When did you last take Uber from LIH? In my last three, post Covid Hawaii cruises, Uber/Lyft has neigh on impossible to get at Nawiliwili. One of the cruises we hadn't planned to do anything on Kauai, but my father decided he wanted to go to Walmart to buy some more supplies he needed. When we got down to the taxi stand area, the line was an hour or more and zero Ubers responded to my request. Luckily there were neighbors of my father's on the same cruise already in line and they were heading to Walmart too.
To get back I grabbed a driver as they were dropping someone off, who turned out to be a licensed tour operator and Uber driver. Seeing my elderly father, she took pity on us and drove us back to Nawiliwili before picking up her pre-arranged group. She explained how few Uber drivers there were on the island and how few licensed cabs, post Covid.
That was an April 2023 cruise and when I went back in Oct 2023, it didn't seem things had improved, but I had rented a car from Avis that trip so we could go to Hanapepe and Poʻipū.