Maui options

[CaptJerry51]

Very sad what has happened on Maui at Lahaina.  I visited there in the 80's, loved it, and was planning on seeing it again when the Koningsdam has a scheduled tender stop there this coming February.  As far as I know, Lahaina is a tender only port.  What do those of you who know Maui well think will happen for those main line ships scheduled to stop there?  I am sure the town will be rebuilt and hopefully in the same style that it was.  I am also sure that there is feverish activity at all the cruise lines that have stops scheduled at Lahaina this coming winter as to what to do.  From the news reports, it sounds as if the harbor was destroyed and boats that were tied up there burned.  So, tendering in there may not be an option and the town will be a construction zone for some time.  Maybe they will rebuild the harbor quickly to be able to accept tenders and the visitors can go to Kaanapali for activities and shopping.

 

With Lahaina - the principal tourist attraction from the tender landing gone for now - what will they do?  Stop at the Kahului cruise port on the North side of the island?  Skip Maui altogether and stay a day longer at the island port stop before or after Maui - Oahu or the Big Island?  Find a dock that can accept tenders a little farther up the coast from Lahaina, if such a thing exists?  I know that everything is in flux and forecasting the future is pure speculation, but I am trying to plan on what I can do to salvage a much-anticipated shore excursion I had planned for whale watching which departs just up the coast from Lahaina and may have been untouched.  Or whether I should cancel now.

 

I doubt the cruise lines will notify their passengers with their decision until the last minute.  We should know before too long.  Starting in October, the schedule shows a major cruise line ship at Lahaina almost every day.

 

[BermudaBound2014]

It's too early for this discussion with any level of clarity. There are still 1,000 people missing; including people I know so forgive me if this comes across short.

 

Your ship will not be stopping in Lahaina this February.  I highly suspect that it will be YEARS for cruise ships to return to Lahaina (if ever). The entire marina is destroyed.

 

Your ship may stop in Kahului but that isn't guaranteed at this point. IMO the best you can hope for if Kahului is skipped is an overnight in Hilo to see the volcano at night. 

 

Rebuilding on island is much more challenging than rebuilding on the mainland. I'm not sure people are understanding the apocalyptic nature of this fire. 

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[CruiserBruce]

It just happened this week. Give them some time to figure it out. Believe me, the cruise ship traffic IS NOT the priority!

[princeton123211]

2 hours ago, CaptJerry51 said:

From the news reports, it sounds as if the harbor was destroyed and boats that were tied up there burned.  So, tendering in there may not be an option and the town will be a construction zone for some time.  Maybe they will rebuild the harbor quickly to be able to accept tenders and the visitors can go to Kaanapali for activities and shopping.

Everything was destroyed. There is no pier, no infrastructure, nothing. The town is gone. I agree with BermudaBound-- I don't think folks really get the scope of the devastation. 

 

2 hours ago, CaptJerry51 said:

With Lahaina - the principal tourist attraction from the tender landing gone for now - what will they do?  Stop at the Kahului cruise port on the North side of the island?  Skip Maui altogether and stay a day longer at the island port stop before or after Maui - Oahu or the Big Island? 

Its too soon to speculate but my guess is that your ship will not be calling on Maui in February and cruise ships will not be calling again for quite some time. Kahului is possible but NCL and Carnival will have priority as they already use Kahului. 

 

2 hours ago, CaptJerry51 said:

Find a dock that can accept tenders a little farther up the coast from Lahaina, if such a thing exists?

This doesn't exist. There is no pier or natural harbor that could accommodate this for a cruise ship. There is going to be zero priority to returning cruise traffic to Maui. My guess is the focus is going to be helping residents rebuild, get the resorts back, and rebuild Lahaina. 

 

Small luxury ships call and tender on the island of Lanai across the water but I couldn't imagine Lanai opening up to larger ships. 

