Pride of America reviews

[JB 1960]

Yes I rented a car on each island. It was very simple took a cab cuz they're all lined up in the morning to the car rental location which was always at the airport. I use hurts they're more expensive but I'm a Gold Club member and they give me very good service and have never given me a bad car. And they're also very easy to use no waiting. The reason I also get them at the airport is because of what time you need to return them you have to check with each rental agency and if they're not at the airport they may close early. Anyways I would get a car and then we would drop it off and walk over to the airport area and get an Uber back to the ship

[Broccan]

12 minutes ago, JB 1960 said:

Yes I rented a car on each island. It was very simple took a cab cuz they're all lined up in the morning to the car rental location which was always at the airport. I use hurts they're more expensive but I'm a Gold Club member and they give me very good service and have never given me a bad car. And they're also very easy to use no waiting. The reason I also get them at the airport is because of what time you need to return them you have to check with each rental agency and if they're not at the airport they may close early. Anyways I would get a car and then we would drop it off and walk over to the airport area and get an Uber back to the ship

We are renting a car on Maui to do the road to Hana.

[DCwom]

43 minutes ago, pppjjjccc said:

since the excursions on POA are is expensive, has anyone rented a car to see the islands?  any rentals available at the ports?

Lots of people rent, we rented at all three islands. 1 day @ Hilo on the Big island and 2 days at both Maui & Kaiwaii

 

Check out the search of previous threads on this forum and you'll get a lot of info, about the logistics for each island, that's how I got comfortable with the idea. Note that each port had its own set of tips & tricks, but all pretty much involve getting to the airport to rent. We did zero excursions from the POA, and used the Guide Along app on the phone for a tour guide.

Edited September 13 by DCwom

[carohs]

The ports are all near the airports except for maybe Kona. We rented at every port and also used GuideAlong 

[Ellis1138]

9 hours ago, pppjjjccc said:

since the excursions on POA are is expensive, has anyone rented a car to see the islands?  any rentals available at the ports?

 

We rented a car on each island. I'd been to Hawaii twice before, and am good at making itineraries.

Maui: We went a bit spendy with Bio-Beetle Ecco car rental in order to have overnight parking. I think White Glove also has that and both are within a 22 minute walk from the ship. Other rentals are around the Kahului Airport. The Maui Seaside Hotel offers overnight parking for $30, I think.

Hilo: It was a short taxi ride to the airport, we rented from Enterprise.

Kona: We rented from Enterprise on Luhia Street. They picked us up at the banyan tree where the tenders dock and dropped us off when we returned the car.

Kauai: We used the non-airport Enterprise on Aukele Street. They picked us up and dropped us off at ABC Store #59 (a 10 minute walk from the ship). We parked overnight along Nawiliwili Road shoulder near Aspire Furniture.

 

It was easier and cheaper to do it this way. We already had the annual National Parks pass and we brought our Costco card for gas fill ups.

[DCwom]

18 hours ago, Ellis1138 said:

 

We rented a car on each island. I'd been to Hawaii twice before, and am good at making itineraries.

Maui: We went a bit spendy with Bio-Beetle Ecco car rental in order to have overnight parking. I think White Glove also has that and both are within a 22 minute walk from the ship. Other rentals are around the Kahului Airport. The Maui Seaside Hotel offers overnight parking for $30, I think.

Hilo: It was a short taxi ride to the airport, we rented from Enterprise.

Kona: We rented from Enterprise on Luhia Street. They picked us up at the banyan tree where the tenders dock and dropped us off when we returned the car.

Kauai: We used the non-airport Enterprise on Aukele Street. They picked us up and dropped us off at ABC Store #59 (a 10 minute walk from the ship). We parked overnight along Nawiliwili Road shoulder near Aspire Furniture.

 

It was easier and cheaper to do it this way. We already had the annual National Parks pass and we brought our Costco card for gas fill ups.

 

Maui: We parked at the Longs drug mall right across from the port entrance, lots of rentals parked overnight, yes you're technically rolling the dice, but I can't imagine the fuss if they towed all of those cars one night. BTW this is where Ubers usually meet you since they aren't allowed to enter the port for pick ups. We went into Longs and bought some snacks to be legit customers, I know that won't matter, but if nothing else it made us feel like we weren't just being obnoxious bennies. Note that there is an Enterprise location within walking distance of the port, we walked out from the ship with a family who was hoofing it there.

 

Hilo: We used Alamo since we booked through a "big box club" travel agent and it was cheaper.

 

Kona: Did not rent, rest day.

 

Kauai: We used Avis/Budget and their free shuttle from the port to the airport, the shuttle driver even pointed out the Nawiliwilli parking as we left the port. I don't recall a furniture store, we ended up along the little park near the ABC store.

 

As for our "big box club" gas card, I didn't bother to spend effort/time to hunt down the place, we just gassed up when we saw a station on the way back to the airport, a small price to pay for convenience, when you're watching the clock approach sail-away time.😬

[trivia addict]

On 9/13/2024 at 8:52 AM, pppjjjccc said:

since the excursions on POA are is expensive, has anyone rented a car to see the islands?  any rentals available at the ports?

We just got off of POA yesterday. We rented a car in 3 of the ports.

Kahuului in Maui, where we drove the Road  to Hana.
Hilo on the Big Island where we drove to Volcano National Park and in Kauai at Lihue, where we drove around the entire Island, including Waimea Canyon.

 

We were two couples that split the rental fees and gas expense. We saved an enormous amount of money by doing this.

 

Renting a car is very easy to do. All car agencies are located at the airports which are located close to the ports. Some of the agencies have shuttles. Ours ( Hertz) did not, but taxis are always waiting at the dock.

 

We pre purchased an app for our phone, called Guide Along Audio Tours that we used for excellent guidance and information on each of our rides.

I strongly recommend looking into and getting it if you rent a car.