Help me plan my Hawaii Excursions

[punkincc]

Be sure to allot enough time to pick up your rental car. Some companies pick you up and process you quickly but others take a lot of time. We were almost 2 hrs at Thrifty in Oahu due to a lot of cruisers trying to get their cars. The shuttle was overwhelmed. We finally gave up and took a taxi over to Pearl Harbor and just made our ticket appointment time. Most stressful day I ever had on a cruise.

 

 

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For future reference and the benefit of others, could you share a little more about your rental car pick up experience on O'ahu? From what I gather, the airport locations do not send shuttles to the cruise ship docks as they do on the other islands, so I'm assuming your shuttle was sent by a Waikiki location? Can you share the location and how you booked? Was this a sparsely staffed office?

[Gold Mine Gal]

We and two other couples were told they would send a shuttle and we kept calling being stranded at the cruise port. We finally nabbed a cab, squeezed in and left for the rental car place. The line was horrendous and we stood in line for awhile, finally just called a cab. Good luck.

 

 

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[Gold Mine Gal]

We arranged rentals through discount Hawaii car rentals. They were very good and refunded our deposit plus an extra $50 for our problem. We used them for two other stops. No problem. The Thrifty car rental place was understaffed and overwhelmed.

 

 

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[BridgeMates]

I could not agree more. The cruise will probably offer one, but you can book direct with the company for less money. Ours picked us up at the pier. Do your homework, and do not let price be your only criteria. You get what you pay for, and safety has to be tops. Once you see where you are flying:eek:you'll understand why. You'll see Waimea Canyon and the Na Pali coast, inside a dormant volcano, in a way you never could by any other means. Up close and personal. It's a bucket list kind of thing for sure. Since you can see most everything else in the islands for next to nothing with a car rental, we just considered the price of the heli as our "excursion money" for the whole trip.

 

We spent way more in Alaska for tours.

 

Do you remember which company you used?

[astridwilson]

You must take a taxi to the airport locations. We got off the ship, grabbed a taxi right away and picked up our car immediately and were an hour early to our Pearl Harbor appointment.

 

There is a cruise ship terminal rental location, but that was far more expensive then renting from the airport even with the taxi fare to get there. We had to return the car to the airport, so it seemed to make sense.

 

We used autoslash.com and thrifty was the rental agency for most locations. We signed up for thier blue chip program and had a hassle and basically wait free experience on every island.

[nkereina]

Sorry if I'm repeating, but I would suggest taking time to walk around Front St. in Lahaina. Some interesting shops, good food, an amazing shave ice stand, and the really cool Banyan tree/court. There's also outlet shopping in walking distance if that appeals to you. As far as a beach while in Lahaina, I definitely recommend Kaanapali beach which is less than a 10 minute drive north of Lahaina. We stayed at the Westin on Kaanapali Beach beach in September and took a taxi to Lahain and it was a $20 ride. The beach is supposed to be one of the top beaches, and we did think it was really nice and large. In September, we felt the waves were rough though and swimming was tough for someone who's not a strong swimmer. We also found it to be very windy nearly every day we were there.

[merinski]

You won't need a tour company to get to Black Rock or do shopping in the area. Black Rock is adjacent to the Sheraton, which is less than five miles from where your ship tenders. Lahaina is a great for shopping and dining. As you probably know, your tender will dock right in the middle of everything.

 

Yes we are taking a taxi to Kannapali/black rock.

We are trying to decide about a tour with the hop on hop off bus waterfall tour.

Also weather to do the clarks, hop on hop off bus to kauhaluu beach and the market. Anyone done these tours?

[wacruiser77]

Believe it or not it is extremely easy to take the bus from Lahaina to Kaanapali Beach. 30 minute ride $2.00

 

 

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[slidergirl]

We are thinking of in Hilo taking the hop on hop off bus tour of waterfalls.

Anyone done this?

In Kona, still unsure if we should do the hop on hop off bus and go to Kuhaluu beach to snorkel and the markets or ?? the ship tour to snorkel is so expensive.

Maui we want to go snorkeling at black rock. and do some shopping.

Oahu Hanauma bay and maybe the flea market

Any Ideas of tour companies that do these things is appreciated .

 

Kuhaluu Beach is always a stop for me when I'm on the Big Island. Been going there since the late 70s. Small pebbly beach with fun snorkeling. It's where I get my snorkel bearings back before going up to North Kona. It's a little bit of a rocky entrance, but shallow. There is a kind of double-reef out on the little bay, so it is calm waters. I always see plenty of fish and most of the time time a turtle or two swimming around. There is a shower there also for rinsing off. Personally, I'd just use the local bus that runs along Alii drive to do this. Walking along the waterfront in Kailua-Kona is always fun. Stop at the Kona Inn and order some of their always-good poke (marinated raw tuna) and a mai tai or a local Lavaman Red Ale (my fave). For the ship tour - it depends on where it goes. I think most go down to the area around the Captain Cook memorial. Good snorkeling there, but remember you're probably going to be there with hundreds of others from the ship on the tour. If you want to rent a car, there is also good snorkeling up in North Kona at Hapuna State Beach and Mauna Kea next door. You have to be a decent swimmer for these, as the tides can be strong and push you to the rocks that you are snorkeling next to.

On Oahu, the Flea market and Hanauma Bay are in opposite directions. To me, the flea market is a waste of time - cheap stuff not locally made. If you are on Oahu on a Saturday, I would head to the Farmers Market at Kapiolani Community College (or KCC) just outside of Waikiki. Good local offerings.

[merinski]

Kuhaluu Beach is always a stop for me when I'm on the Big Island. Been going there since the late 70s. Small pebbly beach with fun snorkeling. It's where I get my snorkel bearings back before going up to North Kona. It's a little bit of a rocky entrance, but shallow. There is a kind of double-reef out on the little bay, so it is calm waters. I always see plenty of fish and most of the time time a turtle or two swimming around. There is a shower there also for rinsing off. Personally, I'd just use the local bus that runs along Alii drive to do this. Walking along the waterfront in Kailua-Kona is always fun. Stop at the Kona Inn and order some of their always-good poke (marinated raw tuna) and a mai tai or a local Lavaman Red Ale (my fave). For the ship tour - it depends on where it goes. I think most go down to the area around the Captain Cook memorial. Good snorkeling there, but remember you're probably going to be there with hundreds of others from the ship on the tour. If you want to rent a car, there is also good snorkeling up in North Kona at Hapuna State Beach and Mauna Kea next door. You have to be a decent swimmer for these, as the tides can be strong and push you to the rocks that you are snorkeling next to.

On Oahu, the Flea market and Hanauma Bay are in opposite directions. To me, the flea market is a waste of time - cheap stuff not locally made. If you are on Oahu on a Saturday, I would head to the Farmers Market at Kapiolani Community College (or KCC) just outside of Waikiki. Good local offerings.

 

Thank you,

Now I just need to find out about the waterfall tour in Hilo with hop on hop off co