Hula Planet:What To Do In Hawaii

Cruise Ship at Nawiliwili Harbor I recently received the following question from a reader who’ll be on a cruise around the Hawaiian islands: We are planning a trip this September to the islands. We will be on a NCL cruise. Do you have any suggestions or pointers about car rentals at the various ports? Are there shuttles that provide transportation to the car rentals from the ports? Is there anything to do within walking distance of the ports? The ports are… Kahului, Hilo, Kona, and Nawiliwili Thanks in advance for any info Colleen You can rent cars at each port, though some ports have more options than others. The cruise ship ports that are near airports have the most options – those would be: Kahului, Maui with airport code OGG Hilo, Big Island with airport code ITO Nawiliwili, Kauai with airport code LIH Honolulu Harbor, Oahu with airport code HNL Other ports may not have as many options, but you can still find convenient locations for renting a car. The ports that are not in close proximity to an airport are: Lahaina, Maui – Several major rental car companies have rental car locations in Lahaina and offer free shuttle service from Lahaina harbor. Kona, Big Island – Thrifty has a rental location at the King Kamehameha Hotel at the end of the pier. Rental car shuttle buses are available at the major Hawaii ports. You might want to consider getting ahead of the crowd and hoping into a cab as I mentioned in this timesaver tip . I definitely recommend reserving a rental car well before your cruise. Rental cars can be scarce in Hawaii, as I’ve previously reported . Plus some of the ports will have a limited inventory. One rental car discounter that I’ve personally used is DiscountHawaiiCarRental.com. They have a webpage specifically dedicated for Hawaii cruise ship passengers with their negotiated rates. You can see that page here . Now that we’ve gotten the logistics of renting a car covered, let’s look at Colleen’s other question — “Is there anything to do within walking distance of the ports?” That is a very good question and the answer is that there’s not much to do at the ports except for shopping. In some locations, there’s not really even much shopping. My advice is to get out and see Hawaii’s natural beauty. I’ve written a series on posts on what to see and do with only one day on each Hawaiian island that’s useful for cruisers to adapt to their interests and available time. Do you have additional advice to help Colleen and other Hawaii cruisers with their rental car planning? © Go Visit Hawaii – Republication of this entire post is prohibited without prior permission. Using extracts of less than 100 words are permitted with full attribution and link back to GoVisitHawaii.com .

Read more from the original source:
Go Visit Hawaii