Jump to content

Moorea precruise and things to do


davwen81
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi all,

You are all such wonderful mines of information that I thought I’d ask a few questions I have to help in my planning for next April.

 

1. We are staying at the Moorea Hilton for 4 nights before our PG cruise next year. Can I ask would you book excursions eg lagoon cruise, round island tour( though we might hire a car for the day) BEFORE we go or wait till we get there. We’ve had a great day there with Frankyfrank tours a few years ago and visited the Belvedere and Plantations so not wanting to repeat this.

 

2. Would you also book your transfer with Alberts before you go or on the day you arrive by ferry? Can we ring from the IC to book the Monday before we go to Moorea on the Wednesday or would they need more notice do you think?

 

3. Can you book Alberts car hire from the Hilton or do they only have Avis bookings there? We want an auto drive not manual

so what might be better? Also is it cheaper to book before you go or just do it on the day you want the car.

 

4. About how long does it take to drive round the island with a stop for lunch and a look at a few of the villages eh Maharepa. Any other villages worth a stop and visit?

 

5. Anyone else used Tracey Thomas to do tours around Tahiti? We didn’t want ATV or bouncy back seats of jeeps for this.

 

Thank you for all and any help you can offer.

Cheers Wendy and David

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We arrive at the Hilton for 5 nights precruise in less than 2 weeks, our 5th time there. I reserve with Albert's in advance, via their website for transport from the ferry. For the return you can reserve when you get there. I also reserved a car for 24 hours with Albert's. It was 10,000 XPF for an automatic and 9,000 for a manual. They were sold out of the automatic. If you are on the Paul Gauguin they are always in Moorea for the 2 days before your begin your cruise. Many on the cruise will rent cars. I would reserve with Albert's well in advance. The cost is higher if you rent through the Hilton.

 

We chose a 24 hour rental so that we could go to a restaurant that night that does not provide transport from the hotel. IMHO I would rent a car for a full day when you are there precruise. If your ship gives you 2 full days in Moorea than I would defer any additional excursions until you are there with the ship. In this way you can enjoy the resort. The one full day allows you to see all the sights easily. If you drive around the island, stop in a few shops, go back up to Belevedere, stop at the juice factory, etc. it will take about 4 hours. More if you like to shop a lot and add in some time for lunch. You can consider going to the lagoonarium but I would read the reviews as most are great but there are some negatives.

 

If you have the car on a day when the PG is in port I would stop at their dock area. A decent number of shops set up to sell jewelry, etc. and you can then scope out what you like and either buy it then or you can have a comparison when you are on the ship at other islands. Since Moorea is last on your cruise you can always reserve any purchases until you get back.

 

If you are a diver you may want to consider the options of diving precruise or with the PG dive team.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Wendy and David from another Wendy and David!

 

Lots of questions. There are many tour operators on the island, so I don't think you would have any problem finding excursions once you're there. They were even touting at the airport when we flew to Moorea. It might be tighter in high season, so it depends on when you go.

 

Albert's has a big presence at the ferry dock, vans, buses, the works. Most of these people have pre-booked transportation to hotels, I would imagine. Easy enough just to email them and ask when you should do this. Doing it by email in advance of your departure might actually be easier than phoning from Tahiti.

 

We've booked cars from Albert's twice, although standard shift, not automatic. If you want to book an automatic, I would do it in advance. Don't know about booking from the Hilton, we've always had the car for our entire stay, with pickups and dropoffs from Albert's.

 

It's not far to drive around the island, but you want to do it in a leisurely fashion, and make sure to go up to the Belvedere and perhaps the agricultural station. It's probably something like 60kms around, look for the PK markers on the road which are useful to find specific places. If you just drive around and stop once or twice, it might take two hours or less.

 

Try Snack Mahana for lunch. It's over toward the IC, on the north side, west of Oponahu Bay, PD 23 or so. Tiny little place, but good food. Or they have a lovely lunch restaurant at Les Tipaniers hotel, it's a short walk down through the grounds the restaurant is on the beach.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FlightMedic55, thank you for the great info re car hire will arrange it before the PG arrives in Moorea, giving us more flexibility. We only get one day in Moorea on PG and had thought we’d spend it at the IC so do all our tours whilst at the Hilton precruise. This depends a bit on weather but we’re there in April ( actually on the Reunion Cruise which covers our wedding anniversary, though we didn’t know it would be the reunion cruise when we booked as it hadn’t been announced) so hoping for less rain and more sun!

 

Wendy, is April high season or shoulder. I presume high is more june/July time?

Yes will email Alberts now and ask when to book transfers and a car, great idea.

 

Tahitianbigkahuna , thanks for the great map of the Hilton very helpful. Also had taken note of your cheap eats nearby so will put that to use as well as the crepe die at the Hilton.

We are staying in one of the King deluxe garden bungalows as with our exchange rate from Aussie $ the OWB were prohibitive. I also love swimming at night so a plunge pool is a godsend for me. But if they upgraded us we wouldn’t say no, lol!

Love the pics of the must dos also very helpful.

 

Just one more query are Reunion cruises much different to the normal cruises? We are doing the 2 week Marquesas, Tuamotus and Society Islands in April so just wondered. We’re newbies to PG so may be different for us as newcomers rather than old hands.

 

Thank you all so much for your wonderful help, much appreciated and I guess we won’t be seeing any of you on the Reunion Cruise, but hope to give you feedback on our return of what enjoyed.

Cheers Wendy and David

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

... Just one more query are Reunion cruises much different to the normal cruises? ...

 

I've only done one reunion cruise, and it wasn't really that different from a normal one. The percentage of repeat cruisers on the PG is almost always high, and was only a bit higher than normal for the reunion cruise.

 

The one I did had sort of special itinerary arranged by Miriam (emdee).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks stunning, how far from the Hilton is this? We might have to do an overnight car hire so we can visit

 

Unless they have recently changed their policy, this restaurant is only open for breakfast and lunch, although cocktails are available at dusk. The restaurant for dinner is up by the highway. And, unless the policy has changed, they will come and pick you up for dinner. On weekends, reservations for dinner are a good idea: many many locals go there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is one more thing about Les Tipaniers. Many locals go there during the day to enjoy the beach. There is parking right across the street, and it is free. There doesn't seem to be any pressure to use the restaurant that aerobee posted the photo of, although you can of course enjoy a lovely lunch there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...