Bonaire Golf Carts

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

2 hours ago, 1kaper said:

I'm just adding here my experience.  Don't be late. 
They do not take a deposit.  They say they will hold the golf cart for 2 hours.  We ended up getting up late that morning.  When we got off the boat we found the stall that had a sign directing us to the next pier.  We walked there and found a man sitting in the tent but he was not with the company.  He was a very helpful local and knew where the business was.  He walked us there.  It was a few blocks away. 
By the time we arrive I could see two golf carts and two groups ahead of us.  I suspected our golf cart was gone.  We waited in line and by the time we got to the desk it was pretty much 2 hours on the dot.  She told us that we did not show so they gave our golf cart away. We debated about whether or not it was 2 hours, and pointed out that we had to find them but it didn't matter anyway.  The golf cart was gone. 

Bonaire is not a great place to show up without having a plan.  By this time we couldn't get a taxi.  There aren't tour operators hanging around like other ports.  We ended up taking the water taxi to Klein Bonaire. 

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I suspect business must be good !

 

Tom

[1kaper]

18 minutes ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Thanks for the heads-up. I suspect business must be good !

 

Tom

 

It is very good. Lots of demand. The man who walked us is investing in some golf carts too. I believe this was the only option at this time. 

[Rondo]

We’re interested in renting a cart for February. Does the rental cost include gas? Or will need to fill up the tank at the end like a car rental?

[ericosmith]

14 hours ago, Rondo said:

We’re interested in renting a cart for February. Does the rental cost include gas? Or will need to fill up the tank at the end like a car rental?

From their email response:

 

Price includes gasoline, insurance and taxes.

[40yearcruiser]

I emailed Bonaire golf cart rental co. last night and had a reply today. Unfortunately, it just won't work for us. Our ship (Sky Princess) doesn't get in until noon so we would only be able to use it until they close at 5 pm and they don't do half day rentals. Also, there will be 3 of us and they only have 2-person carts available. I think our ship is the only one there that day (Dec.23) so if we don't decide on a ship tour we may check to see what they still have available.

[adonisr]

On 1/14/2022 at 4:14 PM, Mud_Shark said:

We made a reservation for this coming fall of '22.  They say they will provide a map with directions for doing both north and south loops.  Looking forward to it.  Still a long way off though.

 

Don

Did you follow through with the rental?  If so, how did it go?  Did you do the north AND south tours?  Any tips?

[Mud_Shark]

Yes we did and it was a great day.  They do give you maps and draw your route on it for you before you take off, and highlight places you may wish to stop at.  We still made one wrong turn but the island is small and most roads get you back to where you need to be so we eventually got back on track.  We did the south route in the morning, stopped several times to snorkel, stopped at the slave huts, the flamingoes in the salt flats, the salt mine (which by the way,  If you like to snorkel, we snorkeled with turtles right beside the large pier for the salt mine.  No cost for that and beautiful water, no crowds.)  We finished with a few quick stops along the rugged coast of the windward side. 

 

We parked near the cruise port and went back on board for some lunch and a quick refresh and then did the north loop in the afternoon.  They will tell you there is a place to turn around before you hit the 1 way road if you don't want to do the entire loop, but we went all the way around.  Stopped a few times (1000 steps is a beautiful beach area we would like to return to).  We even went off the designated road up to a lookout that was very scenic.  Made it back in plenty of time to return the cart and get back on board about an hour before all aboard.

 

Overall, I highly recommend this activity.  And they definitely sell out so reserve early.

 

Oh - and they do have some 4 person carts but we rented a 2 person cart.  There were no extra costs.

Don

Edited December 8, 2022 by Mud_Shark

[petuniaflower]

On 12/7/2022 at 9:23 PM, Mud_Shark said:

Yes we did and it was a great day.  They do give you maps and draw your route on it for you before you take off, and highlight places you may wish to stop at.  We still made one wrong turn but the island is small and most roads get you back to where you need to be so we eventually got back on track.  We did the south route in the morning, stopped several times to snorkel, stopped at the slave huts, the flamingoes in the salt flats, the salt mine (which by the way,  If you like to snorkel, we snorkeled with turtles right beside the large pier for the salt mine.  No cost for that and beautiful water, no crowds.)  We finished with a few quick stops along the rugged coast of the windward side. 

 

We parked near the cruise port and went back on board for some lunch and a quick refresh and then did the north loop in the afternoon.  They will tell you there is a place to turn around before you hit the 1 way road if you don't want to do the entire loop, but we went all the way around.  Stopped a few times (1000 steps is a beautiful beach area we would like to return to).  We even went off the designated road up to a lookout that was very scenic.  Made it back in plenty of time to return the cart and get back on board about an hour before all aboard.

 

Overall, I highly recommend this activity.  And they definitely sell out so reserve early.

 

Oh - and they do have some 4 person carts but we rented a 2 person cart.  There were no extra costs.

