Rangiroa help needed.

I will be stopping for one day at Rangiroa in April on board the Oceania Marina. I've been trying for several weeks to get in contact with ANY tour operator for Rangiroa. I've had no luck in getting any response. If anyone has any contact info, I'd greatly appreciate your passing it on. You can send me a message via Cruise Critic.

If there aren't any tour operators, is it possible to just walk to a nice beach nearby?

We stopped there for a day from the Paul Gauguin and then I went back and spent 6 nights there. The more famous blue and pink lagoon are not accessible during a day trip as they are about a 1 hour boat ride from the area that the ship usually stops. Presuming you stop in the same place that the PG did then when you get to shore there is little there other than a small grocery store.

If you are a diver there are good options with either Top Dive or The 6 Passengers. If you are looking for snorkeling that is more challenging. I would still contact Top Dive and ask them for recommendations as well as contacting the Kia Ora as they do have excursions and see if they can put you in touch with anybody.

Have you tried these folks?

https://www.facebook.com/Tereva-tane-e-vahine-excursions-Rangiroa-255890187810425/

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/tahiti-and-french-polynesia/tuamotu-islands/rangiroa/activities/boating-cruises/tereva-excursions-jean-pierre

They don't have a email address listed but there is a phone number. We did an excursion to the Blue Lagoon on a port call while on the Ocean Princess in February 2014. Don't know if they are still in operation and perhaps you've tried them.

The trip to the Blue Lagoon is worth the effort. It's about a 1 hour boat ride from where the ship docks and the ride back is quite bumpy but it's worth it, one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to.

If you do have some success in finding a tour operator, post an update as questions about excursions in Rangiroa seem to pop up on here every couple months.

Good luck!

We were in Rangi in November and can recommend a trip to the Aquarium with Ugo Angley. We booked him through the ship, but you might want to call The Kia Ora (http://eu.hotelkiaora.com/b/s/hotel-kiaora.html) and see if they have a direct line to him.

You might also want to try - http://www.raiemantaclub.com/ as they also offer a snorkel trip to the Aquarium.

Another alternative would to be 'shoot the gap' but you have to be pretty strong swimmers for that, although swimming with the rays and sharks is pretty incredible.

As for beaches, the best is at Kia Ora, but they have been getting cranky with cruise visitors, so you might want to try down the coast a little.

Hi. I'm on a similar O cruise - currently heading to Fakarava & Rangiroa after the Pitcairn experience today. I struggled with finding something to do, and emailed several companies pre-cruise. I finally booked with 6 Passengers for a simple snorkeling trip to the Aquarium, which isn't too far from the tender pier. I'm not much of a snorkeler (only done it once) but am going to give it a try. I can tell you that the famous "Ato" who does a lagoon trip and lunch on a motu will probably be booked up. A couple other operators never responded to my emails, but I was too cheap to call them. Perhaps if I had, I could have worked something out. I'm thinking there might possibly be one or two operators available at the tender pier.

In the afternoon, we're planning to go to the Kia Ora Hotel (I believe Oceania calls it Kia Hotel on their televised port talk, and hopefully they won't be cranky) to see about lunch or at least drinks at their bar. There's also supposed to be a small pension that offers lunch not far from the tender pier. I'm also hoping there is scooter rental at the tender pier, too, although there isn't a whole lot to see I Rangiroa from what I've heard. We love to just explore, though, so anything will do after so many days at sea!!! At least there have been LOTS of activities on board, and the weather has been good.

Hope you enjoy your cruise. It's certainly an unusual one....time changes are a little crazy, though. I think tomorrow night we go through our 6th since leaving Valparaiso! If you have specific questions, just ask (Valpo, Robinson Crusoe, Easter Island, Pitcairn experience, Fakarava, Rangiroa, Bora Bora, Papeete). WiFi has been very limited though (at least since leaving Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile) so don't expect a next day reply!

Have you joined your Roll Call? Ours was quite active and others have arranged trips to the Blue Lagoon.

Just posting again so I can change the thread subscription type!

We used the six passengers for a dive and they were good. Their shop is about 1.5 miles from the pier. Their shop is adjacent to the Lagoon Grill, probably the best place we ate while on the island. Pricey but less expensive than the Kia Ora which is crazy pricey. If you choose not to have lunch on the ship perhaps the six passengers will take you to their shop (verify that the restaurant is open) and then taxi back after lunch.

