia Thread

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Posted by Jess5790

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Posted by hayleyandsteve

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Posted by Jess5790

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Posted by hayleyandsteve

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Posted by Jess5790

did any of you get travel insurance?

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we diddddd

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did you use pacific for less?

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yes

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can i fm you a couple of questions?

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of course!

we got travel insurance too.

as for private picnic, i think there are cheaper tours, but not much cheaper ($500).

from what i hear they set up a table on the water as well as the grill. and the food is out of this world- including lobster, chicken, champagne, everything...

and its all private, just you and the fi. I also like that it is pretty much an all day excursion b.c you snorkel, do the shark sting ray feeding thing etc.
we'll see...

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Posted by hayleyandsteve

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Posted by Jess5790

did any of you get travel insurance?

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we diddddd

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Ok this may be stupis but we have travel guard insurance-I know this covers us if God Forbid we have to cancel the trip but does this also cover us while we are on the trip for things like injury, theft etc?

here is a review for one of the picnics.


We did the Keishi tour a couple of weeks ago and had a fabulous time and thought it was well worth the money.

The shark/ray feeding and the coral gardens are not truely private as these are very public places. But the advantage was, since it was just us, we were not on a tight schedule, and Keishi only does one tour per day for each of their 3 boats. We could stay longer or shorter at any place we wanted. We also anchored for a bit in the deep waters of the lagoon for a swim at our request. We also circled the main island and learned alot about Bora Bora history, people, and about Perot and his family. Another nice thing, especially for me, was when we got to the coral gardens, the wind and swells in the lagoon had picked up too much for my swimming abilities. So Perot (keishi's owner and our guide) watched and made sure I was doing OK while I stayed much closer to the boat while his son who was the guide on their second boat took my other half and the couple his son was with down to feed some moray eels.

The picnic was truely private. We were taken to private property at one of the motus that Perot and his family owned. We explored the motu while lunch was prepared. Although all three of Keishi's boats were out that day, we did not see anyone else during our motu picnic. I do not know where the other two boats went for their picnics. The food was fabulous and more than we could possibly eat - salad, poison cru, lobster, shrimp, steak, mahi mahi, fresh fruit, champagne, beer, and so much more.

edited to include email: [email protected]
-price if booked directly is $650 per couple

ok one last review!! can you tell i really want to go?!?!? honestly, after reading these reviews, i would be happy just doing this as my excursion.
figure excursion are about $200-$300 anyway..

ok last review:

Keishi Tours does private motu picnics. Perroit did our tour when we did it in Nov. but his son and also a cousin, I believe, joined the business as well.
Our tour with Perroit went something like this-Perriot picked my husband and me up at the Vaitape dock in the morning in his motorized outrigger canoe. He immediately offered us cold Hinanos and we took off across the lagoon to see the dolphins.
Afterward we headed out past the reef to feed the sharks. The three of us jumped into the bluest water I have ever seen. It was like swimming in blue ink but it was clear as a bell. I figured that we were in about 60 feet of water but we could see the bottom perfectly. Perroit had a big bucket of fish and it seemed like the sharks arrived immediately. There were at least a dozen or so and they were everywhere. They were all around us, circling us and swimming beneath us. It was the most unbelieveable experience. I never once felt in danger, the sharks could not have cared less that we were there. It was just so incredible to get to view them up close like that. We brought our disposable underwater camera and Perriot took several pictures of us with the sharks swimming in the background.

After the shark feeding we headed back to the lagoon. We anchored in about 3 1/2 feet of water and got out to pet and feed the sting rays. There were several swimming around and we got great pictures of that as well.

We then went around the other side of the island to the coral gardens located on the backside of the Sofitel Motu. We snorkeled around for about 30 or 40 minutes. Great snorkeling.

Then we circled the island more as Perroit pointed out hotels and other points of interest to us. Eventually he stopped the boat about 300-400 yards from the shore of a motu, gave us a supply of cold beer and told us to enjoy 'his pool' while he prepare our lunch. He drove his boat closer to the shore of the motu and we were left by ourselves in 2 1/2 feet of warm light blue water. About 30 minutes later he called us to the shore for lunch.

The table was set up in the water with an unbrella, white tablecloth and fresh flowers everwhere. There was a chilled bottle of champagne and real glasses, silverware, and china. None of the plastic stuff at Keishi, no way. He gave us both flower leis and begain serving us lunch. I don't think I can remember all the food, we had so much, but I know we had salad, poission cru, steak, fish, lobster, shrimp, potatoes, and bread all grilled on the grill set up in the water next to our table (except the salad and poission cru, of course). The food was fabulous and we had the most incredible view of Bora Bora in front of us. Beneath us, tiny fish were circling our legs waiting for bread crumbs to fall in the water. This may have been the happiest moment of my entire life up 'till now. I really can't think of anything that tops that moment. I was in heaven.

After lunch we did almost another complete circle around the island before we were taken back to the dock. It was a wonderful experience and what makes it so great is how genuine Perroit is. He is a wonderful man with the most engaging smile I've seen. He really loves what he does and seems to genuinely enjoy meeting people and showing them his island. I think he really is what Polynesia is all about.

