In Hawaii avoid booking rental car through NCL

[northwestbear]

We were on the Pride of America the first week in December. We made the mistake of booking rental cars through NCL. We just assumed booking through the cruise company would make the whole process easier. Boy were we wrong! We discovered that NCL books all of their cars through Alamo. At the pier we waited over 30 minutes for a shuttle to the airport, and then they would only transport the driver - your family has to wait for you at the pier. Once at the airport I waited over 2 hours in line - there had to be 100 people in line ahead of me and only two Alamo employees. Also, they wanted the car returned 2 hours before sailing in order to transport you back to the ship - again they wanted you to drop your family off at the ship before you returned the car so they would only have to shuttle the driver back. A full day rental became a four hour rental! and unfortunately this was the nicest day, weatherwise, we had all trip. Once back on board we complained and were able to cancel our car reservations for the other ports. We rebooked with other agencies and the process moved much more smoothly... This was definitely a lesson.

[melika091900]

OMG what a nightmare, i would have been sooooo mad...

 

 

thanks for warning everyone, i would hope no one would ever have to go through that again..

 

we rented from hertz on our own for all the islands we went to , never had a problem

 

gosh, sorry again you went through that.

 

did they refund you anything ? since you paid to have it for the whole day? i would take it up with Alamo, its their fault too

[cruizinwithkids]

Thanks for the warning. I was starting to think that going the rental car through NCL might be easiest for my lazy self, but not if means wasting so much time in line.

[flowers58]

Wow,

 

We booked rental cars through NCL for Kauai and Maui and never had any of those problems. We did get stuck in a traffic jam coming back from Lahaina on Maui. Of all the places to get stuck in a traffic jam…. :)

 

Sorry you had trouble.

[beachchick]

Thanks for the warning. I was starting to think that going the rental car through NCL might be easiest for my lazy self, but not if means wasting so much time in line.

 

Right. Booking through NCL offers you no priority or benefit over those who have reserved rental cars on their own. Check the onine sites for prices and choose based on price and whether they send shuttles to the pier. I urge you to book early because they sometimes (in the smaller ports, often) sellout quite a ways in advance, especially during peak times. You're also "competing "with all the land visitors for a finite number of cars. Walk up prices in Hawaii are usually pretty high (assuming you can find a car last minute). The only benefit I could possibly see to booking through NCL would be if you left it too late and couldn't find a car on your own. Heck, even cancellation isn't usually an issue because the online sites don't require a CC or deposit.

 

beachchick

[MrPete]

We made rental arrangements before we left on our cruise. There was someone waiting for us at every port.

 

Then there were those who balked at the tour prices, and tried renting cars AT each port. Supply and demand kicked in, and these people paid triple what we were paying.

 

What a great way to tour the islands at your leisure, BTW.