Car Rental Pre Cruise

[STL_WELZ86]

My husband and I will be staying in Waikiki for 2 days prior to our cruise. We plan to rent a Jeep and would like to pick it up at HNL when we fly in. We are not sure where to return it though the morning of embarkation. It’s about $60 cheaper to return the car back to HNL vs returning in Waikiki/closer to the port. I’m looking for insight/advice on whether we should pay the extra to return the car closer to the port or save money and return it to the airport. How much of a pain is it to drive back to the airport, return the car, and find a taxi/Uber to the port? We have never been to Honolulu so I was not sure what traffic would be like on a Saturday midday and how long this whole process would take? Any insight/advice would be much appreciated! We will be cruising in January on NCL Pride of America and staying at a hotel

in Waikiki. We were looking at booking through Oahu Jeeps. 😁

[TMLAalum]

We decided to return our rental back to HNL. The cruise port is west of Waikiki by the Aloha Tower, so our plan is to drop our bags off at the pier and then drop the car back to Budget. We will either taxi or Uber from there back to port.

If Oahu Jeeps has an office at the port or they will drop you there free of charge, it might be well worth the extra $60.

[princeton123211]

If the drop off fee is $60 downtown, you'll save about $30 returning it to the airport and taking a $30 UberX back. Is $30 worth the hour this might entail (there wont be much traffic on a Saturday, but you'll have to drive to the airport, find a gas station, wait for the Uber, drive back etc)? That one is up to you. 

 

Also might be worth looking at renting with a more mainstream car rental company like Avis/Budget or Hertz that have drop off locations in Waikiki and usually don't charge the drop off fees. I rented a Mustang from the airport once and was able to drop it off the night before our cruise downtown-- I saved time in the morning, an extra rental day of charges, plus the parking charge. Well worth it. 

[TwinMamainMN]

My husband and I have been discussing this too. I think we are going to drop off the rental the night before we cruise to save money and the hassle of having to return it and get to the port on embarkation day. This will allow us to deal with the hassle the night before we sail, instead of the day we leave.

[STL_WELZ86]

Great idea to return to the airport the night before! I didn’t even think about that. The money isn’t a huge deal but I didn’t want to spend the extra $ if drop off at the airport was relatively easy and no big deal. Seems like it might be a toss up though.