All day in Papeete- suggestions on what to do

[psyfi]

http://Www.papeete.com/Patrick/index.html is the link to his website. It often takes some time to receive a reply by email so be patient. If I lived in paradise, I would not spend much time on the Internet either!

[Tikiintahiti]

Your link is no good. Here are the correct ones for the major lagoon vendors on Bora Bora ;)

 

Tour operators

Bora Bora -

 

http://www.maohinui.net/ (Patricks)

http://www.reefdiscovery.pf/us/index.html (Christophre)

[I'm from Oz]

http://www.maohinui.net/ (Patricks)

 

Ah, Patrick, what a beautiful man, would go back for his tour at the drop of a hat. We were fortunate enough to have a group of about 30 from our cruise so we had Maohi Nui I, II and III. We still talk about it. One of the most wonderful experiences on our cruise.:D

[psyfi]

Try this: http://papeete.com/patrick/index.html

The original poster asked about Tahiti not Bora Bora, this is a different Patrick, who offers a 4x4 island tour.

[Tikiintahiti]

When your first link didn't go there but I saw the name Patrick I just thought that's what you meant.

 

IMO on the the very best things to do when you have a whole day to blow while on Tahiti I would consider taking a tour of Tetiaroa, Malon Brando's piece of paradise. Usually tours are 8-10 hours long by catamaran and cost about $100 - $130 which includes lunch and drinks. This is a place very few get to take in but oh so worth it. If I recall they leave Tahiti around 8-9 am and return around 6 pm.

[kathy16]

The tour to Tetiaroa sounds interesting to do in the daytime before leaving on the night flight, Would there be a place to leave luggage? We'll be on the PG, but since we will be buying a flight deviation, we apparently don't get the pre and post cruise dayrooms.

Kathy

[Tikiintahiti]

I would ask the vendor who you go through for the trip over and back to Tetiaroa if he has arrangements for this, I would think this comes up often and would be surprised if they didn't have a way to deal with the issue. The tourist office which is a block away from the ship will also watch baggage but I think they close a 5pm which could be an issue.

Edited October 7, 2012 by Tikiintahiti

[Emdee]

This Tetiaroa trip is on my must do list. I am going to overnight a couple of days in Tahiti the next time so we can do it.

I wouldnt do it on the last day - after this kind of excursion one needs a good shower etc especially since you will have a long flight or flights as the case may be.

 

Actually Dh wants to consider it from Moorea where you take the early morning ferry, then go on the excursion and rejoin the PG in Papeete for the final night. Its doable but maybe too much of a stretch especially since the ferry is really early.

[Allis154]

http://www.aremiti.net/

 

You can see the ferry dock from the ship - about a 5 minute walk. The trip to Moorea on the fast ferry takes about 30 minutes and yes, there are taxis waiting when you arrive. Or, as Tikiintahiti mentioned, you can pre-book. You can also arrange transportation directly through the Hilton (I assume you can do the same for most of the hotels.) There is also the local bus (Le Truck) which is very inexpensive but stops at every location it serves along the coast. We chose a cab as we wanted to get to the hotel sooner and to make an ATM stop along the way.

 

If you decide you want to overnight off the ship, have your T/A put in your request to the cruise line, or, call the cruise line directly if you've booked on your own. My understanding is that permission from the ship's captain is required. That said, I never did get written approval of my request and, when I checked my status upon embarkation, customer relations had no record of my request.

 

Celebrity was most accommodating but the request to disembark, then reembark at a later date is basically a one-off and not accomplished without some confusion. So, if you decide to overnight of the ship I'd simply advise that you be proactive and double-check every step of the way.

 

Obviously it wasn't too much effort or we wouldn't be planning a redo.

 

Thanks for all your info! Booked and got our letter from Celebrity :)

[diane.in.ny]

Rent a car and drive around the island.

 

Would appreciate some info:

 

About how much is a car rental for the day? And what side of the road do they drive on?

