Marc's or Bruno's tour, how do they differ?

I am trying to decide whether I should do both of these tours or just one. Are they pretty much the same? Has anyone done both?

Hi Carolyn

I have done both and they areboth excellent. Yes, they are similar in that they both do circle island tours by boat, stops at a pearl farm and offer snorkelling but the highlights are different. In Bruno's case, the highlight is a fabulous drift snrkel over a coral garden and Marc's is the lunch and drinks served in the water under cabanas in a magical setting. You can choose to take up Marc's 4x4 tour which is more of a lannd based tour which still includes the above mentioned lunch and snorkelling in a coral garden. That is what we are doing this year. Hope that helps,

Cheers,

Andy

I agree with everything AndyDee stated, we just came back today from our TP cruise and loved both Marc's and Bruno's. We did the snorkel tour with Marc's and he left it up to all on board if they wanted to stop at the pearl farm or not, we chose to go to another snorkeling spot instead and then we met up with the 4X4 tour to have our picnic in the water, it was fantastic! We also loved Bruno's, the stops at the pearl farm and vanilla farms was very interesting and the drift snorkel through the coral gardens was absolutely the best snorkel we've ever done, the coral and fish were beautiful and unforgetable.

We also just returned from our 8-15-06 tour and I agree that you should do both tours!! The only way that you could not enjoy the tours is if you had some bad weather and that is unpredictable. If you compare the prices of the Princess Tours and then look at Marc's and Bruno's tours I don't see how you can go wrong. Some people have said that the day is to long but I found that the day sails by very quickly. :)

Go for it and enjoy!! We are ready to go back and will again book with Marc and Bruno.

Hi S&B!!

We just got our CD pictures from Bruno's processed, they were fabulous. That was such a great extra with his tour. And Sylvia is right on when you are comparing prices and crowds compared to the ship tours....book both Marc's and Bruno's, you won't be dissappointed.

How much was the CD?

It was $30 but we felt that the pictures that he took were so much better than ours and that it was not necessary to buy a disposable underwater camera, which we did onboard prior to the excursion for $20. Also he had taken close to 100 pictures not all of our excursion but beautiful underwater photography.

Was he able to get some pictures of you snorkeling? How many of those pictures were from your actual excursion? And did he take cash for the CD?

Yes, Bruno takes US $ 15 pictures were actually of our excursion, the others were things we saw in the coral garden snorkel but were not taken on our excursion. There are also pictures of the islands.

We just returned from 14 days in FP. We weren't able to try Marks (but wanted to) because we were only in Huahne from 11 a.m. - 5 or so. One couple did a jetski tour with him, and were very happy.

I did do a tour with Bruno L'excursion bleue -- tahaa.net -- Raiatea - Taha'a and it was one of the absolute best days of our trip. We paid in advance via PayPal, and received a discount.

We met Bruno about 200 feet from where the tender from Paul Gaugin dropped us off on Raiatea. His boat holds 12 pssengers, so it is not a crowded tour. Our first stop was a pearl farm, which was nice, and the next was a vanilla farm, for a classy, wonderful tour. We went from there to a motu, for an incredible lunch (Polynesian, and about the best food of the trip), as sell as snorkeling in a fabulous area, and then to another area for drift snorkeling over coral (as with all FP beaches, wear beach shoes..and for drift snorkeling, I recommend gloves.) Brno was very interesting and went out of his way to provide great service. He even had some terrific hot tea for us on the jounrey back to Raiatea.

I highly recommend this tour. Tell him Alan (the Croc shoes guy) says hello.

One last thing....I don't about the references to photographs for sale. There were none on our tour, although Bruno did use our camera to snap a few shots for us (no charge).

Didn't try Bruno's, but we had a TREAT with Marc.

When we arrived, we had not booked ahead but hoped to get on Marc's water tour/snorkel/lunch. As luck would have it, he filled quickly and we just missed making it on the boat (we were a group of four).

