Question on Rental Cars in Hawaii

[Hawaiian Mongoose]

We will be taking the Pride of Aloha in December. We took the Wind in 2005 and I remember that getting from the port to a rental car was sometimes easy, sometimes a challenge. Do any of the car rental companies have shuttles that now meet the ships in Hilo, Kona, Nawiliwili, or Kahului? If so what companies? Mahalo in advance.

[Porterhouse248]

We will be taking the Pride of Aloha in December. We took the Wind in 2005 and I remember that getting from the port to a rental car was sometimes easy, sometimes a challenge. Do any of the car rental companies have shuttles that now meet the ships in Hilo, Kona, Nawiliwili, or Kahului? If so what companies? Mahalo in advance.

I suggest you surf on over to the Hawaii section of the message board and check out some of the posts over there...many devoted to the rental car topic. I used Thrifty in Maui and Kauai and it worked well, but there are other companies that shuttle you from the pier.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

We will be taking the Pride of Aloha in December. We took the Wind in 2005 and I remember that getting from the port to a rental car was sometimes easy, sometimes a challenge. Do any of the car rental companies have shuttles that now meet the ships in Hilo, Kona, Nawiliwili, or Kahului? If so what companies? Mahalo in advance.

Most of the car rental companies shuttle you to their nearest location. I have Thrifty (Blue Chip) in Maui & Kauai locations. The only place I've read about difficulty is the Oahu port. Do a search on Hawaii ports or scroll further down or to another page. Lots of comments on these threads.

 

I suggest you surf on over to the Hawaii section of the message board and check out some of the posts over there...many devoted to the rental car topic. I used Thrifty in Maui and Kauai and it worked well, but there are other companies that shuttle you from the pier.

Not sure what you mean by checking out the Hawaii board. This is the Hawaii board as far as I can tell. It says Hawaii port of call at the top and Hawaii next to my posts when I do a search for my postings.

[Hawaiian Mongoose]

I was unaware of the Hawaii boards. Thanks to all.

[AZ Karaoke Girl]

I suggest you surf on over to the Hawaii section of the message board and check out some of the posts over there...many devoted to the rental car topic. I used Thrifty in Maui and Kauai and it worked well, but there are other companies that shuttle you from the pier.

Still confused about your post......what other Hawaii board is there? I only see this one where your message shows. Am I missing something here? If there is another Hawaii section of the message board, I'd like to know where cuz I'm probably missing something.:confused:

[beachchick]

Still confused about your post......what other Hawaii board is there? I only see this one where your message shows. Am I missing something here? If there is another Hawaii section of the message board, I'd like to know where cuz I'm probably missing something.:confused:

 

This thread may well have been originally posted on the NCL forum and then was moved by the mods to the Hawaii forum. That's the most logical probability; there is no other Hawaii forum on CC.

 

beachchick

[IMCSICK]

There were shuttles available at all the ports from Budget, Alamo/National, and Thrifty. Alamo seemed to have the longest lines but usually had some type of Quicksilver service available to speed things along (well as quick as it gets in Hawaii, anyway :) ). For Oahu, we found out after-the-fact that Alamo only drops off precruise from the Waikiki location, not the airport. My husband had to leave us at the terminal, turn the car in at the airport, and then just hopped on a city bus (we had lots of time before sailing and he is familiar with the public transit system), and joined us onboard. Postcruise was no problem as Alamo had shuttles from both locations.

 

A word of warning -- you will never see cars as dirty and beat up as you will in Hawaii. It seems to be the same with every island and every car rental company, so just find one that has lots of air in the tires and fits your family comfortably and go have fun!

[lambs2]

A word of warning -- you will never see cars as dirty and beat up as you will in Hawaii. It seems to be the same with every island and every car rental company, so just find one that has lots of air in the tires and fits your family comfortably and go have fun!

 

 

This was definitely not our experience last June using Thrifty. All four of the cars we rented from them were brand new looking and clean. We even got free upgrades at two of the ports!

[Nancyquilts]

Our best car was at Kona from the King Kam through Dollar - clean and pretty new. But we've never had any complaints about any of them. Nancy

[bjbdlb]

We are just back from the Wind, and had no problem renting cars at any of the islands, excluding Fanning of course. Make reservations in advance. We used priceline and got good rates everywhere.