 

 

[mcrcruiser]

From what we read Wailea ,Kana[ali ,Kapaula  areas have been mega tour sports & thousands of jobs depend on tourism . Both the State of Hawaii & the Maui government know this . Also there should be some Fed assistance . planes & cargo ships can bring in  all that is needed in the way of building materials , machinery ,food ie , Imo I can see October welcoming in tourists las the island can not shut down  .

[Guest ldtr]

While ships will not be calling on Lahaina for years, I do expect that ships will use the port on the other side of the island at Kahului relatively soon. Probably in a matter of weeks.  It just depends upon how fast the Island sorts out the immediate crisis and feels that fire, police, medical and other basic capacities are working.

 

[Guest ldtr]

2 hours ago, princeton123211 said:

Everything was destroyed. There is no pier, no infrastructure, nothing. The town is gone. I agree with BermudaBound-- I don't think folks really get the scope of the devastation. 

 

Its too soon to speculate but my guess is that your ship will not be calling on Maui in February and cruise ships will not be calling again for quite some time. Kahului is possible but NCL and Carnival will have priority as they already use Kahului. 

 

This doesn't exist. There is no pier or natural harbor that could accommodate this for a cruise ship. There is going to be zero priority to returning cruise traffic to Maui. My guess is the focus is going to be helping residents rebuild, get the resorts back, and rebuild Lahaina. 

 

Small luxury ships call and tender on the island of Lanai across the water but I couldn't imagine Lanai opening up to larger ships. 

 

 

Keep in mind that for the last few years most of Princess Hawaii sailings used  Kahului. Mostly because the pier at Lahaina was undergoing construction making tendering g even more of an issue than normal.

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

From what we read Wailea ,Kana[ali ,Kapaula  areas have been mega tour sports & thousands of jobs depend on tourism . Both the State of Hawaii & the Maui government know this . Also there should be some Fed assistance . planes & cargo ships can bring in  all that is needed in the way of building materials , machinery ,food ie , Imo I can see October welcoming in tourists las the island can not shut down  .

However, on West Maui, the majority of the stores and restaurants were in Lahaina, and they are gone. The port is very small, and the airport not all that big. Your aren't just to suddenly just going to drop all this stuff there. It just ain't going to happen.

 

And where do you think the thousands who have been displaced are going to live?

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

However, on West Maui, the majority of the stores and restaurants were in Lahaina, and they are gone. The port is very small, and the airport not all that big. Your aren't just to suddenly just going to drop all this stuff there. It just ain't going to happen.

 

And where do you think the thousands who have been displaced are going to live?

Some people do not have a clue about limitations in resources on the Islands. Even if shipments were ready to go and there was available shipping capacity it would take 2 weeks to get there.

 

The amount of resources for cleanup and construction is pretty limited and they can not just drive heavy equipment from a neighboring state.

 

It will take weeks even months to cleanup the debris from the burned building. Just trying to keep the ash out of the ocean will be a major undertaking.

 

Unfortunately a lot of the residents will not be able to rebuild, so one can expect developers buying up lots and building to maximize profits, instead of rebuilding housing for workers. I fear the historic Lahaina becoming another Wailea.

 

A friend of mines sister works at the Mariott Ocean Property in Kanapoli.  She is stuck at work. The stories she has about tourists not understanding why the restaurants are closed  why power is off, why cell phones are not working, etc. 

Edited August 11, 2023 by ldtr

[CaribbeanBound]

Here's a diagram of the Lahaina fire damage as of 08-10-2023

[CruiserBruce]

22 minutes ago, CaribbeanBound said:

Here's a diagram of the Lahaina fire damage as of 08-10-2023

I believe this is a derived from satellite imagery. While it may be close to accurate, it is not ground proven yet.

[CruiserBruce]

Absolutely agree @ldtr. It is easy to say "they just have to do this" or "why aren't they doing that". That doesn't make those things happen, nor mean they could actually be doable.

