|
LASplash.com: International Moorea Pearl Resort Review - Deluxe Tahiti Hotel Value with Overwater Bungalows By Susan di Rende
The Moorea Pearl Resort is more than a beautiful place to stay. If you go to Tahiti and the islands of French Polynesia, you will find they are all beautiful. The islands themselves, set like gems in the gentle warm lagoons ringed by coral reefs, are a living dream. What you get at the Moorea Pearl Resort is a feel of ease and gracious friendliness, what the French would describe as sympa. The hotel’s charm is a blend of the island itself, the company that manages the Moorea Pearl Resort, and the staff on hand who run it.
Tahiti is what most people call all of French Polynesia, when in fact it is just the most famous island of many in this country of spectacular lagoons, reefs, beaches and mountains. The island of Moorea, just a twenty-minute ferry ride from Papeete, is where Tahitians (from the island of Tahiti) go when they want a vacation. The pace is slower, the land is less built-up and the feel is one more step removed from mainland culture.
Like many island hotels, the Moorea Pearl Resort lobby has no doors and hardly any walls. The high peaked, almost-flying roof juts out over the drive to shelter you from the rain. But there are no walls in front. Aside from the rain, there are no elements to keep out. The sea breezes keep the long, shaded lodge of the lobby cool even at midday. The lobby structure is based on tradition Polynesian building styles with an emphasis on wood beams, and surfaces.
When I arrived, I was greeted with a tiaré lei. The tiaré is a small, white, single-petal flower with a heady scent similar to a gardenia but indigenous to the Tahitian islands. Not only indigenous, but some tiaré do not grow anywhere else in the world.
My confidence was well placed. Everyone I spoke with who was staying at the Moorea Pearl Resort - from a travel agent and her husband on a tour of hotels staying in an overwater bungalow to a family of four with two young boys staying in one of the duplex rooms overlooking the garden - had the same comments about the warmth and feel of the place. Everyone loved it.
The Moorea Pearl Resort is run by a Polynesian company, South Pacific Management, employs mostly Polynesians and the entire experience is infused with an air completely apart from the other big hotels that are all local versions of international chains. Here at the Moorea Pearl Resort, the spirit of French Polynesia breathes in things large and small. A tiaré lei as you enter. A welcome drink of pineapple juice. Flower blossoms cheerfully placed everywhere, on the bed, beside the sink, under the TV, on the desk, the coffee table. Yes, most hotels put flowers in your room. However, the effusive generosity evident in how the staff at the Moorea Pearl Resort puts a flower or two to grace every flat surface is more than merely PR.
The layout of the resort has been dictated by a combination of sea-bottom terrain and tourist desires. The lagoon just off the hotel is shallow until you go out a hundred feet or so when it suddenly drops to a fifty-foot depth. The bungalows are built right before the water deepens. The practical consequences of this terrain is that the bungalows cannot be strung out perpendicular to the hotel. To have them at all, they must be parallel to the horizon. This means that the premium bungalow tenants have the wide open sunset to absorb on their deck, but the pool and one of the two small beach areas look out not at the unbroken horizon but the row of bungalows. Don't get me wrong; the view is still lovely. You can get that infinite horizon, however, if you go out to the diving deck built alongside the bungalows. There, you can either sun or sit in the shade of the umbrella there and dive into the deep end of the lagoon when you want to swim.
What you get for not having the premium view everywhere is some absolutely amazing snorkeling. The submerged coral cliff that rises from the deeps to make the shallows by the hotel positively teems with brilliant, multicolored, unbelievable fish. As you swim out from the hotel beach just past the bungalows, turn right and follow the underwater ridge. (Turning right means that coming back you will be swimming with the current - a bit easier in case you are tired.) The variety and beauty of the underwater life you see will be extraordinary. A marvel.
There are two small strips of sandy beach that lead out to the lagoon. One is inside the ring of walkways that lead to the overwater bungalows. It is there you would go to grab a kayak or begin your snorkeling. The hotel is creating a coral garden in waters inside the protective ring of the bungalows. A botanist comes every week to take care of it. Coral is so slow-growing that it will not be a marvel like the cliffs beyond the bungalows anytime in the near future or even in the normal lifespan of a hotel. But it is good for the environment, it gives hotel guests an understanding and appreciation of coral, and for the timid swimmers and the young, this is a wonderfully easy and safe way to get a close-up view of the underwater wonders of the tropics.