Marc was at the pier and made a quick decision. he took the four of us and two others for the 4x4 trip and onto lunch......but he took us himself! It is NOT a 4x4 trip, except you are in a 4x4. Pretty easy roads, nothing rough.

Marc gave us a GREAT personalized tour of the island, explained lots of history and what happens on the islands, the culture, the gov't (we were there during elections). He took us to his restaurant for drinks (comp) and onto his home before we went snorkeling. He crewed the boat himself, treated us all like royalty and never collected until the end. When he did collect, he charged less than we agreed to at the start.

MARC'S!!!!!!!!!!

We got a similar good luck tour on the dock in Moorea with Hero. he took the boat out himself and sat with us chatting away.......

So you can take a boat tour with Marc instead of the 4X4?

Can someone tell me how rough the 4X4 was?? I don't have the best back and am worried about being shaken up a bit?

Also, do either Bruno or Marc's boat (if Marc does have a boat tour)have bathrooms on board? Thanks so much!

We did Marc's 4x4 last week and it was not bumpy or rough at all. I highly recommend this tour.... especially if you enjoy Hinano and rum punch.

can someone please post the contact info for Marcs. Thank you

Can anyone tell me how they got a confirmation from Marc?? I booked his Motu Picnic about a month ago for my husband and myself for a Sept. cruise on the PG. and have not heard anything from him. I sent the fomr in again 2 times last week thinking maybe I did it incorrectly. I still haven't heard a word.

Did everyone receive confirmations?? How quickly did you get them back? I want to have something in writing so I know we have this excursion. I also booked Damien's in Bora Bora and had the confirmation the next day. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Micked10

Can anyone tell me how they got a confirmation from Marc?? I booked his Motu Picnic about a month ago for my husband and myself for a Sept. cruise on the PG. and have not heard anything from him. I sent the fomr in again 2 times last week thinking maybe I did it incorrectly. I still haven't heard a word.

Did everyone receive confirmations?? How quickly did you get them back? I want to have something in writing so I know we have this excursion. I also booked Damien's in Bora Bora and had the confirmation the next day. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Micked10

Good question, I too am wondering how long it takes him to reply, I heard from Bruno the same day of my request( unfortunately I waited too long and he is booked up for our cruise) but it been 3 days and not a word from Marc. If reservations are booked up we would like to make other plans, hope you along with us get a reply soon. I know everyone speaks of Island time but a month?

Yes, I will keep my fingers crossed for you too. I agree--a month--way too long. When do you cruise?? hope we hear something soon. If you get a confirmation please let me know and I will do the same.

micked10

I booked my excursion with Marc back in October of '06 for my cruise in October of '07 and heard back from him within a week to confirm.

I emailed him in late May to confirm again and he got back to me in 3 days. (6/2) Not sure why you haven't heard back from him.

The email I always use is: huahinenautique@mail.pf

--Kathy

He's been prompt with us too. Sometimes they have problems with the internet on the islands. Keep trying!

Thanks Kattom and Princess-of-quite-a lot ( love that title!)

I am e-mailing him right away. I did not have that e-mail and just used the one from the reservation form online. Thanks for your help!

Yes, I will keep my fingers crossed for you too. I agree--a month--way too long. When do you cruise?? hope we hear something soon. If you get a confirmation please let me know and I will do the same.

micked10

We cruise Oct. 1st.. Hope that e-mail address works. Please let me know. I used the form on the web site also.:confused:

Just checked my e-mail and nothing yet. If you hear anything let me know please.

Micked10

Just checked my e-mail and nothing yet. If you hear anything let me know please.

Micked10

Checked e-mail and had a reply from Marc this morning. This was in reply from the form on his web site.... His E-mail came from "Huahine Nautique"<huahinenautique@mail.pf> . I believe thats the same one that Kattom posted. Hopefully you will hear something soon.

Just a thought, could it have gone to a bulk or spam folder? This was not the case this time but I do have to check mine every so often.