Le Meridien Tahiti

[gdoyle]

Has anyone stayed at the Le Meridien, Tahiti? We have an OWB for one night post cruise at a price 1/2 the cost of other OWB's on Tahiti and Moorea. I know Moorea is the preferred location, but chose the Le Meridien due to cost and time constraint. Did we make a mistake?

[ljtinney]

We stayed at Le Meridan back in November. We did not have an OWB but I wish we had and also wished we had stayed longer. It was absolutely beautiful. Our only complaint was that the buffet breakfast was very expensive. If you're not their on A Sunday....go down the street for breakfast. We are hoping to go back in 2008 and will most likely stay there again. If you like I can send you a link to my pics of Le Meridan.

[Spikesgirl]

We stayed there in a OWB on a post cruise stay after our '04 cruise. We had spent the pre-cruise in the Sheraton, closer to town. I would chose that one again over Le Meridien. Reasons: The dining room was very pricey and we felt the service sort of lacking, although it was fun to watch our waitress, who was actually a man, flirt with my DH. He was, of course, clueless until I told him - all those years in the theater have not gone to waste, but I digress. We found it pretty expensive, so we walked around the corner- go to the road, turn left and walk into the little strip mall - and found a fabulous little restaurant. I couldn't even tell you the name now, but it had a small seating area out front, a bar inside that seated about five people and had about ten table inside. Incredible food and a way to native watch.

 

The swimming pool is actually about ten inches deep and was HOT. Forgo that and use the bigger swimming pool off shore. Snorkling was better if you could get a little farther away from the OWB, but there was sealife there too. As there is on shore as it is a tops optional beach.

 

We didn't like being so far away from Papette. We could walk from the Sheraton into downtown or grab Le Truck for a ten minute, bone-jarring ride. The good part was that it was just a few minutes from the airport instead of 35 minutes.

 

We found the staff a bit more aloof at LM, even pompous in some cases. I felt condescended to in the bar, but that could have just been me.

 

Don't get me wrong - the hotel was beautiful, the OWB was fine and we didn't have any trouble, I just liked the feeling of the Sheraton a little more - it felt more...um...tropical and less upscale.

 

Hope this helps a little,

 

Charlie

[mrskappy]

Charlie,

 

We have an OWB reserved for 2 nights precruise but I just read where you cannot swim off of the OWB. Is this correct? The Sheraton does not have any OWB available for our dates.

 

Thanks,

 

Kathy

[Spikesgirl]

There's really no place to climb down into the water and you have to watch out for coral if jumping in - only tried that once. The best option is to go to the beach, turn right and walk into the water. That's also the only way out. Our OWB was about 50 feet from the beach, so it was not a hardship, but it would have been nice to have been able to come and go directly from the bungalow. Still, those morning on the lanai - can't beat those. You will enjoy the property, it's lush and very upscale. The Sheraton is more picturesque and what I was expecting Tahiti to be like. Either choice is a good one. You will have fun.

 

Charlie

 

BTW - the bathroom in the OWB is fabulous!

[mrskappy]

Thank you Charlie. A little dissappointing that we cannot swim off of the OWB but I am sure we will have a great time.

[Spikesgirl]

You can always jump from the walkway if you feel brave enough (I'm a coward), but you can't go in (or come out) from your deck. Make sure you bring a good pair of dive booties and gloves, especially for here because you are right in the coral and the gloves will save you from some nasty cuts or from grabbing a spiny sea urchin. The best thing to do is wait for high tide so that it's easier to negotiate the seascape.

 

Charlie