I keep hearing the Tahiti the food is VERY expensive. I realize that I should expect to pay about $100. per day per person for food - I think the breakfast buffet at the Beachcomber is over $20.00 per person. What can I expect for dining options? We love good restaurants, but, not planning on 5 star dining in Tahiti - we'll save it for the Paul Gauguin.

Think we paid $40 for pizza for dinner.

Kathy,

Does your pre-cruise include any meals? I think for our 2-day we get breakfast and one lunch.

Yes, it's very expensive. You can save money by trying the roulottes some evening, if you go into Papeete. Haven't gotten to try them myself. They are fast-food trucks that congregate around the main square by the water. A meal plan might also work out to be cost-effective, especially if you are going to stay close to the hotel anyways.

I have been trying to remember what we paid for lunch or dinner at the Royal Tahitien in 2003--I'm thinking that lunch was about $50, and dinner $100, can't remember exactly--nothing fancy or lavish, but a very nice restaurant, fully of locals, not tourists. You can get an idea by looking at some of the meal plan prices on the web. Here's from the Beachcomber website:

Prices listed in CFPs and EUROS
Continental Breakfast 2160 18,10
Full American Breakfast 2 630 22,00
Lunch (Set Menu) 3900 32,68
Dinner (Set Menu) 5820 48,77
Meal Plan / Half Board (Full American Breakfast & Dinner) 7830 65,61
Meal Plan / Full Board (Full American Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner) 11230 94,10

With 1.00 USD currently buying 91.5243 CFP,
and $1 buying about .76 of a Euro right now.

I have only ever had the lunch buffet at the Beachcomber (included with the dayroom). Not particularly impressed, but I'm sure if you are actually paying they do better by you.

Can't remember what your pre-cruise actually is.

We are staying 3 nights pre-cruise at the Beachcomber.

Thanks, $40. for pizza? Wow. The roulottes would not appeal to Frank, although maybe for lunch He's picky. I'm lucky to use paper napkins and plates for a picnic. Maybe I will call back and do the meal plan.

How do you know if your pre-cruise package includes any meals? I can't find it written anywhere, but I could have sworn I saw a few people talk about it on one of the boards. Perhaps they got a meal package on their own. We're doing the 4 night (1 Tahiti & 3 Bora Bora) pre-cruise.

O.K. - what are roulettes?

I've read that many people bring collapsible coolers and then go to market to get cheeses, etc and have your own meals whenever possible. That sounds like it could help the diet too!!

I don't think the roulettes are open for lunch. We had Chinese food at a roulete and they had steak, burgers, crepes, Italian, each roulette specialized in something different. Meals there were under $10 each.

You can also get sandwiches near the market in Papeete at least at lunch. We got 12" crab torpedos (hoagies?) for about $4 each. Lunch meat and cheese sandwiches were about $2 to $2.50 each.

Cyndi,
They are listed on the B&K Pre- and Post-cruise page that Ngaire emailed me. For the Tahiti Beachcomber it says:

Breakfast buffet daily & Saturday lunch

Kathy, yes, the Roulottes are evening only, and apparently not for the squeamish, so I guess that leaves you out.

The roulottes are like like what we call up here "chip wagons", i.e., trucks with a window and a kitchen built in, but they do all kinds of food, chinese, crepes, lots of stuff. I think some are considered better than others.

A couple we were with had Hamburgers at the Beachcomber and they were something like $15 each and fries were another $8

BTW, once we're on the ship, the diet shouldn't be a problem if we can stay away from the desserts. The the fish and seafood are amazing!

The "national dish" is called "poisson cru", which is like ceviche, raw tuna marinated in coconut milk and lime, with vegetables, served as a salad. Yum.

The Hamburger and fries at the Hotel Bora Bora was 23.OO. I believe the Pizza which was terrible was 17.00. Over all the food was great at this hotel. The food at the Pearl Beach in Tahaa was even more. Believe me when I say you feel like you are stealing from the PG after paying for dinner on the islands. As long as you are prepared and you except the fact its a trip of a lifetime, its worth every penny.

Hi cruisers, I can't beleive the high prices of food.I guess they really have you.We all have to eat.Maybe some past cruiser can recommend some foods that they have brought along that was good filler uppers.lol. I am a very thrifty person, some have other words for it. I like to save money, I hope I don't sound too awfully cheap!

Mounds, there is a pizza place nearby that some people have said is really good and reasonable.

I just asked Todd the name and he said was called
La Cigalone and it was reasonable.

He wrote about it in a review, I am looking now to see just where that review is.

