rental car question

[rowlady]

I have done some research and have decided to rent a car in Maui and Kauai but am not sure if I should rent the car for both days we will be in each port (Pride of America). If I keep the car overnight where would I park and will that cost money? What did you do or are going to do?

 

If you want to give suggestions on the best use of each day with the car I am all ears.......somehow this cruise has me a bit overwhelmed with so many amazing sites I want to see..............Help??

 

Debbie

[Boytjie]

I have done some research and have decided to rent a car in Maui and Kauai but am not sure if I should rent the car for both days we will be in each port (Pride of America). If I keep the car overnight where would I park and will that cost money? What did you do or are going to do?

 

If you want to give suggestions on the best use of each day with the car I am all ears.......somehow this cruise has me a bit overwhelmed with so many amazing sites I want to see..............Help??

 

Debbie

 

We rented 2 days at each port.

 

I would do it again in Maui - there is plenty free parking just outside the port entrance (even when we returned at 2 am!).

 

In Kauai I would only rent the first day if I did it again: we drove to the North Shore on the last day and turned back with (what we thought) was plenty time to get back - until we hit roadworks and it was a nail biter. We dropped the car off without filling up, they held a shuttle van for us and we made it back onboard with 15-20 minutes to spare. There is parking (I think $20 overnight) with come and go privileges all day - it is at a little shopping mall that is reached by shuttle bus that runs all day (the rental car shuttle driver will point it out)

[funmama]

We just saled on the May 7th POA sailing.

Maui parking was free but when we arrived back to the pier, about 7:00 pm, the first lot was full but they still had plenty of spots left in their overflow lot -- a bit more of a walk but no problem. I never saw a third lot but I believe I saw from other posters there are 3 lots total.

In Kauai, we originally planned on returning the car Thursday night, after our luau but Thrifty's last shuttle back to the pier was 8 pm. Since we hadn't picked the car up until 9:15 am Thursday morning, we decided to just hang onto it and return it by 9:00 am on Friday as there was no difference in price. We had an airplane excursion (Wings over Kauai) planned for Friday morning and we asked the tour operator to just pick us up at Thrifty's office instead of the ship. It worked out perfectly. As the last poster stated, there is a $20 parking charge and I believe it's at Anchor Cove Mall -- 8 minute walk to the ship. They were not there when we parked Thursday night at 9:30 pm but were there to get our $20 the next morning!

 

In hindsight we should have rented in other ports besides Maui and Kauai. We spent $60 in taxi fare/tips in Hilo. Probably was a wash.

However, depending on when your flight leaves Honolulu after disembarkation, you may want to consider renting there. We originally were just going to wing it. Our flight was 4:30 pm on Saturday so we had until 2:30 to get to the airport. We thought we'd just "hang out" in Waikiki somewhere, have lunch, etc. and head to the airport. We had also planned on taking advantage of NCL's Easy Fly Program (they handle your bags for $25 per person and you don't see them again till you get to your final destination). However, they just stopped this service a few weeks ago.

So, we called Thrifty/Honolulu on Thursday and rented a car for 8:30 am on Saturday. After having breakfast on the ship, we disembarked, flagged down a porter to help with our luggage (we had 4 of us -- 5 large suitcases and 4 carry-ons) waited a few minutes for the Thrifty shuttle to pick us up, and got our car pronto as a Blue Chip member. Because we had so much luggage, we immediately drove to the airport, since we were right there anyway, and checked in curbside. Got our boarding passes, kept our carry-ons in the trunk, and off we went. That probably took us one hour total but we saved that time in checking in later. Now we were free to go sightseeing -- we decided to explore the east side of Oahu and had a lovely lunch in Kailua, took a different scenic drive back to Honolulu and got to the airport with time to spare. Rental car was $35 and $20 for gas!

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

I didn't know they stopped doing the easy fly. That bites!

 

In 2007, I rented a car 2 days in Maui and 1 day in Kauai and it worked out great. I only rented one day in Kauai because they depart early day 2 for the Napali sailby. Anchor cove shopping center, the beach at the Marriott etc are all within walking distance of the ship so we didn't need it for day 2.

 

We parked in Maui at the seawall and even though we could have parked closer to the entrance of the seawall, we parked further down and I'm glad we did because people were doubleparked the next morning. We had an early morning snorkeling excursion on day 2 so I would have been really mad if they blocked us in. Advise if you park at the seawall is to park further away from the entrance so you are against the seawall and the street so nobody can park in front of you.

[funmama]

I didn't know they stopped doing the easy fly. That bites!

 

In 2007, I rented a car 2 days in Maui and 1 day in Kauai and it worked out great. I only rented one day in Kauai because they depart early day 2 for the Napali sailby. Anchor cove shopping center, the beach at the Marriott etc are all within walking distance of the ship so we didn't need it for day 2.

 

We parked in Maui at the seawall and even though we could have parked closer to the entrance of the seawall, we parked further down and I'm glad we did because people were doubleparked the next morning. We had an early morning snorkeling excursion on day 2 so I would have been really mad if they blocked us in. Advise if you park at the seawall is to park further away from the entrance so you are against the seawall and the street so nobody can park in front of you.

 

Apparently they quit offering Easy Fly a few weeks prior to our May 7th sailing. I wondered why you could no longer access the program thru NCL's website as you could a few months prior. Not to say they won't offer it again so do check with Guest Services on Deck 5 when you get on board.

 

Regarding Maui parking, I also recommend parking against the seawall. I did notice that there were cars in Lot #1 that could have caused problems with someone trying to get out. That would stink if you were wanting to go to Haleakala sunrise and you were blocked in!

 

Also agree with AZ Karaoke Girl about only needing car in Kauai for the one full day. You only have a few hours on Friday anyway and can walk to enough things nearby (or book a small excursion). You can also plan Day #1 so you're not having to come back to the pier to park, thereby avoiding the $20 parking charge!

[qoap24]

Thank you Debbie for asking the question about where to park. I was going to ask the same question.

 

Thank you everyone else for your responses. In Maui is there a lot of parking near the seawall? I will be really ticked off if I park in the lot and someone blocks me in.

 

TIA

Cheri

[Boytjie]

Some pictures of the parking places can be found at this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=24456545

 

I remember seeing another thread that had aerial pictures too but cannot find it now.

[qoap24]

Some pictures of the parking places can be found at this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=24456545

 

I remember seeing another thread that had aerial pictures too but cannot find it now.

 

Thank you for the info!

[rowlady]

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who responded to my question - I really appreciate it and have decided to book a car for all our ports. Now just have to figure out where to drive.........

 

And FYI - I used discounthawaiicarrental.com for booking all my cars and was VERY impressed - she was very willing to answer all my questions and I would definitely recommend them!

 

Thanks again everyone,

 

Debbie

[NKLCRUISES]

I will be tendering into Lahaina, Maui. Are there car rentals available at that port?