Pearl Harbor Excursion

[CamColt]

I will be making my first trip to Aulani next July. We are interested in doing the Pearl Harbor excursion from the Resort and I just noticed I can actually book that already. It looks like to do so it would require payment at this time, so I'm wondering is this nonrefundable or is there a cancellation policy if my plans should change? Thanks!

 

[cgattis]

I recommend checking the one-day car rental rate from Aulani. Depending on your party size, it could make sense. Plus would allow you to go do other things before or after. (Assuming you drive, etc.)

 

[CamColt]

I recommend checking the one-day car rental rate from Aulani. Depending on your party size, it could make sense. Plus would allow you to go do other things before or after. (Assuming you drive, etc.)

I've gone back and forth over this, to the point of driving myself crazy, LOL! From what I'm seeing if you go on your own you could have a long wait, even getting there early which we would be sure to do. I only have 3 days and Aulani and don't want to spend a whole day at PH waiting for my time. There's just 2 of us so the excursion itself would be 107.00, not bad.

 

[dachsie]

I am planning to get tickets at 11am at the 60 day mark. Will arrive early and see if I can get in before then, if not, will do all of the stuff before that and then leave when the tour is over

 

[cgattis]

I bought my tix online, so there was no waiting. We also just did the free parts. I’m not sure what all that $107 gets you, but if it covers the Missouri and the aviation museum, and you’d be paying for those anyway, that’s probably not a bad deal. Plus we intentionally went on a Sunday to avoid traffic; on another day, sitting in a bus might be more relaxing than sitting watching the car in front of you for 30-45 minutes. But we wanted to go eat and do the swap meet, so a car worked for us.

 

[dachsie]

I bought my tix online, so there was no waiting. We also just did the free parts. I’m not sure what all that $107 gets you, but if it covers the Missouri and the aviation museum, and you’d be paying for those anyway, that’s probably not a bad deal. Plus we intentionally went on a Sunday to avoid traffic; on another day, sitting in a bus might be more relaxing than sitting watching the car in front of you for 30-45 minutes. But we wanted to go eat and do the swap meet, so a car worked for us.

ok - this is what I am thinking. What time did you do your tour and what time did you go to swap meet - was thinking of doing the 1pm tour and going to swap meet first. Plan to go to church at 7am first in Kapolei then head that way around 8:30-9

 

[shimmy80]

We are going to Aulani in 2 weeks. We also purchased the PH tour thru Aulani. I just looked at my receipt and it says, as long as you cancel BEFORE 48 hours you will be refunded. Any cancellations within the 48 hour window are not. Hope this helps you. Have a great trip. We booked a year ago as well and I felt like it would take forever but now we are 2 weeks out. Very excited

 

[cgattis]

ok - this is what I am thinking. What time did you do your tour and what time did you go to swap meet - was thinking of doing the 1pm tour and going to swap meet first. Plan to go to church at 7am first in Kapolei then head that way around 8:30-9

I wanted an early time but they were all gone the instant the booking window opened (tour groups grr), so we had an 11:00. We did the museums, then the tour, then left for lunch. By that time, we were pushed for time at the swap meet. Your plan sounds very do-able! I’d just caution you to leave a little extra time for finding a parking spot at PH. You may have to hover around like a vulture for a bit! And go ahead and put your bags in your trunk at the swap meet so nobody sees you do that, just in case!

Also, we had lunch at Dixie BBQ nearby, because I was in sweet tea remission LOL. We were in Hawaii 14 days, so we didn’t mind one non-local-food meal. If you like BBQ and real southern “fixin’s,” it was quite good. Their fried okra was number one.

 

[CamColt]

We are going to Aulani in 2 weeks. We also purchased the PH tour thru Aulani. I just looked at my receipt and it says, as long as you cancel BEFORE 48 hours you will be refunded. Any cancellations within the 48 hour window are not. Hope this helps you. Have a great trip. We booked a year ago as well and I felt like it would take forever but now we are 2 weeks out. Very excited

Great info! Thanks! And thanks for the words of encouragement too. Tomorrow will be the 1 year mark and while it seems far away, I know I have so much to learn and figure out (Aulani and a cruise line Im not familiar with) that a part of me feels like I don't have enough time. You have a great trip too!

 

[cgattis]

Great info! Thanks! And thanks for the words of encouragement too. Tomorrow will be the 1 year mark and while it seems far away, I know I have so much to learn and figure out (Aulani and a cruise line Im not familiar with) that a part of me feels like I don't have enough time. You have a great trip too!

There are at least three of us on here who read the boards pretty often and have done the cruise, so we can probably answer most anything about it, so just ask! You’ll have an amazing trip.

 

[abdgeek]

I will be making my first trip to Aulani next July. We are interested in doing the Pearl Harbor excursion from the Resort and I just noticed I can actually book that already. It looks like to do so it would require payment at this time, so I'm wondering is this nonrefundable or is there a cancellation policy if my plans should change? Thanks!

