Cruising Cindy Lou Posted April 26, 2016 #1 Share Posted April 26, 2016 We will be in Bonaire for the first time next April. How would renting a car and driving around the island be? Is it very congested? Can we walk off ship and rent a car at port after arriving? We port 7 to 5. What are the must see/do's for a first time visit? What would be the best place to do a little shore snorkeling? TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neptuno Posted September 23, 2016 #2 Share Posted September 23, 2016 We will be in Bonaire for the first time next April. How would renting a car and driving around the island be? Is it very congested?Can we walk off ship and rent a car at port after arriving? We port 7 to 5. What are the must see/do's for a first time visit? What would be the best place to do a little shore snorkeling? TIA What did you find? We have rented cars on Aruba and Curacao and enjoyed the freedom immensely. What did you end up doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diwanna Posted September 25, 2016 #3 Share Posted September 25, 2016 yes we are interested in what you find as well. we would like to rent truck and go through the park.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Booboo Posted October 4, 2016 #4 Share Posted October 4, 2016 (edited) We rented a car from Hertz this past February. Pickup is near the Divi Flamingo resort (about a 10-15 minute walk from the port). I would suggest booking ahead of time. We pretty much drove around the entire island - it was very easy driving; especially once you get out of the main town. If you want to go to Washington Slagbaii National Park, it is $25 per person to get in (more than we wanted to spend). Make sure you stop at the Cadushy Distillery in Rincon - interesting little place with some yummy liquers! Edited October 4, 2016 by Mrs Booboo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neptuno Posted October 5, 2016 #5 Share Posted October 5, 2016 We emailed three rental car agencies, and Avis was quick to respond, with pick-up shuttle offered at the cruise dock. We reserved with them and will post our results after our return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neptuno Posted December 6, 2016 #6 Share Posted December 6, 2016 We rented from Avis at the airport, about a ten minute ride. They picked me up at the tourism office near the ship, and dropped me off at the ship at the end of the day. I can recommend them, very professional. The off roads are rough, so I would recommend more than the little economy car we rented. All the divers had pickup trucks for their tanks. We just snorkeled. The mountain lake at the north end is the one of the most spectacular sights in any of the Caribbean islands I have seen. There is a big sandy beach at the south end of Lac Bay. We snorkeled Windsock just south of town near the airport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureBooklet Posted January 26, 2017 #7 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Was it necessary to pre-book a rental car (easily sold out)? How long did it take you to drive around the island? TIA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureBooklet Posted January 26, 2017 #8 Share Posted January 26, 2017 We rented a car from Hertz this past February. Pickup is near the Divi Flamingo resort (about a 10-15 minute walk from the port). I would suggest booking ahead of time. We pretty much drove around the entire island - it was very easy driving; especially once you get out of the main town. If you want to go to Washington Slagbaii National Park, it is $25 per person to get in (more than we wanted to spend). Make sure you stop at the Cadushy Distillery in Rincon - interesting little place with some yummy liquers! How many hours did it take to drive around the island (all of your activities)? Was it worth going to the national park? TIA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MimiMia Posted February 10, 2017 #9 Share Posted February 10, 2017 This seems like a wonderful idea. Did you have to request the shuttle or is there one waiting when you arrive at the pier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chessbriar Posted February 27, 2017 #10 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Another option to consider is Bonaire Cruisers. You rent a golf cart for the day. We did the south side of the island and were done by noon and had time to go see more. The best part is they would let you know where to see the best things including the Flamingos. We planned to head north, but were told Flamingos had moved to the south part of the island to mate. We had family do a tour through the ship to see Flamingos, they went north and saw 10 if they were lucky. Following the advise given to us by Bonaire Cruisers we saw over 300. It was a fun way to see the island. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travel Bear Posted April 4, 2017 #11 Share Posted April 4, 2017 We were there mid march. Very easy to rent a car. We used Avis. Short walk to get picked up after exiting ship and then we were taken to airport to rent clean car. Gracious and efficient service. We rode for hours enjoying the sites. Stopped once to snorkel a little past the 100 step area- think that was the name. Brother in law said it was great. I didn't go in. Refuel was about 11.00 usd. Can't really get lost and not a lot of traffic. Roads are occasionally rough so I was glad we opted not to rent the golf carts although if you don't want to cover too much territory they would be ok. Car was more cost effective also. All in a all a pleasant day. Glad we did it this way. If we return some day we will probably go to a beach spot and relax as we saw a lot on this ride. Sent from my SM-G900V using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleobella Posted April 16, 2017 #12 Share Posted April 16, 2017 To the person who posted about Bonaire Cruisers, how much did a day rental cost? Could you get around well to a variety of places with the golf cart or is it just a restricted loop that can be done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chessbriar Posted February 14, 2018 #13 Share Posted February 14, 2018 Sorry, I'm late in getting back to the question. I don't recall the price, you can find in on their web page. We were on a bit of of time crunch as we booked the golf cart and the Woodwind. So we had just 1/2 the day with the golf cart. So we headed south and had plenty of time to do the southern loop. Got back with enough time to head back down to the donkey sanctuary for an hour or so. If you want to do north and south, rent a car. But I would check the seasons with regard to the Flamingos. In February they moved to the south. We have family do the bus trip to the north hoping to see the flamingos. They saw 3 we saw hundred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishing4wind Posted March 3, 2018 #14 Share Posted March 3, 2018 See other post about visiting the National Park. It's not recommended if you want to make it back to the ship on time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellusionz Posted March 3, 2018 #15 Share Posted March 3, 2018 How did you pre book with Avis? I emailed them and they said they this: Thanks for your mail but we do not block cars for one day, we always ask if you can call us the day that you arrive and then we will look at the availability that day, we hope that you understand this. The Jeep Wrangler will be US$ 117.84 with FULL insurance for the day. If you have arrived on Bonaire, we advise you to go to the Tourist office at Kaya Grandi and they will call us and if the car is available we can pick you up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophie Muller Posted March 18 #16 Share Posted March 18 I was at the Aida Perla. I didn't make any reservations but walked to Golfcart Rental Bonaire Unfortunately they didn't have any golf carts left. However she called Pickup Rental Bonaire they are working together and they managed to get a car in 5 minutes on location, it was awesome! Next time I will try the Golfcart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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