slippahs

Consolidated thread for asking questions or offering suggestions about touring Pearl Harbor

nishimark

Greetings,

We'll be on Maui in Feb. in the Kaanapali area. Since we live in Japan, my 13-year-old son and I would like to take advantage of being in Hawaii and go see Pearl Harbor and tour the Missouri. I've found some package tours from Maui that include air, but they seem to be a bus tour that includes some sights that we don't care to see. We've been to Waikiki and Honolulu many times, and only really want to see Pearl Harbor and other similar things. Would it be best to book a flight from West Maui airport, rent a car, and purchase tours via the internet individually?

Are there other ships to tour besides the Missouri? Especially, is there an aircraft carrier open for tours?

Thanks.

Sirecca

One other option may be a one-day fly/drive package offered by some travel agencies. Whether it's cheaper than booking everything separately probably depends on individual circumstances. Here's a link to one such offer.

FlyinHawaiian

Unless there is an open house with some of the active ships, Pearl Harbor's ship tours are the U.S.S. Missouri, the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, and the U.S.S. Bowfin, the latter of which is a Balao Class WW II sub and directly adjacent to the U.S.S. Arizona vistor's center.

If I had to rank them, I'd do the Arizona Memorial first, if I had time, go on the Missouri, and then the Bowfin if I wasn't totally exhausted.

nishimark

How much time do you think each will take, without rushing? Are there places to eat lunch there?

slippahs

I think you could probably pick up a few cheap flights (in today's economy) from OGG-HNL for roughly $70. Do you have NW/UA miles? That's 5k for a roundtrip ticket on Hawaiian/Aloha respectively. 10k AA/CO miles will pick you up a roundtrip with Hawaiian as well. Then, just find yourself a cheap rental (using one of the codes listed on Flyertalk or Priceline) and you're set without the limitations of taking a tour.

In regards to taking the West Maui (Kapalua) Airport, that all depends on flight frequency and whether or not you're willing to fly on prop planes. The only jets you'll find are at Kahului (OGG) Airport. The drive time from Ka'anapali to Kapalua is a significantly shorter drive than to Kahului so take the above into consideration.

There's a bunch of great places to eat along the way in Honolulu, but not too much in the name of restaurants in Pearl Harbor. Try eating at the Airport Trade Center (right off the airport before getting on to the Freeway) for L&L or Byron's right around the corner. There's some pretty ono (good) local food at those two establishments.

The only problem you might encounter with the Arizona is an extended wait time. Admission is free but is first come first served. They'll pass out a ticket to you with a number on it and they only allow so many to pass through at a time. It's best you either get there really early or really late (but again, you're risking this by not being able to get in if you get there too late). So, it'd be best to get there early, take two numbers, take the car and go for lunch somewhere (maybe Pearlridge area?) and come back. As for the Missouri, there's a coupon, IRRC, in the Hawai'i Entertainment Book for reduced admission.

Good luck!

aloha

nishimark

That's a good idea! I have WorldPerks miles. That seems like a good use for them.

That's half of the fun!

Do you happen to know what time they open?

It looks like we could catch an early morning flight out of Kapalua, but then have to get back by 5:00PM or so (before it gets dark?). Would it be reasonable to leave Maui at say about 7:00AM, pick up the car and eat breakfast in Honolulu, then drive to Pearl and be first in line, after the Arizona eat lunch, after lunch go through the Missouri and maybe the sub, and then back for our 5:00PM flight?

Sirecca

You probably will want to call soon to try to score inter-island awards. I tried getting these via NW for an early Feb 2005 trip and couldn't find availability. (I was flying into OGG, so you may have better luck traveling out of Kapalua). However, I ended up joining Aloha Airlines' frequent flyer club (for free) and getting a "members-only" RT fare of $138 each. (Making Slippah's $70 guess right on target as usual.)

Here's a link to the government's Pearl Harbor Web site. Lots of good info and tips. Gates open at 7:30am, first tour at 8:00am. A 7:00am Maui departure won't make you "first in line" but should work fine.

nishimark

Thanks to all for the good info. I'm going to try to get the flights reserved right away. Maui in February! I can't wait.

MBM3

I just took the Arizona Memorial tour & I suggest getting there as early as possible as it tends to back up for hours. We had to wait 1.5 hours and got there around 9.

tudorcity

Thanks for the reminder to call - I just booked two inter-island flights from KOA-HNL and back, same day, for March 2005 using 10K NW miles!

Gator Gal

Hi! I can't speak about the other sights since we only had time to tour the USS Arizona during our trip in early Sept., but I do have a suggestion: don't "pick up the car and eat breakfast in Honolulu, then drive to Pearl" because in all likelihood you will NOT be the first in line! Instead, get the car and go DIRECTLY to the Arizona Memorial, see what number you get, and then decide. If, for example, you arrive and get a tour number for just a half-hour or one hour from your arrival, it will be best for you just to wait. During that time, you can tour the museum and read the signs, visit the gift shop, and even grab a light snack.

If you go somewhere else and THEN go to the Arizona, you're guaranteed a line. My boyfriend and I arrived at 8 am on a Tuesday (which presumably would be less busy than on a weekend) and there was a short line already (maybe 40 people or so) and still we didn't get a tour until at least one hour from then... I think our tickets were for 9 or 9:15. In that time, I toured the signs/museums/shops and the time went quickly so the wait wasn't bad. I would say that if you have the advantage of arriving into Oahu early, head straight to Pearl Harbor... the longer you take to get there, the longer the lines, and the longer the wait for tickets to be called. (But the visit is worth the wait, of course). Good luck!

lihue1k

As to the day of the week.

This can be counter intuitive. Often visiting sites like this on the weekend results in shorter lines in the islands.

Reason - most visitors arrive Friday - Monday and depart on the same. On arrival days they tend to stay close to the hotel or the airport. Therefore, other sites which don't pull resident visitors can be less busy on weekends (this excludes beaches obviously).

Anyway you will have an impressive visit.

Aloha,

Lihue 1k

Gator Gal

... All I know is we meant to go another day but then saw the big cruise ship was there. My friend who lives in Oahu, upon looking at the ship's itinerary (arrival/docking) alerted us as to when the cruisers would likely be there so we avoided that at all costs!

pebbles104

Our boys are really excited about visiting Pearl Harbour. Do you have to buy tickets from a 'tour group' and spend up to 7 hrs with a group (which I don't think the boys and frankly we could handle) or can you just go to Pearl harbour and get tickets for the Arizona Memorial and the Mighty Mo as well as the film that they show?