We just booked our French Polynesia honeymoon!!!! We honestly didn't think we could afford it AT ALL, but our TA made it work for us!!!! I am so freakin excited!

We're not doing the direct flight because the next one after our wedding is the 17th - why wait 5 days when I could be in paradise in 2?

We're doing:

- 4 nights Sheraton Lagoon Resort & Spa in a garden bungalow
- 4 nights Intercontinental Le Moana Bora Bora in an OWB the entire 4 nights
- Breakfast and dinner each night (we'd rather know upfront how much we'll be spending and we couldn't pass up the deal our TA found for us)
- Motu picnic in Moorea
- Bloody Mary's for dinner in Bora Bora
- Cancel for any reason upto the day before Travel Insurance ('cuz hey, you never know!)

We'll do other activities, but decide once we get there. Wish we could stay another day or ten () but hey nine full days (ten with travel) in paradise is not bad, right?



FM me if you have pricing questions.

The motu picnic sounds great but we just couldn't see spending that much money on it. I have heard it's worth it though.
But you should try to do Villa Mahana still too b/c it is just SO romantic and beautiful and the food is out of this world! You can do it for cheap if you don't get apps or share one...don't get alcohol and share dessert! It's really not THAT expensive when you compare it to NYC restaurants!

As for trip insurance.....take it from me....GET IT!
We booked our honeymoon in Jan. 2006 for right after our wedding in Nov. 2006. In June 2006 DH's dad was diagnosed with Stage IV stomach cancer and he lived only 5 months...died just 8 days before our wedding. We were obviously not about to go on a honeymoon at that time so we cancelled just a few days before we were due to leave. We had no idea at the time of booking we'd ever need to cancel the HM...so thank god we got that insurance otherwise we would have been out a lot of money! Just get it - it's totally worth it!

Oh yeah, we definitely got the trip insurance!!! You just never know! I'm sorry about your FIL!

I did see the recent pics of your belated honeymoon and they look AMAZING!!!

As for the Motu Picnic, I have no idea how much it actually was because it is a part of the entire honeymoon package that our TA put together for us.

A little over 6 months until PARADISE!!!

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Posted by MrsQ-in2007

Oh yeah, we definitely got the trip insurance!!! You just never know! I'm sorry about your FIL!

I did see the recent pics of your belated honeymoon and they look AMAZING!!!

As for the Motu Picnic, I have no idea how much it actually was because it is a part of the entire honeymoon package that our TA put together for us.

A little over 6 months until PARADISE!!!

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yay! congrats! when are your dates???

I can't wait! we are def. doing the picnic. i just love the thought of taking off to some private island with a feast prepared just for the two of us!
can't wait!
and maybe we will still do Villa Mahana- just for entrees and a dessert.. good idea...
sorry to hear about your fil.

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Posted by hunnybunnyxoxo

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Posted by MrsQ-in2007

Oh yeah, we definitely got the trip insurance!!! You just never know! I'm sorry about your FIL!

I did see the recent pics of your belated honeymoon and they look AMAZING!!!

As for the Motu Picnic, I have no idea how much it actually was because it is a part of the entire honeymoon package that our TA put together for us.

A little over 6 months until PARADISE!!!

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yay! congrats! when are your dates???

I can't wait! we are def. doing the picnic. i just love the thought of taking off to some private island with a feast prepared just for the two of us!
can't wait!
and maybe we will still do Villa Mahana- just for entrees and a dessert.. good idea...
sorry to hear about your fil.

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We're leaving on Sunday 10/14/07 and returning on Tuesday 10/23/07.

I have to ask about our motu picnic - I don't know if we have one of the private ones or if we go in a group??? Our TA didn't say either way so I have no idea!

I *think* Villa Mahana is too out of our budget. We did the modified american plan for both islands (breakfast and dinner) so it would be like losing out on a prepaid meal.... We're doing Bloody Mary's but that's already included in our honeymoon package so it doesn't 'hurt' I do hear it's WONDERFUL though so if you go, have a great time!!!

*PS that was KandE's FIL, not mine*.

hunnybunnyxoxo, can you add me to the list of 07 FP brides? 10/14-10/23 (Moorea then Bora Bora)
-Yesenia

Thanks for bumping!

This thread is great. I have a lot of catch up reading to do.

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Posted by MrsQ-in2007

hunnybunnyxoxo, can you add me to the list of 07 FP brides? 10/14-10/23 (Moorea then Bora Bora)
-Yesenia

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Yesenia added to the list! woooohoooooooo!

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Posted by hunnybunnyxoxo

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Posted by MrsQ-in2007

hunnybunnyxoxo, can you add me to the list of 07 FP brides? 10/14-10/23 (Moorea then Bora Bora)
-Yesenia

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Yesenia added to the list! woooohoooooooo!

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Yay, thanks!!! Not to be a pain, but can you remove the '.' after Mrs? Just in case someone wants to FM me or whatever, if they type my username with the period, it won't work.

FP here we come!!!

ooops i forgot to say i was booked

can someone add my name to the list

Jess5790 October22-November 1st

so how many bathing suits are you bringing?

im thinking 6-8.

Fh and I want to go there. Can you ladies please FM prices and who you booked with. Is anyone staying in the huts on the water. FH and I really want to stay there at least one night.

TIA