car rental in Moorea

[banditoo]

We have also booked a car for the day through Avis.com and there was no prepayment required. However, I have reviewed our booking and it says pickup and drop off at the Vaiare dock which I now realize is the ferry dock area which is in a different part of the island to the cruise tender dock. I called Avis who could not tell me whether the car could be delivered to the tender dock. They suggested contacting local Avis operator so I have now emailed Sandrine to see if the car can be delivered to the tender dock. If not we will probably take a cab to pick up the car as I am not inclined to prepay the full amount.

Bridgemates, are you renting Dec. 8 or on your other b2b cruise? If we are both renting the same date and cannot get delivery to the tender dock, we could consider sharing transport to Vaiare to pickup the cars.

As indicated in my prior post, I did email Sandrine who has confirmed that the car I booked through Avis.com will be delivered to the tender dock...no prepayment when booking online. The message below is from

Sandrine. She responded to my email on the first business day so very promptly.

 

"Hello

I confirm you that we'll deliver you the car on the cruise ship dock on Dec 8th

Regards,

Sandrine FARCY

AVIS MOOREA station manager

tél : (689) 56 32 68

fax : (689) 56 32 62

email : sandrine@avispacificar.pf

[Riversedge]

That's interesting that she is not charging you in advance. She told us we must pre-pay. When I wrote back and said to cancel the reservation, we weren't willing to pre-pay because the ship might not be able to dock she didn't change her mind. Also, I had tried reserving with Avis on the 800 line (thinking I could reserve with no pre-payment). I called back a couple of weeks later and then had no record of my reservation.

[banditoo]

That's interesting that she is not charging you in advance. She told us we must pre-pay. When I wrote back and said to cancel the reservation, we weren't willing to pre-pay because the ship might not be able to dock she didn't change her mind. Also, I had tried reserving with Avis on the 800 line (thinking I could reserve with no pre-payment). I called back a couple of weeks later and then had no record of my reservation.

When I booked online at Avis.com, it gave me a confirmation and booking confirmation number. When I called their 1-800 number they definitely had a record of the booking as did Sandrine when I emailed her.

[ETepas]

I also contacted Sandrine re: rental car from Avis.

She wrote that pre-payment is necessary also.

 

Since I will be staying at the Hilton, I am going to rent a car from them, as it is basically $1 difference. And with Sandrine I would have to go to the rental office to get the car (although they said they would come and get me at the Hilton).

My cruise is the end of Oct.

 

Sumar 76: We'll be staying at the Hilton in Moorea for one night before our March cruise and was wondering if your comment means that there is a rental car location on site at the Hilton?

[Sumar76]

Hi ETPeas..yes car rental available at the Hilton, evidentally they have a car rental desk in the Lobby.

I also have a list of Hiltons activities, tours and entertainment...It is for 2010, but would probably be the same for 2011.

 

E-mail me at my3bmws at hotmail dot com if you would like it.

Have a great time planning..and dreaming...

Sue

[ETepas]

Hi ETPeas..yes car rental available at the Hilton, evidentally they have a car rental desk in the Lobby.

I also have a list of Hiltons activities, tours and entertainment...It is for 2010, but would probably be the same for 2011.

 

E-mail me at my3bmws at hotmail dot com if you would like it.

Have a great time planning..and dreaming...

Sue

 

Thanks.....will do (Lisa)

[TIBTEE]

We just disembarked from the Oct 6th Royal Princess:(. Awesome!!!! We anchored in Cook's Bay in Moorea. The car from Avis was waiting as promised. I booked directly with Sandrine and had to prepay but I got a good rate. Albert's and Eurocar also had locations at the tender dock.

[chamima]

We just disembarked from the Oct 6th Royal Princess:(. Awesome!!!! We anchored in Cook's Bay in Moorea. The car from Avis was waiting as promised. I booked directly with Sandrine and had to prepay but I got a good rate. Albert's and Eurocar also had locations at the tender dock.

 

 

Hi TIBTEE

We are going on the Royal in February. Did you take any private excursions at any of the ports that you would either recommend or warn against?

Any hints about things you found on the ship?

Thanks in advance!

[banditoo]

We just disembarked from the Oct 6th Royal Princess:(. Awesome!!!! We anchored in Cook's Bay in Moorea. The car from Avis was waiting as promised. I booked directly with Sandrine and had to prepay but I got a good rate. Albert's and Eurocar also had locations at the tender dock.

Thanks Tibtee. Sounds like you had a great trip. I am hoping you will write a trip report/review of the cruise and various excursions you took.

[SOLIVITA LADY]

We are considering renting a car in Moorea too. Are these cars automatic and also can they seat 4 adults or do we need to rent a car for each couple? Thanks for your help.

 

Jackie

[banditoo]

We are considering renting a car in Moorea too. Are these cars automatic and also can they seat 4 adults or do we need to rent a car for each couple? Thanks for your help.

