Car rental in Honolulu at the pier

[FloatYourBoatSince2003]

Thanks Rebecca! Second-time around will be a breeze for you guys, won't it with all these minor details taken care of ?...I think EVERYONE should be able to go at least twice :D

[CruisingGoddess]

Thanks Rebecca! Second-time around will be a breeze for you guys, won't it with all these minor details taken care of ?...I think EVERYONE should be able to go at least twice :D

 

Very true! I thought that planning the trip so unexpectedly would stress me out but since we were just there, I still remember a lot! :D

[kackeroo]

So I checked the map. Alamo, Advantage and A-1 are practically right next to Thrifty at the airport location. Enterprise, National, Hertz and Avis are also in the same general area (I noticed Enterprise had at least 3 tagged locations). My point: verify the address of the airport pickup location you want to use, verify it's proximity to the Thrifty location, take the Thrifty shuttle, then walk to whichever rental location you choose. I've taken many car rental shuttles, and never had one check that I actually had a reservation with them.

[CruisingGoddess]

There are other agencies with shuttles too. I don't remember which ones I saw but there were definitely others. If you don't want to rent with Thrifty, give the agency you want to rent with (the actual office, not the 800 number) and check if they have a shuttle.

[High C's]

We'll be in Hawaii for the first time next year, sailing from Tahiti and finishing in Honolulu. As our flights home will be late in the evening, I thought it may be a good idea to rent a car for the day to take in as much of Honolulu as we can. Is this feasible? Any tips? We'd love to visit Pearl Harbour, but will plan out the day before we arrive.

 

Thanks!:)

[CruisingGoddess]

We'll be in Hawaii for the first time next year' date=' sailing from Tahiti and finishing in Honolulu. As our flights home will be late in the evening, I thought it may be a good idea to rent a car for the day to take in as much of Honolulu as we can. Is this feasible? Any tips? We'd love to visit Pearl Harbour, but will plan out the day before we arrive.

 

Thanks!:)[/quote']

 

Yes, many people have done the same thing. If you want to visit the USS Arizona Memorial, you should try to disembark as early as possible. Timed tickets are given out to go to the memorial and the early you get there, the better as tickets do run out.

 

I'm assuming you will also take your luggage with you in the car. If so, make sure you rent a vehicle large enough to hide your luggage in the trunk. Car break-ins are not uncommon in parking lots of tourist attraction, like Pearl Harbor, and your car is more likely to attract a thief if your luggage is visible. We also went to Pearl Harbor the day we were to fly home and upgraded to the Ford Fusion (Standard) at the Thrifty location so all our luggage could fit in the trunk but we would have saved money had we reserved it from the beginning.

 

If you have time, you can also stop by the Aloha Swap Meet. It's supposed to have the best prices on souvenirs.

[High C's]

Yes, many people have done the same thing. If you want to visit the USS Arizona Memorial, you should try to disembark as early as possible. Timed tickets are given out to go to the memorial and the early you get there, the better as tickets do run out.

 

I'm assuming you will also take your luggage with you in the car. If so, make sure you rent a vehicle large enough to hide your luggage in the trunk. Car break-ins are not uncommon in parking lots of tourist attraction, like Pearl Harbor, and your car is more likely to attract a thief if your luggage is visible. We also went to Pearl Harbor the day we were to fly home and upgraded to the Ford Fusion (Standard) at the Thrifty location so all our luggage could fit in the trunk but we would have saved money had we reserved it from the beginning.

 

If you have time, you can also stop by the Aloha Swap Meet. It's supposed to have the best prices on souvenirs.

 

Thanks Rebecca. I appreciate the advice. As I said, this is our first visit to Hawaii. I wish we could stay a few days post-cruise, but unfortunately we have to get back to work!:(

Do you know if it would be too ambitious to take in PH, and then visit Diamond Head? I have no clue as to the distance between highlights on the island!!!

Thanks!:)

[CruisingGoddess]

Thanks Rebecca. I appreciate the advice. As I said' date=' this is our first visit to Hawaii. I wish we could stay a few days post-cruise, but unfortunately we have to get back to work!:([/font']

 

Do you know if it would be too ambitious to take in PH, and then visit Diamond Head? I have no clue as to the distance between highlights on the island!!!

 

Thanks!:)

 

Diamond Head is far from Pearl Harbor (on the other side of Waikiki). It depends on how long you plan to stay at Pearl Harbor but I personally think it's too ambitious to do both and catch a flight on the same day. In addition to the USS Arizona Memorial, there is the USS Bowfin, USS Missouri, and new museums they just opened. DH is a war history buff so we were there from 8 am-3:30 pm and that was before the new museums opened.

 

If you only plan to see the USS Arizona Memorial, then you could probably do Diamond Head in the early afternoon but most guide books recommend hiking it in the morning or late afternoon because it gets hot. You should allow plenty of time for traffic since you'll be driving past Waikiki twice. We arrived in Honolulu around 4:30 pm and it took us an hour to drive to Waikiki in rush hour traffic, when it is supposed to take less than 15 minutes!

 

It's recommended that you arrive at the airport 2-2.5 hours before your flight and you should allow another 30 minutes to return the car and catch the shuttle to the airport. Evening flights to the mainland are very popular so the airport gets more crowded & busy as it gets later.