Thanks for the information. I noticed that Lagoon was close to 6 Passengers, but didn't know anything about it.

Hi. I'm on a similar O cruise - currently heading to Fakarava & Rangiroa after the Pitcairn experience today. I struggled with finding something to do, and emailed several companies pre-cruise. I finally booked with 6 Passengers for a simple snorkeling trip to the Aquarium, which isn't too far from the tender pier. I'm not much of a snorkeler (only done it once) but am going to give it a try. I can tell you that the famous "Ato" who does a lagoon trip and lunch on a motu will probably be booked up. A couple other operators never responded to my emails, but I was too cheap to call them. Perhaps if I had, I could have worked something out. I'm thinking there might possibly be one or two operators available at the tender pier.

 

In the afternoon, we're planning to go to the Kia Ora Hotel (I believe Oceania calls it Kia Hotel on their televised port talk, and hopefully they won't be cranky) to see about lunch or at least drinks at their bar. There's also supposed to be a small pension that offers lunch not far from the tender pier. I'm also hoping there is scooter rental at the tender pier, too, although there isn't a whole lot to see I Rangiroa from what I've heard. We love to just explore, though, so anything will do after so many days at sea!!! At least there have been LOTS of activities on board, and the weather has been good.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise. It's certainly an unusual one....time changes are a little crazy, though. I think tomorrow night we go through our 6th since leaving Valparaiso! If you have specific questions, just ask (Valpo, Robinson Crusoe, Easter Island, Pitcairn experience, Fakarava, Rangiroa, Bora Bora, Papeete). WiFi has been very limited though (at least since leaving Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile) so don't expect a next day reply!

 

Have you joined your Roll Call? Ours was quite active and others have arranged trips to the Blue Lagoon.

Hi roothy, I am on Marina in the FP area in March/April. Do you recommend the ship internet, or do you buy local sim cards as some suggest? The internet on Insignia was slow as a wet week in Europe 18 months ago, and some say you simply cut yourself off while in the Pacific. Yet there you are!

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I'm not very tech/phone savvy, so can't help much, but will try. We had free internet from O on the cruise, so I simply used that. I used my own small laptop in my room (deck 7) or a ship's computer. Of course, now everyone seems to carry an ipad or at least a smartphone, and a lot of people had free internet for this cruise, so if you expect to have the same reception way out to sea 4800 miles from shore you'll find WiFi a bit different than from what you experience at home. I never even tried my cellphone (smartphone but not IPhone, TMobile service) so can't say if that would have been better or worse, and whether there was any phone service. I didn't buy sim cards. In Valparaiso and soon after, internet was quite fast, even when tons of people were on it. Our itinerary took us straight out west and a little south into the south Pacific (Robinson Crusoe, 420 miles off coast, then long stretch to Easter Island, then to FPolynesia). As we went farther out into the Pacific, it got a little spotty (TV reception, too, though). Around Easter Island it was almost non-existent for me, but of course EI is described as the most remote place on earth, so I wasn't surprised. I think I went almost 3 days without being able to get gmail or Facebook, but of course, that wasn't the end of the world. As we neared FP, I found things got better, although there were good times and bad, mostly timed to when people on the ship were up! It doesn't help that many people don't think to log out after use, so I guess things can worsen for a while due to that. There were also lots of people sending pictures, and I don't know if they compressed them before sending them.

We had 7 time changes (to an hour earlier) between Chile and FP, so I was up by at least 5 or 6 AM many days. I found WiFi to be quite good then, as probably far fewer people were using the WiFi. It was also not bad during dinner time, but AM was definitely the magic time. French Polynesia was better than farther east in the south Pacific, but still required some waiting and patience, and probably some times when you just can't get on at all. Pre-cruise, I found that emailing some tour operators required patience as well. I read (assume it's true) that internet is purchased in weekly blocks, not months, so some operators don't turn on their computer every day to respond to messages. It's also quite expensive, so used only when necessary. If you're into private (or group) excursions, plan them pre-trip as you can't count on having WiFi when you need it on the ship.