 

Jackie

Most of the rentals are manual shift however you can request an automatic. The one we have rented through Avis is a manual shift 4 seater. It would depend on how comfortable 4 of you are fitting into a compact rental. We have done this many times and have been perfectly comfortable. It depends on your preferences and the vehicle you choose to rent. If you look on the Avis.com website, it shows you a variety of vehicle options.

[Maui Globe Trotters]

Anyone rent a car in Moorea? Where did you have to go to pick it up? and do you think it was worth it?

Thanks

 

Aloha,

 

We just returned from a 33 day cruise from Seattle to Sydney on the Sapphire Princess - ports of call were Vancouver; San Francisco; Hawaii - Honolulu and Lahaina, Maui; Tahiti - Moorea, Papeete, and Bora Bora; Pago Pago, American Samoa; Apia, Samoa; Suva, Fiji; New Zealand - Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin; and Sydney, Australia. We rented cars in Honolulu, Lahaina, Moorea, and Bora Bora. I arranged private van tours in Pago Pago, Apia and Sydney.

 

We had done a 2 week cruise around French Polynesia 10 years ago. We rented vehicles on every island without any problems in 2000. Just get off the ship and the cars were on the dock waiting. However, we were on a much smaller cruise ship. This ship had 2700 passengers, and the Pacific islands have very few vehicles for rent (and they are VERY expensive to rent for a few hours). However, renting a car and dividing the expense between 2 couples was certainly more cost effective and also gave us the flexibility and freedom to go and do what we wanted when we wanted.

 

In Moorea, we did arrange an automatic, 5 door, A/C vehicle that sat 4 large adults very comfortably. I emailed Albert's and Avis' Sandrine 6 weeks prior to the Sept 19 sailing - no response at all from Albert's. [When we arrived on Moorea, we discovered Albert's is more widely known for large bus tours of the island, and he has few cars for rental.] I tried telephoning Sandrine directly, but my French was non-existent, and her English was very poor. Exasperated, I was able to make an Avis reservation through the toll-free number. Sandrine finally replied by email and said she had received the international reservation we had made thru the toll free number. Sandrine offered us the same vehicle for 2/3 of the Avis price - we had to cancel the toll-free reservation; make the reservation directly thru Sandrine; send a copy of the driver's license; and prepay with a credit card. The savings was $50 USD for an 8 hour rental. I think the price difference is the fee she has to pay for the reservation made on the toll free number. We usually do NOT prepay for rental cars or privately arranged tours, but we decided that the credit card company would handle the charge if the ship did not dock in Moorea. [We were pretty sure the ship would anchor in Cook's Bay.]

 

The car was waiting for us when we stepped off the tender. We had no problem returning the vehicle either. If you did not pre-reserve your car on these islands, you were out of luck. The 'dune buggys' for rent were more expensive than our car rental. The dune buggy was very noisy, and did not have a roof to protect passengers from sun nor rain. We loved exploring the island @ our leisure, stopping to swim & snorkel (best snorkeling in the world is in the lagoons of Tahiti), and have a private picnic in a peaceful, swaying palms, spot. No stopping for black pearl shopping - we did shop for pareos and wood carvings.

 

It was definitely worth it. You can rent the vehicles for 4 or 6 hours too, but as someone else pointed out, the price difference is minimal. BTW, prices for gasoline is about $7.50/gallon. The islands are small and you won't use more than 2 gallons of gas, if that. We stopped and bought fresh fruit from a stand in front of a house run by a 10 year old brother and his little sister (think lemonade stand in the USA). They spoke no English, we spoke no French, but we had so much fun playing charades. We also bought a french baguette and a whole roasted chicken from a Les Roulette and made it into a picnic. The vehicle was air conditioned, the local buses and 'Le Trucks' open the windows in order to get air, and their seats are hard benches (memories of our initial Tahitian cruise). Explore the islands, eat the foods, and meet the people - you will be amazed!

 

 

Good Luck!

Maui Globe Trotters

:):):):)

[Sumar76]

Just returned from the Oct 26th sailing of the Royal. We tendered in to Opunohu Bay. The cruise before us tendered into Cooks Bay. We were staying on Moorea at the time and had a rent a car so went to Cooks Bay to see the Royal.

On our ship day in Moorea, we met a couple from the Paul Gaughan whose ship was in Cooks Bay. He said when they arrived in Cooks Bay our ship was already in Opunohu Bay. It doesn't matter which one you tender into the car rentals and tour people and those selling bead jewelry, pareos, will find out ahead and be waiting for you. The Paul Gaughan people came over to our pier to see what was there. We had about 10 vendors there..he said there were only 3 at Cooks Bay.

[mavie]

We're going with Avis in Feb. and didn't request money in advance. We also booked with Sandrine

[mavie]

Avis wants full payment in advance? When is your cruise? We have a reservation with them in December...nothing's been said about advance payment or even cc info.

Anyone else experience this?

We also were not asked to submit $ in advance through Sandrine and Avis.