As OP have said, Pearl Harbor can be done easily on your own. That was how I did it the last time I stayed at Aulani. While you can get tickets online, you can also get them for free at PH. The tickets are timed so the earlier you arrive at PH the earlier your ticket to the Arizona Memorial will be. Keep in mind that you can’t actually go to the memorial now because of structural issues with the site. Hopefully it will be fixed by the time you go next year. It appears they are offering a harbor tour instead, but no disembarkation at the memorial itself.

I did PH on my own because I rented a car. I arrived by 9am but the earliest timed ticket at that time for the Arizona was at 11:30 am. That was fine with me because I wanted to tour the USS Bowfin/Missouri. You have to pay for those tickets and don’t need to buy online ahead of time.

As you mentioned, Aulani has several PH excursions. The one you mentioned only provides transportation to PH and the boat tour. Given that the tour is listed as 4 hours, you will probably only have about 2-2.5 hours at PH to see the free exhibits and the memorial. You can confirm by calling the resort.

Your main decision will be whether you want to rent a car for a day, take a taxi, or try to get an Uber to PH. You will also need to decide how much time you want to spend there. Since tickets to the Arizona are free you are really paying for Aulani to transport you to PH with their excursion. Good luck with your decision.

 

[CamColt]

There are at least three of us on here who read the boards pretty often and have done the cruise, so we can probably answer most anything about it, so just ask! You’ll have an amazing trip.

Oh great! I am sure I will be coming up with many of those questions. Thanks!

As OP have said, Pearl Harbor can be done easily on your own. That was how I did it the last time I stayed at Aulani. While you can get tickets online, you can also get them for free at PH. The tickets are timed so the earlier you arrive at PH the earlier your ticket to the Arizona Memorial will be. Keep in mind that you can’t actually go to the memorial now because of structural issues with the site. Hopefully it will be fixed by the time you go next year. It appears they are offering a harbor tour instead, but no disembarkation at the memorial itself.

I did PH on my own because I rented a car. I arrived by 9am but the earliest timed ticket at that time for the Arizona was at 11:30 am. That was fine with me because I wanted to tour the USS Bowfin/Missouri. You have to pay for those tickets and don’t need to buy online ahead of time.

As you mentioned, Aulani has several PH excursions. The one you mentioned only provides transportation to PH and the boat tour. Given that the tour is listed as 4 hours, you will probably only have about 2-2.5 hours at PH to see the free exhibits and the memorial. You can confirm by calling the resort.

Your main decision will be whether you want to rent a car for a day, take a taxi, or try to get an Uber to PH. You will also need to decide how much time you want to spend there. Since tickets to the Arizona are free you are really paying for Aulani to transport you to PH with their excursion. Good luck with your decision.

Thanks! The advantage I'm seeing with doing the excursion is we should be back at the resort fairly early. Looking at doing it on our own I don't see the timing working out as well. We really only have 3 full days there so I don't want to spend too much time waiting around at PH. I've seen reports of people having set times and still having to wait, somewhere I saw the earliest time you can confirm is 11:00, etc... If I can be back at the resort by noon with the excursion, that would be great!

 

[kickash]

One thing- no bags are allowed on the harbor tour unless it is a clear plastic stadium bag. I have too much stuff to carry (phone, small camera, Kleenex, inhaler, wallet, etc) so I bought a bag on Amazon. We went 2 weeks ago and as we were walking in one of the security members looked at me and said, "someone did their homework!"

 

[starryrita]

One thing- no bags are allowed on the harbor tour unless it is a clear plastic stadium bag. I have too much stuff to carry (phone, small camera, Kleenex, inhaler, wallet, etc) so I bought a bag on Amazon. We went 2 weeks ago and as we were walking in one of the security members looked at me and said, "someone did their homework!"

I knew it and forgot my clear bag so then I just brought my phone and credit card and forgot my press penny money in my purse in the car.

 

[Keetchino]

We rented a car and did the tour on our own, I don't recall having to wait in line at all to get in

 

[NancyDVC]

The earliest time for the USS Arizona is about 8:00 AM. Anyone who said they spent time “waiting around” is very poorly informed. There is so much to see and do besides the movie and boat trip to the USS Arizona. We spent about 4-5 hours there and only a small portion of the time was the movie and boat trip.
Get the audiotour which rents for $7.50. It is digital. After the introduction you follow the posted ‘stops’ (in any order) and listen to the audio for that stop. We saw ‘bus tour groups’ being moved along to ge to the next stop. They did not spend much time at all and missed a lot.
Be sure to stop by the gift shop. We met 2 lovely Pearl Harbor survivors who were speaking with visitors.

 

[Karebear]

We did the Arizona last month on our own. We are a family of 4 and were there on a busy July day. I had gone online and reserved the 11:00 tour. When I got there, I was able to swap that out for a 10:00 tour with no issues. After the tour, we did the Bowfin submarine which was worth it. We rented a car for the day and I am glad we went that route.