Pearl Harbor without a car rental

[amcw]

We will be on the POA and are looking to visit Pearl Harbor - either the day before, or the morning of the cruise (early bird departure).

Looking through all the posts on these boards, most of the advice is to hire a car.

 

However, we are from the UK and to be honest are not very confident hiring a car as I've never driven on the right side of the road and have read that the traffic in Honolulu can be pretty bad.

 

I have been looking at Roberts Hawaii and Discover Hawaii tours who offer transportation and tours to Pearl Harbor. They also have an option to combine it with a Honolulu city tour.

 

I'm just looking for opinions from people who have done any of these tours (or similar). Or any advice as to whether we should just get a taxi there and back and spend time on our own there (I have read that there aren't many taxis back though so that is kind of putting me off).

 

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[cruzn single]

If you are staying in Waikiki, you could just take TheBus. $2.50 per person each way. #20 or #42 buses will take you directly to PH. Just be sure to reserve your admission tickets in advance for the USS Arizona tour. http://Www.nps.gov is the website. Tickets are free, save for a $1.50 per ticket handling fee. You need to be there an hour before to pick up your reserved tickets.

[deburn]

We our doing pearl harbor after our cruise though NCL may cost a little more than the others but they take care of our bags and then take the 11 of us to the airport when the tours done. Just seems to be the easiest, I don't think I would feel like driving after 10 days we'll be in Hawaii.

[Chipster2]

We will be on the POA and are looking to visit Pearl Harbor - either the day before, or the morning of the cruise (early bird departure).

Looking through all the posts on these boards, most of the advice is to hire a car.

 

However, we are from the UK and to be honest are not very confident hiring a car as I've never driven on the right side of the road and have read that the traffic in Honolulu can be pretty bad.

 

I have been looking at Roberts Hawaii and Discover Hawaii tours who offer transportation and tours to Pearl Harbor. They also have an option to combine it with a Honolulu city tour.

 

I'm just looking for opinions from people who have done any of these tours (or similar). Or any advice as to whether we should just get a taxi there and back and spend time on our own there (I have read that there aren't many taxis back though so that is kind of putting me off).

 

Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

We did the Roberts Tour Pearl Harbor and City Tour back in January.

Had a good time, excellent driver, i wish I could remember his name. But the one issue I do have is there is a pretty limited amount of time allocated for Pearl Harbor. I would say that it if you aren't interested in a lot of time there then you would be fine on this tour. I believe we had around 2 or 2 1/2 hours there and that included the visit to the Arizona Memorial.

[tortoisegirl]

Thought I'd share, although I haven't taken the tour yet. We are doing the Discover Hawaii Tours early bird Pearl Harbor & city tour (3A) prior to our POA departure Sept 7th. The city bus looked like quite a long trek, and taking a taxi very expensive. This is a VERY early departure though...Waikiki hotel pickup prior to 6am. I had a tough time planning for breakfast at first, but was able to get us a hotel near a 24/7 diner (Aqua Palms).

 

However, everything is arranged (ex. pickup right outside our hotel & tickets), its done around 11:30am, is only $39.99pp, and is not all day but does include the USS Arizona (not all do). I've found very good reviews, similar to Roberts. I liked it over the Roberts option as it is an hour earlier (plus something else I forget now). We used Roberts for most of our excursions though.

 

We have a midday return flight (Seattle) so it wasn't an option to go on departure day. That seems to be a more popular option...folks comment they would rather end their trip on that note. Roberts and NCL at least have tours that would work that day if you have a later flight (plus they accommodate for luggage).

 

We are getting in midday the day before so could have done something then (although I don't think I found an organized tour), but didn't want to commit to anything that day. Since we are getting up early for the flight, hopefully the early am tour departure won't be an issue (plus we get up this early for work). However, a 6am tour pickup wasn't my first choice to start out a vacation! It just worked out that way though. Best wishes.

[cruzn single]

If you are departing by air on the day your cruise ends, you might also investigate the ship offered trip to PH which will handle your luggage and then you are dropped off at the airport. Your flight must be after about 3:30 pm, I think.

[CraftySabine]

The last time I was on Oahu, we didn't rent a car. To go to PH we took the bus. As stated before, #20 or #42 will take you right there. Our bus driver seemed used to tourists asking where PH was and when do we get there and how to get back. He was very helpful when we were getting off to let us know where to pick up the return bus.