I'm "crazed" from this cruise planning! Help!

[bobbymcgee]

When I call the rental car places what should I be asking? If they have a shuttle that picks up and drops off from the pier? I need a van in Hilo.Do I need closest rental car place or are they all about the same distance?

mb

[spleen93]

The car rental places in Hilo are located at Hilo airport, I believe. Thus, they're all about the same in terms of distance. The main thing of course is whether they offer pick up and drop off back at the pier ...

Spleen

<a href="http://www.escati.com/counter98/free_time_codes.htm">
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/logos/time98.gif[/img]</a>
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2004;6;9;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]  until RSSC Navigator - Canada - 6/04

Carnival Conquest - W. Caribbean - 10/03, Celebrity Infinity - Alaska - 6/03, Ocean Princess - Alaska - 7/02

[GloriaF]

I have recent personal experience with this. Call Hertz for Hilo. If you are a AAA member, you get a discount. Budget does not come inside the gate at Hilo, and it took over an hour for them to come. We did, However, get a Ford Focus for $28 from Budget -- but it was a hassle. My advice: go with Hertz, they were always at the ports.

My experience: I went to [url="http://www.carrentalshawaii.com"]www.carrentalshawaii.com[/url] and filled out a form with info on memberships I have and when/where I needed rental cars. They emailed a code and phone number. Read my review on this board for more info on rental cars. Double check with the LOCAL office about pickups.

Good Luck!! Having a car was great!

Gloria

Grand Princess, Eastern, April 2001
Grand Princess, Western,April 2002
Regal to Hawaii, April 5-20, 2004

[Murphy]

We just returned from our May 7-18 cruise (review to be posted later).

Hilo was one of the easiest ports to get a car. The Alamo rep was waiting with a list of passengers who had reservations and a list of cars and prices of available cars. He directed us to the shuttle and we took off. The security at the port is the most lax of anywhere we stopped. You are allowed to bring the rental car back into the port passed the security gate to pick up any people you are traveling with. It was about a 10min ride to the airport to pick up the car. Easy to find. Alamo had a 1/2 tank prepay option for gas if you want it, but there is a gas station right before the airport entrance, so I used that. I think the Alamo rate was 2.09 p/gal and I paid $2.13, but only paid for what we used, not for a 1/2 tank. We had an SUV and barely used more than a 1/4 tank of the 20 gallon tank.


Kona was our only port we had trouble with the rental car pick up. Almost all rental agencies will pick up at the pier, but you need to know what name is on the shuttle bus! The Alamo Shuttle only said Alamo on it,but also picks up the National rentals. The couple waiting with us used Dollar (I think) and only after the Thrifty shuttle left did they find out the Thrifty shuttle also picks up Dollar customers.

We were on the first tender after the excursions were cleared. We got on the tender at approx 8:00am. I called Alamo from the tender and they said they would send the shuttle immediately. You wait for the shuttles at the Banyan tree after you leave the secured port area. At 8:45, none of the rental shuttles had arrived yet. About 8:55am, they started rolling in, but as stated earlier, make sure you know what companies name is on the bus!

7 previous cruises, Hawaii on Legend scheduled May 2004, and Enchantment Oct 2004