I'm not very phone savvy, so I don't know if buying sim cards will help pick up the satellite for WiFi or just allow phone conversations. I never used my phone for calls, except once pre-cruise, when it DID work for that, with a moderate fee (T Mobile). We simply gave the ship's emergency number to our friends and told them to use that if needed, but otherwise just used email to communicate. For what it's worth, I found gmail harder to get than Facebook, and Internet Explorer a bit more reliable to use than Google. I often went to the internet café (Oceania at Sea) rather than stay in my stateroom with my laptop when things were shaky. Might want to try outside, too. Baristas was good because in early morning, there are little snacks, plus nearby outside and inside tables, and it's near O at Sea. Horizons has coffee 24/7. so I went up there once or twice early morning with my laptop - coffee, view of sunrise, small tables.

Enjoy French Polynesia. Bora Bora was spectacular. The atolls we went to (Fakarava and Rangiroa) were quite nice, but of course, there is much less to see and do there, so do a little research pre-cruise. In a few weeks I hope to get pictures up on my http://www.pbase.com/roothy123 site.

Thanks for all your info, Roothy! On our last cruise we had free internet too, but not on this next one. I am considering our options for entertainment, because, as you say, it will be quieter in those islands. The emergency number is a good idea, I hadn't thought of that. We found the service on Insignia slow, in fact I logged into free internet in a cafe in Sardinia, and loaded photos that had been stuck 'loading' in my phone, in a snap! That was a nice surprise.

Hope you continue having a peaceful and beautiful cruise. You are missing Australia?

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Australia is definitely on our bucket list, but no, we didn't make it that far over.

Yes, internet on a cruise ship is always pokey, and personally I think it's getting worse, as just about everyone now has ipads, phones and other things they expect to be operable 24/7.

Pictures from our journey are here: http://www.pbase.com/roothy123

Roothy123, Thanks for the lovely photos. We are planning this trip for next year. I am interested to see if you had any feedback from cruisers who went on Oceana's trip to the Aquarium. Thanks for the feedback. We usually do private tours but this one looks reasonable. Thanks

Roothy123, Thanks for the lovely photos. We are planning this trip for next year. I am interested to see if you had any feedback from cruisers who went on Oceana's trip to the Aquarium. Thanks for the feedback. We usually do private tours but this one looks reasonable. Thanks

I never heard any feedback on Oceania's trip to the Aquarium, so can't really say. I do remember it was sold out just pre-cruise, so if you want to go, you might want to book early. Not sure what you'll find, but for our cruise, O's excursion was offered three different times, around 11:30, 1:30 and 3:30. The Aquarium is maybe a 10 minute boat ride from the tender pier, which is located on one side of the tiny island (islet? motu?) that's in the middle of Tiputa Pass, where you come into the lagoon. Six Passengers first took us to their office to suit up (provided wet suits & snorkel stuff, including fins) and that took about a half an hour. I suppose O's tours might take you straight from the tender pier to the Aquarium, but I'm really not sure as I didn't speak to anyone who did the O tour. Then 6 Pax took us to two places (one, a coral reef, the other out farther, near little island and lighthouse) for each about a half hour before going to the Aquarium. I'm not sure if that was timed to best coincide with best conditions or not, but in any case, I guess it was maybe 10:30 or 11 when we reached the Aquarium. It was pretty crowded with boats and snorkelers, but we slowly nudged our way in (I think there were passages marked off). Don't know if you use Google Earth, but if so, you can see lots of little blobs that are boats on one side of the little island. That's the Aquarium area. Unfortunately I had left my glasses at Six Pax office so couldn't see a lot, but it seemed there were small bunches of people around (maybe 8-10 max), with boats near by, some snorkelers with noodles or a flotation mattress and some without, and some with wetsuits and some without. My husband took off his fins - said they weren't really needed and were getting in the way.

He liked the Aquarium the best, and while it was pretty crowded, there were no problems bumping into people or not seeing fish - many, many fish! The only thing possibly negative I can say about Six Pax (which was cheaper than O's excursion, but maybe not by much - think it was around $50 each) was that there was no real ladder or platform on the zodiac, so you had to swim up to the zodiac and then Tom and/or Mana grabbed you and pulled you over the side and onto the bottom of the boat. We were all at least 50 years old and few of us petite, so it was not the most graceful or easy entry by any means! It looked like the other boats there were NOT zodiacs, so they probably had an easier way to get in/out of the water.