Hi mounds,

Well, if there's a buffet breakfast, then you can probably skip lunch. And bring along some granola bars to fill in.

It's not just that they are "sticking" tourists. Things are very expensive in FP, period, for everybody. Almost everything gets imported from abroad, except for the fish and the coconuts and a few chickens and vegetables.

Karen, found the review on cc, thread below..here is what todd said about the pizza palace:

The “Pizza Place”

As mentioned in Part 1, I admired the “Pizza Place” earlier in the day. I knew it would be where we were eating tonight as it is closed Sunday and Monday every week. This is important to remember because it does add significantly to your dining opportunities at the hotel. So we went to the Pizza Place – Le Cigalon. It’s really more than Pizza. We went twice. The menu has fish, beef, salads, shrimp and many more items on the menu, not just pizza. We had dinner for two, with wine for $76 as follows:

Broiled Beef $20
Tomato Basil Salad $12
99 Les Violettes Cotes Du Rhone Wine (Red) $20
Shrimp in Curry Sauce $24

My steak was 3 times the size of the Paul Gauguin portions. To me this makes no difference. The Paul Gauguin had portions that were just my size. And the food was good! Radisson, no. Good, yes. As good as a local restaurant in Los Angeles that we go to, yes.

As mentioned before, this is an attractive restaurant with a bar and is a good alternative to eating at the hotel (and affordable).

We did notice the show and dinner at the hotel on Saturday night. I think it was around $63 per person. It looked like a lot of fun and the food looked good.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=32977&highlight=restaurants+tahiti

r/wes

I took along some snack crackers (Lance), and went to the store and bought some cheeses, french bread, fruit and wines, which are all very reasonable there, and had little feasts on the deck of the bugalow every day! The roulettes are a great idea too. However, we did splurge once or twice and ate out...once was at Le Bateau in Moorea....it's on a little boat. Fantastic! Albeit a bit pricey! I thought it was worth it.

If you really want to, you can find a way to eat and no go broke.

ChatKat:

If Frank is picky about food, best that he should avoid any FP trip plans that involve much of a land stay there. FP is the only place in the world where restaurant food was both very expensive and (IMO) very bad. Also, we have never met a hotel that we liked! Very weak air conditioning, service, and maintanence! And very expensive. And I'm not comparing meals and accomodations to the PG when I say that. I'm comparing them to those available at mid-level hotels and restaurants here in middle-America! We always plan our FP trips so we can get right on the PG shortly after arrival, and get on the plane headed east shortly after disembarkation.

This is why I have been advising all my friends to go the FP in the next couple of years if they EVER want to go, because after '06 there will be no "all FP" cruises left there, according to current info. Windstar is gone. the PG is going at the end of '06 --- and so is the Tahitian Princess.

Thanks,
Richard :) :) :)

Wow - really good information.
I was thinking there must be good fruit like papayas - will have to check out the markets for lunch. A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou in our OWB!

Kathy, this IS a lot of good info!! I also like the idea of a picnic on deck of the OWB. Add in a sunset and you've got heaven!!

I was wondering if you have any problems bringing snack food (like granola bars, etc) into the country. Sounds like it's O.K. That will help.

Ticketsunlimited - thanks for the info on Hotel Bora Bora. (That's where we will be staying on Bora Bora). At least if the food there is great it won't hurt quite as much paying so much for it. Did you eat at any other places near Hotel Bora Bora?

CYNDI, We ate two nights at the Hotel which was really great. We did one night at Bloody Marys which I really do recommend. Amercanized a bit but you have to say you have been there. Just five minutes down the road. Make reservations and they will pick you up and bring you back at no cost. The breakfast is the best. Dont make the mistake we did and order two portions. One is plenty. E-mail me at dan@ticketsunlimited.net if you have any other questions at all. Dan

Click here for a Tahiti restautant guide put together by Frommers. You can click on each restaurants name and get a general idea of prices.

Here is a Virtual Tourist page for Bora Bora restaurants. Scroll down until you come to the restaurants with pictures and reviews.


And here is the same websites Tahiti restaurant reviews.

karen, great site, thx..r/wes

This one, Les 3 Brasseurs, sounds like a downright tasty bargain!

The best deal here is the croque brasseurs, a ham sandwich served under melted Gruyère cheese and accompanied by a glass of beer and a green salad with excellent vinaigrette dressing, all for 900CFP ($9).

