Overwater Bungalow at the Sofitel on Moorea

Overwater Bungalow at the Sofitel on Moorea- A dream come true!!

In 2024 I elected to leave the ship in Papeete and take the ferry to Moorea to spend some time in an overwater bungalow at the Sofitel. It was so amazing I elected to redo the overwater bungalow experience in 2025 only at the Hilton because the Sofitel is under renovation. Blog entry of overwater bungalow at the Hilton to follow.

The process to overnight requires you get written permission from HAL prior to embarkation. We had a bit of a snag because on the day before embarkation HAL changed up all the dates we were in French Polynesia which meant I had to cancel my current Sofitel booking and rebook (cost me a bit more in points). Then I had to request a new letter to deviate from the itinerary. HAL never did get this right. They gave me a letter to deviate from the Rotterdam Itinerary in April (I was on the K'dam itinerary in March). I deviated anyway.

One the morning the ship arrives in Papeete, everyone planning to deviate from the itinerary meets in one of the small meeting rooms and needs to go thru customs. The whole process took about an hour. At that time you are given your passport back to take with you on the deviation. You will surrender it again when you reboard.

This is the ferry to Moorea. I took this photo from the promenade deck of the K'dam so you can see it's quite close. I'd estimate 1/4 mile at most.

The ferry to cross to Moorea is about 30 minutes and is located very close to where the K'dam docked. I pre-purchased ferry tickets but it isn't really necessary. I also pre-purchased a ride to the Sofitel given my experience with the cab never showing up in 2024 (see blog entry on Alberts and Alex snorkeling on Moorea for details).

Make sure you pay for the end unit bungalows- makes a HUGE difference in your view

Mine all mine! If you are going to book a bungalow o highly recommend reserving the end units. These are the most expensive, but your view is the ocean with Tahiti as a backdrop (as opposed to a view of another bungalow.

It’s amazing to snorkel rigtt from your bedroom

Each room comes with a view. There is a light for night viewing too. Can’t get too much of the fishies!

Looking out the side of my bungalow you can see the beach and mountains

I pretty much slept on that lounge chair because I didn't want to miss a minute of the experience.

The best snorkeling is off the end bungalow units and sometimes I was able to see human visitors from my floor window.

The room was fine. The air conditioneer didn't work and for 2K a night you'd think they would have that working. The bellhop couldn't get it working either so it wasn't just me. I 'suffered' through because, being hot in paradise is just part of the game.

View looking back toward the beach

There is an expansive beach at the Sofitel. I didn’t use it as I spent as much time as possible in my over water bungalow.

There is some nightlife at the resort, or you can just walk along the pier and watch all the fish because it's lite from below.

This was my $37 turkey sandwich for lunch. Nothing is cheap here.

There is also an infinity pool at the Sofitel. I used this pool while waiting for my room to be ready.

The best part of the overwater bungalow was being able to snorkel right from the living room, and when not snorkeling you had lots of visitors from the floor window or the private lanai.

Entertainment right from the bungalow

Early morning visitor- seen right from the living room

This eagle rat also visited me in the morning

Sunrise from my Over-Water Bungalow at the Sofitel. PINCH ME!

Sunrise at the Sofitel. Pinch me!

Pinch me again !!!

To say this was a bucket list item is an understatement. Never did I think that I would have the privilege of an experience like this. The fact that I plan to repeat in 2025 is simply icing on the cake. This isn't cheap, but if you can swing it, I give the entire experience a 10+. It's literally living in a dream.