I think there were a few boat operators at the pier offering trips to the Aquarium, but not a lot, so I would definitely do an O excursion or pre-arrange something. It was also the only day we shared a port with another cruise ship, which probably meant the vendors on Rangiroa were really busy. The Holland ship anchored on the other side of the pass and used another tender pier, but I assume they had trips to the Aquarium as well, so I was happy I had pre-arranged something before leaving home. Rangiroa was hopping that day. My afternoon was fun, as I just wandered around on both sides of the pass. We were anchored on the better side in my opinion - could walk and see more than on other side that Holland was using. I had originally thought I would walk to the Kia Ora Hotel, but ended up not going that far. There's a little snack bar right at the tender pier, some vendors, bike rentals, a few people offering boat excursions and more people looking for their people who had pre-arranged excursions. There are two water taxis across the pass, $5 each way. Didn't get a picture of the boats, but you can kind of tell which ones they are, or just ask someone. They come on either side of the tender pier dock, sometimes shouting out, "Taxi" and coming every half hour or so. One thing I meant to do was look for dolphins around the ship when we approached and came through the Tiputa Pass, as other Cruise Critic people have mentioned seeing them. Our Captain announced we would be coming through the pass around 7:15 (for anchoring at 8) and that's about the time we came through. Ships have to time it according to tides, apparently. By the time I got up, I was lucky I saw what I did. If you want to see the actual two sides of the pass, way up top on Marina (front of ship, by the sports stuff) is best, but you'll be viewing and photographing it from behind the windscreen there. Coming back out, you might get a better view from the Terrace restaurant outside, or else up top on 14, where you can go from side to side easily, with no windbreak. I loved seeing us go so close to the land - palm trees, etc. My picture probably makes it look closer than it was, but nevertheless, it was impressive. Photography interrupted my breakfast.....

There was even less infrastructure and touring available in Fakarava. I didn't do an excursion, but others had pre-arranged a picnic with Ato (I think) and I heard the folks enjoyed their trip. I was a little leery of it, though, as I read it was a rough ride, and my husband has an iffy back. But I had a good time just walking around, and you could walk to the ocean side from the lagoon side in about five minutes. You may want to plan something more structured, though. A town van/truck type tour was available for $20, but since there's not much of a town, I didn't feel it would be worth it and decided to walk instead. You could also rent bikes, but they were snatched up pretty quickly in the morning. There isn't really a beach there, but some people did go swimming and modest snorkeling at places along the only road, to the right from the tender pier.

In all the places we went, it was pretty hot and steamy, so plan accordingly! Considering January is the wet season, we were pretty lucky to have very little rain in French Polynesia!

Thanks so much roothy123. This will be our first Oceania and our first trip to Tahiti. I want to be sure that we do not take on more than we can handle so the information regarding the ladder is great.

Thanks so much roothy123. This will be our first Oceania and our first trip to Tahiti. I want to be sure that we do not take on more than we can handle so the information regarding the ladder is great.

You're welcome. I doubt Oceania uses any vendor that uses a zodiac and the "drag the person onboard" method that Six Passengers used. Nobody seemed to mind, and certainly nobody got hurt, but it did take me by surprise. Of course, Six Pax is a scuba diving operator, and they don't advertise snorkeling trips, so maybe they were just doing something because they didn't have any dive business that day. Maybe zodiacs are typically used for diving.

It's not for everyone, but we both LOVED the aquasafari thing (helmet "dive") we did in Bora Bora. We had lots of shipboard credit and used some of it for that. It was easy, and certainly unique, especially if you're a snorkel failure like me.

Waiting until we board for excursions. I have a lot of credit as well but am concerned about waiting until I board to book the excursions. Was the Aquasafari available once boarded. Also wondering about the Sacred Sites and Legendary Places in Huahine.

Thanks so much for the helpful information.

