January 2025 - Pacific Resort Rarotonga
Kia Orana Jo,
Wow - what a holiday we've had. I can see why everyone raves about Rarotonga and makes return trips. Everything was amazing so this is a good news email!
Pacific Resort - 10/10 - from the moment we got out of the airport and being directed to our shuttle, given a nice cold bottle of water and a lei, it was easy. The reception staff at (in particular Ti) were always friendly and helpful and nothing was a problem. We had rooms 30, 33 and 4. Kevin, myself and Theo were in room 30 and then made our move after 5 nights to room 7. We didn't mention it to staff but there was a sewage smell when you walked past room 30, so we didn't sit outside. But - there was a lot of rain while we were there so we could understand that, and everything else was so amazing so we didn't let this bother us. Moving to room 7 though, maybe it's the smoking side of the resort because at times it smelt like cigarette smoke. I'm really glad we had room 30 first and for the longer length of time. Again, this didn't put any dampeners on our stay. The beds were amazingly comfy and super large - they were lovely. Rooms 33 and 4 were perfectly adequate for the others. I'm glad we decided to stay at this resort and not The Edgewater or The Rarotongan (reviews not good). I would definitely recommend this resort and stay here again. Every single member of staff we dealt with was so friendly and helpful and made our stay so positive. I was sad to leave them! We loved the location too, being walking distance to Muri Markets and the tours. We also ended up hiring a car when we got there from Avis, at the resort, to explore (great when it rained too) and the teenagers hired scooters which they loved and it was great for them to go off independently.
We did the following:
Go Local Turtle Tour - I prebooked this before we left. The weather was a bit dubious (in my opinion) but they went ahead and it was amazing. We felt safe the whole time (I was a bit nervous about the passage) and we had an amazing day and had our first lesson on coconuts.
Muri Night Markets - good selection for everyone to get what they wanted.
Raro Quad Tours - the kids did this, I think they thought they'd get muddier than they did but they enjoyed it plus the milkshake from Charlie's afterwards. They are all confident on quads at home anyway.
Te Vara Nui - I prebooked this before we left. It was so handy having this walking distance from the resort too. Jandals and umbrellas required. We all enjoyed this evening, the entertainment and the food, it was like having a home cooked meal.
Trader Jacks - wouldn't really rave about it but the pizzas were very good.
Vili's Burgers - kids went here twice, very good burgers.
Punanga Nui Market - very good, nice atmosphere.
Captain Tamas Lagoon Cruize - I prebooked this for our last day. It was so, so good. The entertainment value and beautiful lunch was well worth it. Also great that it was walking distance from the resort.
KiteSUP - Kevin did this, the people were awesome and made allowances for the wind or lack thereof. Another walking distance bonus.
So overall we are all really pleased with how everything worked out and I would definitely book with you again :) Maybe we need to go in the not tropical rain season though.
Thank you for everything you did to put our holiday together and for answering all of my questions and back and forth emails. I'll be keeping an eye out for our next trip; we would go back to Raro again but would like to slip in some time at Aitutaki. But then we'd probably go to Tahiti or somewhere else first ...
Thanks again, happy travels.
Janeen :)
