MilesBuzz! - who do I rent a car from in NASSAU & can you use miles to do it?

any ideas on who is the best company to rent car from in Nassau? We are going (3 people) in late Dec and staying at the Hilton and may need to bee bop around (did he say bee bop? yes he did)

Any idea from whom to rent a car whilst down there?

AND, can I convert/use any airline miles to do it?

I am a member of Avis but I do not think they have offices there and have not looked at airline conversions rules.

thanks.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gifMM

I've got to do it.

BUZZ?

And FWIW, a quick Orbitz search shows Avis, Budget and Dollar at NAS.

[This message has been edited by UpgradeMe (edited Dec 01, 2003).]

thanks "upgrade me"

I went to the Avis web site and did not find anything on Bahamas on there when I had done a quick loos so I guess I should have tried the Orbitz, expedia worlds, etc... But you know one could miss the obvious ones, I guess. I did.

So they are there. Good.

But what about miles... I rarely rent cars (another reason why I didnt think of the options as I might have with flying searches) and so I have no idea from WHOM, and HOW one can USE miles to rent one! (instead of just earning miles to rent a car)

Any tips?

Lastly, in the time I have been using this forum, I never figured out what "BUZZ" means when people write that in a post.
Do tell please. I guess this is my night of many questions... Oh well.

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I think it means something like, Is MilesBuzz the right place for this question?

Also, I think you should rent scooters in Nassau or just take the local busses. Both forms of transportation left me with fond memories of the Bahamas.

[This message has been edited by cecelia (edited Dec 01, 2003).]

Thanks Cecelia,

I may do the skooter--that sounds very "island-like" so why not!

As for the miles buzz part, yeah I guess so but I find the big problem is that some posts go in no or too many categories. I mean, I could have put it in rental cars but since I did not know who to rent from, which one? I may once again NOT rent a car on a trip (there are always other ways around) and just take your suggestions.

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I see lots of posters are cross-referencing their posts in relevent forums, so maybe that's the thing to do.

Re: Nassau, they used to drive on the wrong side of the road. Not sure if that's still the case, but be careful.

...maybe the wrong side of the road is better for safety! It was for me in my past! (and who knows who is REALLY right about which side is better to drive on!):

We learned how to drive on the other side of the road when in Australia years ago. I actually learned it in rush hour in Sydney right aftre buying my used van. (I imagine Bahamas is the same way since it has to do with mother England--or did.) Anyway, back in Aussieland, it sure was a good thing for the stop and go traffic so I could take time to slowly adjust to driving the other way. It made me VERY concious about my driving and the rules of the road. BUT yeah, you have to be careful because even days after I thought I had mastered it, I was still wanting to pull over on the wrong side of the roads there! (Well, I figure that I am from Boston so it is OK that I am a wild driver, aint it?)

My friend brought his dog over here from there and I always ask him if that dog knows which direction to look across the street before it crosses... He seems to so far. So has this Bahamian friend's dog. I guess they are smarter than us anyway.

As for forum posting rules, well, I guess the thing I see a lot of in here is people telling people how to post more than giving any info on the question originally posted. Not always, but it DOES happen and I wonder why so many feel compelled to be like that. In a sort of strange parallel, this brings me back to highschool where we had two kinds of math teachers: the ones who appreciated content and process, and thus gave you a decent grade if you got the math problem wrong but you at least did all the math correctly and just missed one little rule, and the ones who gave you a bad grade based solely on end results and cared nothing for process whatsoever. They figured that failing on that one little rule that brought about your slightly incorrect answer was more important than anything else. Maybe it would be if I WERE flying a jet or doing surgery, but I was not. I was 15. Oh well. Anyway, it seems this forum unfortunately skews a bit more in that direction, I've often found. (have you seen people get on each other's case about spelling too?)

THAT is why I need a vacation to the islands... to get away from this type of thing at the office--and I get my math right all the time!

But you both were helpful in your posts anyway, so thank you!

I'll remember to look the right way.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gifMM

They drive on the left in Nassau, but they use US-spec cars. This is probably the least safe setup for a couple of reasons. If you're walking along the side of the road, watch out for bushes along the roadside. Since the drivers are close to the curb they're likely not to see you unitl they're very close.

In 1999 there was an Avis agency next to the Hilton.

thank you! I called Hilton, it was sold out for Avis but they gave me the number for local res and the nice lady there said she might be able to help, and she was able to snag a reserved car for us! thanks for your help and those other tips.

See you on the beach!
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gifMM

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Marathon Man:


See you on the beach!
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gifMM</font>

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We were just there a few weeks ago and rented from Budget. We used Diners Club points to do it:
- Call DinersRewards
- Tell them the dates and the size of car, they'll get quotes
- You pay for the car, they'll reimburse you and then extract the points (and you don't have to use the DC to rent it - Budget did not take DC)

We paid $499 for week of a 'midsized' car, really a compact, and it cost me 100,000 Diners points. As I have over 1M points, it worked for me. We stayed at the Sheraton on Paradise Island, and prefer to eat in Nassau vice Paradise Island, plus had fun driving around the island a bit.

The car rental offices close at the airport after 7 PM. If you arrive later than that, due to plan or delay, you'll be without a car.

I did see folks with scooters - they'd be OK for during the day, but not at all for night driving. We liked to drive around at night to go to different restaurants for dinner - although there are quite a few nice ones within walking distance of the Hilton. To and from the airport is a flat rate of $37, as I recall. A taxi will cost you $20 each way, easily, if you go from the Hilton to Paradise Island or Cable Beach.

By the way, Hilton is pretty nice. It has its own beach, but is just so-so.

Be sure to try the conch fritters and stewed fish (yum!). Guava duff is highly overrated.