I was also a little concerned about waiting to book O excursions when we boarded. Although this was our 10th cruise on O, I hadn't done a whole lot of excursions with them, mainly just due to the cost and my desire to do some oddball stuff like renting a car to see things I had researched. Lots of people slam the ship excursions (any ship's excursions!) because of the larger groups and cost, but I find them OK - IF they go where I want to go and don't cost a fortune. However, with the large amount of credit, I wanted to spend money on them, as I'm not much of a drinker, chef or spa person, and the two fee restaurants didn't seem all that attractive to me. Someone on our Roll Call with lots of O experience mentioned that you could book and pay for excursions pre-cruise and then later cancel them and use credit, but at least one person on CC said that was risky as O sometimes had a wait list and just went to the next person on the list instead of allowing rebookers to get the seats. What the situation is, I don't know, but I decided to just wait until I got on board. I booked Easter Island on my own with a third party as that was priority and I wanted the best I could get, and then pre-cruise watched the aquasafari and other O excursions I was interested in, as I knew there were only so many vendors in FP and they could be all booked up. Once I boarded, I booked one of the aquasafari trips (almost all of the 6 offered for the day and a half we were there WERE open the evening of the day we embarked). I also asked to be placed on a wait list for 2 excursions that were full. One was the Pearl Farm tour in Rangiroa, which was very popular, supposed to be worthwhile (not just a sales pitch) and (that day only, per an email I made to them) only available by cruise ship excursion. The other was the jeep trip in Bora Bora, as I wanted to do that instead of the Le Truck safari that I signed up for both my husband and I. Neither wait listed excursion opened up, so I guess things were really stuffed and nobody changed their minds on anything. On a previous cruise (Mayan Mystique in Caribbean), I had been waitlisted for a Mayan ruins excursion and got on, but of course it all depends upon what the vendors can handle and what people signed up for the excursions do, so nothing is guaranteed.

Only 8 people can go on each aquasafari trip, so I suppose it could potentially close before you board, but for us, it was almost wide open until a week or so before the cruise, and then one of the 6 slots on our day and a half stop in BB filled up. I didn't check after that to see if it was wide open later on in the cruise, though. (BB was our last stop before disembarkation, and we had a day and a half there.) There are plenty of excursions in BB, at least, plus a few non-O options I hear were available last year. One couple got a day pass at the Intercontinental Hotel which included their beach on a motu plus lunch; she enjoyed it a lot. I think it was $100 PP. The person who organized our Roll Call had a great time on his trip with Patrick. (I think this was in BB, anyway!) The Le Truck excursion was very popular, with multiple offerings and trucks, but of course, it's just an enhanced drive around the outside of the island with a few stops for photos, quick visit to Bloody Mary's (no big deal to me), batik demo/shop, public beach at Matira, etc. I waffled between a trip around the lagoon by boat or by land (Truck), but in the end, went with the simpler alternative. Didn't really get feedback on anything other than the Truck (many people took it) so can't tell you what else might be good. The aquasafari, however, was really fun and you do get to go out into some of the beautiful blue green water down near Matira Point.

I had read so much about Matira Beach that I wanted to take a cab or shuttle there, but ended up walking around Vaitape (town) a lot, plus wasn't sure if the Matira Beach shuttles I had seen would go anywhere other than the public beach we had seen on the Le Truck tour, and never ended up doing that. (The public beach wasn't really all that fabulous from what I could see. I had wanted to see bungalows over the water to photograph, and the gorgeous blue green water we saw when coming into or out of the lagoon, and mostly it was just a big, long beach, nothing spectacular unless I just didn't walk far enough!) One thing I never really nailed down was whether you could just take a shuttle to any place you want, and plop down where you wanted to plop down - don't think so, but I could be wrong.) I had also considered having dinner in BB as we overnighted there, but we never did that.

Couple other things about FP: We never got or needed French Polynesian Francs, but I suppose if you go early or stay late there, you might need them. There were several ATMs in Vaitape. In BB, there are a few things you can do from the tender pier at no cost; no idea if they're worthwhile, though. There are little tents to give you info on taking a shuttle to "The Farm" (borapearl.com -they were also giving out good BB maps) or to Arc En Ciel

via shuttle. I've read that these places aren't as informative as the pearl farm in Rangiroa, but if I had had more time, I would have gone just for fun. You can rent jetskis in advance (but pricey) or a buggy or car (but didn't see the shops). There's Roger Chin "magasin" (general store) in Vaitape - go left on street about 5 minutes. Tendering was quick and offered quite often in BB, as in other islands. On O,if you're going ashore as an independent, you'll need a tender ticket in the AM up until they announce open tender - maybe 10 or 10:30, but depends. One thing I recommend is taking the "ship's agent" info with you in each port when you go ashore. There's a list of all of them (different for each port) near the tender platform, plus the info is printed in the Currents daily paper. If you have problems ashore or are running late getting back, call the ship's agent. I've never had to use it, but always take it.