 

The only issue we had was when we disembarked in Honolulu. We had reservations through National, but for airport pickup. (Unfortunately we flew home that night.) At the pier, we found out that National refused to pickup and deliver to the airport location, they would only go to the Waikiki location. We were told to take a cab. Luckily, Budget was willing to take us to the airport, and gave us a great rate on the spot.

 

We were very happy with cars from Dollar, Enterprise and National, but due to our Honolulu experience we will never rent from National again.

[ROCruiser]

We rented from Thrifty in Kauai, Budget in Hilo, and Alamo in Maui. Blue Chip helped for Thrifty. It was a mob scene in Hilo for all the shuttles. Everyone tried to get on the shuttles and we almost missed ours because the shuttle couldn't get near the crowd. Here (Hilo), Thrifty's shuttle only let the drivers on because of the number of people there. Not too many rented from Budget, so all 8 of us were able to get on.

[kwcrnp]

ROcruiser-

 

Did you like Budget? I have Budget booked at most ports since it was less then Thrifty. I don't see anyone posting positive or negative things about Budget.....now I'm getting nervous. :o

 

Kristi

[Nancyquilts]

We've never had any trouble with any rental car company in Hawaii. I don't think you should have a problem at all. Nancy

[DebraDot]

We rented from Thrifty in Kauai, Budget in Hilo, and Alamo in Maui. Blue Chip helped for Thrifty. It was a mob scene in Hilo for all the shuttles. Everyone tried to get on the shuttles and we almost missed ours because the shuttle couldn't get near the crowd. Here (Hilo), Thrifty's shuttle only let the drivers on because of the number of people there. Not too many rented from Budget, so all 8 of us were able to get on.

 

I'm curious if the rentals in Kauai and Maui went well. I would like to avoid the crowds if possible.

[ROCruiser]

Kristi,

 

Budget was fine, don't worry about it. The shuttle took us to Hilo Airport and the counters were just across from the airport. It took a while to get our car because their computer went down on that day. They couldn't give us the actual amount that was charged even when we returned the car. When we returned the car they called the shuttle to come pick us up so we had to wait a little bit for that. As I mentioned, just need to watch for your shuttle when it drives up to the pier. Since the shuttles were double-parked in front of the crowd, we almost missed it. The driver almost drove away with only two people on.

 

DebraDot,

Thrifty in Kauai took the longest, because there were so many people there in that tiny office. I'd say we waited for about 30minutes outside the building. DH was able to get to the front of the line because of Blue Chip but I don't what held them up. When returning the car on the same night, a shuttle was already there to take us back to the pier. We got upgraded to a Chrysler 300 for $10 more.

 

Alamo in Maui was fine too. Big office so there seemed not to be too crowded when we were there. Friendly staff. We upgraded to a full-size, but it wasn't like the 300. My niece left her camera bag in the office, and didn't realize it until we got to Iao Needle. We called Alamo and sure enough they had it and kept it until we went back to pick it up. There were a lot of people there when we returned the car on the second day, most people were waiting for the shuttle to the airport. We waited for the shuttle back to the pier at the street corner.

[DebraDot]

Thank you, ROCruiser, for the info. That helps me to decide what company to use.

[seube/stevens]

I just returned from our great vacation yesterday morning. Still trying to get back to normal. We used Thrifty for all of our rentals. Thanks to the great posts on this site, I signed up for Blue Chip. I would highly recommend doing this. We didn't have any problems with lines, and the return process was very easy. It really couldn't have gone better.

[Desert Cruizers]

I just returned from our great vacation yesterday morning. Still trying to get back to normal. We used Thrifty for all of our rentals. Thanks to the great posts on this site, I signed up for Blue Chip. I would highly recommend doing this. We didn't have any problems with lines, and the return process was very easy. It really couldn't have gone better.

Taking note of the Rental Car threads, We have a Cruise to the Islands Oct 2008 and know we will need one for Lahaina and Honolulu. Hilo= 9 hrs, Kona = 8 hrs. Thought of taking our car on Cruise then we have it, but not sure they will let us <G>

[Nancyquilts]

Taking note of the Rental Car threads, We have a Cruise to the Islands Oct 2008 and know we will need one for Lahaina and Honolulu. Hilo= 9 hrs, Kona = 8 hrs. Thought of taking our car on Cruise then we have it, but not sure they will let us <G>

 

Lol. Unless your cabin is quite a bit larger than any of ours, I'm not sure where the car would fit. And how you would get it down the hallways - or in the elevator -

Now I'm going to dream of that all night. Nancy

[Desert Cruizers]

Lol. Unless your cabin is quite a bit larger than any of ours, I'm not sure where the car would fit. And how you would get it down the hallways - or in the elevator -

Now I'm going to dream of that all night. Nancy

Oh I would leave it down below, then they could Tender it over for us or we could drive it off in Honolulu LOL. On 2nd thought wonder what they would charge, probably cheaper to rent.

