Five stars out of five
This has got to be my favorite Hilton property. It is a resort with bungalows instead of normal hotel rooms, nestled in a lagoon on the north side of Moorea – a small island just off of Tahiti in French Polynesia. Extremely nice rooms, even if you do not splurge for the overwater bungalows. And the staff is fantastic – always happy to help with anything you need.
We pre-arranged transport to the hotel from the ferry dock. The hotels are not allowed to run their own shuttles, but they are allowed to arrange transportation for you through the local taxi companies. This cost about half the price of a regular taxi, however, there were plenty of taxis available when the ferry arrived, so we could have taken one of those if we did not have the shuttle waiting.
Another advantage of arranging transport through the hotel was that they knew when we were coming. As a result, the check-in process was amazingly smooth. The room was even ready early, so we could head straight over and freshen up – very nice since our flight arrived in Papeete at 6:00am.
While overwater bungalows are available, they cost a little more than our budget would support, so we ended up on land. That was not a bad thing, however, since we were upgraded to a suite – essentially two bungalow rooms together. This gave us two full baths, a full-sized living room area and a huge bedroom. The on-shore bungalows also come standard with a private balcony and small pool.
The hotel tries to be environmentally friendly – they make extensive use of solar panels for hot water and power. They also have a switch, triggered by your hotel key, that turns off almost all power when you leave the room (and take your key). Frequent travelers should note that they do abide by their stated policy of only taking towels left in the tubs (as opposed to many hotels where they take everything even if you rehang the towels). The towels were not always replaced immediately, but we never ran out. We received 2 complimentary bottles of water each night we were there, even though the hotel says that it will only provide bottled water on arrival.
The hotel has a full range of amenities, including:
· 2 restaurants (1 for breakfast, 1 for lunch; both serve dinner) plus 2 bars which also serve food
· A large swimming pool
· Free kayaking and snorkeling equipment
· Drinkable water (not common on Moorea)
· 2 American-style power outlets in each bungalow (no need for adapters)
· An activities desk that has a set of pre-selected activities available for purchase and a concierge that will help arrange pretty much anything else
· Weekdays at 4:00, by the pool, there is a short, complementary demonstration of a specific aspect of Tahitian culture – ranging from husking coconuts to creating a lei.
The local lagoon has some decent, if not world-class snorkeling and is shallow enough that beginners can feel comfortable in the area. We saw puffer fish, tangs, angels, gar, and many others – as well as a lot of urchins. There is also a public beach about 1 km from the hotel that has even better snorkeling Though we didn't see any, there are also stonefish and other creatures that can ruin your day in this part of the South Pacific, so water-goers should watch where they step and be careful to only look, not touch (and if you are walking in the water, shuffle your feet so you will nudge fish not step on them).
Something to watch for: black-tipped reef sharks congregate around the crepe restaurant (on the pier) after dark. It is magical watching their sleek bodies swim through the lights. Definitely worth staying up for.
The restaurants are expensive, as one would expect. Breakfast is served as a buffet and has a nice selection of hot and cold items, however it will run you about 3.500 PF (approximately 37 USD) per person if it is not included in your room package. For dinner, the main courses begin at approximately 2750 PF each with drinks ranging from 450 – 1300 PF (soda to cocktail). There is a special Polynesian dinner buffet and show on Saturdays (7000 PF / person) which is expensive but definitely worth the money – the buffet has a huge selection of seafood items and the show contains some interesting components that are atypical of “normal” Polynesian shows. (It should be noted that the price of the dinner buffet does not include any beverages.).
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