Te Vara Nui Village — Attraction in Ngatangiia

I was super disappointed with this production and overall experience. The entire island of Roatunga was non-commercialized, laid back and casual. But this Te Vara Nui Village is a 100% tourist trap.

The dancers and production was beautiful. That's why I'm giving two stars. But they lost 3 stars for the following reasons. No water, coffee, tea or drinks were provided with a $109 ticket. No beverage at all. The staff greeted us crassly with a comment about how we needed our credit card to buy drinks so we "had a better time". Her tone and demeanor was very off-putting and weird. We were seated in the BACK and had terrible views. Everyone pays the same price...but it seems random on who gets a good seat. They need to have tiered pricing for the better seats. We paid full price...but probably saw 60% of the production. The emcee seemed uninterested, overly rehearsed and bored with her life. Her jokes were soooo canned and felt forced. It honestly sounded like she was exhausted and needed a break. At the end of the evening....They only had ONE lady running cards for probably 100 people. So there was a very long line. There was an equally long line for dessert. But the dancers were only available for 5 minutes to take photos. Literally...exactly 5 minutes. So, if you were waiting in line to take photos.... they just walked away at the 5 minute mark.

My suggestions:

Bring cash so you don't get stuck in the long card line at the end of the evening. Bring bottled water with you. Try and get there early so you can sit closer. The tall tables in the back provide for...

HIGHLY RECOMMEND - Te Vara Nui Village & Weddings 🌴🇨🇰 Did the Combo Extravaganza and enjoyed a Cultural Village Tour and Over Water Night Show and Buffet Dinner 🛖💦⛵Te Vara Nui Village is Rarotonga's leading cultural attraction 🥇It is the Cook Islands number one experience!!! We saw Rarotonga's finest dancers and musicians perform by flaming torchlight on the floating and fixed stages of the waterfall garden and enjoyed a delicious buffet 😅🤤🥩🥥🍖🍠🍤🍲🥘🦐🐟🇨🇰

When: Daily Cost: Combo Extravaganza $185 + $15 pickup/dropoff = $200.

✅ Island Style Buffet Dinner (go up as many times as you like). Soup and garlic bread entree + dessert. ✅ Cultural Show with dancing, drums, singing, fire dancing performed by flaming torchlight on floating and fixed stages under the stars. ✅ Cash Bar service. ✅ Excellent Customer Service. ✅ Wonderful MC. ✅ Entertainment. ✅ Light Show 🚦🔦. ✅ Delicious food. ✅ Garden, pond views from every seat. ✅ Table service. ✅ Bookings essential. ✅ Local performers. ✅ Suitable for all ages. ✅ Look out for eels in the pond 🐍 ✅ Photos with performers at the end. ✅ Insect repellent available.

❌ Personally would only do the Spectacular Over-Water Night Show and Buffet Dinner next time - $155.00. The Cultural Village Tour was not what I expected, but I guess it's alright if you have absolutely zero knowledge of the islands...

Disappointing food and show. No audience engagement or participation. Taped commentary, songs and music. Actors just lip sync, walk or run about the the stage and  twerk their hips or wobble their legs. A badly made boat floats around with a guy jesticulating for no reason. The lighting was poor, no spot or mood settings. The food was average, we at back of line so 4 dishes were empty and no fish left. Social interaction was poor as we on high chairs in group of 4, our couple spoke no English. Please stop the taped commentary and music, get a compare who would interact with the audience. Have some talent on stage who can sing, play the drums or something other than doing the same jiggling around to every song. Have mood led lighting, coloured, dramatic, up lights on the costumes. A gas flame and 240v  lamp does not make an interesting show setting. Throw out  the bench seating, have round tables so people can communicate and enjoy other company in a social circle setting. Get a proper choreographer, MC, singer and  show more talent that I'm sure exists in Rarotonga. Make the show more fun, more humour, more audience participation. More theatrical lighting. In general cut out the tape recorded entertainment. As give a more personal creative experience of the talent...