Thrifty-Blue Chip-do I have to call to arrange shuttle?

[cruisin24]

I called to find out all of the hours of the Thrifty locations that we will be getting/returning cars to on our upcoming PofH cruise...I was told that at the Hilo and Kahului location that I need to call 15-30 minutes prior for the shuttle to come and pick me up. They told me the only one that was a constant shuttle was at Lihue airport...but they still wanted a call an hour before arrival to ensure the car was ready to go.

 

Has anyone else that is a Blue Chip member with Thrifty had this experience? I thought the shuttles came automatically to the port to pick up pax to shuttle to car pickup location.

 

Thanks,

Debbie

[PDAZ]

:confused: No -- the shuttle was there when we got off the ship in Kahului and although it wasn't there yet in Hilo, we saw it pulling in as we were leaving in a cab (too many people waiting for the shuttle -- we decided to pay $13 for a cab). The shuttle on Kauai didn't take us to the airport -- they have an offsite location that's closer I guess. Maybe someone called the shuttles, but I thought they did pick up automatically. The shuttle driver in Kahului had a list of customers with reservations so they were certainly expecting us!

[lynneamycruise]

We rented at Thrifty on all the Islands as a Blue Chip Member...for the most part it was very smooth. They know when the ship docks and will send bus after bus....in Maui and Kauai it was a little hectic as there were A LOT of people renting from Thrifty... A tip..send the driver only...its easier to get one person on the bus then two or a family. The driver then can rent the car and come back (a very short drive) back to the pick up the rest of your family.

Thrift always had my paperwork ready and the process was never more than a half an hour.

Warning; The overnite parking in Maui is ver, very tight....you will have to "create-a-spot" as they have very few spots...we were very worried we would be towed..but we were not. Just find a spot that is not a tow-away zone and you should be fine. We got up early for our fabulous catamaran tour and there were cars everywhere...no tickets...

Have fun..it's an awesome trip!!!

[lambs2]

Before we went on our PoAm cruise last June I called Thrifty and got the local telephone numbers at all the ports we were visiting. That way I knew we could get in touch with them concerning the shuttle. The only port at which we had to wait for the shuttle was Kahalui. We had just missed one and had to wait 25-20 minutes for the next shuttle to arrive. I did call the local number on my cell phone to get that info.

We got back late that night to the port after a luau in Kaanapali, but did manage to find a parking spot after driving around a bit.