Honolulu Car Rental

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

I reserved a rental car in Honolulu through Thrifty last January for our cruise in September.

I might make this confusing :eek: but apparently there has been a change recently & I was told none of the car rental places offer a complimentary shuttle between the cruise port and the Lihue Airport anymore which is where I was supposed to pick up our rental car. They do offer a shuttle from the pier to their rental locations in Waikiki .

The lady at Discount Hawaii Car Rental confirmed with Thrifty that this was the case & she said the only way to get to the airport from the pier now would be to take a cab.

Until I have time to check it out she told me to keep my reservation with Thrifty but she also booked me with Dollar at Waikiki. The rate is a little more expensive than the rate I had with Thrifty & Dollar closes at 8PM sharp, with no late drop offs whereas the the last shuttle back to the ship with Thrifty at the airport was at 9PM.

Please don't take my word for this but if you have a car reserved in Honolulu with pickup at the airport make sure they provide a complimentary shuttle from the pier unless you want to take a cab.

[punkincc]

If true, this must be a really new change. We were on the POA last week and rented a car for two days in Maui with pier pickup, also with Thrifty through Discount Hawaii Car Rentals. We saw shuttles from many other companies picking up at the dock as well.

 

The website still shows a tab to click for dock pick up for cruise ship passengers. I followed the link for Thrifty, but did not go all the way through a booking, but I saw nothing to indicate pickup was not available. :confused:

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

If true, this must be a really new change. We were on the POA last week and rented a car for two days in Maui with pier pickup, also with Thrifty through Discount Hawaii Car Rentals. We saw shuttles from many other companies picking up at the dock as well.

 

The website still shows a tab to click for dock pick up for cruise ship passengers. I followed the link for Thrifty, but did not go all the way through a booking, but I saw nothing to indicate pickup was not available. :confused:

 

I told you I probably made it confusing. :eek: :o

My understanding from the lady at Discount Hawaii Car Rental is there is no longer a complimentary shuttle for pier pickup from the airport location only.

We could have stayed with Thrifty from a different location but the rates were now higher for Thrifty than for Dollar so they switched us.

I called Thrifty at the Lihue airport & she confirmed the change & I believe she said it just went in to effect in August.

I just happened to call DHCR about a different rental reservation or I would not have found out about it & would have been waiting by the pier for the shuttle.

I only posted this info as a heads up for anyone with a car reserved from the airport to check it out.

[slomotion]

I reserved a rental car in Honolulu through Thrifty last January for our cruise in September.

I might make this confusing :eek: but apparently there has been a change recently & I was told none of the car rental places offer a complimentary shuttle between the cruise port and the Lihue Airport anymore which is where I was supposed to pick up our rental car. They do offer a shuttle from the pier to their rental locations in Waikiki .

 

One major point of confusion is that you start out by talking about a car rental in Honolulu and then reference the Lihue Airport that is NOT on Oahu which is where Honolulu is. The airport in Oahu is Honolulu International, not Lihue which is on Kauai.

[cwb34]

absolutely true - no longer a free shuttle from port to Honolulu airport. So, if you want a free shuttle, you need to change car pick-up to Waikiki.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

One major point of confusion is that you start out by talking about a car rental in Honolulu and then reference the Lihue Airport that is NOT on Oahu which is where Honolulu is. The airport in Oahu is Honolulu International, not Lihue which is on Kauai.

 

You are absolutely right. :o I had all three of our rental car reservations pulled up & typed in Lihue for some reason but the complimentary shuttles from the airport to the pier in Honolulu have still been stopped from what I have been told by Discount Hawaii Car Rental & Thrifty at the airport.

I just posted so people renting a car from the airport in Honolulu & expecting transportation to & from the pier could check it out.

[Hlitner]

We recently (yesterday) did our due diligence on a rental car for the Port of Honolulu. I telephoned nearly all the rental car agencies and discovered (as has been posted) that nobody seems to offer a free shuttle to the airport agencies. But, the one good choice seemed to be Enterprise since they have a location within walking distance of the port (we figure its about a 15 min stroll). The downside of Enterprise is that they are not open on Sundays (sounds like Italy).

 

Hank

[dickinson]

Thanks for the info. I too had a reservation with Thrifty at the airport because of previous threads here saying there was a shuttle. I called and confirmed that there is no shuttle. I called Discount Hawaii Car rental and they reserved Dollar for me. I called Dollar and they said that the last shuttle leaves at 7 pm. My cruise ship leaves at 11 pm so I was hoping for later but I guess I have no choice unless I want to pay a cab to take me back and forth from the airport.

 

Enterprise closes early so if it works for some people great. It won't work for me.

