Hawaii vacation demand is strong. Yet big concerns remain about rules, health, safety, and lost travel dollars.
144 thoughts on “Hawaii Travel Upended By Concerns And Cancellations Amid Latest COVID Surge”
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel Tips » Hawaii Travel Upended By Concerns And Cancellations Amid Latest COVID Surge
Aloha All,
What I don’t understand is if you are completely vaccinated your chances of overloading our hospitals, which they are, is almost nil barring an unscheduled trip to the hospital(accident for instance) totally unrelated to covid. I think that is a risk the unvaccinated are causing anywhere in the US. I don’t get our Gov sometimes.
It is too bad because September and the first half of Oct are the best months for visiting Hawaii IMO.
You are absolutely right. I think that the danger is that if I DO happen to have an accident that there won’t be hospital space for me. At least that’s my biggest concern about travel period, and Hawaii in particular right now. We are seeing stories all over the US now of people dying because they weren’t able to get a bed for something that normally they had a very good chance of surviving. Personally, we just recently returned from a week in the Big Island, and it was wonderful. But, with the increased hospitalization rates there, I don’t think I would go if I had a trip scheduled for, say Sept. or Oct. Dec is still, in my opinion, a possibility. I wouldn’t make that decision yet and see how things go before I cancelled a Dec. trip. khou.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/texas-veteran-dies-from-gallstone-pancreatitis-as-covid-crisis-impacts-those-who-dont-have-virus/285-44cc982f-bba0-43e5-b51f-bbb607ad45fc
Mahalo, We had all of our reservations set and due to arrive Sept.2 but we decided again for the third time canceling even though we have both been vaccinated that it was best for us
And hopefully we can visit again in March or April to the beautiful island of oahu north shore we absolutely love it there and appreciate all the information you give us. Thanks Terry
Cancelled our trip after moving it 3 previous times. Confusion regarding Ige’s comments and uncertainty with new travels restrictions was just too much. Booked and vacationing elsewhere. Will not reschedule and will avoid Hawaii / Maui for foreseeable future. Was able to cancel without losing money.
As always, the timely updates from BOH on the current state of Hawaii are very valuable.
After rescheduling twice, we finally canceled our anniversary celebration trip.
To answer the BOH question: We hope to book a trip for 2025 (40th Wedding Anniv), assuming the uncertainty and craziness has changed by then. However, it will take several months of demonstrated stability in policy for use to feel comfortable booking. And, we have decided that if the travel restrictions, mask mandates, vaccine passports, etc. still exist, we will probably never visit Hawaii.
Hello,
I am scheduled for a December 14th through December 27th trip to Maui. I’ll be staying with family. I am fully vaccinated & on December 2nd I will have the booster. My question is, Do I wait to upload info on Safe Travels program after my booster on 12/2 or do I upload current info & can I add the booster info at a later time?
Thank you so very much for all your input these past 4 years I’ve followed you.
Richard
Hi Richard.
It isn’t clear yet how boosters will be implemented in the Safe Travels program. Thanks for your nice words and comments.
Aloha.
I’m on the board of a small organization that has had a meeting in Hawaii every other year in January for many, many years. We’ve never missed one. Our next meeting is January 9-11, 2022. I haven’t signed the contract yet because – if we don’t have the event we won’t go out of business but if we have it and anything happens that costs us a significant amount of money, we will be in big trouble. We can’t get any kind of event insurance for Covid-related losses and we’ve already moved the location from the Big Island to Oahu because we were worried about the rental car situation. Figured we had options on Oahu and that the Big Island would not be a draw if people couldn’t rent (affordable) cars. Maybe we should just go ahead and book 2024 instead? I don’t know… Mahalo for any insight or advice.
Hi Liz.
We have no sense about your trip and what the circumstances will be in January, here in Hawaii, or anywhere else in the world for that matter. Who thoughts a few months ago we would be where we are today?
As for car rentals, the problems of availability and pricing are largely rectifying themselves at this time. So that probably won’t need to be any determining factor.
Aloha.
Please accept a reply from a Canadian. We are booked to travel to Maui December 27th, then on to Oahu December 31st. We are double vaccinated and our government is working on a Passport ID
We have our fingers crossed.
Had a trip planned for October. Cancelled it with no plans to reschedule. I refuse to “show my papers” so to speak, to go out to eat, on an excursion, etc. And yes, I am fully vaccinated, but I will not give out my personal health information to anyone who asks for it.
I have much more personal information on my driver’s license (name/address/birthdate… even a photo) than I do on my vaccination card (name/what vax I got and when), and I’ve been required to show my license to all sorts of people and places since I first received it as a teenager. I’ve never viewed that requirement as an invasion of my privacy, just proof of who I say I am.
I assume showing a driver’s license is and has been the same experience with you, MD (and millions of other people), so I’m not sure why the vax card would be such a sensitive issue? I fail to see how that information is compromising anything nearly as personal as my driver’s license does. In fact, it seems less informative than my auto insurance card.
I actually greatly appreciate that establishments are making sure they are as safe as possible for their customers/clients by requiring proof of vaccination. As someone who is immunocompromised and takes all the precautions, that additional layer makes me feel almost as protected as my recent booster shot!
We just got home from five nights on Maui and five nights on Kauai. It was amazing! While I don’t encourage anyone to book a fall trip to Hawaii right now, if you have a trip you can’t cancel coming up – let me ease your fears and offer tips that made our trip better.
1. Definitely pre-clear at the airport before your Hawaii flight. When we arrived in Maui, the line was so long.
2. Be patient- we mostly ate at our condo but when we did do a restaurant, they were short staffed and it went so much easier when we were kind and patient. Don’t eat out if you’re going to be rude to the staff or impatient for your food. Just be nice!
3. Plan mostly outdoor activities, we kept excursions to small (under 20 people) groups and outdoors.
4. Lower your expectations – you’re in paradise! Just enjoy.
5. Please obey the rules. When we did the Road to Hana we saw so many people parking in spots with no parking signs. Now more than ever – obey the rules and be respectful. You’re a guest!
6. Ease your anxiety- everything will be okay. 🙂
Emily, from this Kauai resident, MAHALO!!!
Right on.
What a nice comment, Emily. Mahalo for the information.
BOH, thank you for another great article.
Aloha Jeff and Rob. Thanks for your continuous updates for Hawaii travel. Do you have a recommendation for a company that sells “cancel for any reason” trip insurance? I’m not sure where to start. Mahalo.
Hi Pam.
We have used Insure My Trip for years and years when trip insurance is called for. They are an agency and represent a wide range of companies. As for insurance coverage, as you are surely aware, it is incumbent on the buyer to read the clauses in excruciating detail. Otherwise, you may have nothing to fall back on. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Aloha.