Tiki Village — Attraction in Moorea-Maiao

Wanting to share my honest review as an English speaker :) first off, let’s go with the positives; Tiki Village keeps Polynesian culture alive through shows and educational activities. That is a treasure in itself for Polynesian youth and tourists who are wanting to know more about FP history.

I will say that it was cool to see their history in the artifact rooms, but there was no explanation of them by the tiki village staff; perhaps that is something you have to attend on a more museum like tour during the day.

I understand that this is French Polynesia, but as an English speaker we felt like we missed out on 80% of what was said during the entire first 3 hours of the cultural explanations. I know the guide tried his best to translate and include English for us but it was like, paragraphs of French and then a few sentences in English, if that. So most of the US visitors missed out on the entire cultural piece; which made the evening go very slowly, because it was a good 2-3 hours of explanations before buffet service started, which was when the pig was removed from the ground oven to be served. They pair you with other guests at tables (who are from the same resort from my understanding of the seating arrangement) and after that start serving drinks and the buffet line starts. This part felt very much like wild animals clawing for food, as there was 2 cold buffet lines and one hot one, but no real understanding of who should go where. I think perhaps dismissing people by groups or tables would be more efficient for this process. Some of the food was good, but some of it was not. It really depends on your taste. But coming from cold cut, freshly harvested veggies fruits and fishes all week, this meal felt very heavily saturated in juices ( the hot bar essentially, it was different variations of pork and chicken in juices.) Just not something to hit the spot if you’re looking for a “fresh island meal” or Polynesian BBQ. Unfortunately It gave me bad acid reflux most of the night. Not that there weren’t good options to choose from; they still had a cold bar with fruits, veggies, ahi, etc, but most of that had been bulldozed through by the time we made it there. The smoked pork really was a delight but maybe just stick to one pork dish if all you make it to is the hot bar instead of loading up on the heavier dishes.

Ok now to the show! I really enjoyed the visual cultural stuff that didn’t need as much explanation in French. For example tying Pareos and opening coconuts. The singing, and dancing was good, but the drumming was GREAT. Seriously, the drummers carried that whole show!! The fire was quite exciting as well. It wasn’t the most organized show I’ve ever seen but the performers really do work hard and that’s what matters. I think the dancers chatting with each other during the performance was sorta distracting and took away from the show but that’s just me, I’m ruined from a luau I saw in Myrtle Beach put in by an extended Samoan and Tahitian family and it was the most incredible fire show I’ve ever seen. Perhaps our seating arrangement would have made the show better too, we were sat up on one of the rows right behind two giant poles with palm leaves stuck to them and basically had to watch the whole thing behind palm leaves blocking the center of the stage.

I think if you’re a French speaker this could absolutely be an amazing experience. For English speakers, this made the 5 hour experience quite daunting. It seems the French speakers around us had a great, engaged time. Props to the tiki village for putting on such a large show and...

Reviewing as an English speaker who has attended many fine luaus in Hawaii we felt that the buffet dinner, with assigned seating with people you won’t know, and entertainment did not meet up with the price point nor our expectations for a Polynesian cultural experience.

We felt this was a rather drawn-out affair, partially due to the need for explanation in both French and English. Similar to others it seemed to us that the discussion was geared towards French speaking people, who were in the overwhelming majority. The evening seemed to cater to cruise ship passengers, of which there were many, rather than attempting to be an authentic cultural experience.

We arrived a bit before 6p and were greeted with live music and some juice based drinks (alcoholic or non alcoholic). The gift shop serves as the check in desk.

Doors were open promptly at 6p. The emcee, who claimed to be Marlon Brando’s grandson, offered us a “tour” of the village which was limited to a short talk about famous person to visit Tahiti several generations ago.

The “tour” then went an onsite jewelry shop to promote purchase of black pees jewelry. After this we were encouraged to get drinks and appetizers in a building just offshore. Getting something to eat at that time is recommended as dinner is a ways off.

After some time we were summoned to the grandstand which had individual plastic seats. The center section had the best location due to roof support columns obstructing views from side sections.

Once gathered were directed to the building where the food was cooked underground via heated volcanic rocks. It took some time for everyone to file in and get situated, remaining standing. The host explained what many of the items were after they were removed from the pit, which seemed unnecessarily detailed.

The emcee spoke very quickly and with his accent his English was often difficult to understand. He did not leave any pause for questions, talking nearly continuously in French then the same in English. He has obviously hosted the show many, many times as it is rote by now.

We returned to the grandstand for demonstrations of coconut husking and parelo tying, and Tahitian music before we went to dinner about 8p.

At dinner we were seated at a table with two other English speaking groups. It was awkward for us to have to make small talk with people you just met rather than enjoying spending time with your loved ones. Any drink beyond bottled water is an extra cost, whether non alcoholic or alcoholic.

Everyone was called to the buffet at the same time so was a free for all. The food overall was not to our liking. Some items were gone by the time we made it through the buffet line.

We ended up leaving when dessert was served, so did not view the show which started at 9:30p, late for us with a time zone change.

It may be a better experience to just attend the show and skip the dinner, but again we did not attend the show to know...

I can’t say that we had an amazing experience. We booked a show with dinner. As everybody else has stated in the reviews dinner didn’t start until 8:30, show started 9:30. We started with welcome drink at the entrance, short presentation on movies Marlon Brando filmed on Moorea presentation in both French and English, each sentence spoken in French and then followed by English which drags it out longer obviously. Then we were welcomed to go to the floating platform where they had little bites of bread with pate, fried fish bites and coconut mini donuts. Then the opening of the ground oven (very long intro to the foods cooked in the oven) again French and English for every single item which prolongs it. Then there was a coconut presentation (how to crack open coconuts and what to do with the leaves) then at that point we were invited to dinner. Assigned tables on the ticket and they start seating from the left hand side of the amphitheater then middle then right so if you’re seated on the right it takes everybody else taking their seats for you to be seated at your table. Tables are not private to each family but shared with strangers. 2 tables for the buffet. Appetizers heavily fish containing, there was maybe 2 things that didn’t contain fish from the appetizers. Main course (the items from the ground oven) at a separate table that starts serving later. You’re given very little of the pork from the oven and honestly it is not amazing tasting (no spices, no salt on it). Desert is served at the appetizers table so they clean it out and you have to wait to get your dessert which finishes pretty quick and they don’t do replenish any of the food. Once it’s gone it’s gone. 9:30 rolls around show starts very slow and once again French and English prolongs it. We have young kids so we only lasted until about 10 and left. At that point there had been 3 songs and one story telling dance and none of it very spectacular. We’ve been to luaus in Hawaii and traditional Fijian dinner with show and both have been way more interesting and better organized and managed than what we experienced at the Moorea Tiki Village. As someone who doesn’t appreciate sea food to me the food was bland and really overpriced for what it was. The entire experience could have been made much better through better coordination and timing of everything. Very disappointing I wish we had skipped that...