Edited September 2, 2014 by dickinson

[slomotion]

Thanks for the info. I too had a reservation with Thrifty at the airport because of previous threads here saying there was a shuttle. I called and confirmed that there is no shuttle. I called Discount Hawaii Car rental and they reserved Dollar for me. I called Dollar and they said that the last shuttle leaves at 7 pm. My cruise ship leaves at 11 pm so I was hoping for later but I guess I have no choice unless I want to pay a cab to take me back and forth from the airport.

 

Enterprise closes early so if it works for some people great. It won't work for me.

 

Check out the popular rental car company whose name is in "Remember the A____' and specify their Waikiki location instead of their airport location and see what they say about a shuttle to the port.

(808) 947-6112

[dickinson]

Check out the popular rental car company whose name is in "Remember the A____' and specify their Waikiki location instead of their airport location and see what they say about a shuttle to the port.

(808) 947-6112

 

It is the airport locations that apparently are not offering shuttles to the port. The Waikiki locations do (or at least some do). The airport is cheaper though. Alamo closes at 7 pm in Waikiki whereas Dollar closes at 8 pm with the last shuttle back to the port at 7 pm.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Thanks for the info. I too had a reservation with Thrifty at the airport because of previous threads here saying there was a shuttle. I called and confirmed that there is no shuttle. I called Discount Hawaii Car rental and they reserved Dollar for me. I called Dollar and they said that the last shuttle leaves at 7 pm. My cruise ship leaves at 11 pm so I was hoping for later but I guess I have no choice unless I want to pay a cab to take me back and forth from the airport.

Enterprise closes early so if it works for some people great. It won't work for me.

 

I think we came up with a new plan. Our ship leaves at 11PM also so we are going to return our rental car to the Dollar at Waikiki & walk (the lady at HWAK said it is about 3 or 4 blocks from Dollar) or catch a cab to House Without a Key for a few hours. I believe the cab fare should be about $7. Then we will get a cab back to the ship which is about 15-20 minutes away for around $20.

This should work out better for us anyway so we can stay a little longer at House Without a Key & enjoy one or two of their famous Mai Tais without worrying about driving!

[Northender]

I think we came up with a new plan. Our ship leaves at 11PM also so we are going to return our rental car to the Dollar at Waikiki & walk (the lady at HWAK said it is about 3 or 4 blocks from Dollar) or catch a cab to House Without a Key for a few hours. I believe the cab fare should be about $7. Then we will get a cab back to the ship which is about 15-20 minutes away for around $20.

This should work out better for us anyway so we can stay a little longer at House Without a Key & enjoy one or two of their famous Mai Tais without worrying about driving!

 

Please let us know how this goes at HWAK.

 

We are doing Pearl Harbor and will be back to our ship around 2:30pm Then freshen up and would love to go to House Without A Key around 5:30. Our ship leaves at 11pm also.:)

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Please let us know how this goes at HWAK.

 

We are doing Pearl Harbor and will be back to our ship around 2:30pm Then freshen up and would love to go to House Without A Key around 5:30. Our ship leaves at 11pm also.:)

 

I hope to write a review from our cruise when I get home. We have 11AM reservations at the USS Midway & then plan to sight see some, go to Waikiki Beach & turn in the rental car & try to be at House Without a Key by 5ish. I am excited that we will be there on a Friday & will be able to see the fireworks from there.

[Northender]

I hope to write a review from our cruise when I get home. We have 11AM reservations at the USS Midway & then plan to sight see some, go to Waikiki Beach & turn in the rental car & try to be at House Without a Key by 5ish. I am excited that we will be there on a Friday & will be able to see the fireworks from there.

 

Thank you. We are there on a Monday. Not much goes on that day for some reason. But we will be in Hawaii, having some wine, seeing a sunset and enjoying some nice food. Nothing wrong with that.:):)

[Luckiest Dog]

It is the airport locations that apparently are not offering shuttles to the port. The Waikiki locations do (or at least some do). The airport is cheaper though. Alamo closes at 7 pm in Waikiki whereas Dollar closes at 8 pm with the last shuttle back to the port at 7 pm.

 

I recently made a car rental at the airport from the yellow brand. They will pick me up at the pier in the AM and take me back up until 4pm. After 4 pm, I will need to take a cab. I called again today and they confirmed this information.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Just off the ship. Do NOT use the Dollar at Waikiki!!!

We called them to make arrangements for the complimentary shuttle & they told us to call them when we got off the ship. We called & they said the shuttle would be there in 30 minutes. We called again 30 minutes later & were told the shuttle was running behind & it would be another 30 minutes.

We had 11AM tickets to the Arizona so we took a $20 cab ride to the Dollar Waikiki location. The cab driver told us we were making a big mistake & that we would have over an hour wait.

We got there & there was a craziness long line & we talked to someone in the middle of the line & they said they had already been waiting 45 minutes.

Arrrggh! We ended up taking a $50 cab to Pearl Harbor.