 

Thanks

[Tikiintahiti]

$80 - $130 USD depending on the car/island

 

Right side

Edited October 31, 2012 by Tikiintahiti

[Gunner22aa]

Booked for a full day with him on our upcomming cruise based upon the recommendations from others on our roll call that have used him in the past. I checked out his reviews on Trip Advisor (can I use that name?). Anyway, out of 80 or so reviews one was rated as poor, one fair, both for obscure reasons and the rest excellent. I take all reviews with a grain of salt as I have been on the exact same cruise as others and rated it highly only to read a review from another fellow passanger who might as well have been on the Titanic. Nothing was the least bit satisfactory right up to the ending. In the case of Patricks I don't think 97.5% of his clients who posted reviews can be all that wrong. I for one look forward to my day with him.

[diane.in.ny]

$80 - $130 USD depending on the car/island

 

Right side

 

Thank you!

[Grothj]

We have only a day in Tahiti in January. We have been there before several times. Thought we might just find a beautiful spot to have a nice, long lunch with views of the water. Any suggestions? We will have a car to get there and back. Looked at Trip Advisor but thought perhaps someone on this board might have a suggestion.

 

Thanks.

[Tikiintahiti]

Personally I don't think you can beat the view from the Tahiti IC

 

Get view looking across the Sea of the moon over to Moorea.

 

Another place would be the Marina Taina which has a great restaurant overlooking the Marina/water with Moorea in the distance.

[Margaret-40]

Hello my college age son needs to be recertified in diving and would like a crash course in Papette can anyone recommend a dive shop for this. Thanks:)

[psyfi]

If he previously had a full open water certification, then he does not necessarily need to re-cert, just needs refresher dives. If he just did a resprt course, that's different. We are diving with Topdive out of the IC, but have not been yet, so I can't offer a recommendation.

[Dick and Jane]

Do you reserve a car in advance and/or are they readily available near the pier?

[Skai]

Do you reserve a car in advance and/or are they readily available near the pier?

 

We reserved a car in advance with (Link Here)AVIS Pacificar.

 

Their downtown location is roughly 5 or 6 blocks(about 10 min. walk) directly up from the pier. We rented the car on the back end of our cruise and went with the option to return the car at the airport.

[Dick and Jane]

We reserved a car in advance with (Link Here)AVIS Pacificar.

 

Their downtown location is roughly 5 or 6 blocks(about 10 min. walk) directly up from the pier. We rented the car on the back end of our cruise and went with the option to return the car at the airport.

 

Great information! Thanks.

[CRUSINGFAMILY]

When your first link didn't go there but I saw the name Patrick I just thought that's what you meant.

 

IMO on the the very best things to do when you have a whole day to blow while on Tahiti I would consider taking a tour of Tetiaroa, Malon Brando's piece of paradise. Usually tours are 8-10 hours long by catamaran and cost about $100 - $130 which includes lunch and drinks. This is a place very few get to take in but oh so worth it. If I recall they leave Tahiti around 8-9 am and return around 6 pm.

 

I really want to do this but cannot find an operator to take us. Our port time is 10 am to midnight.....do you know of any operator that would take us?

[Tikiintahiti]

Probably the timing is the issue. Most tour vendors what to head out no later than 9am for the island.

 

I don't know of any vendors, sorry

[BPCruiser]

We are staying in Papeete at the IC 1 day only post cruise. Will disembark around 9A and take a taxi to IC. Looking for ideas of what to see post cruise that might be in walking distance of the IC Hotel in Papeete. Is it worth the expense to rent a car for 1 day? Very early flight out the next morning.

 

Any restaurants within walking distance of IC, heard the food at IC was very expensive and not too good.

[diane.in.ny]

We are staying in Papeete at the IC 1 day only post cruise. Will disembark around 9A and take a taxi to IC. Looking for ideas of what to see post cruise that might be in walking distance of the IC Hotel in Papeete. Is it worth the expense to rent a car for 1 day? Very early flight out the next morning.

 

Any restaurants within walking distance of IC, heard the food at IC was very expensive and not too good.

 

My suggestion would be to simply take the bus back into Papeete and wander around there. Have your main meal at lunch and stop at a supermarket to bring back something light for dinner.

[Tikiintahiti]

Take the bus to town, eat dinner at the roulottes next to the ships.

 

There is a high end marina within walking distance of the IC. At the first round-a-bout past the Moana Nui shopping center you will see the entry into the marina. There are a few nice restaurants overlooking the water/boats.