Car Rental in Papeete after PG

[ZBay]

My wife and I are planning a two week trip to Australia and NZ prior to our April 22nd cruise on the PG. As a result, we are not able to do the pre and post hotel with RSSC. Since we do not have to be at the A/P until 6:00 ish, for our flight back to NY, we are at a loss of what to do with our luggage. RSSC says that we can not keep it on the pier (no surprise there) and others have told us that we can not check it at the A/P until 3 or so hours before the flight.

 

 

Our TA was trying to set up a day tour with Marama Tours, but they could not guarantee that there would be room in the van, for the luggage, if they had a lot of others on the tour. So we began to wonder if renting a car would not be a good idea.

 

 

Does anyone have any experience with doing that there? Can cars be rented at the pier and returned to the A/P? Do you need a special driver's license? What other things do we need to know?

 

 

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

Chris

[Tika]

Why don't you hire a private driver to take you around Papeete for your time befoe the flight. It probably won't cost you much more than booking a tour plus the luggage issue is resolved. We had a driver who was wonderful..........no worries ............who took us everywhere in our time awaiting boarding. Our driver was recommended from the Concierge at the overnight hotel.........Beach Comber Park Royal. I will look for her card which I am sure I saved. I think she would be willing to store your luggage, drive you around and get you to the airport for your flight to JFK. I am sure you could find a private driver who would be willing to help and is accustomed to your dilema. Good Luck!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Just so you know, there is luggage storage at the airport, so that might be an option. You could take a cab there, dump your luggage and rent a car from there. I'm not sure about the downtown pickup locations, but a cab to the airport might be preferable, since traffic in downtown Papeete is a bit nightmare-ish. In fact traffic all over that part of Tahiti is pretty crazy, so you might consider the private driver idea.

[Terry&Elizabeth]

We vote for the private driver!

[ZBay]

Thanks everyone for their input. We were thinking about a "personal tour", but didn't know if that kind of service was as readily available as it is in the Caribbean. Do you know if the taxis are regulated and whether or not you can negotiate the price of the tour? Do the taxis take US $, or do we have to exchange.

I din't realize that there was storage space at the A/P. Right now, we have a transfer from the pier to the A/P included in the price we are paying for the entire Aussie/NZ trip, but I am thinking of cancelling that because we don't think we want to go to the A/P directly from the pier.

Tika, if you could find that business card, that would be great!

[canadagal]

In answer to your question about the special license..........no, none is required to rent a car. We rented a car on our last pre-cruise morning waiting to board the PG and drove all around the island. We rented from our hotel but I don't see why if you pre-reserved why they could not have a car waiting for you at the pier and then you could drop it at the airport. Once you got out of town driving was at your pace....depending on where you hail from, and what driving conditions you are used to, even in town driving Tahiti, to us, was no big deal. We found it quite fine and the driver's were curteous and signalled when called for. A personal driver may be up your alley but we preferred to be in control and at the wheel and in all honesty we found the drivers in Tahiti to be no problem...........anywhere on the island.

Pat

[Tika]

ZBay........I have searched all my of my Album and only found the name VERONICA .........she was our private driver that we got from the Beachcomber Park Royal Concierge, She must have been an indepentant driver as I am guessing. She was wonderful, American/English and gave us thorough tour in the short time we had to tour Papeete. She knew where we should have lunch .........the BEST in Tahiti.........pointed us in the right direction for Pearls ( to look at) and had us to the ship at the perfect time........no one else boarding.............I will dig some more for her card ........I know I have saved it........just rushing through everything to find it for you. I did do some net searches and there is Tiare Limousine that does private tours in Papeete. I do not know if Veronica worked independently or for a Tour Company. She may check here or maybe someone else knows of her ..............I sure hope so............because we will want her services when we get to Papeete. Sorry I can't give you any really definitive information but if I come up with her business card or anything else I will post here.