Rarotonga is the first place people ask for when they want to be close to the Great Ceremonial House (lobby, food, and shops). It is right out the door of the GCH and runs next to the quiet pool and monorail track until it stops at the building that has the laundry and Neverland Club. The side that faces the parking lot is not a bad view. Unless you are on the 3rd floor you may not even see the parking lot because of all the Great landscaping.
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Pros: Good location being right next to the Great Ceremonial House with the East pool right in front of the building. The laundry room is right next to it with the Neverland Club in the same building as the laundry. The bus stop is very close to this longhouse. These garden view rooms have views of the East pool on one side and the Monorail on the other.
Cons: There are no balconies on the second floor. You could end up facing the parking lot but hardly any of the rooms on that side see much of the parking lot at all. The parking lot side rooms may have some noise from the monorail. The bathroom only has one sink.
Facts about the real island of Rarotonga
The population of Rarotonga is 18,500. (although almost 30,000 reside in New Zealand.) They are Polynesian with a Maori language and culture. Traditional culture skills are much admired in the islands, especially dancing. The islanders are friendly, their typical greeting is KIA ORANA (May you live on)
About Rarotonga the Longhouse
The monorail is visable from some of these rooms and the parking lot is blocked by most of the plants in the garden area.
One of the “not so great” areas (right) of Rarotonga where the view looks right into the end of Niue longhouse and there is a service area below the two end rooms.
Niue is next to Rarotonga and is the only longhouse without an elevator. If you were to be in Niue and need an elevator you would use the one in Rarotonga and go right out the doors to this deck that connects the second floors. From the deck you can see the side entrance to the Great Ceremonial House.
Rarotonga is a great spot if you don’t want to walk much to get to things and I can’t say I would be unhappy staying in Rarotonga, I just don’t think there is anything about it that would make me go “WOW” so I often don’t suggest it as a location to request unless someone says that their number one goal is to get a room close to the GCH.