 

Almost 40 years in emergency services...been to a lot of major fires and natural disasters. But never on an isolated island, like this. But been to Maui 15 or 20 times. Not hard to see the complexities they will face.

[Guest ldtr]

42 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Absolutely agree @ldtr. It is easy to say "they just have to do this" or "why aren't they doing that". That doesn't make those things happen, nor mean they could actually be doable.

 

Almost 40 years in emergency services...been to a lot of major fires and natural disasters. But never on an isolated island, like this. But been to Maui 15 or 20 times. Not hard to see the complexities they will face.

I lived near and saw the issues with recovery after the fires near San Diego (3 houses to the left of mine burned, 4 houses to the right did also), as well as the fires near Talent Or.  Even buildings that are still standing will at a minimum have substantial smoke damage and will be contaminated with compounds in the smoke.   Even in those areas with substantial resources just working through the issues, the insurance, disaster recovery claims, site cleanup, takes time.  Many local home owners have limited resources.  Many of those that do are part time residents.

 

One friend of mine is currently living in her car at the Home Depot parking lot in Kahului.  Both her home and job was in Lahaina and are now gone. 

[Silver Sweethearts]

BermudaBound2014 -  Sorry for the delay in responding.  It has been an unreal time, but we are fine and our home has done pretty well. An emergency evacuation was ordered for our area if we felt we should go, but we elected to stay.   Water is still being air dropped in an area above us, but the smoke has lessened.  Our electricity, telephone, internet and such were all out at the same time and the wind gusted to 80 mph. That was fun.  We had no communication with the outside world until just a while ago.  All of this pales in comparison to Lahaina,  There are no words...

[mcrcruiser]

5 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

However, on West Maui, the majority of the stores and restaurants were in Lahaina, and they are gone. The port is very small, and the airport not all that big. Your aren't just to suddenly just going to drop all this stuff there. It just ain't going to happen.

 

And where do you think the thousands who have been displaced are going to live?

 What imo will likely happen is temporary shelter in part of the numerous rental properties like hotels ,condos ie  , In WW2 we have the navy SeaBees  construction teams that built all kinds of infrastructures  like roads bridges  quickly . With todays technologies ,newer building materials many more things are very possible .Think entire homes built on assembly lines with robots ,how many homes can be turned out & placed on freighters for  delivery . Large land moving equipment could clear out the debris &  that debris could be shipped to some atol  in the  Pacific .Yes ,technology  of today & willingness to get life back together is what is needed . Maui is all tourism  & with out tourism what would many thousands do for  employment .

[BermudaBound2014]

46 minutes ago, Silver Sweethearts said:

,  There are no words...

 

Agreed. No words. I just can't seem to wrap my head around this.

 

Thank you for responding. I have been genuinely concerned about you. I know we are just CC acquaintances, but online relationships mean something to me.

 

I have two friends I work with at Pacific Whale that are still missing. I fear for them also but are hopeful they are just can't get out communication yet. They were both very young.

 

I've never put a photo of myself up on CC, but this is me last April at Waikiki Brewery on Front Street in Lahaina.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the red arrow shows where this photo was taken in the aftermath of the fire. It's just gone.

 

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[mcrcruiser]

10 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

It's too early for this discussion with any level of clarity. There are still 1,000 people missing; including people I know so forgive me if this comes across short.

 

Your ship will not be stopping in Lahaina this February.  I highly suspect that it will be YEARS for cruise ships to return to Lahaina (if ever). The entire marina is destroyed.

 

Your ship may stop in Kahului but that isn't guaranteed at this point. IMO the best you can hope for if Kahului is skipped is an overnight in Hilo to see the volcano at night. 

 

Rebuilding on island is much more challenging than rebuilding on the mainland. I'm not sure people are understanding the apocalyptic nature of this fire. 

