Cruise ship to shuttle

[Daydaes]

Going to be in Hawaii in November. Are there shuttles to take us to town or the beach? We have not reserved cars and would prefer to share costs with another couple if possible. If not, taking a shuttle or bus around town is fine with us. We will be on the Veendam getting into Maui on November 21st for our first port. Any tips is greatly appreciated:)

[Cruisin' Chick]

People will suggest checking with your roll call.

 

My hubby decided he didn't want to rent cars while on a cruise (if we're doing a pre- or post-cruise stay, then yes). And that was definitely the case for our three Hawaiian cruises (on our honeymoon in Hawaii, we did rent a car for our stay on Kauai). And we don't bother to align our port stays with other passengers just in case we change our minds.

 

Most likely HAL doesn't have shuttles unless you've booked an excursion through them.

 

For Hilo, there are some free shuttles from stores (Walmart and Hilo Hatties for sure -- and those two are located across the street from each other). There are taxis. There's also a city bus that we took on cruise #2, but its route isn't very linear and seems to run late. One of the buses we took was also pretty dirty. I think it was just a $1/person, but that may have changed since 2010. It's a bit of a walk into town (I underestimated the ease of doing so in humid weather, and I don't think my daughter has ever forgiven me for that:rolleyes:).

 

As soon as you get out of the ship terminal in Nawilliwilli (Kauai), there may be many free shuttles and trolleys. The ones for Harbor and Anchor malls will take you to the nearby (some people actually walk over) area where there's a nice beach right behind the Marriott. There's also shuttles (Hilo Hatties and others) that will take you into Lihue.

 

Some ships (like Princess) will anchor off of Lahaina. I don't know about your cruise, as there's a dock on the northern part of Maui. There's a bus that will go from Maui on north. We took it on cruise #2 to go from downtown Lahaina to the Cannery Mall, which was near an attraction my daughter had wanted to check out. It was a crowded bus and you do need to find where to catch it (finally someone showed us the doorway in the back of the Cinema Wharf Mall). On cruise #3, we took a taxi instead up to Whalers Village, which we enjoyed.

 

Honolulu is a whole different place. There are two docks (2 and 11). 2 is near Waikiki beach and 11 is the Aloha Tower one (hopefully the beautiful mural is still there). On one cruise, I did ask about free shuttles and the workers there claimed there weren't any (I think there is a Hilo Hattie's one if where you're going is near their store and there may be a "jewelry" store that has a free shuttle if you're willing to check out their wares...I think it's like the equivalent of Diamonds International for Hawaii:eek:). Once we did get offered a limo that we split the fare with a couple of other parties to take us to the Ala Moana mall. There's a hop-on, hop-off trolley (if you check out the usual tourism sites you should be able to get info on it) for sightseeing. There's also a city bus but you do need to know what bus number will work for you. Plenty of taxis, of course.

[CruiserBruce]

Some clarifications here. First, Veendam tenders into Lahaina. Right in town, so no need for a shuttle into town. There is several threads on shuttling up to Kaanapali, a beach resort area about 15 minutes away, this is a public bus, and there may be a local shuttle.

 

The docking location in Honolulu is no where near Waikiki. Unless you call 20-25 minutes drive "near".

 

I agree on checking your roll call. That is board policy for share tours, rides, etc.