Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Best Way to Combine a Hawaii and Tahiti Honeymoon?

Fodor's Travel Talk Forums (https://www.fodors.com/community/)

- United States (https://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/)

- - Best Way to Combine a Hawaii and Tahiti Honeymoon? (https://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/best-way-to-combine-a-hawaii-and-tahiti-honeymoon-167978/)

Best Way to Combine a Hawaii and Tahiti Honeymoon?

Hi there!! My fiance and I are planning our honeymoon for July 17-26. We would like to go to both one of the Tahitian islands (or two if possible) and one Hawaiian island. I have been looking at all of the agenices on the web, and all of them only offer packages for Hawaii or Tahiti, nothing combined. I know we can save a lot of money with a package, so I am wondering if anyone can offer recommendations on what to do and where to look. We are from upstate New York, and have never left the East Coast, so we are SOOO excited to go to the tropical Pacific. We have been saving forever, and can sort of splurge for our honeymoon. Any advice is really appreciate, also anyone's personal experiences would be great!! Many, many thanks in advance!! With Kindest Regards - Lee

My wife and I did exactly what you desired in 10/00 for our honeymoon. We went to Oahu for 3 nights before going to Tahiti, Bora Bora and Moorea for 7 nights. It was an absolutely fabulous trip, but I don't know if I would recommend it for you since you live on the east coast (we did it from So Cal). At a minimum, not including airport time, it would take 5 hours to arrive on the west coast then another 5 hours to fly to Hawaii or 7 hours to fly to Papeete. Your first and last day are shot. Flight time between Honolulu and Papeete is 5 hours. And when you fly into Papeete, Tahiti either from Honolulu or Los Angeles, you will undoubtedly arrive in the evening so you have to spend one night on Tahiti before you can fly out to the more desirable islands such as Bora Bora, Huahine, etc. Basically, you will lose at least 3 full days (daylight) to transit, probably more. If you still decide to go this combined route, I would recommend going to Hawaii (Oahu only--don't lose any more precious time to transit) first to get a little acclimated before immersing yourself in a rich Polynesian culture. Check out flight schedules and costs on Hawaiian Airlines because I think they're the only ones who provide service to both. Still, my recommendation for you is to pick one of the two (a very difficult choice). If you desire and can handle a place that's foreign, exotic, stunningly beautiful, serene yet with little nightlife or crowds, then go to French Polynesia. Spend AT LEAST 3 nights EACH on islands such as Bora Bora, Moorea, Huahine, and if you really like snorkeling/scuba, try Rangiroa or Manihi. If you've got the dough, splurge for an overwater bungalow on Bora Bora and lounge over the gorgeous, turquoise lagoon. But make reservations real soon because July is the peak period for FP. Personally, I think Tahiti exhudes much more romance than Hawaii because (1) there's more seclusion...it's been said that Hawaii gets more visitors in one day than FP as a whole gets in one year, (2) it offers a more authentic Polynesian atmosphere, and (3) the lagoons. If you want to research resorts and review others' comments, check out tahiti-explorer.com. But I'm also a big fan of Hawaii (as you can tell from my prior posts on this forum). You can't go wrong with any of the islands, but most honeymooners prefer Maui or Kauai and for good reason. There's much more resort & restaurant choices, amenities, conveniences, activities and nightlife that Hawaii offers over Tahiti. It's a tropical paradise that's still located within the USA. I hope this helps. If you've got a few specific questions, go ahead and ask on this thread. Good luck!

By the way Lee, I don't think there's a single company that offers a combined package, but Pleasant Holidays does both so you may want to contact them to price out a combined package for you. The best plan of attack would be to first decide which islands you want to visit, do some research as to the resorts and accomodations you desire, and contact travel agents that specialize in French Polynesia (because they most certainly will know Hawaii as well) to price out a package for you. You might want to consider Costco Travel because they reasonably priced out a combined trip for us before we decided to go with a local travel agent. I wouldn't go about it without a travel agent for the trip to French Polynesia because it's hard to avoid the full rack rates (which are quite expensive)if you want to book directly with the resorts. Also, don't have them add excursions or meal plans to your package because then you're stuck and won't be saving all that much. Have the freedom to choose when and what excursion you'd like to do as well as what restaraunt you'd like to eat at when you're actually there. I think there's 3 main FP vacation package providers (Pleasant, Islands in the Sun, can't remember the other) that virtually all the travel agents utilize so check their own web sites out first so you'll know what to expect. Also check out the specials on Air Tahiti Nui. You will have to fly Hawaiian Airlines on at least two flights (Honolulu-Papeete) so check out their websites for any specials. When we flew to both, HA had initiated service to FP so we got 10,000 bonus miles each just for that portion alone. As for Hawaii, it's pretty easy to go at it alone. For Oahu, I would recommend you avoid Waikiki for a honeymoon because it's basically non-romantic...a big city with high-rise hotels and huge crowds. I hear the W hotel is elegant and very secluded or try a resort on the North Shore (lot less crowded and great beaches). Try to get the Entertainment Guide if you want discounted rates or try Priceline. As for Maui and Kauai, the more upscale resorts such as the Ritz, Four Seasons, Hyatt (Poipu), Princeville, etc. get booked up early so decide soon if you're interested. Again, July is a peak period. It's a lot to think about (especially if you desire to visit both FP and Hawaii) and you're probably busy with wedding planning. But if you want to be able to pick amongst all the best resorts, you have to start researching and making reservations real soon. Good luck!

