Car Rental Moorea - Tahitian Princess Tender dock?

[turquoiseas]

I heard that the Tahitian Princess anchors in Opunohu Bay in Moorea. What tender dock do you end up at? Will the car rental companies pick you up there? Is there a way to email Albert Rent A Car? or is phoning the only way to arrange a car?

[laurieb]

you will find car rentals there at the tender dock. I am sure that if you emailed Albert's that they will at least take you to where you can pick the car up and then drop you abck to the tender dock. alberttransport@mail.pf is the email address I found for them

[turquoiseas]

Thanks Laurie!

[mpbmark]

The location on Moorea where the Princess tenders drop you off can scarcely be called a dock. It is a large chunk of concrete surrounded by dirt and studded with weeds/grass areas which are partially littered with boat hulls and where several vendors have set up tents to sell you trinkets. I suspect it is used by Princess because there is no charge for the “facility”. When the ship is not anchored in the bay, the location is desolate. I am telling you this because you should not judge the beautiful island of Moorea by this initial impression.

 

I believe there are two rental car copmpanies on the island, Alberts and Avis. Both agencies will pick you up at the tender docket and take you to their office to fill out the paperwork. In fact, most restaurants and pearl shops will provide you with transportation free of charge. We spent five days on Moorea staying at the Club Bali Hai on Cook’s Bay and only rented a car for one day. The island is approximately 40 miles around and is easily covered during the eight or so hours Princess allows for the stop.

 

Make sure you drive to Mount Belvedere entering from the road on the Cook’s Bay side and if you want to see the waterfall, remember you must have a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

 

Have fun.

[turquoiseas]

Wow mpbmark, Thanks for all the info! (and the info on exchange rates). I heard that Albert's cars are in poor condition sometimes. I also heard that Europcar is another rental company there. Can we hike up to the waterfall if we don't have 4WD? How far is it?

 

Also mpbmark: How did you like Club Bali Hai? What room did you stay in? We were going to stay there for 2 nights post cruise but decided to stay at the Sheraton Moorea instead and spring for the OWB's since we want to relax at the beautiful lagoon, stay put and snorkel. However, we are interested in CBH for our next visit.

[mpbmark]

Lets see.

 

I forgot about Eurocar because I didn't see them on the island. I recall there were on Bora Bora, but I just don't recall them on Moorea.

 

I don't think Albert's cars were any worse than Avis. Most were small and expensive. Gas is about $6.50 a gallon but you don't need much since the island is so small. I believe we used about 3-4 liters or a couple of gallons. We also rented an automatic with air so your mileage may differ.

 

I think you can hike to the waterfall if you are in reasonable shape. Perhaps someone else has done so and will respond.

 

Club Bali Hai has seen better days. Not very fancy but the rooms were OK and airconditioned. Also, it is a timeshare so we only spent the exchange fee or $125 for the whole week. The OWB there are sometimes available but I don't know the cost. If you are looking for something fancy, this isn't it. You can stop there if you have the time and check out the place. The little restaurant serves pretty good hamburgers and fries.

 

At the Intercontinental, the posted price in high season was a whopping $800.00 per night. The rooms are probably great and very romantic, the grounds are gorgeous, but for me, a bed is a bed.

[turquoiseas]

Thanks Mark. We plan on checking out Club Bali Hai while there. Sounds perfect for our next trip :)

[Oregonian]

We reserved a car from Albert's via email. They had the car and paperwork waiting at the dock where the tender arrives. The only two negatives were that we had booked an automatic A/C car but the car we got was manual w/ A/C (fortunately not a problem for us ... and they actually charged us a lower rate as a result) and we needed to get gas right away as the tank was near empty. There is a gas station they pointed us to a few km west (to the right as you reach the main road). It did not require much gas to circle the island (and return the tank about as empty as we got it). As was mentioned earlier, don't miss the drive up to the Belvedere lookout (and stop at the marae on the way down if you have any interest in ruins).

 

Ira

[twin123185]

Be careful driving on Moorea - my last cruise - 2 people had near fatal accidents - it is not like driving at home !!

 

Larry