New Zealand with layover in Tahiti?
 

We're planning on going to New Zealand for 16 days in Feb/March. Our plan is to focus on the South Island. We're flying from Denver through LA or San Fran. I saw that Air Tahiti Nui is pretty reasonable and makes the trip with a stopover in Papeete, Tahiti. We're trying to figure out whether we should take advantage of that and stay on Moorea for 3-4 nights on our way to/from New Zealand. I know that 2 weeks isn't very long for seeing New Zealand, so maybe it's silly to cut into our time there. But since flights to Tahiti are so expensive and we've never been there, I figured that this could be a chance to check it out. Also, any feedback on Air Tahiti Nui from anyone who has flown them would be appreciated. Thank you!

well, that's your choice, really.

getting to moorea from pappete is very very easy. you simply board a large passenger ferry and you are on moorea in no time (this, of course, depends on what time you arrive to papeete.

i would do it if a) there is no forced overnight on papeete.

b) the departure to new zealand is at a reasonable hour.

c) your budget allows you to stay at a beachfront hotel.

have fun. air tahiti nui was very good when i flew them, but that was short haul, not long.

OK, we looked into this option a couple months ago when buying our tix to NZ, and what we found out is that we could only make the layover on the way there (not on the way back, which we preferred), and we would have to fly to Auckland then Christchurch (we ended up on AirNZ direct to CHC). We probably could have lived with all of that, but we have heard that you don't really want to stay on the main island, so you need to take a ferry or flight to another island (takes some time and a bit of money), the resorts are fairly pricey, and most of the nicer hotels and resorts have minimum stays-- most I found were 5 nights, though a few were 3 nights.
We opted not go this route this time, but let us know if you do, and how it works out!
Good luck!

Thank you both for your replies. We are leaning towards doing the stopover in Moorea since it looks so beautiful. I found that Air New Zealand is offering the stopover deal at about the same price as their non-stop flight to Auckland. They sound a lot better to fly than Air Tahiti Nui. The ferry from Papeete is only about 30-60 minutes to Moorea, from what I've read on the forum. My only concern is our arrival and departure times of 2-3am. Does anyone know whether we can catch a ferry/boat taxi at that time of night? I've checked on hotel availability and minimum stay restrictions and we seem to be okay doing 3 nights at both the Intercontinental and the Moorea Pearl. They're pricey, but I figure it's worth the splurge. We wouldn't do the overwater bungalows, since that's more than we'd want to spend. The garden bungalows sound pretty nice. Is March a good time weather-wise in Moorea?

you might find a lot more detail about tahiti on this forum, though beware i believe it is run (subtley) by a travel agency (in other words, it is not impartial as we are here ;) ):

it is : tahitiexplorer.com

from my memory, ferries only run when they can actually see in front of them, and certainly not in the middle of the night.

what you will have to do is either: get a room in papeete and spend an overnight there or, tough it out on a bench in the aiport until daylight and take a taxi or little wood truck (their bus) to the ferry terminal which is not too far away (but NOT walkable with luggage).

air new zealand is an excellent airline and i can say with complete confidence that you will have a perfect experience with them, however, they do not fly their newest planes to tahiti. you will be safe, but not pampered.

i think your decision to stop over is a good one and you will not be sorry with the beauty of tahiti. 3 full days is enough in a resort, imho. rent a veichle at least one day as public trasnport in moorea is virtually non existent.

Since we're flying in at 2am and we won't be able to get to Moorea on the night of our arrival, can anyone recommend a hotel close to the airport in Papeete? It doesn't need to be deluxe since we'll only stay there one night and then head over to Moorea in the morning. We'd prefer 3-4 stars, under $250.