Car rental post cruise

[Giantfan13]

Our flight leaves at 4:30 on the day we disembark. Does it pay to rent a car after leaving the ship for a few hours and then returning it to the airport?. Are there car rental places anywhere near the dock, or does anyone have a shuttle to pick you up there??. Also, is there usually an additional charge if you drop it off at the airport??. We just thought that with taking a cab to the airport and storing our luggage, renting a car would be cheaper, more convenient and we can still do some extra sight seeing. I've read some of the older threads about renting in Oahu, but I've seen several conflicting stories. Thanks for any help.

[lambs2]

Thrifty has a shuttle that will pick you up at the dock area and then you can return the car to their location near the airport and they shuttle you to your gate. We had a later flight out (10 pm), so that strongly influenced our decision, but you would have time to see a number of sights before you would need to return the car to catch your flight. Just use the express checkout, take your own bags off the ship, and catch a rental car shuttle as early as you can.

[Giantfan13]

Thanks so much Lambs. Do you know how early the shuttle could pick you up??. And one more question, if you can help. We are on the Aug 28 cruise and will return to Oahu on Labor Day, Sep4. Will THAT influence anything??. Are rental companies, like Thrifty, open on Labor Day??

[lambs2]

I believe that they will be there within 15 minutes of calling them. We were not in the early group leaving the ship because we preferred to wait for the first rush to be over. We took our own luggage off and it was very easy and hardly any wait for an elevator and no wait for disembarking from the ship. Make sure you get the local telephone number for the rental car company you are using in Oahu, rather than just the 1-800 number that would have to be routed to them and would take longer. We called right before we left the ship and only had about a 10 minute wit in the little park across from Aloha Towers before the Thrifty van showed up. The Thrifty telephone number for their airport location in Oahu which we used is: 877-283-0898. I had a local number for every island we were renting from.

[DMRick]

If you rent from the airport, can you return it to the airport and catch a shuttle to the dock?

[lambs2]

I did not do this, but call Thrifty in Honolulu at: 877-283-0898 and ask that question. Seems like I read on this boards that someone had done this through Thrifty but I personally do not know the answer.