Don

Would you say this route is also ok for car rental?  Looking for a vague itinerary and your day sounded great!  We have the car for about 6 hours, not sure if we would also have time to go back to ship for a bite or not tho..

[ericosmith]

All of the roads on the cart tour we took (the full north circle) were paved so no problem for a car.

[Cruise till you drop]

On 5/4/2021 at 11:31 AM, beav2 said:

Where do we find the golf carts to rent? Should we try and reserve one and do you remember how much? Thanks

Has anyone replied to this question?  
 

I’m mainly curious if the golf carts are available near or at the port or do you have to travel to pick up the golf cart ?

[ericosmith]

They are $100 per day for the entire day.  Initial check in is just outside the port and the pickup point for the carts is a two or three block walk from there.  You do need a reservation as they are very popular and they sell out before the cruise.  There is no deposit required so no reason not to reserve. 

[Cruise till you drop]

Much appreciated feedback, reviews and advice on this.  We just booked Bonaire Cruisers golf cart rentals for our March cruise and very excited about it.

 

If anyone can give me the top 3 things to see in both the North and South loops, that would help prioritize 

 

Thanks

[ericosmith]

3 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Much appreciated feedback, reviews and advice on this.  We just booked Bonaire Cruisers golf cart rentals for our March cruise and very excited about it.

 

If anyone can give me the top 3 things to see in both the North and South loops, that would help prioritize 

 

Thanks

I wouldn't worry too much about the top things to see.  I'd just follow the recommended route.  We only did the north loop as we had done the south in the past but the top things were pretty obvious.  There were parking areas.  But that sort of misses the point.  The beauty of the golf cart is that you can stop anywhere and anytime.  It's the journey that's the top thing to see.  You have a 360 view at relatively low speed.  The experience is totally different than being on a bus or van tour.  You're not traveling from place to place, you're experiencing the journey.

[janetz]

Great time with the carts!
Bring your snorkel gear and stop and explore 

There are many great spots 😊

[Cruise till you drop]

1 hour ago, janetz said:

Great time with the carts!
Bring your snorkel gear and stop and explore 

There are many great spots 😊

Thanks for the quick review. Were there any particular snorkel spots you would highly recommend ?

[janetz]

I wish I could tell you exactly

We just stopped where it looked easy to get to.

It was quite an adventure 😊

Edited February 12, 2023 by janetz

[janetz]

Thinking about it, I believe they marked the best spots on the map they give out for my husband 😊

[ericosmith]

They hand out maps individually and will mark and customize the suggested stops based on your interests.

[sueandtimj]

On 1/29/2023 at 11:40 PM, ericosmith said:

They are $100 per day for the entire day.  Initial check in is just outside the port and the pickup point for the carts is a two or three block walk from there.  You do need a reservation as they are very popular and they sell out before the cruise.  There is no deposit required so no reason not to reserve. 

I went to reserve and it asked for my cc info.  How do you reserve without the deposit?

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

1 hour ago, sueandtimj said:

I went to reserve and it asked for my cc info.  How do you reserve without the deposit?

 

I don't believe they charge your card - they only take it in case you no-show, then they'll hit you up for that (if I recall correctly). Can someone confirm that? I just know we were not charged when I sent it in a couple of months ago.

Tom

[ericosmith]

They didn't take a credit card number at all when I reserved.  They sent me an email that had information in it and asked me to reply if I wanted to do so.  I replied that I did and they responded confirming that they had my reservation.  They only took my card when I checked out the cart.

 

I do note that they take reservations directly on their website now.  That's new since I reserved.  I would suggest just emailing them and see if they would take a reservation that way.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

3 minutes ago, ericosmith said:

They didn't take a credit card number at all when I reserved.  They sent me an email that had information in it and asked me to reply if I wanted to do so.  I replied that I did and they responded confirming that they had my reservation.  They only took my card when I checked out the cart.

 

I do note that they take reservations directly on their website now.  That's new since I reserved.  I would suggest just emailing them and see if they would take a reservation that way.

 

I might be confusing this with reservations for our group in Aruba (beach dinner at Passions on the Beach).

[Cruise till you drop]

4 hours ago, sueandtimj said:

I went to reserve and it asked for my cc info.  How do you reserve without the deposit?

We booked 3 carts recently and they did charge me for the entire $300 up front.  I thought it was only going to be a deposit.  I booked everything through their website.

 

I didn’t do anything about it except to confirm they received it so that we aren’t double charged when we arrive

Edited February 21, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[sunfl0wer3]

We booked for March using the website.  They charged the CC, but said it would be refunded if the ship cancelled the stop in Bonaire.

[Denversail]

We did these in Bonaire and loved it. I think we went the wrong direction but nobody seemed to care. Be careful of your weight distribution. Our son was driving with a few standing in the back and the cart did a wheelie. We had a great time and got to see so much of Bonaire.