Questions re: Renting cars in Hawaii?

[rickc5]

New to Cruise Critic and the forums, but already aware of the wealth of info available here.

 

We're booked on NCL's PoA in November and after perusing all of the expensive NCL shore tours, we've decided to consider renting cars at the various islands and simply driving ourselves around. We have visited all the islands before--not on a cruise--so we're relatively familiar with what each port/island has to offer.

 

So my questions are for those folks who have done something similar:

 

1) Did you reserve the cars online at home, or wait & rent once you get to an island?

 

2) Where do you pick-up and drop-off the cars?

 

3) Do the various rental agencies provide shuttles?

 

4) Is it cheaper to reserve the cars online at home, or are bargain rentals available once you arrive at an island?

 

Thanks in advance for your pearls of wisdom.

 

Rick

[2DesertGuys]

Rick, we've done something similiar for our Hawaii cruise in September although on Maui we'll tender at Lahaina.I booked online and found reasonably priced rentals for Hilo and Maui with Discount Hawaii Car Rental, $28.00 for an economy class car. Shuttles are provided to take you to the pick up location but be sure to pay attention to the run times and coordinate them with your ship departure. On Kona, no car agency will provide a shuttle to the airport since it's so far and traffic is too heavy. Instead I booked directly with Dollar for a pickup directly at the King Kam Hotel, also the tendering point for our cruise.

It was not cheap, $85.00 but for a converable. I wouldn't suggest waiting until you arrive to rent a car, they may not have any and you'll waste time trying to find a bargain-if any. Good luck!

[hill6]

Don't wait till you get to the island to rent the cars. When we were on Maui the car places were sold out. We met a couple that tried to rent a car and they were out.

 

Look around for coupon codes. We saved a ton of money with one we found.

[Bucky3]

Discount Hawaii Car Rentals is the way to go. Definitely book as far ahead as possible. There is no charge to make a reservation. You pay when you pick up the car. Please be sure to cancel, even the day of pick-up if necessary, so the car you reserved can be released to someome else. We, too, have seen people who have no advanced reservation turned away. Have a great time. Aloha!

[aria48]

Just for point of reference, I tried a bunch of different sites for my rental (Oct 4-6) at OGG. YMMV depending on where & when your renting.

 

Here's what came up as best rate for a compact:

 

www.discounthawaiicarrental.com - $81.06 at 'Brand C' car rental company

www.rentalcodes.com/hawaii.html - $81.06 at Thrifty

http://www.thrifty.com - $86.66 at Thrifty (Hot Deal)

www.carrentals.com - $103.87 at Advantage

www.expedia.com - $109 at Advantage

www.hotwire.com - $146.12 at unknown rental car company

 

(I definately won't be recommending hotwire to anyone for car rentals...lol)

[CGBCruiser]

We rented cars while visiting the islands at Dollar Car Rental. It was cheap...I think in Kauai it was only $32 per day for a full size vehicle. Little more expensive in Maui but still very reasonable. I went online and reserved them.

[beeandkmon]

I booked through discount Hawaii rental cars as well and got a much better deal than if I would have booked directly through each agency. Quick question: I would like to call to confirm my rental a week or so before we leave. Do you think I should call the rental companies or discount Hawaii?

[Susan-M]

beeandkmon: If you have a confirmation from Discount Hawaii, you don't need to reconfirm ... the reservation will be good. Your original confirmation should contain a statement such as this,

"You are all set. No further action is required. Please present your confirmation number to (name of car rental agency) at pickup."

Your confirmation should also contain the reservation number from the rental agency ... if you want to verify it, go to the rental agency's website and in the section "View/Modify/Cancel" enter your reservation number & your last name ... it will then show the details of your reservation.

[Nancyquilts]

New to Cruise Critic and the forums, but already aware of the wealth of info available here.

 

We're booked on NCL's PoA in November and after perusing all of the expensive NCL shore tours, we've decided to consider renting cars at the various islands and simply driving ourselves around. We have visited all the islands before--not on a cruise--so we're relatively familiar with what each port/island has to offer.

 

So my questions are for those folks who have done something similar:

 

1) Did you reserve the cars online at home, or wait & rent once you get to an island? Yes. You don't want to take a chance that they'll be sold out, and if you can't get to the rental for some reason, I've never known any that will charge you.

 

2) Where do you pick-up and drop-off the cars? There are shuttles at all the ports - even at Honolulu Thrifty picked us up at the pier.

 

3) Do the various rental agencies provide shuttles? Yes.

 

4) Is it cheaper to reserve the cars online at home, or are bargain rentals available once you arrive at an island? We always book early, so can't tell you.

 

Thanks in advance for your pearls of wisdom.

 

Rick

 

Have a great time!:D