Need help for 2nd day in Maui

[JHawk63]

Question for those of you who have been to Maui before. We will be on the Ovation, tendering in Lahaina, on Sept 27th & 28th. We've got a trip arranged with several other cruisers, for the Road to Hana on the first day & as of right now, plan to rent a car on the second day, ending it with the Old Lahaina Luau. The car rental place opens at 7am & closes at 5pm. From what I see, the tenders should run all night. IF we can get off the ship early & arrive at the car rental place when they open, would we have time to drive to Haleakala, spend some time & get back? I've found a shore excursion thru Viator that would pick us up in Lahaina at 2:30am & do the sunrise tour of Haleakala, getting us back around 11am. Would it be better to do it that way? Or should we just rent the car on our own & drive around, seeing other things? Any suggestions on what to do the second day & still get back in time for the luau are appreciated. Sorry for all the questions....just trying to see as much as we can in such a little amount of time!

[idkanything]

We are on the POA (so docked at the other port from you), but we are doing the exact same thing - Road to Hana the first day, and renting a car the second. We plan to also be there when they open at 7 am, since its in walking distance of the ship. We are going to drive up to Haleakala, and then be back to drop the car off at 4:30. I took the advice of a lot of people here who said we could make it, and we also downloaded the Shaka app and bought the tour up to the top of Haleakala. It was 9.99 for the app and 60 for the car, so a lot less than the excursion and we should have enough time. I know you were looking for people who have done this so I’m truly no help, but looking forward to any responses. 

[Silver Sweethearts]

9 hours ago, JHawk63 said:

Question for those of you who have been to Maui before. We will be on the Ovation, tendering in Lahaina, on Sept 27th & 28th. We've got a trip arranged with several other cruisers, for the Road to Hana on the first day & as of right now, plan to rent a car on the second day, ending it with the Old Lahaina Luau. The car rental place opens at 7am & closes at 5pm. From what I see, the tenders should run all night. IF we can get off the ship early & arrive at the car rental place when they open, would we have time to drive to Haleakala, spend some time & get back? I've found a shore excursion thru Viator that would pick us up in Lahaina at 2:30am & do the sunrise tour of Haleakala, getting us back around 11am. Would it be better to do it that way? Or should we just rent the car on our own & drive around, seeing other things? Any suggestions on what to do the second day & still get back in time for the luau are appreciated. Sorry for all the questions....just trying to see as much as we can in such a little amount of time!

 

Ask yourself if you just want to see Haleakala or do you want to be there at sunrise?  The drive from Lahaina to the summit should take 2.5 - 3 hours - in the dark going there if you take the Viator tour (not to mention starting out at 2:30 a.m).  The tenders may well have a slower schedule in the wee hours, which means you probably won't get prompt service and you will have to wait around.  Remember in either case it will be cold at the summit, so take layers of clothing to add on the way up and subtract on the way down.  With a tour you won't have the freedom of going where you want when you want.  If you go with the tour you will be back plenty early enough to go back to the ship, perhaps take a shower, change clothes and relax before heading to luau (or maybe Front Street shopping/walking).  If you go to luau straight from leaving your car off, you may not feel as fresh as you would like to be.   We've gone back and forth here to show both ways can work.  Just pick what pleases you most. 

[Beachiekeen]

I don’t know that I would want to have such a long day that the Road to Hana will be and then be up so early for sunrise. I would probably want something more relaxing. 

 

But if you did sunrise, you could go back to the ship for a nap, then spend a couple of hours walking around Lahaina before the luau.

 

You could also have a beach day, go back to the ship and clean up and then go to the luau.  

 

You could go to Haleakala and upcountry but you’d be driving 2 hours each way. I might be more inclined to stay closer to Lahaina.

[JHawk63]

Thank you all for your input. We've decided to just explore the west side a little since we'll have had a full day with the RTH. While the sunrise excursion would've been beautiful, we're thinking it would just be too exhausting. 

[PCWalton1]

2 hours ago, JHawk63 said:

Thank you all for your input. We've decided to just explore the west side a little since we'll have had a full day with the RTH. While the sunrise excursion would've been beautiful, we're thinking it would just be too exhausting. 

Just a note on the car rentals. Most of the locations are up by Kapalua Airport and close at 5 pm. If you decide to return the car after that you can take a taxi or Uber back to Lahaina 

[JHawk63]

3 hours ago, PCWalton1 said:

Just a note on the car rentals. Most of the locations are up by Kapalua Airport and close at 5 pm. If you decide to return the car after that you can take a taxi or Uber back to Lahaina 

Thanks! Yes, ours is up there too. Figured if we are cutting it close, we can Uber to the luau & then Uber back to the ship when its over.

[Beachiekeen]

Oh if you will be there, drive straight to Kapalua Bay, see that beautiful beach and walk the coastal trail.  You can’t be that close and not see it. 🙂