The second sand beach stretches out in front of the beach bungalows. If you want to sit in the sand all day with a view of open water you must go to the end of that second strip of beach. The hotel infinity pool is large and organic in shape. You walk into the water as you would at the beach, down an easy slope. The pool curves around a stately almond tree, I would guess because the tree was there first; rather than cut it down, the swimming area was built to showcase it. The shade of the tree was a favorite spot and it was staked out first by early birds. Sitting in its dark green shelter in the warm South Pacific breeze was a charm to soothe away every worry about life back in the States. In season, the almonds fall and you can crack them open and eat them. That is the essence of Tahiti, a generous and gentle nature, and that nature is evident in the manner of running this resort.
The resort has four categories of accommodations: rooms, interior bungalows, beachfront bungalows and overwater bungalows. I stayed in an interior bungalow, and the minute I walked in, I thought ”I want to spend all my time here and never leave.” The high-peaked wood ceiling, the deck with its own private dipping pool, the water burbling to create an atmosphere of serenity. A wood table and chairs for eating, two cushioned lounge chairs, a garden and fence. You can dip naked in complete privacy. Delicious.
The minibar in the hotel comes unstocked. You can request items and the hotel will supply them. But the reason it is empty is that in the past, most people asked the hotel empty the minibar so they could stock it up with food they bought themselves at the local supermarket. Instead of fighting this like many hotels that play cat and mouse with the guests who want to bring in food instead of eating every meal at the restaurant, the Moorea Pearl Resort leaves the choice to the visitor.
In the way of hospitality, the hotel has a restaurant for meals and a bar for relaxing. The food is good, a combination of Euro/Asian/American cooking for the tourist palate. I had wahoo in a broth of spring onion and vegetables with sides of soy sauce and chopped cilantro and ginger. It was good and simple. The delight was the staff, friendly in what I can only describe as a happy way. They seem genuinely happy - not specifically toward you. Content in themselves, it spilled over to the diners. That was lovely.
The hotel also has a bar, big and open to the outside air as all the spaces of the hotel are. The feel is family-friendly and open. Sometimes they bring in a band to play. The bar is also the place where there is free wi-fi access. (Note: Some of the garden bungalows behind the bar also get wi-fi spillover. If you are someone who must have the web available to you at all times, take a garden bungalow and specify in your reservation that you want one near the bar for that reason.)
If you are inclined to pamper yourself, the Maneva Spa at the Moorea Pearl Resort houses the Maneva Spa and offers you a unique set of services. based on the traditional massage practices of French Polynesia. Massage is part of a deep wellness culture in Tahiti that uses the signature oil from the islands called monoi and is rooted in the ancient concept of mana or life force. The monoi oil is made from coconut, tiaré and other herbs. Newborn babies are welcomed with a massage using monoi. The base is adapted for many wellness and healing purposes by adding herbs to calm, to energize, to resist illness and to heal.
But the key is not the oil, but the idea that in the massage there is an exchange of mana. Mana, as I understood it explained to me, is the life force, the energy that supports all living things. In a massage, the therapeutic effect is not just in the moving of the muscle tissue. The person giving the massage is a repository of mana which he or she transfers to the person whose mana may be lower or in need of support. I had a pineapple massage, a very “Moorea” massage as pineapple is the particular cultivar of this island in French Polynesia. I was a bit unsure of this ingredient as I imagined a sweet, cloying oil, but in fact the pineapple scent is extremely light and not really recognizable as a fruit smell. I was not overwhelmed by perfume and relaxed on the massage table and gave myself over to on of the most relaxing massages I have had.
A vacation is more than the buildings and situation. Yes, a base line of creature comforts, cleanliness, decor and setting must be met, but most hotels of a certain level are professional establishments and meet these requirements. It is the employees and the management culture of a hotel that can make a visit sing in the moment and in the memories taken home. If you want to remember your dream vacation in Tahiti with fondness for the people and place, the Moorea Pearl Resort is the place to go.
Moorea Pearl Resort website Published May 9, 2009 © Copyright 2003-2004 by LA Splash.com |
