Family of 9 transportation on Hawaiian Cruise?

[steviem1]

We will be a group of 9 adults on the 12/21 cruise in Hawaii. Looking for recommendations on renting a van or hiring guides with a large van or bus to get us around while visiting each island. We do not want to book through the cruise. Any suggestions as to how to tour as a group in one vehicle? 

[steviem1]

We are a family of 9 adults traveling on the Pride of America at Xmas. Want to know how other families found transportation on each island? Did you hire a private guide with van to transport the group or rent several cars? If so please share how to do this. 

[Kp125]

The ports are pretty close to all the airports which have Avis,Hertz and all the usual suspects. I would take the road to Hana on Maui. It’s not pleasant driving on your own. Parking can be an issue at the ports

[dexddd]

I was thinking this was a question of to go or not because POA high to start but xmas even more.

 

I see nine adults.  We've done with kids but even my old butx surfed there.  The sub is fun too.  Look at Smith's luau.

[CruisnDeb]

@steviem1 when I cruised on the Pride of America, I got our car rentals on all the islands through Discount Hawaii Car Rentals.  The biggest benefit for DHCR is you don't pay until you pick your car up (or at least that was the policy back when we rented)--so if you miss a port or change your mind, you won't be out any money.  Prices were reasonable and we really enjoyed the freedom of going where we wanted to go and take side trips on a whim.

 

I was curious, so I did a quick look at your Maui date and it looks like a large van (up to 15 passengers) will run around $540 for the day.  The large van is the only size that will fit your group.  If you rent 2 compact SUV's (up to 5 passengers) it runs under $100 for each vehicle.  If you have 2 people willing to drive, I think 2 SUV's will be much friendlier to your wallets.

[cccole]

We use toplimohawaii.com on Oahu for our extended family.  So much easier than renting cars and besides just transportation they will do tours.  Can't help with other islands, but Scott Dang at Top Limo Hawaii is awesome.  Cherie

[Middleager]

https://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/

1 hour ago, CruisnDeb said:

@steviem1 when I cruised on the Pride of America, I got our car rentals on all the islands through Discount Hawaii Car Rentals.

We've rented with them. We've also checked Costco prices, but in recent rentals, DHC were better.  For most of the prices, they also allow 2 additional drivers no charge.

 

I also enjoyed driving the Road to Hana on Maui.  It was scenic and not too bad to drive, not like Pikes Peak.

[zqvol]

10 hours ago, steviem1 said:

We will be a group of 9 adults on the 12/21 cruise in Hawaii. Looking for recommendations on renting a van or hiring guides with a large van or bus to get us around while visiting each island. We do not want to book through the cruise. Any suggestions as to how to tour as a group in one vehicle? 

Look at the national rental car companies. You should be able to get vans in all your ports and you don’t need a guide, just do some reading to plan.

[BirdTravels]

If you are going to rent a van/suv, rent it now. Christmas is high season in Hawaii and most car rental companies will sell out shortly (all cars, all sizes). You also need to consider that ports like Maui are overnight stops and you will want to venture out at night to go to a luau, so you'll need to make arrangements to park your van/suvs. 

[DCwom]

9 hours ago, steviem1 said:

We are a family of 9 adults traveling on the Pride of America at Xmas. Want to know how other families found transportation on each island? Did you hire a private guide with van to transport the group or rent several cars? If so please share how to do this. 

I think you want to answer the fundamental question of how many adults per vehicle? Will everyone be ok in a big van with one driver? Being prone to motion sickness I always drive, if you have 3 motion sensitive people like me you'll need 3 vehicles, which would also rule out a private tour guide. After you figure that out then its an economic calculation of how many vehicles. Search past threads for rentals ideas, but generally you Uber from the port to the airport and rent there, not difficult. Oahu logistics are probably different assuming you're flying into Honolulu prior to the cruise.

 

BTW kudos for coordinating a vacation for 9 adults, it sounds, well painful...

[Host Kat]

11 hours ago, steviem1 said:

We will be a group of 9 adults on the 12/21 cruise in Hawaii. Looking for recommendations on renting a van or hiring guides with a large van or bus to get us around while visiting each island. We do not want to book through the cruise. Any suggestions as to how to tour as a group in one vehicle? 

 

10 hours ago, steviem1 said:

We are a family of 9 adults traveling on the Pride of America at Xmas. Want to know how other families found transportation on each island? Did you hire a private guide with van to transport the group or rent several cars? If so please share how to do this. 

 

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[DCwom]

20 hours ago, Middleager said:

I also enjoyed driving the Road to Hana on Maui.  It was scenic and not too bad to drive, not like Pikes Peak.

Lots of opinions on the road to Hana, search the forum. I liked it (I drove), my wife hated it (the drive/road not the scenery). Its a demanding drive and stressful, we had no issues, but accidents can and do happen. Our biggest challenge was knowing what to stop and see and what not to, you cannot see everything in 1 trip or you'll be driving back in the dark, which I wouldn't want to do.

[Middleager]

15 minutes ago, DCwom said:

Lots of opinions on the road to Hana, search the forum. I liked it (I drove), my wife hated it (the drive/road not the scenery). Its a demanding drive and stressful, we had no issues, but accidents can and do happen. Our biggest challenge was knowing what to stop and see and what not to, you cannot see everything in 1 trip or you'll be driving back in the dark, which I wouldn't want to do.

There are lots of ways to find out where the suggested stops are.  We did research (you can get audio/video, or books/articles), and chose stopped/hiked many places.  We had a van, and nobody had motion sickness, so it was quite enjoyable for all, including me as the driver.

 

We drove all the way around, including me driving in the dark on the way back.  I was younger with better eyes.  Now I'll probably do differently.

[princeton123211]

5 hours ago, DCwom said:

Our biggest challenge was knowing what to stop and see and what not to, you cannot see everything in 1 trip or you'll be driving back in the dark, which I wouldn't want to do.

Plenty of really wonderful apps like GuideAlong that take all the guesswork out and narrate your ride, including suggestions on where to stop, all the way around. 

[steviem1]

On 8/9/2024 at 8:25 PM, DCwom said:

I think you want to answer the fundamental question of how many adults per vehicle? Will everyone be ok in a big van with one driver? Being prone to motion sickness I always drive, if you have 3 motion sensitive people like me you'll need 3 vehicles, which would also rule out a private tour guide. After you figure that out then its an economic calculation of how many vehicles. Search past threads for rentals ideas, but generally you Uber from the port to the airport and rent there, not difficult. Oahu logistics are probably different assuming you're flying into Honolulu prior to the cruise.

 

BTW kudos for coordinating a vacation for 9 adults, it sounds, well painful...

We have done this several times before. This is our first in Hawaii. Got to make those memories while we are still able to do it. 

[DCwom]

On 8/10/2024 at 8:25 PM, princeton123211 said:

Plenty of really wonderful apps like GuideAlong that take all the guesswork out and narrate your ride, including suggestions on where to stop, all the way around. 

Very good app, we used it and would recommend it, the problem is too many good suggestions, so do a little research to know what are must stops and maybe have a rough timeline to track your progress, we were 1st off the ship and got back at dusk. We made it all the way to the 7 pools, but still skipped a fair amount to stops.