French Polynesia Warning or Danger Tips by deliverygirl

Update 2002- I have heard that since visiting CLub Med Moorea- it is or has closed down.

I stayed in Papeete then flew out to Club Med Moorea, which was Ok but very hot and humid (no air conditioning) but lots of water to swim in ! The rooms are so-so, but no fridge to cool anything in was a bummer. Have to say that after the great treatment at the park royal the french attitude was a little hard to take in time of need. Where I come from it costs nothing to be polite, so was a little alarmed at the club med staffs attitudes. Some made it pretty obvious that they would rather be partying.

Word of warning... the food is put out at set times during the day, go early as the food is left sitting uncovered and unchilled for the whole meal time and I got awfully sick- as did at least 10 other people we met. Cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea were pretty rife and I ended up having to fly home early as I was so ill. (Some of the club med staff told me NOT to get admitted to the local hospital!)On 2 occasions our milk curdled as we poured it into our morning coffee and the polynesian waitress was not impressed when people asked for more milk!

Worse of all though was the lack of interest and help by the staff. They did nothing to help us alter travel arrangements and seemed disinterested in anything to do with customer relations. I have now been informed that there is a protocol they are supposed to follow when customers are sick.
I work in the medical profession and took all the prophylatic meds needed, but still got caught out unfortunately. Not being prepared and having no idea of airline phone numbers etc, made it pretty stressful and expensive to get out of there, espeically in the weekend - they said everything closes there on Sat. & Sunday.

So not to put anyone off their holiday, but be prepared for the french attitude and just put a little forethought into what to do if you need to get off the island in case of illness.

If you stay in Papeete itself, it would be much easier to get home as you dont have to wait for buses and planes to fly over to the main island.

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