We didn't go to Huahine, so can't help there.

Roothy, do you think you got to book any that were marked 'full' before the cruise? I emailed a tour person on Rangiroa or Riaitea about a kayak tour on the Faaroa river, it took them ages, and when they did, they said 'book with your cruise'. Stitched up/small operator. When I looked on the booking section, it said it was booked up- I had missed out. It would be nice to think there was a tiny chance.

Roothy, do you think you got to book any that were marked 'full' before the cruise? I emailed a tour person on Rangiroa or Riaitea about a kayak tour on the Faaroa river, it took them ages, and when they did, they said 'book with your cruise'. Stitched up/small operator. When I looked on the booking section, it said it was booked up- I had missed out. It would be nice to think there was a tiny chance.

That was the case for me with the pearl farm visit in Rangiroa. I think I emailed them after seeing that the visits O offered were filled up, as I was looking for something to do after my morning excursion and had read on CC that the farm offered visits from the tender pier for (I think) a nominal charge. They replied back saying they would be full with cruise pax and I should talk to the cruise line. I did later see pearl farm vans on the pier, but I think they WERE just for O excursions.

I really didn't hear if any other full excursions opened up for anyone. I asked to be waitlisted on the two I mentioned (jeep tour in BB, pearl farm Rangiroa) but I never checked back as getting on them wasn't all that important to me. However, what I would do is see if O currently has a wait list for what you want, or if you need to wait until you board the ship. I'm guessing it's too early to do anything, but if so, go to Destinations first thing when you board, and if there's someone there (probably) fill out the form and talk to them. If nobody's there, fill out the form (usually in boxes on either side of desk) and leave it, then check back later. People do have until (I think) 48 hours pre-excursion or something like that to cancel, so there's always hope. However, things are tight in FP, making it hard. I would just check back with O a couple times - can't hurt. I suppose if all else fails, you could go ashore early and check to see if there are any vendors holding placards and/or waiting for their pre-arranged pax and ask if they might possibly have CX or no-shows. Fakarava and Rangiroa (atolls) certainly had much less of the on-shore hawking than any other place I've been, but you never know. Also, if you're on a Roll Call and others have things arranged, let them know you're willing to take their place should something happen or they change their minds. I'd also keep checking back on the O site since at this point people may not have really decided for sure what they want to do and may cancel later and get their money back. I forget when you're going (but assume April) so you still have a little time - hopefully something will open up.

I usually scour web sites for vendors, and also try to find the official tourism web site for anywhere I'm going. If you can call vendors, that may be better than emailing, as I hear not everyone in FP uses internet due to the cost, and some only go on there every few days, not daily. Also, check cruisecal.com (go to Itinerary, enter ship name, etc.) to see if other ships are in port same day. I also sometimes look at the Roll Calls of people on similar itineraries to see if anyone has found anything good. Kayaking's a pretty specialized thing, so you may not have any luck, but I figure anything's possible!

We had dinner with a couple who had not booked anything on Easter Island until a few days before we got to EI. By the time they looked at excursions, all the first day's excursions were full. They booked something the second day, but knowing how shaky the sea conditions can be there with tendering, and how little the O excursions sometimes see compared to third party excursions, I immediately emailed the vendor I had booked with and asked him if he had room for 2 more. He did, and the couple had a great time. The second day it was too rough to tender and thinking back, I'm SO glad I helped them see more of Easter Island than they likely could have if they had just gotten off the ship and walked around.

Good luck.

Thanks Roothy! So now I know what I will do, find Destinations when I get on board, and fill in a form. I had no idea. Now I have a plan of attack, and I may be able to add this to the other non-O excursions I have found. The other mentions of this on other forums were through cruise lines, it seems. Good little business.

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