My POA april 11-18 trip report :)

I have used this forum so much for research in preparation for my trip. So here is my trip report. I will not have any pictures because I am terrible at taking pictures :) This trip report will mainly highlight our mistakes :) We traveled as a family of 4. We are in our 40's, 1 son (14) and 1 daughter (11). We considered ourselves pretty well traveled. We have been to more than 15 countries.

Day 1: We departed from SJC (San Jose, CA) @ 9am with Hawaiian Airline. Everything went smoothly, we landed in Honolulu around 11am. We got our luggages and took a cab to Pier 2 to board the POA around 12pm. Taxi cost $27. Check in went very smoothly, however, we did not get our room until 3:30pm.

Day 2: We arrived in Maui around 8am. Because we stayed in Maui before, we did not leave the ship until 930am. We booked Budget rental car thru Discount Hawaiicarrental. Everything went very smoothly. Loved Budget. We did Road to Hana. However, half way there, my children's whininess caused my husband to turn around. We got to see a few water falls and a botanical garden.

Day3: We booked a snorkeling trip to Molokini and Turtle Cove with Pacific Whale Foundation. POA used the same company for their excursion. Thru Discount Hawaiian we only paid $77/ adult. We saw a few fish. Molokini was not very good. We had done the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, so Molokini was somewhat of a disappointment.

Day4 (Hilo): We only planned for the Volcano national park. So we booked a car with Dollars. The drive to the Volcano was pretty simple, but Hilo rained a lot.

Day 5 (Kona): We got a car with Enterprise. Tendering was simple. We had to go to Hollywood theater to get our tendering tickets. From there we took the stair down to level 3. We were able to bypass a few people who took the stair midship. Once in the peer, we crossed the street to the big banyan tree and called Enterprise. They picked us up right away. Loved Enterprise.

We went to the Seahorse farm. They only have tour at 10am, 12pm and 2pm for self drive people like us. For tour ship people, they got their own tour. After the Seahorse farm, we visited Captain Cook monument and a Coffee farm.

Day 6 (Kauai): our ship did not get to port until 9am. We booked a car with Dollars and they only had pick up every 2 hours. We waited by the fence for an hour, and people got pretty angry at Dollar and Thrifty. All the other rental car shuttles came and went. At 10am, Dollar shuttle showed up and we all jammed in that shuttle. We were explained that shuttle was only available at 8am, 10am and so on. We got our car and went to Waimea Canyon and Allerton Garden. We keep our car overnight, so we had to park it near the ABC store near the port. Compared to Maui, fewer people actually kept their car overnight.

Day7 (Kauai) We drove to the North and visited the light house. We got there around 8 am and the park would open at 10 am, we decided to turn around and visit a Costco. We got a lot of gifts from Costco with very reasonable prices.

Day8 (honolulu) We made another mistake of booking a car with Dollars again. We got off the ship at 845am. Called Dollars and told that they only had pick up at 830 and 10am. We and another couple were left at the peer to be picked up by Dollar Waikiki.

After getting the car, we drove to Dole Plantation, and Pearl Harbor. We prebooked the tour for Arizona Memorial, so everything went very smoothly. After that we checked in Luana Waikiki. There is a $35 parking fee at Luana.

Luana also charged $15 for housekeeping but it was worth it. They had free wifi, free bike rental, free towels, free beach chair and free video and game rentals. There was a mini- fridge in the unit. There were also a coffee maker, cups, plate and utensils. Loved Luana.

Day9 (flying back to sjc): We drove ourselves 2 hours before departing time to the airport. Once we got to car return, we could not find Dollar. After asking around, we found out that Dollar return was on Nimitz ave. We had to get on the freeway, missed the exit one time and got to Dollar. The return was done quickly, but it took a while to catch a shuttle back to the airport. We got there 1215pm and our flight was at 1:15pm. We asked a few agent to let us bypass but were told to get to the end of the line. 30 minutes later we went thru security, ran to our gate and got there at 12:55pm to see our plane 's door had been closed. We basically missed our flight. We turned around and saw at least 10 of us missed it. We talked to an agent and were able to book the next flight to SFO. We ran our gate quickly and got our seats.

Hawaiian airline is very good, but I realized that they closed their door 20 minutes before departing time ( our flight to sfo closed its door at 1:35pm for a 1:55 departure). Honolulu airport on Sunday afternoon was very crowded. It took a lot of walking to go from security gate to agriculture to our gate.

After all, this is our first time missing a flight, but we were very fortunate to get a flight back to sfo. After all, I don't think I will ever book a car with Dollars and Thrifty again.

After all, we had a good time. Thanks for reading

Sorry about your missteps, but glad you had a good time in a Hawaii! Thanks for sharing your trip report with us!

If anybody has any questions, I will try my best to answer. My children loved the entertainment on the ship especially the magician Charles Bach.

Thanks for your review we're heading out tomorrow to Honolulu for our cruise on Saturday. I hope the magician is still on board I like a good magic show.

I'm jealous you made it to Molokini at all. We were there the week prior and it was too windy so we had to go to a different site. It wasn't a very impressive site... Even compared to snorkeling off the beach in certain places on Oahu. I still want to try again for Molokini another trip.

