Lovely Bora Bora! Flew in from Moorea (see review Tahiti Treat). We were much lighter in content, however, this time we paid a small fee (approximately $50 US) for our baggage which was over the maximum weight limit. The airport is so cool but I don't want to give it away. Lets put it this way, one side is the run-way and the other you will have to discover. Your hotel escort will be there to collect your bags and take you to your destination, ours being The Pearl Beach Resort. Love the location of the Pearl which overlooks Mount Otemanu. Upon arrival, you are greeted in their main reception room and given a small orientation of the amenities available (restaurants, pool, spa, fitness club, etc). You will have the pleasure of discovering the grounds on your own. The pool, beach, grounds are so spectacular. I actually loved the surroundings better than at the Hilton in Moorea which were also quite spectacular. Once again, I recommend that you have the breakfast plan because I am certain that you will find yourself eating breakfast at the resort because you need to take a boat to access any other place. Their breakfast has a good selection to choose from. Now, I will compare their OWB to the one at the Hilton in Moorea since that is the only thing I can compare it to. We had a Premium OWB #16(upgrated), actually the furthest one that you can have so our view was unbeatable. Every morning we watched the sun rise over Mount Otemanu and throughout the day, the beautiful turquoise waters which surrounded us. The bed faced the patio doors so we kept our drapes open to the view as to not miss a sunrise over the mountain. I found the OWB to be a little more dated than in Moorea but you could not beat the view. Although it was dated, it was clean and felt a little more authentic with its bamboo construction. Since we were celebrating our anniversary, we were greeted with white wine and a decadent moose chocolate cake over a flaky pastry. We were totally amazed by the quality of service which did not end there. Later that evening, when it was time for the nightly turn down service, we were showered with wrapped gifts. I don't know if this is done all the time or only because it was during the Christmas and New Year holiday time. I won't mention what we received in case this is something they do to greet all their guest but I will say that it was very special and that we felt that we should have the millions to go along with this first class service. Once again, we made ourselves at home like in Moorea. The first full day on the motu, we headed to the main land to purchase our supplies and souvenirs so we could be self sufficient for the week. One has to pay a small fee to take the boat to the main island, then bus to the shopping district. This will all be arranged at the Pearl. We were loaded when we came back with all our mix, beer, bagguettes and etc. Although, we did eat out at their restaurant (great food), pool bar restaurant and even ordered room service, we did also have our own supplies to enjoy on our patio deck. If you want to keep your cost down, eat at around 4:00pm at the pool restaurant which also has a pretty good menu and enjoy your deck food. Here is a list of items that I recommend that you bring: collapsible cooler, snacks, duty free, folding beach bag, sunscreens, CD's, snorkling gear without flippers, underwater camera, camera, swiss army knife set,bonocculars and XPF money. Bringing money with us from Canada made it easier for small purchases at the airport like picking up a phone card from the airport to make long distance calls and tipping and etc. Now, on Moorea, we rented a car to see the island but here on Bora Bora we recommend doing the shark and ray tour. Definitely a must. Although my wife is not much of a swimmer, she did it all. We snorkled to a reef, saw all of Bora Bora by boat (all the motus which make up Bora Bora and all the resorts which helped us conclude that the Pearl is definitely one of the top places to stay at with a magnificent view of Mt Otemanu. Since we were there for New Years Eve, our dinner and celabration were paid through our package and what a show and dinner. Outdoor hors d'oeuvre on the beach along with the Polynesian dancers followed by a traditional style Polynesian dinner of decadent seafood and champagne. All in all, it was a most memorable experience which will be hard to top. One thing, double check your bill upon exiting, since they accidently billed another couple's dinner on our bill. All was cleared without any problem and they were very apologetic. Loved our stay in Bora Bora.

My wife and I started our honeymoon off at Pearl Beach Resort in mid January and we stayed for three nights.

