Wow, less than two months to departure!! Need some imput re: Moorea, considering renting a car, first morning there, that would be Thurs. June 9th. Any thoughts from former PG'rs? Scubabirdie, have you thought about your excursions yet? Cost of rental is 10,800 PFR,plus gas. Would 4 hours be enough time? Would like to be back to ship for lunch. Next day have signed up for lagoon discovery with snorkling. Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful spring morning. JR

Jeanine, last month, another couple (Hans & Kim) rented a car on Moorea with another couple for a whole day--but they went to lunch too; think a half day is perfect, the tender ride from the ship to dock is only 5 minutes, plenty of time for you to get back to the ship (let's see if it's
Wedns, L'Etiole has:Lunches (L'Etiole)

Sunday: American Buffet (Ceasar Salad/Grilled Chicken)
Tuesday: Italian Buffet
Weds: French Buffet
Thursday: Pan Pacific (Asian) Buffet (Fresh Sushi)
Friday: Mexican Buffet

r/wes

Wow, that's alot for 4 hours. I knew they were pricy, but... Of course, you could rent it for the whole day, and go back to the ship for lunch anyways! I'm with you, I don't want to miss any meals on that ship.

We rented a car from a place where the tender dropped us off. It was a small car, no air conditioning and tires the size of doughnuts. It was only about $50-60 for 4 or 6 hours, I can't remember for sure. It seemed like we started around 1030 and finished up around 4. It was plenty of time to go up to the Belvedere and around the island and then back over to Moorea Village. We really did not stop too much on the way around the island but we saw alot (except for the bars we were looking for) and felt we had plenty of time.

Hello Jeanine,I booked our excursions online yesterday. I'm so anxious I'm ready to start packing now.

I have received two replies from emails I sent to Moorea from companies that do the cata-jets (Radisson refers to these as fun-cats), so I think we are going to do that Friday afternoon. If any PIPsters are still interested in these I will post the email address.

Jeanine,
We rented a car in Moorea in Feb. Got an air conditioned, clean, comfortable car for 7.000cfp which translates to a charge of $79.74 (I just got the charge on my Visa yesterday!) Of course, the exchange rate may be different for you, but not signifcantly I would hope. We had the car for 4 hours and in that time we drove up to Belvedere, completely around the island and stopped for lunch and several pearl shopping and photo ops. We were about 20 minutes late after refueling, but nothing was said and there were no problems. We had not pre-arranged anything, but had no problem getting a car immediately--just walked up to the agent in the lot just past the tender area. Good luck. We really enjoyed our day doing our own thing.
Jacki

Lisa,
We did the fun cats on Bora Bora. We had a blast. Enjoy.
Jacki

Lisa - Please be so kind as to post any contact info for the cata-jets (fun cats). We thought they looked like great fun and were disappointed that Radisson was no longer offering them as an option. Please tell me, even if it a lie, that they are less noisy and disruptive to the environment than jet-skis (aka wave-runners), in order that we can go ahead and take a fun tour on them, while still maintaining our strict self-righteous opposition to jet-skis. Lordie, it is such an effort to try to wear the White Hat of environmental and humane concerns (even if it gives one a bit of "hat hair") while indulging in the good life of cruising. Oh well, at least we don't wear fur...(particularly, not in somewhere like Tahiti, where it is so hot). Cheers, Fred

The contact information for the cata-jets is tahiti.catajet@mail.pf
Here is the email I received from them:

hello!!
thank you for your 2 emails....we apologize not answering so fast but we are really busy....
You just have to send me an email 2 days before your arrival with Paul Gauguin cruise boat...the pick up is free...that mean that we will be there waiting for you...we have 2 tours in a day...
One is at 9H00 in the morning and the other one is at 2 in the afternoon...pich up is done 30 mn before departure of tours close the tenders dock....
Just be sure that catajet is definitely the best tour on the island...driving the boat,snorkeling,feeding rays....6 people maximum....
If you need more informations send me an email....
GREG
CATAJET

I originally found there web address from the Moorea Intercontinental web site.
The other contact I have found was the Moorea Hotel Hibiscus at mail@hotel-hibiscus.pf :

DEAR lIsa ,
YEs we have cata jet trip , price is 6500 fcp by pers , during 2 hours , you drive the catajet and you have guide on another machine , you go to oponohu bay , and after you stop on the sting rays spot and you swim with rays and one juice drink .
you need to book before for sure place available .
You can book by e mail and I Will need your credit card number only for confirmation .
If you want to book , please let me know .
BEst ragards
Nathalie .

Freddie, I will plead ignorance as to there environmental friendliness, but there sure do look like a blast.

Lisa,

We did 2 weeks on the PG last August/September. On week 1 we had signed up for Lagoon Discovery with Snorkeling on our second day in Moorea but it was cancelled because not enough signed up for it. (Less likely to happen to you on a full sailing.) We signed up for that excursion on our first day in Moorea the second week and it turned out to be our favorite excursion of the cruise.

On our second friday we rented a car from Avis at the dock for 4 hours. We had requested box lunches from the ship (placed order 24 hours in advance) and ate our lunch from the PG at the Bellevedere. Four hours was enough time to drive around the island and make 4 stops (two of which lasted about 30 minutes each). Our cost for a compact stick shift with A/C came out to $66.00 US plus we paid about another $10 for gas.

Wow Kathy, that sounds more like the price I had heard. 10800 CFPs translates today into 117 USD. Did you just pick up a rental at the dock? I seem to remember cars sitting around waiting to be rented. Which agency was it?

Jeanine, is that price for an automatic? Fortunately we drive a manual shift, so this is no problem for us.

Hi Everyone, Fisrt to Wendy, yes
t I believe it was an automatic, though manual would be fine. Do any of you recall the name of the rental co? Kathy, curious as to why you didn't do any excursions on the Thursday(1st day) in Moorea? I was considering the drive around island Thursday a.m. and Lagoon discovery on Friday a.m. Thanks all. Jeanine

The car rental receipt I have says Albert Rent-a-Car. As I mentioned before it cost us around $79 for the 4 hours (plus gas). This was a manual, not automatic.
Jacki

Hi , As Wes mentioned, We rented a car on Moorea for the whole day. (We took the first tender over and had the car until 5:00 pm.) The price was 8000cfp. I believe it was Alberts. There are several companys right where the tender drops you off. Box lunches are a good idea. We stopped at a floating rest.(can't remember the name), where three of us ate Greek salads and the fourth had their prix fixe(appetizer, entree, dessert), no cocktails and our bill was almost $120 US. We went to Black Pearl Gem Co., Belvidere, and then to the beach at the Sofitel. The trip around the island is definately worth doing. The car was manual trans, but did have a/c. The gas station we stopped at only took CFP's, don't know if that's the case at all of them though. I think the prices of the cars may be negotiable. (We took a taxi to the distillery the second day- $20 round trip. When we got off the tender, the price offered for a car was considerably higher that day.) The distillery was under construction, so no tour. Just their store. It was a great day, as was the whole PG trip.
Hans

Jeanine, we went on Dr. Poole's Dolphin Watching Expedition our first Thursday on Moorea (a full boat that did not spot any dolphins).

Wendy, Avis had a little shack beside the parking lot at the dock. We spoke to them on Thursday when we returned from our snorkeling tour about renting from them on Friday.

Yes, on a back-to-back, I am learning that you have to space your excursions out a bit! We have several days this time with no excursions booked, but then it's our third trip.