 

 

 

We have seen other photos ,It seems like the court house did not burn down  but can't tell fro these photos if the fire gutted the inside  .We hope that the large banyon tree survives

[BermudaBound2014]

3 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

We have seen other photos ,It seems like the court house did not burn down  but can't tell fro these photos if the fire gutted the inside  .We hope that the large banyon tree survives

 

You can clearly see that the inside of the courthouse is entirely gone. You should try to look at ariels and drone footage. I think they provide the best perspective.

 

 

 

 

The banyon tree is still standing. Banyon trees can withstand some fire. Unfortunately, as of yesterday the roots were still smoldering and that isn't a good sign :(. 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[mcrcruiser]

6 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

However, on West Maui, the majority of the stores and restaurants were in Lahaina, and they are gone. The port is very small, and the airport not all that big. Your aren't just to suddenly just going to drop all this stuff there. It just ain't going to happen.

 

And where do you think the thousands who have been displaced are going to live?

Bruse negativity won't help the people who survived this disaster , government & industry must lock arms , make a plan & carry it out in a timely way

[mcrcruiser]

2 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

You can clearly see that the inside of the courthouse is entirely gone. You should try to look at ariels and drone footage. I think they provide the best perspective.

 

 

 

 

The banyon tree is still standing. Banyon trees can withstand some fire. Unfortunately, as of yesterday the roots were still smoldering and that isn't a good sign :(. 

 

 

  That picture looks quite bad for that area  .We recall talking with artists painting pictures under that huge tree , /We also would shop  close by in a 3 story building for Hawaiian outfits ,We have many find  memories of Lahania  ,We can hope & pray for all the people impacted by this devastation & get them the help they need to rebuild their lives

[CruiserBruce]

Somebody needs to check their calendar...we aren't in the 1940s anymore.

[BermudaBound2014]

@CruiserBruce, @Silver Sweethearts, @princeton123211....

 

Those cars in front of the outlet mall in the above pic are freaking me out. As you all know, there are no parking spaces along that stretch of Front Streets so there is absolutely no reason for there to be burnt out cars in that particular area.

 

Do you think those poor people just jumped out of their cars into the ocean along this stretch, or is there another explanation I'm not thinking of?

 

 

[Cruise Junky]

17 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

@CruiserBruce, @Silver Sweethearts, @princeton123211....

 

Those cars in front of the outlet mall in the above pic are freaking me out. As you all know, there are no parking spaces along that stretch of Front Streets so there is absolutely no reason for there to be burnt out cars in that particular area.

 

Do you think those poor people just jumped out of their cars into the ocean along this stretch, or is there another explanation I'm not thinking of?

 

 

Anything other than jumping into the water is too horrifying to think about.  

[CruiserBruce]

14 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

@CruiserBruce, @Silver Sweethearts, @princeton123211....

 

Those cars in front of the outlet mall in the above pic are freaking me out. As you all know, there are no parking spaces along that stretch of Front Streets so there is absolutely no reason for there to be burnt out cars in that particular area.

 

Do you think those poor people just jumped out of their cars into the ocean along this stretch, or is there another explanation I'm not thinking of?

 

 

That is a worst case scenario I have seen a number of times before.  I showed my wife that footage and said no good came out of that. Yes, a few jumped from their cars towards or into the ocean. Some ran down the street. Some met their end there. I have seen some gruesome reports of what was found on Front St.

[BermudaBound2014]

4 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

That is a worst case scenario I have seen a number of times before.  I showed my wife that footage and said no good came out of that. Yes, a few jumped from their cars towards or into the ocean. Some ran down the street. Some met their end there. I have seen some gruesome reports of what was found on Front St.

 

NOOOOooooo! 😞 😞 😞 I didn't even think of that.

 

I've read of bodies being found father inland in the subdivisions along Lanahinaluna St, but nothing along front street. Particularly along this stretch, the ocean is so close and it's a short jump over the lava wall there. I going to believe they found refuge in the water, but this shows just how fast this fire was moving :(.