With dozens of first-hand reports on getting to and being in Hawaii right now.
36 thoughts on “What Is Hawaii Like Right Now | Island by Island”
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With dozens of first-hand reports on getting to and being in Hawaii right now.
Comments are closed.
We left for Oahu on 11/7 and returned 11/15. We traveled on SWA from SMF to HNL. The flight to and from had 50 people! We had an entire row each! Boarding process was shortened to groups of 10 with social distancing. Covid test returned from Kaiser in 36 hours. The Hawaii travel site instructions and process was painless. The wait to get cleared in HNL was about 20 minutes. For seasoned Hawaii travelers this is the time to go! Waikiki was quiet! The daily parade of planes taking off and landing was non existent. We stayed at The Modern Honolulu. We enjoyed lots of pool and beach time without the usual crowds. We booked two catamaran outings. Both limited to 12 passengers. We took UBER when needed. Yes, Waikiki is a ghost town but there was enough open for us to enjoy meals and drinks! We already booked to return at the end of February! Never in my lifetime have we been able to move so freely around Waikiki.
Thank you for keeping us informed and allowing us to give feedback.
Hi Paula.
Thanks for sharing your Oahu experience, and glad to hear everything went well.
Aloha.
Sounds like, as predicted, if you just TRY to work it out–you’ll be able to work it out. It’s just too bad the state and county governments were too scared, too stupid, and too lazy for, what?–six entire months–to organize and implements come kind of system like the one(s) they have now–and it’s too bad they can’t all get their together and agree on one protocol for the state–instead of every island being able to free-ball their own. That’s just confusing for the visitors–and completely unneccessary.
We took more travel Covid test, got results as stated. We flew in to Kona. The rapid testing went smoothly. People at airports were friendly, helpful, and efficient. The big island was empty. The locals were very happy to see us. As we were to see them. Sad that some of our favorite restaurants were permanently closed. 😒 We had a condo so we are mostly there. Went on 2 snorkeling cruises. Birth we’re awesome, clean, and felt safe. Must folks wore mask. Overall a great vacation, just little stuffier with mask🙃😊😉
Aloha. Thank you for pulling together all of the first hand experiences in one place so we can see who has been successful and who has not and learn from it. From personal experience we knew CVS testing in our area was not a guarantee for 72 hours return. After a trip this summer in the states I got tested and had to wait 12 days. I know that was extreme and testing is better now but wasn’t willing to risk the Hawaii trip with cvs. So based on all the positive reviews we went with Vault for this trip. We are at 48 hours now, 24 hours away from departure and we have received 4 of 5 test results as negative. No news on the 5th test. When I contact vault I get a voicemail, leave a message and 4 hours later have yet to receive a response. Also emailed and 4 hours later no response. Would be nice to know they have the test and it is in the queue for processing and not lost or something. Seems odd to get 3 results back in 24 hours, the other in 40 hours and not the 5th. Has anyone else experienced this with vault? Has anyone been able to get ahold of vault either via the phone number or email? Worried the test is lost and we wouldn’t even know it. Hate to be waiting for results and they never come.
Mahalo for providing so much useful information and enabling us to learn from others experiences!!!
Hi Kyle.
Glad Vault seems to be working out. Let us know how the last one goes. And have a great trip. Thanks.
Aloha.
Based on my experience, you will eventually get an email reply from Vault, but it won’t matter at that point, and probably they wont actually answer your question. I don’t think I ever received a call back. But, in our case, we got both our results in plenty of time.
On your 5th test – did that person confirm via UPS tracking that the test kit arrived at their lab in New Jersey? Also, did you write (in big black sharpie) “STAT HAWAII” all over the envelop, the box and the test tube bag?
I don’t know if it mattered, but we did those things because they were recommended by the Zoom test woman.
Aloha. Thanks for sharing your experience. Yes, we wrote ‘stat Hawaii’ all over the packaging. Tracking shows the package arrived at 10am the next morning, Wednesday morning. So here we are at the 54 hour mark of taking the test and still no results. Did not get an email back from customer service and did not get a call back. Did finally get the email saying they have received the test back so at least know it isn’t lost. We live in PA so it didn’t have far to go to NJ. Guess they are busy and are pushing making the 72 hour mark for some. Just odd since we received 3 back in 24 hours and another in 40 hours and the 5th well hopefully soon. Going to be tough getting on a flight tomorrow morning without the 5th test. Not sure what to do. Hopefully it comes in overnight and we are not left with that tough decision.