~Katy

I did not regret that I did Molokini, but I would never do it again. The corals and fish were nothing like the pictures that I saw online. I am sorry that you missed it, however, it could be an excuse to go back to Maui in the future :)

Thanks for your review!! It must have been so nerve wracking missing your flight! Glad you had a great cruise!!

One question- what time did you book Pearl Harbor and how long did it take you to get there from the ship? Thanks!!

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I booked my tour at 2pm. We did not go directly from the ship to Pearl Harbor. We got our car in Waikiki, drove to Dole Plantation then to Pearl Harbor. From Dole Plantation, it should take 20 minutes to Pearl Harbor if there were no traffic. It actually took us 1 hour because there were constructions on both 99 and H1. There were also fender bender accidents on both 99 and H1. Honolulu traffic is pretty bad. From google map, it should take 15 minutes to go from Pier 2 to Pearl Harbor, but you should definitely allow some cushion for traffic. I am from the Bay area so I am used to bad traffic. Honolulu does have bad traffic :)

Thanks for your trip report! We are looking forward to our cruise next month. My DH would flip out if we missed our flight lol. Of course I'm sure we will be at the airport about 6 hours before our night flight, since our Pearl Harbor tour through NCL after the cruise ends around 3!!!

I booked my tour at 2pm. We did not go directly from the ship to Pearl Harbor. We got our car in Waikiki, drove to Dole Plantation then to Pearl Harbor. From Dole Plantation, it should take 20 minutes to Pearl Harbor if there were no traffic. It actually took us 1 hour because there were constructions on both 99 and H1. There were also fender bender accidents on both 99 and H1. Honolulu traffic is pretty bad. From google map, it should take 15 minutes to go from Pier 2 to Pearl Harbor, but you should definitely allow some cushion for traffic. I am from the Bay area so I am used to bad traffic. Honolulu does have bad traffic :)

Thanks so much!!!

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Thank you for your post! We are sailing on 8/1/15. We have discussed the pros and cons of keeping a rental car overnight on the islands ( we are staying for 3 nights in Oahu post cruise) What are your thoughts? And what is the parking situation on Maui if you do keep the car? I guess you can't do it in Kauai because of the 2 ports. :D

Candy

Thank you for your post! We are sailing on 8/1/15. We have discussed the pros and cons of keeping a rental car overnight on the islands ( we are staying for 3 nights in Oahu post cruise) What are your thoughts? And what is the parking situation on Maui if you do keep the car? I guess you can't do it in Kauai because of the 2 ports. :D

Candy

What 2 ports are you talking about? Nawiliwili Kuaui has an overnight. You don't leave until 2pm the next day.

Sorry, my bad. I meant Kona and Hilo on the big island.

Sorry, my bad. I meant Kona and Hilo on the big island.

You can rent a car for a day on Hilo and on Kona. There are lots of great places within driving distance.

Can you give me some feedback about keeping the rental car in Maui and Kawai, as far as parking location and cost? Or, is it better to turn your car in, and get it and turn it in overnight. We are thinking about a snorkeling excursion to Molokini one day. 😀

Candy

Can you give me some feedback about keeping the rental car in Maui and Kawai, as far as parking location and cost? Or, is it better to turn your car in, and get it and turn it in overnight. We are thinking about a snorkeling excursion to Molokini one day. 😀

Candy

In Maui there is a free lot designated for cruise ship parking a short walk from the ship. In Kauai you can park at anchor cove overnight for $20 and you have to move the car I believe by 8am. There is a short walk or a free shuttle from anchor cove to the ship. We paid for the parking but others chose to turn their cars in. The second day in Kauai is shorter, so some people only rent for one day there.

~Katy

That is just what I needed to know. Thank you so much!

Candy

In Maui there is a free lot designated for cruise ship parking a short walk from the ship. In Kauai you can park at anchor cove overnight for $20 and you have to move the car I believe by 8am. There is a short walk or a free shuttle from anchor cove to the ship. We paid for the parking but others chose to turn their cars in. The second day in Kauai is shorter, so some people only rent for one day there.

 

~Katy

We rented a car everyday. In Maui, parking was free in the designated area. In Kauai, we had to pay. A lot of people only had their cars for 1 day in Kauai. For Kona, a lot of people did not rent a car. For Oahu, we got a car, but parking in Honolulu was expensive. Our hotel charged $28/day.

Thanks for posting a trip report. I am looking at Luana for our precruise hotel. I am arriving on New Years Eve with my two children (11 and 14), I'm wondering if you think it would be a good location for us for New Years Eve. My husband and two older children are joining us the following day for one night. Any advice would be very much appreciated!

I don't think there is a single bad place for new years eve on this island. Despite a fireworks ban (other than official professional fireworks displays), this year (and other years before I hear but I wasn't here) the entire island lit up with fireworks at midnight for a good half hour at least. I got to see it from pearl harbor and my whole drive home just after midnight was with fireworks going off all around and floating lanterns floating by above me. I've never seen anything like it. So basically... Outside. Waikiki beach will likely be crowded but they have a big fireworks display.

~Katy

Thanks so much Katy. As we are flying in that day from New Zealand I'm not sure how enthusiastic the kids will be about going down to the beach. I'm thinking an ocean view room at the Luana might do the trick. I hate to hijack this post but does anyone have any thoughts on whether Embassy Suites would be much better (it's quite a bit more expensive but would spend the money if really worth it).