Shore Excursion Help

[pappy1022]

I will be going on my first Paul Gauguin cruise and I need some help with shore excursions. My stops are in Fakarava, Rangiroa, Huahine, Bora Bora, Raiatea. Taha’a (Motu Mahana) and Moorea. I normally book my own shore excursions but I am open to the ship’s excursions if people highly recommend them. I am not interested in diving, helicopter or zip line activities. I am very interested in snorkeling but we are both amateurs and need to take that into consideration. So, please advise us as to the can’t miss excursions and which one’s that the cruise ship provides good value and a great experience. As far as the ship kayaks, etc. how does that process work? Do you need to make reservations and if so, how and when do you do that? Thank you in advance for your recommendations.

[FlightMedic555]

They bring the kayaks to the motu at Taha's and you simply ask for one.  Never a long wait.  They may have them available from the platform at a couple of other stops.

 

On Rangiora sign up for the ships Aquarium snorkel.  It sells out quickly, is very good, and there are very few if any other options to book privately.  On Fakarava look to coordinate a private excursion with Ato (fakaravaexplorer@hotmail.com).  He does look for you to get a group together.  This is a great snorkel excursion with lunch on a motu.  On Huahine book with huahinenautique.com for a great snorkel, also with a lunch on a motu.  On Bora Bora we love Pure Snorkeling with Reef Discovery.  This is now available as a ship's excursion as well.  On Taha'a you can do the ships drift snorkel which is very good but you do lose about 1-2 hours at their motu of you decide on that.

 

Hope t his helps.

[Tom Sandra]

Hello! I appreciate the recommendations from FlightMedic -- thank you! We are going on our 2nd PG cruise in July and would like to arrange for some private excursions. 

 

Pappy, for your ports that I have visited, we did the following the PG shore excursions:

• Huahine:  Huahine Exploration. I wouldn't do this one again, but it was worthwhile. The positives was that it was a small group; we hit most of the tourist highlights; it was very reasonably priced. We did not get to snorkel for long and it wasn't that great of snorkeling anyway. 
• Bora Bora:  (although we purchased the Bora Bora Off Road Adventure and the Lagoon Cruise and Polynesian luau excursions, we skipped both of these. Our friends had a private boat that provided three snorkeling stops and invited us along; it was amazing!! I would highly recommend that (I believe they booked it through PG). We will totally do this in July. And leaving one day in Bora Bora to just explore town on our own again.
• Tahaa:  We did the Exploration of Tahaa excursion and it was excellent! I really wanted to get Tahitian vanilla beans (this was a priority for me) and this excursion really delivered!! We absolutely loved it and all of the places we visited (notably a thorough learning experience at a local vanilla bean farm and a stop at a place that had an apiary (we're hobby beekeepers so this was very cool) and the locals shared some cooking traditions and delicious fresh snacks. The downside of this excursion is that it takes all morning and you miss time at Motu Mahana.
• Moorea:  We did the Ocean and Lagoon Tour Snorkel and the Slow Pace Belvedere Bike ride. The Ocean & Lagoon Tour (I believe was led by Ocean Adventures) was outstanding!!! Very small group, it was a bit pricier and you only snorkeled (no food, etc), but so well worth it! We snorkeled in the lagoons AND the wide-open deeper ocean areas (which I had never done before -- thrilling, but not aching to do that again). Our guide was a scientist and so informative!! Also, we had the best boat driver that I've ever had (extremely impressed); the crew was top notch!
  • On the flipside, the electric bike ride was not good and I do NOT recommend it. They didn't give sufficient instruction for use so a few people were really struggling to ride their bikes. When my husband told the leader that she needed to slow down and assist everyone (and granted, he did tell her that she was rude -- because she really was), she was very offended by my husband and visibly frustrated by the two women who struggled with their bikes...so she just moved on and led the group to the next site. Since we have e-bikes, we held back to assist the strugglers/stragglers. The tour guides went on without us and we missed the information shared at a couple of stops by the time we pulled up! Perhaps if they made the group smaller they could better manage the situation, but I was frustrated by this whole thing and actually glad when the tour was over. Side Note:  there are wonderful jams and honeys onboard the PG and they are made on Moorea. That is a worthwhile stop/place to visit to pick up some souvenirs. 
• Finally, you didn't mention Papeete...but we actually had wonderful snorkeling at the Intercontinental at our overwater bungalow. THAT was a worthwhile experience! We did it for a night pre and post cruise...but this next time we will do it 2 nights pre-cruise. These are pretty intensive cruises, so afterwards we're ready to go home.

[TheDarkestBlue]

Hi Pappy!

 

We did a mix of ship and private excursions. I had a lot of onboard credit, were able to book the ship's Taha'a drift snorkel, and on Huahine, the motu lunch. The drift snorkel was something out of this world, if you can swing it I would totally do that. Read this entire thread and see how we made out:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2941116-drift-snorkeling-tahaa-should-i-do-it/

 

The Motu lunch was fun and started out with some decent snorkeling, lunch and cultural lessons, gave us some dance moves, then the hostess tapped me to lead the entire group of women in an impromptu dance of the moves we had just learned 😳 Talk about getting put on the spot, LOL, took that in stride and had hoped that my family might have captured it, but no, there's a video out there of me dancing in somebody else's phone 🤐

 

On Moorea we did tours with ATV and jet ski 

 

https://www.mooreaactivitiescenter.com/#

 

and on Bora Bora we did a snorkeling tour with Bora Bora H2O 

 

https://boraborah2o.com/bora-bora-snorkeling-tours.html

 

Both were well done and I recommend them both 

[SuperSwimmer22]

I am reviewing all of the great info on this thread. I still have a couple of questions about shore excursions and would appreciate any further advice. We are on the 7-night More Society Islands & Tahiti cruise on 08/17/2024. I have been to FP once before, back in 2003 (land-based trip with 5 nights each on Moorea and Bora Bora). I'm so excited to be taking my first PG cruise (it was too expensive for me back in 2003!)

 

I have some onboard credit I want to use towards shore excursions. I have already booked the following on my own:

 

Bora Bora Day #1- Lagoon Extravaganza Full Day

Bora Bora Day #2 - Bora Bora 4WD Trek (1/2 day in the afternoon)

Moorea - Grand Tour Quad Excursion (1/2 day in the morning)

 

I was planning to book the rest as PG shore excursions, however, for Raiatea, I looked at the L'Excursion Bleue site https://www.tahaa.net/en/home/ and it looks like they spend the whole day exploring Taha'a, including 2 stops at coral gardens. I am wondering if it may be best to explore Taha'a on the full day (8:00 am - 11:59 pm) we are docked/anchored in Raiatea, and then be able to have a very relaxing day on the day we are in Taha'a on Motu Mahana. Anyone know how the L'Excursion Bleue tour would compare to the Drift Snorkel on Taha'a offered by the cruise line? CC reviews of the Drift Snorkel seem amazing...the excursion by L'Excursion Bleue is not only focussed on snorkelling, it also includes pearl farm, rum factory, motu lunch buffet, vanilla farm and sharks. Would we be missing out on not seeing Raiatea if we spend that whole day exploring Taha'a?

 

For Huahine, I am considering the Huahine exploration by 4WD and Boat or the ATV Tour of Huahine Nui. My DH loves off-roading in Jeeps and has done a lot of challenging trails, including in Moab, so I am wondering if he would enjoy the off-roading options on the various islands in FP or would it be too tame compared to what he has already experienced. Which island/option would offer the most adventurous off-roading experience?

 

So many questions...thanks so much for any advice you can offer!