As Hawaii again reaches near-record numbers. Plus unique tricks on Hawaii car rentals.
37 thoughts on “Hawaii Turmoil: When Will Testing Stop, Airline Cancellations, Car Rental Crisis, More”
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel Tips » Hawaii Turmoil: When Will Testing Stop, Airline Cancellations, Car Rental Crisis, More
Does anyone really think Ige will lift the travel restrictions and capacity limits at 60 and 70%?
New variant, coming as the next excuse real soon.
we will be on Maui in November
Thank you for keeping us informed. I read them all. Thank You. MaryAnna
Aloha BOH, My family and I are just finishing up our 11 day vacation to both Oahu and Hawaii and would like to thank you for all the information that you have provided the last couple of months. We traveled from the Bay Area and although there were hoops to jump through, everything went flawless (Covid tested with Hawaiian Air partner, pre-cleared by Hawaiian at SFO, by passing the lines at HNL), and luckily traveled inter-island after 6/15, so no additional Covid test. Although it has been sad seeing that there are still businesses still affected by Covid, our stay has been very memorable, especially since we were finally able to see relatives again.
Mahalo, and please keep providing all that great information!
Hi Eric.
Thank you! We’re glad to hear about your Oahu and Big Island vacation and that things went well. Enjoy the memories.
Aloha.
This is basically information that you have disseminated previously and I feel that the current presentation is sensationalizing the various issues for the purpose of having something to report on in this issue. People do not need to be intimidated into being alarmed about the situation. That is not the kind of helpful or factual reporting which we have learned to rely upon you for.
I just came back from a week in Waikiki last night. I didn’t feel like I experienced any major problems that couldn’t be overcome with a little more patience and less expectation. I had no problems using the link Southwest partnered with for tests and we uploaded no problem and breezed through TSA in the early morning flight, so we were left waiting 2.5 hours early thinking there would be long lines and traffic. Even leaving Hawaii, we dropped off baggage early, drove off to eat lunch, and got back and went through TSA pre-checked like in 5-10 min. It was the crowds in tourist areas that got me “complaining”. Being with only 50% of workers, and 100% of ready to bust out of here tourists, makes for long lines every where. Plus it was Father’s Day weekend. My saving grace was having a condo rental in Waikiki that included parking and found a friend to rent me her car for a week. It was awful that the resorts charged $51 a day to park too in addition to the already exorbitant car rental fee of some $200 a day…even though I have relatives and friends in the islands, I don’t think I wanna go back until the workers come back…I think it should be better by Fall and Winter.
Thank you for being my go to for updates. We have a trip planned for November and I’m trying to stay cautiously optimistic that things will settle down some by then. Do you have any gut feelings on how the rest of this year will play out?
Hi Dawn.
Thanks. Things should slow down for fall we think. Then the holidays will pick up again.
Aloha.
We had a vacation in Maui postponed 3 times and want to come in October. We have been vaccinated for this trip but now we need a Covid test and here in NJ it is $250 each but we have to travel to New York to get the test. We lived in Maui for 5 years. We were going back to visit friends we made over those years but it is almost impossible to meet the requirements Hawaii wants since the test center can not guarantee getting the results back so that we would arrive in the 72 hour. It seems useless for us to conform to Hawaiian rules.
I REALLY wanted to visit Hawaii once more before I die…..(plus use some of my Hawaiian Frequent Flyer miles)…..BUT….dealing with their goofy draconian “rules”…is just too much. Unless things change, count me out.
I wouldn’t call the rules draconian, they were put in place to save lives and not overwhelm a medical infrastructure that is limited. Without the rules your wish to see Hawaii one more time b4 you die could be a self profiling prophecy. (I’m joking)
The issue imo is how Hawaii through out the pandemic was clear as mud on their rules, and when they would be opening etc. Look at the rules right now, 100% capacity for hotels but 50% for restaurants. If mask mandate for outside has ended, and they are close to eliminating testing why not increase restaurants to 75%?
I have a trip booked for late Oct/Nov and the biggest contention between my family and friends who are coming is car rental.
Some my family is thinking they’d rather stay in the resort than pay that much for multiple cars as there will be around 5-8 of us depending on how things go. That and vaccine testing. If things get messed up your whole vacation can be ruined through no fault of your own. That’s a bit too risky and anxiety filled to be a relaxing and unwinding vacay.