Anyone see Oahu post-cruise w/o rental car?

[AZGrandma]

My DH, who was stationed at Pearl Harbor many years ago, thinks we might be able to save money by traveling on The Bus to see a few sites around Honolulu. I had thought of renting a car so we could drive to the North Shore and watch surfers, and/or drive to Pali Lookout or Diamond Head and hike, etc. We have the whole day before we have to be at the airport about 6:30 for our 8:40 flight.

 

Is it feasible to spend the day doing a few things one can reach by The Bus? Would love to hear from anyone who did this. Is it worthwhile?

 

Just wondering . . . I know this might not be the forum to ask in, since cruise passengers aren't exactly trying to travel the low-budget route. ;) It's my mother who can afford to buy this cruise for our family of five, not us.:D

 

Thanks for any insights,

Leslie

[cruzn single]

While we do everything on THE BUS when we are there on a land vacation, just a word of warning. If you are going to use strictly the bus, you won't get that much done in the way of sightseeing, because of the time that the bus ride will consume. I don't think you can do all you want to, even if you rent a car, because that is a very ambitious plan for one day, considering you will need to be at the airport about 2 hours prior to departure. There is a lot of ground to cover, and Honolulu is highly congested as far as traffic goes. Going to the North Shore on THE BUS took us a whole day for the round trip. Maybe others might have a different idea, but in my estimation, you are trying to do way too much for one day.

[CC Help Michell]

My DH, who was stationed at Pearl Harbor many years ago, thinks we might be able to save money by traveling on The Bus to see a few sites around Honolulu. I had thought of renting a car so we could drive to the North Shore and watch surfers, and/or drive to Pali Lookout or Diamond Head and hike, etc. We have the whole day before we have to be at the airport about 6:30 for our 8:40 flight.

 

Is it feasible to spend the day doing a few things one can reach by The Bus? Would love to hear from anyone who did this. Is it worthwhile?

 

Just wondering . . . I know this might not be the forum to ask in, since cruise passengers aren't exactly trying to travel the low-budget route. ;) It's my mother who can afford to buy this cruise for our family of five, not us.:D

 

Thanks for any insights,

Leslie

 

I have a question... what will you be doing with your luggage between your cruise and your flight? The Bus has a rule -- luggage either has to fit on your lap or beneath your feet, period. That means that you'd be very limited in what you could bring with you that day. The Easy Fly program (if you do a search for it here you'll find lots of details -- basically they take your big bags the night before arriving at Honolulu and you won't see them again until your home airport -- IF you are on certain domestic US airlines, and IF you aren't pre-selected by TSA for special screening, and IF you want to pay $19.95 per person) could solve some of that issue. But even a 22" carryon bag the airlines would permit could wind up being a big PAIN during a day of on- and off- buses.

 

I would urge you and DH to consider one of the tours of the island that day. We took a Robert's tour called the "Little Circle" tour. It was $19.00 per person (in July). We had no big bags, as we did use Easy Fly and loved it -- but if we had had our luggage with us (you can carry it off the ship yourself using Express Departure), they just stick your big stuff under the bus as they did our carryons. We basically had a great day touring Diamond Head, Pali Lookout, Hanauma Bay -- things we hadn't had time to see on Oahu pre-cruise -- then they dropped us right at our airline counter at the airport. Your flight time may be late enough to let you do a "Grand Circle" tour -- which would include a lot more (our flight was at 3:00 PM). That option avoids renting a car, but also avoids the "what do we do with the luggage" dilemma.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Oh, and PS, I had another thought. My mood that last day was um... not my usual happy self. I loved every second in Hawaii, and HATED the thought of leaving. Four months later, I feel the same way, by the way. :) The fact that we had a nice air conditioned coach, driven by our "cousin" showing us some sights before our flight, helped A LITTLE with the crabbiness/depression. I really think that if I'd been hauling even one carryon item and waiting for mass trans buses that day, and worrying about when to (hopefully) catch a final bus to the airport.... well, I don't know what I'd have done. ;) As it was our day was smooth as silk and VERY nice... and I still cried for ten minutes (or more) on the airplane -- I didn't want to leave! Make that last day as smooth as you can... there are affordable options.