FP Excursions

Next year we will be doing our first French Polynesia cruise (and our first time in FP) for our 40th anniversary. We have heard private excursions can be better than ship ones and that reserving them early is important. Plus, I'm a planner who likes to plan way ahead... :-)

We're looking to do just a few excursions rather than one every stop - we've gone that route before - and are looking for more R&R than "on the go." And our R&R is more about gorgeous natural scenery versus shopping, museums, demonstrations, etc.

We've also done lots of snorkeling before and we don't scuba so don't want to snorkel everywhere. And we're more interested in smaller, more intimate rather than larger group tours.

Which excursions on the following islands would everyone recommend for the best 2 or 3 scenic highlights?

- Tahiti

- Huahine

- Rangiora

- Raiatea

- Bora Bora (heard Patrick's is great)

- Moorea (staying 3 nites post-cruise in an OWB)

Thanks all! Brian

Moorea would suggest Mark Eddowes Trail of the Ancients

Huahine we usually take marc's trip ie Huahine Nautique. I heard the jet skiing with Marc is a lot of fun as well.

You will only have half a day in Rangiroa so the snorkelling in the aquarium would be recommended.

2 days in BB so suggest that you take the helicopter tour. DD loved it.

Spend an afternoon on the BB Motu

Motu Mahana don't do any excursion just relax.

Moorea would suggest Mark Eddowes Trail of the Ancients

Huahine we usually take marc's trip ie Huahine Nautique. I heard the jet skiing with Marc is a lot of fun as well.

You will only have half a day in Rangiroa so the snorkelling in the aquarium would be recommended.

 

2 days in BB so suggest that you take the helicopter tour. DD loved it.

Spend an afternoon on the BB Motu

Motu Mahana don't do any excursion just relax.

Agreed!

Also, we enjoy the wave runners on Moorea (or Bora Bora, but we like them better on Moorea).

But definitely, schedule nothing at Taha'a except R&R on Motu Mahana.

Not a lot of museums on these islands. There are opportunities for demonstrations of various kinds, often dance, sometimes on the ship itself.

The two museums that I know of are anthropological in nature, so if the history of the Polynesian culture interest you, there's the Museum of Tahiti and the Islands, on Tahiti itself, and on Huahine, a smaller one, but I can't remember the name. It was part of of an excursion called Sacred Sites and Legendary Places. It was very good, and included a hike up from the museum to a marae (temple), although even at the museum the whole shore was lined with family maraes, all ancient. Only shortcoming was that the guide was a bit preachy, but mostly in a good way.

Since you will be in Moorea for extra days, I will mention we did the ATV Moorea trip which is ranked #2 on Trip Advisor and we had a blast. I have ridden atv's a number of times, but found the atv's from this company to be very comfortable and fairly easy to control(sharp turning is always a bit tougher). It was a lot of fun and provided a good overview of island, but if you're not into riding over bumpy terrain and don't consider this "fun"(much more fun than informative), I would tell you to avoid it as it is expensive. They also take some pics of you and send themt o you through email within 24 hours which was nice. Interestingly enough, we saw the #1 excursion, "Franky's Frank tours" many times along the way and the people seemed to be having a VERY good time on that tour and he seemed quite knowledgeable.

We did Marc's private motu in Huahine and it was great with a combo of all. Patrick, as I understand, is PG's tour in Bora Bora now. I met quite a number of people who did it and had nothing but good things to say.

We did a sunset catamaran (and watched sharks and rays) and also the 3 Coconuts hike during our pre-stay on Moorea. We were the only couple on both. The hike was muddy, so you need to be reasonably sure-footed, but you get fabulous views from the saddle of the island. Starts out from Belvedere, so you get that vantage point, too.