Karen, what a GREAT site!!!! I see there is also quite alot of other information about the islands too. I've saved it and will go thru it later when I have a bit more time. Thank you :)

Don, I appreciate your really good tips on the restaurants. I will be in touch soon as I do want to pick your brain for Hotel Bora Bora and Bora Bora info. Thanks for the offer!!

The pizza place Todd wrote about is near Le Meridien. We ate there twice and found that a large pizza (12" thin crust) and a large salad was plenty for the 2 of us. With 2 cokes it was about $20 - $25 (in 2002).

Near Le Meridien was a little grocery store and we bought french bread and some cheese for lunch one day. They had fresh fruit, milk, slightly larger than a 7-11. I'm sure there are groceries all over the place and you should be able to get lunch fixens at any of them.

When we were there last week, the prices were outrageous. Our hired driver commented that within the past 6 months the prices have sky-rocketed. We didn't buy any food; a smallish bag of dry Friskie dog food cost about $8. They wanted $25 for simple tee-shirts that should have been about $10. Needless to say, we didn't buy much more than post cards ($1 for the small ones) and some hand made shell jewelry which actually seemed like a bargain in comparison.

Thanks to everyone for this information. We are going in Dec and, as you know, it is never too early to start researching!
Miriam

We took granola bars, almonds and hard candies (all sealed in their orginal containers) and had no problems. These snacks helped us bridge the gap between a late breakfast and early dinner on 2 of our land based days.

Kathy Z, thanks for the input on what you can bring. Those are the things that can be "lifesavers" when you don't know when your next meal is coming :)

How about the prices for lodging? When we were in FP in '02 and '03 we looked around and found those OWB's to be higher than a kite. I can only imagine what they are now, with the decling of the $USD.

Thanks,
Richard :) :) :)

Richard, I think my reservation is for $485.00 US per night and includes breakfast daily.

Richard, we won't talk about prices. It hurts too much. But, since I don't know when I'll be back to FP, I decided to hold my breath and jump in!!! :D Seriously, the 4 night pre-cruise for Hotel Bora Bora OWB is total $2,110 USD pp. See why I say it hurts too much- Yikes!!!!

Actually, those prices are not as high as I had expected, as they are pretty much in line with what we were quoted two years ago. For anybody doing a post cruise, here's a hint. While on the cruise, you probably won't drink all of your two liters of liquor. And you can stash away some soft drinks that are provided. You can take these with you to your post cruise, where they will come in very handy! How about that --- sneaking liquor and soda OFF of a cruise ship!

Thanks,
Richard :) :)

Just found a good tip on CC to use during the return flight from Tahiti:

The only complaint with ATN is the check-in at the Papeete airport, although I don't think it's just ATN. Basically you stand in a long snaking line for a good hour or more. It's unbelievably hot, humid, and sticky.

One tip someone gave me that turned out to be a good one is that there IS an air-conditioned section at the Papeete airport. You just have to go upstairs into the buffet restaurant area. You don't have to buy a full meal. You can even just get a drink and sit down at a table. It's up the flight of stairs that starts in the middle of the restaurant area on the main level.

Thanks, Wes! I will remember that one.

At the Beachcomber a hamburger and coke was in the 20 to 25 dollar range.
take the local Le truck into town and in the markets you can get lunch ...a chicken sandwich on french bread was about 4 dollars and it was good.
AT the beachcomber the dinner show for two with a glass of wine for each came out to 150 dollars...(the meal was buffet style for the show). Was it worth it...I would say yes.
Would I stay at the Beachcomber...yes, at the Meridaian....no way .

We stayed at the Hotel Bora Bora 4 or 5 years ago. Our OWB was great but even more expensive than it is now. The breakfast buffet was $39 each and it was awful. It might have been a Sunday buffet. We did not like the food in FP but felt the food on the PG was outstanding. It amazed us how perfect the fruit was.
We stayed on a little island for 3 days before the cruise.There were 4or 5 tent cabins and no electricity. All of the meals were included. Marty and I were the only ones who were not on our honeymoon. It was wonderful and we will never forget it. Each day they dropped each couple off at their own private island for a few hours to swim etc.They let this little dog come with Marty and I.His name was Napolean. He had these really short legs. When it was time to leave we couldn't find him. The boat came to pick us up and the owner said that he had swam back to the resort. He must have really been bored to swim all the way back with those short legs.I guess the next day he was smart enough to go with a honeymoon couple.

Bette, great story! I would love going to our own private island. Very romantic even for those who are not honeymooners!! I sure hope the HBB breakfast buffet has gotten better (and cheaper!)

As the owner of a short legged Cairn Terrier with the tenacity to do just as Napolean did, I love that story.