Thought I would check back in. Just in case anyone else is following considering using Vault. We did receive our final test in time for our flight this morning. So they came thru. Exact timing is 1 test in 26 hours, 1 test in 28 hours, 1 test in 30 hours, 1 test in 40 hours. And the last in 60 hours so Vault came thru for us. Really was an easy process. Just don’t get too stressed like us and try to contact them as they don’t seem to answer the phone or respond to emails 🙂
Mahalo!
Hi Kyle.
Thanks for the update. We’re happy to hear it all worked out. Have a good trip!
Aloha.
Really appreciate all these recent experience reports — very helpful. We may be back in January to stay at our place on the south shore — sure hope the process of getting here from southern California is easy. Pardon my ignorance; but, what is the “QR code” and where/how do we get it and have it properly processed for January?
Mahalo.
Hi Geo.
A QR code is scannable and similar to a bar code. It will be created by the state’s website and you will use it throughout the travel process, including for example (as we understand it) at car rentals.
Aloha.
Nice sampling of the current situation here in Hawaii. Great to see the validation of visitors
arriving are mostly very respectful and appreciative of what Hawaii is right now. I talked to a couple that qualified as such and they made an interesting comment….among the nice comments they said about their experience they noted that everyone is so much better about mask wearing then from where they came from.
Thought that was interesting, what a sad price our country has paid for not just realizing early on that the simple act of wearing a mask when around others for any length of time saves lives.
Our whole reopening depends on respectful visitors like these in your article and it can be ruined by the “masks/preflight tests are a joke” crowd.
Aloha to all, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and closer.
Thank you all for sharing your experiences. If I can add one item it would be to bring a hard copy of your negative Covid test with you. We had the QR code’s for both legs of our flight on our phones. No problem at all in Honolulu, but for some reason the second QR code was not working in Maui. We handed them the hard copy, she input the info manually and we were off
Hi Jeremy.
You are not the first person to mention that good idea. Thank you.
Aloha
We just returned to Maui (home) after 4 months in Europe. Because of the state’s limited list of ‘trusted partners’ we were unable to test before our arrival. We knew and planned for quarantine. Friends loaded the apartment with food and our mail before we arrived. When we were making our descent into Maui, the crew announced that failure to comply with Hawaii proclamations regarding quarantine and masks were punishable by fine and imprisonment, many passengers laughed. I was shocked and angered by this, as Maui has been so careful alll year. Here I am, quarantining at home and I hear from neighbors there is a lot of rule-breaking going on. The Hawaii travel site is a joke in my opinion; Log on once a day, check the ‘yes’ box for (I’m Quarantining) and that’s it. People really don’t feel safe here. I’m more worried about COVID here than I was for 4 months traveling around Europe.
Liberals can even ruin Hawaii
Rob, Not sure how liberals have ruined Hawaii???
We have one of the lowest rates of infection of any state.
We are a blue state, the sky, the ocean and the politics.
If that bothers you you wouldn’t be happy here.
Trump/Fox news heavily promoted Covid as a hoax or not serious, a lot of
people died because of it. Look at a map of red states and look at a map of where
Covid is the most prevalent per capita and then tell me Liberals have ruined everything.
NY, PA, NJ, IL, CA have had almost 90,000 deaths. About 1 in 3 for the whole US. I don’t think the virus knows if you live in a red state or a blue state.
I was recently tested on the mainland at CVS, one of the testing sites recommended by the State of Hawaii. Unfortunately I still have not had results come back, this is now the 6th day. I cancelled hotel, flight and car as I did not want to quarantine for days on end while waiting. So disappointed with CVS and not getting any help through the testing site, they charged me $139 and really spoiled my experience. Trying to talk to someone is s joke. I won’t come back until there is a vaccine its not worth all the hassle and problems I incurred. so sad and CVS is not recommended for testing.