Our stay started a little rocky but ended wonderfully. When the representative (who greeted us at the airport, road with us in the boat to the resort, and processed our information at check-in) took us to our OWB, she immediately pointed out that the view was not that of a Premium over water bungalow (in front of my new wife) and tried to upsell me to a premium bungalow for $70 extra per night. I told her that we would think about it. After a few hours, we realized that the air conditioner did not work (we were sweating). We reported the issue on our way to dinner. During dinner, they checked out the A/C and agreed that it did not work. They then moved us (at no charge) to the same Premium OWB that she had tried to upsell me on. Upon entering the new OWB, we realized that the original OWB had also been the handicap-accessible unit (not a big deal but the toilet had been higher and there were numerous handles and rods all through the bathroom). Needless to say, I was a little upset and worried that this was the start to a stay where I would be nickled and dimed.

But....after we moved to the new unit, the trip was amazing. The view from the Premium OWBs is amazing and I would recommend spending the extra $ in advance to have one (my travel agent never made me aware of this ability). We would spend hours on the deck sunbathing and looking at Bora Bora and its mountains. We also swam around the lagoon to cool off.

The nice thing about Pearl Beach is that it is on a motu off the separate island, so it is a lot quieter than the other resorts at Bora Bora (which seem a little more touristy and over-crowded).

The rooms are great. I thought the food was good and not too expensive. It is not awesome, but you have to remember that you are in another part of the world and the resort seems to try to cater to French cuisine. The free breakfast buffett in the morning is a great start to the day.

A few recommendations I will make for anyone going to this resort are:

1) Bring plenty of sunscreen and bug spray. The sun is intense and you will use a lot sunscreen (which costs $20 to $30 if you buy it in Bora Bora). The bugs were not a problem, but we applied Off bugspray each time we went on the main island- just to be safe.

2) The water at Bora Bora is drinkable, but I always like to be safe and drink bottled water when travelling internationally. I highly recommend taking the boat shuttle to the town on the main island and go to the grocery store where you can buy water, wine, snacks for a lot cheaper than the resort.

When we left the resort to continue on to our next stop, I was honestly afraid that the Pearl Beach had set the bar too high and that the rest of our trip would be a let down. We went to the Taha'a Island Resort and Spa after were blown away by that resort. This (and the attempted upsell from a room with a broken A/C unit) is the ONLY reason I give Pearl Beach 4 stars- Taha'a was just that good.

Overall this resort is fine but it does not appear to be 4 star or worth the price. We went during low season and I would have been very disappointed if we had paid high season prices. The bungalows are nice, the service is good and the view and location of the resort are beautiful.

My biggest complaint is the food. The dinner was not appealing. Although my husband and I have very high standards when it comes to food, we talked to many other couples at the resort who found the food to be disappointing as well. The good thing is, the hotel does arrange free transportation to take you to other restaurants on the main island, however, there aren't that many good choices there either.

We really appreciated having tennis, ping pong and mini golf as well as several board games, paddle boats and snorkeling equipment. We did see a lot of cool fish around the resort.

Finally, make sure you thoroughly go over your bill at the end of the trip. There were several charges totaling around $200 that were not ours. There was an $150 dinner that was charged to us on a night we were having dinner at another restaurant that the hotel booked for us! Mistakes do happen but we had another false charge on our bill for $100 and were confused as to how this could have happened twice. The front desk promptly removed our false charges which was appreciated.

Overall, there is nothing overly negative to say about this play but there is nothing overly positive I would say either.

How to describe Bora Bora? The phrase that I heard so much before my trip here is "the most beautiful island in the world", and it proved to be so true. The many shades of blue water are remarkable! After a 4 day stay in Moorea, then 4 days on a catamaran touring the wilder islands, for the last 4 days of our Tahiti trip, my husband and I wound up in the lap of luxury at the Bora Bora Pearl Resort. WOW! Our overwater bungalow took our breath away, it was so beautiful!! We could feed the fish through our glass coffee table that looked into the sea, or we could just step into the sea form our private deck and let the fish swarm to us to be fed! The grounds were beautiful, the spa was fabulous (we had 2 massages each there), and the food was excellent! I couldn't have asked for anything more in a resort! Our agent from TAHITI TRAVEL PLANNERS booked it all for us, as well as an excursion on an underwater scooter and swimming with manta rays - great! I would give this advice, though - let your agent book your activities for you early! I really was disappointed that a parasailing adventure could not be scheduled due to no available appointments on our last day there. We should have made the reservations earlier, but my husband was undecided to go with me until the last day. Our bad!