full day in Papeete waiting on flight out

We have to be off the boat by 10 am and have a 9:40pm flight out. We rented a car for the day, any suggestions of where to go? Sounds like everything is closing at noon for Easter weekend.

Here is a great list of '100 things to do in Tahiti"

http://www.tahititourisme.com/islands/tahiti/100_Things_to_Do_on_Tahiti.pdf

We have to be off the boat by 10 am and have a 9:40pm flight out. We rented a car for the day, any suggestions of where to go? Sounds like everything is closing at noon for Easter weekend.

We had a similar situation at the end of our first Paul Gauguin cruise. I would highly recommend getting a day room. I know I wouldn't want to spend an entire day driving around Tahiti. If you get a day room you can relax at the pool, have lunch, take a shower, etc. We got a day room at the Intercontinental, which was a fabulous way to end our cruise.

Since you won't have to be at the airport until the evening, you might consider going for dinner at the routlottes. Roulottes are food trucks...but don't let that dissuade you...they are awesome! They set up along the waterfront in Papeete every evening at 6pm. It’s really a fun ambiance -- you'll see all kinds of locals with their whole families out there. And the food is wonderful, with everything from local Tahitian dishes such a poisson cru, to steak & fries, Chinese food, crepes, and Belgian waffles with ice cream. We ate there on our last night before we had to take a taxi to the airport. Totally worth it! If you get there at 6 pm, you should have time to eat before you have to cab it to the airport for your flight.

(Since it's Easter weekend it's possible they won't be out that night...check with someone on the island...)

Here is a great list of '100 things to do in Tahiti"

http://www.tahititourisme.com/islands/tahiti/100_Things_to_Do_on_Tahiti.pdf

I love it that the first item on this list is to go scuba diving! As a frequent diver, I can attest that the diving in French Polynesia is fantastic. :D Unfortunately, Tahiti itself has probably the worst diving in the region -- much of the coral is dead. But they do some shark-feeding dives out of Papeete that are a blast!

I love it that the first item on this list is to go scuba diving! As a frequent diver, I can attest that the diving in French Polynesia is fantastic. :D Unfortunately, Tahiti itself has probably the worst diving in the region -- much of the coral is dead. But they do some shark-feeding dives out of Papeete that are a blast!

Further down the list they have several sightseeing/self drive ideas...

Agree that there is better diving than Tahiti itself....BoraB, Rangiroa, Fakarava are GREAT!!

Personally, I would take an early ferry to Moorea, rent the car there and spend the day on Moorea rather than Tahiti.

Further down the list they have several sightseeing/self drive ideas...

Agree that there is better diving than Tahiti itself....BoraB, Rangiroa, Fakarava are GREAT!!

Agreed! Rangiroa in particular is amazing...the Tiputa pass was one of my favorite dives ever. :)

Personally, I would take an early ferry to Moorea, rent the car there and spend the day on Moorea rather than Tahiti.

That's exactly what we did on our last PG cruise! (Although we stretched it out to 3 days post-cruise, in OWBs.) We rented a car for a full day on Moorea and circumnavigated the island. WAY better than driving around Tahiti itself, in my opinion.

Food for thought for the OP! If you don't want to get a day room, better to ferry it over to Moorea and rent a car there. You should be able to get off the ship earlier than 10:00 -- we debarked at 8:00 -- and hop on the 9:45 am shuttle. The shuttle is right near the ferry terminal.

I could be wrong about this, but I *think* you can check your luggage in somewhere at the marina...but I'm not completely sure. We didn't have to because we were staying on Moorea for a couple nights...

Then you can hop the 4:45 pm shuttle back to Papeete, and be right there at the waterfront to eat at the roulottes when they open up! When done eating, cab it to the airport.

Just some suggestions! :)

What does O offer by way of a post-cruise excursion/transportation package?

Just drive around the island easily done in a day and lots of things to see and do .

We took this cruise last year. GREAT TIME!

O had made arrangements with several hotels for passengers to hang out. Not a day room, but a large meeting room, and the run of the hotel. We were at the Radisson (I think). It was not great, but better than the airport all day! It would have been much better if we had brought bathing suits.

I thought this was part of the transfer package, but some people who had not gotten the package tagged along.

As the OP noted, the shops in town closed early on Saturday for Easter. We saw at least one market that was open later. We drove around the Island pre-trip and enjoyed it very much, it could be stretched into the better part of the day, and then hang out at the hotel until time to go to the airport.

thanks for the info, has anyone played the Olivier Breaud golf course?

thanks for the info, has anyone played the Olivier Breaud golf course?

It has a good rating. Here are the details. http://www.oobgolf.com/courses/course/21515/Olivier_Breaud_International_Golf_Course.html

I'm with Paul. Take the ferry to Moorea and rent the car there. So much more beautiful.