This isn’t exactly the Hawaii you know from the past. Stay clear of trouble in today’s challenging times.
66 thoughts on “Knowing These Critical Issues May Save Your Hawaii Vacation”
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Aloha and Mahalo for all the information.
We traveled June 17th to June 22nd, to Oahu. We booked our Airbnb and rental car at the end of March. The Airbnb was under $800 for a studio in Waikiki and the rental car was about $440. Glad we got those reservations early.
Airports: We flew from Las Vegas, NV to Honolulu. We flew on a new Southwest Airlines route and didn’t know about the Pre-Clear option at the Las Vegas gate. We sacrificed getting on the plane early to get cleared and so glad we did. After a 3 hour delay (Waiting for clearance on a longer runway (against the air traffic current route) using up taxying fuel, refueling, taking off fuel (too much was loaded) and finally getting clearance for runway 8) we took off and got to Oahu. We are glad we did the Pre-Clear because the line at the airport was very very long. On our return trip, we got to the airport about 2 hours before our flight. The line to check our bags was extremely long and we finally got to our gate with about 10 minutes to spare. I recommend getting there about 3 hours before your flight.
It was nice driving around the island because I did notice the roads being less congested (lack of rental cars).
In Waikiki, we stood in one line for about an hour to get ramen. The other times we ate, we went out away from Waikiki to eat at local places and didn’t have to wait long. About half of the places were take out only. We also ate several meals from our go to place, 7-Eleven. They have some really good hot dishes, Spam musubi and pork hash!
Waikiki seemed a little less congested, but also restaurants/bars closed down early. I think there was a curfew for bars or maybe the demand wasn’t there to justify staying open longer. Several restaurants were closed either permanently or temporarily. 7-Eleven on Beach Walk was closed permanently.
We are planning on going back probably in December
Hi David.
Thanks. We appreciate the report on your recent travel to Honolulu. Glad you can return again later this year.
Aloha.
One thing you can do is eat in or have picnics. Prayfully, things can get better …
I think the problem lies with the mis-management of the whole tourism industry. The flights coming into the islands are back to previous levels while the restaurant, hospitality, activity, and rental car industries are still under reduced capacities. It only makes sense that there will be a shortage of everything for the huge numbers of visitors arriving daily to the islands, couple that with the enhanced unemployment benefits through September 6th and it’s a recipe for disaster.