Hi bluefan!! Thank you SOOO much for all of your advice - we sure have a lot to think about. I am so confused as to what we should do - I am going to contact Pleasant Holidays and see what they have to offer - thank you again, and I will post later to let you know what they told me. Thanks!

Just a thought to break up the trip - If you've never traveled outside of the east coast, why not spend a couple of days in California (either LA or SF, depending on from where you're leaving for the islands)? Both cities are really fun to visit! Also, don't automatically assume that a tour operator package is a better deal - sometimes yes, sometimes no. Have fun and Congratulations!

There are some cruise lines that cruise from Hawaii to the Tahitian islands.

You definitely need to schedule more time if you plan to do Tahiti and Hawaii. Bluefan is right -- you will lose so much time traveling that it won't be worth it. If you want exotic, go to Tahiti. If you want beautiful but more commercial, go to Hawaii. Hawaii will feel "safer" to you if that's important. Since you've never left the East Coast of the U.S., Hawaii might be better for you.

I've read where Tahiti has become rather seedy with overdevelopment and lack of conservation of natural resources. You may want to stay on one of the smaller Hawaiin islands and save yourself the travel.

Jean, That's a pretty gross overgeneralization but it doesn't surprise me coming from an SC trojan (JK!). Seriously...it's all relative and a matter of perspective. If you've actually been to both French Polynesia and the Hawaiian islands, there's no way you could say that FP is overdeveloped as opposed to Hawaii. You could take all the guests of just one single major hotel in Hawaii and probably not be able to fill all the resort accomodations on Bora Bora or Moorea, which are the two most popular. Only until the last decade has Bora Bora or Moorea had one or two new resorts go up every other year. Now if you're comparing French Polynesia to places like the Cook Islands, Fiji or any less popular chain of islands, I may be sympathetic with your post. But compared to Hawaii...PUH-lees! As to being seedy...I don't know where you get that impression unless you're referring strictly to the island of Tahiti, which is still arguable. Native French Polynesians certainly don't live in quite the affluence and luxurious accomodations as their visitors, or not even your average American, but I wouldn't describe their culture and islands as seedy. For one thing, FP has a much more of an authentic Polynesian atmosphere than does Hawaii. Maybe for some there's a fine line between exotic and "seedy." As to lack of conservation of natural resources, you would get a strong rebuttal from either the French or Tahitians as opposed to the US(despite the nuclear experimentations several decades ago). But instead of getting into that argument, let me just say that there are resorts on several FP islands that tout eco-friendly resorts. Take for instance the Kia Ora Sauvage on Rangiroa, they offer no electricity or modern amenities...just a serene, Robinson-Crusoe experience...and virtually all guests have touted it. You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but even the smallest Hawaiian islands like Lanai or Molokai are drastically over-developed compared to the majority of islands in French Polynesia.

Well I would definitly not say overdeveloped but there are quite a few resorts/hotels that we noticed on Tahiti and Moorea that had gone under. Our tour guide told us one used to be a Hyatt. The biggest thing I was disapointed about was the amount of trash on a very large percentage of Tahiti/floating in the water. Don't get me wrong, there are some very beautiful spots on Tahiti to see but I wouldn't stay there for more than a couple days. I didn't notice as much in Moorea, it looked much more what I had imagined in my head. I would suggest you just pick one location instead of squeezing in Hawaii. 10 days will go by so fast with a schedule like that and you won't really get to relax like you should. You should go to Tahiti and hit a bunch of the islands and it will definitly keep you occupied. If I were getting married over had the choice of those two I would go with the more exotic. I have some pictures of my trip if you are interested. http://community.webshots.com/user/lenleigh