[CUPOLA]

I tried to reserve a car from Thrifty last night but was told they do not shuttle from the port at Lahaina to the airport. I was told I would have to get to the airport on my own.:confused: Are there any car rental dealerships that do shuttle to the airport from the port at Lahaina? If so who do you all reccomend? Thanks for your help. We are going to Hawaii in October and I can't wait!!

 

Captain Jackie Sparrow of the Poi Deploy!!:D

[Desert Cruizers]

I tried to reserve a car from Thrifty last night but was told they do not shuttle from the port at Lahaina to the airport. I was told I would have to get to the airport on my own.:confused: Are there any car rental dealerships that do shuttle to the airport from the port at Lahaina? If so who do you all reccomend? Thanks for your help. We are going to Hawaii in October and I can't wait!!

 

Captain Jackie Sparrow of the Poi Deploy!!:D

I am checking cars also but we sail 1 year from Oct on the Radiance and Dollar was 4.5 miles something up the road and offer shuttles. I got a quote via their web site for a Mini Van $ 70. Pick up 1st day 9 to 10 drop off by noon next day. Trouble is you really need to talk with someone regarding where you can leave car, regardless who you go with.

[beachchick]

I tried to reserve a car from Thrifty last night but was told they do not shuttle from the port at Lahaina to the airport. I was told I would have to get to the airport on my own.:confused: Are there any car rental dealerships that do shuttle to the airport from the port at Lahaina? If so who do you all reccomend? Thanks for your help. We are going to Hawaii in October and I can't wait!!

 

Captain Jackie Sparrow of the Poi Deploy!!:D

 

I just want to make sure that you are trying to reserve from the correct location. You are using the West Maui Airport (Kapalua) location? The designator is JHM. I'm not sure if Thrifty has a location on the west side, but most of the companies do. That is the location you must use if you are tendered at Lahaina.

 

If you are trying to reserve at the Kahului (OGG) location, you will need to switch. None of the car rental companies shuttle from Kahului to Lahaina because it is almost an hour across the island and is cost-prohibitive in terms of personnel, fuel, and time. (Plus, you'd spend close to 3 hours just getting to and from the rental location--and you don't want to waste your day doing that.)

 

If you're already using the JHM location and Thrifty doesn't shuttle from there to the pier, then you'll either have to take a taxi or go with another company that does shuttle from their west-side location to the Lahaina tender pier.

 

beachchick

[Desert Cruizers]

I just want to make sure that you are trying to reserve from the correct location. You are using the West Maui Airport (Kapalua) location? The designator is JHM. I'm not sure if Thrifty has a location on the west side, but most of the companies do. That is the location you must use if you are tendered at Lahaina.

 

If you are trying to reserve at the Kahului (OGG) location, you will need to switch. None of the car rental companies shuttle from Kahului to Lahaina because it is almost an hour across the island and is cost-prohibitive in terms of personnel, fuel, and time. (Plus, you'd spend close to 3 hours just getting to and from the rental location--and you don't want to waste your day doing that.)

 

If you're already using the JHM location and Thrifty doesn't shuttle from there to the pier, then you'll either have to take a taxi or go with another company that does shuttle from their west-side location to the Lahaina tender pier.

 

beachchick

I have a question, since our Cruise in a little over a year, Oct 11, 2008 to be exact, we will be in Lahaina, Tendered from 9 AM until 11 PM next Evening. What would you recomend in renting a car, being able to keep it til next day and find a place to park it. Or should we turn it back in and if needed re rent. 1 last question, how many have stayed overnight, off ship in a Hotel.Motel. Thank You

[beachchick]

GWoodman: Aloha. I would recommend renting the car for overnight. Parking can be a bit of a bother for overnight in Lahaina, but I know there are lots (most have a fee, but a couple do not) and I think (not positive) that there's overnight (paid) parking at 505 Front St.

 

Is there a reason you want to stay in a hotel overnight? No problem if you do, of course, but Lahaina is a good location. If you want to avoid tendering, that's another story as I've heard it can be a bother, but we've never tendered at Lahaina and have only seen tenders coming in when we've been on land trips.

 

beachchick