We stayed 10 nights at Legends over both the Christmas and New Year's holidays. We are a family with two children ages 5 and 7 that are frequent travellers. We loved Legends! Having stayed as a couple many years ago at the Intercontinental, I couldn't be happier with our choice.

Rent a car for your stay on Moorea. It is well worth the money and opportunity to really travel around the island to experience all it has to offer. We grocery shopped several times at the Champion Toa on visits to the Lagoonarium, Sofitel, and west island. We ate breakfast in each day and then packed either packed a lunch to go to the beach, motu or other activities or visited some of the beach restaurants and ate there and enjoyed the beaches too. Sunset and Les Tipaniers are great. .Having the fully equipped kitchen allowed us to eat fresh foods and opt to eat in or out for dinners.

The villas are ideal. We were upgraded from a garden to partial ocean view in villa 6. Two bedrooms, queen and two singles with ample storage space. AC in the bedrooms only, but leave the doors open and it does help to cool the rest of the house some. The living room is large enough, but has only one couch and two chairs. It would be nice to have a second couch to relax while watching some of the many DVDs they have to lend on a rainy afternoon or too hot one.

The kitchen is great - granite and stainless steel. Nicely equipped with dishes, pots, pans and silverware. There is a full refrigerator, oven, smaller dishwasher, toaster and specialized coffee maker that requires you by the coffee in the hotel store. Highly recommend bringing Starbuck's VIA packs and your own tea and spices for cooking. We brought lots of storage bags for snacks, sandwiches and leftovers which helped a lot for taking lunch - we also brought a cooler bag to keep that and our drinks cool at the motu and beach. They do not provide enough dish washing liquid or dishwasher tabs for more than 2-3 washings. They will provide you with more but you have to ask.

The big win for us was the washer and dryer. Bring your own "pods" for easier washing. This saved us lots in terms of over packing luggage and having our own detergent meant we had quality detergent vs what is provided.

Outdoor shower on the deck is fabulous. The outdoor pool is a jacuzzi not a hot tub. I can't imagine hopping into a hot tub in the heat and humidity that they have here. It was perfect except that it turned green after a few days. Nothing a little more bromine wouldn't have fixed. We told them about this but it never got fixed.

The staff, Laina and Rosemund in particular, always greeted us with a smile, prompt and personal service. This cannot be said of many of the other hotels around the island including the Intercontinental and Hilton. Friends staying at both of these locations had the feeling of being a nuisance to their service staffs for mere requests such as a menu or placing an order. We also visited these hotels and found this to be true.

Creepy crawlies - yes there are bugs and geckos. It is a tropical destination. Bring your own bug spray or get some of the citronella based ones for sale on the island. It helped to spray the tops of the sheets and around the base of the beds to keep the mosquitos away. Laina came down from the office one evening to show us this trick. It's what all the locals do especially for their kids who get bit more frequently. The geckos are harmless try to enjoy seeing something new - our kids loved them.

The pool is fantastic! It is near the cafe restaurant, but that did not in anyway deter us or the many families we saw in it each day from using it. The view is just incredible from here and a perfect spot to sip a cocktail and relax.

If you are looking for a fantastic vacation with some control over your own food and are willing to rent a car to really experience the island, have more room and unbelievable views - this is the place.

We stayed here for 6 nights, we decided to stay here because it was self contained and we wanted to cook over the Christmas period instead of eating out.

Staying here made it a lot cheaper however shops close-by are....well not close-by so I would suggest you do your shopping before coming.
The nearest shop is at the bottom of the hill, it only sells basics. There is a small dairy (7/11 or grocery store) about 5 mins walk and a largish shopping centre about 25mins walk.

Pros:

-Having a full kitchen and laundry was great
-Views were fantastic (we only had a partial ocean view!)
-We were one of the top villas and did not mind the walk up and down as we were aware of it prior to booking and the staff picked us up whenever they saw us walking up the hill
-Bugs were not a problem, we knew when to shut the windows and doors and when we could leave them open. We only saw a couple of geko's as they can fit through the windows.
-The motu was awesome! They supplied snorkelling gear and the beach was beautiful. Not sure why people were complaining about the trip out there, you get to see Moorea from a free boat!!
-Our little backyard pool was amazing! I don't know why people would want it heated when it is hot outside, it was perfect for us.

Cons:

-There was a strong sewage smell coming from the toilet, we had to spray it with fly spray every few hours it was so bad.
-The restaurant was way too expensive and it was always empty, I thought that because Legends would attract families it would cater to family prices.
-We ordered from the takeaway menu and took it back to our villa a few times and it was not that great
-The gym equipment was broken, only one machine worked.

Overall our stay was just what we needed, it was private and we would stay here again.

Stayed at the Legends for 2 weeks in September and had an amazing time! Moorea is truly a peaceful paradise. My wife and I were looking for a place to completely rest and relax and this was the perfect spot. Staff were always friendly and helpful and the room was an excellent size with great amenities and a beautiful view of the mountains and ocean. We also made good use of the tennis court and gym. We used the swimming pool a few times but it was quite small (one idea for a future upgrade might be to consider developing a larger swimming pool). The beach on the island was wonderful and we found it very easy to get there and back. We had several meals on property and they were delicious. Access to the property can be difficult but we rented a car for half a day (3 times during our 2 week stay) and it was an economical way to drive around and explore the island and get groceries, etc. All in all we highly recommend this resort for a rest and relax type vacation and can't wait to go back one day!

Beautiful views and Villas but there are several things to be aware of staying here.. It's located on a very steep hill and not connected to a beach and if you are handicapped and/or use a wheelchair/stroller or have difficulty walking up and down steep walkways) this is not the place for you. You have to call a golf cart to pick you up and take you everywhere. There are kitchens in the Villas but the closest store to the resort has quite a bit of canned foods- very little in the way of fresh foods. Better to stop at a larger store closer to town before you arrive. We were given a 3 bedroom which was nice but the air conditioning doesn't work in the 3rd room and there was no fan. Because of the mosquitoes ( our daughter has at least 30 in one night) you were told to keep all windows and doors closed and you missed out of the nice breeze. The jacuzzi was lukewarm and there is one very small pool located off of the lobby filled with children and about 10 lounge chairs. You have to take a boat shuttle that leaves several times a day to a private island so the flexibility offered at most other resorts on the island is limited. We booked several nights but left after the first night and the front office manager was not to accommodating. And 20 hours of internet and 1 night room service for 1 person was $250 US. The internet is charged by the hour. It's a wonderful place if you are aware of these drawbacks but the mosquitoes alone would make me choose otherwise. We did stay at another resort on the island - not even 10 minutes away and never had one problem with mosquitoes. And, if you are from the US, bring your own a/c plugs as they have 2 available at the front desk and you wait your turn.