A few Changes to Hawaii travel

[sugcarol]

Hawaii Health & Vaccine Passport Information for COVID-19 (hawaii-guide.com)

[AF-1]

I just got my covid test yesterday.  We leave tomorrow 3 Jun.  Went to Walgreens.  Got my negative result in 20 min.  Fast and efficient.  Uploaded the pdf to the State of Hawaii Health website and today (24hr prior to my flight), they will email my QR Code which allows me to board my American Airlines flight to Hawaii.  I was nervous about getting the covid test and having to create an online account on Hawaii's website.  The longest part was filling in all the info to create my account.  You must list your flight numbers; what time you depart the mainland, Hotel address, phone number, how long you're staying.  But in the end, it was an effortless process.  Cheers

[princeton123211]

7 hours ago, AF-1 said:

I was nervous about getting the covid test and having to create an online account on Hawaii's website.

Try doing it on the fly on your mobile phone! When we went to Hawaii last year in October it was the  2nd day of the reopening and no one had a CLUE how things were working. We had our negative test done but no one told you to upload it to the system (they sort of made it sound like something you would do once you arrived). Our lovely Hawaiian Airlines crew in Seattle actually delayed the flight by a few minutes to help people do everything they needed to while we sat on the tarmac and had cell service. Thankfully it was a fairly empty flight. 

 

Sounds like things are getting a lot more civilized in terms of the overall process. 

[cccole]

I traveled to Hilo last October on the 1st day of the travel restrictions being lifted.  Possibly because I was flying Hawaiian Airlines, they kept sending emails about making sure we opened a travel safe Hawaii account.  I opened mine a few weeks before leaving and when I received my PCR results I downloaded them to my account and then printed a copy of the code sent by Hawaii Health Department.  If you are flying into one island and transiting to another island you will need two codes, each flight needs a separate code.  Luckily I had read the fine print.

 

When I traveled to Oahu and Hawaii in April I used my same Hawaii safe travels account and just put in the flight info for my April flights.  It's not a big deal to complete, just do it early.  In April we were not able to board our flight to HNL unless we already had a negative test and code from Hawaii Health Department.  Just don't worry about it, it's really easy.

 

It will be nice when we don't have to do this but it really is a not a big deal to do in order to travel to Hawaii, and precautions have proven to be successful in the islands of limiting the spread of Covid.  Fortunately, with the June 15 changes, residents of Hawaii will be given priority over tourists.  Cherie 

[CruiserBruce]

@cccole, same experience here, in December, and second trip in March. Stressful the first time, to make sure we dotted the "i" and crossed the "t"s. But not a lot of work in either case, really. The bigger complication was meeting the car rental company requirements. And the pre-approval by the airline the second time, saved us 45 minutes , minimum.

[sugcarol]

Our walgreens offer PCR and the IDNOW test that give results in 24 hours. Hawaii states the IDNOW test is accepted. We dont want to take a chance of not getting results in time. Can we take the 24 hr test 72 hours prior? Sorry, i am an old lady and want to make sure i get everything right. I keep reading about people not getting the right test from the right provider and being turned away. It has taken me 3 years to save the money to go and i dont want to blow it. Also some have said they got test at Walgreens for free but our Walgreens charges for the PCR or IDNOW test but if you ha e symptoms they are free. This is nuts.

[CruiserBruce]

@sugcarol people getting the wrong test has happened a couple of times...not a huge number. But it makes news, so people think it has happened often.

[AF-1]

Hello. I amin Hawaii now with my family. We all got IDNow test at walgreens 48 hrs prior. Results came back in 20 minutes. Uploaded to safe travels website and received QR code next day. When we arrived in Honolulu it took us an hour twenty to clear thru health screening. We were in line with all other airlines.  Then when we arrived at hotel we had to show QR code with green checkmarks before they allowed us to check in. I am glad this will be coming to an end bymid July

[sugcarol]

I want to thank all of you for your input, so excited to go and hope by my November cruise things will be easier.

[bethtex]

so if on a Hawaii cruise with multiple ports, do you have to go through the health screening each port?  or will we just do once at first port?  or on the ship?

so many questions.  and I am sure everything will change before my November cruise.

Haven't been to Hawaii for 24 years and so looking forward to it.

[CruiserBruce]

8 hours ago, bethtex said:

so if on a Hawaii cruise with multiple ports, do you have to go through the health screening each port?  or will we just do once at first port?  or on the ship?

so many questions.  and I am sure everything will change before my November cruise.

Haven't been to Hawaii for 24 years and so looking forward to it.

As Hawaii to closed to cruise ships, and will be until October or November, nobody is going to have any answers to your questions...there is no experience out there. At the current pace, all restrictions for travel in Hawaii will be off a couple months prior to your cruise.

[sugcarol]

this was posted today. looks like we are closer. Interesting that they make a point of saying it is because of the vaccination rate in high gear, proves it is working the way it was supposed to. People act like the vaccine is made from some bizarre ingredient and that horns could grow out of our heads, or something equally ridiculous.

 

Hawaii Sets Plan to Lift All Travel Restrictions Based on Vaccine Rates (yahoo.com)

[CruiserBruce]

Yep. On another board, the estimate is mid July for the 60% fully vaccinated milestone.

[AF-1]

They just lifted the outdoor mask rule on Jun 1st.  This makes it very nice to go to beach and other activities without having to wear a mask. 

[terpshockey77]

Hoping to go to Hawaii in the fall and hope that the travel restrictions are lifted.  Vaccinated but don't want to have the hassle of testing.  Are car rentals still a problem?  We heard there was a shortage of cars.  We were considering renting a car in port but now considering tours.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, terpshockey77 said:

Hoping to go to Hawaii in the fall and hope that the travel restrictions are lifted.  Vaccinated but don't want to have the hassle of testing.  Are car rentals still a problem?  We heard there was a shortage of cars.  We were considering renting a car in port but now considering tours.

There is currently still a shortage...in Hawaii, and elsewhere, not just in Hawaii. What the situation will be in the fall is unknown. We are going in October, and booked our car before the car shortage hit, so our price was only a little bit more than other recent trips.

 

[princeton123211]

3 hours ago, terpshockey77 said:

Are car rentals still a problem?  We heard there was a shortage of cars.  We were considering renting a car in port but now considering tours.

Shortage of cars might be an understatement-- more to the tune of 40% less capacity than 2019. Its bad enough that they are now having to regulate U-Haul and Home Depot pickup truck rentals because folks decided to try and be creative. 

 

[CruiserBruce]

On 6/15/2021 at 5:01 AM, terpshockey77 said:

Hoping to go to Hawaii in the fall and hope that the travel restrictions are lifted.  Vaccinated but don't want to have the hassle of testing.  Are car rentals still a problem?  We heard there was a shortage of cars.  We were considering renting a car in port but now considering tours.

The testing required for vaccinated people ends July 8th. You will need to bring your original CDC card, and it probably be a benefit to upload it to the Hawaii SafeTravels website.

 

By the Fall, all these requirements may be gone. Depends on their vaccination progress.